British Prime Minister in a surprise visit to southern Afghanistan on Sunday hailed the next months as critical.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown arrived on a previously unannounced visit two weeks after ordering 500 extra British troops into the war alongside a surge of 30,000 American forces as part of a new US strategy.
He held talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai at a military base in Kandahar, the birthplace of Taliban militants and one of the deadliest battlefields for foreign troops for the past eight years.
"I think it's very important to say that the combined effort of allied forces with the Afghan government is the way we will defeat the insurgency, the way we will stop Al Qaeda having any space to operate in Afghanistan," he told a news conference with President Karzai.
He arrived in the Afghan capital, Kabul, after his visit to Kandahar for further talks with Afghan officials.
"I think the next few months are obviously critical," Brown earlier told reporters travelling with him.
Brown has been more prominent than other Western leaders in voicing mounting criticism of the government of Karzai.
The Afghan leader lashed back in an interview last week in Kabul, saying comments from the British Prime Minister were "very unfortunate and very artificial. It is extremely insulting".
This year 100 British soldiers have been killed in the fiercest fighting of the eight-year-old war, fuelling opposition in London to the British forces' involvement.
Brown has been a strong supporter of US President Barack Obama's new counter-insurgency strategy, which involves sending tens of thousands of additional troops and speeding up the training of Afghan forces.
Other NATO allies, including Britain, have pledged an extra 7,000 troops to help turning around the stalemated mission in Afghanistan.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/14/2009 00:00 ||
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WORLD NEWS > OBAMA SAYS HE WILL KNOW BY 2011 IFF HIS PLAN IS A SUCCESS.
* TOPIX/WOLRD NEWS > EXPERTS: CAPTURE OR DEATH OF OSAMA BIN LADEN WILL NOT END TERROR THREAT + OSAMA BIN LADEN: SYMBOLIC ICON IN AN IMPENETRABLE FORTRESS.
#2
Lest we fergit, 1990's + PRE-, POST-911 NET > thanz in part to OSAMA, etal. + RADICAL ISLAM'S GLOBAL-SCOPED, ANTI-US WEST JIHAD, the USA MAY HAVE TO INDUCE OWG-NWO, includ SOCIALIST-GOVTIST WORLD ORDER [SWO-GWO], REGARDLESS OF WHETHER IT + MAINTSREAM AMERICA WANT IT OR NOT, espec iff the Top-Mid Leadership of Radic Islam prove elusive + LONGER IN TIME THE US CHOOSES TO PROTRACTIVELY TREAT OR FIGHT A TOTE WAR = WAR OF ANNIHILATION, WHICH IS WHAT THE ISLAMIST JIHAD COVERTY TRULY IS DESPITE ANY PC RHETORIC OR DIPLOMACY TO THE CONTRARY, AS A KOREA OR VIETNAM-STYLE STYLE "POLICE ACTION" [Limited War = Limited Conventional War, Brush War].
Again, RADIC MULLAHS > 1990's - PRESENT > BETTER FOR THE ENTIRE/WHOLE WORLD TO BE DESTROYED, THAN FOR ISLAM includ ISLAMISM-JIHADISM TO NOT RULE.
[Al Arabiya Latest] The two main political parties in Sudan's north and south reached agreement on Sunday on democratic reforms, defusing a row that threatened to undermine a peace accord.
The south's dominant Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) joined a coalition government with President Omar Hassan al-Bashir's northern National Congress Party (NCP) as part of a 2005 accord to end more than two decades of war.
Relations between the former foes have been strained, most recently last week when Khartoum authorities arrested two senior SPLM officials and scores of their supporters during a protest.
Analysts have warned of a risk of a return to conflict if the parties could not agree terms for laws supposed to pave the way to elections, due in April, and a referendum on southern independence in 2011. Both were promised under the peace deal.
"We have reached agreement on three very important laws which have been grounds for serious disagreements between the two parties," SPLM secretary general Pagan Amum told reporters.
He was speaking after a meeting between President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, who heads the NCP, and south Sudan's president and SPLM leader Salva Kiir.
Amum said the laws covered the national referendum, a consultation exercise for people living in boundary areas between north and south Sudan and a referendum on whether the oil-producing region of Abyei should join the south.
NCP official Nafie Ali Nafie also confirmed a deal on those issues had been reached during the meeting.
Amum said the two sides also agreed to form a committee to discuss remaining issues, including differences over a security bill which the SPLM has argued gave too many powers to security services.
Both sides have met repeatedly over the past year to try to break a deadlock on the bills. The parties have announced breakthroughs before that failed to end long term wrangling over the details of the peace accord.
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12/14/2009 00:00 ||
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[Ma'an] The head of the delegation of members of the Palestinian Reconcilliation Committee, Iyad As-Sarraj, denied on Sunday reports that Egyptian Intelligence chief Omar Suleiman would soon submit his resignation.
