[Quqnoos] Afghan Independent Election Commission says they will announce the primary results of the elections in the first week of September
Apologies, but the current video is only available in Dari and Pashto. To view the video anyway, please visit the Dari and Pashto sections of the site by using the language function at the top right of the screen.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/24/2009 00:00 ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] The main challenger to President Hamid Karzai in last week's Afghan elections said on Sunday he had evidence the ballot had been widely rigged as around 225 allegations of irregularities in the elections were lodged with a complaints investigator as Western allies labeled the vote a "success."
"The initial reports we are receiving are alarming," Karzai's challenger Abdullah Abdullah told a news conference three days after the election. "There might have been thousands of violations throughout the country, no doubt about it," he said.
Ballot box tampering
" We are aware of significant complaints of voting irregularities in provinces that were affected by violence on polling day "
Electoral Complaints Commission
The charges include tampering with ballot boxes for Thursday's presidential and provincial council elections, as well as intimidation of voters, Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) chairman Grant Kippen told reporters.
Others related to violence, failures of supposedly indelible ink meant to prevent people from voting twice and interference in polling, he said. "As of close of business yesterday the ECC had received approximately 225 complaints. And these are complaints on and since election day," Kippen said.
Some contained multiple allegations, he said, adding that more complaints could be received by the ECC, which is an independent Afghan organization. "Thirty five have been assigned a high priority and these are ones that we had to deem to be material to the outcome of the election results," he said.
Preliminary results from the presidential vote, only the second in the history of Afghanistan, are expected in coming days but will be subject to ECC investigations. "We are aware of significant complaints of voting irregularities in provinces that were affected by violence on polling day," Kippen said, adding that these included the southern province of Kandahar, a Taliban stronghold.
Insurgents from the Taliban, which was in government between 1996 and 2001, threatened to attack polling stations to disrupt the vote. There were a series of incidents, including rocket and bomb attacks, on election day. Security fears appear to have stopped some voters from casting their ballots. The elections authority has yet to release turnout figures but observers said it could be as low as 10 percent in the south.
Vote for democracy
" EU taxpayers have not paid millions of euros for this mission to send home discredited good news stories, but for the observers to carry out a rigorous and reliable assessment of the achievements and failings of this process "
Researcher
Meanwhile, the election turnout and results were hailed abroad as a vote for democracy as Western allies termed the elections a "success."
The European Union's observer mission was upbeat about the election as chief of the mission, former French general Philippe Morillon, said it was generally fair, although not free in all areas, labeling it a "victory for the Afghan people."
But U.S.-based Human Rights Watch was scathing of such a positive assessment.
Researcher Rachel Reid said it would be hard to believe for the millions of Afghans who experienced "one of the highest numbers of violent incidents in one day since the fall of the Taliban."
The government said 26 Afghan security forces personnel and civilians were killed on voting day.
Reid said the EU mission had not recognized the impact of high levels of violence and intimidation in volatile areas, where monitoring efforts were constrained by the insecurity.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/24/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
so, by all accounts, the election went off better than the one in Venezuela that elected Hugo. funny that the usual left-tard whine-bots who shut their trap and in the case of Jimmah Carter lied about it, they will whine and wring their hands here because it hurts the US cause for the elections to look 'shoddy'.
/spit
Posted by: abu do you love ||
08/24/2009 0:15 Comments ||
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#2
the election went off better than the one in Venezuela that elected Hugo.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Twenty-six men accused of plotting attacks in Egypt as members of Lebanon's Hezbollah resistance group claimed they were tortured by police in custody ahead of their trial, which began in a Cairo court on Sunday.
The cell of alleged members, dressed in white as they stood in a cage behind the dock, denied the charges of "conspiracy to murder, spying for a foreign organization with intent of conducting terrorist attacks and weapons possession."
" If you don't' believe us, just look at our bodies "
All those present denied the charges and as some of the defendants made the torture allegations, one man shouted to the judge: "If you don't' believe us, just look at our bodies."
Four more accused are on the run and are being tried in absentia, including alleged Lebanese mastermind Mohammed Qublan.
During the hearing one man shouted "We are at your command Nasrallah," in an apparent reference to Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah who admitted in April that one of the defendants, Lebanese Mohammed Yusuf Ahmed Mansur known as Sami Shihab, was a Hezbollah agent tasked with smuggling weapons in to the Gaza Strip.
But several of the Egyptian defendants declared in unison from the cage: "We live and die as Egyptians. We will never betray our country."
Posted by: Fred ||
08/24/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
This is Egypt, which does not have a habeus corpus law or a Bill of Rights. What on earth did they expect, and why do they fancy anyone on earth cares?
[Bangla Daily Star] Recognising the fact that anti-militant drive is not enough to uproot the evil of extremism from the society, the government has launched a massive socio-political campaign, involving 14 different agencies, to educate people and closely monitor militant activities at the grassroots level.
This campaign heavily involves the 3.5 lakh strong Bangladesh Ansar and Village Defence Party (VDP) for the first time as the networks of the two agencies are spread even to the remotest parts of the country where neither Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) nor police have regular access.
With the state minister for home affairs spearheading the drive, the government has taken up various innovative initiatives to make people aware about the destructive nature of extremism. The initiatives include holding campaigns, screening documentaries, training imams of mosques, organising anti-militancy campaigns at madrasas and others.
Under the initiative imams will be trained to present sermons against militancy prior to Juma prayers. "This has already begun in Dhaka and some other parts of the country," said Home Secretary Abdus Sobhan Sikder.
Another aspect of the drive is to involve unemployed youths in various development work and different trades through small loans. Religious educational institutions will be closely monitored.
The drive is the culmination of initiatives by various agencies that have opined that armed drives against militancy is not enough to uproot or contain militant threats. Following a series of meetings since 2007, the Awami League government formed a high-powered committee on April 20 headed by the then state minister for home Sohel Taj. However, after holding two meetings the committee has remained inactive since Taj's resignation from the ministry.
Now with Shamsul Haque Tuku taking charge as the state minister for home affairs, the committee resumed the drive through a meeting earlier this month. It has been decided that the committee will hold a meeting every month.
Other members of the committee are secretaries of the ministries of home, education, law, religious affairs, social welfare, LGRD and cooperatives, and information, the inspector general of police, chiefs of Directorate General of Forces Intelligence, Bangladesh Rifles, Ansar and VDP, National Security Intelligence and Rapid Action Battalion and the director general of Prime Minister's Office.
Each of these ministries and authorities has been given specific tasks. For instance, the religious affairs ministry will assign the Islamic Foundation to motivate imams against militancy while the LGRD ministry will discuss the issue of militancy at the meetings of district and upazila law and order committees.
