Competing Wisconsin protests draw thousands

[These protests must be considered as another of the CIA "false-flag" revolutions, only this one is, so far, intended to keep the lid on, not calculated to boil over, as in the Middle East.  This is the reason that the "counter-protesters" are not simply joining with the first group demonstrating to protect their incomes.

In Europe, there are no counter-protests, no anti-anti-government protesters seeking to nullify the anti-government protests.  In these first American anti-austerity protests, we are seeing the expected, suspicious, corporate-sponsored counter-demonstrators, gathering in the streets to break the formation of a national focal point,  preventing the formation of a solid center of the people.  The protesters, calling themselves "conservatives," who are championing program cuts do not, for some reason, want to see social service programs preserved, even though all of them will one day need some of those same programs just to get medical care, or to stay alive, or to have emergency programs and services, such as police and fire protection (SEE: Detroit, Less Than a Full-Service City). We are seeing an attempt to revive all the bad things of Reaganomics and Bushism in these counter-demonstrators, who march, coincidentally, as their national leader, Speaker Boehner is pushing Reaganite "supply-side" budget cuts in the House.

The people of Wisconsin, who want to see something remain of the American Republic, must turn-out support for the workers' rights crowd in far greater numbers than the corporate-sponsored side can muster.  The real story should concern this hostile anti-worker corporatism, which exists to attack workers who defend their rights, and to capitalize on the workers' grief, relieving themselves of contractual obligations by transferring them to the workers themselves.  All over Europe, the old age pensioners are in the streets defending their livelihoods against corporate privatization programs which really rob from the poor, the sick and the elderly, in order to profit the rich.  Yet, here in the "land of the free," we see brother set against brother, as the man with a decent job defends that job by attacking those who have nothing but the right to survive--and that is what is being taken from many of them--yet the corporate-backed thugs in the streets gather in mobs and shake their fists at them in disgust.

It's happening in Wisconsin. Its Labor--vs- anti-labor. It's Ronald Reagan--vs- Mondale...It is the basic right to organize to defend one's rights and to improve working conditions--vs- the corporations and their mobs for hire, like the Tea Party gang, or whatever they are called. It may be true that much of the anti-union opposition is real (the "unions have killed this country" crowd), but, I would think that many of them are there because someone with either money or power asked them to attend. Believe it or not, people, it is a fight between corporations and the rest of us. If you are not a paid part of some corporation, then you are part of the general population being targeted for some great rip-off by those corporations.  Unions and the fights for workers' rights (which they have waged for all of us, down through the decades), are the reason that you legally cannot be worked like an abused animal, and your children cannot be forced to labor hard hours at dangerous jobs, whenever you can no longer work, or find work....and believe me, that day is coming, sooner than you think.]

Capitol protesters rally for fourth day, Feb. 18

Workers protest anti-union bill

By James Kelleher

MADISON, Wisconsin | Sun Feb 20, 2011 7:58am EST

(Reuters) – Supporters of legislation to reduce public employee union bargaining power and benefits in Wisconsin were far outnumbered by opponents on Saturday, as the two sides shouted competing slogans but did not clash.

Tens of thousands have demonstrated this week against Republican Governor Scott Walker’s proposed legislation, which supporters say is needed to control spending and opponents contend would break the back of state worker unions.

Wisconsin is the flashpoint for a U.S. struggle over efforts to roll back pay, benefits and bargaining rights of government workers. If the majority Republicans prevail, other states could be emboldened to take on the powerful unions.

Both sides drew thousands to the state capital Madison on Saturday — officials put the combined total at 55,000 — but no more than 5,000 of those appeared to be there for the rally backed by Tea Party groups, the first appearance by members of the conservative, limited-government movement this week.

The bill’s opponents marched counter-clockwise around the state Capitol, encircling the legislation’s supporters and chanting “kill the bill.”

The supporters countered with “Recall them all,” referring to Democratic state senators who fled to Illinois to deny Republicans the quorum needed to consider the proposal.

In addition to sharply curtailing union bargaining power, the Republican legislation would make state workers contribute more to health insurance and pensions.

FRIENDLY ATMOSPHERE

“I’ve been working in a factory for 26 years. We pay 15 percent for the cost of our healthcare. The state workers get Cadillac insurance and pensions. They have no God-given right to collective bargaining,” said bill supporter Anthony Thelen, 46, who works in a nonunion factory outside of Milwaukee.

Although there had been fears of a fight, the atmosphere was generally peaceful and friendly, with organizers on both sides urging followers to be courteous.

Margaret Derr, a high school math teacher and union member, said she didn’t dislike the governor personally.

“I’m just opposed to the bill. I have no problem contributing more to my healthcare and pension. I understand about the deficit, but some of the proposals are just about union busting.”

Like Derr, union and Democratic leaders say they are willing to compromise on benefits if Republicans back off on their bid to weaken collective bargaining, but so far Walker and his legislative allies have stood firm.

State Assemblyman and Minority Leader Peter Barca told Reuters, however, that he has not given up on a compromise.

“My hope is before Tuesday enough Republicans will recognize this proposal is over-reaching and the support for this proposal wanes. I’ve been told some Republicans will reconsider,” he said.

Tuesday is when the State Assembly is due to take up the proposals again. Barca said he did not know when the absent Democratic state senators might return, allowing that body to consider the measure. Senator Jon Erpenbach said Friday that the senators were prepared to be away for weeks.

Governor Walker estimates the state budget deficit for the rest of this fiscal year at $137 million and for the next two fiscal years under its biannual budget at $3.3 billion.

He wants state workers to increase contributions to pensions to 5.8 percent of salary and double contributions to health insurance premiums to 12.6 percent.

The proposal would limit collective bargaining to the issue of wages and cap increases to the rate of inflation, with a voter referendum needed for bigger increases.

It also would end government collection of union dues, allow workers to opt out of unions, and require unions to hold recertification votes every year. Walker said the alternative is to lay off more than 10,000 public employees.

U.S. state and local governments are struggling to balance budgets after the recession decimated their finances. In addition to Wisconsin, other states like Texas, Arizona and Ohio are relying mainly on cuts in spending to balance the books, while Minnesota and Illinois are raising taxes.

Larry Sabato, Director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics, called the polemical environment in Madison a “raging against the coming of the night” stemming from years of fiscal irresponsibility.

He said the conflict will spread. “As bad as this is at the Wisconsin State level, it is far worse in about 20 states,” Sabato told Reuters.

“In cases like this it always depends on how the governor handles it,” he said. “If you look around the country there are a whole bunch of these types of governors and I would be shocked something like this doesn’t happen in Ohio, New Jersey, and Florida.”

Despite such serious aspects of the issues, Wisconsonites on both sides did not let their differences get in the way of civility on Saturday.

When the opposing rallies ended, many retired to the numerous bars in the Capitol’s shadow, like The Old Fashioned Tavern & Restaurant.

Zog Begolli, a 23-year-old bill opponent, met four bill supporters there when they helped him get a drink at the crowded bar. “They allowed me to get closer so I could order,” he said.

“Beer is something we can all agree on,” said Randy Otto, 59, from Lake Mills, one of those who let Begolli squeeze in.

