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Gadahn indicted for treason
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Page 1: WoT Operations
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Afghanistan
The Global Taliban
Taliban and al-Qaeda commanders shed light on the global nature of the war and the status of fighting in Afghanistan

Combat operations in Afghanistan have tapered off over the past month and violent attacks have decreased by half. The operational tempo is declining as the summer fighting season comes to a close. The Taliban continues to suffer heavy losses when openly engaging Afghan and Coalition forces. Over the weekend, 72 Taliban were killed during engagements in Uruzgan and Helmand province. Fifty-two Taliban were killed in a single engagement in Uruzgan.

FOX News reports Mullah Nazir Ahmed Hamza, described as a "The regional-level commander", has indicated that while the Taliban has taken heavy losses, they are still prepared to fight. "The Taliban still has thousands of fighters despite NATO reports of heavy losses in recent battles, that support for the hardline movement is increasing every day and that U.S. and NATO forces would have a tough time beating the fighters without air support." With a sanctuary, training camps, ample supplies of recruits and support from Pakistani intelligence in Western Pakistan, unfortunately Mullah Hamza may very well be correct.

Mullah Hamza's lament about NATO airpower is quite telling. Last weekend the Telegraph reported on Pakistani intelligence's role in the fighting in Kandahar up to and during Operation Medusa. "Hundreds of Taliban reinforcements in pick-up trucks who crossed over from Quetta – waved on by Pakistani border guards – were destroyed by Nato air and artillery strikes," according the Telegraph. The initial battle assessment was about 500 Taliban killed, but the number was revised upward to 1,000 - 1,500 after heavy engagements in the deserts of southeastern Afghanistan. The Taliban repeatedly massed in large formations, and was destroyed at a ratio of 100 to 1, horrendous losses for both conventional and insurgent forces.

The Toronto Star also highlights the role airpower has played in battling the Taliban during Operation Medusa. Charlie Company from the Royal Canadian Regiment had to be pulled off the line during the fighting, but not because of the Taliban's combat power. Four soldiers were killed from 7 Platoon while engaging the Taliban in a school house, but 8 more were killed and 40 more injured during a friendly fire incident. An American A-10 close air support strike aircraft accidentally attacked the Canadian unit during the operation. Air power did what the Taliban could not accomplish.

Canada, Britain and the United States have born the brunt of the fighting in southern and eastern Afghanistan. Gordon O'Connor, Canada's minister of defense minister, has demanded that the NATO countries deployed in the northern sectors remove the restriction on troops deployments that prevent them from entering the hot combat zones. The Taliban, with their base of operations in neighboring Pakistan, do not suffer from such restrictions.

Elsewhere, Abu Yahya al-Libi, who escaped from Bagram prison in summer of 2005, has issued yet another videotape. In the latest tape, al-Libi is seen exhorting Taliban to fight a global jihad. "Allah will not be pleased until we reach the rooftop of the White House," said Abu Yahya al-Libi, "You have to get well prepared by starting with exercise, and then you have to learn how to use technology until you are capable of nuclear weapons."

Over 1,200 miles away, Multinational Forces Iraq has confirmed via DNA testing that Omar Farouq, Al-Libi's companion and fellow escape in Bagram, has been killed. Farouq was killed in Basra, and was acting as an al-Qaeda facilitator of weapons, cash and personnel into Iraq.

By Bill Roggio on October 12, 2006 12:48 AM
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 10/12/2006 13:59 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  As for the Pakistani border guards, wouldn't it be just horrible if some "Taliban" offed them?
Posted by: gorb || 10/12/2006 17:06 Comments || Top||

#2  The operational tempo is declining as the summer fighting season comes to a close.

And during the winter they huddle close to the fire in friendly villages, planning the bold operations they will conduct next summer. How quaintly old-fashioned! No doubt each time a village or a training camp is wiped out by those not restricted by mere inclement weather, the corpses will be found with shocked looks on their faces as their god once again displays his displeasure.
Posted by: trailing wife || 10/12/2006 17:38 Comments || Top||

#3  Yes, it's time for the season of hudna...
Posted by: Seafarious || 10/12/2006 21:26 Comments || Top||

#4  And, of course, if after waving them through, the Pak border guards made a little phone call, it might explain why their take home pay is about 50 times the usual.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 10/12/2006 21:27 Comments || Top||

#5  Shocking!

Damn! If you can't trust a Pak border guard not to rat you out, who can you trust?
Posted by: Hupailing Ebbuns2352 || 10/12/2006 23:01 Comments || Top||

#6  Shocking!

Damn! If you can't trust a Pak border guard not to rat you out, who can you trust?
Posted by: Hupailing Ebbuns2352 || 10/12/2006 23:03 Comments || Top||

#7  Shocking!

Damn! If you can't trust a Pak border guard not to rat you out, who can you trust?
Posted by: Hupailing Ebbuns2352 || 10/12/2006 23:03 Comments || Top||

#8  Shocking!

Damn! If you can't trust a Pak border guard not to rat you out, who can you trust?
Posted by: Hupailing Ebbuns2352 || 10/12/2006 23:04 Comments || Top||

#9  More fantastic news that the traitors in the MSM will not report on.
Posted by: Icerigger || 10/12/2006 23:50 Comments || Top||


20 militants killed in Afghanistan
Some 20 Afghan militants were killed on Wednesday in heavy fighting with Dutch troops in southern Uruzgan province, a Dutch Defence Ministry spokesman said. He said the fighting erupted after a combined patrol of Dutch, US and Afghan security forces hit a roadside bomb near the Dutch base in Tarin Kowt.
“The Dutch and US forces suffered no casualties. According to initial estimates some 20 enemy fighters were killed.”
The bomb hit an Afghan army vehicle and two Afghan soldiers were killed. Militants then opened fire from all sides. “It was an ambush and very heavy fighting followed,” Defence Ministry spokesman Nico van der Zee said. Eight Afghan soldiers were wounded in the clashes. The Dutch and US forces suffered no casualties. According to initial estimates some 20 enemy fighters were killed. “It is important to note that at the time of the attack civilians were present in the area. This is very unusual and we think it might mean that not even the civilians were warned an attack would take place,” Van der Zee said.
Posted by: Fred || 10/12/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Militants. Piss off PakiWaki Daily Slimes.

Way to go, Gents.
Posted by: .com || 10/12/2006 0:04 Comments || Top||

#2  Attention arab muslims who hate the West: Keep sending your young, stupied, inexperienced young men to die in combat. That means fewer we have to cull on Western soil.
Posted by: anymouse || 10/12/2006 1:13 Comments || Top||

#3  Ah yes, the soldiers with the little wooden shoes kicked booty on the Talibunnies.
Posted by: Lancasters Over Dresden || 10/12/2006 2:02 Comments || Top||

#4  Allahu akbar!
Posted by: gorb || 10/12/2006 2:56 Comments || Top||

#5  In PDT's defense, they did attack troops, not a school bus or shopping mall. While "illegal combatants" is probably closer than "fighters" or "militants," I can't really call what they did "terrorism." Save that for the Paleos and AQ.
Posted by: Jackal || 10/12/2006 11:25 Comments || Top||


Africa Horn
At least eight people killed, four others wounded in clashes in Darfur
(KUNA) -- At least eight people were killed and another four wounded in clashes between Darfur rebels and the forces of the Sudanese Liberation Movement in Mahajriya area in Darfur. The Sudanese Press Center cited on Wednesday Jadallah Abdul-Hakim, a leader from the Darfur rebels, as saying that his forces were intimidated by the movement forces on Monday night, which led to the clashes. Abdul-Hakim said eight among his forces were killed and four from the Liberation Movement were wounded.

An African Union aircraft transported the wounded gunmen to Darfur's capital, Al-Fashir, where they received treatment, he added. During the past few days, Darfur witnessed several battles between Darfur rebels and the Sudanese government forces, which led the UN to decide urgent transport of 40,000 Sudanese refugees to Chad.

The UN World Food Program (WFP) affirmed yesterday that about 250,000 people in Darfur could not obtain food provided by the UN sue to fighting. Clashes between government forces and rebels in Darfur have killed more 200, 000 Sudanese and forced more than two million to flee their houses since 2003.
Posted by: Fred || 10/12/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Africa North
Key Figure of Insurgency in Algeria Reportedly Dead
Among the two alleged terrorists killed by Algerian security in eastern Boumerdes this week was Abderahmane Djerrah, real name Boudhib Djamel. Originally from Beni Amrane, Abderahmane Djerrah joined the insurgency movement in 1995 and became quickly in charge of abducting area's business owners and their families members. Most of the kidnapping that have occurred in the past years in Boumerdes are said to be planned and executed by him and his team, with the ultimate goal of receiving ransoms. Also know as the Emir of Djerrah, he became the GSPC money machine.
Posted by: Fred || 10/12/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Reportly dead?

Or Mostly Dead?
Posted by: Bobby || 10/12/2006 18:10 Comments || Top||

#2  As Coroner, I can aver,
I've thoroughly examined her,
And she's not only merely dead,
She's realy most sincerely dead.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 10/12/2006 20:34 Comments || Top||


70 Algerians indicted with terrorist charges in Spanish prisons
The head of Algerian civil society organizations federation in Europe protested the reality of “how easy is to indict Algerian national in Spain with terrorism charges!” He unveiled that around 70 Algerians prosecuted for terrorist cases are imprisoned in Spanish jails namely Ahmed Ibrahim being charged with subversive fatwa dissemination as well as Al Qaeda funding.
“The Spanish government is really going too far, it is undertaking a deliberate systematic violation of Algerian nationals, now it is up to the Algerian government to bare its responsibilities”, Aribi said.
Mr. Belmeddah called president Bouteflika to “play a mediation role in order to put a term to the injustice inflicted to Algerians by José Maria Aznar government usually referred to as terrorist networks leaders in Spain”.

“Algerian authorities are fully aware of the hazardous abuses of the Spanish government against Algerians who have usually been the scapegoats of Spain-US security services coordination”, he further pointed out. “Islah” Deputy Mr. Hassan Aribi stated: “Spanish authorities’ deeds construes the fact that the State failed to stand up for Algerian national in order to put away oppression”.

