#1
Gawd - there must be a special mindset required to read an article like this and not die from major boggle displacement.
"The situation in the area where the Finnish peacekeepers operate is so close to a state of war that situations in which a soldier has to use a weapon are far from impossible. Threatening situations occur every week."
In Afghanistan. Who'da thunk it?
Now I gotta take my boggle in, again, for a complete overhaul.
#2
Get the heavy duty upgrade, .com. It's worth the extra cost. Mine has gone for 2 months in an election year and is working fine since I had the upgrade done.
#22
Well shoot, Frank G, I can handle that one: you just make a lens that focusses the antigravity waves so that they offset the gravity waves at a single point, and voila!
#24
I can handle that one: you just make a lens that focusses the antigravity waves so that they offset the gravity waves at a single point, and voila!
Whoa... Rantburg's very own Hedy Lamarr - and better lookin' too.
The NATO force in Afghanistan has accused the Taliban of using civilians as human shields, as authorities scrambled to verify reports that at least 60 people were killed in military strikes.
The International Security Assistance Force said it could not say how many civilians were killed in a series of operations in the southern province of Kandahar late Tuesday, but was helping Afghan authorities to find out. ISAF said late Wednesday that 48 Taliban were killed in three engagements, including air strikes, in Kandahar's Panjwayi area late Tuesday.
However, the chief of Panjwayi district, Niaz Mohammad Sarhadi, said he had reports that about 60 locals were killed in aerial bombing that also destroyed a number of houses. Deputy director of Kandahar provincial council, Bismellah Afghanmal, put the figure as high as 85, but national authorities could not immediately confirm the local reports, which have in the past been exaggerated.
Asked about civilian casualties, NATO civilian representative Mark Laity said "at the moment we don't know", adding any that had occurred were deeply regretted. ISAF took great care to avoid civilian casualties, but the Taliban were mixing themselves among residents when attacked, NATO officials told reporters in the capital, Kabul.
"With insurgents who regard the population as a form of human shield for themselves, it obviously makes life very difficult for us, but it doesn't stop us making every effort to ensure we minimise any problems," Laity said. "We know that the public rely on us and expect us to take every care, and if they (civilians) are accidentally killed then it can affect (public) faith in us," he said.
ISAF was working with an Afghan defence ministry team that had been tasked to find out what had happened, he told reporters in Kabul. "We are helping Afghan leaders there fly over the area to make an assessment," added ISAF spokesman Major Luke Knittig at the same briefing.
The force would also attend a shura (council) being convened in the area to discuss the matter, he said.
Posted by: ed ||
10/26/2006 06:57 ||
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#1
The NATO force in Afghanistan has accused the Taliban of using civilians as human shields
I gotta ask: who cares?
Because I sure as hell don't.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
10/26/2006 7:08 Comments ||
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#2
Well I DO care. Care a lot. Wait a minute, this soda's warm. I HATE warm soda.
#3
Oh, they're just afraid of having to deal with George after grilling him about Gitmo and the Geneva Convention that they said should apply to people who don't practice it. It's not the casualties that count, its their pride. It's that embarrassment that they really hate. Us watching them only hurts their pride more.
#6
Human shields = the muslim way of war. Perhaps a senior mufti might want to issue a fatwa against his co-religionist for using human shields? No takers? I thought as much.
The day will come when Priority Five is to avoid civilian casualties. Priority One, Two, Three, and Four is to just kill the bad guys.
Posted by: Mark Z ||
10/26/2006 11:24 Comments ||
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#7
I don't see the problem. Just shoot through the human shield.
AFGHANISTAN: Record amount of marijuana seized Afghan police and the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) seized 9.2 mt of marijuana from a truck in the southern province of Zabul Province, the multi-national force said on Wednesday.
In the largest known seizure of its kind, police recovered the drugs when they stopped the vehicle at a checkpoint on the Kandahar-Kabul road in Qalat city, the provincial capital of Zabul.
Opium cultivation rose by 59 percent this year in Afghanistan. The country produces more than 90 percent of the world's opium, with a record 165,000 ha under cultivation in 2006 compared to 104,000 in 2005, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
Most of the opium produced in Afghanistan is smuggled via Central Asian countries to Russia and western Europe.
On Tuesday, local security forces, with the support of ISAF soldiers in the western province of Farah, seized more than 55 kg of opium from a car and detained the driver and a passenger.
UNODC estimated in 2005 that of the 920,000 drug users in Afghanistan, 520,000 of them were regular users of marijuana. The drug is also exported to neighbouring countries and contributes markedly to overall narcotics production in Afghanistan.
Opium, heroin and marijuana production remain integral to Afghanistan's economy. Some 2.9 million people are involved in growing opium, representing 12.6 percent of the total population. Revenue from this year's harvest is predicted to top US $3 billion, according to UNODC figures.
Tackling the country's burgeoning narcotics problem requires ongoing commitment from the international community, NATO officials said.
"This is a long-term problem which fuels corruption, finances insurgency and undermines law and order. Solving it cannot be done by military means alone, but dealing with it is essential," Mark Laity, a spokesman of NATO, told IRIN in Kabul.
