In memoriam, Linda Norgrove, humanitarian in Afghanistan

The New York Times reports:

A Scottish aid worker who was taken hostage two weeks ago by the Taliban in eastern Afghanistan was killed by her captors early Saturday during an unsuccessful rescue raid, according to the British Foreign Office.

The aid worker, Linda Norgrove, 36, was regional director of a jobs program financed by the United States Agency for International Development for Afghanistan’s eastern region.

Former colleagues described her as a person of enormous warmth and kindness who was deeply committed to helping people in poor areas of the world and who had spent years in Peru and Laos as well as in Afghanistan.

Ms. Norgrove loved Afghanistan from the first time she arrived in 2005 on a United Nations mission, colleagues said. While many United Nations workers stay for a year or two, she stayed for more than three years working on environmental programs and helping to administer an alternative livelihoods program for farmers in poppy farming regions.

In her latest job she was the only expatriate in the Jalalabad office of DAI, directing about 200 Afghan professionals and coordinating with Afghan ministries and local companies. Sensitive to local tradition, she always wore the long, loose tunic and trousers known as a shalwar kameez and covered her hair with a large scarf. “I’ve seen few people among Afghan and Muslim people like her,” said a man who worked with her who gave his name as Bakhtiar. “She was very kind, very helpful, a lovely lady, a very respectful woman.”

Deepest condolences and sympathies to Linda Norgrove’s family and friends.

Defense ministers arrive for meeting in Vietnam

Defense Secretary Robert Gates, right, is greeted by, from left, Sr. Col. Nguyen Hong Quang, Maj. Gen. Nguyen Huu Manh, and Second Lt. Nguyen Thang Anh as he deplanes a U.S. Military Aircraft as he arrives at the Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi, Vietnam, Sunday, Oct. 10, 2010. Gates is in Vietnam to reassure jittery Southeast Asian nations this week that the United States won't cede its longtime role as the pre-eminent military power in the Pacific as Chinese naval ambitions expand. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, Pool)

Monday, October 11, 2010
AP

HANOI, Vietnam — Defense ministers from Asian and other nations began arriving in Vietnam's capital Sunday for a regional security meeting that follows the heating of a number of sea disputes involving China.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates is attending the two-day meeting of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, where he will hold military talks with Chinese Gen. Liang Guanglie — the first between the countries in eight months after China cut off contact to protest a U.S. arms package for Taiwan.

The United States is concerned that the newly heated territorial disputes could hurt access to one of the world's busiest commercial sea lanes.

In addition to meeting the Chinese general, Gates will meet with delegates from some of the small nations that want U.S. support to counter the growth of China as a regional power.

Pentagon officials traveling with Gates said he will make the same argument about U.S. interests in the Pacific and the limits of Chinese dominion that has infuriated China before. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity ahead of sensitive discussions among Southeast Asian defense chiefs.

The gathering, which starts Monday, comes a month after a spat between China and Japan involving a collision between a Chinese trawler and two Japanese patrol vessels off disputed islands in the East China Sea claimed by both countries.

Japan detained the Chinese boat captain, enraging Beijing. He was eventually released, and the two countries officially announced an end to the dispute last week, but each continues to claim the territory.

Japanese Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa planned to meet with his Chinese counterpart in Hanoi, according to Kyodo News agency, in what would be the first military-to-military talks since the incident.

Vietnam last week also accused China of detaining nine of its fishermen last month in the South China Sea near the Paracel Islands that are claimed by both countries. Vietnam's Foreign Ministry has demanded that the sailors be released, but China says the boat owner must first pay a fine for fishing with explosives, the ministry said.

China claims sovereignty over the entire South China Sea, including the Paracel and Spratly islands, which are also claimed in whole or in part by Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia, Brunei and the Philippines.

China has become more aggressive in asserting its sovereignty over the disputed areas, prompting U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to say in July that it was in the U.S. national interest for the Communist giant to resolve territorial claims in the South China Sea with its neighbors.

The defense meeting brings together the ASEAN countries — Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam — along with counterparts from Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, Russia and the United States.

Associated Press Writer Anne Gearan contributed to this report.

We must agree with Chua Soi Lek on need to review the 30% Bumi Equity.

Chua Reiterates Need To Review 30 Per Cent Bumiputera Equity

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 10 (Bernama) -- MCA chief Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek Sunday reiterated the need for the government to review the 30 per cent Bumiputera equity target in line with the Economic Transformation Plan (ETP).
He said this was also to allow the economic cake of the country to expand further and to achieve its target of high income growth of six per cent annually.
He said the 12 major economic sectors under the National Key Economic Areas (NKEAS) including oil and gas and telecommunication, should also be liberalised.
Speaking to reporters after the conclusion of MCA's 57th annual general meeting at Wisma MCA here, Dr Chua these were crucial elements to quantum leap the country into a high-income developed nation.
"Every Malaysian is the shareholder of the country. So when there is a good economic growth, everybody would get a good slice of the economic cake.
"But if we are unable to liberalise and achieve good economic growth, then the economic cake and the slice that we have would be very limited," he said.
However, Dr Chua stressed that this did not mean "robbing Ali to pay Ah Chong or vice versa".
When asked whether the party was ready to disagree with UMNO on certain national issues, Dr Chua said MCA, as a mono-ethnic political party in a multiracial country, there should always be the need to accept the political varieties of all parties, adding that national interests should be above parties' interests.
tunku : i agree with chua soi lek, lets review the 30 per cent bumiputera equity policy, it is not applicable anymore.the percentage should match the population percentage.that means bumi equity should be at least 60% to be fair.the 30% is not fair to the bumis.chua soi lek, be grateful and look around.

