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Area: WoT Background    Non-WoT    Opinion           
Hamas leader rejects roadmap, call to disarm
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 1: WoT Operations
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Afghanistan
7 Taleban Killed in Shootout With Police
Dozens of Taleban rebels attacked the office of a district police chief in southern Afghanistan before dawn yesterday, triggering a shootout that left seven assailants dead and five Afghan police officers wounded, police said. The battle happened in Registan district, about 150 kilometers south of the city of Kandahar, said Haji Sher Agha, the district police chief. He said the surviving rebels, armed with assault rifles and other weapons, fled afterward with an unknown number of their wounded. Afghan security forces were looking for them. “We killed seven Taleban and we have their bodies,” he said.

Hours later, a roadside bomb struck a vehicle carrying Afghan police officers in neighboring Helmand province, killing two of them and injuring two others.
Posted by: Fred || 01/28/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "Run awayyyyyy"
Posted by: Frank G || 01/28/2006 13:32 Comments || Top||

#2  Just a test, whew! For a moment, I thought RB was finally getting to you, Fred.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 01/28/2006 13:32 Comments || Top||

#3  Test comment for redaction.
Posted by: Fred || 01/28/2006 13:27 Comments || Top||


Britain
British Muslim Jailed for Plotting to Kill Iraq Hero
A MUSLIM who plotted to hunt down and kill a soldier who was awarded the Military Cross for bravery under fire in Iraq was jailed for six years yesterday. Abu Mansha, 21, drew up his plan after reading a newspaper report that Corporal Mark Byles, of The Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment, had been awarded one of the Army's highest honours after leading a bayonet charge in which three Iraqi rebels died. In the article, Corporal Byles stated that he had killed as many as twenty insurgents during his six-month tour of duty.

When police searched Abu Mansha's flat in Thamesmead, southeast London, they found a blank-firing gun in the process of being converted to shoot live rounds, a balaclava with eye-holes cut out and a newspaper cutting detailing the soldier's exploits. DVDs featuring "virulent anti-Western propaganda" were also recovered, Southwark Crown Court was told. Some featured Osama bin Laden and another depicted the beheading of the British hostage Kenneth Bigley. A poem that the defendant had written describing George Bush and Tony Blair as "dirty pigs" was also found.

Abu Mansha, the British-born son of a Pakistani-born travel agent, had also researched the personal details of two businessmen, one a Hindu and the other a Jew. The market stallholder was convicted last month under the Terrorism Act of possessing information "likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism". He remained impassive as Judge Nicholas Loraine-Smith said: "The information found in his possession included Corporal Byles's past address. That information was in your handwriting, as was a request by you -- and I underline that -- for information about prominent members of the Jewish and Hindu communities. The jury rejected your claims that these were just journalistic inquiries. The maximum sentence for this offence is ten years' imprisonment. You have never faced a charge for conspiracy to kill or cause harm and I do not sentence you for that, but when that information came into your possession and was recorded by you, you crossed the boundary into terrorism." Abu Mansha has a previous conviction for affray as the result of a racial confrontation with another market stallholder three years ago.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Anonymoose || 01/28/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "The likelihood of reoffending was described in the pre-sentence report as low."


At least while he's IN JAIL.

(Oops - sorry, forgot it's Britain. Make that IN GAOL.)
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 01/28/2006 0:14 Comments || Top||

#2  http://officersclub.blogspot.com/

Domestic terror? Charlie Munn, a patriot from the Officers Club blog, wonders what we would do in the case of another 9-11 disaster. Why wonder? Politicians would squeak solemn declarations about our resolve, and then go back to irresolution mode the next day. Listen to Charlie:

"Pick your scenario. Mine is a group of Chechen terrorists hijack an international flight from a Mexican coastal village, rig up a Soviet-era SS-19 warhead bought with oil money funded by Saudi Arabia from the Russian mob, and detonate it over a southern US city like Houston, Miami, or Atlanta. But it could be any scenario you may have heard of, a weaponized virus, dirty bombing the downtown of a state capitol, or a series of suicide bombings in populated areas across the country. Either way, the smoke clears, the bodies are hauled away, and the weeks after 9/11 seem to be repeating themselves. As a country, we ask: what did we learn?"

