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Influx of Chinese products causing problems in Indonesia
Mullahs control bloodshed no thanks to fake Newsweak story
FSB head denounces US and British re spies
Oil industry sees prices going higher
US experts say threat of attack still real
Suspected drug lord flees Mexican jail
So much great info and excellent links in the last couple of days.
Thanks to all on this thread.
Mullahs controlled bloodshed:
Shahrani Habib Rahman Ibrahimi
KABUL: The Minister of Hajj said the Mullahs and spiritual leaders played a role in preventing bloodshed during country-wide demonstrations incited by reports of the desecration of a Holy Quran at a US detention center at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, by preaching against violence during Friday prayers.
In a joint press conference attended by Michael Macey the head of public relations at the American Embassy in Kabul, Nematullah Shahrani the Hajj minister said: “I heard rumors of foreigners being hired to come and join the demonstrations, but this was all in vain.” President Hamid Karzai who was in Europe when the demonstrations erupted, speaking to journalists on his return said there was a foreign hand involved in the protest.
According to him, some foreigners don’t want to develop a good long-lasting relationship with the United States.
The demonstrations started in eastern Nangarhar by university students on May 10th and the first day ended peacefully without incident.
But reports coming on the second day claimed many ordinary people joined in the violent protests that ended in clashes resulting in the deaths of at least 4 and injuring 60 others.
On the third and fourth day the demonstrations spread to other provinces resulting in a death toll of 16 people and nearly 120 casualties.
Shahrani said: “According to initial investigations carried out by Hajj ministry, many other people may have been killed if the violence was not controlled.” Shahrani said the enemies of Afghanistan don’t want it to be reconstructed.
He said the role of spiritual leaders and Mullah’s played an important role in the future reconstruction and development of the country, but blamed the international donor countries for not assisting the Hajj ministry in their endeavors.
Meanwhile, about 500 Islamic scholars and tribal elders gathered in Faizabad, to pass a resolution calling for anyone found to have abused the Quran to be punished, said Maulawi Abdul Wali Arshad, head of the religious affairs department in Badakhshan province.
Arshad and the provincial police chief said the scholars demanded a “reaction” from US authorities within three days, but they denied reports that the scholars threatened to declare a holy war if the deadline was not respected.
Thanks Oorang and same back to you.
You're always on top of things.
Our friend, WestCoastGal, is going through some really tough times right now. I cannot go into any details, but she needs our prayers and support. Please add her to your prayer list.
Thanks.
Saudi to sue senior US officials
Sunday 15 May 2005, 5:58 Makka Time, 2:58 GMT
The former head of a Saudi charity has said he is filing a lawsuit in the United States against senior officials - including Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice - for putting him on a UN terrorist blacklist.
Saudi Arabia shut down Al-Haramain Foundation last October, four months after Aqil al-Aqil's name was placed on the UN list of suspects linked to al-Qaida, Osama bin Laden and the Taliban, former rulers of Afghanistan.
The US government had requested the closure.
Washington said the charity's international branches provided "financial, material and logistical" support to Saudi-born bin Laden's network, a charge al-Aqil repeatedly denied.
"Since my opponent is the American administration, which is working on the principle of 'guilty until proven innocent', then the way to clear my name is through the American judiciary," al-Aqil said in a statement.
"... I have decided to file a case against the American government in the federal court in Washington DC."
Seeking justice
Alongside Rice, al-Aqil named Treasury Secretary John Snow, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and Juan Zarate, the US Treasury's assistant secretary for terrorism financing.
"I am not asking anything of the American judiciary - which is known for its independence - apart from justice," he said.
Since the September 11 attacks in the United States, carried out mainly by Saudis, Riyadh has tightened financial controls to stem any flow of cash to militants. US officials charge Saudi Arabia was the main source of al-Qaida funding before 2001.
The kingdom shut down Al-Haramain and said last year it was folding its assets into a new group that would channel all Saudi charitable contributions abroad.
