Today's Top Islamic News (DAILY)

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In war, US troops 'complain' about weapons failure
Sun, 11 Oct 2009 19:28:48 GMT
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Eight years into the war in Afghanistan and amid mounting casualties, complaints appear about the quality of weapons and equipment that are provided to the troops, especially the M4.

A number of US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan have complained over the past years that the standard-issue M4 rifles jam at the most "critical moment" and constantly need maintenance, the New York Times reported.

A week ago, at a base near Kamdesh, a town near Wanat in Afghanistan, eight US troops were killed. Even though there were no immediate evidence of weapon failures, the circumstances appear very similar to an incident at Wanat on July 13, 2008, when weapon failure claimed the lives of 9 US troops and left 27 others injured.

Army officials say that if an M4 is properly cleaned and well maintained, the weapon can pump out more than 3,000 rounds before any failures occur.

''It is too early to make any assumptions regarding what did or didn't work correctly,'' said Army Col. Wayne Shanks, a military spokesman in Afghanistan, who also added that a review of the Kamdesh battle is in progress.

Studies by Douglas Cubbison of the Army Combat Studies Institute at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., have not been released yet but copies of the studies are circulating on the internet.

Cubbison's study is based on the survived soldiers of the Wanat attack. He describes 'highly skilled' enemies attacking with AK-47 automatic rifles and rocket-propelled grenades.

He claims that although the US soldiers' weapons were routinely inspected and cared by commanders, the weapons had breakdowns, especially when the rifles were on full automatic, which could have fired hundreds of bullets per minute.

''My weapon was overheating,'' Spc. Chris McKaig said, according to Cubbison's report. ''I had shot about 12 magazines by this point already and it had only been about a half hour or so into the fight. I couldn't charge my weapon and put another round in because it was too hot, so I got mad and threw my weapon down.''

The soldiers also had trouble with their M249 weapons, which is larger than the M4 and can shoot up to 750 rounds per minute.

The report comes as the Obama White House mulls over a request by the top US commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, for 50,000 extra troops for the fight against the Taliban.

Eight years after the invasion, the US-led coalition struggles to terminate the militancy in Afghanistan, with top Taliban and al-Qaeda commanders reportedly roaming freely in the country.

MSD/MD

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US scraps military drill after Turkey withdrawal
Sun, 11 Oct 2009 17:56:20 GMT

A joint military maneuver by the US, NATO, Italy, Israel and Turkey has been canceled after Ankara withdraws from the exercise over Tel Aviv's participation in the drill.

Turkey's move, which was taken over Israel's decision to send planes to the exercise which possibly took part in the Gaza war last December, caused "disappointment" in Washington, The Jerusalem Post reported on Sunday.

The exercise, therefore, was canceled.

"The exercise was postponed due to a Turkish decision to change the composition of the participants and not allow the Israel Air Force to participate, a decision we were informed of only several days ago," a statement by the Israeli Air Force said.

Israeli officials claim that both the US and NATO warned that they would withdraw from the exercise if Israel did not participate in it.

Turkey informed Israel of the cancellation of the Anatolian Eagle exercise last week.

SB/MD

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Azerbaijan slams Turkey-Armenia peace deal
Mon, 12 Oct 2009 02:27:13 GMT
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Armenian Foreign Minister, Edouard Nalbandian (1st L) shakes hands with Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.
Republic of Azerbaijan's foreign ministry criticizes a recent peace deal between Turkey and Armenia, saying the agreement can "cast a shadow" over Baku-Ankara ties.

The Ministry said in a statement on Sunday that a peace deal should not have been signed while Armenian troops remain in Nagorno-Karabakh, Reuters reported.

"The normalization of relations between Turkey and Armenia before the withdrawal of Armenian troops from occupied Azeri territory is in direct contradiction to the national interests of Azerbaijan," the ministry said.

The Nagorno-Karabakh region has been the scene of a decades-old dispute between Armenia and traditional Turkish ally Azerbaijan.

During the war in that region in 1993, Turkey shut its border with Armenia out of solidarity with Azerbaijan.

Turkey and Armenia signed a landmark peace accord on Saturday to normalize ties after a century of hostility.

