Afghan President Hamid Karzai flew on Monday into the Taliban stronghold of Kandahar on his first trip outside Kabul since campaigning began for the August presidential elections.
Karzai flew by helicopter and was whisked under tight security to a government guesthouse in the southern city, where he survived an assassination attempt by a Taliban gunman in 2002. The Aug 20 presidential poll is seen as a crucial test for both Washington and Kabul, with violence in Afghanistan at its worst since the Taliban was ousted in 2001. Speaking to hundreds of tribal elders from Kandahar and the neighbouring provinces of Helmand, Uruzgan and Zabul, Karzai vowed to tackle the unrest gripping the nation through talks if re-elected.
"We'll be talking with the Taliban, the opponents, solving the problems through talks, if people voted again for me," Karzai told the crowd in Kandahar. The western-backed leader, who hails from Kandahar and has been in office since the Taliban regime was ousted in a US-led attack in 2001, called on people to vote in the ballot. The Taliban have on several occasions rejected his call to renounce violence for reconciliation talks.
Karzai faces 41 rivals, including his former cabinet members Abdullah Abdullah and Ashraf Ghani, in the war-scarred nation's second-ever presidential elections set for August 20. His popularity has suffered due to his failure to curb the violence from an insurgency and mounting corruption but Karzai is still seen as a front-runner, with most of his rivals lacking a recognisable profile.
Promises: The incumbent told the gathering he would fight corruption while improving governance and security if re-elected. Security is a pressing issue throughout southern Afghanistan due to the presence of Taliban strongholds. Karzai has survived several attempts on his life including one in Kandahar in 2002. Karzai later drove to the outskirts of the troubled city under tight security to open a newly-built road.
Civilian casualties: Karzai also reiterated his appeal for foreign troops to limit air strikes while hunting militants because of the number of civilian casualties such attacks cause. The US military in Afghanistan last week issued new combat orders designed to reduce such casualties, calling on commanders to limit the use of close air support on residential compounds and other areas likely to result in civilian deaths and injuries. Karzai also said he would encourage foreign troops to stop searching Afghan homes in line with the new tactical directive.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/14/2009 00:00 ||
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Al-Qaedas North African wing vowed to avenge the deaths of Muslim Uighurs in Chinas Xinjiang province by targeting Chinese workers in Algeria, a risk analysis company said in a report.
Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb said it will target the 50,000 Chinese workers in Algeria and Chinese nationals and projects across northwestern Africa, said Stirling Assynt, which has offices in London and Hong Kong. This threat should be taken seriously, the company said, adding that three weeks ago the Islamist group ambushed a convoy of Algerian security forces protecting Chinese engineers, killing 24 Algerians.
Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, which wants to impose an Islamic state in Algeria, was founded in the mid-1990s. It pledged allegiance to Osama bin Laden in 2003. It is the first militant group to formally react to the violence in Xinjiang province, Stirling Assynt said. The company said there had been an increase in chatter on the Internet among so-called jihadists, or militants engaged in a holy war, about the need for action to avenge the perceived injustices in Xinjiang.
Some of these individuals have been actively seeking information on Chinas interests in the Muslim world which they could use for targeting purposes, Stirling Assynt said, adding locations included North Africa, Sudan, Pakistan and Yemen. Other militant groups may make similar threats and al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula could well target Chinese projects in Yemen, according to the report.
Forty-two of the most "hard core" of the 330 Al-Qaeda militants will not be released even after they serve out their time.
"The authorities will not release many of the hard-core militants because of their complicity in acts of terrorism, which were proved by the courts," said Justice Ministry spokesman Abdullah Al-Sadhan at a news conference in Riyadh. He was accompanied by Ministry of Information spokesman Abdulrahman Al-Hazza.
Al-Sadhan said all of the convicts "can appeal against the verdict of the special Saudi courts." The officials were addressing concerns expressed by some human rights advocates that these men have not received adequate legal counsel.
The officials said the Kingdom's security agencies had stepped up efforts to bring to book suspects who are still at large.
The charges against the 330 men include conspiring with Al-Qaeda, threatening national security and financing terrorism. "Those who neither confessed nor repented before the judiciary will not be given any concession," said Al-Sadhan.
Sentences range from several months to 30 years in prison.
Or the amnesty next Ramadan ...
Suspects who were cleared of charges may file for compensation against the state, he added.
Last week, 13 of the men were found guilty and sentenced to 20 years in prison. Fifteen men were sentenced to varying terms. They will be under house arrest after serving their terms. Three were banned from traveling abroad.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/14/2009 00:00 ||
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July 14 (Bloomberg) -- Northern Ireland police officers were attacked with gunfire, stones and gasoline bombs in Belfast yesterday as violence broke out during the annual Orange Order parades in the U.K. province. Ah, tis it that time of year again? Faith & begorrah. Ah, saints be praised, the boyos be actin up again...
Boyos will be boyos, I guess.
Nine officers were injured during the attacks, three vehicles were hijacked and burned and at least one shot was fired at police, a spokesman for the Police Service of Northern Ireland said in a recorded message today. Police fired 18 plastic bullets and deployed water cannon to quell the riot, which is continuing, the message said. Ah, Sean, makes me misty for the good old days...
The Protestant parade is one of hundreds that took place in Northern Ireland yesterday to celebrate the victory of the Protestant King William over the Catholic King James at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. The July 12 parades have caused serious rioting in Northern Ireland since the 1990s as Catholics protest against the parades passing through their districts and Protestants insist on the parades going through mainly pro-Irish Catholic neighborhoods.
While the province's political parties signed a peace deal two years ago and most paramilitary groups have renounced violence, disturbances still break out during the so-called marching season. Sinn Fein, former allies of the Irish Republican Army -- which fought for a united Ireland before ending their campaign in 2005 -- blamed the Real IRA, a splinter group, for orchestrating the violence. The Real IRA, which killed two British soldiers in March, "drafted in rioters," to Ardoyne, Sinn Fein lawmaker Gerry Kelly, told the British Broadcasting Corp.
Threw Missiles
Teenage youths, some with their faces bravely covered by masks, threw missiles at police shortly before the Protestant parade was due to pass Ardoyne. Police, dressed in riot gear and balaclavas, deployed water cannon and ushered the parade past the neighborhood shortly after 8 p m yesterday.
After the parade passed, security force helicopters buzzed over the area as rioters, some in balaclavas, hurled gasoline bombs at police, pausing to make calls on mobile phones before running up alleys to return with bricks and bottles. Did ya see me on the telly, Bridget O'Brien! Up the Provos!
