Posted by: Fred ||
01/23/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
Happy Birthday/Daily Gam Shot
Mariska Hargitay aka Detective Olivia Benson in "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (TV Series 1999 )" aka Myra Okubo in "Lake Placid (1999)" aka Ellie Harrison in "Plain Truth (TV 2004)" aka Marisa Benoit in "Bank Robber (1993)" aka Jill Banner in "Strawberry Road (1991)" aka Donna in "Ghoulies (1985)" aka Jayne Mansfield's little girl Mariska (age 49)
Mary Castle aka Jane Brown in "The Lawless Breed (1953)" aka Carol LaRue in "Crashing Las Vegas (1956)" aka Yvonne Durante in "White Fire (1953)" aka Frankie Adams in "Stories of the Century (TV Series 1954)" aka Linda Quigg in "Yaqui Drums (1956)" aka Rita Bagley (Billed after Gene Autry's horse Champion) in "Texans Never Cry (1951)" (Died in 1998 at age 67)
#5
Three and a half year old Mariska was in the car when her mother, Jayne Mansfield, was killed in a traffic accident in 1967. She and her brothers, Miklos and Zoltan, were asleep in the back seat at the time of the accident. The little boys had only minor injuries but Mariska has a zig-zag scar on one side of her head.
The US special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan confirmed a meeting with the Haqqani network, as signs of a dialogue between the United States and jihadis rebels continue to grow. Marc Grossman told a news conference in Kabul, "We had one meeting with the Haqqani network."
This comes after US and the Taliban militants confirmed preliminary talks for opening a liaison office for the Taliban in Doha, the capital of Qatar.
After a two day trip to Afghanistan, Grossman said, "I think, from the Afghan prospective anyway, this is an inclusive process but we will have to see what turns out. I am looking forward to the Taliban being clear about breaking ties with international terrorism, denouncing it, distancing themselves from it."
Grossman did not say when and where the meeting with the Haqqani network took place.
Referring to a Taliban demand to release prisoners held at Gitmo, Grossman said, "We haven't made any decisions and it's no surprise to any of you that this is an issue in the Unites States of law. We have to meet the requirements of our law. No decision has been made about this."
On Saturday, President Karzai said that he recently held a meeting with another insurgent faction, Hezb-i-Islami.
Afghan Deputy Foreign Minister, Jawid Lodeen, said, "If the United States decides to transfer these detainees to Qatar to the extent to that means these people will be reunited with their families. The Afghan government will support that."
[Pak Daily Times] Somali gun-hung tough guys firing vehicle-mounted anti-aircraft guns clashed with African Union forces for a second night in Mogadishu, killing at least nine people including women and kiddies, an ambulance official said on Sunday.
African Union (AU) troops launched a new offensive against al-Shabaab ... successor to the Islamic Courts... on Friday, seizing rebel positions just outside the capital for the first time. The turbans, however, have launched counter attacks. On Saturday night they struck a government military checkpoint known as 'Ex-control' in a northwest suburb of the coastal city. Soldiers with the AU's AMISOM force repelled the assault, an AMISOM front man said. Caught in the crossfire were Somalis seeking refuge in camps for displaced people, victims already of the anarchic country's two-decade civil war, or famine. "At least nine displaced people, mostly women and kiddies died in the camps near the former American embassy on Friday and Saturday night," Ali Musa, coordinator of the city's ambulance services, told Rooters.
Ex-control is a strategically important checkpoint. On the outskirts of Mogadishu, it is the final government-controlled roadblock on the road that bends south to Afgoye, a rebel stronghold about 30 km (17 miles) from the capital.
"These (two) nights al-Shabaab came close with anti-craft guns mounted on lorries, but we repulsed them," Ndayiragije Come, front man for the AU's Burundian contingent, said.
Camp resident Mohamed Sidow buried his mother on Sunday morning in a shallow grave, hours after a stray round killed her. "A bullet hit her in the head as she slept in front of our shelter last night," Sidow told Rooters. Panic engulfed the camp through the night, he said, as shells pounded the area and bullets fizzed through the air. Trapped, Sidow and others were unable to take the maimed to hospital.
"We could not carry my mother to hospital last night. Al-Shabaab's anti-aircraft fire forced us to stay put. My mother died from blood loss," he said.
Meanwhile, ...back at the bunker, his Excellency called a hurried meeting of his closest advisors. It was to be his last. They discussed the officers's efficiency rating system... scores of families decamped Elasha town and the surrounding area after al-Shabaab said a missile fired by a US drone had hit a car in the town, about 13 km from Mogadishu, killing one of its senior krazed killers. In a statement emailed late on Saturday, the Islamic fascistisaid the krazed killer was British passport holder Bilal el Berjawi, also known as Abu Hafsa. Of Lebanese descent, he grew up in west London and joined Somalia's gun-hung tough guys in early 2006. "Hafsa took on a distinguished role in the fight against the warlords that terrorised the city of Mogadishu at the time," the statement said. Asha Ibrahim, a mother of five, said she and her children were fleeing the town of Lafole, close to Elasha. "Mogadishu is no paradise, but we believe air strikes are more destructive than the shelling in Mogadishu," she told Rooters. "In Lafole, al-Shabaab is everyone's neighbour, so we are vulnerable to the bombs intended for al Qaeda."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/23/2012 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] President Goodluck Jonathan ... 14th President of Nigeria. He was Governor of Bayelsa State from 9 December 2005 to 28 May 2007, and was sworn in as Vice President on 29 May 2007. Jonathan is a member of the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP). He is a lover of nifty hats, which makes him easily recognizable unless someone else in the room is wearing a neat chapeau... visited Nigeria's second largest city of Kano on Sunday after at least 166 people were killed in one of the deadliest waves of attacks in the mainly Moslem north.
