LONDON: Britain announced Tuesday it was kicking out an Israeli diplomat over the use of fake British passports in the killing of a Hamas chief in Dubai, in a sharp escalation of tension triggered by the murder.
Foreign Secretary David Miliband said there were “compelling reasons” suggesting that Israel was to blame for the forgeries used by team which killed Mahmud al-Mabhuh in January.

“I've asked that a member of the embassy of Israel be withdrawn from the UK as a result of this affair and this is taking place,” he told lawmakers in a statement.

“There are compelling reasons to believe that Israel was responsible for the misuse of the British passports”, which were forged after being taken temporarily from uninvolved Britons as they passed through border points.

The announcement came after Israel's ambassador to London, Ron Prosor, went for talks at the Foreign Office on Monday.

Prosor was briefed on the results of an investigation into the passport cloning which Prime Minister Gordon Brown had ordered in February and was led by the Serious Organised Crime Agency, the Daily Telegraph reported.

Miliband last month urged Israel to give its “full cooperation” to an international probe into the use of fake passports by the killers of Mahmud al-Mabhuh, a founder of Hamas' armed wing, on January 20.

The Jewish state has said there is no proof of widespread allegations that its spy agency, Mossad, was behind the murder, and media reports suggest Britain will not contest this.

Britain had previously called in the Israeli ambassador to discuss the issue after Dubai police in February released photos and names of European passport holders alleged to have been members of the hit squad.

They say the suspects used the identities of 12 people from Britain, as well as people from Ireland, France, Australia and Germany.

International police agency Interpol has issued arrest notices for 27 suspects wanted by Dubai in connection with the killing.

The British announcement came as a French prosecutor announced an investigation after four fake French passports were used by suspects involved in the killing.

French authorities opened a preliminary investigation on March 12 to look into allegations of falsifiying and making use of fake documents, the Paris prosecutor said.

Relations between Britain and Israel were strained before the Hamas killing passport row, notably after a London court issued an arrest warrant for former Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni.

Livni reportedly cancelled a trip to Britain in December for fear of being arrested under the warrant, issued over her role in Israel's 22-day war against the Hamas-rule Gaza Strip launched at the end of 2008.

The affair acutely embarrassed the British government and Brown pledged to change the law that allows judges to consider a case for an arrest warrant for alleged war crimes suspects brought by any individual.

The deterioration of diplomatic relations between Britain and Israel comes as historically strong US-Israeli ties are under strain over Tel Aviv's plans to build new settlements.

Israel's announcement on March 9 of 1,600 new homes in east Jerusalem, which the Palestinians claim as the capital of a future state, triggered a rare condemnation from the United States.

Britain has condemned the Israeli settlement plan, although there is no suggestion that this is related to the current diplomatic spat LINK

ISLAMABAD: Law Minister Babar Awan said on Wednesday that the draft of the 18th amendment bill had been prepared and President Asif Ali Zardari will address a joint session of parliament when the constitutional package is tabled.

The federal minister said that talks of deadlock in the constitutional committee are baseless and the bill, which has been agreed upon by all political parties, would be tabled before the parliament during the current month.

He said that the amendment in the constitution would be made on the basis of two third majority.

The Parliamentary Committee on Constitutional Reforms, which had finalised a draft of the 18th Constitution Amendment Bill, 2010 is reported to have suggested some 100 amendments to over 70 articles of the Constitution LNK.

WASHINGTON: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Wednesday the United States had started a “new day” with Pakistan in hearing its concerns, but some of Islamabad's requests were set for a cool reception.

Clinton opened a first-of-a-kind “strategic dialogue” with Pakistan, hoping to show the country's widely anti-American public that the United States wants a relationship that goes beyond short-term battles against militants.

In an early-morning ceremony timed for broadcast in Pakistan, Clinton said she wanted to speak directly to its people, acknowledging that the two nations “have had our misunderstandings and disagreements in the past.”

”There are sure to be more disagreements in the future, as there are between any friends or, frankly, any family members,” she said.

“But this is a new day. For the past year, the Obama administration has shown in our words and deeds a different approach and attitude toward Pakistan.”

”The dialogue we seek is not only with the government of Pakistan, but you the people of Pakistan,” she said, vowing that both she and President Barack Obama had a “personal commitment” to building ties with Islamabad.

Pointing to Pakistan's growing action against extremism, Clinton pledged full support, saying “Its struggles are our struggles.”

The US Congress last year approved a giant five-year, 7.5 billion-dollar aid package for Pakistan, hoping to chip away support for extremism by building schools, infrastructure and democratic institutions.

But in a nod to the continued powerful role of Pakistan's military, the United States invited General Ashfaq Kayani, the army chief, to take part in the dialogue, along with Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi.

Qureshi expressed gratitude for US assistance and pledged that Pakistan would keep up the fight against extremism. But he made clear that Pakistan wanted benefits in return.

Qureshi said that Pakistan was seeking “non-discriminatory” access to energy resources as well as a “constructive” role by the United States on its dispute with India over Kashmir.

“Pakistan is committed to doing its part to facilitate the world community's effort for peace and stability in Afghanistan,” Qureshi said.

“We hope the world community will be equally responsive to our legitimate concerns and help advance common interests,” he said.

Pakistan has said it wants a civilian nuclear deal with the United States similar to a landmark agreement reached by India in 2008. US officials have publicly sidestepped the issue.

Richard Holbrooke, the US special envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan, said only that “we're ready to listen to anything.” Asked by Pakistan's private news TV if nuclear cooperation could assuage the country's chronic energy shortages, Clinton said there were “more immediate steps that can be taken” including upgrading power plants.

Pakistan is also seeking greater cooperation on water and education and wants unmanned attack drones. The United States has so far only given Pakistan surveillance drones.

The United States has launched more than 90 drone strikes in Pakistan since August 2008, killing more than 830 people, according to local sources.LINK

ISLAMABAD: National hockey team captain Zeeshan Ashraf has offered to retire from international hockey following Pakistans poor performance in the World Cup.

“I am ready to quit and accept responsibility for the team’s dismal show in the World Cup,” Zeeshan was quoted by Indian daily The Hindu.

The 12-team event saw four-time World Cup champions Pakistan finishing last in their pool with just one win in the group stage. They now face the ignominy of playing the 11th-12th position playoff against Canada.“I am ready to retire but it is the Pakistan Hockey Federation which will decide my future,” said the seasoned defender.

Pakistans hockey chiefs will meet in Lahore soon after the World Cup to take a decision on the future of the under-performing senior playersLINK.

In a recent interview with the New York Times, the once renowned Colonel Imam made some very insightful remarks and dire predictions. For those unfamiliar with the name, Colonel Imam was an ISI operative who played a prominent role in recruiting and training resistance fighters during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. His list of students includes prominent ‘mujahideen’ commanders such as Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and Ahmed Shah Masood. The Colonel worked closely with the Americans and Saudis to train, arm, and support the mujahideen throughout the Soviet occupation and beyond.

Following the emergence of the Taliban, he provided crucial tactical advice and training to this new and potent force, helping them sweep across the rugged country in a series of decisive battles. By his own admission, Colonel Imam was very close to Mullah Omar and spent a considerable amount of time with the Afghan Taliban leader following the September 11 terrorist attacks.

All told, the Colonel spent over two decades straddling the dangerous Pak-Afghan border and was deeply ingrained in the tumultuous affairs of Afghanistan and the border areas. He is undoubtedly an expert on the region and some would argue that his insight is invaluable. His views on the current state of affairs in the region are also certainly worth considering.

Colonel Imam’s last visit to Afghanistan ended right before the US invasion and his final advice to Mullah Omar was to engage the invading forces in a prolonged struggle using guerrilla tactics, instead of taking them head on. So far, it seems that the Taliban leader heeded his advice. From the initial US-led invasion to the recent operations in southern Afghanistan, the Taliban seem to have avoided direct large-scale confrontations with coalition forces. And for the most part, they have vacated their strongholds such as Marjah ahead of major operations.

The Taliban have focused on utilising guerrilla tactics such as ambushing convoys, attacking isolated outposts, and deploying IEDs to target western forces. Of course, they have also relied heavily on other tactics such as suicide bombings. Some would argue that the methods used by the Taliban reflect their weakness, since they have been unable to hold any territory against US-led attacks. On the flip side, and according to the view espoused by Colonel Imam, it can be argued that the Taliban have consciously chosen to operate in this manner. Realising that they cannot match western forces in terms of firepower and technology, the insurgents have decided to employ a strategy similar to the one used by mujahideen commanders against the Soviets: bleed the enemy to death with small cuts instead of a single decisive blow.

Consider this. Every time the Taliban successfully attack ISAF forces, they cause damage worth thousands if not millions of dollars, depending on the kind of equipment they destroy and the number of casualties they inflict. In the process, they lose a handful of men (that are easily replaced by a seemingly endless flow of recruits), some assault rifles, and perhaps a few hundred rounds of ammunition.

Similarly, with every successful suicide attack, they cause immense damage in terms of life and property and put a serious dent in the coalition forces’ morale — all this, at the expense of a brainwashed youth and a few kilograms of explosive material.