As-Sarraj was responding to reports that Suleiman would leave his post if asked to include Hamas' amendments in the Egyptian proposal, according to a statement released on Sunday.
As-Sarraj added that the aim of publishing such reports was to distort and obstruct the committee's work, following the extensive response they have received in Cairo by Egyptian officials, insisting that there are many positive outcomes to the visit.
Last week, a delegation of members from various Palestinian political parties went to Cairo to discuss the Egyptian-backed reconcilliation document aimed at ending Hamas-Fatah rivalry in the occupied Palestinian territories.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/14/2009 00:00 ||
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Yemen's Houthi fighters say Saudi Arabia continues to strike Yemeni villages using phosphorus bombs, as the fight between security forces and fighters goes on in northern Yemen.
The Houthis have reported that at least two women and a child were killed in the latest raids. The attacks targeted a refugee camp as well as different neighborhoods in the northwestern province of Sa'ada.
The Houthi fighters say Saudi forces launched over 230 rockets into Yemeni territory on Saturday night alone.
The Yemeni military has launched a major offensive, dubbed 'Operation Scorched Earth', against Houthi Shias in the northern sector of the country. The government accuses the fighters led by Abdul Malik al-Houthi of seeking to restore the imamate system, which was overthrown in a 1962 coup.
The Yemeni military has declared that it has killed some fighters who were trying to infiltrate a military base in the al-Maghash area.
The Houthis argue, however, that they are defending their rights against government marginalization, a policy which they believe has been adopted under pressure from Saudi-backed Wahhabi extremists.
The Saudi Arabian government has added to the problem by launching its own offensive against the fighters. While Riyadh insists that it is targeting Houthi positions on 'Saudi territory,' the fighters say Saudi Arabia is bombing Yemeni villages with chemical weapons and causing the death of Shia civilians.
International aid agencies and the UN bodies have voiced concern over the dire condition of the Yemeni civilians who have become the main victims of the conflict in Yemen.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/14/2009 00:00 ||
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Don't worry. UN will save you---after they finish dealing with Yehud.
#7
At least the Saudis are not firing depleted jewranium tank rounds like the wretched Crusaders do.
Jewranium, nice! I'll have to remember that one, and try to pass it as my creation when everybody will have forgotten it's from you. And, as you note, it's not *enriched*, but *depleted* jewranium, because joooos are stingy.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Unnamed intelligence sources on the Saudi-Yemeni border detected a secret meeting between Yemen's Houthi rebels and an official from Iran's Revolutionary Guard and top Hezbollah leaders, press reports revealed Sunday.
Arab and Egyptian sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that the meeting was held last month to plan for an escalation of the conflict between the Shiite rebels and the Yemeni and Saudi forces, London-based Asharq al-Awsat reported.
According to the sources, Yemen's refusal to receive Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki for the second time was motivated by knowledge of the meeting which Yemen sees as proof Tehran is backing the Houthis.
The Yemeni army says it recently thwarted several attempts by Iranian ships to smuggle weapons to the rebels. The ships in question, however, did not bear any official flag.
The sources told Asharq al-Awsat they were surprised by Jeffery Feltman's, principal deputy assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern Affairs, statements that there is no evidence supporting the involvement of Iran in the Houthi conflict.
"Many of our friends and partners have talked to us about the possibility of outside support to the Houthis and we have heard the theories about Iranian support to the Houthis," Feltman said in a regional security conference held in Bahrain.
"To be frank, we don't have independent information about this," he concluded.
Meanwhile, Ali Mohamed al-Ansi, director of the Yemeni National Security Bureau, said there is strong evidence that Iran is backing the Houthi rebels but he cannot disclose details to the media.
"The ship Yemen intercepted in October was smuggling arms to the Houthis," he said on the fringes of the Manama dialogue, the conference held in the Bahraini capital to discuss the strategic and security challenges facing the Gulf region. "We also have proof that it was coming from Eritrea."
In addition to Iran, Ansi said Houthi rebels are also backed by al-Qaeda.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/14/2009 00:00 ||
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#2
remember Colin Powell's words during The First Gulf War?
"First you cut it off...then you kill it..."
the Houthi's made a bad bad mistake. Yemen is Moslems killing Moslems.Yeah.
The Iranians are trying to get munitions and arms in... but the US Navy is making sure the coast is patrolled..quite effectively.
Iran is dividing and polarizing the Middle Eastern Moslems very efficiently. They will never become" united".
BOTH sides can be fed ( marketed ) just enough from the wings to keep them flailing and bleeding and dragging each other down. Moslems gnawing on each other's heads, ya'know.
Saudi proper is using White Phosphorous on the Houthi villages and we can sell the Saudi boatloads of " nape and snake " , refugees in piles. The Houthis have no counter to air strikes. Iran has the expense. Jihadis get toasted ...and a bird's gotta eat.
Ah, Islam...Paradise by any other name.
What IS that smell?
