#2
This the Wisconsin that the One failed to stick his neck out over the recall of Scott Walker? Oh, and the recall failed. Yet it is labeled as a 'Safe State'?
#3
It's going to come down to Ohio, and there it's going to come down to Cleveland, and how many voters the machine can roust to cast a ballot for Zero (or how many they can cast for him without voters.)
Americans who watched the GOP nominee debate President Obama never met the cold, greedy, sexist, racist, carcinogenic tax cheat that Team Obama promised would appear. The calm, steady, and reasonable gentleman who opposed Obama was no Gordon Gekko.
Americans might like Romney even more if they understood his random acts of kindness and significant feats of bravery. As Mara Gay, Dan Hirschhorn, and M. L. Nestel wrote for TheDaily.com: "A man weighed down by the image of a heartless corporate raider who can't relate to people actually has a history of doing remarkably kind things for those in need."
Why is the real Romney totally unlike the terrifying caricature that has haunted this campaign? Team Obama's distortions and lies have conspired with Mitt Romney's modesty to mask his good deeds. Instead, Romney fans should make these secrets famous. If each of us did one tenth of the deeds documented here to Romney there would no longer be a need for much government assistance (aka chains.) It may not mean much as to Romney, the Presidential candidate, but it sure speaks to the character of the person. At this point I'd take character pretty much regardless of content.
The strong horse is the one that fights to victory. The weak horse might look good, but it has no staying power. Today we are re-enacting the Muslim conquest of the civilized world in the century after Mohammed, when the great Persian and Byzantine Empires were crushed by wave after wave of fanatical Muslim assaults.
As always, it isn't size that matters but will power and persistence. A camel may not look like much, but it just goes and goes and goes through the trackless desert. Al Qaeda is a camel. We are a gaudy circus horse.
America is now playing pure defense in the Jihad War. We are body-scanned for every domestic air trip. Our diplomats have been withdrawn from a reported 20 Muslim countries. Our foolhardy intervention in Libya has proliferated shoulder-carried anti-aircraft missiles throughout the chaotic Middle East. A year, maybe half a year from now the mullahs in Iran will have a nuclear weapon, and they already have missiles and airplanes to deliver them. Never forget that Israel is only the "little Satan" for the Iranian maniacs: The United States is the real enemy, the "big Satan." Don't be deluded into thinking that we can sacrifice Israel and everything will be all right. The crocodile will just eat us later.
Egypt, the pillar of American foreign policy for thirty years, is no longer an ally, and the Saudis see us as a threat to their survival in the face of an aggressive Iran next door. Iran's theocrats want to control the two holy sites of Mecca and Medina, ever since Ayatollah Khomeini tried to seize Mecca during the hajj. I don't remember this... Good read
When the story broke, Dr. Steve wanted to know what would happen to the miscreant. The answer appears to be: nothing.
Oh, oh, I feel faint, I'd best go lie down...
(CNSNews.com) -- Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli says "there's no indication that any offense took place" when Patrick Moran , the son of Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va.), discussed voter fraud with an undercover news hound on Oct. 8.
Moran resigned as his father's campaign field director Wednesday, after the video -- produced by the Project Veritas activist group -- was published online.
The video shows the congressman's son engaging a discussion -- which he did not initiate -- about forging utility bills, which can be used as voter identification at the polls in Virginia. They'd "have to look legit," Patrick tells the undercover news hound.
Cuccinelli said he does not expect to be asked by the State Board of Elections to investigate Moran.
Asked why, he responded, "Well first of all it's not my decision. Second of all because unlike take the Shenandoah Valley situation (a case involving voter registration fraud), we literally had voter registration forms that were pulled out of the trash. I mean the offense had already occurred," Cuccinelli said Thursday on the WMAL radio show "Mornings on the Mall" with Brian Wilson.
"Here they (Moran and the news hound) were talking about how one might commit an offense, but there's no indication that any offense took place. That's a major, major difference. We don't go after people because we don't like their openness to these sorts of things. We go after people for criminal violations when they actually commit violations," he said.
Cuccinelli also said the Attorney General's office "does not have authority to investigate" Moran, unless it is asked to do so by the State Board of Elections.
Asked why he doesn't have the authority to investigate, Cuccinelli replied, "Because we have lousy enforcement laws, in my humble opinion, related to our election laws. Now -- having said that -- when the State Board of Elections votes unanimously as they did yesterday to ask us to investigate something--they asked us to investigate the trashing of voter registration forms in the Shenandoah Valley-- then we are brought into a case but not until then."
He continued, "Right now, the only person who will have any authority over this is the Commonwealth Attorney, the elected prosecutor for Arlington County, because I believe this happened in Arlington."
In a statement issued Wednesday night, Patrick Moran said, "In reference to the 'O'Keefe' video, at no point have I, or will I ever endorse any sort of illegal or unethical behavior. At no point did I take this person seriously. He struck me as being unstable and joking, and for only that reason did I humor him.
"In hindsight, I should have immediately walked away, making it clear that there is no place in the electoral process for even the suggestion of illegal behavior: joking or not," he said. "In regards to my position on the campaign, I have stepped down because I do not want to be a distraction during this year's critical election."
Leon Edward Panetta (born June 28, 1938) is the 23rd and current United States Secretary of Defense, serving in the administration of President Barack Obama since 2011. Prior to taking office, he served as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency.
Leon Edward Panetta (born June 28, 1938) is the 23rd and current United States Secretary of Defense, serving in the administration of President Barack Obama since 2011. Prior to taking office, he served as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency.
An Italian-American Democratic politician, lawyer, and professor, Panetta served as President Bill Clinton's White House Chief of Staff from 1994 to 1997.
A non-military left wing Obama hack in charge of life and death situations such as this.
#7
This is worse than Blackhawk Down. Our own senior people let our people in Benghazi die rather than make a decision.
This was a failure of nerve. Not of intellect; someone in the White House and State had to know what was going on, and there had to be a military advisor somewhere saying to the effect "give us the word and we'll respond." While there is always a 'fog of war', it is clear that there was enough good information to make the call.
The call wasn't made.
This was a moral failure. The people in charge of making decisions refused to make one. They dithered, they thought, they dithered some more, and then they did nothing. Four good people died as a result.
The people in charge of our government do not deserve to be in charge. However smart or clever they might be, they lack the basic moral rectitude and nerve.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/26/2012 14:02
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"When the attack began, a Diplomatic Security agent working in the Tactical Operations Center immediately activated the Imminent Danger Notification System and made an emergency announcement over the PA. Based on our security protocols, he also alerted the annex U.S. quick reaction security team stationed nearby, the Libyan 17th February Brigade, Embassy Tripoli, and the Diplomatic Security Command Center in Washington. From that point on, I could follow what was happening in almost real-time. Those are the words of Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Charlene Lamb from her testimony before House Oversight Committee, Washington, D.C.on October 10, 2012.
When Ms. Lamb testified in front of Congressman Issas committee she was opening a window into the failed emergency notification and reaction system that has been in existence for decades in the United States and refined after 11 years of continuous war. Ms. Lamb, and the entire United States government, military, intelligence and counter-terrorism centers were listening in real time to a six-hour battle. From the president and vice president to the Secretaries of State and Defense, National Intelligence Director, the National Military Command Center and The White House Situation Room was tuned into or was being briefed about what was unfolding in Benghazi. Every Operations Center in every operational office in our government was fully aware of what was going on while it was going on in real time.
#9
This ugly can of worms is about to break out of the seams of the can containing it. It is a growing clusterfVck with each day. I doubt this administration will survive Bengahzi.
#10
It will if the MSM have anything to do with it. I don't watch TV or read newspapers, but I doubt they are covering this story with the detail level like the Burg.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
10/26/2012 15:19
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#11
This isn't the first time the Obama administration has denied something three times. I can't recall what the other was off the top of my head, but it is getting to be a habit.
#12
Specter gunships are commonly used by the Special Operations community to provide close air support.
According to sources on the ground, the special operator on the roof of the CIA annex had visual contact and a laser pointing at the Libyan mortar team that was targeting the CIA annex. The operators were calling in coordinates of where the Libyan forces were firing from.
#14
The outrage here may be understandable ... but I have noticed that in this 21'st century world that "short term memory" dominates. The Nov elections are now a week-and-a-half away. The blame game on Benghazi stopped when it didn't become an upset during 2'nd Pesidential Debate. In November, a new series of critical issues will arise, and Benghazi will drift onto the back burner and become forgotten.
I hate to say that about the lives of good men. But we live in an era where whoever dominates the media wins, and the lives of good men are blurred away into nothingness.
#18
The whole thing is banned on the muslim controlled Obama media...it is just as if nothing had happened...no mention of it whatsoever...everybody knew on the internet when the muslims where rioting in Europe, yet, not a peep in the US media, ESPECIALLY at Fox(The Sheikh owning it forbade any mention of tens of thousands of cars burned in France)All you had to do to save your ride was to put a coran on the dash!...
#20
Petraeus should resign. He's in charge of the CIA and either he is responsible or he should resign in disgust at what his commander did.
Having said that this won't effect the election much at this point because folks who are pro-Obama are so because they are in love with him or because he is black and all the facts in the world are unlikely to change that.
#22
And now we finally start to see the Why behind that lame attempt at a cover-up.
The blame game on Benghazi stopped when it didn't become an upset during 2'nd Pesidential Debate.
My initial feeling too, but in retrospect, Romney was right not to pursue it there. This story is starting to snowball. I don't think the press is letting go.
#23
An odd hypothetical crossed my mind today, and I'd love to see the 'burgers discuss if it's a possibility ...
Based on the reports of the calls to stand-down and that no other help was sent, is it possible that the Ambassador and/or his staff were planning or running some sort of off-grid operation that was not condoned by the admin? Maybe even went against or had been directly forbidden by the admin?
And so when things went bad they were left to burn and no more people were risked to rescue?
Something is hidden here that caused the folks at the top of the chain to purposefully suppress assistance (not just failed to give it a "go"). What are they hoping that no one notices so that looking like complete idiots is the better option?
#26
Based on the reports of the calls to stand-down and that no other help was sent, is it possible that the Ambassador and/or his staff were planning or running some sort of off-grid operation that was not condoned by the admin? Maybe even went against or had been directly forbidden by the admin?
More realistic is running an off-grid that had a Mission Impossible 'if you or you're team are caught...' caveat.
Posted by: Barbara ||
10/26/2012 22:07
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#28
There are new allegations that US personnel at Benghazi were painting ground markers for an anticipated US airtrike that was ordered but weirdly-n-mysteriously never came???
#29
Re: #26 ... Thanks, Pappy ... that's exactly what I was wondering.
I remember there being something about if the Bin Laden hit had gone poorly it would all have been denied and disavowed. I'm wondering if Benghazi is an example of how that sort of thing works. :-/
#30
Blackfive is reporting:
Having a back and forth with a former legendary Delta operator. Here is the gist of what he is implying:
Everyone is reporting this but they are missing a key point. From the retired Delta operator:
Having spent a good bit of time nursing a GLD (ground Laser Designator) in several garden spots around the world, something from the report jumped out at me.
One of the former SEALs was actively painting the target. That means that Specter WAS ON STATION! Probably an AC130U. A ground laser designator is not a briefing pointer laser. You do not "paint" a target until the weapons system/designator is synched; which means that the AC130 was on station.
Only two places could have called off the attack at that point; the WH situation command (based on POTUS direction) or AFRICOM commander based on information directly from the target area.
If the AC130 never left Sigonella (as Penetta says) that means that the Predator that was filming the whole thing was armed.
If that SEAL was actively "painting" a target; something was on station to engage! And the decision to stand down goes directly to POTUS!
Update 4: From quoted retired Delta operator, "Jeff is correct (about lasing without air asset) but the only reason you would do that is to determine a specific grid for indirect fire which the SEAL did not have available. You are in an active firefight against mortars and MGs; there is only one reason to cease returning fire and paint a target and it ain't because you thought it was a good time to pull a PMCS on your f**** GLD."
Yer damn straight, and for those who don't know, PMCS is maintenance and testing on a device you do during slack time back in garrison, not in the heat of some deadly shoot up.
#32
And I have a question -- in all of this, seems the Ambassador might not have been saved since the fire overran their location.... my question is... how long was it from when the SEAL Ty Woods knew of the shots before he and the guys ran to the rescue?
The report reads that it was the SEAL and the team he brought with him that saved the ones they got out... how long did they wait to disobey orders and rush to the scene?
If they had gotten the okay to go immediately, they were only a mile away, could they have made a difference?
If we are to believe the reporting by the Times reporting of the interviews with the Libyan guards, they were in that safe room, there was a period of time before the fire started and the smoke engulfed them.
A COURT in Italy has convicted former Premier Silvio Berlusconi of tax fraud and sentenced him to four years in prison.
In Italy, cases must pass two levels of appeal before the verdicts are final. Berlusconi is expected to appeal.
The conviction was the media mogul's first; other criminal probes and trials had ended in acquittal or were thrown out for statute of limitations.
Earlier in the week, Berlusconi had announced he wouldn't run for a fourth term. The 76-year-old media mogul wasn't in the courtroom for the verdict on the case stemming from dealings in his Mediaset business empire.
#6
Guilt is a very powerful tool and motivator Skid. It transcends generations and eventually becomes accepted without thought or question:
THE TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION COMMISSIONThe TRC in Context
In July 1995, the Promotion of National Unity And Reconciliation Act, which gave birth to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), was passed by the South African parliament. The idea is, of course, not original to South Africa it has been tried elsewhere with modifications especially in Latin America. Whereas similar transition processes elsewhere have tended to opt either for blanket amnesty or for Nuremberg trials, the South African TRC attempts to find a delicate balance between the two approaches. On the one hand, the plan aims to grant amnesty at a price the price being the requirement for those applying for amnesty to make a full disclosure of all the relevant facts regarding their activities. On the other hand, through its processes of public and private hearings, the TRC hopes to give the victims of gross human rights violations a chance to tell their story, not only to the TRC but also to the nation as a whole, with some prospect of possible reparations.
More front-page bad news at the WaPo. Maybe they're trying to energize their base?
The 2012 election is shaping up to be more polarized along racial lines than any presidential contest since 1988, with President Obama experiencing a steep drop in support among white voters from four years ago. Over that "White Guilt" thing, perhaps?
But now, Obama [is] trailing Republican Mitt Romney 60 percent to 37 percent among whites. That presents a significant hurdle for the president -- and suggests that he will need to achieve even larger margins of victory among women and minorities, two important parts of the Democratic base, to win reelection. He's gonna have a tough time getting more than the 97% of blacks who support him. And I read that statisitic, which - quite frankly - shocked me.
Posted by: Bobby ||
10/26/2012
06:21 ||
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#1
I saw an interesting theory about why he is hding his birth certificate: because he was registered as a White. And his father was registered in Kenya as Arab since he had three quarters of Arab blood and only one querter Black.
If true and his birh certificate would be leaked then he is toast: no way he would still hold the racist Black vote.
Not to mention that post 9/11 solme people would not feel commfortable with a half Arab, one who has written "Dreams of my father" sitting at the WH
ALSO front-page WaPo.
Among the millions of wavering voters in the presidential race, the most prominent might be West Virginia's Joe Manchin -- a U.S. senator, a candidate for reelection and a lifelong Democrat who, less than two weeks out, is undecided about whether to support Barack Obama again. Didn't a convicted felon beat out the One in the Dem primary?
Manchin isn't alone among West Virginia Democrats attempting to separate themselves from the president. The governor, Earl Ray Tomblin, and a prominent congressman, Nick J. Rahall II -- both facing reelection challenges -- have also declined to publicly endorse Obama. Choices have consequences.
A federal "war on coal" has harmed West Virginia and united Democratic dissenters against the Obama administration, Manchin declared in an interview last week, observing of the president's electoral fate: "I think he knows he's not going to do well in our state. . . . And you know what? It's personal. When people lose their jobs, they look at you and ask, 'So, what am I to do?' And they blame him." Ah, yes. Here we go!
During this year's West Virginia Democratic primary, a Texas prison inmate received about 41 percent against Obama in a protest vote, with Manchin carefully committing to no one.
Posted by: Bobby ||
10/26/2012
06:10 ||
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#1
Fire Obama coal signs are everywhere in my coal area. Even engines are parked that had been moving coal by rail. I still believe many lifelong Democrats have no home anymore. I believe many will not vote. The Democrats are ripe for a Tea Party moment. Joe Manchin will just change his hat. They will tell you what you want to hear then business as usual.
#2
The EPA is one of Champ's "hope and change" tools. All you have to do is pull up RNO, ARLP, OXF, or JRCC on the NYSE to see what is happening to our coal industry. High gasoline and energy prices are part and parcel of the administration plan to force us into electric cars, solar, and wind (his investments and kickback base). He's taken the energy political lobbying to an entirely new level.
#3
Joe could help his campaign by not only publicly abandoning the One but throw in Harry Reid while he's at it. Cause Harry is just as much to blame as the WH for the War on Coal.
#4
Montana, Illinois, Wyoming, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Colorado are also significant coal producers. I wonder if these states coal miners are also ticked off?
We come to that judgment with eyes open to the disappointments of Mr. Obama's time in office. He did not end, as he promised he would, "our chronic avoidance of tough decisions" on fiscal matters. But Mr. Obama is committed to the only approach that can succeed: a balance of entitlement reform and revenue increases. Kool-Aid, anyone?
What entitlement reform? The only thing I noticed was $716 billion taken from Medicare.
He's not dedicated to entitlement reform. Revenue increases, now those he's dedicated to...
Mr. Romney, by contrast, has embraced his party's reality-defying ideology that taxes can always go down but may never go up. Along that road lies a future in which interest payments crowd out everything else a government should do, from defending the nation to caring for its poor and sick to investing in its children. Mr. Romney's future also is one in which an ever-greater share of the nation's wealth resides with the nation's wealthy, at a time when inequality already is growing. The front page this morning looks bad for the incumbent, but the editorial page is pounding the Obama drum.
Posted by: Bobby ||
10/26/2012
06:04 ||
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Mr. Romney, by contrast, has embraced his party's reality-defying ideology that taxes can always go down but may never go up
Not to be confused with the other Party's reality-defying ideology that you can print infinite amounts of paper that will retain their value as currency.