Jonathan, facing the biggest crisis of his rule, arrived in the city two days after the coordinated bombings and gunbattles rocked Kano in attacks claimed by the Islamist cut-thoat group Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. Currently wearing a false nose and moustache and answering to Jama'atu Ahlus-Sunnah Lidda'Awati Wal Jihad, or Big Louie... "A terrorist attack on one person is an attack on all of us," Jonathan said as he inspected sites targeted in the violence, and met the city's top Moslem traditional leader emir Ado Bayero, pledging to boost security.
The sectarian violence gripping Nigeria has raised fears of an all-out civil war in Africa's most populous nation and its biggest oil producer.
Jonathan's brief visit came after violence erupted in the north again on Sunday, with 10 people killed in pre-dawn attacks in the town of Tafawa Balewa, a flashpoint of sectarian violence in the neighboring state of Bauchi.
Bombs were also thrown early Sunday at two churches in the state capital Bauchi city, but no casualties were reported, police said.
Soldiers were manning checkpoints in Kano, but a round-the-clock curfew imposed after the violence following Friday prayers was relaxed to a night-time curfew Sunday, although streets remained largely deserted.
Jonathan imposed emergency rule in parts of Nigeria's north on December 31 after a wave of violence blamed on Boko Haram, including attacks on churches on Christmas Day, but Kano was not included in the areas covered.
Dozens of people were still thronging morgues and searching through stacks of dead bodies in Kano on Sunday looking for their loved ones, while hospitals have been struggling to cope with the dead and maimed.
Relief workers who have been picking up the bodies from the streets said that the overall corpse count was at least 166, but the authorities have not given a precise toll, saying only that the number of dead would be over 100.
"As of yesterday, the overall corpse count was 166," said one relief agency source, adding that more than 50 people were maimed.
However, those who apply themselves too closely to little things often become incapable of great things... a doctor at a major hospital said the toll could be much higher.
"If truth be told, the overall corpse count from the attacks is around 250," said the doctor, adding that relief workers were still collecting bodies.
"Although the bulk of the bodies were brought here, others were deposited at three other hospitals," said the doctor, who declined to be named.
A purported front man for Boko Haram grabbed credit for the violence, saying it was in response to a refusal by the authorities to release its members from custody.
Around 20 kabooms reverberated across the city on Friday in attacks that targeted a police headquarters and other cop shoppes, a secret police building and immigration offices.
Gunfire also erupted in several areas of the city, which had beat feet the worst of the violence blamed on the Islamist group in recent months. A local television journalist covering the unrest was among those rubbed out.
The attacks sent residents fleeing in fear or kept many indoors.
"How can I go out while such a huge number of the people have been killed? I have to respect the dead," said food trader Shehu Lawan.
In Sunday's unrest, 10 people, including a coppers and soldier were killed in Tafawa Balewa, in Bauchi state.
Bukata Zhyadi, a traditional ruler of the mainly Christian Sayawa ethnic group, told Agence La Belle France Presse that attackers hurled home-made hand grenades into houses while people were sleeping and shot at those trying to escape.
He blamed the violence on the Moslem Hausa-Fulani ethnic group.
Police however said the violence erupted after gunnies robbed a bank.
"In the exchange of fire that ensued, a policeman, a soldier and eight unidentified non-combatants were killed by stray bullets," police front man Mohammed Barau told AFP, adding that six suspects had been tossed in the calaboose.
Bombs were also thrown at a Catholic church and an evangelical church in Bauchi city, but caused minimal damage and no deaths or injuries, police said.
Residents also said a bomb-laden car was found abandoned outside a government-run fuel station in Kano but that the explosives were defused by police.
Most of the recent major attacks have occurred in the northeast of the country, with many taking place despite the state of emergency.
Friday's strikes would be among the group's most audacious and well-coordinated assaults by Boko Haram.
The group grabbed credit for the Christmas Day bombing of worshippers outside a Catholic church near the capital Abuja, which killed at least 44 people. It also claimed the August suicide kaboom of U.N. headquarters in Abuja that killed 25 people.
Attacks specifically targeting Christians have given rise to fears of a wider religious conflict in the country, which is roughly divided between a mainly Moslem north and predominantly Christian south.
But attacks blamed on Boko Haram have included a wide range of targets, including Moslems.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/23/2012 00:00 ||
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[Yemen Post] Three rustics were killed and several others were maimed on Saturday as Al-Qaeda cut-throats attacked the house of a well-known witch-doctor in Rada'a of Baidha governorate.
The cut-throats led by Tariq Al-Dhahab tried to arrest Hassan Alawbali that AlQaeda sees his exercises of witchcraft and sorcery as forbidden by Sharia, but he was not existed inside the home.
Local sources said that the cut-throats came to Alawbali's house on military vehicles that they had seized during their takeover of government facilities of Rada'a last week.
They further said that followers of Alawbali responded to the attack, killing two Al-Qaeda beturbanned goons.
Meanwhile, ...back at the wine tasting, Vince was about to start tasting his third quart... local sources allege that Adel Almasri, security official and son of the former interior minister, Mutahar Almasri, coordinates with Al-Qaeda to surrender other areas of Baidha.
They pointed out that Almasri had colluded with gangs in Abyan and help them capture a camp months ago.
Tribal leaders went to Almasri and asked him about news reports of his intention to plans to surrender others areas to the beturbanned goons, but he denied that, affirming that he only withdrew from Abyan camp after all his soldiers left him alone.
Al-Qaeda cut-throats are currently positioning inside an ancient citadel, a location of the Central Security and other government facilitates.
