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Easter, The Pope & A Muslim Converts to Christianity

2008-03-23T22:13:00.000-04:00

By Philip Pullella
Reuters Sunday, March 23, 2008; 1:27 PM
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict called in his Easter message on Sunday for an end to injustice worldwide and expressed joy at continuing conversions to Christianity hours after he baptized a prominent Italian Muslim convert.
The pope celebrated an Easter Mass for tens of thousands of people in driving rain in St Peter's Square as Christians around the world commemorated Christ's resurrection.
The wind and rain that has whipped most of Europe did not spare Rome as the German pontiff, wearing white and gold vestments, said Mass while the crowd huddled under umbrellas.
The mass came some 12 hours after an Easter vigil service on Saturday night where, in a surprise move, the pope baptized Muslim-born convert Magdi Allam, 55, an outspoken journalist and fierce critic of Islamic extremism.
At the morning Mass, the pope read a prayer saying that after Christ's resurrection some 2,000 years ago "thousands and thousands of people converted to the Christian faith" and he added: "This is a miracle that still renews itself today."
The Egyptian-born Allam's conversion to Christianity -- he took the name "Christian" for his baptism -- was kept secret until the Vatican disclosed it in a statement less than an hour before the Saturday night service began.
Allam, who is a strong supporter of Israel and who an Israeli newspaper once called a "Muslim Zionist," has lived under police protection following threats against him, particularly after he criticized Iran's position on Israel.
Writing in Sunday's edition of the leading Corriere della Sera, the newspaper of which he is a deputy director, Allam said he realized that he was in greater danger but he has no regrets.
"INNATE EVIL"
Allam wrote: "... the root of evil is innate in an Islam that is physiologically violent and historically conflictual."
His conversion, which he called "the happiest day of my life," came just two days after al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden accused the pope of being part of a "new crusade" against Islam.
The Vatican appeared to be at pains to head off criticism from the Islamic world about the conversion of Allam, who defended the pope in 2006 when the pontiff made a speech that many Muslims perceived as depicting Islam as a violent faith.
"Conversion is a private matter, a personal thing and we hope that the baptism will not be interpreted negatively by Islam," Cardinal Giovanni Re told an Italian newspaper.
Still, Allam's highly public baptism by the pope shocked Italy's Muslim community, with some leaders openly questioning why the Vatican chose to shine such a big spotlight it.
"What amazes me is the high profile the Vatican has given this conversion," Yaha Sergio Yahe Pallavicini, vice-president of the Italian Islamic Religious Community, told Reuters. "Why could he have not done this in his local parish?"
In his twice-yearly "Urbi et Orbi" (to the city and the world) message delivered after the Mass, the pope decried "the many wounds that continue to disfigure humanity in our own day."
"These are the scourges of humanity, open and festering in every corner of the planet, although they are often ignored and sometimes deliberately concealed; wounds that torture the souls and bodies of countless of our brothers and sisters," he said.
He called for "an active commitment to justice ... in areas bloodied by conflict and wherever the dignity of the human person continues to be scorned and trampled," mentioning Darfur, Somalia, the Holy Land, Iraq, Lebanon and Tibet.
He then wished the world a happy Easter in 63 languages.

Obama's Speech: A Brilliant Fraud

2008-03-21T06:49:00.001-04:00

By Charles Krauthammer
Friday, March 21, 2008; Page A17

The beauty of a speech is that you don't just give the answers, you provide your own questions. "Did I ever hear him make remarks that could be considered controversial while I sat in church? Yes." So said Barack Obama, in his Philadelphia speech about his pastor, friend, mentor and spiritual adviser of 20 years, Jeremiah Wright.

An interesting, if belated, admission. But the more important question is: which"controversial" remarks?

Wright's assertion from the pulpit that the U.S. government invented HIV "as a means of genocide against people of color"? Wright's claim that America was morally responsible for Sept. 11 -- "chickens coming home to roost" -- because of, among other crimes, Hiroshima and Nagasaki? (Obama says he missed church that day. Had he never heard about it?) What about the charge that the U.S. government (of Franklin Roosevelt, mind you) knew about Pearl Harbor, but lied about it? Or that the government gives drugs to black people, presumably to enslave and imprison them?

Obama condemns such statements as wrong and divisive, then frames the next question: "There will no doubt be those for whom my statements of condemnation are not enough. Why associate myself with Reverend Wright in the first place, they may ask? Why not join another church?"

But that is not the question. The question is why didn't he leave that church? Why didn't he leave -- why doesn't he leave even today -- a pastor who thundered not once but three times from the pulpit (on a DVD the church proudly sells) "God damn America"? Obama's 5,000-word speech, fawned over as a great meditation on race, is little more than an elegantly crafted, brilliantly sophistic justification of that scandalous dereliction.

His defense rests on two central propositions: (a) moral equivalence and (b) white guilt.

(a) Moral equivalence. Sure, says Obama, there's Wright, but at the other "end of the spectrum" there's Geraldine Ferraro, opponents of affirmative action and his own white grandmother, "who once confessed her fear of black men who passed by her on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe." But did she shout them in a crowded theater to incite, enrage and poison others?

"I can no more disown [Wright] than I can my white grandmother." What exactly was Grandma's offense? Jesse Jackson himself once admitted to the fear he feels from the footsteps of black men on the street. And Harry Truman was known to use epithets for blacks and Jews in private, yet is revered for desegregating the armed forces and recognizing the first Jewish state since Jesus's time. He never spread racial hatred. Nor did Grandma.

Yet Obama compares her to Wright. Does he not see the moral difference between the occasional private expression of the prejudices of one's time and the use of a public stage to spread racial lies and race hatred?

(b) White guilt. Obama's purpose in the speech was to put Wright's outrages in context. By context, Obama means history. And by history, he means the history of white racism. Obama says, "We do not need to recite here the history of racial injustice in this country," and then he proceeds to do precisely that. What lies at the end of his recital of the long train of white racial assaults from slavery to employment discrimination? Jeremiah Wright, of course.

This contextual analysis of Wright's venom, this extenuation of black hate speech as a product of white racism, is not new. It's the Jesse Jackson politics of racial grievance, expressed in Ivy League diction and Harvard Law nuance. That's why the speech made so many liberal commentators swoon: It bathed them in racial guilt while flattering their intellectual pretensions. An unbeatable combination.

But Obama was supposed to be new. He flatters himself as a man of the future transcending the anger of the past as represented by his beloved pastor. Obama then waxes rhapsodic about the hope brought by the new consciousness of the young people in his campaign. Then answer this, Senator: If Wright is a man of the past, why would you expose your children to his vitriolic divisiveness? This is a man who curses America and who proclaimed moral satisfaction in the deaths of 3,000 innocents at a time when their bodies were still being sought at Ground Zero. It is not just the older congregants who stand and cheer and roar in wild approval of Wright's rants, but young people as well. Why did you give $22,500 just two years ago to a church run by a man of the past who infects the younger generation with precisely the racial attitudes and animus you say you have come unto us to transcend?

+ Maclean's annual How the World Sees Canada poll shows deep admiration for a country we don't seem to like so much ourselves. What gives?

+ The future belongs to Islam

+ Tibet vs. China: It's All About Money

Canada Fights in Afghanistan Until 2011

2008-03-20T06:16:00.002-04:00

KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan - After three intense days hurtling around by helicopter and armoured vehicle in the Canadian army's area of responsibility in Kandahar, Defence Minister Peter MacKay rejected assertions the situation in the province had become worse.

"I'm seeing tremendous success when it comes to the army, and that is my primary focus," MacKay said shortly before his fifth visit to Afghanistan ended Wednesday with a brief airfield celebration amid a group of NHL oldtimers who brought the Stanley Cup on a goodwill visit.

"As far as some of the infrastructure, for example, we're seeing roads being built, bridges completed in areas where, because of the security situation, those projects couldn't have occurred just a year ago."

Pressed further about the current security situation, the minister, who was in Afghanistan for three days this visit, said "the insurgency remains a real challenge, but you have to look at it in relative terms. You have to do a retrospective occasionally, look at where we were five short years ago, two years ago."

Asked about an allegation by at least one prisoner that Kandahar's governor was involved in human rights violations of detainees, MacKay replied that he understood the matter was under investigation by Afghan authorities and that as "an internal governance matter" it had to be handled by Afghans.
The minister met support troops at the main Canadian base at the Kandahar airfield as well as combat troops at remote forward operating bases and at even more isolated police sub-stations. Mac-Kay said last week's parliamentary vote to extend Canada's Afghan mission to 2011 was seen as a popular move. More.

Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia Trains Children

2008-03-18T06:05:00.003-04:00

Some comments on YouTube:

110notruf (1 week ago) :
yes all world will be islamic
abd yes all jewish will be death
and yes all this chidlren will killed all jewish
and yes islam is the right religion
and yes america and jewish will be down
and we will see
we will see a big day ,big than 9-11
and fuck all jewish and christian

110notruf (1 week ago) :
allah akbar
this children will killed all jewish inscha allah
islam is th winner

+ In Seized Video, Boys Train to Fight in Iraq, U.S. Says
+ China: Orthodox Christians seek recognition

Iraq: Priest Paulos Rahho Body Found

2008-03-16T07:17:00.005-04:00

(LA Times): Iraq's scared and dwindling Christian community has nothing to do with the sectarian or ethnic troubles afflicting the country. No Christian Iraqi took up arms against anybody or formed a militia or set roadside bombs or even tried to block the formation of a government.

More than anyone else, Iraq's Christians have been struggling just to survive against a torrent of troubles. All of which makes the death of the 67-year-old Chaldean Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho all the more tragic and troubling. His half-buried corpse was discovered in Mosul on Thursday, apparently the victim of gunshot wounds he sustained during a Feb. 29 kidnapping that left three of his guards dead, Mosul police told the Los Angeles Times in today's article by Baghdad correspondent Ned Parker and Rome bureau chief Tracy Wilkinson.
Chaldeans are part of the Catholic Church. Chaldean parishes around the world grieved the loss of Rahho.

UPDATE, 2 p.m. PST: From Baghdad, Parker has filed a report about Rahho's funeral service in Mosul:
"I ask the people of the church to be steadfast and patient," Iraq's Chaldean patriarch, Cardinal Emmanuel III Delly, told mourners in an emotional ceremony. "He became a martyr because of his great faith, and his love for his service."

+ The great Turkish hypocrisy and 2,994 rockets fired into Israeli territories

+ 2007: Chaldean priest Fr Ragheed Ganni and three deacons killed in Mosul

Nothing much a man may want ...

2008-03-15T15:34:00.006-04:00

There’s nothing much a man may want
but to be quiet and innocent

a little food a little wine
at Christmas and at Easter time

wherever he may build his nest
may no one there disturb his rest.

But everything has all gone wrong
they wake him up at break of dawn

then come and drag him to and fro
eat up what little he has and lo

from out his mouth from out of sight
and in a moment of great delight

they snatch his morsel in an evil hour.
Hip hip hurrah for those in Power!

Hip hip hurrah for those in Power
for them there is no ‘I’ or ‘our’.

Hip hip hurrah for those in Power
whatever they see they must devour.

-- The Sovereign Sun by Odysseas Elytis

IDF Kill Muhammad Shahade, Organizer of Mercaz Harav Attack

2008-03-13T11:02:00.003-04:00

Bethlehem sources say IDF forces operating in town kill Muhammad Shahade, Islamic Jihad operative believed to be responsible for attack on Mercaz Harav yeshiva in Jerusalem; three other militants killed in raid (www.ynetnews.com) -- Muhammad Shahade, an Islamic Jihad operative who Palestinian sources say was behind the terror attack in Mercaz Harav yeshiva in Jerusalem last week, has been killed by IDF forces in Bethlehem Wednesday afternoon, local witnesses reported. According to reports, another three militants have been killed in the raid, one of them an al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades member. Military sources said that the four men were responsible for a series of terror attacks against Israel in the years 2000-2001, but did not attribute the Jerusalem attack to Shahade.

Shahade, a former Fatah member and an Islamic Jihad operative, has been known to have extensive ties with Hizbullah. Palestinian sources reported that IDF forces have operated in the city, close to the Mukataa compound, and that several Palestinians have been injured. He said that Shahade was the target of the raid. A senior wanted terror suspect, Muhammad Balbul, has reportedly been injured in the clashes. Two days after the Jerusalem attack, which was carried out by Alaa Abu Dheim and left eight students killed, the police reported they have arrested eight people suspected of involvement in the attack.

Indonesian Intel: Fugitive Terrorist in Singapore

2008-03-13T10:49:00.002-04:00

JAKARTA, March 12, 2008 (news.xinhuanet.com) -- Indonesian intelligent chief Syamsir Siregar said on Wednesday that he believed that the fugitive terrorist leader Selamat bin Kastari, who escaped from Singapore's prison last month, was still in Singapore. Kastari was the top leader of the Southeast Asia terrorist network of Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) for Singapore and was jailed for plotting to blow up Changi airport in Singapore in 2001. Many believed that he had entered into Indonesian territory which make him easier to escape from police hunting rather than in Singapore.

"I am confident that he is still in Singapore," Siregar told reporters after a meeting on security at the office of coordinating ministry of politics, legal and security affairs here. He refused the suspicion that the terrorist leader had already entered Indonesia. On March 8, Singaporean Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew said that Kastari might go to Indonesia for consolidation as he was a leader of the JI. "Should he be in Indonesia, we had already arrested him," the intelligent chief said.

Muslim Terror Plots in China Discovered

2008-03-09T10:04:00.003-04:00

[Associated Press] BEIJING –Chinese police killed alleged terrorists plotting to attack the Beijing Olympics, while a flight crew managed to prevent an apparent attempt to crash a Chinese jetliner in a separate case just last week, officials said Sunday. Wang Lequan, the top Communist Party official in the western region of Xinjiang, said materials seized in a January raid in the regional capital, Urumqi, had described a plot with a purpose "specifically to sabotage the staging of the Beijing Olympics."

"Their goal was very clear," Wang told reporters in Beijing. Wang cited no other evidence and earlier reports on the raid had made no mention of Olympic targets. Speaking at the same meeting, Xinjiang's governor said a flight crew prevented an apparent attempt to crash a China Southern flight from Urumqi on Friday. Nur Bekri did not specifically label the incident a terrorist act, saying it remained under investigation. No passengers were injured and police were investigating, he said.

+ Full story.

Alisher Usmanov: "a Vicious Thug, Criminal, Racketeer, Heroin Trafficker and Accused Rapist"

2007-12-12T06:33:00.000-05:00

Reposted from Craig Murray (Original post date was 6th September 2007)
"I thought I should make my views on Alisher Usmanov quite plain to you. You are unlikely to see much plain talking on Usmanov elsewhere in the media becuase he has already used his billions and his lawyers in a pre-emptive strike. They have written to all major UK newspapers, including the latter:
“Mr Usmanov was imprisoned for various offences under the old Soviet regime. We wish to make it clear our client did not commit any of the offences with which he was charged. He was fully pardoned after President Mikhail Gorbachev took office. All references to these matters have now been expunged from police records . . . Mr Usmanov does not have any criminal record.” Let me make it quite clear that Alisher Usmanov is a criminal. He was in no sense a political prisoner, but a gangster and racketeer who rightly did six years in jail. The lawyers cunningly evoke "Gorbachev", a name respected in the West, to make us think that justice prevailed. That is completely untrue.
Usmanov's pardon was nothing to do with Gorbachev. It was achieved through the growing autonomy of another thug, President Karimov, at first President of the Uzbek Soviet Socilist Republic and from 1991 President of Uzbekistan. Karimov ordered the "Pardon" because of his alliance with Usmanov's mentor, Uzbek mafia boss and major international heroin overlord Gafur Rakimov. Far from being on Gorbachev's side, Karimov was one of the Politburo hardliners who had Gorbachev arrested in the attempted coup that was thwarted by Yeltsin standing on the tanks outside the White House.
Usmanov is just a criminal whose gangster connections with one of the World's most corrupt regimes got him out of jail. He then plunged into the "privatisation" process at a time when gangster muscle was used to secure physical control of assets, and the alliance between the Russian Mafia and Russian security services was being formed.
Usmanov has two key alliances. he is very close indeed to President Karimov, and especially to his daughter Gulnara. It was Usmanov who engineered the 2005 diplomatic reversal in which the United States was kicked out of its airbase in Uzbekistan and Gazprom took over the country's natural gas assets. Usmanov, as chairman of Gazprom Investholdings paid a bribe of $88 million to Gulnara Karimova to secure this. This is set out on page 366 of Murder in Samarkand.
Alisher Usmanov had risen to chair of Gazprom Investholdings because of his close personal friendship with Putin, He had accessed Putin through Putin's long time secretary and now chef de cabinet, Piotr Jastrzebski. Usmanov and Jastrzebski were roommates at college. Gazprominvestholdings is the group that handles Gazproms interests outside Russia, Usmanov's role is, in effect, to handle Gazprom's bribery and sleaze on the international arena, and the use of gas supply cuts as a threat to uncooperative satellite states.
Gazprom has also been the tool which Putin has used to attack internal democracy and close down the independent media in Russia. Gazprom has bought out - with the owners having no choice - the only independent national TV station and numerous rgional TV stations, several radio stations and two formerly independent national newspapers. These have been changed into slavish adulation of Putin. Usmanov helped accomplish this through Gazprom. The major financial newspaper, Kommersant, he bought personally. He immediately replaced the editor-in-chief with a pro-Putin hack, and three months later the long-serving campaigning defence correspondent, Ivan Safronov, mysteriously fell to his death from a window.
Full Story
+ Craig Murray site
+ Wiki article on Alisher Usmavov

Added to Blog Roll

2007-06-03T16:30:00.000-04:00

Added to blog roll:

Greek In Argentina (Cypriot Greek)

I Don’t Forget (Cyprus)

Terror plot to destroy New York airport foiled

2007-06-02T22:40:00.000-04:00

NEW YORK — Four Muslim men were foiled from carrying out a plot to destroy John F. Kennedy International Airport, kill thousands of people and trigger an economic catastrophe by blowing up a jet fuel artery that runs through populous residential neighbourhoods, authorities said Saturday.