A British court issued an arrest warrant for Israel's former foreign minister over war crimes allegedly committed in Gaza this year -- only to withdraw it when it was discovered that she was not in the UK, it emerged today.
Tzipi Livni, a member of the war cabinet during Operation Cast Lead, had been due to address a meeting in London on Sunday but cancelled her attendance in advance. The Guardian has established that Westminster magistrates' court issued the warrant at the request of lawyers acting for some of the Palestinian victims of the fighting but it was later dropped.
The warrant marks the first time an Israeli minister or former minister has faced arrest in the UK and is evidence of a growing effort to pursue war crimes allegations under "universal jurisidiction". Israel rejects these efforts as politically motivated, saying it acted in self-defence against Hamas rocket attacks from Gaza.
Livni, head of the opposition Kadima party, played a key role in decisions made before and during the three-week offensive. Palestinians claim 1,400 were killed, mostly civilians; Israel counted 1,166 dead, the majority of them combatants.
No one involved in the Westminster episode was prepared to confirm, on the record, what had transpired in a chaotic series of highly sensitive legal moves. But a pro-Palestinian group welcomed news of the abortive move as "long overdue".
The Foreign Office, clearly deeply embarrassed by the episode, said in a statement: "The UK is determined to do all it can to promote peace in the Middle East and to be a strategic partner of Israel. To do this, Israel's leaders need to be able to come to the UK for talks with the British government. We are looking urgently at the implications of this case."
The Rt Rev Stephen Venner acknowledged that his comments in a Daily Telegraph interview appeared ''incredibly insensitive'' and stressed his support for British troops in Afghanistan.
In the interview the bishop warned against demonising the Taliban and argued that the attitude towards insurgents in the conflict-ravaged country had been ''too simplistic''.
He told The Daily Telegraph: ''There's a large number of things that the Taliban say and stand for which none of us in the West could approve, but simply to say therefore that everything they do is bad is not helping the situation.
''The Taliban can perhaps be admired for their conviction to their faith and their sense of loyalty to each other.''
One MP accused him of offering ''comfort and succour to our enemies'' with his remarks.
Bob Russell, Liberal Democrat member for the garrison town of Colchester in Essex, said: ''Why did he not talk about the loyalty of our troops?
''The bishop would have been well advised to concentrate on boosting the morale of our armed forces rather than boosting the morale of our enemy.''
Bishop Venner later apologised for his comment, saying it was ''one small phrase in quite a long interview'' intended to suggest that not all members of the Taliban were ''equally evil''.
He told the BBC: ''If that has caused offence, I am deeply grieved by it because that's the very last thing that I would want to do.''
The bishop also issued a statement condemning the Taliban's tactics and expressing his backing for UK forces.
He said: ''The way that the Taliban are waging war in Afghanistan is evil, both in their use of indiscriminate killing and their terrorising of the civilian population. No religion could condone their actions.
''I give my full support to the British and allied troops who are engaged in the country, seeking to work with the Afghan government to bring stability, democracy and an enduring peace.
''I acknowledge that long-lasting peace will not be achieved without both defeating the Taliban militants and, over time, by encouraging them to forsake the path of war and to be involved in the future of Afghanistan.
''Senior military and civilian leaders have expressed similar views and I support their position.
''We have also to distinguish between the militant Taliban and those of their number who are fighting because they have been coerced into doing so and who fear for their lives if they do not. Clearly, it is only those who reject military action with whom we could talk.''
Bishop Venner was recently commissioned in his new role by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams.
Five men who conspired to wage violent jihad in Sydney have shown no remorse for their evil scheme and remain a danger to the public, a court has heard. The men, who cannot be named online for legal reasons,
Interesting laws those Ozzies have. But, I imagine the Rantburg archives have their names from the time of their arrests.
were found guilty by a jury in October of conspiring to do acts in preparation for a terrorist act or acts on Australian soil.
In a sentencing hearing, Crown Prosecutor Richard Maidment, QC, has called for three of the men to be jailed for a minimum of 20 years, with longer terms imposed on the two alleged ring-leaders.
"Given that the evidence points to a high level of defiance on the part of these offenders and no evidence of any retraction of their extremist views, we would submit that they are all very poor candidates for rehabilitation and will remain a danger to the public for many years to come," Mr Maidment said. "The court can have no confidence that when they are released from prison, they will be anything other than still a danger to the public."
Mr Maidment said the men's intentions in stock-piling weapons, ammunition and ingredients to make explosives, which some stored in their homes, was to cause damage to property and pose "a serious risk to human life."
"It is tempting...to say that one can deduce beyond reasonable doubt an intent to kill. However, it is not clear that the accused had reached a final conclusion as to what terrorist act to carry out," he said.
Lawyers for two of the men argued their clients did not deserve such lengthy sentences. Richard Button, SC, said his client had no prior criminal history and was "a happy-go-lucky, unsophisticated fellow - one of the boys." He said a "stern sentence, but not a disproportionately crushing one" was in order.
