A Pakistani official rejected on Wednesday an Afghan army generals claim that Pakistanis were killed along with Taliban in an anti-militant operation in southern Afghanistan. Afghan General Moheydin Ghori said on Tuesday that up to 56 fighters were killed on Monday, including lots of Pakistanis, in a NATO-led sweep through a Taliban stronghold in the southern province of Helmand.
A military spokesman in Islamabad, however, said the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan and Afghan officials, after being contacted by Pakistani officials, had denied that they made any such claim in the press about killing Pakistanis in the operation.
Since they aren't Pakistanis, you won't mind if we kill them all, will you?
This article starring:
Afghan General Moheydin Ghori
Posted by: Fred ||
05/03/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#3
May I take this opportunity of emphasizing that there is no cannibalism Pakistani in the British Navy Afganistan. Absolutely none, and when I say none, I mean there is a certain amount, more than we are prepared to admit...
(SomaliNet) The African Union peacekeepers from Uganda have today for the first time patrolled the Somalia capital Mogadishu particularly in the areas ruined by the recent fighting between the Ethiopian forces and the local insurgents. Hundreds of heavily armed Ugandan soldiers with armored vehicles started patrolling from the main Mogadishu airport and were welcomed by residents.
Captain Paddy Ankunda, the spokesman for the AU peacekeeping mission in Somalia told reporters in Mogadishu that the mission was to build confidence between the Somalis in the city and the AU forces who will take over the security responsibility of the capital in the near future. Today, we have visited the areas where hit by the worst fighting between the Ethiopian forces and its rivals in Fagah, Towfiq, Huriwaa and Yaqshid neighborhoods, said Ankunda.
In recent days, the officials of the AU forces in Mogadishu have been involving in activities to attract the people in the capital as strong anti Ethiopian sentiment already there for their military invasion.
On Monday, Paddy Ankunda, said they had reached an agreement with the interim government top officials to some key points including that the insurgents will be given safety if they lay down weapons.
This article starring:
Captain Paddy Ankunda
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/03/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Paddy Ankunda?
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/03/2007 10:20 Comments ||
Top||
The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued its first arrest warrants over the Darfur conflict for a Sudanese minister and a Janjaweed militia leader accused of murder, torture and rape.
"Sudan rejects the ICC prosecutor's decision and our position is in line with international law because Sudan is not a member of the treaty that founded this jurisdiction."
However, Khartoum was quick to reject the warrants, saying the court had no jurisdiction in the matter. "Sudan rejects the ICC prosecutor's decision and our position is in line with international law because Sudan is not a member of the treaty that founded this jurisdiction," Sudanese Justice Minister Mohammed Ali al-Mardhi said.
In documents released on Wednesday the judges said there were "reasonable grounds" to conclude that Ahmed Haroun, Sudan's secretary of state for humanitarian affairs and a former minister in charge of Darfur, and Ali Kosheib, a principal leader of the Khartoum-backed Janjaweed, were "criminally responsible" for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Darfur.
This article starring:
Ahmed Haroun, Sudan's secretary of state for humanitarian affairs
ALI KOSHEIB
Janjaweed
International Criminal Court
Justice Minister Mohammed Ali al-Mardhi
Janjaweed
Posted by: Fred ||
05/03/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
A British student cleared of being part of a group that plotted a spree of bombings across southern England said in an interview Thursday that he was tricked by conspirators into helping finance the storage of bomb-making ingredients.
Nabeel Hussain, 22, walked free from London's central Criminal Court on Monday as five others were jailed for life. He said he agreed to pay for the storage of 1,300 pounds (590 kilograms) of fertilizer at a London storage unit because he naively believed it was sand and that his friend Omar Khyam needed it for construction work. "I was new to university, I thought he was decent and felt comfortable doing that," Hussain told Sky News television.
Hussain said that a friend later told him it was fertilizer and could be used to make explosives but was also reassured that Khyam was not planning to make a bomb. "I think it was because of my willful naivety that I ended up in this situation," he said.
During the trial it was revealed that Khyam was the chief plotter in a plan to bomb targets in and around London and had traveled to militia camps in Pakistan, where he met Abdul al-Hadi al-Iraqi, an al-Qaida operative now held at the U.S. prison camp at Guantanamo Bay. Khyam; Anthony Garcia, 25, Jawad Akbar, 23, Waheed Mahmood, 35 and Salahuddin Amin, 32 were jailed for life for conspiring to cause explosions. Hussain said he was introduced to Khyam by his cousin Akbar and believed him to be a "decent guy."
His 2004 arrest and subsequent detention during the yearlong trial caused him emotional torment, he said. "I was very angry with Omar and Jawad as in the headlines it said he was in a gang trying to kill people, I was called a terrorist who tried to kill people. It was very hard," Hussain said, adding that he was not a terrorist and could not understand how people could justify terrorism.
Asked about his views on the men who were found guilty, Hussain said they had wasted their lives. "It's a shame they have wasted their lives for something pointless," he said. "There are so many opportunities they could have had with their lives in this country."
Part of the group's defense was that they were not planning attacks in Britain, and Hussain said that after listening to the evidence he was left unconvinced that there was a plot in this country. There were "a lot of grays it wasn't black and white," he said.
#1
Hussain said that a friend later told him it was fertilizer and could be used to make explosives but was also reassured that Khyam was not planning to make a bomb. "
Arab "think" .... "cousin Akbar" (family, must be good-to-go).... not him, not me, not today, not planning, "decent guys".... "lots of grays" .... bottom line, all bullshit!
Bags of sand and bags of fertilizer always leak. I don't believe he didn't know what he was dealing with.
Why would someone store sand in an expensive storage facility?
Bull$hit. All of it. The only party who was duped was the British legal system. Now they'll have to deal with another terrorist in their midst.
Once again we hear the old "I was duped!" excuse. This should be made as irrelevant as the "I didn't know the law!" excuse when it comes to stuff that goes beyond a certain level of stupidity.
#3
Why would someone store sand in an expensive storage facility?
End of story.
Let's hope the government officials made sure to openly thank Nabeel for his "extensive cooperation and very helpful assistance". Perhaps his fellow jihadists will take care of the problem for us.
The number of terror suspects being monitored by Britains domestic security agency, MI5, has risen by 25 percent in the last six months, BBC online reported on Wednesday.
The approximately 2,000 people now being watched are thought to be actively involved in supporting Al Qaeda, the broadcaster reported, and experts highlighted links which some have to terrorist training camps in Pakistan. I think this is the strongest connection that we are confronted with at the moment, not least because of the historical connections between Pakistan and Britain, Peter Neumann, from Kings College Londons defence studies centre, told the broadcaster. This will likely be the greatest source of vulnerability at least for Britain.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/03/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Pakistan the terrorist operational hub of the world funded by Saudi via the ISI.We can track these people in UK but it wont go away until US/UK tackle the ideology/origin coming from our friends???? the Saudis!!!!
When are we to crack down on Wahabbism/Saudis??????????
Posted by: Paul ||
05/03/2007 4:59 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Once we get past Bush/Cheney, we can make progress. The entire Bush outfit has been kissing up to Sauds & taking their payoffs their entire lives. Any attacks should have been made in taking over the Arabian peninsula. Just ring up Putin, tell him we're doing it and does he have any objections ? We thought not.
Posted by: Andy Sloluth8755 ||
05/03/2007 15:29 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Woozle Elmeter2970 dear, the day the US goes after the Saudis -- absent such significant increases in petroleum production as to at least significantly offset the Saudi share of the market -- is the day the entire oil-using world falls off the cliff into a deep depression of 1930s proportions. At this point Canadian and Iraqi production are increasing steadily, but this is offset by significant decreases in Venezuela and Iran, and also a number of the smaller producers as those countries are hit by (generally speaking) Muslim terrorists. At the same time, consumption has gone up due to the increasing prosperity of China and India. Finally, while Saudi Arabia is only America's fourth or fifth biggest supplier, I believe it's the primary supplier of Europe and Asia.
