A JORDANIAN who blew himself up in Afghanistan, killing seven CIA agents and his Jordanian handler, said in a video broadcast today on Al-Jazeera that the act was for revenge.
"We tell our emir Baitullah Mehsud we will never forget his blood," he said.
No doubt this comforted the dead emir immensely, as the devils in his corner of Hell brought him a fresh bucket of hot coals for roasting his intestines. Especially when the disassembled Jordanian relayed the tale to him in person.
"It is up to us to avenge him in and outside America," Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi said about a Taliban leader killed in a US attack in August.
The authenticity of the video could not immediately be confirmed.
Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai says he does not need anymore 'the favor' of the US-led foreign forces in his war-weary country.
"If these forces are coming only to chase the Taliban at the cost of Afghan civilians, of course that's not going to produce any good consequences for us," Karzai said in an interview with al-Jazeera on Friday.
The Afghan president also took a swipe at coalition forces present in his country for their failure to restore security in the war-ravaged country.
"With the international community, I don't have to have their favor. They are here for a purpose, which is the fight on terror, and we are working with them for a purpose, which is the stability and safety of Afghanistan, so we have a common purpose," he said adding "In terms of security we have failed."
He went on to add that the "legitimacy" of his government must be given by "the Afghan people."
"I have to win the hearts and minds of the Afghan people, I have to be legitimate and have the trust of the Afghan people if I am to be a good president."
The president's remarks come after thousands of Afghan people took to the streets to protest the rising civilian death toll by the US-led forces in the country.
Afghans have held several anti-occupation demonstrations in different cities in the past month to show their anger towards the issue. Protesters in Kabul and several other major cities have burned effigies of US President Barack Obama.
The man has been abused by absolutely everyone ever since he took the job. I personally believe that he's been doing his best in an impossible situation, with a couple of relatives who've made the impossible even worse (not mathematically possibly, I know, but the real world doesn't map exactly onto mathematics). It's a tribute to President Karzai's strength that he hasn't taken a flame thrower to a meeting room full of his tormentor-allies.
I do concede the possibility that I'm taking entirely too naive a view of the situation, but even so.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2010 00:00 ||
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#3
You are right Fred. He is nevertheless a politician,hence the negative talk when faced with thousands of protesters re Afghan casualties. It is, however, an interesting politician who says "we have failed" --- when have our elected wonders been so bold ?
#4
'Twas I commenting, not Fred, dear Northern Cousin. Fred is never naive, having had a completely unsheltered childhood followed by an unsheltered career analyzing military intelligence stuff. Fred posted the article, but his in-line comments are in businesslike Post-It Note yellow, unlike my pretty periwinkle. I host better tea parties, though. :-)
Muslims and Christians set fire to each others' homes and shops near the southern Egyptian town of Nagaa Hamady on Saturday, three days after a gunman killed six Coptic Christians in a drive-by shooting, security sources said.
"Four houses and a shop belonging to Christians in the village of Tiraks were set on fire by Muslims, while four shops owned by Muslims in the village of al-Bahgorah were set on fire by Christians," a security source said. The villages are near Nagaa Hamady. Six people, Christian and Muslim, were injured in the fires, they added.
Police have taken 46 statements from Muslims and Christians in the area accusing members of the other faith of attacking their houses and damaging their properties, the sources said.
[Maghrebia] Three men from Mali, with alleged links to a rebel group from South America, were recently arrested in Ghana and flown to the United States to face trial. Many Maghreb observers, however, are feeling repercussions from the international criminal case much closer to home.
But their South American contacts were not members of the al-Qaeda linked Colombian rebel group that uses Africa as a drug-trafficking gateway to Europe; they were US intelligence agents.
"The involvement of al-Qaeda in the drugs trade does not come as a surprise," Maghreb affairs expert Nasr El Din Ben Hadid told Magharebia. "They adopt the principle of 'the ends justify the means'."
"The fact that terrorist groups have resorted to the trafficking of drugs is an open secret," agreed Amine Kirem, an Algerian researcher on Islamic movements.
"Investigations carried out by the special services in Algeria have highlighted a very close relationship between terrorist groups and drug barons," he explained, adding that terrorists are using the illegal drug trade to buy weapons and explosives.
"During the 1990s, these groups had the money they needed to fund their activities. This is no longer the case," Kirem said.
Desperate circumstances are prompting desperate measures, according to Algerian security expert Elias Boukeraa.
"Having been beaten politically and militarily, terrorists in the Sahel are trying to bounce back by creating more armed cells within this vast region. These groups are exploiting the poor socioeconomic situation and armed conflicts in an attempt to re-establish themselves," he said.
The region must now face a "confirmed" link between terrorist groups and drug-trafficking networks, former Malian Defence Minister Soumeylou Maiga Boubey told an Algiers conference on December 28th.
"Mafia activity, the trafficking of drugs and arms and kidnappings are all methods used by these groups," he said.
"To say that the danger is far away from our borders and shirk our responsibilities is to make a huge mistake. Terrorism poses a serious threat to stability and peace in the region," the former minister added.
North Africa, the Sahel/Sahara region and the whole of West Africa are particularly affected by the problem, said Moroccan security and terrorism expert Mohammed Benhemmou.
"Over the past few years we have witnessed a change in the routes by which drugs are trafficked, from Latin America, via West Africa and across the desert towards the target markets, taking advantage of the failure of certain countries to monitor what is going on in their territory," he said.
Morocco, according to a source within the Ministry of the Interior, has long been aware of the activities of terrorist organisations and the ways by which they are financed. The government is therefore implementing anti-money laundering laws and other initiatives targeting organised crime and drug trafficking.
But terrorism cannot be defeated by one country alone, Benhemmou pointed out: "Even though the ends of drug trafficking and terrorism are not the same, since the former is done for financial gain and the latter for political, the two activities assist one another."
Even if Morocco steps up checks along its borders and inside its own territory, neighbourly relations in the region are fragile and a high degree of co-operation is required if goals are to be reached, the expert said.
To this end, Arab states are co-ordinating efforts to dry out funding resources for terror operations. Last September, the Secretariat-General of the Council of Interior Ministers endorsed a three-year plan to implement a unified Arab strategy for combating illegal drugs and the related issue of money-laundering.
Algerian expert Boukeraa proposed going even further, suggesting to Magharebia that all countries in the region should consider creating a combined army to overcome the threat. Pan-Arab initiatives against drug-related crimes and states' focus on internal security, however, are not the whole story, argued Lahcen Daoudi, an MP for Morocco's Party of Justice and Development.
"Whether we're talking about terrorism or drug trafficking, we have to look inwards to find the root causes," he said. "Why do people become terrorists or drug traffickers? We need to know the reasons underpinning it so that we can do something about them. One way of doing that is take action in schools."
Beyond discussions of regional security concerns, Maghreb counter-terrorism strategies and social projects to stem the problem at its source, some people question the sheer incongruity of terrorists who claim faith but use drug trafficking as a source of income.
"This is a crime against ethics, human rights, and religion, a crime against Islam, because the fatwa they use to justify such crimes take place under the banner of Islam," said Sami Burham, a Tunisia-based expert on Islamic groups.