The foreign ministry, although not a part of the committee, has been given the task to brief and update the international communities, donors and development partners about the government's positive steps to eradicate militancy.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/24/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
I have decided to ignore postings like this. "Govt" tells me nothing about the post's content.
[Bangla Daily Star] The government submitted two petitions for cancellation of the bails of two Harkatul Jihad (Huji) members in the August 21 grenade attack cases yesterday.
The grisly grenade attack was on an Awami League rally at Bangabandhu Avenue on August 21, 2004 that left 23 people including AL leader Ivy Rahman dead and 300 others injured.
Judge Masdar Hossain of the Speedy Trial Tribunal-1 of Dhaka granted bails to Munshi Mohibullah, brother of Huji chief Mufti Abdul Hannan, and one of his accomplices Arif Hassan Sumon on August 12.
Senior Assistant Superintendent of Police of Criminal Investigation Department Abdul Khar Akond submitted the petitions to advocate Syed Rezaur Rahman, chief prosecution counsel.
The petition for the murder case was submitted to the Second Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge's Court while the petition on the case filed under the Explosive Substances Act to the Metropolitan Sessions Judge's Court.
Metropolitan Sessions Judge ANM Bashir Ullah fixed today for hearing from the prosecution and the defence lawyers.
Second Additional Sessions Judge Fozila Begum fixed the date for hearing on the petition on August 30.
The jail authorities were asked to produce the Huji members before the courts on the scheduled dates.
Earlier the cases were sent from speedy trial tribunal to the courts mentioned on August 18, as the trial of the cases would not be completed within 135 working days.
The Speedy Trial Tribunal-1 ordered a further probe into the cases as the prosecution submitted petitions seeking fresh probe on June 25.
The trial also directed inspector general of police to submit the probe report by two months.
In the bail cancellation petitions, the prosecution mentioned that the two Huji members were directly involved in the grenade attack and they had confessed to magistrates.
"If they go out on bail, they would create obstructions in investigating the case," the prosecution added.
CID pressed charges against 22 people including former deputy minister BNP leader Abdus Salam Pintu and Huji chief Hannan on June 11 last year.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/24/2009 00:00 ||
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North Korea called for cooperation Sunday when a delegation attending the funeral of former President Kim Dae-jung met Preisdent Lee Myung-bak. The delegation led by Kim Ki-nam, a secretary of the North Korean Workers' Party, passed on a message from North Korean leader Kim Jong-il saying he wants to meet Lee.
Cheong Wa Dae spokesman Lee Dong-kwan said the message was about the need for progress in inter-Korean cooperation and expressed a desire for the two sides to "solve all issues."
Lee reportedly told the delegates Seoul is willing to talk at any time and any level, including a summit, but that in order to normalize inter-Korean relations, the North should make it clear it will abandon its nuclear weapons.
The delegates reportedly avoided the nuclear issue but repeatedly pointed to the special nature of the U.S.-North Korean relations. A senior presidential official said the Sunday meeting "led to a consensus between the South and the North on the principle that both sides need high-level government-level dialogue. But it remains to be seen when and at what level such dialogue will be held," the spokesman said.
Another presidential official said any change in inter-Korean relations depends on what decision Kim Jong-il make once he is given President Lee's return message by the delegation.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/24/2009 00:00 ||
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[Kyodo: Korea] North Korean leader Kim Jong Il signaled Sunday in an oral message delivered to South Korean President Lee Myung Bak that the North hopes to improve the badly frayed ties between the two rival powers in the Korean Peninsula.
Lee received the message in a meeting at his presidential office with senior North Korean envoys who arrived in Seoul on Friday to mourn the death of former President Kim Dae Jung, South Korean presidential spokesman Lee Dong Kwan said.
The meeting was President Lee's first with North Korean officials since he came to power in February last year.
Kim's message was ''about improvement of cooperation between the South and the North,'' spokesman Lee said, refusing to go into details about the contents of the message.
In response, President Lee outlined South Korea's ''consistent and firm principles'' on the North and told the North Korean envoys -- led by Kim Ki Nam, secretary of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea, and Kim Yang Gon, the North Korean point man for inter-Korean affairs -- to convey the message to the North Korean leader, the presidential spokesman said.
An official at the South Korean presidential office said the contents of Kim Jong Il's oral message were ''sensitive'' and the message will not be made public, Yonhap News Agency reported.
Lee's meeting with the North Korean envoys, initially set for 10 a.m., was moved forward by about an hour, and ended at around 9:30 a.m., officials at the presidential office said. ''Everything went very well,'' Kim Ki Nam told reporters in front of a Seoul hotel, shortly before the North Korean delegation headed back to the North.
South Korea's political parties hailed the meeting between Lee and the North Korean envoys, voicing hope it would help mend the strained inter-Korean relations. ''The dialogue channel between the South and the North has just opened at the highest level,'' a spokesman from the ruling Grand National Party said in a statement, carried by Yonhap News Agency.
A spokesman from the main opposition Democratic Party also welcomed the opening of direct dialogue between the two Koreas.
Originally scheduled to leave on Saturday, the North Koreans extended their stay for one day and asked for a meeting with the South Korean president, South Korean government officials said.
On Friday, the North Koreans visited South Korea's National Assembly where the body of Kim Dae Jung was lying in state and placed a wreath before Kim's coffin.
The late president, who pursued a ''sunshine policy'' of reconciliation with North Korea, held a landmark summit with Kim Jong Il in Pyongyang in June 2000.
Lee has pursued a hard line toward the North since he came to office, reversing a decade of policies of engagement pursued by Kim Dae Jung and his successor Roh Moo Hyun, who committed suicide in May.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/24/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
WMF > CLINTON DIPLOMACY: NORTH KOREA OFFERS AN OLIVE BRANCH TO THE USA. CAN CHINA ACCEPT NORTH KOREA'S NEW UNILATERAL/INDEPENDENT STRATEGIC INITIATIVE WID THE US???
An end to the pre-existing "State of War" on the KOREAN PENINSULA includ PRO-US/WESTERN MILPOLECON RAPPROCHEMENT + ECON TRADE, ETC. BY NORTH KOREA???
#2
OTOH CHINESE MIL FORUM > THE CHINESE WAY OF WAR.
CHINA may overtake JAPAN to become a REGIONAL SUPERPOWER, + ASIA'S + WORLD'S #2 ECONOMY IN CIRCA FIVE YEARS [Year 2015? r.o.]; and evens overtake the USA to becom the WORLD'S SOLE #1 by 2025 [2025-2040]???
A SWEDISH newspaper admitted overnight it did not have proof for an earlier story alleging Israeli soldiers had trafficked the organs of Palestinians, which sparked a diplomatic row with Israel.