Now if you want to seriously annoy our allies and enemies by deep sixing their economies just as we're asking them to join us against Iran, well! But I'm awfully glad this President Bush knows how to organize this long war, even if he can't/won't sell it to the American people and the world.
Oh, and the Saudis consider Bush fil to be a bad son, because he isn't their dear friend the way his father was.
THE Federal Government has been accused of turning a blind eye to Tamil Tigers' activities in Australia, allowing the separatist group to build up its air attack wing.
Singapore-based terrorism expert Rohan Gunaratna says the Tigers have been procuring aircraft, arms, explosives and other technological devices from Australia for more than a decade. The head of the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research says the Tigers were buying light aircraft from local manufacturers in the mid-1990s and as recently as last year bought remote control devices to detonate bombs in Sri Lanka.
The Australian Government is considering whether to list the group which has spent more than 30 years waging a secessionist campaign against the Sri Lankan Government as a terrorist organisation.
C'mon, Mr. Howard, this should be easy.
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer admitted yesterday the Government had been aware for some time that money raised in Australia was being siphoned to the Tigers' cause in Sri Lanka.
But Dr Gunaratna says Australia's involvement extends beyond just fundraising. He says countries like Australia have played a significant role in equipping the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), better known as the Tamil Tigers. "It started in the mid-1990s but the procurements activities continued as far as last year in Australia," he said. "The last items they purchased were remote control devices which have now been uncovered in Sri Lanka with Australian markings (on the devices)."
He said he believed governments had been slow to act because they had been so focused on stopping Muslim extremists. "Within the intelligence community now it's very well established that because governments turned a blind eye to this today there are light aircrafts the Tamil Tigers are using to mount attacks in Sri Lanka," Dr Gunaratna said.
Last weekend, the Tamil Tigers air wing said to be made up of small aerobatic propeller-driven planes adapted to carry bombs launched a raid on oil facilities near Colombo, prompting some international airlines to cancel flights in and out of the capital.
Dr Gunaratna said Australian authorities had been aware of the problem for many years but had only begun to take the problem more seriously about two years ago. "For Australia, it was never a priority to curb the non-Islamist terrorist groups operating in Australia," he said.
Intelligence agencies had been collecting information on procurement and fundraising activities for many years, Dr Gunaratna said. "But the law enforcement side has been very weak," he said.
Justice Minister David Johnston was not immediately available for comment.
BUCHAREST, Romania -- The Romanian legislature approved an agreement Wednesday allowing the United States to use four military bases and station up to 3,000 troops in the country. Prime Minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu praised the agreement, saying for decades many Romanians had "only one hope: that the American troops would come and free us from Communism." Today, however, "Romania is no longer a victim looking for a saviour but a partner of the United States in the fight against terrorism," he said.
Legislators voted 257-1, with 29 nationalists abstaining to approve the 10-year agreement.
Cool, a new source of future PX employees
Posted by: Steve ||
05/03/2007 08:45 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
I recently had the opportunity to meet a delightful young Romanian 1LT from Bucharest while transiting Balad. He was physician escorting an injured NCO. His English was impecable and while awaiting airlift we had a great a great conversation. I thanked him repeatedly for both his and his brave nation's contributions to the GWOT. He was staunchly pro-American and Romanian Orthodox, which might be a contributing factors to his involvement.
TALLINN/MOSCOW, May 3 (RIA Novosti) - The United States backed Estonia Thursday in its escalating dispute with Russia over the removal of a Soviet war memorial, saying it was the Baltic state's internal affair and urging dialogue.
Deputy State Department spokesman Tom Casey said: ''We have urged the Estonian and Russian governments to maintain dialogue and respect for the strong feelings on both sides.'' Casey also expressed concern ''about continuing reports of violence and harassment, including harassment of Estonian diplomatic personnel and premises, in Moscow.''
The Estonian Embassy in Moscow has been under siege by pro-Kremlin youth activists since the removal last week of a statue to Red Army soldiers killed in World War II, regarded in Russia as a "desecration" of their memory. The Baltic state has formerly complained of threats to the security of its diplomatic staff. ''We urge authorities in Moscow to do everything possible to reduce tensions, to carry out their responsibilities under the Vienna Convention concerning diplomatic premises and diplomats, and to avoid harsh words and escalation,'' Casey said.
Protesters have torn down a flag from the embassy building, blocked the ambassador's car at the entrance, and on Wednesday they attempted to disrupt a news conference with Ambassador Marina Kaljurand. 'attempted'? Her bodyguards had to use pepper spray on the attackers.
#1
Estonia was getting too big for its britches and had to be taken down a few pegs, or so figures Russia. And probably the rest of quasi-socialist Europe. Estonian economy has been booming since they shifted to a flat income tax. That is not acceptable to socialists. Now it remains to be seen if Russia will trump up enough of an excuse to actually invade and take over Estonia again. And if they do, if anybody will do anything about it. I believe Estonia is now a member of NATO - will NATO fall apart rather than defend a member against agression? This is potentially a very big deal. If Putin gets daring, and gets away with it, it will not stop at Estonia - look for the rest of European SSRs to 'rejoin' the Soviet Union. Who would stop them? Not Bush - not with his hands full of Islamofascists. This scenario would explain why Putin has been so accomodating of Iran - just keeping the US occupied and diverted from Russia's goals. A simple protest of a statue in a small European country could be the most important item in the news this year - but no one will notice.
#2
Estonia has also been a member of the EU since 2004. The huge body of regulations they had to adopt as a result may well dampen their economic miracle.
But, the European Commission is sending a delegation to yak with Moscow, and Merkel, as current president of the European Council, has backed the Estonian PM.
In the face of a Russian invasion, I figure the EU could use all those file cabinets full of 20 years' worth of white papers on the Eurocorps to bar the door, while they dial 911 for NATO.
#4
indeed, Estonia is developing too well and becoming a counterexample, a danger to the soviet propaganda that socialism (communism) is the best of the best. This is ideologic battle which RU is losing.
Only 2% estonian export comes to Russia, 80% - to Finland and Sweden. Russia is losing grip of Estonia in economic sphere. Latvia and Lithuania is a bit different, they are much more dependent economically, and guaranteed not to go off the hook in the near future.
Below is the link, how democracy and tolerance is understood in Russia.
#4
but has no such feelings with the embassador of Sudan, Turkey (for Cyprus), Saudi Arabia (for women), Pakistan (for supporting Taliban, for the treatment of Ahmadiyas or China (for Tibet).
Hey, that would be an idea: a single chinese diplomats strangled would carry the message better than a million of "Free Tibet" bumperstickers.
#6
Oh, go choke on your Brussels sprouts or something!
Posted by: Mike ||
05/03/2007 12:31 Comments ||
Top||
#7
Well, why should she NOT?: She's already pumping for the guys who ARE killing Israelis to get more money, so why not cut out the middle man and do what she REALLY wants to do?
#1
I adamantly opposed to taxpayer money being funneled to any muslim school, center, mosque, for any reason. This pisses me off, but I can't say I'm all that surprised. if the muslims want added security they should pay for it themselves privately without contribution from the public.
Posted by: Mark Z ||
05/03/2007 11:39 Comments ||
Top||
#2
CAIR should be called CON AIR. If Homeland Security gives CAIR these grants all of us will be less secure--not too bright to do this.
The $25M is the total amont of funds available nationally.
The due date for applications isn't until the end of June or so.
According to the info at Grants.gov
"The Fiscal Year (FY) 2007 Urban Areas Security Initiative (UASI) Nonprofit Security Grant Program provides funding support for target hardening activities to nonprofit organizations that are at high risk of an international terrorist attack...."
Thus CAIR would have to demonstrate it is at risk to attack from an international terrorism organization - not from a hypothetical American grown anti muslim org.
#4
The ANTI-CAIR lawsuit proved for once and all that CAIR is a terrorist front. If our government is so monumentally stupid as to give them a single penny of financing then they must be voted out of office, one and all. This is an insult to the American people. The al-Hurrah fiasco is bad enough.
