[Tolo News] The Special Electoral Tribunal has decided to unseat more than 80 politicians in the House of Representatives, politicians said on Saturday.
Based on exact information about investigative processes of the special tribunal, it is planning to make the result of its probes public in a matter of days, Parliamentarians said.
"Recently, Special Tribunal along with justice organisations have come up with the decision to replace more than 80 politicians with new ones," Assadullah Saadati, a member of parliament, said.
"At the very beginning I made it clear that formation of the special tribunal was against Afghan laws and there is no doubt about it. But this is also against the laws to sit in the parliament based on frauds," Ramazan Bashardost, another member of parliament, said.
Last year President Karzai approved the establishment of a special tribunal suggested by the High Court to investigate into electoral frauds, which was strongly protested by winning candidates.
It has been times that the Afghan House of Representatives have called on President Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai ... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use... to terminate the tribunal saying it's against the Afghan constitution.
Legislators have also sent a letter to Karzai's Office about the introduction of the rest of his cabinet ministers and three members of High Court.
Speaker of the House, Abdul Raouf Ibrahimi, said "We have sent a letter about acting ministers and three members of High Court Council, whose service terms have finished."
Parliamentarians had also urged President Karzai to introduce the rest of his cabinet ministers.
More than half of President Karzai's second presidential term is over now, but presence of seven acting ministers in his cabinet questions his government's potential and efficiency.
Free and Fair Election Foundation of Afghanistan had previously announced that investigations of the special tribunal would be completed in the near future and that it will soon unveil the results.
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[Tolo News] There are circles inside Pak government that are cooperating with terrorist groups, President Karzai's Deputy Spokesperson said on Saturday.
Deputy Spokesperson for President Karzai Seyamak Herawi remarked that Afghan government has consistently suggested to the international community and Pakistain's government to keep an eye on organisations providing support to bad boys.
"Pakistain's government should know that terrorism is like a sleeping snake in its sleeve that can hurt it at any time," Mr Herawi said.
US special forces killed the late Osama bin Laden ... who has made the transition back to dust... in Pakistain last week. The al-Qaeda leader's death in a country that is one of the United State's top allies in the fight against terrorism has questioned Islamabad's credibility in the counterinsurgency combat.
Senior Pak security officials have told Rooters on Saturday that Osama bin Laden may have lived in Pakistain for over seven years before being killed in an operation by a small team of US special force in Abbottabad, a garrison town 150km north of Islamabad.
Analysts say the death of Osama bin Laden in Pakistain is an evidence about Pakistain's military intelligence agency's close relation with regional terrorism.
"Terrorist networks in Pakistain are led and fueled by Pakistain's Inter-Services Intelligence Agency. And it's the ISI that is responsible for the death of innocent men, women and kiddies all around the globe," former Member of Parliament, Noor-ul Haqq Olumi, said.
The former Pak President Gen. Pervez Perv Musharraf ... former dictator of Pakistain, who was less dictatorial and corrupt than any Pak civilian government to date ... has described the failure of Pakistain's spy agency in tracking Osama bin Laden, while living near Islamabad, as shockingly embarrassing.
It is very shockingly embarrassing that Bin Laden was found living such close to the Pak military academy, Musharraf has said.
Pervez Musharraf has said he believes this is a case of acute failure of intelligence which needs to be investigated. We should find out who really did the mistake and it's the responsibility of Pakistain's spy organisation and army.
Karzai's Deputy Spokesperson called on Pakistain to review approaches that could be working for security in the region and in the world.
Meanwhile, ...back at the secret hideout, Scarface Al sneeringly put his proposition to little Nell... members of High Peace Council said reaction of the Taliban after the death of Osama bin Laden is an indication of their tight relation with al-Qaeda network.
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[Iran Press TV] Amnesia Amnesty International says forces loyal to Libyan ruler Muammar Qadaffy may have committed war crimes in the besieged city of Misratah.
The human rights ...which are usually entirely different from personal liberty... group says the humanitarian situation is rapidly deteriorating there because of the regime's attempts to tighten its two-month siege and block access by sea.
Amnesty's senior adviser Donatella Rovera says Qadaffy's forces have used weapons designed for battlefields in residential areas and have indiscriminately attacked civilians in clear breach of international law.
"The scale of the relentless attacks that we have seen by Qadaffy forces to intimidate the residents of Misratah for more than two months is truly horrifying," said Rovera.
"It shows a total disregard for the lives of ordinary people and is in clear breach of international humanitarian law," she added.
"The international community must give all possible support -- financial, legal and practical -- to those bodies trying to bring to justice those responsible for possible war crimes and crimes against humanity in Misratah and elsewhere in Libya."
On Wednesday, the chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court ... where Milosevich died of old age before being convicted ... said he will seek arrest warrants against three Libyans for crimes against humanity.
Libyan troops have also killed thousands of civilians since the revolution against Colonel Qadaffy began in mid-February.
Many civilians have also been killed since the Western-led war on Libya began last month.
NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the style of the American pants... has recently admitted to killing revolutionary fighters and civilians in an Arclight airstrike in eastern Libya but has refused to apologize for the deadly bombardments.
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05/08/2011 00:00 ||
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Libyan troops have also killed thousands of civilians since the revolution against Colonel Qadaffy began in mid-February.
[Iran Press TV] Soddy Arabia has finally charged 16 reform seeking human rights ...which often include carefully measured allowances of freedom at the convenience of the state... activists after holding them in jail without trial in violation of a law limiting detention without a charge to six month.
The hearing for the 16 human rights campaigners took place in a villa outside the western city of Jeddah amid tight security, which barred anyone from the session, Rooters reported on Saturday.