In an editorial headlined "The week the world went crazy'', Aftonbladet chief editor Jan Helin wrote that the first article on the case published last Monday "lacked'' proof of any organ theft. "I'm not a Nazi. I'm not an anti-Semite. I'm a responsible editing executive who gave the green light to the publication of an article because it asks a number of pertinent questions.''
The tabloid followed up its original story that claimed Israeli soldiers had snatched Palestinian youths to steal their organs with an interview with the family of an alleged victim. Two Aftonbladet reporters interviewed the mother and brother of Bilal Achmad Ghanem, a youth allegedly killed by Israeli troops 17 years ago when he was 19 on suspicion of being a ringleader in the first Palestinian uprising. They asked his 32-year-old brother Bilal if they had any proof that his organs had been stolen. "No, I don't have any,'' he said. "But I have met people who told similar stories about their loved ones. We have heard many stories like this one.''
Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, caught in the diplomatic storm provoked by the original story, was also interviewed by Aftonbladet. Sweden, said Mr Bildt, had to be "more careful in explaining to outsiders the way our freedom of expression and freedom of the press work''.
Asked if the newspaper should apologise for the article, Bildt said: "Aftonbladet is responsible for the content it publishes, not the Government.''
On Friday, Mr Bildt played down the diplomatic row with Israel sparked by the paper's claims. When asked by reporters if the report would sour relations between the two countries, Mr Bildt said: "I don't think so. We have very strong state relationship between Israel and our government. We are both open and democratic societies.''
But Israel yesterday pressed Stockholm to condemn the original report. "We are not asking the Swedish Government for an apology, we are asking for their condemnation,'' a senior official quoted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as telling ministers during the weekly Cabinet meeting.
Its deeply unpleasant and sad to see such a strong propaganda machine using centuries-old anti-Semitic images in an apparent attempt to get an obviously topical issue off the table.
Translation: It's deeply unpleasant and sad to see our Judenhass identified as such.
Note: According to Reuters, the article began with a mention of the recent corruption arrests in New York and New Jersey, which involved a) organ trafficking and b) some rabbis.
Because if some Jew, somewhere, is accused of organ trafficking, you know they all must be guilty.
#4
I've heard tell that Danes use babies as an ingredient in their breakfast pastries. STOP the PRESS - we must investigate this horrible practice! Eating babies is just WRONG. Do Danes have no shame??? Do they do the same with puppies and kittens? My cousin Joe's ex-girlfriend said they DO! Don't get mad - I'm just asking "pertinent questions"... now can I get some space on the front page of the NYTimes to report on the issue?
#6
Scooter, just for the record, this was a SWEDISH newspaper, not Danish. The Danes published the Mohamed cartoons, remember?
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
08/23/2009 21:41 Comments ||
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#7
Swedes you say.... now we know the truth of their little meatballs... little meatballs because the babies are so little. guess they use school kids for the normal sized meatballs.
Posted by: abu do you love ||
08/24/2009 0:20 Comments ||
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#8
Rambler - you're right, I sometimes get my Scandinavians confused. Telling them apart isn't always easy. My apologies to Denmark.
#9
because it asks a number of pertinent questions.
I have heard it said the native Swedish men (with a few notable exceptions) no longer bear gonads; this significant environmental issue should be the subject of investigation. (And it has a lot more chance of actually being true than their Juice organ harvest story!)
#12
Aftonbladet chief editor Jan Helin wrote that the first article on the case published last Monday "lacked'' proof of any organ theft. "I'm not a Nazi. I'm not an anti-Semite.
But he does like to dress up as one. You should see him in that new smash hit "Stockholm Syndrome"
WASHINGTON -- The Justice Department's ethics office has recommended that the attorney general reopen and pursue nearly a dozen CIA prisoner-abuse cases, The New York Times reported Monday.
The move would reverse the policy of the Bush administration, which had closed the cases, and could expose CIA employees and agency contractors to criminal prosecution for the alleged mistreatment of terror suspects in the years after the Sept. 11 attacks.
Hey guys, you thought the CIA was trying to undermine the Bush administration? Wait til you re-open these cases and see what they do to you ...
The recommendation by the Office of Professional Responsibility was recently presented to Attorney General Eric Holder, an unidentified person officially briefed on the matter told the Times. The ethics recommendation comes as the Justice Department is to disclose a 2004 report by the CIA's inspector general detailing prisoner-abuse allegations.
Holder is considering whether to appoint a special criminal prosecutor to investigate the Bush administration's interrogation practices, a controversial move that would run counter to President Barack Obama's wishes to leave the issue in the past. But Holder reportedly reacted with disgust when he first read accounts of prisoner abuse earlier this year in a classified version of the IG report.
The report is said to reveal how interrogators conducted mock executions and threatened at least one man with a gun and a power drill. Threatening a prisoner with death violates U.S. anti-torture laws.
I can see how actually killing Mahmoud would violate anti-torture laws, but reminding Mahmoud that he's mortal?
A federal judge has ordered the IG report made public Monday, in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union.
The Times quoted a CIA spokesman, Paul Gimigliano, as saying that the Justice Department recommendation to open the closed cases had not been sent to the intelligence agency. "Decisions on whether or not to pursue action in court were made after careful consideration by career prosecutors at the Justice Department. The CIA itself brought these matters -- facts and allegations alike -- to the department's attention," he was quoted as saying.
"There has never been any public explanation of why the Justice Department under President George W. Bush decided not to bring charges in nearly two dozen abuse cases known to be referred to a team of federal prosecutors ... and in some instances not even details of the cases have been made public," the Times said. It was only a matter of time. This has been Holder's primary mission from day one. The only unknown was the timing of the announcement. Nothing new here, move along if you will please.
#1
Let me get this straight, drop charges against black thugs undermining American political system(Philly Black Panthers) and bring charges against gov't people working to protect the country. I see where you're going with this.
#4
Could be, but if Panetta quits it's a BIG black eye to Bambi ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/24/2009 16:43 Comments ||
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#5
Only if he quits dramatically and with lots of unambiguous criticism of the WH. And since he's a political staffer first, foremost and always, I wonder if he really is up to doing that.
One of the youngest detainees at the US detention centre in Guantanamo Bay has been released and sent home to his native Afghanistan, his lawyers say.
They said Mohammed Jawad was detained at 12 in 2002 and is now 19, although the Pentagon disputed his age.
Mr Jawad had been accused of injuring two US soldiers and their interpreter by throwing a grenade at their vehicle.
Much of the case against him had been ruled inadmissible by a US military judge in 2008.
Closure pledge
Mr Jawad's release was ordered last month by US District Court Judge Ellen Huvelle, who described the US government's case against him as "an outrage" that was "riddled with holes".
US government lawyers had said they were considering pursuing a criminal case against Mr Jawad, but no charges were filed.
"Jawad was released and returned to Afghanistan today, ending nearly seven years of illegal detention by the United States," his lawyer, Jonathan Hafetz, said on Monday.
