The top U.N. representative for Afghanistan warned Tuesday that Taliban insurgents in the country are likely to step up attacks in coming weeks, before the onset of winter, but he also praised the government's progress in curtailing opium cultivation and said the country is not doomed to failure.
Kai Eide, a Norwegian diplomat, told the U.N. Security Council that the Taliban has made significant strides in recent months, expanding its operations from southern and eastern Afghanistan to positions around the capital, Kabul. Insurgent attacks in July and August were up 40 percent over last year, making it the most violent two-month period since the United States toppled the Taliban regime in 2001.
"We must expect that this number of incidents will continue over the next weeks," Eide said, noting that the insurgents' target list had grown to include humanitarian aid workers. He said he anticipated that the insurgents would conduct operations throughout Afghanistan's winter months -- a period in which Taliban fighters have reduced their activities in the past.
Eide voiced frustration at the Security Council for assigning the United Nations ambitious new responsibilities in Afghanistan but failing to provide adequate financial resources. He said it can take as long as a year to secure finances to employ additional staff members at the U.N. mission in Kabul.
Despite the setbacks, Eide said he would "caution against the kind of gloom-and-doom statements we've seen recently" about Afghanistan. He said that many of the critics who say international efforts to support democracy in Afghanistan have failed are "people who scarcely put their feet on the ground" in the country.
Eide cited three areas of progress in Afghanistan that he said had been overlooked: an improvement in relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan after the election of Asif Ali Zardari as Pakistan's president; the decision by Afghan President Hamid Karzai to reshuffle his cabinet after international criticism of government corruption; and a sharp reduction in the number of Afghan provinces cultivating opium poppies.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/16/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
ION RUSSIA TODAY > seems an AQ-affiliated group = personages may had targeted the 2014 Winter Olympic city of SOCHI. Moscow also claims to had stopped approxi 68 terror attacks or incidents, and imprisoned 129 people in consequence.
#2
TOPIX > RUSSIA SETTING UP A MILITARY BASE IN AZERBAIJAN!? Also reportedly making energy-milbase tradeoff deals wid other former Soviet SSRS in Central Asia.
Read, RUSSIA trusts its ANTI-US ALLY FUTURE NUCLEAR IRAN enuff NOT to trust 'em???
(AKI) The Taliban will agree to peace talks if they are recognised as a political force, if a date is set for the withdrawal of international forces, and if Taliban prisoners are released, according to Pakistan's former spy chief, Retired Lt. General Hamid Gul.
Gul a former head of Pakistan's powerful Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), said he believes negotations need to be taken forward with Taliban leader Mullah Omar. "Pakistan has to be brought on board too," he told Adnkronos International (AKI) and a small group of Western news organisations at a briefing in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad. "I know the Taliban, I have worked with them for a long time, and can say they would never talk to Afghan President Hamid Karzai, they consider him a mere traitor and puppet," Gul said.
Taliban would be prepared to parley with the Americans but only on certain conditions, he said. First, that such talks are held publicly; that the US recognise the Taliban are not terrorists but fighters who are defending their country; that the US and NATO give a date for the withdrawal of their troops from Afghanistan; and that all Taliban prisoners are freed.
"Barack Obama is wanting to outdo his rival, and that is not a good sign," Gul said, referring respectively to the Democratic Party's presidential candidate his Republican Party rival John McCain.
The US presidential election campaign is among various obstacles to any peace talks with the Taliban, according to Gul. "Barrack Obama is wanting to outdo his rival, and that is not a good sign," Gul said, referring respectively to the Democratic Party's presidential candidate his Republican Party rival John McCain. "That means they want to continue following the same line of action that they have during the last seven years. And I am afraid this is going to bring disaster," Gul continued.
Pakistan, wracked by terrorism and a deep economic crisis, an environment in which anti-Americanism is thriving, is facing collapse, Gul warned.
The implications of this situation for the fight against terrorism and the security of the country's nuclear arsenal, are dire, he said. "The risk is real, there could be a civil war, even a revolution along the lines of the Iranian one. Personally, I hope for a revoultion but a soft one, like that the one born in America during the Vietnam war or like pacifist movements in Europe against the war in Iraq, " Gul stated.
Something along these lines has occurred in Pakistan recently, with the lawyers movement and the judges who marched for a return to democracy, he said.
Musharraf committed the inexcusable error of aligning himself with the US's 'war on terror', Gul said. But he also had criticism for the fledgling government of Musharraf's successor, Asif Ali Zardari, the widow of slain former premier Benazir Bhutto.
Gul described Zardari as a "civilian dictator" who he claimed has adopted the same policies and autocratic leadership style as Musharraf. "It is very necessary that Parliament should call the shots, as a collective body, as a sovereign body under the democratic system," Gul stated. "His role as President of Pakistan is as the constitutional head. Everything else should be given to the parliament and the Prime Minister and the Cabinet," Gul stressed.
