The President of the Saudi Arabian Meteorology and environment protection organization said that Iran's nuclear facilities are environmentally safe. Prince Turki bin Nasser bin Abdulaziz, speaking to reporters on Saturday added, "However, the member states of Persian Gulf Cooperation Council have to take necessary measures to prevent possible environmental incidents."
Earlier, Director General of The Atomic Energy Research Institute for Science and Technology in King Abdulaziz city had said that Iran's Bushehr nuclear plant was not threatening the regional states. Khalid Isa had said that the nuclear activities in some regional states including Pakistan, India and Former Soviet Republics where their nuclear facilities are old, are source of concern.
He added the nuclear activities of the Zionist regime which is not under supervision of The International Nuclear Energy Agency are a threat to the region.
Celebrated Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz has threatened to sue British academics who participate in a UK boycott against Israeli universities.
A decision by Britains University and College Union to condemn complicity of Israeli academia in the occupation of Palestinian land has prompted Professor Dershowitz to start work on a lawsuit against those who support the boycott.
The American Jewish attorney said in an interview with the Times Higher Educational Supplement that he would use a U.S. law that bans discrimination on the basis of nationality, against British universities who are involved in joint research and other projects with American institutions.
I will obtain legislation dealing with this issue, imposing sanctions that will devastate and bankrupt those who seek to impose bankruptcy on Israeli academics, vowed Prof. Dershowitz.
A deal to merge Turkey's two main centre-right parties ahead of elections on July 22 failed over the weekend with the Motherland Party pulling out of the deal.
With parties in Turkey needing to pass a 10-per-cent threshold before being allowed to win any seats in parliament the proposed merger of the Motherland Party (ANAP) and the True Path Party into a new Democrat Party was seen as an attempt to ensure votes for centre- right parties were not wasted.
The deal came unstuck when ANAP failed to dissolve itself at the end of a party congress held in Ankara.
In particular, ANAP leader Erkan Mumcu was angry over the inclusion of former prime minister Mesut Yilmaz as a parliamentary candidate for the new Democrat Party.
"A great opportunity for Turkey has been missed," Mumcu told supporters Sunday.
It appeared that ANAP and the new Democrat Party will now both compete in the elections with the chances high that both parties will fail to pass the 10-per-cent threshold.
Early elections were called last month after parliament failed to elect a new president.
The two main centre-left parties have already agreed to run on a single ticket, while the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party has decided to run its candidates as independents in order to get around the threshold barrier.
The failed presidential election that led to the early parliamentary poll has pitted the governing Islamist-rooted AK Party against those who believe that the AK party's candidate for the position, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, would be a threat to Turkey's secular laws and traditions.
Millions have taken to the streets around the country protesting Gul's candidacy. In addition to banners supporting secularism, one of the main calls by the crowds was for parties to unite in opposition to the AK party.
The staunchly-secular military has also weighed into the debate saying it was prepared to intervene if the secular state is seen to be under threat.
Having removed four governments in the past 50 years, the military statement was seen as a real threat to the administration.
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/03/2007 15:00 ||
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#1
Mutha is in-f*ckin-SANE.
But we knew that.
No, I didn't misspell his name.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
06/03/2007 15:30 Comments ||
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#2
I think we're going to find, in the end, that we're faced with a simple choice: continue to let the Murthas among us run around spewing their defeatist bullshit, or successfully defend ourselves against totalitarian Islam.
One or the other.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
06/03/2007 15:38 Comments ||
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#6
The plan is, of course, to blame the 9/11/2009 on George Bush and Iraq. The excuse should work till about 9/11/2020. No doubt, the AQ video of 9/11/2009 will make this point loud and clear.
To the tinhat left, GW is the gift that will keep on giving, and giving, and giving.
#8
Now, we didnt have this problem before, they came from Afghanistan.
This means it weas OK to invade Afghanistan, but we should've waited until Saddam gave a nuke to Al Qaeda before we took him out? One at a time, eh John?
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/03/2007 17:09 Comments ||
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#9
Hey, John! I just stumbled on this from yesterday:
"It's like you can kill the man twice," said Defreitas, 63, who first hatched his plan more than a decade ago when he worked as a cargo handler for a service company, according to the indictment.
Whazzat mean, John? Huh? Mebbe we wuz in Somolia then? Izzat it, John?
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/03/2007 17:16 Comments ||
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Mutha makes it all the way to X Marine...keep going John.
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, HOST: I want to get back to my first question, but let me pick up on something you said just there. You believe that these homegrown terrorist plots are being inspired by the U.S. work in Iraq right now?
JOHN MURTHA, CONGRESSMAN: Absolutely. George, they were inspired by them all over the world. Our presence in Iraq, our occupation in Iraq, gives these people the inspiration. Now, we didnt have this problem before, they came from Afghanistan. But, now we even have it in the United States. So, Im absolutely convinced that this is the kind of thing that inspires these people.
STEPHANOPOULOS: But we did have 9/11 before we went into Iraq.
MURTHA: Yeah, we had 9/11, but that came from Afghanistan. There was no, there was no al Qaeda in Iraq. We dont even know how many al Qaeda are in Iraq right now. For instance, we think a couple of thousand. Theyll take care of al Qaeda. Theyll get rid of al Qaeda. Our presence is inspiring them to recruit people all over the world. This is the problem we have.
Sadly, Stephanopoulos didnt challenge Murtha about al Qaeda having a training facility in Northern Iraq before the March 2003 invasion. Nor did he ask the Congressman about 9/11 attackers hailing from Saudi Arabia. And, there was no mention of the 2000 attack on the U.S.S. Cole, or the attacks on the U.S. embassies in Africa in 1998, or the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia in 1996, or the first World Trade Center bombing in 1993.
