|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
TM designed by: Ian Livingston
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| This thread has been locked, it will not receive new replies. |
|
Locked on 06/02/2005 9:39:58 PM PDT by Admin Moderator, reason:
locked for new thread http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1415532/posts |
Posted on 04/14/2005 4:02:23 PM PDT by nwctwx
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
TM designed by: Ian Livingston
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
ON THE NET...
http://www.nnuu.org/vb/
http://www.egysite.com/ansary/
http://www.egysite.com/ansary/images/logo.gif
Feigning disbelief here - imagine that! Islamic school in the US of A wherein known terrorists have "worshipped."
Room makeovers.
I'm just waiting for the GO signal to decorate, but budget constraints, you know.
Thanks.
Trivia can be interesting.
$50 bln more asked for Iraq, Afghan, terror wars
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=politicsNews&storyID=8491258
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Senate Armed Services Committee has recommended an additional $50 billion be set aside to fund U.S. military operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and the U.S.-declared global war on terrorism.
The proposed new war spending for fiscal 2006, which starts Oct. 1, would push the cost of the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and its aftermath toward $250 billion.
Before the invasion, then-White House economic advisor Lawrence Lindsey said a conflict with Iraq could cost $100 billion to $200 billion. He was derided by administration colleagues and lost his job in December 2002.
The recommendation for fresh emergency spending was sent to the full Senate on Thursday night as part of a bill that also would authorize $441.6 billion in regular defense spending in fiscal 2006, a 3.1 percent real increase over the sum authorized by Congress last year.
Three days ago, Congress gave final approval for an $82 billion emergency war-spending bill, of which about $76 billion would go to fighting the war.
Even with such a large emergency funding measure, Pentagon officials have said more money would be needed as early as October.
The White House Office of Management and Budget, or OMB, said it had not sought the additional $50 billion recommended by the Armed Services Committee.
"We prefer to request emergency funds if and when they are needed," said Scott Milburn, an OMB spokesman. "The nature of the conflict means long-term projections of those needs are difficult to make."
The new measure had bipartisan support. It is expected to be taken up by the full Senate as early as the end of this month. Once passed by the Senate, it needs to be reconciled with the House of Representatives' version, then approved by both chambers and signed by President Bush to become law.
"I am particularly pleased that the bill will authorize $50 billion to support the day-to-day military operations of our troops in Afghanistan and Iraq," Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan, the panel's top Democrat, said in a statement.
U.S. Iraq costs could total about $208 billion as of Sept. 30, the end of the current fiscal year, including about $183 billion for the Defense Department, plus about $25 billion for reconstruction, embassy and related costs, said Amy Belasco, a defense budget analyst at the Congressional Research Service, the nonpartisan research arm of Congress.
"If the additional $50 billion proposed by the Senate Armed Services Committee for fiscal 2006 splits between Iraq and Afghanistan along the lines of previous Defense Department spending reports, the cost of Iraq could then reach $250 billion," she said.
- - - - - - - - -
Worth remembering this from November, I suppose:
Bin Laden: Goal is to bankrupt U.S.
http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/11/01/binladen.tape/
(CNN) -- The Arabic-language network Al-Jazeera released a full transcript Monday of the most recent videotape from Osama bin Laden in which the head of al Qaeda said his group's goal is to force America into bankruptcy.
Al-Jazeera aired portions of the videotape Friday but released the full transcript of the entire tape on its Web site Monday.
"We are continuing this policy in bleeding America to the point of bankruptcy. Allah willing, and nothing is too great for Allah," bin Laden said in the transcript.
It truly is good to know you'll be able to spend more time with us. Your statement about Zarqawi "outsourcing" to America is most likely certain to be reality. You're wise to learn Arabic because there is a certain requirement for that skill these days. Any translation you can bring to us will be extremely helpful (but you undoubtedly already know that - smiling).
I used to subscribe to Architectural Digest - got lots of great ideas from it. Now I peruse the library or the bookstore. Furnished model and / or mobile homes are also inspirational idea-wise. The ideas are free.
Arabic has been a very rewarding course to take thus far. I managed to be the only one of 18 that started at UConn to finish all 4 semesters. It has taught me just a bit about patience, if nothing else. ;-) I look forward to being able to help with translations... but, alas.. I am still at about an 8yr old comprehension level. I'm taking some private lessons this summer, and will enter my 3rd year at my new school, Binghamton University, in the fall... I hope to become fluent someday, I know the country needs more people who understand the language.
Yep.