Al-Aqil said his own bank accounts had also been frozen, despite his efforts to show that Al-Haramain had "no link to terrorism, or the acts of al-Qaida, or what happened on September 11".
International relief
The organisation, founded in the early 1990s, used to raise around $50 million a year, making it one of the largest Saudi charities. It mixed international relief work with programmes to promote Islam.
It said it provided assistance and food to Muslims in East Africa, the Balkans, Chechnya and several Asian countries. It also built 1300 mosques, sponsored 3000 preachers and produced 20 million religious pamphlets, Al-Haramain officials said.
But in March 2002, the United States listed the foundation's offices in Bosnia and Somalia as "terrorist organisations". Two years later, it added Al-Haramain's branches in Afghanistan, Albania, Bangladesh, Ethiopia and The Netherlands to the list.
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/4C89A739-F7C7-4F4A-8E60-4BA92F6811E6.htm
Many thanks for letting us know RR. Prayers to WCG.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1403813/posts
"Saudi oil fields set with 'radioactive bombs'"
REUTERS ^ | May 12, 2005 | Staff
Posted on 05/15/2005 7:10:37 PM PDT by EBH
Ongoing prayers for WestCoastGal for undisclosed needs.
In Jesus' most Holy name.
Amen.
That's interesting.
On another (gardening) note - wouldn't you know it. The garden is all planted, as are the flower beds. The hanging baskets are, well, hanging and the flowers pots on the deck are blooming. Now...the snow level is dropping, alot, tomorrow night. Arrrggg.
Yemen's president appeared on state television on Saturday saying a rebel leader had agreed to renounce armed dissent in return for a pardon.
President Ali Abdullah Saleh was shown addressing a group of clerics and parliamentary figures with a piece of paper he said carried a commitment from Shaikh Badr al-Din al-Huthi, leader of the Shia sect battling government forces, confirming reports of such a deal.
Government officials claim al-Huthi's group is trying to install Shia Muslim clerical rule and preaches violence against the United States and Israel. The group is not linked to al-Qaida.
Saleh talked of a "conspiracy against the republican system" with outside backing, but did not elaborate.
Fighting first broke out last year in the mountainous north of the impoverished country at the tip of the Arabian Peninsula, during which al-Huthi's son Husain was killed. A new round of clashes began in March. Saleh did not say if fighting was over.
Casualties, material loss
Interior Minister Rashad al-Alimi told the meeting a total of 525 people had died and 2708 been wounded, comprising civilians and security forces. The authorities said at least 200 rebels died last year, but have not given a figure for this year's fighting.
Planning Minister Ahmad Sufan cited direct material losses of 52 billion Yemeni riyals ($274 million).
Yemen said this week it had arrested 21 supporters of al-Huthi on suspicion of hurling grenades at troops and planning to kill officials.
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/36E3FC09-348A-486B-BB07-149A2870ED16.htm
Re Posner, I don't think anything about him one way or the other. When Daniel Pipes though, discusses the topic; I'm open to reading what he has to say. The same goes for Steve Emerson, Robert Spencer, Aaron Weisburd, Joseph Farah, Reuven Paz.....
Hey, snow and flowers -- I know what you mean. The first 2 years here I planted too early and the snow killed some of the plants.
Bad storm today, so after church and Sunday brunch; I took my spring catalogs and tour books out and looked at lots of pictures. Perked me
right up.
SNIP:
The clerics in the northeastern province of Badakhshan said they wanted US President George W. Bush to handle the matter honestly “and hand the culprits over to an Islamic country for punishment”.
“If that does not happen within three days, we will launch a jihad against America,” said a statement issued by about 300 clerics after meeting in the main mosque in the provincial capital, Faizabad.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1§ion=0&article=63858&d=16&m=5&y=2005
CIA and US Special Forces active in Pakistan: WP
By Khalid Hasan
Washington: “The CIA and US Military Special Operations forces have been operating inside Pakistan for more than two years with the knowledge of the Pakistani authorities,” the Washington Post said in a report published on Sunday.
