WASHINGTON Gen. David D. McKiernan is expected to be appointed as the next commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, American military officials said Monday. General McKiernan oversaw the allied ground attack that toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003. He has held a variety of senior posts and is the commander of American Army forces in Europe. He is likely to assume his new command in June and is to replace Gen. Dan K. McNeill.
By all accounts, it will be a challenging assignment. United States and allied forces face a resilient Taliban, as well as Qaeda militants, who have been operating from sanctuaries in northwestern Pakistan. But NATO nations have had to carry out their mission short of combat troops and trainers.
General McNeill recently requested that some 3,200 additional troops be sent, according to Defense Department officials. The Pentagon is expected to announce a decision on the request on Tuesday.
The NATO force in Afghanistan numbers about 40,000, of which 14,000 are Americans. Separately, the United States has 12,000 troops who are carrying out a counterterrorism mission in Afghanistan.
General McKiernan entered the Army in 1972. In the months before the Iraq war, he pressed to begin the war with a greater number of troops than authorized in the plan he had inherited.
General McKiernan was never a favorite of former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, and after the invasion he was made the deputy head of the Armys Forces Command, which oversees the training of American troops in the United States. In 2005, he was awarded a fourth star and made the head of American Army troops in Europe. His European experience will be a plus in dealing with NATOs disparate forces in Afghanistan. During the 1990s, he was a senior officer with allied forces in Bosnia and later was deputy chief of staff of American Army operations in Europe.
Among his other posts, he has been commander of the First Cavalry Division and the Armys chief of operations.
Norway's foreign minister was staying at a luxury hotel in the Afghan capital Kabul which was attacked by a suicide bomber on Monday but he is said to be safe, Norwegian television stations said.
Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere is hiding in the basement of the hotel, the foreign ministry said in a live interview aired at broadcaster TV2. A journalist from the Norwegian daily newspaper Dagbladet was injured in the attack, public broadcaster NRK said. At least two guards were killed in the suicide bomb attack at the five-star Serena Hotel in the centre of the city, a police official in Kabul said. The hotel is mainly frequented by rich foreigners.
This article starring:
Jonas Gahr Stoere
Posted by: Fred ||
01/15/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
NETHERLANDS under ISLAMIST threat, ala COUNTERTERRORISM BLOG.
Let me be even more specific. Where's the Russell Kirk? Where's the Bill Buckley? Where's the Milton Friedman of our day? Where's the Barry Goldwater, the Ronald Reagan? We have people who claim to hold the mantle of these greats, and yet they also claim that the mantle to hold is not worth holding, that we gotta redefine it because the era is over. If you believe that liberty, national security, free enterprise, faith, and the Constitution are dead, then what are you saying? On what do you base your definition of conservatism? If we don't properly diagnose the problem, we aren't going to be able to fix this.
#2
Among our problems is that money and the accumulation of same is critical for all office holders.
Therefore, the only chance of gaining a great leader is if a rich man or woman comes along who is also honest, moral, and noble.
We need to get the money out of politics.
#3
Only one of candidates gives the Reagan mantle the repect it deserves: Fred Thompson. He declines the mantle because he knows just how much respect it deserves. But he does still consistently carry the cause and core beleifs foreward.
#4
The best way to get the money out of politics is to get the pervasiveness of politics out of our lives. If so much weren't at stake, no one would feel the need to pay. And fewer people would be in it for the power.
Of course, being a Senator has its perks, and what self-respecting Senator is going to voluntarily give them all up?
#5
The electorate gets the leadership it deserves. One chance of getting a great leader is for more of us to recover our former greatness, not an easy task.
An underground counterfeiting operation appears to continue with $100 'supernote' bills popping up worldwide, while questions remain about possible North Korean ties to the phony bills. The 'supernote' appears to be made from the same cotton and linen mix that distinguishes U.S. currency from other currency. It even has watermarks visible from the other side of the bill, colored microfibers woven into the substrate of the banknote and an embedded strip, barely visible, that reads USA 100 and glows red under ultraviolet light.
The secret operation, stumping officials worldwide, could be the "most sophisticated counterfeiting operation in the world," former congressman James Kolbe told McClatchy Newspapers. "We are not certain as to how this is being done or how it's happening," Kolbe said.
The supernotes could be made by someone who has access to government printing equipment, said Thomas Ferguson, former director of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing.
