On this day in history: April 8th
1513 Explorer Juan Ponce de León declares Florida a territory of Spain.
1820 The Venus de Milo is discovered on the Aegean island of Melos.
1895 The Supreme Court of the United States declares unapportioned income tax to be unconstitutional in Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co.
1904 Longacre Square in Midtown Manhattan is renamed Times Square after The New York Times. (Maybe it'll become Bankrupt Square)
1913 The 17th Amendment to the United States Constitution, requiring direct election of Senators, becomes law.
1942 Siege of Leningrad Soviet forces open a much-needed railway link to Leningrad.
1942 The Japanese take Bataan in the Philippines.
1943 U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, in an attempt to check inflation, freezes wages and prices.
1952 U.S. President Harry Truman calls for the seizure of all domestic steel mills to prevent a nationwide strike.
2000 Nineteen Marines are killed when an V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft crashes near Marana, Arizona
#5
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#7
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1. Mary Pickford was Canadian - that's part of "America", too.
2. The 17th Amendment has been a disaster, stripping the States of THEIR representative, and giving us another politician that can be bought with campaign funds. It needs to be repealed.
3. You bake cornpone, but you deep-fry chitlins. The best dish in that photo is the cook.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/08/2009 14:26 Comments ||
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The Japanese slaughtered as many as 30 million Filipinos, Malays, Vietnamese, Cambodians, Indonesians and Burmese, at least 23 million of them ethnic Chinese.
Somali pirates seized a Danish-owned, U.S.-operated container ship on Wednesday with 21 American crew on board in the latest of a sharp rise in attacks off the Horn of Africa nation, a maritime group said.
Andrew Mwangura of the Kenya-based East African Seafarers' Assistance Programme said the 17,000 ton vessel was hijacked in the Indian Ocean 400 miles off the Somali capital Mogadishu. He said all the crew were believed to be safe, and that the vessel had been tentatively identified as the Maersk Alabama.
Perhaps this is the crisis Joe Biden has been waiting for ...
Gunmen from Somalia seized a British-owned ship on Monday after hijacking another three vessels over the weekend.
In the first three months of 2009 only eight ships had been hijacked in the busy Gulf of Aden, which links Europe to Asia and the eastern Indian Ocean through the Suez Canal.
Last year, heavily armed Somali pirates hijacked dozens of vessels, took hundreds of sailors hostage, often for weeks, and extracted millions of dollars in ransoms. Foreign navies rushed warships to the area in response and have reduced the number of successful attacks in recent months. But there are still near-daily attempts and the pirates have started hunting further afield near the Seychelles.
On Monday, they hijacked a British-owned, Italian-operated ship with 16 Bulgarian crew members on board. Over the weekend, they also seized a French yacht, a Yemeni tug and a 20,000-tonne German container vessel. Interfax news agency said the Hansa Stavanger had a German captain, three Russians, two Ukrainians and 14 Filipinos on board.
The pirates typically use speed boats launched from "mother ships," which means they can sometimes evade foreign navies patrolling the busy shipping lanes and strike far out to sea. They take captured vessels to remote coastal village bases in Somalia, where they have usually treated their hostages well in anticipation of a sizeable ransom payment.
Pirates stunned the shipping industry last year when they seized a Saudi supertanker loaded with $100 million worth of crude oil. The Sirius Star and its 25 crew were freed in January after $3 million was parachuted onto its deck.
Last September, they also grabbed world headlines seizing a Ukrainian cargo ship carrying 33 Soviet-era T-72 tanks. It was released in February, reportedly for a $3.2 million ransom. What a disgrace. It's past time to deploy Marine security teams and naval gunners on these ships when they are about to enter lawless waters. Thomas Jefferson wouldn't have stood for it.
#1
We should declare war on Somalia and clear out the pirate havens. If this means the fishing fleets in the Horn are eliminated too, so be it. It will help restore the balance of the ecosystem in the area.
#2
In Roman times piracy became a real nuisance, finally fed up w/the sea dogs Pompey Magnus put together a crack fleet and basically went to war on them insofar as to burn their home ports. The pirate threat died out w/in about 3 months.
#3
It will be interesting to see if Barry initiates the Jimmy Carter, Tehran hostage negotiation, do nothing protocal. I doubt he remembers the details of the incident. That affair was just over 30 years ago, and no one knows for certain what Barry was actually doing back then, fog of time or fog of something, etc.
#4
Nah - Barry will act swiftly and decisively to meet whatever the pirate's demand - thus putting a price on the head of any American in a foreign country.
#5
Not so sure CF. The ship is a Danish, as in Danish Mooslim cartoons, and owned by A.P. Møller - Mærsk A/S, an old, highly successfully, investor owned company. The ship is named the... A l a b a m a. This may drag on for a while.
WASHINGTON The Pentagon says it appears the American crew of a hijacked ship has regained control of the vessel.