The two neighbors have had a history of bitter relations stemming from the memory of World War I killing of Armenians by Ottoman forces.

JR/SS/MMA

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WASHINGTON – Disgruntled by high taxes, wars in far-away countries, bailouts for fat-cat bankers, a growing number of Americans are pushing their states to defy federal laws and some are advocating secession. "Our government is operated and owned by Wall Street and corporate America,” Thomas Naylor, a retired economics professor who heads the Second Vermont Republic movement, told Agence France-Presse (AFP) on Sunday, October 11.
"The empire is going down -- do you want to go down with the Titanic, or seek other options while they are still on the table?"

The US fell into the grip of the worst economic crisis since 1930s in September after the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the fourth-largest investment bank, and the financial woes of a number of Wall Street giants.

The fallout has developed into a full-fledged recession, threatening personal finances as home prices fall, retirement funds shrink and access to credit and jobs evaporate.

The recession, government growth and the explosion in federal spending are infuriating many Americans.

"The US government has lost its moral authority," says Naylor.

Twenty-five states have passed laws preventing the 2005 Real ID Act, which sets federal standards for identification cards, from being implemented.

Also, 13 states have legalized marijuana for medical use, in defiance of federal anti-drug regulations.

As tensions grow over health care reform, 15 states are pushing laws that would exempt them from federal health care regulations.

Montana and Tennessee have even passed laws exempting weapons and ammunition produced in their states from federal regulations.

Session

Some argue that secession is the cure for America’s problem. "There is more talk today about nullification (invalidating federal laws) and secession... than any time since 1865," said Kirkpatrick Sale, who heads the South Carolina-based Middlebury Institute, which studies separatism, secession, and self-determination.

Sale says there are active secessionist groups in at least 10 US states, including Vermont, Hawaii, Alaska, Texas, and the US commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

"Secession is our only answer because our federal government is broken and cannot be repaired in the current political system," agrees Dave Mundy, a spokesman for the Texas Nationalist Movement.

The US is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district.

It was founded on July 4, 1776, by thirteen British colonies that defeated Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War.

But Texas was an independent republic from 1836 to 1845, as was Vermont from 1777 to 1791.

Texas last seceded in 1861, when it joined 10 other southern states to form the Confederate States of America.

The Civil War soon broke out, and four years a later, the union was restored.

J.R. Labbe, editorial director at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram newspaper, doubts secessionists can gain grounds.

"They are a minority voice whose time has come because of one thing: technology," she told AFP.

"Digital cameras that can upload images and soundbites -- and 24/7 news channels that are always looking for the most bizarre clip they can find -- have given them a much broader audience than they, or Texas, deserve."

Lyn Spillman, a specialist on nationalism at Notre Dame University, agrees.

"Considered generally, secession movements -- which are quite common in American history -- are extremely unlikely to have significant political consequences."

But Sale contends that a collapse of the dollar and anger over foreign wars, combined with calamitous climate change triggered by global warming, could push communities towards energy, water and food independence.

"A conjunction of events over the next few years might increase the talk about secession."

Source: IslamOnline

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RANCHI: Maoists today blew up a stretch of railway track and set ablaze three trucks in Jharkhand as they began their two-day Jharkhand-Bihar

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shutdown in protest against what they alleged the Centre's effort to put down the CPI(Maoists) movement by force.

"They (Maoists) blew up a stretch of railway track around 2.30 am at Jharandih in the Coal belt Industrial Chord section in Dhanbad," Senior Public Relations Officer of the Dhanbad Rail Division Amrendra Das told PTI in Dhanbad.

Shaktipunj Express was held up due to blast, he added. In another incident, about 12 armed Maoists set fire to three trucks at around 1 am in Giridih's Isri area and cut down trees to block road traffic on the Dumri-Giridih road, Giridih Superintendent of police Ravi Kant Dhan said in Giridih.

They also partially damaged a road bridge, which connects Dumri to the Grand Trunk Road, using explosives, the police officer said.

Maoists pasted posters in Giridih's Parasnath area. Tight security arrangements are in place in the naxal-affected districts in the state.

Earlier, suspected Maoists set ablaze a truck laden with 'sal' leaves in Kotwali area of West Midnapore district late Sunday night.

