KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (CP) - A Romanian soldier was killed and four other men were hurt when an armoured vehicle was destroyed by a roadside bomb Tuesday just a few kilometres from the coalition base in Kandahar. Canadian soldiers travelling in the convoy provided emergency medical aid. Among the casualties was a Romanian soldier who got out of another vehicle in the convoy to help his comrades. He suffered severe leg injuries when he stepped on a landmine.
One of the other injured men was an Afghan interpreter working for the coalition, said Canadian Capt. Julie Roberge, a spokeswoman for the multinational brigade. Two Canadian soldiers in an armoured jeep that was part of the convoy helped secure the area after the explosions and gave first aide to the wounded, Roberge said. The injured men were airlifted by helicopter to hospital. One was listed in serious condition and two were listed as stable. One man suffered only minor injuries.
The slain soldier had been attached to the Romanian 341st battalion, a Romanian Defence Ministry statement said. At least three other Romanian troops have been killed in Afghanistan since 2003. Romania has about 700 soldiers in the country.
The Taliban attack came as coalition forces, including Canadians, continued Operation Mountain Thrust in the northern sector of southern Afghanistan. About 7,000 coalition combat troops are operating in a huge area that includes Kandahar, Helmand, Zabul and Uruzgan provinces. So far in the campaign there have been no major clashes with Taliban forces, said Col. Mike Vernon, chief of staff of the brigade. However, there have been minor contacts with insurgents every day, he said.
Afghan and coalition forces reported killing five insurgents Monday in Helmand province, the coalition said. Vernon said the intent of the operation is to extend the rule of law in remote rural areas. Since Operation Mountain Thrust began in earnest last week, about 110 suspected militants have been killed, according to coalition estimates. At least 10 coalition soldiers have died in combat since mid-May.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/20/2006 09:04 ||
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#1
Rest in peace with our thanks, Soldier. And may the others heal well and quickly.
EDMONTON Cpl. Jeffrey Bailey was pulled from a puddle of human waste after the G-Wagon he was riding in near Kandahar was blasted apart by a suicide bomber.
The head wounds the army engineer suffered in January were so serious he wasnt expected to live. And if he did, his family was told he may spend the rest of his life in a stupor.
He took enough of that waste into is lungs that hes still on medication to prevent complications five months later.
Monday, the man doctors are calling a miracle was walking, talking, and planning his future. If I could, Id go back there (Afghanistan) again. But I dont think my mom will let me now, Bailey kidded while speaking to media at Edmonton Garrison.
His mother, Pattie Wolfram, and his father, Ron Bailey, were at his side, just as theyve been for the months of his continuing recovery. Asked about her first reaction to her sons near death, Wolfram wearing a bracelet on her wrist that says Miracles Happen struggled for words. Its tough. Its probably one of the worst days of my life, she said, tears welling in her eyes. We used to go 10 minutes at a time. Now we go one day at a time. One Oilers game at a time, really.
Asked whether he was angry at the bomber, Bailey said he wasnt. Nor are his parents. I think about his mother, said Wolfram. If I saw her today, Id probably give her a hug. I dont think she raised a monster. I think something else created that monster.
Baileys brain swelled so badly after the explosion that doctors removed a chunk of his skull to minimize damage. In mid-May, he underwent surgery to replace the same piece of skull. He sports a circular scar on the left side of his head, but his hairs grown over.
He continues to struggle with memory loss he cant remember anything within the last year-and-a-half. Its terrible, said Bailey. I just want (my memory) back. I think it will come eventually. Im just waiting for that day.
Hes still undergoing speech, physical, and occupational therapy, and continues to work on remembering the past. I just want to get on with things now. I want to help myself, but everybodys helping me. Its getting old, said Bailey, adding the support hes been given by the military, doctors, family and friends has been outstanding.
Tuesday, hell likely have surgery to bring movement back to his right foot. Shrapnel badly damaged a leg nerve, leaving him unable to lift his foot.
He hopes to return soon on a reduced work assignment.
His dad, Ron, broke down in tears as he talked about nearly losing his son. Jeff is kind of an inspiration now, he said. Hes a very driven young man with strong character.
The suicide attack killed diplomat Glyn Berry and hospitalized two other Canadian soldiers. Tough and inspiring guy.
#2
hearth warming, sounds like hes still in the service.. thats really great news so he can return doing a useful job and can stay connected with his buds.
(AIP): A roadside bomb detonated near a vehicle of Afghan National Army in Paktia province on Monday, causing damage, police said. The incident was happened on Khost-Paktia highway between Gardi Serai and Sholak districts of Paktia province today when a bomb exploded near a vehicle of Afghan soldiers, spokesman of police of southeastern provinces, Muhammad Haroon informed Afghan Islamic Press. He said country enemies were trying to destroy the country and spread fear among the masses.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/20/2006 00:00 ||
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Four Taliban fighters were killed and two captured during an operation conducted by coalition and Afghan forces in Zabul province yesterday, police said Monday. The operations were conducted in Khak-e-Afghan district of Zabul in which four Taliban were killed including a Talib commander Mulla Javed and two captured in injured condition, police chief of Zabul province, Noor Muhammad Pakteen told Afghan Islamic Press.
Javed is dead.
They shot off his head.
At least that's what they said.
He said that coalition and Afghan forces did not suffer any casualties in the operation, adding that the bodies of killed Taliban fighters were still laying in the area. There was no word from Taliban in this regard.
Of course there wasn't. They're still lying there waiting to be buried.
Khak-e-Afghan district is 105 kilometers to north of Qalat, capital of Zabul province.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/20/2006 00:00 ||
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At least 37 people including seven Taliban militants were killed in violence across Afghanistan on Monday. Taliban fighters ambushed two convoys carrying members of the same family in southern Afghanistan killing 30 people, relatives and officials said. In a separate clash, Afghan and coalition soldiers killed seven militants in the southern province of Uruzgan, where a large-scale anti-Taliban offensive is underway, an Afghan official said.
The first convoy attack, initially reported on Sunday, was on vehicles carrying a former district chief in Helmand province, leaving the ex-official and four of his bodyguards dead, said governors spokesman Ghulam Mohiudin. The second ambush occurred several hours later when about 40 of the slain officials relatives went to collect his body, his brother Dad Mohammed Khan said on Monday. Khan, a parliamentarian and former Helmand intelligence chief, said that 25 people were killed, including the brother and nephew of the dead official, Jama Gul. Four others were wounded and 10 others remained missing. We dont know whether they are dead or alive, Khan said.
The attacks occurred near each other on the highway between Helmands Sangin and Grishk districts. Also on Sunday, US-led troops backed by Afghan forces raided a Taliban stronghold near Tirin Kot, Uruzgans provincial capital, and killed seven militants, said local Afghan army commander Gen. Rahmatullah Roufi. After three hours of fighting, four wounded militants were arrested while others escaped into the mountains, Roufi said. Troops confiscated 11 AK-47 rifles, six rocket-propelled grenades and four machine guns.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/20/2006 00:00 ||
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TALEBAN fighters used women and children as human shields as they tried to escape into the mountains of Afghanistan, British troops claimed yesterday. The tactics were revealed in the first account by those who fought in one of the main battles faced by the men of 3 Para and the Royal Gurkha Rifles in Helmand province, where 3,300 British troops are stationed.
The Talebans use of human shields happened during a six-hour battle that began when British troops arrived in a remote area to flush out a suspected Taleban hideout. They came under attack seven times and fired 2,000 rounds as the rebels set ambushes and opened fire with rocket-propelled grenades. About 21 Taleban were killed. It happened twice where they pushed women and children in front of them. The first time they ran into a compound and pushed them out the front to stop the assault, said Corporal Quintin Poll, 29, from Norfolk. The second time they were firing through a building with women and children inside. My guys had to go around the left and right to get them.
Details of the battle, which happened to the west of the town of Nauzad on June 4, were given by troops at the British base of Camp Bastion. It took place in the run-up to Operation Mountain Thrust, in which 11,000 troops from Britain, US, Canada and Afghanistan are co-operating to clear Taleban strongholds in the province. The fighting began after British troops were sent to the area to search compounds suspected of housing Taleban militants. A 12-vehicle convoy that had snaked its way through the mountains from Camp Bastion came under attack after leaving a police compound in the town.
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Posted by: Fred ||
06/20/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Must be in the Koran to use children and wumens as such.
Posted by: Captain America ||
06/20/2006 0:19 Comments ||
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#2
Man, they have got to start getting this stuff on tape and give it to Al Jizzera to play.
Posted by: grb ||
06/20/2006 0:21 Comments ||
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#3
get film, hack Al-Jizz and play it 24 hrs a day to embarrass the Lions of Islam
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/20/2006 0:26 Comments ||
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#4
We'll have Fred do it.
Posted by: grb ||
06/20/2006 0:30 Comments ||
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#5
Well, makes perfect sense, since wimmen are cattle, and children's only right is to get some lube when daddy or uncle wants to play with them.
#6
Careful, anonymous, you'll make the Taliban so mad they'll have to beat their kids and wives and kill some unarmed civilians to prove their manhood.
Posted by: grb ||
06/20/2006 1:57 Comments ||
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#7
It also would be time to start enforcing Geneva:
Shoot them for using civilians as shields
and Shoot them again for fighting out of uniform.
#8
This is normal operating procedure for the Lions. It's also why there are bound to be civilian casualties. We should not even think about it. As long as these cheesy bastards choose this path, we just eliminate as many as necessary.