Pentagon sources spoke on condiiton of anonymity because informatiomn was still preliminary. But sources say the hijacked crew apparently contacted the private shipping company they work for.
The shipping company, Maersk, has scheduled a noon press conference in Norfolk, Va.
#14
NAIROBI, Kenya Pentagon officials said Wednesday that the American crew of a U.S.-flagged cargo ship had retaken control from Somali pirates who hijacked the vessel far off the Horn of Africa.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because information was still preliminary. But they said the hijacked crew had apparently contacted the private company that operates the ship.
At a noon news conference, Maersk Line Ltd. CEO John Reinhart said that the company was working to contact families of the crew. "Speculation is a dangerous thing when you're in a fluid environment. I will not confirm that the crew has overtaken this ship," he said.
A U.S. official said the crew had retaken control and had one pirate in custody. The official said the status of the other pirates was unknown but they were reported to "be in the water." The official spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.
The ship was carrying emergency relief to Mombasa, Kenya, when it was hijacked, said Peter Beck-Bang, spokesman for the Copenhagen-based container shipping group A.P. Moller-Maersk.
#16
Being ex Navy, those merchant marines I knew were a rough bunch, threw them overside? GOOD
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
04/08/2009 12:27 Comments ||
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#17
Capt. Joseph Murphy, an instructor at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy, told The Associated Press the Department of Defense that his son Shane, the second in command on the ship, had called him to say the crew had regained control.
"The crew is back in control of the ship," a U.S. official said at midday, speaking on condition of anonymity because she was not authorized to speak on the record. "It's reported that one pirate is on board under crew controlthe other three were trying to flee," the official said. The status of the other pirates was unknown, the official said, but they were reported to "be in the water."
Posted by: Stephen Wilson ||
04/08/2009 12:37 Comments ||
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#19
American crew members aboard a U.S.-flagged ship have regained control of the vessel hijacked by pirates off the coast of Somalia Wednesday, FOX News confirms.
One pirate is reportedly in custody. A U.S. official said the status of the other pirates is unknown but they were reported to "be in the water."
"All the crew members are trained in security detail in how to deal with piracy," Maersk CEO John Reinhart told reporters. "As merchant vessels we do not carry arms. We have ways to push back, but we do not carry arms."
The U.S. Navy ordered its ships to the scene after pirates commandeered the Maersk Alabama cargo ship crewed by 20 U.S. citizens early Wednesday morning. Officials would not say how many Navy ships are on the scene nor would it confirm the nationality of the crew members, but sources told FOX News the Danish-owned ship is operated by U.S. shipping company, Maersk Line Limited.
Pentagon Spokesman Bryan Whitman said he has "no information to suggest the 20 crew members of the Maersk Alabama have been harmed by the pirates."
During its one communication with the ship, Maersk was told the crew was safe, Reinhart said. He would not release the names of the crew members.
#20
For the other *15* ships still in pirate hands, start delivering ransom payments spiked with GPS transmitters and 24-48 hours later fire at will on whatever coordinates show up.
#22
Roll Alabama Roll. Not the Crimson Tide, it's a Civil War song about the CSS Alabama.
When the Alabamas keel was laid,
Roll, Alabama Roll.
It was laid in the yard of Jonathan Laird,
Roll, Alabama, Roll!
It was laid in the yard of Jonathan Laird,
Roll, Alabama, Roll!
It was laid in the town of Birkenhead
Oh Roll, Alabama, Roll.
Down the Mersey ways she rolled then,
Roll, Alabama, roll.
Liverpool fitted her with guns and men
Roll, Alabama, roll.
And across the Western she ploughed her way.
Oh, roll, Alabama, roll!
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
04/08/2009 13:19 Comments ||
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#23
Expect an apology to the pirates from Washington in 10, 9, 8, 7, ....
Pentagon officials said Wednesday that the American crew of a U.S.-flagged cargo ship had retaken control from Somali pirates who hijacked the vessel far off the Horn of Africa.
Go Americans!
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because information was still preliminary. But they said the hijacked crew had apparently contacted the private company that operates the ship.
At a noon news conference, Maersk Line Ltd. CEO John Reinhart said that the company was working to contact families of the crew. "Speculation is a dangerous thing when you're in a fluid environment. I will not confirm that the crew has overtaken this ship," he said.
A U.S. official said the crew had retaken control and had one pirate in custody. "The crew is back in control of the ship," a U.S. official said at midday, speaking on condition of anonymity because she was not authorized to speak on the record. "It's reported that one pirate is on board under crew control -- the other three were trying to flee," the official said. The status of the other pirates was unknown, the official said, but they were reported to "be in the water."
The official said the status of the other pirates was unknown but they were reported to "be in the water." The official spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.
