Yemen said yesterday its troops had taken control of rebel strongholds after weeks of deadly clashes with supporters of a slain cleric in the country's north. "The confrontations have practically ended since last Wednesday," President Ali Abdullah Saleh told reporters, adding that government troops controlled rebel areas.
"Yep. They're all dead now."
At least 170 security forces and followers of Hussein Al-Houthi have been killed in the violence which erupted on March 19. Houthi was killed last September along with at least 200 rebels after two months of fighting with state troops. The government blames Houthi's father, Badruddin, for the new round of fighting. "They (rebels) are outlaws with no political weight and do not pose any threat to Yemen's unity," said the president. Yemen says Houthi's armed group is trying to install religious rule and is preaching violence against the United States. The group is not linked to Al-Qaeda.
They're Shiites, anyway. My guess would be that they're emulating Iran, rather than being under Iran's control.
Authorities have detained around 800 suspected followers and have shut unregistered schools run by the group.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/13/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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A suspected al-Qaeda operative who stabbed to death a police officer has been convicted of plotting to spread poisons on the streets of Britain. Kamel Bourgass is serving a life sentence after being convicted of murdering Detective Constable Stephen Oake during a 2003 raid in Manchester. Reporting restrictions covering that conviction were lifted on Wednesday. Four other men were cleared last week of taking part in a conspiracy. A second trial has been abandoned. Another man, Mohammed Meguerba, who jumped bail and fled Britain, is awaiting trial in Algeria.
Police found a series of recipes, ingredients and equipment which would have enabled Bourgass to manufacture ricin, cyanide, nicotine poison and several other poisons. There were also instructions about making explosives. Police believe Bourgass was an al-Qaeda operative and say he had discussed various ways of spreading nicotine poison, including smearing it on car door handles in the Holloway Road area of north London.
This article starring:
Detective Constable Stephen Oake
KAMEL BURGAS
al-Qaeda
MOHAMED MEGUERBA
al-Qaeda
Posted by: Howard UK ||
04/13/2005 11:23:37 AM ||
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#1
Perhaps ladies and gentlemen should consider taking up that lovely old-fashioned habit of wearing gloves every time we leave the house. Thin, white kid 3-button gloves would obviate this particular health threat nicely, and quite possibly reduce the spread of common illnesses as well. What say you, O Rantburg medical sages?
#2
I believe a Michael Jackson mask would be more appropriate to prevent inhaling some of the particulants.
Posted by: Bill ||
04/13/2005 13:15 Comments ||
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#3
I refuse to be seen in public (or even in private) sporting that travesty Mr. Jackson has made of his facial anatomy over my own, even to prevent contamination.
Oh, you mean a white handkerchief kind of thingy. Never mind ;-)
A soldier, three policemen and one insurgent died fighting in Chechnya over the last 24 hours, an official with the pro-Russian local government said Tuesday. A clash in the mountainous Vedeno district left one locally recruited pro-Russian soldier and one rebel dead and two more pro-Russian soldiers wounded, the official, who asked not to be named, told AFP. Two locally recruited policemen died in the Urus Martan area when their vehicle hit a landmine, the source said. In the devastated capital Grozny one policeman was killed in an explosion while inspecting a residence. Six Russian regular soldiers were wounded in fighting, that included Russian artillery strikes in the mountainous Itum-Kale and Nozhai-Yurt areas. Two schoolchildren were wounded by a landmine outside Grozny.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/13/2005 12:25:14 AM ||
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ONE policeman was killed and several were wounded in two explosives attacks carried out early today in the Russian Caucasian republic of Dagestan near Chechnya, Interfax news agency has reported, quoting police sources. A bomb exploded shortly after midnight (6am AEST) as a police patrol passed by on the road linking the capital Makhachkala to the airport, killing one policeman and seriously wounding two others. Less than an hour later another explosive device went off on a Makhachkala thoroughfare near another group of police officers, slightly wounding them, the agency said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/13/2005 12:26:19 AM ||
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Spanish police have arrested a Moroccan who allegedly helped purchase the explosives used in last year's Madrid train bombings. Soufiane Raifak was arrested in Algeciras, Spain's southernmost port and its link to Morocco. He is allegedly linked to Jamal Ahmidan, nicknamed 'The Chinese', who was supposedly the mastermind behind the attacks. Ahmidan and six others blew themselves up on 3 April 2004 in a flat in Leganes, near Madrid after being surrounded by police. An officer also lost his life in the explosion. Raifak is also said to be linked to three other Islamic terrorists implicated in the Madrid bombings, Rafa Zouhier, Rachid ''The Rabbit'' Agliff and Lofti Sbai. Police sources said Raifak was arrested by chance as part of a check on his papers.
He was carrying his real papers? Now that's careless.
He has been living as an illegal immigrant in Spain.
A radio broadcaster in the southern Philippines had been critically injured in the latest attack on journalists in the Philippines, authorities said yesterday. Alberto Martinez, who works for the Radyo Natin station, was shot in the back late on Sunday in the town of Kabacan, North Cotabato province, about 910 kilometers (565 miles) southeast of Manila, police said. Police Inspector Alberto Jungaya said the victim was on his way home from work when he was shot by an unidentified gunman in village of Osias. He was rushed to a hospital by villagers and was in stable condition.
