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22 killed and 245 wounded since Thursday in Trucefire™
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Afghanistan
Perv: 'Mulla Omar in Afghanistan. Trust me on this.'
President General Pervez Musharraf said he was “500 percent sure” Taliban leader Mulla Omar was in Afghanistan.
“Mulla Omar visited Pakistan when he was a madrassa student. All Taliban leaders are now in Afghanistan and leading the insurgency.”
The president said that no Taliban leaders were in Pakistan although a top commander, Mulla Dadullah, had been there and authorities had tried three times to catch him. He added that the attempts to target Dadullah were carried out with “total intelligence cooperation” with foreign forces in Afghanistan. “Mulla Omar visited Pakistan when he was a madrassa student. All Taliban leaders are now in Afghanistan and leading the insurgency,” said Musharraf, adding that the Taliban leaders would be arrested if they entered Pakistan.
Posted by: Fred || 02/03/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Perv, “500 percent sure Elvis is alive and well and rockin out in Peshawar”!

"I swear on Mulla Omar's head. and I'll prove it to yez, I have Video and will serve my famous soup, Lost Eye Mush'arraf, So Be there or be Square tomorrow afternoon.. "!
Posted by: RD || 02/03/2007 1:07 Comments || Top||

#2  Well, it think it's really if I don't trust Perv. I am pretty sure old Omar is living the good life in Urban Pakistan along a few others who would be better off dead too.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 02/03/2007 3:48 Comments || Top||


US army uses Mullah Omar's compound to plan missions
Osama Bin Laden built it. Taliban leader Mullah Omar lived in it. But today it's men of the US Army's Special Forces who call it home. Firebase Maholic, a sprawling and spacious compound on the outskirts of the southern Afghan city of Kandahar, is plush living by typical standards of the Special Forces, known as the Green Berets.

There's plenty of serious work here. A constant roar of shooting-range gunfire bounces off a towering granite peak behind the complex. Military missions are planned here. And Special Forces soldiers recently started training 130 new Afghan recruits for the country's fledgling auxiliary police force. "The irony of this is that the home of the [Taliban's] supreme leader is being used to train forces whose mission it is to destroy the force he created," said Rusty, the team leader of a Special Forces detachment. Teams usually consist of 12 members. Rusty, like all Green Beret soldiers in the field, is not allowed to be fully identified.

But soldiers here acknowledge that Omar's digs aren't a bad place to refresh in between multi-day missions conducted in the barest of conditions. The Green Berets can relax in front of a doublewide fireplace in the cafeteria, admire the three catfish in the nearby two-tier fountain or take a dip in the swimming pool - a rarity in Afghanistan. Meant to be the Taliban's presidential palace and once used as a militant training ground, the complex is big enough for a looping 8-kilometre run through the rolling hills that obscure the complex from a distance. Canadian and other elite units are also based at the complex, which was shattered by US bombs in late 2001 but has since been rebuilt.

Even the food gets extra high marks. Soldiers on Sunday night enjoyed barbecue chicken and hamburgers roasted on a large outdoor grill. "Oh man, it doesn't get any better than this," said one soldier, a sergeant who's an intelligence specialist. "I've been to Afghanistan enough to know living at a firebase can't get much better."

Secretive units of US Special Forces have been deployed at the compound since soon after the fall of the Taliban, and were an integral part of two Nato-led operations last fall in the province of Kandahar - the militia's former stronghold - that Nato say killed more than 500 suspected fighters. Their crests - skulls with crossed arrows - and mottos like "Pressure, Pursue, Punish" and "Free the Oppressed" adorn the compound's walls. Three eagles by the pool wear green berets. A skull in another painting has evil red eyes and a yellow and green turban.
Posted by: Fred || 02/03/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  They're at the Quetta Hilton?
Posted by: tu3031 || 02/03/2007 0:36 Comments || Top||

#2  The obscene amenity of it all.
Posted by: Excalibur || 02/03/2007 3:01 Comments || Top||

#3  In a different but similar article, it was noted that they were cooking "pork ribs" in his fireplace.

And it wouldn't surprise me if those pork ribs were flown in for exactly that purpose.

A friend commented that knowing the SF, they have probably chopped up Omar's prayer rug into swatches, to use for personal hygiene purposes.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 02/03/2007 9:43 Comments || Top||

#4  Neener neener! Come get us! We're all asleep now! And when you get here, the food isn't even halal! Oh, the obscenity! Mohamhead would not approve! It isn't nice of the infidels for pushing your buttons like that!
Posted by: gorb || 02/03/2007 16:18 Comments || Top||

#5  Doesn't having infidels in the 2837th holiest site in Islam cause more militants and extend the Quagmire? We need to turn this over to a local Holy Man (and his armory).
Posted by: Jackal || 02/03/2007 20:10 Comments || Top||


Africa Horn
Aethiopia to leave Somalia by mid February
Addis Ababa 01, Feb.07 ( Sh.M.Network) -The Ethiopian government has repeated asking the African countries that offered sending peacekeeping force to Somalia to hasten their mission before Ethiopia completes its troop withdrawal form Somalia by mid February.

Seum Mesfin, Ethiopian foreign minister, has expressed he was confident that the African peacekeeping mission would arrive in Somalia in two weeks when Ethiopian troops protecting the fragile Somali government would entirely leave the country. He said the sudden arrival of the peacekeepers in Somalia would fill the power vacuum during the transitional period, adding the last Ethiopian soldier would desert Somalia when the peacekeepers land in by mid February.

In a press conference, he held in Addis Ababa after the AU summit ended on Tuesday, Mesfin pointed out that there were many African countries that promised participation in reconstruction and logistic assistance for the war-torn country as those countries could not offer troops.
Posted by: Steve White || 02/03/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Why? If they leave the islamic courts will sneak back in and they"ll have to do it all over again?
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 02/03/2007 9:06 Comments || Top||


US says Somali Islamists regrouping in expected places
Addis Ababa 01, Feb.07 ( Sh.M.Network) - The United States believes that Somalia’s hard-line Islamists forcefully driven out of the country by government troops backed by Ethiopian military forces may reorganize themselves in Saudi Arabia, Eritrea and Yemen, Jendayi Frazer, US assistant secretary of state for African affairs, said on Wednesday.
They sure can't regroup in Somalia, at least til the Aethiops leave ...
Speaking to the Financial Times in Addis Ababa, Ms Frazer said it was too early to tell who among the Islamist leadership had survived Ethiopia's invasion last month and subsequent US air strikes on alleged affiliates of al-Qaeda. "It is going to take some time for the fog of war to clear up and we have an ability to see who is still operating and how they are operating," she said.

