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B.O. vows to exit Iraq, shut down Gitmo
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 1: WoT Operations
10 00:00 Thing From Snowy Mountain [1] 
2 00:00 crosspatch [1] 
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11 00:00 .5mt [3] 
3 00:00 mojo [] 
11 00:00 .5mt [2] 
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15 00:00 Jessilmeniemy [] 
4 00:00 trailing wife [] 
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1 00:00 Besoeker [] 
1 00:00 chris [] 
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3 00:00 Mitch H. [] 
6 00:00 ed [] 
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Page 2: WoT Background
1 00:00 Plastic Snoopy [1]
5 00:00 JosephMendiola []
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8 00:00 JosephMendiola []
11 00:00 trailing wife [5]
16 00:00 trailing wife [5]
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1 00:00 Old Patriot []
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8 00:00 Chief [1]
1 00:00 chris []
22 00:00 rjschwarz []
Page 3: Non-WoT
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1 00:00 borgboy []
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1 00:00 DMFD []
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5 00:00 DarthVader []
1 00:00 JosephMendiola []
1 00:00 Richard of Oregon [4]
13 00:00 trailing wife [2]
7 00:00 Al Aska Paul, Resident Imam [2]
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7 00:00 trailing wife [3]
2 00:00 .5mt []
9 00:00 JosephMendiola []
Page 4: Opinion
3 00:00 .5mt [1]
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9 00:00 DMFD [2]
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8 00:00 Zenobia Ebbomose aka Broadhead6 [2]
4 00:00 trailing wife []
1 00:00 bigjim-ky [2]
6 00:00 john frum [4]
9 00:00 .5mt [3]
Page 5: Russia-Former Soviet Union
1 00:00 Zenobia Ebbomose aka Broadhead6 [2]
1 00:00 swksvolFF [1]
4 00:00 swksvolFF []
7 00:00 Procopius2k [2]
20 00:00 Zenobia Ebbomose aka Broadhead6 []
8 00:00 chris []
12 00:00 trailing wife [3]
4 00:00 Besoeker []
Page 6: Politix
3 00:00 Jeremiah Thaise1218 [1]
6 00:00 Alaska Paul [3]
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4 00:00 anonymous5089 []
9 00:00 Barbara Skolaut []
7 00:00 Mitch H. []
Good morning
Posted by: Fred || 11/18/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  If kissing is a sin, what do the Egyptians make of ogling a girl in the bathtub?
Posted by: Scooter McGruder || 11/18/2008 0:04 Comments || Top||

#2  What would they make of helping a woman in a bathtub scrub her....uh.... back?
Posted by: CrazyFool || 11/18/2008 0:11 Comments || Top||

#3  Dunno. Let's find out what would happen for helping her scrub her front, too!
Posted by: gorb || 11/18/2008 0:40 Comments || Top||

#4  Fred, could you turn the picture around please? >:-}
Posted by: gorb || 11/18/2008 0:40 Comments || Top||

#5  [Who will buy my pretty spam?]
Posted by: edurabeally || 11/18/2008 3:20 Comments || Top||

#6  Wait till I find my Nerpa sub and I'll be right in!
Posted by: Besoeker || 11/18/2008 7:34 Comments || Top||

#7  "Lynne Stewart, from our series: Women who don't bathe"
Posted by: Frank G || 11/18/2008 7:36 Comments || Top||

#8  Oh good Lord Frank, now I need a brillo pad to scrub my occipital lobe ...
Posted by: Steve White || 11/18/2008 8:03 Comments || Top||

#9  Help me, Rhonda, help help me, Rhonda,
Help me get you out of the tub.
Posted by: Mike || 11/18/2008 9:47 Comments || Top||

#10  Hi there!
My first post at this great blog!
I wanna show u my dayly updated blog:I'm a friggin' asstard
Have a nice day!
BB!

P.S. if you don't want to see this message please write me to no.ads08@gmail.com with subject "NO ADS" and URL of your forum
Thank you for cooperation!
Posted by: MuhamedBkkKO || 11/18/2008 9:56 Comments || Top||

#11  Clean-up on Aisle 10, Fred.

Rhonda looks like she's having fun in that tub, but I've never seen women wear lipstick and make-up to their bath.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 11/18/2008 11:15 Comments || Top||

#12  Someone has spilled their brains in aisle 12. Need shovel, bucket and strong astringent.


Posted by: Jack is Back! || 11/18/2008 11:36 Comments || Top||

#13  I get crap like that every day.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 11/18/2008 11:48 Comments || Top||

#14  That picture makes me want to take more than my weekly bath if I had a Bathtub Buddy like her.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 11/18/2008 19:12 Comments || Top||

#15  Ñïàñèáî çà ñòàòüþ îêàçàëàñü î÷åíü ïîëåçíîé.
Posted by: Jessilmeniemy || 11/18/2008 21:34 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
French soldier says US soldiers are the best
Translation from MP.net. Original French source at link.
"We have shared our daily life with two US units for quite a while - they are the first and fourth companies of a prestigious infantry battalion whose name I will withhold for the sake of military secrecy. To the common man it is a unit just like any other. But we live with them and got to know them, and we henceforth know that we have the honor to live with one of the most renowned units of the US Army - one that the movies brought to the public as series showing "ordinary soldiers thrust into extraordinary events". Who are they, those soldiers from abroad, how is their daily life, and what support do they bring to the men of our OMLT every day ?

