Fear exaggerated?

وَضَرَبَ اللَّهُ مَثَلًا قَريَةً كانَت ءامِنَةً مُطمَئِنَّةً يَأتيها رِزقُها رَغَدًا مِن كُلِّ مَكانٍ فَكَفَرَت بِأَنعُمِ اللَّهِ فَأَذٰقَهَا اللَّهُ لِباسَ الجوعِ وَالخَوفِ بِما كانوا يَصنَعونَ ﴿١١٢﴾

(112) AND GOD propounds [to you] a parable: [Imagine] a town which was [once] secure and at ease, with its sustenance coming to it abundantly from all quarters, and which thereupon blasphemously refused to show gratitude for God’s blessings: and therefore God caused it to taste the all-embracing misery of hunger and fear in result of all [the evil] that its people had so persistently wrought.

اور الله ایک ایسی بستی کی مثال بیان فرماتا ہے جہاں ہر طرح کا امن چین تھا اس کی روزی بافراغت ہر جگہ سے چلی آتی تھی پھر الله کےاحسانوں کی ناشکری کی پھر الله نے ان کے برے کاموں کے سبب سے جو وہ کیا کرتے تھے یہ مزہ چکھایا کہ ان پر فاقہ اور خوف چھا گیا ﴿۱۱۲﴾ 2+
+





Fear exaggerated?

With the closure of educational institutions in Lahore and other parts of Punjab, the Sindh government also issued directives to schools in Karachi who were asked to raise the height of their boundary walls, deploy armed guards, and install CCTV cameras among other security measures. Some parents, however, have been questioning the level of the threat posed to educational institutions, arguing that it has only left them more apprehensive. (Text: Aroosa Masroor Photos: Eefa Khalid)
Due to rising security threats, some private schools located in DHA and Clifton now resemble a prison camp secured with barricades, barbed wires and sand bags placed at the school entrance.

But many parents have been questioning the basis of these security measures, 'I haven't been told what purpose will these security measures serve. The government has openly declared that it would not be responsible in case of any untoward incident because they do not have enough security personnel to deploy at each school. And now that schools are left to fend for themselves, the least the government can do is not blow things out of proportion so the attendance rate at schools is not affected,' said a furious parent.

However, there are other parents who are more concerned about the disturbing message these measures are sending across. 'I am not comfortable with the idea of sending my children to a school with armed guards deployed outside and snipers on roof-tops. The sight of armed gunmen all around may have a negative impact,' said another parent, who has decided to keep his children home for an indefinite period.




But the principal of Bay View Academy, Shahpur Jamal, offers a different viewpoint. According to him 'fear overrides this fact now'.

'We are a country at war and cannot afford to risk the lives of our students at this point. No one knows when and where the terrorists would hit next so we need to take precautions.'

Although the school has adopted the required security measures, he says he has been receiving suggestions from parents that these measures 'are not adequate and more needs to be done to ensure the safety of their children.' As a result, some private schools and universities that opened on Wednesday have been closed again for a week in order to train the school staff and prepare them to fight such a situation.



Security at key hotels beefed up in Karachi
Updated at: 1130 PST, Sunday, November 01, 2009
KARACHI: The administrations of all the major hotels, declared sensitive, have beefed up security in order to thwart any terrorist attack, Geo news reported on Sunday.

According to sources, an independent five star hotel, located at PIDC locality of metropolis, has placed barriers around hotel premises, getting stringent vehicles’ checking coming into hotel.

Also, Police sources claimed to have adopted strict security measures to ensure foolproof security at all key five-star hotels in city.

Especial security arrangements in and around five star hotels in Karachi have been linked with recent terrorist attacks, sources added.

Iraqi politics shuns sectarianism as violence ebbs

FACTBOX-Political alliances ahead of Iraq's 2010 election
31 Oct 2009 16:47:19 GMT
Source: Reuters
Oct 31 (Reuters) - Several alliances, many presenting themselves as nationalists who have rejected the sectarianism that pitted Iraq's majority Shi'ites and once dominant Sunnis against each other, plan to compete in the parliamentary election in January [ID:nMUH136843].

While allegiances are fluid and may yet shift again, here is a list of what appear to be the likely major coalitions and alliances that will contest the Jan. 16 poll.

STATE OF LAW

* Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has created a broad-based alliance of his Dawa party and other groups including some Sunni tribal leaders, Shi'ite Kurds, Christians and independents. Dawa's roots are Islamist, but the coalition plans to run on a non-sectarian platform. It hopes that security gains under Maliki and promises to improve public services and ensure Iraq remains a strong, united state will win it seats. Maliki's allies were the main winners of 2009 provincial elections fought on the same platform.

IRAQI NATIONAL ALLIANCE

* The Shi'ite alliance bringing together the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (ISCI), followers of anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, Basra-based Fadhila, a few Sunni leaders, former prime minister Ibrahim Jaafari, Ahmed Chalabi -- a former exile who played a key role before the 2003 U.S. invasion -- and some smaller groups is the main rival to Maliki's coalition. ISCI and the Sadrists have lost ground since holding sway over the Shi'ite electorate only a few years ago. Some observers say the group may split after the vote, which will be run on an anti-Maliki stance, because of disagreements between ISCI and the Sadrists.

KURDS

* The Kurdish coalition is dominated by the two parties administering Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish region. The Kurdish Democratic Party led by the region's president, Masoud Barzani, and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan headed by Iraq's national president, Jalal Talabani, are both secular in nature and enjoy close ties with the West. The two parties faced a major challenge in Kurdistan's parliamentary vote this year from the Change bloc, which won about a quarter of the seats.

TRIBAL LEADERS

* Tribal leaders will play an important role in the election and are being courted by major parties looking to boost their national vote. Some of Iraq's Sunni tribal leaders sprang to prominence when U.S. forces began backing local sheikhs against al Qaeda in western provinces. Their ranks are riven by dissent and they have been unable to form a united front.

TAWAFUQ

* Since the 2005 national elections al-Tawafuq, or the Sunni-based Iraqi Accordance Front, has seen many splits and divisions, and now consists of the Iraqi Islamic Party (IIP) and some tribal leaders. The IIP was the only major Sunni bloc to participate in the 2005 election. The group, which includes the speaker of parliament, is unlikely to gain the same number of seats due to divisions within the Sunni electorate.

IRAQIYA

* Former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, a secular Shi'ite, has joined up with senior Sunni politician Saleh al-Mutlaq to run on a non-sectarian platform. The alliance is campaigning on a theme of national unity and may yet end up also including Iraqi Vice President Tarek al-Hashemi.

IRAQ'S UNITY

* Interior Minister Jawad al-Bolani, Ahmed Abu Risha, a top leader of anti-al Qaeda tribal sheikhs, and Ahmed Abdul Ghafour al-Samarrai of the Sunni Endowment have also formed a group.

MINORITY PARTIES

* Iraq's minority Turkmen, Christians, Yazidis, Sabeans, Assyrians, Shabak, Faili Kurds and others are likely to ally with a bigger party in areas where they are not dominant.

(For a main story pls click on [NL:nMUH136843]

(Reporting by Baghdad Bureau; writing by Jack Kimball; editing by Michael Christie)


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Iraqi politics shuns sectarianism as violence ebbs
31 Oct 2009 16:37:29 GMT
Source: Reuters
* Politicians emphasize national unity over sect

* Decision to avoid sectarian bloc may backfire on Sunnis

By Muhanad Mohammed

BAGHDAD, Oct 31 (Reuters) - Iraq's upcoming election may mark a departure from the sectarianism that plunged the country into civil war as Shi'ite and Sunni politicians join forces and emphasise nationalism and unity. Iraqis have grown tired of the bloodshed between once dominant Sunnis and majority Shi'ites that erupted after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion toppled Sunni dictator Saddam Hussein and propelled the once oppressed Shi'ites into power, analysts say.

The latest example of a trend that appears likely to be a central theme of the election due on Jan. 16 occurred this week as former prime minister Ayad Allawi, a secular Shi'ite, and Saleh al-Mutlaq, an independent Sunni, created an alliance.

"There are two trends -- the sectarian and divisive current, and a current of national unity. We are the current of national unity," Mutlaq said on Saturday at a chaotic news conference in a Baghdad country club.

While analysts caution that the politicians' anti-sectarian rhetoric might not be reflected in their convictions, the glimmer of national unity has given many Iraqis hope.

Overall violence has plunged in the past 18 months, but major attacks by suspected Sunni Islamist al Qaeda or adherents of Saddam's outlawed Baath party remain stubbornly common.

Last Sunday two suicide bombers detonated buses loaded with explosives outside the justice ministry and Baghdad governorate building, killing 155 people. On Aug. 19, suicide bombers in trucks rocked the foreign and finance ministries, killing 95.

The January election will be a milestone as Iraq emerges from chaos. It will determine who runs Iraq as U.S. forces draw down ahead of a full withdrawal by 2012 and who presides over multi-billion dollar deals with global oil firms. Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, seeking re-election by claiming credit for improved security, began the shift from overt sectarianism in provincial elections early this year.

His Dawa party and its allies, calling for a strong unified state and promising to deliver services, not strife, pummelled rivals across the Shi'ite south.

While many Sunnis doubt Maliki's desire for reconciliation and his government's independence from Shi'ite Iran, rivals appear to be copying the prime minister's nationalist stance.

"The sectarian fronts, whether Shi'ite or Sunni, are being rejected by Iraqis because they represent an era Iraqis are so keen to change," said Haider al-Mula, a member of the party formed by Allawi and Mutlaq.

COALITION WITH SUNNI LEADERS

Put in power by the major Shi'ite political forces in Iraq, the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council (ISCI) and followers of anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, Maliki is running in January in coalition with some Sunni tribal leaders.

Another alliance running in the January election was formed recently by prominent anti-al Qaeda Sunni tribal sheikh Ahmed Abu Risha and Interior Minister Jawad al-Bolani, a Shi'ite.

Sceptics suspect the changes are only skin-deep.

"Current members of parliament enjoying so many privileges are looking for ways to get a foot in the door of the new parliament. They'll jump on any boat that ensures they continue to have those privileges," said political analyst Ali al-Nashmy.

The formation of new alliances is also a reflection of the rupturing of Sunni political groups, and there are fears their decision not to stand as a sectarian bloc may backfire on Sunnis if they find they are underrepresented in parliament.

A Sunni boycott of the 2005 elections led many to feel resentment at their disenfranchisement, fuelling the insurgency.

Dumb and Dumber , 4 Top Secrets how Car Bomb Blasts Happens

There are more than 200 checkpoints in Baghdad; some of these checkpoints are manned by policemen, some by Iraqi army and some by both. Many of these checkpoints are equipped with explosive detectors that were supposed to enable the Iraqi forces to stop transporting explosives around the city or basically car bombs.

Most of these checkpoints are located at entry points to bridges and neighborhoods. Other checkpoints are on the main roads of Baghdad to the limit that the city is literally suffocating because of these checkpoints and the resulted traffic jam.

Before starting telling you what happens in most of the checkpoints you should know about the “explosives detectors”. The device is carried by security man who stops your car and walk beside it carrying the device. The device’s pointer changes its direction when passed by a car that supposedly carries explosives.

But the main flaw it points also if there is any chemical material like detergents or even medicine.

What happens in these checkpoints and how they are distributed in the city?!

First Scenario:

You drive into the checkpoint, and the explosives detector does not point to your car, Iraqi security orders you to drive and continue your magical trip through the elegant safe capital’s roads.

Second Scenario:

The detector points at your car, the security men orders you to drive into searching area, if there is one sometimes simply stop you in mid of the street, to search your car. The soldier responsible for searching asks the dumb and dumber questions:

- Where are you coming from and where are you going?

- Do you carry weapons?

If you answered with a wide smile, coming from X neighborhood and going to Y neighborhood and no I don’t carry weapons, you probably would leave without further questions or being searched.

Third Scenario

Detectors point at your car, you go to search, you answer the dumb and dumber two questions with a wide smile but yet the soldier insists to search your car. The search will be the following: open the trunk, soldiers will order you and that’s it.

Fourth Scenario

Your friend is a soldier or you have a badge that says you are a member of Iraqi security forces, no need to worry then, because every day we see tens of them passing all Baghdad’s checkpoints without being searched.

And till now, the government and the Iraqi forces are still insisting on depending on these checkpoints as the main tactic to control the apparently unstoppable attacks of car bombs.

I wonder, what did the American military or NATO trained the new Iraqi forces?

And here is Pakistan:

Aftermath of terrorist attacks

Special duty cards issued to police, traffic wardens

* SP says only personnel with cards will get entry to their offices
* Says data on military, police uniform dealers being collected

By Aamir Yasin

RAWALPINDI: Special duty cards have been issued to police personnel and traffic wardens in Potohar Division for the safety of their offices in view of a surge in terrorist attacks in the country, said Superintendent Police (SP) of the division Kamran Adil on Thursday.

According to the SP, police personnel and traffic wardens will be allowed the entry into the premises of their offices on production of special duty cards.

He told a news conference that the said security check would help in preventing terrorist attacks on police installations in the city.

Adil also said the dealers of military and police uniform had been warned against selling fatigues to police and army personnel only after they showed special duty cards.

He said Special Branch had been directed to collect the data of shops dealing in military and police uniform in the city.

He said strict action would be initiated against those selling military and police uniform to the ‘irrelevant’ people.

The SP said educational institutions in Potohar Division continued to be under threat. He said a special advisory had been issued to the division schools totaling 175 about security.

He said private schools had been divided in two categories for security reasons. He said 29 schools fell in Category A and 146 in Category B. He said the administrations of the schools located alongside major roads had been asked to raise boundary walls to terrorist attacks. He said police had already consulted the Rawalpindi Cantonment Board in this respect.

He said police had increased patrols and deployed a large number of personnel around schools. He said efforts were being made to enhance the performance of policemen manning checkpoints.

He said schools in Potohar Division had received over a dozen hoax calls during the last one week, triggering panic among staff, students and their parents. He said some of the hoaxers were schoolchildren, who raised false alarm out of fun. He urged people to educate children on terrorism and ways and means to counter it.

During the news conference, the SP also said the Civil Lines police had arrested a cook, Riasat Ali, along with his four associates for looting 65 tola gold jewellery, Rs 126,000 cash, two wristwatches and two cellphones from a house. He said the looted goods and cash had also been recovered. Adil also said the same police station seized four stolen vehicles.

He said the Civil Lines police also solved a blind murder case by arresting a woman, Malka Pathani, who killed her husband Muhammad Attique along with her two friends. He said the body had also been recovered from Golra Chishtiabad.

The SP said the RA Bazaar police had arrested a gang involved in the making and issuance of fake driving licences and three police officials were its members. He said police also took a computer, scanner and fake stamps into custody. He said investigation into the case was underway.

Adil further said Wah Cantonment police held a man, Muhammad Zahid alias Jugee, and seized 80 litres liquor and apparatus used for its making.

112-year-old man to wed girl, 17

A Somali man who claims to be 112 years old has married a 17-year old girl.

'Today God helped me realise my dream,' Ahmed Mohamed Dore said, after the wedding in the region of Galguduud.

Bride Safiya Abdulle's family said she was 'happy with her new husband'.

Dhore says he wanted to marry Abdulle for a long time but waited for her to grow up.

'I didn't force her, but used my experience to convince her of my love; and then we agreed to marry,' he was quoted by the BBC as saying.

He said his children and two other wives agreed to the marriage, as did Abdulle's parents.
And he claimed he wants to have more children with his young bride.

Somali adolescent girls are often married off to older men, but it is rare for a man as old as Dhore to marry a girl of Abdulle's age.

Dhore claims to be 112, but there is no way to verify the claim.

This marriage was his 6th; three of Dhore's wives have died.

Polygamy is widely practiced in predominantly Muslim Somalia.

The pair celebrated their marriage late Tuesday in central Somalia before hundreds of guests.

Safeguarding Regime Even More Important than Prayers

October 29, 2009

Hamed Irani

In very extraordinary remarks, Guards General Mohammad Ali Jaafari said that one could even forget about praying for the sake of safeguarding the Islamic Republic of Iran.


Speaking in the town of Orumieh amid religious students and West Azerbaijan province Revolutionary Guards (IRGC), General Jaafari proclaimed,

“Safeguarding the Islamic Republic is even more important than (daily) prayers,” adding, “domestic enemies of the country are trying to overthrow the regime with the help of foreign enemies.”

Jaafari, who in the days following the post June-12 contested presidential elections has emerged to be known as a key figure in the regime coup, continued,

“Battling injustice has unfortunately driven some domestic individuals who at one time were in line with the regime to be in tune with foreign enemies and they are in line together to destroy the nature of the Islamic Republic.”

Violating the will of the founder of the Islamic Republic and the express provisions of the constitution both of which forbid military men get involved in politics, this senior military official attacked election competitors of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and said,

“These individuals question the injustice fighting goals of the regime and said this in their election campaigns and again during the Qods day [a day of solidarity with the Palestinian people] celebrations and their remaining members tries to question the regime again.”

This commander used the word “plot” for the massive post-election public protests and announced that “the country had just passed beyond a major danger,” and because of “public’s awareness and presence” and the “wise guidance” of the leader the danger had been overcome as the “flames of fire from this plot have been extinguished.”

The Commander at the Coup Headquarters

This is of course not the first time that the commander of the IRGC shocks the public with his remarks. Two months ago too he jumped into the political arena as a member of a political faction attacking the leaders of a competing political movement through startling remarks.

On September 2 this year, on the occasion of commemorating the martyrs of the 8-year war with Iraq, he expressly said that former president Mohammad Khatami, the current leader of Majmae Rohaniyoon Mobarez seyed Mohammad Mousavi Khoeniha and a senior member of the Sazemane Mojahedin Enghelab organization (Islamic Revolution Mojahedin) Behzad Nabavi who has been behind bars for months, were plotting to overthrow the regime and accused them of animosity with the leader of the Islamic regime distorting their statements.

Jaafari attributed these remarks to Mousavi Khoeniha, “We must strengthen ourselves and pull down the leader by any means! He must be made aware that he can not take the country towards any direction that he wishes. Khatami and his allies have plenty of experience now.”

In another part of the same talk, Jaafari attributed these words to Khatami: “If Ahmadinejad is defeated in this election, then the leader will be eliminated. If reforms are returned to the country, the leader will no longer have any authority.”

And he said that Nabavi had made these remarks at a private event:

“We must portray Ahmadinejad to be the choice of the leader so that his defeat will be the defeat of the leader as well.” Jaafari is on record to have also told Basiji militiamen under the command of the IRGC that they did not have to wait for orders from their superiors to confront protesting students and could do so on their own initiative.

Hillary Clinton: Pakistan Must Crack Down on Terrorist 'Safe Havens'

Hillary Clinton Discusses the 'Trust Deficit' in the U.S.-Pakistan Relationship
By JIM SCIUTTO
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Oct. 30, 2009


Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appeared upbeat and relaxed in an interview with ABC News this morning, despite a sometimes contentious visit to Pakistan, a crucial ally in the fight against terrorism.
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The secretary of state questions Pakistan's willingness to go after al Qaeda.

Her Thursday comments suggesting that Pakistani leaders could get al Qaeda leaders if they'd wanted sparked a storm here, but Clinton refused to back down.

"Trust is a two-way street," she said today. "There is a trust deficit. ... It will not be sufficient to achieve the level of security the Pakistanis deserve if we don't go after those that are still threatening not only Pakistan but Afghanistan and the rest of the world, and we wanted to put that on the table, and I think it was important that we did."

Shaking off criticism, she said, "I want to have the kind of relationship where we really are talking honestly about everything between us because there's just too much at stake."

She was careful to acknowledge the Pakistani government's support in the fight against terrorism, saying, "I think they have gone after the enemies that most threaten them.
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"But," she added, "I think it would be a missed opportunity and lack of recognition of full extent of the threat if they did not realize that any safe haven, anywhere, for terrorists, threatens them, threatens us and has to be addressed."

At several public events in Pakistan, Clinton has been faced with doubts about U.S. intentions, even outright anger toward the United States.

"I have acknowledged that we've made mistakes, and I have no problem acknowledging that," she told ABC News today. "I think it's only fair but I want to move beyond that."

Her three-day visit to Pakistan comes during a week of violence and instability here: a car bomb in the Pakistani city of Peshawar that killed 105 Wednesday and, across the border in Afghanistan, an attack on the United Nations in the capital Kabul that killed 11, including three attackers.

With little more than a week to go before President Barack Obama announces his decision on whether to send more troops to Afghanistan, Clinton emphasized that the United States is looking to change counterinsurgency strategy in that country.

"It's not going to be just a repeat of the same old approach, we're trying some different things, when the president makes his decision, that will be evident," she said.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Pakistan today for one of the longest visits by a U.S. diplomat in years, an attempt to combat rising anti-Americanism here and convince a skeptical Pakistani public that the United States is a long-term, dependable ally.
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An alliance of three terrorist groups stage multiple attacks in Pakistan.

"I hope on this trip I will be able to start that ball rolling, so to speak, so that maybe some in your country will say, 'I really didn't have a good opinion before -- I thought it was all about, are you going to be with us or against us on the war on terrorism? But this is a new day,'" Clinton told Pakistan's leading English newspaper, Dawn, ahead of her trip.

"That's why we're turning a new page. And I hope part of what I can convey on my trip is exactly that message."

Her three-day visit, conducted under extraordinary security, comes in the middle of one of the Pakistani military's most important operations since 9/11, a 30,000-troop offensive into South Waziristan, where Pakistan says more than 80 percent of the attacks in the country are planned.

Meanwhile, in the United States, talk about the other administration job she might have had is making waves. Obama campaign manager David Plouffe writes in a new book that the president seriously considered Clinton as his running mate but said Bill Clinton would mean that there were "more than two of us in the relationship."

Asked whether her husband had cost her an opportunity to be vice president, Clinton said, laughing, "I'm happy with the job I have. … I'm not the kind of person who looks backward, I look forward."

Military plane, helicopter collide off California

By THOMAS WATKINS, Associated Press Writer Thomas Watkins, Associated Press Writer – 15 mins ago

LOS ANGELES – The U.S. Coast Guard and Navy were searching early Friday for as many as nine people off the Southern California coast following a collision between a Coast Guard plane and a Marine Corps helicopter, officials said.

The crash was reported at 7:10 p.m. Thursday, about 50 miles off the San Diego County coast and 15 miles east of San Clemente Island, Coast Guard spokeswoman Petty Officer Allyson Conroy said.

A pilot reported seeing a fireball near where the aircraft collided, Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor said, and the Coast Guard informed the FAA that debris from a C-130 had been spotted. Seven people were on board the plane, a C-130, and two people were aboard the helicopter, he said.

Cpl Michael Stevens, a spokesman for the Miramar Marine Corps Air Station, said the AH-1W Super Cobra helicopter was on a training mission when it went down. The Cobra and its crew are part of Marine Aircraft Group 39, based at Camp Pendleton, and the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, which is headquartered at Miramar, Stevens said.

The missing Coast Guard plane and its crew are from Coast Guard Air Station Sacramento, said Coast Guard Petty Officer 2nd Class Jetta Disco. Crews from the Sacramento Coast Guard station fly search-and-rescue, law enforcement and logistics missions, Disco said.

The Coast Guard planned to search through the night, having sent three cutters and diverting an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter to the area to search for survivors. The Navy, meanwhile, sent four vessels and multiple helicopters.

"The search condition are ideal for tonight," Lt. Josh Nelson of the Coast Guard told XETV in San Diego. "We've got a clear sky, the winds are calm, the seas are calm, and we have a lot of assets out there."

San Clemente Island is the southernmost of the eight Channel Islands located 68 nautical miles west of San Diego. The Navy has owned and trained at San Clemente Island since 1934, according to the island's Web site. Naval Air Station, North Island is responsible for the island's administration.

Earlier this week, it was an AH-1 Cobra attack helicopter that collided with a UH-1 helicopter over southern Afghanistan, killing four American troops and wounding two more, a Marine spokesman said.

Car bomb kills 118 in Pakistan as Clinton visits

By Zeeshan Haider and Andrew Quinn

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (Reuters) - A car bomb ripped through a crowded market killing 87 people in Pakistan's city of Peshawar on Wednesday, just hours after Washington's top diplomat arrived pledging a fresh start in sometimes strained relations.

Wednesday's bomb, the latest urban attack since the army launched a major assault on rural Taliban strongholds two weeks ago, was the deadliest since 2007 when around 140 died at a procession to welcome home former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, who was assassinated just weeks later.

The bomb went off in the busy Peepal Mandi market street in a city that for years served as the headquarters of the Pakistan- and U.S.- backed mujahideen war against the Soviet Union's occupation of Afghanistan.

Although nobody claimed responsibility, suspicion immediately fell on Pakistani Taliban militants who are the target of the army offensive.

The rugged landscape between Afghanistan and Pakistan has become a haven for Taliban militants fighting on both sides of the border as well as many hundreds of al Qaeda operatives and other foreign Islamist insurgents.

Hours after the blast, visiting U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told a news conference that Washington fully supported Pakistan's battle.

"I want you to know that this fight is not Pakistan's alone," she said.

"So this is our struggle as well and we commend the Pakistani military for their courageous fight and we commit to stand shoulder to shoulder with the Pakistani people in your fight for peace and security.

Sahib Gul, a doctor at Peshawar's main hospital, said the dead from Wednesday's bomb included many children and women.

"The car was parked outside a market frequented mostly by women," city official Azam Khan told Reuters

"Several buildings and a mosque have been badly damaged while a fire has engulfed buildings," witness Aqueel-ur-Rehman told Reuters from the scene.

"RESOLVE NOT SHAKEN"

Defiant Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi told a news conference with Clinton that the militants would be crushed.

"We are facing this on a daily basis but the resolve and determination will not be shaken," he said.

Addressing those responsible, he added: "We will not buckle. We will fight you. We will fight you because we want stability and peace in Pakistan."

Pakistani stock market investors have been unnerved by the violence in recent weeks and the main index closed down 0.69 percent lower at 9,251.84 points. The rupee was also down at 83.54/59 to the dollar.

Clinton acknowledged that misunderstandings dogged U.S.-Pakistan ties and pledged to refocus the relationship on the "needs of the people" including strengthened economic assistance and development of democratic institutions.

Her visit comes amid widespread Pakistani anger over a recent major U.S. aid bill which, despite tripling assistance to $1.5 billion a year for the next five years, has been bitterly denounced for imposing conditions critics say violate Pakistani sovereignty.

The bill mainly focuses on socio-economic development but also requires Clinton to certify to Congress that Pakistan is cooperating with efforts to combat militant groups and nuclear proliferation, and to ensure civilian government control over the powerful military.

Clinton -- who this week turned 62, the same age as Pakistan itself -- said that she looked forward to bringing the U.S. message directly to the Pakistani people.

"What do people in Pakistan want? Good jobs, good healthcare, good education for our children, energy that is predictable and reliable -- the kinds of everyday needs that are really at the core of what Americans want," she said.

(Additional reporting by Kamran Haider; Writing by David Fox; Editing by Robert Birsel)

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Bloodbath in Peshawar: at least 105 killed, 200 injured in Meena Bazaar car bombing

Cowards target women and children

* 19 women, 11 children among dead, 25 in critical condition
* 150 kgs of explosives used in attack
* Mosque, several other buildings collapse

By Akhtar Amin

PESHAWAR: A remote-controlled car bomb killed at least 105 people – including women and children – and injured around 200 others at the provincial capital’s Meena Bazaar on Wednesday, said officials, hours after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Pakistan to bolster the two countries’ alliance against Taliban and Al Qaeda.

“We have received 92 bodies and some parts of bodies and 200 injured people – including 70 women and children,” said Haider Afridi, chief executive of the Lady Reading Hospital. He said around 25 people – mostly women – were in critical condition, while only 25 bodies had so far been identified.

“Nineteen of the dead are women and 11 are children. All the dead are civilians,” Dr Zafar Iqbal told the AFP news agency as staff declared an emergency and called for blood donations.

NWFP Information Minister Iftikhar Hussain, however, said, “More than 80 people were killed ... around 200, mostly women and children, were injured in the car bomb blast.”

Bomb disposal squad chief Shafqat Malik told reporters that 150 kilogrammes of explosives were used in the remote-controlled blast. He said that some people were still trapped under the rubble.

Addressing reporters at the Lady Reading Hospital, Iftikhar linked the Meena Bazaar blast with the ongoing military operation in South Waziristan against the Taliban, saying, “foreign terrorists – including Arabs, Chechens and Uzbeks – stationed in Waziristan are carrying out attacks in Pashtun areas”.

In a message to foreign and local Taliban, the minister said, “We (civilians and the army) have won the war in Malakand division ... the fight against terrorism will continue and we will eliminate terrorists even if we have to pay with our lives.”

Although nobody claimed responsibility, suspicion immediately fell on the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan.

Sunia – a 14-year-old girl who was badly injured in her right leg – told Daily Times she had come to Meena Bazaar for shopping, as her sister was getting married next week. “It was a powerful blast... I saw smoke and dust everywhere. I saw body parts and people dying or screaming on the road,”

another witness told Daily Times.

According to the AFP news agency, the explosion brought down buildings. Flames reached out of burning wreckage and smoke billowed over the collapsed rubble of a mosque and three buildings, where rescue workers picked charred bodies out of smouldering debris and gathered human flesh in plastic bags.

Crying for help, men tried to pull survivors from beneath wreckage. One man carried away a baby with a bloody face and a group of men rescued a young boy covered in dust, but others found only bodies of the dead.

In a bid to disperse the crowd that gathered after the blast, police fired in the air and baton charged people standing near the blast site.

Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Liaqat Ali told reporters that terrorists were “confused” because of the security in the city, and were – therefore – targeting public places. He said, “There was information that an explosives-laden car had entered the city.”

Mohammad Faqir, a shopkeeper at Meena Bazaar, said although people – mostly women – from the entire province and FATA visited the bazaar for shopping, there were no proper security arrangements.

According to the APP news agency, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has strongly condemned the attack, and said the government would not rest until all terrorists had been eliminated. The prime minister said the government had launched a full-scale operation against the Taliban in South Waziristan, and “we will not be cowed down by such attacks”. He said the government was fully aware of its responsibility of protecting the lives and property of civilians, and was taking necessary measures in this context. He directed provincial authorities to investigate the matter and submit a report.

APP also reported that Senior NWFP Minister Bashir Ahmed Bilour had ruled out a security lapse as the cause of the blast at the market.

Three bomb attacks have been launched in Peshawar this month, including one that killed more than 50 people. They are part of at least 10 major attacks in Pakistan.


----------


‘Car was parked in market 3 hours before explosion’

PESHAWAR: Some infuriated shopkeepers at Meena Bazaar – the target of a deadly bomb attack on Wednesday – claimed that the car used in the attack was parked in “the busy place some three hours ahead of the blast”. They said the timed-device was detonated at around 12:15pm, but “the car was parked there at around 9am”. “There were no security arrangements, and vehicles were not being checked. Had there been proper security arrangements, could the car have remained in the same place – without a driver – for three hours?” one of the enraged shopkeepers told Daily Times. staff report

U.S. defense bill would pay Taliban to switch sides

If you can't win war, make them friends. The Golden US Forces Policy. How Western media twist stories:
U.S. defense bill would pay Taliban to switch sides (Alertnet)
US defense bill authorizes paying Taliban who switch (Ynetnews)

27 Oct 2009 20:48:32 GMT
Source: Reuters
* Bill includes provision to woo Taliban fighters

* Plan is to emulate Iraq program

* Obama plans to meet military commanders on Friday (Adds Obama's meeting with joint chiefs, quotes, details)

By Susan Cornwell

WASHINGTON, Oct 27 (Reuters) - The defense bill President Barack Obama will sign into law on Wednesday contains a new provision that would pay Taliban fighters who renounce the insurgency, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin said on Tuesday.

The provision establishes a program in Afghanistan similar to one used in Iraq where former fighters were re-integrated into Iraqi society, Levin told Reuters.

Obama plans to sign the bill authorizing Pentagon operations for fiscal 2010 on Wednesday, the White House said.

Reaching out to moderate Taliban members is part of the Obama administration's plan to turn around the eight-year war in Afghanistan. Levin also has advocated trying to convince Taliban fighters to change sides by luring them with jobs and amnesty for past attacks.

Under the legislation, Afghan fighters who renounce the insurgency would be paid for "mainly protection of their towns and villages," Levin said.

It would be "just like the sons of Iraq," he said, referring to the program used in Iraq which military commanders say helped turn around a failing war.

"You got 90,000 Iraqis who switched sides, and are involved in protecting their hometowns against attack and violence." L

The bill authorizes using money from an existing Commanders Emergency Response Program, which U.S. commanders can use for a variety of purposes. It does not set a specific dollar amount for the fighters' re-integration program.

There is $1.3 billion authorized for the fund in fiscal 2010, which began Oct. 1. The money must still be allocated by defense appropriators, who are working to finish the legislation.

As part of his overall strategy review on Afghanistan, Obama is debating whether to send more U.S. troops to the region and is set to meet on Friday with Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the heads of the military services, the White House said.

The meeting was "probably getting toward the end" of Obama's decision-making process, said White House spokesman Robert Gibbs.

The Joint Chiefs office recently completed an internal assessment of the two leading proposals for troop levels in Afghanistan.