But she was "very concerned" that extremist elements from among the defeated Islamists were "trying to reconstitute themselves either out of Saudi Arabia or Eritrea", and that international jihadist networks would see this as an opportunity. "We have to engage with the Saudi government and their services to try to prevent that from happening as well as engage regionally."

Ms Frazer described Eritrea, with whom the US has deteriorating relations, as a "source of regional instability".
Posted by: Steve White || 02/03/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "Deteriorating relations"? More like the US is about to assist Ethiopia in capturing Eritrea, as reparations for the expense of cleaning up the Somalia mess.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 02/03/2007 9:46 Comments || Top||


US diplomat bids release of 11 US soldiers seized in Somalia
Not a word of this is true, of course.
Addis Ababa 01, Feb.07 ( Sh.M.Network) - Somalia’s routed Islamist leader Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed and the US ambassador to Kenya, Michael Ranneberger, have come to bidding over the release of 11 US servicemen reportedly captured by the defeated Islamists in southern Somalia.

According to Al-Khaleej news agency based in Emirates quoting DPA news agency , Reliable diplomatic sources indicate that at least the two men have had four rounds of talks over the American soldiers in the captivity of Islamists in southern jungles of the war-torn country, Somalia.

Mr. Ranneberger has asked the Islamist leader in the custody of Kenyan authority to order the release the US soldiers who were seized during heavy ground skirmishes between the Islamists and the American soldiers accompanied by Ethiopian troops. Sources say the incident took place nearly three weeks ago in southern Somalia.

According to Al-Khaleej, sheik Sharif stipulated the release of the soldiers with several conditions. He said, “Ethiopian soldiers in Somalia should be withdrawn immediately, America should halt the military action in south the country, I should be transferred from Kenya to another safe country (probably Yemen) and the United States should tell the world that 11 of its marine soldiers were seized in Somalia.”

Sheik Sharif said if these conditions were fulfilled, they would facilitate the release of the American soldiers, asserting he would always feel insecure and unsafe as long as he lingers in Kenya.
Posted by: Steve White || 02/03/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "and a new set of Cannon© headgear dish towels! Something in a red plaid and a light blue, but manly!"
Posted by: Frank G || 02/03/2007 0:14 Comments || Top||

#2  US diplomat bids release of 11 US soldiers seized in Somalia

I saw this happy crap on a couple of Islamist website yeaterday.. and was banned from one of them, oh well. :-)
Posted by: RD || 02/03/2007 1:26 Comments || Top||

#3  I call BS
it comes from here
Which comes from here

but the same site in their English version makes no mention..meaning it is for Islamic consumption only
Which you can translate here
..propaganda bullshit
Posted by: Flolumble Elmuling1667 || 02/03/2007 4:20 Comments || Top||

#4  "Marine soldiers"?
Posted by: gromky || 02/03/2007 4:38 Comments || Top||

#5  I saw this happy crap on a couple of Islamist website yeaterday.. and was banned from one of them, oh well. :-)

How long did you last?
Posted by: Shipman || 02/03/2007 7:03 Comments || Top||

#6  I saw this happy crap on a couple of Islamist website yeaterday.. and was banned from one of them, oh well. :-)

I can show you how to get around the ban! No, REALLY, I can. ;-)
Posted by: Ghost of Mick Dundee || 02/03/2007 9:08 Comments || Top||

#7  Now that's serious inside baseball.

Speaking of which 18 days.

Posted by: Shipman || 02/03/2007 9:17 Comments || Top||

#8  ship: How long did you last?

1 day. they banned me from the comments. bfd usually on the arabic ones I use Googlish T so most of my insults are probably unintelligible. "normally" I slips in a few mamas and goat partz.

I try and keep the yap shut but uknow..da temper.. I know its a little weird but hey I never advertise myself as reg.
Posted by: RD || 02/03/2007 12:18 Comments || Top||

#9  RD, you mean you're a troll on an Islamofacist website? LOL. How about giving them some civil, well reasoned discourse?
Posted by: Elmereter Hupash6222 || 02/03/2007 14:46 Comments || Top||

#10  I confess...not to proud of it though.. >:)
Posted by: RD || 02/03/2007 17:57 Comments || Top||


U.S. eyes re-establishing relations with Somalia
Just as soon as we find someone in charge.
Mogadishu 02, Feb.07 ( Sh.M.Network) -The State Department said yesterday it is considering re-establishing a diplomatic presence in Somalia for the first time since U.S. troops withdrew from the African country in 1994 after an unsuccessful U.N. humanitarian operation amid a bloody civil war.

Even if the department determines that the political and security conditions on the ground have improved sufficiently, it will not reopen the U.S. Embassy, which has been closed since 1991, but will most likely set up a small presence post, officials said. "It's something that's being actively examined right now," department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters. "We are going to take a look, obviously, at what is appropriate in terms of security [and] political presence ... in Somalia."

Although the United States never formally severed diplomatic relations with a Somali nation that dissolved into near anarchy from 1991 on, it closed its embassy there.

There aren't any final decisions" about sending U.S. diplomats to Somalia, Mr. McCormack said. However, he added that if the situation continues to improve, the department could send diplomats.

Jendayi Frazer, assistant secretary of state for African affairs, considered visiting Somalia during a trip to the region early last month, but the State Department's Diplomatic Security Service decided it was not safe, a senior official said.

The U.S. Embassy in Kenya is responsible for watching developments in Somalia, but the lack of diplomatic presence on the ground limits the knowledge and potential influence of the United States, officials said.
Posted by: Steve White || 02/03/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  but the State Department's Diplomatic Security Service decided it was not safe, a senior official said

Atta boy, listen to the DEFAT and LIVE!
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/03/2007 2:18 Comments || Top||


Uganda divided on sending troops to Somalia
( Sh.M.Network) In Uganda, the ruling party's efforts to push through a motion in parliament to debate the issue of Ugandan peacekeepers was voted down Wednesday, primarily because most opposition MPs had walked out of the house earlier to protest another issue. The lawmakers had argued that it would be improper for the house to discuss the issue with so many opposition members absent.

The ruling National Resistance Movement last month approved a plan to send a contingent of Ugandan peacekeeping troops into Somalia. At the time, the party's director of information, Ofwono Opondo, told VOA that "the deployment is as good as done," largely because the National Resistance Movement's caucus constitutes more than two-thirds of the members of parliament.