Few of them belong to the Easy Company, the one the TV series focuses on. This one nowadays is named Echo Company, and it has become the support company.
They have a terribly strong American accent - from our point of view the language they speak is not even English. How many times did I have to write down what I wanted to say rather than waste precious minutes trying various pronunciations of a seemingly common word? Whatever state they are from, no two accents are alike and they even admit that in some crisis situations they have difficulties understanding each other.

Heavily built, fed at the earliest age with Gatorade, proteins and creatine - they are all heads and shoulders taller than us and their muscles remind us of Rambo. Our frames are amusingly skinny to them - we are wimps, even the strongest of us - and because of that they often mistake us for Afghans.

Here we discover America as it is often depicted : their values are taken to their paroxysm, often amplified by promiscuity and the loneliness of this outpost in the middle of that Afghan valley. Honor, motherland - everything here reminds of that: the American flag floating in the wind above the outpost, just like the one on the post parcels.

Even if recruits often originate from the hearth of American cities and gang territory, no one here has any goal other than to hold high and proud the star spangled banner. Each man knows he can count on the support of a whole people who provides them through the mail all that an American could miss in such a remote front-line location: books, chewing gums, razorblades, Gatorade, toothpaste etc. in such way that every man is aware of how much the American people backs him in his difficult mission. And that is a first shock to our preconceptions: the American soldier is no individualist. The team, the group, the combat team are the focus of all his attention.

And they are impressive warriors! We have not come across bad ones, as strange at it may seem to you when you know how critical French people can be. Even if some of them are a bit on the heavy side, all of them provide us everyday with lessons in infantry know-how. Beyond the wearing of a combat kit that never seem to discomfort them (helmet strap, helmet, combat goggles, rifles etc.) the long hours of watch at the outpost never seem to annoy them in the slightest. On the one square meter wooden tower above the perimeter wall they stand the five consecutive hours in full battle rattle and night vision goggles on top, their sight unmoving in the directions of likely danger. No distractions, no pauses, they are like statues nights and days. At night, all movements are performed in the dark - only a handful of subdued red lights indicate the occasional presence of a soldier on the move. Same with the vehicles whose lights are covered - everything happens in pitch dark even filling the fuel tanks with the Japy pump.

And combat ? If you have seen Rambo you have seen it all - always coming to the rescue when one of our teams gets in trouble, and always in the shortest delay.

That is one of their tricks : they switch from T-shirt and sandals to combat ready in three minutes. Arriving in contact with the ennemy, the way they fight is simple and disconcerting: they just charge! They disembark and assault in stride, they bomb first and ask questions later - which cuts any pussyfooting short.

We seldom hear any harsh word, and from 5 AM onwards the camp chores are performed in beautiful order and always with excellent spirit. A passing American helicopter stops near a stranded vehicle just to check that everything is alright; an American combat team will rush to support ours before even knowing how dangerous the mission is - from what we have been given to witness, the American soldier is a beautiful and worthy heir to those who liberated France and Europe.

To those who bestow us with the honor of sharing their combat outposts and who everyday give proof of their military excellence, to those who pay the daily tribute of America's army's deployment on Afghan soil, to those we owned this article, ourselves hoping that we will always remain worthy of them and to always continue hearing them say that we are all the same band of brothers".
Posted by: Zebulon Spase1139 || 11/18/2008 17:15 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  This is a great read. How nice to see one of our allies write something like this. I am so proud of our guys. They are truly extraordinary.
Posted by: remoteman || 11/18/2008 17:42 Comments || Top||

#2  Nice!
Posted by: 49 Pan || 11/18/2008 17:50 Comments || Top||

#3  Wow. That's some read.
Posted by: Hellfish || 11/18/2008 18:02 Comments || Top||

#4  Yeah, but no harsh words makes me wonder if they never met any sergeants.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 11/18/2008 18:34 Comments || Top||

#5  Since when is it news when someone states the obvious?
Posted by: Iblis || 11/18/2008 19:41 Comments || Top||

#6  An honest and heartfelt tribute from a generous man. May he bring as much honour to his own flag as he as he credits to those who stand guard for ours, and may we at home continue to be worthy of them all.
Posted by: trailing wife || 11/18/2008 21:58 Comments || Top||

#7  A great article. The author also appears to be very impressed with Gatorade.
Posted by: mrp || 11/18/2008 22:09 Comments || Top||

#8  Why do the French have to make it so hard to hate them? I get all out-of-sorts when a hate relationship becomes a love/hate relationship.
Posted by: Mike N. || 11/18/2008 22:24 Comments || Top||

#9  It worries me that 5089 and JFM haven't commented. I sense a communication error.
Posted by: .5mt || 11/18/2008 22:42 Comments || Top||

#10  Someone gave the French guy a beer again, I guess. He always goes into this "I love you guys" speil when that happens.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 11/18/2008 23:43 Comments || Top||


Afghan Taliban reject Karzai's safety vow
A Taliban militant leader rejected Monday an offer from Afghan President Hamid Karzai of safe passage for insurgent leaders who wanted to talk peace. Karzai, back from a trip to Britain and the United States, said Sunday he would guarantee the safety of Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar if he was prepared to negotiate.

