KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AP) - Afghan security forces clashed with suspected Taliban insurgents in southern Afghanistan, and a subsequent airstrike in the area left 35 militants dead, an Afghan official said Thursday. Meanwhile, NATO military leaders prepared to meet in Canada to ask for more resources for their fight in the volatile south.
Afghan security forces were ambushed and clashed with militants for about an hour in southern Zabul province's Shahjoy district late Wednesday before an airstrike was called in on militants positions, said Ali Kheil, a spokesman for the Zabul governor. Authorities recovered the bodies of 35 dead militants, Kheil said. There were no casualties among Afghan security forces. U.S.-led coalition and NATO officials did not immediately comment on the attack, and the number of casualties could not be independently verified due to the remoteness of the area.
Also Wednesday, a bomb blast in the south killed two Canadian soldiers and wounded three others, said Col. Mike Cessford, deputy commander of the Canadian contingent in Afghanistan. Cessford did not disclose the exact location of the attack. Most of the Canadian troops serving in the NATO-led force in Afghanistan are based in the volatile southern province of Kandahar. The blast occurred three days after a roadside bomb killed six Canadian troops in the south. It was the single worst combat loss in Afghanistan for the Canadians, who have lost 53 soldiers and a diplomat in the country, according to the Canadian military. There are some 2,500 Canadian troops in Afghanistan in the 36,000-strong NATO force.
As NATO pushes forward with its biggest ever anti-Taliban offensive in southern Afghanistan, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates was in Canada Thursday to press allies to contribute additional forces, equipment and other resources in Afghanistan for that fight. Gates was to meet with military leaders from Britain, Canada, Australia, the Netherlands, Denmark and Romania - all partners in southern Afghanistan. NATO and the U.S. have made repeated calls for additional resources from allies, but have met resistance from some, including the French and Germans, who questioned the wisdom of sending more troops to Afghanistan.
Each year Taliban fighters have stepped up their attacks as the Dread Spring Offensive spring thaw began, but this year Gates said NATO should take the offensive and bring the fight first to the militants. The initial phase of the assault began last month with Operation Achilles - sending more than 5,500 NATO and Afghan troops into opium-producing Helmand province to battle hardcore Taliban insurgents.
Posted by: Steve ||
04/12/2007 07:52 ||
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#1
So that's, what, more than a hundred raisins, right?
#3
Maybe they took an average of the various announced counts?
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/12/2007 10:07 Comments ||
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#4
Here's what CentCom released:
"The combined force identified a large group of Taliban fighters on a ridgeline near a cave site and then proceeded to destroy the enemy position killing 16 enemy fighters with Coalition close air support.
Several enemy fighters retreated from the Coalition air strike, using motorcycles to evade advancing ANA and Coalition Soldiers. ANA and Coalition forces tracked the Taliban fighters to another cave site and requested Coalition aircraft to engage and destroy the position.
As a result of the fighting, 24 enemy fighters were killed, 14 motorcycles and two cave sites were destroyed. One weapons cache was also recovered during a subsequent search of the caves."
It does not read like the Taliban brought their 'A' team to this ambush.
#5
So Gates/NATO is going to Canada to ask for more troops even though they have been in the thick of it for a long time. Hows about going to Germany and France and humiliating those bastards (the two largest countries in Europe) to send at least some of their troops into the fight. Both governments are absolute wimps and will be the first to fall to the muzzie invasion.
#6
What would be the point of more German/French troops? They still wouldn't leave their cantonment in the safest part of Afghanistan, except to go shopping for souvenirs. I only hope that their Special Forces really are quietly doing useful and deadly things out of the spotlight.
#7
We have got to press the French, Italian and German militaries to fight in the stan. Publically call for their engagement in combat and reinforcements. If they don't stand up, we should pull our forces out of every country whose soldiers don't fight. Fuck those bastards.
#9
Suspected? Imagine if they were confirmed talibunnies.
Posted by: Captain America ||
04/12/2007 21:47 Comments ||
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#10
Well, remoteman, if you led US troops in battle, would you rather have Canadians or French/Germans alongside or behind you?
I know which I'd pick (assuming Aussies weren't available).
A suicide car bomber wounded eight civilians in southern Afghanistan on Wednesday, as officials said 13 Taliban died in a US air strike and four more were killed by a mine they were planting.
The suicide attacker blew up his vehicle near a NATO convoy in the main southern city of Kandahar, the birthplace of the 1996-2001 Taliban regime whose remnants are now behind a bloody insurgency. Police said eight civilians were wounded and the bomber died. The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force headquarters in Kabul confirmed an explosion and said its troops did not suffer any casualties.
No one claimed responsibility for the blast, but the Taliban have vowed to launch a wave of suicide attacks this year. Separately on Tuesday, US-led coalition and Afghan troops called in warplanes after Taliban rebels attacked them with mortars and rockets in the troubled Sangin district of southern Helmand province, the coalition said. Coalition aircraft arrived and dropped munitions which resulted in the destruction of one enemy compound, a bunker and a vehicle, it said in a statement.
There were an estimated 13 Taliban fighters killed during the engagement, it said, adding there were no civilian casualties. The airstrike came a day after coalition jets killed four Taliban fighters in Sangin district. About 1,000 Afghan security forces and NATO-led troops took Sangin out of Taliban control at the weekend without facing any major resistance, according to authorities.
Meanwhile, four Taliban fighters were killed when a landmine meant to target foreign and Afghan troops exploded as they planted it in the southern province of Ghazni, a district official said.
A group of Taliban were laying a mine on a road. The mine went off and killed four of them, chief of Ander district Abdul Rahim said. Two other rebels were injured in the blast, he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/12/2007 00:00 ||
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KANDAHAR: A suicide car bomber wounded eight civilians in southern Afghanistan on Wednesday, as officials said 13 Taliban died in a US air strike and four more were killed by a mine they were planting.
(SomaliNet) At least four people have been killed and six more were wounded in new flare up of fighting in the Somalia capital between forces loyal to the transitional federal government and local insurgents. The fighting renewed in area between Ramadan and Kaah hotels in north of Mogadishu where the rival sides exchanged all sorts of weapons overnight and intensified this morning into nearby villages. The latest battle which has now subsided is in violation of the recent ceasefire by the clan elders and the Ethiopian military officials.
Local medical sources say that most of the people killed in fighting were civilians. Several mortar and artelary fires landed on civilian houses. Deafening sounds of artillery rounds could be heard last night. Some reports say the Ethiopian forces stationing in the presidential palace made the shelling targeting the insurgents strongholds. Both sides are said to have been receiving reinforcements as the sounds of heavy weaponry could be heard through the city. The resumption of clashes came hours after the Ethiopian army refused to meet Hawiye elders for routine peace negotiations unless insurgent commanders were present, AFP reports.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/12/2007 00:00 ||
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(KUNA) -- Moroccan police have identified on Wednesday the third terrorist who blew himself up last night in Al-Fida district and as a result injured eight people. A security source commented on the incident as saying the third terrorist is a 31 year old Moroccan born citizen named Saeed Belwad. Earlier security sources identified the second terrorist who blew himself up last night killing one police officer and injuring another. Police said his name is Abdul-Fatah Al-Raidi, the brother of last month's internet cafe bomber. Police sources also identified today the first terrorist who died in hospital last night after a police chase. Police said his name is Mohammad Al-Melqab.
This article starring:
ABDUL FATAH AL RAIDI
Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group
MOHAMAD AL MELQAB
Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group
SAID BELWAD
Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group
Posted by: Fred ||
04/12/2007 00:00 ||
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Morocco's team will be unstoppable at the word's championship of puzzzle solving.
