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Not a good idea, IMO.SEC Approves One Watchdog For Brokers Big and Small
By Carrie Johnson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, July 27, 2007; Page D02
Securities regulators yesterday approved a merger between the enforcement arms of the New York Stock Exchange and the NASD, creating a single watchdog for brokers from Wall Street to Main Street.
The Securities and Exchange Commission's blessing came nearly eight months after the deal was announced to fanfare from financial services companies and advocates of regulatory overhaul. Officials said the merger would reduce duplicate and sometimes conflicting rules and save money, particularly for the 200 largest broker-dealers that had been subject to dual oversight for years.
NYSE chief executive John Thain, left, and Robert Glauber, chairman and chief executive of the NASD, in Washington. (By Jay Mallin -- Bloomberg News)
Investors, too, could benefit from lower costs passed along by companies, though a plaintiff lawyer expressed concern that the deal would result in less oversight of business practices.
The merger blends two different cultures. The NASD has concentrated much of its enforcement energy on improper sales practices of smaller brokerages and efforts to protect retail investors and senior citizens. At the same time, the NYSE unit has focused on the operations, financial health and firewalls between different units of much larger broker-dealers.
In recent months, executives at both organizations have been engaged in an intense effort to merge their inspection teams, enforcement operations and lengthy rulebooks. Much of the heavy lifting is complete, officials said, although new board members from the industry and the public must be elected. Final changes to the rules are still about a year away and will require separate approval by overseers at the SEC.
The new self-regulatory body, which is funded by the businesses it supervises, will be called the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. No job cuts are expected among the 2,500 NASD enforcement employees and 490 NYSE regulation workers, though attrition may reduce personnel costs over time, NASD chairman and chief executive Mary L. Schapiro said. Schapiro also will serve as chief executive of the new organization.
In an interview from her Washington office, Schapiro rejected critics' assertions that the merger would make tough-edged enforcement a lower priority. "I think we go from fragmentation to consolidation," she said. "We are very committed to being vigorous and robust regulators."
Leading trade groups including the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association have called on the enforcers to combine since 2000. Reducing the number of regulators that business must obey has been a recurring theme as the Bush administration seeks to weigh the costs of complying with many federal rules against their benefits.
Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. recently established two commissions to study regulatory reform and SEC Chairman Christopher Cox last month launched his own panel to examine financial reporting. Yesterday Cox called the agreement "an important step toward making our self-regulatory system not only more efficient but more effective in protecting investors."
To some analysts, the merger between the NYSE's regulatory arm and the NASD enforcement unit is the first real test of the wider philosophy.
"It basically creates more effective self-regulation at a lower cost," said Marc E. Lackritz, chief executive of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association. "It's what regulatory arms around the world should think about doing."
Duke University professor James D. Cox, who tracks developments in securities law, said the combination could be "the first shoe of many to drop in ultimately moving to a single regulator" in the United States.
Under the new regime, businesses will be visited by one set of inspectors, not two. Enforcement cases will undergo multiple layers of review by officials within the organization before they are filed or settled. The long-standing NASD review process, which includes an opportunity for businesses to make a case that they should not be sued, will survive, said Stephen Luparello, an executive vice president.
Susan L. Merrill, a NYSE executive who will lead the new enforcement unit, visited 15 district offices across the nation to meet staff members.
Richard G. Ketchum, former chief of the NYSE regulation arm who will become board chairman of the new group, said both organizations are studying the rulebooks to ensure that small companies are not disadvantaged by regulations established for the larger NYSE members.
"Any regulatory structure searches to gain the most investor protection at the least cost," he said. "I am very comfortable that what we have done is get rid of the underbrush of overregulation without in any way compromising investor protection."
Investor advocates said they generally favor eliminating overlap, reasoning that a single regulator will be less confusing and expensive for financial institutions. But they cautioned that the SEC will need to step up its oversight of the new organization to ensure it is working as intended.
Jacob Zamansky, a New York lawyer who represents investors in cases against banks and brokerages, expressed concern that the combination would reduce competition among regulators.
"There will be fewer eyes on the wrongdoers," he said. "It's part of a diminishing enforcement of investor issues that starts at the top and works its way down. I think investors are fearful this is part of a trend we're seeing generally."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/27/AR2007072700108.html?nav=rss_busines....
My look at it.
I find great comfort knowing that we had two investigating authorities protecting our interests in a fair marketplace. Now with one investigator we will be so much better off. Less overhead, more profits for the brokers, one-half the inspections of these fine law abiding businesses, it looks like nirvana for the stay the course. It is for the beneft of illegal manipulation of our marketplace and a danger for the small investor..
A bad idea IMO.
SharonB
longhorn: Good on you. This little discourse is a good example of the divide between folks of differing points of view. The following article pretty much explains my take on this. I wish I could put it as eloquently.
SharonB
On basking in ignorance...
Among the Inept, Researchers Discover, Ignorance Is Bliss
By Erica Goode
There are many incompetent people in the world. Dr. David A. Dunning is haunted by the fear he might be one of them. Dr. Dunning, a professor of psychology at Cornell, worries about this because, according to his research, most incompetent people do not know that they are incompetent.
On the contrary. People who do things badly, Dr. Dunning has found in studies conducted with a graduate student, Justin Kruger, are usually supremely confident of their abilities -- more confident, in fact, than people who do things well. ''I began to think that there were probably lots of things that I was bad at and I didn't know it,'' Dr. Dunning said.
One reason that the ignorant also tend to be the blissfully self-assured, the researchers believe, is that the skills required for competence often are the same skills necessary to recognize competence. The incompetent, therefore, suffer doubly, they suggested in a paper appearing in the December issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. ''Not only do they reach erroneous conclusions and make unfortunate choices, but their incompetence robs them of the ability to realize it,'' wrote Dr. Kruger, now an assistant professor at the University of Illinois, and Dr. Dunning.
This deficiency in ''self-monitoring skills,'' the researchers said, helps explain the tendency of the humor-impaired to persist in telling jokes that are not funny, of day traders to repeatedly jump into the market -- and repeatedly lose out -- and of the politically clueless to continue holding forth at dinner parties on the fine points of campaign strategy. Some college students, Dr. Dunning said, evince a similar blindness: after doing badly on a test, they spend hours in his office, explaining why the answers he suggests for the test questions are wrong.
In a series of studies, Dr. Kruger and Dr. Dunning tested their theory of incompetence. They found that subjects who scored in the lowest quartile on tests of logic, English grammar and humor were also the most likely to ''grossly overestimate'' how well they had performed. In all three tests, subjects' ratings of their ability were positively linked to their actual scores. But the lowest-ranked participants showed much greater distortions in their self-estimates. Asked to evaluate their performance on the test of logical reasoning, for example, subjects who scored only in the 12th percentile guessed that they had scored in the 62nd percentile, and deemed their overall skill at logical reasoning to be at the 68th percentile.
