Authorities in eastern Saudi Arabia have shot and killed a suspected Saudi militant and arrested four others, an Interior Ministry spokesman said Tuesday. The incident occurred after an attack Monday on a U.S. diplomatic car in the Red Sea port city of Jiddah. The car, carrying U.S. Marine and a Saudi driver, was shot at but no one was injured, according to the U.S. Embassy and a Saudi security official. The announcement Tuesday said security forces were searching two locations in the eastern city of Ihsa, when a car carrying four people passed a security checkpoint and drove toward the forces.
"It's the cops! Floor it, Abdul!"
The car was fired upon, killing one and wounding the three others, who were arrested. A fourth suspect was also arrested at a different location.
"You'll never take us alive, coppers!... Ow!... Ow!... Hey! Stop it! You're hurting me!... We quit!"
Posted by: Steve ||
08/31/2004 4:02:18 PM ||
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The Australian Foreign Affairs Department said it was investigating reports that an Australian has been kidnapped in Yemen. A news agency report, quoting tribal sources, said an Australian oil engineer was abducted in eastern Yemen by a group of armed tribesmen. Germany's DPA news agency said the man was employed by a Canadian oil company. In Canberra, a Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade official said the department was aware of the media reports and consular staff were investigating. No further details were immediately available.
Posted by: TS(vice girl) ||
08/31/2004 9:13:04 AM ||
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Eleven Kurdish separatist guerrillas and two Turkish soldiers were killed on Tuesday in renewed fighting in the country's southeast, a security official said. Violence in the mainly Kurdish southeast has been on the rise since Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) fighters called off a six-year unilateral ceasefire on June 1, threatening to rekindle a separatist conflict that killed more than 30,000 people, mostly Kurds, in the 1980s and 1990s. The latest fighting broke out on August 28 in mountainous Sirnak province near the Iraqi border, the official said.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/31/2004 8:01:23 PM ||
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A US soldier has gone on trial accused of trying to give away secrets to undercover agents who he allegedly thought were Islamic militants. Ryan Anderson, a Muslim convert serving in the US National Guard, is charged with trying to pass information to the al-Qaeda movement. His lawyer Maj Joseph Morse argued Mr Anderson suffered "a mental condition".
"Yer honor, my client's got a mental condition: he's a nut!"
But prosecuting lawyer Maj Melvin Jenks said the court-martial was "a case about betrayal".
"The fact that he's a nut don't matter!"
Mr Anderson, who was not present on the opening day of his trial, has pleaded innocent to five charges.
"Nope. Nope. Never happened. Wudn't me."
He faces life imprisonment if two-thirds of the officers on the panel in Fort Lewis, Washington state, find him guilty of the charges. Mr Anderson, 27, is alleged to have signed on to extremist internet chatrooms in order to contact al-Qaeda operatives to offer services and information. Maj Jenks said he had evidence from various sources, including text messages and email, showing Mr Anderson wanted to help enemy forces, Reuters reported. Mr Anderson is also accused of providing agents posing as al-Qaeda representatives with documents providing some specifics about army equipment. "This is a case about betrayal," Maj Jenks told a panel of commissioned officers on the opening day of the court-martial. "Betrayal of our country, betrayal of our army and betrayal of our soldiers."
"I object, yer honor! He called my client a dirtbag!"
"Overruled!"
But in his opening remarks, Maj Morse said Mr Anderson was suffering from delusions. "They [prosecutors] want you to believe he was a militant Muslim, that he sympathised with al-Qaeda," the defence lawyer said. "The evidence is not going to show it. He had a mental condition."
"He only thought he was a militant Muslim! Actually, he's a Lutheran!... With a turban... And curly-toed slippers. And automatic weapons..."
Maj Morse has previously argued the information Mr Anderson tried to pass on was not classified and was relatively easy to find. Mr Anderson was not of a senior rank and is not thought to have had access to highly sensitive information. The trial is expected to continue until at least Friday.
Posted by: tipper ||
08/31/2004 8:09:42 AM ||
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#1
His lawyer Maj Joseph Morse argued Mr Anderson suffered "a mental condition".
#3
Sorry to be the bubble-burster, but the guy actually could be just plain nuts. If not . . . well, that's a different story. Also, if he "had" a mental condition, chances are he still "has" it, and if so, it won't be very difficult for the panel to decipher.
#6
If he is suffering from a mental condition that predisposes him to treason, his command chain should be prosecuted for not being competent enough to realize that something was wrong and take action to remove him from access to classified or sensitive information. (system capabilities used to be classified Secret and deficiencies Top Secret). If he is sane, he should be tried for treason and executed.
#7
If he can be shown to know right from wrong, then simply export him as a perimeter "under the burkha" physical searcher in the boundary area of Fallujah. The Wannabee-Taliban there will save us the trouble.
A man described as a high-ranking Hamas operative was freed Monday on a $1 million bond, but must appear before a federal grand jury in Chicago probing the Palestinian militant group's financing.
Bail? Bail?
I believe making bail is the sixth pillar of Islam.
Ismael Selim Elbarasse was released during a closed-door detention hearing in federal court in Baltimore, said Vickie LeDuc, a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's office.
"Is a check okay?"
"It ain't from outta state, is it?"
His attorney said he was traveling to his home in Ein el-Hellhole Annandale, Syria Va. Elbarasse had been arrested after officers pulled him over Aug. 20 just west of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge after spotting his wife filming the structure with a video camera. Neither Elbarasse nor his wife was charged with any wrongdoing. However, Maryland authorities held him after discovering a material witness warrant had been issued for him in Illinois the same day. Federal officials in Chicago want Elbarasse to appear before a grand jury probing the financing of Hamas, which the government has designated a terrorist organization. "He's going home, and I suspect what he and his family will do is stop keeping photo albums of their targets vacations," said Elbarasse's attorney, Stanley Cohen. A phone call to Elbarasse's home was unanswered Monday afternoon.
Yas, the rivets on the Brooklyn Bridge are so inspiring for the relatives back home.
Cohen said Elbarasse's friends put up property to post the bond. Elbarasse, an accountant, was jailed for eight months in 1998 after failing to testify before a federal grand jury that was investigating Hamas fund-raising.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/31/2004 12:24:13 AM ||
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#1
Elbarasse, an accountant. . .
Aha! We now know what happened to "Irv" the Sit-N-Sleep Mattress accountant. . .
(Sorry - Inside Joke From Souther Calif. Radio Ads)
In all seriousness we have to stop random photography of brides where we can. Remember, Osama's family is in construction, and that video of him in Afghanistan bragging about unexpected success on 9/11 indicated he has some understanding of the subject.
The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) blamed yesterday the military for the renewed armed fighting in Datu Saudi, Maguindanao that led to the killing of at least five former Moro rebels. MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu said the fighting broke out when elements of the Army's 37th Infantry Battalion conducted at dawn Sunday a "saturation drive" in villages in Datu Saudi, believed to be occupied by MILF rebels. "The soldiers did a house-to-house search in the areas. Our troops have no choice but to fire shots at the soldiers to protect themselves," Kabalu said.