With the Taliban insurgency intensifying seven years after the hardline Islamists were forced from power, the possibility of talks with more moderate Taliban leaders is increasingly being considered, both in Afghanistan and among its allies. The Afghan government says it is willing to talk to anyone who recognizes the constitution.

The Taliban have ruled out any talks as long as foreign troops remain in Afghanistan. Karzai said Sunday that condition was unacceptable.

Mullah Brother, deputy leader of the Taliban, rejected Karzai's offer of safe passage and again said foreign troops had to leave before negotiations could start. "As long as foreign occupiers remain in Afghanistan, we aren't ready for talks because they hold the power and talks won't bear fruit ... The problems in Afghanistan are because of them," Brother said. "We are safe in Afghanistan and we have no need for Hamid Karzai's offer of safety," he told Reuters by satellite telephone from an undisclosed location, adding that the Taliban jihad, or holy war, would go on.

Violence in Afghanistan has surged over the past two years, raising doubts about prospects for the country and Western efforts to establish peace and build a stable state. Some 70,000 foreign troops, around half of them American, are struggling against the Taliban, whose influence, and attacks, are spreading in the south, east and west.

The prospect of a bloody, drawn-out stalemate has focused attention on the possibility of talks. Negotiations with insurgents in Iraq are seen as having contributed to an improvement in security there.
Posted by: Fred || 11/18/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Taliban

#1  good keep killing them then
Posted by: chris || 11/18/2008 10:35 Comments || Top||


Twin blasts kill at least seven in Kandahar
(AKI) - Two Afghan police and one civilian were killed on Monday when a suicide bomber disguised as a police officer detonated his explosives at the police headquarters in the southern province of Kandahar. The suicide bomber attempted to enter the headquarters but detonated his explosives as he was stopped by security guards, said a spokesperson for the provincial government.

Meanwhile, a roadside bomb aimed at Afghan soldiers killed four civilians in the Panjwai district in Kandahar. Eight other civilians were wounded in the attack.
Posted by: Fred || 11/18/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Africa Horn
Hijacked Saudi tanker reaches Somalia
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 11/18/2008 15:45 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Just saw a news report on Asharq al Awsat that the tanker has been freed.

Posted by: crosspatch || 11/18/2008 23:14 Comments || Top||

#2  It looks like my above information could be an old and inaccurate report that was still on their web page.
Posted by: crosspatch || 11/18/2008 23:48 Comments || Top||


Pirates seize 7 ships in 12 days; latest from Iran
Posted by: tipper || 11/18/2008 13:28 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  It must be good business for them or they wouldn't be doing it. I suppose it is one way to send money to terrorists without it looking sneaky. Just have them hijack your boats, you pay ransom and you are off the hook for any illegal money transactions. A lot less risky that trying to sneak a few million dollars into one of their bank accounts without a hijacking to use as cover.
Posted by: crosspatch || 11/18/2008 13:32 Comments || Top||

#2  Few people realize this is a genuine crisis unfolding. It looks like it will shut down most traffic through the Suez canal and even make the Cape route from the Gulf problematic.

I strongly suspect the Western naval ships have almost no options to use against small high speed boats, except perhaps sinking them (more or less at random) with helicopter gunfire, with all the drowning fluffy duck outrage that will cause.

Trying to board the boats isn't an option - too many casualties from small arms shootouts.

Meanwhile, the pirate revenues will be flowing into bigger weapons, faster boats and 'me too' operations all along the African coast.

I'll leave how this is ideal cover for islamo-terrorist operations for another day.
Posted by: phil_b || 11/18/2008 14:55 Comments || Top||

#3  The solution: Commerical, slow moving Panamanian flagged vessels riding low in the water armed with pop-up MK-15 Phalanx guns and capable operators would severly curb this foolishness.
Posted by: Besoeker || 11/18/2008 15:01 Comments || Top||

#4  Besoeker is absolutely right. It would only take 3-4 ships to make this happen. They could be equipped for peanuts. There should be no news cycle because they just let the attacking small boats get close then they blow the shit out of them. No cameras, no press releases...the little boats just never make it back to port. Accidents at sea happen all the time. This would work great until someone leaked it to the NYT. But even they wouldn't provide a silouhette of the vessels in question, so the pirates would be wondering which one is it??? Spincter tightening would ensue.
Posted by: remoteman || 11/18/2008 15:18 Comments || Top||

#5  Besoeker, the Brits tried something similar against UBoats in WW2. Problem was the UBoats quickly learned to recognize the armed ships and avoided them.
Posted by: phil_b || 11/18/2008 15:20 Comments || Top||

#6  Phil,

A) the German military was smarter
B) submarines are harder to spot coming
C) the surprise package could be portable and added to most any ship.