Most of the defendants, including lawyers, professors and activists, were put in jug in 2007 after meeting in the city to discuss the implementation of reforms in the kingdom.
"Interrogations were done in secret. Lawyers were not allowed in. This is in violation of Saudi criminal procedures," said Alim, the only lawyer with an access to the hearing.
The activists face many charges among them is an attempt to seize power, incitement against King Abdullah, financing terrorism, electronic crimes, money laundering and efforts to assemble a party.
Riyadh does not allow the establishment of any political grouping. The Interior Ministry has also banned all kinds of demonstrations and public gatherings.
Saudi protesters have, however, been holding rallies against the monarchy across the kingdom -- namely in the Awamiyah village and the city of Qatif, both in the east -- over the past few months.
The protesters condemn Riyadh's continued imprisonment of people without charge and its suppression of women's rights. The unemployed have been calling for job opportunities and their share of the biggest Arab economy's oil income.
Such protests are usually suppressed by security forces. In April, a Human Rights Watch ... dedicated to bitching about human rights violations around the world... report said the authorities had incarcerated over 160 activists since February.
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[Iran Press TV] Youth groups leading anti-government protests against Yemeni President President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh ... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower... have called on the Persian Gulf Arab states to withdraw a plan which would give Saleh safe exit.
Yemeni opposition groups maintain that a proposal by the [Persian] Gulf Cooperation Council ... the Medes and the Persians are very sensitive on the subject of the Persian Gulf, which the Arabs refer to as the Arabian Gulf. For some reason nobody ever refers to "the Medean Gulf"... for the embattled president's ouster has failed as the defiant dictator refuses to relinquish power.
"We call on the leaders of the [Persian] Gulf Cooperation Council to stop any initiatives that result in alienating the Yemeni people," Rooters quoted the opposition groups as saying on Saturday.
They say the deal has been modified to allow Saleh to sign as party leader rather than the president. The plan requires the Yemeni leader to resign 30 days after signing.
However, The flatulent However... critics say the president's refusal to sign up to the proposal is indicative of his intention to hold on to power.
Yemen has been rocked by months of popular protests against the government.
Anti-government protesters held rallies after the Friday Prayers, demanding that the president resign.
Saleh defied three months of protests and on Friday called his opponents "outlaws" and "forces of terror."
Since the beginning of anti-Saleh demonstrations across Yemen, more than 300 protesters have been killed and many others injured during festivities with riot police and armed forces loyal to the unpopular president.
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Youth groups leading anti-government protests against Yemeni President President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh have called on the Persian Gulf Arab states to withdraw a plan which would give Saleh safe exit.
No doubt good yodellers would make wonderful ululators and muezzins.
Swiss Defense Minister Ueli Maurer says there has been an increase in the recruitment of Muslims for militant training camps.
In an interview with the SonntagsZeitung, Maurer said the government was aware of Swiss citizens who went to these training camps, and others who visited Islamic schools. He said that Swiss intelligence has a good overview of Switzerlands jihadis, but refused to give any figures.
A Islamic terror network was set up in Switzerland last year in order bring recruits to countries like Somalia and Yemen, according to the intelligence service.
Maurer said that under current Swiss law it is difficult to prevent Islamists from raising funds.
The intelligence service can only observe and provide analyses. We have at our disposal very little means [to fight Islamic militant activities] since parliament has up to now rejected them, he said.
The European Commission has apologised for printing more than three million school diaries containing no reference to Easter or Christmas.
The diaries - 330,000 of which were delivered to UK schools - England is well and truly lost.
- note Sikh, Hindu, Muslim and Chinese festivals, as well as highlighting "Europe Day" which falls on May 9. Let us know if you hear of any Christians rioting in the streets burning these diaries.
The Ombudsman dismissed calls for the entire run to be recalled, saying the Commission's apology for the "regrettable" error, coupled with a one-page correction sent out to all schools showing the main public holidays in every EU member state, was sufficient. "In the Ombudsman's view, the actions which the Commission took to rectify the error were reasonable. Accordingly, the Ombudsman closed the case without further inquiries." I hope there's a lump of coal (and steel) in the Ombudsman's stocking this Christmas Ramadan
#3
As someone somewhere else said, make the EU-crats work straight-time on Christmas and Easter, and they'll remember fast enough what these holidays are...
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/08/2011 16:30 Comments ||
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Not only did the Pakistanis let a mass murderer live right under their noses -- they also looked the other way on zoning-code violations!
They didn't even go after him for unpaid property taxes.
In 2004, Osama bin Laden's couriers got permission to construct a comfy two-story, eight-bedroom and seven-bathroom home for the terror overlord in scenic Abbottabad. Local building inspectors didn't lift a finger when the home actually wound up three stories high -- contrary to the plans they had submitted.
"There are many rules and regulations," top Abbottabad official Asif Amir Khan told a reporter.
Despite the initial plan to build two floors, the finished compound has three. It also adds a 17-foot-tall wall trimmed with barbed wire and an extra residence in the back.
The oversights were no surprise to locals, who say Abbottabad's building inspectors never bother to check whether homes are built in line with their building permits.
If they had bothered to check, inspectors might have noticed that the 17-foot-tall, barbed wire-topped walls surrounding the home and its 38,000-square-foot grounds didn't appear in the plans.
Also missing from the plans was the extra residence out behind the main building. Americans might call that a "mother-in-law" house, but since bin Laden had several wives, he probably called it a guesthouse.
While records show the home never paid property taxes, it was unclear how much bin Laden might have owed.
