Posts tagged "USA"

5 U.S.suspected of terror links

by Asad on Dec 10, 2009 Islam, Muslims, North America, Pakistan, Terrorism, World News • Comments Closed • Islam, Muslims, North America, Pakistan, Talibaan, Terrorism, USA, world

Nihad Awad, national executive director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, spoke in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday about the arrests in Pakistan of five Americans

Police in Pakistan raided a house linked to an Islamic militant group Wednesday and arrested five young American Muslim men from the Washington, D.C., area, U.S. and Pakistani officials said.

One of the young men had left behind a video showing scenes of war, calling for the defense of Muslims and saying that “young Muslims have to do something,” said a person who had seen the video, describing it as a farewell of sorts.

It was the third known case since September in which Americans with ties to the Pakistan-Afghanistan region have been detained over possible terrorist connections.

The men were not accused of any crime, but their intent remained mysterious, and both U.S. and Pakistani officials emphasized that they were still gathering facts.

The five Americans, ranging in age from 19 to 25, were arrested in Sargodha, a dusty city in Punjab province, where several militant organizations with links to al-Qaeda and the Pakistani Taliban operate, according to a senior Pakistani official and a U.S. official in Washington. Both spoke on condition of anonymity.

Three of the men arrested Wednesday are Pakistani-Americans, one is a Yemeni-American and one an Egyptian-American, the Pakistani official said. Pakistani law enforcement officers had “continuously tracked” the men from the moment they arrived Dec. 1 at Karachi international airport. All carried U.S. passports, he said. (more…)

American hunter of bin Laden in Pakistan

by Abdullah on Jun 15, 2010 Osama, Pakistan, Terrorism, US • Comments Closed • Osama, Pakistan, Terrorism, USA

POLICE IN northwestern Pakistan have arrested an armed American man close to the Afghan border where he said he was on a mission to hunt down Osama bin Laden.

They detained Gary Faulkner, a 52-year-old construction worker, after a 10-hour search in the country’s lawless tribal areas.

Officers said he told them he planned to “decapitate” the al-Qaeda leader. He was carrying a 40-inch sword, a handgun and dagger, and was equipped with night-vision goggles.

A local police officer, Mumtaz Ahmad Khan, said: “We initially laughed when he told us that he wanted to kill Osama bin Laden.” Bin Laden has evaded capture ever since the 9/11 attacks that shocked the world and turned al-Qaeda into a global terror brand. Analysts believe the 53-year-old Saudi has slipped back and forth across the porous border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, relying on networks of tribal supporters in a region where central government holds little sway.

Last month, US secretary of state Hillary Clinton said bin Laden was hiding in Pakistan’s lawless border regions – and that he was being protected by Pakistani government officials.

However, some analysts also believe he may be dead, pointing out that video messages featuring the jihadi leader have all but dried up in recent years. Rumours have long circulated that he is struggling with kidney disease, or was badly wounded in an airstrike.

The tantalising prospect of tracking down such a notorious criminal has attracted a small band of bounty hunters and fantasists, lured by a $25 million (€20 million) FBI reward offered for information leading to his capture.

Mr Faulkner’s solo mission is the latest bizarre twist in the world’s highest-stakes game of hide-and-seek. He told police he visited Pakistan seven times.

On this occasion he arrived in the country at the start of the month and travelled to the district of Chitral, a mountainous area close to the Afghan border that attracts adventurous tourists for its hiking.

He was assigned a police guard – common in an area where foreigners are targeted by kidnap gangs. When he checked out without informing his minder, police launched a manhunt, according to Mr Khan, who was involved in the investigation.

“A search operation was launched and we found him 14 kilometres [nine miles] short of the Pakistan-Afghan border. He was trying to enter Nuristan,” said Mr Khan.

Nuristan is a stronghold of the Afghan Taliban, and along with Chitral is often mooted as a possible bin Laden safe haven. As well as his weapons, Mr Faulkner was also carrying a book of Christian verse.

“He said 9/11 caused colossal losses to the US, therefore he wanted to locate Osama bin Laden and his friends,” added Mr Khan.

He apparently told police: “God is with me, and I am confident I will be successful in killing him.” Mr Faulkner is being questioned by Pakistani intelligence agents.

Barack Obama’s Indian tango set to rattle Pakistan

by Abdullah on Nov 7, 2010 Pakistan, US, World News • Comments Closed • America, India, Pakistan, Politics, USA

President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle dance with students during a celebration of Diwali at a school in Mumbai

BARACK Obama has heralded a new phase in his country’s “indispensable” relationship with India at the weekend.

The US President signed $US10 billion ($9.85bn) worth of job-creating deals and flagged closer counter-terrorism ties with the world’s largest democracy.

But he also called for fresh dialogue between India and Pakistan and for India to recognise that its neighbour’s success was in its own best interests.

Mr Obama’s India visit, his first since taking office last year, has caused angst in neighbouring Pakistan, the US’s turbulent ally and India’s sworn rival, after it failed to convince the White House to include Islamabad on the US President’s four-nation Asia tour schedule.

