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Fri 24 Nov, 2006 05:15 pm
For what I read and see the city of Baghdad as well as much of Iraq is in total civil chaos and;
Faleh Hasan Shanshal, a political aide of Moqtadr al-Sadr, said on Friday: "We have asked al-Maliki to cancel his meeting with Bush as there is no reason to meet the criminal who is behind terrorism in Iraq.
"We will suspend our membership in parliament and the cabinet if he goes ahead."
Nuri al-Maliki, the Shia prime minister, is scheduled to meet with George Bush, the US president, in Jordan on November 29.
"This is a sign of an alliance between Saddamists, takfiris (Sunni extremists) and the occupation forces," the statement said.
The way i see it, Bush as perhaps 60 days to comeup with a "new plan" that might be
(1) turn the whole mess over to the UN and bug out.
(2) turn the whole mess over to Iraq neighbors such as Syria/Saudi Arabia/Jordan and bug out.
(3) proclaim that the dems now have control of congress so Iraq is their problem and bug out
(4) stay the course (and then bug out)
BEIRUT, Lebanon - Business leaders hit Lebanon with a strike on Friday to protest violence and political infighting as the country's political crisis intensified after the slaying of a Christian leader.
With tension running high a day after a massive demonstration outside the funeral of Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel, factories, banks and financial institutions closed on orders from business community leaders who held a meeting on Thursday.
The Western-backed prime minister is locked in a power struggle with the pro-Syrian president and is in dispute with the Parliament speaker, who also is a Syria supporter.
There has been no response to Saniora's appeal to the resigning ministers to come back to the fold and for the opposition to engage in dialogue with the government.
Further stoking the tension was Saniora's call for a Cabinet session on Saturday to approve a protocol sent by the United Nations to set up an international tribunal to try suspects in the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri - a highly divisive issue because Syrian officials have been implicated in the murder. Damascus has denied it had anything to do with the murder.
The Cabinet - without its Shia ministers - earlier this month approved the U.N.-drafted framework over the objections of the president and the Shias who claimed the government was no longer constitutional.
Pro-government groups who have blamed Gemayel's assassination on Syria have warned that more killings may be in store to deny the Cabinet the legal two-thirds quorum of 16. Syria has denied the accusations and condemned the killing.
MOSCOW Russia has begun delivery of Tor-M1 air-defence missile systems to Iran, confirming that it is proceeding with arms deals despite Western criticism.
An official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, declined to specify when the deliveries had been made and how many systems had been delivered.
Officials had said previously that Moscow would supply 29 of the sophisticated missile systems to Iran under a $700 million (£565 million) contract, signed in December.
from what i read , many citizens that can afford it , are leaving both iraq and lebanon .
since many of these are medical doctors , craftsmen , merchants and other professionals , the countries are "being sucked dry" and will no doubt suffer for many more years to come - no matter what happens now - the train has left the station .
what is that chinese proverb : "may you live in interesting times ! " .
hbg
I will not be happy until Bush is officialy charged with war crimes.
As Lebanon's government tries to maintain its shaky grip on power, sources tell TIME that Tehran and Damascus are shipping weapons to the militant Shi'ite group
By ELAINE SHANNON/WASHINGTON AND TIM MCGIRK/BEIRUT
SUBSCRIBE TO TIMEPRINTE-MAILMORE BY AUTHOR
* Viewpoint: What the U.S. Hasn't Learned in Lebanon
* Background: Lebanon Buries a Dream
* Fallout: Cabinet Ministers Wonder Who's Next
Posted Friday, Nov. 24, 2006
Iran is smuggling weapons through Syria to re-arm Lebanese allies Hizballah, despite renewed efforts by United Nations peacekeepers and the Lebanese army to seal off the mountain borders with Syria in the wake of last summer's war between the Shi'ite militia and Israel, according to reports by Saudi and Israeli intelligence sources that have been confirmed by western diplomats in Beirut.