“The Spanish government is really going too far, it is undertaking a deliberate systematic violation of Algerian nationals, now it is up to the Algerian government to bare its responsibilities”, Aribi further said.
Posted by: Fred || 10/12/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  is up to the Algerian government to bare its responsibilities

Oh, jeez. Off comes the burkha.
Posted by: Jackal || 10/12/2006 11:26 Comments || Top||


China-Japan-Koreas
Norks threaten New York
WASHINGTON – As reports circulated of a second imminent nuclear test, a high-ranking North Korean official who is called the unofficial spokesman for Kim Jong-il issued a not-so-veiled threat to the United States today in an interview with South Korean radio.

"Everything will be settled in a week," said Kim Myong-chol on KBS Radio. "That is, whether we, Korean people, will remain as we are now, or lose, or New York will lose, or Washington, D.C., will lose, it will all be settled once and for all." The report was carried in Chosun Ilbo, a Korean-language newspaper in the south.
They keep banging their spoon on the high chair tray.
The South Korean government is trying to verify intelligence that North Korea is to conduct another nuclear test soon – possibly in the next two or three days. Quoting a reliable source on North Korea, the report said: "Many indications from North Korea point to the high likelihood that North Korea would conduct another nuclear test in two or three days. We received intelligence Oct. 11 that says the North Korean military is showing unusual movements."

Alexander Downer, Australian foreign minister, said yesterday, "We have intelligence that North Korea would have another nuclear test soon. We are very concerned about it."
Posted by: Spumble Chiting6193 || 10/12/2006 12:15 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  We received intelligence Oct. 11 that says the North Korean military is showing unusual movements.

They should try some kind of fiber supplementation.
Posted by: eLarson || 10/12/2006 17:01 Comments || Top||

#2  It could be read as the NorKs threaten NY, but it makes more sense that they are talking about the United Nitwits in NY. This is the only kind of "attack" they could do in a week.
Posted by: gorb || 10/12/2006 17:10 Comments || Top||

#3  The NorKs don't grasp that the shock value of a nuclear test has already been expended. Nobody cares about further testing, unless maybe they actually get one to go off. Kim has shot his wad and refuses to admit it.
Posted by: RWV || 10/12/2006 17:41 Comments || Top||

#4  Mr. Kim Myong-chol is living proof of the long term effects of excessive masturbation prior to the onset of puberty ... pitiful, really.

Come to think of it ... the same could probably be said of Kim Jong-il.
Posted by: Michael Sheehan || 10/12/2006 17:56 Comments || Top||

#5  Yep. It'll stunt your growth.
Posted by: ed || 10/12/2006 18:07 Comments || Top||

#6  Pyongyang had best be careful what they ask for. I've got Italian friends who grew up in some pretty tough neighborhoods in NY. Mess with their relatives, and they're gonna come pay you a visit, know what I mean?

shakes head at the thought of the NORKs taking on Brooklyn
Posted by: lotp || 10/12/2006 18:49 Comments || Top||

#7  Kim Jong-Mentally-Il has more balls than brains.
Posted by: JohnQC || 10/12/2006 20:22 Comments || Top||

#8  I assume that your NY 'Friends" don't give a shit about national boundaries either.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 10/12/2006 20:38 Comments || Top||

#9  New York = the capital of Canada; or perhaps the People's Republic of New England??? In short, what MYONG-CHOL is saying that Asia = North Korea will rise, while America = West declines.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 10/12/2006 22:14 Comments || Top||

#10  Forgot to say that Myong-chol's comments once more shows the WOT > WAR FOR THE WORLD + WHAT IDEO WILL DOMINATE/CONTROL THE FUTURE OWG = WORLD ORDER. Anyone who thinks that NORAM-CANUSA will be safe iff only America retreated unto global isolationism, concession, SOcialism and antisovereign OWG, etc is either delusional or a closet traitor.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 10/12/2006 22:19 Comments || Top||

#11  I think it's all do to the great leaders psychological problems: he's a rotund dwarf with bad hair, his dad named him 'Kim', and he's got Nodong.
Posted by: DMFD || 10/12/2006 22:22 Comments || Top||

#12  Kim is his last name.
Posted by: J.D. Lux || 10/12/2006 22:27 Comments || Top||

#13  Well stated, JosephM. I quite agree.
Posted by: trailing wife || 10/12/2006 23:45 Comments || Top||


Ruskies and ChiComs Block US-Led NoKo Cargo Inspection
RUSSIA and China are blocking an American plan to mount international inspections of all cargoes entering and leaving North Korea for fear of provoking a military showdown.

North Korea underlined the concerns by saying yesterday that it would regard such sanctions as an act of war. Pyongyang threatened “physical measures”, including a second nuclear test, unless Washington ceased to confront it.

President Bush said that he had “no intention of attacking” the isolated Stalinist regime and that he would pursue “all diplomatic efforts” in response to North Korea’s first atomic explosion. “Diplomacy hasn’t run its course, and we’ll continue working to give diplomacy a full opportunity to succeed,” he said. But he made it clear that President Kim Jong Il must face “serious repercussions” for sparking the world’s latest nuclear crisis.

The repercussions envisaged by Mr Bush were being contested by Russia and China as they outlined their positions on a new Security Council resolution that could be adopted as early as tomorrow.

Their stance meant that while agreement was close to a resolution imposing limited sanctions on North Korea, they would shy away from any enforcement action.

While Moscow and Beijing are ready to accept legally binding sanctions aimed at Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes, they are balking at a US proposal to enforce them with international inspections.

Vitali Churkin, Moscow’s UN Ambassador, has argued that North Korea could use the inspections to provoke a military confrontation.

Russia and China oppose extending the sanctions to luxury goods, as Washington has proposed, or to a total embargo on all North Korean exports, as Japan has suggested. They may go along, however, with plans to prohibit travel by highranking North Korean officials.

Kofi Annan, the UN Secretary-General, urged the US to hold direct bilateral talks with North Korea. “I believe that the US and North Korea should talk,” he said.

North Korea, too, used the threat of further nuclear tests to try to force the US to one-to-one talks. Kim Yong Nam, the president of the Presidium of the North Korean Supreme People’s Assembly, said: “The issue of future nuclear tests is linked to US policy toward our country. If the United States continues to take a hostile attitude and apply pressure on us in various forms, we will have no choice but to take physical steps to deal with that.”

In a separate statement, the North Korean Foreign Ministry said that North Korea was prepared to return to six-way talks in Beijing involving the US, China, Russia, Japan and North and South Korea.

“Even though we conducted a nuclear test due to the United States, our willingness to realise the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula through dialogue and negotiation remains unchanged. If the US continues to harass and put pressure on us, we will regard this as a declaration of war.”

The remarks suggest that North Korea regards the possession of nuclear weapons as a negotiating tool.

Posted by: Captain America || 10/12/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  RUSSIA and China are blocking an American plan to mount international inspections of all cargoes entering and leaving North Korea for fear of provoking a military showdown.

that should read "for fear of" unraveling counterfeit US currency & conventional weapons blackmarket...methinks

Don't we have a participation PSI agreement with these states which allows us to inspect suspected cargo?
Not sure but if we don't we should
Posted by: Dunno || 10/12/2006 0:16 Comments || Top||

#2  Would be embarrassing to have inspected NK drugs, counterfeit and weapons exports via Russia and China to the world's worst dictatorships.
Posted by: ed || 10/12/2006 0:22 Comments || Top||

#3  If Russia and China want to block the enforcement of a ban on exports of nuclear weapons, then they should each designate one of their cities to be nuked as part of the response to the first North Korean manufactured nuclear weapon that explodes outside of North Korea. If they are going to facilitate nuclear terror, then they should be willing to pay the price.
Posted by: RWV || 10/12/2006 0:23 Comments || Top||

#4  Russia and China oppose extending the sanctions to luxury goods, as Washington has proposed...

What luxury goods are they? I prefer my foie gras to be made from ducks, not actual grass. Oh, you meant luxury goods going into the workers paradise?

Dunno's right - they're bottling it in case they get found out.
Posted by: Tony (UK) || 10/12/2006 0:24 Comments || Top||

#5  Kimmy's Hennesy
Posted by: 3dc || 10/12/2006 1:07 Comments || Top||

#6  RWV's idea gets my vote.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 10/12/2006 1:11 Comments || Top||

#7  Sounds good we could never have really garanteed intradiction of the Uranium anyway or its tech.

I say just tell the Chicoms that we consider the Norks as thier pit bull thier proxy thier problem. Very simply that if any Nork tech or uranium ends up going boom in either a US city or any of our allies that they will share with the Norks the Retribution from US.

The Chicoms wont risk nuclear anialation for some petty cash a terrorist or 3rd world dictator will pay the Norks for it. The only people that can control the Norks is China we shoud force them to do it.

I would also throw a threat in thier that our pit bull Tiawan may just decide to go nuclear as well.
Posted by: C-Low || 10/12/2006 1:41 Comments || Top||

#8  I'll second RWV's motion.

I would also throw a threat in thier that our pit bull Tiawan may just decide to go nuclear as well.

Ahem. Taiwan is not "our pit bull". They just happen to be a peaceful democratic nation who is the world's eighteenth economy with one fiftieth of China's population and one tenth of the PRC's Gross Domestic Product.

That might make them an economic powerhouse and standard bearer for democracy, but hardly our pit bull. A candidate for acquiring nuclear weapons? Most definitely. But let's leave playing the pit bull to Kim Jong Il.
Posted by: Zenster || 10/12/2006 3:08 Comments || Top||

#9  As a final aside; Wouldn't it be ever so tragic if North Korea suddenly began to lose all of its maritime traffic at sea? With their shortage of funds, all of their vessels must be tragically behind schedule for overhauling.

IT WOULD GIVE OUR SUBS SOME NICE TARGET PRACTICE TOO!
Posted by: Zenster || 10/12/2006 3:12 Comments || Top||

#10  Remember what I wrote about judging people by what they do instead of what they say? Like I said earlier, North Korea is China's Rottweiler.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 10/12/2006 4:53 Comments || Top||

#11  With China it's trust through verification, repeated verification. North Korea is China's puppet; RWV's idea has merit. It would short circuit plenty of BS.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 10/12/2006 7:34 Comments || Top||

#12  All they can block is putting the UN's Stamp of Imaginary Legitimacy on the plan. The plan makes perfect sense and we should just fucking do it. Period. This is important. Bush is playing by The UN Rules, for the moment, as he always has. That will change if he believes the threat is too great to accept this phoney tantrum from Kimmie, Putty, and Whu.
Posted by: .com || 10/12/2006 7:41 Comments || Top||

#13  Time to "Cowboy Up."
Posted by: doc || 10/12/2006 7:55 Comments || Top||

#14  My appologies RWV, I didn't read the whole comment string before posting. I just posted. Was not trying to bite on your commment.