#9
Keep mounting, keep thrusting and throw in a bit of kukri for foreplay.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
06/20/2006 5:05 Comments ||
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#10
Howard- by any chance is Major Will Pike related to Hew Pike, one of the heroes of the Falklands war?
Posted by: Matt ||
06/20/2006 8:03 Comments ||
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#11
I have absolutely no idea but I hope so ;)
Posted by: Howard UK ||
06/20/2006 9:01 Comments ||
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#12
I think JFM has a point:
Drumhead courts martial for those using children as sheilds, with execution on the spot - a pistol shot to the back of the head.
They are nothign more than war criminals and as such have no Geneva protections and are therefore easily dealt with via on-th-spot execution if they have no intelligence value. And if they have intel value, then return them after they talk - by pushing them out of a helicopter at 10000 AGL over their village.
That will ensure a proper punishment for the crime, and make sure that the punishment for such acts is swift and very visible to those who might think of comitting them.
#13
The tactics were revealed in the first account by those who fought in one of the main battles faced by the men of 3 Para and the Royal Gurkha Rifles in Helmand province, where 3,300 British troops are stationed.
Gotta cut them some slack: The mere sight of the Gurkhas can unnerve the Bravest lion of Islam.
#14
by pushing them out of a helicopter at 10000 AGL over their village.
I might be feeling a bit cruel today, but I'd drop them from 30,000 ft. That way they lose consciousness for most of the way down and regain it just before impact.
Posted by: Rafael ||
06/20/2006 18:58 Comments ||
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#15
Maybe it's just me, but we really need to begin firing right through their (at that point rather ineffective) "human shields." The Taleban need to gain a reputation for getting people around them killed. Only then will they be viewed as a genuine threat.
Yes, I realize I'm advocating the killing of female and minor civilians. Per .com, we've really got to get over this "Order of the Garter" crap and begin making the lives of our enemies and those who support (or tolerate) them genuinely miserable.
Once the Taleban show up and get a hostile (or deadly) reception by those they would endanger, all of the right messages will have been sent. Villagers need to associate the Taleban with brutal death and nothing else. The Taleban also need to learn that cowardice is repaid with death.
Oh yes, and definitely all that about summary execution and 'chuteless airdrops for those caught practicing human shield antics. In fact, I'd like to see a guidance package to steer such wingless human payloads precisely into their own hovels, huts and yurts. Nothing says "naughty, naughty!" like 75 kilos of well-pulverized torso and appendages smashing through your roof.
General John Abizaid, the head of the United States Central Command, held talks with Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi on local and international efforts to combat terrorism, state media said on Tuesday. The talks came as Ethiopia faced accusations of deploying its troops inside Somalia to protect the country's fledgling interim government from an increasingly powerful Islamic militia. The pair held talks "on national and international issues, especially on ongoing efforts in fighting terrorism", state-run Ethiopia News Agency said in a statement.
Beginning with the neighbors
A key US ally in Washington's so-called war on terror, the largely secular Ethiopia is nervous about the swift victory of the Islamist forces in large swathes of neighbouring Somalia, including the capital Mogadishu.
Over the weekend Islamic courts' chief Sheikh Shariff Sheikh Ahmed claimed that several hundred Ethiopian troops had crossed the border and were moving towards the interim government's seat in Baidoa, about 250km from Mogadishu. But Addis Ababa denied the charge, saying it had, however, boosted troops along their common border in response to an Islamist provocation.
The US, concerned about growing extremism in Somalia, helped bankroll a secular warlord alliance, the Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counterterrorism, in February. But the hard-line Islamic militia in Somalia last Wednesday captured the warlords' last strongholds after four months of fighting, and has begun setting up courts and administrations adhering to strict Sharia law. The Islamists deny having links to extremist groups such as al-Qaeda or harbouring foreign fighters, and instead claim to be working to restore law and order in the Horn of Africa nation. -- AFP
Posted by: Steve ||
06/20/2006 09:00 ||
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Cairo, 20 June (AKI) - Founders and leaders of the Egyptian radical Islamic group Jamaa al-Islamiya will soon set up a website to provide an update on the current status of the organisation and on future prospects of jihad or holy war, Saudi Arabian daily al-Watan reported on Tuesday. The new website will explain why the historical leaders of the Jamaa al-Islamiya, who had been jailed, chose to leave the path of violence, obtaining in many cases their release. It will feature texts reflecting the organisation's new 'peaceful' line.
And they say torture is ineffective, hah!
It was the drugs ...
According to al-Watan, Jamaa al-Islamiya will also provide a new account of the 1981 assassination of Egyptian president Anwar Sadat, in which the organisation was involved, explaining why its current leaders regard Sadat's killing a mistake.
"Ok, it was a mistake, we were bad. Now, can you get THAT away from me?"
The website's content will also seek to promote dialogue and cooperation with the Christian-Coptic minority of Egypt.
Must have used ViseGrips to squeeze that one in
Jamaa al-Islamiya was founded in the 1970s when the Muslim Brotherhood's leadership decided to renounce violence, and was originally an umbrella organisation for militant university student groups. It subsequently moved from university campuses to poor and deprived neighbourhoods of Egyptian cities and its leaders became younger and less educated. Al-Qaeda's number two Ayman al-Zawahiri was also among the founders of Jamaa al-Islamiya in the 1970s.
In the 1990s, the organisation carried out an extended campaign of violence, from murders and attempted murders of prominent writers and intellectuals, to the repeated targeting of tourists and foreigners. Jamaa al-Islamiya's record of terror includes the 1997 attack at the temple of Hatshepsut in Luxor - northern Egypt -, in which a band of six men machine-gunned and hacked to death with knives 58 foreign tourists and four Egyptians. Following the 1997 attack, the Egyptian government cracked down hard against Jamaa Islamiya, above all to saveguard tourism, one of Egypt's main earners.
The group declared a ceasefire in 1999 and some of its imprisoned leaders went on to renounce violence. Following the final decision by many jailed leaders to reject violence and draw their inspiration from peaceful principles, some 900 Jamaa al-Islamiya's members who had been arrested over the previous 20 years, including founder Najeh Ibrahim, were released in April 2006.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/20/2006 09:21 ||
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#1
Thanks, guys.
I feel sooooooooooo much better now...
Posted by: The Ghost Of Anwar Sadat ||
06/20/2006 11:17 Comments ||
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to provide an update ...on future prospects of jihad or holy war
That should provide an interesting mirror to future events.
Four men have been arrested in London under anti-terror laws as part of a major investigation into alleged international terrorism, say police. The arrests are part of an operation linked to the arrest of a man at Manchester airport on 6 June.
One man, 28, was arrested on Tuesday in south-east London and three men, aged 29 and two aged 21, on Monday evening in east London. They are in custody at a central London police station. All four British citizens were arrested on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism under the Terrorism Act 2000. Police are trying to establish whether they were giving support to an alleged al-Qaeda cell in Canada
Margaret Gilmore, BBC home affairs correspondent, said the arrested men were being held at Paddington Green police station in west London. "Police are trying to establish whether they [the arrested men] were giving support to an alleged al-Qaeda cell in Canada. The operation leading to their arrests involved West Yorkshire Police, MI5 and Scotland Yard," our correspondent said.
She said the arrests were not linked to the Forest Gate raid in east London or the 7 July attacks last year.
Three of the four men were arrested in Hackney, east London at about 2200 BST on Monday evening. The fourth man was arrested in south-east London at 1500 BST on Tuesday afternoon. Scotland Yard said the police operation did not involve firearms officers. They can be held for 14 days, after which they have to be charged or released.
The arrests are linked to the investigation, led by West Yorkshire Police, in which a man and a youth were charged earlier this month with conspiracy to murder and conspiracy to cause public nuisance by using poisons or explosives.
Aabid Hussain Khan, 21, of West Yorkshire, was arrested at Manchester Airport in early June and later charged under Section 57 of the Terrorism Act. He appeared in court on 15 June and was remanded in custody by Bow Street magistrates until 30 June to appear at the Old Bailey. Khan appeared alongside a 16-year-old boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, who was charged with conspiracy to murder and conspiracy to cause a public nuisance by use of poisons and/or explosives.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/20/2006 13:09 ||
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#1
I still wonder if the chemical vest tip was an intentional smokescreen. Given that it had the added advantage of making the Brits look bad, I have to say it was a successful one, if so.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
06/20/2006 15:09 Comments ||
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Dan Darling will be happy and sad: happy cuz Dooku will be toe-tagged, and sad cuz he's had so much fun with this pic ...
Chechnya's rebels pledged yesterday to press ahead with their fight for freedom from Russian rule despite the death in battle of their leader. Statements on separatist Web sites confirmed that Abdul-Khalim Sadulayev - also known as Saidulayev - had been killed in the town of Argun, 30 km east of the regional capital Grozny. Pro-Moscow forces said they were combing the town for accomplices of Sadulayev, who was the fourth resistance leader to be killed in 11 years of separatist warfare in the southern Russian region.
"The death of even the most worthy will not weaken our jihad (holy war). On the contrary, our martyrs encourage the fighters with their heroic example," said a statement on a rebel Web site. "Today our enemies, not hiding their baseness, are celebrating. But it should be us, not them, who are celebrating, because our brother and leader Abdul-Khalim Sadulayev is in heaven, as is the will of Allah."
Sadulayev, a cleric from Argun, was little known outside Chechnya but had reorganised the resistance since taking over a year ago and tried to increase its links with Islamist fighters elsewhere in Russia's turbulent North Caucasus. Unceasing Russian pressure has fragmented the rebel movement, but rebel fighters stage daily attacks in Chechnya and neighbouring regions.