He added it was impossible to predict the prospects of his client's rehabilitation "decades hence." "There will be ample time for reflection," he said.
Representing another of the men, Dina Yehia told the court her client was severely depressed due to the conditions in prison and his wife and children not visiting him for more than a year. She said he had not played a leading role in the conspiracy and had not paid for any of the chemicals or ammunition found in their homes, therefore a sentence of less than 20 years would be more appropriate.
Four of the men have been in jail since their arrest in November 2005, with the fifth arrested a month later. The sentencing hearing will resume on Wednesday.
This is a pdf file of a letter signed by 40 members of Congress to Major General Charles Cleveland, Commander of Special Operations Command Central, asking for all charges against the SEALs to be dropped. Copies of the letter were sent to the President, Defense Secretary Gates, and Admiral Mullin, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/14/2009 19:25 ||
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The chain and staff had better recall Tailhook and its effect with Congress on the promotion of personal caught up in the event. If someone is out to make a point in one organization, it doesn't preclude another organization in making a point with you.
ISLAMABAD: The PML-Q on Sunday questioned the government's silence on allowing the United States to allegedly exporting terrorism to Pakistan. "There is a major contradiction in the statements of the US Secretary of State, Clinton, and US nationals' transgression in Pakistan, and if the US doesn't wish to act as a patron, it has no business exporting terrorism to Pakistan in the form of US nationals recently caught in Pakistan, planning terror attacks along with al-Qaeda," PML-Q leader Marvi Memon told The News.
She criticised the government's helplessness as accepted by Interior Minister Rehman Malik that they could not take legal action against foreign nationals "caught in aiding terrorism in Pakistan".
"Rehman Malik owes the nation an apology for not fulfilling his promise to resign since Vanity Fair magazine story has proven that Blackwater existed in Pakistan for drone loading and for killing Dr AQ Khan," she added. She also demanded a special parliamentary session to give instructions to the government as to how to deal with the alleged US transgressions so that Pakistan's sovereignty was not made a mockery of and national security was not further compromised. She said this was in direct contrast to Obama's statement of asking Pakistan for helping the US against al-Qaeda.
Marvi said that parliament should be provided with the list of 9,236 visas given by Ambassador Husain Haqqani to Americans during the past four months with details of where each US citizen was stationed and for what purpose. She said parliament was not being allowed to check these nationals as all adjournment motions on this subject were disallowed in parliament. "If parliament is blocked from doing its job, it would be considered as a massive breach of parliamentary privilege." Marvi said if the government had any iota of sovereignty and national self-respect, it would call the US ambassador to the Foreign Office for explaining national policy on our security forces, having right to stop any vehicle for checking. "And after that if any US nationals resist Pakistani security officials from checking their vehicles, they should be dealt with firmly," she added.
She said the recent incidence of fake car number plates, carrying a US citizen, merited the summoning of the US ambassador. However, she said that since the government was busy securing its power, it had accepted the US colonial behaviour and not reacted proportionately. "It is clear from the US nationals behaviour that they saw their role as patrons and colonialists. Kerry Lugar Bill has legalised US colonialism in Pakistan," she added. She said patriotic parliamentarians would resist any efforts by the US to allow deportation of alleged US terrorists.
Posted by: john frum ||
12/14/2009 12:25 ||
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Looks like the State Department's junket for Marvi and friends earlier this year didn't change opinions.
Marvi Memon, a member of the Pakistan Muslim League and the Pakistan National Assembly, along with four other Pakistani women, was invited by the State Department to the United States for a twenty-one day visit. While in the U.S., the women will travel to Minneapolis/St. Paul; Houston, Texas; and Raleigh, North Carolina. They will also meet with members of Congress, officials from the State Department, CIA, National Security Council, and the Agency for International Development.
KARACHI: Floating the idea of a change in the Pakistani society, Jamaat-e-Islami's top leadership at a congregation of the JI's workers unanimously blamed the United States' agencies for terrorism, chaos and anarchy in Pakistan.
"The US wants international control on the Pakistani nukes, and terrorism is just a pretext to achieve that target," said JI's chief Munawar Hassan at a one-day training congregation held at Nishtar Park on Sunday.
Elderly people as well as women with children also attended the congregation. They carried flags and raised slogans in support of the JI's manifesto, and condemned the US and anti-Islamic forces. He said the US also wanted to impose its decision about Kashmir on Pakistan, and its allies want to declare Pakistan as an unsafe state. "No Muslim is involved in suicidal attacks in Pakistan, and rather Blackwater (Xe) - a US private contractor - and Indian agents are involved in these incidents," he said. Hassan expressed dissatisfaction over the lack of action by the government against India, and urged the foreign minister and interior minister to "take concrete measures against India for its dirty role in Pakistan".