Sources said that deputy governor of Baidha, Mohammad Almansori, seeks to mediate between the cut-throats and other rustics to persuade them leave the town.
However, a poor excuse is better than no excuse at all... locals accuse him of complicity with the beturbanned goons, pointing out that he urges them to stay inside the town.
News reports stated that the US Ambassador to Yemen Gerald Feierstein informed the Yemeni Foreign Minister Abu Bakar Al-Qairbi last Wednesday that Yemen's security forces cooperated with Al-Qaeda to capture Rada'a.
Critics of Saleh allege that he uses Al-Qaeda to blackmail and intimidate the neighboring GCC states and other western countries, pointing out that security services that are still loyal to Saleh were responsible for insecurity in Rada'a.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/23/2012 00:00 ||
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[Yemen Post] Hundreds of officers and soldiers protested inside the International Sana'a Airport on Sunday, demanding to sack commander of the Air Forces, Mohammad Saleh Al-Ahmar, half-brother of the outgoing President President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh ... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it...
One officer told Yemen Post on condition of anonymity that five tanks and many military vehicles belonging to the Central Security and Special Guard Forces rushed to the airport with the aim of dispersing the protesting soldiers.
"However, a poor excuse is better than no excuse at all... Major General Ahmed Ali Al-Ashwal, Chief of General Staff, immediately headed to the airport and ordered the forces not to assault approximately 500 protesters." he added.
He further said that negotiations are being continuing between Al-Ashwal and some officers of the Air Forces, indicating that they insist on the resignation of Al-Ahmar and meet all other demands.
Sources said that Guards of Al-Ahmar nabbed an officer, Omar Al-Hatimi, who loudly criticized Al-Ahmar and threw his shoes at him inside a meeting hall of the Air Forces.
Officers and troops of the Air forces Air complained that Al-Ahmar used to confiscate all their rights, and fail to keep his promises for which he pledged to grant them promotion and allowances.
Sources told Yemen Post that the soldiers were preparing to escalate their protests against Al-Ahmar in case all their demands are not met.
The revolution of institutions have hit many public authorities and resulted in the ouster of tens of corrupt officials in Yemen, as employees insisted on firing corrupt officials.
Among those high-ranking officials who lost their positions were Major General Ali Hassan Al-Shater, chief of the Armed Forces Moral Guidance Department and Abdul Khaleq al-Qadhi, chairman of Yemenia airlines.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/23/2012 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Yemen's longtime President President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh ... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it... said he will head to the United States for medical treatment as he asked his people for forgiveness, in a farewell speech released as he left Sanaa on Sunday.
"I will go to the United States for treatment and will then return as head of the General People's Congress (GPC) party," the official Saba news agency quoted Saleh as saying.
"I ask for forgiveness from all my country's people, men and women, for any shortcomings during my 33-year-long rule," he added.
An official close to the presidency told Agence La Belle France Presse that "the Yemeni president left Sanaa one hour ago," without specifying Saleh's destination.
His departure came a day after parliament adopted a law giving Saleh "complete" immunity from prosecution in return for stepping down under a Gulf-brokered transition deal.
The law has drawn wide condemnation from young protesters, hundreds of whom have been killed by Saleh's security forces and loyalists since an uprising against his rule broke out in January 2011, as well as from rights groups.
But Saleh's farewell speech defended the law, saying that those who have benefited from it are "all those who have worked with the president during a 33-year-long rule."
"If there had been mistakes, then they were unintentional as the president has immunity from his own people to whom he had dedicated his life to serve for this nation," Saleh said as he called for "reconciliation" in the country.
"The poor youths (who have continued) sit-ins for 11 months, go back to your homes and families and open up a new page with the new leadership. I feel sorry for you," Saleh said.
Parliament also adopted a law approving Saleh's longtime deputy, Vice President Abdrabuh Mansour Hadi, as the consensus candidate in the election for Saleh's successor, due to be held on February 21.
After that date, Hadi is to be "handed over the presidential palace while Ali Abdullah Saleh will take his bag, bid farewell, and leave to his own home," Saba quoted the veteran president as saying.
"I announce from here, out of respect and appreciation for Hadi's stances and efforts, his promotion to the rank of marshal," Saleh said.
A bigwig of Saleh's GPC party, Sultan al-Barakani, said last week that the 69-year-old president, who remains in office on an honorary basis, would travel abroad.
"In the coming days, he will visit the sultanate of Oman and then Ethiopia before traveling to New York for treatment" for wounds he sustained in a bombing at the presidential palace last June, the official told AFP.
"Once he has completed his treatment in New York, he will return to Yemen to continue leading the party."
Diplomats in Sanaa said on Sunday that Saleh's eldest son Ahmed -- who commands the feared Republican Guard -- was "already in Oman" to prepare for his father's visit.
Earlier on Sunday, tens of thousands of Yemenis demanded Saleh's execution in protests against a law giving him full immunity from prosecution over a deadly crackdown on dissent.
"It is our duty ... to execute the butcher," chanted angry protesters gathered in Sanaa's Change Square, the epicenter of the democracy movement that has been calling for Saleh's ouster since January last year.
The law also offers partial protection from legal action for Saleh's aides, saying his lieutenants cannot be charged for "actions that were politically motivated and carried out in the exercise of their duties."
The protesters carried banners calling on politicians to reverse their decision.
"To the politicians, we say there will be no immunity at the expense of the blood of our deaders," said one banner, referring to the hundreds of people killed in the government crackdown.
The demonstrators tried to march to the U.S. embassy in Sanaa but were stopped by Yemeni security forces.
