AFGHAN forces and coalition helicopter gunships attacked a suspected Taliban hide-out in southern Afghanistan, triggering a fierce battle that killed 41 militants, a provincial governor said overnight.
Six Afghan policemen were also killed, but there were no casualties among the US-led forces in Friday's battle in the Zare Dasht district of Kandahar province, Kandahar Governor Assadullah Khalid said.
A number of militants' bodies had been recovered, he said.
A senior provincial official who declined to be named said government forces suffered high casualties as several rockets mistakenly hit them.
Taliban forces have stepped up attacks on Afghan and coalition forces since announcing last month they had launched a spring offensive.
A Taliban spokesman, Qari Mohammad Yousuf, put Taliban deaths at only three and said there were "high casualties among Afghan and foreign forces."
Four civilians were also killed, residents said.
Khalid, the Kandahar governor, said some of the heaviest fighting in weeks erupted after Afghan and coalition forces came under attack during a search operation for Taliban hiding in the area.
Separately, Taliban gunmen killed a district chief and three policemen in neighbouring Helmand province in an ambush on Saturday, deputy provincial governor Amir Mohammad said.
The Taliban spokesman said seven policemen were killed in that ambush, but Mohammad denied that.
Afghan and coalition forces killed three insurgents on Saturday in the Chora district of Uruzgan Province after coming under fire from five attackers with small-arms and rocked-propelled grenades, the US military said.
No Afghan or coalition forces were hurt, said the military, which released no further details.
In the same province on Friday, US-led troops and Afghan soldiers killed two insurgents and captured two, who the US military said had been recruiting suicide bombers.
Also on Friday, US-led forces killed six Taliban in an air strike in eastern Afghanistan. A blast elsewhere killed three policemen, while two British troops from the NATO-led peacekeeping mission were wounded in a suicide attack in Helmand.
Despite the increased fighting, the US army plans to cut its 19,000-strong force in Afghanistan to 16,500 this year.
Thousands of NATO-led troops from Britain, Canada and the Netherlands are due to deploy in the south where the militants are mostly active.
US-led troops overthrew the Taliban government in Kabul after its leaders refused to hand over al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, architect of the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.
Six Taleban guerrillas were killed in an airstrike by US-led troops in eastern Afghanistan yesterday after blasts elsewhere in the country killed three policemen and wounded two British troops. The airstrike was carried out in Kunar province as part of Operation Lion launched on Wednesday to flush out militants from the area, officials said.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/15/2006 00:00 ||
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AP now reports:
41 Taliban Killed in Intense Fighting
By RAHIM FAIEZ, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 54 minutes ago
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - Afghan security forces backed by coalition helicopters attacked a suspected Taliban hideout in southern Afghanistan, setting off an intense gunbattle that killed 41 rebels, a provincial governor said Saturday.
Six Afghan police officers also died in Friday's fighting in Sangisar, a town 25 miles southwest of Kandahar, said Asadullah Khalid, the provincial governor. Nine police and several militants were wounded.
"Acting on intelligence reports that Taliban have gathered in Sangisar to plan an attack in Kandahar, we launched this operation Friday and the fighting continued from morning to evening," he said.
Khalid said security forces were pursuing Taliban fighters who fled to a nearby village. He said security forces had seen the bodies of 41 rebels but had only retrieved 11.
AH-64 Apache helicopters provided by coalition forces fired rockets to support Afghan forces on the ground, said U.S. military spokesman Lt. Mike Cody. He declined to comment on casualty figures.
A roadside bomb exploded near a convoy of Afghan police in eastern Afghanistan on Friday, killing three officers and wounding two others, a senior police official said. No one claimed responsibility for the attack in Khost province, about 150 kilometres south of Kabul, but Mohammed Ayub, the provincial police chief, blamed Taliban, although he offered no evidence. "It is the work of the Taliban," he said, adding the dead and injured had been transported to a hospital.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/15/2006 00:00 ||
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Rebels from eastern Sudan said yesterday they had destroyed two government military camps in attacks they launched this week with allies from the troubled western region of Darfur. The Eastern Front said the bases in Kassala province had been destroyed in strikes Tuesday carried out by its forces and members of Darfurs Justice and Equality Movement and Sudan Liberation Army.
In separate statements released from its office in the Eritrean capital, Asmara, the Eastern Front said the joint attacks had taken out camps held by government troops in the towns of Waqar and Tenniyay in Kassala. In the first statement, the front said it and the JEM had launched a surprise attack on the camp in Waqar. It said the camp housed soldiers who had regularly terrorized local communities. Our joint forces destroyed the military camp, its ammunition depots (and) military hardware and seized several vehicles along with large quantities of arms, it said. This action serves notice to the ruling party that the New Sudan forces remain steadfast in their opposition and condemnation of exclusionist and marginalizing policies, the Eastern Front said.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/15/2006 00:00 ||
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Looks like one of the jackets from 'Wide World of Sports', or maybe 'Monday Night Football' in the 70s.
