General David Petraeus, the newly-installed commander of US and Nato forces in Afghanistan, has issued a set of guidelines for how the war there should be run. The "counterinsurgency guidance" issued on Sunday puts more emphasis on combating corruption in the Afghan government, identifying reconcilable members of the Taliban and allocating Nato funds more responsibly. Much of the document appeared to match word for word guidelines issued by General Stanley McChrystal, Petraeus' predecessor, but with some personal touches added from the new commander's experience in Iraq, Al Jazeera's James Bays, reporting from Afghanistan, said. "It's emerging that although perhaps the overall strategy is not being changed, it's certainly being fine tuned," Bays said. "I think behind the scenes General Petraeus ... is looking at every detail of this operation." McChrystal resigned in June after Rolling Stone magazine published a profile of the general that quoted his staff disparaging high-level officials in the US administration. Barack Obama, the US president, replaced McChrystal with Petraeus, who oversaw the production of the US army's manual on counterinsurgency and was the commander of US troops in Iraq during President George Bush's troop "surge". 'Fighting corruption' Some of the language in the new rules use more direct language than that of McChrystal's.
Whereas McChrystal urged Nato forces to "confront self-serving officials" and not "look the other way," Petraeus instructs troops to "confront, isolate, pressure and defund malign actors" and to refer them for prosecution "where appropriate". If Nato does not act against officials who don't work "for the people," the document says, "we will appear to be part of the problem". Petraeus does not mention the Taliban by name, but addresses the need to reintegrate "reconcilables" whose grievances can be addressed while working to "kill, capture, drive out or 'turn' the irreconcilables". In his guidance, McChrystal never made any mention of reintegration - an objective increasingly emphasised by Hamid Karzai, the president of Afghanistan. Petraeus' also tells Nato forces to act as if "money is ammunition" by being wary of who receives funding, such as the widely used Commander's Emergency Response Programme, which enables low- and mid-ranking military officers to fund projects ranging from a few to several hundred thousand dollars. "Pay close attention to the impact of our spending and understand who benefits from it," the document says. "How we spend is often more important that how much we spend." Word for word In many respects, however, there is little difference between the two documents. Both echo the core philosophy of counterinsurgency - that securing the population is more important than winning military victories against the Taliban. McChrystal referred to taking "control of the population" from the enemy, while Petraeus instructs troops to "secure and serve" the Afghan people. Both documents, in nearly identical words, say that Nato forces need to live, eat, train, plan and operate with Afghan soldiers and policemen. They also address the way troops should conduct themselves among the people on a day-to-day basis; how they should drive, dress and act. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
anti war is conservative- got it?
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Petraeus issues Afghan guidelines - CENTRAL/S. ASIA - Al Jazeera English
Petraeus issues Afghan guidelines - CENTRAL/S. ASIA - Al Jazeera English
US: Afghan pullout to be limited - CENTRAL/S. ASIA - Al Jazeera English
US: Afghan pullout to be limited - CENTRAL/S. ASIA - Al Jazeera English
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Large numbers of American troops will remain in Afghanistan after a "limited" drawdown beginning in July 2011, the US defence secretary has said. Speaking in a television interview on Sunday, Robert Gates said that the deadline did not mark the date that the US would leave Afghanistan. "I think we need to re-emphasise the message that we are not leaving Afghanistan in July of 2011," Gates said. "My personal opinion is that drawdowns early on will be of fairly limited numbers," Gates said. His comments came as the administration of Barack Obama, the US president, launched an all-out PR offensive to defend the war in Afghanistan, which is losing popularity with a war-weary American public. Defending war Speaking on a Sunday morning television programme, Obama defended the war-effort, saying that the US was not trying to turn Afghanistan into a western-style democracy. "What we're looking to do is difficult, very difficult, but it's a fairly modest goal, which is, don't allow terrorists to operate from this region," he said. "That can be accomplished," he added. "We can stabilise Afghanistan sufficiently and we can get enough co-operation from Pakistan that we are not magnifying the threat against the homeland." Opposition to the war is also growing from within sections of Obama's Democratic party. Nancy Pelosi, the top Democrat in the House of Representatives, said that Americans wanted to see a more significant withdrawal than a figure of 2,000 troops floated by Joe Biden, the US vice-president. "Well, I hope it is more than that," Pelosi told ABC, referring to the 2,000 figure offered by Biden. "I know it's not going to be turn out the lights and let's all go home on one day." Many Democrats in the US congress recently broke ranks and voted against funding the nine-year-old war, which in July claimed the lives of 66 US troops in the deadliest month of the conflict so far. |
Gates Cites Peril in Leak of Afghan War Logs by WikiLeaks - NYTimes.com
Gates Cites Peril in Leak of Afghan War Logs by WikiLeaks - NYTimes.com
WASHINGTON — Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates said Sunday that an announcement by the Taliban that they were going through classified military dispatches from Afghanistan posted by the Web site WikiLeaks “basically proves the point” that the disclosures put at risk the lives of Afghans who had aided American forces.