CAIR must be banned immediately. How our politicians can ignore the subversive activities of this terrorist organization is simply beyond me. As if a large number of its executive members being convicted of making financial and material contributions to terrorist groups wasn't enough.
Democrats on Wednesday failed to override President George W. Bush's veto of Iraq war funding legislation that would force a troop pullout timetable, prompting the start of tense negotiations on a compromise. Bush welcomed somber Democratic leaders to the White House shortly after the veto override attempt failed in the House of Representatives and said he was confident an agreement could be found on a bitterly debated $124 billion war funding bill. "Yesterday was a day that highlighted differences," Bush said of Tuesday's veto. "Today is a day where we can work together to find common ground."
Democratic leaders called the session positive but insisted their main goal is to find a way to end the four-year-old Iraq war, in which 3,300 Americans and countless Iraqis have been killed. "Whatever our differences, we owe it to the American people to find our common ground. Of course, we must stand our ground if we can't find it. But we must strive to find that common ground," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California.
No easy compromise was within reach. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said he would like to see an agreement by the end of May. White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada and McConnell are to meet on Thursday for some initial soundings.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/03/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Wel-l-l, FOX NEWS > ROSIE says "IMPEACH BUSH", singer RAGE says "KILL BUSH", or words to these effect.
#2
RIAN > USA BILL TO GET OUT OF IRAQ IS SIMPLY ELECTIONEERING. The Russian INTEL Boyz must've watch Juan Williams + Alan Colmes, etc. on FOX + TWO CNN's.
#3
WaPo"We made our position clear. He made his position clear. Now it is time for us to try to work together," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) said after a White House meeting. "But make no mistake: Democrats are committed to ending this war."
No matter who else dies, no matter what the rest of the world thinks, no matter that we fail to live up to our promises, no matter about the humanitarian fallout, no matter about the victory for the Islamic Crusaders, no matter what, we're gonna end this war. [spit]
Posted by: Harry Reid ||
05/03/2007 7:20 Comments ||
Top||
#4
I am not interested in "an easy compromise." I want somebody to "provide for the common defense" - I'm sure I read that somewhere.
Posted by: Bobby ||
05/03/2007 7:21 Comments ||
Top||
#5
"Democratic leaders called the session positive but insisted their main goal is to find a way to end the four-year-old Iraq war..."
End it they will, one way or another, with horrible consequences down the road for all of us.
If they succeed, Iraq will become Mogadishu writ large-- a dark monument to America's faithlessness, childish irresponsibility and inconstancy.
It will be up to our children and grandchildren to undo the damage. If they can.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
05/03/2007 7:28 Comments ||
Top||
#6
Watch the hands, not the mouth. The President will not budge from his position of not allowing the Dems to play their dirty little political games with our troops. The Dems are not going to budge yet. This fight is about fundamental principles. You do not compromise on your fundamental principles.
We might as well have it out now with the Dem traitors. The Republicans need to go on the media offensive. This funding battle is as much a battle of this war as fighting in Al Anbar or Baghdad. We are fighting the fifth column.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
05/03/2007 9:09 Comments ||
Top||
#7
To fight the enemy abroad its going to at some point emerge that we have to fight the enemy at home. There's no other way to put it--Reid, Pelosi, and those that ignorantly follow them are the *enemy*, not the "opposition party".
British and US officials today denied a report that the US was seeking ways of imposing entry restrictions for visiting Britons of Pakistani origin, following a spate of UK bomb plots involving citizens with links to Pakistan.
The report in the New York Times, ...
... natch ...
... quoted unnamed British officials as saying that the US had put several options on the table, including a cancellation of the existing visa waiver programme, which allows British tourists to visit without a visa, or a requirement that British Pakistanis would have to apply for visas.
Wille Sutton robbed banks 'cause that's where the money was. It's unfortunate but we have to face facts: there are a fair number of Brit Pakistanis who mean us harm. The proportion of Mahmouds and Achmeds who want all the Americans dead is higher than the proportion of Trevors and Nigels.
The US homeland security secretary, Michael Chertoff, had raised the issue with the British government in recent months, the article said.
A Foreign Office spokesman said: "The New York Times story that the UK and US are considering requiring British citizens of Pakistani origin to apply for US visas is incorrect. It does not represent UK government policy nor would it be an acceptable proposal."
Translation: we wanted it, they backed off.
"The Muslim community in the UK, including those of Pakistani origin, are an important part of our society and we would oppose strongly any proposal to single them out in response to the actions of terrorists," the spokesman said. "Furthermore we will oppose any measure based on broad categories of religious, ethnic or other criteria, and will continue to emphasise the importance of the current risk-based approach."
Ordinarily we'd agree, and such a screening would be unconstitutional if imposed on our own citizens.
But these aren't our citizens.
That approach involves assessing the potential risk posed by individuals. A British official added that the issue of British Pakistanis as a group had not been raised by the US government.
Russ Kanocke, a US homeland security department spokesman, confirmed that Mr Chertoff had met the home secretary, John Reid, last month, but would not reveal details of their conversastion. He denied, however, that the US is either planning to cancel the whole waiver system for the UK or single out Britons of Pakistani origin by requiring them to make visa applications. In fact he said, the US is seeking to extend the waiver programme to other European countries. "I flatly reject the notion we are targeting specific nationalities, age, gender. We just do not do that. We use intelligence but we do not profile by any factor other than behaviour. It is effective," Mr Kanocke said.
By behaviour, Mr Kanocke meant observation at airports, looking for signs of nervousness in passengers - sweating, avoiding eye contact, trying to conceal something, making frequent trips to the toilet and so on. Mr Kanocke said that both US and British governments were concerned about radicalisation and added that the homeland security department, in partnership with other agencies, was examining the British phenomenon.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/03/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Fine, no more travel from Britain without a visa. End of story. British tourism is nowhere near the same volume as American tourism to Britain.
#2
To be honest the British pakis would just get someone else to carry out their deeds!!!!
Posted by: Paul ||
05/03/2007 5:09 Comments ||
Top||
#3
We in the UK have to realise that our connections with Pakistan and the large ex-pat Pak community in the UK are a major Achilles' heel in the WOT. Visas are fine by me.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
05/03/2007 5:41 Comments ||
Top||
#4
"British tourism is nowhere near the same volume as American tourism to Britain."
Wrong! at 2 dollars to the pound brits are now buying homes in Florida rather than Spain
#7
I think they should require all Brits to get a visa, as Americans wouldn't want to discriminate. Extremists are just as likely to be black Muslims, as Britain's past slave trade and colonialism extended from Asia to the Caribbean.
#8
Wrong! at 2 dollars to the pound brits are now buying homes in Florida rather than Spain
American tourist spending in Britain constitutes some 20% of visitor revenues. I sincerely doubt that Britons in America match anywhere near that total.
#9
If, as a US born citizen I have to get a passport to travel to / from Canada I sure as hell do not understand this preferential treatment for a bunch of foreigners. this is Dogsh!t.
Key congressional supporters of closer ties with India have signed a toughly worded bipartisan letter to the Indian prime minister warning of "grave concern" that India's ties with Iran "have the potential to significantly harm prospects" for a nuclear cooperation deal that President Bush reached with India in 2005.
The letter is noteworthy for its tone and because it was signed by the Democratic as well as Republican leaders of the key congressional panels involved in the issue. It was sent yesterday, one day after Indian Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon publicly dismissed reports of closer military cooperation with Iran.
Rep. Tom Lantos and other Foreign Affairs members said India's nuclear cooperation deal could be derailed.
The letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh lists a series of recent meetings between Indian and Iranian officials as indications of growing cooperation between the two countries on military and energy issues. "We must stress that the subject of India's strengthening relationship with Iran will inevitably be a factor" when Congress votes on the final language of the nuclear agreement, the letter said.
Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice have pushed hard for the nuclear deal with India, saying that rewriting U.S. laws to allow peaceful nuclear cooperation with India will help usher in a new era in U.S.-India relations. But the nuclear accord has been opposed by nonproliferation experts, who fear it would weaken rules preventing the spread of nuclear weapons by allowing the sale of U.S. nuclear technology to a country that has refused to join the nuclear nonproliferation treaty.