Ardoyne, a pro-Irish nationalist enclave of around two dozen streets, has been the scene of serious riots at the same parade in past years.
The violence "is not representative of the vast majority of people who have moved on and embraced a peaceful future," assistant police chief constable Alistair Finlay said in an e- mailed statement yesterday. Belfast city center shops opened yesterday for the first time in decades, as businesses wagered the worst of the marching season violence was over.
In a separate incident, a "small bomb" exploded in Armagh today, police said. A number of officers who attended the scene were attacked with gasoline bombs and other missiles. Hooligans! Ruffians!
Posted by: Steve ||
07/14/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Protestants insist on the parades going through mainly pro-Irish Catholic neighborhoods.
#2
even if there were only one religion in Ireland, even if there were no rich and poor in Ireland, even if the Brits left the emerald isle tomorrow the Irish would still find some excuse to beat the piss out of each other. The Irish just like to fight. Makes me proud of my heritage.
#3
The Orange parades are pretty much designed to provoke rioting. Mob violence is sort of the point.
Maybe they ought to just evacuate & cordon off the parade routes, make sure they don't bring in anything more lethal than boards with nails through 'em, and let them have at each other for a week in July. Sort of like the Pamplona running of the bulls, except with welfare cheats & chavs.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
07/14/2009 10:21 Comments ||
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#4
Broadhead6; while I agree the Irish love to fight, the history of these parades aka "the marching season" goes back for hundreds of years. After the battle of the Boyne the British used the Scottish Protestant population to keep the Catholics in check. And, like other oppressed groups, the Irish Catholics have long memories regarding the wrong(s) done to them. My father was an Irish immigrant in the early 1900's, first to Scotland and then to America, and he had strong memories of "the marching season".
#5
This is one case where 'turn the other cheek' might just work. If the dickhead protestants march through and nobody is there to watch, nothing would happen. Of course, there would be no fun in that...
#6
Unique Battle: this is one of those "it only takes one side to make a slaughter" situations. If the Catholics didn't show up for the rumble, the Orange will just keep marching until their gangs take over the drugs-and-whores trade and otherwise make free with wot belongs to the Catholics, or else until the Bhoys come out t' play.
It's why they call it "marching season". They go on until they get a reaction.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
07/14/2009 16:21 Comments ||
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#7
Wolfdog, I was being hyperbolic - I know the history. I've walked through Shankill in Belfast as well as have visited the IRA cemetery in Belfast - I've had ancestors on both sides of the conflict - my dad's patrilineal people come from Derry & the other side is from way south in Cork. I walked through where the Bogside happened as well as have seen the Brit barracks in Derry up close. There are people of my last name burried in the IRA cemetery and I even have a distant relative that was a noted protestant hero of the siege of derry that has a club named after him to this day.
An official Chinese newspaper urged Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday to take back remarks that genocide was being committed in China's Muslim region of Xinjiang, where rioting killed 184 people.
Even if we question the Chinese numbers, about 200 is not quite the same as the entire population. The honourable prime minister is so far out of line he can't see the intersecting planes.
In an editorial headlined "Don't twist facts", the English-language China Daily said the fact 137 of the 184 victims were Han Chinese "speaks volumes for the nature of the event". The newspaper urged Erdogan to "take back his remarks ... which constitute interference in China's internal affairs".
"Interference" is going a bit far, as well. Let's call it a tie.
In comments broadcast live on NTV television last Friday, Erdogan told reporters: "The incidents in China are, simply put, a genocide. There's no point in interpreting this otherwise." He called on Chinese authorities to intervene to prevent more deaths.
Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi told his Turkish counterpart by telephone on Sunday the Urumqi riots were a grave crime orchestrated by the "three evil forces", state news agency Xinhua said, referring to "extremism, separatism and terrorism".
Turkey has sought to boost ties with China, the world's third-biggest economy. President Abdullah Gul last month became the first Turkish president to visit China in 15 years, signing $1.5 billion worth of trade deals, according to Turkish media. Gul also visited Xinjiang during his trip.
#1
Well...if this is what the Turkish government sets as the bar for genocide then they'd better be prepared to suck it up for the coming anniversary marking their little binge with the Armenians.
#2
Especially since their usual defense against the Armenian thing is "tu quoque", which seeing as more Han than Uirghur have been reported killed in the rioting, seems like a somewhat-valid response to Erdogan's accusation.
Not that the Prime Minister of Turkey needs to listen to a Chinese propaganda organ, regardless of the merits of the matter.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
07/14/2009 9:53 Comments ||
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#3
Genocide?
"I do not think it means what you think it means." - I. Montoya.
#4
It's not so much genocide as enslavement. The Chinese don't like "foreigners" and don't treat them very well, no matter who they are. What they're trying to do with the Uigurs is to ensure they are second-class citizens under the heel of the (Han) government. They're doing this by simply flooding the area(s) with Han Chinese, who get all the better-paying jobs, better education, and more choices in where and how they live. China HAS engaged in genocide to get rid of "foreigners" in the past, and wouldn't hesitate to do it again. Let's just call this "tempest in a teapot" a draw, and move on. The Chinese will continue to marginalize and victimize the Uigurs, and Turkey will do the same to the Kurds.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/14/2009 15:18 Comments ||
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#5
"Erdogan told reporters: 'The incidents in China are, simply put, a genocide. There's no point in interpreting this otherwise.'"
2 million The Armenians could not be reached for comment.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
07/14/2009 21:35 Comments ||
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SEOUL, July 13 (Yonhap) -- North Korea seems intent on fomenting internal conflict among South Koreans by raising tension through its military and rhetorical provocations, Seoul's point man on the North said Monday.
"North Korea appears to be focusing on ratcheting up criticism toward South Korea ... They appear to be trying to create inner conflicts within the South by pressuring us through agitations," Unification Minister Hyun In-taek said in a lecture in the southern port city of Busan.
The minister, however, said the people are not shaken by "outdated and inflammatory rhetoric," as they have matured through democracy. "Rather, the people have been disappointed by North's irrational behavior ... the government is moving forward by putting its trust in our people," Hyun said.
Inter-Korean relations have chilled since conservative South Korean President Lee Myung-bak took office in February last year, vowing to get tough on Pyongyang. Lee maintains that the South will help the North only when the communist regime gives up its nuclear ambitions. Lee said while visiting Sweden that Seoul will deal sternly with the North until the communist nation decides to denuclearize.
