“Israel is the American Killing arm“, Chavez

What a reputation for any religious, civilised or democratic country to have? President Chavez hits the nail on its head by correctly identifying what the real purpose of creating, supporting and arming the Jewish state of Israel by the Americans; although being in breach of 39 UN Security Council Resolutions and despite being led since its independence by terrorists, criminals, assassins and fraudsters. The American CIA was known for inventing all tools to assassinate people, especially those on the left of the political spectrum. But Jimmy Carter had exposed the CIA as a killing machine and fired 750 CIA agents accused of committing homicides. In order to cover all traces, the CIA has long depended on the Israelis to carry out their dirty works in the Middle East, South Africa, Latin America, and in Europe. The US has also asked its allies to let MOSSAD agents to register with the local authorities and to operate unimpeded. These are some of MOSSAD criminal activities:
1.Killing Palestinians in Beirut, Damascus, Malta, Cyprus, Tunis, Rome and Paris.
2.The arming of the Lebanese Falange to kill Palestinians at Sabra abd Shatilla.
3.Training and arming of South African Terra Blanche fascist organisation.
4.Training and arming Latin America death squads.
5.Killing Iraqi and Egyptian nuclear scientists, in Paris and in Libya.
6.Killing Canadian weapon expert Dr Bull, in Brussels.
7.The kidnapping and killing of 355 Iraqi scientists in US-occupied Iraq.
8.The kidnapping and killing of Iraqi pilots in US-occupied Iraq.
9.The kidnapping and killing of Iraqi intelligence officers in charge of Israeli section in US-occupied Iraq.
10.The kidnapping of Israeli nuclear worker, Vanunu from London.
11.The assassination of Hezbullah members outside Lebanon.
12.Assisting the Shah Savak in setting up Iran torture and interrogation centres.
13.Assisting the Americans at Abu Ghraib prison, in US-occupied Iraq.
The roles of the Americans are to identify targets, travel documents, houses, weapons and means of escape. It is the real unholy alliance between the American right wing extremists infesting US intelligence agencies and the criminal Israelis.
Google people should be assassinated too!


I didn't have time to Google all the names and dates of MOSSAD known asassinations in collaboration with the CIA, MI-6 and French intelligence services. Furthermore, many wetern embassaies offer sanctuaries to Israeli MOSSAD agents. During Saddam rule, some MOSSAD agents worked in the Dutch embasy in Baghdad. The Iraqi resistance have a special treat reserved for the Israelis and their agents whenever they are located. MOSSAD place of operations were blown up in Arbil, Kirkuk and in at least four places in Baghdad. Like the Americans, remains of Israelis killed in Iraq are buried in a special cemetry. There is much mooooooooore to come.
Adnan Darwash, Iraq Occupation Times

Dubai house prices seen extending falls on debt crisis

Sunday, 29 Nov, 2009

Dubai may experience further losses in property values in the coming

months.— Photo from AFP/File
Business


DUBAI: Dubai’s property market is likely to face further price falls

and increased concerns over the availabilty of finance after the

emirate said it would delay debt payment issued by two of its flagship

firms, analysts said.



Dubai rocked the financial world on Nov 25 when it said it would ask

creditors of Dubai World, the conglomerate behind its rapid expansion,

and Nakheel, builder of its palm-shaped islands, to agree to a

standsill on billions of dollars of debt as a first-step to

restructuring.



‘The news plays on investor psyche and house prices may slide a

further 20-30 per cent earlier than our existing view of second half

of 2011,’ said Saud Masud, UBS’ head of research and senior real

estate analyst, Middle East and North Africa.



‘There may likely be further job cuts as a result of any potential

restructuring, and that could directly impact population outflows and

result in housing oversupply.’ State-run Dubai World had $59 billion

of liabilities as of August, a large proportion of Dubai’s total debt

of $80 billion and repayment of Nakheel’s $3.5 billion worth of

Islamic bonds, which were originally due to mature on Dec. 14, was

widely expected by the market to be met.



‘I think residentially there will be an impact. There will be

uncertainty over liabilities for that group going forward and that

will impact pricing,’ said Nicolas Maclean, managing director at real

estate services firm CB Richard Ellis ‘But if you hold property in an

unrelated developer, there may be only be a knock-on effect

short-term,’ he added.



A number of reports published by analysts recently have suggested that

conditions in Dubai’s real estate, where prices have fallen some 50

per cent since their peaks last year, were improving.



Colliers International said in a report earlier in November house

prices rose 7 per cent in the third quarter, posting their first rise

in a year. ‘The real concern is what further provisions banks will

have to make and their ability to put liquidity into the market in

2010, in terms of mortgages and development projects,’ the firm’s

regional director Ian Albert said, adding the increase in activity in

the third quarter was substantially brought about by the availability

of liquidity returning to the market.



EFG-Hermes however said it kept to its forecast of a recovery in house

prices in late 2010.



‘Recently, it has been more local demand, not foreign demand that has

been driving transaction activity. Moreover, we believe the volume of

supply expected to come on stream has been over magnified,’ said Sana

Kapadia, vice president of equity research at the bank in Dubai.



EFG expects on average 20,000 new homes between now and 2012, with

actual supply delivered to be toned downwards, given the slowdown in

construction and underlying liquidity issues, Kapadia added. — Reuters



-----------------------

Abu Dhabi to aid Dubai 'case by case': official

Saturday, 28 Nov, 2009
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People pass by a giant poster of Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum,

UAE Prime Minister and ruler of Dubai in Dubai, United Arab Emirates,

Thursday, Nov. 26, 2009. – AP
Business
Dubai house prices seen extending falls on debt crisis
Dubai house prices seen extending falls on debt crisis

ABU DHABI: Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates and one of

the world's top oil exporters, will 'pick and choose' how to assist

its debt-laden neighbour Dubai, a senior Abu Dhabi official said on

Saturday.

