Rooters, spin starts right after the introducing paragraph.
By Yvonne Ridley Sayed Salahuddin
KABUL, Aug 26 (Reuters) - Two French soldiers have been killed in an ambush in Afghanistan, the French Defence Ministry said on Saturday, the latest casualties in the bloodiest stretch of violence since the Taliban were overthrown five years ago.
A ministry official said the soldiers were on patrol with special forces on Friday when a bomb exploded and "extremists" scare quotes from the original text, I promise
opened fire with light weapons in an ambush 38 km (24 miles) from Mihtarlam, capital of the eastern province of Laghman.
Two other French soldiers were wounded but were in stable condition. Foreign forces said they killed 22 rebels in air and artillery strikes on Friday in the south, where the Taliban resurgence is at its strongest.
About 2,000 people, most of them freedom fighters militants but also including civilians, baby ducks, puppies, fluffy bunnies, Afghan troops, aid workers and more than 90 foreign soldiers, have been killed in violence this year. The violence involves a mixture of opposition to foreign and government forces, tribal wars, the illegal drugs trade and crime.
Since mid-2003, about 200 French special forces personnel have been fighting the Taliban under U.S. command. France this week pledged 2,000 troops to a U.N. force in Lebanon intended to keep a truce between the zionist entity Israel and Hizbollah.
(KUNA) -- British troops have staged a second show of strength in an Afghan town at the centre of the Taliban insurgency, the UK Ministry of Defense (MoD) said Friday. More than 500 UK troops took part in "Operation Atomi" to move what was described as a "large number" of Afghan police into Musa Qaleh, in Helmand province's notorious Sangin valley.
The MoD said the operation was intended as a "deliberate show of force" to send a message that the Afghan Government was extending its authority into the region. British forces mounted a similar show of strength in the Musa Qaleh area less than three weeks ago following reports that it was coming under regular attack from Taliban fighters. The MoD said the latest operation had "paralysed" Taliban activities in the area while providing reassurance for local people.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/26/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#6
When I was younger, we had a she-dog (IE a biatch), some kind of a rotweiller of sort, who had a bad relationship with an another dog; after being trashed a couple of time, she would bark at him whenever he was in sight, but hide when he came by (for example by exiting the trail to climb up a steep bushy mountain side), to bark at him again when he was out of range. Woof, woof, I chased you away.
So, basically, the taliban are UK's bich, here, to me.
A Lebanese suspect has confessed to placing a bomb on a German train and investigations indicate that he might be linked to al Qaeda, Lebanon's Acting Interior Minister Ahmad Fatfat said on Friday.
"There is nothing clear now, but in his computer, we found something that can be related to al Qaeda, some contacts," Fatfat told Reuters television. "He denied any contact till now with al Qaeda, but maybe he was working without knowing (it) himself under the umbrella of al Qaeda." The suspect was identified as Jihad Hamad, whom the authorities said yesterday had given himself up in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli.
#1
A Lebanese suspect has confessed to placing a bomb on a German train and investigations indicate that he might be linked to al Qaeda, Lebanon's Acting Interior Minister Ahmad Fatfat said on Friday.
Geez, you'd think that the Germans had earned a little bit of historical slack. I guess it's all about "what have you done to kill all the Jews for me lately?"
Minister Ahmad Fatfat
I can only guess that they'd have to render him first, just like John Belushi.
#3
Mossad is active in Lebanon, I suspect. He did a quick calculation and realized he's likely to get no more than 6 mos in a comfy German jail by turning himself in.
German police arrested a third suspect today in connection with a failed attempt to blow up two trains, and Lebanese authorities picked up a fourth man as the investigation gathered steam, officials said. The man arrested in Germany, whose identity was not released, was detained in the southern city of Konstanz on suspicion of membership in a terrorist organisation, attempting to set off an explosion and multiple counts of attempted murder.
The man ... was detained in the southern city of Konstanz on suspicion of membership in a terrorist organisation, attempting to set off an explosion and multiple counts of attempted murder...
Prosecutors said he was an associate of Youssef Mohamad el Hajdib, a Lebanese man accused of planting the bombs along with his compatriot Jihad Hamad on July 31. Whether, and to what extent he was involved in preparing the attacks is the subject of the investigation, said Frauke Scheuten, spokeswoman for the federal prosecutors office.
After a nearly three-week lull following the attempted bombings, the case has moved quickly over recent days. El Hajdib was arrested on August 19, and Hamad was arrested in Lebanon yesterday. Lebanese Prosecutor-General Saeed Mirza said it was information from Hamads interrogation that led to the arrest of the fourth suspect, whose identity he gave only as 24-year-old H.K.D. The man is from the village of Sindianeh in the northern Lebanese province of Akkar, Hamads home province.
El Hajdib, 21, was a student who lived in the northern German city of Kiel, while Hamad, 20, lived in Cologne. The two are accused of planting the bombs at the Cologne train station. The detonators for the devices went off, but the bombs failed to explode and were discovered on regional trains in Koblenz and Dortmund.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/26/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
HOUSTON (AP) - A stick of dynamite was found in a college student's checked luggage on a Continental Airlines flight from Argentina, one of seven security incidents Friday that caused U.S. flights to be diverted, evacuated, searched or delayed.
Howard McFarland Fish, 21, was charged with carrying an explosive aboard an aircraft and was in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Federal authorities have determined that his actions were not acts of terrorism, ICE spokeswoman Luisa Deason said in a statement. Fish is a psychology student at Lafayette College in Easton, Pa., said Roger Clow, the college's director of communications.
Just a dumb college kid, or one who recently experienced a conversion?
Houston Fire Department Assistant Chief Omero Longoria said Fish told authorities he works in mining and often handles explosives. Longoria said federal officials were investigating whether the explanation was true.
A psych major works in mining. O-k-k-k-kay.
Bill Waldock, aviation safety professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Arizona, said the incident could have been disastrous and raises questions about security in overseas airports. Dynamite can be unstable if it's old, he added. "You're in a pressurized airplane, you get a detonation in the cargo hold, it could blow a hole in the airplane big enough to bring it down," he said.
The dynamite was found during a luggage search in a federal inspection station at Bush Intercontinental Airport shortly after Flight 52 landed at about 6 a.m. Marlene McClinton, spokeswoman for the Houston Airport System, said ICE officials and the FBI shut down the customs area and began questioning Fish, one of 173 passengers on the flight.
The U.S. Attorney's Office in Houston said Fish, of Connecticut, would appear before a federal magistrate Monday. Carrying an explosive aboard an aircraft carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/26/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
I swear, I thought it was a penis pump...
Posted by: Howard McFarland Fish ||
08/26/2006 0:14 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Wha...doesn't everyone carry a stick of kapoowee when they take a flight?
Posted by: Captain America ||
08/26/2006 2:21 Comments ||
Top||
#3
He's 21. It was a stunt and he's both a moron and an asshole. Nail his ass to the wall.
