Report on Arrakis: 11/22/09 - 11/29/09

Saturday, November 28, 2009

CIA goes hiring in heart of Arab America

Openly recruiting Arab Americans is nothing new , the CIA has been doing it since the onset of the war !
With all the recent incidents surrounding Dearborn , The Crazy Imam Luqman abdullah , Who the FBI Justifiably Took out ! And lately countless connections of terror related incidents , Supposed peaceful Muslims trying to buy Shoulder fired Missiles , And countless links to muslim orgs that ship money to Radical Islamic Groups ! .
And let us not forget the latest peacful Muslim , Nadil Hasan .
Saying that does it sound like a good Idea to go to the Heart of the Muslim American Community And recruit these people ? Even when they are openly saying they have a problem with America !

....
DEARBORN, Michigan (Reuters) - At Tuhama's Lebanese deli in Dearborn, and at bakeries and barbershops throughout town, it's no secret the CIA is looking for a few good spies.

"There is a lot of talk, and nobody likes it," said Hamze Chehade, a 48-year-old Lebanese-American, taking a bite of his chicken shawarma.

In dire need of agents fluent in Arabic, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency has made an unusual public show of its recruiting effort in Dearborn -- a city of 100,000 with the densest Arab population in the United States.

The agency has bought full-page ads in Arabic-language newspapers and it is rolling out TV ads aimed at luring Arab-Americans and Iranian-Americans to spycraft.

But despite a weak economy and high unemployment, the CIA will find it hard to hire here, residents say. Many see U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East as misguided and anger over the perceived mistreatment of Arab-Americans runs deep.

It won't be easy to win hearts and minds here, they say.

"If anyone goes, they would be just going for the money, not following the heart," said Chehade, a cabinet-maker who immigrated from Lebanon 21 years ago.

CIA recruiters said the agency sorely needs speakers of Arabic and other languages due to the intensifying insurgency in Afghanistan and the continuing U.S. occupation of Iraq.

"Obviously, with the wars going on in the Middle East, that's really on America's radar," said Henry Medina, who is in charge of CIA recruiting in the Midwest.

"We're going to recruit that knowledge, that language, the linguistics, the cultural nuances that are critical to fully understand the foes and enemies," said Medina during a briefing for reporters who were shown the agency's new ads.

Sounds like the CIA is looking to help the enemy within !

Friday, November 27, 2009

Friday Funk...the return

Daft Punk vs. Ivana Santilli - Been Thru This Face

Ahmadinejad and Chavez renew vows of love

"we're going to be together until the end," Ahmadinejad to Chavez. No Joke.

Why islam

Quran: Sunnah 4, verse 3

YUSUFALI: If ye fear that ye shall not be able to deal justly with the orphans, Marry women of your choice, Two or three or four; but if ye fear that ye shall not be able to deal justly (with them), then only one, or (a captive) that your right hands possess, that will be more suitable, to prevent you from doing injustice.

Holbrooke: Taliban acceptable if they renounce al Qaeda

In an interview with Spiegel, special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke, stated that the Obama administration is ready to invite taliban who renounce al Qaeda back in to Afghanistan's social/political fold.

There is a serious deficit of understand of what and who we are fighting. The taliban, al Qaeda, al Shabaab, MILF, Hezbollah, Hamas, etc, are just different brands of the same product...islamic imperialism. The Long War Journal notes that al Qaeda is "tip of a much longer jihadist spear".

Forgiving certain taliban if they renounce al Qaeda will not bring us any closer to a military victory in Afghanistan. If we want victory over islamic jihadists we need to treat them as part of the same problem...radical islam.

From Daily Times

LAHORE/WASHINGTON: Taliban can rejoin the “social and political fabric of Afghanistan” if they renounce Al Qaeda, US special envoy Richard Holbrooke said on Tuesday.

In an interview with SPIEGEL, Holbrooke said, “Majority of Taliban do not support Mullah Omar’s extreme views and that there is room for them to rejoin the social and political fabric of Afghanistan if they renounce Al Qaeda and reintegrate peacefully into Afghanistan. And that is a major part” of the Unites States policies.

He said Washington was not seeking to destroy “every person who supports the Taliban”, adding that “Our goal is to destroy Al Qaeda, a terrorist organisation with global reach which attacked the United States, which conducted attacks in London, Madrid and Bali, and Mumbai and Islamabad, which supports attacks in Afghanistan through other groups.”

Al Qaeda's ability to attack US is wanning

According to the former chief of Britain's MI6 intelligence agency, Richard Dearlove, al Qaeda's ability to attack the US or Britain is wanning due to improved security cooperation between the two countries.

But does al Qaeda even need to carry out attacks against the US or Britain? There are plenty of muslims in Britain and the US who share the same ideology as al Qaeda and who are willing to carry out attacks on their own. One just has to refer to the recent Ft. Hood terrorist attack to understand we have bigger problems than just al Qaeda.

From Bloomberg

Nov. 26 (Bloomberg) -- The al-Qaeda terrorist network may be losing its capacity to launch large-scale attacks in the U.S. and U.K. because of improved security cooperation, Richard Dearlove, former chief of Britain’s MI6 spy agency, said.

“It could be the movement is past the high point in its ability to mount mass-casualty events in the West,” Dearlove said in an interview in London late yesterday. “It’s because the bar has been raised, the door has been shut.”

Dearlove, 64, served as chief of MI6, known officially as the Secret Intelligence Service, from 1999 to 2004, and his tenure included the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the U.S. “There is much more international security cooperation,” he said, though “the threat is not completely removed.”

Muslims and Christians battle it out in British prisons

According to a inspection report of the Belmarsh prison, where Abu Hamza (the hook for a hand terrorist preacher) is held, via the BBC muslim and Christian inmates battled it out in at least one outbreak of violence. At least one fifth of the prison population is muslim and recently it was revealed that Abu Hamza spreads jihadi propaganda in the prison through the plumbing system.

I believe the Blemarsh prison is a case study of what will happen to Britain in a generation or 2.

Climate Czar says Climategate doesn't change anything

As the Climategate scandal widens, Obama's climate czar has stated that the leaked emails don't change anything in her mind.

From Washington Times

Obama administration climate czar Carol Browner on Wednesday rejected claims that e-mails stolen from a British university show climate scientists trumped up global warming numbers, saying she considers the science settled.

"I'm sticking with the 2,500 scientists. These people have been studying this issue for a very long time and agree this problem is real," said Ms. Browner, who President Obama has tapped as his chief of policy on global warming.[...]

Obama administration climate czar Carol Browner on Wednesday rejected claims that e-mails stolen from a British university show climate scientists trumped up global warming numbers, saying she considers the science settled.