Front page WaPo. Are they turning on Champ?
The "fiscal cliff" is still two months off, but the scheduled blast of tax hikes and spending cuts is already reverberating through the U.S. economy, hampering growth and, according to a new study, wiping out nearly 1 million jobs this year alone. Lessee, who was in charge this year? Who insisted on his way or the highway? Who kept blaming the majority of the duly-elected House of Representatives?
But they told us business people don't react to uncertainty or negative changes in the future business environment that way. I don't understand.
The report, scheduled for release Friday by the National Association of Manufacturers, predicts that the economic damage would deepen considerably if Congress fails to avert the cliff, destroying nearly 6 million jobs through 2014 and sending the unemployment rate soaring to near 12 percent. Maybe this is O's October Surprise - a gift for Mitt.
Posted by: Bobby ||
10/26/2012
05:50 ||
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A suicide bomber targeted worshippers who had gathered at a mosque in north Afghanistan for prayers to mark Eid al-Adha, killing at least 41 people.
More than 50 people were wounded in the attack, which happened as people were leaving the mosque in Maymana, capital of Faryab province.
Senior provincial government officials were attending the prayers, but appeared to escape serious injury.
The victims were mainly civilians and police officers.
"We had just finished Eid al-Adha prayers and we were congratulating and hugging each other," deputy provincial governor Abdul Satar Barez told the AFP news agency.
"Suddenly a big explosion took place and the area was full of dust and smoke and body parts of police and civilians were all over the place. It was a very powerful explosion."
He said the provincial police chief, Abdul Khaliq Aqsai was wounded, but it was not clear if he had been the target.
The father of one of the former Navy SEALs killed in the terrorist attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya says President Barack Obama wouldnt even look him in the eye and Vice President Joe Biden was disrespectful during the ceremony when his sons body returned to America. He also says the White Houses story on the attack doesnt pass the smell test.
#5
Blaming the filmmaker was really low, especially since his life wasn't worth a 'hill of beans' afterward. However, Hillary looked genuinely distressed, however, and left town with hubby, who is apparently urging her to release docs showing she requested additional security but her orders were never carried out, according to Ed Klein. She does serve at the "pleasure of the President"...
#11
Your comment Badanov is tasteless, but my neighbor has a rather largish male Ridgeback that I believe I could coax into replacing you for the task as described.
#14
...The late CAPT Carroll LeFon, USN - AKA Neptunus Lex - related a conversation he had with then-Senator Biden about a Naval Aviator from Delaware who had been lost in an aircraft accident:
"...I love him less well: As a lieutenant, I served as the casualty assistance calls officer for the family of a friend that had been killed in a training accident. His grief-stricken wife insisted upon seeing the body, and when I tried my best to tactfully demur, one of the bereaved family members called the senator on the phone to speak to me. After about five minutes of increasingly emphatic browbeating, I turned away from the family and quietly whispered into the phone that there was nothing left to see nothing recognizable at least the plane had burned for hours after the mishap. Did the senator have a way for me to share this with the family that would help lessen their grief rather than increase it?
The British government rejected U.S. requests to use military bases in the United Kingdom as part of a build-up in the Gulf, citing legal concerns that a pre-emptive strike on Iran would violate international law, The Guardian reported.
Citing unnamed U.K. officials, the Guardian reported that the United States has made informal requests for access to British bases in Cypress and British territories in the Atlantic and Indian oceans as part of contingency planning for Iran.
But British ministers have responded with legal advice from the U.K. attorney general's office that says Iran does not currently represent "a clear and present danger."
As a result, providing assistance to U.S. forces potentially involved in a strike on Iran would violate international law, according to the Guardian.
"The UK would be in breach of international law if it facilitated what amounted to a pre-emptive strike on Iran," said a British defense official. "It is explicit. The government has been using this to push back against the Americans."
The B.O. regime has not made a formal request to the British government for military access. U.K. officials said they did not believe there was any movement toward a conflict, but that the United States was exploring the "British position" on the use of bases.
Pentagon officials did not immediately respond to request for comment on the report. A U.S. State Department official told the Guardian: "The U.S. and the U.K. co-ordinate on all kinds of subjects all the time, on a huge range of issues. We never speak on the record about these types of conversations."
The B.O. regime says it wants a diplomatic solution to the Iranian nuclear dispute, although President B.O. has said he will not rule out using military force to stop Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
Posted by: Au Auric ||
10/26/2012
03:12 ||
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#1
That is what you get for alienating our closest ally and sending back the bust of Churchill, Obama.
Your arrogance and incompetence has made this world a much more dangerous place.
#4
Methinks the Brits think they'll be biting off more than they can chew iff post-strike Iran orders its MilTerr proxies to initiate TerrOps agz Israel + the US-NATO, its poor Domestic economy, Falklands + the Scottish independence referendum come 2014. Lets also not fergit China-vs-Japan,ASEAN in ECS + SCS, of which no one can doubt Diego Garcia will be a de facto target for the PLA.
London may stay for Afghanistan or AFPAK, but its "no" or "hell no" per Iran.
OSHKOSH, Wis. - Bad news will greet Vice President Joe Foreign Policy Whiz Kid Biden The former Senator-for-Life from Delaware, an example of the kind of top-notch Washington intellect to be found in the World's Greatest Deliberative Body... when he arrives in Wisconsin Thursday night. Hours earlier, Oshkosh's largest employer announced that it will lay off 450 employees in January.
Oshkosh Corp., a truck manufacturer with Pentagon contracts, blamed the "difficult decisions" on looming cuts to the nation's defense budget.
"As Oshkosh and others in the defense industry have discussed on numerous occasions, domestic military vehicle production volumes will decline significantly in 2013 due to the reduction in U.S. defense budgets and the fact that military spending is returning to peacetime levels," the company said in a statement. "Unfortunately, these economic factors require Oshkosh to rebalance its defense production workforce starting in January 2013."
The company said the layoffs were not tied to the looming budget cuts set to take effect in January. And it will still have about 3,500 employees in its Oshkosh-based defense division after the job cuts.
The news came hours ahead of Biden's campaign appearance in the city on Friday morning. President B.O. carried Winnebago County in 2008, but area Republicans said they believe Willard Mitt Romney ...former governor of Massachussetts, currently the Publican nominee for president. He is the son of the former governor of Michigan, George Romney, who himself ran for president after saving American Motors from failure, though not permanently. Romney has a record as a successful businessman, heading Bain Capital, and he rescued the 2002 Winter Olympics from the midst of bribery and mismanagement scandals. More to the point, he isn't President B.O... will be competitive here on Election Day.
Statewide tracking polls show that while Obama's lead has slipped, he maintains a slight advantage over Romney in Wisconsin.
Posted by: Au Auric ||
10/26/2012
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According to a former staffer for Joe Foreign Policy Whiz Kid Biden The former Senator-for-Life from Delaware, an example of the kind of top-notch Washington intellect to be found in the World's Greatest Deliberative Body... , the Vice President is selfish, disloyal and concerned about his own manhood. Jeff Connaughton, the author of "The Payoff," a book that came out in September which indicts Democrats for being controlled by the big banks, tells anecdotes about Biden that reveal Biden to be less of a good guy than he portrays himself.
Story #1. After Biden gaffed during the 2008 campaign and said Obama would be tested as president, Obama waited until a few days after the election to chide him. Biden met with Connaughton and some other advisors:
"Biden told us that Obama had called him and told him sharply that he didn't need public tutoring: 'I don't need you acting like you're my Henry Higgins.' Biden said his private reaction was, 'Whoa. Where did this come from? This is clearly a guy who could restrict my role to attending state funerals or just put me in a closet for four years. I'm going to have to earn his trust, but I'm not going to grovel to this guy. My manhood is not negotiable.'"
Posted by: Au Auric ||
10/26/2012
03:01 ||
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I am happily surprised the President knew who the hell Henry Higgins is. Actually I suspect this is a made up stoooooooooorie and the President don't know shit from the Rain in Spain, altho I think he'd love to bow at Ascot Opening Day.
A British executive for the oil company ExxonMobil has been shot dead in front of his wife in an assassination-style killing in Brussels.
Belgian police have imposed a news blackout after Nicholas Mockford, 60, was shot as he left an Italian restaurant in Neder-over-Heembeek, a suburb of the capital.
The executive was shot three times, once as he lay on the ground, after leaving the Da Marcello restaurant in Rue de Beyseghem at around 10pm on Oct 14. His wife, Mary, was left beaten and covered in blood. Mr Mockford died on the way to hospital.
Witnesses said they saw the couple walk across the street to their car, a silver Lexus 4x4, before shots were fired. The attack was said to have happened very quickly and Mrs Mockford was left cradling her husband in the street, shouting for help. According to reports, two men were seen running away carrying a motorcycle helmet.
Initially police said they were not excluding any possibilities, including a carjacking, but Mr Mockford's car was not stolen.
The Belgian prosecutor's office said last night that there was a "judicial instruction" from Martine Quintin, the investigating judge, that meant they could give no "explanation" and no detail about the killing.
"This is usual in such a serious murder investigation," a spokesman said.
Mr Mockford had worked for the company since the 1970s, and was the head of marketing for interim technologies for ExxonMobil Chemicals, Europe, promoting new types of greener fuel. He was a keen sailor and was the skipper of an Exxon team who won first prize in a race in the Channel last year aboard their yacht Musette.
He was also interested in motor cycling. Mr Mockford had been married to his second wife, who is Belgian, for 15 years, and had three grown-up children from his first marriage, all of whom live in Britain.
He was brought up in Leicestershire and had last lived in this country in Chichester, but had been abroad for some years, mostly in Belgium and Singapore.
One family member told The Daily Telegraph he believed Mr Mockford had been killed in a professional hit.
The relation, who asked not to be named, said: "We are all confused about what has happened. Nick was a genuinely lovely, clean-cut, mild mannered, family man.
"I don't think he would put up a fight or argue with someone trying to steal his company car.
"He was shot so calmly and so quickly, it smacks horribly of a professional hit, but we can't fathom why. He isn't the type to cave in to blackmail and it just doesn't compute."
A spokesman for ExxonMobil said: "We are shocked by the tragic death of one of our employees on Sunday, October 14 in Brussels.
"Our thoughts are with his family, friends and colleagues and we are supporting them as best we can at this very difficult time."
The relation said Mrs Mockford was recovering from the ordeal and had not been badly hurt. "He was always very tight-lipped about what he did, even when sitting around with the family," the relation added.
Posted by: Au Auric ||
10/26/2012
02:57 ||
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#1
Columbo would look at the Mrs.
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/26/2012 7:44
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Might want to have a look at who else may have been dining Italian that evening. Shooters could have possibly hit the wrong target.
BENGHAZI: Libyan protesters ousted a jihadist militia from its headquarters and seized a raft of other paramilitary bases in second city Benghazi early yesterday in heavy festivities that left four people dead.
The seizure of the headquarters of Ansar Al-Shariah -- which has been accused of, but denied, involvement in the murder of US Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans last week -- came after tens of thousands erupted into the streets on Friday to protest the power of the militias. The group's members took flight as hundreds of protesters stormed and then torched its compound, and also evicted it from the city's Al-Jalaa hospital, where they were replaced by military police.
But to the alarm of bigwigs, the demonstrators also stormed a raft of other paramilitary bases in the city controlled by former rebel units that had declared their loyalty to the central government.
It was at one such base -- the headquarters of the Raf Allah Al-Sahati Brigade, a unit under the authority of the Defense Ministry -- that the four people were killed in festivities between its fighters and hundreds of protesters, some of them armed.
Around 70 people were maimed during the overnight violence, medics at Benghazi's three main hospitals said. Worried Libyan authorities called on the demonstrators to distinguish between "illegitimate" brigades and those who are under state control, warning that the neutralization of loyal units risked "chaos." The warning highlighted the dilemma facing the Libyan government a year after the overthrow of veteran dictator Muammar Qadaffy ...whose instability was an inspiration to dictators everywhere, but whose end couldn't possibly happen to them... -- while militias pose the biggest threat to its authority, its fledgling new security forces are dependent on former rebel units that fought in the uprising.
The trigger for the assault on the paramilitaries was a "Save Benghazi" protest after the main weekly Moslem prayers on Friday that was joined by some 30,000 peaceful demonstrators. It drowned out a smaller rally attended by just a few hundred people over a US-made anti-Islam film and blasphemous cartoons published by a French magazine.
Demonstrators paid tribute to Ambassador Stevens and the other Americans killed in the September 11 assault on the US consulate in the city that Washington now says was a "terrorist" attack. "Libya lost a friend," read one banner. "We want justice for Stevens," said another.
Jihadist snuffies of Ansar Al-Sharia had gun sex as they retreated from their headquarters in the face of the overwhelmingly superior numbers of the protesters. Yesterday, the building was in the hands of the regular armed forces.
But the protesters, angry at the power in the city of a string of former rebel groups with varying degrees of loyalty to the central government, also stormed other paramilitary bases.
Posted by: Au Auric ||
10/26/2012
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In July, the Obama State Department approved an extraordinary license for a newly formed U.S.-based organization, the Syrian Support Group, to raise money for Syrian rebels -- overriding the administration's own sanctions and Obama's Executive Order against such activity.
To some counterterrorism and terror finance authorities in Washington D.C., this extremely rare privilege raises considerable concerns.
This is especially true because two related figures with the organization, Louay Safi and Mazen Asbahi, have previously been tied to terror fundraising efforts by Islamic organizations identified by the U.S. government in federal court as fronts for the Moslem Brüderbund.
The Syrian Support Group was incorporated in April 2012, according to records obtained from the District of Columbia Corporations Division.
On May 24, the group sent a letter to the State Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, and on July 23 that same office issued the license -- a copy of which was obtained by The Blaze -- allowing them to "export, reexport, sell, or supply to the Free Syrian Army ('FSA') financial, communications, logistical, and other services otherwise prohibited by Executive Order 13582 in order to support the FSA."
The Free Syrian Army is affiliated with the Syrian National Council governed by that group's military bureau, which is overwhelming dominated by Islamist groups, including the Syrian Moslem Brüderbund. The SNC's political director, Louay Safi, used to be one of the top Islamic advisers to the Pentagon and was only one of two officials authorized to certify Mohammedan chaplains for the U.S. military services.
Posted by: Au Auric ||
10/26/2012
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#1
Also at the Blaze: Ed Klein is claiming Bill is urging Hillary to release documents exonerating herself. Apparently she ordered additional security but never carried out...who killed the request?
MUTE THE VIDEO! The alarm clock beeping at the beginning should be your signal to mute, unless you like harsh noises and jihadi singing. Make it fullscreen to be able to read the numbers. Please say something thoughtful if you comment other than "propaganda bullshit" because we already know it's made by the enemy.
#1
If this is directed towards the West, it is not particularly effective for several reasons: 1. the numbers appear inflated, 2. the numbers appear inconsistent, and 3. it misses its intended audience, and 4. the distortions are not believable. If it is a pep talk for the jihadis, it is probably effective to give them a boost for the some of the same reasons it is ineffective in the West. Now, if this propaganda threw in some frames of people in the West burning a Koran or slandering the profit, they would most likely go nuts.
#9
I think my wife and I will forgo any future dinner outings at "Teds" in honour of this outrage. I'm sure it won't make much of a difference to his bottom line, but it will give me some peace of mind. Phuech the bison burger and the Sunday turkey blue plate.
At least 20 people have been killed in a fresh wave of communal violence sweeping western Myanmar, a Rakhine state front man said Thursday, adding the corpse count could ultimately more than double.
"At least 20 people (both Buddhist and Moslem) have been killed in festivities since October 21. The corpse count can reach about 50," Myo Thant told AFP.
He said 80 Buddhist Rakhines have been maimed, but there were as yet no equivalent figures for injured Moslems.
A security official, requesting anonymity, confirmed the potential toll from the resurgence of unrest could hit 50, adding government forces were struggling to reach remote areas.
Hundreds of homes have been burned in the outburst of unrest in Rakhine state, where Buddhist-Moslemfestivities have killed more than 100 people since June and displaced tens of thousands, according to the authorities.
The latest violence led the United Nations ...an international organization whose stated aims of facilitating interational security involves making sure that nobody with live ammo is offended unless it's a civilized country... to express grave concern over reports of deaths and "thousands" of displaced in recent days.
"The U.N. is alarmed by reports of displacements and destruction," said UN chief in Yangon, Ashok Nigam, adding that the resurgence of deadly unrest in Rakhine State had "resulted in deaths and has forced thousands of people, including women and kiddies, to flee their homes".
Posted by: Fred ||
10/26/2012
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Several Lebanese figures are targets of possible liquidations, reported al-Joumhouria newspaper on Thursday.
A widely informed western diplomatic source told the daily that at least 18 Lebanese officials are being monitored, urging them to take the greatest precautions to protect themselves.
It explained that these figures not only include prominent officials, but others that do not enjoy as much influence and media exposure.
He said that the targets include Lebanese Forces A Christian political party founded by Bashir Gemayel, who was then bumped off when he was elected president of Leb... leader Samir Geagea ... Geagea was imprisoned by the Syrians and their puppets for 11 years in a dungeon in the third basement level of the Lebanese Ministry of Defense. He was released after the Cedar Revolution in 2005 ... , head of the Mustaqbal ... the Future Movement, political party led by Saad Hariri... parliamentary bloc MP Fouad Saniora, former Defense Minister Elias al-Murr, Internal Security Forces chief Ashraf Rifi, MP Butros Harb and a number of Mustaqbal politicians, most notably the Sunni ones and former MP Fares Soaid.
In addition, said the source, every potential presidential candidate from the March 14 camp who enjoys strong popular support is also an liquidation target.
The source revealed that it had relayed this information to one of Leb's politicians, requesting that it in turn be relayed to the potential targets in order for them to take the necessary precautions.
It warned that the assassins may resort to new murder techniques that had not been adopted before, such as booby-trapping an elevator as had happened in the failed liquidation attempt against Harb in July.
Internal Security Forces Intelligence Bureau head Brigadier General Wissam al-Hasan was killed in a car boom on Friday, raising fears that the phase of liquidations in Leb had returned.
