Oceanside, California: Five tattooed skulls stretch from Marine Cpl Jeremy Slaton’s right elbow to his wrist, spelling out the word "Death".

He planned to add a tattoo spelling "Life" on his left arm, but that is on hold because of a Marine policy taking effect on Sunday.

The Marines are banning any new, extra-large tattoos below the elbow or the knee, saying such body art is harmful to the Corps’ spit-and-polish image.

Slaton and other grunts are not pleased.

"I guess I’ll get the other half later," grumbled the 24-year-old. "It’s kind of messed up."

For many Marines, getting a tattoo is a rite of passage. They commonly get their forearms inscribed to remember fallen comrades, combat tours or loved ones, and often ask for exotic designs that incorporate the Marine motto, Semper Fi, short for Semper Fidelis, or "Always faithful".

Dozens of Marines from Cape Pendleton, the West Coast’s biggest Marine base, made last-minute trips to tattoo parlours in nearby Oceanside before the ban kicked in.

"This is something I love to do," said Cpl David Nadrchal, 20, who made an appointment to get an Iraqi flag and his deployment dates etched onto his lower leg.

"The fact I can’t put something on my body that I want – it’s a big thing to tell me I can’t do that."

For many Marines, getting a tattoo is a rite of passage. They commonly get their forearms inscribed to remember fallen comrades, combat tours or loved ones.

Source

In taking 15 British service members hostage last week, Iran’s militant government is following a tactic begun at the birth of its Islamic revolution in 1979, when it took 63 Americans hostage at the U.S. embassy.

And if history is a judge, Tehran often gains some concessions from the West, either arms or money, or some diplomatic offering that it believes enhances its image in the region.

“They’ve been trying to take American hostages all along,” said Michael Ledeen, a military analyst at the American Enterprise Institute who advocates fomenting a democratic revolution in Iran. “You can be sure they are constantly trying to take hostages, whether it’s in Lebanon or Israel or Afghanistan or Iraq. It’s what they do.”

Ledeen, who is writing a book on Iran, said the regime often gains something by kidnapping Westerners.

The 444-day hostage situation at the American embassy in Tehran brought the new regime a sought-after standoff with President Jimmy Carter, the failed U.S. rescue mission known as Desert One and Carter’s ultimate re-election defeat in 1980. The revolutionaries also won a U.S. commitment not to interfere in its internal affairs.

Hezbollah, a U.S.-designated terrorist group set up by Iran, took Americans hostages in Lebanon in the 1980s. President Ronald Reagan ended up approving arms shipments to Iran in a failed hostage exchange that embroiled the administration in scandal.

Hezbollah took two French hostages in Lebanon in 1986. Paris promptly evicted an Iranian opposition group, which re-established in Iraq, and paid a ransom. The hostages were freed.

The terrorist group snatched two Israeli soldiers last July in a border incursion that triggered a ground invasion and air assault by Israel. It remains to be seen whether Hezbollah wins any type of concession before releasing the two.

Iran seized eight British sailors in the same Shatt al Arab waterway in 2004. But unlike the current crises, Iran quickly released the eight. Britain so far has refused Iran’s demand to admit the 15 service members were operating in Iranian waters.

A U.S. government official, who asked not to be named, said Iran’s exact motives are not clear at this point.

“What appears to be the case is they saw a target of opportunity and they seized upon it,” the official said. “They could very well be trying to use this as leverage to get concessions from the West, like possibly to try to secure the release of some of the Iranians being held in Iraq.”

Syed Hasnat, a Pakistani-educated scholar at the Middle East Institute in Washington, said that so far Iran has not demanded anything other than the admission of a mistake. He said with sanctions imposed on Iran by the United Nations and a U.S. military buildup in the Persian Gulf, Iran is actively defending its borders.

“It is a message that it will not allow anyone to cross its borders,” Hasnat said. “Iran will very jealously guard its borders.”

DETROIT (AP) — Federal prosecutors have charged 17 people in a seven-year crackdown on a multistate cocaine trafficking ring known as the Black Mafia Family.

