By INAM UR-REHMAN, Associated Press Writer Inam Ur-rehman, Associated Press Writer – 2 hrs 12 mins ago
MINGORA, Pakistan – Corpses lay exposed in the Swat Valley's main town on Sunday, and residents rushed to mostly empty markets in search of food a day after the military claimed to have retaken the city from the Taliban.
Elsewhere in the northwest, officials said scores of militants were killed in fighting with soldiers that could signal Pakistan is expanding the offensive from Swat into other parts of the northwestern border region with Afghanistan.
Many buildings were damaged in parts of Mingora seen by The Associated Press, but not badly. Two decomposing bodies, apparently those of insurgents, lay unburied in a cemetery, while a third charred corpse lay close to a shopping mall. The smell of explosives hung in the air.
"We have been starving for many days. We have been cooking tree leaves to keep ourselves alive. Thank God it is over," said Afzal Khan. "We need food, we need help. We want peace."
Pakistan launched an offensive against militants in the Swat Valley and surrounding districts last month after they violated the terms of a cease-fire and advanced into a region close to the capital, Islamabad.
Speaking in Singapore, Pakistan's defense secretary predicted the army would retake the whole Swat region in "two to three days," giving hope some of the estimated 3 million refugees may soon be able to return home. Pakistan's military spokesman said that assessment was overly optimistic.
The Swat offensive has earned Western praise, as troops have regained large swaths of the region from an estimated 4,000 militants, but several places remain under militant control.
In South Waziristan, insurgents attacked an army convoy Saturday night in Tiarza village in South Waziristan, sparking battles in various parts of the region, two intelligence officials said. They estimated that 50 militants and two soldiers were killed.
Early Sunday, militants fired more than a dozen missiles at an army camp in South Waziristan's Jandola area. The military retaliated using artillery, and some troops moved into a Taliban-held village to force out the armed Islamist extremists.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to media. The information could not be independently verified because of limited access to the remote area, and other officials could not immediately be reached for comment.
Most of Mingora's around 375,000 residents fled before or during the offensive. The military briefly lifted a curfew Sunday, allowing some of the 20,000 or so that remained to buy provisions in the few shops that were open.
Ali Rehman said he had not left his house for 25 days.
"I never knew who was fighting and who was being killed," he said, clutching two bags of flour. "I need help to keep my family alive because I do not have any source of income anymore."
Authorities said they were distributing aid to people trapped in Mingora, and water and gas supplies were being restored. An emergency medical team had been flown in and would work to reopen the town's hospital and treat civilians wounded in the fighting, military spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said.
But it will be at least two weeks before power is back on, and refugees are not yet being encouraged to return home, he added.
The Taliban warned they would attack Pakistani cities in retaliation for the Swat offensive. They claimed responsibility for Wednesday's gun and suicide bomb attack in the eastern city of Lahore that killed at least 30 people. A day later, three suicide bombings killed at least 14 people in two cities in the northwest.
Abbas said Saturday that 1,217 militants have been killed in the Swat offensive and 79 arrested, and 81 soldiers have died — figures that cannot be independently verified. The military has not released civilian casualty numbers and says all care is being taken to protect the innocent.
___
Associated Press writer Vijay Joshi contributed to this report from Singapore.
Sunday, May 31, 2009
U.S. Occupation of Iraq Will End, but a Host of American Influences May Linger
A Quiet but Undeniable Cultural Legacy
Mark Apram is the most popular tattoo artist in Baghdad, and his room is a potpourri of American influences. "Anything American, I love it," he said.
Mark Apram is the most popular tattoo artist in Baghdad, and his room is a potpourri of American influences. "Anything American, I love it," he said. (Nada Bakri - The Washington Post)
These residents of the southern city of Basra, above, are dressed in a manner that would be fairly indistinguishable from that of their U.S. counterparts. Some youths say the U.S. mission has brought openness.
These residents of the southern city of Basra, above, are dressed in a manner that would be fairly indistinguishable from that of their U.S. counterparts. Some youths say the U.S. mission has brought openness. (By Andrea Bruce -- The Washington Post)
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The American influence on the Iraqi military lexicon is clear. Badges that were once uniformly in Arabic now almost always have an English component. English acronyms are sometimes used in colloquial Arabic.
The American influence on the Iraqi military lexicon(A stock of terms used in a particular profession, subject, or style; a vocabulary: the) is clear. Badges that were once uniformly in Arabic now almost always have an English component. English acronyms are sometimes used in colloquial Arabic. (By Nada Bakri -- The Washington Post)
By Anthony Shadid
Washington Post Foreign Service
Sunday, May 31, 2009
BAGHDAD
Across the street from the tidy rows of tombstones in the British cemetery, mute testimony to the soldiers of an earlier occupation, Mustafa Muwaffaq bears witness to the quieter side of the United States' six-year-old presence in Iraq.
In wraparound sunglasses, shorts and shoes without socks, the burly 20-year-old student waxes eloquent about his love for heavy metal of all kinds: death, thrash, black. But none of it compares, he says, to the honky-tonk of Alan Jackson, whose tunes he strums on his acoustic guitar at night, pining for a life as far away as a passport will take him.
"You know, I wanna go to Texas and be a country boy," he said, as he stood in the sweltering shade of Baghdad's Academy of Fine Arts. "I wanna be a cowboy, and I wanna sing like one."
All occupations eventually end. When this one does, history's narratives will be shaped by the cacophony(The use of harsh or discordant sounds in literary composition, as for poetic effect.) it wrought(Shaped by hammering with tools. Used chiefly of metals or metalwork.
Made delicately or elaborately) -- the carnage unleashed by the U.S.-led invasion that threatened Iraq's notion of itself as a country and that will haunt generations to come.
But the whispers may linger just as long -- the far quieter way in which two cultures that often found it difficult to share the same space intersected to reshape Iraq's language, culture and sensibility. From tattoos of Metallica to bellybutton piercings, from posters for a rap concert in Baghdad to stories parents tell their naughty children in Fallujah of the Americans coming to get them, the occupation has already left its mark.
There is the bellicose language of the checkpoint: "Go" and "Stop" (often rendered as "stob" in a language with no "p"), along with a string of American expletives that Iraqi children imitate with zeal. In parks along the Tigris River, they play "tafteesh," Arabic for inspection. Iraqi troops, sometimes indistinguishable from their U.S. counterparts, don the sunglasses considered effeminate in the time of Saddam Hussein.
Some Iraqi youths even dip Skoal tobacco.
"It's inevitable that they're going to leave a trace on us after they depart," said Yahya Hussein, a soccer coach, former player and denizen of Baghdad's Karrada neighborhood.
'These Are the Times'
Hussein left Kawkab al-Sharq cafe -- named for a legendary Egyptian singer of another era -- where waiters ferried tea, Nescafe and a water pipe known as a nergilla, a word taken from Persian. His family's history in Karrada stretches back 11 generations, and as he strolled along the neighborhood's main thoroughfare, he spoke with the authority of experience.
"All this," he said, pointing at a kiosk, "came after the occupation."
-----------
Rickety stands along the street overflowed with goods. Toy guns emblazoned with the moniker "Super Police" sat next to imitation handcuffs and walkie-talkies. A doll dressed in fatigues, with dog tags around its neck, carried an M-16 rifle, familiar to Iraqis as a weapon of the U.S. military. With a squeeze of the doll's hand, Freddie Mercury belted out Queen's "We Will Rock You" to a street speaking Arabic.
"These are the times," Hussein said.
Bootleg copies of "Star Trek," "Valkyrie" and "Marley & Me" were on sale, along with CDs by Eminem, 50 Cent and Massari. On a wall was an ad for a concert by Rap Boys, billed as the "first and biggest rap party in Baghdad."
Youths asked a barber across the street for the latest haircut, which they call "spiky"; one barber insisted that the name came from a soldier's nickname for his military dog. The soldier's version of a crew cut is called "Yankee" (or, sometimes, "bankee").
Businesses hawked camouflage-patterned men's underwear. "Harley," a kind of biker boot, went for $125. "Texas," the cowboy version, cost $100.
For each item, Hussein had a simple phrase: "after the suqut," the fall of Saddam Hussein.
The Long Perspective
Iraq remains a proud country, its people bridling at what they see as the condescension(Patronizingly superior behavior or attitude) inherent in the United States' modern-day equivalent of a civilizing mission. History, thousands of years of it, forms the refrain of any conversation: Mesopotamia gave birth to civilization, and at its medieval zenith, as Europe slumbered, Baghdad was a city of racetracks, law schools, museums, libraries, hospitals, zoos and insane asylums.
The country's past shamed its present, and in the wake of Hussein's fall in 2003, many Iraqis, however suspicious, were willing to give the Americans the benefit of the doubt. Now, many blame them for everything from sectarian strife to Baghdad's disrepair. The only kind of American most Iraqis have met is a young, gun-toting soldier, and a look of scornful incomprehension often greets a question about the Americans' cultural legacy.
"What are they leaving behind?" asked Mohammed Chayan, a 45-year-old painter sitting with friends at the Madarat Cafe and Gallery, near a wall of concrete barriers.
"There's never really been interaction with society," he said. "When they came to visit, it wasn't artists who showed up. It was soldiers coming down from their tanks."
"They were isolated," admitted Mohammed Rasim Kasim, a filmmaker and photographer. "But," he added, "I have to disagree with my colleague."
Kasim, a bearish, cheerful man, said that before 2003 he had traveled only to neighboring Jordan. Since then, he has visited the United States, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Germany and Austria. And an image lingers from his travels: recognizing a car in Berlin as a U.S. military vehicle not because it was part of an armored convoy snarling traffic for a mile behind it, as in Iraq, but because he spotted the tiny inscription on its license plate: "U.S. Army."
-------------
"It was written so small," he said, still amazed at how inconspicuous it was.
"I'm not defending their presence, but that's not all it was. We have to be honest," Kasim told his friend. "We paid a very high price, but it was the price of freedom."
Chayan shook his head.
"We haven't seen a bright side," he said. "Well, there's no bright side to colonization, we can say that. But the Americans could have left something positive behind. What makes me sad, wherever I go, whenever I go, I just see remains of destruction."
A friend of Chayan's stopped by briefly. "Peace be upon you," he said. The two men traded words of endearment in a staccato burst of familiar Arabic: "My heart," "My dear," "My soul." Then Chayan bade him goodbye: "With peace." His friend's response was distinctly Iraqi, a word borrowed decades ago from English and now used as a greeting, as a farewell, as thanks or as welcome.
"Hello, hello," he said.
The British Interlude
The British entered Baghdad in 1917 to end Ottoman rule, with the same pledge the Americans would make. "Our armies do not come into your cities and lands as conquerors or enemies, but as liberators," proclaimed Maj. Gen. Sir Stanley Maude. Like the Americans, the British faced a revolt, in 1920, led by a segment of the population that had grown frustrated and resentful at the heavy-handedness of a foreign army.
British rule lasted until 1932, and its waning influence ended with the fall of the Hashemite monarchy in 1958. By then, it had left an indelible mark on Iraq's culture and society. Everything from post offices and nightclubs to the railway stations and double-decker red buses that ran in the capital until the last days of Hussein's rule bore a British stamp. So did the military, the judiciary, the health system and the ministries.
Even today, English instructors in Iraqi universities favor a British accent.
"The British created the system. We inherited it from them," said Adnan Pachachi, an 85-year-old lawmaker and former diplomat who entered Iraq's foreign service in the last years of the monarchy. "Of course, Iraqis then added to it."
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Words borrowed from the British still litter Iraqi Arabic, albeit with a local inflection: glass, bottle, bicycle, rail, battery, ice cream, counter, blanket, jerrycan, gear, dashboard (dishbool), table (tabla) and lousy (malyous). "Wrongside" means to drive the wrong way down a one-way street. Some argue that the word for tea glass, istikaan, comes from the phrase "ice tea can." (Others insist the word is derived from Persian.)
And, of course, "hello."
--------
American Dreams
Abu Naji was the nickname Iraqis gave their British occupiers. There remains no equivalent for the Americans, but a slew of words describe those who imitate them. The older term for someone becoming more American than Americans was mitamrik, or Americanized. More conservative types here call such people khanazeer or quruud, "pigs" or "monkeys." One student at the Academy of Fine Arts coined another name.she said.
"Am-raqis,"
The students agreed there has been an infitah, or opening -- the word many use for the plethora of influences that followed the occupation, imported through the Internet and satellite television, each banned to varying degrees under Hussein. But many of them echoed the question heard at the Madarat Gallery: What has freedom brought?
"You can say what you want to say, and you don't care what anyone else thinks," said Raed Ibrahim, a 23-year-old painter at the academy. "That's my freedom. Anyone can grasp it."
Shahid Shaker, a 21-year-old sculptor, looked at the ground, then spoke up. "Don't exaggerate," she told him softly. "Yes, the occupation brought freedom. But it destroyed culture, too. We're being educated in a culture of violence."
"Sometimes," she added, "there is too much freedom."
Imported pornography is sold openly in Baghdad's Bab al-Sharji market. Popping pills is something of a fad(A fashion that is taken up with great enthusiasm for a brief period of time; a craze.). On campus, dating has grown more permissive. The reality TV show "American Idol," broadcast by a Saudi-owned satellite channel, has its fans. Citing songs by 50 Cent and Metallica conveys a certain hipness. So do tattoos; Shaker says 40 percent of students have one, a remarkable figure given that they were once a mark of prison time.
"I'm going to get one as soon as I get the money," Ibrahim volunteered.
'Havee Matel Mark'
Mark Apram, the most popular tattoo artist in Baghdad, charges $50 for his work. Twenty-nine and married, he sometimes works from his cramped apartment, where a wall bears the words "Havee Matel Mark" over his painting of a red-eyed devil with pitchfork. ("Did I spell it right?" he asked.)
The room is a potpourri of American influences: a picture of an FHM model laminated on his coffee table; a stuffed Taz, the Tasmanian devil from Looney Tunes; an Incredible Hulk action figure. His shirt, embossed with images of Tupac Shakur and Snoop Dogg, reads, "The Hood, the Bad and The Guilty."
"Anything American, I love it," he said. "It's what makes me happy."
Apram estimates that he has done a million tattoos since the Americans invaded, inspired by the Internet and by designs he saw on soldiers' arms when they rolled up their sleeves. "Maybe even more," he responded to a look of disbelief.
---------
He is an advertisement for his own work. His left arm bears the images of a scorpion, the sun, the Virgin Mary and the name of an old girlfriend, Rana. (His pregnant wife has begged him to remove that one.) Being right-handed, he has left his right arm bare. On his right leg are tattooed a dragon and the letter E, for Eminem.
Butterflies and flowers are most popular with girls, he said. Men prefer skulls, a barbed-wire-like design, Metallica and the names of daughters, wives and girlfriends. Some ask for a dragon. A teenage boy wanted a Harley-Davidson motorcycle.
The Internet has been influential, he said, as have satellite TV channels. But as he sees it, his success is a legacy of the presence of tens of thousands of American troops in his country.
"They're the origin of all of it," he said. "They're teaching us how to act."
A Military Lexicon
The military aesthetic may prove to be this occupation's most lasting cultural artifact. If the British can claim credit for an array of industrial words used by Iraqis, including "radiator" and "machine," the Americans are responsible for a military lexicon that is still evolving.
"Hummer" has entered Iraqi dialect as the word for the armored jeeps known as Humvees, as has the Arabic-inflected plural, Hummer-at. "Buffalo" is the word for MRAPs, the hulking Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles. "Chocolate, mister!" or "Soccer ball, mister, soccer ball!" children shout to troops in Sadr City, a Baghdad slum of soggy trash and stagnant pools of sewage.
Badg-at has become Iraqi Arabic for identity cards. Other words and phrases have been picked up from soldiers at checkpoints or conducting house raids or foot patrols: "Relax," "Please," "Sorry," "No problem," "Oh, my God," "Give me five." Almost any youth can hurl a string of American expletives whose Arabic equivalent would earn them a slap across the face.
The war has inspired new Arabic words, as well. Hawasim, the name Hussein bestowed on his last battle in 2003, has come to mean booty looted in its aftermath. Arabic rendered literally from English at checkpoints -- "Prepared to capture criminals" or "Prepared to help" -- reads like the Arabic subtitles of an American movie.
As in the Palestinian territories, where security forces sometimes copy the style of their Israeli occupiers, Iraqi soldiers are now sometimes indistinguishable from their American counterparts, resembling a scaled-down version of a football player.
There is the desert camouflage, along with sunglasses and, occasionally, gloves. The black leather boots of the Hussein era have given way to a khaki suede variety. Holsters have gone from the hip to the thigh. The soldiers are equipped with kneepads, though they usually droop down to their ankles. No one was seen with a flak jacket before the invasion. Nor did anyone roll up their sleeves or tuck their pants into their boots.
Even the posture is American: rifle carried high, finger on the trigger.
And a fist thrust forth has come to mean stop.
"They look like peacocks," declared Abu Ali Rubai, a 60-year-old uniform vendor. "They wear this and that," he said, pointing at a holster nicknamed Rambo, combat boots called Swat, and plastic handcuffs. "They're like a child playing with toys."
He ruffled through bags filled with the gold-colored insignia of the old army's medical corps, tanks, special forces and artillery. He pointed out the colors of the berets that no one buys anymore -- blue for air force, beige for infantry and red for military police. Then he grabbed fistfuls of new badges, most of them in English and Arabic. There was Special Forces, with its skull and crossed arrows (sometimes written as Special Farces). "Iraq Army" was printed in English. So was SWAT. One badge read, "Ministry of Interiors."
Rubai cast a longing eye at his favorite uniform, worn by Abdel-Karim Qassem, the officer who overthrew the monarchy in 1958, in a portrait that hangs behind his desk. It was a woolen, British-style uniform with a hat known as the sidara, or faisaliyya. Four blue versions of the hat still hung from nails in the wall, gathering dust.
"The old ones were more distinguished," Rubai said. Then he recited a stanza by Maaruf al-Rusafi, a nationalist poet who died in 1945.
The English are not our saviors,
Even if they have made pledges to us in writing.
When has a strong man had pity for the weak?
How does a master make a pledge to his sheep?
We are but prisoners in their hands
And by the pledges they have written that shackle us.
By God, even if we were monkeys,
Monkeys would not accept being our kin.
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Ex-Iraq trade minister arrested in mid-flight drama
Ex-Iraq trade minister arrested in mid-flight drama AFP/File – Iraq's former trade minister Abdel Falah al-Sudani, seen here in April 2009, was arrested on Saturday …
by Ammar Karim Ammar Karim – Sat May 30, 2:26 pm ET
BAGHDAD (AFP) – Former Iraqi trade minister Abdel Falah al-Sudani was arrested on Saturday after his plane was dramatically ordered back to Bagdhad as he tried to flee the country in the wake of a graft scandal.
Sudani was on board a flight to Dubai, which authorities turned back to the capital so that he could be arrested, said Sabah al-Saedi, head of parliament's corruption and integrity commission.
"The minister was trying to escape from justice and was headed to the United Arab Emirates (UAE)," said Saedi.
"After some phone calls were made to judicial authorities and the airport, the airplane was turned back and the minister arrested," he said.
On Monday, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's office announced that Sudani had resigned amid allegations of corruption and embezzlement linked to the nation's food assistance programme.
"An arrest warrant was issued against the minister under the charge of corruption," said Saedi. "He is the main person responsible for corruption in the ministry."
A commission official later told state television that on Sunday "procedures would be taken according to the law" against Sudani.
The trade ministry operates a nearly six-billion dollar annual budget that provides a monthly public food distribution programme for Iraqis. It also manages the import of grain, seeds and construction materials.
A security official told AFP Sudani was on Jupiter Airlines PHW604 over the southern Iraqi city of Basra when Saturday's drama unfolded.
"At 1 pm the minister took the plane going to Dubai but representatives from the commission arrived at the airport with police shortly after," said the official on condition of anonymity.
"They contacted the plane and forced it to turn back. When it landed security personnel arrested the minister."
Sudani, a member of Maliki's Shiite Dawa faction, had already been questioned by parliament over claims relating to imports for the food rationing programme.
Maliki vowed to root out graft in the government, after Sudani, who was accused of importing expired commodities, mainly sugar; procuring illegal contracts and failing to fight corruption in his ministry, quit.
"We will institute reforms ... and we will search for the truth," Maliki told reporters on Wednesday after talks with senior trade ministry officials.
"We will not stand with arms folded in the face of corruption. We will pursue those who are corrupt and bring them before the courts," Maliki said, while placing the ministry under his authority.
Maliki stressed on Wednesday he was immediately instituting measures to fight graft in Iraq.
"We will recruit new executives to replace those who are not qualified and we urge those in charge of purchases to sign contracts with large global companies directly rather than through intermediaries," he said.
The Commission on Public Integrity, tasked with fighting corruption in Iraq, announced on Wednesday that 997 officials are being investigated for alleged graft, including 53 people ranked as directors general or higher.
It said 120 Iraqis were arrested for corruption in April and May.
Watchdog group Transparency International ranked Iraq in 2008 as the world's third-most corrupt country behind Somalia and Myanmar.
Iraq's food rationing system was established in 1995 as part of the United Nations oil-for-food programme following Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990.
The public distribution programme has been plagued by mismanagement and corruption since the 2003 US-led invasion.
by Ammar Karim Ammar Karim – Sat May 30, 2:26 pm ET
BAGHDAD (AFP) – Former Iraqi trade minister Abdel Falah al-Sudani was arrested on Saturday after his plane was dramatically ordered back to Bagdhad as he tried to flee the country in the wake of a graft scandal.
Sudani was on board a flight to Dubai, which authorities turned back to the capital so that he could be arrested, said Sabah al-Saedi, head of parliament's corruption and integrity commission.
"The minister was trying to escape from justice and was headed to the United Arab Emirates (UAE)," said Saedi.
"After some phone calls were made to judicial authorities and the airport, the airplane was turned back and the minister arrested," he said.
On Monday, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's office announced that Sudani had resigned amid allegations of corruption and embezzlement linked to the nation's food assistance programme.
"An arrest warrant was issued against the minister under the charge of corruption," said Saedi. "He is the main person responsible for corruption in the ministry."
A commission official later told state television that on Sunday "procedures would be taken according to the law" against Sudani.
The trade ministry operates a nearly six-billion dollar annual budget that provides a monthly public food distribution programme for Iraqis. It also manages the import of grain, seeds and construction materials.
A security official told AFP Sudani was on Jupiter Airlines PHW604 over the southern Iraqi city of Basra when Saturday's drama unfolded.
"At 1 pm the minister took the plane going to Dubai but representatives from the commission arrived at the airport with police shortly after," said the official on condition of anonymity.
"They contacted the plane and forced it to turn back. When it landed security personnel arrested the minister."
Sudani, a member of Maliki's Shiite Dawa faction, had already been questioned by parliament over claims relating to imports for the food rationing programme.
Maliki vowed to root out graft in the government, after Sudani, who was accused of importing expired commodities, mainly sugar; procuring illegal contracts and failing to fight corruption in his ministry, quit.
"We will institute reforms ... and we will search for the truth," Maliki told reporters on Wednesday after talks with senior trade ministry officials.
"We will not stand with arms folded in the face of corruption. We will pursue those who are corrupt and bring them before the courts," Maliki said, while placing the ministry under his authority.
Maliki stressed on Wednesday he was immediately instituting measures to fight graft in Iraq.
"We will recruit new executives to replace those who are not qualified and we urge those in charge of purchases to sign contracts with large global companies directly rather than through intermediaries," he said.
The Commission on Public Integrity, tasked with fighting corruption in Iraq, announced on Wednesday that 997 officials are being investigated for alleged graft, including 53 people ranked as directors general or higher.
It said 120 Iraqis were arrested for corruption in April and May.
Watchdog group Transparency International ranked Iraq in 2008 as the world's third-most corrupt country behind Somalia and Myanmar.
Iraq's food rationing system was established in 1995 as part of the United Nations oil-for-food programme following Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990.
The public distribution programme has been plagued by mismanagement and corruption since the 2003 US-led invasion.
And Now Remaining Minars Of Imamain Al Askarian Shrine Blown
http://www.shiachat.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=234928195
Bankruptcy looms for GM; Chrysler awaits fate
FILE - In this file photo taken Jan. 11, 2009, Chevrolet Beat concept car, which will be introduced as a production car Spark, is shown at at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. General Motors Corp. said Friday, May 29, 2009, that it plans to reopen a shuttered U.S. factory to build compact cars that will likely be the smallest vehicles GM has ever produced here.
(AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File)
– FILE - In this file photo taken Jan. 11, 2009, Chevrolet Beat concept car, which will be introduced as …
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By TOM KRISHER, AP Auto Writer Tom Krisher, Ap Auto Writer – 21 mins ago
DETROIT – General Motors Corp. has cleared a couple of key roadblocks on the ailing automaker's route to an almost certain bankruptcy filing Monday.
Early Saturday in Berlin, Germany's finance minister said a plan was approved for Canadian auto parts maker Magna International Inc. to move ahead with a rescue of GM's Opel unit.
That news came after the United Auto Workers union on Friday ratified a package of concessions designed to reduce GM's labor costs.
The developments appeared to put in place two more pieces of the automaker's massive restructuring effort as its board of directors meets Saturday for a second day to decide what GM will do when its government restructuring deadline arrives Monday.
GM has yet to confirm it will seek Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection but scheduled a news conference for Monday in New York.
Chrysler LLC, meanwhile, will likely have to wait until Monday to learn if a bankruptcy judge will rule that it can go forward with its plan to sell most of the company to a group headed by Italy's Fiat and take a big step toward its goal of a speedy exit from Chapter 11.
U.S. Judge Arthur Gonzalez is expected to approve the sale but it's likely that attorneys for three Indiana state pension and construction funds, which have aggressively opposed the deal, will appeal the decision and possibly force Chrysler to further postpone the deal's closing.
Chrysler claims that any substantial delay could push Fiat to back out if the deal, since the Italian automaker has set a deadline of June 15 to wrap up a transaction.
U.S. automakers have been hammered by a brutal combination of a bad economy, a big jump in gas prices last year, and decisions to churn out gas-sucking SUVs at a time when more American consumers were looking for cars that were cheaper to fill up.
GM, with the government's backing and nearly $20 billion in U.S. loans so far, has made more dramatic changes in just a few days than it has in decades. A deal to sell GM's rugged but inefficient Hummer brand also appeared on the horizon.
GM's stock tumbled to the lowest price in the company's 100-year history on Friday, closing at just 75 cents after trading as low as 74 cents. A government plan for GM revealed Thursday would make the shares virtually worthless.
The United Auto Workers' reluctant but overwhelming ratification of concessions will save GM $1.3 billion per year and bring its labor costs down to those of its Japanese competitors. The new UAW deal freezes wages, ends bonuses and eliminates some noncompetitive work rules.
In Berlin, the agreement hammered out will see Adam Opel GmbH put under the care of a trustee later Saturday, shielding the German automaker from GM's likely filing for bankruptcy protection early next week.
The German government and several state governments will provide a $2.1 billion bridge loan, part of which will be available immediately.
Siegfried Wolf, a co-CEO of Magna said he expected the agreements with GM would be signed in five weeks time, but insisted that the deal struck early Saturday would prevent Opel from being touched by whatever will happen to GM.
"A solution has been found to keep Opel running," Germany's Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck told reporters after more than six hours of talks. "You can be sure that we did not take the decision lightly. All the federal and state representatives are aware there are some risks."
___
AP Auto Writer Bree Fowler contributed to this report from New York.
Iraq-born teen cracks maths puzzle
Iraqi teen tackles maths puzzle, but not the first: university AFP/File – Students take a math class at a school. A 16-year-old Iraqi immigrant, who figured out a solution to …
Thu May 28, 8:41 am ET
STOCKHOLM (AFP) – A 16-year-old Iraqi immigrant living in Sweden has cracked a maths puzzle that has stumped experts for more than 300 years, Swedish media reported on Thursday.
In just four months, Mohamed Altoumaimi has found a formula to explain and simplify the so-called Bernoulli numbers, a sequence of calculations named after the 17th century Swiss mathematician Jacob Bernoulli, the Dagens Nyheter daily said.
Altoumaimi, who came to Sweden six years ago, said teachers at his high school in Falun, central Sweden were not convinced about his work at first.
"When I first showed it to my teachers, none of them thought the formula I had written down really worked," Altoumaimi told the Falu Kuriren newspaper.
He then got in touch with professors at Uppsala University, one of Sweden's top institutions, to ask them to check his work.
After going through his notebooks, the professors found his work was indeed correct and offered him a place in Uppsala.
But for now, Altoumaimi is focusing on his school studies and plans to take summer classes in advanced mathematics and physics this year.
"I wanted to be a researcher in physics or mathematics; I really like those subjects. But I have to improve in English and social sciences," he told the Falu Kuriren.
احمدي نژاد:در دولت هاي قبل حتي يك روزنامه مخالف را هم تحمل نكردند/سوال سلام:آقاي احمدي نژاد در دادگاه روزنامه سلام چه مي كرديد؟
احمدي نژاد:در دولت هاي قبل حتي يك روزنامه مخالف را هم تحمل نكردند/سوال سلام:آقاي احمدي نژاد در دادگاه روزنامه سلام چه مي كرديد؟
مناسب چاپ
ارسال به دوستان
سلام:محمود احمدي نژادامروز مدعي شد كه در دولتهاي قبلي در يك دوره روزنامهاي بود كه هفتهاي يك بار مقالهاي در انتقاد از عملكرد اقتصادي دولت مينوشتند كه نتوانستند آن را تحمل كنند و يا در دوره گذشته روزنامههايي كه به نقد دولت ميپرداختند را نيز تحمل نشدهاند اما چهار سال است كه اين برادر كوچك شما 20 تا 30 روزنامه هر چه دلشان ميخواهد مينويسند ولي من ميگويم اشكالي ندارد. اجازه دهيد بعضيها طعم شيرين آزادي را بچشند.
مطمئنا اشاره احمدي نژاد مربوط به روزنامه سلام مي شد كه از آن به عنوان روزنامه اي نام برد كه هفته اي يك بار انتقادهاي اقتصادي از دولت وقت مطرح مي كرد مسلما حافظه تاريخي جناب احمدي نژاد ضعيف شده است كه از ياد برده است كه روزنامه سلام در زمان دولت آيت الله هاشمي رفسنجاني شديدترين انتثادها را عليه دولت مطرح مي كرد ولي هيچگاه به محاق توقيف نرفت و اتفاقا با شكايت امثال شما دادگاهي شد و در نهايت ناجوانمردانه توسط دستگاه قضايي وقت توقيف شد.
آقاي احمدي نژاد مصرانه از شما خواستاريم پز آزادي را در دولت خود ندهيد آزادي را همگان هنگامي كه خبرگزاري ايلنا با شكايت وزارت كار و وزارت علوم و تحقيقات شما توقيف شد به ياد دارند آزادي را در توقيف دهها روزنامه و نشريات تخصصي با حكم هيات نظارت بر مطبوعات وزارت ارشاد تحت امر دولت شما توقيف شدند كه نمونه آخر آن توقيف روزنامه ياس نو آن هم بعد از يك شماره بود.
آقاي احمدي نژاد مردم ايران تنها يك چيز از شما مي خواهد ”راست گويي و صداقت“.باور كنيد براي مقام دوم كشور پسنديده نيست كه اينگونه شعور ملت خود را مورد تمسخر قرار دهد.
Friday, May 29, 2009
Allotting of Iraqi Oil Rights May Stoke Hostility
Khaled Salih, Senior Advisor to the Prime Minister and the Minister of Natural Resources, KRG (Kurdistan Regional Government), holds a press briefing in Oslo September 27,2009. Northern Iraq's Kurdish region on Friday said it was "hopeful" of settling a row with Norwegian oil firm DNO International that led to the suspension of the firm's activities in Iraq. The dispute threatens to taint the KRG's business-friendly image and could even deter investors considering Iraq's crumbling national oil sector that, although promising, is already beset by legal ambiguity and security risks. REUTERS/Kyrre Lien/Scanpix
(NORWAY POLITICS BUSINESS) NORWAY OUT. NO COMMERCIAL OR EDITORIAL SALES INNORWAY
Christoph Bangert for The New York Times
Kurds have built rough homes in Kirkuk near oil fields on land the government says is not theirs.
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By TIMOTHY WILLIAMS and SUADAD AL-SALHY
Published: May 28, 2009
KIRKUK, Iraq — Sheik Habih Shawqi Hamakan peered through his binoculars on a recent afternoon at a sight he considers, despite the rising columns of black smoke that blot out the sun, pure beauty.
As far as the eye can see are oil fields, among the most productive in Iraq. He turned, gesturing to his rambling two-story house with its garden of blossoming pink and yellow rosebushes. That, too, sits on an oil field.
The sheik is one of thousands of Kurds who have moved to Kirkuk, an unstable oil town in northern Iraq, since the 2003 United States-led invasion and claimed plots of land not theirs to build houses. Some of the homes, illegal facts on the ground aimed at furthering Kurdish claims to Kirkuk, sit a mere half mile from towering flames of natural gas among the oil fields.
Their presence is one of many pressure points converging at a critical time in Kirkuk, as rights to those fields are scheduled to be awarded to the highest bidding international oil company next month as part of Iraq’s larger effort to bolster its slumping economy by nearly tripling oil production over the next six years.
Kirkuk Province, wedged between Kurdistan and the rest of Iraq, is smaller than Connecticut but produces as much oil as Alaska. It is believed to possess as much as one-sixth of Iraq’s total petroleum reserves.
Both Kurds and the central government have long claimed Kirkuk as their own — and many residents and Western observers fear that the awarding of the contract, along with the bonanza of jobs and cash expected to follow, may decisively stoke hostility among the Kurds, Arabs and Turkmens who live here. Many worry this may tear at Iraqi unity and embroil the disputed territory in greater violence. At worst, it could bring the open ethnic warfare that many have predicted since security for the province was handed over to Kurdish forces after the 2003 invasion.
Any dispute over Kirkuk is of concern to Turkey, Syria and Iran, each with a minority Kurdish population, and could ignite simmering Arab-Kurdish tensions throughout northern Iraq, the country’s most restive region.
Still, even though the status of Kirkuk remains unresolved and it is unclear how much oil actually lies beneath it, many of the world’s largest oil corporations are competing for the contract here. It is one of eight large but underperforming oil and gas fields throughout Iraq for which the government is scheduled to award production rights at the end of June.
“By opening bids on fields in Kirkuk, Prime Minister Maliki is clearly poking the Kurds in the eye by asserting Iraqi sovereignty over oil in territories whose status is constitutionally in dispute,” said Joost Hiltermann, an Iraq expert at the International Crisis Group.
In recent weeks, even after a summit meeting in Berlin among Kirkuk’s Arabs, Kurds, Turkmens and Assyrians, violence in the province has increased. This spring, Kirkuk city has been rocked by car bombings, shootings and suicide attacks that have killed at least a dozen police officers, three Assyrian Christians, a high-ranking Arab police official and workers going to the oil fields.
Kirkuk’s predominately Kurdish security forces say they need help controlling the violence, but not from the largely Arab Iraqi Army troops stationed on the city’s outskirts. The American military held a series of meetings with Arab and Kurdish political leaders and security forces this month without reaching an accord to allow an Iraqi Army unit to operate in the city.
“We hope it is not going back again to very serious violence, but all signs are that it will,” said Maj. Gen. Turhan Abdul Rahman Yasif, deputy chief of the province’s police force.
A United Nations report last month offered several recommendations to reduce tensions, including making Kirkuk a region jointly administered by Iraq and Kurdistan. Residents would ultimately hold a referendum to decide their future.
Kirkuk’s population of Kurds, Arabs, Turkmens and Assyrian Christians generally live apart from one another in mutual suspicion. The other groups accuse the Kurds of seeking to annex Kirkuk and its oil wealth into the semiautonomous Kurdistan Regional Government, which could give Kurdistan the economic underpinning to become an independent state.
But there has been almost no oil exploration in Iraq for decades. The Oil Ministry says Kirkuk contains about 15 billion barrels of oil, or 16 percent of Iraq’s total, and 2 percent of the world’s proven oil reserves.
But most oil industry estimates put Kirkuk’s reserves at between 5.5 billion barrels and 10 billion barrels.
Revenue Watch Institute, a New York-based nonprofit natural resources policy group, estimated in a 2006 report that 62 percent of Kirkuk’s petroleum had already been extracted.
“That means this super giant field is at the final stages of its life,” the report said.
But Mena’a Abdullah Alubaid, director general of Iraq’s North Oil Company, a branch of the Oil Ministry that oversees Kirkuk’s fields, insists that the fields will last until 2074.
Wayne Kelley, managing director of RSK Ltd., an independent oil engineering firm, said the petroleum company that ultimately wins the Kirkuk field would face issues including the potential for violence and the likely contamination of part of the field with waste oil.
“Nowhere in the world has a field of anywhere near this size been so grossly mismanaged,” he said.
Another significant impediment could be the growing population of Kurdish settlers, many of whom have built homes on land that the Oil Ministry says is not theirs.
The families say they were forced out of Kirkuk by Saddam Hussein’s government, which bulldozed their villages. They call the contested city their “Jerusalem,” and some said they would take up arms to stay.
Sheik Hamakan, 60, said that after years of exile in Iran and elsewhere he had finally satisfied his longing to be home. He will not, he vowed, stand aside for government bulldozers to raze his family’s house a second time.
“I won’t leave,” he said. “It would be up to them to demolish the village on my head.”
Reporting was contributed by Riyadh Mohammed, Abeer Mohammed, Sam Dagher and Mohamed Hussein from Baghdad, and Tareq Maher and an Iraqi employee of The New York Times from Kirkuk.
Clinton and Bush to clash for cash in Canada
By Joseph Curl (Contact) | Wednesday, May 27, 2009
The well-worn cliche is "time heals all wounds," but in politics, the saying often ought to be "money heals all wounds."
On Friday, former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, who spent years railing against each other, will appear together in Toronto for what is being billed a "conversation."
No one will say how much each will take home, but estimates run as high as $150,000 apiece for the two-hour appearance. Just to be one of the 6,000 people inside the city's convention center costs $250, with VIP tickets at $625 and the sold-out "emerald" section seating going for $2,500 (buyers in those front rows also get a photo with the two presidents).
The event will be only the second appearance by Mr. Bush since leaving office; his first was also in Canada, in Calgary. Mr. Clinton, meanwhile, is an old hand on the speaking tour: He did, after all, haul in $31 million in speaking fees between 2001 and 2005.
Friday's event is being put on by the Power Within, which produces "full-day inspirational, motivational and entertaining events with the power to ignite your spirit!" its Web site says exuberantly. The Toronto-based company is affiliated with self-help guru Tony Robbins, "the nation's foremost authority on the psychology of peak performance," the site says.
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http://snepeda.sk/youraction/
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Adnan Darwash, Iraq Occupation Times
The well-worn cliche is "time heals all wounds," but in politics, the saying often ought to be "money heals all wounds."
On Friday, former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, who spent years railing against each other, will appear together in Toronto for what is being billed a "conversation."
No one will say how much each will take home, but estimates run as high as $150,000 apiece for the two-hour appearance. Just to be one of the 6,000 people inside the city's convention center costs $250, with VIP tickets at $625 and the sold-out "emerald" section seating going for $2,500 (buyers in those front rows also get a photo with the two presidents).
The event will be only the second appearance by Mr. Bush since leaving office; his first was also in Canada, in Calgary. Mr. Clinton, meanwhile, is an old hand on the speaking tour: He did, after all, haul in $31 million in speaking fees between 2001 and 2005.
Friday's event is being put on by the Power Within, which produces "full-day inspirational, motivational and entertaining events with the power to ignite your spirit!" its Web site says exuberantly. The Toronto-based company is affiliated with self-help guru Tony Robbins, "the nation's foremost authority on the psychology of peak performance," the site says.
---
http://snepeda.sk/youraction/
----------
Clinton operation desert FOX dropped thousands of tons of bombs on Baghdad in 1998. G.W. Bush practically bankrupted America militarily. The weapon industry (e.g. Lockheed, Martin, Boeing, Northrop, General Daynamics, Raytheon, Litton Industries, Eaton Systems, United Technology, Fairchild...etc) pay Pentagon officials rewards shortly after leaving office (e.g. Cheney, Wolfowitz, Feith, Perle and Powell) and sponsor the lecture tours of former presidents and prime ministers (e.g. Aznar and Blair). Politics is a dirty field infested by the crooks. With this in mind, Americans are unshamed for trying teach others their form of manipulated democracy.
Adnan Darwash, Iraq Occupation Times
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Explosion in mosque kills 30 in southeast Iran
29 May 2009, 0031 hrs IST, REUTERS
TEHRAN: An explosion at a prominent Shi'ite Muslim mosque in the southeast Iranian city of Zahedan on Thursday killed 30 people and wounded 60,
the semi-official news agency ILNA reported.
The agency said the blast was a suicide bombing but no person or group had claimed responsibility. Shortly after the explosion, security forces discovered and defused a second bomb near the mosque, the semi-official FARS news agency reported. The attack was carried out on a public holiday honouring the first Shi'ite Imam, Ali Ebne-Abitaleb, after whom the mosque is named. Zahedan is a mostly Sunni city.
The provincial governor told state television the explosion occurred at about 7:45 p.m. (1515 GMT) when many people were inside the mosque for prayers. Zahedan is the capital of Sistan-Baluchestan province which shares a border with Pakistan. The province faces serious security problems and there are frequent clashes between police and drug dealers and bandits. A bomb attack in Zahedan in February 2007 which killed 18 Revolutionary Guards was claimed by Jundallah, an insurgent group that says it is fighting for the rights of Iran's Sunni Muslim minority.
The presidents of Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan met in the capital Tehran for their first summit on Sunday, in an effort to improve cooperation in fighting terrorism and drug trafficking and tackling other regional security problems. Pakistan and Afghanistan are battling to stem the spread of Taliban insurgencies in their countries, and Iran and Pakistan want a stable Afghanistan because the drugs trade has had a dire effect on Iran and past Afghan violence sent millions of refugees across the border.
Iran is also preparing for a presidential election on June 12, in which President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is seeking a second term and faces three challengers.
------------------
Iran official blames U.S. in deadly mosque bombing
29 May 2009 11:30:36 GMT
Source: Reuters
* Blast kills more than 20, two weeks before election
* Authorities say 3 arrested over 'terrorist act' (Adds new death toll, quotes, analyst comment, detail)
By Zahra Hosseinian and Fredrik Dahl
TEHRAN, May 29 (Reuters) - An Iranian official accused the United States on Friday of involvement in a mosque bombing that killed more than 20 people in volatile south-eastern Iran, two weeks before the Islamic Republic's presidential election.
Jalal Sayyah, of the governor's office in Sistan-Baluchestan province, said three people had been arrested in connection with Thursday's blast in a crowded Shi'ite mosque in the city of Zahedan, in a region where many of Iran's minority Sunnis live.
The explosion, which some officials and media suggested was a suicide bombing, took place on a religious holiday in the mainly Shi'ite Muslim country. More than 80 people were wounded.
Iran has previously accused the United States, its arch-foe, of backing Sunni rebels operating on its border with Pakistan, who Tehran says are linked to the Islamist al Qaeda network.
"The terrorists, who were equipped by America in one of our neighbouring countries, carried out this criminal act in their efforts to create religious conflict and fear and to influence the presidential election," Sayyah told state radio.
He said two children were among the dead. The official IRNA news agency put the death toll at 25, naming all but one of the victims, who were men. Other media cited somewhat lower figures.
The person who detonated the device was standing among men praying in Ali Ebne-Abitaleb mosque and was also killed, provincial judiciary official Ebrahim Hamidi said.
It was one of the deadliest such bombing incidents in Iran since its 1980-88 war with Iraq. A blast in a mosque in the southern city of Shiraz killed 14 people in April last year but the country has been relatively peaceful in a turbulent region.
Iranian leaders, who often accuse the United States and its allies of seeking to destabilise it, refer to Washington as the "Great Satan" guilty of "global arrogance".
BLOOD-STAINED MOSQUE
Sistan-Baluchestan province, home to Iran's mostly Sunni ethnic Baluchis, is the scene of frequent clashes between security forces and heavily armed drug smugglers and bandits.
A senior cleric blamed Sunni extremists for the bombing but also suggested foreign enemies were involved in a bid to sow discord and conflict between Iran's Shi'ites and Sunnis.
Provincial governor Ali Mohammad Azad said the "terrorist team" behind the attack were being interrogated.
Defence analyst Paul Beaver said it was "highly unlikely" that the U.S. administration of President Barack Obama, who is seeking to engage Tehran diplomatically after three decades of mutual mistrust, would support Sunni insurgents in Iran.
He said history had shown that backing guerrilla groups to effect regime change was "ineffectual and wrong, and the present U.S. administration does not want to be tarnished in that way".
In April, Iran's intelligence minister said it had arrested a group of people linked to Israel who were planning bombings ahead of the June 12 election, in which hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is seeking a second four-year term.
Presidential hopefuls including moderate former Prime Minister Mirhossein Mousavi condemned the incident.
Iranian media said a big part of the mosque was destroyed by the blast, which took place when many people were inside. Footage showed a blood-stained floor inside.
A bomb attack in Zahedan in early 2007 which killed 18 Revolutionary Guards was claimed by Jundollah (God's Soldiers), an insurgent group that says it is fighting for the rights of Iran's Sunni minority but which Tehran says is part of al Qaeda. (Editing by Mark Trevelyan)
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Iran hangs three men over mosque bombing
Three admitted supplying explosives to perpetrators of Zahedan attack this week that killed 25, judiciary says
Three men were hanged in Iran today for involvement in a mosque bombing that killed 25 people this week, the country's official news agency reported.
The three supplied explosives to the perpetrators of the bombing on Thursday in Zahedan, capital of the volatile Sistan-Baluchestan province in eastern Iran, said a statement issued by the judiciary.
Ebrahim Hamidi, the head of the justice department in Zahedan, said the men had been arrested before the bombing and had since "confessed to importing explosives into Iran and providing them to the main person behind the attack".
He said the men, identified as Haji Nouti Zehi, Gholam Rasoul Shahoo Zehi and Zabihollah Naroui, were involved in several other bombings including a bus attack in 2006.
Jundallah, or God's Brigade, a Sunni militant group believed to have links with al-Qaida, claimed responsibility for Thursday's attack. The group is composed of Sunni Muslims from the Baluchi ethnic minority who for years have been fighting a low-level insurgency in south-eastern Iran, complaining of persecution by the overwhelmingly Shia and Persian Iranian government.
In March 2006, gunmen dressed as security forces killed 21 people on a road outside Zahedan in an attack that authorities blamed on "rebels".
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Jun 1, 11:19 AM EDT
NASSER KARIMI
AP Photo/Vahid Salemi
Arson attack in restive Iranian city kills 5
Bomb discovery forces return of Iranian plane
Egypt: Iran less important than peace process
Think tank accuses Ahmadinejad of distorting facts
Iran hangs 3 over mosque bombing
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TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- An arson attack on a bank killed five people on Monday in a southeastern Iranian city where a mosque bombing days earlier killed 25, state media said.
The attacks were both in the restive city of Zahedan, which sits at a crossroads between Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran and has seen a sudden explosion of violence in the run-up to June 12 presidential election.
The mosque bombing on Thursday was claimed by a Sunni militant group Jundallah, or God's Soldiers, which Iran says has links to al-Qaida. The group has been fighting a low-level campaign against Iran's Shiite leadership for years.
State-owned Press TV said the arson attack targeted the Mehr Financial and Credit Institute, linked to the paramilitary Basij militia which is often involved in crackdowns on dissidents.
The state news agency said the city was now calm and police had arrested suspects.
Three men convicted of involvement in the mosque bombing were hanged in Zahedan on Saturday. Clashes erupted Sunday in the city after rumors that a local Sunni cleric had been attacked. On Friday, gunmen fired on President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's campaign office in Zahedan, injuring three people.
Pakistan's ambassador to Iran was summoned to the Iranian Foreign Ministry over the bombing, the state news agency reported. Two Pakistani officials said Monday that Iran had partially closed a border crossing between the two countries.
Qamar Masood, a senior official in Baluchistan province on the Pakistan side of the border, said the crossing at Taftan had been closed for trading but that foot traffic was still being allowed.
The country's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, accused enemies of promoting sectarian conflicts in Iran. Though he did not name any country, the use of the term "enemy" by Iranian officials is usually a reference to the U.S.
"Enemies were trying to create chaos but all people should remain aware," Khamenei said Monday on state radio, adding that the enemy was targeting national unity in the country.
Zahedan is the capital of the large Sistan-Baluchistan province, home to a million of Iran's Sunni Muslim minority. Sunnis are believed to make up some 6 million of Iran's 70 million people.
Jundallah, has carried out bombings, kidnappings and other attacks against Iranian soldiers since the early 2000s to press its campaign for more rights for impoverished Sunnis under Iran's Shiite government.
Iran says the group operates across the border in Pakistan, a source of concerns for the two governments which cooperate closely on the problem.
The region's Sunni discontent has led to sectarian rioting and clashes in the past.
The Sunnis are from Iran's ethnic Baluchi minority, a community also found over the borders in neighboring Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Iran has repeatedly accused the U.S. of backing militants including Jundallah specifically and ethnic opposition groups to destabilize the Iranian government.
The militant group was behind a car bombing in February 2007 that killed 11 members of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards near Zahedan.
Jundallah also claimed responsibility for the December 2006 kidnapping of seven Iranian soldiers in the Zahedan area. The seven were released a month later, apparently after negotiations through tribal mediators.
Adding to the region's lawlessness, the crossroads between the three countries is also a key smuggling point for narcotics. It is scene of frequent clashes between police and drug gangs.
Iran has faced several ethnic and religious insurgencies that have carried out sporadic, sometimes deadly attacks in recent years - though none have amounted to a serious threat to the government.
Besides the violence in the southeast, ethnic Arab militants have been blamed for bombings in the southwestern city of Ahvaz - including blasts in 2006 that killed nine people. Some Iranian Kurds based in northern Iraq have also stepped up incursions into Iran.
Late on Saturday, an Iranian airliner was also forced to return to a southeastern airport minutes after takeoff when a homemade bomb was found aboard, said state television, in an incident a security official called a sabotage.
(This version CORRECTS translation of Jundallah.)
TEHRAN: An explosion at a prominent Shi'ite Muslim mosque in the southeast Iranian city of Zahedan on Thursday killed 30 people and wounded 60,
the semi-official news agency ILNA reported.
The agency said the blast was a suicide bombing but no person or group had claimed responsibility. Shortly after the explosion, security forces discovered and defused a second bomb near the mosque, the semi-official FARS news agency reported. The attack was carried out on a public holiday honouring the first Shi'ite Imam, Ali Ebne-Abitaleb, after whom the mosque is named. Zahedan is a mostly Sunni city.
The provincial governor told state television the explosion occurred at about 7:45 p.m. (1515 GMT) when many people were inside the mosque for prayers. Zahedan is the capital of Sistan-Baluchestan province which shares a border with Pakistan. The province faces serious security problems and there are frequent clashes between police and drug dealers and bandits. A bomb attack in Zahedan in February 2007 which killed 18 Revolutionary Guards was claimed by Jundallah, an insurgent group that says it is fighting for the rights of Iran's Sunni Muslim minority.
The presidents of Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan met in the capital Tehran for their first summit on Sunday, in an effort to improve cooperation in fighting terrorism and drug trafficking and tackling other regional security problems. Pakistan and Afghanistan are battling to stem the spread of Taliban insurgencies in their countries, and Iran and Pakistan want a stable Afghanistan because the drugs trade has had a dire effect on Iran and past Afghan violence sent millions of refugees across the border.
Iran is also preparing for a presidential election on June 12, in which President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is seeking a second term and faces three challengers.
------------------
Iran official blames U.S. in deadly mosque bombing
29 May 2009 11:30:36 GMT
Source: Reuters
* Blast kills more than 20, two weeks before election
* Authorities say 3 arrested over 'terrorist act' (Adds new death toll, quotes, analyst comment, detail)
By Zahra Hosseinian and Fredrik Dahl
TEHRAN, May 29 (Reuters) - An Iranian official accused the United States on Friday of involvement in a mosque bombing that killed more than 20 people in volatile south-eastern Iran, two weeks before the Islamic Republic's presidential election.
Jalal Sayyah, of the governor's office in Sistan-Baluchestan province, said three people had been arrested in connection with Thursday's blast in a crowded Shi'ite mosque in the city of Zahedan, in a region where many of Iran's minority Sunnis live.
The explosion, which some officials and media suggested was a suicide bombing, took place on a religious holiday in the mainly Shi'ite Muslim country. More than 80 people were wounded.
Iran has previously accused the United States, its arch-foe, of backing Sunni rebels operating on its border with Pakistan, who Tehran says are linked to the Islamist al Qaeda network.
"The terrorists, who were equipped by America in one of our neighbouring countries, carried out this criminal act in their efforts to create religious conflict and fear and to influence the presidential election," Sayyah told state radio.
He said two children were among the dead. The official IRNA news agency put the death toll at 25, naming all but one of the victims, who were men. Other media cited somewhat lower figures.
The person who detonated the device was standing among men praying in Ali Ebne-Abitaleb mosque and was also killed, provincial judiciary official Ebrahim Hamidi said.
It was one of the deadliest such bombing incidents in Iran since its 1980-88 war with Iraq. A blast in a mosque in the southern city of Shiraz killed 14 people in April last year but the country has been relatively peaceful in a turbulent region.
"It has been confirmed that those behind the terrorist act in Zahedan were hired by America and the arrogance's other hands,"Sayyah told the semi-official Fars News Agency.
Iranian leaders, who often accuse the United States and its allies of seeking to destabilise it, refer to Washington as the "Great Satan" guilty of "global arrogance".
BLOOD-STAINED MOSQUE
Sistan-Baluchestan province, home to Iran's mostly Sunni ethnic Baluchis, is the scene of frequent clashes between security forces and heavily armed drug smugglers and bandits.
A senior cleric blamed Sunni extremists for the bombing but also suggested foreign enemies were involved in a bid to sow discord and conflict between Iran's Shi'ites and Sunnis.
"The fingertips of America and Israel are definitely on this incident,"Ahmad Khatami told Friday prayer worshippers in Tehran. The guilty would be arrested and "severely punished."
Provincial governor Ali Mohammad Azad said the "terrorist team" behind the attack were being interrogated.
Defence analyst Paul Beaver said it was "highly unlikely" that the U.S. administration of President Barack Obama, who is seeking to engage Tehran diplomatically after three decades of mutual mistrust, would support Sunni insurgents in Iran.
He said history had shown that backing guerrilla groups to effect regime change was "ineffectual and wrong, and the present U.S. administration does not want to be tarnished in that way".
In April, Iran's intelligence minister said it had arrested a group of people linked to Israel who were planning bombings ahead of the June 12 election, in which hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is seeking a second four-year term.
Presidential hopefuls including moderate former Prime Minister Mirhossein Mousavi condemned the incident.
Iranian media said a big part of the mosque was destroyed by the blast, which took place when many people were inside. Footage showed a blood-stained floor inside.
A bomb attack in Zahedan in early 2007 which killed 18 Revolutionary Guards was claimed by Jundollah (God's Soldiers), an insurgent group that says it is fighting for the rights of Iran's Sunni minority but which Tehran says is part of al Qaeda. (Editing by Mark Trevelyan)
-------------
Iran hangs three men over mosque bombing
Three admitted supplying explosives to perpetrators of Zahedan attack this week that killed 25, judiciary says
Three men were hanged in Iran today for involvement in a mosque bombing that killed 25 people this week, the country's official news agency reported.
The three supplied explosives to the perpetrators of the bombing on Thursday in Zahedan, capital of the volatile Sistan-Baluchestan province in eastern Iran, said a statement issued by the judiciary.
Ebrahim Hamidi, the head of the justice department in Zahedan, said the men had been arrested before the bombing and had since "confessed to importing explosives into Iran and providing them to the main person behind the attack".
He said the men, identified as Haji Nouti Zehi, Gholam Rasoul Shahoo Zehi and Zabihollah Naroui, were involved in several other bombings including a bus attack in 2006.
Jundallah, or God's Brigade, a Sunni militant group believed to have links with al-Qaida, claimed responsibility for Thursday's attack. The group is composed of Sunni Muslims from the Baluchi ethnic minority who for years have been fighting a low-level insurgency in south-eastern Iran, complaining of persecution by the overwhelmingly Shia and Persian Iranian government.
In March 2006, gunmen dressed as security forces killed 21 people on a road outside Zahedan in an attack that authorities blamed on "rebels".
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My dad just laughed
i couldnt get anything else out of him when I mentioned the bombing of the Mosque in Zahedan other than his comment, "I been there".
US denies involvement in Zahedan blast
[Iran Press TV Latest] The US State Department Spokesman Ian Kelly says that the US was not involved in the bombing of a mosque in southeastern Iran.
I loved the photos showing blood on the ceiling and the pic of one dead muz in the middle of the marble floor ( it looked like a soldier in some sort of uniform ) who looked like he had been blown right out of his skin.
Dad looked at the photo and said, "pasdaran" and laughed.
there is a rumor re-enforced by Rigi of the Jundullah who claim the blast was theirs that the Mosque was hosting a big meeting of local Pasdaran and that was why it was hit.
Apparently Jundullah got quite a few. Zahedan is going apeshi7 over it.
its close to election time in Iran in another Month and there are bombs popping in other places and some gunmen shot up a political rally for Abujibberjabber. Iran is that kinda place. Good luck Iran.
What if Florida were full of Arabs like Khuzestan province is in Iran and they all really hated Persians ? And wht if at the same time Arizona and New Mexico didnt pay any taxes and killed about 1600 FBI a year? Nobody in the FBI lasted more than six weeks once they went down there. What if the United States had only ONE rail line in the entire country and they rationed gasoline so you had to wait in two mile lines to get a tank filled( after you paid the tax and filled out the paper work).
Welcome to Iran where they buy votes with a bag of potatoes. Ya Allah and PBUH.
If I were Obama I wouldnt "talk" with these people. I would use them for a piss can. The International sanctions have them paying double and everybody under 25 hates the mullah govt. Skip to my loo.
----
Author: Seraph1
Date: 30-05-09 13:56
----------------
Jun 1, 11:19 AM EDT
Arson attack in restive Iranian city kills 5
NASSER KARIMI
AP Photo/Vahid Salemi
Arson attack in restive Iranian city kills 5
Bomb discovery forces return of Iranian plane
Egypt: Iran less important than peace process
Think tank accuses Ahmadinejad of distorting facts
Iran hangs 3 over mosque bombing
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TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- An arson attack on a bank killed five people on Monday in a southeastern Iranian city where a mosque bombing days earlier killed 25, state media said.
