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

To: IQBAL LATIF who wrote (47029)	10/12/2004 3:52:33 AM
From: IQBAL LATIF	Respond to of 50167

Afghan poll crisis ends as Karzai’s rivals back off Qanooni says candidates to accept independent probe into alleged cheating; Karzai heading for landslide victory KABUL: The crisis surrounding Afghanistan’s historic presidential election appeared to end on Monday as President Hamid Karzai’s chief rival said that he and other candidates were withdrawing their rejection of the weekend poll. Millions of Afghans took part in Saturday’s poll, the first time the impoverished, war-torn nation voted for a president, but all 15 of Karzai’s challengers announced a boycott, saying a system to prevent multiple voting had failed. "We want unity in this election, not a boycott," ethnic Tajik commander Yunus Qanooni told reporters after intermediaries, including US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad, interceded in the row. Qanooni’s announcement that he would accept the formation of an independent commission to look into alleged cheating followed similar statements on Sunday by Massooda Jalal, the only female presidential hopeful, and ethnic Hazara candidate Mohammed Mohaqeq. "I don’t want to be against the election and I appreciate the goodwill of the people of Afghanistan," Qanooni said. "I want to prove to the people of Afghanistan that the national interest is my highest interest." He said that he had made his decision after a meeting with UN representative Jean Arnault and US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad. The announcement was a huge victory for election organisers, who agreed to set up the panel in hopes that it would end the crisis that emerged when all 15 opposition candidates declared the boycott in the middle of Saturday’s voting. Their complaint focused on allegations that the supposedly indelible ink used to mark voters’ thumbs in some polling stations could be rubbed off, allowing some people to vote more than once. "Some of the candidates say they made that statement (the boycott) in too much of a rush," said a senior Western official on condition of anonymity, after meeting many of the candidates. "They are now looking for a way out that allows them to save face." International electoral observers have criticised the 15, saying their demand to nullify the vote was unjustified. A high voter turnout in Afghanistan, a nation that has never before tasted democracy, and a failure of Taliban rebels to launch a massive attack has also been held up as proof of the vote’s success. "The numbers and enthusiasm both were very, very great," Karzai said on NBC’s "Today" show. "People braved attacks by terrorists and went to the election." He said the polls should be a slap in the face to Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaeda followers, and "show that people don’t want them, that the people want a different life." Bin Laden "should be much more afraid today than he was the day before yesterday or before that. He must be trying to hide even in a tighter place than he was a few days ago. We will find him one day, sooner or later," Karzai added. "The counting will be done in full view of cameras," Karzai told NBC. "Afghan television will telecast it direct from the counting stations. I am confident enough the count will be conducted properly." In the latest in a series of minor recent attacks, at least three rockets slammed into Kabul not far from the US Embassy, killing an Afghan man and damaging the roof of a mud-brick house, police and witnesses said. An embassy official said staff went into bunkers as a precaution, though there was no indication any of the rockets hit embassy grounds. Boxes of ballots, some arriving by mule, were not expected to finish reaching counting centres until at least Tuesday. Before the tallying of votes can start, the numbers of received ballots are checked, UN officials said. Then, the ballots from various districts are mixed together so no one knows which area favoured which candidate. Actual counting may not start until Wednesday or Thursday, said electoral spokesman Sultan Baheen. Aykut Tavsel, another electoral spokesman, said candidates have until Tuesday evening to file formal complaints, and that the commission doesn’t want to start the count until after it has reviewed them. Final results were not expected until the end of October.

To: IQBAL LATIF who wrote (47029)	10/12/2004 2:58:14 PM
From: Raymond Duray	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 50167

Re: so that you know why some think that 'no one' should be released from that 'infamous prison’. Several agencies, including the Red Cross/Red Cresent are making credible claims that the percentage of innocent people imprisoned by the American imperialists in Abu Ghraib, Guantanemo and a dozen other secret prisons is unacceptably high. Some agencies claim that as many as 80 to 90% of the people incarcerated are guilty of nothing, except being caught up in a vicious, malicious dragnet. The fact is, these illegal, immoral incarcerations are creating many more enemies for the militarists in the U.S. who have created a nightmare for everyone involved, all for the sake of groteque profits made by way of the murder of fellow human beings.