The Taleban has accused French President Nicolas Sarkozy of reneging on an election promise with his pledge to send more troops to Afghanistan. The Afghan militant group said it had freed two French aid workers last year because Mr Sarkozy had pledged to pull French forces out of Afghanistan. He had said during last year's campaign that the long-term presence of French troops in Afghanistan was not assured. Earlier this week, France offered 700 more troops for Nato's Afghan mission.
"The Nato-member countries are not only making baseless promises to Afghans but they do so to their respective nations," a Taleban spokesman told AFP. "A good example is current French President Sarkozy," the spokesman said. "During his electoral campaign, he promised to focus on withdrawing French troops from Afghanistan."
The extra troops raised at this week's Nato summit in the Romanian capital, Bucharest, would not defeat the insurgents, the spokesman said. "With the blessing of God, the occupiers will be defeated as others have been defeated in the past," he said.
This article starring:
Nicolas Sarkozy
Posted by: Fred ||
04/06/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: Taliban
Yemen's Shi'ite rebels destroyed the vacant house of the mainly Muslim Arab state's top rabbi, a security official said on Sunday. Residents said the assailants from a group opposed to the U.S.-allied government destroyed the house of Yehia Youssuf in Saada, a northern province. The security official said it was not immediately known what weapons were used in the attack. "They turned to the houses of other Jews after," one resident said.
About 200 Yemeni Jews who lived in Saada, including Youssef, have been living in the capital Sanaa due to sporadic fighting between government forces and the rebel group, known as the Houthis.
#1
They chose not to emigrate to Israel when they had the chance, so now they've moved, willy nilly, to Sanaa. I wish them luck, but there isn't much luck for dhimmis in an Arab country these days.
The mastermind of the eight Britons, who allegedly planned to blow up airliners in mid air, had travelled to Islamabad from Heathrow just two months before his arrest in August 2006.
At least seven aircraft flying to major cities across North America were the targets, the court was told. But the jury has also heard that a computer memory stick found at the High Wycombe.
The jury at Woolwich Crown Court was played parts of one of the martyrdom videos featuring a man said to be defendant Umar Islam, who was shown speaking of a desire to kill non-Muslims. As the chilling martyrdom videos of six of the eight accused were played in Woolwich Crown Court, the prosecution told the jury that one of the accused, Assad Ali Sarwar had travelled to Islamabad from Heathrow in June 2006, just two months before his arrest on August 9.
The seven other accused were also arrested at the same time. The prosecution told the court that Assad did not intend to die himself and had direct links to those overseas who may have a clear interest in the success of any such terrorist outrage struck in the name of Islam.
The prosecution said the trip to Pakistan was connected to the plot to detonate bombs on board transatlantic aircrafts.
Just a day before the arrests in London in August 2006, Pakistani authorities had arrested Rashid Rauf from a city in Punjab. Britain had been asking Pakistan for extradition of Rashid Rauf who escaped from the custody of Rawalpindi police in December 2007 under mysterious circumstances.
The prosecution told the court that Assad did not make his own martyrdom video and described him as custodian of recordings made by six of his co-defendants. The chilling videos show the British fanatics praising Osama bin Laden and threatening death, terror and destruction in retaliation for US and British actions in Iraq and Afghanistan and their policy on Palestine.
Those who planned to board and blow up at least seven planes bound for the United States and Canada are all Londoners aged between 23 and 29 and include Abdulla Ahmed Ali, Assad Sarwar, Tanvir Hussain, Ibrahim Savant, Mohammed Gulzar, Arafat Waheed Khan, Waheed Zaman, and Umar Islam.
The jury has also heard that a computer memory stick found at the High Wycombe home of Mr Sarwar revealed the alleged plotters also considered other UK targets. They included Canary Wharf, a gas pipeline running between Belgium and the UK, other UK airports, as well as companies that store and process hydrogen peroxide. Another memory stick found in Mr Sarwars garage contained information about UK power stations, internet service provider exchanges, oil refineries, the National Grid and UK airports, the jury was told.
The court also heard how the alleged plotters stockpiled materials needed for their home-made liquid devices, including 18 litres of hydrogen peroxide, wires and syringes, which the prosecution claims they intended to smuggle on to aircraft disguised as 500ml soft drinks.
