British troops killed a prisoner and mutilated the bodies of 20 Iraqi insurgents, it was claimed in court yesterday.
Other captives are also said to have been abused or tortured in the aftermath of a gun battle in southern Iraq in May 2004.
Details can be disclosed after the High Court lifted an order preventing reporting of the case yesterday.
On patrol: A British soldier in Iraq
The allegations are among the most serious against British soldiers who served in Iraq. Relatives of those killed and survivors are fighting for compensation.
The abuses are said to have taken place following a three-hour gun battle when soldiers of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders were ambushed by militiamen on the road from the hotspot town of Al Amara to Basra in May 2004.
The scene was close to Majar al-Kabir, where a year earlier an Iraqi mob overwhelmed and killed six British military policemen.
It is alleged that corpses were removed from the battlefield and showed signs of mutilation when they were left at a local hospital. It is also claimed that a prisoner died in custody and others were abused.
Lawyers say testimonies of five witnesses "combine to give a harrowing account of what took place".
The Military Police - the Redcaps - investigated the allegations in 2004, but found no evidence to support charges against UK soldiers.
The Defence Ministry has categorically denied that there was evidenceof wrongdoing and a Home Office pathologist who saw pictures of the bodies supported this.
Families of those who were killed or detained are fighting for a High Court judicial review into the way that inquiry was carried out.
They also lodged a fresh allegation before Christmas that one detainee was murdered. This prompted the Redcaps to reopen the case.
Allegations of mutilations - said to have taken place at the British base at Abu Naji - are contained in death certificates written by Dr Adel Salid Majid, the director of the hospital where the corpses were delivered.
He said that one 37-year-old man, Ali al Jemindari, had his right arm severed and an eye gouged out.
However, another doctor at the hospital said the injuries were consistent with a fierce gun battle.
Until it was lifted, the gagging order on the case prevented the Press from reporting any of the allegations made by the Iraqi familiesand those who say they were survivors of the abuse.
It was imposed last December by Lord Justice Thomas, who said "adverse publicity" arising from the civil High Court case would be "highly undesirable".
But another senior judge, Lord Justice Moses ruled there was "ample material" to support the proposition that the proceedings to be brought in the High Court should be in the public domain.
Via Diggers Realm on the lying POS Mexican Reconquista Juan Hernandez:
Juan Hernandez, the former Mexican Secretary For Immigration Affairs under the Vicente Fox administration in Mexico, has been discovered to be working for the John McCain campaign as their Hispanic Outreach Director. For those who don’t know Juan Hernandez is a dual citizen of the United States and Mexico. Having worked in Mexico’s government and now apparently in ours, I consider him a double agent and obviously not working in just the best interests of the United States, but in the best interests of Mexico as well. These best interests include allowing millions of illegal aliens in the United States to remain here and in the future for millions more to come.
Hernandez has been quoted, and as you’ll see in the video in his own words, as saying that the Mexicans who do remain here in the United States are hoped to remain loyal to Mexico. Is this the kind of immigrants we want in this country? Do we really want people with loyalties to other countries remaining legally here and obtaining citizenship?
Not only is that a firm no. It is a …
Hell No
People like Juan Hernandez could care less about Americans already here and obviously not give two hoots for the low wage workers in this country that the influx of millions of more unskilled laborers will devastate. This man is the purest form of racist you can find. He cares only for people of his race. While he decries anyone in the United states of showing patriotism or nationalism, he takes nationalism to the extreme, by openly calling for us to give up our sovereignty all for the benefits of Mexico and people of his race.
We should not allow people in this country to have dual citizenship. All it produces is foreign infiltrators like Juan Hernandez into our government and to be embedded within society and to manipulate policy that affects their true country of loyalty for the better.
Now for anyone who had any doubts about where John McCain truly stands regarding illegal immigration - and particularly border security and the sovereignty of our county - you have to look no further than him appointing this slimy man as his Hispanic Outreach Director.
Denver: US Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama told a French magazine in an interview that if he wins office, he will hold a summit with Muslim countries to improve the United States image in the world.
"Once I’m elected, I want to organise a summit in the Muslim world, with all the heads of state, to have an honest discussion about ways to bridge the gap that grows every day between Muslims and the West," Thursday’s edition of Paris Match quoted Obama as saying.
"I want to ask them to join our fight against terrorism. We must also listen to their concerns," Obama said in the French-language transcript.
Surveys around the world show high levels of anti-Americanism in the aftermath of the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Negative opinions are strongest in the Muslim world, according to the Pew Research Centre.
The Illinois senator is running neck-and-neck against senator Hillary Clinton from New York to lead the Democratic ticket in November’s presidential election.
After chasing all their rivals from the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, Clinton and Obama now face off over who is more capable of beating Republican front-runner John McCain to win the White House.
The departure of John Edwards left Obama and Clinton alone for their first one-on-one debate, which could sharply impact how Democrats cast their votes in the potentially decisive multi-state primaries of "Super Tuesday" on February 5.
Son of a Whore Abu Laith al-Libi in April 2007 during a videotaped interview by al Qaeda’s media wing.
WASHINGTON (CNN) – A senior al Qaeda terrorist who allegedly plotted and carried out attacks against U.S. and coalition forces was killed in Pakistan, a knowledgeable Western official and a military source told CNN Thursday.
He was identified as Abu Laith al-Libi, 41, who was on the military’s most wanted list.
Al-Libi was thought to have been involved in the February 2007 bombing at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan while Vice President Dick Cheney was visiting.
The knowledgeable Western official said al-Libi was "not far below the importance of the top two al Qaeda leaders" — Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri.
CNN Middle East analyst Octavia Nasr called al-Libi the third-ranking terrorist in al Qaeda and fourth in the world.
Terrorist Islamist Web sites acknowledged al-Libi’s death.
"May God have mercy on Sheikh Abu Laith al-Libi and accept him with his brothers, with the martyrs," said a eulogy posted on a main Islamist site, Al-Ekhlaas.
Al-Libi was of Libyan descent and was believed to have been in the Afghan-Pakistani border region, according to the U.S. military.
"May God have mercy on Sheikh Abu Laith al-Libi and accept him with his brothers, with the martyrs," said a eulogy posted on a main Islamist site, Al-Ekhlaas.
Al-Libi was of Libyan descent and was believed to have been in the Afghan-Pakistani border region, according to the U.S. military.
He was a significant, senior al Qaeda figure who had taken on a more prominent role in the organization in recent years, and was responsible for plotting attacks, some of which targeted U.S. and coalition forces as well as Afghan officials, a U.S. counterterrorism official told CNN.
In an earlier role, he was a leader of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, which eventually merged with al Qaeda and was responsible for planning attacks throughout North Africa and the Middle East, the counterterrorism official said.
The official described al-Libi as part of al Qaeda’s inner circle, who helped fill the void created by the capture or death of other senior people in the organization.
A U.S. military official with Combined Joint Task Force-82 — the anti-terror unit responsible for searching for al-Libi in Afghanistan — said the unit had no information on al-Libi’s death.
But he added that the task force does not collect information from outside of Afghanistan and would be informed of targeted operations only "if the Pakistani military share(s) that with us."
The Pakistani military said an explosion occurred in North Waziristan on Tuesday, and 12 people were killed.
However, it was unclear whether this was the incident in which al-Libi was killed.
Military spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas told CNN that it was not clear who attacked whom and that he could not comment on the identities of the dead since local al Qaeda and Taliban associates removed the bodies and buried them.
Al-Libi could have been killed by a missile fired from a drone operated by the CIA and other U.S. government agencies, Starr said. It’s not an operation the U.S. or Pakistan would publicly acknowledge, she added.
The U.S. military placed al-Libi on its most wanted list in 2006, behind bin Laden, al-Zawahiri and Taliban leader Mullah Omar. In October, the U.S. announced rewards ranging from $20,000 to $200,000 for al-Libi and 11 other mid-level Taliban and al Qaeda leaders.
