(AKI) - Al-Qaeda's late commander in Afghanistan, Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, warns 'Crusader' countries against offending Islam in a posthumous video released by the terror network's media arm. He's dead and we're not, so who won that argument?
In the undated video posted by Al-Sahab to extremist websites, al-Yazid refers to the deadly suicide attack in June against the Danish embassy in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad. "What happened at the embassy is only the beginning," al-Yazid says.
The attack killed six people, all Pakistani, purportedly in revenge for cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed first published in 2005 by Danish daily, Jyllands-Posten, and republished by scores of newspapers worldwide. "We warned you in the past and now we are warning you again, especially Crusader countries," he continues. "If you offend the Prophet and the Koran in your media, and continue to occupy our countries and plunder our natural resources, we will take revenge, in the right time and place."
Before he died in clashes with Pakistani troops near the Afghan border last month, Al-Yadiz said Al-Qaeda had carried out the attack against the Danish embassy in Islamabad. He claimed the attack in a rare interview with Pakistan's Geo TV network in July.
Al-Yazid announced that the video would be released before he was killed in early August in the Bajaur tribal area in Pakistan's northwest. In the interview with Geo TV, Yazid says Al-Qaeda is expanding its areas of operation beyond southern Afghanistan to the northern provinces and would be "able to wrestle Afghanistan free of foreign occupation very soon."
Posted by: Fred ||
09/06/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
"You'll be sorry when I'm gone! Just you wait and...what? Oh, carp."
#2
Ever notice that every time these al-qaeda types kill innocents, it's another "beginning". Don't they know that after square one there is a square two?
#3
The attack killed six people, all Pakistani, purportedly in revenge for cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed first published in 2005 by Danish daily, Jyllands-Posten
#6
Please don't talk about me when I'm gone,
Though our friendship ceases from now on.
If you can't say anything that's nice,
Then best don't talk at all that's my advice,
Bridge:
You go your way, I'll go mine,
It's best that we do,
Here's a kiss -- I hope that this
Brings lots of luck to you.
C E7 D7
Makes no difference how I carry on,
D9 D7 G G+ C
Please don't talk about me when I'm gone.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
09/06/2008 21:24 Comments ||
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Sudan's foreign minister has said his country's government is facing a "crisis" of disagreement over cooperation with the International Criminal Court (ICC) whose prosecutor wants to arrest the country's president.
"There is a crisis in the government, there is a very serious debate," Deng Alor told journalists after meeting his Dutch counterpart Maxime Verhagen in The Hague. "We hope we will reach a consensus before any further move is made by the ICC," the minister said.
He's just making this up, isn't he? He's talking with a gullible Western reporter, right? There's no way Omar goes to court without a lot of blood on the floor ...
The majority National Congress Party of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir was against co-operation with the ICC while his own Sudan People's Liberation Movement was in favor, added Alor.
"The discussion is still on ... there is not much time left" before the judges of the ICC decide whether or not to issue an arrest warrant for the president. This was expected to happen by mid-October, the minister said, adding that an indictment of Bashir could "affect" peace agreements in the country and cause further instability.
Alor said peace efforts in Sudan's war-ravaged Darfur region and a peace agreement that ended more than two decades of conflict in the country's south -- Africa's longest civil war -- could unravel if the court orders al-Bashir's arrest.
"Drop the prosecution or the refugees get it."
ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo asked the court in July for an arrest warrant for Bashir on charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in the country's western Darfur region. The ICC, charged by the UN Security Council in March to probe the Darfur conflict, has already issued warrants for the arrest of Sudan's humanitarian affairs minister Ahmed Haroun and militia chief Ali Kosheib.
Bashir has consistently refused to hand them over to the court.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/06/2008 00:00 ||
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The Security Council on Thursday hailed a recent UN-brokered intra-Somali peace deal and restated its readiness to consider deploying UN peacekeepers in the lawless Horn of African country. The council unanimously adopted a nonbinding statement that reaffirmed its willingness to deploy "at an appropriate time" a peacekeeping operation.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/06/2008 00:00 ||
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Amnesty International on Friday appealed to Somali authorities to help free scores of hostages seized by pirates off the dangerous coast of the Horn of Africa nation. Why aren't civilized countries hunting down and killing pirates? The only people who'd complain are the pirates, and who the hell cares what they say?