The March 14-led opposition and Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Wally Jumblat ... Druze politician, head of the Progressive Socialist Party, who's been on every side in Leb at least four times. He'll sell you his friends for a dollar, but family comes higher because of shipping and handling... blamed Syria for Hasan's crime.
Geagea was the victim of a failed attempt Curses! Foiled again! on his life in April and Murr was the victim of a failed attempt in July 2005.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/26/2012
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The state news agency Saba quoted a statement by President Abdrabu Mansour Hadi during a meeting with the French ambassador to Sanaa, Frank Julie, as saying on Wednesday the Yemeni government will be ready to deal with oil firms transparently through the internet.
"Yemen is very rich in oil, gas and minerals, and to encourage firms to invest in its wealth, the country is open to handle deals through the internet and without a broker or pedigree," Hadi said.
He urged Total to expand operations and increase output at its concessions to help Yemen, which is in dire need for help in all areas amid the current extraordinary circumstances.
Earlier, Yemen's oil minister, Ahmed Dares, urged Chinese Sinopec Group to expand its exploration operations and to resume the activities which were halted in the wake of the last year's turmoil, according to Saba.
Sinopec revealed plans to acquire shares in producing blocks within its expansion program in Yemen, Saba said.
"The operations at the exploration block 71 are continuing and there are promising signs on this block," it quoted chairman of Sinopec as saying.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/26/2012
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[Tolo News] An Afghan police officer on Thursday turned his weapon against Isaf forces in southern Uruzgan province, killing two US soldiers, officials said.
Two Afghan officials in Uruzgan said one of their coppers shot the soldiers during a meeting in the Khas district and has escaped.
US military confirmed the incident in a released statement Thursday evening saying two US soldiers were killed when an individual in an Afghan National Police uniform turned his weapon the soldiers in Khas district of Uruzgan.
TOLOnews first reported the shooting, which happened around midday, saying that an Australian soldier was killed according to statements from the two officials. This was later confirmed by Isaf to be incorrect.
The 'insider' shooting took place in the police headquarters of Khas by a police officer who had been in the provincial force for some months, a senior police official said.
The official, who asked not to be named, said the police officer was a trusted member of the police force.
He said that the shooting instantly killed one of the soldiers and another was transported in a helicopter from the scene.
More than 50 Isaf soldiers have been killed in insider or 'green-on-blue' attacks this year.
The shooting comes a day after the Eid message from Taliban leader Mullah Omar ... a minor Pashtun commander in the war against the Soviets who made good as leader of the Taliban. As ruler of Afghanistan, he took the title Leader of the Faithful. The imposition of Pashtunkhwa on the nation institutionalized ignorance and brutality in a country already notable for its own fair share of ignorance and brutality... urging the Afghan cops to turn their weapons against the NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions... -led forces.
Lebanese Forces A Christian political party founded by Bashir Gemayel, who was then bumped off when he was elected president of Leb... leader Samir Geagea ... Geagea was imprisoned by the Syrians and their puppets for 11 years in a dungeon in the third basement level of the Lebanese Ministry of Defense. He was released after the Cedar Revolution in 2005 ... lashed out on Thursday at Lebanese security agencies, accusing some officials of carrying out an Iranian-Syrian plot undertaken by Hizbullah inside the country.
"If the case of (former information) Minister Michel Samaha, which led to the liquidation of Internal Security Forces Intelligence Bureau head Brigadier General Wissam al-Hasan last week fell in the wrong hands, they might have covered the matter up and Leb would have witnessed greater havoc," Geagea said in comments published in the Saudi daily al-Watan.
Under Hasan, the ISF played a central role in the August arrest of Samaha, who has close links to Damascus ...The capital of Iran's Syrian satrapy... . He was charged with planning attacks to spark sectarian strife in Leb.
The agency was also deeply involved in seeking the arrest of those responsible for a host of attacks and liquidations between 2005 and 2008, starting with the former Premier Rafik Hariri's liquidation, for which Hasan blamed Damascus.
In October 2010, the Syrian courts issued arrest warrants against 33 Lebanese figures, including Hasan, for perjury in the case of the Hariri liquidation.
The LF leader refused to name the people or sides that these officials are affiliated with, but he indicated that they are "security officials" in Lebanese security agencies.
Geagea said that when Hasan unveiled Samaha's plot, he halted an attempt by Syria to make Leb a "mailbox" to regional and international countries.
"The regime of (Syrian president Bashar) Assad and Iran are responsible for the liquidation of Hasan, while Hizbullah carried out the crime," he told the daily.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/26/2012
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Anti-austerity demonstrators in Europe have suffered excessive police violence, Amnesia Amnesty International said Thursday in a report urging European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... (EU) governments to protect the right to peaceful protest.
The rights group said people rallying against government spending cuts, tax rises and job losses in countries hit by the eurozone crisis and elsewhere had sometimes been seriously injured by police or had had medical treatment withheld.
"People demonstrating peacefully in EU countries have been beaten, kicked, shot at and maimed with rubber bullets and sprayed with tear gas," Amnesty said.
"Yet excessive use of force by police goes uninvestigated and unpunished."
The Amnesty report, entitled "Policing demonstrations in the European Union", described several cases where police had severely beaten protesters in Greece, Spain and Romania.
Greek journalist Manolis Kypreos was left completely deaf in June 2011 after police threw a stun grenade at him, the report added.
Kypreos has since recovered some hearing but his disability has effectively ended his career, Amnesty said.
"Governments must spell out and reiterate that coppers may use force only when strictly necessary," said Fotis Filippou, Amnesty's campaign coordinator for Europe and Central Asia.
"They must introduce strict guidelines on the use of potentially lethal riot-control devices such as pepper spray and tear gas, water cannon and rubber bullets."
The report warned that excessive force and arbitrary arrests of protesters could turn anger against governments into anger against the police, increasing the risk of violence at anti-austerity demonstrations.
Under international law, police can only use force when it is required for them to perform their duty and they must be restrained in its use, Amnesty said.
Police forces in several European countries have faced budget cuts themselves as governments seek to shrink their huge deficits, the report added.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/26/2012
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police can only use force when it is required for them to perform their duty
So if a policeman's duty is to disperse a crowd impeding public passage and they do not do so when he asks them, he can further forcefully encourage them with his billy club. Etc.
#2
Well, as as a EU passport holder and awardee of the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize, I resemble the police brutality on my fellow Nobel Peace Prize recipients, even if they are delusional.
#5
Thanks for pointing that out, gromky. I've been methodically testing each link and fixing as needed. The queer thing is that Fred put the links in as normal, but for some reason the Naharnet links don't work until I copy and paste the exact same link over the one he'd pasted in. No doubt he and badanov will have fun figuring it out.
[Ma'an] Discussions about pan-Arab issues these days undoubtedly include the name of the Gulf country Qatar, repeated in various contexts, often negative. Qatar is behind this or that conspiracy, it is a US puppet, an Israeli collaborator the brain behind this or that problem or conflict.
Wherever there is an issue or a problem in the Arab world that one cannot easily explain, Qatar is often used to explain the unexplainable.
I happen to differ. I am impressed with what this tiny Gulf emirate has done since its ruler, Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, took over the reign of power in a bloodless coup while his father was away, in June 1995. Since then, Qatar has become a household name in the Arab world and much farther.
I am impressed with Qatar because it has tried to do something with the resources it has for the larger good. To be fair, the country and its leadership have the clear goal of elevating the name of their country. For the most part, their effort has a selfish angle; almost every action or activity has to have a Qatari angle or location. That is not shameful. Countries should put their own interest first.
But what Qatar has done for the Arab world goes much further than this narrow view. It is true that the country is blessed with much money, but so are so many other countries in the region and outside, yet none leveraged its resources for a larger good than Qatar.
While it is easy to criticize or find a problem with every action of the Qataris, one cannot ignore that they at least are trying to do things, unlike so many who just complain and do nothing.
When it comes to media, Qatar has done more to advance free media in the Arab world than anyone. Al Jizz broke so many taboos in the Arab world and introduced a level of professionalism that forced many in the region to follow suit.
I remember that before Al Jizz came on air, one would never see a live interview on any Arab TV. Arab rulers would not allow their state-run TV to take a chance of what a guest might say (they were confident that their anchors would toe the line). Al Jizz shattered this attempt at restricting free voices.
Sure, Al Jizz has become sensational and has lost some of its professionalism, but its impact as a front runner cannot be denied. The same can be said about the contribution of Al Jizz International, which helps reflect Arab voices and positions to the rest of the world in English. It has become an indispensable source for the whole world now.
Money cannot buy that. You need leadership, one that gives space, albeit not absolute, to media professionals. Even in sports, Qatar's ambitions and dream produced impressive results.
But perhaps the biggest success of Qatar is to have become visible in the political and diplomatic fields. While this tiny country has the largest US air base, it has not shied away from taking strong positions throughout the Arab world. It has been a strong advocate of the Arab Spring, led the fight for the liberation of Libya from Qadaffy and is a key player in supporting the rights of the people of Syria.
In Leb, Qatar's diplomacy secured an agreement that averted another civil war in the country. The Qatari diplomatic machine has been active in Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... and general Arab policy over the past years, but especially this year, when it took over the rotational head of the vaporous Arab League.
Qatar has also been active on Paleostine, to the anger or pleasure of different groups and at different times. A supporter of Paleostinian rights from the beginning, Qatar has tried to keep good terms with all parties, with the Paleostinian and even with the Israelis, and of course with the US and other internationally influential players.
This week, the Qatari ruler made a historic and unprecedented visit to Gazoo. This was the first visit by a head of state to Gazoo since the Israeli army withdrew and since the Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,-led government took over. The trip is a big boost for the people of Gazoo and will surely be reflected in the coming years in various construction projects.
Some said that the visit is a payment to Hamas for its decision to leave Damascus ...The City of Jasmin is the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world. It has not always been inhabited by the same set of fascisti... since the revolution against Bashir al-Assad. That may be partly true, but the most important aspect for Qatar can and will be if it can succeed in bringing together Paleostinians.
Speaking at the Islamic University in Gazoo, the Qatari leader called on Paleostinians to unite and, at the same time, impressed on them the need for a reasonable negotiating position vis-à-vis Israel.
These words of moderation have been spoken by many and often, but when they are said by an Arab head of state in Gazoo, they resonate much more.
Since 1995, Qatar has certainly left its mark on the regional and world maps. Bringing about reconciliation between Paleostinians and playing a role in Paleostinian-Israeli peace will certainly give this Gulf country a deserved unprecedented status worthy of a Nobel Peace Prize.
Daoud Kuttab is a journalist and former professor of journalism at Princeton University.
(Sh.M.Network)--The Uganda contingent of the African Union ...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful... forces in Somalia has raided an al-Shabaab ... Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda... hideout in the thickets of Albao, 20km north-west of Mogadishu, seizing several military hardware and items used for terrorism attacks.
The Uganda contingent backed by the Somali National Army (SNA), in an overnight operation captured six ready-to-use improvised explosive devises (IED), two remote controls and one IED manual, officials and commanders from the field said on telephone.
AMISOM forces did not incur any loss or injury in the operation, said Brig. Michael Ondoga, the Ugandan contingent commander.
"We are committed in supporting the Somali people in attaining peace," Ondoga noted, adding: "Such operations will continue day and night to wipe out the few remaining pockets of the bully boys. Since we denied them their traditional urban centres, they have resorted to living a wild life in thickets."
Ondoga again waved an olive branch for the Islamic fascistito end rebellion and join in the reconstruction of Somalia. "We call upon them to disengage so they can stop living in the bushes," he said.
Other items collected after the attack on al-Shabaab were six nicad batteries, five dozens of dry cells used for IED remote control and half a dozen offensive grenades.
Ammunition taken from the al-Shabaab hideout comprised 14 sub-machine guns with 34 magazines, two PK machine-guns with five chains, two pistols and one rocket-propelled grenade pipe with three bombs.
Also confiscated were four fuses, eight pairs of military uniforms, one GPS (Global Positioning System), one VHF radio, one walkie-talkie, five solar panels, one campus, 18 magazine pouches and 2,435 bullets of different calibers.
Others were a laptop computer, 14 mobile telephones, two military water bottles and valuable literature.
This operation comes at a time when AMISOM and the SNA are restoring calm in sector one after a spate of terrorist activities in Mogadishu over the last month.
Over the last one month, the allied forces have tossed in the slammer Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit! , from multiple targets within the vicinity of Mogadishu, suspected key criminal masterminds of the terrorist attacks and recovered ammunition from them.
Al-shabaab retreated from Mogadishu in August last year. However, a clean conscience makes a soft pillow... remnants and sympathisers remained and are now being sorted out in.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/26/2012
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Yemen's security forces arrested on Thursday two Al-Qaeda suspects in the port city of Aden.
Security sources affirmed that one of the arrestees is an Arab national and he was arrested while he was trying to leave for a Gulf state at Aden Airport.
They further said that the other arrestee is from Jaar of Abyan governorate and he was arrested in the framework of arrest campaign conducted by Yemen's authorities against wanted persons.
Security forces had stormed a house in Aden in early of October, killed four Al-Qaeda suspects inside and confiscated weapons, shells, ammunitions, explosive belts and grenades.
Yemeni politicians have warned against plots to plunge the strategic city of Aden into violence with the aim of breaking down the political settlement, stressing that security situation are tense in these cities.Insecurity and chaos acts have increased in Aden, the city which is considered among the most strategic Yemeni areas, after the widespread of armed groups supported by the Southern Movement and the Houthi group, media sources say.
Al-Qaeda targeted a number of Yemeni military commanders and intelligence officers, and kidnapped foreigners from Aden.
In March, a Saudi diplomat, Abdullah al-Khalidi, was kidnapped by Al-Qaeda in Aden and its destiny is still uncertain so far.
Al-Qaeda militants received painful attacks as the Yemeni army cleansed them from their main strongholds in Abyan and they restore to attack military and security officers, carry out suicide bombings and kidnap foreigners.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Amazing essay on the current election...
The Obama Campaign, that strange 4-year marriage of Generation X hipsters, inner city bosses, suburban college educated boomers longing for racial healing, Big Green businessmen and shady Saudis, appears to be finally sinking beneath the waves. It isn't going out in a blaze of glory, but with mumbles of trending topics.
Obama was always a petty man and his campaign has descended into pointless pettiness, into Team Big Bird, binders full of women and bayonets and horses. Like so much hipster culture, it exists so that the participants can entertain each other with something that no one else thinks is funny or clever. And that elitism is precisely the point. It's the last resort of losers who hide from their lack of taste behind walls of exclusivity.
Abandoning mass appeal, Obama is getting back to his roots of entertaining upper middle class college kids with his 'hipness'; both actual college kids and the overgrown middle aged variety that make up the professional class of the mediacracy who treat the rest of the country the way that they treated the natives on their Peace Corps assignments.
The Obama Campaign was never serious, but it once aspired to an Oprah level of seriousness, to the dignity of the self-help sections where trite observations are recited with great solemnity so that they sound like they must mean more than they do.
For the Northeastern New York Times reader, Obama held out the promise of atonement for the country's grave racial sins. For the San Francisco wind farm executive, he offered the prospect of a presidency that would be one long endless TED talk with plenty of subsidies for the cunning Greenvestor. And the college student would finally have a president who watched the same shows, listened to the same music and got the same jokes making him the perfect Resident Adviser for the country. RTWT. It gets better...
#1
Obama has gotten desperate. His fundraising emails walk the thin line between emotional blackmail and hysteria. Increasingly they read like Cousin Larry phoning for bail money from Tijuana.
(Sh.M.Network)--Intense fighting between Somali pirate gangs over a ransom dispute for the release of foreign hostages has killed at least three and injured 5 people, mostly pirates, reports said.
The all casualties are said to be pirates and civilians in a result of the latest bout of fighting that erupted in the town of Gawan, just 60 Km north of the coastal city of Hobyo, late on Wednesday, local residents told Shabelle Media by phone.
Tension has been high on Wednesday in the central Somali pirate lair for the release of the captives and the ships held by the Somali pirate gangs over ransom shares.
"There is no movement so far, the pirates are exchanging heavy machine gun fire inside the town that had brought life to a standstill on Wednesday," a witness said.
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The bomber who blew up an Israeli tourist bus in Bulgaria in July, killing six people, had up to five foreign helpers locally and the attack was planned abroad, the interior minister said Thursday.
"The number of people who participated on Bulgarian territory is between three and five," Tsvetan Tsvetanov told the 24 Hours newspaper.
"To date we have no proof that any of them was Bulgarian," Tsvetanov added. He said the attack at Burgas airport was plotted outside Bulgaria over a period of a year and a half.
The probe into the identity of the foreign bomber, who killed five Israeli tourists and their Bulgarian driver as well as himself in the July 18 attack, has collected "lots of evidence," the minister said.
"Still, the time has not yet come to voice any concrete accusation against the people or groups who performed this terrorist act (...) We must work with concrete evidence. We have to be very cautious as national security is concerned," he added.
The accomplice theory gained ground right from the start of the investigation but Bulgarian police have so far released only one computer-generated image of a suspected helper, in addition to a composite portrait of the presumed bomber himself.
Israel had immediately blamed Iran and its "terrorist proxy" Hizbullah for the bombing, which was the deadliest on Israelis abroad since 2004. Iran denied any involvement.
Bulgaria has so far refrained from pointing a finger at anyone.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said he and other senior military leaders, including Joint Chiefs Chairman Martin Dempsey, withheld U.S. forces from responding to the scene of the September 11 attack in Benghazi because the situation was deemed too unclear and risky. Panetta said there was not enough "real time information" for him, Dempsey and Africa Command's Gen. Carter Ham, all of whom felt "very strongly" at the time not to deploy any military assistance to the American compound. Panetta and Dempsey, speaking in a Pentagon press briefing, said U.S. forces were on alert and ready.
Panetta also indicated the seven-hour attack was over too quickly for the Pentagon to have enough information to respond effectively. Dempsey would not comment on ongoing Pentagon and State Department investigations, saying "It's not helpful in my view to provide partial answers. ... I can tell you, however, sitting here today that our forces were alert and responsive to what was a very fluid situation."
