Commentary - 11/08/2007

Boilerplate News For New World Order - Day Five
Simply Fill In The Blanks And Distribute.
Everywhere, The Press Is Now Ready. Are You?

President ------- Pledges Elections by Feb. 15

------- ------- Nov. 8 — President ------- told his national security council today that parliamentary elections would be held before Feb. 15 and that he would give up his military uniform before taking the oath of office for his new term as president of -------.

As he made the statement, his security forces clamped down hard on the main opposition party of ------- -------, arresting as many as 500 party members last night and today, party workers and diplomats said. The arrests appeared to be an attempt to thwart a protest rally planned by ------- for Friday, the party workers and diplomats said.

President -------, did not set a specific date for parliamentary elections, and it was unclear whether the new timetable would satisfy opposition parties and Western governments, which have been demanding bluntly that he end emergency rule, step down from his post as head of the army and allow elections to go ahead as planned. The elections had been scheduled for Jan. 15.

Ms. ------- described the general’s comments as “vague.” But the White House press secretary, ------- -------, welcomed them, saying it was important for the ------- people to hear the “clarification” about the election date.

President ------- imposed emergency rule last Saturday as indications emerged that the country’s Supreme Court might rule that he was ineligible to hold both the posts of president and head of the military, following his re-election as president in October. President ------- telephoned President ------- on Wednesday and urged him to relinquish his military position.

In his comments today to his National Security Council, which were shown on official government television, President ------- made no mention of when he would end the current emergency rule.

President ------- made clear that he was counting on a newly formed Supreme Court, filled with appointees loyal to him, to confirm his re-election as president. That election had been under challenge in the Supreme Court, until the court was dismissed last Saturday under the emergency decree.

The judges, who had indicated they might rule against him, remain under house arrest.

In the arrests within the last two days, members of the ------- Party were rounded up across the central ------- ahead of the major rally Ms. ------- has called for Friday, party workers and diplomats said. The rally would focus on the ------- city of -------, the garrison city adjacent to -------, the capital. The arrests were aimed at district leaders who were responsible for organizing people to attend the rally, the party workers said.

“There were a lot of arrests all over -------, including of women,” said ------- -------, a party leader in -------. “Police broke down doors to get into the houses.”

Among those arrested, he said, was ------- -------, a woman who is a ------- Party member of the National Assembly. The planned protest, to be held in ------- Park in the center of -------, has become a major test between Ms. ------- and the government. By midday today security officials had locked the gates to the park and were preparing to block the entry roads. Around the city, party workers were in hiding, fearful of arrest by the police in advance of the rally.

Ms. -------, who was the target of a suicide bomb attack during a procession in ------- on Oct. 18, said she was determined to push ahead with Friday’s protest even though she realized the personal danger to her.

A steady increase in the number of suicide attacks against the military and the police in the last several months, as well as the ------- attack against Ms. -------, which killed 140 of her party workers, has allowed the government to argue that it cannot guarantee Ms. -------’s personal security Friday.

The government also insists that the rally is forbidden under the emergency rule proclaimed by President -------.

“The rules and regulations apply to everyone,” said ------- -------, the minister of state for information. “We have communicated with the ------- Party and advised them against holding a rally tomorrow.”

Mr. ------- added: “We are sure ------- ------- is a sensible politician and won’t want to create a law and order situation. I’m hopeful tomorrow’s rally will be called off.”

Ms. ------- came to ------- from ------- Tuesday evening, her first appearance in the capital since her self-imposed exile during which she lived abroad for eight years to escape corruption charges.

She proclaimed on Wednesday that she was confident that so many opponents of the regime would come out on the streets that “the regime will find it difficult to put them in jails.”

But since the emergency rule, demonstrations by political party members have been virtually nonexistent. On Wednesday night Ms. -------'s party mustered about 100 people to walk from the party’s headquarters in ------- to a barricade near the ------- building. When the workers tried to push aside the barriers, police officers attacked them with tear gas and batons.

While political parties have largely remained off the street, -------’s lawyers have led the resistance to the emergency law under which President ------- dissolved the Constitution, fired the Supreme Court and delayed ------- elections, which had been in expected in January.

Several hundred people, including lawyers, students and women, demonstrated at the High Court in ------- today. As the police rushed in to make arrests, many of the demonstrators barricaded themselves inside the rooms of the bar association.

The main target of President -------’s emergency rule has been the Supreme Court.

Most of the Supreme Court judges, including the chief justice, ------- -------, are under house arrest.

Judges from the High Courts across the country are also under house arrest or in jail, and an unknown number of lawyers -- 1,000 or more, according to some estimates -- have been arrested.

In a sign of the determined mood of the government, a judge in ------- , ------- -------, who granted bail to 54 human rights advocates arrested Sunday, was removed from the bench and relegated to a desk job as a way of punishment, lawyers said.

The leader of the lawyers’ movement, ------- -------, a Cambridge University attorney, was allowed his first visitor Wednesday at the ------- jail in -------, where he has been held since Saturday night.

His sister-in-law, ------- -------, said she took Mr. ------- a blanket, a pillow and some medicine. Another lawyer, ------- -------, a former president of the Supreme Court bar association, who was ill, had been moved from the ------- jail to a more distant, and tougher jail in -------, near the North West -------, Ms. ------- said.

Most of the dozen independent news television channels that were banned under the emergency rule remain off the air. But television channels that agree to a government code of conduct will be permitted to operate again, television executives said. Three channels have agreed so far to the code, television executives said — a local CNBC affiliate, a second business channel and a local ------- language channel — and within hours, they were back on the air. Under the measure, journalists whose reports bring “ridicule or disrepute” on President ------- and other officials could face up to three years in prison. As the government security forces kept up the pressure on the streets, President -------’s aides showed little sign of relenting on the political front. The President appeared to have a plan in mind for the future that would preserve his position as president without any interference from an independent judiciary, Western diplomats said.

His first priority, the diplomats said, was to get his October re-election validated by a newly appointed Supreme Court, filled with loyal justices. The parliamentary elections would then follow.

Last Sunday, the prime minister, ------- -------, said elections could be delayed for a year. This morning, before President -------’s announcement, one senior minister said elections would take place in six months, a date that was “totally unacceptable” to the Western governments, a diplomat said.

NOTE: Today's version of this news story is here. In what country will the next version of this story take place? The United States? This country has 161 million people, which is about one-half the population of the United States. With over $10 Billion provided to the leaders since 9/11/2001, is this a live test-study?

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© 2007 by Edward Ulysses Cate
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