The Taliban has rejected reports its leader Mullah Omar was willing to hold peace talks aimed at ending the war in Afghanistan, saying it would continue attacks until all foreign forces withdrew from the country.
"If you wait for 3,000 years, our position is that the Taliban will not enter into any kind of talks in the presence of foreign forces in Afghanistan," Taliban spokesman Qari Yusof Ahmadi told the Pakistan-based AIP news agency.
Ahmadi's comments came a day after Britain's Sunday Times newspaper reported Omar, the leader of the hardline Islamists, had given his approval for and had sent representatives to attend Saudi-sponsored peace talks.
Omar had given a "green light" for talks to go ahead, the Times quoted a former friend of Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, Abdullah Anas, as saying. But Taliban spokesman Ahmadi rejected the claims. "These reports are baseless. Our position remains unchanged. We will conduct jihad and continue resistance as long as foreign forces are present in Afghanistan," Ahmadi told AIP.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/17/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
"If you wait for 3,000 years, our position is that the Taliban will not enter into any kind of talks in the presence of foreign forces in Afghanistan,"
Guess talking's out. Next step should be to ARCLIGHT Quetta and the NWFP. Since they won't talk, we should make them scream. Who knows, it MAY even change their minds - if they HAVE minds.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/17/2009 13:32 Comments ||
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Sudan will no longer need any international NGOs in war-ravaged Darfur in a year's time, President Omar al-Bashir said on Monday amid rising tensions with the international community.
"I ordered humanitarian affairs officials that in one year we don't want any foreign aid organisation working on the ground with our citizens and that Sudanese organisations will fulfil this role," in Darfur, al-Bashir said. "If they want to bring in aid, they will have to leave it at the airport," he added, addressing a rally by thousands of Sudanese soldiers in the capital Khartoum.
Sudan expelled 13 foreign NGOs from Darfur after the International Criminal Court on March 4 issued an arrest warrant against al-Bashir for alleged crimes against humanity and genocide in Darfur. The targeted organisations included Britain's Oxfam, the US Care as well as the Dutch and French sections of Doctors Without Borders (MSF).
The United Nations has said that more than a million people have already been affected by the expulsion of the aid organisations.
Khartoum disputes the figure, saying it is able to carry out the NGOs' work, which includes distributing food aid as part of UN programmes.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/17/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Planning to kill off all the "surplus population", Omar?
Sudan's president said on Monday he wanted all foreign aid groups leave Darfur in a year's time, stepping up defiance of an international war crimes warrant against him. "If no one can tell, no one will ever know!"
In a speech to thousands of soldiers and police, President Omar Hassan al-Bashir said he had ordered his Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs to hand over the distribution of all relief aid to Sudanese groups--a move that could freeze the work of more than 70 foreign organizations still working in Darfur and other areas.
Nationalization of aid
" If they want to continue providing aid, they can just leave it at the airport and Sudanese NGOs can distribute the relief "
President Bashir
"I ordered humanitarian affairs officials that in one year we don't want any foreign aid organization working on the ground with our citizens and that Sudanese organizations will fulfill this role," in Darfur, Bashir said. "If they want to continue providing aid, they can just leave it at the airport and Sudanese NGOs can distribute the relief." "We'll take our rake-off and hand it out to people we know."
If carried out, the order will also force international donors, including the United States, Britain and the European Union, to decide whether they will continue to pour millions of dollars into projects across the underdeveloped country without full control over how their aid is distributed. They probably will. They'll do it For The Children™.
Sudan last week issued a list of 19 Sudanese NGOs that will replace the expelled organizations, with the health ministry saying it would send 100 doctors and quantities of medicine to Darfur.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/17/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
"If they want to continue providing aid, they can just leave it at the airport and Sudanese NGOs can distribute the relief."
There had been celebrations of the September 11 terrorist attacks in some villages in the Bulgarian Rodopi mountain, MP Yane Yanev revealed late Monday, quoted by novinite.com. Yanev made this stunning revelation as he explained that at least 15 municipalities in the Rodopi mountain region are attempting to convert their citizens to radical Islam, through school teaching and other methods.
Earlier Monday it was announced that Bulgaria's State Agency for National Security had arrested the Mayor town of Garmen, Ahmed Bashev and a teacher of religion Murad Bushnak, over the promotion of radical Islamism, after a warning from Yanev. It was expected that the two will be charged for crimes against national and racial equality as well as against religious teachings. Days earlier Yane Yanev had accused Ahmed Bashev of spreading radical Islam in Bulgaria via funds by an Arabian foundation. In the village of Ribnovo a school director had forced all the teachers and students to wear non-secular clothes.
The Rodopi mountains are home to most of Bulgaria's Muslim minorities - including the Muslim Bulgarians, locally called Pomaks, that predominate in the western parts and a large concentration of Bulgarian Turks, particularly in the Eastern Rodopi.
There had been longtime suspicions that ministers from Middle East countries had been spreading teachings of radical Islam in the region. Many of the locals find these teachings foreign and hostile, but the region's remote location may have let them root just out of the central administration's watch.
European countries that have offered to help the Obama administration close the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, have begun raising questions about the security risks and requirements if they accept prisoners described by the Bush administration as "the worst of the worst," according to diplomats and other officials.
It shows how naïve the Bambi administration is: they think they can sell something to the cynical, back-stabbing Euros that Bush correctly labeled as 'worst of the worst'.
The concerns, and a deep suspicion of whether the American intelligence community will share full information on the prisoners, are likely to complicate the resettlement effort, which is critical to President Obama's fulfilling his pledge to close Guantanamo within a year of his taking office.
