President Nicolas Sarkozy of France says he wants to see victory in Afghanistan but has no plans to send more French troops to that country.
And remember, Nick is the current-reigning adult in the western alliance ...
Speaking to the Le Figaro newspaper, the French leader said he believes there should be a build-up of more Afghan troops, CNN reported.
As for staying on in Afghanistan, Sarkozy told the newspaper: "I answer yes -- and stay to win.
"But France will not send one more soldier," he added. "My belief is that more Afghan soldiers are needed. It is them who will be the most efficient to win this war because it is their country."
True, but we have to train them and we need security until that day.
About 3,070 French troops, part of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force, are in Afghanistan.
Britain announced plans this week to send an additional 500 soldiers, raising its Afghan troop strength to 9,500. The United States, which will have 68,000 troops in the country by year's end, is considering another troop surge there.
[Quqnoos] The US is expected to announce a significant surge of up to 45,000 extra troops for Afghanistan, the Telegraph reports. President Barack Obama's administration is understood to have told the British government that it could announce the significant troop increase in Afghanistan, the British newspaper adds.
Mr Obama's decision comes after his top commander in Afghanistan, Gen Stanley McChrystal, warned of a 'mission failure' unless more troops are pumped into the country.
The troop surge is likely to be announced next week, according to the article.
The White House did not confirm the claims after President Obama met with his senior advisors and military commanders for the fifth time to revise his strategy in Afghanistan.
"I would not put any weight behind the fact that a decision has been made, when the President has yet to make a decision," White House spokesman, Robert Gibbs, told reporters. "I've seen the report. It's not true, either generally or specifically. The President has not made a decision."
Earlier British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, announced the sending of an additional 500 troops to Afghanistan. Britain currently has 9,000 troops in Afghanistan, most of them based in the volatile southern Helmand province.
The number of US troops in Afghanistan will reach 100,000 for the first time, if President Obama approves the deployment of the additional 40,000 forces.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/16/2009 00:00 ||
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Foreign Policy (Washington, D.C., October 12, 2009 has essay critical of U.S. policy in Afghanistan.
Excerpts: ...the Taliban-led insurgency's trend line is steadily climbing upward, an ascent that began in 2007 and would not be possible without widespread and increasing popular support. Rather than popular support for the Taliban being based on intimidation and money, what we are seeing in Afghanistan is popular opinion catching up with Islamist determination...
Because the U.S.-NATO occupation powers the Afghan insurgency and international Muslim support for it, we must either destroy it root and branch or leave. This issue merits debate, but that must wait until McChrystal gets the troops needed to delay defeat. Afterward, only the all-out use of large, conventional U.S. military forces can be expected to have a shot at winning in Afghanistan. Since 1996, the United States has definitively proven that clandestine operations, covert action, Special Forces actions, and aerial drone attacks cannot defeat al Qaeda. It has likewise proven beyond doubt that nation-building in Afghanistan is a fool's errand.
================================================ --snip--
'soek, posting the whole article as a comment seriously mangled the page formatting. Folks can read the whole thing at the link you kindly provided.
-Scooter
#3
That said, military victory would require 400,000 to 500,000 additional troops
This is from General Tommy Franks in 2001 and remember these troops were not constrained by self-defeating ROE's:
"It's always been somewhat entertaining to me to see the views of some of the pundits who have suggested the introduction of large conventional forces in Afghanistan. I think a great many people are aware, and I know you're aware of the fact that for some 10 or 11 years of Soviet experience in Afghanistan, they introduced 625,000 people on the ground, and had 15,000 of them killed and 55,000 of them wounded. So we took that as instructive -- as a way not to do it. "
#5
Obama is less likely than previous presidents to give the British heads-up on policy decisions. I kind of suspect this is a fabricated leak designed to pressure him into doing something the leaker wants - namely, to put more troops into Afghanistan.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
10/16/2009 9:47 Comments ||
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#6
It's not true, either generally or specifically on this or any other issue. The President has not made a decision
Truer words have never been spoken by this regime; especially with my addition.
#8
I wish we could ditch that ROE. But he is doing the right thing by listening to his Generals. If he does bad, treat him bad. If he does good, treat him good.
Posted by: ed ||
10/16/2009 12:46 Comments ||
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#11
"I would not put any weight behind the fact that a decision has been made, when the President has yet to make a decision," White House spokesman, Robert "Baghdad Bob" Gibbs, told reporters.
"I've seen the report. It's not true, either generally or specifically. The President has not made a decision."
Hey we are confused on this side of the pond also.
Gee, somebody else said that a few years ago. I do believe it was me.
We destroyed one Afghan government, we can do it again. It looks more and more like it's going to be necessary. I just hope someone either has the guts to do it, or is capable of doing it on the sly and blaming it on others. Yesterday would have been a good time.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
10/16/2009 22:45 Comments ||
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(Reuters) - A Tunisian court jailed nine men for up to 6 years for trying to join al Qaeda fighters in Iraq, having military training outside Tunisia and recruiting others to fight U.S.-led forces in Iraq, a lawyer said on Friday.
"Court of first instance in Tunis sentenced to terms of between 3 and 6 years nine youths," defence lawyer Samir Ben Amor told Reuters.
Lawyers said about 2,000 people have been arrested since 2003 on terrorism charges, including recruiting fighters for the Iraqi insurgency. The Justice Ministry says the number does not exceed 400.