The attacks were both in the restive city of Zahedan, which sits at a crossroads between Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran and has seen a sudden explosion of violence in the run-up to June 12 presidential election.
The mosque bombing on Thursday was claimed by a Sunni militant group Jundallah, or God's Soldiers, which Iran says has links to al-Qaida. The group has been fighting a low-level campaign against Iran's Shiite leadership for years.
State-owned Press TV said the arson attack targeted the Mehr Financial and Credit Institute, linked to the paramilitary Basij militia which is often involved in crackdowns on dissidents.
The state news agency said the city was now calm and police had arrested suspects.
Three men convicted of involvement in the mosque bombing were hanged in Zahedan on Saturday. Clashes erupted Sunday in the city after rumors that a local Sunni cleric had been attacked. On Friday, gunmen fired on President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's campaign office in Zahedan, injuring three people.
Pakistan's ambassador to Iran was summoned to the Iranian Foreign Ministry over the bombing, the state news agency reported. Two Pakistani officials said Monday that Iran had partially closed a border crossing between the two countries.
Qamar Masood, a senior official in Baluchistan province on the Pakistan side of the border, said the crossing at Taftan had been closed for trading but that foot traffic was still being allowed.
The country's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, accused enemies of promoting sectarian conflicts in Iran. Though he did not name any country, the use of the term "enemy" by Iranian officials is usually a reference to the U.S.
"Enemies were trying to create chaos but all people should remain aware," Khamenei said Monday on state radio, adding that the enemy was targeting national unity in the country.
Zahedan is the capital of the large Sistan-Baluchistan province, home to a million of Iran's Sunni Muslim minority. Sunnis are believed to make up some 6 million of Iran's 70 million people.
Jundallah, has carried out bombings, kidnappings and other attacks against Iranian soldiers since the early 2000s to press its campaign for more rights for impoverished Sunnis under Iran's Shiite government.
Iran says the group operates across the border in Pakistan, a source of concerns for the two governments which cooperate closely on the problem.
The region's Sunni discontent has led to sectarian rioting and clashes in the past.
The Sunnis are from Iran's ethnic Baluchi minority, a community also found over the borders in neighboring Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Iran has repeatedly accused the U.S. of backing militants including Jundallah specifically and ethnic opposition groups to destabilize the Iranian government.
The militant group was behind a car bombing in February 2007 that killed 11 members of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards near Zahedan.
Jundallah also claimed responsibility for the December 2006 kidnapping of seven Iranian soldiers in the Zahedan area. The seven were released a month later, apparently after negotiations through tribal mediators.
Adding to the region's lawlessness, the crossroads between the three countries is also a key smuggling point for narcotics. It is scene of frequent clashes between police and drug gangs.
Iran has faced several ethnic and religious insurgencies that have carried out sporadic, sometimes deadly attacks in recent years - though none have amounted to a serious threat to the government.
Besides the violence in the southeast, ethnic Arab militants have been blamed for bombings in the southwestern city of Ahvaz - including blasts in 2006 that killed nine people. Some Iranian Kurds based in northern Iraq have also stepped up incursions into Iran.
Late on Saturday, an Iranian airliner was also forced to return to a southeastern airport minutes after takeoff when a homemade bomb was found aboard, said state television, in an incident a security official called a sabotage.
(This version CORRECTS translation of Jundallah.)
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Bomb in Pakistan's Lahore; 27 dead, 325 hurt
27 May 2009 09:37:31 GMT
Source: Reuters
* Car-bomber tries to enter police headquarters
* At least 22 dead, nearly 300 hurt
* Gunmen fired at police before the blast
By Mubasher Bukhari
LAHORE, Pakistan, May 27 (Reuters) - Gunmen attacked a police headquarters in the Pakistani city of Lahore on Wednesday, setting off a car-bomb that killed at least 22 people in what the government said was revenge for an offensive against the Taliban.
There was no claim of responsibility for the attack which wounded nearly 300 people and caused extensive damage. It came after warnings of strikes in response to the army's attack on militants in the Swat region in the northwest. [ID:nISL484735]
The blast also hit after General David Petraeus, head of the U.S. Central Command, was in Islamabad for meetings on Tuesday with government and military leaders.
The United States needs Pakistani action against militants to help defeat al Qaeda and disrupt support for the Taliban in Afghanistan. It has welcomed the Swat offensive.
"I believe that anti-Pakistan elements, who want to destabilise our country and see defeat in Swat, have now turned to our cities," Interior Ministry chief Rehman Malik told reporters.
The Swat offensive and insecurity in general have worried stock market investors but the main index <.KSE> was up 0.05 percent at 7,182.82 at 0900 GMT.
The bomb, which officials said was a suicide attack, brought down a government ambulance service building and damaged a nearby office of the military's main intelligence agency.
Top city official Khusro Pervez Khan said 22 people had been killed and 285 wounded. Rescuers were searching through the rubble and the toll could rise, another city official said.
Just before the blast two men got out of a car and opened fire at police guards at the gate, provincial Law Minister Rana Sanaullah told reporters, adding several suspects were later detained.
Witnesses said about four gunmen got out of a car and started firing.
"Four to five men got of the vehicle and fired at a police guard who tried to stop them," lawyer Subtain Akhtar Bokhari told Reuters.
One man told Express TV he had seen four young men dressed in black firing indiscriminately before the blast.
WARNING
Militant violence has surged in Pakistan since mid-2007, with numerous attacks on the security forces, as well as government and Western targets.
Officials had warned militants might launch bomb attacks in retaliation for the offensive in Swat, where the military says about 15,000 members of the security forces face 4,000-5,000 militants.
The Wednesday blast was the fifth since fighting in the Swat region intensified in late April.
Lahore is capital of Punjab province, Pakistan's most populous and prosperous. The country's second biggest city is also traditionally home to top bureaucrats and senior military brass.
The city has seen several bomb attacks over the past couple of years but its citizens felt much safer than other parts of the country until March, when militants launched two brazen assaults.
Attackers firing rifles and throwing grenades stormed a police training academy on the city's outskirts on March 30, killing eight recruits, wounding scores and holding off security forces for hours.
That attack, claimed by Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud, came less than a month after a dozen gunmen attacked Sri Lanka's cricket team in the city, killing six police guards and a bus driver.
Share market dealers said despite the various security problems stocks got a boost after the Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that popular former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his politician brother could contest elections, removing a cause of political uncertainty. [ID:nISL464268]
The government has been struggling to revive a flagging economy being kept afloat by a $7.6 billion International Monetary Fund loan agreed in November.
-------------
---------
LAHORE: The suicide car bomb blast at Rescue-15 building adjacent to CCPO Office killed 23 people and injured over 200 others here in Civil Line area on Wednesday.
The injured have been shifted to different hospitals of the city where medical aid is being provided to them.
President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has strongly condemned the blast.
According to sources, gunshots were being heard near the blast site for minutes before a speeding red van laden with explosives broke the barriers outside the Rescue-15 building and blew up with a loud blast, bringing down the entire building.
The suicide bomber intended to target the office of the CCPO, sources added.
Explosives weighing 100 kilograms were used in the explosion which was followed by gunshots in the area with intervals while four suspects were arrested from the blast site.
Windowpanes of the nearby buildings and houses were shattered and 15 vehicles were destroyed as thick smoke clouded the blast site.
Rescue activities were kick-started after the blast and the injured were whisked away by ambulances to Meo, Gangaram and Services hospitals.
Machines are being used to recover people trapped under the debris. Six of the ten bodies brought to Meo Hospital were of policemen while two bodies are beyond recognition
----------
Updated at: 1730 PST, Wednesday, May 27, 2009
LAHORE: "All of a sudden there was firing and a huge blast. The wall collapsed on me. I was trapped in the wreckage and fell unconscious," said an elderly man, plucked from the rubble of a Lahore bomb.
One of those lucky enough to be rescued from the remains of a police building in the security heartland of Lahore -- lying in hospital he remembered the van racing towards the offices, then gunshots, then the explosion.
Rescue workers and passers-by -- their clothing stained with blood -- clawed with bare hands at rubble and twisted metal desperately trying to free dozens of people buried alive when a suicide car bomb flattened the building.
They carried the wounded on their backs and on stretchers, stumbling over piles of bricks, twisted iron bars and severed human limbs as they rushed them to hospitals, which officials said were treating around 300 wounded.
Police and administrators said about 23 people were killed in the blast, the third deadly attack to hit Lahore in as many months.
The building, where police were on duty responding to distress calls, was devastated and the impact of the attack, which witnesses likened to being in an earthquake, shattered windows and toppled concrete blast barriers.
Police official Mohammad Yaseen said he was driving a motorbike when he was flung to the ground with shrapnel injuries.
"A huge bang rocked the entire area... I was hit by flying objects like glass shrapnel. I fell to the ground. I recovered and saw thick black smoke billowing. There were lots of shouts and cries," he said.
One man in a traditional white shirt was buried up to his waist in debris, as volunteers desperately threw aside bricks and rubble in a bid to free him, television footage showed.
Policemen staggered from the devastated building in the heart of the liberal cultural capital, worried for scores of their colleagues still trapped.
"I heard firing and then a huge blast," said one, saying there were 30 to 35 policemen trapped inside. "The building collapsed. I was at the back of the building and am fortunately alive."
Up to five attackers, including two in a van packed with explosives, opened fire at security guards and threw hand grenades, before the vehicle detonated into a ball of fire on the road in the security nerve centre of Lahore.
Ambulances rushed to the scene and a large crane shifted mounds of debris.
Another police officer, too panicked to give his name, said he rushed out of the building when he heard 20 shots ring out.
"We came out to see it, then they hurled a grenade and all of a sudden a vehicle exploded," he told reporters.
"Windows of the nearby buildings and houses were shattered -- over a dozen vehicles were destroyed... It was a huge blast which created a 15-foot (4.5-metre) deep and 17-foot wide crater."
The bomb hit one of the busiest junctions of Lahore, less than 500 metres (yards) from Mall Road, an upmarket shopping and dining boulevard, and its impact was felt up to two kilometres (more than a mile) away.
"I heard a loud bang. The window panes moved as if in an earthquake," said Mohammad Faisal, a shopkeeper who suffered minor shrapnel cuts.
"I was on the third floor and ran down the stairs. The building seemed to shake for several seconds."
As armed police secured the area, flattened cars and rows of charred motorcycles lay on their sides and power cables littered the roads.
-------
* Gunmen exchange fire with security personnel before vehicle loaded with 100 kgs of explosives hit Rescue 15 building
* Rs 3m compensation for heirs of each police official killed
By Rana Tanveer
LAHORE: Suicide bombers detonated a vehicle loaded with 100 kilogrammes of explosives near offices of the capital city police officer (CCPO) and the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) in Lahore on Wednesday – killing at least 27 people and wounding 326, in addition to destroying a two-storey building of the Rescue 15 police service, according to police.
Attack: Witnesses said the attack started midmorning when two gunmen stepped out of a white van – which had pulled up in a narrow street separating the police and ISI buildings – cautioned civilians to take cover, themselves took cover behind concrete barriers protecting the buildings and started firing at security personnel deployed down the street. The driver remained in the van as his accomplices exchanged fire with the security personnel, to clear the path for the vehicle to move towards the ISI and CCPO offices – located about a hundred feet down the street opposite each other. The gunmen also hurled a grenade at the security personnel. As the firing continued, the driver managed to cross the concrete barrier, but could not get further and was forced to blow up the vehicle there.
SP Sohail Sukhera said two policemen were injured in the gunbattle. He said a threefold security cordon prevented the attackers from getting to the offices CCPO and ISI offices. He said the terrorist in the vehicle was shot – which prompted him to blow up the vehicle about a hundred feet away from the intended target, in front of the Rescue 15 building.
Officials said at least three suspects had been detained.
Civil Defence District Officer Mazhar Abbas told Daily Times a suicide jacket and two Russian-made hand grenades had been found from the blast site. Sukhera said 27 people – including 11 policemen – died in the attack. The AP news agency reported that “several intelligence agents” were among the dead. The APP news agency said 50 of the injured people were in critical condition, but Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah said 20 were in critical condition.
Sukhera said nobody had claimed responsibility for the attack. The blast left a crater eight feet deep and several yards in diameter. There was no trace of the vehicle used in the blast – which destroyed an area nearly the size of a city block, with cars on the street left mangled and bricks strewn dozens of yards in all directions.
A nearby filling station was totally destroyed and several car showrooms damaged. The ceilings of several operating rooms in a nearby hospital caved in, and windows of buildings in a two-kilometre radius were shattered.
Most of the outer wall of the ISI office was destroyed and the building partially damaged, while the CCPO’s office was also damaged and SSP (Discipline) Farooq Mazhar injured. DCO Sajjad Bhutta said the attack was carried out by a suicide bomber. Rangers, Rescue 1122, police, Civil Defence and the Edhi Foundation immediately started rescue operations.
Sources in the Police Department told Daily Times that there were 35 police officials in the CCPO’s office at the time of the blast, and only three of them were unhurt – “all others were either injured or they died”.
The president and the prime minister condemned the attack in separate statements, and said their government remained committed to rooting out terrorism.
Compensation: According to APP, the Punjab chief minister has said that Rs 3 million would be given as compensation to families of policemen killed in the attack, and the government would also pay for their children’s education. Financial assistance would also be provided to the civilians killed or injured.
---------
Thursday, May 28, 2009 E-Mail this article to a friend Printer Friendly Version
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* Injured admitted in Mayo Hospital: 110, Ganga Ram Hospital: 125, Services Hospital: 50 at WAPDA House, CM’s Secretariat, Lahore Zoo among buildings damaged
Staff Report
LAHORE: Chaotic scenes were witnessed on Wednesday as the injured were rushed to hospitals across the city.
Hamid, a citizen, told Daily Times that he was going to the Mayo Hospital for physiotherapy. “When I drove into the compound, I saw people rushing in with their injured relations and friends.” Naurez said he got out of the car, but a man who was standing nearby, stopped him, telling him to leave as there was a chance that the hospital’s roof might collapse.
Admitted: Hospitals were choked with patients, and often two people were seen on one bed. About 110 injured were taken to the Mayo Hospital, while 125 were admitted to the Ganga Ram Hospital and 50 were taken to the Services Hospital.
Separately, The Mall was blocked to all traffic on Wednesday after the blast at the Rescue 15 building, with shops and plazas on and around the road shutting down.
Hall Road also remained closed and shops on Bedan Road and Regal Chowk were shuttered. The glass doors of many shops that were not open at the time of the blast shattered behind the shutters. Shopkeepers after closing their shops gathered near the site of the blast and the police officials had to repeatedly ask them to disperse.
Though The Mall was barricaded at several points, the traffic did not choke for long as the road was deserted after the blast. The voice of the blast was heard at the Civil Secretariat and the Government College University and even as far as The Lahore College for Women University.
The Institute of Art and Design and National College of Arts, on The Mall, tightened their security and closed the gates.
Several significant buildings were damaged and destroyed by the bomb blast at the Rescue 15 office, as the shocks travelled in a radius of several kilometres.
The blast destroyed several buildings situated within a 200-metre radius from the Rescue 15 office. Most buildings have been declared ineligible for renovation, but must be demolished and then reconstructed.
Buildings: Several buildings – WAPDA House, Pakistan International Airlines office, Chief Minister’s Secretariat, Lahore Zoo, Plaza Cinema, offices of two newspapers, Punjab Assembly, Alfalah Building, Shahdin Building, Ganga Ram Hospital, St Anthony’s High School, banks, CNG and petrol stations and the Red Cross office – were partially damaged by the blast.
Source: Reuters
* Car-bomber tries to enter police headquarters
* At least 22 dead, nearly 300 hurt
* Gunmen fired at police before the blast
By Mubasher Bukhari
LAHORE, Pakistan, May 27 (Reuters) - Gunmen attacked a police headquarters in the Pakistani city of Lahore on Wednesday, setting off a car-bomb that killed at least 22 people in what the government said was revenge for an offensive against the Taliban.
There was no claim of responsibility for the attack which wounded nearly 300 people and caused extensive damage. It came after warnings of strikes in response to the army's attack on militants in the Swat region in the northwest. [ID:nISL484735]
The blast also hit after General David Petraeus, head of the U.S. Central Command, was in Islamabad for meetings on Tuesday with government and military leaders.
The United States needs Pakistani action against militants to help defeat al Qaeda and disrupt support for the Taliban in Afghanistan. It has welcomed the Swat offensive.
"I believe that anti-Pakistan elements, who want to destabilise our country and see defeat in Swat, have now turned to our cities," Interior Ministry chief Rehman Malik told reporters.
The Swat offensive and insecurity in general have worried stock market investors but the main index <.KSE> was up 0.05 percent at 7,182.82 at 0900 GMT.
The bomb, which officials said was a suicide attack, brought down a government ambulance service building and damaged a nearby office of the military's main intelligence agency.
Top city official Khusro Pervez Khan said 22 people had been killed and 285 wounded. Rescuers were searching through the rubble and the toll could rise, another city official said.
Just before the blast two men got out of a car and opened fire at police guards at the gate, provincial Law Minister Rana Sanaullah told reporters, adding several suspects were later detained.
Witnesses said about four gunmen got out of a car and started firing.
"Four to five men got of the vehicle and fired at a police guard who tried to stop them," lawyer Subtain Akhtar Bokhari told Reuters.
One man told Express TV he had seen four young men dressed in black firing indiscriminately before the blast.
WARNING
Militant violence has surged in Pakistan since mid-2007, with numerous attacks on the security forces, as well as government and Western targets.
Officials had warned militants might launch bomb attacks in retaliation for the offensive in Swat, where the military says about 15,000 members of the security forces face 4,000-5,000 militants.
The Wednesday blast was the fifth since fighting in the Swat region intensified in late April.
Lahore is capital of Punjab province, Pakistan's most populous and prosperous. The country's second biggest city is also traditionally home to top bureaucrats and senior military brass.
The city has seen several bomb attacks over the past couple of years but its citizens felt much safer than other parts of the country until March, when militants launched two brazen assaults.
Attackers firing rifles and throwing grenades stormed a police training academy on the city's outskirts on March 30, killing eight recruits, wounding scores and holding off security forces for hours.
That attack, claimed by Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud, came less than a month after a dozen gunmen attacked Sri Lanka's cricket team in the city, killing six police guards and a bus driver.
Share market dealers said despite the various security problems stocks got a boost after the Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that popular former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his politician brother could contest elections, removing a cause of political uncertainty. [ID:nISL464268]
The government has been struggling to revive a flagging economy being kept afloat by a $7.6 billion International Monetary Fund loan agreed in November.
-------------
Today 27.05.09 a huge explosion shook the Punjabi Capital of Lahore. Scores of police and intelligence service (ISI) officers were killed or wounded. It is the latest of expected attacks in large Pakistani cities in retaliation for Zardari government fighting and killing its own people as ordered by the Americans. The victims and the attackers were devout Muslims believe in the same God, read the same Qura’an and pray facing Mecca five times a-day. So would it be fair for Muslims to target one another?
In Iraq, long before Bush war on terror, this issue was discussed during the British control of Iraq (1918-1958). The conclusion was that it is not only the imperialist who are the ‘tenants’ but also the Iraqi ‘landlords’ must share the blame.
Naturally, foreign powers want local agents to implement their designs of dividing countries, denying recognition or imposing sanctions on ‘undesirable’ regimes. Right now, the USraeli agents are working hard on fragmenting Iraq, dividing Sudan, sabotaging Palestinian rights and isolating Iran. And without the support of US agents in Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, UAE and Egypt, the Americans would have never contemplated invading, let alone, destroying Iraq and killing its people.
Throughout history, no nation had mercy on traitors regardless of position, ethnic background or religion. It is the same principle used today by the Iraqi, Afghani and Pakistani resistance movements. It is wise and advisable for those promoting the interests of foreign powers to stop betraying their own nations as they will be harshly punished. Earning money is never an excuse for betraying one’s country.
In promising to pay $5 billion to Zardari governemnt in order to fight the religious people, the US did calculate that the Taliban will attack big cities. Most of the army officers are Punjabi while most of the Taliban are Pashtun from North West Areas. The American plan is a recipe for disaster for Zardari and for Pakistan. Right now, the Americans are preparing another military dictator to take over.
The neocons Christo-zionists were very open about the constructive chaos. After succeeding in it, they rae looking for ways to finance it. Paul Wolfowitz wrote about financing the occupation of Iraq from Iraq oil revenues. The Americans have already recruited, trained and armed 75000 awakening council members to man checkpoints then ordered the Iraqi government to pay their salaries. Jewish Sarkozy is rushing to open a military base in UAE in order to assist the Americans in putting pressure on Iran. The European Union is being asked to pay for Afghanistan 'development' while NATO forces are supporting US occupation of the country. It is a complete and open crusade against Islam assisted by local Muslim agents.
Like the Iraqis, the Pakistanis will fight back from street to street and
from house to house until Pakistan is free from Americans and from their
local agents. The darker the American night is, the more the dawn of freedom
is appreciated.
Adnan Darwash, Iraq Occupation Times
---------
LAHORE: The suicide car bomb blast at Rescue-15 building adjacent to CCPO Office killed 23 people and injured over 200 others here in Civil Line area on Wednesday.
The injured have been shifted to different hospitals of the city where medical aid is being provided to them.
President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has strongly condemned the blast.
According to sources, gunshots were being heard near the blast site for minutes before a speeding red van laden with explosives broke the barriers outside the Rescue-15 building and blew up with a loud blast, bringing down the entire building.
The suicide bomber intended to target the office of the CCPO, sources added.
Explosives weighing 100 kilograms were used in the explosion which was followed by gunshots in the area with intervals while four suspects were arrested from the blast site.
Windowpanes of the nearby buildings and houses were shattered and 15 vehicles were destroyed as thick smoke clouded the blast site.
Rescue activities were kick-started after the blast and the injured were whisked away by ambulances to Meo, Gangaram and Services hospitals.
Machines are being used to recover people trapped under the debris. Six of the ten bodies brought to Meo Hospital were of policemen while two bodies are beyond recognition
----------
Survivors tell of Lahore blast devastation
Updated at: 1730 PST, Wednesday, May 27, 2009
LAHORE: "All of a sudden there was firing and a huge blast. The wall collapsed on me. I was trapped in the wreckage and fell unconscious," said an elderly man, plucked from the rubble of a Lahore bomb.
One of those lucky enough to be rescued from the remains of a police building in the security heartland of Lahore -- lying in hospital he remembered the van racing towards the offices, then gunshots, then the explosion.
Rescue workers and passers-by -- their clothing stained with blood -- clawed with bare hands at rubble and twisted metal desperately trying to free dozens of people buried alive when a suicide car bomb flattened the building.
They carried the wounded on their backs and on stretchers, stumbling over piles of bricks, twisted iron bars and severed human limbs as they rushed them to hospitals, which officials said were treating around 300 wounded.
Police and administrators said about 23 people were killed in the blast, the third deadly attack to hit Lahore in as many months.
The building, where police were on duty responding to distress calls, was devastated and the impact of the attack, which witnesses likened to being in an earthquake, shattered windows and toppled concrete blast barriers.
Police official Mohammad Yaseen said he was driving a motorbike when he was flung to the ground with shrapnel injuries.
"A huge bang rocked the entire area... I was hit by flying objects like glass shrapnel. I fell to the ground. I recovered and saw thick black smoke billowing. There were lots of shouts and cries," he said.
One man in a traditional white shirt was buried up to his waist in debris, as volunteers desperately threw aside bricks and rubble in a bid to free him, television footage showed.
Policemen staggered from the devastated building in the heart of the liberal cultural capital, worried for scores of their colleagues still trapped.
"I heard firing and then a huge blast," said one, saying there were 30 to 35 policemen trapped inside. "The building collapsed. I was at the back of the building and am fortunately alive."
Up to five attackers, including two in a van packed with explosives, opened fire at security guards and threw hand grenades, before the vehicle detonated into a ball of fire on the road in the security nerve centre of Lahore.
Ambulances rushed to the scene and a large crane shifted mounds of debris.
Another police officer, too panicked to give his name, said he rushed out of the building when he heard 20 shots ring out.
"We came out to see it, then they hurled a grenade and all of a sudden a vehicle exploded," he told reporters.
"Windows of the nearby buildings and houses were shattered -- over a dozen vehicles were destroyed... It was a huge blast which created a 15-foot (4.5-metre) deep and 17-foot wide crater."
The bomb hit one of the busiest junctions of Lahore, less than 500 metres (yards) from Mall Road, an upmarket shopping and dining boulevard, and its impact was felt up to two kilometres (more than a mile) away.
"I heard a loud bang. The window panes moved as if in an earthquake," said Mohammad Faisal, a shopkeeper who suffered minor shrapnel cuts.
"I was on the third floor and ran down the stairs. The building seemed to shake for several seconds."
As armed police secured the area, flattened cars and rows of charred motorcycles lay on their sides and power cables littered the roads.
-------
27 killed, nearly 326 injured; ISI agents, 11 policemen among the dead : ISI, police attacked
* Gunmen exchange fire with security personnel before vehicle loaded with 100 kgs of explosives hit Rescue 15 building
* Rs 3m compensation for heirs of each police official killed
By Rana Tanveer
LAHORE: Suicide bombers detonated a vehicle loaded with 100 kilogrammes of explosives near offices of the capital city police officer (CCPO) and the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) in Lahore on Wednesday – killing at least 27 people and wounding 326, in addition to destroying a two-storey building of the Rescue 15 police service, according to police.
Attack: Witnesses said the attack started midmorning when two gunmen stepped out of a white van – which had pulled up in a narrow street separating the police and ISI buildings – cautioned civilians to take cover, themselves took cover behind concrete barriers protecting the buildings and started firing at security personnel deployed down the street. The driver remained in the van as his accomplices exchanged fire with the security personnel, to clear the path for the vehicle to move towards the ISI and CCPO offices – located about a hundred feet down the street opposite each other. The gunmen also hurled a grenade at the security personnel. As the firing continued, the driver managed to cross the concrete barrier, but could not get further and was forced to blow up the vehicle there.
SP Sohail Sukhera said two policemen were injured in the gunbattle. He said a threefold security cordon prevented the attackers from getting to the offices CCPO and ISI offices. He said the terrorist in the vehicle was shot – which prompted him to blow up the vehicle about a hundred feet away from the intended target, in front of the Rescue 15 building.
Officials said at least three suspects had been detained.
Civil Defence District Officer Mazhar Abbas told Daily Times a suicide jacket and two Russian-made hand grenades had been found from the blast site. Sukhera said 27 people – including 11 policemen – died in the attack. The AP news agency reported that “several intelligence agents” were among the dead. The APP news agency said 50 of the injured people were in critical condition, but Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah said 20 were in critical condition.
Sukhera said nobody had claimed responsibility for the attack. The blast left a crater eight feet deep and several yards in diameter. There was no trace of the vehicle used in the blast – which destroyed an area nearly the size of a city block, with cars on the street left mangled and bricks strewn dozens of yards in all directions.
A nearby filling station was totally destroyed and several car showrooms damaged. The ceilings of several operating rooms in a nearby hospital caved in, and windows of buildings in a two-kilometre radius were shattered.
Most of the outer wall of the ISI office was destroyed and the building partially damaged, while the CCPO’s office was also damaged and SSP (Discipline) Farooq Mazhar injured. DCO Sajjad Bhutta said the attack was carried out by a suicide bomber. Rangers, Rescue 1122, police, Civil Defence and the Edhi Foundation immediately started rescue operations.
Sources in the Police Department told Daily Times that there were 35 police officials in the CCPO’s office at the time of the blast, and only three of them were unhurt – “all others were either injured or they died”.
The president and the prime minister condemned the attack in separate statements, and said their government remained committed to rooting out terrorism.
Compensation: According to APP, the Punjab chief minister has said that Rs 3 million would be given as compensation to families of policemen killed in the attack, and the government would also pay for their children’s education. Financial assistance would also be provided to the civilians killed or injured.
---------
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Chaos reigns as injured rushed to hospitals: Bloody Wednesday
* Injured admitted in Mayo Hospital: 110, Ganga Ram Hospital: 125, Services Hospital: 50 at WAPDA House, CM’s Secretariat, Lahore Zoo among buildings damaged
Staff Report
LAHORE: Chaotic scenes were witnessed on Wednesday as the injured were rushed to hospitals across the city.
Hamid, a citizen, told Daily Times that he was going to the Mayo Hospital for physiotherapy. “When I drove into the compound, I saw people rushing in with their injured relations and friends.” Naurez said he got out of the car, but a man who was standing nearby, stopped him, telling him to leave as there was a chance that the hospital’s roof might collapse.
Admitted: Hospitals were choked with patients, and often two people were seen on one bed. About 110 injured were taken to the Mayo Hospital, while 125 were admitted to the Ganga Ram Hospital and 50 were taken to the Services Hospital.
Separately, The Mall was blocked to all traffic on Wednesday after the blast at the Rescue 15 building, with shops and plazas on and around the road shutting down.
Hall Road also remained closed and shops on Bedan Road and Regal Chowk were shuttered. The glass doors of many shops that were not open at the time of the blast shattered behind the shutters. Shopkeepers after closing their shops gathered near the site of the blast and the police officials had to repeatedly ask them to disperse.
Though The Mall was barricaded at several points, the traffic did not choke for long as the road was deserted after the blast. The voice of the blast was heard at the Civil Secretariat and the Government College University and even as far as The Lahore College for Women University.
The Institute of Art and Design and National College of Arts, on The Mall, tightened their security and closed the gates.
Several significant buildings were damaged and destroyed by the bomb blast at the Rescue 15 office, as the shocks travelled in a radius of several kilometres.
The blast destroyed several buildings situated within a 200-metre radius from the Rescue 15 office. Most buildings have been declared ineligible for renovation, but must be demolished and then reconstructed.
Buildings: Several buildings – WAPDA House, Pakistan International Airlines office, Chief Minister’s Secretariat, Lahore Zoo, Plaza Cinema, offices of two newspapers, Punjab Assembly, Alfalah Building, Shahdin Building, Ganga Ram Hospital, St Anthony’s High School, banks, CNG and petrol stations and the Red Cross office – were partially damaged by the blast.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Unlike Israel, North Korea has killed no-one!
The US double standards continue to stink and to undermine anything Obama pretends to do. Would the UN Security council pay a shekel if Israel fires missiles or tests one of its nuclear bombs? The answer is definitely no, as the UN role is limited to that of a small office in the American State Department. Why is it that Iran and North Korea are not allowed to have Nuclear Weapons while Israel and Pakistan can? It is because Israel and Pakistan depend on US aids and will do what America wants them to do.
Furthermore, the UN Security Council lost credibility by remaining silent let alone threatening Israel with sanctions when it launched its Nazi-style killing and destruction in Gaza. As long as the Americans continue their terror and wars on Muslims anyone who provokes them receives our warmest support. That includes North Korea and Iran which remain solidly defiant of American hegemony.
Until recently, China was also a pariah state. Despite isolation and sanctions, the Chinese closed their borders, put their house in good order and became a super power. No-one is in love with Kim autocracy but one must respect the Korean insistence on being indpendent away from US interference.
No-one really is in love with autocratic Kim J. Il. But he is adamant about keeping away the Americans and their agents. Don't forget that China was isolated and sanctioned by America and its allies. But the Chineses closed their borders, put their house in order and made a superpower out of their third world country. Neither China nor North Korea got involved in USraeli-style of killing people at industraial scale.
To the contrary, it was democratic America who dropped nuclear bombs on civilian targets. And it is democratic Israel that has been carrying out Nazi-style atrocities against Palestinians including torturing and and killing with impunity. I rather support an autocratic non-aggressive regime than a war mongering USraeli democracies.
Adnan Darwash, Iraq Occupation Times
Furthermore, the UN Security Council lost credibility by remaining silent let alone threatening Israel with sanctions when it launched its Nazi-style killing and destruction in Gaza. As long as the Americans continue their terror and wars on Muslims anyone who provokes them receives our warmest support. That includes North Korea and Iran which remain solidly defiant of American hegemony.
Until recently, China was also a pariah state. Despite isolation and sanctions, the Chinese closed their borders, put their house in good order and became a super power. No-one is in love with Kim autocracy but one must respect the Korean insistence on being indpendent away from US interference.
No-one really is in love with autocratic Kim J. Il. But he is adamant about keeping away the Americans and their agents. Don't forget that China was isolated and sanctioned by America and its allies. But the Chineses closed their borders, put their house in order and made a superpower out of their third world country. Neither China nor North Korea got involved in USraeli-style of killing people at industraial scale.
To the contrary, it was democratic America who dropped nuclear bombs on civilian targets. And it is democratic Israel that has been carrying out Nazi-style atrocities against Palestinians including torturing and and killing with impunity. I rather support an autocratic non-aggressive regime than a war mongering USraeli democracies.
Adnan Darwash, Iraq Occupation Times
Army chief says US ready to be in Iraq 10 years
AP
Featured Topics:
* Barack Obama
Fighting Two Wars Play Video ABC News – Fighting Two Wars
* American soldiers return home Play Video Iraq Video:American soldiers return home AFP
* Shutterbug Solider Play Video Iraq Video:Shutterbug Solider FOX News
* Common Heartbreak Play Video Iraq Video:Common Heartbreak FOX News
FILE - In this Jan. 15, 2007, file photo, Gen. George Casey, then the U.S. AP – FILE - In this Jan. 15, 2007, file photo, Gen. George Casey, then the U.S. commander in Iraq, who is …
By TOM CURLEY, Associated Press Writer Tom Curley, Associated Press Writer – 40 mins ago
WASHINGTON – The Pentagon is prepared to leave fighting forces in Iraq for as long as a decade despite an agreement between the United States and Iraq that would bring all American troops home by 2012, the top U.S. Army officer said Tuesday.
Gen. George Casey, the Army chief of staff, said the world remains dangerous and unpredictable, and the Pentagon must plan for extended U.S. combat and stability operations in two wars. "Global trends are pushing in the wrong direction," Casey said. "They fundamentally will change how the Army works."
He spoke at an invitation-only briefing to a dozen journalists and policy analysts from Washington-based think-tanks. He said his planning envisions combat troops in Iraq and Afghanistan for a decade as part of a sustained U.S. commitment to fighting extremism and terrorism in the Middle East.
Casey's calculations about force levels are related to his attempt to ease the brutal deployment calendar that he said would "bring the Army to its knees."
Casey would not specify how many combat units would be split between Iraq and Afghanistan. He said U.S. ground commander Gen. Ray Odierno is leading a study to determine how far U.S. forces could be cut back in Iraq and still be effective. Casey said his comments about the long war in Iraq were not meant to conflict with administration policies.
President Barack Obama plans to bring U.S. combat forces home from Iraq in 2010, and the United States and Iraq have agreed that all American forces would leave by 2012. Although several senior U.S. officials have suggested Iraq could request an extension, the legal agreement the two countries signed last year would have to be amended for any significant U.S. presence to remain.
As recently as February, Defense Secretary Robert Gates reiterated the U.S. commitment to the agreement worked out with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
"Under the Status of Forces Agreement with the Iraqi government, I intend to remove all U.S. troops from Iraq by the end of 2011," Gates said during an address at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina. "We will complete this transition to Iraqi responsibility, and we will bring our troops home with the honor that they have earned."
The United States currently has about 139,000 troops in Iraq and 52,000 in Afghanistan.
Obama campaigned on ending the Iraq war as quickly as possible and refocusing U.S. resources on what he called the more important fight in Afghanistan.
That will not mean a major influx of U.S. fighting forces on the model of the Iraq "surge," however. Obama has agreed to send about 21,000 combat forces and trainers to Afghanistan this year. Combined with additional forces approved before former President George W. Bush left office, the United States is expected to have about 68,000 troops in Afghanistan by the end of this year. That's about double the total at the end of 2008, but Obama's top military and civilian advisers have indicated the number is unlikely to grow much beyond that.
Casey said several times that he wasn't the person making policy, but the military was preparing to have a fighting force deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan for years to come. Casey said his planning envisions 10 combat brigades plus command and support forces committed to the two wars.
When asked whether the Army had any measurement for knowing how big it should be, Casey responded, "How about the reality scenario?"
This scenario, he said, must take into account that "we're going to have 10 Army and Marine units deployed for a decade in Iraq and Afghanistan."
Casey stressed that the United States must be ready to take on sustained fights in the Middle East while meeting other commitments.
Casey reiterated statements made by civilian and military leaders that the situation in Afghanistan would get worse before it gets better. "There's going to be a big fight in the South," he said.
Casey added that training of local police and military in Afghanistan was at least a couple years behind the pace in Iraq, and it would be months before the U.S. deployed enough trainers. There's a steeper curve before training could be effective in Afghanistan, requiring three to five years before Afghanis could reach the "tipping point" of control.
He also said the U.S. had to be careful about what assets get deployed to Afghanistan. "Anything you put in there would be in there for a decade," he said.
As Army chief of staff, Casey is primarily responsible for assembling the manpower and determining assignments. He insisted the Army's 1.1-million size was sufficient even to handle the extended Mideast conflicts.
"We ought to build a pretty effective Army with 1.1 million strength," Casey said. He also noted that the Army's budget had grown to $220 billion from $68 billion before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
He said the Army is two-thirds of the way through a complete overhaul from the Cold War-era force built around tanks and artillery to today's terrorist-driven realities. The Army has become more versatile and quicker by switching from division-led units to brigade-level command.
Casey said the Army has moved from 15-month battlefield deployments to 12 months. His goal is to move rotations by 2011 to one year in the battlefield and two years out for regular Army troops, and one year in the battlefield and three years out for reserves. He called the current one-year-in-one-year-out cycle "unsustainable."
Featured Topics:
* Barack Obama
Fighting Two Wars Play Video ABC News – Fighting Two Wars
* American soldiers return home Play Video Iraq Video:American soldiers return home AFP
* Shutterbug Solider Play Video Iraq Video:Shutterbug Solider FOX News
* Common Heartbreak Play Video Iraq Video:Common Heartbreak FOX News
FILE - In this Jan. 15, 2007, file photo, Gen. George Casey, then the U.S. AP – FILE - In this Jan. 15, 2007, file photo, Gen. George Casey, then the U.S. commander in Iraq, who is …
By TOM CURLEY, Associated Press Writer Tom Curley, Associated Press Writer – 40 mins ago
WASHINGTON – The Pentagon is prepared to leave fighting forces in Iraq for as long as a decade despite an agreement between the United States and Iraq that would bring all American troops home by 2012, the top U.S. Army officer said Tuesday.
Gen. George Casey, the Army chief of staff, said the world remains dangerous and unpredictable, and the Pentagon must plan for extended U.S. combat and stability operations in two wars. "Global trends are pushing in the wrong direction," Casey said. "They fundamentally will change how the Army works."
He spoke at an invitation-only briefing to a dozen journalists and policy analysts from Washington-based think-tanks. He said his planning envisions combat troops in Iraq and Afghanistan for a decade as part of a sustained U.S. commitment to fighting extremism and terrorism in the Middle East.
Casey's calculations about force levels are related to his attempt to ease the brutal deployment calendar that he said would "bring the Army to its knees."
Casey would not specify how many combat units would be split between Iraq and Afghanistan. He said U.S. ground commander Gen. Ray Odierno is leading a study to determine how far U.S. forces could be cut back in Iraq and still be effective. Casey said his comments about the long war in Iraq were not meant to conflict with administration policies.
President Barack Obama plans to bring U.S. combat forces home from Iraq in 2010, and the United States and Iraq have agreed that all American forces would leave by 2012. Although several senior U.S. officials have suggested Iraq could request an extension, the legal agreement the two countries signed last year would have to be amended for any significant U.S. presence to remain.
As recently as February, Defense Secretary Robert Gates reiterated the U.S. commitment to the agreement worked out with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
"Under the Status of Forces Agreement with the Iraqi government, I intend to remove all U.S. troops from Iraq by the end of 2011," Gates said during an address at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina. "We will complete this transition to Iraqi responsibility, and we will bring our troops home with the honor that they have earned."
The United States currently has about 139,000 troops in Iraq and 52,000 in Afghanistan.
Obama campaigned on ending the Iraq war as quickly as possible and refocusing U.S. resources on what he called the more important fight in Afghanistan.
That will not mean a major influx of U.S. fighting forces on the model of the Iraq "surge," however. Obama has agreed to send about 21,000 combat forces and trainers to Afghanistan this year. Combined with additional forces approved before former President George W. Bush left office, the United States is expected to have about 68,000 troops in Afghanistan by the end of this year. That's about double the total at the end of 2008, but Obama's top military and civilian advisers have indicated the number is unlikely to grow much beyond that.
Casey said several times that he wasn't the person making policy, but the military was preparing to have a fighting force deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan for years to come. Casey said his planning envisions 10 combat brigades plus command and support forces committed to the two wars.
When asked whether the Army had any measurement for knowing how big it should be, Casey responded, "How about the reality scenario?"
This scenario, he said, must take into account that "we're going to have 10 Army and Marine units deployed for a decade in Iraq and Afghanistan."
Casey stressed that the United States must be ready to take on sustained fights in the Middle East while meeting other commitments.
Casey reiterated statements made by civilian and military leaders that the situation in Afghanistan would get worse before it gets better. "There's going to be a big fight in the South," he said.
Casey added that training of local police and military in Afghanistan was at least a couple years behind the pace in Iraq, and it would be months before the U.S. deployed enough trainers. There's a steeper curve before training could be effective in Afghanistan, requiring three to five years before Afghanis could reach the "tipping point" of control.
He also said the U.S. had to be careful about what assets get deployed to Afghanistan. "Anything you put in there would be in there for a decade," he said.
As Army chief of staff, Casey is primarily responsible for assembling the manpower and determining assignments. He insisted the Army's 1.1-million size was sufficient even to handle the extended Mideast conflicts.
"We ought to build a pretty effective Army with 1.1 million strength," Casey said. He also noted that the Army's budget had grown to $220 billion from $68 billion before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
He said the Army is two-thirds of the way through a complete overhaul from the Cold War-era force built around tanks and artillery to today's terrorist-driven realities. The Army has become more versatile and quicker by switching from division-led units to brigade-level command.
Casey said the Army has moved from 15-month battlefield deployments to 12 months. His goal is to move rotations by 2011 to one year in the battlefield and two years out for regular Army troops, and one year in the battlefield and three years out for reserves. He called the current one-year-in-one-year-out cycle "unsustainable."
Ahmedinejad Bomb will work like magic!
Many Israelis believe that they will pack up and leave if Iran obtains nuclear warheads. That means, Netanyahu and his Zionist supporters don’t need to expand the settlements in the occupied territories as not even Russians will accept to immigrate to Israel if their future was bleak.
It will also affect the tourist industry and further foreign investment. No-matter how one looks at it, Ahmedinejad bomb will work like magic to solve the chronic Middle East problem and will assist the US in improving its image in the Arab and Muslim worlds. In other word; Arabs, Muslims and Americans should assist Iran to develop at least 10 Nuclear Bombs as they will be the only deterrent to Israeli arrogant jingoism which successive American presidents had no option but finance and support.
Adnan Darwash, Iraq Occupation Times
Bomb attack kills US soldiers, Afghan civilians
: officials
Updated at: 1220 PST, Tuesday, May 26, 2009
KABUL: A bomb attack on US troops north of Kabul Tuesday killed an unknown number of US soldiers and three Afghan civilians, military and Afghan officials told.
--------
Afghanistan suicide attack kills 3 foreign soldiers
26 May 2009 07:34:01 GMT
Source: Reuters
(Adds details, incidents in Ghazni and Uruzgan provinces)
KABUL, May 26 (Reuters) - Three soldiers fighting with NATO-led forces and a civilian were killed by a suicide car bomb attack on a military convoy in east Afghanistan on Tuesday, Afghan officials and a spokesman for the alliance said.
One foreign soldier and one civilian were also injured when a suicide bomber rammed an explosive-laden car into the convoy in the northern Sayat district of Kapisa province, said Abdul Ali Mayar, a spokesman for the provincial governor.
Mayar also said a U.S. military vehicle was destroyed in the attack. U.S. forces declined to comment on the incident.
NATO-led forces said the nationality of the soldiers had not yet been released. Mainly U.S. and French troops working under NATO command are deployed in Kapisa province.
Violence in Afghanistan is expected to spike in the coming months as some 21,000 additional U.S. forces are deployed to reinforce NATO-led troops in the south and east of the country, the frontline of the fight against Taliban-led insurgents.
Despite the increasing numbers of foreign troops, violence has risen to its highest levels in recent months since the Taliban were ousted after a U.S.-led invasion in 2001.
Five Taliban were killed in an overnight air strike by foreign forces in Ghazni province, southwest of Kabul, the provincial police chief said.
And on Monday, Afghan police and U.S. forces killed eight militants in Uruzgan province in southern Afghanistan, U.S. forces said.
Another three insurgents were killed when a bomb they were planting exploded in southeastern Paktika province, the Afghan National Security Directorate said. (Reporting by Hamid Shalizi and Golnar Motevalli; Editing by Emma Graham-Harrison
and Paul Tait)
----------
Bomb targeting U.S. convoy in Iraq kills 3
26 May 2009 11:04:31 GMT
Source: Reuters
BAGHDAD, May 26 (Reuters) - A bomb struck a convoy of U.S. officials and civilian contractors visiting a construction site in western Iraq, killing three people and wounding two, the U.S. military said on Tuesday.
A U.S. military statement gave no further details of the attack, which occurred on Monday near the city of Falluja, 50 km (30 miles) west of Baghdad.
It said the names of the dead and wounded were being withheld pending efforts to contact their relatives -- something the United States usually does when its own citizens have been killed or wounded in Iraq.
Violence in predominantly Sunni Arab western Iraq has fallen dramatically since it was the hub of a raging insurgency in 2005 through 2007 but militant cells still operate in the desert region. (Writing by Tim Cocks; Editing by Angus MacSwan)
Updated at: 1220 PST, Tuesday, May 26, 2009
KABUL: A bomb attack on US troops north of Kabul Tuesday killed an unknown number of US soldiers and three Afghan civilians, military and Afghan officials told.
--------
Afghanistan suicide attack kills 3 foreign soldiers
26 May 2009 07:34:01 GMT
Source: Reuters
(Adds details, incidents in Ghazni and Uruzgan provinces)
KABUL, May 26 (Reuters) - Three soldiers fighting with NATO-led forces and a civilian were killed by a suicide car bomb attack on a military convoy in east Afghanistan on Tuesday, Afghan officials and a spokesman for the alliance said.
One foreign soldier and one civilian were also injured when a suicide bomber rammed an explosive-laden car into the convoy in the northern Sayat district of Kapisa province, said Abdul Ali Mayar, a spokesman for the provincial governor.
Mayar also said a U.S. military vehicle was destroyed in the attack. U.S. forces declined to comment on the incident.
NATO-led forces said the nationality of the soldiers had not yet been released. Mainly U.S. and French troops working under NATO command are deployed in Kapisa province.
Violence in Afghanistan is expected to spike in the coming months as some 21,000 additional U.S. forces are deployed to reinforce NATO-led troops in the south and east of the country, the frontline of the fight against Taliban-led insurgents.
Despite the increasing numbers of foreign troops, violence has risen to its highest levels in recent months since the Taliban were ousted after a U.S.-led invasion in 2001.
Five Taliban were killed in an overnight air strike by foreign forces in Ghazni province, southwest of Kabul, the provincial police chief said.
And on Monday, Afghan police and U.S. forces killed eight militants in Uruzgan province in southern Afghanistan, U.S. forces said.
Another three insurgents were killed when a bomb they were planting exploded in southeastern Paktika province, the Afghan National Security Directorate said. (Reporting by Hamid Shalizi and Golnar Motevalli; Editing by Emma Graham-Harrison
and Paul Tait)
----------
Bomb targeting U.S. convoy in Iraq kills 3
26 May 2009 11:04:31 GMT
Source: Reuters
BAGHDAD, May 26 (Reuters) - A bomb struck a convoy of U.S. officials and civilian contractors visiting a construction site in western Iraq, killing three people and wounding two, the U.S. military said on Tuesday.
A U.S. military statement gave no further details of the attack, which occurred on Monday near the city of Falluja, 50 km (30 miles) west of Baghdad.
It said the names of the dead and wounded were being withheld pending efforts to contact their relatives -- something the United States usually does when its own citizens have been killed or wounded in Iraq.
Violence in predominantly Sunni Arab western Iraq has fallen dramatically since it was the hub of a raging insurgency in 2005 through 2007 but militant cells still operate in the desert region. (Writing by Tim Cocks; Editing by Angus MacSwan)
Monday, May 25, 2009
Former ICC chief killed by bomb in Iraq
May 25, 2009 10:02 PM | 1 Comment
Terry Barnich, a former Illinois Commerce Commission chairman and chief counsel to former Gov. Jim Thompson, was killed by a bomb today while traveling in a convoy in Iraq, friends and family said.
Barnich, 56, was serving as deputy director for the Iraq Transition Assistance Office for the State Department, said his friend Philip O'Connor, a former Commerce Commission chairman who served with him in Iraq. Barnich began work there in January 2007, he said.
A State Department spokeswoman could not confirm the death late Monday. His loved ones said they were notified earlier in the day.
"He was a guy who didn't pass up the opportunity to help out and this was a case in point," said business partner Craig Clausen.
Barnich, who grew up in Chicago's Hegewisch community, served as commission chairman from 1989 to 1992.
"He's always been interested in politics, even when we were children," said his sister, Rochelle.
"He was just a great guy, very driven, but could be a complete [goof]. Great sense of humor, great sense of pride in his country."
--Erika Slife
Terry Barnich, a former Illinois Commerce Commission chairman and chief counsel to former Gov. Jim Thompson, was killed by a bomb today while traveling in a convoy in Iraq, friends and family said.
Barnich, 56, was serving as deputy director for the Iraq Transition Assistance Office for the State Department, said his friend Philip O'Connor, a former Commerce Commission chairman who served with him in Iraq. Barnich began work there in January 2007, he said.
A State Department spokeswoman could not confirm the death late Monday. His loved ones said they were notified earlier in the day.
"He was a guy who didn't pass up the opportunity to help out and this was a case in point," said business partner Craig Clausen.
Barnich, who grew up in Chicago's Hegewisch community, served as commission chairman from 1989 to 1992.
"He's always been interested in politics, even when we were children," said his sister, Rochelle.
"He was just a great guy, very driven, but could be a complete [goof]. Great sense of humor, great sense of pride in his country."
--Erika Slife
Sunday, May 24, 2009
4 Star St. George Hotel Dubai- Arab booty in Bahrain and Quatar
4 Star Brothel
St. George Hotel Dubai
You usually have to wait for a room for a short while upon arrival. Dont take any rooms from the 8th to the 10th floors...the Disco music goes on until 3AM and is deafening.
If you go into the bar to wait the desk will book you a room on the First floor which is quieter. While you are waiting a girl in a lingerie evening gown will approach your table and introduce herself. She is usually either Iranian or Ukrainian.
The restaurant bar is called the Tivoli. The girl will offer you sex in your room. You will get that before you will get a menu at the Tivoli.
You can see these girls sweep past the security guards and either get into the lifts or walk up the back stairs to the first floor and get the lifts from there,some of them stay over night and you see them leaving the next morning, The bar is open to 3am every night and when they leave there is a hell of a noise with there pimps picking them up tooting there horns .huge motor bikes revving up .
the Hotel has been in business since before the First Gulf War and caters to those with the money. Girls cost between $100 and $400 a night.
You can get underage girls just by asking...they cost about $1,000 a night.
--
Bahrain is already a major American base in the Persian Gulf. During the 1990s, Bahrain began providing port facilities for destroyers and frigates enforcing the Iraqi embargo, and other support for the U.S. carrier task force that operates in the Persian Gulf. The Bahrain air base of Shaikh Isa is fitted out to support about a hundred U.S. warplanes. Britain bases aerial tankers in Bahrain as well.
Further south, the U.S. spent $1.4 billion to develop the al Udeid air base in Qatar. In addition to supporting over a hundred warplanes, Al Udeid also contains communications facilities and bunkers that can house headquarters for major military operations in the Persia Gulf. Still further south, another air base was built in Oman at Musnanah. The U.S. and Britain also use several existing air bases in Oman.
Bahrain is an island kingdom off the coast of Saudi Arabia. Population is only 700,000, and a third of those are foreigners (non-Arab). Bahrain has long been pro-West, mainly as a way to prevent takeover by Iran (or mainland Arabs). Bahrain is currently the main base for the U.S. 5th Fleet, and a major American military operation in the region. Bahrain replaced Beirut as the most popular Arab banking center, during the 1975-90 Lebanese civil war. Bahrain is also a major tourist destinations, mainly for Saudis looking for some relief from the lifestyle police back home. You can get a drink, and much else ( like the brothels are full of Iranian girls), in Bahrain.
---
So when are you moving to Dubai, POS?
There are a lot of places in the Moslem world where you can get a drink and a girl while you are reading the Koran.
You didnt know that?
St. George Hotel Dubai
You usually have to wait for a room for a short while upon arrival. Dont take any rooms from the 8th to the 10th floors...the Disco music goes on until 3AM and is deafening.
If you go into the bar to wait the desk will book you a room on the First floor which is quieter. While you are waiting a girl in a lingerie evening gown will approach your table and introduce herself. She is usually either Iranian or Ukrainian.
The restaurant bar is called the Tivoli. The girl will offer you sex in your room. You will get that before you will get a menu at the Tivoli.
You can see these girls sweep past the security guards and either get into the lifts or walk up the back stairs to the first floor and get the lifts from there,some of them stay over night and you see them leaving the next morning, The bar is open to 3am every night and when they leave there is a hell of a noise with there pimps picking them up tooting there horns .huge motor bikes revving up .
the Hotel has been in business since before the First Gulf War and caters to those with the money. Girls cost between $100 and $400 a night.
You can get underage girls just by asking...they cost about $1,000 a night.
--
Bahrain is already a major American base in the Persian Gulf. During the 1990s, Bahrain began providing port facilities for destroyers and frigates enforcing the Iraqi embargo, and other support for the U.S. carrier task force that operates in the Persian Gulf. The Bahrain air base of Shaikh Isa is fitted out to support about a hundred U.S. warplanes. Britain bases aerial tankers in Bahrain as well.
Further south, the U.S. spent $1.4 billion to develop the al Udeid air base in Qatar. In addition to supporting over a hundred warplanes, Al Udeid also contains communications facilities and bunkers that can house headquarters for major military operations in the Persia Gulf. Still further south, another air base was built in Oman at Musnanah. The U.S. and Britain also use several existing air bases in Oman.
Bahrain is an island kingdom off the coast of Saudi Arabia. Population is only 700,000, and a third of those are foreigners (non-Arab). Bahrain has long been pro-West, mainly as a way to prevent takeover by Iran (or mainland Arabs). Bahrain is currently the main base for the U.S. 5th Fleet, and a major American military operation in the region. Bahrain replaced Beirut as the most popular Arab banking center, during the 1975-90 Lebanese civil war. Bahrain is also a major tourist destinations, mainly for Saudis looking for some relief from the lifestyle police back home. You can get a drink, and much else ( like the brothels are full of Iranian girls), in Bahrain.
---
So when are you moving to Dubai, POS?
There are a lot of places in the Moslem world where you can get a drink and a girl while you are reading the Koran.
You didnt know that?
Tehran blocks access to Facebook
Facebook expressed disappointment over the ban
Iran has briefly blocked access to social networking site Facebook ahead of June's presidential elections.
The move was aimed at stopping supporters of reformist candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi from using the site for his campaign.
Facebook, which says it has 175m users worldwide, expressed its disappointment over the reported ban.
Tehran reinstated access to the website after a few hours, but made no official comment about the censoring.
'Access not possible'
"Access to the Facebook site was prohibited several days ahead of the presidential elections," Iranian news agency Ilna reported.
Mousavi registers at the interior ministry in Tehran
Mr Mousavi was Iran's prime minister when the post was abolished in 1989
It said that "according to certain Internet surfers, the site was banned because supporters of Mir Hossein Mousavi were using Facebook to better disseminate the candidate's positions".
CNN staff in Tehran reported that people attempting to visit the site received a message in Farsi that said: "Access to this site is not possible."
Facebook expressed disappointment that its site was apparently blocked in Iran "at a time when voters are turning to the Internet as a source of information about election candidates and their positions".
Mir Hossein Mousavi, a former prime minister, is seen as one of the leading challengers to incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the 12 June elections.
His page on Facebook has more than 5,000 supporters.
------
Iran bans Facebook ahead of election
Iran has blocked the use of the popular social networking site Facebook in a move critics claim is an attempt to muzzle the opposition ahead of next month's election.
Last Updated: 2:27PM BST 24 May 2009
Iran has blocked the use of the popular social networking site Facebook
Iran has blocked the use of the popular social networking site Facebook Photo: PA
Blogs and websites have become an important campaign tool for Mir Hossein Mousavi, the leading reformist candidate, to mobilise Iran's critical youth vote before the June 12 ballot.
Iranian authorities often block anything on the internet considered critical of the Islamic regime, but the timing of the latest move suggested it was done to target opponents of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
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Mohammed Ali Abtahi, a former vice president, said: "Facebook is one of the only independent sources that the Iranian youth could use to communicate."
Abtahi said the loss of Facebook – and possibly other web sites popular with reformists – will leave Iranians "forced to rely on government sources" such as state-run media before the election.
Ahmadinejad is in a four-way race for re-election with two pro-reform candidates and fellow conservative Mohsen Rezaei.
The internet and other technology have increasingly become part of Iranian political movements in the past decade.
During the last presidential race in 2005, information about rallies and campaign updates were sent by text message. In recent years, political blogs by Iranians in the country and abroad have grown sharply.
Iranian officials did not comment on the reported block.
---
Iran's Rezai says he can stop Israel with 'one strike'
Updated at: 1430 PST, Sunday, May 24, 2009
TEHRAN: Iran's former Revolutionary Guards chief Mohsen Rezai warned on Sunday he could stop Israel with "one strike" and said it would not dare to threaten the Islamic republic if he is elected president.
"My government... understands missiles and tanks as well as foreign policy and knows exactly where Israel's sensitive spots are. It could stop them forever with one strike,"Rezai told a news conference. "If government falls into our hands Israel will not dare threaten Iran because the Israelis and the Americans know us and our friends," said Rezai, who is one of three candidates challenging President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the June 12 election.
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Egyptian Tycoon Sentenced to Death for Murder
A Cairo courtroom erupted Thursday after Hisham Talaat Moustafa was sentenced to death in the murder of the Lebanese singer Suzanne Tamim. Egyptians assume that a man with his wealth and connections is above the law’s reach. More Photos >
By MICHAEL SLACKMAN
Published: May 21, 2009
CAIRO — A wealthy and politically connected Egyptian businessman was sentenced to death on Thursday for hiring a hit man to kill a Lebanese pop singer in a case that has captivated the Middle East for nearly a year with its storyline of revenge, power and money.
