The United Nations called on Sunday for international action against "a plague of piracy" off the coast of Somalia that is threatening to cut aid to one million people. Aye, lads! The UN's on it! The sealanes be safe now!
The U.N. World Food Programme (WFP) said the movement of aid supplies to the Horn of African country was under severe threat. In the latest attack on Saturday, a United Nations world food programme -contracted cargo ship narrowly escaped from hijacking 100 km south of the Somali capital Mogadishu in the port town of Merka, a source said. The pirates attacked the Jordanian-registered MV Victoria about 111 kilometres (68.97 miles) from Merka. It was on its way to the port of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania after delivering 4,000 tonnes of food aid to Merka.
The World Food Program cargo ship survived hijacking by pirates as soldiers hired to guard the Merka coast prevented the pirates from taking the ship. When the coastguards successfully rescued the ship from falling into the control of the pirates, there was an exchange of gunfire that lasted nearly an hour. One guard was killed during the gun battle in the Somali Indian Ocean, while it is unclear if there were any casualties on the pirates' side. The ship returned to Merka after the guards repulsed the attackers, WFP said.
I suggest a small American naval task force. Perhaps the new littoral ships, perhaps a frigate or two. Whatever we could reasonably spare. With simple rules of engagement: sink the pirate ships on sight and hang the pirates on the yardarms after appropriate, brief tribunals.
If we did that ... how long before the world would protest?
Posted by: Fred ||
05/21/2007 00:00 ||
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If we did that ... how long before the world would protest?
Two, maybe three seconds.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
05/21/2007 6:22 Comments ||
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So what is stopping the UN from placing security details with their own relief deliveries, and spare us the obvious whining?
Posted by: john ||
05/21/2007 7:04 Comments ||
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I think that we should get some kind of blue-ribbon commission together and find out why the Somalian pirates are so alienated and angry, and maybe we can address their grievances. It's only fair, ya know....
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
05/21/2007 8:30 Comments ||
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perhaps they're just tired of living. We can accomodate that
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/21/2007 8:32 Comments ||
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Let the French do it. Or the Germans, African Union, or anybody else. Why should we help?
#6
#5 Let the French do it. Or the Germans, African Union, or anybody else. Why should we help?
I don't know, but I think it might make great practice for some Marine air squadron of AV-8Bs from one of our LHAs. An LHA and two destroyers, cruising up and down the Somali coast, about 400 miles offshore, in radio silence. Wait for some ship to send an SOS, and swoop down upon the attackers. The one to try to get is the "mother ship". A couple of Harpoon missiles at the water line should do wonders.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
05/21/2007 19:11 Comments ||
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The UN bureaucracy's mad cause their cut hasn't arrived yet.
Britains Prince Harry, who was last week stopped from joining his regiments deployment to Iraq, could be sent to join troops in Afghanistan, a newspaper said on Sunday. News of the World said it had information about plans for the 22-year-old officer to join the fight against the Taliban, but was withholding key details.
Harry is a second lieutenant in the elite Blues and Royals regiment of the British Armys Household Cavalry, responsible for 11 soldiers and four Scmitar reconnaissance vehicles. Army chief General Sir Richard Dannatt blocked him from being sent to southern Iraq, due to threats against his life that would put his men in unacceptable danger. News of the World said that insurgents planned to hit both British camps in southern Iraq with chlorine bombs to be certain of getting the prince.
Harry is set to be posted to Afghanistan before 2008 and could be seconded to join a NATO command unit, Britains biggest-selling newspaper said. He would carry out low-risk operations and earn a campaign medal after serving for 30 days, said the weekly.
Meanwhile, The Observer newspaper said revelations about Harrys deployment in a war zone would be censored if the government agrees to a proposal that would ban media from reporting on such aspects of his military career.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/21/2007 00:00 ||
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Is that Harry in action ? I think his mission, wherever he journeys in Muslim territory, ought to be as a goodwill ambassador. His main assignment would be to approach moving tents from the rear and snatch the bags off them and expose them to some daylight. That ought to raise some rousing responses from the whiners.
From Geostrategy Direct, subscription. I took out the BS atomic weapons speculation parts from Interfax.
WASHINGTON The United States is scouting for allies in Central Asia to prepare a military option against Iran.
Diplomatic sources said the U.S. military has been bolstering its presence in the former Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan in what could mark preparations for air strikes against Iran. The sources said the U.S. Air Force has been particularly active in the Kyrgyz base of Manas near Bishkek.
"The use of Kyrgyzstan makes sense as Iraq, Turkey and the Gulf Arab states are no longer options in any strike against Iran," a diplomatic source said. "This doesn't mean that this will take place only that Kyrgyzstan is an option."