Look at the calm, reasoned, peaceful signs of the protesters to Geert Wilders' arrival. My favorite and one that seems to express well the legendary tolerance of Islam: "Geert Wilders Deserves Islamic Punishment. Sharia is Coming"
A RADICAL Muslim group sparked outrage last night as it launched a massive campaign to impose sharia law on Britain.
The fanatical group Islam4UK has Âannounced plans to hold a potentially Âincendiary rally in London later this month. And it is calling for a complete upheaval of the British legal system, its officials and legislation.
Members have urged Muslims from all over Britain to converge on the capital on October 31 for a procession to demand the full implementation of sharia law.
Lots of photos please ...
On a website to promote their cause they deride British institutions, showing a mock-up picture of Nelson's Column surmounted by a minaret.
Plans for the demonstration have been delivered to the Metropolitan Police and could see up to 5,000 extremists marching to demand the controversial system.
The procession -- dubbed March 4 Shari'ah -- will start at the House of Commons, which the group's website describes as the "very place where the lives of millions of people in the UK are changed and it is from here where unjust wars are launched".
The group then intends to march to 10 Downing Street and "call for the removal of the tyrant Gordon Brown from power".
The march will then converge on Trafalgar Square where protesters expect it "will gather even more support from tourists and members of the public, making clear in the heart of London the need for Shari'ah in society".
The group declared: "We hereby request all Muslims in the United Kingdom, in Manchester, Leeds, Cardiff, Glasgow and all other places to join us and collectively declare that as submitters to Almighty Allah, we have had enough of democracy and man-made law and the depravity of the British culture.
"On this day we will call for a complete upheaval of the British ruling system its members and legislature, and demand the full implementation of Shari'ah in Britain."
Posted by: Fred ||
10/16/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
I'm sure they'll all settle down after a while and the whole thing will blow over.
#2
They screw with Britain much more and we'll see deportations, Do NOT screw with HRH.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
10/16/2009 5:41 Comments ||
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#3
Target rich enviroment for the security services. Will be nice to see how the seperate groups link up and what information can be gleaned by acquaintances . Nothing will be missed in the biggest CCTV/monitoring centre in the UK .
That being said, I wish our government would grow some balls and just throw the lot of them in either
a)the Thames
b)a holding cell in the middle of Dartmoor
Posted by: Oscar ||
10/16/2009 9:20 Comments ||
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#4
UKIP and BNP should give them free bus tickets, set up video cameras, and do "friendly" interviews hoping for some truly expressive sound bites.
#5
Oscar, I visited Dartmoor this summer and it is WAY too nice for these scum.....unless you mean in the middle of the artillery range during a live fire exercize.
Where are those Brit soccer fans when you need them?
Unfortunately I'm afraid that rather than what you're hoping for, the Brit Police will only see "targets" in any counter demonstraters that show up.
#6
IT IS always a temptation to an armed and agile nation,
To call upon a neighbour and to say:
"We invaded you last night - we are quite prepared to fight,
Unless you pay us cash to go away."
And that is called asking for Dane-geld,
And the people who ask it explain
That you've only to pay 'em the Dane-geld
And then you'll get rid of the Dane!
It is always a temptation to a rich and lazy nation,
To puff and look important and to say:
"Though we know we should defeat you, we have not the time to meet you.
We will therefore pay you cash to go away."
And that is called paying the Dane-geld;
But we've proved it again and again,
That if once you have paid him the Dane-geld
You never get rid of the Dane.
It is wrong to put temptation in the path of any nation,
For fear they should succumb and go astray,
So when you are requested to pay up or be molested,
You will find it better policy to say:
"We never pay any one Dane-geld,
No matter how trifling the cost,
For the end of that game is oppression and shame,
And the nation that plays it is lost!"
- by Rudyard Kipling
#8
'tis the ongoing arrogant assertion that they can do this sh*t anywhere in the World, and then use blame to distract from the point. However, there are still many folk here in the UK who are holding their tongues to be PC, but privately muttering. These people aren't BNP or hooligans. A straw will break the camel Abdul-et-al rode in on soon...
A bit of back-bone was shown today by allowing Gert Wilders to speak on the BBC, albeit cut VERY short. Did give one cheer, though. ;)
#9
Sure, let them hold their meeting. Just assemble Britain's remaining half-dozen tanks and 20 APCs with machine guns, and start firing the MINUTE they step out of line. The only way to put a stop to all this bullsh$$ is to stomp them, HARD, and tell them you'll do it again whenever five or more muslims gather in one place. Unfortunately, Queen Elisabeth is old, and her son Charles is a total wuss. They may not succeed this time, but unless Britain does some very heavy hammering, they'll continue to demand until they get what they want. The rest of Britain will then be totally damned.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
10/16/2009 22:55 Comments ||
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[Kyodo: Korea] North Korea has extended an invitation in recent weeks to U.S. special representative for North Korea policy Stephen Bosworth to visit Pyongyang, U.S. evangelist Franklin Graham said Thursday after a trip to North Korea. Graham also said in an interview with Kyodo News in Beijing that he saw North Korean officials" willingness to return to the stalled six-party denuclearization talks, depending on the outcome of bilateral dialogue with Washington.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/16/2009 00:00 ||
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NOKOR likes former sports star BRIAN BOSWORTH???
North Korea has threatened its southern neighbor with naval military clashes after South Korean warships intruded into its territorial waters. The South's 'reckless military provocations' have created 'such a serious situation that a naval clash may break out between the two sides', the North's navy said in a statement on Thursday.