Kabalu also alleged that the military supported the group of a certain "Tamano Mamalacat," former commander of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and now member of the legislative council of the town. Mamalacat also leads a team of armed civilian volunteers in the area, Kabalu said. The soldiers, together with the group of Mamalacat, attacked barangay Bulatucan, also in Datu Saudi, and fought the group of Commander Tutin Basco, a member of the MNLF executive council. After a few hours of firefight, at least five armed men two from Basco's group and three from Tamano's were killed. One soldier was wounded during the fighting, said Maj. Gen. Raul Relano, commander of the 6th Infantry Division.
The fighting, Kabalu said, stemmed from a decades-old land conflict in Datu Saudi town. Relatives of both MNLF commanders failed to resolve the land issue that started many years ago. Tamano's father, identified as Mamalacat Salimo, and Basco's father, a certain Tutin Sumagka, had fought over a piece of land in barangay Bulatucan. Both fathers are now dead. The fighting in Datu Saudi was the second incident this year involving the groups of Commander Basco and Mamalacat. Last June, Basco was "forced to leave the area when Tamano and his group, together with government troops, attacked barangay Bulatucan that led to the killing of eight of Basco's men, including his son," Kabalu said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
08/31/2004 1:23:59 AM ||
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The Philippine military said Monday that an improvised explosive device rocked a southern city, damaging several infrastructures but causing no casualties. The military said that authorities are now conducting manhunt operations on a certain Commander Ramsey, the prime suspect in the explosion that occurred in Pagadian City of Zamboanga del Sur province on Sunday night. Military information chief Daniel Lucero said "lawless elements" headed by a certain Commander Ramsy are believed to be the perpetrators of the explosion that occurred in front of a drug store in Pagadian City of Zamboanga del Sur province on Sunday night, with extortion the group's motive. "Mercury Drug has received an extortion letter from Commander Ramsy on Aug. 24 so we believe they are responsible for the incident since the firm refused to heed to their demand for an unspecified amount of money," Lucero said.
However, the military spokesman dismissed the possible involvement of the MILF in the incident. "Commander Ramsey's group affiliation is yet to be identified." Investigators found no signs that the explosion was perpetratedby neither the kidnap-for-ransom group Abu Sayyaf nor the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), terrorist group in Southeast Asia linked with Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda terrorist network, Lucero added.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
08/31/2004 1:19:32 AM ||
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Tehran, Aug 31 , IRNA -- Iran`s Information (Intelligence) Minister Ali Younesi said here Tuesday that several people had been arrested for spying on the country`s nuclear program. "The Information Ministry has arrested several spies who were transferring Iran`s nuclear information (out of the country)," he told reporters during a news conference. Younesi did not identify those arrested, but stated that members of the terrorist Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO), which Iran dubs as Munafeqin or hypocrites, have passed the bulk of secrets about Iran`s nuclear program to the country`s enemies.
That would be us, I guess.
"Munafeqin have had the lead role in passing information (about Iran`s nuclear facilities) and have already expressed their pride in spying against Iran. "In a news conference which they held once in the United States, they said they were proud of passing this information to America and other countries," Younesi said.
Maybe this is why we've let them stay in a holding area in Iraq.
The minister stressed his ministry`s capabilities in uncovering espionage against the Islamic Republic, saying `we have already arrested tens of spies`. He did not say when the arrests had taken place. "The Information Ministry`s counter-spying department is equipped with the most advanced devices and acts with power and utmost fluency against infiltration of spy services," he added.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/31/2004 11:11:28 AM ||
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#1
I don't get it -- why would anyone be charged with "spying" on a peaceful nuclear electricity program? What secrets could there be? On second thought, maybe the "spies" are just monitoring the project timing so that "greetings and congratulations" can be sent to the new facilities at a most-opportune time.
Posted by: Tom ||
08/31/2004 12:02 Comments ||
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#2
And they were real easy to find because they glow in the dark.
#7
An Najaf is behind the times on their morgue. They should travel to Gaza and check out the cool (literally and figuratively) stainless steel Paleo morgue modules. The Shi'ites could have a good morgue, too, if their friends quit booming the oil pipelines. Morgues cost money, too.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
08/31/2004 21:25 Comments ||
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#8
I'm sure they are all civilians... Just ask that Dr in the Fallujah hospital.
#11
Like Ghalyan, many of those wounded in fighting were shot either in the chest or above, the hospital doctors said. âThatâs where the Americans aim ...
Where exactly are the Mahdi aiming?
Posted by: Super Hose ||
08/31/2004 23:51 Comments ||
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#12
"Thatâs where the Americans aim ..." 'cause thats where a kill registers. What a dummy.
Ssomeone needs to show these lamers they are holding the firestick backwards.
#13
Also I have never heard of an American sniper that was partial to a neck shot. Sounds more like a percision AK aimed at the torso.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/01/2004 1:51 Comments ||
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#14
Well I was trained to use an AK with the "pray and spray" mode of aiming but I don't discount the accuracy of one you personally sight in. I doubt any of the folks currently using the abundant AK supply in Iraq has ever been trained properly on weapons use, let alone has their weapon properly sighted in. Good thing too.
I would suspect good guy snipers would be going for punkin popping for the psyops effect when ever they can.
An Iranian photojournalist working for the semi-official Fars news agency has been arrested by Iraqi police in the holy Shia city of Najaf, the ISNA students news agency said yesterday. "Hasan Qaedi, who wanted to cover Najaf developments, was arrested by Iraqi police on Thursday," ISNA quoted one of the Fars news agency's editors as saying. Iranian journalists have faced problems with the authorities in Iraq in the past weeks. Four Iranian reporters were arrested by Baghdad police on Aug. 9. They were released last week.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/31/2004 8:36:26 PM ||
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#1
Anyone wanna bet that "journalist" is just ONE of his occupations?
#3
Hamas better keep their heads down low. They are in the crosshairs now. Expect some death from above after their two booms on Israeli buses. The sooner all these terrorists are eliminated, the better the world can be, and then we can all sing Kumbayah.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
08/31/2004 23:06 Comments ||
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#4
Do you want to touch my surrender monkey?
Posted by: Chris W. ||
08/31/2004 23:07 Comments ||
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Nineteen students were injured in a clash between supporters of the Islami Jamiat Talaba (IJT) and the Punjabi Student Association (PSA) at Dawood College of Engineering and Technology (DCET) on Tuesday. The clash began at 10:30am and activists of the two student organisations used iron rods, sticks and bottles against one another. Clashes took place in different parts of the colleges. The DCET administration called in the police and Rangers who controlled the situation. Sources at the college said a few days back a class representative of second year lodged a complaint with teachers about habitual absentees students and their late arrivals, which caused problems to them. Activists of one of the student organisations a couple of days back manhandled the class representative, but the college administration did not realize the gravity of the situation. So naturally finally clashes broke out between the two groups, the sources said. A spokesman for the IJT claimed scores of its supporters were injured when PSA activists, under the patronage of Rangers, attacked its supporters while they were attending their classes.
