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Today: 88 articles and 342 comments as of 15:24.
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Islamists stage rally against Musharraf
Today's Headlines
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Afghanistan
40 Taliban killed in Afghanistan
A suicide attacker killed a French soldier in Kabul and
About 40 Taliban rebels were killed in Afghanistan on Friday on the United Nations’ International Day of Peace.
about 40 Taliban rebels were killed elsewhere in Afghanistan on Friday on the United Nations’ International Day of Peace.
That's working well...
Afghan officials meanwhile said that six camp followers civilians had been killed earlier in the week in an airstrike by NATO-led forces carrying out a major operation against the extremist fighters.

The Al Qaeda-linked Taliban movement claimed responsibility for the suicide attack, the first inside the heavily barricaded city in three weeks. It also wounded six Afghans. The French military, which has around 1,000 soldiers in Afghanistan as part of a 37-nation NATO-led force, confirmed that its soldiers were struck. “One of them died,” squadron leader Jean-Philippe Mouille told AFP.

A witness, Jan Mohammad, told AFP he saw five foreign soldiers being carried away after the blast but could not say if they were dead or wounded.

Weapons destroyed: Soldiers led by the US military struck militant hideouts in Helmand province early Friday, killing about 40 rebels and destroying one of the largest caches of weapons it has ever found, the US-led coalition said. The coalition said about 40 “anti-coalition militants” were killed in the operation. “This was one of the largest caches of weapons found to date,” coalition spokesman Major Christopher Belcher said. “Several rooms were found filled with small-arms, explosives, rocket-propelled grenades and large-calibre ammunition,” he said.

NATO’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) admitted separately that it had killed civilians in the course of a new anti-Taliban operation launched in Helmand on Wednesday. It did not give a figure but a district governor said six civilians, most of them women and children, were killed in an airstrike against Taliban fighters during the course of the operation.

Iran aid: Iran is supplying powerful roadside bomb-making components to militants in Afghanistan in an effort to embarrass the US and push American forces out of the country, the head of US Central Command said on Friday, reported AP. Admiral William Fallon said Iran is providing development assistance in western Afghanistan, which he labelled helpful. But he said Iran’s Revolutionary Guard is also supplying roadside bomb parts for the type of sophisticated and deadly bombs found in Iraq known as “explosively formed penetrators”.

“The Iranians are clearly supplying some amount of lethal aid,” Fallon said. “There is no doubt ... that agents from Iran are involved in aiding the insurgency.”

Iran has denied that it is supplying arms to fighters in Afghanistan. Fallon said Iran is trying to ensure that it has a role in the region’s politics. “And I think they put a priority on causing us as much frustration as they can,” he said. The ISAF has said that three shipments of weapons emanating from Iran have been intercepted in Afghanistan since the spring. Fallon said the US was carefully watching the flow of weapons from Iran, and that border interdiction efforts may need to be increased.
This article starring:
Admiral William Fallon
A witness, Jan Mohammad
coalition spokesman Major Christopher Belcher
squadron leader Jean-Philippe Mouille
Posted by: Fred || 09/22/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Taliban

#1  if a border is that porous, the flow of weapons and fighters can go both ways...just saying
Posted by: Frank G || 09/22/2007 8:30 Comments || Top||

#2  40 in this story, 70 the last.... being a Talibunny seems to be a short career.
Posted by: 3dc || 09/22/2007 12:20 Comments || Top||


75 Taliban, 6 civilians, killed in fighting
A bomb attack Friday against a convoy of French troops killed one soldier and injured many Afghans near the blast, while heavy fighting in southern Afghanistan killed about 75 Taliban fighters and six civilians, officials said. The attack in western Kabul blew the windows out of a civilian bus and set at least one vehicle on fire. At least six civilians were in serious condition, and many others had lesser injuries, said Zormai Rasa, the local police chief.
This article starring:
Zormai Rasa, the local police chief
Posted by: Fred || 09/22/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Africa Horn
Concern over attack against ICRC pick up truck
(KUNA) -- The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) expressed its deep concern by the attack carried out yesterday on a Somali Red Crescent pickup truck. According to the ICRC, the vehicle, which was clearly marked with the Red Crescent emblem, was hijacked by three gunmen in Mogadishu. The driver was seriously injured. The ICRC urged again all parties concerned to take every measure to protect humanitarian workers, medical staff, hospitals and health clinics.
Posted by: Fred || 09/22/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic Courts

#1  Not very surprising since everybody now assumes that 'Red Crescent' vehicles are carrying guns and ammo. I guess ICRC didn't get that memo...
Posted by: PBMcL || 09/22/2007 11:45 Comments || Top||

#2  This is what happens when you lose your integrity and your brand name. The ICRC is well on its way to becoming the Made In China of relief agencies.
Posted by: SteveS || 09/22/2007 19:35 Comments || Top||

#3  The ICRC is well on its way to becoming the Made In China of relief agencies.

Hands down Snark O' the Day™ winner!
Posted by: Zenster || 09/22/2007 22:21 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Algerian army kills three gunmen west of Algiers
(KUNA) -- The Algerian army killed three gunmen in Tizi-Ouzou province 63 kilometers east of the capital, said a security source Friday. The source indicated that an ambush was set by the Algerian military according to received military intelligence regarding gunmen groups in the area, adding that the bodies of the dead gunmen were sent to Tizi-Ouzou for identification. The province is considered as a stronghold for Al-Qaeda in Northwestern African region with several attacks being conducted against police-stations and security posts.
Posted by: Fred || 09/22/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in North Africa

#1  Headline is pointing in the wrong direction. Tizi-Ouzou is east of Algiers, not west. The article is correct.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 09/22/2007 14:17 Comments || Top||


Security guard killed, another injured in bomb attack in Algeria
(KUNA) -- A security guard of an Indian company was killed when an improvised explosive charge, planted in front of the company headquarters south Algiers, went off Friday. The attack took place in Al-Are'aa area, Blida state, some 54 km south Algiers. The bomb was planted close to the main entrance of the company which is active in the high voltage power grids. It damaged the external fence of the company, according to a local police source.

Al-Qaeda Organization in Islamic Maghreb Countries threatened previously to target foreign companies in Algeria. In Sepetember, 2006, the militant organization ambushed a bus carrying personnel of the US Halliburton Co. in Buchawi area, east of Algiers. The attack left two workers, a Lebanese and an Algerian, killed. The organization also attacked a Russian firm in Al-Modia, 100 km south Algiers, killing three Russian workers.
Posted by: Fred || 09/22/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in North Africa


Nine injured in terrorist attack east of Algiers
(KUNA) -- Nine people were injured in a terrorist attack which targeted a foreigners workers convoy in Bouira province east of the capital, said a source in the interior ministry here on Friday. The statement by the ministry revealed that amongst the injured were three foreigners from France and Italy in addition to members of national security as well as the driver.

