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Saturday, September 5, 2009

Lebanese mine clearer rushes back to work despite loss of limb

By Patrick Galey
Daily Star staff
Saturday, September 05, 2009

NABATIEH: Ali Murad will never forget one ill-fated day in February. “When I went to hospital I wasn’t unconscious so I remember everything,” he says. “We were working normally in the field. On the way back to my line” – Murad claps his hands. “Bang.” Ali, 25, was part of the Mine Advisory Group’s field clearance team on that fateful winter morning. His team was conducting a visual search in an area of land known to be contaminated with live cluster bomb fragments and had taken a break.

On the way back to his search position, Ali stepped on an unexploded M-77 submunition. The blast obliterated his right foot and badly damaged the other leg. Quick thinking by his support team in the field may well have saved Ali’s life.

“The team had the dressing on and got him out of the field in about four minutes,” says MAG Technical Field Manager Jeffrey Caldwell.

“When the bang happened, I saw my leg. I said ‘It’s finished,’” Ali recalls. “The medic was telling me there was nothing to worry about, that it would be OK. I told him to forget this one,” he says, pointing to the gap below his right knee. “Take care of the other one.”

Ali pleaded with surgeons at Sidon’s Hammoud Hospital to save as much of the ruined limb as possible. In listening to their stricken patient, the surgeons made a terrible error.

They amputated too little of the injured area and in order for a prosthetic limb to be fitted, Ali required an additional dangerous operation to remove more of his leg.

Ali’s injuries were so severe that doctors initially feared he would never walk again. What they hadn’t anticipated was the determination of their patient.

“The day of the accident I went to see Ali in the hospital,” says MAG country program manager, Dr. Christina Bennike. “The first thing he asked was, ‘When can I come back to work?’” she adds.

To Bennike’s delight – and the doctors’ amazement – Ali was back in the field clearing mines in July – even before a suitable false leg had been found.

Bennike explains why getting Ali back into the fray was a priority.

“Psychological recovery is keeping these guys working, not to leave them at home feeling sorry for themselves, thinking and reflecting,” she says.

“This is something that we have started this year. We keep them on the payroll so they have access to medical support. [We have] a network of people who have been through similar experiences,” Bennike adds.

Although others have lost limbs and returned to work during the three years since MAG started clearing Lebanon of cluster bombs, she admits to being awestruck by Ali’s irascibility.

“There was another accident 10 days after Ali’s. We didn’t want to tell him but he found out,” Bennike says. “He found a wheelchair and dragged himself out of bed. He wheeled himself down to the intensive-care unit in order to check on his colleague.”

A subsequent investigation revealed that Ali’s munition had been buried at a rough depth of 20 centimeters. Not only did this absolve Ali of any professional negligence – given that the bomblet was not visible and hence hadn’t been “missed” – it also probably saved his life.

“One inch of standard earth [covering a bomblet] increases your chances of survival by about 3 percent,” explains Caldwell. “So for every inch of separation you have, your chance of survival goes up.

“We found that all the procedures were done properly and everything was the way it was meant to be. It was just one of those accidents that you cannot stop. It was just going to happen,” he adds.

Ali still walks with a slight limp and says he often finds himself scratching his false leg when he feels “like I have an itch in my old one.” But his mind is never far from the day of the accident.

“I remember thinking of my home,” he says. “You lose something in your body but your thoughts are not just for you. You think of your son, your wife. You think of things in a different way.”

Ali adds that despite his traumatic experience, not returning to a job that he loved was never an option.

“When you start you think about money; it’s a good salary,” he says. “But later, when you see the people we help and they thank you all the time, that feeling is very good.”

Palestinian camps protest Nahr al-Bared delay

By Mohammed Zaatari
Daily Star staff
Saturday, September 05, 2009

SIDON: Palestinian factions staged protests in refugee camps all across the country on Friday to condemn the ongoing delay in reconstructing the battered northern refugee camp of Nahr al-Bared. Demonstrations were held in Ain al-Hilweh, near the southern coastal city of Sidon, al-Buss, near the port city of Tyre, and Chatila on the outskirts of the capital, to express solidarity with the refugees of Nahr al-Bared, who have yet to return home two years after the end of the battles between the Lebanese Army and the Al-Qaeda-inspired Fatah al-Islam militant group.

Protestors held banners slamming a recent decision by the Lebanese government to halt the reconstruction process in Nahr al-Bared and voiced their demands in petitions sent to United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) officials.

“We ask UNRWA to ease the suffering of Palestinian refugees at Nahr al-Bared and offer them relief,” said the head of Ain al-Hilweh’s Public Committee Abu al-Motassem.

Nahr al-Bared has been in ruins since 2007 when Lebanon witnessed a violent war between the Lebanese Army and Fatah al-Islam.

Lebanon’s Sate Shura Council recently issued a decision to halt the reconstruction process in the camp based on the discovery of Roman archeological ruins underneath the campsite.

Motassem called on the Lebanese government, UNRWA, the Arab League and the international community to reconsider the State Shura Council’s decision. “Refugees have been waiting for more than two years for the camp’s reconstruction,” he said.

Also in Ain al- Hilweh, Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) official in south Lebanon Qassem Sobh asked the Lebanese government to find a solution for the “logistic difficulties” even if it meant “buying or renting nearby sites [to house refugees] in order to solve the humanitarian problem.”

The Union of Palestinian Factions official Abu Ahmad Fadel, demanded on Friday that the Lebanese Army put an end to the strict military measures imposed on the Nahr al-Bared refugees.

“We ask that the army reduce the security measures and guarantee the camp’s residents freedom of movement,” he said.

The delay in reconstruction also seems to have had repercussions on Lebanese- Palestinian political ties.

“The Nahr al-Bared issue concerns all Palestinians,” said spokesman of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) Ali Mahmoud. “Any attempt to halt the camp’s reconstruction directly affects Lebanese-Palestinian relations” he added.

Saudi prince urges US to recognize oil dependency

September 05, 2009

MILAN: The United States has no alternative to oil to meet its massive energy needs and should recognize its energy interdependence with the Middle East, Saudi Arabia’s Prince Turki al-Faisal wrote in an article on Friday. US President Barack Obama has been pushing to boost green energy which cuts emissions of heat-trapping gases and reduces the use of fossil fuels. In his election campaign, Obama raised some potentially disturbing issues for the Saudis, such as ending dependence on Middle Eastern oil.

In the article translated into Italian and published by Italian newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore, Turki said energy independence was an unrealistic, groundless and harmful concept which was likely to re-emerge once economic recovery pushed oil prices up.

“There is no technology on the horizon which can replace oil to satisfy colossal needs of US industry, transport and armed forces. Any future scenario will be characterized by mix of renewable and non-renewable energies whether you like it or not,” Turki said.

His criticism comes as the US Senate is working on a wide-ranging energy and environmental bill aimed to put limits on the amount of greenhouse gases that big industries are allowed to emit.

Turki, a former Saudi intelligence chief and envoy to Washington and London, said the United States, the world’s biggest energy consumer, should put aside the rhetoric of energy independence and instead recognize interdependence of energy producers and consumers.

“Whether you like it or not, the destinies of the United States and Saudi Arabia are linked and will remain [linked] for decades,” he said.

Source: Daily Star.
Link: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/Business/Middle-East/Sep/05/Saudi-prince-urges-US-to-recognize-oil-dependency.ashx.

Irish warning as poll shows EU treaty support slipping

DUBLIN: Ireland’s foreign minister warned Friday that the government faces a “significant challenge” in a second referendum on a new EU treaty next month, as a poll showed support for a Yes vote slipping. A poll featured in The Irish Times said support for the European Union’s Lisbon Treaty dropped eight points to 46 percent since May, while opposition to the key reform document stood at 29 percent, increasing one point.

The number of undecided voters jumped seven points to 25 percent ahead of the October 2 referendum, called after Irish voters delivered a shock rejection to the treaty last year, plunging the EU into institutional limbo.

“There is a very significant challenge ahead,” Foreign Minister Micheal Martin told the RTE state broadcaster. “It is going to be a tight campaign.

“It is going to be a challenging debate. I was never under any illusion that it would be difficult to secure this [a Yes vote] but I do think we can do it.”

Martin said the campaign would demand all the “politics and passion” of backers of the treaty and particularly those who see a ‘yes’ vote as a significant step on the road to economic recovery in recession-hit Ireland.

“That’s the key issue,” said Martin, who is director of the campaign for Prime Minister Brian Cowen’s Fianna Fail party.

He said a major change since Ireland’s shock 53.4 percent rejection of Lisbon in a referendum in June, 2008, was that the number of ‘don’t knows’ had dropped and more people were aware of the issues involved.

The second Irish referendum was called after the EU made a series of guarantees to Dublin, including keeping its EU commissioner in Brussels, as well as on its military neutrality, abortion and taxation.

The Irish Times said the poll indicated the referendum “is more likely than not to be won.” It said a plunge in the popularity of the government and “political complacency” had led to the fall in support for the treaty.

“With less than a month remaining until polling day, this erosion of support should shake the pro-Lisbon parties out of a lethargy that has been the distinguishing mark of their performances to date,” the newspaper said.

Of the 27 EU nations, only Ireland is constitutionally bound to hold a referendum on the treaty, which is designed to improve decision-making in a greatly expanded bloc.

