Free Republic

TIKRIT — Key tribal leaders from the Ubaidi and Anbakia tribes signed a peace agreement July 10 during a meeting at the Baqubah Government Center to end tribal conflicts that have been occurring for decades and stand together against al-Qaida and other terrorist organizations. “The strength of the tribes comes from the sheiks’ courage,” said Col. David W. Sutherland, commander, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division. Sheik Hamed Hazber Hasan Abdal al-Anbak, paramount sheik for the Anbakia tribe, and a key tribal leader from the Ubaidi tribe, have been meeting for the past several months to discuss and work...

Accords bring Assembly Democrats on board as unions cry 'betrayal.' Four of California's wealthiest Indian gambling tribes and Assembly Democrats broke a prolonged stalemate Wednesday, striking a controversial deal that could trigger thousands of new casino slot machines and billions of dollars for the state treasury.The tribes, lawmakers and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed off on side agreements that appear to provide political cover for the Legislature's approval of gambling compacts negotiated last year.Organized labor, which had lobbied Democrats to force union-friendly provisions on the tribes, criticized Wednesday's signing of separate "memorandum of understanding" accords as "an unbelievable betrayal." But the...

Local Iraq officials focus on recruiting police, creating peace. By Multi-National Corps – Iraq Public Affairs Office, Camp Victory TIKRIT, Iraq, May 17, 2007 — As coalition and Iraqi security forces continue to provide security and stability throughout Diyala Province, Iraq, many tribal leaders are also united in their efforts to bring peace and stand up against al-Qaida in Iraq. After a peace agreement was signed between the paramount sheiks of the Karki and Shimouri tribes, April 30, other tribal leaders gathered throughout the region to do the same – provide peace and protection for their people and their lands....

Pakistan's tribal district of South Waziristan, on the border with Afghanistan, is in the throes of turmoil once again. The government says that the local tribesmen have started an armed campaign to expel foreign militants whom it blames for launching cross-border attacks on foreign and Afghan troops in Afghanistan. It says more than 250 people, mostly foreign militants, have been killed in these clashes since early March. Unofficial reports put the casualty figures much lower, and suggest that mixed groups of local and foreign militants are confronting each other in what also appears to be a power struggle within the...

Tirana, March 7, 2007 (AENews) – Protests against Greek soldiers' anti-Albanian song is rising in Albania while politicians have called for a contained and calm response. In Durres and Elbasan, protesters burned Greek flags while the entire population is bewildered by the level of hatred and violence in the text of Greek Soldiers' song. A private video showing Greek soldiers singing "We are gone a make shoe-strings with Albanian guts" was published last week on the Internet, then was commented by the Greek and Albanian media. Foreign Relations committee in the Albanian Parliament called Thursday on the population to stop...

House Democrats hope to raise between $650,000 and $1 million for each of the party's most endangered Democrats in hopes of keeping the party in control of Congress. The tactics are hardly new. Republicans aggressively used their committee chairmen -- and the promise of access to them -- to raise money from interest groups and lobbyists during the party's 12 years of congressional control. They tracked donations closely and pressed lobbying firms to hire GOP lobbyists through the "K Street Project," promising "intimate" issue briefings with the chairmen in return for big donations. And the GOP is hardly sitting on...

TEMECULA – Seeking to reverse recent setbacks and improve their long-range political position, California's gambling tribes moved yesterday to establish common ground with labor-backed Democrats who blocked five new gambling compacts last summer. The tribes not only invited Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to speak at a national gaming conference at Pechanga Resort and Casino, but also embraced him as someone who “could be one of our own,” and then gave him an extended standing ovation. Afterward, tribal leaders and others lined up to have pictures taken with the mayor. Just six years ago, some of the same tribes helped...

Iraq tribes 'taking on al-Qaeda' Pacifying Anbar is a tough challenge for the US and Iraqi forces A group of Sunni tribal chiefs in Iraq say they have caught more than 100 al-Qaeda members in recent months. The tribal chiefs in the Iraqi province of Anbar joined forces in September in an attempt to defeat al-Qaeda. They set up the Salvation Council for Anbar and claim to have reduced the numbers of weapons and foreign fighters coming into the area. The restive Sunni dominated area has been a centre of activity for foreign jihadis linked to al-Qaeda. The head of...

A group of Indian gambling tribes has bought nearly $1 million in television time for the Republican candidate for state controller with two weeks to go in a close contest. Tony Strickland, a former member of the state Assembly known for being outspoken on his conservative views, received the boost Monday from Team 2006, an independent campaign committee formed by six Southern California gambling tribes that have been seeking to expand their operations. The committee had raised more than $9 million, according to disclosure reports filed Tuesday. The large contribution drew immediate criticism from Strickland's Democratic opponent, John Chiang, a...

Karzai calls in the tribes in bid to oust Taliban (Filed: 09/10/2006) The first thing you notice when you enter the Presidential palace in Kabul is that the Americans are missing. For the past five years President Hamid Karzai has been guarded by rude, scruffy, heavily built American male and female Rambo-style bodyguards. They treated everyone with contempt. President Hamid Karzai is protected by one of his new Afghan bodyguards Now much to the relief of tribal elders, there are different guards for the president: young Afghans in sharp suits and ties, but with machine guns slung across their shoulders....

