Suuuuuuuurprise, suuuuuuurprise, surprise...
An academic whose estimates of civilian deaths during the Iraq war sparked controversy has been criticised for not fully co-operating with an inquiry.
Gilbert Burnham said in the Lancet medical journal in 2006 that 650,000 civilians had died since 2003 - a figure far higher than other estimates.
A polling association in the US said Dr Burnham had refused to supply "basic facts" for its inquiry into his work. Some "guy" told me. He seemed legit.
It did not comment on the accuracy of his conclusion. It didn't have to.
The American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR)began investigating Dr Burnham's work in March 2008 after a complaint by one of its members. His research was based on a survey of Iraqi households and concluded that by July 2006 about 655,000 Iraqi civilians had died as a result of the US-led invasion. The Iraqi government does not keep precise records of civilians killed and neither do US forces, but in 2006 the Iraqi health ministry estimated that between 100,000 to 150,000 civilians had died.
The AAPOR's executive council said in a statement carried by the Associated Press news agency: "When asked to provide several basic facts about this research, Burnham refused." It said it wanted to know the wording of questions asked and instructions and explanations given to respondents. "Dr Burnham provided only partial information and explicitly refused to provide complete information about the basic elements of his research," said Mary Losch, chair of the association's standards committee. She added that Dr Burnham's refusal to co-operate "violates the fundamental standards of science, seriously undermines open public debate on critical issues and undermines the credibility of all survey and public opinion research."
A spokesman for the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, where Dr Burnham works, said they were disappointed AAPOR had said he violated the code of ethics. However, the spokesman pointed out to AP that neither the researcher nor the school were members of the association. So I guess that makes it okay. Good day, sir...
The level of civilian casualties in Iraq has been a controversial issue ever since the US-led invasion of 2003.
For Dr Burnham's study, researchers spoke to more than 1,800 families comprising 12,800 people, comparing mortality rates in selected areas before and after the invasion. Its conclusion was undermined by allegations that the number of people surveyed was too small and that the authors may have inflated the figures for political reasons. Johnson! Stop the presses!!
The Lancet said it had no comment. Ummmmmmmmmmmm...we'll get back to you. When? Probably the Saturday after Thanksgiving.
The independent Iraq Body Count, which counts only confirmed deaths, currently has a range of between 90,556 and 98,850. Well it took long enough but..heh...heh...heh...
Let me tell y'all how bad this is.
It's a clear rule in science, be it biomedical or physical, that you always, always, always are transparent in your methods. You report a summary of your methods in whatever paper you write, and you always, always, always make original methods and data available on request. The Lancet makes clear, in its instructions to authors, that data must be available on request by qualified investigators via the STROBE guidelines.
Dr. Burnham clearly violated the rules. He clearly should be sanctioned. His article is an embarrassment to Lancet and his behavior is disgraceful.
Equally bad is the fact that Lancet resisted questions about his article for years. This is going forward only now that Bush is out of office. Since the early 70s we've seen increasing cases of politicized science and maniupulated data. The result is that many people distrust science as a whole Understandable, but not the right response IMO.
The right response is to enforce the scientific method and the peer review and transparency that make it work.
#3
His research was based on a survey of Iraqi households and concluded that by July 2006 about 655,000 Iraqi civilians had died as a result of the US-led invasion.
...and then it goes on to talk about various other numbers.
It's a misleading quantatative discussion that avoids some qualitative questions, like how did the civilians in question die.
#4
A key element of what I've called A World Gone Stupid (TM) since shortly after 9/11.
What's most troubling is how "transparent" the fraudulence of these stunts has been. Whether it's these absurd inventions about Iraq, or AGW. The clown Hansen at NASA has been pulling shit like this for years, and yet has not been fired and shamed into silence.
Yet again, it was criminally incompetent of the Bush administration and DOD not to take this nonsense on directly, publicly, and in a vituperative manner guaranteed to get attention. The absurdity of the numbers, given the nature and size of military operations and violence in Iraq at the time, was one thing. But it was equally important to remind everyone that almost all of the killing, and virtually ALL of the killing of non-combatants, was being done by the enemy, not the Coalition.
Since we now are ruled by Beltway retards and affirmative action mediocrities who are especially ignorant and morally inverted in these matters, it will only be the occasional, obscure b-slap like this, from within their respective communities, that will do anything to correct the record.
...and are my arms tired.
(AKI) - The United Nations's secretary-general Ban Ki-moon visited the Afghan capital, Kabul, on Wednesday on an unannounced trip. As the United States prepares to increase the number of troops in the country in the face of a resurgent Taliban, Ban said the United Nations was strongly committed to delivering peace in the country.
Ban pledged to give Afghanistan the UN's full support ahead of elections due in August this year.
"This year is going to be a very important and a crucial year for the Afghanistan people and government in many aspects, in addressing security challenges and also establishing fuller democracy and development and prosperity," Ban said at a joint media conference with president Hamid Karzai.
The secretary-general expressed his determination to see Afghanistan "enjoy full democracy, full security and full development".
"It is clear that Afghanistan will continue to face many challenges in 2009, but I think we can confront them." In the meantime, any good restaurants in town?
With presidential and provincial council polls scheduled for 20 August, he said the UN would ensure that the Afghan independent electoral commission received the funds it needed from donors.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/05/2009 00:00 ||
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United Nations was strongly committed to delivering peace in the country
Foreign militants are flooding from Iraq into Afghanistan to join Taliban insurgents battling Afghan and international troops, the Afghan defense minister has said.
Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak said there were about 15,000 Taliban fighters in Afghanistan but their numbers were being swelled by foreign insurgents moving in from Iraq, where violence has fallen after a U.S. troop "surge" and other measures.
"Since last year, as the result of the success of the surge in Iraq, there has been a flow of foreign terrorists into Afghanistan," Wardak told a news conference. "There have been engagements...in 2008, and in some of these engagements, actually 60 percent of the total force which we have encountered were foreign fighters," he said.
Wardak was speaking after he and Afghan President Hamid Karzai held talks with NATO's supreme allied commander for Europe, U.S. General John Craddock.
There was a 33 percent rise in insurgent attacks in Afghanistan in 2008, according to NATO-led forces.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/05/2009 00:00 ||
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Afghan President Hamid Karzai renewed criticism of US and Nato-led forces on Wednesday and said he was determined his government would take a stronger role in the deployment and work of foreign troops.
Last month, Karzai's government presented a draft proposal to Nato with a list of measures aimed at preventing civilian casualties, including a demand that arrests of all Afghan nationals be made by Afghan security forces only and that there be "high-level" co-ordination of air strikes. "Our demands are clear and they are that house searches of Afghans, arrests of Afghans and civilian casualties must cease. And they (US and Nato countries) are naturally putting on pressure to make us silent and retract from this claim. This is not possible," Karzai said.
Taliban attacks rose by 33 percent last year, according to Nato-led forces in Afghanistan, with casualties among foreign soldiers, Afghan forces and civilians alike, all up from 2007.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/05/2009 00:00 ||
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Reminder: the general objectives that led to the September 11, 2001 were drawn up in Afghanistan, while that country's government harbored the planners. Americans do NOT have to be magnanimous toward the successor government.
(AKI) Saudi Arabia has issued a list of 83 militant fugitives based overseas and called on them to turn themselves in to authorities and "return to a normal life." Looks like it's time to stock up on the fingerpaint...
According to a report in the local newspaper, 'al-Watan', 81 citizens and two Yemenis may have fled the country in order to re-enter secretly and carry out attacks. Why not skip the sneaking out part and just attack? Just a thought...
Saudi television read the names and showed photos of some of the wanted men and said they had "adopted the straying ideology," a reference to al-Qaeda. Authorities have asked them to give themselves up to police and "return to a normal life". Repent, boys! Again!
But they fear they may be following Muhammad al-Awfi and Said al-Shahri, who after returning from the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, fled to Yemen to form a new terror cell.
Saudi Arabia also put hundreds of militants through a rehabilitation program which included education by clerics to "correct" their thinking and financial help to start a new life. I say again. Repent, boys! Hot chow, smokes, and crayons await you!
Posted by: Fred ||
02/05/2009 00:00 ||
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Britain's Foreign Secretary David Miliband on Wednesday called for new talks between major powers aimed at ridding the world of nuclear weapons. The ancestors of these creatures were British. If it keeps the nattering lefties employed and out of the way it's worth it ...
I suspect it isn't quite so benign.
Obama's signalled his hostility to our nuclear arsenal. And this is only one of many steps that will be pushed forward now that he's in the White House. For instance, the UN has pushed for years to try to force the US to register and restrict private ownership of small arms including handguns for self defense.
Another important dimension to the anti-nuclear movement is the desire by many to neutralize Israel's only deterrent against the Arab masses who threaten its very survival and that of Jews around the world. Nukes are horrible, genocide's pretty bad too even if it's "only" aimed at the Jews.
#1
It must be nice to have a bigger, heavily armed brother so one can go and stupid shit, like walking naked in bad neighborhoods w/ nothing but gold chains. I'm sure Obama's got your back Britain.
Posted by: ed ||
02/05/2009 13:25 Comments ||
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Well I'm sure everyone will agree except China, Russia, Iran, Pakistan, North Korea . . . and Israel. The Brits have become morons. Obama is exactly the same.
The United States is considering resuming military cooperation with hardline Uzbekistan as a potential backup plan given the uncertain future of a nearby air base that is a main artery for troops and supplies for the widening Afghanistan war, U.S. officials said Thursday.
Defense officials say they are examining options for supply routes through a semicircle of nations from Central Asia to the Persian Gulf that could be used in place of a strategic air base in the former Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan.
Uzbekistan is a surprise contender because diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Uzbekistan are rocky at best. The Uzbeks expelled the U.S. from a base on its soil in 2005, and the two nations have traded accusations ever since.
Defense officials said planning to substitute for the Manas air base in Kyrgyzstan is a preliminary hedge in case the Bishkek government makes good on a threat to expel the United States from a base that serves about 15,000 U.S. personnel coming and going from Afghanistan each month, along with 500 tons of goods.
Defense officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the plans are preliminary and the United States is still negotiating with Kyrgyzstan about continued use of the base. Several officials said that dispute is likely to come down to money: Either the United States agrees to a significant increase in rent of Kyrgyzstan will yield to Russian pressure to kick the U.S. out.
Another potential option, although one with significant logistical problems, would be a new air supply route from the United Arab Emirates, one official said.
"It's just at the point of looking at it. There aren't cost estimates yet," or other crucial data that the new Obama administration would need, one official said.
The United States has been seeking additional supply routes into Afghanistan for months, driven largely by worry about the safety of overland routes from Pakistan. Uzbekistan and a neighboring Central Asian state, Kazakhstan, have been part of that planning, one official said.
Military leaders have said in public that they were examining and testing new overland options, but details have been slim. The possibility of renewing ruptured ties with Uzbekistan predated the Manas problem but it gained ground as a result, officials said.