Analysts say the involvement of some high-ranking government officials and regional warlords in the illicit drug trade has undermined ongoing efforts to rebuild the war-ravaged country.
"The involvement of many government officials at every level is distorting the very fabric of the state and feeding local disillusionment," Joanna Nathan, a senior analyst with the International Crisis Group (ICG) in Afghanistan, maintained.
In 2005, Afghan security forces seized approximately 150 mt of opium and 35 mt of heroin, shut down 247 clandestine drug processing plants and arrested or detained 50 traffickers, officials said.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
10/26/2006 3:41 Comments ||
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#5
RICK JAMES? song > "We love you Mary Jane ..." LUCIANNE.com > Science > Study says only people wid low optimism-self esteem need to take Mar-r-r-y Ja-a-a-a-ne.
#7
Back in my undergrad days (early '80's) there was a lot of Afghan weed on campus. It was supposedly a big cash crop for the Muj. Not one to partake myself (it makes me depressed) I still couldn't avoid the smell which was like skunk, worse than other types of pot.
My roommate fired some up and I asked him what he thought he was doing. He said brightly, "Killin' Commies!"
#8
Things were so simple then, when far away places were either dismissed as backward outposts, never to intrude without invitation - such as scoring a baggie, or romantic and exotic bazaars where strange and forbidden pleases lurked. Lol.
I have an announcement to make. We'll call it a major shout out to the boys here at Rantburg.
(.com I trust you have not retired for the night.)
Just got an email from the "customer service" guys at rangerup.com.
For those who might be interested (lopt, TW, Seafarious, Barb, and Swamp Blondie et al, you can skip this post): I'm advised that the name of the distracting nubile burnette featured in the rangerup.com t-shirt is "Grace". (Yes, God does have a sense of humor).
For those of you who have clicked onto the rangerup.com website, you're aware that Grace has a blonde friend. Unfortunately her name has not been disclosed by my source at customer service.
I'm told that Grace and her blonde friend, being the wholesome, all American ladies we've come to know, were recruited from a tavern (imagine that!) a mere 9 (nine) hours prior to the photo shoot we've all come to know and love.
Furthermore, but just as importantly, the guys at ranger.com have persuaded the nubile Grace to do (I'm quoting here) a "Maxim-like" photospread for rangerup.com AND I'm told that we here at RB will be given a heads up prior to it's publication pertinent details.
Gentlemen, have a good evening one and all.
MarkZ
Posted by: Mark Z ||
10/26/2006 19:11 Comments ||
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#12
uh...that last post should : "with pertinent details to follow".
Posted by: Mark Z ||
10/26/2006 19:18 Comments ||
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#13
I just re-read the story of the "senior mufti/cleric" in Oz, presumed to be the holiest of the holy Oz imams. How could I not think of our immodest Grace whom the good muslim cleric would refer to as "uncovered meat"
Gentlemen, our lady Grace is why we fight.
Posted by: Mark Z ||
10/26/2006 21:08 Comments ||
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NATO-led troops backed by artillery and airstrikes battled insurgents in southern Afghanistan, killing 48 suspected militants in three separate confrontations, the alliance said Wednesday, as Afghan police and Western troops elsewhere seized more than 10 tons of marijuana from a truck. At least four civilians also were wounded in the clashes in Kandahar's Zhari and Panjwayi districts on Tuesday, the alliance said, adding that they were receiving treatment at military medical facilities.
The clashes had targeted militants who were attacking NATO's development efforts in the area, said Maj. Luke Knittig, a spokesman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force. NATO-led troops used mortar, artillery and air support in the rolling clashes with large groups of insurgents, a NATO statement said. The troops "positively identified insurgents, killing an estimated 48," NATO said. "We deeply regret any civilian casualties caused."
Posted by: Fred ||
10/26/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
If Musharaf wasn't running on both tracks, then he would squash the Mullahs who are sending poorly educated and virgin lusting youth to their slaughter.
Wherever civilian populations refuse to inform on terrorists and allow them to blend in with same, I would allow use of artillery fired Napalm at ambush sites. If they were afraid of an area-torching, then they would get off less of the sniper shots and RPG blasts that are picking off NATO members.
One caveat: most terrorists are Pashtos and Waziris; other ethnics are generally passive.
THE US has called for tight security and safeguards against terrorism as nine Caribbean nations prepared to host next year's world cricket championship in the West Indies.
The request came from US Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, who spoke after talks with regional security officials about possible extremist threats during the 55-day Cricket World Cup.
There is an "international ideology that uses terrorist means to promote its aims," Mr Chertoff told reporters today.
"There is no reason to believe any part of the world is off limits, that includes this area as well."
Mr Chertoff said that although cricket was not a sport in which the United States participates, large groups of US spectators were likely to visit the Caribbean during the international championship that begins next March.
He said Washington would provide support for the cricket host countries, especially in the area of advance information about transatlantic air passengers.
Britain and Interpol have also been involved in security plans for the event.
The countries hosting the tournament are Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines and Trinidad and Tobago.
Some 16 teams from around the world including Australia, England, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the West Indies will take part in the games that will end with a final in Barbados in April.