Posted by: Grusons Darling of the Faith6548 ||
06/03/2007 20:07 Comments ||
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#13
I think we're going to find, in the end, that we're faced with a simple choice: continue to let the Murthas among us run around spewing their defeatist bullshit, or successfully defend ourselves against totalitarian Islam.
The American peace movement has been plunged into disarray after failing to persuade the new-look Congress to stop the war, amid mounting warnings of a summer bloodbath in Iraq.
When its most high-profile controversial figurehead - bereaved mother Cindy Sheehan - quit the anti-war campaign and the Democratic party in disgust last week, her resignation statement revealed the deep divisions. Now opponents of President Bush are warning that the anti-war movement and the Democrats have little time to salvage their credibility if they want to end the war - and take the credit for it. . . .
But while some believe that Sheehan may return to the peace movement after a spell out of the limelight, she seems unlikely to kiss and make up with the Democrats - or one of their most famous support groups, MoveOn.org - which has become the other high-profile face of the US anti-war movement.
She called MoveOn's reputation as a big player in the anti-war left 'hilarious', accusing it of being so tied in to the Democrats and their electoral cause that they clammed up when the party failed to protest about the war.
Military Families Speak Out admitted that the anti-war movement was 'fragmenting' - a view endorsed by the Crawford Peace House, a campaign based near Bush's ranch, which is calling for the anti-war movement to 'regroup'.
'The peace movement is in disarray. It's run by the Democrats and they are scrambling to try to show that they are anti-war, but no one is fooled any more, and Cindy Sheehan just added an exclamation mark to that,' said John Walsh, a commentator for the leftwing online newsletter Counterpunch.
It seems we have an antiwar movement composed of three distinct factions:
1. Principled pacifists who believe all use of force is immoral. (Example: Quakers.) These people are sincere, honorable, well-intentioned, disconnected from reality, and damned lucky to live in a country where men with guns keep reality at a safe distance from them.
2. People who aren't against the war so much as they are rooting for the other side. (Examples: Mother Sheehan; CAIR.)
3. People who are out for their own short-term political gain, and are amoral enough to not mind a few thousand of their fellow citizens getting killed if they think it'll juice their poll numbers. (Example: MoveOn.org and its wholly-owned subsidiary, the Democrat Party.) As they are not above losing a war to get elected ("I was for it before I was against it."), they are certainly not above using groups #1 and 2 and then discarding them when their utility runs out.
Groups #1 and 2 are just now figuring this out.
Posted by: Mike ||
06/03/2007 09:23 ||
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#1
There's an American peace movement??? Give war a chance.
#2
also 4) aging hippies who are still looking for more dope and free love...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
06/03/2007 12:50 Comments ||
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#3
Included in 4) are college-aged guys trying to hook up with protester chicks. The protester chicks, in turn, invariably end up marrying tax-lawyers but if pretending to care about green economics and organic yogurt means you get laid in the meantime it is worth putting up with a protest march once in a while too.
While this guy might still be officially in group # 3, I think he really belongs in a fifth group of foaming at the mouth lunatics. He is disconnected from reality like group #1 but he is not sincere, honorable or well-intentioned. Just plain crazy.
#8
The most strident leftwing elements all fit into category #2 - something which the other groups are implicitly aware of but can not openly admit (taqiyya for infidels?)
I blame George Bush for not caving in to their demands after the election and shipwrecking the Democratic Party on the shoals of their public voting records.
#9
I think Murtha is bought and paid for. Abscam shows he was in bed with them then, why not now? He has to say, "How high?" when they say, "Jump" or they will expose him.
I have a friend who told me that the Boise local station KBOI was actively promoting
talking about a scheduled protest at the capital yesterday. She said that she went down there to see and there was only two people holding up a sign. It was such a pathetic showing that no one even tried to get a single photo op to show for the evening news. Since it was such a flop, they ignored it after talking about it all day.
The Surrender Movement is down to the $400 per month paid activists that George Soros rallied from advertising on Craigs List and the crazy losers from MoveOn.org. They had their day in the sun in the 70's. The day is over and no one with any dignity wants to be associated with such an obvious bunch of lunatics.
#10
There's at least one, maybe two other groups as well - sincere, foaming at the mouth crazies like Murtha who believe that anything and everything Republican is just plain bad as everyone knows the Republicans are all cold-hearted psychopathic murderers who are responsible for most of the death and destruction around the planet,
and
Those afflicted with Bush Derangement Syndrome, but whom do not truly believe that all Republicans are bad, but do believe that GWBush is the root cause of all evil in the world today and we can solve the current problems through talk and peaceful negotiations.
Republican Fred Thompson, making his first appearance since his late entry into the 2008 White House race, criticized the immigration pact in Congress on Saturday and said the United States was battling threats from "forces of evil."
In a speech at a Virginia state party dinner, the conservative former Tennessee senator and Hollywood actor made only passing reference to his presidential ambitions but took a jab at Democrats while praising limited government and lower taxes. "There are all kinds of threats out there in America," Thompson said, citing a disrupted plot at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York as the latest example. He said the United States must send a message to its allies about the dangers of terrorism. "This is a battle between the forces of civilization and the forces of evil and we've got to choose sides," Thompson said.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/03/2007 01:30 ||
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Very true. Unfortunately, the press and the dhimocrats have chosen the other side.
#2
"This is a battle between the forces of civilization and the forces of evil and we've got to choose sides," Thompson said.
He may be one of the few that gets it. Some of congress critters, the MSM, the dimwitcrats, islamic apologists, and multiculturalists, etc are giving our enemies a pass and free ride.
#3
Sounds like Thompson hasn't bought into the Religion of Peace [spit] meme. Let's hope he somehow manages to set the rhetorical bar for all of his opponents. For once and all, the mask of serenity must be ripped from Islam's wrathful visage.