The compound's architect, Muhammad Yunis, included in his drawing for the original 2,700-square-foot home a statement that the structure would be steel-reinforced -- an important feature in earthquake-prone Abbottabad, where thousands of buildings were damaged in a 2005 temblor. But whether the steel was actually used in construction is questionable. A 2007 story in a Pakistani newspaper notes that construction rules are widely ignored in Abbottabad -- except by the region's military overseers, who apply building codes "to some extent."
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05/08/2011 00:00 ||
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PESHAWAR: The reported plan of government to demolish the now famous compound in Abbottabad, where Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden was eliminated in a US forces raid, will be a sort of disservice to history, as a known historian and expert suggests that the building should be preserved for the sake of history.
Yes, but whose?
The sprawling walled compound, where the world`s most wanted and controversial character stayed, will most probably go down in the history as a common heritage for the mankind.
The Navy SEALS will certainly consider it a monument...
You can`t change your history by demolishing buildings, known historian Dr Mubarak Ali told Dawn while opposing the proposed demolition plan of the Osama compound. He said that some places became famous either because of their architecture or by some events, and such places should be preserved.
Germans have preserved Hitler period torture cells and Germans have learnt from their history, Dr Ali observed.
I sorta doubt that what you want in Pakistain, however...
Media has started quoting unnamed officials that the two-storey building would be demolished. The compound situated in Thanda Choa area of lower-middle class population has been the centre of worldwide attention after US Navy Seals carried out a swift midnight operation on Monday last.
Dr Ali said that Gen Ziaul Haq had demolished the cell where Bhagat Singh, the freedom fighter, was kept in Lahore. He said that the building was bulldozed, but Bhagat Singh was still remembered as a hero.
The noted historian said that the US attack on the compound in Abbottabad taught that Pakistanis as a nation should refrain from meddling in the affairs of other countries and also look after their own national interests.
By preserving places like the compound in Abbottabad will help the coming generation that how Osama was made a hero of America and capitalist world before 9/11 and then he was declared Enemy No 1, he maintained. These buildings were solid proofs that a person who was nurtured by the Americans finally became nuisance for his masters, he added.
Osama who has left behind a trail of controversies caused the world`s sole superpower to launch the largest ever manhunt in late 1990s and was finally poached inside a compound in Thanda Choa. Osama had also resided in the posh University Town of Peshawar for several years along with his fighters in the 1980s.
Other experts, who opted not to named, said that the world history was witness to preservation of buildings and places used by despots and dictators. For example, Germany has preserved the buildings of the Nazi period and converted the infrastructure into famous museums not only to preserve the German nation`s history but also to educate the coming generations.
Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp under Nazis located on the outskirts of Berlin has been converted into a museum. These places, including torture cells, have been properly preserved and are now part of the German heritage and history. Thousands of tourists from across the world visit these sites every year.
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05/08/2011 00:00 ||
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It doesn't matter because India will, eventually, be forced to make a desert of Pakistan.
[Bangla Daily Star] The administration of US President Barack B.O. Obama has demanded the identities of some of the top Pak intelligence operatives as the United States tries to determine whether any of them had contact with the late Osama bin Laden, ... who used to be alive but now he's not... The New York Times ...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize... reported late Friday.
The officials provided new details of a tense discussion between Pak officials and an American envoy who travelled to Pakistain on Monday, as well as the growing suspicion among United States intelligence and diplomatic officials that someone in Pakistain's secret intelligence agency knew of Bin Laden's location, and helped shield him.
B.O. regime officials have stopped short of accusing the Pak government -- either privately or publicly -- of complicity in the hiding of bin Laden in the years after the Sept 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
One senior administration official privately acknowledged that the administration sees its relationship with Pakistain as too crucial to risk a wholesale break, even if it turned out that past or present Pak intelligence officials did know about Bin Laden's whereabouts.
Against the backdrop, ISI Chief Lt-Gen Shuja Pasha on Friday left for Washington to explain Pakistain's position on the presence of bin Laden in the country before he was killed in a US raid on May 2, reports the Dawn.
Uncorroborated reports suggest that before leaving for Washington Gen Pasha met CIA's station chief in Islamabad and reminded him about ISI's contributions in the war on terror and the lead about Osama's courier that eventually led the US to the al-Qaeda chief's hideout in Abbottabad.
But PTI says Lt Gen Pasha has embarked on a foreign trip to Qazi's guesthouse an undisclosed location against the backdrop of reports that he may step down.
However, The all-purpose However... citing unnamed US officials, The New York Times said members of the US administration had expressed deep frustration with the Pak military and intelligence for their refusal to identify members of the agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate, who were believed to have close ties to bin Laden.
In particular, US officials have demanded information on what is known as the ISI's S directorate, which has worked closely with faceless myrmidons since the days of the fight against the Soviet army in Afghanistan, the report said.
Bin Laden was killed in a May 2 raid by US special forces on a fortified compound located in Abbottabad, in the north of Pakistain.
Al-Qaeda and Islamic faceless myrmidons have vowed to avenge his killing, declaring him a "martyr" and calling on Mohammedans to rise up against the United States, reports AFP.
"It's hard to believe that Kayani ... four star general, current Chief of Army Staff of the Mighty Pak Army. Kayani is the former Director General of ISI... and Pasha actually knew that bin Laden was there," a senior administration official said, referring to The Mighty Pak Army chief, General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, and the ISI director-general, Lieutenant General Ahmad Shuja Pasha. But "there are degrees of knowing, and it wouldn't surprise me if we find out that someone close to Pasha knew."
Pak Sherlocks involved in piecing together Bin Laden's life during the past nine years said this week that he had been living in Pakistain's urban centres longer than previously believed.