US President Barack Obama has pledged to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay by January 2010.
President Barack Obama has moved more forcefully than ever to abandon Bush administration interrogation policies, approving creation of a special White House unit for questioning terrorism suspects, as Attorney General Eric Holder weighs whether to reopen and pursue prisoner abuse cases.
A senior administration official told The Associated Press Monday that Obama has approved establishment of the new unit, to be known as the High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group, which will be overseen by the Naitonal Security Council. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the program has not yet been officially announced.
A U.S. intelligence official said Monday that the CIA welcomes the change, saying the agency does not want to be in the long-term detention business. The official spoke on grounds of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss it publicly.
Obama campaigned vigorously against President George W. Bush's interrogation policies in his successful run for the presidency. He has said more recently he didn't particularly favor prosecuting Bush administration officials in connection with instances of prisoner abuse. But the issue now before Holder for consideration would have the new administration do precisely that: reopen several such cases with an eye toward possible criminal prosecution.
A government official confirmed to The AP the recommendation of Justice's ethics office on grounds of anonymity, citing the internal legal deliberations and indicating they remain ongoing.
Obama created task forces to study U.S. policy and practices on handling terrorism captives shortly after taking office. Obama has vowed to close the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, military prison by next year, hoping to free those prisoners against whom there is no case, to transfer others to the custody of other countries and to put still others on trial, ending their condition of limbo in the U.S. brig.
While information on the new interrogation unit, known by the acronym HIG, will be made public later Monday, the task force working on questions about Guantanamo and prisoners still held there has not completed its work.
The new group and new directives to rely soley on the Army Field Manual when interrogating prisoners is an attempt by the administration to separate itself from allegation that the Bush administration tortured some prisoners. While the practice of waterboarding - simulated drowning - already has been banned, the directive to stick only to procedures in the field manual means other harsh tactics, such as subjecting prisoners to loud music for long periods and sleep deprivation, are also now a thing of the past.
The administration is announcing the new interrogation unit on the same day that the CIA inspector general was to unveil a report on Bush administration handling of suspects. Details were expected to show that highly questionable tactics were used.
Subjecting prisoner abuse cases to a new review and possible prosecution could expose CIA employees and agency contractors to criminal prosecution for the alleged mistreatment of terror suspects in the years after the Sept. 11 attacks.
Holder reportedly reacted with disgust when he first read accounts of prisoner abuse earlier this year in a classified version of the IG report.
The Justice report is said to reveal how interrogators conducted mock executions and threatened at least one man with a gun and a power drill. Threatening a prisoner with death violates U.S. anti-torture laws.
A federal judge has ordered the IG report made public Monday, in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union.
A CIA spokesman, Paul Gimigliano, told the Times that the recommendation to reopen the cases had not been sent to the agency.
The accounts of the White House-supervised interrogation unit and the ethics recommendation to Holder were first reported, respectively, by The Washington Post and The New York Times.
The recommendation by the Office of Professional Responsibility was recently presented to Holder, an official, speaking on grounds of anonymity, told The Associated Press.
The structure of the new unit the White House is creating would depart significantly from such work under the previous administration, when the CIA had the lead and sometimes exclusive role in questioning al-Qaida suspects. Imagine if this had been done when Condoleeza Rice led the National Security Council?
#1
Office of Officious Sadism and Pious Pseudo-Torture
OOSPPT. Has a certain ring to it, doesn't it?
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
08/24/2009 11:10 Comments ||
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#2
This is about as frigging stupid and potenially damaging as anything he could ever do. As a young LT in the Army we learned to never take a prisoner to or let the commander talk to prisoners. The reason is you must always protect the commander from any fallout when dealing with the prisoner. Now we have numbnut POTUS wanting the control of iterrogations to fall directly under his office? Now when an accusation is made the line to the President is direct. The world court and the UN can charge directly to the President. When the next president gets into power, god I hope soon, and he distances himself from tactical operations the loons at the UN and around the world will scream. Just what has this president done in the last five months that he has not screwed up?????
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
08/24/2009 12:00 Comments ||
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#3
High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group = Obama's goons.
Good lord, Holder is ready to prosecute CIA agents who interrogated suspected terrorists by holding up an electric drill to their faces. Wonder if Holder would ever prosecute a NSC agent?
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/24/2009 13:37 Comments ||
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#5
Now we will get some 'information' from those dissenters at the town hall meetings. BWAHAHAHAHA
#7
Wow! THAT IS really stupid. Do they have any idea what they are doing? /Put on tinfoil hat/ Unless of course healthcare dissidents are now considered terrorists. Then it makes perfect sense.
#8
"Unless of course healthcare dissidents are now considered terrorists."
Of course they are, wcrn. Haven't you been paying attention to Bambi & Co.?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
08/24/2009 15:11 Comments ||
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#9
Sort of begs a couple of questions:
1. If there no longer is any "war on terror" why is this capability needed?
2. Ok, so lets say the capability is in fact needed. What, or I should say who's 'priority intelligence requirement' will this effort drive or respond to and where will the fusion be conducted?
#10
Is it just me.... or does anyone else out there think these poor helpless bastards at the White House just sit up each night and plan for the release of their next insane scheme for the following day?
#11
Nah. They clear it with the New York Times first.
Posted by: Matt ||
08/24/2009 16:34 Comments ||
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#12
Running this center sounds like a great job. All you have to do is generate meaningful and timely intelligence without upsetting any detainees or their attorneys.
Further, whoever runs the new interrogation center can be absolutely confident that Obama and Holder have their back.
#13
Bskr, thanks for the Rhodie-UDI post from the other day, the world is listening. We may get some answers sometime as to why we didn't string the d*cks up when we could.
#16
ION CHINESE MIL FORUM > [YouTube]VIDEO: MEDIA BLACKOUT OF CIVIL UNREST IN CENTRAL CALIFORNIA!?
POSTER > opined unrest due to failure of SACRAMENTO = CA STATE GOVT, etc. to prepare for LT STATE WATER DROUGHT [lack of enuff drinking + agriculture reservoirs].
#19
ION PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUM > MULLEN: AL QAEDA "VERY CAPABLE" OF MORE ATTACKS, includ agz USA.
* SAME > SRI LANKA: LTTE TRIED TO PURCHASE NUCLEAR WEAPONS FROM THE WEST [wid likely Nuctechs, etc. Transference to vari international MilTerr Groups].
* THENEWS.PK > IRAN TELLS WORLD POWERS TO STOP COUNTERING ITS N-DRIVE; + DPRK MUST SCRAP ITS NUKES [US-Allies].
#20
OOOOPSIES, forgot REDDIT > seems RELEASED LOCKERBIE PRISONER MEGRAHI is planning to write a book indic that it was an AMERICAN WHOM PLANNED THE LOCKERBIE ATTACK.
