Afghan Taliban spokesman: We will win the war
Nic Robertson, CNN
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…The man in front of me is Zabiullah Mujahid — one of two spokesmen for the Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar. He is around 30, maybe a little younger, bearded, but not heavily so. He is slight but not weak and close to my height — a little over six foot — and meeting him is a big deal… I ask what are the conditions for going into talks? “Our conditions are clear, we want to negotiate and they [the U.S.] will not interfere in our affairs, sec ondly they [the U.S.] will leave the country, third let the Afghan people to do what they want to do, like form the Islamic government they want to establish.”From what my sources tell me, the talks seem stalled or at the very least to have sunk to a very low level. The Taliban don’t just want U.S. troops to leave Afghanistan, they want them out before talks can even begin. Always with negotiations, I’ve learned the key is in working out the sequencing. Mujahid confirms my suspicions and what I hear from my sources is that the talks are bogged down. He says the former Taliban officials who have been at the talks so far don’t represent Mullah Omar… He tells me it doesn’t matter how many come, they won’t win. “If the Pentagon is thinking of changing its policy, we too are thinking of changing the policy. If they want to send 20,000 to start a new campaign, this is a war and we will see the war and make our policy.”..
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Pakistan: Taliban Seize City as Up to 500,000 Civilians Flee
Key Swat Town of Mingora Now Occupied by Militants
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The Tehreek-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has reportedly wrested control of the Swat Valley’s largest town, Mingora, from the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) government and Pakistani security forces. The move comes just one day after the group announced that it was formally withdrawing from the controversial Swat Valley peace deal in response to ongoing military offensives in and around the valley…< br>
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UN rights experts seek access to Israeli prison
AFP
The United Nations anti-torture committee on Tuesday asked Israel to grant the International Committee of the Red Cross access to a secret detention facility where torture is allegedly being practised. “Allegations of torture, ill-treatment and poor detention conditions in this facility have been reported to the committee,” said a document prepared by the committee for a hearing held Tuesday on Israel’s record on torture. The committee of 10 independent experts demanded that Israel release information on the alleged “Facility 1391″ which is situated in an “undetermined location within Israel and which is not accessible to the International Committee of the Red Cross or detainees’ lawyers or relatives”..
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PCHR welcomes the Spanish National Court’s decision to continue investigating suspected Israeli war criminals
PCHR – Palestinian Centre for Human Rights
Today, 4 May 2009, Judge Fernando Andreu of the Spanish Audencia Nacional (National Court) announced his decision to continue the investigation into the events surrounding the al-Daraj bombing of July 2002. This attack resulted in the deaths of 16 Palestinians, including 14 civilians. The decision represents a major step towards achieving justice for victims. It opens t he door for accountability, whereby suspected Israeli war criminals may be held responsible for the suffering they have inflicted on the Gazan people. The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR), the victims of this attack, and all Palestinians who have suffered at the hands of Israel’s brutal and illegal occupation, wholeheartedly welcome this decision…
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IOA kidnaps 40 Palestinian children in one month
Palestinian Information Center
The PA ministry of prisoners and ex-prisoners’ affairs in Gaza has accused Tuesday the Israeli occupation authorities of kidnapping 345 Palestinian citizens, including 40 minors during the past month of April. Although the month of April witnessed a number of activities in support of the Palestinian prisoners incarcerated in Israeli jails, which were considered as the biggest in this regard, repressive Israeli measures against the Palestinian captives persisted despite strong condemnation from local and international human rights groups…
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Al Jazeera Strikes Back at Pentagon, Releases Unedited Footage of US Soldiers’ ‘Bible Study’ in Afghanistan
by Jeremy Scahill
Hours after Al Jazeera first broadcast a video showing US soldiers in Afghanistan being instructed by the military’s top chaplain in the country to “hunt people for Jesus” as they spread Christianity to the overwhelmingly Muslim population, the Pentagon shot back. It charged that Al Jazeera had “grossly misrepresent[ed] the truth.” Col. Greg Julian, told Al Jazeera: “Most of this is taken out of co ntext … this is irresponsible and inappropriate journalism.” Now, Al Jazeera and the man who filmed the controversial material are striking back. The network has just released unedited and unaltered footage (see below) of US soldiers in ‘bible study’ in Afghanistan. Jazeera describes it as “Extended footage shot by Brian Hughes, a US documentary maker and former member of the US military who spent several days in Bagram near Kabul.”…
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Torture and Impunity in Iraqi Prisons
Jeremy Scahill
Part of the deadly serious problem with the Obama administration’s position on (not) holding accountable CIA torturers, their lawyers, and the Bush administration officials who authorized and ordered all of these crimes is this: It sends a message to other governments that if Washington does it, we can too. Especially governments completely created by the U.S. government. No governments on the planet are more controlled by the U.S. right now than the ones in Iraq and Af ghanistan…
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