[On May 8, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice reiterated that the Bush administration has not ruled out force against Iran. Rice told the Dubai-based Al Arabiya satellite channel that President Bush "will not abandon the military option and I believe that we do not want him to do so."]
Iran has sought to counter the U.S. military presence in Kyrgyzstan. On May 3, Kyrgyz Foreign Minister Ednan Karabayev met Iranian Ambassador Mohammad Reza-Saburi and discussed expanding cooperation.
Iran maintains defense cooperation with neighboring Tajikistan.
Earlier this month Iranian Defense Minister Mostafa Najar signed a defense memorandum of understanding with his Tajik counterpart, Sherali Khairulloyev.
"During the talks on defense and military cooperation, we discussed educational, technical and engineering issues and other issues relating to the defense and military fields, as well as ways to strengthen peace, security and stability in the region," Najar said during his visit to Dushanbe. "We also discussed measures that could, God willing, help promote security and peace in the two states, as well as peace and stability in Central Asia."
The Washington-based Jamestown Foundation said in a report that Iran and Russia have sought to pressure Kyrgyzstan to expel the U.S. military from Manas as well as prevent efforts to relocate to Tajikistan. The report said Kyrgyzstan has been alarmed by the U.S. military shipments to Manas and the prospect that the base could be used in an attack on Iran. Our bud, Pooty Poot, terrorism fighter of the Steppe.
"Suggesting a potential threat posed to Iran from the U.S. base at Manas, even referring to far-fetched plans to attack it from Kyrgyzstan, brings yet more pressure on the U.S. military presence there," said Jamestown report, prepared by Roger McDermott. "This poses problems for U.S. planning staffs should the stay at Manas become untenable, since there are limited re-basing options within the region."
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
05/21/2007 15:53 ||
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I would think carrier based attacks would be a better option.
#2
IF we attack Iran, and that's a big if, it will come from multiple sources - Navy air, Tomahawk cruise missiles from ships and submarines, Air Force fighters from Iraq, Air Force bombers from several locations, and maybe even some stuff launched from US bases in the States, Guam, Hawaii, etc. A B-52 bomber has an UNREFUELED range of 10,000 miles. The range of the B-1 is only slightly less. They can be refueled as many times as needed. Use two crews, 12-on, 12-off, and you can stay in the air for a couple of days. All this blather about Kyrgyzstan and Tajikstan is just that - blather for the talking heads.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
05/21/2007 21:23 Comments ||
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SYDNEY, Australia (AP) - David Hicks, the first Guantanamo Bay detainee to stand trial for terrorism, will not fight strict monitoring conditions likely to be imposed on his release from an Australian jail later this year, his lawyer said Monday.
Hicks' return to Australia has prompted debate about how he will be treated after his release, with one possibility being a control order restricting his movement, requiring him to report to authorities, and other strict monitoring measures.
Hicks' Australian lawyer David McLeod said his client would not oppose such an order. ``He doesn't want to be seen as someone who is bucking the system or being difficult. He is extremely grateful to everybody who has secured his return to Australia and he doesn't want to upset that,'' McLeod told Seven Network television.
Just wait til it's time and see what he says then.
Hicks is due to be released Dec. 29. He has not committed a crime under Australian law, but national police could request a control order using terrorism laws introduced since the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States. Attorney General Philip Ruddock declined to comment on security arrangements for Hicks, saying only ``public safety is the primary concern.''
McLeod said Hicks, a Muslim convert who left Australia in 1999 and joined fighters in Kosovo and Kashmir before going to Afghanistan, was overjoyed to be back in Australia. Hicks had ``a lot of regrets'' and accepts he was ``misguided,'' he said. ``He knows he's got the job ahead of him to prove he's not the monster he's made out to be,'' McLeod said.
And we're supposed to buy that.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/21/2007 01:54 ||
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- David Hicks, the first Guantanamo Bay detainee to stand trial for terrorism, will not fight strict monitoring conditions likely to be imposed on his release from an Australian jail later this year, his lawyer said Monday.
Contest-NO, ignore-YES.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
05/21/2007 6:24 Comments ||
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At some point we are going to be looking at a vigilante situation. The media and academic traitors will call them "death squads" but they will be nothing but the inevitable extension of elected representatives who refuse to do their duty. That way lies chaos.
#3
Those who go along hoping the alligator will eat them last have no business crying when those who don't wish to be eaten make shoes and luggage out of the alligator's hide...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
05/21/2007 8:56 Comments ||
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Mmmmmm. Gorgeous riff on the metaphor, M. Murcek!