Thats pretty wierd reading back this morning seeing my comment was nearly identical to yours with just the dog analogy added. Hay "great minds think alike" I guess. Either way I should have read all the comments to avoid such mistakes.
Posted by: C-Low || 10/12/2006 9:08 Comments || Top||

#15  The NKors are evil but not stupid. If some of their ships disappear on the high seas with no explanation they'll take action. I suspect their ships are also rigged with suitable comm gear; even if you torpedo the sucker they'll have a few seconds to send a coded message and that's all it takes.

While it wouldn't bother me at all to 'disappear' NKor ships loaded with contraband, we need to be smart about this. Exception -- an NKor ship known to be transporting a nuke or fissible material DOES get disappeared, no question and no talking about it afterwards.
Posted by: Steve White || 10/12/2006 10:20 Comments || Top||

#16  Why do we bother with the UN? Just tell them we'll be willing to talk some more when they are willing to get real.
Posted by: Sleaper Thraviter2776 || 10/12/2006 10:59 Comments || Top||

#17  We will continue to play the game in the civilized way; UN sanctions and debates and the occasional strongly worded condemnation. Therefore, the world will continue down the slippery slope into chaos and world war.
One way to put an end to the incrimental spiral into defeat is to outfox them. I would form a group of civilized powers to take out NorKor's ships at sea. No names, no questions, just a war of attritian against their ability to trade war materials. It would be good to warn other nations that ships leaving SoKor would be fine, but ships leaving NorKor would not pass GO.
My proposal is totally against civilized norms, but I see us killing ourselves to defend civility.
That's what the activity to date has yielded; increases in terrorism and nuclear activity incrimentally as we use predictable, ineffective countermeasures.
Posted by: wxjames || 10/12/2006 11:22 Comments || Top||

#18  Well, if they won't agree, we'll just have to do it our way. Capture or sink all traffic within 3 miles of NK on the Yellow Sea, Sea of Japan...

...and the Yalu river.
Posted by: Jackal || 10/12/2006 11:30 Comments || Top||

#19  the UN's Stamp of Imaginary Legitimacy

That is a phrase to be added to the Rantburg Standard Lexicon. Nice acronym too: SOIL
Posted by: SteveS || 10/12/2006 11:37 Comments || Top||

#20  Big surprise. Just parting the curtain a bit farther. We can see the real opponents; same as the old opponents. Russia & China use Muzzies as clients of provocation. Muzzies use Hezbs and Hamas. Putie must be congratulating himself on how clever he really is.
Posted by: SpecOp35 || 10/12/2006 11:55 Comments || Top||

#21  Pirates Steve. Hoist the Jolly Rumsfeld ya scurvy cur.
Posted by: ed || 10/12/2006 13:04 Comments || Top||

#22  Better let the Brits handle the pirate action, Americans have ever made piss poor bucanneers, while our buds seem to thrive on it.

Posted by: Shipman || 10/12/2006 18:33 Comments || Top||

#23  We do rather well at posses, however.
Posted by: lotp || 10/12/2006 18:42 Comments || Top||

#24  Posses get to ride horses - fast, exciting and frontierish. Course Posses without horses tend to be portrayed as Lynch Mobs, you can easily see the utility of the hoss here.
Posted by: Shipman || 10/12/2006 18:57 Comments || Top||

#25  Hosses = good.
Posted by: lotp || 10/12/2006 19:18 Comments || Top||

#26  Drop the spans over the Yalu, rail, road, pipes and power.

Then an embargo isnt that hard - NKor would run out of fuel, food and thier powergrid woudl permanently collapse well before those spans could be restored.
Posted by: Oldspook || 10/12/2006 19:20 Comments || Top||

#27  Ya' know...I can't help but think that Japan may well truly take the lead in this - and that's not necessarily a good thing.

Not too long ago there was a book called "The Coming War With Japan" about a resurgent Japan clashing with the US. The author was none other than George Friedman (name?) of StrategyPage fame.

Much of the book was scarey accurate.

Despite the fact that Japan is our ally and close friend today, they may not always remain so. I have visions of Japanese carriers flying the rising sun flag in the not to distant future.

I also have visions of a Japanese-style war against the NorKs merchant marine in the Nazi style along the US coast just prior to WW2.

These are not nice visions...though they do have som good parts to them...due to the inevitable consequences IMO.

Posted by: FOTSGreg || 10/12/2006 21:53 Comments || Top||

#28  A "military showdown" in the Pacific will inevitably occur when one, NORTH KOREA/NORTH KOREA = CHINA? fires a nuclear-tipped missle(s)at Hawaii, West Coast-ALCAN, JAPAN or even GUAM; or Second, iff China attacks TAIWAN, andor third, iff JAPAN = SOUTH KOREA, etal. GO NUCLEAR. PRO-CHICOM bloggers > sev want America-Euros-West out of Asia + Pacific + desire to see China dominate East Asia, inclduing but limited to a [minima]CHINESE-CONTROLLED CHINA-JAPAN-KOREAS SOCIALIST AXIS.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 10/12/2006 22:26 Comments || Top||

#29  Meds, Joe...meds are good...

Posted by: FOTSGreg || 10/12/2006 22:33 Comments || Top||


Europe
4 Missing Turks Kidnapped by PKK
Four missing Turkish citizens were kidnapped by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), the Turkish General Staff announced on Wednesday. A statement on the Turkish General Staff official web site said that three village guards and one citizen, who have been missing for two days in the village of Ogulveren in the eastern Turkish city of Van, were abducted by PKK terrorists.

Security forces launched operations to rescue the missing citizens and to capture the terrorists, the statement added. The statement went on to say that a clash took place between Turkish security forces and the PKK members near the Belat forests in the southeastern city of Sirnak. "No casualties have been reported in the clash while operations still continue to track down the terrorists" the statement concluded.

Meanwhile, three members of the PKK escaped from their organization and surrendered to Turkish military authorities in the Silopi district of Sirnak late on Tuesday, having first been sheltered by the Kurdistan Democrat Party (KDP) offices in northern Iraq.
Posted by: Fred || 10/12/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Home Front: WoT
NORTHCOM Officials Reacted Immediately to NYC Aircraft Incident
And Rangel was on Fox News within a few hours, already blaming Bush and the slowness of the response!
WASHINGTON, Oct. 12, 2006 – When Navy Adm. Timothy J. Keating first heard that a plane had hit a high-rise building in New York yesterday, his first thought was: “Let us get busy as quickly as we know how to make sure it’s not another 9-11,” the admiral said in a news conference later that day.

Keating, the commander of North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command, immediately scrambled fighters and support aircraft to protect U.S. and Canadian cities. He said combat-loaded aircraft were over New York and Washington within 10 minutes of the small plane hitting the building in New York.

A small aircraft owned and piloted by Yankee pitcher Cory Lidle took off from Teterboro Airport in New Jersey and was flying around the island of Manhattan. Keating said the pilot probably got disoriented and crashed into a 50-story high-rise on New York’s East Side.

Keating, who was in his office at Peterson Air Force Base, Colo., at the time, received notification and immediately launched jets from a number of bases around the United States and Canada. He said that within 20 minutes of the plane hitting the building all the aircraft were on station. “These are armed aircraft capable of conducting offensive operations,” Keating said. “We’re much more alert, much more ready and much more capable of providing air patrols over the United States and Canada” than in the past.

As NORAD commander, Keating has the authority to launch fighters from alert status. He then notifies the chain of command in the United States and Canada. He said the aircraft patrolled over cities on the east and west coasts, but did not announce more specific details for security reasons. In addition to fighter aircraft, NORAD launched Airborne Warning and Control System aircraft and tankers.

Shortly after the combat air patrol launched, Keating said, he received notification via the Federal Aviation Administration on where the airplane came from and its type. The operation ended after about five hours, he said.

Keating said he was pleased by the way the interagency process worked and the ease of communications among the various organizations. He said the bottom line for NORAD is: “We’re ready. In a real world event, the system responded quickly and appropriately.”
Posted by: Sherry || 10/12/2006 13:36 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Charles and every other moonbat knows BushRove & Co. should have ESP, just like they do. I mean, a major league pitcher driving his plane into a NYC aprtment building, well damn. John freaking Scary or Algore would have known before it happened and they wpuld have handled it smarter. Not dumber.
Posted by: Evil Elvis || 10/12/2006 13:52 Comments || Top||

#2  And they would have checked their spelling before posting to Rantburg, too. Bet.
Posted by: Evil Elvis || 10/12/2006 13:53 Comments || Top||

#3  And they would have checked their spelling before posting to Rantburg, too. Bet.

Nope. The prescient know before hand that they will misspell a word, so any misspelling is intended.

Posted by: NoBeards || 10/12/2006 15:41 Comments || Top||

#4  Not even a cheetah stands a chance in a race with a grandstander when the finish line is a TV camera.
Posted by: eLarson || 10/12/2006 16:31 Comments || Top||

#5  Thats rite. Intentitionall.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 10/12/2006 16:51 Comments || Top||

#6  The prescient know before hand that they will misspell a word, so any misspelling is intended

An insight into RantZen.
Posted by: Shipman || 10/12/2006 18:37 Comments || Top||

#7  Not even a cheetah stands a chance in a race with a grandstander when the finish line is a TV camera.

It is said that even a Frenchman cannot outrun the effects of an exploding Mercedes in the GrandStand.

Speed, noise, aluminum wheels, Peace.