Pakistan Opens Khyber Crossing to NATO Supply Trucks but issues Threats over Hot Pursuit

The Pakistani government has decided to reopen the Torkham border crossing between Pakistan and Afghanistan, the route whereby 70 percent of US/ NATO supplies and 40 percent of fuel are brought by truck into Afghanistan. The Pakistani Frontier Corps and the Afghanistan National Army began work Sunday to coordinate the clearing of the huge backlog of trucks that have been stuck at the crossing for a week and a half. Some reports say that the opening is expected to occur on Monday.

Pakistan closed the crossing to trucks transporting goods for NATO & the US after a September 30 incident in which US helicopter gunships made incursions into Pakistani territory and then fired missiles at a Frontiers Corps checkpoint, apparently mistaking the scouts for Taliban. Two scouts were killed and four wounded. Pakistani nerves were already raw because of unmanned drone strikes on Pakistani territory. US President Barack Obama and Gen. David Petraeus appear to have decided to push for more hot pursuit missions into Pakistan from Afghanistan, and this decision was absolutely unacceptable to the Pakistani military, as well as to the public. When the Frontiers Corps scouts were killed, Chief of Staff Gen. Ashfaq Kayani appears to have felt the moment opportune to nip the ‘hot pursuit’ doctrine in the bud by closing the main NATO transport route and reminding Washington just how badly it needs Pakistani good will.

The US and NATO were forced into uncharacteristic apologies to the Pakistani government, over which Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani and President Asaf Zardari waxed lyrical, and which appear to have mollified public opinion somewhat and to have saved face for the Pakistani elite. My guess is that the US has given representations to Kayani that no uncoordinated hot pursuits will be launched into Pakistan from Afghanistan by the US military.

In fact, In fact, Interior Minister Rahman Malik openly threatened the US and NATO after the apology was issued:: “Pakistani forces are capable of defending the sovereignty of the country and in case of any incursion in future, they will use any option in response.”

To add insult to injury, the Pakistani government is considering imposing a tax on the NATO supply trucks. The huge trucks tear up the roads and do represent a cost to the government.

CNN has a video report on the reopening of the border crossing at the Khyber Pass:

In the past week and a half, as the border closure idled the some 3000 trucks that typically are on the roads supplying NATO, the Pakistani Taliban sent 150 fuel trucks into flames and killed 15 persons. Wire services quote some truck drivers as saying that driving these supply trucks is getting too risky.

The whole affair reveals how weak Bush’s wars have made the US. In 2001 Bush officials could just threaten to reduce Pakistan to rubble if it did not turn on the Taliban and join the Bush “war on terror.”

Now, with the US bogged down in Afghanistan and Iraq and in the wake of 9 years during which the US military was shown supremely vulnerable to unconventional military tactics, no such threat directed at Islamabad would be taken seriously. The US genuinely needs Pakistani help. The threats are being issued in the opposite direction, and the US military is the party that is being forced to swallow its pride and make an about-face on policy.

Israeli Cabinet Approves Loyalty Oath For New Citizens

The Israeli Cabinet has approved an amendment to a citizenship law that requires new citizens to declare their loyalty to a “Jewish and democratic state,” the prime minister’s office said Sunday.

A statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office confirmed vote, saying 22 ministers voted for the change and eight voted against it.

Now that the proposal has passed the Cabinet, it will be taken up by Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, for passage into law.

Netanyahu cited the nation’s Declaration of Independence, which says Israel is both the “national state of the Jewish people” and a democratic state “in which all its citizens — Jewish and non-Jewish — enjoy fully equal rights.”

“Democracy is the soul of Israel and we cannot do without it,” Netanyahu said, according to a statement from his media adviser.

He noted that Israel was the only democracy in the Middle East, and that “there is no other Jewish state in the world.”

“The combination of these two lofty values expresses the foundation of our national life and anyone who would like to join us needs to recognize this,” Netanyahu said.

Netanyahu announced last week he would push now for adding language to Israel’s citizenship and entry law that would declare a new citizen’s allegiance to “a Jewish and democratic state.”

After the prime minister announced the push, but before Sunday’s Cabinet vote, Arab Knesset member Hanin Zoabi said that Israel is “discriminative in its policies and laws against all who are not Zionists.” Zoabi went on to say the law “not only discriminates between Jews and non Jews, it also discriminates between Zionist Jews and non Zionists Jews.”