At that time, the military distributed posters and billboards with pictures and names of the insurgents around eastern Afghanistan.
The terrorist appeared in a 2002 audio recording posted on an Islamist Web site, saying al Qaeda had regrouped and intended to expand its war to include assassinations and attacks against infrastructure.
He also appeared in a 2004 video that showed him participating in an attack on an Afghan army base.
(CNN) –Until this week, it looked like Republicans might have a lock on the famous tough guy demographic this year: Mike Huckabee has hit the campaign trail with martial arts star Chuck Norris and WWE star Ric Flair, and John McCain got the nod of approval from Rambo himself, Sylvester Stallone.
But on Tuesday, as his home state headed to the polls, Florida resident Terry Bollea Hulk Hogan to millions of wrestling fans announced his own presidential pick: Democrat Barack Obama.
During an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Bollea was asked who he would like to see in the Oval Office. "If I had to step out, and say who I really believe in — that catches my ear, that makes sense, that really can make a change — I would say Obama," he replied.
"Everybody plays this card — the bad guy card, you know the dirty politics thing, talk about the way people dress, act and look — and, he’s the choice. He seems like the real deal, you know."
Florida’s Democratic vote, which awarded no delegates, went to New York Sen. Hillary Clinton.
Late on Sept. 6, 2005, a private plane carrying the Canadian mining financier Frank Giustra touched down in Almaty, a ruggedly picturesque city in southeast Kazakhstan. Several hundred miles to the west a fortune awaited: highly coveted deposits of uranium that could fuel nuclear reactors around the world. And Mr. Giustra was in hot pursuit of an exclusive deal to tap them.
Unlike more established competitors, Mr. Giustra was a newcomer to uranium mining in Kazakhstan, a former Soviet republic. But what his fledgling company lacked in experience, it made up for in connections. Accompanying Mr. Giustra on his luxuriously appointed MD-87 jet that day was a former president of the United States, Bill Clinton.
Upon landing on the first stop of a three-country philanthropic tour, the two men were whisked off to share a sumptuous midnight banquet with Kazakhstan’s president, Nursultan A. Nazarbayev, whose 19-year stranglehold on the country has all but quashed political dissent.
Mr. Nazarbayev walked away from the table with a propaganda coup, after Mr. Clinton expressed enthusiastic support for the Kazakh leader’s bid to head an international organization that monitors elections and supports democracy. Mr. Clinton’s public declaration undercut both American foreign policy and sharp criticism of Kazakhstan’s poor human rights record by, among others, Mr. Clinton’s wife, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York.
Within two days, corporate records show that Mr. Giustra also came up a winner when his company signed preliminary agreements giving it the right to buy into three uranium projects controlled by Kazakhstan’s state-owned uranium agency, Kazatomprom.
Deal stunned the mining industry The monster deal stunned the mining industry, turning an unknown shell company into one of the world’s largest uranium producers in a transaction ultimately worth tens of millions of dollars to Mr. Giustra, analysts said.
Just months after the Kazakh pact was finalized, Mr. Clinton’s charitable foundation received its own windfall: a $31.3 million donation from Mr. Giustra that had remained a secret until he acknowledged it last month. The gift, combined with Mr. Giustra’s more recent and public pledge to give the William J. Clinton Foundation an additional $100 million, secured Mr. Giustra a place in Mr. Clinton’s inner circle, an exclusive club of wealthy entrepreneurs in which friendship with the former president has its privileges.
Mr. Giustra was invited to accompany the former president to Almaty just as the financier was trying to seal a deal he had been negotiating for months.
In separate written responses, both men said Mr. Giustra traveled with Mr. Clinton to Kazakhstan, India and China to see first-hand the philanthropic work done by his foundation.
A spokesman for Mr. Clinton said the former president knew that Mr. Giustra had mining interests in Kazakhstan but was unaware of “any particular efforts” and did nothing to help. Mr. Giustra said he was there as an “observer only” and there was “no discussion” of the deal with Mr. Nazarbayev or Mr. Clinton.
But Moukhtar Dzhakishev, president of Kazatomprom, said in an interview that Mr. Giustra did discuss it, directly with the Kazakh president, and that his friendship with Mr. Clinton “of course made an impression.” Mr. Dzhakishev added that Kazatomprom chose to form a partnership with Mr. Giustra’s company based solely on the merits of its offer.
After The Times told Mr. Giustra that others said he had discussed the deal with Mr. Nazarbayev, Mr. Giustra responded that he “may well have mentioned my general interest in the Kazakhstan mining business to him, but I did not discuss the ongoing” efforts.
As Mrs. Clinton’s presidential campaign has intensified, Mr. Clinton has begun severing financial ties with Ronald W. Burkle, the supermarket magnate, and Vinod Gupta, the chairman of InfoUSA, to avoid any conflicts of interest. Those two men have harnessed the former president’s clout to expand their businesses while making the Clintons rich through partnership and consulting arrangements.
Mr. Clinton has vowed to continue raising money for his foundation if Mrs. Clinton is elected president, maintaining his connections with a wide network of philanthropic partners.
Mr. Giustra said that while his friendship with the former president “may have elevated my profile in the news media, it has not directly affected any of my business transactions.”
Mining colleagues and analysts agree it has not hurt. Neil MacDonald, the chief executive of a Canadian merchant bank that specializes in mining deals, said Mr. Giustra’s financial success was partly due to a “fantastic network” crowned by Mr. Clinton. “That’s a very solid relationship for him,” Mr. MacDonald said. “I’m sure it’s very much a two-way relationship because that’s the way Frank operates.”
Foreseeing opportunities Mr. Giustra made his fortune in mining ventures as a broker on the Vancouver Stock Exchange, raising billions of dollars and developing a loyal following of investors. Just as the mining sector collapsed, Mr. Giustra, a lifelong film buff, founded the Lion’s Gate Entertainment Corporation in 1997. But he sold the studio in 2003 and returned to mining.
Mr. Giustra foresaw a bull market in gold and began investing in mines in Argentina, Australia and Mexico. He turned a $20 million shell company into a powerhouse that, after a $2.4 billion merger with Goldcorp Inc., became Canada’s second-largest gold company.
With a net worth estimated in the hundreds of millions of dollars, Mr. Giustra began looking for ways to put his wealth to good use. Meeting Mr. Clinton, and learning about the work his foundation was doing on issues like AIDS treatment in poor countries, “changed my life,” Mr. Giustra told The Vancouver Sun.
The two men were introduced in June 2005 at a fund-raiser for tsunami victims at Mr. Giustra’s Vancouver home and hit it off right away. They share a love of history, geopolitics and music — Mr. Giustra plays the trumpet to Mr. Clinton’s saxophone. Soon the dapper Canadian was a regular at Mr. Clinton’s side, as they flew around the world aboard Mr. Giustra’s plane.
Philanthropy may have become his passion, but Mr. Giustra, now 50, was still hunting for ways to make money.
Exploding demand for energy had helped revitalize the nuclear power industry, and uranium, the raw material for reactor fuel, was about to become a hot commodity. In late 2004, Mr. Giustra began talking to investors, and put together a company that would eventually be called UrAsia Energy Ltd.
About a fifth of world uranium reserves Kazakhstan, which has about one-fifth of the world’s uranium reserves, was the place to be. But with plenty of suitors, Kazatomprom could be picky about its partners.
“Everyone was asking Kazatomprom to the dance,” said Fadi Shadid, a senior stock analyst covering the uranium industry for Friedman Billings Ramsey, an investment bank. “A second-tier junior player like UrAsia — you’d need all the help you could get.”
The Cameco Corporation, the world’s largest uranium producer, was already a partner of Kazatomprom. But when Cameco expressed interest in the properties Mr. Giustra was already eyeing, the government’s response was lukewarm. “The signals we were getting was, you’ve got your hands full,” said Gerald W. Grandey, Cameco president.
For Cameco, it took five years to “build the right connections” in Kazakhstan, Mr. Grandey said. UrAsia did not have that luxury. Profitability depended on striking before the price of uranium soared.