#7
Always bring your own bomb on a flight. The probability of two bombs on any plane approaches zero. (First year Psych Statistics 101)
Posted by: john ||
08/26/2006 8:19 Comments ||
Top||
#8
Ohhh, I hated statistics at a visceral level back in my student days! As the child of a research scientist I simply had to ask the professor, "So how do we know this is true?" expecting fascinating tales of studies done by bearded proto-statisticians in the 18th and 19th centuries, to match the chemists and biologists. But noooo -- the professor's pert answer was, "Well, it seems to work so far!" To heap insult on mental injury, when [the future] Mr. Wife the engineering student took the same course the following semester he went through the textbook exclaiming, "Oh!" and "Of course!". That's how the world works, he explained, only he'd never had just the formula to formalize it before. And I didn't hit him for it, not even once.
#13
Or they could be trying to overwhelm the system with numerous false positives, causing a drop in efficiency and laudable caution. THEN they send in the real kamikazees.
A third-grade teacher at Al Huda School in North College Park [Maryland, just east of Washington DC and home to the U-MD Terrapins with lots of gullible college kidz] was sentenced to 15 years in prison Friday for his participation in the Virginia Jihad Network. Ali Asad Chandia, 29, was the last of a group of 11 Muslim men charged in Alexandria, Va. U.S. District Courts for training with Lashkar-I-Taiba, a group fighting against the Indian government and labeled a terrorist organization by the U.S. government, according to a Washington Post report.
With Allah as my witness, I tell everyone that I am innocent...
Six of the men pleaded guilty to charges of aiding terrorists, three were convicted in court and two men were acquitted, the Post reports.
Prosecutors originally sought a sentence of 30 years to life in prison, the Post report reads, while defense lawyers said Chandia deserves a maximum sentence of 6 1⁄2 years. A Washington Post article quotes Chandia defending himself while exiting the courtroom: With Allah as my witness, I tell everyone that I am innocent. ... God knows that I did not support and would not support any terrorists.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/26/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
"With Allah as my witness, I tell everyone that I am innocent."
Invoking the name of Allah in an American courtroom may not be the most convincing strategy these days.
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/26/2006 7:32 Comments ||
Top||
#7
A Pakistan-born resident of the US state of Maryland was sentenced Friday to 15 years in prison for supporting a terrorist group blamed for an attack in Mumbai, India, that killed 180 people, justice officials said. Ali Asad Chandia, 29, who taught third-graders at an Islamic school in College Park, Maryland, was found guilty in June of providing material support and resources to Lashkar-e-Toiba.
At Friday's sentencing, he insisted he was not guilty of the charges.
Indian security agencies suspect that the group he supported, which is allegedly based in Pakistan, was behind the serial attacks on the train system in Mumbai last month.
Chandia was charged with giving "safe harbour" to a convicted British terrorist, Mohammed Ajmal Khan, who is currently serving a 9- year sentence in Britain for procuring military goods for Lashkar-e- Toiba, or Army of the Pure.
Khan apparently visited the United States in 2002 and 2003, where he used Chandia's computer to shop for unmanned aerial craft, night vision equipment and wireless video cameras, US Attorney Chuck Rosenberg said in a statement.
The FBI found audiotapes and other materials "manifesting his commitment to violent jihad" during a search of his home in 2003, the statement said.
Other evidence included CD-ROMs found in his car that glorified the September 11, 2001 attacks on the US and showed still photographs of persons jumping to their deaths from the World Trade Center towers.
"Terrorist organizations like Lashkar-e-Toiba rely on a network of individuals to carry out their deadly operations," Rosenberg said. "Ali Asad Chandia was a member of that network for Lashkar-e-Toiba, and he will now spend a very long period of time in prison for providing material support in furtherance of its violent agenda."
According to a sophisticated website dedicated to Chandia's support, the young man was born in Pakistan and moved with his family at age 17 to Maryland, outside Washington, the US capital.
His father, an attorney in Lahore, Pakistan, remained behind to practice law. In a letter to the US court in Virginia that sentenced his son, Noor Mohammed Khan Chandia said he had sent his children to the US "for the freedom that it provided ... and excellent education."
The website says Chandia was a star student at Watkins Mill High School in Gaithersburg, Maryland.
"Our family believes in friendship with India," the father wrote, according to the letter posted on the website. "I myself visited India twice in the year 2005 for vacations. If the government of India has any grievance against me or the family no visa could have been granted to me."
Prosecutors claimed Chandia had travelled to Pakistan in 2001-2002 to meet Khan. Chandia's website claims he attended his brother's wedding on that trip.
Posted by: john ||
08/26/2006 12:02 Comments ||
Top||
#8
If you can't trust someone who swears by allan he doesn't really want to randomly kill the likes of you, who can you trust?
#9
still photographs of persons jumping to their deaths from the World Trade Center towers
This sick SOB needs to be assigned some very "special" cell mates.
I myself visited India twice in the year 2005 for vacations
I think the Indian IB needs to check exactly who he "vacationed" with and what he visited (bridges, train stations, nuke plants etc)
Posted by: john ||
08/26/2006 12:05 Comments ||
Top||
#10
he young man was born in Pakistan and moved with his family at age 17 to Maryland, outside Washington, the US capital. His father, an attorney in Lahore, Pakistan, remained behind to practice law
The father must've been doing awfully well to be able to support his family in an American lifestyle on Pakistani wages.
Posted by: john ||
08/26/2006 12:49 Comments ||
Top||
#12
According to a sophisticated website dedicated to Chandia's support, the young man was born in Pakistan and moved with his family at age 17 to Maryland, outside Washington, the US capital.
How the heck did his family get immigrant visas without the father and wage earner also immigrating?
Posted by: ed ||
08/26/2006 13:25 Comments ||
Top||
#13
That tells you the sort of money this family has.
The Punjabi Feudals strongly backed partition. They feared the promised land reforms of Gandhi and the Congress party and wanted to keep their estates, complete with bonded peasant laborers and private jails (where uppity peasants are incarcerated).
Posted by: john ||
08/26/2006 13:31 Comments ||
Top||
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/26/2006 16:06 Comments ||
Top||
#18
Hmmm. A hiccup 12 minutes apart? Now I'm stumped. I did not come back to this page, enter the same comment, and hit submit again - 12 minutes later. Funky stuff happening in HTTP, LOL.
I've duped a couple of times, best proximate cause: using the back button after submission. Doesn't happen every time, but anyway I don't do that anymore.
KOHLU: Jamhori Watan Party (JWP) chief Nawab Akber Khan Bugti was killed in a historical operation carried out by security forces in Kohlu and Murree tribal areas on Saturday night, Federal Information Minister Muhammad Ali Durrani confirmed.
Based on exact intelligence reports, security forces carried out an operation in the tribal areas where militants belonging to Bugti tribe resisted and after a heavy exchange of firing Nawab Bugti, along with his high-profile fellows involved in many terrorist activities in the country, was killed, Durrani added.
Pakistan People's Party Parliamentarians (PPP-P) leader Makhdoom Amin Faheem termed Akber Bugti's death an incident which could worsen security situation in Pakistan. Sources said satellite phones were used to mark out the operation.
Posted by: john ||
08/26/2006 16:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Gunbattles erupted near Dera Bugti town in restive Baluchistan province, close to where tribal leader Nawab Akbar Bugti is sheltering, security officials said.
"Around twenty members of the security forces and more than two dozen militants have been killed," one security official said.
Asked if Mr Bugti was among the dead, the official added: "We are not very sure."