This article starring:
Assad Ali Sarwar
Rashid Rauf
Posted by: Fred ||
04/06/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda
#1
Did he kiss the hand of ISI officers while in Pakiwakiland?
Did he return with Saudi money?
TOKYO- China has begun a system which will allow companies and people from North Korea to open bank accounts in China to settle business transactions in yuan, Japans Nikkei business daily reported on Sunday. The new system, which the Nikkei said marked an effective relaxation of sanctions enacted against the North after its October 2006 nuclear test, was jointly developed by the Peoples Bank of China and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, Beijing sources familiar with the matter were quoted as saying.
It is unprecedented for China to create such a system aimed at a specific country, the Nikkei said.
But not unprecedented for the Chinese to keep their lap-dog afloat by any means possible.
The report came just days before representatives of the United States and North Korea are set to meet in Singapore for talks that are part of a stalled effort to persuade Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear ambitions. A 2005 accord under which North Korea agreed to abandon all its nuclear programmes in exchange for economic and diplomatic benefits has been bogged down by Pyongyangs failure to produce a declaration of its nuclear programmes by the end of last year.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/06/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
"will allow companies and people from North Korea to open bank accounts in China"
Like many North Koreans are going to grab their passports and cash and head on over the border to open accounts. I think China is hoping the Dear Leader and his cronies will stash some of their wealth in China before the collapse. Or maybe China is requiring it for those at the top who desire safe passage and refuge.
#2
But how long can NOKOR hold out widout serious reforms??? Unlike IRAN having various neighboring Muslim nations and regions around it, NOKOR ONLY HAS COMMIE CHINA TO NORTH, US-SOKORS-JAPAN TO SOUTH, AND COLD SEAS ON THE FLANKS.
* See STRATEGYPAGE > KOREAS: SHAPE UP OR STARVE; + PROCUEMENT: NORTH KOREAN MISSLES/ROCKETS OUT THE BACK DOOR [240 MM's Rocs Arty to Myanmar]; + LEADERSHIP: RED ARMY REAL ESTATE RIOT [applica also to NK].
Vandals desecrated 148 graves in the Muslim section of a military cemetery in northern France, hanging a pig's head on one of the headstones, police said on Sunday. French President Nicolas Sarkozy called the attack "a hateful act" and around 100 police were sent to the Notre-Dame de Lorette cemetery near Arras to hunt for clues.
State prosecutor Jean-Pierre Valensi said the vandals struck overnight, daubing insults on the graves. "They directly referred to Islam and there were also insults directed at the justice minister," Valensi said, referring to Rachida Dati, whose parents came from North Africa. The desecration came almost exactly a year after youths daubed Nazi inscriptions and swastikas on Muslim tombs in the same cemetery in Ablain Saint-Nazaire.
France's political class united in denouncing the vandalism. "This is a most unacceptable act of racism and the president shares the pain of France's Muslim community," Sarkozy's office said in a statement. Prime Minister Francois Fillon called it a "revolting act" and said those responsible would be found. The MRAP anti-racism group said this latest desecration showed that "Islamophobia" was taking root in France.
#2
Agreed Darth. What ever one might feel about the act itself, this has been a long time in the making. I'm not even bothering to check the sympathy meter. Sauce -> Gander.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
04/06/2008 11:40 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Disagree. Those soldiers fought for France in a war almost 100 years ago. They didn't fight as Muslims, they fought as French. Their graves deserve exactly the same respect as ours do.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/06/2008 12:47 Comments ||
Top||
#4
The only thing that should be done to Muslim cemeteries is make them (selectively) fuller.
#5
You are most correct SW. Obviously, we are not dealing with Mensa candidates. It does serve to highlight what is simmering just below the surface. Ugliness usually begets further ugliness, and it is going to get uglier. The French authorities have every right to be incensed. The current crop of muzzies do not. They have little or no connection to, nor understanding of, those men who served France.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
04/06/2008 13:39 Comments ||
Top||
#6
In the states the aggrieved minorities typically desecrate their own -- to "increase dialogue" -- since genuine racist initiative is evidently in short supply. The French never raised a finger to stop the car torchings, so one wonders if this is not a case of Muslims trying to force the dialectic as it were.
Posted by: regular joe ||
04/06/2008 13:52 Comments ||
Top||
#7
I agree with Steve - this is WRONG. It's a cowardly act against the memory of loyal soldiers who fought for France.
