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Nahr al-Bared falls to Lebanon army
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 1: WoT Operations
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16 00:00 Sherry [7] 
31 00:00 twobyfour [5] 
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1 00:00 Scooter McGruder [4] 
1 00:00 Throper Ghibelline9098 [9] 
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3 00:00 Zenster [3] 
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Page 2: WoT Background
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3 00:00 twobyfour [9]
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17 00:00 Barbara Skolaut [9]
10 00:00 Zenster [3]
7 00:00 Frank G [3]
7 00:00 Zenster [3]
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3 00:00 Glenmore [3]
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Page 3: Non-WoT
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5 00:00 Bright Pebbles [3]
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Page 4: Opinion
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2 00:00 Anonymoose [3]
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17 00:00 twobyfour [10]
Page 5: Russia-Former Soviet Union
6 00:00 WTF [5]
1 00:00 Barbara Skolaut [3]
3 00:00 Frank G [4]
7 00:00 Abdominal Snowman [4]
1 00:00 john frum [3]
9 00:00 twobyfour [7]
Afghanistan
70 Taliban killed in Afghan raids
"Sebenty! Sebenty Talibunnies titz-up! Apf apf apf apf!"
Afghan troops backed by foreign soldiers and airpower killed about 70 suspected Taliban fighters in raids close to the Pakistan border and elsewhere in the country, authorities said Saturday. US-led troops and Afghan security forces raided compounds late Friday in three villages in the remote Pitigal Valley border region, the US-led coalition said. More than 20 insurgents were killed and 11 others were detained, while officers also discovered a bomb-making factory, it said in a statement. In the central province of Ghazni, Afghan police attacked a group of Taliban planning to strike security forces, killing 18 and arresting six others, said provincial police Gen. Ali Shah Ahmadai. “It was a successful operation,” he said.
This isn't war, this is bowling.
A coalition statement said the operation was targeting “a militant responsible for facilitating the movement of foreign fighters.” It resulted in the seizure of mortar and artillery rounds, numerous hand grenades, rocket-propelled grenades and other ammunition, it said. It did not say if the targeted militant was among those killed or provide any other details.

Taliban militants abducted 23 South Koreans in Ghazni six weeks ago. They killed two male hostages, released two women last month and freed the final 19 this past week after the Taliban held unprecedented negotiations with the Seoul government.
Posted by: Fred || 09/02/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under: Taliban

#1  I would advise President Karzai to issue no further denunciations of NATO kills in Afghanistan. His country and his people - Pashtos - were as involved as the Arabs in 9-11. Some of us would have prefered nation-destruction to nation-building in his dirty little drug den.

Posted by: McZoid || 09/02/2007 1:27 Comments || Top||

#2  Mess with the best, die like the rest.

Allahu akbar!
Posted by: gorb || 09/02/2007 3:34 Comments || Top||

#3  The dog that does not bark in the night. Please note that both the US and NATO have used minimal, if any, PSYOPS in Pakistan, to demoralize the enemy.

I strongly suspect that this means that we see attriting their numbers as essential to creating a unified, more peaceful Pakistan. We need to allow, or even encourage them, to send people to Afghanistan to be killed, so they will be weakened enough that Pakistan's government can again take control.

But at the same time, of course, we do not want them to be effective as a fighting force. We just want them to die. This means that we would be making no real effort to secure prisoners, which also seems to be the case.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 09/02/2007 11:14 Comments || Top||

#4  Some of us would have prefered nation-destruction to nation-building in his dirty little drug den

Typical of you Yanks. You don't ever have the right strategy. Always wanting to start WW3 or tear down nations. Us Brits know much better - we are into nation building. Look what we accomplished with India and Pakistan and Iraq and Palestine. You'd best have more to learn from us than that dunce Rumsfeld or warmonger Wes Clark.
Posted by: Sir General Mike Jackson || 09/02/2007 14:42 Comments || Top||

#5  Look what we accomplished with India and Pakistan and Iraq and Palestine.

Thanks for proving OUR point, sir troll.
Posted by: Ptah || 09/02/2007 18:11 Comments || Top||

#6  Ptah, I believe that was sarcasm.
Posted by: Glenmore || 09/02/2007 20:06 Comments || Top||

#7  Ah, you are right.
Posted by: Ptah || 09/02/2007 22:20 Comments || Top||


Africa Horn
Clashes hit Mogadishu, civilian casualty, teachers arrested
(SomaliNet) One person was killed and three others were wounded in armed confrontations, which rocked parts of the Somalia capital Mogadishu between the transitional government troops and the local insurgents overnight, local official and residents said on Saturday.

The latest skirmishes happened in Huriwa district, north of the capital and in Dharkenley district, southwest of the city where the rival sides exchanged heavy weaponry. The victims were all civilians whose houses were hit by stray bullets, according to the residents.

One person died and three others wounded in the Dharkenley district gun battle last night while no one was reported hurt in the Huriwa clashes, said General Abdiwahid Mohamed Hussein, the police spokesman adding that unknown armed killed one civilian man in his house in Huriwa. “The police forces arrested many suspects and are now under investigations over the murder and they will soon find the criminals,” said Mohamed. Mr. Mohamed said the government soldiers received no casualty from the latest fighting.