According to Colonel Imam, the recent arrests of senior Taliban commanders will not weaken the insurgency. He claims that the Afghan Taliban have evolved into a decentralised force, with field commanders leading self-sufficient units that operate independently. He predicts that President Obama’s troop surge will end in failure, since the increased number of American soldiers will only serve to provide the militants with bigger and more diverse targets, such as supply convoys, planes, and vehicles. Furthermore, he also believes that efforts to fracture the Taliban movement by weaning commanders away with bribes will not succeed, since committed militant commanders will not trade their loyalty for cash.

In an interview with the New York Times, Colonel Imam was full of praise for Mullah Omar and the Taliban movement. He described them as a force that brought stability to the war-torn country and all but ended the drug trade. He denied providing support to the insurgents, as some observers have suggested, but stressed the need to negotiate with the Taliban leadership, a view he has reiterated in a number of interviews over the past few years.

It is interesting to note that time and again the Colonel has insisted that Mullah Omar is a reasonable man who would be willing to negotiate and compromise with the Americans, given the right terms and conditions. In an interview with McClatchy in January, he even hinted at the possibility of acting as a liaison between the Americans and the Afghan Taliban leadership. Given his history of close links with both sides, it is entirely conceivable that Colonel Imam might play an important role in any future or ongoing talks with the Afghan insurgents. Of course, any such role would require the approval and active support of the ISI.

With rumours of secret negotiations and potential deals doing the rounds in the international media circuit, some reports already suggest that the US is actively seeking a compromise with the Afghan Taliban. Speculations of Saudi involvement in this process have also been made and it will be interesting to see if anything concrete develops over the next few months, and if so, how Pakistan and the Colonel would fit into the equation.

On his part, Colonel Imam makes no effort to conceal his ideological support for the Afghan Taliban. This support can possibly account for his particular views and predictions. That being said, his in-depth knowledge of the region and vast experience with key players involved in the conflict cannot be overlooked. If his predictions prove to be accurate, the implications for the region will be crucial. In the end, only time will tell if the enigmatic Colonel Imam is an ideologue dwelling in the past (as suggested by his detractors) or a grounded pragmatist with profound foresight.LINK

The Senate passed its healthcare bill in the early morning hours of Christmas Eve. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid had to make major compromises to secure the votes of fence-sitters like senators Ben Nelson and Joe Lieberman. Reid sacrificed the public option to keep Lieberman on board and tightened the bill's abortion restrictions to placate Nelson.
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Next, representatives from the House and the Senate will merge their respective bills in a conference committee, creating a single piece of legislation that both houses will vote on. If the conference report passes both houses, it will proceed to the president's desk to be signed into law. Conference will start after the winter recess. The whole process could be complete by late January.
Despite the Senate compromises, there's still plenty for progressives to like in the new bill. Kevin Drum lists some of the bill's positive attributes in Mother Jones:
Insurers have to take all comers: They can't turn you down for a preexisting condition or cut you off after you get sick.
Community rating: Within a few broad classes, everyone gets charged the same amount for insurance.
Individual mandate, which would require everyone to have health insurance. (Remember how we all argued that this was a progressive feature back when John Edwards and Hillary Clinton were championing it during the primaries?) On the progressive upside, a mandate would bring down costs and share risk more equitably. However, progressives realize that without a public option, it means forcing people to buy the insurance companies' crappy product.
A significant expansion of Medicaid.
Subsidies for low and middle income workers that keeps premium costs under 10 percent of income.
Limits on ER charges to low-income, uninsured emergency patients.
Caps on out-of-pocket expenses
A broad range of cost-containment measures
A dedicated revenue stream to support all this.
The House version of the healthcare bill has a public option. In theory, the public option could be added back in in conference, but even the most optimistic progressives have given up hope on that score. If the public option rose from the ashes, Lieberman could filibuster the conference report, and no one doubts he'd do it. So no matter how tough and savvy House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is, she won't have much leverage in conference. One way or another, Pelosi can probably pass just about anything that comes out of conference. Reid still has the Sword of Damocles hanging over his head.
That doesn't mean that everything is set in stone, though. J. Lester Feder of The Nation discusses what's left to be worked out in conference. Feder says the big three areas up for discussion are affordability, enforceability and financing. Compared to the House bill, Senate version offers larger insurance subsidies, but also weaker protections against high out-of-pocket costs.
Age bands are another key affordability issue: the House bill allows insurers to charge seniors twice as much for coverage, the Senate up to three times as much. The House bill calls for a national insurance exchange to drive down costs, as opposed to the Senate bill which would create state level exchanges. The smaller the exchange, the less power it has to drive down costs, which means that progressives (and hopefully fiscal conservatives) are lobbying hard for a national exchange.
As for enforceability, Feder urges progressives to watch out for a seemingly minor provision in the Senate bill that effectively guts the ban on gouging those with pre-existing conditions. Unlike the House, the Senate voted to allow insurers to offer "discounts" to customers for "wellness" That might mean that people with conditions from pregnancy to HIV could end up paying more for coverage than their healthier counterparts.
Financing is sure to be a bitterly contested issue in conference. The House wants to pay for reform by taxing the wealthy. The Senate wants to tax so-called "Cadillac" insurance plans. Currently, those who receive insurance through their employer don't have to pay taxes on the value of the coverage, as they would if they got an equal amount of money in cash. The Senate bill would tax the value of insurance coverage over a certain threshold.
The problem is that, despite the luxurious-sounding nickname, a lot of so-called Cadillac plans are pretty ordinary insurance policies held by middle-class people. For example, many union workers accepted better health benefits instead of wage increases because they seemed advantageous tax-wise. At Working In These Times, Art Levine reports on labor's attempts to eliminate the insurance tax.
Mark Schmitt of the American Prospect concludes that the bill could be improved slightly in conference by adding the House's employer mandate or improving the financing, "but everything will have to be cleared with the 59th and 60th most liberal senators." His Prospect colleague Paul Waldman is more optimistic about the prospects for improving the bill in conference. Abortion access and the public option are set in stone, but the conference committee still has power to shape the proposed expansion of Medicaid (the House is more generous than the Senate), the timeline for implementation (sooner is better for progressives), coverage for immigrants and other hot-button issues.
I predict that abolishing the filibuster will be the big progressive cause for 2010. Obama's liberal base has seen so many of its fondest hopes dashed by a Senate where sixty votes is the new fifty. If the Democrats are going to keep the "kill the bill" crowd in the fold, they'll have to channel that rage and frustration in a constructive direction. Senator Tom Harkin is proposing a symbolic bill to end the filibuster. It won't pass, of course: if Reid can't defeat one filibuster without gutting healthcare reform, there's no way he can pass a bill to abolish filibusters for good. It would get filibustered! That said, Harkin's bill is an important symbolic gesture and an opportunity to galvanize support for structural Senate reformLINK

The decision of embattled New York Governor David Paterson to quit his bid for a full term is exceptionally good news for Democrats--not just in New York but nationally.
Rocked by scandals, including the recent revelation that he had personally meddled in a domestic violence dispute involving a top aide, the governor decided to drop his 2010 bid--although, according in the he will not resign the governorship.
"I am being realistic about politics," Paterson explained. "Today I am announcing that I am ending my campaign for governor of the state of New York."
This is a personal tragedy for Paterson, who has struggled personally and politically since assuming the governorship of former Governor Eliot Spitzer, who was forced to resign after getting wrapped up in a prostitution scandal.
It is, as well, a tragedy for the Paterson family, which had been at the forefront of New York Democratic politics since the current governor's father, Basil, was one of the first African-Americans to earn a top spot on a statewide ticket in the country. (Basil Paterson was the Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor in 1970 and served as New York Secretary of State. He remains an epic, and active, figure in New York labor, civil rights and political circles.)
Just about everyone in New York Democratic politics would have liked to see Basil Paterson's son make a success of the state's top job. But his tenure has been plagued by budget crises, political stumbles and personal conflicts. And his decision to seek a full term unsettled Democrats who may have liked the governor personally but did not like his prospects politically.
Thus, for New York Democrats--who faced the prospect of a bruising primary fight between Paterson and Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, which might in turn have weakened the eventual Democratic nominee in what is shaping up as a tough year for Democrats in every state--Paterson's exit is anything but a tragedy.
Cuomo, the son of former Governor Mario Cuomo, is well positioned to make the gubernatorial run, with good prospects of winning the primary and general election.
That's important for Democrats in New York because, though New York is a blue state, it has a history of electing Republicans to the governorship--especially in years when national trends favor the GOP. Having a strong candidate at the top of the ticket should benefit Democratic prospects in the race to fill Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's old U.S. Senate seat (where appointed incumbent Kirsten Gillibrand could face tough primary and general election challenges) and a number of marginal House seats where recently-elected Democrats will struggle this year to retain formerly Republican seats.
Perhaps, most importantly, a strong showing for New York Democrats in 2010 will put them in a good position when it comes time to redrawing congressional districts in a state where redistricting has historically provoked bitter partisan wrangling.
The 2010 gubernatorial races--as well as state legislative contests--will define the direction of redistricting nationally. And the drawing of district lines remains the most definitional force in our politics, even more meaningful than money or the personal appeal of particular candidates.
In the absence of the sort of redistricting reform that would foster honest competition -- as opposed to the current system that allows politicians to use the map-drawing process to reduce and even eliminate competition in some states -- it matters who controls the statehouse when fresh census figures arrive. And it matters particularly in New York state, where Democrats have in recent years claimed a half dozen suburban and upstate seats that used to be considered reliably Republican. Many of those districts remain highly competitive and the redistricting process could well determine whether they tip to one party or the other.
With national Democrats worrying more and more about not just the 2010 election cycle but the redistricting fights of 2011 in key states such as New York, Paterson's exit will inspire some sadness for an overwhelmed man and his family. But there will, as well, be a great sigh of relief at the news that their prospects for retaining the upper hand in New York politics have just improved--dramatically.LINK

