Tiraden in Rom, Gewalt zu Hause - Simbabwes Präsident Mugabe im Vor-Wahlkampf

onlinedienst — 2009-11-19T10:18:00Z

Dr. Alexander von Paleske - Im nächsten Jahr sollen Wahlen in Simbabwe stattfinden.
Nach der gegenwärtigen Stimmungslage hat Mugabes Partei ZANU/PF gute Aussichten 10-20% der Stimmen zu bekommen.

Seit die Regierung der nationalen Einheit im Amt ist, hat sich die Lage im Lande etwas gebessert. Der neue Finanzminister Tendai Biti beseitigte das finanzielle Chaos. Zuletzt kostete eine Cola 12 Milliarden Zimbabwe Dollar. Biti schaffte die lokale Währung erst einmal ab. Seitdem hat sich die Versorgungslage wieder gebessert, in den Geschäften sind wieder Waren vorhanden.

Die Bevölkerung weiss aber nur zu genau, dass Mugabe sich dies kaum auf seine Fahnen schreiben kann.

Robert Mugabe

Diese negative Beurteilung seiner Partei muss sich ändern, findet der Präsident, das finden auch seine Gefolgsleute im Regierungsapparat, Polizei und Armee.

Da wortreiche Ueberzeugungsarbeit und Tiraden im Ausland wie jetzt auf der Welternährungskonferenz in Rom, nicht ausreichen, soll mit bewährten Mitteln nachgeholfen werden: Mit Gewalt und Terror.

Willkommensschild, Plumtree (Zimbabwe), Grenze zu Botswana - Foto: Dr. v. Paleske

Dieses Vorgehen hatte sich schon im vergangenen Jahr bei der Präsidentschaftsstichwahl "gut bewährt". Aber anders als letztes Jahr soll es diesmal offenbar von langer Hand vorbereitet werden.
Im Juni kreuzten die ersten Unterrichtskommandos in den ländlichen Gebieten auf. Seitdem gibt es immer wieder Berichte über Gewalttätigkeiten gegen Oppositionsmitglieder.

Jetzt wurde auch der deutsche Jesuitenpater Wolfgang Thamm von Mugabes Schergen verprügelt und gedemütigt.
Aber das dürfte erfahrungsgemäss nur die Spitze des Eisbergs sein.

Jubelparteitag im Dezember
Im nächsten Monat findet der Parteitag von Mugabes ZANU/PF Partei statt. Ein Jubelparteitag ist zu erwarten.
Zwar gibt es innerhalb seiner Partei bereits einen Kampf um die Nachfolge, aber Mugabe denkt offensichtlich gar nicht an Abtritt. Er hält sich für erwählt und nicht nur (durch Wahlterror) für gewählt.
Und er hält sich vor allen Dingen für unersetzlich.

Simbabwe Auferstehung aus den Ruinen?
Ein fauler Kompromiss wird Wirklichkeit Simbabwe: Verlängerung des Terrors befürchtet Stichwahl erst in drei Monaten
Simbabwe: Mugabes Terrorkampagne erreicht neuen Höhepunkt
Simbabwe - Der Wahlterror hat begonnen
Simbabwe - Mugabe plant Terrorwahlkampf
Simbabwe: Erfolg des Terrors, Mugabe bleibt Präsident
Simbabwe: Mugabes Terrorkampagne erreicht neuen Höhepunkt
Simbabwe: Prämien fuer Tötung von Oppositionsaktivisten
Simbabwe: Mugabes Umzug in Paradies

The way forward

sfux — 2009-10-29T07:38:00Z

Hamid Mir - Many Pakistanis still remember the prediction of a US military advisor, David Kalcullin, in March this year. He claimed that Pakistan may collapse in the next six months and Taliban will take over Islamabad. Six months passed in September 2009.

Pakistan is not only intact but Pakistani security forces defeated Taliban in Swat. Now Pakistan Army has started a new operation in South Waziristan but misunderstandings about Pakistan are still visible in Washington. This time US policy makers fear a military coup against Zardari-led government in Pakistan.

They think that a successful operation in South Waziristan will give more credibility and popularity to Pakistan Army, which will further undermine the authority of Zardari government in Pakistan. Very few people in Washington realise that tension between Pakistan Army and President Zardari were actually created by Kerry-Lugar Bill.

US Congressman John F Tierney is the one who led the efforts to include several controversial provisions in the Kerry-Lugar Bill. He is the chairman of the Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs in the US Congress. He tried his level best to defend the Kerry-Lugar Bill in a conference on US-Pakistan relations in Harvard University the other day. Harvard Extension International Relations Club organised the Conference.

The US ambassador of Pakistan, Mr Hussain Haqqani, PML-N secretary information Ahsan Iqbal, myself and some other experts were also invited to speak there. This conference provided an excellent opportunity to the students and academia of Harvard to listen the arguments from both sides but unfortunately there was no consensus that how to move forward jointly in the right direction. Ambassador Haqqani rightly said that the only way forward is democracy. US must support democracy in Pakistan. When I raised a question why the US is not listening to the voice of democracy in Pakistan coming through an elected parliament? There was no answer from US side.

No doubt that the US is the most controversial country in Pakistan and Pakistan is the most misunderstood country in the US. There is a huge mistrust on both sides but even then both countries need cooperation of each other because they are facing some common threats. Pakistan lies in one of the world's most important geopolitical regions surrounded by Afghanistan, Iran, China and India.

One must admit that many international players want to turn Afghanistan into another Vietnam for US. These international players will take advantage of the mistrust created by Kerry-Lugar Bill between Pakistani military and US. I don't doubt the intensions of Senator John Kerry because he really wanted to help Pakistan but weak public diplomacy of Obama administration became a big problem for Senator Kerry. US Congress tried to remove misunderstandings through an explanation but many questions are still there.

Many Pakistani legislatures felt that once again the US Congress ignored the concerns raised about the Kerry-Lugar Bill in their parliament. The Pakistani parliament has adopted unanimous resolution against US drone attacks in the past but US just ignored the voice of Pakistani parliament and increased the drone attacks. Increase in drone attacks has increased suicide bombings in Pakistan. Today US and Pakistan need a joint strategy to defeat terrorism. How can we form a joint strategy to defeat terrorism in the region?

First of all US must stop its drone attacks in Pakistan. US is using drone with a justification that Taliban and Al Qaeda militants are using Pakistani tribal areas as a base to attack NATO forces in Afghanistan. If this is the case then why is the US not interested in securing the 2,500-kilometres-long border between Pakistan and Afghanistan? Why is there no fencing and no proper border check posts? There are more than 350 illegal entry points on the Pak-Afghan border. Every day more than 20,000 vehicles and 45,000 people cross the border without proper documents. How can we stop the cross-border movement of militants if the border is not properly secured?

Secondly the US must give a roadmap for the withdrawal of its troops from Afghanistan. Remember that US President Obama won his election in the name of peace. He opposed the adventurous policies of Bush administration but today he is just following the policies of Bush by sending more and more troops to Afghanistan.

Does Obama have any substitute of US troops in Afghanistan? Yes, Obama can give a strong role to UN in Afghanistan. UN peacekeeping forces from countries like Turkey, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and Egypt should replace US and NATO troops. People of Afghanistan and Pakistan will have more trust in the neutral peacekeeping forces of UN.

Replacement of Western troops with Asian troops will weaken Taliban and Al Qaeda. They will lose justification that they are fighting against crusaders.

Thirdly, international community must start immediate efforts to turn Afghanistan into a neutral country like Switzerland. All the neighbouring countries of Afghanistan are interfering there. They are fighting their proxy wars in Afghanistan. A contact group of countries like Pakistan, Iran, Russia, China, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkey, India, US, Saudi Arabia, Germany and Japan should be created under UN umbrella.

This group must chalk out a plan to stop foreign interference not only in Afghanistan but also in the whole region. US must realise that its presence in the region is the root cause of the problem. Nobody can deny the fact that Pakistan and Afghanistan have become unsafe after the arrival of US troops in the region.

Many people ask the question why there was no insurgency in FATA and Balochistan province before 2002? Many people rightly or wrongly say that the Baloch insurgents are getting training and arms from Afghanistan, which is actually controlled by the US. The US is always concerned by the alleged presence of Taliban in Quetta, but why has the US administration not expressed any concern about the terrorist activities of Baloch insurgents around Quetta?

Congressman Tierney told his audience in Harvard that "I am a friend of Pakistan and I will always be honest with Pakistan. I expect the same thing from my counterpart." Honesty demands that US administration must listen to the majority of Pakistanis and answer their valid questions. Honesty demands that if the Supreme Court of Pakistan has given a verdict against a dictator on July 31, 2009, the dictator must be tried in Pakistan and if someone is claiming that Musharraf could not be tried because some "foreign powers" don't want his trail then the US must clarify that at least Washington is not trying to protect the dictator.

