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The more radical Shiites, who generally follow the theocratic notions of Iran's Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, routinely chant and demonstrate against Israel. | 1clean |
They vehemently protested the Israeli assassination of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the leader of Hamas, last March. | 1clean |
Worse for Israel, the assassination drew a denunciation even from the moderate and cautious Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, who wields enormous moral authority over Iraqi Shiites. | 1clean |
These Shiite movements had been suppressed by Saddam Hussein's regime, but have now organized and armed themselves. | 1clean |
They have also reestablished their historical links with Lebanese and Iranian Shiites. | 1clean |
Sunni Arab fundamentalists deeply sympathize with the Palestinians and with Hamas, and those in Iraq have deep historical inks with fundamentalists in Jordan and Palestine. | 1clean |
Secular Arab nationalist groups also universally sympathize with the Palestinians, and those in post-Saddam Iraq are no exception. | 1clean |
The anger has spread throughout the Muslim world, including Iraq. | 1clean |
The promotion by the pro-Zionist right of twin occupations - in the West Bank and in Iraq - has profoundly weakened, not strengthened, Israeli security. | 1clean |
THE DAILY STAR publishes this commentary in agreement with Agence Global | 1clean |
Tamils feel that the proposed defense agreement between India and Sri Lanka would encourage Sinhala rulers to prepare for another war abandoning the current peace process | 1clean |
But there are strong hints in the country that a new Indo-Sri Lanka defense deal could be in the making. | 1clean |
And this has already drawn protests from the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) which was backed by the LTTE in the April general elections held in Sri Lanka. | 1clean |
And that explains the delay in the signing of a formal defense agreement that was at the heart of Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga's four-day visit to India recently. | 1clean |
For that reason, he said, Kumaratunga's government was keen to beef up military preparedness with Indian support. | 1clean |
"The Sri Lankan government does not want to initiate a conflict but would be interested in deterring the LTTE from starting one. | 1clean |
And the Tigers look as if they are on the brink of launching another offensive," Muni told IPS. | 1clean |
Colombo held six rounds of talks with the Tigers between September 2002 and March 2003. | 1clean |
But last April, the rebels abruptly pulled out of negotiations demanding recognition, first, for the right to self-rule before proceeding any further. | 1clean |
Kumaratunga's India tour preceded a three-day visit to Sri Lanka by Norwegian Foreign Minister Jan Petersen in a new bid to revive the peace talks that were supposed to follow a ceasefire that Oslo successfully brokered in February 2002. | 1clean |
Petersen held discussions with both Kumaratunga and the reclusive LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran in the rebel stronghold of Kilinochchi without success, and chief Tamil rebel negotiator Anton Balasingham and Norwegian envoy Erik Solheim held closed-door talks at the international airport late Saturday in an effort ... | 1clean |
But they, too, failed. | 1clean |
Colombo, too, seems to be in an intractable position. | 1clean |
According to former Indian army general A S Kalkat, the difficulty for Kumaratunga's government lay in the fact that the LTTE had become a de jure power in the north and east of the island and was running every aspect of civil administration in the areas within its control. | 1clean |
A veteran of India's military intervention in the Jaffna peninsula to help implement the 1987 Indo-Sri Lanka Peace Accord - which ambitiously provided for the disarming of the formidable LTTE - Kalkat said the new defense deal would essentially be a reiteration of the older one minus its military commitment. | 1clean |
Kalkat, who currently chairs the independent US-based International Council on Conflict Resolution, said despite the failure of the Indian army to disarm or even subdue the Tigers, India remained the only power capable of influencing the course of the current peace talks. | 1clean |
"The Norwegians mean well but their role is limited to that of honest broker and the LTTE is keenly aware that they do not have the power [unlike India] to underwrite any arrangement," Kalkat told IPS in an interview. | 1clean |
In 1987, the Tamil Tigers reluctantly accepted the peace accord under Indian pressure. | 1clean |
However, differences between India and LTTE soon surfaced and led to clashes between Tiger guerrillas and the Indian peace keeping force. | 1clean |
India had to pull back its forces from Sri Lanka in 1989 following the election of Ranasinghe Premadasa, a strong critic of Indian mediation. | 1clean |