N'DJAMENA: Chad's President Idriss Deby said on Friday he was breaking diplomatic ties with Sudan after rebel attacks on his country which he said were supported by Khartoum. "We have taken the decision to break our diplomatic relations with Sudan today and to proceed to close our frontiers," he told a rally in N'Djamena. Chadian rebels attacked the capital N'Djamena early on Thursday in the boldest assault yet by fighters who have vowed to end Deby's nearly 16-year rule and block a May 3 presidential election in which he is standing for re-election. Chadian government forces repulsed the attack and said 100 people died in the fighting. Chad's government has repeatedly accused its western neighbour Sudan of financing and arming anti-Deby rebels from the conflict-torn Sudanese region of Darfur. On Friday, Chadian officials paraded 160 captured rebels in N'Djamena and said they were recruited by Sudan.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/15/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Left-over, hand-me-down jacket from none other than Dandy Don Meredith.
Saudi Minister of Interior Prince Nayef Bin Abdulaziz commented Tuesday on confessions made by Al-Qaeda second-in-command in Yemen, Mohamed Hamdi Al-Ahdal, who was tried in Sanaa confessing that he received money from Saudi citizens but refused to name them. In a Riyadh press conference, Prince Nayef said, We feel sorry for the irresponsible Saudi nationals who help terrorists from other countries.
Al-Ahdal confessed before the State Security Specialized Penal Court that he received financial assistance and cars from Saudi citizens. Meanwhile, Yemen allowed Saudi detectives to investigate Al-Ahdal, who confessed to receiving 1.06 million Saudi Riyals from Saudi businessmen. Yemens government announced that it provided Saudi Arabia with all confessions Al-Ahdal made revealing names of Saudi nationals in Saudi Arabia, Yemen and the United Arab Emirates who funneled money to Al-Qaeda terrorist operations in Yemen. Yemeni authorities accused Al-Ahdal of receiving 1.06 million Saudi Riyals, equivalent to YR 80 million, to distribute to Al-Jawf and Marib tribesmen to harbor wanted terror suspects.
Backed by tanks and helicopters, Special Forces raided Al-Jalal strongholds in Marib in December 2001 in an attempt to arrest Al-Ahdal. The raids turned into clashes, with Abida tribesmen killing at least 15 and wounding 20 others. Yemens Al-Qaeda second-in-command was arrested November 25, 2003.
In last Mondays session, the court adjourned the cases of Al-Ahdal and his aide, Ghalib Abdullah Ali Al-Zaidi, until April 18 for final appeals. Born in Saudi Arabia, Al-Ahdal was considered Al-Qaedas second-in-command in Yemen after Ali Qaed Senen Al-Harithi, one of those who plotted the USS Cole attack in 2000. Al-Harithi was killed by a U.S. fighter in Marib in 2002.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/15/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Dude, the holy man beard thing? It definitely ain't working...
The US government wants to deport a group of Chinese Muslims held at the Guantanamo prison camp to Germany and is pressuring Chancellor Angela Merkel to take in the ethnic Uighurs, a newspaper reported yesterday. The German daily Die Welt quoted diplomatic sources saying Merkels government has resisted the US pressure to accept the 15 Uighurs from the restive, predominantly Muslim region of Xinjiang in Chinas northwest. We have no comment on the report, a government spokesman in Berlin said yesterday. Merkel is the only European leader to have publicly called on the United States to close the camp.
The men, who oppose Chinas Communist rule, are from the region that was known as East Turkestan until it was annexed by the Manchu Empire in 1884. Its Uighur inhabitants, a Muslim Turkic people, want more autonomy; some want independence.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/15/2006 00:00 ||
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Yea, but can he yodel? Sing "the hills are alive, with the sound of music"?
Posted by: Captain America ||
04/15/2006 0:23 Comments ||
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#2
The Urghurs, amongst others in Central Asia, are awaiting the return of Genghis Khan - from Osama and Saladin, to the Sun God of Japan and Mikado, etal society after society, faith after faith, await the return of Madonna's great daddy. Nostradamus' "hideous beast seen near Orgon", aka the Devil as Godzilla, awaits the great battle.
#4
Typical D.C. stupidity. If we don't have reason to hold them deport them to their country of origin post haste. Why should we be sending them to Germany?
Posted by: SPoD ||
04/15/2006 2:18 Comments ||
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#5
SPoD: Because it's funny! Merkel says we should close the prison, and now Germany won't take some... you know, actual prisoners. Comedy Gold.
#7
The US government wants to deport a group of Chinese Muslims held at the Guantanamo prison camp to Germany and is pressuring Chancellor Angela Merkel to take in the ethnic Uighurs,
I seem to recall that a couple of Uighurs were captured in Normandy '44. Captured by the Germans in Russia - joined the German Army, captured by the US in France. Much confusion.
An illegal immigrant who tried to bring down a U.S. Border Patrol helicopter by throwing rocks at it was sentenced to 38 months in federal prison, the U.S Attorney's Office said. Antonio Eretza-Florez, 33, will be under supervision for 36 months after his release for the July 2004 incident. He was sentenced Thursday.
Eretza-Florez was a passenger in a stolen vehicle packed with illegal immigrants that a Huachuca City police officer tried to stop. A chase ensued, and the officer Roscoe P. Coltrane ran his patrol car into a ditch. Border Patrol agents arrived to help, and a helicopter and an unmanned aerial vehicle were brought in to search for the fleeing vehicle and its occupants.
After the vehicle became stuck, Eretza-Florez ran into the desert and was chased by Border Patrol agents. As the helicopter flew low to guide agents to him, he threw several softball-sized rocks at the aircraft. The pilot avoided them, and one rock passed through the rotor blades. Eretza-Florez pleaded guilty Dec. 1 to aggravated assault on a federal agent and a charge of re-entering the U.S. after being deported. So, he's a repeat offender?