The final text of the immunity law specified the amnesty "does not apply to acts of terrorism," though no further details were revealed as to what actions may fall within that category.
The transitional government of national unity, which is led by the parliamentary opposition, had submitted 11th-hour amendments on Friday reducing the scope of the amnesty offered to the president's aides following a public outcry.
"We had 10,000 victims in northern Yemen over the past six wars. We cannot give up seeking justice," Abdul Karim Jadban, an MP from Saada, the Zaidi Shiites' stronghold in the country's north, told AFP.
An on-off revolt in northern Yemen since 2004 between Shiites and the Sanaa regime has cost several thousand lives and displaced more than 250,000 people. A ceasefire was declared in February 2010.
The U.N. envoy to Yemen, Jamal Benomar, has criticized the immunity law arguing it neglects the rights of "victims".
Speaking to news hounds before departing Yemen late Saturday, Benomar said that though "the law was amended ... it does not live up to our expectations. The U.N. in principle stands against this type of blanket immunity."
Benomar called on parliament to enact a "transitional justice and reconciliation" law that would allow victims to be heard and make claims for compensation.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/23/2012 00:00 ||
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A total of 15 individuals were killed in a 24 hour period in Guerrero state, according to Mexican news accounts.
At about 2200 hrs in the village of False Carral in Atoyac de Alvarez municipality unidentified armed suspects entered a number of residences and shot the occupants. Press reports do not indicate the reasons for the shootings. Reports do say between six and 10 armed suspects did the shooting.
The dead include Lazaro Pineda Mayo, 62, Rogelio Ramirez Ramos, 43, Cristobal Hernandez Valle, 42, Diego Pinzon Mora 40, and José Rios Lacunza, all of False Corral. Also dead were Hector Radilla Bello, 42 and Carmelo Hernandez Radilla, 45, from the village of La Fonseca, as well as Ruben Ramirez Martinez and Miguel Angel Hernandez Vazquez, both from the village of Los Organos in Benito Juarez municipality
Wounded in the shootings were Eduardo Duran Coden, 38, Vladimir Perez Ibarra, 13, and his brother, Eduardo Perez Ibarra, 18, Francisco Javier Garcia Gomez, 55, and Leobardo Dorantes 38.
At around the same time in San Marcos in the Costa Chica region police officer Cirenio Sanguilan Aquino and Juan Carlos Barcenas Villasana, 19 were shot and wounded by armed suspects while attending a party.
In Acapulco, three unidentified dead bodies were found inside a vehicle Saturday.
Atoyac de Alvarez has in the past been known as a hotspot for armed radical activities and is the home of the Maoist Ejercito Popular Revolucionario (EPR) group that is still operating in the area. It is also the same municipality where 17 individuals were massacred allegedly by Guerrero state police operatives. The massacre, known as the Aguas Blancas Massacre has been used by the EPR as the cause of war against the Mexican Army.
The Justice Department on Monday charged a former CIA officer with repeatedly leaking classified information, including the identities of agency operatives involved in the capture and interrogation of alleged terrorists.
The case against John Kiriakou, who served as a senior Senate aide after ending his CIA career, extends the Obama administration's unprecedented crackdown on disclosures of national security secrets to journalists.
Kiriakou, who was among the first to go public with details about the CIA's use of water-boarding and other harsh interrogation measures, was charged with disclosing classified information to reporters and lying to the agency about the origin of other sensitive material he published in a book.
So if you're a Democrat and a member of the media, are you allowed a free pass to disclose classified information?
In its criminal filing, the Justice Department obscured many of the details of Kiriakou's allegedly illegal disclosures. But the documents suggest that Kiriakou, 47, was a source for stories in 2008 and 2009 about some of the agency's most sensitive operations after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, including the capture of alleged al-Qaeda operative Abu Zubaydah and the interrogation of the self-proclaimed mastermind of the attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.
CIA Director David H. Petraeus issued a statement to the agency's workforce on Monday afternoon saying that he could not comment on the details of the case against Kiriakou but warning that "the illegal passage of secrets is an abuse of trust that may put lives in jeopardy."
The Justice Department also said that the information Kiriakou supplied to journalists also contributed to a subsequent security breach at the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay. Kiriakou's disclosures, according to the Justice Department, enabled defense attorneys to obtain photographs of CIA operatives suspected of being involved in controversial interrogations, pictures that were subsequently discovered in prisoners' cells.
Kiriakou, who worked for the CIA from 1990 to 2004, was scheduled to appear at 2 p.m. Monday in U.S. District Court in Alexandria.
#1
Ever wonder why the MSM is beholden to the political elites? Walk, for a while, in the shoes of a MSM editor/reporter. You have to fill so many minutes (TV/Cable) or lines (newspaper/magazines) a day. If you had to do investigative reporting to find your stories you would be dead; no way that you would be given the necessary budget. Instead, MSM reporters cultivate sources who feed them a steady diet of sh*t stories. These sources are basically propagandist media consultants charged with shaping the debate.
A reporter has to be careful not to alienate their sources because if they do, they would have to go back and work for a living. Likewise, sources have to provide enough juice to keep the reporter's interest.
I recollect that the Dems were not complaining when "torture" was being used as a political attack against the GOP in the last election. This guy appears to have gone off the reservation, perhaps violating the rule that the debate being shaped is your political master's, not yours.
Posted by: Mike Ramsey ||
01/23/2012 18:18 Comments ||
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Posted by: Frank G ||
01/23/2012 17:45 Comments ||
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#2
Just a reminder of what happens throughout Kabul and the entire south and east if NATO withdraws. Most people in NATO won't care.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/23/2012 17:57 Comments ||
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#3
Afghanistan is the symptom of the disease. Pakistan has always been the origin, with others financing.