Hyun refuted criticism that the Lee administration has a hardline policy toward the North, emphasizing that the government has dealt with threats from North Korea out of principle and with flexibility. "I believe that accusing our government of being tough (on North Korea) is factually wrong and based on prejudice," said Hyun.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/14/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
ION NORTH KOREA> As per WMF, NOKOR has repor deployed as many as 300,000 troops to its borders wid CHINA in order to stop via deadly force the flow of ordinary Nokors trying to escape death by STARVATION. JAPANESE MEDIA Artic alleges that the sound of gunfire can be routinely heard every day on the NOKOR side as people are allegedly being shot down to prevent escape into CHINA. Also, SOUTH KOREA repor faces a realistic prospect of a "FALL OF THE BERLIN WALL" TYPE EVENT OCCURRING as desperate Nokors flee the SINO-NOKOR borders + murderous Nokor border troops in favor of forcing entry into the South???
#2
Joe, any attempt by imaginary starving NKors to rush the DMZ would result in an inadvertent bloodbath as bad as any of the Basji minefield clearance operations of the Iran-Iraq War. It's the single most heavily mined and fortified border in the world. I'm pretty sure it won't happen.
And the Berlin Wall fell via a back-door through Hungary & Austria, if I recall correctly. The dancing & wall-destruction didn't come until there was as many East Germans on the west side as the east, if not more. It's not like anybody ever stormed Checkpoint Charlie.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
07/14/2009 10:07 Comments ||
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#3
You're right about Berlin, Mitch. The Wall came down after, holes knocked in it from the West Berlin side, as I recall.
#4
Won't we see groups of "insiders" defecting first, by which I mean more than the few starving or the lucky families. I'm thinking of small boats of sailors and associates, maybe small convoys of mid-level officials and families perhaps at the Russian border.
I'd expect that would be the signal that the flood was coming. Otherwise, there will be much bloodshed, from many directions, if it's simply crowds all over - how would the ROK distinguish whether it's psyops or Mariel-like?
#5
ION GUAM PDN > CHINA MAKES IT MOVE IN THE SRATLYS.
Also, WMF > Various Artics claim that CHINA + JAPAN are ready to PREEMPTIVELY MIL STRIKE THE OTHER OVER THE "YONAGUNI ISLAND ISSUE" [JAPAN, US? deployment of new milfors to island just across from TAIWAN]. A number of WMF Netters believe that JAPAN is trying to engage in "sea denial" agz CHIN + extend its sovereignty beyond the islands of OKINAWA/RYUKYUS ; + VIETNAM is willing to risk war agz CHIN in the SOUTH CHINA SEA. CHIN on its part is planning to deploy 8 more PLAN SUbs [mostly attack SSKS] to defend SPratleys + other disputed island.
#6
ION GUAM PDN > CHINA MAKES IT MOVE IN THE SRATLYS.
Also, WMF > Various Artics claim that CHINA + JAPAN are ready to PREEMPTIVELY MIL STRIKE THE OTHER OVER THE "YONAGUNI ISLAND ISSUE" [JAPAN, US? deployment of new milfors to island just across from TAIWAN]. A number of WMF Netters believe that JAPAN is trying to engage in "sea denial" agz CHIN + extend its sovereignty beyond the islands of OKINAWA/RYUKYUS ; + VIETNAM is willing to risk war agz CHIN in the SOUTH CHINA SEA. CHIN on its part is planning to deploy 8 more PLAN SUbs [mostly attack SSKS] to defend SPratleys + other disputed island.
SEOUL, July 14 (Yonhap) North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has visited a newly-built tile factory in Pyongyang, state media said, as fresh speculation emerges about his health. In a dispatch dated on Monday and published around midnight, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Kim gave "field guidance" to the Taedonggang Tile Factory and "went round its interior and exterior" to learn about its facilities. So, how's the pancreas doing, Dear Leader?
Oyyyyyy! Hurts like a bastid! Thanks for asking. Have him shot.
North Korean state media continued to report on Kim's brisk activities, with the latest visit bringing the total number of his public tours so far this year to 82, compared to 57 last year.
Kim "expressed great satisfaction over the fact that the soldier builders have built the modern factory in such a manner as to let it win the admiration of posterity," the KCNA said.
"Things for the juche, Your Decreptitude, now may I have some bread?"
The factory's production relies strictly on locally available raw materials, he said, and such "successful endeavors being made by all domains of the national economy ... fully reflect the unshakable faith of the Korean people to build a great prosperous and powerful nation on this land by their own efforts, resources and technology without fail."
Kim held a photo session with the factory workers during his tour. His entourage included Kim Ki-nam, secretary of the Workers' Party central committee, and party department directors Park Nam-gi and Jang Song-thaek, as well as Korean People's Army generals Hyon Chol-hae and Ri Myong-su. ...who all eyed each other suspiciously.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/14/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Let us know when he starts giving field guidance to the inside of a pine box.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
07/14/2009 10:08 Comments ||
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#3
Typical complaint to press from anyone who feels that an administration is not following his or her advice. Wouldn't read too much into this.
However, if the report of Hillary's apology is accurate that would be a major story in it's own right. I can bet that the White House is communicating with the state department today.
#5
This just confirms what we've known for a while about how this president manages things. The president has always set U.S. policy, though, and State has always resented those ignorant upstarts overriding their sage and measured advice.
What could be interesting is if resentment over this results in State actively undermining the White House, as the CIA did President Bush.
With their Speaker behind them, House Democrats are pushing ahead with plans to hold a series of hearings investigating instances in which intelligence officials may have misled members of Congress.
Senior Democratic aides said that a major announcement could come by the end of week, but it was already clear on Monday that House Democrats are seizing on weekend news reports that former Vice President Dick Cheney hid information from Congress.
The New York Times reported on Sunday that the CIA, under the direction of Cheney, developed a secret counterterrorism program and then was directed by the vice president to conceal it from Congress.
The Wall Street Journal first reported that the program was a classified initiative to kill or capture al Qaeda operatives. Cheney has not commented on the media reports.
Members of both the House and the Senate Intelligence committees learned about the program last week, when CIA Director Leon Panetta told them in classified hearings that he had just learned about the program and had ordered it terminated.
But Panetta also told Democrats and Republicans on the Intelligence panels that Cheney had directed his predecessors to conceal the program from all members of Congress, even the so-called Gang of Eight House and Senate leaders and top Intelligence committee members, who are directed under federal law to receive regular intelligence briefings.