He said that officials of the US agencies as well as Blackwater were being held on a daily basis but they were being released on the directives of the interior minister, who regularly denies its presence in Pakistan. He said the interior minister should defend Pakistan instead of the US interests. The JI chief asked the COAS Ashfaq Pervez Kiyani to prove the army's performance and success by producing the 10-month performance report of the military operation. "Terrorists had reached the military GHQ and remained there for more than 24 hours, so why should we believe in the success of the Army operation," he questioned and added that the operation caused an increase in terrorist attacks.
He demanded the government to immediately stop the operation and opt for negotiation, and added that the offensive had displaced more than five million people. He said the JI would stage a countrywide three-day protest on December 14, 15 and 16 against India for resorting to water aggression and turning Pakistan into a desert. He also said the war against terrorism is only targeting Muslims, and therefore is a war against Islam. JI's deputy chief Sirajul Haq and Foreign Affairs head Abdul Ghaffar Aziz in their address lashed out at the US-led Islamophobia. Aziz said Palestine's Hamas, the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood and Islamists in Tunis and Turkey were heading to their goals patiently but successfully. Nasarullah Shajji was the in-charge of the congregation and JI's Mohammad Hussain Mehanti, Merajul Huda and Dr Shahid Hashmi also spoke on the occasion.
Posted by: john frum ||
12/14/2009 12:19 ||
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Mooselimb introspection at its finest.........
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
12/14/2009 12:26 Comments ||
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Mooselimb introspection at its finest...
Vast towering edifices built on a gossamer foundation of facts, supported by the most tenuous threads of logic. It truly is one of God's Wonders. I just hope He doesn't hurt Himself laughing.
The head of the US Central Command, General David Petraeus, has urged Islamabad to take action against the supposed Pakistan-based leadership of the Taliban.
"It would be very helpful if additional pressure could be put (by Pakistan) on the leadership of the elements that are causing problems in Afghanistan," Petraeus said on Sunday.
The general, the former head of the US forces in Iraq who currently directs the US military's operations overseas, claimed this would bring about "the really significant progress in Afghanistan that will be necessary over time."
More than eight years after the so-called counterinsurgency operations in Afghanistan, the United States has failed to bring any sign of stability to the war-torn country.
The operations have also caused many thousands of civilian mortalities, while failing to eliminate any key militant element.
Washington has, meanwhile, been linking the Pakistan-rooted militancy to the Taliban. Based on the claim, the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in cooperation with the Pentagon has been launching deadly missile strikes on Afghanistan's common border with Pakistan.
Analysts say the claims that the Taliban leadership escaped the US military into Pakistan justify the ineffectiveness of the US operations in Afghanistan, while paving the way for the US military presence in Pakistan.
Under the US pressure, Islamabad has also been cracking down on gunmen in its northwestern tribal area of South Waziristan. The raids have rendered thousands of locals homeless.
"We have put in a lot of pressure. And we intend to continue to do that," said Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/14/2009 00:00 ||
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[Quqnoos] Pakistani Prime Minister said Saturday the country's army had driven the Taliban out of South Waziristan.
Later, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said the military operations in the area were not over.
About 30,000 troops poured into South Waziristan, a Taliban stronghold, in October to clear the tribal district of Taliban strongholds, prompting a surge in bomb blasts and attacks in retaliation.
"The operation has finished in South Waziristan. Now there is a discussion of taking it to Orakzai Agency," Gilani told reporters in a visit to Lahore.
Later, in the southern port city of Karachi, Gilani took a more cautious stance.
"If somebody gathered an impression that the military operation would be concluded, it could have been in a different context," the Associated Press of Pakistan quoted him as saying.
"This operation has continued with great success and the strongholds of militants have been captured and a large quantity of weapons and ammunition has been recovered.
"I cannot give the time-frame when we will conclude military operation in South Waziristan, but I can at least provide this information that success rate is very high in this area," he said.
He said that militants would be pursued if they took refuge in other places such as Orakzai, to which many are thought to have fled.
"We will take military action wherever we get information about the presence of militants," he said.
Pakistani armed forces this year launched multiple operations across the northwestern tribal belt bordering Afghanistan, the stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban and a haven for Al-Qaeda fighters and other militants.
More than 2,680 people have been killed in militant attacks in Pakistan since July 2007.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/14/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
hold and build people. Just clearing isnt enough, or the rats will scurry back. caution makes sense.
but do the Paks have the troops to be able to hold S.Waziristan and also seriously deal with another province
-Yes I know they have 1M or so in Army but the number able to carry out an intense op is probably only 10% of that and they need reliable and capable troops elsewhere.
Posted by: lord garth ||
12/14/2009 12:43 Comments ||
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[Geo News] Jamiat Ulema-I-Islam-F leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman said on Sunday Pakistan's nuclear assets are more under American threat than that of Taliban. The Americans have taken over Islamabad and turned it into a mini pentagon, he told newsmen in Islamabad. Rehman said talks in Balochistan while military operation in Waziristan reflect the doublestandard of the government. Taliban had given the mandate for talks but the government had adopted the course of power, he opined. Â"We are not even in favor of armed struggle let alone suicide attacks,Â" The situation has now changed after the operation, Fazl said, adding that he is not sure whether or not Taliban will agree on talks.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/14/2009 00:00 ||
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Pakistani and foreign currency worth more than Rs500 million was looted from a private bank branch near I.I Chundrigar Road on Sunday.