“Growing up in the intelligence business, protecting your sources is sacrosanct,” said Mr. Gates, a former director of the C.I.A. He said that while it was up to the Justice Department to investigate who supplied the documents to the Web site, run by Julian Assange, an Australian activist who is an outspoken opponent of American and NATO involvement in Afghanistan, he had been “mortified, appalled” at Mr. Assange’s willingness to make public documents that listed the names of individual Afghans.
“There’s also a moral culpability,” he told Christiane Amanpour, in her debut as the host of ABC’s “This Week.” “And that’s where I think the verdict is guilty on WikiLeaks. They have put this out without any regard whatsoever for the consequences.”
Senator Carl Levin, a Michigan Democrat who heads the Armed Services Committee, said on CNN’s “State of the Union” that the Pentagon was assessing the disclosure’s impact on operational security in Afghanistan. “There quite clearly was damage,” Mr. Levin said.
The New York Times, The Guardian in London and Der Spiegel in Germany published excerpts of the leaked documents, but excluded those that identified individuals or compromised operations. The Times also agreed to forward a request by the administration urging WikiLeaks not to post any documents that would put informants in jeopardy.
As the authorities continued their investigation into the source of the leaks, a Seattle-based software developer who has volunteered for WikiLeaks said he was detained at Newark Liberty International Airport on Thursday and questioned for three hours. The developer, Jacob Appelbaum, 27, said in an interview that as he was returning from an overseas trip, agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement and from the Army’s criminal investigation division asked him about Mr. Assange.
Mr. Appelbaum, an American citizen, said the agents also seized his laptop computer and three cellphones. The laptop was later returned, but the phones were not, he said. Officials from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, part of the Department of Homeland Security, would not comment.
Two American civilians interviewed in recent weeks by the Army’s criminal division said that investigators were focusing in part on a group of friends who know Pfc. Bradley Manning, a leading suspect in the leak. Investigators, the civilians said, apparently believe that the friends, who include students from M.I.T. and Boston University, might have connections to WikiLeaks.
Mr. Appelbaum said Sunday that he was not involved with that group. He also said he never met or communicated with Private Manning, who has been charged in a separate case with disclosing to WikiLeaks a classified video of an American helicopter attack in Iraq.
Mr. Appelbaum said the agents at Newark Airport refused him access to a lawyer and threatened to detain him for similar questioning whenever he re-entered the country after traveling abroad, which he said he did twice a month for a day job as an online software developer.
“They questioned my ability to re-enter the U.S. even though I’m a U.S. citizen,” he said in a telephone interview from Las Vegas. “It’s very troubling to think that every time I cross the border, I’d get this treatment.”