'We will look at Dubai's commitments and approach them on a

case-by-case basis. It does not mean that Abu Dhabi will underwrite

all of their debts,' the official in the government of the emirate of

Abu Dhabi told Reuters by phone.

A policy of selectively assisting cash-strapped companies affiliated

with the government of Dubai, instead of providing blanket assistance,

challenges assumptions made by many investors who assumed that wealthy

Abu Dhabi provided a complete safety net for its racier neighbour.

Dubai's crisis exploded on Wednesday when the emirate, known for

flashy lifestyles and the world's tallest building, said it would

delay payment on debt issued by one of its flagship firms, angering

investors and sending global markets sharply lower.

'Some of Dubai's entities are commercial, semi-government ones. Abu

Dhabi will pick and choose when and where to assist,' said the

official, who declined to be identified because he is not authorised

to speak to the media.

Abu Dhabi, which pumps 90 per cent of the oil that make the United

Arab Emirates the world's third-largest oil exporter, has already

provided $15 billion in indirect support for Dubai through the UAE

central bank and two private Abu Dhabi banks.

How much more support the emirate provides for its cash-strapped

neighbour, however, will depend on how Dubai clarifies its stand on

unresolved issues.

'Until things become clearer, it is very difficult to make any further

investment decision on the bonds. Many things have to be clarified by

Dubai,' the official said.

C.BANK MONITORING

The UAE central bank said it was closely watching events stemming from

the Dubai debt crisis to ensure no harm results for the national

economy, a spokesman for the central bank said on Saturday.

'The central bank is monitoring developments very carefully to ensure

that there is no negative impact on the UAE economy,' the spokesman

told Reuters by phone.

Constitutionally, each emirate in the UAE is a separate legal entity

within the loose federation, and each controls its own natural and

financial resources. The federal government has no guaranteed access

to those resources nor is it obliged to underwrite the liabilities of

any emirate.

International markets were rocked when Dubai said on Wednesday it was

instigating a major restructuring at one of its biggest holding

companies, Dubai World.

As part of the restructuring programme, investors have been advised of

a 'standstill' in repayment of flagship real estate developer

Nakheel's $3.5 billion Islamic bond, or sukuk, due for maturity on

Dec. 14.

Dubai World had $59 billion of liabilities as of August, making up the

majority of Dubai's total debt of $80 billion.

International banks' exposure related to Dubai World could reach $12

billion in syndicated and bilateral loans, banking sources told

Thomson Reuters LPC.

A statement from the Dubai government is expected on Monday, when the

markets reopen following an extended break for Eid, a religious

holiday observed across the Gulf region.


----

Dubai blackout over debt plans to hit markets hard

Saturday, 28 Nov, 2009
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It remains to be seen if the frenetic pace of development in Dubai is

sustainable.— Photo from File
Business
Dubai house prices seen extending falls on debt crisis
Dubai house prices seen extending falls on debt crisis

NICOSIA: A lack of details on how Dubai plans to pay off its

80-billion-dollar debt mountain will hit Gulf stock markets sharply

this week when they trade for the first time since news broke of the

emirate’s problems, analysts predict.



‘It’s a very serious and severe problem that is likely to shake up the

Gulf financial system as a whole. I expect Gulf bourses to dive like

the September crash last year’ following Lehman Brothers’ bankruptcy,

warned Saudi economist Abdulwahab Abu-Dahesh.



Abu Dhabi, Dubai’s oil-rich neighbour in the United Arab Emirates, is

widely expected to use some of its wealth to rescue Dubai, but

speculation is rife about what conditions it might impose.



‘Abu Dhabi could quite easily resolve the problems for Dubai if it

wanted to but the question is how and at what price,’ said economist

Jan Randolph, director of sovereign risk at the IHS Global Insight

consultancy.



‘Part of this price now seems to involve the creditors that are

effectively being asked to share in the restructuring efforts.’ Dubai

World, a state-controlled conglomerate whose businesses include global

ports operator DP World and construction giant Nakheel, announced on

Wednesday that it was seeking to suspend debt payments for six months

while the group is restructured.



The contract most directly affected is the redemption due in December

of a 3.5-billion-dollar Islamic bond issued by Nakheel, the company

behind Dubai’s iconic Palm Jumeirah tree-shaped artificial island.



The emirate’s borrowings are the equivalent of a full year’s gross

domestic product, and Dubai World’s overall debt of 59 billion dollars

comprises three-quarters of the emirates’ total debt.



Dubai’s government chose to unveil the shock debt moratorium request

immediately before a four-day break for the Muslim holiday of Eid

al-Adha, giving regional stock exchanges no chance to react.



European markets partly recovered on Friday after sharp falls a day

earlier, but analysts expect the Dubai and Abu Dhabi markets to weaken

on Monday when they reopen.



Elsewhere in the Gulf, investors must wait even longer — the Kuwait

and Qatar bourses resume trade on Tuesday, Bahrain on Wednesday and

Saudi Arabia on December 5.



Oliver Bell of Swiss bank Pictet thinks the Dubai World crisis is a

‘disaster’ for Middle East and North Africa equity markets, and is

braced for a big sell-off, he told the UK’s Citywire financial news

website.



