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We now understand, based on our experience in trying to liberate the citizens of Iraq from despotism, that despotism can take many forms. It is becoming more and more evident — and this is something we could not have known until we had deposed Saddam Hussein and begun to deal with the forces which reorganized and redeployed themselves after his fall — that those committed to realizing power through inflicting death and destruction will likely persist in the form of Iraqi "insurgents" for the foreseeable future. As has become clear, the notion that, after the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime,...

U.S.: Pakistan of little help in the hunt for bin Laden By James Risen and David Rohde THE NEW YORK TIMES Hunting for Osama bin Laden, the CIA established a series of small, covert bases in the rugged mountain frontier of northwest Pakistan in late 2003. Bin Laden, the terrorist leader, was being sheltered there by local tribesmen and foreign militants, the agency had concluded, and he controlled a group of handpicked operatives dedicated to attacking the United States. But since the bases opened, the CIA officers stationed there have been strictly supervised by Pakistani officials, who have limited their...

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Setting up a likely court battle, one of two Southern California tribes accused by the state of illegally operating machines that look and feel like slot machines on Wednesday refused to remove them from its casino floor. Mark Macarro, chairman of the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Mission Indians, said the tribe will sue Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration if it attempts to restrict the tribe from operating the machines. He said they are permitted under the current gambling agreements. "The governor's office will have to realize they're in error and back off or we're continue to fight...

DRUNKEN wild elephants trampled to death three people and injured two in a tribal village in India's north-eastern state of Assam, wildlife officials said today. A herd of a dozen elephants entered the village of Marongi yesterday and ran amok after taking long swills of rice beer brewing in casks outside the homes of the tribal people. "The elephants, after entering the village first guzzled locally made rice beer kept in drums and then went on a rampage killing three people, including a woman," a forest official said. The two people hurt suffered multiple injuries. The attack was the latest...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is riding another winner in his opposition to two measures on next month's ballot that would expand gambling while requiring Indian tribes to give up some of their profits, a nonpartisan poll released Saturday shows. Voters oppose both initiatives, according to the Field Poll conducted before Proposition 68 proponents ended their drive Wednesday with an admission they had little chance of success. Schwarzenegger began campaigning against propositions 68 and 70 this week, saying that either one would undermine his efforts to negotiate new gambling agreements with individual tribes. He has signed pacts with 10...

WASHINGTON (AP) - The second-in-command at the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs is recusing herself from Indian gambling and recognition decisions so she can resign and join the private sector - just four months after the head of the department also recused himself from those issues. Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Aurene Martin will resign effective Sept. 10, Interior Department spokesman Dan DuBray said Tuesday. Effective immediately, responsibility for tribal gambling and recognition decisions is being given to Mike Olsen, currently the counselor to the assistant secretary. Olsen will become the third official in less than a year...

ISLAMABAD (CNN) -- A tribal leader accused of harboring Al Qaeda militants in Pakistan's western border region was killed Thursday night in a targeted missile strike, according to Pakistan intelligence sources. The Associated Press quoted an army spokesman Friday as identifying the tribal leader as Nek Mohammed, a former Taliban fighter. He was killed late Thursday at the home of another tribal chief, the spokesman said. "We were tracking him down and he was killed last night by our hand," Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan told The Associated Press.

Musharraf Vows to Crush Al-Qaida Men, Their Supporters in Tribal Region The Associated Press Jul 1, 2004 ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) - Pakistan's president vowed Thursday to wipe out al-Qaida gunmen and their supporters in a remote tribal region along the border with Afghanistan. "We know al-Qaida men are present in Wana," Gen. Pervez Musharraf said at a meeting held in the capital, Islamabad, according to Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed. "They are terrorists and we will crush them." Wana, a main town in South Waziristan, has been the scene of several military operations against al-Qaida fugitives and their local supporters...

Pakistan's tribal fight in Waziristan Compiled by Ben Arnoldy from AP and Reuters March 16-28, 2004: A major Pakistani operation against foreign militants and their local supporters in Waziristan leaves 130 dead, including 48 security forces. The Power of the Tribe Part 1 of 2 Key to governing Afghans: the clans Related stories: 06/21/04 Pakistan killing weakens Al Qaeda, inflames tribes 06/14/04 Pakistan launches new tribal offensive 03/23/04 Pakistan marks pro-Al Qaeda clan E-mail newsletters Get all of today's headlines, or alerts on specific topics. Subscribe for free. E-mail this story Write a letter to the Editor Printer-friendly version April...

ISLAMABAD, May 19 (Xinhuanet) -- Several hundreds armed tribesmen Wednesday searched Pakistan's South Waziristan tribal area, bordering Afghanistan, and arrested four al-Qaeda-linked foreigners, official said. The operation was launched after the foreign militants, hiding in the area, have refused government demands to formally register themselves, the local news agency News Network International quoted a local official as saying. The four suspects were arrested in the operation, he said. A "lashkar" (private tribal army) of several armed tribesmen started the latest hunt late Tuesday, going door to door in villages near the border and asking residents whether any "foreigners" were around,...