Lawmakers accused North Korean leaders of involvement in the counterfeiting ring but the origin is questionable. Other experts suspect Iran and criminal gangs in Russia or China. President Bush claimed two years ago "we are aggressively saying to the North Koreans ... don't counterfeit our money." But the Bush administration no longer publicly accuses North Korea of being behind the supernotes.
In the late 1990s, North Korean diplomats were caught passing supernotes. In August 2005, the Secret Service found Chinese crime gangs smuggling some of the bills into New Jersey and Los Angeles. John Bolton, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said he didn't see evidence that North Korea was behind the supernotes but pointed out their distribution of them. Meanwhile, banks continue seizing the supernotes, with about $50 million worth found so far.
#2
I wouldn't be surprised to find organized crime in China, with corrupt government officials at their back. They could have built the printing presses with stolen technology from American-born Chinese in the Treasury department.
#3
Or it could be American-born English, or German, or Irish, or whoever would sell out their country like say Aldrich Ames, or Clyde Conrad, Larry Wu-Tai Chin, John Anthony Walker, and Robert Hanssen.
Posted by: ed ||
01/15/2008 8:59 Comments ||
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#5
President Bush claimed two years ago "we are aggressively saying to the North Koreans ... don't counterfeit our money." But the Bush administration no longer publicly accuses North Korea of being behind the supernotes.
Because that would contradict the current narrative. This administration is prepared to let the Norks give Syria freaking nuclear weapons, why should they let a little counterfeiting get in the way of the peace mirage?
#7
Actually, this might be an "American plot", for a weird reason.
Years ago, the Iranians tried counterfeiting US bills, but the end result, astoundingly, was that US currency became far more powerful throughout the ME.
First of all, printing accurate US currency is terribly expensive and even US mints have to work 24/7 to produce enough paper notes for even domestic consumption; internationally, there is always a shortage of US paper money. Transporting US bills overseas is also very expensive.
When the Iranians did it, at full production they could only make a fraction of the value of their daily oil revenue. However, Iranian-US notes were a prized currency in the ME, and everybody wanted them.
The iron rule of currency is that "bad money pushes out good". Everybody wanted to spend lesser currencies, but save US dollars. This meant that the *value* of dollars kept escalating, and eventually everyone wanted to trade in dollars.
The end result was that the Iranian currency *lost* value, markets were dominated by dollars, the US didn't lose a dime in the deal, and even made a ton of money. The Iranians made millions that cost them billions.
At the time it was remarked that Iran should have been designated a US mint, and thanked for printing our money for free.
Now this being said, if we could convince other enemy nations to print high quality US fakes, we should do so.
Importantly, while fake US bills are great internationally, if any of them make it back to the US, the *one* place where they might do us harm, they are snapped up and voided by the first bank that gets them.
#8
Well, I certainly have noticed that here in China, anyone with US currency has their money carefully scrutinized before being accepted - if it's accepted at all. Yes, there are some people who'll take foreign currency as payment for debts. Euros or pounds are accepted without a second thought.
#9
Pakistan has bought a large amount of color shifting ink, ostensibly for printing passports.
Neither the Pak currency nor passports use color shifting ink.
The Indian IB (intelligence bureau) has recently intercepted a large amount of counterfeit Indian bills.
Did Pakistan obtain the supernote design along with their North Korean missiles?
#14
Pakistan has bought a large amount of color shifting ink
But I don't think the Germans or Swiss exported an intaglio printer to them. The Norks on the other hand.
No Ordinary Counterfeit Thwarted, the regime seems to have changed tactics, harnessing new distribution networks and wholesaling the counterfeits to third parties who would funnel them to criminal gangs. In the late 1990s, for instance, British detectives began tracking Sean Garland, the leader of the Official Irish Republican Army, a Marxist splinter group of the I.R.A. According to an unsealed federal indictment in Washington, Garland began working with North Korean agents earlier in the decade, purchasing supernotes at wholesale prices before distributing them through an elaborate criminal network with outposts in Belarus and Russia, as well as Ireland. (Garland denies the charges and is currently fighting extradiction to the United States from Ireland.)