Senior congressional aides said Panettas latest briefing angered members of the panels, even though Panetta had only weeks prior admitted to members of the Intelligence committees that the CIA had, under past directors, engaged in obfuscation following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
The latest development on Cheney has prodded some senior Democrats to begin calling for hearings, which up until late last week had been something many leading Democrats were hesitant to do.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Monday signaled that she would give the House Intelligence Committee a green light to investigate incidents in which the CIA misled or lied to Congress, including times when Cheney was supposedly involved.
I think that it behooves the committee to take whatever actions they believe are necessary to get more information on that subject as to whether the intelligence community was directed by the vice president to create a program and intentionally withhold that information from Congress. And further, if these same intelligence community people were asked, Is there anything else we should know? whether they said yes or whether they said no, Pelosi told reporters.
Pelosi has previously used the line of looking forward instead of backwards when pressed on other issues, such as impeaching President George W. Bush and prosecuting Bush administration officials. But in the wake of the Cheney reports, she is allowing her panel chairmen to act should they choose to do so.
Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) on Sunday said Congress should absolutely investigate the fractured relationship between the intelligence community and Congress.
But Sen. Charles Schumer (N.Y.), the third-ranking Democrat in the upper chamber, says some Democrats are getting ahead of themselves.
In an interview on MSNBCs Morning Joe program on Monday, Schumer said if there are egregious violations, they should be investigated.
As for Vice President Cheney, frankly, everyone is jumping the gun, Schumer said. We dont know enough.
After it was noted that other Democrats are calling for a probe of Cheney, Schumer replied, Different strokes for different folks.
In the lower chamber, two Intelligence panel Democrats Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), who heads the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, and, separately, Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.) have already called for hearings.
Yet the panels chairman, Rep. Silvestre Reyes (D-Texas), has not publicly said how he will handle those, and any other, requests.
The chairman is reviewing the information and the options available to him and consulting with the ranking member, said Courtney Littig, a spokeswoman for the committee.
Prior to last week, when it was first made public that Panetta admitted privately to past instances of misleading briefings, Democrats have had a difficult time navigating the politics of the intelligence communitys transgressions.
After Pelosi first made the allegation that she had regularly been misled by the CIA, she and Democrats were dogged by charges of making their own questionable claims, which were levied relentlessly by Republicans who demanded that Pelosi either prove her claims or apologize for them.
Democrats now believe further revelations about the degree to which the Bush administration misled Congress are giving them political cover. Careful, Nancy. That blood in the water may be your own.
I think it puts the focus back on the Bush administration, a Democratic aide said. The Republicans attempted to use this as an issue, but with more and more evidence coming out about the Bush-Cheney administration circumventing Congress completely, it shows its a real red herring.
Pelosi on Monday said she only learned of Cheneys involvement through press reports. Last week she told reporters that she likewise had only heard about Panettas admission that agency officials had repeatedly lied to Congress through press reports.
That fact, a senior GOP aide said, will lead Republicans to continue to call on Pelosi to provide details about how she was misled and when.
#1
Since Queen Nancy and the Dems insist on walking into it, fair warning.
Posted by: ed ||
07/14/2009 1:03 Comments ||
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#2
The degree to which intel has been politicized by the left these past 8 years sickens me. But deranged zeal shown by the left in Congress is almost fascinating. It is not at all clear that holding hearings raking the former admin over the coals for considering targetted assassinations of terrorists -- which I believe most Americans assume we are doing -- is good politics for the Dems. Yet they cannot help themselves.
#3
Why doesn't Congress just cut off all funding for the CIA? They've pretty much neutralized its effectiveness, so why don't they divert the money to bailing out minority broadcasters or something.
#7
Gosh this is timely. Just when the nation's enthusiasm for President Barry's healthcare reform is weakening we get an attention grabbing side show. All the air cover you need to pass some more screwy legislation?
#8
I forget who called it, but I read a week ago that if the health care bill got sidelined due to bad reviews, that you could expect Bush hearings and probes to come forward.
#11
As Darth Vader just said; the Dems and Nancy Pelosi need all the cover they can get (whether real or manufacttured) to push through their health care legislation. All hail Queen Nancy and King Bambi.
#14
What I really want Congress to do is to probe the economic collapse and the Federal Reserve. As if our esteemed {spit} Congresscritters will do anything that might really be of use to insure domestic Tranquility, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity. Or at least they could take lessions in reading comprehension.
#15
The Dems have a death wish. They're trying to socialize the entire country, raise taxes 50-60%, kill incentive, bury health care, destroy small businesses, and enslave the American people. If that weren't bad enough, now they're taking on the country's second-most-important (after NSA) spy agency. Stupid, stupid, stupid. The CIA has a long memory, and are not afraid of taking on government at any level. I expect to see "leaked" reports of various scandals involving Leon Panetta, any Dem in Congress, and our "president" coming out of the woodwork in vast profusion. The next year or two are going to be quite "interesting".
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/14/2009 15:40 Comments ||
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#17
OldPatriot, I wonder. I had the same thought - it's, uh, kinda STUPID to take on the CIA, especially when your attack amounts to slander and has no merit whatsoever. Even reasonable people would be p***ed off.
But back to the principal "hook" for this whole thing, I believe Hayden or others had indicated there was a presidential finding on the proposed program. This means that Congress has, literally, "signed off" on something. This whole process, and that of general oversight by the two intel committees, make it extremely doubtful that there's a shred of merit to the incredible allegations about deceiving the Hill.
At least it was a few years back, when I was up there and very familiar with this process.
But let's not kid ourselves about the down-side for even the most insanely preposterous and risky Dem ploy - they'll pay no price whatsoever, regardless of what they do. There is nothing resembling what we used to call a press, the opposition is pretty much cowardly and inept, and most importantly the electorate is cretinized (I speak especially here about "educated," so-called high-information types).
Career-ending gaffes and outrages by high-profile Dems in the last 8 years are too numberous to list. Just one political generation ago (when I was in the middle of it), a single Durbin statement comparing US soldiers to Nazis, a single "the war is lost" statement by a Reid, anything close to Murtha's astounding public slander of Marines in an ongong capital case court martial - all would have marked the end of their careers, or at the least their demotion to second rank, in shame and ignominy.