Mr. Appelbaum, who develops software for the Tor Project, a software system that allows people to talk anonymously to each other online, filled in for Mr. Assange at a conference last month, apparently because Mr. Assange did not want to enter the United States. “It seems the only reason they’re bothering me is that Julian is beyond their reach,” Mr. Appelbaum said.
Mr. Appelbaum said he had been a volunteer for WikiLeaks for several months, but was not involved in reviewing information submitted to it. Investigators, however, appear to be examining whether Mr. Assange was assisted by others in obtaining the documents.
WASHINGTON — Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates said Sunday that an announcement by the Taliban that they were going through classified military dispatches from Afghanistan posted by the Web site WikiLeaks “basically proves the point” that the disclosures put at risk the lives of Afghans who had aided American forces.
“There’s also a moral culpability,” he told Christiane Amanpour, in her debut as the host of ABC’s “This Week.” “And that’s where I think the verdict is guilty on WikiLeaks. They have put this out without any regard whatsoever for the consequences.”
Senator Carl Levin, a Michigan Democrat who heads the Armed Services Committee, said on CNN’s “State of the Union” that the Pentagon was assessing the disclosure’s impact on operational security in Afghanistan. “There quite clearly was damage,” Mr. Levin said.
The New York Times, The Guardian in London and Der Spiegel in Germany published excerpts of the leaked documents, but excluded those that identified individuals or compromised operations. The Times also agreed to forward a request by the administration urging WikiLeaks not to post any documents that would put informants in jeopardy.
As the authorities continued their investigation into the source of the leaks, a Seattle-based software developer who has volunteered for WikiLeaks said he was detained at Newark Liberty International Airport on Thursday and questioned for three hours. The developer, Jacob Appelbaum, 27, said in an interview that as he was returning from an overseas trip, agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement and from the Army’s criminal investigation division asked him about Mr. Assange.
Mr. Appelbaum, an American citizen, said the agents also seized his laptop computer and three cellphones. The laptop was later returned, but the phones were not, he said. Officials from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, part of the Department of Homeland Security, would not comment.
Two American civilians interviewed in recent weeks by the Army’s criminal division said that investigators were focusing in part on a group of friends who know Pfc. Bradley Manning, a leading suspect in the leak. Investigators, the civilians said, apparently believe that the friends, who include students from M.I.T. and Boston University, might have connections to WikiLeaks.
Mr. Appelbaum said Sunday that he was not involved with that group. He also said he never met or communicated with Private Manning, who has been charged in a separate case with disclosing to WikiLeaks a classified video of an American helicopter attack in Iraq.
Mr. Appelbaum said the agents at Newark Airport refused him access to a lawyer and threatened to detain him for similar questioning whenever he re-entered the country after traveling abroad, which he said he did twice a month for a day job as an online software developer.
“They questioned my ability to re-enter the U.S. even though I’m a U.S. citizen,” he said in a telephone interview from Las Vegas. “It’s very troubling to think that every time I cross the border, I’d get this treatment.”
Mr. Appelbaum, who develops software for the Tor Project, a software system that allows people to talk anonymously to each other online, filled in for Mr. Assange at a conference last month, apparently because Mr. Assange did not want to enter the United States. “It seems the only reason they’re bothering me is that Julian is beyond their reach,” Mr. Appelbaum said.
Mr. Appelbaum said he had been a volunteer for WikiLeaks for several months, but was not involved in reviewing information submitted to it. Investigators, however, appear to be examining whether Mr. Assange was assisted by others in obtaining the documents.
Bloomberg’s Statement of Support for the Cordoba House
Bloomberg’s Statement of Support for the Cordoba House
Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the following on a recent radio address:
“If somebody wants to build a religious house of worship, they should do it and we shouldn’t be in the business of picking which religions can and which religions can’t. I think it’s fair to say if somebody was going to try to on that piece of property build a church or a synagogue, nobody would be yelling and screaming. And the fact of the matter is that Muslims have a right to do it too. What is great about America and particularly New York is we welcome everybody and I just- you know, if we are so afraid of something like this, what does it say about us? Democracy is stronger than this. You know, the ability to practice your religion is the- was one of the real reasons America was founded. And for us to say no is just, I think, not appropriate is a nice way to phrase it.”