When Congress debated a bill to give initial approval to the accord with India, lawmakers considered tying final passage to India's dealings with Iran but dropped that provision under pressure from the administration.
Congressional aides, speaking on the condition of anonymity in order to not upstage the lawmakers, said anger has been building in Congress over the perception that India stepped up contacts with Iran this year, just weeks after the initial bill was approved by Congress. Lawmakers "are not just alarmed but actually outraged by India's outreach to Iran," one aide said.
The letter was signed by Reps. Tom Lantos (D-Calif.), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee; Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (Fla.), the panel's ranking Republican; Howard L. Berman (D-Calif.); Gary L. Ackerman (D-N.Y.), chairman of the Middle East and South Asia subcommittee; Mike Pence (Ind.), the subcommittee's ranking Republican; Brad Sherman (D-Calif.), chairman of the terrorism and nonproliferation subcommittee; and Ed Royce (Calif.), that subcommittee's ranking Republican.
"It is difficult for us to fathom why India, a democracy engaged in its own struggle against terrorism, would want to enhance security cooperation with a repressive government widely regarded as the world's most active state sponsor of terrorism," the letter said. It added that "India's pursuit of closer relations with Iran appears to be inconsistent with the letter and spirit" of Bush and Singh's announcement of a "global partnership" between the two countries.
Congressional aides said a subtext of the letter is growing concern in Congress that the administration is too eager to wrap up negotiations with India. Menon negotiated with U.S. officials in Washington this week, and both sides reported that they hope to strike a final deal later this month.
An Indian Embassy official said that he had not seen the letter but that Menon's comments on Tuesday had addressed the issue. Opinion by Stanley Kurtz of The Corner
An India-Iran connection may seem odd, in light of Indias interest in facing down Islamist terror. But Indias real concern is Pakistan. In a world of nuclear proliferation, Irans Shiite bomb will be countered by Sunni bombs in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and perhaps other Gulf states. These bombs would likely be created with Pakistani technological assistance. So in simultaneously dealing with America and Iran, India is simply trying to gather all available balancing forces against its rival Pakistan. From our point of view, this is a disastrous break in the firewall were trying to set up against Islamist terror. From Indias point of view, this is good positioning against Pakistan.
All this is a foreshadowing of a world in which Iran has the bomb. Once Iran has nuclear arms, and other Islamic states follow, well see ever-shifting alliances, in which American will be only one player, not much more powerful than any other player. We will lose allies and/or see our technology going to our enemies through friends who are not entirely our friends. The total effect will be a drastic diminution of American power. In a sense, its already happening. Indias move toward Iran is already probably influenced by a judgement that Iran will soon be nuclear, and is unlikely to be stopped by the West. Are we really ready for this new world?
#1
It is also the question of oil (and gas).
China has totally beaten India in the contest for oil and gas reserves. While Chinese oil companies have been buying up exploration blocks, Indian state companies have been hobbled as they needed approvals. While China may have paid more than the fair price, they at least have the oil and gas fields. India does not.
China can also buy Uranium on the international market. India cannot. So no expansion of nuclear power.
So the deals for Iranian oil and gas fields are very important for India. Gas is supposed to delivered by both LNG and pipeline.
The pipeline deal of course will give Pakistan a powerful weapon against India
Posted by: John Frum ||
05/03/2007 11:51 Comments ||
Top||
Chief of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) Altaf Hussain spoke to Federal Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao Wednesday on the phone from London to tell him that he believed that the administration of Lal Masjid, Jamia Hafsa and Jamia Fareedia were behind the suicide attack on the rally in Charsadda in which Sherpao was injured. "The administration of Lal Masjid continuously threatened suicide attacks on the record," he said. "But the leaders of the ruling party took them as innocent [statements]. Allah saved [Sherpao's] life, otherwise the terrorists had enough to succeed."
Hussain appreciated Sherpao's work to curb religious extremism, saying that it was because of this that they were targeting him The MQM and he supported Sherpao's work and were with him at every step of the way. The MQM leader said that religious extremists were not serving any cause of Islam and in fact were working against the religion of peace and prosperity. Without naming the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid-e-Azam leadership, Hussain said that one segment of the ruling party was openly supporting Jamia Hafsa.
This article starring:
Altaf Hussain
Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao
Jamia Fareedia
Jamia Hafsa
Lal Masjid
Muttahida Qaumi Movement
Posted by: Fred ||
05/03/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
The federal government has expressed concerns over the rising Talibanisation in the NWFP province and has written a letter to the provincial administration to take measures to counter it, Aaj television reported.
Interior Ministry Spokesman Javed Iqbal Cheema on Wednesday said the federal government expected a positive response from the NWFP government. Cheema said Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao would lead the Pakistani delegation in the Pak-Afghan joint meeting in Afghanistan where issues like border security and bilateral relations would be discussed. He said the government would provide security to the chief justice if he travelled to Lahore by car, the channel added.
This article starring:
Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao
Interior Ministry Spokesman Javed Iqbal Cheema
Posted by: Fred ||
05/03/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
The only reason for them to check talibanization is to see if it's on schedule.
From Compass Direct
Iraqi Christians fled their homes over the weekend [April 14-15] after armed Sunni extremists threatened to kill them if they did not convert to Islam within 24 hours .... Six Christian families from the Mualimien neighborhood of Baghdads Dora district have relocated to a church elsewhere in the city .... Armed Sunnis told the families on Saturday (April 14) that an amir (independent Muslim prince or ruler) had issued a fatwa or judgment based on Islamic law against Doras Christians, the source said.
They called the Christians infidels and told them, If you dont convert to Islam or leave your homes in 24 hours, we will kill you, the source told Compass after speaking with a member of the church helping the displaced Christians. The source was unable to confirm an April 15 report from the news website Iraq Slogger that militants had printed the fatwa on fliers distributed throughout the neighborhood.
According to Ainkawa.com, an Arabic-language Christian website that first reported the news on Saturday evening (April 14), the extremists prevented fleeing Christian families from taking any personal belongings with them. .... Most of the Christian people have now left Mualimien, said a pastor, who himself recently moved away from Dora to escape the daily violence. No one was injured, they just all got out. ....
Located in southern Baghdad, Dora was at one time home to a large Christian community. Church bombings in August, October and November 2004, followed by increasing violence between extremist Muslim groups and Iraqi and U.S. forces, prompted the beginning of a Christian exodus from the neighborhood.
Last fall Iraqs only Chaldean seminary and college, located in Dora, postponed classes until December after several priests on staff were kidnapped. The institutions eventually relocated to Ainkawa, a Christian village outside of Erbil in Iraqs Kurdish region. ....
Speak with the churches around the world and remind the brothers to pray for our churches in Baghdad, [a] pastor told Compass. Pray that the Lord would give us peace and good days to see what Gods will is in this violence.
SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt - Iraq on Wednesday urged participants at the upcoming conference in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh to cancel its debt and help restore security. We are urging the international community to cancel Iraqs debt and we ask participants to help stabilise Iraq, government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh told reporters. The security and stability of Iraq is in the interest of all countries in the region and the world. Each country participating in this conference can help rebuild Iraq, Dabbagh said.
The two-day conference starts in earnest on Thursday with the launch of the International Compact with Iraq (ICI), an initiative providing a framework for Iraqs security and economic development.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/03/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
(AKI) - As US investigators seek to verify through DNA tests that the head of al-Qaeda in Iraq was killed recently in clashes north of Baghdad, Egyptian daily al-Ahram has revealed new biographical details about the man who stepped into the shoes of the late Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Behind the pseudonym al-Masri, the paper says, is Abdel Muniem Ezzedin Ali Ismayl, born 21 December 1969 in the eastern provinces of Egypt. He did not finish his university studies and is believed to have used various battle names during his Islamist militancy; Abu Jihad al-Masri, Abu Al-Darda, Yusuf Hadad, Yusuf Labib and Labib Hadad.