Police said a group of people, suspected to be activists of CPI (Maoists), stopped the truck at Nayagram under Kotwali area and asked the driver and helper to alight.

They then set the vehicle ablaze and retreated into nearby jungle. There was no report of any casualty.

The incident took place despite the presence of joint security forces of West Bengal police and CRPF in certain nearby Maoist pockets including trouble-torn Lalgarh.

Some reports suggested the Maoists also raised slogans demanding the release of tribal leader Chhatradhar Mahato, arrested from Lalgarh on September 26, but there was no official confirmation

TOI

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BHUBANESWAR: The ghost of last year's anti-Christian riots in Orissa's Kandhmal district, which left over 40 dead and thousands homeless, is back to haunt the state government with a group of American lawmakers seeking action against those involved in the violence.

As many as 21 US lawmakers, led by Republican Trent Franks, have written a letter to chief minister Naveen Patnaik expressing concern over the alleged intimidation of the Christians in the communally-divided region and the possibility of the perpetrators of the violence going scot-free.

"Such attacks on the fundamental freedom of religion threaten not only India's reputation for religious diversity, but also the very stability of India's secular democracy," said a news agency report, quoting the letter sent late last month.

"Given the recent experience with religiously inspired terrorism, we're concerned that if Hindu extremists can act with impunity toward religious minorities in India, these extremists and their ideologies will begin to affect international security as well," it added.

The letter comes after the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) in August put India under its Watch List for the "country's failure to protect the rights of religious minorities".

The letter hasn't gone down well with Hindu organisations. "Who're they to interfere in Orissa's internal problems?"

Bajrang Dal leader Subash Chouhan asked, "How can anyone say that Christians are the victims of violence at a time when bombs and firearms are being seized from Christian rehabilitation camp?"

Hindu Jagaran Sammukhya Orissa chief Ashok Sahu, who unsuccessfully contested the Kandhmal Lok Sabha seat in the recent polls, too, objected to the letter. "On what basis have they written such a misleading letter, if at all they have sent one? It’s uncalled for and the US lawmakers have no role to play in Orissa matters," he said.

Even some Christian leaders have also taken exception to the latter. ‘‘The term Hindu extremists in the letter is unfortunate because we’ve maintained that criminals have no religion and whatever happened in August-September, 2008, was never the act of Hindus,’’ said Orissa Minority Front president Swarupananda Patra.

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WASHINGTON: In late 2001, Mullah Muhammad Omar’s prospects seemed utterly bleak. The ill-educated, one-eyed leader of the Taliban had fled on a motorbike after his fighters were swiftly routed by the Americans invading Afghanistan.

Eight years later, Mullah Omar leads an insurgency that has gained steady ground in much of Afghanistan against the much better equipped American and Nato forces.

“This is an amazing story,” said Bruce Riedel, an ex-CIA officer who coordinated the Obama administration’s review of Afghan policy in the spring. “He’s a semiliterate individual who has met with no more than a handful of non-Muslims in his entire life. And he’s staged one of the most remarkable military comebacks in modern history.”

Mullah Omar heads the Taliban’s Rahbari Shura, or leadership council, often called the Quetta Shura since it relocated to the Pakistani city in 2002. The shura, consisting of the Taliban commanders, “operates like the politburo of a communist party,” setting broad strategy, said Yusufzai.

Rahimullah Yusufzai, of the News International, a Pakistani newspaper, who interviewed Mullah Omar a dozen times before 2001, called him “a man of few words.” But his reputed humility, his legend as a ferocious fighter against Soviet invaders in the 1980s, and his success in ending the lawlessness and bloody warlords’ feuds of the early 1990s cemented his power.

“His followers adore him, believe in him and are willing to die for him,” Yusufzai said. Mullah Omar “remains an inspiration, sending out letters and audiotapes to his commanders and fighters,” he said.

A recent assessment by Gen Stanley McChrystal, the top US commander in Afghanistan, identified the Taliban as the most important part of the insurgents, who currently have the initiative” and “the overall situation is deteriorating.”

