Biden advised not to authorize bin Laden raid

 

Vice President Joe Biden said he advised President Barack Obama last spring not to immediately authorize the raid on the compound in Pakistan where Osama bin Laden was thought to be hiding.

 

“My suggestion is, don t go,” Biden recalled saying when Obama sought his opinion on whether to give Navy SEALs the go-ahead to raid the compound. “We have to do two more things to see if he s there.”

 

Biden recalled the conversation while addressing Democratic members of Congress on Friday at a retreat in Cambridge, Md. He did not specify which two things he had considered necessary for the operation against bin Laden to proceed.

 

Biden said Obama also sought opinions from senior advisers, including the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Biden did not say where the conversations took place, but he recalled that no one was willing to give a definitive answer except then-CIA Director Leon Panetta, who told Obama to move forward with the SEALs operation, Biden said.

 

“Everyone else said 49, 51, this,” Biden said. “It got to me. He said,  Joe, what do you think?  and I said,  You know, I didn t know we have so many economists around the table. We owe the man a direct answer.  “

 

Obama then left the room, saying he would come to a decision, Biden said. The next morning, as Obama was boarding the presidential helicopter, he told National Security Adviser Thomas Donilon, “Go.”

 

As it turned out, the information that bin Laden was hiding at the compound in Abbottabad was correct. The SEALs team killed him there on May 1.

 

Biden recalled the conversations to make a point about Obama s strength as a leader. He said Obama made his decision knowing that if the operation went awry, even his most loyal staffers would later say, when books were written, “I didn t tell him to do that.”

 

“I hope no one would ve done that,” Biden said.

 

Biden said Obama knew his decision put at stake not only the lives of the SEALs but also the image of the presidency.
“And he pulled the trigger,” he said. “And that s clear to American people. It says less about bin Laden than it does about character, about Obama leading from behind. Obama doesn t lead from behind, he just leads. And that s clear.”

‘Pakistan faced irreparable losses on being US ally’

TrendPK.com

DAVOS: Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani Saturday said Pakistan had to pocket irreparable losses for becoming a close ally to the US on war on terrorism, reports TrendPK.

In an interview with a British television here, the premier said, keeping in view the importance of the US in global landscape, Pakistan is desirous of fast improving ties with the latter. “It is time for the US now to come to the term that Pakistan is the only country which has laid down many more sacrifices in war on terror than any other country,” Gilani notified.

To a question, the premier said all the institutions of the country mind their constitutional parameters, elaborating further, he said, he did not want any institution to be working under his control.

Earlier, in another interview with a US television, PM had said the former President who was a military dictator who overruled the constitution of Pakistan by declaring coup against the democratic setup would have to face arrest if he returned to Pakistan.

“Musharraf will be arrested surely because he is wanted in many cases of the grave nature including murder and the court has already declared him ‘proclaimed offender’,” the premier vowed. TrendPK

President, PM felicitates India on Republic Day

 

President Zardari has also greeted the people of India on the country’s Republic Day on January 26.

 

In a letter to President Ms Pratibha Devisingh Patil, he said: “On the occasion of the Republic Day of India, I wish to convey to Your Excellency and the people of India warm felicitations and good wishes of the people of Pakistan.”

 

Similarly, Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani sent a message of greetings to Prime Minister of India Dr Manmohan Singh on the occasion of their Republic Day being celebrated on Thursday (January 26).

 

However, Kashmiris on both sides of the Line of Control (LoC) and across the world observed Indian Republic Day as Black Day to remind the international community that India’s continued denial of Kashmiris’ right to self-determination was contrary to its claim of being a democratic republic.
 

Egypt flays travel ban on US NGO workers

 

The authorities slapped a travel ban on several US citizens working for non-governmental organisations, preventing them from leaving the country, officials said on Thursday.

 

“We understand that a number of Americans working for NGOs, including the IRI, have been barred from travelling,” US Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy and Human Rights Michael Posner said in Cairo.

 

The IRI is the International Republican Institute, whose Egypt director Sam LaHood — the son of US Secretary for Transportation Ray LaHood — was among those banned from travel, an Egyptian airport official said.