While reiterate our point that the Cordoba House is not intended to be a house of worship, exclusive to Muslims, we echo his statement, and value his support.
Who is Pam Geller?
'CAR-SCAM' LINK EYED - NYPOST.com
Detectives are investigating possible links between the men accused of gunning down two Brooklyn cops and an alleged million-dollar scam at a Long Island auto dealership.
While probing the murder of car salesman Collin Thomas outside the showroom of Universal Auto World in Lawrence, L.I., in January, cops unraveled what they said was a massive scam at the dealership.
Employees at Universal allegedly stole and bought identities, then used the IDs to obtain at least $1.3 million in financing for fancy cars, court records show.
The luxury models, including Maseratis and Aston Martins, were allegedly sold or transferred under the table to individuals who didn't want cars in their real names.
Nassau County Police Lt. Kevin Smith said his department and city cops were investigating if accused cop shooters Dexter Bostic and Robert Ellis knew Thomas and were part of the scam.
Bostic worked as a car salesman at Five Towns Mitsubishi, just up the road from Universal on Burnside Avenue in Inwood. Ellis, who lived with Bostic, also may have once worked at Five Towns.
"We're investigating any links between these people," Smith said.
Thomas had worked at Five Towns Chrysler, across the street, for several years before joining Universal.
Thomas, 27, a father of two, was shot in the back as he closed up for the night on Jan. 11.
As part of the homicide probe, Nassau County police raided the dealership, owned by auto czar Michael Oshry, and Oshry's Hewlett Harbor home and seized business records.
Cops found banking records were sent to the house, though the state requires such files be kept at businesses, according to court papers filed in a civil forfeiture action by the Nassau district attorney.
"The dealership knew what was going on," an investigator said.
Oshry's lawyer, William Petrillo, said his client "has not engaged in any criminal activity."
His ex-wife, Pamela Geller, former associate publisher of the New York Observer and a conservative blogger, burst into tears when told her ex is under criminal investigation.
Although listed in business records as a Universal co-owner, she denied it. "I have nothing to do with this," Geller said. Thomas' fiancée, Cindy Heron, 21, said he was popular and successful. "All his customers loved him," she said.
Universal shut its doors June 22 and liquidated its assets.
Cops say Bostic and Ellis were in a BMW SUV that Bostic had taken from the Mitsubishi lot when they fired at Officers Herman Yan and Russel Timoshenko on Monday.
Bikini Blogger Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer Rejected by Academics, “birds of a feather, flock“.
Pamela Geller, also known as Pamela Geller Oshry is a 51 year old resident of New York City and a well known right-wing blogger. She was a former associate publisher with the New York Observer and in October 2004 created her own blog Atlas Shrugs, a title she chose after reading Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged. She claims her “blog is, and its purpose is, clearly defined by Rand’s philosophy.”