Pakistan played down on Saturday US claims that Al Qaedas leadership has regrouped in tribal areas near its border with Afghanistan, saying such reports were exaggerated.
"Tut tut and tut! Mere exaggeration and hyperbooley!"
Many Al Qaeda members took refuge in North and South Waziristan bordering Afghanistan after US-led forces toppled the Taliban in 2001. Some US officials say these tribal areas remain safe havens for militants. No, we do not agree, General Ehsan-ul-Haq, Pakistans chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff committee said when asked whether Al Qaedas leadership was regrouping in Pakistan near its border with Afghanistan.
This is an exaggerated assessment of the presence of some foreign militants in the Waziristan area, he told Reuters in an interview on the sidelines of an Asian security conference in Singapore.
To say that this is the regrouping of Al Qaeda is certainly over-exaggerated, he said, adding that the US have their own assessment of the situation. He said Pakistan has taken steps to seal its borders with Afghanistan using troops and fences, adding that other defences, including mines along the border, were being considered.
The strategy has been that there should be a dialogue with all tribesmen and they should be encouraged to evict foreign elements from their areas, he said. We feel that strategy has been very successful, because tribesmen who are fed up with the presence of foreigners in their areas have acted on their own against them.
This article starring:
General Ehsan-ul-Haq
Posted by: Fred ||
06/03/2007 00:00 ||
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They are in a group. Take them out. Good target.
A former Al Qaeda military trainer freed from prison on Saturday has alleged that the American Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) tortured him during interrogation on Pakistani soil.
"That's right. Pulled the eyes right out o' me head, they did!"
"Ummm... You've got eyes."
"I borrowed 'em fer this interview. I gotta give 'em back."
Talking to Daily Times after being freed from Peshawar prison along with Syed Abdullah Hashmi, Abdul Karim, an 85-year-old from Jordan, said that he had been handed over to the FBI soon after his arrest and he had spent four months with his face covered with a cloth.
"And who's this one, Jones?"
"Abdul Karim, sir!"
"Dang, that sucker's ugly! Put a bag over his head!"
"Yes, sir! With pleasure, sir!"
I suffered various types of torture when I was with the FBI. My hands and feet were tied, Karim said, but did not elaborate on the methods of torture used on him.
"'At's right. Suffered! 'At's what I did!"
[Urp!]
Karims claim comes at a time when Pakistan denies the presence of FBI personnel in the country and their detention centres.
"No, no! Certainly not! It's not the FBI! It's... ummm... somebody else."
Karim and Hashmi, who claims to be a nephew of Imam-e-Madina, were released from prison after no evidence was found to charge them under terrorism laws following their arrest four and seven years ago, respectively, from Khyber Agency near the Afghan border. The two Al Qaeda suspects were said to be close to Abdullah Azaam, alleged mentor of Osama Bin Laden.
Karim said the FBI wanted him to disclose the whereabouts of Osama Bin Laden, who Karim said is a gentle human being defamed by the US. Karim said that he had given military training to Bin Laden near the Afghan city of Jalalabad in 1983-84 when the US-backed jihad against the Soviet occupation was in full swing. Jihad against the US is illegitimate unless an Islamic state is established and an ameerul momineen orders jihad, Karim said to a question. Karim speaks good Pushto and Urdu and said that he did not want to return to Jordan because he wanted to live happily with his family in Pakistan. Karim has married a Pakistani woman and has two children from her.
This article starring:
ABDUL KARIM
al-Qaeda
Abdullah Azaam
SYED ABDULLAH HASHMI
al-Qaeda
Posted by: Fred ||
06/03/2007 00:00 ||
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Funny how none of these 'torture' victims are castrated, missing fingers, toes, limbs, noses, eyes or teeth they weren't already missing when captured. They all still seem to have avoided being flayed alive, having internal organs removed, and bear no acid or chemical burns. They haven't been stuck in a sensory deprivation tank for three weeks had their mind turned into jello either.
Until these people show up, I'm going to call bullshit on the torture.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf Chairman Imran Khan left for London on Saturday to launch legal proceedings there against Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain for the May 12 killings in Karachi, Reuters reported. Khan aims to have a British court try Hussain because the MQM founder has British citizenship and has been living there for more than a decade. The idea is to bring him to justice, Khan told reporters at the Islamabad airport. Clearly we cannot do so in Pakistan. The reign of terrorism and fascism that Altaf Hussain unleashed on May 12 is also about to end, Khan said.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/03/2007 00:00 ||
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More Sunday morning, front-page analysis from The Washington Post, although that's not the WaPo title!
Though it should have been.
As U.S. troops push more deeply into Baghdad and its volatile outskirts, Iraqi insurgents are using increasingly sophisticated and lethal means of attack, including bigger roadside bombs that are resulting in greater numbers of American fatalities relative to the number of wounded.
Insurgents are deploying huge, deeply buried munitions set up to protect their territory and mounting complex ambushes that demonstrate their ability to respond rapidly to U.S. tactics. A new counterinsurgency strategy has resulted in decreased civilian deaths in Baghdad but has placed thousands of additional American troops at greater risk in small outposts in the capital and other parts of the country.
"It is very clear that the number of attacks against U.S. forces is up" and that they have grown more effective in Baghdad, especially in recent weeks, said Maj. Gen. James E. Simmons, deputy commander for operations in Iraq. At the same time, he said, attacks on Iraqi security forces have declined slightly, citing figures that compare the period of mid-February to mid-May to the preceding three months. "The attacks are being directed at us and not against other people," he said.