TOI

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BHOPAL: Two senior scientists of the Defence Research and Development Establishment (DRDE) in Gwalior, who allegedly tried to kill their junior colleague in a human sacrifice bid, will be interrogated as soon they return from leave, police said on Monday.

"We can't say anything right now. The picture would be clear after the scientists' statements are recorded," Gwalior additional superintendent of police Manohar Verma said.

Shradha Sharma, wife of Sushil Kumar, a junior scientist at the DRDE, had complained to the police on Saturday night that two senior scientists - M. Kameshwar Rao and A.S.S.V Bhaskar - had tried to kill her husband as part of a human sacrifice ritual.

Shradha said that Rao invited Sushil, who was unwell at the time, to his residence in the DRDE campus Oct 6 night to "cure" him. When Sushil reached there, the scientist was performing a worship ritual in the presence of Bhaskar and then he asked him (Sushil) to sleep. "As he went to sleep, the scientist sprinkled water on him and took out a sharp-edged weapon but Sushil suddenly woke up and escaped," his wife told the police.

The police Sunday filed a case against the senior scientists for causing hurt, criminal intimidation and for wrongful confinement, Verma said.

"We would record the statements of both the accused after they return from their leave and resume work...perhaps by Tuesday," the officer said.

The police are seeking help from senior officials, including Col V.N. Bharadwaj of the DRDE.

"We are also investigating the matter from other angles and trying to gather as much information as possible from various sources like the security guard, neighbours etc," Verma said.
TOI

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Kenya drought 'has spared no one'
By Mohammed Adow in northeastern Kenya

Land used by nomads is fast becoming desert as the drought worsens [Picture: Save the Children]
In Takaba town in north east Kenya, a crowd of people gather around a camel. The so-called ship of the desert has been weakened by drought and can barely move. When this happens, it takes an entire village to put it back on its feet.

Despite their best efforts the villagers are unable to lift the camel. After two hours of huffing and puffing, they have no choice but to leave the camel to die in the sun. They too have been weakened by the dry spell.

Habiba Ibrahim, the owner of camel, watched the animal with tears in her eyes: "There is nothing I can do. There is no grass to give it due to the drought. This is one of my two remaining camels. The rest have all died."

The relentless drought across East Africa is worsening because of global climate change and the continued destruction of forests, grasslands, wetlands and other critical ecosystems, the United Nation's Environment Programme (UNEP) is warning.

The Kenyan government says nearly four million people are now close to starvation after the rains have failed for three straight years.

Aid appeal

President Mwai Kibaki has declared the drought a national disaster and appealed for $150 million to feed the hungry.

Rural areas like northern Kenya, which have suffered decades of neglect and under-development, are most affected, with livestock herders particularly at risk.

"We have never seen a drought as bad as this... this drought has spared no place and no one. If it doesn't rain soon, the people will begin dying"

Abdille Qayleey, resident of Jowhar village

These are areas with little access to education, healthcare, water and sanitation – making them even more vulnerable.
Cattle and goats – the weakest of the livestock species reared here, began dying a long time ago. In some places, livestock grazers have already lost entire herds to drought and disease.

We met Abdille Qayleey in the village of Jowhar just outside Wajir town. He had 200 goats when the rains first failed. Today he has just 25 and they are too weak to provide a livelihood for his family of eleven.

"We have never seen a drought as bad as this," he told us. "In the past, droughts used to spare some places where we pastoralists would move to escape the drought. This drought has spared no place and no one. If it doesn't rain soon the people will begin dying."

Water is a scarce commodity for both man and beast. Wells have dried up and the few that still contain water are overused.

'Carcass-strewn watering holes'

What were once grazing land for nomads is fast turning into desert and it is the distance between pasture and water that is weakening the livestock further.

People come to the few boreholes still drawing water from more than 70-km away in search of water. The scene around it is horrific, carcass after carcass is strewn around the watering point – cattle and sheep mostly.


Families have been forced to share scant food aid with livestock [Picture: Save the Children] Some are now skeletons, others are in the process of losing their scant flesh to scavengers, and some are newly fallen, breathing their final breaths with their noses in the dust.
A group of women driving a donkey laden with containers of water told us they had been on the road for more than 15 hours in search of water.

"We have weak livestock at home. We are forced to provide them with water by such means. We will have to come back again after a few hours rest," they said.