Piracy was stopped pretty much in the 19th century, it can be stopped now IF WE HAVE THE WILL to do so. Pirate + yardarm some assembly required.
Posted by: AlanC || 11/18/2008 16:01 Comments || Top||

#7  From the BBC,

The Law of the Sea Convention places limitations on daring action. Under Article 100 of the convention a warship has first to send an officer-led party to board a suspected pirate ship to verify any suspicions.

The warship cannot just open fire. Any inspection has to be carried out "with all possible consideration".


And most of the pirates are based in Puntland. A state no one can officially deal with because the United Nations doesn't recognize its existence.
Posted by: phil_b || 11/18/2008 16:03 Comments || Top||

#8  This problem can easily be defeated the same way the U-Boats were: Convoys.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 11/18/2008 16:29 Comments || Top||

#9  I do not believe the US signed the Law of the Sea treaty.

Posted by: Hellfish || 11/18/2008 18:04 Comments || Top||

#10  Wikipedia (for what it's worth) says we signed it but did not ratify it because of some issues with Part XI on mineral rights, but then concludes with:

On May 15, 2007, President Bush announced that he had urged the Senate to approve the UNCLOS.[7] ] On October 31, 2007, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted 17-4 to send the treaty to the full U.S. Senate for a vote.[8]

referencing this Reuters link


Posted by: mft || 11/18/2008 20:19 Comments || Top||

#11  What NS said, altho that also is a cost, less than the odd ransom?
Posted by: .5mt || 11/18/2008 22:46 Comments || Top||


Islamists control nearly all of Somalia --President
(SomaliNet) Islamist fighters now control almost all of Somalia, Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed says. The Somali leader was speaking in the Kenyan capital Nairobi, where both he and the Somali parliament now reside.

Mr. Yusuf says the Islamists have now reached the suburbs of both the Somali capital Mogadishu and the normal seat of the country's parliament, Baidoa. Mogadishu and Baidoa are the only Somali cities still in government hands.

Mr. Yusuf's announcement comes a day after the news that the talks intended to lead to a new Somali government had failed. The parties involved cannot agree about the members of a new cabinet.
Posted by: Fred || 11/18/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic Courts

#1  I think he means Somalia ex Somaliland and Puntland. Incidentally recognition by the 'official' Somali government that the country is now 3 states.
Posted by: phil_b || 11/18/2008 0:22 Comments || Top||

#2  Let the "government" in Somalia marinate a while. Serves them right.
Posted by: gorb || 11/18/2008 0:42 Comments || Top||

#3  Are we done with pretending this pack of half-wits are a government?

I say burn out the ports every six months, and hang the crew of every boat out of a Somali port which can't produce third-country documentation. And let Ethiopia do any goddamn thing it pleases, or cares to do.
Posted by: Mitch H. || 11/18/2008 15:21 Comments || Top||


Italian naval destroyer bars possible pirate attack off Somalia-NATO
(SomaliNet) An Italian naval destroyer responding to a merchant vessel's distress signal prevented a likely pirate attack in the Gulf of Aden off Somalia, NATO says.

In a statement, the military alliance says that the Panama-flagged merchant ship Kirti was sailing toward Suez on Saturday afternoon when it reported two skiffs attempting to approach it at high speed. The Italian destroyer Luigi Durand de la Penne was patrolling nearby as part of NATO's anti-piracy operation and immediately scrambled its helicopter. NATO says the skiffs changed course and left after seeing the helicopter.

Somalia has become a world piracy hotspot, with at least 85 attacks on ships this year. Twelve vessels remain in the hands of pirates along with more than 200 crew.
Posted by: Fred || 11/18/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  would have been nice it the Italians had given chase and sunk them...

too much to hope for i know, but such measures would reduce recidivism.
Posted by: Abu do you love || 11/18/2008 0:30 Comments || Top||

#2  Could have been worse; could have been that the pirate would have chazed the italians and seized the ship.
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 11/18/2008 5:05 Comments || Top||

#3  Good point. How long until France surrenders to the pirates?
Posted by: Bossman || 11/18/2008 13:06 Comments || Top||

#4  I remember you that the before last time Somali pirates who tried to take French hostges were killed and the last time the litlle khat etaing surrendering monkeys surrndered.

And now let's take bets about when America (whose next CinC will be Obama) surrenders. My bet is on January 21.
Posted by: JFM || 11/18/2008 15:05 Comments || Top||

#5  Good point. How long until France surrenders to the pirates?

OT : what has always cracked me up is that the french see the italians exactly as the english (and hence the americans) see the french, down to the leacherous and surrender stereotypes and the stripped maillot and the thin mustaches; we may see italians as more crooked/chaotic, though... this actually downed on me quite some years ago, watching the Monty Pythons. I guess one is always somebody's else swarthy latin.
Anyway, joke aside, italian navy probably has good quality sailors, this was tongue-in-cheek, and more aimed at NATO in general.
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 11/18/2008 15:34 Comments || Top||

#6  Give the French credit. They were the only ones (until the Brits killed some a few days ago) who have taken any action against the pirates. And they did it twice.