Also, THE NEWS.PK > US DOES NOT RULE OUT QADHAFI-OBAMA TALKS, espec wid LIBYA = HEAD OF THE UNO GENERAL ASSEMBLY this year.
#21
E.g. ORIGINAL "STAR WARS" > always said it made no sense for character LUKE to carry a LIGHTSABER + BLASTER, but NOT any FLOATING COMBAT-DEFENSE ORB(s) nor PERSONAL BODY EM SHIELDS.
[Dawn] Interior Minister Rehman Malik has termed the media reports regarding the entry of 50 suicide bombers in the capital as devoid of truth and absolutely baseless and has ordered an inquiry into the matter.
Malik ordered all the provincial governments and Islamabad Capital Territory Police to provide foolproof security to the masses.
Meanwhile, reacting to the reports of Hakeemullah Mehsud's appointment as the new chief of the Pakistani Taliban, Malik said whoever heads the TTP will be considered a terrorist.
Malik said that this person claiming to be Hakeemullah will soon be exposed as his twin brother is present in Afghanistan and has been issuing statements from there.
Malik maintained that the government has obtained the DNA of Hakeemullah and will speak about it after verifying it.
He also claimed that the backbone of the terrorist network has been broken.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/24/2009 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Pakistan
[Dawn] Inspector General Frontier Corps Balochistan, Major General Saleem Nawaz has rubbished claims by western media that Mullah Omar and the Taliban's central council were present in Balochistan.
"Rubbish! Perish the thought!"
In an exclusive interview with DawnNews, Nawaz rejected claims about presence of Taliban's Central Council in Quetta stating they were far from reality and baseless.
The IG FC stated that Pak-Afghan border is effectively manned on Pakistan's side but poorly on the Afghan side. He said that the border was completely sealed off on the eve of the recently held Afghan elections.
Nawaz said that it was surprising that Pakistan had 260 check posts on the border whereas the Afghan side had only 40. He said that despite the poor security measures on their side, the Afghan government continues to blame Pakistan for the infiltration of Taliban.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/24/2009 00:00 ||
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The Pakistani Taliban announced a successor to slain commander Baitullah Mehsud, but intelligence officials said on Sunday it was probably a smokescreen meant to hold together a movement left leaderless for almost three weeks.
Taliban officials rang journalists in northwest Pakistan on Saturday to say Hakeemullah Mehsud, a young militant who commands fighters in the Orakzai, Khyber and Kurram tribal regions, had been chosen as the new chief by a leadership council, or shura.
Western governments with troops in Afghanistan are watching to see if any new Pakistani Taliban leader would shift focus from fighting the Pakistani government and put the movement's weight behind the Afghan insurgency led by Mullah Mohammad Omar.
A BBC report quoted Faqir Mohammad, head of the Taliban in the Bajaur tribal region, as saying Hakeemullah was selected.
Tribal elders told Reuters that Hakeemullah was named after Faqir Mohammad was dissuaded from taking the leadership, although earlier he had said he was taking temporary command.
'There's confusion. Two days ago, Fariq Mohammad claimed he's acting chief and now he says Hakeemullah is,' one senior intelligence officer in northwest Pakistan said. 'It's a trick.'
'The announcement is real, but the man isn't,' the officer said. 'The real Hakeemullah is dead.'
Intelligence officials insisted Hakeemullah was killed or gravely wounded in a shootout with a rival days after Baitullah Mehsud was killed by a US missile strike on Aug. 5.
'The announcement is real, but the man isn't,' the officer said. 'The real Hakeemullah is dead.'
Another senior officer, who requested anonymity, speculated that the Taliban leadership was trying to buy time until one of Hakeemullah's brothers returned from fighting in the Afghan insurgency to take command of his men.
Verifying anything in the Taliban-held tribal regions is difficult and the past few weeks have seen a spate of claims and counter-claims by the Pakistani authorities and the militants.
Taliban officials say Pakistani intelligence agents were spreading misinformation to create divisions in the movement.
The Pakistani authorities say the Pakistani Taliban is in disarray and the statements made are meant to preserve some sense of unity until a new leader emerges.
The Taliban have denied that Mehsud was killed in the missile strike, but say he is seriously ill.
After the reports of a shootout between Hakeemullah and a rival a Reuters journalist subsequently received calls from both of them denying that there had been any fight.
Intelligence officials doubt whether the callers were who they said they were, even though the journalist knew both men's voices and believed they were genuine.
Baitullah had united 13 militant factions in northwest Pakistan to form the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan in late 2007, and the Pakistani authorities are hoping that death would hasten the disintegration of the loose-knit alliance.
A virtual silence over the succession issue in South Waziristan, the stronghold of Baitullah and region where the largest number of fighters are concentrated, made intelligence officials doubt if consensus on a new leader had been reached.
South Waziristan lies at the southwest end of the tribal lands bordering Afghanistan, and Bajaur is at the northeast end.
Tribal elders said Faqir Mohammad was told to drop ideas of leading the Taliban as it would only bring more trouble to Bajaur, a region where the army declared victory in March after a six-month campaign against the militants.
Security forces have surrounded Baitullah's redoubt in the mountains and carried out bombing raids, though a ground offensive does not appear imminent.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/24/2009 00:00 ||
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An Iranian diplomat has accused the US, Israel and Ba'athists of collaboration with terrorist groups in the recent bombings which killed nearly 100 people in Baghdad.
"The Zionist regime [Israel] basically opposes restoration of stability and security in Iraq. Therefore, the agents and movements affiliated to the regime are responsible for some of the current insecurity in Iraq," the Iranian Ambassador to Baghdad Hassan Kazemi-Qomi told ISNA on Sunday.
"Israel is afraid of [seeing] a stable and secure Iraq," he added.
At least 100 people were killed and more than 500 others were wounded in two separate truck bomb explosions outside the Foreign and Finance Ministries near the heavily guarded Green Zone on Wednesday.
The blast near the Foreign Ministry was so powerful that it damaged nearby homes and broke the windows of the Parliament building.
Kazemi-Qomi also blamed the US for the ongoing security problems in Iraq, saying, "The US sought to impose the Sahwa (the Awakening Councils) to the Iraqi government until Bagdad agreed with 20 percent of them provided it appoints them [the council members]."
The newly-established Sahwa are a mostly Sunni force set up by the US to recruit resistance fighters and help US forces fight other anti-US groups.
Sahwas have been engaged in growing conflict with the mainly Shia Iraqi government.
The Iranian envoy held the former Ba'ath regime responsible for the lack of security in Iraq, saying, "The US will face a referendum on the withdrawal of foreign forces from Iraq this year."