Similarly, subjects who scored at the 10th percentile on the grammar test ranked themselves at the 67th percentile in the ability to ''identify grammatically correct standard English,'' and estimated their test scores to be at the 61st percentile. On the humor test, in which participants were asked to rate jokes according to their funniness (subjects' ratings were matched against those of an ''expert'' panel of professional comedians), low-scoring subjects were also more apt to have an inflated perception of their skill. But because humor is idiosyncratically defined, the researchers said, the results were less conclusive.
Unlike their unskilled counterparts, the most able subjects in the study, Dr. Kruger and Dr. Dunning found, were likely to underestimate their own competence. The researchers attributed this to the fact that, in the absence of information about how others were doing, highly competent subjects assumed that others were performing as well as they were -- a phenomenon psychologists term the ''false consensus effect.'' When high scoring subjects were asked to ''grade'' the grammar tests of their peers, however, they quickly revised their evaluations of their own performance. In contrast, the self-assessments of those who scored badly themselves were unaffected by the experience of grading others; some subjects even further inflated their estimates of their own abilities. ''Incompetent individuals were less able to recognize competence in others,'' the researchers concluded.
In a final experiment, Dr. Dunning and Dr. Kruger set out to discover if training would help modify the exaggerated self-perceptions of incapable subjects. In fact, a short training session in logical reasoning did improve the ability of low-scoring subjects to assess their performance realistically, they found. The findings, the psychologists said, support Thomas Jefferson's assertion that ''he who knows best knows how little he knows.'' And the research meshes neatly with other work indicating that overconfidence is common; studies have found, for example, that the vast majority of people rate themselves as ''above average'' on a wide array of abilities -- though such an abundance of talent would be impossible in statistical terms. And this overestimation, studies indicate, is more likely for tasks that are difficult than for those that are easy.
Such studies are not without critics. Dr. David C. Funder, a psychology professor at the University of California at Riverside, for example, said he suspected that most lay people had only a vague idea of the meaning of ''average'' in statistical terms. ''I'm not sure the average person thinks of 'average' or 'percentile' in quite that literal a sense,'' Dr. Funder said, ''so 'above average' might mean to them 'pretty good,' or 'O.K.,' or 'doing all right.' And if, in fact, people mean something subjective when they use the word, then it's really hard to evaluate whether they're right or wrong using the statistical criterion.''
But Dr. Dunning said his current research and past studies indicated that there were many reasons why people would tend to overestimate their competency, and not be aware of it. In some cases, Dr. Dunning pointed out, an awareness of one's own inability is inevitable: ''In a golf game, when your ball is heading into the woods, you know you're incompetent,'' he said. But in other situations, feedback is absent, or at least more ambiguous; even a humorless joke, for example, is likely to be met with polite laughter. And faced with incompetence, social norms prevent most people from blurting out ''You stink!'' – truthful though this assessment may be.
All of which inspired in Dr. Dunning and his co-author, in presenting their research to the public, a certain degree of nervousness. ''This article may contain faulty logic, methodological errors or poor communication,'' they cautioned in their journal report. ''Let us assure our readers that to the extent this article is imperfect, it is not a sin we have committed knowingly.''
Copyright 2000 The New York Times Company
The New York Times, Tuesday, January 18, 2000, Health & Fitness
Interesting the float is up about 11M and we know some posters here who ate up a lot of that. I guess someone got discouraged and sold. If that is what happened, I hope they leave and move on. I really dislike whiners whose posts go on forever from ex-shareholders.
11M X .0014 = $15,400
SharonB
Samlam: Tomorrow we will be talking with Iran about Iraq. We will suggest they stop assisting in the attacks on coalition forces and they will claim no such action has taken place. I hope there are better results that that, but have little confidence in any king of accord.
I also wonder how the Democrats will spin this meeting.
SharonB
Zerhouni stresses that terror murdered 6% of security services potential
Tounsi “Explosive attacks may take place again”
General Director of National Safety Colonel Ali Tounsi stated that 4/11-like exhibitionist terrorist attacks are not excluded, but underscored however that security services will strive to limit the terrorist activities so as they “cannot perpetrate but one attack within 5 year as a short term aim”.
El Khabar asked Colonel Ali Tounsi about a possible terrorist attacks like those witnessed in 4/11, he answered “we cannot be sure about possible attacks… they are very likely to happen again.
Ali Tounsi exhorted the new security agenda implemented at the aftermath of the 4/11, as he said it covers all regions are its activation may spare us “bas surprises”.
Ali Tounsi recalled that the new security plan is to engage police services, gendarmerie as well as the army and stressed the need of citizens to be involved in the operation stating “the citizen should be our eye on the field”.
In a connected context, Algeria Press Service APS quoted Nourredine Yazid Zerhouni saying that terrorism murdered 6% of security services potential between 1992 and 2000.
http://www.elkhabar.com/FrEn/lire.php?ida=75880&idc=52
… This is in Algeria… This is Maghrebia, a consortium of Northern Africa countries. The Sahel region, a section that is becoming another training and recruiting area for terrorists is getting attention by various authorities. Many compare this region to Afghanistan in nature when referring to a safe haven for terrorists. Many new terrorists are going to Iraq from this region for training and are returning with their new found education. Northern Africa is part of a growing source for oil and gas. Libya has a lot of exploration and development contracts already awarded and in progress. Algeria, Tunisia, and as far over as Sudan are also developing petroleum resources. Is it a coincidence Al Qaeda is paying attention to this area?
I believe their long range goal is to destroy our way of life. They believe that by shutting down oil available to the United States and Europe is the key to the demise of our way of life. The growth and dominance of an Islamic Caliphate stretching from Pakistan to the Atlantic Ocean is their stated goal.
Why doesn’t our Congress believe them? Our current Congress is doing, or trying to do, so many things that aid these sworn enemies of the United States as I see it. It really upsets me.
The left map is the Sahel region. The other Maghreb. Google Suhel for an eye-opening education into what may become everyday items in the breaking news section of our newspapers.
SharonB
Zerhouni stresses that terror murdered 6% of security services potential
Tounsi “Explosive attacks may take place again”
General Director of National Safety Colonel Ali Tounsi stated that 4/11-like exhibitionist terrorist attacks are not excluded, but underscored however that security services will strive to limit the terrorist activities so as they “cannot perpetrate but one attack within 5 year as a short term aim”.
El Khabar asked Colonel Ali Tounsi about a possible terrorist attacks like those witnessed in 4/11, he answered “we cannot be sure about possible attacks… they are very likely to happen again.