Another U.S. official, citing a readout from an interagency conference call, said: "Multiple reliable sources are now reporting that the Maersk Alabama is now under control of the U.S. crew. The crew reportedly has one pirate in custody. The status of others is unclear, they are believed to be in the water." Heavily shark infested water. Cue the theme to "Jaws".
#3
It'll be interesting to follow what happens to the sole "disadvantaged yoot" whom they did not toss into the drink.
Maybe The Zero's Justice Department will have him released to the custody of Moderate Muzzies (TM) who will show him how to spend his forthcoming welfare redistributive income.....
#8
Fox News is saying that the pirates are still holding the ship's captain and the crew is in 'negotiations'.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
04/08/2009 14:25 Comments ||
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#9
If I were a shipping company executive, I'd be on the phone looking for a half-dozen martial arts instructors to train my crew in unarmed combat. Ex-Green Berets, Rangers, and Seals, members of the Korean Marines, and even a few Japanese martial arts instructors could mop up, and pirates would find their current occupation not quite so lucrative - or safe.
The other thought that crossed my mind is that we may have our "Q-ship"...
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/08/2009 14:43 Comments ||
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#10
The BBC just interviewed an 'expert' who thought exactly that. He called the ship a decoy, out to find pirate 'motherships'
Posted by: john frum ||
04/08/2009 15:24 Comments ||
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#11
I think we would be well served if all holders of a Unlimited Tonnage Master Mariner license were required to kill, gut and then hang a pirate from a large vessel's rail at least once in their career.
Maybe make it a requirement of their continuing ed or recert.
#12
Doesn't the fact that the pirates attacked a US flagged vessel give the US Navy license to hunt them down?
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
04/08/2009 17:16 Comments ||
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#13
Rambler in Virginia, the news I heard is that the ship Danish and only the crew is American.
How long before O'Bambi apologizes to the Somalis and offers ACORN assistance to the pirates. So then the pirates will really know how to steal and bully.
#14
Why keep one for evidence? Just get back to port and when anyone asks just say "Pirates? What pirates?"
I'm much in favor of the Malcolm Reynolds solution for people who try to take over your ship and threaten your crew.
Posted by: Aussie Mike ||
04/08/2009 17:53 Comments ||
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#15
Rusty ice picks, nails, whatever discretely puncturing the abdominal cavity would ruin one's day, in a slow way. Just sayin'.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
04/08/2009 18:38 Comments ||
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#16
I can just see it. "Hay captain, make them pirates walk the plank and feed them to the sharks! Its a better fate than keel haulin down this 400 foot ship."
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
04/08/2009 19:59 Comments ||
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#17
heh - Aussie Mike - another Serenity/Firefly fan :-)
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/08/2009 20:38 Comments ||
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#18
Ummm, 49 Pan, keelhauling is from side to side, not longways.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
04/08/2009 21:16 Comments ||
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#19
You betcha, Frank G!
Posted by: Aussie Mike ||
04/08/2009 21:31 Comments ||
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#20
Redneck Jim.. there is always room for innovation...
Long works...
#21
3c, in the old days hauling them from bow to stern was known as keelraking. Although it would be fun, especially on a supertanker, keelraking would only work on a ship without screws. Of course, if they came to a halt for a short time, it could be done.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
04/08/2009 23:25 Comments ||
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#22
I find the screws concern...unnecessary
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/08/2009 23:47 Comments ||
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A Canadian warship has had a busy weekend on the Arabian Sea, thwarting a pirate attack and delivering supplies to a boatload of Somali refugees all in the same 24-hour period.
On Saturday, HMCS Winnipeg, currently involved in an anti-pirate NATO mission called Operation Allied Protector, saw three skiffs approaching an Indian merchant vessel.
The Pacific Opal radioed for help and Cmdr. Craig Baines, the commanding officer of the Canadian warship, sent out a Sea King helicopter to investigate. Baines told CTV Newsnet that HMCS Winnipeg got the call for help while it was busy escorting another ship. "We were actually escorting another vessel at the time when we noticed that another ship launched three smaller vessels that rapidly closed in on a merchant vessel that was nearby in the area," he said Sunday.
Pilot Maj. James Hawthorne said the pirates complied with Canadian instructions, which came in the form of a sign hanging from the side of the helicopter with the word "Stop" written in Somali. "Whatever their intentions were, they complied without instructions and allowed the merchant vessel to proceed," Hawthorne said, when quoted in a military statement that was released Saturday.
Baines said the helicopter shadowed the suspected pirate skiffs for about 15 minutes in total. "After we've deterred something, if they haven't actually done an act of piracy, which in this case they hadn't because we intervened beforehand, we usually just let them carry on and try to monitor their position," Baines said.
Few pirates would engage a military ship or helicopter, he said, because the risks are too high. "The fortunate thing is that the pirates want nothing to do with warships or helicopters," Baines said. "They are in this for economic gain only and so they know that if they ever tried to engage a ship or a helicopter, it would end badly for them."