When news of Dubai World’s problems first broke, he ‘hoped it was a

miscommunication,’ but a later statement from Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed

al-Maktoum, head of Dubai’s Supreme Fiscal Committee, confirmed Bell’s

worst fears.



‘This was more alarming as it suggests it has been carefully planned

and they knew markets would be very concerned. Now we are in a vacuum

of no news again,’ he said.



‘If all news stays as it is the UAE market will sell off very sharply

when it reopens after Eid,’ Citywire quoted Bell as saying.



On Thursday, Sheikh Ahmed said ‘further information will be made

available early next week,’ but Randolph said Dubai World’s

announcement has raised many questions that will be hard for Dubai to

answer.



‘This was a crisis waiting to happen; all the tell-tale signs were

there.



Many creditors assumed that the Dubai government/sovereign would

support their



investment and invested companies — this is now in question,’ the

analyst said.



Randolph pointed out that Abu Dhabi has the ‘all-important’ oil wells

and still generates trade surpluses from its exports.



‘Abu Dhabi is virtually debt-free and has huge assets — including the

largest Sovereign Wealth Fund in the World with 400 to 500 billion

dollars in assets and at least four other smaller SWFs and finally

foreign exchange reserves at about 33 billion dollars,’ he said.



But the economist believes Dubai needs to face up to its difficulties

rather than rely completely on help from its richer neighbour.



‘It is necessary that Dubai goes through this restructuring, to sort

out the good assets from the bad, that which has an economically

viable future and that which does not,’ Randolph said.



The Financial Times said on Saturday: ‘Dubai must sort this mess out.

It will not now be able to restore confidence in its solvency without

support from Abu Dhabi.’ For its part, Abu Dhabi should give whatever

help is needed to bring this episode of incompetence to a close. Abu

Dhabi allowed it to be believed that it was backstopping Dubai, so it

should make good its promises.



‘This will require a public guarantee of Dubai’s debts — and soon. The

reputation of the whole UAE depends upon it.’ The Dubai market’s DFM

Index closed on Wednesday at 2,070.89, up more than 40 per cent from

the start of the year but still down by two-thirds from its peak of

6,253.10 two years ago.— AFP


----------



By Andrew Hammond - Analysis

DUBAI (Reuters) - The "Dubai vision," which has suffered a crushing blow from the freewheeling Gulf emirate's sudden debt crisis, is the creation of one man who failed to apply the rules of open governance.

The city state's rapid growth revolved around the ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, who outlined his ideas in a book, "My Vision," where he suggested other Arab countries could replicate Dubai's success. Now the model -- always controversial among Gulf Arabs since it involved building shining cities in the desert at breakneck speed through the import of foreign residents, finance and labor -- is on the ropes.

Questions will surface over what went wrong.

This week Dubai said it wanted to delay payment on billions of dollars of its total $80 billion debt, sending global markets plummeting as investors feared defaults could hit the global economy just as it was recovering from the financial crisis.

"Where next for the ruling family in Dubai?" said British historian Christopher Davidson. "The massive loss of legitimacy that the ruler is now facing, the massive loss of legitimacy that his son and crown prince face after lying to the World Economic Forum last week -- where do these guys go from here?"

Sheikh Mohammed, whose face and words grace posters all over town, told the forum this month that the worst had passed for Dubai which was well-placed to pursue its development plans.

The news that investment vehicle Dubai World could not pay a $3.5 billion bond was released just before the Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday and UAE national day on December 2. Local media have almost entirely avoided comment on the debacle.

"Dubai could not be more transparent and open about the challenges it is facing due to the global economic downturn as it has been," the English-language Gulf News said. The Arabic daily al-Khaleej praised the UAE's investment climate.

There is uncertainty about what assets are owned personally by the ruling family, directly by the government or simply sponsored either by the ruler or the government.

ENVY OF THE REGION

Dubai was the envy of other Gulf states such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar, who sought to ape some of Dubai's ideas, such as business free zones, financial centers, advanced infrastructure and welcoming Western capital and expertise.

Aside from its more eye-catching projects seen by many as white elephants, such as palm-shaped man-made islands and the world's tallest tower, Dubai developed health services, universities, sports facilities and model urban communities.

Ayman Ali, a London-based Arabic press commentator, said the Dubai model, based on Hong Kong and Singapore, forgot it was dealing with a country and not a corporation in becoming a place where many in the Arab world dreamed of living.

"In the beginning it was aimed at getting rid of bureaucracy and red tape. It worked fine but if you are building a country you shouldn't go on running it like a company," he said.

Dubai ran to catch up with business transparency practices in Singapore and Hong Kong, and never even pretended to expand political participation beyond a small group around the ruler.

In an online interview this year that epitomized the progressive image Dubai has tried to present, Sheikh Mohammed rejected the suggestion he was a "Superman" who ran the freewheeling emirate alone.

"The 'Superman' phenomenon you are talking about does not exist in our organizations and institutions," he told the questioner -- before going on to discuss how his poetry and horse-racing fit into his 24-hour-a-day schedule.

Despite its financial troubles, many still regard Dubai as a pioneer among its neighbors.

"There was a lack of transparency, yes, but Dubai did something whose model was full liberalism. They made mistakes and lacked a lot of things but they are in transition," said Dubai-based Ibrahim Khayat, a Lebanese strategic business analyst. "Singapore has corruption too."

Martin Hvidt, a Danish Middle East Studies professor who focuses on Gulf economies, said the concentration of power in the hands of Sheikh Mohammed and a few advisors meant Dubai could take quick action to rectify mistakes.

"It's too early to write Dubai's obituary," he said.