Ali Tounsi exhorted the new security agenda implemented at the aftermath of the 4/11, as he said it covers all regions are its activation may spare us “bas surprises”.
Ali Tounsi recalled that the new security plan is to engage police services, gendarmerie as well as the army and stressed the need of citizens to be involved in the operation stating “the citizen should be our eye on the field”.
In a connected context, Algeria Press Service APS quoted Nourredine Yazid Zerhouni saying that terrorism murdered 6% of security services potential between 1992 and 2000.
http://www.elkhabar.com/FrEn/lire.php?ida=75880&idc=52
… This is in Algeria… This is Maghrebia, a consortium of Northern Africa countries. The Sahel region, a section that is becoming another training and recruiting area for terrorists is getting attention by various authorities. Many compare this region to Afghanistan in nature when referring to a safe haven for terrorists. Many new terrorists are going to Iraq from this region for training and are returning with their new found education. Northern Africa is part of a growing source for oil and gas. Libya has a lot of exploration and development contracts already awarded and in progress. Algeria, Tunisia, and as far over as Sudan are also developing petroleum resources. Is it a coincidence Al Qaeda is paying attention to this area?
I believe their long range goal is to destroy our way of life. They believe that by shutting down oil available to the United States and Europe is the key to the demise of our way of life. The growth and dominance of an Islamic Caliphate stretching from Pakistan to the Atlantic Ocean is their stated goal.
Why doesn’t our Congress believe them? Our current Congress is doing, or trying to do, so many things that aid these sworn enemies of the United States as I see it. It really upsets me.
The left map is the Sahel region. The other Maghreb. Google Suhel for an eye-opening education into what may become everyday items in the breaking news section of our newspapers.
SharonB
aim heir: We have more oil here within our borders and under our control than Saudi Arabia has. Only problem is the politics won't let us access it at this time. It takes time to drill and bring into production but that is long range planning. Not something our legislature is very good at, IMO.
Maybe if the world saw what a caliph style government that stretched from Pakistan to the Mediterranean Sea was like, they would sing a different song.
SharonB
One of the founders of ALIPAC, Senator Fern Shubert, called me ( Not me, part of the article SB ) this afternoon. We are both speaking at the event in Asheville this weekend.
The news she had to share is that I'm quoted on page 36 of Dick Morris's new book "Outrage"
Here it is..
Just thought you might find the following quotes interesting and useful.
From Outrage, by Dick Morris and Eileen McGann:
pg 36-37
"In 1988, the INS started the Institutional Hearing Program so that it could complete deportation hearings while an alien detainee was still in jail. The idea was that the prisoner would be kicked out as soon as his sentence was up. But the Center for Immigration Studies reports that "the process immediately bogged down due to the magnitude of the problem - in 2000, for example, nearly 30 percent of federal prisoners were foreign born.
The agency couldn't find enough pro bono attorneys to represent criminal aliens (who have extensive due process rights in contesting deportation), and so would have to request continuance after continuance for the deporation hearings. Securing immigration judges was a difficulty as well."
"The result was incredible: in 1997, the INS didn't know where a third of the foreign-born inmates went after they were released from prison. They were right back on the streets, in the United States.
"As Americans for Legal Immigration PAC president William Gheen notes, "Illegal aliens have been walking out of American prisons after serving their time at taxpayer expense without being deported. Our government can't or won't find the hundreds of thousands of known felon illegal aliens walking America's streets tonight, much less stop the new felons coming in tonight across our unsecured borders.""
From 'Outrage', by Dick Morris and Eileen McGann:
http://www.alipac.us/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=69890
One of the founders of ALIPAC, Senator Fern Shubert, called me ( Not me, part of the article SB ) this afternoon. We are both speaking at the event in Asheville this weekend.
The news she had to share is that I'm quoted on page 36 of Dick Morris's new book "Outrage"
Here it is..
Just thought you might find the following quotes interesting and useful.
From Outrage, by Dick Morris and Eileen McGann:
pg 36-37
"In 1988, the INS started the Institutional Hearing Program so that it could complete deportation hearings while an alien detainee was still in jail. The idea was that the prisoner would be kicked out as soon as his sentence was up. But the Center for Immigration Studies reports that "the process immediately bogged down due to the magnitude of the problem - in 2000, for example, nearly 30 percent of federal prisoners were foreign born.
The agency couldn't find enough pro bono attorneys to represent criminal aliens (who have extensive due process rights in contesting deportation), and so would have to request continuance after continuance for the deporation hearings. Securing immigration judges was a difficulty as well."
"The result was incredible: in 1997, the INS didn't know where a third of the foreign-born inmates went after they were released from prison. They were right back on the streets, in the United States.
"As Americans for Legal Immigration PAC president William Gheen notes, "Illegal aliens have been walking out of American prisons after serving their time at taxpayer expense without being deported. Our government can't or won't find the hundreds of thousands of known felon illegal aliens walking America's streets tonight, much less stop the new felons coming in tonight across our unsecured borders.""
From 'Outrage', by Dick Morris and Eileen McGann:
http://www.alipac.us/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=69890
poor_papa. That means we went short 13 days before the last appearance. Probably more FTDs with this weeks activity.
The FTD info comes out the 25th this month and only shows FTDs through the trade date of 7/10.
http://otcbb.com/asp/OTCE_Short_Interest.asp
SharonB
Another e-mail. This one is about a great car radio.
Great New Car
I bought a new car and returned to the dealer the next day complaining that I couldn't figure out how the radio worked. The salesman explained that the radio was voice activated.
"Watch this!" He said, "Nelson!" The radio replied, "Ricky or Willie?" "Willie!" he continued and "On The Road Again" came from the speakers. Then he said, "Ray Charles!" and in an instant "Georgia On My Mind".
I drove away happy, and for the next few days, every time I'd say, "Beethoven", I'd get beautiful classical music, and if I said, "Beatles", I'd get one of their awesome songs. Yesterday, a couple ran a red light and nearly creamed my new car, but I swerved in time to avoid them. I yelled, "Assholes!"
Immediately the French National Anthem began to play, sung by Jane Fonda and Barbara Streisand, backed up by Michael Moore and the Dixie Chicks, with John Kerry on guitar, Al Gore on drums, Dan Rather on harmonica, Nancy Pelosi on tambourine, Bill Clinton on sax, dingy Harry Reid on flute and Ted Kennedy on scotch.
Damn, I LOVE this car!!!
And I am NOT badgering, threatening, or anything but begging and suggesting.
SharonB
Today, Obama is supporting legislation requiring most U.S. troops to be out of Iraq by April 30, 2008.