May, with 127 American fatalities, was the third-deadliest month for U.S. troops since the 2003 invasion. As in the conflict's two deadliest months for U.S. troops -- 137 died in November 2004 and 135 in April of that year -- the overarching cause of May's toll is the ongoing, large-scale U.S. military operations. Simmons called the high U.S. losses in May "a very painful and heart-wrenching experience."
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/03/2007 06:32 ||
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#1
Buried as deep as a terrorist IED, the Washington Post plants the lede in paragraphs 19 and 20 :
Commanders credit U.S. military operations with sharply lowering civilian deaths in Baghdad. The numbers of civilians killed and wounded as well as sectarian murders have all fallen roughly 50 percent in Baghdad in the 90 days ending in mid-May, compared with the previous three months, Simmons said, despite what some military officials described as a slight upturn in civilian deaths in May.
U.S. patrols and raids have also uncovered nearly 2,500 weapons caches and killed or captured more than 20,000 insurgents, militia members and other fighters nationwide since January. Among the enemy killed or captured are more than 1,700 individual targets considered "high value," in what military officials and analysts say is an effort to eliminate leaders of enemy cells in hopes they cannot quickly be replaced.
Our troops and commanders are achieving an enormous victory and despite its visceral anti-American position, even the Post can't deny the results.
#4
"I hate newspapermen. They come into camp and pick up their camp rumors and print them as facts. I regard them as spies, which, in truth, they are. If I killed them all there would be news from Hell before breakfast." - William Tecumseh Sherman
#5
20,000 enemy is close to a division, as far as sheer numbers go. This is an extraordinary defeat for the AIF.
Granted, they probably come from multiple factions, but combatants are a minority in any population, and as brutally as all the AIF factions have been punished so far, this must take a lot of the wind out of their sails.
#7
Buried also is the question why the enemy (I refuse to call them insurgents) has suddenly been able to -- unobserved -- do the presumably more extensive work of planting those bigger roadside bombs that are so much more effective. Is it perhaps that these aren't actually bigger bombs, but the improved technology shipped in from Iran?
Separately, Anonymoose, I seem to be having a brain hiccup. What does AIF stand for?
#10
For some reason, the war in Iraq is of much less concern now that we have conclusive proof Bush is selling the US out on immigration. Our worst enemies apparently aren't in the ME, they're in Washington and we're doing a much worse job of fighting them.
Posted by: Mac ||
06/03/2007 12:14 Comments ||
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#11
One disturbing aspect of the IED threat is the fact that locals could make huge cash awards by disclosing the locations of these, but don't. However, I have heard of several instances where terrorist ambushes have been destroyed after local intel was gathered. Hopefully, the intel gap will close.
My suspicion is that these bombs aren't new. Rather it is that we are penetrating into their inner sanctuaries and encountering IEDs that have been there for a while.
P.S. If we have killed or captured 20,000 AIF and lost 500 soldiers, that's a 40:1 ratio.
Al
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
06/03/2007 12:52 Comments ||
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#13
Wish I could share in your enthusiasm. However, IMO, Iraq is unwinnable: the civilians that US forces save today are the terrorists of tomorrow.
#14
From General Ordino's briefing, linked by Frank in the Terrorist Death Watch article -
And what we're finding is, the insurgents and extremists use IEDs as their own little security and support zones. And they use large buried IEDs in areas we have not been before. and
In terms of the IEDs, the problem is they're getting bigger and bigger, and it has a lot to do with because we were not in these areas, so it gave them time to make bigger IEDs and bury them. As we get more presence in these areas, it'll be more difficult for them to do that, and that's kind of what I was referring to as they develop what we call a little security zone around their positions by developing these.
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/03/2007 14:32 Comments ||
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#15
More good news from General Ordino's briefing. SInce 15 January:
235 Battalion Operations in Iraq
29 Car/Truck Bomb Factories Neutralized
6 IED Cells Dismantled
17,946 Detained During Operations
3184 Enemy KIA, 1016 Enemy WIA (Confirmed)
Over 1700 HVTs (291 killed, 1499 detained)
2493 Caches Found and Cleared
98 Battalion Operations Conducted (in Baghdad)
6 Car/Truck Bomb Factories Neutralized
4 IED Cells Dismantled
6518 Detainees
837 Enemy KIA, 180 Enemy WIA (Confirmed)
752 Caches Found and Cleared
441 caches found in Baghdad Security Districts so far in 2007 surpasses the 266 found in all of 2006
I like it.
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/03/2007 14:37 Comments ||
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#16
So what #14 and #15 mean, girls and boys, is that Frozen Al is correct in #12. The larger IED's are not the result of the mighty insurgents skillfully adapting to the US military - as suggested by WaPo and other MSM. It means wee are penetrating deeper into zones where we didn't use to go.
Sort of like the kamikaze attacks in WW II were the Japanese "skillfully adapting" to the overwhelming US power. They did a lot of damage, but did not stop the juggernaut.
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/03/2007 14:49 Comments ||
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#17
I strongly suggest that our efforts in driving the rats out of Baghdad suddenly opened up an exploitation opportunity in its outlaying regions.
That is, one of the hallmarks of good military leadership is when your attack turns into a rout of the enemy, to be able to pursue and destroy them before they can retreat and reorganize.
Though they are not calling it a "pursuit" openly, we have tremendous momentum carrying us into the last strongholds of the enemy.
In the final analysis, this may truly be the final campaign of the war, because after this, there will be no sanctuary, anywhere in country, where they can flee or reorganize.
If my estimation is correct, only the Shiite lands in the South will have any chance to be problematic, and then only for a short while when the British pull out. Even the odds of that happening are quickly receding, with the breakup of the Mehdi army.
#18
Buried also is the question why the enemy (I refuse to call them insurgents) has suddenly been able to -- unobserved -- do the presumably more extensive work of planting those bigger roadside bombs that are so much more effective. Is it perhaps that these aren't actually bigger bombs, but the improved technology shipped in from Iran?