The U.S. has been testing, for some months, alternative Central Asian overland supply routes into Afghanistan and expect to fully implement by spring a deal with Uzbekistan in which U.S. non-lethal supplies would be moved into Afghanistan by commercial rail from Uzbekistan. The rail route has been tested a number of times, with U.S. financial compensation to the Uzbeks, to haul lumber, fuel, cement and other supplies into Afghanistan.
The United States set up Manas and a base in neighboring Uzbekistan after the September 2001 attacks to back operations in Afghanistan. Uzbekistan expelled U.S. troops from the base on its territory in 2005 in a dispute over human rights issues, leaving Manas as the only U.S. military facility in the immediate region.
In a visit to the base last month, Gen. David Petraeus, commander of U.S. operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, said the U.S. pumps $150 million annually into Kyrgyzstan's economy, including $63 million in rent for Manas.
Kyrgyzstan has complained that the U.S. is stingy, and announced this week it was evicting the U.S. At the same time Kyrgyzstan collected billions in new Russian aid.
Kyrgyzstan's prime minister said Thursday the country is still in talks with the United States over the base.
Russia has long been irritated by the U.S. military presence in what is considers its natural areas of influence in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. The Kremlin is widely believed to be behind the move against the U.S. by Kyrgyzstan's government, which submitted a draft bill to parliament Wednesday that would close Manas. Lawmakers have decided to delay a vote until next week.
#1
Turkmenistan. Oh and move a loggie base from Germany to Georgia.
Posted by: ed ||
02/05/2009 14:43 Comments ||
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They are "hard" on islamonazis. That's good, isn't it?
Posted by: Shineting Protector of the Platypi9343 ||
02/05/2009 15:08 Comments ||
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CHINESE MILITARY FORUM > MOSCOW REACTS TO US BUILDUP IN AFGHANISTAN [Russia believes USA = US-Allies/NATO trying to surround or encircle Russ + China in Eurasia].
* On a separate note, CMF POSTER > on Board-Forum controversy as per the closure of the MANAS US Airbase by the host Kyrgyzstan Govt being symbolic of US failure or pullout from Central Asia + GWOT > POSTER argued that GUAM, "LIKE HAWAII" IS AN ASIAN ISLAND = ASIAN AND IN ASIA, AND ONE DAY [Guam or BOTH?]WILL BE RETURNED TO ASIA VEE INDONESIA OR OTHER ASIA COLLECTIVE???
North Korea is believed to be preparing to test a Taepodong-2 missile from a launch pad at Musudanri in northeastern North Hamkyong Province, a Seoul newspaper reported Wednesday. ''A U.S. reconnaissance satellite has recently detected the movement, from a missile factory near Pyongyang, of a train carrying large cylinder-shaped objects, believed to be rockets for the Taepodong-2 missile,'' the Chosun Ilbo quoted a South Korean government source as saying.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/05/2009 00:00 ||
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This would be a great chance for a live-fire test of the AEGIS ABM refit. Would it *technically* be an act of war to interfere in a weapons test like that?
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
02/05/2009 10:45 Comments ||
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North Korean leader Kim Jong Il told a Chinese official who recently visited Pyongyang that he is waiting to see the policies of the new U.S. administration, in what was believed to be an indication his country will not make major moves until they become clear, diplomatic sources said Wednesday. The comments, made to Wang Jiarui, head of the Chinese Communist Party's International Department, are the first known to have come from the leader about the U.S. administration since President Barack Obama took office in late January. Barry ought to shoot down his shiny new rocket he's gonna be testing and see what he says then...
Posted by: Fred ||
02/05/2009 00:00 ||
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Yep, station an Aegis cruiser offshore near where the missile test will be and shoot it down. Too bad BO doesn't have the balls to do it. Barring that, the Japanese could do it - they have SM-3 missiles.
A US Army deserter seeking asylum in Germany based on his moral opposition to the Iraq invasion is confident his request will be granted after a gruelling nine-hour hearing, his lawyer said Thursday.
The closed-door hearing in the western German city of Karlsruhe sought to establish whether the deserter, Andre Shepherd, 31, originally from Cleveland, Ohio, had a credible reason to go AWOL, his lawyer, Reinhard Marx told AFP.
"It was just a fact-finding exercise so Mr. Shepherd was questioned about his situation as a soldier, about his motivation to join the army and how he decided to leave the army," he said.
Immigration officers also asked about the internal US army procedures for leaving the army and on what grounds a soldier can claim conscientious objector status, he added.
"This was a very, very long interview, but I expected that," he added.
Citing profound moral opposition to the US-led invasion of Iraq, Shepherd walked off his base in southern Germany in spring 2007 and spent 19 months on the run before applying for asylum in November last year. He is the first US army deserter to seek asylum in Germany.
Before then, he had completed a five-month stint in Iraq between September 2004 and February 2005 where he serviced Apache helicopters as part of the 412th Aviation Support Battalion.
When ordered back to Iraq, he felt he could not continue to take part in what he said is a "completely illegal war" and became the first US soldier to claim asylum in Germany in what could be a landmark case.
The immigration office in Nuremberg will consider the case and the final decision will be taken by Germany's interior ministry, most likely in three or four months, the lawyer said.
"It is in their hands to decide now," said Marx, adding, "we are very confident."
Shepherd's case is "very credible," he said. "I found it was very clear that he was in a situation where he had no other choice: he had to go to Iraq or he had to leave the army illegally."
A spokeswoman for the immigration ministry was tight-lipped following the hearing.
