At a former al-Qaida stronghold southeast of the Afghan capital, a state-owned Chinese company is at work on a $3 billion mine project to tap one of the world's largest unexploited copper reserves, a potential financial boon for an impoverished country mired in war.
The promise of a bright future at Aynak, however, cannot conceal the troubling reality of how business is often done in Afghanistan, according to critics of the Kabul government's decision to reject bids from competitors in the U.S., Canada and other countries.
James Yeager, an American geologist who advised Afghanistan's minister of mines, says a few Afghan officials dominated a secretive selection process that gave the winner, China Metallurgical Group Corp., improbably high marks over its foreign competitors.
Said Tayeb Jawad, Afghanistan's ambassador to the United States, said the bidding process was above board. He said he pushed for the U.S. bidder, Phelps Dodge, to be awarded the Aynak rights, but that China offered to start work right away while Phelps wanted to wait until the country was safer.
The Aynak deal was awarded to the Chinese late 2007, but the project is only now getting under way. Before copper can be hauled from the ground, China must make a substantial investment to build a power-generating station, roads and a railway to move the metal. It will be no end of hilarious when the bad guys try to strong arm the Chinese for bribes. Even more hilarious would be China committing two or three PLA Corps to providing security for the mine.
If Belgium was the 18th/19th century cockpit (in the sense of cocks fighting) of Europe, Afghanistan is the 21st century cockpit of south/central Asia.
In this year's American defense budget, over a billion dollars is allocated, in effect, to bribe Afghan tribal leaders. This is not something new. U.S. commanders have been buying the loyalty (or at least neutrality) of dozens of Afghan warlords and tribal leaders since 2001. Rest at link
Posted by: ed ||
11/01/2009 09:37 ||
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#1
A sound value and investment at ten times the cost! It might more appropriately be referred to as sponsorship or community assistance vs.... "bribes." Meeting tribal or community needs by providing shoes, blankets, medical assistance, dental care, radios, fuel, horse saddles, grain, weapons, and TAC Air support as needed..... are also effective techniques. Read Doug Stanton's new book entitled "Horse Soldiers."
#2
Indeed. Investment in the community worked pretty well in Iraq, eg Sons of Iraq vs. Al Qaeda in the Sunni Triangle, the ever-declining popularity of future-Ayatolla Muqtada al Sadr... President Obama hasn't been talking about the wrong war, the war of choice in Iraq, the distraction from Afghanistan for months.
#5
Ya know.. the Iranians have always counterfeited our money.. perhaps we could bribe with some nice Iranian and Chinese script right off the presses... maybe a lead Riyal or 2?
Can't say I blame him, but it will put the cat amongst the UN pigeons. OPPOSITION candidate Abdullah Abdullah announced that he was pulling out of this week's run-off presidential election in Afghanistan.
"The decision which I am going to announce was not an easy one. It was a decision that I have taken after wide-ranging consultations, with the people of Afghanistan, my supporters and influential leaders," Mr Abdullah told supporters. In protest against the misconduct of the government and the Independent Election Commission (IEC), I will not participate in the election," he added.
Mr Abdullah's decision is set to plunge Afghanistan into further uncertainty with the country in political limbo since the first round of voting on August 20, which was tainted by widespread vote-rigging.
Following the widespread fraud in the first round, Mr Abdullah had demanded President Hamid Karzai sack the head of the IEC Azizullah Ludin and suspend four ministers who campaigned for the incumbent.
Mr Abdullah's camp had set a deadline of Saturday for Mr Karzai to bow to his demands, saying that he would not take part in a contest that would not be free and fair.
His demands have so far received short shrift, with the IEC saying Mr Ludin can only be dismissed by the supreme court while Mr Karzai said Mr Abdullah had no right to interfere in ministerial positions.
Mr Karzai's share of the vote in the first round fell to 49.67 per cent after a UN-backed watchdog deemed around a quarter of all votes cast to be fraudulent.
Insistent that the fraud had been overstated, Mr Karzai only agreed to a run-off under extensive diplomatic pressure from Washington, highlighted when he made the run-off announcement standing alongside US Senator John Kerry.
Asked whether the outcome of a run-off with only one candidate would result in a legitimate government, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that such situations were "not unprecedented.
"We see that happen in our own country where, for whatever combination of reasons, one of the candidates decides not to go forward. I don't think it has anything to do with the legitimacy of the election," she said. I'm not going to comment on what any of the candidates might decide to do," Clinton said, adding: "It's a personal choice which may or may not be made." I question the general assumption that Karzai would win a fair election anyway. Pushtuns are a minority - less than 45% from memory. Pushtun voting will be limited by Taliban activity and in the 2nd round the 'anyone but a Pushtun' vote will go to Abdullah (of Tadjik and Pushtun ancestry - again from memory). Also the Pushtun/non-pushtun divide breaks down in urban populations where the divide is tribal versus non-tribal.
[Iran Press TV Latest] Pro-Taliban and al-Qaeda-linked militants have reportedly been outfitted with state-of-the-art American arms and other weaponry made in the US-allied states, including Israel, Germany and India.
The pro-Taliban militants in Pakistan were equipped with expensive and expertly-crafted firearms made by the German arms manufacturer Blazer, Deutsche Welle reported on Wednesday.
The rifles are priced at USD 2,960 (EUR 2,000) a piece and are characterized with heavy-duty outer parts and 'lifelong' durability. The weapons are well suited for operational purposes in mountainous areas such as the tribal Pakistani region of South Waziristan, which borders Afghanistan.
The northwestern militant-infested area has for long troubled the Pakistani military. Islamabad is currently engaged in full-scale military operations against the gunmen.
The German broadcaster named the other armaments in militant possession as the German-made "Walther P1 handguns, automatic weapons made by another German defense manufacturer Heckler & Koch (H&K), handguns build at the Austrian weapon producer the Glock, the American M249 machine guns and the Israeli-made Uzi submachine guns." Some of the weapons are worth USD 2,072 (EUR 1,400).
The report added that militant gangs were training with German G3 assault rifles. The latest version of the gun is valued for its durability and pinpoint precision.