 

The ban was issued following “the orders of the prosecutor general,” the official told AFP.

 

In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said she believed “four or five” Americans had been prevented from taking flights from the airport, although she added their passports had not been confiscated.

 

Nuland told reporters she understood that the ban will last as long as it takes for the Egyptian authorities to complete a judicial process.

 

“We are urging the government of Egypt to lift these restrictions immediately and allow folks to come home as soon as possible. And we are hopeful that this issue will be resolved in merest days,” Nuland said.

 

The move comes amid a crackdown on foreign-funded NGOs.

 

It is likely to further strain relations between Egypt and the United States after prosecutors last month stormed the offices of groups including IRI as part of a probe into allegations of illegal funding from abroad.

 

Nuland said the authorities have yet to return computers and other confiscated material, which she added are also subject to the ongoing judicial process.

 

Posner said the United States was “gravely concerned that organisations like IRI and like NDI (the National Democratic Institute) and Freedom House which have long worked in this country and around the world, are not able to operate as they do in many places in the world.”
 

Omar Abdullah apologises for rape victime list

Indian-held Kashmir s chief minister apologized Friday after his government revealed the names of some 1,400 women raped in the insurgency-hit state during the last five years.

“I tender an unconditional apology to the victims and their families. There is a deep sense of shame over the revealing of names (of the victims),” Omar Abdullah told the state legislature.

On Thursday a written reply by the state s home department to a lawmaker s query contained a list of nearly 1,400 women raped since 2006, giving out their names, parentage and residential addresses.

Abdullah, who heads the department, pledged that “such a thing will never take place again” and said he would “look into the matter”.

He made his apology after the main opposition People Democratic Party protested over the issue.

Kashmir, a predominantly Muslim state, has been in the grip of an insurgency since 1989 that has left thousands dead so far.

The violence has declined sharply since India and Pakistan, which hold the region in part, started a peace process in 2004.

Make Pak-US deals public, demands Nawaz

Talking to press conference, Nawaz said that the nation was united to protect the sovereignty of the country. He said that the present government’s policies were hurting democratic system.

He stated that if parliamentary resolutions were implemented then the country would not be in this position.

Nawaz maintained that it was impossible for one party to solve the problems being faced by the country and that a joint effort would be required.

He said economic slavery has turned into a political slavery and warned the government to refrain from corruption. he also urged the govt to honor judiciary’s decisions to improve its governance.

The PML-N chief told the media that he had proposed a 10 to 20 years national agenda in the All Parties Conference held on Thursday.

US Muslims face rising discrimination: official

WASHINGTON: American Muslims face a rising tide of religious discrimination in U.S. communities, workplaces and schools nearly a decade after the Sept. 11 attacks, a congressional committee heard Tuesday.

Evidence of growing anti-Muslim bigotry, aired at a Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing, poses a challenge for President Barack Obama as his administration works to foster good relations with American Muslims and secure their help against the threat of home-grown terrorism.

But the challenge is compounded by remarks by public officials and others in prominent positions that have inflamed public debate and threaten to facilitate discrimination, according to witness testimony.

“We continue to solicit and receive the support of many Muslim Americans who love this nation and work with our government to protect it,” said Democratic Senator Dick Durbin, who chaired the proceedings.

“At the same time, many law-abiding Muslim Americans face discrimination and charges that they’re not real Americans simply because of their religion.”

Senator Lindsey Graham, the panel’s top Republican, sounded a more hawkish tone, saying he supported Muslim rights but calling on Muslim Americans to do more to protect the United States from attack.

“Get in this fight,” Graham said. “You’re going to have to help your country, probably uniquely compared to anyone else, understand what’s going on and fight back. The front lines of this war are in our own back door and our own neighborhoods.”

Thomas Perez, the assistant U.S. attorney general for civil rights, told the panel that anti-Muslim sentiment has brought a surge last May in the number of federal discrimination cases involving zoning boards and other local authorities that have acted to prevent mosques from opening in their communities.