"An' we wudn't doin' nuffin!"
He claimed more than 60 supporters of the PSA armed with iron rod, sticks and bottles attacked IJT supporters... They were provided with first aid at Jinnah Post Graduate Medical Centre.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/31/2004 8:17:32 PM ||
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Sounds like the crowd at a Yankee- Red Sox game.
Security officials raided the Jamia Matlaul Uloom seminary on Brewery Road on Tuesday and arrested a suspect. Hafiz Hussain Ahmad, a Mutahidda Majlis-e-Amal member of the National Assembly, ran the seminary. Hafiz Munir, son of Mr Ahmad, told reporters that security personnel carried dossiers of sketches, interrogated several students and took one former student with them. He said the seminary was raided on "directives from the United States".
Posted by: Fred ||
08/31/2004 8:16:44 PM ||
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Security agencies arrested two Arabs from phase IV of Hayatabad on suspicion of being Al Qaeda operatives on Monday. According to well-placed sources, the two men were arrested by a joint team of Crime Intelligence Department police and security agencies at 2am. The two detainees were taken to an undisclosed location for further investigation. No official confirmation has been given about the arrests so far.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/31/2004 8:00:27 PM ||
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Phase IV of Hayatabad? Did they get shitfaced and crash their spaceship?
A bomb explosion killed four people and wounded fifteen others at a sweet shop in Qalat, a small town 140km south of Quetta on Tuesday. The three dead included two intelligence officers.
"No Twizzlers? You bastards!"
According to police, the homemade bomb had been planted inside the shop. The explosion occurred at about 1130am, said Provincial Home Secretary Abdul Rauf. No one has claimed responsibility for the blast and it was not immediately clear who was behind it. Police said investigations were underway. The three men who died were intelligence officers Syed Tauqir Shah and Mushtaq Shah, and the shopkeeper, Sheikh Manzoor. The fifteen wounded were taken to Qalat Civil Hospital. It wasn't clear if the two law enforcement agents were the targets, although police official Salim Lehri said they routinely went there for breakfast and lunch.
Sweet shop, doughnut shop, seems like some things are universal.
It is believed the two officers were eating when the bomb exploded. The explosion also damaged several nearby shops and an electrical transformer that caused a power cut in the area.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/31/2004 7:50:40 PM ||
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A Palestinian militant group threatened yesterday to kill Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath for participating in a conference in Italy with his Israeli counterpart. The Jenin Martyrs Brigades said Shaath should have avoided all contact with Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom at a religious conference in northern Italy last week during a hunger strike by Palestinians held in Israeli prisons. The Brigades, the armed wing of the Popular Resistance Committees that band together a coalition of militants, said it decided to prevent the "traitor" Shaath from returning home to Gaza. "He will be sentenced to death if he enters. The decision cannot be rescinded," the group said.
"Dat's right. Dis is a Paleostinian democracy: you do what we say, or we bump you off."
Mohammad Al-Waheidi, a spokesman for Shaath, said the Palestinian foreign minister and Shalom never held a one-on-one meeting during the gathering in Rimini, Italy. "Shalom was a guest there just like minister Shaath. There was a debate and minister Shaath explained the suffering of the striking prisoners and their right to better conditions and freedom," Waheidi said.
"It ain't like they really said anything to each other. Please don't kill us!"
Posted by: Fred ||
08/31/2004 7:53:12 PM ||
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Ok, somebody finally said it in public:
Russian Planes Exploded From Toilets
Evidence Supports Prior Reports of Al Qaeda Women Smuggling Explosives Internally?
Here.
What makes this especially ominous is this report from six months ago, claiming that Al Qaeda was training female bombers to smuggle explosives inside their vaginas. The plan was to extract the explosives and then assemble the bomb in the toilet, of course.
I have no idea how this country will react to this, if this is the new tactic. As I mentioned when I first noted this story (CAUTION: contains very indelicate language), we're either going to have to subject women to highly, HIGHLY intrusive body-searches or else we're just going to have to allow Al Qaeda to blow up airplanes whenever they feel like it.
If this is the new tactic, it seems to me that this will be the Rubicon as regards racial profiling. Non-Muslim women are not going to put up with being told that they must subject themselves to unscheduled gynecological exams just to be "fair" to all women. And, as humiliating and intrusive as such searches might be, I don't see how we can do anything else but subject only Muslim women (or primarily Muslim women) to this admitted indignity.
Perhaps there's a technological solution. But that too has its problems; I don't know if many women will gladly accept dangerous X-raying of their wombs just to board an airplane.
Note: The original post linked to is not only indelicate as regards language, it contains juvenile jokes that are even less appropriate now than they were when first made. I apologize for that-- but, six months ago, this was more of a hypothetical concern.
Let's be glad that Charlotte Raven and other fifth column media-skanks have not moved beyond incitement and actively joined the terrorists. Any one of them could probably conceal a MOAB up there.
#3
Alright, I must be having a low sugar bout this afternoon, given the following fantasy, BUT...isn't there a way to detonate any hidden bombs without actually removing them? Start with BigEd's idea, then when the bomb is located, isolate her and, BOOM!, expedite her to Muslim heaven. Although she is going to have a problem "caring" for her man, since she no longer would have a "dock"; guess she'll have to leave that to the other 71 numbskull jihadettes.
#4
My wife, kind and nurturing soul that she is, points out that these women are, in a sense, victims themselves. "What kind of brain-washing and degradation would it take to get a woman to do that to herself, let alone to a hundred innocent people?"
"Still," she concludes, "we have to kill the sluts."
#5
OK - we have that mad X-ray machine in London to perform cavity searches on Jamaican yardies present at early morning mass arrests outside dancehalls in London - expensive but got to be put in all airports.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
08/31/2004 16:51 Comments ||
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#6
Alternatively, pull all Muslims to one side for rubber glove trickery - would befun.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
08/31/2004 16:54 Comments ||
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#8
Well, if we announce that all cavity searches will be done by Michael Moore, I'm sure no terrorist group in the world will be able to get volunteers for this.
#9
This just shows how low terrorists will descend to achieve their aims. To really counter the terrorists, we have to go to the money source that keeps the jihadis funded---and dry it up. That is the long term solution. We are going to have to quit being so PC, and that, I am afraid, will happen after so many more hits that will wake up the public.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
08/31/2004 17:50 Comments ||
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#10
Cool, let's nuke Saudi.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
08/31/2004 17:52 Comments ||
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#11
Good idea, Silentbrick, but how do we clear Lumpy himself? I mean, do YOU want to check his ass for a daisy-cutter?
Posted by: Louis Metro Shipman ||
08/31/2004 18:09 Comments ||
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#14
Atomic Conspiracy
Good idea, Silentbrick, but how do we clear Lumpy himself? I mean, do YOU want to check his ass for a daisy-cutter?
We'll get the Governor of New Jersey to do that for us.