Afterward, the HMCS Winnipeg crew got a thank you message from the crew on board the Pacific Opal, Baines said.
Lieut. Gen. Michel Gauthier said the incident "highlights the importance of our mission and the efforts to make a difference with our coalition partners in the fight against piracy and international terrorism."
HMCS Winnipeg saw further action on Sunday when it brought supplies to a boatload of Somali refugees who were hungry and thirsty after being at sea for two days.
The warship has a crew of some 240 officers and non-commissioned members and is based out of Esquimalt, B.C. It has been at sea since February and is scheduled to return to B.C. in August.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/08/2009 00:00 ||
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[Maghrebia] Algerian army troops dismantled on Monday (April 6th) a powerful bomb on the railway line in Ouled Sidi Elmehdi (Lakhdaria province), Echorouk reported. A citizen travelling to Al Kadiria noticed wires connected to a bag and informed security services. The bomb reportedly targeted a passenger train travelling from the east of the country to Algiers.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/08/2009 00:00 ||
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[Bangla Daily Star] Another Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) man died today in the capital's Bangladesh Kidney Hospital raising the death toll to 11 after the Pilkhana carnage. Yasin Miah, 45, was admitted to the hospital after the February 25-26 BDR headquarters bloodshed as he complained of kidney complexities, the hospital sources said. His body was sent to Dhaka Medical College Hospital.
[Bangla Daily Star] The government today declared Tk 50,000 bounty for each fugitive BDR mutiny suspects for their involvement in the February 25-26 Pilkhana carnage case. The government's decision came through a press release of the home ministry. Shahinur Mia, the public relation officer of the ministry, also confirmed the news to The Daily Star.
Tk 50,000 would be awarded to the person who would hand a absconding suspected Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) member over to the nearby police station or law enforcement agency, the press release said. The identity of the person would be kept secret, the release added.
When contacted with the BDR Director General Maj Gen Md Mainul Islam, he told The Daily Star that he did not know anything about the declared bounty. On query of the number of absconding BDR men, he said they are yet to complete the full list of the fugitive BDR members.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/08/2009 00:00 ||
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[Bangla Daily Star] Police today recovered 450 bullets of sub-machinegun (SMG) at Basail upazila in Tangail, reports our Tangail correspondent. Some construction workers found the bullets when they were digging soil under a bridge at Dapnazar village in the upazila at around 9:00am, told Abul Bashar, sub-inspector of Basail Police Station.
On information, police recovered the bullets and took these to the police station. However, the bullets have already been unusable as these were under the soil for long time, sources in police said.
Ten men have been arrested in the North West of England after Britain's most senior counter terrorism police officer sparked a security alert.
Assistant Commissioner Bob Quick said he "deeply regretted" revealing a secret document to photographers when he arrived for a briefing at No 10. The document, clearly marked "secret", carried an outline briefing on an ongoing counter-terrorism operation.
The ten suspects were later arrested at locations across north-west England.
Opposition MPs were swift to criticise Mr Quick, with the Lib Dems describing him as "accident prone" and the Conservatives condemning his "extraordinary and very alarming" lapse of judgement.
Some hours after the Downing Street incident, two men outside the main library at Liverpool John Moores University were arrested by armed officers from the North West Counter-Terrorism Unit. Other students said they heard police shouting at the two suspects, then saw them lying face down on the floor.
Witnesses said they were advised over the library loudspeaker to stay away from the windows for their own safety. "Everyone was just panicking," one student told the BBC.
Other addresses raided by armed officers, assisted by officers from Merseyside Police, Greater Manchester Police and Lancashire Constabulary, included an internet cafe in the Cheetham Hill area of Manchester and a guest house in Clitheroe, Lancashire. Witnesses said two men were taken from the cafe after police arrived.
Mesu Raza, who lives in a flat above the cafe, said: "I saw police arrest two people and put them in a police van. They had handcuffs on, they were Asian men, and the police were armed. Two police vans arrived outside the shop and there was more police went round the back. There were many officers and a large number of police vans."
Earlier on Wednesday press photographers in Downing Street snapped Mr Quick clutching a white document marked "secret" and containing the names of several senior officers, locations and details about the nature of the overseas threat. Details of the information revealed cannot be reported. Mr Quick was attending the meeting in his role as lead for counter terrorism and for the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo).
On Wednesday evening he apologised to Met Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson for the slip. A Scotland Yard spokesman said: "Assistant Commissioner Quick accepts he made a mistake on leaving a sensitive document on open view and deeply regrets it.
"He has apologised to the Commissioner and colleagues."
Posted by: john frum ||
04/08/2009 16:10 ||
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#1
The 'secret' documents clutched by Mr Quick were clearly on show
Posted by: john frum ||
04/08/2009 16:14 Comments ||
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#2
Counter-terrorist police arrested 10 young men across the north-west tonight in an operation hastily brought forward following an embarrassing security leak by a senior Scotland Yard commander.