It is a fact that the Bush administration brokered a deal between some political players and Pervez Musharraf through infamous "National Reconciliation Ordinance" in 2007. This NRO legitimised corruption in Pakistan. Zardari government has tabled NRO in the parliament. Majority of Pakistanis want their parliament to reject NRO. Honesty demands that Obama administration should stay away from protecting NRO. Majority of Pakistanis believe in democracy but they want a neat and clean democracy. They hate corrupt democracy.

They hate any Pakistani Karzai who is more powerful than the elected parliament. Only a powerful parliament, independent judiciary and free media can stop a military coup in Pakistan. No, Karzai can stop a military coup because Karzai always lacks support from his own public. People like David Kalcullin have always created misconceived panic in Washington about Pakistan. Washington needs to understand and respect the will of the common man in Pakistan. They want to become friends but not slave of US. This is the only way forward.

Hamid Mir, the author of this article, is a top Pakistani reporter, head of the Geo TV Bureau in Islamabad. He has won a world-wide acclaim for his interviews with Osama bin Laden and Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri, before and following 9/11. His new book about OBL is due to appear in Britain, later this year.

Osama Bin Laden Is Dead Says Asif Ali Zardari

sfux — 2009-09-10T17:59:00Z

onlineredaktion - According to Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari, the al-Qaida chief, Osama bin Laden, is no more. But he has requested for more international help as those areas, which the Americans feel Osama is hiding, can be explored.

Stressing that Pakistan government was fighting against the militants, he added that their efforts were being hampered due to lack in resources.

In an interview to BBC to mark his first year in office as President, Zardari had maintained his emphasis on Pakistan's ailing economy and has sought more assistance from Western countries.

"If the world's armies and the world's budgets cannot look after (the Afghan) side of the border, give me more time and give me the resources that I need and we will deliver," he said.

He was answering the questions where he was asked about Pakistans response, if Taliban militants indulge in cross-border attacks.

Even though Zardari has disclosed that Osama is no more, he has not given any evidence to support the claim. The Washington has denied accepting Zardaris claims they still believe that the al-Qaida chief is alive and is hiding in agitated tribal areas of Pakistan.

Lockerbie-Terrorist: Krebs oder doch Öl?

sfux — 2009-08-30T19:03:00Z

Stephan Fuchs - Der libysche Geheimdienstler und Lockerbie Attentäter Megrahi wurde mit grossem Fest in Libyen willkommen geheissen. Er, der Geheimdienstmann, der Terrorist, der Verurteilte, der Krebskranke, er, der mutmasslich mitgeholfen hat, dass 270 Menschen in den Tod gerissen wurden. Vielleicht war der im Vereinigten Königreich inhaftierte Terrorist doch nicht nur so krank, wie die Öffentlichkeit gerne glauben gemacht wurde. Wie britische Quellen aus dem Justizministerium behaupten, ging es bei der Freilassung viel mehr um wirtschaftliche Interessen.

Geheimdienstler Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi : Schwer krank, oder schweres ÖL?

Sunday Times stellt unter Berufung auf zwei ihr zugespielte Briefe des britischen Justizministers Jack Straw an seinen schottischen Kollegen Kenny MacAskill aus dem Jahr 2007 einen Zusammenhang her mit einem Ölgeschäft zwischen dem britischen BP-Konzern und Libyen. Demnach soll Straw zunächst gegen die Einbeziehung des Lockerbie-Attentäters Abdel Basset al Megrahi in ein geplantes Abkommen mit Libyen über einen Gefangenentransfer gewesen sein. Nur fünf Monate später, als das Millionen-Geschäft zwischen BP und Libyen ins Stocken geraten sei, habe Straw seine Meinung geändert. In einem zweiten Brief an MacAskill habe Straw unter Hinweis auf überwältigende Interessen Grossbritanniens der Einbeziehung Al Megrahis in die Vereinbarung über den Gefangenentransfer zugestimmt.

Der schottische Justizminister MacAskill hatte die vorzeitige Freilassung des unheilbar an Krebs erkrankten Lockerbie-Attentäters mit humanitären Erwägungen begründet. Bei dem Bombenanschlag auf eine Pan-Am-Maschine über der schottischen Ortschaft Lockerbie im Dezember 1988 waren 270 Menschen ums Leben gekommen.

Da haben die Britten und die Schweizer doch wieder eine Gemeinsamkeit: Der eine kniet vor dem Diktator, die anderen bespucken ihre Opfer beide sind sie billige Nutten eines Diktators mit Geld.

Heimkehr eines Attentäters, Libyens Staatschef Gaddafi und das deutsche Auswärtige...

onlinedienst — 2009-08-28T06:43:00Z

Dr. Alexander von Paleske - Vor einer Woche kehrte einer der Lockerbie Attentäter, Abdelbasset Ali Mohammed al-Megrahi, zurück nach Libyen. Er war wegen des Bombenanschlags auf den PanAm Flug 103 am 21.12. 1988 von einem schottischen Gericht am 31.1.2001 zu einer lebenslangen Haftstrafe verurteilt worden. 270 Menschen starben als Folge des Attentats.

Al- Megrahi wurde bei seiner Rückkehr von Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, dem zweitältesten Sohn von Libyens Herrscher Muammar al-Gaddafi, im Flugzeug begrüsst.
Eine begeisterte Menge erwartete ihn dann auf dem Flughafen Tripolis.

Libyens Staatschef Gaddafi empfing ihn am nächsten Tag.

Der Jubel ist verständlich, denn man darf getrost davon ausgehen, dass der Attentäter im Auftrag Gaddafis eine Bombe in das Flugzeug geschleust hatte und nicht auf eigene Faust. Er hat daher nicht nur für sich allein, sondern auch stellvertretend sozusagen für Gaddafi mitverbüsst.

Gaddafi

Gaddaffi hatte ihn im Jahre 1999 ausgeliefert, später die Angehörigen der Attentatsopfer entschädigt und damit das Ende der gegen Libyen verhängten Sanktionen erreicht.

Ausserdem gab er die Entwicklung von Massenvernichtungswaffen auf.

Nun wurde al-Megrahi vorzeitig von einem schottischen Gericht entlassen, weil er terminal an Prostatakrebs erkrankt ist.
Seine Memoiren will er nun noch schreiben. Man darf gespannt sein, ob er wirklich Neues zu berichten weiss.

Ein Blick zurück auf eine Spirale von Gewalt und Terror
Das Lockerbie-Attentat war offenbar die Rache Gaddafis für den Angriff einer am 15. April 1986 in Grossbritannien gestarteten US- Luftflotte auf Libyen, der 34 libysche Zivilisten zum Opfer fielen.

Dieser Bombenangriff war wiederum die Vergeltung der US- Regierung für den Bombenanschlag auf die Diskothek La Belle in Berlin am 4.April 1986, eine Diskothek, die vorwiegend von US- Soldaten frequentiert wurde.

Der Bombenanschlag auf die Diskothek war offenbar wiederum Libyens Vergeltung für die Versenkung von zwei libyschen Schnellbooten durch die Mittelmeer stationierte 6. US-Flotte zuvor, die angeblich in bedrohliche Nähe gekommen waren.

So drehte sich damals die Eskalationsschraube.

Vergessene Opfer eines weiteren Anschlags
Was hat das deutsche Auswärtige Amt damit zu tun?
Bei dieser Sequenz von Gewalt und Gegengewalt wird vergessen, dass am 18. März 1987 ein von Gaddafi offenbar angeordneter weiterer Bombenanschlag in Djibouti am Horn von Afrika vier deutschen Nachwuchswissenschaftlern das Leben kostete: Annette Barthelt, Daniel Reinschmidt, Hans -Wilhelm Halbeisen und Marco Buchalla.

Vier weitere Wissenschaftler der Universität Kiel, nämlich Dr. Klaus von Bröckel , Annegret Stuhr, Ilka Peeken und Dr. Uwe Piatkowski wurden bei dem Anschlag schwer verletzt.

Die Opfer von Djibouti: Annette Barthelt, Hans-Wilhelm Halbeisen, Marco Buchalla & Daniel Reinschmidt

Die Deutschen waren nicht das Ziel des Angriffs, das waren vielmehr französische Soldaten. Die Deutschen hatten sich unglücklicherweise zur falschen Zeit und am falschen Ort aufgehalten.

Gadaffi wollte offenbar Rache dafür nehmen, dass französische Soldaten zusammen mit Soldaten des Tschad seinen in den Tschad einmarschierten libyschen Truppen eine empfindliche Niederlage bereitet hatten.

Zu diesem Rachefeldzug gehörte auch das Attentat auf das UTA Flugzeug, das am 19.9.1989 über Niger mit 170 Passagieren in seinem Auftrag durch eine an Bord geschleuste Bombe zum Absturz gebracht wurde.

Das Auswärtige Amt, damals noch unter Aussenminister Hans-Dietrich Genscher, hatte nichts Besseres zu tun, als die ganze Angelegenheit unter den Teppich zu kehren, obgleich der angebliche Kopf der Attentäter ein Libyer namens Taher Chaabane war, und die Attentäter mit libyschen Traveller-Schecks in Djibouti bezahlten, wir berichteten darüber.