Sadulayev will be succeeded as head of the Chechen resistance by warlord Doku Umarov, who unlike Sadulayev has long been a hands-on guerrilla leader. Along with Shamil Basayev, who organised the war's worst attacks on civilians such as the Beslan school siege in 2004, Umarov commands troops in the field. They are key targets for Russian security services.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/20/2006 00:00 ||
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#6
I heard this on NPR this morning. The creeps were trying to spin this as a "Bush's unilateral coalition is falling apart" meme but the statements by the Japanese made it apparent that they felt they had accomplished their mission, done what they had set out to do, and had a lot of (justifiable) pride in their achievements.
Bill Gertz, WashTimes. Note the number of sources contacted and quoted, yielding a well-rounded view of the situation. It's so good that it's, well, startling.
The Pentagon activated its new U.S. ground-based interceptor missile defense system, and officials announced yesterday that any long-range missile launch by North Korea would be considered a "provocative act."
Poor weather conditions above where the missile site was located by U.S. intelligence satellites indicates that an immediate launch is unlikely, said officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity. However, intelligence officials said preparations have advanced to the point where a launch could take place within several days to a month.
Two Navy Aegis warships are patrolling near North Korea as part of the global missile defense and would be among the first sensors that would trigger the use of interceptors, the officials said yesterday. The U.S. missile defense system includes 11 long-range interceptor missiles, including nine deployed at Fort Greeley, Alaska, and two at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. The system was switched from test to operational mode within the past two weeks, the officials said.
One senior Bush administration official told The Washington Times that an option being considered would be to shoot down the Taepodong missile with responding interceptors.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice added that any launch would be a serious matter and "would be taken with utmost seriousness and indeed a provocative act."
White House spokesman Tony Snow declined to comment when asked if shooting down a launched missile was being considered as an option.
President Bush had telephoned more than a dozen heads of state regarding North Korea's launch preparations, Mr. Snow said. He did not identify the leaders who were called by Mr. Bush.
Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said the U.S. has made it clear to North Korea that the communist regime should abide by the missile-test ban it imposed in 1999 and reaffirmed in a pact with Japan in 2002. "The United States has a limited missile defense system," Mr. Whitman said. He declined to say if the system is operational or whether it would be used. "U.S. Northern Command continues to monitor the situation, and we are prepared to defend the country in any way necessary," said spokesman Michael Kucharek.
Any decision to shoot down a missile would be made at the highest command levels, which includes the president, secretary of defense and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
In Tokyo, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Japan and South Korea are trying to avert a launch. "Even now, we hope that they will not do this," Mr. Koizumi said. "But if they ignore our views and launch a missile, then the Japanese government, consulting with the United States, would have to respond harshly."
John R. Bolton, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said the Bush administration is consulting with other Security Council members on how to respond to a Taepodong launch.
In Australia, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said North Korea's ambassador had been summoned and told any missile launch would result in "serious consequences."
U.S. intelligence officials said there are signs that the North Koreans recently began fueling the Taepodong with highly corrosive rocket fuel. Normally, when liquid fuel is loaded into missiles the missile must be fired within five to 10 days, or it must be de-fueled and the motors cleaned, a difficult and hazardous process.
The Taepodong was first tested in August 1998, and North Korea claimed that it was a space launch vehicle that orbited a satellite. U.S. intelligence officials said the last stage of the missile was powered but did not reach orbit. A new test would likely be a more advanced version. "Our concerns about missile activity in North Korea are long-standing and well-documented," said Mr. Whitman, the Pentagon spokesman.
The test preparations began several weeks after the Bush administration imposed new rules on U.S. companies that prohibit American or foreign firms incorporated in the United States from flying North Korea's flag on merchant ships. According to the Treasury Department, Korean War-era sanctions were loosened in 2000 in order to entice North Korea into abiding by the missile flight test ban.
One reason for the concerns about a launch is that North Korea has issued threatening statements through its official press and broadcast organs that it is ready to go to war with states such as Japan and the United States that impose economic sanctions.
#2
How much face does Kimmie lose if the US shoots down the Taepodong? Or does the Army get embarassed? Actions like this *always* have some element of internal power struggle about them.
Posted by: Jonathan ||
06/20/2006 9:34 Comments ||
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#3
I'd expect one of those nasty fueling accidents. Touchy stuff, rocket fuel. Apt to explode for no apparent reason. That's why you need really good SEALS...
#4
Chuck: Great idea! I hope there's someone in the Pentagon who's at least as devious as you.
Posted by: Mike ||
06/20/2006 10:10 Comments ||
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#5
This is high risk poker. If the ABM works in a real world test like this, the chips get moved around everywhere. We'll suddenly be a lot more popular and the MM will be a lot more isolated and powerless. Amazing how little press truly world changing events like this get till decades after the fact.
#6
Don't we have a satellite with a laser on it yet?
That would be the thing to use. The whole rocket pad would be scorched and they would never figure it out.
#9
I have a slight worry that NK may have some nuke mines on the sea floor near where the Aegis might be. If they set them off at the same time as the launch it would complicate things.. That Kimmy is just to juche stupid!
1) If the NKors launch their missile, and it gets off the ground, and tracks over the Pacific such that it doesn't violate airspace of any other country, legally there is nothing we can do about it. We shouldn't do anything about it other than track and learn everything we can. This is as much an opportunity for us as it is for them. The Aegis class ships in the region with SM-3 missiles will find this a useful 'dry-run' exercise.
2) If the NKors launch and the missile tracks over another country (e.g., Japan), but not the U.S., it's a dicier situation. They did this once before. If the trajectory indicates a fly-over to a landing the Pacific, in the short-term we do nothing except learn. But longer-term, we and the Japanese would have every reason to a) accelerate our SM-3 and GBI systems b) offer both to the Japanese at cut-rate prices c) make clear to the NKors that no further fly-overs will be tolerated -- any such missile will be intercepted and brought down. We might then stage a demonstration of the SM-3 system near Japan and let the Chinese track it -- be sure they'll pass on the info to the NKors.
3) If the NKor missile tracks to hit Japan, all bets are off.
4) If the NKor missile tracks to hit American soil, ditto. Even if it doesn't have a nuclear warhead (and you don't know for sure until it lands), it is an unprovoked act of war. We're legally entitled to obliterate them at that point. Whether that's the smartest thing to do is another consideration. The biggest problem is political, and it's spelled C-H-I-N-A.
There's no clear evidence that China would step aside and let us wipe out their lap dog. The last time this was attempted (November, 1950) we had a problem. We'd need a clear assurance from China that we could retaliate against the NKors without causing a wider war, and I see no reason why China would provide that assurance (short of an actual nuclear strike by the NKors; if the NKors nuke American soil we won't be asking anyone's permission for whatever we do).
Ditto Russia, though I think Putin wouldn't be bothered by this too much as long as he was well-paid and no radiation hit Russian soil.
Further, the NKors have an effective deterrent to anything less than a nuclear obliteration: over 13,000 artillery tubes, 155 mm and larger, aimed at Seoul. These are very well dug in to mountains just north of the DMZ. Even though we know where most of them are, hitting them, particularly in time to stop the devestation of Seoul, is another matter (consider 4 shells per minute per tube and you begin to see the destructive power at hand).
This forces our hand on a retaliatory strike against a non-nuclear NKor missile that hits American soil: it either needs to be a) surgical to remove the NKor leadership, with obvious problems in knowing where they are at that moment (remember, the Air Force tried to whack Saddam at least twice and missed), or b) total nuclear strike to destroy the NKor military forces. No in-between military strike works, because the surviving artillery tubes wipe out Seoul and (perhaps) a couple million civilians.
And for a total nuclear strike, you're back to the China/Russia problem.
So those are the obvious constraints.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/20/2006 15:38 Comments ||
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#13
Good post Steve.
I'd add only that there are apparently internationally recognized procedures for providing warning of missile tests that land outside one's territory. If the Norks follow these procedures, I would agree we should do nothing unless the trajectory surprises us. However, if they do not, I believe an intercept is more justified as it could affect shipping, etc.
Anybody know anything about the obligations NK should have for announcing the test to mariners and pilots?
If the Nork is going to overshoot Japan, condition 2, I don't think we have any legal problem splashing it if the Japanese ask us to. And doing so would send a strong message to lots of people. We should do so if we can.
#15
IF we can come up with a rationale for splashing it (and i think this is what John Bolton is urgently discussing with counterparts at the UNSC, and yes, why its good to have softpower and stinking allies - if youre in a borderline situation, and decide to go a bit beyond whats been done before, it makes anyone doing anything BACK to you - directly or indirectly -less likely) AND it works, and we do knock the sucker out of the sky, I for one, will come here and congratulate all those who said ballistic missile defense is feasible. You have my word.
#17
"French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, speaking after talks with Annan, said any North Korean missile test must draw a "firm and just" international response."
#18
Light it up, that's all we can and should do for the present. Launching missiles rockets isn't illegal yet. US polar missions have been known to overfly other countries at less than 50 miles on launch leg.
#21
"1) If the NKors launch their missile, and it gets off the ground, and tracks over the Pacific such that it doesn't violate airspace of any other country, legally there is nothing we can do about it."
Actually, Steve, if our missile doesn't violate the airspace of any other country, but it bumps into their missile, then all we have to do is refer them to John Bolton for settlement of claims.