Two Pak officials say that bin Laden's Yemeni wife, one of three wives now in Pak custody, told Sherlocks that before moving in 2005 to the mansion in Abbottabad where he was eventually killed, bin Laden had lived with his family for nearly two and a half years in a small village, Chak Shah Mohammad, a little more than a mile southeast of the town of Haripur, on the main Abbottabad highway, The Times said.
One of the officials said this means that bin Laden left Pakistain's rugged tribal region sometime in 2003 and had been living in northern urban regions since then, the report noted.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/08/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
"Before moving in 2005 to the mansion in Abbottabad" > IOW, Amal just indirectly affirmed that the Abbottabad -plex was built specifically for Osama + entourage.
#2
"Here's the thing, gentlemen. You can either tell us now or we'll start doing that CIA thingie on the names that turn up in the bin Laden stash... And who knows where that will lead? President Karzai's former intelligence head seems to be batting 1.000 thus far, too - no doubt he'll be happy to share."
[Dawn] Pakistain's elected leaders on Saturday came under mounting pressure to resign in the wake of a US commando operation that killed the late Osama bin Laden ... who no longer has to waste time and energy breathing... not far from the capital Islamabad.
Navy SEALs in three helicopters raided a three-storey house in the garrison city of Abbottabad last Sunday night, killing bin Laden and flying off with his body, which was later buried at sea.
As the covert operation piled embarrassment on Pakistain's civil and military leadership, the leader of the parliamentary opposition demanded that President
"The operation tramples on our honour and dignity, and the president and prime minister must either give an explanation or resign."
Asif Ali President Ten Percent Zardari ... sticky-fingered husband of the late Benazir Bhutto ... and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani resign.
"The operation tramples on our honour and dignity, and the president and prime minister must either give an explanation or resign," Chaudhry Nisar Ali told news hounds.
"The government is keeping silent and there appears to be nobody to respond to propaganda against Pakistain," he added, saying that people in the country were feeling "insecure" after the covert US mission.
The fact that bin Laden was living in a garrison city less than a mile from a top military academy has fanned US suspicions that elements of Pakistain's intelligence services may have known his whereabouts and been protecting him.
"Those who are responsible must admit and quit," said Ali.
He also criticised the country's powerful intelligence agencies, saying that Pak institutions had "deviated from their real role".
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05/08/2011 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] Protest rallies called by the Jamaat-i-Islami across Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... on Friday to condemn US raid on a compound in Abbottabad to kill the late Osama bin Laden ... who is now among the dear departed, though not among the dearest... failed to attract people in large numbers.
In Beautiful Downtown Peshawar, a rally was taken out from Mahabat Khan Mosque after Friday prayers, which was attended by less then 100 people.
Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-F, a great sympathiser of the Taliban and Bin Laden, instead of holding rallies confined its activities to the party affiliated mosques where speakers condemned the incident in their sermons.
A blurb issued in Peshawar said the party leaders and Learned Elders of Islam flayed the US aggression and `meaningful silence` of the government and state institutions over the incident.
ABBOTTABAD:
On the call of the JI, a protest rally was taken out here after Friday prayers to condemn the US action. The rally started from main Fawara Chowk and after passing through the bazaar ended at Jinnah Chowk.
People from different walks of life attended the rally chanting slogans against the US and Pak government.
Provincial chief of JI Senator Professor Ibrahim, who was leading the rally, while addressing the people declared that the raid was carried out to improve the popularity of US president Barack B.O. Obama.
Professor Ibrahim questioned the capabilities of Pak Army, "which is said to be one of the strongest armies in the world". He asked President Asif Ali President Ten Percent Zardari ... sticky-fingered husband of the late Benazir Bhutto ... and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to step down after what he described a shameful act.
SWABI:
A protest demonstration was held in Swabi town against the US raid, demanding that the US should stop meddling in country`s internal affairs. The demonstration attended by some 400 people was led by the party provincial naib amir Mushtaq Ahmad Khan and Mohammad Usman, a former MNA.
The protesters rolled their eyes, jumped up and down, and hollered poorly rhymed slogans real loud against the US and demanded expulsion of what they said US secret agents from Pakistain.
Swabi district union of journalists also offered funeral prayers of Osama bin Laden in absentia.
The journalists gathered in the district headquarters and marched to Kernel Sher Khan Chowk chanting slogans against the Americans and calling for stoppage of their meddling in the internal affairs of Pakistain.
LOWER DIR:
JI workers came on the roads in different parts of Lower Dir to protest against the American Special Forces` attack and demanded of the government to explain country`s actual policy to the nation. The demonstration was led by JI central leader Sirajul Haq. Protests were also held at Koto, Samar Bagh and Chakdara.
KOHAT:
The Pasban Movement staged a protest in front of Hangu Press Club to condemn the killing of Osama bin Laden in a covert operation and blamed the Pakistain secret agency for allowing the intrusion of US helicopters inside the country.
The president of Pasban Movement, Hangu, Alamzada Orakzai, and secretary Riaz in their speeches regretted that the government had failed in stopping the massacre of innocent rustics in drone attacks by the US. They said the masses, especially the Pakhtuns, were being ruled since 1947 as slaves.
They demanded that the government should accept its responsibility and weakness, which had resulted in violation of country`s illusory sovereignty time and again.
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05/08/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Nobody seems to do rallies like they used to. Remember the million who marched through London, trying to prevent the 2003 iinvasion of Iraq? Or the thousands who regularly
gathered to shout, "Death to America!" in Islamabad, exemplified by Rage Boy, who supported a wife and children from what the Islamic parties paid for his raw vocal cords? Have the Islamic parties suddenly run out if funds or something?
