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Missiles Kill Four Hard Boyz in Pakistan
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 1: WoT Operations
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Afghanistan
21 Talibunnies Killed Saturday
Air superiority is great! Very hard on fluffy (Tali) bunnies
KABUL, Afghanistan - Afghan and coalition forces clashed with Taliban militants Saturday in separate incidents in the east and south, killing 21 insurgents, officials said.

The police and Taliban engaged in a one-hour gun battle in the Alishar district of Khost province, said Wazir Padshah, a spokesman for the provincial police. He said NATO assisted with an airstrike, killing 11 militants. Three police were wounded in the violence.

In Helmand, Afghan and coalition forces killed 10 suspected Taliban Saturday in a clash and airstrike, the coalition said in a statement.

Coalition forces engaged in a ground battle after their convoy was ambushed by the Taliban near Gereshk district. A subsequent airstrike destroyed two buildings from which the militants were firing, the statement said. There were no coalition casualties.
Posted by: Glenmore || 04/28/2007 06:49 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Just to show how "stone-age" these guys are, they continue to think they don't need an air force.
Posted by: Jack is Back! || 04/28/2007 7:43 Comments || Top||

#2  If they needed an air force, Allan would send one.
The problem seems to be that they just don't pray often enough or hard enough. Hard prayer; hit the ground like a fallen apple screeming 'Allan's Snackbar is the place for me.'
Posted by: wxjames || 04/28/2007 12:05 Comments || Top||

#3  only the most pious can smack forehead to floortiles hard enough to get a cranial hematoma - they should all be striving for that or face beheading. Nothing says "Allan's Snackbar" more than a fractured skull and bleeding on the brain. Perhaps Al-Aska Paul could issue a fatwah?
Posted by: Frank G || 04/28/2007 12:30 Comments || Top||

#4  I'm a lifelong believer in peace through superior firepower. If only we'd use it more often...
Posted by: Old Patriot || 04/28/2007 14:15 Comments || Top||

#5  This vaunted "Spring Offensive" is getting as deadly as predicted. Only it's allan's talibunnies that are getting the dirtnap and a trip to allan's snackbar.

Poor old allan is sure having a hard time protecting the Lions of IslamTM from those dang infidels.
Posted by: anymouse || 04/28/2007 14:25 Comments || Top||

#6  allen don't do light metal fabrication work, only organic decomposition and pressure.
Posted by: Shipman || 04/28/2007 15:50 Comments || Top||

#7  Wxjames. He did; it's just that it's hard to attach ordnance to carpet.
Posted by: Lumpy Shomosing9772 || 04/28/2007 16:02 Comments || Top||

#8  Motorcyles don't fly far, and donkeys can't get up the airspeed...
Posted by: Pappy || 04/28/2007 17:35 Comments || Top||

#9  They could try flying pigs?
Posted by: john || 04/28/2007 19:31 Comments || Top||


Africa Horn
Looting breaks out during lull in Mogadishu fighting
Gunmen plundered computers and bags of sugar from a Coca Cola plant in Mogadishu on Friday during a lull in fighting between allied Somali-Ethiopian troops and insurgents, a local manager said. The unidentified group, who were wearing uniforms, commandeered 12 trucks to drive away the booty seized in the overnight looting spree that took place after the plant was shelled, local Coca Cola manager Bashir Mohamed Araye said. “Our offices were broken into and all computers looted. We had supplies of sugar that were supposed to last the whole year -they were also looted,” added the manager of the Somali-owned franchise in a smart and modern compound in Mogadishu.

The odd stray bullet was heard in the Somali capital, a day after Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi declared significant gains in the government’s nine-day offensive to end resistance by a group of Islamist fighters, foreign jihadists and some clansmen.

But many Somalis, undergoing a refugee exodus worse than Iraq in recent months, were sceptical the war was winding down. There was no respite for medical workers struggling with little or no supplies to patch up the wounded, many ferried to overflowing hospitals in wheelbarrows and donkey carts.
Posted by: Fred || 04/28/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Almost like a cartoon. Imagine in hell hole like Mogadishu, there is a Coca-Cola bottling plant and it was actually working and turning out "the real thing". Problem here is that there is no Coke plant listed on the Coca-Cola website. Like everything else in Somalia its probably a "pirate" plant.
Posted by: Jack is Back! || 04/28/2007 7:47 Comments || Top||

#2  There is something to loot in Mog?
Posted by: 3dc || 04/28/2007 11:18 Comments || Top||

#3  I guess previously fighting broke out during a lull in Mog looting.
Posted by: xbalanke || 04/28/2007 14:42 Comments || Top||

#4  Looting breaks out during lull in Mogadishu fighting

I was in the middle of a Mogadishu lull and a hockey game broke out!

[/mangled Dangerfield]
Posted by: Zenster || 04/28/2007 15:17 Comments || Top||

#5  bags of sugar from a Coca Cola plant

Throw some salt on the story, Lord Gawd Coke hasn't used sugar in 40 years, they be fructose, why you like Pepsi better.
Posted by: Shipman || 04/28/2007 15:52 Comments || Top||

#6  but Coke Zero is better with Jack Daniels, ifn you're watching calories...like me :-)
Posted by: Frank G || 04/28/2007 15:53 Comments || Top||

#7  Makes sense... NALASBS.
Posted by: Shipman || 04/28/2007 16:02 Comments || Top||

#8  We make Coca Cola syrup where I work and use sugar, not high fructose corn syrup. It's called Sucrose Acetate Iso-butyrate.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 04/28/2007 18:27 Comments || Top||

#9  NALASBS?
Posted by: Frank G || 04/28/2007 18:51 Comments || Top||

#10  Throw some salt on the story, Lord Gawd Coke hasn't used sugar in 40 years

Obviously, you haven't heard of Passover Coca-Cola:

Every late March and early April, for the two to three weeks leading up to the celebration of the Jewish Passover holiday season in the United States, Coke fans living in major metropolitan areas with large Jewish populations get their Real Thing, if only for that brief fleeting period. According to Jewish law, nothing made with chametz (any of a number of proscribed cereals and grains, including corn) during passover may be consumed — so in order not to lose sales from observant Jews during that eight day period, a small number of Coca-Cola bottlers make a limited batch of the original Coke formulation, using refined sugar. Needless to say, stocks run out quickly and fans of Passover Coke have been known to travel many miles seeking out supermarkets with remaining caches.