#22
Further, the NKors have an effective deterrent to anything less than a nuclear obliteration: over 13,000 artillery tubes, 155 mm and larger, aimed at Seoul. These are very well dug in to mountains just north of the DMZ. Even though we know where most of them are, hitting them, particularly in time to stop the devestation of Seoul, is another matter (consider 4 shells per minute per tube and you begin to see the destructive power at hand).
Steve, I'd like to request a realistic reassessment of this often bandied about statistic. The barrage of Seoul, as cited, would require millions of artillery shells. The poverty afflicting North Korea also extends to its military. Some questions:
1. Is this vast stockpile of ammunition test-fired on a regular basis?
2. Have the shells that are past their shelf-life been rotated out?
3. Has the North Korean military at all been able to afford restocking what must be extremely stale ordnance?
4. Can their outdated tubes withstand a sustained firing rate for more than even a few rounds?
I feel that Kim has effectively crippled much of his military through a combination of sheer poverty and obsessive paranoia. Remember, no soldiers are ever issued live ammunition during exercises in front of their fearless leader. With their endemic food shortages, I doubt the military is carrying out live fire field exercises on a regular basis.
One has to wonder if an explosion in one of their border region shell magazines would even have any secondary rounds cooking off.
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/20/2006 21:54 Comments ||
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#25
Yup, Frank. The North Koreans must NOT be allowed to know if their technology is functional and, therefore, marketable. They have proliferated enough. That sh!t's over with.
#26
I would work closely with Japan. They are literally on the front line in this situation. Kimmie is using this missile test and all the hoopla accompanying it as a sword-rattling exercise. He does not have a lot of other options. The Bush administration is not playing his game anymore, so all Kimmie can do is to threaten, and try to use SKor to divide and conquer the allies. Even this game is starting to wear thin with the SKors.
When you threaten countries, and set up a missile system, your potential adversaries have to link up the two as an assumption. It is only prudent. Therefore, I am with Frank. Shoot the frigging missile down. The NORKS have only one purpose for the missile, and that is to threaten their adversaries (Japan, SKor, and the US).
Posted by: Alaska Paul in Nikolaevsk, Alaska ||
06/20/2006 22:22 Comments ||
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#27
#22 Z: "One has to wonder if an explosion in one of their border region shell magazines would even have any secondary rounds cooking off."
Let's find out. :-D
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
06/20/2006 22:28 Comments ||
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#28
I am with AP and Frank. If it works (still an if) deal with it. If it's heading for the US, Canada or Japan splash it.
Personally, I doubt if even 10% of those legendary artillery rounds are viable. And, remember, that meager 10% is randomly distributed in the stockpiles.
BRITISH agents are operating in the United States to trace links with Islamic extremists from England who recruit Muslims to fight for terrorist groups abroad. The British-led investigation has played a part in identifying a number of US-based terrorists and helped the authorities in Washington to break up an al-Qaeda cell operating in Falls Church, Virginia. The agents are particularly keen to discover if the visitors included Mohammad Sidique Khan, leader of the July 7 suicide bombers, who is alleged to have travelled to Americas East Coast to meet fellow militants and stage a series of attacks on synagogues.
Khan was considered such a threat that he was banned from returning to America two years before the attack on London, according to a book written by a US intelligence specialist. The disclosure, made by the award-winning author Ron Suskind in an extract from The One Percent Doctrine in The Times yesterday, led to calls for a full public inquiry into intelligence lapses before the attacks on July 7 which killed 52 people in London.
Intelligence sources in America insist that the man they were alerted to was Khan. However, Tony Blairs spokesman said the claims would not lead to any further investigation by the Intelligence and Security Committee, which last month cleared MI5 of serious errors, or any other form of inquiry. The [Security and Intelligence] Committees conclusion is that there was not an intelligence failure, he said.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
06/20/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Falls Church is "smalltown" America? *snicker* Another clueless reporter who needs to get out a bit more often.
#7
Yarr! we be simple folk us Brits ... Once a year I go down to London with my hard earned beaver furs and trade them in for such technologies as the abacus and the wheel .. Ameri-who ? Isnt that near France
Posted by: Howard UK ||
06/20/2006 9:47 Comments ||
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#9
France?
I believe he's refering to Gaul.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/20/2006 12:59 Comments ||
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#10
Yea, they met frequently in... quaint and unassuming Falls Church, but they lived out near Middleburg in gummit housing and raised Arabians in their backyards.
DERA ISMAIL KHAN: Militants shot dead a senior tribesman with close ties to the US-backed Afghan government Monday, an official said. Nazimuddin Gangikhel was driving in a pickup truck when gunmen opened fire from a parked car in South Waziristan, a tribal region bordering Afghanistan, the intelligence official said on condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of his job. Gangikhel was heading to his village of Angoor Ada when he was ambushed near Wana, South Waziristan's main town, the official said. The slain tribesman regularly travelled to the Afghan capital, Kabul, and met officials of that country's American-backed government, the official added.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/20/2006 00:00 ||
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Two California soldiers shot to death in Iraq were murdered by Iraqi civil-defense officers patrolling with them, military investigators have found. The deaths of Army Spc. Patrick R. McCaffrey Sr. and 1st Lt. Andre D. Tyson were originally attributed to an ambush during a patrol near Balad, Iraq, on June 22, 2004. But the Army's Criminal Investigation Division found that one or more of the Iraqis attached to the American soldiers on patrol fired at them, a military official said Tuesday. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the military did not plan to release the report until Wednesday
McCaffrey's mother, Nadia McCaffrey, said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press that soldiers who witnessed the attack have told her that two Iraqi patrolmen opened fire on her son's unit. The witnesses also said a third gunman simultaneously drove up to the American unit in a van, climbed onto the vehicle and fired at the Americans, she said. Her son was shot eight times by bullets of various calibers, some of which penetrated his body armor, she said. She believes he bled to death.
Nadia McCaffrey has become a vocal critic of the war in Iraq, and said her son had reservations about it, too, though he served well and was promoted posthumously to sergeant. Patrick McCaffrey joined the National Guard the day after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, his mother said. McCaffrey, 34, and Tyson, 33, were members of the California National Guard. Both were assigned to the Army National Guard's 579th Engineer Battalion, based in Petaluma.
So this story is based on an interview with an "anti-War" parent, who has not been officially informed of the details of her son's death. Twentyfour hour rule applies, I think.
#2
I'm surprised this hasn't happened more often. Shite supremists like Sadr have long joined the Iraqi defence forces and Sunni terrorist forces have recently tried to join in large number in order to spy and sabotage. It's a credit to screeners and US forces keeping a wary eye that this isn't a common occurrence.
Posted by: ed ||
06/20/2006 23:01 Comments ||
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Photographer Toby Morris describes patrols with 1st Battalion as "just intense. You go out and you know something is going to happen." But Capt. Claburn, still an excited kid at 29, tells us how long it will take to happen. He explains that it takes the bad guys about 45 minutes to arrange an attack. "Within 15 minutes the spotters usually come out, and they'll identify your position," he says. (I'm quoting here from a dispatch by Todd Pitman.) "Within 30 minutes the weapons get brought in," he adds. "And usually about 45 minutes after being on the ground, you can pretty much guarantee that you're going to get shot at."
You can practically set your watch by the attacks. Just three minutes short of the Claburn mark, a white car bears down on an Iraqi patrol, and a passenger opens up with an AK. "Did I call it or what?" Claburn tells Pitman with a grin as the battle is joined. "Forty-two minutes on the ground. It's a science."
We break into a house and storm up the stairs to the roof, yelling "Friendly coming out!" so that those ahead of us won't think we're, well, not friendlies. No action. So we start back down, and all hell breaks loose so we storm right back up.
I'm with a number of SEALs, the two other reporters, and Claburn. It's the right building top. As we take fire, Claburn yells: "Hear them cracking over your head? That'll get your peter hard, huh?" A SEAL near me has an old wooden-stock M-79 40mm grenade launcher (affectionately called a "Thumper") that was phased out late in the Vietnam war in favor of the M-203, a 40mm tube attached below an M-16 rifle. I had wondered why he'd chosen to carry this but now found out. Another vehicle is spotted, a flatbed with four jihadists bearing AKs. Claburn and others bring it to a screeching halt with a fusillade of bullets to the engine block; then the SEAL with the Thumper smoothly extracts it from a strap around his waist as if it's just another appendage and drops the grenade dead center on the jihadists' truck. One shot; one kill. Those SEALs fight like machines.
Bghdad, 20 June (AKI) - Sources in Ramadi in the restive al-Anbar province report that large groups of armed foreign militants are fleeing towards the Syrian border, as US and Iraqi forces tighten their siege on the city. Ramadi, some 100 kilometres west of Baghdad, is a stronghold of the insurgency and there are reports of many residents also fleeing in fear of an assault.
Sources told Adnkronos International (AKI) that local tribes were also pursuing foreign terrorists "because of the immense damage they have done to infrastructure and the bad name they have given the insurgency by terror attacks against innocent civilians."
The sources added that "the armed men are heading towards the highlands near the Euphrates in an effort to find a secure refuge," emphasising that "the murder of the head of the Karabila tribe, Osama al-Jadaan, in al-Mansour last month, by al-Qaeda operators, triggered a vendetta by his relatives and followers."
This episode, the sources said, "will make the border area where the tribe of the victim lives an unsafe area for these militants." What's more, "there is close collaboration between the members of this tribe and the US and Iraqi forces regarding the elimination of terrorists and the liberation of the zone from this tragic presence."