#8
Is it more wrong if it was done by Muslim youths who stand against everything these men fought for? Or by French youths who choose not to be worthy of what these men chose to die for? Our fight is against those who now work to enslave us, stealing the freedoms that so many fought for over the last three centuries and more. Not against those whose bodies are quietly returning to the dust, regardless what good or evil they might have done while walking above the ground.
#9
Disagree. Those soldiers fought for France in a war almost 100 years ago. They didn't fight as Muslims, they fought as French. Their graves deserve exactly the same respect as ours do.
#10
This isn't about WW2, it's about now and the deteriorating relations between Muslims and French (and everybody else). It's a way of saying get out or else.
#11
Such acts should be condemned... but at the same time we need to highlight how we've arrived at this current state of affairs. To do so otherwise would most likely serve to give cover to those who are responsible - namely the spinelessness of the French Govt in the face islamist extremism, the French Govt for it's ruinous program of nearly unfettered immigration from North Africa in hopes of propping up it's nanny state, and of most of all, the islamists themselves. The French do have a lot to answer for...and if they are not careful, they will pay that bill. I for one, do not wish to see that scenario played out here in the U.S. It is sad to see the memories of those honorable men trashed. I am just as concerned as to how we've gotten here. In many ways, the U.S. Govt. is just as blind and bull headed. Visa Express anyone?
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
04/06/2008 15:13 Comments ||
Top||
#12
This is an awful thing, but these are the wages of the elites' dhimmitude.
We can expect to see more of this sort of thing (and worse) if the properly constituted authorities won't do their jobs in standing up to the caliphate.
#14
Who gives a damn? The French better toughen up and harden their hearts for the shit storm that's to come.
Posted by: ed ||
04/06/2008 17:25 Comments ||
Top||
#15
The saddest thing is that the sick, twisted creatures who'd do that kind of thing are the last defenders of Europe.
Not yet...but it's headed in that direction as long as the EUnuchs hold sway. For instance, while Vlaams Belang appears to hold true to its platform, there are those in their ranks who have most distasteful stench about them. Then there's the BNP, in England. Keeping a spotlight on the real issue, holding those govts. responsible, and resisting the temptation of expedient partnerships goes a long way in keeping the movement out of the hands of what would otherwise simply be another band of extremists.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
04/06/2008 17:40 Comments ||
Top||
A few days before General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker appear before House and Senate committees to deliver their latest update on Iraq, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi makes clear what she hopes they will not say.
In a news conference together with the chairmen of the House committees on Armed Services and Foreign Affairs, she refers to the recent fighting in Iraq's southern port city of Basra, saying Petraeus and Crocker should not attempt to put a positive spin on events.
"We have to know the real ground truths of what is happening there, not put a shine on events because of a resolution [of the situation in Basra] that looks less violent when it has in fact been dictated by someone [Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada] al-Sadr who can grant or withhold that call for violence or not," said Nancy Pelosi.
Thursday's news conference came in the wake of seemingly critical comments by Ambassador Crocker in a New York Times interview about the Iraqi government's handling of military operations in Basra.
Elaborating during a Baghdad news conference, Crocker indicated again that Iraqi military decisions caught U.S. forces by surprise. But he described Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki as having acted decisively, and praised the Iraqi military for its ability to plan, execute and adjust its operation.
Whatever versions that emerge between now and next week, lawmakers are making clear they don't intend to accept a picture that candy coats (minimizes) the military, political or reconciliation situation.
Democratic House foreign affairs chairman Howard Berman says the Iraqi government appears, in his words, to have largely frittered away chances for political reconciliation:
"The purpose of the [U.S. military] surge was to create political space for Iraqis to make meaningful strides toward national reconciliation, but sectarianism sadly remains the dominant force in Iraq and the sacrifices involved in getting us to this point don't seem to have put us much closer to the goal," said Howard Berman.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/06/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: Iraqi Insurgency
#1
You are not interested in truth. Shut your fly trap.
