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30 killed, many wounded in fresh Mogadishu fighting
Today's Headlines
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Page 1: WoT Operations
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Page 2: WoT Background
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Page 3: Non-WoT
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Page 4: Opinion
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Afghanistan
Afghan Villagers Reported Fleeing Combat Zone
Up to 3,000 Afghan villagers have reportedly fled their homes following heavy fighting between Taliban and security forces in the southern Kandahar Province.
Doesn't make a lot of sense to stay home and wait for the A10s to come calling, does it? And they say Pashtuns are ignernt.
Most have taken refuge in the provincial capital, Kandahar. A program officer for the International Organization of Migration in Kandahar, Nasim Karim, told the AFP news agency that at least four villages have been evacuated from an area west of the city.
"Wot the hell do you know? We ain't migratin'! We're gettin' out of the line of fire!"
Karim said villagers have no other choice than fleeing. He said there are "threatened" if they don't support the Taliban; if they do they are being "bombed and shot at" by security forces.
Sounds like a fair trade, dunnit?
Posted by: Fred || 05/26/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The heroic bad guyz aren't going to like being forced to fight without human shields. Maybe we could offer them Cindy Sheehan, et al, for that purpose.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 05/26/2006 0:06 Comments || Top||

#2  Send in Rachel Corrie!!

Oh, wait.
Nevermind.
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 05/26/2006 8:28 Comments || Top||

#3  They can use Rachel but they shouldn't turn her sideways.
Posted by: Steve White || 05/26/2006 9:02 Comments || Top||

#4  Rachel is a lot easier to spot from the air post-Caterpillar.
Posted by: ed || 05/26/2006 9:22 Comments || Top||

#5  Still, like the US Military she's spread thin.

/meme o'the weak club.
Posted by: 6 || 05/26/2006 18:17 Comments || Top||


Africa Horn
50 more dead in Somali fighting
TERRIFIED Mogadishu residents hid in their homes yesterday as fierce fighting between rival militias killed at least 50 people, witnesses said. Firing mortars, grenades and anti-aircraft guns, Islamic militia fought running battles with gunmen from a coalition of warlords, in a resumption of the worst violence in the Somali capital for a decade.

Scores had fled the fighting, which erupted two days ago and intensified yesterday morning as it spread across Mogadishu. Others, caught in the crossfire, lay in the streets, crying in pain as old people and children ran in terror. "I am sure 50 people have died, the wounded are countless because mortars and missiles were hitting everywhere," Ali Nur, a member of the warlord alliance wounded in the fighting, said by telephone as he left hospital.

By yesterday afternoon, the fighting in the Kilometre Four area, where the main battle had taken place, had subsided and only Islamic militiamen patrolled its usually busy streets. But gun battles continued in the Galgato and Dayniile areas. "No-one is going out now. There are fears there will be more fighting," said Abdifatah Abdikadir, a resident.

"I have never seen such a heavy exchange. Mogadishu is blazing with fire," Ibrahim Maalim, a warlord coalition member, said from the city as heavy artillery and gunshots reverberated. "There are bodies lying everywhere. I cannot count them and there are wounded people lying on the streets crying for help."

Yesterday, Somalia's internal security minister, Mohamed Qanyare, a warlord, denied radio reports that he and three other ministers were thinking of resigning. "I did not say that," Mr Qanyare said by telephone. "I said we are busy fighting with terrorists now. We don't have time for the government."

Legislators from Somalia's fledging government say Mr Qanyare and other warlords involved in the violence should be sacked and charged with war crimes. They say they have broken ceasefire accords during the formation of the government.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 05/26/2006 00:30 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Emergency crying towel: In case of sadness, break glass.
Posted by: Lancasters Over Dresden || 05/26/2006 2:20 Comments || Top||

#2  TERRIFIED Mogadishu residents hid in their homes yesterday as fierce fighting between rival militias killed at least 50 people, witnesses said.

File under - significant penalties for early withdraw. Murtha et al.
Posted by: Clealing Gletle3270 || 05/26/2006 12:26 Comments || Top||


Al-Qaeda on the rise in Somalia
A surge in the power of Islamic fundamentalist warlords in Somalia is raising fears that the Horn of Africa nation could follow the path of Taliban Afghanistan into the hands of al-Qaeda, despite Western efforts to stop it.
Failed state, no prospects of ever achieving the stability enjoyed by either Congo... Yep. I'd say it was a prime candidate.
Similarities with pre-9/11 Afghanistan abound: strict Islamic courts, public executions, strong anti-Western sentiment, and a failed central government.
Ignorance, brutality, a tribal system, clitoretomies for the wimmin...
As in Afghanistan, fundamentalists are winning public support by promising a chaos-weary public that they will impose order.
"Yeah. We're gonna make it all better."
"Do I hafta wear a turban?"
"Yeah, you gotta wear a turban! It's Islamic!"
"But it's hot! And humid!"
Wary of the threat from so-called failed states, the United States has boosted its presence in the Horn of Africa. The Pentagon placed a military task force in Djibouti, just north of Somalia. The Bush administration has avoided direct action in Somalia - perhaps because of the failures of the last intervention in the early 1990s, including the deaths of 18 servicemen in a 1993 battle made famous by the book and film Black Hawk Down.
I doubt it. Les Aspin is dead.
But U.S. efforts to influence Somalia indirectly through proxies are now stirring debate and angst even among secular-minded Somalis.
Somali angst is no skin off our national fore....
"I believe in the idea of fighting the terrorists, because terrorism has no room in Islam, the religion of peace," said Osmail Mo'alin Ahmed, a teacher in Mogadishu, where frequent battles are erupting between secular militias and those allied with Islamic extremism. "But the U.S. should not place such a responsibility with ruthless warlords."
Since you're pushing the "religion of peace" crap, I'm guessing you're with the Islamists, so piss off.
Musse Sudi Yalahow, a secular warlord and commerce minister in Somalia's near-powerless central government, said Somalia was critical ground in the war on terror and that was why he joined an antiterror alliance. "Somalia must not be another Afghanistan or a transit point for terrorist attacks in neighboring countries," he said.
Somalia actually makes pre-9-11 Afghanistan look stable. Maybe even civilized, though I'd have to think on that one...
Fighting between his Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counterterrorism and the Islamic fundamentalists, known as the Islamic Court Union, has left more than 220 people dead since March in two major battles for control of Mogadishu. Yalahow declined to answer when asked if he had received U.S. financial support, but he had broadly asked for it. "I call upon the U.S. government and the international community to support our alliance's bid to hand over the foreign terrorists linked to the al-Qaeda terror network who are being sheltered in Mogadishu," Yalahow told the Associated Press. "One of our main aims is to seize one of Osama bin Laden's aides," a man Yalahow said was in Mogadishu.
"Yeah! Give us money and guns! And ammunition! And ponies!"
U.S. officials refuse to confirm or deny financing the alliance, instead only broadly confirming contacts with many groups.
"What the hell do you think, dumbass?"
"We certainly have active efforts working with the international community and working across a spectrum of Somalis to make sure that Somalia isn't a safe haven for terrorism," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said. "We have a real interest in counterterrorism efforts in Somalia."
That's what I said, only I translated it into English...
U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said recently that three al-Qaeda leaders indicted in the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania are being sheltered by Islamic leaders in Mogadishu. The same al-Qaeda cell is believed responsible for the 2002 suicide bombing of an Israeli-owned hotel in Kenya that killed 15 people and a simultaneous failed attempt to shoot down an Israeli airliner.
Somalia's the logical place for them to go.
Somalia has been without an effective central government since 1991, when clan warlords overthrew the government and divided the country into fiefdoms. The ensuing humanitarian crisis led President George H.W. Bush to order troops there in 1992.
Next time we see heart-wrenching pictures of poor little kiddies eating UN-provided glop, we'll say "Oh, that's terrible" and go back to watching American Idol.
The United Nations, which left Somalia in 1995, recently helped Somalian leaders meet in neighboring Kenya and form a government. The transitional government includes members of the secular alliance. But other members of the government, which is based in Baidoa, 140 miles northwest of Mogadishu, have close ties to extremists. Omar Jamal, director of the Somali Justice Advocacy Center based in St. Paul, Minn., said the U.S. government needed to fully support the interim government, instead of individual warlords, or risk losing the goodwill most Somalis still have toward the United States.
Pretty well-hidden goodwill, isn't it? But that's okay. Guess what I don't have for Somalia?
"The current U.S. policy toward Somalia is creating more instability, more confusion and more backlash," he said. "It creates a sympathy and turns the Somali people into sympathizers for al-Qaeda."
My heart bleeds. Or maybe I shouldn't have had that second chili dawg.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 05/26/2006 00:23 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  the only difference between somalia and mad max is that mel and the boys were white--tina turner for president!
Posted by: son of tolui || 05/26/2006 2:29 Comments || Top||

#2  Actually, #1 just insulted Mad Max -- at least he had the common sense to enjoy Tina Turner's outfit without trying to stone her as a temptress. And what is really sad is that Somaliland and Puntland are both chained to the corpse of Somalia, and both of those named countries are actually functional and manage to not have the militias running amok.
Posted by: Shieldwolf || 05/26/2006 5:02 Comments || Top||

#3  Al-Qaida always picks the best spots to set up shop.
Palestine, Iraq, Sudan, now Somalia. I.E. the biggest shitholes in the world. Better get a tetanus
shot before you go boys! Oh, and don't drink the water. But that won't be a problem cause there is a huge drought, so there probably isnt much water. And they are rather short on food right now too I hear. But other than that, sounds like a garden of eden.
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 05/26/2006 8:23 Comments || Top||

#4  "Al-Qaida always picks the best spots to set up shop."

Not much different than other extremist groups. They go where it is most conducive to them. Environmentalists pick the U. S. Northwest and western Canada. A.N.S.W.ER go to urban areas and universities. Al-Qaeda picks areas of lawlessness, strife, and backwards muslims.
Posted by: Fordesque || 05/26/2006 10:53 Comments || Top||


Sudanese raiders kill 100 in Chad Village
Sudanese cross-border raiders have massacred more than 100 villagers in Chad, Human Rights Watch alleged Thursday, expressing concern Darfur's violence was spreading.