Elsewhere in Somalia capital, remote controlled roadside bomb exploded near the main airport in Mogadishu on Saturday morning. The bomb targeted on government convoy passing over there. There was no immediate casualty from the latest bomb attack as the area was cordoned off by the soldiers who began searching for any suspects after the incident.

Also eight teachers were arrested after the security forces raided their school in Hodan district, south of the capital this morning, residents told Somalinet. They were all blind folded and chained and taken to unknown destination. It is not yet clear why the teachers of the Imamu-Nabawi primary school were apprehended.
Posted by: Steve White || 09/02/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Islamic Courts


India-Pakistan
2 Killed in Kathmandu bombings
At least two people have been killed and 13 injured in four suspected bomb explosions in Nepal's capital, Kathmandu, police say. Two blasts were in crowded areas in the city centre, reports say. Some of the injured are said to be critical. No group has so far claimed responsibility for the blasts.

Kathmandu has not seen any bomb explosions since Maoist rebels signed a landmark peace deal with the government in November and ended their insurgency. Under the deal, the Maoists and the army agreed to place their weapons under supervision by the United Nations.

The blasts were all within minutes of each other, one hitting a minibus in the city and another a university campus outside it, police said. It is not clear which blasts caused the fatalities.

The rebels denied carrying out the attacks. "We think that it could be a conspiracy of those who want to stop the elections," rebel commander Ananta said, quoted by AFP news agency. Nepal goes to the poll in November to choose a body to rewrite the country's constitution.
Posted by: Bulldog || 09/02/2007 17:08 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  so much for travel recommendations by Bob Seger
Posted by: Frank G || 09/02/2007 20:58 Comments || Top||


India bomb blast kills one, injures 12
GUWAHATI: A powerful explosion at a busy market killed one person and wounded 12, four of them critically, in India’s revolt-hit northeast, police said Saturday. Police blamed the blast on the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), a rebel group fighting for an independent homeland since 1979. “The bomb was probably planted in a van parked near a multi-purpose market. Most of the victims were pedestrians, shoppers, and vendors,” deputy police chief Rajen Singh told AFP in Guwahati, the main city in Assam state. Police said a few shops were gutted in the blast.
This article starring:
deputy police chief Rajen Singh
United Liberation Front of Asom
Posted by: Fred || 09/02/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Global Jihad


Taliban vigilantes on the prowl in Swat: Public transporters asked to stop music
MINGORA: Public transporters in Swat district on Saturday received threatening letters by unidentified people, believed to be Taliban militants, asking them to remove “obscene” photographs and stop playing music in their vehicles or their vehicles would be blown up.

The threatening pamphlets were delivered at the Matta Bus Stand here and the short warning for the transporters stated: “Stop playing music and remove obscene photos from your vehicles or face bomb attacks.” Unidentified militants on Wednesday blew up six music shops in Ishaq Market and partially damaged 20 nearby shops and three houses after distribution of threatening letters in the area warning the shop owners to stop the “un-Islamic” business.

Non-government organisations (NGOs) have already shut their offices in the region after receiving threatening letters, while representatives of pharmaceutical companies have stopped wearing trousers in the Swat Valley after the militants warned them to wear local dresses.

Barbers have displayed big posters in front of their shops stating, “Un-Islamic activities like shaving and western hair fashion are forbidden.” Unidentified militants had warned the barbers a few weeks ago to stop shaving customers otherwise their shops would be bombed.

Meanwhile, unidentified people have also distributed letters in Khawaza Khela Bazaar in Swat warning women not to shop in the market because it was against Pashtun and Islamic norms. The letter said that the bazaar was located near a shrine and business activity by men and women would amount to its desecration. They warned that the bazaar would be bombed if women were not stopped from coming there.
Posted by: Fred || 09/02/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: TNSM

#1  Sounds like it is about time for Swat to be visited by the Halliburton earthquake machine, in its full power test.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 09/02/2007 13:11 Comments || Top||

#2  Public transporters in Swat district on Saturday received threatening letters by unidentified people, believed to be Taliban militants

Uh, when did the Talidummies learn to write much less read?
Posted by: Jack is Back! || 09/02/2007 14:52 Comments || Top||

#3  The Religion of No Fun™ strikes again. Too bad it's so incremental. Much like the proverbial frog in a pot of water, Muslims do not readily perceive all their life's pleasures being bled out of them from so many thousands of puritanical papercuts. There will never be enough sudden dissatisfaction to suddenly make Muslims rise up against their clerical elite. I'll close by noting how particularly ill this bodes for the future of our world's Muslim population.
Posted by: Zenster || 09/02/2007 16:51 Comments || Top||


10 Mohmand Rifles soldiers go missing
Ten Mohmand Rifles troops, including a major, went missing in Qandharou region of Mohmand Agency on Saturday while on their way back from agency headquarters in Ghala Nai, Geo News reported.

“There is no word from the jirga, but we hope it will bring the soldiers back safe and sound.”
Also, the more than 100 “trapped” security personnel near Ladah, South Waziristan, have not reached their base yet as a tribal jirga continued talks on Saturday with the militants for their release, administration sources in Wana said. “There is no word from the jirga, but we hope it will bring the soldiers back safe and sound,” they said asking not to be named.