Posted by: Shipman || 10/12/2006 18:41 Comments || Top||

#8  the precious prescient

No war if we all join hands around the world promoting a culture of peace and tolerance by having international forums for literature against violence and the generations could stop repeating the mistakes of former generations and we could grow organic vegetables and peace out.

spread the Peace... Out
Posted by: RD || 10/12/2006 20:43 Comments || Top||


First treason indictment since WWII
Snip, duplicate, see below. Heh. AoS.
Posted by: Jackal || 10/12/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I think this one is a duplicate. I posted it maybe 20 minutes before midnight. You can't beat the AoS.
Posted by: Jackal || 10/12/2006 0:13 Comments || Top||

#2  You just know that the ACLU is salivating at the prospect of defending this pond scum encrusted piece of excrement.
Posted by: RWV || 10/12/2006 0:17 Comments || Top||

#3  They cheat Jackal.
Posted by: .com || 10/12/2006 0:18 Comments || Top||

#4  I'll take it. But anybody out there make sure it never comes to this Johnny Taliban should have never made the courts lets hope he doesn't.
Posted by: Dunno || 10/12/2006 1:06 Comments || Top||

#5  How can they even propose their loyalty to courts? They cannot prove loyalty to anything. No code means just that to you but not for thee?
Posted by: newc || 10/12/2006 3:26 Comments || Top||

#6  Azzam the American is just a stooge. He's not important in the greater scheme of things. He's just a pet that they keep in Pakistan, and trot him out once in a while to parrot something. I hate to say it, but this probably is political grandstanding.
Posted by: gromky || 10/12/2006 3:29 Comments || Top||

#7  They cannot prove loyalty to anything.

That old taqqiya thingy really spoils all the fun, doesn't it? It may well force us to remove all known Muslims from our armed forces. I see little alternative.
Posted by: Zenster || 10/12/2006 3:34 Comments || Top||

#8  Good luck, Zenster. Here's Chaplain (MAJ) Muhammad, the Heidelberg family life chaplain, explaining why Muslims fast during Ramadan:
This spiritual act increases the sense of unity and brotherhood for Muslims all over the world . . . . Muslims believe that fasting is an act of pure submission to God’s command which is given in the Qur’an. Fasting has many benefits, but its true significance is to develop a sense of complete obedience to the One who created all people and gave them physical and spiritual needs and the means to fulfill those needs.
See? it's just committing to solidarity with the ummah and the supremacy of Allah. How could there possibly be any loyalty issues?

Happily, there are plenty of mosques in USAREUR where you can ask: The Chapel Annex on Tompkins Barracks, in Schwetzingen, the Islamic Worship Center, Hanau, and the Muslim and Jewish multi-faith chapel at Ramstein Air Force Base.

Doesn't that last one sound nice? I think it sounds nice. In fact, it makes me want to go have a nice big group hug.

Of course, some sourpusses who wrote letters to the editor aren't buying the teddy bears and rainbows. I think they need a big hug too!
Posted by: exJAG || 10/12/2006 4:56 Comments || Top||

#9  One day he'll wake up and realized he fucked up bad.
Posted by: Jesing Ebbease3087 || 10/12/2006 5:09 Comments || Top||

#10  Credit where due tho, he does have that nutty muzzie righthand speechafying thing down.
Posted by: Shipmam || 10/12/2006 7:14 Comments || Top||

#11  Yep.
Posted by: Shipman || 10/12/2006 7:15 Comments || Top||

#12  Hopefully, one day soon, he won't wake up at all ...
Posted by: doc || 10/12/2006 7:54 Comments || Top||

#13  Good. Find the scum guilty and riddle him with bullets upon capture.
Posted by: DarthVader || 10/12/2006 9:41 Comments || Top||

#14  Ambitious prosecutors sometimes try to resurrect arcane laws to see if they can revitalize them. The Vietnam war "killed off" a whole bunch of laws when the government just refused to prosecute people who had obviously and willfully violated them. That meant in the future, defendants could claim selective prosecution and get the charges dismissed.

If the prosecutor in this case is smart, the defendant is already known to be dead, but that information is classified. This would mean that the trial is limited to just the facts, with no "OJ circus" interference. No weeping family in the court, no heavily published ranting by the accused, and no political exploitation.

The logic of this is that it doesn't matter to this turdball, he is (possibly) already dead. What matters is that they have brought back to life the treason statute, and they will have a pretty airtight modern precedent on which to base *future* prosecutions if they can get a conviction.

Of course, this sets aside the question of whether the government *should* prosecute for "treason", a statute that is traditionally misused as it is used.

Personally, the statute I would like to see resurrected is the one that prohibits private individuals from conducting foreign policy on behalf of the US without permission.

That one would prohibit everything from armed American mercenaries working for a less than friendly, if not enemy government; to Jesse Jackson going overseas to support some dictator against the US.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 10/12/2006 11:12 Comments || Top||

#15  If the turban don't fit, you must acquit.
Posted by: Ackoopmed || 10/12/2006 15:21 Comments || Top||

#16  In a perfect world I'd like to think our gov't has "boots on the ground", so to speak, wandering the entire face of the earth in exoctic locations searching, very discreetly, for the likes of people such as this traitor and worse. Whether this is happening I do not know. But I like to think it does.

Find him. When it happens you'll know what to do.
Posted by: Mark Z || 10/12/2006 18:52 Comments || Top||

#17  Find him, try himl, convict him, hang him. Make prosecution for treason acceptable again.

Then indict John F'ing Kerry.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 10/12/2006 19:07 Comments || Top||


Gadahn indicted for treason
LOS ANGELES - The charge of treason was used for the first time in the United States' war on terrorism Wednesday, filed against a California man who appeared in propaganda videos for al-Qaida. Adam Yehiye Gadahn, 28, could be sentenced to death if convicted of the charge, which has been used only a few dozen times in U.S. history and not at all since the World War II era. He also was indicted on a charge of providing material support to terrorists.

Gadahn "knowingly adhered to an enemy of the United States, namely, al-Qaida, and gave al-Qaida aid and comfort ... with intent to betray the United States," according to the indictment, handed up by an Orange County grand jury.
That's exactly right, and I'm going to ululate the day this scumbag is brought to justice, dead or alive.
The suspected al-Qaida operative has been sought by the FBI since 2004. Based on the indictment, the FBI added Gadahn to its list of most wanted terrorists and offered a $1 million reward for information leading to his arrest or conviction.

Gadahn, who is believed to be in or near Pakistan, is suspected of having attended the terrorist group's training camps in Pakistan and serving as one of its translators. He has become known by his nom de guerre, Azzam al-Amriki, or "Azzam the American."

Gadahn appeared last month in a 48-minute video along with al-Qaida's No. 2 leader, Ayman al-Zawahri, calling on his countrymen to convert to Islam and for U.S. soldiers to switch sides in the Iraq and Afghan wars. It was the second time he appeared in the same video with al-Zawahri. In a July 7 video marking the one-year anniversary of the terror attack on London commuters, Gadahn appeared briefly, saying no Muslim should "shed tears" for Westerners killed by al-Qaida attacks.
I think the videos will be ample evidence to satisfy the constitutional requirements on a charge of treason.
Beyond that, authorities believe he is the masked figure who appeared in two previous videos from al-Qaida, one given to ABC television in 2004 and another a few days before the fourth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.

According to the indictment, Gadahn announced in the 2004 video that he had joined al-Qaida, "a movement waging war on America and killing large numbers of Americans."

"Fighting and defeating America is our first priority," he said, according to the indictment. "... The streets of America shall run red with blood."

The treason charge carries penalties ranging from a five-year prison sentence to the death penalty, while the charge of providing material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization carries a possible 15-year sentence.

Raised in Southern California on a Riverside goat farm, Gadahn converted to Islam and worshipped at the Islamic Society of Orange County in 1997 before being expelled for attacking one of its leaders. His mother last spoke to him by phone in March 2001. At the time he was in Pakistan, working at a newspaper, and his wife was getting ready to have a child.

Gadahn's aunt, Nancy Pearlman, declined to comment.
Posted by: Steve White || 10/12/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Couldn't happen to a nicer guy for deserving scumsucker.

Firing squad. At least twice.
Posted by: .com || 10/12/2006 0:08 Comments || Top||

#2  for = more.

Sheesh, I quit.
Posted by: .com || 10/12/2006 0:09 Comments || Top||

#3  Raised in Southern California on a Riverside goat farm...


I guess this means he knows his way around a Goat hump. Figures.

Posted by: NoBeards || 10/12/2006 0:26 Comments || Top||

#4  Yes, his daddy sold goats to the nice men down at the mosque.
Posted by: Seafarious || 10/12/2006 0:43 Comments || Top||

#5  For food or recreation?
Posted by: Tony (UK) || 10/12/2006 0:49 Comments || Top||

#6  It's about time..
Treason enforcement is long over due. Adam Gadahn is a lightweight POS traitor but his treason is superficial compared to the grievous betrayal from the once trusted servants Aldrich Ames, Robert Hanssen, Walker Spy Family etc.


Posted by: RD || 10/12/2006 1:14 Comments || Top||

#7  The saddest comment here: The first indictment for treason in the USA in nearly a half-century. I can think of plenty of people who should have received similarly charged in the past 50 years, i.e., Jane Fonda, Angela Davis, Richard Ayers, etc.
Posted by: Lancasters Over Dresden || 10/12/2006 1:59 Comments || Top||

#8  Ugh! *who should have received been similarly charged in the past 50 years *
Posted by: Lancasters Over Dresden || 10/12/2006 2:00 Comments || Top||

#9  Firing squad. At least twice.

Whoa! Slow down there, Tex. More like shot (twice if you like) and hung after torture. For this treacherous asshole, I'd gladly see the revival of drawing and quartering, complete with pulling his instestines out through the anus and burning them in a heap before him, just before spanking the horses.

Personally, I'm disappointed. Disappointed that this is only the first treason indictment being handed down since 9-11. John Walker Lindh springs to mind along with many other figures. It is sad commentary on how even our own government fails to recognize the abiding threat of Islam and those who follow it.
Posted by: Zenster || 10/12/2006 2:57 Comments || Top||

#10  don't take him alive, boys. You can bet this loudmouth sack of shit will be talking about martyrdom and jihad til the troops kick the door in...then he'll be wetting himself, begging for a lawyer and crying like a little girl. Kill him
Posted by: Frank G || 10/12/2006 8:34 Comments || Top||

#11  Best way is to identify his various body parts by DNA and feed them to pigs.
Posted by: RWV || 10/12/2006 10:19 Comments || Top||

#12  Hanged. Men are hanged.

Beef is hung.