Explosives were planted on a mountainous road between Akdariya area and Ma'ala town, indicated the source, adding that authorities were searching for people behind the incident while medics were transferring the injured to a nearby hospital. The source assured that the lives of the injured people were not in danger.

Yesterday, a grenade attack targeted an office for an Indian company in Blida province south of Algiers, causing the death of one policeman and the injury of another.

Al-Qaeda network in west of the Islamic world vowed to target foreign businesses in the country beginning with an assault on an U.S. company back in September 2006 which resulted in the death of a Lebanese and an Algerian workers. Another attack also targeted Russian interests here in Medea province, resulting the death of three Russian workers.
Posted by: Fred || 09/22/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in North Africa


Britain
Bomb explodes at UK school
An explosive device went off underneath a car outside a school in Liverpool, north-west England, on Friday, police said, but no injuries were reported.

The device, reportedly involving a nail-bomb, went off outside St Edward's College in the city, said a Merseyside police officer. "There was an explosion under a car at the school this afternoon," said Inspector Michael O'Callaghan. "What caused the explosion and the reasons behind it we are investigating. Nobody has been injured and there has been no collateral damage."

A nearby resident, Damon Younis, said: "There was a bomb, it was a nail-bomb. I don't think anyone was injured. The car was at the entrance to the school and one police car has arrived."

Britain has been on high alert since failed terrorist attacks in London and Glasgow at the end of June, although there was no indication that the Liverpool incident was terrorism-related.
Posted by: Fred || 09/22/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  ...although there was no indication that the Liverpool incident was terrorism-related.

Excepting that it was a nail bomb detonated outside a school.
Posted by: Excalibur || 09/22/2007 9:14 Comments || Top||

#2  Question for our British correspondents:

Is St Edward's College a secondary school, a two-year tertiary school giving out associate degrees rather than full-blown batchelor's, or something else?
Posted by: trailing wife || 09/22/2007 12:34 Comments || Top||

#3  Ah, are the Lutherans at it again?
Posted by: mcsegeek1 || 09/22/2007 16:51 Comments || Top||

#4  The boom apparently wasn't large enough to wake up too many Brits around the locale.
Posted by: Duh! || 09/22/2007 20:21 Comments || Top||

#5  TW, Wikipedia says it's an academically top rated Catholic secondary school with a very good Cathedral choir. Originally boys only, now coed.
Posted by: lotp || 09/22/2007 20:39 Comments || Top||

#6  A nail bomb explodes at a UK school and the website we read about this is a South African one?

I had to use the search feature on the times online site to find a mention of it.

Times Link
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats || 09/22/2007 22:06 Comments || Top||


Europe
Police capture leader of Turkish Hezbollah
Police on Friday captured a leader of the Turkish militant Islamist organization Hezbollah in a raid on a house in the central Anatolian city of Konya, the Anadolu news agency reported.
Turkish Hezbollah is another Frankenstein story. It's a separate bloodline from Leb Hezbollah and its siblings. I understand it was actually helped along in its infancy by the Turkish government, but then turned on the its patrons when they turned out not to be ideologically pure enough.
Wanted for 13 years, police launched the raid after discovering that Mehmet Aga had been living under an alias of H.S. and was carrying false identity papers.

Anadolu reported that Aga was a leader of the illegal group's military wing. Turkish Hezbollah, not related to the Lebanese group of the same name, was established in the 1980s and is believed to be responsible for many murders of Kurdish separatists. It was at first supported by the state, but after the group started murdering moderate Islamists the authorities cracked down and in a shootout in 2000 in Istanbul the leader of the group was killed. Following the shootout police discovered the bodies of around 70 Turkish and Kurdish businessmen who had been tortured and then killed.
This article starring:
Turkish Hezbollah
MEHMET AGATurkish Hezbollah
Posted by: Fred || 09/22/2007 09:09 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Global Jihad

#1  And the Turks can't understand why the Kurds want to have their own state...
Posted by: Old Patriot || 09/22/2007 14:21 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Jesse MacBeth gets five months
A Tacoma man who falsely claimed he was a decorated war hero when he took the stage at demonstrations held in opposition to the U.S.'s role in Iraq was sentenced this morning to five months in prison in U.S. District Court in Seattle. Jesse MacBeth, 23, was also sentenced to three months in a halfway house after his release and three years of probation.

MacBeth claimed that he was an Army ranger who killed more than 200 people, many at close range, including some as they prayed in a mosque. He spoke at an anti-war rally in Tacoma and appeared in a 20-minute anti-war video that circulated widely on the Internet.

In reality, MacBeth made it through only six weeks of Army basic training and never set foot in Iraq. Conservative bloggers exposed MacBeth in May 2006, destroying his credibility and embarrassing the Seattle company that produced the video about his exploits. On June 7, MacBeth pleaded guilty to one count of making false statements to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

MacBeth admitted that he filed a bogus claim for VA benefits in 2005, which included a fraudulent military-discharge form. MacBeth said on the forms that he had been in the Army for more than three years and had achieved the rank of corporal. He also claimed he had been awarded a Purple Heart and that he was discharged because he suffered from post-traumatic-stress disorder.

MacBeth spent 44 days as a private at Fort Benning, Ga., in 2003, but was released "for issues related to entry-level performance and conduct."
MacBeth spent 44 days as a private at Fort Benning, Ga., in 2003, but was released "for issues related to entry-level performance and conduct," according to court papers. PepperSpray Productions in Seattle produced the video titled "Jesse MacBeth: An Iraq Veteran Speaks Out." In the film, MacBeth told nuanced tales of brutal killings he carried out at the behest of his commanding officers. "They would actually feel the hot muzzle of my rifle on their forehead," he reportedly said on the video, which is no longer in circulation.
This article starring:
Jesse MacBeth
PepperSpray Productions
Posted by: Fred || 09/22/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Iraqi Insurgency

#1  Sad, very sad.
Posted by: Besoeker || 09/22/2007 2:26 Comments || Top||

#2  Ever wonder what kos members look and act like?

Well POS Jesse Adam Macbeth seem to be about a perfect fit, he's Guileful, Ghastly, Graceless, and Gawd Awful UGLY!

Heh I won somthin!

Ever wonder what kos members study, what their National ID is and what they have in common?

I suspect a good chunk are Liberal arts & farts undergrads, followed up by Paleos and other foreign nationals,
prepare yourself: all are Losers and all Hate America!

kos, Last but not Least, old professional Hippy Americans make up the last .25%!

~:)
Posted by: Red Dawg || 09/22/2007 2:46 Comments || Top||

#3  Lawz a sad story. Now I rememberz just a couple of months ago I was riding along with Commander Kaos, hey!