"When some crazy foreign leader says crazy things, we should take him seriously. Because the world is smaller now, we can’t just dismiss foreign threats as “crazy.” When a terror leader we’ve never heard of suddenly attacks us, we should be asking why this guy hadn’t been brought to our attention by the media. If it is someone we have heard of, we should be asking why the threat wasn’t dealt with well enough to prevent a successful attack..."
Posted by: ThroppinJedidaih || 01/28/2006 4:56 Comments || Top||

#3  http://www.humaneventsonline.com/article.php?id=11916

Re. "crazy things" that foreign tyrants say, Larry Elder reveals a few:

Bellicose statements from Iran are certainly nothing new. "The non-Muslims are [like] those animals that graze, chew their cud and cause corruption," said Guardian Council Secretary Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati. (The non-elected Guardian Council is the most influential body in Iran, with six clerics capable of blocking any legislation they deem inconsistent with Islam.) And, in the state-run Iranian reformist daily newspaper, Sharq, Assembly of Experts Head Ayatollah Ali Meshkini said, "The Iranian people must know that America and England are two cancerous growths, and [they] will destroy any country if they enter its body."
---------------------
[Rest of comment redacted by moderator]
Posted by: Throppin Jedidiah || 01/28/2006 5:30 Comments || Top||

#4  America and England are two cancerous growths

Hey! What about France and Germany? The Gauls and Huns must be ticked that they don't rate!
Posted by: 2b || 01/28/2006 6:00 Comments || Top||

#5  same a$$hole:

A MUSLIM who plotted to hunt down and kill a soldier who was awarded the Military Cross for bravery under fire in Iraq, was jailed for 6 years yesterday.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-

discount..good time served, letters from George Galloway and the HOOK, and he'll be paroled fof the haj 2007.


2011363,00.html
Posted by: RD || 01/28/2006 8:44 Comments || Top||

#6  6 years? My God England are you people nuts? How many double deckers will it take?
Posted by: Danking70 || 01/28/2006 9:53 Comments || Top||

#7  6 years? WTF?
[part of comment redacted by moderator]
This PC crap is going to get us all killed.
Posted by: Shineter Ebbosh7927 || 01/28/2006 10:23 Comments || Top||

#8  Test comment for redaction.
Posted by: Fred || 01/28/2006 13:03 Comments || Top||


Europe
Rebels Free Turk Cop After 3 Months
Turkish Kurdish rebels released a Turkish policeman from one of their guerrilla camps in northern Iraq yesterday after keeping him hostage for more than three months, human rights activists said. Officer Hakan Acil, 30, was released in the Iraqi border town of Zakho, said Kiraz Bicici, deputy head of Turkey’s Human Rights Association. Bicici said Acil was in good condition and cried for much of the ride home.

Kurdish guerrillas abducted Acil on Oct. 9 after stopping his car at a roadblock near the southeastern town of Midyat, near the Syrian and Iraqi borders. They did not take his fiancee, who was also in the car at the time. Turkish troops had been searching for Acil for months. He was handed over in Iraq at what Bicici described as a rebel camp. “There were a lot of guerillas,” she said.
Posted by: Fred || 01/28/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Home Front: WoT
Pelosi Questions Bush's Spying Program
EFL
House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi says President Bush should have used his extensive authority under the law to monitor suspected terrorists rather than approve the National Security Agency's disputed monitoring program.
HUH??
"I would not want any president — Democrat or Republican — to have the expanded power the administration is claiming in this case," Pelosi, D-Calif., said in an interview with The Associated Press.
Someone who makes Di-Fi look like the sage of the senate...Jeebus
Pelosi did not say the NSA's surveillance program was illegal. But she said the administration should follow the procedures in the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which allows government lawyers to ask a secretive court for warrants for surveillance in the United States during national security investigations.
so, just bitching without a basis....typical
"If you say ... this is for a narrow universe of calls, there is absolutely no issue with getting a FISA warrant for that," said Pelosi, who was the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee and has been involved for the past 13 years in overseeing U.S. intelligence agencies.

"It is when you go beyond that, that it becomes a challenge," she said in the interview Friday. "The president says he is not going beyond that, so why can't he obey the law?"
she hurts my head...
Pelosi declined to offer specifics about warrants granted, but she said the administration already has "the mother of all FISAs which enables them to do a lot."
"a lot"...whooboy!
Shortly after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Bush approved a program that allows warrantless monitoring by the NSA of the international communications of people on U.S. soil who may be linked to al-Qaida.

Pelosi has spoken publicly about the need for congressional oversight on this program. While she has been briefed several times by the administration, Pelosi has said that does not mean she approved of the surveillance.
"I just forgot to say I didn't..."
She wants Congress and the president to have the best intelligence available, yet broadly questions the legality of the domestic surveillance.

The Justice Department, in the administration's most recent defense of the NSA program, issued on Friday a six-point "Myth vs. Reality" rebuttal of criticism leveled against Bush's action. It claims that Bush has legal authority through his position as commander in chief as well as through a congressional resolution passed shortly after the 2001 terrorist attacks.

The administration also resists descriptions of the program as domestic spying, arguing that the communications under surveillance involve an overseas party. And it contends that the program is consistent with FISA, which the administration suggests moves too slowly for some monitoring.