You want full info, you take them and torture question them yourselves.
The offers, from Spain, Portugal, Italy, France, Belgium, Switzerland and other countries, have been widely seen as efforts to win favor with the new administration by helping to close the camp, which was a contentious issue during the Bush years.
Still, with a first round of talks on the Guantanamo issues scheduled for Monday in Washington between Obama administration officials and a high-level delegation from the European Union, several European leaders have recently emphasized that they can make no firm commitments until they are given complete details on the prisoners. "We'd have to study concrete cases," María Teresa Fernandez de la Vega Sanz, Spain's deputy prime minister, said in an interview last week.
You could always dust off the pliers Franco's boys used ...
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton recently told reporters she was "quite encouraged at the positive, receptive responses we've been getting" to requests for help in accepting Guantanamo detainees.
Which demonstrates that the Hildebeast is either completely clueless or completely cynical in her job ...
But some European officials said the Obama administration had yet to detail what would be involved in resettling detainees and whether the United States would also open its doors to Guantanamo prisoners, which the Bush administration declined to do.
It is not clear exactly what conditions the Obama administration may wish to impose, what the detainees' immigration status would be or whether any detainees released to Europe would be eligible for complete freedom. "We understand, you have a big problem," said one European official who said he would speak only if not identified. "And we appreciate what President Obama has said about closing Guantanamo. But that doesn't automatically mean putting all the remaining inmates on a plane and sending them to Europe."
It doesn't mean putting any on a plane. The Euros wanted Gitmo closed but --as usual -- they don't want to help us in any material way. The modern leftists want all the angst and none of the responsibilities ...
Obama administration officials say some 60 of the remaining 241 detainees, those who cannot be sent to their home countries for humanitarian or other reasons, could be resettled in Europe.
A senior State Department official conceded that there were some concerns in Europe about accepting Guantanamo detainees. But the official argued: "It is really just a small effort to help us deal with a legacy of the past. This is something we inherited, too."
That's what happens when you win an election, bubbo. You get all the problems as well as all the opportunities. And blaming Bush isn't going to work much longer. You have a perfect solution in front of you -- keep the thugs in Gitmo.
A senior French official said that France was "ready to help," but that "Guantanamo is an American responsibility."
Makes it easier for the French to complain that way ...
"It's not an absolute condition, but it would be easier if the U.S. administration is willing to take some detainees," said the French official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, as did several officials in other countries, to avoid antagonizing the Obama administration.
We're as likely to move some of the hard-boyz into homes in Chicago as you are to park them in Lyon. And that's the problem: all the adolescent lefties are now beginning to figure out that these boyz are in fact dangerous, crazed killers who are happy to kill infidels, be they Americans or Frogs.
American officials conceded that talks with Europe were likely to be complex, but said they were working with intelligence agencies to provide as much information about detainees as possible. The senior State Department official said that the White House was considering whether any detainees might be admitted into the United States, in part because of the European focus on that issue.
Want to guess who goes first on that one? We'll take some thug-boy, put an ankle-bracelet on him, and shrug when he murders a bunch of people in his new community.
The detainees most often mentioned for resettlement in the United States are 17 Uighurs, members of a Chinese Muslim minority, who American officials say cannot be returned to China for fear of mistreatment. The men have argued that they were allies of the United States who were wrongly rounded up in Afghanistan and Pakistan in 2001. After court battles, the Bush administration conceded that the men were not enemies of the United States.
Still doesn't explain why they were in Afghanistan. And crazed killers who were out to kill some infidels can't be trusted to live amongst other infidels.
Both American and European Union officials described the talks scheduled for Monday as a critical first step for any possible resettlement of Guantanamo detainees, saying that common European ground rules would ease the way toward decisions by individual countries.
Until the Germans realize that the French are going to let them hold the bag ...
Jacques Barrot, a European Union vice president who is to lead the European delegation, said there was an opportunity "to turn together a dark page" in the history of the fight against terrorism. But officials said the delegation was arriving with far more questions than answers.
Among the host of questions, European officials said, was whether the former prisoners would need to be monitored, whether they would have full travel rights in Europe and whether detainees might entangle their countries' courts in years of legal battles by suing former American officials for their imprisonment and treatment.
Let's see: do crazed killers need to be monitored? Will they be allowed to travel to visit their buddies so as to plot new mass murder? Will they be permitted to use western legal systems to attack their enemies? Let's consult the Common Book of Wisdom ...
Obama administration officials are working on a two-pronged plan to close the prison. They are analyzing how many detainees might be tried, most likely in the United States, and working toward transferring scores of the others.
Or we could hold field tribunals, execute the nastiest ones, and keep most of the rest at Gitmo. The ones that are safe to release can go to France.
The Bush administration often failed when it asked other countries to accept detainees, partly because those requests were usually accompanied by public comments defending the imprisonments by describing the detainees as dangerous terrorists.
It was truth-in-advertising, since Bush knew he'd be excoriated if a released thug killed someone in Belgium or Italy.
The new administration is sending a different message. "We are less vested in trying to prove that these people are rightly held," the senior State Department official said.
Given that stance by the Obama administration, some European officials say Washington's focus on sending the detainees to Europe raises many questions. Germany's interior minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, has suggested publicly that if Guantanamo detainees pose no security risk, there is no reason the United States should not take them.
Which is the retort the Euros will make when Bambi asks again. You bagged them, you own them.
Pekka Lintu, Finland's ambassador in Washington, said, "We should know what is being asked of us."
Haven't you figured it out yet, Pekka? You're being asked to be a stooge ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/17/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Europe drags us into two world wars, and even Iraq (honoring true history), while attempting to draw us in the mylaise of europeon socialism as other countries fall to no property rights around the world. Yet the mortal enemy gets a pass while absconding europe into centuries past bloodsport rather than bar fights.