[Dawn] Investigators engaged in piecing together the life of the late Osama bin Laden ... he's rotten though not quite forgotten... since his dramatic escape from Afghanistan's Tora Bora mountains have discovered the Al Qaeda chief had been living in Pakistain's urban centres longer than they had thought.
They have also discovered that contrary to a widely held belief that the 54-year-old Al Qaeda leader required dialysis to treat his chronic kidney ailment, OBL was hale and hearty. The startling claims, according to two officials interviewed for this report, were made by Osama bin Laden's 29-year-old Yemeni widow, one of the three widows in Pak custody.
Amal, according to officials familiar with the investigations, said that before moving to his sprawling compound in Bilal Town, Abbottabad, towards the end of 2005, Osama bin Laden had lived with his family in Chak Shah Mohammad Khan, a village in the nearby district of Haripur, for nearly two and a half years.
Chak Shah Mohammad, situated on the highway to Abbottabad, is two kilometres to the southeast of Haripur town.
In retrospect that meant, one of the officials observed, Osama had left the country's tribal region sometime in 2003 to live in a settled area.
For years, since Osama's disappearance in 2001 from Tora Bora to escape a US-led dragnet in Afghanistan's eastern Nangarhar ...on the main road from Lovely Peshawar. The capital is Jalalabad. The population of 1,334,000 consists mostly of Pashtuns with a few Arabs and Pashais... province, both Pak and American officials believed that Osama was hiding in the tribal region straddling the Pakistain-Afghanistan border.
"Imagine, this guy was living in our midst in Haripur and Abbottabad for seven and a half years and we all, both Paks and
Americans, had been looking for him in the wrong direction," one official remarked.
It appears now that some of the diehard Al Qaeda elements had chosen to live in the relatively secure environs of Haripur and Abbottabad away from the prying eyes of intelligence agencies.
In May 2009, police had incarcerated Abdullah al Masri from Malikyar village. Three days later, diehard bully boyz attacked the police on guard at the house occupied by Al Masri's two wives and killed three coppers. One of the assailants, a Pak identified as Ijaz, son of Sadiq of Malikpura, Abbottabad, was also killed in the attack.
Interestingly enough, Umar Patek, an Indonesian involved in the Bali bombing of 2002, was also incarcerated from Malikpura, Abbottabad. Indonesian authorities are now saying that Patek, incarcerated by a Pak intelligence agency in March, wanted to meet Osama bin Laden not far from where the Al Qaeda leader lived.
Patek was wanted for criminal masterminding the Bali bombing that killed 202 people, including 88 Australians.
Amal, who according to these officials, spent the last night with her husband and gave an account of what had transpired, told Sherlocks that she had just moved with her husband to their bedroom and switched off the lights when they heard gunshots.
Before Osama could reach out for his Kalashnikov, the Navy SEALS team burst in and shot at her husband, confirming again that he was unarmed.
She too got a bullet in her leg and was maimed while trying to resist the intruding Americans, she added.
She said that Osama bin Laden, along with his children and grandchildren, had moved from Haripur to Abbottabad towards the end of 2005. The land in Bilal Town, said a government official, was bought by Mohammad Arshad on Jan 22, 2004, on the strength of a forged national identity card and wrong address.
Situated in the middle of an agriculture land, the compound where Osama bin Laden lived was built in 2005, soon after the devastating earthquake that hit the country's northern regions.
Arshad and his brother Tariq, natives of Shangla district adjoining Swat, had been among Osama bin Laden's trusted lieutenants, lived and accompanied the Al Qaeda leader and fronted for him. They would run errands for him, too, Amal told Sherlocks.
Little is known about the Kuwaiti-born Shangla brothers other than their father, who also lived and worked in Kuwait, had known Bin Laden. Their relationship and trust in each other, an official said, had a history of thirty to forty years.
Incidentally, the official said, OBL's son, who was also killed in action along with his father, was married to one of the sisters of Shangla brothers. Those children lived alongside the children and grandchildren of Osama bin Laden.
The Shangla brothers, the official added, were the two other men killed in Operation Geronimo.
Amongst those left behind by the evacuating Navy Seals were Osama's three wives, two of them highly educated Saudis, his elder son and four children of a daughter who was killed in a drone strike in Wazoo, the officials said.
They also included Osama's Abbottabad-born five-year-old son and 22-year-old daughter, the officials added.
Who helped and facilitated Osama's movement from the tribal region to the cities of Pakistain is also the subject of investigations, one official said.
But it was a holy man picked up by security forces from one of the tribal regions who had initially pointed the finger towards Abbottabad, thus causing the Pak and American intelligence operatives to focus more closely on the garrison city, that houses the prestigious Pakistain Military Academy, Kakul.
HALE AND HEARTY: Amal, the youngest of Osama's three wives also told Sherlocks that her husband was hale and hearty and had recovered from his kidney ailment. "He was not on dialysis," the official said. I heard years ago that the kidney disease was a red herring. You don't "recover" from end-stage kidney disease -- the kind that requires dialysis -- without a transplant.
Osama's Yemeni wife told Sherlocks that he had undergone two kidney surgeries in Afghanistan's south-western Kandahar province during Taliban regime and had recovered thereafter, using homemade medications including water melons.
"He was neither weak nor frail," one of the officials quoted Amal as saying, debunking widely held belief that Osama used dialysis to treat his kidney ailment. Some reports had gone as far as claiming that Osama had died due to kidney failure. "He believed in his own medication," his wife told Sherlocks.