Survivors told the New York-based group that the massacre was carried out last month by the Janjaweed — ethnic Arab militia Sudan's government is accused of unleashing on ethnic African villages where Darfur rebels might find support.

The Sudanese government denies backing the janjaweed, but agreed to rein them in under a May 5 peace agreement. Violence, though, has only increased since the government and the main rebel movement signed the accord. "Sudanese militiamen are moving further and further into Chad and are looting and killing Chadian villagers," Peter Takirambudde, Africa director of Human Rights Watch, said in a statement.

The massacre decried by Human Rights Watch came April 12-13, when Chadian security was preoccupied with an abortive attack by Chadian rebels on Chad's capital. Human Rights Watch, quoting witnesses, said 118 people were killed in four neighboring villages. Survivors said attackers surrounded and then shot or hacked to death unarmed villagers, according to the group.

Attackers struck far from the camps in the April massacre, "in an area where there's almost no international presence (and) very little government presence," Human Rights Watch researcher Leslie Lefkow said in a telephone interview from Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Posted by: ed || 05/26/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  busta rhymes for preident of chad--kanye west for vp says"ethnic arabs don't like black people"--thank you hip hop culture
Posted by: yo momma || 05/26/2006 2:33 Comments || Top||

#2  "The Sudanese government denies backing the janjaweed, but agreed to rein them in under a May 5 peace agreement."

There seems to be something fishy about this sentence, but I can't quite put my finger on it...
Posted by: Shising Ebbearong8820 || 05/26/2006 7:40 Comments || Top||

#3  What's fishy is that anyone beleved them again....
Posted by: CrazyFool || 05/26/2006 8:14 Comments || Top||

#4  I blame George Bush for this. Cause he's the biggest tyrant in the history of the world. Just ask Hugo Chavez, he's much worse than these guys.
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 05/26/2006 8:25 Comments || Top||


Sudan militia kill 100 east Chad villagers- HRW
Sudanese Janjaweed militia along with local Chadian recruits shot or hacked to death more than 100 villagers in eastern Chad last month, an international human rights group said on Thursday. U.S.-based Human Rights Watch, citing eyewitness testimonies and an on-site investigation, said the killings took place in four adjacent villages on April 12 and 13 at a time when Chadian rebels were moving west to attack the capital N'Djamena.

Humanitarian organisations have reported subsequent cross-border militia attacks into eastern Chad in May. "Sudanese militiamen are moving further and further into Chad and are looting and killing Chadian villagers," Peter Takirambudde, Africa director of Human Rights Watch, said in a statement sent to Reuters.
Posted by: Fred || 05/26/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Sheeeessshhhh .... don't want to stir up liberals desperate to show their tough side by committing US forces to a useless cat fight between various African tribal factions.
Posted by: Lancasters Over Dresden || 05/26/2006 2:28 Comments || Top||


30 killed, many wounded in fresh Mogadishu fighting
Mogadishu residents carried wounded Somalis on wheelbarrows as bullets flew over the battered capital on Thursday in a new flare-up of violence between rival militias that killed up to 30 people. Firing mortars, grenades and anti-aircraft guns, militia linked to Islamic courts squared off with gunmen for a self-styled anti-terrorism coalition of warlords, in a resumption of the worst violence in Mogadishu for a decade. Scores fled the fighting, which erupted on Wednesday and intensified Thursday morning as it spread across Mogadishu. The streets were full of terrified old people and children, witnesses said. “There are so many people dead, I saw nearly 30 dead and over 40 wounded,” resident Abdifatah Abdikadir told Reuters by telephone from the Kilometre Four area in southern Mogadishu. “People are being carried on wheelbarrows to the hospital with broken limbs and gunshot wounds. It’s going from bad to worse.”
Posted by: Fred || 05/26/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:


Somalia: Islamic fighters take the control of key positions
Militia of Islamic courts is reported to have taken the control of key positions in southern Mogadishu like Hotel Sahafi building owned by Abdirashid Ilkeyte who is member of anti terror alliance and area of KM4-junction, where the renewed clashes started on Thursday. It would be another blow to alliance of warlords. Abdirashid Ilkeyte, the owner of Hotel Sahafi, once very popular, confirmed the local media that his hotel has fallen in the hands of Islamic militiamen after militia of the alliance backed out the fighting then his men couldn’t stand with the continuation of the battle and suddenly withdrew the hotel building. Mr. Ilkeyte said two of his bodyguards were killed and others more have been injured in today’s fighting. Mr. Ilkeyte declined to comment on what he is about to do the next since his hotel is now under the control of Islamic fighters.

Leaders of both rival sides declined to comment on their casualties. At least eight people most of civilians have been killed and more than 50 others were wounded in the latest fierce clashes in southern Mogadishu. Medical officials in Medina hospital confirmed Somalinet. 30 of the wounded are in serous condition.
Posted by: Fred || 05/26/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Time for *ahem* an airstrike to aid *cough* *feign denial* our side in this spat.
Posted by: Lancasters Over Dresden || 05/26/2006 2:23 Comments || Top||

#2  i didn't stay at the hotel shahafi but i did stay at a holiday inn express
Posted by: yo momma || 05/26/2006 2:36 Comments || Top||

#3  Carbomb that motherfucker.
Posted by: Destro in Panama || 05/26/2006 2:43 Comments || Top||

#4  Gee, I'd send a contribution to the non-Islamic fighters, if I knew where to find them!
Posted by: Bobby || 05/26/2006 6:42 Comments || Top||

#5  If they are holed up in the hotel couldn't we part with just one tomakawk missile? The damned things could hit a shoebox much less a hotel.
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 05/26/2006 8:41 Comments || Top||

#6  We need Socom on the ground with their highpowered sniper rifles. It would be lile shooting fish in a barrel. Use Taliban removal tactics including close air support. Forget the covert crap give the warlords a fighting chance. It's a little better in Afghanistan.
Posted by: Rightwing || 05/26/2006 11:09 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Yemeni Officers on Trial Over Jailbreak
A Yemeni military court has begun the trial of 12 intelligence personnel accused of negligence that led to the escape of 23 Al-Qaeda operatives from a heavy-guarded prison earlier this year, the attorney general said in remarks published yesterday. Abdullah Al-Olufi told the Defense Ministry’s weekly newspaper, 26 September, that 12 persons suspected of negligence were on trial. The suspects were taken to a military court and their trial has begun, he said. Olufi said he had been deputed with the responsibility of questioning officers linked to the escape, including those who were in charge with the intelligence prison from which the terror suspects fled.
Posted by: Fred || 05/26/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  jambiyas at twenty paces--hint to investigators--"follow the qat"
Posted by: yo momma || 05/26/2006 2:38 Comments || Top||


Bangladesh
Tales from the Crossfire Gazette
'Crossfire' killing challenged
The High Court (HC) yesterday issued a rule asking the government to explain why the reported extra-judicial killing of Tunda Ismail in fetters should not be properly investigated and why the perpetrators should not be brought to book. Tunda, a listed criminal, who was shown arrested in an arms case and placed on remand for interrogation, was killed in "crossfire" in the capital's Lalbagh area.
Ya'll remember Tunda, don't ya? He was the guy the cops delivered to Doctor Quincy still wearing his "fetters" and with a dozen holes in him. They said he tried to "escape" and got caught in a "shootout" with his "gang"
Thank goodness for the fetters, I would never have remembered him ...
A resident of Kamrangirchar, Tunda was wanted in 13 criminal cases including seven for murders, according to police.

A division bench comprising Justice M Awlad Ali and Justice Zinat Ara issued the rule upon a writ petition seeking enforcement and protection of fundamental rights. Home secretary, inspector general of police (IGP), DIG of Dhaka Range, DMP Commissioner and officer-in-charge of Lalbagh Police Station have been made respondents in the case. Moving the petition, Advocate M Ruhul Amin Bhuiyan submitted that the "extra-judicial killing" under police custody, as published in a national daily on May 23, is unlawful and violation of fundamental rights enshrined in the constitution.

Mizanur Rahman, a lawyer, filed the writ petition in first such case in recent times against death in "crossfire" of an accused in fetters.
Told the cops they should have untied him first. The RAB never makes such a bone-head error.

Outlaw killed in 'shootout' with Rab
A regional commander of outlawed Purbo Banglar Communist Party (PBCP) was killed in an encounter between his cohorts and members of the Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) at Ratowal village in Raninagar upazila of the district early yesterday.
Another commie meets the 'crossfire' pros
He was identified as Abdur Rahim alias Bhagya alias Kiron, 30, son of Abdul Jabbar of Dewla village in the upazila.
Rab men arrested Rahim at Bhetigram under Chatmohar upazila of Pabna on Tuesday.
"Evening, Rahim. Ya'll want to come down and have a talk?"
According to his statement, they took him to Ratowal village at about 4:00am yesterday to recover hidden firearms and ammunition.
It was a dark night. When suddenly.......
Sensing the presence of the Rab men, Rahim accomplices opened fire,
.....a shot rang out!
forcing the members of the elite force to retaliate.
..KAPOW!
Rahim received bullets during the shootout and died instantly, Rab sources said.
No witnesses, no fetters, no problem.
Police said the outlaw was wanted in 12 systems cases, including nine for murder, filed with Raninagar and Atrai police stations.
Posted by: Steve || 05/26/2006 09:27 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  This is how you do it. Just kill and take the heat.
Posted by: Gling Clereque4411 || 05/26/2006 11:39 Comments || Top||

#2  For crissakes, how many "regional commanders" does the Purba Bangla Communist Party have?
Posted by: tu3031 || 05/26/2006 11:41 Comments || Top||

#3  One less
Posted by: USN, ret. || 05/26/2006 14:17 Comments || Top||


Britain
Al-Qaeda cell planned to hit nightclub
MEMBERS of an alleged British terror cell talked of blowing up London's Ministry of Sound nightclub, the Old Bailey heard yesterday. Jawad Akbar said they would not be blamed for killing innocent people but "those slags dancing around", the jury heard.

In secret recordings made by security surveillance teams, Akbar and Omar Khyam, another member of the alleged al Qaeda-linked cell, appear to discuss possible targets. Khyam is heard apparently discussing hitting utility companies with the help of recruits with inside knowledge. But Akbar says the nightclub is a softer target for attack, according to the prosecution.