(Additional reporting by Raissa Kasolowsky; Editing by Samia Nakhoul)


----------
Dubai debt woes may hit U.S. property market

By Elinor Comlay and Jonathan Stempel - Analysis

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Dubai's debt woes could further unhinge an already fragile U.S. commercial real estate, as it illustrates the importance of that tiny country to global investors in an increasingly interconnected world.

A state-owned investment conglomerate Dubai World, with $59 billion of liabilities, set off a global stock market selloff this week after it said it wants to restructure its debt, including at its property subsidiary Nakheel.

"This downturn has had more of a global impact," said Tony Ciochetti, chairman of Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Center for Real Estate in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

"As I try to explain to my students, with a global economy, we're all attached at the hip financially in some way, shape or form," he added.

The Dubai news also cast doubt over the strength of the fledgling U.S. economic recovery, and the prospects for a bottoming of property prices.

On Friday alone, the Dow Jones U.S. Real Estate Index .DJUSRE fell 2.9 percent, nearly twice the decline of broader U.S. market indexes.

"Dubai may have to unload some very prestigious properties at distressed prices and this will drive the price of all commercial real estate lower," wrote Richard Bove, a banking analyst at Rochdale Securities in Lutz, Florida.

PRESTIGIOUS PROPERTIES

In the United States, Dubai World's portfolio includes several well-known properties, and the fallout could have a larger impact on the entire real estate market.

The company is a partner with casino operator MGM Mirage (MGM.N) in the $8.5 billion CityCenter project, which would add 6,000 rooms to a Las Vegas Strip gambling corridor already saturated with unoccupied hotel rooms.

Nakheel, perhaps best known as the developer of Dubai's palm-shaped islands, also carries the Mandarin Oriental and W hotels in New York in its portfolio, and has a 50 percent stake in the Fontainebleau Miami Beach resort.

And, through its Istithmar affiliate, Dubai World controls the upscale retailer Barneys New York Inc DBWLDB.UL.

The main threat to U.S. commercial property from Dubai World woes may be "potential for contagion," said Sam Chandan, chief economist at Real Estate Econometrics LLC in New York.

"It has the potential to spill over into the broader perception of real estate development and real estate as being a very risky area for exposure," Chandan said.

Many have already been burned.

U.S. commercial real estate values have already fallen 42.9 percent from their 2007 peak, Moody's Investors Service said.

Last month, delinquencies on U.S. commercial real estate loans that were packaged into commercial mortgage-backed securities reached 4.8 percent, more than six times the year earlier level, according to Trepp LLC in New York.

In a November 23 report, Moody's analyst Nick Levidy said prices could bottom at 45 percent to 55 percent below their peak, implying an additional 5 percent to 28 percent decline, but in a "stress case" could drop 65 percent from their peak.

CURRENCIES AND SUBMARINES

Like U.S. investors, foreign investors were enticed through much of this decade to buy U.S. real estate aided by cheap credit and the hope that property prices would steadily rise for a long time.

Currency fluctuations also provided a boost.

And the U.S. dollar lost about one-third of its value against a basket of currencies .DXY since late 2002, making it easier for foreign investors to scoop up U.S. real estate even when valuations grew too rich for investors at home.

Dubai World's holdings go far beyond real estate. It has a 20 percent stake in Canada's Cirque du Soleil, and also invests in the global bank Standard Chartered Plc (STAN.L) and New York boutique investment bank Perella Weinberg Partners.

Other investments go farther afield -- or under water. Dubai World is suing a former executive in a case arising from a wayward foray into submarine financing.

But Ciochetti suggested it is premature to quantify Dubai World's impact on U.S. commercial real estate.

"It is hard to focus on any one particular participant and then generalize about the whole market," he said. "It illustrates that very few places and participants in the commercial real estate market are totally exempt from the global economic crisis."

(Reporting by Elinor Comlay and Jonathan Stempel; Editing Bernard Orr)


---------

Dubai Official Says Government Won't Guarantee Dubai World Debt

BY SUMMER SAID

CAIRO -- The Dubai government won't guarantee the debts of its once-prized Dubai World conglomerate and creditors should help it restructure, a top government official told state-run Dubai TV Monday.

"The company received financing based on its project schedule, not a government guarantee ... they (the lenders) have deemed Dubai World as part of the government and this is not true," Abdulrahman Al Saleh, director general of Dubai's Department of Finance told the channel.

"The government is the owner of the company, but since its foundation it was established that the company is not guaranteed by the government.

Creditors need ...



-----



Crisis, what crisis? Debt-laden Dubai just shrugs
30 Nov 2009, 2100 hrs IST, REUTERS


DUBAI/ABU DHABI: Glitzy Dubai may face a debt crisis that has sent a shudder through global markets, but you wouldn't know it from officials or
Dubai
Who is who in Dubai corporate map | Burj Dubai: The tallest tower | Dubai's metro
| Dubai's mega projects
local media. World leaders have commented on the crisis -- but not those in the United Arab Emirates itself, where authorities have said little as UAE markets fell and the central bank opened an emergency facility to shore up the banking sector.

Local newspapers, which initially ignored the gravity of the crisis, have begun praising Dubai and its leadership -- and criticising foreign media for blowing events out of proportion. "Dubai is exemplary for investment destinations," was the headline in the Arabic-language Al-Bayan. The English-language Gulf News offered: "Global outcry over Dubai World restructuring is exaggerated."

Conspiracy theories floated to the surface. "This is not the first time Western countries attack Dubai's successes," wrote a contributor to the Gulf News letters page. "Dubai has changed the global trade concepts. People behind this furious campaign are against the success of the sons of the desert who transformed the desert into a dream city."