Pyongyang accused Seoul of sending warships across their sea border.
The statement also noted the incursions were part of 'premeditated moves to deliberately escalate tension in the waters, a hotbed of conflict, and deteriorate the North-South relations once again'.
Pyongyang does not recognize the western sea border, saying the United Nations unilaterally drew the line at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, and that it should be redrawn further south.
Thursday's warning came as ties between the two Koreas showed signs of improvement with the North taking a series of conciliatory steps, such as freeing detained South Koreans and pledging to resume stalled joint projects. On Wednesday, the North offered a rare apology to the South for releasing a massive amount of water from a dam that sparked flooding blamed for the death of six South Koreans.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/16/2009 00:00 ||
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Is it already time for another practical demonstration of Phalanx in ship to ship mode?
Posted by: ed ||
10/16/2009 2:00 Comments ||
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#2
I have the mental picture of the sea bottom littered with NORK ship wreckage, and well fed sharks.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
10/16/2009 5:37 Comments ||
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#3
NORK navy version song.
Join the Navy and see the world.
whereever you go there's still the sea.
cruise the top as long as you can,
Go to the bottom as soon as WE can.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
10/16/2009 5:54 Comments ||
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#4
Kimmy crazy talk version 213.a
'reckless military provocations'
Posted by: Oscar ||
10/16/2009 9:13 Comments ||
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FIVE Sydney men have been found guilty of terrorism offences after one of the longest criminal trials in Australian history.
They were today convicted of doing an act in preparation for a terrorist act. After a trial lasting almost a year, a NSW Supreme Court jury deliberated for more than a month before returning its verdict.
And it can now be revealed that two others pleaded guilty last year to various terrorism offences before they were due to stand trial with their five co-accused and were sentenced to jail terms.
The trial began last November, following eight months of pre-trial hearings.
Crown prosecutor Richard Maidment SC admitted it was a circumstantial case in his closing address to the jury.
"This was a case that relied on circumstantial evidence, creating a picture in the nature of a mosaic or a large jigsaw puzzle," he said.
"The Crown does not suggest that the evidence reveals that they had reached any firm conclusion as to what precise action was to be carried out, what targets were to be selected, who was actually to carry the bomb, where it was to be placed, how it was to be placed, how big it was going to be, whether it was going to be in a vehicle or in a backpack or how it was going to be taken to the relevant target."
But the jury was convinced that there was sufficient evidence that the men were involved in a conspiracy to prepare for a terrorist act that according to authorities, was intended to create "maximum damage".
[Al Arabiya Latest] France's highest constitutional authority on Wednesday struck down a provision of a new law that would have opened up French banking to Islamic finance.
The National Assembly last month adopted the measure to allow Sharia-compliant financing despite opposition from the Socialists who asked the Constitutional Council to rule on its legality.
Opposition deputies had complained that staunchly secular France must not allow principles of Sharia law to be recognized in legislation.
The measure would have provided a legal basis for Islamic "sukuk" bonds, which are asset-based and do not pay interest. Investors receive coupons corresponding to part of the profits earned by the asset underpinning the bond.
Under Sharia law, making money by means such as charging interest is not permitted and investment in companies involved in alcohol, gambling and tobacco is strictly off limits.
The Constitutional Council ruled that the provision should not have been lumped into a broader bill on financing for medium and small businesses as it was a separate issue.
A statement from the Council stressed that the provision was being challenged "not on the grounds of its content but rather over the procedure followed in parliament."
Finance Minister Christine Lagarde has been spearheading a drive to turn Paris into the European capital of Islamic finance, tapping into billions of euros (dollars) from investors, mostly in the Gulf.
A government report last year estimated that France could tap into €120 billion ($179 billion) in capital from Islamic finance by making adjustments to its tax and banking laws.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/16/2009 00:00 ||
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U.S. spy agencies are considering whether to rewrite a controversial 2007 intelligence report that asserted Tehran halted its efforts to build nuclear weapons in 2003, current and former U.S. intelligence officials say.
Mostly because Tehran never did halt the process. It's not an effort when a stepwise progression is proceeding as originally planned.
The intelligence agencies' rethink comes as pressure is mounting on Capitol Hill, and among U.S. allies, for the Obama administration to redo the 2007 assessment, after a string of recent revelations about Tehran's nuclear program. German, French and British intelligence agencies have all disputed the conclusions of the 2007 National Intelligence Estimate, or NIE, in recent months, according to European officials briefed on the exchanges.
Rewriting an NIE is a major undertaking because it is the most comprehensive of U.S. intelligence reports and reflects the combined judgment of all 16 American intelligence bodies.
The poor darlings actually have to do their jobs, fixing what they deliberately did wrong before.
The 2007 report created a political headache for the Bush administration when Republicans and some allied governments such as Israel criticized the broad public conclusion that Iran was backing off its nuclear ambitions. The report reversed earlier findings that Iran was pursuing a nuclear-weapons program. It found with "high confidence" that Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003, and with "moderate confidence" that it hadn't been restarted as of mid-2007.
Everyone involved in that little project should be fired for either stupidity or malfeasance -- and get to make their own choice.
So far, intelligence officials are not "ready to declare that invalid," a senior U.S. intelligence official said, emphasizing that the judgment covered the 2003-2007 time frame only. That leaves room for a reassessment of the period since the December 2007 report was completed, the official suggested.