Aber auch Genschers Nachfolger Kinkel und Fischer unternahmen nichts.

Die guten Exportgeschäfte mit Libyen sollten offenbar nicht gefährdet werden. und ausserdem hatte das Bundeskriminalamt Libyens Diktator bereits seit dem Jahre 1979 in Sachen Personenschutz unterstützt, wie die FAZ am 14. April 2008 zu berichten wusste.

Auch hatte Gaddafi bei einem Besuch des damaligen Innenministers Baum erklärt, man halte die Rote Armee Fraktion (RAF) für geisteskrank.
Das verfehlte seine Wirkung nicht. Gaddafi wurde gebeten, Druck auf die PLO auszuüben damit diese den RAF-Leuten keine materielle oder logistische Unterstützung mehr gewähren. Gaddafi kam offenbar dieser Bitte nach. Die PLO gehorchte, sie war von den finanziellen Unterstützungen aus Libyen abhängig.

Eine Hand wäscht die andere, oder im Englischen Scratch my back and I scratch yours.

Vergeblich haben die Angehörigen der Djibouti-Opfer über mehr als 20 Jahre versucht, etwas zu erreichen, was eigentlich selbstverständlich sein sollte: Gerechtigkeit und für die überlebenden Opfer Schadensersatz.

Gerechtigkeit wurde immerhin im Falle des Lockerbie-Anschlags, des Anschlags auf La Belle und des UTA-Flugzeugattentats teilweise erreicht.

Im Falle des Djibouti- Anschlags wurde hingegen nichts unternommen. Offenbar getreu der Devise: Nicht auf deutschem Boden passiert und nicht gegen Deutschland gerichtet. Pech gehabt.

Schweigen um die Morde an vier Deutschen in Djibouti
Prozess in Suedafrika und Banditen im Nuklearbereich
Hannibal aus Tripolis oder: Ein schweizer Bundespräsident auf Canossa-Reise

Is Baitullah really dead?

sfux — 2009-08-16T18:51:00Z

Hamid Mir - US drone attacks are not popular in Pakistan but it is the first time that a big number of Pakistanis are happy over a news report that the head of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, Baitullah Mehsud, was killed in a drone attack on Aug 5 in South Waziristan. Baitullah Mehsud was the most wanted and the most ruthless man in Pakistan who was responsible for dozens of suicide attacks across the country. Government of Pakistan has not officially confirmed his death yet. (The Taliban have denied his killing.)

News of his death first came through American media sources on Aug 7. Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi also confirmed his death by quoting intelligence sources but Interior Minister Rehman Malik is careful. A senator from South Wazirastan told him in the morning of Aug 8 that Baitullah is not dead and that was why Rehman Malik never confirmed the death of the most wanted man to media.

Many Pakistanis think that if Baitullah is dead just few days before the 62nd independence day of Pakistan then it is a great gift from a US drone but common Pakistanis are also raising some questions.

Pakistani security establishment started saying last year that Baitullah was actually working for Americans and Indians and that was why US drones never attacked him. The reason behind this conspiracy theory was the rising suicide attacks against Pakistani security forces. ISI requested CIA many times in 2007 to target Baitullah Mehsud but CIA never obliged ISI. CIA was under the impression that ISI is not helping it in hunting down the militant leaders like Maulvi Nazir, Hafiz Gul Bahadar and Sirajuddin Haqqani who are attacking US troops in Afghanistan. Pakistani government made peace agreements with these militants who were only fighting in Afghanistan while Baitullah was fighting against Pakistani security forces. Situation started changing after the removal of Musharraf from the top Army command.

Well coordinated joint efforts to defeat Taliban and Al Qaeda were started just few months back.

US announced 5 million dollars and Pakistan announced 50 million rupees as a head money for Baitullah. Some problems were still there. Few weeks ago a rebel militant from South Wazirastan Qari Zainuddin Mehsud gave interviews to Pakistani media and claimed that Baitullah was working for Americans and Indians. This rebel militant was backed by the security establishment and his claim created lot of misunderstandings. Within few days of these interviews, Baitullah killed Qari Zinuddin on June 23, 2009, in Dera Ismail Khan and gave a message that he can target his enemies anytime and anywhere in Pakistan.

Just few weeks after the death of Qari Zainuddin, Pakistani intelligence sources are now claiming that Baitullah have been killed in a US drone attack. Question is that will the Pakistani government pay Rs50 Million to CIA for eliminating the most wanted man in the country? US drones cannot target anyone in Pakistani territory until someone from Pakistan is not ready to share intelligence with CIA. Now who will get 5 million US dollars from CIA in Pakistan? Will our president and prime minister say openly "Thank You America?" or they will again condemn the US drone attack in Pakistan?

It is now proved that despite some trust deficit in the past, currently US and Pakistani intelligence agencies are working closely with each other.

Pakistani security forces encircled Baitullah Mehsud from three sides in South Wazirastan and someone provided information of his movement to CIA and that was how the head of Pakistani Taliban was targeted by a US drone. There is no doubt now. US drones are attacking targets in Pakistan with the secret cooperation from some Pakistanis but our government always condemned these drone attacks. Pakistan today needs a transparent and bold policy for fighting terrorism. If we are coordinating US drone attacks in our own country then our government should not condemn drone attacks in Pakistan publicly. It is only creating misunderstandings. Common Pakistanis cannot be fooled. It is the Pakistani government which is losing credibility. A government without credibility cannot defeat terrorism. If Baitullah is really dead and our government is happy then US drone attacks in Pakistan will be legitimised and we will not be in a position to condemn these attacks in the future. May be that is the reason Interior Minister Rehman Malik told me that "even if Baitullah Mehsud is killed I condemn US drone attacks in Pakistan."

We must learn lessons from our past mistakes.

We must admit that Baitullah Mehsud was actually created by our own establishment. We used Brig (R) Qayyum Sher in January 2005 to win the support of Baitullah Mehsud against Abdullah Mehsud. Lt Gen Safdar Hussain approved the first peace agreement with Baitullah Mehsud in February 2005 and Pakistan Army agreed to withdraw its troops from the areas under Baitullah control. After the withdrawal of the Army from his areas, Baitullah broke the peace agreement in July 2005. He kidnapped 243 Pakistani soldiers from his area in August 2007 and Musharraf was forced to release these soldiers again through another secret deal with Baitullah on Nov 4, 2007. Pakistani establishment again struck a deal with him in January 2008 but it was broken in a few weeks. All these deals were secret. We don't need secret deals with militants anymore. If we need peace deals then discuss these deals first in the parliament.

And the most important lesson. We should not form any private militias against other private militias to fight in our own country. Read Article 256 of the Constitution of Pakistan which says "no private organisation capable of functioning as a military organization shall be formed, and any such organisation shall be illegal." Unfortunately we are again forming private militias in Swat, Buner and Dir. These militias may produce some more Baitullah Mehsuds.

I still believe that we must not celebrate the reported death of Baitullah Mehsud. His network is still intact. If he is dead then his network will organise brutal attacks in our cities soon. His physical elimination is not a victory. I think that the real victory will be establishing the writ of Pakistani state in the whole of South Wazirastan. Unfortunately we don't have control in that area. We are not sure that Baitullah is dead or alive. For me he is still alive. I will consider him dead when the national flag of Pakistan will be hoisted on the buildings of all the schools in South Wazirastan and students will celebrate Aug 14 without any fear.

Hamid Mir, the author of this article, is a top Pakistani reporter, head of the Geo TV Bureau in Islamabad. He has won a world-wide acclaim for his interviews with Osama bin Laden and Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri, before and following 9/11. His new book about OBL is due to appear in Britain, later this year.

Terrorismus: Irakischer Pass für 1500 Dollar

sfux — 2009-07-25T20:05:00Z

Stephan Fuchs Auf einem irakischen Generalkonsulat sollen angeblich original falsche Pässe an x-beliebige Personen verkauft worden sein. Kostenpunkt 1500 Dollar. Die Konsequenz daraus: Tod und Verderben.

Drei algerische Asylbewerber haben in einem europäischen Land (wohl zurecht) einen negativen Asylentscheid bekommen, sie mussten das Land verlassen. Zurück nach Algerien wollten sie nicht. Die Aussicht in einem anderen europäischen Land Asyl zu erlangen war verschwindend klein, das Schengen Abkommen verhindert solche Zweitasyl Gesuche. Das Trio wurde bei einem irakischen Generalkonsulat vorstellig. Ob das Trio dabei extern unterstützt worden war, das ist unklar. Quellen sagen, dass sie über eine Moschee auf diese Idee gekommen seien und über diese auch die finanziellen Ressourcen akkumuliert hätten.

Wie auch immer, das algerische Trio geht auf das irakische Generalkonsulat, erzählt dort, sie hätten ihren irakische Pass verloren und erhalten, für je 1500 Dollar, umgehend auf ihre Namen ausgestellte irakische Reisedokumente. Mit den neuen Identitäten buchen sie einen Flug nach Bagdad. Ihr Leben scheint gerettet, eine neue Zukunft zeichnet sich ab.