Exacerbating Pakistani irritation was Saturday’s announcement of US support for India’s phased-in membership of the world’s major nuclear non-proliferation regimes – including the Nuclear Suppliers Group.

Neither India nor Pakistan has signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. But the US brought India in from the cold in 2008 with the civilian nuclear technology supply agreement, while Pakistan remains locked out of the nuclear club.

Mr Obama used a speech at St Xavier’s College in Mumbai yesterday to appeal to India and Pakistan to find common ground and restart talks towards a peaceful coexistence.

“Obviously the history between India and Pakistan is incredibly complex and was born of much tragedy. (But) it may be surprising to some of you to know that I am absolutely convinced that the country with the biggest stake in Pakistan’s success is India,” he said.

While Pakistan was not acting quickly enough to eradicate militancy within its borders, it had also suffered the greatest casualties because of that militancy and now recognised what a profound problem this was.

A day earlier, in Mumbai, the President and first lady Michelle Obama met families and victims of the 2008 terror strikes on the city at the Taj Hotel, the scene of a 72-hour siege by Pakistani gunmen. (more…)

Collateral Murder in Iraq

by Asad on Apr 6, 2010 Army, Child Abuse, Iraq, US • Comments Closed • Casualities, Civilian, Iraq, Shooting, USA

WikiLeaks has released a classified US military video depicting the indiscriminate slaying of over a dozen people in the Iraqi suburb of New Baghdad — including two Reuters news staff. Reuters has been trying to obtain the video through the Freedom of Information Act, without success since the time of the attack. The video, shot from an Apache helicopter gun-site, clearly shows the unprovoked slaying of a wounded Reuters employee and his rescuers. Two young children involved in the rescue were also seriously wounded. For further information please visit the special project website www.collateralmurder.com.

Cop protecting Obama accidentally shoots self

by Abdullah on Nov 7, 2010 India, Obama, Security, US • Comments Closed • India, Obama, Security, USA

An assistant police inspector from Mumbai’s police crime branch, which was ordered to protect US President Barack Obama during his visit to India, accidentally shot himself in the leg near the hotel where the president is staying.

The Hindustan Times reports that Suhas Chaudhary’s .38 was not locked, which led to the accidental firing on Saturday. Police report that Chaudhary had just finished his shift of guarding the Taj Mahal Hotel. When he was getting into his vehicle, he removed his gun and accidentally pulled the trigger.

No one else was reported to be injured and neither President Obama nor Michelle Obama were at the hotel when it happened. The bullet grazed Chaudhary’s leg before hitting the ground. He was taken to hospital.

Mumbai police’s crime branch is part of the outer security ring of the president’s three-day visit to the country, which concludes Monday. Obama’s 10-day trip to Asia will then move on to Jakarta, Seoul and Yokohama before he returns to Washington.

Drone attacks and US reputation

by admin on Feb 5, 2010 Afghanistan, Drones, Pakistan, Taliban, Terrorism, US • 4 Comments • Afghanistan, Army, Pakistan, Talibaan, Terrorism, USA

By Farhat Taj:

In terms of the drone attacks, the US must not make any distinction between al Qaeda and the Taliban. They both have internalised a global ideology that is anti-civilisation and anti-human

There is news coming up in the media that al Qaeda in Waziristan may run away to Yemen in the face of growing drone attacks. The people of Waziristan have expressed deep concern at this news. They do not want al Qaeda to run away from Waziristan. They want al Qaeda along with the Taliban burnt to ashes on the soil of Waziristan through relentless drone attacks. The drone attacks, they believe, are the one and only ‘cure’ for these anti-civilisation creatures and the US must robustly administer them the ‘cure’ until their existence is annihilated from the world. The people of Waziristan, including tribal leaders, women and religious people, asked me to convey in categorical terms to the US the following in my column.

One, your new drone attack strategy is brilliant, i.e. one attack closely followed by another. After the first attack the terrorists cordon off the area and none but the terrorists are allowed on the spot. Another attack at that point kills so many of them. Excellent! Keep it up!

Your drone technology has the full capacity to encircle and eliminate al Qaeda and the Taliban in Waziristan. If you fail to do so and al Qaeda manages to run away to Yemen or any other place, it could only happen in two cases: either you are highly incompetent people or you have ulterior motives.