Details of the actual manufacture of counterfeit notes also began filtering into the State Department, much of the information derived from defector accounts. According to similar accounts compiled by Sheena Chestnut and the North Korean specialist in Seoul whom I spoke with, the regime obtained Swiss-made intaglio printing presses and installed them in a building called Printing House 62, part of the national-mint complex in Pyongsong, a city outside Pyongyang, where a separate team of workers manufactures the supernotes.
...
A Swiss company named SICPA is the major manufacturer of O.V.I., and the United States purchased the exclusive rights to green-to-black color-shifting ink in 1996. Other countries followed, purchasing color-shifting inks of different colors for their own currency. One of the first countries to do so, interestingly enough, was North Korea, whose currency, the won, counterfeiters ignore. North Korea purchased O.V.I. from SICPA that shifts from green to magenta. For the purposes of counterfeiting American currency, it would be a smart choice: magenta is the closest color on the spectrum to black. The green-to-magenta ink can be manipulated to look very close to green-to-black ink, Daniel Glaser of the Treasury Department told me. They took this stuff the same year we went to O.V.I. According to Glaser, the North Koreans managed to fiddle with the new ink, obtaining an approximation of the O.V.I. on the bills.
But according to out good friends at the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung: South Korean police have stated that indeed, on several occasions in Seoul, considerable quantities of counterfeit dollar notes have been found in the possession of people from Shenyang and Dadong, Chinese cities near the North Korean border. But according to the South Korea police, the last time they detained a North Korean diplomat carrying large quantities of Supernotes occurred many years ago.
America's accusations against North Korea are therefore on very shaky ground. And now the pendulum swings back: A rumor has circulated for years among representatives of the security printing industry and counterfeiting investigators that it is the American CIA that prints the Supernotes at a secret printing facility. It is in this facility, thought to be in a city north of Washington D.C., where the printing presses needed to produce the Supernotes is said to be located.
The CIA could use the Supernotes to fund covert operations in international crisis zones, and such funds would not be subject to any control by the American Congress. One could comfortably lay the blame for the counterfeit money operation at the feet of Pyongyang's arch enemy.
Thank you grubby, greasy, bloody handed, export your grandmother for a Euro burgermeisters.
Posted by: ed ||
01/15/2008 16:05 Comments ||
Top||
#15
BTW, the US may have to consider tech the world's
outlaws don't have access to, such as an embedded RFID tag as big as a grain of sand that requires a billion dollar fab to make.
Posted by: ed ||
01/15/2008 16:16 Comments ||
Top||
#16
If the RFID tag was embedded without telling anyone, it would be very telling as regards both distribution and source.
#21
#6: We'd counter by forging Nork bills, but they seem to be worthless.
Print enough to fly over their Capitol and rain money down, say ten tons or so of their equivalent of 50 buck notes.repeat daily with different denominations until all their currency is fake/watered down to worthless, no banning one bill and ending the problem.
That'l larn 'em.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
01/15/2008 23:30 Comments ||
Top||
#22
Barcodes on the bills would be cheaper to implement & about as usable in tracking items anywhere.
If the counterfeit is so very good, how does anyone distinguish the real from the un-real forms?
People who have religious fervor for the gold standard have been saying the USA has been counterfeiting its own money for decades anyway, so why complain if some other country does it too?
Some historians & economists have made a case that counterfeit currency may enhance local economies when reliable currency is in short supply. The #7 comment is another wrinkle on this.
On the directives of the federal government, around 156 policemen from the SRP-Sukkur base have been deployed outside the late Benazir Bhuttos house in Naudero for the security of her widower, now Pakistan Peoples Party co-chairman, Asif Ali Zardari. Naudero Supervisory Police Officer (SPO) Mukhtiar Ahmad Sariyo will supervise the security arrangements, which include 10 checkposts manned by 70 policemen along the boundary walls of the house, and two special mobile police squads.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/15/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
So what? It only takes one to be rotten. But, realistically, probably 155 have ISI ties.
A jirga of Mehsud tribe demanded on Monday security forces stop military operation in the area. Security forces arrested several people on Sunday during a search operation and demolished the house of Jehangir Khan Mehsud, a suspect, in Tank. Jehangirs brother is a superintendent of police. Local people said the law and order situation in the area was serious.
Meanwhile, an ISPR statement said security forces had carried out an operation in Umar Adda area in Tank against the miscreants, who attacked Tank Police Lines and Tank Garrison on January 12. Reportedly, over 31 miscreants were arrested and a number of them killed when the security forces opened fire on them.