"For data protection reasons, I cannot give out any information about the content and the length of the hearing. The hearing took place yesterday and Shepherd gave his reasons for claiming asylum," she told AFP Thursday. "His reasons will now be broadly examined and then we will make a decision. It is a completely normal asylum procedure like any other. I cannot say how long it is likely to last."
Shepherd has vowed to appeal if the application is rejected.
Speaking to AFP on Monday, Shepherd said, "I will definitely fight on, as I don't believe I or anyone else should be prosecuted for doing what they think is right."
He added that if asylum is granted he would "definitely settle in Germany" and has "absolutely no desire" to return to the United States, despite the change of power in the White House.
The case could have profound legal and political implications. If Shepherd is granted asylum, it could open the door for other applications from the up to 80,000 US soldiers based in Germany.
Tim Huber from the Military Counseling Network, which has been working with Shepherd, told AFP on Monday the case would have a "huge impact."
"There would not be a whole lot stopping US soldiers walking off their bases" to claim asylum, he said. Except Duty, Honor, Country - obsolete concepts in a post-modernist world, where nothing is greater than one's immediate gratification.
For this reason, both Shepherd and Marx are concerned that politics could play a part in the ruling. "Legally, it's an open-and-shut case. Politically, we don't know," Groucho Marx said.
#1
The case could have profound legal and political implications. If Shepherd is granted asylum, it could open the door for other applications from the up to 80,000 US soldiers based in Germany.
It will also have geopolitical ramifications that will echo for decades or longer.
#3
"I will definitely fight on, as I don't believe I or anyone else should be prosecuted for doing what they think is right."
So anything this crapweasel thinks is right is OK?
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
02/05/2009 15:42 Comments ||
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(AKI) - Militants are carrying out attacks against NATO supply lines in northwest Pakistan to avenge the killing of Palestinians in Gaza, Al-Qaeda's second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahiri, has purportedly said in a new audio message. The message was released hours after militants blew up a key Khyber pass bridge on a road along which 80 percent of NATO provisions enter Afghanistan.
The tape's authenticity has not yet been verified.
"We cut off supplies to NATO troops in Afghanistan in solidarity with Gazans," al-Zawahiri said in the 17-minute tape posted overnight to jihadist websites.
"We repeat to our brothers in Gaza that we are with them and will avenge them in Afghanistan by fighting head on their modern-day Crusader campaign which extends from Chechnya to Somalia and from Afghanistan to North Africa," al-Zawahiri stated.
"I give you some good news. The moment that Israel launches bomb attacks against Gaza, Islamabad has been forced to cut off NATO supplies," he said.
Pakistani authorities estimate it will take at least 10 days before the bridge is rebuilt and NATO's Khyber pass supply route can reopen.
Militants also destroyed 10 container trucks of NATO supplies in the Landi Kotal in Khyber Agency bordering Afghanistan. The militants set fire to the trucks in a parking lot early on Wednesday.
Entitled 'Plots and the Sacrifice of Gaza' the audiotape bears the logo of Al-Qaeda's Al-Sahab media arm.
Against the backdrop of a still image of al-Zawahiri, Arab leaders and dead Palestinian children, he urges Muslims to inflict human and material losses against western and Arab states and Israel and to overthrow Arab regimes.
Al-Zawahiri also mocks US President Barack Obama's expression of concern over the killings in Gaza as an empty gesture.
"We received your deep concern accompanied with thousands of rockets and bullets, and tonnes of white phosphorous, mixed with the blood, body parts and tears of the Muslims in Gaza.
"But the deep concern of Obama did not last for long. During his inauguration speech, he did not mention one word about what happened in Gaza, as if nothing happened."
Posted by: Fred ||
02/05/2009 00:00 ||
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The United Nations has constituted a three-member commission to investigate the Benazir BhuttoÂ's slaying, state TV reported Wednesday. The announcement was made by the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon while meeting to President Asif Ali Zardari in Islamabad today. While President Zardari thanked the UN chief for this decision.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/05/2009 00:00 ||
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The NWFP government on Wednesday decided to provide Rs10 million to help the affectees of Swat operation. Meanwhile, authorities started the registration of displaced people in all major cities of the province. Provincial Minister Sitara Imran told Geo news that government would provide meal to every person at Mangora refugees camp. The government will further make stay arrangements for around 1000 refugees in Jalozai Camp set up in District Nowshehra, she announced.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/05/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
What does it take to be an afectee? Where can I sign up?
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
02/05/2009 10:47 Comments ||
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India has warned US President Barack Obama that he risks “barking up the wrong tree” if he seeks to broker a settlement between Pakistan and India over the disputed territory of Kashmir.
MK Narayanan, IndiaÂ’s national security advisor, said that the new US administration was in danger of dredging up out of date Clinton administration-era strategies in a bid to bring about improved ties between the two nuclear armed neighbours.
“I do think that we could make President Obama understand, if he does nurse any such view, that he is barking up the wrong tree. I think Kashmir today has become one of the quieter and safer places in this part of the world,” Mr Narayanan said in an interview with CNBC TV18.
“It’s possible that at this time there are elements, perhaps in the administration who are harking back to the pre-2000 era.”
The warning comes as Richard Holbrooke, Mr ObamaÂ’s special envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan, prepares to come to the region for the first time in his new capacity. Mr Narayanan is close to Manmohan Singh, IndiaÂ’s prime minister, and Sonia Gandhi, the president of the ruling Congress Party.
Kashmir, over which India and Pakistan have fought two wars and where both countries mass troops, is a highly sensitive issue for New Delhi.