Three men were arrested and one was being sought in Trinidad on Saturday. In an indictment charging the four men, one of them is quoted as saying the plot would “cause greater destruction than in the Sept. 11 attacks.”

One of the suspects, Russell Defreitas, a U.S. citizen native to Guyana and retired JFK employee, said the airport was a symbol that would put “the whole country in mourning.” Full article.

Other news:

+ Iran president sees "countdown" to Israel's end
+ More vigorous Fidel Castro shown on Cuban TV

Alan Johnston

2007-06-01T15:34:00.000-04:00

British reporter Alan Johnston, kidnapped in Gaza on March 12, appeared for the first time Friday in a video posted on an Islamic militant website.
The 45-year-old BBC reporter is seen in the video wearing a red sweatshirt and says he has been treated well by his captors. He then goes on to denounce Israel and blast British and U.S. Mideast policy.

"There are some who think this might signal that some sort of deal is in the works for Alan's release, that as part of the deal the group needed to give some sign of life as a show of good faith in negotiations," CTV's Middle East Bureau Chief Janis Mackey Frayer said Friday from Jerusalem. There is no indication of when the video was recorded. Full article.

Other News
+ The number of rigs actively exploring for oil and natural gas in the United States increased by 16 this week to 1,760.

+ 4 Oil Workers Kidnapped in Nigeria

+ Fighting rages at Lebanese camp: About 30 soldiers have been killed, along with about 50 militants and one civilian, Lebanese officials have said. Palestinian sources reported that between 17 and 25 militants and 20 civilians have died.

Cpl. Matthew McCully

2007-05-25T21:39:00.000-04:00

Cpl. Matthew McCully, the Canadian soldier killed Friday by an improvised explosive device in southern Afghanistan, died alongside the Afghan soldiers he helped mentor.

He was a member of Canada's Operational Mentor and Liaison Team, which trains Afghans how to fight as organized units.

McCully, who was based in CFB Petawawa, was killed while taking part in Operation Hoover -- a large offensive launched against the Taliban in southern Afghanistan.
Full article.

Other News:
+ Troops kill 18 militants in Afghanistan
+ New Taliban commander threatens bombings
+ PM hints Canada may stay in Afghanistan past 2009
+ Afghanistan wants Canada's help, Harper says

2 Ontario Men Lose Citizenship For Lying About Nazi Pasts

2007-05-24T18:58:00.000-04:00

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (North): The Canadian government stripped two Ontario men of their citizenship Thursday, saying they lied about their Nazi ties when they came to Canada after the Second World War.

"These cases have been under consideration for a very long time," Justice Minister Rob Nicholson said in a statement. "Due process was followed according to the laws of Canada. It's time to move forward."

Both men — Helmut Oberlander of Kitchener and Jacob Fast of St. Catharines — can have the government's decision reviewed by the Federal Court. The decision puts them at risk for deportation. Immigration Minister Diane Finley has the final say on whether they are deported or not. Both men have been involved in lengthy citizenship battles.

In 2000, the Federal Court ruled that Oberlander didn't reveal his involvement with a notorious mobile Nazi police unit when he immigrated to Canada from Ukraine in 1954. The mobile unit, called the Einsatzkommando, allegedly killed more than a million people, mostly Jews, in the former Soviet Union. The court found that Oberlander, a retired developer who is in his 80s, was not personally involved in the executions but worked as a translator for the Einsatzkommando.

Fast's case landed in the Federal Court in 2003. The court concluded that when the retired General Motors employee immigrated to Canada in 1947, he lied about his German citizenship and his involvement with a German security police force attached to the notorious Schutzstaffel, or SS. The court didn't find any evidence suggesting Fast, who is now in his 90s, committed war crimes.

"Today in Israel, we have had enough"

2007-05-19T06:42:00.000-04:00

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Israel pounded Hamas targets with air strikes Thursday, killing at least six people and wounding dozens. It had stepped into intense fighting between the Islamic militants and the rival Fatah movement of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. The Israeli attacks followed Hamas rocket barrages on southern Israel...

Israel unleashed the air campaign — a hit on a Hamas command centre, on a trailer housing bodyguards and two vehicles — after Gaza militants fired more than 50 rockets on the Israeli border town of Sderot in three days. “Today in Israel, we have had enough. Israel will take every defensive measure to stop these rocket attacks. We will defend our citizens against the rockets, against the weapons, against the Iranian-backed Hamas who are attacking Israel,” said Israeli government spokeswoman Miri Eisen.

Other news:
+ US forces kill 6 insurgents in Iraq
+ Syria urges Hamas and Fatah to halt fighting
+ Taliban ambush: ‘Get us out of here'

+ Wolfowitz to Delegate Authority to Senior Officials (Update2)
+ Blast, clashes in India kill 13; alert is issued
+ European Union to Russia: "Don't try to divide us,"
+ Canadians favour role in ending Darfur violence, poll

+ Israel kills 8 in air raid on Hamas politician's home

+ 48 killed as Lebanese army fights Islamists

Hunt On For Missing U.S. Troops in Iraq

2007-05-14T18:32:00.000-04:00

Associated Press, BAGHDAD ~ Massive air, house-to-house hunt for 3 soldiers after Al Qaeda group in Iraq says it captured the Americans. An Al Qaeda front group announced yesterday it had captured American soldiers in a deadly weekend attack, as thousands of U.S. troops searched insurgent areas south of Baghdad for their three missing comrades.

The statement from the group came on one of the deadliest days in Iraq in recent weeks, with at least 126 people killed or found dead. A suicide truck bomb tore through the offices of a Kurdish political party in northern Iraq, killing 50 people, and a car bombing in a Baghdad market killed another 17.
U.S. Maj.-Gen. William Caldwell said 4,000 U.S. troops backed by aircraft and intelligence units were scouring the farming area as the military made "every effort available to find our missing soldiers. Full story.

+ Gunfight breaks out at meeting involving U.S., Afghan and Pakistani soldiers in Pakistan on Monday, and a number of soldiers were killed and wounded

+ Making a Case for Iraqi Progress, in the U.S.
+ Hicks Pleads Guilty to Supporting Terrorism
+ Wounded Iraqi Forces Get Little or No Aid
+ Rift Appears Among Iraq Insurgent Groups
+ Is the Iraq Surge Strategy Working?

+ Strike paralyses Karachi, Pakistan
+ Afghans, Pakistanis skirmish
+ Bomb hits NATO vehicle in Afghanistan
+ Spain to send 14 officers to Afghanistan police mission

+ Canadian Muslim was on suicide mission: Afghanistan
+ 55 Taliban militants killed in E Afghanistan

Camp Nathan Smith, Kandahar ~ A member of the Royal 22e Régiment, presently deployed as the Force Protection (FP) Company for the Kandahar Provincial Reconstruction Team (KPRT), provides security in a village outside of Kandahar City, Afghanistan. The FP Company provides a security perimeter so members of the Civil Military Co-operation (CIMIC) team can work to assess a village’s needs.

The KPRT is an integral part of the Joint Task Force Afghanistan (JTF-AFG), which is Canada’s military contribution to Afghanistan. Canadian operations will focus on working with Afghan authorities to improve security, governance and economic development. About 2500 members of the Canadian Forces (CF) are currently serving as part of TF-AFG. They play a key role in the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force mission whose goal is to improve the security situation in Afghanistan and assist in rebuilding the country. Photo by Sgt Roxanne Clowe, Canadian Forces Combat Camera

Taliban Commander Dadullah Killed

2007-05-13T22:45:00.000-04:00

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Mullah Dadullah, the Taliban's top operational commander in southern Afghanistan, was killed during a clash with Western and Afghan forces in Helmand province, officials said on Sunday.

The death of Dadullah represents the biggest setback to the Taliban command since the insurgency began, after its Islamic militia government was toppled by U.S. backed forces in 2001.

"He was killed last night and right now I have his body before me," Assadullah Khalid, governor of neighboring Kandahar province, told Reuters. Full article.

1 Million Turks: "No To Sharia"

2007-05-13T22:38:00.000-04:00

Paul De Bendern, The Australian: At least 1 million Turks took to the streets of Izmir today to demand their country remain a secular state, stepping up pressure on the Islamist-rooted government before July elections.

Organisers hoped the fourth major anti-government protest in a month would unite the Opposition ahead of the poll. People flocked to Izmir from across Turkey, undeterred by a bombing in the port city that killed one man and injured 14 yesterday. It was not clear who was behind the market attack. Streets and buildings in Turkey's third largest city, including army barracks, were covered in a sea of red Turkish flags and portraits of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the revered founder of modern Turkey.

“Turkey is secular and will remain secular,” the protesters, predominantly middle class youths at this festive rally, chanted. “No to sharia (Islamic law).” Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's reformist AK Party Government has been forced to call a parliamentary election months ahead of schedule to defuse a deep conflict with Turkey's secularists over a presidential vote.
Turkey's secular elite, including opposition parties, top judges and army generals, successfully blocked Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul's election. They feared the ex-Islamist might try to undermine Turkey's separation of state and religion, a claim Gul and his AK Party strongly deny.

“The AK Party will most likely win the elections but they will have to take into account these demonstrations and what people are saying. They can't remain arrogant any more,” said Haluk Berk, a doctor who also teaches at an Izmir university. “The silent majority is finally coming out,” he said, standing alongside his son. Turkey's main opposition centre-left Republican People's Party (CHP) and the smaller leftist Democratic Left Party (DSP) - which are in talks to form an alliance - hope to use the rally to build momentum ahead of the July 22 election.
Police told Reuters at least 1 million people attended the seaside rally, with no major incidents reported. Organisers, mainly left wing groups, had hoped to attract 2 million people. The protest began to wind down by late afternoon.

The success in derailing the AK Party's plans to have Gul elected president has given opposition parties new confidence, analysts say, but added that they were racing against time to come up with a credible election manifesto. The political crisis has brought about mergers between opposition parties in the hope that in July they can win more than the 10 per cent of votes needed to enter Parliament.

Afghanistan: 70 Taleban Killed

2007-05-12T20:52:00.000-04:00

VOA News: An Afghan security official says Afghan and international troops have killed more than 70 Taleban insurgents during a week-long operation in southern Helmand province.

The official, who spoke anonymously, said five Taleban commanders are among the dead in Nahri Saraj district. He said troops have re-taken control of the area, and he added that Nahri Saraj is now "cleared" of Taleban fighters.
NATO and the U.S.-led coalition were not able to immediately confirm the Afghan official's statement. Troubled Helmand province is a hotbed of insurgent activity. It is the hub of Afghanistan's booming illegal drug industry.
Elsewhere in the south, authorities say eight police officers were killed when a roadside bomb tore through their vehicle in Kandahar province.

+ Violence Leaves 27 Dead in Pakistan as Political Crises Worsens

+ Venice Meeting Seeks Ways to Combat Islamic Terrorists

Car Bomb Kills 16 in S. Iraq

2007-05-09T08:09:00.000-04:00

+ National Post: British police arrested the widow of one of the London suicide bombers of July 7, 2005, along with three other suspects on Wednesday, a source familiar with the operation said

+ CAMDEN, New Jersey (Reuters) - Six suspected Islamic radicals were detained on Tuesday on charges of plotting to attack the U.S. army base at Fort Dix in New Jersey with rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons. The group, which is not believed to have links to any foreign organisations, had amassed semi-automatic assault rifles, shotguns and handguns while trying to acquire the more sophisticated weaponry, federal authorities said.

+ US air strikes kill 21 civilians in Afghanistan: official

+ Fort Dix trained military for 90 years

+ The miracle of Belfast

Iraqi Sunni Backlash Against al Qaeda

2007-05-02T06:55:00.000-04:00

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN):...reports have emerged this year of tensions between Sunni fighters and the Sunni-dominated al Qaeda in Iraq, particularly from Anbar province, long a favored turf for indigenous Sunni insurgents and foreign fighters infiltrating Iraq from Syria.
The unconfirmed reports from tribal leaders to Iraqi government officials indicate that Abu Ayyub al-Masri, the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, was killed Tuesday in fighting between al Qaeda militants and Sunni tribal fighters from Abu Ghraib and Falluja...

Sunni insurgents and the so-called Sunni resistance are still forces that must be reckoned with, as well," Petraeus said. "However, while we continue to battle a number of such groups, we are seeing some others joining Sunni Arab tribes in turning against al Qaeda in Iraq and helping transform Anbar province and other areas from being assessed as lost as little as six months ago to being relatively heartening."

Petraeus said the United States "will continue to engage with Sunni tribal sheikhs and former insurgent leaders to support the newfound opposition of some to al Qaeda, ensuring that their fighters join legitimate Iraqi security force elements to become part of the fight against extremists." He said it is part of the effort to "reach out to moderate members of all sects and ethnic groups to try to drive a wedge between the irreconcilables and the reconcilables, and help the latter become part of the solution instead of part of the problem."

...One Iraqi villager, Abu Miriam, told CNN that locals have tired of al Qaeda. He says his people began fighting U.S. forces, but foreigners infiltrated their ranks. "If you talk against them, they let you go at first, then come back and behead you later," he said. Asked what would become of him if al Qaeda knew he was talking, Abu Miriam replied, "I will be killed. In fact, slaughtered, slaughtered with a knife." These tensions provoke the tribes' Salvation Council to work alongside U.S. Marines and soldiers. Full story.

+ The escalating tensions between al-Qaida in Iraq and other Sunni groups.

+ Against the Odds, Army Meets Recruiting Goals

+ Special Forces soldier receives German medal

+ Young Australian Muslim women will be targeted to join the Army Reserve and prove they are part of the national security "solution"

Above: UK 1st Battalion Royal Highland Fusiliers (1RHF) annual exercise, Band of Sisters. Held at Episkopi, Cyprus.

Above: The first major combat operation of the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable) in Afghanistan, El Dorado, coincided with the last in the ULYSSES-series missions.

Iraq: Spanish forces prepare to board a ship.

Turkish Court: Islamic-leaning Presidential Vote Invalid

2007-05-01T12:44:00.000-04:00

By Hidir Goktas ~ ANKARA (Reuters): Turkey's top court ruled the first round of presidential elections invalid on Tuesday, raising the possibility of early national elections. The government said another round of presidential polls would be held in parliament on Wednesday. The Constitutional Court upheld an appeal from the secularist opposition that wants to stop the ruling Islamist-rooted AK Party's candidate, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, becoming head of state. "

A decision was taken to stop the process," Hasim Kilic, deputy head of the top court, told a news conference. The Constitutional Court ruled 367 members of parliament had to be present during voting for it to be valid. A total of 361 deputies voted in last Friday's ballot, 357 of them for Gul, the sole candidate. The court ruling was binding. Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan could now propose a different candidate for the top job. Turkey has been rocked by the presidential poll standoff, an army threat to intervene and an anti-government rally of up to one million people.

The army, which sees itself as the final guarantor of the secular state, has ousted four governments in the last 50 years, most recently in 1997 when it acted against a cabinet in which Gul served. Turkish financial markets recorded their biggest falls in a year on Monday and the currency lost more ground on Tuesday. The lira recovered some ground on the news late in trade. Economy Minister Ali Babacan said the economy was ready for early elections, a comment seen as an attempt to calm markets. The secularist establishment fears if the AK Party secures control of the presidency it will chip away at Turkey's secular system. The party denies the charge. Parliament, in which the AK Party has a big majority, elects the president for a seven-year term in predominantly Muslim Turkey. Analysts say early national polls are the only way to defuse the standoff.