In a few weeks the Split This Rock Poetry Festival will be held in Washington, DC. This event will bring together poets and writers committed to activism and social change.
The directors, Sarah Browning and Melissa Tuckey, consider their event a public opportunity to hear poetry of provocation and witness. The first Split This Rock Poetry Festival was held in 2008. I was a participant, along with poets like Martín Espada and Naomi Shihab Nye. I consider us to be believers in the expression of speaking truth to power. On the last day of the festival a number of writers walked down to the White House to protest the war in Iraq. I'm certain that poets visiting Washington in March will have something to say about the foreign policy of the Obama administration and the war in Afghanistan. Our poems--and yes, our chants--always seem to be on call. Once again, our New Year's resolutions contained prayers for peace. The year 2010 represents not just the start of a new year but also the beginning of a new decade. Might it be a prelude to the "terrible teens" of this century? If so, what might poets and writers be doing? What do the times demand?
I think our first challenge is "language work." How has language distracted us from defining ourselves as well as our work? Words enter our vocabulary often acting like predators. They circle what we do with the capability of creating havoc. How often have I sat in meetings listening to someone use the word "transparency"? I've become suspicious of this term; as someone reminded me, transparency might be the beginning of totalitarianism. Words are luggage for our politics, and those of us who are writers have a special responsibility to prevent the erosion of their value and meaning. I want to compose poems with words that can wear pants and shirts without creasesLINK.

Most environmentalists agree that government, with its power to regulate, is critical in finding and enforcing solutions to global warming. But consumers represent 70 percent of US economic activity--indeed, the average American's carbon footprint is twenty metric tons, five times the global average. Individuals can be a powerful engine for change by demanding green products and reducing consumption of fossil fuels. This can make you healthier and save you money too, says Mindy Pennybacker, editor of GreenerPenny.com and author of Do One Green Thing: Saving the Earth Through Simple, Everyday Choices, to be published in March. Here are some of her recommendations for small steps that make a big difference.
1 Use less paper, and replace paper towels and napkins with reusable cloths. Buy recycled products containing at least 30 percent postconsumer waste and bearing the Forest Stewardship Council logo, which means they come from well-managed forests (fscus.org/paper).
 2 Buy shade-grown, fairly traded coffee and chocolate. According to the Rainforest Alliance (rainforest-alliance.org), tropical deforestation accounts for about 20 percent of worldwide greenhouse gas emissions, more than all vehicles combined. Consumer demand for products grown under the rainforest canopy provides economic incentive to preserve these habitats for migratory birds. Look for products certified by the Rainforest Alliance or labeled "bird friendly" by the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center
3 Lower your household thermostat below 70 degrees in winter and raise it above 72 in summer. Heating represents about 41 percent of the energy bill in the average home; lowering your hot-water temperature from the standard 140 degrees to 120 will save 200 pounds of carbon a year, according to the Environmental Defense Fund. For more information, see the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (aceee.org).
 4 Replace light bulbs and appliances with Energy Star-approved models. Lighting takes up 15 percent of a home's energy use, and regular incandescent bulbs waste 90 percent of the energy they consume as heat. If you replace five incandescent bulbs with five compact fluorescent or light efficient diode Energy Star bulbs, you'll save at least $60 a year, the EPA estimates. If every US household did so, it would save the equivalent of the output of twenty-one power plants and keep smog, particulates and carbon out of the atmosphere.
 5 Plug electronics into power strips and switch them off when not in use. Televisions, DVD players, game consoles, computers and cellphone chargers quietly suck electricity out of sockets even when they are turned off. Breaking the connection can save the average household $100 on its electricity bill and reduce carbon output.
 6 Eat more fresh fruits and vegetables and less meat--livestock production is responsible for 18 percent of greenhouse gas emissions. Choose certified organic and/or locally produced foods (localharvest.org) to preserve your regional economy and reduce the burning of fossil fuels.
 7 Rid your home and garden of synthetic pesticides--nervous-system toxins that have been linked to lower birth weights and developmental problems. Call 1-800-CLEANUP to find out how to safely dispose of these poisons. For DIY nontoxic pest control, see birc.org and watoxics.org.
 8 Water-efficient fixtures like faucet aerators, shower heads and low-flow toilets can save households thousands of gallons a year, the EPA says (epa.gov/watersense).
 9 Cut back on plastics. They clutter the environment, and they're made from petroleum, a nonrenewable resource. Many also contain toxic bisphenol-a (BPA) and phthalates, which can migrate into food, water and baby formula. Keep vinyl, which has been linked to reproductive and developmental problems as well as cancer, out of your household. For more information, go to greenerpenny.com.
10 Drive less, and drive sensibly. We can't all afford a hybrid car, but many other cars get nearly as good mileage. Save on fuel and greenhouse gas emissions by following the speed limit and keeping your engine tuned and tires properly inflated.
LINK

PESHAWAR: As Operation Spring Cleaning enters its fourth day on Sunday, at least 17 militants have been killed and many others injured during clashes between security forces and militants in Darra Admakhel.

Official sources said severe clashes between security forces and militants were underway in Tor Chappar area of Darra Adamkhel.
The fighting has resulted in the death of 17 militants since morning while a number of others have also been injured.LINK

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Wednesday confirmed for the first time that it has the Afghan Taliban's No. 2 leader in custody, and officials said he was providing useful intelligence that was being shared with the United States.

Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar was arrested around 10 days ago in a joint operation by CIA and Pakistani security forces in Karachi, US and Pakistani officials said on condition of anonymity Tuesday. The army on Wednesday gave the first public confirmation of the arrest.

''At the conclusion of detailed identification procedures, it has been confirmed that one of the persons arrested happens to be Mullah Baradar,'' chief army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said in a written message to reporters.

''The place of arrest and operational details cannot be released due to security reasons.''

Baradar was the second in command behind Taliban founder Mullah Mohammad Omar and was said to be in charge of the day-to-day running of the organisation's leadership council, which is believed based in Pakistan. He was a founding member of the Taliban and is the most important figure of the movement to be arrested since the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.

The White House has declined to confirm Baradar's capture. Spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters the fight against extremists involves sensitive intelligence matters and he believes it's best to collect that information without talking about it.

Baradar, who also functioned as the link between Mullah Omar and field commanders, has been in detention for more than 10 days and was talking to interrogators, two Pakistani intelligence officials told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

One said Baradar had provided ''useful information'' to them and that Pakistan had shared it with their US counterparts. A third official said Wednesday that Baradar was being held at an office of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) in Karachi.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to the media.

Baradar's arrest suggests that Pakistan’s intelligence services are ready to deny Afghan militant leaders a safe haven in Pakistan — something critics have long accused them of doing.

The arrest may also push other insurgent leaders thought to be sheltering in Pakistan toward reconciliation talks with the Afghan government — a development increasingly seen as key to ending the eight-year war.

The arrest came shortly before US, Afghan and Nato troops launched a major offensive against militants in the Taliban stronghold of Marjah in the southern province of Helmand, one of the regions that Baradar was believed to control. It is the largest operation in Afghanistan since President Barack Obama ordered a ''surge'' of 30,000 more US troops to Afghanistan.

Washington has pressed Islamabad to crack down on Afghan Taliban believed to be staying in Pakistan, and to go after Pakistani Taliban groups who have strongholds in the country's northwest regions bordering Afghanistan.LINK

LONDON: Lady Gaga, Jay-Z and Robbie Williams top the bill Tuesday at the 30th anniversary edition of Britain's top music awards the Brits, where this year's nominations are dominated by female artists.

Flamboyant US superstar Lady Gaga is up for three awards, as are homegrown talents Lily Allen, Florence And The Machine and Pixie Lott.

The show has even received royal approval—Prince Harry, grandson of Queen Elizabeth II, has recorded a special message to be played at the event, at London's Earls Court venue Tuesday evening, AFP reported.

Lady Gaga, whose single “Poker Face” was Britain's top seller last year, is in the running for best international female solo artist, best international album and best international breakthrough act.

Allen and Florence And The Machine are in contention for best British female solo artist and best British album, while Allen is up for best British single (“The Fear”) and Florence And The Machine best British breakthrough act.

Lott is up for best British female solo artist, best British breakthrough act and best British single.

“I'm just really excited,” she told Sky News television. “British females have really taken over, it's definitely girl power—females are leading at the moment.”