The same sources indicated that in recent days "the American and Iraqi forces have launched an assault campaign on areas of the city of Ramadi, especially the neighbourhood around the stadium, with loud speaker announcements that they have captured various terrorists hiding there" and warning that the operation will continue until they have identified and captured all their targets.
#3
Sources told Adnkronos International (AKI) that local tribes were also pursuing foreign terrorists "because of the immense damage they have done to infrastructure and the bad name they have given the insurgency by terror attacks against innocent civilians."
#5
Sources told Adnkronos International (AKI) that local tribes were also pursuing foreign terrorists "because of the immense damage they have done to infrastructure and the bad name they have given the insurgency by terror attacks against innocent civilians."
#7
I wonder if we're going to stand back and let the Iraqis handle this one, just so long as only 1 vermin is left standing to send a message to the others.
#8
Lord help them when the Iraqis take over. I don't believe the Iraqis are nearly as worried about strongly worded press releases from Amnesty International as we are.
#12
Hanging Saddam would go a long way toward reducing the violence too. As long as he lives, there is hope of toppling the government, freeing him, and somehow restoring him to power. Once he is dead, the Saddamists can go about their business without looking like they have abandoned him.
#15
This is the best of all reviews of our performance at Fallujah. We rattled their chimes so hard that they are terrified of any kind of follow-up engagement.
If they make it to Syria, hopefully they will tell the Syrians, Hizbollah and the Iranians that fighting the US is like fighting three divisions of Terminator robots. That is, something to be avoided at all cost.
Old kill, now confirmed:
A US air strike on a fleeing vehicle killed a senior al-Qaeda in Iraq leader on Friday in the same area where two American soldiers went missing a few hours later, a US military spokesman said. US forces had been on the trail of Mansur al-Mashhadani, identified as the top al-Qaeda religious leader in the country, before he was killed in the Yusufiya area just south of Baghdad, said Major General William Caldwell.
Mashhadani was one of the top five al-Qaeda in Iraq leaders and close to its mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who was also killed by a US air strike on June 7. "He was a right-hand man to Zarqawi," Gen. Caldwell said.
US forces had spotted Mashhadani and two other militants in a car in the Yusufiya area south of Baghdad. His vehicle was destroyed from the air as he tried to get away. Mashhadani had previously been captured by US troops and then released in 2004.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/20/2006 12:59 ||
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#1
That's the thing about al-Q -- rapid promotion, crappy job security.
Posted by: Mike ||
06/20/2006 14:16 Comments ||
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#2
Yeah, but the bennies are what keeps 'em coming.
BAGHDAD, July 20 -- Two U.S. soldiers missing since an attack on a checkpoint last week have been found dead near a power plant in Yusifiyah, south of Baghdad, according to U.S. officials, and Iraqi officials say the soldiers had been tortured.
Maj. Gen. Abdul Aziz Muhammed-Jassim, head of operations at the Iraqi Ministry of Defense, said the soldiers had been "barbarically" killed. U.S. officials would not confirm or deny that the men, who were identified Monday as Pfc. Kristian Menchaca, 23, of Houston and Pfc. Thomas L. Tucker, 25, of Madras, Ore., had been tortured by their captors.
"Coalition forces have in fact recovered what we believe to be the remains of our two soldiers," said Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell IV, spokesman for U.S. forces in Iraq, at a Baghdad news conference. Caldwell said the bodies were found Monday night after dark but were recovered early Tuesday because of concern of makeshift bombs around the bodies. Caldwell said the area was cordoned off overnight and explosive ordinance teams went in the next day to recover the remains. He said the remains have been taken to a U.S. base in Iraq and will be transported back to the United States for DNA verification and full autopsies.
Menchaca and Tucker were reported missing after an attack at a checkpoint near Yusufiyah that killed a third soldier, Spec. David J. Babineau, 25, of Springfield, Mass.
Answering questions, Caldwell said the two soldiers had been kidnapped after the attack -- the first time the military confirmed the men had been abducted by insurgents. He said an investigation was underway as to why the three soldiers were alone at a checkpoint. Caldwell said one U.S. soldier was killed and 12 others wounded in the extensive search for the missing soldiers.
An Internet message purportedly posted under the name of the Mujaheddin al-Shura Council -- an umbrella group of insurgents including al-Qaeda in Iraq -- claimed to have abducted the soldiers, and it mocked U.S. efforts to find them. "The American army conducted raids campaign with various vehicles and armored vehicle near site of the incident," the statement said, promising more details in the coming days. "But the Army of 'the mightiest state in the world' went back defeated, dragging the robes of shame and disgrace behind it." Caldwell told reporters the Web posting "lacks credibility."
The attack and apparent abduction of U.S. troops in Yusufiyah has raised questions about how the three soldiers became isolated from a larger force. U.S. soldiers generally travel in convoys of at least two Humvees carrying several soldiers, particularly in areas with a known insurgent presence. While some news reports have suggested other U.S. vehicles and personnel were at the site during the attack, Lt. Col. Jonathan Withington, a military spokesman in Baghdad, said there were no other troops present. "Our reporting indicates it was a three-man security team that was attacked," he said.
Witnesses at the scene of the attack in Yusufiyah told the Associated Press they saw two soldiers being directed into vehicles by several masked gunmen.
Caldwell said American security personnel were studying the various kidnapping techniques used by Iraqi insurgents. He said the U.S. military was "very much aware of the atrocities they commit." "It pains us to realize what fellow service members go through and other American citizens" at the hands of the insurgents, Caldwell said.
In Brownsville, Tex. this morning, Menchaca's mother said an Army sergeant visited her home shortly after 6 a.m. and told her there would be news about her son's fate soon. Maria Guadalupe Vasquez said she then called her daughter-in-law's house in Big Spring, Tex., and was told by a relative there that military officials were at the house, notifying the young woman that her husband was dead. A spokesperson for Tucker's family in Madras, Ore. referred reporters to the Oregon National Guard. Guard spokeswoman Kay Fristad said her unit was notified at 1:14 a.m. Pacific time that two soldiers' bodies had been found, and were being shipped to Dover Air Force Base to be identified through DNA testing. More than 8,000 U.S. and Iraqi troops had searched for Menchaca and Tucker -- clearing 12 villages, killing three insurgents and detaining 34 others, Caldwell said.
#1
The LATimes is reporting that the Iraqi Interior Ministry says the soldiers were decapitated, as well as that they had been tortured.
Very sad.
After these terrorists did a few decapitations of Kurds a couple of years ago in Mûsil, the perpetrators were simply disappearing or, once in a while, they'd be found on the street in front of their homes, bullet through the head.
This is really the only way to deal with this problem. It's the only thing they understand. You have to make them FEAR.
Posted by: Azad ||
06/20/2006 14:51 Comments ||
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#2
Never, ever allow yourself to be captured. Kill as many as you can and then eat a grenade if that is what it takes.
Posted by: DanNY ||
06/20/2006 16:50 Comments ||
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#3
God bless them and their families. I can't even imagine the grief. They have my undying gratitude that they went to keep me and others safe from this uncivilized race of cavemen who still do, for no apparent reason, what our society stopped doing centuries ago.
#4
Me thinks the Al Qaeda thugs have made a huge mistake.
Our soldiers fight with a great deal of courage, tenacity and intensity. The intensity meter will be pegged from now on. I expect our guys to put on a full court press with the Iraqis to finish this business.
#6
I hear the new al-Qaeda chief is claiming that he killed them. Whether he did or not, I hope he is shown no mercy if he's captured alive. As the Romans would say, take vengeance in the name of Mars Ultor.
#7
After the defeat of Cyrus the Younger, the Anabasis tells of the relentless attacks of the barbarians (who were neither Persian nor Mede and had once been part of Cyrus' army) until one battle in which many of them were killed by the Greeks. The order for the Greeks to return to the battlefield was given to defile the enemy dead. From then on, the barbarians kept their distance and never mounted another attack. BTW, they outnumbered the Greeks by 10 to 1. Guess who the barbarians might have been.
#9
After the defeat of Cyrus the Younger, the Anabasis tells of the relentless attacks of the barbarians (who were neither Persian nor Mede and had once been part of Cyrus' army) until one battle in which many of them were killed by the Greeks. The order for the Greeks to return to the battlefield was given to defile the enemy dead. From then on, the barbarians kept their distance and never mounted another attack. BTW, they outnumbered the Greeks by 10 to 1. Guess who the barbarians might have been.
#3
Troops found an AK-47 with several magazines of ammunition and destroyed them all on site.
Why ? I get very little back from the many thousands I pay in taxes, an AK-47 wouldn't hurt.
I swear, I'll lock it in the gun cabinet. I'll only take it out on July 4th.
#4
As retribution for our missing soldiers, I suggest he be "slaughtered" in a "most barbaric fashion", wrapped in bacon, and dumped in a fucking ditch.
#6
"several women and children were present" at the site of the arrest. Are all jihadis cowards in need of human sheilds or just the ones we read about here at RB?
Posted by: Mark Z ||
06/20/2006 16:32 Comments ||
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Basra, 20 June (AKI) - A suicide bomber blew himself up on Tuesday in an old age home in the southern Iraqi city of Basra.
Couldn't get into a daycare center?
Reuters reported that two people were wounded and the suicide bomber was the only victim. The attack reportedly targeted an area where senior Iraqis gather to get their pension. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki declared a state of emergency in Basra last month to counter violence by armed groups and Shiite factions so far to no avail.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/20/2006 09:30 ||
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#1
Some days you just gotta 'splode. No matter wheres. Allan Akbar!