"Ba'ath-linked groups conduct acts to cause insecurity in Iraq with the aim of influencing public opinion about the performance of the government and for their own political gains. This is evident in the US-proposed national reconciliation plan."
"It has been proven to the Iraqi government and nation that US allies, who supported Saddam in war he waged on Iran, are also supporting terrorists outside Iraq," Kazemi-Qomi added.
He said that the Iraqi government with the help of the Iraqi nation "has the potential to establish security in the country if the US ends its negative interference in Iraq's security affairs".
Posted by: Fred ||
08/24/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
WND > AYATOLLAH PUSHES FOR "ISLAMIC RESISTANCE ARMY" [Khameinie calls for REGIONAL SYRIAN-IRAN AXIS agz USA, ISRAEL].
IMO Radical Islam should just publicly officially declare CENTRAL ASIA = MAINLAND ASIA the site of the FUTURE OWG-NWO ISLAMIST CALIPHATE AND BE DONE WID IT???
NUKULAAR of course, courtesy of the nations formerly known as RUSSIA, CHINA + INDIA, etc; OR LARGE LINKY LINKED ENCLAVES THEREFROM.
An American human rights activist has accused the US government of seeking to ensure the interests of its oil companies by waging war in Iraq.
Emily Spence, a Massachusetts-based author active in human rights, environmental, and social services efforts, believes that, in line with popular belief, Washington was after the Iraqi oil when it invaded the country in 2003. "The US military... [has] approximately 1,000 bases worldwide... which are generally tied to oil company interests," Spence writes in a recent article published on the Information Clearing House website.
That's nice, dear. Matters of faith are a private matter, not to be enforced by the government, according to the U.S. Constitution.
Spence accuses George W. Bush and Tony Blair of knowing that "UN inspectors would not find Iraqi weapons of mass destruction", but launching the military campaign anyway based on a long-envisioned plan of invading Iraq.
Any dictator willing to pretend he still has things he promised to get rid of deserves whatever might happen to him, including conquest of his country by those he'd made promises to. If, as some now say, said dictator's henchmen lied to him about what he did or did not have, he can think of said conquest as the consequence of poor personnel decisions.
"The problem was finding the grounds, legal or not, to obtain the support of the public for such an outrageous act of violence, which to date has led to the displacement of millions of Iraqis and the slaughter of more than one million individuals, including over 4,300 US troops," she says.
Spence elaborates that Americans must realize that US armed invasions and covert operations "have little to do with protection of Americans from global terrorists."
My dear, Americans really do not react well to being told what they must do. Their president is in the process of discovering this.
"[They have] more to do with the obtainment of fossil fuels on behalf of the Pentagon and favored companies, whose heads contribute to government officials' campaign funds and offer other perks like high paying jobs upon the completion of terms in office," she writes.
Which of course is the reason no American firms got no oil contracts from the Iraqi government in the first round.
"As such, it would be more accurate were the directors of the Department of Defense to change its name to the Department of Assault," she says, adding that "doing so would, certainly, better reflect the United States history".
Oh my goodness -- how terribly. terribly clever of Ms. Spence to think of that. She must be so awf'ly proud of her little grey cells.
Well, to be fair, it WAS originally the Department of War. But I doubt Little Miss Moonbat actually knows anything about that sort of historical detail.
She then goes on to elaborate on the role the US has played around the world during the past years, by citing passages from Bill Blum.
Who?
"From 1945 to the end of the century, the United States attempted to overthrow more than 40 foreign governments, and to crush more than 30 populist-nationalist movements struggling against intolerable regimes.
"In the process, the US caused the end of life for several million people, and condemned many millions more to a life of agony and despair," she quotes him as saying.
Spencer points out that US taxpayers are watching 73% of every tax dollar going to military expenditures (54%) and interest payments (19+%)? (With only 27% left for other things).
No doubt Ms Spencer is as clever at matters financial and arithmatic as the run of the mill professional journalist.
"It forces one to wonder from where funds are going to derive for universal public health care, future Social Security payments, Medicare, Medicaid, public education and assorted other programs, such as sustainable benign energy provision," she adds.
Spencer also launches an attack on the US government's bailout plans, which have been directed at big corporations and not "families living in their cars and under tarps in tent cities".
I missed the news reports of tent cities. I really must stop allowing visitors to distract me.
She then suggested "providing employment and income through a widespread Works Progress Administration (WPA) and extended Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) programs as occurred during the Great Depression."
Spencer writes that the US government had dedicated $8.5 trillion to bailout funds (equivalent to 60% of the GDP) as of December 2008, and allocated $1,449 billion (equivalent to 54% of the federal budget) to military expenditures in 2009. This is while, according to the activist, educational spending in 2008 received a mere 4.4% of the budget.
Spencer warns that as 60,000 Americans are losing their jobs each month at the rate of approximately one every thirty seconds, and as more homes fall into foreclosures, the country "has nowhere else to go except to sink down into increased hardship, as well as some degree of destitution".
Posted by: Fred ||
08/24/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Oh god! Not this again...
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
08/24/2009 0:18 Comments ||
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#2
And not one mention of Bush-hiter or Cheney-hitler.
#3
I only wish Miss Emily was correct. Where is my free gas (and mortgage) that Obama promised?
Posted by: ed ||
08/24/2009 0:48 Comments ||
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#4
Press TV is an English language international television news channel which is funded by the Iranian government, based in Tehran and broadcast in English on a round-the-clock schedule.
VOMM - Voice of Mad Mullahs. Clearly, they believe Ms. Spence has uncovered something.
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/24/2009 6:58 Comments ||
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#5
"The US military... [has] approximately 1,000 bases worldwide...
I think her count may be off ever so slightly. But more importantly I must ask, how in the world can she tollerate living in such a country as this?
#6
Hey, I wish we would go for world domination. But that's just me. Next time someone chants "Death to America" Death should visit them. Or better yet, when they talk about how they will crush the "Great Satan", we should call up their ambassador and say, "Very well, the war starts in 24 hours, have fun"
#7
Emily Spence, a Massachusetts-based author active in human rights, environmental, and social services efforts, believes that, in line with popular belief, Washington was after the Iraqi oil when it invaded the country in 2003.
Must be the Massachusetts wacky water. They have plenty of home-grown nuts like Sheila Leavitt, a nutty, annoying, unrelenting Newton leftie fake doctor, Bwawney Frank, Chappaquidick Teddy, troop-basher Kerry....
#8
Spencer points out that US taxpayers are watching 73% of every tax dollar going to military expenditures (54%) and interest payments (19+%)? (With only 27% left for other things).
The last time I checked, the military was only about 20% of the federal budget. Where are these numbers coming from?
#11
Spencer points out that US taxpayers are watching 73% of every tax dollar going to military expenditures (54%) and interest payments (19+%)? (With only 27% left for other things).