Baluchistan has been rocked by a near two-year insurgency blamed on autonomy-seeking tribesmen who also want a greater share of the gas-rich province's natural resources.
Officials say hundreds of people have died in the unrest that erupted in late 2004, which has seen a series of attacks on gas pipelines, railway tracks and government installations.
British-educated tribal leader Mr Bugti, who is in his 80s, fled his stronghold in Dera Bugti earlier this year after a crackdown by the Pakistani military.
Posted by: john ||
08/26/2006 17:07 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Posted by: john ||
08/26/2006 17:08 Comments ||
Top||
BAGHDAD: The leaders of Iraq's powerful tribes on Saturday signed a solemn "pact of honour" vowing to halt their country's slide into the chaos of sectarian war.
Any secret handshake? Gotta have that too.
Amid scenes of celebration at a Baghdad hotel, the chieftains -- who represent clans from across the country and all the major ethnic and religious groups -- promised to support a government-backed peace process.
Reading the charter, Sheikh Faal Namah said he and his colleagues vowed "to preserve our country, stop bloodletting and displacement among Iraqi people and halt the activities of takfiris (violent Sunni insurgents)".
The accord will be seen as a boost for Iraq's embattled prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki, who had called on the traditional leaders to support his plans for a broad-based peace initiative which will culiminate in national peace talks.
Earlier Saturday, insurgents killed at least seven people, including four members of a Shiite family fleeing their home in Baquba after threats, police said. Seven bullet-riddled corpses were also found in northern Iraq of men killed in apparent sectarian attacks.
Posted by: Captain America ||
08/26/2006 19:48 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Earlier Saturday, insurgents killed at least seven people, including four members of a Shiite family fleeing their home in Baquba after threats, police said. Seven bullet-riddled corpses were also found in northern Iraq of men killed in apparent sectarian attacks
#1
Coalition forces returned fire in self-defense using escalation-of-force six-pack of whup-ass opening procedures, officials said, and finally fired several main gun rounds from M1 tanks into the mosque outpost to defeat the attackers. The mosques outpost's dome barracks and minaret sniper roost were heavily damaged.
(KUNA) -- The Multi-National Forces in Iraq Friday reported one of its soldiers was killed yesterday in the capital, Baghdad. A statement distributed today said the soldier died as a result of injuries sustained when a group of terrorists attacked his patrol with light artillery yesterday. No other details were revealed as to circumstance or exact location.
Meanwhile, the Friday curfew is on again in Baghdad on all that goes on wheels, including bikes and motorbikes, between 11 a.m. and three p.m. Roadblocs would be positioned at key entrances and intersections between the main parts of the city.
The curfew comes hours after joint forces surrounded a Shiite religious center, Al-Waeli Husseiniyah, in southeast Baghdad. An Iraqi security source said the facility was surrounded but did not state whether there were any arrests. The sources added the said forces withdrew after the residents of the surrounding area went out on a demonstration objecting to the siege. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki has stated mosques and Husseiniyahs would be surrounded and searched upon indication of terrorists and militants inside. He also ordered satellite channels stop broadcasting footage of the bloodshed and killings around the country.
According to a statement by the Interior Ministry, mosques and Husseiniyahs were informed of the said decision and that these sites can no longer be abused as sanctuary for those planning and executing acts of terror or provoking unrest.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/26/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
For the Arab portions of Iraq, this makes sense. In fact, the vehicle curfew is about the only smart thing I can see the Iraqi Government is doing to stem the sectarian bullshit. Motorized vehicles ought to do it - kinda stupid to include bicycles, IMHO. Do it for the entire day, too. Call it a "day of rest", that's kinda catchy, LOL.
When they turn off the cellphones, too, we'll know they're actually serious.
Arabs don't need modern conveniences and technology. They only abuse them and hurt themselves - and any innocent bystanders who are luckless enough to be nearby.
"Certain places of congregation built for the community at large (where people from various areas will gather together for the Friday afternoon prayer) and which have a shrine, of sorts, to their Imam Hussain, is called a hussayniyah (in Arabic, Persian, and Urdu: حسینیھ, Arabic: Hussayniyyah; Persian: hossayniye; Urdu: hussainiyah) or imambargah (in Persian and Urdu: امام بارگاہ, imaam-baargaah). The idea is that a hussayniyah/imambargah recreates the sanctity and significance of the martyr-ground and mosques of Karbala as well as the tomb of Imam Hussayn at Karbala so that the devout can visit them in their own locality instead of going all the way to Karbala."
(KUNA) -- One Iraqi civilian was killed on Friday and two others were wounded in Diyala, northeastern Baghdad, and five bombs were defused, said the Iraqi police. In a statement, Diyala police said one civilian was killed and two others were wounded in an armed attack in Miqdadiya. Moreover, it said police successfully defused five bombs in the villages of Miqdadiya, Baqouba, and Jola'a. It also said that mortar shells fell over residential areas in the village of Khafaja in Baqouba but that no causalities were reported.
Meanwhile, a police source told reporters that security forces arrested four militants in Miqdadiya, an area witnessing considerable tensions and unrest.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/26/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
(KUNA) -- One Iraqi soldier was killed and two others wounded in a bomb attack against an Iraqi army patrol in the west of Kirkuk, northern Iraq, Friday, a police source said. He added that five policemen, including an officer, were injured in a separate attack in west of Kirkuk. The source, elaborating, told KUNA an explosive device went off near an Iraqi army vehicle in Rashad town in Kirkuk killing one soldier and injuring two others.
Unknown gunmen tossed a hand grenade at a police patrol in Huwaijah injuring five policemen. The source said the injured policemen were taken to a nearby hospital.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/26/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
Two missiles fired by Israeli aircraft early Sunday morning hit an armored car belonging to the Reuters news agency and wounded a television cameraman inside, Palestinian witnesses said.
The Israeli army said it was checking the report.
According to witnesses, the cameraman was filming an Israeli raid in Gaza near the Karni crossing when the vehicle was hit.
Fingers crossed, but would he be putting himself in this position, if he doesn't know something?
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip // With a deadline looming over the fate of two Fox News journalists kidnapped in Gaza City, Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said Saturday that he hoped the crisis would be resolved "in the coming hours." The journalists, correspondent Steve Centanni, 60, of Washington, D.C., and cameraman Olaf Wiig, 36, of New Zealand, were seized in Gaza City on Aug. 14. Their captors demanded the release of all Muslims imprisoned by the U.S. by midnight Saturday, in exchange for freeing the Fox journalists.
"Okay! Listen up! Tyrone, Homer, and Manuel, youse guys are being freed and sent to Gaza!"
"Hey screw, why us?"
"The government is releasing all the Muslims."
"But none of us is Muslim!"
"You are now! Now pack your shit and git moving!"
The kidnappers, a previously unknown group calling itself the Holy Jihad Brigades, did not say what it would do to the men if the deadline passed with their demands unanswered. It is not clear whether the kidnappers were local militants, either with ties to Hamas or the rival Fatah movement, or sneaked into Gaza from outside.
"We hope that this issue is going to be over in the coming hours," Haniyeh, a Hamas leader, said in a statement. "There are promises that the journalists will not be harmed. I hope that this case is going to be ended and solved in a way that reflects that the Palestinians respect their guests." Haniyeh did not elaborate.