“Timing was everything,” said Sergey Kurzin, a Russian-born businessman whose London-based company was brought into the deal by UrAsia because of his connections in Kazakhstan. Even with those connections, Mr. Kurzin said, it took four months to arrange a meeting with Kazatomprom.
In August 2005, records show, the company sent an engineering consultant to Kazakhstan to assess the uranium properties. Less than four weeks later, Mr. Giustra arrived with Mr. Clinton.
Reportedly discussed deal with president Mr. Dzhakishev, the Kazatomprom chief, said an aide to Mr. Nazarbayev informed him that Mr. Giustra talked with Mr. Nazarbayev about the deal during the visit. “And when our president asked Giustra, ‘What do you do?’ he said, ‘I’m trying to do business with Kazatomprom,’ ” Mr. Dzhakishev said. He added that Mr. Nazarbayev replied, “Very good, go to it.”
Mr. Clinton’s Kazakhstan visit, the only one of his post-presidency, appears to have been arranged hastily. The United States Embassy got last-minute notice that the president would be making “a private visit,” said a State Department official, who said he was not authorized to speak on the record.
The publicly stated reason for the visit was to announce a Clinton Foundation agreement that enabled the government to buy discounted AIDS drugs. But during a news conference, Mr. Clinton wandered into delicate territory by commending Mr. Nazarbayev for “opening up the social and political life of your country.”
In a statement Kazakhstan would highlight in news releases, Mr. Clinton declared that he hoped it would achieve a top objective: leading the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which would confer legitimacy on Mr. Nazarbayev’s government.
“I think it’s time for that to happen, it’s an important step, and I’m glad you’re willing to undertake it,” Mr. Clinton said.
A speedy process Mr. Clinton’s praise was odd, given that the United States did not support Mr. Nazarbayev’s bid. (Late last year, Kazakhstan finally won the chance to lead the security organization for one year, despite concerns raised by the Bush administration.) Moreover, Mr. Clinton’s wife, who sits on a Congressional commission with oversight of such matters, had also voiced skepticism.
Eleven months before Mr. Clinton’s statement, Mrs. Clinton co-signed a commission letter to the State Department that sounded “alarm bells” about the prospect that Kazakhstan might head the group. The letter stated that Kazakhstan’s bid “would not be acceptable,” citing “serious corruption,” canceled elections and government control of the news media.
In a written statement to The Times, Mr. Clinton’s spokesman said the former president saw “no contradiction” between his statements in Kazakhstan and the position of Mrs. Clinton, who said through a spokeswoman, “Senator Clinton’s position on Kazakhstan remains unchanged.”
Noting that the former president also met with opposition leaders in Almaty, Mr. Clinton’s spokesman said he was only “seeking to suggest that a commitment to political openness and to fair elections would reflect well on Kazakhstan’s efforts to chair the O.S.C.E.”
But Robert Herman, who worked for the State Department in the Clinton administration and is now at Freedom House, a human rights group, said the former president’s statement amounted to an endorsement of Kazakhstan’s readiness to lead the group, a position he called “patently absurd.”
“He was either going off his brief or he was sadly mistaken,” Mr. Herman said. “There was nothing in the record to suggest that they really wanted to move forward on democratic reform.”
Indeed, in December 2005, Mr. Nazarbayev won another election, which the security organization itself said was marred by an “atmosphere of intimidation” and “ballot-box stuffing.”
Congratulations from Clinton After Mr. Nazarbayev won with 91 percent of the vote, Mr. Clinton sent his congratulations. “Recognizing that your work has received an excellent grade is one of the most important rewards in life,” Mr. Clinton wrote in a letter released by the Kazakh embassy. Last September, just weeks after Kazakhstan held an election that once again failed to meet international standards, Mr. Clinton honored Mr. Nazarbayev by inviting him to his annual philanthropic conference.
Within 48 hours of Mr. Clinton’s departure from Almaty on Sept. 7, Mr. Giustra got his deal. UrAsia signed two memorandums of understanding that paved the way for the company to become partners with Kazatomprom in three mines.
The cost to UrAsia was more than $450 million, money the company did not have in hand and had only weeks to come up with. The transaction was finalized in November, after UrAsia raised the money through the largest initial public offering in the history of Canada’s Venture Exchange.
Mr. Giustra challenged the notion that UrAsia needed to court Kazatomprom’s favor to seal the deal, contending that the government agency’s approval was not required.
But Mr. Dzhakishev, analysts and Mr. Kurzin, one of Mr. Giustra’s own investors, said that approval was necessary. Mr. Dzhakishev, who said that the deal was almost done when Mr. Clinton arrived, said that Kazatomprom was impressed with the sum Mr. Giustra was willing to pay and his record of attracting investors. He said Mr. Nazarbayev himself ultimately signed off on the transaction.
Longtime market watchers were confounded. Kazatomprom’s choice of UrAsia was a “mystery,” said Gene Clark, the chief executive of Trade Tech, a uranium industry newsletter.
“UrAsia was able to jump-start the whole process somehow,” Mr. Clark said. The company became a “major uranium producer when it didn’t even exist before.”
A profitable sale Records show that Mr. Giustra donated the $31.3 million to the Clinton Foundation in the months that followed in 2006, but neither he nor a spokesman for Mr. Clinton would say exactly when.
In September 2006, Mr. Giustra co-produced a gala 60th birthday for Mr. Clinton that featured stars like Jon Bon Jovi and raised about $21 million for the Clinton Foundation.
In February 2007, a company called Uranium One agreed to pay $3.1 billion to acquire UrAsia. Mr. Giustra, a director and major shareholder in UrAsia, would be paid $7.05 per share for a company that just two years earlier was trading at 10 cents per share.
That same month, Mr. Dzhakishev, the Kazatomprom chief, said he traveled to Chappaqua, N.Y., to meet with Mr. Clinton at his home. Mr. Dzhakishev said Mr. Giustra arranged the three-hour meeting. Mr. Dzhakishev said he wanted to discuss Kazakhstan’s intention — not publicly known at the time — to buy a 10 percent stake in Westinghouse, a United States supplier of nuclear technology.
Nearly a year earlier, Mr. Clinton had advised Dubai on how to handle the political furor after one of that nation’s companies attempted to take over several American ports. Mrs. Clinton was among those on Capitol Hill who raised the national security concerns that helped kill the deal.
Mr. Dzhakishev said he was worried the proposed Westinghouse investment could face similar objections. Mr. Clinton told him that he would not lobby for him, but Mr. Dzhakishev came away pleased by the chance to promote his nation’s proposal to a former president.
Mr. Clinton “said this was very important for America,” said Mr. Dzhakishev, who added that Mr. Giustra was present at Mr. Clinton’s home.
Denials, then acknowledgment Both Mr. Clinton and Mr. Giustra at first denied that any such meeting occurred. Mr. Giustra also denied ever arranging for Kazakh officials to meet with Mr. Clinton. Wednesday, after The Times told them that others said a meeting, in Mr. Clinton’s home, had in fact taken place, both men acknowledged it.
“You are correct that I asked the president to meet with the head of Kazatomprom,” Mr. Giustra said. “Mr. Dzhakishev asked me in February 2007 to set up a meeting with former President Clinton to discuss the future of the nuclear energy industry.” Mr. Giustra said the meeting “escaped my memory until you raised it.”
Wednesday, Mr. Clinton’s spokesman, Ben Yarrow, issued what he called a “correction,” saying: “Today, Mr. Giustra told our office that in February 2007, he brought Mr. Dzhakishev from Kazatomprom to meet with President Clinton to discuss the future of nuclear energy.”
Mr. Yarrow said his earlier denial was based on the former president’s records, which he said “show a Feb. 27 meeting with Mr. Giustra; no other attendees are listed.”
Mr. Dzhakishev said he had a vivid memory of his Chappaqua visit, and a souvenir to prove it: a photograph of himself with the former president.
“I hung up the photograph of us and people ask me if I met with Clinton and I say, Yes, I met with Clinton,” he said, smiling proudly.