+ Photo: Taliban condemned for using boy, 12, to conduct video beheading

+ Bush issues veto in historic showdown

+ Insurgents reported to have killed al-Qa'ida commander
+ CIA Retirees Denounce Tenet's Account of War

+ SULTAN, in order to spite his wife Shahidabanu, who had recently separated from him, along with his friend raped and murdered his two-year-old daughter at Sayla town in Khambhalia taluka of Jamnagar district.

+ Suicide bomber kills 32 at Iraq funeral

+ A US lieutenant colonel accused of the capital offense of "aiding the enemy" let detainees use his cell phone to make unmonitored calls and approved buying Cuban cigars for Saddam Hussein, witnesses testified Tuesday.

Turkish Military Warns Islamic-rooted Gov't

2007-04-28T17:26:00.000-04:00

(Sorry folks. Work's been keeping me busy lately.)

Herald Sun reporting from Ankara: TURKEY is facing a political crisis after the Islamist-rooted Government clashed with the army over the latter's threat of action to defend the country's secular regime.

The row erupted after Parliament began voting on Friday on a new president in a process where the sole candidate is a former Islamist fielded by the Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Justice and Development Party. The prospect of the candidate, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, becoming head of state alarmed secularists about Islam creeping into all fields of life and prompted the opposition to boycott the vote, robbing the Government of the required two-thirds majority.

The staunchly secularist Turkish army then issued a harsh warning against questioning the country's secular system and said it would “openly display its position and attitudes when it becomes necessary.” Full story.

+ NPR: Turkey's Military on Guard Against Islam in Politics

Other news:
+ Pakistan Suicide Bomber Kills 22, Wounds Interior Minister
+ Russia cries blasphemy as statue to war dead is taken down

+ Al-Qaeda attacks on military bases foiled: Scotsman - 20 hours agoAL-QAEDA terrorists suspected of plotting spectacular suicide attacks using hijacked aircraft against western military bases in the Gulf were foiled by a huge security sweep by Saudi forces yesterday.
+ Saudis Arrest 172 Militants in Oil Plot

Afghanistan: NATO Deputy Secretary General, Ambassador Minuto Rizzo talking to Canadian Forces Lieutenant-General Rick Hillier, ISAF Commander.

Hellenic Air Force: Vought A-7E Corsair II. Treviso, Italy (Sep 6 2005)

Diversion from a mad, mad world.

Egypt Convicts Egyptian-Canadian al-Attar of Spying For Israel

2007-04-22T08:21:00.000-04:00

Egypt's State Security Emergency Court has convicted an Egyptian-Canadian of spying for Israel and has sentenced him to 15 years in prison. In his ruling, the judge said Mohammed el Attar was "seduced by Satan into selling out his country". Leslie Boctor has more for VOA from Cairo.

Mohammed al-Attar flashes a victory sign as he is led into the Egyptian State Security Emergency Court in the New Cairo suburb of Cairo, 21 Apr 2007Attar, who had pleaded not guilty, flashed a victory sign when he entered the Cairo courtroom. Surrounded by dozens of security personnel, Attar grasped the bars of his prison cage as he awaited the court's decision. After the judge read out the verdict, Attar was whisked to a waiting police van.

+
Three Israelis, also charged in the case, were tried in absentia and also received 15-year sentences. Attar, who is 30, was fined the equivalent of $1,700. Full article.

Other news:

+ Israel and Palestinians Trade Fire in Gaza and West Bank

+ Gates Looks to Boost Mideast Support for Iraq

+ Group Says It Killed BBC Reporter in Gaza

+ Ultra-Orthodox Israeli Soldier Faces Ostracism

+ Dozens Killed in Mortar Attack in Somalia

1 Wahabi killed and 2 Injured by Serbian MUP

2007-04-20T23:44:00.000-04:00

Photo: MUP remove terrorist POS body of Ismail Prentic
+
As posted by AK-Lover on MilitaryPhotos.net:

B92 News Society Crime & Justice: "Wahhabi killed in clash with police" 20 April 2007 09:54 -> 18:53 Source: B92, Beta
+
NOVI PAZAR, BELGRADE, PRIŠTINA -- One person was killed, and two wounded early Friday in a clash between police and a group of Wahhabis near Novi Pazar. Police officers remove Ismail Prentić's body Around 4:50 a.m. Friday police arrived in the village of Donja Trnava near Novi Pazar, to search a house there, acting on a tipoff that the leader of the militant Islamic sect was hiding there, a MUP statement said.
+
A hand grenade was thrown at the police officers as they approached the house, injuring one, the statement said.“As the police officers approached the house, ten dogs were released at them, and as they were entering the premises, the suspected terrorist group members threw a hand grenade and opened fire at the officers, injuring one,” the statement said.“Policemen then retreated to a secure point, while the Islamic extremists, in a bid to flee the scene, continued to shoot and throw hand grenades,” the statement continued.Police responded with machine-gun fire, killing the group leader Ismail Prentić. Prentić is the brother of Mirsad Prentić, arrested on March 17, when Gendarmerie forces discovered a Wahhabi terrorist camp near Novi Pazar and made five arrests. A policeman sustained minor injuries, while the injured Wahhabi, identified as Senad Ramović, was taken to a hospital in Novi Pazar and his condition remains stable."
+
Police will work to eliminate terrorist threat"Special Organized Crime Prosecution has taken over the case against Novi Pazar Wahhabis charged with terrorism, a spokesman has said. He added the content of the case will remain official secret for the duration of the investigation. Meanwhile, Serbia’s Minister of the Interior Dragan Jočić issued a statement after this morning’s raid. “Police will act with determination to suppress and eliminate the terrorist threat and secure peace and safety for all the citizens of the Novi Pazar region. The Serbs and Bosniaks there are building and will continue to build friendly relations. We need to work together to prevent all extremist groups from jeopardizing our peaceful future together,” Jočić said.
+
Western intelligence reports leaked recently have suggested that Sandžak, as well as Muslim-dominated regions in neighboring Bosnia, could be an ideal recruitment spot for the so-called "white al-Qaida" — Muslims with Western features who could easily blend into European or U.S. cities and execute terrorist attacks, the Associated Press reports.
+
Several incidents have been reported in Sandžak within the Muslim community, with the Wahhabis accusing local Muslim clerics of failing to practice "true" Islam, and disrupting prayers at local mosques.Reuters reported Friday that a United Nations official in Kosovo, where Prentić was wanted for firearms offences, said MUP "believed that he, along with another person, was planning possible suicide bomb attacks on mosques in Novi Pazar".

Other News:
+ The manager who became a McThief: When Strike Force Maraket officers began investigating the robbery at the bustling Enfield fast food outlet last October, Iad El Masri didn't even register on their radar.

+ Ramallah: Fugitive threatens to blow himself up: Fatah member entrenches himself at police station with explosive belt after his weapon was confiscated by PA officers, threatens to commit suicide if it is not returned to him. Officers manage to gain control over him

+ Palestinian forces suffering from emotional issues: Infighting, tensions between Palestinian and Muslim groups, leads security forces to seek counseling for tension, depression

Canadian-Chinese Uighur Muslim ~ Life in Prison

2007-04-20T18:57:00.000-04:00

Montreal (eCanadaNow) - A simmering diplomatic row between Canada and China has been exacerbated Thursday after a Canadian human rights campaigner was sentenced to life in prison on terrorism charges in a Chinese provincial court...

The father of four came to Canada in 2001 as a refugee after spending several years in a Chinese prison, accused of dissidence, and became a citizen in 2005.

+
China has never recognized Celil’s Canadian citizenship and have repeatedly admonished Canada for inquiring about the case, arguing that the issue is domestic and that Canada has overstepped its authority by attempting to intervene. Chinese officials charge that Celil is ‘a key member of the East Turkestan Islamic Movement.’ They have long accused militants in the Uighur community of using terrorism to attain an autonomous Islamic state in the resource-rich region... Full article.

+ East Turkestan Islamic Movement (China, separatists), Council on Foreign Relations

+ Xinjiang raid (January 2007)

Cho Sueng Hui aka Ismail Ax

2007-04-20T07:58:00.000-04:00

The Jawa Report: For some, becoming a Muslim is a public renunciation of America and the West. In choosing between us and them, these converts choose them.

Many others, though, never become Muslim. Instead, these fellow travellers--Marxists, mainly--identify with them as "the downtrodden". They've already chosen them. Any them will do. The them of choice these days just happens to follow Islam and, oddly enough, disdain Marx more than Adam Smith...

Was Cho a Muslim? I doubt it and have been saying so since day one--despite being called "hater" by the nitwits at the Arabisto who didn't bother reading the post they link to. But in his warped mind Cho was someone who was setting the crooked world straight and bringing justice to those responsible. He was the downtrodden, and American society the oppressors. Cho was no Muslim, but he chose a Muslim name to make a statement. That statement was that he was not one of us. And if that is accurate, then Muslims in America are going to need to more vocally reject groups like CAIR, MAS, and the ISNA to 'speak for them'. Because as long as these groups speak for Muslims, then the perception that Muslims are them rather than us will continue. Full article.

Other news ~ NPR audio:

+ U.S. Troops in Baghdad Caught Between Sunnis, Shia

+ Gates Looks to Boost Mideast Support for Iraq

+ Iraq Officials Begin Drafting Oil Legislation

+ Bush to Confer with Democrats on War Funding

+ Large Car Bombs Kill at Least 170 in Iraqi Capital

+ Iraq Security Measures Failing, Iraqis Say

+ Group Says It Killed BBC Reporter in Gaza

+ The Evolution of Iran's Revolutionary Guard

+ Gaza Clans Overwhelm Palestinian Security Efforts

Greece Dedicated to Fighting Terrorism

2007-04-19T20:16:00.000-04:00

Colombo, 20 April, (Asiantribune.com): Greece has assured Sri Lanka of its fullest support to curb terrorism. Greece Foreign Minister Dora Bokayannis said Greece is presently working with the European Union and the United States in the exchange of information to curb terrorism. “We will do whatever possible to not allow terrorists or their front organizations to raise funds and to include the LTTE in the list of terrorist organizations”, Minister Bokayannis said. With the vast experience in the field of Shipping and Naval activities the Government of Greece also assured support for the Sri Lankan Government in Coast Guard training and related fields.

Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama on Wednesday (18th) met Minister of Foreign Affairs of Greece, Dora Bokayannis during his official visit to Greece.

Earlier, Minister Rohitha Bogollagama explained the present situation in Sri Lanka and the efforts being taken by the Government of President Mahinda Rajapaksa to bring about a negotiated settlement to the conflict. He said the Government is prepared for talks with the LTTE, but the reluctance shown by the LTTE to come to the negotiating table has hindered the peace process.

Minister Bogollagama sought the support of the international community to pressure the LTTE to return to the negotiating table and to combat all forms of terrorism including illegal arms smuggling, fund raising, drug smuggling, money laundering and human smuggling. He also noted that out of the 25 districts in Sri Lanka only two and half districts were affected by LTTE activity and therefore when countries issue travel advisories it is important to mention that the remaining areas of the country is safe to travel.

Minister Rohitha Bogllagama thanked the Government of Greece for the Euro 37 million support provided during the post Tsunami reconstruction phase. He said the people are back to business and most of the reconstruction work is now completed. Foreign Minister Bokayannis said the people of Greece had supported the building of hospitals, schools and fishery harbors and to provide boats for fishermen after the Tsunami devastation that hit Sri Lanka. She pledged to continue to do so. The two Ministers agreed to work together and appoint a joint committee for further action in the areas of Investment, Trade, Culture, Tourism, Training and Education and Fisheries.

Turkey: 3 Bible Publishing Employees Have Throats Slit

2007-04-19T06:33:00.000-04:00

ISTANBUL, Turkey -- Three employees of a publishing house that distributes Bibles were slain Wednesday in the latest attack apparently targeting Turkey's Christian minority.

The attack added to concerns in Europe about whether this predominantly Muslim country -- which is bidding for EU membership -- could protect its religious minorities. It also underlined concerns about rising Turkish nationalism and hostility toward non-Muslims.

The three victims -- a German and two Turkish citizens -- were found with their hands and legs bound and their throats slit at the Zirve publishing house in the central city of Malatya.
Police detained four youths, aged 19-20, and also suspect a fifth, who underwent surgery for head injuries sustained apparently in trying to escape by jumping from a window at Zirve, authorities said. The five suspects had each had been carrying copies of a letter that read "We five are brothers. "We are going to our deaths. We may not return," according to the state-run Anatolia news agency.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned the attack, and said investigators were looking into whether there were other suspects or possible links with terror groups. "This is savagery," Erdogan said. Full story

+ Turkey detains more in Bible attack

+ Large Car Bombs Kill at Least 170 in Iraqi Capital

+ Canadian dies in fall from tower

Rescuing The Innocent

2007-04-17T22:55:00.000-04:00

Apache

2007-04-16T23:56:00.000-04:00

Canada's Elite Counter-IED Unit

2007-04-16T18:04:00.000-04:00

CTV.ca Toronto: Elite unit uncovers roadside bombs in Afghanistan ~ An elite team of Canadian soldiers is tackling a growing threat from Taliban militants that strikes without warning: roadside bombs, or improvised explosive devices.
The bombs have killed more than a dozen Canadian soldiers, including the eight men recently killed this week in two separate incidents.
+
"If we don't have counter-IED we're done," Warrant Officer Ward Gapp told CTV News. "It's probably going to get more critical in the future." Last month, the Canadian Forces doubled the size of its Counter-IED Unit to six. Part of the team's job is to train other troops how to spot roadside bombs. Although eight soldiers died this week, 15 other bombs were discovered in time. "IEDs are placed along the road or on a black track, and the troops are finding more of them then they are driving over and hitting," said Warrant Officer Burton White. Full story.
+
+ Al-Sadr orders followers to quit Iraqi government
+ UN Attack Helicopters Accepted in Darfur, Sudan Says
+ GlobalSecurity.org: Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) / Booby Traps

+ New 84th USARRTC course helps Soldiers deal with threat from IEDs: The streets of Fort McCoy became the roads of Iraq in mid-March as the 84th U.S. Army Reserve Readiness Training Command (84th USARRTC) conducted a new training program designed to help Soldiers avoid roadside bombs during deployment.

Private Raphael Fortin, a member of the Force Protection Company stands guard on the Dahla dam on the Arghandab River. Pte. Fortin was at the site with the FP Company to provide security for Canadian Civilian Engineers during the site visit. The Force Protection Company, made up of members from the Royal 22ieme Regiment based out of Valcartier, Quebec, is tasked with providing security, defence, protection, and escort duties to the Kandahar Provincial Reconstruction Team as they go about their various duties and tasks.
+
The KPRT consists of Canadian Forces members, a civilian police contingent led by the RCMP, Correctional Services Canada, representatives of the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade and the Canadian International Development Agency. The KPRT conducts coordinated interdepartmental operations to promote good governance, assists the Government of Afghanistan in extending its authority in the province of Kandahar, and facilitates the development of a stable, secure and self-sustaining environment for the people of Afghanistan. Joint Task Force Afghanistan (JTF-Afg) is Canada’s military contribution to Afghanistan. Canadian operations will focus on working with Afghan authorities to improve security, governance and economic development in the country.

The Canadian Forces (CF) contribution in Afghanistan comprises over 2,500 soldiers, most of whom serve with JTF-Afg at Kandahar Airfield and Camp Nathan Smith, Canada’s Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT), in Kandahar City. Additional personnel are assigned to various military headquarters, support bases, and civilian organizations.

Hijab Loses Again in Canada

2007-04-16T07:52:00.000-04:00

CTV Toronto: A Quebec taekwondo team consisting mainly of Muslim girls withdrew from a tournament after they were barred from taking part while wearing their hijabs...
+
The fear is that part of the hijab could come loose during a about. Taekwondo involves kicks and throws. The team is made up of six girls between eight and 12 years old, and is affiliated with a Muslim community centre in Montreal... Full story. +
+
+ Hijab in Soccer: Quebec said hijab violated a no-headgear rule set down by FIFA for safety reasons...Ontario's soccer association lets players wear religious headgear, while Quebec's rules are more vague (scroll down for story)

How Safe Are Americans?