The businessman, Hisham Talaat Moustafa, was a multimillionaire who seemed to have it all. He headed a real estate conglomerate, was a member of the upper house of Parliament and had close ties to the family of President Hosni Mubarak. He was part of the most elite strata of Egyptian society, a high roller of the type that Egyptians have long assumed to operate beyond the reach of the law.
Then Suzanne Tamim was found dead in July, slashed and stabbed in her apartment in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates. She was 30, a pop diva and, it was charged, had fled from a failed relationship with Mr. Moustafa.
When rumors first spread of Mr. Moustafa’s links to the killing, Egypt’s leadership appeared to react instinctively, closing ranks to protect one of its own. But Egyptians have been growing increasingly frustrated with two scales of justice, one for the poor and one for the rich, political commentators here said. And there was pressure from Dubai, which was unwilling to let a murderer walk, no matter how rich and connected.
In the hours after the sentence was announced, it seemed as though Mr. Moustafa was all people could talk about in Cairo. People were astounded, and pleased, at the rare fall from grace.
“There is a fundamental element missing in the political system here, and this is the element of trust, the ability of the people to trust that their regime is just,”said Osama Ghazali Harb, an editor and researcher at the Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies in Cairo.
“This verdict can bring citizens to have some trust in the judiciary, and it can have a positive outcome for the regime because people don’t trust it in general.”
Mr. Moustafa’s fate was sealed with a quick reading of the verdict. A little after 9 a.m. Judge Muhammadi Qunsuwa entered a run-down, litter-strewn courtroom in the center of Cairo. He said that the case would be referred to the nation’s highest religious official. It was instantly understood that that meant the death penalty.
Mr. Moustafa showed no emotion.
He stood in a prisoner’s cage, a black box of bars and metal mesh about seven feet tall. He wore a white prison jumpsuit and turned his back to the crush of journalists and family and friends who had crowded the room. The man who prosecutors say he hired, Mohsen al-Sukari, was in the cage next to him, reading the Koran.
He received a death sentence, too.
Mr. Moustafa was hustled out of the courtroom as the crowd surged toward the prisoner’s cage. Friends and family members cried out in shock, while his wife collapsed. A young man fainted and was carried out on an officer’s shoulder.
Mr. Sukari turned pale, crossed his arms over his chest and mumbled to himself before being taken away.
Under Egyptian law, the country’s chief religious official, Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa, must review all death sentences. His decision will be handed down next month, but experts here said there was no reason to expect that he would overrule the judge.
Mr. Moustafa’s lawyers also said they would appeal the verdict and sentence, which under Egyptian law are delivered simultaneously.
The case of Mr. Moustafa and Ms. Tamim grabbed public attention because of the spectacular characters, and the locales involved: Dubai, the fast-moving emirate in the Persian Gulf with influence far beyond its size; and Egypt, the floundering, crisis-prone state where power and money often buy immunity from the law.
Egyptian officials were keen to point to the verdict on Thursday as proof that there is rule of law in Egypt, and that even someone as influential as Mr. Moustafa could be forced to pay the ultimate penalty for his crime.
Ms. Tamim was murdered in Dubai, but Egypt does not allow its citizens to be extradited, so the trial took place here. In the beginning, it appeared that Mr. Moustafa would benefit from his social and political standing. Courts ordered that the case not be covered in the press, and Mr. Moustafa retained his parliamentary immunity.
But that changed, a result, some say, of pressure from the United Arab Emirates and a need to calm local hostility toward Egypt’s elite. There was outrage earlier this year when a court initially acquitted another important businessman in connection with the deaths of about 1,000 people when a ferry he owned sank.
Mr. Moustafa was arrested in September and charged with paying $2 million to Mr. Sukari, a former police officer who had worked in security at a hotel Mr. Moustafa owned.
Mr. Moustafa, who was 49 at the time of his arrest, had an estimated net worth of $800 million in 2007. He was one of Egypt’s largest real estate developers and a member of Mr. Mubarak’s governing National Democratic Party.
The Lebanese singer Suzanne Tamim. More Photos >
Multimedia
Moustafa Receives Death SentenceSlide Show
Moustafa Receives Death Sentence
Related
Egypt Tycoon Is Charged in Killing of Pop Diva (September 3, 2008)
Ms. Tamim became famous after winning the regional equivalent of “American Idol,” called Studio Al Fann. Her career took off but her personal life was plagued by failed relationships, and when she moved to Cairo she was entangled in a bitter divorce from her second husband.
She met Mr. Moustafa after her move. He offered to help revive her career and then, according to news media reports, they became romantically involved.
But she evidently tired of him and eventually moved to Dubai and married a kickboxing champion.
Prosecutors charged that Mr. Moustafa was enraged and hired Mr. Sukari, who was arrested in Egypt shortly after the killing at the request of the authorities in the Emirates.
When the case first came to public attention in Egypt, the authorities tried to keep the details secret, a move widely interpreted as a signal that someone connected was involved.
But in the end, commentators here said Egypt’s leaders decided that the political costs of protecting Mr. Moustafa were too steep, so they decided in this instance to allow the law to be applied without interference.
“The general guiding rule is the interest of the regime,” said Belal Fadl, a columnist with the independent newspaper Al Masry al Yom.
“At this particular moment, the regime’s interest is to prove to people here and to the outside world that it is not a corrupt system.”
Mr. Moustafa saw it differently. In a letter written from his jail cell before his trial, he insisted that he was innocent and that he was the victim of jealousy because of his success.
“I keep asking myself every moment in my cell: Why is this happening to me?” he wrote. “Why am I facing all this distortion and destruction and lies that nobody faced before? Why is this happening to me, while everyone knows who I am and how I am disciplined, serious and committed to my faith and my duties towards God?”
---------
Egypt Tycoon Is Charged in Killing of Pop Diva
By MONA EL-NAGGAR
Published: September 2, 2008
CAIRO — A wealthy Egyptian businessman and lawmaker was charged Tuesday with paying $2 million for the contract killing of a well-known Lebanese pop star who was found dead in her apartment in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, in July.
The arrest capped weeks of speculation, in Egypt and in Dubai, that the politically powerful Egyptian had ordered the killing of the singer, Suzanne Tamim, 30. But the arrest of the tycoon, Hisham Talaat Moustafa, one of the nation’s largest real estate developers and a member of President Hosni Mubarak’s governing National Democratic Party, still caused a stir here.
Mr. Moustafa, 49, whose net worth was estimated at more than $800 million in 2007, was charged with hiring a former police officer, Mohsen al-Sukary, to kill Ms. Tamim in what authorities said was an act of revenge.
Mr. Moustafa had no immediate comment.
The authorities did not elaborate on the source of his anger. But news media have reported that he was infuriated with Ms. Tamim after a failed love affair. When her body was found on July 28, she had been stabbed and her throat had been slit.
Mr. Sukary, the former police officer, was arrested shortly after the killing. On Tuesday, Egypt’s public prosecutor, Gen. Abdul Meguid Mahmoud, said that Mr. Moustafa “took part through incitement, agreement and assistance with the first defendant in killing the victim in revenge.”
The case drew attention because it involved a Lebanese diva, the rich emirate of Dubai and rumors that a politically connected Egyptian was involved. It was front-page news everywhere in the region except Egypt, where newspapers were prohibited from reporting on the case.
As rumors spread across Egypt that Mr. Moustafa was the connected businessman, and as shares in his company dropped on the Egyptian stock exchange, he called for legislation to make it a crime to spread rumors.
“It is clear that the authorities in Dubai have some kind of strong evidence against Hisham Talaat Moustafa, and that’s why the authorities here had to arrest him and investigate,” said Salama Ahmed Salama, a columnist with Egypt’s state-owned newspaper Al Ahram. “Otherwise, the Egyptian authorities wouldn’t have lifted his immunity and arrested him.” Mr. Moustafa was the chairman of Talaat Moustafa Group, which builds hotels and housing, and a member of Parliament’s Shura Council, which is largely advisory. He has been replaced by his brother as chairman and stripped of his legislative immunity.
---
* TMG Holding Appoints New Chairman and Pursues its Current and Future Plans
Eng. Tarek Talaat MoustafaCairo, September 7th, 2008 – In its Board of Directors meeting held on September 2nd, 2008 TMG Holding announced the appointment of Eng. Tarek Talaat Moustafa as the Executive Chairman of the company, effective September 2nd, 2008 replacing Mr. Hisham Talaat Moustafa who has resigned from his position.
--
Hisham Talaat Moustafa meets with US President
On his recent visit to Sharm EL-Sheikh to participate in the USA-Egypt Summit held in January 2008, Mr. Hisham Talaat Moustafa, Chairman of Talaat Moustafa Group Holding Company, has met up over a span of time with Mr. George W. Bush, President of the United States of America.
Visibly impressed with the Four Seasons magnificence, the American President has expressed his profound admiration for the world-class and luxury facilities enjoyed at the Four Seasons Resort Sharm EL-Shiekh.
The highly-praised development has received several awards and accolades fro excellence and majesty, and recently, it scooped first place in the "best Hotel/ Resort in the Middle East & Africa" category of the 2007 Gallivanter's Awards for Excellence.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Car Bombing Kills at Least 66 in Shiite Area of Baghdad
By Nada Bakri
Washington Post Foreign Service
Thursday, May 21, 2009
BAGHDAD, May 20 -- A car bomb exploded Wednesday near a crowded ice cream parlor in a Shiite neighborhood of northern Baghdad, killing at least 34 people and wounding 72 in one of the deadliest attacks in weeks.
Iraqi security forces cordoned off the bombing site as ambulances, their sirens wailing, ferried the dead and wounded to nearby hospitals. Witnesses said people ran frantically from the scene, terrified that another bombing might follow.
"These are desperate attempts to divide the Iraqi people," said Hamdallah Ali Rikabi, a neighborhood official in a movement loyal to Moqtada al-Sadr, a Shiite cleric whose followers once controlled the area. "But they have learned from their past."
A series of suicide bombings struck predominantly Shiite neighborhoods in Baghdad last month, making April the most violent month this year and fueling speculation that Sunni insurgents might be trying to instigate the sort of sectarian conflict that plunged Iraq into chaos in 2006 and 2007.
Civilian casualties have mounted each month this year, as the United States prepares to withdraw combat troops from cities by June 30.
But for days this month, amid a lull in the bombings, Baghdad's most formidable problems had seemed to be traffic sometimes snarled for a mile before omnipresent checkpoints and the heat of an early summer.
In one neighborhood, graffiti that once heralded God, insurgents and Shiite militias had given way to a celebration of a soccer team. But even there, residents acknowledged that the violence had probably only subsided, not ended.
"There is always fear," said Rasmiyah Taha Mohammad, 75, who was forced out of her house in the neighborhood of Hurriyah in 2006 and had recently returned. "There are bombings, and there are still killings."
Iraqi officials have blamed remnants of the Baath Party and Sunni insurgents for the recent attacks, although they have insisted that security forces have restored calm.
"There are still security challenges," Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said at a recent conference, "although we have taken over the territory and the initiative from the terrorists who have gone now into hiding here and there."
The bombing came as U.S. troops have begun closing outposts in Baghdad and moving to large bases outside the cities in accordance with an agreement between the United States and Iraq that set a deadline for the withdrawal. Under the agreement, U.S. combat troops must leave urban areas by June 30, although some troops are expected to remain in Baghdad and Mosul.
Iraqi forces will then be charged with security in Baghdad and other cities. But at the scenes of bombings this year, residents have expressed frustration at those forces for what they describe as their failure to protect them. At one recent bombing in a nearby neighborhood, residents threw sandals at security forces, while others spit and shouted insults.
Special correspondent Qais Mizher contributed to this report.
---
by Ammar Karim Ammar Karim – Thu May 21, 10:24 am ET
BAGHDAD (AFP) – Iraq was engulfed in a wave of violence on Thursday, with suicide attackers and bombings killing 26 people including three US soldiers, a day after huge blast in a Baghdad Shiite area left 40 dead.
The spike in attacks comes as the US military prepares to decamp from the nation's cities and towns by June 30 and has sparked fears of a return to the sectarian violence that brought Iraq to the brink of civil war three years ago.
The main target of Thursday's attacks was Baghdad, where a suicide bomber detonated his explosives in a crowded market in the southern Dora district, killing at least 12 people and wounding 25, security officials said.
The bomber targeted a US patrol that was passing through a popular Assyrian Christian market in the confessionally mixed area, officials from the interior and defence ministry told AFP.
Three American soldiers were killed in a blast the US military said was caused by an "improvised explosive device", but did not say if it was in the same incident as reported by the Iraqi officials.
Since the US-led invasion in March 2003 a total of 4,299 American troops have died, according to an AFP count based on the independent website icasualties.org.
The market attack came soon after a bomb exploded in a rubbish bin inside a Baghdad police station, killing three policemen and injuring 20, among then 12 officers and eight civilians, officials told AFP.
The day began on a bloody note when a suicide bomber killed eight members of an anti-Qaeda militia in the tense northern city and oil hub of Kirkuk as they were lining up to receive their salaries, police said.
The bloodletting has sparked fears of a return of Al-Qaeda-style attacks aimed at reigniting the sectarianism that swept the country two years ago.
Iraqi Vice President Tarek al-Hashemi, a Sunni Arab, called for national unity in the wake of the violence.
"The evil and criminal powers are back once again to continue their criminal actions against our patient people," he said in a statement.
"We call upon our people to unite, to not give in to the enemies of Iraq who are trying to undermine our unity."
The bombing in Kirkuk occurred inside a building under the control of the Iraqi army, where anti-Qaeda fighters belonging to groups known as Sahwa, or Awakening, had gathered to receive pay cheques, police major Salam Zangana told AFP.
"A suicide bomber dressed in a Sahwa uniform blew himself up at a Sahwa gathering near Kirkuk's technical college. They were waiting to receive their salaries," he said.
Thursday's attacks follow a huge car bomb blast in a Shiite neighbourhood in Baghdad late Wednesday that killed at least 40 people and injured 83.
Diners and shoppers were enjoying a night out at the Al-Sadrain interchange that is popular for its eateries and shops when the powerful bomb went off.
The attack in Shula, a poor Shiite area in northwestern Baghdad, was the bloodiest since April 29 when more than 50 people -- also in mostly Shiite districts of the capital -- were killed in a spate of synchronised bombings.
UN envoy Staffan de Mistura condemned the attacks in Baghdad and Kirkuk, describing them as "reprehensible crimes that have indiscriminately targeted ordinary Iraqis."
No one has claimed responsibility for the latest bombings but Al-Qaeda insurgents regularly target civilians and also try to kill Sahwa members, whom it brands traitors, especially in ethnically mixed parts of Iraq such as Kirkuk.
The oil-rich city, which has a Kurdish majority but substantial Arab and Turkmen minorities, has been the frequent scene of deadly ethnic tension since Iraqi president Saddam Hussein was toppled in the 2003 invasion.
The Sahwa movement began in late 2006 when local tribes and former insurgents started turning on Al-Qaeda in Iraq and allying with the US military, and today it counts about 92,000 fighters across the country.
The mainly Sunni militias have played a crucial role in ousting the Islamists of Al-Qaeda from their former strongholds.
April saw a string of deadly attacks in Shiite and mixed neighbourhoods of the capital that were reminiscent of attacks that occurred at the height of Iraq's sectarian fighting in 2006.
Washington Post Foreign Service
Thursday, May 21, 2009
BAGHDAD, May 20 -- A car bomb exploded Wednesday near a crowded ice cream parlor in a Shiite neighborhood of northern Baghdad, killing at least 34 people and wounding 72 in one of the deadliest attacks in weeks.
Iraqi security forces cordoned off the bombing site as ambulances, their sirens wailing, ferried the dead and wounded to nearby hospitals. Witnesses said people ran frantically from the scene, terrified that another bombing might follow.
"These are desperate attempts to divide the Iraqi people," said Hamdallah Ali Rikabi, a neighborhood official in a movement loyal to Moqtada al-Sadr, a Shiite cleric whose followers once controlled the area. "But they have learned from their past."
A series of suicide bombings struck predominantly Shiite neighborhoods in Baghdad last month, making April the most violent month this year and fueling speculation that Sunni insurgents might be trying to instigate the sort of sectarian conflict that plunged Iraq into chaos in 2006 and 2007.
Civilian casualties have mounted each month this year, as the United States prepares to withdraw combat troops from cities by June 30.
But for days this month, amid a lull in the bombings, Baghdad's most formidable problems had seemed to be traffic sometimes snarled for a mile before omnipresent checkpoints and the heat of an early summer.
In one neighborhood, graffiti that once heralded God, insurgents and Shiite militias had given way to a celebration of a soccer team. But even there, residents acknowledged that the violence had probably only subsided, not ended.
"There is always fear," said Rasmiyah Taha Mohammad, 75, who was forced out of her house in the neighborhood of Hurriyah in 2006 and had recently returned. "There are bombings, and there are still killings."
Iraqi officials have blamed remnants of the Baath Party and Sunni insurgents for the recent attacks, although they have insisted that security forces have restored calm.
"There are still security challenges," Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said at a recent conference, "although we have taken over the territory and the initiative from the terrorists who have gone now into hiding here and there."
The bombing came as U.S. troops have begun closing outposts in Baghdad and moving to large bases outside the cities in accordance with an agreement between the United States and Iraq that set a deadline for the withdrawal. Under the agreement, U.S. combat troops must leave urban areas by June 30, although some troops are expected to remain in Baghdad and Mosul.
Iraqi forces will then be charged with security in Baghdad and other cities. But at the scenes of bombings this year, residents have expressed frustration at those forces for what they describe as their failure to protect them. At one recent bombing in a nearby neighborhood, residents threw sandals at security forces, while others spit and shouted insults.
Special correspondent Qais Mizher contributed to this report.
---
Wave of Iraq bombings kills 66
by Ammar Karim Ammar Karim – Thu May 21, 10:24 am ET
BAGHDAD (AFP) – Iraq was engulfed in a wave of violence on Thursday, with suicide attackers and bombings killing 26 people including three US soldiers, a day after huge blast in a Baghdad Shiite area left 40 dead.
The spike in attacks comes as the US military prepares to decamp from the nation's cities and towns by June 30 and has sparked fears of a return to the sectarian violence that brought Iraq to the brink of civil war three years ago.
The main target of Thursday's attacks was Baghdad, where a suicide bomber detonated his explosives in a crowded market in the southern Dora district, killing at least 12 people and wounding 25, security officials said.
The bomber targeted a US patrol that was passing through a popular Assyrian Christian market in the confessionally mixed area, officials from the interior and defence ministry told AFP.
Three American soldiers were killed in a blast the US military said was caused by an "improvised explosive device", but did not say if it was in the same incident as reported by the Iraqi officials.
Since the US-led invasion in March 2003 a total of 4,299 American troops have died, according to an AFP count based on the independent website icasualties.org.
The market attack came soon after a bomb exploded in a rubbish bin inside a Baghdad police station, killing three policemen and injuring 20, among then 12 officers and eight civilians, officials told AFP.
The day began on a bloody note when a suicide bomber killed eight members of an anti-Qaeda militia in the tense northern city and oil hub of Kirkuk as they were lining up to receive their salaries, police said.
The bloodletting has sparked fears of a return of Al-Qaeda-style attacks aimed at reigniting the sectarianism that swept the country two years ago.
Iraqi Vice President Tarek al-Hashemi, a Sunni Arab, called for national unity in the wake of the violence.
"The evil and criminal powers are back once again to continue their criminal actions against our patient people," he said in a statement.
"We call upon our people to unite, to not give in to the enemies of Iraq who are trying to undermine our unity."
The bombing in Kirkuk occurred inside a building under the control of the Iraqi army, where anti-Qaeda fighters belonging to groups known as Sahwa, or Awakening, had gathered to receive pay cheques, police major Salam Zangana told AFP.
"A suicide bomber dressed in a Sahwa uniform blew himself up at a Sahwa gathering near Kirkuk's technical college. They were waiting to receive their salaries," he said.
Thursday's attacks follow a huge car bomb blast in a Shiite neighbourhood in Baghdad late Wednesday that killed at least 40 people and injured 83.
Diners and shoppers were enjoying a night out at the Al-Sadrain interchange that is popular for its eateries and shops when the powerful bomb went off.
The attack in Shula, a poor Shiite area in northwestern Baghdad, was the bloodiest since April 29 when more than 50 people -- also in mostly Shiite districts of the capital -- were killed in a spate of synchronised bombings.
UN envoy Staffan de Mistura condemned the attacks in Baghdad and Kirkuk, describing them as "reprehensible crimes that have indiscriminately targeted ordinary Iraqis."
No one has claimed responsibility for the latest bombings but Al-Qaeda insurgents regularly target civilians and also try to kill Sahwa members, whom it brands traitors, especially in ethnically mixed parts of Iraq such as Kirkuk.
The oil-rich city, which has a Kurdish majority but substantial Arab and Turkmen minorities, has been the frequent scene of deadly ethnic tension since Iraqi president Saddam Hussein was toppled in the 2003 invasion.
The Sahwa movement began in late 2006 when local tribes and former insurgents started turning on Al-Qaeda in Iraq and allying with the US military, and today it counts about 92,000 fighters across the country.
The mainly Sunni militias have played a crucial role in ousting the Islamists of Al-Qaeda from their former strongholds.
April saw a string of deadly attacks in Shiite and mixed neighbourhoods of the capital that were reminiscent of attacks that occurred at the height of Iraq's sectarian fighting in 2006.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Indonesia says 100 died in military plane crash
Wed May 20, 2009 12:48pm BS
By Heri Retnowati
MAGETAN, Indonesia (Reuters) - An Indonesian military transport plane carrying 110 passengers and crew crashed and burst into flames in East Java Wednesday, killing at least 100 people on board and on the ground, officials said.
The C-130 Hercules aircraft ploughed into several houses on the ground, scattering debris and sending flames and billowing smoke into the air, in the latest of a series of air disasters in a country with a poor air safety record.
Air force spokesman Bambang Soelistyo said that 98 people had been killed, including two on the ground, while there were 15 survivors.
"Some victims are still at the crash site," said Soelistyo. He said the plane, with 11 crew and 99 passengers, had crashed about 6.5 km (4 miles) from the Iswahyudi air force base in East Java while preparing to land.
National military spokesman Sagom Tamboen told a news conference the aircraft had been in good condition and the weather was clear before the crash. But army chief Djoko Santoso later said there had been fog around the time of the crash.
The plane had been on a regular flight from Jakarta to the Iswahyudi air base in Magetan to transport military personnel and their families. It had been due to fly on to Sulawesi and Papua.
Television footage from the scene showed people desperately trying to extinguish flames with buckets of water.
"I heard a thunderous sound, like a car roaring past. I looked out and a huge plane had crashed into a clump of bamboo. The left wing landed in front of my house," eyewitness Sutrisno, who like many Indonesians uses one name, told Reuters.
An official at the scene, who asked not to be named, said there were still three bodies at the site yet to be evacuated.
"About 15 metres (50 ft) of the tail is still intact, but the body to the front is broken and burnt," said Suwardi, a local official in Magetan, who said the crash took place at about 6:30 a.m. (12:30 a.m. British time), between Madiun and Magetan, about 150 km (90 miles) southwest of Indonesia's second-biggest city of Surabaya.
"THE PLANE KEPT NOSEDIVING"
Some relatives of the victims were sobbing and praying at the air force hospital in Madiun, where there were around 18 bodies.
Agus Yulianto, an eyewitness, told the Kompas newspaper website (www.kompas.com ) the plane appeared to tilt in the air and objects rained down from the aircraft before it crashed.
"Some things were falling, like bolts and axle nuts from the plane. The plane kept nosediving and finally crashed on two houses," said Yulianto.
Purwanto, a survivor of the disaster, told Metro TV that the plane crashed and then later exploded. He was speaking from a hospital bed with his head heavily bandaged.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono urged people not to jump to conclusions before an investigation was completed.
"Don't quickly decide this accident is because of this or that, whether it's the machine, the weather, human error or another factor," Yudhoyono told a business forum in Jakarta.
Yudhoyono said there should be extra measures to ensure flight safety had the highest priority.
Separately, Defence Minister Juwono Sudarsono told reporters that maintenance should be 20 to 25 percent of the military budget but was below 10 percent due to limited resources.
Former air force chief Chappy Hakim told Reuters the plane that crashed was U.S.-made and built in the 1980s.
Indonesia has a poor record of air safety and maintenance and has suffered a string of accidents in recent years affecting both commercial and military aircraft.
Last month, 24 military personnel and crew died after a military Fokker 28 aircraft carrying parachute trainees crashed into a hangar at a base in West Java.
In recent years there have also been a series of deadly crashes involving commercial passenger planes. Indonesian airlines are currently banned from European Union airspace over safety concerns.
(Additional reporting by Telly Nathalia, Olivia Rondonuwu and Sunanda Creagh in JAKARTA; Writing by Ed Davies; Editing by Paul Tait)
By Heri Retnowati
MAGETAN, Indonesia (Reuters) - An Indonesian military transport plane carrying 110 passengers and crew crashed and burst into flames in East Java Wednesday, killing at least 100 people on board and on the ground, officials said.
The C-130 Hercules aircraft ploughed into several houses on the ground, scattering debris and sending flames and billowing smoke into the air, in the latest of a series of air disasters in a country with a poor air safety record.
Air force spokesman Bambang Soelistyo said that 98 people had been killed, including two on the ground, while there were 15 survivors.
"Some victims are still at the crash site," said Soelistyo. He said the plane, with 11 crew and 99 passengers, had crashed about 6.5 km (4 miles) from the Iswahyudi air force base in East Java while preparing to land.
National military spokesman Sagom Tamboen told a news conference the aircraft had been in good condition and the weather was clear before the crash. But army chief Djoko Santoso later said there had been fog around the time of the crash.
The plane had been on a regular flight from Jakarta to the Iswahyudi air base in Magetan to transport military personnel and their families. It had been due to fly on to Sulawesi and Papua.
Television footage from the scene showed people desperately trying to extinguish flames with buckets of water.
"I heard a thunderous sound, like a car roaring past. I looked out and a huge plane had crashed into a clump of bamboo. The left wing landed in front of my house," eyewitness Sutrisno, who like many Indonesians uses one name, told Reuters.
An official at the scene, who asked not to be named, said there were still three bodies at the site yet to be evacuated.
"About 15 metres (50 ft) of the tail is still intact, but the body to the front is broken and burnt," said Suwardi, a local official in Magetan, who said the crash took place at about 6:30 a.m. (12:30 a.m. British time), between Madiun and Magetan, about 150 km (90 miles) southwest of Indonesia's second-biggest city of Surabaya.
"THE PLANE KEPT NOSEDIVING"
Some relatives of the victims were sobbing and praying at the air force hospital in Madiun, where there were around 18 bodies.
Agus Yulianto, an eyewitness, told the Kompas newspaper website (www.kompas.com ) the plane appeared to tilt in the air and objects rained down from the aircraft before it crashed.
"Some things were falling, like bolts and axle nuts from the plane. The plane kept nosediving and finally crashed on two houses," said Yulianto.
Purwanto, a survivor of the disaster, told Metro TV that the plane crashed and then later exploded. He was speaking from a hospital bed with his head heavily bandaged.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono urged people not to jump to conclusions before an investigation was completed.
"Don't quickly decide this accident is because of this or that, whether it's the machine, the weather, human error or another factor," Yudhoyono told a business forum in Jakarta.
Yudhoyono said there should be extra measures to ensure flight safety had the highest priority.
Separately, Defence Minister Juwono Sudarsono told reporters that maintenance should be 20 to 25 percent of the military budget but was below 10 percent due to limited resources.
Former air force chief Chappy Hakim told Reuters the plane that crashed was U.S.-made and built in the 1980s.
Indonesia has a poor record of air safety and maintenance and has suffered a string of accidents in recent years affecting both commercial and military aircraft.
Last month, 24 military personnel and crew died after a military Fokker 28 aircraft carrying parachute trainees crashed into a hangar at a base in West Java.
In recent years there have also been a series of deadly crashes involving commercial passenger planes. Indonesian airlines are currently banned from European Union airspace over safety concerns.
(Additional reporting by Telly Nathalia, Olivia Rondonuwu and Sunanda Creagh in JAKARTA; Writing by Ed Davies; Editing by Paul Tait)
Monday, May 18, 2009
Grand Ayatullah Al-Udhma Muhammad Taqi Bahjat
He was born in Fouman, Gilan Province, Iran. At the age of 14, he moved to Karbala, Iraq to continue his religious studies. Four years later, he moved to Najaf to complete his studies under Ayatollah Taleghani and Ayatollah Naeini. He currently resides and teaches in the Seminary of Qom, Iran.
He was a student of Abul Hasan Isfahani, Mirza Naini and Taqi Shirazi.
It is said that he has deep knowledge in mysticism (Ilme Irfan).
From his youth, Agha Behjat was constantly engaged in self-purification and self-building. In his ethical instructions, he always insists that one should work hard at this task and forego and abandon many luxuries in order to make headway against the endless demands of the soul.
He is of the opinion that in order to succeed in this jihad al-akbar, ethical purity (akhlaq) and knowledge (‘ilm) go hand in hand. In fact he considers knowledge without self-purification, to be the more damaging than anything else. His famous advice to youths is ‘to read and practise one hadith daily from the Chapter of Jihad al-nafs in Wasail al-Shi’a of Shaykh Hurr al-Amili.
By his deeds and words, this great scholar has always directed himself to God alone. A great mujtahid has said about Agha Behjat, “It cannot be just said about him that he is a man of piety; in fact he is the true essence and manifestation of taqwa.”
Ayatullah Shaykh Javad Kerbalayi says about him, “One of his close students (in Najaf) reports that every night, or in fact at most times, Agha Behjat sits alone, deep in thought and contemplation. He never wastes a moment of his time, and does not participate in vain gatherings. When the time comes for his class, or his ziyarat of Amirul Mu’mineen (A), he gets up abruptly, puts on his cloak and leaves the house without interfering in the activities of others. He is extremely reserved and does not like to reveal anything about himself, especially about the special favours and extraordinary spiritual powers that God has granted him.”
The close servants of God always look at the reality of this world, contrary to other human beings whose eyes are fixed on its pleasures and luxuries. By foregoing material comforts, they attain spiritual strength, and while the rest of the people stumble in this dark world, these awliya soar in the illuminated heights in proximity to God.
Agha Behjat is one of the most glowing examples of these awliya in our times. He is a mystic and scholar who has always lived a simple life, without the remotest material attachments. He has understood more completely than others the reality of this world and the worthlessness of its pleasures.
He lives in a simple, small and old house and has resisted the many offers from relatives and well-wishers to move to more comfortable accommodation. Ayatullah Misbah says, “For many years, he has lived in a rented house with two rooms. One of the rooms has a curtain, which he would draw when we would visit him. On the other side of the curtain his family would carry on with their household chores. We would sit on one side of this curtain and benefit greatly from his wisdom. Although simple, the atmosphere was always full of a special nur and spirituality…”
Ayatullah Mas’udi says, “Many times people would sincerely offer to purchase a better house for him, but he would not agree. I myself told him, “Agha! This house is damaged, I doubt if even the sharia allows for a man to live in this sort of accommodation!”, but he would not pay any attention.”.
Agha Behjat’s students report that he has a special closeness to God, that is immediately evident in his manner of worship. Those who have prayed behind him have described it ‘as a spiritually uplifting and unique experience’. In fact, the Fatimiyyah mosque at the end of the Guzarkhan market, where he has led prayers three times a day for the last 40 years, is always full at prayer time. High ranking scholars make a special effort to come and pray behind him. Allamah Tabataba’i would come here to pray. Almost as soon as Agha Behjat begins his prayer, tears flow from his eyes - frequently he has to pause because his voice is choked with emotion - such is his awe in God’s presence.
One of the scholars remarks, “In the early days, Agha Behjat would go to the undeveloped part of Qum, past some farms, and recite his evening prayers with some companions in that remote location. One day, after the maghribain prayers, he commented, “If only the kings of this world realised how much pleasure a servant experiences in worship, they would never even glance at the worldly delights…”
Ayatullah Shaykh Javad Kerbalayi says, “Agha Behjat never misses his late night prayers (namaze-shab) and spends a long time weeping in the middle of the night, especially on the night preceding Friday.”
A scholar reports, “I came upon him one Thurday night in Madressay-e-Sayyid in Najaf. I saw him weeping and crying in prostration. He was repeating in a broken voice over and over, “Ilahi! Man li ghayruk, asaluhu kashfa dhurri, wan-nazara fi amri?! (My Lord! Who have I got besides You, Who I can ask for relief and support?)”.
Ayatullah Behjat has many decades of experience in mystical wayfaring, the special journey through established stations that the soul undertakes to attain proximity to God. He is one of the outstanding pupils of the great master, Ayatullah Sayyid Ali Qadhi Tabataba’i and had received special instructions from his teacher. Even as a youth, he had passed many stations of the spiritual path.
His elevated rank in these matters is well known by others who travel this path; immediately after the revolution, one of the first scholars that Ayatullah Khomeini visited was Ayatullah Behjat in Qum. Similarly, when Ayatullah Khamene’i assumed the position of Rahbar, he first came to Agha Behjat in Qum for spiritual instructions.
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قم - دفتر حضرت آيت الله العظمى بهجت "حفظه الله" - كدپستى 37157
تلفن دفاتر: 2-7740220 ---- 3-7743271
فاكس : 7740223 ----- 7743272
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http://www.shiatv.net/view_video.php?viewkey=ad0b66e30b6867bf6354
http://www.shiatv.net/view_video.php?viewkey=e2dd6f503cf4334c0d25
Can Obama break the Jewish/Pakistani shackles?
In his projected speech in Egypt on 04.06.09, Obama is desperate to show the Muslim world that he represents a super power and not an agent of the American Jewish lobby; launching anti-Islamic crusade. Obama realises that it is in US interest to settle the complex Palestinian issue but without upsetting the Jews. On the other hand, Netanyahu knows what America wants and hope to persuade Obama to play the game by Israeli rules. That is to talk about peace indefinitely aiming at some time in the distant future at establishing a sovereign but disarmed Palestinian enclave under the direct rule of Israel. Furthermore, Netanyahu wants Obama to agree to an Israeli plan of attack on Iran nuclear program if Iran refuses to suspend its Uranium enrichment.
Aside from the prostrated leaders of Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, Arabs and Muslims at large can’t be easily fooled by empty rhetoric and want concrete and immediate results knowing that America, led by Obama or President Watermelon, will never be able to force Israel to implement 39 UN Security Council Resolutions they are in breach of, or to challenge the strong Jewish stranglehold on US foreign policy. Most probably, Arabs and Muslims have no other option but to continue the present armed resistance to Israeli atrocities and against those who finance, arm and support Israeli Nazi generals.
After Somalia, Yemen may fall soon to Al-Qaeda.
For most of the 62 years since Pakistan independence, the country was ruled by pro-American military dictators (e.g. Ayub Khan, Yahia Khan, Tikha Khan, Zia Al-Haq and Musharraf).
In 1954, Pakistan was a member of Baghdad Pact made of Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Turkey, US and UK. The objective was to coordinate efforts to fight local communists and leftists and to stop any advance by Soviet armies south of the border. The pact collapsed when the Iraqis, the Iranians and the Turks toppled those who signed the pact.
But Pakistan remained a strong ally to the US receiving aids in order to spy on china and to sabotage neutral India. Pakistan for example supported the CIA-supported Mujahideen in the war to defeat the Russians in Afghanistan. The US had also allowed to Pakistan to develop nuclear weapons to intimidate India. Following 9/11 Pakistan was essential in facilitating the invasion of Afghanistan by US forces.
But the failure of the Americans to pacify Afghanistan despite eight years of occupation dictated the need for a profound Pakistani involvement. Late Benazir Bhutto and her Husband Asif Ali Zardari have offered unlimited support for America in return for a chance to assume power. The Americans have found that Gen. Musharraf has outlasted his service and a new civilian face is needed. Gen. Musharraf is currently in America receiving delayed payments in the form of lectures at $50000 an hour.
But the popularity of Zardari is currently less than 19% and will sink further if the army fails to defeat the Taliban or if it suffers further losses. In either case, the US will give the green light for the army to take over the government and to put an end to pro-Taliban elements in the parliament, the army, the ISA and inside many political parties.
What the Americans will fail to do is to change people solid perception about the on-going US anti-Islamic crusade.
Adnan Darwash, Iraq Occupation Times
Aside from the prostrated leaders of Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, Arabs and Muslims at large can’t be easily fooled by empty rhetoric and want concrete and immediate results knowing that America, led by Obama or President Watermelon, will never be able to force Israel to implement 39 UN Security Council Resolutions they are in breach of, or to challenge the strong Jewish stranglehold on US foreign policy. Most probably, Arabs and Muslims have no other option but to continue the present armed resistance to Israeli atrocities and against those who finance, arm and support Israeli Nazi generals.
After Somalia, Yemen may fall soon to Al-Qaeda.
For most of the 62 years since Pakistan independence, the country was ruled by pro-American military dictators (e.g. Ayub Khan, Yahia Khan, Tikha Khan, Zia Al-Haq and Musharraf).
In 1954, Pakistan was a member of Baghdad Pact made of Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Turkey, US and UK. The objective was to coordinate efforts to fight local communists and leftists and to stop any advance by Soviet armies south of the border. The pact collapsed when the Iraqis, the Iranians and the Turks toppled those who signed the pact.
But Pakistan remained a strong ally to the US receiving aids in order to spy on china and to sabotage neutral India. Pakistan for example supported the CIA-supported Mujahideen in the war to defeat the Russians in Afghanistan. The US had also allowed to Pakistan to develop nuclear weapons to intimidate India. Following 9/11 Pakistan was essential in facilitating the invasion of Afghanistan by US forces.
But the failure of the Americans to pacify Afghanistan despite eight years of occupation dictated the need for a profound Pakistani involvement. Late Benazir Bhutto and her Husband Asif Ali Zardari have offered unlimited support for America in return for a chance to assume power. The Americans have found that Gen. Musharraf has outlasted his service and a new civilian face is needed. Gen. Musharraf is currently in America receiving delayed payments in the form of lectures at $50000 an hour.
But the popularity of Zardari is currently less than 19% and will sink further if the army fails to defeat the Taliban or if it suffers further losses. In either case, the US will give the green light for the army to take over the government and to put an end to pro-Taliban elements in the parliament, the army, the ISA and inside many political parties.
What the Americans will fail to do is to change people solid perception about the on-going US anti-Islamic crusade.
Adnan Darwash, Iraq Occupation Times
Friday, May 15, 2009
IRONIES! Axis of evil
1.After close to 2000 years, the Holy Father (the Pope) visits the holy land (the birth place of Jesus) which is currently under occupation by the descendants of the same Jews who hated Jesus and his disciples, betrayed them to the Romans and sent them to their crucifixion.
2.In anticipation of a war in the Middle East, probably in 2010, and since the failure of Israeli defenses to shoot down any of Hezbollah rockets in 2006, one Israeli Journalist sarcastically suggested giving Hezbollah US-made ballistic missiles so that it can be knocked out by US-supplied Israeli anti-Missile Missile, the Arrow.
3.While Obama has won the presidential campaign on anti-war platform, the USA, slowly but surely, is about to launch a third war in Pakistan.
4.Americans like to preach democracy, freedom and respect for human rights but in practice they support autocrats (like Mubarak, King Abdalla II and Saudi King Abdallah) and sustain corrupt client regimes (Iraq Al-Maliki, Afghanistan Kharzai and Zardari of Pakistan). None of the above Arab or Muslim leaders have any respect for human rights or the rule of law. To add insult to injury, America is against democratically-elected leaders like Hania of Hamas and Ahmedinejad of Iran.
5.The rise of Islamic fundamentalism was financed and sustained by successive US governments. For example, the USraelis have undermined and ignored moderate Mahmoud Abbas which opened the way for Hamas to win the election in 2006. Similarly, there was a moderate government in Iran led by Dr Khatemi. Instead of supporting it, George W. Bush made Iran a member of the axis of evil, “to be attacked one at a time”. As a result, the Iranians went to elect Ahmedinejad. Both Abbas and Khatemi were undermined by Jews. Sharon tightened the screws on Palesitinians, built separation walls, increased the settlements and tripled the number of road blocks. It was Bush Jewish speech writer, David Frum, who coined the word axis of evil.
Shimon Peres and the rest of the Jewish mafia in Washington have recently emphasised at AIPAC meeting that Iran is the danger to the world. He who beleives them deserves to be dragged into another Jewish war against Arabs and Muslims.
The Americans are paying a very high price as they have to fight and finance Jewish wars against Islam. Led from the nose by the Jews, few Americans know, let alone question, why are they in such a mess. More quagmires on the way.
Adnan Darwash, Iraq Occupation Times
2.In anticipation of a war in the Middle East, probably in 2010, and since the failure of Israeli defenses to shoot down any of Hezbollah rockets in 2006, one Israeli Journalist sarcastically suggested giving Hezbollah US-made ballistic missiles so that it can be knocked out by US-supplied Israeli anti-Missile Missile, the Arrow.
3.While Obama has won the presidential campaign on anti-war platform, the USA, slowly but surely, is about to launch a third war in Pakistan.
4.Americans like to preach democracy, freedom and respect for human rights but in practice they support autocrats (like Mubarak, King Abdalla II and Saudi King Abdallah) and sustain corrupt client regimes (Iraq Al-Maliki, Afghanistan Kharzai and Zardari of Pakistan). None of the above Arab or Muslim leaders have any respect for human rights or the rule of law. To add insult to injury, America is against democratically-elected leaders like Hania of Hamas and Ahmedinejad of Iran.
5.The rise of Islamic fundamentalism was financed and sustained by successive US governments. For example, the USraelis have undermined and ignored moderate Mahmoud Abbas which opened the way for Hamas to win the election in 2006. Similarly, there was a moderate government in Iran led by Dr Khatemi. Instead of supporting it, George W. Bush made Iran a member of the axis of evil, “to be attacked one at a time”. As a result, the Iranians went to elect Ahmedinejad. Both Abbas and Khatemi were undermined by Jews. Sharon tightened the screws on Palesitinians, built separation walls, increased the settlements and tripled the number of road blocks. It was Bush Jewish speech writer, David Frum, who coined the word axis of evil.
Shimon Peres and the rest of the Jewish mafia in Washington have recently emphasised at AIPAC meeting that Iran is the danger to the world. He who beleives them deserves to be dragged into another Jewish war against Arabs and Muslims.
The Americans are paying a very high price as they have to fight and finance Jewish wars against Islam. Led from the nose by the Jews, few Americans know, let alone question, why are they in such a mess. More quagmires on the way.
Adnan Darwash, Iraq Occupation Times
Israel: 61 years of hate and violence
The Israelis have never been interested in any form of peace with Arabs that doesn’t allow them to extend their borders from the Nile to the Euphrates, to expel Arabs from the ‘promised’ Jewish homeland and to replacing them with imported Jews. Palestinians who refuse to surrender and reject Jewish Nazi practices are expelled, killed, tortured or kept in concentration camps. The Americans have been a party to all Israeli crimes as they continue to finance, arm and support the practices of the rogue Jewish state which remains in breach of 39 UN Security Council Resolutions. Furthermore, America has been intimidating or bribing some Arab leaders in order to accept Israeli designs. Un-ashamedly, these bankrupted and prostrated Arab leaders are trying to ignore the massive Israeli nuclear arsenal and to direct attention to Iran Uranium Enrichment Program. Things are reaching their boiling point in the Arab and Muslim world and uprisings and upheavals are predicted to sweep away USraeli agents. In conclusion, after 61 years of violations, crimes and atrocities Israel and its supporters will see no peace. The root for the current armed resistance to the client regimes of Al-Maliki, Kharzai and Zardari may be easily traced to the brutal Israeli atrocities supported by the American Zombies.
Israeli peace plan (Satire)
The Israelis have been talking about peace with Palestinians for over 30 years but without a real substance. The Israeli peace plan somewhat resembles a body exercise scheme suggested to Barbra and George Bush senior in order to build up muscle strength in the arms and shoulders.
The exercise to be performed three times a week as follows:
Begin by standing on a comfortable surface, where you have plenty of room at each side. With a 5-LB. potato sack in each hand, extend your arms straight out from your sides, and hold them there as long as you can. Try to reach a full minute, and then relax.
Each day, you'll find that you can hold this position for just a bit longer.
After a couple of years, move up to 10-LB. potato sacks. Then in 10 years to 50-LB.potatoes sacks, and eventually trying to get to where you can lift a 100-LB. potato sack in each hand and hold your arms straight for more than a full minute. When you feel confident at that level, put a potato in each of the sacks.
Sharon destroyed the PA!
Why always blame the victims and not the Jewish perpetrators? It was vegetable Ariel Sharon who destroyed the Palestinian authority, buldozed their offices, disrupt their water supply and even ordered to uproot their trees. Palestinains are not free to operate. They are being killed or incarcerated by Israelis supported by the Americans. By the way, the Palestinains are not allowed to build homes without an Israeli permit which is easily given to settlers but not to inhabitants. The unfair comments doesn't help anyone but fuel more defiance.
Time has changed for everyone!
The Iraqi resistance have made a mockery out of marines and their equipment. The USraeli nukes will be as good as those of the USSR, just for sitting on them. Jewish-led American empire may not survive for long. One American commentator indicated that the election of Obama coupled with Jewish control of America are the first signs of the empire decline and eventual fall.
Adnan Darwash, Iraq Occupation Times
Israeli peace plan (Satire)
The Israelis have been talking about peace with Palestinians for over 30 years but without a real substance. The Israeli peace plan somewhat resembles a body exercise scheme suggested to Barbra and George Bush senior in order to build up muscle strength in the arms and shoulders.
The exercise to be performed three times a week as follows:
Begin by standing on a comfortable surface, where you have plenty of room at each side. With a 5-LB. potato sack in each hand, extend your arms straight out from your sides, and hold them there as long as you can. Try to reach a full minute, and then relax.
Each day, you'll find that you can hold this position for just a bit longer.
After a couple of years, move up to 10-LB. potato sacks. Then in 10 years to 50-LB.potatoes sacks, and eventually trying to get to where you can lift a 100-LB. potato sack in each hand and hold your arms straight for more than a full minute. When you feel confident at that level, put a potato in each of the sacks.
Sharon destroyed the PA!
Why always blame the victims and not the Jewish perpetrators? It was vegetable Ariel Sharon who destroyed the Palestinian authority, buldozed their offices, disrupt their water supply and even ordered to uproot their trees. Palestinains are not free to operate. They are being killed or incarcerated by Israelis supported by the Americans. By the way, the Palestinains are not allowed to build homes without an Israeli permit which is easily given to settlers but not to inhabitants. The unfair comments doesn't help anyone but fuel more defiance.
Time has changed for everyone!
The Iraqi resistance have made a mockery out of marines and their equipment. The USraeli nukes will be as good as those of the USSR, just for sitting on them. Jewish-led American empire may not survive for long. One American commentator indicated that the election of Obama coupled with Jewish control of America are the first signs of the empire decline and eventual fall.
Adnan Darwash, Iraq Occupation Times
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Sheri Sangji 1985-2009: A tragic & preventable death
No research is worth a person's life.
On the 16th of January 2009, a 23 year old research assistant, Sheri Sangji, lost her life to severe burns suffered in a UCLA chemistry laboratory fire. Sheri went to work on the 29th of December. She suffered second and third degree burns over 40% of her body from exposure to tert-Butyllithium, a chemical that combusts on contact with air. Sheri spent the next 18 excruciating days in intensive care, fighting for her life. She never got the chance to come home.
This accident should not have happened. We want to know what events led up to the fire, how and why it happened, and we want to prevent it from happening again. Sign now to support our efforts.
Cal/OSHA classified the case as a 'serious violation'. However, Cal/OSHA's own definitions make clear that the UCLA laboratory committed a 'willful violation' of safety procedures and standards. Unless the violations are classified as 'willful', it is rare that the District Attorney will take up the case, and that UCLA and the Principal Investigator will be held fully accountable for this loss of life.
It is now up to us to bring this case to the District Attorney's office and get it the attention it deserves. Sign now to support our efforts.
Help us bring to light the circumstances, decisions, and regulatory failures that resulted in a loss of life:
* What were the events leading up to the fire?
* Why were people working in a lab that had not been approved by an internal safety check?
* Why was Sheri asked to come in and work when the campus was closed and UCLA was unable to respond to emergencies in full capacity?
* Why were UCLA employees allowed to work with dangerous chemicals in a lab without wearing appropriate protective gear, despite it being a legal requirement for UCLA to ensure that they were?
* Why were Harran lab members not trained in emergency protocol?
With this petition we state:
1. We are outraged at the death of this talented young woman.
2. We would like to see a full investigation into the issue by the District Attorney.
3. We would like to see all those involved to be held accountable for their actions or lack thereof.
4. We would like a review of the legislation to ensure it is a strong enough deterrent so that this does not happen again.
We want to make sure justice is served and that human life is given its proper value.
We want to make sure that this never happens again.
Please support our efforts by attaching your signature to the letter below. The letter will be sent to our California Senators, Barbara Boxer and Diane Feinstein, as well as our Governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger and to the Cal/OSHA Standards Board.
Sign now.
To find out more about Sheri:
www.sherisangji.com
Other links with this story:
http://www.latimes.com/la-me-uclalab5-2009may05,0,7130412.story%20
http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/career_magazine/previous_issues/articles/2009_05_01/caredit.a0900054
On the 16th of January 2009, a 23 year old research assistant, Sheri Sangji, lost her life to severe burns suffered in a UCLA chemistry laboratory fire. Sheri went to work on the 29th of December. She suffered second and third degree burns over 40% of her body from exposure to tert-Butyllithium, a chemical that combusts on contact with air. Sheri spent the next 18 excruciating days in intensive care, fighting for her life. She never got the chance to come home.
This accident should not have happened. We want to know what events led up to the fire, how and why it happened, and we want to prevent it from happening again. Sign now to support our efforts.
Cal/OSHA classified the case as a 'serious violation'. However, Cal/OSHA's own definitions make clear that the UCLA laboratory committed a 'willful violation' of safety procedures and standards. Unless the violations are classified as 'willful', it is rare that the District Attorney will take up the case, and that UCLA and the Principal Investigator will be held fully accountable for this loss of life.
It is now up to us to bring this case to the District Attorney's office and get it the attention it deserves. Sign now to support our efforts.
Help us bring to light the circumstances, decisions, and regulatory failures that resulted in a loss of life:
* What were the events leading up to the fire?
* Why were people working in a lab that had not been approved by an internal safety check?
* Why was Sheri asked to come in and work when the campus was closed and UCLA was unable to respond to emergencies in full capacity?
* Why were UCLA employees allowed to work with dangerous chemicals in a lab without wearing appropriate protective gear, despite it being a legal requirement for UCLA to ensure that they were?
* Why were Harran lab members not trained in emergency protocol?
With this petition we state:
1. We are outraged at the death of this talented young woman.
2. We would like to see a full investigation into the issue by the District Attorney.
3. We would like to see all those involved to be held accountable for their actions or lack thereof.
4. We would like a review of the legislation to ensure it is a strong enough deterrent so that this does not happen again.
We want to make sure justice is served and that human life is given its proper value.
We want to make sure that this never happens again.
Please support our efforts by attaching your signature to the letter below. The letter will be sent to our California Senators, Barbara Boxer and Diane Feinstein, as well as our Governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger and to the Cal/OSHA Standards Board.
Sign now.
To find out more about Sheri:
www.sherisangji.com
Other links with this story:
http://www.latimes.com/la-me-uclalab5-2009may05,0,7130412.story%20
http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/career_magazine/previous_issues/articles/2009_05_01/caredit.a0900054
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Tahirih Qurratu'l-`Ayn (Fatimih Baraghani)
This is certainly Tahirih's best known poem. It is thought to have been written near the end of her life. Although, she was one of the Bab's first disciples, and corresponded with him regularly, she never had the opportunity to meet him. In this poem, she imagines what that meeting would be like.
If I met you face to face, I
would retrace—erase!—my heartbreak,
pain by pain,
ache by ache,
word by word,
point by point.
In search of you—just your face!—I
roam through the streets lost in disgrace,
house to house,
lane to lane,
place to place,
door to door.
My heart hopeless—broken, crushed!—I
heard it pound, till blood gushed from me,
fountain by fountain,
stream by stream,
river by river,
sea by sea.
The garden of your lips—your cheeks!—
your perfumed hair, I wander there,
bloom to bloom,
rose to rose,
petal to petal,
scent to scent.
Your eyebrow—your eye!—and the mole
on your face, somehow they tie me,
trait to trait,
kindness to kindness,
passion to passion,
love to love.
While I grieve, with love—your love!—I
will reweave the fabric of my soul,
stitch by stitch,
thread by thread,
warp by warp,
woof by woof.
Last, I—Táhirih—searched my heart, I
looked line by line. What did I find?
You and you,
you and you,
you and you.
www.kalimat.com/Tah-Poems.html
-----------
http://www.rozanehmagazine.com/julyaugust02/Mayjune02new/wotahirih.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T%C3%A1hirih
http://bahai-library.org/articles/women.faith.html
http://www.h-net.org/~bahai/areprint/tahirih/tahirih.htm
http://www.tahirih.org/tahirih/about/tahirih.html
Personal Information:
A member of the persecuted Bahá'í Faith, Tahirih traveled throughout Persia, organizing women in towns and empowering them to reject their oppressed status. She was stoned in the streets and banished from town to town, but never relented in her struggle for the freedom of women.
From Tahirih "A Poetic Vision" By Ivan Lloyd Visit Amazon.com to purchase a copy
At a meeting with the most notable religious scholars of her day, Tahirih publicly removed her veil as a demonstration of the freedom and equality of women. Simply the sight of her face caused such horror and shock that one man slit his own throat. Others unsheathed their swords and attempted to kill her. A pioneer for women's rights, bold, and impetuous, Tahirih denounced the evils of her day, declaring...
"You can kill me as soon as you like, but you cannot stop the emancipation of women"
Tahirih was martyred for her beliefs at the age of 35 in 1852. ( http://www.tahirih.org/tahirih/about/tahirih.html )
Monday, May 11, 2009
U.S. soldier kills 5 fellow troops at Baghdad base
FILE - This U.S. Army photo made available by the Russell family on Tuesday, May 12, 2009 shows U.S. Army Sgt. John M. Russell. His family remembers Russell as a loving son, a patriot, a good man -- far different from the man who stands accused of the deadliest act of soldier-on-soldier violence in the six-year war in Iraq.
(AP Photo/Family photo)
Mon May 11, 2009 11:41am EDT
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Five soldiers from the U.S.-led foreign military force in Iraq were shot dead at one of the main U.S. bases in Baghdad Monday, the U.S. military said.
The U.S. military statement did not give further details about the shooting or the identity of those killed at the sprawling base, Camp Liberty, next to Baghdad airport.
Earlier this month, two U.S. soldiers were killed by a man wearing an Iraqi Army uniform at an Iraqi military training center in northern Iraq.
Violence has dropped sharply in Iraq, but insurgent attacks continue, and a rash of major bombings has raised questions about security less than two months before U.S. forces are due to withdraw combat troops from urban bases.
Thirteen U.S. soldiers were killed in combat in April, including five who were killed in a single attack in the restive northern city of Mosul.
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U.S. soldier kills 5 at US base in Baghdad
11 May 2009 16:13:52 GMT
Source: Reuters
(Adds background, additional details)
BAGHDAD, May 11 (Reuters) - A U.S. soldier opened fire on fellow troops at one of the main U.S. bases in Baghdad on Monday, killing five, the U.S. military said.
"The shooter is a U.S. soldier and he is in custody," said Marine Corps Lieutenant Tom Garnett, a U.S. military spokesman in Iraq.
U.S. officials plan to charge the shooter later today.
The shooting took place around 2 p.m. local time (1100 GMT) at Camp Liberty, a sprawling, dusty base located next to the Baghdad airport.
"This is certainly an unexpected and tragic event," said Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman.
"Any time we lose one of our own, it affects us all," said Colonel John Robinson, a U.S. spokesman in Baghdad.
The number of U.S. soldiers killed in the shooting matched the death toll from a truck bomb in northern Iraq last month, which was the single deadliest incident for U.S. troops in more than a year.
Violence has dropped sharply in Iraq, but insurgent attacks continue and a rash of major bombings has raised questions about security less than two months before U.S. forces are due to withdraw combat troops from urban bases.
That transition is one major milestone ahead of an end to U.S. combat operations in August 2010 and a full withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq by the end of 2011. There are currently about 134,000 U.S. troops in Iraq.
Thirteen U.S. soldiers were killed in combat in April.
An attack this month underscored some officials' concerns about violence against U.S. forces by militants who have infiltrated Iraqi security forces.
On May 2, two U.S. soldiers were killed by a man wearing an Iraqi Army uniform at an Iraqi military training centre in northern Iraq. (Additional reporting by David Morgan in Washington; editing by Jon Boyle)
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US military releases names of victims of Iraq murder
AFP
US military releases names of victims of Iraq murder AFP/DoD – The US Defense Department on Wednesday released the names of those allegedly killed by a fellow US soldier …
* Parents Discuss Son's Boxers Seen Around The World Play Video Iraq Video:Parents Discuss Son's Boxers Seen Around The World CBS 11 Dallas
* Family Mourns Soldier Killed In Deadly Rampage Play Video Iraq Video:Family Mourns Soldier Killed In Deadly Rampage CBS 3 Philadelphia
* Scottsdale major killed in Iraq Play Video Iraq Video:Scottsdale major killed in Iraq KTVK 3TV Phoenix
Wed May 13, 12:58 pm ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – The US Defense Department on Wednesday released the names of those allegedly killed by a fellow US soldier in a shooting spree in Iraq.
Sergeant John Russell, whose unit is preparing to leave Iraq within months, has been charged with murder after he allegedly shot dead five colleagues at a mental health counseling clinic at an American base in Baghdad.
Two medical officers working at the clinic were among those killed, Navy Commander Charles Springle, 52, of Wilmington, North Carolina, and Major Matthew Houseal, 54, of Amarillo, Texas.
Three enlisted soldiers who happened to be there at the time of the shooting were also killed: Sergeant Christian Bueno-Galdos, 25, of Paterson, New Jersey, Specialist Jacob Barton, 20, of Lenox, Missouri and Private Michael Yates, 19, of Federalsburg, Maryland.
The five died "from injuries sustained from a non-combat related incident" at the Camp Liberty base, the Pentagon said in a statement. The incident remained under investigation.
Due to concerns over the state of Russell's mental health, his commanding officer about a week earlier had ordered that the soldier's weapon be confiscated and that he should go for counseling, a US military spokesman said in Baghdad on Tuesday.
