(AKI) - Presidential elections due in Afghanistan next year will be 'key' in the fight against the Taliban, the President of NATO's top body, the Military Committee, Admiral Giampaolo Di Paola, said on Tuesday. Speaking to journalists in Brussels, Di Paola downplayed recent claims that the Taliban has the upper hand, claiming that security is only "critical" in three southern Afghan provinces.
However, he called on European allies to commit more troops to the country.
A report by a leading international think-tank last week said the Taliban dominated 72 percent of Afghanistan, up from 54 percent a year ago. The report was published by the highly respected International Council on Security and Development (the former Senlis Council).
"I notice that areas are defined as under Taliban control just because they have carried out an attack there," Di Paola said. "In actual fact there are only three critical provinces - Helmand, Uruzgan and Kandahar."
The overall security situation in Afghanistan is not as bad as media reports suggest, he said. Voter registration in the provinces to the north and west of Kabul is already going very well and has also begun in some provinces to the south of the capital, he said. "It's a process that's in everyone's interests."
NATO leads a force of 51,350 international troops from 41 countries, currently deployed in Afghanistan.
"The operation in Afghanistan remains a priority for NATO. Our commitment to the country remains, knowing that 2009 will be an important, a key year, especially in view of the forthcoming polls," said Di Paola.
Despite recent attacks by the Pakistani Taliban against NATO supply lines in northwest Pakistan, these have not been severed, Di Paola asserted. "I can assure you that NATO convoys are continuing to arrive regularly. ISAF (the NATO-led security force) commanders assure me that the supply lines remain open," he said.
"It is in the interests of the government and the Pakistani army and the well-paid Pakistani truck drivers, that these convoys keep getting through," Di Paola said. He rejected a claim by the main truckers' association that it had stopped sending goods from the country's main port in Karachi.
NATO is nonetheless mulling alternative supply routes into Afghanistan, Di Paola confirmed. "It is negotiating with Afghanistan. Clearly the more routes we have the better," he said. Russia and the central Asian republics of Uzbekistan and Turkemenistan are believed to be under consideration by NATO as alternative transport routes for shipping supplies to Afghanistan.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/17/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: Taliban
(SomaliNet) A majority of MPs in the Somalian parliament has voted in support of the government. The vote was called by Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein, who opposed President Abdullah Yusuf Ahmed's decision to dismiss the cabinet.
The Somalian president wanted to dismiss the government because he says it has failed to make Somalia safe. But the prime minister said the president cannot send the government home without consulting parliament.
Somalia has been involved in a long-running conflict with Islamist militias, who have control of part of the country. The African Union has urged President Yusuf and Prime Minister Hussein to restore peace in Somalia.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/17/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic Courts
Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmad on Tuesday named a new prime minister despite Parliament's rejection of his decision to sack the current premier, worsening a power struggle in the conflict-wracked country. Yusuf appointed close ally Mohamoud Mohammad Gouled, a little known MP who has also served.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/17/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
KUNITED NATIONS - The UN Security Council Tuesday unanimously adopted a resolution for the first time authorizing international land operations against audacious, armed pirates sheltering in Somalia.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice hailed the adoption of the US resolution saying it sent a "strong signal to combat the scourge of piracy" and stressed the need "to end the impunity of Somali pirates."
The text, co-sponsored by Belgium, France, Greece, Liberia and South Korea, gives those nations already involved in battling pirates off Somalia a one-year mandate to act against the brigands inside the country. Resolution 1851 authorizes the states to "take all necessary measures that are appropriate in Somalia" to suppress "acts of piracy and armed robbery at sea."
However, to overcome objections from countries such as Indonesia an earlier reference in the text to "ashore" or "including in its (Somalia) airspace" was dropped.
Pretty much toothless then, isn't it?
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/17/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Not sure. The quoted language seems to authorize action inside Somalia. Wondering about that Indonesian objection. Indonesia's no stranger to piracy problems - I think their neighborhood is actually the long-running world leader in piracy in modern times. They might have a dog in the fight for legit reasons - not wanting to set a precedent for Singapore, Australia, or others to implement anti-piracy ops "ashore" on their territory.
#2
It goes to the heart of declaring sovereignty and exercising sovereignty. A lot of 'states' want to claim territory but demonstrate no effective control or policing of such territory. Those type of states still want the tissue of legitimacy over the territory and therefore seek to thwart measures of others to end the chaos that spills over from those 'outlands' into their areas of sovereignty. They don't want precedent that will allow others to lawfully establish order which they themselves are incapable or unwilling to do and therefore undermine their claims to said territories.