2007-04-16T06:14:00.000-04:00

300,000 Protest Islamic Hue of Turkish System

2007-04-14T18:59:00.000-04:00

New York Times ~ ANKARA, Turkey, April 14 — Tens of thousands of people filled the central streets of Turkey’s capital on Saturday to protest what they see as an increasingly Islamic tint to their government. A presidential election is approaching in Turkey, and the protesters were voicing their opposition to the head of the leading party in Parliament, with its Islamist roots, taking the post. “We don’t want to become another Iran, another Afghanistan,” said Hanife Sahin, a retired nurse, stooping under the red tent formed by a Turkish flag that ran like a river over the crowd.
+
News reports said demonstrators numbered as many as 300,000, an unexpectedly high turnout for a gathering that was initially expected to draw only harder-line nationalists. The numbers underlined the deepening divide within Turkish society over the role of Islam in Turkey, a country whose very charter scrubbed the government clean of religion.
“Believe me, all of Turkey is here,” said a 27-year-old market researcher, as teenage boys draped in Turkish flags jostled her. But there are two Turkeys now. Turkish society is opening a lively, sometimes painful, debate on its past for the first time since 1923 when Mustafa Kemal Ataturk stamped out public religion to create the Turkish state. That has divided society and focused attention on the contest over the presidency, which controls the military and is the country’s most important post safeguarding secularism. Officials from the ruling party, Justice and Development, known by its Turkish initials, AK, have kept their religious background away from the process of government over the five years since they were elected.
+
Still, the guardians of Turkish secularism have grown increasingly vocal, before the election, in accusing the ruling party of bringing their religion into politics before the election. On Friday, the current president, Ahmet Necdet Sezer, gave his final speech before a military audience in Istanbul, warning that the country’s secular system faced its most serious danger since the founding of the state. The secular establishment Mr. Sezer represents has several times in Turkey’s short history ousted ruling parties it deemed too religious.
That sentiment was splashed on banners and spoken through loudspeakers at the protest on Saturday. After five years in power, the party had made Turkish society more accommodating to Islamic piousness, many people said. A gaggle of high school girls ticked off the reasons they did not want the party and its leader, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, to take the presidency.
More women are wearing head scarves, said Ecem Karanfil, a 17-year-old in a T-shirt and jeans. “We want to feel comfortable dressing the way we want,” she said.
+
Her friend said she sensed something suspicious in the attractive new design of religion textbooks being given out in their high school. “I am wondering why,” she said, as a pretzel seller squeezed by, his wares stacked in a pyramid on his head. A 65-year-old woman who had come from Izmir, a town in western Turkey, said she was annoyed at what she saw as the new state laxness allowing state workers to take time off for prayer on Fridays. “I go to the post office on Friday, and I can’t see a single person at their desk,” she said, sounding indignant. A small thing had caught Ms. Sahin’s attention. A government official had recently suggested increasing the number of letters in the Turkish alphabet to 32 to allow the language to better accommodate Arabic sounds. I’ve done pretty well with 29 so far,” she said, smiling.

Bin Laden's Foreign Legion Grows

2007-04-14T17:41:00.000-04:00

No kidding - "...nine years after his declaration of war on the West and 5 1/2 years after the attacks of September 11, 2001, their leader is as present as ever on the world stage...a series of trials of alleged Islamic militants, some accused of having links to bin Laden's closest collaborators, continues. In Afghanistan Taleban militants boast of the forces ready for a 'spring offensive'...Al Qaeda has re-established its 'nerve centre' in the lawless tribal areas of western Pakistan. The country is now considered the 'centre of gravity' of al Qaeda by security services and the 'critical battlefield' in the years to come. Full story.
+
Other news:
+ Canada: Egyptian Terror Suspect `Elated to be Home': Toronto Star: ...terrorism suspect Mohamed Mahjoub has been reunited with his family after spending almost seven years in jail without charges. He returned to his home in the city's west end on Thursday night under tight conditions after being released from the immigration detention centre near Kingston known as "Guantanamo North."
+
Mahjoub, 46, is an Egyptian who worked for Osama bin Laden's agricultural company in Sudan in the 1990s. He was arrested in Toronto in June 2000 and accused of being a member of the Jihad Talaat al-Fath ("Holy War of the Vanguard of the Conquest"), a wing of an Egyptian Islamic group. He denies any link to Al Qaeda.
+
+ Ontario Agrees to Help Canadian Soldiers' Children OTTAWA – Ontario and the federal government have ended a jurisdictional squabble, banding together to help children from Canadian Forces Base Petawawa who have become "collateral damage" of the war in Afghanistan. A potentially shaming report from the Ontario ombudsman defused the bureaucratic spat and won new money for a mental-health centre that's helping the children of soldiers deployed in Afghanistan cope with the stress of the war. Ombudsman Andre Marin said Ontario and the federal government were bickering over "a tempest in a teapot," an extra $230,000 this year for the Phoenix Centre for Children and Families, which treats children from CFB Petawawa.
+
+ Bin Laden 'behind Luxor massacre', 13 May 1999 (BBC News)
+ Alberta pepperoni bust made with high-tech U.S. help

ISAF soldier in Afghanistan

ISAF rescue 600 villagers who were trapped and in danger of drowning after their homes were destroyed by flooding in southern Afghanistan.

Iraq Suicide Bomber: 40+ Killed, 128+ Wounded

2007-04-14T10:42:00.000-04:00

KERBALA, Iraq (Reuters) - A suicide car bomber killed at least 40 people and wounded 128 at a crowded bus station near a major Shi'ite shrine in the Iraqi holy city of Kerbala on Saturday, police and hospital sources said.

+
In Baghdad, police said a suicide car bomber detonated his device near a checkpoint at the southern Jadriyah bridge, killing 10 people, wounding 15 and burning several cars in the second major attack on a bridge in the capital in the past three days.
In the volatile southern city of Basra, British forces on Friday killed eight gunmen laying landmines in an area where four British soldiers and their translator were killed by a roadside bomb that destroyed their armored vehicle earlier this month, the British military said on Saturday....A police source put the death toll in Kerbala, 110 km (70 miles) southwest of Baghdad, at 65. But Khaled al-Rubaie, media director of al-Husseini hospital in Kerbala, said 41 people had been killed and 128 wounded, many of them women and children. Full Story.

Baghdad Bloody Baghdad

2007-04-12T22:19:00.000-04:00

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A suicide bomber killed eight people in the Iraqi parliament on Thursday, brazenly penetrating to the heart of Baghdad's Green Zone to launch the deadliest strike yet in the heavily fortified compound. Defying a two-month-old U.S.-Iraqi security crackdown, the bomber slipped through multiple armed checkpoints to reach the heart of the zone, a 10 sq. km (4 sq. miles) area housing parliament, government offices and many embassies. Full story.
+
+ Iran atom plan shows need for missile shield: Germany
+ U.N. chief considers tribunal for Lebanon murders
+ Algeria fears return to "nightmare" of 1990s war

The Nasara and The Maghdub

2007-04-11T21:36:00.000-04:00

+ Father murders daughter in new Jordan honor crime
+ Kuwaiti father slit his daughter's throat
+
+ Toll from 3/31 Arab Massacre of Chad Villagers Could Reach 400
+ Buddhist Woman Burned Alive
+
+ Islam's War Against Buddhism: "...I thought about Mecca! Could any other religion intrude itself there in the holiest of places to Islam, as the tenets of Islam had so intruded itself here in the holiest place of Buddhism? No way! I could imagine immediate death being visited upon anyone that would even try – that is, if they would be admitted anywhere close to the Muslims’ holy Kabah – let alone be allowed to set up a loud public address system that would broadcast the message of another religion across the courtyards of the Grand Mosque, or any other Moslem religious site. The hypocrisy was astounding."
+
+ Ohio man accused of al-Qaeda link: A man in Ohio has been accused of joining al-Qaeda and plotting to bomb targets in the US and overseas. Christopher Paul, 43, faces charges of providing material support to terrorists and conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction.
+
+ Reporter's family pleads for release: The parents of the abducted Scots journalist Alan Johnston yesterday urged him to keep his chin up, as they made an emotional appeal to his captors in the Middle East to free him. Mr Johnston, a seasoned BBC foreign correspondent, was snatched as he returned home from his Gaza City office a month ago. Nothing has been heard from him or those holding him.

Algerian Islamists ~ 200,000+ Dead

2007-04-11T19:56:00.000-04:00

(Associated Press) ALGIERS, Algeria – Bombs heavily damaged the prime minister's office and a police station Wednesday, killing at least 24 people and wounding about 160, the country's official news agency said. Al-Qaida's wing in North Africa claimed responsibility.

++
Prime Minister Abdelaziz Belkhadem, who was unhurt, called the attack a "cowardly, criminal terrorist act" as he spoke to reporters outside his wrecked offices.

+
The attacks were a devastating setback for the North African country's efforts to close the chapter on its Islamic insurgency that has killed 200,000 people. After years of relative calm, the al-Qaida affiliate recently has recently waged several smaller attacks in the oil- and gas-rich country. Full story.

+ Top US generals turn down ‘war czar’ job

+ Gates: Army tours extended by three months to 15 months

+ Red Cross: Iraq situation 'ever-worsening'

+ NATO allies to discuss Afghanistan shortfalls

+ Video: NATO In Action

+ NATO Foreign Ministers discuss in Oslo

Shadow of an AWACS Aircraft at Tinker Air Base in Oklahoma, USA. Photo: NATO Media Library.

Afghanistan, Kandahar - A mechanic inspects the exhaust of an F16 after a flight. Photo: NATO Media Library.

Survivor: Master Cpl. Brian McCallum

2007-04-11T18:53:00.000-04:00

CBC Newfoundland & Labrador ~ A Canadian soldier who survived an explosion that killed six of his fellow troops said Wednesday that the six were like his "brothers" because they spent so much time together working on the mission in Afghanistan.
+
Master Cpl. Brian McCallum emerged relatively unscathed from an explosion that killed six of his fellow soldiers Sunday.(CBC) "I feel for each and every one of them," Master Cpl. Brian McCallum told CBC News with tears in his eyes. "In a sense, working with these guys for as long as I have, I can feel their loss. They were my brothers.
++
"It's horrible to know they can't be replaced." Full story.
+

U.S. Air Force Airman 1st Class Josh Huffman, a C-130 Hercules loadmaster, drops a box of 10,000 warning leaflets over the southeastern mountains of Afghanistan, March 6. The leaflets were used to communicate with Taliban extremists, warning them not to interfere with coalition activities. U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Cecilio Ricardo

A U.S. Army soldier from Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 162nd Field Artillery Regiment, pulls security while other soldiers talk with the Afghan National Police commander at the Bara Border checkpoint in the Gorbuz District of Khowst Province, Afghanistan, March 22, 2007. U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Isaac A. Graham

Remembering Fallen Canadian Brothers: Afghanistan

2007-04-09T22:38:00.000-04:00

Our heroes have sacrificed themselves again for us. They did so for us, and for all Afghans. We can remember them and we can hang our heads and say "thank you." They are gone but will never be forgotten.

Six Canadian military families spent their Easter Monday coming to grips with the deaths of their loved ones, killed in a roadside bombing in Afghanistan.

"The fact that he died on Easter -- Easter's a special, special day, because there's hope beyond the grave," Laurie Greenslade told CTV Atlantic Monday about her 20-year-old son, Pte. David Greenslade. The St. John, N.B. woman choked back tears as she said it...

+ Toronto Star: 6 Canadians killed

Sergeant Donald Lucas, of the 2nd Battalion, the Royal Canadian Regiment, was one of six Canadian soldiers killed when his light armoured vehicle struck an improvised explosive device near the border between Helmand and Kandahar provinces.

Private David R. Greenslade, of the 2nd Battalion, the Royal Canadian Regiment

In the news:

+ Turkish authorities today detained a man who threatened to blow up a passenger plane to divert it to Iran, officials said. The man, identified as Mehmet Goksen Gol, entered the cockpit and threatened to blow up the plane, claiming to have an explosive device on board,Ankara Deputy Governor Hayati Soylu said. The man was not armed and did not have explosives.

+ Female suicide bomber kills 16 at Iraqi police station: A female suicide bomber killed at least 16 people on Tuesday northeast of Baghdad after she set off a belt of explosives in the midst of a gathering of Iraqi police recruits, police and a hospital official said.

Remembering Fallen Canadian Brothers: Vimy, France

2007-04-09T22:01:00.000-04:00

Troops at Vimy Ridge in 1917 by photographer Jack Turner.
+
At a memorial site in France and in cities across Canada, the anniversary of the battle at Vimy Ridge was remembered today. Queen Elizabeth called Canada's capture of the ridge from German control a "stunning victory.' More than 10, 000 Canadians and Britains were killed or wounded at Vimy Ridge (3,598 dead...7,104 wounded) which is considered a turning point in the First World War. The battle of Vimy Ridge is commemorated by the Canadian National Vimy Memorial, set atop Hill 145 near Vimy and Givenchy in the French Pas-de-Calais. It is the largest of Canada's war monuments. The monument was rededicated at Vimy Ridge today, 90 years after the start of the battle.

+ Edmonton Sun: We'll Never Forget: Calling it a "spectacular victory" and Canada's "coming of age," Prime Minister Harper paid tribute to those 3,598 who sacrificed their lives in the historic battle.

+ A collection of Vimy stories
+ Hell crept up on "zero hour" as Canadians fired as one
+
+ Grateful to Canada: Thousands of grateful French citizens waved Maple Leafs and wore poppies last night as they gathered beneath a massive monument to honour Canada's war dead..."Everyone came to save us during the two World Wars," he said. "For me, Canadians mean freedom."

Canadians in a shell hole at Vimy Ridge, France.

Afghanistan: US 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment

2007-04-09T07:34:00.000-04:00

+ 12,000+ National Guard Troops to Go Back to Iraq: From Arkansas, Oklahoma, Indiana and Ohio...in December, the Pentagon announced Monday. The deployment underscores the Army's shortage of manpower.

+ A day of violence in Iraq, hour by hour: A log of developments from across the country on the fourth anniversary of Baghdad's fall. A total of 25 people were killed or found dead in Iraq on Monday, according to police and morgues.

+ Iran announces tenfold expansion of nuclear program

+ UK Defense Ministry bans crew from selling stories to media

Afghanistan: Mar 19th Suicide Bomb

2007-04-09T06:44:00.000-04:00

Happy Easter

2007-04-09T00:01:00.000-04:00

This post up until Monday. Please scroll down for recent posts.

+ CBS Video: Christianity In China: While the government claims that 16 million Chinese are Christian, it is estimated that between 40 million to 100 million Chinese are Christian (or 3% to 4% of the Chinese population). Christianity is also the fastest growing religion in China

+ Good Friday Around The World

Below: Number of Christians in Africa and the Americas (Wiki):

Migrants risk death to be smuggled into European Union

2007-04-08T09:38:00.000-04:00

Image: The town of Pythagoreio (Πυθαγόρειο), on the south-eastern side of the island of Samos, Greece. Source.

IANS, April 8th, 2007: The Greek island of Samos has seen a rise in visitors lately arriving on its turquoise blue shores. Unfortunately they do not frequent the beaches or hotels catering to thousands of tourists. The 'visitors' are illegal migrants.

Their abode is usually police stations, the court and detention centre catering to boatloads of desperate migrants risking death to cross the perilous strait into Greece from neighbouring Turkey.On some Greek islands, like Mytilene, the boat arrivals occur a few times a month. But for Greek coastguard captain, Nikos Psarakis, and his crew who patrol the waters around the tiny island of Samos, the phenomenon has become an almost nightly ritual.'The problem is getting worse,' he says.

'Many times we encounter them while they are in their vessels, other times when they have been tossed into the sea and are trying to desperately swim towards shore.'At least 50 people including women and children have died in the last few months after smugglers forced them overboard in stormy seas in an effort to make a fast getaway from the Samos Coast Guard.Even when the human traffickers are not ruthless, the boats, made out of rotting wood or plastic, are overcrowded and barely up to the journey and capsize often drowning their passengers. Greece and Italy are often the next stops on the passage of immigrants following a well-known route through Turkey, costing $3,000 per person, which they are barely able to afford.

With only two Coast Guard patrol boats and 15 men to scout more than 900 sq km of sea, Guard Commander Bonofos Diamantis said his men 'were overwhelmed - and too busy working round the clock capturing migrants'.'The area under our jurisdiction is just too big to patrol and we are unable to carry out other duties such as narcotics smuggling and tourism safety,' said Diamantis, adding that smugglers prefer to make the journey to Samos because the island lies just hundreds of metres from the Turkish coast.'

Already this year we have received three times more illegal immigrants than last year combined. Dozens are dead and more than 700 migrants have been detained, the majority from Iraq, Iran, Somalia and Afghanistan,' the officer said, adding the human traffickers were often Turkish nationals.Setting off under the cover of darkness from the island's port with only a radar system to guide the patrol boat through the Aegean Sea, Coast Guard Captain Psarakis said smugglers have recently been dumping their passengers into the sea rather than facing the risk of being caught by the coastguard.'The smugglers prefer not to make the journey when the moon is bright because their vessels are illuminated and they also tend to risk the trip across the strait when the sea is rough and the winds are high,' said Psarakis.

'The women and children are the most vulnerable because they do not know how to swim.' Clearly angry, Diamantis said Turkey must do more to stop the drowning by respecting agreed guidelines for cracking down on illegal immigration from its ports.Greece has repeatedly criticized Turkey for not abiding by a bilateral agreement that allows illegal immigrants to return to Turkey, which can then either fine the illegals or deport them. 'It is characteristic that in the last four years, Greece has submitted requests for 22,000 cases for the re-entry of illegal immigrants who had passed into our country from Turkey. In these requests, the Turkish authorities accepted 1,400 of them or 6 percent.