Questions remain as to how the al-Qaeda-linked terrorists acquired the weapons.
Heckler & Koch (H&K) is rated as one of the defense industry's 'Big Five' and a mainstay trading partner to the German military. Last year, the company, the volume of whose exports are yet to be specified, sold USD 267 million ( EUR 181 million) worth of weapons.
The company as well produces weapons for the United Kingdom, Norway and Greece and has been contracted to equip the French army. The company has survived the global economic crisis almost unharmed.
Every 14 minutes a person reportedly dies by a H&K-made weapon.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/01/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Questions remain as to how the al-Qaeda-linked terrorists acquired the weapons.
With "Food Aid" Money, of course.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
11/01/2009 2:48 Comments ||
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The pistols are sold by AWOL/deserting Afghan troops. It's the most valuable possession in their hands. Probably same for the M249. I've seen more and more photos of Afghan troops w/ western equipment.
As for the G3s, the Paki Army is equipped with them. Just saying. Ask for an arms depot inspection and watch the whole place blow up (again).
Posted by: ed ||
11/01/2009 7:05 Comments ||
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[Quqnoos] A senior Afghan election official on Friday said no candidates can pull out of the next week's runoff election
The message parallels rumors that President Karzai's main challenger, Abdullah Abdullah, may quit the second round election.
"Neither of candidates can pull out in the runoff.
Their pictures are on the ballot papers and the time for withdrawal has passed," Dawod Ali Najafi, Chief Afghan Electoral Officer told Quqnoos.
Dr Abdullah, the Afghan former Foreign Minister, put forward several conditions earlier this week for the Nov. 7 runoff election to be credible, including the calls for election chief sacking.
He also called that the Afghan Interior, Education and Tribal Affairs ministers should be suspended from their positions during the election period.
Dr Abdullah accused the Afghan ministers of being biased towards President Karzai and campaigning for him.
President Karzai has rejected the demands by Mr Abdullah.
From all his conditions only the distribution of observer cards had been approved, Najafi further said.
Afghan election went to runoff after the Afghan vote fraud panel tossed out enough votes of Hamid Karzai out that caused the second round.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/01/2009 00:00 ||
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He's done it. Must have been inspired by scuzzy. Wonder if he'll endorse Karzai.
[Al Arabiya Latest] President Hamid Karzai's election rival Abdullah Abdullah was poised Saturday to boycott Afghanistan's run-off presidential election unless Karzai has a last minute change of heart and bows to a series of demands from his rival.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai's election rival Abdullah Abdullah will announce on Sunday whether he will take part in next week's disputed run-off vote, as western media reported he would pull out.
Abdullah cancelled a planned trip to India on Saturday, just before a deadline he had given Karzai to sack Afghanistan's top election official was to expire.
Afghanistan has been racked by weeks of political uncertainty after widespread fraud marred the first round, with security another major concern after a resurgent Taliban vowed to disrupt the Nov. 7 run-off vote.
The New York Times, quoting Western diplomats and people close to Abdullah, said Abdullah would announce his withdrawal from the election on Sunday. But the newspaper also said the former foreign minister was keeping his options open until the last minute.
"If our conditions are not met today, Dr. Abdullah will announce his decision in a conference tomorrow (Sunday)," a senior official in his campaign team told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/01/2009 00:00 ||
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U.S. President Barack Obama is unlikely to make a decision on his Afghanistan strategy and sending thousands more troops there before he embarks on his trip to Asia on Nov. 11, a senior administration official said on Saturday. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, stressed that while a decision was unlikely before then, it had not been ruled out.
Who would have thought that Bambi would be waiting on the governor's race in Joisey before making a decision on Afghanistan?
It is unclear if Obama would wait until he returned from his Nov. 11 -20 trip to unveil his decision or announce it while he was traveling in the region.
So it could be even later ...
The timing of Obama's announcement would not be influenced by outside factors, the official said, referring to the political upheaval in Afghanistan after a disputed presidential election in August. A run-off is scheduled for Nov. 7.
But the races in Joisey and NY-23 aren't outside factors ...
Obama has faced criticism from Republican opponents, including former Vice President Dick Cheney, over his lengthy review of the strategy he put in place in March. Critics say he is being over-cautious and the delay in making an announcement on the way forward in Afghanistan is emboldening the Taliban.
As Fred would say, the choice is simple: defecate or decommode ...
Not an awful lot of carefully graduated nuance between [poop] and [get off pot] is there?
I'm sure you've seen the line of intersection of dog and carpet...
The White House says Obama will not be stampeded into making a hasty decision. It accuses the former Bush administration of neglecting the eight-year-old war and allowing the security situation there to deteriorate.
Blaming Bush isn't going to work. Everyone recognizes the success Bush had at first. Everyone recognizes that NATO didn't help pull its expected weight. Bush can be blamed for not putting more troops in but he was busy at the time. It's now been 10 months since Bambi took office. As surely as Johnson's war became Nixon war, Bush's war becomes Bambi's war.
Obama held talks with the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the leaders of each branch of the U.S. military, at the White House on Friday. He is expected to hold a further meeting with his security team next week. So far, he has held eight meetings.
The Pentagon is looking at the resources it would need to fulfill the strategic options being considered, the administration official said. But Obama had not asked the Joint Chiefs to come back to him with specific troop numbers.
General Stanley McChrystal, the commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, has recommended deploying an additional 40,000 troops next year, a figure that includes trainers to accelerate the expansion of the Afghan army.
Another and potentially more politically palatable option under consideration by the administration would add about 10,000 to 15,000 troops, a large portion of whom would be focused on increasing the training of Afghan forces, a top priority for Obama's Democratic allies in Congress.
Officials say Obama may opt for a number in between.
Of course: he's a difference splitter. That's what you do as a 'community organizer', state senator and US senator. You find differences and split them. Bush was an oilman and a governor. He made decisions.
There are about 67,000 U.S. troops and 42,000 allied forces in Afghanistan.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/01/2009 00:00 ||
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#5
The man will be travelling around the world, after all. It's not fair to expect him to make momentous decisions as well -- everyone knows jet lag scrambles the decision-making capacity. Even if making decisions is the job description.