"I think they justified their selling of drugs on the basis of a fatwa that permitted Muslims to sell alcohol to non-Muslims," Burham added. "Terrorists use the same logic to rob money from non-Muslims to finance jihad, because according to that fatwa, non-Muslims have no sanctity."
Drugs are also being used to lure the next generation of terrorists.
According to Salim Ahmed, an Algerian journalist who specialises in security issues, the failure of "extremist religious" arguments has spurred these groups to seek new ways of operating and recruiting new members.
"Young people no longer believe promises that they will go to heaven. It was necessary to find another way of recruiting them to commit acts of violence," Ahmed said. "Drugs are one such method."
Indeed, he said, "several suicide bombers have acted under the influence of drugs".
"People who have slit infants' throats, raped women, killed themselves or blown themselves up cannot have been in full control of their senses," he concluded.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
TOPIX > [Detroit, Chapman Base]ATTACKS SHOW AL QAEDA-INSPIRED GROUPS TARGET THE WEST.
* SAME > [UN Aid Agencies]AFGHANISTAN FAMINE MAY KILL FIVE MILLION.
[Bangla Daily Star] The government will take stern action against any person involved in unlawful activities in the name of student politics and religion, LGRD Minister Syed Ashraful Islam said yesterday.
What a difference between East Pakistan and West Pakistan!
"All criminal activities in the name of student politics, and chaos and provocation in the name of religion must be stopped," Ashraf said at a crowded news conference at Awami League President Sheikh Hasina's political office in Dhanmondi.
The AL general secretary's warning came in the wake of recent violence at Rajshahi Polytechnic Institute between Bangladesh Chhatra Moitree and pro-AL student body Bangladesh Chhatra League. A Moitree leader was killed in the incident.
Ashraf said the government is determined to punish such offenders.
He blamed former military dictators Ziaur Rahman and HM Ershad for destroying the nature of student politics in Bangladesh and turning university teachers partisan.
The minister criticised university teachers for their involvement in partisan politics and religious fundamentalism.
At the press conference, organised to mark one-year completion of the present AL government, Syed Ashraf unveiled a publication titled "Uttoron", which contains highlights of the government's achievements so far.
The LGRD minister said majority people of the country have expressed satisfaction over the performance of the government, which has been reflected in researches carried out by the media, especially a few influential and independent newspapers.
He said his party has also independently evaluated the performance of the government but this does not mean they are claiming to have been successful in all sectors equally. The government is trying to overcome its failures, he added.
The government spokesperson accepted the research result that people have opposed extra-judicial killings in the name of crossfire and encounter. "Crossfire and extra-judicial killings can never be accepted in a rule of law and constitution," he said, adding that the government will work sincerely in the future to bring an end to this practice.
Regarding BNP Secretary General Khandaker Delwar Hossain's statement that the government has failed to play any role in implementing its electoral pledges, Ashraf said the main opposition made the comments without facts, figures and information.
He criticised the BNP for boycotting parliamentary sittings on various grounds although its lawmakers are enjoying all facilities including salaries and foreign trips and are also lobbying for purchasing duty-free cars.
On the issue of withdrawal of cases against BNP leaders as a prerequisite to joining parliament by the opposition, he said the matter is beyond the jurisdiction of parliament and the speaker.
He said all corruption cases against BNP leaders must be settled in court. "Will the rule of law be established in the country if these cases were withdrawn?" he said.
Referring to the finding of a newspaper's research that 88 percent people do not like BNP's boycott of the House, the AL leader urged the main opposition to join parliament and expressed hope that the opposition leaders will come back to parliament in the upcoming session starting January 11.
Asked what steps the government has taken to curb corruption compared to the last caretaker government, Ashraf said the caretaker government had good intention in this regard but the anti-corruption drive itself turned later into a tool of torturing and harassing political leaders.
He stressed the need for curbing corruption in a systematic way. He claimed that no allegation of corruption has yet been brought against any minister of this government by either the media or the business community.
"But we are not happy yet since there is corruption in every segment of the society, a legacy of military dictators Ziaur Rahman and HM Ershad," said Ashraf.
About a newspaper's finding that the AL has exceeded the BNP regarding politicisation, the AL spokesperson said they do not believe in politicisation. "We are trying to get rid of the past BNP-Jamaat coalition government's politicisation aftermath," he said.
Asked about AL's organisational activities that have apparently come to a halt over the last one year, he claimed the AL's organisational position is "very strong now". Councils of the party's grassroots level units--wards, upazila and district--will be organised after an extended meeting of the party on January 30, he added.
Replying to a query, the AL leader said those who are saying the political culture has returned to the pre-1/11 situation are trying to invite another non-elected and undemocratic government.
On establishing a positive healthy political culture as pledged in the AL's electoral manifesto, he said they want to do this with all other parties. "We are working for bringing a positive political culture and we need cooperation from all. If we fail, the nation will face a very bad consequence," Ashraf said.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2010 00:00 ||
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CARACAS, Venezuela -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez says a U.S. military plane entered Venezuelan airspace and was met by his military's F-16s, which escorted it out. Chavez is calling it a provocation by the U.S. government, saying the U.S. P-3 plane had taken off from the Dutch Caribbean island of Curacao and twice entered Venezuelan airspace on Friday.
Chavez also warned, without giving details, that his government could reconsider its involvement in Curacao's Venezuela-owned Isla refinery, which processes Venezuelan crude. Chavez has protested against the Dutch islands for allowing U.S. military counter-drug flights from their airstrips.
There was no immediate reaction from U.S. or Dutch officials to Chavez's latest accusations.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/09/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
How's Hugo gonna get his crude to China? Wonder if we've asked him that yet?
Citing ``overwhelming'' evidence and recent federal reports that confirm growing ties between Venezuela and international drug trafficking networks, Republican members of Congress have this week asked the Obama administration to put the oil-producing country on the list of nations that require monitoring because they pose a security risk.
In separate statements, Florida's Reps. Connie Mack and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen cited, among other reasons, the relationship between Caracas and the Islamic regime in Iran and with the FARC rebels in Colombia, both considered by the United States as entities that sponsor global terrorism.
Mack, who represents a district in Fort Myers, said that ``the evidence that links Venezuela with some of the most dangerous terrorist organizations is overwhelming.'' He cited the refusal of the government of President Hugo Chávez to implement in Venezuelan airports the measures demanded by the Transportation Security Administration.
He also said that evidence exists that agents from FARC, Hamas and Hezbollah ``operate with few restrictions in Venezuela'' and that many of those agents use Venezuelan passports to travel abroad.
``There is no doubt that the potential threat to [U.S.] security from Venezuela is extremely high,'' Mack stated, at the same time he demanded that the Obama administration include Venezuela on the list of terrorist-sponsoring nations ``without delay.''
This is not the first time that Mack has promoted this type of initiative. On Oct. 28, 2009, he introduced a resolution in Congress, together with his fellow congressman from Florida Ron Klein, to include Venezuela on the list of terrorism sponsors. That proposal had gone nowhere, until now.
For her part, Rep. Ros-Lehtinen cited DEA reports that demonstrate a Venezuelan connection in a new alliance formed between the FARC and al Qaeda, in which the oil producing nation plays the part of a ``massive airport for the use of the traffickers.''
``It is no surprise that Hugo Chávez allows Venezuela to serve as a massive airport for the use of traffickers. In fact the DEA has said that all the planes captured in West Africa left from Venezuela,'' Ros-Lehtinen said.