However, details of the chronology of events and more specifically how Russell, who was on his third tour of Iraq, had come to acquire the second weapon that allowed him to allegedly shoot his comrades were still being investigated.
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Suspect in Iraq clinic shooting now in Kuwait
Tue May 19, 12:15 am ET
BAGHDAD – The U.S. military says an Army sergeant charged in this month's fatal shooting of five soldiers at a mental health clinic on a Baghdad base has left Iraq.
Sgt. John M. Russell is being held in pre-trial confinement at Camp Arifjan in Kuwait. That's according to a U.S. spokesman, Lt. Col. Brian Tribus.
Tribus did not say when Russell left Iraq or whether he would be sent on to Germany or the United States.
Russell was taken into custody May 11 after he allegedly opened fire in a counseling center at Camp Liberty, killing five U.S. soldiers. The case has drawn attention to the problem of stress in the military after long and frequent deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan.
Russell was finishing up his third tour in Iraq.
Political and criminal terrorism
Even during the peak years (2006-7), Iraq only accounted for 20 percent of worldwide deaths. It turns out that there's a lot more terrorism going on than the mass media reports on. Can't blame them, though, because, when you start digging, you find that there's a lot of violence in the world that is terrorism related. Moslems kill people all over the world.
After September 11, 2001, it suddenly became important to count terrorist attacks accurately. That was the only way to get a sense of how large, and where, the problem was.
But there were problems. Take organized crime, for example, where terrorism is just another tool. Terrorism is regularly practiced by organized criminal groups. That's how the famous ones, like the mafia, or the Russian or Colombian gangs, make money and maintain discipline. What separates "terrorist organizations" from criminal gangs is ideology and goals. Organized crime groups just want to make money. Islamic terrorists, however, have other goals. In this case, imposing Islam on the entire world. Making money using criminal methods is a means to an end for them, not an end in itself.
Keep in mind that terrorist acts are a constant, and most of these actions are carried out by criminals in pursuit of a payday. Political or religious terrorists are using similar terrorism to either attract attention, as a fund raising tool, or a weapon to win concessions from governments.
So we have terrorism divided by goal (power or money). But much of the terrorism in the world is mainly about power (getting it, or holding on to it.) In many parts of the world, political power is obtained, and retained, by using gangs of terrorists. Nothing new there, the ancient Romans, and many before them, used political gangs, and terrorism, to achieve political goals. This works in democracies as well as dictatorship (Saddam had street gangs to keep hostile Iraqis under control.)
In many parts of the world, political and criminal (just for the money) terrorism are combined, as an extortion/vote getting act. Analysts often have to flip a coin to decide which act of terrorism is pure terrorism, and which is simply criminals doing business.
The "Awakening" in Iraq was simply the US paying the iraqi gangs to work for us. Now that the US is leaving Iraq the Iraqis have to come to some new "arrangements" with the Sunni gangs and extortioners. The US is leaving and the extortioners and kidnappers and rapists have to be paid...or shot in the head. The Iraqis are strong enough now to figure its just a more cost effective thingy to shoot the Sunnis in the head. America waves bye bye and leaves the Iraqis to deal with Iraqi problems the Iraqi way. We have the Bases, after all and are moving out of the cities.
The OiL money will keep the 100,000 mercenaries paid and the Iraqi politicians will keep the OiL money flowing through their pockets so the whole process will keep make them and their constituencys rich. That isnt going to change. And the Bases will be there to make sure the politicians HAVE a pocket. If the Iraqi politicians give us a problem with the Bases we give them a problem with their pocket. That's the game right there.
My oldest sister was a baby in a bombed out train near Jessore when my father found her in a boggey while he was scouting the advance of Brig. General Raina's Second Armor.
Raina took Dacca about fifteen days later and hauled in 93,000 Paki prisoners. My dad carried little Indira around in his Recon unit jeep for nine days feeding her goat's milk and whipped bananas and using his spare shirts to cloth her. She was five months old and survived. Today she is a Library Supervisor in Mongomery Co. Maryland and has a son who is my nephew. She is married to a man who is in the Secret Service and they live in Bethesda.
Bhutto poisoned Tikka Khan and took over the government. After the war was lost and Mujibar Rahman was elected head of East Pakistan and changed the name to BanglaDesh...Bhutto was sent to prison and hanged.
I am informed about it because its part of my familys history. My father made his living off the wars. He went to Afghanistan next after BanglaDesh and drove 81mm mortar ammo out of Lahore for an East German Trucking Co ( that's how he learned how to run a trucking company and organized one in Pakistan about 5 years ago and then sold to the Omanis who backed him..my mother's people)...The East German was named Dieter and he absolutely HATED the Russians. Dieter had settled in Lahore, Pakistan and never forgiven the Russians for kicking out all his teeth. Dieter had an entire mouth of stainless steel teeth courtesy of East German dentistry in 1949.
Dad had brought little Indira home to Mom here to raise as he later brought home little baby Audrey who he got from his friend Anthony who ran a Leper Colony in Calcutta. My older sister Deepa was born about that time and then in 1980 I came along last. Dad was in Uganda at that time supplying Musevini with Israeli arms and technical support.
Dad is old now and coaches a Country Club Women's Competition Trap Shooting Team. He also is working to develope a couple city blocks of real estate in the outer metropolitan part of Atlanta adjacent to Fort McPherson. That's how I got elected as Vice President of the Sylvan Hills Neighborhood Assoc. They are holding elections for President in December. I will probably take that when the present incumbent moves up to head the Sylvan Hill Neighborhood PLANNING assoc. That's one step away from running a City Council seat...and (if you have enough money) can spring board to the Georgia Legislature. From there you need big money and can run for the Senate of the United States. All conjecture of course.
All I do is handle little matters like liquor licenses and who gets building permits, and fining people who come in from Gwinnett Co. to dump tires on vacant lots. But I do my bit.
What we are waiting for is over the next 24 months the price of land in Sylvan Hills going way up due to a big IT Corp. moving into the old 8th Army HQ which was hooked up for worldwide communications. There will be big money, tens of millions of dollars into Sylvan Hills property. Dad has City Council partners and I am doing my bit with the local police as well. Hi!, howarya? That sort of thing. Some places dont have liquor licenses and some places do drugs. I can be an enormous help with that and we can clean Sylvan Hills up one place at a time. People who cause problems will just have to move. That can be arranged.
It doesnt have to be fair, it just has to happen.
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Whose "singing" were you referring to, Bull? I never was a choir boy myself.
http://ckdake.com/gallery/2009/sugarcon/IMG_0296.jpg.html
Bacon and spiced cheese sandwiches for lunch fresh off the grill.
http://ckdake.com/gallery/2009/june-california/IMG_0623.jpg.html
American as it gets. I aint no towel head. And I'm what you get when you raise an Arab in the United States as a Roman Catholic from an Omani mother who was glad to get out of Islam and put on some serious Dolly Parton.
Did US Army Ranger training at Fort Merrill and got a scholarship out of it.
216 Lbs. and six five and you can kiss my arse if you are a towelie.
Islam is So yesterday. I want a big family and I want sons. The future is USA all the way.
Iran is coming apart at the seams. And Osama is so far back in the dark he's sucking for air. Islam is disunited and Israel wins all their wars and the raggie Palestinians piss themselves in Gaza.
What's not to like?
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I have been a Roman Catholic all my life. My mom converted to Catholic before I was born. Never have been a Moslem. My best friend is Heshem, his dad was 5th Special Forces and his mother is an Egyptian. She is very good Moslem, but as far as I know Heshem has never been in a Mosque in his life. His wife Lila is Iranian, but I dont know if they are practicing Moslems. I have never seen any sign of that.
I got a sister who is a Contemplative Dominican Nun studying in Rome.
Muslim beard? Its like my father's beard except his is white and longer and he shaves his head. I have a refrigerator full of Beer. My dad has a Still(An apparatus for distilling liquids, such as alcohols, consisting of a vessel in which the substance is vaporized by heat and a cooling device in which the vapor is condensed) and has about 40 gallons of Moonshine set aside. We are going up to the Still last week of June . The Moonshine is about three years old. He made it himself back about 2005 sometime. Actually he made 80 gallons but he drank forty gallons already.... about ten gallons a year.
Its very good stuff. He promised to teach me how. He built the copper pot himself and replaces the coil every year. Corn liquor flavored with apples and peaches. make about four successive runs on the original Mash and then refines it with Spring water to bring the proof down to 85 or 90.
My father spent a few years working in Oman in Security for Sultan Quabus Said bin Taimur and he practiced being a Moslem for that and everybody believed in him. He got a Moslem wife and then they came to the US and two years later she quit being Moslem and converted to Catholic. My father never believed in Islam, he just does self interest, as soon as he came back to the US he shucked(Informal. Something worthless. Often used in the plural: an issue that didn't amount to shucks.
) Islam like a dirty pair of socks.
My dad had been in a Cistercian Monastery for a couple of years, but they kicked him out for fighting and recommended he join the US Marines. He spent seven years in Vietnam and worked military for Laos and Cambodia doing "security".
Moved onto BanglaDesh for their war...then to Pakistan and Afghanistan and finished up in Oman. Then a few years later did Uganda and then the last three years in Iran....doing trucking and shipping.
My Mom's relatives in Oman bankrolled him, they moved guns from the Iraq surplus connections through Kuwait to Iran.
Dad supplied the Baluchs through Zahedan by truck and thru Jask for shipping.
He swears he stayed out of the drug business, but all his best customers were into Heroin for the Iranian market. Dad sold them their trucks too...and armed them. He sold his interests in the trucking and shipping to Omani relatives and used his cut to buy land here in Georgia. He is in Real Estate "development" now.
He also has a hobby as Coach for a Womens Country Club Competitive Trap Shooting Team. He handles their tours. Really rich women with rich alpha husbands who play golf and sail and enjoy the good life and have money to invest.
Dad is good with that sort of people. I am handling some of his real estate, he got me a position as Vice Pres. of the Atlanta Sylvan Hills Neighborhood Assoc.
I will be the next Pres. come December when we have the next Election.
I figure within three years I should be doing quite well with the opportunities. I want to buy my own land in Montana. I will be going out to Montana this Fall...I promise to post pictures.
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Back ( about six years ago?) before I got married I was living in a place called A&P Lofts( Google it in Atlanta if you like) and sold that and sold another house I owned in Grant Park which I got when I moved out of the Loft I had near Georgia Tech.
I lived with two girls when I was at Tech. They were my "roommates", which was a leaky huge warehouse I had converted into living space...imagine having a living room aboouuut 90 feet long and 70 feet wide with a refrigerator and a bed and a few lamps you could move around...and a toilet in the stairwell. The bed was a big bed.
The girls followed me to the Grant Park house and I sold it to them after we shared that for a year or so. I got married last year in June and Charlene conceived about June 12th or 13th and we have a little baby girl now named Nicole Elizabeth...who is now about three months old and doing well. I bought a new house at Lost Mountain off Old Dallas Hwy. and used the money from the Loft equity and the house in Grant park that I sold to the two girls who were living with me there.
They came to me recently to ask about helping them get a loan to pay off the money they owe me for the Grant Park house. So I have been talking to a Bank Loan officer about the economy and the new loan practices. He is my friend and quite candid with me. He says the present loans being offered are small payment loans for 36 month with a big "Balloon" payment at the end of the 36 months.
he says he thinks in three years that there will be a lot of defaults on these loans and that we will have another situation like we presently enjoy. Consequently I am advising the girls to apply for a different type of loan which will be less risky for them and for me. They both have good jobs. Grace has gone into corporate redecorating and is doing well...and Mandy( is getting fat and has a drinking problem) is working for Gwinnet County Social Services. Mandy has a bottle of Wild Turkey in the bathroom she uses for mouthwash.( I did the right thing getting out of that menage(People living together as a unit; a household.
)) BUT They are well able to meet my note. And I am making about $65/hour for my work time..plus what Charlene makes working at Canton Bank. Charlene and I make nearly a hundred thou between us a year. Its comfortable. I want to make more.
And the real estate work will begin to bring in much more money than that within another 24 months. The price of land in Sylvan Hills is going to go up with the big IT Corp settling in to the Fort Mac's old 8th Army Worldwide Communications Complex. I own 25 acres in strategic places in Sylvan Hills. I want to get more.
The US economic situation will be fitful and I dont thik it will improve over the next four years...Obama is screwed. There is no way Skinny will ever get re-elected. The economy wont start to climb again until about 2014. But it will and Atlanta is going to grow and Sylvan Hills is going to be very productive.
I will control HOW Sylvan Hill grows. The 3rd District of the Atlanta Council is seated in Sylvan Hills, its Representative lives there. The Chief Of Police and two senior officers for the Precinct live there also. I see them every first Monday of the month and we discuss the crime statistics and I put them into a computer module.
We know where the crime is, its patterns and where the people live who cause us problems. We know the businesses which cause us problems. WE co-operate to make life difficult for the places and people who we dont want to live in Sylvan Hills.
There are six Churches( all Protestant ) in the area. One Catholic Church( St. Anthony )...One elementary school K-5( Charter School) . Five plants and factories...soap, porcelain industrial fittings, Kraft, SE Bottling Company and other smaller businesses. We control the liquor licenses and the building permits.
We decide if a bar can open or a restaurant can serve beer and liquor. If the filling stations have pan handlers or allow crimes on their properties...we know about that. Osborne St. has drug dealing and gangs. ( its localised and controlled) We harass them twice a month with road blocks and traffic checks...its hurts their business at peak time. There is a lot to do.
I will move to Montana in about five years and this place can take care of itself after that, but I will make a very nice profit here before I do go.
Dad can sell his stuff when the profit brings the prices up. The values should be 20 to a hundred times greater than the back taxes we paid for the properties. I want a big place in Montana...the economy will pick up eventually. Until then I am set with the way I have it now.
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The challenge for the Middle East is analogous to our own prior war with Hitler who sought to redefine Western culture along some racial notion of a pure Volk long ago unspoiled by Romanizing civilization.
Proving the West was not about race or some notion of an ubermenschen(
Übermensch
The ‘superman’ or ‘overman’ of Nietzsche's ethical vision. The Übermensch transcends the boundaries of classes, creeds, and nationalities; he overcomes human nature itself, and maintains a lordly superiority to the normal shackles and conventions of social life. Although Nietszche connects the character with Aristotelian virtue, the vision is essentially Romantic when Aristotle's is not. The idea of a transfiguring freedom finds more pessimistic echoes in the existentialist doctrine that existence precedes essence. See also will to power.
) ruling class did not require an “internal dialogue,” much less another religious reformation, but the complete annihilation of Nazism.
We are going to need wars in the Middle East. The muz wont do it themselves.
So it must be with the latest fad (A fashion that is taken up with great enthusiasm for a brief period of time; a craze.)of radical Islamofascism. Contrary to popular opinion, there has not been a single standard doctrine of hatred in the Middle East. And Islamofascism isnt new either. Radical Islam is just the most recent brand of many successive pathologies, not necessarily any more embraced by a billion people than Hitler’s Nazism was characteristic of the entire West.
In the 1940s the raging -ism in the Middle East was anti-Semitic secular fascism, copycatting Hitler and Mussolini — who seemed by 1942 ascendant and victorious. The Arabs ate it up and licked their big moustaches.
Between the 1950s and 1970s Soviet-style atheistic Baathism and tribal Pan-Arabism were deemed the waves of the future and unstoppable. Arabs were going gobbels gobble for that one too.
Goebbels, Paul Joseph ˈgǝbǝlz (1897-1945) minister of propaganda for the Third Reich under Adolf Hitler. Goebbels, born in Rheydt, Germany, was largely responsible for creating the mythic Führer hailed by the German people. A gifted orator and formidable journalist, Goebbels also used his considerable powers to control the press, radio, theater, and films. He killed himself and his family after the German defeat.
By the 1980s Islamism was the new antidote (A remedy or other agent used to neutralize or counteract the effects of a poison.) for the old bacillus (Any of various rod-shaped, spore-forming, aerobic bacteria of the genus Bacillus that often occur in chains and include B. anthracis, the causative agent of anthrax.
Any of various bacteria, especially a rod-shaped bacterium) of failure and inadequacy. The limp dick Arab wanted some. He would get his “respect” back. They are always looking for that lost respect.
Each time an -ism was defeated, it was only to be followed by another — as it always is in the absence of free markets and constitutional government.
Saddam started out as a pro-Soviet Communist puppet, then fancied himself a fascistic dictator and pan-Arabist nationalist, and ended up building mosques, always in search of the most resonant strain of hatred.
Arafat was once a left-wing atheistic thug. When the Soviet Union waned, he dropped the boutique socialism, and became a South-American-style caudillo. At the end of his days, he too got religion as the Arab Street turned to fundamentalism and Hamas threatened to eat away his support.
The common theme is not the Koran, but the constant pathology of the Middle East — Moslem gender apartheid, Moslem polygamy, Moslem religious intolerance, moslem tribalism, no freedom, a censored press, an educational system of brainwashing rather than free inquiry — that lends itself to the next cult to explain away failure and blame the West, which always looms as both whore and Madonna to the Arab Street.
Iraq has inadvertently become the battleground of a long overdue reckoning, a bellwether of the future of the Middle East. If the constitutionalists win, then the jihadists will be in retreat and there will be at last a third way between radical Islam and dictatorship.
In Iran, at present, we are seeing basic Human Nature yearning for Freedom. They wont get it from the Moslem Mullahs. And they wont get it from the "Messiah" in Washington DC who wouldnt fight for his own mother if she were being raped. He's just a pinkboy mouth who likes to pose as "the One" but cant deliver.
Skinny's not going to make it...even the Press is starting to fall out of love with him now. And everyone in the US just saw Prance blink when he had to stand up for Liberty and be counted.
Obama's Foreign Policy is going to rise or fall on his dealing with Iran. And Pinkboy just blew it.
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A&P Lofts
4 star rating
Neighborhood: Reynoldstown
881 Memorial Dr
Atlanta, GA 30316
(404) 584-1992
www.aandplofts.com/
Though they aren't located in the prettiest part of town (the corner of Memorial in a rougher section of the development), it's a smart buyer who knows that in 3-5 years this whole section of town will be completely renovated and installed with flashy businesses. This place is an investment for certain.
Unfortunately, right now, driving up to the A&P building makes it seem a little rough. The road is messy and basically everything is under construction. Even the outside of the building is a little basic: just squared off concrete with huge windows.
On the inside, though, these loft apartments are actually quite nice. Spacious and wood-floored with enormous windows and modern kitchens: all the stops. I went to a party here once and was quite impressed with the look of it all.
I believe they are 75% sold right now, but there are still some great deals in this building. Definitely worth checking out as an investment.
I realized $143,000 on the place I had. I used the money to buy a five bedroom home outside Atl. in a place called Lost Mountain off Old Dallas Hwy.
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A&P Lofts.
I bought mine and resold it for a nice profit in a year before the market turndown. I also got a $53,000 off my purchase price of the Lost Mountain house bring it down to $300,000 when the housing market was just beginning to scare the owners enough to grant me the discount. You CAN profit both ways if you think.
A&P LOFTS
881 Memorial Drive SE
Atlanta, Georgia
Number of Units in Development: 60
Description: Miller-Gallman Developers has converted the historic A & P Warehouse and Bakery at 881 Memorial Drive into 60 loft apartments. Located at the convergence of Grant Park, Reynoldstown and Cabbagetown, it is convenient to Interstate 20 and downtown Atlanta.
The A & P Warehouse and Bakery building was completed in 1930. A & P then moved their southeastern operations there where they remained until 1963. The bakery remained in operation at this location until 1976 where the smell of fresh baked bread permeated the building and the area. The red brick and concrete exterior with glass brick fill is a fine example of a pure modernistic building, typical for its time, the interior has mushroom columns that decrease in circumference with every floor. Because the building has no unnecessary adornment it has a very clean, streamlined look. The roof is flat and a large rooftop observation area has been added that provides an unobstructed view of the Atlanta skyline. One of the penthouse units (loft #319) has a private rooftop deck and a number of other units have private patios.
These units range in size from 800 to nearly 2000 square feet with rents starting at $850.00. Unlike new construction, conversions of this type result in unique lofts whose space and features are crafted to utilize the historic elements of the building. Miller - Gallman Developers, LLC is a master in creating a unique and functional living environment within the confines of a historic building.
there was a nice brick back balcony on my place and a parking garage space.
there was an observation deck and garden on the roof with a beautiful view. My place was premium and was in quick demand. I sold before the slump began and took the money and ran. I only had it for a year. I sold the house in Grant Park to Grace and Mandy. Between the sale of both properties I was able to afford the house in Lost Mountain the year before I got married.
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A whole lot of questions, Thal. Shall I answer them all? That would be an undertaking indeed.
Beard first. Its easy to grow a beard. Just dont shave. A lot of women like beards and find them quite attractive. I have heavy thick hair and grow a nice beard quickly.
dad can dress like a Paki or an Afghan, has the beard, and can quote the Koran and speaks the language. He even smells the same and walks like one. I have seen him put on their clothes and in the time it takes him to turn around once he is exactly what he looks like jabbering at you for a deal. You want to buy a donkey and ride him to Mecca? dad's that way.
I think I have grown a beard because my father has one. He's had one all his life, I have seldom seen him without one. He looks unlike "himself" without one. He shaved it off three years ago when he went down to Eglin to get a military Commission with the Special Forces. They recruited him in Washington DC the year previous( 2004) along with about 8,000 other men who had previous military service, certain combat specilaties, and knew languages in the Middle East. They sent dad to Fort Bragg for the physical training and then to Fort Lewis for Intelligence school. then they sent him to Pakistan in 2005. When Bush went to Karachi, dad was there and then he vanished into Iran. Ask Canuck. He smelled a rat the day it happened.
Dad knows about three languages besides English. That sounds fantastic for an American , but as anyone who knows Europeans its not an unusual thing to find some people who can do it easily. I have a friend who is a Ukrainian who speaks beautiful English, Polish and a fluent Russian. My father's brothers children speak Swiss, French, Norwegian, and Mandarin Chinese.
They grew up overseas as children and then went back when they were adults with their own families.
My fathers younger brother and his children work for the CIA. The family is two generations in that work. They married wives who were CIA as well. Intelligence work and languages are natural in his family.
Dad lived in Asia most of his life, he grew up over there as a child, his father was a Military Attache' in Europe during WW2. He went out to Asia after the war when he flew against the Chicoms in Korea. By that time he had gotten into codes and went from there into Communications and Intelligence work.It was an easy jump, as Electronics came along he built his career in long range communications. He got to be a Colonel in Intelligence.
My dad was in VietNam and went into Intell as well on his second tour...he was assigned to security to the family of the CIA head of Station in Danang, his brother went into Paratroops with the Rangers in VietNam and later because of language ability went into CIA and was posted to China for 16 years, his wife was CIA also and all his three children went into CIA when they grew up.
As the family driver for the CIA head of Ops in Danang dad got easy training and good connections among high ranking Intell people from all over Asia. He spent the rest of his life working military security until he met my mother in Oman.
My mom's family are former ministers to Sultan Quabus Said bin Taimur. They handled Import/Export for Oman. It was a family thing. I was over there when I was about 18 when I went to my grandmother's funeral and got to travel and see the family who live in Salaleh. They are an old family with a history in Arab trade that goes back at least 400 years. Piracy naturally. My mother's brothers are all pretty much pirates but they wear tuxedos and have a large staff to handle their appointments. I named my own daughter after the Queen of Sheba who had the personal name "Nicole" as you may know. Its an Arab name.
My wife is Black, she was born in Alabama and her father is a Pharmacist. Her mother is dead and she looks Ethiopian, very light skin but very elegant and tall with straight hair. Very well read, she is a book reading freak, loves books, took Philosophy in University and works in a Bank in Canton, Georgia. She is Catholic and we want a large family. I married her last June, we have been married a year.
When my sister was born, my mothers first baby the family in Kuwait and Oman sent gold pieces as baby gifts for her dowry when she grew up. She became a Dominican Contemplative Nun so she never used her dowry, my mother still has it.
I have two other older sisters, both adopted. My father got my oldest sister out of bombed out train near a place called Chaugatchka in Bengal during the Bangledesh war. She was the only survivor among 116 dead in a train the Paks hit. They killed everybody. My sister was in a basket under a seat in a train full of dead people when dad found her when he was doing Recon for Brig. Gen. Raina and the 2nd Indian Armor advancing on Dacca. Dad did Intell for Raina. Dad worked for R&A for the Indian Intell in Pakistan and Afghanistan as well.
From Afghanistan he went to Oman. The CIA didnt like my dad all that much.He didnt work for them.
My other sister was given to my dad at birth, her parents were both Lepers in Calcutta. Anthony was my father's friend, an educated man who had Leprosy. A good man who was the senior person in a Leper Colony. My dad stumbled into the place by mistake and got to know Anthony there and came back to help the community. When DANLEP developed a cure for Leprosy dad paid for Anthony and his wife's cure. They gave their first baby to him still wet from being delivered. Dad raised her, brought her home to the states to my Mom. Audrey is that older sister to me. She married a Kuwaiti who got American citizenship by enlisting in Kuwait in the US Marines. He went into Security because my father got his trained by pulling some strings and he runs a big security business for a national Airline here in the US. My other sister married a man in the Secret Service who provides body guards for American senators. The Kuwaiti became a Catholic to marry my sister. He isnt much of a believer but he lets his kids all grow up Catholic...I have five little nephews and one little niece. Being Catholic means lots of children. Strong families. Atheists are like EUroweenies, they dont breed particularly. Strong families eventually take over everything.
Moslems breed at least. If they manage to learn to read something besides the Koran they might climb out of the Donkey crap. Until then they can burn cars and work for the White man.
So you think Obama is the "last" President? I dont . I think the US will dominate the entire world by the end of this century. Do I sound weak to you? Does my family sound weak? Do you think we cant run the world? I am going to be a multimillionaire someday. I will have a house full of sons and I will grow old raising my children and my kin to power. All of us are unstoppable. We can make a profit on anything the world throws at us.
I own LAND, Thal....not mortgages...LAND. The Nunnahee is 1,000 acres in the North Georgia Mountains and my family has held that since 1835. We own land in south Georgia in four places plus the old family graveyards down there that date back to 1799. I have owned three houses and I am only 29. My present house is five bedrooms and is where I am going to raise my family. As the male everything my father owns will go to me as executor and I will distribute to my sisters as I see fit. Dad made three $million profit from his three years in Iran in shipping and trucking. Its modest by some standards, but its an example of what this family CAN do.
I am not just an individual...I can call on others, related and connections in trade and business. We are all a bit like me..we have the brains and the will and we arent slowed down by asking pretty please mother may I/ We are going to make a future anyway.
Obama will be gone in 2012. The next President of the United States will have the backing of people like me and the US Military. We are going to shove America down your rag hat throats. And Europe is #1 at being #2. They lay on their backs and can eat cheese and play the Tuba.
The United States won in Iraq. We got what we wanted. We are going to do the same in Afghanstan and Pakistan as well. Eventually we will get what we want in Iran as well. Israel in time is going to do what every Arab fears, the Jews are going to be our managers for the Middle East. You can have your governments and your religion as long as you dont cause us any problems. Do you understand me?
Culturally you Moslems are going to get MTV and Madonna's tits. You will learn our language and we wont learn yours. You will eat KFC in Fallujah and go Yum yum. And in 2099 you will go to the stars and speak english when you get aboard.
You are reading me in English right now on a Computer I built and sold you. Say hello to Allah for me.
We will see Obama's black behind and put our own in there next time. And we STILL have 700 military Bases around the world and some of them will be IN IRAQ for the next 99 years. Iraq is the strategic center of the geopolitical Middle East. And the Iraqi Army isnt elected and is driving our Tanks and their Officers are all on file in the Green Zone. We train them and we invite their Iraqi generals to go swimming at the US Officer's Club swimming pool. We even get him an American"secretary".
there is going to be another big war and you Arabs are going to lose it. You will see street signs in Hebrew in your lifetime. And you will check into the American style Hotel and the shoes will be shined and outside your door in the morning. Fatimah works for Room Service.
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Super! Bull. thank you. I have watched that DVD twelve times. I love the French coming out of the fog and the broadside that causes that young Middie to lose his arm.
I was just a little kid when I first met my father....raised with older sisters two adopted and one my blood sister and my father was just someone my mother told me about...he was bigger than God in her stories. He hunted "bad people" in the desert in Oman and he shot then and he worked for the SULTAN. Mom always capitalized the RULER in her stories. My dad worked for the RULER.
When I met my dad I didnt know what to expect. But what I got was hell. He took me to the outback of eat you alive in Alaska when I was about ten years old. We lived in shelters for a year in all weather and killed and skinned and ate things. I had to kill little rabbits by pulling on their necks in wires until they choked. Then I had to cut them up with "my own" knife. He taught me to read maps and I hated him. He didnt beat me, he just wouldnt give me any food until I killed it myself.
When I was fifteen he came back from Uganda and took me down into the Pinacate Inferno in Sonora, Mexico...and we crossed 300+ miles to the Gulf of Baja and shot wild pigs and doves and jack rabbits and I learned to skin snakes.
When I thought of my dad it was as "that @!#$."
I am just like him.
I am going out to Montana this fall, I will be living out in the wilderness. I will post a lot of pictures. I want to buy some land out there and homestead. Charlene thinks we can have a "Summer home". She is slow catching on. But she will be like my mother and raise the children and have this place in Lost Mountain while I build that "summer home" over time. She will get used to it. I want a big family.
Ever thought about what it would take to "bear proof" a house, Bull? Grizzlys. Think about it. Ever thought about facing a Grizzly? I am my father's son.
Our coat of Arms from Konolfingen in Berne from our ancestral fortress at Orme on the Swartzennegg is a black shield with a standing facing red Bear with Claws up. Professional soldiers for five hundred years. Gun makers ( rifled Jagers) when we first came to the Americas in the 1740s. Four shots a minute and a wheel lock instead of a flint lock. Light heavy caliber meant to be used by Rangers and Dragoons. perfect for the American wars. Go up the Altamaha river and open a trading post in a big Indian graveyard called "the Tombs". manufacture guns and get an Indian wife. teach the kids to read and use a gun. Drill them until they are fast. Tear the ball with your teeth from the paper, hold the ball in your mouth, pour the powder down the barrel. spit the paper and the ball in , ram the rod. Prime the pan or wind the wheel lock. Present...Aim and fire. Tear the ball with your teeth from the paper...
Never sell land, always buy land.
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WELL! I wouldnt have missed that for the world.
North Carolina? I have driven through there many times going up to see my sister who lives in Bethesda, Maryland. Her husband is Secret Service. Dad found her in a bombed out train during the BanglaDesh war when he was doing forward Recon for Brig. general Raina and the Indian 2nd Armor in the advance on Dacca.
My sister was about five months old at the time. 116 dead people who were railroad yard personnel trying to make it west to the Boyra salient by stolen train. The Paks bombed the rail line and when the train had to stop the people were slow to get off and the Pak jets came back down the rail line and strafed the boogeys with 20mikemike aircannon.
Dad broke into the train in the dark while on recon to look for places the river could be forded by Tanks or to find bridges still intact. He had met two razakars who told him about the train. The baby was the only one left alive.
Dad carried her in the jeep for nine days and fed her on bananas and goats milk and use some of his shirts for diapers. She is about 40 now and has a son who is my Nephew and I am his godfather. Very bright boy, does straight A's in school.
I always like to visit with my sister. She is ten years older than me. Her husband and I use the Pistol Range there in Bethesda. He's better with a pistol than even my dad. He was bodyguard to the candidates during the 2004 Pres. Campaign. He's got a framed picture of John Kerry holding my nephew for a photo Op around Christmas that year. My brother in Law was providing security at Kerry's Georgetown home during a party.
He voted for Bush of course, but then a lot of people elected Bush for two terms.
Kerry was just his job to guard.
Nobody in my family named "mohammed" Thalaquin. My mother converted to Roman Catholic a year before I was born. My older blood sister is a Nun studying on a Scholarship in Rome. And my two adopted sisters are well married with five kids between them.
Now I DO have Moslem friends. My best friend is Heshem, his father was US Special Forces and married Marwah who is Egyptian. Heshem has two sisters, Giselle and I dated in highschool. The other sister is named Marwah like her mother. very different personalities.
Marwah is a very good friend of my father's. My father knows Islam very well, even acted very convincingly like a Moslem when he worked Security for Sultan Quabus Said bin Taimur. Convinced everyone. But my father doesnt believe in anything but his own advantage and himself ( trust me). But he respects marwah very much and is always deferential to her faith. Marwah is an impressive Moslem, her Islam is pure and good, just like she is. Heshem says he is a Moslem but he has never been inside a Mosque in his life. Heshem likes pussy and making money. He's not confined by his marriage to Lila, I am afraid. Heshem cheats on his wife. But I dont say anything to him, its just the way he is.
I cant even imagine cheating on Charlene, she's too good to me and she's too smart to fool anyway. If I cheated on her she would wait until I went to sleep and then she would go in the kitchen and get a long sharp bread knife. And I would have just about enough time to see my blood spraying on the ceiling before I lost consciousness from having my throat cut.
Besides I like sleeping next to her. I like waking up with her . I like listening to her talk. She's very deep, very insightful. Gifted intelligence. I cant fool her and she sees me for what I really am and likes it. I am absolutely loyal. I probably have a lifetime with her. I feel like she's the nail I can hang my future on. I dont think she will mind Montana. She will be in on the deal, I will let her choose where she wants...and its a big place and lots to choose. We will be going out together in May next year..and she will have to learn to ride a horse.
The "mo-heads" can take care of themselves. I have better things to do.
Heshem married an Iranian girl name Lila. I was best man for the Moslem wedding. Lila's uncle was a senior man in SAVAK. He has an estate in New Jersey. Heshem and I have both been his guests. very wealthy family.
Source: Seraph Ideology
Philip Kingry's (Faust)
After September 11, 2001, it suddenly became important to count terrorist attacks accurately. That was the only way to get a sense of how large, and where, the problem was.
But there were problems. Take organized crime, for example, where terrorism is just another tool. Terrorism is regularly practiced by organized criminal groups. That's how the famous ones, like the mafia, or the Russian or Colombian gangs, make money and maintain discipline. What separates "terrorist organizations" from criminal gangs is ideology and goals. Organized crime groups just want to make money. Islamic terrorists, however, have other goals. In this case, imposing Islam on the entire world. Making money using criminal methods is a means to an end for them, not an end in itself.
Keep in mind that terrorist acts are a constant, and most of these actions are carried out by criminals in pursuit of a payday. Political or religious terrorists are using similar terrorism to either attract attention, as a fund raising tool, or a weapon to win concessions from governments.
So we have terrorism divided by goal (power or money). But much of the terrorism in the world is mainly about power (getting it, or holding on to it.) In many parts of the world, political power is obtained, and retained, by using gangs of terrorists. Nothing new there, the ancient Romans, and many before them, used political gangs, and terrorism, to achieve political goals. This works in democracies as well as dictatorship (Saddam had street gangs to keep hostile Iraqis under control.)
In many parts of the world, political and criminal (just for the money) terrorism are combined, as an extortion/vote getting act. Analysts often have to flip a coin to decide which act of terrorism is pure terrorism, and which is simply criminals doing business.
The "Awakening" in Iraq was simply the US paying the iraqi gangs to work for us. Now that the US is leaving Iraq the Iraqis have to come to some new "arrangements" with the Sunni gangs and extortioners. The US is leaving and the extortioners and kidnappers and rapists have to be paid...or shot in the head. The Iraqis are strong enough now to figure its just a more cost effective thingy to shoot the Sunnis in the head. America waves bye bye and leaves the Iraqis to deal with Iraqi problems the Iraqi way. We have the Bases, after all and are moving out of the cities.
The OiL money will keep the 100,000 mercenaries paid and the Iraqi politicians will keep the OiL money flowing through their pockets so the whole process will keep make them and their constituencys rich. That isnt going to change. And the Bases will be there to make sure the politicians HAVE a pocket. If the Iraqi politicians give us a problem with the Bases we give them a problem with their pocket. That's the game right there.
My oldest sister was a baby in a bombed out train near Jessore when my father found her in a boggey while he was scouting the advance of Brig. General Raina's Second Armor.
Raina took Dacca about fifteen days later and hauled in 93,000 Paki prisoners. My dad carried little Indira around in his Recon unit jeep for nine days feeding her goat's milk and whipped bananas and using his spare shirts to cloth her. She was five months old and survived. Today she is a Library Supervisor in Mongomery Co. Maryland and has a son who is my nephew. She is married to a man who is in the Secret Service and they live in Bethesda.
Bhutto poisoned Tikka Khan and took over the government. After the war was lost and Mujibar Rahman was elected head of East Pakistan and changed the name to BanglaDesh...Bhutto was sent to prison and hanged.
I am informed about it because its part of my familys history. My father made his living off the wars. He went to Afghanistan next after BanglaDesh and drove 81mm mortar ammo out of Lahore for an East German Trucking Co ( that's how he learned how to run a trucking company and organized one in Pakistan about 5 years ago and then sold to the Omanis who backed him..my mother's people)...The East German was named Dieter and he absolutely HATED the Russians. Dieter had settled in Lahore, Pakistan and never forgiven the Russians for kicking out all his teeth. Dieter had an entire mouth of stainless steel teeth courtesy of East German dentistry in 1949.
Dad had brought little Indira home to Mom here to raise as he later brought home little baby Audrey who he got from his friend Anthony who ran a Leper Colony in Calcutta. My older sister Deepa was born about that time and then in 1980 I came along last. Dad was in Uganda at that time supplying Musevini with Israeli arms and technical support.
Dad is old now and coaches a Country Club Women's Competition Trap Shooting Team. He also is working to develope a couple city blocks of real estate in the outer metropolitan part of Atlanta adjacent to Fort McPherson. That's how I got elected as Vice President of the Sylvan Hills Neighborhood Assoc. They are holding elections for President in December. I will probably take that when the present incumbent moves up to head the Sylvan Hill Neighborhood PLANNING assoc. That's one step away from running a City Council seat...and (if you have enough money) can spring board to the Georgia Legislature. From there you need big money and can run for the Senate of the United States. All conjecture of course.
All I do is handle little matters like liquor licenses and who gets building permits, and fining people who come in from Gwinnett Co. to dump tires on vacant lots. But I do my bit.
What we are waiting for is over the next 24 months the price of land in Sylvan Hills going way up due to a big IT Corp. moving into the old 8th Army HQ which was hooked up for worldwide communications. There will be big money, tens of millions of dollars into Sylvan Hills property. Dad has City Council partners and I am doing my bit with the local police as well. Hi!, howarya? That sort of thing. Some places dont have liquor licenses and some places do drugs. I can be an enormous help with that and we can clean Sylvan Hills up one place at a time. People who cause problems will just have to move. That can be arranged.
It doesnt have to be fair, it just has to happen.
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Whose "singing" were you referring to, Bull? I never was a choir boy myself.
http://ckdake.com/gallery/2009/sugarcon/IMG_0296.jpg.html
Bacon and spiced cheese sandwiches for lunch fresh off the grill.
http://ckdake.com/gallery/2009/june-california/IMG_0623.jpg.html
American as it gets. I aint no towel head. And I'm what you get when you raise an Arab in the United States as a Roman Catholic from an Omani mother who was glad to get out of Islam and put on some serious Dolly Parton.
Did US Army Ranger training at Fort Merrill and got a scholarship out of it.
216 Lbs. and six five and you can kiss my arse if you are a towelie.
Islam is So yesterday. I want a big family and I want sons. The future is USA all the way.
Iran is coming apart at the seams. And Osama is so far back in the dark he's sucking for air. Islam is disunited and Israel wins all their wars and the raggie Palestinians piss themselves in Gaza.
What's not to like?
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I have been a Roman Catholic all my life. My mom converted to Catholic before I was born. Never have been a Moslem. My best friend is Heshem, his dad was 5th Special Forces and his mother is an Egyptian. She is very good Moslem, but as far as I know Heshem has never been in a Mosque in his life. His wife Lila is Iranian, but I dont know if they are practicing Moslems. I have never seen any sign of that.
I got a sister who is a Contemplative Dominican Nun studying in Rome.
Muslim beard? Its like my father's beard except his is white and longer and he shaves his head. I have a refrigerator full of Beer. My dad has a Still(An apparatus for distilling liquids, such as alcohols, consisting of a vessel in which the substance is vaporized by heat and a cooling device in which the vapor is condensed) and has about 40 gallons of Moonshine set aside. We are going up to the Still last week of June . The Moonshine is about three years old. He made it himself back about 2005 sometime. Actually he made 80 gallons but he drank forty gallons already.... about ten gallons a year.
Its very good stuff. He promised to teach me how. He built the copper pot himself and replaces the coil every year. Corn liquor flavored with apples and peaches. make about four successive runs on the original Mash and then refines it with Spring water to bring the proof down to 85 or 90.
My father spent a few years working in Oman in Security for Sultan Quabus Said bin Taimur and he practiced being a Moslem for that and everybody believed in him. He got a Moslem wife and then they came to the US and two years later she quit being Moslem and converted to Catholic. My father never believed in Islam, he just does self interest, as soon as he came back to the US he shucked(Informal. Something worthless. Often used in the plural: an issue that didn't amount to shucks.
) Islam like a dirty pair of socks.
My dad had been in a Cistercian Monastery for a couple of years, but they kicked him out for fighting and recommended he join the US Marines. He spent seven years in Vietnam and worked military for Laos and Cambodia doing "security".
Moved onto BanglaDesh for their war...then to Pakistan and Afghanistan and finished up in Oman. Then a few years later did Uganda and then the last three years in Iran....doing trucking and shipping.
My Mom's relatives in Oman bankrolled him, they moved guns from the Iraq surplus connections through Kuwait to Iran.
Dad supplied the Baluchs through Zahedan by truck and thru Jask for shipping.
He swears he stayed out of the drug business, but all his best customers were into Heroin for the Iranian market. Dad sold them their trucks too...and armed them. He sold his interests in the trucking and shipping to Omani relatives and used his cut to buy land here in Georgia. He is in Real Estate "development" now.
He also has a hobby as Coach for a Womens Country Club Competitive Trap Shooting Team. He handles their tours. Really rich women with rich alpha husbands who play golf and sail and enjoy the good life and have money to invest.
Dad is good with that sort of people. I am handling some of his real estate, he got me a position as Vice Pres. of the Atlanta Sylvan Hills Neighborhood Assoc.
I will be the next Pres. come December when we have the next Election.
I figure within three years I should be doing quite well with the opportunities. I want to buy my own land in Montana. I will be going out to Montana this Fall...I promise to post pictures.
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Back ( about six years ago?) before I got married I was living in a place called A&P Lofts( Google it in Atlanta if you like) and sold that and sold another house I owned in Grant Park which I got when I moved out of the Loft I had near Georgia Tech.
I lived with two girls when I was at Tech. They were my "roommates", which was a leaky huge warehouse I had converted into living space...imagine having a living room aboouuut 90 feet long and 70 feet wide with a refrigerator and a bed and a few lamps you could move around...and a toilet in the stairwell. The bed was a big bed.
The girls followed me to the Grant Park house and I sold it to them after we shared that for a year or so. I got married last year in June and Charlene conceived about June 12th or 13th and we have a little baby girl now named Nicole Elizabeth...who is now about three months old and doing well. I bought a new house at Lost Mountain off Old Dallas Hwy. and used the money from the Loft equity and the house in Grant park that I sold to the two girls who were living with me there.
They came to me recently to ask about helping them get a loan to pay off the money they owe me for the Grant Park house. So I have been talking to a Bank Loan officer about the economy and the new loan practices. He is my friend and quite candid with me. He says the present loans being offered are small payment loans for 36 month with a big "Balloon" payment at the end of the 36 months.
he says he thinks in three years that there will be a lot of defaults on these loans and that we will have another situation like we presently enjoy. Consequently I am advising the girls to apply for a different type of loan which will be less risky for them and for me. They both have good jobs. Grace has gone into corporate redecorating and is doing well...and Mandy( is getting fat and has a drinking problem) is working for Gwinnet County Social Services. Mandy has a bottle of Wild Turkey in the bathroom she uses for mouthwash.( I did the right thing getting out of that menage(People living together as a unit; a household.
)) BUT They are well able to meet my note. And I am making about $65/hour for my work time..plus what Charlene makes working at Canton Bank. Charlene and I make nearly a hundred thou between us a year. Its comfortable. I want to make more.
And the real estate work will begin to bring in much more money than that within another 24 months. The price of land in Sylvan Hills is going to go up with the big IT Corp settling in to the Fort Mac's old 8th Army Worldwide Communications Complex. I own 25 acres in strategic places in Sylvan Hills. I want to get more.
The US economic situation will be fitful and I dont thik it will improve over the next four years...Obama is screwed. There is no way Skinny will ever get re-elected. The economy wont start to climb again until about 2014. But it will and Atlanta is going to grow and Sylvan Hills is going to be very productive.
I will control HOW Sylvan Hill grows. The 3rd District of the Atlanta Council is seated in Sylvan Hills, its Representative lives there. The Chief Of Police and two senior officers for the Precinct live there also. I see them every first Monday of the month and we discuss the crime statistics and I put them into a computer module.
We know where the crime is, its patterns and where the people live who cause us problems. We know the businesses which cause us problems. WE co-operate to make life difficult for the places and people who we dont want to live in Sylvan Hills.
There are six Churches( all Protestant ) in the area. One Catholic Church( St. Anthony )...One elementary school K-5( Charter School) . Five plants and factories...soap, porcelain industrial fittings, Kraft, SE Bottling Company and other smaller businesses. We control the liquor licenses and the building permits.
We decide if a bar can open or a restaurant can serve beer and liquor. If the filling stations have pan handlers or allow crimes on their properties...we know about that. Osborne St. has drug dealing and gangs. ( its localised and controlled) We harass them twice a month with road blocks and traffic checks...its hurts their business at peak time. There is a lot to do.
I will move to Montana in about five years and this place can take care of itself after that, but I will make a very nice profit here before I do go.
Dad can sell his stuff when the profit brings the prices up. The values should be 20 to a hundred times greater than the back taxes we paid for the properties. I want a big place in Montana...the economy will pick up eventually. Until then I am set with the way I have it now.
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The challenge for the Middle East is analogous to our own prior war with Hitler who sought to redefine Western culture along some racial notion of a pure Volk long ago unspoiled by Romanizing civilization.
Proving the West was not about race or some notion of an ubermenschen(
Übermensch
The ‘superman’ or ‘overman’ of Nietzsche's ethical vision. The Übermensch transcends the boundaries of classes, creeds, and nationalities; he overcomes human nature itself, and maintains a lordly superiority to the normal shackles and conventions of social life. Although Nietszche connects the character with Aristotelian virtue, the vision is essentially Romantic when Aristotle's is not. The idea of a transfiguring freedom finds more pessimistic echoes in the existentialist doctrine that existence precedes essence. See also will to power.
) ruling class did not require an “internal dialogue,” much less another religious reformation, but the complete annihilation of Nazism.
We are going to need wars in the Middle East. The muz wont do it themselves.
So it must be with the latest fad (A fashion that is taken up with great enthusiasm for a brief period of time; a craze.)of radical Islamofascism. Contrary to popular opinion, there has not been a single standard doctrine of hatred in the Middle East. And Islamofascism isnt new either. Radical Islam is just the most recent brand of many successive pathologies, not necessarily any more embraced by a billion people than Hitler’s Nazism was characteristic of the entire West.
In the 1940s the raging -ism in the Middle East was anti-Semitic secular fascism, copycatting Hitler and Mussolini — who seemed by 1942 ascendant and victorious. The Arabs ate it up and licked their big moustaches.
Between the 1950s and 1970s Soviet-style atheistic Baathism and tribal Pan-Arabism were deemed the waves of the future and unstoppable. Arabs were going gobbels gobble for that one too.
Goebbels, Paul Joseph ˈgǝbǝlz (1897-1945) minister of propaganda for the Third Reich under Adolf Hitler. Goebbels, born in Rheydt, Germany, was largely responsible for creating the mythic Führer hailed by the German people. A gifted orator and formidable journalist, Goebbels also used his considerable powers to control the press, radio, theater, and films. He killed himself and his family after the German defeat.
By the 1980s Islamism was the new antidote (A remedy or other agent used to neutralize or counteract the effects of a poison.) for the old bacillus (Any of various rod-shaped, spore-forming, aerobic bacteria of the genus Bacillus that often occur in chains and include B. anthracis, the causative agent of anthrax.
Any of various bacteria, especially a rod-shaped bacterium) of failure and inadequacy. The limp dick Arab wanted some. He would get his “respect” back. They are always looking for that lost respect.
Each time an -ism was defeated, it was only to be followed by another — as it always is in the absence of free markets and constitutional government.
Saddam started out as a pro-Soviet Communist puppet, then fancied himself a fascistic dictator and pan-Arabist nationalist, and ended up building mosques, always in search of the most resonant strain of hatred.
Arafat was once a left-wing atheistic thug. When the Soviet Union waned, he dropped the boutique socialism, and became a South-American-style caudillo. At the end of his days, he too got religion as the Arab Street turned to fundamentalism and Hamas threatened to eat away his support.
The common theme is not the Koran, but the constant pathology of the Middle East — Moslem gender apartheid, Moslem polygamy, Moslem religious intolerance, moslem tribalism, no freedom, a censored press, an educational system of brainwashing rather than free inquiry — that lends itself to the next cult to explain away failure and blame the West, which always looms as both whore and Madonna to the Arab Street.
Iraq has inadvertently become the battleground of a long overdue reckoning, a bellwether of the future of the Middle East. If the constitutionalists win, then the jihadists will be in retreat and there will be at last a third way between radical Islam and dictatorship.
In Iran, at present, we are seeing basic Human Nature yearning for Freedom. They wont get it from the Moslem Mullahs. And they wont get it from the "Messiah" in Washington DC who wouldnt fight for his own mother if she were being raped. He's just a pinkboy mouth who likes to pose as "the One" but cant deliver.
Skinny's not going to make it...even the Press is starting to fall out of love with him now. And everyone in the US just saw Prance blink when he had to stand up for Liberty and be counted.
Obama's Foreign Policy is going to rise or fall on his dealing with Iran. And Pinkboy just blew it.
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A&P Lofts
4 star rating
Neighborhood: Reynoldstown
881 Memorial Dr
Atlanta, GA 30316
(404) 584-1992
www.aandplofts.com/
Though they aren't located in the prettiest part of town (the corner of Memorial in a rougher section of the development), it's a smart buyer who knows that in 3-5 years this whole section of town will be completely renovated and installed with flashy businesses. This place is an investment for certain.
Unfortunately, right now, driving up to the A&P building makes it seem a little rough. The road is messy and basically everything is under construction. Even the outside of the building is a little basic: just squared off concrete with huge windows.
On the inside, though, these loft apartments are actually quite nice. Spacious and wood-floored with enormous windows and modern kitchens: all the stops. I went to a party here once and was quite impressed with the look of it all.
I believe they are 75% sold right now, but there are still some great deals in this building. Definitely worth checking out as an investment.
I realized $143,000 on the place I had. I used the money to buy a five bedroom home outside Atl. in a place called Lost Mountain off Old Dallas Hwy.
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A&P Lofts.
I bought mine and resold it for a nice profit in a year before the market turndown. I also got a $53,000 off my purchase price of the Lost Mountain house bring it down to $300,000 when the housing market was just beginning to scare the owners enough to grant me the discount. You CAN profit both ways if you think.
A&P LOFTS
881 Memorial Drive SE
Atlanta, Georgia
Number of Units in Development: 60
Description: Miller-Gallman Developers has converted the historic A & P Warehouse and Bakery at 881 Memorial Drive into 60 loft apartments. Located at the convergence of Grant Park, Reynoldstown and Cabbagetown, it is convenient to Interstate 20 and downtown Atlanta.
The A & P Warehouse and Bakery building was completed in 1930. A & P then moved their southeastern operations there where they remained until 1963. The bakery remained in operation at this location until 1976 where the smell of fresh baked bread permeated the building and the area. The red brick and concrete exterior with glass brick fill is a fine example of a pure modernistic building, typical for its time, the interior has mushroom columns that decrease in circumference with every floor. Because the building has no unnecessary adornment it has a very clean, streamlined look. The roof is flat and a large rooftop observation area has been added that provides an unobstructed view of the Atlanta skyline. One of the penthouse units (loft #319) has a private rooftop deck and a number of other units have private patios.
These units range in size from 800 to nearly 2000 square feet with rents starting at $850.00. Unlike new construction, conversions of this type result in unique lofts whose space and features are crafted to utilize the historic elements of the building. Miller - Gallman Developers, LLC is a master in creating a unique and functional living environment within the confines of a historic building.
there was a nice brick back balcony on my place and a parking garage space.
there was an observation deck and garden on the roof with a beautiful view. My place was premium and was in quick demand. I sold before the slump began and took the money and ran. I only had it for a year. I sold the house in Grant Park to Grace and Mandy. Between the sale of both properties I was able to afford the house in Lost Mountain the year before I got married.
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Dad, Mom & Sisters
A whole lot of questions, Thal. Shall I answer them all? That would be an undertaking indeed.
Beard first. Its easy to grow a beard. Just dont shave. A lot of women like beards and find them quite attractive. I have heavy thick hair and grow a nice beard quickly.
dad can dress like a Paki or an Afghan, has the beard, and can quote the Koran and speaks the language. He even smells the same and walks like one. I have seen him put on their clothes and in the time it takes him to turn around once he is exactly what he looks like jabbering at you for a deal. You want to buy a donkey and ride him to Mecca? dad's that way.
I think I have grown a beard because my father has one. He's had one all his life, I have seldom seen him without one. He looks unlike "himself" without one. He shaved it off three years ago when he went down to Eglin to get a military Commission with the Special Forces. They recruited him in Washington DC the year previous( 2004) along with about 8,000 other men who had previous military service, certain combat specilaties, and knew languages in the Middle East. They sent dad to Fort Bragg for the physical training and then to Fort Lewis for Intelligence school. then they sent him to Pakistan in 2005. When Bush went to Karachi, dad was there and then he vanished into Iran. Ask Canuck. He smelled a rat the day it happened.
Dad knows about three languages besides English. That sounds fantastic for an American , but as anyone who knows Europeans its not an unusual thing to find some people who can do it easily. I have a friend who is a Ukrainian who speaks beautiful English, Polish and a fluent Russian. My father's brothers children speak Swiss, French, Norwegian, and Mandarin Chinese.
They grew up overseas as children and then went back when they were adults with their own families.
My fathers younger brother and his children work for the CIA. The family is two generations in that work. They married wives who were CIA as well. Intelligence work and languages are natural in his family.
Dad lived in Asia most of his life, he grew up over there as a child, his father was a Military Attache' in Europe during WW2. He went out to Asia after the war when he flew against the Chicoms in Korea. By that time he had gotten into codes and went from there into Communications and Intelligence work.It was an easy jump, as Electronics came along he built his career in long range communications. He got to be a Colonel in Intelligence.
My dad was in VietNam and went into Intell as well on his second tour...he was assigned to security to the family of the CIA head of Station in Danang, his brother went into Paratroops with the Rangers in VietNam and later because of language ability went into CIA and was posted to China for 16 years, his wife was CIA also and all his three children went into CIA when they grew up.
As the family driver for the CIA head of Ops in Danang dad got easy training and good connections among high ranking Intell people from all over Asia. He spent the rest of his life working military security until he met my mother in Oman.
My mom's family are former ministers to Sultan Quabus Said bin Taimur. They handled Import/Export for Oman. It was a family thing. I was over there when I was about 18 when I went to my grandmother's funeral and got to travel and see the family who live in Salaleh. They are an old family with a history in Arab trade that goes back at least 400 years. Piracy naturally. My mother's brothers are all pretty much pirates but they wear tuxedos and have a large staff to handle their appointments. I named my own daughter after the Queen of Sheba who had the personal name "Nicole" as you may know. Its an Arab name.
My wife is Black, she was born in Alabama and her father is a Pharmacist. Her mother is dead and she looks Ethiopian, very light skin but very elegant and tall with straight hair. Very well read, she is a book reading freak, loves books, took Philosophy in University and works in a Bank in Canton, Georgia. She is Catholic and we want a large family. I married her last June, we have been married a year.
When my sister was born, my mothers first baby the family in Kuwait and Oman sent gold pieces as baby gifts for her dowry when she grew up. She became a Dominican Contemplative Nun so she never used her dowry, my mother still has it.
I have two other older sisters, both adopted. My father got my oldest sister out of bombed out train near a place called Chaugatchka in Bengal during the Bangledesh war. She was the only survivor among 116 dead in a train the Paks hit. They killed everybody. My sister was in a basket under a seat in a train full of dead people when dad found her when he was doing Recon for Brig. Gen. Raina and the 2nd Indian Armor advancing on Dacca. Dad did Intell for Raina. Dad worked for R&A for the Indian Intell in Pakistan and Afghanistan as well.
From Afghanistan he went to Oman. The CIA didnt like my dad all that much.He didnt work for them.
My other sister was given to my dad at birth, her parents were both Lepers in Calcutta. Anthony was my father's friend, an educated man who had Leprosy. A good man who was the senior person in a Leper Colony. My dad stumbled into the place by mistake and got to know Anthony there and came back to help the community. When DANLEP developed a cure for Leprosy dad paid for Anthony and his wife's cure. They gave their first baby to him still wet from being delivered. Dad raised her, brought her home to the states to my Mom. Audrey is that older sister to me. She married a Kuwaiti who got American citizenship by enlisting in Kuwait in the US Marines. He went into Security because my father got his trained by pulling some strings and he runs a big security business for a national Airline here in the US. My other sister married a man in the Secret Service who provides body guards for American senators. The Kuwaiti became a Catholic to marry my sister. He isnt much of a believer but he lets his kids all grow up Catholic...I have five little nephews and one little niece. Being Catholic means lots of children. Strong families. Atheists are like EUroweenies, they dont breed particularly. Strong families eventually take over everything.
Moslems breed at least. If they manage to learn to read something besides the Koran they might climb out of the Donkey crap. Until then they can burn cars and work for the White man.
So you think Obama is the "last" President? I dont . I think the US will dominate the entire world by the end of this century. Do I sound weak to you? Does my family sound weak? Do you think we cant run the world? I am going to be a multimillionaire someday. I will have a house full of sons and I will grow old raising my children and my kin to power. All of us are unstoppable. We can make a profit on anything the world throws at us.
I own LAND, Thal....not mortgages...LAND. The Nunnahee is 1,000 acres in the North Georgia Mountains and my family has held that since 1835. We own land in south Georgia in four places plus the old family graveyards down there that date back to 1799. I have owned three houses and I am only 29. My present house is five bedrooms and is where I am going to raise my family. As the male everything my father owns will go to me as executor and I will distribute to my sisters as I see fit. Dad made three $million profit from his three years in Iran in shipping and trucking. Its modest by some standards, but its an example of what this family CAN do.