#15
I remember reading somewhere that plastic explosives could be set off using certain high frequency sound waves. Build a metal-sided hallway with sound generators imbedded in the walls, and run 'em through. Those that come out the other end can board the aircraft.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
08/31/2004 18:57 Comments ||
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#16
I've heard of gun-sex but this goes a bit far dont you think?
#17
Air travel is vulnerable, but few people in Russia use it. However, everyone does use the train and 2nd and 3rd class passengers are packed in tight. Even more tightly packed in are the train stations themselves. Are the Russians (or Euros or US) going to X-ray, Ultrasound, body cavity search everyone that goes to the airport, trains station, sports event, concert? I think the Chechens will force the Russians to revert to old and effective methods of warfare: hunt them all down wherever they are found, and kill them.
Posted by: ed ||
08/31/2004 19:47 Comments ||
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#18
ed - you're prolly right and it's definitely the Russian way. But it's interesting to note that, without any sort of agreement, various types of technology were the primary solution most posters in this thread explored. Says a lot about us, no?
#21
ed probably has the only practical way. If we are always on the defensive, we are inevitably going to get someone boomed. We bring it back to the jihadis, then THEY are on the defensive. We are sort of doing that now with Afghanistan and Iraq, but we need to get hard-nosed like the Israelis if we are going to win. I do not know everything they do on El Al, but they have not had hijackings in years. Nothing speaks like success.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
08/31/2004 20:45 Comments ||
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A militant Iraqi group said it had killed 12 Nepali hostages and showed pictures of one being beheaded and others being shot dead, the worst mass killing of captives since a wave of kidnappings erupted in April. The announcement of the killings, made in a statement posted on an Islamist Web site on Tuesday, came as France intensified its efforts to save two French reporters held hostage by a separate group as a deadline set by their captors neared. The Nepalis were kidnapped earlier this month when they entered Iraq to work as cooks and cleaners for a Jordanian firm. The killing of men from a tiny country that has had nothing to do with the invasion or occupation of Iraq will send shockwaves through foreign companies doing business here. "We have carried out the sentence of God against 12 Nepalis who came from their country to fight the Muslims and to serve the Jews and the Christians...believing in Buddha as their God," said the statement by the military committee of the Army of Ansar al-Sunna. The group posted a series of photographs showing the killing as well as a video. The recording showed two masked men, one in camouflage, holding down a hostage. One of the men then used a knife to behead the hostage and then hold his head aloft.
There's some boys in Nepal who'd be more than happy to show you their knifes
The video then showed a group of hostages lying face down and being shot by a man using an automatic rifle. It then showed bodies splattered with blood and bullet wounds.
#1
Until all governments of Muslim majority countries identify these terrorists as heretics, the world will increasingly see Islam and terrorism as synonymous.
Ask Humvee gunner Spc. Tim Collins of the 3rd Battalion, 153rd Infantry Regiment of the Arkansas National Guard about what worried him most about fighting in Najaf, and the answer is surprising. It wasn't enemy fire, but rather low-hanging electrical wires and steel rebar. "Around here it's pretty bad," said the 27-year-old from Pocahontas, Ark. "It'll either pull you out or decapitate you."
He and his driver, Spc. Jimmy Ingram, 32, of Imboden, Ark., spent more than two weeks racing through Najaf's sometimes narrow and always debris-strewn streets, delivering personnel, supplies or providing supporting fire for Company C, 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment, all the while dodging low-hanging wires and rebar, the steel reinforcement bars used in construction. Their platoon was attached to Company C before the Najaf fight. "I believe that's what got [one soldier] last night," Collins said to Ingram. "One guy in the 2-7 Cav got electrocuted, but he didn't die." The soldier Collins referred to received cuts and bruises to his chin from either low-hanging wire or a piece of rebar that had flown up from the street.
Many of the power lines that run throughout the old section of town, where all the fighting took place, hang low above the street, having been strung by residents tapping into the main lines. When 2-7 Cav arrived in Najaf, hundreds of wires hung along the length of every street, like giant black spider webs. Realizing the danger, soldiers took steps to minimize it. "We sent the tanks through first," said Capt. Peter Glass, commander of Company C, 3rd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment. His unit was attached to 2-7 Cav for the Najaf fighting. The tanks have a .50-caliber machine gun mounted highest on its turret, and when they came back from a mission "the .50 cal looked like a mummy," said Capt. Jason Toepfer, commander of Company C, 2-7 Cav. "We had a couple of guys helping them [remove wire]. They were taking off hundreds of feet of wire."
Geeez, no wonder the power won't stay up.
Even after dozens of runs down Najaf's streets by dozens of vehicles, dangling wires remained a problem. Gunfire would cause a new batch of broken wires, which would drop straight down or loop down across the street.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve ||
08/31/2004 2:13:27 PM ||
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Yeah, it'd have to be mounted out front far enough away to let the turret/gun traverse. However, it would have to be pretty tough to handle rebar, and the Humvees already seem to be straining with the add'l armor from what I've read.
It's always something!
Posted by: Dar ||
08/31/2004 15:20 Comments ||
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#2
Thanks for the post,Steve. I was in the 153d a few years ago(1950-1951). I also remember seeing those wire cutter bars on jeeps used by the 7th Army in Germany in the mid 50s. Really helped when the canvas was off and the windshield was folded down. Although, from what Capt. Toepfer said a jeep would be overwhelmed with wire in an urban situation like this. The GIs will come up with a good fix I'm sure.
#4
IIRC, the Blackhawk helicopters have wedge shaped wire cutters on the top to protect the rotor mast and on the bottom to protect the skids. With the Humvee, some cutters would work, but I would imagine that they would be overwhelmed by the wiring encountered.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
08/31/2004 16:23 Comments ||
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#5
Freeking scarry. You know the wire will just bo back up with people making illegal taps on to the grid.
At least 10 people were injured when a car exploded on a busy highway in central Moscow on Tuesday, Itar-Tass news agency said. Earlier, Russian news agencies quoted police as saying that the shockwave from the explosion blew out windows in a nearby entrance to a metro underground station. The agencies said it was unclear what had caused the explosion.
Posted by: True German Ally ||
08/31/2004 1:20:54 PM ||
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#1
Russian news say that probably two cars exploded near the metro station Riga in late Rush Hour, close to the department store "Krestovski".
#10
Enough. Time to push the Russians to get serious about a new Entente with the us, the Indians and the Israelis. Pay the Russian nuclear providers whatever sum they need to stop doing deals with Iran. Offer whatever other carrots may be necessary, but get serious NOW about a truly relevant alliance for the 21st century.
#11
TGA-Do you happen to know if the "metro station Riga" is just an arbitrarily named section of the train station; I mean, does the line actually connect to the city of Riga, Latvia? This concerns me.
#12
Ryzhskaya is the name of the metro station that handles local traffic as well as trains bound for the northeast. Riga is to the northwest and would be reached via the Leningradskaya station to the north of the city center.
#14
Look East, friends. America's destiny is with the Eurasian and Asian powers that are determined to quash the jihadists. Definitely includes India and Israel; with careful and determined diplomacy, this alliance can also include Russia and Turkey. Scrap NATO and replace it with an Alliance for this century: US + India + Russia + Israel + Turkey.