BTW, anyone know if the Russian ships made it to Somalia or did they need a tow to Sevastapol?
Posted by: ed || 11/18/2008 18:03 Comments || Top||


Bangladesh
JMB operative remanded
A Dhaka court yesterday placed Mohammad Hanif alias Kamal, an ehsar of banned Islamist outfit Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), on a 10-day remand.
Posted by: Fred || 11/18/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh


Trial of Aug 21 grenade attack case begins
Trial of the August 21 grenade attack cases began at a Dhaka court yesterday with deposition of the complainant. Judge Mohammad Masdar Hossain of the Speedy Trial Tribunal-1 recorded the statement of the complainant, Sub-Inspector Sharif Faruque Ahmed. Later, Advocate Aminul Goni Titu, counsel for one of the accused, cross-examined the complainant.

Following a time petition on behalf of accused Arif Hassan Sumon, the court fixed November 23 for next hearing of the case. On that day, the complainant will be cross-examined again.

During yesterday's hearing, 14 out of 22 accused, including detained former deputy minister Abdus Salam Pintu and Harkatul Jihad (Huji) chief Mufti Abdul Hannan, were produced before the court. Two cases were filed for launching grenade attack on the rally on August 21, 2004 that left 24 people dead and scores injured.

In his deposition, Faruque told the court that he was on duty on Bangabandhu Avenue on August 21, 2004. AL chief Sheikh Hasina and other party leaders joined a rally there. When Hasina was about to get down from a truck after delivering her speech at about 5:00pm, a grenade exploded in front of the truck. In the grenade attack, he said, several AL leaders and activists were injured and Hasina left the scene with the help of AL men and police personnel. After a while, seven to eight grenades exploded, leaving more than a hundred people injured.

The complainant went on that he along with others took immediate steps for sending the injured to Dhaka Medical College and Hospital (DMCH). Another patrol police team came to the spot and found a grenade in front of Ramna Petrol Pump at about 9:20pm.

In the meantime, Faruque said that he came to know that 10 people succumbed to their injuries at DMCH while three at Orthopaedic Hospital.

He said the then officer-in-charge (OC) of Motijheel Police Station directed him to prepare inquest reports on the dead. "As per the directive, I went to DMCH and made inquest reports on four identified and nine unidentified bodies, which were later sent to the hospital morgue for post mortem examinations".

He further said that no cases in connection with the grenade attacks were filed with the police station concerned as of 9:00am of the following day. So, he filed a case with Motijheel Police Station. "After filing of the case, I came to know that AL leader Ivy Rahman succumbed to her injuries," Faruque said.

On June 11 this year, senior assistant superintendent of police (ASP) of Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Fazlul Kabir, also the investigation officer of the cases, submitted two charge sheets to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's Court, Dhaka, showing 412 people as prosecution witnesses.
Posted by: Fred || 11/18/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: HUJI


Caribbean-Latin America
Peru: Three cops killed in Shining Path attack
(SomaliNet) Three police officers have been killed and a fourth seriously injured in a shooting assumed to have been carried out by the Maoist Shining Path guerrilla movement in southern Peru.
Posted by: Fred || 11/18/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  bring back Fujimori
Posted by: john frum || 11/18/2008 7:29 Comments || Top||

#2  They are worse than cockroaches... Call Orkin.
Posted by: 3dc || 11/18/2008 10:23 Comments || Top||

#3  They being 9-lives Shining Path
Posted by: 3dc || 11/18/2008 10:24 Comments || Top||

#4  Indeed. Shining Path, junior: all the violence with none of the Communist ideology.
Posted by: trailing wife || 11/18/2008 11:43 Comments || Top||


Europe
Italy: Police anti-terror raids target suspected Islamists
Italian anti-terrorism police have carried out at least 135 raids and are investigating 11 foreigners in various Italian regions who are suspected of links to an alleged Morocco-based Islamist group. The organisation, called 'Al-Adl Wal Ihsan' or Justice and Charity, is being investigated for association to commit international terrorist acts.

Several apartments and cultural centres thought to be linked to the Moroccan movement are being investigated as well as 11 foreigners.

According to investigators, the 'Justice and Charity' movement is a front for a group seeking the restoration of an Islamic caliphate in Morocco and the abolition of the monarchy.

Justice and Charity is believed to be Morocco's largest opposition Islamist movement. However, the group claims it wants to transform Moroccan society through non-violent means and social work.

Justice and Charity is tolerated by the Moroccan government but reportedly has no legal status to organise meetings.

The group has repeatedly accused the government of imprisoning its members and limiting its funding resources.

The anti-terrorism investigations are taking place in the regions of Friuli Venezia-Giulia, Lombardy, Veneto in northern Italy and in the central Emilia Romagna and Marche region.
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 11/18/2008 15:39 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Home Front: WoT
Ariz. Muslim leaders face increased FBI scrutiny
The FBI has sharpened its scrutiny of some Phoenix-area Muslim leaders because of their links to two controversial incidents and a federal probe into the financing of terrorist groups.