And that's just off the top of my head. And don't forget we just elected a preposterously unfit and unimpressive affirmative action doofus who made campaign-killing gaffes about twice a day, for months. Not to mention having booby-trapped himself with years of insanely impolitic and radical nonsense (Wright, Ayers, etc) that would have until recently kept people off the county supervisors' board in most places in the US. The presidency? Absurd. (and thus the bumbling, farcical performance to date is little surprise)
Result? Nothing.
But, you say, look at Bambi's cratering poll numbers, the generic ballot, the GOP leading the donks on (gasp!) even Social Security confidence. Yeah, so what. That is 98% the result of ongoing economic problems. An (unlikely) uptick in the economy, even a brief recovery, and the numbers change dramatically - regardless of how idiotic, lawless, or puzzling the WH or Congress are.
When the mayor of New Orleans is re-elected, and the Bush administration is demonized, after a Katrina - then there is no doubt a perfect inversion of public understanding and a near-perfect hijacking of the public square by clueless partisans have occurred.
It's worse than no accountability - it's reverse accountability.
Anyway, will be fun to watch if the donks are dumb enough to stick their hands into this particular meatgrinder - but only in an inside-baseball sort of way. The disgraced, self-beclowned United States of America will not care.
Congress originally authorized the CIA to develop the secret counterterrorism program that is now drawing fierce criticism from House Democrats who say they were kept in the dark all along, a former senior intelligence official told FOX News on Monday. The program, which sources told FOX News was a plan to capture or kill Al Qaeda operatives, also never came close to being operational, the intelligence official said.
"This was not a program. It never began," the former official said. "The authority was given by Congress to develop this idea. ... There was no need to brief it. It wasn't a reality."
Authority from Congress, eh? Wonder if there's a roll-call vote ...
Democrats want an investigation into the program, particularly following reports that former Vice President Dick Cheney was the one who ordered it kept secret.
Let's investigate that Congressional authorization while we're at it ...
Another official told The Associated Press that while Congress was aware of the program, CIA Director Leon Panetta recently told lawmakers that according to notes he had been given Cheney directed the CIA not to tell Congress specifics of the secret program.
Panetta told the committees there was no indication of anything illegal or inappropriate about the effort itself, the official said. But after Panetta told congressional lawmakers that he canceled the program, House Democrats also called on the CIA director to retract his statement that the CIA does not mislead Congress. Panetta made that statement after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi claimed the CIA lied to Congress.
The former intelligence official suggested House Democrats made the demand for the sake of providing Pelosi political cover.
"If you notice, Director Panetta briefed both (the Senate and House) intelligence committees on the same day ... about the same issue. Did you hear anyone from the Senate intelligence committee say anything about it?"
The Wall Street Journal first reported Monday that the CIA was developing the Al Qaeda program and had spent money for planning and possibly training, acting on a 2001 presidential pronouncement. The CIA also briefly examined the possibility of targeted assassinations of Al Qaeda leaders in 2001, the Journal reported, though it's not clear whether that was a part of the program Panetta stopped.
Congress has a right to know everything the CIA does, but the president can by law limit those told about covert operations to just the top four members of the House and Senate from the two parties and the senior members of the intelligence committees. Democrats on the House intelligence committee are pushing for a legal provision that would require the president to brief both committees in their entirety more often, but the White House has threatened to veto that.
Because Obama finally understands why Bush said no ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/14/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
And in the meantime Congress utterly ignored the roles the Federal Reserve, the US Treasury, and assorted other miscreants were playing in wrecking the US economy in the years leading up to 2008, and after 2008 passed bills to patch up the damage without reading them.
Follow-up from yesterday.
WASHINGTON A secret Central Intelligence Agency initiative axed by Director Leon Panetta examined how to assassinate members of al Qaeda with hit teams on the ground, according to current and former national-security officials familiar with the matter. The goal was to assemble teams of CIA and special-operations forces "and put bullets in [the al Qaeda leaders'] heads," one former intelligence official said. OK, can I see a show of hands, who thinks this is a fine idea?
The plan was never carried out, and Mr. Panetta canceled the effort on the day he learned of it, June 23. Even though it's precisely the sort of thing we created the CIA to do ...
The next day, he alerted Congress, which didn't know about the plan. "The agency hasn't discussed publicly the nature of the effort, which remains classified," said agency spokesman Paul Gimigliano. The Wall Street Journal reported Monday the effort stemmed from a presidential order dated September 2001 that directed the CIA to find ways to kill or capture al Qaeda leaders. The revelation has intensified a growing battle between the executive branch and Congress over the conduct of the CIA and U.S. intelligence operations.
Democrats in Congress are calling for an investigation into whether it was properly briefed on the matter. Meanwhile, Sen. Kit Bond, the top Republican on the Senate intelligence panel, said the thrust of the plan should be resurrected. "The general concept in the plan is one that should be explored somewhere. Whether it's a modification of this plan or some related plan," he said in an interview. A man who knows a weak spot when he sees it
Congress frequently feuded with the Bush administration over intelligence matters. Democrats expected that tension would abate under the Obama administration, but lawmakers have frequently found themselves at odds with President Barack Obama's decisions to continue or not investigate controversial intelligence policies initiated under President George W. Bush. The tug-of-war will enter a new round as soon as this week, when the House is expected to take up a bill that would expand congressional oversight of intelligence activities, especially of covert-action programs. The White House has said it would veto the bill if passed.
Had it become fully developed, the CIA's aborted plan would have been a covert-action program. At the outset, the potential operation wouldn't have been limited to particular countries. There's the spot that made the CIA uneasy. Wacking Al-Q in Afghanistan or Pakistain is one thing. Downtown Rome or London another. Which means we're not allowed to credit the CIA with having enough sense to refrain from Rome and London ...
The use of hit teams was in accordance with the authority granted by the 2001 order, said a former national-security official familiar with it. In the most recent iteration of the project, top CIA leaders instructed officers involved to narrow its focus and report the plans to Congress if they reached a critical point, according to a former senior intelligence official.
Targeted killing of terrorists is prohibited by a longstanding presidential order banning assassinations that dates back to the Ford administration, noted Vicki Divoll, a former CIA counsel. But the president can waive that order, she said, because there is no specific law that bans the practice. There's also no legal difference, she said, between killing al Qaeda targets with a hit team or with an unmanned drone, because the "intent to kill a targeted person" defines an assassination. Yes, it does. Funny how the press tries to overlook that. It's why the Phoenix program raised such violent hackles while air strikes were defined as 'surgical' ...