(Additional reporting by Eric Johnson in Chicago; Editing by Jerry Norton and Philip Barbara)

Capitol protesters rally for fourth day, Feb. 18

It’s happening in Wisconsin. Its Labor–vs- anti-labor. It’s Ronald Reagan–vs- Mondale…It is the basic right to organize to defend one’s rights and to improve working conditions–vs- the corporations and their mobs for hire, like the Tea Party gang, or whatever they are called. It may be true that much of the anti-union opposition is real (the “unions have killed this country” crowd), but, I would think that many of them are there because someone with either money or power asked them to attend. Believe it or not, people, it is a fight between corporations and the rest of us. If you are not a paid part of some corporation, then you are part of the general population being targeted for some great rip-off.Unions and the fights for workers’ rights (which they have waged for all of us, down through the decades), are the reason that you cannot be worked like an abused animal, and your children cannot be forced to labor hard hours at dangerous jobs, whenever you can no longer work, or find work….and believe me, that day is just around the corner.

Capitol protesters rally for fourth day, Feb. 18, posted with vodpod

Davis In Possession of Predator Tracking Chips

[Sources reveal that tracking chips ("sim cards," SEE: Paramilitary Pretense, Who Controls the Predators?) were found on Raymond Davis.  These chips have been linked to Predator drones, used to assassinate targeted Pakistanis.  The fact that one or more of these were in the US agent's belongings, confirms that he was connected to the murder program, which have stopped since Davis' arrest.]

Probe finds connection between Davis, drone attacks

DAWN.COM

A GPS chip recovered from the possession of Davis was being used in identifying targets for drone attacks in North Waziristan, claimed sources. – Photo by Reuters 

KARACHI: Investigation teams were astonished to learn about Raymond Davis’s alleged connections in North Waziristan, sources told DawnNews.

Sources have revealed that a GPS chip recovered from Davis was being used in identifying targets for drone attacks in the tribal region.

It was also learnt during the probe that Davis made upto 12 visits to the tribal areas without informing Pakistani officials.

The 36- year-old US official was reluctant in giving out information about his visits to the tribal region, sources added.

The US Embassy officials were exerting pressure on the authorities, asking them not to expose the information received from Davis.

Meanwhile, the Punjab government has shared the investigation and the possessions recovered from Davis with the federal government, said sources.

House Republicans’ Weak Attempt To Pass “Reaganomics II,” Without John Hinckley’s Help

[The first "supply-side" cuts in social programs would never have passed without the enormous outpouring of public sympathy for Reagan, after Hinckley's bullet caught him under the left arm.  As the pundits have since said, we got "Reaganomics" thanks to Jodie Foster.  I guess we will have to blame her for the shit that has flowed downhill since that major mistake.  Who will get the sympathy bullet needed to gain public support for the next round of Congressional throat-cutting, Mr. Boehner?]

According to Mundell, the wave of sympathy for Reagan that was engendered by the assassination attempt deterred Democrats in Congress from voting against his proposed tax cuts. Because of this accident of history, the US administered a big fiscal stimulus at the same time that Paul Volcker at the Federal Reserve was administering tight money. This, for Mundell, was vital in creating the era of prosperity that followed.

“ Taxi Driver is the most important movie ever made from the standpoint of creating GDP,” Mundell told delegates. “It’s the movie that made the Reagan revolution possible. That movie was indirectly responsible for adding between $5trn and $15trn of output to the US economy.”

GOP-led House approves battery of spending cuts

The bill, which takes aim at healthcare, social services, environmental regulation and more, gets no Democratic votes.

House Speaker John Boehner returns to his office after votes Friday. (Alex Wong, Getty Images /February 19, 2011)

By Lisa Mascaro and Kathleen HennesseyTribune Washington Bureau

Reporting from Washington —

The House has approved a sweeping package of budget cuts that, if enacted, would shrink the federal government’s role in American life, curtailing its involvement in healthcare, social services, environmental regulation, child care and research.

The bill, approved 235-189 Saturday with overwhelming Republican support and over united Democratic opposition, would reduce federal spending by more than $60 billion over the next seven months. It represents the completion of the top objective of the new Republican majority and its emboldened wing of budget hawks and government critics.

But the vote, coming after 4:30 a.m. Eastern time following an all-night session, set the House on a collision course with Senate Democrats and the Obama administration. Both camps have dismissed the House package as extreme, especially with the economy still on such uncertain footing.

Without a spending agreement approved by all sides, funding for the government will expire March 4. A political confrontation could end in a government shutdown in as little as two weeks.

In passing the package, House supporters said they were carrying out the will of the voters who sent nearly 100 new Republicans to Washington in November. They claimed to be taking the lead on the painful choices necessary to reverse course on a surge in federal spending that has put the deficit at $1.5 trillion.

However, Democrats charged that Republicans were using the budget as an excuse to eliminate or cripple government services they dislike, such as the healthcare law and climate change research and regulation.

The debate concerns government funding for the remaining months in the 2011 fiscal year. Later this year, lawmakers will battle over President Obama’s proposed $3.7-trillion budget for fiscal 2012.

The 2011 GOP cuts scarcely dent the federal deficit, but touch nearly every federal budget category not considered defense or “entitlement” spending. The bill would reduce funding for the Environmental Protection Agency by one-third, slash aid to poor women and children and cut support for NASA.

Medical research at the National Institutes of Health would be curbed, along with funds that help low-income families heat their homes. In all, the bill would eliminate 150 federal programs, Republicans said.

The spending cut package is historic in its size as well as its scope. It is many times the size of the cuts passed by the House in 1995, when Republicans led by then-Speaker Newt Gingrich sought to reduce non-defense discretionary spending by roughly 5%. The package debated Friday would cut about 15%.

Then-President Bill Clinton vetoed the 1995 bill, setting up the standoff that led to a series of government shutdowns months later.

This year’s measure was approved after a nearly round-the-clock voting spree that spanned three days — a result of House Speaker John Boehner’s promise to allow for a more open debate and deliberation in the House. Nearly 600 amendments were proposed, most seeking further spending cuts and restrictions on funding for various operations.

Examples of GOP targets included implementation of Obama’s healthcare bill, EPA regulation of greenhouse gases and Planned Parenthood.

The late changes made the final size of the package difficult to measure. But as the scope of the proposed 2011 cuts widened, the Social Security Administration and other government agencies said there would be at least temporary job losses if the cuts are enacted into law.

Other departments, including the Department of Homeland Security, Internal Revenue Service and National Labor Relations Board, also said the cuts would have adverse effects. Officials warned of a backlog in their ability to provide services.

“The quickest way to achieve savings, if you have to do it very fast, is cutting off paychecks,” said Robert Bixby, a budget hawk and executive director of the Concord Coalition, who favors a slower approach. “It’s the easiest way to do it.”

Next week both chambers will take a weeklong recess that will sharply limit the time available to avoid a potential shutdown. When the two sides return to work, they will have a maximum of just five days — and probably fewer, given the usual legislative workweek — to resolve deep differences and put a new spending plan in place for the remainder of the year.

Even the option of a stopgap measure that could temporarily fund the government for a few weeks until the impasse can be resolved now appears off the table as Republican leaders refuse to bend.

Each side has tried to position the other to take the blame if the standoff results in shuttered government offices affecting Americans across the nation.

“We don’t want to do that; we hope our Republican colleagues don’t want to do it,” said Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), a leader of House Democrats. “But if the posture they take is ‘our way or no way,’ it’s possible that will happen.”

Feelings have hardened over the weeklong debate. Earlier, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) dismissed concerns that the spending cuts would eliminate programs that help employ thousands of Americans, saying that if jobs are lost, “so be it.”