The report by correspondent Dana Priest also said that Haitham Al-Yemeni, the Al Qaeda figure killed last week by a missile fired from Predator, a CIA-operated aerial drone, had been under surveillance for more than a week by US intelligence working along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.
Sources told the newspaper that the Predator, operated from a secret base hundreds of miles from the target (did not say where), located and fired on al-Yemeni late on Saturday night in Toorikhel, Pakistan, a suburb of Mirali in North Waziristan. This would mean that al-Yemeni was killed in Pakistan and not Afghanistan.
The Pakistani information minister has denied that any such incident took place, but if the Post report is true, his denial would stand discredited.
The report said “US presence is highly controversial with the largely Muslim Pakistani public, which is generally sympathetic to Bin Laden and al Qaeda.. For that reason, Pakistani officials routinely play down US Pakistani cooperation.”
The CIA, the newspaper said, is permitted to operate the lethal Predator under presidential authority promulgated after the September 11 attacks. Shortly after the attacks, Bush approved a “presidential finding” that allowed the CIA to write a set of highly classified rules describing which individuals could be killed by CIA officers. Such killings are defined as self-defence in a global war against Al Qaeda terrorists.
The rules have been vetted by the White House, State Department and CIA lawyers. They allow CIA counterterrorism officials in the field to decide much more quickly when to fire, according to former intelligence officials involved in developing the rules.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_16-5-2005_pg1_2
LONDON: Abu Musab Al Zarqawi, the man most wanted by US-led forces in Iraq, was wounded and treated briefly at a hospital in Iraq last week before he disappeared with his men, a British newspaper reported Sunday.
The doctor who claims to have treated him told an Iraqi reporter in the western city of Ramadi that Zarqawi was bleeding heavily when he was brought into the hospital on Wednesday, the Sunday Times reported.
The doctor was able to recognise the Jordanian-born militant linked to Al Qaeda network by photographs he had seen of him on television, the newspaper said.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_16-5-2005_pg7_2
Let's hope President Bush sends the NewzWeak staff over there with a one-way ticket to do a follow-up exclusive to that original article that was published.
Excellent idea!
Adding WestCoastGal to my prayer list. We've not heard too much from her since she moved, and frankly, I miss her!
‘Pakistan’s domestic security weakened’
WASHINGTON, May 15: Pakistan’s domestic security and political stability appears to have weakened in 2005, particularly in Balochistan where the government faces an increasingly restive armed uprising, says the latest congressional report on Pakistan.
The Congressional Research Service, which prepares this report for US lawmakers, notes that: “Beginning in January and continuing to the present day, well-armed tribesmen in the sparsely populated, but resource-rich Balochistan province have caused serious disruptions by targeting power, transportation, and communication lines, and engaging in sporadic battles with government forces there.”
In March conflict caused thousands of civilians to flee their homes and, on March 19, at least 40 people were killed and scores injured when a bomb exploded at a religious shrine in a remote area of Balochistan, the report adds.
Despite these developments, the US remains committed to Pakistan and on March 16, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and President Pervez Musharraf in Islamabad, where she told the Pakistani people that “the United States will be a friend for life,” the report points out.
Nine days later, the Bush Administration announced that the United States would resume sales of F-16 fighters to Pakistan after a 16-year hiatus, the report adds. According to the CRS, justifications for the decision —- which came in tandem with suggestions that India may also purchase advanced US-built warplanes and other major weapons systems —- include a US interest that Pakistan “feel secure” and a perception that a substantive US defence relationship with both Pakistan and India will stabilize “the balance” between them.
The report also notes that vocal critics of the move include the Indian and Russian governments, as well as numerous US and Pakistan-based analysts who contend that it may strengthen non-democratic forces in Islamabad and or fuel an arms race in the region.
Two days before the decision was announced, 20 members of the House sent a letter to President Bush urging him to not license the sale of F-16 aircraft to Pakistan as such a sale would “undermine our long-term strategic interests in South Asia” and “squander an opportunity” to continue building positive relations with India.
Excerpted
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