Sa la vie.
Next time you run, frenchie, expect the big jew to turn HIS back.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
03/17/2009 19:21 Comments ||
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#7
ION MARIANAS VARIETY > EXCLUSION OF RUSSIA, CHINA ALREADY DECIDED [US DHS-ICE = GUAM-CNMI VISA WAIVER on grounds of NATIONAL SECURITY].
OFFICIAL = US must secure STRATEGIC AREAS, + US must consider that potentially VISA-eligible foreign regional nations may not want to repatriate any of their migrants whom had committed crimes in the USA.
* POSTERS > EXCLUSION IS A DE FACTO BLOW TO CNMI TOURISM INDUSTRY.
SWAT: The chief of banned Tehreek Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi (TNSM) Sufi Muhammad has threatened judges against attending civil courts from Tuesday. He said, "I will personally monitor the hearings of Shariah courts."
Addressing a press conference here he said, "According to the deal signed with government, civil judges will have no role in future whatsoever and all cases will be followed under Shariah courts so the civil judges must refrain from courts from Tuesday."
"Shariah has already been imposed in Malakand Division therefore there is no need of Presidents' signature", he remarked vowing, "We will soon setup Dar-ul-Qaza courts for filing appeals against the verdicts of Shariah courts."
More Shariah courts will be established in other divisions of Malakand, subject to the just verdicts from Qazis, he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/17/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Yeah, he looks like a guy I'd want controlling my life...
The former chief of Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) Lft.Gen(r) Hameed Gul said Pakistan Army played a unique role in the present crisis and US has been defeated.
Talking to media at Chaudhry Iftikhar's residence, Gul said decision of restoration of judges is a defeat of US and now Pakistan's parliament should be strengthened. He said after resolution of judiciary issue, economic and social issues should be addressed.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/17/2009 00:00 ||
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(AKI) - By Syed Saleem Shahzad - Pakistan's leaders have been forced to resolve their differences with opposition leader Nawaz Sharif and reinstate sacked top judges, after the threat of a military takeover by the army chief general Ashfaq Parvez Kiyani, unnamed sources told Adnkronos International (AKI).
In a major concession, the government on Monday announced that the sacked Supreme Court chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry and other judges sacked by former president Pervez Musharraf would be reinstated.
The opposition, including sacked lawyers and other political activists, immediately cancelled a rally in the capital, Islamabad, after the decision.
A US-brokered deal persuaded president Asif Ali Zardari to accept a face-saving deal that included a review of the Supreme Court decision on the disqualification of Sharif and his brother, Shahbaz, from holding elected office and lifting the governor's rule in Punjab, the most populous province.
Nawaz Sharif had made it clear that nothing less than the restoration of deposed judges to the previous positions they held in 2007 would be acceptable. The leader of the PML-N, Nawaz, had been barred from elected office and Shahbaz had been forced to step down as chief justice of Punjab province.
All efforts for a peaceful reconciliation appeared to backfire on Saturday despite intense efforts by US secretary of state Hillary Clinton. Clinton spoke to Zardari, Sharif and General Kiyani to put in place acceptable solutions and defuse the conflict.
Earlier, US envoy Richard Holbrooke, US ambassador Anne W. Peterson and other officials had been working late last week in a bid to find a peaceful reconciliation between the lawyers, opposition parties and the government.
Observers had expected that American mediation would resolve the political differences between the government and the opposition, but when thousands of people marched on the streets in Lahore and demanded the restoration of judiciary, talks stalled.
That failure finally prompted Washington to tell Pakistan's army chief to do whatever he needed to do to prevent the country falling into any serious political anarchy.
When the political deadlock continued on 15 March as lawyers marched in protest towards the capital, some sources said General Kiyani met the prime minister Yousaf Raza Gillani and told him in clear terms that if the two parties failed to reach agreement he would have be left with no choice and a military take over would be inevitable. Kiyani threatened to install Shahbaz Sharif as interim prime minister for three months and call fresh elections, according to the sources.
Gillani conveyed the message to Zardari and then a meeting was arranged between Gillani and Shahbaz Sharif. Both agreed on a particular formula which was announced early on Monday.
"I restore the deposed chief justice and others according to the promise made by me and the president," Gillani said in a televised address to the nation. The prime minister also announced the reinstatement of two other sacked Supreme Court judges.
He said "a notification to this effect is being issued now." He said Chaudhry would replace Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar, who is to retire on 21 March. Chaudhry was suspended by Musharraf in March 2007, sparking a wave of protests.
Lawyers and political activists were jubilant after Monday's announcement and many danced outside Chaudhry's home in celebration.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/17/2009 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
#1
"...after the threat of a military takeover by the army chief general Ashfaq Parvez Kiyani..."
#2
All this has done is to ensure the army WILL take over in some not too distant future. Pakistan is a totally failed state, with a slow-motion civil war eating away at anything that might keep them from total disaster. The army will take over anyway within a year, out of necessity.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/17/2009 14:08 Comments ||
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The European Union said Monday it could boycott a UN conference on racism next month unless Muslim nations end attempts to strongly criticize Israel in the meeting's final document.
Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg, whose country holds the EU presidency, said EU nations were "very skeptical" over the direction of negotiations on a declaration being drafted for the so-called Durban II conference. He adds the 27-nation bloc will attempt to push for changes but "there is a strong call to withdraw" if they are not successful.
Italy's Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said his country would not attend the April 20-25 meeting in Geneva unless "radical changes" were made to the draft text, which includes what he has called "aggressive and anti-Semitic statements."