The recording played to the jury was said by the prosecution to have been made at Akbar's then home in Uxbridge, west London, on Sunday, 22 February, 2004. Akbar, Khyam and others deny conspiring to cause explosions and also deny a charge under the Terrorism Act of possessing 600kg (1,300lb) of ammonium nitrate fertiliser for terrorism.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 05/26/2006 00:28 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Dancing is bad. Allah is against it.
Posted by: gromgoru || 05/26/2006 0:45 Comments || Top||

#2  Allan is also against dancing near tightly-clad femmes with protruding nippies, nose rings, and alcoholic beverages in their hands.
Posted by: Lancasters Over Dresden || 05/26/2006 2:21 Comments || Top||

#3  Oh, and Allan hates music.
Posted by: Lancasters Over Dresden || 05/26/2006 2:22 Comments || Top||

#4  achmed--ministry of sound must be an infidel music church--bomb it boyo
Posted by: yo momma || 05/26/2006 2:41 Comments || Top||

#5  Short-trousers yesterday, nightclubs and music today... I predict a fatwa on smiling tomorrow.
Posted by: Howard UK || 05/26/2006 5:10 Comments || Top||

#6  Khyam is heard apparently discussing hitting utility companies with the help of recruits with inside knowledge. But Akbar says the nightclub is a softer target for attack, according to the prosecution.

Softer, bloodier, more brutal. I mean, c'mon, Khyam, blowing up a utility might be confused with a simple outage! We gotta get us some slags!

Whatza slag? I can only imagine.....
Posted by: Bobby || 05/26/2006 6:40 Comments || Top||

#7  A woman of loose morals. Rather be a slag than a muslim.
Posted by: Howard UK || 05/26/2006 7:13 Comments || Top||

#8  I'd rather be a quadriplegic than a muslim Howard.
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 05/26/2006 8:18 Comments || Top||

#9  Why don't they worry about their own co-religionists, instead of passing judgement (and acting on it) on non muslims?

I would think the mass slaughter going on in Darfur would be more important than scantily clad women in Britain.

The essence of it is, "Slags deserve to be murdered." What a religion.
Posted by: PlanetDan || 05/26/2006 9:18 Comments || Top||

#10  Terrorists are icky.
Posted by: Paris Hilton || 05/26/2006 13:29 Comments || Top||


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Russian Court Sentences Beslan School Killer to Life in Prison
A Russian judge sentenced the only surviving suspect in the 2004 Beslan school massacre, the deadliest act of terrorism in the country's history, to life in prison.

``Nurpashi Kulayev has been found guilty on all charges, including terrorism, hostage-taking and murder,'' state television channel Russia Today reported from the court in North Ossetia in the Caucasus region today.

At least 32 terrorists stormed school No. 1 in Beslan on Sept. 1, the first day of the school year, taking about 1,200 hostages. The three-day siege resulted in the deaths of at least 331 people, mainly children. Rebels from nearby Chechnya, who have been trying to establish an independent Islamic state for more than a decade, later claimed responsibility for the attack.

Judge Tamerlan Aguzarov announced the sentence after reading the verdict for eight days. He already said on May 16, before he started reading it, that Kulayev was guilty. Aguzarov initially sentenced him to death but immediately commuted it to life imprisonment. Russia hasn't banned capital punishment, but imposed a moratorium on it in the 1990s.

State television said the court had ruled Kulayev sane, and so eligible to serve his prison term. It said the judge found two mitigating circumstances, that he had never been on trial before, and that he has two underage children.

The sentence comes into effect in 10 days. Kulayev has until then to appeal.

While the government says 32 terrorists were involved, some residents of Beslan have said more than that number participated in the attack and that Kulayev isn't the only survivor.

A Russian parliamentary committee concluded last year that the attack on the school in Beslan could have been prevented if it weren't for a ``long list'' of security failures, according to Alexander Torshin, who led the commission.

Chechen rebel leader Shamil Basayev, Russia's most wanted man, claimed responsibility for the Beslan attack. Russian's government has offered a reward for his death.
Posted by: ryuge || 05/26/2006 11:39 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Too bad he made it to trial
Posted by: Mike N. || 05/26/2006 11:49 Comments || Top||

#2  could have been prevented if it weren't for a `long list' of security failures

You mean like ignoring possible Jihadis doing recon?
Posted by: DMFD || 05/26/2006 11:53 Comments || Top||

#3  I hope I'm still around to hear of his death due to natural causes.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 05/26/2006 11:56 Comments || Top||

#4  Just another "Brave Lion of Islam."
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/26/2006 13:03 Comments || Top||

#5  His prison uniform should be a tutu. Death by bunga bunga! :-)
Posted by: grb || 05/26/2006 14:28 Comments || Top||

#6  let him loose in Beslan before you ship him too the gulag
Posted by: Greamp Elmavinter1163 || 05/26/2006 16:13 Comments || Top||

#7  "But that IS a natural cause in a Russian prison ..."
Posted by: Omavique Anguque3693 || 05/26/2006 16:37 Comments || Top||

#8  I hope I'm still around to hear of his death due to natural causes.

I hope I'm still around to hear of his death due to unnatural causes.
Posted by: Zenster || 05/26/2006 18:56 Comments || Top||


Caucasus Corpse Count
One policeman was killed and six wounded when a motor vehicle carrying a police squad on an emergency mission hit a mine in Grozny on Wednesday," the press service of the Regional Operations Headquarters told Interfax-AVN on Thursday.

Investigators of a district police department came under fire upon arrival at the scene. A policeman in the group was killed, and the head of the district police department was wounded. The assailants escaped, the press center said.

In other developments, a remote-controlled mine went off, hitting a convoy between the villages of Eshilkhatoi and Oktyabrsky in the Vedeno district.

Two police officials and a driver were wounded.

A resident suspected of assisting militants, providing them with intelligence about the movement of military units and giving refuge to militants has been detained in Shali, the press center said.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 05/26/2006 00:42 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:


Europe
Missile Parts, 'Dual-Use' Materials Illegally Shipped to Iran Through Turkey
An Iranian-owned company, based in Turkey, has illegally shipped alleged guided missile parts as well as "dual use" nuclear-related material to Iran, including high-strength aluminum tubes, according to a recent Turkish government report obtained by The Associated Press on Friday.

The company imported the material to Turkey, the supposed end-user, from dozens of firms around the world, including the United States, and then shipped them to Iran apparently after falsifying documents to hide the nature of the material, customs inspectors said in the report dated May 12.

Turkish authorities would not comment on the report, which was first published by Cumhuriyet and Milliyet newspapers Friday. A government official provided a copy of the report to the AP.

On Friday, Turkey hosted a multinational exercise to practice intercepting weapons materials before they reach a country like Iran, Turkey's neighbor. Warships from the United States, Turkey, France and Portugal participated in the maneuvers, said to be the largest so far of the Proliferation Security Initiative, or PSI, a program started in 2003 by U.S. President George W. Bush.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has credited PSI with several successes already in intercepting shipments of missile and nuclear technology headed to Iran, but she did not elaborate on details.

The reported Turkish crackdown on the activities of the Istanbul-based company Step Standard Technical Part has highlighted the importance of Friday's exercise, but also revealed the need to increase scrutiny of shipment of "dual-use" material which can either be used for civilian purpose or to make weapons. A sister company Multimat Import and Export was also involved.

The companies' Iranian owners denied that they had given guarantees to foreign companies that the end-user would be Turkey, the report said adding, however, that "their statement was not true." Company officials could not be reached for comment.

One particular sensitive shipment that reached Iran early this year contained aluminum tubes, which were of the proper size and material listed as "dual-use" material, the report said. Such equipment could possibly be used to construct centrifuges for uranium enrichment.

In another shipment, the companies bought from France an equipment called "gyros," which can be used to increase the sensitivity of the guidance system of missiles and directly transferred them to Iran in 2004, the report said.

"It is believed that the two companies have escaped from strict export controls by listing Turkey as the destination," the inspectors said. They said they have asked customs authorities in Germany, the Netherlands, Britain, France, the United States and Canada to launch investigations into shipments that originated from those countries.

Turkish authorities have also recently stopped a shipment of aluminum material to Iran at the last minute, seizing the material at Gurbulak border point with Iran.

The report said authorities have confiscated documents and computers from the companies and that the investigation was still underway. Most of the shipments to Iran by the companies included dual use material of aluminum, steel and iron products and electronic equipment which can be used in defense industry, it said.

The government report recommended that prosecutors file charges against three Iranians for smuggling and falsifying official documents, but it was not clear whether any of them were in custody. It also suggested the confiscation of the assets of both companies involved.
Posted by: ryuge || 05/26/2006 12:18 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under:

#1  thanks Turkey!
Posted by: Frank G || 05/26/2006 15:31 Comments || Top||

#2  They are our friends!
Posted by: DarthVader || 05/26/2006 15:32 Comments || Top||

#3  Can we get a surprise meter graphic?
Posted by: xbalanke || 05/26/2006 20:53 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
Capitol Police Probing Reports of Gunfire
Shots were fired in the garage of a House office building Friday as police sealed off the neaby Capitol. Capitol police were investigating "the sound of gunfire in the garage level of the Rayburn House Office Building," said an announcement on the internal Capitol voice alarm system. The Senate was in session at the time, but the House was not.

Rep. Peter Hoekstra, R-Mich., conducting a House Intelligence Committee hearing, interrupted a witness to request those attending the meeting to remain in the room and said the doors must be closed. "It's a little unsettling to get a Blackberry message put in front of you that says there's gunfire in the building," he said.

Jeff Connor, a spokesman for Rep. Jo Ann Emerson, R-Mo., said Capitol Hill police notified the office that gunfure was heard in the Rayburn building garage. "They specifically said there was the sound of gunfire on one of the garage levels of the Rayburn House office building and asked staff to remain in their offices," Connor said.

While the House was adjourned for the Memorial Day weekend, at least one committee was meeting.