Williams will receive a lifetime achievement award amid reports he could take to the stage with his former band Take That, who have staged a highly successful comeback in recent years.

There will also be a performance from Cheryl Cole, whose Chelsea footballer husband Ashley is at the centre of reports about an alleged sex text flirtation with another woman.

The Brits has witnessed a host of headline-grabbing incidents over the years.
In 1996, Michael Jackson's performance of “Earth Song” was interrupted when Pulp singer Jarvis Cocker ran across the stage and waved his bottom in Jackson's direction.

And the following year, Britain's then Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott had a bucket of iced water thrown over him by Danbert Nobacon of anarchist band Chumbawamba.

This year's event also features two awards designed to mark 30 years of the Brits—best album of the last 30 years and best single.LINK

KARACHI: The International Centre for Chemical and Biological Sciences (ICCBS), at the University of Karachi, has successfully produced a foreign variety of tomatoes known as cherry tomatoes.

The large-scale production of the tomato variety was carried out at the ICCBS greenhouses, the centre’s director, Professor Dr. Iqbal Choudhary said on Tuesday.

Choudhry added that it is for the first time in the country’s history that the cherry tomatoes have been produced using state-of-the-art plant technology.

The tomatoes had been under cultivation for the last two years and while some were produced last year, this is the first time a large-scale production has been made possible.

The seeds of cherry tomato were initially taken from Canada and germinated at the biotechnology wing of the university, the professor said. The plant was grown in greenhouses for the initial adaptation where environmental conditions were comparatively controlled.

After a successful first cultivation from seeds, disease-free and healthy plants are propagated at mass-scale using plant tissue culture techniques and cutting techniques and the newly propagated plants are allowed to grow for fruiting in a system where they are able to utilise the maximum light, humidity and nutrients.

Using state-of-the-art techniques, a cherry tomato growing facility had been under development at the ICCBS greenhouses since last year.

A handful of plants will produce a large volume of the small tomatoes, especially once cultivation really thrives in the hot summer months, Choudhry added.

The mass scale production is in a successful progress and soon will be introduced for marketing as a new variety of tomato and its plants will be made available for local farmers for cultivation in mass scale. —APPLINK

LAHORE: Giving just three days, the Indian home ministry has allowed the Pakistan foreign office to send its security delegation to India on Feb 19 to check the security arrangements made for the World Cup hockey tournament, which is being held in New Delhi from Feb 29.

On the request of the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF), made a month back, the Pakistan foreign office had contacted the Indian home ministry, which responded on Tuesday, asking to send the delegation on Feb 19.

The Foreign Office, sources told Dawn, is busy in finalising a security delegation to visit India on the scheduled date.

Due to strained political relations between the two neighbouring countries the security fear had suspended various sports and cultural activities between them.

But as the World Cup is a mega event of the International Hockey Federation (FIH), Pakistan has preferred to send the team to participate in it, since bilateral sports activities are almost suspended.LINK

ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry met with Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani at the latter’s official residence in Islamabad on Wednesday to resolve the points of contention existing between the executive and the judiciary.

On Tuesday evening, Prime Minister Gilani paid a surprise visit to a dinner being hosted by the Chief Justice in honour of Justice Khalilur Rehman Ramday.

The Prime Minister and the Chief Justice exchanged pleasantries.

Prime Minister Gilani informed Chief Justice Iftikhar that he had some 'good news' that he would soon share with the nation.

The executive recently came under heavy criticism for elevating Justice Khwaja Sharif to the Supreme Court without consulting Chief Justice Iftikhar.

Justice Khwaja Sharif was the sitting Chief Justice of the Lahore High Court and was to be replaced by Justice Saqib Nisar.

However, both judges refused to accept their new postings, as they had yet to receive Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry's seal of approval. — DawnNews LINK

ISLAMABAD: Federal Sports Minister Mir Ijaz Jakhrani told the National Assembly on Wednesday that the government has announced a cash reward of Rs. 0.5 million each for the two female athletes who won gold medals in South Asian Games.

Sprinter Nasim Hameed set a new record in 100-meter race while Sara Nasir bagged a gold in karate. “Both players have done the country proud and performed superbly,” Jakhrani said.

Jakhrani assured that the govt would fully support these athletes and assist them in coaching and other requirements.

“They are our assets and we’d send both young players to Commonwealth Games as well as the Olympics.”

Earlier, MNA Khushbakht Shujaat, appealed to the Prime Minister to boost female sports by providing good facilities for them.

MNA Marvi Memon eulogised the tremendous performance of female athletes at the South Asian games on behalf of her party. She called for establishing a specific fund for supporting female sports in the country, particularly to encourage those belonging to poor families.

Our Islamabad correspondent adds: The Senate on Wednesday called upon the Federal Government to provide a job to Pakistani athlete Naseem Hameed who emerged as the fastest woman athlete in the South Asian Games. The 22-year-old athlete entered her name in the history books of the South Asian Games when she clinched gold by leading eight runners in the 100-metre sprint to record her career-best feat at the Banglabandhu National Stadium in Dhaka.

A resolution passed by the upper house states: “It is indeed a tremendous achievement but it requires praise, support and appreciation ... She belongs to a family living below the poverty line.”

“The Federal Government has been requested to provide her [Naseem] with a job in any autonomous, semi-autonomous body or corporation such as PIA, etc., and her training programme, too, should be taken up by the government.”

The resolution further said that “Naseem has shown potential for further victories, if properly trained ... A civil award may be bestowed upon her.”

Meanwhile, in a point of order raised by women legislators in the National Assembly, Marvi Memon, from PML(Q), and Khush Bakht Shujaat, from MQM, also called on the government to provide Naseem with better sporting facilities and a regular means for earning a livelihood.LINK

ISLAMABAD: One of the pioneers of rebel opposition to India in the disputed Kashmir region said on Thursday that talks between Pakistan and India would fail if they did not focus on the “core issue” of Kashmir.

India suspended a four-year-old peace process with Pakistan after an attack on the Indian city of Mumbai by militants in 2008.

India had been demanding action against the militants it says were behind the assault before a peace process could resume, but this month it offered to hold high-level talks despite little progress in Pakistan’s prosecution of seven suspects.

Syed Salahuddin, commander of the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, the biggest Kashmiri rebel group, said talks would be “a futile exercise” if they did not address the dispute over the Himalayan region, cause of two of the three wars between Pakistan and India since their independence in 1947.

The United States wants to see an improvement in ties between the nuclear-armed rivals to help stabilise Afghanistan where both are competing for influence.

An easing of tension would help Pakistan focus on its fight against al Qaeda-linked militants on the border with Afghanistan.

Indian officials say they have offered open-ended talks on all issues affecting peace and security, emphasising counter-terrorism. Pakistani media says India is reluctant to revive full-scale talks covering all problems, including Kashmir.

“I talk on behalf of the jihadi leadership, that we all stand for a negotiated settlement,” Salahuddin, who is also head of the United Jihad Council, a loose alliance of 13 guerrilla groups, told Reuters in an interview.

“But negotiations must be Kashmir-centric ... unless this core issue is addressed and it is focused upon, there will be no result.”

He said Kashmiris must also be involved in talks.

“It’s not a bilateral boundary dispute between India and Pakistan. It is question of the right of self-determination of 30 million people,” he said.

Both Pakistan and India claim Muslim-majority Kashmir in full but rule it in part.

India accuses Pakistan of arming and sending militants into Indian-controlled Kashmir. Pakistan denies that, saying it only gives political support to what it calls a freedom movement.

Indian Defence Mininster A.K Antony told reporters in New Delhi on Thursday Pakistan was not tackling the militants.

“One thing is very clear, almost all the 42 terrorist outfits operating from across the border ... are intact,” he said. “There is no attempt on the part of the government of Pakistan to dismantle these terrorist outfits.”

The heavy-set, bearded Salahuddin, 61, has been at the forefront of the 21-year-old insurgency in Kashmir.

Salahuddin, from Badagam town in Indian Kashmir, was a politician who turned to militancy after he lost an election for the Kashmir legislative assembly in 1987, which he says was “massively rigged” by India.

He first crossed into Pakistan-administered Kashmir in 1990 and went back to Indian Kashmir several times for militant action when he would also meet his family under cover of darkness.

His group’s office, in a middle-class neighbourhood in Rawalpindi, gives no hint of a militant campaign except for Islamic books on jihad stacked in a cupboard.

Salahuddin said there was no hint of weariness among those fighting Indian forces.

“So far, every democratic, political and constitutional method has failed to yield any result. There is no other option other than this armed struggle,” he said.

Salahuddin calls for the merger of Kashmir with Pakistan but acknowledged there was a “school of thought” in Kashmir seeking independence from both India and Pakistan. But both were united in demanding Kashmir be freed from Indian rule, he said.

He defended alleged militants from the Lashkar-e-Taiba group, including its founder Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, blamed by India for the Mumbai assault in which 166 people were killed.

“They are absolutely innocent in this respect,” he said LINK.

ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry said on Tuesday that it was a “wrong notion” that administration of justice in a country like Pakistan was “the sole duty of courts or the legal fraternity”.