Discussing anti-Taliban operations in northwest Pakistan, Gul said it was hard to say exactly how many Taliban were in area along the border with Afghanistan, but the figure could be between 15,000 and 20,000. The more the Americans step up their cross-border operations, the more the Afghans will identify with the Taliban, Gul warned.
Many villagers in northwest Pakistan, especially in North and South Wazaristan tribal areas have a lot of sympathy for the Taliban's cause and believe it is their duty to help them - on the Pakistani and Afghan sides of the border, Gul noted. "The nation does not look upon this as Pakistan's war," he said.
He advised NATO forces in Afghanistan, including Italian troops, to withdraw, and urged them to start planning this immediately, ahead of a fresh Taliban campaign next Spring when fighting resumes after the winter lull. "The reconstruction of the country is impossible without peace. Peace has to come first," Gul concluded.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/16/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
How come this man has never been targeted as he is the brains behind Taliban/AlQ and is a major enemy of the West!!!!
Posted by: Paul ||
10/16/2008 5:08 Comments ||
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#2
Preconditions! Surrender or die. Sounds like good preconditions to me.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
10/16/2008 10:32 Comments ||
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#3
"I know the Taliban, I have worked with them for a long time"
That's a targeting!
The Taliban could cut their ties with Al Qaeda they once harboured as part of a peace agreement in Afghanistan, a former Taliban foreign minister said on Wednesday. But severing links with Al Qaeda should not be a pre-condition for talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government, Wakil Ahmed Muttawakil said. "Al Qaeda were in Afghanistan before as guests of the Taliban. Now they are allies in the fight," Muttawakil said.
"Al Qaeda will not be allowed to create an obstacle ... it is the right of Afghans to negotiate for peace."
"Al Qaeda will not be allowed to create an obstacle ... it is the right of Afghans to negotiate for peace."
Muttawakil was part of a group of Afghans that met in Saudi Arabia last month for discussions on how to end the worsening conflict between the Taliban and the Western-backed Afghan government.
All sides agree there were no direct Taliban representatives present or that real peace talks took place in Mekkah. But the start of efforts to find a negotiated solution has been seen as a glimmer of hope amid the rising death toll in Afghanistan. Muttawakil does not speak directly for the Taliban but is known to retain ties to the movement that ruled most of Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001.
He surrendered in southern Afghanistan in 2002 and spent nearly two years in a local United States-managed prison. Talks would not start unless pre-conditions, such as the rejection of Al Qaeda or the Taliban demand that all foreign forces leave, are set aside, he said. "Negotiation is a tool for agreement and agreement is the objective. Neither side should impose pre-conditions on starting peace talks as pre-conditions would hamper the start of negotiations." Muttawakil said confidence-building measures were needed. The release of prisoners held by US forces, the end of bounty hunting for Taliban leaders and taking key figures off black lists would be a start, he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/16/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
If the Taliban had severed its links with Al Quaeda in 2001 they'd still be in power and we would (presumably) never have invaded that place.
A High Court (HC) bench yesterday refused to accept the bail petition filed by Jamaat-e-Islami Secretary General Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojahid in the Barapukuria coal mine corruption case. Justices Mohammad Anwaurl Haque and Farah Mahmud said their bench was already overstretched with other cases.
The bail petition was later moved to the bench of justices AKM Fazlur Rahman and ATM Fazle Kabir after the Jamaat leader's counsels appealed to the chief justice to constitute a new bench to hear their case. The new bench asked Mojahid's lawyers to place the petition for hearing on October 19.
Meantime, eminent citizens and lawyers yesterday sharply reacted to Mojahid's presence at his party's dialogue with the government Tuesday even when police reported to the trial court that he is a fugitive.
Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) Chairman Prof Muzaffer Ahmad said the rule of law was violated allowing Mojahid into the talks. "Law should be equal to all; it violates the rule of law when a wanted accused sits with government advisers instead of being arrested," he told reporters after attending a seminar in the city.
"The government will have to account for if he roams free in line with the administration's consent," he said. On whether the government was softening its position for the sake of success of its negotiations with political parties and the upcoming election, he said, "This flexibility cannot be evaluated from one or two instances; we've got to wait for the final results."
Supreme Court Bar Association President barrister Shafique Ahmed said allowing Mojahid into the meeting was an act of 'harbouring a criminal'. On the Jamaat platitude that Mojahid's joining the talks was OK as he had already applied for bail, he said, "Appealing for bail does not mean getting bail."
Posted by: Fred ||
10/16/2008 00:00 ||
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Lord West, who advises the Prime Minister on security matters, told the House of Lords: "There is another great plot building up again and we are monitoring this."
His comments came the day after the House of Lords forced the Government to abandon plans to extend detention without trial for terror suspects to 42 days.
Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, dropped the measure from the bill after it was defeated in the upper house but warned critics they were exposing the country to a greater risk.
During a debate on the Counter-terrorism Bill, Lord West repeated the government's intention to keep the proposals in a separate piece of legislation to be introduced if needed in the face of an emergency. He told peers: "Some of the measures that we have put into place in the past 15 months have made us safer, but that does not mean that we are safe.
"The threat is huge. It dipped slightly and is now rising again within the context of 'severe'. There are large complex plots. We unravelled one, which caused damage to al-Qaeda and the plots faded slightly.
"However, another great plot is building up again, which we are monitoring. We have done a great deal to protect ourselves and to look after our water supplies, our resilience, underground trains, our preparedness and communications.
"We have done all the things that we need to do, but the threat is building - the complex plots are building."
The Daily Telegraph reported two weeks ago that security sources believed terrorist activity was nearing "critical". The threat level is at the "severe end of severe" according to sources who say the level of "ambient activity" among terrorist cells has increased in recent months and they are now operating at full stretch.
The source said: "We are not chasing shadows. These are potential threats to security and life. Police and the security network are operating at full capacity."
The assessment, which has five levels, has only been "critical," meaning an attack is "imminent," during last year's attack on Glasgow airport and the July 2005 London bombings.
#1
I'd say the next 2 weeks would be critical with the US election on Nov 4, the start of the sacred month Dhu al-Qi'dah* on Oct 31 and the anniversary of the Armistice of Mudros on Oct 30 (which was the beginning of the end of the Ottoman Empire).
*I know, I know - you've told me before that they still fight during the "sacred months".
I also found this caveat in "Milestones" by Sayyid Qutb "They ask you about fighting in the sacred months. Say: Fighting in them is a great sin, but to prevent people from the way of God, and to reject God, and to stop people from visiting the Sacred Mosque, and to expel people from their homes are a much greater sin, and oppression is worse than killing" (Chapter Baqara 2:217)
So I guess that means they are permitted attack whenever the opportunity presents regardless of the date. With a lot of people running around like headless chooks at the moment now is probably a great time to add to the chaos.
#4
The islamic sacred months are a favored time for muslims to start wars. Extra virgin points and all. But don't you dare, infidel, attack the muslims at those times.
The battle of Badr occurred on the holy month of Rajab (a big no no) when Mohamed attacked a trade caravan.
Posted by: ed ||
10/16/2008 22:36 Comments ||
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A protest has been staged outside Strathclyde Police headquarters over alleged "harassment" of Muslim travellers at Glasgow Airport.
About 60 demonstrators claimed that Pakistani and Afghan passengers had been "interrogated" for up to three hours by officers from Special Branch. They accused police of operating "discriminatory policies".
Strathclyde Police said it welcomed dialogue over the implementation of terrorism legislation.
President of the Scottish Afghan Society, Mohammad Asif, said Strathclyde Police had a duty to treat Muslim passengers like "human beings". "Muslim community members have been singled out for questioning for no apparent reason other than being Afghan or Pakistani," he said. "This treatment is unacceptable in a democracy and we are fed up with the discriminatory policies of Strathclyde Police Special Branch.
"We cannot bear the psychological torture anymore. The authorities treat us like terrorists, as well as putting pressure on Afghans to become informers and spies, but we are not going to be intimidated and pressurised."
Strathclyde Police issued a statement saying that a study was under way into the application of terrorism legislation at ports in Scotland. The statement said: "This is to ensure that these powers are used effectively and are enforced with due regard to community impact and, at the same time, promote understanding and support.
"This study is being carried out under the direction of the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland. In that regard we would welcome dialogue from anyone in the community who may have concerns regarding how the legislation is implemented."
Posted by: john frum ||
10/16/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Human beings don't blow up airliners for some perverted whorehouse afterlife. Muslims do.
Posted by: ed ||
10/16/2008 0:38 Comments ||
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ROTTERDAM, 17/10/08 - Rotterdam is getting a Muslim as mayor. Social Affairs State Secretary Ahmed Aboutaleb will succeed Ivo Opstelten in the Netherlands' second-largest city.
#3
Aboutaleb is not a hardline muslim. Can't get elected to major office that way. But he is a conformist muslim who tries to advance the muslim agenda withing the Netherlands. Make no mistake which side of civilization he is on.
Posted by: ed ||
10/16/2008 21:52 Comments ||
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The U.S. Justice Department has withdrawn a series of allegations made in federal court that tie Binyam Mohammed, a British resident held at Guantanamo Bay, to a plot to explode a radioactive "dirty bomb" in the United States, blow up apartment buildings here and release cyanide gas in nightclubs.
Defense lawyers said the decision should force the Pentagon to drop charges of conspiracy and material support for terrorism against Mohammed, which were filed by military prosecutors in May. The charges, the lawyers said, are spurious and based on false confessions obtained through torture. They said the Justice Department dropped key allegations to avoid having to turn over evidence of abuse. The agency did not respond to a request for comment.
