Gazette 01-03-13

Friday January 3rd 2014

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Jailed Terrorists Refuse To Change Beliefs

Almost three-quarters of those jailed for Islamist terror offences in the UK have rejected efforts to steer them away from extremism, Sky News has been told.

Sources said 110 of the country's 150 terrorist offenders, who are currently in prison or on parole, are resisting rehabilitation.

Analysts have told Sky News the security services will be faced with an increasing challenge trying to monitor those who retain extreme views once released.

The Government’s counter-terrorism strategy, Contest, is aimed at encouraging extremists to re-examine their beliefs and choose a path of non-violence.

But experts say tackling the terrorist mindset is extremely challenging.

Dr Usama Hasan is a senior researcher in Islamic studies at the counter-extremist think tank, the Quilliam Foundation.

He said: "It shows the extent of the challenge that, 12 years after the 9/11 attacks in the US, you've still got the majority of these people not wanting to deal with any examination or discussion of their hardline ideas."

Whitehall sources have told Sky News that every single senior jihadist jailed in the UK in recent years has refused to engage with the anti-extremism programme.

They include the likes of Abdullah Ahmed Ali, who led a terror cell which planned to blow up airliners with liquid bombs.

It has been claimed the plot could have been more deadly than the 9/11 attacks. Ali and his fellow plotters were arrested and jailed in 2009.

Dr Hasan said it was not surprising that every senior terrorist figure had rejected overtures by prison authorities.

Chicago’s Muslim Comptroller Pleads Guilty to Fraud, Bribery and Money Laundering

The story begins with Kevin Boyce, a member of the Ohio House of Representatives. Boyce was picked by the Dems to replace W. Carlton Weddington, another Democrat, who was sent to prison on bribery charges.
Both Boyce and Weddington moved up the ladder through the Ohio Legislative Black Caucus.

Boyce was appointed the State Treasurer for Ohio. He lost the election to Republican Josh Mandel in 2010 over the Amer Ahmad affair. Ahmad was his Deputy State Treasurer who, among other crimes, helped out Mohammed Noure Alo, a lobbyist and immigration attorney with six figures in legal fees and helped his wife get a job announced only at the mosque.

Kim Jong Un's executed uncle was eaten alive by 120 hungry dogs: report

BEIJING -- North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's powerful uncle was stripped naked, thrown into a cage, and eaten alive by a pack of ravenous dogs, according to a newspaper with close ties to China's ruling Communist Party.
The report could not be independently confirmed by NBC News on Friday.
Jang Song Thaek, who had been considered Kim's second-in-command, was executed last month after being found guilty of "attempting to overthrow the state," North Korea’s state-run news agency reported.
The official North Korean account on Dec. 12 did not specify how Jang was put to death.
Hong Kong-based pro-Beijing newspaper Wen Wei Po reported that Jang and his five closest aides were set upon by 120 hunting hounds which had been starved for five days. 
Kim and his brother Kim Jong Chol supervised the one-hour ordeal along with 300 other officials, according to Wen Wei Po. The newspaper added that Jang and other aides were "completely eaten up."
The newspaper has acted as a mouthpiece for China's Communist Party. The report may be a sign of the struggle between those in the party who want to remain engaged with North Korea and those who would like to distance themselves from Kim's regime.

Afghanistan's Karzai frees from prison 88 jihadists who killed and maimed Western forces

Showing yet again which side he is on. "Afghan president to free scores of Taliban fighters: Karzai condemned over betrayal of British war dead," by Tamara Cohen for the Daily Mail, January 1 (thanks to Blazing Cat Fur):

Britain has condemned the release of Taliban prisoners accused of killing and maiming Western forces in Afghanistan. To the fury of the UK, the US and victims' families, president Hamid Karzai has freed 88 dangerous militants from a jail at Bagram, the former US air base run by the Afghan government.
The US wants them to be prosecuted and says 30 per cent carried out direct attacks that killed or wounded 60 coalition troops, and 40 per cent killed 57 Afghans, including police and security forces.
Last night the Foreign Office expressed serious concerns about the mass release, which the US says poses a major security threat, and the likelihood that the fighters could re-join the insurgency.
Tony Lewis, whose son Conrad was killed in Afghanistan in February 2011, said Mr Karzai showed scant concern for the lives of troops who served there.
Private Lewis, from Bournemouth, was killed by gunfire in the Nad Ali district of Helmand province. The 22-year-old was four months into his tour with 4th Battalion the Parachute Regiment.
Mr Lewis said: 'We are still dealing with the impact of losing our son and we valued his life above all else. If people like Karzai are prepared to negotiate with these people, he clearly puts a low value on the lives of those who tried to help his country and his people.
'Clearly, he has little regard for the sacrifices they have made.
'He needs to explain why he is doing this and if he cannot justify it to the US and UK, he certainly cannot justify it to any parent who has lost their child there, or to his own people who have suffered at the hands of the Taliban.'...

Yes.

Militants 'still hold Iraq cities'

Sunni militants linked to al-Qaeda are reportedly still in control of parts of two cities in western Iraq.