These figures speak for themselves,' said Greek freign ministry spokesman Giorgos Koumoutsakos. 'Greece is waiting for Turkey to implement the Greek-Turkish re-entry protocol and sign the EU-Turkey re-entry agreement,' he added. Armed with rifles, Psarakis and his men stop dozens of vessels every night to inspect them. And the island's police eventually pick up migrants that are not caught at sea once they reach land. They are then sheltered on the island's crowded detention centre for three months.Some file for asylum on release while others like 22-year-old Walid from Palestine take their meagre belongings and a police-issued paper ordering them to leave the country within one month, and head to Athens.Samos, like other Greek islands, depends on tourism and many officials on the island fear the immigrant situation could affect their livelihoods. 'We do not care where they go. We just want them to leave the island which is why we pay for their ferry ticket to Athens,' said the island's deputy prefect Thanos Stilianidis. Other islanders' like Maria Kerhalya are more sympathetic to the plight of the migrants and offer food and clothing outside the island's detention centre.

The International Organization for Migration said that trafficking has become a global business generating huge profits for traffickers and organized crime syndicates.A recent study revealed that at any one time there are an estimated 15 to 30 million irregular migrants worldwide and that an estimated 700,000 women and children are trafficked annually across borders.'Many of the migrants who enter Greece want to travel elsewhere in Europe,' said Hro Nikolakopoulou-Stefanou from the Greek Council for Refugees.'They want to come to Europe but many times they do not know what that is - they only know that they will be safe there,' she added, while waiting for a ferry to take him from Samos to Athens.

Walid looks forward to the 12-hour journey, saying from there he will try to make his way to Norway. 'Why Norway? I don't know - all I know is that I am free,' he shouted, waving enthusiastically from the deck of the ship.

News Round-Up

2007-04-07T09:32:00.000-04:00

Diwaniya, Iraq (Reuters) - U.S. forces launched an air strike in Diwaniya on Saturday as U.S. and Iraqi troops fought for a second day to overcome Shi'ite militias and bring the city back under government control. More.

+ British sailors say Iran forced their confessions

+ A Look at Chemical Attacks in Iraq

+ Roadside bomb kills 8 aboard bus in Sri Lanka

+ Chlorine gas attack by truck bomber kills up to 30 in Iraq

+ Taliban Ambush Leaves 7 Dead, 4 Wounded

KABUL, Afghanistan -- More than 1,000 NATO and Afghan troops clashed with Taliban and took over control of a district center in southern Afghanistan long held by the militants, officials and witnesses said Saturday.
The troops used helicopters, armored vehicles and infantry in their push toward the town of Sangin in Helmand province, the world's biggest opium-producing region, NATO's International Security Assistance Force said in a statement late Friday.

"Military troops have successfully engaged several Taliban extremist strongholds and discovered a number of large weapon caches," the statement said. More.

+ Abbas: Israeli soldier to be freed France (Reuters) -- Cpl. Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier held by militants in Gaza, will be released soon, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said in a television interview on Friday.

+ CBS Video: Sen. John McCain in Iraq

+ US has denied claims made by an Iranian diplomat abducted in Iraq that he was tortured in captivity by people who included CIA agents.

+ Taliban terrorists ambushed Afghans working for a US landmine-clearing company in south-western Afghanistan yesterday, killing seven people and wounding four.

+ Sectarian clashes kill 40 in remote northern Pakistan

Khawaja to Face Terror Charges

2007-04-05T14:47:00.000-04:00

The first person charged under Canada's Anti-terrorism Act will have to face seven counts alleging he participated in and helped an extremist organization in Britain, Canada's top court decided Thursday.

The Supreme Court of Canada didn't rule on the charges directly, but decided not to hear an appeal seeking to dismiss the charges against Ottawa software developer Mohammad Momin Khawaja. By declining to hear the case, the top court left a lower court ruling standing. That ruling left the seven charges in place. As usual, the Supreme Court did not explain why it chose to not hear the appeal.

Khawaja was arrested on March 29, 2004, under the then new Anti-terrorism Act. Last October, an Ontario Superior Court judge struck down part of the act as unconstitutional. The ruling said an element of the definition of "terrorist activity" violated the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
But the judge did not quash the seven terrorist-related charges, so Khawaja's lawyer sought leave to appeal that ruling to the Supreme Court. Khawaja is currently in custody. (Source: Canadian Broadcasting Corporation)

+ Iraqi, U.S. forces sweep through Diwaniya: DIWANIYA, Iraq (Reuters) - Iraqi and U.S. forces clashed with Shi'ite militia loyal to radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr as they launched a major operation at dawn on Friday to return the volatile city of Diwaniya to government control. In Ramadi, west of Baghdad, a truck bomb killed at least 15 people and spewed chlorine gas into the air, Iraqi police Colonel Tareq al-Dulaimi said, in the latest in a string of attacks involving the poisonous chemical. Another police captain said five people were killed.

+ Sudan: Landmines continue to plague the south
+ Afghanistan: Suicide bomber near parliament kills 6
+ Gaza: Hamas, Fatah militants clash

+ My Photo-Op with Bashar al-Assad: Unlike St. Paul, I did not experience a blinding conversion on my journey to Damascus. That's hard to come by in a tour bus full of American foreign news editors. But I did have a minor revelation: Damascus, that ancient capital, one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities on earth, is really close to Beirut, less than 55 miles away.

Get The F--- Outta My Way

2007-04-04T23:27:00.000-04:00

This is how American soldiers need to drive through Baghdad in order to survive.

Pakistani Tribesman Turn on Taliban/al-Qaida

2007-04-04T21:00:00.000-04:00

From AP via The Jerusalem Post: Pakistani tribesmen, bolstered by waves of volunteers, have killed dozens more foreign militants allegedly linked to al-Qaida near the Afghan border, officials said Wednesday. The latest deaths push the toll from more than two weeks of fighting in the South Waziristan region to more than 250, officials have said, leading the government to claim a victory against terrorism.
+
Armed tribesmen turned on foreign militants and their local allies in the region, where Taliban and al-Qaida fighters have long found sanctuary, on March 19, apparently after a long-standing feud turned violent. According to three security officials on Wednesday, about 50 of those killed in the past 24 hours in South Waziristan were Uzbeks. About 10 local tribesmen and one Pakistani soldier also died, they said. Poor security in the region, where the government has minimal control, puts it largely off-limits to reporters, making it hard to verify what little information emerges.

Other news:
+ Romania, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia and Italy to begin work on 1,400-kilometer-long Pan-European Oil Pipeline (PEOP), from the Romanian port of Constanta to Trieste in Italy: ...project fits with Europe’s aim of reducing its reliance on Russia and the Middle East for its energy needs. The Caspian, the region holding the world’s third-largest oil and natural gas reserves, according to US estimates, has a key role to play

+ Asia's richest woman dies

+ "A gift to the British people," was how President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad described the decision to free the 15 UK sailors and marines.

+ Iraq's Assyrian, Chaldean and other Christians seek refuge in Lebanon to avoid persecution by Islamic Fundamentalists

Back to School in Afghanistan

2007-04-03T19:39:00.000-04:00

Photo: Superintendent James Rainville (RCMP) beset by students at a girl's school in Mazar-e-Sharif. Supt. Rainville works out of the Regional Training Centre (RTC) in Mazar-e-Sharif to train the Afghan National Police. RTC staff visit the school often to discuss ongoing needs with the principal and distribute small items for use by the school, not least of all candy, always a popular item with the kids.
+
Before 2001 the Taliban forbade education for girls and women; now over five million children - one-third girls - go to school and are clearly loving it.
+
March 24 marked the beginning of a new school year for over six million Afghan boys and girls, in grades one to twelve, and the perfect time to reflect on the progress that has been made in the education sector of the country.
+

In the past five years, the people of Afghanistan have reaffirmed their commitment to their children’s and Afghanistan’s future by sending their children to school in unprecedented numbers. According to the Ministry of Education, over six million children, nearly 35% of them girls, will be enrolled in school in 2007/08, compared to a little more than a million students five years ago and very few girls. Furthermore, the number of teachers in the education system has grown seven-fold. CIDA is helping to improve the education sector in Afghanistan with a particular emphasis on women and girls.
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CIDA is supporting the work of BRAC Afghanistan to deliver basic primary education for some 120,000 children, almost 85% of whom will be girls. The four-year project will also establish up to 4,000 community-based schools and train 9,000 teachers, at least 4,000 of whom will be women. There are still many more challenges despite the incredible improvement that has been made in the quality and access to education for all. For example, half of school-age children are still estimated to be out of school, with significant gender and provincial disparities; only 28% of teachers are female and are located primarily in urban areas, and an estimated eleven million Afghans are illiterate. CIDA will support the Ministry of Education to address these challenges and build a solid education system for Afghanistan. (Source: Canadian International Development Agency)

+

ISAF observation group near Maymana in Northern Afghanistan.

UK Forces in Afghanistan: Royal Irish Regiment soldier in Musa Qaleh.

German ISAF soldier posing with his best friend.

US troops and Iraqi Army on join patrol in Baqubah, Iraq (Mar 28, 2007). They come under sniper fire, engage the enemy and later do some house checking.

+ Yemen's Jihad on its Shiite Population
+ Seizure of Britons Underlines Iran’s Political Split
+ 'We're suffering too much, Mugabe must go'

Former Jemaah Islamiya Member On Salafism, Islam

2007-04-03T09:40:00.000-04:00

Tawfik Hamid is an Egyptian scholar, author and dissident intellectual opposed to Islamic Fundamentalism. A former member of al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya, a terrorist organization led then by Ayman al Zawahiri, Tawfik Hamid splintered off and began advocating a peaceful understanding of Islam that is compatible with Universal human rights and intellectual freedom. He started to preach in Mosques to promote his message of peace and as a result became a target of many Islamic fanatics who threatened his life. Hamid then migrated to the West where he has lectured at UCLA, Stanford University and Georgetown University against Jihadism and Islamic Fundamentalism. (Wiki)

Thanks to the Jawa Report for this:
Tawfik Hamid in the Wall Street Journal: "…there is much that is clearly wrong with the Islamic world. Women are stoned to death and undergo clitorectomies. Gays hang from the gallows under the approving eyes of the proponents of Shariah, the legal code of Islam. Sunni and Shia massacre each other daily in Iraq. Palestinian mothers teach 3-year-old boys and girls the ideal of martyrdom. One would expect the orthodox Islamic establishment to evade or dismiss these complaints, but less happily, the non-Muslim priests of enlightenment in the West have come, actively and passively, to the Islamists’ defense.

"These 'progressives' frequently cite the need to examine 'root causes.' In this they are correct: Terrorism is only the manifestation of a disease and not the disease itself. But the root-causes are quite different from what they think. As a former member of Jemaah Islamiya, a group led by al Qaeda’s second in command, Ayman al-Zawahiri, I know firsthand that the inhumane teaching in Islamist ideology can transform a young, benevolent mind into that of a terrorist. Without confronting the ideological roots of radical Islam it will be impossible to combat it. While there are many ideological “rootlets” of Islamism, the main tap root has a name—Salafism, or Salafi Islam, a violent, ultra-conservative version of the religion.
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"It is vital to grasp that traditional and even mainstream Islamic teaching accepts and promotes violence. Shariah, for example, allows apostates to be killed, permits beating women to discipline them, seeks to subjugate non-Muslims to Islam as dhimmis and justifies declaring war to do so. It exhorts good Muslims to exterminate the Jews before the “end of days.” The near deafening silence of the Muslim majority against these barbaric practices is evidence enough that there is something fundamentally wrong….

"…Worst of all, perhaps, is the anti-Americanism among many Westerners. It is a resentment so strong, so deep-seated, so rooted in personal identity, that it has led many, consciously or unconsciously, to morally support America’s enemies. Progressives need to realize that radical Islam is based on an antiliberal system. They need to awaken to the inhumane policies and practices of Islamists around the world. They need to realize that Islamism spells the death of liberal values."

Controversial Mosque & Zafar Bangash

2007-04-02T20:26:00.000-04:00

From The National Post: "Town hall targets Newmarket, Ontario mosque" (Tom Blackwell, February 26, 2007)

"A mosque planned for the Toronto-area suburb of Newmarket was labelled a potential "house of terror" yesterday at a meeting partly spearheaded by the Jewish Defence League...

"Meir Weinstein, the militant league's Canadian head, helped put on the "town hall" session to raise questions about the Newmarket mosque's connections with Zafar Bangash (pictured). The controversial imam has promoted sharia law and vigorously defended Iran's fundamentalist regime and Lebanon's Hezbollah terrorist movement.

"The event marked another step in the recent resurgence of the Jewish Defence League (JDL) in Canada...The event was titled "House of Worship or House of Terror," and featured as its main speakers Mr. Weinstein, Ron Banerjee of the Hindu Conference of Canada and John Thompson, a terrorism expert with the Mackenzie Institute think-tank. No Muslim speakers were invited. Mr. Thompson, who did not comment directly on the Newmarket mosque, said most Muslim-Canadians are upstanding citizens but that radical imams such as Mr. Bangash have managed to gain influence over some young, second-generation members of the community.

"Mr. Bangash was the founder of Crescent International, a magazine now published on the Internet, which lauds Iran's fundamentalist government, has reprinted verbatim communiques from Palestinian terrorists and has praised the former Taliban regime in Afghanistan for refusing to hand over Osama bin Laden. An issue in 1998 said Canada was a "fully paid- up member of the Anglo-Saxon mafia, which is responsible for most of the recorded genocides of the world."

"Mr. Weinstein said it was the imam's defence of Iranian-backed Hezbollah, classified by the Canadian government as a terrorist organization, during its war with Israel last summer that prompted him to resurrect the JDL, founded in the U.S. by far-right-wing Rabbi Meir Kahane (pictured)...
Full article.

Other news:
+ Damascus, Syria airport the hub for thousands of Hizballah, Hamas, Jihad Islami fighters heading out to Iranian training camps (DEBKAfile)

+ Iran applies exercise in humiliation: "...At the very least, some in Iran will see value in humiliating Britain, long regarded as the chief schemer in Iran/Persia's affairs. Iran dare not directly confront the U.S., the "big Satan," without risking war. So what better than to torment Britain, the 'small Satan'?"

+ Protesters Mob British Embassy in Tehran

+ Iraqi Wins Middle East's 'Star Academy' Contest

Robert Konrardy Rejoins First Cavalry Division

2007-04-02T15:50:00.000-04:00

In 1965, when Robert Konrardy was wounded in Vietnam, he had to abandon his platoon from the First Cavalry Division.

+
Decades later, he began to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder and entered intensive therapy. As part of his journey, Konrardy embarked on a personal mission to visit the new generation that makes up his platoon. He went to Iraq to complete his mission. Konrardy spoke with NPR's Debbie Elliott about his trip.

In the news:

+ Cirrus Electronics founder Parthasarathy Sudarshan is charged with shipping closely guarded U.S. computer technology to India for use in missiles and other weapon systems

+ Supreme Court rejects appeal by Gitmo prisoners

+ Missing BBC reporter Alan Johnston may have been abducted by a Gaza clan leader using him as leverage in a factional feud.

Palm Sunday

2007-04-01T08:43:00.000-04:00

Pilgrims commemorate the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem at the Lion's Gate (or east entrance to Jerusalem).

Palm Sunday is a moveable feast in the Christian calendar which falls on the Sunday before Easter. The feast commemorates an event reported by all four Canonical Gospels (:Mark 11:1-11, Matthew 21:1-11, Luke 19:28-44, and John 12:12-19) - the Triumphal Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem in the days before his Passion. The difficulty of procuring palms for that day's ceremonies in unfavorable climates for palms led to the substitution of boughs of yew, willow or other native trees. (Wiki)

Photo: Assyrian children wave the Hoshana palm tree branches in celebration of the Palm Sunday in Baghdad, Iraq.

+ A Shelter Gave Refuge, and Changed a Life
+ A Kinder, Gentler World?
+ Easter in Greece
+ Easter in New York City
+ Christian communities in Syria celebrate the Easter
+
+ Saudi Arabia: Catholic priest arrested and expelled from Riyadh: ...discovered by the religious police as he organized a prayer meeting...there are around one million Catholics in Saudi Arabia

+ Burma’s military has stepped up its genocidal attacks on ethnic minorities, focusing largely on the Christian Karen villages.

+ Nigeria: Christian students at Ahmadu Bello University in Kaduna state are suffering persecution at the hands of Muslim students who appear to have the backing of the leadership of the Muslim Students Society

+ The Islamist campaign of violence in Algeria has turned some Muslims, especially Berbers, away from Islam and toward Christianity, reports the Algiers daily Al-Yawm

Mar 31, 1821 ~ Massacre on Chios, Greece

2007-03-31T20:54:00.000-04:00

WIKI - The Chios massacre in 1821, refers to when Turkish soldiers began the massacre of thousands of Greeks around the Ottoman Empire.