#1
Well gentlemen, with a Predator or other collection platform flying overhead providing persistent surveillance and real-time situational awareness, just how much time is needed to insert a rescue or stabilization force, or execute an on-the-shelf NEO plan? Was a stay-behind plan in effect, or was every last clandestine intelligence respresentative extracted from Benghazi? Were local national recruited sources unable to provide any situational updates? Were contacts from other friendly, third party counties unavailable? Had towering Pin Oaks overgrown the emergency helicopter LZ's on the mission compounds? Would a helicopter tailboom have hit a compound wall and resulted in "mechanical problems" as in the Abbattabad takedown?
Please release the predator feeds if you will. They should have a digital clock with the DTG visibly ticking away at the margin. This should help you frame precisely, what you knew and when you knew it!
In other news: Israeli rescue mission flis 2500 miles and lands undetected 23hrs01, 3 July 1976. The operation which lasted 58 minutes results in one friendly KIA, 20 Uganda defense force KIA, and 7 terrorist hijacker KIA. All 100 hostges were successfully rescued.
The technology and willing shooters are available. I doubt there could be found a man on Fort Bragg who would not have instantly volunteered. The only thing lacking was.... well, we all know what it was don't we.
#4
Just remember the two former SEALs who took the risk. Anyone who puts on the uniform knows that one day they may be asked to give that last full measure of devotion. If it means getting others out alive and you staying, you do it.
Panetta also indicated the seven-hour attack was over too quickly for the Pentagon to have enough information to respond effectively.
Classic management approach - give me more information so I can avoid making hard decisions. There is no leadership.
Nothing - nothing stops you from putting assets into a 'front leaning position' to be minutes away without any delay.
We need sackings, lots of sackings - pour encourager les autres!
#6
"Speed is the essence of war. Take advantage of the enemy's unpreparedness; travel by unexpected routes and strike him where he has taken no precautions."
Sun Tzu
Posted by: European Conservative ||
10/26/2012 8:43
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#7
I think we had an excellent read yesterday from a contributor about the REALTIME feeds of an emergency notification comms network.
So this is more crap.
I wonder who put a muzzle on that bulldog Petraeus?
#8
Petraeus has a chain of command boss, and the discipline to follow lawful orders.
On the other hand, just maybe there is a real reason to avoid revealing too much of the whole, true story. If there is, he would know, and we would/could/should not. While I suspect it is mainly bureaucratic inertia and butt-covering, in the greater scheme of things we have more important issues to face (though maybe not more important if you are Amb. Stevens' family or such.)
#9
Yes Glenmore, an admission of a F&F gun running and MANPAD training program collaborated with the Turkish Muslim Brotherhood (MB) and targeted against Bashar Assad would be certaily be something to.... avoid. Particulaly just prior to a presidential election.
#10
So not one senior military leader wanted to take a chance? Not one? And are these the same guys who thought it was an acceptable risk to put 20-plus Seal Team 6 operators on a single helicopter a few months ago? I'm not even close to buying this tale.
Posted by: Matt ||
10/26/2012 9:28
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#11
I have yet another question. Was the Pred or other platform conducting persistent surveillance over the consulate launched specifically for that target area or ROZ (restricted operating zone)....or was it on-station locally elsewhere and dynamically re-tasked from another ROZ?
If dynamically re-tasked, what was the original ROZ and for what purpose?
Once again, the feeds and screen date time group (DTG) would be most helpful in removing the "fog of war". Just say'n.
You need lots of sackings but at the Pentagaon, at the white House: the decision to go was clearly not one to be taken at General lvel but at President level.
#14
What military options did the Pentagon present to POTUS?
Posted by: Matt ||
10/26/2012 9:58
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#15
If you'd like to know what "senior Pentagon leaders" actually recommended, all one must do is look at the instruction given to them by the SECDEF a few days ago, to keep their mouths shut!
#17
Again, nothing stops the Generals of moving into a position/posture to act.
One of the points of "Blackhawk Down" that was inferred but not hammered on, was the long delay from when the copter went down till the Task Force Ranger Commander sitting before the screens decided to get around to calling the UN for the QRF [Quick Relief Force]. We're talking hours. On that day the Paks were the QRF and yet the element of 10th Mtn Div from the time they were notified to the time they loaded up to get out the gate was faster than the Paks. That dawdle time killed too many people.
We keep seeing the same behavior, time and again, of managers in positions managing, not leading. Van Greveld in Command in War documents the inertia of the Israeli command in the war of 1973. Demand more information, group think, delaying actions. It's an common organizational behavior and dangerous if it straightjackets the ability to act.
#18
So the "O" bunch didn't mind spiking the football when Bin Laden was killed. They seemed to be omnipotent about Islamabad but really dumb about Benghazi. They were eager to announce the killing of Bin Laden the same night but now the fog of war keeps them from knowing anything about Benghazi until after the election. "O" and Biden had little to do with the success of getting Bin Laden; it was the Navy Seals. They have a great deal to do with the failure of Benghazi and the negligence that allowed the murder of four Americans.
#19
In situations such as this, NO decision... becomes the default decision. In the Rose Garden the next day, it looked to me like the Hildebeast had been up all night. The Champ looked well rested. You decide.
The leaks are coming. Fox is now reporting JSOC was on station and waiting for the "GO" at Sigonella. Also reporting drone(s) were already on station near Benghazi and were re-tasked. Further reporting Doherty and Woods (former SEALS KIA) had phone CONUS, asked for permission to return to the consulte, but were told to "stand-down". They eventually disobeyed the stand-down order and engaged the terorists and conducted a limited rescue. Doherty and Woods were asking for air support/extraction, and were "positioned on the roof with a laser designator pointed at the terrorist mortar position".
#23
Doherty and Woods were asking for air support/extraction, and were "positioned on the roof with a laser designator pointed at the terrorist mortar position".
No wonder the "Commander in Chief" was trying to place the blame on a flick. These two men were KIA while he was only "Present".
How many more bodies of Seals and Border Patrol agents is this nation going to allow to pile up before this cockroach is removed from the Oval Office?
#25
Before we start calling the commanders who made the call cowards and all that stuff, lets take a few points into consideration. First, despite of our feelings on Obama and excluding him, the QRF and the military leaders in charge do know what they are doing, lets not let our disgust for Obama cloud this point. Second, it is clear they had a UAV of some type keeping eyes on the events. Now lets look at what we don't know. We do not know if the UAV was armed and with what type of weapons. But we do know they could see the attack in detail. With the constant movement of the SEALs between the home, warehouse and annex, It seems clear they were in communication and getting help in movement oversight. With the UAV they would be able to see and understand the enemy array of forces, this was coordinated, planned and executed buy a competent military force, my guess QUD. Meaning they understood our capabilities and procedures for a NEO or extraction and how to defeat it. If they had SA7 systems in the fight, and some open source report are that they were there, it would be a fools move to send in a lone blackhawk and try a rescue. From the perspective on the ground, the retired seals would have refused airlift support if they knew SA7s were present. They would never put their lives in front of the QRFs safety. The leadership decision must be made on the ability of the QRF to reach the target and this was not a textbook NEO, was it a Navy crew, Army, TF160? Did they have the ability to defeat or avoid the AAA/SAM threat, did they have eyes on the threat? Were there forces in place to help if they got shot down? We learned from Somalia these questions must be dealt with prior to sending in the QRF. They were prepared to perform a NEO, Not a hot extraction, two different fights.
Now on the politics of it all, Leon Panetta is in a bad position. Say they had the SA7s. Say it was a coordinated attack with competent advisors on the ground and the forces were arrayed in a manner where we would not be successful with our forces at hand. And lets say we could see it all from the UAV. Would you go out in public afterward and tell the world we were gamed confirming to the enemy we were gamed? Our would you use some term like "unclear and risky", blaming it on the fog of war.
Lastly, the QRF will go if ordered, no matter the threat. It is incumbent on the forces on the ground to realize the position they are in and understand the cost to others for their rescue and the leadership to protect those that will fly blindly into battle on honor alone. As someone who has sat in both seats, it is discussed and both sides, the commanders and those being extracted do get a vote.
The Ambo and his PSD were dead long before the attack ever happened. The enemy mission planner won the fight the day the Ambo was denied enhanced security. The PSD were retired SEALs, they had to have known it as well. The responsibility lands clearly on the shoulders of whoever denied the military and Ambo the security they asked for. As we look through history, Mogadishu being another shining example of military requests hobbled for political optics with tragic results, we must pick our political leader more carefully and not allow them to spin hawks like us into blaming the military leaders who were hobbled into vulnerable operational states.
When political leaders deny the military planners the required forces events like this will happen over and over.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
10/26/2012 11:53
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#26
This whole thing is just going to get uglier and uglier. JSOC was there? With what kind of force? WOW!
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
10/26/2012 12:01
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At that point, they called again for military support and help because they were taking fire at the CIA safe house, or annex. The request was denied.
There were no communications problems at the annex, according those present at the compound. The team was in constant radio contact with their headquarters. In fact, at least one member of the team was on the roof of the annex manning a heavy machine gun when mortars were fired at the CIA compound. The security officer had a laser on the target that was firing and repeatedly requested back-up support from a Specter gunship, which is commonly used by U.S. Special Operations forces to provide support to
Special Operations teams on the ground involved in intense firefights. The fighting at the CIA annex went on for more than four hours -- enough time for any planes based in Sigonella Air base, just 480 miles away, to arrive. Fox News has also learned that two separate Tier One Special operations forces were told to wait, among them Delta Force operators.
#29
49 Pan, thanks for the detailed perspective. What about sending in some air assets to provide cover? Would the threat of SA-7's be so great as to render any air support too dangerous? That doesn't make much sense to me, but I don't have your experience.
#31
Good discussion. Let's talk about MANPAD's (SA-7, SA-14, or SA-16) Remember, this tragedy took place AT NIGHT! Slow moving aircraft such as helicopters or aircraft taking off or landing are most susceptable. Our aircraft have onboard systems (flares) which detect and defeat these threats. MANPAD's require training in proper emplacement, target identification, and tracking. There are other flight techniques such as evasive manoeuvring, NOE (Nap of the Earth) flight approaches which also mitigate, but do not eliminate these threats. Flying above the operational altitude of such weapons also limits their ineffective. There have been no (zero) reporting of MANPAD use VIC Benghazi. There was a recent (last week I believe) report of rebels in Syrian using a MANPAD to down a fighter.
Bottom line, there was no credible evidence of a MANPAD threat at Benghazi.
#32
Bottom line, there was no credible evidence of a MANPAD threat at Benghazi.
Unless we supplied them. Double promise you'll only take them to Syria?
Then we know they have them.
Then they have a tool to checkmate your own security.
Anyone going to admit they've been had by the baddies?
Iran-Contra+Blackhawk Down+Desert One cluster.
#33
49 Pan, thanks for that perspective. Food for thought.
Yes, the original mistake(s) were --
1) putting the ambassador into Benghazi in the first place, when both the Red Cross and the Brit consulate personnel had pulled out
2) not providing a robust security presence to the ambassador (screw what it 'looks like' to the locals; what it's SUPPOSED to look like is, "don't fuck with us, we're serious").
3) presuming that the security situation in Benghazi had to be getting better because, after all, 'the civil war is over'.
4) not being willing and able to make correct decisions when rapid correct decisions were required.
It may be also that there were plenty of mistakes made during the firefight, in Benghazi, in Italy and Europe, and at the White House. But your point about the outcome of the fight being (mostly) decided before the first round was fired is a good one, and I appreciate that insight.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/26/2012 14:25
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#34
Excellent points P2k. I'd be more concerned about ZU-23/ZSU-23's.
Additionally, I don't recall any discussions about Pakistani MANPAD's as a threat to the Abbattabad mission.
#35
49 Pan, thanks for the mil perspective. The military commanders ultimately answer to the CIC. We have a CIC that is unqualified to be in the position. He has been AWOL for sometime now. He would rather hustle bucks from the pretty people in Hollywood so he can get re-elected. God help us if he gets re-elected. Should he get re-elected I see dire consequences for this country--none of them good.
#36
While we are making assumptions about SA-7s in Benghazi:
The Iraqi insurgents fired a surprisingly large number of SA missiles during the conflict. The statistics were:
a) 1 hit on a helicopter per 100 missiles fired b) 1 hit on an airplane per several hundred missiles fired.
Even the hit on an airplane tended to only damage it. The risks were not zero, but they were manageable.
I agree with that it probably would have been too "hot" to try a helicopter extract, but they could have landed at Benghazi airport and driven to the compound. This would have required the SF operators be provided with motor transport, ammo and fuel; but the CT and QRF train for this constantly and the Air Commandos can combat load a C-130 in their sleep.
The big problem was that BHO received his 3:00 AM phone call and he voted "present" and went back to sleep.
Al
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
10/26/2012 16:13
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#37
I hope, in time, the military involve let out what happened. This whole event is disturbing and angers me to no end...
Posted by: 49 pan ||
10/26/2012 16:53
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#40
What I don't get about the "too risky" stuff is that at some point in the course of events eight Marines seem to have flown in from Tripoli and taken part in the fighting. Why wasn't it too risky to send those guys in?
Posted by: Matt ||
10/26/2012 19:25
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#41
That's exactly my point. The Benghazi airport was safe to fly into. There was still the issue of how to get from the airport to the compound.
But this is a solvable problem.
Al
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
10/26/2012 20:00
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#42
The Libyan 'government' would not grant permission for US military intervention. And the US government was not willing to violate Libyan sovereignty. That's my read.
[Ma'an] The body of 23-year-old Paleostinian man was recovered after he was killed in a tunnel collapse in the southern Gazoo Strip, civil defense teams said Thursday.
Walid Nasser Marouf, from Beit Lahiya, died in a tunnel under Gazoo's border with Egypt near Rafah, officials said.
Two other Paleostinians are missing after the tunnel fell in on Wednesday evening, they said.
Medics say over 160 Paleostinians have died in the network of underground tunnels since Israel imposed a siege on the Gazoo Strip in 2006.
Egypt started closing the tunnels after an Aug. 5 attack in Sinai when gunnies killed 16 Egyptian soldiers. Egypt suspects the tunnels were used by some of the orcs. Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, says no one from Gazoo was involved in the attack.
The tunnels have been used to import anything from food to construction materials, fuel and cars, and hard boyz have also used them to import munitions used to attack Israel, which has targeted some of the tunnels with air strikes.
Pakistain on Thursday clarified that the issue of Durand Line between Pakistain and Afghanistan is a settled issue as it is the internationally recognised border between the two countries.
"The Durand Line between Pakistain and Afghanistan is the internally recognised border between Pakistain and Afghanistan and it is a closed and settled issue," said Foreign Office Spokesman Mozzam Ahmed Khan in his weekly briefing here Thursday.
Khan's comments follow the US State Department's reaffirmation on Friday of the Durand Line as the internationally recognised boundary between Pakistain and Afghanistan and rejection of the Afghan government's protest over an earlier US statement on Pak-Afghan border.
The Durand Line was drawn up by the British in 1893 to delineate the boundary between what was then British India and the Kingdom of Afghanistan.
After 1947, it became the border between Pakistain and Afghanistan, although the Afghan government still refuses to recognise it.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/26/2012
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Army Intelligence succeeded in arresting suspects on charges of belonging to the al-Qaeda terrorist organization, reported al-Joumhouria newspaper on Thursday.
Security sources told the daily that the army jugged Please don't kill me! Malaysian nationals Rafik Mohammed Aaref and Mohammed Razin Shaaban on charges of being members of the organization.
They were jugged Please don't kill me! in a hotel in Beirut's Hamra neighborhood and referred to the Military Tribunal.
Investigations revealed that they were recruited to al-Qaeda by a Malaysian called Mustapha Mansour in Malaysia in 2007.
They then moved to Yemen where they met other members of the terror organization.
The security sources said that Aaref and Shabaan were jugged Please don't kill me! in 2007 and sentenced to jail where they met Jamal al-Badawi who is accused of the 2000 bombing of United States Navy destroyer USS Cole in Yemen.
Al-Joumhouria added that about two months ago, the suspects tried to enter Syria through Turkey on a jihadist mission and in order to carry out suicide kabooms.
Their planned attacks were coordinated with a man identified as "Abou Hassan," who is responsible for the entry of all jihadists to Syria, said the daily.
Aaref and Shaaban failed to enter Syria however and so they decided to head to Leb to carry out terrorist attacks.
Their activity was monitored however by the army intelligence.
They were soon jugged Please don't kill me! and investigations revealed that they were planning on contacting an individual in Leb in order to coordinate attacks.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/26/2012
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The members of a U.N. probe into rights abuses in Syria on Thursday said "crimes against humanity" and "war crimes" were happening in the country, and said they were trying to set up a visit to Damascus ...The City of Jasmin is the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world. It has not always been inhabited by the same set of fascisti... One of the newest members of the four-person team, renowned former war crimes prosecutor Carla del Ponte, told news hounds in Geneva that "crimes against humanity and war crimes for sure" were being committed in Syria.
Del Ponte, who was yanked out of retirement late last month to join the U.N.'s Commission of Inquiry on Syria, said she would participate in the general investigation of tracking and documenting serious rights violations, but that she would perhaps focus most on determining "the high-ranking political and military figures (responsible for) these crimes."
Paulo Pinheiro, the Brazilian head of the commission, meanwhile said the Sherlocks had sent a letter to Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor... seeking access to the country.
"We expect that he will accept us in Damascus," he said.
The commission was created a just over a year ago, but has yet to actually gain access to Syria.
It has however conducted more than 1,000 interview with perpetrators and victims in the conflict, and has previously reported that war crimes appeared to have been committed by both the regime and, to a lesser extent, rebel forces.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/26/2012
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Syrian rebel forces took over a strategically important Kurdish neighborhood in Aleppo ...For centuries, Aleppo was Greater Syria's largest city and the Ottoman Empire's third, after Constantinople and Cairo. Although relatively close to Damascus in distance, Aleppans regard Damascenes as country cousins... and seized a military post in the country's northeast on Thursday, residents and a watchdog said.