Mexican Nationalist Arturo Vargas, left, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer, informed John Sheppard, a US citizen and resident of Arizona, of the new requirements to re-enter the country Wednesday at the Paso del Norte port of entry.
Via the Mexican Times:
Today is the first day of new, stricter requirements for U.S. citizens at the land ports of entry on the U.S.-Mexico and U.S.-Canada borders. U.S. citizens need to show a passport to Customs and Border Protection officers, it won’t be enough to declare "U.S. citizen.". If they don’t have a passport, they need to show a birth certificate or a certificate of naturalization, together with a picture ID, such as a driver’s license. Original documents are preferred, but CBP officers will accept copies, agency officials said.
Officers at El Paso’s international bridges have been passing out fliers to educate border crossers about the change, but many still don’t know about the new rules.
Jayson Ahern, deputy commissioner with U.S. Customs and Border Protection, said Tuesday that border crossers who are unprepared would still be let into the country.
—-
In the mean time…
These non existent new stricter rules have no effect on Mexican nationals entering the US.
Thousands of Mexican children (most without adult supervision) will cross the border daily unimpeded to illegally attend US schools at US tax payer expense. Around 8 thousand Mexicans will daily illegally enter unimpeded Ft. Bliss military installation to work, shop, and generally do whatever the hell they please. And of course, the thousands of Mexicans who cross the border daily unchecked to go on their merry way to the interior of the US.
In other words; same old shit—different day.
CNN and FOX news are reporting on the new non existent stricter rules but only concerning the Canadian border. They’ve both conveniently managed to ignore the ever contentious Mexican border. Don’t want to loose those potential Mexican illegal alien fraudulent votes for their presidential candidates.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A significant drop in the number of hunters in West Virginia has left a hole in the state’s budget, and one lawmaker thinks he has a solution: allow children to receive hunter training in school.
Seventh- through ninth-graders could opt for instruction in topics ranging from survival skills to gun safety, but the weapons would have dummy ammunition or be disabled. Sen. Billy Wayne Bailey, who introduced the bill this month, doesn’t envision students firing real guns during class time.
"It’s a way to take this kind of education in the classroom and make it more convenient for young people," said Bailey, a Wyoming County Democrat.
West Virginia, where roughly 320,000 people participated in the recent two-week gun season for bucks, may be the only state contemplating such a bill, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Although it still ranks in the top six nationally for sales of hunting permits to nonresidents, West Virginia sold 154,763 permits to residents in 2006, a 17 percent decrease from 1997, according to the state Division of Natural Resources.
The decline is being felt at the state Capitol. This month, Gov. Joe Manchin proposed spending $1.8 million on DNR’s law enforcement efforts to make up for revenue lost because of the decline of hunting and fishing permits.
"West Virginia is probably in better shape than other states, but this is really rather disconcerting from our perspective," said Paul Johansen, DNR assistant chief of wildlife management.
Nationally, the number of hunters 16 and older was about 12.5 million in 1996, a 10 percent decline from 2006, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Part of West Virginia’s problem is it doesn’t require senior citizens to buy a hunting license. The state has one of the oldest populations per capita in the nation, and the ranks of hunters aren’t being replenished by young people.
To secure a license, residents have to complete at least 10 hours of training and be at least 10 years old when they take the test, which includes demonstrating proper gun safety. Would-be hunters have to show they can load and unload a gun, carry it across obstacles, and keep the muzzle pointed in the right direction.
Seoul: South Korea’s next president proposed yesterday of hiring thousands of new teachers to strengthen English education and improve national competitiveness.
President-elect Lee Myung-bak’s team envisions that most English classes will be taught totally in English beginning in 2010, a dramatic overhaul of the country’s educational establishment.
Lee, set to take office on February 25, plans to hire 23,000 new English teachers by 2013 and inject some 4 trillion won (Dh15.4 billion) into English education over the next five years.
For decades, almost all South Korean students have been taught English in Korean, with an emphasis on reading comprehension and grammar - a practice that produces few fluent English speakers even among college graduates.
The policy resulted in a huge demand for private English education among high school and college students and beyond since fluency in English can guarantee a job in South Korea.
Divide
The English craze has also caused what critics call an "English divide" in the education-obsessed country. The rich who can provide their children with a good English education help them land high-paying jobs, while the poor who are deprived of an English education fall further down the social ladder.
Lee, a pragmatic former CEO of Hyundai Group’s construction arm, has pledged to make sure all high school graduates can conduct everyday conversations in English.
"Like it or not, English is one of the common languages in the world," Lee Kyung-sook, head of Lee’s transition team, said in a televised public hearing on English education.
"National competitiveness is directly related to English education."
The plan opens the way for English-speaking professionals - such as former diplomats and businessmen stationed abroad - to become teachers.
It also calls for exchange programmes for teachers from English-speaking countries and the hiring of college students, housewives and overseas Koreans who can speak fluent English as assistant teachers.
Lee Dong-kwan, a transition team spokesman, said officials will survey public opinion before finalising the plan, according to his office.
The plan is drawing mixed reactions from teachers.
Hwang In-sung, a supervisor at Daejeon Metropolitan Education Office, said most instructors are in favour of the proposal, but older ones "are concerned they might not be capable of teaching English in English". Lee Seung-ok, a high school English teacher in Seoul, said only a few students could follow lessons in English.
A team at the University of Copenhagen have tracked down a genetic mutation which took place 6-10,000 years ago and is the cause of the eye color of all blue-eyed humans alive on the planet today.
What is the genetic mutation?
“Originally, we all had brown eyes”, said Professor Eiberg from the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine. “But a genetic mutation affecting the OCA2 gene in our chromosomes resulted in the creation of a “switch”, which literally “turned off” the ability to produce brown eyes.”
The OCA2 gene codes for the so-called P protein, which is involved in the production of melanin, the pigment that gives color to our hair, eyes and skin. The “switch”, which is located in the gene adjacent to OCA2 does not, however, turn off the gene entirely, but rather limits its action to reducing the production of melanin in the iris – effectively “diluting” brown eyes to blue. Therefore the switch’s effect on OCA2 is very specific.
If the OCA2 gene had been completely destroyed or turned off, human beings would be without melanin in their hair, eyes or skin color – a condition known as albinism.
Different eye color phenotypes. a Blue (without brown areas). b Blue with brown spots (with brown) scored as “unknown” in the linkage and association studies. c Brown–green/hazel (BEY1) with a board puripupillary ring. d Brown (BEY2), total brown pigmentation. The person with blue eye color (a) represents the genotype rs12913832 G/G, while the persons b–d represent the genotype rs12913832 A/G
Limited genetic variation
Variation in the color of the eyes from brown to green can all be explained by the amount of melanin in the iris, but blue-eyed individuals only have a small degree of variation in the amount of melanin in their eyes.
“From this we can conclude that all blue-eyed individuals are linked to the same ancestor,” says Professor Eiberg. “They have all inherited the same switch at exactly the same spot in their DNA.”
Brown-eyed individuals, by contrast, have considerable individual variation in the area of their DNA that controls melanin production.
Professor Eiberg and his team examined mitochondrial DNA and compared the eye color of blue-eyed individuals in countries as diverse as Jordan, Denmark and Turkey. His findings are the latest in a decade of genetic research, which began in 1996, when Professor Eiberg first implicated the OCA2 gene as being responsible for eye color.
Nature shuffles our genes
The mutation of brown eyes to blue represents neither a positive nor a negative mutation. It is one of several mutations such as hair color, baldness, freckles and beauty spots, which neither increases nor reduces a human’s chance of survival. As Professor Eiberg says, “It simply shows that nature is constantly shuffling the human genome, creating a genetic cocktail of human chromosomes and trying out different changes as it does so.”
Relatives of Alaa Abdul-Karim al-Fartoosi carry his coffin Wednesday through the streets of Baghdad
BAGHDAD — A roadside bomb blast killed an Iraqi television cameraman and his driver as the crew worked on a report for the upcoming anniversary of one of the most stunning attacks blamed on Sunni extremists, the station reported Wednesday.