United States, Canada and Israel have also said they fear the UN talks will be marred by attempts to attack Israel and shield Islamic countries from criticism over their records. Washington has imposed conditions similar to EU nations' and Israel and Canada have already announced they will boycott.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier warned the Geneva meeting "might be abused to produce one-sided statements" about the Middle East peace process and European and American policy in the Muslim and Arab world.
"I am in favor of canceling participation in the conference, unless the documents are changed substantially within the next hours and days," said Steinmeier.
Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen said a draft backed by the 57-member Organization of the Islamic Conference "limits itself to Israel-bashing, anti-Semitism, limiting freedom of speech and other dubious texts."
The Islamic group of countries, many angry over cartoons and films attacking Muslims, has been campaigning for wording that would equate criticism of a religious faith with a violation of human rights.
They were also pushing to equate Zionism with racism and banning the possibility of anyone to change his or her religion, Verhagen said.
The Geneva talks are meant to review progress in fighting racism since the previous summit in South Africa. That meeting was marred by harsh criticism of Israel and anti-Israel demonstrations at a parallel conference of non-governmental organizations.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/17/2009 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Global Jihad
As said in this article, Italy already has announced it will boycott the "durban" meeting - but, then again, Italy's gvt is relatively conservative, and clearly populist, that is very unlike most of euro-gvts. Still, I think the others States will either follow the lead, or possibly try to accomodate both sides, IE going only to walk out, losing face, but paying respect to the globalist dogma. In France, one Mp, Claude Goasguen also is trying to rally the pols against participating to "durban II", not so much on behalf of fighting against antisemitism, though it's one issue, for sure, but because it would mean acquiescing to the lawfare & psychological blackmail of our ennemies.
Looks like it's shaping up to be a third world anti semitic circle jerk...
Well, IIRC, it's presided over by Human Rights luminary libya, with others conference organizrers being iran, cuba, and pakistan, so... yeah.
Still, in 2001, the arab & muslim countries were backed not only by remnants of commies dictatorships like cuba, but by a major player, china, who used this as awedge to try and destabilize the "world order of western values", meaning using the revendications of those muslim dumbf*cks to relativize human rights and turn them against the West (just like those chinese youtube commenters asserting that the Us police is more repressive than the chinese one, could be true on some level, and that the USA are more of a dictatorship than the chicoms, with their racism, discrimination,...). Expect putin's russia to go along this pretty obvious trick, using the "darkies" as proxy agains their ideological ennemy.
But, then again, subverting the Un always has been the forte of commies (see this), through third worldism and/or anti-white racism, and now muslims do this as well (though exactly the same methods, enabled not by any kind of political or military clout like the USSR used to have, but by a sea of petrodollars).
#4
Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen said a draft backed by the 57-member Organization of the Islamic Conference "limits itself to Israel-bashing, anti-Semitism, limiting freedom of speech and other dubious texts."
High irony, considering the treatment Madam the Foreign Minister's country doled out to Dutch MP Wilder as a result of his exercising his right to speak freely. It seems to me Great Britain has recently displayed concerning behaviour in that direction as well.
#2
Perhaps Israel should soften the ground Hamas is stancing upon, then. If there is no negotiation in good faith, there is no reason for Israel to continue its own hudna: line up the artillery along the fence line, then ask the question one last time after the first salvo. The result could prove educational all around... especially since something like 2/3rds of Israelis believe Operation Cast Lead was ended much too soon.
(IsraelNN.com) Many Israelis who have lost loved ones to terrorist attacks have protested the government's plan to release terrorists who have murdered in exchange for kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit. On Monday, brothers Meir and Shvuel Schijveschuuder issued an ultimatum: If the terrorists are freed, bereaved families will take the law into their own hands and kill the terrorists in revenge.
The brothers announced their plan to the world in an interview with the Hebrew-language daily Yediot Acharonot. The interview was printed on Monday morning.
The Schijveschuuder family was decimated in the 2001 bombing of the Sbarro restaurant in downtown Jerusalem. Parents Mordechai and Tzira were killed, as were 14-year-old Ra'aya, four-year-old Avraham Yitzchak and two-year-old Hemda.
Meir and Shvuel made it clear that they would go after all released killers, and not only those who attacked their family. "The plan is to reach each and every one who has Jewish blood on his hands and to give them a field trial -- the meaning should be clear," Shvuel said.
The brothers' announcement angered some bereaved families and delighted others. In the latter camp was Ze'ev Rap, whose 15-year-old daughter Helena was murdered by a terrorist in 1992. "I'm ready to help them and teach them how to do it," he said. "Whoever signs an order releasing my daughter's murderer is signing his fate... He will not leave Israel's borders alive," Rap added.
Rap rejected accusations that those who threatened revenge were ignoring the rule of law. The politicians planning to release terrorists are ignoring the law, he alleged. "These murderers were sentenced in court. Who are the prime minister and the defense minister to violate a court order?... On the day the terrorists are released there will be no law and order in this country; it will be the 'Wild West.'"
Meir and Shvuel also denied that they were breaking the law. "We will act within the framework of the law of the land," they said. "In the Palestinian Authority they go by the rule of 'an eye for an eye,' so we won't be breaking any law."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/17/2009 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Hamas
#1
Interesting development. Consequences! Who'd a thunk it.
True. But they do wake up the dogs that do bite. I have been watching for these sorts of developments to occur, it is just the beginning.
Here in the U.S. I have also been watching the "Tea Party" phenomenon very closely with great interest. Generally, it isn't in the nature of conservatives to do these sorts of protests, that it is happening should cause the Left a great deal of alarm.