Al-Masri was sentenced in absentia by an Egyptian court in 1999 to seven years in jail because he had left the country at the end of the 1980s for Pakistan, from where he then moved to Afghanistan. His move to Iraq was reportedly under the urgings of Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri who wanted him to lead the local franchise after the death last June of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
The paper's report said that they trusted him to manage the economic aspects of al-Qaeda in Iraq. According to an accord between al-Masri and bin Laden, some of the money of the Iraqi cells was to be transferred to the 'head office' in Afghanistan. Al-Masri is also considered an expert in explosives, the paper noted.
The Egyptian newspaper said al-Masri's presence was also reported in Iran at a time of contacts between the regime in Tehran and al-Qaeda to allow his safe passage to Iraq. The version given by al-Ahram coincides with that provided by a renowned leader of Egyptian Islamist militants, Montaser al-Zeyat, in the Saudi newspaper al-Watan. Despite the announcement by the interior ministry that al-Masri had been killed im combat with tribal Sunni militants in al-Anbar, the US command has not yet confirmed the news of the death of al-Masri and is awaiting a DNA test on the corpses of five dead insurgents.
The Islamic State in Iraq, the group into which al-Qaeda has merged, has denied the reports of his death.
This article starring:
ABDEL MUNIEM EZZEDIN ALI ISMAIL
al-Qaeda in Iraq
ABU AL DARDA
al-Qaeda in Iraq
ABU JIHAD AL MASRI
al-Qaeda in Iraq
ABU MUSAB AL ZARQAWI
al-Qaeda in Iraq
AIMAN AL ZAWAHIRI
al-Qaeda in Iraq
LABIB HADAD
al-Qaeda in Iraq
Montaser al-Zeyat
YUSUF HADAD
al-Qaeda in Iraq
YUSUF LABIB
al-Qaeda in Iraq
Islamic State in Iraq
Posted by: Fred ||
05/03/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Interesting. Sounds like the Egyptian paper was given the ok to print his bio. Now, why would you release this info on the up-to-now unknown leader...oh, right. He's dead, Jim.
Posted by: Steve ||
05/03/2007 7:37 Comments ||
Top||
The Iraqi government and its tribal allies were scouring dangerous territory on Wednesday for evidence to prove their claims that al-Qaeda's Iraq chief had been killed in a clash between armed factions. Brigadier General Abdel Karim Khalaf, the Interior Ministry's operations director, admitted Iraq has still not acquired any body or human remains to back up intelligence reports that Abu Ayyub al-Masri is dead. "So far we don't yet have it, but there are efforts under way to look for the body," said Khalaf, whose claim 24 hours earlier that al-Masri had been killed was scorned by al-Qaeda and treated with caution by his United States allies.
A coalition of Sunni tribes that has vowed to defeat al-Qaeda has claimed responsibility for al-Masri's alleged death, claiming that they tracked him to an area just north of Baghdad on Tuesday and killed him in a dawn ambush. "We have evidence and eyewitnesses and our contacts with the tribes there all confirm the killing," said Hamid al-Hayis, head of the Anbar Salvation Council, the armed wing of the Anbar Awakening, an alliance of sheikhs.
Al-Hayis said finding proof of the deaths of al-Masri and a small group of fellow al-Qaeda militants is proving difficult, because the orchards and villages of the Nibae area near Taji are still partly controlled by insurgents. "The area is still under their control; early this morning we sent an armed group to scout the situation, but we haven't heard back from them yet," he said in a telephone interview.
According to US commanders, al-Masri -- who is said to be a veteran Egyptian jihadi and car-bomb expert -- took control of al-Qaeda's Iraqi franchise in June last year after the death of his predecessor, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Since then, he has been reported killed or wounded several times, and Tuesday's new report has been greeted with caution by the US military. "I am still not aware of any evidence or presentation of remains or anything like that," US spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Chris Garver said. "We are conducting dialogue with our Iraqi counterparts." Al-Qaeda scornfully dismissed the claim in an internet message.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/03/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
If he's not dead, then I think he should prove it. He should come in to Baghdad's Firdos Square and stand there on the statue base and show us.
The Iraqi government has sent a draft oil law to parliament, a major step towards meeting one of the political benchmarks Washington has set for Baghdad. The announcement by Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani on Wednesday came on the eve of a major conference in Egypt where industrialized powers and Iraq's neighbors will discuss how to stabilize Iraq and seek reforms in return for reconstruction. The draft is crucial to regulating how wealth from Iraq's oil reserves would be shared by its sectarian and ethnic groups.
It was passed by cabinet in February and hailed at the time by Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki as a pillar of Iraqi unity. But a dispute between the central government and autonomous, oil-rich Kurdistan over control of the world's third largest oil reserves delayed its submission.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/03/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Wednesday she could address any question from Iran during meetings in Egypt and sought to tone down expectations about talks to stabilize Iraq. Speaking en route to Egypt's Sharm el-Sheikh resort for meetings that include Iran, Iraq's other neighbors and world powers, Rice ruled out "full-scale negotiations" with Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki but said she would not avoid an exchange.
"If we encounter each other then I am certainly planning to be polite and see what that encounter brings," said Rice, who attended a meeting with Mottaki about Iraq last September at the United Nations but did not have any contact with him.
Rice said talks with Iran, which could be the most substantive high-level U.S. meeting with Tehran in nearly three decades, would focus on Iraq but she would not cut off a conversation if it turned to Tehran's nuclear program. "I think I can handle any question that is asked of me. If we encounter each other and wander to other subjects I am prepared to address them at least in terms of American policy," added Rice before a refuelling stop in Ireland.
In London, U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns said the talks in Egypt "will be important because Secretary Rice will be seated around the table with the Syrian foreign minister and we hope and think with the Iranian foreign minister, although the Iranians have been a little bit ambivalent."
Posted by: Fred ||
05/03/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
HAARETZ > Israeli Envoy to USA > SYRIA IS ARMING ITSELF AT LEVELS NOT SEEN SINCE 1973 WAR [YOM KIPPUR WAR].
#1
The Arabs still don't understand a very important difference between US and them. We lose or even not do what we expect we admit the loss first (you cannot fix a problem if you can't even admit you have one) then we hash rehash debate rehash rince ect... until we figure out the failing change things to fix it and avoid such in the future hence every loss means enhancement.
Arabs lose but cannot admit it so they either get creative in how they actually won by losing or something, or they blame some outside source for the failings (which of course makes everyone get a warm fuzzy becuase it wasn't thier fualt or failings). That means every loss just shows all thier enemies thier weak points that due to thier inability to take responsibility for or even admit will be there next time ready to exploit again.
If the Arabs think next time they lock horn with Isreal it will be like last time they are in for a very very rude awakening. I would be more than willing to put money on that as fact.
Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni asked Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to quit but he brushed aside calls from her and other leading figures yesterday, acknowledging he was in a difficult position but vowing to fix his mistakes. In other words, he's clinging to power until the absolute bitter end.
Olmert won a critical show of support from lawmakers within his ruling Kadima party and forced the blocs parliamentary head to quit two days after an official report blamed Olmert for serious failures in handling a war last year in Lebanon. Kadima as a party's clinging to power in the hope they can pull something off, secure in the knowledge that once they're out they're never going to get in again, at least not until Attention Span Deficit Disorder kicks in.
The prime minister enjoyed unprecedented support here, Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres said after three hours of intensive argument among the 29-strong parliamentary caucus. That being the only place he's got any support...
The Kadima lawmakers had decided to strengthen the coalition in order to maintain stability in the regime, Israeli media said, with some declaring Olmert the victor in a showdown with the partys deputy leader Tzipi Livni. And Pyrrhus was the victor in his fight with the Romans...
Just two hours earlier, Livni had convened a news conference to reveal she had urged Olmert to quit and that she wanted his job. Surely she can't be expecting to hold it for long? I guess "Prime Minister of Israel" is a pretty nice resume entry, but she's going to end up looking like a job hopper.