#17
I stand corrected. Now the BBC are reporting the attack took place in the southeast, between Paveletskaya and Avtozavodskaya, near the old Zil automotobile factory. But in any case still not on the line going toward the Baltics.
#18
Yes, India and Israel have each made very significant overtures to Turkey inrecent years. Problem remains Iran's very aggressive attempts to forge competing ties with India and with Russia. Read this: http://www.meforum.org/article/504#_ftn10
#20
Jules, the Special Relationship is a freak. Everyone double deals, including ourselves. My point is that the euros cannot and will not help us with Iran or Syria or the jihadists generally, and we therefore need to shift our bandwidth and resources toward the countries that really can, and potentially will, help us there. If we need to cut some unsavory deals, so be it. Sorry, Chechnya. Containing Iran is everything now.
#21
UPDATE: MOSCOW (Reuters) - Eight people were killed and 34 injured by a female suicide bomber in a crowded part of central Moscow Tuesday evening, Moscow's mayor said. Mayor Yuri Luzhkov said the woman had tried to enter a metro station, Riga Station, that would have been crowded toward the end of the evening rush hour.
"She ... was at the door when she saw two policeman. She was scared and turned and decided to destroy herself," Luzhkov said. "Up to 1 kg (2.2 pounds) of explosive was used," Luzhkov told reporters at the scene. "This is an unusual amount of explosive for a woman suicide bomber. There was a desire to cause maximum damage."
He said four children and 11 women were among the injured. Seven people died immediately in the blast, including the bomber. Another person died later in hospital. Police earlier said the bomb had been packed with metal bolts.
Looks like it could have been one of the "black widows".
Posted by: Steve ||
08/31/2004 16:02 Comments ||
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Militants threw a grenade near a crowded bus stand in Kashmir on Tuesday, killing a school teacher and wounding 22 people just days before India and Pakistan hold more talks to resolve a dispute over the region. Police said the guerrillas aimed the grenade at a police patrol in Pulwama in southern Kashmir, but it exploded on the street instead, wounding people waiting for buses.
Posted by: TS(vice girl) ||
08/31/2004 10:57:03 AM ||
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Fears were growing yesterday that two "black widows" - female Chechen suicide bombers - were on the loose in Moscow, less than a week after two passenger airliners were blown out of the sky. The two prime suspects in last week's explosions have been identified as the Chechens Amant Nagaeva and Satsita Dzhebirkhanova. Both had lost brothers in Chechnya's hostilities with Russia. Remains of the women's bodies were found in the wreckage of both planes, along with traces of a high explosive favoured by Chechen separatists. Eighty-nine people died in the almost simultaneous explosions. The daily Izvestia reported yesterday that the two women did not travel to Moscow alone. The newspaper said that they had come with two other Chechen women with whom they had been living in Grozny, Chechnya's capital, Maryam Taburova and Roza Nagaeva (Amant's sister).
All four women were last seen taking a bus from Dagestan to an unknown destination on 22 August, two days before the planes were blown up. All were either divorced or single, and worked as market traders in Grozny's central market, selling children's clothes, which they obtained on monthly shuttle trips to Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. A photograph of Ms Taburova was published on Izvestia's front page yesterday under the chilling headline: "Another two suicide bombers." The paper interviewed the two dead women's relatives in Chechnya, who suggested that they had been murdered and their passports used by real suicide bombers. Izvestia agreed that there were only two possibilities; that the four were genuine suicide bombers controlled by terrorists in Baku, or that their identities had been stolen by Baku-based terrorists who had murdered them. The truth might emerge, it added, when the gruesome remains of Amant and Satsita are identified by their relatives. The populist newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda published a grim photograph of Amant's headless, skinless corpse yesterday, which was barely recognisable as a human being. It claimed investigators had found a note in Arabic among her personal effects reading "Allah Akbar!" or "Allah is Great", the traditional rallying cry of Chechen separatist fighters.
Posted by: TS(vice girl) ||
08/31/2004 10:17:43 AM ||
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#1
I say publish the pictures nationwide, and let the good citizens of Russia "handle" the situation themselves. Not much of an ACLU to whine in Russia, so God is truly great. . .
Police in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba say there has been a double suicide bombing on two buses. At least 12 people are reported to have been killed, according to Israeli TV. Many others were injured - several of them seriously. The blast happened near a shopping centre in the city. One bus was in flames, while windows were blown out of the second, Israeli media reported.
They are the first suicide attacks inside Israel for several months. The BBC's Jon Leyne reporting from Jerusalem says the Beersheba area has been largely unaffected by the violence in the past.
Can we just kill Yasser now and get it over with, please?
Posted by: Steve ||
08/31/2004 8:47:50 AM ||
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#1
Death to Muslims! End the Arab occupation of Israel! Islamic colonialism is evil, and must be stopped, by any means neccessary. Kill the Muslims to the last woman and child - they are colonial occupiers, and even babies are legitimate military targets - all Muslims must be killed to liberate the holy land of Israel!
Explosions struck bus passengers, passing vehicles and pedestrians near town hall and Soroka Hospital. Terrorists may have come from Mt. Hebron, southern West Bank where no security fence or Gaza Strip
#3
The Israelis were happy and proud over the outcome of the Olympics and feeling good on top of that because their toddlers had been enjoying a period of safety. So the FREDs had to make an extra special effort to burst their bubble.
I cannot imagine the kind of courage it must take to keep getting on those buses. I am in awe of their ability to just keep going.
My sympathies to all the victims and their families.
#4
pdan has this exactly right. In the past the south was safe and the north was vulnerable, due to proximity, which is why they built the wall in the north first. Time to finish the wall.
#7
Peggy,
My daughter recently emigrated to Israel (July 04) as she would say,
1. if you read the Wash Post on murders like you read the AP for bus bombings in J-town], you would assume everyone would leave Washington DC because the murder rate is so high (about 300+ per year for a city with a pop of about 600k).
2. if nothing is worth dying for, then nothing is worth living for
I couldn't agree more. I understand your/your daughter's point but bus bombings are more terrifying than some abstract murder statistic. I still think it is very brave not to be driven off the buses and live your life as normal in spite of the possibility of getting on the wrong bus.
I would go there to visit if I could afford it. I wouldn't stay away and let the FRED's win. No way.
I'll say a prayer for your daughter too. It can never hurt, right? I am happy for her.
#14
The Israelis need to complete the Wall and disengage from the Paleos for good. The Paleos (Hamas, et al) are constantly probing for soft spots. The less soft spots the better, then after the Wall is built, they will have to deal with missiles over the wall, but that can be dealt effectively with massive, overwhelming counterbattery fire. A few retaliations like that will take the piss and vinegar out of the jihadis.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
08/31/2004 15:49 Comments ||
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#15
BS flash91 you'd kill for 47 seconds in a third rate movie, which is what I make.
It's a snuffy tho, bring your own belt.
