Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Idea Of The Day -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Neil H who wrote (45580)	2/20/2004 12:36:41 AM
From: IQBAL LATIF	Respond to of 50167

He is a grand strategist, his policies of living with hope and love is far better than living with despair and pessimism.. He has single handedly led the neutralization efforts that have resulted in opening of pandora boxes by Iran, Libya and N. Korea to develop nuclear armaments. Through twin arms of 'diplomacy and big stick' he got them to negotiations table, the black market rings that has been taken out spearheaded by a rogue scientist Qadeer is one another example. World is a safer place and a better place, as dismantling of nuclear facilities continue and Iran latest centrifuges are torn the ability of developing states to go nuclear is hampered by decades. Hyper puissance is all about ability to execute policies with a mix of threat and diplomacy, never before so many countries in our part of the world have done the right things in coordination, the Syrians are working quietly to stop border infiltration, we have written since invasion of Iraq the collateral benefit of democracy in the region, it certainly will create new challenges but new challenges are new opportunities. The chaotic nature of a free society from a tyrant led Iraq that seemed so peaceful on surface as dissent is rooted through orgies of blood is one biggest problem that leaders who believe In change has to counter, this present media led assault on Iraqi instability totally missed that fact that nations shackled by dogs of bath party loyalists is now free to demonstrate and ask for new freedom and pluralism, is that freedom now worth the effort, is the dagger that was permanently stuck within the hearts of middle Eastern responsible fro more than million deaths in perpetual wars with neighbors for last decade not a great return. A stable middle east married to pluralist values and respect of life is a big biggest boast to globally connected world. Tyranny is very stable and very smooth on surface freedom in its beginning has its own dynamics of expression; it is this dynamics of expression that is missed by the guys bent on distant gratification. All revolutions have am messy beginning and messy stabilization period but democracies and nations who have stopped wars owe their education to freedom that are ensured through constant sacrifices that were paid in the last few centuries, here a new renaissance is emerging and some sacrifices by humans to remove that scars of past are must, habits do not change habits of mind are integral part of our social structure here we are seeing change of minds and that needs shock and awe along with an environ that is free for expression. Big nations just don’t talk their needs to be an execution and if execution becomes voluntarily that is a bonus of an active foreign policy and active strategy. Status quo pre 911 was a keg of powder waiting to be blown in the heart of Middle eastern fiefdoms, if anything the cancer seated within the confines of these fiefdoms is being openly pursued, who could have dreamt that Saudis will go after elements on which their stability hinges, who could have thought that a grand alliance of nations against extremism will have amongst its most active components states like Saudis and Pakistanis and to top it all who could have imagined that states in South Asia that were dagger drawn 12 months ago will be in bed together to make love. If this is not success of strategy what else is, instant gratification and thinking of all weather post game quarter backs will not understand the complex situations that are being entangled post Bush doctrine.

To: Neil H who wrote (45580)	2/21/2004 2:29:55 PM
From: IQBAL LATIF	Respond to of 50167