She explained that the recent arrest of three African agents of al Qaeda after a drug smuggling operation showed a new panorama of cooperation between Islamic extremist groups and those of South American narco-guerrillas.
``Groups like the FARC are finding new ways to sell drugs in Europe by means of al Qaeda in Africa. And al Qaeda is more than willing to use the drug trade to help finance its extremist agenda,'' Ros-Lehtinen said.
She said that Washington has to work together with other European, African and Latin-American countries to confront this threat. ``Burying our heads in the sand is not an option,'' she said.
The statements of the members of Congress generated an immediate reaction among Venezuelan elected officials who support Chávez.
Roy Daza, president of the Foreign Relations Commission of the National Assembly, criticized Mack and said that he is ``looking to tarnish the reputation of Venezuela and is using lies to attack the Bolivarian revolution.''
Another Chavista deputy, Saúl Ortega, labeled Mack as ``insolent'' and stated that he ``is acting in a fascist manner in order to discredit our country.'' Ortega added that Mack's opinion ``does not represent the political will of the Congress of the United States,'' according to the Bolivarian News Agency.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/09/2010 00:00 ||
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WASHINGTON, Jan. 8 (Yonhap) -- The new U.S. special envoy for North Korean human rights will not attend future rounds of the six-party talks on the North's denuclearization, the State Department said Friday, in an apparent continuation of Bush administration policy to avoid jeopardizing the fragile multilateral forum.
"Obviously, he collaborates very closely with Ambassador Steve Bosworth and Ambassador Sung Kim," Philip Crowley, assistant secretary of state for public affairs, said. "They have very complementary roles. They are in the region on a regular basis consulting with our partners. But his role is different than the six-party process."
King will visit South Korea for four days beginning Monday on his first fact-finding mission involving conditions inside the North since taking office late last year. He will then fly to Tokyo Friday to discuss the kidnapping of Japanese citizens by North Korean agents decades ago.
During the later Bush years, Republican senators pushed Christopher Hill, then-U.S. point man on North Korea, to arrange for Jay Lefkowitz, King's predecessor, to attend the six-party talks. But the administration avoided addressing rights issues so as not to undermine U.S. efforts to denuclearize the North through the on-and-off talks that began in 2003.
Of late the talks, hosted by China, have faltered due to North Korea's refusal to participate in the wake of United Nations sanctions for its nuclear and missile tests.
Stepping down after a four-year tenure last January, Lefkowitz wrote a final report to urge President Obama to emphasize human rights in the six-party talks and link any aid to Pyongyang with human rights improvements.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/09/2010 00:00 ||
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A U.S. expert on inter-Korean affairs claims that China is fundamentally against the reunification of the two Koreas. During a speech entitled "The Cost and Consequences of Korean Unification" delivered in Washington on Wednesday, Peter Beck, a research fellow at Stanford University's Asia Pacific Research Center, said China is against reunification should it stem from a failed North Korea and that its principal policy regarding the Korean Peninsula is stability.
This is because China does not want another predicament on its border with the North, like the famine in the mid-1990s that drove thousands of North Korean refugees into Manchuria, Beck said.
Too bad, because a unified Korea is the quickest way for China to see the US leave the peninsula.
If either internal or external troubles in Pyongyang trigger a reunification, Beck predicted that Beijing will first seal its border with the North and then establish a buffer zone some 15 to 30 km wide to prevent chaos from crossing into China.
However, the scholar said a reunification initiated by a vibrant South Korea will be most welcomed by the U.S. and bolster Korea-U.S. relations. And although China's actions after reunification are difficult to guess, he predicted that if a unified Korea maintained its ties with Washington, China would take an aggressive stance to improve relations with its neighbor.
Beck said that Japan is also against reunification of the Korean peninsula since it could raise Korea's potential to become a major regional power.
Korea is already a major regional power.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/09/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
WMF > US IN TEARS: CHINA, RUSSIA PLAN AND ARE WORKING TO EMPOWER A "POST-US NUCLEAR AGE".
versus
BHARAT RAKSHAK > TIMES OF INDJUH > IS CHINA'S ECONOMY HEADED FOR A CRASH? Bubbles, Bubbles, toil and PRC-endangering credit bubbles.
#3
China is opposed to a unified Korea following a collapse of the North. Who would have guessed that a Western South Korea with a grudge against China for propping up the North, now inheritting North Koreas nukes. Good thing we have experts. I never would have guessed that one. China needs to take over the North. Demilitarize them and start to fix them this would get the Us out or in a bad position and prevent a collapse and allow them tograb any nukes and erase any evidence.
#4
It is the job of the South Koreans to convince the Chinese of several facts of unification that could be broadly in China's favor.
The first of these is that North Korea is dangerously unstable, and this instability is almost as threatening to China as it is to South Korea.
Second is that North Korean illegal aliens in China are caused by this instability as well, and if stability and some degree of prosperity is restored, then many or even most of the Koreans in China will want to go home.
Third is that Korea mostly does things "The Chinese Way", so it offers no cultural menace to China.
Fourth is that a unified Korea's natural alignment is with China. After unification, billions of dollars of trade going back and forth. While South Korea will be paying to restore North Korea, the materials, equipment, and labor will to a great extent be Chinese.
Fifth is that South Korea doesn't want nukes, at would be quite happy if China would police every bit of it up and take it to China for disposal. And once those nukes are gone, nobody else in the regions will want nukes either. Especially not Taiwan or Japan.
Sixth is that the US would probably be very happy to retreat to just a single naval base in Pusan, if that. This would take a lot of pressure off the Chinese navy
If done properly, reunification of Korea could be a windfall for China in a bunch of different ways, just for the cost of ridding themselves of a crazy pest.
#5
Agania airport weather, Guam: wind ENE 13kt, few clouds at 2000, 5000 scattered, 10000 scattered, temp 79F, dewpoint 73F, altimeter 29.90 rising. No snow in the terminal forecast at this time.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/09/2010 18:45 Comments ||
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#6
How is that germane to the discussion, Alaska Paul?
Footage of a recent military drill by a North Korean army tank unit suggests the communist regime may be practicing for an invasion of the South.
Officials in Seoul said the video clips released Tuesday by the North's state-run Korean Central Television show the 105 Tank Division conducting a military drill apparently staged in mock South Korean cities and highways.
A Nork invasion wouldn't get past the first big-box supermarket on the road south ...
The 105 Tank Division was the first unit to invade the South during the Korean War.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/09/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Do you know how hard it is to get out and push a tank?
Posted by: ed ||
01/09/2010 1:11 Comments ||
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ATHENS (Rooters) - An explosive device went off outside Greece's parliament on Saturday evening, causing no injuries and minor damage, police said.
It was the latest in a series of blasts and took place in the heart of Athens, a well policed area where some of the capital's best hotels and the finance ministry are located.
The device, placed next to a garbage bin at the tomb of the unknown soldier outside the parliament building, caused a loud explosion that was heard kilometers away. It followed a bomb attack outside the headquarters of Greece's biggest insurer, National Insurance, on December 27.
Police suspect leftist guerrilla group Fire Conspiracy Cells, which claimed responsibility for the attack against the insurance company, may be behind the latest blast, a police official said.