Investigators and media groups said the murder attempt could be related to Martinez's work as a journalist. They said he had received threats from unidentified people, but refused to elaborate. The 46-year-old Martinez, also a Protestant pastor, is reputed to be a hard-hitting community radio broadcaster. Last month, newspaper columnist Marlene Esperat became the third Filipino journalist killed this year. Thirteen journalists were killed here last year alone, giving the Philippines the dubious distinction as the world's second-deadliest place for media after Iraq.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/13/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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A suspected Tamil Tiger rebel yesterday fatally shot a member of a pro-government Tamil group in the island nation's northeast, the military said. Wijedasan Wijendran, 25, was shot and killed in Trincomalee by a suspected member of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, military spokesman Brig Daya Ratnayake said. The victim was a member of the Eelam People's Democratic Party, a Tamil group that has joined the federal government in Colombo. Security was stepped up in the area after the killing, but there was no report of any arrests.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/13/2005 00:00:00 ||
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Hezbollah flew a spy drone over northern Israel yesterday, the militant group said in a broadcast on its TV channel. The Israeli military confirmed the overflight, saying an unmanned aerial vehicle operated by the Hezbollah organisation was identified crossing into Israeli territory. Two Israeli military aircraft flew over southern Lebanon shortly after the drone's flight, Lebanese officials said. Earlier yesterday, an Israeli reconnaissance plane flew over southern and eastern Lebanon. Hezbollah's Al Manar television said the "Mirsad" drone flew over towns in northern Israel and returned safely to Lebanese territory. It was the second time in recent months that the Shiite group has sent a drone over Israel.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/13/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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#1
*snicker*
And they'll follow-up with what?
No AF. No accurate missiles or artillery or MLRS.
Nothing. They are from the Stone Age trying to play "war" in the 21st century. They have human-guided bombs on two legs or in a car. They prolly can't even manage an ultralight. They are good for marching around in tight circles dressed in their idea of Nazi uniforms, swarming cars and wheelchairs waxed by a real 21st century power, seething, mobbing coffins, burning symbols, looting the funds provided by the world's morons and Jooo-haters, stabbing each other in the back, killing and maiming innocents, blaming everyone else for the pigsties and bleak / non-existent future they've created for themselves, propagating the hate and misery of their own through incessant self-destructive dogma and propaganda, and staging inane photo ops for MSM dupes, symps, and collaborators. There is nothing less impressive and nothing more absurd than The Paleo Hate Machine stewing in its own juices, bubbling, concentrating, reducing down to the lowest human denominator.
They don't get it. But, in a very different sense, someday they certainly will...
#3
mojo - Well, you have a point. But there are 2 considerations:
1) Req'd Capability
2) The Act
1) We can agree it would take a package of capabilities, from solid flight control to GPS or real-time video, real-time triggering, effective dispersal, distance and weight capability. Effective dispersal capability varies by agent and isn't all that easy to achieve - as the anthrax guy discovered. Many many more people were exposed than actually contracted it.
Sadly, all or most of the equipment can be bought, of course, from our erstwhile Old European ex-"allies".
2) Then comes the real rub: use. The world views explosives and projectiles very differently from chem, bio, and nuke.
If anyone uses a nuke or bio / chem agent - it's instant pariah and soon-to-be toast. No matter who. No matter where. Only in retaliation would any other state find it possibly acceptable - and even then, it would still be almost universally condemned. No sane state would be stupid enough to defend such a first use - for that makes the case for using same against them.
The only folks I see who're insane enough, at a state level, and have both the money to buy the means and the will to follow through are the Iranian MM's. They have earned their reputation for stupid, self-defeating, sabre-rattling, brinksmanship rhetoric. They paint it on their fucking missiles, lol! Hezbollah might do something stupid, since they are Iranian proxies, but you can bet they understand the equation: use = death. Period. Full stop. I'd say that, in this regard, Hezbollah is more intelligent / sophisticated than their masters.
#4
Well, I may back off the assessment of Hezbollah being too smart to do this... In 6 months, or so, when it becomes clear that they are not really welcome in Leb without the Iranian / Syrian axis shoving it down the Lebanon's throat and they face either disarmament, destruction, or exile to Syria / Iran (neither of which would likely want them), they just might be desperate enough. Nazrallah sees the writing on the wall, methinks. So I dunno, they might do it as a last-ditch gesture of defiance.
#5
I might agree with your assesment if they used bioweapons. Chemical weapons I am not so sure. The paleos have used rat poison extensively with their suicide bombers and the MSM just ignores or glosses over it.
#6
.com, I think you are overly optimistic about a world response to anything the Arab Freedom Fighters might do. I rather think that even proven use by such would result, in general, in heavy diplomatic sighs and a, "Well, given who they are fighting against, can you really blame them?" attitude. Phil B pegged it about the rat poison -- that's one of the factors that makes the damned suiciders as effective as they are and, having accepted such attacks against Jewish civilians, nobody cares that Palestinians are taking it the extra step.
#7
"They have human-guided bombs on two legs or in a car." Or maybe remote controlled from the air, depending on the size of the drone. Would it still be kamikaze if there aren't human pilots?
#9
I have to agree with Trailing Wife. If they used chemical or bio weapons the UN and world would simply sigh and let it pass. The MSMprobably wouldn't even cover it except on page F9.
Our own LLL would give excuses and some wierd twisted logic to make it all sound reasonable and acceptable --- just like the Ward Chuchills of the world explain away and try to make 9/11 sound reasonable and acceptable.
#10
With no information available from either side on what the capabilities of the drone were/are, I would hazard a guess that it's notthing more than an R/C model, with a longer-range control set.
If Hezbollah had any 'nads, and this was an actual spy drone, they would release a photo that it took. Such photos can be re-pixelated to hide their actual resolution.
No evidence, though, so the "drone" is probably an off-the-shelf R/C kit of some kind.
Should we be worried that they have someone who has the savvy of a 12-year-old American boy?
#12
Now they have got their own TV station, cell phones, and unmanned drones. Tricky ejits fancy themselves sophisticated. Give them about 50 more years and maybe they might even start to get a clue as to why a prosperous and vibrant civil society can't be built by weapons, propaganda, and skewed religious/political belief systems.
If anyone uses a nuke or bio / chem agent - it's instant pariah and soon-to-be toast. No matter who. No matter where.
.com, I have to disagree with you there.
As long as that attack is against Israel, the U.S., or Jews anywhere, a lot of the world and almost all of the UN diplomutts (and Hollywood) will not only not condemn it, they'll applaud it as deserved.
