November 28, 2008
Jamat-ud-Dawa (LET Political Wing) on Mumbai Attacks: "Not a Legitimate Tactic"
By Evan Kohlmann

In the aftermath of this week's terrorist attacks in Mumbai, Indian government officials and media outlets have already begun pointing a finger at Islamic militants in neighboring Pakistan -- particularly an organization known as Lashkar-e-Taiba (LET). The LET has been designated by the U.S. government as a proscribed foreign terrorist organization -- along with its accused political wing, Jamat-ud-Dawa (JUD).

Earlier this evening, I spoke via telephone with the official representative of JUD, Abdullah Muntazir, to discuss the situation in Mumbai and mounting allegations of involvement by LET and/or Pakistani Islamists. Muntazir strongly denied these charges, referring to the attacks as an "internal problem" for India. He repeatedly insisted to me, "we have nothing to do with it", and blamed Indian "propaganda" for "divert[ing] the attention of the public media" --- which he described as "their usual practice." Interestingly, during our conversation, Muntazir went even further and actually condemned the events that have taken place in Mumbai as needless "carnage": "Islam does not permit killing civilian people." He added, "I don't think that this is a legitimate tactic."
November 28, 2008 12:01 AM

I find your "website" both curious and pathetic.

I have never seen so much bitterness, complaining, and immaturity at one site before. It is entertaining to see you far left liberals moaning and complaining about the movement of your messiah to the center. Didn't you all realize that was going to happen?

He's an empty suit for God's sake (sorry about the use of that word, S-Ps, I know it's not accepted in your lexicon)

Don't bother to spend too much time responding to me since my "one-time" logon provided by Airless America is all you guys are really worth, and I wouldn't dream of giving you a nickel in support.

Al Franken will lose in the courts, and you know it. Too bad for you. Thank God for us! And, Saxby Chambliss will win big time in Georgia as well. You S-Ps will be dying a slow painful death over the next few years, just wait and see.

The Fairness Doctrine will not work for you, nor will the AFL-CIO get paid back for supporting the messiah.

Thanks again. And to all of you lots of luck! not really.

Merry Christmas!

US Army deserter seeks asylum in Germany over Iraq
Andreas Buerger
Reuters North American News Service
Nov 27, 2008 14:36 EST

FRANKFURT, Nov 27 (Reuters) - A U.S. soldier who deserted his unit to avoid returning to Iraq has applied for asylum in Germany, saying the Iraq war was illegal and that he could not support the "heinous acts" taking place.

Andre Shepherd, 31, who served in Iraq between September 2004 and February 2005 as an Apache helicopter mechanic in the 412th Aviation Support Battalion, has been living in Germany since deserting last year.

"When I read and heard about people being ripped to shreds from machine guns or being blown to bits by the Hellfire missiles I began to feel ashamed about what I was doing," Shepherd told a Frankfurt news conference on Thursday.

"I could not in good conscience continue to serve."

Shepherd, originally from Cleveland, Ohio and ranked as an army specialist, applied for asylum in Germany on Wednesday, said Tim Huber from the Military Counseling Network, a non-military group which is assisting him.

...

Remember Binky Laden? Droopy face?...setting safe in mountains above India and Pakistan?...panaramic veiw of Mumbai, Islamabad, and Kabul?

"Top of the world, ma!"

Bush--the great liberator of pick-n-choose, cut-n-run military stategy.

It feeds into Bin Laden's plans to frighten leaders into sudden over-reaction.

Hot-headed extreme marshall over-reactions can result in the baby being thrown out with the bathwater.

All this with little expense, like matchs placed betwixt the toes of sleeping giants.

Amnesty in torture warning over transfer of Iraqi detainees
Middle East News
Nov 28, 2008, 11:03 GMT

London - Amnesty International has warned that Iraqi detainees held by US forces would be at risk of torture, or even execution, if they were handed over to the Iraqi authorities following approval of the security agreement with the US.