"Fragments of the explosive device are being gathered and taken to the police lab for investigation," the official said.
"There are first reports of minor damage inside the parliament building, some broken glass. The blast was captured by the security cameras outside the building."
Several leftist and anarchist groups have mounted a series of attacks against police, businesses and public institutions since the police killing of a teenager triggered Greece's worst riots in decades in December 2008.
French authorities said Thursday that they have arrested and deported an Egyptian imam described as "a radical Islamist" and suspected of having issued calls to violence.
The move comes just a few weeks after French President Nicolas Sarkozy urged France's Muslims to practice their faith with "humble discretion."
The move also is occurring as the country is considering ways to tighten security checks on travelers originating from several, mainly Muslim countries, after the alleged attempt to bomb a Detroit-bound flight on Christmas Day.
France's Interior Ministry said that Ali Ibrahim El Soudany, who was arrested on Thursday and immediately put on a flight bound to Egypt, had called on followers "to fight against the West" in recent sermons at several mosques near Paris.
"People who preach hatred and have nothing in common with freedom of faith, don't belong to our territory," Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux said in a statement. The imam had been under watch for several months, Mr. Hortefeux said.
Mr. El Soudany, who was still on board a plane late Thursday according to an Interior Ministry spokeswoman, couldn't be reached to comment. Officials at mosques where Mr. El Soudany is believed to have delivered sermons declined to comment.
VANNES, France -- French President Nicolas Sarkozy defended his country's military force in Afghanistan, saying Friday that now is not the time to pull out. Sarkozy did not say, though, whether France would send more troops, as U.S. allies have urged. The French leader has said he is waiting for an international conference on Afghanistan in London on Jan. 28 before discussing any further troop commitments.
"We should continue to help Afghans until they are in a position to assure their own security and development," Sarkozy said in a New Year's speech to the French military at a marine base in western France.
He discussed overall military plans for 2010 as he spoke to a unit -- the 3rd marine infantry regiment, based in Vannes in Brittany -- that lost five soldiers in Afghanistan last year.
"When circumstances so require, it is my duty as commander in chief to maintain our soldiers in their posts, as is the case in Afghanistan today, where the conditions for a withdrawal have not been met," Sarkozy said.
He met Friday with families of troops killed in Afghanistan and reviewed the troops before giving his speech.
France has lost 36 troops in Afghanistan, 11 of them last year. About 3,500 French troops are currently serving in the country.
Sarkozy said he hoped to pull French troops out of other deployments, including in Kosovo and Ivory Coast. France is reducing its troop strength in Kosovo on Friday from 1,300 to 800 as part of a reorganization of the international force.
Sarkozy defended his shifting defense strategies, meant to focus more on fighting terrorism and more mobile modern threats while cutting back on spending on conventional forces and shutting down little-used bases. He insisted on the importance of France's participation in NATO. France rejoined NATO's integrated military command in 2009, more than 40 years after quitting it and kicking American military bases off French soil.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/09/2010 00:00 ||
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European nations were sharply divided Thursday over the need to install full-body scanners at European airports, with some EU members playing down the need for beefed-up security measures.
"Jihadis traditionally blow themselves up in America, not here."
After meeting in Brussels on Thursday, EU aviation security experts released a statement saying the EU Commission may issue a binding regulation on imaging technology to reinforce passenger security, while at the same time addressing the conditions for using such technology, such as privacy, data protection and health issues.
Italy on Thursday joined the United States, Britain and the Netherlands as nations that have announced plans to install the scanners following a Nigerian man's reported attempt to blow up a U.S. airliner flying from Amsterdam to Detroit on Christmas Day.
Washington is seeking enhanced security measures on all trans-Atlantic flights heading for the United States. That's a huge task, however, since European airports carry thousands of passengers on more than 800 flights a day across the lucrative North Atlantic route. If it's that lucrative they shouldn't have any trouble bearing the expense ...
If expenses are increased, it won't be as lucrative.
Does this give ACORN much too much advanced notice, to better strategize on the tactics to slow the vote?
The Pentagon is moving aggressively to ensure that military members deployed overseas can cast votes in the 2010 midterm elections.
The Defense Department's Federal Voting Assistance program this week started its training program for voting assistance officers at military bases worldwide. Based on a Pentagon directive, a voting assistance officer needs to be at every unit level.
Military and overseas voters now have to submit a federal post card application every year instead of every two or four years.
Every voting assistance officer has to hand deliver or email a federal post card application to every military member by January 15 and get the word out about the importance of sending the application card to election officials in 2010, said a Pentagon spokeswoman.
There are about 6 million uniformed and overseas citizens who vote absentee. Embassies and consulates overseas also must have voting assistance officers on hand.
For example, close to 100,000 U.S. troops will be deployed to Afghanistan by the November midterm election. Over the next several months, U.S. troops in Iraq will decrease from about 110,000 to 50,000.
Only about six or seven out of every 10 absentee ballots cast by military members are successfully cast. In the general population about nine out of every 10 absentee ballots are successfully cast, according to Bob Carey, Federal Voting Assistance Program director.
"Our goal is to bring the military and overseas citizen absentee voting success rate to that of the general public," Carey said in a statement Friday.
Deployed troops -- at combat outposts and aboard ships -- are the most affected by voting issues. Many military voters also are younger and aren't aware of the processes behind voting, Carey said, according to the Pentagon's news service.
The Senate Rules Committee, chaired by Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), earlier this year released a study showing that as many as 25 percent of troops stationed overseas went uncounted in the 2008 election.
President Barack Obama at the end of October signed into law legislation sponsored by Schumer to make it easier for deployed military members to cast their vote. Schumer's had scores of co-sponsors John Cornyn (R-Texas), Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) and Robert Bennett (R-Utah).
The Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment Act allows military voters to receive registration forms and blank ballots electronically; ensures that states send out ballots a minimum of 45 days in advance of the election so military and overseas voters will receive them in time; improved awareness and use of a failsafe ballot that voters can use if their ballots are lost in the mail; prohibits states from rejecting a marked absentee ballot solely on the basis of a missing notary signature, paper size, and other restrictions; gives more resources to the Department of Defense voting assistance offices who provide voting information and support to service men and women and their families; established standards for record-keeping on military and overseas voting statistics; and encouraging greater enforcement of the military and overseas voting statutes.
Separately, Schumer and Cornyn pushed to have all military installation voting assistance offices as official "voter registration agencies." If they can set up "voter registration" sites, why can't they also establish "voting places" for the vote on ballots just as we do in each state? Folks vote, turn in ballot, FedEx has them in the States the next day! And wouldn't it be the patriotic thing for FedEx, or UPS or someone to deliver those ballots at no cost? "Hey, we're goin' that way anyway, we'll take 'em."
The Pentagon recently agreed to that move. The designation means military bases will offer the same kind of voter registration services provided at motor vehicle departments and state agencies across the country. But no "voting places, ballots taken." Still strings attached to get our service folks votes counted
#1
they have secure electronic access - let them register and vote electronically
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/09/2010 17:12 Comments ||
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#2
Play the liberal card - make the military a 'protected group' before the law. So when the people running elections get ballots out with insufficient time to allow the military to vote both an injunction in the process and civil rights violations against the miscreants can be effectively filed.