But in 2004, Obama said that a quick withdrawal from Iraq would be "a slap in the face" to the troops. And in 2006, he said that he did "not believe that setting a date certain for the total withdrawal of U.S. troops [was] the best approach to achieving" our goals.
In May of this year, Obama promised to provide critical funding for the troops. His exact words:
"What you don't want to do is to play chicken with the President, and create a situation in which, potentially, you don't have body armor, you don't have reinforced Humvees, you don't have night-vision goggles."
Then, just weeks later, he voted against the emergency Iraq spending bill that would have provided critical funds for body armor, mine resistant vehicles, and to help combat IEDs.
By his own admission, Obama understands that our enemies will wait us out in Iraq.
But, with today's comments, it seems clear that he's more concerned with pandering to the left wing of the party than standing by his previous statements.
http://www.gop.com/flexpage.aspx?area=ObamaChange
SharonB
aim hier: OT, but being of similar thinking about the state of our country I thought I would share this thought. I am one of a handful of Republicans here in California and just can not believe they can be so short sighted in their thinking. When I get introduced to another republican here, i usually say," So your the other one."
Anyway, wanted to posr this one and going over to Zev.
Today, Obama is supporting legislation requiring most U.S. troops to be out of Iraq by April 30, 2008.
But in 2004, Obama said that a quick withdrawal from Iraq would be "a slap in the face" to the troops. And in 2006, he said that he did "not believe that setting a date certain for the total withdrawal of U.S. troops [was] the best approach to achieving" our goals.
In May of this year, Obama promised to provide critical funding for the troops. His exact words:
"What you don't want to do is to play chicken with the President, and create a situation in which, potentially, you don't have body armor, you don't have reinforced Humvees, you don't have night-vision goggles."
Then, just weeks later, he voted against the emergency Iraq spending bill that would have provided critical funds for body armor, mine resistant vehicles, and to help combat IEDs.
By his own admission, Obama understands that our enemies will wait us out in Iraq.
But, with today's comments, it seems clear that he's more concerned with pandering to the left wing of the party than standing by his previous statements.
http://www.gop.com/flexpage.aspx?area=ObamaChange
SharonB
I find it interesting how often problems in other parts of the world are often so similar to those here in the US. I suspect it is just people being people and being of diverse thinking and education. (SharonB
Moroccan journalists detained for leaking classified documents
18/07/2007
[Mawassi Lahcen] The newspaper's offices were searched
Al-Watan Al-Aan Editor-in-Chief Abdul Rehim Ariri and Editor Mustafa Hormatallah were detained Tuesday morning (July 17th) in Casablanca for publishing classified intelligence memos on recent terror threats. The King's Court representative Abdullah Al-Elwi Al-Belghiti said in a press statement that an investigation was underway to identify all those involved in what he described as the "seizure and leaking" of those documents.
One of the documents discussed a group called the "Jerusalem Cell" which consists of 16 suicide bombers, including 12 Arab nationals and 4 Pakistani nationals, who are believed to have entered into Morocco. The document mentions that the group may have smuggled explosives into Morocco by hiding them in children's toys. The second document described a video of members of terrorist organisation "Ansar al-Islam in the Muslim Desert" threatening Morocco because of its alliance with the United States.
The newspaper's offices were searched, and Ariri's archives and personal computer were seized.
Libya commutes Benghazi Six death sentences
18/07/2007
Libya's High Judicial Council decided Tuesday (July 17th) to commute the death sentences of the five Bulgarian nurses and the Palestinian doctor sentenced for allegedly infecting more than 400 children with HIV, the Libyan News Agency reported. The Council ruled to reduce the sentences to life imprisonment, reportedly after a compensation deal was concluded between several EU countries and the families of the infected children. The agreement stipulates that the families receive $1m per child infected, the children be guaranteed lifetime medical treatment both at home and abroad and that they be sent to Europe for their secondary school education.
Libya's Foreign Minister Abdel-Rahman Shalqam implied Tripoli was willing to consider the medics' deportation to Bulgaria but declined to speculate when. Bulgaria's chief prosecutor Boris Velchev said the deportation request would be sent to the Libyan authorities Wednesday. He referred to a prisoner extradition agreement signed between the two countries in 1984, which could be applied in this case. In the event the nurses and Palestinian doctor, who recently acquired Bulgarian citizenship, are sent to Sofia, they could be pardoned by the Bulgarian president, but so far all sides decline to comment on the possibility.
The EU and US hailed the news. "The US is encouraged by the decision and urges the Libyan government to now find a way to allow the medics to return home," US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said. European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner called the commuted sentence "a first relief", stressing they would immediately start working for the medic's return home.
Mauritania, Morocco stop groups of clandestine immigrants
18/07/2007
Mauritanian police announced Tuesday (July 17th) that a security operation off the coast of Nouadhibou, Mauritania's second largest city, stopped some 59 clandestine immigrants headed for Europe. The group was intercepted by a joint Mauritanian-Spanish security patrol and will now be deported to their countries of origin.
In a related story, MAP reported Tuesday (July 17th) that Moroccan police detained 31 sub-Saharan illegal immigrants as part of police operation on Monday to combat illegal migration in Laayoune province. Security forces arrested another 37 sub-Saharan would-be immigrants in the same province in late June. With Morocco's tighter control over its northern shores, clandestine migrants have shifted to southern Morocco, Mauritania and Senegal in their attempt to reach the Spanish Canary Islands.
Algerian senate ratifies electoral changes
18/07/2007
Algeria's National Council approved on Tuesday (July 17th) the lower National Popular Assembly's amendments to the electoral law. The changes impose more difficult conditions for small and new parties to field candidates for election. The senators also approved the postponement of local elections from September until November. Interior Minister Noureddine Yazid Zerhouni said the two bills "will contribute to greater clarity and integrity in the political process and make for easier choices for the electorate".
The amendments continue to cause anger among certain parties including the National Republican Alliance (ANR), which described the new electoral law as "anti-democratic". Chairman of the Ahd 54 party, Fawzi Rebaine, said at a press conference that the new law was an infringement upon political freedom and that the Ennahda movement objected to the new restrictive measures affecting small parties.
Tunisia hosts training course on human rights
18/07/2007
The Arab Institute for Human Rights (AIHR) will hold its 17th annual training course on human rights on Saturday (July 21st) in the coastal town of Hammamet. Lawyers and Academics from across the Arab world are expected to attend the nine-day training, said AIHR Information Officer, Roudha Malaoui.
This year's course will focus on the difficulties of "applying International Human Rights Law and International Humanitarian Law in regions of armed conflict", using Darfur as an example.
The AIHR is an independent Arab NGO founded in 1989. The Institute was awarded the UNESCO Human Rights Education Prize in 1992.