In one of the most notorious occurrences, the Chios Massacre during 1822, about 42,000 Greek islanders of Chios were hanged, butchered, starved or tortured to death; 50,000 were enslaved; and 23,000 were exiled. Less than 2,000 managed to survive on the island. The Greek word katastrofi (which also means "destruction" or "ruin") is commonly used to describe these events. The island itself was devastated and the few survivors dispersed throughout Europe in what is now known as the Chian Diaspora. German Admiral Wilhelm Canaris claimed to have been descended from the Diaspora. The massacre was well-documented and reported and sparked outrage in Europe. French painter Eugène Delacroix painted a masterpiece depicting the horrors that occurred.

++
For 2000 years, Chios merchants and ship-owners had dominated trade and diplomacy throughout the Black Sea, the Aegean and the Mediterranean. The Ottoman Empire had allowed Chios unique and almost complete control over its own affairs as Chian trade and the very highly-valued mastic plant harvested only on Chios were of great value to the Sultan. The cosmopolitan Chians were also very prominent in Constantinople. Following the massacre, the island never regained its commercial prominence.

In Chios you can see the scars of the massacre. About 25km from Hora is the isolated mountain town of Anavatos perched on a hill.

This town is completely abandoned. All of its people were killed or threw themselves off the cliffs rather than be captured by Ottoman Turkish troops, and no one ever moved back. It remains a ghost town and a memorial to the dead. It is maintained and parts are being restored, but nature is taking over.

Nearby is the monastery of Nea Moni, founded in the 11th century and built by Constantine Monomachos. During the Massacre of Chios, 3,500 women and children sought refuge in the fortified monastery which was ultimately penetrated by the Ottoman Turks, who killed the refugees and the 600 monks who lived there. The remains of the monks are kept in a public ossuary as a reminder of the tragedy. (last three photos and text for them taken from Dean Christakos' site).

Tal Afar Bomb Deadliest ~ 150+ Killed

2007-03-31T14:45:00.000-04:00

BAGHDAD—The Iraqi government raised the death toll on Saturday from a truck bomb this week in the town of Tal Afar to 152, making it the deadliest single bombing of the four-year-old conflict.
+
Interior Ministry spokesman Brigadier Abdul Kareem Khalaf told a news conference that 347 people were wounded in Tuesday's attack on a Shi'ite area. There was another, small truck bomb in the mixed northwestern town on the same day. Khalaf said 100 homes had been destroyed in the main blast, which officials have blamed on al Qaeda. The explosion left a 23-metre (75-ft)-wide crater. It took us a while to recover all the bodies from underneath the rubble of the homes ... what did they achieve by using two tonnes of explosive to kill and wound 500 in a residential area?" Khalaf asked at a news conference.
+
Tal Afar mayor Najim Abdullah Jibouri said he believed the ministry number was exaggerated, putting the death toll at around 100. Durad Kashmula, the governor of Nineveh province, which includes Tal Afar, as well as the provincial police chief said they agreed with the Interior Ministry. The past week has been the bloodiest in Iraq since the government launched a security crackdown in Baghdad in February aimed at halting the country's slide toward civil war. (Source: Reuters on The Epoch Times)
+
+ Nearly 500 Killed in Iraq This Past Week
+
Other News:
+ Artillery rocks Mogadishu on third day of fighting: MOGADISHU, March 31 (Reuters) - Shelling rocked Mogadishu for a third day on Saturday, overwhelming hospitals with casualties as Ethiopian and Somali troops backed by helicopter gunships attacked Islamist rebels and clan militia. Scores of civilians have been killed in what the International Committee of the Red Cross says is the capital's worst fighting for more than 15 years. Ethiopia said its military had killed more than 200 "armed remnants" of a hardline Islamist movement ousted from Mogadishu in a war over the New Year.

+ Civilian deaths mount in Mogadishu
+ Iranian Leader: U.K. Sailors Trespassed
+ US: No Iran prisoner swap
+ Robert Mugabe's misrule is in danger of spreading
+ Pakistan successfully tested an indigenous short-range, nuclear-capable missile on Saturday
+ Greek Shipping: The Greeks were also helped by the U.S. Government, which, aiming to revive Greece's merchant marine after World War II, sold them 100 Liberty ships on easy credit terms (don't ask me what this has to do with anything, it's my blog)

Riots in Paris...Again

2007-03-31T14:00:00.000-04:00

More than 100 people fought with the police on March 27 at the Paris train station of Gare du Nord, which handles the Eurostar service to London, suburban trains and the subway. Violence broke out after a ticket check in the subway. Images of youths destroying stores and ticket booths raised the specter of the 2005 riots, when thousands of cars were burned in three weeks of violence in suburbs populated mostly by immigrants from North and sub-Saharan Africa and their French-born offspring. (Source: Bloomberg)

+ Paris riot turns election focus to banlieues

+ LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) - Gunmen kidnapped a foreign oil worker from an offshore oil rig in southern Nigeria early Saturday, officials said.

+ Arab Militias Racially Cleansing Chad of Black Africans

US Marines vs. Insurgents, Baghdad University

2007-03-30T19:55:00.000-04:00

US Marines battle insurgents fighting from Baghdad University in Baghdad, Iraq

UK Forces Were Inside Iraqi Waters

2007-03-29T07:44:00.000-04:00

Iranian Television has aired a video of the 15 British sailors and marines captured by Iran in what it claims were its waters.

The broadcast included footage of Faye Turney, the only female captive, who said that the British had "trespassed" into Iranian waters when they were taken captive Friday.

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Iranian Foreign Minster Manouchehr Mottaki has told the Associated Press that British diplomats would be allowed to meet with the British service members, but it is unclear when. Mottaki also said that in order for the 15 to be returned, Britain must express its regret for entering Iranian waters. Earlier today, the British government presented evidence that it said proved the Royal Navy personnel were in Iraqi waters when they were seized. (Source: NPR)

Photo: Britain's Ministry of Defense says this map, made with global positioning data, proves that British sailors and marines were inside Iraqi waters when they were captured by Iran March 23.

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Other items:
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+ Immigration Bust Targets Travel Agencies
+ Lesson's From History (American Crusader)
+ Oil Prices Climb Amid U.K.-Iran Tension
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+ Muslims in Nigeria Club Christian Teacher to Death
+ Nigerian Muslims Follow Up Murder with Church Burning
+ Islamist Extremists Use Kidnapped Children, Mentally Ill in Bombings

The Arab Bank

2007-03-28T21:10:00.000-04:00

The Arab Bank, formed in 1930, is a prominent financial institution in the Arab world, with 400 branches and offices in 25 countries, including Cyprus. Its parent company is Arab Bank plc incorporated in Amman, Jordan, where its headquarters are also located. The bank was founded by Abdul Hameed Shoman in Jerusalem during the time of the British mandate. The bank's chairman, Abdul Majid Shoman, died July 6, 2005 at the age of 94. As of 2007, the bank is the subject of a lawsuit because it has compensated the families of suicide bombers.
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MSNBC article: "Terror ties at a Middle Eastern bank? FBI investigates Arab Bank for allegedly supporting suicide bombers and doing business with suspected terrorists; bank denies charges"
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By Lisa Myers & the NBC Investigative Unit (Updated: 12:15 p.m. ET May 11, 2005) ~ AMMAN, Jordan, August 2001: A suicide bomber hits the Sbarro pizza parlor in Jerusalem, killing 15 people, including an American — Shoshana Greenbaum, a pregnant schoolteacher.
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The Palestinian bomber's name was Izz Ad-Din Al-Masri. His parents told NBC News that soon after the bombing a group that helps families of suicide bombers told them they'd be compensated for their son's "sacrifice." "They told me to go to the Arab Bank and open an account, and you will receive a salary," says the bomber's father, Shuhail Ahmed Al-Masri. He says almost immediately, he began receiving $140 a month. And after the Israelis leveled his house, he says he was told to go to the bank and pick up more money — $6,000.
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Al-Masri's father says he was told to open an account at the Arab Bank branch in the West Bank settlement of Jenin. There, he says he's received money almost every month for the last three years. The branch, plastered with posters eulogizing suicide bombers, isn't the only one allegedly paying bombers' families. An ad in a Palestinian newspaper told dozens of martyrs' families to pick up money at the nearest branch of the Arab Bank. "Those types of payments are aiding and abetting terrorism," says Jimmy Gurule, a former official at the U.S. Treasury Department who was in charge of cutting off money to terrorists.

The FBI tells NBC News that it's now conducting a criminal investigation into the Arab Bank's alleged movement of funds for suspected terrorists. The investigation was triggered after U.S. regulators examined Arab Bank operations in New York City on Madison Avenue. U.S. officials tell NBC News that regulators found that the bank had 40 to 60 suspected terrorists and groups as customers. They were allegedly associated with al-Qaida, Hamas and Hezbollah. Officials say all had accounts with the bank or had moved money through the New York office. "I'm not aware of another situation involving a bank operating in the U.S. that has conducted itself in such a manner," says Gurule. The Arab Bank, headquartered in Jordan, turned down repeated requests for an interview, so NBC visited bank headquarters in Amman. And only got as far as the lobby.
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Lisa Myers: Does the bank support terrorism?
Omar Al-Sheik, Arab Bank official: Of course not.
Myers: Does the bank believe it's proper to move money to help terrorists?
Omar Al-Sheik: Of course not.
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In a statement, the Arab Bank denies ever knowingly doing business with terrorists. And officials insist the bank has never moved money for anyone officially designated a terrorist by the U.S. government.However, NBC News provided the bank with documents showing it dealt with three Hamas terror groups even after they were blacklisted by the United States. It's against the law for banks in the United States to handle transactions for terrorists on the blacklist. The bank says the three transactions still were legal because they occurred outside the United States but that in the future it will honor the U.S. blacklist worldwide. As for suicide bombers, the Arab Bank strongly denies ever knowingly handling payments for bombers' families. Their statement reads, in part: "Arab Bank considers suicide bombings an abominable human act."
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Then what about that ad telling bombers' families to collect money at the Arab Bank? The bank says it didn't place the ad. After NBC News provided account numbers for the Al-Masri family, the bank froze the account, which the bank claims was opened before the bombing. Shoshana Greenbaum's father, who moved to Israel after her death, is now suing the bank. "This organization, if allowed to continue with a mere slap on the wrist, would be sending a message that it's perfectly all right to support terrorism," says Alan Hayman. The bank, which Israeli officials call "the Grand Central Station of terrorist financing," has been forced to shut down much of its U.S. operation but remains a dominant player in the Middle East.
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+ Arab Bank responds to NBC News
+ Manager Sami Makarem: "Welcome to Arab Bank Cyprus"
+ Arab Bank fined $24M for funding Palestinian terror by Avi Krawitz, published in the Jerusalem Post, August 19, 2005
+ http://www.terror-lawsuit.com/ Home page for the class action Litle v. Arab Bank.
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+ Israeli Terrorism Victims Win Major Victory in Landmark Arab Bank Case:
NEW YORK, Jan. 30, 2007 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In a stunning victory for more than 1,600 survivors and family members of those killed by terrorism in Israel, U.S. District Judge Nina Gershon issued a major ruling that is expected to lead to a trial for their landmark civil action against Arab Bank.
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Judge Gershon rejected the bulk of a defense motion to dismiss the case, ruling instead that suicide bombing attacks and other forms of violence directed against civilians in Israel violate customary international law, that "plaintiffs have successfully stated claims for genocide and crimes against humanity," and that plaintiffs have established a cause of action under the Alien Tort Claims Act and the Antiterrorism Act. She found that the plaintiffs had pled sufficient evidence that "Arab Bank's provision of banking services facilitated money laundering and also facilitated the payments from [a Saudi Arabian] Committee to the suicide bombers' beneficiaries," creating "an incentive for suicide bombings."
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"This is a great victory for everyone -- not just those of us who have had our loved ones savagely murdered in acts of terrorism, but for everyone who loves and wants peace," said Iris Almog Schwartz, an Israeli citizen who lost her mother, father, brother and two nephews in the suicide bombing of Restaurant Maxim in Haifa on October 4, 2003.

Islamists Murder Two Iraqi Nuns

2007-03-28T07:06:00.000-04:00

Baghdad, Iraq: Two elderly sisters, both Chaldean Catholic nuns, were stabbed to death in their home in Kirkuk, city police reported Tuesday, saying the motive for the attack was not known.

Kirkuk police 1st. Lt. Marewan Salih said Fawzeiyah Naoum, 85, and her 79-year-old sister Margaret, were stabbed multiple time by two intruders who raided their home Monday night near the Cathedral of the Virgin in Kirkuk. They lived alone and there was no sign of a robbery, Salih said. Chaldean Catholics are an ancient Eastern rite now united with Roman Catholicism. Adherents live mainly in Syria, Turkey, Iran and Iraq and most speak a dialect of Turkish. Source: International Herald Tribune.

Cpl. Pat Tillman

2007-03-27T07:27:00.000-04:00

Former Arizona Cardinal Pat Tillman gave up a lucrative NFL career in 2002 to fight in Afghanistan with the elite Army Rangers. He enlisted, along with his brother Kevin, who gave up the chance of a career in professional baseball. The two brothers completed training for the elite Army Ranger school in late 2002 and were assigned to the second battalion of the 75th Ranger Regiment in Fort Lewis, Washington. Cpl. Pat Tillman was killed in Afghanistan April 22, 2004.

Pentagon investigators find that high-ranking military officers made critical errors in reporting the friendly fire death of Army Ranger Pat Tillman in Afghanistan. But officials conclude that there was no criminal wrongdoing in the death of the former

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George Canyon ~ “I Want You To Live”

2007-03-26T08:39:00.000-04:00

George Canyon ~ “I Want You To Live” http://www.georgecanyon.com/

Canadian country star serving the Air Force in his own special way: Like so many young Canadians with a dream of joining the Air Force, Canadian country singer George Canyon did all the right things in his hometown of Stellarton, Nova Scotia.

He joined the air cadets, brushed up on his high school math and science and entered university with a passion for airplanes that simply would not go away. "My whole life as a kid was about joining the Air Force," Mr. Canyon said from his home in Alberta this week. Unfortunately, for medical reasons, he was unable to join the Air Force. It was around that time that he began to pursue his other passion - music. Read the full article on the Canadian Air Force site.

Gas Find Could Be America's Largest

2007-03-26T08:30:00.000-04:00

"Drilling tests in Alaska's North Slope have revealed ‘staggering’ deposits of gas hydrate that could contain 200,000 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. This is over a hundred times greater than most reserves, says the US Office of Fossil Energy's National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL).
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"Gas hydrate is an ice-like solid that results from the trapping of methane molecules, the main component of natural gas, within a lattice-like cage of water molecules. Dubbed the "ice that burns," this substance releases gaseous methane when it melts. The find, within the Milne Point unit of the greater Prudhoe Bay region of Alaska's North Slope, is a joint project of a consortium co-funded by NETL and conducted through the National Methane Hydrate R&D Program, which is a DOE-led collaboration." Source: EngineerLive.com

News Round-Up

2007-03-26T00:01:00.000-04:00

+ 5 terrorists killed: Pakistan challenges northwestern Pakistani school militants after hearing that they wanted to "motivate" students for holy war

+ US Secretary of State Rice admonished Greece for its signing of a pipeline deal with Russia and Bulgaria, saying the transport of oil through Europe was “an issue of common interest for the USA and Greece.”
+ Human Rights Watch: torture and rape of pro-democracy activist and blogger Muhammad al-Sharqawi in police custody

+ Iran Warns That Sailors May Face Charges
+ Khalilzad: U.S. Patience 'Running Out'
+ Five US soldiers killed by bombs

+ Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers have bombed an air force base next to the country's only international airport using attack aircraft for the first time in the island's long-running civil war.

+ Machine gun-toting terrorists in Baghdad gunned down a mixed Shiite-Sunni group of children playing soccer in a park: The Interior Ministry's daily report listed the children as among nearly 50 people killed Saturday in random attacks around the country, the report said.
+ U.S. doubts Saudi terror arrests
+ UK Extremists Encourage Violence against Women
+ Ex-Terrorist Tells Muslims to Stop Denying Islamic Terror...

Released: 2001. Filmmaker: Feminist Majority Foundation's Campaign to Stop Gender Apartheid in Afghanistan

Canadian Airforce McDonnell Douglas CF-188A Hornet (CF-18A), Winnipeg, Manitoba

Canadian Forces Air Command (AIRCOM or just Canadian AirForce) Canadair CT-133 Silver Star 3 (CL-30) - Nicknamed Silver Shark and flying with Utility Squadron VU-32 of CFB Shearwater in special colors. Location: Trenton, Ontario.

+ Canadian and US aircraft supporting the North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD) will conduct joint training in the Canadian North early next week.