Wait a second.
Never mind.
Posted by: MiniGun || 09/22/2007 3:17 Comments || Top||

#4  [span class=moonbat]
Once again, the Bushitler/NeoKKKon/ZioNAZI Regime crushes dissent and tramples our civil liberties to cover up its war crimes!
[/span]
Posted by: Mike || 09/22/2007 7:27 Comments || Top||

#5  should make him spend a year cleaning bedpans in a VA hospital
Posted by: Frank G || 09/22/2007 8:33 Comments || Top||

#6  So there I was... me against a platoon of bedpans with no friends in sight. Teh situation smelled. I suspected fowl play but it was justice they said.
Posted by: Thomas Woof || 09/22/2007 10:03 Comments || Top||

#7  Reminds me of the big battle outside Wang Tang province where I was joined by a combat reporter (Al) withe that 1000-yard stare and a Navy Jg (John) that I know was just going to be trouble. We got some hot info from a hard looking Marine Captain (Murth) that Charlie had set up a Major base near the village of Chow Dung... And that boys and girls is a great begining to a BS story or a skit on SNL. Anyone whith an ounce of common sense would have smelled this rat after the first sentence. But they didn't care if his story was true only that it fit into their agenda. Jesse, I hope you get raped and beaten EVERY day you spend behind bars, it might make up for you crime.
Posted by: Cyber Sarge || 09/22/2007 11:27 Comments || Top||

#8  Anyone whith an ounce of common sense...

Why do they call it 'common' sense when it is so rare?

And the Kossacks couldn't detect BS cause what they "know" about the military is the echo chamber they listen to from Hollyweird. They probably know as much about Tau Ceti Three from watching Star Trek as they know about the real military. Its totally alien to them.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 09/22/2007 13:11 Comments || Top||

#9  Alas, poor Yoric...
Posted by: Phinater Thraviger || 09/22/2007 13:11 Comments || Top||

#10  Something puzzles me about these guys like MacBeth and Beauchamp making up stories. If I was going to tell tall tales about my adventures as a rootin' tootin' ranger, I would be the hero, not a war criminal. I'd be saving orphans and pubbpies, slaughtering entire platoons of bad guys armed with only the tanto given to me by my old kendo teacher on his death bed. Yeah, I'd rock! But with these chumps it is "Hey, look at me I'm human scum!". I don't get it.
Posted by: SteveS || 09/22/2007 13:18 Comments || Top||

#11  and pubbpies,

Heh, make that "puppies". PIMF. And just for the record, it is worth nothing that we really do have heroes out there saving orphans and puppies, building schools, and killing bad guys. They just don't make the news much.
Posted by: SteveS || 09/22/2007 13:22 Comments || Top||

#12  MacBeth claimed that he was an Army ranger who killed more than 200 people, many at close range, including some as they prayed in a mosque.

He lied. He's in jail for lying. Why repeat his lies when you know they are false? Why go there? Guilty but true. The media stoop lower each time they broadcast. When the paradigm shifts, and it will, media and "news" will be changed forever.
Posted by: Thinemp Whimble || 09/22/2007 13:40 Comments || Top||

#13  But with these chumps it is "Hey, look at me I'm human scum!". I don't get it.

Their purpose is to discredit the military. They're singing the Vietnam 'soldier as draftee/victim' song, with a descant of 'those who aren't victims are war criminals'.
Posted by: lotp || 09/22/2007 13:46 Comments || Top||

#14  REAL heroes feel good about themselves and what they've done. They don't need adulation or constant applause. Only make-believe heroes need the constant attention, because they know they're worthless pieces of sh$$.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 09/22/2007 14:26 Comments || Top||

#15  Hear, hear, #14 OP.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 09/22/2007 15:45 Comments || Top||

#16  If this asshat had been born twenty years earlier, he would have been elected as a senator and eventually run for president.
If only we had the internet in 1965.
Posted by: Spinesh Gonque3662 || 09/22/2007 16:00 Comments || Top||

#17  Steve hit the nail on the head in a perfect description of LtJg Kerry.
Kerry the hero: Awarded the Silver Star for shooting a wounded (by 20mm fire) teenager.
Kerry the Villian: "Hey I heard that they were destoying villiages like Ghengis Khan...."
Kerry the Victim: "I was under orders from Nixon in Dec 1968 to cross the border and attack neutral Laos."
Posted by: Cyber Sarge || 09/22/2007 16:35 Comments || Top||

#18  REAL heroes feel good about themselves and what they've done.

I dunno about that. I makes a small change.


REAL heroes should feel good about themselves and what they've done.

Posted by: Thomas Woof || 09/22/2007 17:20 Comments || Top||

#19  Something puzzles me about these guys like MacBeth and Beauchamp making up stories. If I was going to tell tall tales about my adventures as a rootin' tootin' ranger, I would be the hero, not a war criminal.

Step through the looking glass into a cloud cuckoo land of complete moral inversion.
Posted by: Zenster || 09/22/2007 22:31 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
2 Pakistani soldiers injured in suicide attack
A suicide bomber struck a convoy of Pakistani security forces near the country's tribal region on Saturday, injuring two soldiers, the NNI news agency reported. The bomber died in the attack when he rammed an explosive-laden car with a vehicle in the convoy near Tank, a city close to South Waziristan tribal region, according to the News Network International (NNI) news agency. Police said that the army's vehicle was partially damaged in the attack. No group claimed responsibility for the attack yet.

Violence increased in Pakistan's northwest frontier over two months and security forces and policemen in the region have suffered a series of attacks including blasts, firing and kidnappings. Armed tribals, usually referred to as "local Taliban" by local media, in North Waziristan on July 15 scrapped a peace deal reached with the government. The armed tribal militants demanded a military pullout from the region and release of their fighters by the authorities.
Posted by: Fred || 09/22/2007 10:18 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


TNSM hard boyz kill Pakistani policeman, kidnap another
(Xinhua) -- Unknown militants Saturday in an attack on a police checkpost killed one policeman and kidnapped another one near Pakistan's northwest town of Mingora, the state-run APP news agency reported. Armed militants, with grenades, attacked the checkpost five km away from Mingora, a central city of Swat district, which has seen increased violence over two months, according to the wire service Associated Press of Pakistan (APP). The attackers also resorted to firing at the post, resulting in the killing of a constable. They also kidnapped a policeman along with wireless system.

Police have cordoned off the area and started search for the culprits. Following a July military operation against the hard-line Lal Masjid in Islamabad, anti-government elements increased their attacks on security personnel in Pakistan's northwest region.
Maulvi Fazlullah dispatched his myrmidons to attack the gummint yesterday to demonstrate his power and get some of his hard boyz sprung. It looks like TNSM is taking over in Swat.
Posted by: Fred || 09/22/2007 10:16 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: TNSM

#1  Would it be correct to conclude that Pakistan is shrinking without any outside help?
Posted by: trailing wife || 09/22/2007 17:43 Comments || Top||


Three killed as two Taliban groups clash in Waziristan
Three militants were killed and two others including a woman injured when two groups of Taliban clashed in South Waziristan on Friday, security sources and tribal elders said.