That is why, IMHO, Fred has covered Pakistan so much.
Nice little terrorist country.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/23/2012 19:10 Comments ||
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#4
Hopefully the Pak army will launch a punitive expedition into the Khyber Agency and just blister the place.
The British maintained order in Afghanistan for a long time with a few, simple rules. Violate any of them and the British would wipe out an entire village. The Afghans could dig it.
#5
And yet this won't create enemies of the Taliban out of the families and extended families and clans of the murdered Pakistani soldiers? Only the Taliban can recruit armies of vengeful kinfolk? Pretty insulting commentary on the courage of most Pakistanis, it seems to me.
U.S. drones fired missiles in North Waziristan on Monday, killing at least four terrorists militants, according to intelligence officials and tribesmen. In Monday's attacks, two missiles struck a vehicle in the village of Degan, and another two hit a house in nearby Mohammedkhel village. Intelligence officials said the strike on the vehicle killed mostly Turkmen, who were possible al Qaeda members. The same officials said there may be more casualties.
[Iran Press TV] Thousands of Paks from 40 different religious and political groups have held a demonstration to condemn Washington's policies and the unsanctioned US drone strikes on the country's tribal region, Press TV reports.
The Sunday rally in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, about 24 kilometers south of the capital Islamabad, was one of the biggest anti-US demonstrations to be recently held in the country, a Press TV correspondent reported from the city.
The angry demonstrations rolled their eyes, jumped up and down, and hollered poorly rhymed slogans real loud against the US and its activities in Pakistain. "Until the destruction of the United States, we'll keep fighting against it," shouted one activist attending the rally that was arranged by the Defense of Pakistain Council, which is an alliance of 40 religious and political parties.
The organizers say the massive turnout at the rally serves as a referendum against, what they described as, the unjust policies of the United States vis-à-vis Pakistain.
Relations between the two sides have notably soured over the unauthorized attacks, with Pakistain insisting that the Arclight airstrikes violate its illusory sovereignty.
Speakers at the demonstration delivered hard-hitting speeches, urging the government to cease its cooperation with Washington's so-called war on terror.
Some of them even suggested that Pakistain had to prevent the US aircraft from using its airspace on their way to and from Afghanistan. "There are 400 daily US flights from Afghanistan, and Pakistain should shut this air corridor for the US," one participant said.
The rally was attended by the religious groups, Jamaatud Dawa and Jamaat Ulema-e-Islam ...Assembly of Islamic Clergy, or JUI, is a Pak Deobandi (Hanafi) political party. There are two main branches, one led by Maulana Fazlur Rahman, and one led by Maulana Samiul Haq. Fazl is active in Pak politix and Sami spends more time running his madrassah. Both branches sponsor branches of the Taliban, though with plausible deniability... -Sami, the political parties of Jamaat-e-Islami ...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores... , Awami Moslem League, and Pakistain Moslem League-Zia, as well as former Army chief, retired General Mirza Aslam Baig, and the former head of the country's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Hamid Gul The nutty former head of Pakistain's ISI, now Godfather to Mullah Omar's Talibs and good buddy and consultant to al-Qaeda's high command... .
Pakistain has closed its border crossings to the supply convoys destined for the US-led foreign forces deployed in Afghanistan in response to deadly US-led NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A single organization with differing goals, equipment, language, doctrine, and organization.... Arclight airstrikes that killed 24 Pak soldiers at two checkpoints in the northwest of the country on the common border with Afghanistan on November 26.
Pak politician, Ijazul Haq, told our correspondent, "We are not going to allow NATO supplies till the time the US agrees to stop drone strikes in Pakistain."
He added that the US and the Western military alliance had to stop carrying out acts of aggression against Pakistain.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/23/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
Pakistan is Mordor
Posted by: Paul ||
01/23/2012 5:44 Comments ||
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#2
Thousands of Paks from 40 different ONE religious and political groups group have held a demonstration
[An Nahar] Talibs have released a video showing the execution of 15 Pak soldiers whose bodies were found earlier this month after they were kidnapped in northwestern Pakistain.
The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistain had grabbed credit for the killings.
The 15 FC (Frontier Constabulary) personnel were kidnapped late last month after a night-time raid on a checkpoint in the northwestern town of Tank.
Pakistain's seven tribal districts near the Afghan border, including North Wazoo, are rife with homegrown snuffies and are strongholds of Taliban and al-Qaeda operatives.
The 2.38 minute video was released late Saturday and shows the blindfolded soldiers sitting in three rows on a hillside.
The soldiers had their hands tied behind their backs and were flanked by two masked gunnies.
A middle-aged soldier, who identifies himself as Babar Khan, says in the video that he was captured with the others by Talibs who stormed their outpost late at night.
Then an unidentified Taliban capo wearing a leather jacket appears and says the group was taking Dire Revenge™ for the killing of 12 Taliban fighters in Khyber tribal district.
"We warn the government of Pakistain to stop killing our people whom they have tossed in the clink and if they continue to do so then Taliban will (kill) them like this," he says, before he starts shooting the captured soldiers with a Kalashnikov rifle, raising the slogan Allah-o-Akbar (God is great).
Other gun-hung tough guys join him in shooting the captured soldiers.
FC commandant Majeed Khan Marwat told Agence La Belle France Presse that he had received the video and said that his men had been "martyred."