As the debate over this year’s budget stretched on for another day and night, the exercise helped to define both parties. The day’s events also revealed a persistent divide within the ranks of House Republicans. Boehner allowed a free-wheeling debate, which exposed deep rifts between his emboldened conservative wing and other members.

The conservative flank of the GOP lost one pivotal vote to reduce government funding to 2008 levels, as many of them wanted. Veteran Republican leaders admonished the leading budget cutters for pushing the additional $22 billion in cuts, saying they went too far.

Rep. Kay Granger (R-Texas) echoed Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s concern that cuts in global aid programs could threaten national security.

The chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, Rep. Harold Rogers (R-Ky.), said the conservatives’ proposal “hits everything indiscriminately in a heavy-handed way.”

“We were elected to make choices, not run on auto-pilot,” he said.

Republicans approved a measure offered by Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) that would prohibit federal funds for Planned Parenthood. The group already is prohibited from using federal grants in providing abortion services. Sen. Barbara Boxer called the amendment “an extreme attack on women’s health.”

A full-scale attack on the healthcare overhaul law advanced as Republicans approved several measures that had the effect of preventing the law from taking effect. Republicans have pledged to dismantle the healthcare law, a key demand of the “tea party” movement.

In a series of votes Friday, Republicans approved measures to block funding, including one that would bar salaries for government workers implementing the law.

Pelosi delivered a lengthy defense of the legislation she led to passage in the last session of Congress.

“This is, yet again, another example of our friends standing up for the insurance companies at the expense of the American people, standing up for the insurance companies at the expense of the health and well-being of our country,” Pelosi said.

The healthcare votes came as the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office said in an updated assessment that repealing the healthcare law would actually drive up federal deficits by $210 billion by 2021 and leave 22 million more Americans without health insurance.

Staff writer Noam N. Levey in Washington contributed to this report.

lmascaro@tribune.com

khennessey@tribune.com

Copyright © 2011, Los Angeles Times

Colonel Imam Killed by Taliban

What kind of soulless monsters could stand an old man in front of them and brutally murder him?The stinking dog Hakeemullah standing there smirking, giving the order to murder the old man.These are the opposite of “holy warriors.” Their “god” is shaitan. They worship money and power, nothing else.

Colonel Imam Killed by Taliban, posted with vodpod

From Dictatorship To Democracy—Imperial Handbook

From Dictatorship To Democracy.pdf

The Empire’s Handbook for Democratic-Revolution

Can Americans Apply Sharp’s Handbook for Revolution?

---

As citizens in Mideast nations fight for democratic new governments and economic reforms it is timely to consider whether Americans can use the unique handbook for revolution to fix the US.

---

by Joel S. Hirschhorn
(libertarian)
Friday, February 18, 2011

As recently presented, there is global respect for and use of the classic and brilliant work by Gene Sharp “From Dictatorship to Democracy.” It is credited for empowering many actions around the world to overthrow dictatorships, including recent actions in the Mideast. My thesis is that his ideas, strategies and tactics, a handbook for revolution, can and should be applied to the US where there is a form of corporate dictatorship operating.

American dictatorship and tyranny is masked by an electoral system that no longer functions with integrity, fairness or efficiency and, therefore, acts to sustain the more hidden and ignored corporate dictatorship inflicting enormous harm on vast numbers of Americans. In many ways the uniquely American form of dictatorship is far more sinister, indiscernible and powerful than classic dictatorships where one recognized person, military junta or family rules ruthlessly.

The corporate ruling class has often been exposed but still maintains its power. The recent excellent article “Why Isn’t Wall Street in Jail?” presents yet another fine analysis, for example, of how corporate rulers have escaped prosecution and punishment. It showed that “a veritable mountain of evidence indicates that when it comes to Wall Street, the justice system not only sucks at punishing financial criminals, it has actually evolved into a highly effective mechanism for protecting financial criminals. This institutional reality has absolutely nothing to do with politics or ideology it takes place no matter who’s in office or which party’s in power.”

Another article exposed the plutonomy and noted that the top 20 percent received nearly half of all income generated in the US — 49.4 percent — and the ratio of the income of the top 10 percent of Americans to the poor has risen from 7.69-to-1 in 1968 to 14.5-to-1 in 2010. Just as conventional dictators steal from their nations, America’s corporate rulers rob US wealth and get away with it because they have succeeded in controlling government and public policy. This explains why a noted New York Times columnist discussed the “corporate stranglehold on American democracy.” A dictatorship is all about control.

To say this differently, a sophisticated and powerful plutocracy has hijacked an electoral democracy and behaves just like a dictatorship in critical ways, despite a citizenry that believes it has freedom and liberty secured through the US Constitution. The middle class is being destroyed and the general population no longer has any realistic expectations of rising affluence. Economic oppression should be the chief driver of revolution.

In other words, just as in many dictatorships, like the Mubarak regime in Egypt, there can be elections, various freedoms, and many media enterprises. But the American plutocracy hides in plain sight a false or phantom democracy based on the widespread delusional belief that reforms of government and politics can still be achieved through elections and the equally delusional belief that there is legitimate representative democracy serving public interests. In sum, Americans have a delusional democracy. Various corporate interests, especially banks and other financial entities control and manipulate the American system, especially the economy, making its dictatorship far more difficult to discern, oppose and overturn. Most Americans seem to want to cling to the fiction that they still have a great democracy, which only reveals their stupidity and inability to think critically. Only continuing widespread economic hardship is likely to pierce the psychological defenses against seeing the ugly truth of American tyranny.

The path to achieving true and deep reforms of the US political and government system must be reframed in terms of Sharp’s methodology rather than through pursuing different candidates and platforms within the two-party plutocracy, where each major party is controlled by corporate and other special interests that make voting and elections the means by which the corporate dictatorship is sustained.

Presidents, administrations and Congresses change, but the mostly invisible elite, corporate powers through smart use of money maintain control to serve their own economic interests. Power stability is maintained even though there is the appearance of political change. Unlike places like Egypt and Libya where there are highly visible dictators, in the US there is no such glaringly visible target for revolutions to overthrow. This makes dissidents and dissatisfied citizens stuck victims that keep trying fruitlessly to get reforms through the dysfunctional political system even when they wage reform campaigns such as the Tea Party movement. The other tool of the dictatorship is massive distraction perpetrated through myriad entertainment, sports and gambling options, as well as political campaigns, for example.

All this means that nonviolent revolution in the US is probably even more difficult than in traditional dictatorships. But that does not mean impossible. It is instructive, however, to keep in mind that during the still painful Great Recession probably a third of the US population has suffered incredibly as indicated by huge numbers of unemployed, underemployed, hungry, foreclosed, homeless, working poor and people without decent health insurance. Meanwhile, as in countries with traditional dictatorships, in the US there is an upper class that does not suffer. Corporate elites, in fact, have continued their successful rape of the US economy. What is different is that even though most of this large wealthy upper class, probably 50 million or more Americans, does not directly participate in the corporate dictatorship, it benefits from it. Note that just 5 percent of earners account for 35 percent of all consumer spending. Another large fraction of the population works in all levels of government and also benefits from the corrupt status quo political system. Both groups stabilize the corporate dictatorship and the two-party plutocracy it uses to maintain the illusion of a functioning democracy.