"I'm sticking with the 2,500 scientists. These people have been studying this issue for a very long time and agree this problem is real," said Ms. Browner, who President Obama has tapped as his chief of policy on global warming.

British Rabbi warns of end of Europe

The Jewish version of Mark Steyn. Life Site News

LONDON, November 24, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Speaking at the Annual Theos Lecture in London on November 4, Britain's Chief Rabbi Johnathan Sacks, warned that Europe was bound to meet the same fate as ancient Greece due to its abysmal failure to inspire larger families.[...]

Rabbi Sacks cited the alarming demographics in Europe, stating: "Europe today is the only region in the world which is experiencing population decline. As you know, zero population growth - a stable population - requires an average of 2.1 children for every woman of child-bearing age in the population. Not one European country has anything like that rate today. Here are the 2004 figures: In the United Kingdom: 1.74, in the Netherlands: 1.73, Germany: 1.37, Italy: 1.33, Spain: 1.32 and Greece: 1.29."

He added: "Europe, at least the indigenous population of Europe, is dying, exactly as Polybius said about ancient Greece in the third pre-Christian century. The century that is intellectually the closest to our own - the century of the sceptics and the epicureans and the cynics."

Man pleads guilty selling counterfeit chips to Navy

A California man, Neil Felahy, pleaded guilty to conspiracy and counterfeit-goods trafficking. He faces up to Mr. Felahy sold counterfeit computer chips to the Naval Sea Systems Command. The counterfeit chips were purchased from China.

Purchasing counterfeit computer chips from China may have some serious consequences.

From IT World

In a plea agreement reached on Friday, Neil Felahy of Newport Coast, California, pleaded guilty to conspiracy and counterfeit-goods trafficking for his role in an alleged chip-counterfeiting scam that ran between 2007 and 2009. Felahy, his wife Marwah Felahy, and her brother Mustafa Abdul Aljaff operated several microchip brokerage companies that imported chips from Shenzhen, in China's Guangdong province.

They would buy counterfeit chips from China or else take legitimate chips, sand off the brand markings and melt the plastic casings with acid to make them appear to be of higher quality or a different brand, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a press release.[...]

The counterfeit chips were allegedly sold to Naval Sea Systems Command, the Washington, D.C., group responsible for maintaining the U.S. Navy's ships and systems, as well as an unnamed vacuum-cleaner manufacturer in the Midwest. The U.S. Department of Defense did not respond to requests for comment about the incident.[...]

The next year, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) broke up a distribution network for counterfeit Cisco Systems routers, seizing $3.5 million worth of components. According to a leaked FBI presentation on its Cisco Raider operation, fake Cisco routers, switches and cards were sold to the U.S. Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Federal Aviation Administration, and even the FBI itself.

Thursday, November 26, 2009

Happy Turkey Day !

....

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

UK shooting party: Lord Mandelson, Cherie Blair and... Gaddafi's son?

I know this sounds like the start of a bad joke, "The deputy prime minister, the ex Prime Minister's wife and a terrorist scumbag walk into a bar..." But how would YOU feel if you were a family member of one of the Lockerbie bombing victims, right about now?

<--- Lord Mandelson.

From the Daily Mail:

Lord Mandelson has infuriated families of the Lockerbie bombing victims by attending a shooting party with Colonel Gaddafi's son. The Business Secretary and Saif Gaddafi were guests of billionaire financier Lord Rothschild and his son Nat at the family mansion in Buckinghamshire.

In a bizarre confirmation of Labour's close links to the Libyan regime, Cherie Blair was also present.

Cherie Blair --->

The gathering came after the controversial release of Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset al Megrahi, who was flown home by Saif Gaddafi to a hero's welcome in August. Megrahi, who has prostate cancer, was released from a Scottish jail after being given just three months (Ed. note: three WEEKS not months) to live.

His continued survival, however, more than three months later has renewed claims that his release was cynically engineered to placate the Gaddafi regime and protect lucrative oil contracts with Tripoli.

<--- Keen shot Gaddafi

Details of the shooting party at Lord Rothschild's French chateau-style Waddesdon Manor estate, near Aylesbury, are revealed today by Spectator magazine columnist Charles Moore.

He writes: 'A shoot was taking place, though not all the party were shooting. As well as Lord Rothschild and his son Nat, the unofficial deputy prime minister, Lord Mandelson, was there, and also Lord Rothschild's country neighbour, Cherie Blair.

'Neither of them picked up a gun.

Read the original Spectator article in its entirety here. I will leave you with this thought from Charles Moore courtesy of Fraser Nelson...

'What are we to make of all this? It could be argued that the Gaddafis are better occupied shooting pheasants than blowing up airliners. It could also be argued that it is unusual for our deputy prime minister to be rubbing shoulders with a member of the family responsible for the biggest terrorist atrocity ever committed against British citizens.'

Amanda Lindhout and Nigel Brenan released!

Finally some good news. The hell that Amanda and Nigel had to endure for 16 months is over.

It seems like $1 million was handed over to al Shabaab for Amanda and Nigel's release. Although I'm happy that Amanda and Nigel are finally free again, paying terrorists ransom will only encourage further kidnappings in the future.

From Canada.com

"I was released about four or five hours ago. We were released in Mogadishu. But the how's of that are better to wait, because my mom has advised me not to say anything about anything because we're surrounded now by armed soldiers that are in place to keep Nigel and I safe. But the country is really dangerous, so until I'm out of the country I just don't think it's a good idea to say anything.

Iron Maiden - To Tame a Land

Iron Maiden's To Tame a Land was inspired by the classic science fiction novel Dune by Frank Herbert. However, when Steve Harris requested permission from the author to name the song "Dune" and to use a spoken quotation as the track's intro, his request was met with a stern reply from Frank Herbert's agent: "No. Because Frank Herbert doesn't like rock bands, particularly heavy rock bands, and especially rock bands like Iron Maiden". This statement was backed up with a legal threat, and eventually the song was renamed "To Tame a Land" and released in 1983.

H/T: Krys

Pic: Obama the narcissist

Obama leaving the White House holding a copy of GQ featuring...himself

Why islam

Quran Sunnah 8, verse 65:

YUSUFALI: O Prophet! rouse the Believers to the fight. If there are twenty amongst you, patient and persevering, they will vanquish two hundred: if a hundred, they will vanquish a thousand of the Unbelievers: for these are a people without understanding.

Video: Enviro-wacko actor gets into finger-pointing shoutfest with Stuart Varney

Via Big Hollywood

Mexican drug cartels smuggling drugs through US trucker program

Mexican drug cartels have been targeting truckers part of the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism in order to smuggle drugs into the US. Truck companies part of the program are allowed to quickly pass through the border. Now Mexican drug cartels are either bribing or threatening the truck drives to smuggle drugs across the border.