Interior Ministry spokesman Khaled Abu Hilal said authorities were exerting efforts to release the journalists, but were not negotiating with the kidnappers.
The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists called on Saturday for the journalists' release. "Palestinian authorities must continue their efforts to secure the safe release of these two professionals, who were unjustly taken while trying to report the news from Gaza. These journalists should be freed immediately and unconditionally," said Joel Simon, executive director of the committee.
There, that should do it.
Wiig's wife, Anita McNaught, traveled to Gaza soon after the kidnapping to appealing for the men's safe release. Centanni's brother, Ken, has made a similar plea.
#1
According to Debka (ye, I know)
Palestinian warlord Zakaria Dughmush (picture) kidnapped the Fox News journalists on behalf of Hamas
August 26, 2006, 10:26 PM (GMT+02:00)
The Hamas team which abducted Israeli soldier Gilead Shalit on June 25 sought to ease the pressure for his release by staging a more spectacular snatch. For this reason, they hired Zakaria Dughmush and his masked men to capture the two Fox News journalists in Gaza City on Aug. 14.
(KUNA) -- Nine Palestinians were wounded early Friday and two houses were destroyed in an Israeli air raid of Jabaliya Camp and Gaza City, Gaza. Palestinian security sources said Israeli F-16s fired two missiles at a house belonging to Salem Thabit, a Fatah activist, in the Tal Zaitar district in Jabaliya, wounding six Palestinians and destroying the building completely.
A spokesman for the Israeli Army claimed the two attacks had targeted weapons caches, adding that residents had been warned to evacuate the buildings...
Thabit had received a telephone call from the Israeli forces warning him that the house would be attacked.
Another air raid in Gaza City targeted another home and a workshop for repairing refrigerators. Witnesses and paramedics said three Palestinians were wounded in the attack, and that fire broke out in both the house and workshop that was located in the lower part of the building. Ambulances rushed to the site and the wounded were taken to Shifa Hospital, they added. A spokesman for the Israeli Army claimed the two attacks had targeted weapons caches, adding that residents had been warned to evacuate the buildings.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/26/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
A spokesman for the Israeli Army claimed the two attacks had targeted weapons caches, adding that residents had been warned to evacuate the buildings.
We'll know the turning point has arrived when Israel stops warning them.
An IAF airstrike destroyed the home of a Hamas operative in the central Gaza Strip late Friday night, the army said.
The house owner was warned to leave his home prior to the attack...
No one was killed in the strike, but two bystanders were lightly wounded, witnesses said. The army said the home was being used to store weapons. The house owner was warned to leave his home prior to the attack, the army and Palestinian security officials confirmed. Palestinians said the home belonged to Ziad Tanbora, a Hamas operative. The two-story home was completely destroyed.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/26/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#2
I guess i can understand informing the innocents when the sh!t is about to hit the fan, but informing the owner of a house that was being used as an amory???? how could he not know what was going on?? i call the homeowner a combantant and should have been bounced along with the rest of the rubble.
#4
Maybe the homeowner was warned because the Israelis believe that living in Gaza AND having to move back in with mom & dad is a punishment worse than death?
#6
Perhaps they are operating under the notion that the terrorists will just be replaced, but the equipment etc. stored in the house is harder to come by. Besides, if you don't kill a terrorist, perhaps there won't be four more seething family members pop up to replace him.
#7
Besides, if you don't kill a terrorist, perhaps there won't be four more seething family members pop up to replace him.
Oh, do come on, not the old "killing terrorists just makes more terrorists" horseradish! I'd sooner wager that by leaving these operatives Palestinian scumbags alive they maintain just that much more pressure on the ever-dwindling food supplies and stock of unused toilet paper goats.
#8
snuff em and the house. No mercy for the scumbags
I'm not in a compassionate mood this decade
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/26/2006 7:35 Comments ||
Top||
#9
Prank callers in Gaza have it so easy. You just dial some random number, say "This is Colonel Moishe from the IDF, we're dropping a bomb on your house in ten minutes," and hang up. Here in the US, the best we can do is pretend to be an irate pizza delivery guy.
#10
Scooter McGruder's thought makes sense... and the first part of gorb's. Not to mention Hamas and Fatah having to use up funds to rebuild so many houses in order to maintain loyalty amongst the peons. After all, it's easy enough for the discontented to call the IDF to turn someone in when squabbling with a neighbor or a cousin.
As for making more terrorists, between the PA education system, summer camp cum terrorist training facilities for the children, the media and mosques idolizing Jew killers, there's no need for outside intervention to motivate potential fodder.
#11
One reason hollow point / expanding bullets are used by many in law enforcement is that, in addition to not passing through the first person to wound a bystander, these bullets both stop an attacker quickly AND are less likely to kill them (don't penetrate to inner organs, depending on the ammo chosen).
If they weren't proscribed in the Geneva Conventions for battlefield use, they would produce so many wounded that an army would flounder under the burden of caring for them. And for any civilians hit, too, of course.
Burdening an enemy with wounded to care for is an old, old military tactic.
Posted by: Aztec Babe from the 13th Grade ||
08/26/2006 13:59 Comments ||
Top||
#14
wounded
In that case, cluster bomb the area.
Posted by: ed ||
08/26/2006 14:32 Comments ||
Top||
#15
#11...less likely to kill them.
Actually, you're far more likely to survive a gunshot from a fully jacket round than a hollow point or expanding round.
The main reason for using them (hollow points) is to prevent over penetration, and to kill the target. A hollow point/expanding round dumps all its kinetic energy and creates massive trauma and in the case of hollow points multiple wound paths from round fragmentation.
I shoot 9mm for most purposes, but I'm by no means an expert on any of this. So when I wanted to keep some top quality defense ammo handy, I went looking for advice.
Massad Ayoob summarizes police reports to the effect that 9mm 115 or 124 grain high pressure jacketed hollow points will stop the target quite reliably without, in many cases, killing him, whereas there are many instances of attackers taking multiple jacketed, ultimately fatal rounds without going down right away.
Based on his recommendation I now keep a small amount of Cor-Bon 115 gr +P JHP for my Sig P229. This round has high kinetic energy (1317 fps), which is transferred to the attacker, but it also penetrates less than other 9mm parabellum jacketed hollow points -- in some cases, a LOT less -- according to the Firearms Tactical Institute. If reports I've been reading are correct, that has translated into serious stopping power with fewer deaths from a single round.
So I guess I had my caliber and round of choice in mind when I made that earlier comment ...
I'll see if I can find a link to the Ayoob article online.
But in any case either can kill someone under the right conditions.
#17
Ms lotp, for a nice archive of Ayoob articles (though mostly stories, not factual ones), see here. Very interesting background material, even from a total outsider to this topic like me
Still, I hope there won't be flamewars here about the Facklerites "slow and heavy controlled expansion" vs the Marshall/Sanow "light and fast rapid expansion"... ;-)
I'm just a girl from the farm country who feels a bit more secure knowing she can defend herself if she needs to. There are many, many people a lot more knowledgeable than I about all this stuff including, I'm sure, some Rantburg regulars.