What all this means is that Sharp’s tools for overthrowing a dictatorship has a small fraction of the population that might use them to achieve success through nonviolent revolution. But generally those active in overthrowing a dictatorship are a small fraction of the population. This means there are more than enough Americans to overturn the corpocracy.

In other words, what starkly differentiates the US from traditional dictatorships is that the fraction of the population most impacted by a corrupt system does not even think or dream in terms of revolution or rebellion. While suffering people in a number of Mideast countries clearly are ready for revolution, Americans have been unready for revolution despite being citizens of a country founded on revolution.

What is most ironic about this American shame is the incredibly high level of gun ownership among Americans, including those most victimized by the corrupt system. They seem to be mentally prepared for a more open form of tyranny against which they would use their guns, but are unready to mount a revolt without guns within the current system. Of course, as Sharp says: “If you fight with violence, you are fighting with your enemy’s best weapon, and you may be a brave but dead hero.” Gun ownership in a perverse way makes nonviolent revolution which Sharp correctly concludes is the best route to successful revolution even more difficult in the US. That is, widespread gun ownership is itself a form of distraction and delusion that perversely sustains the corporate dictatorship. Americans can keep their guns, while the rich elites keep most of the money and wealth of the nation. Greed outweighs guns.

Those Americans who like me thirst for reforms that restore American democracy should download the free Sharp handbook and study its findings. Sharp has said “If people are not afraid of the dictatorship, that dictatorship is in big trouble.” Add this: If people are not aware of the dictatorship, that dictatorship is in great shape.

Pakistani Taliban issues video of ISI spy’s execution

Islamabad, Feb 19: The Pakistani Taliban released a video Saturday of the shooting of a former officer of the country’s intelligence agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), who was kidnapped from the northern tribal region.

A Taliban militant is shown in the video firing at former ISI officer, Col. (Retd.) Sultan Ameer Tarar – also known as Colonel Imam – in the presence of Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud, according to Xinhua.

Col. Imam was killed Jan 23 by the Pakistani Taliban in North Waziristan.

Imam and another former ISI official, Squadron Leader (Retd.) Khalid Khawaja, had gone to North Waziristan along with BBC journalist Asad Qureshi and his and driver Rustam Khan to make a documentary on the Pakistani Taliban and victims of US drone strikes, when they were kidnapped in March 2010.

Later, an unknown militant organisation, Asian Tigers, claimed responsibility for the kidnapping and accused Khalid Khawaja of spying for the CIA. He was subsequently shot dead April 30 near Mir Ali town. Col. Imam was kept alive and held hostage all through until his execution Jan 23.

Some reports said the two were abducted by the Lashkar-i-Jhangvi, working in tandem with the Pakistani Taliban.

Qureshi and Khan were released several months later after his family reportedly paid ransom of Rs.30 million to his kidnappers, the Hakimullah Mehsud-led Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

Imam was widely respected by the Afghan Mujahideen and also by the Taliban due to his role during the war against Soviet forces in Afghanistan. He was often described as the “teacher” of Taliban chief Mullah Omar.

He had also served as Pakistan’s consul general in Afghanistan’s western Herat city.

Pakistan Human Rights Commission chief I.A. Rehman condemned the killing and described it as a brutal act.

The Taliban had earlier released a video of Khawaja in which he was heard admitting his links with the ISI and CIA and playing a double game with the Taliban.

Taliban sought Rs.50 million for the release of Imam but negotiations in this regard made no headway and he was killed.

Imam had served 11 years in the ISI out of 18 years in the armed forces, while Khwaja served for 22 years in the air force.

–IANS

Intelligence Agencies Reveal Davis Often Called S. Waziristan

Raymond Davis had contacts in South Waziristan and certain madrasas

Farzana Shah

Terminal X Media Watch

The following article originally appeared as an Urdu report in Pakistan’s Daily Express newspaper here. (http://express.com.pk/epaper/PoPupwindow.aspx?newsID=1101163647&Issue=NP_LHE&Date=20110206)

LAHORE: Investigative agencies have gathered all call records for Raymond Davis. According to sources, the records indicate that a major portion of his calls were to contacts in South Waziristan and other troubled areas adjacent to it.

While tracing the contacted numbers, a team of officers from Pakistan’s ISI revealed that Raymond Davis also used to visit certain madrassahs in those regions and portrayed himself as a newly-converted British Muslim. Raymond Davis used to meet madrassah officials during Friday prayers.

According to sources, Raymond Davis has a group of 75 other colleagues who came to Pakistan during the flood catastrophe. He has been working as Senior Agent Incharge for his group and the divisions for which he was regional incharge include Lahore, Sargodha and Multan.

According to INP, sources say Punjab’s provincial government has compiled and sent the complete investigation report of the killing of two civilians in Lahore by Raymond Davis to the federal government in which it is clearly mentioned that Davis did not fire in “self defence”, neither is he cooperating with the security officials during the investigation.

The Punjab Government has also included names of 4 other American citizens in the report and requested the federal government to place their names in the ECL (Exit Control List). The team of experts from the intelligence agency has also finalized their report which will soon be dispatched to the provincial (Punjab) and federal governments.

[Translated by Sultan Hijazi]

–

Cross post from terminalx.org

N.C. Homegrown Terror Threat Assessment Proves That America’s Far-Right Is a Bunch of Fraidy-Cats

N.C. study: “homegrown terrorism” threat exaggerated

by John Grooms in Boomer with Attitude

If you have mice in your house, you want to get rid of them, since, otherwise, they’ll get in your food supply, shred things to use in making nests, and crap all over the place. They are a potentially destructive nuisance, and it’s a good idea to do something about them: call an exterminator, put out traps, whatever. What you don’t need to do in this situation is to suddenly think that you are being systematically persecuted by organized hordes of aggressive wharf rats.

That’s the comparison that comes to mind these days when I hear discussions (if you can call them that) about “the terrorist threat to America.” Note that the nearly always-terrified right wing in this country is currently going wild over a scattering of discovered terrorist plans and the occasional, usually failed, attempt at blowing up something. If you want to see how deep the irrationality over this issue can get, check out the comments about an earlier blog post regarding Sue Myrick’s chief of staff leaving to work for an “anti-terror” group that we described as Islamophobic.

Here’s the good news: A new study conclusively shows that the “homegrown terrorism” threat is way overrated. Now the bad news: Hardly anyone is paying attention to the study.

The study, “Muslim American Terrorism Since 9/11:  An Accounting,” was put together by the Triangle Center on Terrorism and Homeland Security (TCTHS), a think tank of experts from Duke, UNC Chapel Hill and RTI International, a research and development arm of Research Triangle Park. You can read the entire report here. The short version is that the number of Muslim-Americans who perpetrated or were arrested for terrorist acts declined sharply in the past year.

Listening to Myrick and her over-caffeinated followers, you’d think that hundreds of American Muslims are being radicalized and taught to engage in violent acts against the U.S. In actuality, 20 Muslim-Americans committed or were arrested for terrorist crimes in 2010, down from 2009’s 47. The study is full of facts and figures that paint a different picture than the one drawn by various anti-Muslim groups, lawmakers and pundits, whose approach to the problem seems to be “Jump up and down — the world is on fire!,” rather than simply taking a look at the actual numbers. One very interesting fact you won’t see mentioned by the “Islam is the boogeyman” crowd is that, since 9/11, tips from the Muslim American community provided information that led to a terrorist plot being thwarted in 48 of 120 cases.