The London-based human rights group said hijackers were detaining more than 130 crew members of ships captured in Somalia's pirate-infested waters. Since the end of July, 10 vessels have been hijacked in the Gulf of Aden north of the lawless country, where a French sailing boat with two French nationals and an Egyptian cargo ship with 25 crew members were seized this week.
The watchdog urged Somali authorities to "take action to ensure the safe release of more than 130 individuals currently detained by Somali pirates in Puntland, Somalia."
It also called on them to "use their influence to ensure that detainees are given immediate and regular access to all necessary medical care and to adequate supplies of water and food," according to a statement.
Somalia is the world's piracy hotspot. The latest incidents bring the number of attacks on ships off its coast to 41 this year, most of which occurred in the Gulf of Aden, according to the International Maritime Bureau.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/06/2008 00:00 ||
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US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will meet Algeria's President Abdel-Aziz Bouteflika Saturday to discuss the fight against terrorism, after a spate of deadly attacks in the country. Rice is traveling to Algiers as part of a four-day tour of North Africa, which kicked off in Libya on Friday.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/06/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Trying to get Libya and Tunisia on the same tilt as Morrocco.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived in Libya on Friday for a landmark meeting with its leader Moamer Kadhafi as she hailed the West's reconciliation with the long-ostracized nation.
Rice landed in Tripoli on the first leg of a tour of north African states, becoming the first US secretary of state to visit in more than half a century.
"Quite frankly I never thought I would be visiting Libya so it is quite something," Rice told reporters travelling with her. "It is a beginning, it is an opening, it is not, I think, the end of the story."
Posted by: Fred ||
09/06/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
SHe is trying to bring Libay to link to the west and allow operatiosn against islamic radicals. Khadaffi has realized this is in his best interests, not to mention he has realized the US is far better as a friend than an enemy. The aid and such are in place to tie them to the west, mcuh like Morocco, who allows (and sometimes joint ops or assists) western special ops to operate against Islamist radicals.
If this gets Libya off the WMD completely, orients them toward the west, ties their future into Italy France & Spain with US trade (and Libyan oil), and allows some ops, then this is a huge win.
#3
Moamer Kadhafi is a bit of a wacko, but seems to be able to actually understand the concept of cause>effect that is so lacking in the Arab world. I think Mr. Kadhafi has grasped the idea he can live long and die peacefully in his bed many many years from now.
#4
Not a change of heart, but discretion is the better part of valor. Kadaffy's potential allies are far away and Uncle Sam's enforcers are very mobile and quite pissed off these past 6 years.
Posted by: ed ||
09/06/2008 10:33 Comments ||
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#5
I remain skeptical.
You don't get to dance if you don't ask the the girl.
Egypt has too much potential to fall a part when Hosni does. We need to make as many "friends" in that neighborhood as we can.
"I kill for God. I listen to God," a man accused of a Washington shooting rampage earlier this week that left six people dead and four injured said at his court hearing Friday. Isaac Zamora made the chilling comment twice at the brief hearing in Skagit County District Court while investigators wrapped up their work at eight crime scenes. The 28-year-old is being held on $5 million bail in the wake of Tuesday's rampage. Murdering on Tuesday, in court yesterday. Justice doesn't always move slowly.
The attacks began near Zamora's mother's home near the tiny town of Alger, 70 miles north of Seattle, and continued on Interstate 5. After a high-speed police pursuit, Zamora surrendered at a sheriff's office in Mount Vernon, about 20 miles south of Alger. Among the dead was Skagit County Deputy Sheriff Anne Jackson, who had responded to a call to check on Zamora. Also killed were a man shot at the same location as Jackson; two male construction workers shot nearby; a 48-year-old woman found a few houses away; and a 64-year-old motorist killed along the highway near a rest stop, authorities said. Two people were wounded one by stabbing and two were wounded on the freeway, including a state trooper. God grant peace to them and their families, and quick healing to those wounded.
Zamora, who has a long record of run-ins with the law, had been admitted several times to hospitals for mental health treatment and attempted suicide several times, his friends and family said. In the past five years, Zamora has been in and out of courtrooms, accused of malicious mischief, drug possession and theft, and was last released from jail about a month ago after serving six months for cocaine possession.