The people who have established one of the world’s most vibrant democracies and have taken science and technology to a new zenith cannot be highly incompetent. Now the only possibility is that you have ulterior motives, which could facilitate al Qaeda’s escape from Waziristan. (more…)

Follies of the past

by Asad on Jan 16, 2010 Pakistan, Politics, US, World News, Zardari • Comments Closed • Pakistan, Politics, USA, Zardari

US delegation led by the Special Envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan, Richard Holbrooke, met President Zardari in Lahore. The president took up serious issues with Holbrooke keeping in view present and past circumstances in the region. Of great significance was President Zardari’s mention of fighting a ‘rival ideology’ in the past along with the US and the West. The reference was obviously to the Afghan communist regime and the ensuing battle between the mujahideen and the communists after the Soviet forces entered Afghanistan in support of their co-ideologists. President Zardari told Holbrooke that it was because of the Afghan jihad that militancy rose in Pakistan. Though this is certainly not something new for the Americans, the president’s reminder about the West’s role in general and the US’s role in particular in leading to the rise of religious extremism in this region is noteworthy. The covert support of the US for the jihadis in the Afghan war is no secret. It was a policy of the Cold War era, the West being an anti-communist bloc. Neither the US nor Pakistan thought much about supporting religious fanatics at that point in time, focused as they were on the struggle against communism. The unforeseen and unintended consequences of that strategy have landed the whole region in a mess today.

After the Soviet forces withdrew from Afghanistan, the US and the West did not look back at the war-torn country after 1989. The Afghans felt betrayed after all their sacrifices. Pakistan was left to pick up the pieces. Instead of starting a rehabilitation and reconstruction process in Afghanistan, Pakistan and other regional players started to pursue their own vested interests there. The mujahideen fell into a debilitating civil war in an already battered country and later on the Taliban were unleashed. At the end of it all, Pakistan was responsible for installing the most barbaric of regimes in Afghanistan, that of the Taliban. The US is as much responsible for this crisis, or maybe even more so, than any other regional player. If it had not left the Afghans high and dry after the war, things could have been significantly different. Pakistan was also greatly affected by the American indifference and consolidated the trend towards becoming a national security-driven state almost to the exclusion of everything else. Rising inflation, poverty, unemployment, the energy crisis, etc., are the costs of past historical follies. President Zardari’s reminder to Holbrooke was in this context. (more…)

Gates says U.S. to supply drone aircraft to Pakistan

by sufisahab on Jan 22, 2010 Army, Drones, Pakistan, Politics, Security, US • Comments Closed • Army, Pakistan, Politics, Security, USA

The United States will supply drone aircraft to Pakistan which will significantly enhance the country’s surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities, visiting U. S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Friday.

Talking to reporters in Islamabad, Gates said that 12 RQ-7 Shadow unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) will be part of one billion dollar allocation for Pakistan from its Coalition Support Fund.

He said weapons and equipment will also be provided to Pakistan for the war against terrorism.

The Shadow UAVs will help build the Pakistan Army’s capacity for intelligence-gathering, said the U.S. defense secretary.

Gates did not reply to a question whether the U.S. would impose any condition as that the Shadow drones could not be used along Pakistan’s eastern border with India. (more…)

GI charged in leaking war video

by Asad on Jul 7, 2010 Abuse, North America, Politics, Terrorism, World News • Comments Closed • Abuse, Terrorism, USA, Video, War

By Steven Lee Myers, The New York Times

BAGHDAD — A U.S. soldier who was arrested on charges of leaking a video of a deadly U.S. helicopter attack in Iraq in 2007 has also been charged with downloading more than 150,000 highly classified diplomatic cables that could, if made public, reveal the inner workings of U.S. embassies, the U.S. military in Iraq announced Tuesday.

The full contents of the cables remain unclear, but according to formal charges filed Monday, it appeared that a disgruntled soldier working at a remote base east of Baghdad had gathered some of the most guarded, if not always scandalous, secrets of U.S. diplomacy. He disclosed at least 50 of the cables “to a person not entitled to receive them,” according to the charges.

With the charges, a case that stemmed from the furor over a graphic and fiercely contested video of an attack from a U.S. helicopter that killed 12 people, including a reporter and a driver for Reuters, mushroomed into a far more extensive and potentially embarrassing leak.

The charges cited only one cable by name, “Reykjavik 13,” which appeared to be one made public by Wikileaks.org, a whistle-blowing website devoted to disclosing the secrets of governments and corporations. The website decoded and in April made public an edited version of the helicopter attack in a film it called “Collateral Murder.” (more…)

Google Shows Backbone In Michelle Obama Controversy

by Asad on Nov 25, 2009 North America, US • Comments Closed • America, Obama, USA

LOS ANGELES (YBH.ME) – If you type in the word “Michelle Obama” on Google and choose “images” instead of web results, you get the following photo in position number one for Michelle Obama:

Offensive image used to attract web visitors

Google is running an ad above the image that says “Sometimes our search results can be offensive. We agree. Read more.” The ad clicks through to a page where Google clarifies its image and search policy:

Search engines are a reflection of the content and information that is available on the Internet. A site’s ranking in Google’s search results relies heavily on computer algorithms using thousands of factors to calculate a page’s relevance to a given query.

We at YBH! think the image is ridiculous. However, we don’t call for its removal because it is offensive. The page that hosts it uses the photo to draw in visitors; it’s a sales gimmick and attention-getter, it’s working. There was an ad for Obama fave J. Crew on the page when we clicked through. It is not a right wing anti-Obama website, just a page full of ads looking for traffic. (more…)

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