I just buy 'em, load 'em and shoot 'em. Paper targets everywhere tremble in fear when I fire.
Occasionally, if I get really out of practice, so do the other people at the range. LOL
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/26/2006 15:43 Comments ||
Top||
#20
I'll defer to others more knowledgable, but I always thought jacketed hollow points - I have a 44 mag - created an overpressure head in front, clean in and big out. I understand fragmentation points are to stop the big out back, but....
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/26/2006 16:04 Comments ||
Top||
#21
I do think it depends a lot on the caliber and the particular round you choose. As I mentioned, I shoot 9mm, not one of the larger calibers. In #11 above I was referencing law enforcement, which also often carries 9mm rather than the larger calibers. They aren't necessarily wanting the biggest firepower possible, but rather the quickest stopping power.
A .40 or .45 is a different story, especially in the larger grains with high pressure.
One reason I chose the Cor-Bon is that it tests to have less penetration than many other 9mm defense JHPs while still giving excellent stopping power. The Federal Hydra-Shok and the Speer Gold Dot control the expansion more and penetrate farther than the Cor-Bon. Or so the gentlemen who authored the articles I read said. ;-)
But your mileage will certainly vary.
I too readily defer to those with a lot more expertise in all this. I sleep a bit more soundly, tho, knowing I have well-rated ammunition for defense that has an excellent stopping capability but isn't likely to harm my neighbors a couple hundred feet away.
#22
BTW, if it sounds like I've over-thought this business of what specific ammo to buy for defense, it's because I live in a very gun-hostile state.
I've never had to shoot at anyone and hope it never comes to that. But if I do, I sure want to be able to demonstrate that I was responsible in my choice of caliber and round.
#23
If I were allowed to own a firearm in my village (I can't) and if I felt the need for a defense-oriented weapon, I think I'd go for a 410 gauge shotgun, pump action, with fine shot -- maybe even salt.
First, as lotp notes, I won't take out a neighbor accidentally. Second, there's nothing like the 'snick-snack' of a pump action weapon being loaded to freeze the average home invader. Third, fine shot will stop him without killing him. And finally, as I proved to everyone's satisfaction at Boy Scout camp, I'm a lousy shot.
Again, that's just me.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/26/2006 17:48 Comments ||
Top||
#24
A shotgun is something I have in mind when the budget allows. But my husband has zero interest in owning or shooting one, so it isn't our highest priority.
I started with the handguns when we were in another state and I do enjoy shooting just as a sport. Wish I had time now to get out to practice more.
I have another consideration ... a handgun can be locked in a hidden quick-release safe by my bed. Our home is sometimes host to a relative who should not be around loaded weapons, or weapons at all. Although I could keep shells in a small safe and prop the shotgun nearby, I'd rather not have a weapon visible at all. And, I am absolutely certain I could not open our main gunsafe at 3AM in the dark!
#25
home protection is Winchester Defender - 12 GA pump, 18" barrel, pistol grip - legal, even here in CA. 7+1 chambered. Shells on the sling strap. Seemed adequate to me
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/26/2006 18:25 Comments ||
Top||
#26
Nothing beats a sawed off Rotweiler for in home defense.
POINT PEDRO, Sri Lanka - The first aid ship to break a two-week siege of Sri Lankas northern Jaffna peninsula began to unload on Friday, while another Red Cross-flagged vessel headed in to evacuate foreign nationals.
Air strikes and artillery continued in parts of the region on Friday. More than three weeks of fighting between the army and Tamil Tiger rebels has forced 180,000 people to flee their homes and created a humanitarian crisis in north and east Sri Lanka. With road links cut and sea and air links limited, shortages are rife.
A Reuters witness saw the ship anchored off the jetty at Point Pedro, at the northern edge of the Jaffna peninsula, as several barges that survived the 2004 tsunami began to ferry ashore around 1,500 tonnes of food for hungry Jaffna residents. Officials said the ship would sail north out of the conflict area before nightfall, anchor and then return the next day to continue unloading.
Why not just give its GPS coordinates while you're at it?
Most shops on the Jaffna peninsula have run out of food and some of its half-million people are down to one meal a day. For the last few days, the military has relaxed a curfew and allowed people out for five hours a day.
The United Nations World Food Programme -- already providing food to an estimated 200,000 people displaced by the fighting -- said it was also worried about rising shortages in rebel-held areas of the north and east, with border crossing points shut and aid agency access sometimes blocked by the military.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/26/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
(KUNA) -- Nearly 8,000 civilians and aid workers in the Jaffna peninsula in Northern Sri Lanka have begun to leave as the country's Air Force conducted strikes on Tamil rebel targets Friday. Life in the northern Jaffna peninsula has been thrown out of gear for the last three weeks because of fighting between the Tamil rebels and government troops. Details on damage were not immediately available, the news agency Indo-Asian News Service reported from the capital city of Colombo. In the northern Jaffna peninsula, the government has, however, relaxed its curfew for six hours, enabling civilians to purchase essential goods.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/26/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
Just days before it is supposed to suspend enrichment of uranium or face the prospect of sanctions, Iran continues to project an image of defiance and confidence. Its position regarding the demand it suspend enrichment remains a determined "No."
On Saturday, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, made a provocative, if symbolic, gesture by formally inaugurating a heavy-water plant. The plant, which Iranians say is intended for peaceful purposes, would also produce plutonium, which in turn could be used in the building of nuclear warheads. "There are no talks of nuclear weapons in Iran," President Ahmadinejad said as he announced the opening of the plant. "And we are not a threat for any country, even the Zionist regime that is the enemy of the countries in the region."
You don't need plutonium for energy purposes if you're enriching uranium.
But, he added: "We tell the Western countries not to cause trouble for themselves because Iranian people are determined to take big steps."
The action was the latest in a series of not-too-veiled threats against the West if Iran is saddled with sanctions. Iranian's public confidence is based on three primary factors, political analysts here said: There is a strong belief that two of the council's permanent members, Russia and China, will support Iran's call for talks and oppose moving toward sanctions; that the United States is far too bogged down in Iraq and Afghanistan to be willing to spark another conflict in the region; and the perceived victory of Hezbollah in its war with Israel has strengthened Iran's political capital in the region.
"After the defeat of Israel by Hezbollah forces, China and Russia should not want to leave the side that won the war, which is the Islamic world," said Hossein Shariatmadari, who is the editor of the conservative daily newspaper Kayhan.
Just four days earlier, Iranian officials had offered their response to a package of incentives that Western diplomats had hoped would encourage Tehran to voluntarily suspend uranium enrichment. While the details of the response were not released, Shariatmadari, who is was appointed by Iran's supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said that the package noted 50 "ambiguities" in the original incentives package that needed clarification. Those, he said, included questions as basic as "Who is responsible for implementing the incentives," he said. "The E.U., the U.S., the nuclear agency, who?"
Soon after Iran gave its reply to the incentives package, Iran's public posture reverted back to confrontation. The deputy speaker of parliament, Mohammad Reza Bahonar, cautioned that too much pressure on Iran could lead to calls for a nuclear weapons program. "Our country is confronted with illogical countries who have nuclear weapons," he was quoted as saying in Saturday's edition of the reformist newspaper Shargh. "If they put too much pressure, our people might ask the government to produce nuclear weapons as a deterrent instrument."