Afghan, Pakistani, US forces set for spring offensive..Operation smoke out Osama.. * Authorities tighten noose around ‘foreign terrorists’ in Wana By Amir Rana and Iqbal Khattak dailytimes.com.pk LAHORE: Pakistani, US and Afghan forces are planning a major military operation inside Pakistan along its border with Afghanistan, against Al Qaeda and Taliban fighters by the end of the spring. Military officials from all three countries will meet in Islamabad late April to finalize the plan, sources told Daily Times on Friday. “The Pakistani military is carrying small operations in tandem with US forces to apprehend or neutralize Qaeda operatives hiding in Pakistan’s tribal areas”, sources said. Lieutenant General David Barno, commander of the US-led coalition forces in Afghanistan, arrived in Rawalpindi on Wednesday and met top Pakistani military officials at the military’s General Headquarters (GHQ), reportedly to discuss the operational situation in tribal areas. Both sides are said to have agreed on military operations in Pakistan’s tribal areas as well as across the border into Afghanistan. Sources said that though the spring operation against Al Qaeda and Taliban was almost certain, the exact time was all that was left to be decided. “General Barno’s visit was routine, part of his leadership duties and to discuss a closer relationship with the Pakistani military”, said official sources confirming the visit and April meeting. Sources said Gen Barno, who recently predicted that US forces would capture Osama bin Laden this year, would lead the operation and Pakistani and Afghan forces - along with US troops - would operate on their own sides of their common border but either could cross into the other’s side if necessary. “We will wait in Afghanistan to grab Al Qaeda driven from the Pakistani side and vice versa,” a US military official with General Barno said. Sources also said that the US is expanding the reconstruction teams in the tribal areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan from 11 to 16 by this summer. The teams, which range in size from 80 to 200 members each, combine military, intelligence and humantarian reconstructions skills. In a related development, the political administration in South Waziristan Agency on Friday ordered tribesmen to remove tinted windows from their vehicles, as part of an imminent crackdown on ‘terrorists’, especially ‘foreigners.’ The move, aimed to tighten a noose around foreign terrorists and their supporters, came as a surprise to many drivers. Official sources said that vehicles were also barred from using Wana Road, that leads to the airport. The administration warned that all vehicles with tinted glass would be impounded and their drivers fined. Sources said the decision would restrict the movement of terrorists because they hide behind the tinted glass of the vehicles they travel in. No vehicle will be allowed into Azam Warsak market, the scene of an army solder’s murder on February 11. Wana airport was closed to routine flights, a move which signals that gunship helicopters might use the airport for a military operation in the area. Rumours of an imminent military operation were widespread in Wana. “It can happen at any time and I am uncertain about the future,” Meersalam Khan, a shopkeeper in Wana market told Daily Times by phone. “I think innocent people will fall victim and criminals will escape as usual,” he said. A government official said secret meetings were held in Wana and Islamabad to work out final details of the operation. South Waziristan Agency chief administrator Muhammad Azam Khan said the army would assist the administration in the operation against terrorists, but he would not say when it would begin. Mr Khan said talks with tribal elders were still in progress. “We will move to strike at hideouts of terrorists and their hosts,” he said. Azam Warsak bazaar was sealed after the soldier’s murder under the Collective Responsibility Act of the Frontier Crimes Regulations. ‘Operation being sensationalised’ LAHORE: Pakistan Army spokesman Major General Shaukat Sultan said on Friday that the Wana operation was being sensationalised. Mr Sultan told a news channel that the Pakistan Army had taken positions in trenches and cliffs in Wana, the headquarters of Waziristan Agency, adding that 800-kilometre-long Chaman border with Afghanistan was also completely sealed. Mr Sultan ruled out that possibility of a joint operation with the US troops in Wana, saying, “Only the Pakistan Army will conduct operation in the Pakistani territory”. He also dispelled rumours that a US fighter plane had flown over South Waziristan. —Daily Times Monitor

To: Neil H who wrote (45580)	2/22/2004 4:58:15 PM
From: IQBAL LATIF	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 50167

‘Osama cornered in Balochistan’ LONDON: US and British special forces have cornered al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in a mountainous area in Balochistan, near the Afghanistan border, the Sunday Express newspaper reported. Quoting "a US intelligence source," it said Osama and up to 50 henchmen were inside an area 16 kilometres wide and deep "north of Khanozai town and Quetta". "He is boxed in," the unidentified source was quoted by the tabloid as saying, adding that US special forces were "absolutely confident" that he could not escape. According to the source, Osama moved into the area, "in the desolate Toba Kakar mountains," about one month ago from another area 240 kilometres to the south, the Sunday Express said. Taliban leader Mulla Omar is believed to be with Osama, according to the report. In Washington, a Defence Department spokesman declined to comment. The area is under surveillance from a geo-stationary spy satellite, while the US and the British special forces await orders to move in, the newspaper said in its early edition, received late Saturday. The Sunday Express said it was also told in London by "a senior Republican close to the White House and the Pentagon" this past week that Osama had been located. "They have found bin Laden," the source, described as an "intimate" of the family of US President George W Bush, was quoted as saying. "They now know where he is within a manageable area, which can be watched and controlled." The Sunday Express said Osama’s whereabouts had been discovered from "a combination of CIA paramilitaries and special forces, plus image analysis by geographers and soil experts". "They studied the background in bin Laden’s last video and matched it to rocks in the Toba Kakar region," the newspaper said. "A two-man special forces surveillance unit them infiltrated the area," it said, adding that they picked up their first clues that Osama was in the area within a week. "Other teams then slipped in," the Sunday Express quoted its source as saying. "To avoid any alert, helicopters were not used." A graphic published alongside the Sunday Express report indicated that the area in which bin Laden is supposedly hiding is immediately to the north of Khanozai and Murgha. A local security official denied Osama’s reported encirclement. "Nothing of this sort is going on in the Toba Kakar area," the security official said. "There is no such information available with us," he added. Muhammad Ejaz Khan adds from Quetta: The Balochistan Home Department on Sunday denied the report that any member of the Taliban or al-Qaeda was either cornered or arrested from any part of the province. "There is no truth in these reports," a senior official of the Home department told The News. He said on the condition of anonymity that no such arrest was made from Khanozai town and Quetta. A senior official of Khanozai administration also dispelled the impression that an operation has been launched there or any suspect belonging to the Taliban or the al-Qaeda was cornered.