These were sending roughly 40,000 additional troops, as his commander for Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, has recommended, or a far smaller number, an option McChrystal and other defense officials see as having a higher risk of failure. (Additional reporting by Steve Holland, Adam Entous and Patricia Zengerle; editing by Chris Wilson)

Heavy smoke firing in UN Guest House Kabol

The UN lost its virginity to the Americans!

In the past one would have reacted with horror if UN officials are attacked, let alone killed, as it has happened recently in Islamabad and in Kabul. In its dependence on American financial donations, the UN gradually became irrelevant, infested with incompetent ‘experts’ while its Secretary General operates as a small official of the American Department of State. For this reason the UN has been promoting American designs; declaring wars and imposing economic sanctions on countries to suit the interests of America and its friends. The sanctions on Iraq, Sudan, Iran, Syria and the current war on Afghanistan are meant mainly to promote USraeli interests. Furthermore, there are no efforts to impose sanctions on Israel or on the America if they don’t respect the UN charter or when attacking member states or violating human right conventions. Until today there is no UN denounciation of the illegal American invasion of Iraq or the random detention and torture of people at Guantanamo and at secret CIA prisons.

Furthermore, the rogue Jewish state of Israel remains in breach of 39 UN Security Council Resolutions. Yesterday 28.10.09, the UN General Assembly denounced the American sanctions on Cuba by a huge majority but the Americans disregard world opinion and continue their economic sanctions on Cuba imposed some 50 years ago. There have been calls to reform the UN organisation but as long as the Americans insist on appointing a pro-American Secretary General and influence who should be on the Security Council, outside the permanent members, the role of UN in dealing with world problems and in defending member states and human rights remains irrelevant. Nothing expressed the UN incompetence more than the mess it caused in handling the 2009 presidential election in Afghanistan.
Adnan Darwash, Iraq Occupation Times

Heavy firing, smoke after US announced to pay off Taleban insurgents.
Taleban captured UN Guest House.
AFGHAN FORCES BATTLING SEVERAL MILITANTS HOLED UP IN A U.N. GUES
28 Oct 2009 02:40:07 GMT
Source: Reuters
AFGHAN FORCES BATTLING SEVERAL MILITANTS HOLED UP IN A U.N. GUEST HOUSE IN KABUL-POLICE

EXPLOSION, GUNFIRE HEARD IN CENTRAL KABUL, PLUMES OF SMOKE SEEN RISING ABOVE BUILDINGS





Karzai's brother said to be on CIA payroll - report
28 Oct 2009 02:25:37 GMT
Source: Reuters
(For full coverage of Afghanistan, click on [nAFPAK]) (Adds more details from report)

WASHINGTON, Oct 27 (Reuters) - The brother of Afghan President Hamid Karzai has been getting regular payments from the Central Intelligence Agency, The New York Times reported on Tuesday, citing current and former U.S. officials.

Ahmed Wali Karzai is a suspected player in Afghanistan's opium trade and has been paid by the CIA over the past eight years for services that included helping to recruit an Afghan paramilitary force that operates at the CIA's direction in and around the southern city of Kandahar, the newspaper reported.

Ahmed Wali Karzai said in an interview that he cooperates with U.S. civilian and military officials but does not engage in the drug trade and does not receive payments from the CIA, the Times said.

The CIA neither confirmed nor denied the reported payments.

"No intelligence organization worth the name would ever entertain these kinds of allegations,"

a CIA spokesman told Reuters.

The Times cited several U.S. officials as saying Ahmed Wali Karzai and the CIA had a wide-ranging relationship.

He helps the U.S. spy agency operate the

Kandahar Strike Force, a paramilitary group used for raids against suspected insurgents and militants,

the officials told the paper.

He is paid for allowing the CIA and U.S. Special Operations troops to rent a compound that once belonged to Taliban founder Mullah Mohammed Omar, it said, adding that the compound is also the base of the Kandahar Strike Force.

The report said the president's brother also helps the CIA communicate and sometimes meet with Afghans loyal to the Taliban.

"THIS IS MY DUTY"

According to the paper,

Ahmed Wali Karzai said in an interview he received regular payments from his brother, the president, for "expenses" but that he did not know where the money came from.

"I don't know anyone under the name of the CIA," he was quoted as saying. "I have never received any money from any organization. I help, definitely. I help other Americans wherever I can. This is my duty as an Afghan."

According to the Times, the agency's financial ties to Ahmed Wali Karzai and its working relations with him have created deep divisions within the Obama administration.

Critics see the relationship as complicating Washington's increasingly tense relationship with President Karzai, it said.

The CIA's practices also suggest the United States is not doing everything in its power to stamp out the lucrative Afghan drug trade, a major source of revenue for the Taliban, the Times said.

In addition, some U.S. officials argue that the reliance on Ahmed Wali Karzai undermines the push to develop an effective central government that would eventually allow the United States to withdraw, the paper reported. (Reporting by JoAnne Allen and Adam Entous; Editing by John O'Callaghan)

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


By Golnar Motevalli and Sayed Salahuddin

KABUL (Reuters) - Taliban militants killed six U.N. foreign staff in an attack on an international guest-house in Kabul on Wednesday, deepening concerns about security for a presidential election run-off due in 10 days.

The resurgent Taliban have vowed to disrupt the November 7 run-off as U.S. President Barack Obama weighs whether to send more troops to Afghanistan to fight an insurgency that has reached its fiercest level in eight years.

In another sign of the growing reach of militants, rockets were also fired at a foreign-owned luxury hotel near the presidential palace in the heart of the Afghan capital, forcing more than 100 guests into a bunker, a hotel guest said.

The Taliban said they had targeted the guest-house because of the United Nations' role in helping organize the run-off vote.

"We have said that we would attack anyone engaged in the process and today's attack is just a start," Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told Reuters by telephone.

One foreign woman screamed and sobbed as she limped from the guest-house. Onlookers and police carried another victim away using a blanket as a stretcher.

"It doesn't look good in there," a U.N. medic, who asked not to be identified, told Reuters at the scene.

The U.S. embassy said one American was among those killed.

The United Nations, which has operated in Afghanistan for more than half a century, said the attack would not deter it from its work, adding however that it may review security measures.

"We will in light of this morning's tragedy look at whether other appropriate measures needed to be taken to protect all our staff," said U.N. mission chief Kai Eide.

Hours after the Kabul attacks, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton landed in neighboring Pakistan vowing a new page in U.S. Pakistan relations. Defeating the Taliban and stabilizing Afghanistan is a key plank of Washington's regional strategy against militancy.

Pakistani security forces are also engaged in a bloody campaign against the Taliban near the Afghan border. A bomb killed more than 80 people in a crowded market in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar on Wednesday.

NATIONALITIES UNKNOWN

The nationalities of the U.N. staff killed in the Kabul guest-house attack were unclear. The sound of gunfire and sirens echoed across the capital for hours.

Adrian Edwards, a U.N. spokesman in Kabul, said six U.N. staff had been killed and nine wounded.

President Hamid Karzai's palace and police said at least one Afghan civilian and three police were also killed.

Karzai, who is running against ex-foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah in the run-off, condemned the attack as inhumane.

"Certainly one of the aims of the Taliban attack today was to show that they are a force that can disrupt the poll," Afghan analyst Qaseem Akhgar said of the run-off.

The attackers wore police uniforms to secure entry into the guest-house, police said. A Reuters reporter saw the bodies of three of the suspected suicide bombers, apparently ripped apart when they detonated their explosives, lying inside the compound.

Abdul Ghaim, a policeman at the guest-house, said police believed the attackers were Pakistanis. Many of the insurgents in Afghanistan either shelter in, or are from, Pakistan.

A Reuters witness saw a badly burned body being carried out of the building after the shooting stopped. Officials said one female guest was missing inside the building, which was covered with bullet holes, its walls charred and windows shattered.

Rockets were also fired at the foreign-owned Serena luxury hotel, witnesses and security sources said. No one was injured and there was no major damage. Frequented by foreign visitors and diplomats, the hotel was also attacked in January 2008 when six people were killed.

DEADLIEST MONTH

Efforts to stabilize Afghanistan have been complicated by weeks of political tension over the August 20 first round of the presidential poll, which was marred by widespread fraud in favor of Karzai, forcing the run-off.

Eight U.S. troops were killed in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday, the NATO-led alliance said, in the deadliest month for U.S. forces since the start of the war eight years ago.

U.S. soldiers make up two-thirds of the 100,000-strong coalition force, with Obama considering proposals to send an extra 40,000 troops or a far smaller number.

Ahead of that decision, the New York Times reported that Karzai's brother had been getting regular payments from the Central Intelligence Agency and was a suspected player in Afghanistan's lucrative opium trade.

Ahmed Wali Karzai was quoted as denying the report and the CIA neither confirmed nor denied the payments.

As part of his review of U.S. strategy in Afghanistan, Obama is set to meet on Friday with Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the heads of the military services, the White House said.

(Additional reporting by JoAnne Allen and Adam Entous in WASHINGTON and Andrew Quinn in ISLAMABAD; Writing by Maria Golovnina; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)

18 Americans die in helicopter crashes in Afghanistan - Summary

In Afghanistan, 14 US soldiers were killed and 16 wounded in a single day, 25.10.09. As promised by Dr Al-Zawahiri, Obama, the house Negro, must expect body bags while expanding G.W. Bush’s anti Islamic crusade. In fact, no-one expected a change from Obama while keeping Robert Gates in the Pentagon, appointing Rahm Emanuel, an Israeli Reserve Army Officer, as his chief of staff and endorsing the appointment of anti-Islam Rasmussen as NATO Secretary -General. As a result, it is natural to expect more violence in response to increased USraeli hostilities; as Muslims started to actively lend a hand to the on-going resistance.

Many people including the US ambassador have felt the shock and heard the noise that shook Baghdad and the US-established Green Zone; as the Iraqis knew how to pack them big and loud. At 10.30 am of 25.10.09, huge explosions damaged the Justice ministry and the seat of Baghdad administration killing at least 25 council members. Even the bathrooms of the newly-built US embassy started to leak flooding with sewage a number of offices.


One has to sympathize with the families of the innocent victims but not with the corrupt city officials, judges or the US 'advisors' and mercenaries guarding the premises. Most Iraqis want Al-Maliki to fail as he heads a client regime that serves USraeli interests in the area. The Iraqis have already blamed the Syrians for the violence in Iraq while the Americans will soon blame Iranian, Turkish and Russian Muslims for the violence in Afghanistan and Pakistan. In order to reduce the hatred and tension fueling the violence, the Americans must stop supporting Israeli atrocities against Palestinians, put an end to intimidating Muslims and halting the on-going anti-Islamic crusade.

Adnan Darwash, Iraq Occupation Times

Kabul - Fourteen Americans were killed Monday in helicopter crashes in Afghanistan, one of which was believed to be a mid-air collision between two aircraft, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said. Ten US citizens - seven soldiers and three civilians - were killed when a helicopter crashed in western Afghanistan, it said without specifying the location.

It said the cause of the accident was unknown but it was not believed to be the result of militant action.

Fourteen Afghan troops, 11 US soldiers and one US civilian were also injured.

The crash occurred after a raid on a compound where suspected militants involved in the narcotics trade were located, the ISAF said, adding that more than a dozen rebels were killed in the raid.

Mohammad Jabar, a police official in western Badghis province, identified the location as Muqur district.

He said 25 insurgents were killed in the firefight, and that a helicopter transporting troops away from the combat crashed in the province afterward. US soldiers destroyed the helicopter on the spot, Jabar added.

This year has been the deadliest for US troops and other NATO troops in Afghanistan since the 2001 ouster of the Taliban regime.

More than 420 soldiers, including 256 US troops, have so far been killed in 2009, according to iCasualties.org, a website that tracks military casualties in Afghanistan and Iraq, without counting the latest deaths.

Monday's deaths took to 18 the number of US soldiers killed in Afghanistan since Saturday. More than 100,000 international troops, with over 60,000 of them US forces, are currently stationed in Afghanistan.

In the southern region, two ISAF helicopters were believed to have crashed in mid-air, killing four US soldiers, the ISAF and US military said.

Hostile fire was not involved in the accident, which also injured two soldiers, the ISAF said.

Elsewhere in the country, two Afghan army soldiers were killed in a roadside bomb in southern province of Helmand on Sunday, a Defence Ministry statement said.

In other operations, 10 insurgents were killed in western Nimruz province, while a dozen other rebel fighters were killed in southern province of Kandahar, Afghan and NATO military statements said. Both incidents took place on Sunday.

Insurgent activity is on the rise, as the US administration mulls a request for 40,000 extra troops by the top NATO commander in the country, US General Stanley McChrystal.


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

KABUL (Reuters) - Two helicopter crashes in Afghanistan killed 11 U.S. soldiers and three U.S. civilians on Monday, NATO-led forces said in a statement.

Neither crash was caused by hostile fire, NATO said.

This year has seen a surge of violence in Afghanistan as an increasingly fierce Taliban step up operations against U.S. and NATO forces operating in the country.

Seven U.S. service members and three U.S. civilians were killed when a NATO helicopter crashed in western Afghanistan following an operation against insurgents in which a dozen Taliban fighters were killed.

Eleven U.S. troops, 14 Afghan soldiers and a U.S. civilian were injured in the crash.

Four U.S. service members were killed and two were injured when two helicopters operated by NATO-led troops collided in mid-air in southern Afghanistan, NATO said in an earlier statement.

On Saturday in eastern Afghanistan, one U.S. soldier was killed in a roadside bomb attack and another died of wounds from an insurgent attack, NATO said in a statement on Monday.

A spokeswoman for ISAF, the International Security Assistance Force, could not give any further information on the casualties or the exact location of the crashes.

(Writing by Golnar Motevalli; Editing by Nick Macfie)


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




Bombings push US toll to worst month in Afghan war

Bombings push US toll to worst month in Afghan war
27 Oct 2009 23:49:49 GMT
Source: Reuters
(For full coverage of Afghanistan, click on [nAFPAK])

* Bloodiest month for U.S. troops in eight years of war

* Security tight ahead of Nov. 7 presidential run-off

* Speculation of Abdullah pullout continues

* Obama to meet military chiefs on Friday

* U.S. troops decision expected in "coming weeks" (Adds U.S. poll on whether to send more troops)

By Maria Golovnina

KABUL, Oct 27 (Reuters) - Eight U.S. troops were killed in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday ahead of a run-off presidential election, the NATO-led alliance said, in the deadliest month for U.S. forces since the start of the war eight years ago.

The mounting violence comes as U.S. President Barack Obama is weighing whether to send more soldiers to Afghanistan to fight a Taliban insurgency that is at its fiercest since 2001.

The foreign ministers of Russia, China and India said the world must remain engaged in Afghanistan, with Moscow seeking a greater role for regional powers to restore stability and "counter terrorism and drug trafficking."

"The timing of the statement is significant because the Americans are now reviewing their war and it's a clear signal to the U.S. that it cannot go it alone," said Uday Bhaskar, director of the National Maritime Foundation thinktank in New Delhi.

Across the border in Pakistan, which Washington sees as a crucial ally, Islamabad's troops are in the midst of a massive offensive against Taliban militants in South Waziristan.

The eight U.S. soldiers killed in the bomb attacks in Afghanistan on Tuesday pushed the October death toll to 53, topping the previous high of 51 deaths in August, Pentagon officials said.

The NATO-led force said several soldiers were wounded in the attacks in the south, just a day after 11 U.S. troops and three American civilians died in separate helicopter crashes.

The bombings also killed an Afghan civilian and wounded several service members. No other details were available.

Efforts to stabilize Afghanistan have been complicated by weeks of political tension over an election in August marred by widespread fraud in favor of the incumbent president, Hamid Karzai, forcing a second round set for Nov. 7.

Karzai's camp said on Tuesday a run-off must take place even if his challenger, Abdullah Abdullah, quits the race.

Karzai agreed last week to a run-off under severe international pressure after a U.N.-led fraud investigation annulled a large chunk of his votes in the original election.

Fueling talk he might pull out altogether, Abdullah set out a range of conditions this week. Karzai rejected the demands.

"We should not deprive the people from their right of voting and their right of citizenship," Waheed Omar, Karzai's chief campaign spokesman, told Reuters. "Whether or not the president and Abdullah take part in the run-off or not should not result in depriving the people of what they want."

PAYING TALIBAN TO DEFECT

Abdullah has given Karzai until Saturday to remove the country's top election official and meet other demands but would not say what he would do if his conditions were not met. Abdullah could not be reached for comment on Tuesday.

Concerns about security and a repeat of the fraud that tainted the first round have cast a shadow over the process, prompting some diplomats to suggest that a power-sharing deal between the two contenders looked more practical.

Karzai and Abdullah have so far publicly denied suggestions they could be in talks on a possible deal to share power.

The Taliban has already vowed to disrupt the Nov. 7 poll, highlighting the kind of challenges facing Western powers seeking to turn the tide in the eight-year war.

U.S. soldiers now make up two-thirds of the 100,000-strong coalition force, with Obama considering proposals to send an extra 40,000 troops or a far smaller number.

Public support in the United States for a troop increase is up from last month, according to an NBC/Wall Street Journal poll released on Tuesday.

The poll found 47 percent of respondents supported raising troop levels in Afghanistan, with 43 percent opposed. That was a reversal from a similar poll in September, when 51 percent opposed an increase and 44 percent supported it.

As part of his review of U.S. strategy in Afghanistan, Obama is set to meet on Friday with Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the heads of the military services, the White House said.

The meeting was "probably getting toward the end" of Obama's decision-making process, spokesman Robert Gibbs said, reiterating that an outcome was likely in the "coming weeks."

To reach out to moderate members of the Taliban, a defense bill Obama will sign into law on Wednesday contains a new provision that would pay militants who renounce the insurgency, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin said.

The provision sets up a program in Afghanistan similar to one in Iraq in which former fighters were re-integrated into society, Levin told Reuters.

"You got 90,000 Iraqis who switched sides and are involved in protecting their hometowns against attack and violence," said Levin, the leading Senate Democrat on military matters.

The way forward for the United States and its allies is complicated by opposition to a troop build-up from some of Obama's fellow Democrats and many opinion polls showing public support for the war waning on both sides of the Atlantic.

In Afghanistan, the protracted election process and prospect of another round has disillusioned many voters, with the onset of the bitter winter adding to the challenges.

"Widespread fraud in Aug. 20 presidential and provincial council polls has deeply undermined the credibility of Hamid Karzai's government, the main beneficiary of the rigging," International Crisis Group said in a statement.

"A flawed second round will hand Taliban insurgents a significant strategic victory and erode public confidence in the electoral process and the international commitment to the country's democratic institutions." (Additional reporting by Golnar Motevalli and Sayed Salahuddin; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani and John O'Callaghan


----------
Obama honors slain soldiers killed in Afghanistan

By Ross Colvin Ross Colvin – Thu Oct 29, 2:01 am ET

DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Delaware (Reuters) – President Barack Obama saw first hand the human cost of the Afghanistan war as he welcomed home on Thursday 18 soldiers and Drug Enforcement Administration agents killed in Afghanistan this week.

Obama, flying in his Marine One presidential helicopter, landed shortly after midnight in Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, home of the United States' largest military mortuary and main point of entry for U.S. service members killed abroad.

Minutes earlier, an Air Force C-17 transport aircraft landed in the base, carrying the bodies of eight Army soldiers killed by a roadside bomb and seven soldiers and three DEA agents killed in a helicopter crash, according to the military.

Obama went into a meeting with families of the killed soldiers and agents in a chapel on the base, military officials said.

Later, a military chaplain will accompany Obama and other officials onboard and say a prayer over each flag-draped casket before it is transferred out of the aircraft, the officials said.

Six service members will carry each casket. Most of the event was closed to media and journalists will be allowed to see the transfer of only one casket, bearing the body of Sergeant Dale Griffin of Indiana.

The previously unannounced trip, Obama's first visit to the Dover base as president, comes as he weighs whether to send more troops to Afghanistan to fight an insurgency that has reached its fiercest level in eight years.

DEADLIEST MONTH

This month has been the deadliest for U.S. forces in the unpopular eight-year war Obama inherited from his predecessor, George W. Bush, and which analysts say will likely help define his presidency.

Polls show Americans increasingly weary of the war and there is skepticism, including among Obama's fellow Democrats who control the U.S. Congress, over sending more troops.

Obama has held a series of meetings with his war Cabinet to review the new Afghan strategy he put in place in March and to consider a request by his top military commander in the field, General Stanley McChrystal, for 40,000 more troops to combat a resurgent Taliban.

He is set to meet again on Friday with Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the heads of the military services, the White House said.

Obama's spokesman, Robert Gibbs, said on Tuesday the decision-making process was "probably getting to the end" and a final decision could be expected in the coming weeks.

MEDIA BAN RELAXED

Critics, particularly among opposition Republicans, accuse Obama of being overly cautious and indecisive, but the White House has said a decision of such magnitude requires careful consideration.

The process has been complicated by an Afghan presidential election in August marred by widespread fraud in favor of incumbent president Hamid Karzai. A second round is due to be held on November 7.

Underlining the fragility of the security situation even in the capital, Kabul, Taliban militants stormed a guest-house in Kabul on Wednesday and killed five U.N. foreign staff.

About two-thirds of the 100,000 NATO-led forces are U.S. troops. More than 900 U.S. soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since the U.S.-led invasion in 2001.

Earlier this year, the Pentagon relaxed its ban on media coverage of returning U.S. war dead by allowing families to decide whether to allow photos and television footage of the flag-draped coffins of their loved ones.

The ban had been imposed since the days of the 1991 Gulf War with some exceptions, including the return of Navy seamen killed during the attack on the USS Cole in October 2000.

Bush imposed a stricter ban during the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, sparking criticism the federal government was hiding the human cost of its military operations.

(Editing by Mohammad Zargham)

Helicopter crash kills 4 US airmen in Afghanistan

26 Oct 2009 04:46:18 GMT
Source: Reuters
(For more on Afghanistan, click [ID:nAFPAK]) (Updates with details, another crash)

KABUL, Oct 26 (Reuters) - Four U.S. servicemen were killed in Afghanistan on Monday when two helicopters operated by NATO-led troops collided in mid-air, coalition forces said.

The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said the incident occurred in southern Afghanistan. Two people were injured in the incident.

"The incident is currently being investigated, but it is confirmed that hostile fire was not involved," coalition forces said in a statement.

This year has seen a surge of violence in Afghanistan as an increasingly fierce Taliban step up operations against U.S. and NATO forces operating in the country.

Separately, another helicopter went down in western Afghanistan during an operation against insurgents, NATO-led troops said, adding that more than a dozen Taliban fighters were killed in an ensuing firefight.

"As the joint force was departing the area, one helicopter went down due to unconfirmed reasons," it said. "Military casualties are reported and a recovery operation is underway."

An ISAF spokeswoman could not give any further information on the casualties. (Writing by Maria Golovnina, Editing by Editing by Alex Richardson) (For more Reuters coverage of Afghanistan and Pakistan, see: http://www.reuters.com/news/globalcoverage/afghanistanpakistan)

The Najaf Conference

By Ali al-Wardi

Volume I: Chapter V (Pt.II)



Once in Najaf Nader Shah decided to organise a conference in order to build a bridge of understanding between the opposing Shia and Sunni scholars. It was the first, and maybe last, conference of its kind in Islamic history. Nader Shah gathered seventy Shia scholars from Iran, seven scholars from Turkestan and seven scholars from Afghanistan. He then invited Sayyid Nasrallah al-Hairi from Kerbala, who has the leader of Iraq’s Shia at the time, and also sent word to Ahmad Pasha asking him to provide a scholar from Baghdad to represent the Sunnis of Iraq. Ahmad Pasha sent Sheikh Abdullah al-Soweidi.

Soweidi writes in his memoir that he was at first reluctant to go but was persuaded by Ahmad Pasha to debate the Shia scholars. On December 11th 1743 he started his journey to Najaf pondering on the arguments that prove his faith and searching for answers to the possible counter-arguments the Shia would use. He walked in on Nader Shah who welcomed him and explained to him that the reason for holding this conference was to put an end to Muslims accusing each other of apostasy.

Soweidi then went to the tent of Sheikh Ali Akbar who was the leading Iranian scholar and debated him. Ali Akbar mentioned three proofs for Imam Ali being the rightful Caliph after Prophet Mohammed. The first proof was the incident of Mubahala (when the Prophet invoked the curse of God on the lying party as he debated Christians from Najran). The second proof was a verse from the Quran about giving charity whilst bowing down in worship [Quran 5:55]. The third proof was Hadith al-Manzila (when the Prophet told Ali: ‘You are to me as Aaron was to Moses’). Soweidi then tried to refute these proofs one by one.

After lengthy debates the scholars from both sides reached some common ground and signed an agreement which included five points.

I: The Iranians have reverted from their previous beliefs and have stopped cursing the first three Caliphs and have accepted the ‘Jafari’ school that is a correct school of thought to follow and should be acknowledged by judges, scholars and bureaucrats.

II: There are four corners of the Ka’ba which are assigned to the four (Sunni) schools of thought. The Jafari School will share one of these corners, the ‘Levantine’ corner, and will pray in the Jafari way after the assigned Imam has finished his prayers.

III: Every year an Emir is to be assigned from Iran to cater for the Iranian Hajj pilgrims and this Emir shall be accorded a higher status in the Ottoman Empire than the Egyptian or Levantine Emir.

IV: To free the prisoners on both sides and prevent their humiliation.

V: To appoint two representatives in the two states that shall work together to address any issues that give an appearance of there being differences in the Islamic nation.

Also in added to the agreement were the conditions that the new Jafari school would accept the Caliphate as it was after Prophet Mohammed’s death. As Jafar al-Sadiq was accepted by everyone to be a descendant of the Prophet and worthy of praise no animosity towards him would be tolerated. The new Jafari sect was to be accepted and anyone showing hostility towards them will have left Islam. The followers of the two sects in Islam are brothers in religion and it will be forbidden to kill, steal from or imprison each other (Mahbuba 1958, v.1, p.225).

After the agreement was signed by both sides triumphant celebrations took place unlike any other and Nader Shah distributed sweets on silver platters along with an incest burner made from solid gold adorned with priceless gemstones.

An important question to ask is how did Najaf Conference become so successful? In order to understand the importance of this question it is vital that one remembers the delegates of the conference used ancient logic in their debates and arguments. This does not bear fruitful outcomes no matter how long the debate lasts and we can see this from the previous dialectical debates between people from ancient times till now. It is rare to see people who can be convinced using this method and usually the longer the debate lasts the wider the gap gets.

The nature of this debate is that every proposition that is given can be contradicted with another proof. The outcome of the debate would rely more on the ability of a strong debater than on the substance of his argument.

The success of the conference was due to Nader Shah’s will and motivation and he seems to have told the Mulla Bashi and Shia scholars not to argue with Soweidi too much. Nader Shah had many eyes present in the conference who reported back to him and the Shia scholars were afraid to incur the wrath of Nader Shah and they did not know who among them were sent by him to keep watch.

Soweidi claims he won the debate with the Shia scholars but the Shia themselves say that the Mulla Bashi only kept silent because those were the wishes of Nader Shah (Ameen 1958, v.41, p.5).

Nader Shah was overjoyed by the result but in his haste forgot that the strife between the two sects had lasted for ten centuries and could not suddenly disappear simply because of an agreement was signed.

The Shah invited Soweidi to the Friday prayers in Kufa to listen to the lecture given by Iraq’s highest ranking Shia scholar, Nasrallah al-Hairi, and to hear for himself how the Caliphs are now praised by the Shia. Hairi stood on the pulpit and began praising the Caliphs, the Ahlul Bayt, and even the Ottoman Sultan but when he reached the name of Omar, the second Caliph, Hairi made a linguistic error when pronouncing his name. He added a ‘breaking’ motion to the last letter of ‘Omar’ and Soweidi was offended and angered at this mistake, which he believed was deliberate (Soweidi 1906, p.26-27).

The reconciliatory efforts were simply superficial and did not run deep into their hearts and it was clear that both sides were still suspicious of each other. Soweidi, before leaving Najaf, even tried to convince the Mulla Bashi that the Shia were not actually followers of Jafar al-Sadiq.

When the Hajj season arrived Nader Shah sent Hairi to Mecca with a copy of the agreement that had been signed in Najaf and sent a letter to the Emir of Mecca, Sharif Mas’oud, explaining that Hairi was there to execute the acts of the agreement. Hairi was allowed to pray at the Levantine corner of the Ka’ba and also gave a speech. We do not know what exactly he said but there was outrage at his speech and the Emir of Mecca sent a letter to the Ottoman Sultan explaining what had happened.

The term levantine is French in origin - levantin - and implies a geographic reference to the sun rising - soleil levant - in the east, or levant.

The Sultan ordered Hairi to be arrested and handed over to the Levantine Emir As’ad Pasha so that he could imprison him at the Citadel of Damascus. He was then sent to Istanbul (Azzawi, v.5, p.270).

In Istanbul he was brought before the Sultan and was later martyred (Khunsari 1949, p.727). Hairi was then given an official funeral. Dr Murtadha Nasrallah, a descendant of Hairi, says it has been known amongst his family that his grandfather was poisoned.

In 1745 the fighting between Nader Shah and the Ottoman Empire resumed near the Armenian border. Nader Shah lost thousands of his men but in August of that year he managed to inflict a heavy defeat on the Ottomans. When the Ottomans tried to regroup and counter-attack Nader Shah sent the Sultan a letter condemning the fighting and asking for peace and the Sultan replied agreeing that there should be an end to the sectarian warfare. On 21st March 1747 an official peace treaty was signed between the two states (Kirkukli, p.67-89).

Nader Shah enjoyed the peace for only three months as he was assassinated on June 20th 1747. According to Browne, Nader Shah had plotted to execute all the Iranians in his army leaving only the Turkmen and Uzbeks, but some Iranian officers had realised what he was about to do and so had him killed (Browne 1958, v.4, p.137).

When the officers entered his tent at night he woke up and managed to kill two of the assassins before he himself was killed (Sykes 1958, v.2, p.273). Nader Shah had a death that suited him well. He lived fighting and died fighting.

When news of his death spread chaos ensued, his tent was looted and the Shia and Sunnis within his own army began fighting each other. Ahmad Khan Durrani, who headed the Afghan and Uzbek contingent of the army, tried to avenge Nader Shah’s death but failed and so retreated to Afghanistan and founded his own empire there.

Iran fell into anarchy after the death of Nader Shah. The new kings who ruled were soon overthrown by others who took their places and what was strange is that each king when overthrowing the other would have the previous king blinded.

I - After Nader Shah died his nephew Adil Shah ruled for a year and was overthrown by his brother Ibrahim. Adil Shah was then blinded.

II - Ibrahim also ruled for a year and was overthrown by supporters of Shah Rokh, who was the son of Reza Qoli, who was blinded by his father Nader Shah.

III - Shah Rokh ruled only for a short while and then Mirza Mohammed overthrew him and had Shah Rokh blinded.

IV - Yousif Ali, one of Shah Rokh’s generals, rebelled against Mirza Mohammed and blinded him and his children, and then killed them all.

V - Mir Alam Khan and Jafar Khan overthrew Yousif Ali and blinded him.

VI - Mir Alam Khan then fought Jafar Khan and blinded him.

VII - After a short period Ahmad Khan Durrani, the Afghan Emperor, invaded and killed Mir Alam Khan – but he did not blind him.

VIII - Durrani wanted a buffer state between Afghanistan and Iran and so created a small state in Khurasan and placed ‘the blind son of the blind’ Shah Rokh in power. Shah Rokh's reign lasted for 50 years while the rest of Iran was in a state of anarchy.

In 1796 the Qajar family came to power in Iran and they followed in the footsteps of the Saffavids as they reintroduced the cursing of the Caliphs and mourning ceremonies to Iran. The sectarian fighting continued between the Iranians and Ottomans but instead of swords the war was fought with pens. When lithography was introduced to Iran in 1833 many sectarian works were printed and the sectarian feud was reignited.

When conventional wars were fought there would always be a clear winner and loser but the ‘pen wars’ were endless as neither side would admit defeat. The Iraqi people became accustomed to the continuous debates which created a barrier between them and the reality of life.



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

Volume I: Chapter V (Pt.I)

Nader Qoli and the Fifth School

Nader Qoli’s efforts in bridging the sectarian gap during the end of his rule also shed some light on Iraq’s social history. He was victorious against the Ottomans and Russians around Azerbaijan and restored his reputation after capturing Tbilisi, Ganja, Baku, Gilan, Darband and Rasht. On Newroz day (21st March) 1736 he held a grand meeting on the Moghan Plains in Ardabil and invited the leading Iranian officials to a feast. He announced the death of the young Saffavid Shah and asked to be proclaimed the new King of Iran.

His conditions would be to immediately stop the cursing of the first three Caliphs and also ban those mourning ceremonies that the Saffavids had introduced in order to bring the Shia and Sunnis closer together. After the sudden death of one of the leading scholars who had opposed Qoli’s terms the rest of the officials unanimously agreed and Nader Qoli became Nader Shah.

Two reasons for setting these conditions could be that he wanted the Iranian people to forget the Saffavids, who introduced the cursing of the Caliphs and mourning ceremonies to Iran, or because he wanted to replace the Ottoman Empire with his own great Islamic state which accommodates both the Shia and Sunnis. A third reason could be because Nader Shah himself was not sectarian. He grew up in a Sunni environment, the Afshar Turkmen tribe, but led a mainly Shia army to war. He could also have been trying to imitate the Mughal King of India, Akbar Shah, who tried to unite India under a new religious sect (Browne 1958, v.4, p.137).