From Washington Times

The government keeps the list of participants secret, citing national security and trade secrets. But some of the 9,500 companies that are part of the system advertise their membership to drum up business, making them targets for smugglers, who can then threaten drivers or offer them bribes.

More than half of all U.S. imports now come from companies in the program, called the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism, or C-TPAT. Mexican trucking companies make up only 6 percent of global membership in the system, but they account for half of its 71 security violations during the past two years.[...]

"The basic vulnerability for a truck driver remains the 'plata-or-plomo' dilemma," Mr. Flynn said, using Spanish shorthand for taking a bribe or a bullet.

Obama's Granny arrives at the Hajj.

<--- Obama's Granny cozies up to Property tycoon Dr Sulaiman Al Fahim and gets her first all expenses hajj offer but the King of Saudi Arabia senses a pr coup and invites her to attend at his expense instead.

From AKI:

"The grandmother of US president Barack Obama has arrived in Saudi Arabia for the 'Hajj' or Islamic pilgrimage to the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, a Saudi daily said on Wednesday. Sarah Obama, 87, is being accompanied by a nephew and Obama's cousin, Omran."

There's no word on whether or not the man who picked up the tab for her trip, aka the Donald Trump of Abu Dhabi, was with her entourage.

Time Out: She was issued an invitation by Saudi King Abdullah? And he's paying the freight now? I guess that bow was good for something after all!

Sarah Obama, one of her grandchildren and 10 people from her village in Kenya made the pilgrimage at the invitation of Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah, the newspaper reported.

The Saudi monarch invites Muslims from around the world to make the pilgrimage at his expense each year. Among his nearly 3,000 guests this year, almost 2,000 are relatives of Palestinians killed in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

Related: Obama's Granny going to Hajj with Donald Trump of Abu Dhabi.

Belgian man pleads guilty to conspiring sell US jet engines to Iran

A Belgian national, Jacques Monsieur, has pleaded guilty to conspiring to sell F-5 jet engines to Iran. There is currently a trade embargo imposed on Iran that prohibits the sale of any US military equipment to Iran.

Seems like Iran is trying everything in it's power to get their hands on spare parts for their decaying air force.

From BBC

An alleged Belgian arms dealer has pleaded guilty to conspiring to illegally export jet engines and parts from the US to Iran, officials say.[...]

Court documents say he is an experienced arms dealer who was actively seeking weapons for the government of Iran.

After his arrest Mr Monsieur was charged with violating the arms control act, smuggling, money-laundering and conspiracy.

Some of the charges can carry maximum sentences of 20 years in jail.

Officials said a sting operation revealed that he was trying to buy engines and other parts for F-5 fighter jets.

Humanitarian group ignores real war crimes and investigates video games for violations

Can't these humanitarian groups find actual war crimes committed by terrorist groups that deliberately kill innocent people. Instead they investigate virtual violations of the Geneva Conventions. Insane.

From Joystiq

Two Swiss humanitarian organizations recently examined 20 shooting-centric video games to determine whether they allowed players to break the wartime guidelines laid out by the Geneva Convention

DoD official in charge of closing Gitmo quits -

due to "personal issues". (I'm wondering if those personal issues mean a new job with the Al Qaeda Bar Association.)

The Defense Department official in charge of closing the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, has resigned after only seven months in the job, the Pentagon said Tuesday.

Phillip Carter, who was named deputy assistant secretary of defense for detainee policy in April, resigned last Friday because of “personal issues,” a Pentagon official said. Mr. Carter could not be reached for comment and no other reasons were given for his departure.

Mr. Carter, 34, a lawyer and an Army adviser to the Iraqi police in Baquba in 2005 and 2006, was in charge of veterans outreach in President Obama's 2008 campaign.

Mr. Carter’s departure comes as the administration has acknowledged that it will not be able to close the prison by Jan. 22, the self-imposed deadline Mr. Obama announced immediately after taking office.

Mr. Carter has also left in the middle of the administration’s efforts to prosecute some of the Guantánamo detainees and find a location in the United States to house perhaps 50 to 100 terrorism suspects indefinitely.

I'm thinking good riddance to Mr. Carter - especially after reading this:

"...On his (Carter's) return from a tour of duty in Iraq), he shared some lessons he learned in a radio interview aired on National Public Radio.

One tip: ''Diplomacy is more important than force,'' he said. "Force creates more enemies than it removes. For every one insurgent you kill you create maybe 10 or 20 Iraqis with blood debts against the U.S.''

[...]

In October 2004, when the Pentagon said intelligence indicated that some former Guantánamo detainees had ''returned to the battlefield,' Carter blamed policy ''blowback'' from a White House decision to ``shred the Geneva Conventions.'''

Carter also used to blog at WaPo's Intel Dump. And can you tell who's side he's really on?

Mr. Carter wrote amicus curiae briefs in the landmark national security cases FAIR vs. Rumsfeld and Hamdan vs. Rumsfeld

To refresh your memory about Hamdam v Rumsfeld:

"The case in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that military commissions set up by the Bush administration to try detainees at Guantanamo Bay lack "the power to proceed because its structures and procedures violate both the Uniform Military Code of Justice and the four Geneva Conventions signed in 1949. Specifically, the ruling says that Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions was violated."

And about FAIR v Rumsfeld?

"The Forum for Academic and Institutional Rights (FAIR), a group of law schools and professors, sued the Secretary of Defense, seeking to prevent the enforcement of the most recent version of Solomon Amendment, a federal law that requires schools receiving federal funding to give access to military representatives for recruiting purposes."

Like I said, good riddance to another Obama appointee who supports our enemies more than he supports the United States military.

Pakistan ex-army officer detained over Chicago case

Pakistans Army sure has some bad Guys embedded in it , and it appears they have been for awhile !
Good thing Barack Obama , John Kerry , and Howard Berman are looking out for American Interests (Like our troops ) By giving 7.5 billion us dollars to Pakistan to shore them up !
And I thought we didn't have any Money ?

....
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistani security agencies have detained a former army officer for possible links with two men arrested in Chicago on terrorism charges, an army spokesman said on Wednesday.

David Headley and Tahawwur Hussain Rana were arrested last month and accused of planning an attack on Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten, which ran cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad in 2005, sparking protests by Muslims in several countries.

Rana is a Pakistan-born Canadian citizen while Headley is an American citizen who had spent time in Pakistan, which is under U.S. pressure to crack down harder on militants along the border with Afghanistan to help it put down a Taliban insurgency there.

Pakistani military spokesman Major-General Athar Abbas said a former army major was detained in connection with the case.

"He's still in detention and is being questioned," he said, adding that no serving officer has been detained in the case.