Thousands of people waving red Turkish flags filled the streets here on Sunday to protest the Islamist-rooted government ahead of a July election. No to Sharia, and Turkey is secular and will remain secular, were some of the slogans chanted by the crowd in the main square. The rally, the latest in a series of protests, was described by organisers as a way of uniting the divided opposition against the government, which they accuse of trying to undermine the overwhelmingly Muslim states secularity.
The latest protest follows a pact on Thursday between main opposition Republican Peoples Party (CHP) and the smaller left-wing DSP to contest the July 22 election together. The leaders of the two parties arrived at the demonstration together. Two right-wing parties, True Path and Motherland, have also merged to form the New Democrat Party in a bid to ensure they cross Turkeys 10 percent threshold required to enter parliament. We are here for an enlightened Turkey. We are here so that our future generations can see better days. We are here so that they can see a totally independent Turkey, free of backwardness and Sharia, said retired teacher Ahmet Altunkus, 55. Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogans ruling AK Party, which denies any Islamist agenda, has called a general election ahead of schedule to resolve a conflict with the secularist elite over a presidential election.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/21/2007 00:00 ||
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Moderate muslims, perhaps?
I'm sure there are other opinions out there...
Posted by: Bobby ||
05/21/2007 11:26 Comments ||
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How nice to see pragmatism in unexpected places. Truly, Iraq has been a salutary lesson for those able to see it. An imperfect something is better than a perfect nothing.
Radical Muslim paramilitary compounds flourishing across the United States
Hundreds of letters have deluged (CFP) since it published a story with pictures of Springtime in Islamberg, written by The Day of Islam author Dr. Paul Williams with the able assistance of Doug Hagmann, Bill Krayer and Michael Travis.
Many letter writers complain that local authorities are telling them they have never heard of the compound.
Islamberg is an al Fuqra house. "Fuqra has had a disturbing U.S. presence for more than 20 years." (The weekly Standard, March 18, 2002). "Today, half a dozen Fuqra residential compounds in rural hamlets across the country shelter hundreds of members, some of whom, according to intelligence sources, have been trained in the use of weapons and explosives in Pakistan."
In a world where authorities make like terrorism doesn't exist, Fuqra's founder and bossman, Sheikh Mubarik Ali Hasmi Shah Gilani, is not only alive and wellÑhe has a road "Sheikh Gilani Lane" named after him. This road is not in faraway Pakistan, but right in Charlotte County, Virginia.
Charlotte County is a rural farming community in Central Virginia near the North Carolina border. Like its counterpart in Hancock, New York, it is inhabited by proud Americans many whose sons and daughters are fighting for our freedom in Iraq.
"This is not only an embarrassment to the citizens of Charlotte County it is a disgrace to the entire country and an insult to the victims of 9/11 and those fighting overseas in the war against terrorism," wrote Martin Mawyer, president of the Christian Action Network.
"Sheikh Gilani has rubbed shoulders at international terrorist confabs with gunslingers from Hamas and Hezbollah, their mullah backers, and Osama bin Laden. And he has trained fighters for the battlefields of Kashmir, Chechnya and Bosnia." (the weekly Standard). Rest at link
Posted by: ed ||
05/21/2007 13:33 ||
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Members of al-Fuqra (the "impoverished") - which recruits from stupid Caribean blacks - were convicted in Canada, for plotting to blow up a theater used by Hindus. Court documents in al-Fuqra handwriting, projected "2000" deaths. And that was pre-911. They are "impoverished" because they won't work for disbelievers. However, they will take Welfare money, out of disbeliever' pockets.
SEATTLE A man who tried to position himself as a leader of the anti-war movement by claiming to have participated in war crimes while serving in Iraq is facing federal charges of falsifying his record. Jesse Adam Macbeth, 23, formerly of Phoenix, garnered attention on blogs and in some alternative media after he began claiming in 2005 to have been awarded a Purple Heart for his service, which he said included slaughtering innocents in a Fallujah mosque. His story was contradicted by his discharge form, showing that he was kicked out of the Army after six weeks at Fort Benning, Ga., in 2003 because of his entry level performance and conduct.
Didn't even make it out of basic
A complaint unsealed Friday in U.S. District Court in Seattle charged him with one count of using or possessing a forged or altered military discharge certificate, and one count of making false statements in seeking benefits from the Veterans Administration. Macbeths public defender, Jay Stansell, declined to comment.
"Hey, it's not my fault I keep having to defend these losers, it's in the job description."
Organizations that opposed the war, including Iraq Veterans Against the War, posted videos or statements containing Macbeths claims on their Web sites. In one videotaped interview, a skinny, stuttering Macbeth, dressed in a camouflage jacket, described slaughtering hundreds of people in a mosque: We would burn their bodies ... hang their bodies from the rafters in the mosque, he said.