But some Ugandan lawmakers are doubtful about the proposal. Member of Parliament for Gulu Betty Aol Ocan explains. "We still have problems also here, and we do not know the terms of these people [peacekeepers]. We do not know whether they are going as peacekeepers, or they are going as fighters, because right now there is still fighting in Somalia. So, there is a lot of mixed feelings there - we are not very sure," said Ocan.
Posted by: Steve White || 02/03/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:


Burundi Proposes Offering Troops for Somalia
Mogadishu 02, Feb.07 ( Sh.M.Network) - Burundi has agreed to offer troops for the African Union peacekeeping initiative in Somalia. Burundi's Minister of Foreign Affairs Antoinette Batumubwira tells VOA that the proposal to send 1,000 troops to Somalia needs to be approved by Burundi's parliament and senate.

She explains the reasons behind the proposal. "The African Union has asked to any country that could contribute troops that it could do so," said Batumubwira. "We have a battalion that is ready, that is trained for this kind of mission. We have been helped also when we had difficulties so we would like to also contribute to peacekeeping on the continent."

The foreign minister was referring to troops that were brought into Burundi as part of a peace process to end to more than a decade of civil war.
Posted by: Steve White || 02/03/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:


Sheik Ahmed wants peace in Somalia, yewbetcha
Mogadishu 02, Feb.07 ( Sh.M.Network) - Somalia’s top Islamist leader, Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed, with whom Shabelle had an interview from Nairobi, Kenya on Friday, said the US government worked hard to bring him to the Kenyan capital Nairobi. “The U.S. and I have had dialog over how to introduce peace into Somalia. We have agreed on many issues and we still have something left,” he said.
"Like how I end up in charge," he added.
Asked about his view towards the presence of Ethiopian troops and the expected arrival of other African troops in Somalia, Ahmed said the Ethiopian troops have illegally occupied Somalia “Their departure from the country is inevitable and if the people of Somalia are divided over the arrival of other troops, they will increase the problems in the country,” he said.

He also pointed that foreign intervention in Somalia in the 1990s ended in failure. “We do not need another failure. Bringing troops to Somalia, Somalia’s scholars, religious leaders, the Courts and businesspeople should be consulted with and it should be concluded in consensus,” he added.

Ahmed said reconciliation among Somalis is the only way out of misery in the country. He urged all Somalis including leaders to reconcile and resolve the differences through negotiations.
Except when it comes to killing infidels ...
He supported the attacks against the Ethiopian troops in the country. “Every nation in the world, whose country is occupied, has the rights to defend itself through any means, and the Somali nation has the right to fight for its freedom so we see the fight as the right one in order to evict the Ethiopian occupiers out of their country,” he said.

Asked if he supported the killing of civilians during mortar attacks against Ethiopian army bases in the country, he said his movement does not support killing innocent people unless they're infidels, urging the Islamist supporters in Somalia to target only the Ethiopians and leave the civilian population alone.
'cause they're such crack shots and all ...
Posted by: Steve White || 02/03/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:


Africa Subsaharan
Hu tells al-Bashir to give UN bigger role in Darfur
Chinese President Hu Jintao told Sudan's leader he must give the United Nations a bigger role in trying to resolve the conflict in Darfur and also said China wanted to do more business with its key African ally, Sudan state media reported.

In what appeared to be China's bluntest message to Sudan on the Darfur crisis, Hu urged President Omar al-Bashir in a face-to-face meeting on Friday to boost the UN's "constructive role in realising peace in Darfur" along with the African Union, the official Sudan news agency Suna reported.

China buys two-thirds of Sudan's oil and is the largest investor in the country, giving it some leverage with al-Bashir's government. Sudan has defied a UN Security Council call for the underpowered African Union mission of 7 000 troops in the western region of Darfur to be taken over by a UN operation of 22 000 peacekeepers.

China usually refuses to mix human rights issues with diplomacy, but Hu has come under international pressure to use his clout with Sudan to push it to accept UN peacekeepers in Darfur. More than 200 000 people have been killed in four years of fighting in the region between rebels and the army, backed by the notorious Janjaweed militia.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/03/2007 02:55 || Comments || Link || [13 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Lessee... the Chinese are in Zimbabwe, Sudan, and one Western African nation that escapes me... I'd say they're getting tangled in the briar patch.
Posted by: Pappy || 02/03/2007 20:46 Comments || Top||


China-Japan-Koreas
U.S. gauges China’s anti-satellite strategy
As worldwide attention focuses on China’s first successful anti-satellite missile test, U.S. officials are questioning why some Chinese spacecraft are in orbits that bring them close to key U.S. satellites, according to military sources.

Article at link
Posted by: john || 02/03/2007 06:21 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Unsettling. China is doing the exact sorts of things that I would be doing, in their place. I can only hope that all of the Pacific war games from now on will assume that we've lost satellite coverage.
Posted by: gromky || 02/03/2007 9:28 Comments || Top||

#2  An interesting history on these satellites of China's, detailing the whos, whats and whens of the Clinton administration and the Chinese. Clinton was impeached, but for all the wrong reasons.

Berger's China Work Makes Archive Heist Look Tame
Posted by: Sherry || 02/03/2007 12:30 Comments || Top||

#3  I'm sure there are key components of most satellite systems available for rapid launch if China decides to do something terribly stupid. I wouldn't be surprised to learn (or not learn, which is even better) that there are pieces of equipment that aren't powered up, but are out in space, that can quickly fill roles of satellites taken out during wartime. The US would be stupid NOT to have such capabilities. I'm also sure the US could end China's satellite system in about three days, if China were to attack a working satellite. My personal idea is to tell China they will lose one port city for every satellite they take out, no warning, no questions, no shit. Unfortunately, that takes testicles, something in short supply anywhere in Washington, including the Pentagon.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 02/03/2007 15:18 Comments || Top||

#4  Not cities, OP. Start with the 3 Gorges Dam. THEN their cities, Beijing first, then the coastal cities in order of economic importance.

Or even better, start with the 3 Gorges Dam and then selectively destroy every major profitable manufacturing plant and army-run R&D facility in the country. At once.
Posted by: occasional observer || 02/03/2007 15:31 Comments || Top||

#5  What they've done is not all that hard to do. It's just that everyone else so far has had the brains not to do it. It will be interesting to see what their rationale "was". If they ever had any. Cavemen with technology again.
Posted by: gorb || 02/03/2007 16:12 Comments || Top||

#6  Can't we just put up a few satellites that are Japanese or Indian? wink wink. That way the Chinese can't know which ones are ours.
Posted by: Mike N. || 02/03/2007 17:32 Comments || Top||

#7  I think the Chinese are about ready to challenge us directly. Well, the think they are anyway. If you don't see it before the 2008 elections, you'll certainly see it after. Especially if Hildabeast is elected.