The men, detained at John Moores University in Liverpool, an internet cafe and a house in the Cheetham Hill area of Manchester, as well as at addresses in Lancashire, are suspected of involvement in an al-Qaida plot aimed at attacking the UK.
At least one is believed to be a student, the others were born in Pakistan.
The arrests were triggered after Assistant Commissioner Bob Quick, head of Scotland Yard's specialist operations wing, was photographed this morning clutching sensitive documents as he arrived in Downing Street. Clearly visible on top of a large bundle of papers under his arm was a white document marked "secret" that carried an outline for briefing on a current counter-terrorism operation. He was on his way to attend a cabinet security committee.
Realising the existence of the photos of the document which included the names of several senior officers, sensitive locations and details about the nature of the overseas threat a "D notice" was imposed by the government to restrict the media from revealing the contents of the picture.
Quick had been due to meet Gordon Brown and the home secretary, Jacqui Smith, to discuss police reform. He was also addressing the meeting in his role as lead for counter-terrorism and for the Association of Chief Police Officers.
Tonight Quick apologised to the Metropolitan commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson. A Scotland Yard spokesman said: "Assistant Commissioner Quick accepts he made a mistake on leaving a sensitive document on open view and deeply regrets it. He has apologised to the commissioner and colleagues."
The arrests were led by Greater Manchester police, the force which coordinates anti-terrorist operations in the region. "Ten men have been arrested as part of a counter-terrorism operation across the north-west of England," a statement from the force said. "Officers from the North West Counter-Terrorism Unit, supported by Merseyside police, Greater Manchester police and Lancashire constabulary, carried out a series of raids."
According to initial accounts a taser stun gun was used by armed police to subdue some of the suspects who were arrested at John Moores University. Ruth Jones, a third-year student at the university, told the Guardian that she was preparing to leave for the day when an announcement was made over the tannoy system warning students to stay away from the windows.
"I went upstairs at that point to find a friend and looked out the window to see police with guns standing over two young guys, who looked like they were in their twenties," she said.
A duty manager working near the campus told BBC radio that police had dealt with the situation "very calmly". He said that he saw the "evacuation of the suspects, and then police dispersed the small crowd that had gathered".
Two students were in the university library when the arrests took place and said a "distressed voice" came over the tannoy asking others to stay away from the windows for their own safety.
One, named as Craig, told the BBC: "There was shouting by the police telling them [the suspects] to get on the floor. Everybody was panicking."
Another witness, Nicholas Higgins, told Sky News that security officers had told students to stay away from windows because of fears that there might be a bomb. "I saw the lads [being arrested] lying on the floor," he said. "They were surrounded by police. The police had guns with them."
The arrests were due to happen in several days' time, but because of the leak were carried out in daylight, in direct contravention of the usual practice of arresting people while they sleep.
Two of those arrested are believed to be British citizens, another two are naturalised but born in Pakistan.
Britain's threat level today remained unchanged at severe general, meaning that officials believed that there was a high risk of attack.
Posted by: john frum ||
04/08/2009 16:22 Comments ||
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The emerging scenario from Jammu and Kashmir indicates that the encounters in the north are not mere counter-insurgency rather they form part of a larger conventional conflict between India and Pakistan.
Concentrated groups, comprising hundreds of combatants, are reportedly holding ground and battling the Indian Army in eight separate locations in Kashmir Valley. The areas are Uri, Baramula, Kupwara, Lolab, Kangan, Wusan, Hafruda Forest and Gurez sector.
The Army is no longer up against just men whose best weapon is hit and run, because this is no longer just a low-intensity conflict. Rather the army is exchanging fire with a new enemy -- the conventionally trained terrorist.
Built to hold ground and fight back like a soldier, to capture territory and move forward, they're even fighting Indian para commandos and managing to inflict damage.
The militants may not be formally commissioned soldiers of the Pakistan Army, but they're definitely close. The encounters in the Valley are the result of the most organised and concerted intrusions into the state since Kargil. Clearly it indicates that the situation is more like war.
Posted by: john frum ||
04/08/2009 13:12 ||
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DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan (AP) A suspected U.S. missile strike on a car killed two alleged militants and a civilian in northwestern Pakistan on Wednesday, intelligence officials said, a day after the U.S.-allied country reiterated its opposition to such attacks to visiting American officials.
The suspected strike indicates the Obama administration is unlikely to give up a Bush-era tactic American officials say has killed a string of al-Qaida operatives, even if it strains the relationship with Islamabad.
The attack came as residents elsewhere in Pakistan's northwest tried to push out a group of Taliban militants who ventured into their territory from their stronghold in the Swat Valley and killed five people. In the south, meanwhile, police announced the arrest of five men alleged to be planning suicide attacks on the city of Karachi.