(KUNA) -- Algerian security forces dismantled a booby-trapped car in upper Algiers Wednesday, official media reported. The car was loaded with 500 kilograms of explosives, reported the media. The dismantling of the car followed two explosions that rocked the Algerian capital killing 24 people and injuring 222 others.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/12/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Why? wouldn't a controlled detonation have been safer? lots of opportunities for red-wire / green wire cross over, ima thinkin. but anyways, good job guys,
#2
USN, this is likely why: Helicopters circled over a wealthy neighbourhood of Algiers as police disarmed detonators attached to TNT and gas canisters in a car parked near the home of a senior police officer, raising fears that other attacks were planned.
"Boss, we'd like to blow it in place."
"Are you nuts, my wife just redecorated"
Posted by: Steve ||
04/12/2007 14:28 Comments ||
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A Mauritanian court indicted six men on terror charges Wednesday. The six are thought to belong to a local terror cell linked to Al-Qaida in Islamic North Africa, the group that earlier claimed responsibility for the bombings that ripped through the prime minister's office and a police station in Algiers, killing at least 24 and wounding hundreds.
Five of the six were charged with "belonging to a terrorist organization whose aim is undermining national security," said Mohamed Mahmoud Ould Talhata, the country's chief prosecutor. Talhata said authorities had been pursuing the men for three months when they arrested them two weeks ago in Nouakchott. They were caught with a cache of weapons, including Kalashnikov rifles and rocket-propelled grenades.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/12/2007 00:00 ||
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Algeria suffered its worst violence since its long civil war yesterday when terrorists affiliated to al-Qaida claimed responsibility for twin bombings in the capital Algiers that killed up to 30 people and wounded more than 100 others. Abdel-Aziz Belkhadem, the prime minister, condemned what he called "cowardly and criminal attacks" after separate blasts at his own office in the centre of Algiers and shortly after at a police station. "The whole block of the entrance to the prime minister's office blew up," said one eyewitness. Scores of ambulances converged on the residential neighbourhood while dazed survivors were led from the badly damaged six-storey building.
Helicopters circled over a wealthy neighbourhood of Algiers as police disarmed detonators attached to TNT and gas canisters in a car parked near the home of a senior police officer, raising fears that other attacks were planned. Police sources said the first attack was a suicide bombing and that guards had opened fire on a vehicle that exploded 30 yards from the main door of the prime minister's office.
Bombs have been going off in Algeria since last October, but mostly in outlying areas and causing small numbers of casualties. The first of yesterday's attacks took place in a heavily guarded part of the capital, making a mockery of the government's security measures and undermining its controversial policy of granting amnesties to convicted terrorists. "It's a direct challenge to the government," said George Joffe, a Cambridge University authority on north Africa. "This is really going to hurt."
A spokesman for al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb [north Africa] later claimed responsibility for the attacks in a phone call to al-Jazeera TV. "We won't rest until every inch of Islamic land is liberated from foreign forces," said a man identified as Abu Mohammed Salah.
This article starring:
Abdel-Aziz Belkhadem, the prime minister
ABU MOHAMED SALAH
al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb
George Joffe
al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb
Posted by: Fred ||
04/12/2007 00:00 ||
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MICHELLE MALKIN > WHALID PHARES > its about a global? JIHADI CAMPAIGN wid several nations used as BATTLEFIELDS???
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) - Turkey's army chief said Thursday the military had launched several "large scale" offensives against rebels in the predominantly Kurdish southeast, and he asked the government for approval to launch an incursion into neighboring northern Iraq.
Washington repeatedly has cautioned Turkey against staging a cross- border offensive, fearing that it could destabilize the region and antagonize Iraqi Kurds, who are allied with the U.S. But Iraq's government is barely able to control its own cities. U.S. commanders, who are battling the Iraqi insurgency in the middle of the country, are stretched too thin to take on Turkish Kurds hiding in remote mountains near the frontier.
On Monday, the Turkish government demanded again that U.S. and Iraqi officials crack down on guerrillas from the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK. "An operation into Iraq is necessary," said Gen. Yasar Buyukanit, the head of Turkey's powerful military. "The PKK has huge freedom of movement in Iraq ... It has spread its roots in Iraq." Buyukanit said the military already was moving against separatists in the southeast. "There are several large-scale operations under way in several areas," Buyukanit told a press conference. "Our aim is to prevent them from taking positions in the region with the coming of spring."
The offensives were launched to coincide with spring, when the rebels intensify attacks on Turkey using mountain passes opened by melting snow, Buyukanit said.
Damm Global Warming
Recent clashes already have killed 10 soldiers and 29 Kurdish guerrillas, Buyukanit said. The separatist conflict has left more than 37,000 people dead since 1984.
Turkey launched operations into northern Iraq several times in the late 1990s, when it was out of President Saddam Hussein's control. It has recently been accused of shelling Kurdish positions inside Iraq. Turkey is especially concerned about a bid to incorporate the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk into the semiautonomous Iraqi Kurdish region, fearing that Iraqi Kurds will use revenues from the city's oil wealth to fund a bid for independence.
The Iraqi government recently decided to implement a constitutional requirement to determine the status of Kirkukwhich is disputed among several different ethnic groupsby the end of the year. The plan is expected to turn Kirkuk and its vast oil reserves over to Kurdish control, a step also rejected by many of Iraq's Arabs and ethnic Turks, who are strongly backed by the Turkish government.
Posted by: Steve ||
04/12/2007 10:29 ||
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#1
I'm hopping George Jr. won't sell the Kurds out like his dada.
#2
It seems to me the PKK are acting like terrorists in Turkey. Why shouldn't Turkey take them out? And if the US or Iraq agree they are terrorists but can't do anything about it, why not let Turkey take care of the problem for them? Turkey isn't doing this for fun, but if it does get off its butt to do something, it is much more likely to employ the tactics it will take to kill terrorists and the willing shields they hide behind, just like they ought to.
#5
The PKK are a bunch of Marxist terrorists, but this isn't about the PKK. It's about the Turks being terrified of a Kurdish state on their southern border and doing whatever they can to destabilize that 'state'. The Turks are playing with fire.
Madrid (dpa) - The emergence of a new al-Qaeda-linked organization in Northern Africa is alarming Spain, which is concerned about Islamists' calls for the reconquest of the country they regard as a lost part of the Muslim world.
"We will not be in peace until we set our foot again in our beloved al-Andalus," al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb said on claiming responsibility for an attack which killed at least 24 people in Algiers on Wednesday. Al-Andalus is the Moorish name for Spain, parts of which were ruled by Muslims for about eight centuries until the last Moorish bastion, Granada, succumbed to the Christian Reconquest in 1492.
The terrorists will undoubtedly attempt to extend their offensive from Northern Africa to European soil, anti-terrorism judge Baltasar Garzon warned, cautioning that Spain was at a "very high risk" of suffering an Islamist attack. The reference to al-Andalus was not the first by al-Qaeda, which has also vowed to put an end to the Spanish "occupation" of the enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla on the Moroccan coast.
Such announcements worry the security services in Spain, where 29 mainly Moroccan suspects are on trial for the 2004 Madrid train bombings that killed 191 and injured about 1,800 people. The bombings were mainly a reaction to the war alliance of Spain's former conservative government with the United States in Iraq, but some of the terrorists are also known to have dreamed of reconquering al-Andalus.
It's on Binny's "to-do list"
The bloodbath in Algiers could launch a new string of attacks in Northern Africa and Europe, including Spain, terrorism expert Fernando Reinares warned.