Last month, David Miliband, the UKÂ’s foreign secretary, angered the Indian government by saying that the unresolved dispute over Kashmir was a cause of terrorism in the region. Its vilification of Mr Miliband was interpreted as a tacit signal to Washington to keep out.
Kashmir, which has a Muslim majority, was claimed by both India and Pakistan following partition in 1947 at the end of British rule. Since 1989 New Delhi has been battling a separatist insurgency in a struggle estimated to have cost up to 70,000 lives.
Earlier this year large anti-India protests drew up to 500,000 people onto the streets and led to the imposition of a long curfew. But New Delhi was encouraged by a largely peaceful state election late last year that recorded a better than expected voter turnout.
“References made by president Obama, which seem to suggest that there is some kind of link with settlement on Pakistan’s western border and the Kashmir issue certainly have caused concern,” said Mr Narayanan. But he said the new US administration and India had yet to have direct contact over the issue.
C. Raja Mohan, professor of international relations at SingaporeÂ’s Nanyang University, said New DelhiÂ’s treatment of Mr Miliband had helped persuade Washington to abandon any overt linkage of the Kashmir dispute with combating extremism in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
WashingtonÂ’s decision to drop India from formal inclusion in Mr HolbrookeÂ’s special envoy mandate reflected these sensitivities.
“You kill a chicken to scare a monkey,” Mr Mohan said at a recent seminar in New Delhi on US relations with South Asia. “We killed the chicken and the monkey got the message.”
Mr Mohan said India and Pakistan had agreed a basic outline of a peace deal on Kashmir during the tenure of Pakistani leader Pervez Musharraf, but that the process had faltered as Mr Musharraf had weakenend and finally lost power.
Posted by: john frum ||
02/05/2009 00:00 ||
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I sure hope BO doesn't f*ck up our nascent partnership with India, but Ima feared he will.
#5
And so one of the most consequential strategic accomplishments of the Bush years is put at risk, right off the bat, by the empty suits who've been rewarded with power after years of clueless and dishonorable behavior.
Complaints of cheating among rival parties in Saturday's provincial elections have threatened to boil over into violence in Anbar.
Official figures from the polls have yet to be released, but the Iraqi Islamic Party, a Sunni group which holds seats in the national parliament, said unofficial tallies showed it would retain control of the province.
The claims triggered immediate accusations of fraud from tribesmen, many of whom are leaders of the Sahwa, or Awakening, militias which have helped the U.S. military battle al-Qaeda in the province.
The stakes are particularly high in Anbar where a greater majority of Sunni parties did not participate in the 2005 election and many have high hopes of winning seats this time round.
Awakening leaders are threatening to take up arms over what they see as voter fraud at the hands of the Iraqi Islamic Party (IIP), Iraq's largest Sunni Arab party which has controlled Anbar since 2005 polls mostly boycotted by Sunni Arabs.
Anbar was under curfew for a night and Maliki sent an envoy there to meet with local security forces and urge calm.
Preliminary results are expected on Thursday but final results will not be released until the end of the month, when electoral officials have finished investigating any complaints.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/05/2009 00:00 ||
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Hamas negotiators left Egypt without a long-term cease-fire with Israel on Thursday — but not before some members of the militant group's delegation were stopped at the Gaza border carrying millions in cash.
The delegation walked away from the cease-fire talks because of disagreements over the blockage on Gaza and border security. Talks will continue at a later date.
An Egyptian security official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said the group initially refused to be searched by Egyptian authorities at the Rafah border crossing. When the group relented, authorities found $7 million and 2 million euros ($2.5 million) in cash in their suitcases. Another security official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said $9 million and 2 million euros were found. The discrepancy could not be immediately explained.
The money was later deposited in an account in Egypt by a Hamas member who stayed behind while the rest of the delegation was allowed to return to Gaza, the second security official said. It was not clear what would happen to the money.
There was no immediate comment from Hamas.
The incident is a sensitive one for Egypt, particularly now, when Israel is demanding a halt to Hamas smuggling into Gaza as part of truce negotiations.
Israel and Hamas do not talk directly, so Egypt has been mediating the talks on solidifying the shaky cease-fire that went into effect on Jan. 18, ending Israel's three-week offensive on Gaza.
#1
When the group relented, authorities found $7 million and 2 million euros ($2.5 million) in cash in their suitcases. Another security official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said $9 million and 2 million euros were found. The discrepancy could not be immediately explained.
ISRAELI Prime Minister Ehud Olmert ordered the transfer of 175 million shekels ($68.11 million) to Gaza today to go towards paying civil servants' salaries, a senior government official said.
"Despite the state of war, Israel is obliged under the Paris agreement to transfer money into Gaza," the official quoted Mr Olmert as saying in reference to an accord under which Israel collects taxes on behalf of the Palestinian Authority.
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Defence Minister Ehud Barak opposed the decision, the official said.
Israel generally prohibits the transfer of cash to the Gaza Strip under a tight embargo it imposed after the Islamist Hamas movement seized power there in June 2007.
On Tuesday Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad urged Israel to allow cash into the besieged Gaza Strip to ease the territory's liquidity crisis.
The crisis has worsened since Israel launched a 22-day military onslaught against Gaza on December 27.
Human rights groups argued Wednesday that a detailed probe into Hamas's firing of Kassam rockets at Israeli communities is not necessary, because it constitutes such a "blatant" war crime. By contrast, Israel's actions are more complex, and therefore do require such investigation, they said.
Oh, so the International Criminal Court will prosecute Hamas without further delay, will they ...
War crimes, said Sarit Micha'eli of B'tselem, are those actions that violate Article III of the Geneva Convention, and it was clear that Hamas was in violation of the requirement of distinction between civilian and military targets.