CHARI, India (Reuters) - On a hot afternoon in Chari, a village just north of Bombay, wide-eyed Warli children with distended bellies pick desultorily at weeds growing from the cracked soil. Slender women with drawn faces go about their tasks silently, one lifting water from the lone well in the area, another stacking hay outside a mud hut. The Warlis are among the more than 90 million "adivasis", meaning original inhabitants, who make up nearly ten percent of India's billion-plus population but are quickly falling by the wayside of the country's newfound prosperity. Displaced from forests by big dam projects...

<p>SACRAMENTO – A federal appeals court upheld California's tribal gambling law Monday, ruling that it violates no federal law even though it gives tribes special privileges to operate casinos.</p> <p>The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco upheld the July 2002 decision by Sacramento U.S. District Judge David F. Levi, who ruled against four Bay area card clubs trying to stop the state's first urban casino in San Pablo.</p>

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Arnold Schwarzenegger’s victory in the California recall race left many prominent gaming tribes and their representatives in the state capitol looking for a silver lining. Governor-elect Schwarzenegger had run a series of campaign ads that targeted tribal gaming interests by promising to force the tribes to pay a significant share of their revenue to the state’s general fund. However, now that the campaign is over and Schwarzenegger is the victor, many questions remain as to how the governor-elect can specifically get tribes to cough up more money when federal laws limit his ability to do so. Also,...

A Saudi man married four women in one night only to prove to his estranged first wife that he was still attractive, a newspaper reported on Saturday. After the failed marriage which only lasted several months, the man's wife told him that "no woman would ever marry him," al-Watan newspaper said. "So he swore to marry four women just to prove her wrong," it said. Polygamy is relatively common in Saudi Arabia, a conservative society with deep Islamic and tribal roots. Under the country's Islamic law, men are allowed to marry up to four wives at the same time.

American Indians who are supporting Democrat front-runner Cruz Bustamante in California are also promoting Republican state Sen. Tom McClintock, and GOP front-runner Arnold Schwarzenegger is furious. "I think that as far as Tom McClintock is concerned, I think the question I have for him is, what side is he on?" Schwarzenegger said Thursday. "Is he on the side of the Republicans? Does he represent the Republicans, or does he represent Bustamante?" Schwarzenegger suggested that the tribes were abetting Bustamante by trying to split the Republican vote. "They are financing his commercials and TV spots and all that," said Schwarzenegger, who...

SACRAMENTO — In his campaign for governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger has labeled unions and Indian tribes that operate casinos as "special interests" and rejected their campaign money. But last year, as Schwarzenegger was raising money for a ballot initiative he was promoting, he accepted $530,000 from the California Teachers Assn., one of the most powerful public employees unions in the state. And he hosted a fund-raising brunch for Indian tribes in San Diego, three of which gave a combined $62,000. The donations helped Schwarzenegger's effort to finance the successful campaign for Proposition 49, which aimed to expand before- and after-school programs....

Proposed law would exempt tribal energy projects from environmental regs Some EPA rules stall projects Sam Lewin 05/01/2003 A plan by Colorado Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell to exempt energy projects on Indian land from federal environmental regulation passed the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Tuesday. The measure is now part of a massive Indian energy bill that could be heard on the Senate floor as early as next week. Campbell chairs the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, and is a senior Republican on the Energy Committee. The Republican-dominated Senate has the power to strip provisions from the energy bill,...

Aborigine insists tribal law gives right to underage sex By Kathy Marks in Sydney 22 February 2003 The place of tribal law in Australia's legal system will be reviewed after a 50-year-old Aboriginal man argued that tradition gave him the right to have sex with a 15-year-old girl. Jackie Pascoe Jamilmira, who lives in an isolated community in the Northern Territory, was given a 13-month jail sentence for having unlawful sexual intercourse with the girl, but had the sentence reduced to one day after an appeal. The girl, who had been "promised" to him in marriage by her family, initially...

<p>LOS ANGELES(AP) - In an important test of the reach of tribal sovereignty, California's political watchdog agency is suing one of the state's wealthiest and most influential Indian tribes, alleging violations of campaign finance reporting laws.</p> <p>The Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, which operates two casinos in and near Palm Springs, argues those laws don't apply to it because it's a sovereign entity. The Fair Political Practices Commission says California has a sovereign right of its own to ensure the integrity of its election system.</p>

Six Pakistani men who gang raped a woman on the orders of a village court have been sentenced to death. The high-profile trial, before a special anti-terrorism court in the Punjab provincial town of Dera Ghazi Khan, has highlighted the abuse of women in rural areas. Rape order Mai was raped by four men after approaching the traditional jury to settle a dispute with the rival Mastoi clan. She went to the jury after her 12-year-old brother was kidnapped and abused by clan members as a punishment for having an affair with one of their relatives. The jury ruled that...