#2
Last time I was in Nevis, they had a hard time keeping goats off the cricket pitch. I think the idea that they'll be able to stop a determined terrorist cell is, perhaps, optimistic. Great place to go on vacation though.
#3
Yes, but a terrorist strike in one of those countries would be the effective end of their economy, since it is incredibly hard to have a tourist economy without tourists. Besides, I expect that a lot of the "police" in that area over the next few weeks are going to be British Special Branch and SAS, along with persons vetted by MI-5 and MI-6.
#4
Also look for a lot of Blackwater, and KBR people to be "vacationing" there in the near future. As well as black members of US Special Forces, and FBI.
#4
Or maybe this just another example of "watch the hand, not the mouth" advice so useful in ME politics.
Iraqi troops, who report to the govt of Maliki, are fighing with Sadrists, despite Maliki condemning such attacks. They are doing so because the Sadrists are committing unspeakable acts of bloodshed and torture against Sunnis, acts that Muqtada al-Sadr in his PUBLIC statements has repeatedly condemned.
BAGHDAD, Iraq — A fierce battle between police and militia gunmen northeast of Baghdad Thursday left 30 people dead and 42 wounded, a police official said.
The new violence came as the U.S. military announced the deaths of five servicemen killed in action in Anbar province on Wednesday.
The gunmen fighting police in the city of Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of the capital, were believed to be members of the Mahdi Army militia loyal to hard-line anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, said Ghassan al-Bawi, police chief of surrounding Diyala province. The dead included 12 police officers and 18 militants, he said.
In Najaf, one of the country's most important Shiite Muslim shrines was closed down following reports it may be targeted by suicide bombers.
Witnesses said streets around the Imam Ali mosque were blocked off and the shrine itself was sealed to visitors after security officials said they had intelligence that the city had been infiltrated by two bombers who had wrapped themselves in explosives. . . .
Posted by: Mike ||
10/26/2006 15:34 Comments ||
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#7
...Faster, please...
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
10/26/2006 16:25 Comments ||
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#8
I suspect Bush told Maliki to get moving or he could look forward to his next meeting being with President Pelosi.
#9
Interesting that the story refers to Iraqi police rather than Iraqi army units. It is also not taking place in Sadr City but in Baqouba. I wonder who attacked who. I'm guessing that if its the police then it was the Mahdi boys who started things and the cops were fighting for their lives. I also wonder what the ethnic makeup of the cops is in that town. If its sunni, then they were definitely fighting for their lives. Then you have Najaf shut down. I wonder if the Iranians are doing an all out push to foment civil war using their Mahdi proxies. Stir up the shiites some more by booming the imam ali mosque again. Wheels within wheels.
#10
I doubt there is anything being done for the next two weeks that does not contain a big dose of trying to influence the elections in the US. Recall that the previous peaks in activity in Iraq have been related with efforts to suppress the vote there. Elections are the worst thing that can happen to the Islamists, unless they involve a donk victory.
#12
I wonder who attacked who. I'm guessing that if its the police then it was the Mahdi boys who started things and the cops were fighting for their lives.
Could also be a matter of two Shiite factions fighting it out
#13
Unclear on your implication, capsu. The conventional way of influencing US political situation in favor of the admin. would be to reduce US casualties, by deferring whatever limited offensive ops may be in the offing and/or reducing patrols (there have been claims that patrols have been reduced going back a long time, but whether that's true or whether it was for political or other reasons are unknown).
If you mean enemy action, it's likely some of them are trying to influence our elections, but casualty numbers go up and down for many reasons and the timing is generally beyond the control of the bad guys. To return to the issue on the other thread, as US casualties are typically reported in a vacuum (i.e., context that might enlighten as to how the casualties occurred is systematically, though not uniformly, excluded from official information), it's even more difficult to figure out whether this month's comparatively high casualty numbers are related to coalition initiatives, enemy initiatives, or neither.
BAGHDAD - U.S. forces killed 12 people they said were insurgents preparing to plant a roadside bomb in the western city of Ramadi, the U.S. military said on Wednesday. It said the suspected insurgents were traveling in a car that was destroyed on Tuesday with "precision munitions".
Every once in a while we hear that we are getting the bad guys. Unfortunately every day we hear more about our loses than the terrorist. I guess we are still suffering from the Vietnam "Body Count" aversion. It's like hearing the sports score of only one team, the opposition.
#1
I hear you golfbravo. But the body counts are not lost on the islamo-cockroaches. More importantly it signals there are OPSEC holes everywhere that would allow us to JDAM a carload of the subhumans.
#2
GolfBravoUSMC, your point is well taken wrt the vast majority of American citizens who get there news from the old MSM.
Same cannot be said of those who frequent places such as RB and select milblogs. He can correct me if I'm wrong, but I suspect Mr. Fred's purpose in building RB was to give the American public a more complete view of the war on jihad. That's my take.
BTW, excellent title for the underlying story. LOL.
Posted by: Mark Z ||
10/26/2006 11:10 Comments ||
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#3
Love the headline and the graphic cracked me up. New? Or just the first time I've seen it?
#6
12 people in a car? Must have been one of those clown cars heading for the circus. Yeah, that's it - we blew up a car full of peaceful clowns on their way to entertain the kiddies at the circus.