“For such a wrong notion, the allied institutions have started feeling relaxed as a result whereof good governance is being compromised,” the chief justice said at a full-court reference held to bid farewell to Justice Sardar Mohammad Raza Khan, who retired on Tuesday. “Judiciary’s main concern is to strengthen the institutional framework for the rule of law to command public respect and to remain independent and sensitive to the suffering of the people. Only by adhering to these principles, good governance could be achieved,” the chief justice emphasised.

He said that when any of the three organs of government, legislature, executive and judiciary, became ineffective or was not working according to its constitutional mandate, lack of good governance resulted.

The duty of the judiciary, the chief justice said, was to preserve and protect the constitution, interpret laws, enforce fundamental rights and settle disputes. Without an independent, impartial and effective judiciary, a civilised society is hardly conceivable.

“A country cannot claim to have good governance without providing easy, affordable, speedy and impartial justice to the people. A sound judicial system and good governance are key factors in stability and economic growth of a country,” the chief justice said.

Attorney General Anwar Mansoor said the judicial branch in the equation of power between the three pillars had been the weakest, by design, and the least powerful.

“The executive not only dispenses the honours, but also holds the sword of the community, while the legislature not only commands the process, but also prescribes the rules by which the duties and rights of citizens are to be regulated.”

The judiciary on the contrary, the AG said, had no influence either over the sword or the purse, no direction either of the strength or the wealth of society and could take no decision whatsoever. He said the judiciary only passed judgment and ultimately depended on the aid of the executive arm even for the efficacy of its judgments.

Supreme Court Bar Association President Qazi Mohammad Anwar expressed dismay over what he called indifferent attitude of the federal government to implementation of the apex court judgment on NRO. He said the government was earlier waiting for the detailed verdict, but after its release Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani stated in parliament that he had issued orders for implementation of the judgment and that the judgment could not be implemented against President Asif Zardari because he enjoyed immunity under the Constitution.

“The prime minister’s statement poses serious threat to the system, especially to democracy, rule of law and constitutionalism,” Qazi Anwar said, adding that decisions of the Supreme Court had an inbuilt mechanism of execution and did not require approval or directives of the prime minister.

“The prime minister’s statement suggests that it is he who has to decide what portion of the judgment is to be implemented and which portion is to be kept pending. We do not accept any supervisory role of the prime minister,” the SCBA president added.

Another area of concern for the legal fraternity, Qazi Anwar said, was about recommendations of the chief justice for appointments of judges in the Supreme Court, including an ad hoc appointment. The government, he said, had violated the Constitution by making such recommendations public and disputed.

He also expressed concern over non-implementation of recommendations made by the chief justices for filling vacancies in high courts. “Efforts to divide us have failed in the past and efforts to blackmail us in the name of proposed constitutional amendments are bound to fail,” he said. Qazi Anwar said that a meeting of the National Coordination Council at the Rawalpindi High Court Bar Association on Feb 14 would review these issues.

The chairman of the Pakistan Bar Council’s Executive Committee, Chaudhry Nasrullah Warraich, and Justice Raza Khan also spoke at the full-court referenceLINK.

ISLAMABAD: Describing the conviction of Pakistani neuroscientist Dr. Aafia Siddiqui as a miscarriage of justice, parliamentarians in Britain have called for a withdrawal of the case against her and urged her repatriation to Pakistan.

Lord Nazir Ahmed together with other speakers, said her trial in New York was full of flaws and not based on facts.

Ahmed said he would be writing a letter to the US President Barack Obama carrying signatures of other British MPs calling for Siddiqui's repatriation to Pakistan.

The Labour Peer further said he would also raise this question in the parliament to ascertain how the British Government could help in this regard.

Lord Altaf Sheikh, MP Muhammad Sarwar, Muhammad Saghir, a representative of Caged Prisoners which represent the inmates of Guantanamo Bay, Rabia Zia of the UK Chapter of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, journalist Yvonne Ridley, who witnessed the trial and Barrister Abid Hussain also spoke on the occasion.LINK

One member of the Pakistani cricket team that toured New Zealand and Australia was particularly disruptive and outright ill-behaved, Mohammad Yousuf, the interim captain for the two series, revealed yesterday in a TV interview. But it wasn’t just this mysterious player who copped some serious flak from Yousuf. Shoaib Malik and the Akmal brothers were subject to some harsh words a well.

“There is one player in the team who is disturbing team unity and other players. I spoke to coach Intikhab Alam and other management about it and they agreed with me," Yousuf said. “I will only disclose his name to the chairman of the board, Ijaz Butt.”

“Intikhab Alam (coach), Abdur Raqeeb (manager) and [Shahid] Afridi know who the player is and we discussed it as well several times,” Yousuf added.

“During the New Zealand tour and onwards Intikhab was telling me to be wary of him, but I wanted to see for myself. I saw in Australia how his body language was and we dropped him from the Tests. We decided in Australia during a meeting that we had to do something about him.”

Pakistan lost the Test series 3-0 in Australia, were whitewashed 5-0 in the ODIs for only the second time in history, and lost the final game of the tour as well - a T20 at the MCG.

Yousuf’s captaincy came in for much criticism, in particular from the last day of the Sydney Test onwards. To add to his woes a statement reportedly from the board chairman midway through the tour that the captaincy would change hands once the tour ended, completely disjointed the team.

Yousuf said the statement triggered a race for the captaincy and completely shook up the team’s morale. “I don't know when the statement was made, but when it was, suddenly everyone in the team changed. Six or seven players started to see themselves as captains all of a sudden. At the start of the tour in New Zealand, the players were cooperating with me, but as the tour went on I felt they weren't because they knew I wouldn't be captain in the next series.”

Yousuf defended his leadership, arguing that nobody wanted the job when the toughest challenges presented themselves. “I don't have natural leadership qualities in me but I have tried hard to do a good job of the responsibility given to me,” he said.

“It is unfair to compare me with Ricky Ponting as far as captaincy is concerned because he is far more experienced. I accepted the captaincy in the best interest of my country. I had a lot of lengthy discussion with Ponting during breaks as the two teams usually got together for lunch. He told me that when he was appointed to lead Australia he laid down two conditions before Cricket Australia: ‘I want players in the team who think along the same lines as me and I only want players who will put their country before everything,’ he told them.”

This comment seemed to be hinting at the Akmal brothers and when prompted Yousuf got stuck into the younger one in particular. “Umar was fine as far as I knew. What happened in his room and how he got a stiff back all of a sudden was a surprise to me. He miraculously recovered as soon as we told him that he would be going home,” Yousuf said with a grin on face.

Shoaib Malik, a man who doesn’t exactly tickle the fancy of Yousuf because of a fractious past, was also subject to some sly when the TV interviewer asked Yousuf to pick a possible candidate for Pakistan’s captaincy. “We all know what he’s good at, certainly not captaincy,” the veteran batsman said.

Yousuf’s interview, quite detailed and frank, was a sharp contrast to his perceived personality, humble and kind. It was evidence of the hard knock life that is Pakistan cricket and its captaincy. The sooner he brings this new found posture to the field the better it will be for his team’s fortunes, that is if we he leads againLINK.

The mayoral race in beleaguered New Orleans has a candidate who is a true social justice advocate and progressive--Nation contributor and civil rights advocate James Perry. The New York Times has declared the race all but over--pushing a "white mayor in NOLA" storyline--and while it might be an uphill climb in this final stretch, it's worth paying attention to Perry's ideas and passions about a city he has worked hard to build and rebuild as a life-long resident.
Perry also happens to believe this race isn't over. "We still have time left in the mayor's race in New Orleans. The citizens haven't spoken yet," he said. "The New York Times relied on polls that surveyed primarily white neighborhoods, and if you talk to people in low-income communities, they're ready for something different."
Clearly, the still devastated city needs a leader who understands how to rebuild it--and rebuild it in a just way. Perry has been in the trenches running a civil rights non-profit called the Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center which fights for affordable housing and equal housing opportunity. That's a fight that makes Perry closely attuned to the most significant battles that lie ahead for the city's next mayor.
"We are faced with a difficult choice regarding the future of one of America's greatest cities," he said. "This great city can continue as a poster child for incompetence and corruption or be transformed into a national model for rebirth, rebuilding and renewed leadership. But we only achieve the latter by selecting a progressive Mayor who will make New Orleans safe by changing our philosophy on crime. We can't arrest our way out of the problem. We must invest in our youth and stop using prison to address mental health and social service issues."
Indeed in one debate, some of Perry's opponents proved that they didn't know the difference between a jail and an after-school program.
Perry doesn't shy away from the issue of race in New Orleans, even as he refuses to use it as a wedge issue. He writes: "We can choose to pretend that there is no racial problem. We can bury our heads in the sand and refuse to address the painful realities of racial differences in crime, education, housing, and employment...Or we can choose to courageously heal this painful divide, through open and accountable government, fair policies and procedures, broad community input, collaborative political efforts, and a determination to build a city that works for all her people."
He pledges that if elected Mayor, he won't run for reelection unless he cuts the murder rate by 40 percent. He believes the high murder rate is the city's most urgent issue. "There is murder after murder in New Orleans and I see the issue from where I live firsthand," he said.
Perry's " Road Map to a Safer New Orleans" includes strengthening partnerships between criminal justice, social service, mental health, and educational organizations to control crime; focusing limited resources on violent crime--not non-violent and municipal crime--and on the most dangerous youth and adult offenders; and implementing education and character development programs with high-risk youth in schools using proven evidence-based research methods.
He also supports "right of return" for homeowners as key to ending the shrinking of the city and rebuilding blighted housing stock. "We can't conquer blight of our housing without bringing the people back," he told me.
Perry proposes "5 Actions in 5 Days" when he takes office, including: a national search to hire a new Superintendent for the New Orleans Police and a monthly "Crime Report Card" to evaluate public safety performance; the city government's first Public-Private Partnership to implement a long-term economic development plan; and a revamped procurement system which reviews proposals in an open public process.
Perry has run a spirited grassroots campaign to take on the city's wealthier, entrenched interests and the candidates who represent them. New Orleans post-Hurricane Katrina deserves and needs a true social justice advocate at the helm. Check out Perry for yourself at www.JamesPerry2010.com. If you agree he's the right leader for a great city, contribute to James Perry's candidacy todayLINK.