Alaa Abdul-Karim al-Fartoosi, 29, was part of an Al-Forat television team collecting reports to mark the February 2006 bombing that damaged the gold-domed Shiite shrine in Samarra — an attack that set off some of Iraq’s worst sectarian bloodshed.
The roadside blast Tuesday struck the journalists’ car in Balad, about 50 miles north of Baghdad and near the Samarra site, said Haider Kadhum, news editor of Al-Forat television. An Al-Forat correspondent and camera assistant were wounded.
It was not clear whether the television crew was targeted, but Iraqi journalists face some of the most dangerous working conditions in the world — random violence as well as attacks for their reports or contacts with foreign media.
Al-Forat TV is affiliated with a key Shiite political party, the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council.
The Feb. 23, 2006, shrine bombing — blamed on Sunni insurgents — touched off a wave of clashes between Shiites and Sunnis across Iraq, claiming thousands of lives.
Sporadic violence was reported across Iraq on Wednesday, including a drive-by shooting in Mosul that killed a university professor and one of his students. Also in Mosul, a roadside bomb blast struck a police commando patrol, killing one officer and wounding two, said police officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to media.
Mosul has become the next likely showdown with Sunni insurgents, who have shifted to northern Iraq to escape a U.S.-led offensive in and around Baghdad.
Iraqi police and military units have been dispatched to the Mosul area for an expected push into Iraq’s third-largest city. U.S. commanders also are bolstering forces around Mosul, but a major offensive could still be weeks away.
ANKARA, (Xinhua) — Turkish military is now seeking acquisition of second-hand U.S. Super Cobra gunships in order to fight against the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK), local newspaper Today’s Zaman reported on Wednesday.
Turkey has asked the U.S. to sell about a dozen of the used attack helicopters in an effort to bolster its capabilities in the fight against the outlawed PKK, said the report, quoting Turkish officials.
Turkish army currently has seven AH-1W Super Cobra gunships together with some other earlier versions, all manufactured by Bell Helicopter Textron, it said, adding that Turkish army particularly wanted to purchase Cobras as it already had the necessary repair and maintenance abilities pertaining to such kind of helicopters.
According to the report, Turkey last spring launched an informal inquiry into whether the U.S. military could provide the Turkish army with excess gunships, but the reply was not positive.
However, political relations have greatly improved between the two NATO allies since then, especially in the past two months after a U.S. move to provide the Turkish military with actionable intelligence to hit PKK targets inside Iraq, a U.S. official was quoted by the report as saying.
Turkey conveyed its request to the U.S. a month ago and has been waiting for a formal U.S. reply, added the report.
Turkey signed a multibillion-dollar contract last year with the Italian-British Agusta Westland, a leading helicopter design and manufacturing company, which called for joint production of up to 90 attack helicopters.
But production has yet to start and the delivery of the first such gunship will not be earlier than 2014 at best.
Under the circumstances, Turkey decided to buy second-hand U.S. gunships to meet a stop-gap requirement.
Defense analysts said that Turkey urgently needs more attack helicopters for now to rein in the impact of the northern Iraq-based PKK, which escalated the scope and frequency of attacks on Turkish military and civilian targets last year.
An El Paso Border Patrol agent who was arrested in 2006 on bribery charges and who fled to Mexico while out of jail on bond was returned to El Paso on Wednesday, officials of the U.S. Marshals Service said.
Arturo Arzate Jr., 49, who was a Border Patrol agent for 20 years, is accused of waving loads of drugs through the checkpoint on Highway 62/180 east of El Paso, federal court documents state. He was charged with conspiracy to distribute cocaine and bribery.
He was arrested Aug. 16, 2007, by Mexican officials in Torreon in the state of Coahuila and extradited to the United States on Wednesday.
He had been a fugitive since February, officials said.
According to a federal criminal complaint, Arzate was allegedly paid $50 per kilo of marijuana and $1,000 per kilo of cocaine he allowed to pass through the checkpoint between El Paso and Carlsbad.
The document alleges Arzate met with smugglers to plan when he could allow contraband to pass.
An investigation began when someone told the FBI that Arzate had been seen with a now-dead local drug trafficker named David Soto discussing moving drug loads through the checkpoint, the complaint stated.
In April 2006, Arzate allegedly began planning the drug smuggling with a witness working with investigators. On several occasions, he allegedly allowed undercover FBI agents and sheriff’s deputies to pass drug loads through the checkpoints.
By Seth Robson, Stars and Stripes European edition
GRAFENWÖHR, Germany — The 15,000 Defense Department personnel and family members in U.S. Army Garrison Grafenwöhr had about a $45 million impact on the local economy last year, according to an Installation Management Command- Europe fact sheet.
So, what will 7,500 more soldiers and family members mean for off-post businesses in the area?
Cha-ching!
Earlier this month, U.S. Army Europe officials announced that more than 3,700 “Dagger” Brigade soldiers — with at least that many dependents — would move to Grafenwöhr from Schweinfurt in the next two years.
And that’s good news, off-post business owners say.
Claus Angstmann, who operates the Johannas Agency auto insurance shop, said the influx of 2nd Brigade troops will boost business.
“As soon as the people come, it is good for the economy, no matter what the exchange rate is,” said Angstmann, adding that the weak dollar has been a drain on local businesses that cater to Americans.
“Last summer was difficult with the exchange rate. We only do U.S. business. We get paid in dollars, and when you covert the dollar to euros, it is not such a big income,” he said.
The exchange rate isn’t a concern on-base, however, and facilities there are also likely to gain from the troops’ move. In September, a $38 million Post Exchange/ Commissary opened, vastly increasing the floor space and products at each store.
Off-base businesses, Angstmann said, also worry that the influx of people could cause inflation in an area that is reasonably priced compared with other parts of Germany and even nearby cities.
But most locals will welcome the Americans and their money, Angstmann said.
“Since forever, you have had Americans here. This area doesn’t have many other industries. The other industries are in Regensburg or Munich. If the U.S. left, it would hurt Grafenwöhr big time,” he said.
The recent deployment of the 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment to Iraq is a prime example.
“In recent years, it has been bad. Soldiers are in Iraq, and the families go home to the States,” said Alexander Kneidl, owner of Fotostudio Spahn. The business, which specializes in portraits of soldiers in uniform, family photographs and special event pictures, set up shop outside of Grafenwöhr’s Gate 1 in 1911.
The arrival of the 2nd Brigade troops should provide a welcome boost to businesses, he said.
Alex Hubman, owner of the Am See Hotel in Eschenbach, about a 10-minute drive from Grafenwöhr, said the deployments and the exchange rate have hurt him, too. About 70 percent of his customers are American.
“We have not had so many people here in recent years because of the Iraq war, and the exchange rate is also bad for me. In the restaurant I haven’t raised the prices, but people have to pay double now for the steak than [they paid] five years ago,” Hubman said.
The construction of hundreds of new off-post homes at the Netzaberg housing area — bordering the training area and the town of Eschenbach — will help, he said. Hubman, who has owned the hotel for 10 years, hopes some of the 2nd Brigade soldiers and their families will stay at his hotel when they arrive. At least, he said, he expects business from workers supporting the move, such as transport personnel and moving company workers.
Hubman, however, looks at the Dagger Brigade’s move with cautious optimism.
“I’m always worried that the Army could move away,” he said. “I hope they will stay forever but nothing is forever.”
A year ago, Iraq was racked by horrific violence and on the brink of civil war. Now, levels of violence and civilians and military casualties are significantly reduced and hope has been rekindled in many Iraqi communities.
It has been a bad year for al-Qaeda in Iraq, and the Jihadis’ allies in America are feeling their pain. Speaking to The Politico January 17, John Isaacs, executive director of the misnamed Council for a Livable World, explained: “last year was not productive. Our expectations were dashed.”