Al-Qaeda is extending its activities in Northern Africa, where the Algiers bombings were preceded by the suicides of three Moroccan Islamists who blew themselves up to avoid being captured by police on Tuesday. The Algerian-based al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, formerly known as the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), intends to federate North African Islamist cells under a common umbrella.
al-Qaeda goes to where its chances are best. North Africa has weak governments and lots of easily influenced young men.
Some of the people who could attack Spain may already be in the country, where nearly 80 per cent of prison inmates jailed on charges related to international terrorism have come from Northern Africa over the past five years. Islamist radicals proselytize at an estimated 10 per cent of Spain's hundreds of unofficial mosques, which operate in garages, basements and the like. Spain has become an important base for the recruitment of suicide bombers who are sent to Iraq, according to press reports. Some of the fighters are believed to be trained in new al-Qaeda camps in Sahel countries such as Mali, Niger or Mauritania.
All of which are one step away from being recognized, failed states. And al-Q has learned a lesson from Afghanistan; it won't advertise its presence in such a country so readily.
The Madrid train bombings appear to have been organized by a home- grown Islamist cell with the backing of the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group (GICM). Ceuta and Melilla, which have sizeable Muslim populations, could well be the next targets, judge Garzon warned.
Posted by: Steve ||
04/12/2007 08:05 ||
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When the last muslim king of Granada turned back, with tears in his eyes, as he fled from Queen Isabella's army, his mother, Aisha reproached him.
"Do not weep like a woman for what you would not fight like a man"
Get over it.
Posted by: John Frum ||
04/12/2007 8:28 Comments ||
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#2
Electing a Vichy government didn't help that much, did it?
#6
They surrendered in Iraq, leaving behinds millions to suffer and their "allies" to twist in the wind. They thought it would buy them "peace", a word which actually means "submission". They will be hit and hit hard and then they can count on their French and German "friends" for all the help they deserve.
#7
Since his dramatic election, Zapatero has sought to establish his vision of a New Spain on the Iberian peninsula. He has reversed many of the policies of his predecessor, some in just five short months after election, most notably his decision to withdraw Spanish troops from Iraq. He has designed and implemented a radically different foreign policy, favoring the bastions of Old Europe, France and Germany, over the United States. He recently approved arms sales to the authoritarian regime of Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, despite opposition from the Popular Party and numerous nations around the world.
These diplomatic changes were followed by a true revolution in domestic policies. Zapatero has introduced broad social and cultural reforms, including a bill that legalizes gay marriage and adoption of children, which passed the Congress of Deputies in June 2005. He has proposed a new fast-track divorce system which slashes the time it takes to complete the legal process from two years to just ten days. He has also reduced funding and support for the Catholic Church. And, he has recently opened the door for thousands of illegal immigrants in Spain, granting amnesty to an estimated 800,000 illicit migrants.
#8
So what you're pointing out GS, is that the PM is a classical socialist internationalist and not a Spaniard? Or just a Spanish version of a Democrat with power?
#9
Basically, he's the sterotypical political liberal sucker who believes in offers of hudna (truce) and appeasement. There are plenty of examples in history and in congress right now. I invite you to make your own conclusions.
#12
You are wrong doc. Zapatero ancitates New Sapin speaking Arabic... and favours it.
Procopious writes:
So what you're pointing out GS, is that the PM is a classical socialist internationalist and not a Spaniard?
Nope, Zapatero is nuts even by Socialist criterias. In most picture of him I have seen he looks completely allucinated, like if he were heavily on drugs.
And now, people I think all of this is smoke and mirrors. The trial is casting ever larger suspicions on the guiltiness of the accused. Let's remind thaqt it was theior arrest in the "Day of reflexion" (a day where politicians are not allowed to speak in media) who toppled the elections. And the elements who allowed those arrests appear to have been planted.
BTW, Garzon has been a high ranking memeber of Socialist Party and is under disciplinary action for arbitrary arrest of explosives experts who contradicted governemnt's version.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
04/12/2007 10:40 Comments ||
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#15
Surprise? When did Muslims in general NOT favor a reconquista? Euro-Muslim travel agencies NEVER refer to Spain, because they are expected to use the term "Andalusia."
The Quran dictates total conquest, thus the status of lands nominally taken from the Ummah is clearly a target.
When common sense rules, Westerners will treat the Muslim pollutant exactly as they would treat a vermin infestation of their own homes. Muslims have NO intention whatsoever of integrating into our system; they are here to destroy Western democracy and liberty.
#17
Basically, he's the sterotypical political liberal sucker who believes in offers of hudna (truce) and appeasement.
Roll over on your back and your enemies will crowd around to kick you in the belly. Cave men understood this simple equation. How is it that modern man is capable of ignoring genetically encoded behavior like this?
#19
Actually, if Israel sorted out the Palestinians for once and all, it would remove a central lever for Muslim refusal to address progress in almost all other areas. The Palestinians are so blindingly stupid that they will never realize their role as Middle Eastern whipping boy. Israel needs to scatter them to the four winds, be it in a forced evacuation or as ashes, I could not care less.
#22
"How is it that modern man is capable of ignoring genetically encoded behavior like this?"
My formulation is simple: there is an optimum level of civilization. To the extent a society falls short of that optimum, life tends to be solitary, nasty, brutish and short. Exceed the optimum level, as Western civilization generally has done, and life becomes soft, comfy and plump-- a state which lasts only until the next time the less civilized get rambunctious, whereupon life once more becomes solitary, nasty, brutish and short.
That's my theory, anyway...
Posted by: Dave D. ||
04/12/2007 15:04 Comments ||
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#23
In a similar fashion, technological advances like indoor plumbing, sterile medical treatment, central heating and large-scale agriculture have all gone a long way towards thwarting the less pleasant aspects of evolution and its handmaiden, natural selection.
Democrats and Muslims alike stand as living proof of how successfully modern civilization has managed to curb the ravages of natural selection.
#26
Spain already accepted Islamic rule by electing Zapatero; the rest is just a formality. The Islamic Republic of France surrendered preemptively to its Moorish invaders, so the Islamo-radicals are still on a historic roll. And on the heels of their public humiliation at the hands of Tehran, even Jolly Olde England looks like another plum ripe for the picking.
As the Western world lays dreaming the assassin in the night is bringing his blade to our collective throat. Will our civilizations awaken in time?
#27
But But But But Bbbbutttt I thought that if Spain stopped "attacking" the muslim radicals and dropped out of the evil US WOT no more Iraq no more Afghanistan no more war,,,, I thought that would mean the attacks would stop and "we would all just get along" commbya cooombyaaa. Why do they still want to kill us???
If I was Bush I would be bringing this up at the next speaking event how great pulling out of Iraq and even the WOT all together has done Spain. How now they are going to get to fight on thier own streets at thier own home aka Andulla land.
#28
Any Ewwwipean who calls for Israel to give back the land should have it pointed outthat maybe they would settle down some if we gave them al-Andalus back. If they're originally from Spain, so much the better.
Posted by: Captain America ||
04/12/2007 21:50 Comments ||
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#32
". . . they are here to destroy Western democracy and liberty."
An agenda they have made known, talked about, written about, blown things, people, and themselves up in order to realize, and too many in the West are looking the other way. But don't we, as a culture, have a line not to be crossed. People will go about their business until . . . . then they have no patience. Or does everyone think there has been too much deterioration and misinformation for that to be the case now?
All active-duty Army troops now in Iraq or Afghanistan or headed to either country will serve 15-month tours of duty, up from the usual 12-month tours, effective immediately, the Pentagon announced today.