Officials said that the men were killed in Shawa, a small town in the North Waziristan tribal region near the Afghan border.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/23/2012 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] Four coppers received injuries when their vehicle was targeted with a remote controlled bomb near Mian Mandi Bazaar in Haleemzai tehsil of Mohmand ... Named for the Mohmand clan of the Sarban Pahstuns, a truculent, quarrelsome lot. In Pakistain, the Mohmands infest their eponymous Agency, metastasizing as far as the plains of Beautiful Downtown Peshawar, Charsadda, and Mardan. Mohmands are also scattered throughout Pakistan in urban areas including Karachi, Lahore, and Quetta. In Afghanistan they are mainly found in Nangarhar and Kunar... Agency on Saturday.
The injured personnel of Levies Forcewere identified as Subedar Amjad Khan, sepoy Rahat, sepoy Inayat and sepoy Irshad. They were taken to a hospital in Ghalanai.
The spokesperson for Taliban chief in Mohmand Agency, Mukarram Khurassin, talked to local journalists by telephone and grabbed credit for the attack.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/23/2012 00:00 ||
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BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq: Iraq's Central Crimes Court has sentenced an al-Qaeda Member, charged with having joined al-Qaeda Organization and carrying out kidnapping, killing, car booby-trapping, attacks against Army and Police headquarters, with life-imprisonment, according to a statement issued by the Judiciary Authority, on Sunday.
If it were Bangladesh, he'd be wanted on twelve systems after all that activity. Still, the Iraqi justice system seems to have managed...
"The defendant confessed, in the presence of his lawyer, to having joined the terrorist al-Qaeda Organization and his involvement in attacking Iraqi Commandos patrols on the main Baghdad Airport road, close to his house in al-Amel district, along with forcing families to desert their homes," the statement noted.
Accordingly, "the courts found that that evidence in the case were enough to incriminate him, according to the accusation item, because it reflected his frank and clear confessions with having carried out all those crimes," the statement confirmed.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/23/2012 00:00 ||
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Security guards at the Kalandiya checkpoint in between Jerusalem and Ramallah opened fire and struck a 30-year-old Paleostinian man in his lower body Sunday morning. The man is alleged to have arrived at the checkpoint with a bag, from which he produced an axe,ran toward the soldiers and threw the axe at civilian security guard manning the checkpoint.
Police Spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld said that the man threw the axe at the guard, who was uninjured. When the Paleostinian man failed to heed the guards' orders to stop, the guard fired one shot into the air. He fired a second shot at the man's legs when he continued running towards the checkpoint.
Initially treated by Border Police medics at the scene, the Paleostinian man was transported to Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem in light condition.
In a search of the man's bag, security forces found a knife. He will be questioned by security forces after receiving medical treatment.
Yesterday, in Pattani province terrorists insurgents launched an attack on a naval security outpost, in an attempt to draw a relief force into an ambush trap where a roadside bomb and gunfire injured six marines.
Terrorists Insurgents launched an attack on the outpost with automatic weapons for 10 minutes at around 6 p.m. The gun battle prompted calls for reinforcements. However, about 600 meters from the outpost, a pickup truck carrying the 10 marines was hit by a roadside bomb blast, followed by gunfire. The marines returned fire and repelled the attackers after a 10-minute gun battle. However, six of them, including the leader, were wounded.
Military officials said both attacks were probably carried out by terrorists insurgents active in areas between Ka Pho and Sai Buri districts, and Raman district in neighbouring Yala.
Flanked by British and French ships, the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier moved through the Strait of Hormuz without incident Sunday despite recent threats from Iran.
The U.S. Naval Forces Central Command said in a statement that the Lincoln "completed a regular and routine transit of the strait ... to conduct maritime security operations." The Lincoln is in the region with the USS Carl Vinson, giving the U.S. Navy its standard two-carrier presence there.
A British defense ministry spokesman, who was not named per policy, said Sunday that the "HMS Argyll and a French vessel joined a U.S. carrier group" going through the strait "to underline the unwavering international commitment to maintaining rights of passage under international law."
"Britain maintains a constant presence in the region as part of our enduring contribution to Gulf security," the spokesman said.
Several weeks ago, as the USS John Stennis left the Persian Gulf and headed back to the western Pacific, Iranian officials warned the United States not to send in another carrier.
"We have always stated that there is no need for the forces belonging to the countries beyond this region to have a presence in the Persian Gulf," Brig. Gen. Ahmad Vahidi said in early January, according to the semi-official Fars News Agency. "Their presence does nothing but create mayhem, and we never wanted them to be present in the Persian Gulf."
#8
And the Iranian media won't report it happened. The bluster was for internal consumption anyway. Question is how many Iranians were able to see the passage with their 'lying eyes'.
#10
Again, Iran will prefer to stay on the strategic Media, Diplomatic defensive AMAP ALAP, until such time it is ready to formally declare it has or intends to develop NucWeaps.
The so-called OWG ISLAMIST-JIHADIST CALIPHATE + RELATED WILL NEED NUCLEAR WEAPONS AS A MATTER OF COURSE SINCE ONE OF ITS MAJOR EXISTENTIAL PREMISES IS PARITY, IFF NOT SUPERIORITY OR DOMINANCE, TO THE NON-MUSLIM WORLD = JUDEOCHRISTIAN "GREAT POWERS".
Moreso as per the post-Cold War, post-911 concept of a "MULTI-POLAR" WORLD.
We see the Islamist-Jihadist desire for Nukes over + over again at MEMRI + other Blogs, vee Radical Clerics, Top Govt. Leaders. etal.
As per IRAN-VS-THE-ABE, IMO as long as the US = US-Allies refrain from launching a de facto ground war = invasion + occupation of Iran, THE LATTER WILL CONTINUE ON WID ITS DEV OF ITS NUCPROG.
Lest we fergit, ANALYSTS/PERTS = expect Iran to dev at least a RELIABLE "DIRTY" NUCBOMB(S), OR PCORRECT LOW-YIELD URANIUM BOMB, 2012 NLT 2015.