If I close my eyes, you can't see me.
A shift in the U.S. intelligence community's official stance -- concluding Iran restarted its nuclear weapons work or that Iran's ambitions have ramped up -- could significantly affect President Barack Obama's efforts to use diplomacy to contain Tehran's capabilities. Any timeline for negotiations could be shortened if a new NIE concludes Tehran has restarted its atomic-weapons work, said officials involved in the diplomacy.
Since negotiations have been going on for about three years too long, stopping now is the right idea.
But the White House could also use the new report to galvanize wider international support for sanctions against Tehran.
"At some point in the near future, our analytic community is going to want to press the reset button on our judgments on intent and weaponization in light of Qom and other information we're receiving," the senior intelligence official said, referring to Mr. Obama's recent revelation that Tehran was secretly assembling a uranium-enrichment facility at a military base outside the holy city of Qom.
This is where we point and laugh.
"Countries would no longer be able to hide behind the NIE," said a European official working on Iran.
Germany's intelligence service, the BND, publicly challenged the U.S. NIE by disclosing information during a court case this year that pointed to ongoing Iranian nuclear-weapons work. The BND gave specifics on Iranian purchases of high-speed cameras and radiation detectors that could be used in testing atomic detonations. A working paper composed by the IAEA, meanwhile, detailed evidence that Iran was continuing to experiment with nuclear warhead designs, according to people who have viewed it.
"The U.S. is being directly challenged by its closest allies" on Iran's weapons work, said David Albright, a former U.N. weapons inspector who heads Washington's Institute for Science and International Security and has viewed portions of the IAEA paper.
"Lead, follow, or get out of the way," they are saying to President Obama, oh so diplomatically.
A US-based Islamic group has denounced 'racist' accusations of some Republican lawmakers in which the conservatives sought to probe the group's 'spying activities'.
The Washington-based Center for American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) blasted the 'insidious' claim by four Republican minority members in the lower US legislature for allegations of CAIR's 'conspiracy' to infiltrate US politics via recruiting employees on the Capitol Hill.
CAIR, America's largest non-profit Islamic rights group that seeks to promote 'Islam and justice,' made the announcement on Wednesday after traditionalist Congress members including John Shadegg, Paul Broun, Trent Franks and Sue Myrick made a concerted effort to demonize the group through a Congressional declaration against the organization's motions.
In their statement addressing the top US legal body, the four Republicans demanded a probe into CAIR's actions and cautioned 'members of Congress against the group', saying its agenda 'should be investigated by the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service'.
"If an organization that is connected to or supports terrorists is running influence operations or planting spies in key national security-related congressional offices, I think this needs to be made known," said Broun.
However, the Islamic civil liberties group slammed the conservative congressional caucus and said in a counterattack, "They had a spy in our organization for months, stole our property and the most they can come up with is that we placed interns on Capitol Hill?"
"I wish we had placed more interns," CAIR spokesperson Ibrahim Hooper noted, adding elsewhere that the group has filed a police report on the matter.
"Muslims are interested in international affairs, civil rights, civil liberties, First Amendment issues, freedom of religion, so it's natural they'd be interested in certain committees," he said.
Grand Old Party's (GOP) latest move has drawn fire from both sides of the Congressional aisle, with some House members criticizing the 'appalling' report of the caucus.
The US House of representatives has thus far refrained to react to the four Republicans bid.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/16/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Cair should Send interns to David Letterman! Why ruin a young girl's reputation by sending her to Congress?
The airport shuttle driver accused of plotting a bombing in New York had contacts with al-Qaida that went nearly all the way to the top, to an Osama bin Laden confidant believed to be the terrorist group's leader in Afghanistan, U.S. intelligence officials told The Associated Press.
Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, an Egyptian reputed to be one of the founders of the terrorist network, used a middleman to contact Afghan immigrant Najibullah Zazi as the 24-year-old man hatched a plot to use homemade backpack bombs, perhaps on the city's mass transit system, the two intelligence officials said.
I imagine that means we now have contact information for the gentleman. How nice.
Intelligence officials declined to discuss the nature of the contact or whether al-Yazid contacted Zazi to offer simple encouragement or help with the bombing plot prosecutors say Zazi was pursuing.
Al-Yazid's contact with Zazi indicates that al-Qaida leadership took an intense interest in what U.S. officials have called one of the most serious terrorism threats crafted on U.S. soil since the 9/11 attacks.
Yet another Al Q. failure, that, thanks to the superior skills of the Americans... like the last attempt in Britain failed thanks to the superior skills of the Brits, and the last attempt in Germany failed thanks to the superior skills of the Germans... Really, Al Q. really ought to admit to themselves they add more value to the organization as a figurehead, leaving the actually work of terrorizing to local affiliates to plan and execute with complete independence.
"Zazi working with the al-Qaida core is exceptionally alarming," said Daniel Bynam of the Brookings Institution's Saban Center. "The al-Qaida core is capable of far more effective terrorist attacks than jihadist terrorists acting on their own, and coordination with the core also enables bin Laden to choose the timing to maximize the benefit to his organization."
That's certainly how the Al Q. core see it.
U.S. intelligence officials said earlier that Zazi had contact with an unnamed senior al-Qaida operative. That helped distinguish Zazi from other would-be terrorists who have acted on their own in planning or attempting U.S. attacks.
The officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity because the case remains under investigation, declined to describe al-Yazid's specific interaction with Zazi, who has pleaded not guilty to conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction. But one senior U.S. intelligence official said the contact between Zazi and the senior al-Qaida leader occurred through an intermediary.
Just weeks before U.S. intelligence officials identified Zazi as a possible terrorist threat in late August, John Brennan, President Barack Obama's top domestic terrorism adviser, told a Washington audience that "another attack on the U.S. homeland remains the top priority for the al-Qaida senior leadership."
U.S. intelligence officials and prosecutors have said that Zazi was recruited and trained by al-Qaida. They say he and others traveled last year to Pakistan to receive the training.
Prosecutors say Zazi, during meetings with federal investigators before his arrest last month, "admitted that he received instructions from al-Qaida operatives on subjects such as weapons and explosives" during his trip to Pakistan.
Arthur Folsom, Zazi's Denver lawyer, said Wednesday he was not aware of a claim that his client had contact with al-Yazid or any other senior al-Qaida leader. He said Zazi told investigators he met with a number of people while in Pakistan.
"He may well have talked to someone at a coffee shop who had some type of connection he wasn't aware of," Folsom said. "Under those grounds, guess what? I have a connection to al-Qaida and so do you."
None of them had me called from Pakistan to see how I was coming along. I'm starting to feel unloved.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/16/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Under those grounds, guess what? I have a connection to al-Qaida
I have often wondered why Terrorist's lawyers don't get the same fate, shuld cut down on "Lawfare" considerably.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
10/16/2009 5:50 Comments ||
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The attorney for convicted sniper John Allen Muhammad says he plans to ask for clemency for his client, who's scheduled for execution next month. Jonathan Sheldon plans to file the request next Thursday with Gov. Timothy Kaine, according to an announcement on his law firm's Web site. Sheldon also plans to file an appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court.
Kaine previously has said he's unlikely to grant clemency but would review Muhammad's request.
Muhammad was sentenced to death for the October 2002 slaying of Dean Harold Meyers at a Manassas gas station during a string of shootings that left 10 people dead and three wounded in Virginia, Washington, D.C., and Maryland.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/16/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Cowardly bastard should be boiled slowly in Quaker State 10w-40 for asking.
#2
It would be helpful, of course, if the convicted sniper raised his victims from the dead and had them sign his petition for clemency. Without that, the Golden Rule, "treat others as you wish to be treated" may have a nasty edge on execution day.
[Dawn] rime Minister of AJK, Sardar Yaqoob Khan announced that he had resigned as prime minister in order to avoid a political controversy in the Legislative Assembly.
Dispelling impression of pressure of a no-confidence motion, Sardar Yaqoob said, 'I have tendered my resignation as the prime minister without any pressure.'
'I took this decision to discourage horse-trading in the assembly and set democratic tradition aimed at promoting democracy in AJK,' Sardar Yaqoob said this on Wednesday night while addressing a press conference at Kashmir House.
Responding to a question, he said, 'I did not use my right to dissolve the assembly as I have always respected democracy and democratic traditions.'
When asked about the status of the cabinet, Sardar Yaqoob made it clear that the cabinet had been dissolved automatically after his resignation, in accordance with the constitution of AJK.
Responding to a question about his decision to contest in elections as Leader of the House again, he said it would be decided with the consultation of the party leadership and colleagues.
However, he said, 'I will welcome anyone who gets elected as Leader of the House.'
Posted by: Fred ||
10/16/2009 00:00 ||
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THE UN Human Rights Council has endorsed a report that accuses Israel and the Palestinian hardliners Hamas of war crimes in the Gaza conflict, dealing a fresh diplomatic blow to the Jewish state.
It's not a diplomatic blow to Hamas; everyone understands they commit war crimes all the time so it isn't news.
Israel called the move a "diplomatic farce" and said it harms Middle East peace efforts, but the Palestinians welcomed the resolution which they say should be the trigger for follow-up action from the UN Security Council.
Twenty-five of the Human Rights Council's 47 members, led by Arab and African states, voted for the resolution on Friday. Six, including the United States, voted against while 16 others either abstained or did not vote.
The resolution calls for the endorsement of "the recommendations contained in the report" produced by a fact-finding mission led by international war crimes prosecutor Richard Goldstone to probe the 22-day conflict. It also "calls upon all concerned parties including United Nations bodies, to ensure their implementation".
Mr Goldstone concluded that both Israel and Hamas, Gaza's rulers, committed war crimes and possible crimes against humanity during the conflict launched by Israel in response to rocket fire from the enclave in late December 2008.
The report also recommends referring its conclusions to the International Criminal Court prosecutor in The Hague, if Israel and Hamas fail to conduct credible investigations within six months.
Hamas no doubt will be considered 'credible' regardless, and Israel will never be despite their best efforts ...
The endorsement by the UN human rights body came just two days after Israel and the Palestinians faced international pressure during a UN Security Council debate on the Middle East to produce "credible" domestic probes of war crimes allegedly committed during the Gaza conflict.
Welcoming the outcome, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat said the international action should not end there over the conflict, which erupted on December 27, 2008, and left 1400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis dead.
"We hope this will be followed up in the UN Security Council to ensure such Israeli crimes are not repeated," Mr Erakat said.
Hamas also approved the move, thanking the nations that voted to endorse the report. "We hope that vote will lead to a trial of the occupation leaders," said Hamas spokesman Taher al-Nunu, although he did not react to the fact that the Goldstone report also accused his group of war crimes.