The dirty-bomb allegation was also never pursued in the case of Mohammed's alleged co-conspirator, Jose Padilla, a U.S. citizen initially declared an enemy combatant but convicted in federal court in August 2007 on a lesser charge of providing material support for terrorism. He was sentenced to 17 years in prison. "There are no serious, hard charges against Mohammed," said Air Force Lt. Col. Yvonne R. Bradley, his military attorney. "The whole thing the government was hanging its hat on, pursuing Mr. Mohammed, was the dirty bomb."
The Pentagon's convening authority for military commissions examines each case assembled by prosecutors before deciding whether it should be referred to a military court for trial at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Mohammed's case is "under review," said Joseph DellaVedova, a spokesman for the Office of Military Commissions.
The Justice Department's decision came after a Washington federal judge, in a habeas corpus proceeding, ordered the government to turn over all available exculpatory evidence to Mohammed's attorneys, according to documents filed by government attorneys. The material includes 42 classified British intelligence documents, among them communications with the United States about Mohammed's fate after his arrest in Pakistan in April 2002.
Mohammed's attorneys said they think the documents could shed light on the period between his disappearance in July 2002 and his transfer to the military prison at Guantanamo Bay in September 2004. Mohammed, a 30-year-old Ethiopian native, and his attorneys charge that he was secretly transferred by the CIA to Morocco, where he admitted to various plots only because he was tortured.
The High Court in London ordered the release of the documents to Mohammed's attorneys, but the British government argued that they were covered by "public interest immunity" because their release would damage intelligence cooperation and relations with the United States. The British government, however, said U.S. authorities had copies of the documents, effectively transferring any decision-making about their release to Washington.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/16/2008 00:00 ||
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The US Chief of Army Staff, General George W Casey, who is on a three-day visit to India, received a ceremonial welcome here today. Casey was received by Chief of Army Staff, General Deepak Kapoor and is scheduled to visit the Siachen Glacier base camp near Leh.
The defence establishment will hold a lengthy discussion with General Casey on the emerging security scenario in South Asia, particularly in the wake of heightened tension along the Pak-Afghan border. General Casey is expected to hold talks with the top brass of the Indian defence forces on ways to further enhance bilateral military relations between New Delhi and Washington.
Besides meeting and discussing issues of mutual interest with Defence Minister A K Antony, General Casey would also hold talks with General Kapoor and would be given a presentation on the security scenario in South Asia.
Siachen has been a bone of contention between India and Pakistan since the mid 1980s when India sent its troops to the 72-km-long Glacier to pre-empt a Pakistani move to send Japanese trekkers to the snowy heights ranging from 18,000 feet to 22,000 feet.
General Casey will also deliver a lecture on land power in 21st Century at the National Defence College here. He will visit some military bases outside Delhi before concluding his stay in India on October 18.
Posted by: john frum ||
10/16/2008 07:06 ||
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Hardline separatist leader and chairman of Hurriyat Conference Syed Ali Shah Geelani, spearheading the recent unrest in Kashmir, was operated upon successfully for replacement of heart pace-maker in New Delhi's Escorts Hospital on Tuesday.
This was Geelani's fifth successful surgery in the last 12 years. Seventy-nine-year-old Geelani's kidney as well as gall bladder has been removed in two separate surgeries. He underwent a surgery during his incarceration in Ranchi jail in 2002.
In 2007, half of his lone kidney was removed after it developed malignancy. Though he was granted permission by the Central government to visit the US for specialised treatment, the US Embassy refused him visa "for supporting militancy" in Kashmir.
In the recent weeks, the hardline separatist leader developed complicacy as his pace-maker, implanted on 1997, was nearing expiry. He is also suffering from bronchitis.
I love the irony: a man who would take Kashmir straight back to the seventh century, with all the wonderous medical care that century was known for, has had cancer surgery, gall bladder surgery, a pacemaker, and cardiac surgery in the land of his mortal enemy, the Hindoos. I'm just betting that it was a Hindu surgeon and surgical team each time, and if it was a Muslim surgeon, said surgeon has made his peace to live in a multi-cultural society.
Posted by: john frum ||
10/16/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
All medical bills taken care of by the Indian government.
He has a security team, paid for by the Indian government.
Most of these 'kashmiri seperatists' have children living in other parts of India (no riots, strikes etc to disrupt their lives), all university educated, with the Indian taxpayer picking up the bill.
Posted by: john frum ||
10/16/2008 6:59 Comments ||
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#2
They would have given up trying on any of us. But for a murderous scourge.....
Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Secretary General Syed Munawar Hasan has asked the government to disown the United States (US) war as soon as possible to solve all the problems facing the country, including the suicide attacks and deteriorating law and order.