The CIA has recently opted to step up its use of Predator and Reaper drones to kill al Qaeda and related militants in Pakistan's tribal areas. That program is done in consultation with Pakistani officials and is less risky than sending in individuals, because it doesn't involve U.S. personnel on the ground. So I guess it's okay for a Predator to smoke them with a missile but ya can't sneak up behind them and put two in the turban if you get a chance? That makes sense...
One official with direct knowledge of the secret program said that assassination teams could be more effective than taking out al Qaeda leaders with drone-fired missiles. "We're talking about the difference between two feet and 50,000 feet," said one official with direct knowledge of the program. "Do you want the collateral damage of 50,000 feet or two?"
Mr. Panetta's decision to kill the assassination initiative has put him in a tough spot. His recent moves to stand up for the agency in disputes with the director of national intelligence and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi who recently accused the agency of "lying all the time" have bolstered his support within the agency, veterans said. But lawmakers' rapid-fire calls to investigate Bush-era efforts like the secret assassination program threaten to undermine that support.
The flap with Congress over the secret program is already reverberating through the CIA's Langley, Va., headquarters, said one former senior intelligence official who is in regular contact with former colleagues. "They've expressed concern that nobody's got their back," the former official said. Oh, they've got your back, it's just that they're contemplating where to put the knife.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/14/2009 00:00 ||
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I think the only people that are pissed off about this are idiot congressional Democrats and the New York Times.
#2
Should not the real story here be that most of the people in middle American think the CIA has been killing Al Qaeda, want them to kill Al Qaeda, and if they believe the story will be angry that the CIA has not been killing Al Qaeda up close and personal?
Posted by: Donald McConnell ||
07/14/2009 2:37 Comments ||
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#3
Which means we're not allowed to credit the CIA with having enough sense to refrain from Rome and London ...
No, the AQ that would get whacked in Rome would've been whacked by disgruntled Mafia upset at competition in the rackets, and those whacked in London would have been whacked by other wacky Muslims upset at the rape of their teenaged sons. Etc.
#4
No targeted killings,the furor over collateral damage from drones, closing Gitmo, defense budget cuts, geeeez!!!!!That I pay for their salaries and generous perks infuriates me. Maybe we should outsource their jobs, along with CIA's?
#5
I'm pretty sure that teams of hitmen was more the OSS's kind of thing. The CIA was supposed to be less cowboy than that, more Organization Man.
And tu3031? I'm pretty sure that NPR's pissed about this too, given the earful I got from the weekend prunes on Saturday. In between the odes to the Bronx and Daniel Schorr's senile prattle, that is...
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
07/14/2009 10:16 Comments ||
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#6
NPR? Duly noted. You can probably throw the Post and The Boston Globe in there too.
#7
CIA wanted to be able to take folks out in places like Rome and London. Didnt want to tell congress, cause if that leaked, Euros would be pissed as all hell. So they didnt tell, and now congress is pissed. But Congress is supposed to know about something as big and risky as this.
Dilemma either way, IMO. Whats really needed is to ensure ABSOLUTELY that the intell committees arent leaky.
Posted by: liberal hawk ||
07/14/2009 10:46 Comments ||
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#8
Whats really needed is to ensure ABSOLUTELY that the intell committees arent leaky.
#10
Girl Thursday,
IF "all they are able to do is dawdle, dissemble, talk, and eat" we'd be WAY ahead, so let's secretly serve top-grade hash brownies in the Capitol cafeteria.
#14
If I didn't already believe congressional dems to be a bunch of self-serving sanctimonious preening egotistical self-righteous anti-American douchebags I might actually get pissed about this.
The Supreme Court (SC) was informed on Monday the Punjab government had challenged the release of Jamaatud Dawa chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed due to certain "confidential evidence" against him.
Punjab Advocate General (AG) Muhammad Raza Farooq told the three-member bench hearing pleas against a Lahore High Court (LHC) decision to release Saeed and Colonel (r) Nazir Ahmed that Saeed was detained under Section 3 of the Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance 1961. However, Section 3 was not mentioned in the detention order. The three-member bench, Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Muhammad Sair Ali and Justice Jawwad S Khawaja, asked the AG to satisfy it (SC) on all points. The AG said there was sufficient evidence against Saeed, but it could not be made part of the case record because it was confidential.
Binding on govt: Farooq also submitted that it was binding on the government to implement resolutions adopted by the UN. He said the detention of Saeed had become necessary, as the UN had levelled allegations that Saeed was linked to Al Qaeda and was allegedly involved in some terror-related incidents at an international level.
"You cannot curtail the liberty of any person," the CJP added. The court then also asked Deputy Attorney General Shah Khawar to argue his case, however he told the court that he wanted to argue the case on Tuesday. The court accepted the request and adjourned the hearing until Tuesday (today).
The federation and the Punjab government, through their petitions, requested the court to set aside the LHC decision of ending the detention of Saeed and Col (r) Nazir Ahmed. The petitions claimed the LHC had not considered the sensitivity of the case, especially in light of the prevailing security situation.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/14/2009 00:00 ||
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Bajaur Agency political authorities on Monday warned the Mamond tribe that they would be responsible if any government property was damaged in their area. Nawagi Assistant Political Agent Muhammad Jamil told a Mamond jirga that they had not conformed with any of the 28 points agreed to in the peace agreement between them and the authorities. He said that the tribesmen had not kept check on militant activity in their area, adding that the area's law and order situation had significantly deteriorated since the peace deal had been signed. The elders said that while they were helpless on certain fronts, they admitted to having failed to implement the peace deal in its entirety.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/14/2009 00:00 ||
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New Delhi will "not dilute" the army presence in Indian-held Kashmir (IHK) until the situation in the region has stabilised, State Minister for Defence MM Pallam Raju said on Monday. "We will not dilute the presence of the forces until we are absolutely certain that there is no further threat to the country," the Indian Express quoted him as saying. He said reports that arrested Lashkar-e-Tayyaba had revealed terrorist plans to mount attacks on India proved it was premature to withdraw forces from there. The Indian government would inquire about ammunition stamped with "Made in India" that was found in Swat, he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/14/2009 00:00 ||
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The Taliban will not be allowed to disrupt the peace in the scenic Swat valley again, said NWFP Chief Minister Ameer Haider Hoti on Monday.
According to a statement issued here, the chief minister said the war against those involved in "destruction and blood shed" would continue until the last of the terrorists had been eliminated. He said that administrative changes in Malakand division had been introduced for the implementation of sharia and the security of the population.