Didn't have to. Doesn't care. Ev'ryone knows already. The world doesn't care what Hamas does. The world has demonstrated that.
Israeli Interior Minister Eli Yishai dismissed the resolution as a "diplomatic farce" and an "anti-Israel decision".
"The Israeli army acted with silk gloves towards innocent (civilians)," he said.
The Israeli foreign ministry said the resolution "impairs both the effort to protect human rights in accordance with international law, and the effort to promote peace in the Middle East".
"This resolution provides encouragement for terrorist organisations worldwide and undermines global peace," it said in a statement.
Ahead of the vote, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had urged the council to reject the resolution. "Responsible nations have to vote against this decision that supports terror and harms peace," Netanyahu told reporters after a meeting with visiting Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero late on Thursday.
Explaining Washington's reasons for opposing the resolution, US ambassador Douglas Griffiths said: "We had worked for a resolution that recognised the right of a state to take legitimate action to protect its citizens in the face of threats to their security while also condemning violations of international law regardless of the actor.
"Regrettably, this is not the resolution that is before us today."
#1
It's the U.N. Human Rights Council. It has often been criticized for its bias against Israel. File in the "Water is Wet" and the "Sun comes up in the East" category.
[Iran Press TV Latest] Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has called on Ankara to respect Iraq's sovereignty by ending military operations across Iraq's northern border to target PKK terrorists.
During a meeting in Baghdad with visiting Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday, Maliki reiterated that Baghdad will not allow any forces to trespass Iraqi borders.
Erdogan, accompanied by nine ministers, flew to Baghdad on Thursday to sign a total of 44 agreements, from energy co-operation to water sharing and fighting Kurdish militants holed up in northern Iraq.
Relations between Ankara and Baghdad have been strained in the past by the presence of insurgents affiliated with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). Turkish fighter jets frequently pound PKK strongholds in northern Iraq from where the Kurdish insurgents launch attacks against Turkish soil.
Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) is listed as a terrorist organization by much of the international community, including Turkey, Iran, the US and the European Union member states.
More than 40,000 people have lost their lives since the militant group launched its armed campaign against Ankara in 1984, as part of a quest to establish an independent Kurdish state in southeastern Turkey.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/16/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Kill the next bunch of "Raiders" to the last man, only then will they listen to you and send no more.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
10/16/2009 13:23 Comments ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan met Iraq's premier Nuri al-Maliki in Baghdad on Thursday as the neighbors sought to boost ties by signing deals from energy to water sharing and fighting PKK rebels.
Relations between Ankara and Baghdad have been strained in the past by the presence of Kurdish separatist rebels who use northern Iraq as a base to launch attacks on southeast Turkey.
But trade and diplomatic ties have bloomed since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq that ousted Saddam Hussein and as regional heavyweight Turkey has sought to expand its influence in the Middle East under Erdogan's Islamist-rooted AK Party government.
The two countries have estimated trade worth more than $5 billion but there is enormous potential for the future as European Union-candidate Turkey aims to position itself as a vital energy and trade corridor with its eastern neighbors, including Iraq, Iran, Syria and the South Caucasus.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/16/2009 00:00 ||
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Siding with bombed strapped savages is the American way now. 42% of this debased generation of America still supports this bad boy Obama and his policies.
Hamas along with the Damascus-based Palestinian resistance groups have rejected the Egyptian proposal for a unity deal unless it mentions the right of Palestinians to resist Israeli occupation.
"The Egyptian reconciliation proposal lacks a political vision concerning the conflict (with Israel) and the aggression against our people," said the spokesman for Palestinian groups based in Damascus, Khaled Abdel Majid, quoted by AFP on Thursday.
"The Palestinian factions will not sign the accord... unless the text includes the principles and the rights of Palestinians, especially that of resisting the Zionist occupation," he went on to say. "We urge all Palestinian groups and national personalities to act rapidly and take the measures necessary to preserve the Palestinian cause from the dangers that threaten it, and to insist on the historic rights of our people."
Khaled Abdel Majid also noted that the deal proposed by Egypt should also address the dangers of 'Judaization' and 'permanent aggression,' which threaten al-Quds (Jerusalem), as well as the right of return for the Palestinian refugees.
Hamas and Fatah have long been wrangling with each other over substantial discords that have led do real bottlenecks in mending fences and repairing the internal Palestinian divisions. Meanwhile, Egypt has been struggling for months to get rival Palestinian factions to sign a reconciliation deal. The latest Cairo proposal aims to lay the groundwork for new presidential and legislative elections next summer.
Ever since Hamas won an outright majority in 2006 Palestinian legislative elections, the two factions have pursued bitter rivalry featuring sporadic fighting and tit-for-tat arrests. Mutual hostilities boiled over in the summer of 2007, when Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip from the Fatah faction.
Since then, Hamas has governed the Gaza Strip, while Fatah has continued to control the West Bank from Ramallah. Further complicating the situation, Israel and Egypt, with the blessing of the Palestinian Authority, have both sealed their borders with the Gaza Strip, effectively cutting off the coastal enclave from the rest of the world.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/16/2009 00:00 ||
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#3
I hope Palestinians in the territories would generally respond with, "Go ahead and resist all you want over in Damascus. We have to actually LIVE here, you idiots!"