Under the agreement, around 16,000 prisoners held by the US would be transferred to Iraqi custody, according to an Amnesty statement released in London Friday.

'The Status of Forces Agreement does not provide any safeguards whatsoever for prisoners transferred to Iraqi custody,' said Malcolm Smart, Director of Amnesty International's Middle East and North Africa Programme.
'These prisoners will potentially be moving from the frying pan into the fire,' he warned.

'We receive persistent reports of gross human rights violations including torture taking place in Iraqi prisons and detention centres,' Smart said.

The US should ensure that no one was transferred to Iraqi custody if they faced a real risk of torture or other human rights violations.

Already, the Iraqi authorities were holding thousands of people, many without charge or trial, and often in appalling conditions, Amnesty said.

'We need to see evidence that there is systematic improvement.'

has a right to interfere with Government policy? They get to dictate to Iraq how prisoners are treated? Poor Obama. What is he to do? Those poor innocent detainees, held at Gitmo, may get sent home, on his watch, because he has to close the facility, to placate you neo-coms. Sorry, fool, but thats the price they will have to pay. Because of you peoples ill thought out positions. If they do get tortured, upon returning to their countries of origin, it will be on your hands.

India's Terrorism Dilemma

By Hasnain Kazim in Mumbai

India has been rocked by a number of terror attacks in recent years. Still, the country has no over-arching strategy to confront the problem. The reasons are myriad.

The officer with the Indian Defense Ministry is searching for words. "What should we…? What should I…? It's…." His gaze turns away from the television where images from the attacks on Mumbai flicker across the screen -- distraught civilians, bloody scenes from around the city, politicians swearing revenge. Reports of new shootouts continue to pour in.

India has a security dilemma.
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Getty Images

India has a security dilemma.
The officer says his superiors have forbidden him from speaking to the press. But, he adds, "this is a time when no human, no Indian, can keep quiet." He asks, however, that his name not be used.

Still, he stares at the screen -- which is now showing scenes from earlier terrorist attacks in India and photos of the Islamists behind them. "These goddamned…" He struggles for the right term. "Bhenchod." Motherf….

All of India is struggling, just like the officer, to maintain their composure in the face of the attacks. It is all the more unsettling that even the police, the military, the security personnel -- the people who are never at a loss -- don't know what to say and don't know what to do. It is an image that makes one feel sympathy: the officer in his olive green uniform, decorations pinned on his breast, stands there with his head sunk to his chest mumbling as he watches television.

The officer's apparent helplessness is symbolic for India's fight against terrorists and religious fanatics. After each attack, politicians -- like Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has this week -- promise that they will "do all in their power" to hunt down those responsible. And there will no doubt be a number of police raids in the days to come. Arrests will be made. There may even be some guilty verdicts.

But a far-reaching strategy to combat terrorism remains non-existent.

Bases brace for surge in stress-related disorders
LOLITA C. BALDOR
AP News
Nov 29, 2008 09:44 EST

Some 15,000 soldiers are heading home to this sprawling base after spending more than a year at war in Iraq and Afghanistan, and military health officials are bracing for a surge in brain injuries and psychological problems among those troops.

Facing prospects that one in five of the 101st Airborne Division soldiers will suffer from stress-related disorders, the base has nearly doubled its psychological health staff. Army leaders are hoping to use the base's experiences to assess the long-term impact of repeated deployments.

...

Step 1 - identify the source of the attack. Which group is responsible and where are they located?
Step 2 - pick a nation that had nothing to do with the attacks. Start scaring the voting public with talk of this nation being a threat. Say "mushroom cloud" often.
Step 3 - ruin the careers of any intelligence agent, ambassador or politician that disagrees with this policy.
Step 4 - attack the nation that had nothing to do with the attacks on India. Get bogged down in that nation for years.
Step 5 - when the original reasons for invading this nation that had nothing to do with the attacks on india are proven false, come up with a list of secondary reasons and then fall back on 'it's all part of the plan".