Still comes down to NO GROUND WAR + OCCUPATION OF IRAN = IRAN GETS ITS NUKES.
#11
See also DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > BRITAIN, US, + FRANCE SEND [six] WARSHIPS THROUGH STRAIT OF HORMUZ, as warning to Iran.
and
* WORLD NEWS > IRAN: WE WILL CLOSE STRAIT OF HORMUZ.
* SAME > FOLLOWING [adoption of] NEW EU SANCTIONS, IRAN SAYS CLOSING THE STRAIT OF HORMUZ IS NOW ITS LEGAL RIGHT.
* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > [WAPO] OIL PRICES RISE AS IRAN RENEWS THREAT TO CLOSE STRATEGIC WATERWAY, NATURAL GAS RISES.
* RUSSIA TODAY > IRAN WILL "DEFINITELY" CLOSE STRAIT OF HORMUZ OVER EU OIL EMBARGO.
* SAME > PENTAGON PREPARED: US SET FOR OPERATION "IRANIAN FREEDOM" [???].
ARTIC > SecDef PANETTA = No regional Mil Buildup necessary for US to deal or handle current Iran threat.
* WAFF > [Mohammad Kowsari] "IRAN WILL MAKE WORLD UNSAFE FOR US".
* SAME > EU BANS IRANIAN OIL, TEHRAN RESPONDS WID THREATS.
ARTIC > ANALYSTS = Iran could be ready to begin making NucBombs next year [2013]???
* SAME > FORMER IRANIAN INTELLIGENCE MINISTER URGES IRAN PREEMPTIVE ACTION ON EU OIL EMBARGO, i.e. Tehran should stop any and all Oil Exports to EU NOW, + NOT wait for June 1st, IN ORDER TO PUT A COSTLY/PROHIBITIVE ECON = ENERGY CRIMP ON US + EU, espec to deter any MilAction agz Iran.
[An Nahar] Turkey is ready to work with the United Nations ...a lucrative dumping ground for the relatives of dictators and party hacks... if a humanitarian crisis develops in neighboring Syria after months of deadly political unrest, its foreign minister was quoted as saying on Sunday.
"We hope that before the situation reaches that stage, the Syrian administration will halt the unjust war it has waged against its own people and find ways to make peace with its people," Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said, the Anatolia news agency reported.
"But if a humanitarian tragedy unfolds before our eyes, and if the U.N. steps in, we are ready work with the United Nations," he added.
His remarks came as an 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... meeting opened in Cairo to decide the future of its heavily criticized observer mission to Syria, where a regime crackdown on the opposition has left more than 5,000 people dead, according to U.N. figures.
Davutoglu said Turkey would support any decisions made at the Cairo talks but added: "If the vaporous Arab League and regional initiatives fail to produce a solution ... the issue will gain an international dimension."
The Turkish minister also said he would visit Russia on Tuesday for consultations on the Syrian crisis.
Turkey, once a close ally of Syria, has been at the forefront of international criticism over the Damascus ...Capital of the last overtly fascist regime in the world... regime's crackdown on protests and has also become a haven for many Syrian opposition activists.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has also urged his once close friend, Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad, The Scourge of Hama... to quit.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/23/2012 00:00 ||
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1. Civil war on their southern flank is bad for business
2. Annoyance about attacks on their embassy in Damascus
3. Pragmatic assessment that "Pencilneck's" days are numbered
4. Desire to be the biggest kid on the block (move aside Iran)
Posted by: Mike Ramsey ||
01/23/2012 18:40 Comments ||
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[An Nahar] The Syrian National Council, the country's largest opposition group, called on Sunday for the Syria file to be transferred to the U.N. Security Council for referral to the International Criminal Court ... where Milosevich died of old age before being convicted ...
The SNC "asks the 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... to transfer the Syria file to the Security Council as quickly as possible," said a statement the group adopted at a meeting in Cairo, which coincided with a gathering of Arab foreign ministers to mull the future of their much-criticized Syria observer mission.
The Security Council should "refer the Syria file to the International Criminal Court and take firm decisions to protect the Syrian people," it added.
The SNC also called for an "air embargo" on Syria and the creation of "security zones to allow humanitarian aid to reach the affected Syrian towns."
It demanded further sanctions "on all Syrian officials implicated in the crimes against humanity in Syria, starting with the Syrian president" Bashir al-Assad.
The United Nations ...boodling on the grand scale... says that at least 5,400 people have been killed in the Syrian government crackdown on dissent since last March, when protests first erupted against Assad's regime.
Activists and rights groups say more than 500 people have died since Arab League observers were deployed in Syria in late December to oversee an Arab peace plan.
The crimes committed in Syria should be "considered crimes against humanity, and all those implicated in those crimes should be prosecuted under international law," the SNC statement said.
It called on every member of the United Nations "to halt all military and security cooperation with the Syrian regime," urging China and Russia in particular to withdraw their support for the Damascus ...Capital of the last overtly fascist regime in the world... government.
Arab League foreign ministers meeting in Cairo on Sunday were expected to agree to extend the bloc's observer mission, which was deployed in late December and has been widely criticized for its failure to stem the bloodshed.
But Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said Riyadh was withdrawing from the mission because the Syrian government had "not respected any of the clauses" in the Arab plan aimed at ending the crisis.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/23/2012 00:00 ||
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Arab foreign ministers meeting in Cairo on Sunday decided to go to the U.N. Security Council to seek its support for the 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... 's decisions aimed at resolving the Syrian crisis.