At the same time, Capitol police went room to room in at least parts of the Capitol advising staff to stay in their offices, according one House aide whose office was advised.
Posted by: ryuge || 05/26/2006 11:03 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Welcome to the District.
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/26/2006 11:18 Comments || Top||

#2  Rep. Jefferson making a run for it?
Posted by: ed || 05/26/2006 11:25 Comments || Top||

#3  Patrick outta rehab?
Posted by: tu3031 || 05/26/2006 11:25 Comments || Top||

#4  Witness Protection Elimination Program
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 05/26/2006 11:30 Comments || Top||

#5  Capitol is open again. Rayburn building is remains closed. Foxnews.com is reporting four ambulances on scene.
Posted by: Mike N. || 05/26/2006 11:45 Comments || Top||

#6  One of Pelosi's crack deals go bad?
Posted by: tu3031 || 05/26/2006 11:45 Comments || Top||

#7  Jeffersons' office is in the Rayburn building, correct? Maybe Ed is onto something.
Posted by: Mike N. || 05/26/2006 11:58 Comments || Top||

#8  Did McKinney finally make the next step in her Gangsta 12-step program?
Posted by: Cyber Sarge || 05/26/2006 12:10 Comments || Top||

#9  Crossfire Gazette, DC

You'll never take me alive, Coppers!
bang bang bang
Thud, {rosebud)
Posted by: DanNY || 05/26/2006 13:01 Comments || Top||

#10  Pelosi's 'crack deal' hehehe.....too funny.
Posted by: mcsegeek1 || 05/26/2006 14:39 Comments || Top||

#11  Just had a spokesperson on TV, false alarm.
It seems there were some workers inside an elevator shaft making noise thought to be gunshots, but were not.

My take is that they probably were using a
"Hot Shot" cement nail gun, it uses a blank cartridge to drive heavy high strength nails into concrete, it really is a "Gunshot" sorta, the nail is the "Bullet" but it cannot be fired unless the end is firmly against the concrete.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 05/26/2006 19:12 Comments || Top||


Saudi Men Released After Boarding School Bus in Tampa
One should never, ever lie to authorities; and here’s why: Just four months into a five-year stay in the United States, Shaker Mohsen Al-sidran, 20, and his friend, 23-year-old Mana Saleh Al-manajam, experienced a harsh side of American life after deciding to board a yellow school bus last Friday. The Saudi students were charged with trespassing on school property when they mistakenly boarded the school bus. A day after their arrest, a judge revoked their $250 bail to give Immigration and Customs Enforcement time to check the backgrounds of the two men.

The problems resulted from a language barrier. “They have a very limited command of the English language,” Ahmed Bedier, director of the Central Florida office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations told Arab News by phone.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 05/26/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "mistakenly boarded the school bus"

If you believe that, I've got a bridge I want to sell you.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 05/26/2006 0:22 Comments || Top||

#2  They have a very limited command of the English language

IMO, it's more of a fundamental difference in world-view, Ahmed.
Posted by: gromgoru || 05/26/2006 0:50 Comments || Top||

#3  This was a dry run for a suicide bombing. Make no mistake. It was to test the response. Sure, these chuckleheads will get deported, but they weren't planning to stay, anyway.
Posted by: gromky || 05/26/2006 2:08 Comments || Top||

#4  maybe they got a whiff of teeny infidel pussy and were deranged by the hair rays--more visas state department--nice goin'
Posted by: yo momma || 05/26/2006 2:44 Comments || Top||

#5  I go with Gromky. Genuine mistake - my arse.
Posted by: Howard UK || 05/26/2006 6:04 Comments || Top||

#6  I sure hope this doesn't discourage other aspiring Saudi students from coming to America to broaden their horizons and build bridges of friendship and brotherhood between our two peoples.
Posted by: Albright, Ritter, Fisk, take your pick. || 05/26/2006 7:24 Comments || Top||

#7  I hope you where being sarcastic Albright. Don't they have universities and schools in saudi arabia?
Posted by: Greamp Elmavinter1163 || 05/26/2006 8:17 Comments || Top||

#8  In the original story they lied about more than being from Saudi Arabia. They lied about why they were going to the school, why they got on the bus, where they were from, how long they were in the country, all sorts of shit. CAIR steps in to bail their asses out, explain it all away as a "simple misunderstanding", yeah right. They were casing the joint and got pinched. With the current Politically Correct mania in Tampa do you really think a cop is going to put himself through that hell for nothing by arresting a couple of arabs for nothing??
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 05/26/2006 8:37 Comments || Top||

#9  The problems resulted from a language barrier.

The problems resulted from a VISA and IMMIGRATION POLICY debacle!
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/26/2006 10:03 Comments || Top||

#10  How can they be on a scholarship if they "have a very limited command of the English language"?
Posted by: Phemp Hupavising8059 || 05/26/2006 11:27 Comments || Top||

#11  Headline should read Saudis caught casing school bus system in Tampa
Posted by: wxjames || 05/26/2006 13:33 Comments || Top||

#12  So, why hasn't this simple mistake occured several times in the past? We've had plenty of Saudi stoonts here in the USA for some time now. I smell dry-run-for-an-another-mass-murder-atrocity. The Saudis have already proven their proclivity for substantial mayhem. What do you say that we stop giving these two any more chances?
Posted by: Zenster || 05/26/2006 14:07 Comments || Top||

#13  You guys are being way too cynical: its Tampa just on the eve of what the gov't says will be a very active hurricae season, Tampa is in a prime location to be ravaged by a storm and these guys are obviously aware of what happened to the New Orleans bus system when Katrina stopped by. they just want to see that these busses run. C'mon, give 'em a break......
Posted by: USN, ret. || 05/26/2006 14:24 Comments || Top||

#14  Ex Navy man is down with it!
Posted by: Mayor Ray Ray || 05/26/2006 18:21 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Binny in Azad Kashmir?
US intelligence officers posted in Pakistan have told their bosses back home that Osama bin Laden may be hiding in the Northern Areas, the northernmost part of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
He was in Kohistan the day before yesterday, at the Wal-Mart, I think...
The debate about the whereabouts of bin Laden, who is among the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s ten most wanted fugitives, came alive on Wednesday when an American television network claimed that Pakistani officials had confirmed his presence after tapping a telephone call.
"Hello, Ma? This is Binny!"
Army spokesman Major General Shaukat Sultan
... the very model of a modern major general...
rejected the report, saying no government official would share such sensitive information with the media.
"No, no! Certainly not!"
As per US media reports, bin Laden has left was in Pakistan at least twice after September 11, 2001. One report said he was in a Faisalabad hospital and that he escaped before US intelligence learnt of his stay.
"Somebody here to see you, Binny!"
"Tell 'em... ummm... I'm on the bed pan. And bring me my curly-toed slippers!"
A source in Islamabad said American intelligence officers have also taken note of recent reports that bin Laden distributed a leaflet in North Waziristan calling General Pervez Musharraf a US stooge and exhorting Pakistanis to oust him. The source said that much before the March 2003 arrest of Al Qaeda’s chief operations commander Khalid Sheikh Mohammad from Rawalpindi,
... of all places...
the Americans conducted an intelligence-gathering exercise in Gilgit and Chitral districts, in the Northern Areas, to track down bin Laden and Mullah Omar. But their efforts yielded no result.
... because they were in Faisalabad and Rawalpindi, respectively...
Posted by: Dan Darling || 05/26/2006 00:31 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  look in hamid gul's garage
Posted by: yo momma || 05/26/2006 2:47 Comments || Top||

#2  You want matches, too...INFIDEL!
Posted by: tu3031 || 05/26/2006 11:39 Comments || Top||

#3  "Army spokesman Major General Shaukat Sultan rejected the report, saying no government official would share such sensitive information with the media."

No Pakistani government official would share such sensitive information with the media. Now a U.S. government official, on the other hand . . .
Posted by: Tibor || 05/26/2006 15:56 Comments || Top||

#4  all he does is order dialysis supplies sent by Fedex and they run for the bait...
Posted by: Frank G || 05/26/2006 16:48 Comments || Top||


Security forces and Bugtis clash
Fierce clashes and exchange of fire between security forces and armed Bugti tribesmen continued on Thursday in Sangsila and Loti towns of the volatile Dera Bugti district. Reports coming from the tension-ridden area suggest that identified people fired two missiles and three rockets from the Pat Feeder area, which exploded in Sui without causing serious damage. “Exchange of fire between the security forces and the tribesmen continued throughout the day. The rebels fled after firing from the security forces intensified,” a source said. He said the tribesmen had instigated the firing.

Meanwhile, security forces seized 25 kilogramme explosives and two detonators near the residence of a local tribal chief, Wadera Mehwa Khan. The security forces also claimed to have diffused two landmines in Pir Koh-e-Haideri. The authorities also seized a 9kg bomb in Mund Town of Kholu and diffused it.
Posted by: Fred || 05/26/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [9 views] Top|| File under:

#1  What are these idiots fighting for? Complete isolation from the rest of the world?
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 05/26/2006 8:39 Comments || Top||

#2  Bigim_Ky, It's all about the pipelines. A normal Bugti's blood pressure starts to boil at the mere sight of a cylinder. Weird ain't it?
Posted by: 6 || 05/26/2006 18:23 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Ansar al-Sunnah Commander Snagged
Iraqi police said they arrested a senior commander of an Al-Qaeda linked militant group near the northern oil centre of Kirkuk Thursday. Abdul Nasser Rahim al-Dulaimi, alias Abu Hanin, is suspected of masterminding attacks on US troops as well as kidnappings of foreigners for the militant group Ansar al-Sunna, police said.

He was detained 20 kilometres (12 miles) south of Kirkuk and information about past operations and a large sum in US dollars were found in his possession, said Colonel Shakhwan Abdullah of Kirkuk police. He said the documents recovered included records of associates across the Sunni heartland of western and north-central Iraq.