In Bagdad angekommen besuchen sie eine Moschee, welche jener in Europe freundlich gesonnen ist. Nach einigen Besuchen erhalten sie Rucksäcke, die sie auf dem lokalen Markt in Bagdad abgeben sollen. Ein kleiner Gefallen, welches das Trio kaum ablehnen kann, nachdem die Freunde der Moschee soviel getan haben. Sie gehen zum Markt, suchen den vorbestimmten Marktstand und BUMM der Rucksack explodiert. Von einem Mobiltelefon ferngesteuert. Die Odyssee der drei algerischen Asylbewerber hat ein jähes Ende. Bagdad ist um ein schreckliches Attentat reicher viele, auf dem dichtgedrängten Markt haben dabei ihr Leben verloren. Das involvierte Personal auf dem irakischen Generalkonsulat wurde mitterweile ausgetauscht.

Söldnerchef Spicer sucht neues Geschäftsfeld: Piratenbekämpfung vor Somalia

onlinedienst — 2009-04-26T13:53:00Z

Dr. Alexander von Paleske - Am gestrigen Tage wurde von somalischen Piraten ein italienisches Kreuzfahrtschiff angegriffen, die MS Melody. An Bord waren auch Deutsche. Der Angriff wurde von Sicherheitsleuten mit Schusswaffen abgewehrt. Die Piraten wurden in die Flucht geschlagen.

Wenn es nach den Vorstellungen des britischen Obersöldners Tim Spicer ginge, der zur Zeit noch der Chef aller Söldnertruppen im Irak ist, dann sollen derartige Tätigkeiten in Zukunft von Söldnern seiner Fiirma Aegis übernommen werden.

Shoot to kill
In Zukunft würden dann wohl keine Gefangenen mehr gemacht und nach Kenia gebracht, was immer auf kleinen Booten sich vor der Küste Somalias bewegt, würde einfach unter Feuer genommen.

Bereits im Irak war die Söldnerfirma Aegis durch skupelloses Beschiessen von Autos aufgefallen, in einem Video festgehalten.

Ueber die Vergangenheit dieses Chefsöldners, der einstmals Oberst in der britischen Armee war, und dann zum Söldner in Afrika mutierte, haben wir mehrfach berichtet.

Seine Geschäftstätigkeit im Irak dürfte sich in absehbarer Zeit dem Ende nähern mit dem Abzug der US Truppen, von US Präsident Obama in Aussicht gestellt. Zeit also, sich nach neuen Geschäftsfeldern umzuschauen.

Im Irak operieren seine Söldner in einem rechtsfreien Raum, da sie nicht der irakischen Gerichtsbarkeit unterfallen, und ebenfalls keiner Militärgerichtsbarkeit, sie gehören ja keiner regulären Armee an. Die Folgen sind bekannt.

Vom Irak auf die Schiffe
In den Gewässern um Somalia soll die Chose genau so laufen: Seine Söldner sollen nach den Plänen Spicers dann von den Reedereien angeheuert werden, gehen in Aden oder anderswo an Bord der zu schützenden Schiffe und werden weiter südlich wieder ausgeladen. Und die hohe See ist gleichsam ein rechtsfreier Raum,wie der Irak. Wie schön. Also: Feuer frei!

Um um die Lage noch zu verschlimmern, hat die britische Regierung offenbar Pläne aufgegeben, eine wie auch immer geartetete Aufsicht über diese Söldnerfirmen und ihr Treiben zu übernehmen. Aufsicht über diese Firmen soll von den Söldnerfirmen selbst übernommen werden. Man kann nur staunen.

Immerhin war nach der Arms to Africa Affair, in die Spicer mit der Firma Sandline verwickelt war, und nach den Ermittlungen eines Untersuchungsausschusses des britischen Parlaments im Jahre 2002 eine strenge Aufsicht seitens der britischen Regierung über diese Söldnerfirmen in einen sogenannten "Green Paper" gefordert worden Schnee von gestern.

Vorgeschichte der Piraterie
Es wird gerne vergessen, dass die unerquickliche Piraterie vor der Küste Somalias eine Vorgeschichte hat: Das Leerfischen der Küste durch fremde Fischtrawler, auch aus Europa, die sich das Fehlen jeglicher Küstenwacht zu Nutze machten, auch das eine Form der Piraterie. Den lokalen Fischern blieb nichts.

Und nicht zu vergessen: Abfallbeseitigungsfirmen luden vor der Küste Somalias in grossen Mengen Abfälle ab, einschliesslich Sondermülls, also toxische Stoffe, die dann an Land geschwemmt wurden.Angeblich auch Atommüll.
Abfallbeseitigungspiraterie ein anderes Wort dafür.

Es gab also eine Piraterie vor der Piraterie

Craig Murray: Ein Autor ohne Verlag. Rakesh Saxena: Ein Mann ohne Strafe
Chefsöldner Tim Spicer erhält Pentagon-Vertragsverlängerung im Irak
Irak: Wenn die regulären Truppen gehen, kommen die Söldner
Blair drängt auf Söldnernachschub aus Südafrika
On The Road Again Blackwater-Söldner dürfen weiter töten
Söldner, Gauner, Waffen und Rohstoffe

Tracking Bin Laden

sfux — 2009-03-24T18:42:00Z

Ryan Mauro - Where is Osama Bin Laden? Conventional wisdom holds that the world's most-wanted terrorist is hiding in Pakistan. While this may be true, several eyewitness reports and unverified intelligence point to a different location: the Islamic Republic of Iran. Despite its Shiite radicalism, Iran has harbored the Sunni Bin Laden in the past and may even harbor him today.

The idea that Bin Laden could have taken refuge in Iran is controversial, but al-Qaeda's presence inside the country is well-documented. On January 16, the Treasury Department placed sanctions on several high-level al-Qaeda operatives in Iran. The Department indictment clearly states that some of these operatives helped bring members of Ayman al-Zawahiri's and Bin Laden's families to Iran. Bin Laden's oldest son, for example, was in Iran until September 2008 when he left for Pakistan. If the family of Bin Laden feels safe on Iranian soil, then there is the possibility that Bin Laden himself would also turn to Afghanistan's western neighbor as a hideout. If the intelligence sources of John Loftus are correct, this is precisely the case, with Bin Laden spending four to six months per year in Iran.

Two former Iranian intelligence officers provided the first eyewitness report of Bin Laden in Iran available to the public when they were interviewed by Richard Miniter for his 2004 book, Shadow War. The one officer even gave his name, Malak Reza, and the other went by the name of "Choopan," who claimed he was responsible for coordinating Ayatollah Khamenei's personal intelligence office. Miniter believes they are credible, as they provided the names of two covert Iranian operatives in Europe that had never been publicly identified, and "Choopan" showed photos of him with Iranian-backed terrorists in the 1980s. Miniter also reported on Pentagon documents confirming that Choopan's intelligence was used to stop an attack on U.S. forces in Afghanistan. Neither officer asked for money in return for their information.

Bin Laden left Afghanistan in December, a fact that is now commonly accepted. From that point, however, Bin Laden's travel becomes unclear. According to the Iranians, Bin Laden then went to Pakistani Kashmir in January 2002, a claim supported by a Telegraph report from February 23, 2002 that British special forces had begun hunting for him there after Indian intelligence told the CIA that Bin Laden was in the Himalayan Mountains in Kashmir under the protection of the Harkat-ul-Mujhaideen terrorist group.

According to this account, by June of 2002 Bin Laden had traveled again and was in the Baluchistan province of Pakistan that borders Afghanistan and Iran. Mullah Omar, the former head of the Taliban, has been accused by Afghanistan of hiding in Quetta, the capital of this mostly lawless region, a claim substantiated by a captured Taliban spokesperson. This location seems likely, as many members of al-Qaeda have an ethnic Baluch background.

In July 2002, the Pakistani military launched an offensive into the tribal areas where the remnants of al-Qaeda, the Taliban, and their allies had taken refuge. Afraid of being cornered, Bin Laden dispatched a messenger to Ayatollah Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of Iran, with an audio tape requesting safe harbor and funding. In return, Bin Laden offered to allow his networks to be used by the Iranian regime and even promised to tell his followers to follow Khamenei in the event of his demise.

If the story is indeed true, the audiotape seems to have worked. Bin Laden's four wives and his oldest son, Saad, went to Iran, followed by Bin Laden himself, who crossed on July 26, 2002, near Zabol, a city that sits on the border between Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Bin Laden then traveled north to Mashhad, a location originally identified a transit point for al-Qaeda members traveling via Iran as far back as October 2001, which is still reportedly being used today. After arriving, Bin Laden went west, where he was shuffled by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards between Qazvin and Karaj. The Iranian intelligence officers said that Bin Laden traveled with Ayman al-Zawahiri, who required medical treatment from wounds. Their stay in Iran was not permanent, as they were permitted to cross into Afghanistan through Zabol, their original path of arrival.