The year 2007 began promisingly for the Democrats, who had taken control of the House and Senate after faking out voters with a squad of seemingly pro-military candidates. The “new” Democrats immediately showed their true colors, installing Rep. Nancy Pelosi, a pro-surrender member of the socialist “Progressive Caucus,” as Speaker of the House.
By May, Rep. Jim McGovern, D-MA, was pledging, “Those of us who oppose this war will be back again and again and again and again until this war has ended.” But it didn’t work out that way. The surge defeated all of them. Voting over 40 times to cut funds or set a date for U.S. surrender in Iraq, Congressional Democrats failed every time.
Said Issacs: “At the end of the year, Congress went out with a whole bunch more votes on Iraq with the same result. Some of the [news] stories were saying that members of Congress were getting tired of it.”
Issacs describes an early January meeting of about 20 George-Soros-funded anti-Iraqi liberation groups such as MoveOn.org and Americans Against Escalation in Iraq, which according to The Politico, burned through about $12 million opposing the war last year.
The Politico’s headline: “Anti-war groups retreat on funding fight.” And a retreat it is. Issacs told The Politico:
We got our heads together and decided to go a different way. The consensus was not to keep beating our heads against the wall trying to block every funding bill — not because we don’t agree with it, but because we don’t have the votes.
But this is no time for Americans to rest. In 1974, the U.S. had succeeded in positioning the South Vietnamese to defend themselves against Communism, and most U.S. troops had been withdrawn from Southeast Asia. It was only then that Congressional Democrats were able to finally cut off funding to the South with the December 1974 “Foreign Assistance Act.” By April 30, 1975, Saigon had fallen and the bloodletting in Cambodia and Vietnam began. This year, Congress failed to follow that example.
In this election year, the legislative-media propaganda effort will be focused on electing more Democrats. They will posture as supporters of the troops, as did the newly elected Democrats from the class of 2006. One theme will be the stress placed on soldiers being deployed “endlessly” to Iraq and Afghanistan. Moira Mack, a spokeswoman for AAEI, told The Politico:
There was a lot of agreement that this is really the way that we can best get our message across about endless war versus end-the-war and draw clear distinctions between anti-war Democrats and pro-war Republicans.
The purely partisan nature of so-called anti-war groups led to some high-profile defections in 2007. On May 28, Cindy Sheehan posted what she called her “resignation letter as the ‘face’ of the American anti-war movement,” in which she explained:
…since I renounced any tie I have remaining with the Democratic Party, I have been further trashed on such ‘liberal blogs’ as the Democratic Underground. Being called an ‘attention whore’ and being told ‘good riddance’ are some of the more milder rebukes…I was the darling of the so-called left as long as I limited my protests to George Bush and the Republican Party…when I started to hold the Democratic Party to the same standards that I held the Republican Party, support for my cause started to erode and the ‘left’ started labeling me with the same slurs that the right used.
We threatened Republicans with “political extinction” if they didn’t change their votes on Iraq. It was a partisan tactic that got us nowhere fast.
He explained:
I aligned myself with some high-profile lobbying organizations…I traded my convictions for “special interest” groups who sometimes seem to be in place simply to smear those who disagree with their political agenda. But the agenda is not anti-war. The war is used by these organizations as ammunition against political foes - primarily Republicans…
There ARE anti-war resolutions still floating out there that call for a real end to the war, but the groups I worked for wouldn’t spend one dime to promote legislation considered out of the mainstream of the Democratic Party.
Any genuine anti-war message was filtered through media consultants who provide politically correct “talking points” to veterans for them to carry out a phony message that is beneficial to the campaign.
Bruhns is now focusing on calling for reinstatement of the draft on the theory that it would cause an increase in opposition to the liberation of Iraq. A draft could expand the military and reduce the stress on existing soldiers and Marines, but this position is one which would not help Democrats win elections.
Just as they blocked aid to South Vietnam and Cambodia in 1974, Democrats are now seeking to obstruct any efforts to extend long term U.S. support to the Iraqi government. According to The Politico:
During [the January 15th] presidential debate, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) referenced the kind of legislation that the anti-war crowd will be backing when she asked Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) if he would co-sponsor a bill to prevent the president from entering into any long-term agreements with the Iraqi government without consulting Congress.
Obama spokesman Ben LaBolt said Obama will ‘support all common-sense efforts to ensure that President Bush does not tie the hands of future presidents through agreements with the Iraqi government.’
In December, Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) sent a strongly worded letter to Bush asking for information about what types of agreements the president planned to enter into and urging that he consult with Congress first. It was signed by Clinton and Democratic Sens. Robert P. Casey Jr. (Pa.), Robert C. Byrd (W.Va.), Carl Levin (Mich.) and Edward M. Kennedy (Mass.).
Webb and Casey are Democratic senators who first won election in 2006 by posturing as conservative supporters of the troops.
While attempting to posture as supporters of the troops, they will also slander the troops. On March 13-16, “Iraq Veterans Against the War” plans to reenact the John Kerry-Jane Fonda charade by holding its own “Winter Soldier: Iraq and Afghanistan” in Washington, D.C. According to IVAW their alleged veterans will be joined by “Iraqi and Afghan survivors.”
However, the original Winter Soldier hearings, the basis of Kerry’s memorable testimony before the U.S. Senate, were long ago exposed as a fraud. Vietnam Veterans outraged at John Kerry’s 1971 Winter Soldier lies formed in 2004 Swift Boat Veterans for Truth in order to expose Kerry before the voting public. Investigator Scott Swett explains:
Records available in the National Archives show that the House Committee on Armed Services directed the Department of Defense to conduct a “prompt review” of the Winter Soldier Investigation testimony in April 1971. Army investigators determined that 46 of the allegations, if true, would qualify as war crimes, and opened a case file for each. Three individuals could not be identified. The other 43 cases were resolved as follows: 25 individuals making the allegations “refused to provide factual data,” 13 more provided information to investigators that “did not support the allegations,” and the final 5 could not be located.
But how many stories from this March will be verifiable? Already one IVAW member, Jesse Adam MacBeath was exposed as a fraud. ABC News explains: “Macbeth’s story of killing men and women as they left a Baghdad mosque included claims that he was a U.S. Army Ranger and had received the Purple Heart for injuries suffered in combat in Iraq. His interview was translated into Arabic and distributed in the Middle East, said the U.S. attorney.” MacBeath is now serving time for illegally applying for VA benefits. Others have also been exposed.
Less than two months before the big atrocity show, IVAW’s website explains: “If you would like to submit your testimony to Winter Soldier: Iraq and Afghanistan, contact the Winter Soldier testimony/verification team at wintersoldier@ivaw.org. This team will be responsible for collecting and verifying the authenticity of the testimony. We need combat veterans to join our verification team.”
But as part of a “Winter Soldier preview tour, IVAW member Mike Blake told an audience January 19 at the “Different Drummer Café” in Watertown, NY: “The killing of innocent civilians is policy. It’s unit policy and it’s Army policy. It’s not official policy, but it’s what’s happens on the ground everyday. It’s what unit commanders individually encourage.” Really? Where? When? Who participated? Who were the victims? And most importantly: Where is the detailed report of even a single atrocity which investigators can follow up on? Just as it was 37 years ago, all of the details are missing and reporters seem uneager to ask for specifics.
While leftist activists search for American atrocities abroad, the New York Times is trying to invent them at home. The Times has begun a series entitled “War Torn,” purporting that returning Iraq war veterans suffering Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder are committing numerous violent crimes. The multi-part series may continue at least until March, helping to set the stage for Winter Soldier II. Their first example is Matthew Sepi who returned from Iraq and in the summer of 2005 shot two armed gang members in a Las Vegas alley. Charges were dropped after police determined that the gang members were armed and had fired. Sepi should get a medal for helping reduce crime in Las Vegas. Instead the New York Times uses his story in an effort to paint veterans as mentally unstable.