AFP adds: Military authorities insisted the soldiers were stranded after straying into Ladah on Thursday in stormy rainfall. Though negotiations continued, there had been no report of any shootings, though militants are believed to have surrounded the 150 or so soldiers, a local security official said.
Posted by: Fred || 09/02/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Taliban

#1  how sorry are these soldiers when a 150 of them get surrounded by militants and captured?
Posted by: sinse || 09/02/2007 7:57 Comments || Top||

#2  somebody was late in handing out the bullet
Posted by: Frank G || 09/02/2007 9:32 Comments || Top||


4 troops among 7 killed in suicide hits in Waziristan
KHAR/WANA: Four paramilitary soldiers were among seven killed in two suicide attacks in Bajaur and Tank on Saturday. The attack at a checkpost in the Mamoond area killed four paramilitary personnel and injured six others. Local residents said that a civilian was killed when the security forces opened fire after the attack. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but telephone calls to local journalists in Khar asked them to report the attack as a “fidayee hamla”. Meanwhile, a jirga has asked local clerics to resolve the standoff between the militants and the government.

In Tank, six troops were injured when a suicide bomber targeted a checkpost in Jandola area.
Posted by: Fred || 09/02/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Srinagar car boom injures 14
At least 14 people were injured when separatists triggered a powerful car bomb explosion in Srinagar, summer capital of Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir Saturday. Pakistan based separatist guerrillas detonated out a powerful car bomb explosion in the Hyderpora by-pass area of Srinagar this evening injuring 14 people -- nine civilians and five soldiers, news agency Indo Asian News Service reported. All the injured have been admitted to a Srinagar hospital, the news agency said. The area has been sealed and Indian security officials have reached the spot.Searches were being carried out in the area to nab the guerrillas.
Posted by: Seafarious || 09/02/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Lashkar e-Taiba


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Hamas says fired at Israeli chopper
This has some real gems in it.
Hamas gunmen opened fire at an IDF helicopter in the central Gaza Strip on Sunday morning, Palestinian sources reported. The army said in response it was unaware of any unusual incident in the area.

A source at Hamas' special security force told Ynet that members of the organization's naval force fired at an Israeli aircraft flying over a naval base in the central Strip, near Nuseirat refugee camp. At first the Palestinians reported that the IDF struck the naval force's post, but it was later discovered that the Hamas gunmen had fired at the helicopter.
Shot up their own base did they?
The Palestinians reported that the force commanders instructed their men to search the area, as the aircraft may have been damaged.
Keeps the boys occupied.
About three weeks ago, the Hamas government's interior ministry in Gaza confirmed Ynet's recent report that the Palestinian organization's special security force had completed the establishment of a new naval defense force, which would serve as a "navy" for the Hamas army in the Strip. According to the announcement, the naval police force would be responsible for providing security on Gaza's shores. According to the Hamas government, the new naval arm is comprised of 150 fighters.
The boys start swimming lessons next week.
The naval force's goal, according to the announcement, is to provide security to the Strip's shores, prevent drug smuggling attempts, supervise fishermen and guarantee their personal safety and the safety of their property.
Oh, and kill Jews. Rooters doesn't approve of that bit. So we leave it out.
"The force will safeguard the tourist sites and the wellbeing and safety of their visitors," the announcement added.
Gaza has tourist sites who knew? Maybe it's those wrecked Zionist greenhouses. Might be of cultural significance to a certain kind of tranzi.
In response to the report, a military source said that "the new situation in the Gaza Strip obligates us to act differently at sea. There are threats that did not exist in the past. We recognize this, and are ready."
A weird kind of Paleo Baywatch comes into my mind. Sort of Burka Boomers on Boards.
Posted by: phil_b || 09/02/2007 05:18 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Hamas

#1  Make that, Burka Babe Boomers on Boards.
Posted by: phil_b || 09/02/2007 5:40 Comments || Top||

#2  I though swimming was unIslamik, insallah and all that, gawd willing we will wash up upon a righteous beach with Infidel Babes.
Posted by: Throper Ghibelline9098 || 09/02/2007 9:52 Comments || Top||

#3  now my wife and I can vacation in Club Gaza!! The only thing holding us back was the lack of a Hamas "Naval Force" to protect us from Joooos.

Can't wait to get my wife in her new burkha and hit the beach!
Posted by: Justrand || 09/02/2007 10:03 Comments || Top||

#4  Gaza has tourist sites?

Yeah. See the ruins!
Posted by: Gary and the Samoyeds || 09/02/2007 10:41 Comments || Top||

#5  Still, you've got to handle that to the paleo, they may lack any kind of boat, but does this prevent them from having a navy? Noooo! Somehow, you've got to admire this kind of total disregard for logic and that kind of stuff.
Plus, even with their awful track record about, well, pretty much everything (running the joooos to the sea, not having their Fearless Leaders smited, having a functioning society, a working governement, basic hygiena,...), they still keep trying... that's the spirit!
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 09/02/2007 11:24 Comments || Top||

#6  "The force will safeguard the tourist sites

Like Rachel Corrie World and Car Swarm Experience.
Posted by: Jack is Back! || 09/02/2007 14:58 Comments || Top||

#7  So they've got a handful of idiots standing on a beach with AK-47s and they call it a navy? They better be careful when the tide comes in or they might actually get wet.
Posted by: Abu Uluque6305 || 09/02/2007 16:02 Comments || Top||


1 killed, 6 injured in Gaza border closure protest
A Palestinian was killed and six more were wounded on Saturday when Hamas paramilitaries opened fire to disperse protesters trying to dash across the border into Egypt, witnesses said.