I have no doubt that she would allow them to take the country. Things are starting to move quickly now, and I expect to see it all come to a full head no later than 2010.

It will be absolutely necessary to take the Dems and their toadies in the press out, soon. I ain't talking about a dinner date.
Posted by: Omolurt Elmeaper6990 || 02/03/2007 18:29 Comments || Top||


Europe
Norway: Quicker expulsions wanted - "Secret Lawyers"
Norway's Police Security Service (PST) wants to stop foreigners deemed a threat to national security from having the option of pursuing their case through the court system. The PST believes that such cases must be handled by a closed committee, and without the foreigners in question allowed to follow the process. "The security policy will appoint secret lawyers," PST chief Jørn Holme told NRK (Norwegian Broadcasting).

Mullah Krekar, the former leader of Kurdish guerilla group Ansar al-Islam in Northern Iraq, has been fighting the decision to expel him from Norway for nearly three years.

Holme believes that similar cases in the future will require better handling of secret and confidential material. "So we have a need for a model that allows these cases to be handled more efficiently, but at the same time can in fact provide better legal safeguards for the person in question," Holme said, and the PST prefers a closed committee in the Immigration Appeals Board (UNE).

The Norwegian Bar Association believes the PST proposal is not only undemocratic but that it violates traditional Norwegian legal practice.
A proposal that promotes true Western European values: "Secret lawyers", "Closed Committees", no right to follow the case. And nothing said about detention and habeus corpus, but, what the heck ...
Posted by: mrp || 02/03/2007 08:02 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Vas? Keine Nacht und Nabel? Can't these nefarious foreigners just disappear into the night and fog? No need then for secret lawyers and closed committees. Can't get any more efficient than that./ sarcasm
Posted by: GK || 02/03/2007 10:12 Comments || Top||

#2  Another part of worldwide madness. Just when did a country lost its right to reject immigrants?
Posted by: gromgoru || 02/03/2007 11:42 Comments || Top||

#3  When it joins the EU.
Posted by: exJAG || 02/03/2007 13:26 Comments || Top||

#4  Oh wait, Norway actually keeps refusing to join. But their ruling elites are in perfect sync with Brussels, self-loathing multiculti socialists. It's actually worse in the case of Norway, since unlike EU member states, they've abdicated democracy and sovereignty without coercion.
Posted by: exJAG || 02/03/2007 13:38 Comments || Top||

#5  Better if secret police, cattle prods and packed cargo ships leaving Norwegian ports. Unfortunately, Norway is as flaccid as Sweden when confronting the muslim conquest.
Posted by: ed || 02/03/2007 17:04 Comments || Top||


God strikes cartoon protest imam dead
Ahmed Abu Laban, Denmark's leading imam and a key figure in last year's row over cartoons which depicted Muhammad, Islam's prophet, has died from lung cancer.
A year too late. I'd have bought him an extra carton of Marlboros sooner, if I'd known.
Abu Laban, 60, died late Thursday at the Hvidovre Hospital in Copenhagen, Kasem Ahmad, a spokesman for the Islamic Faith Community, said on Friday. "We are very sorry and we ask people to pray for him," Ahmad said.
Was it as painful as I hope it was?
Following the publication of cartoons depicting the Prophet by the Jyllands-Posten newspaper, Abu Laban accused Denmark of being disrespectful of Islam and Muslim immigrants. Furthermore, many blamed him and other Islamic clerics in Denmark for fuelling anger that triggered massive and sometimes violent anti-Danish protests in Muslim countries in January and February last year.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 02/03/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [10 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Partial Justice!
Posted by: 3dc || 02/03/2007 1:13 Comments || Top||

#2  MarbleRows? Hardly, a Camel man for sure.
Posted by: Shipman || 02/03/2007 2:57 Comments || Top||

#3  God strikes cartoon protest imam dead

ima hope Satan is "pitching" to abu Laban 24/7/365!


***********************************

Mr. Ship,
glad to hear that the tornadoes missed you guys down Florida way. I got in late, and peeked into the O club and saw that you were in the clear!! Were the Tornado producing storms anywhere near you?
Posted by: RD || 02/03/2007 3:37 Comments || Top||

#4  No tornadoes, but several microbursts locally. Bow line storms ahead of the cold front. Good rain tho.
Posted by: Shipman || 02/03/2007 7:06 Comments || Top||

#5  Im thinking it is possible that sometimes it isn't just Divine intervention that rids the world of scumbags and sometimes innocents.

I'm thinking dioxin is lethal substance can be blown into the aircon unit or put in the water...

and look that russian mafia man poisoned Putin's problem man with radioactive stuff.

Radioactive elements cause cancer, put a bit of that in the aircon and soon they'll get lung cancer: possible?
Posted by: anon1 || 02/03/2007 9:08 Comments || Top||

#6  not likely
Posted by: Frank G || 02/03/2007 9:10 Comments || Top||

#7  I hope it was slow and painful.
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 02/03/2007 9:34 Comments || Top||

#8  Too bad.

NOT!

What's a matter allan? Not powerful enough to save one of your butt-buddies?
Posted by: anymouse || 02/03/2007 14:26 Comments || Top||

#9  Gives new meaning to the phrase "butt f*cked."
Posted by: JohnQC || 02/03/2007 16:21 Comments || Top||

#10  And in the God Has a Wry Sense of Humor department, Laban's deputy "Imam" Ahmed Akkari was reportedly seriously injured in a car accident leaving the funeral.
Posted by: Speater Snamble2569 || 02/03/2007 16:51 Comments || Top||

#11  Speater Snamble2569 is me.
Posted by: ed || 02/03/2007 16:56 Comments || Top||

#12  Guy was probably smoking Loredo High-Tars in his hookah.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 02/03/2007 19:14 Comments || Top||

#13  maybe inteada cartoons, he shoulda been protesting Big Tobacco.
Posted by: liberalhawk || 02/03/2007 20:30 Comments || Top||

#14  "And in the God Has a Wry Sense of Humor department, Laban's deputy "Imam" Ahmed Akkari was reportedly seriously injured in a car accident leaving the funeral."
And in that part of the world, what kind of car would it be?
Why a Fiord, or course.
I'll be here all week, tell your friends.
Posted by: USN, ret. || 02/03/2007 20:54 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Imam leads Democrats in prayer of conversion
Muslim leader at party's winter meeting also asks Allah to stop 'the occupation'

With heads bowed reverently, Democrats were led in prayer yesterday by a Muslim imam who essentially asked Allah to assist in converting the party members to Islam, according to a scholar and author.