The indictments, issued Dec. 15 but not made public until Thursday, brings to 58 the number of people charged in the case, the U.S. attorney’s office in Detroit said in a news release.

Charges in the latest indictment include money laundering and conspiracy to distribute cocaine.

The Black Mafia Family dealt cocaine in the Detroit metropolitan area beginning in the early 1990s, extending across the country.

Authorities pursuing the ring have seized about 1,100 pounds of cocaine and about $19 million in money and other assets since 2000, according to the statement.

Jacob Arabov, a New York celebrity jeweler known in the hip-hop world as "Jacob the Jeweler," is awaiting trial in Detroit on accusations that he helped launder about $270 million in drug profits for the group. He has pleaded not guilty. Source

LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. – In Coldwater Creek, a middle-class housing development outside Atlanta, the neighbors mind their own business and respect each other’s privacy — ideal conditions, it turns out, for growing marijuana in the suburbs. [more]

WASHINGTON – As if you needed reminding: It’s dangerous out there. And if your parents’ warnings that the world is full of malevolent people and mishap-prone places didn’t stick, the State Department is ready to fill the void.

From the spectacular to the mundane, while terrorism grabs headlines, most problems faced by Americans abroad have nothing to do with al-Qaida but rather cutthroat con artists, corrupt officers and dismal drivers.

The colorful quirks of foreign lands, be they unscrupulous cabaret girls in Cyprus or the arbitrary enforcement of unwritten laws in Laos, are laid bare each year in safety and security reports compiled by State Department analysts for every country on Earth.

The department puts them online, mainly for employees of U.S. firms doing business abroad but are available to anyone. According to this year’s updates:

_"Driving in Qatar is (like) participating in an extreme sport."

_"Police involvement in criminal activity is both legendary and true in Mexico."

_"Be aware of drink prices" in Croatia’s gentlemen’s clubs, where tourists can "unknowingly run up exorbitant bar bills, sometimes in the thousands of dollars."

These little publicized assessments venture beyond the bland, carefully worded travel advice the State Department is normally known for, and are often downright undiplomatic.

The Mexican Embassy in Washington, for example, objected to the characterization of police corruption, calling it an "unfortunate cliche." "Things are changing in Mexico for the good," spokesman Rafael Laveaga maintained.

But unflattering descriptions of countries are not uncommon.

"The tragedy of Haiti is that Haitians have become great leaders in every profession and in every country, with the exception of Haiti," says the report for the impoverished Caribbean nation, warning that trained personnel are lacking to respond to any emergency.

In deadpan fashion, another report praises Maltese authorities at the expense of the Mediterranean island’s closest neighbor. "Despite Malta’s geographic proximity to Italy, organized crime is almost nonexistent," it says.

Although deadly, the Mafia, along with natural disasters and terrorists, should be the least of your worries outside the United States.

Automobile accidents cause the biggest portion of non-natural, non-combat deaths of Americans abroad, accounting for nearly a third of the more than 2,000 cases reported to the State Department between 2004 and 2006.

Thus, the department’s Overseas Security Advisory Council places heavy emphasis on local motoring mores in the reports.

In the oil-rich Gulf nation of Qatar, the population of fewer than 900,000 racks up an astounding 70,000 traffic accidents per year, its report says.

"Drivers often maneuver erratically and at high speed, demonstrate little road discipline or courtesy, fail to turn on their headlights during hours of darkness or inclement weather, and do not use seat belts," it says.

Sound bad? Well, it may be worse in Tunisia.

"Among their many traits, local drivers rarely use lanes designated for turns, often cut across multiple lanes of traffic, rarely look before changing lanes, do not yield the right of way when merging, commonly run through red lights without stopping, and generally drive oblivious to other vehicles on the road," the Tunisia report says.

"Driving in Egypt," meanwhile, "can be a harrowing experience and not for the faint-hearted," the analysts opine.