Posted by: Howard UK ||
06/20/2006 9:39 Comments ||
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#2
A couple of days ago a commenter asked when 'Islam's Brave Lions' would start targeting old folks.
#3
I guess targeting cripples and the retarded was just to much of a challenge....
On present showing, I'd guess they'll be scoping out maternity homes, next.
An Iraqi Defense Ministry spokesman said Tuesday that two U.S. soldiers missing since Friday have been found dead, Reuters reported. U.S. military authorities in Baghdad told CNN they could not confirm the report.
"The two soldiers were killed and they were found in Yusufiya near an electricity plant," Major General Abdul Aziz Mohammed told a news conference in Baghdad, Reuters said. He did not say when the soldiers were killed or when their bodies were found, according to Reuters.
Posted by: ed ||
06/20/2006 07:04 ||
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#1
That strikes me as a major mistake on someone's part. Good hunting to our guys!
#2
Story now crossing the wires goes from bad to worse ... the soldiers bodies bore evidence of torture and apparent beheading. When will the US military utilize the technology of implantable GPS locators? Enough is enough.
#5
When those who did are captured, remember to give them Korans and prayer mats, halal meals, cable TV and speak to them in respectful voices.
Posted by: ed ||
06/20/2006 8:13 Comments ||
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#6
And of course NBC news manages to rummage around and find a moonbat uncle of one of the troops who blames this all on Bush - believe it or not - because he "... not paying a ransom to the kidnappers from the money seized from Saddam"
I amd sick and f*cking tired of the incessant anti-Bush spin in the media! They haven't even fully ID'd the bodies, and here is NBC trying to spin the whole thing into an anti-bush storyby finding the ONE realtive of a soldier that will dance like a little puppet for their cause.
#9
The next step is going to be the circulation of a deathporn video. And we need to make clear that anyone we catch in the possession of such a video dies on the spot.
Posted by: Matt ||
06/20/2006 9:09 Comments ||
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#10
Locate anyone associated with this 5-way alqeada council or their members and kill them and all associated with them. I would support carrying this out to entire towns.
#11
So tell me again how terrible we handle 'their' prisoners? So tell me again how the media play up of every ouchee and imperfect processing didn't motivate those butchers? So tell me if there is enough circumstantial evidence for the survivors of these men to hire a trial lawyer to bring MSM [read - deep pockets] to court for creating a hostile atmosphere by lie, distortion, and misrepresentation that contributed to manner of their son/husband's death?
#12
Doc said "the soldiers bodies bore evidence of torture and apparent beheading."
No video though. Either the a**holes who did this didn't have a camera or they could get no usable footage to display. I'm pissed that our guys had to die, but my first guess is that they died well. (Which is all any of us can really hope for)
#13
I dearly hope the torture part is but a rumor.
Of course like you guys Im waiting for the UN, Amnesty Int, the ACLU to lodge moral outrage and submit writs to the World Court at the Haig over this outrage.
and Thank You NBC for condeming the Muslimes who murdered our men and for expressing solidarity with our Armed Forces.
We really appreciate the fact that you selflessly lent your time and ink so that Ken MacKenzie the anti-Bush relative could get a few digs in.
How could we do without you traitors at NBC.
______________________________________
To Pfc. Kristian Menchaca, 23, of Houston, and Army Pfc. Thomas Lowell Tucker
Thank you men, you are the best our Nations has, we are so fortunate to have men and women like you. RIP.
#14
Wonder how long untill the snuff film materializes?
We are going to have to break these tribal primitives, like our great grandfathers did.
We are going to have to get used to the outraged squeals of the self riteous twits while we are doing it too. Oh well, no one said it was going to be easy.
Posted by: N guard ||
06/20/2006 10:09 Comments ||
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#15
"...technology of implantable GPS locators?"
There is NO such thing! If you disagree, post a credible link to the technology.
As for the two soldiers, may they rest in peace.
I have always advocated a scorched earth policy vis-a-vis the Mohammedan terrorists. A ratio of 100 to 1 seems about right.
#20
Captains Quarters is following, and updating, a story that indicates we may have bagged a few more of the "high ranking" morons from alQueda during the past 3 days.
I sure hopes it's true...and that we, uh, treat them "kindly". Which is to say I hope those questioning them wear white gloves while holdingt needle-nose pliers. And other such thoughtful gestures.
#21
A major error going in was not comprehending how primitive these tribal cultures are. They are never going to behave as we expect them to. They care nothing for our beliefs and we cannot tolerate theirs. They understand brutal force. Saddam understood this much. This administration thought they could do things on the cheap. A decision must be made. Do we allow these bastards to carry on ? If so, get our people out of there. If we really think it's necessary to stay, turn our guys loose. Keep the F**kin' press out of there. Annihilate these bastards until entire areas are completely depopulated. They will learn to respect that even if they don't like it.
#25
We don't send our children, Mr. Justice. Our men and women choose to forgo more lucrative careers in order to volunteer to protect our freedoms at home and abroad. There was an article here the other day about a gentleman from my part of the world, a surgeon, who at somewhere beyond the age of 70 years is the oldest reservist serving in Iraq (I believe he's put in two tours over there already). He is a double volunteer: first as a reservist for the past several decades, and then he had to argue to be allowed to go overseas when his unit was called up -- the seniour officers wanted to excuse him from going.
The link for the Captain's Quarters blog is up this page in the right margin, or just click here
#26
Clearly that should have been "Mr. Justice Troll".
Fast work, moderators. Apparently you got your orders from your Zionist overlords earlier today. Nice to see they've finally gotten themselves organized. ;-)
#27
Obviously this was intended as a kidnapping. If they wound up killing the men then the kidnapping failed. Probably more heat than they bargained for and they decided to abort and run.
You don't just grab 2 US soldiers. There would be some really good intel and some special operators involved.
Probably didn't pick thier targets at random either.
We lost 2 good men. At the same time we busted an enemy operation with a lot of resources put into it. Here's hoping we roll up the lads who did this and ask them some questions real friendly like.
#28
doc--I don't know where you're getting this "implantable GPS locator" stuff from. GPS signals are designed to be received, just like FM radio broadcasts. If you want to transmit your position, you need completely different hardware in addition to the receiver. And then you need a power supply to top it all off.
You're not going to be compacting and concealing all that in some implant.
Posted by: Dar ||
06/20/2006 12:26 Comments ||
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#29
You're not going to be compacting and concealing all that in some implant.
Any such device would be EXTREMELY low-power. So you'd need to be close -- with nothing between you and the transmitter -- to pick it up. Now, I'm not sure how detectable it would be -- I seem to recall some advantages to spread-spectrum technology when it comes to RDF, but I could be wrong -- but it also means your soldiers would be radio emitters.
Then you have the problem of how well the GPS receiver would work. My (commercial, hand-held) GPS receiver can't pick up any satellites from inside my house, has problems in urban areas, and occasionally loses lock underneath heavy tree cover. An implantable receiver would have an even shorter antenna, and less power for its amplifier; odds are it would have more problems getting a signal.
So even if you COULD build an implantable GPS receiver and a data transmitter that could be implanted, then it could be defeated by just putting the captives in a basement.
Danielle, I dunno what the AP was reporting on, but I don't trust reporters in general with technical information.
What MIGHT be possible is a device that works something like RF tags -- the "detector" unit sends out a pulse, the implanted thingy picks up the pulse and responds with a code. No constant transmission, the implanted thingy is powered from the trigger pulse, etc. Problem is, it wouldn't be able to use GPS, and you'd still have to get pretty close to the target before you could trigger or pick up the response.
As for the jihadis -- kill them all.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
06/20/2006 12:41 Comments ||
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#30
Iblis: They actual tactic used by the Jihadis was to stage an attack to draw off two of the three vehicles in the squad, and then use the bulk of their forces to attack and overwhelm the remaining vehicle. If they were able to put enough fire power on the target vehicle, they may have been able to kill or disable everyone in it before they could get on the radio.
Obviously I'm speculating. But starting off, wouldn't you agree the intention was to snag the soldiers? And if that was the intention, isn't it likely that killing their captives indicates something went wrong.
Re: GPS
Those implantable tags for pets (e.g. AVID) have a range of just a few feet. They get their power from the scanning device, so no battery is implanted.
#32
JUSTICE: Go away. You're from a dying culture. You can't make clean water, medicines, or modern weapons. 40 years from now, my grand children will fly to Dar al Islam to see your surviving grandchildren put on quaint tourist shows of how Muslims used to live, complete with veiled women, and eyeball rolling mujihideen shooting blank-filled AK-47s in the air.
Your culture is dying. You have no literature, no science, and no art. You "god" has failed you. Everywhere you look, the ummah is adopting my culture: wearing wearing our clothes, listening to Western music, coming to our schools for the education that they can't get in from Muslim "universities." Soon the Muslims will follow the God of Love instead of your silly tribal war god. You are irrelevant. You and your barbaric, tribal culture are drying up. Soon the wind will come and blow you away.
#34
Justice, I would advise you to go back and look at your history. The timeline doesn't work. The Crusades ended long before the U.S. was even an idea. You are being intellectually dishonest with your analogy. The British took part yes, but the U.S. had to kick thier ass for our freedom too. You might know that already, I cannot tell for sure.
The only possible way to say we (the U.S.)took part in the Crusades is if you don't mean the U.S., you would have to mean white people not the U.S.
Is that it Justice? Are you an idiot or a racist?