His plan was to create a new sect in Islam out of Shi’ism that could be added to the four Sunni schools. He named this sect the ‘Ja’fari’ school after the 6th Shia Imam, Jafar al-Sadiq. It seems Nader Shah was not the first to conjure up this sort of plan. The author of the book ‘Rowdhat al-Jannat’ writes that the Abbasid Caliph al-Qadir had agreed with Sharif al-Murtadha to add a new sect to the existing Sunni schools in exchange for 100,000 Dinars. This would give the Shia the opportunity to openly follow this new sect instead of having to hide their true faith (Khunsari 1949, p.378).

Murtadha may have suppressed this plan, assuming there was one, because the differences between the Shia and Sunnis are not just jurisprudential but run much deeper as the two sects differ on the very pillars of Islam. The Sunnis have three Principles of Religion – Unity of God, Prophethood and Day of Judgment where as the Shia have five – the three aforementioned pillars in addition to the Justice of God and Imamate.


Nader Shah named his new sect after Jafar al-Sadiq because he had lived during the time of Malik and Abu Hanifa, the two great Sunni scholars, and because he was a descendant of both Ali, through his father, and Abu Bakr, through his mother. He was known to have announced to the people ‘Abu Bakr gave life to me twice’ in order to deter the Ghullat (Shia extremists) from cursing Abu Bakr and Omar.

Nader Shah pushed towards the East with his army and conquered Kandahar, Ghazni and Kabul. He then turned towards India where Mohammed Shah was ruling. Mohammed Shah was the antithesis of Nader Shah. Nader Shah never rested and was always marching or fighting while Mohammed Shah was lazy and busy enjoying worldly pleasures. This is the difference, according to Ibn Khaldun, of one who builds his might himself and one who inherits it from his father.

In 1738 Nader Shah defeated and captured Mohammed Shah near Delhi. Nader Shah pardoned his captive who then offered Nader Shah many invaluable gifts; including the ‘Peacock Throne’ that is still in Tehran and the ‘Mountain of Light’ diamond which now adorns the British Crown. After the murder of a few of his soldiers in Delhi Nader Shah ordered a wide scale massacre of the population. For seven hours Nader Shah’s army butchered over 100,000 residents while he sat on the roof of a mosque watching. Till today the term 'a Nader Shah' in the markets of Delhi means ‘slaughter’ (Sykes 1958, v.2, p.262).

On his return from India Nader Shah ordered people to refer to him as 'Shahensha' – King of Kings – and this term is still used in Iran today (Soweidi 1906, p.4). He then began to address the sectarian issues that were a cause for tension within his own army as it consisted of not just Iranians but Afghan, Uzbek and Turkmen soldiers.

He endowed the shrines of Abu Hanifa and the Shia Imams with valuable gifts, especially Imam Ali’s shrine in Najaf. Some of the gifts, possibly those taken from India, remain in the shrines’ safe. Nader Shah then offered his friendship to the Ottomans and sent them 11 elephants and 3,000 slaves. Marching with the caravan were 1,500 of his troops and when they reached Baghdad an elephant mounted with gifts was given to Ahmad Pasha (Azzawi 1953, v.5, p.262-263).

In 1724 he began to build a golden dome for Imam Ali’s shrine and spent vast amounts of money to finish it. Nader Shah spent 50,000 Toman to pay the skilled workers and the phrase 'Nader wasting in Najaf' was coined to refer to extravagant spenders (Mahbuba 1958, v.1, p.64). The social and psychological impacts of the golden dome should not be underestimated for it was the first of its kind in Iraq, and the second in the Islamic world, after Imam Ridha’s shrine in Mashhad. As the city of Najaf is on elevated ground the suns reflection causes the dome to be seen from extreme distances. This was all part of Nader Shah’s religious reforms as Imam Ali is respected by both Shia and Sunni Muslims.

Nader Shah then pushed towards Daghestan to fight the Lezgin tribes but he was swiftly defeated forcing him to retreat. The Lezgin tribes had a reputation for being persistent and fierce warriors that no army could defeat. Their reputation was well known in Iraq and the word ‘Lezgi’ is still used today to refer to people who are stubborn and dogged. On his way back two Afghans tried to assassinate him but he was only wounded. Nader Shah accused his son Reza Qoli of being behind the assassination and had him blinded – an act he immediately regretted and so he ordered the execution of all those who witnessed the procedure on the pretence that they should have sacrificed themselves for the Prince.

Nader Shah then had to deal with three rebellions. The first in Azerbaijan led by a man who claimed to be the son of the Saffavid Shah Hosein and he was assisted by the Lezgin tribes as well as the Ottomans. Nader shah crushed this rebellion and when the instigator was brought before him he ordered his men to take out one of his eyes. The second rebellion was led by Taqi Khan the ruler of the Fars province. Nader Shah also defeated him and as before ordered his men to take out an eye and he executed his entire family. The third rebellion was led by Mohammed Hussein Qajari, and this time after defeating the rebels Nader Shah ordered two pyramids to be built using their skulls (Sykes 1958, v.2, p.266-277).

It seems Nader Shah wanted to follow in the footsteps of Genghis Khan and Tamerlane by building pyramids of skulls and imitating their cruelty. In 1743 Nader Shah declared war on the Ottoman Empire because they refused to acknowledge the Ja’fari sect and declared the Shia to be outside the realm of Islam which meant they could be killed and imprisoned under Sharia law. As Nader Shah marched with his army and crossed the Iraqi border he did not head for Baghdad and it appears there was a secret pact made between him and Ahmad Pasha, who allowed the Iranian army passage across Iraq.

Nader shah attacked Kirkuk and Erbil and then surrounded Mousil. He had 100 cannons raining down bombs on the city day and night. His cannons darkened the skies during the day and lit it up at night (Longrigg 1962, p.148).

The siege lasted for 42 days, in which Nader Shah fired more than 40,000 bombs and attacked the city five times. The people of Mousil bravely fended off the attacks and swore to kill their own women if Nader Shah entered Mousil lest they fall into the hands of the enemy (Mousili 1932, v.1, p.278).

Nader Shah then negotiated with the officials of Mousil and the siege was called off and the two parties exchanged gifts. He then marched towards Baghdad and informed Ahmad Pasha that he wanted peace with the Ottoman Empire. He then visited the shrines of the Shia Imam’s in Kadhimiya and Najaf, wanting to see the golden dome that he had ordered to be built (Soweidi 1906, p.5).

Bibliography

Azzawi, Abbas 1953. Tareekh al-Iraq Baynal Ihtilalayn, Baghdad.

Browne, Edward 1958. A Literary History of Persia, Cambridge.

Khunsari, Mohammed Baqir 1949. Rowdhat al-Jannat fe Ahwal al Uluma’ wal Sadat, Tehran.

Longrigg, Stephen Hemsley 1962. Arba’at Quroon min Tareekh Iraq al-Hadeeth, Translated by Jafar Khayyad, Baghdad.

Mahbuba, Jafar 1958. Madhi al-Najaf wa Hadhiroha, Najaf.

Mousili, Suleiman Dha’igh 1932. Tareekh al-Mousil, Cairo.

Soweidi, Abdullah 1906. Al-Hojaj al-Qad’iya li Ittifaq al-Firaq al-Islamiya, Cairo.

Sykes, Percy 1958. A History of Persia, London.

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


Bibliography

Ameen, Mohsen 1958. A’yan al-Shi’a, Beirut.

Azzawi, Abbas 1953. Tareekh al-Iraq Baynal Ihtilalayn, Baghdad.

Browne, Edward 1958. A Literary History of Persia, Cambridge.

Khunsari, Mohammed Baqir 1949. Rowdhat al-Jannat fe Ahwal al Uluma’ wal Sadat, Tehran.

Kirkukli, Rasool. Dowhat al-Wozara’, translated by Musa Kadhim, Beirut.

Mahbuba, Jafar 1958. Madhi al-Najaf wa Hadhiroha, Najaf.

Soweidi, Abdullah 1906. Al-Hojaj al-Qad’iya li Ittifaq al-Firaq al-Islamiya, Cairo.

Sykes, Percy 1958. A History of Persia, London.

Labels: Ali al-Wardi

The "Female Element" in the Iraqi military

October 08, 2009


"We want to protect our women - not have them protect us," the head of military training for all of Iraq said with a wide grin.

I suppose that was the bottom line.

The symposium I attended was held by the Iraqi Center of Ethics and Military Principles inside the Green Zone, at a place called "The Crossed Swords."

In our society, as in many societies around the world, it is the sacred duty of the man to protect the women and young. It's the highest expression of manhood. And his failure to do so is shameful. It is not easy to reconcile this deep-rooted human feeling with training women to do the "protecting."

" They (the women) can't give their lives to the service as men can. Their first duty will always be to the family," said one of the officers, who gives lectures on ethics and human rights through the center. "And even though we have female officers who graduated from military college with honors, they are given administrative jobs, which, frankly, they do better than the men. Others are military doctors or engineers, and they prefer it that way."

When I was speaking to some of the officers in charge of training in the presence of "the friendly side," as the Iraqi security officials refer to the U.S. military, they were all for developing the military to include the "female element," in a subdued way. But when I had a chance of talking to them alone – it was a different story.

"You understand that the "friendly side" wants to give us the benefit of all its years of experience – in all avenues. Maybe after they're gone, this issue will be put to the vote. And who knows, it may be revoked," said an Iraqi colonel at the center.

Talking to the women, around whom this story revolves, Rasha Ahmed, 27, said that after working in the military for three years, she would transfer to a civilian job even with less pay if she could. "The problem is not the women themselves. Many are capable and willing. It's the men. They don't take us seriously as professionals. They don't even train us as they do other men – "What a waste, where will you practice fighting? In your homes? Ha ha ha." That's their attitude," she complained.

But not all the women held Rasha's point of view.

Sura, 32, was appalled at having to attend an actual training course, with weapons instruction. "I needed a job, and there was nothing but a military job available. I checked and they told me that I would be doing a desk job – I would never ever think of being in the army. That's a man's job. We (the women) are doing everything from providing for our families to housework to having children and raising them and much more – Let the men at least do this (soldiering)."

The majority of the women were worried about the social issues. "If my husband's family knew what I do, we would be ostracized. They would never ever show my husband respect any more – and as for me, they would say that I had strayed from the path of virtue, and my children would be shamed forever," said Anita, 38.

Ramiza, who appeared to be in her mid-30s, was undecided, "The military life has good and bad things. But what scares me is the security issue. If anyone in my neighborhood were to find out that I was a military person, I would have to run, leave my home and live somewhere else. Many people still have no love or trust for the security forces, and although there is the social issue also – it is the security issue that scares me. I leave my home in plainclothes and get into uniform when I get here. All of us do."

"We are pioneers," said Rasha. "We will pave the way for other women who wish to take this path. We may be a novel spectacle in our society today, but if we prevail, the next generation will not laugh when they see a woman in uniform

Death toll reaches 155 so far in Baghdad bombings

Iraq: Bring Bombers to Justice
28 Oct 2009 15:24:26 GMT
Source: Human Rights Watch
Reuters and AlertNet are not responsible for the content of this article or for any external internet sites. The views expressed are the author's alone.
(New York) - Devastating bomb attacks in Baghdad on October 25, 2009, were an assault on the fundamental principle of respect for life, and Iraqi authorities have a duty to ensure that anyone found to have contributed to their execution is apprehended and brought to justice, Human Rights Watch said today.
Two vehicle bombs, driven by suicide bombers, destroyed three major government buildings, killing more than 155 people, including 30 children, and wounding over 500, according to Iraqi government officials.
"No political goal or grievance can legitimize any such assault," said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. "This widespread and indiscriminate killing is reprehensible and morally indefensible."
Human Rights Watch also urged US forces to help protect civilians to the greatest extent permitted within the Status of Forces agreement between Iraq and the US.
At about 10:30 a.m. on October 25, the first of two blasts destroyed the Ministry of Justice, including its day care center, and ravaged the nearby Ministry of Municipalities and Public Works. Seconds later, the second blast heavily damaged the Baghdad Provincial Council.
The attack was Iraq's deadliest in more than two years. No one has claimed responsibility for the latest bombings. Iraqi officials have accused both the militant group al Qaeda of Mesopotamia as well as remnants of the Baath party, the Sunni-led party of Saddam Hussein, for the bombing. Massive car bombs have been the hallmark of Sunni Arab insurgents.
The attack had similarities to a pair of coordinated bombings on August 19 that targeted the Foreign and Finance Ministry buildings in Baghdad, killing nearly 100 people and wounding more than 600.






Death toll reaches 132 in Baghdad bombings - police
25 Oct 2009 12:41:38 GMT
Source: Reuters
BAGHDAD, Oct 25 (Reuters) - The death toll from twin bombings in Iraq's capital reached 132 people with more than 500 wounded on Sunday, police said, in one of the deadliest attacks in Baghdad this year.

Police sources said the car bombs targeted two government buildings in central Baghdad. (Reporting by Reuters TV)

--------

US-Iraq Business and Investment Conference in Washington, DC, on October 20. Pressure mounted on Sunday as Iraqi leaders prepared to meet to try to end a deadlock over a stalled election law amid growing concerns that the country's January polls will have to be delayed.
Two car bombs kill 106 in Baghdad-police
25 Oct 2009 12:25:38 GMT
Source: Reuters
* Bloodiest day in Baghdad for months

* Two suicide bombers in cars, say police

* Government blames al Qaeda or Baathists

(Updates death toll, adds details)

By Saad Shalash

BAGHDAD, Oct 25 (Reuters) - Twin car bombs targeting two government buildings killed at least 106 people and wounded 512 in Baghdad on Sunday, police and health officials said, in the bloodiest attack in the Iraqi capital for months.

Violence has fallen in Iraq since U.S.-backed tribal sheikhs helped wrest control from al Qaeda militants and Washington sent extra troops but attacks are still common in a nation trying to rebuild from conflict, sanctions and strife.

The two blasts shook buildings and smoke billowed from the area near the Tigris River. The first targeted the Justice Ministry and the second, minutes later, was aimed at the nearby provincial government building, police said.

Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said he was in a hotel when the bombs went off and he and others around him were showered in glass. He said he suspected al Qaeda or remnants of Saddam Hussein's former government were behind the attacks.

"The initial analysis shows that it bears the fingerprints of al Qaeda and the Baathists," said Dabbagh, who was at the al-Mansour hotel at the time.

The hotel houses the Chinese embassy and several foreign media organisations. None reported serious injuries.

The street near the provincial government building was flooded with water and firefighters pulled charred and mangled bodies off the streets. Burnt-out cars were piled up nearby.

Relief workers on cranes searched the shattered facade of the Justice Ministry and pulled out corpses wrapped in blankets.

"I don't know how I'm still alive. The explosion destroyed everything. Nothing is still in its place," shop owner Hamid Saadi told Reuters by telephone from near the Justice Ministry.

A Health Ministry official said earlier that Baghdad's hospitals had received 50 bodies and 460 wounded.

LAPSES?

U.S. military officials say attacks like these are aimed at reigniting the sectarian conflict that gripped the nation after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that deposed Saddam, or at undermining confidence in Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki before a parliamentary poll next year.

Maliki is expected to run on improved security conditions throughout the nation.

Baghdad Security Spokesman Major General Qassim al-Moussawi declined to speculate on who was behind the attack.

Sunday's blasts hit two months after bombings on Aug. 19 targeting the foreign and finance ministries that killed almost 100 people and wounded hundreds more.

That attack prompted a rare admission of lapses by Iraqi security forces. Most of the victims of the Aug. 19 attacks were cut down in a blizzard of broken glass.

The attacks raise doubts about the Iraqi forces' ability to take over overall security from U.S. soldiers who pulled out of Iraqi city centres in June ahead of a complete withdrawal from the country by the end of 2011. (Additional reporting by Reuters Television, Waleed Ibrahim, Muhanad Mohammed and Suadad al-Sahly; writing by Jack Kimball; Editing by Angus MacSwan)


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

Iraq police say that a pair of powerful explosions went off near the Ministry of Justice and the offices of a Kurdish political party during the morning rush hour as people headed to work.


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

The Americans have been trying in vain to tell the world that every thing is OK in their destroyed and occupied Iraq and that their client Green Zone Republic and its security forces are doing their job in defending USraeli interests and in protecting their soldiers and their occupation. But the no non-sense Iraqis know better how bad it is on ground and respond directly and strongly. Here is a list of major attacks in Iraq since January 2009:

TIMELINE-Deadliest bomb attacks in Iraq
25 Oct 2009 13:00:28 GMT
Source: Reuters
Oct 25 (Reuters) - Twin car bombs targeting two government buildings killed at least 132 people and wounded more than 500 in central Baghdad on Sunday, police said, the bloodiest attack in the Iraqi capital this year.

Here is a timeline of the deadliest bomb attacks since 2007:

Feb. 3, 2007 - A truck bomb kills 135 people and wounds 305 at a market in the Sadriya quarter of central Baghdad.

March 6 - Two suicide bombers strike in Hilla, south of Baghdad, killing 105 pilgrims. Insurgents launch a total of 12 attacks against Shi'ite pilgrims. In all, 137 pilgrims are killed and 310 are wounded.

March 27 - A truck bomb explodes in Tal Afar, close to the Syrian border and Mosul, killing 152 people.

April 18 - Multiple car bombings kill 191 people around Baghdad. One car bomb near a market in the central Sadriya neighbourhood kills 140 people and wounds 150.

April 28 - A suicide car bomber kills 60 people and wounds 170 at a checkpoint in Kerbala.

May 13 - A suicide truck bombing in northern town of Makhmour kills 50, with 70 people wounded.

June 19 - A car bomb near the Khilani Shi'ite mosque in central Baghdad kills 87 people.

July 7 - A truck packed with explosives covered with hay blows up in a crowded market in the northern town of Tuz Khurmato, killing 150 people and wounding 250.

July 16 - Eighty-five people are killed by a suicide truck bomb in the city of Kirkuk. At least 180 are wounded.

Aug. 14 - At least three suicide bombers driving fuel tankers kill and wound at least 796 people in Yazidi residential compounds in the villages of Kahtaniya and al-Jazeera in northern Iraq near the Syrian border. Yazidis are members of a pre-Islamic Kurdish sect who live in northern Iraq and Syria.

Feb. 1, 2008 - Female bombers kill 99 people in attacks blamed on al Qaeda at two popular Baghdad pet markets, the city's worst attacks in six months.

Feb. 24 - A suicide bomber targeting pilgrims heading to one of Shi'ite Islam's holiest rites in southern Kerbala kills 63 people and wounds scores in Iskandariya.

March 6 - Two bombs explode in Baghdad's mainly Shi'ite Karrada district, killing 68 people. Another 120 were wounded.

April 15 - A car bomb kills 40 people and wounds 80 outside a provincial government headquarters in Baquba, local capital of Diyala province. Another car bomb, believed to be driven by a suicide attacker, explodes outside a popular restaurant in Ramadi, capital of Anbar province, killing 13.

June 17 - A truck bomb blasts the al-Hurriya neighbourhood of northwestern Baghdad, killing 63 people and wounding 75. The U.S. military said the attack was carried out by a "special groups cell".

Dec. 11 - A suicide bomber detonates explosives inside a Kurdish restaurant north of Kirkuk. At least 50 people are killed and 109 wounded in the blast.

January 02, 2009: An Attack in Yusufia, killed 23, mostly government officials.

January 4: An attack in Kadhimia killed 35 pilgrims and police.

February 13: An Attack on the road to Kerbala killed 35 Pilgrims.

March 08: An attack on the police academy in Baghdad killed 28 police recruits.

March 10: An attack on Abu Ghraib market killed 33 civilians and police.

March 23: An attack on a Kurdish funeral killed 25 in Jalula, Diala Province.

March 26: An attack in Baghdad targeting a Police convoy killed 20.

April 06: Six attacks in one day in Baghdad killed 34 civilians and security guards.

April 23: Three attacks killed 84 people, the majority were Iranian pilgrims.

April 24: An attack on Kadhmia, Baghdad, killed 58 including 20 Iranian pilgrims.

April 29: Three car bombs killed 51 in Al-Sadr city including many police officers.

May 20: An attack on Al-Shula district, Baghdad killed 40 people.




June 20, 2009 - A suicide bomber detonates a truck filled with explosives as crowds of worshippers leave the Shi'ite al-Rasul mosque in Taza, near Kirkuk. At least 73 people were killed and more than 250 wounded.

June 24 - A bomb kills 72 people at a busy market in eastern Baghdad's Sadr City. At least 127 people are wounded.

June 30: A car bomb killed 26 in Kirkuk.

July 09:Two attacks killed 35 people in Tal Afar west of Mosul.

July 31: Five bombs killed 29 people in Baghdad.

August 07: A bomb killed 37 people in Mosul.

August 10: A car bomb killed 23 in Khazna village near Mosul.

Aug. 19 - At least six blasts strike near government ministries and other targets in Baghdad killing 95(108) people and wounding 536.

Oct. 25 - Twin car bombs targeting two government buildings kill at least 132(162) people and wound more than 500 in central Baghdad.

January 02: An Attack in Yusufia, killed 23, mostly government officials.
January 4: An attack in Kadhimia killed 35 pilgrims and police.
February 13: An Attack on the road to Kerbala killed 35 Pilgrims.
March 08: An attack on the police academy in Baghdad killed 28 police recruits.
March 10: An attack on Abu Ghraib market killed 33 civilians and police.
March 23: An attack on a Kurdish funeral killed 25 in Jalula, Diala Province.
March 26: An attack in Baghdad targeting a Police convoy killed 20.
April 06: Six attacks in one day in Baghdad killed 34 civilians and security guards.
April 23: Three attacks killed 84 people, the majority were Iranian pilgrims.
April 24: An attack on Kadhmia, Baghdad, killed 58 including 20 Iranian pilgrims.
April 29: Three car bombs killed 51 in Al-Sadr city including many police officers.
May 20: An attack on Al-Shula district, Baghdad killed 40 people.
June 20: A car bomb killed 72 in Kirkuk.
June 24: An attack on Al-Sadr city killed 62 people.
June 30: A car bomb killed 26 in Kirkuk.
July 09:Two attacks killed 35 people in Tal Afar west of Mosul.
July 31: Five bombs killed 29 people in Baghdad.
August 07: A bomb killed 37 people in Mosul.
August 10: A car bomb killed 23 in Khazna village near Mosul.
August 19: Two car bombs in Baghdad killed 108 people.
Oct 25: Two car bombs killed 162 people.
The number of wounded was not mentioned as many have died later.
--------------

25 Oct 2009 15:42:24 GMT
Source: Reuters
* One of Iraq's bloodiest days this year

* Government blames al Qaeda or Baathists

* Iraq president criticises regional powers

* Opposition lawmakers fault security forces

(Adds reaction, details)

By Saad Shalash and Waleed Ibrahim

BAGHDAD, Oct 25 (Reuters) - Two suicide bombs tore through Baghdad on Sunday, killing 132 people, wounding more than 500 and leaving mangled bodies and cars on the streets in one of Iraq's deadliest days this year.

The two blasts shredded buildings and smoke billowed from the area near the Tigris River. The first bomb targeted the Justice Ministry and the second, minutes later, was aimed at the nearby provincial government building, police said.

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's office said that the bombs were meant to sow chaos in Iraq similar to attacks on Aug. 19 against the finance and foreign ministries, and were aimed at stopping an election in January.

"It is the same black hands who are covered in the blood of the Iraqi people," a statement from Maliki's office said. "They want to cause chaos in the nation, hinder the political process and prevent the parliamentary election."

Officials have blamed unnamed neighbours for not stopping the attacks -- a reference to Iraqi complaints that Syria provides a safe haven for former Baathists while citizens of other Sunni Muslim states help fund the insurgency in Iraq. Iran, meanwhile, has been accused of funding and arming Shi'ite militia.

"The neighbouring and distant countries should immediately refrain, forever, from harbouring, financing and facilitating forces that openly proclaim their hostility to the Iraqi state," President Jalal Talabani said in a statement.

Attacks could rise in the run-up to the election -- the second national vote since U.S. troops invaded in 2003 -- as forces in and around Iraq jockey for influence over the world's third largest oil reserves.

Some lawmakers criticised the security forces for failing to stop the attack. Government officials blamed the bombings on al Qaeda or remnants of former leader Saddam Hussein's Baath party.

"BIG FAILURE"

The area near the provincial building was flooded and fire fighters pulled charred and torn corpses off the streets. Burnt cars piled up nearby. Workers on cranes combed the broken face of the Justice Ministry, pulling out bodies wrapped in blankets.

"I don't know how I'm still alive. The explosion destroyed everything. Nothing is still in its place," shop owner Hamid Saadi told Reuters by telephone from near the Justice Ministry.

U.S. forces provided forensics teams and bomb experts.

Police sources said the bombs were carried in vans driven by suicide bombers while others said a truck and car were used.

The al-Mansour hotel, which houses the Chinese embassy and several foreign media groups, was also damaged.

U.S. officials say the attacks are aimed at reigniting the sectarian conflict that gripped Iraq after the U.S.-led invasion that deposed Saddam, or at undermining confidence in Maliki before the parliamentary poll.

Maliki is widely expected to campaign on improved security. The attacks were launched as his government tries to sign multi-billion dollar crude deals, expected to turn Iraq into the world's third largest oil producer.

The bombings raise doubts about the Iraqi forces' ability to take over overall security from U.S. soldiers who pulled out of Iraqi city centres in June ahead of the complete withdrawal from the country by the end of 2011.

"This breach is a big failure of the security forces who are responsible, along with the security officials, for what happened," said Jalal al-Din al-Sagheer, who heads the parliamentary bloc of the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, one of Maliki's main Shi'ite rivals in the coming election. (Additional reporting by Reuters Television, Muhanad Mohammed and Suadad al-Sahly; writing by Jack Kimball; Editing by Angus MacSwan)



---------------
Iraq Ministries Targeted in Car Bombings; Over 130 Dead

By TIMOTHY WILLIAMS
Published: October 25, 2009

BAGHDAD — For the second time in two months, synchronized suicide car bombings struck at the heart of the Iraqi government, severely damaging the Justice Ministry and Provincial Council complexes in Baghdad on Sunday, killing at least 132 people and raising fresh questions about the government’s ability to secure its most vital operations.

The New York Times



The bombers apparently passed through multiple security checkpoints before detonating their vehicles within a minute of each other, leaving the dead and more than 520 wounded strewn across a busy downtown district. Blast walls had been moved back off the road from in front of both buildings in recent weeks.

It was the deadliest coordinated attack in Iraq since the summer of 2007 and happened just blocks from where car bombers killed at least 122 people at the Foreign and Finance ministries this August.

The attacks came as the American military prepares to withdraw in large numbers — from about 120,000 troops today to some 50,000 by the end of next July, with almost all gone by the end of 2011. Iraq is also readying for national elections in January.

For months, Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, who is seeking another term in office, has made painstaking efforts to present Iraq as having turned a corner on the violence that threatened to tear the country apart in 2006 and 2007.

He has recently ordered blast walls removed from dozens of streets in the capital and has insisted that Iraqi forces are capable of securing the country. In large part, his popularity has rested on the belief that he has kept the country reasonably secure.

But the wave of bombings at four high-profile, well-protected government buildings within a two-month span led some Iraqis to to say Sunday that they were reconsidering their support for Mr. Maliki.

“We don’t want a government that does not provide us with security,” said Saif Adil, 26, who has been unemployed since graduating from college two years ago. “It was good for awhile, and now explosions happen less often, but they are having big effects — large numbers of dead in important places.”

Ali Hussein, 32, said the explosions had also caused him to question his support of the prime minister. “Why should I vote for Maliki?” he asked. “He has done nothing except bring explosions and corruption.”

On Sunday, a statement from American Ambassador Christopher R. Hill and Gen. Ray Odierno condemned the bombings saying that the attacks would not “deter Iraqis from administering justice based on the rule of law and carrying out their legitimate responsibilities in governing Baghdad.”

On Sunday, American Marines were seen walking around the debris-filled streets after the attack. One Marine said the Americans had been asked by the Iraqi government to aid in the investigation.

Iraqi and American officials in Baghdad have repeatedly warned about a potential rise in violence as the Jan. 16 parliamentary election approaches, with political parties and their allies vie for advantage and insurgent groups redoubling their efforts to destabilize the country.

In a rare personal appearance at a bombing site, Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki arrived at the provincial council building about an hour after the explosion, his face ashen as he surveyed the carnage.

Around Mr. Maliki, paramedics rushed the injured into waiting Red Crescent ambulances, workers wearing plastic gloves scooped body parts off of the street and into plastic bags, and scorched cars — their occupants trapped inside — were pried open in a desperate search for signs of life.

Surrounding streets had been blocked off and were under more than a foot of water because the blast had apparently also damaged a water main. Pools of water were colored red with blood.

Mr. Maliki, wearing a dark suit, did not venture far from his armored white sports utility vehicle. He made no public comment before being driven away.

Mr. Maliki later issued a statement calling the attacks “cowardly” and blamed elements of the Baath Party and the Sunni insurgent group Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia. He said the attack would not affect the scheduled elections.

President Jalal Talibani said the attackers had sought to damage Iraq’s fragile democracy.

“The perpetrators of this have revealed publicly that they are targeting the state and its basic pillars,” Mr. Talibani said. “They want to hinder the political process or to stop it and to sabotage what we have built during six years with great sacrifice.”

The two government buildings, typically filled with officials as well as civilians seeking government help, are situated on Haifa Street in one of Baghdad’s most congested sections. Nearby are other Iraqi government buildings, foreign embassies, the heavily fortified Green Zone, and bridges crossing the Tigris River.

In a testament to the power of the explosion at the provincial council building, a section of 12-foot high blast wall collapsed, crushing people underneath, witnesses said.

The Iraqi Police said the first bomb struck the Justice Ministry building around 10:30 a.m. blowing out its large windows that overlook Haifa Street, sending flying glass and shrapnel into passersby. A plume of black smoke rose over the city that could be seen for miles.

“I was eating in a restaurant near the Justice Ministry when a huge explosion took place,” said Sa’ad Saleem, 28, an employee of Iraq’s state-owned television channel, who had shrapnel wounds in his neck and chest. “The entire scene was filled with bloody human flesh. Large pools of blood were everywhere, in addition to the remains of burned cars. It was horrible.”

At the provincial council building, Sheikh Hadi Salih, 60, had been attending a meeting on the second floor when he heard the sound of an explosion followed by the collapse of the ceiling onto people’s heads.

“We tried to find our way out down the stairs, and as we went we found many dead bodies,” he said. “I’ve seen 20 bodies and more than 60 injured.”

Among the wounded were at least two American security contractors, a United States Embassy official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity under diplomatic ground rules.

Anwar J. Ali, Duraid Adnan, Mohammed Hussein and Riyadh Mohammed contributed reporting.


----------





Sinan Salaheddin

Baghdad — Associated Press Published on Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2009 6:08AM EDT

An al-Qaeda linked group claimed responsibility for the twin suicide bombings in the heart of Baghdad that killed at least 155 people as Iraq's political leadership on Tuesday stepped up efforts to agree on new voting guidelines ahead of January elections.

The militant group known as the Islamic State of Iraq said in a statement posted on the Internet late Monday that its “martyrs ... targeted the dens of infidelity.”

Massive vehicle bombs and suicide attacks have been the hallmark of al-Qaeda, and Iraq-based Sunni insurgents have used similar means and style of attacks with an aiming to overthrow the country's Shiite-dominated government in Baghdad.

The attack Sunday in the heart of the Iraqi capital struck the Justice Ministry and the Baghdad Provincial Administration. It was Iraq's deadliest attacks in two years and it raised more fears about the country's ability to protect itself as it prepares for the January parliamentary elections and the U.S. military withdrawal.

Among the dead were two dozen children, killed on a bus that was leaving a daycare centre near the Justice Ministry at the time of the explosions, said an official at the hospital where the bodies were brought. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.

Iraq's senior leaders made progress on a new election law that could ease political tensions and calm popular anger over Sunday's blasts many perceive as a testimony to the government's massive failure to protect its people.

Top officials, including the prime minister, the president and the parliament speaker pledged tighter security after the carnage in Baghdad. They also moved quickly to work out a deal with leaders of political parties on the new election law that will help hold the crucial nationwide vote on time.

The balloting is scheduled for Jan. 16.

Lawmakers have been wrangling for weeks about the law, and observers, including the U.S., had worried that failure to agree on the guidelines might delay the crucial vote.

The al-Qaeda posting on Monday said the group's suicide bombers targeted the “pillars of the Safawi and rejectionist state in the land of caliphate,” referring to the Shiite government in Baghdad and its close ally, Iran.

“One of these selected targets that were hit this time was the 'Ministry of Injustice and Oppression,' the so-called Ministry of Justice, along with the Baghdad Provincial Council,” the militant statement said.

The authenticity of the statement, which appeared on a website commonly used for militant messaging, could not be independently confirmed. The same group also claimed responsibility for August bombings of two government ministries in Baghdad, when more than 100 people were killed.