Meanwhile back atthe Times they write:
Town by town nationwide, headlines have been telling similar stories. Lakewood, Wash.: ‘Family Blames Iraq After Son Kills Wife.’ Pierre, S.D.: ‘Soldier Charged With Murder Testifies About Postwar Stress.’ Colorado Springs, Colo.: ‘Iraq War Vets Suspected in Two Slayings, Crime Ring.’
Individually, these are stories of local crimes. Taken together, they paint the patchwork picture of a quiet phenomenon, tracing a cross-country trail of death and heartbreak.
The “quiet phenomenon” is a media campaign against Iraq vets. They want the public to believe that military service destroys the mind. But Iraq and Afghanistan vets are far less likely to be involved in violent crime than their age-group peers whose minds have been destroyed by the glorification of drugs and crime in the leftist entertainment media and by the designed-to-fail leftist-controlled pubic schools. (Bloggers at Winds of Change break down the stats.)
But the Times isn’t interested in statistics: in their second installment, they focus on the story of Marine Lance Cpl. Walter Rollo Smith who came back from Iraq suffering PTSD, and in 2006 killed his wife Nicole Marie Spiers. Spiers’ father, John Spiers tells the Times: “When they mention Nicole, it’s like an aside. I feel like a lot of people are using her death as something against the war.”
Mr. Speirs is right. And someday, Tinseltown may use her life as an attack on the war. Hollywood is producing movies portraying U.S. soldiers as bloodthirsty killers and psychopaths—every one of which flopped last year. But bloggers at Hot Air explain Hollywood also has its eyes focused on March: “Not satisfied with its string of war flops and smears of the U.S. military in Iraq, from In the Valley of Elah, to Redacted, in March Hollywood will serve up Stop-Loss. Starring Ryan Phillipe, Stop-Loss tells the story of a soldier who is retained in the military on his last day of service and told he’s being shipped back to Iraq. But watch the trailer. Not content just to preach against one clause that’s in every single military volunteer’s contract, the film suggests that the soldier and his unit committed war crimes in Iraq. It promotes re-instating the draft. It states flatly that desertion is more honorable than service.”
To counter leftist lies, Veterans for Freedom will be promoting a 16-state “National Heroes Tour” of Iraq, and Afghanistan vets. Senator Joe Lieberman (I-CT) explains: “Vets For Freedom has emerged as one of the most influential and authoritative voices in the debate over the war in Iraq.” VFF co-founders include one Medal of Honor Nominee, and several recipients of the Bronze Star and Purple Heart.
Millions of Americans are already hip to the cynical and politically partisan media game being played with the lives of people living in America and Iraq. It won’t take three-and-a-half decades to investigate the Winter Soldier Project this time.
SAN FRANCISCO – The City of Berkeley, California has passed two resolutions attacking the United States Marine Corps, calling the Marines, “uninvited and unwelcome intruders in the city.”
The Berkeley City Council voted to condemn the Marines on Tuesday night (January 29th) as part of a campaign by anti-war anti-US military activists to shut down a U.S. Marine Recruiting Center located in the city of Berkeley.
The votes by the Berkeley City Council were immediately condemned by Move America Forward (website: www.MoveAmericaForward.org), the nation’s largest grassroots pro-troop organization.
“It is disgraceful that in the birthplace of the Free Speech Movement, anti-military activists would attempt to silence the same military men and women who serve this country and give their lives to protect the free speech rights of all Americans, including these ungrateful and despicable people on the Berkeley City Council,” said Melanie Morgan, Chairman of Move America Forward.
The actions by the Berkeley City Council followed continuous protests by Code Pink and other anti-military organizations that vandalized and defaced the U.S. Marine Recruiting Center in September 2007.
One of the two resolutions passed by the Berkeley City Council last night granted a parking spot in front of the Marine Recruiting Center to be used by anti-military activists to harass Marine recruiters. The anti-military activists would not need to apply for a sound permit for the next six months – allowing them free reign to disrupt the day-to-day operations by the Marines.
Move America Forward organized a counter-protest in support of the Marines last October that attracted over 400 pro-troop supporters who stood in solidarity of the Marine Recruiting Center.
“We have hundreds of thousands of military men and women serving honorably overseas to protect our freedoms. Imagine how they feel when they go to turn on the news and see that they are being stabbed in the back by shameful people here at home, it’s disgraceful!” said Catherine Moy, Executive Director of Move America Forward.
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Contact the city of Berkeley and voice your complaints: 510-981-CITY
NEW ORLEANS (Via the Anti-US military AP) - A federal judge threw out a key class-action lawsuit Wednesday against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers over levee breaches after Hurricane Katrina, saying that the agency failed to protect the city but that his hands were tied by the law.
U.S. District Judge Stanwood Duval ruled that the Corps should be held immune over failures in drainage canals that caused much of the flooding of New Orleans in August 2005.
The ruling relies on the Flood Control Act of 1928, which made the federal government immune when flood control projects like levees break.
The suit led to about 489,000 claims by businesses, government entities and residents, totaling trillions of dollars in damages against the agency.
The fate of many of those claims was pinned to that lawsuit and a similar one filed over flooding from a navigation channel in St. Bernard Parish. It was unclear how many claims could still move forward.
In his ruling, Duval said he was forced by law to hold the Corps immune even though the agency "cast a blind eye" in protecting New Orleans and "squandered millions of dollars in building a levee system … which was known to be inadequate by the Corps’ own calculations."
But, Duval said, "it is not within the Court’s power to address the wrongs committed. It is hopefully within the citizens of the United States’ power to address the failures of our laws and agencies."
Breaches at both the 17th Street and London Avenue canals allowed flood water to inundate large areas of the city from near Lake Pontchartrain to the north to the edge of downtown.
Throughout the court proceedings, plaintiffs lawyers knew they faced a daunting task because the canals were, over time, used as flood control projects by the Corps.
"I knew we had an uphill battle. But we had to do it," plaintiffs lawyer Joseph Bruno said. "It’s an outrage. Read the opinion: The judge reads through all the negligence by the Corps, but says he had to rule the way he had to."
Bruno said the plaintiffs would appeal to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, but he conceded that overturning Duval’s ruling would be difficult.
The plaintiffs tried to bypass the immunity issue by claiming that the Corps used the canals as drainage projects and that the levee failures were brought about by canal dredging.
The ruling was another blow to the people of New Orleans, where loathing for the Corps continues unabated.
"This cost people’s lives and property," said Gwen Bierria, 66. She is still living in a government-issued trailer on her property abutting the London Avenue Canal and is among the tens of thousands of people who have filed claims against the federal government for damage from the levee breaches.
"Anybody that calls themselves the Army Corps of Engineers should be embarrassed," she said.
Kathy Gibbs, a Corps spokeswoman, said "the Corps agrees with the dismissal of the case" but declined to comment further because other lawsuits are pending over Katrina damage.
Al Petrie, incoming president of the Lakeview Civic Improvement Association, said that few residents who returned to the neighborhood and started to rebuild based their decision on the success or failure of the levee litigation.
Still, many residents will continue blaming the Corps for the disaster no matter what the courts say, he said.
"Over time, anger tends to quiet down," he said. "It doesn’t mean people are less cautious. We’re still beholden to the Corps to do this right."
New Orleans activists and politicians said they will not give up on holding the Corps accountable.
"We will stick with our mission of education that this was the worst engineering failure since Chernobyl," said Sandy Rosenthal, founder of Levees.org, a group that has lobbied for overhauling the Corps.
Since Katrina, calls for a makeover of the Corps have gained momentum, and the agency, which has acknowledged mistakes, has re-evaluated its procedures for picking and designing projects.
Duval, in his ruling, agreed that legal and bureaucratic change is required.
"The byzantine funding and appropriation methods for this undertaking were in large part a cause of this failure," Duval said, referring to the politics-riddled process Congress has for funding Corps projects.
The Flood Control Act is counterproductive, Duval said, because it negates incentives for good government workmanship and creates an environment where "gross incompetence receives the same treatment as simple mistake."
HAGERSTOWN, Md.—A county judge was reprimanded for calling three black female lawyers "the Supremes" in court and advising the defendant to get "an experienced male attorney."