The man widely regarded as Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf's right-hand man claims India is playing the Great Game inside Afghanistan and paints the possibility of it destabilising the region
Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed is a man who wears many caps: he is the Pakistan Senate foreign relations committee chairman, the secretary-general of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League, and widely regarded as Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf's right-hand man. A former editor of a major national daily, Hussain knows a thing or two about the unrest in Balochistan. It was a parliamentary committee headed by him that had recommended that the government grant autonomy to the Balochis, and ensure their province wasn't forgotten in the rapid economic development of Pakistan.
Mariana Baabar met Hussain at his residence in Islamabad's upscale E-sector. Though the joke here is that the E is for Extremely Rich, Hussain's own home is modest.
His phone keeps ringing as he takes calls from politicians of all ideological hues. Between calls, he talks about the Great Game India's playing inside Afghanistan and its possibility of destabilising the region. Excerpts:
Why should Pakistan complain about India having several consulates in Afghanistan? They are two sovereign states.
India currently has an extensive diplomatic presence in Afghanistan. It includes the Indian embassy in Kabul and another four consulates in Kandahar, Jalalabad, Mazar-e-Sharif and Herat. These Indian diplomatic missions serve as launching pads for undertaking covert operations against Pakistan, from Afghan soil. Particularly, the Indian consulates in Kandahar and Jalalabad and their embassy in Kabul are used for clandestine activities inside Pakistan in general and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and Balochistan in particular.
Are you alleging that the Indian Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) is involved?
Indian diplomatic and RAW officials have significant ingress in the Afghan ministry of tribal affairs, and are exploiting it to conduct covert activities. Indian agents are instrumental in arranging meetings of tribal elders and Afghans with dual nationalities with Indian consulate officials in Jalalabad, and assisting them in spotting and recruiting suitable tribal elders from Jalalabad and Pakistan's North and South Waziristan Agencies for covert activities.
Are you then saying that RAW has managed a strong presence inside Afghanistan after the ouster of the Taliban?
RAW has established its training camps in Afghanistan in collaboration with the Northern Alliance remnants. Approximately 600 ferraris, or Baloch tribal dissidents, are getting specialised training to handle explosives, engineer bomb blasts, and use sophisticated weapons in these camps.
Has India revived its links with the leaders of the erstwhile Northern Alliance who are in power in Afghanistan today?
India has invested heavily in its old connections with the leaders of the erstwhile Northern Alliance. It has sizeable support in Afghan parliament. Before the Afghan elections last year, the Indian ambassador called the Northern Alliance's major leadership at his residence and paid them a handsome amount to run their election campaign.
Are allegations of India placing troops in Afghanistan correct?
India is gradually increasing the number of its paramilitary personnel in Afghanistan. It is stationing them there on the pretext of providing security and protection to the Border Roads Organisation, which is constructing the Zaranj-Dilaram road, and its consulates. From a few personnel, the strength of Indian troops has reached almost that of a company size force and even includes Black Cat Commandos.
Is the Afghan state helping India in these operations?
Yes, the Afghan Police, the Border Security Force and customs officials facilitate the visit of Indian diplomatic staff and intelligence agents to border areas, and help them to hold meetings with dissatisfied pro-Afghan dissidents, anti-state elements, and elders of the area.In this context, meetings of tribal elders are arranged by the Afghan intelligence agency (Riyast-i-Amniyat-i-Milli or RAM) at the behest of those RAW officials who serve in different diplomatic offices of India in Afghanistan. Indian agents are carrying out clandestine activities in the border areas of Khost and in Pakistan's tribal areas of Miranshah with the active support of Afghan Border Security Force officials.
If you remember, after Pakistan took action against the Balochistan Liberation Army and other elements inside the province, the Indian external affairs ministry was quick to issue an unprecedented statement (see story below) in December 2005; their strategic writers have started focusing on Balochistan in their articles. This does not bode well for peace and stability in the region. I have no doubt that this will backfire on India.
Posted by: john ||
04/15/2006 13:35 ||
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#1
When reading this, I couldn't get out of my mind that they were referring to RAW, as in Robert Anton Wilson.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Anton_Wilson
Which, you will have to admit, would put an interesting complexion on events.
#2
Interestingly, some units of the ITBP (Indo-Tibetan Border Police) are in Afghanistan.
ITBF units are part of the SFF (Special Frontier Force), a special forces outfit originally trained by the CIA which does covert operations for RAW.
Posted by: john ||
04/15/2006 14:22 Comments ||
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"Well, we are very happy in Afghanistan with India helping us in a manner that is not expected," Karzai told Indian state TV
"India went out of its way to provide us with great economic assistance. India's help is reaching up to $600 million. It has helped us in all walks of life,"
Five people were killed and 40 wounded on Friday when suspected Islamist militants staged a wave of grenade attacks in the capital of Indian-held Kashmir, police said. The attacks took place in a three-kilometre radius of Srinagar with four blasts occurring within an hour of each other. The fifth struck at Dalgate, on the shores of popular tourist resort Dal Lake, and wounded five people. The five killed in the attacks were all civilians three women and two men. They died of their injuries at Srinagars main hospital, said Mushtaq Ahmad, a police officer at the hospital.