Robert Spencer, director of Jihad Watch and author of "The Truth about Muhammad," took note of the invocation given at the Democratic National Committee winter meeting by Husham Al-Husainy, imam of the Karbalaa Islamic Education Center, a shiite mosque in Dearborn, Mich.

According to a transcript of the prayer, which can be seen on a video clip provided by HotAir.com, the imam said:

In the name of God the most merciful, the most compassionate. We thank you, God, to bless us among your creations. We thank you, God, to make us as a great nation. We thank you God, to send us your messages through our father Abraham and Moses and Jesus and Muhammad. Through you, God, we unite. So guide us to the right path. The path of the people you bless, not the path of the people you doom. Help us God to liberate and fill this earth with justice and peace and love and equality. And help us to stop the war and violence, and oppression and occupation. Amen.

Spencer, in a post on his Jihad Watch website, said he found it interesting to see the Muslim leader praying, "in veiled terms to be sure, for their conversion to Islam, and, oh yes, for the destruction of Israel ("And help us to stop the war and violence, and oppression and occupation").

"Imagine if a Christian priest or minister had prayed at a DNC meeting that those attending be guided away from the path of those doomed by God," Spencer said.

He explained the imam was echoing the Fatiha, the first sura, or chapter, of the Quran and the most common prayer of Islam. It asks Allah: "Show us the straight path, the path of those whom Thou hast favored; not the (path) of those who earn Thine anger nor of those who go astray."

The traditional Islamic understanding is that the "straight path" is Islam, Spencer points out. On the other hand, he continued, the path of those who have earned Allah's anger are the Jews, and those who have gone astray are the Christians.

Spencer cited the classic Quranic commentator Ibn Kathir, who says:

Allah asserted that the two paths He described here are both misguided when He repeated the negation "not." These two paths are the paths of the Christians and Jews, a fact that the believer should beware of so that he avoids them.
The path of the believers is knowledge of the truth and abiding by it. In comparison, the Jews abandoned practicing the religion, while the Christians lost the true knowledge. This is why "anger" descended upon the Jews, while being described as "led astray" is more appropriate of the Christians. Those who know, but avoid implementing the truth, deserve the anger, unlike those who are ignorant. The Christians want to seek the true knowledge, but are unable to find it because they did not seek it from its proper resources. This is why they were led astray. We should also mention that both the Christians and the Jews have earned the anger and are led astray, but the anger is one of the attributes more particular of the Jews.

Allah said about the Jews, (Those (Jews) who incurred the curse of Allah and His wrath) (5:60).

The attribute that the Christians deserve most is that of being led astray, just as Allah said about them, (Who went astray before and who misled many, and strayed (themselves) from the right path) (5:77).
Posted by: ryuge || 02/03/2007 06:57 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I always forget: Are the Shiites lawful evil or chaotic evil? I always get them confused with that other lot.
Posted by: Excalibur || 02/03/2007 8:42 Comments || Top||

#2  This is wonderful, now the dems are proven enemies of America Let the spin begin.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 02/03/2007 9:14 Comments || Top||

#3  Chaotic evil while they're in the minority, and lawful evil once they're in the majority.
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 02/03/2007 10:02 Comments || Top||

#4  When does the spin become a dervish?
Posted by: 3dc || 02/03/2007 10:44 Comments || Top||

#5  might be interesting when the sunnis and shiites in dearborn start going for each others' throats.
Posted by: treo || 02/03/2007 12:43 Comments || Top||

#6  An interesting idea whose time has come. What kind of oil do we need?
Posted by: twobyfour || 02/03/2007 13:02 Comments || Top||

#7  Some of the dems aren't far from conversion. They act like converts. They talk like converts. They aid and abet the enemy. What's one to think?
Posted by: JohnQC || 02/03/2007 16:15 Comments || Top||

#8  #7 Don't expect Teddy Kennedy to convert.
Posted by: gromgoru || 02/03/2007 16:24 Comments || Top||

#9  The enemy is well within our gates thanks to the Dems.
Posted by: Mark Espinola || 02/03/2007 16:25 Comments || Top||


Hillary promises to cut'n run
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 02/03/2007 02:36 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Better Link

Clinton, raising her voice at one point to be heard above anti-war hecklers, suggested that calls from Edwards and others to cut off funding for President Bush's troop increase are unlikely to win approval in a narrowly divided Senate.

"Believe me, I understand the frustration and the outrage," Clinton shrieked said in a speech to the Democratic National Committee meeting that brought the party's nine White House hopefuls together for the first time. "You have to have 60 votes to cap troops, to limit funding to do anything. If we in Congress don't end this war before January 2009, as president, I will."
Posted by: KBK || 02/03/2007 11:37 Comments || Top||

#2  Ha - just the other day, she stated that she resented President Bush leaving the finishing of this war to the next president!
Posted by: Sherry || 02/03/2007 12:37 Comments || Top||

#3  I remember a few thousand military personnel saying "never again" after 1975. I think Hitlery and all the rest of the cut-and-run dummycritters need to watch what they say. I ain't sayin' there'll be a decapitation, and I ain't sayin' there won't be. Some of those green beret types were pretty upset. The dummycritters are too stoopid to understand, and the repuglycons are too afraid to stand up to anything. What a revoltin' mess!
Posted by: Old Patriot || 02/03/2007 15:52 Comments || Top||

#4  Another 121 Iraqi civilians were brutally killed today by terrorists.

Yet Hillary Cares Not. That is now Official.

3,000 men and women gave it all up in the war against these terrorists, mostly in Iraq.

Yet Hillary Cares Not. That is now Official.

I have started a campaign to have Americans send care packages to those Iraqi civilians who have been hurt and maimed by terrorist attacks in Iraq.

That is not cutting and running. That is caring.
Posted by: Chomort Angaick6135 || 02/03/2007 23:35 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
Hicks Charged; Dad Gloomy
The announcement of proposed charges against Guantanamo Bay detainee David Hicks brings little relief, says his father Terry Hicks.