Talking to various delegations at the Mansoorah on Wednesday, in connection with the forthcoming JI congregation in Lahore, the JI secretary general said that the US was itself crushed under a serious financial crisis, adding that it was high time to 'divorce' the US war.
Munawar Hasan said that the country needs to devise an independent policy on foreign and internal issues since the country had recently witnessed the worst crises of its history because of General (r) Musharraf's policy of joining the US war on terror.
He expressed his sorrow that a handful of senior officials had been fighting a US war against innocent Pakistanis for a few dollars, saying that by deceiving the nation, they have made it the country's war. He demanded the immediate withdrawal of logistics' support to the US forces in Afghanistan and the withdrawal of the army from the Tribal Areas and settled areas of the North Western Frontier Province to solve the issue through jirgas.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/16/2008 00:00 ||
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The United States-Pakistan Freedom Forum, a New-York group of Pakistani political workers, has criticised the visit of a Pakistani parliamentary delegation to the US to meet Aafia Siddiqui and visit the Guantanamo prison as 'wasteful and unnecessary'. In a statement, the group's spokesman Shahid Comrade said the Pakistani lawmakers appeared to be more interested in sightseeing, shopping and meeting friends and family. He said some of the members had supported past dictatorships and were very much part of the government that bore direct responsibility for sending Pakistanis to American prisons and detention camps. One lawmaker had spent most of his time with his children who were getting an expensive education in America, the spokesman said, adding the lawmaker did not even find the time to join the press conference at which some of the others were present. Comrade said one member was here with his wife. "At a time when Pakistan finds itself in dire economic straits, such visits are irresponsible and a mockery of those back home who cannot even afford to feed themselves and their families," the statement said.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/16/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Shahid Comrade? It's amazing who INS will give a greencard.
Posted by: ed ||
10/16/2008 0:44 Comments ||
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#2
...said the Pakistani lawmakers appeared to be more interested in sightseeing, shopping and meeting friends and family.
The annual budget of the local Taliban is more than Rs 4 billion, Dawn News quoted unidentified NWFP officials as saying on Wednesday. According to the channel,
A Khasadar force soldier is paid a monthly salary of Rs 3,000, while a Taliban mercenary gets Rs 6,000 a month. Local Taliban commanders receive as much as Rs 20,000 a month.
the officials said that a Khasadar force soldier is paid a monthly salary of Rs 3,000, while a Taliban mercenary gets Rs 6,000 a month. Local Taliban commanders receive as much as Rs 20,000 a month, the channel said. Taliban fighters had almost taken over Bajaur Agency before the government launched a security operation there, the channel quoted the officials. It reported the officials as saying that the Taliban had killed more than 600 pro-government tribal leaders until now. The official stressed the need for short-term and long-term steps to counter tribal insurgencies and to carry out development projects in the region, Dawn News said.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/16/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
For the culturally insensitive like myself, how much is that in real money?
(APP): Chairman Senate Standing Committee on Defence Nisar Memon Wednesday expressed great concern over deployment of 10,000 Indian soldiers in Afghanistan. "Their deployment is questionable as there are reports that these soldiers are being deployed near the border area," he said addressing a press conference.
He observed that foreign hands are involved in act of terrorism in Pakistan who are also igniting sectarianism to destabilize the country. Those providing logistic support to Pakistan are also attacking innocent people inside the country while violating the international laws as well as country's sovereignty. He urged the government to take measures and utilize all available resources against terrorism and respond in befitting manner to cross border violators.
He said Pakistan is facing socio-economic challenges like power crisis, inflation, price-hike, increase in electricity and petroleum products. It needs to take more effective measures to overcome these challenges, he added.
The senator criticised the in-camera session of the parliament, saying it would create distance among the people and the elected representatives.
To a question Memon said President Asif Ali Zardari's visit to China will strengthen Sino-Pak relationship. Regarding Kashmir issue, he said "We support Pak-India dialogue but both sides should avoid controversial statements." He urged the government to ensure supremacy of parliament, freedom of judiciary and media for socio-economic development of the country.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/16/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
You don't understand. Pak can play both sides of the street with NATO, but the Indians don't believe a word of it.
(APP): NWFP Governor Owais Ahmed Ghani on Wednesday lauded the positive role of tribal lashkars and said they were part of a long-standing tribal tradition for establishing peace and protecting life and property of the people. In an informal talk with senior journalists at a local hotel, he rejected the contention that tribal lashkars could lead to any civil conflict.
Dealing the miscreants and criminals through local lashkars has always been a part parcel of the tribal traditions, he said.
The Governor said the situation in FATA was complex but quite manageable and expressed the optimism that with better understanding and handling of the real issues on the basis of broad national consensus the desired results would be achieved.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
10/16/2008 00:00 ||
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US troops will withdraw from Iraq by December 31 2011 and American and British soldiers deployed there in the interim period could face prosecution in Iraq's courts for serious, premeditated "off-duty" crimes under the terms of a draft status of forces agreement outlined yesterday by officials in Baghdad and Washington.