In the study, David Schanzer, the Director of TCTHS, says, “Is this a problem that deserves the attention of law enforcement and the Muslim American community?  Absolutely.  But Americans should take note that these crimes are being perpetrated by a handful of people who actions are denounced and rejected by virtually all the Muslims living in the United States.” In other words, we have some mice, not an army of organized wharf rats.

As writer Yonat Shimron of Raleigh’s News & Observer noted, the study’s conclusions are similar to reports issued by the Muslim Public Affairs Council in Washington, D.C., which draws on reports from the Congressional Research Service and the conservative Heritage Foundation.  Shimron interviewed Alejandro Beutel, a government and policy analyst with the council, who succinctly concluded, “Overall, there is a challenge out there, but it’s not a pandemic.”

As we’ve written on several occasions, it’s time to cut out the melodrama. The whole point of terrorism is to have a country’s population walking around scared out of their wits. It has become obvious that, in that regard, the Myricks and anti-Muslim groups of this nation — the ones who are currently pitching a fit — have already surrendered. What’s even worse is that at this point, their constant paranoid drumbeat is actually helping terrorists meet their goal of scaring the hell out of Americans.

Holbrooke’s Replacement?

Marc Grossman

Crisis of confidence

By M K Bhadrakumar

Grossman’s appointment is a tacit recognition that the US needs someone with experience, tact and tenacity to leverage the Pak military.

Full two months it has taken for the Barack Obama administration to find a suitable successor to late Richard Holbrooke, United States’ former special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan. Of course, it isn’t easy to replace a titanic figure. But life ought to move on. Some speculate that the issue became the stuff of turf war between the White House and the State Department. Be that as it may, the appointment of former career diplomat Marc Grossman as Holbrooke’s replacement indicates an element of ‘continuity’ insofar as the incoming special representative is broadly in the same mould as his predecessor. Grossman has some pluses as well, given the unusually long stint he had in the American embassy in Islamabad (1976-83) when, too, Pakistan was a ‘frontline state’ in the US regional strategies. Grossman is familiar with the Afghan ‘jihadi’ culture and the ethos of Pakistan’s security and military establishment. Additionally, he has rich professional background of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation and in Kosovo, in fact, he was a participant in the alliance’s first encounter with conflict situations in a post-cold war setting. Grossman’s appointment gives away clues to US priorities. One, primacy lies in working with Pakistan. Two, despite the public US claim that the Pentagon’s ‘surge’ is working, there seems to be uneasiness that ground realities are stark and gains can at best be transient, which means political track needs to be opened. Three, US is strongly pitching for Nato’s presence in Afghanistan in the long term. (Grossman held the Nato portfolio in the state department at a turning point in the alliance’s evolution as a global security organisation.) However, Grossman faces an uphill task ahead. Cutting across any plane in the Afghan situation, we have been witnessing a drift in the recent months — be it as regards the ground situation in Afghanistan, US’ equations with Hamid Karzai or US-Pakistan relationship. Bluntly put, there is no convincing evidence to substantiate the claims by the US military that the Taliban momentum is being steadily broken. The brazen attack by the Taliban fighters on the headquarters of the Afghan police last week in broad daylight killing 15 policemen speaks volumes about the fragile security situation in the epicentre of the US’ ‘surge’. Again, Kabul city itself has become unsafe, as repeated attacks in the recent weeks testify. The insurgency is spreading in the northern regions. The Afghan opinion is turning hostile to western occupation. While on the one hand Taliban has no dearth of ‘manpower’, western attempt to build up an Afghan national army seems to meandering. The much-vaunted ‘Afghanistaion’, too, has lost steam. Sour relations The US’ equations with Karzai have dipped to an all-time low point. Karzai has become extremely wary of the US intentions. The US attempt to prop up a ‘hostile’ Afghan parliament as a rival power centre checkmating Karzai’s authority and Washington’s overt dalliance with the former Afghan intelligence chief Amrullah Saleh (who was sacked by Karzai last July) have created a grave crisis in confidence between Washington and Kabul. Meanwhile, the unravelling of Kabul Bank, legal proceedings against the president’s brother Mahmood Karzai in a US court, International Monetary Fund’s strictures providing alibi for the western ‘donors’ to refuse routing their aid through the Afghan government, the imminent ruling by the special court investigating fraud in the Afghan parliamentary elections — all these controversies are potential ‘time bombs’ waiting to explode. Things have become very messy, indeed. Some American commentators speculate on a ‘colour revolution’ to drive Karzai out of power. The ‘standoff’ is quintessentially over the US push to secure a status of forces agreement that would legitimise American military bases. Karzai has misgivings about the idea despite sustained US pressure tactic and insists any such agreement will need to be ratified by the Afghan parliament and a Loya Jirgha, which is hard to obtain. The US objective is to get the matter sorted out before an Afghan settlement (which may include Taliban) materialises. The ‘standoff’ lies at the root of the US’ discontent with Karzai. And it adds to the US paranoia that Karzai is steadily strengthening ties with Russia, Iran, China, etc and reducing dependence on Washington. Far more important than all this is of course the state of play in US-Pakistan ties. The troubled relationship seldom touched such a low point. In sum, Pakistan cannot go along with the US’ surge policy and it refuses to undertake military operations against Taliban groups entrenched in North Waziristan. Pakistan is increasingly suspicious about the American agenda and regards Taliban as its ‘strategic asset’. Of late, Pakistan is linking up with Karzai on the basis of shared concerns to kickstart an ‘intra-Afghan’ dialogue even without US blessing. Indeed, Raymond Davis case highlights the covert US activities inside Pakistan. To be sure, Grossman’s appointment is a tacit recognition that the US needs someone with experience, tact and tenacity to leverage the Pakistani military at the present crucial juncture of the war. But does diplomatic style and acumen alone suffice? The geopolitical reality is US-Pakistan relationship is riddled with contradictions, which are hopelessly intertwined, too. Even as the US boosts military ties with India, these contradictions can only become more acute. And their shadows on the Afghan chessboard will only be lengthening. (The writer is a former diplomat)

 

 

Gates Fears Loss of Pakistani Cooperation In Terror War

[The amazing "Sec/Def" acknowledges just how much the Pak Army has cooperated with American direction lately, moving six divisions from the eastern border with India to the Durand Line, in order to fight America's terror war.  With the sudden exposure of America's underhanded war raging within Pakistan, by the Raymond Davis double-murder charges, American hypocrisy towards our most loyal ally is suddenly thrust to the forefront.  The brutal killing of three or more Pakistani citizens by the American agents is something that happens nearly every day, in the hidden corners of Pakistan (SEE: General Kayani Must Not Blink and Pakistan’s Taliban Are CIA). Now that it is happening in the heart of Lahore, in broad daylight, the world gets to see with its own eyes, that American leaders are no longer concerned with keeping their criminal war secret.

Until the Sec/Def and his boss are ready to shut-down America's secret war upon the people of Pakistan, all patriotic Pakistanis should stand together to guarantee that his big war comes to a halt.]

Gates express concern over Pakistan’s situation

Lalit K Jha
(PTI)

Noting that terrorist groups might try to provoke conflict between India and Pakistan, US Defence Secretary Robert Gates today told US lawmakers that he is concerned about the current situation in Pakistan.