“Maulvi Nazir’s men raided a house in the Zari Noor area, four kilometres west of Wana, following a tip-off about the presence of a pro-Uzbek commander and a shootout started,” the security sources told Daily Times. They said that among the three killed were Nizamuddin, brother of pro-Uzbek commander Rafiuddin, and his cousin, adding that it was not clear whether Rafiuddin was present in the house at the time of the attack.

Meanwhile, two tribal policemen were killed when they opened fire on each other in Wana Bazaar after a quarrel, a junior government official said asking not to be named.
"Go fer yer guns, Officer Friendly!"
In Mohmand Agency, five people were killed when their car was hit with a rocket near Qilla Ghai. A tribal elder in Ghalanai said the killed persons were suspected to be car-snatchers.
"My car! Stop, thief!"
"I'll help yez, lady! [KAWOOSH! KABOOM!]"
"My car!"
Assistant Political Agent Syed Ahmed Jan backed the elder’s claim. It is not clear who targeted the alleged criminals.
This article starring:
Assistant Political Agent Syed Ahmed Jan
Maulvi NazirTaliban
NizamuddinTaliban
RafiuddinTaliban
Posted by: Fred || 09/22/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Taliban

#1  Must be the phase of the moon and moon-god.
Posted by: 3dc || 09/22/2007 22:31 Comments || Top||


Ex-minister hurt in Swat attack
Unidentified attackers opened indiscriminate fire on former federal minister and Awami National Party (ANP) leader Muhammad Afzal Khan Lala on Friday, killing his driver and gunman and wounding the ANP leader, his nephew and two servants.

Afzal Lala and his nephew, Matta Tehsil Nazim Abdul Jabbar Khan were going from their ancestral village Deresh Khela to Shakar Darra to offer ‘fateha’ for a friend when their car came under attack at Bedara. Driver Sher Alam Khan and gunman Muhammad Khaliq died instantly while Afzal Lala, Jabbar and Lala’s two servants were wounded and rushed to Matta hospital.

The police registered an FIR against the unidentified attackers. ANP Provincial President Afrasiab Khattak condemned the attack on Afzal Lala saying it was the responsibility of the state to protect the life and property of the citizens.
This article starring:
ANP Provincial President Afrasiab Khattak
Driver Sher Alam Khan
gunman Muhammad Khaliq
his nephew, Matta Tehsil Nazim Abdul Jabbar Khan
Muhammad Afzal Khan Lala
Posted by: Fred || 09/22/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Militants release 25 abducted soldiers
Pro-Taliban militants on Friday released 25 of nearly 250 soldiers they have been holding captive for weeks after the army agreed to pull out of two posts in the northwest, an official and tribal elders said.
Seems like only yesterday the Pak army was grimacing fearsomely and bragging they were gonna stamp out extremism. Or is kidnapping 250 purported soldiers and chopping the heads off one or two of them to keep the rest in line not an example of extremism?
The capture of the soldiers in late August as they were travelling in the South Waziristan region on the Afghan border came during a surge in militant attacks on security forces. The abductions and violence have raised fresh doubts in the minds of many in Pakistan about General Musharraf’s deeply unpopular support for the US-led war on terrorism.
I'm trying to figure why it doesn't raise doubts about the abilities of the vaunted Pak army. But of course they've got their record to fall back on. The desire of so many in Pakistain to overtly change sides in the war -- vice the covert manner they've been engaging in -- shows the dangers of groupthink...
A tribal elder involved in negotiations for the release of the captured soldiers said the militants, who are linked to Al Qaeda and the Taliban, handed over the 25 to a council or jirga of elders. They released six captives early this month. Efforts are underway to secure the release of the others, said an elder Akhtar Gul.

“It’s a good beginning,” said a senior administration official in Wana, South Waziristan’s main town.The militants have been demanding the release of captured comrades and the withdrawal of troops from three posts in the region. The official said security forces had abandoned two hilltop positions after militants demanded that the government abide by a peace agreement signed in 2005.

Remaining soldiers will be released when demands met: Another tribal elder, Aisam-ud-din, said the militants would release the remaining soldiers if their demands were met.

Attacks on security forces and abductions of soldiers have surged in Pakistan’s volatile northwest since July, after army commandos stormed the Lal Masjid in Islamabad and militants scrapped a nine-month-old peace deal in North Waziristan. Suicide bombers have also struck near army headquarters in Rawalpindi and at a commando base near Islamabad. Several hundred people, most of them members of the security forces and militants, have been killed.
This article starring:
Akhtar Gul
Another tribal elder, Aisam-ud-din
Posted by: Fred || 09/22/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Taliban

#1  Abu Drumtosmall claims victory.
Posted by: Thomas Woof || 09/22/2007 17:21 Comments || Top||


Iraq
U.S. Arrests 25 in Sheik Slaying Probe
The U.S. military on Saturday confirmed the arrests of 25 people linked to the assassination of the leader of the U.S.-backed revolt by Sunni Arab tribesmen in the western Anbar province against al-Qaeda in Iraq.
The suspects include the head of the security detail that was supposed to protect Sheik Abdul-Sattar Abu Risha.
The suspects, who include the head of the security detail that was supposed to protect Sheik Abdul-Sattar Abu Risha, killed in a bombing Sept. 13, were detained by Iraqi police, Lt. Col. Jubeir Rashid said, an Iraqi police officer in Anbar.

Abu Risha's killing — just 10 days after his meeting with President Bush — dealt a blow to one of the few success stories in U.S. efforts to stabilize Iraq. The tribal leader was credited with bringing together Anbar sheiks into an alliance against the extremists, after years of American failure to tame flashpoints such as Ramadi and Fallujah. Rashid said Friday that Abu Risha's security chief,
Capt. Karim al-Barghothi, confessed al-Qaeda in Iraq had offered him $1.5 million for the slaying but that he was arrested before he could collect the money.
Capt. Karim al-Barghothi, confessed al-Qaeda in Iraq had offered him $1.5 million for the slaying but that he was arrested before he could collect the money. Two other bodyguards as well as some of Abu Risha's neighbors were also detained, Iraqi police said. The arrests took place two days after the bombing. Al-Qaeda front group the Islamic State of Iraq claimed responsibility for the assassination.

Abu Risha, who organized 25 Sunni Arab clans into an alliance against al-Qaeda, died along with two bodyguards and a driver when a bomb exploded near his walled compound just west of Ramadi, 70 miles west of Baghdad.

Maj. Jeff Pool, a U.S. military spokesman for western Iraq, praised the Iraqi investigation into the attack. The U.S. military earlier said an al-Qaeda-linked militant, identified as Fallah Khalifa Hiyas Fayyas al-Jumayli, an Iraqi also known as Abu Khamis and connected to Abu Risha's death and a plot to kill other tribal leaders, had been arrested during a raid north of Baghdad. Pool said Abu Khamis was arrested with two others.