In her first extensive comments on the NSA program, Pelosi offered additional details during the interview about her concerns, including her belief that the administration is making weak arguments to justify the monitoring.

read the rest for her "comments". I can't...This is a winner of an issue for teh Republicans, especially if this botox dimwit continues to speak out
Posted by: Frank G || 01/28/2006 17:18 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  WTFH???!!!! This House member is a suicidal loon! I just cannot get a grip on the disconnect that these Dem loons are in. I can understand jihadis and their actions a whole lot easier---they grew up with this looniness. But Pelosi is fixated on the hate of GWB, so it does not matter how she does it, but she wants to destroy the Administration, even though she could be targetted by terrorists. She wants the same "wall" installed just like that gal on the 9-11 commission set up between agencies.

Basically, the issue is not the issue. They want to use the surveillance issue as a club to impeach the President and destroy the administration. Maybe this country should have it out right now and dispell these loons to the dustbin of history. We have a war of survival going on, and it is going to get a lot more intense with Iran in the near future. A pox, a proletarian pox upon her and her ilk.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 01/28/2006 17:45 Comments || Top||

#2  Think the 1936 Republican convention. That's the donks in 2008.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 01/28/2006 17:46 Comments || Top||

#3  AP's on it: her blather makes absolutely no sense, nor does it reflect ANY seriousness about the WOT
Posted by: Frank G || 01/28/2006 17:51 Comments || Top||

#4  What a freakin' moron.

I enjoyed watching Belagosi getting her ass kicked by the SF moonbats, who booed her for not being further out of her mind.
Posted by: Captain America || 01/28/2006 18:10 Comments || Top||

#5  She has to be the victim of a untreated minor stroke or oxygen depravation.

I am so tired of she and her freinds running my state. I wish she would just die.
Posted by: Sock Puppet O´ Doom || 01/28/2006 20:31 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
11 kidnapped in Dera Bugti
QUETTA: Armed men have kidnapped 11 people in the last two days from Pat Feeder Road and Sui Road of Dera Bugti, District Coordination Officer Abdul Samad Lasi said on Friday. Lasi alleged that armed supporters of Nawab Akbar Bugti have kidnapped 11 Kalpar Bugtis, who are considered his opponents. Jamhoori Watan Party General Secretary Agha Shahid Bugti has denied any knowledge of the kidnappings. Security forces distributed pamphlets in Sui in mid-January, asking people to revolt against Bugti. Forces also raided Bugti’s residence in Sui during that period. People in Dera Bugti and Sui had protested against the raid.
Posted by: Fred || 01/28/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Iraq
Terrs wound Tal Afar mayor
BAGHDAD - The mayor of the restive northern Iraqi city of Tal Afar was wounded on Saturday when rebels attacked his office, security officials said. Najim Abdullah, the mayor of Tal Afar, was wounded when rebels fired mortars at his office, a police officer from Tal Afar said. “Insurgents fired four mortars which landed on the office of the mayor and wounded him,” the officer said.

The attack came after a US commander declared Friday a “fragile victory” in the town, four months after a US-led military operation was carried out to break the hold of terror network Al-Qaeda and other insurgents in the city. In a press conference last week, US military spokesman Major General Lynch distributed to reporters a letter from Abdullah thanking the US military for clearing the town of insurgents.
Posted by: Steve White || 01/28/2006 13:10 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Artillery Soldiers Turn Infantrymen
Fighting the war in Iraq has transformed artillerymen into light infantrymen, a job filled with cordon and searches missions, motorized convoys and dismounted patrols. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 320th Field Artillery Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, accepted and excelled in their nontraditional role. The field artillery Soldiers have dominated a large area throughout the city and rich farmland of Taji, performing in the role of the light infantryman and securing peace for the people of the region. "We've captured 109 insurgents," said Lt. Col. Rafael Torres, commander, 1st Battalion, 320th Field Artillery Regiment. "We've discovered 15 caches (of weapons), three of which were the biggest ever found in this area. We've taken in excess of 1,500 artillery rounds here recently and destroyed them."

Since their arrival in the Taji area in October 2005, the 1st Battalion, or "Top Guns," has undergone more than just artillery-turned-infantry adjustments. Coming from Fort Campbell, Ky., and normally attached to 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, "Top Guns" landed in Iraq and were attached to the 3rd Brigade, 1st Armored Division out of Wiesbaden, Germany. The Soldiers wasted no time in tackling the light infantry role and taking charge of a larger area of operations than most battalions, said Torres. "Our units are spread out, so we have the challenge of constantly maneuvering our forces on the battlefield to ensure that we have the right combat power at the decisive point of an engagement," Torres explained. "I think the operational cell and the batteries have done a really good job in being flexible and doing that."