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates called the change a difficult and necessary interim step and said it would at least give soldiers and their families more predictability than they have now. The change will not affect National Guard or Army Reserve troops, who will continue to serve 12-month tours. Nor will it affect the Marine Corps, whose members are deployed overseas for seven months and come home for six months, Gen. Peter Pace, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/12/2007 00:00 ||
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Again, Dubya is in "FORTRESS ME" mode - he's NOT gonna pullout or re-deploy or "end the war now" as anti-US OWG, 2008-obsessed DemoLefties and anti-US international agendists PC/PDeniably want. Dubya & Admin are ENTRENCHING FOR BEYOND 2008 > 2008 = Clinton 90's - Dems wanna give full credit to themselves in case Radical Islam fails to initiate PDeniable, "justified" Amer Hiroshima(s), i.e. elect a PRO-ISOLATIONIST, PRO-RETREAT, PRO-ANTI US OWG-SWO DEM POTUS BY BLOWING UP WASHINGTON DC + USG, etal.
#2
This also defers the cost of readying and deploying replacements while hoping that Congress will eventually get its act together and pass the supplemental.
#5
The US armed forces must be enlarged to deal with the multitude of foreign fronts where radical Islamists present a threat, and that holds true even if we were to "declare victory" and abandon Iraq today.
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) - President Gen. Pervez Musharraf said Thursday that tribesmen have killed about 300 foreign militants during a weekslong offensive near the Afghan border and acknowledged for first time that they received military support. The fighting that began last month in South Waziristan has targeted mainly Uzbek militants with links to al-Qaida who have sheltered in the tribal region since escaping the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001.
"The people of South Waziristan now have risen against the foreigners. They have killed about 300 of them, and they got support from the Pakistan army. They asked for support," Musharraf said in a speech at a military conference in Islamabad. "We are demanding the same in North Waziristan, and there are indications the same may happen there also," he said, referring to the adjoining border region in northwestern Pakistan.
Musharraf's numbers were far higher than those given by Pakistani army officials to journalists on a trip to South Waziristan on Wednesday. They said that between 150 and 230 militants had died in the fighting, along with about 40 tribesmen. Previously army officials had denied any direct involvement in the fighting, although they said that troops had moved into positions vacated by the foreigners.
Posted by: Steve ||
04/12/2007 07:46 ||
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Can anyone in 'Burg cite an example of Perv opening his mouth and not lying?
#4
I doubt that any single individual on the planet knows exactly what is going on in that region. It is extremely isolated and there are several different tribes each with their own agenda. Some group of tribesman could wipe out the occupants of some mountain hut and nobody would ever know the difference.
I doubt al Qaeda even knows with 100% clarity what goes on in some of those tribal regions because not even the tribe next door knows fully what is going on with the next tribe over.
You have to look at more absolute indicators. Where is the Osama video that was due out "real soon now"? Where is this huge Taliban spring offensive?
#5
The good news is that one group (the indigenous tribes in the Wazoo) appear to have had enough and are killing off the Chechens and Uzebek terrorists. That's good news!!
#6
Some of the indigenous tribes, anymouse. Others are fighting with the Chechens, and no doubt still others are waiting for it all to blow over so they can get back to shooting RPGs at the Pakistani troops and starting new feuds.
Even as the dust on the 7/11 terror strike on Mumbai suburban trains that left 200 dead last year is yet to settle down, a storm is brewing in intelligence circles over eight Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorists, who infiltrated through the Karachi-Mumbai sea route in January, being let off by officials for a "consideration" of Rs 10 lakh.
Inputs received by intelligence agencies here reveal that eight LeT militants were accosted by Coast Guard officials off the Mumbai coast when the militants boat developed a snag. However, all the militants were let off after questioning at Diu, where they were allegedly taken by a Coast Guard vessel. Of them, two were later re-arrested by J&K Police in Rajouri.
Whats of concern is that eight LeT operatives were let off on an alleged "hefty consideration" by some Coast Guard officials. Whats more, they had six guides on their onward journey from Diu to Mumbai-Delhi-Chandigarh and Rajouri, raising apprehensions about the depth of the network created by LeT across the country and the ease with which they can operate evading the eyes of Indian spooks.
When contacted, the Coast Guard denied having any information about the release of LeT militants from its charge. "If these reports are true, then we would like to be involved in joint investigations," a senior official said.
Intelligence agencies are, however, worried about the nexus between subversive elements and officials of the security forces deployed along the vulnerable coasts. Recently, the Centre had sounded a high alert following intelligence briefs that sea route is being used to infiltrate militants and arms and ammunition in the country. The LeT guides appeared at pre-determined hideouts in these cities and provided these terrorists fake identity cards, besides escorting them to their destination through rail and land routes.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/12/2007 00:00 ||
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Local Taliban forcibly removed cassette players and cassettes from vehicles and destroyed them at the Gambila Stop on the Indus Highway on Wednesday. Witnesses told Online that more than 12 armed local Taliban led by Qari Sarfraz forcibly stopped vehicles at Gambila Stop, located in front of the Gambila police station, and started removing cassette players and radios in the presence of a large number of people. Qari Sarfraz told the people present there that the local Taliban had taken control of the area between Sarai Noorung and Saria Gambila and Islamic teachings would be strictly implemented there. The people of this area will be forced to grow beards, witnesses quoted Sarfraz as saying.
Separately, armed local Taliban and policemen had a heated argument when the Taliban stopped policemen deployed at the Kot Kashmir Adda from putting barricades on the road. Lakki Marwat District Police Officer Abdul Rashid Khan visited the area when he was informed about the incident and he discussed the situation with local tribal elders who assured their cooperation to the police. In Peshawar and other parts of the North West Frontier Province, which abuts the tribal areas, residents say that local Taliban have threatened English-language schools, warned schoolgirls to veil themselves, banned music and are telling men not to shave their beards.
This article starring:
Police Officer Abdul Rashid Khan
QARI SARFRAZ
Wazir Taliban
Posted by: Fred ||
04/12/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Why can't they find some troops to wipe these guys out? Are they busy taking care of even more Taliban elsewhere I hope?
#6
Time to deploy the Monster Jam Militia, street legal versions; manned by good ol' boys and armed with cassettes and CDs of Merle, Willie, Johnny (PBUH) and others. Go ahead towel head, try to pull that stereo....
At least 15 people were killed as sectarian violence erupted again in Kurrum Agency on Wednesday bringing the death toll from fierce clashes between Sunni and Shia Muslims to at least 55, security officials and residents said.
Rival groups clashed in two villages near the curfew-bound tribal town of Parachinar, leaving twelve people dead, security officials said. Residents said at least 40 houses were torched in Jalime and Char Dewar villages on the outskirts of Parachinar. Women and children fled to the nearby town of Alizai, they said. Political Agent Sahibzada Anees confirmed the violence erupted after two days of lull but gave no casualty figures. We have sent troops to the area and are collecting details of the casualties, Anees told AFP.
An exchange of gunfire also took place in Sadda town in which three people were killed, officials said. Troops rushed to the area and brokered a truce between the warring groups, they said.
Meanwhile, a jirga of 20 Shia and Sunni clerics each headed towards Parachinar from Hangu to broker a ceasefire between the warring sects, Online reported. A private television channel reported that clashes between the two sects continued in Balashkhel Sada, Chamkani, Para, Karman, Dewar and Teri Mangal, but the situation in the city was under control amidst heavy security presence.
The channel reported that the fighting damaged the main power transmission lines in Alizai, suspending electricity supply to the entire agency. It added that tribesmen were facing a food shortage due to the blockage of the Tal-Parachinar road.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/12/2007 00:00 ||
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They crossed at several points 20 km deep to target PKK camps east of Zaho and 30-40 kms up to the rural areas of Haftanin, Sinaht and Pirbela provinces. The Turkish army is also clearing landmines that could impede its cross-border offensive against rebel Kurdish camps. DEBKAfile adds: Ankara accuses Iraqi Kurdistan of harboring the PKK terrorists, allowing them to stage cross-border raids into Turkey and run back for cover.