Yemen willing to halt offensive if rebels agree to stand down

Government says offer aimed at facilitating humanitarian work

SANAA: Yemen said on Friday it would suspend operations against rebels in the north of the country to allow access for aid groups if the Shiite rebels also agreed to stop fighting. “The government sees no problem with suspending operations as of 9 p.m. Friday evening,” a spokesman of the Supreme Security Committee said in a statement on the ruling party website September 26.

It said the ceasefire was conditional on the rebel movement doing the same and did not specify a time frame for the stop.

There was no immediate res­ponse from the rebels.

Both sides have previously rejected ceasefire offers by the other party.

“[This is] in response to the calls of international aid organizations and the demands of men and women in Saada so that those displaced in camps because of the strife caused by the subversives and rebels receive supplies,” it said.

Last month fresh fighting erupted between Zaydi Shiite Muslims in the Saada region and government forces trying to impose central authority.

The conflict in Yemen first broke out in 2004.

UN aid agencies say over 100,000 people, many of them children, have fled their homes during the surge in fighting.

They launched an appeal in Geneva this week for $23.5 million to help Yemen. Thousands are thought to be staying in tented camps.

Information about the conduct of the war has been hard to verify since northern provinces have been closed to media.

Earlier on Friday each side traded claims over the fighting in the mountainous territory bordering Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil producer.

A government military statement said the army had killed three rebel leaders and deployed a unit of snipers.

“Leaders of the rebellion, among the most dangerous terrorist elements, were killed” in the attack at Malaheez, Yemen’s official Saba news agency cited the statement as saying.

The report identified the men as Jarallah Mohammad Ismail, Ali Abd Rabbo Jabal and Abdel Aziz al-Uraimi.

Since August 11, government forces have been waging operation “Scorched Earth” against the Zaydi rebels.

The rebels told AFP in a statement on Friday that they were ready to cooperate with a United Nations plan for a “humanitarian corridor” to allow aid into the areas where fighting was taking place.

The army said it had sent elite marksmen to the conflict zones and this “has inflicted enormous losses” on the rebels.

Friday’s assault destroyed or damaged several vehicles delivering weapons and food to the rebels’ mountain strongholds in Saada Province, and government forces removed barriers the rebels had put across main roads to halt the army’s advance, the statement added.

In a video clip broadcast by Qatar-based Al-Jazeera television, the Yemeni rebels accused neighboring Saudi Arabia of providing military support to Sanaa.

In the footage, the authenticity of which cannot be confirmed, an unidentified person says rebels have seized weapons and ammunition abandoned by government forces near Malaheez and “most, including shells, are Saudi.”

He shows a weapon appearing to carry an emblem of the Saudi kingdom.

The Sanaa government last week rebuffed rebel claims that Saudi warplanes had helped in the military offensive by launching several bombing runs over Malaheez.

Thousands of people have been killed and the UNHCR es­timates 150,000 have been displaced over the past five years.

UNHCR has said Saada city is practically cut off from the outside world, and called for humanitarian corridors to allow people out and aid in.

“The situation is deteriorating by the day,” a spokesman said on August 26, estimating that more than 35,000 people have been displaced by the latest outbreak of violence that has afflicted the province sporadically since 2004.

The government is also confronted by a growing separatist mood in the former South Yemen, and the impoverished country is increasingly being used as base by Al-Qaeda, taking advantage of the rugged terrain.

Hariri set to propose unity cabinet before Sleiman goes to UN

By Elias Sakr
Daily Star staff
Saturday, September 05, 2009

BEIRUT: Lebanese Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri is expected to submit a proposal on the make-up of the national unity government to President Michel Sleiman prior to September 23, informed sources said on Friday. Meanwhile, Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) officials stressed Friday that the opposition stance was unified and no government would be formed if the FPM was excluded.

Hariri will submit a proposal on the cabinet make-up to President Sleiman prior to the latter’s trip to New York on September 23, to take part in the UN General Assembly, Future Movement officials told The Daily Star on Friday.

Future Movement MP Am­mar Houri said the premier-designate would exercise his constitutional rights related to suggesting a government line-up to Sleiman in order to conclude the formation process in cooperation with the president.

Houri added that an accord on the distribution of ministerial portfolios has “almost been finalized” between the parliamentary majority and the president, as well as opposition groups Hizbullah and Amal.

The only remaining obstacles to the cabinet’s formation were the set of conditions imposed by FPM leader MP Michel Aoun, Houri said.

Media reports said on Friday that Hariri would include in his proposal to the president his view on the distribution of ministerial portfolios among political parties.

The reports said Hariri’s proposal would assign portfolios to 25 candidates, and would leave to Aoun the freedom to nominate his ministers for the five remaining seats allotted to the FPM, counting four portfolios and a state ministry.

However, the report said, Hariri would couple his proposal with a clause which denies candidates, who lost the race to Parliament on June 7, the right to be nominated ministers, the reports said.

The press leaks added that Hariri’s proposal would be valid for 48 hours after which Hariri would form a cabinet in cooperation with Sleiman that excludes the FPM.

But FPM official and caretaker Foreign Affairs Minister Mario Aoun denied during a phone interview with The Daily Star the validity of such claims.

Aoun said the reports aimed “to pressure and weaken” the FPM, adding that the premier-designate would not attempt such a move. “Such a move is controversial and will lead to escalation,” he said.

The FPM official added that his party was in constant contact with Hizbullah and the Amal Movement, its allies in the opposition, in order coordinate “every step” with regard to the formation process.

“The president had also de­clared that he would not sign the cabinet formation decree if it is not one of national unity,” he said.

Aoun also stressed that if the FPM leader’s demands were not met by the premier-designate, “the cabinet would not be formed anytime soon.”

In support of Michel Aoun, Hizbullah MP Nawaf Moussawi called on the premier-designate to “withdraw from the battle launched by majority Christian groups to weaken Aoun and the FPM representation in a national-unity cabinet.”

Speaking during an iftar on Friday, Moussawi stressed that Lebanon could only be governed through consensus, “since its political regime is built on sectarianism.”

On Thursday, efforts to form a cabinet hit a dead end after recent deliberations between the FPM leader’s son-in-law caretaker Telecommunication Minister Jebran Bassil and the premier-designate failed to make any breakthroughs.

Aoun is adamant that Bassil retain the telecommunications portfolio for a second term.

But Hariri and others in March 14 have strong objections to Bassil heading the ministry because he lost in the election.

Aoun also insists on getting one of the key ministerial posts, dubbed “sovereign portfolios” and which include the Interior, Defense, Finance and Foreign ministries.

The National News Agency quoted well informed sources in remarks published Friday saying that Bassil would visit Hariri at his residence in Qoreitim for another round of consultations before the Future Movement leader submits his proposal to Sleiman.

Hariri had reiterated on several occasions that while he was keen on the opposition’s participation in a unity cabinet, the opposition’s involvement ought not to be governed by preconditions.

Some Figures of the March 14 coalition had called on Hariri to form a majority cabinet if he failed to reach an agreement with opposition groups.

Separately, Tawheed Movement head Wi’am Wahhab warned on Friday against incidents similar to that of May 7, 2008, if state officials adopted a stance similar to that of May 5, 2008.

On May 7, 2008, bloody clashes erupted between pro-government and opposition supporters in Beirut and the Chouf mountainous region following a decision by the cabinet headed by Premier Fouad Siniora to dismantle Hizbullah’s telecommunication network on May 5, 2008.

In other news, Siniora said Friday the parliamentary majority was adamant to preserve Lebanon’s democratic regime, the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, investigating former Premier Rafik Hariri’s assassination, and coexistence among Lebanese factions.

Pakistan will continue to support the K-cause: Gilani

Calcutta News.Net
Saturday 5th September, 2009 (ANI)

Karachi, Sep.5 : Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has once again said that Islamabad would continue its support to the Kashmiri people and the government's decision to give autonomy to Gilgit Baltistan does not mean that it has shelved the Kashmir issue.

"We gave internal autonomy, sovereignty to Gilgit Baltistan which was a long standing demand of its people but this does not mean that we have forgotten the Kashmir issue. We will continue to give moral and diplomatic support to the Kashmiri people," Gilani said.

The prime minister said the government had not altered its stance on the Kashmir issue by awarding autonomy to the Northern Areas.

He said Kashmir was the cornerstone of the PPP's foreign policy, and support to the cause would continue.

Interacting with media persons during an Iftar dinner hosted by Sindh Governor Dr. Ishratul Ebad Khan, Gilani stressed that Pakistan was not a 'failed state', saying the country has a 'strong democratic government, independent judiciary, free media'.

Referring to the Swat military operation, Gilani said security forces have 'successfully' defeated extremism and militancy with full support of the masses.

"NATO forces are fighting in Afghanistan for last five and a half years but Pakistan's armed forces successfully carried out the operation against extremists and terrorists in Malakand in eight weeks," The Dawn quoted Gilani, as saying.

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has said that there is a need to project the Kashmir issue more vigorously and the role of Kashmiri leadership was extremely important in this context.

Briefing political leaders of the Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) on the Gilgit-Baltistan reforms, Qureshi said resolution of the Kashmir issue was the key to a durable peace in the region.

"We feel that Kashmir dispute is central to Pakistan-India relations, which highlights the need for the Kashmiris to be associated with the dialogue process," Qureshi said.