Pamela Geller Oshry was married to Michael Oshry, an auto czar and owner of Universal Auto World which came under criminal investigation after Police, probing the murder of one of the company’s car salesman, Collin Thomas, unraveled what they say was a massive scam at the dealership. A murder investigation has led Nassau prosecutors to uncover a massive fraud scheme that was being run out of two Five Towns area car dealerships, District Attorney Kathleen Rice announced at a news conference. Prosecutors have arrested 11 people who they say were running scams out of Universal Auto World and Victory Toyota, both on Burnside Avenue in Lawrence, Rice said. Universal Auto Sales LLC aka Universal Auto World , 711 Burnside Ave. in Lawrence, is charged with scheme to defraud in the first degree, seven counts of grand larceny in the second degree, one count of grand larceny in the third degree, and 16 counts of falsification of business records in the first degree. The New York Post reported that,
NYS Department of State
Division of Corporations
Entity Information
Selected Entity Name: UNIVERSAL AUTO SALES LLC
| Current Entity Name: | UNIVERSAL AUTO SALES LLC |
|---|---|
| Initial DOS Filing Date: | JANUARY 04, 2006 |
| County: | NASSAU |
| Jurisdiction: | NEW YORK |
| Entity Type: | DOMESTIC LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY |
| Current Entity Status: |
ACTIVE
|
MICHAEL H. OSHRY
UNIVERSAL AUTO SALES LLC
1195 HARBOR ROAD
HEWLETT HARBOR, NEW YORK, 1155
UNIVERSAL AUTO SALES LLC
1195 HARBOR ROAD
HEWLETT HARBOR, NEW YORK, 1155
The
other topic that she pursues frequently is Islam and Muslims, which she
considers to not even be a religion but more of a fascist movement. She
is close allies with many in the right-wing movement who are considered
anti-Muslim such as: Neo Nazi Geert Wilders, Robert Spencer Rejected by Academics: , Andrew Bostom, phony Khalim Massoud, Jerome Corsi WorldNetDaily Loon Writer, Brigitte Gabriel Sincere Hypocrisy, Nut Job Joe Kaufman, Dave Gaubatz a white supremacist, and others. She believes that Islam is at war with the West and that Westerners must stop Muslims at all costs.
Related links
‘Car -Scam’ Link Eyed NY Post
Long Island: Hatred Rears its Ugly Head, Pamela Geller the “freedom fighter”
Jewish Group Opposes Muslim Center Near Ground Zero - NYTimes.com
Jewish Group Opposes Muslim Center Near Ground Zero - NYTimes.com
An influential Jewish organization on Friday announced its opposition to a proposed Islamic center and mosque two blocks north of ground zero in Lower Manhattan, intensifying a fierce national debate about the limits of religious freedom and the meaning of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Related
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The Lede Blog: Tenn. Official Says Islam May Be a ‘Cult’ (July 27, 2010)
The decision by the group, the Anti-Defamation League, touched off angry reactions from a range of religious groups, which argued that the country would show its tolerance and values by welcoming the center near the site where radical Muslims killed about 2,750 people.
But the unexpected move by the ADL, a mainstream group that has denounced what it saw as bigoted attacks on plans for the Muslim center, could well be a turning point in the battle over the project.
In New York, where ground zero has slowly blended back into the fabric of the city, government officials appear poised to approve plans for the sprawling complex, which would have as many as 15 stories and would house a prayer space, a performing arts center, a pool and a restaurant.
But around the country opposition is mounting, fueled in part by Republican leaders and conservative pundits. Sarah Palin, the 2008 Republican vice-presidential nominee, has urged “peace-seeking Muslims” to reject the center, branding it an “unnecessary provocation.” A Republican political action committee has produced a television commercial assailing the proposal. And former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has decried it in speeches.
The complex’s rapid evolution from a local zoning dispute into a national referendum highlights the intense and unsettled emotions that still surround the World Trade Center site nine years after the attacks.
To many New Yorkers, especially in Manhattan, it is a construction zone, passed during the daily commute or glimpsed through office windows. To some outside of the city, though, it stands as a hallowed battlefield that must be shielded and memorialized.
Those who are fighting the project argue that building a house of Muslim worship so close to ground zero is at best an affront to the families of those who died there and at worst an act of aggression that would, they say, mark the place where radical Islam achieved a blow against the United States.
“The World Trade Center is the largest loss of American life on our soil since the Civil War,” Mr. Gingrich said. “And we have not rebuilt it, which drives people crazy. And in that setting, we are told, why don’t we have a 13-story mosque and community center?”
He added: “The average American just thinks this is a political statement. It’s not about religion, and is clearly an aggressive act that is offensive.”