In the historic center of the French city of Strasbourg, cars face nonmoving threats as "vehicle arson has come into vogue here with an unofficial New Year’s Eve competition" among vandals wrecking numerous autos each December 31, the report for France says.

After accidents, assaults, suicides and drownings are the next leading causes of U.S. civilian deaths overseas, according to the State Department. Terrorist attacks claim far fewer American lives, it says.

Yet there are perhaps less well-known dangers lurking beyond U.S. borders.

Even the staid environs and clockwork efficiency of Switzerland can be risky, the analysts say.

"Being surrounded by the majestic, snow-covered Alps, combined with a pervasive sense of orderliness, it is understandable that travelers might forget that the city of Geneva and the adjacent cantons are not immune from crime," the report on Swiss security says.

Elsewhere, the lacing of drinks with date-rape drugs is common, but even without such adulteration, visits to watering holes far from home can be perilous, the reports say.

The U.S. embassy in Cyprus has ordered staff to avoid "cabaret girls," or "artistes," who work with unscrupulous bar owners to overcharge patrons in search of female companionship, the analysts say.

They add that the usually diligent Cypriot police are generally unsympathetic to victims.

But at least Cyprus has capable and respected law enforcement officers.

In nearby Greece, "police have limited ability to deter criminals" and "receive little support from the Greek government and even less respect from the Greek population," the analysts say.

In Laos, authorities may simply make up the rules, the analysts say, noting that "while the country does have published laws forming the basis of its law enforcement mechanism, the population is also beholden to unpublished laws and proclamations."

Closer to home, Mexico is not a place to rely on the local constabulary, they say.

"Reporting crime is an archaic, exhausting process in Mexico, and is widely perceived to be a waste of time."

Source

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AFP) – Local Taliban militants seeking to impose Islamic law blew up two video shops and torched a cable television operator’s office in northwestern Pakistan, officials said Friday. There were no casualties in the blasts which happened late Thursday in Kohat, a town close to Pakistan’s troubled tribal regions bordering Afghanistan.

The attackers forced people out of the local office of World Cable 2000 and sprinkled kerosene over it before setting it on fire, the officials said.

Later they detonated crudely-made bombs at the video shops, which were empty at the time. Both shops were badly damaged.

Residents said the attacks followed threats to the owners to shut down their business because they were un-Islamic.

Northwestern Pakistan has seen previous attacks on video and music shops blamed on extremists emulating the ultra-orthodox Taliban, who ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001.

A homemade bomb in a market in the main northwestern city of Peshawar on March 18 damaged four music and video shops weeks after their owners refused an order to close down from Islamic hardliners.

There has been growing concern about the "Talibanisation" of Pakistan, with heavy fighting in the tribal areas and another northwestern town under curfew for the last three days following clashes between militants and security forces. Source

Via Bring It On:

Folks, to say I’m proud of my co-bloggers at The Gun Toting Liberal would be an understatement. Shortly after reading some mighty chest thumpin’ by the far-right c0nservative blog, RedState, who claimed to have been “invited” to travel to Iraq by the Pentagon, our co-blogger, Mr. Alexander Paul Melonas, immediately took exception to a couple of points raised by the “RedStaters”.

A) The suggestion by the good folks at RedState that liberal bloggers apparently, lacked the “cohonies” to join with them on such a “brave and treacherous” journey into a war zone -

B) The fact CLAIM by the good folks at RedState that they were invited by the Pentagon to embed in Iraq while our co-blogger, Mr. Melonas, would have been delighted to receive that very same invitation to embed and report from his own, admittedly, progressive point of view -

Not only was Mr. Melonas perplexed by these developments, our co-editor and co-author, Ms. Megan Donovan, took clear exception to the suggestion that liberal bloggers had the stigma of being “cowardly” and afraid of venturing into “dangerous” circumstances in order to bring the truth back to the Citizens. By the way, Mr. Melonas has officially contacted the Pentagon to seek permission to travel to Iraq to report back to the Citizens from his progressive perspective, which, if approved, would make Alexander the FIRST liberal blogger to travel to Iraq as an embedded journalist.