Dubai shocked creditors on Wednesday when it asked them for a standstill on billions of dollars of debt issued by the Dubai World conglomerate and its property subsidiary Nakheel, builder of luxury homes on three man-made, palm tree-shaped islands. At Candylicious, a gigantic emporium that says it is the world's largest candy store, some customers reckon Dubai's boasts of "biggest, tallest, richest" have lost their allure. "Dubai has taken advantage of people," said Australian school teacher Terry Swain, 43.


Also Read
→ Ripple effects of Dubai crisis may be felt in India: RBI
→ Oil ticks up above $76, eyes on Dubai
→ Global stocks mixed amid Dubai debt crisis
→ What went wrong in Dubai
→ Dubai woes give China chance to buy oil, gold: Report


"The way the government generates money is wrong. The cost of living is extreme. Immigration fees are extreme. It's not safe to keep your money here any more."

DREAMS IN THE SKY

But for others among the tiny emirate's mainly expatriate population of 1.7 million, the dream lives on. "I feel excited, I'm happy to work for this tower," said Ishaq Bhuiyah, a Bangladeshi labourer on the construction site of Burj Dubai, the world's tallest building. "I dream to live in one of the apartments up there, in the sky," he said through a protective mask keeping out the dust. Bhuiyah said he and his mates earn 800 dirhams ($218) per month, including food and accommodation allowances, of which he sends half to his family back home. In Abu Dhabi, the wealthiest of the UAE's seven emirates and source of 90 percent of its oil exports, the mood is harsher.

"Let them ride out the storm," said one Abu Dhabi citizen running on a treadmill in a gym, who asked not to be named. "Abu Dhabi is not responsible for bailing out Dubai whenever it falls," he fumed. "Every action has its consequences so they should learn and realise. Otherwise they will always be leaning on Abu Dhabi to help them out whenever anything goes wrong." Masud Mohammed Said, a 49-year-old Dubai taxi driver from the Indian Ocean island of Zanzibar, worked for 18 years for the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company before moving to Dubai.

"I listen to my taxi radio and they talk of a new financial crisis, but I don't understand its scope," he said in Swahili. "For the moment I keep driving. Until my tank is empty."

Outraged Saudis blast govt after deadly Jeddah flood

350 still missing after rains
Muhammad Humaidan | Arab News



Cars drifted by flash floods are seen piled up in Gwaizah District, east of Jeddah, on Friday. (AN photo by Hasan Hatrash)


JEDDAH: Rescue operations were still continuing particularly in the badly affected areas to the east of the city as the death toll of the recent torrential rains and floods that swept through Jeddah was put at 85-103 by Civil Defense on Friday. However, three more bodies seen by Arab News reporters were discovered in Quwizah district later, bringing the number of the dead to 88.

Capt. Abdullah Al-Amri, the Civil Defense spokesman, said 37 bodies, all Saudis, had been handed over to their families and relatives for burial.

There were, however, no confirmed statistics about the number of people missing but reports Friday put them at above 350.

Director General of Civil Defense in Jeddah Gen. Muhamamd Abdul Rahman Al-Ghamdi said that a total of 1,251 people, whose homes were completely or partially damaged by the rains and the floods, had been accommodated in furnished apartments following an instruction by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah. He said efforts were currently under way to provide accommodation to other families.

Gen. Al-Ghamdi said the king’s gesture covered all the residents of Jeddah affected by the disaster, whether they were Saudis or foreigners. He pointed out that his department would be able to deal with the problem of identities and official documents lost in the rain although it was causing delay in accommodating the victims.

“The department is now surveying all the affected areas looking for casualties and survivors,” he added.

Al-Ghamdi said a special committee was currently assessing damage to homes, cars and other property to inform relevant authorities with a view to future compensation.

He told Arab News that work was currently under way to clear the Haramain Expressway. Local contractors were helping remove cars and other debris blocking it, he said.

He reconfirmed that the Directorate General of Civil Defense had plans for the emergency evacuation of people living and working close to the sewage lake (commonly known to the residents of Jeddah as the Musk Lake).

Reports from Jeddah municipality stated that the lake and its retaining dam were safe. However, local residents had feared that the dam might be breached causing more floods in the city.

The municipality allayed these fears by affirming that the dam encircling it has been further fortified.

Field tours by Arab News reporters to the affected areas noted hectic efforts to reopen the Haramain Expressway, which was blocked by hundreds of wrecked and abandoned vehicles as a result of the floods. It is expected that the road might reopen for normal traffic by early Saturday morning.

Many residents of Quwaizah and Hasat Muraikh appealed to the authorities for help. They said they have been without electricity for many days. They also appealed to welfare organizations to provide them with food and medicines.

Al-Ghamdi, however, promised that the electricity would soon be restored in their areas.


----
Updated at: 0100 PST, Sunday, November 29, 2009
RIYADH: A Saudi lawyer said on Saturday he will sue the city of Jeddah, as thousands took to Facebook to blast authorities in a rare burst of open outrage after floods killed more than 100 people in the Red Sea port.

The toll jumped to 103 from Wednesday's floods after authorities discovered more bodies, Saudi-owned private television reported late Saturday.

Human rights lawyer Walid Abu al-Kheir said families of victims of the disaster were supporting the lawsuit, which will allege massive mismanagement of city works construction by the Jeddah government as a key cause for the flooding.

"They didn't make the drainage work. They have told us for three years or more that it has been completed," he said. "Even people from the city government said there were mistakes."