#3
The article is somewhat misleading. While this might be true:
"Only about six or seven out of every 10 absentee ballots cast by military members are successfully cast."
It doesn't change the fact that service personnel rarely vote. The ballots received in 2006 represented only about 5% of the number eligible to vote.
When I was in the service, the only election I voted in was 1980 for Reagan. And then only because I happened to be home on leave and went to the registrars office, registered and requested an absentee ballot in person in my home state.
#4
It doesn't change the fact that service personnel rarely vote. The ballots received in 2006 represented only about 5% of the number eligible to vote.
Crosspatch, your statment might be true if reworded to reflect the view that only about 5% were received in time to be counted due to insuffucient lead time from the states for the mailing. Washington state has been struggling with this for the past 2 federal elections. Well maybe the Dems aren't struggling.....
In a ruling this week, U.S. District Judge Thomas Hogan also said the government failed to establish that 23 statements the detainee made to interrogators at Guantanamo Bay were untainted by the earlier coerced statements made while he was held under harsh conditions in Afghanistan.
However, the judge said statements he made during two military administrative hearings at the U.S. detention center in Cuba, where he was assisted by a personal representative, were reliable and sufficient to justify holding the detainee...
The logical inference from the record, said the judge, is that interrogators at Guantanamo Bay reviewed Al Madhwani's coerced confessions with him and asked him to make identical confessions...
Despite Hogan's concerns about the 23 statements, the judge relied on other evidence and three statements Al Madhwani made to a military tribunal and a review board to conclude that he trained, traveled and associated with members of al-Qaida, including high-level operatives. On those grounds, the judge ruled he is legally detained. Via AllahPundit
Lawfare at work. He is still detained only because of the preponderance of evidence and his "uncoerced" statements.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
01/09/2010 09:49 ||
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Turn him back over to the tribunals NOW. Stop this farce. This is a war criminal and belongs in military courts at most, not the US Civilian courts. He has no rights as a us citizen and is not in our juridiciton when he committeded these war crimes. Summary trial and execution by a military authority is what is called for in the Geneva Convention for illegal combatants.
Follow the REAL law, not the crap our crooked AG is pushing. This now sets a precedent that any US military member captured can be tried under the civil laws of whatever entity gets hold of him, instead of the geneva convention.
Our president is a con man and should be removed from office for this crap.
#4
I hope that they also rule that KSM was unlawfully detained, needs to be set free, and they actually do just that. Only then will we understand how warped the left really is. STUPID MOVE BARRY and you are supposed to be a lawyer.
#5
Answer this:Oldspun Turn him back over to the tribunals NOW .LOL
THE TRIBUNALS ARE A JOKE IF YOU HAVENT NOTICED THAT PART.
WHY IS KSM & THE REST OF THE WALKING DEAD ALL STILL ALIVE?
IT HASNT WORKED FOR US THATS WHY HIS ASS IS BEING CHARGED IN NEW YORK I SAY HE WILL GET HIS FAIR TRAL.(DEATH)
WAIT, YOU CANT HONESTLY THINK NEW YORKERS LOVE THIS GUY DO YOU?(I HAVE FAITH NEW YORKERS WILL DO THE RIGHT THING)
"MABEY ITS YOU WHO DONT BELIVE IN AMERICA"
Shut down all the ISI pet jihadi organizations, and change your school curricula to remove jihad and Islam ueber alles nonsense, and then we'll talk, Prime Minister Gillani.
Pakistani prime minister Yousaf Raza Gillani on Friday urged the US government to remove his country from a list of 14 countries whose citizens will be targeted for enhanced security checks. Speaking to a US Congressional delegation led by veteran Senator John McCain, the prime minister expressed serious reservations about the new security measures introduced by the US government for Pakistani nationals and called them discriminatory.
President Barack Obama has announced new terrorist watch list guidelines and other security upgrades after a Nigerian man allegedly attempted to detonate a bomb on a Detroit-bound plane on Christmas Day.
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was expected to make his first court appearance in the US on Friday, charged with the attempted murder of 290 people and five other counts.
The 14 countries include the four on the US state department's terrorism list - Cuba, Iran, Syria and Sudan - and 10 "countries of interest" including Pakistan, Afghanistan, Algeria, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia and Yemen.
Gillani said such policies cause consternation and anxiety among the people of Pakistan and that they could negatively impact bilateral ties.
The prime minister also expressed concern over a delay in coalition funding to Pakistan and said it was affecting its campaign against terrorism.
Gillani said the cost of fighting terrorism had surpassed 35 billion dollars in the past eight years.
Not close to what your countrymen have cost the rest of the world, my dear.
He reiterated his government's disappointment over the continuing drone attacks and persisting reluctance of the US to share drone technology with Pakistan.
Senator John McCain paid tribute to the prime minister and the government for their commitment to defeat terrorism and lauded Pakistan Armed Forces' successes in the Malakand and South Waziristan operations on the border of Afghanistan.
The mainstream political opposition parties of Pakistan condemn the US drone attacks in country's tribal region, urging Islamabad to shoot them down.
They could try...
Criticizing the attacks as "foreign intrusion," the parties' officials said that the US is violating Pakistan's sovereignty.
Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) and the Jamaat-e-Islami parties have demanded the government on Friday to ensure autonomy of the country by making its policies effective, a Press TV correspondent reported.
Talking to reporters, Sardar Mehtab Ahmed Khan, a PML-N lawmaker and a former chief minister of North West Frontier Province, said effective strategy is required to halt drone attacks which have killed hundreds of civilians in the recent past.
Jamaat-e-Islami chief Seyyed Munawar Hasan, addressing the Friday sermon at Lahore, also said that the government should take stern steps and shoot down the unmanned US aircrafts.
He said the government should register a strong protest against the US, which has been constantly attacking the sovereignty and integrity of Pakistan.
He said the weak policies of the government in Islamabad has instigated the US to turn Pakistan into its colony.
On Friday, missiles fired from a US drone killed five alleged militants in Tappi village in North Waziristan near Afghan border, a stronghold of pro-Taliban and al-Qaeda-linked militants.
This was the fourth US missile attack in the tribal district over the last eight days.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Time to start taking out ISI facilities, if you ask me.
[Dawn] Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Friday said that Pakistan has done its responsibility well in the war against terror and now it was time for the friendly countries to turn up for economic revival.
He urged the international community to take due notice of India's jingoistic and dangerous war doctrines.
According to Foreign Office sources during a briefing to the European and North American countries diplomats, Qureshi elaborated upon the internal situation and recent developments in the country.
Qureshi said that the Parliament is supreme and all institutions were working in their limits defined under the constitution, where as democratic values were strengthening gradually.
He added that Pakistan was a frontline state in the war against terror and had suffered irreparable losses in terms of men and material. He said that the government was determined to bring the law and order situation under control.
He said that government respects the Supreme Court's decision on National Reconciliation Order and ready to face all the cases against them.
Qureshi also said that the internal situation could be better if eastern and western border regions were peaceful.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2010 00:00 ||
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[The News (Pak) Top Stories] President Asif Ali Zardari on Thursday expressed Pakistan's concern over the continuous drone attacks on Pakistani territory, saying it undermined the national consensus against the war on militancy.
The president's remarks came during a meeting of the US Congressional delegation, led by Senator John McCain, who called on Zardari at the Presidency on Thursday.