The latest suspected missile strike occurred near Wana, the main town in the South Waziristan tribal region, according to two local intelligence officials. A drone had been flying over the area, and the missile landed after people in the car fired at the aircraft, the officials said, citing informants and agents in the field.
The attack also damaged some shops in the village of Shin Warsak, wounding at least five villagers and killing one, they said.
One of the intelligence officials said the slain militants were from Pakistan's eastern Punjab province. The officials said Taliban fighters took away their associates' bodies. The two spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.
Pakistan has asked for a $30 billion Marshall Plan-like package for Pakistan and Afghanistan over the next five years to fight the al-Qaeda, blunt anti-American sentiment and secure Pakistan from extremists bent on destabilising its civilian government.
The demand was made by Pakistan's Ambassador to U.S. Husain Haqqani in an interview with the Washington Times published on Wednesday.
'Demand'?
Mr. Haqqani, who plans to attend an international donors meeting for Pakistan in Tokyo next week, said that the cost to the West was negligible compared to that of rescuing failing banks and corporations.
Except that these are our banks ...
"And the impact in terms of American security and in terms of the longer term stability of the world in a very precarious region will be far greater," he said, claiming "Pakistan has the will to fight terrorists, it needs the means and the United States should provide those."
So they're threatening not to fight terrorism. Question is, will we notice?
The ambassador denied published reports that Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) was helping the Taliban, which the spy agency helped create 20 years ago. "There are contacts for source building," Mr. Haqqani said. "The era of active support for jihadis is over."
As of when?
Mr. Haqqani said he understood concerns regarding Pakistan's past efforts to fight Taliban extremism in the region, but that the ruling Pakistan People's Party is fully committed to the war on terror and to partnership with the U.S.. "It is time for our allies, our partners, especially the United States, to understand that any misgivings and disagreements that relate to the past should not come in the way of helping Pakistan in the present and for the future," he said.
He cautioned, however, that it would take time to change attitudes in Pakistan. "This is not a switch that can be turned on and off," he said. It "takes a while for the counter-narrative to be accepted."
"How long a while?"
"A very long while!"
Despite Mr. Haqqani's assurances that the Zardari government is gaining in strength, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard Berman last week introduced a bill that would withhold U.S. military aid to Pakistan unless the president certifies that it is not supporting terrorist attacks on India.
Posted by: john frum ||
04/08/2009 12:14 ||
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#3
Barry's big on "pay for performance". How about 5 billion for Bin Laden's head on a stick, 4 Billion for Zawahiri's, 3 billion for Blinky's...
Show us the heads, we'll show you the money.
#5
At least with the banks there's some hope that a bailout will work, but with Pakistain, you know it will not. We could pour $30 trillion into that black hole and see nothing positive emerge.
#6
What's the incentive for Pakistan to stop sponsoring islamic terrorism when the US is willing to provide their entire military budget and then some? Seems to me that Pakistan's underhanded sponsorship of the WTC attacks was the smartest, though high risk, thing they have done since independence from Britain.
Posted by: ed ||
04/08/2009 22:35 Comments ||
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Infiltrators from Pakistan are making one of the most organised and concerted bids since the Kargil war to cross the LoC and enter Jammu & Kashmir.
The army is locked in encounters with heavily armed infiltrators at eight locations along the LoC. As many as 400 militants are reportedly waiting to cross over from Pakistan and target the Lok Sabha elections.
Intense gunbattles are on in Uri, Baramulla, Kupwara, Lolab, Kangan, Wusan, Hafruda forests and Gurez. Sources said that 20 to 40 militants may have managed to sneak in.
The army has air dropped para-commandos into the cordoned off forests of Gurez to flush out suspected Taliban militants. A fierce encounter is on.
The army has cordoned off around 60 square kilometres of the Gurez forests adjoining the LoC at Hafruda. The terrorists have probably come in from several pockets in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir.
Sources told Headlines Today that radio intercepts between two Lashkar-e-Toiba men talking to a third one led to the suspicion that these militants belong to the Taliban. The militants were helped by the Lashkar and the ISI to cross the LoC.
Posted by: john frum ||
04/08/2009 09:42 ||
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#1
Should just crash a old remote controled empty airliner full of a ammonium nitrate slurry into one of the waiting areas....
Just to make things interesting... SOS we are crashing... Oh oh .. bang...
[The News (Pak)] DERA GHAZI KHAN: Police claimed on Monday to have arrested two accused involved in the suicide attack on a Shia procession here two months ago.