I believe we are at the tipping point, and from here there will be a steady escalation. Hold on to your hats, it is going to be a fierce ride. On the subject of terrorism and public awareness. My
mid 70's mother and her group of friends and acquaintances have become very interested in Islamic terrorism, and are spreading the word.
Mom's church group has even had former Muslims that have converted to Christianity in to address the congregation. At first I was dubious and even concerned that it would be the watered down taqiyya crap we have all come to know here at RB.
That was not the case, I was able to obtain a DVD of the presentation they gave (live) to the congregation and they pulled no punches as to what Islam really is and what its goals were. Slowly but surely the word is getting out and people are becoming aware of the lies and their magnitude. When the dam breaks on the public's anger, I would not want to be a Liberal/Leftist of any stripe.
#7
I was able to obtain a DVD of the presentation they gave (live) to the congregation
Trader_DFW, would you be willing to burn me a copy of the DVD? As yet my Reform Jewish congregation only brings in the taqiyyists from Cincinnati's gorgeous, Saudi-funded mosque. I'd love to share another perspective with my rabbi, now that she's recovered from giving birth to her fourth child.
#8
TW, I would be happy to. Let me see if I can extract just the part where The Caner brothers (Emir & Ergun) give their presentation. I have video and I have audio only. The Caner brothers by the way are the authors of Unveiling Islam.
#11
As with all people everywhere, they (Isreali's) can only be pushed into a corner so long before they strike back. Let's hope it happens soon here and in Eurabia.
#12
I'm surprised anyone's surprised. This is the behavior that led to the Warsaw Ghetto uprising and the Israeli War of Independence. The Jews will allow themselves to be pushed just so far, then they fight back. If this gains ground, Hamass and Hezbully are in deep kimchee, and Abbas will be looking for a flat in Damascus.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/17/2009 14:21 Comments ||
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#13
"Hamass and Hezbully are in deep kimchee, and Abbas will be looking for a flat in Damascus"
Can't happen soon enough, OP.
God bless and keep Israel.
Allah curse and send to HELL Ham-Ass and Hez-bupkis.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
03/17/2009 15:33 Comments ||
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#17
A sentiment that warms the cockles of my black, shriveled, little heart.
Damn Scooter, stole the words right out of my mind, before the fingers even got anywhere near the keyboard.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
03/17/2009 18:39 Comments ||
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#18
The Schijveschuuder family was decimated in the 2001 bombing of the Sbarro restaurant in downtown Jerusalem. Parents Mordechai and Tzira were killed, as were 14-year-old Ra'aya, four-year-old Avraham Yitzchak and two-year-old Hemda.
Posted by: Snusing Dark Lord of the Jutes9525 ||
03/17/2009 22:09 Comments ||
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#21
I agree w/these guys. If I was in the same position you're damn right I'd be cleaning my hardware and getting addresses straight for some pest control. The words of Jefferson ring true.
#5
According to Haaretz, LT G Ashkenazi did meet with Natl Security Advisor Jones.
Per the article, he also flew back to Israel early to consult on the prisoner exchange discussions. Ashkenazi himself had to turn down an invite because of this.
The United Nations on Monday said it holds grave fears for the safety of a U.N. national staff member and three dependent family members who were forcibly recruited over the weekend by the LTTE, inside the government-declared No-Fire Zone. "The forced recruitments included the 16-year-old daughter of a UN national staff member. I think the proper term for that is "impressment."
"The UN in Sri Lanka has protested to the LTTE that UN national staff, as well as children in general, are protected under national and international law from recruitment by armed groups, and has called for their immediate release," a U.N. statement said here.
It said another of its staffers recruited two weeks ago is yet to be released despite repeated requests from the U.N. A few weeks ago the U.N. had charged the LTTE with forcibly holding several of its national staff members.
In February, the U.N. had said 15 of its staff and 75 of their dependents -- 40 children and 35 women -- remain in the same area, having also been prevented from leaving by the LTTE. In response, LTTE political head B. Nadesan had claimed that a U.N. "security officer", who accompanied the WFP humanitarian convoy, had attempted to pressure the Tigers on "completely wrong moral grounds" to organise an "exodus of the family members of the local staff of the UN", leaving behind the remaining civilians in the 'safety zone' to be subjected to "genocidal attack" by the military.
Mr. Nadesan was quoted by pro-LTTE TamilNet as saying that the "security officer" was attempting to terminate the WFP humanitarian operations by attempting to evacuate the local staff of the U.N., leaving behind the civilians who are in urgent need of humanitarian aid and medical assistance.
Separately, the military claimed that 1,011 civilians including 458 children have fled from the LTTE and sought protection with troops operating in general area Ampalavanpokkanai.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/17/2009 00:00 ||
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#2
Tell me again, how many divisions does the UN have? Moral preening is just a sick joke. If you can't (or won't) back up your words with a big stick, no one takes you seriously. If the United States were to take the position that the UN members and family are to be evacuated immediately and in good health, or two divisions of Marines will suddenly appear and "help" the Sri Lanka army eliminate the LTTE, things would happen PDQ.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/17/2009 14:24 Comments ||
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#3
I so hope we don't do that, OP.
Nobody in the UN is worth one hair from our armed forces' heads.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
03/17/2009 15:36 Comments ||
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#4
no word from HRW and AI? Boggle!
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/17/2009 19:19 Comments ||
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A Lebanese parliamentarian praised the opening of his county's first-ever embassy in Syria on Monday but warned that much remained to be done to improve bilateral relations between the two countries.