No Arizonan has been accused of supporting terrorist groups or actions. However, a Mesa man was charged with lying to the FBI during the financing investigation.

The events that triggered the stepped-up scrutiny were the federal probe into a Muslim charity accused of funneling money to the Palestinian group Hamas; a target-shooting episode in Phoenix this year involving a large group of Muslim men and boys firing hundreds of rounds from AK-47s and other guns; and the high-profile removal in 2006 of six Arizona-bound imams from a jetliner after passengers and crew complained of their behavior.

Although some Islamic leaders say they understand the scrutiny, they also view it as another sign that innocent Muslims unjustly fall under suspicion because of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

"Whoever did Sept. 11, go after them and see who they are. I'm not going to pay for them. I'm not going to be guilty," said Marwan Sadeddin, one of the Valley imams who sued US Airways after being removed from a jetliner in Minneapolis. Like the others, he was questioned by FBI agents after the incident, in addition to being questioned about the arrested Mesa man.

The FBI is monitoring the family and community ties among Valley residents involved in the jetliner, shooting and charity probes, said John Lewis, who runs the FBI's Arizona office. "All of these things come on our scope," said Lewis, the agency's former head of counterterrorism operations.

The FBI routinely watches communities and groups that show patterns of radicalism seen in terrorism cases in the U.S. and Europe; those include radical Islamic theology, anti-Western political rhetoric and fundraising tied to terrorist groups. Lewis declined to discuss any details of the agency's monitoring activities.

The only Arizonan arrested by the FBI is Akram Musa Abdallah of Mesa. He was indicted by a grand jury in August on one count of lying to FBI agents. The government contended in court documents that Abdallah falsely told agents he had not raised money in the 1990s for the Holy Land Foundation, a Muslim charity that President Bush shut down in 2001.

Five founders of the Texas-based charity are on trial in Dallas on charges of steering $12 million to Hamas after the U.S. declared it a terrorist group.

M. Zuhdi Jasser, a Phoenix physician and Muslim who founded an organization to counter radical Islamic teachings, said Abdallah's arrest, the target-shooting episode and what he says are the imams' extreme views bear vigilance. "You can't help wonder where this is going," he added.

Shortly before noon on a sunny Sunday in March, two Toyota SUVs rolled to a stop along a dirt road in north Phoenix. About 20 young Muslim males climbed out, armed with assault rifles, a shotgun, a sniper rifle and handguns. The location near Happy Valley Road and 51st Avenue is a desert recreation site for off-road motorists, hikers and bikers, dozens of whom were enjoying the spring-like weather.

For more than an hour, the shooters blasted away at a granite rock and empty cans in front of a hill. Officials estimate the fusillade totaled 500 to 1,000 rounds. Some shooters left before police arrived and detained 10 adults and five boys, including an 11-year-old.

The young men and boys told officers the weapons belonged to their parents. They said they were not aware it was illegal to use firearms in the residential area.

Six were arrested and charged with felony weapons violations in Maricopa County Superior Court. Among them were the 20- and 21-year-old sons of two imams at Phoenix-area mosques, as well as the 20-year-old son of Abdallah.
More at link
Posted by: ed || 11/18/2008 07:11 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  How might the FBI "scrutiny" of our friends at ACORN be coming along?
Posted by: Besoeker || 11/18/2008 7:32 Comments || Top||

#2  I hope so, and I hope and pray that 'you know who' tries to interfere with it.
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 11/18/2008 10:02 Comments || Top||

#3  don't worry guys obamama will tell them too leave you alone in a couple of months
Posted by: chris || 11/18/2008 10:34 Comments || Top||

#4  Ariz. Muslim leaders face increased FBI scrutiny

Soon to come to a screeching stop.

This is what Barack Obama said following 9/11:

"In the wake of 9/11, my meetings with Arab and Pakistani Americans have a more urgent quality, for the stories of detentions and FBI questioning and hard stares from neighbors have shaken their sense of security and belonging. I will stand with them should the political winds shift in an ugly direction."

Further, Obama sponsors Illinois Senate Bill 750 creating the "Halal Food Act," providing for inspections by the Department of Agriculture to ensure that all food labeled Halal is prepared according to Islamic law.
In addition: "On January 31st, Obama told a French magazine in an interview that if he wins office, he will hold a summit with Muslim countries to better the United States' image in the world।
"’Once I'm elected, I want to organize a summit in the Muslim world, with all the heads of state, to have an honest discussion about ways to bridge the gap that grows every day between Muslims and the West’"
Posted by: tipper || 11/18/2008 11:16 Comments || Top||

#5  The FBI + DHS are also reportedly monitoring a major US-BASED MUSLIM MISSIONARY/PROSELYTZING GROUP wid alleged covert or quiet links [read, $$$, Recruits, Weapons] to many mainline Radical Islamist Militia-Terr Groups-Networks.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 11/18/2008 17:34 Comments || Top||

#6  Well that's just good sense.
Posted by: Hellfish || 11/18/2008 18:05 Comments || Top||

#7  What The One said when he was running and what he does when he gets in will be two different things. Sorta like Bush. I'll wait to see if he really drops security in the dumper before assuming he will.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 11/18/2008 18:38 Comments || Top||

#8  The Login Genie hit me again, I kinda like it.