Waleed said he planned to file his lawsuit next Saturday, when government offices and courts reopen after the two-week Eid al-Adha holiday.

A huge rainstorm sparked the flash floods, with many victims caught in their cars and drowning in two metres (6.5 feet) or more of water.

Roads were destroyed and cars and trucks left in piles after the waters receded on Thursday.

Electricity is still out in some of the worst hit parts of the city, the country's second largest after Riyadh.

With public protests banned in Saudi Arabia, Jeddah residents have taken to the Internet to attack the government.

More than 11,000 people joined a Facebook page created three days ago to complain about the floods, saying the city government and contractors were at fault for not building adequate infrastructure.

"We've been talking about this issue for years. Everybody knew this disaster was coming. We've seen something like this on a smaller scale," Saud Kateb, a media technology professor and one of the Internet protesters, told media.


----


Saudi Facebook group vents anger over flood
Hassna'a Mokhtar | Arab News


JEDDAH: Following Wednesday’s devastating floods in Jeddah, which left a trail of death and destruction, there is growing anger among residents at the state of the city’s infrastructure.

Some are even threatening to sue the municipality for damages, claiming the flash flooding was a direct result of municipal negligence. A group calling itself the “National Campaign to Save the City of Jeddah” has established an Arabic-language Facebook profile calling for action to ensure the city is never flooded again.

Thousands have rushed to join the group since it was set up on Thursday. By 5 p.m. on Friday, 6,191 Facebook users had joined the group. Thirty minutes later, 153 more people had joined.

“What we witnessed made it clear beyond any doubt that the city of Jeddah is in urgent need to be saved,” the group said on its page.

They have called for a national emergency plan to protect it. The group published nearly 200 photos and numerous videos of the devastation. The group creators said that, contrary to belief, Jeddah residents do not enjoy it when it rains “because of all the damages that happen due to a poor drainage system and poor road planning and infrastructure.”

According to a local e-newspaper, the campaign’s supervisor, Riyadh Al-Zahrani, said that the group was created to unite the efforts of people and organize volunteers to provide assistance and highlight the seriousness of the situation.

“People want to write a petition and send it to the governor. They want to express their feelings about the municipality. It has been shown now that it has no integrity,” Al-Zahrani was quoted as saying.

The King Abdullah Road underpass that was built less than four years ago was completely submerged. “Where is the drainage system? What was the vision of those who designed this project?” asked Al-Zahrani.

Lawyer Waleed Abu Alkhair, one of the campaign’s participants, said that everyone who has been involved in this chaos must be sued.

“We’ll do our best to take this to the Court of Grievances. We’ll ask for compensation to those who suffered losses and damages. That’s the least they should get,” said Alkhair.

Mufleh Al-Qahtani, chairman of the National Society for Human Rights, was reported as saying that victims of the floods have every right to file cases in the Court of Grievances against government bodies.


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Saudia in chaos after ‘self-inflicted flood’
Roger Harrison | Arab News


JEDDAH: Flights were delayed, passenger details were lost and both domestic and international flights were thrown into chaos on Wednesday when Saudi Arabian Airlines’ mainframe computer system crashed. This resulted in Saudia processing passengers, freight and cargo manifests manually and causing long delays.

The problem arose, according to a well-placed source who requested anonymity, when the sprinkler system in their Jeddah computer center turned on and soaked the central booking and manifest handling computers. The system was activated when the part of the sprinkler control system was left exposed to the rain after routine maintenance.

The storms that afflicted Jeddah on Wednesday filled the open covers with rain at about 10 a.m. that worked its way into the system controls and turned it on, presumably from an electrical short.

“All the systems and equipment went offline,” said the source. “It affected Saudia worldwide and this meant that flight plans could not be made, reservations for passengers (could not be) verified and because tickets are all e-tickets, nothing at all was working. It all had to be done manually.”

The rainfall had “affected the electrical feeders for the airline’s main centers of information systems in Al-Kandara district,” said a statement from Abdullah Mishbib Al-Ajhar, the carrier’s assistant director-general of public relations. “It had stopped all the automated systems for air-booking, departures and schedules of pilots and navigators. It had also affected air traffic and delayed all domestic flights during the past 24 hours.”

Since the flooding, people have been unable to book Saudia flights online. Attempts to phone Saudia resulted in unanswered calls or busy tones. Trying to use travel agents was no better. All they could tell would-be passengers was that Saudia’s system was down. One determined traveler drove to Jeddah airport to book a flight only to discover 400 other frustrated people ahead of him trying to do the same.

The anonymous source added that Saudia recently relieved, as a cost-saving exercise, many senior employees who were familiar with the manual booking system and knew the procedures.

“None of the current employees know how to do a load check, passenger manifest reconciliation or much of the other procedures,” he said. “We had delays you would not believe.”

Balck Water -Zee Services operating under Castrol Logistics

Blackwater launching missions from Karachi’

* US paper says Blackwater assisting CIA in assassinations of Taliban, Al Qaeda operatives, ‘sensitive action inside, outside Pakistan’
* Blackwater’s help to secret US military drone attacks runs parallel to well-documented CIA predator strikes

Daily Times Monitor

LAHORE: Members of an elite division of Blackwater (Xe Services) are conducting a secret programme from Karachi in which they plan targeted assassinations of suspected Taliban and Al Qaeda operatives, “snatch and grabs” of high-value targets and other sensitive action inside and outside Pakistan, an investigative report by US-based newspaper The Nation has revealed.

Citing a well-placed source within the US military intelligence apparatus, the paper said the covert forward operating base, run by the US Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), is assisted by Blackwater operatives in gathering intelligence and help run a secret US military drone bombing campaign that runs parallel to the well-documented CIA predator strikes.