He assured the leaders that Pakistan has been making consistent efforts to project the Kashmir cause at various international levels.

Commenting on the water dispute with India, Qureshi said : "We have emphasized upon the Indian side that there was a need to ensure respect to Indus Waters Treaty and the commitment to address concerns related thereto."

We have not forgotten Kashmir issue: Pakistan PM

Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has once again said that Islamabad would continue its support to the Kashmiri people and the government's decision to give autonomy to Gilgit Baltistan does not mean that it has shelved the Kashmir issue.

"We gave internal autonomy, sovereignty to Gilgit Baltistan which was a long standing demand of its people but this does not mean that we have forgotten the Kashmir issue. We will continue to give moral and diplomatic support to the Kashmiri people," Gilani said.

The prime minister said the government had not altered its stance on the Kashmir issue by awarding autonomy to the Northern Areas.

He said Kashmir was the cornerstone of the Pakistan Peoples Party's foreign policy, and its support to the cause would continue.

Interacting with media persons during an Iftar dinner hosted by Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ebad Khan, Gilani stressed that Pakistan was not a 'failed state', saying the country has a 'strong democratic government, independent judiciary, free media'.

Referring to the Swat military operation, Gilani said security forces have 'successfully' defeated extremism and militancy with full support of the masses.

"North Atlantic Treaty Organization's forces are fighting in Afghanistan for the last five and a half years but Pakistan;'s armed forces successfully carried out the operation against extremists and terrorists in Malakand in eight weeks," The Dawn quoted Gilani as saying.

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has said that there is a need to project the Kashmir issue more vigorously and the role of the Kashmiri leadership was extremely important in this context.

Briefing political leaders of the Pakistan occupied Kashmir on the Gilgit-Baltistan reforms, Qureshi said resolution of the Kashmir issue was the key to durable peace in the region.

"We feel that Kashmir dispute is central to the Pakistan-India relations, which highlights the need for Kashmiris to be associated with the dialogue process," Qureshi said.

He assured the leaders that Pakistan has been making consistent efforts to project the Kashmir cause at various international levels.

8 students among nine injured in Kashmir

Srinagar, Sep 5 : Eight school children were among nine injured in two different road accidents in the Kashmir valley, official sources said here today.

They said a vehicle, carrying students of Hajad Public School, Awantipora, skidded off the road and dashed against a tree near Charsoo on Srinagar-Jammu national highway. The injured were admitted to hospital, they said, adding three injured were later shifted to Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) at Soura. The others were discharged from local hospital after first aid.

One Mohammad Ashraf Dar was injured when two vehicles collided at Tangmarg. He was hospitalised.

Palestinians, Lebanese 'forced out of UAE'

GAZA (The Peninsula Qatar): A number of Palestinians and Lebanese Shias have been forced to leave the United Arab Emirates in recent months, Palestinian and Lebanese officials said yesterday.

Hussam Ahmed, head of the Refugee Affairs Department in the Gaza Strip, which is controlled by the Islamist group Hamas, said hundreds of Palestinians had been dismissed from their jobs in the UAE for security reasons.

“(This is) an operation of mass displacement of Palestinians in the UAE, especially those of Gaza origins, without known reasons other than security pretexts,” he said in a statement issued in Gaza on Thursday, citing the UAE town of Al-Ain. He said many did not have passports, and Arab states would not accept them with the travel documents they had.

In Beirut, a senior Lebanese political source said 45 Lebanese Shias living in the UAE had either not been granted re-entry or had been asked to leave. No reason was given for the decisions.

“Some of them had been living in the country for 20 years. They were doctors and business owners,” the source said. Khairy Al Aridi, Palestinian Ambassador to the UAE, was quoted by the Ramallah-based official Palestinian news agency Wafa on Thursday as denying that there had been a deliberate policy of expulsion. “The charitable policy of the UAE towards Palestinians has not changed,” he said in newspaper comments.

Statement by UNRWA on Holocaust Education

GAZA, September 5, 2009 (WAFA)- 'The quotes attributed by the Simon Wiesenthal Center to UNRWA's Commissioner General, Karen AbuZayd and UNRWA's Gaza Director, John Ging are false.

The UNRWA said in a statement: We condemn Holocaust denial in all its forms and we reject the politicization of the Holocaust.

UNRWA will remain focused on positive curriculum development in teaching children the human rights values enshrined in the Universal Declaration on Human Rights.

UNRWA is committed to human rights education. UNRWA rejects any denial of the Holocaust as an historical event.

UNRWA implements a human rights, conflict resolution and tolerance programme in its schools in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, the West Bank and Gaza. In Gaza, UNRWA is strengthening this programme by developing a dedicated human rights curriculum anchored in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Confronting Russia? U.S. Marines In The Caucasus

By Rick Rozoff

Global Research, September 4, 2009

On August 21 the chief of the U.S. Marine Corps, General James Conway, arrived in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi to begin the training of his host country's military for deployment to the Afghan war theater under the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).

"During the meeting the sides discussed a broad spectrum of Georgian-U.S bilateral relations and the situation in Georgia's occupied territory." Occupied territory(ies) meant Abkhazia and South Ossetia, now independent nations with Russian troops stationed in both.

Conway met with Georgian Defense Minister Davit (Vasil) Sikharulidze, who on the same day gave an interview to the Associated Press in which he said that the training provided by the U.S. Marine Corps could be employed, in addition to counterinsurgency operations in South Asia, in his country's "very difficult security environment."

Associated Press reported that "Asked if he was referring to the possibility of another war with Russia, he said, 'In general, yes.'"

The Georgian defense chief added, "This experience will be important for the Georgian armed forces itself — for the level of training."

Sikharulidze was forced to retract his comments within hours of their utterance, and not because they weren't true but because they were all too accurate. The Pentagon was not eager to have this cat be let out of the bag.

Three days later American military instructors arrived in Georgia on the heels of the visit of Marine Commandant Conway, whose previous campaigns included the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the first assault on Fallujah in that nation in 2004.

Three days after that Georgian Defense Minister Sikharulidze - former ambassador to the United States, head of the NATO division at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia and deputy head of the Georgian Mission of NATO in Brussels - who was appointed to the post last year by the country's mercurial leader Mikheil Saakashvili after the disastrous war with Russia last August, was sacked by the same. "Saakashvili criticized [Sikharulidze] for not doing enough to prepare the military 'to stop an aggressive and dangerous enemy' in possible future conflicts."

Whatever led to the defense minister's dismissal and replacement by 28-year-old Bachana (Bacho) Akhalaia it wasn't due to his bellicose intentions towards Russia. In announcing the transition Saakahshvili said, "We need a tougher approach. Bacho Akhalaia is the right man for the job”

Immediately after being named new defense chief Akhalaia identified "three priorities of the defense Ministry: ensuring peace, modernization of the army, and NATO integration."

In his own words he said: "Modernization envisages the improvement of the Georgian army's weapons and equipment, as well as the training of soldiers and officers. And NATO integration remains our only way. Georgia should have an army that will not be a burden on NATO, but will strengthen it."

The Civil Georgia web site reported on September 1 that the U.S. Marines in the nation had launched "intensive training" which would "focus on skill sets necessary for Georgian forces to operate in a counterinsurgency environment...."

The same report divulged that "A similar training program was conducted by U.S. military instructors for the Georgian military ahead of their deployment in Iraq. Georgia withdrew about 2,000 of its troops from Iraq during last year's war with Russia."

The 2,000 U.S.-trained Georgia troops in question constituted the third largest foreign deployment in Iraq last year with only America and Britain providing more occupation forces. They were also stationed near the Iranian border. When Georgia's invasion of South Ossetia last August 7-8 triggered a five-day war with Russia, the Pentagon transported the Georgian soldiers in Iraq back home for combat in the South Caucasus had the conflict not ended on August 12.

The U.S. Defense Department's training and arming of the Georgian military started long before the deployment to Iraq and that underway for Afghanistan.

In April of 2002 the Pentagon instituted the Georgia Train and Equip Program (GTEP) under the broader Operation Enduring Freedom "Global War on Terror" campaign whose main target was Afghanistan. For the first nine months the GTEP was run by U.S. Army Special Forces - Green Berets - assigned to Special Operations Command Europe. In December of 2002 the program was passed on from the Green Berets to the U.S. Marine Corps.

Later the Pentagon created a Georgian Sustainment & Stability Operations Program (GSSOP) under the aegis of the Defense Department's European Command, whose top military commander is also NATO Supreme Allied Commander. This program concentrated on training Georgia's officer staff as well as soldiers for eventual deployment to Iraq, NATO integration and armed assaults against Abkhazia and South Ossetia. The GSSOP succeeded in all three of its objectives, though not to the degree intended in the third category.

The redeployment of U.S. Marines to Georgia, then, is indicative of a continuous effort by the Pentagon ranging over more than seven years to prepare the Georgian armed forces - an American and NATO proxy army - for wars abroad and in the South Caucasus alike.

On August 31 the latest mission began: "The ISAF program to train the Georgian military for implementing international missions in Afghanistan started at the National Training Center of the Armed Forces of Georgia in Krtsanisi on August 31. The 31st infantry battalion of the Georgian Armed Forces will pass a six-month intensive training to participate in NATO operations within ISAF, led by an expeditionary brigade of U.S. Marines...."