That comes on top of more than 800 incidents of violence, vandalism and arson against people believed to be Muslim, Arab or South Asian, that the Justice Department has investigated since the Sept. 11 attacks.

Perez said there has been a 150 percent jump in workplace discrimination against Muslims, often over religious dress and worship schedules, while Muslim youth can often become the victims of school yard bullying.

“In each city and town where I have met with (Muslim) leaders, I have been struck by the fear that pervades their lives,” Perez told the panel.

Muslims have also witnessed a fierce debate over a Florida minister’s threat to burn a Koran, as well as efforts in half a dozen U.S. states to ban the use of Muslim religious law on the pretext of a threat to the American legal system.

Perez praised Obama and former President George W. Bush for using the presidential pulpit to speak out eloquently against anti-Muslim sentiment. But witnesses complained that not all public servants have followed suit.

“In the last several months, anti-Muslim rhetoric has reached a disturbing new level. Prominent religious, military and even political leaders have joined the fray, feeding fear and hysteria,” said Farhana Khera, a former Senate aide who now heads a group called Muslim Advocates.

Durbin became embroiled in a spat with Peter King, the Republican chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, who held a controversial hearing on radicalization in the U.S. Muslim community earlier this month.

King blasted Durbin’s proceedings in the media as an exercise in political correctness that would “perpetuate the myth that there is a serious anti-Islam issue in this country.”

Durbin responded with a veiled reference to controversial remarks attributed to King and Newt Gingrich, a former Republican House speaker now considering a bid for the White House.

“A leading member of Congress stated bluntly: ‘There are too many mosques in this country.’ A former speaker of the House falsely claimed: ‘America’s experiencing an Islamist cultural political offensive designed to undermine and destroy our civilization’,” said Durbin, the Senate’s No. 2 Democratic leader.

“Such inflammatory speech from prominent public leaders creates a fertile climate for discrimination,” he added. AGENCIES

Obama tells world to unite against Libya bloodshed

WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama told the world Wednesday to unite to hold Libya accountable for a vicious protest crackdown, stiffening a US response that critics had cast as too mild.

In his first televised response to Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi”s decision to unleash vengeance on demonstrators, Obama reached out to US allies and promised to deploy a “full range of options” to halt “outratrendpk.comus” bloodshed.

Obama spoke as officials said that Washington was considering fresh sanctions and other steps against Libya, and as political pressure mounted on his administration for a tougher response.

The administration”s careful previous line on violence that a former Libyan minister said had killed 1,000 people, appeared to be dictated by fears that American diplomats and citizens in Libya could face reprisals.

But by late Wednesday, a US-chartered ferry with a capacity of 575 passengers was riding out bad weather in Tripoli harbor ready to cast off on an evacuation mission to Malta.

“The suffering and bloodshed is outratrendpk.comus, and it is unacceptable,” Obama said at the White House.

“So are threats and orders to shoot peaceful protesters and further punish the people of Libya. These actions violate international norms, and every standard of common decency. This violence must stop.”

Obama defended his administration against claims its response to the violence, the latest wave of unrest crashing across the Middle East, had been too tempered.

“Over the last few days my national security team has been working around the clock to monitor the situation there and to coordinate with our international partners about a way forward,” he said.

The president did not mention Libya”s ruthless and unpredictable leader Kadhafi, who has ruled for four decades and frequently defied the United States, by name.

In an angry rambling speech on Tuesday, Kadhafi, 68, threatened to purge opponents “house by house” and “inch by inch” and vowed to fight to the finish.

“The army is still very strong,” Kadhafi”s son Saadi Kadhafi told the Financial Times in an interview Thursday. “If we hear anything, we will send some battalions. When people see the army, they will be afraid.”

Seeking to corral international action on Libya, Obama said that in such a volatile situation, it was “imperative” for nations to speak with one voice.

He said he would dispatch Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to a ministerial-level meeting in Geneva on Monday of the UN Human Rights Council.

“Like all governments, the Libyan government has a responsibility to refrain from violence, to allow humanitarian assistance to reach those in need and to respect the rights of its people,” Obama said.

“It must be held accountable for its failure to meet those responsibilities and face the cost of continued violations of human rights.”