Ahmed Eqdeh, 16, died after being taken to hospital, while two others hit by bullets had light wounds, a medical source said and added that four more protestors had suffered fractures.

Thousands of Hamas supporters had been protesting to urge the Egyptian authorities to reopen the sole crossing point between Egypt and the Gaza Strip at the border town of Rafah.

In June, Egypt closed the border crossing for fear of a spillover in the fighting between the moderate Fatah faction and Hamas, which eventually gained control of the Gaza Strip. Egypt and Israel sealed a deal at the end of July allowing Palestinians to cross through Al-Oja, the border point for commercial traffic between Egypt and Israel.

Since then, around 5,000 Palestinians have been able to return from Egypt through Israeli territory using the Erez checkpoint at the northern end of the Gaza Strip. However hundreds of Palestinians, most of them Hamas supporters, remain stranded on the Egyptian side as they fear being arrested if they travel through Israel, according to Hamas.
Posted by: Fred || 09/02/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Hamas


Al-Aqsa Martyrs, DFLP claim joint credit for missiles launched at Israeli post
Two Palestinian brigades claimed responsibility Saturday for launching missiles at an Israeli military post in Kissufim, east of Gaza Strip. The two brigades - Al-Aqsa Bridges, the military wing of Fatah, and the Popular Resistance Committees, the military wing of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine &0151; claimed responsibility for the attack in a joint statement. They said they launched two missiles at Kissufim, east of the central Gaza city of Der Al-Balah. The attack is in retaliation for Israel's assassination of resistance leaders, they said.
Posted by: Seafarious || 09/02/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: al-Aqsa Martyrs


Muslim group hacks Likud website
The Likud party's official website was hacked over the weekend by a Muslim group that goes by the name of Hell Team. The site's homepage was replaced with the group's logo and the words, "You are killing the Palestinians and we are killing your servers," in Hebrew. Writing in Arabic and poor English, the group "sanctified" the hacking to Palestinian and Lebanese children, and called for an end to the killing of Palestinian children. The page was signed by a hacker by the name of Cold Zero.
Posted by: Seafarious || 09/02/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Global Jihad

#1  we are killing your servers

we r in ur servers killing ur processez. In the meantime, our children are growing up uneducated, trained to hate and totally unprepared to live in the modern world. But it's ok, 'cause I got an edgy l33t haxor handle like Cold Zero.
/Bah!
Posted by: SteveS || 09/02/2007 1:22 Comments || Top||

#2  That's a surprise; Microsoft-Israel engineers are most responsible for the design of Pentium processers. Maybe Likud farmed internet security out to Paleos.
Posted by: McZoid || 09/02/2007 1:43 Comments || Top||

#3  Not surprising at all. Most of these intrustion come from lame security practices like not changing default passwords or setting proper access controls on files and directories. Sometimes they exploit a known vulnerability in a program like sending commands embedded in a search request. Often the attacker is simply running a canned script they downloaded off the net, hence the pejorative "script kiddies".
Posted by: SteveS || 09/02/2007 10:09 Comments || Top||

#4  I was was a betting man I would say these "Arab" hackers were in Marin County and have street names like Bill and Ted.
Posted by: Excalibur || 09/02/2007 12:00 Comments || Top||

#5  KEEP HONKING HACKING, WE'RE RELOADING.
Posted by: Zenster || 09/02/2007 14:56 Comments || Top||


Olde Tyme Religion
Turkish PM : There is no moderate Islam
From Memri via Jihadwatch

Speaking at Kanal D TV’s Arena program, PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan [who is routinely called a moderate Moslem by the western media] commented on the term “moderate Islam”, often used in the West to describe AKP and said, ‘These descriptions are very ugly, it is offensive and an insult to our religion. There is no moderate or immoderate Islam. Islam is Islam and that’s it.”

Source: Milliyet, Turkey, August 21, 2007


Posted at: 2007-08-21
This article starring:
Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Posted by: mhw || 09/02/2007 10:25 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under: Global Jihad

#1  Therefore, the only good Moslem...
Posted by: Gary and the Samoyeds || 09/02/2007 10:42 Comments || Top||

#2  Another insult, another day. Seething at 11.
Posted by: Phinater Thraviger || 09/02/2007 11:07 Comments || Top||

#3  At least Erdogan gets it. Somebody should tell George Bush.
Posted by: Excalibur || 09/02/2007 11:59 Comments || Top||

#4  Shit and Fan?
Posted by: rhodesiafever || 09/02/2007 12:11 Comments || Top||

#5  I think "barely tolerable" and "intolerable" Islam come to mind, as well as "barbarian" and "civil". Finally, there is "the Islam that was allowed to continue" and "the Islam that was annihilated and is extinct."
Posted by: Anonymoose || 09/02/2007 13:10 Comments || Top||

#6  I agree there are no moderate muslims.The so called radicals are mainstream followers who carry out what the koran teaches them basically to hate anyone and everyone who is not islamist!!!!!
Posted by: Paul || 09/02/2007 13:25 Comments || Top||

#7  ‘These descriptions are very ugly, it is offensive and an insult to our religion. There is no moderate or immoderate Islam. Islam is Islam and that’s it.”

Got it? The term "moderate is "offensive and an insult to our religion".