Yeah, like more explosive power per kg of IED. The better question is, why is the US allowing this stuff to be imported into Iraq?
#19
In the final analysis, this may truly be the final campaign of the war, because after this, there will be no sanctuary, anywhere in country, where they can flee or reorganize.
You're getting your asked kicked, what are you talking about.
U.S. military: 14 U.S. soldiers killed over weekend
#20
Hmmmm Traitor Joe, ass kicked? You wouldn't know, having been no closer to the front than a humanities course for pass/fail at a 3rd level college....or did you fail High School?
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/03/2007 22:42 Comments ||
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LONDON- British military chiefs are preparing to withdraw troops from Iraq within 12 months in order to concentrate on Afghanistan, The Sunday Telegraph said citing a senior military official.
A new timetable that would see a complete unilateral British withdrawal from Iraq by next May will be presented to incoming prime minister Gordon Brown within weeks of him taking over from Tony Blair on June 27, said the newspaper.
Under Blair, Britain has consistently maintained that any pullout of troops in Iraq should be dictated by events on the ground, not a timetable.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/03/2007 00:00 ||
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Not really a surprise. Things are getting better in Iraq. *shrug* Until Britain decides to properly fund even the limited armed forces they have, they're going to have to make hard choices. And anyway, Mr. Brown never agreed with what he saw as the Iraq adventure.
#2
Not a surprise at all. The south of Iraq is indeed more stable, since it's almost all Shi'a. The big problem there, and one the Brits refuse to touch, is the Shi'a militas and hard boyz taking over, especially in Basra.
Now should the federal government of Iraq survive, at some point it's going to have to deal with this. But it's lower on the priority list than thumping AQI, getting the Sunni extremists under control, making sure Turkey doesn't invade, and getting control of their borders. It'll be prickly because of the Iran connection.
But whichever way that goes, the Brits won't be needed.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/03/2007 13:13 Comments ||
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The Iraqi prime minister on Saturday urged Turkey not to stage a military incursion into the northern Kurdish territories, saying his government will not allow the relatively peaceful area to be turned into a battleground.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki promised that the national and the Kurdish leadership were united in refusing to let Iraq be used as a base to harm neighboring countries and urged the sides to resolve their problems peacefully. "If there are some problems, we should not rely on weapons and threats, or use violence and power because this will increase tension and deepen problems," al-Maliki said during a joint news conference with the leader of the autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq, Massoud Barzani, in the regional capital of Irbil. "Secondly, the Iraqi territory should be respected, and we will not allow it to become a battleground," he added. "As we don't want to harm neighboring countries, so we don't want the others to enter the Iraqi territory with a military incursion or fight of any kind."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/03/2007 00:00 ||
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The US and some European countries are evacuating their citizens from northern Iraq due to the Turkey's possible attack on Kurdistan. The Turkish army Friday warning came as the Anatolia news agency reported that Kurdish security forces in northern Iraq had earlier harassed Turkish soldiers at a checkpoint in the city of Sulaimaniyah.
The US and Israeli military personnel, often disguised as members of security companies, train the militants of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) according to DEBKA-Net-Weekly on Saturday.
That's a little hard to believe, since we regard the PKK as a terrorist organization. DEBKA has it wrong again.
The Israeli citizens are also exiting the region through the Irbil International Airport as well as some Turkey-Kurdistan checkpoints, which are still open.
Turkey has concentrated 80,000 troops at Sirank where the borders of Syria-Turkey-Iraq converge. The Kurdish forces also deployed 25,000 to the Kandil Mountains of northern Iraq.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/03/2007 00:00 ||
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Couldn't be leaving because authority and power of the Coalition was turned over to the Kurds in three provinces and there's no need for featherbedding transnational nannies supervisors?
The security cabinet will hear intelligence updates on the arming of Syrian forces in a briefing this week. Intelligence sources said they did not believe Syria was preparing for war, despite the fact it is rearming. Israel's main concern is the possibility that Syria might try to take control of a small part of the Golan to use as a bargaining chip for continued negotiations for the whole territory, as Egypt did with Sinai.
Political sources said last week they believed Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was being assisted by Turkey to ascertain Syria's intentions.
The main reason the Israel Defense Forces are not currently recommending a major ground operation in the Gaza Strip is fear that war might break out with Syria this summer, IDF sources said. This argument is rarely mentioned publicly, in part because intelligence analysts are still uncertain about whether Syrian President Bashar Assad intends to start a war or is merely trying to pressure Israel to resume peace talks. But Syria has clearly been preparing for the possibility of war, both through troop training and major arms deals.
As a result, the IDF believes it must also be ready for this possibility, and excessive activity on the southern front would undermine its capabilities in the north. From the army's perspective, Syria is the biggest threat; the Palestinian front is secondary.
The army is also concerned that miscalculations of the enemy's intentions, on either side of the border, could lead to war between Syria and Israel even if neither side wants it. This scenario was the subject of a major military exercise last month.
A group of female TV anchors marched through Gaza City on Sunday to protest a fundamentalist group's threat to behead them if they did not don modest Islamic dress.
Around 50 anchors and employees from government-run Palestine TV, mostly women wearing Muslim headscarves, marched from the station's offices in Gaza City toward the office of President Mahmoud Abbas to protest the threat from a group calling itself the Swords of Truth, known for firebombing Internet cafes and record stores. "We will cut throats, and from vein to vein, if needed to protect the spirit and morals of this nation," the shadowy group said in a statement e-mailed to news agencies on Friday. The statement accused the female anchors of being "without any ... shame or morals."