The draft agreement, which is intended to replace the UN security council mandate that legitimised the US-led invasion in March 2003, and subsequent occupation, follows months of fraught negotiations. It must be ratified by the Iraqi parliament before the end of the year.
Passage is far from guaranteed. Iraq's most influential Shia cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, said last week that any pact must have the support of Iraq's people and political parties before it could be endorsed. Some of the deal's terms may also prove controversial in the US.
But the agreement, if implemented, would mark a milestone in the slow, often painful evolution of independent, Iraqi self-government since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein five years ago. It also represents a climbdown by the Bush administration, which had previously refused to set a deadline or timetable for a troop withdrawal.
Ali al-Dabbagh, the Iraqi government spokesman, said US forces would pull out of Iraqi towns and villages by the middle of next year and withdraw from the country as a whole by the end of 2011. But he left open the possibility that some US and other forces might be asked to stay beyond that date if needed.
"The withdrawal is to be achieved in three years," Dabbagh said. "In 2011 the government at that time will determine whether it needs a new pact or not. What type of pact will depend on the challenges it faces." Dabbagh indicated US troops and Pentagon contractors would be subject to US law while on base or while conducting off-base "military missions" - a potentially catch-all definition since US forces rarely venture off base.
But he added that "Iraqi judicial law will be implemented in case these forces commit a serious and deliberate felony outside their military bases and when off-duty". In such instances, American offenders would be held in US custody but could be surrendered to the Iraqi authorities for questioning and possible trial.
A series of incidents allegedly involving US forces and Pentagon employees which led to the death of Iraqi civilians and, in one case, the alleged rape of a 14-year-old girl, has outraged public opinion and added to pressure for tougher rules.
Officials in Washington confirmed yesterday that a compromise on prosecutions and a withdrawal date had been reached but urged caution. "There is a text that people are looking at," a state department spokesman said. "Nothing is done until everything is done. Everything isn't done."
The draft agreement, if implemented, would also prevent the US military from continuing to hold Iraqi suspects without charging them with crimes under Iraqi law. At present the majority of the 18,000 people held by coalition forces have not been charged with any offence.
British soldiers serving in Iraq are likely to be subject to the new rules from next year. Asked this week about the future status of British forces, the Ministry of Defence said: "Our requirements are very similar to those of the US. We intend to use the Iraqi/US text as the basis of our agreement."
The mooted deal comes against a backdrop of growing pressure from Iraqi public opinion and from Iraq's powerful majority Shia neighbour, Iran, for the departure of US and other foreign forces. Iraq's nationalist prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, has moved successfully in recent months to assert army and police control over areas such as Basra, although levels of violence have been rising again in recent weeks.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/16/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
So where's the withdraw agreement for Europe, Korea, and Japan?
Nablus Maan Settlers attempting to impede Palestinian olive harvests initiated a bizarre new tactic on Thursday, apparently leaving flocks of sheep at olive groves to feed on the small trees. Release the sheep!
Are you sure, sir?
We have...no choice, dammit!
Residents told Maan that Israeli settlers dumped dozens of sheep on Palestinian farmland neighboring the illegal settlement of Itamar, where the animals damaged and devoured dozens of olive and fig trees.
57-year-old Jamil Daraqshah claimed that he saw an Israeli shepherd at his farm in the village of Awarta, which is south of Nablus, just days before. Also evidence, he said, is that Palestinians are not permitted to enter the area without first coordinating with the Palestinian-Israeli liaison office in Nablus. Nablus. Where men are men. And sheep are nervous.
#3
Can someone calculate a probability that this is actually true, in whole or in part? The only photo connected to the article does not show the results of grazing sheep. I'd bet on the Palestinian imagination, myself.
#4
Actually sheep are harmless for everything but very young trees (under two feet . It is goats who, have the habit to stand on their hindlegs and eat bark and leaves who can do a lot of damage.
But I am sceptical for damage on on olive olive trees even by goats. Olive trees have hard, thick bark and their leaves are very bitter. And mature olive trees were nearly unvulnerable to animal or human action before invention of powder. There is a reason some of them are 2,500 years old.
YouTube has been one of the greatest successes of the internet age. Millions of people use the video-sharing website every day and it has spawned hundreds of imitators. One of the most recent is AqsaTube - a site with a particular focus on Palestinian militant videos.
Many appear to have been produced by Hamas - the militant group which seized control of the Gaza Strip in June 2007 - as well as groups like the al-Quds brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad faction. They feature masked men firing rockets to the sounds of martial Arabic music. Also on the menu are videos recorded by suicide bombers before they carried out their attacks, including Mervat Massoud, who injured an Israeli soldier and killed herself during an attack in Beit Hanoun in November 2006.