A security bigshot said that information gleaned from the widow had not been shared with the Americans so far.
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05/08/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
IIRC Amal repor claimed that PAKISTANI OFFICIALS covertly helped her, Osama, + family, etal. escape from Yemen to Pakistan shortly after the 9-11 attacks in 2001???
Its not good for Islamabad when even ordinary Pakis + pro-PAK Bloggers don't believe their Govt's version of how OBL was in Abbottabad.
#2
If the Yemeni wife is believed, he had Kidney Transplant before the 9/11 attacks. Not that it would save him since it was Genetics causing his Kidneys to fail, but still interesting in that if it was done once, it could have been done again. Say at a military Hospital near a certain Capital.
Posted by: Charles ||
05/08/2011 12:04 Comments ||
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#3
It sounds like the last Mrs. bin Laden is really happy to have someone new to talk to, after all those years of isolation. But then she's a Yemeni girl from the hills, not a sophisticated, educated Saudi lady, accustomed to the idea of living in purdah.
[Dawn] Former Pak president Pervez Perv Musharraf ... former dictator of Pakistain, who was less dictatorial and corrupt than any Pak civilian government to date ... has slammed the United States for violating Islamabad's illusory sovereignty in carrying carry out the raid that killed the late Osama bin Laden, ... who is currently rooming with Hitler and Himmler... a media report said Saturday.
The former military strongman told the expatriate Pakistain community in Dubai that all "peace loving people" should be happy that bin Laden was killed, but no Pak accepted the violation of their illusory sovereignty. "No country will accept such a violation by the US, which undermines Pakistain's illusory sovereignty, army and intelligence," Musharraf was quoted as saying in The National daily. "This is not acceptable to any Pak individual."
Posted by: Fred ||
05/08/2011 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
#1
9/11 was a violation of US sovereignty that was far more severe than the Abbotabad raid, Perv!
As the world is finding out now, it was also an attack on the NCA of the US facilitated by at least regime elements of the declared nuclear power known as the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
[Dawn] Pakistain's former foreign minister called on the country's president and prime minister to resign on Saturday, following the American raid that killed the late Osama bin Laden, ... who no longer exists... one of the highest-profile calls so far for bigwigs to be held accountable.
Some Paks have focused their anger on the country's powerful army and intelligence chiefs. But former Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Wormtongue Qureshi said President Asif Ali President Ten Percent Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani are the ones who should be held responsible.
"This is a great violation of our illusory sovereignty, but this is for the president and prime minister to resign and no one else," said Qureshi in press briefing.
Qureshi is now a politician for the ruling Pakistain People's Party.
He has said he was pushed out of his position as foreign minister in February after he clashed with party officials over the case of Raymond Allen Davis, a CIA contractor who shot and killed two Paks in the central city of Lahore, apparently in self-defense.
Qureshi insisted Davis did not enjoy blanket diplomatic immunity, but he was ultimately released after the families of the victims were compensated.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/08/2011 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
[Dawn] Pakistain's army chief met with President Asif Ali President Ten Percent Zardari ... sticky-fingered husband of the late Benazir Bhutto ... and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Saturday, to discuss the country's security situation following the US operation to kill the late Osama bin Laden. ... who is currently taking a long nap in the dirt... urm... water...
Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani ... four star general, current Chief of Army Staff of the Mighty Pak Army. Kayani is the former Director General of ISI... met with the country's heads at the presidency in the wake of the May 2 operation in Abbottabad, that killed al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden.
Kayani briefed the PM and president on the discussions held and decisions taken during the three-day corps commanders' conference, which concluded on Friday.
Following the meeting of the military's top-brass, Kayani ordered a probe into the intelligence failure of the army and the spy agency, ISI. The findings of this investigation would be handed over to the government, the military chief told the PM and president.
According to a DawnNews report on the high-profile meeting, Pakistain's role in the war against terrorism was also discussed, vowing that the country is determined to continue fighting the terrorists.
Pakistain's 'intelligence failure,' and its lack of action against the world's most-wanted man has been heavily criticized in the wake of the US operation. This criticism was termed disappointing by the country's heads and army chief, who said the army is ready to fight the security challenges that Pakistain faces.
The hurriedly called meeting was held following Prime Minister Gilani's return from his tour of Europe and ahead of President Zardari's tour of Kuwait, which gets underway tonight.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/08/2011 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
[Ma'an] Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, will decide whether or not to use violence to resist Israel in consensus with Paleostinian factions, the movement's leader told The Wall Street Journal.
"How to manage the resistance, what's the best way to achieve our goals, when to escalate and when to cease fire, now we have to agree on all those decisions as Paleostinians," Hamas chief Khalid Mash'al told WSJ in an interview published Saturday.
Mash'al also said decisions on "negotiations with Israel, domestic governance, foreign affairs, domestic security and resistance and other field activities" would also be reached by agreement with Paleostinian factions.
The Hamas chief defended his movement's right to armed resistance against Israel.
But presidential aide Nabil Sha'ath told the Journal that Mash'al had agreed to adopt a strategy of non-violent resistance in closed door meetings in Cairo, ahead of the signing of a reconciliation agreement between the Islamist movement and Fatah.
"He said 'we cannot do violence and you do nonviolence. It does not work out,'" Sha'ath said.
Hamas leaders have also spoken recently of a tacit acceptance of Israel. While the movement has indicated in the past that it would support a Paleostinian state on 1967 borders, recent public statements give the position added gravitas.
On Thursday, Mash'al told AFP that the Islamist movement "agrees to the the establishment of a Paleostinian state within 1967 borders with Jerusalem as its capital, without settlers and without giving up the right of return," he said.