The ISPR statement said Madrassa Jamia Uloom-e-Sharia had been sealed because of the suspected presence of miscreants inside the Madrassa. According to reports, some foreign elements including Uzbeks accompanied local tribes in carrying out attacks on the security forces.
This article starring:
JEHANGIR KHAN MEHSUD
Taliban
Posted by: Fred ||
01/15/2008 00:00 ||
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FORT MONROE, Va. The Iraqi defense minister said Monday that his nation would not be able to take full responsibility for its internal security until 2012, nor be able on its own to defend Iraqs borders from external threat until at least 2018.
Those comments from the minister, Abdul Qadir, were among the most specific public projections of a timeline for the American commitment in Iraq by officials in either Washington or Baghdad. And they suggested a longer commitment than either government had previously indicated.
Pentagon officials expressed no surprise at Mr. Qadirs projections, which were even less optimistic than those he made last year.
Continued on Page 49
They need us there, but probably in a reduced capacity after about 18 months from now. Mainly as operational trainers, specops and "tip of the spear" ops, as well as logistics support, and fire brigade.
#3
ION, NAVY TIMES/FREEREPUBLIC > US CARRIER BATTLE GROUP [Kitty Hawk] ENGAGED IN STANDOFF WITH CHINESE WARSHIPS + REPORT: KITTY HAWK CONFRONTED BY CHINESE WARSHIPS. Back on Novemebr 23rd 2007 agz shadowing Chinese destroyer and SONG-class SSK - 'Twas enuff for the KITTY to reportedly place crew + escorts on combat/attack alert.
#4
US forces will be needed in Iraq until incidents of terrorism, suicide bombings, HBIED's, etc. drastically fall & stay down for a long time. Bothering to set dates & arbitrary deadlines beyond this is silly, serving only as a sop for uninformed public (especially MSM) opinion. The "external threat" (Iran) is a separate issue & needs separate consideration.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made a surprise visit to Baghdad on Tuesday for talks with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki that were expected to involve a push for more progress on political reconciliation.
Rice flew from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where she was accompanying President Bush on his Middle East tour. Her trip was announced in the Saudi capital as Bush was holding talks with Saudi officials.
"President Bush and Secretary Rice decided this would be a good opportunity for the secretary to go to Baghdad to meet with Iraqi officials to ask Maliki what their pathetic excuse was this time build on progress made and to encourage additional political reconciliation and legislative action," National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said.
He said Rice, who began talks with al-Maliki in his office, would return to Riyadh Tuesday night.
On Saturday, Bush had commended Iraq's parliament for passing legislation reinstating thousands of former supporters of Saddam Hussein's now-dissolved Baath party to government jobs.
"It's an important step toward reconciliation," Bush said then, after more than a year of pi$$ing of the Coalition by releasing terrorists left and right because they were afraid the Donks would get their way prodding by the U.S. for action on the legislation. "It's an important sign that the leaders of that country understand that they must work together to meet the aspirations of the Iraqi people."
At the same time, Bush said more progress was needed.
There was no advance announcement of Rice's trip. In fact, there had been talk that she would hold a news conference Tuesday with Saudi Arabia's foreign minister.
An early pullout of US troops would spark a return of savage sectarian violence and be "disastrous" for Iraq, a tribal leader fighting Al-Qaeda in a province once fiercely anti-American told AFP.
Sheikh Ahmed Abu Reesha, leader of the "Anbar Awakening" that has ended much of Al-Qaeda's hold over western Iraq, warned that improvements in the security situation would be lost if the United States withdrew troops.
US President George W Bush said on Saturday that Washington was on track to reduce the number of brigades in Iraq from 20 to 15 by July, a move that would bring down troop numbers to about 130,000 from 160,000 now. "Right now, any quick withdrawal will be disastrous because the Iraqi army is incapable of taking over," Sheikh Ahmed said in an interview. "Any withdrawal must happen only when the Iraqi army is 100 percent ready to protect the country. The government and the country cannot afford to be without help from the Americans."
Sheikh Ahmed took over as head of the Anbar Awakening in September after the murder of his celebrated brother Sheikh Abdul Sattar Abu Reesha, the pioneer of the Sunni groups that switched allegiance from Al-Qaeda to US forces.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/15/2008 00:00 ||
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BALADIA CITY, Israel (Army News Service) - National Guard Soldiers could one day train at a state-of-the-art urban warfare training center in Israel, or one modeled after it, according to Lt. Gen. H. Steven Blum.