#5
Indonesia has long had an obsession about its sovereignty. It took Lloyd's jacking up its rates in the Straits of Mallacca and some extreme pressure from its neighbors and Japan to get it to agree to cooperate in anti-piracy air patrols.
A discussion on the sensitive topic has been tabled for the next meeting of the Church of England's governing body amid fears that some clergy are ignoring their traditional missionary role.
Some members of the General Synod believe Christ ordered all Christians to recruit nonbelievers and followers of other faiths, and they want to see how many bishops and vicars agree with this view.
Among the speakers is likely to be the Bishop of Rochester, the Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, who earlier this year warned that Church leaders had "gone too far" in their sensitivity towards Muslims and were not doing enough to spread the word of God.
At the end of the debate at next February's Synod meeting in London, bishops, clergy and lay members will vote on whether bishops should report to the Synod on "their understanding of the uniqueness of Christ in multi-faith Britain", and give examples of how the gospel should be shared.
Paul Eddy, a lay member of the Synod, started the Private Members' Motion and accused the Church of censorship earlier this year when it was taken off the agenda of the July meeting at the last minute. He believed it was shelved because it would have shown up deep divisions in the Church over its attitude to converting believers in other faiths.
Mr Eddy said today that he was delighted the discussion will now be heard.
He told The Daily Telegraph: "I'm looking forward to what I think will be a very positive debate. I'm hoping that the Church will affirm the historic tenets of our faith.
"We have a huge responsibility to share our faith with everyone in the UK including those of other faiths."
The Synod meeting will also debate whether clergy should be banned from being members of the far-right British National Party, following another Private Members' Motion.
There will be a presentation on "the implications of the financial crisis and recession", triggered by fears that the economic downturn could damage the Church's billion-pound stock market investments as well as takings in the collection plate.
A British-Iraqi doctor who led failed attempts to attack a London nightclub and Glasgow airport with nail-packed car bombs was sentenced to life in prison.
Bilal Abdulla, 29, was earlier convicted of conspiring to murder hundreds of Britons and conspiring to cause explosions in two botched terrorist attacks last year.
Justice Colin Mackay gave Abdulla a life sentence, ordering him to serve a minimum of 32 years concurrently on each count and telling him he was a ''religious extremist and a bigot.''
Police said Abdulla, a Sunni Muslim raised in Iraq but born in Britain who holds dual citizenship, carried out his attacks to avenge the deaths of friends and relatives in Iraq.
Because the 10,00 security cameras in London somehow don't make up for the unraqvelling of society caused by decades of corrosive attacks on Christianity and Western culture. Not to mention the effect of concommitant massive immigration of those hostile to that culture and its survival.
A Russian military official has expressed alarm over alleged US plans to set up military bases in two ex-Soviet republics, reports say.
Sorta like their plans for Hugo-land and Cuba ...
Russia's chief of the General Staff, General Nikolai Makarov, accused Washington on Tuesday of planning to extend its foothold in Central Asia, Russian news agencies reported. "American military bases are dotted throughout the world,...The US has opened bases in Romania and Bulgaria, and according to our information plans to establish them in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan," Gen. Makarov was quoted.
Kazakhstan, world's ninth largest country, was the last country to declare its independence from the former Soviet Union. The country was the primary nuclear weapon testing site during the soviet era.
As tension intensifies between the Kremlin and White House, Moscow is showing less patience with the growing US military presence in the region.
The US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 was followed by the occupation of Iraq in 2003. During the invasion of Afghanistan, the US Air Force was allowed flyovers by Kyrgyzstan, the region's sole US outpost.
With the announcement of 20,000 more troops set for deployment to the war-torn country, some analysts say seeking more bases in neighboring states would be inevitable.
Gen. Makarov also stressed that Moscow receives the White House support for bids by Georgia and Ukraine to join NATO as a threatening warning since Russia feels "surrounded by the alliance's military force," RAI Novosti reported.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/17/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda
#1
You guys really want to get into another pissing contest with proxies? How dumb are you?
#2
US bases make them look bad on some many levels. The bases are not used to intimidate the host country. The bases bring cash to the host country and provide security and worst of all the base brings Americans into direct contact with locals who will see and judge them (and realize the lies Moscow has been saying) for themselves.
Personally I think this is just Russia preparing the playing field for Obama. He wants to pull back, Russia can provide the first opportunity and thus seem to be molified by the actions making Obama look good while getting what they want.