Last June, an international initiative led by Japan to persuade the LTTE to come back to the negotiating table failed despite an aid package offer of US$4.5 billion. | 1clean |
Japan's special envoy, Yasushi Akashi, who called for tangible progress in the peace process before the money would be released, came back from visits to Colombo and Kilinochchi in early November a frustrated man. | 1clean |
He complained about the "visible lack of progress" and reaching an impasse in talks with both sides. | 1clean |
The Tigers' chief ideologue, Balasingham, sniffed at the proposal saying that "a solution to the ethnic conflict can not be predetermined by the resolutions or declarations of donor conferences, but has to be negotiated by the parties in conflict without the constraints of external forces." | 1clean |
But there are strong hints in the country that a new Indo-Sri Lanka defense deal could be in the making. | 1clean |
And this has already drawn protests from the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) which was backed by the LTTE in the April general elections held in Sri Lanka. | 1clean |
She added that recent visits to the island by India's top military brass including army chief General Nirmal Chander Vij have "caused apprehension among Tamils that preparations are under way for another war in the island". | 1clean |
But Kalkat pointed out that India would be ill-advised to be involved again, militarily, with Sri Lanka if only because it still had to consider the sentiments of 45 million ethnic Tamils in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu - separated from Sri Lanka's Jaffna peninsula by the narrow Palk Straits. | 1clean |
In any case, Kalkat puts it succinctly: "There can not be a military option to what is a political situation." | 1clean |
Unreported by the international media, the Valley of Kashmir has seen an ethnic and cultural genocide that has resulted in the fleeing from the valley of almost all the Hindu families who have been living there since human habitation was first recorded. | 1clean |
Over nine dozen temples that had served the Hindu population have been destroyed, with some used as building material and others as urinals. | 1clean |
Musharraf calls the bluff | 1clean |
That distinction has now gone to the United States. | 1clean |
Realists, and this even includes members of the U.S. Democratic foreign policy establishment such as Strobe Talbott, who have long sought to divest India of its defensive capability against another nuclear power in Asia, understand the only feasible solution for Kashmir is the acceptance of the status quo. | 1clean |
India keeps what it has while Pakistan and China (which was gifted a slice of the territory three decades ago) do likewise. | 1clean |
Bill Clinton understood this at the end of his term in office yet, under Colin Powell (who appears to have an affinity for generals active in politics), the pendulum of U.S. policy has once again swung toward a quixotic effort to prize at least the Valley of Kashmir loose from India. | 1clean |
This writer has for years regarded the best solution to the Kashmir problem as being the trifurcation of the Indian part of the state into a Hindu-majority Jammu, a Buddhist-dominated Ladakh and the overwhelmingly Muslim Kashmir Valley, with the third state given little of taxpayers' money but substantial autonomy. | 1clean |
Unreported by the international media, the Valley of Kashmir has seen an ethnic and cultural genocide that has resulted in the fleeing from the valley of almost all the Hindu families who have been living there since human habitation was first recorded. | 1clean |
Over nine dozen temples that had served the Hindu population have been destroyed, with some used as building material and others as urinals. | 1clean |
Unfortunately for them, the general has decided to take seriously Colin Powell's frequent boasts that it was on his nudging that the Indians made conciliatory gestures toward Islamabad. | 1clean |
Despite many wrinkles, India remains a part-democracy and merely signing on to a piece of paper that calls for an independent Kashmir does not get you into the trouble that writing an op-ed piece against Sonia Gandhi or Atal Behari Vajpayee would instantly. | 1clean |
The reason for this is that India is emerging as an alternative investment destination to China, hence the favor that the generals in Islamabad do to their trusty supplier of nukes and missiles by creating a scare about war involving India when in fact the real flashpoints are the Taiwan Straits and North Korea. | 1clean |
Since then, India has talked peace while always signaling that only the status quo would be acceptable as a final settlement: a line of action that is followed in the case of disputes with China as well. | 1clean |
Unfortunately for those eager to indefinitely carry on with the lucrative business of conflict resolution in South Asia, Pervez Musharraf has now called Colin Powell's bluff, challenging him to deliver on his frequent statements implying that the Indians jump to his commands. | 1clean |