Abu Risha's death raised concerns that without his powerful presence in the Sunni alliance, Anbar could slide back into violence, but tribesmen in Anbar province have vowed not to be deterred in fighting the terror movement.

There are also fears that the slayings this week of two associates of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq's top Shiite cleric, could worsen a Shiite power struggle in the country's oil-rich south. The killings of the two cleric aides late Thursday in separate shootings within 30 minutes in the southern cities of Basra and Diwaniyah, prompted some clerics to go into hiding or bravely abandon their robes and turbans for their own safety. At least four other associates of al-Sistani have been assassinated in the holy city of Najaf since June, including one stabbed to death about 30 yards from the house where the Iranian-born al-Sistani lives.

The attacks reflected the precarious security across much of Iraq and suggested that the Shiite-Shiite competition for domination in the south is growing deeper and bloodier. Additionally, the recent withdrawal of British troops from central Basra to the nearby airport has threatened to allow Iraq's second-largest city become a free-for-all for rival Shiite factions.
This article starring:
al-Qaeda in Iraq
Islamic State of Iraq
Capt. Karim al-Barghothi
Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani
Lt. Col. Jubeir Rashid
Maj. Jeff Pool, a U.S. military spokesman
Sheik Abdul-Sattar Abu Risha
Posted by: Fred || 09/22/2007 09:39 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Iraq

#1  does the AP even read their own stuff before putting it out?

Headline: "U.S. Arrests 25 in Sheik Slaying Probe"

First paragraph:
"The suspects, who include the head of the security detail that was supposed to protect Sheik Abdul-Sattar Abu Risha, killed in a bombing Sept. 13, were detained by Iraqi police,..."

Gotta give the impression that this is a pure U.S. show with the headline...just shoulda buried the facts deeper, I guess.
Posted by: Justrand || 09/22/2007 10:25 Comments || Top||

#2  "The suspects, who include the head of the security detail"

Which is why Blackwater is still needed over there.
Posted by: OldSpook || 09/22/2007 16:38 Comments || Top||


Feds probe Blackwater arms smuggling, sale to PKK
Remember those US weapons that went missing in Iraq?
Federal prosecutors are investigating whether employees of the private security firm Blackwater USA illegally smuggled into Iraq weapons that may have been sold on the black market and ended up in the hands of a U.S.-designated terrorist organization, officials said Friday.

The U.S. Attorney's Office in Raleigh, N.C., is handling the investigation with help from Pentagon and State Department auditors, who have concluded there is enough evidence to file charges, the officials told The Associated Press. Blackwater is based in Moyock, N.C. Officials with knowledge of the case said it is active, although at an early stage. They spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter, which has heightened since 11 Iraqis were killed Sunday in a shooting involving Blackwater contractors protecting a U.S. diplomatic convoy in Baghdad.

The officials could not say whether the investigation would result in indictments, how many Blackwater employees are involved or if the company itself, which has won hundreds of millions of dollars in government security contracts since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, is under scrutiny.
This would ruin them as a company.
In Saturday's editions, The News & Observer of Raleigh reported that two former Blackwater employees — Kenneth Wayne Cashwell of Virginia Beach, Va., and William Ellsworth "Max" Grumiaux of Clemmons, N.C. — are cooperating with federal investigators.

Cashwell and Grumiaux pleaded guilty in early 2007 to possession of stolen firearms that had been shipped in interstate or foreign commerce, and aided and abetted another in doing so
Cashwell and Grumiaux pleaded guilty in early 2007 to possession of stolen firearms that had been shipped in interstate or foreign commerce, and aided and abetted another in doing so, according to court papers viewed by The Associated Press. In their plea agreements, which call for a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, the men agreed to testify in any future proceedings.

Calls to defense attorneys were not immediately returned Friday evening, and calls to the telephone listings for both men also were not returned.

The News & Observer, citing unidentified sources, reported that the probe was looking at whether Blackwater had shipped unlicensed automatic weapons and military goods to Iraq without a license. The paper's report that the company itself was under investigation could not be confirmed by the AP.

According to officials in Washington, the investigation grew from internal Pentagon and State Department inquiries into U.S. weapons that had gone missing in Iraq. It gained steam after Turkish authorities protested to the U.S. in July that they had seized American arms from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, rebels. The Turks provided serial numbers of the weapons to U.S. investigators, said a Turkish official.

The Pentagon said in late July it was looking into the Turkish complaints and a U.S. official said FBI agents had traveled to Turkey in recent months to look into cases of missing U.S. weapons in Iraq. Investigators are determining whether the alleged Blackwater weapons match those taken from the PKK.

It was not clear if Blackwater employees suspected of selling to the black market knew the weapons they allegedly sold to middlemen might wind up with the PKK. If they did, possible charges against them could be more serious than theft or illegal weapons sales, officials said.
Posted by: lotp || 09/22/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Force them to sell their equipment to our Military in Iraq, investigate them legally, Where is wackenhut?

If you cannot run an arms room, you cannot run security.
Posted by: newc || 09/22/2007 1:00 Comments || Top||

#2  Not. Good. If convicted, this should end their work in Iraq and elsewhere.
Posted by: Zenster || 09/22/2007 1:13 Comments || Top||

#3  I smell a Turkish rat here. Blackwater may or may not have smuggled weapons in Iraq. But smuggling guns into Iraq wouldn't appear to be a high profit enterprise. For them then to end up in the hands of the PKK strikes me as unlikely.

The Turks have a history of manufactured incidents conveniently blamed on the Kurds. At a guess I'd say the Turks bought the weapons in Iraq. Shipped them back to Turkey amd then found them on Kurds.
Posted by: phil_b || 09/22/2007 7:52 Comments || Top||

#4  A little side business going on I bet, wihtout corporate involvment. And its entirely plausible that their middlemen told them it was for teh Pashmerga, and they then rerouted to the PKK. Asode from that, screw the Turks. They havent helped us, and have been more of a hinderence - starting back in the original invastion (one of the reasons we have had such a ahard tiem of it was the 4th ID was slated for the SUnni Triangle and was not allowed to enter via Turkey), and continuign with their racist supression of the Kurds. And now they are going Islamist. I'd arm the PKK and let them run wild in N Iran and E turkey, and remind the Turks that their actions (and inaction) have a price.