#4
Golda Meir told that here would peace when Arabs would love their children m!ore than they hatyed Jews. Deda wrong! There will be peace when we cut off all of our funding and requre they refund every single penny we gave them in the last sixty one years on the basis they have diverted our money to questionnable ends. Not to mention interests. Not to mention paying ten bill for security due to Palestinne terrorrsm.
This way:
1) Arab countries and the oh so volatile Arab street who are supoposedly in love of Palestinas but deny them work, nationality and exple them towards Gaza would have to beazr the burden of feeding them so they would have an interest in solving the problem.
2) Palestinains would have to work for a living and by the end of the day would be too tired to think in anything buit to sleep. Anyone remembers when they set fire to the grrenhouses left by the Israelis and then came for additional fuding for their, oh so miserable condition? I do. I do and I find taht more than sixty years on West's tit is more than enough
3) Every Kassam built would mean tighten their belt another notch since we wouldn't be putting teh bills for their basic needs (money id fungible). Of course if they fire it they would have to pay for teh disruption of Israelmi life. If it hits something then pay damages and not single cent for reconstruction if the Israelis have enough and bomb the crap out of them.
4) There are Palestinain women who say they want to have loooooots of children and make suicide bombres out of them. Notice that we foot the bll so whatever her number of children she can put bread on the tabme. Well no more. She would have to choose between butter and suicide bombres.
5) It is immoral we are throwing far more money on such people than we are throwing on peopel who sufer a lot more, aren't trying to genocide their neighbours and haven't spent 61 years on our teat. Oriental Jews got no UN (tthat is ihn fact our) money and they aren't in refugee camps, neither Grek Cypriots. It is immoral we reb throwing money on the Paestinians instead of on Sudanese blacks.
They say, that a fool is the one who tries twenty times the same thing, keeps failing and keeps trying the same thing. WXell, for sixty one years we have pressured Israel to make concessions and there was no peace. let's pressure the Arabs for concessions for a change.
#8
See also WAFF > HAMAS REFUSES TO RECONCILE WITH AL FATAH UNLESS IT CAN ATTACK ISRAELIS; + MUSLIMS FLOODING INTO ISRAEL TO SEEK ASYLUM FROM THIER OWN PEOPLE [INFILTRATION vee ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION deemed a DE FACTO STRATEGIC THREAT TO ISRAELI GOVT-STATE, espec illegals via EGYPT + SINAI covert routes]???
[Al Arabiya Latest] Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Thursday he would hold elections as planned in January unless Hamas agreed to an Egyptian reconciliation deal that would delay the polls until June.
"Our Basic Law stipulates that elections must be held before Jan. 24, 2010," Abbas told a news conference after meeting Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero.
"According to the Egyptian document, elections should be held on 28th of June 2010. If there is an agreement (with Hamas) we will abide by it, but if there is no agreement we will abide by the Basic Law," Abbas said.
Abbas made his comments as Hamas asked Egypt for more time to consider the Palestinian unity deal and demanded that it include a clause on the right to resist Israeli occupation.
"Hamas has officially asked Egypt to give it two to three days to complete its internal consultations," the Hamas-run government spokesman Taher al-Nunu told AFP, without giving further details.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/16/2009 00:00 ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] A top hardline Iranian cleric said on Thursday that "God's fury" would be unleashed if Iran appoints women as governors of some provinces, as was raised as a possibility by a minister last week.
"If some people want to change the principles and values of the revolution without considering the views of clerics, they will face the fury of God and of the people," Grand Ayatollah Lotfollah Safi Golpayghani said on his website.
" They come to Qom, the centre of Shiite Islam, and announce that they will appoint women as governors of some provinces. Do you want to fight with the Quran and the Prophet with such talks that go against sharia? "
Grand Ayatollah Lotfollah Safi Golpayghani
Golpayghani was reacting to remarks by interior minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar in the holy city of Qom last week, who when asked whether Iran would appoint women as governors of provinces, replied: "Yes. It is possible."
Golpayghani said the appointment of women in such top jobs was against sharia (Islamic) law.
"They come to Qom, the centre of Shiite Islam, and announce that they will appoint women as governors of some provinces. Do you want to fight with the Quran and the Prophet with such talks that go against sharia?" he asked.
"Who are you against? God's rule or the definite rules of religion?"
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has also faced stiff resistance from hardline clerics, including Golpayghani, in appointing women as cabinet ministers.
Lawmakers, however, did approve one woman cabinet minister - the first female minister of the Islamic republic -- during a vote of confidence in September.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/16/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
What's his take on Hillary and Nancy?
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
10/16/2009 5:45 Comments ||
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#3
Frankly, I have been waiting for the women to quit messing around and just take over and run things. It would be easier on us men for them to run things than to continue to hear about how hard it is to be a woman.
It would not take the Grand Ayatollah Lolo Goldang's mother more than about 15 minutes to grab him by his ear and "explain" things to sonny. These guys need a mommy in the worst way!
He's a heavyweight in al-Qaeda but little known outside jihadi and intelligence circles even though he runs the terrorist movement's operations in a key front -- Afghanistan -- and may be linked to a plot in New York.
Mustafa al-Yazid makes no secret of his contempt for the United States, once calling it "the evil empire leading crusades against the Muslims."
"We have reached the point where we see no difference between the state and the American people," al-Yazid told Pakistan's Geo TV in a June 2008 interview. "The United States is a non-Muslim state bent on the destruction of Muslims."