The chief of the National Guard Bureau visited the National Urban Training Center in Baladia City, Israel, last month, and called it a "world-class site." "We probably should have a facility like that of our own," Blum said, "in the interim, we should explore the opportunities to train here."
From a distance, it looks like a bustling desert town. But it's a purpose-built mock-up on a real-life scale designed as a training ground for military operations in urban terrain, or MOUT.
Blum and other National Guard leaders toured the NUTC with Israeli Defense Forces officers during a four-day visit to Israel to bolster the Bureau's relationship with the IDF Home Front Command and discuss joint exercises and other possible exchanges under the aegis of the U.S. European Command.
The 7.4-square-mile NUTC is at the IDF's National Center for Ground Force Training in the Negev Desert, west of the Gaza Strip and north of Egypt. The 4,700-square-mile Negev covers more than half of Israel and includes thousands of miles of open space ideal for the country's premier military training facility. Some 472 structures line four miles of roads in this concrete town dubbed Baladia City. "It is the most realistic, extensive replication of the sort of urban area typical of this region of the world that I've ever seen," Blum said.
The NUTC includes high-rise buildings typical of business or high-density residential districts, streets lined with single-story buildings, a complex tunnel system and labyrinthine areas typical of some older Middle Eastern city centers. A stripped vehicle blocking a road adds to the realism. "It is just such a superb training facility for all the nuances and the situational awareness and the battlefield conditions that Soldiers face in this part of the world," Blum said.
Soldiers have lost their way training here. They are found thanks to force-identification and location systems built in to the training area. Every movement is recorded, every building bristles with sensors and every troop is wired for after-action review.
"I'd like to see Soldiers go through a facility like this somewhere before they deploy to counterinsurgency missions abroad," Blum said. "You get the advantage of the identical climate, the same geography, topography. You have the benefit of being in the environment, yet you're totally secure and you're able to train."
When the topography doesn't exactly match training requirements, the Israelis bring in bulldozers that move the desert sand until it more closely resembles what trainers need.
"It's a first-rate place," Blum said. "It couldn't be more realistic unless you let people actually live there." Israeli bulldozers.....Varoom, varoom, clank, clank, clank.
#3
IOn, FREEREPUBLIC > HEAVY DUTY: ARMY BACKS TITLROTOR AS FUTURE HEAVY AIRLIFTER. FlightGlobal article - goes to show that the OSPREY is now a REAL-TIME TESTBED for larger, better follow-on designs. FREEP Posters > believe that in circa 30 years, SAID POST-OSPREY DESIGNS MAY THEMSELVES BE OBSOLETE [AT INTRODUCTION?]IN THE ADVENT OF GRAVITY/GRAVITON-MANIPULATING-POLARZ SUPERTECHS.
The Palestinians may soon have two separate parliaments - one in the West Bank controlled by Fatah and the second belonging to Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The PLO Central Council, which met in Ramallah on Sunday, is expected to vote to dissolve the current Palestinian Legislative Council [PLC], which is dominated by Hamas. The council is also scheduled to call for early parliamentary elections in the Palestinian territories. However, it's unclear how such elections would take place in the Gaza Strip, which is entirely controlled by Hamas.
Several Fatah officials have also called to dissolve the PLC, which has been paralyzed since Hamas took full control of the Gaza Strip in June. The move is set to deepen divisions among the Palestinians and further consolidate the split between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. It is also likely to hamper efforts by some Arab countries to patch up the differences between Fatah and Hamas.
The 116-member PLO Central Council would serve as a temporary parliament to fill the vacuum after the PLC was dissolved, a senior Palestinian Authority official told The Jerusalem Post. "Of course we will hold new parliamentary elections in the Palestinian territories," he said. "But in the meantime, the council will fulfill the duties of the parliament." PA President Mahmoud Abbas has told the council members he "fully supports" early parliamentary elections, the official added.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/15/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
And this is a problem? Sounds OK to me - divide and conquer. Isolate the Hamas nuts in Gaza, and maybe the Fatah nuts in the West Bank will make a deal. Then quarantine the Gazoo.