The first grenade, hurled at an Indian Border Security Force truck passing through one of the citys main thoroughfares injured two soldiers, confirmed Superintendent of Police Anand Jain. He said that the attack took place outside the citys main telephone exchange near the office of the states ruling Congress party. Jain confirmed that within minutes of the first blast, a second grenade was launched at Hari Singh High Street in the city centre, killing a Nepalese woman, a Kashmiri man and injuring six others. He said that two policemen were injured in a fourth explosion at Srinagars main bus station when their jeep caught on fire and that another blast had occurred in areas near the bus station. A police spokesman said that six of the injured were police and paramilitary men and that the militants had been targeting Indian security forces.
Pro-Pakistan Islamist groups Jamiat-ul-Mujahideen, Al-Mansoorain, Islamic Front and Jaish-e-Mohammed claimed responsibility, in separate statements, for the attacks, reported the Srinagar-based Current News Service. I could see people falling down after a deafening blast, said Abdul Ahad from his hospital bed after his arms were lacerated by splinters received in the explosion. Srinagars main hospital was flooded by frantic relatives seeking information about the victims.
The attacks came as thousands of Muslims made their way towards the Hazratbal shrine to offer special Friday prayers following celebrations marking the birth anniversary of the Prophet Muhammad [may his drip clear up peace be upon him] on Tuesday. The shrine houses a whisker believed to have come from the beard of the Prophet [may his pustules never ooze peace be upon him].
Posted by: Fred ||
04/15/2006 00:00 ||
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Unidentified men kidnapped five paramilitary soldiers in North Waziristan a day after the military raided a suspected militants' hideout, an official said on Friday. The soldiers were kidnapped in Razmak sub-division, 75 kilometres south of Miranshah, the regional headquarters of North Waziristan. "We have received reports that the soldiers were kidnapped late on Thursday afternoon when they were on a highway patrol," said an administration official, wishing not to be named.
Maj-Gen Shaukat Sultan, the military spokesman, told Daily Times that he had received no reports of missing paramilitary soldiers. He also said that he had no confirmation as yet of the death of Abdul Rahman Al-Muhajir, an Egyptian-born Al Qaeda explosives expert whom the government had claimed was killed in a Wednesday operation near Miranshah. "I will share it with the media when I have the confirmation," the military spokesman added. The soldiers' kidnapping is the first such incident in North Waziristan.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/15/2006 00:00 ||
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Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Richard Myers appeared on Weekend Live with Tony Snow, where he said that the current situation of retired generals critiquing their civilian superiors is "fundamentally dangerous" and "inappropriate."
Myers said that he has respect for the 6 former generals who have recently criticized Defense Secretary Rumsfeld, but he cannot figure out what the motivation is for them coming out now. While Myers said he wouldn't go so far as to call it "unethical," he made it clear that it was not "healthy" or appropriate for the military or the country.
In order for the democrats to win we *must* lose the WOT - and lose big. Between Kerry, Kennedy and Muthra they have positioned themselves so that in order for them to 'win' we have to lose the WOT - and the more dead americans and grieving wifes / mothers / children the better.
The best way to do that is to use the same tactic which was used in Vietnam. To make up stories and spread enemy propaganda. Kerry and Company (and mother F-ker Cindy Shithan) are doing the same treason done in '72; the MSM is doing the same thing Walter Cronkite did after the Tet offensive ('Its a huge american loss!').
Will it work? I don't know. There is a wildcard in that the MSM no longer has the monopoly on information it once had and has been caught red-handed lying and making up false stories. And there are the Blogs and people like Michael Yon who are getting the truth out.
#2
Funny that when the question was put before him, Myers refused to say whether Rumsfeld should stay or go. I like this guy Myers.
Posted by: rafael ||
04/15/2006 20:58 Comments ||
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#3
Of course he didn't.
Every soldier, sailor, airman and marine has it drilled into them that the US military remains non-political. Individual members certainly have a right to their political beliefs but the services work very hard to stay away from politics.
Senior generals, by the nature of their role and rank, are highly identified with the military even when retired. Myers is right - the shortterm revenge of generals whose noses were put out of whack by Rumsfeld holds deep deep dangers for the military and the country.
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Two U.S. Marines were killed and 22 wounded - two of them critically - in fighting in western Iraq, the U.S. military said Saturday. It was the biggest number of American casualties reported from a single engagement in weeks.
A U.S. statement said the casualties were suffered Thursday as a result of "enemy action" in Anbar province but gave no specific location or details of the fighting. One Marine was killed "at the scene of the attack," the statement said. Another Marine died at a medical facility in Taqqadum, it added.
Eight of the wounded were flown to the main U.S. hospital in Balad. Two were listed in critical condition and six were reported as stable, the statement said. The others were taken to a U.S. clinic at Camp Fallujah, where four were hospitalized for observation.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/15/2006 00:00 ||
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#7
It looks like March's low numbers were a statistical anomaly. April's month to date total is 45 - not high by overall historical standards, but not low by the current conflict's standards. In other words, the war's not over, yet.
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#9
Very sad to lose more of our willingly self-sacrificial best and brightest. Let's pull 'em all out real soon, then nuke the region into submission or the 7th Century, whichever comes first. Let's remove these breathing carion carcesses from the midst of the modern world.