The website came to public attention in Israel after a recent report by the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Centre which has close ties to the country's intelligence community.
French web hosting firm OVH has taken the site offline. It says AqsaTube was launched by Hamas, a claim denied by the Palestinian movement. Hamas runs a television station a similar name, al-Aqsa TV, which AqsaTube links to. "I have seen the AqsaTube site once," said Samir Abu Mahsen head of production of al-Aqsa TV, "but it does not belong to al-Aqsa TV". The website does include material from groups ideologically opposed to Hamas, including videos by al-Sahab, which produces propaganda on behalf of al-Qaeda. So if Hamas are not behind the site, who is?
A search on whois.net, an internet service which identifies owners of domain names, leads on to godaddy.com, which says AqsaTube is registered with Domains by Proxy, Inc., an American company which protects domain owners' names. Godaddy.com also lists business information for AqsaTube, including a PO Box number in Dubai and a mobile phone number, which was answered by a man who said he was an Indian builder in Dubai. He appeared to know little about the internet and nothing about Palestinian militant movements.
The Intelligence and Terrorism Information Centre claims the site is listed under the name of Abu Nasser Skander from Dubai and its internet service provider is French firm OVH. OVH initially denied hosting AqsaTube, but later confirmed that the website had been hosted by them and had now been taken offline.
Although much of the content was sympathetic to Palestinian militant groups, the website ran advertising for some Israeli companies. In the UK, the advertisements included some decidedly un-Islamic themes, including internet gambling and breast enhancement surgery. Interestingly, militant videos were not the most popular content on Aqsa Tube. According to the site, the most viewed clips were episodes of Bab al-Hara, an enormously popular Arabic soap opera, which is broadcast every Ramadan.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah faction has rejected a request by Hamas rivals to meet separately ahead of multi-factional reconciliation talks next month in Cairo, Fatah officials said on Tuesday.
"Hamas has tried to change the Egyptian plan by requesting a bilateral meeting with Fatah which excludes the other 11 Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) factions," a senior Fatah official told Reuters by telephone from Amman. "We adhere to the Egyptian plan which calls for a meeting of all the factions," the official said. "We don't object to holding a bilateral meeting with Hamas after the comprehensive meeting taking place." Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said Fatah's decision not to hold bilateral talks with the group was a blow to Egypt's efforts to broker a unity deal between the rival groups. "Fatah bears responsibility for any faltering of Arab efforts to reconcile the Palestinian factions," Abu Zuhri said.
Egypt's intelligence chief Omar Suleiman has held a series of separate talks with all Palestinian factions to heal the rift between Hamas and the PLO. Abbas has not sanctioned any meeting between his Fatah group and Hamas and has insisted that such meetings would only take place after Hamas cedes control of Gaza, officials said.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/16/2008 00:00 ||
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Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Hamas
#1
Oh, no! This can't be good for Palestinian Unity.
"For five years, I was a wanted man, but we had enough," says Sufian Qandil of the Tigers, an organization associated with Fatah's Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades. It's noon, and Qandil woke up only a few minutes ago in the prison cell where according to an agreement with Israel he must now spend his nights. "We keep our agreements, even those signed with the Jews," he says, placing his hand on his pillow with a Mickey Mouse pillowcase.
The Al-Aqsa brigades were dissolved. Some members joined the security forces of the Palestinian Authority after receiving amnesty from Israel, while others are being held in PA prisons. A rare look inside Junaid Prison reveals a new era in relations between Israel and Fatah activists. They were involved in dozens of terror attacks, but now they say the era of war is over. They want normal lives. There is another expression of the winds of change blowing through Israel-PA relations: The PA arrests men wanted by Israel on request.
Take Mahdi Abu Ghazale, 35, once considered the commander of the Night Riders, a rival to the Tigers. Like Qandil, Abu Ghazale received partial amnesty from Israel, with the same conditions. About a year ago, he met with a group from Haaretz in a safe house in the casbah of Nablus. He described his daily routine, and mentioned that he was still single. A few days ago he became engaged to a local woman. His fiancee's family made full amnesty from Israel a precondition for the marriage. Abu Ghazale, who fought against Israel for years, now finds himself having to prove his renunciation of terror in order to get married. "I'm being tested not only vis-a-vis Israel but also vis-a-vis my future wife," he explains.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
10/16/2008 00:00 ||
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Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: al-Aqsa Martyrs
#1
Yeah. The "great escape". Wink-wink...
And Farfour would be pissed about your pillow case. If he was still alive...
Iran's president has hinted that the White House is to blame for the billions of dollars that have gone missing in Iraqi oil revenues. "Several months ago, we heard that an enormous amount of over 100-million barrels of Iraqi crude have gone unaccounted for since the US-led invasion of the country," President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Wednesday.