“I worry a lot about Pakistan. It has huge economic problems… They have a serious internal terrorism threat that is seeking to destabilize Pakistan itself. And I worry that some of those terrorists might try and provoke a conflict between Pakistan and India,” Gates told a Senate Committee hearing.

“I think that there”s a lot to be concerned about with Pakistan,” he said in response to a question from Senator John McCain, who said that there is a serious disruption of ties between the US and Pakistan as a result of the arrest of American diplomat Raymond Davis over alleged murder charges.

“There”s been serious disruption, obviously, with this American citizens who is now being held in prison, the whole role of private contractors, the continued allegations of relationships between ISI and the Taliban. I”m deeply concerned about the situation in Pakistan, which obviously is vital to the sustained and long-term success in Afghanistan,” McCain said.

Acknowledging that sanctuaries still exist in Pakistan, Gates however praised Islamabad for moving troops from the India border to wards the Af-Pak border.

“The Pakistanis have 140,000 troops on that border.
These things improve step by step, not as quickly as we would like, but we get to a better place over time,” he said.

“If you”d asked me two years ago if the Pakistanis would withdraw six divisions from the Indian border and put them in the west, I would have said impossible. If you would have asked me if we would begin coordinating operations on both sides of the border with Afghan and ISAF forces on the one side, and the Pakistanis on the other, I would have said that”s very unlikely,” he noted.

“They are chipping away at some of these sanctuaries.
It”s very important what they”ve done in South Waziristan and Swat. But it”s a mixed picture and it”s something we just need to keep working at it,” Gates said.

Sharing concerns of Senator McCain on Pakistan, Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that “the vector” is going in the wrong direction overall for Pakistan.

“We”re very unpopular there… It”s highlighted in each crisis whether — I mean, we provided extraordinary support for the floods last year — ”we” the military. And then registers in a popular way shortly. You have an incident like the one we”re going through right now and our popularity is back down in very small numbers,” he said.

“I do think we have to stay at it. It is where lots of terrorist organizations head, not just Al-Qaeda. They are more combined in their efforts than they”ve ever been. So I do think we have to continue to work at it. I”m as concerned as I”ve ever been,” Mullen said.

Terrorist Detainee Lawsuit Alleging Torture Thrown-Out

Terror detainee lawsuit tossed out

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) – A federal judge has tossed out a lawsuit alleging a man convicted of plotting terrorism was tortured at a Navy brig in South Carolina.

U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel on Thursday ruled Jose Padilla has no right to sue for constitutional violations and that the defendants enjoy qualified immunity.

Gergel’s decision said a trial would turn into an “international spectacle” with the nation’s present and former leaders summoned to a courtroom to answer Padilla’s charges.

The lawsuit named Defense Secretary Robert Gates among others.

It alleged Padilla was illegally detained as an enemy combatant and tortured in the brig by being kept in darkness and isolation, deprived of sleep and religious materials, and kept from family and attorneys.

China Plans Colombian Railroad Linking Atlantic To Pacific

China plans Colombian rail link to challenge Panama canal

A link between Cartagena in the Caribbean to an unspecified site on the country’s Pacific coast would facilitate Chinese imports

• Rory Carroll, Latin America correspondent Tania Branigan in Beijing
• guardian.co.uk
Chinese plans for a rail link in Colombia could compete with the Panama canal which transformed global trade when it was opened in 1914. Photograph: David LeveneIt is a dream that bewitched Spain, ruined Scotland, stumped France and empowered the US: a path from the Atlantic to the Pacific oceans.

The ambition unleashed ruinous follies in Panama’s jungles until the US finally finished a canal in 1914, an engineering feat that transformed global trade.

Now, almost a century later, China is envisaging a new link between the seas: a rail link through Colombia – a potential rival to the canal that would crown China’s economic push into Latin America.

Beijing on Monday confirmed an announcement by the Colombian president, Juan Manuel Santos, that both governments are considering a rail connection from Cartagena, in the Caribbean, to the country’s Pacific coast 280 miles (450km) away. The president’s office refused to say which Pacific site was being considered.

The railway would facilitate the export of raw materials such as coal, as well as opening the way for Chinese imports. “It’s a real proposal … and it is quite advanced,” Santos told the Financial Times. “The studies [the Chinese] have made on the costs of transporting per tonne, the cost of investment, they all work out.”

Few doubt China can carve a path through the northern tip of south America. It has, after all, carved a 550km railway to Tibet, rebuilt Angola’s railways and is busy erecting a giant industrial port in Brazil. The question is whether the railway would be cheaper or faster than the Panama canal, which is only a third as long and undergoing a $5.25bn (£3.3bn) expansion to double its capacity.

Panama also has an 80km railway connecting both sides of the isthmus, but until now the canal’s main competition has been the rail link from California to the US eastern seaboard, which is faster but more expensive.

Could Colombia’s railway compete? President Santos seemed to have little doubt, stressing the “incredible” number of Chinese delegations pitching proposals. The railway would require a production and assembly hub in a new city south of Cartagena, he said. “I don’t want to create exaggerated expectations, but it makes a lot of sense. Asia is the new motor of the world economy.”

With Chinese financing, the project would be a viable and attractive way for Bogota to ease transport bottlenecks in its mining industry, said Heather Berkman, a Eurasia Group analyst. “Colombia is no position to refuse offers of investment in its infrastructure. They need financing from outside sources and this makes sense for them.” Bogota also hopes the plan will focus Washington’s mind on ratifying a stalled free trade accord. “The Colombians have made it clear if there’s no movement on the FTA this year they will court other parties. So there is pressure on the US.”

The railway would hardly have the same impact of the canal a century ago but would be a symbol of China’s economic incursions into what the US once considered its backyard. Latin American exports to China leapt to $41.3bn between 2000 and 2009. China is Colombia’s second largest trade partner after the US, with bilateral trade rising from $10m in 1980 to more than $5bn in 2010.

However, the railway project could yet join a list of venerable pipedreams. In 1534 King Charles V of Spain ordered a survey for a route through Panama, hoping for a strategic edge over the Portuguese.

In 1698 a Scottish flotilla landed in Darien, a remote wedge of rainforest straddling what is now Panama and Colombia, hoping to found a colony and a gateway to the new world. The venture collapsed and bankrupted Scotland, hastening its loss of independence to England. “If the Scots had been successful the canal might have been constructed in Darien, by Panamanians speaking English in a lowland Scots dialect!” rued Jim Malcolm, a Scot and former British ambassador to Panama, in a 2005 booklet.

A French effort in the 1880s under Ferdinand de Lesseps, who built the Suez canal, foundered because of poor planning and disease which killed about 22,000 workers.

The US revived the canal project in 1903 after encouraging Panama, then part of Colombia, to secede and hand control of the waterway to Washington.

In 2006 Nicaragua revived its own long-held dream of a rival canal but the idea quickly faded. It did not have Chinese backing.

Additional reporting by Lin Yi

Egyptian Authorities Approve Request For Two Iranian Warships to Transit Suez Canal

[SEE: Iran naval ships to cross Suez Canal on Monday]

Egypt allows Iranian warships to the Mediterranean pass

WORLD Egyptian authorities have approved the request for Iran to allow two of its warships use the Suez Canal to go to the Mediterranean Sea. 

Friday February 18, 2011

As required by law, the Foreign and Defense ministries granted permission to the Iranian navy to use the passage.

Israel has expressed concern about the intentions of the Iranians to move to the Mediterranean and is described as a provocation.