BAQUBA, Iraq - At least four worshippers were killed and eight wounded on Friday when two bombs exploded at two Sunni mosques in the Iraqi city of Baquba, police said. The blasts happened just after midday prayers in the city, 65 km (40 miles) north of Baghdad. No further details were available.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/15/2006 00:00 ||
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Al Qaeda in Iraq and its presumed leader, Abu Musab Zarqawi, have conceded strategic defeat and are on their way out of the country, a top U.S. military official contended yesterday. The group's failure to disrupt national elections and a constitutional referendum last year "was a tactical admission by Zarqawi that their strategy had failed," said Lt. Gen. John R. Vines, who commands the XVIII Airborne Corps. "They no longer view Iraq as fertile ground to establish a caliphate and as a place to conduct international terrorism," he said in an address at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
Gen. Vines' statement came as news broke that coalition and Iraqi forces had killed an associate of Osama bin Laden's during an early morning raid near Abu Ghraib about two weeks ago. Rafid Ibrahim Fattah aka Abu Umar al Kurdi served as a liaison between terrorist networks and was linked to Taliban members in Afghanistan, Pakistani-based extremists and other senior al Qaeda leaders, the military said yesterday. In the past six months, al Kurdi had worked as a terrorist cell leader in Baqouba. Prior to that, he had traveled extensively Pakistan, Iran and Iraq and formed a relationship with al Qaeda senior leaders in 1999 while in Afghanistan. He also had ties with the Muslim Brotherhood, formed while he was in Iran and Pakistan, and joined the jihad in Afghanistan in 1989, the military said. He was killed March 27.
Gen. Vines said the foreign terrorists had made a strategic mistake when they tried to intimidate and deny Iraqis a way to vote. "I believe Zarqawi discredited himself with the Iraqi people because of his willingness to slaughter Iraqi people," he said.
Huthayafa Azzam, whose father was seen as a political mentor of bin Laden, told reporters in Jordan in early April that Zarqawi had been replaced as head of the terrorist fight in Iraq in an effort to put an Iraqi at the head of the organization. Azzam said Zarqawi had "made many political mistakes," including excessive violence and the bombing last November of a Jordanian hotel, and as a result was being "confined to military action."
Gen. Vines, who from January 2005 to January 2006 led all coalition forces in Iraq, did not comment on those reports. But he did caution that although the foreign extremists were leaving Iraq "looking for more fertile ground," they could come back. "The question now is what kind of government is going to be formed and is it going to be credible," he said, acknowledging that Iran had significant influence over Iraq's religious Shi'ite population. "Iran wants us out, but not too soon -- after a Shi'ite government friendly to Iran is established," Gen. Vines said. "Iran's view is that the current government is not strong enough, and if we pulled out now, there would be a low-level civil war."
#1
The group's failure to disrupt national elections and a constitutional referendum last year "was a tactical admission by Zarqawi that their strategy had failed," said Lt. Gen. John R. Vines, who commands the XVIII Airborne Corps.
I don't want to be pessimistic: The only thing I'd like better than for the #1 Jihadi in Iraq to admit defeat, turn tail, and run away, is for Marines to capture or kill the #1 Jihadi in Iraq. But this sort of talk makes them "get their backs up" so to speak, and keeps them at it. They'll make an extra effort to put out a few more car bombs so that their pals in the MSM can distract us from the general trend of their being weakened.
Do the job, resect the danger the enemy represents, and "let another praise you, and not by your own lips."
#3
I think this is the General's version of the street taunt, "Your mama is a ho!". He is trying to get Al-Q to fix in place its resources and continue to fight against the much-improved Iraqi forces and the U.S. forces. If they disperse and go to ground in other locations, they are much harder to find and kill. And one of the best ways to do that with an Arab enemy is to bitch-talk him.
Iran said it could defeat any American military action over its controversial nuclear drive, in one of the Islamic regime's boldest challenges yet to the United States. "You can start a war but it won't be you who finishes it," said General Yahya Rahim Safavi, the head of the Revolutionary Guards and among the regime's most powerful figures. "The Americans know better than anyone that their troops in the region and in Iraq are vulnerable. I would advise them not to commit such a strategic error," he told reporters on the sidelines of a pro-Palestinian conference in Tehran.
"I would advise them to first get out of their quagmire in Iraq before getting into an even bigger one," General Safavi said with a grin. "We have American forces in the region under total surveillance. For the past two years, we have been ready for any scenario, whether sanctions or an attack."
At a Friday prayer sermon in Tehran, senior cleric Ayatollah Ahmad Janati simply branded the US as a "decaying power" lacking the "stamina" to block Iran's ambitions. And hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told AFP that a US push for tough United Nations sanctions was of "no importance."
"She is free to say whatever she wants," the president replied when asked to respond to comments by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice highlighting part of the UN charter that provides for sanctions backed up by the threat of military action. "We give no importance to her comments," he said with a broad smile.
On Thursday, Rice said that faced with Iran's intransigence, the United States "will look at the full range of options available to the United Nations." "There is no doubt that Iran continues to defy the will of the international community," Rice said, after Iran also dismissed a personal appeal from the UN atomic watchdog chief Mohamed ElBaradei.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/15/2006 14:19 ||
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#7
The sequel insults that was inevitable when Dhimmi Carter took the "Great Satan", supine. Them mullahs seize the slightest sign of weakness for escalating their farts from the anal end.
#9
The death of the donkeys w'll come soon.. comeon.. the blackass bitch said something but we kept silence..hhhh the lowest ( best )answer ever given to a deplomat.... America is the 1st and the only one who ever used the atomic weapon.... why are they refusing to us while Israel has it without investigation......?