Police have recovered some of the looted foreign currency from the house of a police officer who is also under suspicion of involvement in the robbery.
Reports suggest that it is the biggest bank robbery in the history of Pakistan. Private security guards hired the bank, are suspected of being involved in the robbery.
However, police have recovered some of the looted foreign currency from the house of a police officer who is also under suspicion of involvement in the robbery.
According to police sources, the license of the private security company has already been cancelled whose security guards are suspected of being involved in the bank robbery.
Police have arrested two accused and further investigation is in progress. It is said that around 80,000 private security guards are hired by various institutions including banks in Pakistan without their proper registration with police.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/14/2009 00:00 ||
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#2
Suggests that the opium war has been more effective than I'd have thought, assuming that the malefactors are politicals and not just free-range assholes.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
12/14/2009 13:46 Comments ||
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What about BCCI?
Wasn't that the biggest bank looting in Pakiwaki history?
After all it financed the Pakistan bomb and caused the bank failures in the 80s.
[Al Arabiya Latest] General David Petraeus, who now heads the United States Central Command, gave an exclusive interview to Al Arabiya on Sunday where he discussed Washington's support of Yemen and Iraq and Syria's relationship.
The general stated that the U.S. is providing security support to Yemen within the framework of military cooperation provided by Washington to its allies in the region. He emphasized that the U.S. ships found in Yemen waters are not only there for monitoring but for also for hindering the flow of arms to Houthi rebels.
Petraeus added that he has asked Syria to exert greater effort to prevent terrorist infiltrators from passing through its territory into Iraq. He revealed that the recent drop in the number of infiltrators from 110 to less than 10 per month was due to al-Qaeda movement restrictions and not because of Syrian efforts.
Petraeus also revealed that officials from the Iraq's former regime are currently n Syria, including Izzat al-Douri, Saddam Hussein's former vice president. The officials, he said, are living in Syria with complete freedom and some even own satellite channels. The general emphasized that this has created tension between Iraq and Syria. He said Iraqis hope that Damascus will limit the activities of Saddam Hussein's remaining supporters who are now calling for a change in Iraq's new regime.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/14/2009 00:00 ||
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The officials, he said, are living in Syria with complete freedom and some even own satellite channels.
Sounds like the kind of situation that calls for a drone zap.
[Ma'an] The military wing of Hamas, the Al-Qassam Brigades, says it is attempting to regroup in the West Bank and resume its resistance of the Israeli occupation.
"Nobody will be able to uproot resistance, and if they affect us, that will not last long ... The Mujahidin [religious combatants] of Al-Qassam Brigades will remain positioned in their bunkers, protecting the Gaza borders during the central festival commemorating Hamas' 22nd anniversary," the group's spokesman Abu Ubayda also told reporters on Sunday.
The spokesman added that the Al-Qassam Brigades would not abandon the positions inside the Gaza Strip's borders in order to ensure that Israel would not undertake another incursion into the Gaza Strip.
"Al-Qassam is still on the right track after all sacrifices made during which the best leaders and soldiers were either killed martyrs, wounded, or imprisoned," Abu Ubayda asserted.
Al-Qassam has had little presence in the West Bank since Fatah consolidated power there following Hamas' 2007 takeover of Gaza. Hamas is banned by the Palestinian Authority from operating in public in the West Bank, and also faces arrests and killings by the Israeli military.
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12/14/2009 00:00 ||
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[Bangla Daily Star] Sri Lankan troops shot dead surrendering Tamil Tiger leaders on the orders of the defence secretary, the former army chief who is now running for president said yesterday.
General Sarath Fonseka said Gotabhaya Rajapakse -- the brother of the current president -- instructed field commanders not to take prisoners in the days before the Tamil Tiger separatists were defeated in May.
"Gotabhaya Rajapakse spoke directly with (commander) Shavendra Silva and told him not to accommodate any surrendering LTTE leaders and that they must all be killed," Fonseka told reporters at a meeting of opposition parties.
Fonseka said he was away in China and was unaware that Rajapakse was giving direct orders to officers in the field during the final stages of battle against the Tigers, officially known as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
He said he only learnt after the war that senior Tiger rebels had used foreign mediators to organise a plan in which they would carry white flags and give themselves up.
Fonseka led the army's successful offensive to finally crush the LTTE and end the island's decades-long ethnic conflict, but he later fell out with President Mahinda Rajapakse and the defence secretary.
He resigned last month, accusing the government of sidelining him, and is now attempting to unseat President Rajapakse in elections on January 26.