Iraq Veterans Against the War and other organizations removed the claims after learning they were false.
Daily KOS and DU posters were sure he was a plant to discredit them
He approached us in early 2006, posing as a war veteran. He seemed very emotionally distressed about his experiences, said Amadee Braxton, a spokeswoman for Iraq Veterans Against the War, based in Philadelphia.
Macbeth claimed in an application for benefits to have served from May 2001 to June 2004, to have been shot in Iraq and to have suffered post-traumatic stress disorder, LaMont E. Stokes, an agent with the VAs Office of the Inspector General, wrote in the charging papers. He also collected more than $10,400 in benefits to which he was not entitled, Stokes wrote. Stokes said he interviewed Macbeth in a Tacoma jail, where he has been serving a sentence for fourth-degree assault, and that Macbeth admitted falsifying the documents because he was homeless and wanted to sucker anything he could out of the government.
Enjoy the free room and board, sucker.
Posted by: Steve ||
05/21/2007 08:51 ||
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The phony soldier phenomenon follows all wars. After Vietnam, one goof even wore a fake blood stained uniform.
#4
Organizations that opposed the war, including Iraq Veterans Against the War, posted videos or statements containing Macbeths claims on their Web sites. In one videotaped interview, a skinny, stuttering Macbeth, dressed in a camouflage jacket, described slaughtering hundreds of people in a mosque: We would burn their bodies ... hang their bodies from the rafters in the mosque, he said.
John Fn Kerry syndrome? Liberalism is a mental disorder.
The House of Representatives wants to mobilize the economy to address chronic equipment shortfalls across the U.S. Army, National Guard and Marine Corps.
It also wants to give the Pentagon much broader latitude to establish multiyear contracts with suppliers, locking the Defense Department into long-term contracts with the hoped-for benefit of a swift resolution of critical shortfalls.
The Defense Readiness Production Board is the brainchild of House Democrats, including Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton, D-Mo.
The Pentagon board, which would report directly to the defense secretary, would receive readiness reports directly from the services and would advise "how the country's total industrial base, both defense and non-defense, could be mobilized to address critical readiness requirements as rapidly as possible," states the 2008 defense authorization bill and report passed last week by the House.
The House reasons that because the military services are constrained by budgets they don't ask for, and cannot afford, everything they require within the Office of the Secretary of Defense. Thus, critical equipment shortfalls can develop unnoticed by civilian leadership until they pose real difficulties.
The board would be comprised of civilian officials at the Pentagon, uniformed members of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff and the military services, and officials responsible for equipment maintenance depots. It would report directly to the defense secretary if there are critical readiness shortfalls.
The bill would also create a 12-member Defense Production Industrial Advisory Board, appointed by the defense secretary and the congressional defense committees, of industrial base leaders from both the defense sector and civilian sectors to advise the Pentagon on industrial base issues.
It would allow the Pentagon to enter multiyear contracts to address critical shortfalls for up to $500 million.
#1
How about a decent PDW to replace the M-4 and upgrading the M-4/M-16 system to 6.5 grendel or 6.8 SPC?
Posted by: Jonathan ||
05/21/2007 20:14 Comments ||
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Oh, and don't forget that little thing called the Constitution which expressly prohibits funding the Army for more than 2 years at a time, "To raise and support armies, but no appropriation of money to that use shall be for a longer term than two years". Have to run the programs through DoD to get around that little un-amended quirk.
DAMASCUS, Syria Al Nawateer restaurant is a place where dreams are bartered and secrets are kept. Dining areas partitioned by thickets of crawling vines and knee-high concrete fountains offer privacy from informants and agents of the Mukhabarat secret police.
The Mukhabarat try to monitor the hundreds of thousands of Iraq war refugees in this ancient city, where clandestine human smuggling rings have sprung up to help refugees move on often to the United States.
But the refugees who frequent Al Nawateer, gathering around Table 75 or sitting alone in a corner, are undaunted, willing to risk everything to meet a smuggler. They come to be solicited by someone who, for the right price, will help them obtain visas from the sometimes bribery-greased consulates of nations adversarial or indifferent to American security concerns.
The deals cut at places like Al Nawateer could affect you. Americans from San Antonio to Detroit might find themselves living among immigrants from Islamic countries who have come to America with darker pursuits than escaping war or starting a new life.
U.S.-bound illicit travel from Islamic countries, which started long before 9-11 and includes some reputed terrorists, has gained momentum and worried counterterrorism officials as smugglers exploit 2 million Iraq war refugees. The irony is that the war America started to make itself safer has forced more people regarded as security threats toward its borders.