The Arab League "has decided to go to the U.N. Security Council to seek its support for the Arab initiative and we're not seeking internationalization or a military solution," Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem al-Thani, the head of an Arab taskforce on Syria, clarified after the meeting.
During the talks, aimed at discussing the fate of the widely criticized Arab observer mission in Syria, the ministers also called on Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Trampler of Homs... to "delegate his powers to the first vice president (Farouq al-Sharaa), who would have every prerogative to cooperate with a national unity government that would include the opposition. "
Such a government would be formed "within two months, and be presided over by a consensus candidate. Its mission would be to implement the vaporous Arab League plan to end the crisis, and to prepare free and fair legislative and presidential elections under both Arab and international supervision."
The national unity government would also prepare the election of a constituent assembly within three months and a new constitution which would be put to a referendum.
The League foreign ministers also recommended "continuing the observer mission in Syria and cooperation with the U.N. Secretary General to reinforce their task."
"Arab foreign ministers call for the release of detainees, a halt to all forms of violence and the facilitation of the observer mission's work," Sheikh Hamad said.
"I urge the Syrian leadership to shoulder its responsibilities before God, its people and the Arab nation and to seek an end to the crisis," he added.
Earlier on Sunday, the Arab League taskforce headed by Sheikh Hamad met behind closed doors to be briefed on the first month of the monitoring mission by its chief, General Mohammed Ahmed Mustafa al-Dabi of Sudan.
The monitors' report blamed both sides, the government and opposition, for the bloodshed, according to an Arab diplomatic source. It recommended an extension while cautioning that its observers would not be deployed indefinitely.
The Arab observer mission in revolt-hit Syria was launched a month ago.
In a statement late Saturday, Dabi said the mission's mandate was "to verify that the Syrian government has implemented the terms of an Arab League plan to solve the crisis, not to stop the bloodshed and violence."
But the opposition Syrian National Council has been lobbying for U.N. intervention and said it would reveal "a counter-report" later on Sunday to try to discredit Dabi's account.
The SNC said it also plans to send a delegation to the United Nations ...boodling on the grand scale... to press the Security Council for intervention.
International pressure has been steadily growing on the regime of Syrian President Bashir al-Assad, with more than 5,400 people killed since anti-government protests broke out last March, according to U.N. figures.
The Arab League deployed observers in Syria on December 26, and there are presently about 165 monitors on the ground.
The Local Coordination Committees, which organize anti-regime protests, said in a statement on Sunday that 976 people have since been killed in a bloody crackdown on dissent, despite the observer mission.
The SNC has appealed to the Arab League to turn the Syria crisis over to the United Nations. Its chief Burhan Ghalioun met on Saturday with Arabi to lobby for scrapping the observer mission.
Qatar has proposed that Arab troops be deployed in Syria, but Damascus ...Capital of the last overtly fascist regime in the world... rules out the proposal.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/23/2012 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Syrian security forces rubbed out twelve people on Sunday across the country, activists said, as army defectors briefly overran a protest hub near Damascus ...Capital of the last overtly fascist regime in the world...
The Local Coordination Committees, the main activist group spurring protests on the ground, said regime troops killed seven people in the Damascus suburbs of Douma, al-Kisweh and Talfita, three in the restive northwestern province of Idlib and one in each of the central opposition bastions of Hama and Homs.
For its part, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said a 30-year-old man was killed at a security forces' checkpoint into Douma.
"And another person was martyred in the town of Talfita, west of the town of Rankous, when Syrian security forces opened fire indiscriminately," the rights group added.
Earlier, the Observatory said fierce festivities erupted late Saturday in Douma, just northeast of Damascus, after security forces rubbed out four civilians at a funeral in the town.
"Groups of deserters took control of all districts in the town of Douma ... after fierce fighting" with Syrian security forces," the Observatory's chief Rami Abdul Rahman told Agence La Belle France Presse.
"Dissident groups withdrew from the town and returned to their bases," the Britannia-based group later said in a statement, without giving a casualty toll for the operation.
Clashes also broke out on Sunday outside Douma between security forces and defectors in what appeared to be a bid by government troops to recapture the town, according to the Observatory.
The official SANA news agency spoke of two officers killed in Douma by "a terrorist group."
And the Observatory said two officers and a soldier were killed along with a deserter and a civilian in Talfita.
In violence on Saturday, a roadside kaboom killed 17 detainees being transported in a prison truck in Idlib province in the northwest of the country, said the Observatory.
State news agency SANA said "an armed terrorist group" attacked the vehicle in al-Mastouma area, "killing 14 prisoners and wounding 26 others."
Nine government troops were killed in festivities with dissident soldiers near a military roadblock in the central city of Maaret Numan, the Observatory reported. One deserter was also killed in the clash.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/23/2012 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Goodluck Jonathan
Hundreds of officers and soldiers protested inside the International Sana'a Airport on Sunday, demanding to sack commander of the Air Forces, Mohammad Saleh Al-Ahmar, half-brother of the outgoing President 
... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it...
U.S. drones fired missiles in North Waziristan on Monday, killing at least four 
[Iran Press TV] Thousands of Paks from 40 different religious and political groups have held a demonstration to condemn Washington's policies and the unsanctioned US drone strikes on the country's tribal region, Press TV reports.
Hamid Gul
Wazoo
[Dawn] Four 
Security guards at the Kalandiya checkpoint in between Jerusalem and Ramallah opened fire and struck a 30-year-old Paleostinian man in his lower body Sunday morning. The man is alleged to have arrived at the checkpoint with a bag, from which he produced an axe,ran toward the soldiers and threw the axe at civilian security guard manning the checkpoint.
Davutoglu said Turkey would support any decisions made at the Cairo talks but added: "If 
International Criminal Court
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