#8
No longer Verlaine "in Iraq". Left a few weeks back.
I had multiple discussions with military, both public affairs and otherwise, at the Palace on this very topic. And, Golfbravo, I used exactly the same analogy: like hearing one side of a sports score.
Of course this is far more serious, and I've always wondered if this were one more small element that helps give most people such a dark view of Iraq.
The phenomenon is particularly bad in Anbar, where for going on two years the Marines have (with the infrequent exceptions of large ops like Fallujah and the pre-referendum ERV campaign) fairly rigorously excluded any mention of enemy KIA. This produces a drumbeat of odd and potentially troubling reports - "3 Marines killed in Anbar by enemy action." Hmmm. Since our enemies these days typically are obliterated if there is any sort of actual engagement, the reader is left to wonder if we killed 78 bad guys, or zero, and that the tragic Marine losses were a cost of achieving an objective. Or something else.
In order to stimulate debate, and when feeling particularly spirited, I would tell some military folks that our near-systematic concealment of enemy KIA was in fact a form of lying to the public. That got their attention, and reactions varied. Many of them would adopt a semi-weaselly approach, saying that there were often uncertainties about who was who. But that doesn't wash in a situation where we control the battlefield post-engagement 99.9% of the time.
In any case, as with much else over there, there is no uniform system. You'll often see MNF-I releases with detailed body counts - and others with nothing.
Last year, at least, the average monthly enemy KIA figure was usually in the 210 - 240 range, if I recall correctly, spiking considerably higher during our all-too-rare offensives.
In at least some cases, there clearly is an irrational and indefensible phobia of "body counts" among military officers.
#11
V: Last year, at least, the average monthly enemy KIA figure was usually in the 210 - 240 range, if I recall correctly, spiking considerably higher during our all-too-rare offensives.
If this is the number, we're in deep trouble. I can understand why they're concealing the body counts - an exchange ratio of 5 to 1 is an unmitigated disaster. In Vietnam, we managed 20 to 1 despite not having smart bombs and having to attack the NVA through dense foliage.
#13
Welcome back Verlaine. Look forward to lot's of debriefs.
Zhang Fei's comment is a perfect example of why releasing enemy KIAs is a mistake. It focuses attention on killing the enemy and that is not what is important. Achieving our political objectives is. We killed lots of NVA and VC and it didn't help achieve any of our political objectives so we ended up winning all the military battles but losing the war.
Certainly counting estimated enemy KIA is a useful intelligence exercise and should persist. But making it a focus of public discussion is an error.
Still jet-lagged and distracted, but I saw somewhere that the lack of info on enemy KIA had come up in some public forum with the president - I think there's no doubt the unnatural silence on the issue is a problem for many Americans trying to make sense of Iraq.
As to exchange ratio, it was way above 5 to 1 on a monthly basis, I believe, and much much higher for set-piece ops such as al-Fajr (Fallujah) and the various Euphrates mini-campaigns.
Don't agree that the options are (1) awkwardly and oddly refuse to mention one key bit of information or (2) make that info the focus of public debate.
Agreed that enemy KIA are a means not an end, but in a struggle that will be protracted, in a democratic society with an extremely high and rising aversion to casualties or costs of any sort, there are probably many who might have a different sense of the situation if they heard that we're actually engaged in a war where we're killing the bad guys and not just taking losses for no apparent reason other than periodic Iraqi elections.
#17
NS: Zhang Fei's comment is a perfect example of why releasing enemy KIAs is a mistake. It focuses attention on killing the enemy and that is not what is important. Achieving our political objectives is. We killed lots of NVA and VC and it didn't help achieve any of our political objectives so we ended up winning all the military battles but losing the war.
Actually, Vietnam was lost because the Democrats cut off military supplies and air support to South Vietnam at a time when the Soviets were sending billions of dollars in equipment* to North Vietnam. During the 1975 combined arms invasion of South Vietnam, the South Vietnamese were literally running out of gas and ammunition. Thanks to the Democratic Party.
As to the numbers themselves, Westmoreland did destroy the Vietcong, despite all the obstacles that Lyndon Johnson placed before him - micromanaging airstrikes and rules of engagement. It was the politicians who failed to lead and back him up. After Westmoreland, GI's fought mainly NVA regulars. Besides, Vietnam was way tougher because North Vietnam had the manpower of an entire nation to draw upon, and the combined armories of the Soviet Union and China to borrow from. And yet we achieved 20 to 1 kill ratios.
I think the transformation people have misinterpreted the essential nature of war. Nations aren't people - you can't bend a nation to your will. All you can do is kill most everyone who wants to fight and is prepared to actually step up to the plate. We did that in WWII. We almost did it in Korea. We almost did it in Vietnam. We are nowhere close to doing it in Iraq. At the rate Verlaine says we're killing them in Iraq, we could fight for the next hundred years and not exhaust the terrorists' pool of available manpower.
* The Vietnamese Communists spent over a decade after their victory paying these loans back. The Democratic Congress could have similarly lent the South Vietnam money to fight North Vietnam. But the Dems wanted to gift-wrap the destruction of South Vietnam.