#12
"why are they refusing to us while Israel has it without investigation...?"
For exactly the same reason we don't permit little children to run around the house with sharp objects.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
04/15/2006 18:16 Comments ||
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#13
I suspect that the Iranians have committed a bunch of resources forward in expectation of an immediate US attack, and that the *expenses* of those resources are starting to increase. Not just monetary expense, either.
For example, they have had a heavy Corps on the Iraqi border now for months. Their combat effectiveness must be degrading rapidly at this point. Big jumps in the need for refined fuel, spare parts, and all the logistics needed to keep them there start to add up. Desertions must be sky high.
Their military might be sending a message to the Mullahs that if they don't get into a fight and quick, their units are going to have to retire and spend months reconstituting in the rear. Of course, that would be the best time for the US to do its thing.
The real answer is Isreal is not a signatory to the NNPT. Iran is a signatory to the NNPT. Iran is out of compliance. Iran knows what the ramafications of it's violations of the treaty entail. Iran signed the treaty of it's own free will. I agreed to abide by the treaty. It is now in violation of the same. This is not "double secret probation."
The solution to Iran's problems are simple. Iran must get back in compliance with the NNPT and give the IAEA full, free and unfetered access to any site which the IAEA suspects is being used for any nuclear research, work, storage, processing or other activities.
It's not about Isreal or India. It's about Iran. Iran need to focus on it's problems and STFU.
Posted by: SPoD ||
04/15/2006 18:36 Comments ||
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#15
There's also the whole "Muslims must rule, by force if necessary, and non-Muslims must submit" bit. Not too popular in some parts, know what I mean?
Tehran, Iran, Apr. 15 â A top Iranian military commander said on Friday that the Islamic Republicâs Army and Revolutionary Guards âare today in a situation to make the Oppressor World [the United States and its allies] feel the great powers that are at Iranâs disposalâ, the state-run news agency Mehr reported.
Brigadier General Mohammad-Hossein Dadras, commander of the regular Iranian armyâs ground forces, said Iranâs military has identified âthe enemiesâ weak spotsâ in the region and its missile capabilities would guarantee Iranâs ânational interestsâ.
âWe have identified and studied the enemiesâ strong and weak spots in the region regarding ground, sea, and air forcesâ, Dadras said at the Friday prayers ceremony in Tehran.
âToday, we have in the country that which is adequate to face threats. Right now, we have that thing which, when required, will land on the enemyâs weak spot. The enemies know thisâ, Dadras said.
âWe do not need foreign support. We have an adequate missile capability which can guarantee our national interestsâ, he said.
âIranâs capability is such that no one dares to come near it. If they do they will return with no successâ....
âWe are very capable in dealing with the enemy in a military confrontation. We have never been so strong as we are todayâ, General Dadras told the Friday prayers congregation over a chorus of âDeath to Americaâ.
"You can start a war but it won't be you who finishes it," said General Yahya Rahim Safavi, the head of the Revolutionary Guards and among the regime's most powerful figures. "The Americans know better than anyone that their troops in the region and in Iraq are vulnerable. I would advise them not to commit such a strategic error," he told reporters on the sidelines of a pro-Palestinian conference in Tehran.
"I would advise them to first get out of their quagmire in Iraq before getting into an even bigger one," General Safavi said with a grin.
"We have American forces in the region under total surveillance. For the past two years, we have been ready for any scenario, whether sanctions or an attack."
#1
Sounds Saddamesque. If we go into Iran, it will not be a nation-building project. It will be a site destruction project, as well as leadership decapitation. We have neither the treasure nor the will to play this nation-building game any more with our enemies.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
04/15/2006 12:00 Comments ||
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#2
These Iranian leaders are truly legends in their own minds. When and if we strike them it will be with such force and totality Persia will take centuries to recover. There will be no "state" called Iran left.
The Iranians have engaged the US in a war of pin pricks since they seized our embassy years ago. The persons who did that are now running Iran and think they are princes and can defeat US. We are required to use them as a demonstration project as to how this Nation acts when it is making war and not cleaning up the mess the European's created when they created mid east nations like Iran and Iraq. The Arabs and Persian need not love us. They must because of their retarded islamic and tribalist mental makeup live in total fear of us. It's the only way we and the rest of the world can live in peace with them.
Posted by: SPoD ||
04/15/2006 12:33 Comments ||
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#3
If this strike is provoked (which it has been) It will be the most violent and GOD BACKED strike in human history. If you are listening Iran, you better put a leash on that monkey NOW. There are no "Human rights" when you tempt.
I love Iranians but I dislike their leadership. They are going to hell.
Donald Rumsfeld was directly linked to prisoner abuse for the first time yesterday, when it emerged he had been "personally involved" in a Guantánamo Bay interrogation found by military investigators to have been "degrading and abusive".
Human Rights Watch last night called for a special prosecutor to be appointed to investigate whether the defence secretary could be criminally liable for the treatment of Mohamed al-Qahtani, a Saudi al-Qaida suspect forced to wear women's underwear, stand naked in front of a woman interrogator, and to perform "dog tricks" on a leash, in late 2002 and early 2003. The US rights group said it had obtained a copy of the interrogation log, which showed he was also subjected to sleep deprivation and forced to maintain "stress" positions; it concluded that the treatment "amounted to torture".