As observers waited to see if Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor... 's regime will accept the proposal for a ceasefire during the Moslem feast of Eid al-Adha, residents in Aleppo's northern Ashrafiyeh district told AFP about 200 rebels had moved in to the area for the first time.
"I saw gunnies enter my street with Dushka (heavy machineguns) mounted on their vehicles, where it was written 'Liwa al-Tawhid,'" a 28-year-old resident told AFP, referring to the Free Syrian Army's (FSA) main unit in the embattled city.
"Snipers have set up in the buildings and 50 gunnies, dressed in black and wearing headbands with Islamic slogans, entered a school near me. I heard them tell the residents: 'We are here to spend Eid with you'," he said.
"I am waiting for things to calm down before leaving," he said.
Eid al-Adha begins on Friday and U.N.-Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi has said the regime in Damascus ...Home to a staggering array of terrorist organizations... is ready to follow his call for a ceasefire during the four-day holiday.
The regime has said it will confirm Thursday whether it accepts the truce, while the main rebel forces say they will cease fire only if regime troops do so first.
Northern Aleppo's neighboring Kurdish districts of Ashrafiyeh and Sheikh Maqsud have been controlled by local militia and the move marked the first time either rebel or government forces had moved into the area.
Ashrafiyeh is strategically important as it sits on city heights and is a route between the central and northern parts of the country's commercial capital, which has been the theater of intense fighting between rebels and government troops since mid-July.
In the northeastern province of Raqa, rebels also took control of a military post in a dawn raid, killing three soldiers and seizing arms including a tank, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The post had been besieged for several days.
The Britannia-based watchdog also said Syrian forces had bombed the Damascus suburb of Harasta and that fighting was taking place in the capital's southern areas of Tadamun and Qadam.
On Wednesday, fighting in the country killed 199 people, including at least 89 civilians, the Observatory said.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/26/2012
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Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ordered additional security for the U.S. mission in Benghazi ahead of the terrorist attack but the orders were never carried out, according to legal counsel to Clinton who spoke to best-selling author Ed Klein. Those same sources also say former President Bill Clinton has been urging his wife to release official State Department documents that prove she called for additional security at the compound in Libya, which would almost certainly result in President Obama losing the election.
Appearing on TheBlazeTVs Wilkow! on Wednesday night, Klein told host Andrew Wilkow that Bill and Hillary Clinton have been having big fights for two or three weeks about the issue, according to his two sources on Clintons legal counsel. While Bill Clinton wishes his wife would exonerate herself by releasing the documents that show she wasnt at fault for the tragic security failure in Libya, the secretary of state refuses to do so because she doesnt want to be viewed as a traitor to the Democratic party.
#4
Sorry I don't believe that Bill Clinton wants Obama to lose the elections. The Clintons want to regain power in the Democratic Party and they need Obama depending on them.
A (successful) Romney presidency would destroy any hopes for Hillary to win in 2016.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
10/26/2012 8:39
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#5
Yes EC, a classic case of wants vs needs. If the Clintons wanted the Champ, the Hildebeast would not have ran against him. They are now desperate to set the stage for 2016. They need the Champ to defeat Willard.
New day, new strategy. Nothing personal, it's just business. SWell, nothing personal as far as the Hildebeast anyway.
[Ynet] Iran appears to have nearly finished installing centrifuges at its underground nuclear plant, Western diplomats say, potentially boosting its capacity to make weapons-grade uranium if it chose to do so.
The diplomats said they had heard of indications that Iran had put in place the last 640 or so uranium centrifuges of a planned total of some 2,800 at the site, but had not started running them yet.
I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that the future of our country hangs on the knife edge of this election. And while we'd like to believe things are swinging our way, it's by no means certain we will succeed in taking it back, hauling it from the edge of the cliff.
One thing is certain: to do so we must get every single possible voter out and votes cast for R/R. AND give them a Congress to work with for the next 4 years. Because the election is just the first step. And if we fail the election, we won't have any do-overs. The trends are dangerous: financially, economically, in the abrogation of civil liberties, geopolitically, in our schools and courts and other institutions.
So: if you haven't done so already, or even if you have, please consider what you can still do to carry momentum forward and make this a successful turn around:
I know, I know. We're all sick to death of this interminable election season. We have lives and daily challenges. Perhaps, like me, you've never been one of the people voted Most Likely To Succeed in Politics.
Do it anyway. In the spirit of the Tea Party, rise up and get out and help take this country back. This is our future, our children's and grandchildren's future - and if we blow it, that future will be dim indeed.
Donate, if you can - to R/R, to RNC, to Mia Love or Josh Mandel or any of the other newcomers we desperately need on the Hill
Volunteer. You can phone from home, pick up people and drive them to vote early or secure an absentee ballot. You can join other volunteers in local coordination offices. Just ask - I know there are many many small things you can contribute that will make the difference. If you hate phoning or knocking on doors or driving people, volunteer to bring in sandwiches to the local group in your area while they carry on.
Volunteer, if you can, to be a poll watcher on Nov. 6 and to send back info to the campaign as the day progresses.
If you're in a red state, and it's really solidly red, help with GOTV to keep it locked in, volunteer to call into other states, use your credit card to add that $10 or $25 to any of the campaigns that need it.
I am not a registered Republican. Nor am I quite as old as (and certainly not famous like) Clint Eastwood. But he and I agree on this: our country cannot survive 4 more years of this president and of his enablers in Congress.
Please - do what you can. If you detest the whole political scene do it for our uniformed military who are dying unneceessarily under the current CIC. But please - do it. Now. There is very little time left to win this.
#1
Early voting tomorrow. Also working the polls.
Remember to vote R for senate and house!
It is amazing what can be accomplished with a non-communist in the White House.
Al
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
10/26/2012 11:54
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#2
For the second election in a row I shall vote party line -- Republicans all the way down. Normally I consider such unthinking behqviour immoral, but right now it seems to me the issue is that quantity has a quality all its own. Hopefully next time I'll feel comfortable looking at individuals again.
#3
Don't feel bad, tw. I never vote Democrat. If there happens to be a Republican candidate for some office who is completely hopeless, I'll throw my vote away on some random third party candidate. I don't always agree with Republicans but I never agree with Democrats.
I always vote after I get home from work on election day. By that time in California the election is all but over and the TV pundits are already calling it for one candidate or the other. That's what happened in 2000. They were already calling it for Al Gore before I even got to vote. But I voted anyway. Maybe this time they'll be a little more careful but I doubt it. If they think they can discourage people like me they probably will.
#6
John Leo wrote a collection of essays named "two steps ahead of the thought police". A paragraph I remember, because it fits me, says ... "I used to be called a liberal and now I am called a conservative, and I haven't changed" .
[Tolo News] Ten Afghan soldiers and coppers including two commanders were killed in a clash with Taliban Death Eaters in western Herat ...a venerable old Persian-speaking city in western Afghanistan, populated mostly by Tadjiks, which is why it's not as blood-soaked as areas controlled by Pashtuns... province after the bully boyz hijacked vehicles full of school books.
The clash happened in Herat's Obe district Monday morning after security forces went looking for the Death Eaters who hijacked vehicles transporting school books for Ghour province, the provincial police chief Sayed Abdul Ghafaar Sayedzada said.
"During the clash, five Afghan soldiers, and five coppers were killed including the district police chief of Obe, Bismillah, and the acting police chief of Chesht district," he said.
"Eight other copperswere maimed," he added.
The festivities continue as the missing books have not been found. Dozens more security forces have been deployed in the district for a "clearing operation", officials told TOLOnews.
At least four Taliban Death Eaters including the district shadow governor of Obe were also killed in the clash with security forces and another Taliban capo Esmatullah has serious injures, according to the police chief.
There were no civilian casualties during the clash, Sayedzada added.
Obe district governor Najibullah Ahmadi confirmed the clash and said more security forces had been deployed to the district to support the troops.
Obe district is considered insecure in the province with Death Eaters actively targeting local troops.
Cruising fast over the Western Utah Desert, a lone missile makes history at the Utah Test and Training Range. The missile, known as CHAMP, or Counter-electronics High-powered Advanced Missile Project may one day change modern warfare, by defeating electronic targets with little or no collateral damage.
CHAMP approached its first target and fired a burst of High Power Microwaves at a two story building built on the test range. Inside rows of personal computers and electrical systems were turned on to gauge the effects of the powerful radio waves.
Seconds later the PC monitors went dark and cheers erupted in the conference room. CHAMP had successfully knocked out the computer and electrical systems in the target building. Even the television cameras set up to record the test were knocked off line without collateral damage.
[Ynet] Sources in Khartoum say closure indicates US knew Israel was behind strike on arms facility. Top Israeli Defense Ministry official: Sudan is a dangerous terrorist state
The US embassy in Khartoum closed its gates on Wednesday, shortly after a weapons facility just south of the Sudanese capital was attacked, the London-based Arabic newspaper Al-Hayat reported.
Sudan claims Israel was behind the attack on the 'Yarmouk' arms factory. Analysts say Sudan is used as an arms smuggling route to the Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,-controlled Gazoo Strip via neighboring Egypt.
According to Al-Hayat's report, published Thursday, the American embassy in Khartoum stopped providing consular services in September after it was attacked by rioters who were protesting against the anti-Islam film "Innocence of Moslems."
The report said sources in Khartoum speculated that the fact that the embassy closed before Sudan accused Israel of launching the attack indicates that the US knew the Jewish state was behind the strike and feared it would be targeted by angry protesters.
Egypt's foreign ministry said it opposes any attack that violates Sudan's illusory sovereignty, and that it will cooperate with the authorities in Khartoum in the investigation into the strike.
Israel refused to comment on Sudan's accusations.
'Sudan a terrorist state'
Following the attack, which left two people dead, Sudanese Information Minister Ahmed Belal Osman said his country "reserves the right to strike back at Israel."
Sudan has accused the Jewish state of launching similar attacks in the past.
A top Israeli defense official said Thursday that Sudan is a "dangerous terrorist state," although Israel has refused to directly comment on the claim it was responsible for the attack.
"Sudan is a dangerous terrorist state. To know exactly what happened (there), it will take some time to understand," Amos Gilad told Israel's army radio.
Asked directly whether Israel was involved in the attack, Gilad, who serves as director of policy and political-military affairs at the Defense Ministry, refused to reply directly.
The Israeli air force, he noted, was "one of the most prestigious in the world, a fact which had been proved many times in the past."
Residents living near the Yarmouk factory told AFP an aircraft or missile had flown over the facility shortly before the plant went kaboom! in flames.
An AFP news hound several kilometers away saw two or three fires flaring across a wide area, with thick smoke and intermittent flashes of white light bursting above the state-owned factory.
Sudan appeals to UN
Sudan took its case to the UN Security Council, where its envoy Daffa-Alla Elhag Ali Osman called on the council to condemn Israel.
"We reject such aggression and expect your esteemed council to condemn this attack because it is a blatant violation of the concept of peace and security" and the UN charter, the ambassador said.
The envoy also accused Israel of arming rebels and helping to transport rebel leaders in Sudan's Darfur states, and said Israel was "jeopardizing peace and security in the entire region."
In 1998, Human Rights Watch ... dedicated to bitching about human rights violations around the world... said a coalition of opposition groups had alleged that Sudan stored chemical weapons for Iraq at the Yarmouk facility. Government officials strenuously denied the charge at the time.
In August of that year, US cruise missiles struck the Al-Shifa pharmaceutical factory in North Khartoum, which Washington alleged was linked to chemical weapons production.
Evidence for that claim later proved questionable.
The sprawling Yarmouk facility is surrounded by barbed wire and set back about two kilometers (one mile) from the main road, so signs of damage were not visible later Wednesday when an AFP news hound visited.
But state-linked media said 65 houses in the area had been "affected."
The Yarmouk factory made "traditional weapons", Information Minister Osman said.
"The attack destroyed part of the compound infrastructure, killed two people inside and injured another who is at death's door," he said.
There have been other mysterious blasts in Sudan - and allegations of Israeli involvement.
In April last year, Sudan said it had irrefutable evidence that Israeli attack helicopters carried out a missile and machine-gun strike on a car south of Port Sudan.
Last year's attack mirrored a similar strike by foreign aircraft on a truck convoy reportedly laden with weapons in eastern Sudan in January 2009.
Khartoum is seeking the removal of US sanctions imposed in 1997 over its alleged support for international terrorism, its human rights One man's rights are another man's existential threat. record and other concerns.
THE omens are that the Pak people's celebration of the Supreme Court's (SC) rulings on Air Marshal Asghar Khan's petition about the rigging of the 1990 general election is going to be short-lived.
It is not possible to recall without a touch of sadness the long time the people were kept waiting for the wheels of justice to turn. How many twists in the country's tale of woes might have been avoided had timely notice been taken of the aggrieved parties' publication How an election was stolen in 1991? The case under reference is a classic illustration of the adage that justice delayed is justice denied. Now that the SC has given its finding a whole brigade of spoilsports has jumped into the arena to nullify it.
Taken objectively, the court's verdict should have led to a strengthening of the democratic institutions against any extra-constitutional challenge. This is unlikely to happen because the political parties that matter appear to be more keen to indulge in partisan games than to put up a united front against the usurpers of the people's rights.
Although some observers have complained of its inadequacy in certain respects there is little ambiguity about the short order announced by the SC. The charge of interference in the electoral process against the two generals commanding the army and the ISI in 1990 has been established by the record before the court. The charge against collaborators among political figures calls for further inquiry. That process is unlikely to be smooth.
The main opposition party has rejected a probe by the agency named by the court, without pausing to ponder the damage caused to its claim as the foremost defender of judicial activism. It has also been alleged that practically no one is free from the stigma of using money to rig the polls. A section of public opinion favours the creation of a commission or a truth and reconciliation commission. Neither of these proposals promises early action against the military officers or their civilian cohorts. Our capacity to make a mess of fair practices developed abroad -- such as a truth and reconciliation commission -- is no secret.
But more important than punishing those responsible for the 1990 rigging is the need to make recurrence of that shameful episode impossible. That objective cannot be achieved without a national consensus on the inviolability of the principle that politicians will come into power and will be made to bow out only through a free, fair and democratic election. To what extent the SC decision will go in that direction will become clearer when the court's detailed judgment is released.
For instance, it will be necessary to examine the grounds on which the SC concluded that the two generals in the dock "participated in the unlawful activities of the election cell in violation of the responsibilities of the army and ISI as institutions, which is an act of individuals but not of institutions represented by them, respectively" (emphasis added).
The short order is premised on the view that the chiefs of the army and the ISI in 1990 complied with the directives of the election cell and apparently ignores the possibility that they might have been in control of the election cell, reportedly headed by a retired general of the army, and the then president himself.
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[Ma'an] If Israel bombed a Sudanese munitions factory, as Khartoum alleges, the raid was part of its widening proxy war against Islamist bully boyz in neighboring Egypt which Israel is reluctant to confront directly.
A huge kaboomdestroyed the factory near the Sudanese capital Khartoum on Tuesday, killing two people, with Sudan swiftly accusing Israel of sending four military planes to take out the complex.
The poor Mohammedan east African state, with its ties to Iran and Sunni jihadis, has long been seen by Israel as a conduit for weapons smuggled onward to the Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,-ruled Gazoo Strip, via the Egyptian Sinai desert.
With Sinai itself becoming a seedbed of al Qaeda-inspired cadres during Cairo's political upheaval, the Israelis now fear such arms could be used against them from within Egyptian territory. That puts Israel in a strategic bind, laid bare by the half-dozen guerrilla attacks it absorbed over the Egyptian border in recent months.
The countries' landmark 1979 peace accord precludes Israeli military action, whether preventive or retaliatory, in the Sinai, and Israel is highly unlikely to risk even a one-off breach given Egypt's unsympathetic new Islamist-led government.
Israel's response, government and military sources said, has been to hit first against those on Egypt's periphery suspected of links to the Sinai jihad boys.
That has meant stepped-up up air strikes on Gazooks accused of plotting operations in Sinai, and - to judge by reports from Khartoum - similar escalation in Sudan, to Egypt's south.
Israel has never confirmed or denied carrying out attacks on Sudanese targets. But Israeli defense officials admit placing a high priority on tracking arms trafficking through the country.
The monitoring, one retired official said, dates back to the previous government of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
Since early in 2009, shortly before the centrist Olmert was succeeded by the right-wing Benjamin Netanyahu, Sudan has accused Israel of carrying out several strikes on its territory. The sense of a far-flung covert campaign was further fueled by the Israelis' alleged liquidation of a senior Hamas armourer in Dubai in 2010 and abduction for trial of a suspected Paleostinian rocket expert from Ukraine the following year.
Commenting tersely on Israel's strategy, the ex-official said it aimed to "stem the flow of arms (to Sinai and Gazoo) without triggering major confrontations."
"This is all the more relevant today," the ex-official said, referring to instability in Egypt and surging Sinai militancy.
Drone to jets
Foreign intelligence sources said Israel carried out a unmanned drone raid on a convoy south of Khartoum last month that destroyed 200 tonnes of munitions, including rockets, intended for Gazoo.
Tuesday's blowing up of the Sudanese munitions factory was different to previous incidents, in that a state asset was hit. In a further suggestion of escalation by Israel, witnesses said the sortie was carried out by piloted fighter jets.
Amos Gilad, a senior Israeli defense official, made clear that Sudan should be considered fair game - an enemy like Hamas and Iran - and that Cairo's interests were also at stake.
"It is clear that it (Sudan) supports the smuggling of munitions, or it helps Gazoo. In actuality, these munitions pass through Egypt, so it is endangering its major neighbor, Egypt. It harms national security because tomorrow these arms could also be used against the Egyptians," Gilad told Army Radio.
Sudanese Information Minister Ahmed Belal Osman declined to say whether any weapons from the attacked Yarmouk arms factory in Khartoum had ended up in Gazoo, saying on Wednesday that only "traditional weapons in line with international law" were produced there.
A Swiss-published 2009 Small Arms Survey sponsored by several European governments found that Iran was a major supplier of light munitions to Sudan.
Khartoum has not said whether Iran was in any way involved in the factory that was bombed. A non-Israeli source briefed on the incident said the air strike focused on the main open area between the plant's main buildings, leaving open the possibility the target was specific personnel or production lines, rather than the whole complex.