According to U.S. court documents, the Chicago pair discussed their planned attack on the Danish newspaper with members of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba group and al Qaeda-linked Pakistan-based militant Ilyas Kashmiri.

Lashkar, blamed for the 2008 Mumbai assault, also talked to them about possible attacks in India and suggested these should be given priority over the alleged plot in Denmark.

Piling on in the KSM trial: German legal team will seek to prevent death penalty.

From Der Spiegel: Berlin wants no part in 9/11 death penalty.

A team of observers from the German government is going to New York to oversee the trial of five suspects accused of orchestrating the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States, the news magazine Der Spiegel reported on Saturday.

The federal trial of the suspect Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his four co-defendants was announced on November 13 by the US Justice Department. The government also asserted that it intends to seek the death penalty if the accused are found guilty.

Germany, which does not have a death penalty, provided evidence for the trial on the condition that it could not be used to support a death sentence. Several members of the al Qaeda cell that planned and executed the attacks of September 11 were previously based in the northern German city of Hamburg.

"In this case we will observe very closely that the given assurances are kept," Justice Minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger said. However it was unclear exactly how evidence from Germany would be distinguished from evidence procured from elsewhere.

The defense lawyer for one of the accused, Ramzi Binalshibh, said that a conviction of his client would "scarcely be possible without evidence from Germany."

Related: Taking a look at the al Qaeda Bar Association.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Obama Bows again !

From the Patriot Post

Sometimes I just can't help Myself !

....

Picture: Obama bows before Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao

I wonder how Gibbs will spin this one.

Via Drudge Report

This is so effed up. Navy Seals face charges for capture of Fallujah ambush mastermind.

<--- The man responsible for this nightmare got a bloody lip and now the brave men that captured him are all facing court martial. This is wrong on so many levels.

Navy SEALs have secretly captured one of the most wanted terrorists in Iraq — the alleged mastermind of the murder and mutilation of four Blackwater USA security guards in Fallujah in 2004. And for their trouble, three of the SEALs, members of the Navy's elite commando unit, are now facing criminal charges, sources told FoxNews.com.

The three have refused non-judicial punishment — called an admiral's mast — and requested a trial by court-martial.

Ahmed Hashim Abed, whom the military code-named "Objective Amber," told investigators he was punched by his captors — and he had the bloody lip to prove it.

Now, instead of being lauded for bringing to justice a high-value target, three of the SEAL commandos, all enlisted, face assault charges and have retained lawyers.

Matthew McCabe, a Special Operations Petty Officer Second Class (SO-2), is facing three charges: dereliction of performance of duty for willfully failing to safeguard a detainee, making a false official statement, and assault.

Petty Officer Jonathan Keefe, SO-2, is facing charges of dereliction of performance of duty and making a false official statement.

Petty Officer Julio Huertas, SO-1, faces those same charges and an additional charge of impediment of an investigation.

The three SEALs will be arraigned separately on Dec. 7. Another three SEALs — two officers and an enlisted sailor — have been identified by investigators as witnesses but have not been charged.

Instead of bringing them up on charges they should be giving them all a medal. This is just insane. (For my part, I'd like to buy them all a beer.)

The Religion of Peace's idea of religious outreach:

Egypt: Muslims burn Christian shops.

Russian Priest and Critic of Islam shot to death in Church.

Maldives: Legislators ask President to ban non-Muslim worship.

Seizure of 15,000 Bibles in Malaysia stuns Christians.

Iran frees 2 female Christians after 9 months in Evin Prison; could still face charges of apostasy and proselytizing.

Obama's first state dinner - Cedar chips will be sprinkled on the roofs of the Port-a-Potties.

I kid you not:

From Times Online:

There will be music from the composer of the Slumdog Millionaire theme, food from an Ethiopian-born Swedish chef and cedar chips sprinkled on the roofs of the portable lavatories. There may also be the faint patter of drizzle on canvas.

The first state dinner of the Obama era, held tonight in a tent village on the South Lawn of the White House, will honour an Indian Prime Minister described by aides as an abstemious vegetarian. At the same time, it will set the tone for formal entertaining by the most glamorous couple to inhabit the White House since the Kennedys.

Gag me with your gush, buddy. (And do you think it possible the author could get any more condescending?)

Michelle Obama has personally supervised the compilation of a guest list 400 names long and the creation of a menu of global cuisine, “possibly including a curry dish”, that will have to avoid seeming too global lest the Obamas’ critics condemn it as a betrayal of apple pie.

Things that make you go, "Awww!"

Cookie unofficial mascot

photo by: TSgt. Francisco V. Govea II

"Cookie," the unofficial mascot for the U.S. Army 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment, sits inside a Soldier's backpack at Combat Outpost Jeleran, Afghanistan, Nov. 20, 2009.

(h/t FReeper BadRodeo)

Why islam

Quran: Sunnah 8, verse 57

PICKTHAL: If thou comest on them in the war, deal with them so as to strike fear in those who are behind them, that haply they may remember.

I just love it when a sting comes together...don't you?

From Philly.com:

Two years ago, an undercover FBI agent in Philadelphia met up with a Lebanese guy from Dearborn, Mich., who said he wanted to do a little business.

Their arrangement was pretty simple: the agent sold supposedly stolen laptops, cell phones and PlayStation systems to the guy, Hassan Mohamad Komeiha, who had the items shipped all over - Detroit, Los Angeles, Slovakia, Paraguay, Bahrain, you name it.

Then some of Komeiha's friends started making requests, started talking about "the Resistance" and taking out fighter planes, and this little arrangement got really serious.

Yesterday, federal authorities lifted the curtain on their long-running investigation, which climaxed Saturday when Dani Nemr Tarraf - one of Komeiha's pals - was arrested after he arrived in Philadelphia to allegedly examine anti-aircraft missiles and machine guns that he wanted shipped to Iran or Syria.

The feds announced charges against Tarraf, Komeiha and three other men (Tarraf and other defendants -- including Douri Nemr Tarraf of Slovakia, Hassan Mohamad Komeiha of Dearborn and Hussein Ali Asfour of Centerville, Ga. -- were charged with conspiring to transport stolen goods. Dani Nemr Tarraf and Ali Fadel Yahfoufi of Slovakia also were charged with conspiring to commit passport fraud according to this source.) who took part in a ring that distributed stolen goods around the world, according to the affidavit.

Authorities yesterday also detailed a separate but connected investigation that charged Komeiha and seven other men with running a stolen and counterfeit goods ring.

...

The investigation began in June 2007, when Komeiha, 39, met with the undercover agent in Philadelphia to discuss buying stolen laptops and Sony PlayStation 2 systems, according a federal affidavit. The undercover agent started shipping large numbers of stolen items for Komeiha on an almost monthly basis.