Special Iraqi army forces, aided by coalition advisors, captured a death squad leader and three people believed to have been involved in the kidnapping of a U.S. soldier in separate raids in the Iraqi capitalÂ’s Sadr City neighborhood, military officials reported.
Officials said Iraqi and coalition forces had credible intelligence on the location of an insurgent leader personally involved in and directing widespread death squad activity for numerous murder cells in eastern Baghdad. The ground assault force also planned to act on credible intelligence indicating that criminals involved in the kidnapping of a U.S. soldier were located in a Sadr City mosque.
Iraqi forces quickly secured the insurgentÂ’s home in Sadr City and detained 10 suspected death squad members. The assault force suppressed enemy small-arms fire, and a supporting coalition aircraft neutralized enemy rocket-propelled grenade fire. Ten enemy fighters were killed and two were wounded, officials said.
The ground assault force left the site of the first raid and moved through Sadr City to the mosque where the kidnapping suspects were believed to be located. Iraqi forces secured the mosque, entered it, and detained three suspects for further questioning.
No Iraqi or coalition forces were reported injured. Hostile conditions prevented an assessment of civilian casualties, officials said.
And the Iraqi PM does not want us to go into Sadr City without his knowledge - whatsup!
#3
Finally getting serious by knocking off the armories(mosks). Once the hideouts are no longer safety zones, some progress can be made. Each one of the should be burned down as a lesson.
#4
It is sad but I am starting to think Maliki is playing a double game Arab style. In public Maliki is screaming about US rounding up Sadr's boys yet really taking no action to stop it. This raid even had IA forces making the lead strikes. One command from Maliki could stop thier use.
#5
Just like Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the rest of "freindly" Arab nations leaders. They behind closed doors help US and support US but don't admit such to their people becuase the street hates US so.
#7
Looks like this guy might have something on where our missing soldier is. I'd hate to think of the music they force him to listen too. One minute of Brittney Spears makes me want to puke.
Posted by: Charles ||
10/26/2006 12:32 Comments ||
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#8
I could donate some of my daughter's old cassettes from the 80s.
If we can keep out the human rights types, we could put "Walk Like An Egyptian", "Material Girl" and some other such tripe playing on a continuous loop. Leave food & water and come back in a couple days.
#11
Lindy, break open the pack of the really sexy panties.
Posted by: ed ||
10/26/2006 12:40 Comments ||
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#12
My vote is for Rupert Holmes' HIM! If you really want to get tuff it's a small world boat ride at disney for the day. At night he will be housed in an economy motel on US192 with the adjoining rooms filled with small children on their first trip to Disney. He'll be singing like a magic tiki bird by weeks end.
Posted by: bruce ||
10/26/2006 12:49 Comments ||
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#13
it's a small world boat ride at disney for the day.
Lol! Ride actually broke down when I was inside it once. I've never been the same since.
I remember the first Disneyland trip with 4 yo offspring. Travelling on a 1st lt. salary plus what I was making as a programmer. 60s motel done in aqua, orange and that funny blue that you see in over-chlorinated public pools. Whole place full of families in single rooms, double bed for the parents and pull-outs for the kids. Squealing and yelling around the pool when they were done w/ the rides.
Add in cheap pizza deliveries and I think you have a plan, bruce.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
10/26/2006 13:35 Comments ||
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#18
I forgot about pizza, I been refining my fate worse than a fate worse than death since 9-11. There is a pizza joint run by french-canadians down by Champions Gate. Really the worst pizza I've had in my life.
Posted by: bruce ||
10/26/2006 13:37 Comments ||
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#19
My GOD you are a bunch of sick bastards!!!!!
I, too, was first subjected to Small World at the World's Fair and then again in '89 with the youngest age 3. Luckily their favorite ride was Mr. Toad's Wild Ride.
#21
How about the total participation video, "Walk like an Electrician?"
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
10/26/2006 17:54 Comments ||
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#22
I was another on the 'Small World' at the World's Fair - it would appear Rantburg has a population with a statistical excess of people who were in Flushing Meadows in 1964. On would not have thought that exposure would have led to an unusually high level of intelligence and rational thought, but such does seem to be the case.
BAGHDAD – Special Iraqi Army forces, supported by Coalition advisors, conducted a raid authorized by the Government of Iraq Oct. 25 in Sadr City, Baghdad to capture a top illegal armed group commander directing widespread death-squad activity throughout eastern Baghdad.
During the raid, Iraqi Army forces came under fire and had to defend themselves. They requested support from Coalition aircraft which used precision gunfire only to eliminate the enemy threat.
More details will follow as additional information becomes available.
Posted by: Bobby ||
10/26/2006 06:18 ||
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#1
Sounds like the Iraqis are getting some good on the job training.
Posted by: DanNY ||
10/26/2006 8:52 Comments ||
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#2
This was sadr's goon who was in direct control of the death squads, looks like he met spectre
BAGHDAD, Iraq - The U.S. military on Thursday announced the deaths of five U.S. troops in fighting in Iraq, raising to 96 the number of American forces killed this month.
The four Marines and one Navy sailor all died in fighting in Anbar province, a hotbed of the Sunni insurgency against U.S. troops and their Iraqi government allies.