LOS ANGELES A deal signed Tuesday by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger would allow two of California's richest Indian tribes to vastly expand the number of slot machines in their casinos in return for paying billions of dollars to the state. The agreement amends existing gaming compacts with the Temecula-based Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians and the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians in San Bernardino County. "These compacts are a great deal for the state, the tribe and the local communities," Schwarzenegger said in a statement. The deal must also be approved by the Legislature. The announcement came just a day...

Globalization is real, but its power to improve the lot of humankind has been madly oversold. Globalization enthralls and binds together a new aristocracy--the golden crust on the human loaf--but the remaining billions, who lack the culture and confidence to benefit from "one world," have begun to erect barricades against the internationalization of their affairs. And, from Peshawar to Paris, those manning the barricades increasingly turn violent over perceived threats to their accustomed patterns of life. If globalization represents a liberal worldview, renewed localism is a manifestation of reactionary fears, resurgent faiths, and the iron grip of tradition. Except in...

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Hundreds of Iraq's tribal chiefs Saturday signed a "pact of honor," pledging to support the prime minister's national reconciliation plan on wiping out sectarian strife and terrorism tearing the country. In another boost for Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's efforts, a Sunni lawmaker was released nearly two months after she was abducted in an attack that had stoked sectarian tensions and led to a boycott by the minority in parliament. At least 23 people were killed Saturday, including four members of a Shiite family in Baqouba and a female translator working for the British consulate in Basra,...

The 13th season of reality TV show Survivor has already sparked controversy by announcing that contestants will be divided into teams based on their race. The 20 participants will be divided up into four tribes - African-American, Asian-American, hispanic and white. Survivor host Jeff Probst defended the decision on US TV's The Early Show saying, "The idea for this actually came from the criticism that Survivor was not ethnically diverse enough. Because, for whatever reason, we've always had a low number of minority applicants for the show. So we set out and said, 'Let's turn this criticism into creative for...

Some may call it exploiting racial tensions. CBS calls it darn good television. Jeff Probst popped in on The Early Show Wednesday morning, confirming the reports that the 20 castaways for Survivor: Cook Islands will be grouped by race, with competitors divided into four tribes consisting of whites, blacks, Asians and Hispanics. Apparently, "separate but equal" holds only the warmest of connotations for Mark Burnett. Like a good host, Probst had nothing but praise for the producers' controversial brainchild, calling the exercise in segregation a valuable social experiment, rather than a stunt to dig up some controversy--and raise ratings. "The...

SACRAMENTO – The stark disparity in wealth and political power that Indian gambling has brought to California reservations has taken two tribes on decidedly different journeys in recent weeks. The Agua Caliente band of Palm Springs already has 2,000 slot machines in two casinos that generate more than $250 million a year for the 400-member tribe. The Quechan band, whose remote reservation straddles the California-Arizona border in Imperial County, has fewer than 800 slots in two small casinos that produced $71 million last year for the 3,600-member tribe. Both tribes negotiated new gambling agreements that would permit expansions – a...

A desperate struggle for survival — and not the white man and his horse — likely forced First Nations people on the Canadian Plains to band together in complex communities at least 1,700 years before what is currently accepted. And the way they came together to ward off threats from southern bands from the Dakotas and Minnesota may have resembled a very early form of democracy. University of Calgary archaeologist Dr. Dale Walde has proposed the controversial theory in the prestigious World Archaeology journal, following more than five years of research in the field in Alberta and Saskatchewan. If accepted,...

FOB KALSU – The southern portion of Iraq is reaping the long overdue benefits of infrastructure rebuilding and trained security forces. Although the areas in the Karbala, Najaf and Babil provinces still have their share of turbulence, some of the success the provinces are enjoying stems from the willingness of local tribes to work together to put their part of Iraq back together, said Capt. Dave Zaino, commander, Company A, 2nd Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division. “We are going into areas in the northern sector of our area of operations, finding a large population...

Kohanim, Tribe of Levi to have 'family reunion' Groundbreaking 'Gathering of the Tribe' will include leading researchers and rabbis. Conference is set to take place in Jerusalem in summer 2007 Ynetnews Recent scientific research and DNA testing has shown that today’s descendents of the biblical priesthood known as Kohanim are genetically related. Although the descendents of Aharon, the brother of Moses, have spread throughout the world over the past 3,300 years, the members of this extended family are being invited to participate in the first ‘family reunion’ held since the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in 70 CE. Participants...

PORCUPINE (AP) -- The Oglala Sioux Tribal Council voted 9-5 Thursday to impeach the tribal president for proposing an abortion clinic on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Cecelia Fire Thunder survived two earlier attempts to remove her from office since she was elected in November 2004 as the tribe's first female president. This time, the issue was over South Dakota's new abortion ban that does not include exceptions for rape or incest. After Gov. Mike Rounds signed the bill, Fire Thunder vowed to work to open a Planned Parenthood clinic on the reservation, beyond the reach of state law. Will Peters,...