I told the prime minister that I thought to resign was the right thing to do, she told a riveted television audience. Doing the right thing doesn't appear to be at the top of his list, does it?
But meeting lawmakers of the centrist party, Olmert, as quoted by a senior official, said: I am in a personally uncomfortable position, but I will not shirk my responsibility and will fix all the mistakes. He's intentionally missing the point that he's the mistake. Kadimas parliamentary leader Avigdor Yitzhaki resigned in protest when Olmert rejected his call to step down. Olmert's ship of state's been hulled. There's water everywhere. Standing foursquare on the deck he hollered at Avigdor: "Y'wanna leave? Then fine! Go ahead and leave!" And Avigdor said: "Hokay."
Under Kadimas rules, Olmert cannot be ousted. Under the rules of politix, clinging to power when your time has gone means your party's gonna take it in the shorts.
The only course of action is to persuade him to resign or to hold a primary which would take time to organize. Parliament could force Olmert out through a no-confidence vote but there does not yet appear to be a majority to do so. I have no idea why not.
At an emergency Cabinet meeting earlier yesterday, where ministers voted to oversee implementation of changes recommended by the commission, Olmert acknowledged personal failings. But he said: I suggest that all those who are in a hurry to take advantage of this report and make political gain slow down. Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said he hoped the turmoil in Israel would not set back efforts to restart peace talks. Saeb's licking his chops at the thought of getting as much as possible from negotiations with a powerless government.
The two frontrunners to replace Olmert are Livni, 48, and Peres, 83. Former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of the rightist Likud party, a favorite in opinion polls, could also pose a challenge if Olmerts government is toppled. My guess, which probably doesn't count since I'm not privy to the inner workings of Israeli politix, would be that he'd win in a walk after Olmert's pathetic performance.
Some in Kadima, and among key coalition partners, such as the Labor party, have suggested they were sticking by Olmert out of concern of losing significant parliamentary clout if a revolt against him were to bring an early national election.
This article starring:
Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni
Former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
Kadimas parliamentary leader Avigdor Yitzhaki
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert
Saeb Erekat
Posted by: Fred ||
05/03/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
Polls from a couple of weeks ago were showing Bibi winning in a walk against OLMERT AND PERETZ. Change leadership of either Kadima or Labour, and the respective parties do pretty well.
Face it, Israel is gonna HAVE to make peace with SOME pals, at some point, and on terms Likud (minus Kadima) will never accept (Bibi wont come right out and say HE wont accept them, hes like that, but when push comes to shove he wont, or at least most Israelis on both sides assume he wont) And the majority of Israelis know that. And of that majority, a huge number dont trust Labor to do the negotiating, and a fortiori dont trust Meretz.
Whats that leave? Kadima.
Kadima aint going anywhere, unless Likud moves substantially back toward the center, and I dont see that happening, too much gnashing of teeth on the part of the Likud base, even Bibi couldnt pull it off.
I think the real reason that Kadima is holding on, is they dont think Livni can hold the coalition together. Shes too dovish for Leiberman (which isnt saying shes all that dovish) and Shas, a an ultraO religious party is antsy about a woman PM, IIUC. That would force new elections, and that would mean fewer seats for Kadima. They would survive, but as a smaller party, with fewer ministries, possibly junior in a cabinet to either Labour or Likud.
Why theres no votes for no confidence. Well its not just Kadima that doesnt want elections yet. Shas and Leiberman apparently dont either. And Labour is about to have its own primary. I think theyd like to get through that first, and then survey the ground.
OTOH, if calling for new elections looks like a winning issue, Labour could change real fast.
#5
I always understood the president of Israel was intended to be a figurehead having tea with foreign heads of state, like the king of England. His power is to lie in his moral authority... but I could be wrong.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert fended off a public call to resign from his foreign minister by winning critical support from party loyalists on Wednesday amid a crisis over his handling of the Lebanon war. "The parliamentary bloc stands behind the government and the prime minister," lawmakers from Olmert's Kadima party said in a statement issued after hours of intense debate, declaring him the victor in a showdown with Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni.
The crisis broke on Monday when an official inquiry savaged Olmert's conduct of last year's war with Hezbollah guerrillas. Just before the lawmakers met, Livni had convened a news conference to reveal she had urged Olmert to quit and she wanted his job. "I told the prime minister that I thought to resign was the right thing to do," she told a riveted television audience. But in the parliamentary meeting with members of his centrist party, Olmert, as quoted by a senior official, said: "I am in a personally uncomfortable position, but I will not shirk my responsibility and will fix all the mistakes."
The Kadima bloc's parliamentary leader, Avigdor Yitzhaki, resigned during the meeting in protest when Olmert rejected his calls to step down. The fate of Livni, a 48-year-old rising star and deputy leader of Kadima, now hangs in the balance. "The prime minister enjoyed unprecedented support here," veteran Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres said after hours of argument among the 29-strong parliamentary caucus.
Under Kadima's rules, Olmert cannot be ousted. The only course of action is to persuade him to resign or to hold a primary which would take time to organize.
This article starring:
Avigdor Yitzhaki
Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert
Posted by: Fred ||
05/03/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Who is the guy in the photo? He doesn't look very bright. Custer?
#4
That famous day in history the men of the 7th Cavalry went riding on
And from the rear a voice was heard
A brave you man with a trembling word rang loud and cleal
What am I doing here??
Please Mr. Custer, I dont wanna go
Hey, Mr. Custer, please dont make me go
I had a dream last night about the coming fight
Somebody yelled "attack!"
And there I stood with a arrow in my back.
Please Mr. Custer, I dont wanna go forward Ho!! aww
Look at them bushes out there
Theyre moving and theres a injun behind every one
Hey, Mr. Custeryou mind if I be excused the rest of the afternoon?
HEY CHARLIE, DUCK YER HEAD!!
Hmm, youre a little bit late on that one, Charlie
Hooh, I bet that smarts!
They were sure of victory, the men of the 7th Cavalry, as they rode on
But then from the rear a voice was heard
That same brave voice with the trembling word rang loud and clear
What am I doin here??
Please Mr. Custer, I dont wanna go
Listen, Mr. Custer, please dont make me go
Theres a redskin waiting out there, just fix'in to take my hair
A coward Ive been called, cuz I dont wanna wind up dead or bald
Please Mr. Custer, I dont wanna go forward HO aww
I wonder what the injun word for friend is
Lets seefriend-- kemo sabe, thats it
KEMO SABE!, HEY OUT THEREKEMO SABE!
Nope, that ain't it
Look at them darned injuns
Theyre running around like a bunch of wild Indians-heh, heh, heh
Nah, this aint no time for joking
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
05/03/2007 13:08 Comments ||
Top||
Aishath Aniya was arrested on Thursday morning in connection with an article she wrote criticising the wearing of the veil. She was apprehended by police at around 9:40am outside the offices of Minivan Daily newspaper as she parked her motorcycle. Aniya was tossed lifted into the back of a police van and taken to Police Headquarters, before being transferred to the Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs for questioning. She refused to answer questions without a lawyer present and arranged to return to the Supreme Council on Sunday at 10:30 with a lawyer. She was released without charge.
Religious scholars at the Supreme Council told her that the article, which objected to the concept that a veil must be worn because men cannot control their temptations, was against Islam, and against Islamic principles.
Police had come to Aniyas family home on six separate occasions on Tuesday and Wednesday asking to see her, but she was not there. Officers insisted on seeing her bedroom and took her phone number from her family.
After her article was published in Minivan Daily on March 20, Aniya was told to repent or resign from her post as Deputy Secretary General for the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), and chose to resign. She went into hiding for her own safety, and has been keeping a low profile since the incident. Since this article is from the Maldives, I wasn't sure if the "India-Pakistan" category would be the most appropriate or not.
Washington will give the Philippines 11 second-hand army "Huey" helicopters next week to help fight communist and Muslim rebels, the Philippine air force chief said on Wednesday. Lieutenant-General Horatio Tolentino said the 11 Vietnam War-era UH-1H helicopters were due to arrive from the United States on May 9 at a former U.S. navy base in Subic.