Given the some 1,900 km distance between Israel and Sudan, some Israeli commentators saw in the alleged raid a warning to Iran, whose similarly remote nuclear facilities the Netanyahu government has hinted it could attack should diplomatic efforts to shut them down fail.
Alex Fishman, senior defense analyst for Israel's top-selling newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, dubbed the Sudan raid a "live-fire practice run" for Iran.
But the Israeli ex-official, who has an extensive military background, was skeptical about comparing a fenced, open-air Khartoum factory with antiquated air defenses to Iran's dug-in nuclear facilities.
The ex-official also noted the further difference between flying along the Red Sea toward Sudan, an international aviation corridor, to the prospect of Israeli jets reaching Iran through the unfriendly skies of Arab states like Jordan, Iraq, and Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in their national face....
"Israel isn't 'signaling' to Iran, just as it's not 'signaling' to the faceless myrmidons in Sinai," the ex-official said. "Whatever actions might be taken in Sudan are taken to counter a real, immediate threat."
Though attacks on Israel by Sinai jihadis have been mainly with small arms, there have been occasional short-range rocket launches and Israeli officials worry about possible attempts to down airliners with shoulder-fired missiles.
#2
ALso bear in mind that Sudan-based SHAHAAB-3's can be used to support strikes agz both Israel as well as USDOD-Navy, Allied targets in the Persian Gulf + Sea of Oman + Arabian Gulf/Sea.
I see nothing to indicate that Iran has changed its strategy to isolate US Navy CVBGS + Gator Amphibs + Allied to outside the Persian Gulf AMAP ALAP AFAP where they can be targeted and attacked by Iranian LRBMS, Air, etc. [Pakistan LRBMS?] while minimizing any need for Iran to detonate Nukes-WMDS on its own soil to defeat an anti-NucProg US-led ground invasion.
Former prime minister Saad Hariri Second son of Rafik Hariri, the Leb PM who was assassinated in 2005. He has was prime minister in his own right from 2009 through early 2011. He was born in Riyadh to an Iraqi mother and graduated from Georgetown University. He managed his father's business interests in Riyadh until his father's liquidation. When his father died he inherited a fortune of some $4.1 billion, which won't do him much good if Hizbullah has him bumped off, too. on Thursday hit back at Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Wally Jumblat ... Druze politician, head of the Progressive Socialist Party, who's been on every side in Leb at least four times. He'll sell you his friends for a dollar, but family comes higher because of shipping and handling... , describing slain Intelligence Bureau chief Maj. Gen. Wissam al-Hasan as "the martyr of Leb" and slamming the Druze leader for refusing to resign from government.
"Walid Jumblat is quoting me as saying that Wissam al-Hasan is the martyr of the Sunni sect. This is untrue and his ally (PM Najib) Miqati is the one who said that. Wissam al-Hasan is the martyr of Leb," said Hariri on the social networking website Twitter during Jumblat's live interview on LBCI television.
Jumblat snapped back immediately during the interview. "Great. If Miqati said that then he committed a mistake and let us consider Wissam al-Hasan the martyr of the Lebanese state," he said.
Earlier during the interview, Jumblat revealed that Hariri had telephoned him and asked him to withdraw his ministers from the government.
"Hariri telephoned me and asked me to resign and I told him that I won't resign. He said the Sunnis are being killed and I told him that Wissam al-Hasan is the martyr of Leb and that I won't subject the country to vacuum. I also said other things and he was dismayed by my remarks," Jumblat said.
"May God forgive you Walid Bek. You understand stability as staying in the Syrian-Iranian alliance, so congratulations," Hariri tweeted.
Jumblat, for his part, said, "May God forgive him about all these remarks."
Addressing the PSP leader, Hariri said: "Your partners in government are the ones who incited against him and accused him of treason like they accused Rafik Hariri."
"From now on, I will not remain silent in the face of anyone," Hariri vowed.
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Syria's army and main rebel force said they will cease fire on Friday, in line with an internationally backed truce during a Moslem holiday, but both reserved the right to respond to any aggression.
A peace initiative by U.N. and Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi calls for a truce during the four-day Moslem holiday of Eid al-Adha from Friday marking the end of the hajj pilgrimage.
It was backed this week by the United Nations ...aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society... Security Council, and a front man for U.N. chief the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon ... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan... said "the world is now watching" to make sure both sides stick by their commitment.
The army announced it would adhere to the ceasefire in a statement read on television.
"On the occasion of Eid al-Adha, military operations will cease on Syrian territory as of Friday morning, until Monday the 29th," it said.
But it also said the army would react if "armed terrorist groups continue to fire on civilians and government troops, attack public and private property and use car booms and improvised bombs."
It also warned of a response if rebels "strengthen their current positions or continue to receive reinforcements and ammunition" and to any fighters crossing from neighboring countries.
The Free Syrian Army, chief among many rebel groups battling Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Light of the Alawites... 's forces, responded positively soon afterwards, saying it too would lay down its weapons as long as regime troops adhere to the ceasefire.
"We will respect the ceasefire from tomorrow morning if the Syrian army does the same," said General Mustafa al-Sheikh of the FSA, which had previously said it doubts Damascus ...Capital of the last overtly fascist regime in the world... would stand by any commitment.
"But if they fire a single shot, we will respond with 100. So we reserve the right to respond," he said by telephone from Turkey.
He cautioned, however, that he could not speak on behalf of all rebel groups.
"There is not a unified command for all the factions. We speak on behalf of a big enough number of fighters, but there are other armed factions who follow other commands," Sheikh said.
An April ceasefire announced by Brahimi's predecessor, former U.N. secretary general Kofi Annan ...Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh and so far the worst Secretary-General of the UN. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize for something or other that probably sounded good at the time. In December 2004, reports surfaced that Kofi's son Kojo received payments from the Swiss company Cotecna, which had won a lucrative contract under the UN Oil-for-Food Program. Kofi Annan called for an investigation to look into the allegations, which stirred up the expected cesspool but couldn't seem to come up with enough evidence to indict Kofi himself, or even Kojo... , failed to take hold.
If the latest one holds, it would mark the first real breakthrough in halting -- even temporarily -- the 19-month conflict that rights groups say has killed more than 35,000 people.
Eid al-Adha starts with prayers at dawn on Friday, expected at around 5:30 am local time in Syria, or 0230 GMT.
Shortly before Thursday's announcements, there were no signs of a slowdown in the fighting, with rebels moving into a strategically important Kurdish neighborhood in the main battleground city of Aleppo ...For centuries, Aleppo was Greater Syria's largest city and the Ottoman Empire's third, after Constantinople and Cairo. Although relatively close to Damascus in distance, Aleppans regard Damascenes as country cousins... Residents in Aleppo's Ashrafiyeh district said about 200 rebels had moved in to the area for the first time.
One said the rebels, who arrived on vehicles mounted with heavy machineguns and bearing the markings of the Liwa al-Tawhid main rebel unit, made it clear they were settling in for Eid despite the ceasefire promises.
"Snipers have set up in the buildings and 50 gunnies, dressed in black and wearing headbands with Islamic slogans, entered a school near me. I heard them tell the residents: 'We are here to spend Eid with you'," he told Agence La Belle France Presse.
"I am waiting for things to calm down before leaving," he said.
Rebels and troops were also battling in the mainly Christian district of Seryan just south of Ashrafiyeh, said residents.
At least 100 people were killed as violence continued across Syria on Thursday -- 43 civilians, 37 soldiers and 20 rebels, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Fierce festivities raged around the Wadi Daif military base between troops and rebels, including fighters from the jihadist al-Nusra Front, while the army shelled the strategic town of Maaret al-Numan nearby, said the watchdog.
Al-Nusra, which has claimed several deadly suicide kabooms against the Assad regime, is among the other armed opposition groups that have already refused to accept the ceasefire, labeling it a "trick."
The United States also voiced skepticism, with U.S. envoy to the U.N. Susan Rice saying many would doubt the regime's word "given Assad's record of broken promises."
Still, Brahimi stressed that "if we succeed with this modest initiative, a longer ceasefire can be built" that would allow the launch of a political process.
Brahimi said he wanted the ceasefire to help create political space for dialogue and for aid to flow in, particularly to Aleppo, Homs in the center and Idlib in the northwest.
And the U.N.'s refugee agency said it was ready to send emergency aid to thousands of Syrian families in previously inaccessible areas if the ceasefire holds.
The international community boosted pressure on the regime, meanwhile, with U.N. rights Sherlocks saying they would go after bigwigs responsible for atrocities.
Former war crimes prosecutor Carla del Ponte, who joined the U.N. Commission of Inquiry on Syria last month, said that without a doubt "crimes against humanity and war crimes" were being committed in Syria.
Del Ponte said she was focusing on determining "the high-ranking political and military figures (responsible for) these crimes".
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At least six non-combatants were killed in war-ravaged Somalia after their bus was hit close to the frontline with al-Qaeda-linked Shebab fighters, witnesses said Thursday.
"Six people including two women were killed, and at least five others were seriously injured when a big kaboom hit their minibus," said Hassan Yahya, a witness.
"I saw four of the dead bodies, one of them was my cousin... we don't know who fired the shot," said Mohamed Abdirahman, another witness.
African Union ...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful... troops alongside pro-government forces have pushed some 120 kilometers (75 miles) northwest of Mogadishu to the small village of Lego, as they seek to open up the road from the capital to the key town of Baidoa.
"There was fighting between the AU forces and the Shebab... and the bus drove into the middle ground between them," Yahya added, saying the incident took place late Wednesday near Lego.
Somali military official Adan Warsame confirmed civilians had been killed but could give no further details.
"There was heavy fighting ... as opposed to the more usual light or desultory fighting... in the area, and we have reports a bus drove through the war zone, and there were casualties," he told Agence La Belle France Presse by telephone.
AU forces alongside government forces are fighting the Shebab to secure control of the key road that links Mogadishu with Baidoa, a strategic town seized from the Shebab by Æthiopian troops in February.
Baidoa, located 250 kilometers (155 miles) northwest of Mogadishu, was the seat of Somalia's transitional parliament until the jihad boy Shebab captured it three years ago.
While the hardline gunnies have now lost control of a string of towns in recent months, they still control large areas of rural southern and central Somalia.
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Pakistain Mohammedan League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... on Thursday categorically denied 'allegations' of accepting money from Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) to stop the current ruling Pakistain People's Party (PPP) from winning the 1990 election, DawnNews reported.
Speaking to a private news channel, Sharif said that he was seriously considering filing a defamation case against Younus Habib, former president of the now defunct Mehran Bank.
The Supreme Court, on Friday last week, had ordered legal proceedings against former head of intelligence General (retd) Asad Durranand and former army chief General (retd) Aslam Baig over allegations that politicians were bankrolled against the PPP in 1990 election.
It was a landmark ruling from the Supreme Court 16 years after Air Marshal (retd) Asghar Khan filed a case, accusing the ISI agency of doling out money to a group of politicians including Sharif in the 1990s.
Acknowledging the ruling during an interview today, the PML-N chief said that probe in the Asghar Khan case should be conducted by the FIA as per the orders of the apex court.
Reminiscing his previous tenures in the government, Sharif claimed that he did not even take wages from the national exchequer when he was the chief minister Punjab and the federal finance minister. "I didn't withdraw a single penny from any secret fund during my tenures.....allegations hurled at me are totally baseless," he added.
Criticising Younus Habib, the PML-N chief said that apart from the PPP Habib remembers all names to whom he dolled out money. "I strongly reject all allegations of taking or giving away any money in this regard," he added.
Sharif went on further to deny any meeting with the former Mehran Bank chief. "He (Younus Habib) has a criminal track record...I can't even recall any meeting with the man," said Sharif.
Moreover, the PML-N chief revealed that former ISI chief Durrani was not even used to consider the then prime minister as the PM of the country.
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#1
"Wudn't me."
Posted by: American Delight ||
10/26/2012 6:50
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#4
I am offended by the notion that (a) any man would spend 5 minutes listening to that, and (b) he'd expend the effort to lie "I'll call ya." If I was a man, I'd slap her until she made sense, and advise her to find someone of her own species.
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
10/26/2012 3:51
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#9
The 58 thousand on Ohio college campuses being bussed to vote for the Champ. They are not home or property owners, have been nowhere, have never served, have no job, no investments, pay no taxes, raise no family, contribute little if anything to charity, bay no bills.........yet their vote is EQUAL TO MINE?
[Ynet] Egypt's Interior Minister says security forces have intercepted a group of smugglers bringing in weapons from Libya.
Gen. Ahmed Gamal Eddin told news hounds Wednesday that two trucks carrying 25 rockets, 102 rocket-propelled grenades and 102 mortar rounds were seized on the highway near Marsa Matrouh, 430 kilometers (270 miles) northwest of Cairo on the Mediterranean coast.
Former prime minister Saad Hariri Second son of Rafik Hariri, the Leb PM who was assassinated in 2005. He has was prime minister in his own right from 2009 through early 2011. He was born in Riyadh to an Iraqi mother and graduated from Georgetown University. He managed his father's business interests in Riyadh until his father's liquidation. When his father died he inherited a fortune of some $4.1 billion, which won't do him much good if Hizbullah has him bumped off, too. on Thursday expressed his grief and pain "because Eid al-Adha coincides this year with the liquidation of Internal Security Forces Intelligence Bureau chief Wissam al-Hasan, who sacrificed his life to maintain the security of the Lebanese and their stability, and foil the plans of the enemies of Leb to ignite sectarian discord."
"This terrorist crime, that also killed innocent victims and destroyed the houses and properties of many citizens in Ashrafiyeh, has deprived the Lebanese people of the usual joy of Eid and brought them back to the atmosphere of anxiety, fear of security risks and return of the specter of political liquidations that Leb witnessed before," said Hariri in a statement issued on the occasion of Eid al-Adha.
"But this will not deter us from continuing to face such terrorist plots with all our strength in order to consolidate the state project with its legitimate security and military forces, as the only project that guarantees the unity of Leb and the security of all the Lebanese without exception and prevents the attempts by some to bypass the state's role or replace it under any pretext or argument," added Hariri.
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A jihad boy died on Thursday of wounds sustained in an Israeli raid a day earlier as calm returned to the skies over Gazoo after a truce took hold, ending 72 hours of bloodshed.
As Gazoo began preparing for Eid al-Adha, which starts Friday, medical sources said 24-year-old Ahmed Hrzalla, a jihad boy with the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) who was severely maimed in an air strike in Rafah, died of his injuries.
His death raised to eight the number of hard boyz killed in the flare up, four of them from Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,' armed wing the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, and three from the PRC. The affiliation of the other dead jihad boy was not immediately clear.
Over the three-day period, gangs pounded Israel with more than 100 rockets -- more than 70 of which were fired on Wednesday alone, leaving two Thai workers severely injured.
Following a quiet night in which there were no reports of Israeli raids or jihad boy rocket fire on southern Israel, schools reopened in southern Israel and Paleostinians went back to work.
During the morning, the military said one rocket hit an open area without causing injuries or damage, but it had no knowledge of three rockets being fired shortly after dawn, as claimed in a statement by the Gazoo-based Mujahedeen Brigades.
And the Erez crossing between Israel and Gazoo was reopened, as was the Hamas-run checkpoint leading to the border in the northern Gazoo town of Beit Hanoun, officials said.
Late on Wednesday, Israeli and Paleostinian officials told Agence La Belle France Presse that an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire would go into effect at midnight (2200 GMT).
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Texas authorities have threatened to arrest international election observers, prompting a furious response from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). "Y'ain't from around here, air yew?"
"The threat of criminal sanctions against [international] observers is unacceptable," Janez Lenarèiè, the Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), sputtered said in a statement. "The United States, like all countries in the OSCE, has an obligation to invite ODIHR observers to observe its elections. "Yew cain't go in unless y'r gonna vote or y'r a poll worker. Which air yew?"
"I'm a Special Rapporteur!"
"That ain't neither o' them. So stay outside!"
Lawmakers from the group of 56 European and Central Asian nations have been observing U.S. elections since 2002, without incident. Their presence has become a flashpoint this year, however, as Republicans accuse Democrats of voter fraud while Democrats counter that GOP-inspired voter ID laws aim to disenfranchise minority voters. "You don't need a photo ID to cash a check, do you? And you don't need a photo ID to get on a plane! Why should you need a photo ID to vote?"
Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott further fueled the controversy on Tuesday when he sent a letter to the OSCE warning the organization that its representatives "are not authorized by Texas law to enter a polling place" and that it "may be a criminal offense for OSCE's representatives to maintain a presence within 100 feet of a polling place's entrance." "Tex?"
"Yeah, Tex?"
"Git a rope!"
#3
How long until we discover these worthless phuechs were invited to observe by our Champ and his team. Nice insurance package in the event of a election overturn. I'm sure they could find or allege something was wrong, somewhere.
The U.S. is an OSCE member and therefore has the obligation to invite those observers. American will find this unnecessary but the U.S. has signed the respective treaty.
Of course those observers need to comply with the laws of the countries they are visiting and they of course do that. So if they cannot enter a poll station in Texas by law they will not attempt it. No need for such a bravado warning. This can be done in diplomatic ways, too.
Publicly threatening them with criminal prosecution is uncalled for because 1) these observers enjoy diplomatic immunity and 2) it serves as a bad example for countries that are far less accommodating to these observers (e.g. Russia or Belarus).
Posted by: European Conservative ||
10/26/2012 4:27
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#6
European Conservative is right. We do have an obligation to let them observe.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
10/26/2012 7:31
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#7
we have the most open and honest elections in the world. In fact, every instance of intimidation and poll-stuffing is investigated and dismissed by Eric Holder. Perhaps they can confine themselves to Philly and first-hand document and stop NBPP intimidation?
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/26/2012 7:43
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#8
The problem is: Everything that happens to those observers in the U.S. will encourage dictators in countries where the OSCE observers - as powerless as they are - could really shed a bit of light when it comes to fraud. I know a bit about what happened in Belarus and I don't want to give those authorities there the argument: Well look, even in Texas...