On Friday, a mid-level cleric, Ahmad Khatami, said during a Friday prayer ceremony that the West ought to be cautious in the way it addressed Iran. "You can not use the language of force against this nation," Khatami, in a speech broadcast around the nation from central Tehran. "Do not test us as you have tested us before." As is customary, Khatami stood with his right hand gripping the barrel of an automatic weapon as he addressed thousands of people gathered for the weekly prayer ceremony. "You can not deal with a nation as great as the Iranian nation this way. It is a very stupid approach. Russia and China, we count on you to be careful not to fall into the trap American has set for you."
For Iran, the issue of its nuclear program is as much about domestic politics as it is about international relations. President Ahmadinejad was elected last year on a populist economic message, promising a redistribution of the nation's vast oil wealth and immediate economic improvements. Instead, while the economy remains gridlocked, inflation and unemployment high, Ahmadinejad has turned the nuclear issue into his raison d'etre. Focusing on national pride, the president and Ayatollah Khamenei have succeeded in winning public support for the nuclear program.
While the depth of that support could be tested by sanctions, the president continue to appeal to pride as he opened the new heavy-water plant in Arak, south of Tehran. "Having nuclear technology and using it is a blessing and is the right of all nations, including Iran," President Ahmadinejad said in Arak. "As the people's representative, I pursue whatever people want. Today they want to have nuclear technology and I pursue this demand and will not back down."
Posted by: john ||
08/26/2006 15:57 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Headline is nonsense.
A heavy water plant produces heavy water, not plutonium.
This plants can produce 16 tons of heavy water per year. It will supply HW for the 40 MW(t) reactor being constructed (completion in 2009).
The one year production of 16 tons is enough for the initial heavy water charge.
Assuming low burnup mode and a capacity factor of 65 percent, it could produce about 9 kg of weapons grade Plutonium per year. Assuming a non-sophisticated design, that is one and a half bomb's worth of material per year.
Posted by: john ||
08/26/2006 16:40 Comments ||
Top||
#2
There would of course be losses during reprocessing, so a realistic figure might be one bomb's worth per year.
If they scaled up the reactor, they would need 0.4 tons of heavy water per MW. Reactors lose about 1 percent of their heavy water per year.
Even if the plant operates at 50 percent capacity - 8 tons per year, it would be sufficient for a 100 MW Pu production reactor (about 5 years worth of production).
Posted by: john ||
08/26/2006 17:03 Comments ||
Top||
#3
I'm putting my estimate in first - this plant doesn't operate a year
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/26/2006 17:20 Comments ||
Top||
#4
I just about ready to vote that we do some "enriching" for them.
#5
Heavy water production facilities are prone to fires and explosions... it took India years before it ironed out all the problems with its plants (it is now the second largest producer of heavy water in the world and exports it to South Korea (for their CANDU units).
Posted by: john ||
08/26/2006 17:39 Comments ||
Top||
#7
As is customary, Khatami stood with his right hand gripping the barrel of an automatic weapon as he addressed thousands of people gathered for the weekly prayer ceremony.
Tehran, Iran, Aug. 26 A top Iranian official warned on Friday that Tehran may develop nuclear weapons as a preventative measure against threats posed by the West. In your face, Euros
The patience of the Iranian nation has a limit. If [the West] crosses this limit, our nation, which is very suspicious of the good will of Western countries, will force Majlis to ratify the law for Iran to withdraw from the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Mohammad-Reza Bahonar, the deputy speaker of Irans Majlis, or Parliament, said on Friday.
The Iranian nation is facing illogical powers that have nuclear weapons and see no deterrent. If they exert pressure on us it is possible that our nation will ask the government to produce nuclear weapons as a preventative measure, Bahonar, who is also secretary general of the Islamic Association of Engineers, said following a meeting by the groups leaders.
The West must accept Iran as a regional power. They cannot ignore this reality. Illogical pressures over the nuclear issue must end, he said. His remarks were reported by the government-run news agency ILNA.
Addressing the West, Bahonar said, You must fear the day that the Iranian people pour into the streets and demonstrate, calling on the government to produce nuclear weapons to counter the threats.
We've almost got the mobs organized already. We've just got to finish intimidating or jailing or killing any annoying protestors who DON'T want to be fried by y'all.
He issued a stark warning that any aggression against the Islamic Republic of Iran will be met with a hard reaction by all Muslims across the world.
Bahonar, a staunch ultra-conservative ally of the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, wields considerable influence as a key power-broker in the hard-line government. Many of Ahmadinejads political appointees as ministers, governors, and senior administrators are Bahonars protégés.
The Islamic Association of Engineers is part of the ultra-conservative camp loyal to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Posted by: Captain America ||
08/26/2006 14:28 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#6
If nobody in our collective government can summon the courage to thwart Iran's nuclear aspirations, then I'm just about ready to start hoping that Iran targets Washington D.C. first.
These spineless wankers we've elected are going to get millions of Americans killed. And all because, sitting in their plush offices, this bunch of Nancy boys, who've often never worked a real job in their entire lives, can't possibly bring themselves to do anything that might even remotely compromise their chances for re-election.
Our politicians may not be able to fool all of the people all of the time, but they've certainly fooled all of themselves for some time now.
An Iranian plant that produces heavy water officially went into operation on Saturday, despite U.N. demands that Tehran stop the activity because it can be used to develop a nuclear bomb. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad inaugurated the plant, which Tehran says is for peaceful purposes.
The announcement comes days before Thursday's U.N. deadline for Iran to stop uranium enrichment which also can be used to create nuclear weapons or face economic and political sanctions. Tehran has called the U.N. Security Council resolution "illegal" and said it won't stop enrichment as a precondition to negotiations.
Mohammed Saeedi, the deputy head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, said the heavy water plant is "one of the biggest nuclear projects" in the country, state-run television reported. He said the plant will be used in the pharmaceutical field and in diagnosing cancer. The plant's top official, Manouchehr Madadi, said the facility has the ability to produce up to 16 tons of heavy water a year.
#5
In this case, frustration instead of destruction may be the key. All that would need be done would be to smuggle in a small amount of deadly chemical or toxin, to vaporize within the facility. Something that just a few ppm could kill you in a week or two.
Once dispersed inside the facility, anyone who went in there without protection would die in a week or two, likely from liver failure.
They would lose an s-load of scientists, technicians, and political types who visited. And decontaminating the facility could take several years.
#14
He said the plant will be used in the pharmaceutical field and in diagnosing cancer.
Nothing says Persian like a heavy water enema.
Posted by: ed ||
08/26/2006 15:17 Comments ||
Top||
#15
I'll keep yelling. We do not have to stop the nuclear program. We only have to take out the gasoline refineries and terminals. For all of their oil, iran imports almost 75% of their gasoline. It would take only a handful of strategic sorties and iran would come to a complete halt.
#16
Keep yelling, 'mouse. You're making a lot more sense than any of our politicians right now. Using kinetic weapons delivered by stealth platforms we could almost disguise such a raid to look like multiple point failure in their gasoline refining infrastructure. If this was sufficient to instigate massive economic upheaval, then our job would already be half-done.