"It makes it quite easy regarding Hamas. It is quite clear that they are attacking and targeting civilians. When someone straps a bomb on themselves or fire missiles at civilians, the details are less important. It is clearly a war crime without even looking at the details," she said. "Even if they fired a Kassam missile as a military target, the fact that it is an inaccurate weapon, it would still count as an indiscriminate attack."
"With Israel things are more complicated because Israel states it does not deliberately target civilians and that it safeguards them. With Israel, you have to investigate each specific incident because even if a civilian is killed in an attack, it doesn't mean its necessarily a war crime. Targeting civilians is a war crime, but the damage to civilians in a given situation isn't indicative of a war crime."
"The Israeli authorities deny everything, so one has to prove what happened in a way that you don't need to do with the Palestinian rockets," said Donatella Rovera of Amnesty International.
Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum was quoted by AP Wednesday as saying Hamas attacks on southern Israel towns are "a means of self-defense."
"Those are not civilians. They are all soldiers," Barhoum said of the residents of southern Israel. "We are firing at places that bring us the F-16s, the warplanes and the tanks."
But Micha'eli dismissed Barhoum's statements as absurd. "No credible human rights law expert would accept that excuse," she added.
Get out your hankies, folks...
Assud, to program hostess Saraa: "The Zionist enemy is treacherous, and it kills everything, but I never thought it would kill the children of Palestine, and that it would bomb the Al-Aqsa TV station. As you know, Saraa, Al-Aqsa TV has a special section for children. Children always go there to play and have fun. They come to me and you to listen to beautiful stories for their benefit." The ones about Jooo killing. And the other ones about...Joo killing.
"But Saraa, I went to Al-Aqsa TV when they said it would be bombed. I couldn't believe it would really be bombed. I went there, and I collected the gifts, books, magazines, and stories, which belong to the children of Palestine, the Pioneers of Tomorrow, so I could remove them before the station was bombed. But Saraa, when I went in - I don't know what happened. All I know is that they brought me here, to Shifa' Hospital, and left me here, Saraa. Praise be to Allah." [...] My Pioneers of Tomorrow Decoder Ring says...D...U...C...K.
Duck? But I'm a rabb...
"Saraa, my will is that you tell our beloved children never to forget Jerusalem, Saraa. You must pass this legacy on to our beloved children. They must never forget Jerusalem, Al-Aqsa, the prisoners, or the refugees." Don't kill the job, Saraa! DON'T KILL THE JOB!
"Remind them, Saraa, that we have a land to which we must return, by means of the steadfastness of the resistance and the mujahideen, by means of the steadfastness of knowledge and the fear of God. Tell them that Assud died as a hero, as a martyr. Tell them that Assud died a martyr's death, Saraa."[...] They killed Assud! Those bastids!!
"We should teach our children that we have a land to which we must return: Jaffa, Acre, Haifa, and Tel Aviv. We will return to all these cities, Allah willing. Saraa, I implore you... I entrust you with the legacy of protecting Jerusalem, the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and the blessed land of Palestine. Listen to me, Saraa: I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, and the Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah." ROSEBUD...thump
Assud dies.
#1
Gaza TV goes through these psychopathic animal characters faster than the IDF goes through Hamas honchos.
Posted by: ed ||
02/05/2009 14:28 Comments ||
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#2
This has affected me deeply. Words cannot describe the despair I felt upon reading his last instructions to Saraa. How heartbreaking.
I feel the need to send flowers to his memorial. Do you think the florist in Gaza can properly spell "Adios, chingado!" correctly on the sash? Or would "Besa mi pinche culo" be more appropriate?
(IsraelNN.com) Senior Hamas terrorist Mahmoud A-Zahar has made no public appearances since the beginning of the Cast Lead counter-terror operation in Gaza. While other Hamas leaders have issued frequent condemnations of Israel and proclamations of victory, A-Zahar has remained silent, leading to theories that he was wounded or fled during the fighting. According to rumors that apparently began with an anonymous IDF report, A-Zahar was injured in an IDF strike during Cast Lead. He was secretly taken to an Egyptian hospital in Cairo for treatment. Pray for sepsis ...
Egyptian officials have denied that A-Zahar was in Cairo. Nope. Haven't seen him. But we'll say "hi" if we do...
Western diplomats told the Hebrew-language daily Maariv that A-Zahar had fled, fearing assassination. Other senior Hamas leaders were killed during the operation, including Nizar Rayyan and Said Siyam. A-Zahar escaped Gaza by hiding in an ambulance headed for Egypt, the sources said. He even disguised himself by shaving his beard, they added. Did he put Wart-Be-Gone on his nose? Was he wearing his Mom's best clothes?
If A-Zahar is in hiding, he may have fled to El-Arish -- his mother's hometown, located in the Sinai Peninsula. Hi, ma! I'm home! Hide me! "You can have your housecoat back now."
If A-Zahar is found to have fled Gaza during the IDF operation, he is likely to lose much of his public support, analysts pointed out. That'll last about a month, given the Paleo attention span.
In such a scenario, they said, he would be rejected by both Hamas and the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority based in Ramallah. Really? That doesn't seem to affect the Heroes of Damascus.
Hamas denies that A-Zahar fled, or that he was wounded in Cast Lead. Maybe it's a situation like "Sleeper". Maybe he got blown up and all they saved was the wart and now they gotta figure out how to clone him.
This article starring:
MAHMUD A ZAHAR
Hamas
NIZAR RAIYAN
Hamas
SAID SIYAM
Hamas
Posted by: Fred ||
02/05/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
All he's got to say is "kill the juice" and he's back in the fold.