OSCE observers always observe the laws of the country they are visiting. And they are not all "lefties". I personally know a few, and they are conservative members of the German Bundestag, for example.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
10/26/2012 8:00
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#9
With all due, and sincere respect to you and your Bundes colleagues EC, Texas, Georgia, North Carolina, Alabama, and the other "Red States" are NOT eastern Europe of the Former Soviet Union (FSU). This scheme is as insulting to most of us as it would be residents of your lovely, and quite civilized regions of Ostallgua, Schwangua, Rieden, or Hopferau.
#10
Not at all. I'd be happy to accommodate OSCE observers in any Bavarian poll station. They'd learn something.
"As a rule, the status of the election observers is set forth in an agreement between the host country and the institution organizing the mission. Moreover, the election observers undertake to comply with the rules of the seconding organization (Code of Conduct for OSCE/ODIHR Observers, Code of Conduct for EU Election Observers). These stipulate that the observers must adhere to strict neutrality and refrain from expressing any opinions on the electoral process or results to the media or general public. The findings of their observations are included in the statements and reports submitted by the election observation mission."
Voting in Germany is an extremely painless affair. It has never taken me more than 5 minutes to vote.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
10/26/2012 8:30
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#11
Well EC, you have Angela, we have the mystery man. You're a bit ahead of us this go'round in the trust category. Everything that happens here is seen under the lens of... what will this bugger pull next. And unfortunately, it's a foggy Chinese lens, not a Karl Zeiss by the way.
#12
The problem for the OSCE and way too many foreigners is that its the UNITED STATES of America. They fail to grasp the extensive powers and authorities of the state governments in this union.
The outsiders confuse the centralization of their own government organizations with the arrangements of power in the US. A lot of centralized power in Washington is based upon the coercive effects of funding which tie the states to follow federal guidelines. Elections are locally funded so Washington has very limited authority beyond the specifics of the Voting Rights Act which implements the 15th Amendment.
The whole issue of voter photo ID is a state prerogative and is only challenged through arguments that various methods fail within the parameters of the Voting Rights Act. By granting other means of access to photo IDs the states undercut the usual excuses why people in any category couldn't comply. Thus the federal government has no say in the process.
Something similar happens with the death penalty. Texas has one. Foreigners are treated just like the locals if they commit a capital offense. The federal government has very limited means to intervene, usually confined to procedural issues rather than the issue of the death penalty itself.
#15
OSCE has remedied how many crooked elections around the workd?
None
What segment of the US Electorate has the OSCE been meeting with recently?
Leftists
What organization is the OSCE affiliated with?
UN. The same organization that is demanding businesses boycot Israel ("da jeeeewwws"). Members of the "UN Human Rights" commission include Lybia, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Cuba.
Clean up your own house, stay out of ours, UN hypocrites.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
10/26/2012 11:13
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#18
United Nations
The OSCE considers itself a regional organization in the sense of Chapter VIII of the United Nations Charter and is an observer in the United Nations General Assembly. The Chairman-in-Office gives routine briefings to the United Nations Security Council.
Article 52
1.Nothing in the present Charter precludes the existence of regional arrangements or agencies for dealing with such matters relating to the maintenance of international peace and security as are appropriate for regional action provided that such arrangements or agencies and their activities are consistent with the Purposes and Principles of the United Nations.
2.The Members of the United Nations entering into such arrangements or constituting such agencies shall make every effort to achieve pacific settlement of local disputes through such regional arrangements or by such regional agencies before referring them to the Security Council.
3.The Security Council shall encourage the development of pacific settlement of local disputes through such regional arrangements or by such regional agencies either on the initiative of the states concerned or by reference from the Security Council.
4.This Article in no way impairs the application of Articles 34 and 35.
Article 53
1. The Security Council shall, where appropriate, utilize such regional arrangements or agencies for enforcement action under its authority. But no enforcement action shall be taken under regional arrangements or by regional agencies without the authorization of the Security Council, with the exception of measures against any enemy state, as defined in paragraph 2 of this Article, provided for pursuant to Article 107 or in regional arrangements directed against renewal of aggressive policy on the part of any such state, until such time as the Organization may, on request of the Governments concerned, be charged with the responsibility for preventing further aggression by such a state.
2. The term enemy state as used in paragraph 1 of this Article applies to any state which during the Second World War has been an enemy of any signatory of the present Charter.
Article 54
The Security Council shall at all times be kept fully informed of activities undertaken or in contemplation under regional arrangements or by regional agencies for the maintenance of international peace and security.
#20
The Security Council shall at all times be kept fully informed of activities undertaken or in contemplation under regional arrangements or by regional agencies for the maintenance of international peace and security.
UN Permanent and Non-Permanent Security Council Members include Pakistan, Russia, China.
#21
The bottom line is that OCSE is not needed, nor wanted. And in most states, they are breaking the law if they enter a polling place without being either a poll worker, or an election judge.
As a matter of fact in most states the observers of the OSCE are "not wanted"... for good reason. That's why they exist.
The U.S. has nothing to hide. All those observers do is write a report. They are NOT allowed to interfere in the voting process in any way and/or break any law that may exist in those countries.
I understand that the U.S. may find OSCE observers totally unnecessary. But the US has agreed to mutual treaties and no Texas attorney may circumvent or break those treaties.
He has absolutely no power to arrest or prosecute those observers as they enjoy diplomatic immunity (they need to because you don't want to run into trouble in Belarus or some of the -stans.
The bravado of the Texas Attorney only serves to arouse suspicion, which is totally unnecessary. It is a lot easier to smile and hand out leaflets with the law and regulations in force in Texas and everything will be fine.
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus usually slam the reports of the OSCE... they know why.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
10/26/2012 14:13
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#23
It's a sovereignty issue EC. Nothing personal my friend, but folks around these parts just don't cotton to UN and Euro overseers. They don't even like our own US Federal agencies snooping around. Call us paranoid if you will, unless you count William Tecumseh Sherman's scorched-earth trek to the sea, we've not been overrun yet.
#24
But the US has agreed to mutual treaties and no Texas attorney may circumvent or break those treaties.
Actually they can. SCOTUS has repeated pointed out on the death penalty issue brought before it by foreign governments on behalf of their citizens, that while a treaty has been signed, it still requires Congress to implement the treaty by law. The treaty stipulates that foreigners arrested have immediate access to their representatives before things like interrogations. However, Congress has never gotten around with implementing law to enforce it. So the execution process goes forward.
#25
Besoeker, the US is not an isolated island. It's a country that signs treaties (and usually only those it finds beneficial). And if it does it needs to observe them. Even Texas has to respect international treaties the federal government signs.
Sometimes this may be annoying. But there is a good reason why the US is a OSCE member. (The OSCE btw does a lot more than observe election, it fights against corruption, money laundering, terror financing etc.)
Bullying OSCE member in Texas only encourages dictators in other places to feel free to do the same.
Why does diplomatic immunity exist? Not so much to protect foreign diplomats in the U.S. but U.S. (and other) diplomats in totalitarian states. This comes with a little price to pay.
Pacta sunt servanda. Even if this comes with a minor annoyance. And these observers really won't hurt your pride. Show them how elections are done in Texas. Easy enough.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
10/26/2012 14:39
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#26
Well, if they're not allowed to break the law, and they don't come within 100' of a polling place, they should be fine.
Personally, I'm to the point where we nail the doors shut at the UN and burn it down.
That may be so in the case you cited (which is quite problematic because it undermines international treaties).
But when it comes to diplomatic immunity Congress has certainly implemented those treaties.
So the Texas Attorney is way out of line with his threat of criminal sanctions.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
10/26/2012 14:44
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#28
@Silentbrick
OSCE observers get very thorough briefings before they set out. And not breaking any law of the host country is part of that briefing. That includes Texas laws.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
10/26/2012 14:47
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#29
UN types, OSCE, technically reporting to the Security Council a part of the UN, the UN who are the Chinese, Russians, Cubans, who do not respect Democracy, should go to jail.
The OSCE. Time to start shutting that bunch of hypocrits down.
#31
It is a lot easier to smile and hand out leaflets with the law and regulations in force in Texas and everything will be fine.
And when they go to jail? You see, what you and these people are doing is trying to implement the UN as a higher authority than the people of this nation. When they go before the court, our Constitution will be the deciding factor. The UN's so called treaty will be treated as illegal based on our Constitution. The OSCE is absolutely worthless in other nations, they will be absolutely worthless and a waste of UN resources here as well. We are the HOST country of the UN. For now. They better understand the people who do not like them live on the same block. Got it, Chump?
#33
EC, diplomatic immunity does not grant authority to ignore local laws. It grants the ability to avoid prosecution. I'm sure State will issue the appropriate apologies as it works for the release of anyone claiming diplomatic immunity sitting in a local jail, but the usual advise is to quick the country as quick as possible to avoid further discomfort.
#35
If Texas puts a cookie pusher from the OSCE in the jug for a few hours, lots of Americans will be smiling, EC. We may not have Golden Dawn, but plenty of Americans are fed up with hearing from our European betters.
#36
EC makes excellent points...but...the timing of this whole OSCE charade is reelee bad. After chafing for the past four years under institutional liberal fascism, most(?) of Americans have run out of cheeks to be slapped.
#37
It looks like you are not getting my point here.
If you sigh a treaty you keep the treaty even if it comes with some gentle nuisances.
These observers do nothing which hurts "sovereignty". They respect the law, they don't interfere, they don't even comment on the elections while being in your country.
If you can't handle that then leave the OSCE. But you won't because the benefits of a membership are well understood.
Janez Lenarčič is not a guy who "sputters". I happen to know him personally. He's a Slovenian diplomat who absolutely embraces non-partisanship when it comes to the fundamental duties of the OSCE which stipulate:
that the presence of observers, both foreign and domestic, can enhance the electoral process for States in which elections are taking place. They therefore invite observers from any other CSCE participating States and any appropriate private institutions and organizations who may wish to do so to observe the course of their national election proceedings, to the extent permitted by law.
Last year the Ambassador chaired a conference in Rome to raise awareness of hate-motivated crimes and incidents
targeting Christians.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
10/26/2012 16:18
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#38
T.E. it's definitely not part of the job of those observers to "slap cheeks".
Posted by: European Conservative ||
10/26/2012 16:23
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#39
I might want to add that the origin of the OSCE are the Helsinki Accords, which at the time were seen as a diplomatic victory of the Soviet Union but in fact provided the basis for the work of dissidents in Eastern Europe. This led to Solidarnosc and in the end to freedom of Eastern Europe.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
10/26/2012 16:28
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#40
EC, I'm sure your friend is an honorable man, but perhaps you can understand why we're suspicious of an organizations who says they're going to "observe" our elections to make sure conservatives don't commit voter fraud. Sounds like they've got an agenda - and we don't like that one bit.
It ain't conservatives who have been voting the dead in Chicago for decades....
Posted by: Barbara ||
10/26/2012 16:31
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#41
"to make sure conservatives don't commit voter fraud".
Who said that? Actually a comment like this made in public would be against the OSCE rules of non-partisanship and the person who said so would be withdrawn from the process.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
10/26/2012 16:37
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#42
Forgive me EC, but I smell a Holiday shopping trip to the US. Are there not questionable elections taking place in the Horn of Africa, Haiti, or elsewhere which might present more opportunity for fraud or wrongdoing? As you might imagine, the appetite here for treaties and foreign entanglements is indeed at a low point.
#43
Besoeker you seem to misunderstand the idea. A lot of those observers are dedicated advocates of democracy coming from countries which are only transitioning to democracy. They also come to learn about how things are done in countries which have had free elections for a much longer time.
Yes, some US leftist groups may want to use OSCE observers for their own purposes. But observers are instructed to remain strictly non-partisan.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
10/26/2012 16:54
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#44
If you sigh a treaty you keep the treaty even if it comes with some gentle nuisances.
These observers do nothing which hurts "sovereignty".
You didn't get the point way back up on the commentary. It's the UNITED STATES of America. The states are sovereign themselves less those power granted the national government. SCOTUS has dealt with this a number of times. The guys in Washington can sign all the treaties they want, but the treaties have no enforcement if they abridge the federal arrangements of the Constitution. Stuff that happens at polling places is largely sovereign to those states less those parts as articulated in the Voting Rights Act implementing the 15th Amendment. See Reid vs Covert.
#45
@No Procopius you didn't understand my point.
I'm not questioning the right of Texas to regulate who can enter or hang around their polling places. OSCE observers certainly do not insist in entering polling places where prohibited by law.
I'm questioning the threat of criminal prosecution which clearly violates diplomatic immunity. This is something Texas has to respect like any other country in the world. The attorney's letter amounts to intimidation, which is totally unnecessary.
The U.S. would certainly protest if another country tried to intimidate US observers of the OSCE.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
10/26/2012 17:10
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#46
However well intended and innocent EC, events like this have a way of getting twisted for us rather quickly. Any entity acting as an unappointed or unelected election staff supernumerary could spell disaster for a rather delicate upcoming event. The obvious extreme would be the New Black Panther activities of the last election, which have yet to be answered for and have left a bad taste all around.
#47
Besoeker, George W. Bush personally invited OSCE observers to watch the Presidential elections of 2004 and 2008. No incident was reported.
OSCE observers take great care not to be used/abused by any partisan group in the U.S.
Since you know German, my advice to the Texas attorney would be: "Der Ton macht die Musik"
Posted by: European Conservative ||
10/26/2012 17:25
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#48
Then we're coming to an understanding.
The Texas 'threat' is that someone who violates the law will undoubted be detained.
They will unlikely be prosecuted but released, probably quickly, to competent authorities or upon their own recognizance if they make declaration not to continue to act in defiance of the law.
However, the state can still go into the process motions of prosecution, appropriate filings, and recordings to establish the grounds to seek persona non grata status for what it might consider gross violations or attempts to violate its laws. Whether DoS acts on that or not is more theater and show and something for the big boys to play games with.
#49
Of course the real work around would have had the OSCE members certified by DoJ to be deputized federal poll watchers for enforcement of the VRA. Wonder why they decided not to do that? /rhet question
#50
Since the initial issue with Texas we've received a letter, both for Secretary Clinton and one for Texas authorities, from the OSCE assuring us and Texas authorities that the OSCE observers are committed to following all U.S. laws and regulations as they do in any country where they observe elections and they will do so as well in Texas, Nuland said. "To my knowledge [Texas] is the only state that came forward and said 'please reassure us that you're going to follow our state electoral law.' And they have now been reassured."
Actually the way I read the article is that the Texas authorities were clarifying that STATE law prohibits them from polling place. Neither the treaty or state department were clear that any observers also had to follow STATE law - not just federal.
#51
Procopius, but are those threats necessary when it's understood that OSCE observers are already strictly told by their organization to respect all local laws? Why not just hand them a leaflet which in a friendly way states what the local law is (it differs a lot from state to state).
The public threat was meant for public consumption: an unnecessary one which doesn't do Texas justice (it's actually a very friendly country to those who are friendly).
Posted by: European Conservative ||
10/26/2012 17:39
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#52
CrazyFool
The OSCE regulation clearly include local laws that may exist. The U.S. is a special place because it has 50 states which may have different rules and actually even counties could have their own.
A friendly briefing of the observers - who may be diplomats and even (former) ambassadors) - sounds much better to me than public threats.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
10/26/2012 17:43
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#53
Ok folks, you know how I mean it, don't take it the wrong way!
Good night!
Posted by: European Conservative ||
10/26/2012 18:08
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#54
Yeah, well, you get what you deserve when you think you can 1) simply walk imto another nation totally ignorant of the laws and 2) suggest they do your homework for you.
#55
EC, I'm sure you've been to Texas. If not, you should go. It's not really like any other state. They're different. That's why they have Don't Mess With Texas bumper stickers they drive all through the other 29 states. And they mean it.
#58
I have sort of a fundamental question: How does an election judge in Texas have an 'observer' removed, if not by arrest? Surely a diplomat can't go anywhere he or she wants with immunity from arrest. Would an officer tell the election judge "I'm sorry I can't remove this person who's breaking the law"? What's done when someone with diplomatic immunity trespasses and refuses to cease and desist?
#59
..as I posted above, the can be detained by authorities, escorted out and held for a bit of time while their 'papers' are authenticated. They just can't be prosecuted.
You think a person with diplomatic 'immunity' is just going to walk into Area 51? You better believe he'll be escorted not just off the facility but quickly listed as persona non grata.
#60
Part of the problem here is raise by simply googling 'OSCE voter suppression'.
Seems the same organizations that have dragged Texas and the Texas AG through the federal system on voter ID have appealed to the OSCE. Lower courts have continue to ignore the SCOTUS ruling in April on voter ID.
I'd say the Texas AG has, for reasonable reasons, has a lot of frustration when the usual suspects keep obstructing the process and seeking other venues to keep the ballot boxes open for stuffing. The OSCE has simply walked into that cow dung.
Has it occurred to anyone but me that most of the headlines on our front page could be replace with "Murderous Bastards Strike Again" and they'd still be dead-on accurate. Maybe more so.
[Tolo News] The district governor of Purchaman in western Farah province and one of his bodyguards were killed in a roadside kaboom blast on Tuesday evening, Afghan officials said.
Mohammad Salim Mubariz was killed when his vehicle struck a roadside kaboom while travelling last night in the Purchaman district, provincial police chief Mohammad Ghaus Malyar said.
Two other bodyguards were maimed in the blast and have been taken to a nearby hospital, he said.
No group including the Taliban grabbed credit for the blast.
Insurgents use improvised bombs to target local and NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis.... troops, although they are also responsible for a large number of civilian deaths.
The Farah blast happened a day after two coppers were killed and six more were maimed in two separate roadside kaboom blasts on opposite sides of Afghanistan.
A blast in eastern Khost province ... across the border from Miranshah, within commuting distance of Haqqani hangouts such as Datta Khel and probably within sight of Mordor. Khost is populated by six different tribes of Pashtuns, the largest probably being the Khostwal, from which it takes its name... 's Isamealkhil district killed two police and injured four others on Monday morning, local officials said.
While two copperswere maimed in a roadside mine blast in the Aderskan district of western Herat ...a venerable old Persian-speaking city in western Afghanistan, populated mostly by Tadjiks, which is why it's not as blood-soaked as areas controlled by Pashtuns... province.