He made a similar statement at Wednesday's signing ceremony.
Israel has rejected all dealings with a united Paleostinian government unless it renounces violence and explicitly recognizes Israel as a Jewish state.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been meeting European leaders in a bid to convince them not to support a unilateral declaration of statehood from the Paleostinians and to oppose the unity deal for co-opting Hamas.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/08/2011 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Hamas
#2
So when Hamas decides to resume their traditional violent response to the idea of Juices in the neighborhood, the P.A. will be tarred with it as well. This, my dears, is why we do not reconcile with rabid dogs.
It was Friday. It was cool in Ramallah. We were working the day watch in the Unidentified Gunmen Division...
RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- A man was shot dead Friday by unidentified gunmen in Al-Jalazun refugee camp in the central West Bank. The body of Muhammad Yahya Khawaldah, 30, was brought to the Palestine Medical Compound in Ramallah. Medics said the body was riddled with at least 10 bullets. What'd you have in the pool, Mahmoud?
Eight.
Oooops, too bad.
Local sources told Ma'an that Khawaldah was the victim of an ambush. They said he had recently returned from working in Israel, and that the motive was unclear. ...although that's a pretty good one.
Witnesses said they heard a round of gunshots close to a wedding party. Ah.
"Shoot up, Mahmoud! UP! A Ma'an correspondent said Al-Jalazun was in a state of chaos, and that a long queue of traffic had formed at the entrance to the camp. Fiats...don't fail me now.
A Palestinian security source told Reuters that Khawaldi worked for Israeli intelligence and was a wanted man. Wanted man in Oklahoma
Wanted man in Ramallah too
Palestinian security did not know the identity of the killers and has begun an investigation, the source said. Proper Police Procedure 101, Mahmoud. When you don't know the identity of the killers, you begin an investigation.
Should I be writing this down, Sarge?
Spokesman Ghassan Khatib said the Palestinian Authority "was seeking clarification on the killing." Well, doc?
Yep, he's dead all right.
#1
They still publish Yiddish-language newspapers? I wonder if there are any Amish papers out there printed on physical presses, in Plattdeutsch.
Still, "The Secretary Disappears". ^_^
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
05/08/2011 7:05 Comments ||
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#2
When I was growing up in Pennsylvania our local newspaper had a weekly column called, if I recall correctly, "Was sagt dir, Kaspar Hufnagel?"
Posted by: Fred ||
05/08/2011 9:18 Comments ||
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#3
There are still a few Yiddish newspapers in the NYC area. But even the Forward's non-English edition is now printed in Russian, I believe. It's nit something I pay much attention to, I'm afraid.
#5
Most of the Hassidic and ultra-Orthodox groups are really, really strange. The Lubavitcher sect - the ones massacred in Mumbai -- get out in the world, but the rest are like cults. There's one group that was convinced their rabbi was the messiah, only he went senile and then died before he announced himself. They've been waiting for him to come back from the dead and announce for about a decade, if I remember the timing correctly. At the rate that particular bunch are going, they're going to take themselves out of Judaism altogether within a generation.
Agreed completely about the girl cooties. Honestly, given the objection to "images", I'm surprised they didn't simply remove the photo and be done with it.
Iranian power struggle between president and supreme leader sees arrests and claims of undue influence of chief of staff
Close allies of Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, have been accused of using supernatural powers to further his policies amid an increasingly bitter power struggle between him and the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Several people said to be close to the president and his chief of staff, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, have been arrested in recent days and charged with being "magicians" and invoking djinns (spirits).
Ayandeh, an Iranian news website, described one of the arrested men, Abbas Ghaffari, as "a man with special skills in metaphysics and connections with the unknown worlds".
[Al Jazeera] A political dispute between Mahmoud Short Round Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president, and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the country's supreme leader is reported to have intensified.
Ahmadinejad is said to be contemplating resigning after Heidar Moslehi, the intelligence minister he had sacked, was reinstated by Khamenei.
The president is understood to have shirked some of his duties and skipped cabinet meetings for the past ten days in anger over the decision.
Mehrdad Khonsari, an analyst with the Centre for Arab and Iranian Studies in London, told Al Jizz on Friday that the dispute, which began last month, had become "serious".
"It shows the level of disunity at the very top of the Iranian [political] hierarchy [with] Ahmadinejad having already polarised the internal political scene as a result of fraudulent election results that were announced more than 20 months ago," Khonsari said.
"He is now beginning to encroach on the powers and privileges vested in the supreme leader, and he and his constituency - mainly among the Revolutionary Guards - have tried to do this.
"And, of course, the supreme leader has tried to make a stand and in this stand he has been joined by many people from the ruling establishment who have been cast aside by Ahmadinejad."
Khonsari said that since the president came to power "powerful people like [Akbar Hashemi] Rafsanjani and ... [Mohammed] Khatami and many of the key reformers as well as the president of the current Council of Experts" have been sidelined.
"This is quite a standoff," he said. "Ahmadinejad, I think, at this particular time, has bitten more than he can chew and has been forced to essentially step back, but the fact [remains] that both he and the supreme leader are damaged as a result of this conflict."
Although speculation continues that Ahmadinejad may resign, Khonsari stopped short of hinting at the possibility of him quitting and instead said the dispute would lead to "further polarisation; further disunity [and] rivalry ... within a state structure that's already fractured".
'Grave economic issues'
Khonsari said upheavals in some Middle Eastern countries could spread to Iran if the rift continued.
"You have to bear in mind that what we're witnessing in the Middle East all started with events in Iran some 20 months ago. Iran is not immune from the global acts ... we're witnessing as a result of this Arab awakening," he said.