CAN IT BE ANY MORE CLEAR?

Does anyone still believe that there are moderate Muslims?

Does anyone still believe that Islam has any redeeming features?

Does anyone still believe that Islam can be allowed to exist in the West?

Does anyone still believe that Islam will survive the next 50 years?
Posted by: Zenster || 09/02/2007 13:46 Comments || Top||

#8  straight from the horse's mouth....
Posted by: twobyfour || 09/02/2007 13:54 Comments || Top||

#9  Yep, Zen, "moderate" muslims aren't moderate because of some inherent goodness. They just follow the profit's ruling about "all stratagems of war". The moment they would assess that their numbers are right for changing the strategy, the "moderate" muslims would cease to exist.
Posted by: twobyfour || 09/02/2007 14:30 Comments || Top||

#10  #5 I think "barely tolerable" and "intolerable" Islam come to mind, as well as "barbarian" and "civil". Finally, there is "the Islam that was allowed to continue" and "the Islam that was annihilated and is extinct."
Posted by: Anonymoose 2007-09-02 13:10


It's rapidly growing obvious to most of the sane people in the West that there are miniscule followers of a form of Islam that is "barely tolerable", while the vast majority belong to a form of Islam that needs to be "annihilated and is (now) extinct." The sooner we get on with the job, the sooner it will be over, with the minimum cost of human lives.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 09/02/2007 15:12 Comments || Top||

#11  rantburgians may be interested to know that Ayaan Hirsi Ali has not come to the opinion that:

- there is no hope to reform Islam

- according to her, the west should, after giving some warning, carper bomb Mecca and Medina - this would produce 6 months of mega seething then sober depression, then sober thought, then mass apostasy

she hasn't written this yet, it just exists in some informal Q&As
Posted by: mhw || 09/02/2007 15:23 Comments || Top||

#12  the word 'not' should not have been in the first sentence

sorry
Posted by: mhw || 09/02/2007 15:24 Comments || Top||

#13  A quick aside: Please note how—all debate about Europe's Islamicization aside—Turkey deems itself a viable candidate for inclusion in the EU. This is a stunning example of just how willfully ignorant—or intentionally deceiving—Muslims are about their total incompatibility with Western culture.

the word 'not' should not have been in the first sentence

Whew, mhw, you had me worried for a moment there.

First Walid Shoebat and now Ayaan Hirsi Ali—curiously, both apostate Muslim women—are telling us that Islam cannot be reformed. Isn't it time we listened to those who have actually resided within the belly of the beast?

I am also beginning to agree with Hirsi Ali. While I once felt that the shrines at Mecca and Medina might serve best as physical hostages to deter Islamic terrorism, I am now starting to rethink that position. Islam's continued jihad against the West centers upon its perception that we lack resolve and are a paper tiger. This has engendered an inclination towards both overconfidence and using intentionally exaggerated invective to shape opinions on the Arab street.

Islam has lost any sense of vulnerability. Its incessant cries of victimhood are merely a ploy and nothing more than—as YorkshireMiner says—"the thin end of an even bigger wedge". Islam's self-perceived immunity is largely responsible for its headlong assault upon all Western nations and traditions.

It is time to give Muslims pause. Their collective sense of invulnerability must be shattered for once and all. A notion of the consequences awaiting their continued terrorist atrocities somehow must be imbued upon them. The West needs to inflict a physical and spiritual scar of such staggering proportions that it cannot be ignored. Islam must suffer a disfiguring wound that will forever remind it of its hubris and offensive intolerance. We in America have had our Ground Zero and it may well be necessary for Islam to have one of its own. Some sort of stark reminder as to what awaits further aggression against the West.

I do not think that destruction of both shrines at Mecca and Medina would be prudent. Perhaps one, namely, Medina as the lesser of the two but not both. That said, I feel it would be even more advantageous to make an example out of a lesser Islamic site and permit that lesson to sink in alongside an unequivocal reminder as to what will happen next. There is one ideal location that would suit this approach.

Qom. No Islamic entity is more deserving of the West's wrath. No better example of Islamic theocracy exists outside of Iran. In light of Sunni hatred for Shiite apostasy, we could parlay such a move into a gesture of solidarity with peace-loving elements within Islam—if they even exist—in order to bring about change.

If that change is not forthcoming—and forthcoming damnably fast—then make an example out of Medina with overt reference to Mecca's place at the top of our Christmas list. Much like the ancient joke where a farmer strikes his mule upon the forehead with a two-by-four, "to first get his attention", we must do whatever it takes to get Islam's "attention" as well. Time is running short, both for us—in terms of a terrorist nuclear attack—and Islam with respect to a Muslim holocaust.
Posted by: Zenster || 09/02/2007 16:07 Comments || Top||

#14  Not shrines, Zen. 500,000 martyrs in one stroke is more memorable.
Posted by: Skidmark || 09/02/2007 16:15 Comments || Top||

#15  Of course there are moderate muslims. They are the ones who are lukewarm at best in their belief and commitment. Kinda like your Christmas and Easter Christians. The only reason they don't walk away is because the true believers would have them whacked.
Posted by: Abu Uluque6305 || 09/02/2007 16:19 Comments || Top||

#16  500,000 martyrs in one stroke is more memorable.