And Phrogistan will be right up front.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
04/13/2005 10:54 Comments ||
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.com,
I will semi agree with you. Pariah, peerhaps not. Toast, yes. While the world might not immediately condemn Hezbullallah for using nbc as they would the US or Israel, they would also not kick up too much of a fuss when Israel used conventional weapons to clean out Hez. Somehow it's going to be hard for even the French to condemn Israel for being sensitive about death by aerosal chemicals. And I suspect in any case, Israels reaction will be who gives a rat's .
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
04/13/2005 11:32 Comments ||
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#15
And so Mrs. D brings the whole thing down to hard reality, beautifully summed up.
Raptor, the rat poison is an anti-clotting agent, which means that even small wounds caused by explosion-propelled nails and ball bearings continue bleeding, even with medical treatment. Not at all nice. The Palestinians have been adding it to their bomb packets for years.
#19
From Le Château Beaufort (Qalaat El Chekif) you can see a good part of northern Israel (I have been there in 72)
If you'd launch a R/C model from there you could follow it for miles without GPS or other gadgets.
As for rat poison, I think a good dose of vitamin K could fix it.
The U.S. Marine on guard duty in the tower April 2 was cleaning his .50-caliber machine gun. It was just after 7 p.m. when he heard the first enemy shots fired.
An enemy-fired rocket-propelled grenade followed. The impact caused a cloud of smoke and debris to form around him, impairing his ability to see who fired the grenade. Another rocket-propelled grenade connected for a direct hit from behind the Marine, damaging his communications radio and wounding him. The insurgents continued to engage the tower with small arms, hand grenades and rocket-propelled grenade fire.
"With the amount of fire power they had on us, it seemed like there were 300 insurgents shooting at us," said U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. Joseph Arale, Battery E, 2nd Battalion, 10th Marine Regiment, Camp Lejeune, N.C., of the insurgent attack on Forward Operating Base Abu Ghraib, a detention facility for more than 3,400 insurgents.
The only operable weapon Arale and his fellow Marine on duty had was Arale's M16 rifle. Arale, 33, fired several rounds at the insurgents before they decided to jettison themselves from the tower.
"We had no radio and only one weapon," Arale said, a native of Wilkes-Barre, Penn. "We had no choice except to get out of the tower."
Arale and his battle-buddy repelled 25 feet down the side of the tower. They used a rope that was normally used to haul equipment into and out of the tower. Both Marines sustained rope-burns to their hands to go along with their shrapnel wounds. Arale also sprained his ankle when he hit the ground.
Once the Marines were on the ground, they took cover in a fortified bunker, just inside of the perimeter wall. They maintained their position, keeping their sights on the doorway at the base of the tower. Other than scaling the wall, that was the only place the insurgents could enter the compound, Arale explained.
"The Marines applied heavy machine gun fire and established a perimeter on the inside of the wall," said U.S. Marine Corps Capt. Drew Bone, commander, Battery E, 2nd Battalion, 10th Marine Regiment. "If the insurgents had made it into the tower and breached the wall, they wouldn't have gotten very far.
Meanwhile, insurgents hidden in a nearby residential area began a ground assault, targeting several access points and various areas of the compound, including another Marine guard tower. The insurgents continued to volley grenades, small arms and rocket-propelled grenade fire, as well as indirect mortar fire.
"A grenade actually hit a recovery team who came to the aid of the wounded Marines in the towers," Bone said. "It was one of the most well put together assaults that I had ever seen. It was enough for the insurgents to move up close to the towers."
The insurgents used small and medium arms fire as cover fire for a suicide car-bomber as he drove his way towards the perimeter wall near the southeast tower. Marines returned fire, causing the vehicle to explode before it reached the wall.
A quick reaction force, made up of Marines and U.S. soldiers, as well as Apache helicopters and artillery counter-fire, prevented the insurgency from breaching the perimeter walls.
The insurgent force was estimated to be more than 60 members strong. Their attempt to infiltrate the operating base lasted for two hours before they were forced to retreat, but not without suffering at least 50 casualties.
"They came at us hard, but we came back at them even harder," Bone said. "We had Marines fighting while wounded, and wounded Marines fighting who refused to be evacuated. Every single Marine fought without fear and with the sole purpose of protecting everyone inside this (forward operating base). "
The battle resulted with minor damages to the compound. Thirty-six were injured, including Marines, soldiers, sailors, civilians and detainees. Seven U.S. troops were evacuated to combat support hospitals, 16 were treated for minor shrapnel wounds and have since returned to duty. All of the base's detainees have been accounted for.
"It really was the most humbling experience I've ever been near," Bone said. "It's the type of stuff you read about in books and see in movies -- 18-, 19- and 20-year-old men sticking to their guns, never leaving their fellow comrades behind."
Video with subtitles available on memritv.org, you will have to scroll a couple of pages back in the archives.
With the revelations about one of the photos awarded a Pulitzer being taken by a photographered tipped in advance of terrorist executions, here is another story that details the terrorist use of photographers.
From memritv.org:
Interviewer: Okay. What was your role in this vile miserable terrorist squad?
Omar 'Allawi: While I was staying at a Mosul hotel, Kna'an came up to me and told me about a plan proposed by his cousin Salem Mula Ali.
Interviewer: A plan for slaughter?
Omar 'Allawi: When I asked, he talked about joining the Liberation Army, which is financed by the Syrian intelligence. I asked him how, and he said that there is no police or government and that when the country stabilizes we will be one of its stronger elements.
Interviewer: Through slaughter.
Omar 'Allawi: Yes, sir. So I became their photographer. They would bring them to the hotel, and I would film them.
Interviewer: How many people were killed in your presence?
Omar 'Allawi: They killed eight policemen and six of the National Guard.
Interviewer: You filmed them?
Omar 'Allawi: Yes, sir.
Interviewer: You didn't participate in the slaughter?
Omar 'Allawi: No, sir. I only filmed them, and once I took part in a kidnapping operation.
Interviewer: Kidnapping who?
Omar 'Allawi: Policemen.
Interviewer: How much did you get for the filming?