This shocking claim that Bin Laden went to Iran in the summer of 2002 is corroborated by Hamid Mir, one of Pakistan's top journalists, and the only man to interview Bin Laden after the attacks of September 11, 2001. Mir is currently writing a biography of Bin Laden using his vast contacts among al-Qaeda, Taliban and other terrorist operatives. Mir has said that in July 2002, members of al-Qaeda approached him offering to arrange another interview with Bin Laden. "They said that if you are ready to go to Iran without [a] passport we can arrange your meeting," Mir says.

Bin Laden's personal chef, Haji Mohamad Akram, has likewise claimed, in an interview with The Christian Science Monitor, that Bin Laden was offered safe haven by Iran. Akram believes that Bin Laden went to Iran after finding refuge in Iran because other al-Qaeda leaders he spoke to said that was where they were headed. According to the Monitor, the "detailed picture he offers of bin Laden's last days in Tora Bora, and his possible escape to Iran, correspond with accounts from previous Monitor interviews with other bin Laden associates." Michael Ledeen in his book The Iranian Time Bomb says that in December 2001, he was told "by usually well-informed Iranians that Bin Laden would go to Iran and 'be disappeared,'" ending his frequent public appearances.

In 2003, another Iranian source began providing information on Bin Laden's location in Iran that substantiates the timeline provided by the two Iranian intelligence officers and the other sources. Congressman Curt Weldon, then-vice chairman of the House Armed Services Committee and House Homeland Security Committee, had been receiving intelligence from "Ali," an Iranian exile who was a former minister in the government of the Shah and had contacts deep inside Iran. This information provided advance warning of Iranian operations and even of terrorist attacks that ultimately proved accurate.

According to "Ali," in 2003 Bin Laden and Zawahiri were in a "five-building settlement, a few miles from Ladiz in Baluchistan" in Iran, 80 kilometers southeast of Zahedan, where he was receiving medical treatment. It should be noted that on January 16, 2009, the Treasury Department blacklisted an al-Qaeda operative who they claim ran a network in Zahedan. On March 21, "Ali" received information that the two had moved from Ladiz to Kerman to Saltanabad, a northern suburb of Tehran. Ali also said that Iran agreed to harbor Bin Laden in return for his assistance in "on-going projects."

In May 2003, Ali informed Weldon that Ayatollah Khamenei had again met with Bin Laden and that they were discussing moving Bin Laden out of Tehran. On August 25, 2003, Ali confirmed to Weldon that Bin Laden had left Tehran but he did not know where he currently was. Then, on September 4, 2003, Ali said there was a 50 percent chance that Bin Laden had left Iran. This constant moving around in Iran and Afghanistan is similar to the description of Bin Laden's travel provided by the two officers who talked to Miniter.

In June 2003, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty supplied additional evidence for Bin Laden being in Iran at this precise time. "A confidential Italian intelligence report submitted in early June asserts the al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was in Iran in May, Milan's Corriere della Serra reported on June. In early May, bin Laden and seven Arab extremists met in Tehran to plan attacks in Italy, Pakistan, and Turkey," RFE/RL reported.

The two Iranian intelligence officers told Miniter that on October 23, 2003, they personally saw Bin Laden, which Miniter described as "the first recent eyewitness account of Bin Laden ever reported" when his book was published in 2004. The two officers were in Najmabad, less than an hour from Tehran. The two officers provided a detailed description of the briefing room where they were with officers from the Revolutionary Guards. Suddenly, an officer entered and ordered the occupants on the room to leave to make room for "foreign visitors." The two officers looked outside and claimed that they saw Osama Bin Laden, Zawahiri, their bodyguards and other al-Qaeda operatives step out of a three-car convoy. They reported that Bin Laden had trimmed his beard and was wearing a black turban to look like an Iranian cleric. If true, this may explain why Bin Laden has decided to stick to releasing audiotapes instead of videotapes.

On December 23, 2003, WorldNetDaily.com reported that a "respected Islamic leader," who wished to remain anonymous, said that Bin Laden was in Iran. The leader said that "a group of Arabs who recently spent time in the desert area shared by Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran, are claiming the most wanted man in the world is 'definitely in Iran.'"

On May 3, 2004, Ali told Weldon that "the last information we have about Bin Laden is that four months ago [January 2004] he was in a villa near Karadj. We don't know where he has moved." According to Kenneth Timmerman's 2005 book, Countdown to Crisis, Ali sent Weldon information on Bin Laden's location in June 2004 so specific that he even planned to travel alongside a former CIA contractor into Iran to get him until CIA Director Tenet told him not to upon learning of Weldon's plan.

In late 2004, Zawahiri, again dressed like an Iranian cleric, held meetings with Iranian government officials including a top aide to Ayatollah Khamenei and two Revolutionary Guards generals. Citing "sources with direct knowledge of these meetings," Timmerman writes that Bin Laden arrived during the second day, again dressed like an Iranian cleric and with an IV inserted into his hand, looking "frail and old." The meeting concluded with plans for Bin Laden to meet with former President Rafsanjani in the spring of 2005.

The last pieces of information publicly available about Bin Laden's possible presence in Iran came in 2006. Michael Ledeen, well-known friend of the Iranian democracy movement, wrote in National Review Online on January 9, "according to Iranians I trust, Osama bin Laden finally departed this world in mid-December.

The al Qaeda leader died of kidney failure and was buried in Iran, where he had spent most of his time since the destruction of al Qaeda in Afghanistan.

The Iranians who reported this note that this year's message in conjunction with the Muslim Haj came from his number two, Ayman al-Zawahiri, for the first time." Two months later, Rep. Weldon said that "Ali" told him that Bin Laden had died in Iran, indicating this may have been a case of circular reporting. When Bin Laden released audiotapes soon after this claim, Rep. Weldon admitted that Ali may have been deliberately misled.

This error, though, should not discredit all of Ali's past information, especially considering the corroboration described here and the accuracy of his past reports. The fact that none of the timeframes for Bin Laden's location in the above information is contradictory, despite being from various sources, lends credence to these reports.

However, the U.S. intelligence community seems certain that Bin Laden is in Pakistan, and they have reasons for believing so. There is no recent public confirmation of Bin Laden's presence in Iran. In addition, scientists from the UCLA recently made headlines when they finished a groundbreaking study, billed as "the first scientific approach to establishing his [Bin Laden] current location," which concluded that Bin Laden was in one of three walled compounds in Parachinar, the capital of Pakistan's Kurram Agency in the lawless tribal areas. They have good reason to believe he is there today, and indeed he may be. Gary Berntsen, the commander of the CIA unit hunting Bin Laden in Afghanistan after 9/11, says that on December 16, 2001, Bin Laden is believed to have fled to this location. It is quite possible that they are right, and Bin Laden has moved out of Iran to this area or that he frequently moves between Iran and Pakistan.

"We will kill bin Laden. We will crush al Qaeda. That has to be our biggest national security priority," President Obama said during his presidential debate with Senator John McCain on October 7, 2009. Whether Bin Laden is in Iran, or Parachinar, or some other area of Pakistan, the Obama Administration must follow every lead to locate him.

This article was first published at FrontPageMagazine.com

Ryan Mauro is the founder of WorldThreats.com and the Assistant-Director of Intelligence at C2I. He's also the National Security Researcher for the Christian Action Network and a published author.

Who is unhappy with Media in Swat?

sfux — 2009-02-25T07:03:00Z

Hamid Mir - The pen is mightier than the sword was a phrase that we learnt at school. Unfortunately, the dangerous situation in Swat has changed this phrase. Now it should be like the gun is mightier than the pen. The truth is bitter and difficult to digest. The assassination of brave journalist Musa Khankhel in the valley of Swat has discouraged many who always believed in the might of the pen.

Not only a few but dozens of journalists have left Swat within hours after the burial of their colleague Musa Khankhel. Many television channels moved their staff with equipment to safe places like Peshawar. Now the world may not watch the live coverage of the peace march initiated by Maulna Sufi Muhammad or the Janza (burial ceremony) of any slain journalist from Swat.

A senior journalist of Swat introduced me to at least two of his local colleagues and claimed these two soldiers of the pen will also be killed very soon because they are fearless like Musa Khankhel, but maybe you will not be able to telecast live the Janaza (burial ceremony) of these two .

PETER STANCZAK snapped by such gunmen

At least three local journalists working with prominent television channels informed me that they were receiving life threats even after the assassination of Musa Khankhel. Some of them were told by the unidentified callers the that technical staff of their channels came from Lahore, Islamabad and Peshawar for t live coverage of the situation in Swat; that they will live and should leave the region immediately.

Two technicians of Geo television, with a van full of transmission equipment, were rounded up by Taliban in the Chaharbagh area of Swat the other day. The Taliban declared them spies, but later released them with a promise that they will not come back to their area again.

The Taliban of Swat generally considers electronic media as their enemy
An emergency meeting was called in Swat Press Club to discuss new threats faced by journalists. I tried my level best to convince more than 150 journalists present there that they should not leave Swat. Maybe I was not aware about the problems faced by the local colleagues. They retorted saying that government is not in a position to provide them security.