Patience, Skidmark, patience. That time is soon coming. Islam's intransigence nigh-well guarantees it. However much one might hope otherwise, the destruction of Qom or Medina will most likely not provide sufficient deterrence. It is why I still maintain that progress will be made only when Muslims suffer in equal or much greater proportion to the West. It is doubtful that a 10:1 or 100:1 ratio will have any impact upon Muslim mulishness. Somewhere around a ratio of 1,000:1 or 10,000:1 killed after the next terrorist atrocity in the West is probably what will get Islam's attention. Until then it will only be more of the same.
Posted by: Zenster || 09/02/2007 16:31 Comments || Top||

#17  First Walid Shoebat and now Ayaan Hirsi Ali—curiously, both apostate Muslim women...

Walid Shoebat's a woman?? Got a heck of a mustache for a gal.
Posted by: Angie Schultz || 09/02/2007 17:01 Comments || Top||

#18  Thank you, Sherry. I was thinking of Wafa Sultan. Both have the initials W.S.
Posted by: Zenster || 09/02/2007 17:05 Comments || Top||

#19  Got a heck of a mustache for a gal.

I'll politely leave the door open on this one for our resident wags.
Posted by: Zenster || 09/02/2007 17:06 Comments || Top||

#20  "Turkish PM : There is no moderate Islam"

At least we agree on something.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 09/02/2007 17:40 Comments || Top||

#21  I would feel much more sanguine about this if our people were out of Incirlik and the various and sundry other postings in Turkey.
Posted by: RWV || 09/02/2007 19:44 Comments || Top||

#22  You can't get a moderate Muslim---but you can get a scared one. To wit, for more than 200 years were was no---I repeat none---Muslim aggression against the West.
Posted by: gromgoru || 09/02/2007 20:28 Comments || Top||

#23  Zenster and others,

There is NO WAY a western government will ever destroy mecca or medina at least not short of nuclear war and that's still a long way away IMHO. Is there any way we can do it outside of the government? I'm not talking car bomb here but is there any way normal humans (non muzzies) can get this done? Drop a bomb on that stupid rock from a lear jet or something?
Posted by: jds || 09/02/2007 20:28 Comments || Top||

#24  jds, this is why you don't see me screaming for such a thing. I think it is far more likely that retaliation for future atrocities may finally begin to include carpet-bombing entire Muslim cities. Again, I no longer really care what form it takes but the collective Muslim psyche needs to have some truly traumatic wounds inflicted upon it.

After each Islamic atrocity, the world's Muslim population should quake in its shoes awaiting the West's response. We need to make our replies sufficiently harsh whereby Muslims finally begin the task of killing their jihadist factions. There will no other way of pacifying Islamic jihadism than from within. Whatever moderate Muslims there are must be made to realize that their continued existence relies upon swift and timely action against radical Islam. We must not allow failure to be an option for them.
Posted by: Zenster || 09/02/2007 20:53 Comments || Top||

#25  Grоmgoru, not entirely correct, there were some muslim agressions during that time frame (you just can't convert a wolf into a sheep), but sporadic.

jds, get me a lear jet plus ample $150K for related expenses and I'll take care of the rest. ;-)

Posted by: twobyfour || 09/02/2007 21:03 Comments || Top||

#26  2X4 Lemme check my lottery ticket. If I get it you get it.
Posted by: jds || 09/02/2007 21:24 Comments || Top||

#27  Grîmgoru, not entirely correct, there were some muslim agressions during that time frame (you just can't convert a wolf into a sheep), but sporadic.

ref?
Posted by: gromgoru || 09/02/2007 21:26 Comments || Top||

#28  gg, for instance:
Second Barbary War
Jihad: The Mahdi Rebellion in the Sudan
Check also the history of British Palestine where muslims aggression started long before establishment of Israel, and continue with Israel-Arab wars.
Other spots in no particulr chronology: Phillipines, Algeria, Indonesia, India/Pakistan, etc.

In fact, the aggression never stopped, it was just less frequent and less deadly (although Armenians may object to that assessment).
Posted by: twobyfour || 09/02/2007 22:32 Comments || Top||

#29  What else could he have said? He doesn't want the label of "moderate Moslem" hung on him because it is politically dangerous and weakens him; and even if he really is a "moderate Muslim" he won't consider himself "moderate," he'll consider himself faithful.

Remember that no "heretic" calls himself one. He calls himself a reformer, and everybody else is the heretic.

This is news the way "lawyer says his client is innocent" is news. Ergodan may be a closet jihadi or not; I can't tell from this.
Posted by: James || 09/02/2007 22:39 Comments || Top||

#30  OK, humble cake.
Posted by: gromgoru || 09/02/2007 23:18 Comments || Top||

#31  James, you need to consider all his utterances (one of them--for instance--his hope that he can be instrumental in islamization of Europe) and then you would understand what he just said in the context.
Posted by: twobyfour || 09/02/2007 23:30 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Southern Thai university student shot dead
Terrorists Suspected insurgents shot dead a university student in the troubled province on Saturday.

Twenty-two-year-old Piyaphong Phet-ngern, a fourth year student at Prince of Songkhla University's Pattani campus, was killed by gunshot wounds Saturday afternoon while he and three fellow students rode two motorcycles from Pattani's Muang district heading for nearby Yala province. Two gunmen on a motorcycle opened fire at Piyaphong and his friends when they were on the road in Pattani's Yarang district. Piyaphong died at the scene, while none of his friends was injured.