Posted by: TheGrammarPolice || 10/12/2006 16:27 Comments || Top||

#13  I don't know about that. I've been told I'm pretty well hung.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 10/12/2006 16:52 Comments || Top||

#14  Yes of course, Nimble Spemble, dear. I'm sure you were.
Posted by: trailing wife || 10/12/2006 17:32 Comments || Top||

#15  CommaCop Ugly and Stinkee
Posted by: The Glamour Police || 10/12/2006 18:19 Comments || Top||

#16  Personally, I'm disappointed. Disappointed that this is only the first treason indictment being handed down since 9-11.

It's actually a pretty big step, although this guy's a bit player. Consider the fact that it was not politically possible to charge Jane Fonda with treason during the Vietnam war, despite her TV appearances urging treasonous acts.

A grand jury was willing to say this guy's acts appear to meet the very stringent requirements of treason. If those citizens think that it's time to apply this law again, chances are an increasing number of other people do too.

If I were in the Administration (and we're all glad I'm not! LOL) I would not have brought such a charge on a controversial case. I would have waited for just this sort of scumbag idiot, because the real value of this indictment is that it has made "treason" a word we can use again, with consequences.
Posted by: lotp || 10/12/2006 18:33 Comments || Top||

#17  I'm sure you meant to use the present tense, tw.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 10/12/2006 18:39 Comments || Top||

#18  Adam Gadahn is a lightweight POS traitor but his treason is superficial compared to the grievous betrayal from the once trusted servants Aldrich Ames, Robert Hanssen, Walker Spy Family

Damn Straight. Time for those F**ks to enter the wall with Mr. Reed.
Posted by: Shipman || 10/12/2006 18:47 Comments || Top||

#19  NS, I think tw meant that you were told that you were well hung, not that you used to be well hung but aren't anymore. Now stop trying to get everyone to focus on your package! As lotp points out, "the real value of this indictment is that it has made "treason" a word we can use again." Hip-hip hooray!
Posted by: exJAG || 10/12/2006 19:33 Comments || Top||

#20  I'd prefer we didn't use the word treason. It is only an invitation for a circus trial of this clown, just like the fiasco for Saddam or OJ. I do not believe our current Judicial system delivers justice. I would prefer the only words we used to refer to Mr. Gadahn were in the past tense. Just like Saddam's sons.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 10/12/2006 19:37 Comments || Top||

#21  Damn Straight. Time for those F**ks to enter the wall with Mr. Reed.

yep re Reed: 6 "when the poopoo hits the prop"
Posted by: RD || 10/12/2006 22:11 Comments || Top||

#22  The next time I gotta see this pig's ugly mug, I'd prefer if most of it was missing. None of this Johnny Walker Lindh "misunderstood kid" shit in some courtroom.
Posted by: tu3031 || 10/12/2006 22:42 Comments || Top||

#23  Glad to hear you think so, lotp.
Posted by: Zenster || 10/12/2006 23:57 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Musharraf says possible Qaeda link to rocket plotters
ISLAMABAD - Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf said an extremist gang arrested for a crude attempt to target him with rockets and a blast has possible links to Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda network. General Musharraf, who has escaped at least four previous assassination attempts, said that the group aimed rockets at his residence in Islamabad and triggered an explosion near his army home in nearby Rawalpindi last week.

“The perpetrators were all religious extremists, perhaps linked to a group having contacts with Al Qaeda, but they were not fully trained in carrying out such a task,” Thursday’s Dawn newspaper quoted him as telling journalists. “The attempt was real but the devices were so crude that they were bound to fail,” Musharraf added.

Musharraf first announced the detention of the alleged conspirators at a press conference on Wednesday night although he did not say at the time which group they were affiliated to. “We have caught the culprits. They are again extremists, unfortunately,” he said. “We have unearthed the whole gang. That is a success for our intelligence.” Asked by an AFP reporter if they had tried to kill him, he replied: “I can’t for sure say whether I was being targeted. Maybe I was.” “But I am not that easy a target,” he added.

Musharraf did not say how many suspects were caught.

Bomb disposal experts defused two Russian-made 107mm rockets near the president’s official residence and the Pakistani parliament in Islamabad on October 5. Hours earlier, an explosion thought to have been a possible rocket rocked a public park near Musharraf’s army residence in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, which adjoins Islamabad. There were no casualties.

Two rockets were also found on Saturday aimed at the headquarters of the country’s elite intelligence agency, the ISI (Inter Services Intelligence), apparently along a route Musharraf’s motorcade uses.

Musharraf told Dawn that intelligence agencies quickly rounded up the suspects because cellphones were attached to the rockets as trigger devices, and that all the calls that were meant to launch them came from the same phone. The plotters planned to use the cellphones’ vibrators to activate batteries attached to the rockets but only managed to detonate one, Musharraf said. He did not specify which attempt this related to.

The rockets did not have proper barrels attached and so would never have been able to hit a target accurately, he added.
Posted by: Steve || 10/12/2006 09:15 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The word 'planted' comes to mind
Posted by: Cheregum Crelet7867 || 10/12/2006 10:32 Comments || Top||

#2  As faked an attempt as Mushie's war on terror. Even the dumbest Pak isn't going to believe this one. Any muzzie 2 year old could set a better rocket attempt example.
Posted by: Shuns Uleating3851 || 10/12/2006 11:42 Comments || Top||

#3  I didn't realize that posturing had its own odor.
Posted by: Fred || 10/12/2006 12:20 Comments || Top||

#4  Musharraf says possible Qaeda link to rocket plotters

poo poo pose

smelly stance
Posted by: Kofi Anan || 10/12/2006 13:12 Comments || Top||


Sectarian activists to be arrested
The Interior Ministry has directed provincial authorities to take action against known operatives of banned militant groups who have not been reporting to police stations in their areas. Under the law, these members are required to visit police stations in their areas every two weeks and updated them about their activities.

The authorities arrested 300 such operatives at the start of Ramazan. The arrests were made to prevent them conducting any attacks during the holy month. However, around 100 such operatives are at large and the Interior Ministry had already directed the provinces to arrest them, the sources said.

The arrests were made under the Anti-Terrorist Act (ATA). Under the ATA, such operatives cannot travel from one city to another without permission from the authorities. They are also not allowed to visit “sensitive places” in their cities. An official told Daily Times the Interior Ministry had also asked the provinces to tighten the noose against people who distribute hate literature in front of mosques and printing presses printing such material. Over 3,000 prayer leaders have been arrested in the country for the illegal use of loudspeakers.
Posted by: Fred || 10/12/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:


10 tribesmen killed in Khyber Agency festivities
BARA: At least 10 more tribesmen have been killed and four others injured in clashes between Lashkar-e-Islami and Ansarul-Islam activists in Tirah valley, Khyber Agency. AI activists attacked an LI bunker late on Tuesday night, killing three LI activists and injuring four others. In the ensuing gunbattle, seven attackers were killed, and the rest fled, according to unconfirmed reports. Violence erupted in the area when political authorities established the AI to counter the LI, headed by Mangal Bagh Afridi. Maulana Khalilur Rehman, a JUI-F MNA, reportedly ‘tailored’ the AI when Mangal Bagh threatened him for “not doing enough against the political administration’s alleged atrocities”. Supporters of cleric Saifur Rehman have now joined the AI and it is now feared that they will settle personal scores with LI activists who succeeded cleric Mufti Munir Shakir. Armed conflicts between Rehman and Munir killed 36 people over a two-month period, and both of them were ousted from the agency. Several tribal jirgas have failed to broker a peace deal between the groups, allegedly because of interference by political authorities.
Posted by: Fred || 10/12/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  May I have some more, please?
Posted by: Glenmore || 10/12/2006 18:19 Comments || Top||


Tribesmen kidnap two teachers
MOHMAND AGENCY: Two teachers were kidnapped in Ghalanai while four rockets were fired at the political administration’s offices in Bahai Dag on Wednesday. The teachers were kidnapped by Khawazai tribesmen to demand the release of their fellow tribesmen arrested by the political administration of Ghalanai. The political administration arrested more than 50 Khawazai tribesmen following a dispute between former National Assembly member Barooz Khan and Haji Dilawar Khawazai over a payment of Rs 8 million. The Khawazai tribe allegedly refused to honour the deal. The Khawazai tribesmen kidnapped Ameer Khan and Akbar Khan to ensure the release of the arrested men.
Posted by: Fred || 10/12/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The headline here reminds me of Marge Simpson, kidnapped by a biker gang. Marge is teaching them to read and write and the gang leader, voiced by John Goodman, says:

"Mrs. Simpson! I killed my pencil!"
Posted by: JDB || 10/12/2006 0:31 Comments || Top||


Pak Talibs kill two "spies" in N. Wazoo
Two spies allegedly working for the US were gunned down at two different places in the Pakistani tribal agency of North Waziristan along Afghan border on Wednesday by suspected Taliban militants, said officials. Militants killed a local doctor in Saobi village of Miramshah, the regional Headquarters, and an Afghan national was shot to death in Mir Ali district of Miramshah, security officials told KUNA. They said militants also left letters near their bodies warning tribesmen of the same fate if found spying for Americans. Militants often kill tribesmen suspected of working for Pakistani and US security forces in North Waziristan but authorities so far have been unable to capture any of those responsible.
Posted by: Seafarious || 10/12/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:


17 more suspected Taliban arrested
Police arrested around 17 more suspected Talibans in two raids on rented buildings in the Pashtoonabad locality of the provincial capital on Wednesday, according to sources. Sources said the arrested men had been shifted to an unidentified location for interrogation. Maulana Noor Mohammad, an MNA and the chief of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam's (JUI) Quetta chapter, confirmed the arrests, but denied that the men had links with the Taliban.
"No, no! Certainly not!"
Posted by: Fred || 10/12/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:


Pakistani police arrests wanted terrorist carrying headmoney
(KUNA) - Police arrested in a raid Wednesday, a most-wanted terrorist wanted in kidnapping, murder and several other criminal cases, said police sources.
“Reports said he had returned from Iran only three days back before his arrest.”
Arshad Papu was arrested from Liyari area of Southern Karachi port city, local news channels quoted police sources as saying. Arshad was carrying headmoney of Rs. 50,00,000 (USD 83334). Reports said he had returned from Iran only three days back before his arrest.
Posted by: Fred || 10/12/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Does that mean he had cash in his turban?
Posted by: Thravise Elmorong3311 || 10/12/2006 2:04 Comments || Top||

#2  I didn't think they paid the little boys.
Posted by: Unique Battle || 10/12/2006 12:32 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Casey Details Progress Amid Iraqi Violence
WASHINGTON, Oct. 11, 2006 – The coalition military leader in Iraq disagrees with critics who say Iraq is in a civil war. “I don’t believe so, and the Iraqis I speak with don’t believe so either,” said Army Gen. George W. Casey Jr., commander of Multinational Force Iraq.
Casey and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld spoke during a Pentagon news conference today. Casey said that most of the sectarian violence in the country occurs within a 30-mile radius of the center of Baghdad. Some violence leaks over to Diyala province and the rest is in Basra, he said. “The idea that the country is aflame in sectarian violence is just not right. I do not subscribe to the civil war idea.”