A stark reminder of U.S. vulnerability at home came this month when six foreign-born Muslims, three of whom had entered the country illegally, were arrested and accused of plotting to attack the Army's Fort Dix in New Jersey.
What might have happened there is sure to stoke the debate in Congress, which this week will take up border security and immigration reform. But the Iraqi refugee problem provides a twist on the question of what assurances America owes itself in uncertain times: What do we owe Iraqis thrown into chaos by the war?
Politically, immigration can be a faceless issue. But beyond the rhetoric, the lives of real people hang in the balance. A relatively small but politically significant number are from Islamic countries, raising the specter, some officials say, of terrorists at the gate. Rest at link
Posted by: ed ||
05/21/2007 14:12 ||
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U.S.-bound illicit travel from Islamic countries, which started long before 9-11 and includes some reputed terrorists, has gained momentum and worried counterterrorism officials as smugglers exploit 2 million Iraq war refugees.
The irony is that the war America started to make itself safer has forced more people regarded as security threats toward its borders.
First and foremost, a good reason to control the border. Secondl, the current immigration anemesty bill doesn't adequately address those that are here illegally. Moreover, I don't agree that the U.S. started the war. Sadam ignored UN sanctions. His forces fired on our aircraft. Best intelligence indicated WMDs. The US carried out a UN resolution and went into Iraq.
#3
Agreed Z-man. This amnesty bill mollycoddles criminals. The illegal flow of immigrants are a serious threat to our sovereignty, order, and safety. Congress critters are trying to rush any bill through in anticipation of elections.
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - A detainee at the US Guantanamo Bay detention center who has repeatedly attempted suicide has warned that he still hopes to kill himself out of despair over his confinement and conditions at the American military jail in Cuba. Juma Mohammed Al Dossary said in a letter released Sunday that he would prefer death than his open-ended detention at Guantanamo, where he complains that he and other detainees have been mistreated _ an accusation denied by the US military. 'I swear to God, if I have the opportunity I would end my life, Al Dossary says in the letter, which was reviewed by the US military before its release.
Well if you feel that strongly about it ...
The 33-year-old detainee, who has been held at the camp without charges since January 2002, has tried to kill himself at least 10 times at Guantanamo, according to the US government.
And we stopped him each time. I blame Bush.
In an October 2005 attempt, Al Dossary slashed his arm and tried to hang himself during a break in a meeting with his attorney, Joshua Colangelo-Bryan. The former chief medical officer at Guantanamo said in court papers filed a month after the incident that the detainee has undisclosed mental health issues and has often refused to take medicine or cooperate with therapists.
Colangelo-Bryan, who met with the prisoner for seven hours in April, said the detainee is completely coherent but severely depressed about his situation. He seemed utterly exhausted and desperate, the attorney said in a telephone interview from New York.
Of course he's depressed: he was promised jihad, paradise and 72 virgins, and instead he's cooling his heels at Gitmo. No kidding he's depressed.
Al Dossary is a native of Bahrain who served as an imam for about six months at a mosque in Bloomington, Indiana, in about 2000.
Best six months of his life ...
Colangelo-Bryan said the detainee was accused by the military of having been at Osama bin Ladens stronghold in Afghanistans Tora Bora mountains but he has not been charged with any crime.
He doesn't have to be charged with a crime. He's not a criminal, he's a detainee captured at gunpoint on a foreign battlefield.
His lawyer denies any links to terrorist activities.
"Lies! All lies!"
In the letter, which was dated April 18 and cleared for release by the US government last week, Al Dossary said he has been subjected to unspecified torture, and that two other detainees have been abused by the guard force. He says he has been deprived of basic comforts, forced to sleep on the cement floor with his pants and an orange shirt to cover himself.
We are facing here the most horrible type of oppression and physical torture, he said in the letter, which was translated from Arabic by his attorney. At another point, he writes: I want to put an end to this psychological and physical torture by any means. I am looking for an end to my life.
A US military spokesman denied the allegations of torture, saying that all detainees are treated humanely and noting that Al Qaeda has trained its operatives to claim abuse while in detention. 'This tactic is used in order to gain public sympathy in the hopes that they may be released, Navy Cmdr. Jeffrey Gordon, a Pentagon spokesman, said Sunday.
Something that never seems to be stressed in the MSM.
This article starring:
Juma Mohammed Al Dossary
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/21/2007 01:23 ||
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His incompetence on his first attempt should be grounds for some assistance on his second try.
Posted by: john ||
05/21/2007 7:08 Comments ||
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give him a nice long belt.....and some time alone
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/21/2007 7:40 Comments ||
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Keep trying, Juma. Allah don't like no quitters...