Earlier this week, Ankara and Iraqi Kurdish leaders swapped threats over the oil-rich city of Kirkuk.
Officials in the Turkish capital said Iraqi Kurdish leader Massoud Barzanis persistent claim to Kirkuk will lead to the loss of the last trace of stability in Iraq. Barzani retorted: Turkey is not allowed to intervene in the Kirkuk issue; if it does, we will interfere over Diyarbakir and other cities in Turkey.
Ankara replied: Turkey will not hesitate to take necessary precautions so that Barzani cant even spell the D of Diyarkabir (the biggest city in Turkeys southeastern Kurdish region). Barzani should know his place.
#1
Well, then. We can be pretty sure at this point that Turkey hasn't entered Iraq if DEBKA is reporting that they have. Got any other sources? If there aren't any, then this story is fake.
#2
Debka have a pretty good track record of breaking these kind of stories. I'd say it's highly likely the Turks are in northern Iraq in force. It remains to be seen how the Kurdistan government reacts. If the Turks don't leave quickly, this could blow up big time.
#3
I say we give the Kurds air support inside Iraq, and plenty of weaponry to protec their borders. The Turks had a chance to get in on the right side of things and blew it. Time they paid the price for disloyalty - and we reward those loyal to us (the Kurds).
#5
Debka can be sensationalist. And many of the stories they print are the sort that can't ever be verified. But wholesale fabrication is not their thing. They leave that to the NYT.
Posted by: George Omineng1431 ||
04/12/2007 23:39 Comments ||
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#6
What is a DEBKA anyway? Is that Yiddish for "I told you so"?
A suicide bomber killed three Iraqi lawmakers at a cafe in the parliament building on Thursday in the most serious breach of security in the heavily fortified Green Zone since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. Witnesses said dozens had been hurt in the blast, which tore through the restaurant as many lawmakers were having lunch. Police said 10 people were wounded.
How explosives and the bomber were smuggled into the Green Zone, a sprawling compound that is surrounded by U.S. and Iraqi checkpoints, will be the focus of investigations. The zone houses parliament, government offices and the U.S. embassy.
attempt to halt Iraq's plunge into all-out sectarian civil war.
Iraqiya state television said three lawmakers had been killed. Officials have named one as Mohammed Awadh, a member of the Accordance Front, the biggest Sunni bloc in parliament. A security official confirmed Awadh had been killed and said another parliamentarian was missing and presumed dead. Two other lawmakers were critically wounded, the official said.
"Suddenly we heard a huge blast inside the restaurant. I saw a lot MPs wounded and bleeding," said Fouad al-Massoum, leader of the Kurdish bloc in parliament. He said security officials, fearing there might be a second explosion, ordered everyone out of the building. But no one, including lawmakers, was allowed to leave the area straight after the blast so they could be questioned, officials said.
The Iraqi security official said the bomber was wearing a belt packed with explosives. Recently, the U.S. military said two suicide vests had been found inside the Green Zone.
A Reuters witness said the blast took place at the cashier's register in the cafe, which is near parliament's main assembly hall. Parliament was in session on Thursday. "I saw a ball of fire and heard a huge, loud explosion. There were pieces of flesh floating in the air," said the witness who was lightly wounded in the arm. Iraqi security guards seized a television camera from a Reuters journalist and refused to give it back.
#5
What will it take to galvanize the majority of the citizens to declare, "Enough"?
More importantly, what will it take to convince Iraq's hopelessly corrupt government that their ceaseless sectarian and tribal warfare will get them all killed if they cannot resolve to find some sort of lasting unity?
My sympathy for these morons has run out completely. They have had a golden opportunity handed to them on a silver platter yet can do nothing but perpetuate age old animosities and feuds that slaughter people in the thousands. I'd just as soon see the lot of them dragged out and shot. Replace them with another set and keep rinsing and repeating until some real progress gets made. This bullshit is killing American soldiers while these bickering maggots quarrel over whose cheating cousin unfairly won a camel race five hundred years ago.
I realize that democracy is something that must be learned, but these high context socities are begining to wear a little thin. They are essentially outmoded and archaic to the point of being totally dysfunctional. Traditions be damned if they chain a people to the stone-age. And isn't that what Islam is all about? So, I guess I've answered my own question.
#6
More importantly, what will it take to convince Iraq's hopelessly corrupt government that their ceaseless sectarian and tribal warfare will get them all killed if they cannot resolve to find some sort of lasting unity?
Then let's start sending them through the old pipeline right away. I'm sick of our soldiers giving their lives so that these wearisome political hacks can squabble endlessly. Iraqi politicians aren't worthy of shining an American buck private's boots.
#9
It seems like a clever propagandist is at work:
Do something spectacular and the whole world will talk about it. The sub-humans feed on comments: For ex. (Qassim Abdul-Zahra ASSOCIATED PRESS) The brazen bombing was the clearest evidence yet that militants can penetrate even the most secure locations like hogs on chicken feces.
#11
So, Zenster, at the risk of provoking your considerable ire, are you suggesting we follow the Pelosi/Murtha/Reid/Kennedy/Kerry/Durbin approach, throw up our hands, and retreat?
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/12/2007 16:52 Comments ||
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#12
This has the signature of an Al Quaeda in Iraq exercise.
1) High profile
2) Synchronized with other attack(s)
3) Suicide borne
4) Indifferent to who gets killed.
They don't seem to (be able to) run operations like this very often; if I was either an Iraqi or Coalition official I would try not to let it distract me from the important business at hand - whatever that might be. This is really only propaganda, and that is only as effective as WE let it be. Militarily, the assassinations by the Baathists - or maybe the Iranians now - are more effective, and probably warrant more ongoing, focussed attention.
Everyone I talked to today was more saddened by the bridge attack than the explosion at the parliament building that killed two of its members. They all seemed to agree that if theres anyone to blamed for that its the members of parliament themselves. Parliament members are famous for complaining about security measures in the Green Zone being insulting to them and to Iraqs sovereignty. They didnt want their vehicles and guards to be searched. This is the result.
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/12/2007 17:42 Comments ||
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#14
For a second there I thought it said Suicide Bomber kills MP3s ...
#15
wasn't there an article the other day about them relaxing the security in the green zone after they found the explosive vest? if so look into wanted too scale down security and that is prob the person that is responsible for this. and too the post from bobby about zenster wanting too take the pelosi approach he has never seemed that way so why would he start now
#16
So, Zenster, at the risk of provoking your considerable ire, are you suggesting we follow the Pelosi/Murtha/Reid/Kennedy/Kerry/Durbin approach, throw up our hands, and retreat?
That's a valid and real tough question, Bobby. Why you think asking a relevant question should provoke my "considerable ire" is beyond me. I'm strongly inclined to agree with Jihad Watch's Hugh Fitzgerald that letting the Shiia and Sunni factions in Iraq slaughter each other best serves American interests.
Yet, with Iran looming on the military horizon, it just doesn't make any sense to abandon Iraq wholesale. Still, this nation-building bullshit is getting tired, especially with a bunch of thugs running the political show and walking the streets as well. As your own cite from Iraq the Model notes, the politicians are very much to blame for the chaos and disorder that is so endemic to the current situation.
That said, if we are to succeed in Iraq at all, America needs a more unified front at home. I congratulate Bush for having rewritten the exceptionally restrictive ROE to allow for swift killing of the enemy instead of the hands-off appoach that was getting so many of our soldiers killed. Towards better consolidating America's own internal political front, I think it might be wise to temporarily retract our troop presence and give them some much needed R&R.