He faces six charges of first-degree murder and four charges of first-degree assault. The judge read each charge and the penalties, which carry a maximum sentence of life in prison. However, Rich Weyrich, the Skagit County prosecutor, said Zamora could still face the death penalty at a later point. Either life or death would be fine with me. Feel free to bury him in Potter's Field, after.
#1
Since last Tuesday, I have, at some point, watched every cable news channel as well as the local news. This is the first I have heard of this shooting rampage.
#3
Don't forget to throw in the credentials of the mental health professionals who determined he was no longer a threat to the community. Don't have to fire them, just announce their record when they're called as 'expert' witnesses.
#5
This Isaac Zamora, was he a muslim? Shouldn't SJS be reserved for the forehead bumping persuasion?
Posted by: ed ||
09/06/2008 12:20 Comments ||
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#6
Do we know he's Islamic? Just wondering. If he is that might explain the silence on part of the national MSM (it _was_ covered by the local media).
Alger is (or was several years ago) a small town north of Mount Vernon. More of a junction than anything else. The biggest thing I remember about it is the Alger Tavern - a rural Tavern.
Think of it as 'flyover country' between Seattle and Vancouver.
#9
Issac with SJS? I don't know. Ishmail, sure. But Isaac seems like the other wife. I suspect LTWS, long term wacko syndrome; something involving cats and microwaves.
#10
When I first read about Zamora, I chalked him up as another thug. Nothing was said about him being a Muslim. Mmmmm.
Zamora, who has a long record of run-ins with the law, had been admitted several times to hospitals for mental health treatment and attempted suicide several times, his friends and family said. In the past five years, Zamora has been in and out of courtrooms, accused of malicious mischief, drug possession and theft, and was last released from jail about a month ago after serving six months for cocaine possession.
With all these things going against him, e.g. drug possession, being in and out of mental health facilities, theft, etc., he would not have been able to obtain firearms legally. These gun control laws don't seem to do much but control the behavior of law-abiding citizens.
#14
How about the "Sudden Closed-Pit Barbecue Syndrome" - Pit, Coals, Jihadi, Blanket, Rope, Dirt, Beer. Some physical coercion required, but can be done just about anywhere.
#17
"I kill for God?
Last I heard God was perfectly capable of killing anyone, anywhere on his own, without any "Help" needed.
Hang him, "For God", seems that's what he wants.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
09/06/2008 21:09 Comments ||
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ASIF Ali Zardari has secured a large win in Pakistan's presidential elections today, capping a remarkable rise from jail, exile and his wife Benazir Bhutto's assassination just nine months ago.
Rode in on his dead wife's petti-coattails ...
The controversial front-runner swept a poll among lawyers to become the 14th president in Pakistan's short but turbulent history, taking power in the world's only nuclear-armed Islamic state and frontline "war on terror'' ally.
"It is an historic win. It is a victory for democracy,'' said Sherry Rehman, the country's information minister and a close aide of Bhutto. "This man suffered jail for more than 11 years for the sake of democracy and today he is elected as the president of the country and it is a sign of the strengthening of democracy.''
It's a sign of the Bhuttos making sure the PPP will be there for sonny-boy. Zardari merely serves as regent ...
Zardari secured 281 out of 426 parliamentary votes and won a thumping majority in three of the four provincial assemblies forming the presidential electoral college, officials said.
The 53 year old defeated retired chief justice Saeed-uz-Zaman Siddiqui, who was backed by former premier Nawaz Sharif, and Mushahid Hussain, a close aide of former president Pervez Musharraf. He had been the clear favourite in a three-way race to take power after Musharraf's nearly nine-year rule marked by Islamic militancy and economic turmoil.
Security was tight as secret voting began shortly after 10am (1400 AEST) and ended at 3pm in the two chambers of parliament and four provincial assemblies.
Rampant militancy was underscored in the northwestern city of Peshawar, where voting was taking place, as a suicide car-bomber rammed a police checkpost, killing 16 people and wounding more than 80.
A loya jirga involving different sects will be held in Peshawar for the restoration of peace in Kurram Agency, Adviser on Interior Rehman Malik said on Friday. Malik was addressing a press conference at the Akora Khattak residence of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Sami (JUI-S) chief Samiul Haq. The adviser said the military operation in Bajaur would continue until militants had been eliminated and peace restored in the area. He appealed to those displaced by the fighting to return to their homes. He said the US should now realise the Pakistani population strongly condemn violations of Pakistani territory.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/06/2008 00:00 ||
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A grand tribal jirga of the Salarzai tribes in Bajaur Agency on Friday announced tougher sanctions against supporters of the Taliban.