I suspect a deal where as the Russians run the bases and supply the bases and the US rents the bases until the war in Afghanistan is over. OR something like that.
Two men have been sentenced to death for a deadly attack on police in the Muslim city of Kashgar in the Xinjiang region.
Abdurahman Azat, 33, and Kurbanjan Hemit, 28, described as terrorists, were convicted of murder for an August 4 attack that left 17 people dead and 15 injured, Xinhua Leg 1reported from the Supreme Court. They were also found guilty of making guns and explosives.
While no details were given, previous accounts mentioned two Islamic separatists driving a truck at police then attacking with explosives and knives in downtown Kashgar.
The United States said on Monday that it will be difficult to continue sending aid to the DPRK before Pyongyang agrees to the nuclear verification protocol.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/17/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea stepped up its campaign to prove leader Kim Jong-il is well and in control by showing him looking at an electronic copy of a newspaper dated Tuesday in a series of photos released through its official media.
U.S. and South Korean officials have said Kim, 66, suffered a stroke in August, raising questions about leadership in Asia's only communist dynasty and who was making decisions about the North's nuclear program. Despite re-emerging in early October in official media reports about making public appearances and seen in unndated photographs, there had been no definite and up-to-date image that showed the reclusive leader in good health.
In the series of photographs released by KCNA news agency, Kim is seen inspecting a library in the northern Jagang province and looking at a computer monitor displaying an electronic copy of the official Rodong Sinmun newspaper dated December 16. Kim, wearing a heavy winter coat, a fur hat and ski gloves indoors, is shown listening grim-faced to briefings by local officials as he toured the Jagang provincial information center.
"Reading information through a computer network is not only economical but an effective method of enabling a lot of people to read anything in any place, he noted, underscoring the need to expand the computer network," KCNA said.
As opposed to feeding the people ...
The front page of the Rodong Sinmun carried the headline story about a visiting Egyptian delegation of Orascom Telecom officials presenting a gift to Kim. Orascom launched a mobile telephone service in the North on Monday, a market seen at best as strictly limited in commercial viability because the authorities are unlikely to allow the general public to have access to telecommunication networks.
Maybe that's because they're a bunch of communists?
Last week, a French doctor who is thought to have treated Kim was quoted in French newspaper Le Figaro as saying the leader had suffered a stroke but did not undergo surgery and is now better.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/17/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Uumh, I like the tall one with dark hair and large breasts. Heh honey, want to come to a wine party?
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
12/17/2008 16:01 Comments ||
Top||
#6
ION WORLD MIL FORUM > IIUC CHINA'S YELLOW EMPEROR MAY BE OF KOREAN DESCENT [ergo KOREAS are CHINA]. US POTUS-ELECT BARACK OBAMA OF KOREAN HERITAGE???
By the above, Obama could be Kimmie's very distant blood Cousin???? IFF GERMANY AND JAPAN WERE SAID TO HAD WON WW2 AS PER COLD WAR ECONOMIC GROWTH-PROSPERITY VEE USA [+ NATO], DITTO FOR NORTH KOREA ALA KOREAN WAR???
UNITED NATIONS - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Tuesday the Bush administration will keep trying to get North Korea to make written commitments on inspection of its nuclear programs until President George W. Bush leaves office on Jan. 20. Rice told reporters at U.N. headquarters that five of the six parties the U.S., China, South Korea, Japan and Russia “are completely agreed" on how North Korea's past nuclear activities should be verified.
“What happened in Beijing was that the North Koreans at this last session wouldn't write them down," she said. “But there is, in fact, a verification protocol and a set of assurances that the five are agreed to and that the North Koreans at least privately before we lifted the terrorist designation had also agreed to," Rice said, “and so we'll just have to work through this."
In late June, Bush relaxed trade sanctions against North Korea and moved to take it off the U.S. terrorism blacklist in exchange for Kim Jong Il's decision to hand over a long-awaited accounting of its nuclear bomb-making abilities. The U.S. actions were seen as crucial to making progress in negotiations meant to rid North Korea of its nuclear weapons.
But Pyongyang balked at putting its commitments on inspections in writing.
Rice called North Korea's shutdown and subsequent disabling of its nuclear reactor at Yongbyon “an important step forward" in dealing with its plutonium program. “But we have a lot of questions about the highly enriched uranium route for North Korea. We have a lot of questions about proliferation, and we believe that the mechanism of the six parties and an associated verification protocol will be the best way to resolve those questions and to get to the bottom of the entire nature of the North Korean program," she said.