Kenyan security forces must end the abuse of residents in crackdowns and reprisal raids in the hunt for suspected backers of Somalia's Al-Qaeda-linked Shebab cut-thoats, Human Rights Watch ... dedicated to bitching about human rights violations around the world... warned Thursday.
Since Nairobi invaded southern Somalia last October to attack Shebab bases, a string of attacks have rocked the volatile northeastern region, including grenade blasts targeting both the security forces and civilians.
In response, security forces have beaten and shot at civilians, as well as looting and destroying their property, the New York-based rights group said in a report.
"Kenyan coppers are apparently responding to attacks on their forces with abuses against entire villages," said Leslie Lefkow, deputy Africa director at HRW.
"Kenyan police need to investigate attacks on their forces carefully, and arrest and prosecute the people responsible instead of attacking everyone in sight."
According to the report, Kenyan security forces have repeatedly accused residents of either harboring Shebab gunnies or participating in attacks, and have carried out abusive operations against them.
HRW says that officers named by villagers who have made formal complaints should be investigated.
"Senior police officials should immediately follow up on the many complaints of police abuse," Lefkow said.
"The victims have shown courage in coming forward and lodging complaints. Now we need to see accountability for these crimes."
In May, the rights group also accused Kenyan security forces of abusing ethnic Somalis in the same region in similar reprisal attacks, accusing them of rape, arbitrary detention of civilians, looting and extortion.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/26/2012
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U.N.'s war on Israel puts American economy in crosshairs
The Washington Free Beacon has obtained a report soon to be released by the United Nations ...aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society... that calls for an international campaign of legal attacks and economic warfare on a group of American companies that do business in Israel, including Hewlett-Packard, Caterpillar Inc., and Motorola Solutions Inc.
The Human Rights Council (HRC), a body dominated by Islamic countries and known for its hostility to, and heavy focus on, the Jewish State, issued the report. The George W. Bush administration refused to participate in the HRC, but President Barack Obama Ready to Rule from Day One... joined it soon after taking office. Members of the HRC include infamous human rights ...which are usually entirely different from personal liberty... abusers such as Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in their national face... , Qatar, Jordan, Libya, China, and Cuba.
The Obama-approved body maintains a "Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Paleostinian territories [sic]." The current rapporteur is American college professor Richard Falk, a 9/11 "truther" who once posted an anti-Semitic cartoon on his personal blog.
The report attempts to instigate a campaign of boycott, divestment, sanctions, and legal action against a litany of international companies doing business in Israel. In addition to American companies, the U.N. targets include major European firms such as Veolia Environnement, Group 4 Security, the Dexia Group, the Volvo Group.
I vote we get a list of the to-be-boycotted companies and throw our business their way whenever possible.
Five people were killed late on Thursday after faceless myrmidonsshot up a restaurant in F. B. Area neighbourhood of Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It may be the largest city in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... , DawnNews reported.
According to initial reports, faceless myrmidons riding on cycle of violences shot up a local restaurant in F.B Area block 22, injuring five people. All of them later gave up the ghost during medical treatment at a nearby hospital.
Three of the dead-- Qari Rafique, Khuda-e-Noor, his brother Jibrael-- are reported as activists of a religious party. Restaurant owner Amir and a passerby Sajid also became victims of the act.
The incident spread fear among the local residents while shops and small businesses were reported to be shut.
Police and law enforcement agencies have cordoned off the area and initiated an investigation into the incident.
Meanwhile, ...back at the pond, the radioactive tadpoles grown into frogs. Really big frogs, in fact... three others bit the dust and several were maimed in different areas of the metropolis earlier on Thursday, whereas Rangers and police have been conducting various raids arresting eights suspects.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/26/2012
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[Tolo News] 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... 's front man on Wednesday said the Durand Line dividing Afghanistan and Pakistain is a matter for the Afghan people to decide, dismissing statements by American officials on what the demarcation means under US policy.
Aimal Faizi said the comments of foreigners on the Durand Line will not have any effect on the verdict of the Afghan people, to whom the decision belongs.
"Whatever their position is, it will not affect the Afghan people and government. The Durand Line is a historic matter and it is up to the people of Afghanistan to decide about this," Faizi said at a presser in Kabul.
The Pashtuns and the various Taliban and smuggling gangs will ignore the border as if it didn't exist, Pakistan will not send the regular army over to conquer, and the Afghan army is a generation or more from being able to wage war, so formalizing the border really doesn't matter at the moment.
The Durand Line Agreement was drawn up by the British in 1893 to divide the Pashtun region between what was then British India and the Kingdom of Afghanistan.
Pakistain inherited the agreement after its partition from the British Raj in 1947 but there has never been an official ratification of the line between Islamabad and Kabul.
Faizi's statement comes US special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistain Marc Grossman triggered a renewed debate on the demarcation with his comments in an interview on a private television network in Kabul on Sunday.
"Our policy is that border is the international border," Grossman said on October 21. "I think it is time to lift everybody's vision here to a regional conception of what the region could be."
US State Department spokesperson Victora Nuland reiterated Grossman's statement on Tuesday in the US after she was asked by a news hound about the matter.
"Well, our policy on this has not changed. It was correctly stated by Ambassador Grossman that we see this as the internationally recognised boundary," she said.
The Afghan government has already responded to Grossman's comment with a statement on Tuesday from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs saying it "rejects and considers irrelevant any statement by anyone about the legal status of this line.
[Ynet] La Belle France's Union of Jewish Students, which last week forced Twitter to remove anti-Semitic posts under threat of legal action, says 50 new messages sighted over weekend using new keyword #unjuifmort (#adeadjew).
A Twitter front man refused to comment directly on the anti-Semitic tweets and reiterated the company's standard response that it "does not mediate content."
He added, "If we are alerted to content that may be in violation of our terms of service, we will investigate each report and respond according to the policies and procedures outlined in our support pages."
These state that Twitter cannot delete tweets but allow for accounts generating content in breach of its rules or considered illegal to be suspended.
The site will not hand over details of account holders unless obliged to do so by a judge.
Last week, Twitter suspended the account of a neo-Nazi group in Germany, responding to a request of that nature from a national government for the first time.
French Justice Minister Christiane Taubira has warned Twitter that it has a duty to uphold the country's laws on racism and anti-Semitism.
The row over the tweets has blown up against a background of increasing attacks on Jews and Jewish institutions in La Belle France.
A community watchdog said two weeks ago that anti-Semitic acts had surged by 45% since the start of the year and were given fresh impetus by attacks by Islamic bad boy Mohamed Merah.
(Sh.M.Network)--At least one Somali government soldier was killed and another maimed in a heavy gunfire in southern port city of Marko located just some 100 Km (62 miles) south of Mogadishu, reports said.
Witnesses said the fighting was flared up on Wednesday afternoon at an army checkpoint in the city and raged on for several hours. The cause of the combat is yet unknown.
Somali military officials in the city are yet to comment on the skirmish.
The latest reports from the town on Thursday indicated that the situation is calm and things have returned into normal as the local elders intervened in the rival sides.
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A senior Taliban capo and 24 of his fighters were killed in a battle with Afghan cops in a northern village which also left five police dead, officials said Thursday.
The commander of the attack was the Taliban shadow governor for the northern province of Faryab where the shootout took place on Wednesday, according to the officials.
"The brutal enemies of Afghanistan attacked a village bazaar. They killed five local police," Abdul Satar Barez, the Faryab deputy governor, told AFP.
"When we received reports about the incident we sent reinforcements. Twenty-five Taliban including Mullah Yaar Mohammad, their shadow governor for Faryab, were killed," Barez said.
The Taliban are traditionally active in southern and eastern parts of Afghanistan. But in recent years the Islamic forces of Evil have infiltrated previously peaceful parts such as the northern provinces.
Barez said the death of the Taliban shadow governor had dealt the cut-throats in his region a major blow.
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[Jerusalem Post] An increasing majority of people in La Belle France believe Islam plays too influential a role in their society and almost half see Mohammedans as a threat to their national identity, according to a poll published on Thursday.
That's nice. Are they going to do anything about it, beyond selling their unused churches to the Muslims for mosques, as is happening all over Europe and Britain?
The survey by pollster Ifop in Le Figaro newspaper showed that 60 percent of people believed that Islam was "too important" in La Belle France in terms of its influence and visibility, up from 55 percent two years ago.
It found that 43 percent of respondents considered the presence of the Mohammedan community as a threat to their national identity, compared with just 17 percent who said it enriched society. Forty percent of those questioned were indifferent to the presence of Islam, Le Figaro said.
"Our poll shows a further hardening in French people's opinions," Jerome Fourquet, head of Ifop's opinion department, told the newspaper.
The struggle of secular La Belle France, whose people are mainly Catholic, to assimilate the largest Islamic population in Europe was thrust into the spotlight in March when Mohammedan Mohamed Merah, went on a shooting spree in southwest La Belle France that killed three Jewish children, a rabbi and three soldiers.
#1
I sense an oxymoron in here "French think", then how prey tell do the French think that after having Algeria as a department of France until 1962 and Algerians having French nationality by virtue of having been a part of Greater France, that there would not be a rise in Islamic influence ?
Posted by: Au Auric ||
10/26/2012 1:13
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[Ynet] Foreign intelligence sources said Israel carried out an unmanned drone raid on a convoy south of Khartoum last month that destroyed 200 tons of munitions, including rockets, intended for Gazoo.
A sign of widespread and unexpected prosperity...at least among the legislative ranks. Or possibly a strong distrust that such prosperity and opportunities will be available in the future. After all, look what happened when the Russians left.
[Tolo News] More than one hundred Afghan politicians have gone on pilgrimage (Hajj) to Mecca, unexpectedly stalling government work including the much-debated draft election law.
Just because they left on a Hajj doesn't mean they have to be let back in...
In an apparently unplanned move, both the House of Representatives and the Senate have not convened since last week because of the lack of politicians present.
Executive director of the Free and Fair Election Foundation of Afghanistan (FEFA) Jandad Spinghar told TOLOnews that the absence of the parliament members has slowed down necessary legislation.
"The legislation process has been delayed," he said Tuesday, adding that the rules of the Houses should not have allowed this to happen.
"There is a need to supervise the government activity and summon some officials over this. Regretfully now the lack of presence is the main problem. The rules of procedure of the House need to be corrected -- it should be fixed to put pressure on parliament members to be present."
Senator Daoud Ehsas said that about 20 senators went to Mecca including the Head of the Senate and the upper house's Second Deputy.
Afghanistan's Ministry of Hajj and Islamic Affairs claimed that according to the Afghan Embassy in Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in their national face... , at least 100 parliamentarians have gone to Hajj.
"We got some information from the Afghan Embassy in Saudi Arabia that about hundred representatives from the Parliament and Senate went to Hajj with personal visas," acting Minister Daeeul Haq Abid said.
Lawmakers who remained in Kabul have criticised their colleagues for failing to fulfill their professional responsibilities, saying they should not receive their salary.
"There is no need to go Hajj in essential situations," Balkh MP Mohammad Abdo said. "Those who are not fulfilling their responsibilities correctly, their salary is haraam [sinful]."
The parliamentary commission for the safety of MPs responded to claims that the parliament should be monitoring both official and unofficial trips of the politicians, saying that they are investigating.
"It is not clear so far -- we are researching the issue and then will share with the media," commission member Farkhonda Zahra Nadri told TOLOnews.
However, denial ain't just a river in Egypt... she conceded that the situation of the suspended parliament was not acceptable.
"This is really worrying. Hopefully it will not become a custom," she said.
Some politicians claim that their colleagues have been funded by the Ministry of Hajj and that they have gone to Mecca for the fourth or fifth time.
In Islam, the religious pilgrimage to Mecca is only obligatory once in a lifetime by those who can afford to do so.
Religious scholars Sayed Mohammad Hassan Sharif Balkhabi said that the religious oblation or sacrifice represented by making the pilgrimage is not greater than the oblation of fulfilling ones responsibilities.
"These representatives, instead of going to Hajj, should do their responsibility; it has more oblation," he told TOLOnews.
Some politicians suggested that their colleagues went more for recreation or tourism more than for making a holy pilgrimage.
The lower and upper houses are not likely to reconvene until next week after the Eid al-Adha holidays end on Sunday.
[Tolo News] A US drone fired two missiles at a suspected thug compound in northwest Pakistain on Wednesday, killing three people, security officials said.
Locals said three cows, apparently meant for sacrifice on the Moslem festival of Eidul Adha being celebrated in the tribal region on Friday, were also killed in the attack.
One missile hit a house in the Tappi area about 20 kilometres (12 miles) east of Miranshah ... headquarters of al-Qaeda in Pakistain and likely location of Ayman al-Zawahiri. The Haqqani network has established a ministate in centered on the town with courts, tax offices and lots of madrassas... , the main town in North Wazoo tribal district which is a stronghold of Taliban and al Qaeda-linked thugs.
The other hit a vehicle parked outside, they said.
One security official in the northwestern city of Beautiful Downtown Peshawar ...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire. said the target was a thug compound and those killed were Death Eaters.
"It was a thug compound being used to store arms and ammunition," he said, requesting anonymity.
"Three Islamic fascistiwere killed. The casualties were not high because there not many Islamic fascistiinside."
According to CNN, a woman was also among the killed, while three children were maimed in the drone attack.
A government official said that Islamic fascistilived in the compound but so did civilians.
Wednesday's strike was the third by unmanned US aircraft in the Miranshah area this month. On October 11, 18 Death Eaters, most reportedly Afghans, were killed in a drone strike in the nearby tribal region of Orakzai in the deadliest attack in more than a year.
The covert US attacks are unpopular in Pakistain, where the government slams them as a violation of illusory sovereignty, but American officials believe they are a vital weapon against thugs.
Earlier this month, cricket legend turned politician Imran Khan ... aka Taliban Khan, who is the lightweight's lightweight... led thousands of supporters in a motorcade from the capital Islamabad to the edge of the tribal belt to protest against the US strikes.
#1
Locals said three cows, apparently meant for sacrifice on the Moslem festival of Eidul Adha being celebrated in the tribal region on Friday, were also killed in the attack.
Well, that should speed up the festivities.
No need to thank us...
[Ynet] The Pakistain Cricket Board has decided to buy bulletproof buses for visiting foreign teams. The move was announced on Wednesday in a statement. "Mahmoud! Bring me my elephant gun!"
Bulletproof buses will help "the PCB to achieve higher security measures for the teams visiting Pakistain in future," the statement added. Test teams have stayed away from Pakistain since 2009 when the Sri Lanka team convoy was attacked, killing six police and a van driver and injuring players and officials.
[Times of Israel] The Iranian army is planning a "unique" military exercise along the country's border with Iraq, an semiofficial Iranian news agency said.
The ISNA agency on Thursday quoted a senior army commander, Gen. Saeed Arabloo, as saying the three-day drill in Iran's Kermanshah province would begin on Monday and include air and ground forces. He said the aim of the exercise was to upgrade the defensive capabilities of the Iranian forces. He did not elaborate.
Military officials in September announced that Iran would stage a massive air defense drill, incorporating aerial and ground forces, which would coincide with the US-Israel military drill known as Austere Challenge 12.
Iranian air defense commander Brigadier General Farzad Esmaili said the maneuver would include all of the Iranian army's air defense systems, as well as Iranian air force fighter jets, and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, Iranian state news agency Press TV reported.
It was not clear whether the drill being staged in Kermanshah province was the same drill mentioned by Esmaili.
Iran held a large urban combat drill last week involving 15,000 paramilitary soldiers belonging to the Revolutionary Guards-subordinate Basij militia.
The latest drill comes amid mounting international criticism over Iran's nuclear program, which the West knows fears is aimed at developing nuclear weapons -- a charge Tehran denies.
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.
We come to that judgment with eyes open to the disappointments of Mr. Obama's time in office. He did not end, as he promised he would, "our chronic avoidance of tough decisions" on fiscal matters. But Mr. Obama is committed to the only approach that can succeed: a balance of entitlement reform and revenue increases. 
Joe 
BENGHAZI: Libyan protesters ousted a jihadist militia from its headquarters and seized a raft of other paramilitary bases in second city Benghazi early yesterday in heavy 
Samir Geagea
Druze politician, head of the Progressive Socialist Party, who's been on every side in Leb at least four times. He'll sell you his friends for a dollar, but family comes higher because of shipping and handling...
The state news agency Saba quoted a statement by President Abdrabu Mansour Hadi during a meeting with the French ambassador to Sanaa, Frank Julie, as saying on Wednesday the Yemeni government will be ready to deal with oil firms transparently through the internet.
[Tolo News] An Afghan police officer on Thursday turned his weapon against Isaf forces in southern Uruzgan province, killing two US soldiers, officials said.
Yemen's security forces arrested on Thursday two Al-Qaeda suspects in the port city of Aden. 
Army Intelligence succeeded in arresting suspects on charges of belonging to the al-Qaeda terrorist organization, reported al-Joumhouria newspaper on Thursday.
The members of a U.N. probe into rights abuses in Syria on Thursday said "crimes against humanity" and "war crimes" were happening in the country, and said they were trying to set up a visit to 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
Syrian rebel forces took over a strategically important Kurdish neighborhood in 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
by lotp
[Tolo News] Ten Afghan soldiers and 
Druze politician, head of the Progressive Socialist Party, who's been on every side in Leb at least four times. He'll sell you his friends for a dollar, but family comes higher because of shipping and handling...
Syria's army and main rebel force said they will cease fire on Friday, in line with an internationally backed truce during a 
the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon
...Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh and so far the worst Secretary-General of the UN. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize for something or other that probably sounded good at the time. In December 2004, reports surfaced that Kofi's son Kojo received payments from the Swiss company Cotecna, which had won a lucrative contract under the UN Oil-for-Food Program. Kofi Annan called for an investigation to look into the allegations, which stirred up the expected cesspool but couldn't seem to come up with enough evidence to indict Kofi himself, or even Kojo...
At least six 
Nawaz Sharif
Five people were killed late on Thursday after 
[Jerusalem Post] An increasing majority of people in 
Wazoo