Experts from nine countries including the United States, Britain and France met in Copenhagen Wednesday to discuss ways of combating weapons smuggling into Gaza, the Danish foreign ministry said.
The meeting took place amid calls for demonstrations in Copenhagen denouncing what organizers called "the Danish government's one-sided acceptance of a pro-Israeli agenda."
The Initiative for a Free Palestine group sent out flyers calling for protests at the Danish foreign ministry to highlight the right of the Gaza population to defend itself from Israeli aggression.
" At the same time, it is important to ensure that an opening of the borders does not entail that the population of Gaza once again risk to be taken hostage by fighting initiated by Hamas "
Per Stig Moeller
No political decisions are expected at the two-day conference, which will focus more on arms trafficking from the sea than the underground tunnels between Egypt and the Palestinian territory.
The meeting "will seek to map the challenges related to illicit arms trafficking to Gaza, including the political, juridical, diplomatic and technical aspects of potential international contributions to handle this challenge," the ministry said in a statement.
The countries attending the meeting were invited for their "maritime expertise," the ministry said. The experts come from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Norway and the United States.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/05/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
They would do better to get geotechnical and sensor experts together. With some explosives experts thrown in.
The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) condemned Wednesday Hamas' confiscation of aid supplies as the government of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas announced a $600 million reconstruction program for Gaza.
Stolen aid
" UNRWA condemns in the strongest terms the confiscation of its aid supplies and has demanded that it is returned immediately "
UNRWA
UNRWA said Hamas had seized hundreds of food parcels and thousands of blankets destined for Gaza civilians in the wake of Israel's war and demanded their immediate return. "At 14:30 on 3 February, over 3,500 blankets and 406 food parcels were confiscated from a distribution store at Beach Camp in Gaza by police personnel," it said in a statement.
"This took place after UNRWA staff had earlier refused to hand over the aid supplies to the Hamas-run ministry of social affairs. "The police subsequently broke into the warehouse and seized the aid by force. The aid was due to be distributed to five hundred families in the area," UNRWA said.
"UNRWA condemns in the strongest terms the confiscation of its aid supplies and has demanded that it is returned immediately." Or...what?
Posted by: Fred ||
02/05/2009 00:00 ||
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Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
02/05/2009 10:48 Comments ||
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#3
When playing tennis and playing by the rules of the game, your opponent needs to follow the rules to make the game a challenge. When I follow the rules and the opponent violates the rules the game turns into chaos. Read the Koran and read the history of the movement. Go back to the great movement of Islam in the 1000-1100 and trace the militant journey across Afica, through Spain, and into Eastern Europe.
Turkish President Abdullah Gul held talks in Riyadh on Wednesday within a four-day visit to Saudi Arabia to discuss the Middle East conflict and promote stronger economic ties between the two countries.
Speaking before his departure to the Saudi capital Tuesday, Gul said he and King Abdullah would discuss the situation in the Middle East after "the tragedy in Gaza" as well as developments in Iraq. "We will discuss what we can do together for lasting peace and stability in the region," he told reporters.
Turkey took an active role in efforts to end the recent conflict in the Gaza Strip and vehemently criticized Israel, a close ally, for the deadly offensive.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday stormed out of a debate on the Gaza war at the World Economic Forum in Davos after a clash with Israeli President Shimon Peres, saying Israel committed "barbarian" acts in the Hamas-ruled territory.
Gul said he would also promote economic exchanges between Turkey and Saudi Arabia, stressing that the target was to boost the bilateral trade volume from the current level of about $5.5 billion (4.3 billion euros) to $10 billion in 2010.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/05/2009 00:00 ||
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Last month's IDF operation in Gaza did not go far enough, Likud leader Binyamin Netanyahu said Wednesday.
Speaking during the Herzliya Conference, Netanyahu said the government stopped the operation before the military could halt Hamas arms smuggling through tunnels under the border with Egypt. He also called for removing Hamas from power. "I want to praise the chief of staff and express my appreciation for the defense minister for his preparation work, and the IDF soldiers," he said, adding, however, that the government "did not allow the military to plug the hole in the South."
Netanyahu said the Hamas regime in Gaza was an extremist fanatic regime backed by the extremist fanatic government of Iran. "There is no choice but to uproot the Iranian-backed regime in Gaza," he said. He stopped short of saying that he would attack Gaza again to bring that about if he is elected.
Netanyahu also warned that any territory Israel relinquishes will be "grabbed by extremists," referring to the possibility of trading West Bank land for peace in a deal with the Palestinians.
He said negotiations with the Palestinians should concentrate on economic issues and policing. "That is not a replacement for political negotiations" toward a peace treaty, he said. "It is the only path toward them."
Posted by: Fred ||
02/05/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
He sure has my vote! Wait, I'm not an Israeli citizen. Oh well, it's the thought that counts. Right?
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
02/05/2009 10:45 Comments ||
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#2
Bibi is the only one the Palestinians/Arabs fear.
Singapore's deputy prime minister says the city-state plans to build a new prison within five years for terror detainees after a suspect escaped custody last year.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/05/2009 00:00 ||
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Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa proclaimed in an Independence Day message on Wednesday that the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam would be "completely defeated in a few days," potentially signaling an end to a 25-year insurgency that is one of the world's longest ongoing conflicts.
The rebel's last holdouts are penned into a small zone in the north of the island nation, and reports from the war zone indicate that they are close to being overrun amid fierce fighting with government forces. Civilian casualties have been significant: United Nations officials said that 52 civilians were killed in the past day, and that cluster bombs had struck a hospital.