Posted by: Louis Metro Shipman ||
08/31/2004 18:07 Comments ||
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Lieutenant Colonel Thomas V. Johnson said the US troops were attacked with rocket-propelled grenades and mortars shortly after 7:00 pm in the northeastern sector of the city.
"Target destroyed"
Posted by: Steve ||
08/31/2004 8:42:30 AM ||
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Twelve Nepalese taken hostage in Iraq by the Islamist Army of Ansar al-Sunna group have been executed, according to a statement posted on an Islamist website. The statement by the Al-Qaeda linked group on Tuesday was accompanied by pictures of what was claimed to be the bodies of the hostages, one of whom was apprently beheaded while the rest had their throats cut. The 12 were last shown in a videotape on Saturday reading a statement saying they had been misled into working in Iraq by "American lies". Nepal was not part of the US-led coalition in the war-torn country.
Posted by: TS(vice girl) ||
08/31/2004 8:23:48 AM ||
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#1
Yeah, right! These guys are now going to start killing Nepalese so that the Gurkhas will get mad? Talk about unleashing Hell!
Posted by: Jack is Back ||
08/31/2004 10:37 Comments ||
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#2
Time to kidnap some wealthy arabs - plenty of them drunk as skunks wandering Soho's streets in the wee small hours. (!) I'd like to film them with the backdrop of a Templar flag, begging for their asses.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
08/31/2004 10:47 Comments ||
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#5
nothing quite like an enraged ghurka with one of his favourite toys .... http://www.himalayan-imports.com/khukuri-history.html .Just confirms my belief that the insugents in iraq aint got a clue what they have just gone and done
#2 Time to kidnap some wealthy arabs - plenty of them drunk as skunks wandering Soho's streets in the wee small hours. (!) I'd like to film them with the backdrop of a Templar flag, begging for their asses.
they were begging for business with their asses whilst wandering round soho Howard
Guess where the video and still images were posted:
Disclaimer: The postings on this discussion forum do not undergo monitoring before being published and do not necessarily reflect MIRA's views
They didn't stay up long.
Posted by: Robert Stevens ||
08/31/2004 11:15 Comments ||
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#8
Any comment from our regular Islamomurder apologists?
Time to kidnap some wealthy arabs - plenty of them drunk as skunks wandering Soho's streets in the wee small hours.
Ah, Soho streets in the wee small hours. Howard - you're making me nostalgic :). You ought to watch yourself doing that, though. I hear there's werewolves in that neighbourhood. Aye, werewolves. AwoooOOOO!!
#9
I think we are close to the point at which various, er, informal non-governmental organizations will begin to take a medieval hand against the terror-enablers outside the immediate theaters of operation.
#10
If the poor Nepalese were just victims of Western lies, why not tell them the truth ans then let them walk?
From a political standpoint, a webcast of the butchery of 12 probably won't shake public opinion in the countryside of Nepal where the countryside is aflame with Maoist violence. How good is AOL service in Nepal to begin with.
As for impacting the political process in the US, there are only two small demographics of Americans that can locate Nepal on a map: Rantburgers and Indian Jones afficianados.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
08/31/2004 16:22 Comments ||
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I seem to remember my dad - a prominent local freemason - doing construction work on the local temple - paid for by a Sinclair (Saint-Clair), master of the local Lodge.
I think we are close to the point at which various, er, informal non-governmental organizations will begin to take a medieval hand against the terror-enablers outside the immediate theaters of operation.
mmmmmmm ... Might go have a word with the boys from the local Nepalese curry house.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
08/31/2004 16:36 Comments ||
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#12
My God! They right here in RantBurg! Soon the Knights of Kolumbus will whirl into view.
#13
I saw the video, it is the worst yet. Keep in mind that this man was a cook or a janitor, a guy from a poor country who was trying to make some extra dough to feed his family or maybe buy a few luxuries. The terror apologists here in the west wallow in luxury and privelege by comparison. They are at least as evil as the terrorists themselves for without them the terrorists would have no power.
#14
IIRC, unless they're Xtians, Jews, Sabians, or Zoroastrians, any Nepalese are fair game under Islam, whether they submit or not.
Can someone remind me of the sura that allows nastiness against people not of the "book," regardless of agreement, so I don't have to open that pig-dog book unnecessarily?
Rebel cleric Muqtada al-Sadr called on his followers to end their uprising against U.S. and Iraqi forces while he considers forming a political movement, senior al-Sadr officials said Monday. Al-Sadr has backed off other commitments in the past, but a truce would be a major victory for interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi by removing a serious insurgency and potentially bringing many of the Shiite cleric's followers into the effort to build a peaceful democracy. The al-Sadr announcement came amid conflicting reports on Iraq's vital oil exports. Iraqi oil officials and the governor of Basra state said exports were shut down after a rash of pipeline attacks. However, world oil prices decreased as traders said other reports suggested some oil was still flowing. At the New York Mercantile Exchange, October contracts for light sweet crude fell 90 cents a barrel to $42.28 — well below peaks above $48 a barrel in mid-August.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
08/31/2004 1:22:21 AM ||
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#1
Tater's stuck between a rock and a hard place. The Iranian mullahs don't really care if he gets whacked, they'll just promote the next in line to lead the "Saderist Movement" (spit). Sistani will get his revenge, count on it - maybe not next week, but he's a patient man and has lots of relatives.
#2
Absent Sadr's death, this "calling off" doesn't mean a damn thing. When insurgent forces are being/have been pounded down on the battlefield, their typical response is to scale back their efforts to whatever degreee necessary and use time to their advantage.
Tuesday, August 31, 2004
.. I am in Basra now, nothing newâ¦
The news is soooooooo miserable regarding the truce with Muqtada and his thugs..the same crap will happen again..I'm sure of that..Huh..a truce..I thought that the government will put an end to that fat kid..
Just wait for a month and see what will happenâ¦
New arms, new 'fighters' will join this militia again..
I'm so upset, what about the massacre in his 'courts'? what about the stolen treasures? What about their weapons?
Gloomy days are waiting for usâ¦â¦.
#5
BAR: Absent Sadr's death, this "calling off" doesn't mean a damn thing.
If Sadr is killed, someone more capable will take the reins. Hard to see how anyone else could be this incompetent, seeking a face-to-face pitched battle with the best trained and equipped force in the world for this kind of thing. It was like the major combat phase of the Operation Iraqi Freedom all over again. Don't flatter Sadr - most people tend to think that if you take out the head, it's over. That's not the case with an ideology-based movement like jihadism. You have to kill all of the adherents who are prepared to fight to the death. And there is no one more suitable for sending these men to their deaths like sheep to the slaughter than Sadr.
#6
And there is no one more suitable for sending these men to their deaths like sheep to the slaughter than Sadr.
But that means incessant fighting, destruction, and a big political headache, not to mention ammunition for the LLL, for eons to come.
Posted by: Rafael ||
08/31/2004 14:42 Comments ||
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#7
Don't flatter Sadr - most people tend to think that if you take out the head, it's over. That's not the case with an ideology-based movement like jihadism. You have to kill all of the adherents who are prepared to fight to the death.