Posted by: Mike N. ||
06/20/2006 13:34 Comments ||
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#35
LOL. The difference is that we kept progressing while you're still teaching and reading the same 800 year old texts.
As I sit here taking a sip of our clean, clorinated water fresh from the tap, I am reminded of how once when I was in Cairo, I saw a young child dip a pail in an open sewer and take it inside his house. We may be decadent, but at least we care enough about our children that they don't have to drink poison from sewers.
BTW, I'd love to live in a world where 90% of all atrocities aren't committed by Muslims, so Rantburg didn't have to exist.
#37
11A5S, your little tale reminds me why Mr. Wife never let me join him on his trips to that part of the world -- he was convinced I wouldn't be able to handle such real poverty. He told of people living on the grassy strip on the Cairo highways, in one room hovels made of dry stacked cement blocks. Periodically, he said, he would notice that one of the hovels had fallen in, killing the inhabitants, and another family would be stoically taking the blocks to build a hovel of their own. Granted that was in the mid-1980s, so perhaps things have changed now.
#38
Trailing Wife,
If anything, they've gotten worse.
Al
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
06/20/2006 14:18 Comments ||
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#39
What's really got to be galling, JUSTICE, is that given you litany, your children choose our culture 99% of the time over your non-decadent theocracy. It's the modern world and it wins every time, bwahahahaha.
And the reason is we face our problems straight up and deal with people as they are, not as some seventh century gibberish from a pederast says they should be.
#40
TW: It's a nasty part of the world. It will continue to be nasty until the cultures that hold human life in such low regard are destroyed or changed. The waste of human potential there and in other places causes me more sorrow than I can ever express here.
I for one have never why instead of declaring war on their neighbors, the autocrats like Nasser and Ghadaffi never declare war on dirty water or open sewers. Aside from the fact that they don't give a damn, taking care of basic human needs seems like a sure fire way to create jobs and ensuring regime success. Truly, one cannot be human and drive from one's palace every day, see that sort of suffering, have the power to end it, refuse to do anything about it (and blame it on "Jews" and "imperialists"), and then return home each night to feast and sleep in a soft bed.
I always laugh when folks come here and accuse us of dehumanizing the "other." They've done quite enough to dehumanize themselve without me exerting any effort at all.
#41
Justice: The straw men you set up are so easily knocked over. We report here all the time about molesting mullahs and the intertribal rapes that go on in Dar al Islam. The difference is that we have a free press, discuss our problems openly, and then work to find solutions. Sometimes the discussion get messy, but that is what happens in a free society.
In your world, nothing gets discussed and nothing gets solved because all that is bad is smothered by the cloak of shame. That's why you are ruled by strongmen and cannot make a washing machine.
I sometimes think it is our lack of shame that really enrages the Muslim world. Not our success or permissiveness, or freedom, or unveiled women. Everytime they read something or hear something from the West, it is simply so alien, so outrageous, that the only way they can deal with it is by lashing out.
#45
I read a couple of Justices' comments, and really didn't think they needed to be deleted by the mods. I didn't read them all though, I admit.
I am wondering if anyone else thought they could have stayed.
I could just be pining?) for the days of Murat I guess.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
06/20/2006 14:59 Comments ||
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#46
doc,
I've searched the news archives and my files and cannot find the article about implantable GPS but I know I read it. It wasn't about the RFID chips, although they were also referenced in another article. Implantable GPS would put an end to these kidnappings and eliminate this sub-culture in short order. I think the innovative company was located in Florida, but our local Rockwell plant manufactures tiny modules for US military applications and the article could have been just for local interest. I vaguely remember them mentioning lost kids as a potential application, but if it is still sci-fi, we should have the technological know-how to manufacture it. Maybe I should have searched "magic dust", as this would not be something we would want to advertise. Can you imagine the ACLU screaming bloody murder over violating privacy rights of these poor disenfranchised jihadis?
#47
Mod note: we're trolling 'Justice'. He glories in the deaths of American soldiers, and that's a red-line issue for us.
AoS
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/20/2006 16:01 Comments ||
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#48
Hi Barks_Like_A_Dog,
Are you satisfied with your Saudi proxy account? I was considering getting one for the kids. You know no porn, etc., though they do have an unfortunate tendency to anti-jewish, arabo-supremist and nazi propaganda, so I can see why you would like them.
PS. Ever considering converting? Islamo-Commie-Nazi convergence is all the rage nowadays.
Posted by: ed ||
06/20/2006 16:03 Comments ||
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#49
Whatever happened to Murat? Was there an apocaplyptic flame war that ended with him vowing never to return to rantburg? Or did he get banned? Or did he simply stop posting?
Posted by: Pat Phillips ||
06/20/2006 16:05 Comments ||
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#50
I don't recall him ever being banned; I think he just stopped posting.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
06/20/2006 16:10 Comments ||
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#51
UPDATE
Fox reports the bodies were boody trapped, which probably means they were cut open, some organs taken out, and replaced with explosives.
Hopefully, they were already dead when this happened.
Al
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
06/20/2006 16:24 Comments ||
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#52
Lets see what Bush does. I think he should make a very public statement that the 'insurgancy' will no longer receive the protection of the Geneva Convention.
Then execute every known terrorsts being held in GITMO and every other installation.
Unfortunately he will probably come out with that 'Islam is a peaceful religion' bullshit again.
#53
Local TV stations in Albuquerque were giving (as of noon 6/20) far more coverage to the 3 US soldiers charged with murder than to the 3 US soldiers murdered this week by terrorists.
#54
Of course. If we were not in Iraq, the poor, repressed Jihadis wouldn't have to do those horrible things to us.
It's all our fault!
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/20/2006 17:23 Comments ||
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#55
Yeah, HF2475 I turn on the local news for 5 or 7 minutes to get the info on murders, DUI vehicular homicides, robberies, rapes, corrupt local government employees, kids setting the bosque on fire, etc. Find out again what Mexican national did last night [fight, robbery, rape] that sent him running for the border. It's a quagmire isn't it. When they start mouthing national news, I just switch to another channel. I gather my national/international off the web. Notice how the local Albuquerque news outlets spent as little time as possible a year or so back when the guards at the BCDC expended an evening beating up the inmates? Nothing like the amount of coverage of Abu Ghrab. Couldn't be anything to do with the County/City government mainly controlled by Dems, could it?
#58
anonymous2u, I don't know how old your children are, but you'll want them to start learning karate by sixth grade, if they're to be black belts (anything less isn't likely to result in them being able to consistently protect themselves) by the time they know boys who are serious about dating. Ideally, the parents should study at the same school -- there's nothing like sparring with Mom and Dad, and seeing Mom&Dad sparring each other, to take it out of the realm of puppies playing. (Not me, I can't actually hit people deliberately, but I helped them learn stances and their forms.) Besides, I've never seen Mr. Wife as proud as the first time trailing daughter#1 got past his guard to kick him in the ear. Not to mention the politeness of all the boys after she did a board breaking demonstration at the Freshman Talent Show -- much more effective than the other two kids who performed forms from their various styles of martial arts.
Posted by: Rafael ||
06/20/2006 18:34 Comments ||
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#60
No 37 from Mike hits the nail squarely. Islamic Racists. Their prejuduces expose them by their lack of understanding of anything. Their barbaric acts do not belong in this world. Kill the scum.
Rest in peace, departed comrades, and easy. Your deaths are not wasted, you shall live on, even as we speak your names forever.
But if you want to win every time and dont care about killing or maiming the opponent, then Pencak Silat - Bela Diri style.
The latter is the only art I've ever seen that can take any other MA style out in a hurry, even Krav practitioners end up whupped by a pesilat of equal or even slightly lower skill. Indonesian instructors are usually best for this, but there are some hellacious Dutch former spec-ops types that teach now in the US.
If you dont want a fairly complex and violent MA for your kid but one that is still effective then Aikido is the way to go.
I've used Aikido techniques in many situations and can attest that they do work (discard the Steven Segal stuff you see in his movies - its exaggerated as hell, and flat out wrong in places due to Segal being all about personality not technique back when he was trying to be famous). Yes, I'd still get handled by a pesilat in a contest, and probably by a Krav practitioner - but thats in a formal contest wher the objective is to beat the other guy.
Then again if Im up against one of those in RL, I give up any pretense of fighting them to keep from killing them, and simply shoot them. If I have enough distance, no martal art in this world will save you from my hollowpoints - and I do practice in "fun house" situations with live ammo frequently enough every year, as well as the 250 rounds I go to the range with last saturday of every month firing 25 x 10r magazines, including some single handed, off-hand, from the hip rocked-back in a retention posture, etc I even have 3 trainign rounds placed randomly in my mags for my when they are loaded - so I have to deal with an unexpected stop-n-clear. "You fight like you train" is a very valuable lesson I learend from an old vietnam combat vet squad leader in my first unit. hatred him for being hard, but loved him when it saved my ass later on.
If unarmed then my goal is escape with or without debilitating my opponent, which does work as a countergoal given they want to hurt me and will be forced onto the agressive role which gives an aikidoist some advantages. Enough of that and back to the topic at hand.
Aikido is excellent in terms of learning leverage, jointlocks, pain adminstration (we call it "nerve stimulation" heh), breaking free from holds/grapples, avoiding or deflecting strikes and controllign a larger opponent or number of opponents. The good thing for smaller folks is that Aikido was designed for use against larger more massive opponents who are agressive - you use their strenght size and mass and agression to assist you in defeating them. The big thing about Aikido for kids is that (assuming it is tuaght well) it emhasizes Situational Awareness so you dont get surprised. 90% of winning vs an attack is being aware of the potential for one and positoning yourself so as to prevent it or give yoruself large advantages that even the attacker can't help but notice. The right mindset goes a long way.
