Month: November 2007

Musharraf Heads to Saudi Arabia

Acting President Musharraf has relaxed emergency rule a bit by freeing thousands of dissidents and political opponents as he heads to Saudi Arabia. It is likely that he will meet with ex-Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif once there, now that his power-sharing deal with Benazir Bhutto has thoroughly collapsed.

More at Reuters:

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – Pakistan freed thousands of lawyers and opposition activists held under emergency powers on Tuesday, as President Pervez Musharraf arrived in Saudi Arabia, where old foe Nawaz Sharif lives in exile.

Army chief General Musharraf has been under pressure from the opposition and Western governments to revoke the emergency rule imposed on November 3 and ensure elections in January are held under free and fair conditions.

In a sign that the emergency was being relaxed, Interior Ministry spokesman Javed Iqbal Cheema announced around 3,400 detainees had been released by Tuesday and some 2,000 more would be released soon.

Increasingly isolated at home, Musharraf flew to Saudi Arabia leaving a trail of speculation that he would reach out to Sharif, the prime minister he deposed in a 1999 coup, who is now living in exile in the Saudi city of Jeddah.

The speculation is running two ways — that he might negotiate with the Saudis to keep Nawaz there until after elections, or that he might be trying to make a deal with Nawaz. Sharif has stated that he will not meet with Musharraf until emergency rule is completely rolled back.

Meanwhile the replacement Supreme Court has knocked down five of the challenges to Musharraf’s election as president in Parliament in October, and the remainder lack substance. Musharraf still says he will remove the uniform as soon as he is clearly declared president.

Yesterday the New York Times speculated that the US could have a proposal to work with tribal chiefs from the Afghan side of the border to help them fight the rising Islamist tide in their tribal lands, and in that background the head of the ISI is also traveling with Musharraf as he heads to Mecca for the pilgrimage.

In Swat the fighting with Mullah Fazlullah’s Taliban continues, with the army making slow advances, trying to pinpoint target the leaders of the insurrection. More on that at The Long War.

The Children who Survived

On 11/6 a Taliban bomber murdered 52 Muslim children in Afghanistan, 5 of their teachers and several others totalling 72 innocent lives destroyed. Reuters has a story this morning on the children who survived, and the nightmares they face nightly:

The blast killed 72 people, including 52 schoolboys and five of their teachers. Six parliamentarians also died.

“I panic badly. I dream about very dangerous things and wake up shouting,” said Lotfullah, 14, who is also being treated for wounds in the Baghlan hospital.

Parents worried how their children would cope.

“My son wakes up crying every night. We are very worried about him … He speaks about the dead and dogs following him,” said Nafisa. The blast killed one son and wounded another.

Mohammad Shokor’s son was about to undergo an operation.

“I don’t know how he will live. He is badly frightened. He talks nonsense to himself.”

Other parents had stopped sending their children to school.

“Our survey shows parents were also badly scared by this attack,” said Narmgoy.

“They either do not send their children to school, or if they go they cannot concentrate on their lessons.”

Dr. Kaneshka Urmiz, a psychologist, warned the sudden and violent shock the boys had suffered, unless treated, might affect them badly in later life.

“These children could grow up to be thugs or criminals in the future … They can be depressed and dangerous people, unless they are looked after.”

Taliban insurgents have killed more than 200 civilians in at least 130 suicide bombs this year

If You Were Uncertain

If you’re uncertain about where Democrats stand on manipulating news, the mask has slipped and most journalists make no pretension of disguise now. Witness this agitprop operation at a call in radio show.

It’s pure liberal mythos that the media is unbiased, witness the recent debates on CNN where questions for Hillary were planted, and Democrat operatives posed as average citizens while CNN knowingly pandered to the operation. More on the shamefull scam perpetrated by the Democrats in collusion with CNN at Hot Air.

Where they aren’t biased they are lazy sluggards, reprinting party handbills and PR memos as news. It’s like those journalists who report from Baghdad while never leaving the hotel bar in the green zone, instead breathlessly notating everything the Islamist “stringer” tells them and putting it on the wire unalloyed by any fact-checking.

Getting better at shooting the moon

nov-18th-moon.jpgI have a new shutter technique that will become obsolete as soon as I pick up a lanyard – this is ISO 800, shutter 125, 70-300 telephoto at max range with image stabilization method 1. (click on the thumbnail and the magnify with your browser.)

I’m able to pick out the craters with that setting, next step maybe I’ll dig my daughter’s telescope out of the attic…

Robert Novak: Man in the Middle Again

Robert Novak is once again breaking news of scandal, and hoarded information — but this time it’s about two Democrat rivals — Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. More from Glen Thrush at Newsday :

Robert Novak, whose White House contacts put him at the center of the Valerie Plame investigation, reported Saturday that unspecified “agents” working for Clinton “are spreading the word in Democratic circles that she has scandalous information.”

In an extraordinary e-mail sent to reporters Saturday morning, Obama reprinted Novak’s three-paragraph report and claimed it had been planted by Clinton’s staff.

“In the interest of our party, and her own reputation, Senator Clinton should either make public any and all information referred to in the item, or concede the truth: that there is none,” wrote Obama.

Novak made no reference to a source, anonymous or otherwise, gave no indication what information he was referring to and didn’t seek comment from Clinton, whose staff later dismissed his account as baseless.

Thank Our Troops During the Holidays

Please take some time to thank our troops during the Holidays – H/T Little Green Footballs, Right Wing News.

 For six long years our military has fought gallantly on foreign shore against a foe most murderous. For six long years they’ve been maligned while doing things more perfectly than any military force ever has. With the holidays upon us please take the time to pass them both your esteem for their persistent courage and valor, and pass them your regards for the love they demonstrate daily to their country.
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