Linked to the wider terror network, the Islamic State of Iraq is an umbrella group within the Arab country that comprises a militant coalition in which al-Qaeda is a leading member.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki blamed those who want to tarnish his government's efforts to rebuild Iraq into a democratic state for Sunday's “terrorist acts.”

“There's wicked political will behind these terrorists acts,” Mr. al-Maliki said in a speech at Baghdad University on Monday.

“We are facing big challenges in the reconstruction process, but while we are building, they are destroying,” Mr. al-Maliki said.

----------



Iraqis mourn, blame politics for Baghdad blasts
26 Oct 2009 17:41:50 GMT
Source: Reuters
* Hundreds of mourners stream around bomb site

* Residents blame political infighting

* Iraqis fear worse violence ahead

(Adds details on attacks, paragraphs 6-7, toll, paragraph 12, progress on election law, paragraph 15, UN appeal, paragraph 20)

By Muhanad Mohammed and Ahmed Rasheed

BAGHDAD, Oct 26 (Reuters) - The Iraqi government blamed the bloodiest bombings in years on al Qaeda and other extremists, but many ordinary Iraqis think political infighting before next year's election is the cause and fear worse is yet to come.

Hundreds of mourners poured into the area where twin suicide bombs on Sunday killed 155 people, railing against politicians and the security forces in a funeral march, local media showed. Baghdad was ensnared in a traffic jam as the government, facing criticism for the attacks, set up extra checkpoints.

"

The blood of Iraqis is very cheap and I ask, how many victims will it take to convince the government that it has totally failed?" Hameed Salam, a former army officer now driving a taxi cab

, shouted in the traffic jam on Monday.

Iraq's January ballot is expected to focus on security gains under Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki after years of war, and sticky questions about the distribution of power and oil wealth.

The threat of more attacks looms as rivals seek to undermine Maliki, and insurgents try to upset the electoral process.

Two mini-buses were used in Sunday's attack, circumventing a ban on truck traffic in heavily policed central Baghdad, said the city's security spokesman Major General Qassim al-Moussawi.

One bus contained a tonne of explosives and the other 600-750 kg, he said. Both were driven by suicide bombers from a nearby site, according to aerial images from U.S.-operated airships that hover over the city.

Many Iraqis say they see divisions and infighting ahead of Iraq's second post-invasion national vote as the prime source of instability in the world's 11th largest crude producer.

While violence has fallen since Washington sent thousands of extra troops, attacks are common in the politically-divided nation of 30 million people.

"The government is not in control of the security situation and political leaders quarrel over power," said Alaa Hussain, a former military officer.

"Maliki is not a superman and he cannot take control over the security of the country unless there is cooperation and union between the parties and politicians."

BLOODY DAYS

Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh told U.S.-funded al-Hurra television that 129 people died. But police sources said the death toll had reached 155.

Many residents in Baghdad see a hazy connection between political disputes in parliament and violence in the streets. Politicians are currently at loggerheads over a law that will stipulate how the January election is run.

"Haggling between the parties, if they differ on an issue, is reflected in the security situation," said Haider Mohammed, a 34-year-old shop owner.

Parliament has failed to resolve how to conduct the vote in the city of Kirkuk, disputed between Arabs and ethnic Kurds. A council including Maliki and other leaders agreed on Monday to submit a proposal to parliament that they hope will overcome the deadlock, said parliamentary speaker Ayad al-Samarai.

But the impasse has cast doubt over whether the Jan. 16 date is feasible and raised questions about whether politicians can make tough decisions for a nation emerging from years of strife.

Iraq is a far cry from the dark days of sectarian carnage that followed the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. The government says its doors are open for business and it is starting to sign multibillion dollar deals with global oil firms.

Yet, security remains fragile, and officials fear attacks like those on Sunday or the bombings of the finance and foreign ministries in August are aimed at re-igniting sectarian war.

The Iraqi government blames al Qaeda and supporters of Saddam Hussein's former Baath party for the attacks, and has accused Syria of harbouring them, souring relations.

It has also sought a U.N. inquiry into foreign interference, a request Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari renewed on Monday. (Additional reporting by Suadad al-Sahly and Waleed Ibrahim; Writing by Jack Kimball; Editing by Michael Christie)


---------


UN official heads to Iraq after Baghdad bombings
28 Oct 2009 21:15:27 GMT
Source: Reuters
UNITED NATIONS, Oct 28 (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Wednesday he was sending a senior official from the world body to Iraq soon to discuss a series of recent deadly bombings in Baghdad.

Earlier this week Iraq renewed a previous request for a U.N. inquiry into the support given by foreign countries to insurgents after twin suicide blasts against government buildings in Baghdad on Sunday killed more than 150 people.

"In response to a request from the government of Iraq, I will send (U.N.) assistant secretary-general Oscar Fernandez-Taranco to Iraq for preliminary consultations related to Iraq's security and sovereignty," Ban told reporters.

He made clear that Fernandez-Taranco would not be launching an investigation. For a formal probe Ban said he would need "a clear mandate by the Security Council."

Iraq has blamed Sunday's attack against the Justice Ministry and the Baghdad provincial governorate, and bombings on Aug. 19 that devastated the Foreign and Finance Ministries, on al Qaeda and supporters of Saddam Hussein's outlawed Baath party.

The government has accused neighboring Syria of providing a safe haven for Baathists plotting attacks.

Asked if Fernandez-Taranco would visit Syria, Ban said the world body would discuss the possibility of expanding the issue beyond the border of Iraq later with countries in the region.

After the Aug. 19 bombings Iraq asked Ban to request that the U.N. Security Council set up an independent international commission of inquiry to look into the attacks. Ban forwarded the Iraqi letter to the council but got no response.

The Iraqi request is similar to one that Lebanon put to the Security Council following the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri. The council launched an investigation and set up a tribunal in the Netherlands, but no one has so far been indicted and inquiries continue.

Washington has said it would support a U.N. inquiry. (Reporting by Louis Charbonneau; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

Saudi female journalist gets 60 lashes for TV show

AP


Sat Oct 24, 10:04 am ET

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – A Saudi court on Saturday convicted a female journalist for her involvement in a TV show, in which a Saudi man publicly talked about sex, and sentenced her to 60 lashes.

Rozanna al-Yami is believed to be the first Saudi woman journalist to be given such a punishment. The charges against her included involvement in the preparation of the program and advertising the segment on the Internet.

Abdul-Rahman al-Hazza, the spokesman of the Ministry of Culture and Information, told The Associated Press he had no details of the sentencing and could not comment on it.

In the program, which aired in July on the Lebanese LBC satellite channel, Mazen Abdul-Jawad appears to describe an active sex life and shows sex toys that were blurred by the station. The same court sentenced Abdul-Jawad earlier this month to five years in jail and 1,000 lashes.

The man's lawyer, Sulaiman al-Jumeii, maintains his client was duped by the TV station and was unaware in many cases he was being recorded.

On Saturday, he told the AP that not trying his client or al-Yami before a court specialized in media matters at the Ministry of Culture and Information was a violation of Saudi law.

"It is a precedent to try a journalist before a summary court for an issue that concerns the nature of his job," he said.

The case has scandalized this ultraconservative country where such public talk about sex is taboo and the sexes are strictly segregated.

The government moved swiftly in the wake of the case, shutting down LBC's two offices in the kingdom and arresting Abdul-Jawad, who works for the national airline.

Three other men who appeared on the show, "Bold Red Line," were also convicted of discussing sex publicly and sentenced to two years imprisonment and 300 lashes each.

Afghanistan: next election will be a fraud too!

The Americans had no alternative but to support Hameed Kharzai. As Richard Holbrooke has told him in a shouting match in Kabul following the August election, a runoff will give a form of legitimacy to his presidency knowing in advance that Dr Abdullah Abdullah, a Tajik, will never be acceptable. There is here a real dilemma for America. The majority of the population are Pashtuns and want a Pashtun president. But the Pashtun areas are mostly under the control of the Taleban and people are afraid to vote. As a result, Kharzai men had to fill boxes with fabricated ballots in many areas although no voter had shown up. The next election scheduled for November 07, 2009 may fare better but Kharzai remains America’s favourite candidate, despite the widespread corruption and nepotism. In reality, America refuses to support popular candidates as it has done in Iran and in Palestine where both Hania and Ahmedinejad were castigated. The Americans want obedient client regimes that remain silent when their people are democratically slaughtered by trigger-happy US cowboys or their so-called civilian contractors (Mercenaries). As no real change in policy is envisaged by Obama team, all indications point towards an intensification of the on-going popular resistance against the foreign boots desecrating Afghanistan.


Are there any good guys in America?


The Americans have no business trying to run the show in Afghanistan while its war machines are on a destruction and killing mission. Afghanistan is a backward country dominated by tribesmen and war lords. Enforcing Western-style democracy in Afghanistan is as easy as selling Apple Laptops to desert nomads. Have you forgot how fraudulent the American democracy was when G.W. Bush stole the presidency from Al-Gore. At the time, there was no good American running either. Zionist Lieberman against neo-con Zionist deranged G.W. Bush. I am not very sure how the Americans want to win in Afghanistan? The on-going war is perceived by most people as an anti-Islamic crusade, which will be fiercely resisted. Obama or water mellon, the Americans will never win in Afghanistan. They will give up the way other empires have done in the past. The Pentagon is pushing for more money and killing machines. They will soon be calling for more body bags.


Adnan Darwash, Iraq Occupation Times

Iran to break IAEA deadline for nuclear fuel deal - Summary

Vienna - Iran on Friday said it would reply only next week to a plan for processing Iran's nuclear fuel abroad, breaking a deadline and throwing into doubt the deal designed to defuse the standoff over the country's nuclear programme. Iran informed ...

Posted : Fri, 23 Oct 2009 17:40:41 GMT
By : dpa



Vienna - Iran on Friday said it would reply only next week to a plan for processing Iran's nuclear fuel abroad, breaking a deadline and throwing into doubt the deal designed to defuse the standoff over the country's nuclear programme. "Iran informed the Director General today that it is considering the proposal in depth and in a favourable light, but it needs time until the middle of next week to provide a response," the IAEA said in a statement, referring to its Director General Mohamed ElBaradei, who had set a Friday deadline for replying to his proposed deal.

Earlier Friday, the US, Russia and France said they would join the agreement that foresees shipping Iranian enriched uranium to Russia for further processing, to be eventually used in a medical-purpose reactor in Tehran.

"The Director General hopes that Iran's response will equally be positive, since approval of this agreement will signal a new era of cooperation," the IAEA said.

In addition to ignoring the deadline, an anoymous Iranian source told Iranian state television that his country might not agree to ship its enriched uranium abroad at all, but would rather like to buy it from a foreign country.

Iran's delayed response is also likely to cast a shadow on the next round of Iran's nuclear talks among the permanent five members of the UN Security Council Britain, China, France, Russia and the US, plus Germany, that were scheduled in Geneva next week. This group is known as the P5 plus 1.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said earlier in Beirut that such negative signals from Tehran would be "unfortunate for pursuing the contacts at the level of the P5 plus 1 in Geneva."

The draft agreement, drawn up in two-and-a-half days of talks in Vienna earlier this week, was based on a general understanding reached between Iran and the six world powers in Geneva on October 1.

A French Foreign Ministry spokesman confirmed Thursday that his country stood ready to take the material processed in Russia and turn it into actual fuel elements for Iran.

France is one of the few countries with this technical capability.

The countries involved have described the possible agreement as an important confidence-building measure, because it would reduce the likelihood of Iran using the uranium for nuclear weapons. Iran denies it has any such military intentions.

The material that Western countries would like Iran to ship out by the end of the year constitutes most of the Islamic state's stock of low-enriched uranium.

Once the uranium has been turned into fuel elements for the Tehran reactor, it would be very difficult to use it in atom bombs.

In Israel, opposition leader Tzipi Livni warned earlier Friday that "Iran should know that all options are on the table,"Israel Army Radio quoted her as saying.

She said planned enrichment agreement "will blow up in our face and in the face of the international community."

"The world understands that it cannot afford a nuclear Iran, but to my regret there is a gap between this understanding and actions on the ground," said Livni, the former foreign minister of the centrist Kadima party.

Brigadier, driver killed in Islamabad shooting

Friday, October 23, 2009




* Army says ‘act of terrorism’ aimed at making news
* Police brand attack ‘target killing’
* Officials suspect Taliban responsible for killing

By Fazal Sher

ISLAMABAD: Unidentified gunmen attacked an army jeep in the federal capital on Thursday, killing a brigadier and his driver and critically injuring a guard.

Police officials said Brig Moinuddin Haider was en route to his office in Rawalpindi when the assailants fired at his jeep at around 8:45am near Street No 5, G-11/1.

Police and witnesses put the number of assailants at two – aged between 18-to-20 years – and said they were riding a motorbike. “One of the attackers ... [fired at] the jeep from the front side, and the other from the backside,” they said. The injured guard and the bodies were immediately taken to Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), where the guard is being treated at an intensive care unit. Doctors said his condition was critical.

Law-enforcement agencies cordoned off the area, and launched a search operation using sniffer dogs, but could not track down the assailants – who disappeared in an adjoining residential area.

“It was an act of terrorism,” military spokesman Maj Gen Athar Abbas was quoted as saying by the Reuters news agency. “The purpose was to kill and make news.”

Brigadier Moin was a resident of Sector F-11/4, and arrived in Pakistan on leave a few days ago from Sudan – where he was part of a UN peacekeeping mission.

Officials suspect that the Taliban are likely behind the assassination – ordered in retaliation against the military offensive in South Waziristan.

IG Kaleem Imam said it was “a target killing”, and the assailants had been monitoring the route of the brigadier. “A team headed by DIG Bin Yamin has been formed to investigate the attack,” he said.

He said a “massive search operation” had also been ordered in Sector G-11 and other areas of Islamabad. “A number of mosques and seminaries have been established in Islamabad without the approval of authorities ... we will take action against them,” he said.

The IG said police were also searching seminaries in Islamabad, and had arrested around 60 people.

The president and the prime minister have condemned the attack.

Suicide bomber kills eight in Pakistan

Friday's assault was likely to spark concern among some defence experts in the West because some analysts said they believe Pakistan might be keeping jet fighters that can carry nuclear warheads at the base in Kamra.

Fri Oct 23, 2009 6:43am EDT



The only nuclear-armed Islamic state has asserted that its atomic arsenal, which is kept at undisclosed locations, is safe.

By Zeeshan Haider

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - A Taliban suicide bomber killed eight people outside a key Pakistani airforce facility on Friday, with officials quick to deny suggestions the target was linked to the country's nuclear program.

The bomber detonated explosives strapped to his body at a checkpoint outside the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex in Kamra, some 75 kms (45 miles) northwest of the capital, Islamabad.

Hours later, a car bomb exploded outside a restaurant in the northwestern city of Peshawar, wounding 15 people, two of them seriously, officials said.

The attacks come as the army continues a major offensive against Pakistani Taliban militant strongholds in South Waziristan, near the Afghan border.

The offensive has raised fears the insurgents will step up a suicide bombing campaign on urban targets. Over 150 people have been killed in a series of brazen attacks in the past few weeks.

"Eight people were killed and 13 were wounded, three of them seriously," said Shaukat Sultan, head of the main government hospital in Kamra, scene of Friday's airbase attack.

Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani told a cabinet meeting on Wednesday that the country's nuclear infrastructure was safe and faced no threat from Taliban militants.

An airforce official was quick to dispel suggestions on Friday that the Kamra facility was linked to the weapons program.

"It's nonsense. It's rubbish," the official told Reuters.

Friday's attack came a day after an army brigadier and his driver were killed in a drive-by shooting in Islamabad, while at least six people, including two suicide bombers, died in twin attacks at an Islamic University in the capital on Tuesday.

MORE ATTACKS

Analysts have warned of the possibility of more attacks as the militants come under pressure in South Waziristan, with the Taliban hoping bloodshed and disruption will cause the government and ordinary people to lose their appetite for the offensive.

The offensive is a test of the government's determination to tackle Islamic fundamentalists, and the campaign is being closely followed by the U.S. and other powers embroiled in Afghanistan.

It is also affecting the financial markets, with the benchmark KSE index falling around six percent this week.

The index rose slightly in the morning session on Friday, but remained jittery following the Peshawar blast.

"The law and order situation once again got the better of the market, and investors started selling their shares after the blast in Peshawar," said Asad Iqbal, managing director at Ismail Iqbal Securities Ltd.

Remote and rugged South Waziristan, with its rocky mountains and patchy forests cut through by dry creeks and ravines, is a global hub for militants who flit between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

About 28,000 soldiers are battling an estimated 10,000 hard-core Taliban, including about 1,000 tough Uzbek fighters and some Arab al Qaeda members.

The military said 13 militants and two soldiers were killed in fighting during the past 24 hours, though a militant spokesman said they have lost just three fighters since the offensive began on Saturday. There was no independence verification of the claims and counter-claims.

Foreign journalists are not allowed anywhere near the battle zone and it is dangerous even for Pakistani reporters to visit. Independent confirmation of casualty figures has not been possible.

More than 100,000 civilians have fled the area, with about 32,000 leaving since October 13, the United Nations said.

Some 15 women and children traveling to a wedding were killed when their vehicle hit a land mine in another volatile tribal region on the Afghan border, officials said.


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


Fears Taliban are targeting Pakistan's nuclear program as suicide bomber kills eight at airforce facility

By Mail Foreign Service
Last updated at 10:24 AM on 23rd October 2009


There are fears extremists are targeting Pakistan’s nuclear program after a Taliban suicide bomber killed eight people outside a key airforce facility today.

The bomber detonated explosives strapped to his body at a checkpoint outside the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex in Kamra, some 45 miles northwest of the capital, Islamabad.

There were also police and hospital reports of a blast in the northwest city of Peshawar that wounded seven people.
Security personal stand at the checkpoint where a suicide attack took place in Kamra, Pakistan, today

Security personnel stand at the checkpoint where a suicide attack took place in Kamra, Pakistan, today

Officials quickly denied suggestions the attack at the airforce facility was proof the Taliban are focusing on nuclear targets.

The attacks come as the army continues a major offensive against Pakistani Taliban militant strongholds in South Waziristan, near the Afgfhan border.

The offensive has raised fears the insurgents will step up a suicide bombing campaign on urban targets. Over 150 people have been killed in a series of attacks in the past few weeks.

'Eight people were killed and 13 were wounded, three of them seriously,' said Shaukat Sultan, head of the main government hospital in Kamra.

Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani told a cabinet meeting on Wednesday that the country's nuclear infrastructure was safe and faced no threat from Taliban militants, and an airforce official was quick to dispel suggestions today that the Kamra facility was linked to the weapons program.
A policeman stands guard outside the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex which was targeted today

A policeman stands guard outside the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex which was targeted this morning

'It's nonsense. It's rubbish,' the airforce official told Reuters.

Today’s attack came a day after an army brigadier and his driver were killed in a drive-by shooting in Islamabad, while at least six people, including two suicide bombers, died in twin attacks at an Islamic University in the capital on Tuesday.

Analysts have warned of the possibility of more attacks as the militants come under pressure in South Waziristan, with the Taliban hoping bloodshed and disruption will cause the government and ordinary people to lose their appetite for the offensive.

The offensive is a test of the government's determination to tackle Islamic fundamentalists, and the campaign is being closely followed by the US and other powers embroiled in Afghanistan.
The bomber detonated a vest of explosives at an airforce facility, killing eight people

The bomber detonated a vest of explosives at the airforce facility, killing eight people and injuring 13

About 28,000 soldiers are battling an estimated 10,000 hard-core Taliban, including about 1,000 tough Uzbek fighters and some Arab al Qaeda members.

The army said 24 militants and two soldiers were killed in the fighting on Thursday.

Foreign journalists are not allowed anywhere near the battle zone and it is dangerous even for Pakistani reporters to visit. Independent confirmation of casualty figures has not been possible.

More than 100,000 civilians have fled the area, with about 32,000 leaving since October 13, the United Nations said.

The army has launched brief offensives in South Waziristan before, the first in 2004 when it suffered heavy casualties before striking a peace pact

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1222390/Fears-Taliban-targeting-Pakistans-nuclear-program-suicide-bomber-kills-airforce-facility.html?ITO=1490#ixzz0UlDCELTv

Israel sells US high-tech secrets!!!!!

The CIA has been tracking Israeli military technology sales to China, India, and Russia for quiet sometime and suspected that certain red-lines have been crossed. It did inform the FBI to see if certain agents of Israeli companies have been illegally diverting top-secret weapon systems to Israel. It didn’t take the FBI long before trapping a Pentagon advisor who is working as a consultant to one of the many Israeli companies active in the US and with top security clearance.

Jewish Stewart David Nozette, was approached by FBI undercover agents claiming to represent Israeli MOSSAD and handed them in the course of one month documents marked as Top Secret covering early warning systems, communication intelligence and others in exchange for cash and an Israeli passport. It is not the first time that Friendly Jewish Spies are caught red-handed. Jewish Jonathan Pollard handed the Israeli embassy in Washington D.C. US communication codes which Itzhaq Shamir, Isralei Prime Minister, passed to the Russians against certain reward to Israel.


Using the codes, the Russians were able to eliminate scores of US agents and double agents. It was rumoured that Bibi Netanyahu, the current Israeli Prime Minister, was Jonathan Pollard handler during his many years of spying. Recently, and under strong pressure from AIPAC, charges were dropped against two other Jewish spies, Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman, for passing top secret information to Israel. Instead of keeping the Jews away from sensitive posts, Obama goes to appoint an Israeli reserve army officer, Rham Emmaneue, as his chief of staff.


With friends like these, who wants an enemy?

It is true that the Jews control American financial institutions, the media and Washington D.C. But let them try their luck in Iraq, Lebanon or Iran.
The Americans consider the Jews as their best allies and friends. One wonders how far US patience can be stretched. The financial instituitions robbed by the Jewish finacial mafia have been rescued to the cost of $trillions to US tax payers money. The Jewish war on Iraq continues to bleed America. That is besides the $billions going as aids to Israel every year. Obama is definitely not the one to challenge the mighty Israeli lobby let alone free America and break the Jewish shackles.

13 female student's dead/injured in ISLAMabad'd ISLAMIC University Twin Suicide Blasts

Two female students killed in Islamabad University twin blasts
Updated at: 1610 PST, Tuesday, October 20, 2009
ISLAMABAD: Two female students have been killed and 13 wounded among which four have been reported in a critical state in Islamic University twin explosion, Geo News reported. One suspect has been arrested near the campus.

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

By Kamran Haider

DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan (Reuters) - Taliban militants attacked Pakistani forces and recaptured a strategic town on Tuesday while two suicide bomb blasts at an Islamic university in the capital killed six people and wounded at least 20, officials said.

The government made an immediate link between the university attack and an offensive against the Taliban, with Interior Minister Rehman Malik saying "all roads are leading toward South Waziristan."

Fighting for control of the lawless area is a major test of the government's ability to tackle an increasingly brazen insurgency that has seen a string of attacks in various parts of the country.

The army on Monday captured the small town of Kotkai, the birthplace of Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud on the approach to an insurgent base in south Waziristan, but militants struck back on Tuesday to retake it, security officials said.

Two suicide bomb blasts at the International Islamic University in Islamabad on Tuesday -- the first since the offensive began -- killed six people, including the bombers, and wounded at least 20, officials said.

The sprawling university teaches over 12,000 students, nearly half of them female and including hundreds of foreigners, focusing on education that incorporates Islam in modern times.

"Those who attacked the university have shown that they are neither friends of Islam nor of Pakistan," minister Malik said. "Those carrying out this aggression are just testing nerves of our nation."

Remote and rugged South Waziristan, with its rocky mountains and patchy forests cut through by dry creeks and ravines, is a global hub for militants, and the offensive is being closely followed by the United States and other powers embroiled in Afghanistan.

An intelligence official said jets bombed Taliban positions in and around Kotkai after the militant counter-attack.

The town, also the home town of Qari Hussain Mehsud, a senior Taliban commander known as "the mentor of suicide bombers," is a gateway to a militant stronghold at Sararogha.

It is not possible to verify independently reports from the battle zone as foreign reporters are not allowed in and it is dangerous for Pakistani reporters to visit. Many of the Pakistani media based in South Waziristan have left.

The army says 90 militants and 13 soldiers have been killed since the long-awaited offensive began on Saturday.

"In last 24 hours ... 12 terrorists have been killed during security forces operations," the military said in a statement, adding that four soldiers had died and three were wounded.

There was no independent verification of the tolls.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he was encouraged by the offensive but it was too early to gauge the impact. General David Petraeus, commander of U.S. forces in the region, held talks with Pakistani military and government officials on Monday.

Military officials and analysts said forces had faced less resistance than expected, but heavy fighting was likely when soldiers approach militant sanctuaries in the forest-covered mountains.

About 28,000 soldiers are battling an estimated 10,000 hard-core Taliban, including about 1,000 tough Uzbek fighters and some Arab al Qaeda members.

The militants have had years to prepare their bunkers, but the army says it has surrounded the entire militant zone and was attacking from the north, southwest and southeast.

More than 100,000 civilians have fled South Waziristan in anticipation of the offensive, with about 26,000 of them leaving since October 13, the United Nations said.

Up to 200,000 people could flee, the army says.

The army has launched brief offensives in South Waziristan before, the first in 2004 when it suffered heavy casualties before striking a peace pact.

This time, however, analysts say the army, the government and the general public all agree the time has come to deal with the Pakistani Taliban.

"I'm obviously encouraged by the Pakistani operations. I think that the terrorist attacks that have been launched inside Pakistan in recent days made clear the need to begin the deal with this problem," Gates said aboard a U.S. military aircraft.

"And so we obviously are very supporting of what the Pakistanis are doing. But it's very early yet."

Pakistani stocks fell 4.34 percent on Monday on worries about security, but rebounded on Tuesday, with the index closing up 1.68 percent at 9,569.06 points.

Undercover job hunters reveal huge race bias in Britain's workplaces

Civil servants created false identities to send CVs to hundreds of employers in sting to uncover discrimination


A government sting operation targeting hundreds of employers across Britain has uncovered widespread racial discrimination against workers with African and Asian names.

Researchers sent nearly 3,000 job applications under false identities in an attempt to discover if employers were discriminating against jobseekers with foreign names. Using names recognisably from three different communities – Nazia Mahmood, Mariam Namagembe and Alison Taylor – false identities were created with similar experience and qualifications. Every false applicant had British education and work histories.

They found that an applicant who appeared to be white would send nine applications before receiving a positive response of either an invitation to an interview or an encouraging telephone call. Minority candidates with the same qualifications and experience had to send 16 applications before receiving a similar response.

The alarming results have prompted Jim Knight, the employment minister, to consider barring companies that have been found to have discriminated against employees from applying for government contracts.

"We suspected there was a problem. This uncovers the shocking scale of it," he said. "Candidates with an Asian or African name face real discrimination and this has exposed the fact that companies are missing out on real talent."

Researchers from the National Centre for Social Research, commissioned by the Department for Work and Pension (DWP), sent three different applications for 987 actual vacancies between November 2008 and May 2009. Nine occupations were chosen, ranging from highly qualified positions such as accountants and IT technicians to less well-paid positions such as care workers and sales assistants.

All the job vacancies were in the private, public and voluntary sectors and were based in Birmingham, Bradford, Bristol, Glasgow, Leeds, London and Manchester. The report, to be released tomorrow, concludes that there was no plausible explanation for the difference in treatment found between white British and ethnic minority applicants other than racial discrimination.

It also finds that public sector employers were less likely to have discriminated on the grounds of race than those in the private sector.

One reason for this discrepancy, according to the conclusion, is the use of standard application forms in the public sector which hide or disguise the ethnicity of an applicant. The research is also understood to have found that larger employers were less likely to discriminate than small employers.

Researchers have refused to release the names of the guilty employers, but it is expected that they will be contacted to let them know they had been targeted.

The report has been welcomed by senior race advisers as evidence of discrimination in the job market. Iqbal Wahhab, chair of the Ethnic Minority Advisory Group, which proposes policy changes for the government on race and employment, said: "The evidence of the DWP report is unquestionable – we live in a society where racial discrimination systematically occurs and currently goes in the main unchallenged." Wahhab, an entrepreneur, said that the employers should not be "named and shamed" but persuaded to change.

"The employers who fell foul of the DWP CV test are not bigots – they are business people. I don't suggest we slap injunctions on them and probably not even name and shame them, but instead we should help them understand that their current practices mean they are not fit to supply big customers like government departments," he said.

The findings echo the experience of black and Asian jobseekers contacted this weekend. James Nkwacha, 28, a physics graduate whose family are from Nigeria, said he has applied for 60 jobs this year but had only two replies. "The jobs are within my range. I am qualified for them. But for some reason I have been overlooked," he said.

Navdeep Sethia, 24, an unemployed architecture graduate from Chalk Farm, central London, has submitted more than 400 job applications, but has only heard back from 40 employers and has had fewer than 20 interviews.

"I personally feel that my foreign-sounding name makes a lot of difference. I am sure employers think of Southall when they see my name and that is enough for them to put my application aside," he said.

Peter Luff, the Conservative chairman of the Commons business, innovation and skills select committee, praised the survey as a worthwhile exercise – as long as the companies that have been targeted were not exposed to public ridicule.

"The conclusions are indeed deeply disturbing and indicate the probability of significant discrimination which will have to be analysed closely once the full report is released this week," he said. "I think this was a good exercise by the government, and on balance was worth the money."

Abigail Morris, employment policy adviser to the British Chambers of Commerce, said the research was flawed. "There are limitations to the results. The researchers only used nine occupations, and I am not sure that the number of replies they received is a representative sample. We are concerned that the results will be interpreted to say that most employers are racist, whereas they prove no such thing."

Morris also questioned whether the government should be involved in using a "sting operation" to uncover racism in the middle of a recession and whether it was worth the money. "Business is struggling with the worst recession for a generation. Is this really the time to be wasting government resources and the time of hard-pressed companies with fake CVs?" she asked.

Additional reporting by Sakshi Ojha

Suicide bomber kills 50 in attack on Iran Guards

Guards commander-in-chief Mohammad Ali Jafari said Iranian security officials had presented documents indicating "direct ties" from Jundollah to U.S., British and, "unfortunately", Pakistani intelligence organisations, the ISNA news agency said.

"Behind this scene are the American and British intelligence apparatus, and there will have to be retaliatory measures to punish them," Jafari was quoted as saying.

Jundollah, which has been blamed for many attacks since 2005 in the desert province bordering Pakistan, says it is fighting to end discrimination against Sunni Muslims by Iran's dominant Shi'ites. Its leader is Abdolmalek Rigi.

Jafari said Rigi and his plans were "undoubtedly under the umbrella and the protection" of U.S., British and Pakistani organisations, though he limited the threat of retaliation to the United States and Britain.



اسامی 34 شهید حادثه تروریستی

مهر: پزشکی قانونی سیستان و بلوچستان اسامی 34 تن از شهدای حادثه تروریستی روز یکشنبه را منتشر و یک شهید را مجهول الهویه اعلام کرد.

اسامی اعلام شده به شرح زیر است:
1- محمد فدایی
2- فرشاد شفیع‌پور
3- مصطفی آسکانی
4- محمدعارف براه
5- هادی محمدسلیمانی
6- هوشنگ کریمی
7- حسین مرادی
8- علی علویان
9- خسرو شمس‌الدینی
10- اصلم موحد
11- شاهین بیر
12- محمد اصلم بیر
13- شهرام خالقی
14- روح‌الله نوزاد
15- گودرزی
16- پنجشنبه بیر
17- ولی‌فتح مرادی
18- محمد میر
19- حمیدرضا ناصری
20- شهکل آسکانی
21- همزه شه‌بخش
22- حسین اسدی
23- مرادبخش چرخ
24- عمران زرنما
25- علی نیک‌پور
26- کمال جنگک
27- عبدالله ترکی
28- رحمت‌الله ترکی
29- شیرمحمد ترکی
30- نورعلی شوشتری
31- علی عربی
32- رجبعلی محمدزاده
33- خدابخش بیر
34- اصلم هود

By Fredrik Dahl

TEHRAN (Reuters) - A suicide bomber killed around 20 people on Sunday, including six senior Revolutionary Guards commanders, in an attack in Iran's turbulent southeast blamed on foreign-backed elements, Iranian media reported.

State media said a local rebel group was suspected of staging the attack, the worst on the elite Revolutionary Guards in recent years, which injured another 40 people at a meeting of tribal chiefs.

But the Guards themselves accused "foreign elements" linked to the United States of involvement and state television also pointed the finger at Britain, another traditional foe of Iran.

The bombing and allegations of foreign involvement are likely to raise tension between Tehran and the West, a day before nuclear talks in Vienna including Iranian, U.S., French and Russian officials.

State television suggested that a Sunni rebel group called Jundollah (God's soldiers) -- linked by some analysts to the Taliban in neighboring Pakistan -- was the likely suspect for the attack.

"Attacker detonated explosives strapped to his body during gathering of tribal heads," state Press TV said in a headline, adding that civilians and tribal leaders were also among the victims.

The Revolutionary Guards blamed "foreign elements" linked to the United States, which Tehran accuses the United States of backing Jundollah to create instability in the country, a charge that Washington denies.

State broadcaster IRIB said the attack occurred in the morning at the gates of a conference hall in the city of Sarbaz in Sistan-Baluchestan. The province is the scene of frequent clashes between security forces, Sunni rebels and drug traffickers.