Every detail of September 16, 2007, is burned in Mohammed Kinani's memory. Shortly after 9 am he was preparing to leave his house for work at his family's auto parts business in Baghdad when he got a call from his sister, Jenan, who asked him to pick her and her children up across town and bring them back to his home for a visit. The Kinanis are a tightknit Shiite family, and Mohammed often served as a chauffeur through Baghdad's dangerous streets to make such family gatherings possible.
An accompanying slideshow of Ali Kinani, his family, and the Nisour massacre can be found here.
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Mohammed had just pulled away from his family's home in the Khadamiya neighborhood in his SUV. His youngest son, 9-year-old Ali, came tearing down the road after him, asking his father if he could accompany him. Mohammed told him to run along and play with his brothers and sister. But Ali, an energetic and determined kid, insisted. Mohammed gave in, and off the father and son went.
As Mohammed and Ali drove through Baghdad that hot and sunny Sunday, they passed a newly rebuilt park downtown. Ali gazed at the park and then turned to his father and asked, "Daddy, when are you gonna bring us here?"
"Next week," Mohammed replied. "If God wills it, son."
Ali would never visit that park. Within a few hours, he would be dead from a gunshot wound to the head. While you may have never heard his name, you probably know something about how Ali Mohammed Hafedh Kinani died. He was the youngest person killed by Blackwater forces in the infamous Nisour Square massacre.
In May 2008 Mohammed flew to Washington to testify in front of a grand jury investigating the shooting. It was his first time out of Iraq. The US Attorney, Jeffrey Taylor, praised Mohammed for his "commendable courage." A year after the shooting, in December 2008, five Blackwater guards were indicted on manslaughter charges, while a sixth guard pleaded guilty to killing an unarmed Iraqi. American justice, it seemed to Mohammed, was working. "I'm a true believer in the justness and fairness of American law," Mohammed said.
But this past New Year's Eve, federal Judge Ricardo Urbina threw out all the criminal charges against the five Blackwater guards. At least seventeen Iraqis died that day, and prosecutors believed they could prove fourteen of the killings were unjustified. The manslaughter charges were dismissed not because of a lack of evidence but because of what Urbina called serious misconduct on the part of the prosecutors.
Then, a few days after the dismissal of the criminal case, Blackwater reached a civil settlement with many of the Nisour Square victims, reportedly paying about $100,000 per death.
Blackwater released a statement declaring it was "pleased" with the outcome, which enabled the company to move forward "free of the costs and distraction of ongoing litigation." But Mohammed Kinani would not move on. He refused to take the deal Blackwater offered. As a result, he may well be the one man standing between Blackwater and total impunity for the killings in Nisour Square.
On September 15, 2009, the night before the second anniversary of his son's death, Mohammed Kinani sued Blackwater in its home state of North Carolina, along with company owner Erik Prince and the six men Mohammed believes are responsible for his son's death. In an exclusive interview providing the most detailed eyewitness account of the massacre that has yet been published, Mohammed told his story to The Nation.
***
Mohammed Kinani, 38, is a gentle man, deeply religious and soft-spoken. When we meet, he takes off his hat as he greets me with a slight bow. He then presents me with a gift--a box of baklava--and insists that we try some right away. Before we sit down to discuss the events that led to the death of his son, Mohammed goes out of his way to assure me that no question is off limits and that he wants Americans to know what happened that day. It was as though he was telling me it was OK to ask him to relive the horror. "Those few minutes in Nisour Square, I will never forget; so whatever you ask me, I will answer with absolute clarity," he said.
Before we talk about Nisour Square, Mohammed tells me about his life. He was born in Baghdad in 1971 and grew up in a large home with his siblings, aunts, uncles and grandparents. His father, Hafedh Abdulrazzaq Sadeq Kinani, was a merchant who traded cars and auto parts. After high school, Mohammed enrolled at a technical institute in Baghdad but ultimately dropped out to take over the family business with his brothers. He avoided mandatory military service in Saddam's forces by paying his way out. He married a relative from his mother's side of the family and bought a home in Baghdad's al Adel neighborhood, and they had three sons and a daughter. Mohammed said his family despised Saddam, "a dictator who stole people's freedom."
Mohammed welcomed the arrival of US forces in Baghdad in April 2003. "On the first day the US Army entered Baghdad I was personally giving away free juice and candy in the street," Mohammed remembers. He and Ali would give out water and take photos with the troops when when Humvees passed by their house. "One of the soldiers even carried Ali on board one of the Humvees and took a photo with my son," Mohammed remembers. "My son loved the American Army."
In November 2006, as sectarian violence spread across Baghdad, Mohammed and his family were driven from their home by a prominent Sunni militia leader, and they moved into Mohammed's parents' home. Mohammed was devastated, but he also saw it as part of the price of freedom. "We cannot question God's plans," he says.
Before September 16, 2007, Mohammed had never heard of Blackwater. When he would stop at a US checkpoint, he would smile at the soldiers and thank them for being there. Ali enjoyed sticking his head out the window at checkpoints and telling Iraqi police, "I'm in the Special Forces." The police would laugh, Mohammed recalls, and wave him through, saying, "You're one of us." So when Mohammed found himself in a traffic jam that he thought was the result of a US military checkpoint at Nisour Square, nothing seemed out of the ordinary to him.
To pick up his sister, Mohammed would have to pass Nisour Square twice. The first time he passed, he noticed it was extremely congested. There was a construction project nearby and Iraqi police lingering on the roadside directing traffic. Eventually, he and Ali picked up Jenan and her three children and began the return journey.
A few blocks from the square, they encountered two Iraqi checkpoints and were waved through. As they approached the square, they saw one armored vehicle and then another, with men brandishing machine guns atop each one, Mohammed recalls. The armored cars swiftly blocked off traffic. One of the gunners held both fists in the air, which Mohammed took as a gesture to stop. "Myself and all the cars before and behind me stopped," Mohammed says. "We followed their orders. I thought they were some sort of unit belonging to the American military, or maybe just a military police unit. Any authority giving you an order to stop, you follow the order." It turns out the men in the armored cars were neither US military nor MPs. They were members of a Blackwater team code-named Raven 23.
As the family waited in traffic, two more Blackwater vehicles became visible. Mohammed noticed a family in a car next to his--a man, woman and child. The man was staring at Mohammed's car, and Mohammed thought the man was eyeing Jenan. "I thought he was checking my sister out," Mohammed remembers. "So I yelled at him and said, 'What are you looking at?'" Mohammed noticed that the man looked frightened. "I think they shot the driver in the car in front of you," the man told him.
Mohammed scanned the area and noticed that the back windshield of the white Kia sedan in front of him was shattered. The man in the car next to Mohammed began to panic and tried to turn his car around. He ended up bumping into a taxi, and an argument ensued. The taxi driver exited his car and began yelling. Mohammed tried to break up the argument, telling the taxi driver that a man had been shot and that he should back up so the other car could exit. The taxi driver refused and got back into his vehicle.
At that point, an Iraqi police officer, Ali Khalaf Salman, approached the Kia sedan, and it started to slowly drift. The driver had been shot, and the car was gliding in neutral toward a Blackwater armored car. Salman, in an interview, described how he tried to stop it by pushing backward. He saw a panicked woman inside the car; she was clutching a young man covered in blood who had been shot in the head. She was shrieking, "My son! My son! Help me, help me!" Salman remembered looking toward the Blackwater shooters. "I raised my left arm high in the air to try to signal to the convoy to stop the shooting." He said he thought the men would cease fire, given that he was a clearly identified police officer.
"As the officer was waving, the men on the armored cars started shooting at that car," Mohammed says. "And it wasn't warning shots; they were shooting as in a battle. It was as though they were in a fighting field. I thought the police officer was killed. It was insane." Officer Salman managed to dive out of the way as the bullets rained down. "I saw parts of the woman's head flying in front of me," recalled his colleague, Officer Sarhan Thiab. "They immediately opened heavy fire at us."
That's how the Nisour Square massacre began.
"What can I tell you?" Mohammed says, closing his eyes. "It was like the end of days."
Mohammed would later learn that the first victims that day, in the white Kia, were a young Iraqi medical student, Ahmed Haithem Al Rubia'y, and his mother, Mahassin, a physician. Mohammed is crystal clear that the car posed no threat. "There was absolutely no shooting at the Blackwater men," he says. "All of a sudden, they started shooting in all directions, and they shot at everyone in front of them. There was nothing left in that street that wasn't shot: the ground, cars, poles, sidewalks; they shot everything in front of them." As the Blackwater gunners shot up the Rubia'ys' vehicle, Mohammed said, it soon looked like a sieve "due to how many bullet holes it had." A Blackwater shooter later admitted that they also fired a grenade at the car, causing the car to explode. Mohammed says the Blackwater men then started firing across the square. "They were shooting in all directions," he remembers. He describes the shooting as "random yet still concentrated. It was concentrated and focused on what they aimed at and still random as they shot in all directions."