#4
In my wet dream Gen Petraeus's opening remarks would be as follows:
"Listen clowns, I am fighting a war and don't have time to come play grab ass with you. We have made a lot of progress on all fronts and yes there was a battle in a city that was abandoned by our British allies. Let this be a template for the entire country if we even think about leaving the rest of the country in any shape or manner proposed by you military scholars (sic). Now if any of you think that they can do this job better than me feel free to put on the appropriate rank and uniform, get in my plane, fly back to Iraq, and have yourself a wonderful time. I will stay here, retire, and run for your Senate or Congressional seat. I wont worry about being called a "carpet bagger" since I have served all over this country and around the world. Otherwise, shut your yap, listen to our briefing, thank us for taking time to do this dog-and-pony, and allow us to leave without your whinny and sniveling comments."
#5
With poll figures that low and no indication of hitting bottom yet, you'd think rational people would try something different.
If any 527s are going to make any effort this fall to paint Nancy & Co for the life sucking political hacks they are for playing politics with our troops lives and honor, then I'd have to agree about the 'seriousness of the situation in Iraq'. Never make the American public mad, because it turns them out to vote. Not in the manner Nancy is looking for.
#6
These people are so hedged in defeat, they are blind to their own blatant hypocrisy. To "pre-empt" Gen. Petraeus's honor by suggesting, however remotely, that he will try to paint a picture not in line with the reality on the ground in Iraq as he truly sees it is a slap-in-the-face insult. It's no different than the moveon.org "General Betray-us" ad from the last time the good and honorable man testified on the Hill.
If the Democrats had any shame, they would muzzle their Speaker, something they should have done after her first day in the job.
#8
Concur....outstanding snark there Sarge. Can I quote you on that? heh heh
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
04/06/2008 11:50 Comments ||
Top||
#9
If it's like last time, the dem staffers will have let 4-5 Code Pinkos into the hearing room for their C-Span moment of lunacy. After order is half-heartedly restored, Nan or Berman will give their opening statements laced with inuendo and the-sky-is-falling tripe, after which General Patraeus and Ambassador Crocker should stand up, say 'thank you for your report', and leave the room.
The dem mantra is "it's not the facts, it's the seriousness of the charge" anyway, so why bother with those fools.
Chandigarh: The case of Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh, who is on a death row in a Pakistani jail for his alleged involvement in 1990 serial blasts in Lahore and Multan, appears to be one of mistaken identity, former Pakistani minister and U.N. Human Rights Council advisory committee member Ansar Burney said here on Friday.
Prima facie, his [Sarabjits] case appears to be that of mistaken identity, Mr. Burney told reporters here after discussions with the Punjab State Human Rights Commission chairperson and its other members.
He had said he would soon take up the issue of Sarabjit with the new government in Pakistan.
Posted by: john frum ||
04/06/2008 11:31 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Now that must be a binge drinking regret... most people will only regret the hangover... he got drunk, wandered across the border and ended up on death row...
Posted by: john frum ||
04/06/2008 18:45 Comments ||
Top||
#2
It would have been 10 times worse if he caught driving.
Posted by: ed ||
04/06/2008 18:52 Comments ||
Top||
The United Nations Human Rights Council has been accused by some Western nations on the body and also by non-governmental groups of being used as an instrument by some Islamic nations to seek to restrict freedom of speech.
Critics said Islamic countries were turning a resolution intended to renew the mandate of the UN's special rapporteur on freedom of expression into an order to report on defamation of religion. "All of the council's decisions are nowadays determined by the interests of Muslim countries or powerful states such as China or Russia that know how to surround themselves with allies," the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders advocacy group stated.
The amended resolution was adopted on 28 March in Geneva by 32 votes in favour, mainly Islamic states, with support from China, Cuba and Russia. There were no votes against, but 15 abstentions. A statement issued by the Canadian delegation to the UN council said, "Instead of promoting freedom of expression the special rapporteur would be policing its exercise."
Shortly before the vote, 40 civil society organizations called on the Human Rights Council to protect the mandate of the special rapporteur by rejecting the amendment to the mandate proposed by the Organisation of the Islamic Conference.
The India and Britain-based International Humanist and Ethical Union said the UN council "stands exposed as no longer capable of fulfilling its central role: the promotion and protection of human rights". The UN council, during its sitting which ended on 28 March, did not take any action regarding current protests such as China's dealing with recent demonstrations by monks and other residents in Tibet, although some Western countries raised the issue.