On September 2 the newly appointed Georgian Defense Minister Bacho Akhalaia summoned (or was summoned by) the ambassadors of NATO countries in Georgia and he reiterated his triad of priorities. "The minister presented during the meeting the key challenges of the Ministry and discussed the priorities, such as peace, modernization and NATO integration."

The same day a delegation of the German Bundeswehr arrived in the country and, visiting the Defense Ministry, discussed information technology. "The purpose of the visit is to integrate an informational codification system of the Georgian MoD with the NATO general system," an initiative "implemented within the framework of the Bilateral Cooperation Plan [of] 2009 between Georgia and the Federal Republic of Germany."

During the same time it was announced that the American Marine Corps was sending a delegation to Georgia's neighbor in the South Caucasus, Azerbaijan, which has also recently been levied for more troops for the U.S.'s and NATO's war in Afghanistan.

From September 14-18 U.S. Marines will "examine the training of the Azerbaijan Marine Corps" and "according to the bilateral military cooperation program signed between Azerbaijan and the United States, U.S. navy experts will assess the skills of the Azerbaijani naval special forces...."

Another Azerbaijani news source added, "After getting familiar with the combat activities of the marine battalions of the Azerbaijani Naval Forces, they will make their own recommendations."

Azerbaijan's navy is deployed in the Caspian Sea which is also bordered by Iran and Russia.

A week before, September 7-9, the nation's Defense Ministry will conduct a meeting of the Coordination Group on Azerbaijan's Strategic Defense Outline and it announced that on the same precise dates as the visit of the U.S. Marine delegation "A working meeting on creating the Strategic Defense Outline and supporting the preparation of the final document will be held in Baku on September 14-18 with the participation of experts from the US and other countries."

On August 1 the nation's press revealed that "NATO and Azerbaijan are discussing the possibility of using the country's air space by the alliance's contingents to reach Afghanistan.

"'We are holding talks [about using the air space] with several countries including Azerbaijan,' said a NATO official, who asked to remain anonymous."

The third nation in the South Caucasus, Armenia, is also part of plans by NATO to further integrate the strategically vital region and it too has been recruited for the Alliance's expanding war in South Asia.

On August 21 the Armenian ambassador to NATO, Samvel Mkrtchyan, met with the bloc's new Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen and "said that Armenia is inclined to develop partnership ties with NATO" and "Armenian servicemen will join the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan shortly."

The expansion of the Afghanistan-Pakistan war by Washington and NATO is pulling in regional states and increasingly vast tracts of Eurasia.

Last month General David Petraeus, Commander of the United States Central Command (CENTCOM), which is prosecuting the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, visited the former Soviet Central Asian republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. While in Kazakhstan, which shares borders with Russia and China, Petraeus met with his counterpart, Kazakh Minister of Defense Adilbek Zhaksybekov, and "discussions centered around building on the already strong strategic partnership that exists between Kazakhstan and the United States."

He also inspected the U.S. and NATO base at Manas in Kyrgyzstan, which had been closed to the Pentagon and its Alliance allies earlier this year, but the use of which was again secured by Petraeus in August.

On September 5 NATO is to begin a week-long multinational emergency management exercise in Kazakhstan which will include forces from the United States, Germany, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Armenia, Finland, Britain, Spain, Sweden, Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Slovenia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Ukraine. That is, a 20-nation exercise in Central Asia whose participants include six former Soviet republics and two former Yugoslav states.

In late August the Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the British Armed Forces led a delegation to Turkmenistan to discuss bilateral military cooperation.

The Afghan war is the center of a Western military operation that is broadening into wider and wider circles throughout Eurasia and in varying degrees taking in dozens of nations from the Chinese border and the Indian Ocean to the Black Sea and the Adriatic Sea. Nations being absorbed into this military transit, overflight, and troop recruitment and training network include all those in Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan) and the South Caucasus (Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia), the Black Sea region (Georgia, Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania and Ukraine) and the Southern Balkans (Albania, Bosnia, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia) in addition to Afghanistan and Pakistan. With the exception of the Central Asian states (so far), all of those nations mentioned above have sent troops to the war theater or soon will, Serbia alone possibly excepted.

Kuwait and Iraq are also used to transfer troops and equipment to the Afghan war zone.

The above nations include several that border Russia, China, Iran and Syria, four of a small handful of states in the world not subservient to the U.S. and its NATO and Asian NATO allies.

On August 30 it was reported that Bulgarian troops scheduled for deployment to Afghanistan are to train in neighboring Macedonia as part of "Bulgarian-Macedonian-American training in the framework of the Bulgarian-American" joint arrangement for use of the military base in Novo Selo in Bulgaria. At roughly the same time U.S. National Guard troops were in Macedonia training the nation's special forces is exercises that were described as "enriching and building the battle skills of both armies."

While U.S. and Bulgarian military personnel were training in Macedonia for NATO deployments to Afghanistan and elsewhere, Macedonian troops were participating in an exercise in Serbia "involving medical units...with the participation of officers and units of NATO forces and Partnership for Peace members states."

In the second half of last month American servicemen in the Joint Task
Force-East, which is now based in Romania, trained with Bulgarian and Romanian opposite numbers "to build interoperability capabilities and develop relationships with other militaries in regional security cooperation."

Drills were held in both Eastern European nations and "More than 3,800 Romanian, Bulgarian, U.S. troops and civilians [participated] in
the three-month exercise."

The Pentagon and NATO have acquired seven new military bases in Bulgaria and Romania in recent years, including air bases for the transit of troops and weapons to Georgia and Afghanistan as well as for potential bombing runs against other nations such as Iran.

Last month a Bulgarian news source reported that the Pentagon "will invest in infrastructure and construction projects with a combined price tag of $45 million for their Bulgarian bases" in addition to budgeting $61.15 million a year ago for "construction works at its training area in Novo Selo."

Bulgaria and Romania face the western Black Sea across from Georgia and Abkhazia and offer the U.S. naval and air bases for current and future armed conflicts to the east and the south from the Caucasus to South Asia, the Persian Gulf to Northeast Africa.

Regarding Southeastern Europe in general, the new NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen last week identified the Balkans as a "top priority" and "said that his task is to get all of the Balkan countries into the Euro-Atlantic structure in the coming years."

In late August the U.S.'s European Command held a 40-nation exercise in Bosnia, Combined Endeavour 2009, to further integrate nations from the region and beyond into NATO. The chief military commander of NATO forces in Bosnia, Italian General Sabato Errico, said of the exercise that it was conducted "in the spirit of Partnership for Peace" and that "this exercise offers an excellent opportunity to focus on one of the key elements of the Partnership and the Alliance: interoperability. Allies and partners who participate in NATO-led collective security operations must be able to work together and to communicate effectively - exercises such as Combined Endeavour allow us to practice this."

Last week NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen visited Turkey and pressured his host to provide more troops for the Alliance's war in Afghanistan, stating that the bloc's deployment there would last "as long as it takes."

On the same day Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu announced that his country would be more than doubling its troops in Afghanistan from 795 to 1,600. At a joint press conference with NATO's Rasmusssen Davutoglu added, "We are appealing to NATO countries to take measures against the PKK," alluding to the counterinsurgency war against the Kurdistan Workers Party.

The war in Afghanistan is developing in intensity and in range, in depth and in width. The August 29 edition of the British newspaper The Independent reported that the top military commander of American and NATO troops in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, will demand 20,000 more Western soldiers for the war. That is, after last month's elections, the excuse for what were presented as temporary U.S. and NATO buildups over the past several months. Other estimates range as high as 40,000 additional forces.

The new Chief of the General Staff of the British Army, General David Richards, last year said "he wanted to see a surge of up to 30,000 troops in Afghanistan, including 5,000 more British soldiers" and is now in a position to deliver on his demand.

Central Command Chief General Petraeus last month announced plans to launch an intelligence training center to be coordinated "with the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the (NATO) International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, and Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe" that will "train military officers, covert agents and analysts who agree to focus on Afghanistan and Pakistan for up to a decade."

Late last month it was announced that the Pentagon was reassigning its 3rd Special Forces Group (U.S. Army Special Forces), which has been deployed to sub-Saharan Africa and the Caribbean, and now the "3rd Special Forces Group will be responsible for Afghanistan and Pakistan under a realignment of where the Army's Special Forces groups operate."

Moreover, "The 3rd Group's new area of orientation will include the eastern and northern Middle East, which includes Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan."

U.S. Marines and Green Berets have become regular fixtures in the Balkans, Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Iraq, Kuwait and the Horn of Africa over the past decade. With the widening of the Afghan war they are soon to take up permanent residence in the capital of Pakistan, in the Caucasus, in the Black Sea region and the Caspian Sea Basin among other locales.

Source: Global Research.
Link: http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=15056.

City leader sacked over China protests

By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN, Associated Press Writer

URUMQI, China – Chinese leaders removed the Communist Party chief of the restive western city of Urumqi on Saturday, trying to appease public anger following sometimes violent protests this week that the government worries could re-ignite deadly ethnic rioting.

The government's Xinhua News Agency, in announcing the decision, did not give a reason for the firing of Li Zhi. But protesters who marched by thousands on Thursday and Friday have demanded Li's and his boss's dismissal for failing to provide adequate public safety in the city.

A series of stabbings with hypodermic needles that the government blames on Muslim separatists touched off the protests, which left five dead, and further unnerved the city still uneasy from July rioting that killed 197, mostly members of China's Han majority attacked by Muslim Uighurs.