Two high-ranking commanders among the dead were the deputy head of the Guards' ground forces, General Nourali Shoushtari, and the Guards' commander in Sistan-Baluchestan province, General Mohammadzadeh, news agencies reported. Shoushtari was also a senior official of the Guard's elite Qods force.

Citing authorities and experts, a presenter of English-language Press TV said "the finger of accusation is directly pointed at the Jundollah group," referring to ethnic Baluch Sunni insurgents who have been blamed for previous attacks in the region.

FOREIGN ELEMENTS

The Revolutionary Guards accused the United States of involvement. "Surely foreign elements, particularly those linked to the global arrogance, were involved in this attack," a Guards statement quoted by television said. Iran often uses the term "global arrogance" to refer to the United States, its old foe.

There was no immediate comment on the attack by Washington.

The Revolutionary Guards is an elite force seen as fiercely loyal to the values of the 1979 Islamic revolution. It handles security in sensitive border areas.

State TV also singled out Britain. "Some informed sources said the British government was directly involved in the terrorist attack ... by organizing, supplying equipment and employing professional terrorists," it said.

The Foreign Office did not directly comment on the accusation but said in a statement that Britain "condemns the terrorist attack in the province of Sistan and Baluchestan in Iran and the sad loss of life which it caused.

"Terrorism is abhorrent wherever it occurs" it said, expressing sympathy for the victims and their families.

Jundollah, which claimed responsibility for a bomb attack on a Shi'ite mosque in May that killed 25 people, says it is fighting for the rights of Iran's minority Sunnis.

Some analysts believe that Jundollah has evolved through shifting alliances with various parties, including the Taliban and Pakistan's ISI intelligence service, who saw the group as a tool against Iran.

Predominantly Shi'ite Muslim Iran has also linked Jundollah to the Sunni Islamist al Qaeda network. Most people in Sistan-Baluchestan are Sunni Muslims and ethnic Baluchis. Iran rejects allegations by Western rights groups that it discriminates against ethnic and religious minorities.

(Reporting by Fredrik Dahl and Reza Derakhshi; additional reporting by Parisa Hafezi; editing by David Stamp)

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

* Six Revolutionary Guards commanders killed

* Total 50 die, many wounded at meeting of tribal chiefs

* Bombing underlines regional instability

* State TV says Sunni rebel group claims responsibility

* Iran's armed forces accuse US, Britain of involvement

(Adds Ahmadinejad comment on Pakistan, summoning of diplomat, updates toll)

By Fredrik Dahl and Reza Derakhshi

TEHRAN, Oct 18 (Reuters) - A suicide bomber killed six senior Revolutionary Guards commanders, including two of its top officers, and 29 other people on Sunday in one of the boldest attacks against Iran's most powerful military institution.

The attack highlighted deepening instability in a southeastern region of mainly Shi'ite Muslim Iran bordering Pakistan and Afghanistan. Many minority Sunnis live in the impoverished area, which has seen an upsurge in bombings and other violence.

State media said a local rebel Sunni group called Jundollah (God's soldiers) claimed responsibility for the attack, the deadliest on the elite Guards in recent years, which also wounded about 30 people ahead of a meeting with tribal chiefs.

The talks were part of efforts to foster Shi'ite-Sunni unity and the Guards said the attack was aimed at fomenting sectarian strife in Sistan-Baluchestan province, media said. About 10 senior tribal figures were among the dead.

Iranian officials also accused the United States and Britain of involvement, a charge rejected by Washington. Tehran says the United States backs Jundollah to stir trouble in the border area and has also linked the group to Sunni Islamist al Qaeda.

The armed forces' headquarters issued a statement warning of "revenge", the semi-official Fars News Agency reported. [ID:nDAH852861]

The southeastern province is the scene of frequent clashes between security forces, ethnic Baluch Sunni insurgents and heavily-armed drug traffickers.

Jundollah, which accuses Iran's Shi'ite-led government of discrimination against Sunnis in the remote desert region, has been blamed for many deadly incidents over the last few years.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said those behind the attack would be "seriously dealt with" and called on Pakistan to help catch and hand them over. Iran has in the past said Jundollah members were operating from its neighbour.

"We were informed that some security agents in Pakistan are cooperating with the main elements of this terrorist incident," Fars News Agency quoted him as saying.

"We ask the Pakistani government not to delay any longer in the apprehension of the main elements in this terrorist attack."

The Foreign Ministry summoned a senior Pakistani diplomat in Tehran and said there was evidence the perpetrators came to Iran from Pakistan. "The Pakistani official assured Tehran his country would take all measures to secure its border with Iran," state television said.



"COMPLETELY FALSE"

The deputy head of the Guards' ground forces, General Nourali Shoushtari, and its commander in Sistan-Baluchestan province, General Rajabali Mohammadzadeh, were among the dead. Shoushtari was also a senior official of the Guards' elite Qods force. [ID:nLI602338]

"Rigi's terrorist group has claimed responsibility for the attack," said state television, referring to Abdolmalek Rigi, leader of Jundollah which is linked by some analysts to the Taliban in Pakistan. [ID:nLI593747]

Television showed footage of three bodies covered with blood-stained clothing and of wounded people being taken to hospital. Glass shards and other debris were scattered at the scene of the attack.

The United States condemned the bombing.

"We condemn this act of terrorism and mourn the loss of innocent lives. Reports of alleged U.S. involvement are completely false," State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said.

Most people in Sistan-Baluchestan are Sunni Muslims and ethnic Baluchis. Iran rejects charges by Western rights groups that it discriminates against ethnic and religious minorities.

The Revolutionary Guards is an elite force seen as fiercely loyal to Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Its power and resources have increased in recent years. It handles security in border areas. [ID:nLI606502]

The bombing and allegations of foreign involvement risk overshadowing talks between Iranian and Western officials in Vienna on Monday intended to help resolve a standoff with the West over Iran's nuclear ambitions.

"It could damage that dialogue," defence analyst Paul Beaver said. He said a suicide bombing could indicate links to al Qaeda but he dismissed allegations of a U.S. or British role: "I think it is highly unlikely."



MOSQUE BOMBING

The attack is likely to harden the resolve of the clerical and military establishment in confronting the opposition to a disputed election in June which saw Ahmadinejad's re-election.

Opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi said he would press ahead with efforts to reform the Islamic Republic despite a post-poll crackdown on protests, his website said on Sunday. [ID:nHAF831812]

The election plunged Iran into its deepest internal crisis since the 1979 Islamic revolution. The opposition says more than 70 people were killed as Revolutionary Guards and Islamic militia put down the demonstrations that erupted after the vote.

Citing a witness, state television said Sunday's attack occurred when senior Revolutionary Guards officers attending a conference in the southeastern city of Sarbaz went to talk to a group of tribespeople making baskets.

English-language Press TV said the suicide bomber was a tribesman who "detonated his explosives strapped to his body".

Among those killed were also the Guards' commanders in the cities of Sarbaz and Iranshahr.

Jundollah, which claimed responsibility for the bombing of a Shi'ite mosque in May that killed 25 people in the same region, says it is fighting for the rights of minority Sunnis in Iran.

Some analysts believe Jundollah has evolved through shifting alliances with parties including the Taliban and Pakistan's ISI intelligence service, who saw the group as a tool against Iran.

In London, Saman Zarifi, Amnesty International Asia-Pacific Director, told Reuters: "We are very concerned that the Iranians will respond by executing Baluchi detainees. That has been their response to previous such incidents, simply taking people out of prison and killing them."

Iran executed 13 alleged Jundollah members in July. (Additional reporting by Parisa Hafezi in Tehran, Peter Griffiths in London and Arshad Mohammed in Washington; Writing by Samia Nakhoul; Editing by Janet Lawrence)


------

Iran to punish "terrorist aggressors": Khamenei
2009-10-20 08:00:03 [ Big Normal Small ] 　Comment

TEHRAN, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah AliKhamenei said in a message on Monday Iran will punish the terrorist aggressors who targeted people and their security, the state IRIB TV reported.

"The vicious and the wicked (terrorists) fed by the arrogant (implying certain western countries) must be sure that the powerful Islamic system will not slacken in defending the security of the oppressed and faithful local people (of Sistan-Baluchestan) and will punish the aggressors threatening the people's life, wealth and security," Khamenei was quoted as saying.

Iran to punish "terrorist aggressors": Khamenei

Iranians take part in the funeral procession of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards and local tribesmen in Iran's southeastern city of Zahedan on Oct. 19, 2009. A suicide bomber killed seven commanders of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards and up to 42 other people on Oct. 18 in an attack at Iran's Sistan-Baluchestan province near Iran's border with Pakistan.(Xinhua/ISNA)
Photo Gallery>>>

"The crime of the terrorists in Baluchestan unmasked the satanic nature of the enemies of security and unity (in the country) which are supported by certain arrogant states," he said.

"The enemies are better to know that ... these wild attitudes will not harm the unity of Iran's religious and ethnic diversity," added Khamenei.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Chief Commander Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari said Monday that the United States, Britain and Pakistan are aiding the Jundallah terrorist rebels, the claim which has been rejected by those countries.


Nearly 45 people were killed, including a number of the IRGC commanders, and dozens of others wounded.

Lets Meet Mrs Osama Bin Laden "Najwa"

Bin Laden: 'an austere dad who loved nature': wife
AFP


Bin Laden: 'an austere dad who loved nature': wife AFP/File – A billboard at the Farragut North Metro station in Washington, DC. Osama bin Laden was an austere father …
by Andrew Beatty Andrew Beatty – Fri Oct 16, 12:08 pm ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Osama bin Laden was an austere father who banned toys and modern appliances at home, but also a flower-growing nature lover who spoke fluent English and adored fast cars, according to his wife and son.

In a book to be published at the end of this month, the Al-Qaeda boss's first wife Najwa and fourth son Omar give a rare glimpse into bin Laden's personal life up to the September 11, 2001 attacks against the United States he is believed to have masterminded.

They chart bin Laden's transformation from a pious teenage newly-wed to the global face of Islamic extremism, a role that took the family from Saudi Arabia to Pakistan, Sudan, Afghanistan and at one point, Najwa revealed, to the United States.

Shortly after Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution, bin Laden and his wife, whom he married aged 17, visited Indianapolis and Los Angeles for a meeting with his mentor, Palestinian cleric Abdullah Azzam.

"We were only there for only two weeks, and for one of those weeks, Osama was away in Los Angeles to meet with some men in that city," Najwa told the book's co-author Jean Sasson, later recalling the gathering was with Azzam.

Soon after, bin Laden began to travel to Pakistan and Afghanistan to fight against the Soviet occupation, returning to tell his sons tales of battles in Afghan caves and mountains under Soviet fire.

He eventually returned to Saudi Arabia a hero, but at home was increasingly disciplinarian, punishing his children -- who eventually numbered more than a dozen -- for transgressions such as "showing too many teeth" while laughing.

Meanwhile, Najwa was kept in seclusion with Osama's new wives, one of whom she picked, in a spartan(Rigorously self-disciplined) home without the mod-cons that make life in the stifling desert lands of Saudi Arabia and Sudan more comfortable.

"My father would not allow my mother to turn on the air conditioning that the contractor had built into the apartment building," Omar relayed.

"Neither would he allow her to use the refrigerator that was standing in the kitchen."

Despite this aversion to modern appliances, bin Laden indulged in his penchant for fast cars, including at least one gold-colored Mercedes. He once even bought a speed boat.

"Nothing gave him more satisfaction than having a full day to take a speedy drive to the desert, where he would leave his automobile while he took long walks," said Najwa.

After being forced into exile in Sudan because of his vocal opposition to US troop deployments in Saudi Arabia, bin Laden would later take pride in growing sunflowers as he dodged assassination plots and built the Al-Qaeda network.

"Osama's favorite undertaking was working the land, growing the best corn and the biggest sunflowers," Najwa said.

But his love of nature was also colored by growing political fervor.

He forced the family to spend nights in the desert, with only dirt as cover from the cold. He also forced his sons to climb desert mountains without water to toughen them ahead of more difficult times.

But there were more lighthearted moments with bin Laden, whom his sons admired as a good horseman, a fluent English speaker -- thanks to his school days -- and a mathematics whiz.

"My father was so well known for the skill that there were times when men would come to our home and ask him to match his wits against a calculator," Omar said, adding his father usually won.

They also spoke about a man who loved eating fruit, particularly mangoes, took two sugars in his tea, whose favorite meal was marrow-stuffed zucchini and who liked to listen to BBC radio.

Spooks will no doubt pour over the book for new clues to bin Laden's habits or whereabouts.

They will learn he may be able to pilot a helicopter, but also suffers from bouts of malaria and is partially blind in his right eye thanks to a boyhood metalwork injury for which he received treatment in London.

Yes we can, act like a Clown!

Yes we can, walk like a Clown!
One foot is caught in Babylon
The other in Afghanistan
We will prevail
We will never fail
Despite our tail
Is caught in Pakistan
It is part of a criminal Jewish plan
We ended up bankrupt in this dirty can
Yes we can, talk like a Clown
And blame everything on Iran

Try it

In case you haven't heard there are 1.7 billion Muslims 232 countries and territories. At the current birth rate, 50% of the world will be Muslim by 2050. The Jews have been working hard to develop weapons of mass destruction but the target is to huge to contemplate any effective use. It is much easier to eliminate the tiny Jewish mafia and relief the world of its crimes and conspiracies.

Criminal, Barbaric, Uncivilised US Cowboys!

The Iraqis didn't attack America. The Americans came to Iraq, destroyed its infrastructure and killed our people. So which civilized methods would you recommend to deal with the criminal, immoral, barbaric and uncivilized American cowboys? Remember it was the Americans who recruited, financed and armed Bin Laden and 30000 fundamentalists and sent them as Mujahideen to fight the Russians in Afghanistan. It was the Americans who recruited and supported Saddam to take over and kill the intellectuals in Iraq. The USraeli crimes support extremism.

Islam teaches fighting evil!


"If one sees evil he/she must fight it with his/her hands, mouth or in the heart, and that is the most feeble of faith", the holy Quran. The on-going USraeli anti-Islamic crusade is the worst of all evils and must be resisted at all cost. Time has changed for imperialists when they used to recruit locals to defend their occupation and protect their criminal soldiers. Now those who betray their people and countries are being punished. It is a duty of every muslim to fight in the defence of his home, family, tribe and country.

I am all of the above!


I have been weaned on hating imperialism. I grew up seeing the Jews committing Nazi-style atrocities against Palestinians with the support of successive US governments, with the exception of Genela Ike Eisenhower. Iraq had struggled to free itself from the hated British and their military bases. Right now, the dirty boots of American cowboys desecrate the sacred lands of Babylon with huge military bases everywhere. The violence doesn't end here. The USraelis must abide by international laws and leave people live in peace. "If Muslims don't have peace no-one will", Bin Laden.


Mixing files and confusing Issues!


The attacks on the Jewish financial mafia HQ in NY and on those arming Israel in the Pentagon were in response to American unlimited political, financial, scientific and military support for Israel to commit Nazi-style atrocities against Arabs. That is at least what Al-Qaeda chief, Sheikh Osama Bin Laden, has claimed. If you check carefully, it is related to Israel and its crimes which America is a party by default. It has nothing to do with Islam as no Islamic judicial court has ordered such an attack.

Mr Mohammad Atta, an Egyptian, led the group of mostly Saudis, although the highest highest religious authotities in Saudi Arabia and in Egypt are towing their respective governments' pro-USraeli lines. It was the Neo-cons Zionists who interpreted the attack on NY as an Islamic attack on Jeudeo-Christian America. If Islam was reponsible, so why Saudi Arabia and Egypt were not attacked by the Americans as they went to destroy a secular country, Iraq, and to march on Baghdad to Israeli drums? In reponse to the un-provoked barbaric American destruction of Baghdad, with its historical place in the hearts of Arabs and Muslims, many went looking for someone to punish America and its Zionist allies. The situation has escalated to the on-going armed crusade against Islam which will last for decades, since there is no-one who can punish the USraeli criminals. In Iraq, the Americans must apologize, pay compensation, put those who committed crimes on trial and leave. The score settling and tit for tat attacks will continue until America free itself from the Zionist Shackles. It is worth mentioning here that the tactics proved successful in Iraq are being used by the armed resistance in Afghanistan, Pakistan and in Iraq.

Choice of US targets are self-explaining


The problem is that all those who carried out the attacks are dead. There is no-one to tell us what Khalid Bin Al-Sheikh, assumed to be in charge of the operation, has said during the interrogation. But attacking the WTC was because it was the Jewish financial mafia HQ that raised money for Israel through selling its worthless bonds and shares. The Pentagon is responssible for delivering the latest military gadgets, free of charge, to Israel before the US military can put its hands on them. Both WTC and the Pentagon have been helping Israel to commit Nazi-style atrocities. Moreover, I have listed in detail the similarities between the Jewish and the German Nazi ideology and practices.



Adnan Darwash, Iraq Occupation Times

ISLAMabad started 5th battle in South Waziristan for its prestige

Q+A-Why is Pakistan attacking in South Waziristan?
17 Oct 2009 07:16:39 GMT
Source: Reuters
(or full coverage of Pakistan and Afghanistan, see [ID:nAFPAK])

By Robert Birsel

Oct 17(Reuters) - Pakistan's army began on Saturday a ground operation against Pakistani Taliban militants in the South Waziristan region on the Afghan border, a senior government official said.

The government in June ordered the army to launch an offensive in South Waziristan. Since then the military has been conducting air and artillery strikes to soften up the militants' defences and blockading the region. [ID:nSP463682]

Here are some questions and answers on South Waziristan:

WHY IS THE ARMY ATTACKING?

South Waziristan is the main stronghold of the Tehrik-e-Taliban, or Taliban Movement of Pakistan, an alliance of more than a dozen militant groups that is fighting the government and wants to impose hardline Islamist rule. [ID:nSP168008]

The Pakistani Taliban have been responsible for a wave of violence across the country since mid-2007, when the army crushed an Islamist movement linked with South Waziristan based at Islamabad's Red Mosque. As well as numerous suicide bomb attacks against military, government and foreign targets, the al Qaeda-linked Pakistani Taliban were accused of killing former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in late 2007.

Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud was killed by a missile fired by a U.S. drone aircraft on Aug. 5 and replaced by Hakimullah Mehsud who has vowed to exact revenge.

Pakistani Taliban fighters virtually took over control of the Swat valley, northwest of Islamabad, beginning in 2007 and a push out of the valley towards Islamabad spread fear early this year. The army responded with an offensive that has largely cleared militants out of the valley. The army has now set its sights on South Waziristan in the hope of rooting out the most potent domestic threat to the state.

WHO IS THERE?

The army says about 10,000 hardcore fighters are in South Waziristan, an area of around 6,620 square km (2,550 square miles), although some analysts estimate more. Most are members of the region's ethnic Pashtun tribes who have battled intruders for centuries.

Foreign militants, including about 1,000 Uzbeks, some al Qaeda Arabs and even a handful of militants from Western countries are also there. Militant factions from other parts of Pakistan, in particular the south of Punjab province, are also based with the Taliban in South Waziristan. [ID:nISL469234]

Osama bin Laden is believed to be hiding somewhere along the Afghan-Pakistani border, though analysts doubt he would be in an area the army is about to attack.

WHAT ARE THE RISKS?

A ground offensive in South Waziristan could be the army's toughest test since the militants turned on the state.

The army launched brief offensives there before, the first in in 2004 when it suffered heavy casualties before striking a peace pact. The army has seldom, if ever, ventured into much of the semi-autonomous region of arid mountains and dried-up creeks and will be taking on fighters who have had years to prepare defences. The Pashtun tribes in the region have long been hostile to outside intervention and many people, particularly those belonging to the Mehsud tribe, support the Taliban. So the army could get bogged down in an area in which it has little experience and which is inhabited by a hostile population.

Another risk for the army is that militant factions in North Waziristan might come to the help of their South Waziristan comrades while cells of militants in towns and cities could try to divert attention with attacks like the weekend raid on the army's headquarters in Rawalpindi. (For more Reuters coverage of Afghanistan and Pakistan, see:http://www.reuters.com/news/globalcoverage/afghanistanpakist an) ((robert.birsel@thomsonreuters.com; +92 51 281 0017; Reuters Messaging: robert.birsel.reuters.com@reuters.net))

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By ISHTIAQ MAHSUD and MUNIR AHMAD, Associated Press Writers Ishtiaq Mahsud And Munir Ahmad, Associated Press Writers – 33 mins ago

DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan – More than 30,000 Pakistani soldiers launched a ground offensive against al-Qaida and the Taliban's main stronghold along the Afghan border Saturday, officials said, in the country's toughest test yet against a strengthening insurgency.

The United States has long pushed the government to carry out an assault in South Waziristan, and it comes after two weeks of militant attacks that have killed more than 175 people across the nuclear-armed country. That has ramped up pressure on the army to act.

Pakistan has fought three unsuccessful campaigns since 2001 in the region, which is the nerve-center for Pakistani insurgents fighting the U.S.-backed government. It is also a major base for foreign militants to plan attacks on American and NATO forces in Afghanistan and on targets in the West.

After months of aerial bombing, troops moved into the region Saturday from several directions, heading to the insurgent bases of Ladha and Makeen among other targets, intelligence and military officials said on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the topic or because they were not allowed to brief the media.

They said the operation was expected to last around two months.

Pakistani army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas confirmed Saturday evening that a full-fledged ground operation was under way and said that it aimed to "uproot" the Pakistani Taliban. He said it was too early to discuss what sort of resistance the army was meeting.

The United Nations has said it is preparing to help civilians who are fleeing the region. Up to 150,000 civilians have already left in recent months after the army made clear it was planning an assault, but there are perhaps as many as 350,000 remaining.

At least 11 suspected insurgents were killed in the jet bombings, while a bomb hit a security convoy, killing one soldier and wounding three others, two local intelligence officials said. A military statement Saturday evening said four soldiers were killed and 12 wounded in exchanges of fire elsewhere in the region.

It is nearly impossible to independently verify information from the region, which is largely controlled by local tribes and has little infrastructure or government presence. Foreigners require permission to enter tribal areas, and few Pakistani journalists risk traveling there.

Makeen resident Ajmal Khan said people there were terrified but could not leave their homes due to a curfew.

"We heard sounds of planes and helicopters early Saturday. Then we heard blasts," Khan said by telephone. "We are also hearing gunshots, and it seems the army is exchanging fire with Taliban."

The army has deployed more than 30,000 troops to the region, said one of the intelligence officials. The military already has said it has sealed off many supply and escape routes and has been trying to secure the support of local tribesmen in the fight.

Earlier this week, the airport in the nearest major town, Dera Ismail Khan, was closed to civilian aircraft.

Recent opinion polls show broad support for military action against the militants, a change from a few years ago. There is also political backing for action. But a long and bloody conflict — and more terrorist attacks around the country — could erode that support.

Speaking earlier in the week, army spokesman Abbas said the assault would be limited to slain Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud's holdings — a swath of territory that stretches roughly 1,275 square miles (3,310 square kilometers). That portion covers about half of South Waziristan, which itself is slightly larger than the U.S. state of Delaware.

The plan is to capture and hold the area where Abbas estimates 10,000 insurgents are headquartered and reinforced with about 1,500 foreign fighters, most of them of Central Asian origin. "There are Arabs, but the Arabs are basically in the leadership, providing resources and expertise and in the role of trainers," he said.

Since 2001, the army's three attempts to dislodge Taliban fighters from South Waziristan have ended in truces that left the Taliban in control. This time the military has said there will be no deals, partly to avoid jeopardizing gains won earlier this year when Pakistani soldiers overpowered the Taliban in the Swat Valley, another northwestern region.

Taliban spokesmen could not immediately be reached for comment Saturday. Communications in and around the region appeared jammed, making it difficult to reach local residents or other witnesses.

Despite sometimes rocky relations with the Pakistani military, the U.S. is trying to rush in equipment for the offensive that would help with mobility, night fighting and precision bombing, a U.S. Embassy official told The Associated Press in a recent interview, speaking on condition of anonymity because the issue is politically sensitive.

In addition to night-vision devices, the Pakistan military has said it is seeking additional Cobra helicopter gunships, heliborne lift capability, laser-guided munitions and intelligence equipment to monitor cell and satellite telephones.

Even if the operation is successful in South Waziristan, many of the militants could escape to Afghanistan or other parts of Pakistan's semiautonomous tribal belt. Few analysts expect that by itself it will turn the tide in the country's war against militants.

The army has considered the upcoming winter weather in the timing the offensive. Snows in the region could block major roads. At the same time, it could also work to the army's advantage by driving fighters out of their unheated mountain hideouts.

Although the military has been hitting targets in South Waziristan for the past three months, it waited until two weeks ago to say it would definitely go ahead with a major ground offensive.

What followed was a rash of major bombings that killed 175 people and demonstrated the militants' ability to attack cities across the country. One attack involved a siege of the army's headquarters that lasted 22 hours and left 23 people dead. In the latest bombing, three suicide attackers, including a woman, struck a police station in the northwestern city of Peshawar on Friday, killing 13 people.

___

Ahmad reported from Islamabad. Associated Press writers Kathy Gannon and Nahal Toosi in Islamabad and Hussain Afzal in Parachinar contributed to this report.

Pakistan police targeted as attacks kill 15

15 Oct 2009 05:04:17 GMT
Source: Reuters
(For full coverage of Pakistan and Afghanistan, see [nAFPAK])

By Mubasher Bukhari

LAHORE, Pakistan, Oct 15 (Reuters) - Gunmen attacked police offices in the Pakistani city of Lahore on Thursday and a car bomb exploded outside another in the northwest, killing at least 15 people after a week of violence in which more than 100 people died.

The attacks in Lahore in Pakistan's heartland province of Punjab and in Kohat in the northwest followed a pattern of destabilising assaults, including the storming of army headquarters, ahead of an impending military offensive against the Taliban in their south Waziristan stronghold.

Five people were killed when gunmen attacked a regional headquarters of the Pakistani police's Federal Investigation Agency in Lahore.

One of the dead was a gunmen, a police official told reporters, adding that he building had been cleared of attackers.

Gunmen also attacked a police training centre in Lahore but there was no word on casualties. Media had unconfirmed reports of a third attack in the city.

A suicide car-bomber attacked the same FIA building in Lahore in March last year killing 21 people.

Shortly before the attacks in Lahore, a suicide car bomber set off his explosives outside a police station in Kohat killing 10 people, police and military officials said.

"Some school children are among the dead," a policeman at the scene said.

Pakistan's government has said a ground offensive against an estimated 10,000 hard core Taliban is imminent in South Waziristan.

The government says most attacks in the country -- including four major ones since Oct. 5 that killed more than 100 people -- are plotted in South Waziristan on the Afghan border.

A suspected U.S. drone aircraft fired two missiles at a house in the North Waziristan region on the Afghan border, killing four militants, Pakistani intelligence officials said.

The drone fired at a house 3 km (2 miles) north of Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan, and at least three Afghan Taliban members were among the four dead, the officials said.

"The owner of the house is a member of the Haqqani network," said one of the intelligence officials, referring to veteran Afghan militant commander Jalaluddin Haqqani, whose men attack foreign forces in much of eastern Afghanistan.

The United States, struggling with an intensifying insurgency in Afghanistan and frustrated with Pakistan's failure to eliminate Taliban sanctuaries on its side of the border, stepped up attacks by its drones in September last year.

Hundreds of people, most of them militants but including some civilians, have been killed.

Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud was killed by a U.S. drone in August. (For more Reuters coverage of Afghanistan and Pakistan, see: http://www.reuters.com/news/globalcoverage/afghanistanpakistan) (Additional reporting by Augustine Anthony; Writing by Robert Birsel; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani and Nick Macfie)


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Police Training School Manawan attacked twice

Locals want shifting of school for peace of mind

Staff Report

LAHORE: After the second deadly attack on the Police Training School Manawan, residents of nearby localities have demanded that the school should be shifted to some other place.

The citizens told Daily Times that they had become psychological patients due to the constant threat to their lives after another terrorist attack on the school. They urged the chief minister to shut down the school and save the residents.

The city police had established a temporary training school at Manawan in the building of an electric company in 2007. The school is located on GT Road towards Wagha, 11km away to the east. The height of the school boundary wall is almost five feet and it is 300-feet long along GT Road.

There are only two barracks to house recruits in the school. One is a temporary shed and the other is a three-storey building. The building is in shambles, as the government did not carry out any maintenance work for the last 10 years. The Police Department deployed almost 100 training staff, including the drill and teaching instructors to impart basic manual training and teach law to the recruits.

Before the school was set up in the building, it had been lying vacant since the Punjab Road Transport Corporation was dissolved. The building was constructed before Partition in 1947 and had been under the use of an electric company, which was owned by a non-Muslim.

The company was closed after the 1965 war and the building was used as the office of the Punjab Road Transport Corporation until 2007 when a training school was established there. In March, terrorists attacked the school and the operation continued for 12 hours. In that attack, 29 people died, including three terrorists and one civilian. The terrorists struck again and the residents had to suffer once again. The citizens said the school should be shifted to some non-residential area. They said there were two government and many private schools for children near the police training school. Due to these attacks, children were also living under the threat and could not behave normally, they added. The school administration said the police training school should be immediately shifted to some other place for the mental health of the children.

The inhabitants said they had to live like hostages in their own houses during the operation and demanded that the government should address the issue.

Suicide bomber kills 41 near Pakistan's Swat

By Robert Birsel

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - A suicide bomber killed 41 people in an attack on a Pakistani military convoy passing through a market on Monday as the Taliban claimed responsibility for a weekend raid on the army's headquarters.

Militant attacks have intensified over the past week as the army prepares to launch a ground offensive on the al Qaeda-linked fighters' South Waziristan stronghold.

A suicide bomber on foot leapt at a military vehicle in Shangla district, near the Swat valley, security officials said.

"The bomber hit one of three military vehicles that were passing through the busiest market in the district," top Shangla police official, Khan Bahadur Khan, said by telephone.

Provincial Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain said 41 people had been killed, including 35 civilians and six soldiers, and 45 people were wounded.

The army has largely driven the militants out of Swat and their leader, Baitullah Mehsud, was killed by a missile fired by a U.S. drone aircraft in August.

The militants are hitting back.

The army said Pakistani Taliban commander Wali-ur-Rehman was behind Saturday's attack on its headquarters in Rawalpindi, near Islamabad.

Commandos stormed an office building near the headquarters and rescued 39 people taken hostage by gunmen after an attack at a main gate of the headquarters.

Nine militants and three hostages were killed in the violence in Rawalpindi while the number of soldiers killed rose to 11, with the deaths of three wounded men, a military official said.

The 10 attackers had wanted to take senior military officers hostage to demand the release of a "long list" of captured militants, said army spokesman Major General Athar Abbas.

Abbas said a telephone conversation had been intercepted between Reham and one of his subordinates.

"It revealed that this attack was planned in the area of South Waziristan," Abbas told a news conference, adding Rehman had told his subordinate to pray for the attackers' success.

"REVENGE FOR MARTYRS"

The leader of the attack, a former soldier who deserted in 2004 and joined a militant group based in Punjab province, was the only attacker captured alive but wounded, Abbas said.

The man, identified as Aqeel, also known as Dr Usman, was from Punjab, he said.

Abbas said that while the Taliban and Punjabi militant groups had links there were no militant "safe havens" in Punjab, Pakistan's biggest and economically most important province.

Earlier on Monday, Pakistani Taliban spokesman Azam Tariq claimed responsibility and threatened more attacks.

"It was carried out by our Punjab unit," Tariq said by telephone. "We will take revenge for our martyrs and will carry out more attacks, whether it's the GHQ or something bigger," he said, referring to the army's General Headquarters.

A ground offensive in South Waziristan could be the army's toughest test since the militants turned on the state.

The army has not said when it would begin but Interior Minister Rehman Malik said on the weekend it was "imminent."

The military has been conducting air and artillery strikes for months, while moving troops, blockading the region and trying to win over factions.

Military aircraft attacked in the region on Monday killing up to five militants, an intelligence official said, a day after about 16 militants were killed in air strikes.

"There is no mercy for them because our determination and resolve is to flush them out," Malik told Reuters in an interview in Singapore. "They have no room in Pakistan, I promise you."

About 28,000 troops have been put in place to take on an estimated 10,000 hard-core Taliban, army officials said earlier.

Monday's blast, the fourth big attack in a week, triggered selling on Pakistan's main stock market, which fell 1.3 percent.

"The market witnessed a correction due to security concerns across the country," said Furqan Punjabi, analyst at Topline Securities Ltd.