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/01/2009 10:48 Comments ||
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#7
"everyone knows jet lag scrambles the decision-making capacity"
That assumes Bambi has any decision-making capacity, tw.
He don't. He's waiting for SorosAyers his handlers advisors to tell him what to do.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
11/01/2009 10:57 Comments ||
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#8
Gorb, John Allen Muhammed is not under the jurisdiction of the President; only the Governor of Virginia could pardon him. And if you think that's going to happen....
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
11/01/2009 11:15 Comments ||
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#9
He obviously considers this Above His Pay Grade.....
#13
"Gorb, John Allen Muhammed is not under the jurisdiction of the President; only the Governor of Virginia could pardon him. And if you think that's going to happen...."
Eric's right.
Not that Kaine wouldn't like to commute his sentence - Kaine's against the death penalty - but he's not that politically stupid.
Although I wouldn't put it past Bambi to try to get involved if his handlers he thought it would help him to establish a dictatorship in the U.S. politically somehow.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
11/01/2009 13:52 Comments ||
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#14
we already know how Eric Holder would go on that
*spit*
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/01/2009 14:07 Comments ||
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Barbara Boxer apparently holds meetings on the streets of Oakland, according to her companions, who didnt want to allow a constituent with a camera to question Senator Maam on policy in Afghanistan. Boxer finally responds long enough to insist that Congress will not allow more troops to go into Afghanistan, which then prompts the question of whether we should keep troops there at all if were not going to fight to win there. Boxer walks away, even though the constituent calls her Senator repeatedly:
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
11/01/2009 14:30 Comments ||
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#16
Not that Kaine wouldn't like to commute his sentence - Kaine's against the death penalty - but he's not that politically stupid.
IIRC Alabama has a hold on the dude for murder as well. If VA doesn't go through with it, they'll request extradition and stick him with a new date to meet his maker. We're just talking a delay here.
#17
Good to know, P2k, but I don't think it will be necessary. Kaine has refused to interfere with lesser murderers than Johnny-boy meeting their new roommates in HELL.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
11/01/2009 16:00 Comments ||
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#18
Veteran's Day. How appropriate.
Well, he did do something memorable for Poland on the day they got invaded by the Soviet Union....
[Al Arabiya Latest] Somali pirates said on Saturday that a captured British couple had been moved on shore from a container vessel and that there was a dispute between different groups over the two Britons.
Gunmen kidnapped Paul and Rachel Chandler, both in their 50s, last Friday soon after they left the Seychelles archipelago in the Indian Ocean and took them to the Somali coast.
One pirate told Reuters on Friday they had agreed on a $7 million ransom for the Britons, but others said it would only be decided once the couple were in a secure place on land.
The two Britons were moved from their yacht to a large container ship because the pirates feared foreign forces might try and rescue them. The gang that seized the Britons is finding a safe place on land to hold the two sailors.
"We were displeased by the men holding the British people. They were our friends. We helped them when a rescue operation was likely," pirate Hassan told Reuters.
"But they disrespected what we did for them. They took the pair yesterday to land and broke off relations," he said. "We are warning them it will lead to disaster for them. We will spare no efforts to foil them if they insist on separating from us."
Pirates have plagued busy shipping lanes off the coast of Somalia for several years. Foreign warships from 16 nations are patrolling the area to try and prevent hijacks, but the sea gangs are now hunting for ships far into the Indian Ocean.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/01/2009 00:00 ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] South Sudan's president on Saturday urged southerners to choose independence in a referendum if they wanted to be free, the closest he has come to calling publicly for the separation of the oil-producing region.
The south will vote in a referendum slated for January 2011 as part of the 2005 peace deal that ended Sudan's 22-year civil war--the African continent's longest armed conflict.
" If you want to vote for unity so that you will become a second class in your own country, that is your choice "
Salva Kiir
"You want to vote for unity so that you will become a second class in your own country, that is your choice," said Salva Kiir, speaking at Saint Teresa's Catholic Cathedral in the southern capital Juba at the end of a service.
"If you would want to vote for independence so that you are a free person in your independent state, that will be your own choice," said Kiir, a former guerrilla fighter who battled the government in Khartoum for over two decades.
"We will respect the choice of the people," he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/01/2009 00:00 ||
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The health of the Lockerbie bomber has "not deteriorated" since his release from prison three months ago -- despite doctors' assessments that he would have died by now, a senior source has told The Sunday Telegraph.
The disclosure will reignite the row over the release of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi on compassionate grounds despite his conviction for the murder of 270 people when Pan Am flight 103 exploded in mid-air over Lockerbie in 1988.
Megrahi, who is suffering terminal prostate cancer, was sent home to Libya to die after medical experts concluded in a report on July 30 he had just three months left to live. The time span was crucial because only prisoners with three months or less to survive are eligible for release on compassionate grounds.
Within three weeks of the medical examination by Professor Karol Sikora, one of Britain's leading cancer specialists, Megrahi was put on a plane and sent home to Tripoli to die.
But three months on from Prof Sikora's diagnosis, Megrahi is well enough to "walk and talk" and shows no sign of deterioration, according to a senior source involved in his release.
The source told The Sunday Telegraph: "His condition has not deteriorated in three months. He is pretty much in the same way as he was when this all started. He is just as he was. There is nothing that leads anyone to believe he is in any different condition to when he left Scotland."
A frail-looking Megrahi was able to walk with the aid of a stick when he arrived back in Tripoli, amid jubilant scenes in the Libyan capital that caused widespread anger in the US and elsewhere.
The source told The Sunday Telegraph that Megrahi, 57, is still able to talk and walk with a stick, contradicting claims from his family that he is bedridden, unable to speak and near to death.
"He can still walk and he can still talk," said the source.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/01/2009 00:00 ||
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#8
Deep-fried Mars bars? That's disgusting, Bright Pebbles. Unhealthy doesn't really matter for special treats -- about the only thing that can be said for birthday cake, f'r instance, is that it contains protein from the eggs and flour.