In the interim, both the democrats and the world at large could get a crystal clear picture of exactly what would happen should the USA abruptly withdraw from Iraq. A brief interlude of full-scale civil war might finally make it clear why our continuing presence is still required. I would prefer that such a demonstration be used to convince more nations that they should join the coalition or step up their existing participation, but that's pretty much a waterpipe dream.
Iraq itself desperately needs a dose of its own medicine in that they decry our presence while continuing to back the very factions that cause so much of the bloodshed. Moqtada Sadr's perverse political influence springs to mind. This is just another reason why taking Iran offline would be so useful at this point. By constraining Teheran's meddling in Iraq, a much more readable subtext might emerge. As it is, too many fingers are in the pie and it works against America's interests. Sadly, the political will required for any military intervention in Iran is slipping away with each passing day.
Like I said, I advocate an experimental "return to base" vacation for our troops to inspire some fear appreciation in the Iraqi government and its people. If they still cannot bring themselves to begin cooperating on a substantial basis then maybe it is time to throw in the towel. The same goes for domestic politics as well. If the democrats could not be convinced by a brief demonstration of the civil war that awaits our withdrawl, then there is little hope of gaining their support for our prolonged participation. This shit needs to be sorted out in an unequivocal manner because American troops are getting killed needlessly over our inablity to elucidate a clear war-fighting strategy. Bush and the democrats both shoulder somewhat equal blame over this and must begin to take responsibility for it.
#17
Fox sez it was a Sunni MP's bodyguard 'sploding
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/12/2007 19:08 Comments ||
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#18
the post from bobby about zenster wanting too take the pelosi approach he has never seemed that way so why would he start now
Thank you, sinse. Even if somewhat garbled at times, I appreciate your support. I have backed our campaign in Iraq from the get-go and still do now. I just want our country to proceed with some sort of coherent game plan and not the dog's breakfast that has previously been passed off for strategy.
#20
#1 outlaw the wearing of body armor inside the parliament building.
This should greatly cut down on the resistance to searches for explosives and remove a prime hiding spot for those explosives. I read an article from a person who was there that the armor plates were removed from body armor and explosive put it their place.
If these people aren't wearing body armor themselves, they will be a lot happier to see the people around them well searched.
#22
Press on and support the troops and their commander.
Even though Iraq's own governemnt betrays us at every turn and continues to get more of our troops killed needlessly? It is insane to believe that victory can be obtained from a no-win situation. Either Iraq's leadership gets on board with some real cooperation, like outlawing Sadr and the Mahdi Army or criticizing Iranian nuclear aspirations and meddling, or we need to seriously consider leaving the entire nation to twist gently in the breeze.
This is like trying to apply CPR to a frenzied armed psychopath.
#23
The Surge appears to be working, and more troops are getting ready to join those on the ground. Pulling out now would betray all who turned in bad guys, and the many Iraqis who've chosen to join the Iraqi Army and Police, even at the risk not only to themselves but to their families. The only way I would be comfortable leaving Iraq is if we had concluded that glassing over the Muslim Middle East is the only remaining option.
We knew this was going to be a long fight. For goodness sake, we've only been doing this for a scant four years! It took about that long to settle Germany after VE Day, and they didn't have a 1400 year religious war and a culture of deviousness to work around. How long did it take for South Korea to become truly democratic?
#24
Well, one thing seems certain: by the time Bush leaves office 21 months from now, America will have had a bellyfull of this "nation building" stuff. I can't imagine any future US president, acting in response to some future 9/11-type attack, proposing another "let's introduce the savages to the wonders of democracy, that'll cure what ails them" exercise.
It was my hope, in the beginning, that we would eventually use our military presence in Iraq to do some major ass-kicking in both Syria and Iran. But time's running short, and I'm beginning to wonder.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
04/12/2007 20:38 Comments ||
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#25
The Surge appears to be working
I'll venture that the only reason why it's working is because the ROE were finally changed so our troops can pursue and KILL their assailants instead of trying to capture them or allow them to surrender. Why the previous ROE were ever allowed in the first place defies all reason. The fact that we must still show so much sensitivity about entering, searching or destroying Mosques remains a huge sticking point.
The only way I would be comfortable leaving Iraq is if we had concluded that glassing over the Muslim Middle East is the only remaining option.
Holy flurking schnidt, trailing wife! That's some strong language coming from Rantburg's demure little middle American Jewish housefrau.
Right or wrong, the worst thing of all is that no one in the federal government seems to understand how nuclear annihilation in the MME (Muslim Middle East), is one of the few remaining alternatives. Of far greater insanity is how MME leaders carry on with their vicious terrorist meddling without seeming to give a moment's pause for even the slightest consideration of this stark reality.
It is precisely this lack of viable options, nor proper appraisal of them at home or abroad, that permits me to so confidently predict the Muslim holocaust. NOBODY seems to get it, even those whose lives hang in the balance.
For goodness sake, we've only been doing this for a scant four years!
Four years of deafening silence from "moderate Islam" combined with four bloody long years of adamant resistance to all of our best overtures and efforts at saving Islam from itself is quite long enough. The depths of Muslim ingratitude have yet to be plumbed and I, for one, am unwilling to pile up enough American corpses to see how deep that pit of inequity happens to be.
America will have had a bellyfull of this "nation building" stuff.
I dearly hope so. Enough already. Trot out the really, really big stick and start getting ugly or fold the tent and go home.
It was my hope, in the beginning, that we would eventually use our military presence in Iraq to do some major ass-kicking in both Syria and Iran. But time's running short, and I'm beginning to wonder.
Likewise and, sadly, likewise. Failure to neutralize Iran will cost possible MILLIONS of lives. History will not judge kindly those who slept through this watch on Teheran's madmen.
A suicide truck bomb exploded on a major bridge in Baghdad early Thursday, collapsing the steel structure and sending cars tumbling into the Tigris River below, police and witnesses said. At least 10 people were killed.
Hospital officials said another 26 were injured, and police were trying to rescue as many as 20 people whose cars plummeted off the al-Sarafiya bridge.
Waves lapped against twisted girders, as patrol boats searched for survivors while U.S. helicopters whirred overhead. Scuba divers donned flippers and waded in from the riverbanks.
Farhan al-Sudani, a 34-year-old Shiite businessman who lives near the bridge, said the blast woke him at dawn. "A huge explosion shook our house and I thought it would demolish our house. Me and my wife jumped immediately from our bed, grabbed our three kids and took them outside," he said.
The al-Sarafiya bridge connected two northern Baghdad neighborhoods Waziriyah, a mostly Sunni enclave, and Utafiyah, a Shiite area.
Police blamed the attack on a suicide truck bomber, but Associated Press Television News footage showed the bridge broken apart in two places perhaps the result of two blasts. Cement pilings that support the steel structure were left crumbling. At the base of one lay a charred vehicle engine, believed to be that of the truck bomb.
"We were astonished more when we saw the extent of damage," said Ahmed Abdul-Karim, 45, who also lives near the bridge. "I was standing in my garden and I saw the smoke and flying debris."
Locals said the al-Sarafiya bridge is believed to be at least 75 years old, built by the British in the early part of the 20th century. "It is one of Baghdad's monuments. This is really damaging for Iraq. We are losing a lot of our history every day," Abdul-Karim said.
The al-Sarafiya bridge has a duplicate in Fallujah that was built later and made infamous in March 2004, when angry mobs hung the charred bodies of U.S. contractors from the bridge's girders.
"This bridge is linked to Baghdad's modern history it is one of our famous monuments," said Haider Ghazala, a 52-year-old Iraqi architect. "Attacking this bridge affects the morale of Iraqis and especially Baghdad residents who feel proud of this bridge. They (insurgents) want to demolish everything that connects the people with this land," he said.