However, military investigators decided the interrogation did not amount to torture but was "abusive and degrading". Those conclusions were made public last year but this is the first time Mr Rumsfeld's own involvement has emerged.
According to a December report by the army inspector general, obtained by Salon.com online magazine, the investigators did not accuse the defence secretary of specifically prescribing "creative" techniques, but they said he regularly monitored the progress of the al-Kahtani interrogation by telephone, and they argued he had helped create the conditions that allowed abuse to take place.
"Where is the throttle on this stuff?" asked Lt Gen Schmidt, an air force officer who said in sworn testimony to the inspector general that he had concerns about the duration and repetition of harsh interrogation techniques. He said that in his view: "There were no limits."
The revelation comes at a critical time for Mr Rumsfeld. He is under unprecedented scrutiny for his management of the Iraq war, after six former generals in quick succession called for his resignation.
The questions reached such a pitch by the end of the week that George Bush took the unusual step of issuing a personal note from Camp David in Mr Rumsfeld's defence. "I have seen first-hand how Don relies upon our military commanders in the field and at the Pentagon to make decisions about how best to complete these missions," the president wrote. "Secretary Rumsfeld's energetic and steady leadership is exactly what is needed at this critical period. He has my full support and deepest appreciation."
And, responding to the generals, Mr Rumsfeld said in an al-Arabiya TV interview yesterday: "If every time two or three people disagreed we changed the secretary of defence, it would be like a merry-go-round." However, in the wake of the inspector general's report, Human Rights Watch said: "The question at this point is not whether secretary Rumsfeld should resign, it's whether he should be indicted. General Schmidt's sworn statement suggests Rumsfeld may have been perfectly aware of the abuses inflicted on Mr al-Qahtani."
The Pentagon also issued a statement in response to publication of the report. A spokeswoman said: "We've gone over this countless times, and yet some still choose to print fiction versus fact. Twelve reviews, to include one done by an independent panel, all confirm the department of defence did not have a policy that encouraged or condoned abuse. To suggest otherwise is simply false."
So far, only junior US officers have been charged and convicted for a string of prisoner abuse scandals since the Bush administration launched its "global war on terror", but rights activists have accused the administration of opening the way for the use of torture in 2002 by relaxing the constraints of the Geneva conventions.
Gen Bantz Craddock, head of Southern Command, overruled the investigators' recommendation that Maj Gen Geoffrey Miller, who ran the Guantánamo camp in 2002, be admonished for the techniques employed. Gen Miller was transferred to Abu Ghraib prison, and took with him his aggressive approach to interrogations.
The investigators found Mr Rumsfeld was "talking weekly" with Gen Miller about the al-Qahtani interrogation. In December 2002, the defence secretary approved 16 harsh interrogation techniques for use on Mr al-Qahtani, including forced nudity, and "stress positions". However approval was revoked in 2003.
Gen Miller insisted he was unaware of details of the interrogation, but Gen Schmidt said he found that"hard to believe" in view of Mr Rumsfeld's evident interest in its progress. Gen James Hill, former head of Southern Command, recalled Gen Miller recommending continuation of the interrogation, saying "We think we're right on the verge of making a breakthrough." Gen Hill then passed on the request to Mr Rumsfeld. "The secretary said, 'Fine,'" Gen Hill remembered.
Backstory
The US defence secretary has faced many calls to resign over Guantánamo, the invasion of Iraq and abuses at Abu Ghraib prison - but the pressure he faces now comes from a weighty new quarter: six generals recently retired from the military he runs.
Retired general Paul Eaton, who was in charge of training Iraqi security forces, sparked the current round of condemnation in a New York Times article on March 19. On April 2, Anthony Zinni told a TV interviewer the US was "paying the price for the lack of credible planning" in Iraq. Seven days later, Lt Gen Gregory Newbold, a former member of the joint chiefs of staff, tore into the administration's "casualness and swagger... the special province of those who have never had to execute these missions".
On Wednesday, John Batiste, a former infantry commander, added his voice, and on Thursday his colleague John Riggs concurred. Charles Swannack, who commanded the 82nd Airborne Division in Iraq, brought the total to six yesterday, telling the New York Times Mr Rumsfeld had demonstrated "absolute failures in managing the war against Saddam".
Mr Rumsfeld is understood to have offered to resign at least twice while in charge at the Pentagon, but both times President George Bush turned him down.
Posted by: john ||
04/15/2006 19:06 ||
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#1
In other words, it's Human Rights Watch turn to jump on Rumsfeld. There's nothing new in this story, just the repeat of old accusations. Here's the nut of this story:
The Pentagon also issued a statement in response to publication of the report. A spokeswoman said: "We've gone over this countless times, and yet some still choose to print fiction versus fact. Twelve reviews, to include one done by an independent panel, all confirm the department of defence did not have a policy that encouraged or condoned abuse. To suggest otherwise is simply false."
Expect this part to be ignored, and the idiotic claims from HRW to be played up.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
04/15/2006 19:20 Comments ||
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#2
Screw it.
We were attacked. We are at war because THEY attacked OUR civilians - the latest in a series of attacks on our government via embassy bombings, among other things.
They hid behind being "non-state actors" without a visible authority to hold responsible. They saw the heads off of living people who die in extended agony -- and boast and laugh about it.
Screw Human Rights Watch. This is not tea time. This is a war to the death.