National Democratic Institute examines objective elections coverage
18/07/2007
The US-based National Democratic Institute for International Affairs organized a seminar Monday (July 16th) in Rabat on "Media Coverage of the Election Campaign". Moroccan and Canadian media experts participated in the seminar's examination of ways to guarantee objective media coverage of the campaign leading up to September's elections.
The seminar focused on media coverage as a link between parties and citizens. Speaking on the role the media played in the most recent Canadian elections, Canadian press expert Martin Peron said that the press helped shape a clear vision for Canadian citizens to choose their candidates based upon responsible and independent reporting of the various political parties' platforms.
http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/section/news
Map of the Mahgreb Region.
The three Moroccan terrorists aired in al Qaeda video recording identified
16 Moroccans arrested in their way to al Qaeda fiefdoms in Algeria
Moroccan security services identified this week the three Moroccan terrorists aired by al Qaeda Organization in the Islamic Maghreb together with Ali Ben Hadj son, Abdelkahar. The Moroccan press has announced that sixteen people were arrested in their way to Algeria to join the al Qaeda affiliated terrorist group earlier in May.
The Moroccan Sala appeal court examining magistrate is undertaking the cross-examination with 16 persons indicted with belonging to a terrorist cell “seeking to reach the al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb Organization training camps in Algeria.
However, the French speaking paper “Le Maghreb Aujourd’hui” –Maghreb Today- reported yesterday that the three Moroccan terrorists aired on al Qaeda Organization in the Islamic Maghreb web site later in June, which video recording has shown Ali Ben Hadj son, Abdelkahar, and revealed that they come from poor districts in Beni Mekada in Tangier .
http://www.elkhabar.com/FrEn/lire.php?ida=75535&idc=52
Hold the fort down. Off to golf.eom
Susie924: I do the same when it is possible. Most of the time I spot a phoney and that one stunk to high heaven. The idea of Gore being the Senator was just too good to let it pass. Sort of a Mike Wallace moment, to good to to wait for verification.
SharonB
Susie924 sent me a link to the reference data THAT REFUTES IT.. It is a myth. It also has Ollie's reply. Interesting reading about Abu Nidal, the Libyan terrorist who was the culprit. Also the fence was about 416k.
SharonB
Susie924: Thanks, I just deleted it. BTW here is another one
that I can believe a whole lot easier.
This is a letter written by a marine in response to Kerry's insult on them. Enjoy and repost if you feel the notion:
Yesterday John Kerry said, "You know education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well, and if you don't, you get stuck in Iraq ."
So I wrote him a letter: I am a Sergeant in the United States Marine Corps. I am currently on my second tour in Iraq , a tour in which I volunteered for. I speak Arabic and Spanish and I plan to tackle Persian Farsi soon. I have a Bachelors and an Associates Degree and between deployments I am pursuing an M.B.A. In college I was a member of several academic honor societies, including the Golden Key Honor Society. I am not unique among the enlisted troops. Many of my enlisted colleagues include lawyers, teachers, mechanics, engineers, musicians and artists just to name a few. You say that your comments were directed towards the President and not us. If we were stupid Senator Kerry, we might have believed you.
I am not a victim of President Bush. I proudly serve him because he is my Commander and Chief. If it was you who was President, I would serve you just as faithfully. I serve America Senator Kerry, and I am also providing a service to the good people of Iraq. I have not terrorized them in the middle of the night, raped them or murdered them as you have accused me of before. I am doing my part to help them rebuild. My role is a simple one, but important.
You see Senator Kerry, like it or not, we came here and removed a tyrant (who terrorized Iraqis in the middle of the night, and raped them and murdered them). And we have a responsibility to see to it that another one doesn't take his place. The people of Iraq are recovering from an abusive relationship with a terrible government and it's going to take some time to help them recover from that. We can't treat this conflict like a microwave dinner and throw a temper tantrum because we feel like it's taking too long.
Senator Kerry, you don't have to agree with this war. You don't have to say nice things about those of us who choose to make sacrifices for the rights of every American rather than sit back and simply feel entitled to it. But please Senator Kerry, if you're going to call me a stupid murdering rapist, stick by what you say. Don't tell me that I misunderstood or that you would never insult a veteran because you're one, too. Having been there and done that does not give you a free pass to insult me.
My suggestion for you, Senator Kerry, is to remember that your speeches are recorded, and broadcast to us simpletons over here. You may want to write down what you want to say before you say it, maybe have somebody look at it before you say it and tell you what others might hear. Remember that we can't read your mind, if there are any misinterpretations in what you say, it's because you didn't communicate clearly.
Good luck to you Senator Kerry, if nothing else it's always entertaining to watch you try and climb out of the holes that you constantly dig for yourself.
Sincerely,
Somebody who is watching his daughter grow up in photographs so that you can have the right to say whatever you want about
- - - - -
SharonB
An interesting e-mail about Ollie North and the Twin Towers.
Remember This:
It was 1987! At a lecture the other day they were playing an old news video of Lt.Col. Oliver North testifying at the Iran-Contra hearings during the Reagan Administration.
There was Ollie in front of God and country getting the third degree, but what he said was stunning!
He was being drilled by a senator; "Did you not recently spend close to $60,000 for a home security system?"
Ollie replied, "Yes, I did, Sir."
The senator continued, trying to get a laugh out of the audience, "Isn't that just a little excessive?"
"No, sir," continued Ollie.
"No? And why not?" the senator asked.
"Because the lives of my family and I were threatened, sir."
"Threatened? By whom?" the senator questioned.
"By a terrorist, sir" Ollie answered.
"Terrorist? What terrorist could possibly scare you that much?"
"His name is Osama bin Laden, sir" Ollie replied.
At this point the senator tried to repeat the name, but couldn't pronounce it, which most people back then probably couldn't. A couple of people laughed at the attempt. Then the senator continued. Why are you so afraid of this man?" the senator asked.
"Because, sir, he is the most evil person alive that I know of", Ollie answered.
And what do you recommend we do about him?" asked the senator.
"Well, sir, if it was up to me, I would recommend that an assassin team be formed to eliminate him and his men from the face of the earth."
The senator disagreed with this approach, and that was all that was shown of the clip.
By the way, that senator was Al Gore!
Also:
Terrorist pilot Mohammad Atta blew up a bus in Israel in 1986. The Israelis captured, tried and imprisoned him. As part of the Oslo agreement with the Palestinians in 1993, Israel had to agree to release so-called "political prisoners."
However, the Israelis would not release any with blood on their hands. The American President at the time, Bill Clinton, and his Secretary of State, Warren Christopher, "insisted" that all prisoners be released.
Thus Mohammad Atta was freed and eventually thanked the US by flying an airplane into Tower One of the World Trade Center. This was reported by many of the American TV networks at the time that the terrorists were first identified.