Except for the bombmakers, of course. And the gunrunners. And snipers. Boomers. Protesters. Assassins. Thugs. Miscreats. Kidnappers. And a few terrorists, which you'd expect in the Palestinian Terror-tories.
Posted by: Bobby ||
01/15/2008 11:46 Comments ||
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#3
116 members for say 3 million people +/-. That makes 1 rep for 25,000 people plus change. In the US we have 535 reps and senators for 300 million plus illegals. That comes to 1 rep per 565,000 people. See Parkinson's Law
.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/15/2008 14:07 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Think of it as a giant Municipal Employees Union with jobs for everyone and more buckets of free money the higher you go up the food chain. And rocket launchers.
Ma'an Hamas Spokesperson Fawzi Barhoum criticized Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' speech to the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Central Council on Sunday, calling the remarks a "new trick for the Palestinian people which contradicts his calls for nationalist dialogue, and [exacerbates] disagreement."
Barhoum accused Abbas of impeding efforts to turn a new page in intra-Palestinian relations and supporting US president George Bush's calls for escalated attacks on Hamas and its leaders. As for the Abbas' accusations that Hamas refused to reopen Gaza Strip crossings, Barhoum said that was a lie aimed at defaming Hamas.
Barhoum also stated that the Palestinian caretaker government based in the West Bank is withholding the salaries of 40,000 civil servants in Gaza Strip due to their political affiliation. He denied President Abbas claims that 58% of the government's budget is spent on the Gaza Strip.
This article starring:
FAWZI BARHUM
Hamas
Posted by: Fred ||
01/15/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
ION, THE MUSLIMNEWS.CO.UK > FADLALLAH [Lebanon]- BUSH SHOULD BE DECLARED PERSONA NON GRATA, by Arab and Muslim Countries.
Ma'an A Hamas-sponsored conference of Palestinian factions to be held in Damascus at the end of January is sparking speculation that Hamas is intending to create Palestinian institutions external to the historically hegemonic Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).
A leader in the military wing of the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) called Abu Abeer said on Monday that he received a formal invitation to the three-day meeting, which is to begin on January 23rd. The announcement comes one day after the PLO's Central Council met in the West Bank city of Ramallah. Groups such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad are not members of the PLO.
"We accepted that invitation because we have realized that the peaceful compromise is not more than illusions and pledges which will only delay our cause fruitlessly."
Abu Abeer said: "We will attend the conference for the sake of creating a new era of Palestinian resistance and unity. We accepted that invitation because we have realized that the peaceful compromise is not more than illusions and pledges which will only delay our cause fruitlessly. So, it was a duty to find an alternative approach, resistance, in order to gain our rights by force."
The An-Nasser Brigades, PRC's armed wing, said they will send a delegation of exiled leaders to take part in the conference, which is meant to reaffirm the struggle for 'inalienable Palestinian rights.'
The Popular and the Democratic Fronts for the Liberation of Palestine have decided to boycott the conference while Islamic Jihad is planning to attend. A leader in the Islamic Jihad movement, Khalid Al-Batsh, told Ma'an that his movement would participate because of its emphasis on Palestinian rights.
This article starring:
ABU ABIR
Popular Resistance Committees
KHALID AL BATSH
Islamic Jihad
Islamic Jihad
Popular Resistance Committees
Posted by: Fred ||
01/15/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
TOPIX > JPOST - PA: SYRIA, IRAN TRYING TO OVERTHROW ABBAS AND FATAH; + DAILY STAR >REGIONAL FRUSTRATION WILL PUT LEBANON IN EVEN GREATER DANGER + THE S-WORD-SYRIANISM.
Ma'an The London-based Al-Hayat newspaper quoted an anonymous Palestinian official saying that a European country had told Hamas leaders that Israel decided to assassinate Hamas' three top leaders, Isma'il Haniyeh, Khalid Mash'al and Mahmoud Az-Zahhar.
According to the source, Israel had delayed the assassination until the end of US president George Bush's visit to the region. He also said that Hamas and the de facto government in the Gaza Strip are taking the issue seriously, imposing intensive security to protect their leaders.