On the other hand, their higher ups at work always push them to find some exclusive stories and visuals. This urge for exclusives is not in the interest of both the Taliban and security forces. They face problems from both of them. One journalist angrily said that he can only continue his profession by keeping a heavy weapon with him. I discouraged him and said that journalists should not carry weapons and they can take some other security measures, but most of the colleagues present there never agreed with me. A young journalist showed me his pistol hidden under his jacket and said that he doesnt move without his gun.

One local journalist proposed in the meeting that we request all our non-local colleagues to leave Swat immediately because there is no government here and we cannot provide them security, they should come back on some other good time. Within seconds the majority of the local and non-local journalists supported this proposal.

Only one local journalist Shrinzada and a local newspaper editor Ghulam Farooq opposed this move and pleaded with tears in their eyes that they are ready to sacrifice their lives like Musa Khankhel, but they will not stop speaking and writing truth. We had no other choice than to respect the majority. I also accepted the majority decision and agreed to leave Swat, but I must explain that why the presence of independent media is not in the interest of both Taliban and security forces.

The Taliban of Swat generally considers electronic media as their enemy. They think that all the private television networks are in the control of government and that electronic media only project the destruction of schools run by them. They accuse the electronic media of having no courage in showing a school occupied by the Army and used as bunker. They allege that sometimes local journalists provide information about their presence to security forces and, as revenge, they have banned all the television channels on cable in Swat.

On the other side, security forces officials always accuse that media as projecting Taliban as heroes. The Government of Pakistan has also discouraged the coverage of terrorists by the media, but the same government and security forces have no problem in negotiating and making deals with the terrorists. Some top officials in the security establishment always considered brave journalists like Musa Khankhel as a bad chaps.

The slain journalist always refused to accept dictation from the security officials. His bad temperament was another problem. Once a security official abused Musa Khankhel and in return he was abused by Musa. It was the start of a big problem. Musa was kidnapped and beaten for two days. He was threatened not to make noise, otherwise his family would be killed. Musa shared this incident with me and with some other colleagues. I wrote about these threats in an article published in the editorial pages of The News on January 13 2009.

I wrote in that article: I also know another journalist of Swat by the name of Musa Khankhel for many years. In the last few months alone, he has survived two assassination attempts. He told me that some elements within the security forces wanted to eliminate him physically due to his reporting."

A few hours before his murder, Musa Khankhel sent me a message that I had to be careful while moving in the Kabbal area of Swat. I asked him why he was worried even after the peace initiative of Maulna Sufi Muhammad and the 10-day ceasefire declared by the Taliban. Musa Khankhel answered: You will watch the scenes of destruction in the civilian residential areas of Kabbal. You will show destroyed homes and mosques and people will compare your coverage with the bombing of Israelis in Gaza. You will become a security risk and they will kill you in the name of national interest and the blame will be thrown on the shoulders of the Taliban. He convinced me that my movement in the most dangerous area of Swat was not in the interest of those who always considered free media as their enemy.

I never underestimated his opinion and immediately I came out of Kabbal. Only two hours after this conversation on telephone, I received the shocking news about the killing of Musa, who was concerned about my security but not about his own. He saved me but I could not save him. Peace in Swat was a dream of Musa Khankhel, but he is no longer alive to fight for peace in Swat. The situation in this valley of horror and terror is very complicated, but I am still hopeful despite the fact that there is lot of distrust between the local Taliban and security forces.

The moving force behind this peace initiative is the common people of Swat. ANP, the ruling party in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) ,was formed by Bacha Khan who belonged to Indian National Congress before the partition of United India. Awami National Party (ANP) is a secular and liberal party and it took big risk by negotiating peace with religious cleric Maulana Sufi Muhammad, who doesnt support democracy but supports peace in Swat. The ANP leadership is aware that if there would be peace in Swat then the Pakistani government will get a chance to establish its writ.

A provincial minister Bashir Balour was able to visit Swat on February 18th after waiting a long time. Two more ministers of ANP visited Swat the next day on February 19th to offer condolences on the death of Musa Khankhel to local journalists. Visits of provincial ministers to the no-go area of Swat proves that ANP will not be the only beneficiary of peace in Swat but the whole state of Pakistan will ultimately benefit, because only peace can help the state to establish its writ. Anti-democratic religious cleric Maulana Sufi Muhammad accepted the importance of political forces by sitting with them for negotiating peace.

This move is the victory of these political forces because finally they will try to force the Taliban to surrender their arms. If the Taliban would agree to surrender, then a provincial government will announce amnesty for them. More than 400 closed schools can only be reopened and more than 200 destroyed schools can only be rebuilt when the state will be able to establish its writ. Thousands of girls can go back to their school education only through the success of the peace initiative. Maulana Sufi Muhammad has promised to the people of Swat that he will make efforts to reopen the girls schools. He cannot black out.

The majority of people in Swat say that Peace and stability of our area is more important than winning the so-called war against terror. They are angry with the reaction of the West and some liberal Pakistani analysts who think that peace will only benefit the Taliban. These analysts must take a risk themselves and visit Swat in the better interest of the truth.

They will realize that there are only two options for the state of Pakistan to bring stability in Swat. One is peace and the other is war. The Pakistani state cannot win this war because their use of guns and tanks will keep producing more Taliban fighters. If there is be no peace there will be more anarchy. There will be no development. No schools, no newspapers and no television networks. More journalists will be killed. More journalists will leave Swat.

I am leaving Swat today. I am committed to coming back to Swat Valley, but I cannot come back if there is no peace. I can only use my pen and camera for reporting truth if there would be peace. Otherwise I will become another Musa Khankhel and my pen will be silenced. Musa was killed by those who dont want peace. The ANP Minister of NWFP government, Mian Iftikhar Hussain, said that Musa was killed by a third force. He never named that third force. May be he will expose that mysterious third force after bringing peace go Swat.

Musa once asked me a question that if the British government could talk to the Irish Republic Army (IRA) and could make peace with them, then why couldnt the Pakistani government negotiate peace with the Taliban? I know that Mr. Gordon Brown or Mr. Barack Obama would not like this question to be answered. May be they will also say that Musa Khankhel was a Taliban sympathizer.

Hamid Mir, the author of this article, is a top Pakistani reporter, head of the Geo TV Bureau in Islamabad. He has won a world-wide acclaim for his interviews with Osama bin Laden and Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri, before and following 9/11. His new book about OBL is due to appear in Britain, later this year.

The Banality of Evil

sfux — 2009-02-22T08:47:00Z

Mark Silverberg - Anti-Semitism never really died after the Holocaust, it just became unfashionable. That is no longer the case. In the wake of the Gaza War and with the global economy in a tailspin, disturbing events have been occurring in Britain - events that do not bode well either for the future of British Jewry or for the future of British democracy.

The war in Gaza combined with the global economic downturn have revealed a dark side to British society as demonstrated by the extent to which the British media, intelligentsia and political class have buckled in the face of the Islamic jihad.

On average, according to the Observer, there are seven anti-Semitic attacks every single day in the UK attacks that have come in the form of graffiti, vandalism, arson, violent assaults on Jews in the streets, and hate e-mails. Jewish schools have been granted extra protection, and the Community Security Trust, which monitors anti-Semitism in British society, continues to issue dire warnings.

According to British police, Jews are four times more likely to be attacked because of their religion than are Muslims. As a result, every synagogue service and virtually every Jewish communal event now requires guards to be on the lookout for violence from both neo-Nazis and Muslim extremists. Orthodox Jews have become particular targets; some have begun wearing baseball caps instead of skullcaps and concealing their Star of David jewelry for fear of being attacked.

Melanie Phillips, writing in the Wall Street Journal (Europe) expressed her concern in historical terms:

Years of demonizing Israel and appeasing Islamist extremism within Britain have now coalesced as a result of the media misrepresentation of the Gaza War as an atrocity against civilians, in an unprecedented wave of hatred against Israel, and a sharp rise in attacks on British Jews

and the authorities have done little or nothing to quell such incitement. In one case, the police even told pro-Israel demonstrators to put away their Israel flags because they were inflammatory, yet they allowed anti-Israel demonstrators to scream support for Hamas, and even to dress up as hook-nosed Jews drinking the blood of Palestinian babies. In another, students at Oxford University gleefully proclaimed that in five years, their campus "would be a Jew-free zone," and in another, the London-based Royal Court Theatre is staging a viciously anti-Israeli play by Caryl Churchill that Melanie Phillips described in the Spectator as reminiscent of anti-Semitic plays performed in the Middle Ages portraying Jews as demonic Christ-killers.

These events form part of a disturbing trend suggesting that Britain is slowly succumbing to Islamic dhimmitude motivated in large measure by Muslim intimidation the latest expression of which saw Dutch parliamentarian Geert Wilders banned from Britain by the British Home Office as a genuine, present and sufficiently serious threat because his film Fitna graphically and honestly documented the brutality of radical Islamists and twinned their actions to specific verses in the Quran. As Bat Yeor wrote recently in National Review Online:

His crime is maintaining that Europes civilization is rooted in the values of Jerusalem, Athens, Rome, and the Enlightenment and not in Mecca, Baghdad, Andalusia, and al-Kuds. He fights for Europes independence from the Caliphate, and for its endangered freedoms. He had received serious death threats even before Fitna was released.