Every American who actually pays income tax knows what the real amount is because the IRS lists it in the 1040 instructions. Go to page 91 in the link. In, 2007 it was 20% of the budget. Don't expect the "professional journalist" or their layers of fact checkers to report facts that get in the way of those they're in bed with.
Hamas has embarked on a massive campaign this summer to woo Gazan children away from UNWRA (United Nations Works and Relief Association) summer camps to its own camps. At Hamas summer camps, kids learned to wage war against Israel and were indoctrinated with Islamic ideology.
Hamas has run 700 summer camps throughout Gaza in 2009 at a budget of $2 million, which were attended by 100,000 children. according to a research report by the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center. In contrast, UNRWA ran camps that wereattended by between 200,000 to 250,000 kids. Fatah, Islamic Jihad, and other Islamic groups also run Gaza summer camps.
Leading up to the summer, Hamas embarked on a massive advertising campaign which included a designated website designed to encourage parents to send their children to Hamas camps instead of the UNWRA camps. Hamas council member Younis al-Astel repeatedly lambasted the UNWRA camps for being coeducational, and claimed that campers there used drugs, learned how to dance, and worst of all, were taught about reconciliation between Gaza and Israel.
[There is a] barbaric attack on our children at the inferior summer camps whose objective is to corrupt their morals with drugs and other things, as-Astel said at a Hamas camp ceremony. The religious leadership in Gaza generally took the side of Hamas and encouraged parents to send children to its camps, which combine intense study of Islam and the Koran as well.
UNWRA reportedly gave in to some of the Hamas pressure and separated the sexes in its camps. Karen Abu Ziyyad, UNRWA commissioner general, also emphasized to the Al Arabiya TV station that kids in UNWRA camps played games and engaged in various cultural and sporting activities which have no relation to normalization [with Israel] or anything like that.
Besides learning about Islam and studying the Koran at Hamas summer camps, children also learn to fight in the Jihad against Israel. Children are taught weapons training, hand-to-hand combat, as well as the use of explosive belts for suicide missions. In one incident in July, children in a Hamas summer camp reenacted the June 2006 kidnapping of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, in which two other Israeli soldiers were killed.
In the war against Israel, there were more than 100 children trained to attack Israeli forces in Gaza, a source in Gaza told Middle East Newsline. Some of them ran away and many of them were killed. Children in Hamas summer camps also protested the Israeli siege of Gaza, some laying on the ground in rows, faking death from starvation.
Ma'an -- While many have opted to stay out of the ongoing breakdown in Israel-Sweden relations over an article making unusual allegations against Israel's military, one Palestinian official said he believed its reports of "organ harvesting" could be true.
In a statement on Friday, prisoners' affairs researcher Abed An-Nasser Farwana insisted that certain elements in the provocative but back-page article in Sweden's daily Aftonbladet tabloid confirmed his personal suspicions.
"All the facts and testimonies, particularly with regard to [Israeli] occupation forces isolating [prisoners], killing hundreds after seizing them, shooting prisoners and holding bodies in the 'numbers cemetery,' validate what the newspaper has published," said the researcher, who has made unorthodox claims in the past.
Ma'an could not confirm his latest allegations, nor have any prominent Palestinian or Israeli officials made similar remarks on either the Swedish author's report or the more recent claims from Farwana.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/24/2009 00:00 ||
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But then this "researcher" also believes it's OK to have sex with farm animals as long as he sells the meat to an unsuspecting neighboring village. So I say it's a wash.
Posted by: ed ||
08/24/2009 0:52 Comments ||
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#2
What kind of job is "prisoners' affairs researcher"? I don't remember that one from Career Day in high school.
#3
SteveS, I think he's the terrorist equivalent of Internal Affairs - from what I've heard, the Israelis get so much out of their prison informant apparatus that it would behoove the Paleoterrs to have a full-time class of damage assessment officers to keep tabs on what's been exposed.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
08/24/2009 11:15 Comments ||
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Ma'an -- Israel's new anti-missile defense system will arrive within the next ten days, and is set to be operational sometime over the next year, according to a report on Israel Radio on Sunday.
An officer in the Israeli military's artillery corps told the station that the "Iron Dome" system would be operational within ten months, and that it would be installed along the Gaza Strip border to detect incoming projectiles from the territory.
Based on radar-detection technology, the Iron Dome was designed in 2007 by an Israeli company called Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, was created to intercept short-range shells and projectiles.
The project has been controversial, due both to its reported cost of 210 million US dollars and questions over effectiveness. However, the country's military has said tests conducted since the summer of 2008 have demonstrated the system works.
Meanwhile on Sunday, the same company announced it would sell a similar missile defense system to India's air force. The Indian cabinet approved the deal, estimated at 1 billion US dollars, on Wednesday, according to the Jewish Telegraph Agency.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/24/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
In the interim, Sderot should receive a 105mm Howitzer that it can use to shoot down incoming rockets. It's not the most accurate anti-rocket device, but they can't be blamed for trying to protect themselves.
[Al Arabiya Latest] The Palestinian Authority in the West Bank plans to release 200 Hamas detainees as a reconciliation gesture to its rival during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, a security official said on Sunday.
The news comes a day after reconciliation talks between the rival Palestinian factions which had been set to resume next week in Egypt were delayed for another month. "There is a plan to release 200 detainees. We have released 90 so far, and hope to complete the release in the next two days," the official said on condition of anonymity. "They are all Hamas members."
Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas's government has been at odds with the Islamist Hamas movement since the group drove his loyalists from the Gaza Strip in a week of deadly clashes in June 2007.
Since then Hamas and Abbas's Fatah party have traded accusations of arbitrary arrests and the mistreatment of prisoners, while rights groups have faulted both the Palestinian Authority and the Hamas-run government in Gaza.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/24/2009 00:00 ||
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Learning to fly a Reaper isn't as easy as it seems. From PopSci, and hat tip to the Professor.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/24/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
It won't be the "END OF AN ERA" only for FIGHTER PILOTS, as the implications are there also for MANNED AFVS + HELOS + ARTY [Army-USMC]as well as for multi-Service Strategic and Tactical Missleleers + select NAVAL MISSIONS.
Even ICS = INDIVIDUAL/PERSONAL COMBAT SYS techs.
E.g. IIRC DEFENSETECH > WORLD NAVIES PLAN FOR SMALLER FLEETS.
A majority of Iranian lawmakers have approved a bill that will fund a program intended to expose "breaches of human rights" in the US.
In a vote on Sunday, the parliamentarians voted by a margin of 189 to 21 to pass the bill which will allocate $20 million toward the efforts, reported the Iranian Labor News Agency.