There has been fierce fighting in recent days as government forces have tried to force militants aligned to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) out of Ramadi and Fallujah.
An AFP news agency journalist told the BBC that black flags used by jihadists were still flying in both cities.
Clashes erupted on Monday after troops dismantled a protest camp in Ramadi.
Local Sunni Arabs had been demonstrating for months against what they perceive as discrimination by the Shia-led government and unfair targeting of their minority community by anti-terrorism measures implemented to stem the surge in sectarian violence.
But Prime Minister Nouri Maliki ordered that the sit-in be cleared, alleging it had "turned into a headquarters for the leadership of al-Qaeda".
'Peaceful takeover' On Tuesday, Mr Maliki agreed to withdraw the army from towns and cities in Anbar province so that the police could resume control of security.
But as soon as soldiers left their posts, militants aligned to al-Qaeda appeared on the streets of Ramadi, Fallujah and Tarmiya, storming police stations, freeing prisoners and seizing weapons.
The prime minister reversed his decision the next day, sending soldiers back to Anbar and offering tribal leaders weapons and money in return for helping combat the militants.
On Thursday, police and pro-government tribesmen battled ISIS and its allies for control of Ramadi and Fallujah. Hospitals reported that at least 35 people were killed and 70 wounded.
Militants raised black flags on buildings in both cities and used the loudspeakers of mosques to call on people to join their struggle and support a "peaceful takeover".

3 dead after Cambodian police fire on striking workers

At least three people were killed Friday when police in Cambodia opened fire to break up a protest by striking garment workers demanding a doubling of the minimum wage, police and human rights workers said.

Chuon Narin, deputy chief of the Phnom Penh Municipal Police, said the three were killed and two others were wounded in a southern suburb of the capital when police fired AK-47 rifles after several hundred workers blocking a road south of the capital Phnom Penh began burning tires and throwing objects at them. The incident followed another clash overnight.
Chuon Narin described the protesters as anarchists who were destroying public and private property. They were cleared from the street, at least temporarily, by early afternoon.
Chan Saveth, an observer from the human rights group Adhoc, said his group had tallied three dead and 10 hurt, seven apparently with gunshot wounds.
The violence comes at a time of political stress in the country, as the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party has protested daily for Prime Minister Hun Sen to step down and call elections. Hun Sen won elections last July that extended his 28-year rule in the poor Southeast Asia nation, but opposition protesters accuse him of rigging the vote. Hun Sen has rejected their demand.
Workers at most of the country's more than 500 garment factories are on strike, demanding an increase in the minimum wage to $160 a month, double the current rate. The government has offered $100 a month.

South Sudan Conflict: U.S. Embassy Begins Evacuating Personnel In Juba 

JUBA, South Sudan (AP) — The U.S. Embassy in South Sudan is evacuating more of its personnel because of a deteriorating security situation.
The embassy said Friday that it is organizing another evacuation flight to leave Friday. The embassy has already organized about a dozen flights since fighting broke out Dec. 15.
The embassy did not give a specific reason why it is evacuating more personnel. An anti-government force controls a state capital about 120 kilometers (70 miles) north of the country capital, Juba. South Sudan's military spokesman says that force wants to advance on to Juba.
The embassy said it will no longer provide consular services in South Sudan as of Saturday.
Even as rebels threaten to march on the capital, representatives for the warring parties are holding preliminary peace talks in Ethiopia.
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11 State AGs Say Obama Breaks Law With Healthcare Changes

Eleven GOP state attorneys general charge that the Obama administration is breaking the law by sidestepping Congress to change the healthcare law, The Hill reports.

In particular, the Republican attorneys general claim the president’s executive action that allows health insurance companies to keep offering insurance plans that have been canceled for not meeting Obamacare rules is "flatly illegal under federal constitutional and statutory law."

"We support allowing citizens to keep their health insurance coverage, but the only way to fix this problem-ridden law is to enact changes lawfully: through Congressional action," the attorneys general wrote in a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. "The illegal actions by this administration must stop."

HHS did not respond to a request for comment.

West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey wrote the letter, which was co-signed by his peers in Alabama, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas, and Virginia.

Another change in the Affordable Health Care Act law by the executive office included the decision to delay the employer insurance mandate for a year, which many lawmakers said should have required a congressional vote.

That change, the attorneys general insist, defies a Supreme Court decision in the 1985 case of Heckler v. Chaney case, in which the court concluded that some enforcement of laws might be subject to judicial review first.

That case had to do with lethal injection. Lawyers for two condemned killers argued the Food and Drug Administration had not certified that the lethal drugs were "safe and effective" for human executions, and should be barred. At issue was whether the FDA had jurisdiction to undertake the enforcement actions requested and, if it did have jurisdiction, whether its refusal to take those actions was subject to judicial review.

Obama Classmate: He Was A Lying, Drug Using, Homosexual Foreigner

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford runs for re-election

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, who admitted to once smoking crack cocaine while in a "drunken stupor", has filed re-election papers.

Putting his name on the ballot to run for another term, Mr Ford revealed his new campaign slogan: "Ford more years".
"I've got the strongest track record," he told journalists. "I've been the best mayor this city has ever had."
He is the sole candidate so far for the 27 October municipal election, but rivals are expected to challenge him.
The conservative mayor was first elected in 2010 to lead Canada's largest city on a pledge to tackle wasteful spending at city hall.
He said it was for the voters ultimately to deliver their verdict on his personal problems.
'Track record' He told reporters on Thursday: "My track record speaks for itself. We've got the lowest taxes than any other major city in North America.

Joe Lieberman Joins Private Equity Firm

Former Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) announced Thursday he has joined the private equity firm Victory Park Capital, where he will serve as chairman of the firm's Executive Board.
"While in the U.S. Senate, I fought for policies that would allow small businesses to thrive," Lieberman said in a statement. "I look forward to a long-term partnership with Victory Park Capital that will position the firm for continued growth."
Lieberman retired from the U.S. Senate in 2012 after serving for 24 years. In 2006, he was reelected to the U.S. Senate as an Independent after being defeated in the Democratic primary election.
Brendan Carroll, partner and co-founder of VPC, said Lieberman would "bring tremendous value" to the firm. VPC's managing partner and founder Richard Levy said the former senator would be a "critical" player in his new role.
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