Washington County Circuit Judge W. Kennedy Boone has acknowledged that his comments suggested racial and sexual bias. In his written response to a complaint, Boone said he was trying to protect the three public defenders from representing a difficult defendant.
The Maryland Commission on Judicial Disabilities concluded the comments Boone made during a court hearing last April were "undignified and disparaging." The notice of reprimand was published Jan. 18 in the Maryland Register.
A stipulation by Boone and the Commission said that in June the judge offered to recuse himself from other cases the three attorneys handled.
Offering to recuse himself was the right thing to do, said Maryland Public Defender Nancy Forster, who filed the complaint in her official capacity.
Boone told the Herald-Mail of Hagerstown that he apologized to the three attorneys, and that even though he offered to recuse himself, each has appeared in his court since the April case.
"I appreciate their acceptance of my apology," he told the newspaper Tuesday. He also said he had never before had a sanctionable complaint filed against him.
The defendant in the case pleaded guilty in June to assault and cocaine possession and was sentenced to eight years in prison.
Schwarzenegger is in talks to endorse McCain, sources say.
SIMI VALLEY, California (CNN) — Two Republican sources familiar with the conversations tell CNN California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is in discussions about endorsing John McCain’s presidential bid.
Two Georgia Republican senators, Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Issacson, also have committed to endorse McCain. That announcement will come in the next 48 hours, according to two GOP sources involved in the planning.
As for the California governor, one of the sources said, "you can safely describe the conversations as progressing and productive."
The second source described the endorsement as "more than expected" and said the conversations were aimed at arranging a Thursday announcement. "Yes, that is the plan," this source said.
Separately, a campaign source described McCain’s fund-raising as "beginning to flow more rapidly" in the wake of his Florida victory, reporting the campaign would raise more than $1 million at events in California scheduled around Wednesday’s CNN Republican debate.
UPDATE: In an interview on The Situation Room, Schwarzenegger seemed to indicate he would not endorse a candidate before California’s February 5 primary.
"I’ve always said that I would stay out of the whole thing of endorsing anybody until our primaries are over, so I think that’s exactly what I’m going to do," he said.
Pressed by CNN’s Wolf Blitzer if it was right to assume he would not endorse before February 5, Schwarzenegger said, "Well, no, I just say that at this point I have nothing to announce, and so I’m sorry to say — I know you want to get the information and get the scoop, and CNN should have the first scoop on something like that, as is of course clear to me, but I have nothing really to announce today."
Manama: Bahrain plans to tune hundreds of calls to prayer into one by introducing a unified timing for the five prayers that will eventually overcome "disturbing chaotic cacophony" and "eliminate discrepancies".
"We need to have a unified call to prayer, delivered in a melodious voice in order to overcome the differences that we have right now and which at times reach up to 10 minutes," Islamic Affairs Undersecretary Fareed Meftah said.
"We have a unified timing prepared by the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs and we should ensure that it is upheld by all mosques," he said in a press statement yesterday.
The ministry hopes that it would be able to overcome the religious differences and the resistance of conservatives to technology and wire Bahrain’s mosques so that they broadcast a live, unified call to prayer to replace the present system.
Shiites who make up about 65 per cent of the native population, call to prayers three times a day, with the sunset call following that of the Sunnis by 10 minutes.
"The idea is to agree on a timing that is acceptable to the Sunni and Shiite authorities so that the prayer call can be made through a special radio channel," Al Meftah said.
"The move will allow us to unite as Muslims and to hold our prayers at the same time.
"It will eventually allow us to fast and break the fast at the same time, instead of the current differences that do not promote our unity," he said.
No job cuts
Attempting to allay concerns about current muezzins losing their jobs, Al Meftah assured that the radio call to prayer would not mean that the current number of people who make the call over the loudspeakers would be reduced.
"We will always need people to lead the prayers and interact with the worshippers. The move aims only to bolster Muslims’ unity and togetherness," he said.
Bahrainis have often celebrated religious occasions, including the start of Ramadan, the month of fasting, and Eid, the two major feasts in Islam, on separate dates because of the differences in the religious affiliations.
Sunnis tend to observe the dates announced by the authorities while Shiites follow their religious leaders.
Past efforts to agree on a date have failed because of the seemingly irreconcilable differences and the absence of compromises.
The co-pilot of a Heathrow-bound plane was dragged kicking and screaming from the cockpit after suffering a mental breakdown while in control of the flight.
He began yelling and "invoking God" as the Air Canada 767 flew at 37,000 feet over the Atlantic. He was held down by other crew members and a passenger, a member of the Canadian armed forces.
The co-pilot then had restraints fastened to his wrists and ankles and was handcuffed to a seat. The flight from Toronto made an emergency landing in Shannon and the co-pilot, who had been crying and screaming according to witnesses, was taken off the plane.
He was taken by ambulance to a psychiatric ward where he is being treated for a suspected nervous breakdown.
Drama: An Air Canada Boeing 767, like the one pictured, was forced to land at Shannon Airport (File picture)
The 146 passengers on the overnight flight continued their journey and got to Heathrow eight hours behind schedule after the drama on Monday. Passenger Sean Finucane told of his shock as he witnessed the co-pilot being carried out of the cockpit in restraints.
He said today: "He was very, very distraught. He was yelling loudly at times. When they tried to put his shoes on later he swore and he threatened people. His voice was clear so he didn’t sound drunk or anything. He was swearing and was very distressed."
Mr Finucane, from Lancashire, told how the pilot kept shouting: "I need to talk to you God."
He described how passengers watched a crew member and the soldier carry the co-pilot out of the cockpit, through first class and into economy. The co-pilot then intermittently yelled obscenities and sobbed.
Another passenger, writing on the flyertalk website, wrote: "It was quite an experience! He [the co-pilot] was being restrained in 12A, but that entire minicabin could hear the whole thing. Not for delicate ears. The soldier and the doctors [who were passengers] were great."
Irish newspapers reported today that the co-pilot was "acting in a peculiar manner and talking loudly to himself".
Fifteen minutes after the first officer was removed from the controls, Flight AC 848 made an unscheduled landing at Shannon airport. The plane had been due to arrive at Heathrow at 8.25am on Monday.
Air Canada today insisted passengers’ lives were never at risk.
Peter Fitzpatrick, an Air Canada spokesman, said today: "The co-pilot fell ill during the flight and the captain elected to divert. The aircraft landed without incident. At no time were the safety of the passengers or crew in question." He refused to be drawn on whether the pilot had suffered a breakdown.
A spokeswoman for Transport Canada, the body in charge of national aviation, said commercial pilots must have medical check-ups every six months.
Welcoming: More than 300 service personnel marched the streets of Winchester
Thousands of people turned out today to welcome back soldiers from who recently returned from operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
More than 300 service personnel from The Rifles and the King’s Royal Hussars, the 1st Battalion Irish Guards, 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards, the frigate HMS Richmond, RAF Odiham and the 4 General Support Regiment marched through the historic city centre of Winchester in Hampshire.
Accompanied by bands, cheers, flag waving and applause the men and women paraded up the medieval High Street, then attended a reception in their honour hosted by the county council.
During the march, two Chinook helicopters from RAF Odiham made a flypast over the city.
Some of the regiments have long associations with Winchester or are Hampshire-based with many stationed at the home of the British Army in Aldershot.
There are more service personnel and their families stationed in Hampshire than in Scotland, according to the county council.
Each unit received a ceremonial scroll and all service personnel were given a glass tankard and a bottle of beer from local breweries.
Each unit received a ceremonial scroll and all service personnel were given a glass tankard and a bottle of beer from local breweries
The parade is the latest in a series of high profile occasions since local authorities were criticised by former senior officers for not doing enough to welcome back forces who have been on active duty in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Armed forces minister Bob Ainsworth said today: "Our armed forces really are man for man, woman for woman, the best in the world.
"We should do our utmost to show how proud we are of them, to acknowledge their bravery and the sacrifices which they and their families make on our behalf."