Posted by: OldSpook || 09/22/2007 9:40 Comments || Top||

#5  I seem to recall reading there were problems with Iraqi Army and Police recruits selling the weapons they'd been issued. Could there be a connection?
Posted by: trailing wife || 09/22/2007 17:49 Comments || Top||

#6  That's strange. One would think that they would have effective controls to prevent this.
Posted by: McZoid || 09/22/2007 20:33 Comments || Top||


Georgian troops in Iraq deploy along borders with Iran
(KUNA) -- Georgian troops, part of the multinational force in Iraq, are preparing to deploy in the shape of check points along the eastern Iraqi borders with Iran, a Georgian Army General said on Friday. The troops were ordered, and after conferring with Iraqi government officials, to establish check points in Wasset province along the borders with Iran, said in a press release. Georgian troops operating in the province exceeds 2,000 soldiers.
Posted by: Fred || 09/22/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: IRGC

#1  First the Brits, now the Georgians. Hmmm.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 09/22/2007 0:35 Comments || Top||

#2  Interesting to see the Georgians taking this sort of role. They manned checkpoints in the IZ when I was there (second year). I recall one double checkpoint near the Convention Center (parliament) where one side had Peruvian security contractors and the other side the Georgians - I'd roll down the windows and greet the Peruvians in Spanish and the Georgians with my limited stock of Georgian salutations. Both of them seemed to enjoy that.

Let's not forget the solid contribution by so many small (true) allies in this war (oops, this "unilateral" venture). Georgia, Poland, El Salvador - several small countries have posted up when it mattered, even if their capacity is small. My leisure travel menu in the near future will be entirely determined by such considerations - already done plenty of time in Georgia, but Australia and Poland, to name two, are high on the list.
Posted by: Verlaine || 09/22/2007 3:20 Comments || Top||

#3  Old Joe Johnston did a pretty fair job at Kennesaw. I wouldn't sell them Goergians too short.
Posted by: Besoeker || 09/22/2007 3:36 Comments || Top||

#4  Two thousand regulars is close to a brigade, pretty decent sized unit.
Posted by: badanov || 09/22/2007 6:25 Comments || Top||

#5  It also "internationalizes" (is that a word?) the ineveitable clash(es) with Iranian weapons smugglers
Posted by: Frank G || 09/22/2007 9:07 Comments || Top||

#6  The hidden message of the coalition is that there are still countries who really want to be friends with the US, despite what the loudmouths out there say. It's also noteworthy that most governments that despise the US are leftists, resulting in mood swings when they change governments from left to right.

It also is good reason for people of goodwill on the right to join forces, as those of ill intent on the left have long ago.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 09/22/2007 9:46 Comments || Top||

#7  Verlaine, don't forget Tonga!
Posted by: Chuck Simmins || 09/22/2007 10:01 Comments || Top||

#8  Joe Johnston did a pretty fair job at Kennesaw

JJ did a pretty fair job everwhere, ifn he had been allowed to keep command in front of Atlanta we might'a bleed them D*** Y****** to death before the election.
Posted by: Thomas Woof || 09/22/2007 10:05 Comments || Top||

#9  The above is just one dawgs opinon.
Posted by: J Bellhousing Hood (moron) || 09/22/2007 10:13 Comments || Top||


Tip leads Ameriya volunteers to large cache
Volunteers uncovered a large munitions cache based off of a tip called in by a local citizen in the Ameriya neighborhood of Baghdad Sept. 18.

Late in the afternoon Sept. 18, an Iraqi citizen from Ameriya walked into the volunteer force headquarters and provided a tip on a nearby weapons cache. The civilian volunteer force, commonly referred to as the Farsan Al Rafidayn (Arabic for “knights between the rivers”) or FAR, dispatched a patrol and uncovered the cache.

Once the FAR volunteers arrived on the scene, a quick search of the residence uncovered a large amount of weapons, ammunition and improvised explosive device-making material. In all, more than 60 mortar rounds, 50 pounds of homemade explosives, 10 blocks of TNT, three smoke grenades, 20 blasting caps, 100 rounds of ammunition and 22 portable radios were found. The volunteers turned over all items to 1st Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment Soldiers. These items were transferred to an explosive ordnance disposal team for destruction.
Posted by: Fred || 09/22/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Iraqi Insurgency

#1  Shock and awe!
Posted by: trailing wife || 09/22/2007 17:53 Comments || Top||


One terrorist killed, eight suspected terrorists detained
Coalition forces killed one terrorist and detained eight suspected terrorists during several operations Friday targeting al-Qaeda in Iraq leaders in the central part of the country.

Coalition forces captured a suspected leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq in the Arab Jabour area during operations in Baghdad. The individual is believed to build bombs for the Baghdad car-bombing network and has oversight of their past and future attacks. This individual is also believed to facilitate the movement and training of foreign terrorists in the region.

During the course of operations, an armed terrorist maneuvered toward security elements. Using appropriate self-defense measures, Coalition forces killed the armed terrorist. Coalition forces also received small arms and machine gun fire from an enemy element that had moved into the target area. Coalition forces called in close air support and returned fire in self-defense. Because of the security situation on the objective, ground forces were not able to determine if any enemy were killed or wounded by the aircraft fire.

In addition to the targeted individual, ground forces detained three suspected terrorists on the scene.

Also in the capital city, Coalition forces conducted a precision operation and captured one suspected terrorist tied to a senior leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq in the southern belt around Baghdad.

Northeast of Ramadi, Coalition forces detained one suspected terrorist believed to facilitate weapons logistics for al-Qaeda in Iraq and terrorists in other countries. Coalition forces also detained two suspected terrorists in operations southeast of Balad.

"Al-Qaeda in Iraq is operating in a degraded state," said Maj. Winfield Danielson, MNF-I spokesman. "Every operation gives us better information, enabling us to target and capture more al-Qaeda in Iraq senior leaders."

Posted by: Fred || 09/22/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Iraq


Iraqi Forces, U.S. Special Forces detain six terrorists in Baghdad
Iraqi Forces, with U.S. Special Forces as advisers, detained four militant extremists and two al Qaeda in Iraq terrorists during two operations Sept. 20 in the Baghdad area.

During one of the operations, Iraqi Special Operations Forces detained an alleged militant extremist commander and three suspected insurgents in the Aamel area of Baghdad.

The alleged militant extremist company commander operates out of Hay Al-Amil and is suspected of directing other extremists to conduct kidnappings, executions and mortar attacks against innocent Sunni civilians.

One other high-level extremist and two suspected insurgents were detained during the operation.

Four AK-47 assault rifles, three magazines, one computer, four cell phones and one video camera were seized.

In a separate operation targeting al Qaeda in Iraq criminals, Soldiers from the 6th Iraqi Army Division detained two Sunni extremists during an early-morning operation in Arab Jabour. One of the detainees is suspected of commanding a cell that conducts extra judicial killings and specializes in attacks using improvised explosive devices in the Jabour area.
Posted by: Fred || 09/22/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Iraqi Insurgency


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Splodydope thwarted in Tel Aviv
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli police seized an explosive belt that was intended to be used in a Tel Aviv suicide bomb attack on the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, a police spokesman said on Saturday. Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said police raided an apartment in Israel's commercial capital early on Saturday and arrested four people, including a suspected would-be suicide bomber and an explosive belt he was planning to use.