[Al Arabiya Latest] About 60 Yemeni Jews have moved to the United States since July under a clandestine operation by State Department officials to escape anti-Jewish attacks in their homeland, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday.
Only 200 to 300 Jews still live among Yemen's 23 million Muslims. The murder of a Jew last year, a Shiite revolt in northern Yemen and the growth of Sunni Islamist fervor have fuelled their desire to leave the Arabian Peninsula country.
"The operation followed a year of mounting harassment, and was plotted with Jewish relief groups while Washington was signaling alarm about Yemen," the Journal said.
State Department officials were not immediately available to comment on the story.
The journal said a first group of 17 arrived in New York on July 8, a day after leaving the Yemeni capital Sanaa on a flight for Frankfurt.
"In all, about 60 Yemeni Jews have resettled in the U.S. since July; officials say another 100 could still come," the paper said. "An undisclosed number of people have reached Israel," it added.
The Journal quoted Yair Yaish, head of the Yemenite Jewish Federation of America, as saying he was barraged with "desperate calls from the community here saying we have to do something to get our families out."
The U.S. ambassador in Sanaa urged Yemeni ministers to facilitate the departure, and the government eventually agreed to issue exit permits, it said.
"It was the embassy's view, and the Department concurred, that because of their vulnerability, we should consider them for resettlement," the paper quoted a spokeswoman for the State Department's Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration as saying.
The refugees are being settled in Monsey, New York, a suburban enclave of ultraorthodox Jews, the Journal said.
One man describing his final months in Yemen spoke of rocks shattering the windows of his house and car, the paper said. Another bore scars from rocks that hit his head and said he had not left his house for two months.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/01/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
ROPMA.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
11/01/2009 0:56 Comments ||
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I am still trying to understand why the Christians and other religious people in the world can not understand that Islam is out there to kill them. I know that money is the God in western world but I still doubt that majority of the western people are willing to sell their daughters and wives to be raped by Islamists. Well, if you are that stupid, have no spine or do not care what happens to your children in the future, what I could say. Folks, Europeans call us bloody Americans, because we still have our guns to defend our way of living. So where are those people hiding?.
#3
For one - these type of stories are _never_ reported by the mainstream media. See Beslan where the MSM went out of its way to protray the ISLAMIC TERRORISTS as 'gangsters' or 'hostage takers'- anything but terrorist. And they refused to mention the bayoneted babies or raped kids (both documented facts).
Second - Ever see a lobster being boiled slowly? As long as you increase the temp slowly the lobster has no objection to be boiled alive. 9/11 broke that - and the media (and Hollywood) have been trying to Lull is back to sleep ever sense. All the Deaths in Iraq are the fault of that George Bush, etc...
Third - we tend to think that there are no monsters out there - otherwise we would have to face them. Human nature. We have also had it beaten into us by a leftist education system that everything is _our_ fault because the west is basically EVIL and BAD. Slavery only happened in the USA, etc...
Fourth - Multiculturalism - All Cultures are equal (except Christianity and Judism which are the spawn of the devil).
#4
Shouldn't they be resettled in, oh I don't know, Israel? Less of a culture shock and Israel could benefit from the additional kindred people.
Posted by: ed ||
11/01/2009 7:25 Comments ||
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Ed,
they will probably settle in Israel
however, the govt of Yemen would get in trouble with some of its core followers if they were seen to be helping the Zionists
thus, some indirection is required
Posted by: lord garth ||
11/01/2009 7:34 Comments ||
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Not so sure. I seem to remember the Israelis airlifted out most the of the Yemeni Jews right after Israeli independence. There was also an airlift about one year ago. All the remaining Yemeni Jews would fit on one airliner with room for their farm animals.
Posted by: ed ||
11/01/2009 7:53 Comments ||
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#7
moved to the United States since July under a clandestine operation by State Department officials
Wonks at the State Department, please explain the need for a "clandestine operation." Oh, sorry, the Barry and WH Mooslim factor. How soon I forget.
#9
One thing, at least: the Jewish community will see to the needs of the immigrants, all sixty of them, just as they took care of providing jobs, housing, and English-language training to the Russian Jews who came here a generation ago.
I do find it hard to believe there are as many as 200-300 Jews still remaining in Yemen. The last I had read, the last eleven had been taken to Israel a few months ago... which would be after this lot.
Virtually the entire Jewish population emigrated from Yemen between June 1949 and September 1950 in what was deemed Operation Magic Carpet. Most now live in Israel [360,000], with some others in the United States [150,000], and fewer elsewhere.
Elsewhere in the article is mentioned that
Trades such as silver-smithing, blacksmiths, repairing weapons and tools, weaving, pottery, masonry, carpentry, shoe making, and tailoring were occupations that were exclusively taken by Jews
which would explain some part of the problems Yemen is experiencing today.
Radical Muslims, who are seeking to introduce Sharia laws in the UK, have said the British Queen will be forced to wear a burkha and cover up in public, according to a media report.
Abu Rumaysah, spokesman for pro-Sharia campaigners Islam4UK, said the Queen would be forced to cover up in public from head to foot, with only her eyes visible.
"If the Queen decides to go outside she is to cover herself like every other woman," Amjem Choudary, an extremist Islamist leader, was quoted as saying by the Daily Express.
Choudary, the right-hand man of exiled Islamist cleric Sheikh Omar Bakri Mohammed, earlier demanded the royal palace be renamed Buckingham Masjid, and the Mall, which approaches the palace, would become Masjid Road.
Choudary, who is leading the campaigning to introduce Sharia courts in the UK, claimed to have uncovered historical evidence which challenges the right of Queen Elizabeth II to live at the royal palace.
"We find ourselves in the year 2009, waiting for Rome to fall, waiting for the White House to fall and indeed waiting for Buckingham Palace to fall," he was quoted as saying by the British tabloid.
Choudary said once the Sharia was established the Queens official residence in London would have a dome fitted and a tannoy system to call followers to prayer.