Overnight, Colonel Morris Davis, the chief prosecutor for the upcoming US military commissions, announced Hicks would be one of the first three Guantanamo Bay inmates brought to trial. Col Davis has recommended Hicks be charged with "providing material support for terrorism and attempted murder in violation of the law of war". If convicted, the 31-year-old former jackeroo from Adelaide faces a maximum penalty of life in a US prison.

Col Davis "swore" the charges against Hicks today but they won't be formally laid until they have been approved by US military judge Susan Crawford - a process expected to take two weeks.

Terry Hicks says the new proposed charges are confusing and bring little promise that the process is moving forward. "There is in one way, but I would be more relieved if David was facing a fair and just situation, not virtually the same thing that they went through before, which has been ruled as illegal," Mr Hicks said today.
Posted by: Bobby || 02/03/2007 07:13 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  his POS Dad whines when he's held without charges and whines when they charge him. He needs a steaming cup of Shut The Fuck Up and a Fisk-beating
Posted by: Frank G || 02/03/2007 8:46 Comments || Top||

#2  Solution: shoot enemy on battlefield, do not take prisoners unless for interrogation. Interrogate in warzone then shoot or release as warranted.

No further trouble!
Posted by: anon1 || 02/03/2007 9:06 Comments || Top||

#3  agreed anon1.
Posted by: anymouse || 02/03/2007 14:22 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Musharraf terms suicide attacks un-Islamic
President Pervez Musharraf Saturday condemned series of suicide attacks in the country and described them as un-Islamic.


The youth are being brain washed to become suicide bombers which is un-Islamic, General Pervez Musharraf told a public rally in Okara city in eastern Punjab.
The President remarks coincide with a latest suicide attack on an army convoy in North West Frontier Province, which killed two soldiers and injured six others.
President Musharraf termed the recent suicide bombings in the country as highly deplorable.
These are acts of misguided elements who carried out these terrorist attacks in the name of Islam.
The only threat the country faces today is from extremism and terrorism, President Musharraf said.

He warned that economic development could not be sustained if extremism and terrorism is not curbed and said that people's support would be vital for defeating these menaces.
The President sought support of the people in identifying the extremist who incite people and use places of worship for fanning hatred.

Pakistan is an Islamic Republic and assured that no laws could be enacted which are not in conformity of Islam.

Posted by: Classer || 02/03/2007 18:51 || Comments || Link || [13 views] Top|| File under:


ANP can reverse NWFP Talibanisation
The Awami National Party (ANP) and its leader Asfandyar Wali, suggests a commentary, are potentially capable of reversing the Talibanisation trend in the tribal areas, provided that the Pakistani establishment recognises the high stakes involved – namely the rapid rise of religious radicalism.

In an analysis published by Jamestown Foundation’s ‘Terrorism Watch’, Pakistani academic Hassan Abbas described the recent ANP victory in the Bajaur by-election as “critical” and a blow to pro-Taliban elements in the region. It also marks the revival of a party that appeared to be hibernating during the recent Talibanisation process. According to him, the military’s “hidden alliance” with religious political parties made it difficult to effectively tackle the post 9/11 Taliban threat, but after 2003, the military opted for a show of brute force in the tribal belt that created more problems than it solved. The ANP was routed in national and provincial elections in 2002 because anti-Musharraf and anti-American sentiments were at their peak leading to support for the MMA.

Abbas warned that the potency of Pashtun nationalist forces should not be underestimated. Given their history and traditional support base, they are potentially an effective and viable political force to challenge religious extremists in the NWFP and the adjacent FATA.

He said that in terms of political orientation, the ANP was a nationalist Pashtun party that aspired to make Pakistan a truly democratic state. It also pushes for provincial autonomy and social justice. It was one of the few political forces in Pakistan openly critical of how the Afghan resistance against the former Soviet Union was labelled a jihad and sponsored from Pakistan with US and Saudi money. Framing the conflict in religious terms meant increased influence of Islamic parties and decreased relevance of secular parties like the ANP. The ANP remained critical of Pakistan’s pro-Taliban policies in the pre-9/11 phase, but its warnings were ignored.
Posted by: Fred || 02/03/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [9 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I recently read a sobering article in the Economist about the Pashtun culture. Given that, it doesn't exactly reassure me that the ANP are "potentially capable of reversing the Talibanisation trend". Same barbaric primitivism, different leader.
Posted by: Jules || 02/03/2007 8:59 Comments || Top||


Durrani and Fazl in hospital: JUI-F executive council to meet in Lahore
An executive council meeting of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (Fazl) (JUI-F) that was scheduled for February 4 in Islamabad will now be held in Lahore because of Fazlur Rehman and NWFP Chief Minister Akram Durrani’s angioplasty in Lahore, JUI-F Information Secretary Amjad Khan said on Friday. He said that doctors had advised rest to the JUI-F leaders and they could not travel to Islamabad.

The meeting could not be postponed, he said, because the National Assembly session would begin on February 6. “JUI-F will decide about participating in the assembly session and resignations from parliament at the meeting,” he said. Fazlur Rehman will head the meeting. He said Durrani was recovering from the one-hour operation and might be discharged from hospital on Saturday. Other JUI leaders including Abdul Ghafoor Haideri were already in the city, he said. Meanwhile, an NWFP government spokesman denied the reports that Durrani had a heart problem or was advised to undergo angioplasty. Durrani was in Lahore to visit Fazlur Rehman, he said in a press statement. “The chief minister was also examined and found healthy.”APP reported that Durrani did undergo angioplasty on Friday and his condition was satisfactory.
Posted by: Fred || 02/03/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Fat Gobuals with sum lovely red sticks.. LMAO thats funny! it hurtz just lookin at it!
Posted by: RD || 02/03/2007 12:07 Comments || Top||


President admits terror war lapses
President Pervez Musharraf said that some members of the security forces had turned a “blind eye” towards Taliban militants.
But Musharraf rejected allegations that the ISI was collaborating with the insurgents, saying that the ISI was closely working with US intelligence.
But Musharraf rejected allegations that the ISI was collaborating with the insurgents, saying that the ISI was closely working with US intelligence. “We had some incidents I know of that in some posts, a blind eye was being turned. So similarly I imagine that others may be doing the same,” he said. He gave the example of a typical checkpost on the Afghan border, saying it was difficult if only two men on guard are faced with a group of “20 well-armed, well-trained and well-motivated people challenging them”.
Posted by: Fred || 02/03/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The BBC was a bit blunter, saying Musharraf "has conceded that some border security forces have been letting Taleban fighters cross into Afghanistan."
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 02/03/2007 1:06 Comments || Top||

#2  As if?! Perv ain't gonna trade his skin. NowayNoHow.
Posted by: DepotGuy || 02/03/2007 3:35 Comments || Top||


Pakistan to fence part of Afghan border
RAWALPINDI, Pakistan - Pakistan is to fence 35 kilometres (22 miles) of its northwestern border with Afghanistan to restrict the movement of Taleban militants, President Pervez Musharraf said on Friday. Musharraf said he had ordered the move because Islamabad’s western allies had failed to offer solutions to the problem. But he added that Pakistan had deferred a plan to mine the border due to international concerns.