Addressing a press conference, RPO Khan Mubarik Ali Athar disclosed that Qari Muhammad Ismail and Ghulam Mustafa had planned the attack with Tehrik Taliban Pakistan Commander Baitullah Mehsud in South Waziristan. He said the suicide bomber was identified as 20-year-old Abdullah alias Arshad Pathan of Waziristan. The RPO said that the suicide bomber reached DG Khan on February 4, a day before the attack, and stayed at the residence of Ghulam Mustafa.
The police official claimed the accused had surveyed the route of the procession and prepared its map before the attack. The suicide bomber was taken to a nearby petrol pump on a vehicle and he blew himself up there, killing 27 people and injuring 50 others, he said.
The RPO claimed that Qari Muhammad Ismail was a resident of Vidore Town and allegedly belonged to a banned outfit. He said the accused had confessed to the crime, saying he had taken the revenge of the murder of Maulana Azam Tariq. He added that the terrorists had a big network, which comprised people from Bahawalpur, Multan and Azad Kashmir. He said the accused were also planning to kidnap foreign engineers, attack sensitive installations and public places.
He said Ghulam Mustafa was planning to flee to Dubai as he was working as a sales representative with a pharmaceutical company. He further disclosed that the accused had planned to siege the Dhodak oil and gas plant and had completed their planning.
Qari Ismail had received training from a Jihadi camp in South Waziristan in 2008, he said, adding the Jihadi camp belonged to Commander Qari Imran alias Hakeem Nasir of the Mehsud group while the suicide attack on the procession was planned by the Naib commander of the Baitullah Mehsud group Qari Hassan Ahmed Mehsud.
Khan Mubarik Ali Athar added that the accused had also confessed to killing five Shiites at Kacha Khoh, Khanewal in August 2008. He also claimed that they had recovered sims, maps of sensitive installations and CDs from the accused. However, the police neither presented the accused before the media nor shown the things recovered from them.
[The News (Pak)] Pakistani police Monday found the bullet-riddled bodies of four local aid workers in a forest in northwest Pakistan, police said.
The bodies of three women and a man were found dumped in the Kund forest, near the mountainous town of Shinkiari, 70 kilometres (43 miles) north of the capital Islamabad, local police official Sudhair Ahmed told AFP.
"According to initial information the murdered people worked for a non-governmental organisation and were visiting schools in the area in a Pajero jeep," Ahmed said. The official said the motive for the killings was not known but the possibility of Islamic militants being behind the shootings could not be ruled out.
Law enforcement agencies on Tuesday arrested over 300 suspected terrorists from various parts of the city after intelligence reports indicated 18 terrorists had entered the city. Hey! It could happen. Not in Pakistain, of course...
Sources told Daily Times the crackdown was against Afghans who were residing in the city's outskirts. They said the 18 terrorists who entered the city were Afghans and close associated of Baitullah Mahsood. They said about a dozen people were arrested from areas adjacent to the Data Darbar and the police also seized weapons from their possession.
They said people were arrested from Shafiqabad, Misri Shah, Shahdara Town, Bund Road, Sanda, Hanjarwal, Jia Musa and Jallo. They said around 170 people had been released after identifying them while the others were in the custody of Civil Lines police.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/08/2009 00:00 ||
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The Taliban have agreed to allow the partial broadcast of cable TV in Swat and operators have started to make arrangements to resume the service in Mingora city eight months after it was banned. "We have been allowed to resume cable TV service by Taliban leaders with certain conditions," cable operators told Daily Times by phone from Mingora city. They said the decision to allow the broadcast was taken on Sunday after a delegation of cable operators met Maulana Shah Dauran, an influential leader of the Taliban in Swat.
Around 500,000 Mingora residents were denied access to information through news channels for eight months after the Taliban banned the service and bombed a local cable network. According to cable operators, the new arrangement allows for the broadcast of 17 channels. These channels are all either Pakistani news or Islamic channels, and no western news or entertainment channels have been allowed. "The infrastructure of the service was damaged during the militancy and we have to provide cable and boosters again, which requires technical expertise from Peshawar," cable operators, requesting anonymity, said.
However, despite the lifting of the ban by the Taliban, several cable operators are unsure about resuming their business. A cable operator said that resuming the service "is risky" as the Taliban could change their mind at any time. "These people are quite moody," he added. Residents of Mingora, meanwhile, have welcomed the move.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/08/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
They want to be able to catch the next season of Mad Men.
Suspected Taliban planted a remote-controlled bomb that blew up a music shop and neighbouring stalls at Charsadda bus stand in Peshawar, police said on Tuesday. "A CD and music centre, as well as three other shops were destroyed when a locally-made bomb went off in front of a bus stand in Faqirabad area," local police official Anwar Khan said. No casualties were reported as the shops were closed overnight when the bomb had exploded, police said. "It was a huge explosion," Khan said. Another security official confirmed the attack. Taliban have bombed scores of entertainment shops across the country's northwest in recent years, charging that music and films are contrary to the teachings of Islam.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/08/2009 00:00 ||
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Clerics of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) have forced women dancers participating in a traditional spring festival in Shahdadkot district in Sindh to leave the event, officials say.