#1
This is an outrageous way for members of the M$M to be treated.Did they check this guy for press credentials? His rights as the penumbra of a TLA network emanation are being abridged. Where's the ACLU? Where's the outrage?
$200 per film? That's twice what AP pays. Oil for film, a UN program, probably.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
04/13/2005 13:31 Comments ||
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#2
that's good - assure him that his execution will be filmed as well. Should be some comfort
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/13/2005 15:16 Comments ||
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#3
This is an outragous way to treat a journalist that is an accessory to murder?? Are you joking?? What is with the Left??? Sorry Mrs. Davis, but in my mind, you are a fruitcake!!!
Posted by: Roger Ramjet ||
04/13/2005 17:28 Comments ||
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#4
RR - That was pure 100% Grade-A sarcasm, heh. Mrs D has a rather dry wit, lol!
#7
Real fruitcakes never use words like penumbra, emanation or abridged correctly. That's how you can tell it's sarcasm when you read it here at the 'Burg. ;-)
#9
...Thanks a lot, Ship. Took me thirty years to get that damn song out of my head the FIRST time.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
04/13/2005 21:13 Comments ||
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#10
Uh, he was not a member of the mainstream media.
At the least, he was an Iraqi photographer/videographer who was paid to work with the terrorists. At the most, he was a stringer feeding Arab networks beheading/kidnapping videos.
By Steve Fainaru, Washington Post. EFL; LRR. Read the whole thing.
MOSUL, Iraq -- From inside a vacant building, Sgt. 1st Class Domingo Ruiz watched through a rifle scope as three cars stopped on the other side of the road. A man carrying a machine gun got out and began to transfer weapons into the trunk of one of the cars.
"Take him down," Ruiz told a sniper. The sniper fired his powerful M-14 rifle and the man's head exploded, several American soldiers recalled. As he fell, more soldiers opened fire, killing at least one other insurgent. After the ambush, the Americans scooped up a piece of skull and took it back to their base as evidence of the successful mission.
The March 12 attack -- swift and brutally violent -- bore the hallmarks of operations that have made Ruiz, 39, a former Brooklyn gang member, renowned among U.S. troops in Mosul and, in many ways, a symbol of the optimism that has pervaded the military since Iraq's Jan. 30 elections. . . .
. . . The military attributes the decline [in insurgent activity] to several factors, including Iraqis' increased willingness to provide information about insurgents and the growing presence of the new Iraqi security forces throughout the country.
But the main reason, military officials said, is a grinding counterinsurgency operation -- now in its 20th month -- executed by soldiers like Ruiz, a platoon sergeant in the 3rd Battalion's C Company. It is a campaign of endless repetition: platoons of American troops patrolling Iraqi streets on foot or in armored vehicles. Its inherent monotony is punctuated by moments of extreme violence.
"Our battles have been beyond ruthless," said Ruiz, adding that he believes most Americans have little understanding of how the conflict is being fought. . . . Infantrymen with C Company said no soldier is more ruthlessly proficient at fighting the insurgents than Ruiz, a son of Puerto Rican parents who grew up in the Bay Ridge section of Brooklyn. Ruiz's unit, the 4th Platoon, has killed at least 15 suspected insurgents in the past two months, according to soldiers. Commanders said the unit encounters more enemy contact than any other platoon in the battalion.
The platoon calls itself the "Violators." Its patch depicts a leering skull clad in a green beret, blood dripping from its mouth. Its motto is "Carpe Noctum," or "Seize the Night," a reference in Latin to the platoon's propensity to operate after dark. . . .
. . . When another young platoon leader, Lt. Colin Keating, 23, of Clinton, Md., arrived Feb. 6, Ruiz greeted him warmly and introduced him to every soldier in the platoon, but told him: "Just let me fight my war."
It is a war that Ruiz said reminds him of his youth as a member of the Coney Island Cobras, a Brooklyn street gang. He said he applies many of the principles he learned in the rough neighborhoods where he grew up: Bay Ridge and, later, the projects in Caguas, Puerto Rico, where he moved with his mother as a teenager. . . .
. . . The platoon is built around four 21-ton Strykers -- two mounted with TOW missiles, two designed to carry infantrymen. Keating said Ruiz "pretty much wrote the book on this particular style of unit. This is the first time it had ever been done, and he basically figured out how that system works."
Among soldiers in Mosul, Ruiz's aggressiveness is legendary -- both in attacking the insurgents and gathering intelligence. Keating said Ruiz "plays by the rules of Iraq, not by the rules that are written by some staff guy who's never been on the ground. He's never crossed the line, but he'll go right up to it time and time again."
After recently hearing that a security guard was allowing insurgents to meet at night at a school, Ruiz said, he confronted the principal by "taking over his personal space" and threatening to shut down the school down if the meetings continued. At a store whose owner he believed was aiding insurgents, Ruiz threatened to park a Stryker out front and post a sign saying that the man was abetting terrorism.
Ruiz said he "never crosses the line." But he said one reason for the platoon's success was his willingness to act decisively and ruthlessly. "It's important for my soldiers to know that we're not going to hesitate to annihilate the enemy," he said. "A bullet coming toward you means that they want to kill you. What are you supposed to do, come back with flowers? But believe it or not, you have people here that want to give them, you know, a little bag of candy."
Acting swiftly, he said, "sends a message to the enemy that we're not playing games. If you engage us, you are going to die."
Born said Ruiz, like the comic book hero Spider-Man, seems to possess "a spidey-sense that starts tingling when bad stuff is going on." . . .
. . . Ruiz said he once went to a palm reader in Colombia, and "she told me I got a three-meter angel hanging around me all the time. I believe that crap, too, man. Everybody shares my angel."
Me, I'm just glad you're one of the good guys. Sgt. Ruiz, thanks to you and your three-meter angel both for your service. Good luck, good hunting, and get home safe.
Posted by: Mike ||
04/13/2005 9:28:14 AM ||
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#1
Acting swiftly, he said, "sends a message to the enemy that weâre not playing games. If you engage us, you are going to die."