Trying to get control of the situation, leaders replaced Li with Zhu Hailun, who has been the party's top official in charge of law enforcement in Urumqi. Also sacked, Xinhua said, was an official in the police department for Xinjiang, China's western most region that abuts Central Asia and whose capital is Urumqi. The official's name was not released.

Besides assuaging public anger, the Chinese leadership hopes that sacking Li will alleviate calls to remove Xinjiang party secretary Wang Lequan, a member of the ruling Politburo and an ally of President Hu Jintao.

Both Li and Wang took visible roles in trying to defuse the protests, separately wading into crowds to meet with protesters Thursday only to be greeted with shouts to "step down."

By Saturday, thousands of troops, backed by tanks and metal barricades, patrolled Xinjiang's regional capital. Paramilitary police manned checkpoints on streets around government and Communist Party headquarters, where security forces fired tear gas Friday to disperse angry crowds of Han Chinese who say the government isn't doing enough to protect them from extremists among the native Uighur population.

Entrances to the city's Muslim quarter remained blocked by thousands of troops backed by heavy metal barricades and tanks. Traffic was barred from much of the downtown area in the city of 2.5 million, and many shops were closed.

There were no updated figures for the number of needle attacks, but unconfirmed reports of new incidents continued to spread through agitated crowds. Angry Han rushed to the southern edge of the city's central square after people said two Uighur men had attacked an 11-year-old boy. Riot police quickly cleared the area.

The needle attacks began on Aug. 20, though were not public reported until Wednesday following days of rumors. Urumqi Deputy Mayor Zhang Hong said Friday that 21 suspects have been detained, with four people indicted. He said all were Uighurs, while most victims were Han.

Local police said hospitals in Urumqi were treating 531 people who believed they were attacked, the official Xinhua News Agency said. Of those, 106 showed obvious signs of needle attacks, it said.

Details of the deaths were few, although Zhang said Friday that all occurred on Thursday, the first day of the street protests, and resulted from "small-scale clashes." He said two of those killed were "innocent," while investigations into the other three deaths were continuing.

A report in Urumqi's Morning Post on Saturday said a "small number of people became overexcited and lost control of themselves" during Thursday's demonstrations. It said casualties included police, paramilitary troops and innocent civilians, but gave no breakdown.

The World Uyghur Congress, a German-based exile group, said Han Chinese attacked more than 10 Uighurs during the two days of protests and tried to storm the Nanmen mosque on Friday but were stopped by authorities.

Chinese leaders have accused Muslim separatists of being behind both the needle attacks and July rioting, though Beijing has provided scant evidence to back up the claim. By most accounts, the July 5 riot started after police confronted peaceful Uighur protesters, who then attacked Han Chinese. Days later, Han vigilantes tore through Uighur neighborhoods to retaliate.

Public Security Minister Meng Jianzhu vowed the government would speed up charging and prosecuting more than 1,200 people detained after the riots, in which the government says 197 people were killed and about 1,700 injured.

Deadly LA wildfire creeps deeper into forest

By RAQUEL MARIA DILLON, Associated Press Writer

LOS ANGELES – The ferocious wildfire burning north of Los Angeles has turned into a creeping giant, steadily chewing through thick and dry chaparral on its eastern flank. While crews report good progress, the blaze that claimed the lives of two firefighters was far from being fully contained.

Investigators, meanwhile, were working to find the arsonist responsible for the huge wildfire that has burned through 241 square miles, or 154,655 acres, of the Angeles National Forest. It was 42 percent contained Friday. More than 76 homes and dozens of other structures have been destroyed.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger offered a $100,000 reward Friday for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the culprit.

In the rugged terrain of the San Gabriel Wilderness, fire officials relied on aerial water drops to slow the flames and the backbreaking work of hand crews to build fire lines. While flames inched down steep canyons, crews defended a cluster of church camps and a bar along the Angeles Crest Highway. The fire was about five miles north of the foothill communities of Monrovia and Sierra Madre late Friday.

"A hundred-year-old fuel bed has a lot to burn," said Deputy Incident Commander Carlton Joseph. "So we really need to button this up."

The weekend weather forecast called for cooler temperatures and slightly higher humidity.

At least a dozen investigators are working to analyze clues found at a charred hillside, including incendiary material reported to have been found there. Officials said the fire was arson, but were still trying to find whoever was responsible and understand how it was set.

"We are in the early stages, just beginning to put things together," said Los Angeles County sheriff's Lt. Liam Gallagher, who is heading the murder investigation. "Firefighters losing their lives in the line of duty is an added incentive, but we work every case to the fullest."

Near a large shade tree where crews get their twice daily briefings, firefighters set up a makeshift memorial for Capt. Tedmund Hall and Specialist Arnaldo Quinones. The fallen firefighters helped save about 60 members of an inmate fire crew Sunday as flames approached their camp when they set a backfire that allowed the group to get to safety. The pair died when their truck plunged 800 feet down a steep mountain road.

Most wildfires are caused by human activity, and government statistics show that people were faulted for 5,208 wildfires in Southern California in 2008, the highest number since at least 2001. Between 2006 and 2008, Southern California was the only region of the country to see a significant jump in the number of wildfires blamed on people.

Still, very few of the forest fires lead to criminal or civil cases. The U.S. Forest Service recorded nearly 400 arson wildfires since 2005, records show.

The number of firefighters assigned to the Station fire continued to grow to more than 5,244, and a mini-city sprung up at a park in the Lake View Terrace neighborhood, complete with rows of showers, a mess hall that served firefighters 5,000-plus calorie meals each day and souvenir T-shirt vendors.

The cost of fighting the fire was estimated at $37 million so far.

Afghans mourn dead under outcry of NATO bombing

by Ameen Salarzai

KUNDUZ, Afghanistan (AFP) – Afghans on Saturday mourned the dead from a NATO bombing that killed scores of people and renewed an outcry over civilian casualties at the hands of Western troops in an eight-year war.

The air strike destroyed two fuel tankers hijacked by the Taliban at a time when witnesses said villagers had rushed towards the vehicles, carrying any container they could to collect free fuel at the insurgents' invitation.

Officials said the dead were mostly insurgents, but Afghan President Hamid Karzai -- leading the count in fraud-tainted elections -- said any targeting of civilians was unacceptable. His office said 90 people were killed and hurt.

Memorial prayers were heard Saturday in nearly a dozen villages for those killed in northern Kunduz province, where the atmosphere was highly charged, witnesses said.

A delegation from the defense and interior ministries traveled to Kunduz early Saturday to begin investigations ordered by President Hamid Karzai, an official said.

Zamari Bashari, interior ministry spokesman, said it was not yet known how many people were killed, nor how many were civilians.

Kunduz provincial police chief Abdul Razaq Yaqobi said 56 people were killed and 12 wounded, adding that "all of them were Taliban".

In the Kunduz hospital, where many of the injured were taken, Asmatullah was with his 10-year-old son Shafiullah, who he said had been with other children getting free fuel and whose legs were burned when the tankers were ignited.

Asmatullah, who like many Afghans uses one name, said he was awoken by the noise of the exploding tankers "and when I went there I saw all the world was covered by killed and wounded people".

"All the dead were Taliban," he said.

The Taliban released a statement saying none of its militiamen were among the casualties.

"When the planes came our men knew that they would bomb the area, so all our people left," said the statement, received by email.

The air strike has underscored the increasing Taliban presence in parts of the north straddling a new supply route for foreign troops coming through Tajikistan in order to minimize dependence on the volatile route from Pakistan.

The White House expressed "great concern" over the loss of civilian lives while European governments warned the raid risked undermining the NATO mission of 64,500 troops from more than 40 countries trying to defeat the Taliban.

Police and the interior ministry said up to 56 Taliban were killed and 10 more wounded, including a 12-year-old child, when a NATO air raid targeted the tankers after they were hijacked en route from Tajikistan to Kabul.

Mahbubullah Sayedi, a government spokesman in Kunduz gave the highest death toll, saying 90 people were killed, but said most were Taliban.

The insurgent militia, which frequently exaggerates its claims as part of its propaganda effort in an eight-year war against Western troops and the Afghan government, earlier said 150 villagers, most of them young boys, were killed.

The incident came four days after the US and NATO commander in Afghanistan submitted a review into the war, calling for a revised strategy to defeat the Taliban and reverse the country's "serious" situation.

The White House also said the incident would be investigated and NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen pledged to conduct a thorough investigation.

The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said it bombed two stolen fuel trucks spotted on the banks of the Kunduz river, saying a large number of insurgents were killed but expressing regret for "any unnecessary loss of human life".

Kunduz provincial governor Engineer Mohammed Omar, said a German military convoy was targeted by a suicide bomber on Saturday about five kilometres (three miles) outside Kunduz city.

He said a car packed with explosives was remotely detonated as two German armored vehicles were passing, injuring three German soldiers.

ISAF had no further details of the attack but confirmed there were no deaths.

Dems signal resistance to Afghan troop increase

WASHINGTON—Increasing congressional discord over the next U.S. steps in Afghanistan, coupled with a spike in violence there, is deepening the political divide on the war and how many troops are needed to fight it.

Key Senate Democrats signaled Friday that any push by the White House to send more troops to Afghanistan is likely to hit resistance. And their unease was fueled by another bombing, that left as many as 70 dead, including civilians who were killed when the U.S. blew up tanker trucks hijacked by the Taliban.