Mar 25 ~ Greek Independence Day

2007-03-25T23:59:00.000-04:00

Photo: Laskarina Bouboulina (Greek: Λασκαρίνα Μπουμπουλίνα, 11 May 1771 - 22 May 1825) was a Greek heroine of the Greek War of Independence.
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+ Theodoros Kolokotronis
+ Petros Mavromichalis
+ Athanasios Diakos
+ Nikitaras
+ Ioannis Capodistrias
+ Ioannis Kolettis
+ Papaflessas
+ Odysseas Androutsos
+ Alexander Ypsilantis
+ Demetrius Ypsilantis
+ Georgios Karaiskakis
+ Laskarina Bouboulina
+ Markos Botsaris
+ Alexander Mavrocordatos
+ Manto Mavrogenous
+ Andreas Miaoulis
+ Konstantinos Kanaris
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+ Memoirs (Excerpts) of General Makriyannis

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+ History of the Greek Constitution from the revolution until today (1821 - 2001)

Flag on left: Greek guerilla flag. The revolutionary motto: ΕΛΕΥΘΕΡΙΑ Η ΘΑΝΑΤΟΣ (Freedom or Death) the main motto of the Greek War of Independence and the current national motto of Greece, is horizontally written, in black, in the lower part of the flag. This flag was used by the Greek guerillas against the Ottoman occupation during the independence war (1821-1829).

Flag on right: Flag of Ypsilantis' Sacred Battalion. Alexander Ypsilantis (1792-1828) was a Greek who served as a general in the Russian Army. He was the leader of the political movement called Philiki Etairia (1820-1821) and led an invasion of Moldavia in an abortive attempt to liberate the Balkans from Ottoman rule. Red stands for the imperial purple robe and the self-government of the Greek people; white stands for innocence of the just cause of the Greek struggle against tyranny; and black represents the death of the Greeks for country and freedom. The obverse of the flag shows Saint Constantine (Emperor Constantine the Great) and his mother Saint Helena, flanked by the words, in black: ΕΝ ΤΟYΤΟ / ΝΙΚΑ (In this sign / thou shall conquest). The reverse of the flag shows a phoenix emerging from the ashes. It was the flag of Alexander and Demetrius Ypsilantis. The members of the Sacred Battalion and Georgios Olympos, heroes of the Greek independence struggle, fought and died under this flag.

+ Greek-American Easter in Kentucky

+ Fellow blogger Stavros was born in Istanbul (Constantinople), Turkey of Greek parents who immigrated to the USA in 1956. He grew up in New York City, joined the Marine Corps at age 19 and retired from the Corps twenty two years later. Stavros has a good post titled "The Meaning of Greek Independence": "The history of the struggle against the Ottoman Empire is replete with tales of daring and bravery, unfortunately, it is also a litany of man's inhumanity to man. Struggles of this type, against a determined and fanatical enemy, are never high-browed affairs as many Philhellenes like Lord Byron found out. The uprising in 1821 was a no holds barred war of attrition that can only be characterized as a fight to the finish. No quarter asked and none given. After all, the Greek subjects of the Ottoman Empire were nothing more than slaves. Slaves either submitted to the will of the Sultan or were to be made an example of and easily expendable. "

The Muslim Brotherhood

2007-03-25T23:58:00.000-04:00

Part 1.

Part 2.
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The Muslim Brotherhood or The Muslim Brothers (Arabic: الإخوان المسلمون al-ikhwān al-muslimūn, full title "The Society of the Muslim Brothers", often simply الإخوان al-ikhwān, "the Brotherhood" or "MB") is a world-wide Sunni Islamist movement founded by the sufi Islamic lawyer Hassan al-Banna in 1928. It has spawned several offshoot organizations in the Middle East, dedicated to the credo: "God is our objective, the Quran is our Constitution, the Prophet is our leader, struggle is our way..." The MB is the largest opposition force in many Arab nations, especially Egypt, is the worlds largest most influential Islamic group and seeks to install in stages an Islamic Caliphate across the Muslim world. (Source: Wiki)
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+ The Muslim Brotherhood's Conquest of Europe by Lorenzo Vidino (Middle-East Quarterly)

Part 3.

Part 4.

Part 5.

Beyond 2009?

2007-03-24T23:59:00.000-04:00

MONTREAL (AFP) - Canada may keep soldiers in
Afghanistan' to help stabilize the worn-torn nation beyond February 2009, its current commitment, it was reported, citing military documents.
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The French-language Montreal daily La Presse said 235 million Canadian dollars (200 million US) has been budgeted to maintain Canada's military presence in Afghanistan in 2010 and 2011, according to files obtained through access to information legislation. Last year, Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservative government pushed a two-year extension through Parliament to February 2009, but did not exclude the possibility of a further commitment.
Opposition leader Stephane Dion vowed last month to bring Canadian troops home in February 2009, if his Liberal Party returned to power in the next general election, expected this year.
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The Liberals accused Harper of having already made up his mind to extend the mission, despite his public denials. "All the documents suggest this government is just searching for a way to announce that we will be in Afghanistan after 2009," Liberal MP and defense critic Denis Coderre told La Presse. Defense department spokeswoman Carole Brown told AFP that planning for a longer stay was undertaken. "This plan details what units will make up our first and second line of operation until 2010. But the fact that we have identified particular units in no way implies that we will necessarily be using them in Afghanistan after 2009," she said.
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This MCpl, a signal operator with Task Force Kabul, mans an observation post on TV Hill in Kabul, Afghanistan.
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Other News:
+ Greek embassy in DR Congo hit by shell
+ Greece offers $1.6 million reward for info on group that attacked U.S. Embassy
+ Afghanistan: Med Evac Flies First Non-stop to Germany
+ Afghan, U.S. Troops Discuss Future with Elders
+ Soldiers Transform Quarters into Aid Station in Afghanistan

HAF Lockheed C-130H Hercules (L-382) Eindhoven, Netherlands. Mar 14, 2007.

Afghan Forces Kill 69 Taliban Militants

2007-03-23T18:27:00.000-04:00

KABUL, March 23 (Reuters) - At least 89 people, including 69 Taliban rebels, were killed in two days of fighting in Afghanistan, officials said on Friday, as violence soared with the onset of spring.
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The Islamist rebels were killed in fighting with Afghan forces in the south on Thursday after the troops, backed by NATO forces, launched an offensive against the rebels in two areas in Girishk district of Helmand province.
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Seven policemen were also killed and 19 Afghan soldiers wounded, Defence Ministry spokesman Zahir Azimi told a news conference, adding troops had begun a "cleaning up operation" after the attacks. "Even though our forces did not have enough equipment like tanks and armed vehicles but with the weapons that they had ... they could inflict heavy losses on the enemy in several hours of fighting," Azimi said. He said many rebel bodies still remained on the battlefield while the Taliban had taken away 10 of their fallen comrades. Seventeen guerrillas had also been arrested, Azimi added. Elsewhere, 12 private Afghan security guards and an Afghan driver were killed in the southern province of Kandahar on Friday when the Taliban ambushed their convoy of supplies for coalition troops, their Afghan contractor said.
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Fighting has intensified across Afghanistan after winter and analysts say 2007 is a make-or-break year for the Taliban as well as their opponents. Last year was the bloodiest since the hardline Islamists were ousted by U.S.-led forces in 2001. NATO and the Afghan armed forces have launched their largest offensive ever in Helmand, targeting the Taliban and drug lords who are reaping record crops for the second year running. Operation Achilles in northern Helmand involves 4,500 NATO troops and 1,000 Afghans.
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A statement from the coalition said NATO troops provided flank protection, air support and medical evacuation during Thursday's offensive. "This particular component of Operation Achilles is being conducted to put pressure on Taliban extremists, foreign terrorists and their narco-trafficking criminal associates that continue to operate within the general population," it said. Helmand is the main drug-producing region of Afghanistan, the world's leading producer of heroin.
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Separately, a suicide bomber attacked a convoy of Western troops in the eastern province of Nangarhar on Friday and at least one soldier, a woman and a child were wounded, witnesses and officials said. (Source: Reuters AlertNet)
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Photo: Battalion 3 of the Afghan National Army marches inside the Kabul Military Training Center. The facilities were renovated by the U.S. Army
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+ Forces from NATO mission rescue flood victims in Afghanistan
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+ Iranian president cancels speech before UN Security Council
+ US House of Representatives okays 2008 deadline for Iraq pullout
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+ British and Afghan forces flex their muscles in Musa Qaleh
+ TAC helps Army rebuild Afghan forces

2006 Aug: Camp Bastion, Southern Afghanistan ~ Paratroopers and soldiers of the Royal Irish Regiment prepare to board an RAF Chinook for Operation Atomi, to Musa Qaleh.

Somewhere in Iraq: Royal Irish Regiment soldier proudly flying the former flag of Northern Ireland (flag from 1953-72)

An armed Land Rover of 1st Battalion The Royal Irish Regiment advances past an oil well set alight by Iraqi insurgents (sometime in 2003).

Mechanic Spc. Keith Wright, B Company, 27th Brigade Support Battalion works on a Humvee. (U.S. Army photo by 1st Lt. Kendra Evers, 27th Brigade Support Battalion)

Private Michelle Norris, Major William Chesarek

2007-03-23T18:25:00.000-04:00

Private Michelle Norris has become the first ever woman to be presented with a Military Cross, one of the highest awards for exemplary gallantry against the enemy on land.

At the same ceremony the Queen also presented Major William Chesarek from the United States Marine Corps with a Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC), awarded for gallantry in action during operations. He became the first American serviceman to receive a DFC since the Second World War.

During an operation to disrupt mortar and rocket attacks in Al Amarah, Maysan Province, a UK Warrior Armoured vehicle was disabled and during its recovery British troops came under repeated attack from rocket propelled grenades (RPG) and small arms fire from insurgents using large, hostile crowds for cover.

Private Norris, aged just 19 and deployed as a medical orderly with The Queen's Royal Hussars Battle Group, was in another Warrior involved in the recovery. When her vehicle came under attack, the commander took a potentially fatal shot to the head from a sniper. Private Norris climbed out of the vehicle to tend his wounds while the sniper continued firing and other small arms and RPG fire continued around her. With the help of a colleague she was able to get her commander back into the vehicle. Read the full story.

UK Forces in Iran: Deja-Vu All Over Again

2007-03-23T11:42:00.000-04:00

The detention of 15 British sailors by Iran on Friday in the Shatt al-Arab waterway echoes a similar incident in the disputed area in 2004.
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On June 21 of that year, three British river-patrol boats carrying eight Royal Navy sailors were detained by Iran after apparently straying across the Shatt al-Arab waterway into Iranian territory, a situation that, some observers felt, provided Tehran with a timely opportunity to punish Britain and remind it and the United States not to ignore its voice in the region.

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After top-level British-Iranian talks, the sailors were turned over to British diplomats on June 24 and taken to the British embassy in Tehran under tight security. They were then flown to Dubai. More here: Globe And Mail (Photo from the 2004 incident)

+ British sailors detained by Iranian forces in Gulf: Fifteen British sailors have been detained by Iranian forces in Iraqi waters. The members of the Royal Navy were detained in the Persian Gulf after boarding a merchant ship they believed was being used to smuggle cars into Iraq, said CTV's London Bureau Chief Tom Kennedy.
Britain said the incident took place in Iraqi waters, where it has UN permission to routinely board and search merchant vessels

News Round-Up

2007-03-23T08:13:00.000-04:00

+ Iraq Deputy Prime Minister Survives Car Bombing; AFP Says 3 Die

+ Iran to lobby UN on nuclear sanctions

+ Guide to Religious and Extremist Groups in Pakistan

+ US House Opens Debate on US Withdrawal from Iraq

+ In a surprise development in a 20-month-old investigation, British counter-terrorism police have arrested three suspects in connection with the deadly 2005 London transit bombings: The deadliest bombings in London since the Second World War, 53 commuters were killed and more than 700 people were injured in the blasts that targeted three subway trains and a double-decker bus. The four suicide bombers were also killed.

+ Sea containers 'alternative' for terrorists: report: The Senate security and defence committee -- which this week released a report slamming airport security in Canada -- says sea containers are an "obvious alternative" for terrorists trying to target Canada. In its second report in two days, the all-party National Security and Defence Committee says some foreign ports have already developed technology to scan shipping containers, but no such system has been put in place in Canada.

Photo: Greek flag during the reign of Nikephoros Phokas (963-969) and his successors, blue and white replaced even the imperial red and gold. This conjectural design features the cross with the initials for ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ (Christ). Greece celebrates it's Independence from the Turkish Ottoman Empire on March 25th.

The Pentagon Channel: "Around The Services"

Training Islamic Child Soldiers

2007-03-22T20:09:00.000-04:00

By the Naqshbandi Sufi Army. Naqshbandi (Naqshbandiyya) is one of the major Sufi orders (tariqa) of Islam.

+ India, Bahrain to combat terrorism, intensify business ties
+ Post-Soviet Radicals and Spread of Terrorism
+ Casablanca residents stand up against terrorism, call for change

Iraq Footage

2007-03-21T19:17:00.000-04:00

Marines encounter an ambush by a group of insurgents in Fallujah, Iraq. (Apr 2006)

Iraqi Police and U.S. Soldiers conduct a cordon search on an apartment complex in Tameem Iraq. (Feb 2007)

+ Iraqi insurgents used children in a suicide attack this weekend, raising worries that the insurgency has adopted a new tactic to get through security checkpoints with bombs: Maj. Gen. Michael Barbero, deputy director for regional operations in the Joint Staff at the Pentagon, said adults in a vehicle with two children in the back seat were allowed through a Baghdad checkpoint Sunday. The adults then parked next to a market in the Adamiya area of Baghdad, abandoned the vehicle and detonated it with the children still inside, according to the general and another defence official. "Children in the back seat lower suspicion, we let it move through," Barbero said. "They parked the vehicle, the adults run out and detonate it with the children in the back." "The brutality and ruthless nature of this enemy hasn't changed," Barbero said. (Source: Toronto Star)

Pakistan Army Kills 100+ "Militants"

2007-03-21T19:05:00.000-04:00

Pakistan's government said Wednesday that fighting this week between local and foreign militants near the Afghan border, which has killed about 100 people, is testament to the success of efforts to get tribesmen to root out al-Qaida fighters.

But the bloodshed also underscores the government's inability to police the region and could unleash a cycle of violence between the warring factions, experts warned. At least two children were killed and around 20 wounded when a stray mortar round hit their school bus after the fighting broke out Monday in South Waziristan, where international humanitarian agencies have no access.

Senior government and intelligence officials said about 105 people - mostly Uzbeks and Chechens and their local supporters - had been killed in three days of clashes. It was the deadliest episode reported involving foreign militants who fled to Pakistan's lawless tribal regions from Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001. Source: Forbes

Photo: Pakistan's Air Force Chief Air Marshal Tanvir Mahmood Ahmed, right, speaks during the arrival ceremony of JF-17 Thunder military aircraft, Monday, Mar. 12, 2007 in Kamra, 76 kilometers (46 miles) West of Islamabad, Pakistan.

Canadian Forces ~ Integrated Tactical Effects Experiment

2007-03-21T00:14:00.000-04:00

God, I love my country...and the men and women who serve it.

Write up from Canadian Forces Combat Camera: The Integrated Tactical Effects Experiment (ITEE), taking place on the eastern seaboard from 2-20 November, 2006 is a significant exercise within the Standing Contingency Force (SCF) concept of operation.

The aim of the exercise is to evaluate and define the feasibility of the deployment and maintenance of a high readiness sea based and seaborne joint expeditionary task force for Canada. Participating in the ITEE are Canadian soldiers, sailors and airmen and women, along with ships from the Naval Task Group, G-Wagons, Light Armoured Vehicles (LAV) III and Sea King helicopters modified for troop transport. Key to the experiment is the expertise of the U.S. Navy combined with the U.S. Marine Corps mentorship and the lending of USS Gunston Hall, an amphibious assault ship embarking CF Staff and troops required to test the SCF concept.

+ U.S., Iraqi Forces Target Diyala's Sunni Insurgents: They seek to deny insurgents access to a region that has been an insurgent stronghold.

+ Roadside Bombs Plague Iraq Patrols: Spotting IEDs — and sometimes, triggering them — has become routine for American soldiers in Iraq.

+ Bush Discusses Iraq -- and Omits the 'V' Word: Speaking on a day that marks four years since the start of the war in Iraq, President Bush says the security crackdown in Baghdad is showing signs of progress.

+ U.N. Set to Debate New Sanctions on Iran
+ State of the Deal on Afghan-Pakistani Border

+ America's 'Al Qaeda Homegrown' from Oregon: Adam Gadahn, the American-born spokesman for al-Qaida, is the first American to be charged with treason in more than 50 years. Gadhan, who was born in Oregon, is thought to be hiding near the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan. How he came to be there is the subject of a new article in the Jan. 22 issue of The New Yorker.