This is all that needs to be said, and it should apply to as many battlefields as necessary, anywhere.
#2
Yea, but Kerry was equally as decisive, according to his own home movies.
Sgt. Ruiz:
Keep it up, kill the pigs. I love the part where he takes part of the skull back to the base. Don't forget to pass out the incendiary candy. You are definitely part of Brotherhood of Soldiers.
BTW, If the Israeli soldiers did that, there would be WhirledWide condemnation.
#3
The headline's a little exaggerated - "beyond ruthless" would be to burn the city down. Hyperbole aside, it's good that these guys aren't squeamish about killing the enemy, though.
#5
The AK47 fires a 39mm and the M-14 fires a 51mm cartidge cartridge (.308 Winchester) with a heavier bullet and deliveres over 50% more energy.
Posted by: ed ||
04/13/2005 11:32 Comments ||
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#6
Zang Fei -
The M14 and AK-47 rounds are the same diameter (7.62 mm) but NOT the same round. The M14's 7.62 x 51 NATO round is longer, and carries more propellant than the Soviet 7.62 x 39 mm round fired by the AK, SKS, and other firearms.
The M14 is more "powerfull" than the AK-47.
#9
PS. The 7.62x51mm cartridge is also used in the 7.62mm rifles that a few of our snipers have used to get 1000 yard kills.
Posted by: ed ||
04/13/2005 11:41 Comments ||
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#10
The M-14 is being used as a sharpshooter weapon where the range, accuracy, and power of the M-16/M-4 is deficient. The M-14s, while not a sniper rifle, are more than capable of hitting the target at 700 yards.
Posted by: ed ||
04/13/2005 11:46 Comments ||
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#11
Sgt. Ruiz sounds like a good soldier. My kind of soldier. when fighting a ruthless enemy you must be ruthless yourself.
Posted by: Deacon Blues for muck4doo ||
04/13/2005 11:50 Comments ||
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#12
Another factor is propellant and bullet quality. I suspect propellant in the AK47 round/the manufacturing of the rounds are not that great. Don't forget these were Soviet Union products.
#14
The USMC has its snipers use the DMR (Designated Marksman Rifle). This is based upon the M-14 but uses a fiberglass stock and lots of other match-grade goodies. They are pretty much hand made by the armorers at Quantico. It is a very effective sniper weapon.
#15
I've used the M-14 and I prefer it over the M-16.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
04/13/2005 12:50 Comments ||
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#16
and on the sociological side, if the Iraq action had never come up, Sgt Ruiz might have left the service and rejoined a gang; so here at least is one case in which the war has had an arguably positive effect on dimished violence here in the US.
#19
There's been a major intelligence failure here. Osama and his buds were telling us before the Afghan war that our soldiers were soft. Now Sergeant Ruiz and his guys are eating cornflakes out of jihadi skulls. How could Osama's intel have been so wrong?
Posted by: Matt ||
04/13/2005 14:30 Comments ||
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#20
Heh, Matt... it's a jihadi quagmire, I tell ya!
Interesting analysis on Fox yesterday (Brit Hume's show) saying that Zawahiri and bin Laden are at odds over strategy - and that Zawahiri is "winning" the internal argument. They said that bin Laden wants to strike the US (classic futile gesture Islamist Think) and Zawahiri wants to co-opt another base of operations, ala a new Taliban / Afghan home - a rather more intelligent goal given the chaos of their current situation.
#21
I have a L1A1 in 7.62X51 and a rifle 7.62X39 I have had several rifles in 7.62X39. I can state with a certainty the 7.62X51 delivers more energy at any distance. This is from actual hands on experience.
I also have a 7.52X54R rifle. (Some how I ended up with some frangible ammo for that one too.) You don't want to be down range of that one.
The Marine ammo for that M-14 rifle is very likely lovingly hand loaded by fellow marines back here in the US every round is identical as humanly possible for consistent results.
This guy has the right attitude. He will make sure all his guys get home alive.
JFM, Soviet weapons are nothing to laugh at. Don't fall into that trap. The Soviets scrimped on everything in their economy, except weapons.
Even if the Soviets tried and in fact did somewhat better with weapons than with the rest of their economy their weapons were still affected by their philosophy of quantity versus quality (theink in T-64 versus M1, or in WWII that the MTBF for T-34 was only a third of what it was for the Sherman) and by the general bad state of their economy. Were the machines who produced such or such weapons at teh same specs than the ones producing weapons for the west. And what for the metals of that machine (and in the weapons), have they gliches who later will afect the qulity of what is produced by the machine? And its electronic equipment?
Consider this: drilling equipment was at the top of Soviet priority and however fifty per cent of it was defective when leabing the manufacturing plant.
#23
good job Ruiz, u should get a medal, you are one brave and tuff soldier
Posted by: its me ||
04/13/2005 15:57 Comments ||
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#24
Nothing surprising about the existence of superb warriors like Sgt Ruiz in our ranks. What's really shocking-- and exhilarating-- is that this glowing account appeared in WaPo, and without any countervailing bullshit like the heretofore obligatory mention of Abu G. Or a quote from some Human Rights Watch or left-euro joker, or even a reference to how "some might see Ruiz as part of the problem...."
When the media elite start to show our soldiers' dirty work as heroic, then you know that we've turned a corner on the homefront. Very encouraging.
#27
I was really surprised to see this article. Can't believe it actually got printed. It never would have or will be printed in Canada. I hope there are a lot more Sgt Ruiz out there in the US Army (and they don't get crapped on one way or another for doing there job).
JFM, for the sake of debate, you mention the Sherman vs the T-34...The Germans had all the best equipment in WW2 and were defeated, in part, by volume over quality. I think the Russians and the allies knew what they were doing back then in that respect.
Today, I think the US, British and, yes, Canadian Forces need the high tech, quality stuff. But, I don't think the bad guys actually care if their equipment is any good or even works. They have quantity in terms of, well, expendable resources...
Sgt Ruiz, however, seems to be up for the challenge.