(Additional reporting by Augustine Anthony, Kamran Haider, Junaid Khan, Sahibzada Bahauddin, Hafiz Wazir, Faisal Aziz, Sahar Ahmed and Saeed Azhar and Sanjeev Miglani in Singapore; Editing by Alex Richardson)

Mir Hossein Mousavi میر حسین موسوی

Raheem Pourazghadi, a pro-Ahmadinejad hardliner, was visiting Al-Zahra University today (Oct 12, 2009) to give a talk, when a group of students walked out of the hall during his speech in protest. This made the Basij so angry that they even started t...o verbally insult the students. Pourazghadi also objected and changed the subject of his speech after the students walked out on him!Read More


Assembly of Combatant Clergymen in an open letter to the new head of the judiciary, Ayatollah Larijani, warned about the consequences of the current lawlessness and the trend of defying the law and expressed deep concerns. It is also stressed that th...e judiciary should be held accountable for the crimes, violation of law and injustices. In this letter it is emphasised that the continuation of detentions in solitary confinements and the uncertainties about the charges are all in clear violation of the law and that these illegal acts fall under the responsibilities of the judiciary and have doubled the responsibility of Ayatollah Larijani as the head of the judiciary. "Our fear and concern is because of the reduction or even destruction of the peoples trust and faith in the judiciary system. How can it be that with a simple gesture, a newspaper is closed down and thus the artery of information of a party or group is blocked instantly, but hundreds of newspapers and (governmental) media with different kinds of accusations and convictions in their evidence become richer in their unbounded cheek and still the judiciary system is unable to dispense justice and only casts some general conclusions about the reproach of lies ?!" They added that neither the detainees have had the opportunity to talk about what have happened to them nor the Assembly was allowed to find the facts to share them with the judiciary; However what is clear to everyone and can guide one to the truth is that the judiciary authorities not only in case of Kahrizak prison (where prisoners were tortured and some even killed) but in other cases have violated the law


Shiraz awaits Ahmadinejad: According to various reports from the ancient city of Shiraz, different group are mobilising in order voice their opposition to Ahmadinejad’s coming visit to their city. Ahmadinejad plans to inaugurate a library and a docum...entation centre in Shiraz on Monday morning. He later plans to pay a visit to the shrine of the famous Iranian poet Hafez. However the people of this great city have many surprises in store for the president of the coup government, who was re-elected in June through a rigged election.Different groups in the city plan to stage protests against Ahmadinejad’s visit. Shiraz has in recent days witnessed much unrest in its universities and the students of this city plan to remind Ahmadinejad that they have not yet forgotten about the monumental fraud that helped him take office for a second round.
Source: http://english.mowjcamp.com/article/id/46495


Alireza Beheshti Shirazi Responds to Ahmad Khatami (with special thanks to KHORDAAD88 for translation): In this week’s Friday prayers, Hojatoleslam Seyed Ahmad Khatami [a hardliner and strong advocate of Ahmadinejad’s government – not to be mistaken ...with Mohammad Khatami reformist ex-president] reiterated a

simple criterion from a speech by the supreme leader [made a few days earlier]: “if your actions satisfy [or “gladden”] the foreigners [i.e., foreign adversary], you must know that what you did was wrong.”

Despite these words and only ten minutes later, he considered the confirmations [given to Ahmadinejad’s government] on behalf of high-ranking American state department officials as proof of success for the Iranian representatives in the Geneva negotiations. Tehran’s Friday Prayer leader [i.e., Khatami] believes that Mr. Bolton’s testimonials [Iran's Big Victory in Geneva: we are now even further from eliminating Tehran's threat] or commentaries on CNN fully conform to the criterion that he has introduced.


In other words, الفضل ما شهد به الاعداء : Our superiority is in those elements that the enemy confesses to. At the same time commentaries made by other people [in foreign countries] on the murder of Neda Agha Soltan is proof to accuse the Green Movement‘s attachment [to foreign forces.] Isn’t this [contradiction] a deviation from the same criterion introduced? What did Neda Agha Soltan have to do – other than disregard her basic rights – so that she could have had avoided accusations of having connections to foreign elements? In which meeting did she speak to these foreign adversaries and which bargain did she make with them? Of course, [it is obvious that] this criterion should be applied to those who contrary to all of their anti-American claims attended the negotiation meetings with the Americans. According to your simple criterion we must become suspicious of the laud and gratitude of the Americans for an Iranian victory in the Geneva negotiations. And [we should believe that] ‘the wise would know.’This Friday’s sermon was not limited to this one issue. During his speech, the speaker at least twice reminded himself to remain pious, but these reminders had no effect. He recalled a anecdote from the sixth Shi’a Imam where the Imam never bid farewell to his friends and loyal acquaintances without first calling them to commit to being truthful in what they say, and what they promise. Despite this and only five minutes later, Mr. Khatami [the hardline speaker] claimed that proponents of the Green Movement on Quds day did not exceed three or four thousand; an exemplary act of commitment to truthfulness on his part. It cannot be that he made such a flawed statement because of misinformation. Of course, we didn’t hear his speech on that day [referring to Quds day] but is it acceptable to think that this ‘tiny’ segment of the population whose voice could be heard all the way from 16th of Azar Street [a main street far enough from where the prayers where held on Quds day] to the speaker’s microphone before the start of the speech was only three to four thousand people?Dear Mr. Seyed Ahmad Khatami! If your opponents are truly limited to three or four thousand, why are you troubling yourself? Just give them a permit to gather somewhere out of town, a place equipped with tools to count them – like the Azadi stadium. Then film them with 16 cameras and broadcast it to the envy of the whole world and end this story. I am afraid that that you know too that there is no truth in what you say. I am afraid that you are merely committing to ‘ الحرب خدعه’: (war is all about deception).

No wonder that Mr. Mohseni Ejeie too had declared that we are at war. War with who? With his brothers, sisters, his fellow Muslims, and his fellow countrymen who are asking for their obvious constitutional rights? Do you, and Mr. Ejeie attempt to make war in order to attract as many admirers as possible and to detach as few dissidents as possible? [reference to the leader's words]Please! Speak in a calmer tone, have some regard for people’s rights. Talk a little less … and some problems might be solved.
Source for translation: http://khordaad88.com/?p=699


Seyyed Mohammad Khatami, former president, in a meeting with the people of Yazd province while criticising the violent and brutal acts against the reformists and protestors by those delusional and hardliner movements that are even trying to eliminate... senior conservative figures, warned that if they don’t let the critics express their opinions then in the current critical situation of the country the movement will go toward radicalism as one can already see signs of it. He stressed that we are living in an era that governments have realised that they cannot be the sole authority and rule people with dictatorship and people have to obey them unconditionally and the stable government is the one that is by the people and for the people and therefore be responsible for people’s rights. Khatami added that there is a big problem that the critics are being silenced and in this restricted biased political environment the continuation of this pattern will have dangerous consequences for the country which will result in denying the whole establishment. He stressed that one cannot defend the establishment by violent acts and added that why we are presenting Islam in such a way that parts of the society would turn their backs on Islam or reject the system that is in the name of Islam?! He said that we are witnessing these issues today and that is why we say that the outcome of the policies of those who are accusing their opposition of trying to overthrow the system would actually result in overthrowing. He added that this is an important issue since people have paid a lot in the recent events but gained some benefits as well but the major damage has been the insulting the nation by a calling the spontaneous, authentic and natural movement of millions of people a riot and confronting the protests with such actions that are in clear violation of Islamic values, the constitution, ethics and human conscience. Khatami added that the current political environment, false accusation and arresting the prominent political activists will only have opposite reaction from the people rather than what certain movements are hoping for, as the majority of the people are concerned and unhappy about what has happened and what is happening now.

He emphasised that it is no longer the competition between the reformists and conservatives but rather the issue is that an authoritarian, violent, hardliner and delusional movement that does not have a considerable background in the revolution or has not been tested or even has failed its test is trying to eliminate all those who even have slightest different views from it and not only from the political scene but from the society and in the minds of its followers even senior conservative figures are not allowed in the society. He warned that it won’t be possible to run the country with militarisation and this kind of behaviour will only last for a short period of time and added that those who are not honouring people’s votes and are willing to change it as they wish or ignore it are strangers to this revolution. Khatami stated that the actual demand is to honour the constitution and act according to that and asked why some are violating the constitution? Isn’t it true that the constitution gives the right for political activities, expression of opinion and people’s free participation? He stressed that the constitution considers a clear right for people’s votes and free election and it is the authorities’ responsibility to defend this right and if someone is protesting that this right was violated the answer is not the violent confrontation. He added that let’s return to the constitution but without personal interpretations and those who are guarding it (the Guardian Council) should truly believe in people and the values of the constitution and should not be influenced by other movements. He stressed that if the government honours people’s demands and rights then we can reach our goals sooner and most of the problems will be solved but if the current situation continuous there will be more dangerous consequences and everyone will pay its price but the [Green] movement won’t die. Khatami said that the least one could expect was that with the new appointments in the judiciary we would witness the change in the case of arrests and prisoners; and those that have committed the crimes and violated people’s rights would be prosecuted however these have not happened yet but we are still hopeful that these changes will take place. At the end he added that those who believe in the values and principals will not lose hope and of course by trusting in God and choosing the right path are ready to pay the price for it.

Committee of Human Rights Reporters: Behnoud has been executed at 5 in the morning today at Tehran’s Evin Prison. According to StopChildExecutions.com Behnood had allegedly killed a boy during a street fight in Tehran when he was 17 years old. He has... been in prison for the last 4 years and scheduled for execution 5 times already. All the reports had pointed to a stay of execution in his case. In his weblog, his attorney Mohammad Mostafaie wrote: "I went to the Executive office of the Tehran Criminal Court yesterday to follow up on Benood Shojai’s case. I was told by Mr. Jaberi, the clerk of the office that no date had been set for Behnood’s execution and a stay of execution is in effect. This morning I heard that Bahnood Shojai had been transferred to the isolation ward in prison. I went back to the Executive office to inquire about the case. Mr. Jaberi confirmed the execution and said that the Qisas (Islamic retaliation Law) will take place
http://www.schrr.net/spip.php?article6204


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Grand Ayatollah Montazeri’s answer to the question by Mohsen Kadivar regarding the use of nuclear weapons: Weapons if are not only used against the invading forces but rather victimise innocent people, even the future generations, logically and relig...iously are not allowed and given the vast extent of killing and destruction by nuclear weapons they cannot be considered acceptable by the reasoning of the importance or criticality of another issue and in all cases the humanity and especially Muslims who are the followers of the teachings of the great Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him) should be pioneers on the path to legally and practically ban such weapons for all countries with the assurance from the credible and trustworthy international organisations.


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On Oct. 27th Mahdi Karoubi met with Mir Hossein Mousavi at Mousavi’s office. They discussed issues on current situations in the country, the performance of the executive branches of the government and on some of the post-election incidents. Kalemeh, a website affiliated with Mousavi, reports that during the meeting, Mahdi Karoubi and Mir Hossein Mousavi discussed their plans and analyzed the future of the country. In the meeting the two arranged to expand their communication despite some of the constrains.l

At the start of the meeting, Mahdi Karoubi recalled the events in the exhibition for Journalism. He expressed his disappointment from some of the wrong undeserving reaction against him and Alireza Beheshti (close companion of Mousavi, and son of the martyr Ayatollah Beheshti, head of the judiciary branch during the war) committed on behalf of an organized minority. He added: “It saddens me to see how bans on newspapers have ‘blessed’ the exhibition. An exhibition for journalism that should be the place for thought and dialogue has turned into a lifeless environment. In addition, some act so boorishly (referring to the organized hardliners that attacked him in the exhibition) and with such a behavior who knows where they are leading the country to.” l

On the same subject, Mir Hossein Mousavi pointed to the clips that he has seen from the exhibition and said: “Despite the bans on journalism, I saw a great crowd of enthusiasts attending the exhibition who were supporting you and the green movement. Apparently, this annoys the minority to an extent that has made them commit such reactions.” l

Furthermore in the meeting, Mahdi Karoubi alluded to the era when Mousavi was the prime minister and to his movement with the people and said: “You are well aware of the things I have done. Because of the responsibilities I have had in the Outreach Committee (Komitte Emdad), the Martyrs Foundation (Bonyad Shahid) and the parliament, I have always been and will remain in contact with people. I can see that people are at a very devastating condition. Poverty, corruption, and fraud have increased. These are consequences of the wrong and inappropriate organization and planning on part of the executive and administrative branches. l

Mahdi Karoubi continued by comparing past and present and said: “unfortunately, financial fraud of some of our officials is one of the main drivers of corruption within the country. I remember the days when government was so clean a bureaucrat would not have the money to pay for his family expenditures in a hospital. Today it’s different. My concern is that the new generation sees this and suspects that it has been like this ever since the early days of the revolution. This generation must know that such widespread economic corruption is a very new phenomenon.” l

Based on this concern, Mahdi Karoubi added: “I grow even more sensitive when I hear the claims that this government has revived the discourse of the revolution and of the Imam Khomeini. This is a disgrace to the way of the revolution and the Imam. People, and especially the new generation must understand that we, the siblings of Imam, are against the conditions that govern the country today.” l

Mahdi Karoubi also added: “Exaggerations that are common these days about some people and places could cause doubts in religious beliefs of some people especially members of the newer generation. For instance, I have heard that they talk of the ‘Jamkaran mosque’ as though it is as holy as Masjid-Al-Haram mosque (in Mecca, Saudi Arabia) and Masjid-Al-Aghsa mosque (in Jerusalem, occupied Palestine.) Such acts would only help ruin the trust of people even in their own beliefs. I have no idea what motivates some if these ‘honorable’ gentlemen to displace all the values, and strip people off their beliefs in anything from their religion to their national history. l

In the meeting, alluding to the current problems in running the country, Mir Hossein Mousavi said: “Our painful concerns are mutual. I too am aware of the problems you alluded to, as well as many other issues. We are in agreement. For instance the outcomes of talks on the nuclear issue in Geneva are shocking. If we do commit to the promises they have given in Geneva we would be undermining the efforts of thousands of the scientists across the country, if we don’t we would open up the door for collective action against us in the form of sanctions. This outcome is the result of adventurous foreign policy that has no regard for rules and national interests. The ‘interesting’ point here is that while they openly, and repeatedly pay homage to the American, they accuse the children of the revolution and experienced public servants of relations and tendencies toward the west and the east. People should be told of affairs so that they would know what is going on in the executive management of the country. When I was the prime minister I used to emphasize that military forces must not involve themselves in the financial affairs of the nation.” l

Furthermore, Mir Hossein Mousavi reckoned to the mismanagement in the country and to the incidents in the internal and foreign affairs and added: “I have two suspicions. Either some of the gentlemen are on a mission to ruin the country and obliterate the establishment or they are very short-sighted and only think of today. They would only do that which takes them from today to tomorrow. I think the latter is closer to reality. These men only think of today. What happens in the future as a result of their actions is of no importance to them. Otherwise, no other reasoning could explain and defend the risks of this magnitude in the internal and foreign affairs. l

Mousavi also pointed out to the trials, detainments that take place and confessions that are broadcasted and said: “Some think that such acts can change the things back to the way they were. But they are dreaming the impossible. They do not understand no threats, detainments, trials and even forced confessions or any other action of that sort can change today’s society to that of a year ago.” l

Mousavi added: “Freedom of the political prisoners is a national demand. Their freedom can help resolve our situation.” l

It is also worth pointing out that in the conclusion of this meeting Mahdi Karoubi and Mir Hossein Mousavi discussed ways to improve on the communication between themselves and with people despite closure of most of the communication channels and information bridges. l

Raid on Pakistan Army HQ highlights Punjab risk

Mon Oct 12, 2009 11:22am EDT



By Myra MacDonald - Analysis

LONDON (Reuters) - An attack on the Pakistan Army headquarters has highlighted the threat not just from militants in tribal areas bordering Afghanistan, but from those based in the country's heartland Punjab province.

Security officials said some of the militants involved in the attack in the city of Rawalpindi, next door to the capital, Islamabad, appeared to have links to Punjab.

The attack came as the army prepared an offensive in South Waziristan, the stronghold of the Tehrik-e-Taliban (TTP), or Pakistani Taliban, in the tribal areas of Pakistan.


"All roads lead to South Waziristan," Interior Minister Rehman Malik said on Saturday, after a week of violence which included an attack on a U.N. office in Islamabad and a suspected suicide bombing which killed 49 people in Peshawar.

"Now the government has no other option but to launch an offensive," he said.

But even if the military manages to pin down Pakistani Taliban fighters in South Waziristan, the country remains vulnerable to attacks by Punjab-based militants acting either in concert with the TTP or alone.

"South Punjab has become the hub of jihadism," Pakistani analyst Ayesha Siddiqa wrote in a magazine article last month. (http:/www.newsline.com.pk/NewsSep2009/coverstorysep.htm).

"Yet, somehow, there are still many people in Pakistan who refuse to acknowledge this threat," she wrote.

The province is home to an array of militant organizations including anti-Shia sectarian groups and those originally used to fight India in Kashmir.

Security officials said a militant arrested after the 22-hour-long attack and hostage-taking at army headquarters was believed be a member of the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, an al Qaeda-linked Punjab-based group.

Some hostage takers' phone calls were intercepted and they were speaking Punjabi, another security official said.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik said, however, it was too early to say whether Punjab-based groups were involved.

A DANGEROUS COALITION

North West Frontier Province Information Minister Iftikhar Hussain called on Saturday for the elimination of militant bases in Punjab. Even if a South Waziristan offensive was successful militants would still get help from Punjab, he told reporters.

But targeting all of Pakistan's militants at once could create an even more dangerous coalition by driving disparate groups closer together to make common cause with the Pakistani Taliban and al Qaeda in fighting the state, analysts say.

The army also draws many of its recruits from Punjab, making any efforts to root out militants there all the harder.

"Deploying the military is not an option. In the Punjab this will create a division within the powerful army because of regional loyalty," wrote Siddiqa.

But the police force in the province is woefully inadequate and unlikely to be able to take on the thousands of armed men belonging to different militant groups.

And confronting militant organizations directly could make them more dangerous by driving them underground, and creating splinter groups that would be even harder to control, diplomats and analysts say.

Complicating the picture further are pressures from both the United States and India.

Washington wants Pakistan to target militants fighting in Afghanistan, including the Afghan Taliban led by Mullah Omar who it says is based in Quetta in Baluchistan province.

India is pressing for action against the Lashkar-e-Taiba, the militant group blamed for last year's attack on Mumbai.

Yet unlike other Punjab-based groups including the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and Jaish-e-Mohammad, the Laskhar-e-Taiba has avoided staging attacks within Pakistan, instead targeting India, and also sending fighters to Afghanistan, analysts say.

Pakistan has focused largely on acting against groups which represent a direct domestic threat, leading some analysts to suggest it may want to retain groups like the Afghan Taliban and Lashkar-e-Taiba to be used as "strategic assets" against India.

But defense analyst Brian Cloughley said the attack on the army's headquarters showed how little support Islamist militants had in the military and its powerful Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) spy agency.

"The ISI is hardly going to support militants -- even 'selected' militants -- when it is obvious that main targets are their own people," he said.

MORE ATTACKS EXPECTED

The Islamist militants initially took root in Pakistan during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989 when they were encouraged by the ISI, with U.S. support and funding, to fight the Russians during the Cold War.

Saudi Arabia also supported the mujahideen, in part, analysts say, to encourage a Sunni movement which would offset the regional influences of Shia Iran, pouring in funds which led to the creation of thousands of madrasas, or Islamic schools.

When the Soviets withdrew from Afghanistan in 1989, some militants were turned against India in Kashmir, where a separatist revolt had broken out against Indian rule.

Now Islamist militancy thrives in the poorer regions of Pakistan, including in Punjab, picking up new recruits in madrasas while its leadership turns on its erstwhile benefactors in the Pakistani state.

"It is difficult to dismount from a raging tiger. You are likely to be mauled; and that is exactly what is going on," said Cloughley. "Pakistan's fight against domestic terrorism can be expected to become even more intense, but there will undoubtedly be more attacks."

(Additional reporting by Islamabad bureau; editing by Philippa Fletcher)

Most dangerous job on Earth: Iraqi desert moonscape scourge

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GxSDZc8etg

U.S. experts train Iraqis to tackle bomb scourge
11 Oct 2009 17:02:19 GMT
Source: Reuters
* Bombings still kill scores in Iraq despite lower violence

* U.S. bomb experts training Iraqis ahead of U.S. withdrawal

(Adds details, edits)

By Mohammed Abbas

CAMP TAJI, Iraq, Oct 11 (Reuters) - The robot scout and the lumbering man in a sealed helmet bring space travel to mind, but in this Iraqi desert moonscape they are part of training for one of the most dangerous jobs on Earth.

At Camp Taji, a U.S. military base near Baghdad, bomb disposal experts are teaching Iraqis to take over once they leave, their withdrawal due by 2012 under a U.S.-Iraqi pact.

Although violence has fallen sharply in Iraq since the worst of the violence after the 2003 U.S. invasion, bombings still kill scores of people each month. Two huge truck bombs in central Baghdad killed almost 100 people on Aug. 19 alone.

The Iraqi army has been rebuilt from scratch since Saddam Hussein's fall, and the skills that U.S. bomb disposal experts pass on to their Iraqi peers will be vital in saving lives.

A suspected bomb is usually first investigated by a remote controlled robot, then often by an explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) expert in a a bomb suit of head-to-toe body armour.

"There's an EOD saying, 'Once a team leader puts on a bomb suit it's the longest walk'," said Staff Sergeant David Hugee, a U.S. EOD team leader, referring to the tense approach a bomb disposal expert must make to a device as colleagues take cover.

The suit is suffocating in Iraq's intense heat and its armour plates restrict movement. But the experts become highly aware of everything going on around them even though the helmet, which looks like an astronaut's, muffles the outside world.

"A thousand things race through your mind. Your senses are more acute and your situational awareness goes through the roof. You notice everything -- leaves rustling in the trees, the wind blowing, your heart beating," Hugee said.

Sometimes, a colleague joked darkly, you might also hear only the "b" in "boom".

At Taji, four Iraqi army staff received training this week from a U.S. EOD team, unworried by the danger of working with bombs that are often planted by insurgents in densely populated areas such as markets.

"I never feel nervous or scared. I work as if it's not a bomb, just a stone," said one Iraqi soldier who was practising controlling a bomb investigation robot.

The wobbly waist-high device, consisting of cameras and a mechanical arm mounted on mini tank treads, struggled to grip a piece of metal, the arm's claw snapping at the air.

"If I think about the dangers I wouldn't be able to work ... one mistake and it's all over," added the soldier.

"INITIAL SUCCESS OR TOTAL FAILURE"

Last month, a bomb disposal accident killed 11 Iraqi troops in northern Iraq, underscoring the extreme perils of EOD work.

Explosives experts face not only bombs planted by militants, but also Saddam-era ordnance that still litters Iraq.

At Taji, a makeshift museum of defused ordnance includes six-foot high missiles, mines, mortars and launching devices.

In the field as they deal with a bomb, they must be mindful of gunmen ready to open fire or activate the detonator.

"There's a lot of pressure ... There's a saying in the EOD 'Initial success or total failure'," said EOD team member First Lieutenant Clay Kirkpatrick.

EOD experts had different reasons for doing such a dangerous job, recently thrust into the spotlight by the film 'The Hurt Locker', about a risk-taking maverick EOD team leader in Iraq.

One soldier said he enjoys the technical aspect of undoing an explosive device; another, the challenge of working under pressure. Kirkpatrick had a different reason: "You get to use explosives. You're living every 10 year-old's dream, making something go boom." (Editing by Missy Ryan and David Stamp)

Moonstruck: Looking for Ice, But None So Far

NASA's Hope: Frozen Water in Lunar Soil Would Boost Prospects for Future Moon Base
By NED POTTER
Oct. 9, 2009


NASA's LCROSS mission went plunging into a permanently shadowed crater near the moon's south pole this morning -- an empty rocket stage, followed four minutes later by a small satellite to see if the rocket kicked up ice in the lunar soil.

NASA's rocket crash did not produce the expected image of debris flying.

Did it find any? NASA could not, at least for now, say.

"We're not going to make any claims about water, no water, whatever," said NASA's Jennifer Heldmann, who coordinated data from more than a dozen of the world's most powerful telescopes, watching as the impact happened a quarter of a million miles away.

There was one image, from the LCROSS satellite tracking the crashing rocket, showing a white flash at the impact point. But it was just a few pixels across, and so far, scientists said they did not have images of the plume of debris they had expected.

"Life is full of surprises," said Anthony Colaprete, the mission's principal investigator, at a news conference this morning. "We have to look at a lot of data."

The scientists said they had reams of data to comb through, and pictures might not tell the story. Spectrometers -- instruments that detect the chemical composition of distant objects -- may be more useful after analysis. The process, said scientists, may take months.

One scientist conceded it is possible the rocket missed any pockets of ice that might be in the crater -- or that the theory could be wrong, and there are not large amounts of ice in the soil after all.

The space agency sent LCROSS (short for Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite) to look for ice in the lunar soil -- which NASA hopes may be helpful to future astonauts trying to live long-term on the moon.

If they can prove it is there in sufficient quantities, it could be a boon to the space agency, which hopes in coming decades to build a lunar base and go on from there to Mars and the rest of the solar system. Such a base would be expensive and troublesome to supply -- but frozen water would make a big difference.
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Melting the ice for drinking, washing and perhaps growing food in pressurized greenhouses would be the least of it. Water is, of course, H2O -- and can be broken down chemically to make hydrogen for fuel and oxygen for breathing.

"If we could live off the land, using this water -- if we discover it -- that would be a great benefit," said Jim Garvin, chief scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland. "That would mean we don't have to bring it with us."

Impact came shortly after 7:3 a.m. ET on Friday, and indications were that instruments watching the crash were working properly. They included spectrometers, instruments that measure the chemical composition of the plume kicked up by the crashing rocket.

Useful data also was expected from the LCROSS satellite, flying a few hundred miles behind its Centaur booster. The satellite had four minutes to transmit its findings before it, too, hit the surface.

"If we find water there, it will change the course of exploration," said Rusty Hunt of NASA's Ames Research Center in Mountain View, Calif.

"If there's water near the south pole, we'd go there."

Hunt is a flight director for LCROSS, which was launched from Florida in June. He was the hands-on manager of the mission this morning.

Was Apollo Wrong?

In 1972, the last Apollo astronauts came home from the moon, and that was that. The consensus was that the rocks they had found were dry as dust -- even more so, in fact.

But the conventional wisdom has changed.

In 1994, a military space probe called Clementine, sent to map the moon as a way of testing sensors for possible Defense Department use, found evidence of ice in the shadowed corners of craters near the moon's south pole.

In 1998 a NASA probe called Lunar Prospector was sent to confirm Clementine's findings, and as it orbited the moon it found evidence of large amounts of ice in the lunar soil.

The working theory is that comets, crashing into the moon over the eons, left tons of ice. In most places, it would have vaporized quickly. But some craters near the moon's south pole are so deep -- and the angle of sunlight is always so shallow -- that ice could have remained frozen.


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PHOTO An artist's conception of the LCROSS space probe, trailing its Centaur booster rocket on a crash course toward the moon is shown.
An artist's conception of the LCROSS space probe, trailing its Centaur booster rocket on a crash course toward the moon.
(NASA/Northrop Grumman)
Crashing on the Moon: NASA Probe Looks for Ice

The earlier probes only took indirect measurements to suggest lunar ice. But could they be right? Engineers on Earth almost salivate at the thought.

That is because NASA's current mandate, laid out by President Bush and so far backed by President Obama, is to use the moon as a base for human exploration of Mars and beyond. As part of Project Constellation, they would set up camp in their Altair landing ships.
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If there is frozen water there -- H2O -- it could be used for drinking, or broken down into its components of hydrogen and oxygen for fuel, air to breathe, and myriad other uses.

Exploring on a Budget

LCROSS, by NASA standards, is a low-cost mission, with a fixed budget of $79 million -- a good chunk of money, but remember that the movie "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" has grossed about $400 million since its release in June.

There has been long debate over the merits of sending astronauts back to the moon, but if LCROSS finds water, it will make the lives of future astronauts much simpler.

"It's a pretty simple mission with profound implications," said Hunt.

AT&T to Expand Internet Calling Services on iPhone

AT&T to Allow iPhone Owners to Use Internet Calling Services on Its Wireless Network


AT&T Inc. said late Tuesday that it will begin allowing iPhone owners to use Internet calling services on its wireless network.


In this July 21, 2009 file photo, a customer displays an Apple iPhone 3GS at an Apple store in Palo Alto, Calif. AT&T Inc. on Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2009 said that it will begin allowing iPhone owners to use Internet calling services on its wireless network. Collapse
(AP Photo)

The phone giant, the exclusive wireless provider for Apple Inc.'s iPhone, has until now allowed Internet calling services to work on the popular device only over Wi-Fi connections. Those connections generally have limited mobility and therefore present less of a competitive threat to AT&T's core wireless calling business.

The move comes two months after the Federal Communications Commission sent letters to AT&T, Apple and Google Inc. asking why the Google Voice messaging and calling application has not been approved for use on the iPhone.

It also comes amid an FCC inquiry into competition in the wireless industry. Among other things, that inquiry will examine handset exclusivity deals, such as AT&T's agreement with Apple giving AT&T exclusive access to the iPhone.
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In addition, the FCC is scheduled to vote later this month on "network neutrality" rules, which would prohibit broadband providers from favoring or discriminating against certain types of Internet traffic flowing over their lines.

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, one of three Democrats on the commission, wants to impose net neutrality rules to ensure that broadband providers don't abuse their power over Internet access to favor their own services or harm competitors.

His plan faces stiff opposition from the phone and cable companies that provide most broadband connections in the U.S. and has particularly alarmed wireless carriers because it would also apply these rules to wireless networks.

AT&T said late Tuesday that it has informed Apple and the FCC that it has taken the necessary steps to enable Voice over Internet Protocol — or VoIP — services on the iPhone over its 3G wireless network. AT&T said it made the decision "after evaluating our customers' expectations and use of the device compared to dozens of others we offer."


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The company already allows subscribers to make Internet calls over its 3G network using other wireless devices.

Apple welcomed the announcement and said it will amend its developer agreements to get VoIP applications on the App Store as soon as possible.

Genachowski also praised AT&T's move. "I commend AT&T's decision to open its network to VoIP," Genachowski said in a statement. "Opening wireless services to greater consumer choice will drive investment and innovation in the mobile marketplace."
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Josh Silverman, president of Skype, a leading provider of Internet calling services, echoed that sentiment.

"Our customers are extremely interested in taking Skype conversations with them on the go on the iPhone," Silverman said in a statement. "We applaud today's announcement by AT&T to open up its 3G network to Internet calling applications such as Skype. It is the right step for AT&T, Apple, millions of mobile Skypers and the Internet itself."

Referring to the upcoming net neutrality vote, however, he added that "the positive actions of one company are no substitute for a government policy that protects openness and benefits consumers."

The FCC has already signaled that it is playing particularly close attention to the iPhone, inquiring earlier this summer as to why Google Voice hadn't been approved for use on the device.

Google Voice lets people sign up for a new phone number, then route incoming calls out to cell, office or home phones. It also lets users place calls, including international calls at low rates, from within the application. Although iPhone owners can still use a Web browser version of Google Voice, its features are limited.

In its response to the FCC, Apple said it has thus far blocked the Google Voice program from running on the iPhone because it duplicates some of the iPhone's built-in features, but added that it is still studying the application.

--

For its part, AT&T said the decision was made entirely by Apple. It also revealed, however, that under its agreement with Apple, Apple cannot enable any Internet calling applications that use AT&T's 3G network without AT&T's permission.


But now that it is under the FCC microscope, AT&T appears to be reversing course. That has led some skeptics to question the company's motives.

Art Brodsky, a spokesman for the public interest group Public Knowledge, suggested that AT&T's latest actions are simply an attempt to head off net neutrality obligations.

"It's too convenient that AT&T announced it had changed its mind just 16 days before the FCC is due to vote on proposing wireless rules preventing discrimination," he said.

Meanwhile, with federal regulations looming, the company has gone on the offensive, attacking at least one big supporter of net neutrality: Google.

Last month, AT&T sent a letter to the FCC complaining that Google Voice has an unfair advantage since it blocks calls to rural communities where local carriers charge high connection fees even as regulations prevent AT&T from blocking such calls.

———

AP Technology Writer Jessica Mintz in Seattle contributed to this story.

The Rake: Symbol of a dictator’s barbarism as seen in Kabol/Baghdad/Islamabad

Nargess, the daughter of Mehdi Kalhor (Ahmadinejad’s media advisor, who recently in his remarks said that the youth that defended the country during the war were not doing so under the influence of Islamic teachings but rather due to the influence of... western movies) has participated in Nuremberg Human Rights Film Festival with a film condemning torture called “The Rake” based on the “In the Penal Colony” novel by Franz Kafka. The story of the film is about a torture device called “Rake” that carves the sentences of the condemned prisoners on their skins before letting them die. This device is the symbol of a dictator’s barbarism. The director links the elements of Kafka’s story to the history of Iran’s prisons. Unlike the pattern in Kafka’s story the hero of this film stops and then destroys the torture device as a symbol of destroying the torture system. In this festival at which Mohsen and Hanna Makhmalbaf (Iranian film makers) will also take part, some other Iranian films with the theme of Human Rights were presented.
For German description of Nargess Kalhor’s film please visit: http://www.fitame.de/programm/filme-a-z/filmbeschreibung.html?tx_rsysmoviedb[searchString]=darkhish&tx_rsysmoviedb[p]=3316-6detailAction

---

October 14, 2009

Nooshabeh Amiri
nooshabehamiri(at)yahoo.com

Narges Kalhor, the daughter of Ahmadinejad advisor Mehdi Kalhor, filed for asylum in the west after traveling to the Nuremberg International Human Rights Festival to present her movie condemning torture.

The 25-year-old Narges lives with her mother and has not had any contacts with her father in more than a year. In an interview with Rooz, she discusses her film and her exit from Iran.