Police said Piyaphong was the third student of the Prince of Songkhla University killed in terrorist incidents, believed to be linked to the ongoing insurgency in the far South.
Posted by: ryuge || 09/02/2007 08:19 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: Thai Insurgency

#1  Ethnic cleansing for S. Thailand. No muslims = No terror.
Posted by: Scooter McGruder || 09/02/2007 10:15 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Nahr al-Bared falls to Lebanon army
MOHAMMARA, Lebanon - The last area of a Palestinian refugee camp devastated by more than three months of fighting between Islamic militants and Lebanese soldiers fell to the army on Sunday, security officials said.
Hurrah for the Lebs!
Hours after the army killed 32 militants and captured at least 15 others as they tried to flee the Nahr el-Bared camp, only occasional gunfire could be heard inside. The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the last stronghold of Fatah Islam militants fell later in the day to the army, which captured five wounded militants in their hideout.
"Don't kill us! Please don't kill us!"
"Into the paddy wagon wit' yez!"
Celebratory gunfire erupted in nearby villages as soon as the news spread.
"Duck, Mahmoud! They're celebrating!"
"Aaaaiiieee!"
Dozens of residents took to the streets of Mohammara, waving Lebanese flags and honking their horns as troop convoys poured into the area with soldiers flashing victory signs. But the army was not ready to formally declare fighting over in the camp, large parts of which have been destroyed by army bombardments since the siege began.
Learned something from the last premature declaration of victory, did they?
The gunbattles began overnight and tapered off by the afternoon, with troops searching for Fatah al-Islam fighters in buildings, fields and roads around Nahr el-Bared camp, residents reported.
This article starring:
Nahr el-Bared
Fatah al-Islam
Posted by: tu3031 || 09/02/2007 10:52 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under: Fatah al-Islam

#1  I hope al Rooters gets a close up picture of that last drop of blood....
Posted by: Phinater Thraviger || 09/02/2007 11:44 Comments || Top||

#2  Now - level it flat. Plant a grove of trees. Kill anyone who tries to camp there...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 09/02/2007 12:31 Comments || Top||

#3  We now await the HRW report on the Lebanese army's "human rights abuses"...
Posted by: tu3031 || 09/02/2007 12:49 Comments || Top||

#4  Good going, guys... putting those 130 new Humvees to work!
Posted by: Sherry || 09/02/2007 14:25 Comments || Top||

#5  I just hope the Lebanese people are as proud of their soldiers as we are.
Posted by: Bobby || 09/02/2007 15:11 Comments || Top||

#6  Kill anyone who tries to camp there...

All of the "refugee" camps need similar treatment. Either hand over your jihadists or have your camping permit revoked. Deport all displaced individuals to Gaza so that they can share in the Islamic joy.
Posted by: Zenster || 09/02/2007 15:13 Comments || Top||

#7  This is interesting
Feb 13, 2007 – The Daily Star

Beirut -- Civil War-era military conscription has officially been relegated to the annals of Lebanese history.

On February 10, the Lebanese Army officially became an all-volunteer force.

Law 665/2005, which officially ended conscription in Lebanon, was passed by Parliament two years ago but did not wholly take effect until Saturday.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, an army spokesperson told The Daily Star on Monday that "from this day on" the army would replenish its ranks with volunteers.
-----------------
Through a spokesperson, President Emile Lahoud declined to comment on the matter, on the grounds that the law was passed two years ago, was signed at the time by the president and was not a decree issued by the present government.

Retired General Elias Hanna told The Daily Star that conscription was Lahoud's idea of a melting pot in which Lebanese of different confessional backgrounds mixed.

"As it is, Christians rarely go into government service. This was one way to create a confessional equilibrium," Hanna said.

The confessional system stipulates that all high-ranking positions in the army must be distributed 50-50 between Christians and Muslims.

Hanna said a conscript may cost the government less than a professional soldier, but that a professionally trained volunteer would be more efficient in adapting to the army's ever-changing role and mission. For a professional soldier to be efficient, he needs benefits and incentives, Hanna said.

"A draftee is conscripted and trained for two months, then he serves a year in the army and just when he has gained sufficient expertise is sent home," he said.
Posted by: Sherry || 09/02/2007 15:43 Comments || Top||

#8  Hours after the army killed 32 militants and captured at least 15 others as they tried to flee the Nahr el-Bared camp

What made them attempt a last-ditch breakout? That'll end any siege.
Posted by: gromky || 09/02/2007 16:07 Comments || Top||

#9  Found this short film clip --
Lebanese people, cheering their soldiers
Posted by: Sherry || 09/02/2007 16:08 Comments || Top||

#10  I'd say folks are proud of their army!
Lots more pics here

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket
Posted by: Sherry || 09/02/2007 16:17 Comments || Top||

#11  Please permit me to add that—as one of the Middle East's only quasi-functional pluralist states—Lebanon should be applauded loudly for demonstrating a resolve to rid itself of Islamists. Now, if only they could show equal determination against Hezbollah.
Posted by: Zenster || 09/02/2007 16:38 Comments || Top||

#12  YaLibnan's caption under the pic of the Leb cutiepie:
"A Lebanese girl holds the national flag and flashes the victory sign to celebrate the end of fighting in the Nahr el-Bared Palestinian refugee camp"