I'm trying to remember the name of the head of the nation of Islam, who went to Africa and the leaders wouldn't see him because "He was'nt Black enough". and I'm seeing Obambi treated the same.

Got it "Louie Farakan"(sp)
Posted by: Whart the Galactic Hero8146 || 11/18/2008 19:11 Comments || Top||

#9  innocent Muslims unjustly fall under suspicion

Poor innocent Muslims; practioners of a religion determined to convert or kill non-believers.
Posted by: SteveS || 11/18/2008 19:24 Comments || Top||

#10  "Whoever did Sept. 11..."

Well, FYYFF.

Keep it up, and you might pine for the good old days when we threw you off the plane before takeoff.
Posted by: Hyper || 11/18/2008 19:40 Comments || Top||

#11  The Login Genie hit me again, I kinda like it.

I guess we all been there.

Seriously tho, FredMan inspects and approves each and every Login dJinn for completerness, quality and toothiness of spirit.
Posted by: .5mt || 11/18/2008 23:01 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
3 troops among 10 killed in Swat suicide kaboom
At least three troops were killed when a suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden vehicle into a security checkpost in Swat's Khawazakhela area on Monday, the military said. Swat Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan claimed responsibility for the attack, adding attacks against security forces would continue if the military operation in Swat continued.

Also on Monday, a Taliban commander was reported dead after security forces pounded hideouts in Kabal tehsil. But negotiations between a local peace jirga and rebel cleric Fazlullah ended on a positive note, sources privy to the talks said. He told the jirga that he would stop armed activities if the government was serious in a ceasefire. The jirga will now talk to the NWFP government in Peshawar.

In Bajaur, the Barmang, Utmankhel and Arang tribes handed over 38 men suspected of links with Taliban to the political administration. Tribal elder Malik Jumadar Khan, who was kidnapped on Sunday, was found dead in Mamoond. A tribal elder was injured in a gunfight between Taliban and a tribal lashkar in the Inayat village in Khar tehsil. Several houses were destroyed in the clash. The Salarzai and Mamoond tribes asked the government to continue the ongoing military operation until Taliban were eliminated.

In the Shabqadar rural area of Charsadda, 12 Taliban were killed and eight arrested in an overnight operation. Helicopter gunships also pounded suspected Taliban hideouts in the area.

In Peshawar, two suspected Taliban from Adezai area of the city surrendered to the police and swore not to pick up arms again, but later denied in a press conference they were Taliban.
Posted by: Fred || 11/18/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: TTP


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Israeli Tanks Rumble Into Gaza, Palestinians Open Fire
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip -- Israeli tanks forged into the southern Gaza Strip on Tuesday, drawing mortar fire from Palestinian terrorists militants and intensifying violence that has chipped away at a tenuous cease-fire.

Israel and Hamas have been trading fire for two weeks after nearly five months of relative quiet. The June 19 truce is due to expire next month, and both sides might be trying to dictate more favorable terms in anticipation of the agreement's renewal.

The Israeli military described the activity as "a routine operation to uncover explosive devices near the border fence in the southern Gaza Strip." It said two mortars were fired at troops, causing no injuries or damage.

Terrorist Militant groups said they fired both mortars and rockets.

The tanks, backed by a bulldozer and military jeep, rumbled about a quarter-mile into the tiny seaside strip, residents and Gaza security officials said. Residents said they leveled lands along the border east of the city of Rafah. It was the first ground action in a week. The tanks did not respond to the Palestinian fire.

At least 17 terrorists militants have been killed since the truce began unraveling, and by the military's count, terrorists militants have fired more than 140 rockets and mortars at Israel.

In an effort to squelch the rocket fire, Israel has kept cargo crossings into Gaza clamped shut for the most part, drastically restricting vital supplies.

Both Israel and leaders of Gaza's ruling Islamic terrorist militant Hamas movement have said they hoped the Egyptian-brokered truce could be preserved. But a small, Hamas-allied terrorist group said they consider the truce to have broken down, and Israel has threatened to hit hard if the rocket fire persists.

On Tuesday, a spokesman for the terrorists Hamas-run Interior Ministry accused Israel of subverting the truce. "We call on the Palestinian factions to meet to begin an immediate re-evaluation of the calm," spokesman Ihab al-Ghussein said.

Before the truce was reached, terrorists militants barraged Israel with near-daily rocket attacks, provoking sometimes harsh military retaliation that killed hundreds of Palestinians, including many civilians.

In recent weeks, several dozen foreign fools rubes dishpits activists have defied the siege, reaching Gaza by boat to try to draw attention to the claimed misery the blockade has caused Gaza's 1.4 million people. On Tuesday, a local anti-blockade activist, Amjad Shawwa, said Israeli seamen boarded a Palestinian fishing boat and arrested one of Gaza's foreign supporters and five Palestinian fishermen. Shawwa identified the foreigner as Andrew Muncie of Scotland.