An army spokeswoman said Palestinian militants arrested during a raid in West Bank city of Nablus earlier this week had been planning the attack. Two militants and an Israeli soldier were killed during the raid.

The Hamas leader in al-Ein refugee camp gave the explosive belt to a Nablus resident who worked in Tel Aviv, she said. A news report said the belt was smuggled in parts and was assembled in the apartment. Both men were arrested during this week's raid and led police to the suspects arrested in Tel Aviv, she added.
Posted by: Steve White || 09/22/2007 16:36 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Clearly, Ehud Barak is the right man for the job.
Posted by: trailing wife || 09/22/2007 17:33 Comments || Top||


IDF captures head of Nablus cell planning suicide bombing
The Israel Defense Forces captured Friday the most wanted Hamas militant in the West Bank city of Nablus, bringing to an end a four-day operation aimed at thwarting a suicide bombing in Israel. The wanted Hamas militant, 34-year-old Nihad Shkirat, is believed to have headed a joint Hamas and Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine cell in the city. According to intelligence information, the cell was planning to carry out a suicide bombing attack in central Israel during the holidays.

Shkirat was detained by elite undercover IDF troops. According to Israel Radio, IDF troops have withdrawn from the West Bank city. The radio said a total of 49 wanted Palestinians were arrested by security forces in the course of the operation. In recent days, the IDF deployed large forces in the Ein Beit Ilma refugee camp in Nablus in an effort to capture the militant cell. During the operation, Staff Sergeant Ben-Zion Henman was killed, as were two Palestinians - a civilian and an armed PFLP militant.

Early Thursday morning, the IDF arrested the would-be suicide bomber in the neighborhood of Jibal Shimali, in Nablus. In the refugee camp, the IDF also arrested the person who recruited the bomber and another militant whose role was to lead the terrorist to his target. The explosive belt the terrorist was to have worn in the attack was not found.

Also Friday, the IDF struck Gaza militants who were preparing to fire mortar shells at targets in Israel. The army said the militants belong to a cell that had already fired at Israel. Palestinian sources did not report any casualties.

Meanwhile, thousands of police and volunteers were deployed Friday morning throughout Israel in preparation for Yom Kippur. The IDF imposed a full closure on the West Bank for the duration of the holiday, Israel Radio reported, in an effort to prevent possible terror attacks. As part of the closure, police and soldiers at checkpoints near the West Bank cities of Ramallah and Bethlehem turned away several thousand Palestinians who tried to enter Jerusalem for the second weekly prayers of the holy month of Ramadan.
This article starring:
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
Nihad Shkirat
Staff Sergeant Ben-Zion Henman
Posted by: Fred || 09/22/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Hamas


Three IDF troops lightly hurt in Gaza ops; 20 Palestinians arrested
Posted by: Fred || 09/22/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Hamas


Sri Lanka
Sri Lankan Warplanes Bomb Rebel Meeting
Sri Lankan fighter jets bombed a Tamil Tiger military base in the rebel-held far north yesterday triggering multiple explosions, the air force said, while a suspected rebel roadside bomb killed one civilian in the east.

The airstrike near the town of Puthukkudiyiruppu in the northern district of Mullaittivu was targeted at top leaders of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and was the second such raid in the area in as many days.

“We got to know through intelligence there was a high-ranking meeting of the LTTE, so we took out the target,” said Air Force spokesman Group Capt. Ajantha De Silva. “It was an LTTE military complex called Imbran Pandian regiment.” He had no details of any casualties.
Posted by: Fred || 09/22/2007 10:27 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Meeting adjourned! *urk*
Posted by: Dar || 09/22/2007 15:28 Comments || Top||

#2  "crap! Now we'll never get a quorum"
Posted by: Frank G || 09/22/2007 15:51 Comments || Top||

#3  Outstanding...
Posted by: john frum || 09/22/2007 16:25 Comments || Top||

#4  can anyone pronounce those town names?
Posted by: sinse || 09/22/2007 18:13 Comments || Top||

#5  They're no difficulty at all for one with a command of Welsh.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 09/22/2007 18:33 Comments || Top||

#6  The Welsh can be commanded? When did that happen?
Posted by: trailing wife || 09/22/2007 18:43 Comments || Top||

#7  In the days of Owain Glwndwr, TW.
Posted by: lotp || 09/22/2007 20:43 Comments || Top||

#8  And will happen again when Arthur and his sleeping knights ride forth from their cave at Craig y Ddinas ...
Posted by: lotp || 09/22/2007 20:48 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
SpaceWar: Israel seized North Korean nuclear material from Syria
Further speculation or hard facts to support this story?
Elite Israeli forces seized North Korean nuclear material during a raid on a secret military site in Syria before Israeli warplanes bombed it September 6, a newspaper reported Sunday.

The Sunday Times quoted well-placed sources as saying the commandos seized the material from a compound near Dayr az-Zwar in northern Syria and that tests of it in Israel showed it was of North Korean origin.

Israel had been surveying the site for months, according to Washington and Israeli sources quoted by the newspaper which gave no date for the commando raid or details about the material seized.

An unidentified senior American source quoted by The Sunday Times added that the US government sought proof of nuclear-related activities before allowing the air strike by F-151 warplanes to go ahead.

The raid by the elite Sayeret Matkal was personally directed by Ehud Barak, Israel's defence minister who once commanded the unit, the newspaper said.

It said he had been preoccupied with the site since assuming his post on June 18.

The White House insisted Friday that it was "clear-eyed" about North Korea as it stonewalled questions about an Israeli strike allegedly sparked by nuclear cooperation between Pyongyang and Syria.

If true, transfers of atomic technology from the Stalinist state would cast a dark cloud over US policy towards North Korea, which US President George W. Bush, weighed down by the unpopular war in Iraq, has hailed as a success story.

North Korea has angrily denied sharing atomic know-how with Damascus, and some news reports have suggested that Israel's target was actually tied to missile exports from the cash-strapped regime to Syria.

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino flatly refused to confirm or deny media reports that Israel struck a nuclear site but sharply rejected suggestions that the incident showed Washington had been naive about Pyongyang's intentions.
Posted by: 3dc || 09/22/2007 20:26 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Everyone knows those Israeli commandos are the far side of Superman.
Posted by: trailing wife || 09/22/2007 20:56 Comments || Top||

#2  Stick a fork in Kim, he's done. Same with Assad.
Posted by: Zenster || 09/22/2007 20:58 Comments || Top||

#3  Time to dig out the DVD and watch Independence Day again. Best 'Israeli commando' image lightly camoflaged in a feel good movie. The scene where Jeff Goldblum smokes a cigar with Will Smith before they go off to attack the mother ship is a classic. Judd Hirsch did a pretty good dad gig on that one too, albeit played pretty broadly. But then it was that sort of film.