Monday's move sealed the establishment of full diplomatic relations between the two countries for the first time since they gained independence from France in the 1940s. Syria, which has dominated its small neighbor for nearly three decades, opened an embassy in Beirut in December.
"Lebanon's independence and sovereignty are reaffirmed by this symbolic and yet practical action," the parliamentarian, who asked to remain anonymous, told .The Jerusalem Post. on Monday. "It's a major step on the way to implementing diplomatic relations and implementing the long-standing request of the Lebanese wishing to reinforce independence and sovereignty of Lebanon vis-à-vis Syria."
But, the parliamentarian added, "it's a process" that does not end with the opening of mutual embassies.
The relationship was still "marred by a number of outstanding issues," including the disappearance of hundreds of Lebanese citizens inside Syria whose fate is still not known, he said.
In addition, he said a number of agreements that have been previously signed between Lebanon and Syria that should be revised or even annulled as the two countries embark on a new era of diplomatic relations, particularly the Lebanon-Syria Treaty of Brotherhood, Cooperation and Coordination Agreement.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/17/2009 00:00 ||
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Senior Shiite cleric Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah has prohibited political bribery ahead of the June 7 legislative elections. In a fatwa, or religious edict, issued on Monday, the 73-year-old cleric said it was a "pity" that the issue of vote buying had not provoked any reaction in Lebanon''s political or religious circles.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/17/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
But vote-blackmailing is entirely approved by Allan.
Lebanon opened its first embassy in Syria on Monday, five months after the neighbors established diplomatic ties after decades of turbulent relations. Charge d'Affaires Rami Mortada raised the Lebanese flag over the embassy's building located in the Damascus residential neighborhood of Abu Remmaneh, which is also home to the US Embassy.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/17/2009 00:00 ||
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Parliamentary majority leader MP Saad Hariri, said Monday that the general election in June will be a straight choice between Hizbullah and the country's sovereignty. "Our course is justice, independence, freedom, sovereignty and most importantly - Lebanon first," Hariri told AFP in an interview, referring to his coalition backed by the West as well as Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
"That is not the case for the other side," he added, referring to the Hizbullah-led alliance.
Hariri, the son and political heir of slain former Premier Rafik Hariri, also insisted that if Hizbullah and its allies won the June 7 vote, he would not join the government.
"It is my democratic right not to take part in such a government and to be in the opposition," he said. "They are desperate for power, but not me."
The June polls are being closely watched by the international community as it will determine whether Lebanese voters choose to maintain the course with a Western-backed alliance or opt for one headed by Hizbullah, which the US considers a terrorist organisation.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/17/2009 00:00 ||
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Vice-president of the Higher Shiite Council Sheikh Abdel-Amir Qabalan said in comments published on Monday that as long as the Palestinian cause was not resolved, the Resistance [Hezbollah] and the Lebanese army "will work hand in hand." He stressed that the Resistance "will not to create a separate state or have arms of its own."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/17/2009 00:00 ||
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National Liberal Party (NLP) leader Dory Chamoun said in an interview with Ash-Sharq newspaper published on Monday he hoped Speaker Nabih Berri would not be reelected, because "those who allow themselves to put the Parliament's key in their pocket for over a year should not be reelected." But he will be, because that's the way things happen in an oligarchy. If he keels over dead tomorrow morning, there'll be another one just like him ready to take his place by the afternoon.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/17/2009 00:00 ||
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Many Americans have long suspected the Bush administration wasn't being completely truthful about the interrogation techniques used to extract information from terrorist suspects captured in Iraq and Afghanistan. Officials conceded some methods were "harsh," but they insisted no detainees were tortured or seriously mistreated.
Now a long-suppressed report by the International Committee of the Red Cross has surfaced to give the lie to those denials. The report's contents, presented to U.S. authorities in 2007 but made public only this week, describe in graphic detail officially sanctioned beatings, torture and abuse of prisoners in secret CIA prisons around the world that clearly violated U.S. and international law.
The ICRC investigators, who interviewed 14 "high value" detainees at Guantanamo in 2006, cited cases in which prisoners were soaked with water and forced to stand naked in icy cells for days at a time, or confined in coffin-like wooden boxes too small to stand up in.
Prisoners were deprived of sleep, food and medical care, punched, slapped or slammed into walls, and subjected to simulated drowning in a technique known as "waterboarding."
The ill-treatment to which [prisoners] were subjected while held in the CIA program, either singly or in combination, constituted torture," the ICRC stated flatly. Because the group is responsible for monitoring compliance with the Geneva Conventions, its findings, while confidential, have the force of law. Clearly, U.S. officials knew in 2007 that the outrages at Guantanamo constituted war crimes under international law.
Who is to be held accountable for these acts committed in the name of the American people? Notwithstanding former Vice President Dick Cheney's disgusting attempt over the weekend to paper over CIA misdeeds as vital to national security, denial is not an option.
President Barack Obama is understandably reluctant to launch a criminal investigation of the spy agency whose support he still badly needs, even after having repudiated the Bush administration's acquiescence in torture outlined in internal Justice Department memos released last week. But Sen. Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, is vowing to get to the bottom of the matter in public hearings, and his inquiry need not turn into a partisan witch hunt if properly handled.
President Obama has said his administration won't countenance the torture of prisoners. But finding out exactly how the nation went so wrong over the last eight years is an essential first step toward ensuring it won't happen again.
#2
Proof of this torture is that the prisoners said so, right? (Though I suspect it has at least some amount of truth to it, I still don't really care much, or think it should be hauled out in public.)
#4
The fact that they're still breathing is proof positive that we didn't torture them enough. The fact that NONE of the Saudi royal family are imprisoned at Guantanamo is the major reason I can say we're not really committed to the "GWOT".