Casey said military leaders in Iraq constantly review their strategy and adapt it as needed. He used the decision of July 2006 as an example. “I was on a track to off-ramping a couple of brigades,” he said. “But the situation on the ground didn’t support that, and we kept the forces there. We constantly look at what we need, and I ask for what we need.”

Casey said the broad strategy in Iraq – that coalition forces may draw down as Iraqi forces ramp up – is still valid. “We will continue to look tactically at what's happening on the ground, and my subordinate commanders will work to deal with that,” he said.

Giving the Iraqi government time is still crucial to success. Casey said the new government – the first democratically elected government in the nation’s history – is less than 150 days old. “This is the third government I’ve seen in power in Iraq, and as you can imagine, it takes a few months to get their legs under them,” he said.

Casey said training the Iraqi army is going well with six divisions, 30 brigades and 90 battalions in the lead in military operations. Making the Iraqi army able to operate independently will be the push in 2007, he said.

The Iraqi police have a bad reputation, Casey noted, and he said most of it is undeserved. Police units participated in kidnappings and murders, he acknowledged, but he pointed out that the Iraqi interior minister relieved those units and arrested those involved in the atrocities.

In two provinces, Iraqi police forces maintain domestic order without any coalition support. “I would expect to get to a total of six or seven Iraqi provinces under provincial Iraqi control by the end of the year,” Casey said.

Overall, the coalition has completed training about 90 percent of the police and border forces, and the general said he expects that to be finished by January.

Another initiative with the police forces is the National Police Reform Program. This takes an entire brigade off the line and moves it to a training base for three weeks of police training and loyalty training. “So we not only give them new skills, but a new ethos,” the general said.

Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 10/12/2006 11:48 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I sure would like to believe that we have trained the Iraqis to loyally defend the lives and freedoms of civilian Iraqis first, and not lift a finger to defend Allan's snackbar.
I just read that if you want to know how moderate a muzzie is, you ask what would happen if his son became a Christian.
For now, stay the course, and keep your head down.
Posted by: wxjames || 10/12/2006 14:33 Comments || Top||


Five Iraqis killed, 16 injured in a series of explosions
(KUNA) - At least five Iraqis were reportedly killed and 16 others were injured in a series of explosions that rocked Baghdad Wednesday morning. An Interior Ministry source told KUNA that a bomb exploded in Muhammad Al-Qasim road in Kaab Sara district. Few minutes later and after the civilians gathered at the site of the explosion and after arrival of policemen, an explosives packed car blew up.

The explosion killed three Iraqis, injured eight others, including three policemen, and caused damages to civilian cars nearby, the source said. About 20 minutes later, another car loaded with explosives blew up close to the Labor and Social Affairs Ministry building, in Cairo district in Baghdad. Iraqi Police said the explosion killed two civilians and injured seven others seriously. In Al-Mansour district west of Baghdad, two bomb explosions critically injured a civilian.
Posted by: Fred || 10/12/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:


US confirms Farouq still dead
The identity of a leader in Al-Qaeda terrorist organization Iraq was confirmed through a DNA test that was administered to his body, said the US army on Tuesday. In a press release, the army said the identity of Mahmoud Ahmad Mohammad Al-Rasheed (also known as Omar Al-Farouq) was confirmed by the test. Al-Farouq, an Iraqi, was killed by British forces in Basra last September 25.

Al-Farouq held close ties with Al-Qaeda's number two-man, Ayman Al-Zawahri. He was involved in a number of terrorist operations in south-east Asia. In 2002, in what was termed a major blow to terrorism, Al-Farouq was arrested in Indonesia after the blasts that took place in Ache. He was later transferred to Afghanistan Bagram camp which he escaped with a number of terrorists on July 11, 2005.
Posted by: Seafarious || 10/12/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Clone him, question him, and kill him again.
Posted by: gorb || 10/12/2006 2:55 Comments || Top||

#2  Clone him, question him, and kill him again.

This time, a lot more slowly.
Posted by: Zenster || 10/12/2006 3:46 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Israeli missile kills six Palestinians in Gaza raid
TEL AVIV/GAZA - An Israeli ground force covered by helicopter gunships penetrated the southern Gaza Strip early Thursday, killing six Palestinians, hospital officials said. At least seven others were injured in what the Israeli army said was a raid aimed at uncovering tunnels dug by militants. An army spokeswoman said the force was attacked by armed Palestinians and returned fire east of the town of Khan Younis.

Witnesses said an Israeli missile hit a crowd that included armed militants who were confronting the tanks and trying to stop them from advancing further. Four of people died on the spot while two others died of their wounds in hospital.

The dead were all members of the Qudeh family. Three of them were civilians, including a 14-year-old boy, while three others were militants of the governing Hamas movement’s military wing, the Izzadin al-Qassam Brigades. Hamas’ armed wing later said in a leaflet that it launched six rockets at the southern Israeli town of Sderot to revenge the deaths.

Earlier overnight, an Israeli F16 warplane fired a rocket a two-storey house in the northern Gaza Strip refugee camp of Jabaliya. Witnesses said the house owner, Abu Hassan Sallah, a senior Hamas militant, had been given advance warning. One bystander was slightly injured by shrapnel.

The Israeli army said Sallah had been storing weapons in his house. The Israel Air Force has destroyed more than 40 houses in the past three months said to be used for the storage of weapons. On Wednesday, an Israeli missile destroyed the eastern Gaza City home of a female legislator with the militant Hamas movement.
Posted by: Steve || 10/12/2006 08:57 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Paleo crowd control with missiles - I like it
Posted by: Frank G || 10/12/2006 9:20 Comments || Top||

#2  Why am I thinking about squashing cockroaches with a laptop?
Posted by: gromgoru || 10/12/2006 10:30 Comments || Top||


Palestinians Free American in West Bank
An American student teaching in West Bank refugee camps was freed late Wednesday after being held for a day by Palestinians. He appeared to be unharmed. Michael Leighton Phillips was brought to security headquarters in Nablus, where he was joined by a former mayor, Ghassan Shakaa, and a security chief, both members of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' moderate Fatah movement. Earlier on Wednesday, a blurred photocopy of a passport and student card carrying Phillips' name was sent to a foreign news agency by a group calling itself Ansar al-Sunna. Palestinian security said they did not know of such a group and could not confirm that the American had been abducted. Groups by that name operate in Iraq and Lebanon.

Samah Atout, manager of relief group Project Hope, said she received a call saying Phillips had been kidnapped. Jeremy Wildeman, executive director of Project Hope, said from his office in Toronto that they had not heard from Phillips, 24, since Tuesday.

Wildeman said Phillips was from New Orleans and had graduated in May from George Washington University's Elliot School of International Affairs and had been volunteering as an English teacher in the West Bank ever since. He said the volunteers typically work for three-month stints, but Phillips had asked to take on another three months. Wildeman said Project Hope was based in the West Bank, but carries out its fundraising and technical support in Canada and Britain. The group describes itself as a nonprofit volunteer organization that provides educational and recreational activities, medical and humanitarian relief and practical training. Wildeman said the volunteers mostly teach English and French to students who suffer from traumatic stress disorders.

Foreigners have been kidnapped and held briefly in Nablus in the past, then released unharmed. The most recent case was in February, during the storm over the Danish newspaper caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad, when a German volunteer was abducted and held for several hours.
Posted by: Fred || 10/12/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Perchance the Palestinians are discovering that Western donors, having broken the habit of blindly showering the PA with money, are finding better places to spend their aid money. The shower of gold is turning into a golden shower.
Posted by: RWV || 10/12/2006 0:29 Comments || Top||

#2  That picture is freakin' me out. A picture of a guy holding a picture of a guy holding a picture of a guy holding a pic....aw heck, nevermind.
Posted by: mcsegeek1 || 10/12/2006 11:44 Comments || Top||

#3  it's just recursion mcsegeek1 ;)
Posted by: Tony (UK) || 10/12/2006 15:41 Comments || Top||

#4  recursion why does it hate us?
recursion why does it hate us?
recursion why does it hate us?
recursion why does it hate us?
Posted by: Shipman || 10/12/2006 18:54 Comments || Top||

#5  mcsegeek1---It is just an informal look into infinity----and beyond. This poor chap just took a wrong turn in a wormhole in the space-time continuum and wound up exiting into a terrorist safe house. Bad luck.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 10/12/2006 22:28 Comments || Top||


Al-Aqsa: We freed kidnapped US youth
Dozens of armed gunmen from the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades stormed the Nablus apartment where kidnapped US citizen Michael Leighton Phillips was being held and freed the American youth.

Phillips was initially taken to the home of a PLO Executive Committee member’s home, where he was surrounded by dozens of media crews. Phillips spoke to Ynet immediately after his release and said he wasn't disappointed in the Palestinian people, “even though I can’t exactly say that they treated me kindly.” According to Phillips, he was held by his captors for 48 hours. “I don’t know who the kidnappers where or what they wanted, but I know who put me in the taxi that I was kidnapped from,” he said. He refused to describe how the kidnappers treated him, and only said: “I can’t say they treated my politely or kindly.”

Earlier, the Ansar A-Sunna Palestinian terror group said it had kidnapped an American youth in Nablus and demanded the release of Palestinian prisoners held in Israel in exchange for his release. The group is well known as being active in Iraq and identifies with al-Qaeda. In the afternoon hours, the kidnappers gathered a press conference to announce their demands: The release of women, children, elderly and infirm being held in Israeli prisons, and a halt to air force strikes on Palestinian areas. A blurred photocopy of a passport and student card carrying the American youth’s name was sent to the Reuters news agency.