If not, proceed to phase II and begin crippling their nuclear sites. Phase III, if required, should involve decapping their leadership and military capabilities. We could implement any of these phases in less than a 24 hour period without putting a single boot on the ground.
#17
The administration surely has this in mind. But they also need to consider the economic impact on us and on Europe of when/how/where they take down the MM nuclear weapons program.
I am frustrated it's still active, worried about possibilities and fervently grateful I don't face the incredible burden of choosing whether or when to attack on the basis of inadequate info.
Prayers for all concerned are about all I can offer.
#18
Prayers for all concerned are about all I can offer.
lotp, you strike me as a reasonably intelligent individual. This leads me to believe that you are capable of arriving at some sort of considered opinion that goes well beyond any indecision regarding the economic impact of attacking Iran.
I, for one, would definitely wager that the global impact of a single Iranian nuclear attack, be it upon Israel, the USA or Europe would have much farther reaching consequences than any pre-emptive action we might take now, even if it were done unilaterally.
I'd really enjoy hearing your own personal views regarding this if you care to share them.
#19
Zenster...I like your ideas! Sometimes one has to do the "hard" things in order to save more lives later. iran is directly responsible for 1000s of deaths including a hand in most of the killings of US military in Iraq.
I have a vested interest as I am a navy reservist on the bubble to become a sand sailor...and a son who will be in theater as a USMC officer within the year.
#20
Zen, my own opinion is that there is a terribly narrow window within which a strike on Iran will have more positive than negative effects.
Bush has to balance the likelihood that Iran is near having nuclear weapons against the very real possibility of a global depression that would make the 30s look like a minor economic bump in the road. That's my take on the impact of a major war involving the oil countries.
I read a lot of comments at Rantburg that seem to assume the US is pretty strong and self-sufficient, militarily and economically. There's a lot of truth in that, and I firmly believe our strength grows from our Constitution and our traditions.
But my old b-school training kicks in when I read the financial news. And what I see is that we are doing okay, but we do have some substantial vulnerabilities economically. Any attack on Iran will have to be done either under imminent threat of nuclear attack on us or with electorate and preferably also international support. We're closer to the first than I'd like, but we're not there yet. And we're closer than we were to the second, but not there yet either IMO.
That's just my muddled opinion. I have absolutely no data other than the public news accounts to go on. What worries me - and I would lay odds worries Bush as well - is that the intel may not be much clearer.
#21
I don't face the incredible burden of choosing whether or when to attack
Whether to attack will end up being decided by you and every other voting American this November. By then it will be the issue on the ballot in every federal contest. When will be the choice of those we elect.
#22
Any attack on Iran will have to be done either under imminent threat of nuclear attack on us or with electorate and preferably also international support.
There remains a significant problem in that if we are "under imminent threat of nuclear attack", then Iran already has acquired nuclear weapons and the camel is now sleeping in the tent.
Iran's mere possession of nuclear technology means that the camel's head is already inside the tent. Deputy speaker Mohammad-Reza Bahonar's recent declaration "that Tehran may develop nuclear weapons as a "preventative measure" against threats posed by the West" is the final straw.
Iran is now utilizing the exact strategy that actual possession of nuclear weapons would permit them to employ against regional and doctrinal foes. The mask of their true intent has finally been torn away and little speculation is necessary to guess the final outcome.
Iran's historic and intolerable sponsorship of international terrorism, intervention in Iraq and overt threats against Israel all point towards certain disaster should they acquire nuclear arms. Many people I know continue to delude themselves that Ahmadinejad's bellicose tirades are merely for public consumption.
With today's announcement, nothing but the absolute very worst can be expected from Iran. As the old saying goes; "He who hesitates is lost." I believe the moment of hesitation is now past.
While I can appreciate your circumspection vis economic impact, with Iran's theocratic government on a runaway course, some sort of economic fiasco is inevitable. It would be far better to trigger it now in a more limited (and easier to contain) respect than permitting Iran to disrupt the entire Middle East's regional stability with the waving about of actual nuclear arms.
The prospect of an exceptionally poor steward of military power, like Iran, assuming the undue, unearned and unmerited authority conferred by accession to nuclear weapons goes beyond horrific. There is zero indication that they would do anything but begin proliferating nuclear weapons technology throughout the Islamic states (as they have avowed) and the consequences of that all point towards at least limited, if not intermediate scale nuclear war.
The astronomical economic impact of this final scenario dwarfs into microscopic insignificance all that goes before it. It is for these reasons I feel that immediate military intervention in Iran is of the utmost necessity.
#23
Only problem with an immediate attack is that there is not the political will for it, either in this country or international. And before someone says it, that is not the fault of this administration : the media have been in full deep-throated screaming about how the Arabs and Iranians are being picked on by the "neocons", and how the Iranians just want to feel safe with their own set of nukes. Half of the media operated as Hizb'allah's press release office during the recent war in Lebanon, and the other half is harpying on the poor little Muslims being picked on in the West, and how they are just reacting to Western racism and oppression. The President may well decide to take the bullet of impeachment to protect the country, but he would be as idiotic as his detractors claim he is to not try to set the world stage correctly before making his move. That is why the November elections in this country are so damned important, we need to backhand the quislings into submission so that the West can defeat the Islamofascists BEFORE we get a city nuked.
Belgium is sending almost 400 barbers troops to join the expanded UN force in Lebanon, including anti-mine experts, medical units and make-up artists engineers, Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt announced Friday. European nations were able to take the lead in the Middle East peacekeeping while the United States had lost "credibility" with Arab nations, Belgium's foreign minister said.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/26/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
European nations were able to take the lead in the Middle East peacekeeping while the United States had lost "credibility" with Arab nations, Belgium's foreign minister said.
LOL. You bet. Take the lead, LOL. Why in another 6-8 months you might be able to scrape up 6,000-7,000 from the Great European Militaries. They'll be stranded in no-man's land, helpless as kittens, and frightened of their own shadows, but you'll be pulling in some UN loot, eh?
As for "credibility" with the Arabs, I can't think of anything more useless... except maybe comments from a Belgian.
#3
Tonight's show comes live from the tiny village of Rabid in Buckinghamshire, and our first question tonight is from a Mrs Elizabeth Scrint who says she is going on a Mediterranean cruise next week and can't find anything wrong with the Syrians.
Well, Mrs Scrint, apart from being totally unprincipled left-wing troublemakers, the Syrians are also born skivers, they're dirty, smelly and untrustworthy, and, of course, they're friends of the awful gippos. (applause) There you are, Mrs Scrint, I hope that answers some of your problems - have a nice trip. (more applause)
Well now, the result of last week's competition when we asked you to find a derogatory term for the Belgians. Well, the response was enormous and we took quite a long time sorting out the winners. There were some very clever entries. Mrs Hatred of Leicester Said 'let's not call them anything, let's just ignore them' ... (applause starts vigorously, but he holds his hands up for silence) ... and a Mr St John of Huntingdon said he couldn't think of anything more derogatory than Belgians. (cheers and applause; a girl in showgirl costume comes on and holds up placards through next bit) But in the end we settled on three choices: number three ... the Sprouts (placard 'The Sprouts'), sent in by Mrs Vicious of Hastings... very nice ; number two..... the Phlegms (placard) ... from Mrs Childmolester of Worthing; but the winner was undoubtedly from Mrs No-Supper-For-You from Norwood in Lancashire... Miserable Fat Belgian Bastards. (placard; roar of applause) Very good - thank you, Carol. (Carol exits) But as you know on this programme we're not just prejudiced against race or colour, we're also prejudiced against - yes, you've guessed, stinking homosexuals! (applause) So before the streets start emptying in Chelsea tonight, Let's go straight over to our popular prejudiced panel game and invite you once again to - Shoot The Poof! And could our first contestant sign in please ...