The Nuremberg International Human Rights Festival showcased a film that had Narges Kalhor’s name on it. The film, called Rake, was based on a Franz Kafka novel. The film describes a torture chamber called Rake in which the crimes of prisoners are tattooed on their bodies. Narges tells Rooz that her latest film is her eighth production.



Rooz: But we had not heard your name or your work.

Narges Kalhor (Kalhor): Because my works are banned. This is the first film I was able to showcase outside Iran.

Rooz: The topic of the movie is very interesting, as is working with Kafka and molding his viewpoint. Why did you pick this topic? Was it related to today’s events in Iran?

Kalhor: No. I made this film last year, when the situation in Iran was very different than today. I wanted to make a adaptation. I read several books and found Kafka’s work to be closer to what I had in mind.

Rooz: What does your film tell us?

Kalhor: I have a more general viewpoint. The film narrates the story of human beings who are condemned to pain; for no reason.

Rooz: What do you mean by pain? Are you talking about the human condition in general or the reality of life under the Islamic Republic?

Kalhor: No; it is a general philosophical point, and not a particular reality. It relates to the era in which we were born, raised, and live; conditions under which youngsters like myself were born and raised.

Rooz: And what, more clearly, is the general point you are describing?

Kalhor: The general point is that we don’t want others to impose harsh conditions on us. If we are condemned to destruction, allow us to do it. We want to welcome pain ourselves, not allow others to kill us with it.

Rooz: Meaning, give back my vote? Is that correct?

Kalhor: No; is it beyond the point of giving back our votes. We say, give back our lives.

8 soldiers dead in attack on Pakistan army HQ

by Khurram Shahzad Khurram Shahzad – 44 mins ago

RAWALPINDI, Pakistan (AFP) – Heavily-armed militants tried to storm Pakistan's army headquarters on Saturday, with six soldiers and four rebels killed in an audacious attack near the capital Islamabad, officials said.

Six insurgents armed with automatic weapons and grenades shot their way through one checkpost in the garrison town of Rawalpindi, before being stopped by security forces at a second post. Two militants have fled, officials said.

Pakistan has seen a surge in attacks blamed on Taliban rebels in the past week, as the insurgents vow to take bloody revenge for the death of their leader Baitullah Mehsud in a US drone missile attack in August.

"The terrorists were wearing army uniform and were armed with sophisticated weapons and grenades," army spokesman Major General Athar Abbas said on state-run television.

"They came in a van and tried to enter from gate one to gate two in the sensitive area. They were stopped and now the situation is under our control," he said in a separate interview on private TV channel Geo.

"The fighting is over now. The situation is under control."

His deputy Colonel Attique ur Rehman told AFP: "Six soldiers were martyred in the attack."

The firefight came a day after a car bomb attack blamed on the Taliban killed 52 people in the northwest city of Peshawar, and as the military readies for an offensive against militants in their northwest tribal stronghold.

Another military official in Islamabad said there were at least six attackers in the assault on the heavily-fortified army command centre.

"There were at least six attackers. Four were killed. Two are still missing. The hunt is going on," said the official with Pakistan army's media wing.

He blamed the Rawalpindi attack on Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the umbrella militant movement based in the mountainous, semi-autonomous tribal belt that runs along the border with Afghanistan.

Soon after the attack, army commandos encircled the area and helicopter gunships flew overhead.

An AFP journalist at the scene of Saturday's gunbattle reported that the firefight lasted about an hour and a half, with helicopters ferrying the dead militants away after the battle ended.

Witnesses said the militants hurled hand grenades, with one man saying five explosions rang out amid the gunfire.

"A car was signalled to stop outside army headquarters," local police officer on the scene Amjad Ali told AFP. "The occupants opened fire and threw grenades at security guards who retaliated."

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani strongly condemned the attack, a brief statement issued by his office in Islamabad said.

The military is wrapping up a fierce offensive against Taliban rebels in the northwestern Swat valley launched in April, with the army now poised to begin a similar assault in the lawless tribal belt.

The Taliban had already claimed responsibility for a suicide attack on Monday on a UN office in Islamabad, which killed five aid workers.

Taliban militants holed up in the northwest tribal belt have been blamed for a string of attacks and suicide blasts that have killed more than 2,100 people in the last two years, with 12 blasts hitting Islamabad alone.

Several bomb blasts in the past two-and-a-half weeks in the northwest have killed dozens, with the Taliban threatening to unleash bigger assaults.

There was a lull in bomb attacks after Baitullah Mehsud's death in an August 5 US drone strike, but analysts had warned that the new Taliban leadership would likely be keen to show their strength with fresh, dramatic strikes.





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Gunmen attack Pakistani army HQ

Sat Oct 10, 2009 5:30am EDT


By Augustine Anthony

RAWALPINDI, Pakistan (Reuters) - Suspected militants dressed in army uniforms attacked Pakistan's army headquarters on Saturday, killing four guards and triggering a battle in which four gunmen were killed, military officials said.

The brazen attack on the tightly guarded headquarters in the city of Rawalpindi came as the army prepares a major offensive against Pakistani Taliban militants in their northwestern stronghold on the Afghan border.

The gunmen drove in a white van to a main gate at the sprawling complex, opening fire and throwing at least one grenade when challenged, security officials said.

The gunmen then exchanged fire with soldiers for about 40 minutes. Four gunmen and four guards were killed but two of the gunmen escaped, military officials said.

"Two terrorists are still missing, a search operation is on," said a military official who declined to be identified.

Another military official said some firing had been heard and a helicopter was helping in the search for the two gunmen.

Dawn television said the fleeing gunmen had taken two military men hostage.

Al Qaeda-linked Islamist militants have launched numerous attacks in Pakistan over the past couple of years, most aimed at the security forces and government and foreign targets.

The militants have attacked military targets in Rawalpindi before.

Television pictures showed the militants' white van, its doors open, where the gunmen abandoned it by concrete barriers outside the gate.

OFFENSIVE LOOMS

The attack came a day after a suspected suicide car-bomber killed 49 people in the city of Peshawar in an attack the government said underscored the need for the all-out offensive.

Early this year, the militants pushed to within 100 km (60 miles) of Islamabad, raising fears for nuclear-armed Pakistan's stability. An exasperated U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the government appeared to be "abdicating" to the militants.

The United States needs Pakistani help against militants crossing into Afghanistan to battle U.S.-led forces there.

But in late April the security forces launched a sustained offensive in the Swat valley, 120 km (80 miles) northwest of Islamabad, largely clearing Taliban from the region.

The militants suffered another big blow on August 5, when their overall leader, Baitullah Mehsud, was killed in an attack by a missile-firing U.S. drone aircraft in South Waziristan.

Mehsud's death and reports of infighting about who would take over as leader raised hopes that the militants were in disarray.

But in recent weeks violence has been picking up after a relative lull following Mehsud's killing.

The government ordered the army to go on the offensive in South Waziristan in June and security forces have been launching air and artillery strikes, while moving in troops, blockading the region and trying to split off factions.

The army has declined to say when it would send in ground troops.

(Additional reporting by Kamran Haider; Writing by Robert Birsel; Editing by Jerry Norton)

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

Terrorists hold 10-15 people hostage in security office

Updated at: 2100 PST, Saturday, October 10, 2009
ISLAMABAD: About 4 to 5 terrorists in a security office near second GHQ check post are holding 10-15 people, including security and civil personnel, hostage after the attempted attack on GHQ, DG ISPR Maj. General Athar Abbas said on Saturday.

Security personnel have surrounded the office, ISPR added.

Earlier, six terrorists attempted to launch an attack on GHQ which was foiled by the security personnel. Four terrorists were killed while two escaped from the scene. Six security men including Brigadier Anwar and Lt. Col. Wasim were also martyred in the incident.

Six terrorists in army uniform attempted to get entry into GHQ at 11:30 am on Saturday from gate no 1. When stopped by security officials, they reached at check post no 1 and opened fire on security men after taking positions after leaving the car. Four terrorists were killed and two fled during trade of fire between security officials and terrorists. Army gunship helicopters started hovering over the area for vigilance. The commandos seized the bodies of terrorists and shifted them.

The DG ISPR confirmed killing of four terrorists whereas six security personnel including Brigadier Anwar and Lt. Col. Wasim were also martyred in the operation. Two terrorists managed to flee.

The security men later found that the escaped terrorists took shelter in a nearby security office which is now surrounded by security forces.

The ISPR said that more than two terrorists are in the security office where several security personnel are held hostage.


---------


GHQ attacked

* Brigadier, lieutenant colonel and four soldiers martyred as six to seven terrorists wearing army uniform reach military headquarters on van
* Suicide bomber among five terrorists killed
* 10 to 15 army personnel being held hostage in security building
* Officials say action to rescue hostages to be launched before dawn

By Aamir Yasin

RAWALPINDI: Six army personnel, including a brigadier and a lieutenant colonel, were killed and five others seriously injured when terrorists clad in army uniform attacked the General Headquarters (GHQ) at around 11:30am on Saturday, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Athar Abbas told Daily Times. He said that five of the 6 to 7 terrorists who attacked the headquarters were killed in retaliatory fire of the security forces.

Gen Abbas said the terrorists reached the military headquarters in a Suzuki van, and opened fire and blew up hand grenades when they were stopped for checking at the first checkpost. “Five terrorists, one of whom was a suicide bomber, were killed in the ensuing gunbattle. Three to four accomplices of the terrorists, however, managed to cross over the grassy grounds unnoticed during the shootout,” Gen Abbas said.

He said that the highly-trained terrorists armed with sophisticated weapons entered the office of the security staff outside the premises of the General Headquarters and took 10 to 15 officials hostage. The security forces have cordoned off the entire area and a siege was continuing to capture the terrorists alive when this report was made at 3am on Sunday.

Gen Abbas identified the killed brigadier and lieutenant colonel as Anwaar and Waseem, respectively.

“No senior military or intelligence officials are among those being held hostage by the terrorists,” he said, adding that commandos of the Special Services Group had laid siege to the security office and “they will decide when to act”.

“There was fierce firing, and then there was a blast,” an eyewitness told Daily Times. “Soldiers were running here and there … the firing continued for about half-an-hour and there was smoke everywhere. There was a break, and then the firing started again.”

Gen Abbas said that the soldiers killed five terrorists after a 45-minute gunfight.

The entire area was soon cordoned off and army helicopters were seen hovering over the General Headquarters. The adjoining roads were immediately closed to traffic as panic gripped the entire cantonment area.

“We are trying to finish the stand-off as early as possible,” Gen Abbas said as power supply to the area was disconnected for a likely operation.

“It is a war of nerves,” said an official, adding that the action would probably be completed before dawn.

Army ambulances and a helicopter were used to shift the injured and dead bodies to the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) and the Military Hospital (MH).


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Pakistan commandos rescue 25 hostages, three killed
11 Oct 2009 02:00:18 GMT
Source: Reuters
(For more Pakistan and Afghanistan stories, click [ID:nAFPAK])

* Twenty-five hostages freed, three killed

* Four gunmen killed as commandos storm building

* U.S. Secretary of State Clinton condemns attack

By Augustine Anthony

RAWALPINDI, Pakistan, Oct 11 (Reuters) - Pakistani commandos stormed a building near army headquarters on Sunday and freed 25 hostages being held there by suspected Taliban militants, a military spokesman said.

Three hostages and four of the gunmen were killed, said the spokesman, Major General Athar Abbas.

Saturday's brazen attack on the tightly guarded headquarters in the garrison city of Rawalpindi came as the military prepared a major offensive against the militants in their northwestern stronghold of South Waziristan on the Afghan border. [ID:nSP440401]

The strike at the heart of the powerful military is likely to revive fears for nuclear-armed Pakistan's stability at a time when the United States needs its help in the campaign against an intensifying insurgency in Afghanistan.

A blast and gunfire erupted before dawn as soldiers assaulted the security office building near the army headquarters where the gunmen and their hostages were holed up.

"They were in a room with a terrorist who was wearing a suicide jacket but the commandos acted promptly and gunned him down before he could pull the trigger," Abbas said.

"Three of the hostages were killed due to militant firing," he said. Three other hostages were later found alive.

Soldiers were searching for other gunmen, he said, adding there were believed to have been more than five of them in the building.

A Reuters reporter saw three ambulances leaving the area.

On Saturday, gunmen wearing army uniforms attacked the headquarters killing six soldiers in a gun battle at a main gate.

Four gunmen were killed there and two of their wounded colleagues captured, security officials said. But other gunmen fled and took hostages in the office building.

Pakistani Taliban militants linked to al Qaeda have launched numerous attacks in Pakistan over the past couple of years, most aimed at the government and security forces, including bomb attacks in Rawalpindi. [ID:nISL512917]

On Monday, a suicide bomber attacked a U.N. office in Islamabad, and on Friday a suspected suicide bomber killed 49 people in Peshawar. [ID:nSP187518]

"What happened in Peshawar, Islamabad and today, all roads lead to South Waziristan," Interior Minister Rehman Malik said on Saturday.

"Now the government has no other option but to launch an offensive," he said.

CLINTON CONDEMNS ATTACK

The raid on the army headquarters bore the hallmarks of several similarly audacious "swarm" attacks this year.

In March, gunmen attacked Sri Lanka's cricket team as it drove to a match in the city of Lahore and weeks later militants raided a police cadet college in the same city.

At around the same time, militants pushed to within 100 km (60 miles) of Islamabad, sparking grave concern among allies, including the United States, for Pakistan's prospects and fears for the safety of its nuclear weapons.

The United States needs Pakistani help against militants crossing into Afghanistan to fight U.S.-led forces there and has been urging action against Afghan Taliban factions on the border.

In late April, the army launched an offensive in the Swat valley, 120 km (80 miles) northwest of Islamabad, and largely clearing the Taliban out.

The militants suffered another major blow on Aug. 5, when their overall leader, Baitullah Mehsud, was killed in a missile attack by a U.S. drone aircraft in South Waziristan.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton condemned the Saturday attack saying it showed the threat to the Pakistani government and the very important steps the civilian leadership and military were taking to root out extremists.

The army has not said when it will send ground troops in to South Waziristan.

India has demanded action against anti-India militant groups based in Pakistan's Punjab province and North West Frontier Province Information Minister Iftikhar Hussain called on Saturday for the elimination of militant bases in Punjab. [ID:nISL480327]

Even if a South Waziristan offensive was successful militants would get help from Punjab, he told reporters. (For more Reuters coverage of Afghanistan and Pakistan, see: http://www.reuters.com/news/globalcoverage/afghanistanpakistan) (Reporting by Kamran Haider; Writing by Robert Birsel; Editing by Jerry Norton)


----------

A week of terror strikes across Pakistan, capped by a stunning assault on army headquarters, show the Taliban have rebounded and appear determined to shake the nation's resolve as the military plans for an offensive against the group's stronghold on the Afghan border.

The 22-hour attack on Pakistan's "Pentagon" in the city of Rawalpindi, which ended with 20 dead Sunday, was the third terror attack in a week to shake this nuclear-armed nation. It demonstrated the militants' renewed strength since their leader was killed by a U.S. missile strike in August and military operations against their bases.

The U.S. has long pushed Islamabad to take more action against Taliban and al-Qaida militants, who are also blamed for attacks on U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan, and the army carried out a successful campaign against the militants in the Swat

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But the army had been unwilling to go all out in the lawless tribal areas along the border that serve as the Taliban's main refuge. Three offensives into South Waziristan since 2001 ended in failure and the government signed peace deals with the militants.

On the heels of the Swat victory, the military launched a campaign of airstrikes on the militants in Waziristan and in recent weeks officials said they were preparing a full offensive there.

That was before the embarrassing attack on army headquarters bolstered militants' assertions they are ready to take on the military, and threatened to deflate the army's newfound popularity.

In the wake of the seige in Rawalpindi, the government said it would not be deterred. The military launched two airstrikes Sunday evening on suspected militant targets in South Waziristan, killing at least five insurgents and ending a five-day lull in attacks there, intelligence officials said.


"We are going to attack the terrorists, the miscreants over there who are disturbing the state and damaging the peace," Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira said. "Wherever they will be, we will follow them. We will pursue them. We will take them to task."


-----

The violence killed 20, including three hostages and nine militants, while 42 hostages were freed, the military said. Many of them had been held in a single room by militant wearing a suicide vest, who was shot by commandos before he could detonate his explosives, the army said.

The military said it captured the militant's ringleader, who was known as Aqeel or "Dr. Usman." Army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said the militant's nickname derived from the time he spent as a guard at an army nursing school before he joined the insurgents.

The name matched that of a militant suspected of orchestrating an attack in Lahore earlier this year on Sri Lanka's visiting cricket team. Hakimullah Mehsud, the new leader of the Taliban, had claimed responsibility for that attack.

A police intelligence report from July obtained by The Associated Press on Saturday warned that members of the Taliban along with the Punjab-based Jaish-e-Mohammed were planning to attack army headquarters after disguising themselves as soldiers. The report was given to the AP by an official in Punjab's home affairs ministry.

Officials have warned that Taliban fighters close to the border, Punjabi militants spread out across the country and foreign al-Qaida operatives were increasingly joining forces, dramatically increasing the dangers to Pakistan.

The weekend strike was a stunning finale to a week of attacks that highlighted the militants' ability to strike a range of targets in different cities, seemingly at will.

On Monday, a suicide bomber dressed as a paramilitary police officer blew himself up inside a heavily guarded U.N. aid agency in the heart of the capital, Islamabad. On Friday, a suspected militant detonated an explosives-laden car in the middle of a busy market in the northwestern city of Peshawar, killing 53 people.

Before the attacks, Pakistani officials said their operations against the militants and the killing of Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud in a CIA drone attack had left the insurgency in disarray. But the militants coalesced around his former deputy, Hakimullah Mehsud, who promised vengeance last week for the deadly airstrikes and warned that his fighters were prepared to repel any government offensive into Waziristan.
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"They are well organized, and if the army takes action, they are able to hit back," former intelligence chief Jawed Ashraf Qazi said. He warned of more militant attacks ahead of an offensive: "The longer the delay, the more these actions are likely to occur."

Qazi estimated 6,000 battle-hardened Uzbek fighters are waiting in the mountains, along with thousand of local fighters from the Mehsud tribe of warriors with years of experience fighting the U.S. and Pakistan.

"The militants have had five, six years to build up infrastructure, so they're prepared," said Kamran Bokhari, an analyst with Stratfor, a U.S.-based global intelligence firm. "This is jihadist central in the country, so going in there is not going to be easy."

Yet, the recent attacks have left the government little choice but to confront the Taliban on their home turf, and the military appears better prepared than during its previous forays into the area, he said.



The army reportedly sent two divisions totaling 28,000 men to the area. They have blockaded the region, choking the Taliban's supply lines, cutting deals with local militias to prevent them from joining up with the militants and using airstrikes to take out insurgent leaders and keep the group on the run.

"This time the preparation is there. This time the resolve is there. This time pretty much everybody is on board," Bokhari said. "(The militant attacks) make it all the more clear that if you don't do this, this monstrosity that's out there in the tribal belt is not going away."

———

Associated Press reporters Jill Lawless in London and Zarar Khan in Islamabad contributed to this report.

Blast in Pakistan's Peshawar kills 49

Fri Oct 9, 2009 6:45am EDT

By Faris Ali

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - A suspected suicide car-bomber killed 49 people on Friday in the Pakistani city of Peshawar in an attack that the government said underscored the need for an all-out offensive against the Pakistani Taliban.

There was no claim of responsibility but Interior Minister Rehman Malik said "all roads are leading to South Waziristan," referring to the headquarters of the Pakistani Taliban in the northwest.

"One thing is clear, these hired assassins called Taliban are to be dealt with more severely," Malik told reporters in Islamabad.

"We think we have no other option except to carry out an operation in South Waziristan," he added, while declining to say when that might happen.

The suspected car-bomber set off his explosives as he was passing a bus, police said.

The blast hurled the bus onto its side on a road in a commercial neighborhood of the northwestern city. Several cars were also destroyed.

"The bus was making a turn when the blast occurred and it threw the bus into the air," a witness told the Duniya television channel.

An official at Peshawar's main hospital said 49 people had been killed including seven children.

The bomb dented trade at Pakistan's main stock market, which has gained about 66 percent this year after losing 58.3 percent in 2008.

"There was some negative impact as the market has come off its intra-day high but there seems to be foreign support at lower levels," said Mohammed Sohail, chief executive at Topline Securities Ltd.

VIOLENCE PICKING UP

Islamist militants who have set off numerous bombs in towns and cities including Peshawar over the past couple of years, most aimed at the security forces and government and foreign targets.

Early this year, the militants pushed to within 100 km (60 miles) of Islamabad, raising fears for nuclear-armed Pakistan's stability.

The United States needs Pakistani help against militants crossing into Afghanistan to battle U.S.-led forces there.

An exasperated U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton said early this year the government appeared to be "abdicating" to the militants.

But that changed in late April when the security forces launched a sustained offensive in the Swat valley, 120 km (80 miles) northwest of Islamabad, largely clearing Taliban from the region.

The militants suffered another big blow on August 5, when their overall leader, Baitullah Mehsud, was killed in an attack by a missile-firing U.S. drone aircraft in South Waziristan.

Mehsud's death and reports of infighting over who would take over as leader raised hopes that the militants were in disarray.

But in recent weeks violence has been picking up after a relative lull following Mehsud's killing.

The government ordered the army to go on the offensive in South Waziristan in June and security forces have been launching air and artillery strikes, while moving-in troops, blockading the region and trying to split off factions.

The army has declined to say when it would send in ground troops.

(Additional reporting By Kamran Haider and Augustine Anthony; Writing by Robert Birsel; Editing by Alex Richardson)

A Nobel Peace Prize Jewish Terrorists but not to Bin Laden !!!!

The Jews have already made an industry out of the holocaust and went to collect funds, charities, aids and war reparations and sending them to Israel. Furthermore, war crimes and terrorist acts committed by Jews were either deliberately ignored or even rewarded. As an example is in the awarding of Nobel Prizes for Peace. It was rewarded to Jewsih Menachem Beging despite being sentenced as terrorist by the British for blowing up King David Hotel in Jerusalem that Killed 50 officers. As a member of the Irgun Jewish gang, Menachem Begin caught and hanged the entire male population of Deir Yassin. And as Prime Minister of Israel, Begin was responsible for the crimes committed by his Army in Lebanon in 1982; the most notorious of these were the Sabra and Shatilla masscres blamed on the Christian Falang gangs financed and armed by his government. The Nobel Prize committee didn’t take any of the above crimes into consideration when awarded him the Peace Prize. Another Jewish criminal is no other than Dr Henry Kisinger known for the massacres in Cambodia that killed 50000 people. If Jewish Begin and Jewish Kissinger can get the Nobel Prize for peace so why not Sheikh Osama Bin Laden. It is true that the attack on September 11 2001 did not kill as many as the crimes committed by Jewish Begin and Jewish Kissinger. But like Begin and Kissinger, Bin Laden has called on the US to start peace talks which the American refused as they don’t want to talk to terrorists. But why so many Jewish criminals and terrorists are being rewarded or given posts in directing the American foreign policy?


Jews can brag about their intelligence for recieving so many Nobel Prizes in as many fields. But what the Jews forget is that they are still benefiting from being a holocaust victims. As an example, Terrorist Menachem Begin and Criminal Henry Kissinger were awarded Nobel Prizes not for their heineous crimes but ironically for being peaceful men.
Furthermore, average Jerwish writers writing in Hebrew or in English are usually considered for a Peace Prize in Literature. I call on the readers to read some of the books written by Saul Bellow, who won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1976. I was unable to complete one single book of his. I can say without reservation that he deserves a Nobel Prize for being the most boring author.


Nobel didn’t stop Shimon Peres War Crimes!
Congratulations to Obama for winning the meaningless Nobel Prize for peace. After complaining why terrorists like Begin, Peres and Kissinger got the Prize, one member of the Nobel Prize committee stated “the Prize is not a certificate of saint-ship”. Nobel Price laureate Shimon Peres can claim credit for being the father of Israel Nuclear Program, cluster bombing UN refugee camps at Qana in Lebanon killing scores twice while occupying the posts of Prime Minister and Deputy PM, and for the use of prohibited weapons against civilians in Gaza.


At the time when the USraeli war mongers are trying to discredit Obama, the Prize came as a slap on their face. We all hope that Obama will not end up like President Shimon Peres but like Former President Carter calling for peace and justice for all, including those Palestinains suffering under the brutal Israeli occupation and facing the worst Nazi-style atrocities since the days of Nazi Germany.


It became clear lately that the Whitehouse staff didn’t hide their disgust with the US Jewish lobby which has been spreading news and false information in order to undermine Obama attempt to carry out his long list of reforms. The Jewish comedians followed by journalists of the Jewish-controlled media and Jewish Newsreaders keep hammering in stories about Obama failure to accomplish anything and to give credit to Netanyahu for defying the Americans in refusing to stop the illegal Jewish settlements in the West Bank. Using the Nobel Prize for peace, Obama may retaliate against Israel and the Jewish lobby. To start with there is the Gladstone report condemning Israeli Nazi Generals for war crimes in Gaza. Furthermore, there is an urgent need to address Israel breach of 39 UN Security Council resolutions and Israeli stockpiles of Nuclear weapons. The Jewish lobby is powerful and like, a Dracula, has fangs that are ready to cause deep wounds. In this regard, Obama needs to take counteract measures and use all his skills and executive powers to free America from the Jewish Shackles.


---------------
Arrest Israeli War criminals and have peace in the Middle East!

The Israelis and their American mentors have claimed that Richard Goldstone report and any action that might be taken in response to accusations contained will impede peace in the Middle East. To start with there is no possibility of peace in the Middle East while the Jewish troika of Assassin Ehud Barak, Terrorist Netanyahu and Fascist Lieberman are in control in Israel. They have all ordered expanding settlements in the occupied territories and evicting Arabs from their homes in Jerusalem undermining the calls from Obama representative George Mitchell and discrediting the already discredited Mahmoud Abbas. I feel it is just the opposite. Arresting and sending Israeli war criminals to the international criminal court will assist in starting the stalled peace process. The Israelis must be forced to abide by international laws and to implement 39 UN Security Council Resolutions they are currently in breach of.

Israeli: Is a Sick organ in a sick body!

The mainstream Palestinian leadership, is like the rest of the Arab world governments, made of prostrated politicians, crooks and profiteers. It is fair to describe Israel creation in 1948 as the transplantation of a sick Jewish Organ in a sick Arab body. But things have changed for everybody since then. The real problem of the Israelis is not limited to their atrocities against Palestinians. But with the disappointed 350 Million Arabs and over one billion Muslims who seek justice and the implementation of UN Security Council resolutions. It is not for Lieberman who immigrated from the Soviet Union in 1977 to dictate his fascist doctrine on the area. I see that the arrogant Jewish leadership is leading its people, like lemmings, to commit suicide in the Sea.



There are a large number of power centers and think tanks in America which advise and to a certain extent influence American foreign policy and issues of war and peace. They employ a vast number of ‘scientists’ and political Gurus working for centres specialising in tactical and strategic studies. Very few of these institutes are financed by the federal government as the majority of their expenses are covered by the arm industry, the oil cartels and the powerful Jewish lobby. These centres operate like a hidden US government.

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, these centres fell in the hands of neo-conservatives and Zionists which kept pumping reports and studies about the role of America in the world. It was not surprising that G.W. Bush war on Iraq was so well packaged despite the lack of a real pretext for America to go to war with another country, like Iraq and face the costly consequences. Jewish members of these institutes became regular fixtures on US TV. At the beginning it was Iraq WMD, then Saddam relation to Al-Qaeda and finally to the discovery of mass graves. When they have failed to verify any of the above they went to their favourite theme of spreading democracy and freedom in Iraq. The same quarters paying to the same political prostitutes will dictate Obama policies in Afghanistan. These are some examples:
1.Rand Foundation
2.Council of foreign relation who counts Jewish Madeline Albright as its member.
3.Carnegie Foundation For World Peace
4.The American Project for Policies Research.
5.The American Centre for Spreading Democracy in the Developing World.
6.Washington Institute for Near-East Policies (Financed by Jewish AIPAC).
7.The Centre for National Interests.
8.Hoover Institute for War and Peace.
9.Nixon Institute for Peace and War.
10.James Baker Institute.
There is a suggestion to establish a Dick-Cheney Institute for Strategic Studies.
The current campaign against Iran is mainly orchestrated by Israel, the Jewish lobby and the Jewish foreign ministers of France and the UK. Taking all of the above into consideration, one must conclude that Obama will have no choice but to play the game by the warmongers rules and increase the US presence in Afghanistan.

Similarities between German and Israeli Nazi pract



1. Hitler preached and practiced the superiority of the Arian race over others. The Jews believe that they are the selected few and God has preferred them over all of his creatures.
2. The Jews practiced ethnic cleansing against Palestinians and drove them out of their homes and lands using Himmler’s successful methods in Russia. As an example, they hanged the entire male population of Deir Yassin in 1947 to drive the Palestinians out of their homes.
3. The Jews have established concentration camps, mostly in the desert which have been keeping Palestinian inmates and subjecting them to all kinds of humiliation.
4. Nazi Dr Mengele was using inmates for his experiments. The Jews are currently conducting experiments using all types of CIA-supplied chemical agents on Palestinian inmates.
5. Like the Gestapo, the Jews maintain torture chambers at Shabak and Shin Beit.
6. The Jews have set up an SS force and called it Israel Defence Force, IDF. The German SS stood for Staffel Schutz or defence squadron.
7. Like Hitler’s SS, Israel developed MOSSAD as a killing machine.
8. Like the German Wehrmacht, Israeli acquired and developed Panzers, U-Boots and Luftwaffe supplied with all types of weapons of mass destruction.
9. Like Hitler Germany, Israel prides itself of its technological development.
10. Many people differentiated between Germans and Nazis but slowly the line between them became very thin. Similarly, the Zionists and the Jews are two faces of the same coin.
11. The Jews have hired a number of Nazi-style Goebels spreading lies and disinformation.
While Hitler Nazi influence lasted from 1932 to 1945, the Jewish Nazi practices have been on-going since 1948.


Unlike JFK, Obama fell in the military trap!


Prior to the Vietnam war, the US military dominated by Generals from Texas, put pressure on Kennedy for sending more troops and for changing the mission from advise to combat. Kennedy didn't want the generals to dictate US foreign policy and refused the intimidation and the pressure. He was accused of being in-experienced and young. According to some, Kennedy was killed in Texas in order to make space for Texan L.B. Johnson to take over and to send troops to Vietnam. As it turned out, Vietnam was America worst nightmare. Right now, Obama is accepting under pressure to deploy more troops as requested by the US military generals. Those who don't learn from the lessons of history are apt to repeat their mistakes.





Adnan Darwash, Iraaq Occupation Times

Blast outside Indian embassy in Kabul kills 12

Thu Oct 8, 2009 6:44am EDT

By Yousuf Azimy

KABUL (Reuters) - A large bomb exploded outside the Indian embassy in central Kabul on Thursday, killing 12 people and wounding 83, officials said, in the second big attack on the mission in 15 months.

The blast tore through a market building across the street from the heavily fortified embassy compound, leaving rubble and debris strewn across the road, where the Afghan Interior Ministry is also located.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack. Violence has reached its worst levels of the eight-year war with Taliban insurgents spreading their attacks to previously secure areas.

Since the start of last year, militants in the capital have targeted the German embassy, the headquarters for the NATO-led force, the Information Ministry and the Justice Ministry buildings, the airport and a luxury hotel near the presidential palace.

India said its embassy had been the target of Thursday's attack but that all its staff were safe.

In July last year, the embassy was the scene of the war's deadliest attack on the capital. Then a Taliban suicide car bomber killed 58 people, including two senior Indian diplomats, and wounded a further 141.

"I believe the suicide bomb was directed against the embassy because the suicide bomber came up to the outside perimeter wall of the embassy with a car loaded with explosives obviously with the aim of targeting the embassy," Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao told reporters in India.

Rao said the blast was similar in size to the 2008 attack but that measures taken since then to secure the embassy had worked effectively in protecting its embassy staff.

The road, which is also home to the Interior Ministry and the Indonesian embassy, had been closed to traffic since the 2008 attack and was only reopened in the last few weeks. A large concrete blast barrier was erected down the center of the road.

Indian authorities blamed the Pakistani intelligence service for last year's blast.

Eleven civilians and one policeman were killed in Thursday's blast.

Mohammad Osman Shapor, a government employee was on his way to work when he was wounded by the blast. "I was on my way to work. Suddenly, I heard a bang near the Interior Ministry. The explosion threw me off my bicycle and I was unconscious," Shapor said from a hospital bed in central Kabul.

MORE TROOPS?

As mounting violence grips the country, U.S. President Barack Obama is considering whether to send up to 40,000 more troops to Afghanistan as requested by his top commander there, General Stanley McChrystal.

On Wednesday, the Pentagon confirmed Obama had received McChrystal's request for more troops, moving him a step closer to a long-awaited decision on a new military build-up.

It was unclear how long the president would take to act on the troop request but pressure has been mounting on Obama for weeks to make a swift decision.

There are now more than 100,000 Western troops serving in Afghanistan, two-thirds of them American. This year has been the deadliest for foreign troops in the country and the rise in casualties is eroding public support for the war.