I am not just an individual...I can call on others, related and connections in trade and business. We are all a bit like me..we have the brains and the will and we arent slowed down by asking pretty please mother may I/ We are going to make a future anyway.
Obama will be gone in 2012. The next President of the United States will have the backing of people like me and the US Military. We are going to shove America down your rag hat throats. And Europe is #1 at being #2. They lay on their backs and can eat cheese and play the Tuba.
The United States won in Iraq. We got what we wanted. We are going to do the same in Afghanstan and Pakistan as well. Eventually we will get what we want in Iran as well. Israel in time is going to do what every Arab fears, the Jews are going to be our managers for the Middle East. You can have your governments and your religion as long as you dont cause us any problems. Do you understand me?
Culturally you Moslems are going to get MTV and Madonna's tits. You will learn our language and we wont learn yours. You will eat KFC in Fallujah and go Yum yum. And in 2099 you will go to the stars and speak english when you get aboard.
You are reading me in English right now on a Computer I built and sold you. Say hello to Allah for me.
We will see Obama's black behind and put our own in there next time. And we STILL have 700 military Bases around the world and some of them will be IN IRAQ for the next 99 years. Iraq is the strategic center of the geopolitical Middle East. And the Iraqi Army isnt elected and is driving our Tanks and their Officers are all on file in the Green Zone. We train them and we invite their Iraqi generals to go swimming at the US Officer's Club swimming pool. We even get him an American"secretary".
there is going to be another big war and you Arabs are going to lose it. You will see street signs in Hebrew in your lifetime. And you will check into the American style Hotel and the shoes will be shined and outside your door in the morning. Fatimah works for Room Service.
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Super! Bull. thank you. I have watched that DVD twelve times. I love the French coming out of the fog and the broadside that causes that young Middie to lose his arm.
I was just a little kid when I first met my father....raised with older sisters two adopted and one my blood sister and my father was just someone my mother told me about...he was bigger than God in her stories. He hunted "bad people" in the desert in Oman and he shot then and he worked for the SULTAN. Mom always capitalized the RULER in her stories. My dad worked for the RULER.
When I met my dad I didnt know what to expect. But what I got was hell. He took me to the outback of eat you alive in Alaska when I was about ten years old. We lived in shelters for a year in all weather and killed and skinned and ate things. I had to kill little rabbits by pulling on their necks in wires until they choked. Then I had to cut them up with "my own" knife. He taught me to read maps and I hated him. He didnt beat me, he just wouldnt give me any food until I killed it myself.
When I was fifteen he came back from Uganda and took me down into the Pinacate Inferno in Sonora, Mexico...and we crossed 300+ miles to the Gulf of Baja and shot wild pigs and doves and jack rabbits and I learned to skin snakes.
When I thought of my dad it was as "that @!#$."
I am just like him.
I am going out to Montana this fall, I will be living out in the wilderness. I will post a lot of pictures. I want to buy some land out there and homestead. Charlene thinks we can have a "Summer home". She is slow catching on. But she will be like my mother and raise the children and have this place in Lost Mountain while I build that "summer home" over time. She will get used to it. I want a big family.
Ever thought about what it would take to "bear proof" a house, Bull? Grizzlys. Think about it. Ever thought about facing a Grizzly? I am my father's son.
Our coat of Arms from Konolfingen in Berne from our ancestral fortress at Orme on the Swartzennegg is a black shield with a standing facing red Bear with Claws up. Professional soldiers for five hundred years. Gun makers ( rifled Jagers) when we first came to the Americas in the 1740s. Four shots a minute and a wheel lock instead of a flint lock. Light heavy caliber meant to be used by Rangers and Dragoons. perfect for the American wars. Go up the Altamaha river and open a trading post in a big Indian graveyard called "the Tombs". manufacture guns and get an Indian wife. teach the kids to read and use a gun. Drill them until they are fast. Tear the ball with your teeth from the paper, hold the ball in your mouth, pour the powder down the barrel. spit the paper and the ball in , ram the rod. Prime the pan or wind the wheel lock. Present...Aim and fire. Tear the ball with your teeth from the paper...
Never sell land, always buy land.
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WELL! I wouldnt have missed that for the world.
North Carolina? I have driven through there many times going up to see my sister who lives in Bethesda, Maryland. Her husband is Secret Service. Dad found her in a bombed out train during the BanglaDesh war when he was doing forward Recon for Brig. general Raina and the Indian 2nd Armor in the advance on Dacca.
My sister was about five months old at the time. 116 dead people who were railroad yard personnel trying to make it west to the Boyra salient by stolen train. The Paks bombed the rail line and when the train had to stop the people were slow to get off and the Pak jets came back down the rail line and strafed the boogeys with 20mikemike aircannon.
Dad broke into the train in the dark while on recon to look for places the river could be forded by Tanks or to find bridges still intact. He had met two razakars who told him about the train. The baby was the only one left alive.
Dad carried her in the jeep for nine days and fed her on bananas and goats milk and use some of his shirts for diapers. She is about 40 now and has a son who is my Nephew and I am his godfather. Very bright boy, does straight A's in school.
I always like to visit with my sister. She is ten years older than me. Her husband and I use the Pistol Range there in Bethesda. He's better with a pistol than even my dad. He was bodyguard to the candidates during the 2004 Pres. Campaign. He's got a framed picture of John Kerry holding my nephew for a photo Op around Christmas that year. My brother in Law was providing security at Kerry's Georgetown home during a party.
He voted for Bush of course, but then a lot of people elected Bush for two terms.
Kerry was just his job to guard.
Nobody in my family named "mohammed" Thalaquin. My mother converted to Roman Catholic a year before I was born. My older blood sister is a Nun studying on a Scholarship in Rome. And my two adopted sisters are well married with five kids between them.
Now I DO have Moslem friends. My best friend is Heshem, his father was US Special Forces and married Marwah who is Egyptian. Heshem has two sisters, Giselle and I dated in highschool. The other sister is named Marwah like her mother. very different personalities.
Marwah is a very good friend of my father's. My father knows Islam very well, even acted very convincingly like a Moslem when he worked Security for Sultan Quabus Said bin Taimur. Convinced everyone. But my father doesnt believe in anything but his own advantage and himself ( trust me). But he respects marwah very much and is always deferential to her faith. Marwah is an impressive Moslem, her Islam is pure and good, just like she is. Heshem says he is a Moslem but he has never been inside a Mosque in his life. Heshem likes pussy and making money. He's not confined by his marriage to Lila, I am afraid. Heshem cheats on his wife. But I dont say anything to him, its just the way he is.
I cant even imagine cheating on Charlene, she's too good to me and she's too smart to fool anyway. If I cheated on her she would wait until I went to sleep and then she would go in the kitchen and get a long sharp bread knife. And I would have just about enough time to see my blood spraying on the ceiling before I lost consciousness from having my throat cut.
Besides I like sleeping next to her. I like waking up with her . I like listening to her talk. She's very deep, very insightful. Gifted intelligence. I cant fool her and she sees me for what I really am and likes it. I am absolutely loyal. I probably have a lifetime with her. I feel like she's the nail I can hang my future on. I dont think she will mind Montana. She will be in on the deal, I will let her choose where she wants...and its a big place and lots to choose. We will be going out together in May next year..and she will have to learn to ride a horse.
The "mo-heads" can take care of themselves. I have better things to do.
Heshem married an Iranian girl name Lila. I was best man for the Moslem wedding. Lila's uncle was a senior man in SAVAK. He has an estate in New Jersey. Heshem and I have both been his guests. very wealthy family.
Source: Seraph Ideology
Philip Kingry's (Faust)
Pakistan says up to 800 militants killed
ZARAR KHAN | ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN - May 11 2009 07:44
http://www.shiatv.net/view_video.php?viewkey=4318ceb0e3916a79afc8
A major Pakistani military offensive in the north-west has killed up to 700 militants in the past four days, and the operation will proceed until the last Taliban fighter in the area is ousted, the country's top civilian security official said on Monday.
The offensive in the Swat Valley and surrounding districts has earned praise from the US, which wants al-Qaeda and Taliban militants rooted out from Pakistani havens where they can plan attacks on American and Nato forces in Afghanistan. But the fighting has unleashed an exodus of refugees, and raised concern over the future of nuclear-armed Pakistan.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik's announcement of 700 militants killed came as a witness and a police official reported new airstrikes in parts of the Swat Valley, a one-time tourist haven that fell prey to Taliban advances two years ago.
Malik's toll -- which exceeds that given by the military on Sunday by at least 200 -- could not be independently confirmed.
"The operation will continue until the last Talib," Malik said.
"We haven't given them a chance. They are on the run. They were not expecting such an offensive."
On Sunday, a suspension of a curfew allowed tens of thousands more civilians to leave Swat for safer parts of the north-west.
The UN said on Monday that 360 600 displaced people had registered in camps and centres since May 2 after fleeing Swat and neighbouring Dir and Buner districts. That's on top of about 500 000 people registered as displaced due to past offensives -- a major humanitarian test for the weak government.
The military has relied heavily on airstrikes since the offensive in Swat began full-scale on Thursday, and it was unclear how authorities identified the militant dead. Authorities have yet to say how many civilians have been killed or wounded, possibly for fear of causing a public outcry.
The army's top spokesperson said on Sunday that so far about 400 to 500 militants had died. But Malik said the figure was closer to 700, and that it was expected to "rapidly rise".
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By Saeed Shah and Nancy A. Youssef, McClatchy Newspapers Saeed Shah And Nancy A. Youssef, Mcclatchy Newspapers – Fri May 15, 6:22 pm ET
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Taliban insurgents in Pakistan's Swat valley may be preparing to fight the army on the streets of the scenic district's main city, as soldiers and guerrillas adopt surprising conventional war tactics.
The army appears poised to enter Mingora city, lifting a curfew Friday to allow thousands of its remaining residents to flee. Whereas classic guerrillas would melt away into the hills, the Taliban in Mingora, puzzlingly, seemed to be waiting to take on the advancing troops.
The Pakistan army itself hasn't committed the number of troops that experts think would be required for counterinsurgency operations, and the high level of Taliban deaths the military has claimed would be unlikely if the Islamic extremists were using guerrilla tactics.
Officials in Washington , which has backed the Swat offensive, fear that key ally Pakistan risks excessive civilian casualties with its current approach, as thousands of residents remain trapped in the valley.
"If they (the Taliban ) try to fight the army in Mingora or some other town, they don't stand a chance against the superior numbers which the army can assemble and the firepower the army can deliver," said analyst Javed Husain , a retired army brigadier who served in Pakistan's Special Services Group commando unit.
So far, the nine-day-old army offensive in Swat — which is 100 miles from Islamabad, Pakistan's capital — hasn't moved into the valley's towns. Those who managed to escape Mingora, where five headless bodies were found this week, warned that the army would face tough resistance from deeply entrenched Taliban in the city.
Shaukat Saleem , a Mingora resident who escaped from Swat on Friday, said the Taliban had blocked roads in the city with trees and boulders. They've mined the streets, dug trenches, made bunkers and occupied many civilian homes, he said. He said that he saw "lots" of Taliban as he was leaving the city, who stopped him for questioning at 10 to 12 of their checkpoints.
"Mingora is completely in Taliban hands," said Saleem, who's now a refugee at the Jalozai camp near Peshawar with his wife and son. "On the streets you only see Taliban and stray dogs."
The army estimated earlier this week that as many as 200,000 civilians were still in Mingora, and it was unknown how many remained there after Friday's exodus. The army said that it had cleared the area that leads to Mingora from the south as far as Udigram, a village on the outskirts of the city.
"We allowed the civilians to move out of Mingora city. We relaxed the curfew," said Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas, the army's chief spokesman.
Abbas declined to comment on the timing of a Mingora operation and whether the army would wait for all the residents to evacuate. It seems likely that thousands of them remain in the city, leading to fears that the Taliban might use them as "human shields."
It's taken years for the Pakistani public to back operations against the Taliban , and that support could evaporate easily.
Ali Dayan Hasan , a South Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch , a U.S.-based advocacy group, warned that the Taliban could be "luring" the army into a fight in Mingora.
"If there are lots of dead civilians and lots of dead soldiers (in Mingora), it could do morale-sapping damage," Hasan said. "If we hear of 2,000 civilians dying, say, it's all over."
The U.S. military has encouraged its Pakistani allies to embrace counterinsurgency tactics, which call for winning civilian support, not just killing the enemy and seizing ground. Some U.S. officials, however, worry that the Pakistani army isn't willing or able to move away from traditional war-fighting tactics.
"If you talk to the (Pakistani) military leadership, they say they get it, but do they understand it the way we understand it?" a senior U.S. military official told McClatchy , speaking on the condition of anonymity in order to be more candid. "Often their definition of counterinsurgency is warning a village before an attack. That's it."
The Pakistani army claims to have killed well more than 800 Taliban in Swat so far, including 200 at a training camp that was bombed from the air. Guerrilla tactics would have had the insurgents mounting hit-and-run operations and ambushes in small groups. If the high death toll is correct, that would suggest that the militants were fighting pitched battles with the army, but assembling 200 Taliban at one spot would violate guerrilla instincts, analyst Husain said.
The Pakistani army has said that it's deployed as many as 15,000 men against a Taliban force it estimates at 4,000 to 5,000, in a war that's being fought in mountainous terrain. The standard counterinsurgency manual suggests that an army should outnumber a guerrilla enemy by 10 to 1 or more.
"Fifteen thousand is not enough at all. That's only enough to secure the operational area," Husain said. "They need more, and for that they would have to pull out troops from the eastern border."
To the frustration of Washington and other Western allies, Pakistan continues to deploy most of its army on its eastern border to safeguard against its traditional enemy, India , which it fears might attack while it's fighting the Taliban on its western border.
(Shah is a McClatchy special correspondent. Youssef reported from Washington .)
http://www.shiatv.net/view_video.php?viewkey=4318ceb0e3916a79afc8
A major Pakistani military offensive in the north-west has killed up to 700 militants in the past four days, and the operation will proceed until the last Taliban fighter in the area is ousted, the country's top civilian security official said on Monday.
The offensive in the Swat Valley and surrounding districts has earned praise from the US, which wants al-Qaeda and Taliban militants rooted out from Pakistani havens where they can plan attacks on American and Nato forces in Afghanistan. But the fighting has unleashed an exodus of refugees, and raised concern over the future of nuclear-armed Pakistan.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik's announcement of 700 militants killed came as a witness and a police official reported new airstrikes in parts of the Swat Valley, a one-time tourist haven that fell prey to Taliban advances two years ago.
Malik's toll -- which exceeds that given by the military on Sunday by at least 200 -- could not be independently confirmed.
"The operation will continue until the last Talib," Malik said.
"We haven't given them a chance. They are on the run. They were not expecting such an offensive."
On Sunday, a suspension of a curfew allowed tens of thousands more civilians to leave Swat for safer parts of the north-west.
The UN said on Monday that 360 600 displaced people had registered in camps and centres since May 2 after fleeing Swat and neighbouring Dir and Buner districts. That's on top of about 500 000 people registered as displaced due to past offensives -- a major humanitarian test for the weak government.
The military has relied heavily on airstrikes since the offensive in Swat began full-scale on Thursday, and it was unclear how authorities identified the militant dead. Authorities have yet to say how many civilians have been killed or wounded, possibly for fear of causing a public outcry.
The army's top spokesperson said on Sunday that so far about 400 to 500 militants had died. But Malik said the figure was closer to 700, and that it was expected to "rapidly rise".
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Taliban seem to abandon guerrilla tactics in Pakistan conflict
By Saeed Shah and Nancy A. Youssef, McClatchy Newspapers Saeed Shah And Nancy A. Youssef, Mcclatchy Newspapers – Fri May 15, 6:22 pm ET
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Taliban insurgents in Pakistan's Swat valley may be preparing to fight the army on the streets of the scenic district's main city, as soldiers and guerrillas adopt surprising conventional war tactics.
The army appears poised to enter Mingora city, lifting a curfew Friday to allow thousands of its remaining residents to flee. Whereas classic guerrillas would melt away into the hills, the Taliban in Mingora, puzzlingly, seemed to be waiting to take on the advancing troops.
The Pakistan army itself hasn't committed the number of troops that experts think would be required for counterinsurgency operations, and the high level of Taliban deaths the military has claimed would be unlikely if the Islamic extremists were using guerrilla tactics.
Officials in Washington , which has backed the Swat offensive, fear that key ally Pakistan risks excessive civilian casualties with its current approach, as thousands of residents remain trapped in the valley.
"If they (the Taliban ) try to fight the army in Mingora or some other town, they don't stand a chance against the superior numbers which the army can assemble and the firepower the army can deliver," said analyst Javed Husain , a retired army brigadier who served in Pakistan's Special Services Group commando unit.
So far, the nine-day-old army offensive in Swat — which is 100 miles from Islamabad, Pakistan's capital — hasn't moved into the valley's towns. Those who managed to escape Mingora, where five headless bodies were found this week, warned that the army would face tough resistance from deeply entrenched Taliban in the city.
Shaukat Saleem , a Mingora resident who escaped from Swat on Friday, said the Taliban had blocked roads in the city with trees and boulders. They've mined the streets, dug trenches, made bunkers and occupied many civilian homes, he said. He said that he saw "lots" of Taliban as he was leaving the city, who stopped him for questioning at 10 to 12 of their checkpoints.
"Mingora is completely in Taliban hands," said Saleem, who's now a refugee at the Jalozai camp near Peshawar with his wife and son. "On the streets you only see Taliban and stray dogs."
The army estimated earlier this week that as many as 200,000 civilians were still in Mingora, and it was unknown how many remained there after Friday's exodus. The army said that it had cleared the area that leads to Mingora from the south as far as Udigram, a village on the outskirts of the city.
"We allowed the civilians to move out of Mingora city. We relaxed the curfew," said Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas, the army's chief spokesman.
Abbas declined to comment on the timing of a Mingora operation and whether the army would wait for all the residents to evacuate. It seems likely that thousands of them remain in the city, leading to fears that the Taliban might use them as "human shields."
It's taken years for the Pakistani public to back operations against the Taliban , and that support could evaporate easily.
Ali Dayan Hasan , a South Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch , a U.S.-based advocacy group, warned that the Taliban could be "luring" the army into a fight in Mingora.
"If there are lots of dead civilians and lots of dead soldiers (in Mingora), it could do morale-sapping damage," Hasan said. "If we hear of 2,000 civilians dying, say, it's all over."
The U.S. military has encouraged its Pakistani allies to embrace counterinsurgency tactics, which call for winning civilian support, not just killing the enemy and seizing ground. Some U.S. officials, however, worry that the Pakistani army isn't willing or able to move away from traditional war-fighting tactics.
"If you talk to the (Pakistani) military leadership, they say they get it, but do they understand it the way we understand it?" a senior U.S. military official told McClatchy , speaking on the condition of anonymity in order to be more candid. "Often their definition of counterinsurgency is warning a village before an attack. That's it."
The Pakistani army claims to have killed well more than 800 Taliban in Swat so far, including 200 at a training camp that was bombed from the air. Guerrilla tactics would have had the insurgents mounting hit-and-run operations and ambushes in small groups. If the high death toll is correct, that would suggest that the militants were fighting pitched battles with the army, but assembling 200 Taliban at one spot would violate guerrilla instincts, analyst Husain said.
The Pakistani army has said that it's deployed as many as 15,000 men against a Taliban force it estimates at 4,000 to 5,000, in a war that's being fought in mountainous terrain. The standard counterinsurgency manual suggests that an army should outnumber a guerrilla enemy by 10 to 1 or more.
"Fifteen thousand is not enough at all. That's only enough to secure the operational area," Husain said. "They need more, and for that they would have to pull out troops from the eastern border."
To the frustration of Washington and other Western allies, Pakistan continues to deploy most of its army on its eastern border to safeguard against its traditional enemy, India , which it fears might attack while it's fighting the Taliban on its western border.
(Shah is a McClatchy special correspondent. Youssef reported from Washington .)
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Saudi judge says OK to slap spendthrift wife: report
Khadra al-Mubarak, left, shows potential contestant brochures of the "Miss Beautiful Morals" contest at her office in Safwa in the eastern province, Saudi Arabia, Tuesday, May 5, 2009. Al-Mubarak is one of the organizers of the "Miss Beautiful Morals" pageant, one that focuses on the female contestant's commitment to Islamic morals. The winning queen will be the one who exhibits the most devotion and respect for her parents irrespective of her looks. (AP Photo/Nissreen Aldar)
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Sukaina al-Zayer is an unlikely beauty queen hopeful. She covers her face and body in black robes and an Islamic veil, so no one can tell what she looks like. She also admits she's a little on the plump side.
But at Saudi Arabia's only beauty pageant, the judges don't care about a perfect figure or face. What they're looking for in the quest for "Miss Beautiful Morals" is the contestant who shows the most devotion and respect for her parents.
"The idea of the pageant(An elaborate public dramatic presentation that usually depicts a historical or traditional event.
) is to measure the contestants' commitment to Islamic morals... It's an alternative to the calls for decadence in the other beauty contests that only take into account a woman's body and looks," said pageant founder Khadra al-Mubarak.
"The winner won't necessarily be pretty," she added. "We care about the beauty of the soul and the morals."
So after the pageant opens Saturday, the nearly 200 contestants will spend the next 10 weeks attending classes and being quizzed on themes including "Discovering your inner strength," "The making of leaders" and "Mom, paradise is at your feet" _ a saying attributed to Islam's Prophet Muhammad to underline that respect for parents is among the faith's most important tenets.
Pageant hopefuls will also spend a day at a country house with their mothers, where they will be observed by female judges and graded on how they interact with their mothers, al-Mubarak said. Since the pageant is not televised and no men are involved, contestants can take off the veils and black figure-hiding abayas they always wear in public.
The Miss Beautiful Morals pageant is the latest example of conservative Muslims co-opting Western-style formats to spread their message in the face of the onslaught of foreign influences flooding the region through the Internet and satellite television.
A newly created Islamic music channel owned by an Egyptian businessman aired an "American Idol"-style contest for religious-themed singers this month. And several Muslim preachers have become talk-show celebrities by adopting an informal, almost Oprah-like television style, in contrast to the solemn clerics who traditionally appear in the media.
Now in its second year, the number of pageant contestants has nearly tripled from the 75 women who participated in 2008. The pageant is open to women between 15 and 25. The winner and two runners up will be announced in July, with the queen taking home $2,600 and other prizes. The runners up get $1,300 each.
Last year's winner, Zahra al-Shurafa, said the contest gives an incentive to young women and teens to show more consideration toward their parents.
"I tell this year's contestants that winning is not important," said al-Shurafa, a 21-year-old English major. "What is important is obeying your parents."
There are few beauty pageants in the largely conservative Arab world. The most dazzling is in Lebanon, the region's most liberal country, where contestants appear on TV in one-piece swimsuits and glamorous evening gowns and answer questions that test their confidence and general knowledge.
There are no such displays in ultra-strict Saudi Arabia, where until Miss Beautiful Morals was inaugurated last year, the only pageants were for goats, sheep, camels and other animals, aimed at encouraging livestock breeding.
This year's event kicks off Saturday in the mainly Shiite Muslim town of Safwa, and mostly draws local Shiite contestants. But it's open to anyone _ and this year, 15 Sunni Muslims are participating, al-Mubarak said. "This is a beautiful thing," she added.
There have long been tensions between the two sects in the kingdom. Hard-liners in the Sunni majority consider Shiites infidels, and the Shiites often complain of discrimination and greater levels of poverty.
Al-Zayer, a 24-year-old international management student, said she signed up because she is the "spitting image" of her mother. "I'm proud of my devotion to my parents," she said.
What does she think of Lebanon's beauty contests?
"It's a matter of cultural differences," she said. "In Saudi Arabia, they are Islamically unacceptable."
Awsaf al-Mislim, another contestant, said if she does not win the crown, she will have won something more important.
"I will be proud to show everyone that I competed with the others over my devotion to my parents," the 24-year-old said.
----
Updated at: 1445 PST, Sunday, May 10, 2009
RIYADH: A Saudi judge has told a seminar on domestic violence that it is okay for a man to slap his wife for lavish spending, a local newspaper reported on Sunday.
Jeddah judge Hamad al-Razine gave the example of overspending to buy a high-end abaya, the head-to toe black shroud Saudi women have to wear in public, as justifying a smack for one's wife, Arab News said.
The judge's remarks sparked an outcry at the seminar on the role of judicial and security officials in preventing domestic violence, the paper reported.
---------------
Saturday, May 09, 2009
Why suicide bombers are back in Iraq
Immediately following Obama's change of mind about withdrawing US troops within 16 months, Iraq Occupation Times predicted an increase in the activities of the Iraqi resistance. The hated Americans have to leave or be forced on doing so, dragging behind the remains of their bloody occuaption. Let the American troops and their mercenaries go and police the streets of US cities.
By Steve Niva
Suicide bombings are back in Iraq, signaling that the war is far from over. After a significant downturn, with only six suicide attacks between December 2008 and March 2009, there have been 25 suicide bombings in Iraq in the last two months, contributing to the worst spate of violence in Iraq in nearly a year. The bombers have revealed a new audacity and sophistication, striking in all parts of the country and against many seemingly highly secured targets.
The new wave of suicide bombings culminated in a coordinated series of four bomb blasts across Iraq on March 23, three of them suicide bombings. The bombings spiked in April, with attacks on Iraqi army bases and police stations in Shi'ite enclaves and holy sites. Attacks also targeted US-backed Sunni militia leaders and US forces, including a massive suicide truck bomb in Mosul that killed five US soldiers, the deadliest strike on American troops in a year. The nearly 20 suicide bombings in April have made it the deadliest month in 2009 for Iraqi civilians, with nearly 300 dead according to Iraqi Interior Ministry officials, compared with only 51 killed in February and 70 in January.
With the seemingly forgotten war in Iraq now back in the media spotlight, US officials have downplayed the bloody surge in suicide bombings as a desperate response to the fact that the United States is successfully ending the war and withdrawing troops, as announced by President Barack Obama in a February 27 policy speech on Iraq. In a particularly embarrassing episode, the usually careful Defense Secretary Robert Gates echoed former Vice President Dick Cheney's infamous 2005 claim that Iraq's insurgency was "in the last throes" by claiming that the mayhem in Iraq was simply a "last gasp" by al-Qaeda to "reverse the progress that's been made". During her unannounced visit to Iraq in late April, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was quick to interpret the violence as a "signal that the rejectionists fear Iraq is going in the right direction".
The reality, however, is that the latest surge in violence isn't because the United States is leaving, but because the timeframe and terms of withdrawal are unclear. The real story behind the new wave of suicide bombings is that Iraqi insurgents are in conflict with the American backed Iraqi state and the US effort to perpetuate an order favorable to continued American influence and interests in Iraq even while American forces draw down, a policy long known in the region as neo-colonialism.
Bombings because the US is not leaving
Despite its high-minded claims about "ending the war", Obama's announced withdrawal plan clearly doesn't end the Iraq occupation, but rather continues it in a new form. The plan only calls for the withdrawal of "combat troops" by August 2010, while leaving behind 35,000-50,000 occupying troops until the end of 2011, many of whom will be combat troops simply relabeled as "advisory and assistance brigades".
The plan says nothing about the parallel army of over 100,000 American mercenaries and private contractors who currently roam Iraq, nor does it address the fate of 283 military bases and installations in Iraq, including the 58 permanent bases where US troops will continue to be garrisoned. Furthermore, US withdrawal is subject to Pentagon review with options extended for many years to come.
As Democrat representative Dennis Kucinich of Ohio commented immediately after Obama's withdrawal speech: "You cannot leave combat troops in a foreign country to conduct combat operations and call it the end of the war. You can't be in and out at the same time."
Furthermore, the United States has built up a Shi'ite-dominated state through its faulty counterinsurgency "surge" policy, with Maliki as prime minister, backed by a reconstructed military and security apparatus that is predominantly Shi'ite and hostile to the Sunni population. Although the United States has also funded and armed Sunni tribal leaders who oppose al-Qaeda, they also oppose the Shi'ite government, leaving behind a new Balkanized Iraqi order barely held together by force of arms.
Hence, the primary mission of American troops in Iraq both now and after the initial drawdown in August 2010 will be to preserve and extend this regime, both by incorporating former Sunni and Shi'ite insurgents who are willing to work with the United States-sponsored system and by eliminating those who are opposed, incarcerating the rest behind walled-off enclaves patrolled by unmanned aerial drones. Establishing a client regime to protect the interests of empire, while leaving behind a garrison of troops and bases has long been termed neo-colonialism.
The neo-colonial trappings of Obama's exit strategy have not been lost on the insurgents. The timing, targets and claims of responsibility for the recent wave of suicide bombings indicate that key members of the Iraqi insurgency have concluded that Obama's plan only extends the US occupation and have decided to unleash a new round of violence to prevent the new order from taking root.
Martyrdom's logic
This shouldn't be surprising. In his seminal work Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism, University of Chicago political scientist Robert Pape observed that the taproot of suicide bombings is foreign military occupation, not Islamic fanaticism or a "cult of martyrdom". The majority of suicide attacks worldwide, including many by secular and non-Muslim groups like the Tamil Tigers, have been launched as part of organized campaigns to achieve a political goal, the most important of which is the ejection of foreign military occupiers.
Predictably, suicide bombings in Iraq only began after the US-led invasion in March 2003 and have subsequently acquired a frequency and lethality unprecedented in other similar campaigns. But suicide attacks in Iraq have spiked in response to two sets of circumstances: as a response to military offensives, and as a response to major political initiatives that emphasize Iraq as being on the path to stability.
The latest spike in suicide bombings reveals this strategic logic; the campaign began the week following Obama's speech and peaked in April, coinciding with the sixth anniversary of the fall of Baghdad to US forces in 2003. The suicide attacks have targeted all the major elements of the post-"surge" Iraqi regime, including Iraqi security and police forces, Shi'ite civilians and political parties and other perceived supporters of the US occupation and the new Iraqi regime, such as the US backed Sunni militias.
It appears insurgents are attempting to create an atmosphere of insecurity within Iraq to destroy efforts by US forces and the Iraqi government to impose law and order, and to create conditions that will compel the United States, already distracted by surging violence in Afghanistan, to withdraw sooner rather than later.
The strategic and broad-based nature of this latest suicide bombing campaign is further illustrated in the claims made by various insurgent organizations responsible for bombings. Dangerously, there are signs of renewed Ba'athist and Islamist coordination. The "Islamic State of Iraq", an umbrella group for Sunni Islamists including al-Qaeda in Iraq, asserted responsibility for the bombing that killed five US soldiers in Mosul as well as several others, claiming that the recent attacks were part of "Plan of Good Harvest", a new campaign against US forces and their supporters in Iraq.
Izzat Ibrahim Al-Douri, the fugitive former deputy of Saddam Hussein and a leading figure behind Sunni and Ba'ath insurgents in Iraq, highlighted the strategic direction of the campaign in an audiotape broadcast on al-Jazeera on April 7, calling Maliki's government and the Iraqi elections illegitimate because they were the result of the American military occupation. He urged insurgents to maintain their struggle against US forces and Iraq's government because "the political process is the occupation's main project, so attack it through all means available to you."
Perhaps the most ominous development for American and Iraqi plans for a new order is that increasingly, members from the US-backed Sons of Iraq Sunni militia appear to have rejoined the insurgency and "have gone into attack mode".
Ending occupation key to ending suicide bombings The return of violence and suicide bombings to Iraq illustrates the enduring reality that US occupation forces and the illegitimacy of the new Iraqi regime are the cause, not the solution. Obama's plan, which amounts to the continuation of the US occupation in a new form, has virtually assured the return of suicide bombings.
While it's doubtful Iraq will witness another descent into violence like in 2006 or 2007, this new violence clearly represents a new phase in the insurgency. As the always insightful Anthony Shadid of the Washington Post observes, "In some ways, the attacks are reminiscent of an earlier stage of the insurgency, before the sectarian war was ignited in 2006, when assailants carried out bombings as spectacles intended to magnify the sense of US failure. Then, as now, the carnage sent a message that no efforts, American or Iraqi, could result in a sense of the ordinary."
Suicide bombings can't win wars, nor can the bombers drive out US forces from Iraq. But what they can achieve is a pervasive sense of panic, uncertainty and fear among the populace such that the battle by Iraqi state authorities and Western forces to win them over will be eternally futile. Suicide bombings create a political anarchy, and this kind of war can last as long as the insurgents don't run out of suicide bombers, which isn't anywhere near the horizon.
Therefore, any real solution to the enduring the Iraq War must address the taproot of suicide bombings, as Pape points out - foreign occupation in any of its forms. The history of Iraq shows that even a more discreet foreign presence, such as that employed by the British after 1930, will only further compromise local authority. As long as the United States attempts to salvage strategic interests in the region from its imbroglio in Iraq, the effort to develop a truly independent Iraqi security force will prove disingenuous, and many Iraqis will reject the legitimacy of their government as a pawn of indirect imperial rule and continue their insurgency.
In order to remove the provocation for the insurgency the Obama administration must make manifestly clear that its plan to end the Iraq War will also end the occupation. To do so, it will need to plan for complete withdrawal of all US troops according to an accelerated timetable, and do so in a way that prepares Iraq for a future that is fully and without reservation Iraqi, not shaped by US designs and interests.
Hence, popular pressure must be mobilized in the United States and elsewhere to push Obama to return to the spirit of his earlier anti-war stance and withdraw all US troops, mercenaries and military base personnel by August 2010. In addition, the Obama administration must take steps to initiate a new political process, preferably under United Nations or international auspices, which will allow Iraq to formulate a new state on Iraqi terms, no longer governed by American sponsored laws, procedures and client parties. As International Crisis Group analyst Joost Hilterman pointed out, "Only a new national compact could bring a decisive end to violence, as it will marginalize spoilers."
A continuing US presence, no matter how indirect, only favors new waves of suicide bombers. In an interview on April 17, Iraq's Defense Ministry Spokesman, Mohammed al-Askari, warned that a prolonged US military presence in the country would paradoxically favor al-Qaeda by giving the militants enough excuse to justify their terrorist acts.
"It would be good for al-Qaeda if US forces stayed in Iraq, because they could justify their kidnappings, bombings and killings," he noted. Many Iraqis concur with this logic. "The situation in Iraq will improve only if the Americans and the Iraqi politicians withdraw from Iraq," said one citizen in Baghdad.
Unfortunately, many US officials, including the commanding US officer in Iraq, General Ray Odierno, indicated that the violence may compel them to prolong the occupation rather than end it by leaving US troops in major Iraqi cities, even after the scheduled June 30, 2009, withdrawal date for all US combat troops.
But just because Iraq's insurgents are planning for a long war against the US occupation and its client state doesn't mean the US needs to stay in Iraq. The history of suicide bombings in the recent period has shown that when the taproot of suicide bombings is turned off and the occupation ends, the bombings will end. Other examples in the region abound: Hezbollah ceased suicide bombings when Israel finally withdrew from Lebanese territory, and Hamas largely ended its use of suicide bombings when Israel withdrew its settlers and soldiers from the Gaza Strip in 2005, though it continued to use other violent tactics when Israel failed to end its military siege over Gaza.
If the US fully withdraws from Iraq, it's quite likely that we will see Iraqis engage in a major effort to avert the chaos Washington claims to be protecting them from.
Steve Niva, a professor of International Politics and Middle East Studies at The Evergreen State College, is a contributor to Foreign Policy In Focus. He is currently writing a book on the relationship between Israel's military violence and Palestinian suicide bombings.
(Posted with permission from Foreign Policy in Focus)
Why suicide bombers are back in Iraq
By Steve Niva
Suicide bombings are back in Iraq, signaling that the war is far from over. After a significant downturn, with only six suicide attacks between December 2008 and March 2009, there have been 25 suicide bombings in Iraq in the last two months, contributing to the worst spate of violence in Iraq in nearly a year. The bombers have revealed a new audacity and sophistication, striking in all parts of the country and against many seemingly highly secured targets.
The new wave of suicide bombings culminated in a coordinated series of four bomb blasts across Iraq on March 23, three of them suicide bombings. The bombings spiked in April, with attacks on Iraqi army bases and police stations in Shi'ite enclaves and holy sites. Attacks also targeted US-backed Sunni militia leaders and US forces, including a massive suicide truck bomb in Mosul that killed five US soldiers, the deadliest strike on American troops in a year. The nearly 20 suicide bombings in April have made it the deadliest month in 2009 for Iraqi civilians, with nearly 300 dead according to Iraqi Interior Ministry officials, compared with only 51 killed in February and 70 in January.
With the seemingly forgotten war in Iraq now back in the media spotlight, US officials have downplayed the bloody surge in suicide bombings as a desperate response to the fact that the United States is successfully ending the war and withdrawing troops, as announced by President Barack Obama in a February 27 policy speech on Iraq. In a particularly embarrassing episode, the usually careful Defense Secretary Robert Gates echoed former Vice President Dick Cheney's infamous 2005 claim that Iraq's insurgency was "in the last throes" by claiming that the mayhem in Iraq was simply a "last gasp" by al-Qaeda to "reverse the progress that's been made". During her unannounced visit to Iraq in late April, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was quick to interpret the violence as a "signal that the rejectionists fear Iraq is going in the right direction".
The reality, however, is that the latest surge in violence isn't because the United States is leaving, but because the timeframe and terms of withdrawal are unclear. The real story behind the new wave of suicide bombings is that Iraqi insurgents are in conflict with the American backed Iraqi state and the US effort to perpetuate an order favorable to continued American influence and interests in Iraq even while American forces draw down, a policy long known in the region as neo-colonialism.
Bombings because the US is not leaving
Despite its high-minded claims about "ending the war", Obama's announced withdrawal plan clearly doesn't end the Iraq occupation, but rather continues it in a new form. The plan only calls for the withdrawal of "combat troops" by August 2010, while leaving behind 35,000-50,000 occupying troops until the end of 2011, many of whom will be combat troops simply relabeled as "advisory and assistance brigades".
The plan says nothing about the parallel army of over 100,000 American mercenaries and private contractors who currently roam Iraq, nor does it address the fate of 283 military bases and installations in Iraq, including the 58 permanent bases where US troops will continue to be garrisoned. Furthermore, US withdrawal is subject to Pentagon review with options extended for many years to come.
As Democrat representative Dennis Kucinich of Ohio commented immediately after Obama's withdrawal speech: "You cannot leave combat troops in a foreign country to conduct combat operations and call it the end of the war. You can't be in and out at the same time."
Furthermore, the United States has built up a Shi'ite-dominated state through its faulty counterinsurgency "surge" policy, with Maliki as prime minister, backed by a reconstructed military and security apparatus that is predominantly Shi'ite and hostile to the Sunni population. Although the United States has also funded and armed Sunni tribal leaders who oppose al-Qaeda, they also oppose the Shi'ite government, leaving behind a new Balkanized Iraqi order barely held together by force of arms.
Hence, the primary mission of American troops in Iraq both now and after the initial drawdown in August 2010 will be to preserve and extend this regime, both by incorporating former Sunni and Shi'ite insurgents who are willing to work with the United States-sponsored system and by eliminating those who are opposed, incarcerating the rest behind walled-off enclaves patrolled by unmanned aerial drones. Establishing a client regime to protect the interests of empire, while leaving behind a garrison of troops and bases has long been termed neo-colonialism.
The neo-colonial trappings of Obama's exit strategy have not been lost on the insurgents. The timing, targets and claims of responsibility for the recent wave of suicide bombings indicate that key members of the Iraqi insurgency have concluded that Obama's plan only extends the US occupation and have decided to unleash a new round of violence to prevent the new order from taking root.
Martyrdom's logic
This shouldn't be surprising. In his seminal work Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism, University of Chicago political scientist Robert Pape observed that the taproot of suicide bombings is foreign military occupation, not Islamic fanaticism or a "cult of martyrdom". The majority of suicide attacks worldwide, including many by secular and non-Muslim groups like the Tamil Tigers, have been launched as part of organized campaigns to achieve a political goal, the most important of which is the ejection of foreign military occupiers.
Predictably, suicide bombings in Iraq only began after the US-led invasion in March 2003 and have subsequently acquired a frequency and lethality unprecedented in other similar campaigns. But suicide attacks in Iraq have spiked in response to two sets of circumstances: as a response to military offensives, and as a response to major political initiatives that emphasize Iraq as being on the path to stability.
The latest spike in suicide bombings reveals this strategic logic; the campaign began the week following Obama's speech and peaked in April, coinciding with the sixth anniversary of the fall of Baghdad to US forces in 2003. The suicide attacks have targeted all the major elements of the post-"surge" Iraqi regime, including Iraqi security and police forces, Shi'ite civilians and political parties and other perceived supporters of the US occupation and the new Iraqi regime, such as the US backed Sunni militias.
It appears insurgents are attempting to create an atmosphere of insecurity within Iraq to destroy efforts by US forces and the Iraqi government to impose law and order, and to create conditions that will compel the United States, already distracted by surging violence in Afghanistan, to withdraw sooner rather than later.
The strategic and broad-based nature of this latest suicide bombing campaign is further illustrated in the claims made by various insurgent organizations responsible for bombings. Dangerously, there are signs of renewed Ba'athist and Islamist coordination. The "Islamic State of Iraq", an umbrella group for Sunni Islamists including al-Qaeda in Iraq, asserted responsibility for the bombing that killed five US soldiers in Mosul as well as several others, claiming that the recent attacks were part of "Plan of Good Harvest", a new campaign against US forces and their supporters in Iraq.
Izzat Ibrahim Al-Douri, the fugitive former deputy of Saddam Hussein and a leading figure behind Sunni and Ba'ath insurgents in Iraq, highlighted the strategic direction of the campaign in an audiotape broadcast on al-Jazeera on April 7, calling Maliki's government and the Iraqi elections illegitimate because they were the result of the American military occupation. He urged insurgents to maintain their struggle against US forces and Iraq's government because "the political process is the occupation's main project, so attack it through all means available to you."
Perhaps the most ominous development for American and Iraqi plans for a new order is that increasingly, members from the US-backed Sons of Iraq Sunni militia appear to have rejoined the insurgency and "have gone into attack mode".
Ending occupation key to ending suicide bombings The return of violence and suicide bombings to Iraq illustrates the enduring reality that US occupation forces and the illegitimacy of the new Iraqi regime are the cause, not the solution. Obama's plan, which amounts to the continuation of the US occupation in a new form, has virtually assured the return of suicide bombings.
While it's doubtful Iraq will witness another descent into violence like in 2006 or 2007, this new violence clearly represents a new phase in the insurgency. As the always insightful Anthony Shadid of the Washington Post observes, "In some ways, the attacks are reminiscent of an earlier stage of the insurgency, before the sectarian war was ignited in 2006, when assailants carried out bombings as spectacles intended to magnify the sense of US failure. Then, as now, the carnage sent a message that no efforts, American or Iraqi, could result in a sense of the ordinary."
Suicide bombings can't win wars, nor can the bombers drive out US forces from Iraq. But what they can achieve is a pervasive sense of panic, uncertainty and fear among the populace such that the battle by Iraqi state authorities and Western forces to win them over will be eternally futile. Suicide bombings create a political anarchy, and this kind of war can last as long as the insurgents don't run out of suicide bombers, which isn't anywhere near the horizon.
Therefore, any real solution to the enduring the Iraq War must address the taproot of suicide bombings, as Pape points out - foreign occupation in any of its forms. The history of Iraq shows that even a more discreet foreign presence, such as that employed by the British after 1930, will only further compromise local authority. As long as the United States attempts to salvage strategic interests in the region from its imbroglio in Iraq, the effort to develop a truly independent Iraqi security force will prove disingenuous, and many Iraqis will reject the legitimacy of their government as a pawn of indirect imperial rule and continue their insurgency.
In order to remove the provocation for the insurgency the Obama administration must make manifestly clear that its plan to end the Iraq War will also end the occupation. To do so, it will need to plan for complete withdrawal of all US troops according to an accelerated timetable, and do so in a way that prepares Iraq for a future that is fully and without reservation Iraqi, not shaped by US designs and interests.
Hence, popular pressure must be mobilized in the United States and elsewhere to push Obama to return to the spirit of his earlier anti-war stance and withdraw all US troops, mercenaries and military base personnel by August 2010. In addition, the Obama administration must take steps to initiate a new political process, preferably under United Nations or international auspices, which will allow Iraq to formulate a new state on Iraqi terms, no longer governed by American sponsored laws, procedures and client parties. As International Crisis Group analyst Joost Hilterman pointed out, "Only a new national compact could bring a decisive end to violence, as it will marginalize spoilers."
A continuing US presence, no matter how indirect, only favors new waves of suicide bombers. In an interview on April 17, Iraq's Defense Ministry Spokesman, Mohammed al-Askari, warned that a prolonged US military presence in the country would paradoxically favor al-Qaeda by giving the militants enough excuse to justify their terrorist acts.
"It would be good for al-Qaeda if US forces stayed in Iraq, because they could justify their kidnappings, bombings and killings," he noted. Many Iraqis concur with this logic. "The situation in Iraq will improve only if the Americans and the Iraqi politicians withdraw from Iraq," said one citizen in Baghdad.
Unfortunately, many US officials, including the commanding US officer in Iraq, General Ray Odierno, indicated that the violence may compel them to prolong the occupation rather than end it by leaving US troops in major Iraqi cities, even after the scheduled June 30, 2009, withdrawal date for all US combat troops.
But just because Iraq's insurgents are planning for a long war against the US occupation and its client state doesn't mean the US needs to stay in Iraq. The history of suicide bombings in the recent period has shown that when the taproot of suicide bombings is turned off and the occupation ends, the bombings will end. Other examples in the region abound: Hezbollah ceased suicide bombings when Israel finally withdrew from Lebanese territory, and Hamas largely ended its use of suicide bombings when Israel withdrew its settlers and soldiers from the Gaza Strip in 2005, though it continued to use other violent tactics when Israel failed to end its military siege over Gaza.
If the US fully withdraws from Iraq, it's quite likely that we will see Iraqis engage in a major effort to avert the chaos Washington claims to be protecting them from.
Steve Niva, a professor of International Politics and Middle East Studies at The Evergreen State College, is a contributor to Foreign Policy In Focus. He is currently writing a book on the relationship between Israel's military violence and Palestinian suicide bombings.
(Posted with permission from Foreign Policy in Focus)
"How USraelis love Investigations", Fisk
Robert Fisk, Independent.co.uk, 07.05.09
Of course there will be an inquiry. And in the meantime, we shall be told that all the dead Afghan civilians were being used as "human shields" by the Taliban and we shall say that we "deeply regret" innocent lives that were lost. But we shall say that it's all the fault of the terrorists, not our heroic pilots and the US Marine special-forces who were target spotting around Bala Baluk and Ganjabad.
When the Americans destroy Iraqi homes, there is an inquiry. And oh how the Israelis love inquiries (though they rarely reveal anything). It's the history of the modern Middle East. We are always right and when we are not, we (sometimes) apologise and then we blame it all on the "terrorists". Yes, we know the throat-cutters and beheaders and suicide bombers are quite prepared to slaughter the innocent.
But it was a sign of just how terrible the Afghan slaughter was that the powerless President Hamid Karzai sounded like a beacon of goodness yesterday appealing for "a higher platform of morality" in waging war, that we should conduct war as "better human beings".
And of course, the reason is quite simple. We live, they die. We don't risk our brave lads on the ground – not for civilians. Not for anything. Fire phosphorus shells into Fallujah. Fire tank shells into Najaf. We know we kill the innocent. Israel does exactly the same. It said the same after its allies massacred 1,700 at the refugee camps of Sabra and Chatila in 1982 and in the deaths of more than a thousand civilians in Lebanon in 2006 and after the death of more than a thousand Palestinians in Gaza this year.
And if we kill some gunmen at the same time – "terrorists", of course – then it is the same old "human shield" tactic and ultimately the "terrorists" are to blame. Our military tactics are now fully aligned with Israel.
The reality is that international law forbids armies from shooting wildly in crowded tenements and bombing wildly into villages – even when enemy forces are present – but that went by the board in our 1991 bombing of Iraq and in Bosnia and in Nato's Serbia war and in our 2001 Afghan adventure and in 2003 in Iraq. Let's have that inquiry. And "human shields". And terror, terror, terror. Something else I notice. Innocent or "terrorists", civilians or Taliban, always it is the Muslims who are to blame.
----------
One musn't forget that the Iraqis have taught the Americans with blood their geography. In almost every town and every city in Iraq an American military, an American Mercenary or an American intelligence agent had died. The war did bankrupt America. The fearless and inventive Iraqis made the Pentagon re-consider the types of weapon systems needed in future wars. I personally witnessed the turret of one American tank sitting on top of a building near Baghdad surrounded by US soldiers body parts. Have you ever heard of an IED before the invasion of Iraq? The Iraqis are exporting their anti-American expertise to Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Adnan Darwash, Iraq Occupation Times
---
U.S. says civilians killed in west Afghan strikes
Reuters
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Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai speaks during a news conference in Kabul Reuters – Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai speaks during a news conference in Kabul April 27, 2009. REUTERS/Ahmad …
* 'A number of civilians' killed in Afghan fighting: investigation Play Video Afghanistan Video:'A number of civilians' killed in Afghan fighting: investigation AFP
* Healing Hands Play Video Afghanistan Video:Healing Hands FOX News
* Lessons from Pakistan Play Video Afghanistan Video:Lessons from Pakistan Reuters
By Emma Graham-Harrison Emma Graham-harrison – 1 hr 45 mins ago
KABUL (Reuters) – The U.S. military acknowledged on Saturday that air strikes in western Afghanistan this week had killed civilians and Afghan President Hamid Karzai put the death toll at up to 130.
In a joint statement with the Afghan government, U.S. forces said non-combatants were among the dead but it was not possible to determine how many because the bodies had been buried.
Karzai said he had received an official update putting the number of innocent casualties from the strikes, which hit crowded homes in two villages in Farah province, as high as 130.
If that toll was confirmed it would be the deadliest single incident affecting Afghan civilians since U.S.-led forces started battling the Taliban in 2001.
The deaths in Farah have inflamed Afghan anger about the impact of air strikes, an issue which is already poisoning ties between Kabul and Washington. It overshadowed a meeting between Karzai and U.S. President Barack Obama in Washington this week.
The Afghan leader went on U.S. television Friday to call for an end to the bombardments within his borders.
"The air strikes are not acceptable," Karzai told CNN. "Terrorism is not in Afghan villages, not in Afghan homes. And you cannot defeat terrorists by air strikes."
Obama had expressed "sorrows and apologies" over the deaths in their White House summit, he said.
HUMAN SHIELDS?
The joint U.S.-Afghan statement suggested Taliban fighters may have worsened the toll by using civilians as human shields.
"Reports also indicate that Taliban fighters deliberately forced villagers into houses from which they then attacked Afghan national security forces and coalition forces," it said.
U.S. military officials have said they think the toll might be lower than Karzai's estimate or a figure of 147 victims provided by villagers, without giving further details.
The delay in calculating the toll may fuel anger among Afghans who have long resented Western forces' handling of reported civilian deaths.
U.S. and NATO commanders have put new drills in place in recent months, responding more quickly, coordinating their investigations with Afghan authorities, apologizing publicly and offering compensation.
The Farah incident shows further changes are needed, critics said.
"The procedures for protecting civilians and verifying intelligence before launching attacks are clearly not working and must be thoroughly reviewed again," said Rachel Reid, Afghanistan researcher for Human Rights Watch.
Of course there will be an inquiry. And in the meantime, we shall be told that all the dead Afghan civilians were being used as "human shields" by the Taliban and we shall say that we "deeply regret" innocent lives that were lost. But we shall say that it's all the fault of the terrorists, not our heroic pilots and the US Marine special-forces who were target spotting around Bala Baluk and Ganjabad.
When the Americans destroy Iraqi homes, there is an inquiry. And oh how the Israelis love inquiries (though they rarely reveal anything). It's the history of the modern Middle East. We are always right and when we are not, we (sometimes) apologise and then we blame it all on the "terrorists". Yes, we know the throat-cutters and beheaders and suicide bombers are quite prepared to slaughter the innocent.
But it was a sign of just how terrible the Afghan slaughter was that the powerless President Hamid Karzai sounded like a beacon of goodness yesterday appealing for "a higher platform of morality" in waging war, that we should conduct war as "better human beings".
And of course, the reason is quite simple. We live, they die. We don't risk our brave lads on the ground – not for civilians. Not for anything. Fire phosphorus shells into Fallujah. Fire tank shells into Najaf. We know we kill the innocent. Israel does exactly the same. It said the same after its allies massacred 1,700 at the refugee camps of Sabra and Chatila in 1982 and in the deaths of more than a thousand civilians in Lebanon in 2006 and after the death of more than a thousand Palestinians in Gaza this year.
And if we kill some gunmen at the same time – "terrorists", of course – then it is the same old "human shield" tactic and ultimately the "terrorists" are to blame. Our military tactics are now fully aligned with Israel.
The reality is that international law forbids armies from shooting wildly in crowded tenements and bombing wildly into villages – even when enemy forces are present – but that went by the board in our 1991 bombing of Iraq and in Bosnia and in Nato's Serbia war and in our 2001 Afghan adventure and in 2003 in Iraq. Let's have that inquiry. And "human shields". And terror, terror, terror. Something else I notice. Innocent or "terrorists", civilians or Taliban, always it is the Muslims who are to blame.
----------
One musn't forget that the Iraqis have taught the Americans with blood their geography. In almost every town and every city in Iraq an American military, an American Mercenary or an American intelligence agent had died. The war did bankrupt America. The fearless and inventive Iraqis made the Pentagon re-consider the types of weapon systems needed in future wars. I personally witnessed the turret of one American tank sitting on top of a building near Baghdad surrounded by US soldiers body parts. Have you ever heard of an IED before the invasion of Iraq? The Iraqis are exporting their anti-American expertise to Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Adnan Darwash, Iraq Occupation Times
---
U.S. says civilians killed in west Afghan strikes
Reuters
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Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai speaks during a news conference in Kabul Reuters – Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai speaks during a news conference in Kabul April 27, 2009. REUTERS/Ahmad …
* 'A number of civilians' killed in Afghan fighting: investigation Play Video Afghanistan Video:'A number of civilians' killed in Afghan fighting: investigation AFP
* Healing Hands Play Video Afghanistan Video:Healing Hands FOX News
* Lessons from Pakistan Play Video Afghanistan Video:Lessons from Pakistan Reuters
By Emma Graham-Harrison Emma Graham-harrison – 1 hr 45 mins ago
KABUL (Reuters) – The U.S. military acknowledged on Saturday that air strikes in western Afghanistan this week had killed civilians and Afghan President Hamid Karzai put the death toll at up to 130.
In a joint statement with the Afghan government, U.S. forces said non-combatants were among the dead but it was not possible to determine how many because the bodies had been buried.
Karzai said he had received an official update putting the number of innocent casualties from the strikes, which hit crowded homes in two villages in Farah province, as high as 130.
If that toll was confirmed it would be the deadliest single incident affecting Afghan civilians since U.S.-led forces started battling the Taliban in 2001.
The deaths in Farah have inflamed Afghan anger about the impact of air strikes, an issue which is already poisoning ties between Kabul and Washington. It overshadowed a meeting between Karzai and U.S. President Barack Obama in Washington this week.
The Afghan leader went on U.S. television Friday to call for an end to the bombardments within his borders.
"The air strikes are not acceptable," Karzai told CNN. "Terrorism is not in Afghan villages, not in Afghan homes. And you cannot defeat terrorists by air strikes."
Obama had expressed "sorrows and apologies" over the deaths in their White House summit, he said.
HUMAN SHIELDS?
The joint U.S.-Afghan statement suggested Taliban fighters may have worsened the toll by using civilians as human shields.
"Reports also indicate that Taliban fighters deliberately forced villagers into houses from which they then attacked Afghan national security forces and coalition forces," it said.
U.S. military officials have said they think the toll might be lower than Karzai's estimate or a figure of 147 victims provided by villagers, without giving further details.
The delay in calculating the toll may fuel anger among Afghans who have long resented Western forces' handling of reported civilian deaths.
U.S. and NATO commanders have put new drills in place in recent months, responding more quickly, coordinating their investigations with Afghan authorities, apologizing publicly and offering compensation.
The Farah incident shows further changes are needed, critics said.
"The procedures for protecting civilians and verifying intelligence before launching attacks are clearly not working and must be thoroughly reviewed again," said Rachel Reid, Afghanistan researcher for Human Rights Watch.
Obama to Address Muslim World
Updated at: 1325 PST, Saturday, May 09, 2009
WASHINGTON: US President Obama will make his promised speech to the Muslim world from Egypt, a White House official said.
Obama pledged during the campaign to address the Muslim world from a Muslim capital within the first few months of taking office.
Having settled on Egypt, the White House announced that he is adding a stop there to his early June overseas trip. That trip will also take him to Normandy, France, for the anniversary of D-Day, and to the Buchenwald concentration camp and Dresden, Germany.
-----------
It is true that Egypt has the largest popular trion of poor, hapless Akil-Aesh and corrupt people, while its role in Arab, Islamic or world affair has been completely marginalised. In the Arab world Egypt supported the illegal war on Iraq, stood against the popular Hezbullah and continues to tighten the siege on Gaza. In the Muslim world, Egypt's stand against Iran, as dictated by Israel and America, is the most rejected. Inside the country, Mubarak police state practices are known to everyone. It is clear that Turkey and Iran are the true major players in the Middle East. The visit of Obama is meant to re-habilitate Egypt and other so-called Arab moderates.
Obama’s projected visit to Egypt on 4.06.09 isn’t meant to appeal to the Muslim world or to change the US image, but to boost the position of autocrat and corrupt Hosni Mubarak, who has been running the country with an iron fist while thousands of political opponents are languishing in filthy and harsh detention centres or prisons. In the Arab and Muslim worlds, Mubarak is one of the most hated person; especially for siding with Israel during the recent massacres in Gaza and for tightening the Israeli-imposed siege to prevent aid going to close to 2 million people. Furthermore, the Israelis love Mubarak since he allows MOSSAD agents to travel freely in the Arab world using Egyptian passports and in his attacks on Iran, Hezbullah and Hamas. Obama is expected to announce another USraeli peace initiative undermining all what has been agreed upon so far. There will be some window dressing like stopping the expansion of the settlements or a new definition of the two-state solution. Naturally, Obama will not dare to mention the 39 UN Security Council Resolutions which Israel is in breach of or Israel massive arsenal of Nuclear weapons; but will be generous in denouncing Iran for its Uranium Enrichment program. Because of the colour of his skin and his Muslim background, many Arabs were happy to see Obama defeating John McCain, hoping for a change. But addressing Muslims from the altar of the political prostitute, Mubarak, is like using urine for ablution before praying.
altar: An elevated place or structure before which religious ceremonies may be enacted or upon which sacrifices may be offered.