In the same regard, Al-Hayat quoted Hamas security sources as saying that they thwarted an explosion in the park where deposed Prime Minister Haniyeh was honoring the Gazan hajj pilgrims. They said a young Palestinian man was arrested holding a bag containing three kilograms of TNT, which was designed to kill Haniyeh.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/15/2008 00:00 ||
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#5
If the Mossad wanted the top Hamas leaders dead, they would poison their toothpaste. Or toilet paper. Or shampoo. Or soap. Or underwear. Muqtada Al Sadr knows this and has taken measures to avoid every attempt at his assasination thus far. Let's just hope he doesn't figure out that the next attempt will involve his favorite ewe.
Three militants who could be executed for the 2002 Bali bombings within weeks acted in good faith to defend Islam, but were wrong to indiscriminately target civilians, evil controversial Indonesian cleric Abu Bakar Bashir said.
The three -- Imam Samudra, Mukhlas and Amrozi, who was dubbed "the smiling bomber" because of his constant grin at his trial -- have run out of legal avenues for appeal but could still seek presidential clemency, an option they have already ruled out. They were sentenced to death for their role in two nightclub blasts on Bali's Kuta strip on Oct 12, 2002, in which 202 people died, most of them foreign tourists. "Their intention is good; to defend fellow Muslims who have been terrorised by America and its allies. They didn't seek popularity, they didn't seek worldly possessions, they didn't seek any position. All they looked for was Allah's favour," Bashir told Reuters in an interview at his house in the central Java city of Solo on Monday evening.
Allan favors those who kill innocents.
Bashir, accused by some foreign governments of once heading the regional militant network Jemaah Islamiah (JI), said the militants had not discussed with him any bombing plans and he could have dissuaded them had they done so. "I'm fighting America too, but by means of preaching. I don't agree with using bombs in a peaceful zone," said Bashir, dressed in white Muslim garb.
"Besides, it's dangerous to your health," he noted. "You could get killed by Americans or Australians or even those evil Zionists. And then where would you be? Worm food, I tell you. No, I'll stick to preaching and inciting the young rubes to go boom themselves. Much safer."
The attacks, and a number of other deadly bombings in recent years, were blamed on JI, of which Bashir was alleged to have been a co-founder. Bashir, 69, was jailed for 30 months for conspiracy over the Bali bombings but was later cleared. He said the three Bali convicts had realized their mistakes and had fasted every day for two straight months to redeem their sins.
That's that.
But he also said during his meeting with the men in their island prison in December that it was evident that they had found peace and joy.
Not as much as we will when they're executed.
He did not rule out more attacks in Indonesia, but said more militants had realised that violence would only hurt their cause. "There are probably people who still believe in such a method but they will be more careful," he said, referring to militants being more careful in choosing their targets to avoid Indonesians being killed.
Bashir said al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden would have opposed bombings in Indonesia because it was not a conflict zone. "I'm sure if Osama bin Laden had been consulted he would not have agreed with (the idea of) carrying out bombings in Indonesia," he said. The cleric has in the past praised bin Laden as a "true Muslim fighter".
Since his release from prison in June 2006, Bashir has travelled around the country to preach about the importance of sharia, or Islamic law. Although there has not been an official order to restrict him, he said police sometimes asked people to cancel their invitation to him to speak at rallies. Bashir's Al-Mukmin Islamic madrassa boarding school, located in the same complex as his house, has been accused of being a breeding ground for Islamic militants. But Bashir said the accusation came from enemies who did not wish to see Muslims educated in a truly Islamic way. As he spoke, some of his students played volleyball and soccer outside a three-storey school building.
About 85 percent of Indonesia's more than 220 million population follow Islam. Although some most Indonesian Muslims are moderate, a large vocal militant minority emerged after the fall of autocratic President Suharto in 1998
Iranian conservatives critical of hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad are forming a coalition for March 14 legislative elections built around three heavyweight figures, MPs said on Monday.
The new conservative coalition, which will rival another grouping closer to Ahmadinejad, is to be built around former nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani, ex-Revolutionary Guards chief Mohsen Rezaie and Tehran mayor Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf.
The move appears set to split conservatives into two camps, one supportive of Ahmadinejad and the other containing conservatives who have been critical of his controversial policies. "The coalition will include the political friends of Ali Larijani, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, and Mohsen Rezaie," said Reza Talaie Nik, a conservative MP. "The understanding between Larijani, Rezaie and Qalibaf has allowed the creation of this coalition." The coalition will be called the "Broad and Popular Coalition of Principalists," he said.
Larijani is himself standing in the elections, which will be seen as a crucial popularity test for Ahmadinejad ahead of 2009 presidential elections.