“We are doing it (fencing). We have decided. The movement of logistics has taken place,” Musharraf told a press conference at Camp House, his official military residence in the garrison city of Rawalpindi. The president said the erection of the fence “will take a few months to execute”.
If they get their fence built before we get the one at the Rio Grande done ...
“The area we are fencing at the moment is about 35.2 kilometres in all. They are in seven or eight different pieces,” Musharraf said. Pakistan also planned to fence 250 kilometres of the border in the southwestern province of Baluchistan at a later date, he added.

Mining the border -- as Pakistan has threatened to do -- is still under consideration, Musharraf said. “A minefield is easier. Fencing is more difficult,” he said. ”But we are conscious of the sensitivity of the international community. Therefore we thought in phase one let’s only fence it.”

The NATO-led force in Afghanistan said last month that it had ”strong reservations” about the plan to mine and fence parts of the border. Musharraf retorted: “This is my solution.” He accused NATO and US-led forces in Afghanistan of failing to come up with any other ideas.
We could come up with a few ...
Posted by: Steve White || 02/03/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [10 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Another shameful apartheid wall. What's that you say? No Jews on either side? Ok, clearly this is not news.
Posted by: Excalibur || 02/03/2007 3:07 Comments || Top||

#2  Okay, give Perv a little credit. Almost any fencing, even five or six strands of concertina thick, will at least help to channel the bad guyz.

The purpose of such a fence is not to stop illegal entry (and exit), but to both slow it down and to limit the amount or cargo that can be taken through.

Imagine what a drag it would be to a Taliban who is inching he way through five strands when he suddenly comes under MG fire. A skeleton, suspended in the air off of concertina makes a great scarecrow.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 02/03/2007 9:51 Comments || Top||

#3  Except that the ISI has trained terrorists how to go through electric fencing.
While this was meant for the Indian fence on the LOC, the jihadis will train those crossing on the Afghan side
Posted by: john || 02/03/2007 10:20 Comments || Top||

#4  You always cover fence with a MG. And there is a big difference between penetrating fence, and doing so quickly.

Concertina is lovely stuff. Stacked in rolls, even if you cut it, it pretty much stays in place. For its price, it makes one hell of an obstacle.

The objective here is to use it to channel the bad guyz to use fewer crossings and carry less weapons and equipment. For that, concertina should be just dandy.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 02/03/2007 10:25 Comments || Top||

#5  Given that Taliban fighters have been observed in the past being transported in Pak army trucks, I fear this has little to do with controlling terrorist infiltration and is actually about asserting the Durand line border (which the Afghans do not recognize)
Posted by: john || 02/03/2007 10:49 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Casey refutes Iraq pessimism
The outgoing U.S. commander in Baghdad yesterday broke with his superiors, including President Bush, by telling a Senate committee he does not agree with their dire assessments that the Iraq war is failing. "I do not agree that we have a failed policy," Army Gen. George Casey told the Senate Armed Services Committee in confirmation hearings for him to be the next Army chief of staff.

Questioned by Sen. John McCain, Arizona Republican, Gen. Casey repeatedly defended his 21/2-year command, conceding that Baghdad fell into cycles of relentless killing during his term and that "the situation is definitely deteriorating in Baghdad." But he said much of Iraq has made progress. "I believe the president's new strategy will enhance the policy that we have," he said of Mr. Bush's Jan. 10 plan to send 21,500 additional troops into Iraq, most to Baghdad.

Gen. Casey broke with comments by Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, who has said the United States is not winning, and with Navy Adm. William Fallon, who told the same committee this week that the strategy was not working. Adm. Fallon is to be the next Middle East commander. The general did not stop there. Asked about Mr. Bush's assessment that his Iraq policy was headed to "slow failure," Gen. Casey said, "I actually don't see it as a slow failure. I actually see it as slow progress."
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve White || 02/03/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  While I have always thought his fundamental approach was (and remains) wrong, it sure is nice to see Casey dissing the easy, mostly wrong and always exaggerated gloom (so fashionable that even Dubya felt obliged to echo it). You'd think the Coalition was clinging for dear life to some corner of the country (Korea) or in headlong retreat and disarray before an enemy offensive (Battle of the Bulge).

Not.

Too bad it take someone who's damaged goods (Casey) to point out that the emperor has very few, if not zero, clothes .....
Posted by: Verlaine || 02/03/2007 2:11 Comments || Top||

#2  Gen. Casey said, "I actually don't see it as a slow failure. I actually see it as slow progress."

His glass is half empty, the sun is beating down. Solar evaporation is fully in effect, no sign of rain for the next 30 days...."but, but, but my glass is half full! I think this is commonly referred to as "classic denial."
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/03/2007 2:24 Comments || Top||

#3  I think he's right about the slow progress. I'm an optimist.

But the Senators want someone who will tell them what they want to hear.
Posted by: Bobby || 02/03/2007 7:08 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
World Bank gives Palestinians $25 million
RAMALLAH, West Bank - The World Bank signed an agreement on Friday to give $25 million to poor Palestinians hit hard by a Western aid embargo of the Hamas-led government.
Coincidentially, American contributions to the World Bank have decreased by $25 million.
The funds for health care and other services will be disbursed through Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s office rather than through Hamas-controlled government ministries. “The focus of our technical and financial assistance is to facilitate the delivery of the basic services to vulnerable families,” said World Bank managing director Juan Jose Da Boob Daboub after signing the agreement at Abbas’s office in Ramallah.