It was censored in the US from all later reports.
If you agree that the American public should be made aware of this fact, pass this on.
Subject: 9/11
Do Not Break - it is 5 years strong
This is why I always say I love YOU....
This has not been broken since 9/11/01, please keep it going...
This has been kept alive and moving since 9/11. In memory of all those who perished this morning; the passengers and the pilots on the United Air and AA flights, the workers in the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and all the innocent bystanders. Our prayers go out to the friends and families of the deceased.
Copied from an e-mail I received this evening.
SharonB
Wouldn't it be neat if it were buyers from North Africa and not our management. I would like to see a PR before they start buying for the treasury.
SharonB
time and volume. Interesting close.
Rec. Time Action Price Volume
3:57:32 PM Trade 0.0016 600000
3:55:40 PM Trade 0.0016 500000
3:47:40 PM Trade 0.0016 495000
2:46:58 PM Trade 0.0018 75000
2:35:18 PM Trade 0.0017 5000
2:32:02 PM Trade 0.0017 500000
1:29:26 PM Trade 0.0017 50000
1:18:24 PM Trade 0.0017 500000
1:16:54 PM Trade 0.0017 90000
1:16:54 PM Trade 0.0017 10000
1:07:22 PM Trade 0.0017 191200
10:49:02 AM Trade 0.0017 5000
.......................total 3,021,177
Your right about my forgetting Saudi Arabia. I haven't forgotten them, just on that one post. SA, with a successful Iraq will be in a very peculiar position and one I find intriguing. I think they could do a lot more in hindering terrorist transit of personnel and equipment from SA into Iraq.
The Wahhabism's religious teaching is a real problem for the western world and the source of the terrorist attack personnel on 9/11. The Royal Family has so much control over the citizens of that country, changing it appears next to impossible. There is another possibility and it parallels Iran’s circumstances. It’s citizens will force changes once they see free Iraqi enterprise, freedom, and economic opportunities. I also suspect there is active support for the Sunni insurgency. Some Iraqi Sunni sheiks have started to come around to preferring the coalition forces to the indifferent choice of civilian targets for their bombing victims of Al Qaeda. They are warning our forces about IED locations and turning in the locations where the Al Qaeda terrorists are residing. This is very important and a new recent development. It dovetails with the new surge and might well become the lifeline for a possible solution to getting support at the local level.
CUL
SharonB
Sox: I don't think anybody posting here is pro-war. I know I am certainly not. I do agree we must stay in IRAQ until they can get a reasonable government up and running. It doesn't have to be perfect but should have all Iraqi citizens best interests at heart.
Long range thinking is at what I perceive to be the over-riding problem between our differing views.
I think, and perhaps you can also agree, IRAN is the major danger to the world and happens to be in the middle East. Without engaging in a military invasion, various options should be looked at. Imposing sanctions to where the Iranian citizenry over-throw the government seems to be the current thinking. It isn’t working yet, but the gas lines are getting longer. Possibly, more sanctions might get the situation to a tipping point, remains to be seen.
The UN seems ineffectual and with China and Russia votes countering the rest of the Security Council, that avenue seems closed.
We could abandon our treaties with various countries within range of Iranian missiles
and hope we are left alone. Not a good option, imo.
As we are looking longer range in this exercise, a successful Iraq and Afghanistan with a prosperous economy and citizenry, will present social problems to the radical revolutionary guard of Iran and the ruling mullahs. Assuming Lebanon is settled down and a 2 state solution to the Palestinian/Israeli situation is accomplished, a look at the middle east overall presents a situation where the appeal of radical Islam will be greatly reduced.
Looking at that part of the world starting from the east and going west presents the following observation. Pakistan, tribal area probably same as always. Afghanistan, prosperous and on Iran’s eastern border. Iran is politically vulnerable. Iraq is politically stable and prosperous. Syria, citizens see advantages that Iraqi citizens now have, they want, and politically unstable. Lebanon should be stabilized and Hezbollah a legitimate political force or will have been defeated as Syria wouldn’t be able to provide support.
In passing, Iraq could well become what Lebanon was before their civil war. Lebanon was known as the Paris of the Middle East. A financial hub, a vacation paradise, and business center for Middle East affairs. Iraq, now, has an operating stock market. It has the potential of a world class tourist center with the Tigris and Euphrates river fronts. That is largely Sunni area and will help equal out the resources between the three major
Tribes.
Anyway, food for thought from the long range, very possible perpestive.
SharonB
Sox:All interesting points. My point is the education levels would be very much elevated from today’s standard had the system not been compromised.
Our youth today is far more educated for those that graduate. The same can not be said for those that do not. Most, without intervention, are doomed to have a relatively
less prosperous life in monetary and many other life factors.
I’m seeing figures like 30%, the number of students for some areas not completing K-12 grades. It is difficult for them to even get into a union apprentice program without a sponsor. The military is closed to many so another avenue for educational growth is closed. In my area most of these non-performing student’s parents are immigrants with limited education and funds. Not much help coming from that front. There are vocational training schools available, but are costly in terms of their ability to pay.
Maybe socialism is the only answer for these folks and is probably why the Democratic party is trying to get their loyalty. Something for nothing other than their vote is what it looks like.
SharonB
Sam: The BKs are a disaster and a personal pain beyond belief. The majority of bks are medically related and in many cases a tax free health savings account would have been a godsend. Unfortunately the dems won’t consider that an option.
People are losing their homes because of their not understanding the mortgages they signed up for. Greed, education, and illegal marketing are at the root of that situation.
Our education has been in a decline for a half a century for the K through 12 grades. The teachers unions have accumulated too much power. It has made corrective decisions impossible for the city councils. They can’t fire them, discipline them, or even close down poor schools. They can’t reward good performance with salary incentives and deprive poor results with decreases in salary.
What ever happened to the vocational, general, and college prep course directions the educational system used to offer students. When I was in high school we had a machine shop where we learned to operate lathes, milling machines, shapers, and make measurements with micrometers. The project we decided to complete was graded on accuracy, quality, and degree of difficulty. There was a printing press department where they taught the operation of the linotype and the complete system to make the school newspaper. There was a radio ham course where basic electronics and communications were taught. I was able to sign up for a TV technician course which introduced me to the electronics industry which became my life’s work. There was an automotive section where many became mechanics and continued into adulthood. The same can be said for the wood shop. Not everyone was interested in a college education.
Our country requires qualified technicians, mechanics, tool and die makers, computer programmers, systems techs, etc. That is today, even after the exodus of many manufacturing facilities from our shores. We have to import talent because our education system is failing our young people. The socialistic bent leadership has ruined what was once the envy of the world, a great education for our youth.