The Islam4UK movement is made up of leading members of the banned radical al-Muhajiroun group which was once led by Choudary. Around 15 per cent of people convicted in the UK of terrorism-related offences in the last decade were either members of the group or had links to it, the report claimed.
The Obama administration has sent six Uighur Chinese detainees from the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to the Pacific island nation of Palau, an administration official and a rights group said Saturday. China has demanded the Uighurs be returned there, but the U.S. government has said it could not do so because they would face disassembly and organ-harvesting persecution.
#1
Their guilt or innocence aside, these personages symbolize the opening of the door to a de facto future Radical Islamist presence in Oceania = Cold War "American Lake" of the Pacific, to includ also on my home island of GUAM [CNMI + MICRONESIA].
THE USA, CHINA, + FUTURE NUCLEAR ISLAM/ISLAMISM [Milit-Terrorism] WILL ONE DAY GEOPOL FACE OFF ONE AGZ THE OTHER(S).
Muslims in the city of Detroit are preparing for the funeral of a prayers leader killed during an alleged shootout with federal agents.
A service for Luqman Ameen Abdullah, Imam of the Masjid Al-Haqq, has been set for Saturday morning at the Muslim Center in Detroit during which speakers will discuss pursuing "peace and reconciliation."
Abdullah was killed by the FBI on Wednesday in Detroit during raids in which a number of individuals were arrested on charges unrelated to terrorism.
According to a criminal complaint, the Imam had been accused of citing stories from the Quran and the life of the prophet Muhammad to justify "stealing, robbing and other illegal acts, as long as they profit Islam."
The FBI accused him of being "the radical leader of a Sunni Islam group in Detroit who expressed hatred for government and endorsed violence."
The claims have been dismissed as "utterly preposterous" by Abdullah's mosque.
The American Muslim Taskforce on Civil Rights and Elections (AMT), a coalition of major national Islamic organizations, has called for an independent investigation into the killing.
The coalition has also called on the FBI to refrain from linking the raids or the allegations against the suspects to the Muslim faith.
"Unless the FBI has evidence linking the criminal allegations to the religious affiliation of the suspects, we ask that federal authorities stop injecting religion into this case," it said in a statement.
"The unjustified linkage of this case to the faith Islam," the coalition added, "will only serve to promote an increase in existing anti-Muslim stereotyping and bias in our society."
Posted by: Fred ||
11/01/2009 00:00 ||
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The FBI accused him of being "the radical leader of a Sunni Islam group in Detroit who expressed hatred for government and endorsed violence." The claims have been dismissed as "utterly preposterous" by Abdullah's mosque.
Abdullah has told his flock: America must fall. He has encouraged the Muslims in his mosque to support Hizballah, the Taliban and Osama bin Laden.
We should be figuring out how to fight the Kuffar that is, unbelievers. We got to take out the U.S. government. The U.S. government is nothing but Kuffars. Among the unbelievers were FBI agents, about whom Abdullah declared: Deal with them, deal with them the way, the way they supposed to be dealt with . Its not that complicated, man .If they are coming to get me Ill just strap a bomb on and blow up everybody.
Abdullah found justification for all this in the Islamic holy book, the Quran, which he said justified stealing, robbing and other illegal acts, as long as they profit Islam.
Posted by: ed ||
11/01/2009 7:47 Comments ||
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#7
...killed during an alleged shootout...
You have got to be kidding me. Either a shootout occurred or it didn't. No wonder the MSM is dying.
#8
Alleged Muslims in the so-called city of Detroit[sic] are said to be preparing for the alleged funeral of a alleged leader said to have been killed during an alleged shootout with unknown assailants suspected of being federal agents.
I still remember from years ago a news broadcast where the "news" person said that the (named) victim was allegedly shot and that he had allegedly died.
They've been going downhill for a looooong time. The internet tubes have just accellerated the slide. Thanks, AlBore! :-D
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
11/01/2009 9:27 Comments ||
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#10
Has anyone seen a memorial fund for the Police dog slain in the line of duty?
[Dawn] President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari says the offensive in tribal regions that shelter Taliban fighters will press on until all the country's militants are wiped out, an apparent reaction to US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's warning that al-Qaida also needs to be targeted.
President Zardari, speaking Friday to members of his Pakistan People's Party, said the offensive 'was imperative and there was no turning back from it until the complete elimination of the militants,' according to a statement from his office.
Clinton said during a visit to Pakistan this week that once the South Waziristan operation was finished, Pakistan would have to 'try to root out other terrorist groups, or we're going to be back facing the same threats.'
Posted by: Fred ||
11/01/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUMS/TOPIX > INDIA THREATENS MILITARY RETALIATION AGZ NEW TERROR ATTACKS FROM PAKISTAN; + FM SAYS INDIA WILL ATTACK.
IRAN, now INDJUH, agz PAKISTAN > all thats missing is CHINA + RUSSIA, etc. THE HALLOWEEN-ALL SOULS DAY WEEKEND TAINT OVER YET!
[Dawn] Seven years ago, a little-known group called Jundallah emerged in Iran with claims to fight for the rights of minority Sunnis in the unruly tribal areas near the border with Pakistan, AP reports.
But just last week, Iranian leaders say, this shadowy group with reported connections to countries as diverse as the US, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia delivered a devastating attack on Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard. The Oct. 18 suicide bombing in an Iranian border village killed at least 42 people, including top Revolutionary Guard commanders.
The bombing suggests that ambitions by Jundallah -- the Soldiers of God -- have risen, and that the group is moving toward a wider uprising. Jundallah's attack on a Shia mosque in May and recent use of suicide bombers could point to the growing influence of militant extremist groups seeking a Sunni revolt against Shia control in Iran, experts say.
Recent Jundallah attacks 'express a clear will for a definitive rupture with the regime in Tehran,' said Stephane Dudoignon, a Paris-based researcher who specializes in the Baluchi region. 'It seems to be announcing an unprecedented escalation of violence in the months and years to come.'
Last week's bombing also shows how Jundallah has become a magnet for theories and suspicions. Immediately after the attack, leaders in Tehran drew a far-reaching web of accusations linking Jundallah to supporters in Pakistan, Britain and the United States. All three nations quickly rejected the claims.