The arrest followed the intense interrogation of three other Ansar militants detained on Wednesday, he added.
Posted by: Thrains Omaviger8022 || 05/26/2006 16:57 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  is suspected of masterminding attacks on US troops as well as kidnappings of foreigners for the militant group Ansar al-Sunna

Anybody want to guess how quickly he will start to sing? I figure he's not a pain-freak and he is already sounding like a cage full of canaries.
Posted by: anymouse || 05/26/2006 17:35 Comments || Top||

#2  Ha Ha!
Posted by: Elmerese Snuter4900 || 05/26/2006 17:43 Comments || Top||

#3  Another 'mastermind' bagged. Gives a bad name to seniors,too....
Posted by: Inspector Clueso || 05/26/2006 18:20 Comments || Top||

#4  The arrest followed the intense interrogation of three other Ansar militants detained on Wednesday,

No milktarts and koffee for them I suppose. Whahahahaha
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/26/2006 19:53 Comments || Top||

#5  Gives a bad name to seniors,too

hope he has to gum his food from now on
Posted by: Frank G || 05/26/2006 20:12 Comments || Top||

#6  The ISF really do know how to go arab on these guys. The information will flow.
Posted by: Brett || 05/26/2006 21:39 Comments || Top||


Probe finds Marine unit killed civilians
WASHINGTON - A military investigation into the deaths of two dozen Iraqis last November is expected to find that a small number of Marines in western Iraq carried out extensive, unprovoked killings of civilians, said congressional, military and Pentagon officials on Thursday.

Two lawyers involved in discussions about individual Marines' defenses said they thought the investigation could result in charges of murder, a capital offense. That possibility and the emerging details of the killings have raised fears that the incident could be the gravest case involving misconduct by U.S. ground forces in Iraq.

Officials briefed on preliminary results of the inquiry said the civilians killed at Haditha, a lawless, insurgent-plagued city deep in Sunni-dominated Anbar Province, did not die from a makeshift bomb, as the military first reported, or in cross-fire between Marines and attackers, as was later announced. A separate inquiry has been started to find whether the events were deliberately covered up.

Evidence indicates that the civilians were killed during a sustained sweep by a small group of Marines that lasted three to five hours and included shootings of five men standing near a taxi at a checkpoint and killings inside at least two homes that included women and children, officials said.
This is not good.
No, it's not, and we'll have to take the bitter medicine, in full measure and in public. Take it we must, so that the world understands that we do and will punish our own when they transgress.
Posted by: Chinter Flarong9283 || 05/26/2006 12:26 || Comments || Link || [15 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Good men, good soldiers or Marines can rampage, ie., lose the mental bubble when pushed too far. Especially following the loss of colleagues. This is not uncommon in combat, especially when Rules of Engagement are buggered up. Acceptable, no. Uncommon, unfortunately not at all.
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/26/2006 13:39 Comments || Top||

#2  Nothing new here, just that nowdays you have a news crew filming over your shoulder.
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 05/26/2006 13:42 Comments || Top||

#3  Agreed B. It's hard to remain in perspective with your buddies remains splattered across your uniform. I certainly hope this is dealt with professionally and not turned into a political event for the left to bash Bush. Unfortunate things happen in war, but keeping this in perspective will be difficult at best.
Posted by: 49 Pan || 05/26/2006 13:47 Comments || Top||

#4  My prayer as well Pan. Ditto Big Jim.
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/26/2006 13:58 Comments || Top||

#5  ``If the accounts as they have been alleged are true, the Haditha incident is likely the most serious war crime reported in Iraq since the beginning of the war,'' said John Sifton, of Human Rights Watch. ``Here we have two dozen civilians being killed - apparently intentionally. This isn't a gray area. This is a massacre.''

I, for one, would like to see Mr. Human Rights Watch dropped into a similar situation just to see how he'd handle it?
But you probably don't see a lotta IED's at HRW fundraisers.
Posted by: tu3031 || 05/26/2006 14:03 Comments || Top||

#6  My opinion and my opinion only.... it would have never come to Marines in MOUT. The phueching entire, worthless kak town of Haditha would have suffered multiple B-52 strikes long before the Marines arrived.
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/26/2006 14:10 Comments || Top||

#7  Number of military members who've face courts martial for actions within the immediate area of combat in this war? Number who faced similar charges in previous wars?

Number of individuals prosecuted for treason, sedition or aiding and abiding the enemy during time of war?
Posted by: Clealing Gletle3270 || 05/26/2006 14:22 Comments || Top||

#8  If they substantiate this, then life imprisonment woudl be the minimum - the death penalty would be appropriate if it can be shown they did it deliberately and in cold blood. The execution should be by firing squad, and should be held over there.

Such a stain on the service cannot remain unpunished.

I still pray that this isnt true. But if it is, we cannot hesitate to act decisively, but fairly.

My biggest concern is "here comes My Lai" all over again, and the press will jump on this and bounce around liek a trampoline in an attempt to smear the entire military with the acts of a few. And that in itself will help raise hostility against our troops - and help the terrorist recruit even more.

Its a shame the best weapon the terrorists have is our own press.
Posted by: Oldspook || 05/26/2006 14:24 Comments || Top||

#9  Try them, and if found guilty, punish as appropriate.
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 05/26/2006 14:25 Comments || Top||

#10  Even of they are punished approprately (and they should be if approprate) the MSM is sure to publicize this for at least the next year or two.

If they did do it in cold blood they should be executed by firing squad - and have it televised live. We have to show that we do *not* condone these type of acts and that we clean up our own house.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 05/26/2006 14:47 Comments || Top||

#11  If i remember this incident, at the time it occured,the marine units involved had been hit whether by IEDs,or sniper fire from the village,or both and had lost four or more men in what I believe was a sudden unexpected attack.The instantaneous reaction attack by the marines did wipe out several homes and did result in civ casualties.I will be very surprised if this incident turns out to be a My Lai type,but it certainly sound s like over reaction,and failure to follow R O E, followed by a parseing of words.If verufied, some discipline should certainly follow, but I would hope that the circumstances and environment will be considered carefully and weighed against the crime.I am grateful I have never had to go thru the same experience,and I wonder how many of us would have reacted in a manner that was not excessive. reaction would not have been excessive
Posted by: john e morrissey || 05/26/2006 15:03 Comments || Top||

#12  This article looks like the one yesterday with no additional news. Congressional, military and Pentagon sources are unnamed sources and thus unrealiable.

I'll wait until the investigation is complete before passing judgement.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 05/26/2006 15:24 Comments || Top||

#13  Since three of the officers involved, including a Lt. Col., have been relieved, I would suggest that the entire original report and newsrelease from MNF Iraq be taken with a grain of salt. We will know what actually happened when the trials begin.
Posted by: Chuck Simmins || 05/26/2006 15:26 Comments || Top||

#14  I'll wait
Posted by: Frank G || 05/26/2006 15:33 Comments || Top||

#15  IF it is a MSM report, we can be sure that it is spun in the worst possible light. If it turns out to be true in some sense, we will have to take the punishment.

It is amazing that we have not had units go Roman after the tactics used by the Lion of Islam. The people next to the IED's didn't know about them, you say? I doubt it.
Posted by: SR-71 || 05/26/2006 15:53 Comments || Top||

#16 
Not that the story isn't try but this writer shows up a few times on Times Watch. This is "a project of the Media Research Center, dedicated to documenting and exposing the liberal political agenda of the New York Times." Not to put too fine a point on this but the article really doesn't give us any more information than we had previously. What military or pentagon officials? Was there a press conference about this? I know that people get pumped in combat but I find it hard to believe that a whole squad went berserk on a town? The line up of who is carrying this story mind help you understand: NPR, BBC, Daily Kos, and NYT. If this was true I suspect that the Pentagon would have a HUGE news conference and not an un-named official. OK that’s my $1.25 and I am RTB.
Posted by: Cyber Sarge || 05/26/2006 15:58 Comments || Top||

#17  Hey, let's let the UCMJ play this out before we start throwing around sentences. I'm withholding my judgment until a court martial is adjudicated. Anything before that is purely speculation based on the testimony of human rights watch, a 9 yr old Iraqi girl who only saw weapons being fired but no faces, & other local iraqis who never saw "a kill b", and unnamed sources, etc, in other words - means nothing until punitive legal action by a mil court is finished. If they are found guilty I am sure the mil will do the right thing to punish them - no more, no less.
Posted by: Broadhead6 || 05/26/2006 15:59 Comments || Top||

#18  Please excuse typos and brain farts, eating lunch, fuming, and trying to type.
Posted by: Cyber Sarge || 05/26/2006 16:00 Comments || Top||

#19  Probe eh? Like a the hovering probe of death from star wars?
Posted by: ShepUK || 05/26/2006 16:14 Comments || Top||

#20  I'm with you, BH6. There's just too many lies in the MSM and they want their My Lai story too much.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 05/26/2006 16:15 Comments || Top||

#21  War is hell, war is ugly, bad things happen in War.

To put impossible requirements on our military or expect the impossible like 130k humans will not have any bad apples or problem individuals within the ranks in some small number is a just setting yourself up for failure. Of course it happens humans are humans no exam or training can get perfect results in such numbers.

What we need is leadership no apologies or blah blah slam the military with insane costly ROE’s we need leadership to get up in front of the people and tell em straight up its war sh*t happens. Yes, wrong was done but the difference between the Mongol hordes or our terrorist enemy and US is we don’t accept such behavior as OK we punish and stop it. But we shouldn’t expect that we are perfect super humans that have no bad apples amongst the masses of our ranks either and we definitely shouldn’t tie our hands and cripple our ability to attempt to do the impossible and become perfect.

This failure of leadership to explain WAR will again result in the Media escapade of evil US evil military ohh the agony like Abu Grahib. Resulting in yet another unachievable expectation placed on our military, right there with expecting nill-0 casualties in WAR.

The goal of these LLL actions is to make WAR impossible, we need leadership to explain bad things happen in war ITS WAR not some babbling apologist for regretting being a man and actually showing anger after 3k of his people just got killed for no freaking reason.

This incident explained simply=
Is it bad YES
Can 130k humans be perfect NO
Will those guilty be punished YES
Will this happen in the future YES
Will that be punished YES
Will WAR ever be perfect NO
Are we at WAR YES
Can WAR ever be perfect HELL NO !!!!
After this if your conclusion is we can never fight war again then go see “Tibetan History” ya may find it interestingly relevant. Otherwise suck it up and lets punish the guilty and get on with our WAR effort so we can quit worrying about such horrors.