The new sanctions include the torching of houses and a fine of Rs 1 million for Salarzai tribesmen providing refuge to the militants, tribal elders told Daily Times.
Elders of all the Salarzai tribes participated in the jirga, which also decided that the Taliban would not be allowed to disrupt peace in the Salarzai tehsil.
Addressing the jirga, Malak Manasab Khan, Malak Bakhtawar Khan, Malak Abdul Nasir and Malak Muhammad Younas said, "Pakistan is our country and we don't want militancy here. Those involved in creating law and order problems in the tehsil have no right to live here."
They said if the Taliban took any action against them, they would react strongly. "Complete peace has been restored in the Salarzai tehsil and there is no militant in the area," the elders told the jirga. The tribal elders also convened a grand jirga of the Salarzai tribes on September 10.
Meanwhile, security forces, backed by helicopter gunships and artillery, destroyed suspected militant hideouts in Khar and Torghundi areas.
The locals have started fleeing to safer areas. The locals face problems due to an un-announced curfew in the agency. Most of the business centres and government departments remained closed.
TTP: Spokesman of the defunct Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan Maulvi Umer said on telephone from an undisclosed location that the government was violating the ceasefire in Bajaur Agency, Swat and other Tribal Areas. He vowed that the Taliban were still standing by their promise. "There is complete ceasefire from the Taliban side," he added.
Umer said the Taliban reserved the right to retaliate where the security forces attacked them. He also warned of revenge for the damages done to the Taliban.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/06/2008 00:00 ||
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(AKI/DAWN) - While the Bush administration has refused to comment on a raid that killed 20 people in Pakistan this week, unnamed American officials confirmed US troops were behind the attack and signalled there may be more. "In regards to the reports about that incident, we have not commented, and I won't today," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino told reporters on Thursday. "I'm just not going to comment on the incident in any way."
Anonymous officials warned that the United States might conduct similar raids in future if it had "actionable intelligence" about the presence of Al-Qaeda or Taliban commanders in a certain area. The raid followed growing American frustration that Pakistan was not doing enough to combat militants operating in the shared border area.
US Secretary Condoleezza Rice made almost identical comments, saying: "I don't have anything for you on Pakistan except to say that, obviously, we are working very closely with the civilian government there, the newly democratically elected, civilian government."
Unnamed Pentagon officials told the media that US Special Forces had conducted the raid, focusing on a specific target in South Waziristan. The officials also emphasised Washington's desire to destroy militant safe havens in Pakistan's tribal areas. The officials said that the decision to send US ground troops inside Pakistan marked a return to tactics used by the American military soon after the Afghanistan invasion.
In Washington, Pakistan Embassy conveyed Islamabad's concern to "the highest levels of the State Department," embassy sources said. "Unilateral actions that enraged the Pakistani people will not help the US and NATO in the war against terror," Ambassador to the US, Husain Haqqani, told Pakistani daily, Dawn. "For the war effort to succeed, cooperative arrangements between Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nato need to be strengthened, instead of actions violating the sovereignty of an American ally and partner."
At the White House, spokeswoman Perino stressed the need to "increase coordination and cooperation" between Pakistan and the US-led forces.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/06/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
See WAFF.com > BARACK OBAMA CLAIMS PAKISTAN USING US AID TO PLOT WAR AGZ INDIA; + TOPIX > APOCALYPSE NOW: US EXPANDING AFGHAN GROUND WAR INTO PAKISTAN?
Pakistan reserves the right to appropriately retaliate against unilateral attacks by coalition forces from Afghanistan, Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC) General Tariq Majid said on Friday. You don't even want to be in Milpetas when that happens.
"Pakistan reserves the right to appropriately retaliate in future," General Tariq told German Defence Minister Franz Josef Jung who called on him at the Joint Staff Headquarters. Condemning the attack by US forces at Angoor Ada, the CJCSC said such cross-border strikes would alienate locals. Who up until now have been oozing good will...
General Tariq said that Afghanistan was levelling allegations against Pakistan to cover its failures.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/06/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Be still, my beating heart! Could we be so lucky?
A cholera epidemic has broken out among some of the estimated 300,000 people in northwestern Pakistan who have fled fighting between government forces and militants, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Friday.