The rumblings -- never clearly confirmed or debunked -- span from covert US aid, to indoctrination by extremists links to smuggling networks. Reports by regional experts and interviews with security officials, including a former military chief in Pakistan, suggest Jundallah has benefited from US and Pakistani help and, more recently, may have drifted closer to anti-Shia militants with links to Saudi Arabia.
The claims of Jundallah's outside contacts could not be independently verified. They lend support, however, to long-standing speculation of US and Pakistani encouragement to the group in efforts to rattle Iranian authorities with a low-level rebellion.
Gen. Aslam Beg, a former army chief of staff in Pakistan, told The Associated Press that the border village of Mand has been used as a staging point for US contacts with Jundallah. US aid also was funneled into the region through the Pakistani ports of Kot Kalmat and Jiwani, he alleged.
Beg, who left military service in the early 1990s, gave no other details or definitive timeline on the alleged US links to Jundallah, which operates in one of the most inaccessible areas in the region.
In an article for Time.com, former CIA field officer Robert Baer wrote that the CIA had 'sporadic' contact with Jundallah, but it was largely restricted to intelligence.
'A relationship with Jundallah was never formalized,' Baer wrote.
An officer with Pakistan's paramilitary Frontier Corps, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the topic, said he could shed no light on Beg's claims. But he added that Pakistan would never allow its territory to be used for attacks against a neighbor.
Officials in Washington and London also reject any links. Shortly after the suicide bombing, State Department spokesman Ian Kelly called claims of US involvement 'completely false.'
Yet Washington has been less clear on how it views Jundallah. The group has not been placed on any terrorist watch list or designation. Instead, it's been described in various US reports as an 'opposition group' or 'militant' faction.
A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss internal administration deliberations, said a decision on Jundallah could come soon, but declined to elaborate. Options include designating Jundallah a 'Foreign Terrorist Organization' or placing it to one of several other terrorism blacklists.
Britain, too, denies any ties and has condemned Jundallah attacks. 'They had nothing to do with the U.K.,' Britain's Foreign Office said in a statement.
Experts estimate Jundallah has between 250 and 1,000 fighters. They are believed bankrolled by kidnapping-for-ransom plots and smuggling goods, such as subsidized Iranian fuel, into fellow Balochi tribal areas in Pakistan and southern Afghanistan.
Jundallah's statements in the past have called for greater rights and prosperity for Iran's Balochi region, which is inaccessible to journalists. But a July report by the Norwegian Defense Research Establishment cites indications that Jundallah has been building ties to Pakistani militant groups, including Lashkar-e-Janghvi and Tehrik-e-Taliban.
Both groups are battling Pakistan's military offensive into its northwestern Waziristan region.
'The story of Jundallah is the story of how an ethnic resistance movement has transformed into a violent sectarian group adopting tactical and ideological elements from the global jihadi movement,' said the report.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/01/2009 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Jundullah
[Al Arabiya Latest] U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton failed on Saturday to persuade Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to resume talks with Israel, a spokesman for Abbas said, citing Jewish settlements as a stumbling block.
Clinton, ramping up efforts by U.S. President Barack Obama to revive negotiations suspended since December, flew to Israel after seeing Abbas in Abu Dhabi. She planned to hold an evening meeting in Jerusalem with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. "There was no breakthrough in the talks," Abbas's spokesman Nabil Abu Rdainah told Reuters by telephone. "Israel should honor its obligations especially with regards to the total halt on the settlements," Abbas told reporters after the meeting in Abu Dhabi, adding that no breakthrough had been reached.
"The problem with the Israeli government is that it refuses to stop building settlements," he said.
The Palestinians' chief negotiator Saeb Erakat told AFP the U.S. delegation informed them that Israel rejected calls for a complete freeze on settlement construction in the whole West Bank, including annexed Arab east Jerusalem.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/01/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Well, Hillary's job is done. Time for some 5 star hotel massage and dining. Perhaps some topless sunbathing in the Red Sea.
Posted by: ed ||
11/01/2009 8:48 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Well, Hillary's job is done. Time for some 5 star hotel
If only---but the historical pattern is "if Arabs won't make concessions, Israel can be forced to"
Ma'an -- Palestinian Authority security forces have arrested 11 Palestinians over the past week, according to a police report obtained by Ma'an on Saturday.
All were fugitives attempting to flee Jordan, the report said, pursued on various charges including money laundering and theft.
The same report, which was issued by the Jericho police media office, noted a decrease in traffic at the West Bank border.
Some 7,371 passengers departed for Jordan last week, including 149 foreigners and 21 Israeli ID holders, while some 6,500 arrived into the West Bank, among them 106 foreigners and 21 Israeli residents.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/01/2009 00:00 ||
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A top Iranian army commander says the West is using 'Wahhabi terrorism' to sow seeds of discord among Muslims around the world.
Chief-of-Staff of Iran's Joint Armed Forces, Major General Hassan Firouzabadi, says Wahhabi terrorists are helping arrogant powers achieve their goals in the region.
"Today Wahhabi thought is paving the way to legitimize the presence of US and NATO forces [in the region] but the United States and NATO will be burnt in this plot," Mehr news agency quoted Firouzabadi as saying.
The Iranian commander's comment came two weeks after at least 41 people, including seven senior commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), were killed in a bombing during a unity gathering of Shia and Sunni tribal leaders in the town of Pishin on the Iran-Pakistan border.
The Pakistan-based Jundallah terrorist group claimed responsibility for the deadly attack.
Spearheaded by Abdulmalek Rigi, Jundallah terrorists have staged a tidal wave of bombings and terrorist attacks in Iran, one of which left at least 25 Iranians dead in early June.
Abdulhamid Rigi, the apprehended brother of the Jundallah point man, told Press TV in a recent interview that Abdulmalek had held several "confidential" meetings with FBI and CIA agents in Karachi and Islamabad.
Firouzabadi went on to say that western plans for the region were behind the 'war, bloodshed and terror' in the Middle East.