Rice said in response to a question that the Bush administration will leave incoming President Barack Obama “a pretty good framework, but we'll continue to see if we can get the North Koreans to write down the assurances that they gave us."
“We're going to continue to work on it until the very last day," she said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/17/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
The Bush administration has decided to transfer three Algerian detainees to their adopted homeland of Bosnia, a decision that partially complies with the order of a federal judge who said last month that five Algerians should be released "forthwith," rejecting government allegations that the men were dangerous enemy combatants.
But Lakhdar Boumediene, the Algerian whose name is associated with a landmark Supreme Court decision regarding the legal rights of those held at the naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, remains in limbo despite the U.S. District Court ruling and the imminent release of his countrymen.
Administration officials and other sources, who declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the issue, said yesterday that authorities at the base have begun to prepare for a transfer, a process that includes moving detainees to a pre-release facility at Guantanamo and having them undergo exit interviews with the International Committee of the Red Cross. Three have had exit interviews in recent days, sources said.
Those three men are expected to be flown out of Guantanamo today, weather permitting in Sarajevo.
A Pentagon spokeswoman declined to comment, citing operational concerns. The ICRC also declined to comment.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/17/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday urged India to share with Pakistan all available evidence concerning the Mumbai terrorist attacks and accept Pakistani government's offer of co-operation.
He said this while talking to Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt who called on him at the Punjab House.
While discussing regional peace with special reference to Afghanistan and the recent terrorist attacks in Mumbai, Sharif stressed that Pakistan wished to co-operate with both the neighbouring countries to establish peace and stability in the region, a statement issued after the meeting said.
Sharif said Pakistan was itself suffering from terrorism on the economic and security fronts for many years.
The Swedish foreign minister congratulated the people of Pakistan on the restoration of democracy and appreciated the role of the PML-N in upholding the supremacy of the constitution.
He said the Swedish people and government would always support the democratic process and rule of law in Pakistan.
Nawaz lauded the democratic institutions in Sweden and appreciated the country's enormous support for Pakistan's socio-economic and commercial spheres.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/17/2008 09:48 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
#1
Nawaz probably wants all that evidence so they can close the holes in the security for the next attack.
Anti-Islamic forces were trying to create a Dhaka Fall like situation in the country but the Pakistani nation and armed forces had the strength to foil their nefarious designs, Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) Deputy Secretary-General Dr Farid Ahmed Paracha said on Tuesday. He was addressing a seminar to observe the Dhaka Fall Day, organized by the JI Rawalpindi Chapter. JI District Amir Raja Abdul Waheed, Secretary-General Shamsur Rehman Sawati, local leaders party workers attended the seminar. Dr Paracha said Pakistan had been halved through an international conspiracy and the conspirators were still active to dent the unity and the federation. He said these elements made Pakistani armed forces busy in tribal areas and that the army action was not a solution to any problem.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/17/2008 09:48 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under: Jamaat-e-Islami
US Senator John Kerry admitted during a meeting with Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani that airstrikes by American drones on targets in Pakistan's Tribal Areas caused large-scale collateral damage and were counter-productive in the war on terror. Kerry, who was appointed chairman of the influential Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday, promised he would seek a review of the policy upon his return.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/17/2008 09:48 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
#1
I suppose that the drone strikes are counter productive - if you're rooting for the Talibani's.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
12/17/2008 10:29 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Kerry received 3 Purple Hearts in 4 months and nary a visit to a hospital. If you extrapolated that forward for the duration of the war, sKerry would have been the most decorated warrior since Audie Murphy.
Because many in the military unmasked this charlatan, for the fraud that he is, sKerry has gone on a jihad against the American military, just as he went on a jihad against his compatriots in Vietnam, calling them war criminals in front of a Fulbright chaired Senate Foreign Relations committee meeting.
Interesting choice of words. I might have chosen "said", "is of the opinion", "regurgitated", "doesn't have the balls to commit", or something along those lines.
#10
ok yall let the fool joseph mediola spout unreadable shit all the time then after reading todays sinktrap there wasn't much there too be thrown out
Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LT) on Tuesday once again denied that it was behind the Mumbai carnage, as Indian officials allege, and vowed to continue its armed struggle against India's hold over a part of the Muslim-majority region of Kashmir. "Our fight for Kashmir's freedom will continue. It is our only agenda," LT spokesman Abdullah Ghaznavi said in a telephone call to AFP's correspondent in Srinagar, the main city in Indian-held Kashmir.