The situation in Bajaur Agency remains 'very volatile' despite a government-declared ceasefire for Ramazan, a senior ICRC official said.
The humanitarian agency's top priority is providing clean water and sanitation to the tens of thousands who fled Bajaur for nearby Lower Dir district since the conflict intensified four weeks ago. "Cholera has started in certain areas...It is a major concern," Pascal Cuttat, head of ICRC's delegation in Pakistan, told a news briefing. "The most immediate need remains access to clean water and sanitation. No food, health care or shelter is going to be of any good if people get water-borne diseases," he said.
Cholera was already endemic in the area, he said. It begins with acute watery diarrhea that in severe cases can cause death by dehydration and kidney failure within hours.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/06/2008 00:00 ||
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BAGHDAD (AFP) - Seven minutes of "No to America" and then they left, ducking for shade. That was the extent of the protest by fewer than 200 Shiite radicals after Friday prayers in Baghdad's anti-US enclave of Sadr City.
The promising posters pasted on the walls of the sprawling shanty district in the east of the Iraqi capital called on supporters of Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr to "peacefully reject and condemn" the US occupation.
Perhaps chalk up the muted participation to Baghdad's intense midday heat and also the Muslim month of Ramadan, a demanding period of dawn-to-dusk fasting that saps the strength of even the fiercest Sadr faithful.
But after a speech by imam Said Abdul Satar al-Battat -- a mixture of Koranic prayer and incantations railing against the evils of America -- fewer than 200 people crowded around for the usual burning of the American flag. "No to America! No to the devil," they shouted. "We are with you, Moqtada, to liberate Iraq!"
As was the case after prayers on Friday last week, dozens of Sadr's followers also signed blood oaths to continue their fight against US forces in Iraq.
More than a week ago Sadr ordered a halt to armed operations by his 60,000-strong Mahdi Army militia, blamed by Washington for some of the worst sectarian killings of Sunni Arabs in the war-torn country. Sadr's decision came after he promised earlier last month to dismantle the once feared militia if a planned security pact between Baghdad and Washington provides for the withdrawal of US troops.
Sadr, believed to be hiding in Iran, has always insisted that US troops must leave immediately.
The protestors shouted: "Whoever has signed is not one of us."
Sadr's renewal of a year-long freeze on attacks on rival armed groups and US forces is no sign of weakness insist Sadr supporters.
"No, no, certainly not!"
"No, we're still resistance," stressed Imad Khlef, 32, a mechanic.
"But this is not an armed resistance. We are a cultural resistance," chimed in Nasif Jassim, 41, an engineer, echoing Sadr's demands that the Mahdi Army transform itself into a cultural and religious organisation.
Trader Ahmad al-Iraki, 28, said: "We are against this agreement, it is a red line for us. We're awaiting (further) orders from Moqtada," he said.
Posted by: Mike ||
09/06/2008 8:43 Comments ||
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#2
"But this is not an armed resistance. We are a cultural resistance,"
The little children doing folk dances in traditional costume is always wonderful, so long as the tiniest one is sat on the potty just before going on, but the amateur art shows are positively painful. And I refuse to sit through anymore poetry readings, period. Some sacrifices are too great to be demanded.
#3
It is sad to see how they are oppressed. Why, in the good ol' days under Saddam, they had the privilege of screaming "Death to America!" for hours. There were huge rallies, with thousands of people, complete with lots of security, too!
Now look at 'em. 200 people, 7 minutes, and I'm thinking there weren't a whole bunch of people with walkie-talkies ensuring a strong police presence. I'm telling you, it's sad.
Posted by: Swamp Blondie in the Cornfields ||
09/06/2008 9:44 Comments ||
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#4
200 demonstrators out of a population of 7 million? I bet 10 times would come out for a demonstration against ring around the collar.
Posted by: ed ||
09/06/2008 9:50 Comments ||
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#5
Puppets, where were the giant puppets? Since when are puppets against Islam? I could have sworn Paleo TV uses them regularly in their anti-Semitic public service spots/programs. Different Mullah, different fatwa I guess.