Posted by: Zenster || 04/28/2007 19:31 Comments || Top||

#11  Not A Lot A Sense But Sense
Posted by: Shipman || 04/28/2007 19:32 Comments || Top||

#12  Ima gonna ask Montgomery Ward Snopes about thatn ZenMan.
Posted by: Shipman || 04/28/2007 19:33 Comments || Top||

#13  Just for trivia's sake... Montgomery Ward Snopes sez...

"I dont remember just when it was, I was probably pretty young, when I realised that I had come from what you might call a family, a clan, a race, maybe even a species, of pure sons of bitches. So I said, Okay, okay, if that's the way it is, we'll just show them. They call the best of lawyers, lawyers' lawyers and the best of actors an actor's actor and the best of athletes a ballplayer's ballplayer. All right, that's what we'll do: every Snopes will make it his private and personal aim to have the whole world recognise him as THE son of a bitch's son of a bitch.
Posted by: Shipman || 04/28/2007 19:44 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Tunisian court convicts 12 on terrorist charges
A Tunisian court convicted 12 men on terrorism-related charges Friday and handed them sentences of up to four years in prison, the men's lawyer said. The men were arrested in January 2006, attorney Samir Ben Amor said. Authorities accused them of planning to travel to neighboring Algeria to join the Islamist insurgent group the Salafist Group for Call and Combat, which changed its name to al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb when it announced its alliance with the international terrorist network in January.

The men pleaded not guilty, insisting they were not planning to travel and do not even have passports, Ben Amor told The Associated Press. They received sentences ranging from four months to four years under Tunisia's anti-terrorism law, passed in December 2003.
Posted by: Fred || 04/28/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:


Arabia
Terrorist Plots Foiled: 172 Arrested in Tragic Kingdom
At least 172 suspects have been arrested in various parts of the Kingdom and seven armed militant cells dismantled, the Interior Ministry announced yesterday. Some of the arrested are foreigners. “Some (of the suspects) had begun training in the use of weapons, and some were sent abroad to study aviation in order to carry out terrorist operations inside the Kingdom,” a ministry statement said. “One of their main targets was to carry out suicide attacks against public figures and oil installations and to target military bases inside and outside (of the country).”

Government officials did not say when or where these arrests were made, citing security concerns and ongoing investigations in the fight against militant extremism in the Kingdom. Interior Ministry spokesman Mansour Al-Turki said the government believed these cells were working independently and did not fall under one organization. Nationalities of the foreigners arrested will not be revealed until the countries of their origins are notified, he added.

Saudi TV yesterday showed undated footage of agents digging in desert areas and inside buildings bringing out weapons wrapped in plastic sheeting, including grenade launchers, plastic explosives, ammunition cartridges, handguns and rifles. Computers and stacks of Saudi riyals were also seized. Security investigators were shown breaking tiled floors with hammers uncovering pipes that contained weapons. In one scene, an official upends a plastic pipe and bullets and little packets of plastic explosives spill out.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 04/28/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Big news of FOX NEWS TV > Good, but in our own US South police and Feds basically busted a large IED boom-boom factory.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/28/2007 0:12 Comments || Top||

#2 



We in the West are being asked to take the Wahhabist OPEC kingpins, those anti-Western Saudi oil barons at 'their word', concerning an alleged 'foiled terrorist plot' against Arabia's mega-profitable oil installations.

The Saudi Wahhabists will say, plus do anything to further their barbaric cause of forcing a global Islamic caliphate on the Western world, even if it means feeding the media very bullish energy news stories, especially if the news translates into quick millions in energy profits landing in Saudi Swiss bank accounts.

It's beyond interesting the 'Royal Oil Kingdom' waited until a Friday, the last day of energy trading, during any given week, being fully cognizant Western energy traders would become very bullish based on the 'fear factor', which they did. The result was boosting the one day session closing price, up $1.40 ($1.400 per contract) for the June delivery, boosting the price to $66.46 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

These OPEC players may have just played US - again.



Posted by: Mark Espinola || 04/28/2007 5:08 Comments || Top||

#3  Outstanding analysis Mr. Espinola.

Just as it seems that most U.S. and Coalition casualties tend to occur after the Friday noontime prayers in the Wahhabist-led mosques in the largely Sunni parts of Baghdad and Iraq, so does it appear that many Saudi-Wahhabist pronouncements of "triumphs" over terrorists seem geared towards generating financial and politic rewards for the Magic Kingdom.
Posted by: Crurt Lumplump3873 || 04/28/2007 9:35 Comments || Top||

#4  There should not be an iota of trust spent on any of these Saudis. They are duplicitous and are the bankers for terrorism.
Posted by: JohnQC || 04/28/2007 10:02 Comments || Top||

#5  I said yesterday that it was weird that there was no gunfight at any of these arrest sites. That is not the usual course of events when dealing with the hard boyz. This thing smells to me.
Posted by: Remoteman || 04/28/2007 10:30 Comments || Top||

#6  I've read on several different news sources that these guys were picked up in small bunches over several months. The Saudis lumped them all together in one press release, perhaps when they figured they'd gotten most of this group.
Posted by: Steve || 04/28/2007 13:13 Comments || Top||

#7  I think Remoteman nailed it yesterday... where's the blood?