He accused the Indian government of linking the "Kashmir freedom struggle with terrorism to give legitimacy to its occupation of our land".
"We want to reassure the international community that we are not in any way involved in the Mumbai attacks. We strongly condemn such attacks," he said, calling on the United Nations to conduct an "impartial investigation into the evidence that India claims to have".
Last month's attacks in Mumbai killed around 180 people, including nine gunmen, and wounded nearly 300 others. "Lashkar has no links with Al Qaeda and Taliban. Our group is active in Kashmir to end India's illegal occupation of Kashmir," the LT spokesman said.
Last week the UN Security Council sanctions committee targeted four LT members for an assets freeze and other sanctions.
Pakistan has also cracked down on the group and an Islamic charity, Jamaatud Dawa, regarded as a front organisation.
Ghaznavi called on the UN to "review its decision, as our group has no links or relations with Al Qaeda and the Taliban".
LT has been named for several attacks in India, including the 2001 attacks on Indian parliament that brought India and Pakistan to the brink of war. The group denied any involvement, but Pakistani authorities outlawed it in 2002.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/17/2008 09:27 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Lashkar e-Taiba
During the three-day siege of Mumbai, an Indian television news anchor took a call from one of the suspected attackers, a young man who identified himself as Imran Babar. "You're surrounded. You're definitely going to die. Why don't you surrender?" the anchor at India TV implored him.
The voice on the other end of the line, sounding robotic, rattled off a list of grievances: the 2002 riots in Gujarat state during which more than 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, were killed; the 1992 demolition of the centuries-old Babri mosque by Hindu mobs; and India's control over part of the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir.
The caller was holed up in an ultra-orthodox Jewish outreach center where the assailants had taken hostages, according to cellphone records obtained by Indian investigators. "Are you aware how many people have been killed in Kashmir? Are you aware how your army has killed Muslims?" the caller demanded. "We die every day," he told the news anchor. "It's better to win one day as a lion than die this way."
The caller offered the first inkling of why 10 gunmen came ashore in Mumbai last month to carry out a rampage in which 171 people were killed and more than 230 were injured. Although investigators say they have established the identity of the attackers, they are still piecing together the assailants' motives.
Indian officials suspect that the group allegedly behind the attack, Pakistan-based Lashkar-i-Taiba, draws support from security and intelligence forces within that country and is fueled by a growing list of grievances that stretch from the 17th century to the subcontinent's partition in 1947, which created the independent nations of India and Pakistan. The grievances also include India's increasingly warm ties with the United States and Israel, counterterrorism experts say. Mumbai police have said that interrogations of the lone gunman captured during the attacks, Ajmal Amir Kasab, have revealed links between the gunmen and Lashkar operational commanders based in Pakistan.
"Lashkar has a very specific pan-Islamic vision: the recovery of all Muslim lands once ruled by Muslims, including India, Central Asia and Spain. And they've gone after those countries that they believe were usurped from traditional Muslim rulers," said Ashley J. Tellis, a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace who has been tracking Lashkar since 2001. "The goal is very apocalyptic and simple: attack these enemies and the symbols of those enemies," he said.
"You have a cocktail of radicalization and a pervasive sense of deprivation and injustice," said John Wilson, a senior fellow and terrorism expert at New Delhi's Observer Research Foundation.
Experts pointed out that the attackers targeted the more visible symbols of India's prosperity -- two of Mumbai's most prestigious hotels -- along with the city's only orthodox Jewish outreach center, a busy but relatively obscure building nestled in a crowded alleyway.
"The targets of the killers in Mumbai -- Americans, Brits, Israelis and Indians -- fit exactly into the profile of those that al Qaeda and its partners vilify and plot against," wrote Bruce Riedel, a former South Asia analyst for the CIA and the National Security Council, in a recent article posted on the Brookings Institution Web site.
Another caller reportedly phoned India TV several hours before Imran from inside the Oberoi Trident hotel. He called himself Shadullah and used the cellphone of a Swedish tourist in Room No. 1856, Indian investigators said. "We demand the release of all mujaheddin put in jails. Then will we release these people. Otherwise, we will destroy this place. . . . You must have seen what's happening here," the caller said.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/17/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Lashkar e-Taiba
#1
The caller was holed up in an ultra-orthodox Jewish outreach center where the assailants had taken hostages, according to cellphone records obtained by Indian investigators. "Are you aware how many people have been killed in Kashmir? Are you aware how your army has killed Muslims?"