+ Accident on British nuclear sub claims 2 sailors

Canadian Forces ~ Mission Support Squadron (MSS)

2007-03-20T23:54:00.000-04:00

In May 2006, the first Mission Support Squadron (MSS) went into operation at Cold Lake, Alberta, in support of 408 (Tactical Helicopter) Squadron at Exercise Maple Flag. The MSS provides logistical support to a deployed Air Force component, known as an Air Expeditionary Unit (AEU). http://www.combatcamera.forces.gc.ca

Humour: Iran Declares War on Sparta

2007-03-20T13:09:00.000-04:00

In response to the film ‘300,’ Iran says it will defeat Sparta.

By Andy Borowitz, March 20, 2007 (Newsweek) - In what foreign policy experts believe to be a direct response to the hit American movie “300,” Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad today declared war on Sparta. Even for the mercurial Ahmadinejad, the move struck many diplomatic insiders as extraordinary, since the consensus in the international community is that the city-state of Sparta no longer exists.
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But, according to a close associate of Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president’s thoughts turned to war after seeing a matinee showing of “300” this past Saturday at the Tehran Cineplex 12. “He was hopping mad at the way the Spartans kicked the Persians’ butts,” the aide said. “I haven’t seen him this angry since he saw that thing with Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore.”
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At a press conference in Tehran today, President Ahmadinejad directed his most barbed comments at the 300 Spartan warriors depicted in the film. “So you think you are a match for the entire Persian army?!?!!” Ahmadinejad said. “Well, let’s see if you’re a match for Iran’s nuclear program!”
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Hours after the Iran president issued his taunt, however, White House spokesman Tony Snow pounced on the remarks, claiming that they were proof that Iran’s nuclear program was not as peaceful as Ahmadinejad has purported. But Ahmadinejad rebutted Snow’s charges, telling reporters in Tehran, “We have been building a nuclear reactor for peaceful purposes only, but now we plan to drop that peaceful reactor on top of those damned Spartans.”

Greek Special Forces

2007-03-19T22:19:00.000-04:00

The video is in Greek with no subtitles. It's more interesting listening to the audio anyway, but if it bothers you that much you can just turn the volume down and put on a Metallica CD.

+ Greek Role 2 hospital workers and officers of the Greek army hand out food and gifts to children at a refugee camp near Kabul International Airport, Afghanistan

Greece has approximately 180 personel in Afghanistan, some stationed at Kabul airport and others at hospitals. There are around 130 soldiers and 45 air force personnel. At least two were wounded in a suicide attack in November 2005.

Major Kapravelos Commander of the Hellenic 505 Battalion in Egypt with General Whitcomb of US 3rd army

In the News:
+ Christian Assyrians in Baghdad Neighborhood Forced to Pay 'Protection Tax'

Mastrogiacomo Freed in Afghanistan

2007-03-19T19:49:00.000-04:00

+ Italian La Repubblica journalist Daniele Mastrogiacomo Freed in Afghanistan: Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi said Mastrogiacomo's release was obtained through the collective effort of Italian authorities, humanitarian officials and the Afghan government. Taleban rebels kidnapped the Italian journalist in southern Helmand province, along with his Afghan driver and interpreter. They accused Mastrogiacomo of spying for British forces.
The Afghan driver was killed last week. The interpreter is believed to have been freed along with the journalist but no details were immediately available.

+ U.S. embassy convoy was hit by a Taliban suicide car bomber in Kabul on Monday, killing an Afghan teenager by the road and wounding officials in the motorcade, police and an embassy spokesman said.

+ Iraqis Express Frustration as War Enters 5th Year

+ Siberian mine blast kills 78; 50 trapped

+ Finance Minister Jim Flaherty moved Monday to end a much-criticized tax break for oil sands producers, but softened the blow to the industry by providing a long lead time for the changes.

+ Pashtuns (also Pathans or ethnic Afghans) are an ethno-linguistic group with populations primarily in eastern and southern Afghanistan and in the North-West Frontier Province, Federally Administered Tribal Areas and Balochistan provinces of Pakistan.

+ Army Reserve Soldiers from the 7th Army Reserve Command (ARCOM) are supporting Operation Enduring Freedom as part of ISAF-VIII in Kabul.

+ Afghans rejecting Canadian troops for Taliban, survey finds: In a survey to be released in London today by the Senlis Council think tank, Afghan men in the Canadian-controlled areas of Kandahar province and in the neighbouring British- and U.S.-controlled regions say they are being driven to support the Taliban because of disillusionment with the NATO military effort and poverty created by the continuing conflict. A team of 50 researchers polled 17,000 Afghan men in randomly selected districts in the Kandahar, Helmand and Nangarhar provinces of southeastern Afghanistan between March 3 and March 12.

The study found that 72 per cent of men in the region know how to fire a weapon, making them potential Taliban recruits. The average annual income in the region of $747 (U.S.) is equivalent to two months pay for a Taliban fighter.

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/BENJAMIN KRAIN - This addict gets his opium supply for free from his nephew, who harvests poppies on his farm in Kapisa Province.

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/BENJAMIN KRAIN - Drug addicts smoke pure opium paste while one holds a baby in Kapisa Province, about 100 miles north of Kabul, where many farmers are growing opium-producing poppy plants. Afghanistan is the worlds leading producer of poppy fueling the heroin drug market.

An Afghan soldier, far left, and a man who lost his legs to a land mine walk through their neighborhood as two boys fill water buckets at a well behind the bullet pocked Eid Ghah mosque in Kabul Saturday (AP/David Guttenfelder)

Bamiyan, Afghanistan - Road from the bazaar and the cliff face. (Luke Powell Photographs)

Village of Pusht-i-Mazar, Afghanistan (Luke Powell Photographs)

Bamiyan, Afghanistan: Volleyball is more often seen in Afghanistan than soccer. It is much easier to make a smooth, somewhat level place to play volleyball. (Luke Powell Photographs)

News Round-Up

2007-03-19T00:10:00.000-04:00

+ We can do more than beg, says new finance chief for Palestinians

+ Zimbabwe opposition leader suffers new police beating

+ School, drive-by attacks kill six in Thai south

+ US to keep Palestinian aid ban but allow some contacts

+ Egypt opposes sanctions on Sudan

+ India ups security after Maoist strike call

+ Jewish grandmothers patrol West Bank checkpoints

+ IRAQ: Police raids spread panic among Palestinians

+ Christian Aid partners in Zimbabwe were arrested at a prayer rally on Sunday and subsequently tortured.

+ Voices On the Rise: Afghan Women Making the News

+ Kandahar PRT conducts mine awareness training for children

+ Outside the Wire – Some Leadership Challenges in Afghanistan (Colonel Bernd Horn)
+ Transformation and Airspace Operations in Afghanistan (Captain L.A. Shrum)

+ Taliban chop drivers' noses, ears in Afghanistan

+ two-hour clash between suspected Taliban militants and police left two officers dead in western Afghanistan

+ 1400 Artifacts Returned to Afghanistan Museum

+ Suicide bomber targeting a Canadian military convoy killed a child and wounded a NATO soldier and three other people

+ USAF: In Afghanistan this week 289 close air support missions were flown in support of the International Security Assistance Force and Afghan troops, reconstruction activities and route patrols.

Photo: Bust of King Leonidas of Sparta. On the first day of the siege Xerxes demanded the Greeks surrender their arms. Leonidas replied Μολὼν Λαβέ ("Come and get them"). This phrase has been re-used by generals and politicians throughout history and often repeated in popular culture. Today it is the emblem of the Greek 1st Army Corps

Infidel Babe: Elena Paparizou

2007-03-19T00:05:00.000-04:00

Happy St. Patrick's Day ~ Éirinn go Brách

2007-03-17T00:01:00.000-04:00

+ Stephen Colbert celebrates St. Patrick's Day (love him or hate him, he made me laugh here)
+ Barrack Obama has an Irish great, great, great grandfather (Belfast Telegraph)

The longest-running Saint Patrick's Day parade in Canada occurs each year in Montreal, Québec. The parades have been held in continuity since 1824; however, St. Patrick's Day itself has been celebrated in Montreal as far back as 1759 by the Irish soldiers of the Montreal Garrison, following the British conquest of New France.
In Canada, Saint Patrick's Day is an official holiday only in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Some groups, notably Guinness, have lobbied to make Saint Patrick's Day a federal (national) holiday.
In Manitoba, the Irish Association of Manitoba runs an annual three day festival of music and culture based around St Patrick's Day. (Source: Wiki)

Toronto's City Hall has what is called a "courtesy flag pole" where other countries' flags are flown on special days of the year. The Irish flag is flown every year from March 11 - 18 in "Recognition of Irish Heritage and Cultural Appreciation Month" (The Greek flag will be flown on March 25 in honour of Greek Independence from the Turkish Ottoman Empire)

Dogfight - Greek Air Force

2007-03-15T22:55:00.000-04:00

Greek Air force locks on to a Turkish F-16 flying over Greek air space in the Aegean Sea.

+ UAE's Foreign Maids Lack Protections: In the United Arab Emirates, most households depend heavily on undocumented workers to do domestic work. These foreign workers, coming mainly from Southeast Asia, lack legal protection from abuses.

+ Greece, Russia, Bulgaria sign $1.2 B oil pipeline deal: The pipeline will be roughly 280 kilometres long and is expected to transport 35 million tonnes of crude oil per year, with the possibility of increasing output to 50 million tonnes in the future. The 700-million-euro pipeline is set to be completed by about 2011 and will bypass Turkey's busy Bosporus Straits, carrying oil from the Black Sea port of Burgas in Bulgaria to the Greek port of Alexandroupolis in northeastern Greece.

+ EU set to share police data to fight terrorism ~ Greece, Sweden and others to join: Seeking to combat terrorism, cross-border crime and illegal migration, European member states last Thursday agreed on new plans to give each other access to their police databases.

+ Former CIA operative Valerie Plame broke a long silence
+ Iraq friendly fire death "criminal": UK coroner
+ Pakistan eased restrictions on it's chief justice Saturday and sacked 15 policemen for attacking a private news channel that had criticized the government's handling of the judge's dismissal

Photos below: Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Fighting Falcons of the Hellenic Air Force (for those straying "allies", ie bogies).

Hellenic Air Force ~ McDonnell Douglas RF/F-4E Phantom II

Hellenic Air Force ~ Vought LTV TA/A-7H/E Corsair II

Iran - Sanctions

2007-03-15T15:13:00.000-04:00

Six world powers agreed Thursday on stiff new penalties to level against Iran for its refusal to abandon its nuclear program.

The deal was reached among the five permanent members of the Security Council — the U.S., Russia, China, France, and Britain — as well as Germany.

"We have an agreement, and I will introduce a text on behalf of the six," British Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry said after a meeting of ambassadors from the countries. "It's a text which is our suggestions. It's not 'take it or leave it.'"

The pact is one stage in the process of implementing the proposed measures, which the other 10 members of the UN Security Council will likely approve in a vote next week. The vote date has not yet been set.

The new resolution calls on all UN member states to exercise "vigilance and restraint" on Iranian arms imports. It would also include stricter asset freezes on individuals and companies associated with Tehran's nuclear programs. (Source: CBC News)

+ Iran Nuclear Resources
+ Nuclear program of Iran (Wikipedia)
+ A Preemptive Attack on Iran's Nuclear Facilities: Possible Consequences

+ The CIA in Iran (New York Times): The shah's cowardice nearly killed the C.I.A. operation. Fearful of risking his throne, the Shah repeatedly refused to sign C.I.A.-written royal decrees to change the government. The agency arranged for the shah's twin sister, Princess Ashraf Pahlevi, and Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf, the father of the Desert Storm commander, to act as intermediaries to try to keep him from wilting under pressure. He still fled the country just before the coup succeeded.

+ Outed CIA officer was working on Iran, intelligence sources say (RawStory)
+ The Iran Plans: Would President Bush go to war to stop Tehran from getting the bomb? (Seymour M. Hersh)
+ ANALYSIS: Russia having second thoughts on nuclear aid to Iran
+ Iran Still hopeful about Diplomatic Solution to N. Issue

+ Iranian newspaper headlines: "300 AGAINST 70 MILLION!" and "Hollywood has opened a new front in the war against Iran"

Tehran, Iran, Mar. 12 – In yet another snub to the United Nations Security Council which has imposed economic sanctions on Iran over its refusal to suspend uranium enrichment, the Islamic Republic on Monday introduced a new banknote carrying the atomic symbol.The new 50,000 rial note displays a map of Iran with a giant atom and orbiting electrons on it.

On its back, the note features a portrait of the founder of the Islamic Republic Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.The new note is worth the equivalent of about $5.40 - more than twice the amount of Iran’s previous highest denomination. Officials announced that six million copies of the notes were circulated through the state banks. (Source: IranFocus.com)

Why we train...why we fight...

Maoists Kill 49 in India

2007-03-15T06:59:00.000-04:00

Maoist rebels have killed 49 members of the police and tribal militia in the troubled central Indian state of Chhattisgarh.

The Maoists threw grenades and petrol bombs and set the camp on fire before escaping with a cache of arms and explosives. Between 300 and 400 rebels attacked a police camp surrounded by dense forest in the southern part of the state. The Maoists threw grenades and petrol bombs and set the camp on fire before escaping with a cache of arms and explosives.

Chief Minister Raman Singh told the state legislature that among the dead were 15 policemen and 34 local tribal members recruited to a police militia. The latest attack underlined the presence of Maoist rebels in much of rural India where they have formed a "red corridor" stretching from the southern tip of India all along its southern, central and eastern forests and up to the border with Nepal. Ajai Sahni, executive director at the New Delhi-based Institute for Conflict Management, said rebels have spent much of last year amassing an enormous cache of arms.

"This period has been a period of planning and of consolidation and you will now see the consequences," Mr Sahni said, adding that mass support continued to grow across the "red corridor". "You can expect a fairly abrupt escalation of violence over coming weeks and months," he added. Last year, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said the insurgency was the gravest threat to India's internal security since independence from British colonial rule in 1947. More than 700 people were killed in the insurgency last year. (Source: ITN)

Home-made Maoist rocket stuck in a roadside tree, waiting for Indian security forces.

Irena Sendler

2007-03-14T20:58:00.000-04:00

A 97-year-old woman credited with saving Jewish children during the Holocaust is a hero who deserves the Nobel Peace Prize, Poland's president said Wednesday during a ceremony to honour Irena Sendler.

Sendler, who lives in a nursing home in Warsaw, was too frail to attend the special session of the Polish Senate, which unanimously approved a resolution honouring her and the underground Council for Assisting Jews, known as Zegota. The group's members, mostly Roman Catholics, risked their lives during the operation in Nazi-occupied Poland, where concealing Jews was punishable by death...

Sendler was captured in 1943 and tortured by the Nazis at Warsaw's Pawiak prison, but didn't give any information to her captors...

In 1965, Israel's Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial awarded her one of its first medals for non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust, giving her the title "Righteous Among the Nations." She actually received the honour in 1983, after Poland's Communist authorities finally agreed to allow her to travel abroad. Source: CBC +++ + Holocaust Project: Irena Sendler

Żegota saved some 75,000 Polish Jews and produced some 60,000 false identities and documents creating refuge for Jews among the Polish gentiles on the so called "Aryan" side of the German-occupied Poland (Source: Wiki)

“Żegota is the story of extraordinary heroism amidst unique depravity – compelling in its human as well as historical dimensions. It is a particularly valuable addition to our understanding of the many facets of the Holocaust because Żegota as an organized effort was tantamount to ‘Schindler’s List’ multiplied a hundredfold.” ― Zbigniew Brzeziński

Mohammed: "I was responsible for...9/11"

2007-03-14T20:15:00.000-04:00

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the September 11 attacks on the United States, has admitted responsibility for those and other major al Qaeda operations, according to the transcript of a hearing at Guantanamo Bay released on Wednesday.

"I was responsible for the 9/11 Operation, from A to Z," Mohammed, speaking through a personal representative, said according to the transcript of the hearing on Saturday at the U.S. military prison camp in Cuba released by the Pentagon.

Mohammed, a Pakistani national, also said he was responsible for a 1993 attack on New York's World Trade Center, the bombing of a nightclub in Bali, Indonesia, and an attempt to down two American airplanes using shoe bombs.

"I was the operational director for Sheikh Usama (Osama) Bin Laden for the organizing, planning, follow-up, and execution of the 9/11 operation," he said through his representative, a member of the U.S. military.
The transcript said Mohammed was present at the hearing, which is to determine whether he meets the definition of an "enemy combatant." Mohammed is among 14 prisoners identified by U.S. authorities as "high-value" terrorism suspects and transferred to Guantanamo last year from secret CIA prisons abroad.
He was arrested in Pakistan in March 2003 and handed over to the United States.

+ Chiquita: We Paid Terror Groups
+ Britain's parliament backed Prime Minister Tony Blair's plans to renew the country's nuclear arsenal on Wednesday as opposition votes helped Blair survive a major rebellion by members of his own party

+ Poland honours woman, 97, for saving Jewish children from Nazis