The missions have been overwhelmingly successful, said Torres, despite the loss of six Soldiers since the beginning of operations. "I think the fact that we are a team is key," said Capt. Robert Jenkins, whose Battery A has sustained all six "Top Gun" losses. "Just maintaining that sense of team and keeping that as the nucleus of everything we do, we'll be alright."
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Anonymoose || 01/28/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  CURRAHEE! GENTLEMEN CURRAHEE!
Posted by: junkirony || 01/28/2006 1:19 Comments || Top||

#2  What a waste. Okay, okay cross-training is good.
Posted by: 6 || 01/28/2006 9:59 Comments || Top||

#3  "The Royal Artillery Mounted Rifles" , From Kipling, I think. I can't rmember the poem title.
Posted by: N guard || 01/28/2006 10:58 Comments || Top||

#4  These guys started off as a Field Artillery unit.

6th Ranger Battalion
Posted by: Penguin || 01/28/2006 11:07 Comments || Top||

#5  The doctrine, which predates both Iraqi conflicts, states that artillery has a secondary mission as infantry.
Posted by: Hupereck Grinenter5653 || 01/28/2006 13:54 Comments || Top||


MNF News from Around Iraq
Operations to disrupt insurgency activity were just one topic of discussion at the latest Baghdad briefing here Jan. 26. Joint efforts by Iraqi and Coalition Forces in addition to contributions by Coalition air efforts continue to help deter terrorism in the area. Local leaders near Forward Operating Base Kalsu also met to discuss community concerns.

Operation Koa Canyon in Al Anbar province has denied Al-Qaeda in Iraq safe havens, munitions and funding, according to Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, Multi-National Force - Iraq spokesman, "And with great success," he said. Combined forces have found and destroyed more than 4,300 artillery and mortar rounds, rockets, and mines; 267 kilograms (590 pounds) of explosive powder, 10,000 rounds of various types of ammunition (ranging from small-arms to tank main gun rounds).

Many such operations were carried out with support from Coalition Air Force assets, including tactical air and logistical support. Of the 1,565 sorties flown last week, 421 were tactical air support, 122 were reconnaissance and more than 1,000 were logistical. Close air support was called in 21 times and expended "tactical munitions 13 times with precision guided munitions 70 percent of the time to avoid unnecessary collateral damage," Lynch said. Coalition air forces flew 17,000 sorties in 2005.

Insurgency groups consist of terrorists and foreign fighters, Iraqi rejectionists and Saddamists. Disruption of insurgency activity by Iraqi rejectionists is contributing to the degradation of Al Qaeda in the area, according to Maj. Gen Lynch. "In the last several months, six major leaders in the Zarqawi network have been killed by local insurgents. The people of Iraq are saying ‘Enough, we will not tolerate terrorists here.’"
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Anonymoose || 01/28/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Armenia's Third Contingent of Peacekeepers Now in Iraq
On Jan. 18 Armenia sent a third contingent of peacekeepers to Iraq, replacing the country`s second contingent of troops dispatched there on July 13. At a ceremony for the departing soldiers Deputy Minister of Defense Lt. Gen. Arthur Aghabekyan said, 'We have repeatedly stated that our contribution to Iraq`s restoration is, first of all, a question of moral duty. We ought to give a hand to the friendly Iraqi people and to make our modest contribution to the work of our partners.'

The troops will initially go to Kuwait for outfitting and training, ARMINFO News agency reported. The Armenian humanitarian contingent consists of 46 members, including officers, two communication specialists, a platoon commander, two physicians, 10 sappers and 30 drivers. The Armenians will be based in Al-Kut, 62 miles from the capital of Baghdad, and will be attached to the Polish peacekeeping division. The U.S. administration is underwriting the contingent`s expenses.

In Dec. the National Assembly approved President Robert Kocharian`s suggestion to extend the term of Armenian peacekeepers` presence in Iraq for one year, which will now extend to 2007. In return the Bush administration has announced its intention to release $235.5 million in additional economic assistance to Armenia after validating that it had received 'credible reassurances' that Kocharian`s government is committed to democracy and good governance. The additional funding was approved in December by the Millennium Challenge Corp., a U.S. government agency managing the administration`s Millennium Challenge Account. The Millennium Challenge Account program is intended to promote political and economic reforms in developing nations, but the grant was conditional on 'corrective steps' that would address issues of chronic vote rigging and civil rights violations in Armenia.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 01/28/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Update on Tal Afar
A senior U.S. military commander in Iraq says coalition and Iraqi forces have driven insurgents from the northern Iraqi city of Tal Afar, and that reconstruction of the area is well under way. Army Colonel H.R. McMaster made the remarks during a teleconference from Iraq. Colonel McMaster says when his forces first arrived in northern Iraq last May, insurgents, including foreign fighters and Saddam loyalists, had choked the life out of the region by conducting systematic attacks throughout the area.