The 96 deaths is the highest monthly total since October 2005, when the same number of American forces were killed.
Before that the deadliest months were January 2005, at 107; November 2004 at 137 and April 2004, at 135.
Meanwhile, Al-Maliki spoke at a news conference a day after U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said Iraqi leaders had agreed to set deadlines by year's end for achieving specific political and security goals laid out by the United States, including reining in militia groups.
"I affirm that this government represents the will of the people and no one has the right to impose a timetable on it," the prime minister said.
The prime minister dismissed U.S. talk of timelines as driven by the coming midterm elections in the United States. "I am positive that this is not the official policy of the American government but rather a result of the ongoing election campaign. And that does not concern us much," he said.
Al-Maliki complained that he was not consulted beforehand about the Sadr City offensive. The raid was conducted by Iraqi special forces backed by U.S. advisers and was aimed at capturing a top militia commander wanted for running a Shiite death squad.
"We will ask for clarification to what has happened," al-Maliki said. "We will review this issue with the Multinational Forces so that it will not be repeated."
Mouwafak al-Rubaie, his national security adviser, later told The Associated Press that al-Maliki's anger grew out of a misunderstanding that had since been cleared up with Gen. George Casey, the top U.S. commander in Iraq.
Reining in the Mahdi Army and the other major militia, the Badr Brigades, remains one of the thorniest problems facing al-Maliki. His fragile Shiite-dominated government derives much of its power from the al-Sadr's faction and from the Supreme Council for the Revolution in Iraq, or SCIRI, which operates the Badr Brigades.
The U.S. military said Mahdi Army militiamen fought back in the Sadr City raid and that the Americans called in an air strike and cordoned the sprawling east Baghdad region.
Late Wednesday the military said it had killed 10 suspected militia fighters and wounded two in the battle. It did not identify the wanted militia leader or say whether he was still at large. Earlier, police and hospital officials said four people were killed and at least 18 wounded.
Residents living near Sadr City said gunfire and air strikes began about 11 p.m. Tuesday and continued for hours. The neighborhood was sealed to outsiders before dawn. Groups of young men in black fatigues favored by the Mahdi Army were seen driving toward the area to join the fight. Explosions and automatic weapons fire were heard above the noise of U.S. helicopters circling overhead firing flares.
Crowds of Shiite men, some carrying pistols and others hoisting giant posters of al-Sadr, swarmed onto the district's streets Wednesday morning, chanting, "America has insulted us." Throughout the day and into the night, U.S. F-16 jet fighters growled across the Baghdad sky, and at one point the report of tank cannon fire echoed across the city five times in quick succession.
Well after nightfall, residents said all roads into the slum remained blocked by U.S. and Iraqi forces. U.S. soldiers were searching all cars. A frustrated motorist waiting at one checkpoint jumped out of his car and called for al-Maliki to resign.
"Where is al-Maliki? It would be more honorable for him to resign. Why is he letting the Americans do this to us," the driver could be heard to scream.
Falah Hassan Shanshal, a lawmaker from al-Sadr's political bloc, said women and children had been killed, although videotape pictures of the bodies from the neighborhood taken at the local morgue showed only male victims.
"If there was an arrest operation, it should have been carried out by the Iraqi authorities, and not like this where air cover is used as if we were in a war zone," Shanshal said in an interview with the government's al-Iraqiya television station.
Posted by: Bobby ||
10/26/2006 06:10 ||
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#1
Al-Maliki complained that he was not consulted beforehand about the Sadr City offensive.
Because we can't trust you and/or your people, assclown.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
10/26/2006 8:39 Comments ||
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Al-Maliki complained that he was not consulted beforehand about the Sadr City offensive. The raid was conducted by Iraqi special forces backed by U.S. advisers and was aimed at capturing a top militia commander wanted for running a Shiite death squad.
Sounds like the Iraqi special forces are developing quite well. "Tater" is going to have to be dealt with sooner or later if any kind of stability is going to occur in Iraq.
#3
Why would the Iraqi Special Forces need to 'consult' the Prime Minister? Maybe that was the confusion - Maliki thought US troops did it, and when Casey told him it was his own folks, the problem went away?
"If there was an arrest operation, it should have been carried out by the Iraqi authorities, and not like this where air cover is used as if we were in a war zone," Shanshal said in an interview with the government's al-Iraqiya television station. Mebbe somebody ought to tell him it was Iraqi authorities.
Posted by: Bobby ||
10/26/2006 9:11 Comments ||
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#4
"... not like this where air cover is used as if we were in a war zone." Tell you what, asshole. Next time, you lead the raid without the air cover and tell me this ain't a war zone.
#6
"Mouwafak al-Rubaie, his national security adviser, later told The Associated Press that al-Maliki's anger grew out of a misunderstanding that had since been cleared up with Gen. George Casey, the top U.S. commander in Iraq. "
Roubaie always manages to end up in the middle of things, as the reasonable conciliator. I wonder if hes the next Iraqi PM?