Based on Bush's advice and example, India should be bogged down in Uzbekistan 5 years from now with over 4000 dead soldiers and millions of dollars wasted. Some military contractors and weapons manufacturers in India and the US will be sitting pretty though.

FACTBOX-Security developments in Afghanistan, Nov 30
30 Nov 2008 12:44:50 GMT
Source: Reuters
Nov 30 (Reuters) - Following are security developments in Afghanistan at 1215 GMT on Sunday:

*denotes new or updated items

*KABUL - A suicide bomber hit a German embassy vehicle on a road leading to the parliament building on Sunday in Kabul, police said, adding two local civilians were killed and three wounded in the attack. The only occupant of the vehicle, its driver, escaped unhurt, police said.

*KUNAR - Afghan troops killed eight Taliban insurgents in a clash after the latter ambushed a convoy of the soldiers in the eastern province of Kunar, army officers said, adding the troops suffered no casualties.

PAKTIA/KABUL - Afghan and U.S.-led troops killed 17 militants and detained ten suspected insurgents in two separate raids in southeastern Paktia and Kabul provinces on Saturday, the U.S. military said. It did not say whether there were casualties among civilians or troops during the operations.

ZABUL - Taliban insurgents released on Sunday two Afghan journalists kidnapped from the main highway in southern Zabul province last week, officials said. No reason was given for the abduction or freedom of the pair, who work for foreign media.

Future Prisoners of war: International Law or criminal courts?
By Walid Phares

Upon the ongoing debate about the release of Guantanamo detainess or their processing through US criminal courts, a heavy fact is still unaddressed: future prisoners of war. If indeed the United States is and will continue to be at War with "an enemy" -and the forthcoming Administration has announced an escalation in the War in Afghanistan- one can only project that US forces may (rather will) take future prisoners. This inevitability is expected to put pressure on the ongoing debate. For seizing the enemy's combatants under the law of war and releasing them through criminal law is a hybrid equation about to crumble. In the following piece I am making the case to the new Administration to make a choice: cancel the war or apply its laws..

Last Thursday’s order by a federal judge to release five Algerian detainees from Guantanamo Bay prison reopens the complex debate about the principle of holding prisoners of war during wartime. But, and this may be even more important, it also reopens the debate inside the three branches of government in the United States over whether or not our nation is actually at war.

The case at hand will certainly be discussed by legal specialists on both sides of the debate. Here is the chain of legal events that will be scrutinized: The first “civilian court” ruling -- for terrorism suspects who have challenged their detention -- found that the five men “could not be held indefinitely as enemy combatants.” Thus, in this instance U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon has essentially informed the government that failing an official and legally declared war, one cannot detain individuals who have not been proven guilty of crimes or of material participation in terrorism.

Last summer the Supreme Court granted the Guantanamo detainees (see the Boumediene case) “the right to challenge their imprisonment.” The real statement there was that since there is no legal basis for the War on Terror, the so-called “prisoners of war” are in fact detained under the principles of criminal law not the international law of war.

So when U.S. forces arrest individuals suspected of being enemy combatants the government must prove that each individual was actually waging war. But since civilian courts do not recognize the “existence” of such war, the government must prove that each person detained was physically involved in an illegal act leading to violence against the United States or its allied interests.

Judge Leon ruled that the U.S. government “failed to prove that five of the six Algerians held at Guantanamo Bay since January 20, 2002, were enemy combatants headed to Afghanistan to fight against the United States.” According to media sources, “a senior Department of Defense official said the government’s case was hampered because the CIA would not hand over the classified information it had obtained in interrogating the 6 suspects.” If the CIA had released the evidence, would the court have ruled otherwise?

What these legal developments tell us is that the United States’ counterterrorism campaign is squeezed between two worlds: On the one hand, our nation’s leaders have been acting as if we are in a state of war with an enemy; and on another hand the Judicial system is telling us that it is basing its rulings solely on criminal law.