The president urged the American delegation to persuade US policymakers to give drone technology to Pakistan, so that militants could be targeted by Pakistan's security forces themselves rather than by foreign troops, which raised questions of sovereignty.
Referring to President Obama's new Afghan strategy, the president said Pakistan had legitimate interests in promoting peace and stability in Afghanistan and urged that the US must remain sensitive to Pakistan's core national interests and concerns.
"The US actions should remain on the Afghan side of the border," he added. While lauding the US assistance for Pakistan, he said the assistance could be channelised through the government in accordance with Pakistan's priorities and programmes and ensured transparency, accountability and efficacy in terms of results.
He said the economic cost of the war on terror, amounting to $35 billion for the last eight years, had almost paralysed Pakistan's economy. "Pakistan has been facing delays in payments of the Coalition Support Fund (CSF) claims," he said.
He urged for timely reimbursement of over one billion dollars on account of the CSF. The president underlined the need for the strategic long-term partnership between Pakistan and the United States, to be based on mutual interest, respect and trust.
He hailed President Obama's affirmation of the US commitment to Pakistan's stability, security and prosperity, and said democratic stability in Pakistan was contingent upon advancement of our development agenda for which the US support was critical.
President Zardari stressed the need for market access to the Pakistani goods into the US and EU markets and asked the Congressional delegation to play their role for the early adoption of the ROZs' legislation in the US Congress, which would usher in a new era of socio-economic development in the areas affected by the war against militancy.
The delegation lauded Pakistan's role in the war against extremism and militancy and assured full support in taking this war to its logical end. The delegation, besides Senator John McCain, included Senator Joseph Liberman, Senator Johan Barrasso, Christian Brose, foreign policy adviser, Vance Serchuk and Brooke Buchanan.
US Ambassador to Pakistan Anne W Patterson and senior officials in the US embassy were also present. The Pakistani side comprised Defence Minister Chaudhry Ahmad Mukhtar, Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin, Interior Minister Rehman Malik, Secretary-General to the President Salman Faruqui, Sughra Imam, Farahnaz Ispahani and others.
AFP adds: Earlier, McCain said on Thursday in Kabul that the use of drone strikes against suspected militants in Pakistan was an effective part of the US strategy and should continue. "The drone strikes are part of an overall set of tactics which make up the strategy for victory and they have been very effective," McCain told reporters during a brief trip to Afghanistan.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
DAILY TIMES.PK . seems the JAMAAT-AL-ISLAMI CHief wants the PAK Govt to begin targeting and shooting down US drones attacking PAK areas, claiming that any PAK Govt.inaction agz Drones is so becuz the US has successfully made Pakistan into its [weak]Colony???
Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has said that Pakistan is ready to wage a thousand-year war with India over the Kashmir dispute. The Daily Times quoted Zardari as saying that this was a war of ideologies and would last for generations.
Addressing a joint session of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Assembly and the Kashmir Council, Zardari said democratic governments had played a key role in moving forward on the Kashmir dispute.
"When Zulfikar had spoken of waging a thousand-year war, he never said he would not do it through talks or negotiations," he said.
Zardari said regional peace was inextricably linked to the settlement of the decades-old dispute over Kashmir. "We cannot de-link regional peace from peace in Kashmir. We have highlighted this thinking in the world and will keep projecting it," he said.
Describing Kashmir as the 'jugular vein' of Pakistan, the president said, "Soon the time will come when the world will take important decisions regarding Kashmir."
Zardari said Pakistan and India should learn to live in peace. "We know that we cannot change our neighbours, but they should also know that they can also not change their neighbours," he said.
The president also announced the formation of a committee under Kashmir Affairs Minister Manzoor Wattoo that would focus on assisting the people of Kashmir.
Posted by: john frum ||
01/09/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
So he's declaring a Holy War?
CUT OFF ALL, PAYMENTS, SPARE PARTs, AID, anything.
and tell him the whole nation is back on the target list.
Then fly over a bunch of buffs and other heavys low right over Islamibad.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Fifteen political parties, including that of a prominent Sunni leader, should be barred from Iraq's March 7 election because of alleged ties to Saddam Hussein's outlawed Baath Party, a panel has found.
The panel's recommendation, which was not final and whose legitimacy was immediately disputed, could hamper attempts to unify the fractious nation after years of sectarian violence as it heads toward the key parliamentary vote Washington hopes will bring stability before its troop withdrawal.
The Justice and Accountability Commission, an independent body that aims in part to ensure the Baath party does not return to public life, said on Thursday that Saleh al-Mutlaq's National Dialogue Front should not be allowed to participate in the vote.
The recommendation of the commission, which replaced Iraq's de-Baathification Committee, will be referred to the electoral commission, IHEC, for a decision, and Iraq's courts will have the final say.
"The committee asked IHEC to ban 15 parties from participating, including the National Dialogue Front ... because its leaders and its founders come under the process of de-Baathification," said Ali al-Lami, a commission official. Mutlaq, who is popular among the Sunni minority that dominated Iraq under Saddam, condemned the edict as politically motivated and said it would be appealed in the federal courts.
"It is an absurdity committed by the de-Baathification committee," Mutlaq told Reuters. "It proves again that there is no real basis for any democratic process in Iraq."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2010 00:00 ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] The Saudi Foreign Ministry denied reports that the kingdom has joined Egypt in the Palestinian reconciliation efforts.
"We washed our hands of those idiots ages ago."
A Foreign Ministry source said that the recent statements by Prince Saud al-Fisal, in both Riyadh and Cairo asserted that the reconciliation dossier is fully in the hand of the Egyptians and hoped a speedy acceptance of the Egyptian initiative to restore Palestinian unity.
Prince al-Fisal was in Egypt last week, where he held talks with President Hosni Mubarak and delivered a message from the Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2010 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV Latest] A senior Israeli air force official takes pride in the army's conduct during the widely condemned Gaza war, describing the deadly operation as "a success."
"Today, one year later, we certainly consider the operation a success...we can be proud of what we did," the head of the Israel air force manpower branch, Brig. Gen. Rami Ben-Efraim, told the Ynet news website just a few days after the anniversary of the December 2007-January 2008 offensive.
"I was present at the operational decision-making forum, and I think we would have done the same thing. It is my feeling that in the air force today, people are at ease in the moral and ethical aspects over the way we acted," said Ben-Efraim, who was appointed head of the manpower branch in 2008.
It is not the first time that Israel hails the behavior of its soldiers during Operation Cast Lead, in which more than 1,400 Palestinians, including women and children, were killed and thousands of others were rendered homeless.
In December, Israel decorated eight soldiers for showing "heroism" in the Gaza war, another slap in the face of worldwide criticism against what the International Committee of the Red Cross described as Tel Aviv's use of "reckless" warfare against Palestinian civilians.
In July, print and video testimony was released from 30 soldiers who said their commanders urged them to shoot first and worry later about distinguishing civilians from fighters.
The documents described how civilians were used as human shields ahead of Israeli troops when they entered suspicious buildings, and charged Israel with using forbidden white phosphorus shells against Gazans.
A report by former South African UN prosecutor Richard Goldstone documented Israeli soldiers' deliberate targeting of centers, such as schools and mosques, known to be holding civilians.