What's really going on here? Terrorists remote detonating a bomb car with unwitting passengers? Premature detonation before the terrorists could park it and get away? And how does a vehicle, small or otherwise, full of explosives manage to blow up in a marketplace and not kill anyone outside the vehicle, and even leave a survivor in the vehicle? How do we know the vehicle occupants were 'civilians'? How does one define 'civilian' there anyway?
VEHICLE BLAST CLAIMS LIVES IN HUSAYBAH, IRAQ
CAMP AL ASAD, Iraq – A vehicle exploded in a marketplace claiming several lives and injuring others Tuesday in the Iraq/Syria border city of Husaybah, Iraq.
A small vehicle loaded with explosives and carrying three Iraqi civilians detonated, killing two and injuring one. A bystander was also injured in the blast.
Of the two occupants killed, one was declared dead at the scene while the other died while being transported to a local hospital by Husaybah Police who were the first to arrive at the scene to administer first-aid.
Police transported the injured occupant and bystander—an Iraqi woman—to a local hospital for further treatment. Their condition is unknown at this time.
#2
Remember that car ad that has to be pulled as it was deemed so horribly un-PC? The one with a splodey. I am starting to think the manufacturer was not kidding. ;-)
#4
For a lot of the MSM, an ounce of plastique is a huge amount. Could have easily been a transport vehicle that had an unintended detonation, the level of expertise is dropping since so many of the better bomb-makers have been rounded up lately. Also sounds like that vehicle did not have any of the fragmentation enhancements added : nails, ball bearings, scrap metal pieces.
#6
doubtful if they are running low on "number 3's" .. They've only just started using their first cousins , still millions to go .. Its a (inbred) family business
#8
doubtful if they are running low on "number 3's"
Of course, Chilet Crealet6299, but it sure looks like we've gotten inside their training cycle. The quality of their work has been falling for a while, no?
#16
At what point does a civilian become an insurgent and an insurgent then become a terrorist? The lines are much too grey. Are they insurgents when they are fighting but then civilians when they die or are injured?
Used to be we would de-humanize the enemy, now we victimize the enemy. Suppose that makes us the enemy then.
Iraqi special forces backed by US advisers launched a raid
The prime minister disavowed the raid, saying he was not consulted before the attack. The Americans said in an announcement that they were looking for a "top illegal armed group commander directing widespread death-squad activity throughout eastern Baghdad."
into the capital's Sadr Shi'ite slum Wednesday trying to capture a top militia commander wanted for running a Shi'ite death squad. The prime minister disavowed the raid, saying he was not consulted before the attack in which at least four people were killed and 18 wounded. The Americans said in an announcement that they were looking for a "top illegal armed group commander directing widespread death-squad activity throughout eastern Baghdad."
The military said that Mahdi Army militiamen fought back and the Americans called in an air strike and cordoned the sprawling east Baghdad region.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/26/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Vote of no confidence?
Posted by: Jonathan ||
10/26/2006 0:06 Comments ||
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#6
Or maybe good cop, bad cop? The PM gets one guy released and disavows this raid. Maybe he is setting up the Chicago Alderman scenario : "Youse guys know you can work with me. Dem downtown ain't got no sense of humor. Give me a little something to pass on, and we can work something out."
#7
Yes, Shieldwolf, that was my thought. Plus I think it's part of US election politix... good cop Bush floats the 'timetable' meme, bad cop Maliki shoots it down, the Troops Home Now! folks get to stew in their own bile a bit longer. Remember the global 3-D Vulcan chess game we're playing here.
#8
Remember the global 3-D Vulcan chess game we're playing here.
That's the problem. We need some good old fashioned Dhimmi Carter peanut farmer foreign policy checkers here.
First, pay them huge sums of cash to renounce violence. Second, the USA agrees to provide all three sides with an amount of oil equivalent to Iraq's total maximum annual output of oil. Third, we promise never to use military force in Iraq again unless Iran approves of the operation.
That's called mad negotiating skilz. Can you say "nobel prize".
#10
I disavow the PM. Could it be that al-Sadrites are part of his ruling coalition? Could it be that favoritism to a Mahdist Shiite militia would be a constitutional non-starter with Kurds and Sunnis?
Private militias destroy countries. Ask Somalis, Serbs, Sudanese, Yemenis, etc.
#13
Heh, lotp. A militia of one in Horn's case, or so Marshall Joe Belle successfully peddled to the court.
I'm surprised nobody's brought up the Lincoln County War, yet - pretty flashy militia, er Regulators, like William Bonny, Dave Rudabaugh, Jose Chavez, Doc Scurlock, Dick Brewer (&etc)...
#14
Maliki, standing by his Sadrist coalition partners, or Maliki, playing good cop? Both seem plausible.
What seems more significant is that A. Coalition forces are FINALLY launching raids in Sadr City, and hitting the Mahdi army there, on its homeground. B. The raid was launched Iraqi forces (albeit by Spec Forces, probably the most reliable units in the Iraqi Army IIUC) C. So far no apology from MNF or from Iraqi army for the raid, despite Maliki.
If Maliki seriously opposed this, then the coalition has just demonstrated that at least some units in the Iraqi army will work with the US and ignore Maliki (perhaps on orders from Min of Def Dulaimi) In which case what LOTP said is what is going on. Sort of a creeping coup d'etat.