"People in Iran are conscious there are grave economic issues; grave foreign policy issues confronting the Ahmadinejad government and the last thing he needs is to be in disarray with the supreme leader in a fight over a situation that's totally impervious to the wishes and aspirations of the general majority.
"There's no question in the minds of Iranians that this is going to be a very hot summer coming up."
The supreme leader wields more power than the president and appoints military leaders and the council that passes laws.
The dispute has led to the arrest of several close allies of the president.
Ahmadinejad's administration has been dogged by allegations of a fraudulent election, which handed him a second four-year term in office in 2009.
The conduct of the vote led to protests which ended in a deadly crackdown and the detention of key opposition figures, including Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi.
Iran has also been hit by a wave of sanctions by the US and the European Union over its nuclear programme, which many Western states suspect is intended to make an atomic bomb.
Tehran says the programme seeks to develop electricity.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/08/2011 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
Yokay, I'll bite, I thought MOUD attempted to soothe things by publicly calling on all Iranians to respect + follow El Supremo the Ayatollah Khamenei???
#2
"Short Round" also fell in disfavor with Yazdi. Thogh Khamenei is the supreme mullah, Yazdi is supreme behind the curtain. So, regarding future of Ahmdimjihad--he hasn't any.
#8
Rift in Iranian Leadership Spreads to the Streets of Tehran According to reports from Iran, serious clashes between the rank and file supporters of the Ayatollah Khamenei and the supporters of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad erupted on Saturday, with many protesters severely injured with clubs and machetes.
[Tolo News] Sectarian tensions are reportedly on the rise in Syria as Syrian forces stepped up crackdown on the protesters amid international concerns.
Syrian forces and tanks have enterened the mainly Sunni city pf Baniyas on Saturday increasing the fears that sectarian tensions will increase in the country.
Baniyas is a key protest city against the government with a population of 50,000 people.
Syrian troops have advanced towards the Sunni districts, according to rights campaigners who have contacted Rooters.
More than 580 people have been killed in the protests against President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad One of the last of the old-fashioned hereditary iron-fisted fascist dictators. Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor... since mid-March, according to right activists.
Meanwhile, ...back at the pound, Zebulon finally found just the friend he'd been looking for... a Syrian rights groups has claimed to have a list of 8,00 civilians killed so far.
Twenty seven protesters were reportedly killed on Friday alone after which the US President Barack B.O. Obama threatened to consider new measures against Syria if the violent crackdown does not stop.
Communication has been cut off in the city and some residents have said they could hear the sound of gunfire.
People in the city of Deraaa staged a demonstration seven weeks ago demanding political freedom and an end to corruption.
But Baniyas has reportedly been the scene of some persistent protests recently.
Syrian authorities have described the coastal city as a centre of Salafist ...Salafists espouse an austere form of Sunni Islam that seeks a return to practices that were common in the 7th century. Rather than doing that themselves and letting other people alone they insist everybody do as they say and they try to kill everybody who doesn't... terrorism, an accusation that civic leaderws in Baniyas have denied.
President Assad has called the protesters part of a foreign conspiracy to cause sectarian violence in the country.
The Syrian leader still struggles to stay in power despite international sanctions against his government and the new warnings by the US to take new steps against him.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/08/2011 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
[Iran Press TV] Senior Iranian politician Kazem Jalali says cooperation among Iran, Pakistain and Afghanistan in fighting terrorism will help eliminate US presence in the region. Oh, yeah, I know I'd sleep better with these three on the anti terrorism beat...
Some of the terrorist measures taken against the Islamic Theocratic Republic could be traced to Pakistain, front man for the Majlis (Parliament) National Security and Foreign Policy Commission said on Saturday.
"Therefore establishing Iran, Pakistain and Afghanistan triangle for fighting terrorism could help cut the hand of the US and its allies off the region," Majlis news agency (ICANA) quoted Jalali as saying.
Jalali describe the establishment of a security apparatus in the region as an effective measure to preserve security and stability in the region and said the best way to fight terrorism was close cooperation between security and intelligence apparatuses of Iran and Pakistain.
In a meeting with Pak Senate Chairman Farooq H Naik on Thursday, Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani stressed the cooperation between the two countries' security apparatuses.
"The Americans have increased their attacks against certain parts in Afghanistan and Pakistain by taking advantage of their position in the region, and they are trying to portray their actions as anti-terrorist and a justification for their military presence in the region."
Jalali added that the US justified its military presence in the region by using the gunnies it has trained and controlled as a pretext.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/08/2011 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV] A pilot refused on Friday to take off from Memphis with two Mohammedanholy mans traveling to a conference in Charlotte, N.C.
"It's one of those kind of incidents that we get on a regular basis, and unfortunately it's a growing problem that seems to be legitimized by people like Ron Williams who say it's ok to feel uncomfortable riding with someone on an airplane that looks like a Mohammedan, so it's an issue we deal with regularly and one I think will be resolved with education," Ibrahim Hooper, National Communications Director, CAIR, Washington, said in an interview with Press TV's U.S. Desk on Saturday in regards to the incident.
"I think this incident is definitely a symptom of Islamophobia ...the irrational fear that Moslems will act the way they usually do... because these people were told that the passengers were not comfortable flying with them. They weren't told they were any kind of threat it was just a function of comfort," Hopper added.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/08/2011 00:00 ||
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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.
Pervez 
International Criminal Court
[Bangla Daily Star] The administration of US President 
[Dawn] Protest rallies called by the Jamaat-i-Islami across 
Asif Ali 
Wazoo
Mehmood 
A political dispute between 