Addressing a gathering at Government College Palosa (Charsadda), Hoti said the Nizam-e-Adl Regulation was approved "purely on the demand and aspirations of the people of Malakand ... not under any sort of pressure". He said the regulation would now be given a "practical shape".
The chief minister said, "We wanted to resolve the problems of Swat through dialogue right from day one ... we tried it till the last moment, but unfortunately, the Taliban chose the path of destruction instead of negotiations." He assured those who went home to Swat on Monday that their return "doesn't mean that government support and assistance will stop ... the government will help you start life anew".
He praised the role of the president, the prime minister, the federal government, international agencies, NGOs, provincial governments, political parties and particularly the people of Swabi, Mardan, Charsadda, Nowshera and Peshawar for facilitating relief activities. "The provincial government was only able to fulfil its responsibility because of their spirit. Their role is an exact example of Pukhtunwali," said Hoti.
"The terrorists are the enemy of Islam, humanity, Pukhtuns, peace and stability and our future. We will fight them along the army and triumph."
Hoti said that Swat was "an injured part of our body, and no stone will be left unturned to put it right". He said the reconstruction process would start soon in the affected areas and everybody would be compensated for damages.
He assured the armed forces that they had the backing of the political leadership, the federal and provincial governments, the civil society and the public.
He said that he had already visited Swat and examined the security conditions there. He said that with IDPs now returning home, he would again visit the valley to "meet our brothers". He said those who had suffered in Swat and Malakand would never be isolated, and "ration will be provided to them for the next six months".
The chief minister said the Taliban had been defeated and they were now hiding in far-flung areas. He appealed to the general public to identify the Taliban wherever they were found.
He said that other arrangements would also be made for the security of the people of Malakand. "This includes the establishment of a 7,000 community police force and an increase in police stations."
Posted by: Fred ||
07/14/2009 00:00 ||
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Is Israel targeting the Palestinian population in Gaza by distributing libido-increasing chewing gum in the Strip? A Hamas police spokesman in the Gaza Strip Islam Shahwan claimed Monday that Israeli intelligence operatives are attempting to "destroy" the young generation by distributing such materials in the coastal enclave.
Shahwan said that the police got their hands on gum that increases sexual desire that, according to him, reaches merchants in the Strip by way of the border crossings. According to him, a Palestinian drug dealer admitted that he sold products that increase sex drive. The dealer said that he received the materials from Israeli sources by way of the Karni crossing. A number of suspects have been arrested.
The affair was exposed when a Palestinian filed a complaint that his daughter chewed the aforementioned gum and experienced the dubious side effects.
Shahwan even claimed that Israeli intelligence operatives encourage dealers in Gaza to distribute the gum for free. "The Israelis seek to destroy the Palestinians' social infrastructure with these products and to hurt the young generation by distributing drugs and sex stimulants," said Shahwan. However, he noted that drugs reach the Gaza Strip by way of Rafah tunnels, and said that the police keep a close watch on the illegal activities going on in the tunnels between Gaza and Egypt.
Shahwan added that the police have recently seized large amounts of drugs and alcohol attached to the underside of automobiles passing through Erez crossing. The automobile owners admitted receiving help for smuggling the materials from Israeli intelligence operatives.
#1
Why the hell would Israelis want to increase the libido of Gazans? What, so that there's *more* genocidal impoverished ignorant refugee-camp squatters in the next generation?
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
07/14/2009 9:50 Comments ||
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#2
IIRC, this is a very common and relatively old arab meme. This very rumor was already commented on by one or several articles posted here in RB over the years, but it was in egypt. I also remember the aids-spreading fruits, the hot israeli female soldiers stripping to startle pious shebabs, while ruthless Zionist Snipers took aim at them,...
I think the arabs have some "issues".
#5
The affair was exposed when a Palestinian filed a complaint that his daughter chewed the aforementioned gum and experienced the dubious side effects.
#6
"double your pleasure, double your fun, with double mint, double mint, double mint gum"
Posted by: liberal hawk ||
07/14/2009 15:40 Comments ||
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#7
So a man catches his daughter masturbating and she comes up with some screwball excuse? And he accepts it because he's been trained since birth to think the Jooooos are responsible for everything?
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will take the oath of office before parliament in early August following his hotly-disputed re-election, the ISNA news agency reported on Tuesday. The hardline Ahmadinejad will be sworn in as the 10th president of the Islamic republic between August 2 and 6 after being confirmed by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and will then unveil his new cabinet, it said.
TEHRAN: Iran will hang 14 members of a Sunni rebel group in public today, including a brother of its leader Abdolmalek Rigi, a semi-official news agency reported yesterday. Predominantly Shi'ite Muslim Iran says Jundollah (God's Soldiers) is part of the Sunni Islamist Al-Qaeda network and backed by the United States, Tehran's arch foe. Fars News Agency quoted a local judiciary statement as inviting families of the group's victims and other people to come and watch the executions at 6:30 am (0200 GMT) in a park in the southeastern city of Zahedan. Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya television reported on May 29 that Jundollah had claimed a mosque bombing the previous day in Zahedan which killed 25 people.
Fars did not mention the bombing but said those sentenced to hang were convicted of mohareb, or one who is waging war against God, and of killing innocent people. It named one of the men sentenced to death as Abdolhamid Rigi, brother of Jundollah leader Abdolmalek Rigi. Fars reported on June 6 that two members of Jundollah, including a man it also named as Abdolhamid Rigi, were hanged in Zahedan. A week earlier, three people convicted of involvement in the mosque bombing were hanged in public. Media reported that clashes broke out between supporters and opponents of a Sunni cleric in the city and six people died in an arson attack.
Jundollah says it fights for the rights of minority Sunnis in officially Shi'ite Muslim Iran. Zahedan is the capital of Sistan-Baluchestan province, where most people are minority Sunni Muslims and ethnic Baluchis. Close to Pakistan and Afghanistan, the region has seen frequent clashes between security forces and heavily armed drug smugglers, as well intermittent attacks by Sunni Baluchi rebels.
Murder, adultery, rape, armed robbery, apostasy and drug trafficking are all punishable by death in the Islamic state. The official IRNA news agency said yesterday three drug traffickers were put to death in central Markazi province. The European Union earlier this month denounced Iran for a spate of executions, including the hanging of 20 drug traffickers on July 4 in a jail in a city west of Tehran. A few days earlier 12 other people were executed in two other cities, including six for murder in a Tehran jail. Iran usually carries out executions in its prisons.