#3
What exactly is the status of these vermin under the Geneva conventions?
Since they are armed civilians, captured on the battlefield, are they entitled to any protection?
Can't they be summarily executed?
What about aggressive interogation techniques?
Posted by: john ||
04/15/2006 19:27 Comments ||
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#4
they are entitled to execution, immediate and on the front. Being non-uniformed, they aren't subject to Geneva's niceties nor do they observe the same with their captives. The question of "vigorous" has been debated a lot here. I, for one would apply the truncheons and pliars. Others disagree.
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/15/2006 19:45 Comments ||
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#5
The problem was not shooting them on the battlefield which is clearly ok per Geneva Conventions which create an incentive to conduct armed conflict in a civilized manner by allowing harsh punishments for dirtbags who do not. Now the ACLU types are involved.
#6
Does anyone actually believe what they read in the NYT? I know, I know, plenty of people buy the Enquirer and scarf up every word. At least people who believe what they read in the Enquirer know they are stupid.
The only people more stupid than the ones who believe that the NYT is real news are the ones who were too stupid to sell their stock short over a year ago and the only ones stoopyder than that are the ones who still delude themselves that tomorrow's NYT stock will be worth more than yesterday's news.
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.
Six Taleban guerrillas were killed in an airstrike by US-led troops in eastern Afghanistan yesterday after blasts elsewhere in the country killed three policemen and wounded two British troops. The airstrike was carried out in Kunar province as part of Operation Lion launched on Wednesday to flush out militants from the area, officials said.
AP now reports:
A roadside bomb exploded near a convoy of Afghan police in eastern Afghanistan on Friday, killing three officers and wounding two others, a senior police official said. No one claimed responsibility for the attack in Khost province, about 150 kilometres south of Kabul, but Mohammed Ayub, the provincial police chief, blamed Taliban, although he offered no evidence. "It is the work of the Taliban," he said, adding the dead and injured had been transported to a hospital.
Rebels from eastern Sudan said yesterday they had destroyed two government military camps in attacks they launched this week with allies from the troubled western region of Darfur. The Eastern Front said the bases in Kassala province had been destroyed in strikes Tuesday carried out by its forces and members of Darfurs Justice and Equality Movement and Sudan Liberation Army. 
Al-Ahdal confessed before the State Security Specialized Penal Court that he received financial assistance and cars from Saudi citizens. Meanwhile, Yemen allowed Saudi detectives to investigate Al-Ahdal, who confessed to receiving 1.06 million Saudi Riyals from Saudi businessmen. Yemens government announced that it provided Saudi Arabia with all confessions Al-Ahdal made revealing names of Saudi nationals in Saudi Arabia, Yemen and the United Arab Emirates who funneled money to Al-Qaeda terrorist operations in Yemen. Yemeni authorities accused Al-Ahdal of receiving 1.06 million Saudi Riyals, equivalent to YR 80 million, to distribute to Al-Jawf and Marib tribesmen to harbor wanted terror suspects.
The US government wants to deport a group of Chinese Muslims held at the Guantanamo prison camp to Germany and is pressuring Chancellor Angela Merkel to take in the ethnic Uighurs, a newspaper reported yesterday. The German daily Die Welt quoted diplomatic sources saying Merkels government has resisted the US pressure to accept the 15 Uighurs from the restive, predominantly Muslim region of Xinjiang in Chinas northwest. We have no comment on the report, a government spokesman in Berlin said yesterday. Merkel is the only European leader to have publicly called on the United States to close the camp.
Five people were killed and 40 wounded on Friday when suspected Islamist militants staged a wave of grenade attacks in the capital of Indian-held Kashmir, police said. The attacks took place in a three-kilometre radius of Srinagar with four blasts occurring within an hour of each other. The fifth struck at Dalgate, on the shores of popular tourist resort Dal Lake, and wounded five people. The five killed in the attacks were all civilians three women and two men. They died of their injuries at Srinagars main hospital, said Mushtaq Ahmad, a police officer at the hospital. 
Unidentified men kidnapped five paramilitary soldiers in North Waziristan a day after the military raided a suspected militants' hideout, an official said on Friday. The soldiers were kidnapped in Razmak sub-division, 75 kilometres south of Miranshah, the regional headquarters of North Waziristan. "We have received reports that the soldiers were kidnapped late on Thursday afternoon when they were on a highway patrol," said an administration official, wishing not to be named.
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Two U.S. Marines were killed and 22 wounded - two of them critically - in fighting in western Iraq, the U.S. military said Saturday. It was the biggest number of American casualties reported from a single engagement in weeks.
BAQUBA, Iraq - At least four worshippers were killed and eight wounded on Friday when two bombs exploded at two Sunni mosques in the Iraqi city of Baquba, police said. The blasts happened just after midday prayers in the city, 65 km (40 miles) north of Baghdad. No further details were available.
Al Qaeda in Iraq and its presumed leader, Abu Musab Zarqawi, have conceded strategic defeat and are on their way out of the country, a top U.S. military official contended yesterday. The group's failure to disrupt national elections and a constitutional referendum last year "was a tactical admission by Zarqawi that their strategy had failed," said Lt. Gen. John R. Vines, who commands the XVIII Airborne Corps. "They no longer view Iraq as fertile ground to establish a caliphate and as a place to conduct international terrorism," he said in an address at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
At a Friday prayer sermon in Tehran, senior cleric 