#4
If you really want to kill yourself tou will stop pussyfooting around and get the job done. How about proclaiming you coversion to the Jewish faith in the exercise yard? Or ramming you noggin full speed into a brick/steel wall? Or listen to the the DNC weakly address over and over again until your body doesn't have the will to go on? Just some suggestions Juma and do write and tell of your success.
Two brothers who are former students of the Jamia Fareedia madrassa, a subsidiary of Lal Masjid, said on Sunday that an intelligence agency personnel kidnapped, tortured and kept them in custody for one week. We were picked up from a Raja Bazaar restaurant by plainclothes personnel on May 13 and one of them told us that they belonged to an intelligence agency, Hafiz Anwarul Haq told a press conference at Lal Masjid with his brother Hafiz Israrul Haq and father Muhammad Anwar. They blindfolded us and took us to an unknown place where they first took off our clothes and then tortured us, Anwar said. Both brothers alleged that the intelligence personnel abused them and threatened to rape their sisters.
Anwar said that intelligence officials asked them about the routine of Maulana Abdul Aziz and sought their help in arresting the Lal Masjid cleric. He said the kidnappers took them blindfolded to the Bhara Kahu jungle on Saturday and freed them. They told us to go wherever we want to and also told us not to disclose this incident to anyone, especially Maulana Abdul Rashid Ghazi, the deputy cleric at Lal Masjid, saying that he will not be there to help you if we pick you up again, he said.
Israr said that he saw a man in military uniform around him during his detention. I asked the kidnappers to release me so that I could attend my National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) office job and meet my ailing mother, but they didnt agree, he said.
Muhammad Anwar, who is a retired school headmaster, said President General Pervez Musharraf, Interior Minister Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao and intelligence agencies would be responsible if anything happened to him or his family.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/21/2007 00:00 ||
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Jamia Fareedia - played "Klinger" on the Arabic language M*A*S*H
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/21/2007 7:42 Comments ||
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A tribal jirga of Pakistani and Afghan elders agreed on Sunday to declare a ceasefire and reopen border routes at Guisar and Tri Mangal in Kurram Agency. The routes were closed following clashes between Pakistani and Afghan troops over the contested border.
The jirga consisting of 40 tribal elders each from Pakistan and Afghanistan discussed the situation arising out of skirmishes between the Pak-Afghan forces. The jirga agreed to hold another round of talks on Monday (today) to devise a strategy for a permanent ceasefire. Pakistani and Afghan forces traded fire at the border on May 17, killing four Afghan soldiers and injuring three Pakistani jawans.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/21/2007 00:00 ||
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Ah, another circle jirga at the border. Mission accomplished. Nothing done again. Go home and have another round of tea.
#2
If the Pakistani elders are not capable of compelling the Pakistani troops to comply, what good are the agreements? Go home and have another round of tea, indeed.
Al Qaedas command base in Pakistans tribal areas is being increasingly funded by cash coming from the organisations affiliate in Iraq, the Los Angeles Times reported on its website on Saturday. Citing unnamed senior US intelligence officials, the newspaper said there had been a significant increase in the movement of Al Qaeda operatives and money from Iraq to Pakistan.
Al Qaeda operatives in Iraq are raising substantial sums from donations to the insurgency as well as kidnappings of wealthy Iraqis and other criminal activity, according to the paper. Little more than a year ago, Al Qaedas core command was thought to be in a financial crunch. But US officials said cash shipped from Iraq has eased those troubles. The report also said a major hunt for Al Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden launched by the CIA last year has produced no significant leads on his whereabouts. The CIA deployed 50 clandestine operatives to Pakistan and Afghanistan for the search, the paper said.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/21/2007 00:00 ||
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Bad news for the Dhimmicrats, who want to leave all that oil revenue in Iraq to who wins the spoils after a cut and run manuever. Binnie Laden would be back in the big bucks big time.
A military contractor is recruiting current and former agents with the U.S. Border Patrol to teach Iraqis how to secure their national borders.
The U.S. State Department has asked Virginia-based DynCorp International to find 120 people with Customs and Border Enforcement experience to go to Iraq for the training.
The company already has 700 police trainers in Iraq. The department made the request for border security trainers in late March.
Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano said she was worried that DynCorp's effort is distracting from security along the U.S.-Mexico border. She and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson wrote President Bush this week to say the deal "makes no sense."
"We should be focused on supporting our nation's security efforts along the Mexican and Canadian border instead of hampering (the Customs and Border Patrol) by sending our best agents to a war zone in Iraq," the governors wrote.