How Can A Trunk Load of Firecrackers Blow-Up A Mosque?

Imperial Beach man arrested in attempt to bomb Mi. mosque

BY MIKE LEE

WAYNE COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE

Booking photo of Roger Stockham, 63, of California. He was arraigned Wednesday, Jan. 26, 2011, on one count of a false report or threat of terrorism and one count of explosives-possession of bombs with unlawful intent._photo by Wayne County Sheriff’s office

- AP

FILE – In this Sept. 30, 2005 file photo, the Islamic Center of America mosque in Dearborn, Mich., is shown. Roger Stockham, a 63-year-old Southern California man, was arrested outside the mosque on Monday evening, Jan. 24, 2011 in the mosque’s parking lot. Stockham was charged with possessing explosive and threatening terror at the mosque. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File)

A 63-year-old man who recently lived in Imperial Beach has been arrested in an alleged attempt to blow up the biggest mosque in the Detroit area, authorities said Sunday.

Roger Stockham is facing one count of a felony false report or threat of terrorism, and one felony count of possessing explosives with an unlawful intent, according to police inDearborn, Mich. His bail was set at $500,000.

Stockham is a decorated Army veteran who flew 600 combat helicopter missions in Vietnam, according to a report in the Detroit News.

Do you know Roger Stockham?

If so, please call our breaking news line, (619) 293-1010.

Greater Detroit is a national hub for Arab-Americans. Stockham was arrested in the parking lot of the Islamic Center of America, one of the largest mosques in NorthAmerica, with an undisclosed quantity of

class-C fireworks

including M-80s, which are outlawed in Michigan, according to The Associated Press. The arrest was Monday, but Dearborn police did not announce it until Sunday, when they issued a three-paragraph statement that did not include Stockham’s date of birth, town of residence, middle name or details about the incident. The Associated Press cited a police official saying Stockham lives in Imperial Beach; a neighbor near his last known address said Stockham left a few weeks ago.

The Detroit Free Press said the Islamic Center was holding a funeral and up to 700 people were inside when Stockham was apprehended in the parking lot. Police said the suspect doesn’t appear to have known about the funeral but targeted the region because of its large Muslim and Arab population.

The Free Press reported that an employee at a local bar called police after overhearing violent threats allegedly made by the man. The employee reportedly was afraid that Stockham was going to target people of Middle Eastern descent.

Dearborn Police Chief Ronald Haddad said Stockham “appeared to be acting alone.” He told the Free Press that Stockham “had a long history of being angry with the United States government.”

At a small two-story apartment complex in Imperial Beach, resident Landon DeBono said Stockham moved out three or four weeks ago, saying something vague about being in trouble. He said Stockham didn’t appear to hold a job and spent lots of time at the local VFW bar.

DeBono described Stockham has a “pretty mellow guy” and a loner. “He was always by himself,” DeBono said. “Nobody came to visit him.”

About six months ago, DeBono said FBI agents talked with residents of the complex about Stockham, but they didn’t contact him.

The webpage of the VFW Post 5477 in Imperial Beach shows Stockham joined in 2009. His posted biography said he grew up in Palos Verdes, fought in Vietnam with an assault helicopter company and “got a lot of air medals, but not much else.” It says he later worked in Indonesia as a bush pilot.

A woman who answered the phone at the VFW Post on Sunday said, “We have no statements at this time. Thank you,” and hung up after a reporter from The San Diego Union-Tribuneidentified himself.

San Diego County Sheriff’s Lt. Dave Brown said he didn’t know about the allegations against Stockham until being called by a reporter. Brown said Stockham didn’t have arrest warrants in the county and he had not been asked by police in Michigan to take any action in the case.

A preliminary court action is set for Friday in Dearborn.

US Embassy employee involved in third death in Davis saga slips back to America

The US Embassy employee who ran his car over a Pakistani citizen- Ibadur Rehman- while rushing to assist American official Raymond Davis on January 27 in Lahore has slipped out of Pakistan, according to a senior US official. US Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs Philip J. Crowley had confirmed during a press briefing this week that it “was US Embassy staff driving the car that allegedly hit the civilian. On Friday, the Lahore High Court ordered provincial authorities to impound the vehicle and arrest the accused involved in Rehman’s death. But the car driver as well another US official involved in the incident are no more in Pakistan, in fact they are back on American soil, ABC News quoted the US official, as saying. Davis is accused of gunning down two Pakistani men, allegedly in self-defence during a “botched robbery.” American officials said that the driver of the vehicle held the same diplomatic visa as Davis. Authorities in the Punjab province have said that they sent five letters to the US Embassy, asking it to hand over the driver and that vehicle, but have received no response so far. It is unclear when the driver and his passenger were spirited out of Pakistan, but a senior US official said that it happened soon after the shooting incident. Meanwhile, Davis is in a high-security detention centre in Lahore and is expected to stay there until a court hearing next month, despite repeated demands by the US to release him immediately on the grounds of diplomatic immunity. (ANI)

If Raymond Davis is Freed, Islamabad Will Not Be Forgiven

Pakistan anger knows few bounds in the case of U.S. Consulate

employee Raymond Davis. All sides agree that he shot and killed

two people there last week, and a third was killed by Consulate

employees speeding to the scene of the shooting.

“If Musharraf turned Pakistan into a sprawling game park for American adventurers, President Zardari has turned it into a Wild West where cowboy Yankees can poach.”

February 17, 2011

Pakistan – The Frontier Post – Original Article (English)

Spokeswoman for the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party, Fauzia Wahab: Her assertion that American Raymond Davis is protected by the Vienna Conventions may have made her the most despised woman in the country.  EXPRESS TV VIDEO: Pakistan news report on the arrest of Raymond Davis, Feb. 5, 00:01:59

This couldn’t be a slip-up by Fauzia Wahab, the information secretary of the [ruling] Pakistan Peoples Party: She read out the relevant passages of the Vienna Conventions to establish that American double murderer Raymond Davis enjoys diplomatic immunity. After all, she couldn’t be so naïve as to mistakenly issue such a categorical assertion on such a sensitive issue. There was obviously a method to her madness. Hers was unmistakably a choreographed act: she would make the statement, and then the movers and shakers would immediately jump in, refuting her pronouncement and asserting that neither was it her party’s stance nor that of the government’s. The clear intent was to sound out public opinion on releasing the American double killer.

But why is the Islamabad leadership so hell-bent on playing with fire? The issue is clearly an emotional one, charged with boiling public sentiment. If the slayer is let off under some ruse, such as a contrived diplomatic immunity, public anger will in all likelihood burst into a storm, to the great woe of the leadership. Now that the case is before the courts, Islamabad must l forego any hanky-panky in their own interest and let them decide. A court decision, whatever it is, will be accepted by the people, though if Davis is freed – grudgingly. Already, the public is greatly frustrated by the leadership’s not-so-deft moves to somehow set the American slayer free. They’ve shown no regard for the grief of the families of the two Pakistani nationals whom he put to death, let alone the third unfortunate victim. That man, who the slayer’s pals crushed under the speeding wheels of their vehicles, has become a forgotten nonentity, even to our own politicos, media and commentators who are playing to the gallery.

Despite his admittedly heinous crime of double murder, the Americans are so concerned about their citizen that they have employed every type of bullying, blackmail and coercion. Seeing that, it really hurts to watch our leaders show no such concern, let alone compassion or sympathy, for our own dead. As was previously pointed out, one of the victims has been forgotten by our politicians and media celebrities, his death disregarded as though he were a worm crushed underfoot, and the widow of another has taken her life in despair.