Very few Arabs and Muslims gambeled on Obama and thought he will change US pro-Isralei and anti Muslim policies. But Obama flip-flop rhetoric has already undermined his attempt to improve the tarnished US image. The violence in Swat Valley will soon engulf the entire country. The role of Asif Ali Zardari has been reduced to that of prostrated Mubarak, King Abdallh II and Kharzai.
Neither Obama nor Egypt can trigger a change in the Muslim opinion about the on-going USraeli crusades against Islam. The US policy in supprt of Israeli atrocities and crimes is clear to evryone. Furthermore, Obama is not serious about ending Bush wars on Iraq or Afghanistans but want to extend them to include Pakistan and Iran. Obama is the dark face of the same devalued American coin.
-------
Osama must be happy with Obama Speech!
Date: 04-06-09 13:06
The great orator and eloquent Obama delivered a Jewish-accented speech at Al-Azhar University today 04.06.09 to a highly-selected and vetted audience. As it was expected by many, nothing with a real substance came out to change the Arab and Muslim perception of America. For example, Jerusalem, which is dear to the heart of every Muslim, didn’t receive the attention is so-rightly deserve. How about the 39 UN Security Council Resolutions which Israel is in breach of? How about Palestinian human rights violated in Israeli concentration camps, torture chambers and Jewish Guantanamos? Why Hamas methods of defending Gaza are violent but Israeli mass killing is not worth mentioning? Why Iran Uranium enrichment program is a threat to the world and not Israeli Nuclear arsenal? Would Obama order a stop to the on-going killing of Muslims by US military? Would Obama order a halt to CIA dirty works in Iraq and in Iran? And finally, will US immigration officers stop harassing and humiliating people with Muslim names? Osama Bin Laden will be happy as Obama didn’t pull the rug from the under the feet of Al-Qaeda; by insisting on Israel to implement UN resolutions, closing down its concentration camps and dismantling its WMD.
After listening to the speech carefully, one must differentiate between Obama as a person and the United States of America as an imperial power.
To whom do you give credit that no-one managed to hit America for close to 60 years; between the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour and Al-Qaeda attack on NY? Definitely to G.W. Bush. Give me a break please. Arabs and Muslims were the traditional allies of America but got nothing in return. America planted Israel in their midst and the rest is history. If you like the Jews so much, why don't give them one of the American statesa where Muslim missiles can't reach them. Obama or water melon in the White House, the Jews and the Americans constitute the real axis of evil that should be resisted.
First time Arab people are armed to fight!
In 1948, Arabs were under-occupation. At the time the Iraqi army alone would have been able to lick the rag tag Jewish gangs, but was prevented by the British control of Iraq, Egypt and Jordan.
In 1967, the Arab people were disarmed by Nasser, Assad and King Hussein II. It is the first time since 1948, that the Arab people were armed. Saddam distributed seven million pieces of weapons with 10 million tons on the Iraqi people to free themselves from the barbaric American occupation. Similarly, Hezbullah and Hamas are armed. Dictators and autocrats are afraid of their people to give them arms. The official armies have failed. It is the turn of the people to re-gain what military dictators have lost. The Israelis will never see peace as long as they remain occupying a single inch of Arab territory. No-matter what Abbas, Mubarak or the two Abdullahs may say or sign, it will all be considered as null and and void if it doessn't force Israel to abide by 39 UN Security Council Resolutions. We are here to stay. The Jews are a collection of intruders, villains and criminals.
If Al-Qaeda is in Saudi Arabia and in Britain, then why the Americans are fighting wars in Afghanistan and in Iraq?
If Obama wanted to pull the rug from under the feet of Al-Qaeda he should have addressed issues (mentioned above) that used by Al-Qaeda to rally popular support. In Pakistan for example, the real enemy is America. Did Obama order his CIA to stop killing people with hell-fire missiles from their drones? To the contrary he offered money to corrupt Zardari to fight his own people. That is why Al-Qaeda continues to get so much supports.
Obama has said we have no resaon to be in Iraq. But the killing and destruction in Iraq deserve an apology followed by compensation. Obama failed to do that too.
The Holy Pope was burning women on the stakes as witches and liquidating intellectuals for heresy.
Until recently Germans were exterminating people.
The Americans have exterminated the natives, enslaved the blacks and killed three million Vietnamese.
The brutal British Empire had institutionalized racism.
The French used children for target practice in Algiers. Their foreign legionaries were eating roasted black babies in Africa.
Until this moment the US-led forces are killing people in Iraq, Afghainstan and Pakistan. It seems that education and culture failed to change inherent the barbaric behaviour of the white-skinned and blue-eyed monsters.
It seems that you are unaware of the scale of the human and material disaster in Iraq. As you may know, we Iraqis have a different way of showing our anger and sorrows. The last thing to do in Iraq is to follow the Egyptian way of political prostitution motivated by Akil Aieesh. You are right, the present client regime of Al-Maliki was installed by the Americans. But at least 100000 Iraqi traitors will either be punished by the Iraqi people or leave on the same American tanks that brought them. Iraqis have no-mercy on all those Arabs and Muslims who helped the Americans to destroy their country and to kill the people. There is a certain Egyptian, Dr Adli Hassanain, has helped the Americans and is on the Iraqi resitance most wanted list. It seems he had invested some of the money stolen from Iraq in a 120-acre (Faddan) farm on the road to Beni Suwaif.
Adnan Darwash, Iraq Occupation Times
--------
براک اوباما کے خطبہ قاہرہ پر بھانت بھانت کے تبصرے چھ آباد براعظموں میں اگلے سات دن تک جاری رہیں گے۔ نہ میں اس خطبے کے متن پر فی الحال کوئی تبصرہ کرنا چاہتا ہوں اور نہ ہی اس خطبے پر ہونے والے تبصروں پر کوئی تبصرہ کروں گا۔
بس ایک بات۔۔۔۔۔بش جونیئر کی ہکلاتی ، حمق زدہ ، طفلانہ معصومیت آمیز انگریزی ( کہ جسے بشریزی کہنا مجھے زیادہ اچھا لگتا ہے) سن کر پنجابی کی وہ کہاوت اکثر یاد آتی تھی کہ 'منہ چنگا نہ ہووے پرگل تے چنگی کرو۔۔۔۔۔۔'
بشریزی کی آٹھ سالہ اذیت کے بعد اوباما کا فنِ تقریر لسانی بےراہروی کے چلچلاتے صحرا میں چشمہ آبِ شیریں کے مانند لگتا ہے۔
براک اوباما کے بقول ایک تقریر سے تو حالات و حقائق نہیں بدل سکتے لیکن بیس جنوری کی حلفِ وفاداری والی تقریر سے لے کر چار جون کےقاہرہ کے خطبے تک یہ بات تسلسل سے کہی جاسکتی ہے کہ ' گڑ نہ دے گڑ جیسی بات تو کر' کا محاورہ اوبامہ نے گھول کر پی رکھا ہے۔
WASHINGTON: US President Obama will make his promised speech to the Muslim world from Egypt, a White House official said.
Obama pledged during the campaign to address the Muslim world from a Muslim capital within the first few months of taking office.
Having settled on Egypt, the White House announced that he is adding a stop there to his early June overseas trip. That trip will also take him to Normandy, France, for the anniversary of D-Day, and to the Buchenwald concentration camp and Dresden, Germany.
-----------
It is true that Egypt has the largest popular trion of poor, hapless Akil-Aesh and corrupt people, while its role in Arab, Islamic or world affair has been completely marginalised. In the Arab world Egypt supported the illegal war on Iraq, stood against the popular Hezbullah and continues to tighten the siege on Gaza. In the Muslim world, Egypt's stand against Iran, as dictated by Israel and America, is the most rejected. Inside the country, Mubarak police state practices are known to everyone. It is clear that Turkey and Iran are the true major players in the Middle East. The visit of Obama is meant to re-habilitate Egypt and other so-called Arab moderates.
To Obama: Visit Egypt and dirty your image!
Obama’s projected visit to Egypt on 4.06.09 isn’t meant to appeal to the Muslim world or to change the US image, but to boost the position of autocrat and corrupt Hosni Mubarak, who has been running the country with an iron fist while thousands of political opponents are languishing in filthy and harsh detention centres or prisons. In the Arab and Muslim worlds, Mubarak is one of the most hated person; especially for siding with Israel during the recent massacres in Gaza and for tightening the Israeli-imposed siege to prevent aid going to close to 2 million people. Furthermore, the Israelis love Mubarak since he allows MOSSAD agents to travel freely in the Arab world using Egyptian passports and in his attacks on Iran, Hezbullah and Hamas. Obama is expected to announce another USraeli peace initiative undermining all what has been agreed upon so far. There will be some window dressing like stopping the expansion of the settlements or a new definition of the two-state solution. Naturally, Obama will not dare to mention the 39 UN Security Council Resolutions which Israel is in breach of or Israel massive arsenal of Nuclear weapons; but will be generous in denouncing Iran for its Uranium Enrichment program. Because of the colour of his skin and his Muslim background, many Arabs were happy to see Obama defeating John McCain, hoping for a change. But addressing Muslims from the altar of the political prostitute, Mubarak, is like using urine for ablution before praying.
altar: An elevated place or structure before which religious ceremonies may be enacted or upon which sacrifices may be offered.
Very few Arabs and Muslims gambeled on Obama and thought he will change US pro-Isralei and anti Muslim policies. But Obama flip-flop rhetoric has already undermined his attempt to improve the tarnished US image. The violence in Swat Valley will soon engulf the entire country. The role of Asif Ali Zardari has been reduced to that of prostrated Mubarak, King Abdallh II and Kharzai.
Neither Obama nor Egypt can trigger a change in the Muslim opinion about the on-going USraeli crusades against Islam. The US policy in supprt of Israeli atrocities and crimes is clear to evryone. Furthermore, Obama is not serious about ending Bush wars on Iraq or Afghanistans but want to extend them to include Pakistan and Iran. Obama is the dark face of the same devalued American coin.
-------
Osama must be happy with Obama Speech!
Date: 04-06-09 13:06
The great orator and eloquent Obama delivered a Jewish-accented speech at Al-Azhar University today 04.06.09 to a highly-selected and vetted audience. As it was expected by many, nothing with a real substance came out to change the Arab and Muslim perception of America. For example, Jerusalem, which is dear to the heart of every Muslim, didn’t receive the attention is so-rightly deserve. How about the 39 UN Security Council Resolutions which Israel is in breach of? How about Palestinian human rights violated in Israeli concentration camps, torture chambers and Jewish Guantanamos? Why Hamas methods of defending Gaza are violent but Israeli mass killing is not worth mentioning? Why Iran Uranium enrichment program is a threat to the world and not Israeli Nuclear arsenal? Would Obama order a stop to the on-going killing of Muslims by US military? Would Obama order a halt to CIA dirty works in Iraq and in Iran? And finally, will US immigration officers stop harassing and humiliating people with Muslim names? Osama Bin Laden will be happy as Obama didn’t pull the rug from the under the feet of Al-Qaeda; by insisting on Israel to implement UN resolutions, closing down its concentration camps and dismantling its WMD.
After listening to the speech carefully, one must differentiate between Obama as a person and the United States of America as an imperial power.
To whom do you give credit that no-one managed to hit America for close to 60 years; between the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour and Al-Qaeda attack on NY? Definitely to G.W. Bush. Give me a break please. Arabs and Muslims were the traditional allies of America but got nothing in return. America planted Israel in their midst and the rest is history. If you like the Jews so much, why don't give them one of the American statesa where Muslim missiles can't reach them. Obama or water melon in the White House, the Jews and the Americans constitute the real axis of evil that should be resisted.
First time Arab people are armed to fight!
In 1948, Arabs were under-occupation. At the time the Iraqi army alone would have been able to lick the rag tag Jewish gangs, but was prevented by the British control of Iraq, Egypt and Jordan.
In 1967, the Arab people were disarmed by Nasser, Assad and King Hussein II. It is the first time since 1948, that the Arab people were armed. Saddam distributed seven million pieces of weapons with 10 million tons on the Iraqi people to free themselves from the barbaric American occupation. Similarly, Hezbullah and Hamas are armed. Dictators and autocrats are afraid of their people to give them arms. The official armies have failed. It is the turn of the people to re-gain what military dictators have lost. The Israelis will never see peace as long as they remain occupying a single inch of Arab territory. No-matter what Abbas, Mubarak or the two Abdullahs may say or sign, it will all be considered as null and and void if it doessn't force Israel to abide by 39 UN Security Council Resolutions. We are here to stay. The Jews are a collection of intruders, villains and criminals.
If Al-Qaeda is in Saudi Arabia and in Britain, then why the Americans are fighting wars in Afghanistan and in Iraq?
If Obama wanted to pull the rug from under the feet of Al-Qaeda he should have addressed issues (mentioned above) that used by Al-Qaeda to rally popular support. In Pakistan for example, the real enemy is America. Did Obama order his CIA to stop killing people with hell-fire missiles from their drones? To the contrary he offered money to corrupt Zardari to fight his own people. That is why Al-Qaeda continues to get so much supports.
Obama has said we have no resaon to be in Iraq. But the killing and destruction in Iraq deserve an apology followed by compensation. Obama failed to do that too.
What a bloody Western civilisation?
The Holy Pope was burning women on the stakes as witches and liquidating intellectuals for heresy.
Until recently Germans were exterminating people.
The Americans have exterminated the natives, enslaved the blacks and killed three million Vietnamese.
The brutal British Empire had institutionalized racism.
The French used children for target practice in Algiers. Their foreign legionaries were eating roasted black babies in Africa.
Until this moment the US-led forces are killing people in Iraq, Afghainstan and Pakistan. It seems that education and culture failed to change inherent the barbaric behaviour of the white-skinned and blue-eyed monsters.
It seems that you are unaware of the scale of the human and material disaster in Iraq. As you may know, we Iraqis have a different way of showing our anger and sorrows. The last thing to do in Iraq is to follow the Egyptian way of political prostitution motivated by Akil Aieesh. You are right, the present client regime of Al-Maliki was installed by the Americans. But at least 100000 Iraqi traitors will either be punished by the Iraqi people or leave on the same American tanks that brought them. Iraqis have no-mercy on all those Arabs and Muslims who helped the Americans to destroy their country and to kill the people. There is a certain Egyptian, Dr Adli Hassanain, has helped the Americans and is on the Iraqi resitance most wanted list. It seems he had invested some of the money stolen from Iraq in a 120-acre (Faddan) farm on the road to Beni Suwaif.
Adnan Darwash, Iraq Occupation Times
--------
براک اوباما کے خطبہ قاہرہ پر بھانت بھانت کے تبصرے چھ آباد براعظموں میں اگلے سات دن تک جاری رہیں گے۔ نہ میں اس خطبے کے متن پر فی الحال کوئی تبصرہ کرنا چاہتا ہوں اور نہ ہی اس خطبے پر ہونے والے تبصروں پر کوئی تبصرہ کروں گا۔
بس ایک بات۔۔۔۔۔بش جونیئر کی ہکلاتی ، حمق زدہ ، طفلانہ معصومیت آمیز انگریزی ( کہ جسے بشریزی کہنا مجھے زیادہ اچھا لگتا ہے) سن کر پنجابی کی وہ کہاوت اکثر یاد آتی تھی کہ 'منہ چنگا نہ ہووے پرگل تے چنگی کرو۔۔۔۔۔۔'
بشریزی کی آٹھ سالہ اذیت کے بعد اوباما کا فنِ تقریر لسانی بےراہروی کے چلچلاتے صحرا میں چشمہ آبِ شیریں کے مانند لگتا ہے۔
براک اوباما کے بقول ایک تقریر سے تو حالات و حقائق نہیں بدل سکتے لیکن بیس جنوری کی حلفِ وفاداری والی تقریر سے لے کر چار جون کےقاہرہ کے خطبے تک یہ بات تسلسل سے کہی جاسکتی ہے کہ ' گڑ نہ دے گڑ جیسی بات تو کر' کا محاورہ اوبامہ نے گھول کر پی رکھا ہے۔
Friday, May 08, 2009
Decline and fall of the American empire!
To Obama: “Violence and Belonging” Are Knudsen
The American war on terror has gradually escalated; from a war on Al-Qaeda to a War on Islam passing through a war on the Taliban. Despite repeated reminders from Hamid Kharzai, that Al-Qaeda and Bin Laden are not in Afghanistan but in Pakistan, the Americans continued to send troops and to kill Afghanis. With the arrival of Obama at the scene, the war on terror has been extended to fighting the religious fundamentalists in areas north of Islamabad. In these areas there is an amalgamation of Islamic teachings with the local cultures that over the years have produced fierce people that are ready to die than to deviate from them. This has been elaborately demonstrated by a Norwegian anthropologists, Dr Are Knudsen, who spent years in these areas and wrote many articles and a book by the title “Violence and Belonging”. The Americans should carefully consider the implication of their policy of putting pressure on the Pakistani government to carry out massive military operations; which will only help to shed more blood, increase defiance to US presence, swell the ranks of fundamentalists and multiply the number of suicide attacks. The Americans have already realised that their pressure will fire back at Zardari government and are trying to deflect the damage by implicating Mr Nawaz Shariff, the head of the opposition. Many believe that Pakistan may dump Obama the way Iraq disgraced G.W. Bush and Tony Blair.
Iraq Occupation Times once predicted that Iraq will be worse than Vietnam. The war on Iraq did tarnish US image, made a mockery out of its military power, sent home in bodybags over 5000 of its overt and covert operators and undermined its collossal US economy. And there is more to come.
Adnan, Iraq Occupation Times
The American war on terror has gradually escalated; from a war on Al-Qaeda to a War on Islam passing through a war on the Taliban. Despite repeated reminders from Hamid Kharzai, that Al-Qaeda and Bin Laden are not in Afghanistan but in Pakistan, the Americans continued to send troops and to kill Afghanis. With the arrival of Obama at the scene, the war on terror has been extended to fighting the religious fundamentalists in areas north of Islamabad. In these areas there is an amalgamation of Islamic teachings with the local cultures that over the years have produced fierce people that are ready to die than to deviate from them. This has been elaborately demonstrated by a Norwegian anthropologists, Dr Are Knudsen, who spent years in these areas and wrote many articles and a book by the title “Violence and Belonging”. The Americans should carefully consider the implication of their policy of putting pressure on the Pakistani government to carry out massive military operations; which will only help to shed more blood, increase defiance to US presence, swell the ranks of fundamentalists and multiply the number of suicide attacks. The Americans have already realised that their pressure will fire back at Zardari government and are trying to deflect the damage by implicating Mr Nawaz Shariff, the head of the opposition. Many believe that Pakistan may dump Obama the way Iraq disgraced G.W. Bush and Tony Blair.
Iraq Occupation Times once predicted that Iraq will be worse than Vietnam. The war on Iraq did tarnish US image, made a mockery out of its military power, sent home in bodybags over 5000 of its overt and covert operators and undermined its collossal US economy. And there is more to come.
Adnan, Iraq Occupation Times
Thursday, May 07, 2009
Computer hard drive sold on eBay 'had details of top secret U.S. missile defence system'
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 11:08 AM on 07th May 2009
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* Add to My Stories
Highly sensitive details of a US military missile air defence system were found on a second-hand hard drive bought on eBay.
The test launch procedures were found on a hard disk for the THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defence) ground to air missile defence system, used to shoot down Scud missiles in Iraq.
The disk also contained security policies, blueprints of facilities and personal information on employees including social security numbers, belonging to technology company Lockheed Martin - who designed and built the system.
missile
A missile launch in California: Details of the ground-to-air defence system were found on a computer hard drive
British researchers found the data while studying more than 300 hard disks bought at computer auctions, computer fairs and eBay.
The experts also uncovered other sensitive information including bank account details, medical records, confidential business plans, financial company data, personal id numbers, and job descriptions.
The drives were bought from the UK, America, Germany, France and Australia by BT's Security Research Centre in collaboration with the University of Glamorgan in Wales, Edith Cowan University in Australia and Longwood University in the US.
A spokesman for BT said they found 34 per cent of the hard disks scrutinised contained 'information of either personal data that could be identified to an individual or commercial data identifying a company or organisation.'
And researchers said a 'surprisingly large range and quantity of information that could have a potentially commercially damaging impact or pose a threat to the identity and privacy of the individuals involved was recovered as a result of the survey.'
Two disks appear to have been formerly used by Lanarkshire NHS Trust to hold information from the Monklands and Hairmyres hospitals including patient medical records, images of x-rays, medical staff shifts and sensitive and confidential staff letters.
In Australia, one disk came from a nursing home and contained pictures of patients and their wounds.
Confidential material including network data and security logs from the German Embassy in Paris were also discovered on a disk from France.
And the trading performances and budgets of a UK-based fashion company, corporate data from a major motor manufacturing company were discovered along with details of a proposed 50 billion currency exchange through Spain involving a US-based consultant.
Dr Andy Jones, head of information security research at BT, who led the survey, said: 'This is the fourth time we have carried out this research and it is clear that a majority of organisations and private individuals still have no idea about the potential volume and type of information that is stored on computer hard disks.
'For a very large proportion of the disks we looked at we found enough information to expose both individuals and companies to a range of potential crimes such as fraud, blackmail and identity theft.
'Businesses also need to be aware that they could also be acting illegally by not disposing of this kind of data properly.'
Dr Iain Sutherland of the University of Glamorgan said: 'Of significant concern is the number of large organisations that are still not disposing of confidential information in a secure manner. In the current financial climate they risk losing highly valuable propriety data.'
A spokesman for Lockheed Martin, who make the THADD launch system, said: 'Lockheed Martin is not aware of any compromise of data related to the Terminal High Altitude Area Defence programme.
'Until Lockheed Martin can evaluate the hard drive in question, it is not possible to comment further on its potential contents or source.'
A spokesman for NHS Lanarkshire said: 'This study refers to hard disks which were disposed of in 2006. At that time NHS Lanarkshire had a contractual agreement with an external company for the disposal of computer equipment.
'In this instance the hard drives had been subjected to a basic level of data removal by the company and had then been disposed of inappropriately. This was clearly in breach of contract and was wholly unacceptable.'
The spokesman said the trust now destroy equipment containing data on the premises, so no longer use external companies to dispose of IT equipment.
Last updated at 11:08 AM on 07th May 2009
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Highly sensitive details of a US military missile air defence system were found on a second-hand hard drive bought on eBay.
The test launch procedures were found on a hard disk for the THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defence) ground to air missile defence system, used to shoot down Scud missiles in Iraq.
The disk also contained security policies, blueprints of facilities and personal information on employees including social security numbers, belonging to technology company Lockheed Martin - who designed and built the system.
missile
A missile launch in California: Details of the ground-to-air defence system were found on a computer hard drive
British researchers found the data while studying more than 300 hard disks bought at computer auctions, computer fairs and eBay.
The experts also uncovered other sensitive information including bank account details, medical records, confidential business plans, financial company data, personal id numbers, and job descriptions.
The drives were bought from the UK, America, Germany, France and Australia by BT's Security Research Centre in collaboration with the University of Glamorgan in Wales, Edith Cowan University in Australia and Longwood University in the US.
A spokesman for BT said they found 34 per cent of the hard disks scrutinised contained 'information of either personal data that could be identified to an individual or commercial data identifying a company or organisation.'
And researchers said a 'surprisingly large range and quantity of information that could have a potentially commercially damaging impact or pose a threat to the identity and privacy of the individuals involved was recovered as a result of the survey.'
Two disks appear to have been formerly used by Lanarkshire NHS Trust to hold information from the Monklands and Hairmyres hospitals including patient medical records, images of x-rays, medical staff shifts and sensitive and confidential staff letters.
In Australia, one disk came from a nursing home and contained pictures of patients and their wounds.
Confidential material including network data and security logs from the German Embassy in Paris were also discovered on a disk from France.
And the trading performances and budgets of a UK-based fashion company, corporate data from a major motor manufacturing company were discovered along with details of a proposed 50 billion currency exchange through Spain involving a US-based consultant.
Dr Andy Jones, head of information security research at BT, who led the survey, said: 'This is the fourth time we have carried out this research and it is clear that a majority of organisations and private individuals still have no idea about the potential volume and type of information that is stored on computer hard disks.
'For a very large proportion of the disks we looked at we found enough information to expose both individuals and companies to a range of potential crimes such as fraud, blackmail and identity theft.
'Businesses also need to be aware that they could also be acting illegally by not disposing of this kind of data properly.'
Dr Iain Sutherland of the University of Glamorgan said: 'Of significant concern is the number of large organisations that are still not disposing of confidential information in a secure manner. In the current financial climate they risk losing highly valuable propriety data.'
A spokesman for Lockheed Martin, who make the THADD launch system, said: 'Lockheed Martin is not aware of any compromise of data related to the Terminal High Altitude Area Defence programme.
'Until Lockheed Martin can evaluate the hard drive in question, it is not possible to comment further on its potential contents or source.'
A spokesman for NHS Lanarkshire said: 'This study refers to hard disks which were disposed of in 2006. At that time NHS Lanarkshire had a contractual agreement with an external company for the disposal of computer equipment.
'In this instance the hard drives had been subjected to a basic level of data removal by the company and had then been disposed of inappropriately. This was clearly in breach of contract and was wholly unacceptable.'
The spokesman said the trust now destroy equipment containing data on the premises, so no longer use external companies to dispose of IT equipment.
Wednesday, May 06, 2009
U.S. voices regret for +150 Afghan civilian deaths
06 May 2009 17:09:26 GMT
Source: Reuters
* U.S. brings Afghan, Pakistani leaders together
* Red Cross says dozens of Afghans died in U.S.-led raids
* Afghanistan, Pakistan sign deal on commerce
(Refiles to fix typo in paragraph 10)
By Sharafuddin Sharafyar and Arshad Mohammed
HERAT/WASHINGTON, May 6 (Reuters) - The United States offered its regrets on Wednesday for the deaths of Afghan civilians as it brought together the presidents of Afghanistan and Pakistan to get them to cooperate against the Taliban.
The Red Cross said dozens of Afghans died after U.S.-led airstrikes in Farah province this week while local officials said more than 100 civilians may have been killed, a figure which if confirmed would make it among the deadliest days for Afghan civilians since the fall of the Taliban in 2001.
U.S. President Barack Obama was to meet Pakistan's Asif Ali Zardari and Afghanistan's Hamid Karzai at the White House on Wednesday afternoon, amid U.S. doubts about both men's commitment and capability to tackle Taliban militants.
Civilian casualties caused by U.S. military operations in both countries, including drone strikes inside Pakistan, are deeply unpopular among Afghans and Pakistanis and have made it harder for both men to cooperate with the United States.
While the three-way talks aim to nurture cooperation between Afghanistan and Pakistan, which Taliban militants use as a base to attack Afghan targets, they have been overshadowed by U.S. concerns about nuclear-armed Pakistan's stability and by the death of civilians in Afghanistan.
"We deeply, deeply regret that loss," U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said as she began a meeting with Karzai, Zardari, their aides and top U.S. officials including the heads of the CIA and the FBI.
'MY DEMOCRACY ... NEEDS NURTURING'
Karzai thanked Clinton for expressing concern and regret, saying he hoped all civilian casualties could be prevented, and he called Pakistan his country's "neighbor, brother, friend" despite their long history of mistrust.
In an effort to demonstrate their cooperation, Zardari and Karzai signed an agreement to try to increase commerce and foreign investment in the two countries.
Zardari, who has been under fierce criticism for his response to Taliban militants who have made inroads in the Swat and Buner valleys this year, also spoke warmly toward Karzai and pleaded for support for his fledgling democracy.
"My democracy needs attention and needs nurturing," Zardari said. "Pakistani democracy will deliver, the terrorists will be defeated by our joint struggle. Me, my friend, President Karzai and the United States ... will stand shoulder to shoulder with the world to fight this cancer and this threat."
Many Pakistanis blame the United States for undermining democracy in their country for decades by supporting and funding its powerful military.
Zardari is Pakistan's first civilian leader after nearly a decade of military rule by former Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, one of several generals who have run the country since its independence from Britain in 1947.
Pakistani security forces attacked Taliban fighters in the Swat valley on Wednesday killing at least 64 of them, the Pakistani military said, after the United States called on the government to show its commitment to fighting militancy.[nISL397163]
VILLAGERS MOURN
In Afghanistan, villagers mourned relatives buried in mass graves following the U.S.-led bombing in Farah province.
People who survived the bombing of houses packed with terrified civilians told Reuters dozens from one extended family alone had died. They wept as they spoke of orphaned children and burying their loved ones' fragmented remains.
The bombings, that lasted around an hour, killed 50 members of neighbor Sayed Azam's extended family, Azam told Reuters.
"There were Taliban in the area, and fierce fighting during the day but it ended when it was dark. People thought the fighting was over when suddenly bombings began," he said.
Rohul Amin, governor of Farah province, where the bombing took place late on Monday and fighting raged into Tuesday, said he feared 100 civilians had been killed. Provincial police chief Abdul Ghafar Watandar said even more may have died. (Additional reporting by John Whitesides, Paul Eckert, Sue Pleming; Editing by Simon Denyer and Frances Kerry)
Source: Reuters
* U.S. brings Afghan, Pakistani leaders together
* Red Cross says dozens of Afghans died in U.S.-led raids
* Afghanistan, Pakistan sign deal on commerce
(Refiles to fix typo in paragraph 10)
By Sharafuddin Sharafyar and Arshad Mohammed
HERAT/WASHINGTON, May 6 (Reuters) - The United States offered its regrets on Wednesday for the deaths of Afghan civilians as it brought together the presidents of Afghanistan and Pakistan to get them to cooperate against the Taliban.
The Red Cross said dozens of Afghans died after U.S.-led airstrikes in Farah province this week while local officials said more than 100 civilians may have been killed, a figure which if confirmed would make it among the deadliest days for Afghan civilians since the fall of the Taliban in 2001.
U.S. President Barack Obama was to meet Pakistan's Asif Ali Zardari and Afghanistan's Hamid Karzai at the White House on Wednesday afternoon, amid U.S. doubts about both men's commitment and capability to tackle Taliban militants.
Civilian casualties caused by U.S. military operations in both countries, including drone strikes inside Pakistan, are deeply unpopular among Afghans and Pakistanis and have made it harder for both men to cooperate with the United States.
While the three-way talks aim to nurture cooperation between Afghanistan and Pakistan, which Taliban militants use as a base to attack Afghan targets, they have been overshadowed by U.S. concerns about nuclear-armed Pakistan's stability and by the death of civilians in Afghanistan.
"We deeply, deeply regret that loss," U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said as she began a meeting with Karzai, Zardari, their aides and top U.S. officials including the heads of the CIA and the FBI.
'MY DEMOCRACY ... NEEDS NURTURING'
Karzai thanked Clinton for expressing concern and regret, saying he hoped all civilian casualties could be prevented, and he called Pakistan his country's "neighbor, brother, friend" despite their long history of mistrust.
In an effort to demonstrate their cooperation, Zardari and Karzai signed an agreement to try to increase commerce and foreign investment in the two countries.
Zardari, who has been under fierce criticism for his response to Taliban militants who have made inroads in the Swat and Buner valleys this year, also spoke warmly toward Karzai and pleaded for support for his fledgling democracy.
"My democracy needs attention and needs nurturing," Zardari said. "Pakistani democracy will deliver, the terrorists will be defeated by our joint struggle. Me, my friend, President Karzai and the United States ... will stand shoulder to shoulder with the world to fight this cancer and this threat."
Many Pakistanis blame the United States for undermining democracy in their country for decades by supporting and funding its powerful military.
Zardari is Pakistan's first civilian leader after nearly a decade of military rule by former Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, one of several generals who have run the country since its independence from Britain in 1947.
Pakistani security forces attacked Taliban fighters in the Swat valley on Wednesday killing at least 64 of them, the Pakistani military said, after the United States called on the government to show its commitment to fighting militancy.[nISL397163]
VILLAGERS MOURN
In Afghanistan, villagers mourned relatives buried in mass graves following the U.S.-led bombing in Farah province.
People who survived the bombing of houses packed with terrified civilians told Reuters dozens from one extended family alone had died. They wept as they spoke of orphaned children and burying their loved ones' fragmented remains.
The bombings, that lasted around an hour, killed 50 members of neighbor Sayed Azam's extended family, Azam told Reuters.
"There were Taliban in the area, and fierce fighting during the day but it ended when it was dark. People thought the fighting was over when suddenly bombings began," he said.
Rohul Amin, governor of Farah province, where the bombing took place late on Monday and fighting raged into Tuesday, said he feared 100 civilians had been killed. Provincial police chief Abdul Ghafar Watandar said even more may have died. (Additional reporting by John Whitesides, Paul Eckert, Sue Pleming; Editing by Simon Denyer and Frances Kerry)
Iraqi Report on Corruption Cites Prosecutors’ Barriers
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By SAM DAGHER
Published: May 5, 2009
BAGHDAD — Iraq’s main anticorruption watchdog has no shortage of cases, as its new report makes clear: embezzlement of $80 million; tampering with government tea imports; the theft of 50 Italian-made Beretta pistols; procuring forged Ph.D.’s; and scores of other crimes.
The real problem is the difficulty of prosecuting people for corruption, which is so widespread that it has become one of the main obstacles to stability and progress in Iraq, according to Iraqi and American officials. Among the barriers, the officials say, are laws that give ministers the right to pardon offenders, as well as partisan and sectarian interference, pressure, infighting, vendettas, blackmail and death threats.
Iraq’s culture of impunity on corruption was illustrated last week when commission officials, accompanied by Iraqi soldiers, went to the Trade Ministry — itself far from the most-accused ministry on the commission’s list — to arrest nine people, including two of the minister’s brothers. They were implicated in large-scale embezzlement and fraud related to the ministry’s $5.3 billion public ration program.
A firefight erupted between the ministry’s guards, led by one of the minister’s brothers, and the force sent to make the arrests. That unit retreated after arresting only one of the people who were wanted, the minister’s spokesman.
The trade minister, Falah al-Sudani, belongs to a wing of the Shiite Dawa Party of the prime minister, Nuri Kamal al-Maliki. The ministry issued statements saying the charges were baseless and stemmed from tips by disgruntled former employees, who had been fired because they were corrupt.
The Trade Ministry controls some valuable commodities in Iraq, operates the program to provide monthly rations for all Iraqis and supervises the importing of cars. It also oversees the importing of grain, seeds and construction materials.
There were 99 corruption cases initiated last year against employees of the Trade Ministry, according to a copy of the Integrity Commission’s report that was provided to The New York Times in advance of its official release next week. That put the Trade Ministry 10th among government ministries and institutions.
Coming in first, with 736 cases, was the Interior Ministry, followed by the Municipalities and Public Works Ministry, with 400 cases, and the Justice Ministry, with 249.
Last year the commission received 5,031 complaints, of which 3,027 were referred to the courts, resulting in 97 convictions.
Some of the cases ending in conviction, as listed in the report, provide insight into the range and depth of corruption in Iraqi government institutions.
The Interior Ministry cases include stealing weapons, ammunition and vehicles, and forging passports and identification cards.
Eight members of provincial councils, including four chairmen, were sentenced to two-year prison terms in connection with fraud in public works.
There were also 317 candidates running in January’s provincial elections who presented false credentials and degrees.
An unidentified official in the Defense Ministry was sentenced in absentia to a 10-year prison term for embezzling $80 million.
Perhaps more telling were the cases dismissed in the past few years as a result of a government amnesty and a law dating to 1971 that allows ministers to grant immunity to subordinates accused of corruption. The United States is pressing the Iraqi government to repeal that law.
Last year, 1,552 corruption cases involving 2,772 officials were dismissed as a result of the amnesty. Seven of the 1,552 involved corruption worth almost $50 million at the Electricity Ministry.
Since 2005, corruption charges have been brought against five ministers, who either were acquitted or fled the country.
The commission itself, which was created in January 2004 by the American-led occupation authority, has not escaped scrutiny.
Commissioner Okaili bemoans that his own institution is riddled with corruption and cronyism. He said dozens of employees had been dismissed for falsifying their university credentials and acquiring personal vehicles and unlicensed weapons with internal funds.
Separately, Iraq’s Foreign Ministry summoned the Iranian ambassador, Hassan Kazimi Qomi, to protest a series of airstrikes Iran had made over two days on villages in Iraqi Kurdistan.
The ministry said in a statement that the strikes had caused significant material damage and wounded several villagers. The statement called for an immediate halt to the strikes.
A security official in Iraqi Kurdistan said that the strikes were aimed at Iranian Kurdish guerrillas from the Party for Free Life of Kurdistan, or P.J.A.K., operating on the Iraqi side and that they were in retaliation for an ambush against Iranian government forces.
An Iraqi employee of The New York Times contributed reporting from Iraqi Kurdistan.
By SAM DAGHER
Published: May 5, 2009
BAGHDAD — Iraq’s main anticorruption watchdog has no shortage of cases, as its new report makes clear: embezzlement of $80 million; tampering with government tea imports; the theft of 50 Italian-made Beretta pistols; procuring forged Ph.D.’s; and scores of other crimes.
The real problem is the difficulty of prosecuting people for corruption, which is so widespread that it has become one of the main obstacles to stability and progress in Iraq, according to Iraqi and American officials. Among the barriers, the officials say, are laws that give ministers the right to pardon offenders, as well as partisan and sectarian interference, pressure, infighting, vendettas, blackmail and death threats.
“The reason for the massive corruption in Iraq is the belief by the corrupt that they are shielded from prosecution by the protection afforded to them by their political parties and sects,” said Rahim al-Okaili, the commissioner of the anticorruption group, the Commission on Public Integrity.
Iraq’s culture of impunity on corruption was illustrated last week when commission officials, accompanied by Iraqi soldiers, went to the Trade Ministry — itself far from the most-accused ministry on the commission’s list — to arrest nine people, including two of the minister’s brothers. They were implicated in large-scale embezzlement and fraud related to the ministry’s $5.3 billion public ration program.
A firefight erupted between the ministry’s guards, led by one of the minister’s brothers, and the force sent to make the arrests. That unit retreated after arresting only one of the people who were wanted, the minister’s spokesman.
The trade minister, Falah al-Sudani, belongs to a wing of the Shiite Dawa Party of the prime minister, Nuri Kamal al-Maliki. The ministry issued statements saying the charges were baseless and stemmed from tips by disgruntled former employees, who had been fired because they were corrupt.
The Trade Ministry controls some valuable commodities in Iraq, operates the program to provide monthly rations for all Iraqis and supervises the importing of cars. It also oversees the importing of grain, seeds and construction materials.
There were 99 corruption cases initiated last year against employees of the Trade Ministry, according to a copy of the Integrity Commission’s report that was provided to The New York Times in advance of its official release next week. That put the Trade Ministry 10th among government ministries and institutions.
Coming in first, with 736 cases, was the Interior Ministry, followed by the Municipalities and Public Works Ministry, with 400 cases, and the Justice Ministry, with 249.
Last year the commission received 5,031 complaints, of which 3,027 were referred to the courts, resulting in 97 convictions.
Some of the cases ending in conviction, as listed in the report, provide insight into the range and depth of corruption in Iraqi government institutions.
The Interior Ministry cases include stealing weapons, ammunition and vehicles, and forging passports and identification cards.
Eight members of provincial councils, including four chairmen, were sentenced to two-year prison terms in connection with fraud in public works.
There were also 317 candidates running in January’s provincial elections who presented false credentials and degrees.
An unidentified official in the Defense Ministry was sentenced in absentia to a 10-year prison term for embezzling $80 million.
Perhaps more telling were the cases dismissed in the past few years as a result of a government amnesty and a law dating to 1971 that allows ministers to grant immunity to subordinates accused of corruption. The United States is pressing the Iraqi government to repeal that law.
Last year, 1,552 corruption cases involving 2,772 officials were dismissed as a result of the amnesty. Seven of the 1,552 involved corruption worth almost $50 million at the Electricity Ministry.
Since 2005, corruption charges have been brought against five ministers, who either were acquitted or fled the country.
The commission itself, which was created in January 2004 by the American-led occupation authority, has not escaped scrutiny.
Commissioner Okaili bemoans that his own institution is riddled with corruption and cronyism. He said dozens of employees had been dismissed for falsifying their university credentials and acquiring personal vehicles and unlicensed weapons with internal funds.
Separately, Iraq’s Foreign Ministry summoned the Iranian ambassador, Hassan Kazimi Qomi, to protest a series of airstrikes Iran had made over two days on villages in Iraqi Kurdistan.
The ministry said in a statement that the strikes had caused significant material damage and wounded several villagers. The statement called for an immediate halt to the strikes.
A security official in Iraqi Kurdistan said that the strikes were aimed at Iranian Kurdish guerrillas from the Party for Free Life of Kurdistan, or P.J.A.K., operating on the Iraqi side and that they were in retaliation for an ambush against Iranian government forces.
An Iraqi employee of The New York Times contributed reporting from Iraqi Kurdistan.
A War No Longer on Autopilot: What if Iraq Unravels?
By Tony Karon Tuesday, May. 05, 2009
Iraqi police officers of the Anbar 8th Battalion arrest a local man during their patrol in the Hurran Valley near the town of Haditha
Iraqi police officers arrest a local man during their patrol in the Hurran Valley near the town of Haditha
Ali Yussef / AFP / Getty
The signature shift in President Barack Obama's handling of the wars he inherited from the Bush Administration has been to reverse their order of priority. The campaign against the Taliban and al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan has eclipsed the stabilization of Iraq in Washington's focus, which is hardly surprising given the trend lines in the two wars. While Afghanistan and Pakistan have been sharply deteriorating, the assumption has been that Iraq is on course to a more or less acceptable outcome.
Related
Stories
* Iraq: Does al-Maliki Have Room for Human Rights?
However, in recent weeks, insurgents in Iraq have begun to challenge their relegation in the order of U.S. strategic priorities by unleashing a wave of violence reminiscent of darker times. Some 365 people were killed in political violence during April — most in bombings directed at Shi'ite communities — making it the most violent month in a year. Although there's no sign yet that these provocations will rekindle the sectarian civil war, they underscore the fragility of the security gains that have accompanied the troop surge that began in 2007, and potentially cast a shadow over the agreed timetable for U.S. withdrawal that envisages taking U.S. soldiers off the streets of Iraq's cities this summer. A spokesman for Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on Monday emphatically ruled out any extension of the redeployment and withdrawal deadlines set out in last December's Status of Forces Agreement between the U.S. and Iraq. (See pictures of post-surge life in Baghdad.)
The renewed violence has accompanied the unraveling of a vital component of the success of the surge strategy: the Sunni Awakening movement, also known by the U.S. military as the Sons of Iraq. That movement brought some 100,000 local Sunni men in towns and neighborhoods across Iraq onto the U.S. payroll, which backed them in a campaign to drive al-Qaeda out of many of Iraq's Sunni locales. Many of these Awakening fighters had previously been Sunni insurgents fighting the U.S. — and many of them had been part of the support base of Saddam Hussein's regime — but they were happy to make common cause against a mutual foe. But many of the Awakening leaders remained suspicious of the Shi'ite-dominated government of al-Maliki, and the feeling was mutual, and then some.
The limits of the Awakening strategy have become clear since last month, when the U.S. transferred responsibility for paying the fighters' salaries to the Iraqi government, which had agreed to integrate some of them into the Iraqi security forces and help integrate the rest into the Iraqi economy. But payments to the Sunni militiamen have dried up, and only 5,000 have been incorporated into the security forces. If bringing the Sunni insurgents onto the U.S. payroll undid some of the damage done by the Bush Administration's 2003 decision to summarily disband Saddam's army, reversing that decision appears to run some of the same risks. Numerous reports out of Iraq suggest that growing numbers of Awakening fighters have abandoned their posts, and that at least some have returned to the insurgent fold.
Tensions have been exacerbated by the al-Maliki government's sending troops to arrest some key Awakening leaders. U.S. forces had to intervene to assist their Iraqi counterparts when the arrest of Baghdad Awakening leader Adil al-Mashhadani — accused by the government of attempting to revive the Baath Party — sparked a protracted firefight. At the same time, Washington's efforts to promote reconciliation between the new government and the Sunni community, in which Saddam's Baath Party enjoyed significant loyalty, have produced little by way of concrete results. Instead, al-Maliki appears to be strengthening his own regime and acting to weaken and disorganize an Awakening movement he appears to regard as a potential threat.
As was the case under Saddam, the majority of Iraqis who have jobs are employed by the state, and the ability to dispense the power of patronage has helped al-Maliki secure the loyalty of key elements of the security forces and intelligence services — the critical foundation of any Arab strongman regime. Even if he were tempted to follow the U.S. strategy of buying off the Sunni insurgency, however (and right now he appears more inclined to demonstrate to them that they have been defeated), al-Maliki has a problem. Oil accounts for more than 80% of Iraq's revenues, and the fact that the global oil price has fallen by some two-thirds over the past year has punched a gaping hole in the country's budget. Deputy Prime Minister Barham Saleh noted in London on Friday that Iraq had just last month been forced to trim its national budget from about $80 billlion to about $60 billion, and even $20 billion of that lower figure was deficit spending. Iraq's economic pie is shrinking, and the sectarian and even intra-Shi'ite political competition over how it is sliced is likely to intensify sharply, at the expense of Iraq's overall security. The Arab-Kurdish tension over Kirkuk and its oil wealth adds another dimension to the same problem.
The Obama Administration may have hoped that the Bush Administration's surge left Iraq on autopilot toward an acceptable outcome, but the power struggle underlying Iraq's sectarian political violence remains unresolved. Even as the U.S. commitment to Afghanistan expands, Washington may yet find its plans to shift resources there from Iraq tested by some nasty developments in Bush's war.
Iraqi police officers of the Anbar 8th Battalion arrest a local man during their patrol in the Hurran Valley near the town of Haditha
Iraqi police officers arrest a local man during their patrol in the Hurran Valley near the town of Haditha
Ali Yussef / AFP / Getty
The signature shift in President Barack Obama's handling of the wars he inherited from the Bush Administration has been to reverse their order of priority. The campaign against the Taliban and al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan has eclipsed the stabilization of Iraq in Washington's focus, which is hardly surprising given the trend lines in the two wars. While Afghanistan and Pakistan have been sharply deteriorating, the assumption has been that Iraq is on course to a more or less acceptable outcome.
Related
Stories
* Iraq: Does al-Maliki Have Room for Human Rights?
However, in recent weeks, insurgents in Iraq have begun to challenge their relegation in the order of U.S. strategic priorities by unleashing a wave of violence reminiscent of darker times. Some 365 people were killed in political violence during April — most in bombings directed at Shi'ite communities — making it the most violent month in a year. Although there's no sign yet that these provocations will rekindle the sectarian civil war, they underscore the fragility of the security gains that have accompanied the troop surge that began in 2007, and potentially cast a shadow over the agreed timetable for U.S. withdrawal that envisages taking U.S. soldiers off the streets of Iraq's cities this summer. A spokesman for Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on Monday emphatically ruled out any extension of the redeployment and withdrawal deadlines set out in last December's Status of Forces Agreement between the U.S. and Iraq. (See pictures of post-surge life in Baghdad.)
The renewed violence has accompanied the unraveling of a vital component of the success of the surge strategy: the Sunni Awakening movement, also known by the U.S. military as the Sons of Iraq. That movement brought some 100,000 local Sunni men in towns and neighborhoods across Iraq onto the U.S. payroll, which backed them in a campaign to drive al-Qaeda out of many of Iraq's Sunni locales. Many of these Awakening fighters had previously been Sunni insurgents fighting the U.S. — and many of them had been part of the support base of Saddam Hussein's regime — but they were happy to make common cause against a mutual foe. But many of the Awakening leaders remained suspicious of the Shi'ite-dominated government of al-Maliki, and the feeling was mutual, and then some.
The limits of the Awakening strategy have become clear since last month, when the U.S. transferred responsibility for paying the fighters' salaries to the Iraqi government, which had agreed to integrate some of them into the Iraqi security forces and help integrate the rest into the Iraqi economy. But payments to the Sunni militiamen have dried up, and only 5,000 have been incorporated into the security forces. If bringing the Sunni insurgents onto the U.S. payroll undid some of the damage done by the Bush Administration's 2003 decision to summarily disband Saddam's army, reversing that decision appears to run some of the same risks. Numerous reports out of Iraq suggest that growing numbers of Awakening fighters have abandoned their posts, and that at least some have returned to the insurgent fold.
Tensions have been exacerbated by the al-Maliki government's sending troops to arrest some key Awakening leaders. U.S. forces had to intervene to assist their Iraqi counterparts when the arrest of Baghdad Awakening leader Adil al-Mashhadani — accused by the government of attempting to revive the Baath Party — sparked a protracted firefight. At the same time, Washington's efforts to promote reconciliation between the new government and the Sunni community, in which Saddam's Baath Party enjoyed significant loyalty, have produced little by way of concrete results. Instead, al-Maliki appears to be strengthening his own regime and acting to weaken and disorganize an Awakening movement he appears to regard as a potential threat.
As was the case under Saddam, the majority of Iraqis who have jobs are employed by the state, and the ability to dispense the power of patronage has helped al-Maliki secure the loyalty of key elements of the security forces and intelligence services — the critical foundation of any Arab strongman regime. Even if he were tempted to follow the U.S. strategy of buying off the Sunni insurgency, however (and right now he appears more inclined to demonstrate to them that they have been defeated), al-Maliki has a problem. Oil accounts for more than 80% of Iraq's revenues, and the fact that the global oil price has fallen by some two-thirds over the past year has punched a gaping hole in the country's budget. Deputy Prime Minister Barham Saleh noted in London on Friday that Iraq had just last month been forced to trim its national budget from about $80 billlion to about $60 billion, and even $20 billion of that lower figure was deficit spending. Iraq's economic pie is shrinking, and the sectarian and even intra-Shi'ite political competition over how it is sliced is likely to intensify sharply, at the expense of Iraq's overall security. The Arab-Kurdish tension over Kirkuk and its oil wealth adds another dimension to the same problem.
The Obama Administration may have hoped that the Bush Administration's surge left Iraq on autopilot toward an acceptable outcome, but the power struggle underlying Iraq's sectarian political violence remains unresolved. Even as the U.S. commitment to Afghanistan expands, Washington may yet find its plans to shift resources there from Iraq tested by some nasty developments in Bush's war.
Tuesday, May 05, 2009
Tigris oil spill shuts down Iraq water plants
05 May 2009 14:09:05 GMT
Source: Reuters
By Ahmed Rasheed
BAGHDAD, May 5 (Reuters) - An oil pipeline in northern Iraq has burst, spewing gallons of crude into the Tigris river and forcing Baghdad municipality to shut down three water treatment plants in the past two days, Iraqi officials said on Tuesday.
The pipeline was pumping crude from northern oil fields to Iraq's biggest refinery in Baiji, north of Baghdad, when it sprang a leak near Baiji on April 28, local oil engineers said.
"Because of the leak, crude spilled into the Tigris for a whole day. We only managed to repair the leak on April 30," one engineer said.
The engineers said the leak sprang at a joint in the aging pipeline. Rusting, corroded pipelines can be seen across Iraq, part of the legacy of years of sanctions and neglect in the country's promising, but underproducing, oil sector.
An oil slick spanning 4 km (2.5 miles) has travelled over 100 km (62 miles) down the Tigris, reaching Baghdad on Monday, officials said.
"Yesterday, we shut off a major water treatment plant supplying the Karkh (western) side of Baghdad to avoid contaminating our drinking water with oil," said Hakim Abdul Zahra, a spokesman for Baghdad municipality.
While officials had restarted the plant later in the day, two other water treatment plants in eastern Baghdad were shut. They have not yet reopened, Abdul Zahra said.
This is not the first time a pipeline problem has spilled oil into one of Iraq's two main waterways. In September 2007, Iraq's northern export pipeline to Turkey was damaged by a bomb blast that sprayed crude into the Tigris.
Iraq, which has the world's third largest oil reserves, is courting some of the world's biggest oil companies for major contracts to develop oil fields and update aging equipment. (Writing by Tim Cocks; Editing by Janet Lawrence)
Source: Reuters
By Ahmed Rasheed
BAGHDAD, May 5 (Reuters) - An oil pipeline in northern Iraq has burst, spewing gallons of crude into the Tigris river and forcing Baghdad municipality to shut down three water treatment plants in the past two days, Iraqi officials said on Tuesday.
The pipeline was pumping crude from northern oil fields to Iraq's biggest refinery in Baiji, north of Baghdad, when it sprang a leak near Baiji on April 28, local oil engineers said.
"Because of the leak, crude spilled into the Tigris for a whole day. We only managed to repair the leak on April 30," one engineer said.
The engineers said the leak sprang at a joint in the aging pipeline. Rusting, corroded pipelines can be seen across Iraq, part of the legacy of years of sanctions and neglect in the country's promising, but underproducing, oil sector.
An oil slick spanning 4 km (2.5 miles) has travelled over 100 km (62 miles) down the Tigris, reaching Baghdad on Monday, officials said.
"Yesterday, we shut off a major water treatment plant supplying the Karkh (western) side of Baghdad to avoid contaminating our drinking water with oil," said Hakim Abdul Zahra, a spokesman for Baghdad municipality.
While officials had restarted the plant later in the day, two other water treatment plants in eastern Baghdad were shut. They have not yet reopened, Abdul Zahra said.
This is not the first time a pipeline problem has spilled oil into one of Iraq's two main waterways. In September 2007, Iraq's northern export pipeline to Turkey was damaged by a bomb blast that sprayed crude into the Tigris.
Iraq, which has the world's third largest oil reserves, is courting some of the world's biggest oil companies for major contracts to develop oil fields and update aging equipment. (Writing by Tim Cocks; Editing by Janet Lawrence)
Dark days for AIPAC in US!
AIPAC which stands for American Israeli Public Affair Committee is having its annual conference which will be attended by 6000 pro-Israeli politicians, business men and lobbyists. This year, is a very critical year for Israel; since George W. Bush has gone, the current economic crisis is blamed mostly on Jewish-controlled institutions, Jewish-promoted Iraq war is not popular, Israeli atrocities in Gaza made the European countries put pressure on Israel and the election of terrorist Netanyahu to lead the government. Furthermore, AIPAC has been involved in espionage (e.g. Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman), shuts down debates and intimidation of critics (e.g. Tony Judt) and threatening the US national security (Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer, 2008). In manipulated US democracy AIPAC spend close to $58 million on the election of Jewish/Zionist politicians. Right now, there are 30 Jewish members out 435 in the house and 13 senators out of 100. This year AIPAC conference will be attended by Shimon Peres and addresses via satellite from Tel Aviv by no other than terrorist Netanyahu. Just like before the war on Iraq, the Jewish-controlled US media has been drumming up a war on Iran. Taking into consideration the present US economic meltdown and the American disaster in Iraq, Obama will refuse to be led from the nose by AIPAC in order to fighting another Jewish war, this time on Iran. For the first time in AIPAC history there is a growing criticism of Israel and the US Jewish lobby activities particularly among US intellectuals and academicians.
Adnan Darwash, Iraq Occupation Times
Adnan Darwash, Iraq Occupation Times
Residents flee Pakistan's Swat after warning
05 May 2009 11:07:28 GMT
Source: Reuters
* Controversial peace pact near collapse
* Residents flee town though warning withdrawn
* Zardari to meet Obama, Karzai
By Junaid Khan
MINGORA, Pakistan, May 5 (Reuters) - Hundreds of people fled from the main town in Pakistan's Swat valley on Tuesday after a government official urged residents in some neighbourhoods to seek safety as fresh fighting with Taliban militants could erupt.
A February peace pact aimed at ending Taliban violence in the Swat valley northwest of the capital has all but collapsed as the government comes under U.S. pressure to get tough with the militants rather than appease them.
President Asif Ali Zardari, former prime minister Benazir Bhutto's widower, is due to meet U.S. President Barack Obama and Afghan President Hamid Karzai in Washington on Wednesday for talks on the growing militant threat in the region. [ID:nN04433219]
The top government official in Swat, Khushal Khan Khattak, said militants had infiltrated five districts of Mingora, the main town in Swat, and begun attacking security forces and government installations.
He said security forces could soon attack the militants and urged people to get out of harm's way. But he later said the fear of fighting had passed and people could stay home, while the army said it was in control of the town.
That did not reassure the people cramming into and on top of buses to get out of Mingora, 130 km (80 miles) from Islamabad.
"I'm taking my family to Peshawar because if there's any fighting, no one can protect us," said Mohammad Karim, as he searched for a bus heading out of the valley to Peshawar, the main city in the northwest.
Some residents estimated thousands were fleeing.
Increasing violence and the Taliban's spread have raised alarm in the United States about the ability of the nuclear-armed country, whose help is vital in efforts to stabilise Afghanistan, to stand up to the militants.
Residents of Mingora said earlier militants had surrounded a paramilitary force base at a power station in the town and others had taken up positions on buildings and were patrolling streets.
"CIVILIAN SHIELD"
The military said in a statement security forces had beaten back an attack on the camp but a senior military official in the region said an operation might be launched to rescue 46 paramilitary soldiers besieged there.
"We're acting with restraint because they're using civilians as a shield but we'll go after them if the situation gets worse," said the military official, who declined to be identified.
Pakistani stocks <.KSE> ended up but off the day's highs as investors remained cautious amid mounting expectation the military would step up its operations against the militants. [ID:nISL80931]
"The market is jittery due to the worsening situation in Swat and surrounding areas," said Sajid Bhani, a dealer at brokers Arif Habib Ltd.
The February peace pact, under which authorities agreed to a Taliban demand for introduction of Islamic sharia law in the former tourist valley, led to accusations from critics both at home and abroad that the government was caving in to militancy.
The Taliban refused to give up their guns and pushed into Buner district, only 100 km (60 miles) northwest of Islamabad, and another district adjacent to Swat last month, intent on spreading their rule.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last month accused Islamabad of abdicating to the Taliban while Obama expressed grave concern the government was "very fragile" and unable to deliver basic services.
Amid the mounting concern, security forces launched an offensive to expel militants from Buner and another district on April 26. About 180 militants have been killed, according to the military, although there has been no independent confirmation.
The operation in Buner was going smoothly and troops were consolidating their positions, the military said.
At this week's Washington talks, Zardari is expected to do his utmost to convince Obama the government is on the right track and needs help. Obama will present Zardari and Karzai with his strategy for defeating al Qaeda.
Swat is not on the Afghan border. Even so Western countries with troops in Afghanistan fear the area could turn into a bastion for militants fighting in both Afghanistan and Pakistan. (For other stories on Pakistan click on [ID:nSP102615]) (Additional reporting by Kamran Haider; Editing by Robert Birsel and Jerry Norton)
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FACTBOX-Facts about conflict in Pakistan's Swat
05 May 2009 10:09:06 GMT
Source: Reuters
(For the main story, click on [ID:nISL504647])
May 5 (Reuters) - Pakistani authorities urged people on Tuesday in the Swat Valley's main town to leave their homes for safer places as security forces could soon launch an offensive against Taliban militants there.