Palestinian residents of Nablus told Ynet that Phillips had been working for an UNRWA school in the Askar refugee camp for the past four months on a fully volunteer basis. "He loved the work, the students and the whole of the Palestinian people, and would bring gifts to his students because he felt their poverty,” a Nablus resident told Ynet. He defined the kidnapping as anti-national, unpatriotic and damaging to Palestinian interests.

Ala Sanqara and Rabia Abu Leil, chiefs in the al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades who liberated Phillips, said that as soon as they learned of the kidnapping, al-Aqsa operatives searched all the places where gunmen affiliated with the organization hung out. From their perspective, they explained, freeing the captive became a national mission intended to prevent the sullying of the Palestinian image in the eyes of the international community.

In an earlier conversation with Ynet, Abu Leil said al-Aqsa was in no way connected with the kidnapping. “Not only are we not connected, but we severely condemn the whole business. If this youth was kidnapped in Nablus itself, then this is very since the foreign youths that are here despite the circumstances are generally volunteers who come to help us by teaching and humanitarian aid.”
Posted by: Fred || 10/12/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "to prevent the sullying of the Palestinian image in the eyes of the international community"

Bwahaha! Snort...snort! Haha!

That dude owes me a new monitor!
Posted by: twobyfour || 10/12/2006 0:28 Comments || Top||

#2  Feh - this is just the Al-Aqsa wankers telling the Ansar A-Sunna onanists that noone kidnaps infidels on their turf 'cept them!

That wall is really working, isn't it? I mean, the Paleos are reduced to kidnapping well-meaning (but stupid) American kids and then releasing them in a blaze of publicity or having their 'top men' (aka human bomb Mk 1) getting iced at checkpoints. Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of pond-life.
Posted by: Tony (UK) || 10/12/2006 0:42 Comments || Top||

#3 
Posted by: Jesing Ebbease3087 || 10/12/2006 5:14 Comments || Top||

#4  Looks as though we still have to choose between the lesser of two thugs in Palestine; Hamas or Fatah.
Good brown-nosing opportunity for Fatah though.
Posted by: Flerong Jaiting4297 || 10/12/2006 5:33 Comments || Top||

#5  Um, how about None of the Above, JE?

Heh, Tony.
Posted by: .com || 10/12/2006 6:44 Comments || Top||

#6  Is he going for the Oscar or the Emmy?
Posted by: mojo || 10/12/2006 14:42 Comments || Top||

#7  I'll be damned! They DON'T eat their young!
Posted by: Omitle Clurong5956 || 10/12/2006 19:49 Comments || Top||


Terrorist carrying explosive belt shot dead
Security forces on Tuesday night killed a terrorist who tried to infiltrate Israel from the northern Gaza Strip with an explosive belt. The terrorist was shot shortly after crossing the border fence south of the Karni crossin, and his body was later transferred back to the Gaza Strip. The details of the incident and its circumstances have not been cleared for publication by the defense establishment and the Israel Defense Forces. No details were given on the terrorist and on his organization.

According to military sources, the incident illustrates the high motivation among terror organizations in the Strip to carry out terror attacks against Israeli targets. According to the sources, although recently terror organizations have begun referring to the Gaza Strip border fence as "the wall of death," in light of the large number of terrorists killed there since the disengagement plan, there are still attempts to cross the fence.

IDF sources said that the explosive belt found on the terrorist's body was ready to be activated, and that the terrorist apparently planned to detonate himself in a crowded place. Since Hamas' rise to power, the cooperation between the IDF and the Palestinian security forces has stopped, and IDF soldiers have been carrying our operations inside the Gaza Strip in a bid to thwart terror activities near the fence and prevent the firing of Qassam rockets at the western Negev.
Posted by: Fred || 10/12/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Oh dear, how sad, never mind. No virgins for him!

Dunno why they gave the body back though, they have to try out their Evil Zionist superweapons on something don't they?
Posted by: Tony (UK) || 10/12/2006 0:05 Comments || Top||

#2  Why not return him to Gaza? With a remote control on the belt.
Posted by: Jackal || 10/12/2006 0:14 Comments || Top||

#3  Send back a composite, made up of bits of previous homicide bombers. Don't sew it all back together though, leave that for them to do "fun for all the family!" - oh and leave a bit missing. I remember when I was young and Dad used to bring home Jigsaw puzzles and a bit went missing - oh what larks! (actually the place got turned upside down and there was much swearing).
Posted by: Tony (UK) || 10/12/2006 0:31 Comments || Top||

#4  a premature fizzle fo' shizzle shaheed.
Posted by: RD || 10/12/2006 1:24 Comments || Top||

#5  Allahu akbar!
Posted by: gorb || 10/12/2006 2:52 Comments || Top||

#6  Almost Ahkbar!!!!!
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 10/12/2006 5:38 Comments || Top||

#7  Allan's Snackbar!
/channeling RD
Posted by: .com || 10/12/2006 8:40 Comments || Top||

#8  ...and Allan knows best.
Posted by: Seafarious || 10/12/2006 9:19 Comments || Top||

#9  If this 'Allan's' so 'Akhbar' how come he can't even get his 'holy fighters' across the border? What a pussy.
Posted by: mcsegeek1 || 10/12/2006 11:47 Comments || Top||

#10  Always aim for the waist.
Posted by: Zenster || 10/12/2006 15:47 Comments || Top||

#11  Wall of Death? Perhaps we can get Richard Thompson to provide the soundtrack.
Posted by: Eric Jablow || 10/12/2006 21:32 Comments || Top||


Five Palestinians injured in armed clash with Israeli troops in Jenin
(KUNA) -- Five Palestinians were injured, two seriously, in gunfight with Israeli occupation army troops who advanced into Jenin earlier in the day, Palestinian sources said on Wednesday. One of the injured Palestinian resistance fighters was rushed to a Ramallah hospital for wounds he sustained in the head, the sources said.

Israeli troops apprehended Abdulkarim Abubakr, an activist of the Al Aqsa Matyrs brigades of the Fatah movement, said the soruces. Nidhal Yagoub, a member of the al Quds brigades of the Islamic Jihad movement was also detained, said the sources.
Posted by: Fred || 10/12/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Southeast Asia
Possible Attack In Manila After Ramadan, Say Intelligence Reports
Manila, 12 Oct. (AKI) - Sources within the Filipino military intelligence have raised the alarm of possible large scale terrorist attacks in Manila and other urban centres in the Philippines after the current Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, which is scheduled to end in less than two weeks. Acording to the Filipino newspaper "The Star", the sources said that terrorists have already chosen their targets and that there is a real risk of an attack.

As for the bombs which exploded in the southern island of Mindanao in the last two days killing eight people and injuring 36, the sources say that they were simply a "a dry-run for larger attacks next month". The intelligence sources indicated that possible targets in Mindanao include the city of Tacurong City, Kidapawan and General Santos City.

In response, the authorities have said that they have stepped up security in areas close to government buildings, shopping centres, airports, ports and schools.

The Philippines have often been described as the weak link in the fight against terrorism in Southeast Asia. Several terrorist groups and pro-Islamic movements are active in the country. Among the more active ones are the Abu Sayyaf and the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI). The two organisations, which often work together, have recently formed an alliance with the Rajah Solaiman Movement (RSM), a group made up of new converts to Islam. The RSM is considered to be the entry point into Manila for terrorists.

Among the pro-Islamic groups, the largest is the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), which has been fighting for the creation of an independent state for the Muslims of Mindanao for the past ten years. The MILF publically rejected terrorism several years ago but within the group, some elements are said to continue to collaborate with JI and the Abu Sayyaf.
Posted by: Steve || 10/12/2006 08:43 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under:

#1  ASG will try to hit the same old targets, Greenhills and Robinsons mall as well as the MRT and the Leytee ferry. They don't have the nerve to hit anything owned by the Ayala's. IF they did this Philippine insurgency would end in less than a year.
Posted by: 49 Pan || 10/12/2006 13:37 Comments || Top||

#2  Most people might have a little binge after a fast, Islam seems to go on a killing spree; "Right lads, my colon is clean, skin looking really fresh and I'm feeling full of beans - let's go kill some women and kids eh?"

Dolts.
Posted by: Tony (UK) || 10/12/2006 23:48 Comments || Top||


Pakistani arrested in Bangkok with passports
Thai and American authorities, in a joint sting operation, have seized 500 fake US passports and arrested two men, including one Pakistani, in connection with the counterfeit racket, Thai police said on Wednesday. Pakistani national Intizar Hussain, 42, and Thai national Pradit Dubay, whose age remains unknown, were arrested in Bangkok on Tuesday evening after being found in possession of 500 fake US passports and 432 fake US passport seals, used to cover the passport photo page. Lieutenant General Viroj Chantarangsi, commander of Bangkok’s metropolitan police force, said that he had been contacted by American embassy security staff back in February in connection with a fake passport gang.
Posted by: Fred || 10/12/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Grill these assholes like cheap steaks until we find out exactly who is printing this trash. Then work our way back up the food chain until we land the big fish. This sort of shit is what it takes to drive the next 9-11 and I want to know who's behind it.
Posted by: Zenster || 10/12/2006 3:27 Comments || Top||


Mindanao blasts spark terror alert
AS many as 12 people were killed in a series of bomb explosions in Mindanao on Tuesday and Wednesday as police stepped up security in Metro Manila. The bombings came amid warnings from security experts that the Jemaah Islamiah (JI) and Abu Sayyaf militant groups were plotting attacks in retaliation for the Philippines’ continued support of the US “war on terror.”

In the latest attack a bomb made from a mortar shell rigged to a mobile phone exploded outside a commercial building in Cotabato City.
“This is a terrorist attack aimed to kill,” Cotabato City Police Chief Peraco Macacua said.
There were no injuries but the blast caused extensive damage to the building and cars parked outside. “This is a terrorist attack aimed to kill,” Cotabato City Police Chief Peraco Macacua said.

On Tuesday 12 people were killed and at least 42 wounded in a bomb blast in Makilala in North Cotabato during a celebration to mark the town’s 52nd anniversary. The attack followed an earlier bombing in the busy market of Tacurong City, 50 kilometers from Makilala, which wounded four people.