And I no longer laugh at Mark Ezzzz oil analysis.

/End tugging forelock
Posted by: Shipman || 04/28/2007 15:56 Comments || Top||


Bangladesh
Tales from the Crossfire Gazette (weekend edition)
A robber was killed in an encounter with Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) at Shamlapur village under Baharchara Union of Teknaf upazila early yesterday.
Where the heck is that?
Acting on a tip-off, a team of Rab-7 raided a place at the village where the robber, Sayed Kashem, 32, and his accomplices were holding a secret meeting at around 4:00am.
That magical hour when things just seem to happen ...
Sensing the presence of the Rab men, ...
... "Hark, my spider-sense is tingling!" ...
... the gang opened fire, ...
... "Eat lead you dirty rotten RAB coppers!" ...
... forcing the law enforcers to retaliate.
Right after they whacked Sayed and tossed his body out the back of the truck.
Rab sources said, Kashem received bullets during the "shootout" ...
... one behind each ear ...
... and died instantly, ...
... "He's dead, Jim" ...
... while his cohorts managed to flee.
As if they were never there. No spent rounds, no footprints.
Two Rab members--Zaker and Hasan---were injured in the gunfight, the sources added.
Lifting Sayed back into the truck for the ride over to Dr. Quincy's place.
Five guns and seven bullets were recovered from the spot.
The shutter gun is at the lock-up for RAB5.
Posted by: Fred || 04/28/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Kashem received bullets

For that which he has received, may we be truly thankful.
Posted by: Jackal || 04/28/2007 0:10 Comments || Top||

#2  Bump,Bump,Bump, Another one bites the dust.
Bump,Bump,Bump, Another one bites the dust,
And another one's gone, and another one's gone,
Another one bites the dust,
Oh gonna get you too,
another one bites the dust,
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 04/28/2007 11:03 Comments || Top||

#3  a secret meeting at around 4:00am.

I kinda depend on thugs passing out around that time. You rarely hear of 6 a.m. drive by shootings to the foot.
Posted by: Shipman || 04/28/2007 19:48 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
Tales From The Sandbox episode 2
Posted by: Frank G || 04/28/2007 16:53 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I talked to said nearly all of the police at the al-Amil Station we visited are affiliated with Jaish al Mahdi, the militia of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Some of them are affiliated just so they don’t get killed, but others are actively involved and are suspected of being involved in attacks against Americans and death squad killings of Sunnis. How are these airmen supposed to do their jobs when they are worried that the guy they’re training might try to kill them later? They’re trying to weed out the good from the bad, but the lines aren’t as clear-cut or as visible as they would like.

One more reason that Moqtada Sadr and everyone connected with him should have been rounded up and shot way early in the game. Sadr's militias import Islamic doctrine's use of terrorism. That alone will keep up the truck bombs and IEDs that are killing so many Coalition troops and Iraqi citizens.

The Iraqi government must find the courage to endure unpopularity and roll up or officially disband the militias. Their attempts to utilize these violent thugs are the very worst sort of cynical politics that will keep Iraq languishing in the stone age. The sooner Sadr and his thugs are Tango Uniform, the better.
Posted by: Zenster || 04/28/2007 19:50 Comments || Top||

#2  I know no one who would lament over that Shia Pet, Sadar. It is like an evil tootsie roll with a delightful play on anyone who is in his way. Curse you Sadar. Happy trails.
Posted by: newc || 04/28/2007 23:20 Comments || Top||


Tales From The Sandbox episode 1
ht to Misha
Posted by: Frank G || 04/28/2007 16:51 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:


India-Pakistan
Missiles Kill Four Militants in Pakistan
So maybe it wasn't a work accident...
Missiles destroyed a house and damaged two madrasas in Pakistan near the Afghan border yesterday, killing four people and wounding three others, witnesses and intelligence officials said. Other officials giving different accounts of the incident said the four militants were killed by their own explosives. “They had stored explosives in the compound and four people died because of an explosion caused by the ammunition they had dumped there,” chief military spokesman Maj. Gen. Waheed Arshad told AFP.
Good cover story. Make sure you don't smile when you say it.
It was unclear who carried out the pre-dawn attack at Saidgi village in the remote North Waziristan region, which is considered a stronghold for both the Taleban and Al-Qaeda. It lies about three kilometers from the border. Another senior military official in the capital, Islamabad, said the dead and wounded had been making bombs and had accidentally caused an explosion. However, two local intelligence officials said a missile attack caused the blast, and a government official said the missiles were apparently fired from Afghan territory.
The new model PU-38 'Illudium' missile the Afghans have been testing.
A prominent tribal leader and journalist, Haji Pazir Gul, told Arab News from Miranshah on telephone “Frontier Corps and other security personnel had cordoned off the area after the explosion.”

The US-led military coalition in Afghanistan and the separate NATO force both denied any knowledge of the incident.
"Nope, wudn't us."
Habib Ullah, the owner of the house, said five missiles hit the building and two nearby religious schools. He said four of his guests were killed in the house. The attack caused the roof to collapse. “I don’t know whether these missiles were fired from some plane or not, but those killed in the attack were not terrorists,” he told an Associated Press reporter near the scene.
"They were .. um .. teachers. Pious teachers."
Habib said he had been staying at another house in the village when the attack happened. He declined to discuss his occupation or answer other questions. “I am already upset, so don’t bother me,” he said. Residents said there was no one inside the madrasas when they were hit.

Saidgi is in a region from where pro-Taleban militants often launch attacks on government and US troops stationed in Afghanistan. Pakistan says US troops are not allowed to operate on its soil, but the US has occasionally launched missile strikes aimed at terror suspects on the Pakistan side of the border. A January 2006 strike by a US Predator drone in Bajaur, another tribal area north of Waziristan, was allegedly targeting Al-Qaeda’s deputy leader Ayman Al-Zawahri. Pakistan intelligence officials said then that Al-Zawahri was not at the site, but four other senior Al-Qaeda militants were killed, although that information was never verified. Thirteen villagers also were killed.
Posted by: Fred || 04/28/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  yeah. four "guests" had taken over his house and he was staying elsewhere. I smell high value body parts
Posted by: Frank G || 04/28/2007 6:17 Comments || Top||

#2  A prominent tribal leader and journalist, Haji Pazir Gul, told Arab News from Miranshah on telephone “Frontier Corps and other security personnel had cordoned off the area after the explosion.”

Hmmmmmmm.

Posted by: Chenter Unimp7361 || 04/28/2007 8:08 Comments || Top||

#3  “They had stored explosives in the compound..." of course they are into all the latest logistical theories: they were proponents of air-dropped, er, delivered Just In Time explosives, that somehow went terribly astray...
Posted by: USN, ret. || 04/28/2007 11:18 Comments || Top||

#4  I think they were Kassams from Gaza. The Pakis should retaliate.
Posted by: Jackal || 04/28/2007 11:53 Comments || Top||

#5  Maybe allan's GPS was miscalibrated or a piece of bacon interfered with the reception. The target was really a base full of infidels. You never know about these things.
Posted by: anymouse || 04/28/2007 14:20 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Another Saturday in Iraq (17 AIF captured)
BAGHDAD - U.S. forces detained 17 suspected insurgents in raids targeting al-Qaida in Iraq on Saturday.

Elsewhere, U.S. forces used fighter jets to destroy a truck bomb discovered in Anbar province, and conducted a raid south of Baghdad that netted weapons that insurgents apparently had imported from neighboring Iran, the military said Saturday.

The U.S. military in Baghdad said Saturday's raids targeting suspected al-Qaida in Iraq insurgents netted four people in Mosul; six near Karmah, 50 miles west of Baghdad; two near the Syrian border; two in the Iraqi capital; and three near Balad, 50 miles north of Baghdad.

The detainees were not identified, but the statement linked some to al-Qaida in Iraq, including one who allegedly served as an intelligence officer.

The truck loaded with explosives was found early Friday near Fallujah, a city in Anbar province when Marines were tipped off about it by a suspected insurgent they detained during a routine combat operation in the area, the military said.

Loaded with eight large barrels of an unidentified liquid, the truck contained hidden detonation wire and explosives, the statement said.

In Mahmoudiya, about 20 miles south of Baghdad, U.S. and Iraqi forces detained eight suspected insurgents and confiscated three caches of weapons during a raid on an apartment complex on April 22, including mortars, rockets and ammunition. The weapons appeared to be new and "were stamped with recent dates and Iranian markings," the military said.

Saturday's deadliest attack in Baghdad occurred when gunmen opened fire on a vehicle in a Sunni-Shiite neighborhood, killing four of the seven people aboard, police said.

A police officer said an employee of the Iraq Red Crescent Society was among those killed, but the relief agency said it could not immediately confirm that.

The gunmen traveling in two cars began their 7 a.m. attack in Baiyaa, western Baghdad, by blocking a road to stop the SUV carrying the seven people, then opened fire on it, the officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media. He said the victims apparently were heading to neighboring Syria.

At about 11:20 a.m., two mortar shells hit another residential area in western Baghdad, killing three Iraqi children — between the ages of 5 and 7, and wounding 10 Iraqis, including three children, police said.

Elsewhere, a roadside bomb exploded Saturday morning near city street cleaners working in Zafaraniyah, a mostly Shiite area of eastern Baghdad, killing one of them and wounding eight, police said.
Posted by: Glenmore || 04/28/2007 06:55 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  You know, until Petraeus shuts down Syria and Iran, he can't pacify a damn thing. I just don't understand this at all.
Posted by: Jack is Back! || 04/28/2007 8:07 Comments || Top||

#2  That call is the next president's. The trunk should campaign on the basis of doing exactly that.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 04/28/2007 8:34 Comments || Top||

#3  At some point, those of us who want a quid pro quo with Iran, an American-sponsored attack in Iran for every Iranian-sponsored attack in Iraq, will win out over those who whine "that by attacking the Iranian government and military in Iran, it will just strengthen the popular support of their government! (snivel)"

This latter opinion has always been wrong, along with such "let's do nothing" crap like "If we attack them, we will make them mad!"
Posted by: Anonymoose || 04/28/2007 10:07 Comments || Top||

#4  We've invaded one country and it's a real mess, so we need to withdraw from Italy and certainly not invade France.

I don't recall reading any Congressman saying that in 1944.
Posted by: Jackal || 04/28/2007 19:32 Comments || Top||


More on Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi capture
Hat tip Drudge

Captured Al-Qaeda leader Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi is thought to have devised the plan for the July 7 suicide bombings in London and an array of terrorist plots against Britain.
Busy lad, wasn't he -- wrote the Jihad Handbook so beloved by wannabee jihadis the world over, handled finances and logistics for Al Qaeda in Iraq from his home somewhere along the Afghan border (on the Pakistan side, of course), and a multitude of terror plots in Britain, too!
A former major in Saddam Hussein’s army, he was apprehended as he tried to enter Iraq from Iran and was transferred this week to the “high-value detainee programme” at Guantanamo Bay. Abd al-Hadi was taken into CIA custody last year, it emerged from US intelligence sources yesterday, in a move which suggests that he was interrogated for months in a “ghost prison” before being transferred to the internment camp in Cuba.
So he has been wrung dry, then, as some here proposed yesterday. Clever people, those Rantubrgers. ;-)
Abd al-Hadi, 45, was regarded as one of al-Qaeda’s most experienced, most intelligent and most ruthless commanders. Senior counter-terrorism sources told The Times that he was the man who, in 2003, identified Britain as the key battleground for exporting al-Qaeda’s holy war to Europe.
And so it has proved. The British public and politicians might find it useful to ponder this fact.
Abd al-Hadi recognised the potential for turning young Muslim radicals from Britain who wanted to become mujahidin in Afghanistan or Iraq into terrorists who could carry out attacks in their home country. He realised that their knowledge of Britain, possession of British passports and natural command of English made them ideal recruits. After al-Qaeda restructured its operations in Pakistan’s tribal areas he sought out young Britons for instruction at training camps. In late 2004 Abd al-Hadi met Mohammad Sidique Khan and Shehzad Tanweer, from Leeds, at a militant camp in Pakistan and, in the words of a senior investigator, “retasked them” to become suicide bombers.
They were sent back to Britain where they led the terrorist cell that carried out the 7/7 bombings, killing 52 Tube and bus passengers.

Pakistani intelligence sources said that Abd al-Hadi was also in contact with Rachid Rauf, a Birmingham man now in prison in Pakistan and alleged to be a key figure in last summer’s alleged plot to blow up transatlantic airliners in mid-flight.

Abd al-Hadi has also been linked to a number of other foiled al-Qaeda plots to carry out attacks in Britain. But the Security Service, which has previously sent officials to question detainees at Guantanamo Bay, may not have the opportunity to question him directly. The Government’s recently adopted position in favour of closing Guantanamo Bay is likely to act as a bar on agents travelling there. British Intelligence would have to rely on relaying questions it would like asked by American interrogators.
Whoops! Not one of Tony's cleverest ideas, allowing his people to say that.
Security sources said they assessed Abd al-Hadi as a key operational commander, high up the chain in the al-Qaeda structure who was behind many key plots in the UK. He had a close link with another arrested al-Qaeda figure. He is thought to have been in contact with Osama bin Laden before his capture and might be able to provide information about his leader’s whereabouts.

Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman, said that Abd al-Hadi was a key al-Qaeda paramilitary leader in Afghanistan in the late 1990s, and between 2002 and 2004 led efforts to attack US forces in Afghanistan with terrorist units based in Pakistan.
A very busy lad. It appears he made ample use of the training he received in Saddam Hussein's army. What unit was he in at the end, I wonder. I'll bet the CIA interrogators know.
US officials said he was associated with leaders of other extremist groups allied with al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan, including the Taleban.

Michael Scheuer, former head of the CIA’s bin Laden unit and now a senior fellow at the Jamestown Foundation in Washington, told The Times that Abd al-Hadi had been an important figure in developing al-Qaeda’s strategy in the insurgencies in Iraq and Afghanistan and also helped to redirect its terrorist strategy in Europe. Mr Scheuer said: “It is a blow for al-Qaeda, especially in Iraq, where it will have consequences.”
Consequences are always good, even though Mr Scheuer went on to explain that someone would be promoted to take Abd al-Hadi's place, although he didn't say whether the newbie would have mastered so many and varied skill sets.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/28/2007 00:20 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I guess not everybody at the CIA sits around leaking stuff to the media. Good news.

Scheuer is always there to remind us that al Queda is tough and powerful in the face of setbacks. He strikes me has having become too enthralled with his subject while studying them. So, his allowance that this capture matters is meaningful.
Posted by: JAB || 04/28/2007 1:00 Comments || Top||

#2  I would think that British intelligence had access to him while he was in Iraq before he was shipped to Gitmo. You will notice the arrest earlier this week of several people in Britain. All these people including the six Iraqis arrested in Greece the other day were probably rolled up in preparation for the release of information about Abdal Hadi's capture.
Posted by: crosspatch || 04/28/2007 3:08 Comments || Top||

#3  The NYT headline was "C.I.A. Held Qaeda Leader in Secret Prison for Months." As if that was a bad thing.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 04/28/2007 3:57 Comments || Top||

#4  A quote from Instapundit...

"Hey, wait -- an "al-Qaeda leader" who's also a "former major in Saddam Hussein's army"? But I thought there was no connection between Saddam and Al Qaeda. Or between Al Qaeda and Iran . . . ."

Heh.
Posted by: BrerRabbit || 04/28/2007 5:32 Comments || Top||

#5  The NYT headline was "C.I.A. Held Qaeda Leader in Secret Prison for Months." As if that was a bad thing.

It is a bad thing for the NYTs. They would have preferred he be allowed first to give them an interview then be wrung dry by the CIA. After all that is their role in society - to pre-empt all G2 with a blaring, glaring revelation.
Posted by: Jack is Back! || 04/28/2007 8:12 Comments || Top||

#6  The role of the NYTs is to line your kitty litter box. It can also be used for toilet paper for the liberal left just so long as they don't use too much.
Posted by: JohnQC || 04/28/2007 9:57 Comments || Top||

#7  Too bad that the existence of scum like this still won't make Britain review their proscription of the death penalty. If this slimeball had direct contact with bin Laden, you'd think that we'd know whether he's alive or dead by now. I don't see any reason to withhold an announcement of bin Laden's death, so this makes me wonder if Pussbag Numero Uno is still alive.
Posted by: Zenster || 04/28/2007 13:31 Comments || Top||

#8  bin Laden is just another Zit on the face of Islam, if alive he is the Scarlet Pimpernel of Jihad, and if dead he is a Shaheed. Win-win for his rep either way.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 04/28/2007 14:35 Comments || Top||

#9  Best if Binny-boy just fades away...
Posted by: Bobby || 04/28/2007 17:41 Comments || Top||

#10  most buried remains do......


he's dead, Jim
Posted by: Frank G || 04/28/2007 17:42 Comments || Top||

#11  A former major in Saddam Hussein’s army, he was apprehended as he tried to enter Iraq from Iran...

Yea, still no connection between Saddam and AlQaida, and AlQaida and Iran. Nothing to see here, time to move on.
Posted by: john || 04/28/2007 20:12 Comments || Top||


White House Plans September Review For Iraq Surge Results
Drudge Flash, link won't work long.
The White House will not attempt to assess until September whether any of the major objectives of the troop increase in Iraq are being achieved, and now accepts that it will take far longer to achieve the results than President Bush envisioned when he announced the strategy, the NY TIMES fronts in Saturday editions.

The timeline administration officials discussed, in on-the-record statements and background interviews, suggests that the White House is now planning to extend the increase in troops well into next year. That is a radically different timeline from the one envisioned in legislation that passed the House and Senate this week, which the president has vowed to veto.
Posted by: Steve White || 04/28/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  No surprise here, as even several Cold War Lefty protagonists of Reagan-Bush 1 don't believe Dubya is gonna wilfully or voluntarily leave Iraq-ME on his own. DEM DEBATE > THE DEMS MIGHT AS WELL HAD SAID on TV "VOTE FOR DUBYA = VOTE REPUBLICAN IN 2008 = WE VIEW RADICAL ISLAM/TERROR AS BUSH DOES", and like before the audience.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/28/2007 0:28 Comments || Top||

#2  When will the Democrats 'get it'? "W" isn't going to pull out even when the 'other shoe' drops on November 7th 2008; The next Democratic President will have to recall on or after January 20th 2009, if they don't 'flip-flop' for the sake of 'national security' reasons (ie, if AlQaeda does something stupid between November 8th 2008 and January 19th 2009)!
Posted by: smn || 04/28/2007 2:54 Comments || Top||

#3  Seems to me W is expecting the military appropriations bill to pass. :-)
Posted by: gorb || 04/28/2007 3:58 Comments || Top||

#4  The Dems are using every weapon at their disposal - subpoenas, hearings, rescinding tax relief, timetables, etc. to srong-arm W. Problem is, he is standing firm and daring them - you know they will blink first since they are basically gutless, classless and out of touch. The Repubs in congress have to take advantage of this and yell from on high because the MSM will always echo the Dems.
Posted by: Jack is Back! || 04/28/2007 8:16 Comments || Top||

#5  Ya know, however long informed and thinking readers have been subjected to the heavy-handed editorializing and distortion on every subject outside the sports pages, they still notice the b.s.:

accepts that it will take far longer to achieve the results than President Bush envisioned when he announced the strategy

What? When did the WH announce they expected results overnight, dipwads?

Of course, mighta been nice if the WH had been signalling "long haul .... patience" with emphasis for some time now - both to the American and Iraqi audiences.
Posted by: Verlaine || 04/28/2007 11:26 Comments || Top||


US troops seize gang 'smuggling bombs from Iran'
US forces on Friday detained four members of a gang suspected of smuggling armour-piercing bombs from Iran to Iraq and sending back militants for "terrorist training", the military said. A statement from US command in Iraq said the suspects were picked up in an early morning raid on the east Baghdad suburb of Sadr City, a known stronghold of radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia. "The individuals targeted during the raid are suspected members of a secret cell terrorist network known for facilitating the transport of weapons and explosively formed penetrators, or EFPs, from Iran to Iraq," it said.

The EFP is a form of roadside bomb in which the detonation of an explosive charge inside a steel tube causes a copper disk to deform into a fist-sized chunk of supersonic molten metal that can scythe through armoured vehicles. American commanders say the design is exclusively Iranian and in January alleged that at least 170 US troops had been killed by EFPs since May 2004. The statement also said that the gang had sent "militants from Iraq to Iran for terrorist training."

"Intelligence reports also indicate the secret cell has ties to a kidnapping network that conducts attacks within Iraq," it added.

The announcement came one day after the US commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, accused Iranian Revolutionary Guards of supporting a Mahdi Army splinter group implicated in the kidnap and murder of five GIs. Since January, US forces have been holding five alleged members of the Guards' covert Qods Force after seizing them in a raid on an Iranian government office in the northern Iraqi City of Arbil. Tehran denies that its agents are involved in the Iraqi conflict.
Posted by: Fred || 04/28/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Of course our govt. will twist itself into knots to emphasize that there are no known links to anyone in Iran's govt. doing this.
Posted by: xbalanke || 04/28/2007 0:23 Comments || Top||

#2  they should have just disappeared.
Posted by: anonymous2u || 04/28/2007 2:17 Comments || Top||

#3  denies that its agents are involved in the Iraqi conflict.

Bwahaha! Advertise this extensively!
Posted by: gorb || 04/28/2007 4:16 Comments || Top||

#4  At least we know the incredible, invicible, undefeatable mighty Iraniam military can do one thing well - make explosively-formed penetrators.

Bastards.
Posted by: Bobby || 04/28/2007 7:39 Comments || Top||

#5  Return to sender, address unknown...
Posted by: Jackal || 04/28/2007 11:54 Comments || Top||

#6  Give them death by a thousand questions.
Posted by: wxjames || 04/28/2007 12:19 Comments || Top||

#7  Return all Iranians by air - drop them from 25,000 feet under a parasail, with the wind used to drift them back across their border. Of course, do NOT issue them oxygen, and clothe them in the thinnest desert fatigues possible. Wet them down good just before shoving them out the door. Make SURE that the parachute of one out of four doesn't work. The SECOND group should have some interesting things to say...
Posted by: Old Patriot || 04/28/2007 14:58 Comments || Top||

#8  parasails are for pussies. Give the first "drops" baggy clothes and tell em to "make it work". The second group would be even MORE eager to offer up info
Posted by: Frank G || 04/28/2007 15:09 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Five Palestinians killed in northern Gaza Strip; four from Israeli fire
Gaza - Ma'an - The Israeli forces continue to escalate their operations in the Gaza Strip, killing four Palestinians on Saturday. Three were killed in the east of the Gaza Strip, near the Nahal Oz crossing, while the fourth was killed northeast of Khan-Younis. Medical sources revealed that a fifth Palestinian was also killed, but in an "internal explosion" in the north of the Strip.
The Joooos are coming! Honey, toss me my grenades!
Yes, dear. Catch. I pulled those pins out so you could use them faster.
Stupid bit...

In a separate incident, Ma'an's correspondent reports that Shadi Abu Dahir, 19, was killed when he was targeted by Israeli artillery in the Kissufim area. Medical sources stated that the man was dead on arrival to the Nasser hospital in Khan-Younis, his body having been cut into several pieces following a direct hit from heavy fire.
Shit, why'd they waste the trip? Or trips...
Car Swarm!
Posted by: tu3031 || 04/28/2007 12:22 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  another episode of "TU's Paleo Follies™"
Posted by: Frank G || 04/28/2007 12:39 Comments || Top||

#2  direct hit from heavy fire

Wow, that's some shooting.
Posted by: gromgoru || 04/28/2007 16:32 Comments || Top||

#3  an addition to "TU's Paleo Follies™"

Pretty sure thisn here Video is related..
the count differential ima assuming is prob due to the initial fuzzy_first reportage..
Posted by: RD || 04/28/2007 16:36 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Three killed in Thai south on mosque massacre anniversary
Three men were shot dead in Thailand's restive Muslim-majority south Saturday as the kingdom marked the third anniversary of a mosque massacre, police said.

A 45-year-old Muslim man was killed in a drive-by shooting and another 37-year-old Muslim man was gunned down by suspected Islamic rebels in an ambush in Narathiwat, one of three troubled provinces bordering Malaysia. In nearby Pattani province, a 70-year-old Buddhist man was shot dead late Friday in a drive-by shooting while riding a motorcycle.

The attacks came as Thailand marked the third anniversary of the Krue Se Mosque massacre in which 32 suspected militants were killed by Thai security forces in Pattani. Earlier in the day, a man opened fire on the Krue Se mosque where some 20 Muslims gathered for morning prayers. But no one was injured, police said.
Posted by: ryuge || 04/28/2007 06:53 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "Thailand marked the third anniversary of the Krue Se Mosque massacre in which 32 suspected militants were killed by Thai security forces in Pattani."

Rinse and repeat.
Posted by: Mac || 04/28/2007 7:00 Comments || Top||

#2  Why is the attack called a "massacre" if those killed were "insurgents"? Sounds to me like a normal military operation to clean out a sh$$stand. I HATE IT when newspapers editorialize in the "news" section.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 04/28/2007 15:03 Comments || Top||


Sri Lanka
Three Lankan sailors killed
Tamil Tiger rebels killed three Sri Lankan navy soldiers on a foot patrol in a firefight near the east coast town of Trincomalee early on Friday, a defence ministry spokesman said.

“Three sailors were killed. They fired with small arms and they were killed near a navy camp at Kuchchaveli,” a spokesman for the Media Centre for National Security said. The attack inflicted “severe damage” on the rebels, known by their official name, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, the Centre’s website reported without giving details.

The Tigers, who say they are fighting to create an independent state in the north and east of the island for ethnic minority Tamils, could not be reached for comment.

Since 1983, the war in Sri Lanka has killed some 68,000 people, including more than 4,000 since late 2005. The near daily air, land and sea battles of the past 16 months have left a 2002 ceasefire agreement in tatters. Friday’s incident happened just hours after authorities temporarily closed the Colombo international airport, cut power to the city and fired anti-aircraft guns skyward after reports of suspicious planes flying along the coast toward the capital.
Posted by: Fred || 04/28/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Lebanon mourns the innocent martyrs amidst calls for calm
Lebanese mourners held a funeral on Friday for the two youths slain this week in an attack linked to sectarian tensions but leaders called for calm and said their deaths should not be politicized. The bodies of Ziad Qabalan, 25, and Ziad Ghandour, 12, who were abducted earlier this week, were found on Thursday in a field. Qabalan had been a member of the pro-government Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) along with Ghandour's father, which is headed by Druze leader MP Walid Jumblatt. The PSP transported the coffins of the 2 slain youths from al-Maqasid hospital to their homes in Wata el Musaitbeh . Jumblatt led the funeral proceedings along with several leaders from the March 14, anti-Syrian alliance amidst heavy security.

Security sources said at least one suspect had been detained and others were being sought in the killing. They said the two youths had been killed by several bullets to the head and body. Their killings were believed to be a revenge attack for the slaying of a Shi'ite Muslim activist in January clashes between supporters of the government, which has Sunni backing, and the opposition, which includes Lebanon's main Shi'ite groups.

Rival leaders have condemned the killings and appealed for calm. Druze PSP leader Walid Jumblatt said official investigations must take their course and that the killings should not be politicized. He called on his followers to exercise maximum restraint and to trust the state for finding the killers and bringing them to justice. Shi'ite Muslim group Hezbollah, a powerful faction within the opposition, called on Lebanon's security forces and judiciary to bring the killers to justice.
Posted by: Fred || 04/28/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:


Update on the murder of the 2 youths in Lebanon
The leaders of Lebanon are actively focusing on the ugly crime, involving the murder of the 2 youths, and dumping their bodies in South Lebanon near Sidon. There is widespread concern by the president and all the way down to Berri and Hezbollah, that the crime could lead to further escalation of the violence.

Ziad Ghandour, 12 and Ziad Qabalan, 25 were kidnapped last Monday and their bodies were found yesterday in Sidon. The crime was described as an act of revenge for the killing of Adnan Shamas, a 29-year Shia, during the anti-government riot in January this year, but the Shamas clan denied any involvement in the kidnapping and the subsequent murder. The autopsies revealed that both Ziad's were shot in the head from close range … Each had 3 bullets in his head. It was not immediately determined what type of weapons were used, but preliminary findings show the same weapon was used to kill both.

At this stage over eighty were questioned, but there are 3 serious suspects believed to be directly responsible, who remain at large according to the authorities. Security officials believe that they may have escaped out of the country, most likely to Syria, immediately after committing the unthinkable crimes. The reason Ziad Ghandour was with Ziad Qabalan is because the latter has shown interest in marrying Ghandour’s sister. Qabalan's original name is Kapalan, of Turkish origin.
Posted by: Fred || 04/28/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Islam devours its young. Few other indictments can be so utterly damning.
Posted by: Zenster || 04/28/2007 0:25 Comments || Top||

#2  Zenster, very well stated!
Posted by: Mark Espinola || 04/28/2007 5:10 Comments || Top||

#3  Each had 3 bullets in his head. It was not immediately determined what type of weapons were used, but preliminary findings show the same weapon was used to kill both

I'd suggest it was a firearm
Posted by: Frank G || 04/28/2007 6:36 Comments || Top||

#4  Islam devours its young.

Not enough of them.
Posted by: gromgoru || 04/28/2007 8:02 Comments || Top||

#5  Maybe I'm just old, cynical and have watched too much muzzy bullcrap, but if I was the forensic analyst, I'd have checked them for evidence of rape. Particularly the 12 year old.
Posted by: Mac || 04/28/2007 8:16 Comments || Top||


Good morning....
No BNP reforms in Khaleda's absenceMissiles Kill Four Militants in PakistanUS troops seize gang 'smuggling bombs from Iran'Olmert could quit Monday over failure in Lebanon warLooting breaks out during lull in Mogadishu fightingTerrorist Plots Foiled: 172 Arrested in Tragic Kingdom'Terrorism can't be linked to any nation, religion'
Posted by: Fred || 04/28/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Looks like the kind of girl you couldn't wait to take home to Mom!
Posted by: Mac || 04/28/2007 6:33 Comments || Top||

#2  Wonder if she is related to Jack Vickers - Vickers Oil, Castle Rock Golf Club, etc.??
Posted by: Jack is Back! || 04/28/2007 7:42 Comments || Top||

#3  She was married to Mickey Rooney. She also played in the Big Sleep.
Posted by: JohnQC || 04/28/2007 9:48 Comments || Top||

#4  Seems that Mickey Rooney married all the starlets of that era.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 04/28/2007 10:49 Comments || Top||

#5  The little guy said he didn't know anything about marriage but a lot about divorce.
Posted by: JohnQC || 04/28/2007 11:10 Comments || Top||

#6  A common affliction of many of us...
Posted by: Fred || 04/28/2007 17:32 Comments || Top||

#7  yeah... I learned
Posted by: Frank G || 04/28/2007 17:36 Comments || Top||

#8  A bachelor is a man who doesn't make the same mistake once.
Posted by: Zenster || 04/28/2007 21:59 Comments || Top||



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Two weeks of WOT
Sat 2007-04-28
  Missiles Kill Four Hard Boyz in Pakistan
Fri 2007-04-27
  US House okays deadline for Iraq troop pullout
Thu 2007-04-26
  London: Four men plead guilty to explosives plot
Wed 2007-04-25
  IDF to request green light to strike Hamas leadership
Tue 2007-04-24
  Lal Masjid calls for jihad against ''un-Islamic'' govt
Mon 2007-04-23
  51 killed as Somalia fighting rages
Sun 2007-04-22
  Khaleda sets out for exile any time now...
Sat 2007-04-21
  Rocket fired at Fazl's house
Fri 2007-04-20
  Paks demonstrate against mullahs
Thu 2007-04-19
  Harry Reid: "War Is Lost"
Wed 2007-04-18
  Sadr pulls out of govt
Tue 2007-04-17
  Iranian Weapons Intended for Taliban Intercepted
Mon 2007-04-16
  Bombs hit Christian bookstore, two Internet cafes in Gaza City
Sun 2007-04-15
  Car bomb kills scores near shrine in Kerbala
Sat 2007-04-14
  Islamic State of Iraq claims Iraq parliament attack


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