McMaster says many of the insurgents infiltrated the city of Tal Afar, which lies about 60 kilometers from porous Syrian border. "What the enemy really needed to do is intimidate the population in the area, to give them safe-haven so people would be afraid to cooperate with our forces or Iraqi security forces trying to bring security to the area," he said. "They also hoped to incite sectarian violence, which they did by collapsing the police force, turning the police force, in effect, into a sectarian militia that further fed the cycle of sectarian violence."

A turning point came last September when, for the first time, U.S.-trained Iraqi security forces took the lead in a major military operation against insurgents in Tal Afar. Colonel McMaster says the Iraqi army and police forces backed by U.S. troops successfully drove most of the foreign fighters out of the area. "As a result of our combined efforts with Iraqi security forces, some brave Iraqi leaders, soldiers and police I am happy to report to you that the situation in Tal Afar, and in western Niniweh, has fundamentally changed," he added. "What we have been able to achieve there together alongside our Iraqi brothers is to bring life back to this area, to rekindle hope."

Colonel McMaster says the success at Tal Afar means that a major staging area has now been taken from those dedicated to the defeat of coalition forces and the new Iraqi government. "This was an important physical defeat for the enemy because they lost this safe haven and support base in an area they hoped to use to destabilize the northern region of Iraq," he explained. "It was also a very important psychological defeat to the enemy, because people now understand that these anti-Iraqi forces want Iraq to fail."

Colonel McMaster says basic services, such as water and electricity, have now been restored in Tal Afar, and people in the city feel safe to move around the region. He says in the recent Iraqi elections some 90 percent of eligible voters went to the polls.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 01/28/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


German Hostages in Iraq Plead for Lives
Two German engineers seized in Iraq this week were shown in a video yesterday appealing for their government to save their lives as Berlin strongly condemned the abduction. The two men, snatched at gunpoint by men in army uniforms, were shown surrounded by four masked men brandishing assault rifles from a group calling itself Ansar Al-Tawheed Wal Sunnah (Followers of Unity and Prophetic Tradition). No demands from the captors were apparently issued but Al-Jazeera television which showed the video said the men pleaded for the German government to intervene to secure their release. “The first contact was made by the kidnappers,” German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told RTL television of the video. “We cannot give any further details about the group.”
Pay up once, you can expect to keep paying up.
Posted by: Fred || 01/28/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Without being racist, an old saying comes to mind.

"Once you pay the Danegelt, the Dane never goes away."
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 01/28/2006 7:56 Comments || Top||

#2  The whole of Kipling's poem

IT IS always a temptation to an armed and agile nation,
To call upon a neighbour and to say:—
“We invaded you last night—we are quite prepared to fight,
Unless you pay us cash to go away.”
And that is called asking for Dane-geld,
And the people who ask it explain
That you’ve only to pay ’em the Dane-geld
And then you’ll get rid of the Dane!

It is always a temptation to a rich and lazy nation,
To puff and look important and to say:—
“Though we know we should defeat you, we have not the time to meet you.
We will therefore pay you cash to go away.”

And that is called paying the Dane-geld;
But we’ve proved it again and again,
That if once you have paid him the Dane-geld
You never get rid of the Dane.

It is wrong to put temptation in the path of any nation,
For fear they should succumb and go astray,
So when you are requested to pay up or be molested,
You will find it better policy to says:—

“We never pay any one Dane-geld,
No matter how trifling the cost,
For the end of that game is oppression and shame,
And the nation that plays it is lost!”
Posted by: phil_b || 01/28/2006 8:21 Comments || Top||


Iraqi Forces Arrest About 60 After Clashes - Other News
Iraqi forces clashed with insurgents Friday near the notorious airport road and other districts of western Baghdad, arresting nearly 60 people as the sounds of a rousing song, "Where are the terrorists now?" blared from police car loudspeakers.

The fiercest clashes occurred in the Jihad district along the main road to Baghdad International Airport — scene of numerous bombings and ambushes. U.S. attack helicopters roamed the skies and the rattle of automatic weapons fire echoed through the streets as motorists abandoned their vehicles and merchants shuttered their shops. Iraqi troops armed with rifles and machine guns blocked access to the areas where security operations were under way. However, residents reported seeing insurgent snipers on rooftops in the Jihad area and masked gunmen, some armed with rocket-propelled grenades, in the alleyways. An Associated Press photographer watched as gunmen shot dead two men trying to flee the area. Residents said the two were killed because they were collaborating with the Americans.