"The aim of these brutal measures was to create discord among Muslim nations and prevent Muslim unity," he said.
During the past weeks, a series of terrorist attacks hit Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
The deadly attacks, were carried out by al-Qaeda and Salafi terrorists, claimed the lives of hundreds of people in the Islamic states.
Only in Iraq, twin car bombings in Baghdad killed more than 160 people and injured over 700 others last week.
And in Pakistan, an explosive laden car ripped through the crowded market in Peshawar and killed more than 105 people.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/01/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Dear Iranian Mullahs, did you think that after decades of promoting terrorism, that terrorism wouldn't be used against you and your regime?
That's one reason the Geneva Accords were written to restrict combat to uniformed soldiers. Once you break that taboo, it's all of the nasty things that came out of Pandora's Box.
Lebanon's envoy to the United Nations has warned of an imminent Israeli attack on his country, condemning the regime's recent artillery attack on the southern village of Houla.
Salaam condemned Israel's artillery fire which struck the village of Houla, saying the attack was a clear violation of Lebanon's sovereignty as well as of UN Resolution 1701. Israeli forces fired eight rockets at southern Lebanon after a Katyusha-type rocket landed east of the town of Kiryat Shmona.
Ambassador Noaf Salaam relayed a message to the United Nations secretary general and to the Security Council on Friday, warning that Israel's repeated threats against Lebanon indicated the regime's plan for an attack on the country, Lebanese daily Al-Hayyat reported.
Salaam condemned Israel's artillery fire which struck the village of Houla, saying the attack was a clear violation of Lebanon's sovereignty as well as of UN Resolution 1701.
The Israeli forces fired eight rockets at southern Lebanon on Tuesday after a Katyusha-type rocket landed in an open ground east of the town of Kiryat Shmona.
Salaam also said the Israeli response to every rocket attack from southern Lebanon hinders investigation into the attacks.
The last such attack occurred in September when two rockets struck northern Israel, prompting return fire.
While there was no immediate claim of responsibility for the rocket fire, Israeli officials said they held the Lebanese government responsible.
The Lebanese government however condemned both the rocket attacks, saying Beirut was committed to implementing UN Security Council resolution 1701 which ended the 33-day Israeli war against Lebanon in summer 2006.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/01/2009 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Hezbollah
Huge demonstration will defy Ahmadinejad on 30th anniversary of US embassy takeover
Students across Iran are planning to lead a huge day of protest this week against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's regime, in a defiant commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the US embassy takeover by radical students in Tehran.
Thousands of green flyers and posters, drawn by anonymous artists, are circulating on the internet, inviting ordinary Iranians to join the student protests, planned for Wednesday.
Organisers have condemned the repressive measures taken by Ahmadinejad's government since the disputed election results of the summer, which gave the Iranian president a second term and led to unprecedented demonstrations on the streets of Tehran and elsewhere. Opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi appeared to back the protests yesterday, posting a statement on a reformist website. Mousavi said he would press ahead with his efforts for political change.
Referring to the Iranian date of the seizing of the US embassy in 1979, Mousavi said: "The 13th of Aban is a... rendezvous so we would remember anew that among us it is the people who are the leaders."
Iran's police chief, Ismail Ahmadi-Moghadam, has warned demonstrators to stay off the streets, but activists predict one of the biggest days of protest since the height of the green marches.
A student of civil engineering at Amir Kabir University in Tehran, who wished to remain anonymous, said: "The officials are very afraid of the student movement, that's why they are preparing to crack down on 4 November. The protests in Iran have not cooled off, they're just beginning."
Iran's students were on vacation during the failed "Green Revolution" of June, when hundreds of thousands of protesters attempted to overturn the official election result, which gave Ahmadinejad a crushing victory over Mousavi.
But in recent months, despite the high-profile presence on campuses of security police, universities have become centres of underground protest and organisation. Dissent has also been expressed in schools. One teacher in a Tehran school told the Observer that such gestures of rebellion were widespread.
"It is amazing," he said, asking not to be named. "In the school where I'm teaching, students show their opposition in any way that they can find, whether it's by wearing a green wristband, green shirt, doing homework in green pen or writing slogans in toilets, on their desk or on the blackboard."
In an interview published on the Amir Kabir University student news website, Morteza Simiari, a leader of Iran's Student Organisation, Tahkim Vahdat, said: "The students who are protesting in universities today are the people who were out there in the streets in June and July and were mistreated. Universities are part of society and what is happening now shows that people do not believe the results in the election."
Authorities have closed 235 schools in Kashan, in the province of Isfahan, until Saturday, ostensibly as the result of a swine flu scare, although no cases of the virus have been reported.
Since the beginning of the academic year in Iran, students in Tehran, Isfahan, Shiraz, Karaj, Qazvin and other provincial cities have all held protests against the election results. Hundreds of students have as a result been summoned before disciplinary boards, some have been imprisoned and at least 20 expelled.
Government officials visiting universities have received stormy receptions. On 4 October, Mohammad Javad Larijani, a close ally of Ahmadinejad, visited Sharif University, where he was confronted by students shouting "Death to the dictator" and chanting in favour of Mousavi.
In Tehran, the private Azad University has been a hotbed of unrest, according to students. "Azad university protests were huge, so they [the authorities] used tear gas and wielded batons to calm down the situation," said one of the Azad protesters. "They bussed in militia from other universities. Recently 14 of us have been banned from class."
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/01/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Obviously Wahabi sympathizers.
Posted by: ed ||
11/01/2009 8:53 Comments ||
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In 2001, a few days before the Sept. 11 attacks, a German engineering student named Said Bahaji unexpectedly announced to his family he had a job waiting for him at a Pakistani computer company and he flew to Karachi, leaving behind his wife and infant son.
In the aftermath of the attacks, Mr. Bahaji, the Muslim son of a German mother and Moroccan father, was found to have rented and shared an apartment with two suspected World Trade Center hijackers, including Mohammed Atta, the believed ringleader, and a third Arab man who tried to take flying lessons in the United States. Little had been heard from Mr. Bahaji since then until this week, when a German passport believed to be his was recovered by Pakistani troops in an abandoned militant compound.