The three-week Israeli land, sea and air offensive in the Gaza Strip also devastated a large part of the infrastructure of the impoverished coastal enclave.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2010 00:00 ||
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[Ma'an] Islamic Jihad's Al-Quds Brigades affirmed resistance factions' readiness to confront any attack on Gaza, spokesman Abu Ahmad announced Friday.
He told Ma'an by phone that "the latest Israeli military escalation on Gaza comes within ongoing attempts by the occupation to provoke the resistance by dragging it into a military confrontation."
The comments came after a sequence of 14 mortar shells were reported fired at Israeli targets by the Popular Resistance Committees' militant wing, which were followed Friday morning by a series of four airstrikes all across the Gaza Strip.
On Friday afternoon the PRC issued a call for "retaliation" for the airstrikes. Later Friday the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine's military wing said it launched four mortars at Israeli targets.
The recent airstrikes and a series of limited incursions were what Abu Ahmad called Israeli aims to taunt the resistance in Gaza. The spokesman also cited targeted assassinations of resistance leaders as a method to antagonize factions.
"They can't stop the projectiles of the resistance," Abu Ahmad said, dismissing recent reports that Israel is completing work on an anti-rocket system.
The resistance is developing its expertise, he said. "The occupation's attempts will fail in weakening the spirit of resistance, and that could change the equation of the circumstances in the region."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
yup, tiny weeney premature ineffective projectiles of the resistance. All engaged in a clusterfk. Clusters help when targeting. Keep it up (ahem) boys.
A Malaysian church was firebombed yesterday, the fourth such attack in two days as a row escalated over the use of the word ''Allah'' by non-Muslims.
The Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in south-west Kuala Lumpur was the latest target. There were no reports of injuries. Church authorities found that petrol bombs had been thrown at the windows of the first and second floors of the three-storey building, the church's Bishop Philip Loke said.
''They narrowly missed it, but part of the walls are burnt,'' he said, adding: ''We suspect this attack is linked to the other attacks.''
[Straits Times] THE Philippines will impose a five-month ban on carrying guns in public from Sunday to reduce election violence in the run-up to May's polls - a period when the country's political rivalries traditionally go on the boil.
The year got off to a bloody start, with several candidates running for local government posts being gunned down: Four of them were from the Nacionalista Party (NP), the country's oldest political party.
'Because they can't be beaten fair and square, they were beaten in a manner most foul,' the NP's presidential candidate, Mr Manuel Villar, told reporters.
Under the lockdown imposed by the Commission on Elections (Comelec), all permits to carry firearms outside residences have been suspended.
The ban will affect owners of 1.2 million registered guns, and only members of the security forces and licensed security guards may carry firearms in public.
In a related development, President Gloria Arroyo last Wednesday appointed a retired Supreme Court judge to head an independent commission to recommend measures for dismantling private armed groups run by political families and local strongmen before the May 10 elections.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2010 00:00 ||
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This is pretty standard protocol for the PI before an election.
Remember GMA did not take office by popular election, she took it during the coup. Bring popcorn, this will be fun to watch. She wants to stop the ruling families? She comes from the ruling families...
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
01/09/2010 0:28 Comments ||
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#2
Let's hear it for the oligarchy of the archipelago.
[Straits Times] TWO officials have been sentenced to death by a Myanmar court for leaking information, in a case reportedly involving secret ties between the ruling junta and nuclear-armed North Korea.
They were among three men arrested last year after details and photographs of a trip to North Korea by Myanmar's third-in-command were leaked to exiled media, reports said.
'Two officials got the death sentence and another was jailed for 15 years for leaking information. They were sentenced at the special court in Insein Prison on Thursday,' said an official source.
The two condemned men are retired army major Win Naing Kyaw and Foreign Ministry official Thura Kyaw, while the third man is Pyan Sein, also a Foreign Ministry employee.
The death penalty is rarely carried out in Myanmar as sentences are almost always commuted to life imprisonment.
The special court at Insein on Thursday sentenced the two men to death for leaking military secrets, under the Emergency Provisions Act, reported Thailand-based magazine Irrawaddy. It cited sources at the notorious jail in Yangon, where hundreds of dissidents are held.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2010 00:00 ||
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Hmmm, they Maybe the ones who leaked the arms plane that was stoped?
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
01/09/2010 1:16 Comments ||
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[Straits Times] THREE churches were hit by arson attacks early on Friday, with one badly damaged, amid a raging row over the use of the word 'Allah' to refer to the Christian God.
The attacks came hours before a planned rally by several Muslim groups to protest against the use of 'Allah' by the Christians. The rallies went on later after Friday prayers at 10 mosques nationwide, but the turnouts were relatively small and they ended within 10 to 30 minutes.
No one was injured in the attacks, and police have yet to determine the parties responsible.
Prime Minister Najib Razak ordered security to be stepped up at churches and other places of worship nationwide.
'I condemn these actions because they will destroy our country's harmony,' he said at a press conference on Friday.
He commented in his blog later: 'This incident that tried to split us, and others like them, do not represent Malaysia or Islam. They do not represent our families, our society, or efforts to strengthen the 1Malaysia concept.'
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
WAFF/TOPIX > MALAYSIAN CHRISTIANS FACE VIOLENT 2010 NEW YEAR.
[Iran Press TV Latest] Tehran's prosecutor said in an interview Friday that the five people indicted in connection with the recent riots in the capital are members of the exiled terrorist Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO).
"The five accused whose files have been sent to the Revolution Court under the charge of 'moharebeh' (being an enemy of God) are members of the MKO terrorist group," the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) quoted Abbas Jafari-Dolatabadi as saying.
He said the indictments had been based on police reports, investigations and the explicit testimonies of the defendants.
The Tehran prosecutor said that the five had also been charged with organizing public unrest on the holy day of Ashura.
According to Jafari-Dolatabadi, those who commit offenses such as setting public property on fire are considered criminals who deserve the harshest of penalties.
The Tehran prosecutor's office said in a Thursday statement that the cases of the suspects would be heard in the presence of their lawyers and a representative of the prosecutor.
Anti-government protestors staged rallies in Tehran on December 27, using the Ashura ceremonies to chant slogans against top government officials.
Police used tear gas to disperse the protesters who vandalized public property and set trashcans aflame, provoking clashes with security forces.
Seven people died during the unrest. Deputy Police Chief Ahmad-Reza Radan said the force had not used violence against protesters, rejecting any involvement in the killings. He said authorities were investigating the deaths.
After the unrest, MKO leader Maryam Rajavi claimed the group's followers in Iran had cooperated with demonstrators and coordinated the protests.
The MKO, blacklisted as a terrorist group in Iran, Iraq, Canada, and the US, has claimed responsibility for numerous deadly attacks against Iranian government officials and civilians over the past 30 years.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2010 00:00 ||
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Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has taken a swipe at the bullying powers, blaming them for "sowing the seeds of discord among the Islamic states."
"Vigilance, unity and cooperation of the Muslim nations will foil the enemies' conspiracies and those who sow the seeds of discord among Muslims and Islamic states are either ignorant or traitor," said president Ahmadinejad in a meeting with Bahrain's Parliament Speaker Khalifa Ahmad al-Zahrani on Thursday.