Sri Lankan authorities have resisted international calls for a war crimes investigation amid allegations by the United Nations that more than 7,000 civilians were killed during the first four months of this year alone.
Military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara declined to respond to Fonseka's remarks.
"This is a comment given by General Fonseka and he will come out with many more," Nanayakkara said. "We will not comment on what he says."
The government has previously denied ordering troops to kill Tamil Tiger political wing leader B. Nadesan, senior rebel S. Puleedevan and another Tiger official and their families.
The military claimed victory over the LTTE on May 18 after wiping out the leadership of the once-powerful movement, which began its armed struggle for an independent Tamil homeland in 1972.
Velupillai Prabhakaran, the group's founder, was killed in the fighting and his body shown on national television.
During the war's finale, the United States and other Western nations voiced alarm at Sri Lanka's treatment of non-combatants, along with its internment afterwards of up to 300,000 Tamil civilians.
Sri Lanka has said it is now allowing the civilians to leave state-run camps, although human rights groups say that many have nowhere to go with their villages destroyed in the fighting.
When launching his election campaign, Fonseka said he was moving into politics because corruption was preventing Sri Lankans from benefiting from the success that military forces had secured under his command.
He also surprised critics by agreeing to a possible war crimes investigation.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/14/2009 00:00 ||
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Hezbollah deputy leader sheikh Naim Qassem has ruled out a war with Israel, but says the movement is fully ready to repel any assault by the regime on the country. "We have an interest in adhering to resolution 1701, since it certainly preserves the achievements of the resistance [Hezbollah], and of Lebanon's forces," he told the Lebanese daily Al-Akbar on Sunday.
UN Security Council resolution 1701 ended the 33-day Israeli war against the movement in southern Lebanon in the summer of 2006.
The deputy leader however warned Israel of a strong response should the regime wage a war against Lebanon "even tomorrow".
Qassem also dismissed accusations about rocket attacks on Israel from southern Lebanon".
In the latest incident, two rockets hit the Western Galilee area in northern Israel early in September.
Israel immediately fired 12 to 15 shells towards the sources that were firing the rockets. Tel Aviv holds the Lebanese government responsible for the attacks.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/14/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
maybe they should stop shooting their oversized bottle rockets at Israel then
Posted by: chris ||
12/14/2009 0:06 Comments ||
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[Iran Press TV Latest] After a torn-up photo of the founder of the Islamic Revolution broadcast on Iran's state television kicked up a storm, the country's lawmakers call for action against those behind the outrageous incident. They always get bent out of shape when somebody descrates their idols.
Following anti-government demonstrations held on December 7, Iranian state television aired footage of a torn poster of Ayatollah Rouhollah Khomeini. Oh, noze! Oh, Ethel! My pills!
In reaction to the desecration, over 230 Majlis lawmakers issued a statement on Sunday, strongly condemning the move. The Iranian lawmakers called on the country's judiciary officials to deal with those behind the insulting move, saying they should be brought to justice. "That's right! They must be sacrificed!"
In a separate move, Head of Iran's Expediency Council and Assembly of Experts, Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani also condemned the offensive act, expressing hope that it would not be repeated again. "Tut tut," he said. "And tut."
The Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei condemned the desecration on Sunday, saying such acts are encouraged by foreign media. "It's that damned Bill O'Reilly again! I just know it!"
Pointing to the wide-spread condemnation of the torn poster, Ayatollah Khamenei called on the people "to maintain calm and know that those who oppose the nation have no roots", adding that they would buckle when facing "the greatness of the people of Iran and the Islamic Revolution."
Posted by: Fred ||
12/14/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
poster of Ayatollah Rouhollah Khomeini.
Idolators. The rest of Islam should declare Jihad.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned opposition leaders on Sunday to distance themselves from protesters whom he accused of acting "against Islam" as he labeled the June presidential election legal and said the case was closed.
"Those who shout slogans in the name of these people (opposition leaders), hoist their pictures and speak of them with respect are in a point which is the exact opposite of Imam (founder of the revolution Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini), revolution and Islam," Khamenei said on state television.
Iran's official media accuses pro-opposition students of tearing up a picture of Khomeini, during a state organized rally on last Monday that turned violent when the opposition hijacked the rally to protest against the government.
Referring to the disputed June election, which the opposition says was rigged in favor of hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Khamenei said:
"The election is over. It was legal and they could not demonstrate their claim (of vote fraud)."
"Some people created riots and encouraged people to stand against the system... paving the way for our hopeless enemies to undermine the Islamic revolution."
The elite Revolutionary Guards urged the judiciary on Sunday to confront in a "revolutionary way" those behind an "insult" to Ayatollah Khomeini.
Khamenei said the opposition rallies where illegal.
"They are openly violating the law, they insulted imam Khomeini," he said.
The leader urged authorities to identify "those behind the insult to imam Khomeini."