That deadly U.S. airstrike in Afghanistan Friday complicates the debate over the need for more U.S. troops, bolstering arguments that Afghan leaders must increasingly fend for themselves.

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin said the United States must focus more on building Afghanistan's security forces. His cautionary stance was echoed by Sen. Jack Reed, who is also on the committee and spent two days in Afghanistan this week with Levin.

The senators will return to Washington next week, just as President Barack Obama receives a new military review of Afghanistan strategy that officials expect will be followed up by a request for at least a modest increase in U.S. troops battling insurgents in the 8-year-old war.

Obama came into office pledging to shift U.S. focus from the war in Iraq to the Afghan fight, which had long been a secondary priority. But as war-weary Americans have watched another 21,000 troops go to Afghanistan this year, and U.S. casualties rise, support for the war has waned.

As a result, lawmakers say they want the U.S. to more quickly train and equip the Afghan Army and police so the embattled country can take over its own security needs.

"There are a lot of ways to speed up the numbers and capabilities of the Afghan army and police. They are strongly motivated," Levin said from Kuwait. "I think that we should pursue that course ... before we consider a further increase in combat forces beyond what's already been planned to be sent in the months ahead."

Levin said there is a growing consensus on the need to expedite training and equipping the Afghan army to improve security in Afghanistan, where 51 U.S. troops died in August, making it the bloodiest month for American forces there since the U.S.-led invasion in late 2001.

Still, the airstrike comes just as U.S. defense leaders insisted this week that troops were making great progress in stemming civilian deaths.

"All I can really do is assure you that they recognize the gravity of these events when they happen and it has the full attention of the leadership," Defense Department spokesman Bryan Whitman said of forces in Afghanistan that were investigating the Friday attack.

Afghan and German officials said a total of 50 to 70 people died early Friday morning after German forces called in an American airstrike on Taliban insurgents who had hijacked two fuel tankers in northern Kunduz province. There were reports that some of the dead were civilians who swarmed around the trucks to siphon fuel.

Under new orders put in place by top commander Gen. Stanley McChrystal in July to reduce civilian casualties, U.S. and NATO forces were directed to limit air support to ground troops when civilians might be present.

And Adm. Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of staff, told Pentagon reporters this week that Afghan civilian casualties were being greatly reduced.

In a separate call with reporters Friday, Reed, a Rhode Island Democrat, said the U.S. must use a multi-pronged approach to win the war in Afghanistan. The U.S., he said, must build up the Afghan Army, send more civilians to Afghanistan to provide economic and political assistance, and reach out to Taliban supporters who are willing to recognize the Kabul government.

The hesitancy to boost troops levels comes just days after Obama's defense chief suggested a willingness to consider an increase. Defense Secretary Robert Gates this week urged patience with the war effort, and said he would be comfortable with a larger U.S. military presence in Afghanistan as long as the increase reassured the country's citizens that the Americans were there for the benefit of Afghans.

Gates has declined to talk about any specific recommendations contained in a new review of Afghanistan strategy presented this week by McChrystal.

Roadside bomb wounds 3 German troops in N Afghanistan

A roadside bomb struck German troops in Afghanistan's northern province of Kunduz Saturday, wounding three soldiers, an official with the troops said.

"The incident occurred in Bagh-e-Millie area on Kunduz-Takhar highway when bomb went off and partially damaged one military vehicle. And in the incident three soldiers also sustained injuries," Mohammad Nasir Alkozai, an official with the press department of German troops in Kunduz told Xinhua.

Meanwhile, Taliban purported spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid in talks with media via telephone from unknown location claimed responsibility.

Kunduz, a relatively peaceful province until last year, has been the scene of Taliban militancy over the past couple of months.

An air strike against Taliban insurgents in Kunduz province early Friday left over 100 people, mostly militants dead.

More than 3,500 German troops, with majority of them deployed in Kunduz province, have been serving within the framework of NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) to stabilize security in the militancy-hit country.

Somalia: Harakat Al-Shabab Mujahideen Officials form Administration for Beled Hawo Town

Beled Hawo — The Islamic administration of Harakat Al-shabab Mujahideen officials have formed an Islamic administration in Beled Hawo town in Gedo region, officials told Shabelle radio on Friday.

The officials announced the new administration yesterday afternoon in Beled Hawo won which is in the border between Somalia and Kenya saying that the administration changed the former administration of Harakat Al- Shabab Mujahideen who manned the region for over the past months.

Sheik Osman Mohamed Abdi, the deputy chairman of Gedo region explained more about the new administration for the reporters in Beled Hawo town early on Friday morning and how they had chosen the officials saying that they were consisting of 5 members.

Sheik Aden Mohamed Barre, the former chairman of Harakat Al-Shabab Mujahideen in Beled Hawo town was appointed to be the head of social affairs of the town.

Asked about what the new administration could increase the town, sheik Osman Mohamed Abdi, the deputy chairman of the Islamic administration replied they would work the service of the population by following the Sharia law.

However the formation of the new Islamic administration comes as there had been clashes between forces loyal to Harakat Al-shabab mujahideen and Ahlu Sunna Waljama'a in parts of the region.

Source: allAfrica.
Link: http://allafrica.com/stories/200909040857.html.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to visit Spain

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez will visit Spain next week, the government said Friday.

Chavez will be in Spain on Sept. 11 and will meet with Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero at Madrid's Moncloa Palace.

The visit will be another opportunity for Spain and Venezuela to mend their relations after King Juan Carlos lost his temper and shouted "Why don't you shut up?" at Chavez during the Ibero-American summit in November 2007.

Chavez is on an 11-day trip to Libya, Algeria, Syria, Iran, Belarus, Spain and Russia.

Troops patrol China city after protests kill 5

By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN, Associated Press Writer

URUMQI, China – Thousands of troops, backed by tanks and metal barricades, patrolled the western city of Urumqi on Saturday after five people died in protests over a series of bizarre needle attacks that China's police chief has blamed on Muslim separatists.

The hypodermic needle attacks have unnerved a population already shaken by ethnic rioting two months ago that the government said left nearly 200 people dead. Saturday marked the two-month anniversary of the rioting, the region's worst ethnic violence in decades.

Paramilitary police manned checkpoints on streets around government and Communist Party headquarters, where security forces fired tear gas Friday to disperse angry crowds of Han Chinese, the country's majority ethnic group, who say the government isn't doing enough to protect them from extremists among the native Uighur population.

Entrances to the city's Muslim quarter remained blocked by thousands of troops backed by heavy metal barricades and tanks. Traffic was barred from much of the downtown area in the city of 2.5 million, and many shops were closed.

There were no updated figures for the number of needle attacks, but unconfirmed reports of new incidents continued to spread through agitated crowds. Angry Han rushed to the southern edge of the city's central square after people said two Uighur men had attacked an 11-year-old boy. Riot police quickly cleared the area.

Following days of rumors, the needle attacks were finally officially reported on Wednesday. Urumqi Deputy Mayor Zhang Hong said Friday that 21 suspects have been detained, with four people indicted. He said all were Uighurs, while most victims were Han.

Local police said hospitals in Urumqi were treating 531 people who believed they were attacked, the official Xinhua News Agency said. Of those, 106 showed obvious signs of needle attacks, it said.

Public Security Minister Meng Jianzhu said Friday the same Muslim separatists that Beijing blames for the July 5 ethnic rioting also orchestrated the syringe attacks. The government has offered no evidence to back up either claim.

Details of the deaths were few, although Zhang said Friday that all occurred on Thursday, the first day of the street protests, and resulted from "small-scale clashes." He said two of those killed were "innocent," while investigations into the other three deaths were continuing.

A report in Urumqi's Morning Post on Saturday said a "small number of people became overexcited and lost control of themselves" during Thursday's demonstrations. It said casualties included police, paramilitary troops and innocent civilians, but gave no breakdown.

While no deaths or injuries were reported Friday, the World Uyghur Congress, a German-based exile group, said Han Chinese attacked more than 10 Uighurs during the protests and tried to storm the Nanmen mosque on Friday but were stopped by authorities.

During the protests on Thursday and Friday, marchers demanded increased security and the resignation of Xinjiang Communist Party Secretary Wang Lequan, an ally of President Hu Jintao.

China has blamed the July rioting on exiled Muslim activist Rebiya Kadeer, but she has denied the charge. By most accounts, the riot started after police confronted peaceful Uighur protesters, who then attacked Han Chinese. Days later, Han vigilantes tore through Uighur neighborhoods to retaliate.

Meng vowed the government would speed up charging and prosecuting more than 1,200 people detained after the riots, in which the government says 197 people were killed and about 1,700 injured.

Basra alcohol ban triggers fear among Christians

by Karim Jalil

BASRA, Iraq (AFP) – Alcohol vendors among the shrinking Christian community of Iraq's mostly Shiite southern oil hub of Basra fear for their future after city councilors banned the sale of alcohol.

"Lawless people will use this decision to harm us because some Christians will refuse to close their shops, which are their only livelihoods," said Saher Yussef, a 40-year-old engineer.

"The authorities did not think of the consequences of their decision," he lamented.

Saad Firas, whose grandfather set up the family business, is angry.

"I have been running this shop for 20 years. My father took over the business from his father. I don't know what else to do," Firas said.