#28
The WaPo is a leftist publication with all the biases and agenda items that entails, but for the most part it's produced and supervised by adults who are in touch with reality. The NYT and LAT, on the other hand, . . . (shudder!)
Posted by: Mike ||
04/13/2005 16:58 Comments ||
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#29
Oh, Mike - you are too trusting, lol! WaPo sucks like an F5, IMHO, and this fact is easily identified in 95% plus of their stories. You can laud the 5%, if you wanna, heh...
Hmmm... perhaps that is a fairly high rating among the "respected" MSM outlets...
#30
The DMR sounds very much like the XM-21 I had in Vietnam. Anyone know if this it what it morphed into? Have seen refs to M21 (no X) but no specs found.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
04/13/2005 20:42 Comments ||
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#32
The M-21 was, according to the pages I just read (thanks .com), a development of the M-14.
I suspect they're using something similar here.
It might or might not be a misnomer to call these guys "snipers." They may be performing in a role similar to the "designated marksman" role the Soviets had in their units. They were armed with the SVD, also called the Dragunov, which shoots the previously mentioned 7.62x54R round.
There are companies selling AK-47-based rifles shooting that round as "Dragunovs" in the US, but they aren't. Real ones are very rare in the US. Caveat Emptor.
I've read that when they first started the "designated marksman" role, the Soviets envisioned that there'd be one person per platoon doing this, but from 1960 to 1990 they eventually had one soldier per squad trained and equipped for that.
As for the accuracy and power of the AK-47... there's a world of difference between the accuracy of a first-world AK-47 that's been decently taken care of and a third-world-licensed-knockoff that has some corrosive ammo shot through the barrel from time to time and wasn't really cleaned well afterwards, and then wound up being traded around for a couple decades. Thanks to the design of the gun, it'll still shoot after having suffered a lot more abuse than an M-16, but not accurately enough to be much help when someone like Sgt. Ruiz shows up and his subordinates have something like an M-14 (or even an SVD) in _good_ repair, and who have actually spent time at the range this year (which is probably more important than any sort of debate over which weapon to use).
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
04/13/2005 22:27 Comments ||
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U.S. troops battled arms smugglers and terrorists fighters near the Iraqi town of Qaim along the Syrian border Tuesday, killing an unknown number of oxymoronic alert! foreign insurgents, the U.S. military said. Local hospital officials reported at least nine terrorists people killed in clashes in the same area, and said they believed the dead were terrorists civilians.
The raids came as separate car bombs in two northern cities killed a total of 10 people, and as the Iraqi government claimed to have captured a former member of Saddam Hussein's regime at a farm northeast of Baghdad.
The Qaim raid occurred a day after terrorists insurgents tried unsuccessfully to ram two cars and a fire truck loaded with explosives into a Marine outpost there, but military officials said the attack was not related to the raid. Terrorists Insurgents opened fire when the U.S. troops began their raid on the smuggling ring Tuesday, and several militants, including at least one suicide bomber, were killed, the U.S. military said in a statement. No Americans were injured, it said.
Residents reported violent clashes before dawn Tuesday in and around Qaim, although it was unclear if the violence was related to the raid.
Hamid al-Alousi, director of Qaim hospital, said his facility had received nine corpses and nearly two dozen wounded in the violence. Residents of a small village just north of Qaim said more than a dozen more people were buried in the area and not taken to the hospital. Residents and hospital officials said the victims appeared to be terrorists civilians. It was impossible to verify the claims because this reporter didn't want to leave the hotel bar.
Without providing details, the group Al Qaeda in Iraq, led by Jordanian terrorist militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, claimed responsibility for the Qaim clashes. The claim, posted on the Internet, could not be verified because this reporter didn't want to leave the hotel bar.
Many residents stayed in on Tuesday and some families fled their homes in two southwestern neighborhoods and moved to other parts of the town fearing renewed clashes.
Masked terrorists gunmen were seen taking up positions in Qaim on Tuesday, residents said.
U.S. military officials said that two other raids in the area over the last week had resulted in the capture of smugglers who "confessed to bringing weapons, foreign fighters and money for terrorists across the Syrian border into Iraq."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/13/2005 12:21:01 AM ||
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#1
good, push em back to Syria, then start the clusterbombing
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/13/2005 8:20 Comments ||
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#2
Local hospital officials reported at least nine people killed in clashes in the same area, and said they believed the dead were civilians.
Let me guess -- males, between the ages of 15 and 35, were unarmed when they were brought in. Thus, civilians.
Residents and hospital officials said the victims appeared to be civilians.
Unarmed when they were buried, right?
Did the reporters even TRY to confirm the details, or have they decided that hearsay and rumor are just fine?
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
04/13/2005 9:32 Comments ||
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#3
have they decided that hearsay and rumor are just fine?
When the only thing you care about is dead Americans, rumors will do nicely.
#4
But Robert, it would be rude to question the veracity of the natives by actually checking their stories. Plus, it smacks of cultural imperialism, and goodness knows we mustn't have any smacking.
#7
Well they are muslims so they are by religious convention considered unarmed innocents when killed by the infidels. Personally I would go down to the hospital and grab this "Dr" and bring him back for a n "interview." This is the same crap they were/are pulling the "sunni triangle."
Suicide car bombings around the northern Iraqi city of Mosul killed 10 Iraqis civilians on Tuesday, the US military said.
Military statements said five Iraqis were killed by a suicide car bomb in northern Mosul and five others died in a similar attack in the town of Tal Afar, west of Mosul. Hospital and police sources said earlier the bombs targeted US and Iraqi troops.
Militants ambushed a convoy carrying a deputy interior minister, killing a bodyguard and injuring three others, as Iraq hosted US Defence Secretary Donald H Rumsfeld, a leading architect of the war.
In Samarra, a pickup truck blew up Monday near a US patrol, killing three civilians and injuring more than 20 others, including four US soldiers, officials said. One soldier was evacuated for medical treatment, and the others were treated and returned to duty, the US military said.