Another Arab Knesset member Ahmed Tibi, from the Ra’am-Ta’al party, criticized the move as well, saying that “the values of Jewish and Democratic cannot be in the same definition because democracy is the equality of all the citizens.”

“But an ethnic definition as Jewish is the preference of the Jew over that of the Arab and therefore it fixates an inferior status to 20 percent of the population,” Tibi said.

(Read More: CNN)

US Embassy Concerns Grow in Yemen

A US embassy spokesperson in Sana'a Yemen tells Fox News they are "sincerely concerned" following the Al Qaeda attack on a British diplomatic convoy today. They "condemn the terror attack" which left one Briton and three Yemeni's injured.

A "warden message" is being issued advising American citizens to maintain "vigilance" during this period.

A diplomatic source in Sana'a tells Fox News the US embassy has been under a "heightened alert" since late summer for a terror attack. The source also describes the US embassy as the "number one hard target" for the terrorists.

The attack on the UK convoy occurred not far from the US embassy and near a five star hotel frequented by foreigners.

It is reported an LAW anti-tank rocket was used in the attack.

The target of today's attack was the Deputy UK Ambassador, Fiona Gibbs, who recently arrived in the country.

The outgoing Ambassador escaped uninjured after being targeted by a suicide bomber in April.

The US embassy was hit by a double suicide bomb attack in 2008

A French national was also shot and killed and a Briton injured by a Yemeni guard at an oil facility outside Sana'a. It is also being portrayed as an Al Qaeda attack.

Read more: http://liveshots.blogs.foxnews.com/2010/10/06/us-embassy-concerns-grow-in-yemen/#ixzz11gKDLVMN

Judge Bans Key Witness in First Terror Trial Moved to Civilian Courts, Cites Enhanced Interrogation

It is what everybody predicted would happen. When Attorney General Stedman Graham er, Eric Holder announced that some of the Gitmo terrorist trials would be switched from military tribunals to civilian courts, people warned that key evidence would now be thrown out because it was obtained by enhanced interrogation techniques such as water boarding. That’s exactly what happened to day in the trial of Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani whose trial was moved into the civilian system last year. The terrorist Ghailani is charged with conspiring in the 1998 bombings of the United States Embassies in Tanzania and Kenya, that killed 224 people.

The witness who was banned from testifying, Hussein Abebe, says he sold TNT to Mr. Ghailani that was later used to blow up the United States Embassy in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The Judge agreed that the government learned of Mr. Abebe through Mr. Ghailani’s interrogation when he was being held in an overseas jail run by the Central Intelligence Agency.

According to Ghailani’s attorney, the terrorist underwent coercive interrogation and torture while in C.I.A. custody, and that any statements or evidence derived from them is tainted and inadmissible. The prosecution said Mr. Abebe’s decision to cooperate was voluntary and only remotely linked to Mr. Ghailani’s interrogation. “This is a giant witness for the government,” a prosecutor, Michael Farbiarz, told the judge last week, adding, “There’s nothing bigger than him.” Mr. Farbiarz cited Mr. Abebe’s testimony that Mr. Ghailani made repeated trips to buy “black-market explosives” from him, adding, “That’s done for not many reasons in this life.”

Judge Lewis Kaplan announced his decision today, blocking the government from calling their “Giant Witness”

“The court has not reached this conclusion lightly,” said U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan in Manhattan. “But the Constitution is the rock upon which our nation rests. We must follow it not only when it is convenient, but when fear and danger beckon in a different direction. To do less would diminish us and undermine the foundation upon which we stand.”

Jury selection had been expected to resume on Wednesday. However, the case will now resume on Oct. 12 to give prosecutors time to determine whether they want to appeal the judge’s decision.

This morning former terror trial prosecutor, Andrew McCarthy wrote about the case in the National Review, and foreshadowed today’s ruling:

The Obama administration has made Ghailani its test case to prove that the civilian criminal-justice system works perfectly well in wartime against enemy combatants — to show that we don’t need military commissions or other alternatives specially tailored to address the peculiarities of terrorism cases. The administration figured Ghailani was a safe bet. After all, the embassy-bombing case had already been successfully prosecuted once: In 2001, prior to 9/11, four jihadists were tried, convicted, and sentenced to life imprisonment (although the jury voted to spare the two death-penalty defendants).Yet, to prove its political point that there is no downside in vesting Ghailani — a Tanzanian national whose only connection to the United States is his decision to make war on it — with all the constitutional rights of an American citizen, the Justice Department has had to slash its case. DOJ is also finding that even more critical evidence may be suppressed by the trial judge. In short, the slam dunk has become a horse race, one the government could actually lose.

Nice Job President Obama and AG Holder! Your quest to appease the Muslim world and make nice to your progressive base by transferring the terror trials to the US may achieve the result we were all fearful of, terrorists being acquitted and sent out to kill again. Should we get the feared result, I suppose the President will do the one thing he has been consistently successful at, blaming President Bush.