Most of the 15 female anchors on Palestine TV wear headscarves, in accordance with Islamic tradition. But they also wear makeup and Western clothing, which extremists consider immodest. "Shame on you," said Sally Abed, a Palestinian news anchor, addressing the Islamist group. "The people working in this institution are your people if it's not your sister, it's your mother."
In many parts of the Muslim world, conservative policies keep women out of the news anchor's seat or require them to wear headscarves on air. But headscarves are uncommon on television in the more secular states of Lebanon and Jordan, and Egypt's nonreligious regime keeps newscasters who wear them off its TV stations.
Hard-line Islam has been on the rise in the Gaza Strip in recent years, especially with the increase in poverty since the outbreak of fighting with Israel in 2000. Today it is more common to see women with their entire face covered with a veil once an extremely rare practice in the Palestinian territories than it is to see women with their hair uncovered.
The Swords of Truth faction has claimed responsibility for bombing some three dozen Internet cafes, music shops and pool halls, which it considers dens of vice. Assailants detonated small bombs outside the businesses at night, causing damage but no injuries. Few details are known about the group. According to a Palestinian security official, the organization has less than 100 members and was formed last year to impose a hardline version of Islam in Gaza. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to divulge information to the media.
#2
If you want to leave your brutish husbands, we have a place for you. It is a land called Mexico. You are welcome in Mexico just as soon as we get the wall built.
#4
Hard-line Islam has been on the rise in the Gaza Strip in recent years, especially with the increase in poverty since the outbreak of fighting with Israel in 2000.
Hmmmm. Increase poverty = rise in hard-line Islam. Cause or effect?
CAIRO, Egypt - The Islamic militant group Hamas may consider a one-year cease-fire with Israel, the organizations deputy political leader said in an interview published Saturday in an Egyptian newspaper.
Khaled Mashaals political deputy, Moussa Abu Marzouk, was one of several senior Hamas leaders who were in Cairo over the past week for talks with Egyptian officials on ways to calm Palestinian infighting and ongoing fighting with Israel. 'We may agree to a one-year cease-fire, Abu Marzouk was quoted as saying in an interview with the state-owned daily Al Ahram. Both parties have to abide by it.
Leaving Fatah, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade and the Peoples Front of Judaea free to launch Qassams and attack little kiddies.
Abu Marzouk, who along with Mashaal lives in exile in Syria, demanded that Israel also agree to a truce with Hamas, saying the only way for success was calm on both sides.
In a telephone interview from the Hamas political office in Syria, Mohammad Nazal confirmed that Hamas is considering a truce. Some private ideas were presented to Hamas (by Egyptian mediators) to reach a truce with Israel, and Hamas is about to undertake the suitable decision, Nazal said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/03/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
I don't think Israel really gives a rat's ass at this point. The rockets won't stop, so what has Israel to gain?
The United Arab Emirates has transferred $80 million (59 million) in aid to the Palestinians, using a new account controlled by Finance Minister Salam Fayyad, officials said Saturday. Fayyad, an independent, set up the account in the name of the PLO, the Palestinians' political umbrella group. Hamas is not part of the PLO, thus allowing banks to transfer aid money without running afoul of US anti-terror regulations.
Hamas and the Fatah movement of moderate Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas formed a coalition in March, with the goal of ending a foreign aid boycott imposed when Hamas first came to power more than a year ago. However, many countries have said they would not resume direct aid payments to the Palestinian government, because Hamas refuses to renounce violence and recognize Israel. Arab countries and several other donor nations, including Norway, have not joined the boycott.
Fayyad established the PLO account to enable these donors to transfer funds. In recent weeks, Qatar send $44 million (32 million), Saudi Arabia transferred $50 million (37 million) and Norway gave $10 million (7 million). On Saturday, the United Arab Emirates sent $80 million, the largest transfer so far, said Abbas aides who spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to discuss money issues with reporters. Much of the money will be spent on covering the government payroll, and civil servants are to receive half of their May salary in coming days, the aides said.
The Palestinian Authority is the largest employer in the West Bank and Gaza, and government salaries help provide for about one-third of the Palestinians. During the boycott, civil servants only received partial salary payments.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/03/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Odd, when you look up moderate in your OED, Fatah isn't mentioned.
Hamas leader-in-exile Khaled Mashaal told Qatari Prime Minister Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabr Al Thani on Friday that Hamas was willing to stop firing Kassam rockets at Israel if Israel stopped targeting members of Hamas's armed wing. A Palestinian source told Israel Radio that Mashaal made his proposal to Thani in a phone conversation. The Qatari leader then contacted Olmert and informed him of what Mashaal had said.
While Hamas has not fired any rockets at Israel for three days, attacks perpetrated by other armed Palestinian groups, such as Fatah, the Popular Resistance Committees, and Islamic Jihad, continue. One rocket damaged structures in Sderot Saturday morning, but no one was wounded in the attack. Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum reiterated Friday that Hamas was not observing any cease-fire with Israel, and that Kassam attacks were part of his group's strategy of armed resistance.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/03/2007 00:00 ||
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A senior IDF official has said that a ground incursion into Gaza would severely impede IDF efforts if a war with Syria and Hizbullah were to break out over the summer, Army Radio reported Friday. Despite communications between the Israeli and Syrian governments, aimed at calming the situation, the IDF is still preparing itself for the possibility of a resurgent war in the North. The chances for a war breaking out are slim, Maj.-Gen. (res.) Giora Eiland - former head of the National Security Council - told Army Radio Friday. However, he claimed, "in order to forestall [a war], the IDF must bolster its deterrence policy."