You can read the rest here.

Noor Almaleki: Dad finally arraigned in honor killing. Pleads 'not guilty'.

From Arizona Central.com:

Almaleki was arraigned in Maricopa County Superior Court Monday morning. He previously missed two scheduled arraignment hearings because he was under suicide watch in a county jail.

Prosecutors have labeled Noor Almaleki's death an "honor killing," saying the elder Almaleki killed his daughter because she dishonored the family by not following traditional Iraqi or Muslim values.

Almaleki has been charged with two counts of aggravated assault for the attack on his daughter and Amal Edan Khalaf, 43. Prosecutors are now expected to roll out a harsher set of charges for Almaleki.

None of Noor's family members attended the hearing.

He was charged with assault, but after his daughter's death, prosecutors filed additional charges. Almaleki plead not guilty Monday morning. At his video taped arraignment on Monday, none of his family members showed up.

(Brief footage of Faleh Almaleki's video court appearance contained in clip -
otherwise report is a rehash of everything we already know.)

Al Shabaab murders Christian accused of evangelizing

YUSUFALI: Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, (even if they are) of the People of the Book, until they pay the Jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued. Right Side News

NAIROBI, Kenya, November 23 (Compass Direct News) – Islamic extremists controlling part of the Somali capital of Mogadishu this month executed a young Christian they accused of trying to convert a 15-year-old Muslim to Christianity.

Members of the Islamic extremist group al Shabaab had taken 23-year-old Mumin Abdikarim Yusuf into custody on Oct. 28 after the 15-year-old boy reported him to the militants, an area source told Compass. Yusuf’s body was found on Nov. 14 on an empty residential street in Mogadishu, with sources saying the convert from Islam was shot to death, probably some hours before dawn.[...]

Before Yusuf was executed by two shots to the head, reports filtered in to the Compass source that he had been badly beaten and his fingers broken as the Islamists tried to extract incriminating evidence against him and information about other Christians. The source later learned that Yusuf’s body showed signs of torture; all of his front teeth were gone, and some of his fingers were broken, he said.

China executes two over tainted milk powder scandal

I'm Surprised that these may be the only two Executed over this !

....BBCNews
China has executed two people for their role in a scandal involving tainted milk powder that resulted in six children dying, officials have said.

More than 300,000 other infants were made ill from milk powder contaminated with melamine, an industrial chemical used to make plastics and fertiliser.

Zhang Yujun and Geng Jinping are the only people to have been executed over the scandal, court officials said.

Nineteen other people were sentenced to prison terms.

Zhang Yujun was convicted of endangering public safety by dangerous means, for selling more than 770 tonnes of the tainted milk powder from July 2007 to August 2008, the official Xinhua news agency said.

Geng Jinping, who managed a milk production centre, was convicted of supplying milk containing melamine to the now-bankrupt Sanlu Group and other dairies.

The two men were sentenced in January in Shijiazhuang, capital of Hebei, where Sanlu was based. Their appeals were rejected by the Hebei Provincial Higher People's Court in March.

Xinhua said the executions were carried out on Tuesday, but did not say where.

ACLU sues for student for right to wear 'anti-islamic' t-shirts

Has hell frozen over?
Miami Herald

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- The American Civil Liberties Union has sued a north Florida school district. The lawsuit claims the Alachua County School District violated students' rights by not allowing them to wear T-shirts with an anti-Islamic message.

The civil rights organization says it doesn't agree with the "Islam is of the Devil," message printed on T-shirts distributed by the Dove World Outreach Center and worn by area school children. But the ACLU says it supports the students' constitutional right to freedom of speech.

Monday, November 23, 2009

The Obama's first state dinner.

All I can say is, these people have NO shame...and I include the Washington Post for publishing these three pages of absolute drivel.

From WaPo:

The history-making Obama White House can't say enough about how it's more open, more adventurous, more of-the-people than administrations past.

An airsickness bag can be found in the seat pocket in front of you.

The Obamas have set the bar high on matters of culture, aesthetics and political philosophy. The first couple has attempted to engage the world in a broadly catholic (Ed. Note: small 'c') way. When the president travels internationally, he regularly emphasizes his personal story of meager beginnings and his United Nations-of-a-family. Michelle Obama, the girl from the South Side of Chicago, wears her working-class background as prominently as her many brooches. She chooses an international wardrobe on state occasions, for formal portraits, to visit a school. Her very person serves as evidence of a worldview in which creativity trumps nationalism, and opportunity is the currency of success.

I don't think I can go on any more. Read the rest here if you have the stomach for it. Please note: All the Hollywood A-listers are rumored to be invited. House GOP leadership? No invites for them. Don't you just love this post-racial, post partisan Obama reign?

Hold up. What's up with this? It's the first state dinner but it's not the first state visit? How Obamaesque.

While this is a state dinner, the Prime Minister's visit is not considered a "state" visit but an "official" visit. The Prime Minister is not a head of state. India’s head of state is President Pratibha Devisingh Patil. Her position has relatively little Constitutional power though she is considered the Rashtrapati, or lord of the realm. The President is elected by members of the Indian parliament and the state legislatures.

And so much for that transparency thing: Details of state dinner scarce: White House mum.

I am happy to report that Jennifer Hudson sang. Wait til I get the menu and we realize how we are being hoodwinked.

Possums, you know I love you, but I can't take anymore, especially after Lynn Sweet tells us this: Obama Nov. 23 schedule update: Meeting with war cabinet tonight.

UPDATED: Tonight, the President will meet with his national security team on Afghanistan and Pakistan in the Situation Room. This meeting is closed press. Expected attendees include:

Vice President Biden
Secretary of State Clinton
Secretary of Defense Gates
Ambassador Susan Rice, Permanent U.S. Representative to the United Nations
Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg
Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan
Under Secretary of Defense Michele Flournoy
Admiral Michael Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
General James E. Cartwright, USMC, Vice Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff
General David Petraeus, U.S. Central Command
General Stanley McChrystal, U.S. Commander in Afghanistan (via videoconference)
Lieutenant General Karl Eikenberry, U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan (via videoconference)
Anne Patterson, U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan (via videoconference)
General James Jones, National Security Advisory
Tom Donilon, Deputy National Security Advisor
John Brennan, Assistant to the President for Counterterrorism and Homeland Security
Lieutenant General Douglas Lute, Special Assistant to the President for Afghanistan and Pakistan

8:00PM THE PRESIDENT meets with his national security team on Afghanistan and Pakistan
Situation Room
Closed Press

Updated Briefing Schedule

12:45PM Briefing by Press Secretary Robert Gibbs

THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary

Wake up, possums. I refer you to this over at ROA.

I rest my case.