Meanwhile the Jihadists are winning. They meet U.S. forces on the battlefield and ask to be treated under the Geneva Conventions — which they do not recognize to begin with. If they are apprehended and brought into custody, they expect to swim through the legal system. In conventional wars, when a unit from the enemy forces is captured, the courts do not rule on each fighter’s particular posture at the time of capture. When you listen to the judges’ rulings on the detainees’ individual cases, they appear to be on solid ground, upholding the Constitution. But when you contrast their rulings with the government’s view then the process seems tragicomic.

A state of war with an enemy has its own logic and its own procedures. Enemies are kept under the Geneva Conventions’ protection until the conflict ends. War criminals are tried under international law. Fighters or enemy combatants cannot be tried in civilian courts as criminals. But if there is no state of war, then there shouldn’t be detention centers to begin with. Apprehended criminals are processed under the laws of the land and courts are sovereign in dealing with the fate of each and every suspect under arrest. In short we can’t have two legal tracks at once. — Either the U.S. is at war with a global enemy or is it not.

The Bush administration has struggled with the legal consequences of its War on Terror. The Obama administration will inherit the issue and must make a decision. It can continue with the hybrid system we have now, perhaps pushing it further towards a criminal procedure while U.S. forces wage a full-fledged war in Afghanistan -- if not elsewhere. If America won’t withdraw from the region as requested by Al Qaeda and Iran -- she will continue to find herself in a confrontation with her enemies some of whom may be captured. What lies ahead for the United States will be more complicated than even our current situation.

My advice to the forthcoming administration is to begin at the top, where the current administration has stopped: Identify the enemy and take a stand on the global conflict.

*************

Dr. Walid Phares is the Director of the Future Terrorism Project at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies and the author of The Confrontation: Winning the War against Future Jihad.

Saturday: 44 Iraqis, 3 Contractors Killed; 32 Iraqis, 14 Contractors Wounded

A rocket attack in Baghdad killed three UN contractors and wounded 14 others near the international Green Zone. None of the victims were Iraqis. At least 44 Iraqis were also killed and 32 more Iraqis were wounded in separate attacks. No Coalition deaths were reported. Meanwhile, the UN has delayed its report on disputed Kurdish areas in Iraq until after January elections in order to avoid stoking the conflict.

A series of mass graves gave up 33 bodies in the Albu Toma area. The Iraqi army expects to find more graves in the area, which some have described as being an "al-Qaeda courthouse." Most of them date to about a year ago, when sectarian violence was at its highest. A woman and a child were among the dead.

In Baghdad, an Iranian-made rocket landed near the Green Zone, killing three foreigner contractors and wounding 14 others, who all worked for the United Nations. Their nationalities were not released. In a separate incident, U.S. forces captured a key member of the Hezbollah Brigade during a raid yesterday in Karrada; two associates were killed and three others were arrested. Today in Karrada, a bomb killed a civilian and wounded three others. Elsewhere in Ghazaliya, four policemen were wounded in a roadside bombing. An adhesive bomb wounded three civilians in Atifiya. Also, an unidentified body was found dumped in the Amin neighborhood.

In Mosul, gunmen staged a two-part attack: Two brothers were killed during an attack on their jewelry shop. The gunmen left a bomb, which exploded when rescuers arrived at the shop. One police officer was killed and 18 other people were wounded in the bombing.

A bomb blast wounded four policemen in Saidiya.

U.S. forces killed four suspects and arrested seven others in Tuz Khormato.

Iraqi security forces arrested sixteen bodyguards working for the mayor of Muqdadiyah. No reasons for the arrests were given.

Two provincial council members from Wassit were released after two years in U.S. detention. There was no word as to whether the pair was found innocent or where released for other reasons.

"I'm telling you to forget the actual culprits. Pick a nation that doesn't pose any threat and invade them instead. Trust me it will be profitable for you and me. Just keep talking about his event, the nation you want to attack and throw in some talk of mushroom clouds. It's a slam dunk!"