Under President Hu Jintao, Beijing has opened out to New Delhi and Prime Minister Wen Jiabao is expected to visit early next year, making friends by formally accepting Sikkim as part of India and backing India as a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council -- thus leaving Washington as the only one of the "permanen... | 1clean |
With Colin Powell around, the U.S. has no need of an Osama bin Laden | 1clean |
We all know that John Kerry served in Vietnam. | 1clean |
We also know how Dan Rather libeled George Bush and impugned his service in the Texas Air National Guard on a "60 Minutes II" report based largely on forged documents. | 1clean |
During his time in the Guard, George Bush flew the F-102 Delta Dagger fighter-interceptor. | 1clean |
The F-102 saw service in the Vietnam theater between March 1962 and December 1969. | 1clean |
In all this so-called controversy, has anyone considered that perhaps George Bush just wanted to fly jets? | 1clean |
They don't let just anybody do it. | 1clean |
Some reporters (you know, the ones with journalistic ethics) have actually uncovered the truth about George Bush's service in the Texas Air National Guard. | 1clean |
That he did n’t show up for duty in Alabama? | 1clean |
That he missed a physical? | 1clean |
That his daddy got him in? | 1clean |
News coverage of the president ’s years in the Guard has tended to focus on one brief portion of that time — to the exclusion of virtually everything else. | 1clean |
The future president joined the Guard in May 1968. | 1clean |
Almost immediately, he began an extended period of training. | 1clean |
By the time it was over, Bush had served nearly two years. | 1clean |
After training, Bush kept flying, racking up hundreds of hours in F-102 jets. | 1clean |
As he did, he accumulated points toward his National Guard service requirements. | 1clean |
According to records released earlier this year, Bush earned 253 points in his first year, May 1968 to May 1969 (since he joined in May 1968, his service thereafter was measured on a May-to-May basis). | 1clean |
Bush earned 340 points in 1969-1970. | 1clean |
[In other words, Bush earned enough points to satisfy the requirements for his entire six year hitch in 1969-1970 alone. | 1clean |
He earned 137 points in 1970-1971. | 1clean |
And he earned 112 points in 1971-1972. | 1clean |
The numbers indicate that in his first four years, Bush not only showed up, he showed up a lot. | 1clean |
That brings the story to May 1972 — the time that has been the focus of so many news reports — when Bush “deserted” (according to anti-Bush filmmaker Michael Moore) or went “AWOL” (according to Terry McAuliffe, chairman of the Democratic National Committee). | 1clean |
Bush asked for permission to go to Alabama to work on a Senate campaign. | 1clean |
His superior officers said OK. | 1clean |
Requests like that were n’t unusual, says retired Col. William Campenni, who flew with Bush in 1970 and 1971. | 1clean |
“In 1972, there was an enormous glut of pilots,” Campenni says. | 1clean |
“The Vietnam War was winding down, and the Air Force was putting pilots in desk jobs. | 1clean |
So Bush stopped flying. | 1clean |
From May 1972 to May 1973, he earned just 56 points — not much, but enough to meet his requirement. | 1clean |
Then, in 1973, as Bush made plans to leave the Guard and go to Harvard Business School, he again started showing up frequently. | 1clean |
In June and July of 1973, he accumulated 56 points, enough to meet the minimum requirement for the 1973-1974 year. | 1clean |
Bush received an honorable discharge after serving five years, four months and five days of his original six-year commitment. | 1clean |
By that time, however, he had accumulated enough points in each year to cover six years of service. | 1clean |
During his service, Bush received high marks as a pilot. | 1clean |
A 1970 evaluation said Bush “clearly stands out as a top notch fighter interceptor pilot” and was “a natural leader whom his contemporaries look to for leadership.” | 1clean |
A 1971 evaluation called Bush “an exceptionally fine young officer and pilot” who “continually flies intercept missions with the unit to increase his proficiency even further.” | 1clean |
And a 1972 evaluation called Bush “an exceptional fighter interceptor pilot and officer.” | 1clean |
The Kerry camp blames Bush for the Swift boat veterans’ attack, but anyone who has spent much time talking to the Swifties gets the sense that they are doing it entirely for their own reasons. | 1clean |
In April — before the Swift boat veterans had said a word — Kerry said Bush “has yet to explain to America whether or not, and tell the truth, about whether he showed up for duty.” | 1clean |
Earlier, Kerry said, “Just because you get an honorable discharge does not, in fact, answer that question.” | 1clean |
Now, after the Swift boat episode, the spotlight has returned to Bush. | 1clean |
His column appears in The Hill each week. | 1clean |
I suspect the streets of Baghdad will look as if a war is looming this week. | 1clean |
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