"The Americans have repeatedly approved measures to assist Iranian opposition, especially recently [they approved] a $55-million allocation by the US Senate," said Alaeddin Boroujerdi, who head the influential Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Committee.
The new law consists of a single article, which stipulates: "To counter the unfair restrictions imposed by the United States and other Western powers in the arena of information technology, and in order to expose the numerous and increasing instances of breaches of human rights and to defend legal trends that stand against that country's methods, the sum of $20 million is allocated from the currency reserves fund."
In defending the measure, Boroujerdi called it "necessary" and said: "We must respond in kind to America's injustice and tyranny and the interference of this country against Iran."
"With the allocation of this budget," the senior lawmaker said. "We will show to the world that Iran's Majlis is active as a defender of the rights of the nation in the face of US greed."
Posted by: Fred ||
08/24/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Is this the new business model that will let the New York Times stay in business.
An Iranian lawmaker brands the latest remarks by Angela Merkel regarding energy sanctions against Iran as part of the Western psychological warfare against the country.
"Those who are vulnerable and in need are the Europeans as their companies could not do without Persian Gulf petroleum should they seek to materialize their plans as they have done before," member of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission at the Iranian Majlis (Parliament), Mohammad Karami Raad, told Fars News Agency on Saturday.
The parliamentarian noted that the German Chancellor Angela Merkel had sought to gain herself some more votes in the forthcoming general elections through her irrelevant remarks.
Karami Raad also stressed that the West is well-informed of Iran's civilian nuclear activities, and documents prove no irregularities in the country's nuclear program. He said the Majlis (Parliament) will therefore assess Merkel's comments and accordingly review future Tehran-Berlin relations.
"If there is no progress, we would have to react with further sanctions," Merkel told the daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
"What is clear is that Tehran, whose president constantly questions Israel's right to exist, must not get the atomic bomb," she said.
She noted that the six powers attempting to convince Iran to abandon sensitive nuclear work -- Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States -- would gather in September to discuss how to ratchet up pressure.
"I don't want to preempt the talks but economic sanctions dealing with the energy sector are on the table but we must wait to see what comes of the talks. We must also speak about them (possible sanctions) with our partners Russia and China."
Israel, the US and their European allies -- Britain, France and Germany -- accuse Iran of covertly seeking to build nuclear weapons, an allegation that Tehran vehemently denies.
The Islamic Republic of Iran insists its nuclear activities are merely aimed at using the civilian applications of the technology and generating electricity in a bid to meet its soaring energy demands.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/24/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Well, Iran's certainly got the psychos....
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
08/24/2009 15:34 Comments ||
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While most Iranians are forced to negotiate a maze of regulations, paperwork and excessive collaterals for small home loans, 90 persons have managed to secure collective facilities totaling $8 billion from banks.
In a wide-ranging interview reported in the Etemaad newspaper on Saturday, a member of the Majlis (Iran's parliament) Planning and Budget Committee, Musa al-Reza Sarvati, disclosed the information.
He criticized various aspects of the government's economic policies, especially those that govern banking.
"Among the major causes of corruption in the banking sector is their being state-owned. Because state banks provide loans at 12 percent whereas the market rate is 24-25 percent, while most of these facilities are given to individuals who provide special fringe benefits for the banks themselves," Sarvati said.
"The resulting pressure from this contradiction adversely affects those who need far smaller facilities," he added.
"At present, banks have $27 billion unpaid, outstanding loans, which they cannot collect, while a delegate from our committee to the Financial Corruption Panel has reported that $8 billion worth of loans have been given to 90 people," he explained. "Through a rough calculation, we find that this is about $90 million per person."
"This is while no action has been taken about the repayments of these loans to the banks at all," Sarvati concluded.
Pointing to the huge increase in the money supply during the first term of President Ahmadinejad, Sarvati went on to say that, "increasing the money supply is a result of wrong financial and monetary policies."
Posted by: Fred ||
08/24/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
In other news, ZANU-PF loots gadzillions, bank-notes too expensive to print with all them zeros. I guess the 25% interest, (haram?), makes up for a lot of bad debt, but still leaves a short-fall, kaffir style.
Ah, the Islamic world of Kaffirdom.
[Bangla Daily Star] Iran yesterday accused Argentina of meddling in its domestic affairs after the south American country expressed outrage at the nomination of a man wanted for a 1994 bombing to be the next defence minister.
"The positions taken by Argentine officials obviously amount to meddling in the domestic affairs of the Islamic Republic and we strongly condemn these illegal actions," Iran's official IRNA news agency quoted foreign ministry spokesman Hassan Ghashghavi as saying.
On Friday, Argentina strongly criticised Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's decision to put forward Ahmad Vahidi as defence minister in his new 21-member cabinet.
Vahidi is wanted by Argentina in connection with a 1994 bombing in Buenos Aires which levelled the seven-floor Argentine Jewish Mutual Association building, killing 85 people and wounded 300.
It was the worst terrorist attack in Argentina, which has the largest Jewish community in the Americas outside the United States, and the second large-scale anti-Jewish strike in Buenos Aires that decade.
In 2007, Interpol issued what it calls a Red Notice on Vahidi, a former head of Al Qods, an elite unit of Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps. Under the notice, Interpol distributed Argentina's arrest warrant for Vahidi to member countries.
Ghashghavi said Argentina's stand against Vahidi was a result of "pressure, bribes and propaganda by Zionist lobbies."
"It is an insult to the intelligence of the people of Argentina."
Argentina's condemnation has cast further doubt on Ahmadinejad's cabinet nominations, some of which face stiff opposition from Iranian lawmakers.
Argentine prosecutors allege Iran masterminded the bombing in Buenos Aires and entrusted the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah to execute it.
In November 2006, Argentine prosecutors issued arrest warrants against several Iranians, including former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and former foreign minister Ali Akbar Velayati.
But Interpol's executive committee later withdrew warrants against Rafsanjani, Velayati and another Iranian.
Iranian lawmakers are set to vote on Ahmadinejad's cabinet line-up over a three-day period starting August 30.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/24/2009 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
A SWEDISH newspaper admitted overnight it did not have proof for an earlier story alleging Israeli soldiers had trafficked the organs of Palestinians, which sparked a diplomatic row with Israel.
[Dawn] Inspector General Frontier Corps Balochistan, Major General Saleem Nawaz has rubbished claims by western media that Mullah Omar and the Taliban's central council were present in Balochistan. 
The Pakistani Taliban announced a successor to slain commander Baitullah Mehsud, but intelligence officials said on Sunday it was probably a smokescreen meant to hold together a movement left leaderless for almost three weeks.
Hamas has embarked on a massive campaign this summer to woo Gazan children away from UNWRA (United Nations Works and Relief Association) summer camps to its own camps. At Hamas summer camps, kids learned to wage war against Israel and were indoctrinated with Islamic ideology.