One of the Blackwater shooters was on top of an armored vehicle firing an automatic weapon, he says. "Every time he would finish his clip, he would throw it on the ground and would load another one in and would start shooting again, and finish the new one and replace it with another." One young Iraqi man got out of his car to run, and as he fled, the Blackwater shooter gunned him down and continued firing into his body as it lay on the pavement, Mohammed says. "He was on the ground bleeding, and they're shooting nonstop, and it wasn't single bullets." The Blackwater shooter, he says, would fire at other Iraqis and cars and then return to pump more bullets into the dead man on the ground. "He sank in his own blood, and every minute the [Blackwater shooter] would shoot left and right and then go back to shoot the dead man, and I could see that his body would shake with every bullet. He was already dead, but his body was still reacting to the bullets. [The shooter] would fire at someone else and then go back to shoot at this dead man." Shaking his head slowly, Mohammed says somberly, "The guy is dead in a pool of blood. Why would you continue shooting him?"
In his vehicle, as the shooting intensified, Mohammed yelled for the kids to get down. He and his sister did the same. "My car was hit many times in different places. All I could hear from my car was the gun shots and the sound of glass shattering," he remembers. Jenan was frantic. "Why are they shooting at us?" she asked him. Just then, a bullet pierced the windshield, hitting Jenan's headrest. Mohammed shows me a photo of the bullet hole.
As gunfire rained on the SUV, Jenan grabbed Mohammed's hair, yanked his head down and covered him with her body. "My young sister was trying to protect me by covering me with her body, so I forced myself out of her grip and covered her with my body to protect her. It was so horrific that my little sister, whom I'm supposed to protect, was trying to protect me." Mohammed managed to slip his cellphone from his pocket and was going to call his father. "It's customary that when in agony before death, you ask those close to you to look after your loved ones," he says. Jenan demanded that Mohammed put down the phone, reminding him that their father had had two strokes already. "If he hears what's happening, he'll die immediately," she said. "Maybe he'll die before us."
At that moment, bullets pierced the SUV through the front windshield. A bullet hit the rearview mirror, causing it to whack Mohammed in the face. "We imagined that in a few seconds everyone was going to die--everyone in the car, my sister and I and our children. We thought that every second that passed meant one of us dying." He adds, "We remained still, my sister and I. I had her rest her head on my lap, and my body was on top of her. We'd sneak a peek from under the dashboard, and they continued shooting here and there, killing this one and that one."
And then the shooting stopped.
***
Ali and his father were inseparable. Ali's older brothers called him "Daddy's favorite," and the family affectionately called him by his kid nickname, Allawi. "He was the closest of my sons to me. He was my youngest and was always indulged," recalls Mohammed. "He would sleep on my arm. He's 9 and half years old but still sleeps on my arm. He has his own room, but he never slept alone." When the boy turned 9, Ali's father thought, "This can't go on--him sleeping on my arm as his pillow. So I said, 'Son, you're older now; go sleep like your brothers, in your bed in your room. It doesn't work anymore; you're getting older. You're gonna be a man soon.'"
"As you wish, father," Ali said. "He always said that," Mohammed recalls. "As you wish, father." Ali left the room, but Mohammed looked over and saw the shadow of Ali's feet under the door. "So I called him in, and Ali opened the door and said, 'Daddy, I'm Allawi, not Ali,'" Mohammed remembers. "He was telling me that he's still young." Mohammed gave in, and Ali slept in his arms again. "He never had a pillow besides my arm," says Mohammed.
As he sat in his severely damaged SUV, Mohammed thought that, in the midst of horror, a miracle had blessed his car. We are alive, he thought. As the Blackwater forces retreated, Mohammed told Jenan he was going to go check on the man who had been repeatedly shot by Blackwater. "I was deeply impacted by that man they continued shooting at," Mohammed recalls. As he exited his car, Mohammed's nephew yelled, "Uncle, Ali is dead. Ali is dead!" Jenan began to scream.
Mohammed rushed around to Ali's door and saw that the window was broken. He looked inside and saw his son's head resting against the door. He opened it, and Ali slumped toward him. "I was standing in shock looking at him as the door opened, and his brain fell on the ground between my feet," Mohammed recalls. "I looked and his brain was on the ground." He remembers people yelling at him, telling him to get out while he could. "But I was in another world," he says. Then Mohammed snapped back to consciousness. He put Ali back in the car and placed his hand over his son's heart. It was still beating. He got in the driver's seat of his car, tires blown out, radiator damaged, full of bullets, liquids leaking everywhere, hoping still that he could save Allawi's life. Somehow he managed to get the car near Yarmouk Hospital, right near the square. He picked up Ali and ran toward the hospital. He nearly collapsed on the road, and an Iraqi police officer took Ali from his arms and ran him into the hospital.
Mohammed checked that the other children were safe and then dashed to the hospital. "I entered the emergency room, and blood was everywhere, dead people, injured people everywhere," he remembers. "My son was in the last bed; the doctor was with him and had already hooked him with an IV line." As Mohammed stood by Ali's bed, the doctor told him that Ali was brain dead. "His heart is beating," the doctor said, "and it will continue to beat until he bleeds out and dies." The doctor told him that if there were any hope to be found, it would require taking Ali in an ambulance to a neurological hospital across town. The fastest route meant that they had to pass through Nisour Square. Iraqi police stopped them and told them they could not pass. "The US Army is here and won't let you through," the officer told them. The driver took an alternate route and was going so fast the ambulance almost crashed twice. When they got to the hospital, Mohammed offered to pay the driver--at least for the gas, which is customary. The driver refused. "No, I would like to donate blood to your son if he needs it," he told Mohammed. A few moments later, Mohammed stood with a doctor who told him there was nothing they could do. Ali was dead.
Mohammed wanted to take his son's body home with him, but the hospital regulations required that he get papers from the police. So Mohammed had to leave. He spent hours tracking down the right authority to sign off. Finally he was able to take Ali's body to prepare him for a Muslim burial. That night there was no electricity in Baghdad, so they had to run a generator to keep air-conditioning going to protect Ali's body from the sweltering heat. The next morning they took Ali to the southern holy city of Najaf to be buried at the family plot. "As Muslims, we believe that Ali died innocent with no obligation," says Mohammed. "My son died at an age where there were no strings attached. My son was young and innocent, so he flew up [to heaven] like a white dove. This is what's making it easier on me. I always tell my wife that your son is a bird in heaven, he's with God and when we die we will be united eternally." Mohammed looks down and then up. "I still thank God for everything. I thank him because we were six in that car, and he's the only one to go. Although that one is piece of my heart, it happened and I can't change it. I have my other kids that I will raise, and hopefully I'll be able to keep them safe."
***
After Ali's death, some of Mohammed's friends came to him and asked him if the death had changed his attitude toward the Americans. It hadn't, he told them. "I honestly separate distinctly between Blackwater and the American people and the American government," he says. "I honestly love America and the American people. What happened to my family is totally isolated from the American people and government."
Mohammed carries with him a letter to his family signed by Gen. Ray Odierno, commander of US forces in Iraq, dated June 25, 2009. The letter is the result of an extraordinary gesture made by the Kinanis after Ali's death. The US Embassy offered to provide a $10,000 condolence payment to the families of the victims of Nisour Square, making clear it was not a remedy for what happened and not a substitute for any potential legal action against the shooters. Initially Mohammed refused the money, but the embassy pursued his family, urging them to take it. They eventually did, but with one condition: that the US military accept a $5000 donation from the Kinanis to the family of a US soldier killed in Iraq. Mohammed's wife, Fatimah, delivered the gift to the US Embassy. "My wife labeled it as a gift from a mother who sacrificed a son on the path to freedom, a gift from Ali's family to whichever US military family the embassy chose, to any soldier's family that was killed here in Iraq, who lost his life in Iraq for the sake of Iraq." Soon thereafter, Fatimah received the letter from General Odierno. "Your substantial generosity on behalf of the families of fallen American soldiers has touched me deeply," Odierno wrote.
After Ali's death, the thought of suing Blackwater didn't cross Mohammed's mind. He readily cooperated with the US military and federal investigators, and he believed that justice would be done in America. But when he would go to the US Embassy, Mohammed recalls, he would get "hammered there. They all wanted me to shut up so they could defend Blackwater." He says an embassy official tried to convince him that there had been a firefight that day, not a massacre. Mohammed was unfazed by what he considered a grand lie and continued to cooperate with the US investigation. Then, he says, Blackwater stepped in.