#2
What Indian viewers heard was even more interesting - the usual rant, but in an accent from Pakistan's Punjab.
Millions knew at once that the attacker was Pakistani.
Posted by: john frum ||
12/17/2008 6:56 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Is it just me?
No. I had an interesting conversation a few days ago with a semi-retired FBI man about the Chabad center massacre. He'd wanted to know if the terrorists had targetted Israelis.
#4
Let's see. There is a single Jewish center in a city counting millions of people, it is a non-descript building with no outside sign revealing its nature. What are the chances they
ran into it by mere hazard?
The outspoken president of the General Assembly, Father Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann, who recently described Israeli policies in the Occupied Territories as tantamount to "apartheid," says his life is under threat. Enrique Yeves, spokesperson for the president, said late Monday there were "very serious threats" on the Internet.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/17/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
The German government has long denied that its intelligence agents in Baghdad provided meaningful help prior to and during the US invasion of Iraq. US military personnel, though, have told SPIEGEL a vastly different story.
Too bad that this is seen as a "scandal" here.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
12/17/2008 04:15 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Quatsch. Spiegel is getting upset that the German agents sent their information to the home office in Berlin, and then the home office decided to share some of the information with the American invasion headquarters in Kuwait. Given that the invasion was a UN-approved operation, is not that what an allied intelligence service should have done?
Aswat al-Iraq: The official spokesman for the higher judicial council said on Tuesday that Muntadher al-Zaydi refused to entrust Khalil al-Dulaimi, who chaired the commission to defend former president Saddam Hussein, or Arab lawyers to defend him.
"The government dealt with defendant al-Zaydi according to 3rd article of the 223 clause of the Iraqi law according to which if found guilty he will spend 7-10 years behind bars," chief justice Abdelsattar al-Bayraqdar told Aswat al-Iraq.
"The session was attended by his lawyer and the general prosecutor and al-Zaydi refused to let Saddam's lawyer or Arab lawyers to defend him," he said, noting that the journalist demanded an Iraqi lawyer to defend him.
Muntadher al-Zaydi threw a pair of shoes at U.S. President George Bush during a joint press conference with the Iraqi premier.
President Bush quickly ducked when a pair of shoes was hurled at him Sunday.
Zaydi, a young man of no more than 30 years old, has worked for al-Boghdadiya since its establishment in the wake of the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003. He had been kidnapped two years ago by unidentified gunmen while stepping out of his home in al-Bab al-Sharqi area, central Baghdad. A week later he was found lying on the ground near auto selling stores in al-Nahda square, Baghdad, at a late night hour.
Zaydi is considered one of the journalists outspokenly criticizing the presence of U.S. forces in Iraq. He had written several reports opposing the U.S. military presence in the country.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/17/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under: Iraqi Baath Party
#3
Dulaimi was, let us say, dirtier than the average revanchist Sunni (connections and activities-wise). Also, surprise surprise, an utterly ineffective doofus in terms of actually defending Saddam. Not that such a task was simple, including whatever mistakes were Saddam's personal wishes, which Dulaimi (or others) would not dare disregard.
Two of the three Iraqi defense lawyers murdered during the Dujayl case were among the best and most legitimate Sunni lawyers to be had. They might have been quite useful in this situation - a competent defense only enhances the quality and legitimacy of the justice system.
While the whole thing arouses long-standing violent raging ambivalence about Iraqis and the Arab world, I tend to think the best course would be for the Iraqi govt. to make it clear the guy's behavior was unacceptable, and a national disgrace, without much jail time.
And our best course would be to stay quiet, and when pressed reluctantly mumble that while we found the incident strange and offensive, we prefer the greatest possible tilt towards press freedom, and thus are not asking for any particular punishment.
#4
Although very easy to point and laugh from one side or the other, a very important issue has been brought to the forefront.
This guy was not turned into an omelet. Did not disappear/have family brutilized, and the footage released for all the world to see.
Why do I think that is important? First, it legitimizes the transparency of the media. Second, as was mentioned yesterday, it shows a disrespect to the host of an invited guest. And I have to bring up something which has been clunking around in my head that if was expecting to die during this tantrum then wouldn't he have been doing his death chant rather than some slogan? Competent legal counsil and trial only further legitimizes the gains of the Iraq government and gulf between Iraq and other regional peoples. Does 7-10 years seem harsh, well I don't know it is Iraq's call but I can imagine what would happen if I threw a snowball at a football coach post game and hit one of those state troopers in the background.