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/17/2009 14:33 Comments ||
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#5
The problem is that lawyers are continously trying to expand the definition of "torture". If you look at the way German prisoners were treated by the US and British Armies during WWII, you'll see the Al Qaeda prisoners are treated considerably better.
If you compare the way IRA prisoners were interogated by the British Army, Al Qaeda prisoners are treated no worse (and usually better) than IRA prisoners.
The leftists expand the word "torture" to mean anything from using an iron maiden to handling a Koran without gloves. Then they imply everyone
"tortured" was given an acid bath.
The more attention we pay to these idiots, the weaker we seem, and the dumber we seem.
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
03/17/2009 15:52 Comments ||
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#6
Ask John McCain, and his fellow inmates at the Hanoi Hilton and other North Vietnamese garden spots, what real torture is like. Ask Senator McCain to raise his hands above his head. Oh, yeah. He isn't able to, because of torture.
If he were still alive, you could ask Admiral James Stockdale, Medal of Honor recipient. He could barely walk or stand upright when he was released.
Those guys were tortured, along with many of the other POWs in VietNam and Korea. And they were true POWs under the Geneva Convention - captured in uniform while serving under the control of a controlling authority.
On the other hand, the "mistreatment" of the Gitmo Gang is like playschool. They get fed three religiously sensitive meals a day, along with exercise, prayer support, all kinds of goodies.
I have said before many times, that we should really enforce the Geneva Convention - if they are captured out of uniform, and not under the control of a national authority, they should be given a drumhead court martial. If found guilty, they should be shot. If we ask them a few forceful questions while waiting to execute them, so what. Only POWs are protected by only having to give their name, rank and serial number.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
03/17/2009 17:28 Comments ||
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#7
ICRC ought to stick to distributing care packages. Filed under the UN and other useless organizations who do useless and biased studies.
#9
The problem is that lawyers are continuously trying to expand the definition of "torture".
How many frat boys died since 9/11 in 'initiations'? Yet it still goes on [regardless of the claims of the esteemed academics that they are suppressing the tradition].
Given that Obama is the Commander in Chief, my question is, if he shoots himself in the foot, will he have to pay his own medical expenses? I suspect that answer is no, the whole country will
WASHINGTONThe Obama administration is considering making veterans use private insurance to pay for treatment of combat and service-related injuries. The plan would be an about-face on what veterans believe is a long-standing pledge to pay for health care costs that result from their military service.
But in a White House meeting Monday, veterans groups apparently failed to persuade President Obama to take the plan off the table. Veterans of all generations agree that this proposal is bad for the country and bad for veterans, said Paul Rieckhoff, executive director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. If the president and the OMB [Office of Management and Budget] want to cut costs, they can start at AIG, not the VA.
Under current policy, veterans are responsible for health care costs that are unrelated to their military service. Exceptions in some cases can be made for veterans who do not have private insurance or are 100 percent disabled.
The president spoke Monday at the Department of Veterans Affairs to commemorate its 20th anniversary and said he hopes to increase funding by $25 billion over the next five years. But he said nothing about the plan to bill private insurers for service-related medical care.
Few details about the plan have been available, and a VA spokesman did not provide additional information. But the reaction on Capitol Hill to the idea has been swift and harsh.
Dead on arrival is how Democratic Sen. Patty Murray of Washington described the idea. . . when our troops are injured while serving our country, we should take care of those injuries completely, Murray, a member of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, told a hearing last week.
Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki said at the same hearing that the plan was a consideration. He also acknowledged that the VAs proposed budget for next year included it as a way to increase revenue. But he told the committee that a final decision hasnt been made yet.
For veterans, that was little comfort. Veterans claim that the costs of treating expensive war injuries could raise their insurance costs, as well as those for their employers. Some worried that it also could make it more difficult for disabled veterans to find work.
The leaders of several veterans groups had written Obama last month complaining about the new plan. There is simply no logical explanation for billing a veterans personal insurance for care that the VA has a responsibility to provide, they wrote.
Many veterans had high expectations for Obama after years of battling the Bush administration over benefit cuts and medical concerns such as post-traumatic stress disorder.
But the VAs decision to float a potential change in its policy of paying for service-related injuries could signal a quick end to the honeymoon. Its a betrayal, said Joe Violante, legislative director of Disabled American Veterans, which signed the letter to Obama. My insurance company didnt send me to Vietnam, my government did. The same holds true for men and women now fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. Its the governments responsibility.
Meanwhile, a new poll by the independent Pew Research Center for the People & the Press has found Obamas approval rating falling to 59 percent from 64 percent in February. It also found the ranks of Americans who disapprove of his job performance rising, to 26 percent from 17 percent. Pew found that 44 percent think that the president listens more to liberals than to moderates in his party, while 30 percent think he listens more to moderates. In January, 44 percent thought he listened more to moderates and 34 percent more to liberals.
Posted by: Omoter Speaking for Boskone7794 ||
03/17/2009 10:23 ||
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#1
Pew Research Center for the People & the Press has found Obamas approval rating falling to 59 percent from 64 percent in February. It also found the ranks of Americans who disapprove of his job performance rising, to 26 percent from 17 percent.
BS. The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Tuesday shows that 37% of the nations voters now Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Thirty-two percent (32%) now Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of +5 (see trends).
Overall, 56% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of the Presidents performance so far while 43% disapprove. ... Currently, the baseline targets for the adult population are 41.1% Democrats, 33.0% Republicans, and 25.9% unaffiliated.
Posted by: ed ||
03/17/2009 11:23 Comments ||
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#2
He really is trying to get us all killed, isn't he?