Were is a Churchil or Teddy Roosevelt when you need one what happened to the west and her people.
Posted by: C-Low || 05/26/2006 16:19 Comments || Top||

#22  Military Justice will deal with this, it's lawyered up enough. I just hope all the court marshals are fair.

HRW and the NYT call it a war crime. I call HRW members and the NYT treasonous asd seditionist scum. Can we get a trial of them as easily as the military can and will try anyone suspected of violating the US military codes? I think the NYT and HRW can STFU. This investigation took place without their instigation or help. The military acted on it's own. That says the military is supieror to HRW or the NYT in any respect in this matter.

Who ever is "leaking" this information out ought to get arrested, convicted and tossed on jail for a long, long, time.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 05/26/2006 16:48 Comments || Top||

#23  or shot for treason.
Posted by: anymouse || 05/26/2006 17:38 Comments || Top||

#24  I put this up for one reason-

There are a lot of troops who are trying to build up our credibility. Everytime they have tea with someone, or are nice to people, they are putting nickels and dimes in our 'credibility' piggy bank.

When we start losing credibility, we do not lose it in nickels and dimes... we lose it in $100 bills.

And this is NOT the fault of the press. It would happen via the local rumor mill- reported or not.

This has to be taken care of. Because I support our troops, and want them to come out of this thing on top. (Even at the risk of a comma splice.)
Posted by: Chinter Flarong9283 || 05/26/2006 17:42 Comments || Top||

#25  SPoD & BH6:

I agree - the problem here is the leak. And We shoudl not jump to conclusions.

However, that being said, *if* the tenor of the statement and the charges are true, then the UCMJ prescribed penalties should be applied at their very fullest, and the punishment should be administered very publicly where possible.
Posted by: Oldspook || 05/26/2006 18:04 Comments || Top||

#26  Define the word 'civilian', please. In context, please.

Nuff said?
Posted by: Parabellum || 05/26/2006 18:23 Comments || Top||

#27  is expected to find
This phrase bothers me deeply, it's the same as saying "Our mind is made up, don't bother me with the facts"

Or put another way, first the verdict,(GUILTY) then any evidence that does not conflict with our verdict will be heard.

"Fair" trial my ass.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 05/26/2006 19:21 Comments || Top||

#28  Wait for the FACTS - we are dealing wid enemies whom wilfully disguise themselves as ordinary, harmless civilians, and gener have no qualms shooting at US-Allied soldiers with or without real civilians in their cross-hairs. * KOREA 1, VIETNAM, DESERT STORM, SOMALIA.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 05/26/2006 20:33 Comments || Top||

#29  You all have 'white guilt'.
I say there is no crime here. Throughout history, warriors have killed while in the rage of war. Only if and when orders were given to kill unarmed persons do I consider it a crime.
Here's a question; If an IED blew up a squad, then why in hell were there any civilians above ground in the vicinity ? Some kind of phalking death wish ?
Posted by: wxjames || 05/26/2006 20:53 Comments || Top||

#30  Thanks TIME magazine editorial staff and im-bredded "reporters"!! We can always count on you to get the Keep America Last Banshees howling for DOD blood. You creeps continue to suck.
Posted by: as || 05/26/2006 21:03 Comments || Top||

#31  //No, it's not, and we'll have to take the bitter medicine, in full measure and in public. Take it we must, so that the world understands that we do and will punish our own when they transgress.//

letn us start wiff em enola gay croo! off wit theys hedz!!!! punish all thoz hoo kill inocense!
Posted by: muck4doo || 05/26/2006 21:30 Comments || Top||

#32  My grandfather said if this is true then part of the blame goes to Bush and the Govt. for having ROE that are making our fighting men police officers instead of soldiers. He said soldiers are not trained that way, when someone kills your men you go find them and kill them. Now this is just opinion he said, butWhat probably happen was when commanding officer lost his men he snapped, the commanding officer knew the thugs that set the IED was in Haditha and he was going to find them and the damn civies knew who they were and was not saying, so he commanded his men to kill a civilian until someone told him where the terrorist where hiding and then he went and killed them. My grandfather says in war that happens more often than you think. Now a disclaimer this is his opinion and the little reading he has done on it.
Posted by: djohn66 || 05/26/2006 21:55 Comments || Top||

#33  admit it now yallz!!!! jorge bush isn a pussy@!@@
Posted by: muck4doo || 05/26/2006 22:00 Comments || Top||

#34  ima fownd kryslers kill sivilians
Posted by: muck4doo || 05/26/2006 22:01 Comments || Top||

#35  It's a damn shame, and the facts speak for themselves. Presuming guilt, let justice prevail.

On the cool and cozy domestic front, it's far too easy to point fingers and fault find. We lament the loss of innocent people, and take solace that in the end, justice will prevail.
Posted by: Captain America || 05/26/2006 22:16 Comments || Top||

#36  This kind of shit happens when perps are "civilians" and operate and hide among them. We know these IED's (most) are remotely detonated. Means the assholes are lurking around within visual sight lines. That's probably why this squad went off. They knew these jerks were somewhere close by. When they ran up and saw those 5 guys in the car, they wasted them. Natural reaction. I guess things developed from there. Actions inside the house sound bad, because, as evidenced by the young girl, family members sat down on the floor and did not resist.
Posted by: SOP35/Rat || 05/26/2006 23:09 Comments || Top||


Armed groups shun electronic media to counter U.S. high-tech surveillance
Posted by: BrerRabbit || 05/26/2006 09:55 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  A day late and a dollar short.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 05/26/2006 10:42 Comments || Top||

#2  What about the cellphone embedded in their car/truck engine computer?
What about their GPS?
What about their laptop?
What about their wristwatch?
What about their I-POD/MP3 Player?
What about any mass produced electronic stuff they may have?
What about the "Smart Dust" or "Pixie Dust" that might be on their clothes or bodies or car?
What about those KeyHole type sats looking down at them? You know. The ones that are basiclly a Galileo Telescope looking down.
What about the video cameras they use to record their gunsex?
What about the TV's and Radios? (Are they going to check each one for extra chips?)
What about their computer printers? (That one bit Saddam hard at the beginning of Gulf War I.)

They have a lot of stuff to have reason to get paranoid about. Perhaps they should just be nude and covered with room temperature mud. Only use fiberglass knives to attack. No guns. No rockets. No metal. (It would improve their survival rates. Of course when they run into our troops that way it would really suck.)

Oh, even if it is "clean" electronics it will leak something. That can give them away.
Posted by: 3dc || 05/26/2006 10:57 Comments || Top||

#3  Forcing them off the network is almost as good as listening in. I predict a steep rise in the price of homing pigeons.
Posted by: mojo || 05/26/2006 11:24 Comments || Top||

#4  Then we'll get PETA on the case.
Posted by: Perfesser || 05/26/2006 11:57 Comments || Top||

#5  "One if by land, two if by sea" just don't cut it the 21st century.
Posted by: BrerRabbit || 05/26/2006 12:43 Comments || Top||

#6 

Yes jihadi's, we are listening...
Posted by: Gromosh Elminegum5705 || 05/26/2006 13:48 Comments || Top||

#7  How do you say "one ringy-dingy" in Arabic?
Posted by: Parabellum || 05/26/2006 18:25 Comments || Top||

#8  heh heh
Posted by: 6 || 05/26/2006 18:26 Comments || Top||

#9  Oh hell - this one is easy. Just turn the student loan people loose on them. They can find anybody.
Posted by: GORT || 05/26/2006 18:39 Comments || Top||


A look at Tarmiya
If the United States has any hope of pulling its troops out of Iraq, it is going to have to hand over volatile towns like Tarmiya to Iraqi forces. This Sunni rebel stronghold is surrounded by soothing palm trees that belie a violent rebel campaign of bombings and kidnappings that have intimidated both town residents and Iraqi forces charged with taking over security from their U.S. allies.

Helicopters were shot down and a group of 35 policemen massacred by insurgents before about 100 U.S. troops arrived here two months ago to support 200 Iraqi soldiers, as policemen are trained to eventually stabilise the town on their own.

Tarmiya could be a test case for the U.S. military, which hopes its training of Iraqi forces will enable them to withdraw after three years of confrontation with Sunni Arab insurgents. "When we arrived here two months ago we could not get one person to sign up for the police force because they feared the terrorists," said Colonel Jim Pasquarette, who is spearheading the campaign to improve security in Tarmiya. "Since then over 2,000 people have volunteered."

The U.S. effort to engage the population has already been costly for people who cooperated, like town Mayor Sheikh Saeed Jassim, whose son was killed by insurgents. He has also received death threats and the new Iraqi government's vow to crush insurgents offers him little comfort. "They have no idea what is going on here," he said of the new Shi'ite-led government.

But despite talk from Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki of Iraqi forces taking over next year, Bush insists there will be no timetable and withdrawal depends on Iraqis being prepared.

In Tarmiya, an agricultural town 30 km (20 miles) north of Baghdad, that goal still seems some way off. The sole clinic for 40,000 people does not offer surgical or maternity services, forcing patients to brave roadside bombs and kidnappers on the road to the nearest Baghdad hospital. "The Iraqi forces have not improved security and if we have to rush to a Baghdad hospital we could get kidnapped or killed. There have been cases of women close to birth whose relatives were kidnapped as they were driven to Baghdad," said Abu Ahmed, a local government employee walking on Tarmiya's main street.

But Pasquarette, a tall native of Philadelphia who is frank about difficulties on the ground, expresses cautious optimism. He notes progress since arriving with the daunting mission of rooting out al Qaeda militants, improving ties between Iraqi forces and the local population and building an effective police force from scratch.

Pasquarette plans to keep about 100 U.S. troops and 200 Iraqi soldiers in the town as police recruits get training. The 20 policemen currently in Tarmiya are expected to grow into a force of 300 expected to take over security by September.

Iraqi forces are also visibly involved in $4.5 million in projects including a new operating room and birthing room at the clinic, a youth centre and a fresh drinking water scheme in a bid to win over residents. The logic of the two-pronged strategy seemed to have limited appeal on Tarmiya's main street, where youths warily watched U.S. soldiers protect journalists walking through town on a military-organised trip. Outsiders cannot visit safely.