In the Saydiyah neighborhood, witnesses saw police hustle about a dozen men, blindfolded and handcuffed, into pickup trucks and driven away, while police car loudspeakers blared the lyrics to a commando fight song — "Oh God, you protected the homeland, where are the terrorists now?" Police said about 60 people had been arrested in the various confrontations. There was no word on casualties.

Raids by Shiite-led government security forces into Sunni neighborhoods have sharpened sectarian tensions as Iraq's Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish politicians are trying under intensive U.S. pressure to organize a new broad-based government after last month's elections. U.S. officials hope such a government can win the trust of Sunni Arabs and lure them away from the Sunni-dominated insurgency. Sunni politicians have insisted on changes in the leadership of the security forces before they will join the government. During a sermon Friday at the Umm al-Qura mosque, Sunni cleric Ahmed Abdul Ghafour al-Samaraie condemned raids into Sunni communities by "death squads wearing police uniforms."
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Anonymoose || 01/28/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Hamas takes responsibility for election bombshell
ScrappleFace

(2006-01-28) — Hamas yesterday took responsibility for its victory in Palestinian parliamentary elections, a political bombshell that reverberated around the world.

“We are a very responsible party,” said an unnamed Hamas spokesman from behind a dark veil, “The Palestinian people trust us because we are always taking responsibility.”

The source said Hamas has been responsible for reducing crowding at public shopping and entertainment venues, decreasing global warming by taking greenhouse gas-producing city buses out of service and widening the openings at border crossings between Israel and the Palestinian territory.

“We also have done our part responsibly to prevent overpopulation,” he said. “We are now ready to take responsibility for governing the Islamic Republic of Palestine and its nearby Zionist territory.”
Posted by: Korora || 01/28/2006 16:21 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Hamas ready to form Palestinian army
Hamas' political bureau chief Khaled Mashaal declared on Saturday that his group will not disarm and that he was ready to form an army to defend the Palestinian people from aggression.
hilarious. all that punditry about hamas reconsidering its stance, negotiating, renouncing terror, recognizing Israel's right to exist, etc lasted about a day and a half!
"We are willing to form an army like every country ... an army to defend our people against aggression," Mashaal told reporters from his base in Damascus, the Syrian capital.
I guess this makes it easier for the EU and the US to cut off funding. After all, they'd be funding an army of terrorists if they didn't. (and for all you EU readers, that's a bad thing). Only problem is, their army will be supplied by Syria and Iran. But those countries can't provide sustained financial support.
Mashaal indicated that his group would continue attacks on Israeli civilians as long as Palestinian civilians were targeted by Israel.
paleo civilians are NEVER targeted, though. paleo terrorists hide among them, and civilian deaths are part of their calculations. Besides, one attack on Israel by a hamas army is an act of war.
"As long as we are under occupation then resistance is our right," he said.

Mashaal's call comes in staunch contrast with international calls on Hamas to abolish its armed wing following its landslide victory in the Palestinian elections.
can't wait for al-guardian and al-bbc to spin this one.
"Resistance is a legitimate right that we will practice and protect. Our presence in the legislature will strengthen the resistance," he said.
and they lose the protection of being the opposition party. Now it's the government of the paleos directly attacking Israel. Popcorn time!!!
"If people raised the issue of targeting civilians, we said and we say that when our enemy stops targeting civilians we will abide by that," Mashaal said.

Asked if a truce that ended at the end of 2005 will be renewed, Mashaal said "it results were not encouraging." Mashaal then outlined Hamas' three goals: Reform of the Palestinian authority, destroying sustaining its resistance to Israel and "arranging the Palestinian home."

He said Hamas wanted a partnership with other Palestinian factions and called for the world to respect the radical organization's landslide victory in parliamentary elections.

Mashaal said he was in contact with Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. "We will reach a partnership formula, and we extend our hand to everyone." He said no Palestinian faction would be sidelined. Hamas won 76 seats of the 132-member parliament in this week's election.

Mashaal attacked U.S. and Israeli opposition to the Hamas victory, saying the "world raised the slogan of democracy and now it should respect the results of democracy. If you want to punish the Palestinian people for practicing democracy then the American administration should punish Americans for choosing President (George W.) Bush."
hey. we respect democracy. we just don't have to agree with the choice or fund it. you're the duly elected leaders. go lead, asswipe, and shut up.
He declared Hamas' determination to reshape the Palestinian authority, coining the phrase: "Hamas succeeded in resistance and it will succeed in reforms." In an apparent reference to the ruling Fatah Party, Mashaal warned those "who might try block the work because they are out of power. They are the ones who will be responsible."

Mashaal vowed to work for Palestinian detainees in Israeli jails, which, he said, numbered 9,000.