But Rajapaksa used Sri Lanka's national day to emphasize that the end of fighting might be near. Government forces have taken over major rebel-held areas and cornered the Tamil Tigers in a 120-square-mile stretch of coastal land -- though analysts say guerrilla fighting might persist for months. International diplomats have begun urging the government to turn its focus from conflict to crafting a truce agreement with the rebels, increasing humanitarian help for those caught in the war zone and negotiating a long-term agreement with the country's Tamil minority.
"For nearly three decades, we were forced to celebrate independence with an illegal armed group operating in our country," said Rajapaksa, who spoke from a heavily secured beachfront stage, guarded by tanks and navy ships, as 4,200 decorated service members marched in a military parade. "We have now been able, within a short period of 2 1/2 years, to completely defeat the cowardly forces of terror."
He also appeared to reach out to hundreds of thousands of minority ethnic Tamils who have sought political asylum in the West. "At this moment I urge all Sri Lankans from all communities who fled the country because of the war to return to their motherland," Rajapaksa said.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/05/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
ION SRI LANKA, PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUMS > SRI LANKAN ARMY CAPTURES REBEL SUBMARINES - THE TAMIL TIGERS HAD SUBMARINES [covert Midget/Mini-Sub factory]! PDF POSTERS MAJORILY SUSPECT EITHER INDIA ANDOR ISRAEL as likely foreign source since the Tamil Tigers as a Militant org are gener viewed as NOT being TECH-SAAVY???
OTHER > Tamil Tigers notsomuch "defeated" as stopping their armed campaigns for a time and going into deep cover [e.g. HAMAS = POLITICAL?].
The British Council has stopped work in Iran because of "intimidation and harassment" of its staff by the Iranian government, it will be announced today. The cultural and educational centre decided to close its doors in Tehran after its entire local staff of 16 was summoned by security officials to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's office at the end of December and ordered to resign.
"An order of that kind in present circumstances in Iran is not something you can refuse ... If not explicit, there was an implicit 'or else'," the British Council's chief executive, Martin Davidson, told the Guardian. "Once the security apparatus begins to display threatening behaviour to local members of staff who have no real protection, then that is unacceptable."
The British Council's withdrawal from Iran marks the lowest point in Iranian-UK relations since Iran seized 15 British sailors and marines two years ago. Even during that crisis the Tehran office continued to operate, providing a library, English language learning centre, and guidance for Iranians applying to study in Britain.
Today's announcement has echoes of the closure of offices in two Russian cities a year ago, under similar pressure. But the British Council has continued its work in Moscow despite the cooling of relations. There are also British Council centres in Zimbabwe and Burma. Iran is the only country in which the council has been stopped from working altogether.
"This is really the culmination of two years of pressure from the authorities on our operations. They first refused to issue visas for our UK director to go in. They then began to put pressure on our Iranian partners to slow down or cancel work with us," Davidson said. Shortly before the staff were ordered to resign, passports were confiscated from two employees as they attempted to leave the country to attend what the British Council described as a "routine meeting". Davidson said he was hoping for an opportunity to talk to the Iranian government about resuming work there. An Iranian embassy spokesman in London said yesterday that he had been unable to get a response from Tehran to questions about the British Council's closure.
The British Council was invited to open an office in 2001 and has organised joint educational events and exhibitions on the arts and climate change. There are 2,000 Iranian students in Britain and at the time of the closure of its Tehran office, the British Council was working with the state education system, organising a course for 40 teacher trainers. It was about to launch a co-operation scheme involving universities in both countries. Noting that Iran was operating cultural centres in Britain, Davidson said: "Cultural exchange should be a two-way street, not just one-way."
Distrust of Britain in Iranian official circles goes back to colonial days. State-sponsored media often accuse British intelligence of being behind acts of sabotage and attacks by rebels in its provinces, and Britain is blamed for rallying UN security council support for sanctions resolutions aimed at Iran's nuclear programme.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/05/2009 00:00 ||
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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.
(AKI) Saudi Arabia has issued a list of 83 militant fugitives based overseas and called on them to turn themselves in to authorities and "return to a normal life." 
(AKI) - Militants are carrying out attacks against NATO supply lines in northwest Pakistan to avenge the killing of Palestinians in Gaza, Al-Qaeda's second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahiri, has purportedly said in a new audio message. The message was released hours after militants blew up a key Khyber pass bridge on a road along which 80 percent of NATO provisions enter Afghanistan. 
The United Nations has constituted a three-member commission to investigate the Benazir BhuttoÂ's slaying, state TV reported Wednesday. The announcement was made by the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon while meeting to President Asif Ali Zardari in Islamabad today. While President Zardari thanked the UN chief for this decision.
Complaints of cheating among rival parties in Saturday's provincial elections have threatened to boil over into violence in Anbar.
(IsraelNN.com) Senior Hamas terrorist 
The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) condemned Wednesday Hamas' confiscation of aid supplies as the government of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas announced a $600 million reconstruction program for Gaza.
Turkish President Abdullah Gul held talks in Riyadh on Wednesday within a four-day visit to Saudi Arabia to discuss the Middle East conflict and promote stronger economic ties between the two countries. 
Last month's IDF operation in Gaza did not go far enough, Likud leader Binyamin Netanyahu said Wednesday. 
The British Council has stopped work in Iran because of "intimidation and harassment" of its staff by the Iranian government, it will be announced today. The cultural and educational centre decided to close its doors in Tehran after its entire local staff of 16 was summoned by security officials to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's office at the end of December and ordered to resign.