Some locals, like shoe shop owner Othman Jawad, believed security would improve. "I am sure things will get better," he said with a smile, despite complaining of falling profits. Others disagreed, saying their fears extended to Baghdad where they feel threatened by pro-governent Shi'ite militias. "The violence is continuing here. There are explosions and kidnappings. A mortar landed here just before the Americans and the journalists came today," said Mahmoud.

Iraqi soldiers of the 9th Division, Iraq's only mechanised military force, seemed mostly sceptical about the future. Coming largely from Shi'ite towns, several wore face-masks to hide their identity in a country ravaged by sectarian violence. "We need modern equipment to fight. We need more machineguns and RPGs (rocket-propelled grenades)," said Hussein Shakir. "Our snipers don't have scopes for their weapons. They just use these simple AK-47s."

Another, asked about the chances of stability in Tarmiya allowing him one day to remove his face mask, illustrated his possible future by crossing his finger across his neck.

Pasquarette said bloodshed has fallen since his troops arrived a week after an insurgent sniper shot an Iraqi soldier in a police station and four other Iraqi forces were blown up. But he knows violence can erupt at any time and Iraqi forces will still need support from U.S. troops after any pullout. "Say some kind of a big bomb goes down or a key leader getting killed, those are the things we worry about every day. It would set us back," he said. "I am still optimistic but it's not like we will just leave and say good luck we have to go somewhere else."
Posted by: Dan Darling || 05/26/2006 00:27 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:


11 Killed in Iraq Attacks as Gunmen Kidnap Dujail Judge
Eleven people were killed in a series of attacks in Iraq yesterday, as gunmen kidnapped a judge from Dujail, the Shiite town at the center of the trial of ex-president Saddam Hussein. The dead included four policemen who were shot dead by insurgents in the violence-wracked town of Ramadi in the west of the country.

Dujail judge Walid Ahmed was traveling on a highway between Saddam’s hometown of Tikrit and the city of Samarra when he was abducted from his car on Wednesday, an Interior Ministry source said. Ahmed is from the town where Saddam and seven co-defendants are accused of having massacred 148 Shiite villagers in 1982, officials said.

Muthana Yunis Al-Hamdani, a member of the regional council of the northern Mosul province, and his driver were killed in drive-by shooting as they were heading to the Mosul administration building, police said.

In Baghdad, meanwhile, an explosion destroyed an apartment in a building overlooking the busy downtown Tahrir Square, killing three people inside. The Interior Ministry speculated that the apartment was being used for producing makeshift bombs. Defense Ministry official Gen. Khalil Al-Aybadi was in Baghdad’s southern Zafaraniyah neighborhood when gunmen ambushed his car and wounded him.

In other violence, a nine-year-old girl was killed when her family’s car hit a roadside bomb near the northern oil center of Kirkuk, while gunmen opened fire on two policemen driving through a city market, killing one.
Posted by: Fred || 05/26/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
WND : Hamas looking to fly planes into buildings
JERUSALEM – Hamas is seeking the ability to attack Israel using small airplanes laden with explosives to be flown 9-11-style into important targets, possibly Tel Aviv skyscrapers, Abu Abdullah, a leader of Hamas' so-called military wing, told WorldNetDaily yesterday.

Abdullah is considered one of the most important operational members of Hamas' Izzedine al-Qassam Martyrs Brigades, Hamas' declared "resistance" department. He said his group would not immediately carry out airplane attacks, but that Hamas is preparing for the possibility should a long-term truce it claims to abide by falls apart.

Abdullah's statements come after Palestinian security officials told WND they believe Hamas recently smuggled into the Gaza Strip three small airplanes that can carry explosives and be used to attack Israel. They said information indicates the aircraft were purchased from eastern European dealers and that Hamas members received flight training from professionals in the Sudan, Iran and Syria.

Continued on Page 49
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 05/26/2006 07:15 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Retards, IAF would have their ass in a second. Or an armed UAV would get em. This would be analogous to me and my beer buddies taking on the Yankees for a game of slow pitch softball.
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 05/26/2006 8:07 Comments || Top||

#2  "...In February 2003, six Hamas members were reportedly killed in a blast while filling a small aircraft with explosives.. Hamas planned to fly the airplane by remote control into an Israeli target. Hamas ... blamed Israel for the explosion that halted the aircraft attack."

is there a negative value on the sympathy meter?

Posted by: mhw || 05/26/2006 8:33 Comments || Top||

#3  1. it'd be shot out of Israeli airspace
2. they'd be subject to HUGE reprisals
Posted by: PlanetDan || 05/26/2006 9:20 Comments || Top||

#4  "[Our target] could be important military and civil buildings and compounds

Thanks for the 'heads up.' Bring it on donks!
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/26/2006 10:07 Comments || Top||

#5  If ever Israel needed justification to take out a full sitting of the new Hamas terrorist government...

Just mentioning the plotting of another 9-11 style atrocity should spark vociferous international outrage. Say, are those crickets I'm hearing?
Posted by: Zenster || 05/26/2006 11:47 Comments || Top||

#6  This is where the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza makes sense . . . if it's time for retaliation against Hamas, Gaza is one big huge kill box with no friendlies inside.
Posted by: Mike || 05/26/2006 11:50 Comments || Top||

#7  Flying planes into buildings? That's so...so...derivative...so...2001.
Posted by: Dreadnought || 05/26/2006 12:48 Comments || Top||

#8  Heck. If I was isreal I'd sell them the planes. Make a profit and have a guarentee that you can build more and make more money. I'm sure the plane & explosive & idiot pilot will cost more than a missle.
Posted by: plainslow || 05/26/2006 13:36 Comments || Top||


Four Palestinians killed in Israeli raid
Four Palestinians have been killed in an Israeli arrest raid in Ramallah in the West Bank. Israeli troops and Palestinian militia members exchanged fire after Israeli armoured vehicles entered the centre of the city. At least 50 other Palestinians were wounded by live gunfire and others by rubber bullets, the director of Ramallah's hospital said.

Mohammed al-Shubaki, a leading member of the Islamic Jihad group, was arrested during the Israeli operation. The Israeli killings in the West Bank came on the eve of Palestinian cross-party talks in Ramallah designed to contain factional violence.
Posted by: Fred || 05/26/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Old news
Posted by: gromgoru || 05/26/2006 0:31 Comments || Top||

#2  Sorry. KUNA was down. This was the best I could do...
Posted by: Fred || 05/26/2006 2:33 Comments || Top||

#3  Old news

But uplifting anyway, somehow.
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 05/26/2006 11:00 Comments || Top||


Israel set to deliver arms to pro-Abbas security forces
Good idea. And if they get the upper hand, deliver arms to Hamas, as well.
Israel has decided to authorise deliveries of light weapons and ammunition to security forces loyal to moderate Palestinian Authority president Mahmud Abbas, the defence ministry said on Thursday. "Defence Minister Amir Peretz has decided jointly with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to authorise the transfer of light arms and ammunition to forces loyal to Abu Mazen (Abbas)," a ministry official told AFP. "At issue are several hundred weapons imported from foreign countries which will be transferred under tight control by us. We will know exactly to whom and where they are being delivered." The announcement came amid fierce clashes in the Gaza Strip between forces loyal to Abbas and members of a new paramilitary unit loyal to the government of Islamic militant group Hamas.
Posted by: Fred || 05/26/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [12 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "We will know exactly to whom and where they are being delivered.." Going to their best shots.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 05/26/2006 6:18 Comments || Top||

#2  Well you're the real tough cookie with the long history
Of breaking little hearts, like the one in me
Thats o.k., lets see how you do it
Put up your dukes, lets get down to it!
Hit me with your best shot!
Why don't you hit me with your best shot!
Hit me with your best shot!
Fire away!

You come on with a come on, you don't fight fair
But thats o.k., see if I care!
Knock me down, its all in vain
Ill get right back on my feet again!

Hit me with your best shot!
Why dont you hit me with your best shot!
Hit me with your best shot!
Fire away!
Posted by: Pat Benatar || 05/26/2006 7:35 Comments || Top||

#3  OMG that was so lame.
Posted by: Paris Hilton || 05/26/2006 13:31 Comments || Top||

#4 
Q: What's the difference between Pat Benatar and the Statue of Liberty?

A: Not everyone has been up the Statue of Liberty!

[rim shot...]

-M
Posted by: Manolo || 05/26/2006 22:41 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Abu Sayyaf kill 2 in Jolo
Suspected Abu Sayyaf militants gunned down two civilians in separate attacks in the southern island of Jolo, police and military said Thursday.

Authorities said one of the victims, Ruel Bernal, 32, was shot by two men around 5.45 a.m. on Thursday near a Catholic church in downtown Jolo just several blocks from a police outpost. Bernal, a native of Zamboanga City, was selling cigarettes, when he was attacked, it said.

The attack occurred barely a day after another civilian, Jurick Pollalos, 22, who worked at a coffee shop in downtown, Jolo was killed by two gunmen. The motives of the attacks were still unknown, but a security spokesman blamed the Abu Sayyaf for the twin killings.

"We suspect the Abu Sayyaf as behind the two attacks. The killings bore the signature of the Abu Sayyaf's urban terrorists group," said Air Force Captain Jose Ritche Pabilonia, a spokesman for the Southern Command.

He said the group was also linked to the killings of four government soldiers in downtown Jolo over the weekend. "The police and military are investigating the attacks and security forces were ordered to intensify their operation against the terrorists," Pabilonia said.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 05/26/2006 00:34 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The motives of the attacks were still unknown,however Bernal was selling cigarettes
Posted by: Greager Spatle4181 || 05/26/2006 12:39 Comments || Top||

#2  Typical flip crap. Lets blame all crime on the ASG justifying more US dollars for aid. Jolo is the wild west and people are shot almost daily there for little or no reason. It was probably the local cig salesman pissed at the furiner from Zambo selling in his area.
Posted by: 49 Pan || 05/26/2006 12:51 Comments || Top||


Sri Lanka
Suspected Sri Lankan rebels kill 4 policemen
Suspected Tamil Tiger rebels killed four police in a claymore fragmentation mine ambush in Sri Lanka's restive east on Thursday, officials said, the latest in a series of attacks on the military some fear could lead to all-out war. The attack comes as Norway's special peace envoy is visiting Sri Lanka to meet the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the government amid diplomatic efforts to coax the rebels to resume peace talks they pulled out of indefinitely.
Posted by: Fred || 05/26/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Islamic Jihad Blames Israel for Bombing
SIDON, Lebanon — A car bomb Friday fatally wounded a leader of the Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad and killed his brother in southern Lebanon, security officials said. Islamic Jihad accused Israeli intelligence of being behind the attack. Israeli military officials said they learned of the blast through media reports.