The Taliban have made a comeback in recent years and appear to be gaining in strength. On Wednesday, the militants claimed to have hoisted their flag in a remote district in the east of the country, where days earlier they had inflicted the deadliest battlefield casualties on U.S. troops in more than a year.

Hundreds of militants stormed two remote outposts in eastern Nuristan province on Saturday, killing eight U.S. and two Afghan troops. U.S. forces said they still had troops in the area and were conducting normal operations. They said they killed more than 100 fighters in the ensuing 13-hour battle.

A spokesman for the U.S. military said they planned to withdraw troops from the area in plans announced before the attack. The plans are part of McChrystal's new strategy to concentrate troops in more populated areas.

(Additional reporting by Sayed Salahuddin and Jonathon Burch, Krittivas Mukherjee in NEW DELHI and Phil Stewart and Adam Entous in WASHINGTON; Writing by Jonathon Burch; Editing by Jeremy Laurence)

5 risks to watch for in the Middle East

01 Oct 2009 08:31:31 GMT
Source: Reuters
By Alistair Lyon, Special Correspondent

BEIRUT, Oct 1 (Reuters) - From Iran's nuclear ambitions to the fallout from the financial crisis in the Gulf, the Middle East offers several risks that could affect wider world markets.

IRAN - NUCLEAR DISCLOSURE HEIGHTENS TENSION

Iran opened talks in Geneva on Thursday with the United States and five other major powers which will demand immediate, unfettered access to a newly declared Iranian nuclear facility. [ID:nNWLA4687]

Tehran denies Western charges that it broke international rules by failing to notify the International Atomic Energy Agency earlier about a heavily guarded uranium enrichment site carved into a mountain at a former Revolutionary Guard missile base near the holy city of Qom.

But Iran's admission last week of the plant's existence has heightened fears that the world's fifth biggest oil exporter is seeking a nuclear bomb, not just nuclear energy as it maintains.

If the Geneva talks fail, the United States may seek tougher international sanctions or impose harsher unilateral measures. Any U.S. or Israeli military action to try to halt Iranian nuclear work could have devastating knock-on effects given Iran's regional clout and proximity to Gulf oil export routes.

That remains the key regional risk for most investors, who have largely shrugged off Iran's internal political turmoil that rumbles on nearly four months after a disputed presidential election won by hardline incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

IRAQ - EYES ON ELECTION, U.S. WITHDRAWAL

Security has improved after ferocious Sunni-Shi'ite violence in 2006-07 pushed Iraq close to civil war, although recent bombings blamed on al Qaeda have raised concerns over the ability of Iraqi security forces to keep control as the remaining 126,000 U.S troops withdraw by the end of 2011.

The Pentagon now sees a chief risk to Iraq's future in the unyielding claims from minority Kurds to the northern oil city of Kirkuk and other disputed areas, which could set off a destabilising conflict with the Arab-led government in Baghdad.

The most immediate threat is that political jostling ahead of Iraq's first national elections in four years, scheduled for Januray 2010, will tilt Iraq back into greater violence. The stakes will be high as Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki is expected to take on powerful former allies from Iraq's Shi'ite majority.

The government wants investors to revamp Iraq's economy and oil industry, but foreign cash has been deterred by concerns over corruption as well as security, legal and regulatory risks.

Iraq will offer 10 oil and gas fields at auction late this year, another chance for oil majors to compete for access to the world's third largest reserves. But many were aghast when the Iraqis, offering far lower returns than firms were seeking, awarded only one of eight fields at the first bid round in June. [ID:nL3485394]

ISRAEL-PALESTINIANS - OBAMA'S PEACE EFFORT

Hosting the first meeting between Israeli and Palestinian leaders since Benjamin Netanyahu became Israel's prime minister in March, Obama said negotiations on a "permanent status" deal to end over 60 years of conflict must begin soon.

Israel views the threat of a nuclear-armed Iran as a higher priority than peace with its neighbours. Any Israeli attack on Iran could start a war likely to suck in Lebanon and Syria.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is to report on efforts to renew Israeli-Palestinian talks in mid-October. Special envoy George Mitchell is due back in the region this week.

Obama eased demands that Israel halt settlement activity before talks, calling only for "restraint", no longer a "freeze" -- something Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas still wants.

Abbas wants negotiations to resume where they left off a year ago with Netanyahu's predecessor, who Palestinians say seemed close to offering them part of Jerusalem and sovereignty over most of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Netanyahu endorses no such concessions. He says that with Abbas's Hamas Islamist rivals running Gaza and with Abbas still demanding a return of Palestinian refugees and a share of Jerusalem, there is no way to negotiate a final settlement and end to Israeli occupation.

Instead he offers talks on improving mutual security and the economy in the West Bank. While Netanyahu's pro-settler allies might support that, Abbas has ruled out interim negotiations.

Abbas allies warn of a risk of violence if Israel does not change its stance. But Netanyahu says his focus is on Iran.

Obama is pressing his Arab allies, also concerned about Iran, to make gestures toward ending Israel's regional isolation to encourage Israel to negotiate. That track too is deadlocked.

For factors to watch between Israel and the Palestinians, click here [ID:nN22367440].

OIL PRICE RISE CHEERS GULF STATES; DEBT WORRIES PERSIST

Gulf economies will benefit from the oil price rise to $70 a barrel, which is above their budget forecast price, while public infrastructure spending should stimulate now-stuttering growth.

But scant transparency makes it hard to assess how exposed Gulf firms and sovereign wealth funds are to overseas markets.

The focus is on Saudi Arabia, the biggest Arab economy, where several Saudi family firms are embroiled in a debt crisis that has hit the kingdom's repute as an investment destination.

Saad Group [SAADG.UL] and Ahmad Hamd Algosaibi & Bros are fighting out several law suits in New York, rather than in Saudi Arabia, illustrating the need for reform of a clergy-dominated judiciary which lacks consistency in applying the law.

Saad has brokered a deal with local banks to reschedule debt, bankers said on Sept. 17. But questions remain over how international creditors will fare.

The Saudi bourse allows limited share ownership, but disclosure rules fall below standards of more mature markets.

Kuwait's lack of a market regulator and a parliamentary stalemate casts a pall over its efforts to lure investment.

In the United Arab Emirates, a property implosion plus debts burdening state-linked firms in Dubai will brake recovery in that emirate and compel Abu Dhabi, faring better as oil revenues pick up, to divert more federal resources to it. UAE interbank rates remain high by regional standards, stifling loan-making.

Ebbing investor confidence threatens Gulf banking, for example in Bahrain, where the central bank has seized two Bahrain-based lenders owned by Saad and Algosaibi. Qatar alone is weathering the financial crisis relatively well, insulated from oil price swings by its status as the world's biggest exporter of liquefied natural gas.

For the impact of the financial crisis on the Gulf region, click here [ID:nLN110886]

YEMEN -- FAILING STATE?

Impoverished Yemen is combating a renewed Shi'ite revolt in the north, where fighting has raged since the army launched "Operation Scorched Earth" last month, as well as separatist unrest in the south and intensified al Qaeda militancy.

Oil revenue sank to $803 million in the first seven months of this year from $3.12 billion in the same 2008 period due to lower world prices and a reduced state share in production.

This makes it even harder for President Ali Abdullah Saleh's government to cope with widespread poverty, runaway population growth, fast-depleting water resources and high unemployment.

If Yemen tipped further into instability, or even state failure, this could endanger its neighbours, especially Saudi Arabia, and complicate efforts to fight al Qaeda and protect international shipping routes from piracy in the Gulf of Aden.

Western alarm is growing. In a letter to Saleh this month, U.S. President Barack Obama said Yemen's security was vital to that of the United States and the region. He offered to help Yemeni efforts on counter-terrorism, development and reforms.

Aid agencies warn of a humanitarian crisis in the north, where up to 150,000 people have fled their homes since Shi'ite tribesmen known locally as the Houthis launched an insurgency in 2004. [ID:nLM252909]

For recent stories on Yemen, click here [ID:nLO586625] (Additional writing by Alastair Macdonald in Jerusalem, Ulf Laessing in Riyadh and Missy Ryan in Baghdad)

The family of Lebanese Christian Georges Abu Madi, mourn by his coffin during his funeral at his hometown in al-Fraidiss village in mount Lebanon

The family of Lebanese Christian Georges Abu Madi, mourn by his coffin during his funeral at his hometown in al-Fraidiss village in mount Lebanon, October 7, 2009. Georges Abu Madi, 31 years old, was stabbed to death on Tuesday evening in Ain al-Rumaneh district, an area that has witnessed sectarian tensions between Christians and Shiite Muslims. REUTERS/Sharif Karim (LEBANON CONFLICT POLITICS OBITUARY)

Can your pants size predict your cancer risk?

By Michelle Rizzo Michelle Rizzo – Tue Oct 6, 2:45 pm ET

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Your pants size might help gauge your risk of developing certain cancers, regardless of how much you actually weigh, Dutch researchers report.

A large waist and wide hips signal accumulation of so-called "intra-abdominal fat" -- the particularly harmful deep "hidden" fat that surrounds the abdominal organs and is linked to type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease.

"It has been hypothesized that clothing size is related to physique, and it was recently reported that clothing size appears to be a strong surrogate for obesity and intra-abdominal fat," Dr. Laura A. E. Hughes, of Maastricht University, the Netherlands, and colleagues note in the journal Epidemiology.

Using information on nearly 2500 men and women enrolled in a large study of diet and cancer, the researchers validated ties between a person's clothing size and waist and hip size and their body mass index - a standard measure used to tell how fat or thin a person is.

Trouser and skirt size correlated well with waist and hip circumference measurements in men and women, the investigators report.

Hughes and colleagues next looked at whether clothing size could predict cancer risk.

With an average follow up period of roughly 13 years, they found that, in women, bigger skirt size predicted greater risk of endometrial cancer, while in men, bigger trouser size predicted greater risk of kidney cancer in men.

These findings suggest that "clothing size reflects a fat distribution different from that indicated by weight and height," Hughes said in an interview with Reuters Health.

"Our results suggest that clothing size is a useful measure to predict cancer risk in studies where waist circumference is not available,"

she said.

"Furthermore, it may be useful for future epidemiologic studies to collect clothing sizes in addition to weight and height, especially in populations where obtaining waist circumference is culturally problematic or challenging because of extreme obesity," she added.

"For researchers interested in using clothing size prospectively as a proxy for change in waist circumference," Dr. Hughes added, "it is important to realize that phenomena such as 'vanity sizing' in the modern clothing industry may bias results if not adequately addressed."

SOURCE: Epidemiology, September 2009.

Thousands of Hotmail passwords leaked online

It was a phishing scam, so if the users were redirected to a "hotmail" page that asked for their password, they'd be able to grab the whole thing.

--------


Tom Warren 8 hours ago · 159 comments & 98915 views

Neowin has received information regarding a possible Windows Live Hotmail "hack" or phishing scheme where password details of thousands of Hotmail accounts have been posted online.

An anonymous user posted details of the accounts on October 1 at pastebin.com, a site commonly used by developers to share code snippets. The details have since been removed but Neowin has seen part of the list posted and can confirm the accounts are genuine and most appear to be based in Europe. The list details over 10,000 accounts starting from A through to B, suggesting there could be additional lists. Currently it appears only accounts used to access Microsoft's Windows Live Hotmail have been posted, this includes @hotmail.com, @msn.com and @live.com accounts.

Neowin has reported this immediately to Microsoft's Security Response Center and to Microsoft's PR teams in the UK and US and we are currently awaiting feedback on the situation. As this is a breaking story please check back frequently as the story will be updated as soon as more information becomes available.

If you are a Windows Live Hotmail user Neowin recommends that you change your password and security question immediately.

Thanks to Chris for the news tip

Update: According to BBC News, Microsoft is currently "investigating the situation and will take appropriate steps as rapidly as possible."

Update 2: Microsoft has now fully confirmed our reports. According to a Microsoft spokesperson "over the weekend Microsoft learned that several thousand Windows Live Hotmail customer's credentials were exposed on a third-party site due to a likely phishing scheme. Upon learning of the issue, we immediately requested that the credentials be removed and launched an investigation to determine the impact to customers. As part of that investigation, we determined that this was not a breach of internal Microsoft data and initiated our standard process of working to help customers regain control of their accounts."


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They probably used one of those online web-messengers or similar scam (I have seen one where you get an IM from a friend asking to go to a URL, the URL asks for WLM login details, you login and then it logs into WLM as you and spams the URL to all of those friends, and so on). They then probably stripped out the non @hotmail.com addresses to make it look like a Hotmail hack.

I believe this because I don't think that a high profile site like Hotmail with so much login and private information would store passwords in clear text (even if they had a nightmare implementation switching from BSD/Sun to Windows) when even the most basic websites do not do that. It does however leave open the possibility that the passwords could have been intercepted or the code tampered with, but I find this to be unlikely.

This is either a list of phished accounts or the result of a keylogger going round. Unless you've entered your email and password on a fake Hotmail/Xbox Live/Zune/etc. page or downloaded a keylogger, you're safe. You can't "hack" into Microsoft and get thousands of logins. I know for a fact that there are loads of Xbox Live phishing websites going around.
- Pay attention to what site you are logging into.
- Pay attention to what runs on your computer. Keep your software up to date.
- Pay attention to your protection. If you're using XP, that means having malware scanners, virus scanners, a second malware scanner, etc. If you're using Vista/Win7, keep UAC on.


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Gmail users latest victims of email scam

Google email users have become the latest victims in an “industry-wide” phishing attack scheme, which has affected thousands of people across several web based services.


By Emma Barnett, Technology and Digital Media Correspondent
Published: 4:47PM BST 06 Oct 2009
Gmail users latest victims of email scam: Gmail users latest victims of email scam
An industry-wide phishing scam has affected thousands of email users with Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo and AOL accounts.

The search engine company confirmed that fewer than 500 of its Gmail users have been affected and immediate action has been taken to force all of those attacked to reset their passwords.

A Google spokesperson said: “We recently became aware of an industry-wide phishing scheme through which hackers gained user credentials for web-based mail accounts including Gmail accounts. As soon as we learned of the attack, we forced password resets on the affected accounts. We will continue to force password resets on additional accounts when we become aware of them.”

Only yesterday Microsoft also confirmed that a phishing attack was to blame for the 10,000 Hotmail passwords posted online. However, both Microsoft and Google have firmly stressed that the attacks have not breached their own respective security systems. Instead the way a phishing attack works is by hackers and cybercriminals tricking individual web users into clicking on links that take them through to a legitimate-looking site that prompts them for their login or password details. That information is then fed back to hackers.

However, according to BBC reports, a further 20,000 email addresses and passwords were also released online, which included people with Gmail, Yahoo, and AOL accounts.

The leak of people’s personal email accounts first came to light on Monday, when technology website, Neowin, discovered a list of more than 10,000 Hotmail addresses and passwords posted on a website called Pastebin. It has since been removed.

Tom Warren, one of Neowin’s writers, also confirmed that the attacks had stretched beyond Gmail and Hotmail accounts – with users of other popular US web based email services such as Comcast and Earthlink – having been affected too.

Lukas Oberhuber, chief technical officer, at the Forward Internet Group, said: "Phishing attacks, such as the one that has now spread to Gmail, are almost impossible to stop because they convince victims they are inputting their private details into a safe website. It's all about convincing people, which scammers have been doing forever.

"Banks have done much more to protect against phishing than consumer websites such as Hotmail, Gmail and Facebook. They've introduced measures such as onscreen keyboards and requesting security questions, so that an attacker might not get all the login details. However, all an attacker needs to do is create a fake website and many of the security measures are defeated.

"The online industry is attempting to educate the public on the dangers of phishing. But every site handles security differently. Ironically, Microsoft's own form to recover a hotmail account from the recent phishing attack looks exactly like a phishing form, requesting details such as date of birth and credit card expiry date.”

Foreigner among 5 perish in UN office suicide blast

Updated at: 1510 PST, Monday, October 05, 2009
ISLAMABAD: Five people including two women and a foreigner and four injured in a bomb blast at UN’s World Food Programme office, said Senior Superintendent Police, Tahir Alam Khan, here at WFP office while talking to journalists.

The SSP said the dead included Mrs. Gul Mukhtar, who was a receptionist, Mrs. Farzana Barkat, an Assistant at WFP and a foreigner Boton Ali, an Iraqi national.

He said the security arrangements were satisfactory at WFP office but said, “It was a well planned blast”. He added that the nature of blast still could not be confirmed. Tahir Alam said the bomb blast occurred at the office near reception at 12noon.

“We are getting the list of employees and visitors to investigate everything properly and relief activities are underway,” he said.

The SSP said that as many as 100 employees work in the office, adding that all died and injured persons were shifted to hospital.

To a question whether it was a parcel bomb, he said that “We are still in process of investigation and every thing would be checked properly.”

Interior minister Rehman Malik also confirmed four Pakistanis and one Iraqi national were killed Monday in a suicide blast inside a United Nations office in the heart of the capital Islamabad.

"According to the latest reports, five people have been martyred -- one of them is an Iraqi national. Four people have been injured, all of them are Pakistanis," Interior Minister Rehman Malik told reporters.

Initially, police had already confirmed that two Pakistani women and one Iraqi man, all staff members of the World Food Programme, had died in the blast.

Interior Minister also constituted a joint investigation team, headed by DIG police, for determination of responsible culprits who carried out blasts.

The blast raises questions as to how the bomber managed to evade tight security at the heavily fortified offices of the World Food Program. It could also hamper the work of WFP and other aid agencies assisting Pakistanis displaced by army offensives against al-Qaida and the Taliban in their strongholds close to the Afghan border.

The blast Monday shattered windows in the lobby of the compound in an up market residential area of Islamabad and left victims lying on the ground in pools of blood, witnesses said.

“There was a huge bang and something hit me. I fell on the floor bleeding,'' said Adam Motiwala, an information officer at the U.N. agency who was hospitalized with injuries to his head, leg and ribs.

Police official Bin Yamin said the attacker, who was between 22and 26 years old, detonated his explosives in the lobby, killing three people, including an Iraqi working for the WFP. The two other dead were Pakistani women. Several others were injured, two of them critically, the WFP said in a statement.

“This is a terrible tragedy for WFP, and for the whole humanitarian community in Pakistan,'' said WFP Deputy Executive Director, Amir Abdulla, speaking from the agency's headquarters in Rome.


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

By Kamran Haider

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - A suicide bomber dressed as a paramilitary soldier attacked an office of the U.N. World Food Program (WFP) in the Pakistani capital on Monday killing five people and wounding several, officials said.

Pakistan is battling Islamist militants who have set off numerous bombs in towns and cities aimed at the security forces and government and foreign targets.

"I went to my office on the first floor and as I sat on my chair there was a huge blast," WFP official Arshad Jadoon told Reuters outside the tightly guarded office in a residential area of Islamabad.

"All of a sudden, a smoke cloud enveloped the building and we came out where wounded people were lying," Jadoon said.

Officials at city hospitals said five people had been killed.

The blast led to a brief spate of selling at Pakistan's main stock market.

"There was slight profit-taking immediately after the news broke but the market quickly recovered," said Sajid Bhanji, a dealer at brokers Arif Habib Ltd.

Police said one foreigner, an Iraqi, was among the dead while the WFP said three of its staff had been killed and several wounded.

The United Nations temporarily closed its office in Pakistan after the blast for security reasons, a U.N. spokeswoman said.

Two foreign U.N. workers were killed in a suicide car bomb attack on a hotel in the northwestern city of Peshawar in June.

The army has made progress against militants in the northwest and Interior Minister Rehman Malik says the back of the Pakistani Taliban has been broken.

But the militants have struck back with several bomb attacks in recent days as the army prepares to launch an offensive on the Pakistani Taliban's main bastion in the South Waziristan region on the Afghan border.

The bomber was disguised as a paramilitary soldier and got into the WFP compound after asking a guard at the gate if he could use a toilet, Malik told reporters at the scene.

"They are like a wounded snake," Malik said. "We expected they would attack some specific places to put the government under pressure."

MORE BOMBS EXPECTED

Captured militants had told interrogators some bombers had been sent off on missions last month, Mali said. "So in coming days, two or three suicide bombings are expected," he said.

Malik said the bombers were trying to destabilize the country but the nation was united against them.

"In a matter of a few days we'll take action against them as we took in Swat, Bajaur and Mohmand," Malik said, referring to three northwestern areas where the security forces have attacked and pushed back the militants. He did not elaborate.

The WFP provides food to millions of impoverished Pakistanis.

The agency was recently involved in providing relief to about 2 million people displaced by an army offensive against militants in the Swat valley.

"This is a terrible tragedy for WFP, and for the whole humanitarian community in Pakistan," said WFP Deputy Executive Director Amir Abdulla, speaking from agency headquarters in Rome.

There was no claim of responsibility for Monday's attack on the WFP office, which is several hundreds meters (yards) from the Islamabad home of President Asif Ali Zardari.

Zardari moved into the official presidential residence soon after his election last year for security reasons. (Additional reporting by Zeeshan Haider and Sahar Ahmed; Writing by Robert Birsel; Editing by Jerry Norton)

Obama's World: This time a shoe thrower shot to death

September 18, 2009
This time a shoe thrower was shot and later he died


A resident of Fallujah.



A man who lived through the "cleansing" of Fallujah by occupation forces. Two battles - not one.

He saw his city burn, his friends killed, his neighbours maimed.

His mind broke, and he became imbalanced.

He roamed the streets with long unkempt hair, disheveled clothes and a wild look in his eyes.

Whenever he saw an American military convoy pass, he would shake his fists in the air and raise his voice and swear at them. He would sometimes pick up a pebble and hurl it at them.



On Wednesday he took of his sandal and threw it at a passing American military convoy.

The answer was bullet shots in his lung, very close to his heart.

Iraqi police took him to the general hospital in the city. The doctors all but gave up on him saying the injury was too close to his heart and that his lungs were in bad condition. One doctor took the chance and decided to perform the surgery, and succeeded.



Now the man from Fallujah is lying between life and death. His brother looks on, "He was a very gentle man, the best auto electrician in the city – but the war affected him in this way. He lost his mind because of the horror of what he saw. What we went through left no man or woman unchanged."

The man from Fallujah who was driven to madness by the war, picked up his sandle and threw it at an American military convoy, Wednesday - and they "returnrd fire in self defence", injuring him seriously.

He died, Thursday, in hospital.

His brother looked on, "Maybe now he is at peace."

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad revealed to have Jewish roots

Ahmadinejad showing papers during election. It shows that his family's previous name was Jewish


Mahmoud Ahmadinejad revealed to have Jewish past
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's vitriolic attacks on the Jewish world hide an astonishing secret, evidence uncovered by The Daily Telegraph shows.


By Damien McElroy and Ahmad Vahdat
Published: 7:30AM BST 03 Oct 2009



A photograph of the Iranian president holding up his identity card during elections in March 2008 clearly shows his family has Jewish roots.

A close-up of the document reveals he was previously known as Sabourjian – a Jewish name meaning cloth weaver.

The short note scrawled on the card suggests his family changed its name to Ahmadinejad when they converted to embrace Islam after his birth.

The Sabourjians traditionally hail from Aradan, Mr Ahmadinejad's birthplace, and the name derives from "weaver of the Sabour", the name for the Jewish Tallit shawl in Persia. The name is even on the list of reserved names for Iranian Jews compiled by Iran's Ministry of the Interior.

Experts last night suggested Mr Ahmadinejad's track record for hate-filled attacks on Jews could be an overcompensation to hide his past.

Ali Nourizadeh, of the Centre for Arab and Iranian Studies, said: "This aspect of Mr Ahmadinejad's background explains a lot about him.

"Every family that converts into a different religion takes a new identity by condemning their old faith.

"By making anti-Israeli statements he is trying to shed any suspicions about his Jewish connections. He feels vulnerable in a radical Shia society."

A London-based expert on Iranian Jewry said that "jian" ending to the name specifically showed the family had been practising Jews.

"He has changed his name for religious reasons, or at least his parents had," said the Iranian-born Jew living in London. "Sabourjian is well known Jewish name in Iran."

A spokesman for the Israeli embassy in London said it would not be drawn on Mr Ahmadinejad's background. "It's not something we'd talk about," said Ron Gidor, a spokesman.

The Iranian leader has not denied his name was changed when his family moved to Tehran in the 1950s. But he has never revealed what it was change from or directly addressed the reason for the switch.

Relatives have previously said a mixture of religious reasons and economic pressures forced his blacksmith father Ahmad to change when Mr Ahmadinejad was aged four.

The Iranian president grew up to be a qualified engineer with a doctorate in traffic management. He served in the Revolutionary Guards militia before going on to make his name in hardline politics in the capital.

During this year's presidential debate on television he was goaded to admit that his name had changed but he ignored the jibe.

However Mehdi Khazali, an internet blogger, who called for an investigation of Mr Ahmadinejad's roots was arrested this summer.

Mr Ahmadinejad has regularly levelled bitter criticism at Israel, questioned its right to exist and denied the Holocaust. British diplomats walked out of a UN meeting last month after the Iranian president denounced Israel's 'genocide, barbarism and racism.'

Benjamin Netanyahu made an impassioned denunciation of the Iranian leader at the same UN summit. "Yesterday, the man who calls the Holocaust a lie spoke from this podium," he said. "A mere six decades after the Holocaust, you give legitimacy to a man who denies the murder of six million Jews while promising to wipe out the State of Israel, the State of the Jews. What a disgrace. What a mockery of the charter of the United Nations."

Mr Ahmadinejad has been consistently outspoken about the Nazi attempt to wipe out the Jewish race. "They have created a myth today that they call the massacre of Jews and they consider it a principle above God, religions and the prophets," he declared at a conference on the holocaust staged in Tehran in 2006.

Eight U.S. troops killed in E. Afghan battle

04 Oct 2009 04:52:57 GMT
Source: Reuters
KABUL, Oct. 4 (Reuters) - Eight U.S. troops were killed in day of fighting in the remote east of Afghanistan near the Pakistan border, after fighters launched a "complex" attack, a military spokeswoman said on Sunday.

Captain Elizabeth Mathias said fighting raged through Saturday in Nuristan province after the attack.

By Amin Jalali

ASADABAD, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Insurgents stormed remote Afghan outposts near the Pakistani border, killing eight U.S. troops and cutting off scores of Afghan police, officials said on Sunday, in the deadliest battle in more than a year.

NATO said at least two Afghan soldiers died along with the eight Americans. Afghan provincial authorities said they had lost contact with scores of Afghan policemen after the day-long attack and did not know whether they were dead or alive.

The fighting took place in Nuristan province's Kamdesh district in high mountains along the eastern border with Pakistan on Saturday but was not reported until Sunday.

The battle showed the ferocity of the insurgency in a part of the country that U.S. forces have decided to abandon after years of heavy fighting. The troops had already announced plans to withdraw from the area as part of commander General Stanley McChrystal's strategy to focus his forces on population centers.

Militia from a local mosque and a nearby village launched the attacks on two joint NATO and Afghan outposts, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force said. The NATO troops in the area are American.

"My heart goes out to the families of those we have lost and to their fellow soldiers who remained to finish the fight," Colonel Randy George, commander of the U.S. force in the eastern mountain area bordering Pakistan, said in the statement.

"This was a complex attack in a difficult area. Both the U.S. and Afghan soldiers fought bravely together. I am extremely proud of their professionalism and bravery."

As the battle raged, foreign troops sent in F-16 jet fighters and Apache helicopter gunships to help the forces caught in the battle, a spokeswoman for the U.S. military said.

A Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, said the movement was behind the attack. He claimed that dozens of Afghan soldiers and police were killed along with Western troops.

Fighters captured 35 police during the battle and their fate would be decided by the movement's provincial council, he added.

Because of the loss of contact, Afghan authorities could give no firm figures for the number of their police who were killed.

The province's deputy police chief Mohammad Farooq said the fate of an entire 90-strong police force in the Kamdesh district was unknown. Hundreds of militants, including foreign nationals based in Pakistan, were involved in the attack, Farooq said.

NATO said its troops had inflicted heavy casualties on the attackers, but did not say how many.

Mujahid said seven Taliban were killed as a result of an air attack summoned by foreign troops during the 13 hours of battle. He said the Taliban attack included several suicide bombers, explosions and fighters storming the posts.

NEW STRATEGY

The attack was the deadliest for U.S. forces since nine were killed in a July 2008 battle in nearby Kunar province, which the U.S. military is investigating as a debacle that will teach its forces how to understand the demands of combat in Afghanistan.

U.S. forces have suffered some of their worst casualties in the east, where they have tried to control remote mountain passes used by Taliban fighters as infiltration routes from Pakistan.

Separately in the east, one U.S. service member died of wounds suffered from a bomb on Saturday, NATO said.

Nearly 400 Western troops have died this year in Afghanistan, by far the deadliest year of the war launched in response to the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States. More Western troops have died this year than in the entire period from 2001-2005.

Under McChrystal's new counter-insurgency strategy they are supposed to move into more heavily populated areas to protect the population and reduce the influence of insurgents, while abandoning efforts to defend remote locations.

Saturday's attack would not alter NATO forces' plans to leave the area, the alliance said.

The war in Afghanistan has reached its most violent phase, with attacks by fighters spreading from traditional strongholds in the south and east to the once-peaceful west and north.

McChrystal, who now commands more than 100,000 troops, two thirds of them American, has requested tens of thousands more to implement his new strategy, warning that without them, the eight-year-old war will probably be lost.

(Additional reporting by Hamid Shalizi, Peter Graff and Sayed Salahuddin in KABUL; Writing by Peter Graff and Sayed Salahuddin; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)

Iraqi PM ditches old Shi'ite allies for Jan polls

01 Oct 2009 16:45:58 GMT
Source: Reuters
* Iraqi PM's new coalition to compete against former allies

* Leaves door open to working with other political groups

(Adds analyst comments in paragraph 18)

By Suadad al-Salhy and Muhanad Mohammed

BAGHDAD, Oct 1 (Reuters) - Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki announced on Thursday a new coalition that will run against former Shi'ite Muslim allies in January's national elections, raising the prospect of intra-sectarian strife.

Analysts said Maliki's State of Law coalition appeared more inclusive of Iraqi minorities than a rival alliance headed by other powerful Shi'ite parties, and would be a strong contender in what are expected to be hotly contested polls.

"The birth of State of Law represents an historic milestone and development in establishing a modern Iraq built on peaceful, nationalist principles," Maliki said.

Ambitions to bring about such a turning point for Iraq's fragile democracy will be tested in the first general election since 2005, which takes place just as U.S. troops prepare to withdraw and local forces seek to defeat a stubborn insurgency.

A smooth vote may help consolidate security gains, but many fear friction among Shi'ite parties may spark greater violence.

Maliki's Dawa party, which was part of a broad Shi'ite alliance that swept to power after 2005 polls and has dominated majority Shi'ite Iraq since, has chosen not to join the recently formed, mostly Shi'ite, Iraqi National Alliance (INA).

The INA is headed by the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (ISCI), a powerful Shi'ite party which has close ties to Iran.

Those close to the prime minister say Maliki, spurning calls to join the INA, wanted a broader coalition including a greater number of minority Sunni Arabs and Kurds, which might give him a better chance of winning a second term.

POST ELECTION ALLIANCE?

ISCI member Mohammed al-Bayati and analysts said there could be some form of partnership between the INA and State of Law after the election results are known.

"We wish them success ... A national front will be formed in the next parliament in participation with the INA," Bayati said.

Iraqi political groupings are fluid and alliances have shifted dramatically in the past.

"No side is likely to get a majority, and there will be a need for partnerships after the results. Such talk before then is difficult because I think there will be heated competition," said Hameed Fadhel, an analyst at Baghdad University.

Maliki, whose Shi'ite Islamist Dawa party was founded in the 1950s, is trying to rebrand himself as a nationalist and claim credit for a sharp drop in violence in Iraq.

Another reason Maliki may have spurned the INA is a belief it gave ISCI too much clout relative to the party's support, which has ebbed since 2005. Maliki also may have declined to join the INA because it refused to guarantee him a second term.

Analysts said Maliki's coalition of 40 groups, which appears to include more minorities than the INA, was a strong contender.

"This coalition will win if it runs alone, because the Sunnis have joined them in force ... Maliki's chances are strong in this coalition," said political analyst Mazin al-Shammari.

"SECOND-BEST LEFTOVERS"

However, in facing off against ISCI Maliki will battle a well-funded and well-organised party. His group also lacks several Iraqi political heavy-hitters who have not yet joined a coalition and whose support could be crucial.

"The roster of parties that were reported today as actually having signed up for the new State of Law coalition evinced a certain air of being second-best leftovers," analyst Reidar Visser of www.historiae.org said on his website.

Maliki, who has shaken off an image of weakness to emerge as a forceful figure in Iraq, alarmed his political partners when he made wide gains in provincial polls this past January.

The split in Maliki and ISCI's Shi'ite political bloc is likely to boost tensions in a country still plagued by violence.

Yet it could also mark a maturing of Iraq's democracy if there was a credible shift away from the sectarian and identity politics which has defined Iraq's legislative system to date.

The INA includes the movement of the fiery anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and a few Kurds and Sunnis.

The State of Law coalition includes Maliki's Dawa party, Shi'ite Kurds, Sunni tribal sheikhs and independents. (Additional reporting by Khalid al-Ansary, writing by Mohammed Abbas: Editing by Missy Ryan and Myra MacDonald)