Yeah, I see the point, but I guess I just have a thin skin where ill-behaved children are concerned (and yeah, Sadr is just like one of those little bastards). This guy comes in and shits all over everything, gets the big smackdown, and then is allowed to retreat out of arm's length, giving him the opportunity to do the same thing all over again later on. Just thinking about this merry-go-round is maddening.
#8
Rafael: But that means incessant fighting, destruction, and a big political headache, not to mention ammunition for the LLL, for eons to come.
This is going to happen with or without Sadr around. The difference is that with Gomer Sadr around less of our guys are going to get killed, and their destruction will happen sooner. Do you realize how long it would have taken to kill 1,000 guys laying mines and shooting off mortars? Gomer Sadr very graciously delivered them on a plate in pitched battle.
#9
Hey wait a damn second! I paid big money to see the last drop of blood? What kinda arab crapola is this? I want my money back, you present yourself as a martry, by god you carry out the contract.
This is Zarqawi's gang, if these reports are true ...
While U.S. troops have been battling Islamic militants to an uncertain outcome in Najaf, the Shiite holy city, events in two Sunni Muslim cities that stand astride the crucial western approaches to Baghdad have moved significantly against American plans to build a secular democracy in Iraq.
Both of the cities, Falluja and Ramadi, and much of Anbar Province, are now controlled by fundamentalist militias, with U.S. troops confined mainly to heavily protected forts on the desert's edge. What little influence the Americans have is asserted through wary forays in armored vehicles, and by laser-guided bombs that obliterate enemy refuges identified by scouts who penetrate militant ranks. Even bombing raids appear to strengthen the fundamentalists, who blame the Americans for scores of civilian deaths. American efforts to build a government structure around former Baath Party stalwarts - officials of Saddam Hussein's army, police force and bureaucracy who were willing to work with the United States - have collapsed. Instead, the former Saddam loyalists, under threat of beheadings, kidnappings and humiliation, have mostly resigned or defected to the fundamentalists, or been killed. Enforcers for the old government, including former Republican Guard officers, have put themselves in the service of fundamentalist clerics they once tortured at Abu Ghraib prison. In the past three weeks, three former Saddam loyalists appointed to important posts in Falluja and Ramadi have been eliminated by the militants and their Baathist allies. The chief of a battalion of the U.S.-trained Iraqi National Guard in Falluja was beheaded by the militants, prompting the disintegration of guard forces in the city. The governor of Anbar resigned after his three sons were kidnapped. The third official, the provincial police chief in Ramadi, was lured to his arrest by U.S. marines after three assassination attempts led him to defect to the rebel cause.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
08/31/2004 1:12:09 AM ||
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#1
This is an interesting article for several reasons, I guess. Three leap out at me:
1. A Pet Peeve. It's odd to read that, because there is action in Najaf, the press reports seem to presume that there can't be action somewhere else, occurring simultaneously and on whatever scale is desired. It's not like the US forces run from one place to the next. That's what the reporters do, not the military. There are forces in positions all over the country, each perfectly capable of executing operations regardless of what is happening elsewhere. If there is anything to this odd media myopia, it would be a command failure in Baghdad - and not necessarily having anything to do with the Military at all. Certainly the troops in any given location can do their jobs independently of other locations. There were certainly quite a few airstikes in Fallujah during the Najaf operation. Someone tell the press that they are not qualified to write about military affairs. Period.
2. Something this article got right: It was to the mortification of the Marines in Fallujah that their operation there was called off. Something I believe it got very very wrong: that victory could only be achieved by flattening Fallujah and ar Ramadi. Those of us who were here on RB at the time, and reading everything being linked to, in particular Belmont Club, know that they had backed the bad guys into an area of about 1/4th of the city - the NW corner - with the Euphrates river to their right and the railway to their backs - facing the Marine lines which had penetrated most of the city - and had the "Fallujah Brigade" mostly pulling patrols in the remainder behind the lines with few incidents. The push and confinement occurred in a relatively short time - less than a week - and that was accomplished under a very strict ROE -so "sensitive" was this opn. It was when the higher-ups, probably Ba'athist symps in Baghdad, got to the "Iraqi leaders" who then lost their nerve was the notion of city-wide anihilation trotted out as a justification for a political approach. Total bullshit. They had concentrated the bad guyz into a target-rich and remarkably small area - with fewer civilian casualties than anyone familiar with war had a right to expect. Only the Bad Guy symps and press would've characterized it otherwise. The asshats and the fuckwits. A marriage made in Paradise, methinks.
3. The assertion in this story that Fallujah and Ramadi "are now controlled by fundamentalist militias, with U.S. troops confined mainly to heavily protected forts on the desert's edge. What little influence the Americans have is asserted through wary forays in armored vehicles, and by laser-guided bombs that obliterate enemy refuges identified by scouts who penetrate militant ranks." Choosing between believing this IHT reporter - or the on the scene reporting of Dave from The Green Side, well, I'll take Dave's version as being far more honest and accurate.
In both Najaf and Fallujah, as elsewhere, the way to tell if you're doing it right is when the other side starts scrambling for a hudna or a political intevention. If you hear it, then don't stop - redouble your efforts, for you are truly putting the hurt on them.
If the "Fallujah Brigade" is in tatters now, that comes as no surprise since it was a hair-brained confabulation from the start - and a mere Trojan Horse for getting the Marines to back off.
Only a press moron could believe that if they wanted to take Fallujah and Ramadi, with or without the kid gloves, they could do so -- and do it with ease within a month -- without leveling the cities. This is based upon the reality we saw in April, not the banter at a bar in the Green Zone. Personally, I believe that leveling cities in the Sunni Triangle is precisely what is needed if there is ever to be a successful pacification of Anbar Province - and if there are ever to be open and free elections. We'll see if the leadership has the stones for it. Yet.
#2
Thanks for the link to The Green Side, .com. Some very interesting stuff there, not least of which is the sense of the absolute depravity of the enemy our people are facing there. And these are the same people who want to rule the ME and project their psychopathic cruelty to the rest of the world. Now would be the time to end this situation once and for all, while Sadr is back on his heels.
#3
Welcome, bro. TGS is one of the best mil blogs around. I wish he had the time / inclination to write more often (or have more of them put up on the site - whichever it is), but when they post one, it's always worth reading and usually completely debunks what we've been reading from the pablum press. Glad you found it as worthwhile as I do!
#4
Another thought: If you want to talk about a true revolution in military affairs, look at the kill ratios we have been achieving in the latest urban combat operations. We need to exploit our current advantage in this type of warfare before the enemy adapts to it.
#5
I admit I don't know the numbers, but suspect they are magnitudes better that the 10:1 that was prevalent up until Gulf War I. It's clear that the US forces, and I assume it's true for the UK forces (e.g. the bayonet attack by the Scots, heh) as well that it's lopsided. Have you got the stats?
#6
As I've heard it, the Islamist presence was strong even during the Saddam regime. I presume most of the locals don't like being controlled by Islamist thugs-- similar to the situation in Afghanistatan.