But why are our leaders so intent on burning every boat and committing themselves to uncertain shores? History shows that Americans are always the first to jump a sinking ship. For 30 years, Hosni Mubarak played their errand boy in the Middle East. Despite that, they batted not an eye at abandoning him once they found the going rough in the face of his people’s popular revolt. For decades, the Shah of Iran was their blue-eyed boy and much-eulogized hatchet man in the region. But when the crunch came and a furious people’s revolution overthrew him, they refused to grant him asylum and left him seeking refuge in Morocco, the Bahamas and Panama, only to die in Egypt.

AMERICA’S MURDERER-DIPLOMAT IN PAKISTAN, A STRA…, posted with vodpod

SEE ALSO ON THIS:

The Nation: Open Letter to Obama: Stop Protecting ‘Murderer’ Davis

Dawn: The Davis Case: Qureshi Takes One for the Nation

The Daily Jang: Ruling Party Spokeswoman Says Davis Enjoys Immunity

Frontier Post: Pakistan Courts Must Prosecute U.S. ‘Killer’ Raymond Davis

The Nation: Pakistan Should Prosecute Davis; ‘Welcome’ Cut in U.S. Ties

The Nation: Iran ‘Sets Example’ By Prosecuting Americans

Here in Pakistan, although he was their servile lackey, when Americans found he had turned into a liability, they turned away from Pervez Musharraf. If conditions take a similar turn, which they certainly will if our leaders continues to slap our own people to earn America’s favor, will the results be any different? Going even further than Musharraf in this frailty, the servility that the government humiliatingly shows Americans has lost them much of our people’s respect and credibility. If Musharraf turned Pakistan into a sprawling game park for American adventurers, President Zardari has turned it into a Wild West where cowboy Yankees can poach. To our people’s great anger, their adventurous exploits here have witnessed phenomenal growth under Zardari’s watch.

Posted by WORLDMEETS.US

If Zardari earns the people’s scorn and indignation by acting outside the law of our land by releasing the murderer Davis to please America in the short term, he may rue it later. Doing so may also place him in a very difficult confrontation with the judiciary. He would do well to sit back and let the courts rule.

 

The US wish list that led to Davis incident

By Tariq Butt

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan government had confirmed in 2008 that it had received an 11-point wish list from the US, reportedly, including the request that all US embassy technical and administrative staff be granted diplomatic status.

It also included that this staff be allowed to carry arms, with US arms licences recognized in Pakistan; that US nationals be exclusively subject to American jurisdiction in the case of damage to property or loss of life, a leading US magazine has claimed. US Foreign Policy Magazine said in an article that at the time, Islamabad denied it had agreed to any of these demands.

Prominent politician and former minister of state Senator Tariq Azim says it is now clear beyond an iota of doubt that the government had entered into an agreement with the US on granting diplomatic status to US technical and administrative staff of the US embassy; allowed them to carry arms and recognized US arms licences in Pakistan; and the U.S. nationals were to be exclusively subject to American jurisdiction in the case of damage to property or loss of life.

He told The News that the documents that Senator John Kerry talked about for placing before the Pakistan government to prove that American killer of two Pakistanis Raymond Davis has immunity and can’t be tried in Pakistan also included the wish list to which the present government had consented in 2008.

According to the dictionary definition, wish list means a usually unwritten list of things one wishes for. The article headlined “Raymond Davis and the cost of immunity” also said that “. . . Pakistanis are unsure of just how much faith, they can place in their government’s official rhetoric. . . today, the Raymond Davis case raises question marks over whether this is yet another instance of deliberate government deceit.”

Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaaf Chairman Imran Khan puts it: “The people don’t trust the government any more. It has time and again proven that it lies to its public.” This is why he believes that it is only proper that Davis be tried before local courts so that Islamabad’s role, if any, also be brought to light.

The article said that the curious case of Davis is still being played out in Pakistan with all the cloak-and-dagger intrigue befitting a James Bond novel. Washington has been consistently loud and clear in its message to Islamabad: A Pakistani refusal to hand over the 36-year-old former Special Forces officer, who shot and killed two Pakistani men in what he claims was self-defense, will be the mother of all deal-breakers for bilateral ties. On trial in Pakistan is not Davis, however, nor only the already bottomed-out reputation of the United States—the credibility of the Government of Pakistan is also at stake, it said.

The article said that much of the Pakistani discourse has summed up the January 27 incident as underscoring the extent to which Washington views Pakistani lives as cheap and, therefore, dispensable. Similarly, US calls for Davis’s release have been interpreted as deliberate moves to erode Pakistan’s sovereignty.

According to Courtney Beale, the acting US embassy spokesperson in Islamabad, nothing could be further from the truth. In January 2010, she told the writer of the article, the US apprized the Pakistan’s National Security Adviser’s office that Davis was being attached to the Islamabad mission with diplomatic agent status. “We received no certificate of objection,” she said.

Beale, however, is unable to clarify if Davis was in possession of an arms licence or a diplomatic visa at the time of the shooting.

Referring to the shooting, she notes that the “Government of Pakistan makes it very hard” by not always stamping diplomatic visas on diplomatic staff passports. “Even I don’t have one on my passport,” she admitted. But Beale is keen to stress that if Islamabad has retrospective questions regarding Davis’s status, the US position is clear—this is a matter for Pakistan’s federal government to resolve, not a provincial court.

The article said that Islamabad’s reliance on Pakistan’s judicial system as impartial arbiter has been seen by many as a deliberate maneuver to abdicate responsibility and publicly position itself on the side of the Pakistani people, who are angry: to defend the integrity of Pakistan before American hubris. Indeed, Rehman Malik, the interior minister, has already announced that the government will provide a stipend and house as compensation to the families of the two brothers as well as that of Ibadur Rehman, the bystander run down by a US Consulate vehicle as it rushed to Davis’s aid. The compensation question, however, remains problematic in the absence of a thorough investigation and public verdict on the brothers’ identities.

Russian billionaire asks Putin to stop FSB secret service agents from stealing his empire

From ANI

London, Feb 19(ANI): Russian businessman Alexander Lebedev has told Prime Minister Vladimir Putin that a gang of corrupt FSB secret service agents and policemen were plotting to steal his multi-billion pound business empire.

Lebedev that said his Moscow-based banking empire was under serious attack, and that he had been threatened with jail unless he left the country.

The 50-year-old also said that he had been asked to pay seven-figure bribes to stop the harassment and that there had been fifty attempts to frighten his employees and relatives in December and January alone.

“Respected Vladimir Vladimirovich (Putin)! I am requesting you intervene in the situation, (and sort out) the bandit raid by werewolves in epaulettes,” the Telegraph quoted Lebedev, as saying in his letter to Putin.

“Thank God there have been no grenades or plastic explosives so far. (But) we are dealing with an organized mafia group acting on the pretext that it is carrying out orders from above,” he added.

In May 2008, Lebedev was listed by Forbes magazine as one of the richest Russians and as the 358th richest person in the world with an estimated fortune of 3.1 billion dollars.

He owns a third of airline Aeroflot, and is part owner of the Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta, and owner of four UK newspapers with son Evgeny Lebedev: the London Evening Standard, The Independent, the Independent on Sunday and the new i newspaper.