Six In The Morning

In Libya, a long-dead hero rises again in east

Omar Mukhtar, a resistance fighter executed by Italian occupiers 80 years ago, has become the spiritual leader of the Libyan revolution.

By Patrick J. McDonnell, Los Angeles Times

May 6, 2011

Reporting from Benghazi, Libya- In eastern Libya, the spectral image of an elderly, bearded man in a skullcap or Bedouin cloak is everywhere – on bumper stickers and posters, military vehicles and checkpoints, even press IDs issued by the rebel government here.

“He is the godfather of all of us,” said Salim Ismael, a retired army officer now training rebel recruits. “He is our inspiration, the spiritual leader of the Libyan revolution.”

The figure is Omar Mukhtar, a 20th century resistance hero executed by Italian occupiers 80 years ago – and, improbably enough, depicted in a 1981 Hollywood all-star epic, “The Lion of the Desert,” starring Anthony Quinn as Mukhtar. A box-office flop, the film has a devoted cult following here.

Creative commandos: the ‘cocky’ killing crew of SEAL Team 6



Elisabeth Bumiller May 6, 2011

There were 79 people on the assault team that killed Osama bin Laden, but in the end the success of the mission turned on some two dozen men who landed inside the al-Qaeda leader’s compound, made their way to his bedroom and shot him at close range – all while knowing that the President of the United States was keeping watch from Washington.

The men, hailed as heroes around the country, will march in no parades. They serve in what is unofficially called SEAL Team 6, a unit so secretive that the White House and the Defence Department do not directly acknowledge its existence. Its members have hunted down war criminals in Bosnia, fought in some of the bloodiest battles in Afghanistan and shot dead three Somali pirates on a bobbing lifeboat during the rescue of an American hostage in 2009.

Killing unarmed Osama bin Laden ‘doesn’t serve justice’ – Rowan Williams

‘It is important that justice is seen to be done’, Archbishop says reacting to the death of world’s most wanted terrorist

Owen Bowcott

guardian.co.uk, Friday 6 May 2011

The Archbishop of Canterbury has said that the killing of an unarmed Osama bin Laden by US special forces left him with a “very uncomfortable feeling”.

Rowan Williams also criticised the way in which the Obama administration has appeared to change its account of the raid. Asked about any moral justification for the al-Qaida leader’s death in Pakistan, he said: “I think the killing of an unarmed man is always going to leave a very uncomfortable feeling, because it doesn’t look as if justice is seen to be done.

“I think it’s also true that the different versions of events that have emerged in recent days have not done a great deal to help.

Robert Fisk: Is Shane Bauer really an enemy of Iran?

The journalist, a fearless defender of the Middle East’s dispossessed, is about to go on trial in Tehran for alleged espionage

Friday, 6 May 2011

Journalism is not an exact art, so the Americans who go on trial in Tehran for “espionage” next Wednesday are called the “hikers”, seized by Iranian border guards as they trekked close to the frontier in Iraqi Kurdistan almost two years ago. Shane Bauer and his fiancée Sarah Shourd, along with Shane’s friend Joshua Fattal, were on holiday, enjoying the beauties of the great Ahmed Awa waterfall in Iraq when their vacation turned into one of those macabre and frightening dramas that Iran often seems to present to the unwary.

Syria protests: Baniyas fear amid Deraa pullout reports

Syrian activists are preparing to take to the streets on Friday for what they are calling a “day of defiance”.

The BBC   6 May 2011  

Tanks are reported to have withdrawn from the city of Deraa, where a human rights groups says the government has carried out a 10-day “massacre”.

But security forces are reported to have gathered in other urban areas, including the coastal town of Baniyas.

More than 500 Syrians are thought to have been killed during attempts to quell seven weeks of protests.

At least 2,500 others have been detained as part of a violent crackdown that the US has described as “barbaric”.

‘The Entire Ukraine Is a Brothel’

Kiev’s Topless Protestors

By Benjamin Bidder in Kiev, Ukraine  

The Rock is New Zealand’s most beloved radio station, although not necessarily the country’s most sophisticated. “Music is the ONLY thing we take seriously,” is the station’s fitting motto. Recently, The Rock offered its male listeners the chance to win a trip to an exotic vacation spot in eastern Ukraine. In addition to 12 paid nights, the prize includes 2,000 New Zealand dollars (€1,000) in pocket money. The grand prize, however, has to be chosen on location by the winner himself: a wife.

“Win a trip to beautiful Ukraine,” announces the contest title, “And Meet Eastern European Hot Lady Who Maybe One Day You Marry.”