Israeli military officials in Tel Aviv say that Hizballah replenished nearly half of its pre-war stockpiles of short-range missiles and small arms. But western diplomats in Beirut say these calculations under-estimate the weapons flow and that Hizballah has now filled its war chest with over 20,000 short-range missiles -- a similar amount fo what they had at the start of the conflict, during which the group is believed to have fired over 3,000 rockets at Israel. "The Iranian pipeline through Syria was already working during the war," despite constant Israeli bombing raids on the roads into Lebanon from Syria, this Beirut source said. Officially, Syria and Iran deny that they're supplying weapons to Hizballah. As for the Shi'ite group itself, when asked about receiving a new shipment of arms from Syria and Iran, a spokesman told TIME, without elaborating, "We have more than enough weapons if Israel tries to attack us again."
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Revenge-seeking Shiite militiamen seized six Sunnis as they left Friday prayers, drenched them with kerosene and burned them alive, and Iraqi soldiers did nothing to stop the attack, police and witnesses said.
The fiery slayings in the mainly Sunni neighborhood of Hurriyah were a dramatic escalation of the brutality coursing through the Iraqi capital, coming a day after suspected Sunni insurgents killed 215 people in Baghdad's main Shiite district with a combination of bombs and mortars.
The attacks culminated Baghdad's deadliest week of sectarian fighting since the war began more than three years ago.
Police Capt. Jamil Hussein said Iraqi soldiers at a nearby army post failed to intervene in the burnings of Sunnis carried out by suspected members of the Shiite Mahdi Army militia, or in subsequent attacks that torched four Sunni mosques and killed at least 19 other Sunnis, including women and children, in the same northwest Baghdad area.
Where are all the statesmen when you need one?
edgarblythe wrote:Where are all the statesmen when you need one?
Being smeared as cowards, appeasers and defeatists by those bereft of any idea beyond "stay the course."
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - With Iraq near all-out civil war, the Bush administration is renewing efforts to break the cycle of violence there by enlisting the help of moderate Arab nations while also seeking to tackle the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. President George W. Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki are due to meet next week and Vice President Dick Cheney left for Saudi Arabia on Friday for talks on the Middle East.
dyslexia wrote:MOSCOW Russia has begun delivery of Tor-M1 air-defence missile systems to Iran, confirming that it is proceeding with arms deals despite Western criticism.
An official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, declined to specify when the deliveries had been made and how many systems had been delivered.
Officials had said previously that Moscow would supply 29 of the sophisticated missile systems to Iran under a $700 million (£565 million) contract, signed in December.
Exporting ammunition is always Russia's main income source, regardless it will bring great damages to the import countries. Condemn the Siberian bear!
Roger Su wrote:dyslexia wrote:MOSCOW Russia has begun delivery of Tor-M1 air-defence missile systems to Iran, confirming that it is proceeding with arms deals despite Western criticism.
An official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, declined to specify when the deliveries had been made and how many systems had been delivered.
Officials had said previously that Moscow would supply 29 of the sophisticated missile systems to Iran under a $700 million (£565 million) contract, signed in December.
Exporting ammunition is always Russia's main income source, regardless it will bring great damages to the import countries. Condemn the Siberian bear!
Agreed. The Bear stands condemned.
By the way, do you have to hand the comparable figures for export dollars from the sale of weapons technologies and systems for both Russian and the US?
"Where are all the statesmen when you need one? "
my old boss used to say : "statesmen are politicians who've lost their teeth !" :wink:
hbg
blatham wrote:Roger Su wrote:dyslexia wrote:MOSCOW Russia has begun delivery of Tor-M1 air-defence missile systems to Iran, confirming that it is proceeding with arms deals despite Western criticism.
An official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, declined to specify when the deliveries had been made and how many systems had been delivered.
Officials had said previously that Moscow would supply 29 of the sophisticated missile systems to Iran under a $700 million (£565 million) contract, signed in December.
Exporting ammunition is always Russia's main income source, regardless it will bring great damages to the import countries. Condemn the Siberian bear!
Agreed. The Bear stands condemned.
By the way, do you have to hand the comparable figures for export dollars from the sale of weapons technologies and systems for both Russian and the US?
THE BEAR STANDS CONDEMNED?
Quote:THE BEAR STANDS CONDEMNED?
Better that than to be condemned in the prone.
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