Before the al-Sarafiyah bridge was destroyed, nine spans across the Tigris linked western and eastern Baghdad. The river now serves as a de facto dividing line between the mostly Shiite east and the largely Sunni west of the city, a reality of more than a year of sectarian fighting that has forced Sunnis to flee neighborhoods where they were a minority and likewise for Shiites.
Baghdad's neighborhoods had been very mixed before the war but hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced since then as militants from both Muslim sects have sought to cleanse their neighborhoods of rivals.
There have been unconfirmed reports for months that Sunni insurgents and al-Qaida in Iraq were planning a campaign to blow up the city's bridges. U.S. military headquarters near the Baghdad airport and the Green Zone, site of the U.S. Embassy and Iraqi parliament and government, are both on the west side of the river.
#1
Until now, suicide bombers were targeted at crowds and places where people gather. If this should be a change in tactics, despite the toll on civilians here, it would be a major plus for us. It is far easier to defend infrastructure than public gatherings.
Fox News has some decent pics and I gotta say that it looks like a demo job and not a suicide bomb.
#2
Obligatory AP anti-war sentence:
"The al-Sarafiya bridge has a duplicate in Fallujah that was built later and made infamous in March 2004, when angry mobs hung the charred bodies of U.S. contractors from the bridge's girders."
Why is that important to this incident?
#4
The goal was to show the government (and the US forces) cannot protect something - and by extension, anything. The message the Iraqi people take home is that the current government is not the 'strong horse', or at least not a strong enough horse, for them to back.
#5
The goal was to show the government (and the US forces) cannot protect something - and by extension, anything.
Damn right! And when enough Iraqis feel sufficiently vulnerable, maybe then they'll finally stop helping the terrorists. Until that point, they can have the pleasure of watching their lives turned into the usual Islamic Cesspool of Misery.
Coalition and Iraqi forces continued to engage suspected terrorists in multiple operations throughout Iraq using ground forces and aircraft over the past several days, military officials reported.
Coalition forces captured five suspected terrorists, including the suspected al-Qaeda in Iraq security emir of the Arab Jabour area, during an operation this morning in Baghdad, military officials said.
Intelligence reports indicate that the security emir is suspected of involvement in planning attacks against Iraqi and coalition forces in the Arab Jabour area.
Officials said forces found several small arms at the targeted area, and these weapons were destroyed to prevent future use by terrorists.
During operations yesterday, a Multinational Division - Baghdad helicopter engaged insurgents with machine gun fire after positively identifying them during a small arms attack on MND-B troops and aircraft in the Rusafa security district in central Baghdad.
Soldiers from 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, teamed up with their 9th Iraqi Army counterparts to conduct a routine cordon and search operation in Rusafa when they quickly came under small arms fire in the al-Fadhil area in central Baghdad, military officials said.
Aviation assets quickly responded to units in contact. Attack helicopters targeted by small arms fire suffered minor damage, returned to base and then continued with their missions.
Combined forces on the ground continued to work with attack aviation assets throughout the day to locate, identify, and engage and kill three insurgents targeting coalition and Iraqi security forces in the area.
As a result of this small arms fire incident, one child was injured, four Iraqi Army soldiers killed and two wounded. Sixteen MND-B soldiers were also wounded in the attack.
In other operations yesterday, coalition forces killed one terrorist and detained three suspects with alleged involvement in al Qaeda and foreign fighter facilitation south of Haditha.
As coalition forces entered a targeted building, they instructed the occupants to put their hands up. One man, who initially complied with instructions, rushed and tackled a coalition forces member and attempted to grab his weapon. The coalition troop used self-defense measures killing the terrorist. The remaining suspects surrendered without incident.
Coalition forces also detained nine suspects with ties to al Qaeda courier operations in Baghdad yesterday, military officials report.
A five-day operation in Arab Jabour wrapped up yesterday morning after coalition forces killed one terrorist, detained 13 others and destroyed several weapons caches
Forces discovered numerous rocket-propelled grenades and launchers, several improvised explosive devices, thousands of anti-aircraft ammunition rounds and three buildings containing large amounts of IED-making materials in the weapons caches found. The weapons caches were destroyed on site to prevent future use by terrorists.
"Coalition forces continue to take apart the al Qaeda network inside Iraq. This operation is a concerted effort to reduce this (vehicle-borne improvised explosive device) terrorist network's ability to operate," Lt. Col. Christopher Garver, Multinational Force Iraq spokesman, said.
Elsewhere in Iraq, officials report that a coalition helicopter engaged insurgents with machine gun and missile fire after positively identifying them following an attack on MND-B troops south of Baghdad April 8.
According to officials, paratroopers from Battery B, 2nd Battalion, 377th Parachute Field Artillery Regiment, observed six insurgents personnel carrying weapons northeast of Mahmudiyah, Iraq. The insurgents engaged the paratroopers and a convoy of trucks on a nearby highway with gun fire.
The insurgents fled to a nearby house after engaging the paratroopers, and an attack helicopter was called in for assistance. After positive identification of the insurgents, the helicopter fired on the house.
Five insurgents were seen fleeing the house, and the attack helicopter engaged them again. Following the attack, paratroopers on the ground searched the house and the surrounding grounds, finding three insurgent trucks destroyed.
One individual was detained near the house. He reported that possibly five insurgents had been killed and three more wounded, officials said, the detainee was held for further questioning.
#2
One man, who initially complied with instructions, rushed and tackled a coalition forces member and attempted to grab his weapon. The coalition troop used self-defense measures killing the terrorist. The remaining suspects surrendered without incident.
Hee hee hee! I guess they figured out who the strong horse was on that one!
But from the sounds of things, they might have reached critical mass on the snitches and things are snowballing in a bad way for AQ.
(KUNA) -- Law enforcement bodies in Baghdad announced on Wednesday that joint forces killed 21 militants and arrested dozens in the Iraqi capital during the past 24 hours. The statement said joint forces took down 19 militants in Al-Rasafa, one in Abu Ghraib, and another in Al-Mahmoudiyah. The forces, the statement revealed, also arrested 29 militants and 38 other suspects. During the mission, a bomb was defused and four unlicensed vehicle were confiscated, it said. The statement also reported that four security members were killed and 13 others were injured. Armed confrontations had occurred Tuesday in Al-Fadhl area which resulted in the death of a number of gunmen as well as security personnel.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/12/2007 00:00 ||
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(KUNA) -- Unknown gunmen assassinated Wednesday the Electricity Ministry's Director General for Projects Hashem Abdulrahman in central Baghdad, Iraqi police said. An Iraqi police source told Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) unidentified gunmen ambushed the senior official's vehicle in the Baghdad's Sulaikh area. The official and his bodyguard, the source added, were shot dead. The masked assassins escaped the scene of the crime. Meanwhile, the US Army said in a statement that its forces killed a "terrorist" and arrested 13 others during a five-day military operation in Arab Jabbour area, south of Baghdad.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/12/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
No discretion whatsoever. Just sowing chaos. OK, a$$holes, what would you guys do if you were in charge?
#3
Maybe it's time to really drag our feet in reconnecting this area to the grid. Let the locals stew and fester in the dark until they start slitting some jihadi throats in large numbers. Those who allow mayhem free reign need to get screwed for it.
(KUNA) - An Iraqi police officer was killed and eight others were injured when a police car exploded in Mosul on Wednesday, and two gunmen were wounded in an attack targeting a Kurdish building in the area.