Ghazi Hamad, one of Hamas' top ideologues, said on Saturday that Hamas may consider forming a government of technocrats with no connection to the radical Islamic movement, in a bid to relieve some of the international pressure on the group. "We want a government for the Palestinian people, and if we couldn't do that then there are lots of options, one of which is a technocrat government," Hamad said.
Posted by: PlanetDan || 01/28/2006 07:24 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I guess this makes it easier for the EU and the US to cut off funding.

It does MAKE it easier, but whether our leadership has the willingness to stop giving them money is something else.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 01/28/2006 11:51 Comments || Top||

#2  Go ahead, cluster those bad boys -- makes an easier target.
Posted by: Darrell || 01/28/2006 12:08 Comments || Top||

#3  Lift 1 green-wrapped finger at Israel and it's an act of war.

One boomer. One RPG and you are collectively off the map.

Syria and Iran go with you as a given.

Tread very, very carefully Hamas. You are a government now - and there ARE limits of behaviour. Thin, thin ice.
Posted by: Hupomoger Clans9827 || 01/28/2006 12:21 Comments || Top||

#4  I dont know what all the fuss is about, they look like great neighbours
Posted by: Mctavish Mcpherson || 01/28/2006 12:52 Comments || Top||

#5  Somebody better let them know that, unlike the sky, people you shoot at will usually shoot back. Probably a helluva lot more accurately and with bigger firepower then these clowns.
Posted by: tu3031 || 01/28/2006 13:05 Comments || Top||

#6  I see more locations being booked for our DOD world tour. Been everywhere else, why not Palestine? This is getting old.
Posted by: 49 Pan || 01/28/2006 13:30 Comments || Top||

#7  great - a psychopathic F Troop....should be just as successful, eh, Abu Agorn?
Posted by: Frank G || 01/28/2006 13:48 Comments || Top||

#8  Hey Clinton, Rabin -- all that "peace process" crap you pushed is really bringing great results, huh? I hope they figured those Nobel prizes were worth all the bloodshed. Those two idiot do-gooders are (and will continue to be) the cause of more death and misery than I can contemplate. The so-called "occupation" was the best thing that ever happened to those Paleo savages. Some youngsters out they might not know that there was a time, not so long ago, when the Paleos were policed (by Israelis), employed (by Israelis), and not allowed to own guns (for obvious reasons). And everyone was a lot happier (except Yasser Arafat, Clinton, the UN, and some Euros).
Posted by: Scooter McGruder || 01/28/2006 15:08 Comments || Top||

#9  The best part is that the Paleo "army" will consist solely of Hamas. How likely is it that Fatah will give them so much as a bullet of support?

Then again, Hamas could try forcible conscription of all adult males. That could prove highly entertaining.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 01/28/2006 15:51 Comments || Top||

#10  Fatah will not willingly give up their monthly "take" from corruption and gangs. Hamas will want their share now that they're on top. Win-win if they slit each others' throats to the last Paleo. Point is - there is no army, just uniforms for some
Posted by: Frank G || 01/28/2006 15:59 Comments || Top||


Fatah activists riot in protest of election defeat
Thousands of activists from Fatah protested throughout the Gaza Strip on Friday, burning abandoned cars, shooting in the air and demanding Fatah leaders resign after the party's shock election defeat. About 1,000 angry party activists, including 100 gunmen, drove by Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas' resident in Gaza, calling from loudspeakers for all corrupt leaders to step down and urging Abbas not to form a coalition with Hamas. Abbas was in the West Bank town of Ramallah at the time.
"Ahmed, get the car! We're goin' to Ramallah! And make it quick! They're almost here!"
After evening prayers, the protesters went back to Abbas' house, and fired rifles in the air, before marching and driving through the city, waving Palestinian flags, yellow Fatah flags and posters of the late leader Yasser Arafat.
... who's no doubt spinning slowly in his grave...
They then led a march through Gaza City toward the security headquarters, tearing down Hamas election posters and banners and burning tires and some of the Hamas posters. Security personnel did not allow anyone to enter their compound. More than 15,000 people took part in the mass Fatah demonstrations across Gaza.

Mohammad Dahlan, Fatah's strongman in Gaza, arrived at the house and called on the crowd to head back to Parliament where he gave a short speech. "I assure you that Fatah won't participate with the new government... Those who are betraying us should assume this responsibility," he said.