In all this, it is becoming clearer with each passing day that Londonistan is no longer a safe place for Jews to practice their religion, nor are many places in Europe which is demographically morphing into Eurabia.

In a recent comment in The Spectator, one reader opined:
"I for one resent the fact that I can no longer congregate outside my synagogue. I resent the fact that my children attend Jewish school protected by security fences, concrete blocks and guard posts. I resent the fact that my eldest daughter ...... should feel intimidated on campus and questioned in a hostile, finger pointing manner how she feels as a Jewess on the question of Gaza, and if she supports the Israeli actions."

And a Birmingham school is investigating reports that twenty children chased a 12-year-old girl (the only Jewish pupil in the school) chanting "Kill all Jews" and "Death to Jews".

Listening to the hatred reflected in the cries of Death to the Jews, one could almost imagine that it must have been the Jews who were behind the 9/11 attacks, burned down the Danish embassies throughout Europe and the Middle East two years ago over the Mohammed cartoons, planned and executed the suicide bombing attacks on the London tube and Madrid railway stations, decapitated Daniel Pearl, Nick Berg and scores of other infidels, train their children to become martyrs for Allah, use the web to incite hatred and jihad, strap twenty pounds of explosives to their bodies and self-detonate in restaurants, subways, pizza parlors, buses, shopping malls, coffee shops, marketplaces, hotels and tourist resorts in France, London, Bali, Yemen, Jordan, Kenya, Algeria, Istanbul, Dar es Salaam, Mumbai and Israel and are waging a vicious religiously-inspired holy war against non-believers.

I suspect that if the British students who attended the seventeen sit-ins and demonstrations held at British universities to protest Israeli massacres in Gaza had chanted "Death to all Muslims" (just as they screamed Death to all Jews during the Gaza War), the British Left and civil rights organizations would have been all over them demanding staff resignations, boycotts of their schools and colleges, the arrest of the student organizers, and compensation to the British Muslim community. But it appears that only the Jews merit such revulsion.

These actions reflect more than an anti-Israel stance. They represent a sickness gaining prevalence within British society - a sickness reflected by the growing social acceptance of the most ancient of religious hatreds.

Neither the British media (that excels in the art of whitewashing Muslim extremism) nor British society generally seem to care much that radical Islamists like Hamas are involved in at least twenty-five conflicts going on around the globe including, but not limited to Afghanistan, Algeria, Bangladesh, Bosnia, Congo, Ivory Coast, Cyprus, East Timor, India, Indonesia (2 provinces), Kashmir, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kurdistan, Macedonia, the Middle East, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Somalia, Sudan, Russia-Chechnya, Tajikistan, Thailand, Uganda and Uzbekistan.

Nor are they especially concerned (as Phillips points out) that the government of Sri Lanka is attempting to eradicate terrorism by a military campaign in which, according to the UN, many civilians are being killed, thousands made homeless, hundreds of thousands trapped, and to which, as food shortages grow, the government refuses to allow access to journalists. Despite all this, there are no sit-ins on British campuses against the Sri Lankans, no violent protests outside its High Commission, and no calls to boycott Sri Lankan products and academics. Nor do I recall any protests against Hamas for firing thousands of missiles at Israeli cities, towns and villages for years, not to mention terrorizing over 250,000 men, women and children who have spent the better part of the past three years running to bomb shelters several times a day.

Somehow, the deaths of 1,300 Gazans (two-thirds of whom were terrorists hiding behind Palestinian human shields) have evoked more outrage in Britain than the estimated two million dead in Congo, the tens of thousands of Iraqis slaughtered by Sunni and Shia terrorists in Iraq, or the massacres of civilians killed by their own governments in Zimbabwe, Uzbekistan, Burundi, Chad, Afghanistan, Columbia, Guatemala, Haiti, Guinea, Rwanda and West Bengal.

If anyone should be charged with war crimes in Gaza, it should be Hamas not Israel.

But not according to British public opinion. The bottom line seems to be - if you are willing to excuse terrorist attacks against Jews in southern Israel where a tiny democracy is seeking to protect its people against terrorism, its just as easy to turn a blind eye to Jews being attacked elsewhere, even in the streets of London or Birmingham.

In many ways, Jews are the barometers of the societies in which they live the canary in the mineshaft of democratic societies - which accounts for why the U.S., Canada and Australia remain resilient, vibrant democracies where minorities continue to thrive. But these countries have become more the exception than the rule. The history of the 20th century suggests that as it has gone with the Jews, so it has gone with democracy. By that standard, the events surrounding the Gaza War combined with the global economic downturn foreshadow a difficult period ahead not just for British Jewry, but for British (and by extension European) democracy.

The results of a recent survey show that 31% of Europeans blame Jews for the global economic meltdown (including more than half of Hungarian, Polish and Spanish respondents) and 40% of Europeans consider Jews to have too much power.

There is little doubt that the Gaza campaign merely provided a pretext to unleash deep-seated anti-Semitism in Britain, across Europe and beyond. Under these circumstances, there can be no better justification for the existence of a Jewish State than the persecution of Jews outside of it.

This article was first published by Basics Project

Schweizer von Terroristen entführt

sfux — 2009-01-15T07:19:00Z

onlineredaktion - Drei Mitarbeiter des IKRK, ein Schweizer, ein Italiener und ein Philippiner, sind heute im Süden der Philippinen entführt worden. Die Armee ist «hinter den Entführern her». «Wir haben sofort Alarm geschlagen und wir sind hinter den Entführern her», sagte Armeesprecher Generalleutnant Nelson Allaga. Die drei wurden nach Angaben des IKRK verschleppt, nachdem sie ein Gefängnis besucht hatten.

Das IKRK hilft dort bei der Einrichtung einer Abwasseranlage. «Die Mitarbeiter waren in einem Auto des philippinischen Roten Kreuzes unterwegs, als sie ein paar hundert Meter vom Gefängnistor entfernt verschleppt wurden», sagte IKRK-Sprecher Roland Bigler. In der Region ist die Terrororganisation Abu Sayyaf aktiv.

Die Extremisten, die mit dem Terrornetzwerk El Kaida in Verbindung stehen sollen, waren auch für die Verschleppung der deutschen Familie Wallert und anderer Touristen im Jahr 2000 nach Jolo verantwortlich. Die Familie kam erst nach Wochen und gegen Zahlung eines Lösegeldes frei.

Gesuchter Gangsterboss Dawood hat auch mit der CIA kooperiert

sfux — 2008-12-04T11:31:00Z

Jürgen Elsässer - Indien fordert wegen des Mumbai-Terrors von Pakistan die Auslieferung von 20 Verdächtigen. Der US-Geheimdienstkoordinator Michael McConnell sieht die pakistanische Rebellengruppe Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) hinter der Anschlagserie in der indischen Metropole Mumbai. »Die Gruppe, die unserer Ansicht nach (...) verantwortlich ist, verübte 2006 einen ähnlichen Angriff auf einen Zug«, sagte McConnell am Dienstag.

Kurz zuvor hatte das indische Außenministerium Pakistan eine Liste mit Auslieferungsgesuchen von 20 angeblichen LeT-Kadern und Unterstützern übergeben. Unter den Gesuchten ist auch ein gewisser Ibrahim Dawood, den der einzige gefasste Mumbai-Attentäter Ajmal Kasab als Drahtzieher angegeben haben soll. Seine Männer sollen die Überfahrt der Terroristen in einem Boot von Karatschi nach Mumbai organisiert haben.

Der »Don« so der Gangstername Dawoods wird von Buchautor Albert King als »gefährlichster Mann der Welt« bezeichnet, der Publizist Ghulam Hasnain sieht in ihm einen »Top-Spion« Pakistans. Bewiesen ist jedenfalls, dass er einer der Top-Kriminellen des Subkontinents ist. In den achtziger Jahren begann er in Mumbai mit Glücks-spiel, Drogen und Prostitution, ließ Rivalen aus dem Weg schießen und kaufte sich in die Bollywood-Filmindustrie ein. Der muslimische, aber mondäne Lebemann radikalisierte sich, als Ende 1992 ein fanatischer Hindu-Mob 2000 Muslime lynchte. Zur Vergeltung organisierte Dawood im März 1993 eine Anschlagserie in Mumbai, der 257 Menschen zum Opfer fielen, 1400 wurden verletzt. In der Folge soll er in Pakistan Unterschlupf gefunden haben.