The drought situation is so bad in northern Kenya that the herdsmen have been forced to share what little food they receive from aid agencies with their weak animals.

People have also been forced to sell their assets, such as their remaining livestock, alleviating short term hunger but exacerbating long-term problems.

We visited the livestock market in Wajir, where scores of people gathered early to haggle over their remaining stock amid the swirling dust.

Suffering

The livestock are so weak that the sellers know they won't make it back to their grazing areas alive; it's sell them or lose them and as a result it's a buyer's market.

Prices have hit rock bottom, you can now buy a cow for around 300 Kenyan shillings - about four US dollars. Sheep, goats and camels are also on sale for measly amounts.

"There is little respite in sight for these people... Weather experts are predicting that floods caused by the El Nino weather phenomenon will follow the drought"

You can see that the animals are suffering. There is now almost no pasture in the entire area and their hide is stretched tight over their protruding bones.

The people too are stressed. They have little bargaining power. They either settle for the humiliating prices on offer or turn them down and risk losing everything on the long walk back. Either way, the descent into poverty is assured.
But people here don't understand climate change - the cause of their predicament.

"How can man change the climate or stop rain? It is God's will that we are facing a drought. And we pray to him to alleviate our suffering." Halima Hassan, a 30-year-old mother of three whose livestock was wiped out by the drought, tells us.

As conditions worsen, conflict is breaking out between human beings and wildlife. Wild animals often come to settlements in search of water and attack herdsmen villages on an almost daily basis.

Frequent fights by nomads over dwindling resources have caused much destruction in this desolate region.

Yet there is little respite in sight for these people. Weather experts are predicting that floods caused by the El Nino weather phenomenon will follow the drought.

If that occurs the suffering we are now witnessing will pale in comparison to what will come.

Source: Al Jazeera

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UN: Afghan vote fraud widespread


US Ambassador to Afghanistan Karl Eikenberry (R) joined Eide (L) at Sunday's news conference [AFP]
"Widespread fraud" took place in Afghanistan's presidential election in August, the UN special representative to the country has said.

Kai Eide made the comments at a news conference on Sunday, in response to allegations by Peter Galbraith, his dismissed ex-deputy, that he had concealed evidence of fraud.

"It is true that in a number of polling stations in the south and the southeast there was significant fraud," Eide said.

"The extent of that fraud is now being determined."

There have been multiple claims of fraud in the August 20 poll, which according to preliminary results, was won by incumbent Hamid Karzai.

'Personal attacks'

The Afghan Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) and the Independent Election Commission (IEC) are investigating a sample of suspected fraudulent ballots.

SPECIAL REPORT

Al Jazeera's in-depth look at the presidential poll"It has been claimed that there was 30 per cent fraud. There is no way to know at this stage what the level of fraud is," Eide said.
"No one knows. I can only say there was widespread fraud."

The final results of the investigations - that Eide said were supported by the UN - are expected in the coming days.

Galbraith was sacked on September 30 by Ban Ki-Moon, the UN secretary-general, due to a public dispute over how to deal with the fraud allegations, which threatened the credibility of the Afghan government and the international strategy to fight the Taliban.

Eide, who was joined by the US, UK, German and French ambassadors at the news conference, said Galbraith's allegations against him "have not only been personal attacks against me and my personal integrity but have affected the whole election process."

'Private conversations'

He denied the allegations by Galbraith that he had prevented information on high levels of fraud to be disseminated, even to ambassadors in the country.

Eide said that the UN's role "is to support the process, not influence the outcome".

"Some of these allegations were based on private conversation whilst he [Galbraith] was a guest in my house.

"My view is that private conversations around a dinner table in my house remain just that, private."

Karzai received 55 per cent of the preliminary results, with his closest challenger Abdullah Abdullah, a former foreign minister, on 28 per cent.

EU election monitors have said that about 1.5m votes - 1.1m for Karzai - were suspicious.

If no candidate receives at least 50 per cent of the official results, then a run-off between the two top candidates will be held.

However, concern has been raised by authorities that unless results are released soon Afghanistan's harsh winter could make a run-off vote impossible on logistic and security grounds.

Source: Agencies