On May 20, another officer said that the IDF had noticed a military buildup within Syria as well as preparations by Damascus for the possibility of war with Israel. The officer stressed that while Syrian President Bashar Assad's "strategic decision" was to try and make peace with Israel, he was simultaneously preparing for a regional escalation - that could be connected to Iran or Hizbullah - over the summer, which would also lead to war with Israel. "There are preparations in Syria but we do not identify them as meaning that they intend to initiate a war with us," the top officer had said. "We are nevertheless taking actions to de-escalate the situation."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/03/2007 00:00 ||
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The countdown to Israel's destruction has begun, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in a speech commemorating the death of Iranian revolution leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini on Sunday. "The arrogant superpowers and the Zionist regime invested all their efforts during the 33-day war, but after 60 years, their pride has been trampled and the countdown to the destruction of this regime has been started by Hizbullah fighters," the president was quoted as saying by Iranian news agency Mehr.
Iranian foreign minister meets with Hamas politburo chief in Damascus, says interim war probe report 'caused the Israeli government to attack in the Gaza Strip in order to rehabilitate itself' Ahmadinejad added that "with the help of all the Lebanese and Palestinian fighters, we will witness the destruction of this regime in the near future Anyone who works for God and believes in the power of the people will prevail."
Israel is not the only nation about to collapse, according to the Iranian president. The other "corrupt" nations will also give in to the Islamic republic's strength and suffer the same fate. "We are already witnessing the repercussions of the surrender. The people of Iraq, Palestine, Lebanon, Afghanistan and all over the world are joining this river that will soon be linked to the ocean of truth and justice," he said.
Discussing the resistance of suppressed nations, Ahmadinejad said that according to Khomeini's teachings, "no power can stand in the way of a people's will for independence." He pointed out the Palestinians as an example of a people who draw encouragement from the ways of the Iranian people. "The Palestinian people have begun their movement out of oppression and the world's nations and the Zionist regime will be forced to bow down to the Palestinians and officially acknowledge this people."
Not commenting on the nuclear problem directly, the president hinted that "Khomeini believed that when a nation reaches a point where it makes a decision, no power can tackle it and this is the road Iran is taking." Ahmadinejaed ended his speech by urging the nations of the world to believe in God, saying, "The final victory, the power of the people, and the destruction of tryants is near."
Tehran urges Hamas, Jihad to fight Israel
On Saturday, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki urged Hamas and the Islamic Jihad to carry on with their armed struggle against Israel during meetings with leaders of the Palestinian groups in Damascus Saturday. According to the London-based al-Hayat daily, Mottaki met with Hamas' politburo head Khaled Mashaal and a delegation of Islamic Jihad leaders in the framework an official visit to Syria. "The Palestinian people are a mighty people and there is a need to continue with the resistance," al-Hayat quoted Mottaki as saying.
Mottaki also called on rival Palestinian factions to end internal strife which has threatened to ignite a civil war in the Gaza Strip. "It is forbidden for any group to resort to violence in order to end the political deadlock," he said.
Mashaal for his part accused Israel of seeking to force Hamas to surrender through military force and intimidation, the newspaper said. "The Israelis have tried in the past to force Hamas to surrender and to fail us, and now they are trying to do the same through the arrest of legislators and ministers," he said.
Al-Hayat also reported that Mottaki met with a top political advisor to Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah as well as a delegation of the pro-Syrian Lebanese Amal faction.
#1
"The arrogant superpowers and the Zionist regime invested all their efforts during the 33-day war, but after 60 years, their pride has been trampled and the countdown to the destruction of this regime has been started by Hizbullah fighters," the president was quoted as saying by Iranian news agency Mehr.
But he added that of course he meant that in the nicest and most peaceful way.
#3
Mr One Hit Wonder sings the only tune he knows.
Posted by: regular joe ||
06/03/2007 10:23 Comments ||
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One hundred Billion, nine hundred ninety nine Million, nine hundred ninety nine nine hundred and ninety nine thousand ninehundred and ninety nine
One hundred Billion, nine hundred ninety nine Million, nine hundred ninety nine nine hundred and ninety nine thousand ninehundred and ninety eight. Etc.
(Each count is one year apart)
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
06/03/2007 12:01 Comments ||
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#5
As with all Muslim threats, the only reasonable response is to take them seriously. If we capped Ahmadinejad's worthless ass and that of every other two-bit loudmouth scumbag who shouts "death to America", this shit would change in a hurry. By not affixing a price tag to this crapulence, we only embolden our foes.
Western leaders, and Westerners in general, fail to comprehend the significant role of talented oratory in high context cultures. Convincing verbal fluency is a powerful tool of persuasion and indoctrination. In societies where illiteracy is rampant, skilled orators command instant respect and their ideas are treated with greater credibility. This translates into higher levels of recruitment, more resolute degrees of indoctrination and operatives who are far less amenable to any disincentive measures.
Less dissuadable recruits are precisely what is needed to commit the very worst terrorist atrocities. It takes an almost catatonic mindset to fly fully loaded passenger jets into occupied skyscrapers. Islam's most skilled indoctrinators are wholly complicit in originating the rhetoric, religious sanctions and ostensible moral imperatives that drive the most heinous forms of jihadism.
This is why I continue to stress how important it is beginning a campaign of targeted assassinations against Islam's top clerical echalons. The high concentration of religious authority, social status, intertribal connections and financial access found within these top-tier circles constitutes a major driving force in global terrorism second only to the Koran itself.
From TransAtlantic Politics, a new-to-me blog that looks promising, hat tip to Glenn Reynolds.
Iran opposition group PMOI that supported the kidnappings of US diplomats in 1979 is suing the EU for 1 million in damages and to clear its name of being stuck on Brussels' terrorist register.
Lawyers for the PMOI on Wednesday filed the law suit at the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg, saying the EU is breaking its own laws by not following a verdict by the Court of First Instance last December, which annulled the EU's earlier decision to list the group. Any officially-designated "terrorist" organisations have their financial assets frozen and are forbidden from fundraising in Europe, writes EUObserver.