In Kirkuk, gunmen opened fire late on Monday on a police patrol, injuring two members of the security service, police said on Tuesday. The Ansar al-Sunnah Army group claimed responsibility for the attack.
The visit by Rumsfeld, who helped design the US-led March 2003 invasion and troubled occupation since, reflected a desire to push the political and military momentum that he believes has been growing since the January 30 elections for a national assembly.
En route from Washington, Rumsfeld told reporters he would press the new Iraqi leadership to avoid delays on either the political or security front at a time when US troops are still being killed or wounded and billions of US taxpayer dollars are being invested in rebuilding the country.
Four leaders of three Al Qaeda linked groups were captured in a US-Iraqi operation on Monday that netted 67 suspected insurgents in the volatile southern Baghdad district of Dura, US and Iraqi officers told reporters on Tuesday.
"We captured some of the leadership of the Ansar al-Sunna group, Tawhid Wal Jihad, and Ansar al-Islam," said an Iraq Army commander.
Iraq said it captured a former Baath Party member who is believed to have organised and funded attacks as part of Iraq's insurgency.
"Fadhil Ibrahim Mahmud Al-Mashadani, the former leader of the Military Bureau in Baghdad during the Saddam Hussein regime, was apprehended by security forces in a military operation conducted at a farm in the northeast of Baghdad," a government statement said.
It said he was suspected of being a crucial link between former senior Baath party leaders hiding in Syria and guerrillas in Iraq.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/13/2005 12:19:11 AM ||
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#1
En route from Washington, Rumsfeld told reporters he would press the new Iraqi leadership to avoid delays on either the political or security front at a time when US troops are still being killed or wounded and billions of US taxpayer dollars are being invested in rebuilding the country.
No. Rumsfeld didn't say that. Rumsfeld said the first part about not delaying the political and security rebuilding of Iraq. The second part, "at a time when US troops are still being killed or wounded and billions of US taxpayer dollars are being invested in rebuilding the country" is propaganda inserted by the authors to encourage his readers into believing that Rumsfeld said the American invasion and transformation of Iraq is a failure. The author uses the most basic of propaganda devices. Start with a truth, then follow with a stream of lies.
Posted by: ed ||
04/13/2005 10:47 Comments ||
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#2
Nice catch, Ed. Though it's pretty easy to spot the editorial insert coming down the pike when you read the words, "at a time when..." or "this, when..." or "in view of" or "given".
In other words, though there's no logical connection made between the facts, which precede the editorial conjunctive, and the brazen editorial, the sentence clearly makes the reader think that the two are inextricably linked.
In the above case, this is a weaselly way of calling Rummy a liar without sacrificing the pretense of straight reporting. Shameless.
#7
Sobiesky - I was clarifying where our State Dept Wannabee falls regards the 2 primary categories of trolls:
1) Ignorant, Clueless
2) Willfully Ignorant, Clueless
Pakistan security forces have arrested two Algerians who admitted during interrogation to receiving money from the Al-Qaeda network, a security official said yesterday. The two, identified as Medjouri Mohammad Said and Mehdi Rabbah, were arrested on Friday in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar, near the Afghan border. They initially told interrogators they were from Iraq but later confessed to being Algerians, the official said. "Both have admitted they were paid regularly by Al-Qaeda contacts," said the official, who declined to be identified. Investigators were still trying to determine why the two had been getting money from Al-Qaeda, although neither man was regarded as a prominent member of the group, or was on any wanted list, the official said. The two had been living in Pakistan since 1990 and had married Pakistani women, he said.
This article starring:
MEDJURI MOHAMAD SAID
al-Qaeda
MEHDI RABAH
al-Qaeda
Posted by: Fred ||
04/13/2005 00:00:00 ||
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US forces raided a foreign insurgents' weapons smuggling ring yesterday near the Iraqi town of Qaim along the Syrian border, killing an unknown number of insurgents, the US military said. Residents reported gunbattles and explosions near the remote border town and hospital officials said at least nine people were killed. Insurgents opened fire on US troops during yesterday's raid and a number of foreign militants, including at least one bomber, were killed, the military said in a statement. No US forces were injured. The raid occurred a day after insurgents tried unsuccessfully to ram three car bombs, including one fire truck, into a military base in Qaim. But military officials said the attack was not related to the raid. Residents reported violent clashes before dawn yesterday in the Ish village just north of Qaim, although it was unclear if the violence was related to the raid.
Without providing details, the terror group Al-Qaeda in Iraq, led by Jordanian militant Abu Mussab Al-Zarqawi, claimed responsibility for the Qaim clashes. The claim, posted on the Internet, couldn't be verified. Hamid Al-Alousi, director of Qaim hospital, said his facility had received nine corpses and nearly two dozen wounded in the Ish village violence. Residents of the village said a dozen more people were buried in the area and not taken to the hospital. There was no way to independently confirm their claim. US military officials added that two other raids in the area in the last week resulted in the capture of smugglers who "confessed to bringing weapons, foreign fighters and money for terrorists across the Syrian border into Iraq."
Posted by: Fred ||
04/13/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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#1
"Foreign insurgent" is an oxymoron. If you are willing to apply the term "insurgents" it can only apply to the inhabitants of an occupied country. You cannot travel to another country and be an "insurgent" there.
#2
How about fascists? Whether secular (ba'athist) or religious, they all share a fascination with the death-cult and have as their preeminent goal the slaughter of Iraqi democrats and their protectors.
#5
I would suggest, consider the source is ArabNews, that this is a small slip of the, er, keyboard - it is mortar between the bricks of the "Muslim First" Law. Just another small proof of the We, Us, Our, Ummah, Dumbah, Rama-Lama-Ding-Dong, fuck you infidels that is the Muzzy Mindset and Rule #1 in the Muzzy Behavioral Style Guide.