A parked car exploded as Mahmoud Majzoub and his brother Nidal Majzoub were walking in Sidon, a coastal city 24 miles south of Beirut. Majzoub is Islamic Jihad's leader in Sidon. Mahmoud was seriously wounded and was taken to hospital. This just in: (AKI) - A Palestinian Islamic Jihad commander, Mahmoud Majdub, wounded in a carbomb blast in southern Lebanon earlier on Friday has died during surgery. His brother Nidal was instantly killed, said the security officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information.

Islamic Jihad's representative in Lebanon, Abu Imad Rifai, blamed Israeli intelligence for the attack. "This morning the Israeli Mossad detonated an explosive charge," Rifai told The Associated Press. "This is the second time Mahmoud is targeted and I believe it comes in the framework of Israeli escalation against the Palestinian people, particularly Islamic Jihad." Majzoub narrowly escaped death in October 1998 when he pulled his wife and infant son away from his booby-trapped car seconds before it exploded on a main street in Sidon. The three were wounded, along with a Syrian passer-by. At the time, Islamic Jihad also blamed Israel for that attack.

Nidal is believed to be a lower-ranking official of Islamic Jihad but the security officials were unable to confirm his affiliation.

The group has continued to launch attacks on Israel since a February 2005 truce that the main militant group Hamas, which swept Palestinian legislative elections, has respected. Islamic Jihad is led by Ramadan Shallah, a Palestinian from Gaza who now lives in exile in Syria. It considers the 1979 Iranian Revolution to be the beginning of a new era for the Muslim world and wants to turn all of Israel, the West Bank and Gaza into an Islamic state. It rules out compromise with Israel.
Posted by: ryuge || 05/26/2006 07:40 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Islamic Jihad in Lebanon is a pain in the neck to virtually everyone. Even Syria and Hizb Allah dislike them for complicated intramural reasons.
Posted by: mhw || 05/26/2006 7:53 Comments || Top||

#2  Talk about being killed by your own weapon. Rot In Hell Majzoub!
Posted by: DarthVader || 05/26/2006 8:14 Comments || Top||

#3  With all the ongoing festivities, how can they possibly tell if Israel is involved? These stupid f&cks have sown so many of the hydra's teeth, there's zombies crawling out of their toilets. Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of guys ...
Posted by: Zenster || 05/26/2006 11:42 Comments || Top||

#4  Maybe.
Maybe not.
You boys figure it out...
Posted by: The Mossad || 05/26/2006 11:49 Comments || Top||

#5  Back from vacation?
Posted by: 6 || 05/26/2006 12:13 Comments || Top||

#6  Followed a routine, did they? Tsk, tsk. So sad.
Posted by: mojo || 05/26/2006 13:37 Comments || Top||


Hizbullah's weapons pose difficult questions for all Lebanese
Six years after Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon under pressure from an armed campaign by Hizbullah, the group's weapons have become a major source of division. Despite United Nations resolutions demanding the disarming of militias in Lebanon, Hizbullah insists that the disarmament of its military wing must be linked to a broad peace deal with Israel, which seems to be a remote possibility.

Hizbullah's stand is shared by other pro-Syrian actors in Lebanon, particularly President Emile Lahoud, despite growing domestic criticism against Hizbullah's weapons which threaten to keep Lebanon at the center of regional turmoil. "The resistance should be kept until a just and comprehensive peace is achieved in the region," Lahoud told reporters on Wednesday during a visit to Southern Lebanon to mark the anniversary of the withdrawal. "If the Lebanese Army were deployed along the borders (with Israel) ... it would be turned into a police" force to protect Israel's borders, "and this is not acceptable," he said.
I'd call that an admission that there's a lot more danger to Israel from Lebanon than there is to Lebanon from Israel.
Posted by: Fred || 05/26/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [9 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "I'd call that an admission that there's a lot more danger to Israel from Lebanon than there is to Lebanon from Israel."

No that's an admission that President Lahoud is currently on the same team as Syria and Hizb Allah.
Posted by: mhw || 05/26/2006 7:29 Comments || Top||

#2  Currently? Has been the whole time.
Posted by: lotp || 05/26/2006 7:33 Comments || Top||

#3  Lahoude needs to be run back to his masters in Damascus...
Posted by: Frank G || 05/26/2006 17:28 Comments || Top||


Pithy Posting Pearls
Rantburg continues to grow, and it's now typical for us to have 100+ posts and 500+ comments a day. Please help us make this work. We (that is, Fred) are making site improvements such as the duplicates checker, and the mods are working to keep the posts moving. Contributors can help us substantially by doing the following to posts --

  • Please edit posts down. Many wire-service reports include duplicate information -- stuff that Rantburgers already know, or stuff that's been included in a previous post today (or yesterday). Fred calls it 'fluff', and he's right. Please edit the fluff out. Consider this your opportunity to improve the quality of the newswires by teaching them how to edit.

  • When editing, there's no need for elipses, 'EFL' tags, etc. We assume you're doing this.

  • Please put the source URL into the source box. Mods simply do not have time to hunt these down. If you forget a source, we'll very likely delete the post.

  • Your pithy, snarky comments go in highlight text on a separate line, NOT in-line. Don't include a leading or trailing line.

  • Pithy, snarky in-line comments are usually done in strike-through text.

  • Please don't over-use bold or italics text; it makes a post tougher to read.

  • Mods will push long articles into Page 49.

    • And thank you to all contributors and readers for what you do to make Rantburg a special place.
    Posted by: Steve White || 05/26/2006 08:27 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

    #1  Thanks to you all, and they can be sent via the tip jar.
    Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 05/26/2006 9:43 Comments || Top||

    #2  or, just send your bank account number and mothers maiden name and we'll cut out the middle man.
    Posted by: Steve || 05/26/2006 9:48 Comments || Top||

    #3  Too late, Steve - we sent that to the nice lady in Nigeria. ;-p
    Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 05/26/2006 9:52 Comments || Top||

    #4  Where should this one go?

    A man enters a bar and orders a drink. The bar has a robot bartender. The robot serves him a perfectly prepared cocktail, and then asks him, "What's your IQ?"

    The man replies "150" and the robot proceeds to make conversation about global warming factors, quantum physics and spirituality, biomimicry, environmental interconnectedness, string theory, nanotechnology, and sexual proclivities.

    The customer is very impressed and thinks, "This is really cool." He decides to test the robot. He walks out of the bar, turns around, and comes back in for another drink. Again, the robot serves him the perfectly prepared drink and asks him, "What's your IQ?"

    The man responds, "about a 100."

    Immediately the robot starts talking, but this time, about football, NASCAR, baseball, supermodels, favorite fast foods, guns, and women's body parts.

    Really impressed, the man leaves the bar and decides to give the robot one more test. He heads out and returns, the robot serves him and asks, "What's your IQ?"

    The man replies, "Er, 50, I think."

    And the robot says... real slow,

    "So.. is... your... party... gonna... nominate... Hillary... for.. president ???
    Posted by: Besoeker || 05/26/2006 9:59 Comments || Top||

    #5  Re #4: Where should this one go: How about Moveon.org?

    maybe in bold and all caps, for easy reading.....
    Posted by: USN, ret. || 05/26/2006 14:11 Comments || Top||

    #6  Re #4: Where should this one go: How about Moveon.org?

    maybe in bold and all caps, for easy reading.....
    Posted by: USN, ret. || 05/26/2006 14:11 Comments || Top||

    #7  damns, a dupe, and we were just admonsihed on that. i am standing in a corner now.
    Posted by: USN, ret. || 05/26/2006 14:12 Comments || Top||


    Tech note...
    We've been getting a lot of duplicate posts lately, so I wrote a routine to check the URLs and to check the headlines against the current and previous day's posts. If there's a hit, the post will be flagged and will go to the editors' queue, to be either quietly deleted or to be released — some sites reuse URLs, even though it's lousy practice. So if your post disappears when you hit "Submit," probably somebody beat you to it.
    Posted by: Fred || 05/26/2006 02:22 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under:

    #1  Good...a needed feature.
    Posted by: gromky || 05/26/2006 4:10 Comments || Top||

    #2  Gret! Now I won't have to use my brain.

    Mostly I avoided that, because I looked first, but sometimes the clever titles caused me to overlook a duplicate.

    I just hope now that checking is no longer necessary that the flood will not clog the I/O. Do we still do that? Or do we use up bandwidth?
    Posted by: Bobby || 05/26/2006 6:36 Comments || Top||

    #3  Good idea.
    Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 05/26/2006 7:11 Comments || Top||

    #4  But not fool proof. Two articles posted today on Bush/Blair one WaPo other NY Slimes. Too bad the comments in one can't be directed to the other so the comments are in a single thread.
    Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 05/26/2006 7:20 Comments || Top||

    #5  NS, that's a good idea, and I'm sure Fred can whip that one up in his abundant leisure time ... :-)
    Posted by: Steve White || 05/26/2006 8:48 Comments || Top||

    #6  I thought so too, but it is good to always have something in the queue.
    Posted by: Mrs. Davis || 05/26/2006 8:59 Comments || Top||

    #7  Great turn around speed Fred! It would have taken 6 months with a SEI/ISO std. concern.
    Posted by: 3dc || 05/26/2006 11:03 Comments || Top||

    #8  Waves at Mrs. Davis.
    Posted by: 6 || 05/26/2006 18:15 Comments || Top||

    #9  Yeah. But I still have to do the documentation. That'll take seven months...
    Posted by: Fred || 05/26/2006 21:57 Comments || Top||

    #10  so get bizee!!! :p

    j.k. fred :)
    Posted by: muck4doo || 05/26/2006 21:59 Comments || Top||



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