There is no good solution now. The best not-bad solution is a fairly effective cordon around these cities. However, to really make it an effective cordon administratively, it requires the new Iraqi govt. to admit the reality of the situation and since Allawi was instrumental in creating the Fallujah brigage, that will require some soul searching on his part.
#7
I don't have any official numbers, basing it mainly on reports of hundreds of Sadr militia killed. I suspect the number is actually into 4 figures, as it was in the first battle with Sadr.
#8
The arab culture, and hence its military, is a top-down system infected by class structure, secrecy and paranoia, pride, and a lack of coordination on all levels, that discourages any semblence of individual freedom or initiative.
Some examples:
When introducing a new weapons system to a group of hand-picked trainees, a process that took three weeks of classroom and field firing of the weapon; we learned that once the âtrainedâ soldier returned to his tribal unit, the âhead manâ immediately took control of the weaponâ¦as was his due as their leader. On deploying the weapon for the first time, the headman acquired the target, fired the weapon (from inside a cave) and killed himself and numerous others as the back blast ignited a stockpile of ammo to his rear.
On another occasion: The officer in charge of a security point was directed to stop and inspect every fourth vehicle that passed in front of his check point. After observing numerous vehicles, upon seeing the checkpoint, turn off the hard top onto the sand, drive around building and then back onto the road several hundred meters beyond the barrier, we asked why this was allowed. The answer from the young officer was that his orders were to stop vehicles that âpassed in front of his checkpoint, not behind itâ.
Unlike Western military formations that foster a strong non-commissioned officer corps, arab armies tend to be masses of troops dependent on an officer corps of questionable ability. Cut off the head (literally) and the arab troops melt away over the dunes.
This is not to say that small elite units do not exist, but they are the exception, not the norm. But thatâs another story, for another day.
#9
my sense is that Allawi has to go back and forth between attacking sadr and attacking the baathist/wahabi insurgency for political more than for military reasons. Ditto wrt to truce and amnesty offerings. Allawi is a Shiite, but also an ex-Baathist with ties in the military. Ideally this is the best of both worlds - someone who can command respect from Shiites while assuring Sunnis he will protect their LEGITIMATE interests. OTOH there is the risk he will be seen 1. by the shiites as another Baathist type dictator, preserving Sunni dominance or 2. By the Sunnis (including the Kurds) as a representive of Shia interests, a stalking horse for Sistani or worse. All is balance.
How this plays out from day to day Im not sure, i dont trust the real time MSM, and I think their are disadvantatges to all the other real time open source info as well.
But I will say that dot coms post is very interesting and makes some very good points.
#12
The International Herald Tribune owned by the New York Times. What would you expect from these guys, but relentless moronic editorial comment dressed up as news stories?
#14
"Only a press moron could believe..."
So you object to this?
That's so sweet. So he's what?
IQ.......Term
---......--------------------
<20......idiot
.20-50...imbecile
.50-70...moron
.70-79...bordeline
.80-89...dull normal
.90-109..normal
110-119..bright normal
120-129..superior
>130.....very superior
It's not very bright to have a woodie for a reporter. Sometimes there are articles published under their names in which "they" say rather stupid things, just like everyone else, and deserve no immunity. In this case, "Burns" has missed some important points, posited some sweeping generalities which fly in the face of both reason and experience, and, generally, toed the editorial agenda. The sum is a twisted and inaccurate view of the situation - deserving of some level of derision and mockery. You want to blame the editors at IHT? Fine. Burns' name is on the piece - and the piece is seriously flawed.
#2
It is the same formula. First you request acceptance. Then you seek the "right" to maintain your way of doing business in their culture. Then you insist that your hosts place their practices and laws on a par with yours. Then you assert that they must change their ways to suit yours. Then that they must abandon their ways in favor of yours. And finally, that they must utterly surrender to you in all ways, and that every characteristic of their old ways be destroyed.
#5
Have these guys tried converting? If all the Frogs would become Muslims, the problem would go away.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
08/31/2004 9:12 Comments ||
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#6
The sweetest part is that those two guys are not truck-drivers, peasants or engineers. They are jouranalists: people who have sold their soul to the Parisian elites, those elites who dream of would domination and have brainwashed the French people into a racist antiamerican hate.
I was in Normandy a week ago (Omaha and Juno beaches) and after the Parisian histeria it was SO refreshing to learn of French people who funded from their own pockets a monument to the fallen of Omaha, to see streets displaying "Welcome to our liberators", shops having posters with "War veterans welcome" over the flags of THOSE who were welcome (Americans, British, Polish, Norvegians, Belgians and NO stinking german flag) this despite the unrelenting efforts of Chirac and of the chattering classes to make them love the Germans and hate the allies (even celebration of D-DAY has been a display of anti-american hate in 90% of the French media).
Now two members of those chattering classes after manipulating, lying and cheating to French people, after siding with islamo-fascism during the war of terror, after betraying the French values of "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity" are now in hands of the Islamists. And perhaps will be killed by them...
#7
Plead for their lives? Why not just remind the jihadis that, like the rest of the West-hating media, they are brothers-in-arms?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
08/31/2004 14:30 Comments ||
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#8
from Newsday: BEIRUT, Lebanon -- The militant demand that a French ban on Islamic head scarves be overturned has raised an unprecedented backlash among religious and political leaders in the Middle East, who have often been silent about hostage slayings and other terrorism.
They say those holding two French journalists have desecrated Islam and mindlessly struck out at a country considered a friend to Arabs.
so the point here is that if muslims in foreign countries think there might be a backlash, they take a stand against islamic terror. there's a lesson here, though not a pretty one:
It seems that the ONLY way to motivate Muslims to speak out against Islamic terror is when the threat of attack exists in their newly adopted countries as a result of atrocities in distant lands.
I'm not advocating such a practice. I'm simply dismayed that this seems to be the ONLY way to get them to denounce Islamic terror.
#9
Color me skeptical on the whole Red on Red aspect of this. I think this is a straight forward hostage taking with a ransom demand. The scarf issue is a smokescreen to make it easier for the French to pay the ransom unobtrusively. Both sides will get to walk away looking principled. Looks like there are a few reports that the hostages will be released soon.
I was hoping this might be some Iraqis with a perverse sense of humor and a taste for political theater. What could be more fun than getting French politicos literally on their knees to pray?
#10
I've just been reading the forum section of "Liberation", and I must say that only a few of the comments are wholly supportive of saying "Non!" to the kidnappers. A few wholly supportive of striking down the law, and the majority a combination of how-did-we-get-into-this, why-did-we-pass-that-law-in-thefirst-place. One, of course, said it was an Allawi plot.
Barnier wants an upswell of support in the Arab street to compel the kidnappers to give up the journos. The way: explain the law to Cairo, Jordan, and the Arab League. Let them know France's exceptionalisme. Bonne chance, mon vieux.
Posted by: chicago mike ||
08/31/2004 16:45 Comments ||
Top||
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