"And my clients consider the ban unfair."

Muslim merchant Hassan Mohammad is among the angry clients.

"Banning alcohol, is that democracy?" he asked as he criticized authorities for "meddling with people's basic rights instead of worrying about the power cuts" that plague the country.

On August 2, the Basra provincial council passed a decree stating that "anyone selling liquor, drinking in public, making or importing alcohol in Basra" would be fined five million dinars (4,270 dollars).

"Our decision is based on the constitution, which bans anything that violates the principles of Islam," Basra's deputy governor Ahmad al-Sulaiti said.

The constitution stipulates that "Islam is the state religion and the fundamental source of legislation," he said.

Elsewhere in Iraq however, including in the capital Baghdad, the sale and consumption of alcohol is authorized.

In fact on the eve of the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, when liquor stores are usually shuttered and the sale of alcohol is prohibited, many people rushed to buy their stash of alcoholic drinks.

Two days after the Basra authorities voted for the ban, officials destroyed one of the dozens of liquor shops there -- a warning of things to come if the ban was not heeded.

"This decision is the work of some religious factions who are dangerous for the Christians," said George Nasser George, a 58-year-old laborer.

Many people remember the chaos that erupted across Iraq after the 2003 US-led invasion that toppled dictator Saddam Hussein, Islamist militants held sway over the streets of Basra and the province of the same name.

Over a two-year period, more than 100 liquor shops were destroyed and dozens of Christians killed by Islamist militias, forcing half the 5,000-strong Christian community to pack and up flee, many to the autonomous Kurdish north.

For the Basra vote, the sole Christian city councilor -- Saad Butros -- was absent when the decision was passed by Sunni and Shiite factions, including supporters of Shiite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.

Two councilors representing the secular Iraqi National List of former prime minister Iyad Allawi voted against the ban.

For Christian councilor Butros the authorities should have focused on resolutions addressing security and infrastructure problems rather than on the alcohol ban.

"The majority of Shiite parties who control Basra want to impose their religious ideas, rather than take decisions that serve the interests of the (whole) population," he said.

"Banning alcohol will not bring security nor will it produce essential services that are lacking in the province," he said.

"People don't care about who drinks and who doesn't. They are concerned about (the development of) investment projects and the removing of rubbish from the streets," Butros added.

Basra is Iraq's third largest city and like many major urban centers it is plagued with poor infrastructure, chronic power cuts and pot-holed roads while few of the city's one million residents have clean water.

The ban has meanwhile sent the price of liquor skyrocketing, and upset clients, shop owners said.

"A bottle of arak (an anise-flavored drink) that sold for 10,000 dinars (nine dollars) now fetches 25,000 dinars (21 dollars)," said Mazen Mustafa.

"With the police on the lookout to enforce the ban, I am forced to sell booze from home," he added.

Jerusalem Museum Of Tolerance Built On Muslim Graves

Palestine Monitor

2 September 2009

Even though Frank Gehry is well-known for his original architectural work, he has his detractors. A common criticism is that his buildings do not seem to belong in their surroundings ’organically’. This could not be more true than in the case of the Museum of Tolerance in Jerusalem.

The museum, being built atop an ancient Muslim cemetery, is a project of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, whose founder Rabbi Marvin Hier envisions the museum as a "great landmark promoting the principles of mutual respect and social responsibility." The site had been a cemetery for at least one thousand years, and building required the excavation of peoples’ remains.

According to Rabbi Marvin Hier, Dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, the land was given to them by the Israeli government. He claims that "the Simon Wiesenthal Center is not building on the nearby Mamilla cemetery, but on the adjacent site which, for nearly a half-century, served as Jerusalem’s municipal car park...during all this time, not a single Muslim group or individual, including today’s most vociferous critics said a word in protest although as they argued before the Court they knew all along it was a cemetery, yet kept silent for a half-century."

The Rabbi insists they were silent because, as the High Court said, "...the area has not been classified as a cemetery for decades."

"Imagine the chaos to society if, after fifty years of designation for public use, land would be changed and reverted to what it may have been four or five centuries ago", the Rabbi has said, on behalf of the center.

This is the same organization which labored for 15 long years, in the words of Wiesenthal Center Associate Dean Abraham Cooper, helping "galvanize world opinion to force the removal of a Carmelite convent from the grounds of Auschwitz."

Why had the Wiesenthal Center worked so hard and for so long to win the removal of a Catholic convent built there?

"Auschwitz is the largest Jewish cemetery - the single largest unmarked human graveyard in history," Cooper noted in 2005 and, "It deserves universal respect."

While the location of the Museum Of Tolerance-Jerusalem on to a Muslim graveyard has elicited the most media attention, architectural, archaeological and social critiques have accompanied the project throughout its course. Haaretz architecture critic Esther Zandberg has critiqued the location of an ostentatious Gehry design at the heart of Jerusalem, arguing that Jerusalem is not Bilbao. Others have expressed concern over the focus of the museum on tolerance amongst Jews, rather than tolerance between Jews and Arabs. The plan has been severely criticized by both Israelis and Palestinians. Construction had been stayed several times by the courts before allowing it to continue.

In this case, tolerance has shown to be an abstract idea and instead of the building being a symbol for the search of harmony based on mutual respect, the construction led to another polemic issue that we can add to the long list of conflicts in Jerusalem.

What is compassion, what is tolerance, if not the ability to reconsider one’s own actions in the light of the ways in which they may injure others?

Norwegian Pension Fund Divests from Israeli Military Giant Elbit

Global BDS Movement

September 3, 2009

The Ministry of Finance has excluded the Israeli company Elbit Systems Ltd. from the Government Pension Fund – Global, on the basis of the Council on Ethics’ recommendation. The Council on Ethics has found that investment in Elbit constitutes an unacceptable risk of contribution to serious violations of fundamental ethical norms as a result of the company’s integral involvement in Israel’s construction of a separation barrier on occupied territory. "We do not wish to fund companies that so directly contribute to violations of international humanitarian law," says Minister of Finance Kristin Halvorsen.

In its recommendation dated 15 May on exclusion of the company Elbit, the Council on Ethics attached importance to a number of factors, including an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice in the Hague from 2004. This opinion states clearly that the construction of the separation barrier and its associated control regime along the chosen route must be regarded as being in contravention of international law.

- The freedom of movement of the people living in the occupied territory has been unacceptably restricted. The International Court of Justice has pointed out the obligation of all State parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention to prevent breaches of the Convention such as the construction of the barrier. Norwegian authorities act in accordance with this, says the Minister of Finance.

The surveillance system that Elbit supplies to the Israeli authorities is one of the main components in the separation barrier and its associated control regime. The surveillance system has been specially designed in close collaboration with the buyer and has no other applications. Furthermore Elbit is clearly aware of exactly where and how the system is intended to be used. The Council on Ethics has ascribed particular importance to these elements in its assessment of the extent to which the company can be regarded as making a significant contribution to the construction of the separation barrier – and thus, the extent to which investment in Elbit entails an unacceptable risk of contribution to particularly serious violations of fundamental ethical norms (see the Ethical Guidelines for the Government Pension Fund – Global).

The Council on Ethics has assessed Elbit Systems Ltd. against the Ethical Guidelines for the Government Pension Fund – Global in the same way as it assesses other companies. "It is important to stress that the decision to exclude this company is not linked to the nationality of the company," says Minister of Finance Kristin Halvorsen.

The Council on Ethics generally bases its evaluation on a company’s conduct, not possible violations committed by states or other actors. Nevertheless, a number of the criteria for exclusion are related to companies’ contribution to violations committed by states, such as violations of human rights. The Council has assessed the extent to which companies can be regarded as contributing to human rights violations committed by states in previous cases too, such as companies’ activities in Burma.

On 30 June 2009, the Ministry of Finance instructed Norges Bank that Elbit Systems Ltd. should be excluded from the Government Pension Fund – Global and gave 31 August 2009 as the deadline for completion. The sale of all shares in the company has now been completed. The decision to sell was made public after the shares had been sold, so as not to affect the sale.

The message came from Finance Minister Kristin Halvorsen in the morning when she presented the new decisions about the ethical management of the Oil Fund.

The company Elbit Systems manufactures, among other things, monitoring system, which is central in the construction of the separation wall, which runs over the occupied area of the West Bank.

- We do not want to finance a company in such a way contribute to breaches of international humanitarian law, "said Kristin Halvorsen.

The company develops and offers the unmanned drone fly to the Israeli military.

Separation Wall
Construction of the eight meter high wall on the West Bank began in June 2002. Israelarane call wall a security fence, while the Palestinians see this as an apartheid wall ".

The wall is not built along the ceasefire line from 1948, but is in some places the entire six kilometers inside the Palestinian area.

Council on Ethics for the Norwegian Petroleum Fund has concluded that an investment in the Israeli company leads "unacceptable risk of contributing to particularly serious violation of fundamental ethical norms".

In line with the Hague Tribunal
The recommendation from the Council on Ethics is particularly placed on an advisory message from the International Court in The Hague from 2004, which makes it clear that construction of the separation wall along the route that is chosen is contrary to international law.

- It is seen unacceptable obstacles to movement freedoms for the population in the occupied area. The Hague Tribunal has requested States Parties of the Geneva Court to counteract this. The Norwegian authorities have the same vision, "said Finance Minister in a press release.