The source, which The Nation said has worked on covert US military programmes for years, including in Afghanistan and Pakistan, had direct knowledge of Blackwater’s involvement.

The source told the paper that the programme was so “compartmentalised” that senior figures within President’s Barack Obama’s administration and the US military chain of command might not be aware of its existence.

The White House did not comment on the story, The Nation said.

A defence official denied that Blackwater worked on drone strikes or intelligence for JSOC in Pakistan, saying they “don’t have any contracts to do that work for us. We don’t contract that kind of work out, period”.

The paper’s source said the Blackwater programme was distinct from the CIA assassination programme that the agency’s director, Leon Panetta, announced he had cancelled in June 2009.

A former senior executive at Blackwater confirmed the source’s claim that the company was working in Pakistan for the CIA and JSOC.

He even said Blackwater was also working for the Pakistani government on a subcontract with an Islamabad-based security firm “that puts Blackwater operatives on the ground with Pakistani forces”.

The Nation said the covert JSOC programme with Blackwater in Pakistan dates back to at least 2007, according to the source. Blackwater’s work for JSOC in Karachi is coordinated out of a Task Force based at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, according to the military intelligence source.

“While JSOC technically runs the operations in Karachi,” he said, “it is largely staffed by former US special operations soldiers working for a division of Blackwater, once known as Blackwater SELECT, and intelligence analysts working for a Blackwater affiliate, Total Intelligence Solutions (TIS), which is owned by Blackwater’s founder, Erik Prince”

Iraq inquiry's game-changing evidence

Sir Christopher Meyer's evidence has surely made it impossible to claim that Iraq was about WMD and not regime change



At the Iraq inquiry this morning, Sir Christopher Meyer has let so many cats out of the bag that it is hard to keep up with them all. He has confirmed that by the time Tony Blair met George Bush at Crawford, Texas in April 2002, Blair had already agreed to regime change. Meyer and others had told the US administration about this change of heart in March 2002. The "UN route" was a way to justify the war but the inspectors were never given the chance to do their job.

Or did we know all that already? Ever since the war, there has been a massive gulf between what various leaked documents have shown and the official version. Previous inquiries have failed to close that gap. Now Meyer, who was the UK ambassador to Washington at the time, has done exactly that.

The government's version of events was always that it was taking action to deal with the threat of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. Leaked documents, most notably the Downing Street documents, show that the policy was to go along with the US desire for regime change and use weapons of mass destruction as a pretext. This version of events was confirmed by what Meyer said this morning. I don't think it could be more explosive.

The inquiry committee gradually brought Meyer to early 2002, when it became apparent that the hawks in the Bush administration who wanted regime change had won the argument in the aftermath of September 11. He said that the UK had been against regime change, mainly on legal grounds. But by the time Tony Blair visited George Bush at Crawford, he was supporting the policy, but had to be discreet about it.

There was a perception that there was no point trying to go against the Americans. Was it the case that UK policy was changed in the US? It was not as poodlish as that – Blair was a true believer in the evil of Saddam Hussein.

Asked when his instructions changed, Meyer said that he got a chunky set of instructions from Sir David Manning, Blair's foreign policy adviser, in March 2002. Manning came over with a set of instructions to prepare the way for Blair's visit. One of the main things he was seeking to do was to say to the US, if you want regime change, you can do it by yourselves, but if you want partners, do it with an alliance, preferably taking "the UN route".

Meyer said at times that regime change did not necessarily mean invasion but at other times he made clear that this was seen as the inevitable outcome. He confirmed, as he did in his memoirs, the validity of his March 2002 note to Manning, in which he recorded how he had told Paul Wolfowitz, a leading US hawk, that while Blair backed regime change, there had to be a clever plan to wrongfoot Saddam over the return of weapons inpectors.

Meyer said that the plan initially worked perfectly, with the passing in November 2002 of UN security council resolution 1441, which put the emphasis on Saddam Hussein. The US hoped that it would provide a tripwire to justify war but it did not. As we know now, there were no WMD.

This turned 1441 on its head. The military timetable, with war slated for March 2003, did not allow the inspections to work. There was a desperate scrabble for a smoking gun and attention turned to claims of Iraqi non-co-operation. Unfortunately, in March 2003, Hans Blix reported increased co-operation.

I suggested before that Meyer's and Manning's evidence could be a game-changer, that given the clear evidence of the Downing Street papers, it would be impossible to claim that Iraq was about WMD and not regime change. I don't think Meyer's evidence could be any more damning.

It looks as if Sir John Chilcot was right – in Meyer's case – to expect candour, given the mountain of evidence that the inquiry has. Meyer made clear that he was aware of these papers, none of which have yet been officially published. Unfortunately, Meyer said that many of his dispatches, warning of problems to come, are missing from the inquiry's otherwise excellent archive, which is of course dependent on disclosure by the government.

It looks as if the cover-up is continuing, but being botched this time.

German military chief resigns over Afghan air strike

A plane carrying U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is saluted by U.S. soldiers upon her arrival at Kabul airport November 18, 2009. Clinton arrived in Afghanistan on Wednesday for her first visit as America's top diplomat, on the eve of President Hamid Karzai's inauguration after a fraud-tainted election. REUTERS/Jerry Lampen (AFGHANISTAN CONFLICT MILITARY POLITICS IMAGES OF THE DAY)
26 Nov 2009 09:30:01 GMT
Source: Reuters
BERLIN, Nov 26 (Reuters) - Germany's armed forces chief Wolfgang Schneiderhan has resigned, Defence Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg said, after accusations the military withheld information about an air strike in Afghanistan.