And a good thing is that Akido is routinely well taught to children in most reputable Dojos - just be sure you dont go to one of the "Mystical Ki Merchant" types. If they start by telling you about doing "Ki" exercises and extending Ki, then walk out - they teach garbage. Go with what O-Sensei taught: Motion and Sweat are the only things that work.
PARIS - An Al Qaeda led coalition in Iraq has claimed the abduction of four Russian diplomats, giving Moscow 48 hours to pull out of Chechnya and free Chechen prisoners, in a statement posted on the Internet Monday. God enabled the lions of unification to capture four Russian diplomats in Iraq and kill a fifth, said the statement by the Mujahedeen Shura (consultative) Council, which groups eight insurgent factions.
It said the councils Islamic court had decided to give the Russian government 48 hours to withdraw immediately from Chechnya and release all our brothers and sisters detained in Russian prisons or take the consequences.
If true, I suspect certain KGB and Spetsnaz forces are getting ready to handle this, the way they supposedly handled a similar situation in Lebanon some time back. It won't be pretty.
The authenticity of the statement could not be independently confirmed.
The Russian diplomats were abducted on June 3 when unidentified gunmen attacked the vehicle in which they were travelling in the upscale west Baghdad neighbourhood of Mansour. One Russian diplomat was killed in the attack and the other four abducted.
A Russian foreign ministry spokesman told AFP that Moscow was checking the abduction claim, while a crisis cell set up by the ministry said it had no immediate information.
Russia has withheld comment on the killing of Al Qaedas Iraq chief Abu Musab Al Zarqawi in a US raid on June 7, a silence seen in Moscow as an attempt to safeguard the lives of the four Russian hostages.
We know in advance that there will be appeals ... to release those (hostages) under the pretext that Russia took a clear stand in rejecting the (US-led) war on Iraq, the Mujahedeen Shura Council said. The response is that we fight the enemies of God in order to establish Gods rule on earth ... and every Muslim ... is our brother, the statement said.
It accused the Russian government of killing and displacing ... our people in Chechnya and Afghanistan and of sending its diplomats to Iraq to support the crusader enterprise led by America and confer legitimacy on the US-backed Iraqi government.
The dead Russian man has been named as Vitaly Titov. The four missing are Fyodor Zaytsev, Rinat Aglyulin, Anatoly Smirnov and Oleg Fedosseyev. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has told the Russian parliament that the Russian foreign ministry and our special forces are doing all they can to find out what has become of the diplomats.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/20/2006 00:17 ||
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#1
Hey, no fair, PRAVDA article has already said America may be behind the kidnapping and other recent attempts on Russian diplos.
#2
Iff history is any measure, the Russians = ultra-Left Soviets will deal brutally wid these groups, which of course the US Left will not and never complain about. Iff America = Fascist Amerikkka does it, the Left will be screaming their ears out at America "brutality" and "crimes against humanity".
After repairing military installations recently damaged in clashes with the IDF, the Hezbollah is concentrating forces on Israels northern border, according to Gen. Alon Freidman, an IDF commander in the north.
Military sources say the beefed up Hezbollah force includes new cameras that enable it to keep watch on wide swaths of territory in Israels north. Sources say Hezbollah forces have also been bolstered by Iranian military intelligence agents.
JERUSALEM - Three Israeli women were lightly wounded on Monday when Palestinian gunmen opened fire against a bus travelling in the occupied West Bank, a military source said. The attack, which left the vehicle pock-marked with bullet holes, happened near the Jewish settlement of Shilo, on the main road connecting the Palestinian cities of Ramallah and Nablus, the source said.
Apparently a Paleo mook found enough money for bullets, even if he can't feed his family ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/20/2006 00:30 ||
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A bomb blast wounded six police and government officials in Thailand's rebellious south yesterday, police said. The 5-kg bomb hidden in a metal box exploded at an intersection in the southern province of Narathiwat where the six had stopped in their patrol car, a provincial police official said. "The bomb was detonated by mobile phone. Of the six, one was seriously injured," said the official, who declined to be named.
Later, in the province of Yala, three suspected drug dealers were arrested and were suspected to be involved in violence in the south, according to Lt. Gen. Adul Saengsingkaew. Police also found 50 kg of marijuana, pistols, rifles and 30 kg urea fertiliser, which can be used in crude bombs, at their residence.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/20/2006 00:00 ||
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A security alert was in place across Sri Lanka yesterday after Tamil Tiger rebels vowed to retaliate for air attacks following a day of fierce battles on land and sea that left more than 50 people dead. A police water tanker was blown up in a Claymore mine attack in the north-central district of Anuradhapura yesterday, killing three constables, the military said. A military spokesman said they believed the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) carried out the bombing.
Also yesterday the Tigers and a breakaway faction of rebels clashed in the islands east leaving at least six guerrillas dead, military officials said, citing intercepts of rebel radio communications.
Already tight security was further strengthened in the face of escalating violence in northern and eastern regions Saturday that saw furious fighting between troops and the rebels. We have made sure that security is tight, inspector general of police, Chandra Fernando said. We are seeking public cooperation to track down any suspicious activity. Fernando said the LTTE had deployed a new type of sea mine along the northwest coast against a naval patrol, but five divers laying the mines were arrested. One died after committing suicide by swallowing a cyanide capsule.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/20/2006 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
EDMONTON Cpl. Jeffrey Bailey was pulled from a puddle of human waste after the G-Wagon he was riding in near Kandahar was blasted apart by a suicide bomber. 
(AIP): A roadside bomb detonated near a vehicle of Afghan National Army in Paktia province on Monday, causing damage, police said. The incident was happened on Khost-Paktia highway between Gardi Serai and Sholak districts of Paktia province today when a bomb exploded near a vehicle of Afghan soldiers, spokesman of police of southeastern provinces, Muhammad Haroon informed Afghan Islamic Press. He said country enemies were trying to destroy the country and spread fear among the masses.
Four Taliban fighters were killed and two captured during an operation conducted by coalition and Afghan forces in Zabul province yesterday, police said Monday. The operations were conducted in Khak-e-Afghan district of Zabul in which four Taliban were killed including a Talib commander 
At least 37 people including seven Taliban militants were killed in violence across Afghanistan on Monday. Taliban fighters ambushed two convoys carrying members of the same family in southern Afghanistan killing 30 people, relatives and officials said. In a separate clash, Afghan and coalition soldiers killed seven militants in the southern province of Uruzgan, where a large-scale anti-Taliban offensive is underway, an Afghan official said.
TALEBAN fighters used women and children as human shields as they tried to escape into the mountains of Afghanistan, British troops claimed yesterday. The tactics were revealed in the first account by those who fought in one of the main battles faced by the men of 3 Para and the Royal Gurkha Rifles in Helmand province, where 3,300 British troops are stationed. 
Sadulayev, a cleric from Argun, was little known outside Chechnya but had reorganised the resistance since taking over a year ago and tried to increase its links with Islamist fighters elsewhere in Russia's turbulent North Caucasus. Unceasing Russian pressure has fragmented the rebel movement, but rebel fighters stage daily attacks in Chechnya and neighbouring regions. 
BRITISH agents are operating in the United States to trace links with Islamic extremists from England who recruit Muslims to fight for terrorist groups abroad. The British-led investigation has played a part in identifying a number of US-based terrorists and helped the authorities in Washington to break up an al-Qaeda cell operating in Falls Church, Virginia. The agents are particularly keen to discover if the visitors included 
DERA ISMAIL KHAN: Militants shot dead a senior tribesman with close ties to the US-backed Afghan government Monday, an official said. Nazimuddin Gangikhel was driving in a pickup truck when gunmen opened fire from a parked car in South Waziristan, a tribal region bordering Afghanistan, the intelligence official said on condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of his job. Gangikhel was heading to his village of Angoor Ada when he was ambushed near Wana, South Waziristan's main town, the official said. The slain tribesman regularly travelled to the Afghan capital, Kabul, and met officials of that country's American-backed government, the official added.
BAGHDAD, July 20 -- Two U.S. soldiers missing since an attack on a checkpoint last week have been found dead near a power plant in Yusifiyah, south of Baghdad, according to U.S. officials, and Iraqi officials say the soldiers had been tortured.
PARIS - An Al Qaeda led coalition in Iraq has claimed the abduction of four Russian diplomats, giving Moscow 48 hours to pull out of Chechnya and free Chechen prisoners, in a statement posted on the Internet Monday. God enabled the lions of unification to capture four Russian diplomats in Iraq and kill a fifth, said the statement by the Mujahedeen Shura (consultative) Council, which groups eight insurgent factions.
A bomb blast wounded six police and government officials in Thailand's rebellious south yesterday, police said. The 5-kg bomb hidden in a metal box exploded at an intersection in the southern province of Narathiwat where the six had stopped in their patrol car, a provincial police official said. "The bomb was detonated by mobile phone. Of the six, one was seriously injured," said the official, who declined to be named. 
A security alert was in place across Sri Lanka yesterday after Tamil Tiger rebels vowed to retaliate for air attacks following a day of fierce battles on land and sea that left more than 50 people dead. A police water tanker was blown up in a Claymore mine attack in the north-central district of Anuradhapura yesterday, killing three constables, the military said. A military spokesman said they believed the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) carried out the bombing. 