Rafiq al-Husseini, Abbas’s chief of staff, said the World Bank promised to disburse an additional $150 million by the end of 2007 to fund a range of projects, from sanitation to road improvements.
All of which will be blown up in the Trucefire™. Don't these guys pay attention?
Posted by: Steve White || 02/03/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Hey, World Bank. I could use $25 million.
I'll make a deal with you. I'll only keep a million and flush 24 down the toilet.
Believe me, that's a better deal then you'll get from the Pali's. They'll flush the whole 25.
Posted by: tu3031 || 02/03/2007 0:29 Comments || Top||

#2  Exactly, Steve. It's Osama's "perfect plan" for the victory of Islam.
Continue jihadi destruction everywhere it can be carried out; use western guilt over (Islam-caused) post-battle ruin to fund rebuilding projects; blow up the rebuilds; repeat again and again to weaken the West until Islam has the upper hand in enough "allies'" lands. Eventually, demographically favored Islam vanquishes the financially and morally-compromised West. That is, unless we put a spoke in the wheel-seems like raising the bar for rebuilding might be worth considering, that is, if we are serious about winning this.
Posted by: Jules || 02/03/2007 9:39 Comments || Top||

#3  All of which will be blown up in the Trucefire™. Don't these guys pay attention?

"These guys" hope that, at least some, of the money would be used to kill Jews.
Posted by: gromgoru || 02/03/2007 11:46 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Drama on high seas as 'pirates' are captured
The Malaysian police helicopter appeared suddenly, banking sharply over the Japanese ship. As a bomb exploded on the deck, spewing wasabi-green smoke, five commandoes slid down a rope from the aircraft. Screaming "get down! get down!" the black-clad team chased two burly men who appeared to be pirates, overpowering and handcuffing them at gunpoint within minutes.

But the commandoes and two grinning 'pirates' were soon posing for TV cameras and congratulating each other on a job well done: the first ever anti-piracy exercise involving Japan, Malaysia and Thailand. "It was plain sailing. Everything went smoothly," said Abdul Manaf Othman, an assistant commander in the Malaysian police, whose marine and air wings and special forces commandoes took part in the exercise yesterday near Phuket.

Officials hope such drills will sharpen skills and increase coordination among marine police from countries trying to stamp out piracy in Strait of Malacca, the world's busiest shipping lane. Authorities in some Asian countries have also been stepping up anti-piracy cooperation in recent years due to fears of possible maritime terror strikes in the strait.
Posted by: Fred || 02/03/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [10 views] Top|| File under:

#1  This is actually a big deal, given the players involved. Malaysia is real touchy about its sovereignty, and the region has long memories regarding Japan. I notice Indonesia is still playing wallflower.

Authorities in some Asian countries have also been stepping up anti-piracy cooperation in recent years due to fears of possible maritime terror strikes in the strait.

More like fears that any economic growth will get strangled. Thank Lloyds for providing the major incentive.
Posted by: Pappy || 02/03/2007 20:57 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
NKors, Iranians cooperate on missile tech
By Bill Gertz

North Korea and Iran are cooperating in developing long-range missiles, the deputy director of the Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency said yesterday. Army Brig. Gen. Patrick O'Reilly said during a speech that North Korea test fired a long-range Taepodong missile in July, and Iran is working on a space launcher that would help develop an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) that could hit the U.S.

"Not only North Korea, but Iran has shown some significant developments in their [own] missile systems," Gen. O'Reilly said in a speech to the George C. Marshall Institute. "They are working in concert with the North Koreans," he said. "They have made a claim that they are working towards developing a space launch capability, which also would give them an ICBM capability."

The Pentagon believes Iran has a "new intermediate-range ballistic missile or space launch vehicle [SLV] in development," a Missile Defense Agency briefing slide stated. The Iranians are "likely to develop an ICBM/SLV [and] could have an ICBM capable of reaching the U.S. before 2015," according to the briefing chart. One of the new missiles would be solid-fueled, making it capable of being launched rapidly, and have a range of 1,240 miles, enough to hit targets throughout Europe from Iran.

The speech marked the first time the Pentagon publicly disclosed the missile cooperation between Pyongyang and Tehran.

The North Koreans test fired a Taepodong-2 on July 4 but the missile failed 40 seconds after launch, Gen. O'Reilly said. The two-stage version has a range of 6,200 miles and the three-stage version can travel 9,300 miles. "But the indications are clear that they are continuing to strive to expand their ballistic missile capability," he said.

The U.S. missile defense system was made operational before the North Korean tests and the forces involved "performed very well," Gen. O'Reilly said. Another briefing chart used during the speech stated that if the Taepodong-2 had threatened the United States, "we are confident the ballistic missile defense system would have operated as designed." Another briefing chart revealed for the first time that North Korea is developing a new intermediate-range missile with a range of about 2,000 miles that was described as "a qualitative improvement in performance" from earlier missile systems. North Korea's July tests -- seven missiles were fired -- included two 806-mile range Nodong missiles, he said.

North Korea uses its missiles as "geopolitical leverage" over the United States and its allies and also to raise money by selling them abroad, Gen. O'Reilly said. Iran is building missiles for "both asymmetric threats and conventional threats" to U.S. and allied forces, he noted.

Gen. O'Reilly also stated that Hezbollah's short-range rockets and missiles, used in last year's fighting in Lebanon, were a threat to Israeli forces and that more than 4,500 were fired. "They had small ball bearings, about 300, in their warhead, and they were very effective at shutting down a lot of the maneuvering capability of the Israeli army and also shutting down over 70 percent of the commerce in northern Israel during that period of time," he said. "And that was significant from both non-state actors and other countries that have committed to using rockets as terror weapons."
Posted by: Steve White || 02/03/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under:



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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.
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Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
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badanov
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Two weeks of WOT
Sat 2007-02-03
  22 killed and 245 wounded since Thursday in Trucefire™
Fri 2007-02-02
  Three wannabe head choppers in Brit court
Thu 2007-02-01
  Hamas ambushes Gaza "arms convoy" , Trucefire™ holding
Wed 2007-01-31
  Mo Jamal Khalifa mysteriously bumped off
Tue 2007-01-30
  Chlorine Boom in Ramadi
Mon 2007-01-29
  US and Iraqi forces kill 250 militants in Najaf
Sun 2007-01-28
  21 dead in festive Gaza weekend
Sat 2007-01-27
  Salafist Group renamed "Al-Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb"
Fri 2007-01-26
  US Troops Now Directed To: 'Catch Or Kill Iranian Agents'
Thu 2007-01-25
  Bali bomber hurt in Filipino gunfight
Wed 2007-01-24
  Beirut burns as Hezbollah strike explodes into sectarian violence
Tue 2007-01-23
  100 killed in Iraq market bombings
Mon 2007-01-22
  3,200 new US troops arrive in Baghdad
Sun 2007-01-21
  Two South Africans accused of Al-Qaeda links
Sat 2007-01-20
  Shootout near presidential palace in Mog


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