Also the virtual tours on homes for sale on the internet sites are also helpful.
http://1010wins.com/topstories/local_story_133115551.html
"21 Arrested In Phony License Scheme"
May 13, 2005 10:55 am US/Eastern
ARTICLE SNIPPET: "(1010 WINS) (NEW YORK) The state Department of Motor Vehicles has accused 21 men and women from Rockland and Putnam counties and New York City of offering fake Social Security documents to get driver's licenses."
http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/05/13/london.children/
"300 African boys vanish in London"
Friday, May 13, 2005 Posted: 1129 GMT (1929 HKT)
London
ARTICLE SNIPPET: "LONDON, England -- Hundreds of young African boys have disappeared from schools in London, according to police investigating the murder of a child whose torso was found in the River Thames."
ON THE NET...
http://www.freemuslims.org/march/
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=15832_About_the_Free_Muslims_March&only
CNN.com: Washington - "FBI SPY CHIEF ASKS PRIVATE SECTOR FOR HELP" (ARTICLE SNIPPET: "FBI Assistant Director for Counterintelligence David Szady, cited Russia, Iran, Cuba and North Korea among countries he said engage in espionage against the United States, but he focused heavily on activities by Chinese. "There are 150,000 students from China. Some of those are sent here to work their way up into the corporations," Szady said. There are about 300,000 Chinese visitors annually, and 15,000 Chinese delegations touring the United States every year, 3,500 of them in the New York area alone, he said.") (February 10, 2005) (Read More...)
RewardsForJustice.net - "WANTED": "MUSTAFA SETMARIAM NASAR (Mustafa Sitmaryan Nassar") (Note: "Aliases: Abu Musab al-Suri, Umar Abd al-Hakim") (View Photos; Read More...)
FBI.gov - Seeking Information: "ADNAN G. EL SHUKRIJUMAH" (ALIASES: "Adnan G. El Shukri Jumah; Abu Arif; Ja'far Al-Tayar; Jaffar Al-Tayyar; Jafar Tayar; Jaafar Al-Tayyar") (VIEW POSTER. Click Here.)
His name is Abdul and he has Gatoraid in his backpak. LOL just kidding I will check this morning and see if his name comes up!
Agreed. Anytime, anyone, says something like that I take it with a massive grain of salt. Rock salt anyone?
Muslim Brotherhood's History
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/wire/sns-ap-muslim-brotherhood-history,0,5828614.story?coll=sns-ap-world-headlines
Since its birth in Egypt in 1928, the Muslim Brotherhood has spread to dozens of countries -- promoting a return to so-called "pure" Islamic principles that stands at odds with some of the major trends of the 20th century: international commerce and organizations, Western liberalism and greater rights for women.
The group's teachings -- flavored with strict Saudi-style Wahhabist beliefs and vehement anti-Americanism -- have become part of nearly every hard-line Islamic movement since.
In 1948, a Brotherhood member assassinated Egypt's prime minister, Mahmud el-Nokrashy. The group was banned and Brotherhood founder Hassan al-Banna was killed in 1949.
A failed attempt to slay nationalist President Gamal Abdel Nasser in 1954 led to mass arrests and thousands of Brotherhood supporters fled across the Middle East, where the organization expanded its political clout either in secret or openly. Its Palestinian branch became the anti-Israel group Hamas.
Sayyid Qutb, a passionately anti-Western Brotherhood member who was hanged in 1966, became an important point of reference for al-Qaida's inner circle.
In the 1970s, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat released hundreds of Muslim Brotherhood members and allowed them to widen their influence. It was a gambit to help fight Sadat's political opponents and boost his Islamic credentials.
It backfired.
The Brotherhood spun off two violent cells: al-Gamaa al-Islamiyya, or the Islamic Group, and Islamic Jihad of Egypt -- whose attacks include Sadat's 1981 assassination. The group merged with Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida organization in 1998. A former Brotherhood follower in Egypt, Ayman al-Zawahri, became al-Qaida's No. 2.
Al-Gamaa al-Islamiyya renounced violence in 1997 after carrying out dozens of attacks. Its members include the blind Muslim cleric Al-Omar Abdel-Rahman, who is serving a life sentence in the United States for conspiring to blow up New York City landmarks, including the United Nations, in the 1990s. He has also been linked to the bombing of New York's World Trade Center in 1993.
Over the years, other countries such as Syria and Jordan have battled the Muslim Brotherhood.