Meanwhile the exiled leader of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, Khaled Meshaal, arrived in Iran on Sunday on a visit where he was due to meet top officials including President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
A Hamas statement from Meshaal's Damascus headquarters said the visit was part of a regional tour, but gave no further details.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/14/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Insulting Imam Khomeini? If the "opposition ( with no help from Obama who is too busy bowing) does win against the Regime...what do you think they will do to the Clerics in power?
Just "insult" them?
Insults are the least of the problems the Clerics can expect. How about homicidal mobs inside the house destroying everything and looting the rest.... and what they did to Momma we dont need to even talk about...Grandma too( it went on for hours until she died). The Security Staff deserted at the end. The Kitchen servants let them in and there was no warning, they got the children while they were still asleep ( at least that was fairly quick).
The Chauffeur tried to fight but they put him in the trunk of the Limousine before they set it on fire.
Yeah, insults.
They hanged Daddy, he was already dead, of course, but they hanged what was left of him anyway.
insults? Yeah, tell me about it.
Allah Akbar all over the place. The city burned for a week. Flocks of Crows in the park were so fat they couldnt even fly.
Remember how the Palestinians in Baghdad were hunted down after Saddam was overthrown? It didnt get a lot of Press coverage in the week after Saddam's regime collapsed...but people absolutely hated the Palestinians who were seen as Saddam supporters. Their mutilated bodys were usually dumped in the outdoor privys.
Changing the govt. in a Moslem country, ya'know.
Najibullah in Kabul was taken alive, for instance, tortured for a couple of days in his Office, then they hanged his naked body in front of the Ministry, with cigarettes burns all over it and they stuck a wad of worthless paper Afghani money between his butt cheeks.
They cut him a little too, but we dont need to describe where.
Islam leads to Paradise.
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.
[Al Arabiya Latest] The two main political parties in Sudan's north and south reached agreement on Sunday on democratic reforms, defusing a row that threatened to undermine a peace accord.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Unnamed intelligence sources on the Saudi-Yemeni border detected a secret meeting between Yemen's Houthi rebels and an official from Iran's Revolutionary Guard and top Hezbollah leaders, press reports revealed Sunday.
A British court issued an arrest warrant for Israel's former foreign minister over war crimes allegedly committed in Gaza this year -- only to withdraw it when it was discovered that she was not in the UK, it emerged today.
The Rt Rev Stephen Venner acknowledged that his comments in a Daily Telegraph interview appeared ''incredibly insensitive'' and stressed his support for British troops in Afghanistan.
ISLAMABAD: The PML-Q on Sunday questioned the government's silence on allowing the United States to allegedly exporting terrorism to Pakistan. "There is a major contradiction in the statements of the US Secretary of State, Clinton, and US nationals' transgression in Pakistan, and if the US doesn't wish to act as a patron, it has no business exporting terrorism to Pakistan in the form of US nationals recently caught in Pakistan, planning terror attacks along with al-Qaeda," PML-Q leader Marvi Memon told The News.
KARACHI: Floating the idea of a change in the Pakistani society, Jamaat-e-Islami's top leadership at a congregation of the JI's workers unanimously blamed the United States' agencies for terrorism, chaos and anarchy in Pakistan.
[Quqnoos] Pakistani Prime Minister said Saturday the country's army had driven the Taliban out of South Waziristan.
[Geo News] Jamiat Ulema-I-Islam-F leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman said on Sunday Pakistan's nuclear assets are more under American threat than that of Taliban. The Americans have taken over Islamabad and turned it into a mini pentagon, he told newsmen in Islamabad. Rehman said talks in Balochistan while military operation in Waziristan reflect the doublestandard of the government. Taliban had given the mandate for talks but the government had adopted the course of power, he opined. Â"We are not even in favor of armed struggle let alone suicide attacks,Â" The situation has now changed after the operation, Fazl said, adding that he is not sure whether or not Taliban will agree on talks.
[Al Arabiya Latest] General David Petraeus, who now heads the United States Central Command, gave an exclusive interview to Al Arabiya on Sunday where he discussed Washington's support of Yemen and Iraq and Syria's relationship.
[Bangla Daily Star] Sri Lankan troops shot dead surrendering Tamil Tiger leaders on the orders of the defence secretary, the former army chief who is now running for president said yesterday.
Hezbollah deputy leader sheikh Naim Qassem has ruled out a war with Israel, but says the movement is fully ready to repel any assault by the regime on the country. "We have an interest in adhering to resolution 1701, since it certainly preserves the achievements of the resistance [Hezbollah], and of Lebanon's forces," he told the Lebanese daily Al-Akbar on Sunday. 
[Iran Press TV Latest] After a torn-up photo of the founder of the Islamic Revolution broadcast on Iran's state television kicked up a storm, the country's lawmakers call for action against those behind the outrageous incident. 
[Al Arabiya Latest] Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned opposition leaders on Sunday to distance themselves from protesters whom he accused of acting "against Islam" as he labeled the June presidential election legal and said the case was closed.