Agent Shannon Stevens, a Border Patrol spokeswoman, said the number of personnel DynCorp is looking for is "a very small number compared to the agents we have."
DynCorp is offering recruits $134,100 for a one-year stay, plus a $25,000 signing bonus. The first $90,000 in income is tax free, and housing and food are free, company spokesman Gregory Lagana said.
Border Patrol agents with at least two years' experience make roughly $55,000.
Arizona's Tucson sector employs 2,600 agents, and there are more than 13,350 nationwide.
#2
But at least the catch and release isn't as blatant. I suspect other ROE are more conducive to doing the job than in the USA. The Border Patrol can't stop the tide of illegals because Washington doesn't want it stopped.
Jay Nordlinger, National Review reporting from the Forum on the Middle East in Amman, Jordan
The Forum on the Middle East has over 1,200 participants, from over 50 countries. About ten heads of state or government are here. One who is missing is Mahmoud Abbas, of the PA: He had to stay at home to deal with the latest fighting between Palestinians.
As usual, I am impressed with the Iraqi officials Barham Salih, the deputy prime minister, is present. They are some of the bravest people on earth. And they are some of the most beleaguered. They face enormous, historic pressures, and they are subject to perpetual, lacerating criticism, from all quarters. In their offices and homes, they face constant death threats, and many of them have seen their loved ones killed. The burdens of other politicians are comparatively light.
Salih is a particularly distinguished, elegant, and dignified man also an articulate one. I doubt there is a more effective spokesman for Iraqi democracy, and for Arab democracy at large. He has the air of someone who knows that a lot is at stake.
Yes, yes, Iraqi politicians have made mistakes big ones. But, you know? They are engaged in a horribly difficult project that has huge consequences for us all. And it is only humane and logical to cut them a little slack. The Golden Rule, as always, applies here.
Posted by: Mike ||
05/21/2007 12:32 ||
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Good catch!
Too often we forget the pressures these people face in instituting democracy in the Islamic world.
If the dhimmicrats have their way these good people would all be marked for death just for believing in democracy!
Posted by: DanNY ||
05/21/2007 15:48 Comments ||
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If the dhimmicrats have their way these good people would all be marked for death just for believing in democracy!
Why not, Dan? The dhimmicrats don't believe in democracy, either.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
05/21/2007 21:36 Comments ||
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OP,
Yeah I should have said we'd all be marked for death but we knew that already too! It is just a matter of timing. Those people would likely go first.
Posted by: DanNY ||
05/21/2007 21:46 Comments ||
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Sorry, yer holiness. We missd it when you hollered for the Paleos to stop rocketing Sderot, which is chock full of civilians. So we'll just pretend we didn't hear this one, either.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/21/2007 00:00 ||
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An Israeli minister warned that even Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh could be targeted by his country. Israeli Minister Zeev Boim said Israel must strike at Hamas leaders with all our might. I'm guessing Haniyeh is hostage for Abbas' life...
Theres a list of them from the first of them to the very last, Boim told Israel Radio. Now, with Hamas saying openly that it is the one who is firing the Qassam rockets, we must strike at Hamas. There are people there who are launching them, there are their commanders there in the armed wing, and there is the political echelon, there is a prime minister.
Yesterday, the Cabinet decided to step up strikes against Gaza fighters involved in rocket attacks against southern Israel. A Cabinet statement said there would be a diplomatic effort launched aimed at resolving the tensions. The statement said Israel would permit its defense establishment to intensify operational steps aimed at reducing rocket fire and target those in Hamas and Islamic Jihad deemed responsible.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert earlier threatened tougher action if intensified Palestinian rocket fire on Israeli border communities did not cease. Channel 2 TV reported that Israels Security Cabinet approved targeting Hamas militant leaders and sending Israeli commandos into Gaza to hit rocket squads.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/21/2007 00:00 ||
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In an interview with Army Radio on Monday, Public Security Minister Avi Dichter called for the assassination of Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal, who lives in exile in the Syrian capital of Damascus.
"Khaled Mashaal isn't immune, not in Damascus and not anywhere else. I'm convinced that at the first opportunity, we will bid him farewell," Dichter said. A Dichter aide told The Associated Press that he was expressing his personal opinion, not government policy.
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/21/2007 7:44 Comments ||
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I wonder if Hamas has already printed up the new posters with Khaled between Rantisi and Yassin?
Just remember to save some room for Issy...
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Haven't the Palestinians essentially lied their way out of even remotely plausible deniability? The shell game of button,button who's got the button rocket, rocket, who's launching the rockets, wore thin a long, long time ago. Arafat singlehandedly wore out the entire Palestinian people's welcome on this earth. Since then, all that they have done is spit in the global communitiy's eye.