"These aircraft were promised by U.S. President Bush when he visited Manila in 2003," said Tolentino, who grounded all 41 operational UH-1H craft in the country last week after one crashed in the central Philippines on April 28, killing nine people and injuring two. "Accidents could happen whether an aircraft is brand new or a refurbished."
Tolentino said air force experts had ruled out engine trouble as the cause of the crash, outside an airbase on Mactan island, blaming nylon strings used in kite-flying.
The Philippines has 60 helicopters, mostly second-hand, donated by the United States as part of military assistance to fight Islamic militants in the south of the mainly Catholic state.
#2
Flew just such a machine in that scenic but sometimes unpleasant land, gorb.
You are quite right, a nylon string absolutely will not bring it down. The leading edge of the rotor will either snap it or wind it around the rotor shaft, chewing up the kite when it gets to the rotor. I actually saw a length of clothesline wound around a rotor shaft and they were known to break good size branches with few ill effects. A helicopter is just not as fragile as it appears to be. So many were lost in Vietnam because they were shot at on practically every mission by every VC or NVA within sight, let alone range. I was shot at with everything up to 57mm AAA (in Laos). I was hit more than a few times (though not by a 57) and lived to tell the tale.
#3
I heard that the rotors are composite nowadays. Sand chews them up. So some clever guy figured out that if you put duct tape on the leading edges that it will protect them quite well! When it starts looking worn out, they just replace the duct tape!
That Huey looks like quite a durable chopper. Without it I doubt there would have been a Vietnam War!
#4
Groluns, don't look too closely at these second hand helos - you might recognize the bullet holes. These birds aren't quite as old as the B-52 fleet, but they're getting close.
#5
Duct tape is the state tape here in Alaska. You can do anything with it.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
05/03/2007 9:16 Comments ||
Top||
#6
Manila, 3 May (AKI) - Muslim rebels in the Philippines are using kites as weapons against military helicopters. This is according to a veteran pilot with the Filipino airforce who had fought in Mindanao, the island where Islamic groups have been fighting for independence for about 30 years. "At first I did not want to believe it, but when I started flying in Mindanao and I saw those big kites, I learned to avoid them," said the unamed pilot in a report on the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post. "We noticed this was happening along our flight path whenever we conducted military operations."
"The ones I saw had a span of [over a metre] and sometimes the nylon strings were as thick as your thumb," he said. "The kites would be flying [up to nearly 1,000 metres], higher than the helicopter, so we would not see the string," he added. In the report, the pilot said that he was convinced that the Muslim rebels flew such kites to make life difficult for the pilots.
The airforce spokesperson, Colonel Epifanio Panzo, said that he had heard reports of rebels who used kites as weapons, especially in the Sulu archipelago where the terrorist group, Abu Sayyaf, operates. This issue about using kites as weapons was raised after a military helicopter crashed in Cebu, in the central Philippines, because it was entangled in kite strings. Nine people were killed in the helicopter crash. In any case, it is believed that there are no Islamic rebels operating in Cebu.
The Philippines airforce has some 60 second hand helicopters that have been donated by Washington. The helicopters are used exclusively to fight the terrorist threat in the south of the country. In the past few days, the United States have officially donated another 11 "Huey" helicopters to be used against the communist rebels of the New People's Army (NPA), which is active mainly in the central and northern parts of the country and which aims to transform the Philippines into a Maoist state.
Posted by: Steve ||
05/03/2007 10:13 Comments ||
Top||
#7
Of course it can't be "their fault" the aircraft crashed. That country has taken the blame game to a new level. With them the truth is what ever the first person says it is. Reality and truth have nothing to do with it.
First, the Huey is just as strong and capable as it was 40 years ago. The aircraft sent to the PI are refurbished and are in better shape than one would think. They are delivered with detailed historical and maintenance records which the Filipino's promply throw out. They perform almost no preventive maintenance and only fix parts when they break. Bad plan when broken parts mean crashes.
In 2003 they crashed two helicopters and their last fighter jet. All three crashed because they ran out of fuel in flight. The fighter crashed into a school, thank god it was a holiday. There was no post crash fire.
GORB-These are delivered with the old style blades. They are easier to maintain and more durable than composite.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
05/03/2007 10:14 Comments ||
Top||
#8
"The ones I saw had a span of [over a metre] and sometimes the nylon strings were as thick as your thumb," he said.
Again I call BS. At least for a kite that small. Nylon rope is heavy. Perhaps a three meter kite? EVen then, when the chopper is found, it should have a kilometer of nylon rope wrapped around the rotor. I'm sure you'd see pictures of that the first time it happened.
#9
Duct tape is the state tape here in Alaska. You can do anything with it.
Q.) What does duct tape have in common with "The Force"?
A.) Both have a light and dark side and are the universal binding constant.
sometimes the nylon strings were as thick as your thumb
Horseshit! A three meter kite (or whatever) could not hoist a half-kilometer tether of centimeter diameter nylon rope. Such a coil would weight many kilos. Total crap!
SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt - The United States and Syria could hold their first substantive high-level talks in years as early as today, energizing an international gathering on Iraqs future.
Syria, branded a state sponsor of terrorism and accused of allowing terrorists to operate across its border into Iraq, has been eager to rekindle relations with the United States. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice indicated she may be open to the idea.
Anything, anything to get the world's attention off the Hariri inquiry.
Wouldnt rule it out, Rice said when asked about meeting with Syrias foreign minister, a former ambassador to Washington. Well see whos there and what conversations take place.
Perhaps you could read the Syrians the riot act, Condi? Just a suggestion.
Rice said shes also willing to talk with Irans foreign minister, Manouchehr Mottaki. Relations with Iran have been frozen since the 1979 storming of the U.S. embassy in Tehran. Iran is also listed correctly by the United States as a major state sponsor of terrorism, and accused of arming, training and financing terrorists who have killed U.S. soldiers and Iraqis. So far, the Bush administration rejected calls for direct talks with both Syria and Iran.
If we encounter each other, then Im certainly planning to be polite, to see what that encounter brings, Rice said of a potential discussion with Mottaki.
I'm certain you could insult his mustache politely.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said yesterday Tehran would welcome talks with the United States on the sidelines of the conference, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported. The Iranian nation welcomes honest dialogue, Ahmadinejad said in a speech in Iran. But he said it would be a mistake to think the United States could pressure Iran into rolling back its nuclear program with dialogue.
We pretty much knew that, which is why Pentagon planners are busy these days ...
The two-day conference is expected to bring together officials from Iraq, the United States, Iran, Russia, China, Europe and Arab nations to talk about Iraqs economic and political stability. No U.S. officials would outline specific plans for informal sessions with Syria or Iran, but any contact would probably not be as casual as Rice suggested. Even a brief encounter would probably come only after careful behind-the-scenes orchestration.
Iranian authorities arrested a former nuclear negotiator "for security reasons", the official IRNA news agency said on Wednesday. Hossein Mousavian, considered a moderate conservative by analysts, was a member of Iran's nuclear negotiating team with the European Union and head of the foreign policy committee on the Supreme National Security Council. Like most other members of the team, he was replaced by more hardline officials when President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad took office in 2005.
"Mousavian has been arrested for security reasons," IRNA quoted an "unofficial source" as saying. "Mousavian was arrested on Monday in his house in Tehran." The ILNA news agency earlier said the reason for his arrest and charges against him had not been announced. Mousavian's office declined to comment.
During the 2005 presidential race, Ahmadinejad said Iran's nuclear negotiators had been too timid, although after his election win Iran continued talks with the EU to find a diplomatic solution to its nuclear dispute.
This article starring:
Hossein Mousavian
Posted by: Fred ||
05/03/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[8 views]
Top|| File under:
Countries bordering Iraq and those with a stake in its future meet in Egypt on Thursday and Friday to discuss how to contain the conflict and prevent it sucking in Iraq's neighbors. While diplomats are skeptical security can improve inside Iraq in the short term, some hope the meeting will increase pressure to end external support for different factions and instead emphasize programs to help rebuild the country.