The Israeli military had no immediate comment.
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 11/18/2008 10:21 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Israel has threatened to hit hard if the rocket fire persists.

They've been saying that for years. It's like unassertive parents that threaten to spank a misbehaving child, but never do. It doesn't take long for the kid to realize that they never will, and do whatever it wants.
Now, if the Israelis actually do do something the Paleostains won't even remember what its for. Like a dog that has peed on the carpet 2 weeks ago.
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 11/18/2008 10:42 Comments || Top||

#2  It's deja vu all over again. On so many levels.
Posted by: SteveS || 11/18/2008 11:24 Comments || Top||

#3  Ok, guys, a couple of points:
1) when the guns and mortars start shooting, the "cease fire" is over.

2)It ended 2 weeks ago
Posted by: mojo || 11/18/2008 11:33 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Seven gunned down in two days in southern Thailand
Suspected terrorist separatist rebels shot dead seven people including two women in attacks across southern Thailand, police said on Tuesday, as violence spiralled in the Muslim-majority region.

Two men were shot dead on Tuesday in Pattani, one of three far southern provinces beset by a nearly five-year long insurgency. 'We still don't know their names or their ages yet, as no one dared to go to the scene and investigate for fear of a bomb attack,' a police officer in the district said. Later on Tuesday near the scene of the first attack, a mother and her son were shot dead in a drive-by shooting.

On Monday, a 44-year-old soldier, a 73-year-old woman and a 23-year-old man were killed in separate attacks in Pattani and Narathiwat provinces.
Posted by: ryuge || 11/18/2008 05:18 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:


Philippines: Communist rebels willing to discuss prisoner's release
(AKI) -- In a statement released on Monday, the outlawed Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) called on the government to hold talks with its armed wing for the safe release of an army official captured after recent clashes, Lt. Vicente Cammayo. But the Philippines army has rejected the offer and said that it will keep launching operations against the rebels.

Cammayo was snatched by rebels from the CPP's armed wing, The New's People Army, following clashes in the Compostela Valley last week. He is reported to be badly wounded.

The CPP called the officer a "prisoner of war" and stated that he was being properly treated. The rebel group added that the only way for the government to achieve his release was through negotiations. "We assure the family and friends of Lieutenant Cammayo that he is being accorded rights and considerate treatment due him as a prisoner of war."

"The safe and orderly release of Lieutenant Cammayo can only be achieved through negotiations and on condition that the Army's military operations in the area and vicinity are stopped."

Army spokesman Romeo Brawner welcomed the news that Cammayo is alive - something confirmed by the NPA on Sunday. But Brawner added: "The Army will continue to launch military operations not just to rescue Cammayo but also to bring to justice his captors."

Brawner did not responde to the CPP's invitation to negotiate over Cammayo's release.

The 5,000-strong NPA is an avowedly Maoist group that has been fighting since 1969 to overthrow the government through protracted guerrilla warfare. Although primarily a rural-based guerrilla group, the NPA is also active in cities. It primarily targets Philippine security forces, politicians, judges, government informers and former rebels who wish to leave the NPA, rival splinter groups, and alleged criminals.

The NPA also oppose the US military presence in the Philippines, has attacked US military interests, and before the US base closures in 1992, killed US service personnel. The group obtains most of its funding from the contributions of supporters and from the so-called "revolutionary taxes," which critics say are extorted from local businesses.
Posted by: Fred || 11/18/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  It primarily targets Philippine security forces, politicians, judges, government informers and former rebels who wish to leave the NPA, rival splinter groups, and alleged criminals.

The Democratic party, they're nearly everywhere!

Posted by: Besoeker || 11/18/2008 7:36 Comments || Top||



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Two weeks of WOT
Tue 2008-11-18
  B.O. vows to exit Iraq, shut down Gitmo
Mon 2008-11-17
  Pirates take Saudi supertanker off Mombasa
Sun 2008-11-16
  Lankan Army seizes entire west coast from LTTE
Sat 2008-11-15
  Al-Shabaab closes in on Mog
Fri 2008-11-14
  U.S. missiles hit Pak Talibs, 12 dead
Thu 2008-11-13
  Somali pirates open fire on Brit marines. Hilarity ensues.
Wed 2008-11-12
  Philippines ship, 23 crew seized near Somalia
Tue 2008-11-11
  EU launches anti-piracy mission off Somalia
Mon 2008-11-10
  Somali gunnies kidnap two Italian nuns
Sun 2008-11-09
  Boomerette hits emergency room west of Baghdad
Sat 2008-11-08
  Mukhlas, Amrozi and Samudra executed
Fri 2008-11-07
  Pak: 13 dead in dronezap
Thu 2008-11-06
  Iran: We can block off Persian Gulf in blink of an eye
Wed 2008-11-05
  America Votes. B.O. wins.
Tue 2008-11-04
  IAF strike zaps four Gazooks


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