The Brotherhood claims it no longer advocates political violence, but backs Palestinian attacks against Israeli targets and efforts to end the U.S.-led occupation in Iraq. The Brotherhood, however, did not oppose January's Iraq elections.
KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai urged the United States on Saturday to prosecute and punish anyone found guilt of desecrating the Koran as anti-U.S. protests flared for a fifth day.
Sixteen Afghans have been killed and more than 100 hurt since Wednesday in the worst anti-U.S. protests across Afghanistan since U.S. forces invaded in 2001 to oust the Taliban for harbouring Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda network.
Newsweek magazine said in its May 9 edition investigators probing abuses at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay found that interrogators "had placed Korans on toilets, and in at least one case flushed a holy book down the toilet."
Muslims consider the Koran the literal word of God and treat each book with deep reverence.
"If proven that this happened, then we will strongly ask the American government to put on trial and punish whoever is the culprit," Karzai told a news conference. Such sacrilege was unacceptable to every Muslim.
The United States has tried to calm global Muslim outrage over the incident, saying disrespect for the Koran was abhorrent and would not be tolerated, and military authorities were investigating the allegation.
International Muslim groups in Saudi Arabia also called on the United States to investigate and punish those responsible.
The 57-nation Organization of the Islamic Conference said the report had enraged hundreds of millions of Muslims and would "provide fanatics and extremists with excuses to ... justify their acts of violence and terrorism."
SYDNEY: Pakistan's Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri yesterday said that while his country had done much to smash the Al Qaeda network and destroy other militant groups, an end to the war against terror was not in sight.
Pakistan, which borders war-ravaged Afghanistan and is believed to be home to Al Qaeda mastermind Osama bin Laden, has been an ally of the United States in efforts to end terrorism since shortly after the September 11 attacks.
"For Pakistan, the first and foremost challenge is the threat of terrorism and its role as a frontline state in the war against terrorism," the minister said during a speech to a foreign policy think-tank in Sydney.
"Nobody knows where the war against terrorism will take us and therefore how it will end."
On Thursday, Kasuri said a top Al Qaeda operative arrested in Pakistan will not be handed over to the United States at present, while leaving open the possibility of a later transfer.
Pakistan this month arrested the alleged Al Qaeda number three Abu Faraj al-Libbi.
He is the alleged mastermind of two attempts on President Pervez Musharraf's life in December 2003, and a bid to assassinate Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz before he assumed office last year.
Asked at a press conference in Canberra if Al-Libbi would be handed over to the US, Kasuri said Pakistan had "a very strong vested interest" given the attempts on the president's life.
"But we've had a track record, Pakistan, of sharing intelligence with all our friends, and we have very strong links with United States," he said.
"So at the moment he's in the custody of the Pakistan government and until all issues are cleared, there's no question he's being handed over to anybody else," Kasuri added.
"But of course intelligence sharing, and after we have done with the intelligence I think this is for the Ministry of Interior, not for the Minister for Foreign Affairs to decide when and if he will be handed over to any other country."
While Pakistani authorities had apprehended and deported almost 600 suspected Al Qaeda operatives and affiliates, the Western world also needed to look to troublespots around the world to kill breeding grounds for terror and counter sentiment that Muslims received a raw deal in the current world order.
"We know very well that there is the feeling in the Islamic world that there is selectivity in the application of UN Security Council resolutions," he said.
Kasuri said Australia had faced indignation from the Muslim world when it led an intervention force in 1999 into East Timor, which had previously been controlled by the world's most populous Muslim nation Indonesia.
"Look at Indonesia, East Timor... I'm not going into the merits of it, but all over the Islamic world they said 'Oh here's a Christian minority, they want their rights, they are being given (them) by the UN'."
Kasuri reiterated the stance of President Pervez Musharraf, who has called on Muslim countries to conduct reforms to reduce the threat of terror and on the West to help resolve disputes justly so that terrorists are denied a breeding ground.
Kasuri, the first Pakistani foreign minister to visit since 1959, said ties between the nations were strong and Australia's Foreign Minister Alexander Downer and Prime Minister John Howard would visit his country this year.
Downer on Thursday announced the two nations would sign an agreement to improve counter-terrorist co-operation when Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf visits next month.
"There are no irritants, as the diplomats like to say, within our relationship," Kasuri said.
"Pakistan and Australia both follow cricket very keenly," he added.
Australia has also been a staunch US ally and is deploying troops in Iraq.
Kasuri said while Iraq had been a divisive war around the world, there needed to be an emphasis on inclusive government in the country to stem the violence. - AFP
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
