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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Alan Smithee who wrote (309011)	6/8/2009 12:17:13 AM
From: ManyMoose	1 Recommendation Respond to of 793804

I wish Bush had never called Islam a religion of peace. It is nothing of the sort.

To: Alan Smithee who wrote (309011)	6/8/2009 1:03:06 AM
From: KLP	Respond to of 793804

You would think the Muslims worldwide would be screaming about these murders.... on top of that horrible news for just the last 5 days, there was this as well. At least the Taliban didn't kill all of them...they just scared them out of their wits... Taliban release all kidnapped students: officials google.com By S. H. Khan – 3 days ago PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AFP) — Taliban militants on Thursday freed all remaining Pakistani students and teachers who were snatched three days ago in a lawless northwest region, as children told of their terror in captivity. About 46 students and two staff from an army-run college in the tribal area of North Waziristan, where Washington says Al-Qaeda are plotting attacks on the West, were released to tribal elders, security officials and the Taliban said. Masked gunmen had Monday ambushed a convoy of about 30 vehicles carrying staff and students from Razmak in North Waziristan home at the start of the summer holidays, officials said. Pakistan said Tuesday that soldiers recovered 80 of the students and staff. The army initially said that everyone had been rescued, but school officials later said about 45 students and two teachers were unaccounted for. "All remaining kidnapped students and teachers who were in the custody of terrorists have been recovered and safely flown to Bannu in an army helicopter this afternoon," the military said in a statement. Bannu lies in the North West Frontier Province, which unlike the wild tribal areas of Pakistan falls under direct government control. "Our information is that all have been released," Kamran Zeb, a government official in the area, told AFP. A commander in Pakistan's Tehreek-e-Taliban and spokesman for the country's most wanted militant, Baitullah Mehsud, confirmed their release. "We have released them in the interest of peace in the region. We accepted the request of the tribal jirga (council)," Hakimullah Mehsud told AFP. Waheed Iqbal, a 12-year-old student, told AFP of his fear as two armed men stormed onto his school bus and took the steering wheel. "We were going out when a car stopped in front of us and two men came in our bus and warned us that nobody should make any noise," he said. "I was so scared that I started crying". His schoolmate Shahid Khan, a ninth grade student, described his captors as wearing ammunition belts and carrying kalashnikovs and mortars. "I'm sure they were Taliban. They had long beards. They were wearing traditional shalwar khamis and black turbans," he said. Local authorities had threatened a military raid to rescue the captives unless they were handed over peacefully, as parents of the missing pupils demonstrated in Bannu and lambasted the government's handling of the crisis. "The government is responsible for this kidnapping. Why did they choose a bad time for travelling?" a parent said. Although it was uncertain how many people were kidnapped, the incident sparked growing fears of spiralling rebel attacks to avenge a military offensive in the northwest. The military campaign, now in its sixth week, was launched when Taliban fighters advanced to within 100 kilometres (60 miles) of Islamabad, flouting a deal to put three million people under sharia law in exchange for peace. The military said Thursday that 10 militants and one soldier had been killed during the last 24 hours of operations, and announced that an army relief fund had been established for the estimated two million people displaced. Pakistan's army chief General Ashfaq Kayani said that the tide in Swat had "decisively turned" and top militant leaders were being "aggressively hunted", a statement from his office said. The United States, which has strongly backed the operation, sent special envoy Richard Holbrooke to Pakistan where he was meeting some of those made homeless by the conflict who fled into camps. A roadside bomb exploded just outside northwest Mardan town on Thursday in the region Holbrooke visited, injuring at least 22 policemen, officials said. "The police vehicle was on its way to Buner from Mardan when it was hit by a remote-controlled bomb planted alongside the road," senior police official Waqif Khan told AFP.