#5
Even suggesting that vets pay for their service injuries is preposterous. This signals Obama has started open season on kissing up to his base of military haters (in exchange for their silence about the 50 thousand troops he'll leave in Iraq to get maimed and captured).
Perhaps hes lumping vets in with Gitmo terrorists, just hoping all of us will just go away?
Meanwhile, back at the O-K Corral, hes losing/lost respect of his moderate supporters. He only panders to what the farthest lefties think.
#6
I wonder how many Democrats who are veterans will still vote for him in 2012. Sounds sucidal to me.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
03/17/2009 12:33 Comments ||
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#7
Obama claims he's not going to raise our taxes if we make less than $250K/yr. But he is planning to raise our insurance costs, raise our electric bills, etc. Either way, we lose.
#9
Oregon, good point, how much press is this getting? so far ive seen it on cnn and this post. IMHO, it seems good to get the word out on this amongst us citizens, because i feel like this isnt getting nearly the attention it deserves.
#12
Pelosi should get NO more "taxi service" flights across the country from the military. If anyone is injured hauling here ass around the country, they are not covered. If they have to use private insurance, she uses private airlines.
#13
Be ok with me if Peloosi takes THIS one home every week end, as long as she buys the gas and does the driving. One ole goat for another. Fair swap I'd say.
#14
Mark Levin had an interesting take on this move as a political ploy to increase public support for socialized medicine in two parts: 1.) the expansion of SCHIP to those who could afford private coverage several weeks ago would increase dependence on state run health care programs; 2.) requiring private insurance to pay for veterans' treatment would not only crush the private sector companies providing the care financially, but would have the side "benefit" of stories of veterans complaining about private healthcare's inadequacies.
#16
"The United States Secret Service is a United States federal government law enforcement agency that falls under the United States Department of Homeland Security" - Wiki. Used to be under Treasury Department till 2003. Theyre covered, always. Secret Service would be the last ones to lose coverage.
#20
Shipman,
I think youre right, this seems like a strongarm technique to make in-roads towards Nationalized Healthcare. If a few hundred or thousands of Vets die by neglect in the process, they already signed up to get themselves killed for the US, so cannon meet fodder. Its so insidious, but I think this is small part of a disgusting larger design.
#23
I haven't read the full article (why bother when I can read the comments here on Rantburg?), but I do believe that this is just a trial balloon so that Barry can withdraw it and say that it was Shinseki's stupid idea. Even Patty Murray (D-Wash) attacked it.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
03/17/2009 17:34 Comments ||
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#24
My 2 cents, the fool just tacked a target on his back, he may not live long with this kind of stupidity spewing out of his mouth.
The phrases "Too stupid to live", and "Some folks just need killin", both come to mind, and HE DID IT TO HIMSELF.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
03/17/2009 18:47 Comments ||
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#25
"Too stupid to live"
That principle would take out a load of our political ruling class. Too messy. Better to keep people alive and around to remind the usual suspects [those who believe they know better than everyone else] that they have a reason to be embarrassed. Or to paraphrase Mark Twain - man is the only animal that blushes or has a need to.
#26
Outrageous! Our vets and their disabilities need to be taken care of--PERIOD! The insurance companies most likely would say that war-related injuries (in the fine print) are pre-existing conditions and would not pay for them.
#27
how much press is this getting? so far ive seen it on cnn and this post.
Deniable trail balloon, I hope. CitiGirl, veterans groups are unhappy, according to Fox News; the American Legion has issued a press release; and, according to CNN, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs committee has announced he will not allow any such bill out of his committee.
Separately, I hear there's a move to set aside US$10 billion for Madoff victims.
#28
Hmm. Is this before or after he taxes health care benefits for all of us (and yes, that option is still on the table, even though he had a field day razzing McCain over that boneheaded idea during the campaign)?
I was raised to always treat veterans with respect, but if I see another one with a "veterans for Obama" bumper sticker on their vehicles, it's gonna be damn difficult to not laugh out loud and point at the sucker.
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.
European countries that have offered to help the Obama administration close the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, have begun raising questions about the security risks and requirements if they accept prisoners described by the Bush administration as "the worst of the worst," according to diplomats and other officials.
SWAT: The chief of banned Tehreek Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi (TNSM) Sufi Muhammad has threatened judges against attending civil courts from Tuesday. He said, "I will personally monitor the hearings of Shariah courts."
The former chief of Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) Lft.Gen(r) Hameed Gul said Pakistan Army played a unique role in the present crisis and US has been defeated.
Senior Shiite cleric Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah has prohibited political bribery ahead of the June 7 legislative elections. In a fatwa, or religious edict, issued on Monday, the 73-year-old cleric said it was a "pity" that the issue of vote buying had not provoked any reaction in Lebanon''s political or religious circles.
Parliamentary majority leader MP Saad Hariri, said Monday that the general election in June will be a straight choice between Hizbullah and the country's sovereignty. "Our course is justice, independence, freedom, sovereignty and most importantly - Lebanon first," Hariri told AFP in an interview, referring to his coalition backed by the West as well as Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
Vice-president of the Higher Shiite Council Sheikh Abdel-Amir Qabalan said in comments published on Monday that as long as the Palestinian cause was not resolved, the Resistance [Hezbollah] and the Lebanese army "will work hand in hand." He stressed that the Resistance "will not to create a separate state or have arms of its own."
Many Americans have long suspected the Bush administration wasn't being completely truthful about the interrogation techniques used to extract information from terrorist suspects captured in Iraq and Afghanistan. Officials conceded some methods were "harsh," but they insisted no detainees were tortured or seriously mistreated.