(KUNA) -- At least six Iraqi soldiers were either injured or killed when a explosive device was detonated against an Iraqi military patrol in Tal Afar area in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, a source in the Iraqi police said Wednesday. The source added in press remarks that the injured were transfer to a nearby hospital for treatment. Even though Iraqis are celebrating Eid Al-Fitr, insurgents are still attacking Iraqi security forces and civilians.
Meanwhile in Kirkuk, a security source pointed out that the police arrested two suspected terrorists, one of them an Egyptian national, during a routine search at a checkpoint in a northern area of the city.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/26/2006 00:00 ||
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(KUNA) -- Two people were killed and two injured when an explosive laden vehicle blew up near the Syrian borders Wednesday, the US army said. A car loaded with explosives was detonated near the market of Haseiba town near the borders of Syria, the army said in a statement. Two people inside the car were killed and third was injured, said the army, while a woman who happened to be near the scene was wounded as well. Meanwhile, the US army said in another statement that American forces killed 12 gunmen who were trying to plant a bomb in one of the streets in the western city of Ramadi.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/26/2006 00:00 ||
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A bomb exploded on a Beirut street early Wednesday close to the residences of the Saudi and UAE ambassadors. The explosion did not cause any casualties but started a small fire, security forces said.
The bomb was apparently thrown from a speeding car on the seafront boulevard in the Ramlet al-Baida area shortly after midnight Tuesday night.
The bomb was apparently thrown from a speeding car on the seafront boulevard in the Ramlet al-Baida area shortly after midnight Tuesday night, landing in an open area and setting fire to a bush and several trees, police said.
Security forces cordoned off the area and put out the fire. A senior police officer said the bomb was thrown next to the residences of the Saudi and Emirati ambassadors, and that of Adi Hariri, one of the sons of the assassinated former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. The officer did not know whether Hariri and the ambassadors were at home. The explosion, which occurred on the second day of Eid al-Fitr, caused a wave of panic among residents and clients of nearby restaurants.
The officer said investigators were examining security surveillance footage from surrounding residences in hopes of identifying the perpetrators. Investigators also took statements from several witnesses. The head of the Internal Security Forces, Major General Ashraf Rifi, said on Wednesday that an investigation into the incident was under way.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/26/2006 00:00 ||
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#13
How on earth did you find that obscure bit, anon? I am truly impressed.
Here's what she found:
1. on Page 121:
"... Aligning Needles in a Haystack 121 Web repository -------[I [I 0--- 11 ---------I --------------------------''------------------------------ ---+ http://www.rantburg.com/default.asp?D=1/13/2004&C=India-Pakistan _ After 1989, when Soviet troops withdrew from Afghanistan, ..."
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Afghan police and the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) seized 9.2 mt of marijuana from a truck in the southern province of Zabul Province, the multi-national force said on Wednesday.
NATO-led troops backed by artillery and airstrikes battled insurgents in southern Afghanistan, killing 48 suspected militants in three separate confrontations, the alliance said Wednesday, as Afghan police and Western troops elsewhere seized more than 10 tons of marijuana from a truck. At least four civilians also were wounded in the clashes in Kandahar's Zhari and Panjwayi districts on Tuesday, the alliance said, adding that they were receiving treatment at military medical facilities. 
The clashes had targeted militants who were attacking NATO's development efforts in the area, said Maj. Luke Knittig, a spokesman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force. NATO-led troops used mortar, artillery and air support in the rolling clashes with large groups of insurgents, a NATO statement said. The troops "positively identified insurgents, killing an estimated 48," NATO said. "We deeply regret any civilian casualties caused."
BAGHDAD - U.S. forces killed 12 people they said were insurgents preparing to plant a roadside bomb in the western city of Ramadi, the U.S. military said on Wednesday. It said the suspected insurgents were traveling in a car that was destroyed on Tuesday with "precision munitions".
Special Iraqi army forces, aided by coalition advisors, captured a death squad leader and three people believed to have been involved in the kidnapping of a U.S. soldier in separate raids in the Iraqi capitalÂ’s Sadr City neighborhood, military officials reported.
Iraqi special forces backed by US advisers launched a raid 
(KUNA) -- At least six Iraqi soldiers were either injured or killed when a explosive device was detonated against an Iraqi military patrol in Tal Afar area in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, a source in the Iraqi police said Wednesday. The source added in press remarks that the injured were transfer to a nearby hospital for treatment. Even though Iraqis are celebrating Eid Al-Fitr, insurgents are still attacking Iraqi security forces and civilians.
(KUNA) -- Two people were killed and two injured when an explosive laden vehicle blew up near the Syrian borders Wednesday, the US army said. A car loaded with explosives was detonated near the market of Haseiba town near the borders of Syria, the army said in a statement. Two people inside the car were killed and third was injured, said the army, while a woman who happened to be near the scene was wounded as well. Meanwhile, the US army said in another statement that American forces killed 12 gunmen who were trying to plant a bomb in one of the streets in the western city of Ramadi.
A bomb exploded on a Beirut street early Wednesday close to the residences of the Saudi and UAE ambassadors. The explosion did not cause any casualties but started a small fire, security forces said. 