Taliban debating whether to end the war?

An Afghanistan 'expert', Michael Semple, has claimed that elements within the taliban are discussing ways of ending the war in Afghanistan.

Color me skeptical.

From National Post

HALIFAX -- A debate is underway among the Taliban's senior leadership about finding ways to end the war in Afghanistan, and the Western coalition should pursue peace talks with moderate leaders of the insurgency, says the man widely considered to have the closest contacts, of any Westerner, with the Taliban.[...]

"The good news is: There are people involved in the insurgency who have their own version of the kinds of debates [on the best future strategy] that we've had in Western countries over the past few months, who are well aware of the costs imposed on Afghanistan by continuing the conflict . . . that want to bring this thing to an end.

"The bad news is that, currently, they've got a weak hand inside the insurgent movement."[...]

Getting the upper hand on the insurgency -- or at least demonstrating renewed, Western military resolve in Afghanistan -- is necessary before being able negotiate peace from a position of strength, they said.

If we go try to negotiate peace with the taliban they'll view it is a sign of weakness and may be tempted to fight on. If on the off chance they accept, it will almost certainly be a temporary peace treaty, ie. a hudna which only last 10 years. The taliban and al Qaeda will use the time to rearms and gain strength in order to attack again.

The four panellists also agreed the war in Afghanistan cannot be won without the help and co-operation of Pakistan, whose military establishment founded the Taliban, is wary of Western staying power in Afghanistan, and continues to shelter the Taliban's leaders, along with those of al-Qaida.[...]

"In the long term, you have to offer the Taliban accommodation," said Mr. Sethi, who reminded people that al-Qaeda, not the Taliban, were the original, principle targets of the war following 9/11.

The taliban were in the cross-hairs at the beginning of the Afghan war. Maybe not the primary target but they were definitely in the cross-hairs.

Besides, the ties between the taliban and al Qaeda have grown a lot closer since the start of the war. So much so, that we may have to defeat the taliban in order to defeat al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Khalid Sheik Mohammed may not get the death penalty

An obviously bad idea from the start to try Khalid Sheik Mohammed in New York State civilian court. It just keeps getting worse and worse. Now it turns out that New York state juries are the least likely to hand out the death penalty.

New York Post

New York juries are often loath to impose the death penalty, even for terrorists.

In fact, a jury spared the lives of two Osama bin Laden followers a month after Sept. 11, while the World Trade Center's ruins were still smoldering.

Now comes a case unlike any other: the trial of professed 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed.

"If there was any case where a New York jury would impose the death penalty, this is it," said James Cohen, a law professor at Fordham University.

Nevertheless, a jury might steer clear of the death penalty -- not out of any opposition to capital punishment, but out of fear of making a martyr out of Mohammed.

Why islam

Quran Sunnah 8, verse 17

YUSUFALI: It is not ye who slew them; it was Allah: when thou threwest (a handful of dust), it was not thy act, but Allah's: in order that He might test the Believers by a gracious trial from Himself: for Allah is He Who heareth and knoweth (all things).

Former Afghan governor turned 3,000 fighters over to the taliban

"When I was no longer governor the government stopped paying for the people who supported me," he said. "I sent 3,000 of them off to the Taliban because I could not afford to support them but the Taliban was making payments.

What BS...this guy handed his fighters to the taliban to get even with us.Telegraph

Sher Mohammed Akhundzada, the former governor of Afghanistan's Helmand province, has revealed he turned thousands of his followers over to the Taliban after he was sacked from the job under pressure from British officials.

He was accused of being linked to the opium trade and lost his position in 2005 to pave the way for UK soldiers to be deployed to the region.

In an interview with The Daily Telegraph at his Kabul home, Mr Akhundzada said that after losing office he encouraged up to 3,000 followers to take up Taliban offers of money.

Backlash! Anti - Islamic hate crimes down - AGAIN.

From FBI data released today:

There were 1,519 religion hate crimes committed in 2008, with 1,013 committed against Jews or 65.7% of total religious incidents followed by 105 anti-Islamic crimes, 7.7% of the total religious incidents.

In 2007, 1400 crimes were committed on the basis of religion with 969 against Jews and 115 anti-Islamic crimes.

Let's remember what passes for hate crime in Muslim world these days: Headscarf pullings and house eggings.

Related:
What is this Muslim backlash you speak of?
I've got your Muslim backlash right here!

Cuban military to hold exercise bracing for American attack

The Cuban military will hold exercises next week to prepare their armies against any possible US attack on the island.

From Breitbart

Nearly 50 years after a botched US-directed invasion of Cuba, the communist nation said Saturday it is holding a military exercise next week to boost preparedness against any future US attack.

"It is a necessity of the first order given the political-military situation that now defines relations between Cuba and the empire," Major General Leonardo Andollo warned, referring to the United States.

....

At least 21 dead in Phillippines 'political massacre'.

Guess who? (Again.)

Dozens of gunmen hijacked a convoy carrying journalists, and family and supporters of a candidate for provincial governor, killing at least 21 of the travelers Monday in the southern Philippines' worst political violence in years.

There was no claim of responsibility for the bloodshed in the predominantly Muslim region wracked by political tensions between rival clans.

The convoy of vans carrying about 40 people was hijacked in Maguindanao province, about 560 miles (900 kilometers) south of Manila, and army troops later found the bullet-riddled bodies of 13 women and eight men, regional military commander Maj. Gen. Alfredo Cayton said.

It was unclear if anyone survived the attack. An army and police search was under way for the other hostages.

The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines said at least 10 local reporters were part of the convoy. Their organizations failed to reach them, leading them to conclude they too were killed.

...

Philippine elections are particularly violent in the south because of the presence of armed groups, including Muslim rebels fighting for self-rule (ed. note: Sharia law and a separate Islamic state) in the predominantly Roman Catholic nation, and political warlords who maintain private armies.

The decades-long Muslim insurgency has killed about 120,000 people since the 1970s. But a presidential adviser, Jesus Dureza, said Monday's massacre was "unequaled in recent history."

More here.

80 taliban surrender to Afghan forces

These taliban weren't willing to die for allah. Eighty taliban have laid down their weapons and accepted vowed to stop fighting against the Afghan government.

I'm not all that excited about the taliban receiving amnesty from the Afghan government. Someone should keep a close eye on these guys considering how US and British soldiers have been killed by taliban sympathizers. Live Leak

H/T: GM

Authorities in Afghanistan say 80 Taliban militants have laid down their weapons and joined the police force, accepting a governm More..ent amnesty aimed at ending an insurgency.

In a ceremony at police headquarters in the eastern city of Herat, the 80 men handed over their weapons and pledged to end their fight against the government.