Hmmm .... are cigars covered by the kashrut laws?
Posted by: lotp || 09/22/2007 21:02 Comments || Top||

#4  Total revelation about the interdiction is still not 'public' yet. I believe the Israelis plowed two conventional 'bunker busters' into the site to achieve the depth required for the fallout containment of that 'Dial-A-Yield' tactical nuke they GPS'd into the bore. That info, is the 800 lb gorilla' they don't want revealed to the world yet!

Posted by: smn || 09/22/2007 22:18 Comments || Top||

#5  Trailing Wife (#1), obviously the US knew and was in the loop prior to September 6th, and before August 30th, that the Israelis were 'Hot To Go' with the total neutralization of the Syrian nuclear initialization program. see http://www.energy-net.org/IS/EN/NUKE/POL/INT/NEWS/0790955.TXT
which may explain why the Iranians backed off jumping into the fray for their good friends, the Syrians, after the leak on the B52 which WAS meant for Iranian retaliatory initiatives that didn't pan out. By the way, The Iranians still don't know where those 6 warheads are.
Posted by: smn || 09/22/2007 22:35 Comments || Top||

#6  Actually an AFP story - Specawaer is merely the messenger.
Posted by: Pappy || 09/22/2007 22:36 Comments || Top||

#7  Nice work IDF!
Posted by: Mike || 09/22/2007 22:42 Comments || Top||

#8  Thank you, smn. I'll trust your judgement on what I'm about to read, and I must admit to enjoying your conclusions. :-)

lotp, there are laws of kashrut for everything Man has ever thought of and done, and likely quite a few things that don't fit into those sets. The rabbis have been at it for over 2,000 years after all. There are other Rantburgers more knowledgeable about such things, but no doubt they're recovering from their Yom Kippur fasts.
Posted by: trailing wife || 09/22/2007 22:44 Comments || Top||

#9  Either way, Israeli planes blowing the shit out of Syrians makes me happy.
Posted by: DarthVader || 09/22/2007 23:01 Comments || Top||

#10  Trailing Wife, when I revealed my thoughts on the operation "Total Level" last week, Frank G chided me as being preposterous with that idea. Now the UK TimesOnline (and through Drudge) is releasing the operation 'Project Checkmate' to the readers, and although I got the exact phrase wrong, my source was correct that the initiative is well on track and on the table as a viable level 1 option to the USs withdrawal plans! I'm now vindicated!
Posted by: smn || 09/22/2007 23:13 Comments || Top||

#11  uh huh....
Posted by: Frank G || 09/22/2007 23:19 Comments || Top||

#12  I still say there is more disinformation around this story than information.
Some questions I have about nuclear material 'fingerprints':
1) Can we ID all the source reactors that contributed bomb material if the bomb is built with a 'blended' fuel?
2) Did the NorK 'fizzle' kick out enough material for us to have their fingerprint now (or did we already have it through the inspection program)?
3) The Iranians are making bomb ingredients - how will we ID something from their reactor(s) - process of elimination?
Posted by: Glenmore || 09/22/2007 23:33 Comments || Top||


Lebanon bids farewell to slain anti-Syrian MP
Crowds gathered in Beirut on Friday for the funeral of an anti-Syrian Christian legislator whose assassination has fueled tensions ahead of Lebanon's bitterly contested presidential election. Antoine Ghanem, 64, was the target of a car bomb attack in east Beirut on Wednesday that also killed four others. He was the seventh anti-Syrian leader to be slain since the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri. Ghanem's allies in Lebanon's anti-Syrian governing coalition blamed his death on Damascus, which condemned the attack.
This article starring:
Antoine Ghanem
Rafik al-Hariri
Posted by: Fred || 09/22/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Small bomb explodes in Baalbek, Lebanon
A small bomb exploded in the Bekaa Valley's ancient town of Baalbek early Friday, inflicting damage, but causing no casualties. The state-run National News Agency said the bomb went off at 3:20 a.m. in Baalbek's Shrawneh neighborhood near shops that sell vegetables. The explosion inflicted damage to the shops, the main road and some surrounding property, NNA reported. The short report did not disclose further details beyond stating that an investigation was launched.
Posted by: Fred || 09/22/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Terror Networks
All your terrorist videos are ours!: Abu Omar Al-Baghdadi
Posted by: 3dc || 09/22/2007 16:33 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Uh oh -- cat fight!
Posted by: trailing wife || 09/22/2007 17:30 Comments || Top||

#2  Pretty soon they'll be sending DMCA C&D letters from their lawyers. No doubt the MPAA will support their claim.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 09/22/2007 18:01 Comments || Top||

#3  Oh yeah, My Allah is bigger than both their Allahs -- combined!!!!
Posted by: The Twelfth Imam || 09/22/2007 18:23 Comments || Top||

#4  A gorgeous example of taqiyya coming home to roost. Who to believe? I say, "all of them" and prosecute accordingly. They can all take credit for this thuggery and they can all die for it as well.
Posted by: Zenster || 09/22/2007 21:16 Comments || Top||


Good morning
Posted by: Fred || 09/22/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "Knock me down with a feather, Clever Trevor!"

(h/t the late Ian Dury)
Posted by: JDB || 09/22/2007 2:51 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
48[untagged]
7Taliban
7Govt of Syria
6Iraqi Insurgency
4Hamas
3al-Qaeda in North Africa
2al-Qaeda in Iraq
2TNSM
2al-Qaeda
1IRGC
1Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal
1Global Jihad
1Jamaat-e-Islami
1Muslim Brotherhood
1Govt of Iran
1Islamic Courts

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Two weeks of WOT
Sat 2007-09-22
  Islamists stage rally against Musharraf
Fri 2007-09-21
  Binny Declares War on Perv
Thu 2007-09-20
  al-Awdah turns against Al Qaeda
Wed 2007-09-19
  Beirut car bomb kills another anti-Syrian lawmaker
Tue 2007-09-18
  Rappani Khalilov Waxed
Mon 2007-09-17
  Pak Talibs agree to release abducted soldiers?
Sun 2007-09-16
  Sadr's movement pulls out of Iraq alliance
Sat 2007-09-15
  Sudan offers truce in Darfur
Fri 2007-09-14
  Majority OKs Berri's initiative to resolve Lebanon crisis
Thu 2007-09-13
  Pakistan 115th most peaceful country
Wed 2007-09-12
  Suicide bomber kills 16 in Pakistan
Tue 2007-09-11
  Six Years: Never forgive, never forget, never "understand"!
Mon 2007-09-10
  Petraeus reports
Sun 2007-09-09
  Germans hunt 49 in 'Fritz the Taliban' terror plot
Sat 2007-09-08
  Binny: "Convert or die, infidels!"

Better than the average link...



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