Während die US-Geheimdienste Dawood mit LeT und Al Qaida in Verbindung bringen, verschweigen sie ihre eigenen Beziehungen zu dem Gangster aus der Zeit des afghanischen Dschihad gegen die Sowjettruppen vor 20 Jahren. »Dawood unterstützte persönlich streng geheime US-Geldtransaktionen an die afghanischen Rebellen über amerikanisch-geführte Kasinos in Kathmandu«, schreibt Yoichi Shimatsu, ehemaliger Redakteur der Tageszeitung »Japan Times«. Der Kaschmir-Experte geht davon aus, dass die Pakistanis den Gesuchten gar nicht ausliefern können, weil er mit US-Hilfe im Juni dieses Jahres nach Quetta im afghanisch-pakistanischen Grenzgebiet gebracht worden sei. »US Diplomaten können Dawoods Rückkehr niemals erlauben. Er weiß einfach zu viel über Amerikas dunklere Geheimnisse in Südasien und am Golf, was die Beziehungen zwischen Indien und den USA erschüttern könnte.«

Pakistan hat bereits angekündigt, keine Pakistanis an Indien auszuliefern, sondern ihnen höchstens im eigenen Land den Prozess zu machen. Dawood allerdings fiele nicht darunter, denn er ist indischer Staatsbürger.

Jürgen Elsässer

Terrorziel Europa: Westliche Geheimdienste sind in sämtliche Terroranschläge in Europa der letzten Jahre involviert.

Warnings from world leaders all within 72 hours

sfux — 2008-11-12T20:17:00Z

onlineredaktion - "Australian PM Kevin Rudd - Nuke strike would make 9/11 insignificant and other weird warnings"

"Over the last 72 hours there has been a strange melange of cryptic messages leaked from world political leaders about what could be in store for America over the next few months.

These predictions of impending doom come from England, France, Australia and the United States.

Biden told the top Democratic donors that a generated crisis will develop within six months and Barak Obama will need the help of community leaders to control the population as unpopular decisions are made and Americans resist.

Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.
Daniel 7:23

Biden speaking at the fundraiser, I can give you at least four or five scenarios from where it might originate, And hes gonna need help. And the kind of help hes gonna need is, hes gonna need you - not financially to help him - were gonna need you to use your influence, your influence within the community, to stand with him. Because its not gonna be apparent initially, its not gonna be apparent that were right.

Bidens ominous language at the Seattle Sheraton are followed with statements by long time establishment insiders Colin Powell and Madeline Albright both say there is a massive crisis on the horizon and Biden was simply making a statement in fact.

The problems will always be there and theres going to be a crisis which will come along on the 21st, 22nd of January that we dont even know about right now. Powell told Meet the Press.

Lord West, adviser to Prime Minister Gordon Brown on national security says, There is another great plot building up again and we are monitoring. It dipped slightly and is now rising again within the context of severe. The threat is huge. We have done all the things that we need to do, but the threat is building - the complex plots are building,

Across the channel from England you have the French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner warning the press that he believes Israel will strike Iran before they can develope nuclear weapons completley ignoring the fact that the chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohammed ElBradei, said that Iran lacks the key components to produce an atomic weapon.

The devastation that could be wreaked by one major nuclear weapons incident alone puts 9/11 and almost everything else [in] to the category of the insignificant, Rudd said.

Read all at: Thejerusalemgiftshop

Polish engineer in Taliban hands: Who`s really holding him?

sfux — 2008-10-07T18:36:00Z

David Dastych - Warsaw/Islamabad: Pakistani Police continues its search for a Polish engineer, Piotr (Peter) Stanczak, kidnapped on Sunday morning, September 28, in the Attock region northwestern Pakistan. More than a week passed without a significant breakthrough. Last week the Pakistani Ministry of Interior informed the Polish authorities that Mr. Stanczak is alive and in the hands of Pakistani Taliban, but no specific information followed.

Yaqoob Malik, a Dawn daily reporter wrote on October 4 that the Police had arrested four local people in Pind Sultani and Domail villages of Jand tehsil for their alleged involvement in the kidnapping of Polish engineer Piotr Stanczak. Two of them were soon released and two more were still interrogated by a five-member Police interrogation team.

The arrests of local villagers were made to find out who effectively helped the still unknown kidnappers. Irrespective of the claim of Taliban, the investigation team was making hectic efforts to trace the local facilitators as undoubtedly without them, the kidnapers were not able to do such high-profile kidnapping, wrote Yaqoob Malik.

Throughout the past week, I kept on searching for any clues that could have led to the place where the GEOFIZYKA KRAKOW engineer could be kept or to people who might be involved in his capture and forced detention. I asked for help our author and friend, Mr. Hamid Mir from Islamabad, who spoke to the Minister of the Internal Affairs, Rehman Malik, and wrote back to me about his suppositions. "Yes Taliban did it but there are many groups using the name of Taliban, they have no one command structure like the Taliban of Afghanistan, we are listening to them and trying to intercept some good clue, Mr. Malik told Hamid Mir.

Earlier last week, Pakistani media reported that a Pakistani Taliban spokesman, Muslim Khan, claimed his group of militants held the Pole and two Chinese engineers (abducted in August) and they demanded their exchange for 136 of Taliban fighters remaining in Pakistani jails. I know Muslim Khan. His operational area is far away from the place of the event. It is difficult to believe him. He is spokesman of Swat Taliban who already has two Chinese Engineers. Maybe he is trying to become important, Hamid Mir wrote back to me. He also added I personally believe that the Polish engineer is not with Swat Taliban, he was kidnapped by some local criminals and they may hand him over to the Taliban because they are no different from criminals.

We have conveyed our demand to the negotiation team," Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan was reported to say. The Taliban spokesman also said that they have shifted the Polish engineer to a safe place. He made a point that Taliban will not free the engineer unless their colleagues arrested in Bajaur, Swat and Darra tribal regions are freed. He also warned that the life of Polish engineer will be in danger if arrested militants were not freed.

But was he telling the truth?

The mysterious Baitullah Mehsud
Last Friday, a leading Polish daily paper "Dziennik" published a story, based on their phone contact with Mr. Ahmed Rashid, whom they call "the world's best expert on the Taliban." According to Mr. Rashid from Lahore and to some other, unidentified contacts of the Polish daily, Peter Stanczak is in the hands of Tehriq-e-Taliban and its leader Baitullah Mehsud (35), who they call "a Taliban bin Laden" and report that Mehsud commands "a 20,000 rebel army." Mehsud was reported to have taken 300 POWs from the Pakistani Army in October 2007. Mehsud was also accused of staging a bomb and sniper attack that killed Mrs. Benazir Bhutto in Rawalpindi on December 27, 2007.

According to "Dziennik," Ahmed Rashid told them that there was a "classic hand-over of conditions for negotiation" from the side of Mehsud or his people (to whom?) concerning the Polish engineer. The Polish Embassy in Islamabad and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Warsaw were very skeptical about that information. But on Saturday the Polish Prime Minister, Mr. Donald Tusk, called his Pakistani counterpart, Mr. Yousaf Raza Gilani to talk about the kidnapped Polish engineer and the Pakistani governments action to free him.

However, Baitullah Mesud remains a mystery figure. Muhammad Najib wrote in Hindustan Times (October 2, 2008) that Confusion prevails over the fate of Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud, with his 'spokesman' on Thursday refuting media reports that the militant had died of renal failure and saying that he spent a busy Eid.

Several Pakistani TV channels reported on Wednesday that 35-year-old Mehsud, accused of planning the December 2007 assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, had died of renal failure. However, a letter received by a Peshawar-based journalist from Mehsud's 'spokesman' on Thursday said the terrorist leader was in good health and had a busy time on Eid, which was celebrated on Wednesday. Despite the denial of Mehsud's death by the Taliban, several journalists based in the restive North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and tribal areas believe otherwise. They think the Taliban will announce his death once they find his successor. I believe that he would have called journalists to tell them that he is alive... he had been in contact with several journalists. But this mysterious silence make us believe that he may have died or has very serious health problems," journalist Ahmed Khan told Indo-Asian News Service.

The Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs was informed by Pakistani authorities that Mr. Peter Stanczak is alive and in Taliban hands somewhere in the FATA (Federally Administered Tribal Territory), near the Afghanistan border. If really the Polish engineer is being detained by militants of Tehriq-e-Taliban, his rescue might be very difficult. The Taliban, al Qaeda, and allied terrorist groups have established 157 training camps and more than 400 support locations in the tribal areas and the Northwest Frontier Province, US intelligence officials have told The Long War Journal. As American special forces continue their airborne attacks against strongholds of the Taliban and al-Qeda in the tribal territories of Pakistan, and the Pakistani Army is on the offensive with some 120,000 troops engaged in battle and search and destroy operations, the fate of the Polish citizen, the Chinese engineers and other kidnapped people may depend of on a possibility to strike a deal with these militants and, at least in part, accept their negotiating conditions. Otherwise, the captured foreigners will be used as hostages and their life will be in constant danger.

Lets hope, however, that they might be saved.

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all.
~Emily Dickinson ~

Polish engineer kidnapped in Pakistan - Who did it and why?

David Dastych is a veteran journalist who served both in the Polish intelligence and the CIA; jailed in Poland by the Communist regime he spent several years in special prison wards; released in early 1990s he joined international efforts to monitor illegal nuclear trade in Europe and Asia; handicapped for lifetime in a mountain accident in France, in 1994; now he returned to active life and runs his own media agency in Warsaw.

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