Though officials said that sanctions were among options being discussed, it was unclear whether calls for NATO to establish a “no fly zone” over Libya to protect civilians were on the table.

Obama”s call to US allies appeared to be a signal that Washington, which has sought not to inject itself into the Middle East revolts, preferred the safety in numbers of multilateral action.

Europe had already moved Wednesday to isolate Kadhafi, readying sanctions that one diplomat said could include an assets freeze, a travel ban, an arms embargo and the legal pursuit of those involved in violent repression.

Washington lifted sanctions on Libya in 2004 under a deal which helped the former pariah state back into the global community after it gave up its nuclear and chemical weapons programs.

Influential US lawmakers, including Democratic Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman John Kerry and his Republican House of Representatives counterpart Ileana Ros-Lehtinen have called for US sanctions to be reimposed.

US officials apparently feared that robust US rhetoric on the crisis could have made the plight of Americans even more perilous than that of other foreigners, given the tortured recent history between Washington and Tripoli.

In 1986, then president Ronald Reagan sent US warplanes to bomb Libya, in retaliation for the bombing of a discotheque in West Berlin. Kadhafi”s adoptive daughter was killed in the US raids on Libya.

On Wednesday, Libya”s former justice minister Mustapha Abdeljalil told the Swedish daily Expressen, that Kadhafi had then personally ordered the bombing of a US Pan Am jet over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988, that killed 270 people. (AFP)

Pakistan says U.S. prisoner Davis has immunity

ISLAMABAD: An American jailed for shooting two Pakistanis is shielded by diplomatic immunity, the Pakistani government said on Wednesday, a move that may help end a bruising row between the troubled allies.

A local court, however, has to decide the fate of Raymond Davis, the U.S. consulate employee who shot and killed two Pakistani men in the city of Lahore last month in what he said was a robbery attempt.

“We will present all relevant laws and rules about immunity before the court and will plead that prima facie it is a case of diplomatic immunity. But it is for the court to decide,” a senior Pakistani government official said on condition of anonymity.

The row over the detention of the U.S. national is the latest issue straining ties between two nations that are supposed to be working in concert to stamp out a tenacious Islamist insurgency.

Washington has insisted Davis, whose role at the U.S. consulate in Lahore is unclear, should be released immediately.

On Tuesday, President Barack Obama said the United States was working with the Pakistani government to secure the release of the U.S. citizen.

Up to now the Pakistani government, fearful of a backlash from Pakistanis already wary of the United States and enraged by the shooting on a crowded street, had said only that the matter should be decided in court.

The United States is expected to present a petition to a Lahore court on Thursday to certify that Davis has diplomatic immunity and should be released.

Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper said the government will inform the Lahore High Court that his status as a member of the consulate’s dministrative and technical staff made him eligible for diplomatic immunity.

Ties between the United States and Pakistan are already strained by U.S. unmanned drone strikes in the Pakistani northwest on the Afghan border that Pakistanis see as a violation of their sovereignty.

Obama sent Senator John Kerry, chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and member of the Democratic Party, to meet Pakistani officials on Wednesday to try to resolve the crisis. AGENCIES

Election or in-house Change Dangerous: Nawaz Sharif

Breaking News

LAHORE, trendpk: PML-N Quaid Nawaz Sharif said the country is passing through a difficult phase and we all should take steps with wisdom.

Moreover, we are not supporting the present government but want that it should work for masses welfare during its tenure.

Nawaz said this the other day while talking to Daily Jang. He said everybody knows that government has performed poorly as people are facing inflation, power and gas loadsheddings and we are trying that the government performs better in its remaining tenure.

“We want to save the democratic system and when we follow traditions, we are accused of siding with the PPP, and media is also involved in it,” he added. Nawaz said in present time, elections or in-house change is a dangerous thing.

The government has been given 45 days deadline to implement PML-N’s 10-point agenda and we don’t follow the policy of buying time, he further added. Nawaz said he was not aware of US stance regarding the PML-N when he was put a question that it was not happy with him and his policies. He said we don’t want to come in power through the support of the US or army.

Next Page »