Posted by: Mike ||
04/13/2005 6:23 Comments ||
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#8
Actually you could call them 'foreign insurgents' if you reasoned that all Islam should be under the rule of the Caliph who rules over an empire under Sharia. Thus any muslim fighting a non-Caliph govt in the lands of Submission is an insurgent. Of course that would make Egyptian terrorists, Paleoterrorists, etc. also insurgents
What do you call Sunni "insurgents" who mass murder Shi'ites with car bombs and bombs in Shia mosques? How would Muhammad the head chopper come down on this intra Muslim dispute?
#11
you could make them non-foreign even without invoking caliphate/umma - you could invoke the grand arab nation beloved of arab nationalists, of both Baathist and Nasserite varieties - while actual state mergers have generally failed, the idea that everyone unites against the outsider survived, kinda. Dont think the Shiite any Iraq give that thing the time of day, but then it was always more popular among Sunnis, despite its avowed secularism.
Alternatively, since many are from Syria and Jordan, they could invoke Greater Syria, which at some points was extended to include the entire fertile crescent. See Daniel Pipes.
But I agree, the gunnies themselves are probably thinking Caliphate more than the above secular ideologies. Not sure about the Arab News though.
#15
Actually I think if Mohamet were alive today he might be too immersed in porn to be bothered with religion. However, the 'right thinking Caliphs' were either Sunni or proto-Sunni or Sunni leaning (although before the full development of the Salafist judicial school, of which Wahabiism is sort of an offshoot).
A group claiming to have kidnapped a Pakistani Embassy official in Iraq has demanded money for his release, senior government officials said yesterday. Malik Mohammed Javed, a deputy counselor at the Pakistani mission in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, went missing late Saturday after leaving home for prayers at a nearby mosque.
They always seem to get them when they're going to prayers. Have they considered praying in private? Or is that un-Islamic?
Gotta be real ostentatious in your piety to be a good Moose limb. Everyone has to see you in prayers five times a day, every day, with beard and properly veiled wimminfolk trailing behind. No private chats with Allan, nosiree. Unless you're on assignment and need to pull a fast one on the infidels.
Javed's kidnappers have made a demand for money in exchange for his freedom, a Pakistani official said on condition of anonymity. "They have made contact. They are asking for money," he said. He would not specify the amount or say how the abductors made contact. On Sunday, the Foreign Ministry said that a previously unknown group calling itself Omar bin Khattab had abducted Javed. The ministry said Javed had been allowed to contact the Pakistani Embassy in Baghdad to assure officials that he had not been harmed, it said.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/13/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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"Yer under arrest! You, too, Pop! And you, too, Granny! Drop the gun and step away from it withcher hands up!"
"Don't no one move or the dog gets it!"
The man who detonated the bomb that killed three tourists last week was a student who adopted extreme religious views after the death of his father, the Interior Ministry said yesterday. Hassan Rafaat Ahmad Bashandi, born in 1987, carried out the bombing in which he was killed in an old Cairo market on Thursday evening, the ministry said in a statement. "There is no information or indication that point to his having connections with others, but the investigation continues," the statement said.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/13/2005 00:00:00 ||
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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.
Yemen said yesterday its troops had taken control of rebel strongholds after weeks of deadly clashes with supporters of a slain cleric in the country's north. "The confrontations have practically ended since last Wednesday," President Ali Abdullah Saleh told reporters, adding that government troops controlled rebel areas.
A suspected al-Qaeda operative who stabbed to death a police officer has been convicted of plotting to spread poisons on the streets of Britain. 
A soldier, three policemen and one insurgent died fighting in Chechnya over the last 24 hours, an official with the pro-Russian local government said Tuesday. A clash in the mountainous Vedeno district left one locally recruited pro-Russian soldier and one rebel dead and two more pro-Russian soldiers wounded, the official, who asked not to be named, told AFP. Two locally recruited policemen died in the Urus Martan area when their vehicle hit a landmine, the source said. In the devastated capital Grozny one policeman was killed in an explosion while inspecting a residence. Six Russian regular soldiers were wounded in fighting, that included Russian artillery strikes in the mountainous Itum-Kale and Nozhai-Yurt areas. Two schoolchildren were wounded by a landmine outside Grozny.
ONE policeman was killed and several were wounded in two explosives attacks carried out early today in the Russian Caucasian republic of Dagestan near Chechnya, Interfax news agency has reported, quoting police sources. A bomb exploded shortly after midnight (6am AEST) as a police patrol passed by on the road linking the capital Makhachkala to the airport, killing one policeman and seriously wounding two others. Less than an hour later another explosive device went off on a Makhachkala thoroughfare near another group of police officers, slightly wounding them, the agency said.
Spanish police have arrested a Moroccan who allegedly helped purchase the explosives used in last year's Madrid train bombings. 
A radio broadcaster in the southern Philippines had been critically injured in the latest attack on journalists in the Philippines, authorities said yesterday. Alberto Martinez, who works for the Radyo Natin station, was shot in the back late on Sunday in the town of Kabacan, 
A suspected Tamil Tiger rebel yesterday fatally shot a member of a pro-government Tamil group in the island nation's northeast, the military said. Wijedasan Wijendran, 25, was shot and killed in Trincomalee by a suspected member of the 
Pakistan security forces have arrested two Algerians who admitted during interrogation to receiving money from the Al-Qaeda network, a security official said yesterday. The two, identified as 
US forces raided a foreign insurgents' weapons smuggling ring yesterday near the Iraqi town of Qaim along the Syrian border, killing an unknown number of insurgents, the US military said. Residents reported gunbattles and explosions near the remote border town and hospital officials said at least nine people were killed. Insurgents opened fire on US troops during yesterday's raid and a number of foreign militants, including at least one bomber, were killed, the military said in a statement. No US forces were injured. The raid occurred a day after insurgents tried unsuccessfully to ram three car bombs, including one fire truck, into a military base in Qaim. But military officials said the attack was not related to the raid. Residents reported violent clashes before dawn yesterday in the Ish village just north of Qaim, although it was unclear if the violence was related to the raid. 
A group claiming to have kidnapped a Pakistani Embassy official in Iraq has demanded money for his release, senior government officials said yesterday. 