In the West Bank city of Hebron, about 500 Fatah members, including some gunmen shooting in the air, marched to the local Fatah office, where one of the masked gunmen read a statement demanding the resignation of the central committee. The militant Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, part of Fatah, issued a statement threatening to "liquidate" the faction's leaders if they changed their minds and joined a Hamas-led administration.
Posted by: Fred || 01/28/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Imagine the Paleos astonishment that they've been sold a bill of goods for 60 years:

"then they pried open Arafats' tomb, but of course it was empty, with but a bandolier, a dirty kaffiyeh, a red notebook, a Michael Jackson™ model turkey baster, and a supply of Retrovir left upon the earthen floor"
Posted by: Frank G || 01/28/2006 0:44 Comments || Top||

#2  Yes, popcorn would go good with that story. I should care about the inevitable loss of life that will happen in Paliland, but I don't. Sow the wind...
Posted by: ThroppinJedidaih || 01/28/2006 4:29 Comments || Top||

#3  In other news Fatah appeals to the Florida Supreme Court.
Posted by: 6 || 01/28/2006 10:18 Comments || Top||

#4  I really don't get it!...

According to the Guardian guy yesterday, the paleo-elections were the purest expression of total and absolute True Democracy in the whole ME, even more so than the rigged iraqi elections (you see, old Zark couldn't even present his candidates), and than the ZionistEntity(tm)'s, where they allow (gasp!) rightwing people to vote.

Was I somehow misled?
I'm so confused.
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 01/28/2006 11:18 Comments || Top||

#5  We may be about to see absolute True Democracy in action. It's never pretty.
Posted by: 2b || 01/28/2006 11:58 Comments || Top||

#6  Update:
Hundreds of Fatah activists, angry at their party's election defeat, entered the compound of Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday to pray at the grave of the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

The group, which included several gunmen, were allowed into the compound by guards and peacefully proceed toward Arafat's tomb in an empty lot inside. Abbas' security force formed a cordon around the activists to prevent them from approaching the nearby building that holds the Palestinian leader's office.

Outside the compound, known as the muqaata, some of the militants shot in the air and chanted: "We came to you Abu Amar to forgive us for what happened." Abu Amar was Arafat's nickname.

Jibril Rajoub, Abbas' national security adviser who was among the protesters, warned Hamas not to tamper with the security forces.

"The security forces will stay. Hamas has no power meddling with the security forces," he said.

Earlier Saturday, thousands of angry Fatah activists, led by masked gunmen firing wildly in the air, marched in the West Bank on Saturday, demanding the resignation of party leaders.

Dozens of them made their way into the Palestinian parliament building in Ramallah Saturday afternoon and began shooting in different directions.

Some of the gunmen said they would no longer observe an informal cease-fire with Israel.

In the city of Nablus, about 2,000 Fatah members marched through the streets, led by dozens of gunmen from the Fatah-allied Al Aksa Martyrs' Brigades, who climbed aboard the back of a truck and fired in the air.

"Al Aksa, from Rafah to Jenin, has stopped the cease-fire," one of the gunmen aboard the truck, Nasser Haras, told the crowd. "We are now no longer part of the cease-fire."

Following bloody clashes Friday night and Saturday morning between his group and Fatah, Hamas leader in Gaza, Ismail Hania, told his followers Saturday morning that, "weapons should be turned only against Israel.

"Our battle is not against our own people," he added.

The statement came after Hamas gunmen ambushed a Palestinian police patrol early Saturday, wounding two officers, Gaza police said.

The shooting in the southern town of Khan Younis came just hours after an exchange of fire between Hamas gunmen and police in the same area. A Hamas gunman and two policemen were wounded in the firefight. One of the officers was shot in the head and chest, and later died of his wounds, Army Radio reported.

In an attempt to show that it was treating Hamas like a terrorist organization, Israeli government officials said Saturday that Hamas members in Gaza would not be allowed travel rights to the West Bank and vice-versa
Posted by: Frank G || 01/28/2006 14:08 Comments || Top||

#7  Fatah needs the Ring of Abu Amar. Dig his butt up and let's have a parade!
Posted by: 6 || 01/28/2006 15:05 Comments || Top||



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Two weeks of WOT
Sat 2006-01-28
  Hamas leader rejects roadmap, call to disarm
Fri 2006-01-27
  Hamas, Fatah gunmen exchange fire in Gaza
Thu 2006-01-26
  Hamas takes Paleo election
Wed 2006-01-25
  UK cracks down on Basra cops
Tue 2006-01-24
  Zark steps down as head of Iraqi muj council
Mon 2006-01-23
  JMB Supremo Shaikh Rahman arrested in India?
Sun 2006-01-22
  U.S. Navy Seizes Pirate Ship Off Somalia
Sat 2006-01-21
  Plot to kill Hakim thwarted
Fri 2006-01-20
  Brammertz takes up al-Hariri inquiry
Thu 2006-01-19
  Binny offers hudna
Wed 2006-01-18
  Abu Khabab titzup?
Tue 2006-01-17
  Tajiks claim holding senior Hizb ut-Tahrir leader
Mon 2006-01-16
  Canada diplo killed in Afghanistan
Sun 2006-01-15
  Emir of Kuwait dies
Sat 2006-01-14
  Talk of sanctions on Iran premature: France

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