The Sept. 4 strike was the most deadly operation involving German troops since World War Two, killing 69 Taliban fighters and 30 civilians, according to the Afghan government.

In the days after the strike, Franz Josef Jung, who was defence minister at the time and now serves as labour minister in Chancellor Angela Merkel's new centre-right government, denied there were any civilian victims.

Germany's Bild newspaper reported on Thursday, ahead of a parliamentary debate on extending Germany's 4,500-strong mission in Afghanistan, that videos and a secret military report had clearly pointed to civilian casualties at the time the government and military was denying them.

Speaking in parliament, Guttenberg said on Thursday that Schneiderhan, who as inspector general holds the highest-ranking military post in the armed forces, had submitted his resignation. The minister thanked him for his service. (Writing by Noah Barkin; editing by Andrew Roche) ((noah.barkin@reuters.com; +49 30 2888 5091; Reuters Messaging: rm://noah.barkin.reuters.com@reuters.net))

U.S. will be out of Afghanistan by 2017 -White House

Wed Nov 25, 2009 9:33pm GMT



By Ross Colvin and Jeff Mason

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States will not be in Afghanistan eight years from now, the White House said on Wednesday, as President Barack Obama prepared to explain to Americans next week why he is expanding the war effort.

After months of deliberation and fending off Republican charges that he was dithering on Afghanistan while violence there surged, Obama will address the nation on Tuesday on the way forward in the costly and unpopular eight-year war.

He is expected to announce he is sending about 30,000 more troops as part of a new counterinsurgency strategy that will place greater emphasis on accelerating the training of Afghan security forces so that U.S. soldiers can eventually withdraw.

It appears highly unlikely Obama will offer a specific troop withdrawal timetable, but White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said the president would stress that the U.S. involvement in Afghanistan was not open-ended.

"We are in year nine of our efforts in Afghanistan. We are not going to be there another eight or nine years," Gibbs told reporters. "Our time there will be limited and that is important for people to understand," he said.

He said Obama would use his prime-time televised speech to stress the "sheer cost" of the war, explain to Americans why their military was still in Afghanistan, and press Afghan President Hamid Karzai to improve governance after being re-elected in a fraud-tainted vote in August.

"The American people are going to want to know why we are here, they are going to want to know what our interests are," Gibbs said.

The White House has estimated it will cost $1 million per year for each additional soldier sent to Afghanistan. With the U.S. deficit hitting $1.4 trillion and fuelling Americans' concerns about high government spending, sending more troops to Afghanistan could be a politically risky move for Obama.

Obama's fellow Democrats, who control the U.S. Congress, face potentially difficult midterm elections in November 2010, with Republicans eager to exploit Americans' unease about the country's ballooning deficit and high unemployment.

Two veteran Democratic lawmakers have already called for imposing a "war tax" to pay for the troop increase.

"VERY, VERY, VERY EXPENSIVE"

Gibbs said Obama would meet with key lawmakers to brief them about his plan ahead of his Tuesday speech. Key committees in the House of Representatives and the Senate will hold back-to-back hearings next Wednesday and Thursday with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Defence Secretary Robert Gates and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen.

Gibbs said the financial cost of the conflict -- which reached $6.7 billion in June alone -- and the physical toll it had taken on the U.S. military made the war unsustainable in the long term.

"It is very, very, very expensive," Gibbs said.

Obama will again press Karzai to improve the performance of his corruption-plagued government. Karzai's legitimacy was tarnished after a fraud-riddled election in August that saw millions of ballots favouring him thrown out.

"As the president has told President Karzai, there has to be a new chapter in Afghan governance and that is something the president will talk about on Tuesday," Gibbs said.

Obama has spent the past three months reviewing the U.S. strategy in Afghanistan, where a resurgent Taliban has driven violence to its highest levels since U.S. forces invaded in 2001 to oust the militant Islamists for harbouring al Qaeda leaders responsible for the September 11 attacks on the United States.

The president has drawn fire from Republican critics for the time he has taken to reach a decision, but the White House has countered saying the former Bush administration neglected Afghanistan and allowed the security situation to deteriorate.

Obama's address to the nation at 8 p.m. EST on December 1 (1 a.m. British time December 2) from the West Point military academy in New York state will mark the end of a long process of deliberation that was characterized by a slow drip of leaks about the various options he was considering.

Angered by the leaks, which some analysts saw as an attempt by some in the administration to influence the president's thinking, Obama threatened to make them a firing offence.

(Additional reporting by Adam Entous; editing by Patricia Wilson and Eric Beech)


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Mullah Omar rejects Khrazai call to legitimise the US occupation of Afghanistan.
In response to President Hameed Kharzai call for negotiation, Mullah Omar, the supreme commander of the Afghani Resistance Movement, rejected any attempt to split the Taleban or to collaborate with the Americans in order to extend and legitimise the US anti-Islamic occupation of Afghanistan. It must be mentioned here that the Taleban have no international agenda and concentrate their efforts on freeing their country from the boots of the crusaders. On the first day of Eid Al-Adha, Mullah Omar called on all Afghanis to use all means to frustrate and to defeat the foreign occupiers desecrating the sacred lands, corrupting people and undermining their culture and traditions. This is an indirect message to President Obama who is preparing to send an additional 30-40000 soldiers as requested by his field commanders. Like Lyndon Johnson in Vietnam, Obama will not be able to finish the job in Afghanistan.
Adnan Darwash, Iraq Occupation Times