The decision comes after president Hamid Karzai again offered an olive branch to Taliban fighters to reintegrate into Afghan society.

Sunday, November 22, 2009

UK: 4 charged in terror arrests - "Religious leader" goes free

And there's STILL no mention of the "Religious Leader's" name! There's no mention here, here or here either. Imam got their tongue, I wonder? (They may have let him go but it looks like they got a couple of Shayk Asif Farooqui's relatives, though.)

Four men have been charged with terror-related offences after raids last week, Greater Manchester Police have said.

Israr Malik, 21, of Fallowfield, Manchester, has been charged with intending to commit acts of terrorism, namely violent jihad.

Three others face charges of intending to assist others to commit terrorism.

They are Munir Farooqi, 52, of Longsight, Haris Farooqi, 26, of Levenshulme, both in Manchester, and Matthew Newton, 27, of Stalybridge.

Munir Farooqi, the father of Haris Farooqi, was also charged with three counts of soliciting or encouraging another to murder on 6 July, 15 October and 16 October this year.

All four are due to appear at City of Westminster Magistrates' Court in London on Monday.

A fifth man, aged 62, from Deane, Bolton, was released without charge. He is understood to be a Muslim cleric.

Update: Is this Israr Malik's Facebook page? (I don't want to friend him.)

Update: About Matthew Newton:

Matthew Newton w/ Bez before Islamization. --->

Newton was reported to have previously run a clothing business with the son of the former Celebrity Big Brother winner Bez, of the Happy Mondays band.

For his part, Bez sez -

Bez, the Happy Mondays' dancer and winner of the Celebrity Big Brother television series in 2005, discovered this week one of his friends was arrested for allegedly recruiting British citizens to train in Taliban camps in Afghanistan.

According to Britain's The Sun tabloid, Matthew Newton, who once ran a T-shirt firm with Bez's (real name Mark Berry) son, Arlo, was arrested with four men aged 21 to 67 in a sweep on Monday.

"It's shocking for me and my dad," Arlo told The Sun. "Matt's a top geezer. I've known him for two or three years. He got on with my dad and with everyone."

<--- Matthew Newton after Islamization.

The Sun reports Newton converted to Islam two years ago. It also says his Facebook page shows in clean-shaven with Bez at one point, and later wearing "Muslim garb" and sporting a beard.

Bez's spokesperson told The Sun Newton's arrest has "nothing to do with Bez."

Jihadwatch brings the phunny: Four "misunderstanders" of Islam face terror charges.

More on the UK "Religious Leader" arrested on terror charges.

The interesting thing - the "Religious Leader's" name is never mentioned in this article. (Shaykh Asif Farooqui) And neither is his mosque. (Ar-Rahman Masjid) You'd think they were trying to persuade people that Islam is a religion of peace or something. Nothing to see here. Move along, sheeple.

Terror raid protest at police HQ

I don't know - do they look like moderates to you? Me neither. ---->

About 120 people are taking part in a protest outside Greater Manchester Police (GMP) headquarters in support of those arrested in terror raids.

Five men were arrested on Monday on suspicion of inciting terrorism overseas following raids across Greater Manchester and near Heathrow Airport.

Police were given seven days to question the men, aged 21-62.

A force spokesman said it recognised the community had some concerns regarding the ongoing investigation. He said: "We fully recognise people's right to protest and whenever an event is organised GMP will work alongside the organisers to ensure a safe event."

If it's all the same to the protesters, based on past experience Dinah will wait to see what charges are going to be filed before grabbing a sign and taking to the streets to declare his innocence. That goes ditto for signing an online petition.

Related:

UK "Religious Leader" arrested in terror raid. Foreign implications. More arrests to follow.

A follow up on the UK "Religious Leader" arrested on terror charges.

White House Study Looks at Job Creation in IL if Gitmo Prisoners Transferred There

Didn't I tell you the ix-fay was in?

President Obama's Council of Economic Advisers has prepared an economic analysis of job creation if the federal government takes over the underutilized Thomson Correctional Center in Illinois for the purposes of housing detainees currently at Guantanamo Bay, as the Obama administration is strongly considering doing.

Over the first four years, the CEA assesment states, the facility would create 840 - 910 temporary jobs and 3,180 - 3,880 ongoing jobs, increasing local earnings by a cumulative $793 to $1,015 million.

"Approximately 80% of all of the jobs created by the facility will be held by people residing in Illinois, while people in Iowa will fill the remaining jobs," the study states. "These jobs could reduce the unemployment rate in Carroll County, Illinois, where Thomson is located, by 2 to 4 percentage points."

You can find the report here. (I'm printing it out to fisk later.)

Related: Gitmo in the News.

Must see! Steven does Gitmo.

Ft. Hood Jihadi: Will likely plead not guilty by reason of insanity...

or some Bullshi%.

The defense attorney for accused his client will probably plead not guilty and that an insanity defense is possible.

"I anticipate that the plea will be not guilty," said defense attorney John Galligan.

Asked if he was considering an insanity plea for his client, who faces 13 counts of premeditated murder, Galligan said, "I'm fairly confident that that's going to have to at least be examined. And that's problematic. But we haven't reached that stage yet."

Galligan said he has also learned that his client, who will be tried in a military court, may face additional charges for the Nov. 5 shooting spree in Fort Hood, Texas. He said he was alerted to the new charges during a pre-trial confinement hearing before a military magistrate held in Hasan's San Antonio hospital room Saturday.

More lawyering:

"In the 36 years I've dealt with military justice cases," Galligan said, "this is the first time I have ever had to go to an ICU to conduct a hearing. "We could have conducted this hearing next week. He is paralyzed. He is not going on leave." (For some reason this made me smile.)

Or is it complaining?

Galligan said he does not expect the Army to move his client from Brooke AMC immediately, but he does want to know when Hasan might be moved and where he might be moved. Hasan's official change in status from pre-trial restriction to pre-trial confinement, which was the subject of the Saturday hearing, also limits the number of people who can visit him.

"He is still a patient, but he is also a pretrial confinee," Galligan said. "There was not a compelling government interest to change his status at this time. "Given that condition, why is he anything but a patient?"

(Perhaps because he already shot up an Army base, killing 14 and wounding dozens? Just a wild guess. P.S. I hope the visitors he DOES get are thoroughly frisked for weapons or contraband.)

Rocky Mountain Jihadi: Requests US intelligence files

Get used to the idea of leftist lawyers running rough shod through the classified files of our US intelligence agencies.

From Newsday.com:

Lawyers for terror suspect Najibullah Zazi arrested last summer on charges he plotted to kill Americans with homemade bombs, want prosecutors to search the files of U.S. intelligence agencies to see if there is information which could help the defense.