An Iraqi security source told Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) that the explosion occurred in northwestern Mosul, killing an Iraqi policeman, and wounding eight others, two of them worked for the police force. On the other hand, two armed gunmen were wounded in Mosul in an attempt to attack the National Kurdish Union headquarters, headed by the Iraqi President Jalal Talabani The National Kurdish Union said that the headquarters' guards were able to foil the attack, and no causalities were reported as a result.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/12/2007 00:00 ||
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IDF soldiers arrested Baha'a Ziwad, an Islamic Jihad fugitive, near Jenin on Wednesday afternoon. Ziwad was detained by security forces for interrogation.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/12/2007 00:00 ||
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IDF troops destroyed the house of an Al Aksa Martyrs Brigades fugitive in Nablus on Wednesday afternoon. Palestinian news agency, Ma'an, identified the man as Abed A-Za'akot, adding that it was the seventh time the family home had been destroyed. Ma'an quoted Za'akot's brother as saying: "My brother has been wanted for four years but every time the army surrounds the home and calls on everyone to get out - he is not there."
A woman was shot in the hand and a 16-year-old boy was hit by a rubber bullet as IDF soldiers shot at rioting Palestinians who had gathered at the scene of the operation, according to Palestinian medical sources. Eyewitnesses said that IDF troops were using dogs during the operation.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/12/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
that it was the seventh time the family home had been destroyed
"Ma, they're doing it again!"
IDF soldiers shot at rioting Palestinians who had gathered at the scene of the operation
Good. International seething may not be forthcoming anymore. Double good.
#3
...If they really HAVE lost their home seven times (and I'm afraid I'm not quiet credulous enough to believe that on the first blush)it says something for their smarts that while THEY lost their home, HE'S sleeping somewhere that has peace, quiet, and four walls.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
04/12/2007 8:49 Comments ||
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#4
And who pays for all these houses? I can't afford even one house, much less seven!
Eleven people including a patrol police and a volunteer were wounded Thursday morning when insurgents detonated a bomb at a market in Yala province.
Police said the five-kilogramme bomb was hidden at a butcher's shop at Pimolchai market. It went off at around 6.30 a.m. as villagers were shopping for goods. The blast left a 50-centimetre-wide and 80-metre-deep hole, they said.
In a separate incident, a bomb disposal squad removed an explosive from in front of a Mazda car showroom at around the same time as the first bomb went off. Local residents alerted the ordnance team that they had found a suspicious object on in a public phone booth on Jongrak Road. The car showroom was located close to another market in the district.
Around 200 people paraded the charred remains of a Buddhist woman through the streets of Yala town Wednesday, April 11, to protest the unending violence in Thailands restive Muslim-majority south. The 26-year-old woman was shot Monday and her body then burned beyond recognition in an attack blamed on Islamic militants who have fought the government for three years in this region on the Malaysian border.
The villagers wrapped her body in a white cloth and placed it at the staircase leading into a government building where General Sonthi Boonyaratglin, a Muslim who heads the ruling military junta, was meeting with local leaders.
Angry residents of the murdered womans village said they wanted to show Sonthi how gruesome the attacks have become and to demand protection for the Buddhist minority in the province, one of three along the border hit by the unrest. Eight Buddhists have been killed and burned like this on the same road. All the victims were from our village, one of the victims relatives told reporters.
A 19-year-old Buddhist man was also killed Wednesday in Yala in a drive-by shooting that also left his 47-year-old mother seriously wounded. Ten other people were killed on Monday alone, including four Muslims shot dead while returning from the burial of a bombing victim.
In nearby Pattani province, five officials from the Revenue Department were wounded Wednesday when a roadside bomb exploded near their van, police said.
#1
It may have n=been said here often times but when the inevitable backlash occurs the BBC and other left-leaning media outlets will be all over it portraying muslim victimhood etc... If I was buddhist in this part of the world I would have taken to arms - heck I'm not that far from it and things aren't nearly so bad here.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
04/12/2007 6:30 Comments ||
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#2
The villagers wrapped her body in a white cloth and placed it at the staircase leading into a government building where General Sonthi Boonyaratglin
#3
To be a bit more credible, Sonthi should be warning that any muslim villagers knowingly giving succour and comfort to these killers in their midst will be regarded as abbetors and suspects relocated to security hamlets as the British did in the Emergency in Malaya. WTF isn't he doing that? Mainly because he's a mozzie himself. It figures.
#5
Sonthi and his supporters blamed Thaksin's heavy-handedness but despite his offered appeasements things are much worse now than before. Don't think he has a clue what to do now. Certainly only either nothing or even more appeasements.
Martha Vickers (1925 - 1971) started out as a fashion model and cover girl. Her first big role was 1946 film The Big Sleep playing Carmen Sternwood, sexy younger sister to Lauren Bacall. The most famous of Vickers' three husbands was actor Mickey Rooney who was married to her from 1949 to 1951. She retired from films in 1960.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
04/12/2007 10:04 Comments ||
Top||
#6
Gen. Sternwood: You met my younger daughter?
Marlowe; Yeah, in the hall. She tried to sit in my lap. I was standing up at the time.
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.
A suicide car bomber wounded eight civilians in southern Afghanistan on Wednesday, as officials said 13 Taliban died in a US air strike and four more were killed by a mine they were planting. 
Algeria suffered its worst violence since its long civil war yesterday when terrorists affiliated to al-Qaida claimed responsibility for twin bombings in the capital Algiers that killed up to 30 people and wounded more than 100 others. 
Local Taliban forcibly removed cassette players and cassettes from vehicles and destroyed them at the Gambila Stop on the Indus Highway on Wednesday. Witnesses told Online that more than 12 armed local Taliban led by 
They crossed at several points 20 km deep to target PKK camps east of Zaho and 30-40 kms up to the rural areas of Haftanin, Sinaht and Pirbela provinces. The Turkish army is also clearing landmines that could impede its cross-border offensive against rebel Kurdish camps. DEBKAfile adds: Ankara accuses Iraqi Kurdistan of harboring the PKK terrorists, allowing them to stage cross-border raids into Turkey and run back for cover.
A suicide truck bomb exploded on a major bridge in Baghdad early Thursday, collapsing the steel structure and sending cars tumbling into the Tigris River below, police and witnesses said. At least 10 people were killed.
(KUNA) -- Law enforcement bodies in Baghdad announced on Wednesday that joint forces killed 21 militants and arrested dozens in the Iraqi capital during the past 24 hours. The statement said joint forces took down 19 militants in Al-Rasafa, one in Abu Ghraib, and another in Al-Mahmoudiyah. The forces, the statement revealed, also arrested 29 militants and 38 other suspects. During the mission, a bomb was defused and four unlicensed vehicle were confiscated, it said. The statement also reported that four security members were killed and 13 others were injured. Armed confrontations had occurred Tuesday in Al-Fadhl area which resulted in the death of a number of gunmen as well as security personnel.
(KUNA) -- Unknown gunmen assassinated Wednesday the Electricity Ministry's Director General for Projects Hashem Abdulrahman in central Baghdad, Iraqi police said. An Iraqi police source told Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) unidentified gunmen ambushed the senior official's vehicle in the Baghdad's Sulaikh area. The official and his bodyguard, the source added, were shot dead. The masked assassins escaped the scene of the crime. Meanwhile, the US Army said in a statement that its forces killed a "terrorist" and arrested 13 others during a five-day military operation in Arab Jabbour area, south of Baghdad.
IDF troops destroyed the house of an Al Aksa Martyrs Brigades fugitive in Nablus on Wednesday afternoon. Palestinian news agency, Ma'an, identified the man as Abed A-Za'akot, adding that it was the seventh time the family home had been destroyed. Ma'an quoted Za'akot's brother as saying: "My brother has been wanted for four years but every time the army surrounds the home and calls on everyone to get out - he is not there." 