We have an illegal immigrant problem that needs to be resolve. The complexities are astounding and amnesty shouldn’t be an option. We need their labor and skills, but it must be in a legal manner. We need to know who is here in our country and secure our borders from the illegal traffic of people, drugs, and such things.
In closing, debt is good when it is within proper financial standards. The ability to repay
our current debt is not a problem and the less costly products and commodities it provides improves the lives of the less fortunate among us. The rich can afford anything they want.
Imports with good quality have a lot to offer the average citizen which will not be available if the isolationist activities of some presidential candidates become a factor.
SharonB
That was the point of the post. The left has moved ever farther to the left and have become today what was once considered ultra liberal. I consider the democrats of today as socialists in most of their current thinking.
That is not an America I desire to see.
I don't believe there has been such a change in the right wing sector and in fact there has been some erosion. Our income tax system needs an overhaul, think we will see anything along those lines? How about the Bush tax cuts that are proving the point lower taxes raise government income. Want to speculate how the reaction to the rise in taxes our citizenry will have when the Bush cuts become sunset? That will be the biggest tax increase in the history of the United States. The stock market is at new highs and the breaking of the DOW 15,000 level could happen very shortly. In spite of the cost of the war in Iraq in terms of dollars spent we continue to reduce our deficit.
SharonB
webster: In todays politics Jack Kennedy would be considered conservative. Look at Reid, Pelosi, and the rest of the Democratic leadership and compare it to Jack Kennedy. There is virtually no comparison.
SharonB
« Simonetta v. Viad Corporation | That didn't take long: first Democratic earmark for trial lawyers »
February 01, 2007
Cooperman to plead guilty to Milberg Weiss kickbacks
Steven G. Cooperman will plead guilty to taking $6.4 million in kickbacks from Milberg Weiss as a named class representative in seventy cases where they obtained more than $133 million in attorneys fees. The indicted firm, whose politically-connected lawyers are among the lead fundraisers for the Democratic Party, continues to deny the allegations. Trial is scheduled for January 2008. [WSJ; Bloomberg; Reuters; DOJ press release; The Recorder; LA Times; NY Times]
http://www.pointoflaw.com/archives/003490.php
I discussed the Milberg Weiss indictment in testimony to Congress last year.
Posted by Ted Frank at 12:14 AM | TrackBack (0)
Didn't even bring up the frig full of marked money.
SharonB
San Francisco is also a safe city for illegal immigrants, has the most liberal US Appeals Court with more overturned decisions than all the rest combined, and is winking at the Federal Drug laws regarding marijuana.
The opinions of two Generals. ( that is all it is. What is so enlightening? We all know now there was poor planning for a victory. The war was won; the peace is in question.
We need to give the military the time to do what congress authorized just a few weeks ago. Let it work, iaw congressional orders, AT LEAST until the report by the military and the Ambassador to Iraq in September is presented to Congress. This should be done without interference from our own representatives in Congress. Already the Senate Leader has called the surge a failure. The force restructure, surge, hasn’t even been fully manned for a month yet and there has already been success in some areas, military wise. The purpose is to buy time for the Iraqi politicians to do the necessary legislation. It is political activities that need to step up to the plate. The local areas are proceeding to learn that working with the coalition forces is to their benefit. They are realizing the Al Qaeda has only destruction and misery to offer. I’m very angry that the pols in Iraq are taking the month of August off for a recess. SharonB
Two senior military officers are known to have challenged Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on the planning of the Iraq war. Army General Eric Shinseki publicly dissented and found himself marginalized. Marine Lieut. General Greg Newbold, the Pentagon's top operations officer, voiced his objections internally and then retired, in part out of opposition to the war. Here, for the first time, Newbold goes public with a full-throated critique:
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1181629-1,00.html
This is NOT a useless war and I doubt any Senior Military General would agree with you. You sound a lot like that inane statement by a Democratic Presidential candidate this is nothing more important than a bumper sticker.
I was a part of the Vietnam era and was honorably discharged from the US Navy after serving 6 years of active duty. I am a member of the American legion. I am very familiar with the domino theory and the interference by the politicians who tried to run the war. The thinking of many was and is if we gave the Armed Forces the necessary support they needed they would have won. I truly believe to this day that had we listened and supported the military from the gitgo, it would have turned out differently.
You are incorrect about being lied to. A lie is making a statement that is known to be untrue. To make a statement based on faulty information is not a lie. Here I am referring to WMD. I am not aware of any lies. Regarding Al Qaeda, it’s power has been radically reduced from what it was on 9/11/2001. It has metastasized to many smaller groups but it’s leadership has been decimated. The world communities are coming together in this effort to bring the terrorists to justice. Re: Saddam Hussein, he did contribute $25,000 to each family who supplied a bomber/murderer. I read where his sons were in contact with terrorists at training camps in north eastern Iraq. A past leader of Al Qaeda was injured in Afghanistan was treated in an Iraqi hospital. He is now dead.
SharonB
I don't object to any form of religion in a formal setting. That could be in a hospital, jail, tent, field, battleground, aboard ship, etc. I do object when preference is given to one over another.
SharonB
JT: It is time to change the term War on Terrorism. It has been suggested by many that Against Radical Islam be used when referring to Al Qaeda groups.
I also am a conservative Republican but one area where we differ is I believe there has to be some deference to protecting our country and it’s secrets. This may be a diminution of some of our rights and privileges as a weapon in this war. This is serious business and peoples lives are at stake.
I just heard Ron Paul this AM on C-SPAN and he is an interesting person. His views would probably appeal to the younger voters, but not many my age. I see now, why he is so far down in the polls.
SharonB
Interesting time and sales:
Rec. Time Action Price Volume
1:02:42 PM Trade 0.0016 400000
1:02:42 PM Trade 0.0017 500000
11:42:20 AM Trade 0.002 100000
11:42:02 AM Trade 0.002 100000
11:41:50 AM Trade 0.0016 100000
11:41:46 AM Trade 0.002 100000
11:22:12 AM Trade 0.0016 500000
11:21:56 AM Trade 0.0017 745000
11:21:34 AM Trade 0.0015 500000
11:19:16 AM Trade 0.0015 10000
11:19:06 AM Trade 0.0015 220000
11:18:32 AM Trade 0.0015 245000
11:18:22 AM Trade 0.0015 25000
11:13:10 AM Trade 0.0015 500000
11:13:02 AM Trade 0.0017 100000
11:12:32 AM Trade 0.0017 5000
........................total 4,150,000
LT: Reminds me. I think it is Cincinnati where they are going to install wash stations at the airport so the taxi cab drivers can wash their feet before praying. This is paid for by public funds and the very same drivers who have refused to transport passengers if they are carrying alcohol which might have been purchased in a tax free store.