That, and I saw better throwing during halftime of the Florida/Bama game. Epic failure.
Roses line the gravel road, palm fronds rustle in the breeze and wild flowers spread across the meadows where cattle graze -- the Iraqi scene would be charming without the stench of death.
Under pomegranate and peach trees in an orchard in the Shiite hamlet of Albu Tumeh, in the very violent province of Diyala northeast of Baghdad, police with shovels each day dig up more twisted bodies bearing witness to the violence of gunmen linked to Al-Qaeda.
"They released dogs (on their victims) to make them dig their grave more quickly. Then they bandaged their eyes, tied up their hands and feet and shot them in the head," said police general Ibrahim Obeidi Salman al-Anbaki.
Two exhumed bodies lie in front of him. A very sharp crack in the skull is visible at the temple, the bandage covering their eyes is intact, as are the ties on their hands and feet. The dead men are still dressed.
In mid-August, Iraqi and US forces chased the jihadists away from the villages they were occupying in the region, paradoxically named "Salam", Arabic for peace.
Since then, 87 bodies have been unearthed, including 20 in less than a week, with 10 or more women and children among the total.
"There are still at least another 50, perhaps even 100," added Anbaki, wearing a black uniform and a beret on which is pinned a spread eagle, Iraq's military symbol.
On May 5, 2007, Al-Qaeda fighters attacked Albu Tumeh and it fell five days later, says 31-year-old Hadi Hassan Abbas, a member of the hamlet's parish council.
The jihadists came from the family lands further north of Izzat Ibrahim al-Duri, number two of Saddam Hussein and the only top lieutenant of the executed president yet to be captured after the US-led invasion of 2003.
They quickly overran another 13 Shiite hamlets and, with Sunni villages already under their control, they established an "Islamic state" for the north of the province with Albu Tumeh as its "capital".
The area was all the more strategic because it was close to the overwhelmingly Sunni Arab province of Salaheddin, another of their strongholds, and only a few kilometres (miles) further from Hibhib, where Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, founder of the Iraqi wing of Al-Qaeda, was killed in June 2006.
They formed a fearsome force. "Just imagine it. There were more than 2,000 of them. Some of the fighters were foreign but most were Iraqi, chiefly Baathists nostalgic for the former regime of Saddam Hussein," General Anbaki said.
In complete impunity, the jihadists planted bombs and put up roadblocks on the main highways to kidnap travellers. Police and soldiers had their throats slit while Shiites were shot with a bullet in the head and left in communal graves.
In the village centre, a two-storey building has collapsed after an American bomb hit it during the recapture of the district during the summer.
"This was Al-Qaeda's courthouse, but the judges issued only one sentence -- capital punishment. It was the last stage before death, before the communal graves," said a villager whose brother managed to escape from the court before being killed.
Near the courthouse stand skeletons of stolen cars. "When we came back a year later nothing was left. Before fleeing, the jihadists blew up the houses. All our furniture have gone," Hadi Abbas said.
For the moment, 40 year-old Adel Wadud Mohammed Abbas is not going near his orchard. "I won't pick one piece of fruit while bodies are there -- it would taste of death," the farmer said as a scythe swung from the belt around his beige Arabic gown.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/17/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Iraq
#1
Bumper crop, biggest pome's ever seen?
"-- it would taste of death," hey, Mr. Beige Gown, ya been throwin' your shit out there your whole life, your pome's tasted like shit? Too much Sun, not enough Water.
(AKI) - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is believed to have asked his Israeli counterpart Ehud Olmert to ease financial constraints in the Palestinian territories.
The two leaders met at Downing Street a day after Brown met Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad. Brown and Olmert were meeting in London after the United Nations joined the United States, Russia and the European Union in calling for intensified Israeli-Palestinian negotiations for Middle East peace on Monday.
The so-called Quartet met UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in New York and called on the Palestinians to continue their efforts to reform the security services and dismantle the infrastructure of terrorism.
At the same time, the group called on Israel to freeze all settlement activities, which have a negative impact on the negotiating environment and on Palestinian economic recovery, and to address the growing threat of settler extremism.
But peace was once again under threat on Tuesday after four Qassam rockets were fired on Israel from the Gaza Strip. According to Israeli media reports, the Islamic Jihad's military wing, the al-Quds Brigades, claimed responsibility for the incident. The attack took place a day after the Israeli army assassinated a leader of the al-Quds Brigades in the West Bank city of Jenin.