In its entirety, here is a glance at Ms. Donovan’s SPIRITED rebuttal to the good folks of RedState (Cross-Posted at The Gun Toting Liberal): [more]

States that commit acts of torture should be forced to pay for victims’ rehabilitation, UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Manfred Nowak has said.

Mr Nowak said torture victims required long and costly treatment, and usually rich nations footed the bill rather than the offending states.

Mr Nowak said the EU was the biggest donor to torture rehabilitation centres, providing $29m (22m euros).

He was presenting his annual report to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.

"Countries where torture is widespread or even systematic should be held accountable to pay," the UN rapporteur said.

Mr Nowak suggested that such states could then even pass the bill on to the individual torturers.

"If individual torturers would have to pay all the long-term costs, this would have a much stronger deterrent effect on torture than some kind of disciplinary or lenient criminal punishment.

"In reality, it’s almost never the state that tortures, but other states who provide asylum, who take victims of torture and who are then providing in state institutions rehabilitation."

Mr Nowak said the UN Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture was the second biggest financier of torture rehabilitation, providing $17m (13m euros).

He also called for the application of a provision for universal jurisdiction within the UN convention against torture, which obliges countries to arrest alleged torturers who arrive on their territory.
Source

Occupied Palestinian Territories will host a collaborative Arts Festival featuring over 200 local and visiting musicians between March 31st and April 14th.

One of the largest performing arts projects ever staged in the Occupied Territories, the Palestine Mozart Festival will feature over 25 events staged in Ramallah, Bethlehem, Nablus and East Jerusalem.

The Festival programme includes orchestral and choral concerts, educational workshops, a touring opera, academic lectures, film screenings, and a series of recitals by internationally-renowned Palestinian and European soloists.

In total, the events will bring together over 120 Palestinian participants – including professional performers, music teachers, and students – with more than 80 European professional singers and instrumentalists.

The Palestine Mozart Festival brings together over 200 musicians and students from the Middle East and Europe to celebrate the genius of Mozart in a series of over 25 public and educational events, in Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Nablus and Ramallah.

The concert programme includes three performances of Mozart’s sublime Requiem, a new production of The Magic Flute – the first ever fully-staged professional operatic production in the West Bank – and two recitals by internationally-acclaimed pianist Saleem Abboud Ashkar.

The Festival is the result of the collaboration between a number of Palestinian organisations working to promote musical education in the Occupied Territories (including the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music, the Kamandjati Foundation, Nablus the Culture, and the International Centre of Bethlehem) and the acclaimed British professional ensemble the Choir of London, whose debut CD on the Naxos label reached the top of the UK classical chart in 2006.

A New York gallery has angered a US Catholic group with its decision to exhibit a milk chocolate sculpture of Jesus Christ.

The six-foot (1.8m) sculpture, entitled "My Sweet Lord", depicts Jesus Christ naked on the cross.

Catholic League head Bill Donohue called it "one of the worst assaults on Christian sensibilities ever".

The sculpture, by artist Cosimo Cavallaro, will be displayed from Monday at Manhattan’s Lab Gallery.

The Catholic League, which describes itself as the nation’s largest Catholic civil rights organisation, also criticised the timing of the exhibition.

"The fact that they chose Holy Week shows this is calculated, and the timing is deliberate," Mr Donohue said.

He called for a boycott of the gallery and the hotel which houses it.

‘Overwhelming response’

The gallery’s creative director, Matt Semler, said the gallery was considering its options in the wake of angry e-mails and telephone calls.

"We’re obviously surprised by the overwhelming response and offence people have taken," he said. "We are certainly in the process of trying to figure out what we’re going to do next."

Mr Semler said the timing of the exhibition was coincidental.

Mr Cavallaro, the Canadian-born artist, is known for using food ingredients in his art, on one occasion painting a hotel room in mozzarella cheese.

He used 200 pounds (90 kg) of chocolate to make the sculpture which, unusually, depicts Jesus without a loincloth. Source