President Ahmadinejad's remarks seem to be a direct reference to the recent aggressions and offensive against the Yemenis civilians in northern Yemen, where he held "the enemies of Islam" accountable for Yemen developments. " Enemies foment discord among Muslims in order to thwart their efforts to make progress."
The conflict in northern Yemen began in 2004 between Sana'a and Houthi fighters. It intensified in August 2009 when the Yemeni army launched Operation Scorched Earth in an attempt to crush Shia Houthi fighters in the northern province of Sa'ada.
The government claims that the fighters, who are named after their leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi, seek to restore the Shia imamate system, which was overthrown in a 1962 military coup.
The Houthis, however, say they are defending their people's civil rights, which the government has undermined under pressure from Saudi-backed Wahhabi extremists. Shias, who form the clear majority in the north, make up approximately half of Yemen's overall population.
Referring to the significance of unity among Muslim states, the Iranian chief executive said the arrogant powers erected Israel and waged wars in the region with the aim of dominating the Muslims and the Islamic states.
"The unity and solidarity of the Islamic countries would have prevented the massacre of millions of people in Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine," he opined.
The Bahraini parliament speaker, for his part, said that the enemies' efforts to instigate violence in the Islamic countries would go into reverse and "their plots would consolidate Muslims' relations."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
FREEREPUBLIC > NORTH AMERICAN MUSLIMS ISSUE FATWA [Attack agz USA, Canada is an attack agz fellow Muslims + Islam].
#2
personally, I think Moslems unity and Vigilance et al is right up there with a diabetic's
demand for "more do-nuts".
But say, just hypotehtically, that ALL the Moslems DID get behind one pointed stick and all lined up unified and vigilant to the tune of total ha ha.?
What would happen then.? Well, Fwance would promise them anything and I think most of the EUrorweenies would fold like pasta in the microwave...but they dont have a military anyway so they could try oral sex and see if that worked.
If the United States was faced with a united Caliphate we would simply figure its end game time and fry them systematically. A city at a time until we ran out of cities.
But, thankfully, the average Moslem is going to just sit there whining in the majority and leave it to the stooges like the latest ball bag bomber to crispy critter his fatherhood in 11F.
Osama is dead and Iraq is in the bag. Afghanistan will is getting added value and Barbie and Ken are down at the Mall. Skinny is in the White House.
And if you dont have a Victory Garden you are missing a nutritious bet. September of 2016 is my guess. Feast of Trumpets?
Then we keep up the killing until 2025. Somebody in a collateral Hashemite in Jordan can have Mecca and a few perks when the war is over.
#3
Hasn't 'Muslim Unity' historically been called for when the one calling for it is in serious trouble?
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
01/09/2010 8:32 Comments ||
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#4
Wars are always over someday. This war will be no different. Somebody is going to win and when they do the war will be over. And somebody is going to lose...and when they do we can drink Beer in Mecca and nobody is gonna say peep.
Do you see Mecca ruling the world? I dont. China isnt going to go easy and the United States has fried citys and whole populations before...its my guess we are quite capable of doing it again.
If we dont the Chinese will, the Arabs arent going to keep the Black stuff...somebody IS going to get it. The Arabs cant hold onto it and they are all expendable in the end game.
There is going to be a War. Somebody is going to win it. This stuff we see at present wont just putter along forever...it will hit the wall about 2016. Allah is going to regret He EVER got up in the morning. Bombs over Tokyo ( did I spell that right?) Maybe its spelled Mecca.
I know its not PC to talk about killing a LOT of people. Its not "nice". Decent people dont say things like that. Verdun and the Somme. Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Belsen-Bergen and Mattau and Auschwittz.
More tea?
Angleton9 dear, please stick to one nym per thread. It will enable your eloquence to be properly appreciated, and will keep me from getting too nervous. Thanks ever so! and I'd love some tea. Milk, no sugar, if you don't mind. :-)
#6
I know its not PC to talk about killing a LOT of people. Its not "nice". Decent people dont say things like that.
And all too often it's advocated by those who will have no skin in the game, or would soil themselves if they did.
Not to say that it might not be necessary. Professionals know that. Professionals also know it ain't the solution to every situation.
Verdun and the Somme.
The result of applying 19th century tactics with 20th century technology, resulting in trench warfare.
Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
And Cologne and Dresden. Note that they didn't happen early in the war.
Belsen-Bergen and Mattau and Auschwittz.
Those were 'political' not 'combat'.
More tea?
No thank you. I drink coffee - a bad habit acquired during all too many mid-watches. (nice thing about the dark tho - you don't have to see the bodies and body-parts...)
After Iran's Judiciary promised to "quickly and firmly" follow up on the recent unrest that erupted in the country during the Ashura mourning ceremony, a cleric on Friday gave more details about the events.
"Eyewitnesses said a person chanted slogans in favor of one of the defeated presidential candidates and threw Molotov cocktails," said Hojjatoleslam Kazem Seddiqi during the Friday prayers in Tehran, the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported.
"After his arrest, he admitted that he had received 200,000 toman [200 USD] to carry out moves against the Islamic establishment," said Seddiqi, adding that every slogan chanted would grant him an extra 50 dollars.
The cleric quoted another witness as saying a drunk man had also been arrested on the Ashura day.
On December 27, anti-government protesters took to the streets. During the demonstration, public property was damaged and security forces clashed with the protesters. Seven people were killed in the unrest.
Deputy Police Chief Ahmad-Reza Radan said the force had not used violence against protesters, adding that the deaths were being investigated by authorities.
In response to the Ashura riots, millions of Iranians took to the streets on the following Wednesday, denouncing the sacrilege of Ashura and demanding that rioters be brought to justice.
Iran blames Western countries, who were quick to condemn what they called the violence in the unrest, of masterminding and supporting the riots that erupted after the June 12, 2009, presidential election.
Seddiqi warned the Judiciary and police that the country would lose patience should rioters continue violating the law.
"I am concerned the Iranian people will lose their patience when legal channels do not offer a proper solution in due time," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2010 00:00 ||
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"I am concerned the Iranian people will lose their patience when legal channels do not offer a proper solution in due time," he said.
Well Bingo, Seddiqi. It's just not the side you're thinking about.
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.
Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai says he does not need anymore 'the favor' of the US-led foreign forces in his war-weary country. 
Muslims and Christians set fire to each others' homes and shops near the southern Egyptian town of Nagaa Hamady on Saturday, three days after a gunman killed six Coptic Christians in a drive-by shooting, security sources said.
ATHENS (Rooters) - An explosive device went off outside Greece's parliament on Saturday evening, causing no injuries and minor damage, police said.
VANNES, France -- French President Nicolas Sarkozy defended his country's military force in Afghanistan, saying Friday that now is not the time to pull out. Sarkozy did not say, though, whether France would send more troops, as U.S. allies have urged. The French leader has said he is waiting for an international conference on Afghanistan in London on Jan. 28 before discussing any further troop commitments.
In a ruling this week, U.S. District Judge Thomas Hogan also said the government failed to establish that 23 statements the detainee made to interrogators at Guantanamo Bay were untainted by the earlier coerced statements made while he was held under harsh conditions in Afghanistan.
[The News (Pak) Top Stories] President Asif Ali Zardari on Thursday expressed Pakistan's concern over the continuous drone attacks on Pakistani territory, saying it undermined the national consensus against the war on militancy.