GENEVA, May 20, 2007 (AFP) - Swiss diplomatic moves to resolve the dispute over Iran's nuclear programme by compromises on both sides are a "farce" and should be withdrawn, former US ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton said on Sunday.
The so-called "Swiss Paper" proposes that Iran freeze its work on sensitive nuclear activities while world powers halt UN sanctions action, in the hope that this mutual pause will create room for manoeuvre.
Bolton, who was a leading hawk in the Bush administration in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq, told Swiss newspaper SonntagsZeitung that the plan is a "farce". "Switzerland should keep out of it," he added.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/21/2007 01:46 ||
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What's going on? Mr. Bolton has been speaking publicly, loudly, and plainly on matters that technically are no longer his concern. Not that I object -- these things need to be said, by someone who'll be listened to, especially to offset George Tenet and his fellow travellers. But still, it's awfully unusual...
The Free Shiite movement Sheikh Mohammad el Hajj Hassan said a foreign regional power is behind the violence today against the Lebanese army in Lebanon , in reference to Syria which borders the country in the North and East. Hassan declared that the purpose of this violence was to derail the International Tribunal for trying the suspects in the murder of Lebanons former PM Rafik Hariri
Syria has been accused of being behind the assassination of Hariri and the other Lebanese leaders , but Syria denied any wrongdoing.
Syria told the UN it will not cooperate with the International Tribunal .
Hassan urged the UN to protect Lebanon from the Syrians by setting up border patrols along the Lebanese-Syrian borders. Hassan offered his full support to the Lebanese army and urged its leader to pursue the terrorists till the end. Hassan also urged the Palestinian leadership to respect the Lebanese sovereignty and independence and urged them to hand over the criminals to the government along with their weapons.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/21/2007 00:00 ||
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so there are anti syrian shiites in Leb, to balance the pro-Syrian Maronites?
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
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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 United Nations called on Sunday for international action against "a plague of piracy" off the coast of Somalia that is threatening to cut aid to one million people.
Britains Prince Harry, who was last week stopped from joining his regiments deployment to Iraq, could be sent to join troops in Afghanistan, a newspaper said on Sunday. News of the World said it had information about plans for the 22-year-old officer to join the fight against the Taliban, but was withholding key details.
Thousands of people waving red Turkish flags filled the streets here on Sunday to protest the Islamist-rooted government ahead of a July election. No to Sharia, and Turkey is secular and will remain secular, were some of the slogans chanted by the crowd in the main square. The rally, the latest in a series of protests, was described by organisers as a way of uniting the divided opposition against the government, which they accuse of trying to undermine the overwhelmingly Muslim states secularity.
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - A detainee at the US Guantanamo Bay detention center who has repeatedly attempted suicide has warned that he still hopes to kill himself out of despair over his confinement and conditions at the American military jail in Cuba. 
Two brothers who are former students of the Jamia Fareedia madrassa, a subsidiary of Lal Masjid, said on Sunday that an intelligence agency personnel kidnapped, tortured and kept them in custody for one week. We were picked up from a Raja Bazaar restaurant by plainclothes personnel on May 13 and one of them told us that they belonged to an intelligence agency, Hafiz Anwarul Haq told a press conference at Lal Masjid with his brother Hafiz Israrul Haq and father Muhammad Anwar. They blindfolded us and took us to an unknown place where they first took off our clothes and then tortured us, Anwar said. Both brothers alleged that the intelligence personnel abused them and threatened to rape their sisters. 
A tribal jirga of Pakistani and Afghan elders agreed on Sunday to declare a ceasefire and reopen border routes at Guisar and Tri Mangal in Kurram Agency. The routes were closed following clashes between Pakistani and Afghan troops over the contested border.
Al Qaedas command base in Pakistans tribal areas is being increasingly funded by cash coming from the organisations affiliate in Iraq, the Los Angeles Times reported on its website on Saturday. Citing unnamed senior US intelligence officials, the newspaper said there had been a significant increase in the movement of Al Qaeda operatives and money from Iraq to Pakistan.
GENEVA, May 20, 2007 (AFP) - Swiss diplomatic moves to resolve the dispute over Iran's nuclear programme by compromises on both sides are a "farce" and should be withdrawn, former US ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton said on Sunday. 
The Free Shiite movement Sheikh Mohammad el Hajj Hassan said a foreign regional power is behind the violence today against the Lebanese army in Lebanon , in reference to Syria which borders the country in the North and East. Hassan declared that the purpose of this violence was to derail the International Tribunal for trying the suspects in the murder of Lebanons former PM Rafik Hariri