She emphasizes that the decision to exclude the company is not related to nationality.

- Elbit Systems Ltd.. is that the Council on Ethics in competition with the ethical guidelines of the Government Pension Fund - Global, pålik line with other companies they are considering.

Norges Bank was instructed to sell the shares in the company is already 30 June, and the Oil Fund is no way out of Elbit Systems Ltd..

Since 2002 the 37 companies been excluded from investment from the Oil Fund.

Satellite being designed to connect villages: ISRO

The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) is in the process of designing a satellite for providing connectivity to villages, ISRO Chairman Dr G Madhavan Nair said today.

"We have plans to use multiple spot beams for the satellite, which is expected to be launched in another two and a half years time," Nair told reporters here.

There are about 600,000 villages in the country of which at least 50,000 have no connectivity, he said.

On the abrupt end of India's maiden moon mission Chandrayaan I, he said "we had anticipated some problems at the beginning and wanted to complete important experiments much earlier. About 95 per cent of data collection has been completed and analysis will take another six months to two years."

Stating that the space agency had no immediate plans for a manned mission to moon, he said that ISRO was concentrating currently on developing a 'man capsule' by 2015 to take man to circumnavigate the earth. "Only five to six years after this mission, a manned mission to moon will be planned," he said.

No conclusive evidence of water has been found on moon from the data collected by Chandrayaan I, he said adding that ISRO was conducting a joint study with NASA in this regard. The ISRO Chairman said 1000 Automatic Weather Stations (AWS) would be set up in the country in a year's time. Already 400 such stations have been set up in various states. A network of 75 AWS has been established in Kerala covering all districts, he said.

Earlier delivering the K R Narayanan Memorial lecture-II, after receiving the award instituted in memory of the former President, Nair said the successful launch of Chandrayaan 1 had given 'tremendous opportunity' to explore earth's natural satellite. The mission contributed a great deal in upgrading India's technological capabilities, he said.

'We have to focus on how technology can be used to solve the problems of people in the villages. In the space programme, we have focused on how these technologies can be used for development of people.' Through Telemedicine and Tele education, many in rural India were being benefited, he said.

Responding to a suggestion by Kerala High Court Chief Justice S R Bannurmath that courts should be connected by a satellite, he said networking of courts can be seriously considered by ISRO. 'ISRO can take it up,' he said.

Referring to Kerala, he said there is need to devise a strategy for natural resources development and their sustainable utilization with support from appropriate technologies.

Nair said setting up of Village Resource Centres (VRC)s in association with various agencies working at grassroots is yet another important initiative to provide the benefits of space and other IT enabled services directly to the common man.

CRCs are acting as Single Window delivery mechanism of need based services in the areas of education, health, nutrition, agriculture, water and weather. So far around 473 VRCs have been set up in various parts of the country, including 21 in Kerala, he added.

Top Islamic militant arrested in Philippines: police

COTABATO, Philippines (AFP) – A Muslim separatist rebel wanted for arson and bombings has been arrested in the southern Philippines, police said on Saturday.

Smawtin Basilan, who is a member of the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and who had a 12,000-dollar bounty on his head, was arrested at his home in Midsayap town Wednesday, police said.

Basilan is believed to be a top lieutenant of MILF commander Ameril Umbrakato, one of two MILF leaders wanted for large-scale attacks on several mostly Christian towns and provinces in the south in August last year.

The attacks led to the deaths of over 300 people and the displacement of over 750,000 in what international aid agencies have described as a worrying humanitarian crisis.

While many have already returned to their homes, thousands still remain in squalid evacuation shelters and are routinely subjected to abuses by both soldiers and the MILF, rights monitors have said.

"We have information that he is the right hand of Umbrakato, but we are still verifying it," provincial governor Jesus Sacdalan said.

The arrest came as both sides were working to revive peace talks aimed at ending the MILF's 31-year-old insurgency.

NATO jets bomb fuel tankers; Afghans say 70 killed

By FRANK JORDANS, Associated Press Writer

KUNDUZ, Afghanistan – A U.S. jet dropped 500-pound bombs on two tanker trucks hijacked by the Taliban before dawn Friday, triggering a huge explosion that Afghan officials said killed more than 70 people, including insurgents and some civilians who had swarmed around the vehicles to siphon off fuel.

Germany, whose troops called in the 2:30 a.m. strike in the northern province of Kunduz, said it feared the hijackers would use the trucks to carry out a suicide attack against its military base nearby.

The airstrike took place as the U.S. wrestles with the level of its troop commitment here and despite efforts by the top U.S. general to curb use of air power and reduce civilian casualties, which have strained relations between the NATO force and the Afghan government. Hours earlier, the top Pentagon officer, Adm. Mike Mullen, said civilian casualties had recently been greatly reduced in Afghanistan.

Germany said about 50 fighters were killed and no civilians were believed in the area at the time. NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen, however, acknowledged some civilians may have died, and the U.S.-led coalition and the Afghan government announced a joint investigation.

Local government spokesman Mohammad Yawar said police found pieces of dozens of weapons scattered around the site. He estimated that more than 70 people were killed, at least 45 of them militants. Investigators were trying to account for the others, he said.

The local governor, Mohammad Omar, said 72 were killed and 15 wounded. He said about 30 of the dead were identified as insurgents, including four Chechens and a local Taliban commander. The rest were probably fighters or their relatives, he said.

Many of the bodies were burned beyond recognition, and villagers buried some in a mass grave.

Despite the uncertainties, the attack is likely to intensify Afghan public anger over civilian casualties. Last June, the NATO commander, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, ordered curbs on airstrikes where noncombatants are at risk.

In Washington, Defense Department press secretary Geoff Morrell said Friday that McChrystal's new orders have started to reduce civilian casualties, but that the effort is "a process" as opposed to something instantly achieved.

A large number of civilian casualties in Friday's attack could also stoke opposition in Germany to the Afghan mission ahead of the Sept. 27 German national elections. There are 4,050 German soldiers in Afghanistan, and polls show a majority of Germans oppose their presence here.

Violence has soared across much of Afghanistan since President Barack Obama ordered 21,000 U.S. troops here this year to curb the Taliban, which has regrouped and rearmed since American-led forces drove the hard-line Islamist group from power in November 2001. Fifty-one U.S. troops died in Afghanistan in August, the deadliest month of the war for American forces.

Friday's attack came a day after Defense Secretary Robert Gates signaled for the first time that he may be willing to send more troops.

It began when Taliban gunmen seized the tankers near the German military base — possibly for a suicide attack against the installation, according to German Deputy Defense Minister Thomas Kossendey.

German Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung said the Taliban had previously threatened to carry out attacks on the country's military, particularly as Germany's elections approach.

"So it was a very concrete situation of danger for the Taliban to get hold of two tankers, which meant significant danger for our soldiers," he told ARD television.

The German commander ordered the airstrike after an unmanned surveillance aircraft determined no civilians were in the area, German officials said.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity as a matter of policy, said a U.S. jet dropped two bombs 40 minutes after the request. It was unclear whether civilians began to gather during that time.

It was impossible to independently verify details because the attack was in an area where Taliban forces operate. Travel is risky, and the Germans refused to allow an Associated Press reporter to accompany them to the site. German troops who inspected the area hours afterward exchanged gunfire with militants but there were no German casualties, an army statement said.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said the trucks were intercepted on their way from Tajikistan to supply NATO forces in Kabul. When the hijackers tried to drive the trucks across the Kunduz River, the vehicles became stuck in the mud and the insurgents opened valves to release fuel and lighten the loads, he said.

Villagers swarmed the trucks to collect the fuel despite warnings that they might be hit with an airstrike, Mujahid said, claiming no Taliban fighters died in the attack.

Abdul Moman Omar Khel, a member of the Kunduz provincial council and a native of the village, said about 500 people from surrounding communities swarmed the trucks after the Taliban invited them to help themselves to the fuel. Many were awake at that hour because of a late-night wedding party and festivities marking the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, when Muslims can eat and drink only during hours of darkness.

"The Taliban called to the villagers, 'Come take free fuel,'" he said. "The people are so hungry and poor."

He said five people were killed from a single family, and a man he knows lost three sons.

Survivors expressed anger that NATO and Afghan forces were unable to provide enough security in the area to prevent Taliban violence.

"The Taliban were there from 2 p.m. yesterday," said Habibullah, the driver of one of the tanker trucks that was hijacked. "I informed the military about this and I told them they will hijack us. They told me that they will inform the (NATO) military about this. No one came to protect us."

Habibullah, who like many Afghans uses only one name, was interviewed in Kunduz city, about 15 miles from the site.

Abdul Ghafoor, whose brother was killed in the airstrike, said NATO soldiers have a duty to protect civilians.

"The vehicles they are driving around in are not for taking their families for sightseeing," he said. "The Taliban of this area are not good people."

Kunduz, a former Taliban stronghold, had been generally peaceful until insurgent attacks began rising earlier this year — perhaps an effort to control a profitable smuggling route from neighboring Tajikistan. Most of the fighting in Afghanistan this summer has been in the south and east, where U.S. and British forces operate.

Last May, U.S. warplanes struck military targets in the western Farah province, killing an estimated 60 to 65 insurgents. The U.S. said 20 to 30 civilians also died in those attacks. The Afghan government said 140 civilians were killed.