A February peace pact aimed at ending Taliban violence in the Swat valley northwest of the capital has all but collapsed as the government comes under U.S. pressure to get tough with the militants rather than appease them.
President Asif Ali Zardari, widower of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, is due to meet U.S. President Barack Obama and Afghan President Hamid Karzai in Washington on Wednesday for talks on the growing militant threat in the region, and Swat is likely to be a topic.
Here are some facts about Swat and the insurgency there.
* Swat, about 130 km (80 miles) northwest of Islamabad, is not on the Afghan border. Nevertheless Western countries with troops in Afghanistan fear the area could turn into a bastion for militants fighting in both Afghanistan and Pakistan.
* Islamist militancy emerged in Swat, an alpine beauty spot and former tourist favourite, in the 1990s when cleric Sufi Mohammad took up arms to impose sharia law in Swat and neighbouring areas of the Malakand region.
* Mohammad was arrested after he returned to Pakistan having led thousands of fighters to Afghanistan in 2001 in a vain attempt to help the Taliban resist U.S.-backed forces.
* Pakistani authorities released him in 2008 in a bid to defuse another uprising, led by his son-in-law cleric Fazlullah, who has ties with other Pakistani Taliban factions and al Qaeda.
* Fazlullah called his men to arms after a military assault on the Red Mosque in Islamabad in mid-2007 to put down an armed movement seeking to impose Islamic law. Fazlullah used illegal FM radio to propagate his message and became known as Mullah Radio.
* The army deployed troops in Swat in October 2007 and used artillery and gunship helicopters to reassert control. But insecurity mounted after a civilian government came to power last year and tried to reach a negotiated settlement.
* A peace accord fell apart in May 2008. After that hundreds, including soldiers, militants and civilians, died in battles.
* Militants unleashed a reign of terror, killing and beheading politicians, singers, soldiers and opponents. They banned female education and destroyed nearly 200 girls' schools.
* About 1,200 people were killed since late 2007 and 250,000 to 500,000 fled, leaving the militants in virtual control.
* Pakistan offered on Feb. 16 to introduce Islamic law in the Swat valley and neighbouring areas in a bid to take the steam out of the insurgency. The militants announced an indefinite ceasefire after the army said it was halting operations in the region. President Asif Ali Zardari signed a regulation imposing sharia in the area last month.
* But the Taliban refused to give up their guns and pushed into Buner, only 100 km (60 miles) northwest of Islamabad, and another district adjacent to Swat, intent on spreading their rule.
* Amid mounting concern at home and abroad, security forces launched an offensive to expel militants from Buner and another district near Swat on April 26.
* A Taliban spokesman said on Monday the peace pact would end unless the government halted its offensive. (Editing by Robert Birsel and Jerry Norton)
-----
05 May 2009 09:37:31 GMT
Source: Reuters
(For a related story, click on [ID:nISL504647])
By Zeeshan Haider
ISLAMABAD, May 5 (Reuters) - Pakistani authorities urged people on Tuesday in the Swat Valley's main town to leave their homes for safer places as security forces could soon launch an offensive against Taliban militants there.
A February peace pact aimed at ending Taliban violence in the Swat valley northwest of the capital has all but collapsed as nuclear-armed Pakistan comes under U.S. pressure to get tough with the militants rather than appease them.
President Asif Ali Zardari, widower of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, is due to meet U.S. President Barack Obama and Afghan President Hamid Karzai in Washington on Wednesday for talks on the growing militant threat in the region.
Here are some questions and answers about the issues in Swat and the surrounding region.
WHAT IS AT STAKE?
From Swat the militants had moved into neighbouring Buner area, just 100 km (60 miles) northwest of Islamabad. Failure to stem the Taliban's creeping advance from enclaves in ethnic Pashtun tribal areas on the Afghan border sparked worry among both Pakistanis and Western allies that militants were close to the gateways to Islamabad.
A military spokesman said a few hundred militants in the mountains never posed a real threat to the capital. But some security analysts said the guerrillas could have used Buner as a jumping-off point to strike at Tarbela, a dam that provides water and electricity to much of the country. The militants had also moved closer to a road running north to China.
Before the military offensive in Buner, Western allies, who need Pakistani help to defeat al Qaeda and stabilise Afghanistan, worried the government seemed too willing to appease militants.
While Swat, about 130 km (80 miles) northwest of Islamabad, is not on the Afghan border, Western countries with troops in Afghanistan fear the area could become a bastion for militants fighting in both Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Obama said last week he was confident about the security of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal but the New York Times reported growing U.S. concern militants might try to snatch a weapon in transit or insert sympathisers into laboratories or fuel-production facilities.
ARE THE MILITARY ACTIONS A RESPONSE TO U.S. PRESSURE?
The military moves in Buner and subsequent actions in Swat itself came on the heels of a visit to Islamabad by Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, who may have played a role in persuading the weak civilian-led government to act, and before the talks in Washington where Zardari is likely to press for more U.S. military and economic aid.
Washington is considering rushing hundreds of millions of dollars in emergency aid, the U.S. Senate's second-ranking Republican, Jon Kyl of Arizona, told reporters.
U.S. officials have applauded the military action in Buner and urged the Pakistan military to keep the Taliban on the run.
Army chief General Ashfaq Kayani has said the military halted its operations in Swat early last year in order to give politicians space to negotiate, but added the army would not allow militants to impose their will on the country.
Kayani has to counter a general perception the army, whose main focus has been a perceived threat from old rival India, is demoralised and reluctant to fight Pakistani Muslims in Swat, although security forces defeated the Taliban in the Bajaur tribal area on the Afghan border in March.
WHAT WAS BEHIND THE SWAT PEACE DEAL?
Many people from Swat were caught up in the siege of Islamabad's Red Mosque in July 2007, which commandos stormed to put down a militant movement, resulting in at least 100 deaths.
Violence flared in Swat later that year, and while military operations pushed the Taliban back, they regrouped as soon as the army relented to allow politicians space to negotiate a peace.
The North West Frontier Province government led by the Awami National Party (ANP), an ethnic Pashtun party allied to Zardari, struck a deal with a radical cleric in February to impose sharia law in the hope of ending violence.
Zardari sanctioned the imposition of Islamic law in Malakand after parliament passed a resolution last month. Days later, Taliban fighters entered Buner and nearby Shangla district, raising alarm at home and in the West.
Aides say Zardari was reluctant to sign the deal and referred the issue to the parliament after the ANP threatened to leave the federal coalition government. (For other stories on Pakistan and Afghanistan click on [ID:nSP102615) (Editing by Robert Birsel and Jerry Norton)
----
05 May 2009 11:41:16 GMT
Source: Reuters
(Repeats to fix story cross-reference with no changes in text)
(For the main story, click on [ID:nN04433219])
By Jerry Norton
ISLAMABAD, May 5 (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama presents his strategy for defeating al Qaeda to the leaders of Afghanistan and Pakistan on Wednesday as U.S. concern grows it is losing the Afghan war and neither country is a reliable ally.
The White House meetings with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Afghan President Hamid Karzai will be Obama's first face-to-face sessions with the two men.
Central to U.S. concerns are the activity of al Qaeda and its leader, Osama bin Laden, held responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, and of the hard-line Islamist Taliban who give al Qaeda shelter and support.
Just a week ago Obama said "it is my job to make sure that bin Laden and his cronies are not able to create a safe haven with which they can kill another 3,000 Americans or more".
But preventing another attack on U.S. soil is not simply a matter of pouring more troops into Afghanistan, nor is that the only concern of the United States in the region. Here are some other considerations.
WHAT ABOUT THE NEIGHBOURS?
India and China have their own problems with Islamic militants they do not want supported from Afghanistan and Pakistan, with whom they share common borders. India or China might be tempted to act if U.S. leadership is ineffective in controlling the situation. So might Shi'ite Muslim Iran, which has its own differences with the militantly Sunni al Qaeda, and is unhappy over a domestic drug problem linked to supplies from Afghanistan. Russia is also worried about the flow of drugs and militancy from the region. Washington does not want Afghanistan and Pakistan as bases for trouble in the wider region, or give others an excuse for intervention.
HOW DOES PAKISTAN FIGURE IN THE AFGHANISTAN WAR?
The U.S.-led invasion in 2001 threw the Taliban out of Kabul and forced their and al Qaeda's remnants into the most remote and rugged parts of Afghanistan and the Pakistan border region. But the United States then turned its attention to Iraq. The forces devoted to Afghanistan not only failed to finish off the militants but could not stop their resurgence. Violence in Afghanistan is at its highest levels since the Taliban were driven from power. The insurgents' ability to rest and regroup in Pakistan has been an important factor in their rebound.
WHAT DOES THE U.S. WANT FROM PAKISTAN?
The United States wants Pakistan to crack down hard on al Qaeda and Afghan Taliban sheltering in the border areas. It is also concerned about growing violence within Pakistan against the government. Indigenous Pakistani Taliban effectively control the Swat valley, and last month moved into the neighbouring Buner area, just 100 km (60 miles) northwest of Islamabad. While the military has since been pushing them back, its past offensives have been followed by peace deals allowing the militants to rearm and increase their strength. They have been able to pull off suicide and other attacks across Pakistan, raising fear about government stability. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has accused Islamabad of abdicating to the Taliban by agreeing to Islamic law in Swat and Obama has expressed concern the government is "very fragile".
IS THE U.S. WORRIED ABOUT PAKISTAN'S NUCLEAR WEAPONS?
If one believes the public words of Obama and top U.S. military officer Admiral Mike Mullen, no. Within the last week, for example, Obama said: "I'm confident that we can make sure Pakistan's nuclear arsenal is secure". But other U.S. officials have been quoted anonymously as being less optimistic. The New York Times has reported growing U.S. concern militants might try to snatch a weapon in transit or insert sympathisers into laboratories or fuel-production facilities, especially given what some call Pakistan's "creeping Talibanisation". For its part, Islamabad insists the weapons are safe.
WHY ELSE ARE AFGHANISTAN AND PAKISTAN IMPORTANT?
Afghanistan produces 90 percent of the world's opium, and Clinton said it had become a "narco state" in her confirmation hearings. Much of the output comes from Taliban-controlled areas.
Much of the material for U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan is unloaded in Pakistan's main port of Karachi and transported by land into Afghanistan. Increase militancy and political turbulence in Pakistan threaten those supplies.
Given peace and security, Pakistan and Afghanistan have the potential to be an "energy corridor" with pipelines carrying natural gas from the Middle East and Central Asia to the growing economies of India, China and other Asian countries. (For related stories click on [ID:nSP102615]) (Editing by Robert Birsel)
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06 May 2009 12:00:17 GMT
Source: Reuters
(Repeats with no change in text)
* Meetings part of Obama's strategy to defeat al Qaeda
* Obama to urge all to work together for mutual benefit
* Sessions could produce accord on policing, border issues
By David Alexander
WASHINGTON, May 6 (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama will urge the leaders of Pakistan and Afghanistan to put aside a history of mistrust and join Washington in an alliance against Islamic extremists at a White House meeting on Wednesday, senior administration officials said.
Offering billions of dollars in U.S. military and civilian aid, Obama will warn that al Qaeda and its Taliban allies pose an existential threat and press Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Afghan President Hamid Karzai to toughen their response, the officials said.
"He's going to make the obvious general points that have to be said and carry such enormous weight when they are said by the president of the United States -- that these two countries have to work together for their mutual benefit, despite their history, despite the suspicions," said one official.
The White House gathering, part of Obama's new strategy for the U.S. war against al Qaeda, could produce specific agreements for cooperation on policing and border issues, the officials said.
Meetings between the three delegations begin on Wednesday morning at the State Department and continue in the afternoon with heads of government sessions at the White House. Obama will hold separate meetings with each of the leaders as well as a joint session.
Meetings continue on Thursday, with many U.S. Cabinet officials -- including interior, intelligence and agriculture -- hosting their counterparts in what one official described as an "exceedingly intensive" U.S. government involvement with Afghan and Pakistani leaders.
"Our goal is to get the two countries to work more closely together. You can't succeed in this war given the geography unless they cooperate," the official said.
"We'd like an alliance with these two countries against this kind of (extremist) threat," another official said. "It's very simple ... but quite profound."
The gathering comes as the United States is pressing Zardari to deal more aggressively with the threat from the Taliban, whose movement into the Buner valley 60 miles (97 km) northwest of Islamabad prompted a military offensive to eject them.
"Pakistan must demonstrate its commitment to rooting out al Qaeda and the violent extremists within its borders," Richard Holbrooke, the U.S. special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, said on Tuesday in prepared congressional testimony.
The Taliban was driven out of Afghanistan, where it once hosted al Qaeda, by the United States and its allies after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
The group, once nurtured by Pakistan's military and intelligence services, moved into the lawless region along Pakistan's frontier and his been expanding its influence in that country as well as in Afghanistan.
NUCLEAR ARSENAL SAFE?
The United States has been pressing Pakistan to adopt a counterinsurgency approach combining both military and civilian efforts to weaken Taliban influence. That would require Pakistan to shift military focus away from its traditional enemy India.
Obama has urged the U.S. Congress to provide $1.5 billion annually for five years to help Pakistan develop roads, schools, clinics and other civilian infrastructure.
The Taliban advance toward Islamabad has alarmed U.S. officials and raised concerns about the security of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal, but Zardari said on Tuesday the atomic weapons were safe.
U.S. forces have used drone aircraft against suspected al Qaeda leaders in Pakistan, but the attacks often kill civilians and many Pakistanis are angry the Obama administration continues to use them.
"I will request the president of the United States to give it a thought that we own them (drones), then we take out our targets rather than somebody else coming and do it for us," Zardari told CNN.
U.S. officials have criticized Zardari for the weakness of his government and have met with his political opponents. But Holbrooke sent an unambiguous signal of support for the president, the widower of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto who was assassinated in 2007.
"We have the highest strategic interests in supporting this government," Holbrooke said in his congressional testimony. "Our goal must be unambiguously to support and help stabilize a democratic Pakistan headed by its elected president, Asif Ali Zardari," he said.
(Editing by Vicki Allen)
Source: Reuters
* Controversial peace pact near collapse
* Residents flee town though warning withdrawn
* Zardari to meet Obama, Karzai
By Junaid Khan
MINGORA, Pakistan, May 5 (Reuters) - Hundreds of people fled from the main town in Pakistan's Swat valley on Tuesday after a government official urged residents in some neighbourhoods to seek safety as fresh fighting with Taliban militants could erupt.
A February peace pact aimed at ending Taliban violence in the Swat valley northwest of the capital has all but collapsed as the government comes under U.S. pressure to get tough with the militants rather than appease them.
President Asif Ali Zardari, former prime minister Benazir Bhutto's widower, is due to meet U.S. President Barack Obama and Afghan President Hamid Karzai in Washington on Wednesday for talks on the growing militant threat in the region. [ID:nN04433219]
The top government official in Swat, Khushal Khan Khattak, said militants had infiltrated five districts of Mingora, the main town in Swat, and begun attacking security forces and government installations.
He said security forces could soon attack the militants and urged people to get out of harm's way. But he later said the fear of fighting had passed and people could stay home, while the army said it was in control of the town.
That did not reassure the people cramming into and on top of buses to get out of Mingora, 130 km (80 miles) from Islamabad.
"I'm taking my family to Peshawar because if there's any fighting, no one can protect us," said Mohammad Karim, as he searched for a bus heading out of the valley to Peshawar, the main city in the northwest.
Some residents estimated thousands were fleeing.
Increasing violence and the Taliban's spread have raised alarm in the United States about the ability of the nuclear-armed country, whose help is vital in efforts to stabilise Afghanistan, to stand up to the militants.
Residents of Mingora said earlier militants had surrounded a paramilitary force base at a power station in the town and others had taken up positions on buildings and were patrolling streets.
"CIVILIAN SHIELD"
The military said in a statement security forces had beaten back an attack on the camp but a senior military official in the region said an operation might be launched to rescue 46 paramilitary soldiers besieged there.
"We're acting with restraint because they're using civilians as a shield but we'll go after them if the situation gets worse," said the military official, who declined to be identified.
Pakistani stocks <.KSE> ended up but off the day's highs as investors remained cautious amid mounting expectation the military would step up its operations against the militants. [ID:nISL80931]
"The market is jittery due to the worsening situation in Swat and surrounding areas," said Sajid Bhani, a dealer at brokers Arif Habib Ltd.
The February peace pact, under which authorities agreed to a Taliban demand for introduction of Islamic sharia law in the former tourist valley, led to accusations from critics both at home and abroad that the government was caving in to militancy.
The Taliban refused to give up their guns and pushed into Buner district, only 100 km (60 miles) northwest of Islamabad, and another district adjacent to Swat last month, intent on spreading their rule.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last month accused Islamabad of abdicating to the Taliban while Obama expressed grave concern the government was "very fragile" and unable to deliver basic services.
Amid the mounting concern, security forces launched an offensive to expel militants from Buner and another district on April 26. About 180 militants have been killed, according to the military, although there has been no independent confirmation.
The operation in Buner was going smoothly and troops were consolidating their positions, the military said.
At this week's Washington talks, Zardari is expected to do his utmost to convince Obama the government is on the right track and needs help. Obama will present Zardari and Karzai with his strategy for defeating al Qaeda.
Swat is not on the Afghan border. Even so Western countries with troops in Afghanistan fear the area could turn into a bastion for militants fighting in both Afghanistan and Pakistan. (For other stories on Pakistan click on [ID:nSP102615]) (Additional reporting by Kamran Haider; Editing by Robert Birsel and Jerry Norton)
----
FACTBOX-Facts about conflict in Pakistan's Swat
05 May 2009 10:09:06 GMT
Source: Reuters
(For the main story, click on [ID:nISL504647])
May 5 (Reuters) - Pakistani authorities urged people on Tuesday in the Swat Valley's main town to leave their homes for safer places as security forces could soon launch an offensive against Taliban militants there.
A February peace pact aimed at ending Taliban violence in the Swat valley northwest of the capital has all but collapsed as the government comes under U.S. pressure to get tough with the militants rather than appease them.
President Asif Ali Zardari, widower of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, is due to meet U.S. President Barack Obama and Afghan President Hamid Karzai in Washington on Wednesday for talks on the growing militant threat in the region, and Swat is likely to be a topic.
Here are some facts about Swat and the insurgency there.
* Swat, about 130 km (80 miles) northwest of Islamabad, is not on the Afghan border. Nevertheless Western countries with troops in Afghanistan fear the area could turn into a bastion for militants fighting in both Afghanistan and Pakistan.
* Islamist militancy emerged in Swat, an alpine beauty spot and former tourist favourite, in the 1990s when cleric Sufi Mohammad took up arms to impose sharia law in Swat and neighbouring areas of the Malakand region.
* Mohammad was arrested after he returned to Pakistan having led thousands of fighters to Afghanistan in 2001 in a vain attempt to help the Taliban resist U.S.-backed forces.
* Pakistani authorities released him in 2008 in a bid to defuse another uprising, led by his son-in-law cleric Fazlullah, who has ties with other Pakistani Taliban factions and al Qaeda.
* Fazlullah called his men to arms after a military assault on the Red Mosque in Islamabad in mid-2007 to put down an armed movement seeking to impose Islamic law. Fazlullah used illegal FM radio to propagate his message and became known as Mullah Radio.
* The army deployed troops in Swat in October 2007 and used artillery and gunship helicopters to reassert control. But insecurity mounted after a civilian government came to power last year and tried to reach a negotiated settlement.
* A peace accord fell apart in May 2008. After that hundreds, including soldiers, militants and civilians, died in battles.
* Militants unleashed a reign of terror, killing and beheading politicians, singers, soldiers and opponents. They banned female education and destroyed nearly 200 girls' schools.
* About 1,200 people were killed since late 2007 and 250,000 to 500,000 fled, leaving the militants in virtual control.
* Pakistan offered on Feb. 16 to introduce Islamic law in the Swat valley and neighbouring areas in a bid to take the steam out of the insurgency. The militants announced an indefinite ceasefire after the army said it was halting operations in the region. President Asif Ali Zardari signed a regulation imposing sharia in the area last month.
* But the Taliban refused to give up their guns and pushed into Buner, only 100 km (60 miles) northwest of Islamabad, and another district adjacent to Swat, intent on spreading their rule.
* Amid mounting concern at home and abroad, security forces launched an offensive to expel militants from Buner and another district near Swat on April 26.
* A Taliban spokesman said on Monday the peace pact would end unless the government halted its offensive. (Editing by Robert Birsel and Jerry Norton)
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Q+A-What is Pakistan doing about the Taliban threat?
05 May 2009 09:37:31 GMT
Source: Reuters
(For a related story, click on [ID:nISL504647])
By Zeeshan Haider
ISLAMABAD, May 5 (Reuters) - Pakistani authorities urged people on Tuesday in the Swat Valley's main town to leave their homes for safer places as security forces could soon launch an offensive against Taliban militants there.
A February peace pact aimed at ending Taliban violence in the Swat valley northwest of the capital has all but collapsed as nuclear-armed Pakistan comes under U.S. pressure to get tough with the militants rather than appease them.
President Asif Ali Zardari, widower of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, is due to meet U.S. President Barack Obama and Afghan President Hamid Karzai in Washington on Wednesday for talks on the growing militant threat in the region.
Here are some questions and answers about the issues in Swat and the surrounding region.
WHAT IS AT STAKE?
From Swat the militants had moved into neighbouring Buner area, just 100 km (60 miles) northwest of Islamabad. Failure to stem the Taliban's creeping advance from enclaves in ethnic Pashtun tribal areas on the Afghan border sparked worry among both Pakistanis and Western allies that militants were close to the gateways to Islamabad.
A military spokesman said a few hundred militants in the mountains never posed a real threat to the capital. But some security analysts said the guerrillas could have used Buner as a jumping-off point to strike at Tarbela, a dam that provides water and electricity to much of the country. The militants had also moved closer to a road running north to China.
Before the military offensive in Buner, Western allies, who need Pakistani help to defeat al Qaeda and stabilise Afghanistan, worried the government seemed too willing to appease militants.
While Swat, about 130 km (80 miles) northwest of Islamabad, is not on the Afghan border, Western countries with troops in Afghanistan fear the area could become a bastion for militants fighting in both Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Obama said last week he was confident about the security of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal but the New York Times reported growing U.S. concern militants might try to snatch a weapon in transit or insert sympathisers into laboratories or fuel-production facilities.
ARE THE MILITARY ACTIONS A RESPONSE TO U.S. PRESSURE?
The military moves in Buner and subsequent actions in Swat itself came on the heels of a visit to Islamabad by Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, who may have played a role in persuading the weak civilian-led government to act, and before the talks in Washington where Zardari is likely to press for more U.S. military and economic aid.
Washington is considering rushing hundreds of millions of dollars in emergency aid, the U.S. Senate's second-ranking Republican, Jon Kyl of Arizona, told reporters.
U.S. officials have applauded the military action in Buner and urged the Pakistan military to keep the Taliban on the run.
Army chief General Ashfaq Kayani has said the military halted its operations in Swat early last year in order to give politicians space to negotiate, but added the army would not allow militants to impose their will on the country.
Kayani has to counter a general perception the army, whose main focus has been a perceived threat from old rival India, is demoralised and reluctant to fight Pakistani Muslims in Swat, although security forces defeated the Taliban in the Bajaur tribal area on the Afghan border in March.
WHAT WAS BEHIND THE SWAT PEACE DEAL?
Many people from Swat were caught up in the siege of Islamabad's Red Mosque in July 2007, which commandos stormed to put down a militant movement, resulting in at least 100 deaths.
Violence flared in Swat later that year, and while military operations pushed the Taliban back, they regrouped as soon as the army relented to allow politicians space to negotiate a peace.
The North West Frontier Province government led by the Awami National Party (ANP), an ethnic Pashtun party allied to Zardari, struck a deal with a radical cleric in February to impose sharia law in the hope of ending violence.
Zardari sanctioned the imposition of Islamic law in Malakand after parliament passed a resolution last month. Days later, Taliban fighters entered Buner and nearby Shangla district, raising alarm at home and in the West.
Aides say Zardari was reluctant to sign the deal and referred the issue to the parliament after the ANP threatened to leave the federal coalition government. (For other stories on Pakistan and Afghanistan click on [ID:nSP102615) (Editing by Robert Birsel and Jerry Norton)
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RPT-Q+A-Why the Obama attention on Afghanistan and Pakistan?
05 May 2009 11:41:16 GMT
Source: Reuters
(Repeats to fix story cross-reference with no changes in text)
(For the main story, click on [ID:nN04433219])
By Jerry Norton
ISLAMABAD, May 5 (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama presents his strategy for defeating al Qaeda to the leaders of Afghanistan and Pakistan on Wednesday as U.S. concern grows it is losing the Afghan war and neither country is a reliable ally.
The White House meetings with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Afghan President Hamid Karzai will be Obama's first face-to-face sessions with the two men.
Central to U.S. concerns are the activity of al Qaeda and its leader, Osama bin Laden, held responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, and of the hard-line Islamist Taliban who give al Qaeda shelter and support.
Just a week ago Obama said "it is my job to make sure that bin Laden and his cronies are not able to create a safe haven with which they can kill another 3,000 Americans or more".
But preventing another attack on U.S. soil is not simply a matter of pouring more troops into Afghanistan, nor is that the only concern of the United States in the region. Here are some other considerations.
WHAT ABOUT THE NEIGHBOURS?
India and China have their own problems with Islamic militants they do not want supported from Afghanistan and Pakistan, with whom they share common borders. India or China might be tempted to act if U.S. leadership is ineffective in controlling the situation. So might Shi'ite Muslim Iran, which has its own differences with the militantly Sunni al Qaeda, and is unhappy over a domestic drug problem linked to supplies from Afghanistan. Russia is also worried about the flow of drugs and militancy from the region. Washington does not want Afghanistan and Pakistan as bases for trouble in the wider region, or give others an excuse for intervention.
HOW DOES PAKISTAN FIGURE IN THE AFGHANISTAN WAR?
The U.S.-led invasion in 2001 threw the Taliban out of Kabul and forced their and al Qaeda's remnants into the most remote and rugged parts of Afghanistan and the Pakistan border region. But the United States then turned its attention to Iraq. The forces devoted to Afghanistan not only failed to finish off the militants but could not stop their resurgence. Violence in Afghanistan is at its highest levels since the Taliban were driven from power. The insurgents' ability to rest and regroup in Pakistan has been an important factor in their rebound.
WHAT DOES THE U.S. WANT FROM PAKISTAN?
The United States wants Pakistan to crack down hard on al Qaeda and Afghan Taliban sheltering in the border areas. It is also concerned about growing violence within Pakistan against the government. Indigenous Pakistani Taliban effectively control the Swat valley, and last month moved into the neighbouring Buner area, just 100 km (60 miles) northwest of Islamabad. While the military has since been pushing them back, its past offensives have been followed by peace deals allowing the militants to rearm and increase their strength. They have been able to pull off suicide and other attacks across Pakistan, raising fear about government stability. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has accused Islamabad of abdicating to the Taliban by agreeing to Islamic law in Swat and Obama has expressed concern the government is "very fragile".
IS THE U.S. WORRIED ABOUT PAKISTAN'S NUCLEAR WEAPONS?
If one believes the public words of Obama and top U.S. military officer Admiral Mike Mullen, no. Within the last week, for example, Obama said: "I'm confident that we can make sure Pakistan's nuclear arsenal is secure". But other U.S. officials have been quoted anonymously as being less optimistic. The New York Times has reported growing U.S. concern militants might try to snatch a weapon in transit or insert sympathisers into laboratories or fuel-production facilities, especially given what some call Pakistan's "creeping Talibanisation". For its part, Islamabad insists the weapons are safe.
WHY ELSE ARE AFGHANISTAN AND PAKISTAN IMPORTANT?
Afghanistan produces 90 percent of the world's opium, and Clinton said it had become a "narco state" in her confirmation hearings. Much of the output comes from Taliban-controlled areas.
Much of the material for U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan is unloaded in Pakistan's main port of Karachi and transported by land into Afghanistan. Increase militancy and political turbulence in Pakistan threaten those supplies.
Given peace and security, Pakistan and Afghanistan have the potential to be an "energy corridor" with pipelines carrying natural gas from the Middle East and Central Asia to the growing economies of India, China and other Asian countries. (For related stories click on [ID:nSP102615]) (Editing by Robert Birsel)
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Obama wants alliance with Afghan, Pakistan heads
06 May 2009 12:00:17 GMT
Source: Reuters
(Repeats with no change in text)
* Meetings part of Obama's strategy to defeat al Qaeda
* Obama to urge all to work together for mutual benefit
* Sessions could produce accord on policing, border issues
By David Alexander
WASHINGTON, May 6 (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama will urge the leaders of Pakistan and Afghanistan to put aside a history of mistrust and join Washington in an alliance against Islamic extremists at a White House meeting on Wednesday, senior administration officials said.
Offering billions of dollars in U.S. military and civilian aid, Obama will warn that al Qaeda and its Taliban allies pose an existential threat and press Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Afghan President Hamid Karzai to toughen their response, the officials said.
"He's going to make the obvious general points that have to be said and carry such enormous weight when they are said by the president of the United States -- that these two countries have to work together for their mutual benefit, despite their history, despite the suspicions," said one official.
The White House gathering, part of Obama's new strategy for the U.S. war against al Qaeda, could produce specific agreements for cooperation on policing and border issues, the officials said.
Meetings between the three delegations begin on Wednesday morning at the State Department and continue in the afternoon with heads of government sessions at the White House. Obama will hold separate meetings with each of the leaders as well as a joint session.
Meetings continue on Thursday, with many U.S. Cabinet officials -- including interior, intelligence and agriculture -- hosting their counterparts in what one official described as an "exceedingly intensive" U.S. government involvement with Afghan and Pakistani leaders.
"Our goal is to get the two countries to work more closely together. You can't succeed in this war given the geography unless they cooperate," the official said.
"We'd like an alliance with these two countries against this kind of (extremist) threat," another official said. "It's very simple ... but quite profound."
The gathering comes as the United States is pressing Zardari to deal more aggressively with the threat from the Taliban, whose movement into the Buner valley 60 miles (97 km) northwest of Islamabad prompted a military offensive to eject them.
"Pakistan must demonstrate its commitment to rooting out al Qaeda and the violent extremists within its borders," Richard Holbrooke, the U.S. special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, said on Tuesday in prepared congressional testimony.
The Taliban was driven out of Afghanistan, where it once hosted al Qaeda, by the United States and its allies after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
The group, once nurtured by Pakistan's military and intelligence services, moved into the lawless region along Pakistan's frontier and his been expanding its influence in that country as well as in Afghanistan.
NUCLEAR ARSENAL SAFE?
The United States has been pressing Pakistan to adopt a counterinsurgency approach combining both military and civilian efforts to weaken Taliban influence. That would require Pakistan to shift military focus away from its traditional enemy India.
Obama has urged the U.S. Congress to provide $1.5 billion annually for five years to help Pakistan develop roads, schools, clinics and other civilian infrastructure.
The Taliban advance toward Islamabad has alarmed U.S. officials and raised concerns about the security of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal, but Zardari said on Tuesday the atomic weapons were safe.
Zardari told CNN he would ask Obama to let Pakistan purchase pilotless U.S. drones for his military arsenal. He said he did not want Washington to use the weapons to carry out attacks on his soil and Pakistan did not need a U.S. troop presence.
U.S. forces have used drone aircraft against suspected al Qaeda leaders in Pakistan, but the attacks often kill civilians and many Pakistanis are angry the Obama administration continues to use them.
"I will request the president of the United States to give it a thought that we own them (drones), then we take out our targets rather than somebody else coming and do it for us," Zardari told CNN.
U.S. officials have criticized Zardari for the weakness of his government and have met with his political opponents. But Holbrooke sent an unambiguous signal of support for the president, the widower of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto who was assassinated in 2007.
"We have the highest strategic interests in supporting this government," Holbrooke said in his congressional testimony. "Our goal must be unambiguously to support and help stabilize a democratic Pakistan headed by its elected president, Asif Ali Zardari," he said.
(Editing by Vicki Allen)
Monday, May 04, 2009
Attack on wedding party kills 45 in Turkey
by Mahmut Bozarslan Mahmut Bozarslan – 32 mins ago
BILGE, Turkey (AFP) – Forty-five people, mostly women and children, were killed in an attack on a wedding party in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast believed to be linked to a clan feud, officials and witnesses said.
"Unfortunately 45 citizens lost their lives... There are six wounded," Interior Minister Besir Atalay told reporters in Ankara after the massacre in Bilge, a small village in the province of Mardin.
Initial assessments, he said, rule out the possibility of a "terrorist attack" -- a reference to separatist Kurdish rebels active in the region, adding that prosecutors were investigating the incident.
Villagers said the shooting might be linked to a dispute between families, or even a full-fledged blood feud.
Witnesses told AFP that four masked men, each coming from a different direction, hurled hand grenades and then opened fire at a crowd gathered in the village square, shortly after an imam, or a Muslim preacher, performed a religious ceremony.
The assailants then stormed into several houses, continuing to shoot, they said.
A local official relayed the account of a survivor, a 19-year-old woman, who said the attackers herded women and children into a room in one of the houses and then sprayed them with bullets.
Most victims were women and children, security sources said.
The assailants managed to escape in the dark as a sandstorm further worsened visibility in the area, several dozen kilometres (miles) from the Syrian border.
Blood feuds are frequent in Turkey's Kurdish-populated regions, where mediaeval traditions persist, illiteracy is high and many see the gun as a legitimate tool to settle scores and defend one's honor.
Hostilities are triggered by various reasons such as land disputes, unpaid debts, abductions or girls eloping with undesirable grooms.
Army troops sealed off Bilge after the incident and launched a massive operation to hunt down the assailants.
Ambulances shuttled between the village and Mardin city, where the bodies and the wounded were taken.
Television footage showed relatives wailing outside a hospital, some throwing themselves to the ground in grief.
The separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), listed as a terrorist group by Ankara and much of the international community, has waged a bloody 24-year campaign for self-rule in the southeast.
The group has targeted local civilians refusing to collaborate with the insurgency, especially in the early years of its campaign.
Many men in Bilge were members of the so-called village guard, a government-armed militia supporting the army in the fight against the PKK.
There were 32 households in the village and all inhabitants belonged to the same clan, Anatolia news agency reported.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was closely following the incident, Atalay said, adding that he would travel to the village Tuesday, together with the justice minister.
BILGE, Turkey (AFP) – Forty-five people, mostly women and children, were killed in an attack on a wedding party in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast believed to be linked to a clan feud, officials and witnesses said.
"Unfortunately 45 citizens lost their lives... There are six wounded," Interior Minister Besir Atalay told reporters in Ankara after the massacre in Bilge, a small village in the province of Mardin.
Initial assessments, he said, rule out the possibility of a "terrorist attack" -- a reference to separatist Kurdish rebels active in the region, adding that prosecutors were investigating the incident.
Villagers said the shooting might be linked to a dispute between families, or even a full-fledged blood feud.
Witnesses told AFP that four masked men, each coming from a different direction, hurled hand grenades and then opened fire at a crowd gathered in the village square, shortly after an imam, or a Muslim preacher, performed a religious ceremony.
The assailants then stormed into several houses, continuing to shoot, they said.
A local official relayed the account of a survivor, a 19-year-old woman, who said the attackers herded women and children into a room in one of the houses and then sprayed them with bullets.
Most victims were women and children, security sources said.
The assailants managed to escape in the dark as a sandstorm further worsened visibility in the area, several dozen kilometres (miles) from the Syrian border.
Blood feuds are frequent in Turkey's Kurdish-populated regions, where mediaeval traditions persist, illiteracy is high and many see the gun as a legitimate tool to settle scores and defend one's honor.
Hostilities are triggered by various reasons such as land disputes, unpaid debts, abductions or girls eloping with undesirable grooms.
Army troops sealed off Bilge after the incident and launched a massive operation to hunt down the assailants.
Ambulances shuttled between the village and Mardin city, where the bodies and the wounded were taken.
Television footage showed relatives wailing outside a hospital, some throwing themselves to the ground in grief.
The separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), listed as a terrorist group by Ankara and much of the international community, has waged a bloody 24-year campaign for self-rule in the southeast.
The group has targeted local civilians refusing to collaborate with the insurgency, especially in the early years of its campaign.
Many men in Bilge were members of the so-called village guard, a government-armed militia supporting the army in the fight against the PKK.
There were 32 households in the village and all inhabitants belonged to the same clan, Anatolia news agency reported.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was closely following the incident, Atalay said, adding that he would travel to the village Tuesday, together with the justice minister.
My Iraq: a reporter's 20-year retrospective
The longest-serving Western correspondent in Baghdad tracks the lives of two Iraqi friends – from dinners under the moon and palms to the heartbreak of war.
By Jane Arraf | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor
from the May 3, 2009 edition
Page 1 of 5
Baghdad - For Iraqis struggling to find a place in a country they don't recognize, the most heartbreaking decision of all is whether to stay or go. Two of my oldest friends here, who over the years have given me the deepest glimpses into Iraq, have struggled long and hard on the paths they've chosen. Nermeen al-Mufti was a single mother on the front lines. She spent years documenting the bitter war with Iran before she wrote children's books and an outspoken newspaper column. She helped me explore the Baghdad of 1001 Nights in the years of Saddam Hussein's rule. Bassim Sulaiman, a soulful bon vivant(A person with refined taste, especially one who enjoys superb food and drink) amid the tyranny and the rubble, philosophized over candlelit dinners on the Tigris River. He invested huge hopes in the US invasion, only to be hurt by it. The ebb and flow of people like them is part of the history and the future of Iraq. "Every Iraqi who lived under Saddam could write a book about his life," a sheikh who, before the war, escaped Iraq in the trunk of a car, once told me. It's still true. Just when you think a chapter is over, the stories continue to reveal themselves. In those pages is my Iraq.
**********
The perky Arabic voice makes the waiting lounge with its 1970s décor and fake leather seats seem almost normal: "Baghdad International Airport would like to announce..." But if you scratch the surface even a tiny bit, there are worlds colliding here – the individual stories that make up a country unfolding one boarding call at a time.
Large, loud American contractors eager to get home – or just away – call to their buddies after buying duty-free Cuban cigars. They push into line ahead of veiled women, largely oblivious(Lacking all memory; forgetful) to the footprint they leave or the stories that surround them.
At the cafe, a TV blares(To sound loudly and stridently) at deafening levels. The call to prayer interrupts the latest action movie. Both are just a backdrop to lives in transit.
I run into an acquaintance I haven't seen since his cousin, someone I worked with, was killed in an ambush six years ago. He has been accepted as a refugee in the US and is about to leave Iraq for good with his wife and son. He doesn't know where they'll live: "They told me Ontario." He seems less worried than I about what will happen to him. But seeing my quizzical look, he adds that he thought Ontario was in Canada.
It's so much safer now that sometimes it seems as if the violence that erupted here was a fevered dream and that the war is over. It isn't.
I sit next to a woman wearing black and an expression that suggests something terrible has recently happened. She lost her brother in a suicide bombing in January at a tribal reconciliation meeting when one of the sheikhs sent in his 14-year-old son to blow himself up.
A visiting Iraqi friend sitting with us in the shiny, modern airport built by Saddam Hussein tells why he left the country he loves: "I lost faith that it would get better."
Long-lost friends here greet each other like survivors of the Titanic – amazed at their good fortune to have lived through disaster but carrying the memories of who and what was lost; always half-wondering if there's another wave coming.
Those of us who've been here with them are a little like that, too. A drive through Baghdad is a trip down a six-lane highway of overlapping memories – the concrete barriers and barbed wire just the latest overlay on memories of homes and shops still standing when the war was just a distant rumor.
I've lived and reported from here off and on for two decades, coming first in 1991 to cover the aftermath of the war over Kuwait. The entire time, Iraq was either emerging from war or about to be plunged into one. For the most part, that's all the outside world cared about.
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But what kept drawing me back were the maddening glimpses of this country's interior life. There is the Iraq of headline news – of mass graves barely whispered about during Saddam's time, of bombings, arms deals, and assassinations, of a ruthless and delusional dictator who wrote love stories with himself as the main character.
And then there are currents so far below the surface that you only occasionally see the ripples – of a world where tribal justice trumps any court, where genies (Production; generation; origin: ontogeny.)mentioned in the Koran can do more harm than men with guns, and where normal people make accommodations to survive in an abnormal society.
In the Saddam era, Baghdad was a vibrant city, aware of its unique place in history. Its complex, conflicted people were convinced that they were heirs to a great – if temporarily ill-fated – civilization. You can still see the remnants of it in the swirling stone monuments to the wives of caliphs and the 8th-century walls that once surrounded the center of the Muslim world.
Under Saddam, Iraqis weren't allowed to leave. After the war, millions couldn't stay. More than 15 of every 100 people left their homes or their country amid the violence and chaos of the reinvention of Iraq.
The dilemma of whether to stay or go, multiplied by millions, affects the very future of this country.
When her father suffered a heart attack and died in a hospital that lacked the drugs that would have been used to save him, Nermeen wrote about that. In response, a "beautiful envelope" from the Ministry of Health was on her desk when she returned to her office. It let her know that the minister had magnanimously(Courageously noble in mind and heart.) ordered the medicine be made available to Nermeen's father as well as every other patient in the hospital.
"I just picked up the phone and said: 'In which way did you read my column? In the first sentence I am saying my father passed away, and now you are going to revive my father's heart?' I was shouting like a mad woman," she recalls, the bracelets on her wrist jangling as she gestures.
She could get away with her criticism because within Saddam's carefully calibrated repression, control was elastic. It occasionally loosened to release a bit of pressure, but it could just as quickly snap back. One day, banned satellite dishes were implicitly tolerated. The next day you could be executed for having one.
And it did snap back on Nermeen. A column disagreeing with the president's press secretary incurred the wrath of Saddam's eldest son, Uday Hussein, who publicly criticized her. She went into hiding, unable even to see her young son. And every Thursday she'd wait hours to see the information minister: "Each week he knew I was there, and each week he would refuse to see me."
She finally was allowed to return to work eight months later. "Maybe [they let me come back] because they knew I was very safe," she reasons now. "I was not trying to be president, or minister, or even a director-general. I was just trying to be a real journalist."
Nermeen, whose dramatic gestures and throaty laugh express the drama, absurdity, and occasional joy of living here, says it takes more courage to be a mother in Iraq than a war correspondent. For four years in the 1980s, she was the only Iraqi woman covering the front lines of the brutal war with Iran. Determined to support her toddler son, she left him with her mother in the northern city of Kirkuk.
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I met Nermeen in 1998, during a window in which Saddam was trying to improve relations with the West. The regime had invited American TV networks to open bureaus, and CNN's Ted Turner was convinced Iraq and the rest of the world needed to understand each other. I became the only Western journalist permanently based here, a country of 26 million people at war with the West. I hired Nermeen to help me understand the country. It wasn't exactly a plum job for her.
In Saddam's Iraq, every foreigner was thought to be a spy. Iraqis in too much contact with them came under suspicion. My phone was tapped, my hotel room was bugged, and when I moved into a house, it was, too. It was a system so effective that Iraqis worried even their own families were informants.
I knew Nermeen had eloped at 18 and chose to raise her son in Iraq herself, rather than emigrate to the US with her Lebanese husband. "I could never imagine myself living outside Iraq," she says of that time, an echo of the choice she makes today.
I didn't know a lot of other things about her, until the regime fell. In 1991, her closest friend, another journalist, was taken away and hasn't been seen since. Sometimes cold reality is too much even for someone who's seen as much as Nermeen.
"One day, maybe, I always said, he would come back, but because of these concrete barriers and these tons of barbed wire he lost his way to my house," she says. "Maybe he will find it one day and he will come and knock on my door."
"After all this catastrophe in Iraq, there has to be a free press," she rails. "It's not a gift; it's a right from the tons of promises they gave us."
In April, a day after she was voted one of the five best journalists in Iraq by young colleagues, her name was put on an Internet insurgent list of media people targeted for execution. More than 100 Iraqi journalists have been killed since the war began.
"Threats and violence have become the Iraqi way of life," says Nermeen. She takes precautions – not staying home alone, making sure she's not tailed – but believes the only list that determines when you die is that drawn by fate.
I knew dozens of Americans and Iraqis who died in this war. For Nermeen, it numbers in the hundreds. The challenge is to find meaning in it.
On a recent day, I went with her to her apartment on Baghdad's Haifa Street, scene of some of the worst fighting in the war. She has only been back here four times in three years after moving to the relative safety of her parents' Kirkuk house.
"Welcome to my dusty home," she says, her high-heeled boots clicking on the parquet, coated in a layer of fine sand. The kitchen window has shrapnel holes.
Seeing Nermeen again is like having a part of my life back – a part I'd lost while covering the war embedded with the US Army and Marines.
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"When were you in Fallujah, again?" I ask her.
"When you were there," she says matter-of-factly.
Nermeen was a volunteer with the Iraqi Red Crescent, helping civilians trapped in the devastating battle between the US and insurgents. She later wrote about an entire family – all but a 9-month-old baby – killed by a US airstrike. I was with the American forces as they moved into neighborhoods controlled by insurgents who'd rigged buildings to explode. They rained more artillery shells on Fallujah than in any urban battle since Vietnam. The explosions through the night felt like the end of the world. What was left at the end looked like it.
It's not something we talk about often. The US soldiers are her son's age, and Nermeen wishes they could go home to their mothers and girlfriends.
"That day I left Fallujah, I saw all these dead bodies everywhere, demolished houses everywhere," she says. Iraq has become a republic of need, she adds. "It changed my life to trying to help those poor widows and orphans."
Even more reason for her to stay.
In my years going back and forth between Iraq and the US, I've become convinced that it's only distance that makes things look simple. The labels we use – Baathist, insurgent – don't mean nearly as much to Iraqis as they do to us. Even the Iraqis who returned from exile with their fixed ideas of wrong and right found themselves in uncertain territory. And those who lived here through Saddam find themselves strangers in their own country.
In the '90s, when we first met, Bassim knew almost every corner of this city and walked the streets as if he owned them – greeting old friends, helping people during hard times, pointing out the history of every lane and alley.
The evenings are what he and many other Iraqis miss most. People had little freedom, and, under the US-led sanctions of the '90s, hardly any money. But there was a rich social life – dinners that lasted until 2 in the morning, wedding receptions that went on until dawn.
Bassim has reinvented himself three times. From shipping in Basra, he went to Kuwait as a fund manager and was forced out after Saddam's disastrous 1990 invasion. He became a successful antiques dealer here, selling old watches, carpets, and paintings. And now, instead of the retirement he'd envisioned fixing antique clocks, he's a refugee in Jordan.
All that's left of his life in Iraq fits in a canvas suitcase on his bed. The night before he leaves Iraq again, he pulls painting after painting from the depths of the bag – each like an old friend.
"Look at this one," he says, pushing up his glasses to read notes on the corner of a sketch of the profile of a woman. " 'What is a woman but philosophy?' " he reads, losing himself in the works.
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"I'm an encyclopedia of Iraqi history, but they drove me out, the bastards. They drove me out," bitterly notes Bassim, whose family photos show his grandfather, who opened one of Baghdad's first clinics, with a top hat and a sword.
Bassim was born into a social class that long ago ceased to exist; its values intensified his hopes for Iraq as deeply as they fed his disappointment.
Because he had a shop, he was allowed to deal with foreigners. He was more direct than most in letting those he trusted know that people feared rather than loved the regime. When Saddam fell, Bassim was ecstatic and grateful to the Americans.
The fall of the regime was liberating to journalists as well. For a few glorious months, with no one in charge, nowhere was off limits. We wandered palaces and government buildings. We took photos without the supervision we'd chafed under or the fear of being shot that came later.
We actually got to know friends with whom we'd had careful conversations for years. People talked and talked and talked. In the streets where Iraqis had been afraid to do anything but toe the party line, a single question would prompt groups to rant for hours. Listening to it, it felt like a welcome rain.
Bassim jumped enthusiastically into the fray. He got involved in trying to reopen the Baghdad stock exchange. And he ran for a seat on Iraq's governing council in 2005 on a ticket of secular technocrats headed by elder statesman Adnan Pachachi. But Iraqis were interested more in religious figures promising salvation, and no one on that list won.
As the insurgency gathered steam, Baghdad became a shooting gallery. And on an August night in 2005, as Bassim and his family slept, the deafening noise of helicopters jolted them awake. US Special Forces rappelled onto the roof. Others burst through the door in the glare of spotlights.
Their rifles pointed, soldiers blindfolded Bassim and bundled him into a Humvee while others upended the house searching every corner, terrifying his wife, son, and daughter. It was a scene I'd seen a dozen times, but never did I think it could happen to elegant, impeccably mannered Bassim.
"It wasn't a mistake; they showed me an aerial photo of my house with a red circle around it," Bassim recalls now. "They claim someone gave them the wrong information."
After interrogations by increasingly senior officers about what he did and who he knew, he was released with an apology. Bassim, who loved Baghdad almost as much as his own family, decided a year later to leave for Jordan after a bomb threat and a suspected kidnapping attempt.
"I was right to leave; they would have killed me," he says now, reassuring himself that he made the right decision.
Visiting his old haunts now, Bassim is horrified by the sirens and the security convoys. It's a city he doesn't recognize. The trash in the historic Maidan, the wholesale antique district, almost undoes him. The last time I was there with him in 2005, we wandered through a covered market with dappled sunlight streaming through holes in the roof. Bassim stopped to talk to a cast of characters out of the pages of a novel: an old man behind a stall displaying colored stones that promised to cure everything from heart ailments to heartbreak; a retired prostitute selling local soda while her cat, Mish-Mish (Apricot), kept her company.
Five years later there's been a rare rain in Baghdad, and the markets of the Maidan are padlocked. But then, out steps Bassim's old friend, Hussein Jawad Mohammad, locking up his shop. As they greet each other, it's hard to tell where the tear running down Bassim's cheek ends and the rain begins.
"What happened here after 2003?" I ask, remembering the friends we used to drink tea with, their shops crowded with pieces of history. The thought of Al Qaeda fighters in the alleys and bodies in the streets was unimaginable.
"Shooting. People were shooting each other," Bassim says, still dazed at the killings.
I think of an expression that an Iraqi friend who left uses: "I thought I would die of sadness." But there are so many other things to die from here.
A tattered funeral banner for Hussein's brother, shot four years ago by a US sniper who thought he was carrying a weapon, hangs on a nearby brick wall. Below it is a funeral notice for his father, who died of illness. Another banner outside Hussein's shop says, "If you ask what I am, I am Iraqi. I have a Shiite uncle and a Sunni uncle." It's a call for an end to the violence that Iraqis themselves don't understand.
As Bassim left in March, he said it was for good. Yet he was already dreaming of buying a small apartment here when things get better.
Nermeen, packing up on a March morning in Baghdad, stood in the street with a caged orange canary – a gift from a friend for her home in Kirkuk. She's waiting there for national elections in December to see if it's safe enough to move back to Baghdad.
"My home is here and, really, I will fight to restore it; I will never give up," she says. The Iraq that Nermeen, a devout Muslim, dreams of restoring is one she knows never really existed in her experience. But she believes it could one day – a place of religious tolerance and human rights and Iraqis who have access to schools and museums as well as electricity and clean water.
"Even now, after all these years ... when I am really by myself, alone, I am still that young lady who was 20 years old having all those dreams. Maybe one day I will achieve them," she says.
Markaz Sees Delay of $80b UAE Projects
Issac John
4 May 2009
DUBAI - The outlook for the UAE real estate market remains negative amid prospects of a delay in the construction of $80 billion worth of projects that were scheduled for completion in coming months, a respected Kuwait-based investment bank said.
Kuwait Financial Centre, also known as Markaz, said in a report that oversupply in the property market would likely constrain demand and impede economic growth. Markaz said it expected the UAE’s real gross domestic product, or GDP, to grow this year by 0.7 per cent, down from 5.8 per cent in 2008.
“The persistent uncertainties in demand expectations, especially in Dubai, would continue to haunt the real estate sector,” Markaz said in its outlook for the second quarter of 2009.
“Financing too remains restrictive with banks hesitating to lend to developers, and we expect it to remain so. Though some banks have offered renewed mortgage lending, the extent of takers for such loans is questionable given the huge uncertainty in demand prospects, especially in Dubai,” Markaz said in the report issued on Friday.
The outlook for the GCC real estate sector also remains negative, due to weak demand and abundant supply, said Markaz, one of the Arab Gulf region’s leading asset management and investment banking institutions.
The reluctance of banks to lend to the real estate and construction sector due to the lack of confidence in the industry has removed the necessary lubricants and pushed the region into deeper negative growth.
“Vibrant economic growth and liquidity conditions in the past have resulted in an oversupply situation with the significant correction in demand expectations of late albeit with pockets of undersupply,” it said.
According to a report that Markaz issued in March, the UAE accounted for 91 per cent of all real estate and construction projects that had been either put on hold or cancelled in GCC countries. “A significant contraction in activity due to cancellation or delaying of the projects should be painful for the sector, and the pain would as well be felt in the overall economy depending on the extent of the sector’s contribution to the economy,” that earlier report said.
Jones Lang LaSalle, a real estate service company, said in March that over half the residential and commercial projects due for completion in Dubai between 2009 and 2012 have been put on hold or cancelled. Morgan Stanley said in February that some $263 billion worth of projects in the country had been delayed or cancelled since September.
In its latest report, Markaz said that 2009 would present an opportunity for significant changes and growth in the Sukuk market. The boom of recent years triggered higher interest rates as GCC countries tried to contain inflation. Now that the boom has ended, rates are falling as GCC economies seek to encourage spending and spur economic growth, it said.
For equities, Markaz had a neutral view. Accumulated oil revenues might provide a cushion for sovereign entities in the GCC through 2009, but subdued oil prices and a protracted economic downturn would probably lead to a jump in sovereign Sukuk issuances, as Gulf nations try to complete large-scale infrastructure projects or plug budget deficits, the report said.