The human rights group Amnesty International has listed Iran as the world's second most prolific executioner in 2008 after China, and says Iran executed at least 346 people last year. Executions have increased since authorities began a campaign against "immoral behaviour" in 2007. Iran says it implements Islamic law and rejects accusations it is violating human rights. - Reuters
Posted by: Steve ||
07/14/2009 00:00 ||
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A defeated candidate in Iran's disputed election has said the Islamic system may face "collapse" unless it embraces change, in unusually blunt language from a prominent establishment figure. Conservative Mohsen Rezaie, a former Revolutionary Guards commander who finished third in the June 12 vote won by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, called for national unity in a statement posted on his website on Sunday evening. "Continuation of the current situation would lead us to collapse from inside," he wrote. "We need cooperation and brotherhood. We need to respect people and their rights." The presidential election sparked days of street protests by supporters of moderate candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, who says the vote was rigged in Ahmadinejad's favour, and exposed deepening divisions within the Islamic Republic's leadership. In his statement, Rezaie criticised the way the election was handled as well as "mismanagement in dealing with public demands and protests".
Posted by: Fred ||
07/14/2009 00:00 ||
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A group of Iranian clerics in the holy city of Qom reportedly want to leave their country and relocate to the Iraqi city of Najaf, to protest against recent action by the government of president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. News of their intentions was revealed on Monday on the opposition website 'Peiknet'. "This symbolic gesture evokes the historic political battles of the Shia clerics against the Persian monarchies," the site said.
In fact, when they wanted to protest their dissent against the government, several grand ayatollahs used to leave Iran, seeking refuge in the holy city of Najaf. If the ayatollahs of Qom left the Iranian city for Iraq on this occasion, it would clearly demonstrate they no longer back the government of Ahmadinejad.
"The repressive measures, coordinated by the same Supreme Leader, in the last few weeks have caused the death of citizens, and left him inadequate to continue the role of 'spiritual guide' of the country."
On Saturday, the Grand Ayatollah, Hossein Ali Montazeri, former deputy of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, strongly criticised the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei saying he no longer had the legitimacy to continue in his position. "The repressive measures, coordinated by the same Supreme Leader, in the last few weeks have caused the death of citizens, and left him inadequate to continue the role of 'spiritual guide' of the country," he said.
On Saturday the Iranian government said it was preparing a new package of proposals to put to the West. Foreign minister Manouchehr Mottaki said it would concern "political, security and international issues". He was speaking in Tehran hours after G8 leaders said they were appalled at Iran's disputed presidential election.
US President Barack Obama said global leaders were also "deeply troubled" by Iran's nuclear programme. "How troubled are you, B.O.?"
"Deeply. Deeply."
Posted by: Fred ||
07/14/2009 00:00 ||
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FAIRFAX, Va. - A Fairfax County school is looking to expand, and not everyone is happy about it. The Islamic Saudi Academy has faced claims in the past that its religious curriculum teaches intolerance.
Intolerance? No. Murderous hatred and jihad are the correct terms.
The academy says it has revised its text books, and now it wants to expand its campus. A final public hearing is being held on the issue on Monday night.
Show us your textbooks and supplementary materials, and all curricula... and standard test scores. Let's see of you meet Virginia education requirements. Then we'll talk.
The Islamic Saudi Academy wants to put up another school building on its sprawling campus off Popes Head Road in Central Fairfax County. That would increase the number of students who'd be attending classes there by 300. The campus has been home to 200 children from kindergarten through the third grade.
The Islamic Saudi Academy wants to make this a first through 12th grade campus with a total of 500 students. People who live near the school and oppose the expansion plans say they worry about the added traffic. "We went down and counted all the cars -- it is frightening," said Beth Parker, a Fairfax County resident. Others say they oppose the Saudi Academy's expansion plans because they say the school teaches hate.
An academy official says they've been in the community for 25 years, and they have never caused any trouble. They also say they would create a turn lane at the school's main entrance to help ease any added traffic.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/14/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
private schools arent required to implement standardized tests (SOLs in virginia) cause those tests are there to make PUBLIC school teachers and admins accountable. That BTW, was one of the advantages of having our kid in a Jewish Day School, didnt waste all that time on testing and test prep.
Posted by: liberal hawk ||
07/14/2009 10:50 Comments ||
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#2
If the school is funded by the Soddies then just say no.
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.
July 14 (Bloomberg) -- Northern Ireland police officers were attacked with gunfire, stones and gasoline bombs in Belfast yesterday as violence broke out during the annual Orange Order parades in the U.K. province. 
An official Chinese newspaper urged Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday to take back remarks that genocide was being committed in China's Muslim region of Xinjiang, where rioting killed 184 people.
SEOUL, July 13 (Yonhap) -- North Korea seems intent on fomenting internal conflict among South Koreans by raising tension through its military and rhetorical provocations, Seoul's point man on the North said Monday.
SEOUL, July 14 (Yonhap) North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has visited a newly-built tile factory in Pyongyang, state media said, as fresh speculation emerges about his health. In a dispatch dated on Monday and published around midnight, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Kim gave "field guidance" to the Taedonggang Tile Factory and "went round its interior and exterior" to learn about its facilities.
Is Israel targeting the Palestinian population in Gaza by distributing libido-increasing chewing gum in the Strip? A Hamas police spokesman in the Gaza Strip Islam Shahwan claimed Monday that Israeli intelligence operatives are attempting to "destroy" the young generation by distributing such materials in the coastal enclave. 
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will take the oath of office before parliament in early August following his hotly-disputed re-election, the ISNA news agency reported on Tuesday. The hardline Ahmadinejad will be sworn in as the 10th president of the Islamic republic between August 2 and 6 after being confirmed by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and will then unveil his new cabinet, it said.
A defeated candidate in Iran's disputed election has said the Islamic system may face "collapse" unless it embraces change, in unusually blunt language from a prominent establishment figure. Conservative Mohsen Rezaie, a former Revolutionary Guards commander who finished third in the June 12 vote won by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, called for national unity in a statement posted on his website on Sunday evening. "Continuation of the current situation would lead us to collapse from inside," he wrote. "We need cooperation and brotherhood. We need to respect people and their rights." The presidential election sparked days of street protests by supporters of moderate candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, who says the vote was rigged in Ahmadinejad's favour, and exposed deepening divisions within the Islamic Republic's leadership. In his statement, Rezaie criticised the way the election was handled as well as "mismanagement in dealing with public demands and protests".