In a filing in Brooklyn federal court, defense attorney Michael J. Dowling of Denver, said that while the case is covered by special procedures for classified information, prosecutors still have an obligation to contact intelligence agencies for such information.

Dowling told Newsday he was referring to the Central Intelligence Agency, National Security Agency, Defense Intelligence Agency and other government units.

Such requests for exculpatory information are routine in criminal cases. In Zazi's case, the information being sought relates to witnesses or potential witnesses, including financial data and information about their drug abuse and mental illness, according to the filing.

But the fact prosecutors are invoking the classified information procedures act to protect evidence could complicate the way any secret information is used in the case.

9/11 plotters to plead not guilty in order to "air their criticisms of US foreign policy".

We told you this was going to happen...

From Breitbart:

Scott Fenstermaker, the lawyer for accused terrorist Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali, said the men would not deny their role in the 2001 attacks but "would explain what happened and why they did it." The five men facing trial in the Sept. 11 attacks will plead not guilty so that they can air their criticisms of US foreign policy the lawyer for one of the defendants said Sunday.

...

Ali, also known as Ammar al-Baluchi, is a nephew of professed 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. Mohammed, Ali and the others will explain "their assessment of American foreign policy," Fenstermaker said.

"Their assessment is negative," he said.

Fenstermaker met with Ali last week at the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. He has not spoken with the others but said the men have discussed the trial among themselves.

Critics of Attorney General Eric Holder's decision to try the men in a New York City civilian courthouse have warned that the trial would provide the defendants with a propaganda platform.

Department of Justice, said Sunday that while the men may attempt to use the trial to express their views, "we have full confidence in the ability of the courts and in particular the federal judge who may preside over the trial to ensure that the proceeding is conducted appropriately and with minimal disrupton, as federal courts have done in the past."

You mean like this case?

Aafia Siddiqui aka The Grey Lady of al Qaeda's latest stunt.

Looks like there's been more court room shenanigans from al Qaeda's gun moll. Following her al Qaeda training manual to a tee, she continues to disrupt her trial at every turn. Just imagine what it's going to be like when KSM hits town:

From the AP:

A U.S.-trained scientist accused of shooting at FBI agents and helping al-Qaida vowed Thursday to boycott her January trial.

Aafia Siddiqui interrupted lawyers at her pretrial hearing in U.S. District Court in Manhattan to announce that she did not plan to participate in her trial, scheduled for Jan. 19.

"I am boycotting this trial," she said. "I am innocent of all the charges and I can prove it, but I will not do it in this court."

...

Before he (Judge Berman) ruled on the request, Siddiqui said visits by her lawyers were "torture for me" and it was a waste of money for lawyers to go to Afghanistan to interview witnesses because she was not participating in the trial.

"I'm not dealing with them anymore," Siddiqui said of her lawyers. "They're just people coming to my door and talking, talking, talking."

During a break, Siddiqui was led out of the courtroom by U.S. marshals when she would not stop talking loudly. "Take me out," she said. "I'm not coming back."

And speaking of court room shenanigans - check out the stunts the motions her defense team put forward and then just imagine all the legal machinations and maneuvering that will toccur at the KSM trial. It's going to be a freaking zoo:

A US Federal Court has rejected Dr Aafia Siddiqui’s defence team’s appeal to dismiss the case against her as the alleged crime was not committed on the American soil. At a pre-trial hearing Judge Richard Berman cited a congressional statute as well as past precedent to rule that the court had jurisdiction in Dr. Siddiqui's case. Siddiqui, is in a New York jail charged with attacking US interrogators in Afghanistan in July 2008 and was brought to New York in US custody the following month.

The defence argued that it was against the Geneva conventions to try Dr. Aafia Siddiqui for attempted murder in the US when the crime was allegedly committed in Afghanistan.

Siddiqui on her part protested the proceedings and was sent to another room to watch the proceedings on a closed circuit TV.

In another motion, the defence asked the court to throw out the first count of the indictment against Dr. Siddiqui on technical grounds but that motion was also dismissed

More posts detailing The Grey Lady of al Qaeda's courtroom antics can be found here.

Firefight in Waterpur Valley, Afghanistan

Afghanistan: Serena Hotel hit by rocket attack, 4 injured.

Update: Looks like we have our culprit.

Gulbuddin Hekmatyar --->

Hizb-e-Islami chief Gulbuddin Hekmatyar claims responsibility for Saturday's rocket attack near the luxury Serena Hotel in Kabul. Hekmatyar took responsibility for the Saturday attack in an interview with local media outlets, IRIB reported.

From the LA Times:

Suspected insurgents fired a rocket Saturday at a luxury hotel that had previously come under attack, injuring two people and rekindling fears that foreigners are being targeted in the capital. The projectile hit just outside the perimeter wall of the hotel, where a number of foreign humanitarian workers, forced to relocate after a deadly strike on a U.N. guesthouse last month, have been staying.

The Serena, Afghanistan's only five-star hotel, was the scene of a major attack in January 2008, when it was stormed by gunmen and suicide bombers in a coordinated assault that killed seven people. Security was tightened after that strike, and the hotel now resembles a fortress. With a night's stay costing more than most Afghans earn in a month, the clientele is nearly all foreign.

Police officers and soldiers cordoned off the area after the early-evening attack, which left a small pile of rubble near the perimeter wall. Witnesses said one of the injured was a policeman and the other appeared to be a civilian.

Insurgents have been lobbing rockets into the capital with increasing frequency. The poorly aimed projectiles, usually fired from the city's outskirts, rarely cause serious damage or injuries, but do generate a sense of unease.

The Serena was also hit by a rocket Oct. 28, the same day of the attack on the U.N. guesthouse. Eight people, including five U.N. workers, died in the guesthouse siege, which prompted the United Nations to move hundreds of workers to other parts of Afghanistan or out of the country. A number of humanitarian groups followed suit.

US: Man kills brother in 'honor killing'.

The Afghan immigrant told authorities it was an "honor killing". You make the call.

From the Herald Net:

Mehdi Matin told homicide detectives he called off his marriage to an Afghan woman 23 years ago over an offensive remark his brother made about his bride-to-be.

Matin, 61, said he felt tortured by his decision for years. So when his brother Isa Mehri, 60, repeated the remark last month, he fetched a pipe and clobbered his brother in the head with it, court papers said.

Matin is accused of beating Mehri with the metal pipe, strangling him with a rope and leaving the body outside for two days before calling authorities.

The California man was charged earlier this week with second- degree murder with a deadly weapon in connection with the Oct. 26 homicide. Matin pleaded not guilty to the charge Friday. He is being held on a $1 million bail.

Matin, an Afghan immigrant, allegedly told investigators the slaying was an “honor killing,” Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Travis Johnson wrote.

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