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’دبئی چلو‘
آصف فاروقی
بی بی سی اردو ڈاٹ کام، دبئی
’دبئی چلو‘ سیریز کا تعارف
دبئی کی معیشت کا انحصار تعمیراتی اور ریئل اسٹیٹ سیکٹر پر ہے
دنیا کی بیشتر ترقی یافتہ معیشتوں کو ناکوں چنے چبوانے کے بعد عالمی معاشی بحران اب متحدہ عرب امارات پہنچا ہے اور یہاں پر سب سے تیزی سے ترقی کرتی ہوئی دبئی کی معیشت کو بری طرح متاثر کیا ہے۔
عرب ریاست ہونے کے باوجود دبئی کی معیشت کا انحصار تعمیراتی اور ریئل اسٹیٹ سیکٹر پر ہے جو ملکی معیشت کا پچاسی فیصد سے بھی زیادہ ہے۔ دبئی کی بیس لاکھ آبادی میں چھ لاکھ مقامی ہیں۔ باقی وہ افراد ہیں یا ان کی دوسری اور تیسری نسل سے تعلق رکھتے ہیں جو گزشتہ چالیس برس سے بہتر معاشی مستقبل کی تلاش میں ’دبئی چلو‘ کے دلفریب خواب اور نعرے کی تقلید میں یہاں آتے رہے۔
دبئی غیر ملکیوں کو، سوائے چند ایک کے، رہائشی حقوق دینے کا پابند نہیں ہے۔ لہٰذا جب معاشی بحران کے باعث یہاں ملازمتیں ختم ہونا شروع ہوئیں تو اس شہر کی ترقی میں اپنی زندگی لگانے والوں کو یہ ملک چھوڑنے کے لیے تیس دن ملے۔
’دبئی چلو‘ انہی مزدوروں اور کارکنوں کی کہانی ہے جس میں ان کا بھی ذکر ہوگا جنہوں نے دبئی کی جائیداد میں سرمایہ کاری کی اور راتوں رات کروڑ پتیوں کی فہرست میں شامل ہوئے۔ وہ اس بحران کے بعد کس حال میں ہیں۔
آٹھ قسطوں کی اس سیریز میں ان مزدوروں کا بھی ذکر ہوگا جو دبئی کے بعض مزدور کیمپوں میں غیر انسانی حالات میں زندگی گزارنے پر مجبور ہیں۔ ان صفحات کے ذریعے ہم آپ کو اس دبئی کی بھی سیر کرائیں گے جو یہاں آنے والے عام سیاح اور کاروباری کی نظروں سے اوجھل رہتا ہے اور دبئی کا میڈیا سخت قوانین کے باعث چکتے دمکتے شہر کے اس تاریک گوشے سے پردہ اٹھانے سے معذور ہے۔
تعمیراتی اور ریئل اسٹیٹ سیکٹر میں بحران
چند ماہ پہلے یہ تمام کرینیں کام کر رہی تھیں لیکن اب ان میں سے بیشتر محض ہوا میں معلق ہیں
ابو ظہبی سے پاکستان اور آسٹریلیا کے درمیان کرکٹ میچ دیکھنے کے بعد کرائے کی گاڑی میں دبئی کی جانب سفر کرتے ہوئے ڈرائیور ناصر نے سڑک کنارے ایک ڈھابے پر چائے پیتے ہوئے اپنی کہانی سنائی۔
پاکستان کے ضلع گجرات کے ایک چھوٹے سے گاؤں سے ایک مزدور کی حیثیت سے دبئی اور چند برسوں میں اپنی کنسٹرکشن کمپنی تک کا سفر اور پھر کچھ ہی ماہ میں دیوالیہ کا شکار ہونا اور دیوالیہ بھی ایسا کہ وہ شخص جو کئی سال دبئی میں دنیا کی مہنگی ترین گاڑیوں کا مالک رہا، اب محض ایک ڈرائیور ہے اور وہ بھی دیہاڑی دار۔
ناصر کی کہانی نئے دبئی کی کہانی ہے۔ ’میں یہاں آیا تو ایک مزدور کی حیثیت سے تھا لیکن کچھ تعلیم تھی لہٰذا چیزیں جلد سمجھ میں آنے لگیں۔ کچھ عرصے بعد مزدوروں کا سپروائزر بن گیا، پھر ٹھیکیدار اور چند برس میں اپنی کمپنی رجسٹر کروا لی۔ یہ چھ برس پہلے کی بات ہے۔ بہت کنسٹرکشن ہو رہی تھی۔ ماں کی دعاؤں سے مجھے بھی بہت کام ملا۔ ابھی چھ ماہ سے جو بحران شروع ہوا تو اس کی لپیٹ میں میں بھی آگیا۔ جن پراجیکٹس نے میرے پیسے دینے تھے وہ بند ہو گئے۔ چیک رک گئے، میں نے بینکوں کے جو پیسے دینے تھے وہ اپنے اثاثے بیچ کر پورے کیے، لیبر کو ادائیگیاں کیں اور انہیں یہاں سے روانہ کیا۔ اب میرے پاس کچھ نہیں سوائے اس کار کے جسے کرائے پر چلاتا ہوں اور اپنا خرچ نکالتا ہوں‘۔
یہ ایک محمد ناصر کی نہیں ان ہزاروں افراد کی کہانی ہے جو روزگار کی تلاش میں اپنا وطن چھوڑ کر اس دیار میں آئے اور اپنی بساط کے مطابق خوب کمایا۔ لیکن ایسا معلوم ہوتا ہے کہ اب یہاں گنوانے کا موسم ہے۔ متحدہ عرب ریاستوں میں آبادی کے لحاظ سے سب سے بڑی ریاست دبئی گزشتہ چند ماہ سے سنگین معاشی بحران کا شکار ہے اور بحران کی واحد بڑی وجہ تعمیراتی شعبے میں آنے والا زوال ہے۔ عرب ریاست ہونے کے باوجود بیس لاکھ آبادی کی اس مملکت کی معیشت کا انحصار تعمیرات، سیاحت اور تجارت پر ہے جبکہ تیل ملکی معیشت کا صرف چھ فیصد ہے۔ لہذا تعمیرات اور ریئل اسٹیٹ سکیٹر میں آنے والے اس بحران نے معیشت کے دیگر تمام شعبوں کو بری طرح سے متاثر کیا۔
تعمیراتی شعبے سے شروع ہونے والے اس بحران نے معیشت کو کس حد تک متاثر کیا ہے، دبئی میں اطلاعات تک رسائی کا شفاف نظام نہ ہونے کے باعث ، اس بارے میں سرکاری اور حمتی اعداد و شمار دستیاب نہیں ہیں۔ لیکن بعض ماہرین کا خیال ہے کہ دبئی کے انٹرنیشل سٹی کی طرح گزشتہ برس ستمبر کے بعد سے دبئی کے تقریباً تمام بڑے تعمیراتی منصوبوں پر کام روک دیا گیا ہے۔ زیر التوا ان منصوبوں کی تعداد ایک ہزار سے زائد بتائی جاتی ہے۔ ان منصوبوں کے تاخیر کا شکار ہونے سے تین سو ارب ڈالر کا سرمایہ جو ان منصوبوں پر سرف ہونا تھا، رک گیا ہے۔ یہ سرمایہ جب پائپ لائن میں نہ آیا تو بینک مشکلات کا شکار ہو گئے اور یوں ایک چین ری ایکشن شروع ہوا جس نے دبئی کی معیشت کی بنیادوں کو ہلا کر رکھ دیا۔
دبئی میں اب بھی بہت پوٹینشل ہے۔ یہاں دنیا کا بہترین انفراسٹرکچر موجود ہے۔ کاروباری لوگوں کو جو سہولتیں یہاں ملتی ہیں، دنیا میں کہیں نہیں ملتیں۔ لہٰذا یہ ممکن نہیں کہ یہ بحران ہمیشہ یوں ہی رہے اور جو ہزاروں عمارتیں آدھی کھڑی ہیں وہ ایسے ہی ادھوری رہیں۔ یہ مشینری چلے گی اور یہ عمارتیں ضرور بنیں گی، آج نہیں تو کل۔
محمد ناصر
یہ سب شروع کیسے ہوا، یہ جاننے کے لیے میں دبئی کے مؤقر اخباری گروپ گلف نیوز کے تعمیرات اور جائیداد کی خبروں کے لیے مختص ہفتہ وار رسالے پراپرٹی ویکلی کے ایڈیٹر منوج نائیر سے ملنے پہنچا۔
منوج نائیر نے کہا ’دبئی یہ سمجھتا رہا کہ یہ بس ترقی ہی کرے گا اور باقی دنیا میں گزشتہ برس آنے والا بحران اسے متاثر نہیں کرے گا۔ لیکن بدقسمتی سے ایسا نہیں ہوا۔ جب غیر ملکی سرمایہ کاروں نے دبئی میں سرمایہ لگانے سے انکار کیا تو جائیداد کی قیمتیں گرنا شروع ہو گئیں۔ بلڈرز کو سرمایہ نہیں ملا اور انہوں نے بھی اپنے تعمیراتی پراجیکٹس بند کرنا شروع دیے‘۔
اور جب دبئی میں راتوں رات اونچی اونچی عمارتیں تعمیر کرنے کے لیے دنیا بھر میں مشہور ٹھیکیدار کا اعتماد مجروح ہوا اور اسے خریداروں کی کمی کا خدشہ پیدا ہوا تو پھر پورے دبئی میں اس انٹرنیشنل سٹی کی طرح خاموشی چھا گئی۔
کہا جاتا ہے کہ اونچی اونچی عمارتیں تعمیر کرنے کے لیے جو دیو ہیکل کرینیں استعمال کی جاتی ہیں ان کی دنیا بھر میں کل تعداد کا نصف دبئی کے پچاس کلومیٹر رقبے میں موجود ہیں۔ چند ماہ پہلے یہ تمام کرینیں کام کر رہی تھیں لیکن اب ان میں سے بیشتر محض ہوا میں معلق ہیں۔
یہی حال دبئی کے مضافات میں اربوں ڈالر کی لاگت سے زیرتعمیر دبئی کے انٹرنیشنل سٹی کا ہے جہاں تعمیری کام رک چکا ہے۔ اسے تعمیر کرنے والی الساحل دبئی کی بڑی تعمیراتی کمپنی ہے جو شاہی خاندان کی ملکیت ہے۔ شاہد لطیف انٹرنیشنل سٹی کے سائیٹ انجینئر ہیں۔ یا یوں کہیے کہ تھے۔ ان سے میری ملاقات ان کے ہاسٹل میں ہوئی جہاں وہ پاکستان واپسی کے لیے اپنا سامان باندھ رہے تھے کیونکہ ان کی کمپنی کے بیشتر ملازمین کی طرح سائیٹ انجینئر کو بھی برطرف کر دیا گیا ہے۔
وئیر ہاؤس میں کھڑی گاڑیاں
’ہماری کمپنی کے تین بڑے کلائنٹس تھے جنکے دبئی میں بڑے بڑے پراجیکٹس تھے۔ ان سب پر کام بند ہو چکا ہے۔ ہماری کمپنی کے پانچ ہزار میں سے بیشتر ملازمین فارغ کر دیے گئے ہیں باقی انتظار میں ہیں کہ ان کی باری کب آتی ہے‘۔
سرمائے کی کمی نے جائیداد کی قیمت کو متاثر کیا جس میں ایک محتاط اندازے کے مطابق گزشتہ برس ستمبر سے اب تک چالیس فیصد تک کی کمی ہو چکی ہے اور قیمتوں میں گراوٹ کا سلسلہ جاری ہے۔ یہ وہ نکتہ ہے جہاں پہنچ کر ان لاکھوں غیر ملکیوں کا ذکر لازمی ہو جاتا ہے، جو دبئی کے رئیل اسٹیٹ سیکٹر بحران سے متاثر ہوئے۔ یہ کون لوگ ہیں اور ان پر کیا بیتی، اس کی تفصیل بتائی دبئی کے ایک بینک میں اسی طرح کے منصوبوں میں سرمایہ کاری کے شعبے کے انچارج علی حسن نے۔
’دبئی کے تعمیراتی اور ریئل اسٹیٹ سیکٹر میں روس، پاکستان اور انڈیا سے بہت پیسہ آیا۔ لوگ راتوں رات امیر بننے کے چکر میں جب بھی کوئی پراجیکٹ شروع ہوتا اس میں سرمایہ کاری کرتے، بینک سے قرض لیتے اور دو تین ماہ میں جب اس کی قیمت میں اضافہ ہوتا تو اسے بیچ دیتے۔ بہت سے لوگوں کا دبئی میں کاروبار ہی یہی بن گیا۔ لیکن جب اچانک بحران پیدا ہوا تو وہ لوگ جنہوں نے آٹھ آٹھ دس دس جائیدادیں خرید رکھی تھیں وہ بکنا بند ہو گئیں۔ بینکوں کو تو اپنی قسط چاہیے تھی لیکن ان کے پاس دینے کے لیے پیسے نہیں تھے۔ یوں لوگ یا یہ جائیداد چھوڑ کر فرار ہوگئے اور یا اب جیلوں میں پڑے ہیں‘۔
اور جب بڑے بڑے تعمیراتی منصوبوں کے ذمہ داروں کا دیوالیہ نکلا تو وہ پہنچے نو بہار علی ریحان اور ان کے ہم پیشہ، وکلا کے پاس۔ میں نے بھی نو بہار ایڈووکیٹ کو تلاش کر لیا جو ہیں تو کارپوریٹ وکیل لیکن آج کل صرف زمین جائیداد کے مقدمے لڑ رہے ہیں۔ کیوں، یہی سوال میں نے بھی ان سے پوچھا۔
’ہمارا زیادہ کام یہاں روز روز بننے والی سرمایہ کار کمپنیوں کی رجسٹریشن وغیرہ سے چلتا تھا۔ اب وہ کام تو بند ہو گیا ہے۔ اس کی جگہ زمین جائیداد کے مقدمے ہیں۔ کسی کی ضمانت کروانی ہے کسی کی بینک کے ساتھ ڈیل۔ بس روز روز یہی کام ہوتا ہے آجکل‘۔
دبئی کی جائیداد میں سرمایہ لگانے والے ایسے لوگوں کی کتنی تعداد ہے جو جیلوں میں ہیں یا بینکوں کے ڈر سے دبئی سے فرار ہو گئے، یہ جاننا سرکاری سطح پر ممکن نہیں ہے کیونکہ دبئی کی حکومت سرے سے اس مسئلے کے وجود ہی سے انکاری ہے۔ مجھے بتایا گیا کہ بینکوں کے واجبات ادا کیے بغیر دبئی چھوڑنے والے لوگ یہاں کے ائیرپورٹ پر اپنی گاڑیاں بھی چھوڑ کر فرار ہو رہے ہیں کیونکہ یہ گاڑیاں بھی عموماً قسطوں پر لی گئی تھیں۔
دبئی کے ہوائی اڈے پر تو نہیں، البتہ بڑی تعداد میں ایسی گاڑیاں مجھے ایک بینک کے وئیر ہاؤس میں کھڑی ملیں۔ دبئی شہر کے بیچوں بیچ بنے اس وئیر ہاؤس کے منیجر نے کچھ بتانے سے انکار کیا، لہذا میں نے اندراج رجسٹر سنبھالے بیٹھے ایک اور ملازم سے بات کی جسکا کہنا تھا کہ ’پہلے یہاں مہینے میں دس بیس گاڑیاں آتی تھیں وہ بھی پرانی سی جو لوگ ویسے ہی چھوڑ دیتے تھے۔ اب تو یہ وئیر ہاؤس بھر گیا ہے اور اس میں گاڑی کھڑی کرنے کی بھی جگہ نہیں ہے۔ لگتا ہے لوگوں نے گاڑیوں کی قسطیں دینا بند کر دی ہیں‘۔
اس رجسٹر میں درج تفصیلات سے معلوم ہوا کہ یہاں ہر ماہ چند گاڑیاں لائی جاتی تھیں لیکن گزشتہ اکتوبر کے بعد سے ان کی تعداد تین سے چار سو ماہانہ تک پہنچ چکی ہے۔ اور ان میں سے بیشتر ائیرپورٹ کی حدود ہی سے قبضے میں لی گئی ہیں۔
دبئی کی بلند و بالا عمارتیں
ایسا نہیں ہے کہ دبئی کی جائیدار میں سرمایہ لگانے والے سب ہی فرار ہوئے یا زیر عتاب آئے۔ دبئی کے خوبصورت ساحل پر بنے ایک محل نما گھر میں رہنے والے ماجد وزیر شیخ نے گزشتہ برسوں کے دوران دبئی ریئل اسٹیٹ سے خوب کمایا۔ اس بحران میں ان کے بھی اربوں نہیں تو کروڑوں ڈوبے لیکن وہ نہ فرار ہوئے، نہ دلبرداشتہ۔ اسکی وجہ وہ یوں بتاتے ہیں۔
’جس نے دبئی میں سوچ سمجھ کر سرمایہ لگایا اس نے فرض کریں پانچ سالوں میں ایک لاکھ کے دس لاکھ بنائے۔ گزشتہ ایک برس میں اس دس میں سے پانچ لاکھ کا نقصان ہو گیا۔ لیکن اب بھی اسے چار لاکھ کا فائدہ ہے‘۔
تاہم ماجد وزیر کا کہنا تھا کہ ’دیوالیہ ان لوگوں کا نکلا جنہوں نے لالچ میں آکر اپنی حیثیت سے بڑھ کر پانچ دس جائیدادیں بینکوں سے قرض لیکر خریدیں۔ اب وہ نہ بکتی ہیں اور نہ ہی ان کے پاس قسطیں دینے کے پیسے ہیں‘۔
دبئی کے اس معاشی بحران میں ہزاروں لٹے اور فرار ہوئے۔ لیکن گجرات کا محمد ناصر دبئی میں رہتے ہوئے ان حالات سے لڑ رہا ہے۔ ناصر کا کہنا ہے کہ وہ دن دور نہیں جب یہ سب ٹھیک ہو جائے گا۔ اس کی کنسٹرکشن کمپنی بحال ہوگی اور وہ ایک بار پھر ڈرائیور سے اس کار کا مالک بنے گا۔
’دبئی میں اب بھی بہت پوٹینشل ہے۔ یہاں دنیا کا بہترین انفراسٹرکچر موجود ہے۔ کاروباری لوگوں کو جو سہولتیں یہاں ملتی ہیں، دنیا میں کہیں نہیں ملتیں۔ لہٰذا یہ ممکن نہیں کہ یہ بحران ہمیشہ یوں ہی رہے اور جو ہزاروں عمارتیں آدھی کھڑی ہیں وہ ایسے ہی ادھوری رہیں۔ یہ مشینری چلے گی اور یہ عمارتیں ضرور بنیں گی، آج نہیں تو کل‘۔
گزشتہ کئی دہائیوں سے ’دبئی چلو‘ کے دلفریب نعرے اور خواب کی تعمیل کے لیے دنیا بھر بلخصوص پاکستان، انڈیا اور جنوبی ایشیا کے دیگر ممالک کے لوگ یہاں آتے رہے اور دبئی کے تعمیراتی جنگل میں گم ہوتے رہے۔ اس معاشی بحران نے ان کے خوابوں کو کیسے چکنا چور کیا۔ اسکی تفصیل ’دبئی چلو‘ کی اگلی قسط میں۔
4 May 2009
DUBAI - The outlook for the UAE real estate market remains negative amid prospects of a delay in the construction of $80 billion worth of projects that were scheduled for completion in coming months, a respected Kuwait-based investment bank said.
Kuwait Financial Centre, also known as Markaz, said in a report that oversupply in the property market would likely constrain demand and impede economic growth. Markaz said it expected the UAE’s real gross domestic product, or GDP, to grow this year by 0.7 per cent, down from 5.8 per cent in 2008.
“The persistent uncertainties in demand expectations, especially in Dubai, would continue to haunt the real estate sector,” Markaz said in its outlook for the second quarter of 2009.
“Financing too remains restrictive with banks hesitating to lend to developers, and we expect it to remain so. Though some banks have offered renewed mortgage lending, the extent of takers for such loans is questionable given the huge uncertainty in demand prospects, especially in Dubai,” Markaz said in the report issued on Friday.
The outlook for the GCC real estate sector also remains negative, due to weak demand and abundant supply, said Markaz, one of the Arab Gulf region’s leading asset management and investment banking institutions.
The reluctance of banks to lend to the real estate and construction sector due to the lack of confidence in the industry has removed the necessary lubricants and pushed the region into deeper negative growth.
“Vibrant economic growth and liquidity conditions in the past have resulted in an oversupply situation with the significant correction in demand expectations of late albeit with pockets of undersupply,” it said.
According to a report that Markaz issued in March, the UAE accounted for 91 per cent of all real estate and construction projects that had been either put on hold or cancelled in GCC countries. “A significant contraction in activity due to cancellation or delaying of the projects should be painful for the sector, and the pain would as well be felt in the overall economy depending on the extent of the sector’s contribution to the economy,” that earlier report said.
Jones Lang LaSalle, a real estate service company, said in March that over half the residential and commercial projects due for completion in Dubai between 2009 and 2012 have been put on hold or cancelled. Morgan Stanley said in February that some $263 billion worth of projects in the country had been delayed or cancelled since September.
In its latest report, Markaz said that 2009 would present an opportunity for significant changes and growth in the Sukuk market. The boom of recent years triggered higher interest rates as GCC countries tried to contain inflation. Now that the boom has ended, rates are falling as GCC economies seek to encourage spending and spur economic growth, it said.
For equities, Markaz had a neutral view. Accumulated oil revenues might provide a cushion for sovereign entities in the GCC through 2009, but subdued oil prices and a protracted economic downturn would probably lead to a jump in sovereign Sukuk issuances, as Gulf nations try to complete large-scale infrastructure projects or plug budget deficits, the report said.
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’دبئی چلو‘
آصف فاروقی
بی بی سی اردو ڈاٹ کام، دبئی
’دبئی چلو‘ سیریز کا تعارف
دبئی کی معیشت کا انحصار تعمیراتی اور ریئل اسٹیٹ سیکٹر پر ہے
دنیا کی بیشتر ترقی یافتہ معیشتوں کو ناکوں چنے چبوانے کے بعد عالمی معاشی بحران اب متحدہ عرب امارات پہنچا ہے اور یہاں پر سب سے تیزی سے ترقی کرتی ہوئی دبئی کی معیشت کو بری طرح متاثر کیا ہے۔
عرب ریاست ہونے کے باوجود دبئی کی معیشت کا انحصار تعمیراتی اور ریئل اسٹیٹ سیکٹر پر ہے جو ملکی معیشت کا پچاسی فیصد سے بھی زیادہ ہے۔ دبئی کی بیس لاکھ آبادی میں چھ لاکھ مقامی ہیں۔ باقی وہ افراد ہیں یا ان کی دوسری اور تیسری نسل سے تعلق رکھتے ہیں جو گزشتہ چالیس برس سے بہتر معاشی مستقبل کی تلاش میں ’دبئی چلو‘ کے دلفریب خواب اور نعرے کی تقلید میں یہاں آتے رہے۔
دبئی غیر ملکیوں کو، سوائے چند ایک کے، رہائشی حقوق دینے کا پابند نہیں ہے۔ لہٰذا جب معاشی بحران کے باعث یہاں ملازمتیں ختم ہونا شروع ہوئیں تو اس شہر کی ترقی میں اپنی زندگی لگانے والوں کو یہ ملک چھوڑنے کے لیے تیس دن ملے۔
’دبئی چلو‘ انہی مزدوروں اور کارکنوں کی کہانی ہے جس میں ان کا بھی ذکر ہوگا جنہوں نے دبئی کی جائیداد میں سرمایہ کاری کی اور راتوں رات کروڑ پتیوں کی فہرست میں شامل ہوئے۔ وہ اس بحران کے بعد کس حال میں ہیں۔
آٹھ قسطوں کی اس سیریز میں ان مزدوروں کا بھی ذکر ہوگا جو دبئی کے بعض مزدور کیمپوں میں غیر انسانی حالات میں زندگی گزارنے پر مجبور ہیں۔ ان صفحات کے ذریعے ہم آپ کو اس دبئی کی بھی سیر کرائیں گے جو یہاں آنے والے عام سیاح اور کاروباری کی نظروں سے اوجھل رہتا ہے اور دبئی کا میڈیا سخت قوانین کے باعث چکتے دمکتے شہر کے اس تاریک گوشے سے پردہ اٹھانے سے معذور ہے۔
تعمیراتی اور ریئل اسٹیٹ سیکٹر میں بحران
چند ماہ پہلے یہ تمام کرینیں کام کر رہی تھیں لیکن اب ان میں سے بیشتر محض ہوا میں معلق ہیں
ابو ظہبی سے پاکستان اور آسٹریلیا کے درمیان کرکٹ میچ دیکھنے کے بعد کرائے کی گاڑی میں دبئی کی جانب سفر کرتے ہوئے ڈرائیور ناصر نے سڑک کنارے ایک ڈھابے پر چائے پیتے ہوئے اپنی کہانی سنائی۔
پاکستان کے ضلع گجرات کے ایک چھوٹے سے گاؤں سے ایک مزدور کی حیثیت سے دبئی اور چند برسوں میں اپنی کنسٹرکشن کمپنی تک کا سفر اور پھر کچھ ہی ماہ میں دیوالیہ کا شکار ہونا اور دیوالیہ بھی ایسا کہ وہ شخص جو کئی سال دبئی میں دنیا کی مہنگی ترین گاڑیوں کا مالک رہا، اب محض ایک ڈرائیور ہے اور وہ بھی دیہاڑی دار۔
ناصر کی کہانی نئے دبئی کی کہانی ہے۔ ’میں یہاں آیا تو ایک مزدور کی حیثیت سے تھا لیکن کچھ تعلیم تھی لہٰذا چیزیں جلد سمجھ میں آنے لگیں۔ کچھ عرصے بعد مزدوروں کا سپروائزر بن گیا، پھر ٹھیکیدار اور چند برس میں اپنی کمپنی رجسٹر کروا لی۔ یہ چھ برس پہلے کی بات ہے۔ بہت کنسٹرکشن ہو رہی تھی۔ ماں کی دعاؤں سے مجھے بھی بہت کام ملا۔ ابھی چھ ماہ سے جو بحران شروع ہوا تو اس کی لپیٹ میں میں بھی آگیا۔ جن پراجیکٹس نے میرے پیسے دینے تھے وہ بند ہو گئے۔ چیک رک گئے، میں نے بینکوں کے جو پیسے دینے تھے وہ اپنے اثاثے بیچ کر پورے کیے، لیبر کو ادائیگیاں کیں اور انہیں یہاں سے روانہ کیا۔ اب میرے پاس کچھ نہیں سوائے اس کار کے جسے کرائے پر چلاتا ہوں اور اپنا خرچ نکالتا ہوں‘۔
یہ ایک محمد ناصر کی نہیں ان ہزاروں افراد کی کہانی ہے جو روزگار کی تلاش میں اپنا وطن چھوڑ کر اس دیار میں آئے اور اپنی بساط کے مطابق خوب کمایا۔ لیکن ایسا معلوم ہوتا ہے کہ اب یہاں گنوانے کا موسم ہے۔ متحدہ عرب ریاستوں میں آبادی کے لحاظ سے سب سے بڑی ریاست دبئی گزشتہ چند ماہ سے سنگین معاشی بحران کا شکار ہے اور بحران کی واحد بڑی وجہ تعمیراتی شعبے میں آنے والا زوال ہے۔ عرب ریاست ہونے کے باوجود بیس لاکھ آبادی کی اس مملکت کی معیشت کا انحصار تعمیرات، سیاحت اور تجارت پر ہے جبکہ تیل ملکی معیشت کا صرف چھ فیصد ہے۔ لہذا تعمیرات اور ریئل اسٹیٹ سکیٹر میں آنے والے اس بحران نے معیشت کے دیگر تمام شعبوں کو بری طرح سے متاثر کیا۔
تعمیراتی شعبے سے شروع ہونے والے اس بحران نے معیشت کو کس حد تک متاثر کیا ہے، دبئی میں اطلاعات تک رسائی کا شفاف نظام نہ ہونے کے باعث ، اس بارے میں سرکاری اور حمتی اعداد و شمار دستیاب نہیں ہیں۔ لیکن بعض ماہرین کا خیال ہے کہ دبئی کے انٹرنیشل سٹی کی طرح گزشتہ برس ستمبر کے بعد سے دبئی کے تقریباً تمام بڑے تعمیراتی منصوبوں پر کام روک دیا گیا ہے۔ زیر التوا ان منصوبوں کی تعداد ایک ہزار سے زائد بتائی جاتی ہے۔ ان منصوبوں کے تاخیر کا شکار ہونے سے تین سو ارب ڈالر کا سرمایہ جو ان منصوبوں پر سرف ہونا تھا، رک گیا ہے۔ یہ سرمایہ جب پائپ لائن میں نہ آیا تو بینک مشکلات کا شکار ہو گئے اور یوں ایک چین ری ایکشن شروع ہوا جس نے دبئی کی معیشت کی بنیادوں کو ہلا کر رکھ دیا۔
دبئی میں اب بھی بہت پوٹینشل ہے۔ یہاں دنیا کا بہترین انفراسٹرکچر موجود ہے۔ کاروباری لوگوں کو جو سہولتیں یہاں ملتی ہیں، دنیا میں کہیں نہیں ملتیں۔ لہٰذا یہ ممکن نہیں کہ یہ بحران ہمیشہ یوں ہی رہے اور جو ہزاروں عمارتیں آدھی کھڑی ہیں وہ ایسے ہی ادھوری رہیں۔ یہ مشینری چلے گی اور یہ عمارتیں ضرور بنیں گی، آج نہیں تو کل۔
محمد ناصر
یہ سب شروع کیسے ہوا، یہ جاننے کے لیے میں دبئی کے مؤقر اخباری گروپ گلف نیوز کے تعمیرات اور جائیداد کی خبروں کے لیے مختص ہفتہ وار رسالے پراپرٹی ویکلی کے ایڈیٹر منوج نائیر سے ملنے پہنچا۔
منوج نائیر نے کہا ’دبئی یہ سمجھتا رہا کہ یہ بس ترقی ہی کرے گا اور باقی دنیا میں گزشتہ برس آنے والا بحران اسے متاثر نہیں کرے گا۔ لیکن بدقسمتی سے ایسا نہیں ہوا۔ جب غیر ملکی سرمایہ کاروں نے دبئی میں سرمایہ لگانے سے انکار کیا تو جائیداد کی قیمتیں گرنا شروع ہو گئیں۔ بلڈرز کو سرمایہ نہیں ملا اور انہوں نے بھی اپنے تعمیراتی پراجیکٹس بند کرنا شروع دیے‘۔
اور جب دبئی میں راتوں رات اونچی اونچی عمارتیں تعمیر کرنے کے لیے دنیا بھر میں مشہور ٹھیکیدار کا اعتماد مجروح ہوا اور اسے خریداروں کی کمی کا خدشہ پیدا ہوا تو پھر پورے دبئی میں اس انٹرنیشنل سٹی کی طرح خاموشی چھا گئی۔
کہا جاتا ہے کہ اونچی اونچی عمارتیں تعمیر کرنے کے لیے جو دیو ہیکل کرینیں استعمال کی جاتی ہیں ان کی دنیا بھر میں کل تعداد کا نصف دبئی کے پچاس کلومیٹر رقبے میں موجود ہیں۔ چند ماہ پہلے یہ تمام کرینیں کام کر رہی تھیں لیکن اب ان میں سے بیشتر محض ہوا میں معلق ہیں۔
یہی حال دبئی کے مضافات میں اربوں ڈالر کی لاگت سے زیرتعمیر دبئی کے انٹرنیشنل سٹی کا ہے جہاں تعمیری کام رک چکا ہے۔ اسے تعمیر کرنے والی الساحل دبئی کی بڑی تعمیراتی کمپنی ہے جو شاہی خاندان کی ملکیت ہے۔ شاہد لطیف انٹرنیشنل سٹی کے سائیٹ انجینئر ہیں۔ یا یوں کہیے کہ تھے۔ ان سے میری ملاقات ان کے ہاسٹل میں ہوئی جہاں وہ پاکستان واپسی کے لیے اپنا سامان باندھ رہے تھے کیونکہ ان کی کمپنی کے بیشتر ملازمین کی طرح سائیٹ انجینئر کو بھی برطرف کر دیا گیا ہے۔
وئیر ہاؤس میں کھڑی گاڑیاں
’ہماری کمپنی کے تین بڑے کلائنٹس تھے جنکے دبئی میں بڑے بڑے پراجیکٹس تھے۔ ان سب پر کام بند ہو چکا ہے۔ ہماری کمپنی کے پانچ ہزار میں سے بیشتر ملازمین فارغ کر دیے گئے ہیں باقی انتظار میں ہیں کہ ان کی باری کب آتی ہے‘۔
سرمائے کی کمی نے جائیداد کی قیمت کو متاثر کیا جس میں ایک محتاط اندازے کے مطابق گزشتہ برس ستمبر سے اب تک چالیس فیصد تک کی کمی ہو چکی ہے اور قیمتوں میں گراوٹ کا سلسلہ جاری ہے۔ یہ وہ نکتہ ہے جہاں پہنچ کر ان لاکھوں غیر ملکیوں کا ذکر لازمی ہو جاتا ہے، جو دبئی کے رئیل اسٹیٹ سیکٹر بحران سے متاثر ہوئے۔ یہ کون لوگ ہیں اور ان پر کیا بیتی، اس کی تفصیل بتائی دبئی کے ایک بینک میں اسی طرح کے منصوبوں میں سرمایہ کاری کے شعبے کے انچارج علی حسن نے۔
’دبئی کے تعمیراتی اور ریئل اسٹیٹ سیکٹر میں روس، پاکستان اور انڈیا سے بہت پیسہ آیا۔ لوگ راتوں رات امیر بننے کے چکر میں جب بھی کوئی پراجیکٹ شروع ہوتا اس میں سرمایہ کاری کرتے، بینک سے قرض لیتے اور دو تین ماہ میں جب اس کی قیمت میں اضافہ ہوتا تو اسے بیچ دیتے۔ بہت سے لوگوں کا دبئی میں کاروبار ہی یہی بن گیا۔ لیکن جب اچانک بحران پیدا ہوا تو وہ لوگ جنہوں نے آٹھ آٹھ دس دس جائیدادیں خرید رکھی تھیں وہ بکنا بند ہو گئیں۔ بینکوں کو تو اپنی قسط چاہیے تھی لیکن ان کے پاس دینے کے لیے پیسے نہیں تھے۔ یوں لوگ یا یہ جائیداد چھوڑ کر فرار ہوگئے اور یا اب جیلوں میں پڑے ہیں‘۔
اور جب بڑے بڑے تعمیراتی منصوبوں کے ذمہ داروں کا دیوالیہ نکلا تو وہ پہنچے نو بہار علی ریحان اور ان کے ہم پیشہ، وکلا کے پاس۔ میں نے بھی نو بہار ایڈووکیٹ کو تلاش کر لیا جو ہیں تو کارپوریٹ وکیل لیکن آج کل صرف زمین جائیداد کے مقدمے لڑ رہے ہیں۔ کیوں، یہی سوال میں نے بھی ان سے پوچھا۔
’ہمارا زیادہ کام یہاں روز روز بننے والی سرمایہ کار کمپنیوں کی رجسٹریشن وغیرہ سے چلتا تھا۔ اب وہ کام تو بند ہو گیا ہے۔ اس کی جگہ زمین جائیداد کے مقدمے ہیں۔ کسی کی ضمانت کروانی ہے کسی کی بینک کے ساتھ ڈیل۔ بس روز روز یہی کام ہوتا ہے آجکل‘۔
دبئی کی جائیداد میں سرمایہ لگانے والے ایسے لوگوں کی کتنی تعداد ہے جو جیلوں میں ہیں یا بینکوں کے ڈر سے دبئی سے فرار ہو گئے، یہ جاننا سرکاری سطح پر ممکن نہیں ہے کیونکہ دبئی کی حکومت سرے سے اس مسئلے کے وجود ہی سے انکاری ہے۔ مجھے بتایا گیا کہ بینکوں کے واجبات ادا کیے بغیر دبئی چھوڑنے والے لوگ یہاں کے ائیرپورٹ پر اپنی گاڑیاں بھی چھوڑ کر فرار ہو رہے ہیں کیونکہ یہ گاڑیاں بھی عموماً قسطوں پر لی گئی تھیں۔
دبئی کے ہوائی اڈے پر تو نہیں، البتہ بڑی تعداد میں ایسی گاڑیاں مجھے ایک بینک کے وئیر ہاؤس میں کھڑی ملیں۔ دبئی شہر کے بیچوں بیچ بنے اس وئیر ہاؤس کے منیجر نے کچھ بتانے سے انکار کیا، لہذا میں نے اندراج رجسٹر سنبھالے بیٹھے ایک اور ملازم سے بات کی جسکا کہنا تھا کہ ’پہلے یہاں مہینے میں دس بیس گاڑیاں آتی تھیں وہ بھی پرانی سی جو لوگ ویسے ہی چھوڑ دیتے تھے۔ اب تو یہ وئیر ہاؤس بھر گیا ہے اور اس میں گاڑی کھڑی کرنے کی بھی جگہ نہیں ہے۔ لگتا ہے لوگوں نے گاڑیوں کی قسطیں دینا بند کر دی ہیں‘۔
اس رجسٹر میں درج تفصیلات سے معلوم ہوا کہ یہاں ہر ماہ چند گاڑیاں لائی جاتی تھیں لیکن گزشتہ اکتوبر کے بعد سے ان کی تعداد تین سے چار سو ماہانہ تک پہنچ چکی ہے۔ اور ان میں سے بیشتر ائیرپورٹ کی حدود ہی سے قبضے میں لی گئی ہیں۔
دبئی کی بلند و بالا عمارتیں
ایسا نہیں ہے کہ دبئی کی جائیدار میں سرمایہ لگانے والے سب ہی فرار ہوئے یا زیر عتاب آئے۔ دبئی کے خوبصورت ساحل پر بنے ایک محل نما گھر میں رہنے والے ماجد وزیر شیخ نے گزشتہ برسوں کے دوران دبئی ریئل اسٹیٹ سے خوب کمایا۔ اس بحران میں ان کے بھی اربوں نہیں تو کروڑوں ڈوبے لیکن وہ نہ فرار ہوئے، نہ دلبرداشتہ۔ اسکی وجہ وہ یوں بتاتے ہیں۔
’جس نے دبئی میں سوچ سمجھ کر سرمایہ لگایا اس نے فرض کریں پانچ سالوں میں ایک لاکھ کے دس لاکھ بنائے۔ گزشتہ ایک برس میں اس دس میں سے پانچ لاکھ کا نقصان ہو گیا۔ لیکن اب بھی اسے چار لاکھ کا فائدہ ہے‘۔
تاہم ماجد وزیر کا کہنا تھا کہ ’دیوالیہ ان لوگوں کا نکلا جنہوں نے لالچ میں آکر اپنی حیثیت سے بڑھ کر پانچ دس جائیدادیں بینکوں سے قرض لیکر خریدیں۔ اب وہ نہ بکتی ہیں اور نہ ہی ان کے پاس قسطیں دینے کے پیسے ہیں‘۔
دبئی کے اس معاشی بحران میں ہزاروں لٹے اور فرار ہوئے۔ لیکن گجرات کا محمد ناصر دبئی میں رہتے ہوئے ان حالات سے لڑ رہا ہے۔ ناصر کا کہنا ہے کہ وہ دن دور نہیں جب یہ سب ٹھیک ہو جائے گا۔ اس کی کنسٹرکشن کمپنی بحال ہوگی اور وہ ایک بار پھر ڈرائیور سے اس کار کا مالک بنے گا۔
’دبئی میں اب بھی بہت پوٹینشل ہے۔ یہاں دنیا کا بہترین انفراسٹرکچر موجود ہے۔ کاروباری لوگوں کو جو سہولتیں یہاں ملتی ہیں، دنیا میں کہیں نہیں ملتیں۔ لہٰذا یہ ممکن نہیں کہ یہ بحران ہمیشہ یوں ہی رہے اور جو ہزاروں عمارتیں آدھی کھڑی ہیں وہ ایسے ہی ادھوری رہیں۔ یہ مشینری چلے گی اور یہ عمارتیں ضرور بنیں گی، آج نہیں تو کل‘۔
گزشتہ کئی دہائیوں سے ’دبئی چلو‘ کے دلفریب نعرے اور خواب کی تعمیل کے لیے دنیا بھر بلخصوص پاکستان، انڈیا اور جنوبی ایشیا کے دیگر ممالک کے لوگ یہاں آتے رہے اور دبئی کے تعمیراتی جنگل میں گم ہوتے رہے۔ اس معاشی بحران نے ان کے خوابوں کو کیسے چکنا چور کیا۔ اسکی تفصیل ’دبئی چلو‘ کی اگلی قسط میں۔
Obama to meet Afghan, Pakistan leaders on strategy
04 May 2009 12:00:17 GMT
Source: Reuters
* Obama critical of weak Afghan, Pakistan leadership
* Pakistan still views India as main threat - experts
* New U.S. strategy gets mixed reception
By David Alexander
WASHINGTON, May 4 (Reuters) - President Barack Obama presents his strategy for defeating al Qaeda to the leaders of Afghanistan and Pakistan on Wednesday amid growing U.S. concern it is losing the war and neither is a reliable ally.
The White House meetings with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Afghan President Hamid Karzai are likely to be cagey affairs -- both visitors have been heavily criticized by Obama's administration and are also wary of each other.
Equally, Obama's new strategy for defeating al Qaeda and Taliban militants operating in Afghanistan and Pakistan has not been universally welcomed in either country.
Wednesday is Obama's first face-to-face meeting with the two men to discuss his new regional strategy and is a chance to air his concerns about corruption and poor governance.
One of the biggest challenges will be to convince Pakistan to take the threat of Islamist militancy seriously and prevent the Taliban using its soil to attack Afghanistan, a major bone of contention between Islamabad and Kabul.
"Pakistanis have a fundamental doctrinal disjuncture with what's happening because they are ... geared to dealing with India while they are facing marauders from the west," said Juan Zarate, a former deputy national security adviser for combating terrorism with the Bush administration.
As they seek reliable allies in the region, U.S. officials can sometimes give conflicting signals, at times praising cooperation with Pakistan's military and at others accusing it and its powerful spy agency of helping al Qaeda.
"Some have raised concern that elements within the Pakistani military and intelligence services may be sympathetic to militant groups, leading to caution on our part," Obama's undersecretary of defense for policy, Michele Flournoy, told the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee in written testimony last week.
Obama's administration has promised more money to boost development in Pakistan but has sounded even more frustrated with its civilian government.
Last month, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton accused Islamabad of abdicating to the Taliban by agreeing to impose Islamic law in the Swat valley, while Obama expressed grave concern the government was "very fragile" and unable to deliver basic services.
WAR BEING LOST?
As he seeks to wind down the war in Iraq, Obama's strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan has won some praise for its focus on boosting aid and development and not relying entirely on a military solution to the fight against al Qaeda.
"Today the war is being lost in Afghanistan, but is not yet lost," Bruce Riedel, an author of Obama's strategy, wrote in a piece for the Brookings Institution think tank last week. "President Obama has decided to send the resources to the war to break the movement of the Taliban. He is right to do so."
But some argue it does not go far enough to change past policies that have failed to yield results.
Many Pakistanis are angry that U.S. drone attacks on their soil have continued under Obama. Aimed at al Qaeda's leaders, the strikes from unmanned aircraft have often killed civilians.
Others complain the United States has undermined democracy in Pakistan for decades by supporting and funding its powerful military.
Pakistan's army is now fighting the Taliban for control of Buner valley, a strategic northern region near Islamabad, but appears to have ceded control of large parts of the country's north and west to the militants.
Although Obama said last week he was confident about the security of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal, the issue may well be raised at the meeting with Zardari.
On Monday, the New York Times reported growing concern among U.S. officials that militants might try to snatch a nuclear weapon in transit or insert sympathizers into laboratories or fuel-production facilities.
Hawks within the Pakistani establishment fear Karzai's government is too close to arch-rival India and see support for the Taliban as a way of maintaining influence in neighboring Afghanistan, especially for the day the Americans leave.
"The Pakistani military and intelligence services remain convinced that the prime enemy of Pakistan continues to be India," retired U.S. Lieutenant General David Barno told a recent House Armed Services Committee hearing.
"No experienced security or political leaders truly believe in the depth of their hearts that the United States is a long-term player in the region, much less a reliable partner to Pakistan." (Editing by Simon Denyer and John O'Callaghan)
Source: Reuters
* Obama critical of weak Afghan, Pakistan leadership
* Pakistan still views India as main threat - experts
* New U.S. strategy gets mixed reception
By David Alexander
WASHINGTON, May 4 (Reuters) - President Barack Obama presents his strategy for defeating al Qaeda to the leaders of Afghanistan and Pakistan on Wednesday amid growing U.S. concern it is losing the war and neither is a reliable ally.
The White House meetings with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Afghan President Hamid Karzai are likely to be cagey affairs -- both visitors have been heavily criticized by Obama's administration and are also wary of each other.
Equally, Obama's new strategy for defeating al Qaeda and Taliban militants operating in Afghanistan and Pakistan has not been universally welcomed in either country.
Wednesday is Obama's first face-to-face meeting with the two men to discuss his new regional strategy and is a chance to air his concerns about corruption and poor governance.
One of the biggest challenges will be to convince Pakistan to take the threat of Islamist militancy seriously and prevent the Taliban using its soil to attack Afghanistan, a major bone of contention between Islamabad and Kabul.
"Pakistanis have a fundamental doctrinal disjuncture with what's happening because they are ... geared to dealing with India while they are facing marauders from the west," said Juan Zarate, a former deputy national security adviser for combating terrorism with the Bush administration.
As they seek reliable allies in the region, U.S. officials can sometimes give conflicting signals, at times praising cooperation with Pakistan's military and at others accusing it and its powerful spy agency of helping al Qaeda.
"Some have raised concern that elements within the Pakistani military and intelligence services may be sympathetic to militant groups, leading to caution on our part," Obama's undersecretary of defense for policy, Michele Flournoy, told the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee in written testimony last week.
Obama's administration has promised more money to boost development in Pakistan but has sounded even more frustrated with its civilian government.
Last month, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton accused Islamabad of abdicating to the Taliban by agreeing to impose Islamic law in the Swat valley, while Obama expressed grave concern the government was "very fragile" and unable to deliver basic services.
WAR BEING LOST?
As he seeks to wind down the war in Iraq, Obama's strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan has won some praise for its focus on boosting aid and development and not relying entirely on a military solution to the fight against al Qaeda.
"Today the war is being lost in Afghanistan, but is not yet lost," Bruce Riedel, an author of Obama's strategy, wrote in a piece for the Brookings Institution think tank last week. "President Obama has decided to send the resources to the war to break the movement of the Taliban. He is right to do so."
But some argue it does not go far enough to change past policies that have failed to yield results.
Many Pakistanis are angry that U.S. drone attacks on their soil have continued under Obama. Aimed at al Qaeda's leaders, the strikes from unmanned aircraft have often killed civilians.
Others complain the United States has undermined democracy in Pakistan for decades by supporting and funding its powerful military.
Pakistan's army is now fighting the Taliban for control of Buner valley, a strategic northern region near Islamabad, but appears to have ceded control of large parts of the country's north and west to the militants.
Although Obama said last week he was confident about the security of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal, the issue may well be raised at the meeting with Zardari.
On Monday, the New York Times reported growing concern among U.S. officials that militants might try to snatch a nuclear weapon in transit or insert sympathizers into laboratories or fuel-production facilities.
Hawks within the Pakistani establishment fear Karzai's government is too close to arch-rival India and see support for the Taliban as a way of maintaining influence in neighboring Afghanistan, especially for the day the Americans leave.
"The Pakistani military and intelligence services remain convinced that the prime enemy of Pakistan continues to be India," retired U.S. Lieutenant General David Barno told a recent House Armed Services Committee hearing.
"No experienced security or political leaders truly believe in the depth of their hearts that the United States is a long-term player in the region, much less a reliable partner to Pakistan." (Editing by Simon Denyer and John O'Callaghan)
Italian troops kill Afghan girl, 12 - family
03 May 2009 16:46:53 GMT
Source: Reuters
By Sharafuddin Sharafyar
HERAT, Afghanistan, May 3 (Reuters) - Italian troops fired on a passenger car in western Afghanistan on Sunday, killing a 12-year-old Afghan girl and wounding three members of her family, the family said.
A spokesman for the Italian contingent in Afghanistan said the girl was in a car that was driving at high speed and had ignored warning signs.
"Given that the car continued racing, despite the signals and warning shots, the soldiers opened fire aiming at the engine," said the spokesman by phone from Herat. "An investigation is under way. It is not clear exactly how the child died."
Reuters television footage showed a white Toyota car with its rear and side windows destroyed and its frame punctured with bullet holes. The girl, named Behnooshahr, lay dead on a gurney at a hospital in Herat, a city near the Iranian border.
"Suddenly I heard a loud bang, I couldn't work out what it was, but I saw that my daughter was dead and my family were badly hurt," said her father, Ahmadi, who did not give a last name and is from the neighbouring province of Farah.
He said the military convoy was driving behind him and he could not see or hear any signals to slow down or pull-over. After firing, the convoy continued to drive past his car and did not stop to help his family reach a hospital, he said.
Italian officials gave the girl's age as 13, but her family said she was 12. Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini was deeply saddened by the incident, a ministry statement said.
NATO forces in Afghanistan say they are working hard to reduce the number of civilian casualties, which have steadily increased. Western troops, fearful of suicide bomb attacks, have often been involved in shooting incidents on roads.
Troops are permitted to fire warning shots if cars do not give way and can fire directly at cars that still do not obey.
Barakatollah Mohammadi, a doctor who treated the family at a hospital in Herat, said he was shocked at the extent of the girl's wounds: "Her head was almost severed from her neck." (Additional reporting by Jalil Ahmad Rezaie in Herat and Antonella Cinelli in Rome; Writing by Golnar Motevalli; Editing by Peter Graff)
Source: Reuters
By Sharafuddin Sharafyar
HERAT, Afghanistan, May 3 (Reuters) - Italian troops fired on a passenger car in western Afghanistan on Sunday, killing a 12-year-old Afghan girl and wounding three members of her family, the family said.
A spokesman for the Italian contingent in Afghanistan said the girl was in a car that was driving at high speed and had ignored warning signs.
"Given that the car continued racing, despite the signals and warning shots, the soldiers opened fire aiming at the engine," said the spokesman by phone from Herat. "An investigation is under way. It is not clear exactly how the child died."
Reuters television footage showed a white Toyota car with its rear and side windows destroyed and its frame punctured with bullet holes. The girl, named Behnooshahr, lay dead on a gurney at a hospital in Herat, a city near the Iranian border.
"Suddenly I heard a loud bang, I couldn't work out what it was, but I saw that my daughter was dead and my family were badly hurt," said her father, Ahmadi, who did not give a last name and is from the neighbouring province of Farah.
He said the military convoy was driving behind him and he could not see or hear any signals to slow down or pull-over. After firing, the convoy continued to drive past his car and did not stop to help his family reach a hospital, he said.
Italian officials gave the girl's age as 13, but her family said she was 12. Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini was deeply saddened by the incident, a ministry statement said.
NATO forces in Afghanistan say they are working hard to reduce the number of civilian casualties, which have steadily increased. Western troops, fearful of suicide bomb attacks, have often been involved in shooting incidents on roads.
Troops are permitted to fire warning shots if cars do not give way and can fire directly at cars that still do not obey.
Barakatollah Mohammadi, a doctor who treated the family at a hospital in Herat, said he was shocked at the extent of the girl's wounds: "Her head was almost severed from her neck." (Additional reporting by Jalil Ahmad Rezaie in Herat and Antonella Cinelli in Rome; Writing by Golnar Motevalli; Editing by Peter Graff)
Sunday, May 03, 2009
Iraqi forces arrest US-allied militia leader
Tikrit, Iraq, May 3 - Iraqi forces backed by US troops have arrested a US-allied Sunni Arab militia leader charged with murder, Iraqi officials said on Sunday.
The US military said Nadhim al-Jubouri, leader of a government-backed local militia and a religious leader in the town of Dhuluiya, 70 km (45 miles) north of Baghdad, and his two brothers, were seized from their home on Saturday.
Derrick Cheng, a US military spokesman in northern Iraq, said ”members of the Iraq National Police with coalition advisors arrested three individuals. Included in the arrest was ... Mullah Nadhim Mahmud Khalil and two brothers. The National Police presented warrants ... under the charge of terrorism.”
The mostly Sunni Arab Awakening Councils, local guard units including many former insurgents who switched sides to fight al-Qaeda in late 2006, have been central to cutting violence in Iraq.
As an Awakening leader, Mr Jubouri was an important US ally in the fight against al-Qaeda in largely Sunni Salahuddin province, where Saddam Hussein’s hometown is located.
Hussein Ibrahim Abdullah, a police lieutenant-colonel in Dhuluiya, said Mr Jubouri was accused in killings that took place in the largely Shi’ite town of Dujail during the height of Iraq’s sectarian conflict in 2006-2007.
”People from Dujail brought charges against Mullah Nadhim for the murder of their relatives,” said Ahmed Karim, the deputy governor of Salahuddin province, referring to Mr Jubouri’s religious title. He gave no further details of the charges.
He added that at the time the alleged crimes took place, Mr Jubouri was a notorious al-Qaeda operative.
The Awakening militias, which spread from western Anbar province across Iraq, were backed and paid by US forces until the Iraqi government took control of them in recent months.
Payment of their salaries has fallen far behind schedule since the Iraqi government took control.
Many guards regard the Shi’ite-led government with suspicion and have been dismayed by salary delays, insurgent attacks on guard units, and a spate arrests of guards in recent months.
In late March, Iraqi forces seized Adil al-Mashhadani, head of a patrol unit in central Baghdad’s Fadhil neighbourhood, sparking clashes with his supporters that killed three people.
Several others have been detained. US and Iraqi officials deny the government is targeting the guards because of their sect or insurgent past, but say those who have committed grave crimes must face justice.
Guards have come under attack, and at least 125 have been killed since October, US officials say. On Saturday, gunmen opened fire at a guard unit south of Baghdad, wounding one.
On April 22, a suicide bomber detonated an explosive vest inside a mosque in Dhuluiya where may have targeted Mr Jubouri.
Also on Saturday, about 30 guard units walked off their posts south of Baghdad in protest of salary delays and the attack in Yusufiya.
The US military said Nadhim al-Jubouri, leader of a government-backed local militia and a religious leader in the town of Dhuluiya, 70 km (45 miles) north of Baghdad, and his two brothers, were seized from their home on Saturday.
Derrick Cheng, a US military spokesman in northern Iraq, said ”members of the Iraq National Police with coalition advisors arrested three individuals. Included in the arrest was ... Mullah Nadhim Mahmud Khalil and two brothers. The National Police presented warrants ... under the charge of terrorism.”
The mostly Sunni Arab Awakening Councils, local guard units including many former insurgents who switched sides to fight al-Qaeda in late 2006, have been central to cutting violence in Iraq.
As an Awakening leader, Mr Jubouri was an important US ally in the fight against al-Qaeda in largely Sunni Salahuddin province, where Saddam Hussein’s hometown is located.
Hussein Ibrahim Abdullah, a police lieutenant-colonel in Dhuluiya, said Mr Jubouri was accused in killings that took place in the largely Shi’ite town of Dujail during the height of Iraq’s sectarian conflict in 2006-2007.
”People from Dujail brought charges against Mullah Nadhim for the murder of their relatives,” said Ahmed Karim, the deputy governor of Salahuddin province, referring to Mr Jubouri’s religious title. He gave no further details of the charges.
He added that at the time the alleged crimes took place, Mr Jubouri was a notorious al-Qaeda operative.
The Awakening militias, which spread from western Anbar province across Iraq, were backed and paid by US forces until the Iraqi government took control of them in recent months.
Payment of their salaries has fallen far behind schedule since the Iraqi government took control.
Many guards regard the Shi’ite-led government with suspicion and have been dismayed by salary delays, insurgent attacks on guard units, and a spate arrests of guards in recent months.
In late March, Iraqi forces seized Adil al-Mashhadani, head of a patrol unit in central Baghdad’s Fadhil neighbourhood, sparking clashes with his supporters that killed three people.
Several others have been detained. US and Iraqi officials deny the government is targeting the guards because of their sect or insurgent past, but say those who have committed grave crimes must face justice.
Guards have come under attack, and at least 125 have been killed since October, US officials say. On Saturday, gunmen opened fire at a guard unit south of Baghdad, wounding one.
On April 22, a suicide bomber detonated an explosive vest inside a mosque in Dhuluiya where may have targeted Mr Jubouri.
Also on Saturday, about 30 guard units walked off their posts south of Baghdad in protest of salary delays and the attack in Yusufiya.
Saturday, May 02, 2009
Gunman in Iraqi army uniform kills 2 US soldiers
May 2, 4:14 PM EDT
By BRIAN MURPHY
Associated Press Writer
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BAGHDAD (AP) -- A gunman wearing an Iraqi army uniform opened fire on a U.S. military team Saturday, killing two American soldiers and wounding three others at a combat outpost in northern Iraq, the military said.
A military statement said the attacker was killed after the ambush-style assault 12 miles (20 kilometers) south of Mosul, which is one of the last urban strongholds for Sunni insurgents.
In the past, attackers have used military and police uniforms to bypass checkpoints and gain access to heavily guarded bases. But Iraqi military officials said the gunman was an Iraqi soldier who also served as a Sunni Muslim preacher for an army unit.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
The attack will likely elevate worries about militant infiltration in Iraqi security forces as the U.S. military turns over more responsibilities in a phased withdrawal before all American forces leave at the end of 2011.
It also could be one of the few confirmed cases of a member of Iraq's security forces targeting U.S. troops. On Feb. 24, two Iraqi police officers in Mosul opened fire on a visiting U.S. military team, killing one American soldier and an interpreter. The gunmen remain fugitives.
Earlier this week, a U.S. military spokesman, 1st Lt. John Brimley, called the February shooting "definitely an anomaly."
The attack follows the deadliest month for U.S. troops in Iraq since September - with 18 American soldiers dying in Iraq in April.
In the northern city of Kirkuk, security patrols were boosted after an attempted suicide bombing Friday was foiled by guards at the last moment at a Shiite mosque.
Authorities identified the would-be attacker as a Syrian teenager who they believe was recruited by al-Qaida in Iraq. The suspect - 19-year-old Ammar Afif Hamada - was tackled on the doorsteps of the mosque while it was filled with worshippers.
The dramatic capture was welcome good news for Iraqi authorities after a spike in blasts by suspected Sunni insurgents that have claimed more than 200 lives since late April and raised question about the durability of recent security gains.
It also could offer investigators insights into insurgent operations in northern Iraq and smuggling routes from Syria - long considered one of the main pipelines to replenish insurgent ranks from across the region.
According to a police officer involved in the investigation, Hamada fired a pistol at one guard who tried to stop him. Then another guard tackled him as he continued toward the mosque's main hall, grabbing the attacker's hands to prevent him from detonating an explosives belt packed with grenades and connected to a trigger in the suspect's digital watch.
The officer spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to release the information.
Hamada traveled from Syria to the northern city of Mosul about a week ago, then arrived Wednesday in Kirkuk, where he was moved from safe house to safe house in mainly Sunni areas, the police officer said.
Kirkuk police chief Maj. Gen. Torhan Abdul-Rahman Youssef confirmed the details and said Hamada has been an al-Qaida operative in Iraq for the past four years and has confessed to participation in many operations in Diyala province and Baghdad.
Hamada, meanwhile, was being treated for serious head injuries at a hospital in Kirkuk after being beaten by guards and worshippers at the scene, police said.
Tensions have risen in Kirkuk as Kurdish leaders seek to incorporate it into their semiautonomous area, making it one of the most politically sensitive issues for Iraqi leaders and for U.S. military commanders preparing to withdraw their troops by the end of 2011.
The showdown is so volatile that Kirkuk was excluded from regional elections in January and the United Nations has offered a proposal for compromise plans.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, speaking on CNN's "Fareed Zakaria GPS" in a segment to air Sunday, described Kirkuk's ethnic rifts as one of Iraq's most complicated puzzles.
"From an Arab-Kurd point of view, Kirkuk is a bigger problem by far than Mosul," he said. "Mosul is really still a security problem from the standpoint of al-Qaida is still using that as kind of their last redoubt, if you will. But, you know, I think (the Iraqis) will continue to work these things through."
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MOSSAD have been carrying out assassinations in Iraq in collaboration with the CIA. Their offices were destroyed many times in Al-Rasheed Hotel and near Baghdad Airport, forcing them to occupy part of the American embassy inside the Green Zone. There are other MOSSAD units operating undercover in the North mainly in agricultural development and military training in Sueimania, Arbil, Dhouk and near Kirkuk. The Iraqi resistance is preparing a special treatment for them hoping that they stay away from MOSSAD overt or covert criminal activities in Iraq.
Adnan Darwash, Iraq Occupation Times
US soldiers will not appear in Iraqi courts to answer any charges relating to a raid this week that killed two people in Iraq and triggered condemnation from Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, the US military has said.
REUTERS/Mohammed Ameen/Files
So where is SOFA? If he can't enforce it, we will enforce it by FORCE:
An Iraqi police lieutenant-colonel in Mosul, who declined to be named, said the man who shot the U.S. soldiers was an Iraqi soldier who also acted as an imam at an Iraqi military training centre in Hamam al-Alil.
He said the American soldiers were doing exercises in the training centre's yard at the time of the attack. He did not know what had happened to the attacker afterwards.
Saad Ali al-Jubouri, mayor of Hammam al-Alil, said he saw U.S. helicopters hovering the area in the aftermath of the attack and said the roads leading to the training centre had been sealed off.
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Most American soldiers are young, frightened and share disrespect and a strong hate for the Iraqis. After dissolving the mighty Iraqi army, the Americans have been trying to replace it with a number of quasi-security forces that protect them and police the occupation.
But Iraqis are Iraqis known for being short-fused and fearless super patriots with strong religious and cultural ties. Insulting any Iraq is usually avenged on the spot, disregarding the consequence. Here are some examples:
May 02.09: An Iraqi soldier, Hussein Al-Dulaimi, shot and killed two US soldiers and wounded three others at Hamam Al-Aleel, 20 KM south of Mousul after being insulted the day before by US soldiers guarding the entrance to Al-Ghizlani camp.
In February 2009: Two Iraqi police officers shot and killed four US soldiers along with their interpreter.
In November 2008: Four US soldiers were shot dead by an Iraqi soldier following an altercation at a check point where the Iraqi soldier was insulted by a group of US military personnel.
In October 2008: Four US soldiers were shot dead and a number of others was wounded by an Iraqi soldier seeing US military kicking and beating a 17-year old girl during a raid on one of the houses.
In December 2007: Two US soldiers were shot dead by an Iraqi soldier who was slapped slapped on the face while on a joint patrol.
The hatred for the Americans and their mercenaries is too deep. Iraqis usually wash insults with blood. The biggest insult to Iraqis is non-personal, manifested by the desecration of their sacred land by the boots of criminal US soldires and mercenaries.