In a letter to ABC News threatening a defamation lawsuit for a story the network had done about Nisour Square, a Blackwater attorney denied that Blackwater had killed Ali, claiming instead that he was killed by "a stray bullet" possibly fired by the US military "an hour after Blackwater personnel had departed the scene." The letter claimed Ali was killed by a "warning shot" that "ricocheted and killed the nine-year-old boy." It said it was not "even possible" Blackwater "was responsible."
Then an Iraqi attorney working with Blackwater approached Mohammed. But he wasn't just any lawyer. Ja'afar al Moussawy was the chief prosecutor of the Supreme Iraqi Criminal Tribunal, which prosecuted Saddam Hussein and other leading officials. He was the Iraqi lawyer.
Mohammed agreed to meet with Moussawy and Blackwater's regional manager. When Mohammed arrived at the Blackwater headquarters in the Green Zone, there was a lunch spread laid out on the table. Moussawy asked Mohammed if he wanted to eat, and Mohammed said he would, "to show you that I have nothing against you personally." Mohammed says he told them, "My problem is not with any of you, rather with the guys who killed my son." After lunch, the manager asked Mohammed to tell him what happened in the square that day. Mohammed did. The manager then said he had an offer for him.
"We want to give you $20,000," Mohammed recalls the Blackwater manager saying.
"I'm not taking a penny from you," Mohammed told him. "I want no money."
Mohammed asked for a blank piece of paper and a pen. "Look I have the paper and I can sign and waive all my [legal] rights. All my rights, I will sign away now, but under one condition: I want the owner of Blackwater to apologize to me publicly in America and say, 'We killed your son, and we're sorry.' That's all I want."
The Blackwater manager asked Mohammed why it was so important to have an apology. Mohammed reminded him of Blackwater owner Erik Prince's Congressional testimony two weeks after the Nisour Square shootings. In his testimony, Prince said his men "acted appropriately at all times" at Nisour Square and that the company had never killed innocent civilians, except perhaps by "ricochets" and "traffic accidents." At that hearing, on October 2, 2007, a document was produced showing that before Nisour Square the State Department, Blackwater's employer, had coordinated with Blackwater to set a low payout for Iraqi shooting victims because, in the words of a Department security official, if it was too high Iraqis may try "to get killed by our guys to financially guarantee their family's future."
Mohammed said he wanted Prince to publicly reject this characterization of "Iraqis as mercenaries." The Blackwater manager, he says, told him Blackwater does not apologize. "You killed my son!" Mohammed exclaimed. "What do you want, then? Why did you bring me here?"
Mohammed then confronted the Blackwater manager about the letter to ABC News. "I told him that Blackwater was trying to stain the reputation of the American Army" by blaming Ali's death on US soldiers. Mohammed recalls asking, "Aren't you an American company, and this is your national army? Why would you do this to your own?" Mohammed says he threw the pen and paper at the Blackwater manager and left. In a statement to The Nation, a Blackwater spokesperson confirmed that the company had offered Mohammed a "condolence payment" and that he declined it.
It was then that Mohammed decided that his best recourse would be to cooperate with the US criminal investigation of the incident and to sue Blackwater in civil court the United States. "I want Blackwater, who refused to apologize, to get what they deserve according to the rule of law," Mohammed says. "I had no other option but to go down the legal path, to have justice applied--something that will be comforting to victims' families and something that might deter other criminals from committing the same act."
***
Mohammed's American lawyers contend, as did federal prosecutors, that the Blackwater men disobeyed orders from superiors not to leave the Green Zone, which ultimately led to the shooting at Nisour Square, and that they did not follow proper State Department guidelines for the use of force, instead shooting unprovoked at Mohammed's car and the other civilians in the square. They also allege that Blackwater was not guarding any US official at the time of the shooting and that the Nisour Square killings amounted to an offensive operation against unarmed civilians. "Blackwater was where it shouldn't have been, doing something it was not supposed to do," says Mohammed's lawyer Gary Mauney. They "weren't even supposed to be in Nisour Square, and if they hadn't have been, no shootings would have occurred."
Unlike the other civil suits against Blackwater, which were settled in federal court in January, Mohammed's case was filed in state court in North Carolina. It is also different because Mohammed is directly suing the six Blackwater men he believes were responsible for the shooting that day. The suit also argues that Prince and his network of Blackwater companies and affiliates are ultimately responsible for the conduct of the men at Nisour Square. The Blackwater shooters "weren't doing anything related to their work for the government," Mauney says. "After the events happened, Blackwater came out and said, 'We support what they did. We think it was justified.' They ratified the conduct of their employees."
Moreover, Mohammed's lawyers contend that the evidence that was ruled inadmissible in the criminal Nisour Square case because it was obtained in exchange for a promise of immunity and reportedly under threat of termination is valid evidence in their civil case. Several statements by Blackwater guards who were at the square that day directly bolster Mohammed and other Iraqis' claim that it was an unprovoked shooting.
Perhaps the most potent piece of evidence in Mohammed's case comes from one of the men he is suing. Jeremy Ridgeway, a turret gunner on the Raven 23 team that day, pleaded guilty to killing an unarmed civilian. In his sworn proffer that accompanied his guilty plea, Ridgeway admitted that he and the other five defendants "opened fire with automatic weapons and grenade launchers on unarmed civilians...killing at least fourteen people" and wounding at least twenty others. "None of these victims was an insurgent, and many were shot while inside of civilian vehicles that were attempting to flee" the Blackwater forces. Ridgeway also admitted that Raven 23 had "not been authorized" to leave the Green Zone and that after they departed, they "had been specifically ordered" by US Embassy officials to return. "In contravention of that order," they proceeded to Nisour Square. Ridgeway admitted to shooting and killing Dr. Al Rubia'y in the Kia sedan, adding that another Blackwater shooter launched an M-203 grenade, "causing the vehicle to erupt in flames." He acknowledged that "there had been no attempt to provide reasonable warnings to the driver." As the Raven 23 convoy exited the square against the flow of traffic, Ridgeway admitted, Blackwater forces "continued to fire their machine guns at civilian vehicles that posed no threat to the convoy."
Evidence in the criminal case also reveals that three other men on the Raven 23 convoy--Adam Frost, Mark Mealy, Matthew Murphy--were "horrified" at what their colleagues had done in the square that day. In a journal entry he wrote after the shooting, Frost recounted returning to the Green Zone, where he and Murphy confronted the men who did the killings at Nisour Square. "We started to curse at them and tell each other how fucked up they were," he wrote. "We could not believe what we had just seen." Murphy told the grand jury his colleagues were shooting "for nothing and for no reason." Mealy described two of the defendants, Evan Liberty and Paul Slough, giving each other high-fives, "patting each other on the back and bragging about what a great job they had done." In his testimony, Murphy described what he had seen that day as "pretty heinous shit."
Frost, who prosecutors say did not fire his weapon at Nisour Square, wrote in his journal that he "prayed for comfort to be given to those families that we had broken." When the FBI launched its investigation of the shooting, Frost said he was "strongly encouraged," though not ordered, by Blackwater management not to answer its questions. He said a Blackwater manager had told him that the company was already fully cooperating with the State Department and had been honest in detailing the shooting. "I thought to myself, you fuckers have been anything but honest with the State Department and their investigation," Frost wrote.
Mauney and his partner, Paul Dickinson, believe that these statements and others like them, along with the accounts of scores of Iraqi witnesses and forensic evidence, paint a case of overwhelming guilt on the part of the Blackwater shooters who killed Ali Kinani and the other Iraqis that day. "I think it's important for folks to know that Blackwater has not won," says Mauney. In addition to Mohammed, Mauney and Dickinson represent five other families impacted by Nisour Square, including those of two others killed by Blackwater. "They've come here with a heart full of belief in the US justice system," says Dickinson. In late January on a visit to Baghdad, Vice President Joe Biden announced that the United States would appeal the dismissal of the criminal cases, saying the judge's ruling was "not an acquittal." Blackwater's lawyers have said they believe the appeal will fail.
As we wrap up the interview, Mohammed Kinani gathers up all the photos he has brought to show me: pictures of Ali and his other children, pictures of his wife and of his severely damaged car. He stops and stares at a school portrait of Ali. We look at a video on his laptop of his home--the one currently occupied by the Sunni militia leader--and then he pauses and clicks on another video file. The screen pops up, and there is Ali, hopping around a swimming pool with his cousins and siblings. With a wide smile, Ali approaches Mohammed's cellphone camera and says, "I am Allawi!"
Mohammed tells me, "I wish the US Congress would ask [Erik Prince] why they killed my innocent son, who called himself Allawi. Do you think that this child was a threat to your company? This giant company that has the biggest weapons, the heaviest weapons, the planes, and this boy was a threat to them?" he says. "I want Americans to know that this was a child that died for nothingLINK."