Several family members of victims at the World Trade Center have weighed in against the plan, saying it would desecrate what amounts to a graveyard. “When I look over there and see a mosque, it’s going to hurt,” C. Lee Hanson, whose son, Peter, was killed in the attacks, said at a recent public hearing. “Build it someplace else.”
Those who support it seem mystified and flustered by the heated opposition. They contend that the project, with an estimated cost of $100 million, is intended to span the divide between Muslim and non-Muslim, not widen it.
Oz Sultan, the programming director for the center, said the complex was based on Jewish community centers and Y.M.C.A.’s in Manhattan. It is to have a board composed of Muslim, Christian and Jewish leaders and is intended to create a national model of moderate Islam.
“We are looking to build bridges between faiths,” Mr. Sultan said in an interview.
City officials, particularly Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, have forcefully defended the project on the grounds of religious freedom, saying that government has no place dictating where a house of worship is located. The local community board has given overwhelming backing to the project, and the city’s landmarks commission is expected to do the same on Tuesday.
“What is great about America, and particularly New York, is we welcome everybody, and if we are so afraid of something like this, what does that say about us?” Mr. Bloomberg asked recently.
“Democracy is stronger than this,” he added. “And for us to just say no is just, I think — not appropriate is a nice way to phrase it.”
Still, the arguments against the Muslim center appear to be resonating. Polling shows that a majority of Americans oppose building it near ground zero.
The Twilight Zone:The Constitution of Afghanistan
As a Christian, how do you feel about that?
The Ground Zero Protest
against of the mosque was organized by Pamela Geller, a
conservative blogger, and her group, "Stop the Islamicization of
America".
Are
you not finding a discrepancy in the dialogue? Of course Muslims are
building a mosque at Ground Zero. American children are dying for Sacred religion of Islam. How much more Islamicized does it get?
Can't get more tolerant that that!
Just wondering........
The provisions of adherence to the fundamentals of the sacred
religion of Islam and the regime of the Islamic Republic cannot be amended.
In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate
We the people of Afghanistan:
1. With firm faith in God Almighty and relying on His lawful mercy, and Believing in the Sacred religion of Islam,
2. Realizing the injustice and shortcoming of the past, and the numerous troubles imposed on our country,
3. While acknowledging the sacrifices and the historic struggles, rightful Jihad and just resistance of all people of Afghanistan, and respecting the high position of the martyrs for the freedom of Afghanistan,
4. Understanding the fact that Afghanistan is a single and united country and belongs to all ethnicities residing in this country,
5. Observing the United Nations Charter and respecting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,
6. For consolidating national unity, safeguarding independence, national sovereignty, and territorial integrity of the country,
7. For establishing a government based on people's will and democracy,
8. For creation of a civil society free of oppression, atrocity, discrimination, and violence and based on the rule of law, social justice, protection of human rights, and dignity, and ensuring the fundamental rights and freedoms of the people,
9. For strengthening of political, social, economic, and defensive institutions of the country,
10. For ensuring a prosperous life, and sound environment for all those residing in this land,
11. And finally for regaining Afghanistan’s deserving place in the international community,
Have adopted this constitution in compliance with historical, cultural, and social requirements of the era, through our elected representatives in the Loya Jirga dated 14 Jaddi 1382 in the city of Kabul.
Article One
Ch. 1. Art. 1
Ch. 1. Art. 1
Afghanistan is an Islamic Republic, independent, unitary and indivisible state.
Article Two
Ch. 1, Art. 2
Ch. 1, Art. 2
The religion of the state of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan is the sacred religion of Islam.
Followers of other religions are free to exercise their faith and perform their religious rites within the limits of the provisions of law.
Article Three
Ch. 1, Art. 3
Ch. 1, Art. 3
In Afghanistan, no law can be contrary to the beliefs and provisions of the sacred religion of Islam.
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