While no injuries were reported in the rocket attacks, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak called for security forces to immediately close the crossings to Gaza and stop the planned transfer of aid into the Strip.
A six-month truce between Israel and the Gaza Strip is set to expire on Friday. Leaders from the Islamist Hamas movement said it would not be renewed.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/17/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under: PLO
#1
Exchange experince on "how to Islimize your country".
The five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany will hold a rare meeting with Arab diplomats to discuss Iran's nuclear program, top diplomats from Britain and Russia said on Monday.
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said the point of the meeting on Tuesday is for the six powers, which have led negotiations on three rounds of U.N. sanctions against Iran for refusing to suspend its uranium enrichment program, to discuss the concerns of Arab states about Tehran's atomic ambitions.
"Iran's nuclear weapons program is increasingly recognized as a threat to the whole region of the Middle East," Miliband said after a meeting of the U.N. Security Council on Zimbabwe. "The development of a nuclear weapons program that kick-starts a nuclear arms race is the last thing the Middle East needs," he told reporters.
In recent years a number of Arab states have announced plans to develop nuclear programs for civilian purposes.
Miliband said the six powers -- Britain, the United States, France, China, Russia and Germany -- want to reach out to Arab states and other countries to assure them that the Iranians are not victims of a "vendetta of the Security Council."
The Arab countries invited to Tuesday's meeting are Iraq, Egypt, Jordan and most members of the Gulf Cooperation Council. There are no plans for a briefing or statements afterward.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the point of the meeting was to allay concerns the Arab states might have about Iran's nuclear program and measures taken to resolve it. "It is in everyone's interest and in their interest that there be no worsening of the situation in this area," he said.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana are also expected to attend the meeting with Arab representatives.
The outgoing U.S. administration has suggested that a new round of sanctions against Iran would be justified since Tehran has not responded positively to an offer of economic and political incentives from the six powers.
But diplomats from some of the six powers say the process of negotiating a new round of U.N. Security Council sanctions is on hold until President-elect Barack Obama takes office. Obama has said he plans a new approach to Iran and its nuclear program, including direct talks if needed, a break from President George W. Bush's isolation strategy.
European diplomats have said that EU member states were considering expanding their sanctions by adding more firms and individuals to an EU blacklist of those suspected of helping Tehran with its nuclear and missile programs in violation.
Senior officials from the six powers are expected to meet in Europe after Obama's Jan. 20 inauguration to discuss next steps on Iran, diplomats say.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/17/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
I can predict the conclusions of that conference: "Israel should make concessions."
Israel has made contingency plans for another attack against Lebanon which includes occupying the territory south to the Litani River.
The Israeli daily Jerusalem Post has quoted military sources as saying that the Golani Brigade of the Israeli Army had recently concluded a one-week military exercise as preparations for waging a war on both Syria and Hezbollah.
According to the report, Israel considers Hezbollah as a partner in the Lebanese government, so for Israel there would be no difference between Hezbollah and other parts of the Lebanese government.
The regime has threatened to strike all Lebanese targets in the next war regardless of the fact that they belong to Hezbollah or not.
The military officials said Israel's chief of staff Lt. Gen. Gaby Ashkenazi has called on the cabinet to give the go head for heavy air raids by the Israeli army against Lebanon's infrastructure as long as Hezbollah is a partner to the government.
Israel attacked Lebanon in summer 2006 in a bid to destroy the movement. The 33-day war left many civilians dead and destroyed Lebanon's infrastructure. However, based on assessments by Israeli sources Hezbollah emerged stronger than before after the war.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/17/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Hezbollah
#3
The 33-day war left many civilians dead due to Hezbollah's hiding in civilian populationsand destroyed Lebanon's infrastructure. However, based on assessments by Israeli sources Hezbollah emerged stronger than before after the wardue in large part to the aid which the United Nations has given the terrorist group Hezbollah.
#4
They should have a dozen plans to occupy Tasmania so that they aren't caught flat-footed if attacked by Tasmania or from Tasmanian territory. Having plans for Lebanon just seems fairly obvious since that's where the last war was fought.
#5
Sounds like just the place for a Palestinian state.
Posted by: ed ||
12/17/2008 9:31 Comments ||
Top||
#6
Yemen would be better. A bit more distance between the warring parties. LEbanon should be Marionite land, a nice coastal enclave West of Western Kurdistan (aka Syria).
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.
SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea stepped up its campaign to prove leader Kim Jong-il is well and in control by showing him looking at an electronic copy of a newspaper dated Tuesday in a series of photos released through its official media.