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The widow of the fugitive leader of Fatah al-Islam terrorists claims that her husband Shaker al-Abssi is definitely dead and the voice on the last audio recording was not his , according to Saudi Arabian newspaper Okaz. She said her husband always wanted his death to be a source of confusion for his enemies. She added that the corpse at the Tripoli hospital which is marked A16 is his body .
Okaz also quoted Palestinian sources saying Wafa, Absis daughter ( who is the widow of Abu el Laith who was killed on the Iraqi Syrian borders before Nahr el Bared battle) is also certain that the voice of the recording is not her fathers. Wafa is still living in the city of Sidon, south Lebanon awaiting emigration documentation.
The Lebanese public prosecutor has said DNA tests proved that Abssi, a Palestinian, was not among the fighters killed by Lebanese troops. Lebanese troops seized control of the camp on September 2. Abssis wife who insisted the body was that of her husband was accused of lying to deceive the army and allow Abssi to escape to Syria.
In a 58-minute audio recording posted on a Web site used by al Qaeda and other Islamist groups last Monday, the leader of the Fatah al-Islam group threatened attacks against the Lebanese army after it crushed its militants in battles at a refugee camp in northern Lebanon last year. "Nahr al-Bared camp will stand witness to your shame until the mujahideen tread your (bodies) with their shoes," a speaker who identified himself as Shaker al-Abssi said.
Absi, who served in the Syrian army was sentenced to death in absentia for the killing of a U.S. diplomat in Jordan in 2002. He was later jailed in Syria before setting up Fatah al-Islam in north Lebanon last year.
This article starring:
ABU EL LAITH
al-Qaeda in Iraq
SHAKER AL ABSI
Fatah al-Islam
Fatah al-Islam
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#3
FRANCE reportedly wants SYRIAN-led/suppor proactive resol of the Lebanese crises as a precondition of improved/better relations.
Also ala FRANCE, CHINESE MIL FORUM > FRANCE TO SET UP MILITARY FORCE IN GULF [UAE] + FRENCH AREVA COMPANY MUST GIVE UP/SHARE NUCLEAR TECHNOLOGY TO CHINA [Nuclear Treatment Tech]. France has also repor offered NUCLEAR ENERGY ASSISTANCE to SAUDI ARABIA, besides also JORDAN, EGYPT, etc.
Sarkozy's been a busy boy wid French NucTech + Supermodels.
Arab diplomatic source in Beirut told al Markaziyeh news agency today that since both the opposition and the majority trust General Suleiman and since both want to see an enhanced role for the presidency then the best math formula for a unity government should be As follows:
8- 10 - 12
8 to be the number of the opposition ministers
10 to be the number of the majority ministers
12 to be the number of the presidents ministers
The share for the opposition and the majority is based on their proportional representation in the parliament . 45 % for the opposition and 55 % for the majority. In this case neither the majority nor the minority gets a blocking third in the cabinet . Even if the majority and opposition agree on a specific legislation , they will still need the vote of the ministers of the president to pass any bills.
Arab league chief Amr Moussa traveled to Beirut last week to broker an end to the crises but was faced with obstacles by the Iranian and Syrian backed opposition, that resulted in the failure of his mission. One major obstacle was the formation of a government of national unity . The opposition was insisting on a formula of 10 - 10 - 10.
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
On the directives of the federal government, around 156 policemen from the SRP-Sukkur base have been deployed outside the late Benazir Bhuttos house in Naudero for the security of her widower, now Pakistan Peoples Party co-chairman, Asif Ali Zardari. Naudero Supervisory Police Officer (SPO) Mukhtiar Ahmad Sariyo will supervise the security arrangements, which include 10 checkposts manned by 70 policemen along the boundary walls of the house, and two special mobile police squads.
A jirga of Mehsud tribe demanded on Monday security forces stop military operation in the area. Security forces arrested several people on Sunday during a search operation and demolished the house of 
Three militants who could be executed for the 2002 Bali bombings within weeks acted in good faith to defend Islam, but were wrong to indiscriminately target civilians, 
The widow of the fugitive leader of 
Arab diplomatic source in Beirut told al Markaziyeh news agency today that since both the opposition and the majority trust General Suleiman and since both want to see an enhanced role for the presidency then the best math formula for a unity government should be As follows:
