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Somalia president claims victory, asks for international help
Today's Headlines
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Afghanistan
Afghan infant deaths fall by 40K/year since Taliban ouster
Infant mortality in Afghanistan has fallen dramatically since the demise of the Taleban, according to a new study, with 40,000 fewer babies dying every year. Improvements in women's access to medical care since the Taleban were ousted from power five years ago was cited as the main reason for the death rate becoming significantly lower.
I blame George Bush.
According to the preliminary results of a Johns Hopkins University study, the infant mortality rate has declined to about 135 per 1,000 live births in 2006, down from an estimated 165 per 1,000 in 2001.
Dr. Steve is the expert on stats here, but I'll point out JHU was the same folks who gave us the Lancet Iraq deaths travesty. It's not a 'lection year, so these good numbers are allowed to slip out.
Looks like different people did the survey, and it was coordinated by the Ministry of Health. This NYT article on the same subject notes that the estimated improvement is likely conservative, so things must really be better.
The researchers "found improvements in virtually all aspects of care in almost every province," the public health ministry and World Bank said in a joint statement on the findings. Mohammad Amin Fatimi, Afghanistan's public health minister, said the news was welcomed. "Despite many challenges, there are clear signs of health sector recovery and progress throughout the country," he said. "But there is a long way to go to provide access to basic health services for Afghans in far remote, under-served and marginalised areas across the country. These infants are the future builders of our country."

Benjamin Loevinsohn, a World Bank health specialist, said the survey results probably underestimated the improvement in infant mortality. "It's a conservative estimate. This is the situation two and a half to three years ago ... It should be better than that now," Mr Loevinsohn said. He said children were benefiting from a push in 2004 to improve health care and access to vaccinations for diseases such as measles, polio and tetanus.

The researchers studied more than 600 health facilities annually since 2004. Doctors and health professionals visited 8,278 households, using a standardised questionnaire to interview one mother per household about her birth history. The study found the number of women receiving prenatal care increased to 30 per cent in 2006 from 5 per cent in 2003. Nineteen per cent of pregnant women were attended by a skilled health worker last year, up from only 5 per cent in 2003.

The survey was conducted in 29 of the country's 34 provinces - excluding Helmand, Uruzgan, Kandahar, Zabul and Nuristan because of security concerns, Mr Loevinsohn said.

The ministry is working to set up small clinics, deploy mobile teams in remote rural areas, expand community midwifery training, and increase the number of female staff at health facilities.

However Afghanistan still has one of the world's highest maternal mortality rates. One in 60 Afghan women dies of pregnancy-related causes, said UN Population Fund executive director Thoraya Ahmed Obaid. "No woman should die giving life," she said during a visit to Afghanistan this week. "No nation can be developed when its women are dying giving birth."
Good luck, Afghanistan. And thank you to the armed forces and other NATO assets who helped bring this change into being.
Posted by: Seafarious || 04/29/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Let's up Taliban kills to 40K per year to make space for the surviving babies.
Posted by: Zenster || 04/29/2007 3:18 Comments || Top||

#2  Yes, Bless Afghanistan.
Posted by: newc || 04/29/2007 3:43 Comments || Top||

#3  What Zen said. Or else these will be an extra 40K per year Talibunnies themselves in 15-20 years.
Posted by: Glenmore || 04/29/2007 8:39 Comments || Top||

#4  I have made an observation regarding infant mortality: high survival rates correlate with high rates of war. Prolonged peace correlates with low birth rates. Both seem like both a cause and an effect.
If I hazard a guess, war results when infant mortality falls below the long-term stability level for a population, and if war is long enough and deadly enough it leads to compensating increased birth levels. But beyond some critical catastrophic level of war populations collapse and cultures vanish (e.g. American Indians or post-1918 French.) What does this say about the conflict between Islam and the West?
Corrolary: when a society invests too many of its eggs (literally) in too few baskets it becomes extremely risk-averse, but ironically this risk-aversion actually does not lead to better long-term survivability - so how did it evolve?
Posted by: Glenmore || 04/29/2007 8:55 Comments || Top||

#5  My first thought upon seing the headline, was preempted by Zenster.
Posted by: gromgoru || 04/29/2007 14:19 Comments || Top||

#6  In the America I grew up in, this news would be reason enough to continue occupation and install friendly puppet governments to facilitate the impovement of the medical conditions inside the target country. Improved education and religious missionaries would follow.
Today, however, the democrats must destroy any and all such improvements to further their anti-Bush agenda. The democrat party has indeed turned the corner. They offer nothing but criticism and opposition. They are an embarrassment. The media should be ashamed for what they have allowed to pass for leadership.
I strongly urge all Americans to take back America. Silence the MSM, close the borders, develope alternative fuel sources, and slay the dragon of corruption, the democrat party.
Posted by: wxjames || 04/29/2007 19:52 Comments || Top||


US aircrews show Taliban no mercy
It's elk and sitting duck season in Helmand!
Caught in the middle of the Helmand river, the fleeing Taliban were paddling their boat back to shore for dear life. Smoke from the ambush they had just sprung on American special forces still hung in the air, but their attention was fixed on the two helicopter gunships that had appeared above them as their leader, the tallest man in the group, struggled to pull what appeared to be a burqa over his head.

As the boat reached the shore, Captain Larry Staley tilted the nose of the lead Apache gunship downwards into a dive. One of the men turned to face the helicopter and sank to his knees. Capt Staley's gunner pressed the trigger and the man disappeared in a cloud of smoke and dust. By the time the gunships had finished, 21 minutes later, military officials say 14 Taliban were confirmed dead, including one of their key commanders in Helmand.

The mission is typical of a new, aggressive, approach adopted by American forces in southern Afghanistan and particularly in Helmand, where British troops last year bore the brunt of some of the heaviest fighting since the fall of the Taliban in 2001.
Continued on Page 49
This article starring:
MULLAH NAJIBULLAHTaliban
Posted by: Steve White || 04/29/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  That's what it takes. Lenient, aggressive ROE's and a take-no-prisoner attitude.
Posted by: anymouse || 04/29/2007 0:17 Comments || Top||

#2  No fair.
Posted by: Danking70 || 04/29/2007 0:37 Comments || Top||

#3  Tales like this just warm the cockles of one's heart. Great shooting lads. Mincemeat is always a favorite dish whenever Muslims are involved.
Posted by: Woozle Elmeter2970 || 04/29/2007 0:39 Comments || Top||

#4  You just see a big dust cloud where the person used to be

Works for me. Good hunting, troops!
Posted by: Zenster || 04/29/2007 1:10 Comments || Top||

#5  Coalition attacks on mistakenly identified targets here, as in Iraq, have left dozens of civilians dead and wounded and can act as a recruiting sergeant for the terrorists.

Oh, horseshit. Facts, please? How many of the unintentional kills of non-combatants have involved enemy war crimes (treachery, deliberate endangerment of non-combatants - uh, they're actually very well-established war crimes, guys, go look it up)? Oh, that's right - 100% of them.

So what he MEANT to write was that "deliberate terrorist use of civilians as shields - a grievous war crime - has in limited cases resulted in air attacks killing non-combatants in Iraq and Afghanistan". No kidding - this is exactly what a literate, reasonable journalistic dispatch would sound like in reference to this issue. Imagine the difference in public attitudes if literate, informed reporting like this were the norm.


Posted by: Verlaine || 04/29/2007 2:40 Comments || Top||

#6  Don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes! Cigars all around, boys!!
Posted by: smn || 04/29/2007 3:33 Comments || Top||

#7  Take no prisoners because if you do it will allow the Dhimms the chance to invent new rights for them.
Posted by: Lemuel Shaiter3417 || 04/29/2007 5:02 Comments || Top||

#8  The attack, and four other missions against suspected Taliban compounds, are clearly effective, but the stakes are high. Coalition attacks on mistakenly identified targets here, as in Iraq, have left dozens of civilians dead and wounded and can act as a recruiting sergeant for the terrorists.

Just more MSM propaganda camouflaged as reporting. It's no wonder the editorialist who wrote this crap is named Chamberlain.

Posted by: Lemuel Shaiter3417 || 04/29/2007 5:07 Comments || Top||

#9  commanders must hope that the Taliban do not get their hands on the weaponry that has made life so perilous for pilots in Iraq,

The ISI is probably working hard to ship anti-aircraft missiles to the Taliban right now...

Posted by: John Frum || 04/29/2007 7:16 Comments || Top||

#10  Lessons as old as warfare. Never turn your back on the enemy. Calvary will chop up infantry in the open. Talibs should read more than the Koran.
Posted by: Chuck Simmins || 04/29/2007 8:14 Comments || Top||

#11  Coalition attacks on mistakenly identified fully identified dozens of civilians dead and wounded and can act as a recruiting sergeant for the terrorists. without Muslims caring about it and while MSM do their best to air colalition's unwanted collateral damage and silence Jihadist savagery.
Posted by: JFM || 04/29/2007 8:22 Comments || Top||

#12  Stories like this really make my day. More please! Preferably with video of beareded mouth-breathers being shredded by machine-gun fire.
Posted by: Sonar || 04/29/2007 8:28 Comments || Top||

#13  After the turn of the century
in the cold blue skies over Helamnd See
Came a roar and a thunder not recently heard
Like the scream and the sound of a big war bird
Up in the sky, a Jooo in a plane
Avner Greenburg was his name
14 men tried, and 14 men died
Now they're buried vaporized together on the countryside.


/Royal Guardsmans
yeah I'm that old, sorry about the earworm
Posted by: Shipman || 04/29/2007 8:58 Comments || Top||

#14  Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket
Posted by: Anonymoose || 04/29/2007 9:58 Comments || Top||

#15  Them boys just don't know how to play this game .
Posted by: Matt || 04/29/2007 12:04 Comments || Top||

#16  It's elk and sitting duck season in Helmand!

More like eel and slimeballs, but that's ok - as long as the talislimes are the ones dying.

I still think we're missing a major weapons system in this war. I know we got shredded for using napalm in Vietnam, but the da$$$$ stuff works. Hit a bunker with napalm, and it doesn't matter that fifteen people are inside - they're dead. Don't use it in towns and villages, but when we catch the slimeballs out in the open, fry them. It also keeps the idiots from hauling away their dead and giving them "hero's burials" (who wants to haul away 140lbs of overcooked meat?). We are being far too "nice", and it's costing us casualties.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 04/29/2007 14:13 Comments || Top||

#17  this the way it should always be done
Posted by: sinse || 04/29/2007 14:14 Comments || Top||

#18  I like the way the talibunnies got busy puting on burkhas as soon as the gunships showed up.

Oh great lions of Islam!

Al
Posted by: Frozen Al || 04/29/2007 14:20 Comments || Top||

#19  Excellent. I'm with sinse: this is the way it should always have been done.
Posted by: Ptah || 04/29/2007 14:28 Comments || Top||

#20  Ptah hows that dang fire doing? If we get a wind from the NE it's bad biz.
Posted by: Shipman || 04/29/2007 14:42 Comments || Top||

#21  the tallest man in the group, struggled to pull what appeared to be a burqa over his head.

Proof positive.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 04/29/2007 16:52 Comments || Top||

#22  "Stop, you would'nt hit a wimmin with a child!"
"No, I'd hit her with automatic weapon fire."
To paraphase Walt Kelly
Posted by: bruce || 04/29/2007 16:59 Comments || Top||

#23  Not enough killing. 1200 sound better.
Posted by: Enver Angaiter1337 || 04/29/2007 17:15 Comments || Top||

#24  So where's the gun/ copilot camera footage of the "lions of i-slam" getting their Burkas on?

Would be a live Leak hit!
Posted by: Bright Pebbles in Blairistan || 04/29/2007 17:57 Comments || Top||

#25  Re #6: "DON'T FIRE UNTIL YOU SEE THE WHITES!"
_____________________________________

Revolutionary War ancestor of Redd Foxx
Posted by: borgboy2001 || 04/29/2007 18:55 Comments || Top||

#26  Old Pat,
I heartily agree. Napalm has proved it's usefulness Very effective for mass attacks as Talibuns frequently use. Good for caves. And, along the same lines, don't forget Flame Tracks. Beautiful sight. FF'd Muslims at 150 yards. The effect on the enemy is devastating. Once they see their buds cooked alive and receive a whiff of the odor, they never forget.
Posted by: Woozle Elmeter2970 || 04/29/2007 19:25 Comments || Top||

#27  Once they see their buds cooked alive and receive a whiff of the odor, they never forget.

Seeing as how scorched humans are supposed to smell like roast pork, there could be a double payoff in terms of disincentive and uncleanliness. Even if there wasn't, just like with fuel-air bombs, napalm and taliban were meant for each other.
Posted by: Zenster || 04/29/2007 21:14 Comments || Top||

#28  Accusations of 'Cold Blooded Murder' by Murtha in 5... 4... 3...

Apologies from the State Department as well...

BTW: Good shooting!
Posted by: CrazyFool || 04/29/2007 21:16 Comments || Top||

#29  LOL BorgBoy

/Fred Geee (the gee is for good 'un) Sanford
Posted by: Shipman || 04/29/2007 21:36 Comments || Top||

#30  Burning flesh is something that you NEVER forget. It is very nasty. That being said, I think that napalm would be a good weapon against concentrations of Taliban. Would get the message across.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 04/29/2007 22:58 Comments || Top||


Karzai offers peace, Taliban free Frenchwoman
The Taliban freed a French aid worker on Saturday as President Hamid Karzai marked the anniversary of the end of communist rule with a fresh offer of olive branch to the resurgent guerrillas. France’s Foreign Ministry confirmed that one member of an aid group who had been kidnapped in Afghanistan early this month had been released. Taliban spokesman Qari Yousuf said earlier the aid worker was a French woman, identified only as Celine, and she was freed in Kandahar province as a gesture of goodwill. Speaking by satellite phone from Quetta a secret location, he said the deadline for the release of her male French colleague, Eric, and three Afghan workers for the Terre d’Enfance aid group had been extended by a week. The Taliban want France to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan and the release of Taliban prisoners held by the Afghan government before freeing the Frenchman and his three Afghan colleagues, Yousuf said.

At a colourful ceremony in Kabul for the 15th anniversary of the fall of the Soviet-backed communist regime, Karzai again pleaded with the Taliban to talk peace. “Today, while celebrating the jihad victory, we once again invite those who have sided with aliens because of seduction against their nation, to give up sedition and evil and join peaceful life,” he said. The ceremony was marked by a military parade that included disabled victims of Afghanistan’s fighting. US and Afghan forces killed 10 Taliban insurgents in Helmand, the US military said.

A member of the US-led coalition was killed in fighting in western Herat province on Friday. A NATO air strike also killed 13 Taliban in Khost province late on Friday, officials said. In Ghazni province, Taliban killed two policemen and abducted three others, police said.
This article starring:
a French woman, identified only as Celine
QARI YUSUFTaliban
Posted by: Fred || 04/29/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  She was probably violated so much she can't walk or see straight. It's well past time Sarko retracted all French back to the home bunkers. There's plenty of Muslim targets on your home soil to keep you forever busy.
Posted by: Woozle Elmeter2970 || 04/29/2007 0:42 Comments || Top||

#2  I was thinking Karzai was throwing a French woman into the peace deal.

"And, if you act right now, every Taliban who surrenders gets a French woman or a valuable mock emerald...But wait!, there's more!..."
Posted by: Anonymoose || 04/29/2007 10:05 Comments || Top||


Africa Horn
PM says most fighting ended, many hostile areas overrun
(SomaliNet) Somalia’s Prime Minister Mr Ali Mohamed Ghedi said “most fighting” had ended in Somalia with many hostile areas overrun yet Ethiopian tanks supporting the Somali interim government pounded insurgent positions in Somali capital Mogadishu on Thursday.

Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Ghedi said Somali government troops backed by Ethiopian tanks were still working on the ninth day of battles with insurgents to clear “pockets of resistance”, after clashes locals say have killed some 300 people, most of them civilians.

“Most of the fighting in Mogadishu is now over. The government has captured a lot of territory where the insurgents were,” Ghedi told a news conference. Artillery and machine-gun fire could still be heard in northern parts of the city.

The Somali Premier urged any clan militia who had joined the ranks of Islamist gunmen and foreign jihadists in fighting the government to return to their homes and stay there until his administration could incorporate them into a new national army.

Meanwhile, the battles have devastated neighbourhoods of Mogadishu, forcing about half of its residents to flee. The UN refugee agency said on Wednesday that the exodus of nearly 340,000 people was fast turning the seaside capital into a “ghost city”.

According to residents, Thursday’s clashes around an anti-government stronghold in the north were the fiercest yet. “We are under heavy artillery and tank shelling.

A fighter from the capital’s dominant Hawiye clan said the Ethiopians are using whatever forces and material they have. “This is the heaviest attack we have seen since the war started.”

Locals and rights activists say some 300 people have died in the most sustained battles since the joint Somali-Ethiopian force routed the Islamists in a war over the New Year.

More than 1,000 people were killed in a previous spike in fighting at the end of March. The interim government says there will be no let-up in the violence until it wipes out the insurgency defying its attempt to restore central rule to the Horn of Africa nation for the first time in 16 years.

Doctors at a paediatric and maternity clinic did their best to treat scores of wounded who found no space on Thursday among the bloodied wards of the city’s two main hospitals.

“We have the doctors but we do not have medical material and medicine. We are hoping to get medical supplies from the Red Cross soon,” Abdulahi Hashi Kadiye, deputy director of Banadir Hospital, told Reuters.

The incessant shelling also started a fire at warehouses stocked with building material and paints, sending thick plumes of smoke above the Industrial Road area of factories.
Posted by: Fred || 04/29/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The incessant shelling also started a fire at warehouses stocked with building material and paints, sending thick plumes of smoke above the Industrial Road area of factories.

Really? There are warehouses and factories in Somalia that are stocked with goods? How is that possible? I am surprised that there is anything working, existing or operating even a government - certainly not a society. If Iraq is on the cusp of incurable anarchy (ala Taliban in 96) then Somalia must be something out of a Mad Max movie set.
Posted by: Jack is Back! || 04/29/2007 12:20 Comments || Top||

#2  Meanwhile, the battles have devastated neighbourhoods of Mogadishu, forcing about half of its residents to flee. The UN refugee agency said on Wednesday that the exodus of nearly 340,000 people was fast turning the seaside capital into a “ghost city”.


Good, can't hide among the innocent civilians.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 04/29/2007 12:27 Comments || Top||

#3  The Somali Premier urged any clan militia who had joined the ranks of Islamist gunmen and foreign jihadists in fighting the government to return to their homes and stay there until his administration could incorporate them into a new national army.

Idiot.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 04/29/2007 12:31 Comments || Top||

#4  The Ethiopians are doing it right - utterly crushing all opposition with heavy firepower. That's the mistake we made in Iraq - failing to utterly crush the opposition. Now we have an "insurgency", fed by various groups for their own purpose, all attacking those that want to get on with their lives. I hope the Iraqi Army takes the Turkish Army as their example - absolutely refusing to allow any type of government but a secular democracy to take root.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 04/29/2007 14:18 Comments || Top||

#5  The Ethiopians are doing it right - utterly crushing all opposition with heavy firepower. That's the mistake we made in Iraq - failing to utterly crush the opposition. Now we have an "insurgency", fed by various groups for their own purpose, all attacking those that want to get on with their lives. I hope the Iraqi Army takes the Turkish Army as their example - absolutely refusing to allow any type of government but a secular democracy to take root.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 04/29/2007 14:18 Comments || Top||

#6  Don't forget, OP, that Somalia is also cut-off from supplies, since boats to and from Yemen don't seem to float very well. Landward, you have Ethiopia, Kenya, and Djibouti. Maybe Sudan can help the "brave Minutment." I don't remember if they touch.
Posted by: Jackal || 04/29/2007 21:16 Comments || Top||

#7  OP: That's the mistake we made in Iraq - failing to utterly crush the opposition.

"Shock and awe", which is no more than a new name for the age-old decapitation strategy (i.e. take out the king, and his kingdom is yours for the taking), doesn't work in an age of nationalism and universal education (i.e. indoctrination). What we've seen in Iraq is that you may well have to kill off a fair chunk of the combat-age males before any kind of peaceful occupation is possible. 8 million dead Germans (around 10% of the German population) in WWII were the price of a peaceful post-war occupation.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 04/29/2007 21:23 Comments || Top||

#8  What we've seen in Iraq is that you may well have to kill off a fair chunk of the combat-age males before any kind of peaceful occupation is possible. 8 million dead Germans (around 10% of the German population) in WWII were the price of a peaceful post-war occupation.

I believe that this equation will also apply to Islam as a whole.
Posted by: Zenster || 04/29/2007 23:39 Comments || Top||


Ethiopian forces intercept weapons
(SomaliNet) The Ethiopian forces in Beledwein, provincial capital of Hiran region in central Somalia intercepted two trucks carrying weapons towards the capital, Mogadishu, sources say on Thursday. Witnesses say that the Ethiopian forces stationed in Janda-Kundishe checkpoint, outside of Beledwein confiscated the weapons including explosives like anti-tanks mines. It is still unclear whether the weapons were for sale or they wre sent to insurgents fighting in the capital with the Ethiopians. It is the second time the Ethiopian forces in the region sized illegal weapons.
Posted by: Fred || 04/29/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Somalia president claims victory, asks for international help
(SomaliNet) Somalia’s interim president Abdulahi Yusuf Ahmed has today revealed that the war in Mogadishu ended urging displaced people to return to their homes in the Somalia capital.

In a news conference held in the presidential palace in Mogadishu, Mr. Yusuf said the war between the government and the remnants of the Islamists has been accomplished. “The fighting in the capital was between the government troops along with its allied forces of Ethiopians and remnants of the ousted Islamic Courts,” said Yusuf.

President Yusuf said the transitional government was forced to involve in war after the insurgents attacked government positions and the other compounds stationed by the Ethiopian forces and the AU peacekeepers. “We have many times offered to rebel groups to enter talks with us and end the gap through peace dialogue but they refused that and took the option of fighting,” added Yusuf. He described the recent fighting in Somalia capital regrettable and voiced concern over the civilians who fled the capital and suffering in suburb areas.

Also in his press conference, president Yusuf appealed for the Mogadishu’s people to return to their homes since the fighting has ended. Mr. Yusuf who yesterday returned to the capital after eight days of heavy and bloody battles, asked for the international community to provide an urgent assistance to the displaced people from Mogadishu. His comments came as the government’s security forces began patrolling on the streets of the capital searching all cars for weapons and suspects.
Posted by: Fred || 04/29/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Ferris? Anyone? Crickets?
UN? US?
Posted by: newc || 04/29/2007 3:04 Comments || Top||

#2  You are deluded Mr. Yusef, the koranimals will begin wanton killings as soon as they possibly can. Not that anyone cares.
Posted by: JerseyMike || 04/29/2007 6:29 Comments || Top||

#3  US aid might be very useful to the situation. That is, aid channeled through Ethiopia. All sorts of possibilities there.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 04/29/2007 10:02 Comments || Top||


Mog businesses to hand over weapons
(SomaliNet) The business committee for Mogadishu, the capital has accepted that the business community should hand over their weapons to the transitional government within 36 hours in return, the government will guarantee the safety and security of their property, a top security official said on Saturday.

General Abdi Hassan Awale known as ‘Qeybdid’ the new police commander in Somalia said the government security officials have had intensive talks with the business board in Mogadishu over protecting the properties in Bakara market from looting. “We have agreed on certain points including that all security staff for the business companies in Bakara market should be registered to take part in establishing the security and protect ing against any violence,” said Qeybdid while talking to the reporters after the meeting.

The representatives of the business people in Bakara market expressed their readiness to work with the government in stabilizing the city. The meeting came when business centers including Coca-Cola Company have gone under looting. It was for the first time that Mogadishu business leaders met with top security officials since the TFG relocated Mogadishu early this year. Bakara is the biggest open air market in Somalia since the collapse of former regime of Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991.

Meanwhile key streets in Mogadishu have been reopened today as people were visiting their abandoned houses. Soldiers with government uniform could be seen on the main roads in the capital checking up all cars for weapons and suspects. This was major crack down operations against the remnants of the ousted Islamists.
Posted by: Fred || 04/29/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Why would you want your first line of defense unarmed?
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 04/29/2007 17:11 Comments || Top||

#2  Because they haven't been the first line of defense.
Posted by: Pappy || 04/29/2007 21:05 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Youth recruitment network for Jihad in Iraq dismantled
El Oued security services arrested last weak 8 persons and closed down a cyber space and a library which have been suspected of the recruitment of young people to fight in Iraq or to activate within Algerian terrorist networks. Concordant sources mentioned that the network members are responsible for the recruitment of the region’s young people namely the three university students who disappeared earlier last week. The same sources indicated that the missing families notified the authorities and disclosed places where they’ve been accustomed to be namely the above mentioned cyber space and a library in El Oued city centre.

The sources further noted that the arrested whose ages range from 24 and 28 are still under investigations, among them an English language university teacher who is the very owner of the cyber space and the others are students and jobless. The same sources mentioned that computers in the cyber space have been confiscated to be inquired with, as some multimedia documents have been found especially after the cyber owner recognized that he recruited young persons. The dismantling of the network is likely to reveal who recruitment cells have penetrated in university milieus.
Posted by: Fred || 04/29/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Algeria: Army kills two terrorists in Dellys
Army has killed in Friday to Saturday night two terrorists in the Wilaya of Boumerdès. Two Kalashnikov have been recovered. Local sources have affirmed that the two terrorists have been ambushed by the army, near the commune of Benchoud, daira of Dellys. A military team has moved to the area according to precised information on the terrorists moves. Same sources have unveiled that security services have identified them and affirmed that the first is the one who has killed the former head of Benchoud commune, and his name is Azzeddine Kermiche, the second is called Beldjouzi. This operation allowed the recovery of two Kalashnikovs and ammunition.
This article starring:
AZZEDINE KERMICHEal-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb
BELDJUZIal-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb
Posted by: Fred || 04/29/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


India-Pakistan
Pakistani forces capture al Qaeda suspect
Pakistani security forces have arrested an al Qaeda suspect in Baluchistan, an intelligence official said on Saturday. The man was captured late Friday night in a tribal region regarded as a hotbed of support for Taliban and al Qaeda militants. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, named the suspect as Salman Zakaria, and said he was a foreigner, though his nationality was unconfirmed.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/29/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Captured one suspect, did they? Boy howdy, that must have stretched their resources to the very limit. I mean, al Qaeda operatives are so rare and hard to find in Pakistan, ya know.
Posted by: Zenster || 04/29/2007 1:20 Comments || Top||

#2  aBu Otis in the ISI mailroom. It's a career move for him.
Posted by: Shipman || 04/29/2007 9:04 Comments || Top||


One killed, 42 injured in powerful explosion
(KUNA) -- At least one person was killed and 42 people including two policemen were injured in an explosion in Pampore town in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir Saturday evening. The separatist guerrillas threw a powerful hand grenade at a contingent of police in Pampore this evening, news agency Indo-Asian News Service reported. One civilian died on the spot, the news agency said, while 42 others -- two policemen and 40 civilians -- were injured in the explosion.

All the injured persons have been shifted to Pampore hospital. Condition of one policeman and five civilians are stated to be critical, the news agency said. Indian security personnel have rushed to the spot immediately. No group has yet claimed responsibility for the explosion.
Posted by: Fred || 04/29/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Oxymoron Alert
powerful hand grenade
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 04/29/2007 17:05 Comments || Top||


Two LJ activists get death
An anti-terrorism court on Saturday awarded death sentence to Mohammad Azam and Attaullah, activists of banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, in a sectarian killing case. The court acquitted the third accused, Mohammad Ajmal alias Akram Lahori, by giving him the benefit of doubt. The three people were charged with killing Sadiq Ali, the owner of a bakery in the Kharadar area, on February 3, 2002. Judge Haq Nawaz Baloch had reserved the verdict on the last hearing after hearing the arguments of special public prosecutor (SPP) and the defendants’ counsel.
This article starring:
AKRAM LAHORILashkar-e-Jhangvi
ATTAULLAHLashkar-e-Jhangvi
Judge Haq Nawaz Baloch
MOHAMAD AJMALLashkar-e-Jhangvi
MOHAMAD AZAMLashkar-e-Jhangvi
Sadiq Ali, the owner of a bakery in the Kharadar area
Lashkar-e-Jhangvi
Posted by: Fred || 04/29/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Boomer targets Sherpao, 25 killed
Twenty-five people were killed and Federal Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao Khan and his young son Sikandar Sherpao Khan were among scores injured in a suicide attack on Saturday, moments after the minister finished a speech at a public rally in his hometown Charsadda. NWFP Inspector General of Police Sharif Virk said five policemen were among the 25 dead. Unofficial sources put the death at more than 30.

The head of the suicide bomber, who had a brown beard and was aged 30-35, was found at the site of the blast near Station Koroona in Charsadda, and “he looks like an Afghan,” Virk told reporters.

“Sherpao was going towards his vehicle after finishing his speech and people also rushed towards him for hand-shakes and during this moment I heard a big bang,” said Ayub, who was injured in the blast, from his hospital bed. “It was a big explosion sending a thick cloud of dust to the air,” Wajid Khan, another witness, told Daily Times by phone from Charsadda.

The minister and his son received minor shrapnel wounds. Pakistan People’s Party-Sherpao spokesman Saleem Shah Hoti said they had been taken to their Peshawar residence in University Town and were “safe and sound”. TV footage showed Sherpao and his son walking around with blood stains on their clothes. The minister had blood on his face.

Sherpao released a statement condemning the bombing as an act of cowardice and vowed to continue his work trying to defeat terrorism as usual. An emergency was declared in three hospitals in Peshawar, where 29 wounded persons had been brought in by around 10pm. Others were said to be on their way from Charsadda. Intelligence sources said that the minister had been forewarned of a possible attack on him and “circumstantial evidence links Waziristan to the Saturday attack”. They said investigators would probe how the bomber was able to reach the area and move close to Sherpao. “Security around the interior minister is at an all-time high and tight wherever he is and we have to assess whether there was a security lapse,” they said.

NWFP Information Minister Asif Iqbal told reporters the provincial government would pay Rs 100,000 each to the families of those killed in the attack and Rs 50,000 to each person wounded. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack so far. The interior minister’s elder brother Hayat Sherpao was killed in a blast when he was addressing a function on the University of Peshawar campus in 1975.
Posted by: Fred || 04/29/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Bomb goes off at Peshawar airport
A bomb went off at the Peshawar International Airport canteen on Saturday, doing minor damage to the building but causing no injuries. Cantt Superintendent of Police Abdul Ghafoor Afridi told Daily Times that the explosive device was hidden in an empty bottle crate outside the airport canteen, near the entrance to the departure lounge, and went off at around 6:55am.
Posted by: Fred || 04/29/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Saudi national suspected of links to Qaeda arrested
QUETTA: Pakistani security forces arrested a Saudi national suspected of links to Al Qaeda on Friday night, police sources said.

A police source said the suspect, Suleman Zakariya, was intercepted when he arrived in Zhob district in Balochistan from the neighbouring tribal district of Waziristan. Zakariya had both Saudi and US currency with him, the police official revealed. “Intelligence agencies are interrogating him,” he added. “We suspect that this man has links with Al Qaeda, but apparently he is not an important figure,” said Arbaz Khan, an official with the paramilitary Frontier Constabulary that is assigned to safeguard the border with Afghanistan.
This article starring:
SULEMAN ZAKARIYAal-Qaeda
Posted by: Fred || 04/29/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Iraq
Raid in Mahmudiyah Nets Iranian-marked Mortars
Mahmudiyah, Iraq – A U.S. and Iraqi raid in a Mahmudiyah apartment complex detained eight suspected extremists and discovered three caches containing mortar systems, rockets and ammunition April 22. Soldiers of 4th Battalion, 4th Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division and the 2nd Battalion, 15th Field Artillery Regiment of 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, from Fort Drum, N.Y., discovered the caches at about 6:30 p.m. local time.

Coalition forces have found many weapons caches in the Mahmudiyah area, but most rocket and mortar rounds found there have been deteriorated and apparently intended for use in improvised explosive devices. In contrast, the 60mm and 82mm mortar systems, three 107mm rockets, three 60mm and three 82mm rounds found in the latest cache were nearly new.
The term 'nearly new' to a used-car dealer means 'used'.
I think they mean, 'recently manufactured'.
Soldiers of the unit examined the weapons, which were stamped with recent dates and Iranian markings. Also found was bulk ammunition for a PKC machine gun. The munitions were seized for further investigation.

The detainees were taken into Iraqi Army custody for further questioning.
Is this the 'smuggling ring' story from yesterday or another one? That story only mentioned 4 captures.
Posted by: Glenmore || 04/29/2007 07:37 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I "think" it's the same story. We are going to see more and more of these since the word has gone down the line that Iranian support for terror is to be deomonstrated.
Posted by: Chuck Simmins || 04/29/2007 8:17 Comments || Top||

#2  I know what they meant by 'nearly new' but I liked the mental image the more literal interpretation gave me - a whole bunch of little madrassa students sitting around trying to put 'used' mortar rockets back together.
Posted by: Glenmore || 04/29/2007 18:25 Comments || Top||


Six people killed, injured in armed attack in Mosul
(KUNA) -- Anonymous gunmen raided a house in the northern city of Mosul and killed four of its family members and wounded two others, an Iraqi police source said Saturday. The source told KUNA that a police patrol found 16 dead human bodies in different parts in Mosul in the past 24 hours. Abdullah Al-Wahsh, a senior Iraqi Army officer, said to be in charge of the checking points close to towns of the northern Kurdistan province, was gunned on the left bank of Tigris river in Mosul.
Posted by: Fred || 04/29/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


58 killed in car blast near Iraqi shrine
A parked car exploded on Saturday near a shrine in the city of Karbala as people were heading to the area for evening prayers, killing 58 people and wounding dozens, officials said.

The explosion took place in a crowded commercial area near Hazrat Imam Hussein’s (RA) shrine in Karbala, 80 kilometres south of Baghdad, officials said. At least 58 people were killed and 70 wounded, said Salim Kazim, the head of the Karbala health department. Separately, a suicide truck bomber attacked the home of a city police chief in Anbar province, killing nine Iraqi security forces and six civilians, the US military said on Saturday.

The Karbala blast occurred a few hundred meters from the Imam Abbas’ shrine, setting several cars on fire and causing chaos in the area. The explosion took place as the streets were killed with people heading for evening prayers at Hazrat Abbas’ shrine and adjacent Hazrat Imam Hussein (RA) shrine.

After the blast, angry people gathered the blast site, many of them searching frantically for missing relatives. Some began to throw stones at the police, accusing them of failing to protect the people.

Police fired weapons in the air to disperse the angry crowds.

On Saturday, the US military said a suicide truck bomber attacked the home of a city police chief the night before in Hit, a city in the western province of Anbar, killing nine Iraqi security forces and six civilians.

The police chief and his family escaped injury. The attack occurred in a city where the US military had recently reported making progress in reducing the insurgent threat.

Elsewhere, US forces detained 17 suspected insurgents in raids targeting Al Qaeda in Iraq on Saturday, the military said. Denmark also announced it is sending special forces to southern Iraq in an effort to stop stepped-up attacks against Danish and British soldiers in the area.

In Hit, Iraqi forces opened fire on the truck bomber before he reached the concrete barrier outside police chief Hamid Ibrahim al-Numrawi’s home, police said. But the explosion of the vehicle, which was carrying construction materials, heavily damaged the area, they said.

The attack occurred at about 9:45 am Friday, killing nine Iraqi security forces, six civilians and wounding three policemen and 32 civilians, the US military said. The US military in Baghdad said Saturday’s raids targeting suspected Al Qaeda in Iraq insurgents netted four people in Mosul; six near Karmah, 80 kilometres west of Baghdad; two near the Syrian border; two in the Iraqi capital; and three near Balad, 80 kilometres north of Baghdad.

In Mahmoudiya, about 30 kilometres south of Baghdad, US 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.
Posted by: Fred || 04/29/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Denmark also announced it is sending special forces to southern Iraq in an effort to stop stepped-up attacks against Danish and British soldiers in the area.

Happy hunting, O tygers of Denmark!
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/29/2007 7:53 Comments || Top||

#2  Is there any chance at all that this is islam's version of the 30 Years War? Or is it merely business as usual without adult supervision?
Posted by: Shipman || 04/29/2007 9:02 Comments || Top||

#3  Is there any chance at all that this is islam's version of the 30 Years War?

With OBL as Martin Luther? Or, better yet, John Calvin? I doubt it. This is Islam. Declaring that is what divides us int the West.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 04/29/2007 9:52 Comments || Top||

#4  If we withdraw from Iraq, the sectarian war will resemble the 30 years war in some respects. The Sunni states will help their side, Iran will help the Shia side.

Probably there will be schisms within each side.

Millions dead within a year or two.

If the result of that would be a rejection of Islamism (or better yet Islam), one could make an argument that the millions of dead would be worth it but it wouldn't be an argument that appeals to the better instincts.
Posted by: mhw || 04/29/2007 11:28 Comments || Top||

#5  A relevent statistic from Viet-Nam: Within 2 years of the capture of Saigon, twice as many people had been killed as in the previous 15 years combined.

Next time someone says nothing is worse than war, remind them of the Boat people and the killing fields of Cambodia.

Al
Posted by: Frozen Al || 04/29/2007 14:13 Comments || Top||

#6  If we withdraw from Iraq, the sectarian war will resemble the 30 years war in some respects. The Sunni states will help their side, Iran will help the Shia side.
Probably there will be schisms within each side.
Millions dead within a year or two
.

mhw, you're a natural born salesman!

Posted by: gromgoru || 04/29/2007 14:25 Comments || Top||

#7  Millions dead within a year or two.

This is a problem?
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 04/29/2007 17:16 Comments || Top||

#8  Not to the Democrats, RJ, who expect to get more of their ilk elected as a result....
Posted by: Bobby || 04/29/2007 18:17 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Shootings and arson leave one dead in southern Thailand
Muslim insurgents staged three arson attacks against two schools and a community clinic early Sunday morning, police said.

A fire was set to a two-storey building of Ban Klong Chang School in Tambon Naket of Pattani's Khok Pho district at half an hour past midnight, police said. The fire destroyed the entire building.

At 2:50 am, a fire was set to the canteen building of Tanyong School in Tambon Muangtia of Mae Lan district in Pattani. It was completely destroyed.

At 4:30 am, the living quarter building of officials of the state community in Moo 5 Village in Tambon Dato in Nong Chik was set fire to and completely destroyed.

And:

Elsewhere in the volatile deep South, men on motorcycles shot dead a member of the Chang Puerk Tambon Administration Organisation (TAO) in Narathiwat's Chanae district. Samsuding Hayeeyuzoe, 38, was attacked as he was heading home from a market. His 12-year-old daughter, who was riding on his motorbike, was not hurt.

In Yi-ngor district, Adul Manamudor, 45, a member of the Taporyoh TAO, took three bullets as he travelled along a village road.

In Narathiwat a combined force of 200 soldiers and police raided nine locations, netting three out of the nine men wanted. Colonel Manote Ananpertakul, commander of Rangae district police, urged the six other suspects to surrender, promising them due process of law.
Posted by: ryuge || 04/29/2007 08:22 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Muslim protests block roads in southern Thailand
Angry Muslim villagers blockaded a road in Thailand's restive deep south for several hours on Sunday to protest the killing of a religious leader in a grenade attack on a mosque. The protest by nearly 100 Muslims, mostly teenagers, in the southern province of Pattani came a day after Samarn Usoh, 67, was badly wounded in the attack. He died later in hospital.

Police blamed separatist insurgents for the attack on the mosque, which is adjacent to Pattani's historic Krue Se mosque where 32 militants were killed in a shoot out with troops and police three years ago.

"Protesters closed the road which is the entrance to the village. Military officers watched from their checkpoint across the road," a police officer said. The protest lasted several hours and ended peacefully.

In a neighbouring district in Pattani, about 100 villagers also blocked a road to protest the arrest of a Thai Muslim suspected to be involved in a roadside bomb that killed three soldiers last week, another police officer said.
Posted by: ryuge || 04/29/2007 08:13 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Time to put Operation Rachel Corrie into operation.
Posted by: Jackal || 04/29/2007 23:42 Comments || Top||


Gunmen attack two mosques in Thailand
Gunmen in southern Thailand attacked two mosques on Saturday, including one where security forces killed dozens of Muslims three years ago in an event that fueled an Islamic insurgency that is still gripping the area. One person was killed and three injured in the attacks at the Krue Se mosque and Hutae Bo-ngo mosque in the Pattani province. Authorities blamed Islamic insurgents bent on stirring up communal tension between Buddhists and Muslims.

Army spokesman Col Akara Thiprote said gunmen opened fire on the Krue Se mosque, as two-dozen men prayed, but no one was injured. “Opening fire on the holy mosque is a desperate act of insurgents which is meant to arouse anger among the Muslims,” Akara said.

Police Col Thawan Nakarawong said attackers threw a grenade into the Hutae Bo-ngo mosque as villagers were finishing evening prayers, killing a 68-year-old Muslim leader and injuring three people. In other violence, gunmen on motorcycles killed two Muslim members of village administration councils in Narathiwat province, police said.

Other clashes on the same day between Muslims and government forces resulted in the deaths of a total of 107 people at the hands of security forces, turning the mosque attack into a symbol of the heavy-handed tactics of Thai authorities. The killings fueled a nascent insurgency that has claimed more than 2,000 lives till now. The insurgency flared in the Muslim-majority southernmost provinces of Yala, Narathiwat and Pattani in January 2004. Southern Muslims have long complained of discrimination, especially in educational and job opportunities, in Buddhist-dominated Thailand.
Posted by: Fred || 04/29/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Must have been maddog Muslims on the rampage and just forgot who they were shooting at. "It sure as hell wasn't us peaceful Buddhists."
Posted by: Woozle Elmeter2970 || 04/29/2007 0:50 Comments || Top||

#2  Somebody gets it!
Posted by: gromgoru || 04/29/2007 9:12 Comments || Top||


Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka: Rebel plane bombs gas storage facility
A suspected Tamil Tiger rebel aircraft bombed a gas storage facility near the capital Colombo early Sunday, setting off a fire, a military official said. The plane dropped two bombs on the station in Kerawalapitiya, 10 kilometers north of Colombo, said a military official who witnessed the attack. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to talk to the media. The extent of damage to the gas storage facility was not immediately known.

Sri Lankan troops responded by firing anti-aircraft guns and blacked out the country's only international airport, an adjoining air force base and the entire capital, while many people were still awake watching Sri Lanka's cricket team play Australia in the World Cup final on television.
Posted by: Fred || 04/29/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Ah, similar to the infamous "Hiedi" episode here in the States.

I'm assuming that Tiger aircraft are Cessna types and the "bombs" are grenades or such. This is a lot like watching your kids play with their army men, only deadlier.
Posted by: Chuck Simmins || 04/29/2007 8:20 Comments || Top||

#2  Even the World Cup Final ended in a bizarre manner . Aussies thought they had won (leading by 53 runs and darkness was falling). As they were celebrating, the umpires indicated that the match was to go on. Finished in the dark - no lights at the oval in Bridgetown. Farcical to say the least (and at least one coach was murdered - guess what country - you're right Pakistan).
Posted by: Jack is Back! || 04/29/2007 12:27 Comments || Top||

#3  Least it didn't end with a legover wicket deal into the wall.
Posted by: Shipman || 04/29/2007 21:57 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Dupe entry: Tehran insider tells of US black ops
Notic this is from INSIDE Iran. From Asia Times, not the most unbiased sources. EFL, so go read it all.
TEHRAN - A former Iranian ambassador and Islamic Republic insider has provided intriguing details to Asia Times Online about US covert operations inside Iran aimed at destabilizing the country and toppling the regime - or preparing for an American attack.
"The Iranian government knows and is aware of such infiltration. It means that the Iranian government has identified them [the covert operatives] but for some reason does not want to show [this]," said the former diplomat on condition of anonymity.
Yeah, right. They know the US has Ops ongoing, but they don't want to believe it.
Veteran US moonbatjournalist Seymour Hersh wrote in a much-discussed recent article in The New Yorker magazine that the administration of President George W Bush has increased clandestine activities inside Iran and intensified planning for a possible major air attack as the crisis with Iran over its nuclear program escalates.
Which had no sources, nor basis in facts, and has been proven wrong by events.
"The Iranian accusations are true," said Richard Sale, intelligence correspondent for United Press International, referring to charges that the US is using the Mujahideen-e Khalq (MEK) organization and other groups to carry out cross-border operations. "But it is being done on such a small scale - a series of pinpricks - it would seem to have no strategic value at all."
There has been a marked spike in unrest in Kurdistan, Khuzestan and Balochistan, three of Iran's provinces with a high concentration of ethnic Kurdish, Arab and Balochi minorities respectively. With the exception of the immediate post-revolutionary period, when the Kurds rebelled against the central government and were suppressed violently, ethnic minorities have received better treatment, more autonomy and less ethnic discrimination than under the shah.
I call BULLSHIT! on that
But that is contrary to what Hersh was told by his sources, According to him, US combat troops are already inside Iran and, in the event of air strikes, would be in position to mark critical targets with laser beams to ensure bombing accuracy and excite sectarian tensions between the population and the central government. As of early winter, Hersh's source claims that the units were also working with minority groups in Iran, including the Azeris in the north, the Balochis in the southeast, and the Kurds in the northwest.

On April 9, Iran claimed to have shot down an unmanned surveillance plane in the southwestern province of Khuzestan, according to a report in the semi-official Jumhuri Eslami newspaper. US media have also reported that the US military has been secretly flying surveillance drones over Iran since 2004, using radar, video, still photography and air filters to monitor Iranian military formations and track Iran's air-defense system. The US denied having lost a drone.
If they had shot down a US drone, where are the pics?
This new mission for the combat troops is a product of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's long-standing interest in expanding the role of the military in covert operations, which was made official policy in the Pentagon's Quadrennial Defense Review, published in February. Such activities, if conducted by CIA operatives, would need a Presidential Finding and would have to be reported to key members of Congress.
Is the Algeria-based Halliburton Tsumani/Earthquake Division covered by these rules? I thought not.
The confirmation that the US is carrying out covert activities inside Iran makes more sense out of a series of suspicious events that have occurred along Iran's borders this year. In early January, a military airplane belonging to Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards went down close to the Iraqi border. The plane was carrying 11 of the Guard's top commanders, including General Ahmad Kazemi, the commander of the IRGC's ground forces, and Brigadier-General Nabiollah Shahmoradi, who was deputy commander for intelligence.
Sa-weeeet!
Although a spokesman blamed bad weather and dilapidated engines for the crash, the private intelligence company Stratfor noted that there are several reasons to suspect foul play, not least of which was that any aircraft carrying so many of Iran's elite military luminaries would undergo "thorough tests for technical issues before flight". Later, Iran's defense minister accused Britain and the US of bringing the plane down through "electronic jamming".
Islamo-bungled, I'd say. Or a hit.
"Given all intelligence information that we have gathered, we can say that agents of the United States, Britain and Israel are seeking to destabilize Iran through a coordinated plan," Minister of Interior Mustafa Pour-Mohammadi said. This sentiment was echoed on websites such as AmericanIntelligence.us, where one reader commented, "We couldn't have made a better hit on the IRGC's leadership if planned ... sure it was just an accident?"
Deep, DEEP Zionist plot, I tell you!
Then, in late January, a previously unknown Sunni Muslim group called Jundallah (Soldier of Allah) captured nine Iranian soldiers in the remote badlands of Sistan-Balochistan province that borders Afghanistan and Pakistan. And in mid-February, another airplane crashed just inside Iraq after taking off from Azerbaijan and transiting Iranian airspace. The Iranian Mehr news agency reported that the "passengers on board were possibly of Israeli origin which we could tell by their big Jooo noses". It added that US troops have restricted access to the site to Iraqi Kurdish officials and that Western media were reporting the passengers aboard as having been German.
Super-Duper deeply-laid plot! Are you sure they were Germans?
The former Iranian ambassador argues that in the event that US pressure on Iran continues, "the end of the tunnel" for President Mahmud Ahmadinejad's administration is "weaponization of the [nuclear] technology ... and a military strike".
"The Americans are pushing Iran to become a nuclear state. Iran just wants to be a supplier of nuclear fuel. But [with their threats] they are pushing it further."
LOLOL! The US is pushing for Iran to process nuke fuel? Bite me.
Posted by: Brett || 04/29/2007 13:20 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Actually Seymour Hersh is slightly less reliable (and more anti-American) than the official Iranian News Agency.

Al
Posted by: Frozen Al || 04/29/2007 14:25 Comments || Top||

#2  Its nice to see that someone still believes in us. If only it were true, and we were realy that capable. Oh, well.

Faster Please...
Posted by: Helmuth, Speaking for N guard || 04/29/2007 14:26 Comments || Top||

#3  What a load of crap! I can see Seymour hateHearsh believing this, but publishing something so tenuous is just another example of BDS. I WOULD believe that the Kurds in Iraq may be supplying their fellow Kurds in Turkey, Iran, and Syria with the means to cause trouble, but if the US Special Forces were involved in anything in Iran, there would be MORE trouble for that POS nation, not the mere pinpricks felt so far. Also, some of that trouble would involve the Iranian nuke facilities, oil production facilities, ports and harbors, etc. That hasn't happened.

Let's admit that the US embargo on military equipment and spare parts has had a devastating effect on the Iranian military at all levels. Their Air Force is barely capable of getting aircraft into the air. Their Navy, except for some major equipment purchases, is a rag-tag fleet of small suicide units, because that's all they're capable of deploying. They have huge stocks of the latest Russian and Chinese equipment, but have to have foreigners manning that equipment.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 04/29/2007 14:50 Comments || Top||

#4  dezinformatsiya

Heh.

Sy Hersh is such a useful idiot tool.
Posted by: OldSpook || 04/29/2007 15:28 Comments || Top||

#5  If they had shot down a US drone, where are the pics?

I would hope we're smart enough to put a grenade or two inside our drones, both to destroy electronics, and give crash swarmers a nasty surprise.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 04/29/2007 17:23 Comments || Top||

#6  Which had no sources, nor basis in facts, and has been proven wrong by events.

Aside from that, the article was spot-on. Certainly good enough for most of the MSM and all moonbats.
Posted by: xbalanke || 04/29/2007 18:35 Comments || Top||

#7  "it's a slam dunk"
George Tenet
Posted by: doc || 04/29/2007 18:37 Comments || Top||

#8  I tend to believe Hersch was purely guessing...and I also believe there are special ops folks there in several places.
Posted by: JustAboutEnough || 04/29/2007 19:24 Comments || Top||

#9  "Given all intelligence information that we have gathered, we can say that agents of the United States, Britain and Israel are seeking to destabilize Iran through a coordinated plan,"

Hey - I've got some of that intelligence too! I started with Chaucer, then went through Shakespeare to Dickens, and having established the language for freedom, added some doses of Locke and Rousseau to get to the founding fathers. They looked back to original sources (I suppose what this student considers "Israel") and built from there.

A dash of Lincoln, some drops of Grant, Lee and Sherman, a dollop of Churchill, and spread to taste - it's a "coordinated plan" alright, and if it weren't freely available to all, it would be a conspiracy too!

At least I think that's what he means.
Posted by: Unomomble Guelph4369 || 04/29/2007 21:04 Comments || Top||

#10  Hear, hear Mr.(?) Guelph. Well said.
Posted by: Shipman || 04/29/2007 22:04 Comments || Top||

#11  How would you set up a Black Op inside Iran? How big would you make it and how would you set the priorities of its activities? How many men would you use and who would they be? Who would decide on their agenda, finance them, control them and monitor them for their effects? Who would be their leaders? Who in the Intelligence world and the Department of Defense would be their masters?

Rumsfeld is gone. This Black Op thing would have had to be designed and initiated DURING Rumsfelds term. If it is in place now, it would have to be under someone who was a close ( very close ) associate of Rumsfeld. It would not be a matter passed off to someone else to supervise. Gates will have to know about it technically, but he may also be outside the loop of a deep Black.

When Bush went to Pakistan this Op would already have been in existence for two years. All covers would have been set in motion a year prior to that. This would definitely be a Rumsfeld project. But it would now be run by someone who was his intimate.

The men inside this Black Op would have to be other than Special Forces. They would have to be "hired" and subject to being "denied" if any of them were taken. They would have to be compartmentalized, one part not being able to betray another part. The only way that is possible is an outside controller and each compartment inside Iran unable to pinpoint another. The Outside control would have to have a means of communication dependable and unbreakable for all compartments within Iran.

There would have to be several separate compartments each independent but each controlled from outside by a single source for co-ordination.

And the Controller would have to be beyond reach by the politicization of the Dept. of Defense and of CIA. Neither can be relied upon not to drop the project at the first sign of a career threat or something subject to the winds of the Beltway moment.

No Tenet( big huggy Tenet ) could have run such a Black Op. Rumsfeld could have intiated such an Op but he will no longer be able to direct it..it has to be an intimate of his, someone with a team that can draw on resources but which will not be obvious to other Intell organs in the Dept. of Defense.

The Black Op may have needed to be created from professionals in the trade, but not in the US military or Dept. of Defense. Retired people and private firms in Intell with old hand people to train and lead. Hand picked people who are into the work for a profit and arent squeamish. Nasty people with training and adjustable conscience.

Why would it be assumed that such a Black Op would be actively engaged in sabotage inside Iran although such things may be tempting, they are not as necessary for a successful program which would be to move men all across Iran to search out targets, monitor them and be ready to pinpoint them for external strike, and then later for damage assessments.A Black Op for real use would have to be without ripples. Setting up Heroin distribution, infiltrating Ethhnic orgs, acquiring safe houses and establishing safe routes and means of communication, bringing in guns and moving them ,creating an "environment" which is anonymous and secure... recruiting local agents.

Sabotage is flashy but why do that when you want to be inside with no ripples?

Ethnics could be agitated, infiltrated, and armed. that would be one priority. But the agitation would have to be timed and timely. And weapons would have to be brought in to Iran and distributed quietly and unobtrusively...without loud noises.

The introduction of Heroin would be lucrative and provide both an income for Ops as well as a facilitative organization which would double for Communications. Afghan Poppies could be gathered using Taliban as resource and the finances would allow infiltration of the taliban. Where money goes so do people. Money and its flow corrupts the security of those who move the money. You can buy your way into the Taliban by assisting them to make money. You can "hire" all sorts of people who do not know who they ACTUALLY work for as long as the money is good. So guns and dope are facilitators for infiltration, leading to control and agitation, and PROFIT...which can hire and fire those that serve the Black Op agenda.

The US military does not need to be involved in any way with the Black Op at all. Intell can be passed to military and the Black Op is not seen as a part of such information. Intell is simply data, it has no face. And it doesnt need to point at the supplier.

Azeris will be vulnerable to having their needs exploited. As will the Kurds and the Baluchis.
Each ethnic area would require a separate compartment. And that compartment would be kept separate from all other compartments organizationally but not from Control.

A Presidential "Finding" applies only to Ops which are US projects. If the Op is truly Black it is hired and run by a private individual who works directly for a man who knows Rumsfeld but no one could say who that man is or how he could possibly be hands on to the Op. Rumsfeld would put ice in his drink and nod and no words need be exchanged.

Policy and direction can be faceless. The depth of the Black would be a private individual who had a couple of layers between himself and the nod by Rumsfeld to the man with the drink getting the ice. Secrecy is a look and a nod...not a word being spoken. It is a meeting of minds and access to resources. You can buy the rest.

Mossad would be in on the Op and so would other Intell agencies but what each needed to make the co-operation possible need not have anything to do with how the Op is handled or controlled. It would use other agency resources in return for agreed upon inside Intell or for specific data, but the control would not share control of the Op, just pay for resources with Intell from the Op.

Bush would have to know. But Cheney would control how much he knew. The use of the Op would ultimately be a private matter with no paper trail..and Cheney would be in it for the profit as well as the Intell. It would all be provisonal upon the basic premise that there would actually be a war. It would have to be before Bush goes home to texas. Otherwise it doesnt exist or have a reason for existing.
Posted by: Angleton 9 || 04/29/2007 22:21 Comments || Top||


G'morning...
Sri Lanka: Rebel plane bombs gas storage facilitySomalia president claims victory, asks for international helpBoomer targets Sherpao, 25 killed58 killed in car blast near Iraqi shrineHamas vows to continue rocket attacksTwo LJ activists get deathTurkish gov't slams military in election dispute
Posted by: Fred || 04/29/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  wow. the legendary spiked falsies.....
Posted by: Albert Gleaper7436 || 04/29/2007 0:21 Comments || Top||

#2  Oh hell yeah!
Posted by: Lemuel Shaiter3417 || 04/29/2007 4:47 Comments || Top||

#3  I dream of Jeannie...
Posted by: Mac || 04/29/2007 7:26 Comments || Top||

#4  Spam-cleanup on aisle 4!
Posted by: Sgt. Mom || 04/29/2007 8:18 Comments || Top||

#5  Deleted. No need for that!
Posted by: Scooter McGruder || 04/29/2007 8:28 Comments || Top||

#6  McGruder is on the prowl!
Posted by: Shipman || 04/29/2007 8:41 Comments || Top||

#7  You'll put your eye out, kid!
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 04/29/2007 11:07 Comments || Top||

#8  Hi! How r u?
nice site!
Posted by: shadowman || 04/29/2007 11:57 Comments || Top||

#9  ..which reminds me. I need to dust off that DVD of "State Fair" again.
Posted by: Jack is Back! || 04/29/2007 12:13 Comments || Top||

#10  I see I'll need to write my Christmas wish list early...
Posted by: Old Patriot || 04/29/2007 13:59 Comments || Top||

#11  Gotta love those bullet bras.
Posted by: Enver Angaiter1337 || 04/29/2007 17:18 Comments || Top||

#12  Hi! How r u?
nice site!
Posted by: shadowman || 04/29/2007 17:25 Comments || Top||

#13  some bots never learn..
Posted by: Frank G || 04/29/2007 17:56 Comments || Top||

#14  troll alert
Posted by: RD || 04/29/2007 17:56 Comments || Top||

#15  Is it a good idea to put spammers in the sink-trap rather than eliminating them without a trace? I mean, someone could go there to look at a rude comment and accidentally hit that site and give them confirmation that spamming Rantburg gets hits.

Do it for the children!
Posted by: Jackal || 04/29/2007 21:12 Comments || Top||

#16  How r u dawg? Nice bite.
Posted by: Shipman || 04/29/2007 21:31 Comments || Top||



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Two weeks of WOT
Sun 2007-04-29
  Somalia president claims victory, asks for international help
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

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