The US military said on Friday it plans to free 3,000 detainees held in Iraq during the month of Ramadan, taking the number of those released so far this year to more than 15,000. The military said that since January 1, it has released 12,000 detainees.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/06/2008 00:00 ||
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Iraq's government wants to buy 36 advanced F-16 fighters from the US, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday, citing US military officials. Such a purchase would help reduce Baghdad's reliance on US air power and possibly clear the way for the withdrawal of more US troops, the paper said.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/06/2008 00:00 ||
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The US commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, has said he will call for the pullout of US troops from Baghdad within 10 months because of declining violence in the Iraqi capital. Petraeus told reporters in Baghdad that he recommended the withdrawal of troops from Baghdad in a report to be submitted to Congress in two weeks, citing the increasing capabilities of Iraqi forces to conduct security operations without the help of US troops in most Iraqi areas.
Petraeus' comments came as the Iraqi government and the US seek to finalize a long-term security pact that will govern the presence of US forces in the country after a UN mandate expires at the end of the year.
Media reports said in August that the US and Iraq have agreed that US combat troops would leave entirely before the end of 2011. Asked whether it was feasible that US combat forces could leave Baghdad by July 2009, Petraeus said: "Conditions permitting."
Posted by: Fred ||
09/06/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Iraqi Insurgency
#3
Again, iff there is any ISLAMIST HIDDEN IMAM-MAHDI, He could'nt ask for better or more opportune conditions to make His Appearance and kick Infidel + Zionist Butt. IIRC MUSLIM MILITARY HISTORY > RADICAL ISLAM WILL EVENTUALLY DESIRE TO RETURN TO IRAQ, ETC. AGAIN TO REFIGHT AND SETTLE THE SCORE WID THE US-ALLIES [Battlefield Loss/
Defeats] AS PER MUSLIM/ISLAMIST "HONOR".
General David Petraeus told al Arabiya television he believed recent success in reducing violence had restored the United States' image with Iraqis. Troops initially greeted as liberators but later viewed as occupiers were now again accepted as friends.
In the interview recorded on Monday and scheduled for broadcast later on Friday, Petraeus was asked whether al Qaeda had been defeated in Iraq. "You will not find any military leader who will say this ... all we can say is al Qaeda is still dangerous," he said.
Petraeus' comments were translated into English from an Arabic transcript of the interview sent to Reuters. "It is certain more of these crimes will be committed, and we must continue working to confront these attacks," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/06/2008 00:00 ||
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(AKI) - Damascus-based Hamas leader Khaled Meshal has received a letter from the father of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit and has vowed he will give it to the soldier, Qatari newspaper al-Rai reported on Friday. I predict that's gonna do precisely squat.
Shalit's father Noam told Israeli daily The Jerusalem Post he had no comment regarding the delivery of the letter, but said he had high-level contacts with the French Government. The Jerusalem Post said it could not confirm the Qatari reports.
France's President Nicolas Sarkozy gave the letter to Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani earlier this week during his visit to Syria and asked the emir to give it to Meshal, according to an official source within Sarkozy's entourage quoted by Israeli daily Yediot Aharonot.
The Jerusalem Post quoted a French source who said that Syria's President Bashar al-Assad had assured Sarkozy he would press Meshal to keep up contact with Shalit's abductors over a prisoner swap.
Shalit was kidnapped by Hamas-linked militants on 25 June, 2006 in a cross-border raid from the Gaza Strip. He has dual French-Israeli citizenship.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/06/2008 00:00 ||
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(AKI) - Jordan has transferred to the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank some 1,000 Kalashnikov rifles and tens of thousand of bullets, Israeli media reported on Friday. Oh, yasss. How many times have we observed in these very pages that the Paleostinians are under-armed?
Defence Minister Ehud Barak authorised the transfer of arms following a formal request submitted by the PA, defence officials said. Barak's approval is considered to be a gesture to the Palestinian security forces for strengthening their operations against money-laundering in the Gaza Strip.
The PA said the weaponry would be used in the campaign Prime Minister Salaam Fayad is currently waging in the West Bank against militants from Islamist Palestinian group Hamas. Fayad's West Bank campaign is targeted at money launderers, many of whom are believed to help finance Hamas.
Israeli army officials have expressed fears that the weapons will eventually find their way into militant hands.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/06/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Jooooooooooooos probably figured this was a coals to Newcastle deal so why not score a few points with the Jordanian entity?
#2
And besides which, the PA and Hamas are fighting it out, so the Israelis have a "Heads, I win; Tails, you lose" situation there. No matter what, dead Paleos will be the result of the weapons transfer.