The highlight of the two days of talks would be a meeting on the sidelines between U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, a first at this level since the Bush administration took office in 2001. Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari told Reuters he expected Rice to have talks in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh with Mottaki and Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem.
Such meetings would mark a reversal of policy by the Bush administration, which rejected last year a high-level commission's recommendation that it open a dialogue with the two governments to help ease the situation in Iraq. "I believe there will be a bilateral meeting between the Iranians and the Americans," Zebari said.
The United States has ruled out what Rice called "full-scale negotiations" with Iran, widely regarded as the neighboring country most able to influence events inside Iraq. "I don't expect big things from this meeting. There should be a strong and sincere dialogue between the United States and Iran and Syria, but I don't have the impression that the current American administration is really willing to do that," said Hassan Nafaa, a political scientist at Cairo University.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/03/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
The Iranian President says Islam is the religion of justice and kindness with the Prophet Mohammad (PTUI PBUH) standing as a firm symbol of resistance.
"E pur se muove!"
Addressing the attendees at the first Iranian conference on the Culture of Resistance, Ahmadinejad said disobedience of God would result in deprivation of divine blessings. "It is quite regrettable that nowadays Islam's enemies are going every way to reflect it as the religion of violence. However, they should note that the sun never permanently stays behind clouds," he said.
He expressed concern over the current chaotic situation in the world which jeopardizes human dignity, adding that "continuous threat, discrimination, and poverty are on the rise, which is obvious in the 39 percent increase of civilian war casualties during the last year."
Ahmadinejad condemned the governments which have no care for the life and dignity of humans. "To satisfy their lust for power, they destroy every one no matter what their religion," he noted.
Later in his speech he referred to Israel as a regime which has made millions of civilians homeless and is continually threatening other nations and is " blatantly backed by the west in spite of all these crimes." He slammed the US as a terrorist government which claims the Iraq war to be an attack on terrorism. This is a new concept of terrorism, he said, which has been developed by western powers and its consequences will pass through next generations. "Some fake governments which are backed by western nations are establishing terrorist organizations facing no opposition. Islam is nowadays the victim of an organized terror," Ahmadinejad concluded.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/03/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[8 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
I'd love for Ahmadinejad to step out into the parking lot and try to say that.
#2
Look on the bright side: We agree on the fundamentals! Jeopardizing human life and dignity is bad, threat discrimination and poverty are bad, civilian casualties are bad, terrorism is bad, state-sponsored terrorism is bad, passing down terrorism to your children is bad, and fake governments are bad.
In fact, since we agree on so many things, I don't see why everyone doesn't just pack up and go home!
The head of Florida's most prominent Muslim group told the FBI on Wednesday that he had received a death threat. Altaf Ali, executive director of the Florida chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said he received the threat calling Islam "the religion of Satan" in the mail Monday.
The two-page letter came in an envelope addressed to him in large letters, he said. Inside, a handwritten message read, "Death to Islam," and called Ali "a walking dead man." It also included a cartoon picturing nuclear bombs raining down on mosques in Medina and Mecca, the two holiest cities in Islam, he said.
Ali said he did not report the threat until he talked to his wife and realized how frightened she was. "It's only when my wife became alarmed that I saw this was more important," Ali said. "She said, `Listen, can you put up the hurricane shutters?'"
Two FBI agents arrived at his office Wednesday morning, he said. Judy Orihuela, a spokeswoman for the FBI's Miami field office, confirmed the bureau was investigating the death threat. "We want to double-check to see if there are similar letters being sent," she said.
Ali said the cartoon and the letter's text closely resembled a letter sent to the director of CAIR's Michigan branch this week. Last year, the council reported a rise in discrimination and hate crimes against Muslims in the United States, and Ali wrote in a recent South Florida Sun-Sentinel opinion piece that vandalism against South Florida Islamic centers has surged.
Ali said more graffiti at local mosques and anti-Muslim discrimination often follow periods of unrest in the Muslim world, but the latest rise in vandalism seemed unrelated to news events.
The most recent vandalism against Muslims in South Florida occurred at Nur Ul Islam Academy in Cooper City, where a nontoxic white powder was found spread around the school.
Sofian Abdelaziz, director of the American Muslim Association of North America in Miami, described menacing e-mails as a constant in his line of work, although he has never received anything on the level of a death threat. Most aggravating, he said: Islamic texts he mails to interested people sometimes go missing. On one occasion, some of the books in a box he mailed had been replaced by Christian texts when they arrived at their destination, he said.
"We have to keep reaching out," Abdelaziz said. "People who understand us better know there is bad and good in every culture. This is all coming from lack of knowledge."
#2
I believe it. Sounds pretty benign though, compared to the rantings against infidels from various mosques every day. I mean it's not like Joe Skinhead actually HAS nukes to drop on Mecca.
#7
It also included a cartoon picturing nuclear bombs raining down on mosques in Medina and Mecca, the two holiest cities in Islam, he said.
And the average Joe Sixpack who might be inclined to send such a missive MIGHT know about Mecca, but he sure as hell wouldn't know about Medina. I call BS.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
05/03/2007 11:51 Comments ||
Top||
#8
I think Medina is where the US Open was played in '99. The religion of Satan wasn't entered.
#11
CochinoM, I grew up in Glen Ellyn, caddied at Medina CC in the 50's, (grandfather was Chief Bookkeeper there in the 20's-40's) outside of the Shriner hats, never saw a shrine there.
#15
Ship...the only Mojo I recall 'stealing' was the Titleist I found in the boondocks off the 6th fairway...however, there is still a lot of multi-denominational praying going on near the 18th. :)
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.
From the desk of The Brussels Journal 
British and US officials today denied a report that the US was seeking ways of imposing entry restrictions for visiting Britons of Pakistani origin, following a spate of UK bomb plots involving citizens with links to Pakistan.
The Iraqi government and its tribal allies were scouring dangerous territory on Wednesday for evidence to prove their claims that al-Qaeda's Iraq chief had been killed in a clash between armed factions. Brigadier General Abdel Karim Khalaf, the Interior Ministry's operations director, admitted Iraq has still not acquired any body or human remains to back up intelligence reports that Abu Ayyub al-Masri is dead. "So far we don't yet have it, but there are efforts under way to look for the body," said Khalaf, whose claim 24 hours earlier that al-Masri had been killed was scorned by al-Qaeda and treated with caution by his United States allies.
Al-Hayis said finding proof of the deaths of al-Masri and a small group of fellow al-Qaeda militants is proving difficult, because the orchards and villages of the Nibae area near Taji are still partly controlled by insurgents. "The area is still under their control; early this morning we sent an armed group to scout the situation, but we haven't heard back from them yet," he said in a telephone interview.
The Iraqi government has sent a draft oil law to parliament, a major step towards meeting one of the political benchmarks Washington has set for Baghdad. The announcement by Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani on Wednesday came on the eve of a major conference in Egypt where industrialized powers and Iraq's neighbors will discuss how to stabilize Iraq and seek reforms in return for reconstruction. The draft is crucial to regulating how wealth from Iraq's oil reserves would be shared by its sectarian and ethnic groups.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Wednesday she could address any question from Iran during meetings in Egypt and sought to tone down expectations about talks to stabilize Iraq. Speaking en route to Egypt's Sharm el-Sheikh resort for meetings that include Iran, Iraq's other neighbors and world powers, Rice ruled out "full-scale negotiations" with Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki but said she would not avoid an exchange.
Israeli 
Israeli 
Iranian authorities arrested a former nuclear negotiator "for security reasons", the official IRNA news agency said on Wednesday. 
Countries bordering Iraq and those with a stake in its future meet in Egypt on Thursday and Friday to discuss how to contain the conflict and prevent it sucking in Iraq's neighbors. While diplomats are skeptical security can improve inside Iraq in the short term, some hope the meeting will increase pressure to end external support for different factions and instead emphasize programs to help rebuild the country.