Poland has offered to more than double its number of troops serving in the peacekeeping force in Lebanon to 500, a Defense Ministry spokesman said. The offer was made at an EU summit in Brussels by Polish Foreign Minister Anna Fotyga, said Piotr Paszkowski, spokesman for the Defense Ministry. "She has offered to upgrade our contingent to 500 - That would be an extra 300," Paszkowski told The Associated Press. Poland's current deployment is 214.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/26/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Sorry to see this. The Poles are good soldiers and have fought alongside us in Iraq. I hate to see them put in the line of fire in such an ill-conceived, futile mission. Some of them will die needlessly.
#3
A nice exercise comparing serving alongside a US-led effort in Iraq, and an EU-led effort in Lebanon. I imagine the Poles, who have long used american as an adjective meaning the perfect example of its category, as in "That couch is so comfortable -- an american couch!", will find the experience salutory... and the EU already find their different view of things a bit of a thorn in the foot.
#4
And it will serve to reinforce the building contempt in Polish society for the transnationalists like the UN and EU, which is a very helpful thing. The utter lack of proper equipment, personnel, ammo, air support, ROE, food, and the like will be contrasted with serving next to the US military in Iraq where all of that was in abundance and/or properly designed for the situation.
(KUNA) -- Some 150 French soldiers arrived in Naqoura Port on board a French carrier to join the UNIFIL in implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, said a Lebanese security source on Friday. The source told KUNA that international forces and the French Navy ensured the safe delivery of machinery to the UNIFIL headquarters. The first 50 French soldiers had arrived in Lebanon on August 19.
Resolution 1701 stipulated that Lebanese forces and UNIFIL soldiers be deployed simultaneously in South Lebanon as Israel withdraws its forces from the area. EU foreign ministers are scheduled to meet in Brussels later today to discuss the forces they will send as part of the UNIFIL
Posted by: Fred ||
08/26/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#4
Note that if they're FFL, stereotypical love interest from french folklore is the isolated desert outpost's goat... of course, in the Real World(tm) it's rather those famous djibouti prostitutes whose name I forgot.
(KUNA) -- Israeli forces Friday stormed into the Lebanese border town of Aitaroun and kidnapped two citizens, Lebanese security sources told KUNA. The sources said the two kidnapped are Dr. Hussein Al-Akhras and Ali Abbas. An Israeli force had two days ago also kidnapped two other nationals, identified as Huseein Hussein and Mohammad Hussein.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/26/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
I would like to see this verified. At any rate I'm sure those kidnapped weren't innocent bystanders.
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.
(KUNA) -- British troops have staged a second show of strength in an Afghan town at the centre of the Taliban insurgency, the UK Ministry of Defense (MoD) said Friday. More than 500 UK troops took part in "Operation Atomi" to move what was described as a "large number" of Afghan police into Musa Qaleh, in Helmand province's notorious Sangin valley.
A Lebanese suspect has confessed to placing a bomb on a German train and investigations indicate that he might be linked to al Qaeda, Lebanon's Acting Interior Minister Ahmad Fatfat said on Friday.
German police arrested a third suspect today in connection with a failed attempt to blow up two trains, and Lebanese authorities picked up a fourth man as the investigation gathered steam, officials said. The man arrested in Germany, whose identity was not released, was detained in the southern city of Konstanz on suspicion of membership in a terrorist organisation, attempting to set off an explosion and multiple counts of attempted murder. 
HOUSTON (AP) - A stick of dynamite was found in a college student's checked luggage on a Continental Airlines flight from Argentina, one of seven security incidents Friday that caused U.S. flights to be diverted, evacuated, searched or delayed.
A third-grade teacher at Al Huda School in North College Park 
KOHLU: Jamhori Watan Party (JWP) chief 
(KUNA) -- The Multi-National Forces in Iraq Friday reported one of its soldiers was killed yesterday in the capital, Baghdad. A statement distributed today said the soldier died as a result of injuries sustained when a group of terrorists attacked his patrol with light artillery yesterday. No other details were revealed as to circumstance or exact location.
(KUNA) -- One Iraqi civilian was killed on Friday and two others were wounded in Diyala, northeastern Baghdad, and five bombs were defused, said the Iraqi police. In a statement, Diyala police said one civilian was killed and two others were wounded in an armed attack in Miqdadiya. Moreover, it said police successfully defused five bombs in the villages of Miqdadiya, Baqouba, and Jola'a. It also said that mortar shells fell over residential areas in the village of Khafaja in Baqouba but that no causalities were reported.
An IAF airstrike destroyed the home of a Hamas operative in the central Gaza Strip late Friday night, the army said. 
POINT PEDRO, Sri Lanka - The first aid ship to break a two-week siege of Sri Lankas northern Jaffna peninsula began to unload on Friday, while another Red Cross-flagged vessel headed in to evacuate foreign nationals.
(KUNA) -- Nearly 8,000 civilians and aid workers in the Jaffna peninsula in Northern Sri Lanka have begun to leave as the country's Air Force conducted strikes on Tamil rebel targets Friday. Life in the northern Jaffna peninsula has been thrown out of gear for the last three weeks because of fighting between the Tamil rebels and government troops. Details on damage were not immediately available, the news agency Indo-Asian News Service reported from the capital city of Colombo. In the northern Jaffna peninsula, the government has, however, relaxed its curfew for six hours, enabling civilians to purchase essential goods.
Just days before it is supposed to suspend enrichment of uranium or face the prospect of sanctions, Iran continues to project an image of defiance and confidence. Its position regarding the demand it suspend enrichment remains a determined "No."
On Friday, a mid-level cleric, Ahmad Khatami, said during a Friday prayer ceremony that the West ought to be cautious in the way it addressed Iran. "You can not use the language of force against this nation," Khatami, in a speech broadcast around the nation from central Tehran. "Do not test us as you have tested us before." As is customary, Khatami stood with his right hand gripping the barrel of an automatic weapon as he addressed thousands of people gathered for the weekly prayer ceremony. "You can not deal with a nation as great as the Iranian nation this way. It is a very stupid approach. Russia and China, we count on you to be careful not to fall into the trap American has set for you."
Tehran, Iran, Aug. 26 A top Iranian official warned on Friday that Tehran may develop nuclear weapons as a preventative measure against threats posed by the West.
Belgium is sending almost 400 
(KUNA) -- Some 150 French soldiers arrived in Naqoura Port on board a French carrier to join the UNIFIL in implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, said a Lebanese security source on Friday. The source told KUNA that international forces and the French Navy ensured the safe delivery of machinery to the UNIFIL headquarters. The first 50 French soldiers had arrived in Lebanon on August 19.