Ninety thousand Muslims attended the first Friday prayers of Ramadan at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City amid tight security, police said. The Israeli authorities deployed thousands of police but reported no incidents in the Holy City.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/06/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Clerics called for a motion to nominate The One by acclamation. The assembled approved it enthusiastically on Friday, in front of a crowd of 85,000 90,000.
Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah said during a televised speech from an undisclosed location that his group would not lay down its weapons even if the disputed Shebaa Farms in southern Lebanon was liberated from Israeli occupation. "Even if Shebaa Farms are liberated, the weapons of the resistance will remain because these weapons are for defense. We are threatened by Israel, so let us discuss how to defend our country." He said Nasrallah added : "The decision of war and peace is in the hands of Israel and America. Israel is the one which is threatening Lebanon with war"
Shebaa was captured from Syria during the 1967 Six-Day war with Israel. Israel says Shebaa is Syrian territory and its fate should be determined in future peace talks with Damascus. Lebanese and Syrian officials claim that Shebaa is a Lebanese territory. Lebanese officials said several residents have land deeds stamped by the Lebanese government.
Israel officially ended its 22-year occupation of southern Lebanon in May 2000. Nasrallah accused Israel of threatening Lebanon and said his group will destroy "the five (Israeli) brigades in the south, Western Bekaa and everywhere."
Posted by: Fred ||
09/06/2008 00:00 ||
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Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah has acknowledged for the first time that one of the Shiite group's militants was behind the downing of a Lebanese army helicopter last week. "The helicopter was flying over the hills and landed... Some of the brothers were surprised by the presence of a helicopter and one of them opened fire," Nasrallah said on Thursday.
Nasrallah said the downing was an accident that was understandable in the context of the high levels of alert maintained by the group's fighters in south Lebanon in the face of repeated Israeli attack over the years.
Last Friday, Hezbollah handed over the militant behind the shooting to Lebanese police, a judicial source said. Nasrallah said the militant was an "honorable resistor" who had acted "naturally and instinctively" in opening fire and had asked to be turned in. "Even in our training, mistakes happen," the Hezbollah leader said, adding that his group is "cooperating with the investigation to the very last phase."
Hezbollah has come under strong criticism within Lebanon over the shooting. The group's continuing arsenal is a major bone of contention between pro- and anti-Syrian groups within a already country divided on confessional edges.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/06/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
acted "naturally and instinctively" in opening fire
I recall my cousin Kelly working this angle in a deal involving an alleged deer, a rifle and a large portable focused photon generator.
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/06/2008 9:00 Comments ||
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#4
Don't leave out the bit about the Pixy Stix, the Crisco, and the fishing line
Jeeebus, were you in on that deal? I still wake up nights worrying about which Pixy Stick in "the one". It's usally orange, but once it was green and that's the one that killed deh duck.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
(AKI) - Al-Qaeda's late commander in Afghanistan, Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, warns 'Crusader' countries against offending Islam in a posthumous video released by the terror network's media arm.
Amnesty International on Friday appealed to Somali authorities to help free scores of hostages seized by pirates off the dangerous coast of the Horn of Africa nation. 
ASIF Ali Zardari has secured a large win in Pakistan's presidential elections today, capping a remarkable rise from jail, exile and his wife Benazir Bhutto's assassination just nine months ago.
A grand tribal jirga of the Salarzai tribes in Bajaur Agency on Friday announced tougher sanctions against supporters of the Taliban.
A cholera epidemic has broken out among some of the estimated 300,000 people in northwestern Pakistan who have fled fighting between government forces and militants, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Friday.
Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah said during a televised speech from an undisclosed location that his group would not lay down its weapons even if the disputed Shebaa Farms in southern Lebanon was liberated from Israeli occupation. "Even if Shebaa Farms are liberated, the weapons of the resistance will remain because these weapons are for defense. We are threatened by Israel, so let us discuss how to defend our country." He said Nasrallah added : "The decision of war and peace is in the hands of Israel and America. Israel is the one which is threatening Lebanon with war" 
Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah has acknowledged for the first time that one of the Shiite group's militants was behind the downing of a Lebanese army helicopter last week. "The helicopter was flying over the hills and landed... Some of the brothers were surprised by the presence of a helicopter and one of them opened fire," Nasrallah said on Thursday.