Sure gets a little confusing at times.
SharonB
Gitmo Detainee doesn't want to go back to Algeria, 7 are soon to be released and sent to Algeria.(SharonB)
An attorney quotes an Algerian security services source:
7 Guantanamo detainees to be released later in July
...Monday 16 July 2007
A Guantanamo detainee attorney quoted “a confidential source within the Algerian security services that seven Algerians nationals are due to be sent from Guantanamo to Algeria on July 27 or 28.” It is likely that the think is about a group that Ambassador at-Large Clint Williamson negotiated on with Algerian officials in Algeria last April.
Guantanamo detainee Ahmed Belbacha has sent a letter, through his attorney Zachary Katzenlson, to his family in Algeria to tell them about information he knew from the source that talked about him, indicating that he has informed the British government and asked them to receive Belbacha who used to live in Britain legally, before leaving it in 1999 to Pakistan under unknown circumstances where he had been arrested and handed over to the CIA.
The letter of which El Khabar got a copy mentions that “a source from the Algerian security services revealed that seven Algerians nationals are to be sent from Guantanamo to Algeria on July 27 or 28; yet we have not been able to confirm this from any other source, nor do we have the names of the seven men, but we must take this report seriously, we believe that Ahmed is one of the men.”
Attorney Katzenlson living in Britain stressed that he visited Belbacha Saturday in Guantanamo “he looked well and smiled at news of everyone. I gave him an update on all the latest news”, namely the release date of the aforementioned detainees. Ahmed brother told El Khabar yesterday that he refuses the transfer to Algeria, without indicating further details.
http://www.elkhabar.com/FrEn/lire.php?ida=75181&idc=52
...Algeria: Al Qaeda attack kills eight troops
Posted: 11-07-2007 , 18:23 GMT
A truck bomb went off at an Algerian army barracks on Wednesday, killing eight troops in an attack claimed by al Qaeda's north Africa wing. The attack in Lakhdaria village 120 km east of the capital in the Kabylie region reported hours before the opening in Algiers of the All Africa Games.
The 0530 GMT blast was caused by a truck bomb and the eight dead and 23 injured were soldiers, the official APS news agency reported security sources as saying. Residents, citing unconfirmed reports, said the assault was carried out by a suicide bomber.
Al Jazeera television said al Qaeda's north Africa wing, the al Qaeda Organisation in the Islamic Maghreb, claimed responsibility for the attack and said it was a suicide mission. "Our martyr was able to enter into the heart of the (barracks) and set off the explosion there," said a spokesman of al Qaeda Organization in the Islamic Maghreb in an audio tape.
The spokesman named the suicide attacker as Suhail Abu Malih and said more than one ton of explosives were used.
Algeria's Interior Minister Noureddine Yazid Zerhouni declared in Algiers that the fight against the armed groups "will continue with the same determination" and that measures have been taken to reinforce counterterrorism. Talking on the sidelines of the People's National Assembly (Parliament) works in response to the attack, Zerhouni said that it "was not ruled out that armed groups would commit such kind of attacks,” underlying that these latter "will never undermine the determination of security services to fight these groups.”
http://www.albawaba.com/en/countries/Algeria/215012
...Pentagon Chief Says Al-Qaida Expanding in N. Africa
Robert Gates
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates says the al-Qaida terrorist network is expanding in North Africa, through a loose network of groups that share its ideology.
Secretary Gates says U.S. intelligence reports indicate that North Africa's Maghreb, which includes Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia, is the latest area where al-Qaida is working to establish or affiliate with terrorist groups.
"There has basically been a merger, or whatever you want to call it, of several terrorist groups there, under the rubric of al-Qaida, in the Maghreb," he said. "I think that's probably the newest area where it has emerged as a reasonably coherent organization."
Secretary Gates says the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan destroyed al-Qaida's ability to directly control terrorist activities around the world. But he says the remnants of the network, including its senior leaders, continue to influence global terrorism from safe havens in Pakistan.
"We, I think, have pretty good evidence that, for example, al-Qaida in Iraq takes strategic guidance and inspiration from the al-Qaida in the western part of Pakistan, Osama bin Laden's organization, Zawahiri and company," he said. "They get advice. They clearly are connected. But they also have, I think, probably substantial autonomy."
Secretary Gates described al-Qaida today as a 'franchise' organization, a term also used Friday by White House spokesman Tony Snow.
Tony Snow
"What happens now is that you have a decentralized al-Qaida, where you have franchised operations around the globe that communicate using the Internet, using video, using very sophisticated techniques," he said. "They share finances. They share tactics. They share recruiting strategies. And they share communications."
The two officials spoke the day after a U.S. government intelligence report said al-Qaida has rebuilt much of its organization in recent years, although the report says the group is still weaker than it was before 2002.
Algeria's radical Islamic group, previously known as the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat, recently changed its name to the al-Qaida Organization in the Islamic Maghreb. It has claimed responsibility for two recent suicide bombings that killed more than 40 people.
A year and a half ago, Secretary Gates' predecessor, Donald Rumsfeld, visited Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco, largely to discuss counter-terrorism cooperation. During that trip, Rumsfeld praised the three countries for fighting terrorism, and said there was "an extremely low possibility" that terrorists would be able to gain a foothold in the region.
President Bush said Thursday al-Qaida is weaker than it would have been if not for U.S. military actions in recent years, but he said it is still a threat.
VOA News
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200707/200707150014.html...
This is why the war with Islamic radicals must be addressed by the Democrats who seem bent on an isolationist agenda. President Bush is right on and needs support.
SharonB
elder: It sure helps the short term indicators. It is also a step in repairing the mid and long term indicators which are still quite negative. Those could change rapidly with positive news.
SharonB
Here it is. My kind of ship other than bulk cargo being used by Innotelco.
Here SHE is, the USS New York, made from the World Trade Center!
USS New York
It was built with 24 tons of scrap steel from the World Trade Center.
It is the fifth in a new class of warship - designed for missions that include special operations against terrorists. It will carr y a crew of 360 sailors and 700 combat-ready Marines to be delivered ashore by helicopters and assault craft.
Steel from the World Trade Center was melted down in a foundry in Amite, LA to cast the ship's bow section. When it was poured into the molds on Sept 9, 2003, "those big rough steelworkers treated it with total reverence," recalled Navy Capt. Kevin Wensing, who was there. "It was a spiritual moment for everybody there."
Junior Chavers, foundry operations manager, said that when the trade center steel first arrived, he touched it with his hand and the "hair on my neck stood up." "It had a big meaning to it for all of us," he said. "They knocked us down. They can't keep us down. We're going to be back."
The ship's motto? "Never Forget"
Please keep this going so everyone can see what we are made of in this country!
SharonB