She does not celebrate the end of fighting ya morons, she celebrates victory!
Posted by: twobyfour || 09/02/2007 18:19 Comments || Top||

#13  Good lord, the Lebanese chick holding the flag is HOT!
Posted by: Jeremiah Elmolusing5904 || 09/02/2007 18:20 Comments || Top||

#14  What, again?
Posted by: gromgoru || 09/02/2007 20:00 Comments || Top||

#15  I'm of the opinion that Lebanese protest chicks are, in general hot.
Posted by: Frank G || 09/02/2007 20:14 Comments || Top||

#16  Being careful here, 'cause it might "go to your heads," but you Rantburg guys have incredibly good taste!
Posted by: Sherry || 09/02/2007 20:54 Comments || Top||


Leb Army Kills 28, Jugs 15 Fatah al-Islam Gunnies
Lebanese troops killed 28 al-Qaida-inspired militants and captured 15 others in a massive gunfight Sunday after they broke out of a northern Palestinian refugee camp devastated by over three months of fighting, a senior security official said.

Heavy gunbattles that began during the dawn breakout continued through early afternoon, with troops engaging Fatah al-Islam fighters in buildings, fields and roads around Nahr el-Bared camp, residents and television stations reported.

In a statement, the military said troops were attacking the remaining militant strongholds inside Nahr el-Bared and "chasing the fugitives outside the camp" who had staged "a desperate attempt to flee."

Sunday's developments indicated the battle was almost over for the camp, large parts of which have been reduced to rubble.

According to security officials and television reports, the breakout began early Sunday when a group of militants wearing burkas sneaked through an underground tunnel to an area of the camp under army control and fought with troops. At the same time, another group of militants struck elsewhere to try to escape, reportedly receiving help from militants outside the camp. State-run Lebanese television said the militants inside the camp were aided by outside fighters who arrived in civilian cars to attack army positions around the camp.

Residents said troop reinforcements deployed close to the camp and blocked roads to prevent fighters from sneaking out. Helicopters provided aerial reconnaissance.

State television reported Lebanese residents of nearby villages, armed with guns and sticks, fanned out to protect their houses and prevent militants from seeking refuge and melting into the local population.
Posted by: Bobby || 09/02/2007 07:19 || Comments || Link || [9 views] Top|| File under: Fatah al-Islam

#1  Now that's surrounding.
Posted by: Throper Ghibelline9098 || 09/02/2007 10:02 Comments || Top||


Good Sunday morning!
Posted by: || 09/02/2007 09:37 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  wikipedia says she was a Mormon
Posted by: Bmhw || 09/02/2007 10:39 Comments || Top||

#2  So that's what Mormons wear to their secret ceremonies.
Posted by: Pliny Gligum6601 || 09/02/2007 10:48 Comments || Top||

#3  Only the hat and cape.
Posted by: Fred || 09/02/2007 11:24 Comments || Top||

#4  So that's what magic underwear looks like.
Posted by: Excalibur || 09/02/2007 11:58 Comments || Top||

#5  happi, happi, joi, joi
Posted by: twobyfour || 09/02/2007 13:57 Comments || Top||

#6  The Joi of Looking.
Posted by: Zenster || 09/02/2007 16:43 Comments || Top||

#7  That is one unusual hat.
Posted by: Ptah || 09/02/2007 18:09 Comments || Top||

#8  hat?
Posted by: Frank G || 09/02/2007 18:22 Comments || Top||

#9  Lancing Joi?
Posted by: gorb || 09/02/2007 21:31 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
28[untagged]
6Global Jihad
6Taliban
5Iraqi Insurgency
4Govt of Iran
2Hamas
2Fatah al-Islam
1CAIR
1al-Qaeda in Arabia
1Islamic Courts
1Lashkar e-Taiba
1al-Aqsa Martyrs
1Thai Insurgency
1TNSM

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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.

Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.

Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has dominated Mexico for six years.
Click here for more information

Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
tu3031
badanov
sherry
ryuge
GolfBravoUSMC
Bright Pebbles
trailing wife
Gloria
Fred
Besoeker
Glenmore
Frank G
3dc
Skidmark

Two weeks of WOT
Sun 2007-09-02
  Nahr al-Bared falls to Lebanon army
Sat 2007-09-01
  Knobby gives up veto in return for consensus on new president
Fri 2007-08-31
  Liverlips plans to form a puppet government in Lebanon
Thu 2007-08-30
  Mullah Brother is no more
Wed 2007-08-29
  Shiite Shootout Shuts Shrine
Tue 2007-08-28
  Gul Elected Turkey's President
Mon 2007-08-27
  12 Taliban fighters killed along Pakistan-Afghanistan border
Sun 2007-08-26
  Two AQI big turbans nabbed
Sat 2007-08-25
  Hyderabad under attack: 3 explosions, 2 defused bombs, 34 dead
Fri 2007-08-24
  Pak supremes: Nawaz can return
Thu 2007-08-23
  Izzat Ibrahim to throw in towel
Wed 2007-08-22
  Aksa Martyrs: We'll no longer honor agreements with Israel
Tue 2007-08-21
  'Saddam's daughter won't be deported'
Mon 2007-08-20
  Baitullah sez S. Wazoo deal is off, Gov't claims accord is intact
Sun 2007-08-19
  Taliban say hostage talks fail


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