The PMOI started out in 1965 as a Marxist-Islamist anti-corruption movement in Iran but fled after suffering purges that saw over 150,000 members slaughtered by the post-cultural revolution Islamic regime. The Mujahidin organised cross-border raids against Iran from bases in Iraq in the 1990s but says it renounced the use of arms in 2001, with a 2003 US army report saying the Iraq PMOI wing no longer has any guns. In the past few years PMOI and its sister group, the NRCI, has positioned itself as the democratic opposition in Iran and attracted backers including retired US generals, members of the UK House of Lords, former EU judges and MEPs. The movement accuses the UK and France of putting it on the EU terrorist register in order to have cards to play in the Iran nuclear diplomacy game.
Syria's foreign minister said Damascus will not deal with the international tribunal being set up by the UN to prosecute suspects in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. "The issue of the tribunal concerns Lebanon alone, and Syria will not concede its sovereignty to any party, no matter who that party is," Walid al-Muallem said Friday at a joint press conference in Damascus with his visiting Iranian counterpart Manouchehr Mottaki. "It will not affect us because we have already informed the Security Council that we will not deal with the tribunal," he added.
The tribunal, which the UN Security Council voted to establish Wednesday, has been at the core of a political crisis between the Western-backed government in Beirut and the Syrian-supported opposition. Street clashes over the issue in recent months have killed 11 people.
A massive suicide truck bomb in Beirut killed Hariri and 22 others in February 2005. The first UN chief investigator, Detlev Mehlis, said the complexity of the assassination suggested Syrian and Lebanese intelligence services played a role. Four Lebanese generals, top pro-Syrian security chiefs, have been under arrest for 20 months, accused of involvement. Syria has denied any involvement in the bombing.
Asked about al-Woallem's comment, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in New York that the resolution is legally binding "and the international community should fully cooperate" with it. Ban said Lebanon's Prime Minister Fuad Saniora called him on Thursday "and we agreed to fully cooperate for the early establishment of the special tribunal."
Saniora, who is backed by the US, asked the Security Council earlier this month to establish the tribunal, citing the refusal of opposition-aligned Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri to convene a session to ratify its creation. The reaction of Syria and its allies in the Lebanese opposition cast doubt that the factions would overcome their differences before a June 10 deadline set by the UN If the Lebanese parliament does not establish the tribunal by then, the Security Council will impose it.
UN officials have said the tribunal could take up to a year to establish, and with the investigation ongoing, it remains unclear who would face trial.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/03/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
"It will not affect us because we have already informed the Security Council that we will not deal with the tribunal,"
If ASSad were found complicit in the assassination, he might find some difficulty traveling outside of Syria without getting arrested.
The Iranian president has said a new era of global awakening is to be born which will rock the foundations of current 'oppressive' world system.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad made the statement on Saturday while addressing the International Conference on Latin American Literature in Tehran, the Iranian Mehr news agency reported. He pointed out to the Latin American countries' long history of struggle for freedom and autonomy noting that Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution grew out of the same concerns for liberty and national independence. "The Islamic revolution of 1979 in Iran, under the expert guidance of the late Imam Khomeini, opened new horizons to the people in Iran and across the world."
People in the Latin America and other parts of the world have awakened to the dismal prospect of blatant forms of injustice, bias, intrusion and exploitation as currently practiced by the world bullying powers, he noted.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/03/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Once the world is subjected to Islamic injustice, bias, intrusion and exploitation, it'll never go back!
#7
People in the Latin America and other parts of the world have awakened to the dismal prospect of blatant forms of injustice, bias, intrusion and exploitation as currently practiced by the world bullying powers Hugo Chavez, he noted.
Fear not, it will. You just won't be part of it. In all likelihood, Ahmadinejad's most lasting legacy probably will be getting Iran glassed over and Windexed.
And rounding the third post, leading by at least two full lengths, it's badanov, yes ... badanov in the lead, with the entire rest of the field struggling to match his dash to the wire. This is not, repeat ... not going to be a photofinish folks.
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.
A former Al Qaeda military trainer freed from prison on Saturday has alleged that the American Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) tortured him during interrogation on Pakistani soil.
The US and some European countries are evacuating their citizens from northern Iraq due to the Turkey's possible attack on Kurdistan. The Turkish army Friday warning came as the Anatolia news agency reported that Kurdish security forces in northern Iraq had earlier harassed Turkish soldiers at a checkpoint in the city of Sulaimaniyah. 
The United Arab Emirates has transferred $80 million (59 million) in aid to the Palestinians, using a new account controlled by Finance Minister Salam Fayyad, officials said Saturday. Fayyad, an independent, set up the account in the name of the PLO, the Palestinians' political umbrella group. Hamas is not part of the PLO, thus allowing banks to transfer aid money without running afoul of US anti-terror regulations. 
Hamas leader-in-exile Khaled Mashaal told Qatari Prime Minister Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabr Al Thani on Friday that Hamas was willing to stop firing Kassam rockets at Israel if Israel stopped targeting members of Hamas's armed wing. A Palestinian source told Israel Radio that Mashaal made his proposal to Thani in a phone conversation. The Qatari leader then contacted Olmert and informed him of what Mashaal had said. 
Syria's foreign minister said Damascus will not deal with the international tribunal being set up by the UN to prosecute suspects in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. "The issue of the tribunal concerns Lebanon alone, and Syria will not concede its sovereignty to any party, no matter who that party is," Walid al-Muallem said Friday at a joint press conference in Damascus with his visiting Iranian counterpart Manouchehr Mottaki. "It will not affect us because we have already informed the Security Council that we will not deal with the tribunal," he added. 
The Iranian president has said a new era of global awakening is to be born which will rock the foundations of current 'oppressive' world system. 