Al-Yazid may also have links to Afghan immigrant Najibullah Zazi, whom U.S. authorities have arrested in an alleged plot to use homemade backpack bombs, perhaps on New York City's mass transit system.
Two U.S. intelligence officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because the case remains under investigation, told The Associated Press that the bespectacled, Egyptian-born al-Yazid used a middleman to contact Zazi, indicating that the al-Qaeda leadership took a keen interest in what U.S. officials call one of the most serious terrorism threats crafted on U.S. soil since the 9/11 attacks.
Despite his relative obscurity in the West, the shadowy, 55-year-old al-Yazid, who barely stands 5-foot-5 inches tall, has been involved with Islamic extremist movements for nearly 30 years since he joined radical student groups led by fellow Egyptian Ayman al-Zawahri, now the No. 2 figure in al-Qaeda after Osama bin Laden.
In the early 1980s, al-Yazid served three years in an Egyptian prison for purported links to the group responsible for the 1981 assassination of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat. After his release, al-Yazid, also known as Sheik Said and Abu Saeed al-Masri, turned up in Afghanistan, where, according to al-Qaeda's propaganda wing Al-Sabah, he became a founding member of the terrorist group.
He later followed bin Laden to Sudan and back to Afghanistan, where he served as al-Qaeda's chief financial officer, managing secret bank accounts in the Persian Gulf that were used to help finance the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in New York and Washington.
After the U.S. and its allies invaded Afghanistan in 2001, al-Yazid went into hiding for years. He surfaced in May 2007 during a 45-minute interview posted on the Web by Al-Sabah, in which he was introduced as the "official in charge" of the terrorist movement's operations in Afghanistan.
Some security analysts believe the choice of al-Yazid as the Afghan chief may have signaled a new approach for al-Qaeda in the country where it once reigned supreme.
Michael Scheuer, former head of the CIA unit that tracked bin Laden, believes that bin Laden and al-Zawahri wanted a trusted figure to handle Afghanistan "while they turn to other aspects of the jihad outside" the country.
Al-Yazid had little background in leading combat operations. But terrorism experts say his advantage was that he was close to Taliban leader Mullah Omar. As a fluent Pashto speaker known for impeccable manners, al-Yazid enjoyed better relations with the Afghans than many of the al-Qaeda Arabs, whom the Afghans found arrogant and abrasive.
That suggested a conscious decision by al-Qaeda to embed within the Taliban organization, helping the Afghan allies with expertise and training while at the same time putting an Afghan face on the war.
Al-Yazid himself alluded to such an approach in an interview this year with Al-Jazeera television's Islamabad correspondent Ahmad Zaidan. Al-Yazid said al-Qaeda fighters were involved at every level with the Taliban.
"We participate with our brothers in the Islamic Emirate in all fields," al-Yazid said. "This had a big positive effect on the (Taliban) self-esteem in Afghanistan."
A September 2007 al-Qaida video sought to promote the notion of close Taliban-al-Qaeda ties at a time when the Afghan insurgents were launching their comeback six years after their ouster from power in Kabul.
The video showed al-Yazid sitting with a senior Taliban commander in a field surrounded by trees as a jihad anthem played -- rather than in a bleak desert hideout. The Taliban commander vowed to "target the infidels in Afghanistan and outside Afghanistan" and to "focus our attacks, Allah willing, on the coalition forces in Afghanistan."
There is also evidence that al-Yazid has promoted ties with Islamic extremist groups in Central Asia and Pakistan, where other top al-Qaeda figures are believed to be hiding.
"He definitely seems to have significant influence among the Pakistani Taliban and the Central Asian groups," terrorism expert Evan Kohlman said. "They regularly post and share his videos on the Web, just as they would with bin Laden or al-Zawahri."
In August 2008, Pakistani military officials claimed al-Yazid had been killed in fighting in the Bajaur tribal area along the Afghan border. However, he turned up in subsequent al-Qaeda videos, all of which had clearly been made after the Bajaur fighting.
Al-Yazid appeared on an al-Qaeda video posted this month, vowing to avenge the death of Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud, who was killed in a CIA missile strike Aug, 6.
"I say to the Islamic nation that even if we have lost Baitullah Mehsud, there are thousands of tribesmen who are like him and who will take revenge on the Americans and their allies," al-Yazid said.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/16/2009 00:00 ||
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#2
The video showed al-Yazid sitting with a senior Taliban commander in a field surrounded by trees as a jihad anthem played -- rather than in a bleak desert hideout. The Taliban commander vowed to "target the infidels in Afghanistan and outside Afghanistan" and to "focus our attacks, Allah willing, on the coalition forces in Afghanistan."
Oooh! The taliban are just an ethnic/cultural resistance movement! Let's negotiate with them!!
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.
North Korea has threatened its southern neighbor with naval military clashes after South Korean warships intruded into its territorial waters. The South's 'reckless military provocations' have created 'such a serious situation that a naval clash may break out between the two sides', the North's navy said in a statement on Thursday. 
FIVE Sydney men have been found guilty of terrorism offences after one of the longest criminal trials in Australian history.
[Al Arabiya Latest] France's highest constitutional authority on Wednesday struck down a provision of a new law that would have opened up French banking to Islamic finance.
The airport shuttle driver accused of plotting a bombing in New York had contacts with al-Qaida that went nearly all the way to the top, to an Osama bin Laden confidant believed to be the terrorist group's leader in Afghanistan, U.S. intelligence officials told The Associated Press.