Anticipating more attacks, the police and military forces were placed on heightened alert in Mindanao and in Metro Manila. The US and Australian governments issued warnings to citizens to restrict travel to Mindanao on the basis of intelligence reports that more attacks would be carried out in the region.

In Makilala, grieving and dazed relatives gathered at the cordoned-off blast site Wednesday as ordnance experts scoured the area for evidence. A second bomb, which failed to go off, was recovered near the municipal hall Wednesday. Its trigger mechanism, a cellular phone, apparently malfunctioned, police said. “The government will make sure that the perpetrators are hunted down and brought to justice,” Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye said in Malacañang.

“Sovie is being held by military intelligence, and under questioning had told her interrogators that her husband would fight to the death. She also said attacks would be carried out against key targets in the south, where she said Jemaah Islamiah operatives were also training with the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).”
Key Jemaah Islamiah figures Dulmatin and Umar Patek, who are wanted for the 2002 bombings on the Indonesian island of Bali which killed more than 200 people, mostly foreign tourists, have joined forces with Abu Sayyaf militants while on the run in Jolo. Jolo’s military chief, Col. Ruperto Pabustan, said the bomb blast may be a diversionary tactic to weaken the offensive against Jemaah Islamiah and Abu Sayyaf in Jolo. It may also be in revenge for the arrest of Dulmatin’s wife, Istiada H. Oemar Sovie, last week. “This is the signature of terrorist groups like Jemaah Islamiah and Abu Sayyaf,” he said, citing similarities to past bombings in the area.

Sovie is being held by military intelligence, and under questioning had told her interrogators that her husband would fight to the death. She also said attacks would be carried out against key targets in the south, where she said Jemaah Islamiah operatives were also training with the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
Posted by: Fred || 10/12/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  where she said Jemaah Islamiah operatives were also training with the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

So where is the MILF spoksman now?? Come on Eid, deny the wife of your terrorist bosses. Tell us about the peace loving Moro's in Mindanao and how it's all Bush's fault.
Posted by: 49 Pan || 10/12/2006 13:28 Comments || Top||


Sri Lanka
Tamil Tigers kill 38 Sri Lankan soldiers, wound 280
COLOMBO - At least 38 Sri Lankan troops died and another 280 were wounded on Wednesday in a major offensive against Tamil Tiger rebels in the island’s north, military sources said. “More than 110 of the wounded have already been air-lifted to Colombo,” a top military source told AFP. “The army has lost at least 38 soldiers killed and at least 280 have been wounded.”

There was no immediate word of rebel casualties. But the army said it had inflicted heavy losses on the guerrillas who said three days ago that the military was preparing for a major offensive in Jaffna. “Ground troops confirmed that a large number of terrorist dead bodies were also found scattered around their forward defence lines,” the army said in a statement.
Posted by: Steve White || 10/12/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Iran sending millions to Iraq's Mahdi fighters
Iran has transferred millions of dollars as well as weapons and expertise to Iraq's Mahdi Army.

Coalition officials said Mahdi fighters have been trained and equipped in Iran and have been deployed as surrogates of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps soldiers in Iraq, Middle East Newsline reported.

Meanwhile, the Iraqi government reported that 2,660 Iraqi civilians have been killed in the capital in September as Shi'ite and Sunni militia, and foreign insurgents continue attacks on one another and on civilians.

"We're having to block Shi'ite extremists from linking with Iran." Maj. Gen. Richard Zahner, deputy chief of staff of intelligence for Multinational Forces in Iraq, said.

Zahner told a briefing on Sept. 27 that Iran has sought to dominate Iraq. He said Iran has been developing the Mahdi Army as well as splinter groups that no longer came under the umbrella of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada Sadr.

In 2006, the Mahdi Army received several millions of dollars from Teheran, Zahner said. He said the Shi'ite militia in Iraq has obtained light arms, military-grade explosives and shoulder-launched surface-to-air missiles from Iran.

Zahner cited the Iranian transfer of explosively-formed penetrators, or EPFs. He said EFPs, explosives designed to penetrate thick armor such as main battle tanks, were produced with "the fingerprint of copper plate being formed in a machine shop" and have identifiable factory marking numbers.

"This is a deliberate decision on the part of elements associated with the Iranian government," Zahner said. "And, thus, you see them enabling all comers, not just rogue JAM [Mahdi Army]," Zahner said. "They'll take anybody."

At this point, officials said, Iran has not sent IRGC units to conduct military operations in Iraq. Instead, they said, Teheran has been encouraging unrest through surrogates.

Zahner cited Basra, which has been rocked by Shi'ite militia violence. He said Iran was behind the escalation of unrest, although Teheran does not want to lose control over the city.

"Because it's not in their [Iran's] best interest to have a destabilized Iraq," Zahner said.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 10/12/2006 09:25 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Can we get a 'Master of the Obvious' here?

Face it - we have in a de-facto war with Iran for the last couple years (at least) - and a political war for the last 30-odd years.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 10/12/2006 10:30 Comments || Top||

#2  We need to have Shia Arabs (e.g., Sistani and the Iraqi Parliment) denounce Iran for aiding militias.

Having Coalition commanders do it doesn't matter much.
Posted by: mhw || 10/12/2006 15:00 Comments || Top||

#3  Iraq needs to close its border with Iran. What do they need it open for anyway?
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 10/12/2006 16:31 Comments || Top||

#4  Makes a nice breeze.
Posted by: J.D. Lux || 10/12/2006 16:34 Comments || Top||


Bomb rocks Beirut police barracks as security sources warn of more violence
A bomb thrown at a police barracks in Beirut exploded early Wednesday, but there were no injuries or damages. Acting Interior Minister Ahmad Fatfat told The Daily Star that the attack "might have been perpetrated by some people who wanted to take advantage of the situation," referring to the recent clashes between Internal Security Forces personnel and residents of Beirut's southern suburbs. Fatfat said he hoped the attack did not signal the resumption of a series of bombings that shook the country last year.

During an interview with Lebanese Ad-Diyar daily published on Wednesday, Fatfat said that he had received "a direct Syrian threat a few days ago" against his life. He added that all March 14 Forces figures and security forces were in danger. "Some people don't realize that killing is not a means to resolve problems," he said. He added that "any political assassination right now would cause the local and regional situations to explode."

Security sources issued a statement on Wednesday saying that they had uncovered a plot to resume bombings and assassinations in Lebanon. The sources said they informed the UN commission investigating the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri of the plot, adding that they had made a major breakthrough in the probe of of the major assassinations last year.

Police and army troops deployed on the streets around the Barbar Khazen police barracks in the Verdun district in the western sector of the Lebanese capital after the explosion shook the area at about 1 a.m. Security forces kept people away, but witnesses said they could see the blast site from a distance as investigators surveyed the area of impact right behind the wall of the barracks.
Posted by: Fred || 10/12/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:


Good morning.....
NWFP health minister arrested for murderSanctions mean war: N KoreaJapan bans NKor ships, imports and citizensProdi in Lebanon to inspect troops20 militants killed in AfghanistanAl-Aqsa: We freed kidnapped US youthGadahn indicted for treasonLiberia's Taylor ordered mass execution, panel hears
Posted by: Fred || 10/12/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Gravity. Sometimes good. Sometimes bad. :-)
Posted by: .com || 10/12/2006 0:02 Comments || Top||

#2  positioning works for me - gravity's a beautiful thang
Posted by: Frank G || 10/12/2006 0:46 Comments || Top||

#3  Why we fight.
Posted by: Scott R || 10/12/2006 0:52 Comments || Top||

#4  The water could have been a bit colder.
Posted by: Classer || 10/12/2006 1:23 Comments || Top||

#5  Now Jayne, put your right hand hand just so...
Posted by: elbud || 10/12/2006 1:59 Comments || Top||

#6  I'll bet the guys onshore can just about see daylight.
Posted by: Zenster || 10/12/2006 3:49 Comments || Top||

#7  died in her 30s in an auto accident

from various bios she was not only beautiful but a basically nice person

Posted by: mhw || 10/12/2006 9:34 Comments || Top||

#8  ..Her daughter is Mariska Harigtay, who plays Olivia Benson on Law And Order: Special Victims Unit , and her hubby was strongman Mickey Hargitay, who just passed away a few weeks ago..

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 10/12/2006 14:34 Comments || Top||

#9  Maidenform stocks fell after her untimely death. Only the Silicon Implants picked them up.
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 10/12/2006 14:40 Comments || Top||

#10  Yowsa! that post almost poked out my eyes! You have to be careful playing with a loaded set of guns!
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 10/12/2006 14:42 Comments || Top||

#11  World Cups, GolfBravo.
Posted by: wxjames || 10/12/2006 14:53 Comments || Top||

#12  That picture is a living testament to the strength of the cantilever.
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 10/12/2006 15:12 Comments || Top||



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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.
Click here for more information

Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
tu3031
badanov
sherry
ryuge
GolfBravoUSMC
Bright Pebbles
trailing wife
Gloria
Fred
Besoeker
Glenmore
Frank G
3dc
Skidmark

Two weeks of WOT
Thu 2006-10-12
  Gadahn indicted for treason
Wed 2006-10-11
  Two Muslims found guilty in Albany sting case
Tue 2006-10-10
  China cancels troop leave along North Korean border
Mon 2006-10-09
  China denounces "brazen" North Korea nuclear test
Sun 2006-10-08
  North Korea Tests Nuclear Weapon
Sat 2006-10-07
  Pakistan admits 'helping' Kashmir militancy
Fri 2006-10-06
  Islamists set up central Islamic court in Mogadishu
Thu 2006-10-05
  Fatah Threatens to Murder Hamas Leaders
Wed 2006-10-04
  Pa. man charged with trying to help al-Qaida attack refineries
Tue 2006-10-03
  Hamas Closes Paleogovernment
Mon 2006-10-02
  Ex-ISI officials may be helping Taliban
Sun 2006-10-01
  PKK declare unilateral ceasefire
Sat 2006-09-30
  NKors digging tunnel for nuke test
Fri 2006-09-29
  Al Qaeda In Iraq: 4,000 Insurgents Dead
Thu 2006-09-28
  Taliban set up office in Miranshah


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