Pakistani authorities suspect Mr. Bahaji is one of the al Qeada leaders helping the Taliban fight government forces in the rugged South Waziristan region.
U.S. and German investigators believe he helped the Hamburg based terrorists with logistics like obtaining travel documents and setting up computers.
Even before Sept. 11, 2001, German authorities thought Mr. Bahaji was up to something. Born in Germany, he spent most of his youth on his father's family's large farming estate in northern Morocco. He returned to Germany in 1996 to attend a technical university in Harburg, a working-class suburb of Hamburg.
At that time, Mr. Bahaji held moderate beliefs, and even had a love affair with a Catholic woman he met in a year-long preparatory program for foreign students, according to close relatives who spoke to The Wall Street Journal. Heartbroken when it ended, he sought solace in Islam and at al-Quds, a Hamburg mosque frequented by extremists, these relatives said.
A common story.
There he got to know Mamoun Darkazanli, a Syrian merchant who shared a bank account with a man believed to have masterminded the 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa. Because of his association with Mr. Darkazanli, Mr. Bahaji was watched for a time by German police.
What they saw seemed like a normal student. Called for military service, Mr. Bahaji moved out of student dorm and in November 1998 rented an apartment with Mr. Atta and Ramzi Binalshibh, the Yemeni whose efforts to take flying lessons in the U.S. were foiled when he was denied a visa. Mr. Binalshibh was eventually captured and has been held since then at Guantanamo Bay.
A part-time resident of the apartment Mr. Bahaji rented was Marwan Al-Shehhi, the suspected pilot of the second plane to hit the World Trade Center.
In August 1999 Mr. Bahaji he moved out of the apartment and in October married Nese Kul, an 18-year old he met through her stepfather, Ibrahim Scholz, a German convert to Islam. The wedding at al-Quds was attended by many university friends, including Messrs. Atta, Al-Shehhi, Binalshibh and Darkazanli. A year and a half later, Ms. Bahaji gave birth to a son, Omar, who has the dark eyes and hair of his father, relatives said.
Family members said Mr. Bahaji was thrilled to be a father, but three months later he sent an email to his mother saying he would probably have to go away an unexpected "internship" to complete his degree, perhaps as soon as Aug. 20 and perhaps even abroad, "if God wills it."
On Sept. 2, 2001, Mr. Bahaji's sister Maryam, Mr. Scholz, and Nese Bahaji's mother Aise gathered at the cramped Bunatwiete apartment to wish him off. The following day, Mr. Scholz drove Mr. Bahaji to the airport and he boarded the plane, investigators now know, with two men traveling with false identities.
Within hours after the World Trade Center collapsed, investigators spotted the link between Mr. Atta and Mr. Bahaji. At 2 a.m. on Sept. 12, German police raided into Mr. Bahaji's Harburg apartment. Letters and phone calls from Mr. Bahaji to his mother and other relatives have been intercepted by authorities. He last called his mother, Anneliese Bahaji, in 2007, according to people familiar with the evidence German authorities have gathered.
#1
He was a moderate until a Catholic girl broke up with him. (she didn't want to share him with the goats)
So you see, it's all the Christians' fault.
/sarc off
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
11/01/2009 13:12 Comments ||
Top||
#2
three months later he sent an email to his mother saying he would probably have to go away an unexpected "internship" to complete his degree, perhaps as soon as Aug. 20 and perhaps even abroad, "if God wills it."
#3
Of interest, two Morroccans with Iowa connections were arrested on terrorism charges since 2001. Hmimssa had lived in an apartment two 9-11 hijackers had shared in Chicago, making false idnetification for a living. Elamrdoudi and others attempted to get a fraudulent social security number. Link here: United States Attorney's Office Northern District of IowaFile
#4
Okay, a few misspellings and a broken linkie. I meant indentification and Elmardoudi and have no idea how to embed the correct link.
omaha.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/2008/om031408.pdf
#5
Anyway, my point was that there may be a case for a Moroccan cell rather than a German one. Hmimssa and Elmardoudi both had similar links to the hijackers, sharing apartments with them and making the bogus ID's and credit cards used.
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.
At a former al-Qaida stronghold southeast of the Afghan capital, a state-owned Chinese company is at work on a $3 billion mine project to tap one of the world's largest unexploited copper reserves, a potential financial boon for an impoverished country mired in war.
In this year's American defense budget, over a billion dollars is allocated, in effect, to bribe Afghan tribal leaders. This is not something new. U.S. commanders have been buying the loyalty (or at least neutrality) of dozens of Afghan warlords and tribal leaders since 2001.
OPPOSITION candidate Abdullah Abdullah announced that he was pulling out of this week's run-off presidential election in Afghanistan.
[Iran Press TV Latest] Pro-Taliban and al-Qaeda-linked militants have reportedly been outfitted with state-of-the-art American arms and other weaponry made in the US-allied states, including Israel, Germany and India. 
U.S. President Barack Obama is unlikely to make a decision on his Afghanistan strategy and sending thousands more troops there before he embarks on his trip to Asia on Nov. 11, a senior administration official said on Saturday. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, stressed that while a decision was unlikely before then, it had not been ruled out.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Somali pirates said on Saturday that a captured British couple had been moved on shore from a container vessel and that there was a dispute between different groups over the two Britons.
[Al Arabiya Latest] South Sudan's president on Saturday urged southerners to choose independence in a referendum if they wanted to be free, the closest he has come to calling publicly for the separation of the oil-producing region.
The health of the Lockerbie bomber has "not deteriorated" since his release from prison three months ago -- despite doctors' assessments that he would have died by now, a senior source has told The Sunday Telegraph. 
[Al Arabiya Latest] U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton failed on Saturday to persuade Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to resume talks with Israel, a spokesman for Abbas said, citing Jewish settlements as a stumbling block.
Ma'an -- Palestinian Authority security forces have arrested 11 Palestinians over the past week, according to a police report obtained by Ma'an on Saturday. 
Huge demonstration will defy Ahmadinejad on 30th anniversary of US embassy takeover