Some Western and Latin American Council members who first helped draft the freedom of expression resolution, including its main sponsor Canada, withdrew support when it came to a vote, saying it had been completely changed by amendments. One of the amendments, from Pakistan for the 57-nation Organisation of the Islamic Conference, decreed the investigator must "report on instances in which the abuse of the right of freedom of expression constitutes an act of racial or religious discrimination".
The Reuters news agency reported on 31 March that the amendment - supported by Russia, Cuba, China and African states on the Council - clearly targeted media cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad and a Dutch film, released on the Internet at the weekend, that linked Islam with terrorism. The coalition of NGOs - from countries such as Egypt, Bahrain, Sudan and Syria - said the amendment would undermine free expression "when it most needs protection and strengthening". The NGOs declared that the UN investigator's role was not to examine the abuse of free expression, but to monitor abuses of human rights which were used to limit freedom of expression.
Posted by: ryuge ||
04/06/2008 10:12 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: Global Jihad
#1
supported by Russia, Cuba, China and African states on the Council
All pigs are equal, but some pigs are more equal than others. Orwell had it so right.
Posted by: ed ||
04/06/2008 17:38 Comments ||
Top||
Iraq's political leadership on Saturday called on all parties to disband their militias before provincial elections this year, an apparent attempt to isolate the populist Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.
The political council of national security, which comprises the president, the prime minister and the heads of political blocs in parliament, issued a 15-point statement at a late night news conference in Baghdad.
It came after fighting last week between Iraqi security forces and Sadr's Mehdi Army militia killed hundreds of people in southern Iraq and Baghdad.
A key demand in the statement was for all parties and political blocs to dissolve their militias immediately and hand in their weapons. The statement did not mention any militias by name, but Sadr appeared to be the target. "They should shift to civilian activities as a precondition for taking part in the political process and the next elections," said the statement, read out at the news conference which was chaired by President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd.
The political council said it would stand firmly with the Shi'ite-led government in any confrontation with militias. Sadr's movement holds 30 seats in the 275-member parliament. Talabani said all members of the council had agreed to the 15-point statement except for the Sadrists. Nassar al-Rubaie, head of the Sadrist bloc in parliament, said the statement was an attempt to corner the Sadrist faction.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/06/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under: Mahdi Army
#1
STRATEGYPAGE > IRAG: IRAN TAKES A BEATING. Sadr's MAHDI ARMY has reportedly lost 571 KIA, 881 WIA, 490 CIA/CPIA, + 30 MIA ala recent fighting. Iraqi Army + Police did well despite desertions and not considered to had fallen apart or disintegrated under fire/combat condits. DESERTIONS > were of a lower PERCENTAGE THAT HAD EVER BEEN EXPERIENCED BEFORE FROM IRAQI UNITS. StratPge > SADR's MAHDI ARMY DEEMED THE REAL LOSER vv loss of many former MA-controlled neighborhoods, ARMS, VEHIX, + ESPEC POPULAR SUPPORT.
MAHDI ARMY devol into CRIMINAL/UNDERWORLD GANGSTERISTS = CRIMINAL ORG?, and NO SEEN AS LONGER REVOL ALTERNATISTS, ISLAMIST "FREEDOM FIGHTERS", etc.???
Lebanon's army and resistance movement of Hezbollah are on high alert in southern Lebanon to be ready for any Israeli hostile moves.
The Lebanese army Commander Michel Suleiman put all military units in southern Lebanon on full alert, Lebanese daily as-Safir reported. "Suleiman ordered the army to be ready to prevent any possible violation of the Lebanese coastal waters and targeting civilians by the Israeli army," the paper quoted informed sources speaking on condition of anonymity.
The country went on full alert on Saturday a day before the Israeli regime is to begin what it called large-scale military defense exercises featuring scenarios in which chemical and biological missiles may hit populated areas.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/06/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: Hezbollah
#1
Nervous, are they? But why would those who won the last war be nervous?
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
The mastermind of the eight Britons, who allegedly planned to blow up airliners in mid air, had travelled to Islamabad from Heathrow just two months before his arrest in August 2006.
A few days before General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker appear before House and Senate committees to deliver their latest update on Iraq, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi makes clear what she hopes they will not say.
Lebanon's army and resistance movement of Hezbollah are on high alert in southern Lebanon to be ready for any Israeli hostile moves. 