The New York Times quoted a draft government report as saying in 2007 that "between 100,000 and 300,000 barrels a day of Iraq's declared oil production over the past four years is unaccounted for and could have been siphoned off through corruption or smuggling." Considering the four-year period, a total of 100-million barrels of unaccounted crude oil is a conservative estimate.
President Ahmadinejad also questioned the real motives behind the Bush administration's decision to invade Iraq in 2003. According to the Iranian president, Washington has adopted a policy of exploiting the resources of other nations to extricate Americans from the various problems caused by US politicians.
Following the US-led invasion of Iraq, Washington secured UN approval to take financial control of Iraqi government affairs; US President George W. Bush vowed to spend Iraq's money wisely. However, a series of reports have revealed that the United States has mishandled billions of dollars in Iraqi oil funds. "There was a pervasive leakage in assets of Iraq, and to some extent, those assets were squandered," said Frank Willis, a former senior US official in Iraq, in February 2005.
Former US Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan expounded on the issue in September 2007 to confirm that oil was the prime motive behind the Iraq invasion. "I am saddened that it is politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows; the Iraq war is largely about oil," Greenspan said.
While White House echelons claim that Iraq's oil wealth has had no place in their 'War on Terror' campaign, Republican presidential candidate John McCain admitted in a May statement that 'American reliance on foreign oil was the prime motive for invading Iraq'. "I will have an energy policy that we will be talking about, which will eliminate our dependence on oil from the Middle East that will - that will then prevent us - that will prevent us from having ever to send our young men and women into conflict again in the Middle East," said the 72-year-old Arizona senator.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/16/2008 00:00 ||
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Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
McCain too huh? Putting him in the White House will be no victory for Republicans. Only a lesser evil.
#4
Oh yeah, 300,000 barrels a day -- we must have stolen that to satisfy our 20 million barrel a day habit. That's 1.5%. Heck, the Democrats aren't even willing to drill at home for that much.
300,000 bbl/day x $100/bbl x 365 days/yr = $11 billion/year
I think we just found the source of that Iraqi "surplus".
"While White House echelons claim that Iraq's oil wealth has had no place in their 'War on Terror' campaign, Republican presidential candidate John McCain admitted in a May statement that 'American reliance on foreign oil was the prime motive for invading Iraq'."
What is it about Democrats that they can't understand the difference between plundering Iraqi oil and protecting a steady "bought and paid for" flow of oil through the Persian Gulf? Did we fight the Gulf War to take Kuwait's oil? No. Are we buying most of the accounted-for Iraqi oil? No. They are so irrational that we can't risk having a Democrat in the White House. That's just one reason why Sarah Palin is more qualified to be President than any Democrat.
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.
(AKI) The Taliban will agree to peace talks if they are recognised as a political force, if a date is set for the withdrawal of international forces, and if Taliban prisoners are released, according to Pakistan's former spy chief, Retired Lt. General Hamid Gul.
The Taliban could cut their ties with Al Qaeda they once harboured as part of a peace agreement in Afghanistan, a former Taliban foreign minister said on Wednesday. But severing links with Al Qaeda should not be a pre-condition for talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government, Wakil Ahmed Muttawakil said. "Al Qaeda were in Afghanistan before as guests of the Taliban. Now they are allies in the fight," Muttawakil said. 
A protest has been staged outside Strathclyde Police headquarters over alleged "harassment" of Muslim travellers at Glasgow Airport.
The U.S. Justice Department has withdrawn a series of allegations made in federal court that tie Binyam Mohammed, a British resident held at Guantanamo Bay, to a plot to explode a radioactive "dirty bomb" in the United States, blow up apartment buildings here and release cyanide gas in nightclubs. 
Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Secretary General Syed Munawar Hasan has asked the government to disown the United States (US) war as soon as possible to solve all the problems facing the country, including the suicide attacks and deteriorating law and order.
(APP): Chairman Senate Standing Committee on Defence Nisar Memon Wednesday expressed great concern over deployment of 10,000 Indian soldiers in Afghanistan. "Their deployment is questionable as there are reports that these soldiers are being deployed near the border area," he said addressing a press conference. 
(APP): NWFP Governor Owais Ahmed Ghani on Wednesday lauded the positive role of tribal lashkars and said they were part of a long-standing tribal tradition for establishing peace and protecting life and property of the people. In an informal talk with senior journalists at a local hotel, he rejected the contention that tribal lashkars could lead to any civil conflict. 
YouTube has been one of the greatest successes of the internet age. Millions of people use the video-sharing website every day and it has spawned hundreds of imitators. One of the most recent is AqsaTube - a site with a particular focus on Palestinian militant videos. 
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah faction has rejected a request by Hamas rivals to meet separately ahead of multi-factional reconciliation talks next month in Cairo, Fatah officials said on Tuesday. 