Organisers of the festival say they have had to cut the 10-day festival to three days as a result of the threats. The clerics who asked the dancers to leave the area were accompanied by local police, witnesses said. "We asked the dancers to leave the area after obtaining approval of the Shahdadkot district police," Sindh JUI-F Information Secretary Molvi Abdul Razaq Abid told the BBC.
Organisers said some 18 dancers, mainly from the Punjab, perform every year in the festival in Waggan in Shahdadkot district. They said a six-member team of JUI-F clerics, accompanied by local police, came to the festival on Monday and warned the dancers to leave the place in an hour. The dancers immediately complied, they said.
Agenda: Local correspondents say the group appears to be using the rising threat of terrorism to get the local judiciary and police to implement its agenda in these areas.
Three months ago, the JUI-F obtained restraining orders from a local court to force a local television channel, Sindh TV, to abandon a music show in Nawabshah. The party has also carried out extensive graffiti campaigns across the province in which satellite dishes, cable TV and VCRs are described as "three signs of the approaching doomsday".
Posted by: Fred ||
04/08/2009 00:00 ||
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Taliban killed five people, including three policemen, in clashes with tribesmen and police, officials and witnesses said on Tuesday. Seeking anonymity, the officials said Assistant Sub-Inspector Afreen Khan, Head Constable Jehanzada and Constable Muhammad Akbar had a clash with the Taliban who crossed into Buner district from Swat. "Malakand Division Commissioner Syed Muhammad Javed has held talks with senior Taliban leaders, but they have refused to leave Buner," they said. "The chief of police has held talks with Machine Gun Kelly, but he refuses to get out of town."
Separately, unidentified men kidnapped a traffic police official at gunpoint from Green Chowk in Mingora and took him to an unidentified location, witnesses said.
Meanwhile, scores of Taliban occupied the hostel of polytechnic college in Mingora. Taliban sources said students had been ordered to leave the hostel, as the Taliban wanted to stay there.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/08/2009 00:00 ||
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Srinagar: Two militants were killed by the security forces in Lolab forests of Kupwara district in Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday, raising the toll in the three-day-long operation to four, a senior police officer said. Two militants were killed in the ongoing operation in Maidanpora forest of Lolab, Senior superintendent of Police, Kupwara, Uttam Chand said. He said the operation in the area was still continuing and the identity of the slain militants and their group affiliation were being ascertained.
Posted by: john frum ||
04/08/2009 00:00 ||
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[Beirut Daily Star: Region] A car bomb killed nine people and wounded 20 in the Shiite Kadhimiya district of northwest Baghdad on Tuesday, police said, a day after seven car bombs killed 37 people across the Iraqi capital. The attack occurred the same day that US President Barack Obama arrived in Iraq for his first visit since taking office. Targeting Shiite areas such as Kadhimiya to stoke sectarian tension has been a favorite tactic of Al-Qaeda, although no one claimed responsibility for the bombing.
Eyewitnesses said a baby miraculously survived the bombing cradled in his mother's lap as she was burned alive. The baby boy's father was seriously wounded in the attack, police and witnesses said.
"The father was badly burned. We don't know whether he will survive or not. We took the baby out of the car, but we don't know what to do with him," said an eyewitness who gave his name as Asaad Raad, holding the child in his arms. "This child lost a mother and a father. What else can I say?"
Violence has fallen dramatically in Iraq in the past year, but Al-Qaeda and other insurgents have shown themselves still capable of launching frequent bomb attacks.
US and Iraqi officials blamed Monday's series of bombings on Al-Qaeda.
But a senior Iraqi intelligence source, who requested anonymity, said there was evidence the bombs could be the work of the Badr Organization, the armed wing of the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (ISCI). ISCI is allied to Premier Nuri al-Maliki's Dawa party in Parliament, but the two have become somewhat estranged.
Dawa trounced ISCI in local elections in January after a campaign in which Maliki sought credit for increasing security and called for national unity. ISCI by contrast pushed overtly religious themes and called for an autonomous Shiite south.
Maliki's strong showing gave him some momentum ahead of elections at the end of the year.
The intelligence source said the authorities had received intelligence 10 days earlier that Badr fighters might set off bombs across Baghdad to send out a message that Maliki's government is not delivering on security as it claims.
But National Security Adviser Mowaffaq al-Rubaie, asked if the bombings could be the work of the Badr Organization instead of Al-Qaeda, replied: "All the [finger] ... prints of Al-Qaeda were there."
Posted by: Fred ||
04/08/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Lets not be eurocentric and judgemental of other people cultures.
[Khaleej Times] The leader of an Arab tribe in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul has been fatally shot, police reported.
Police sources said unknown gunmen killed Shaikh Farhan Falah Mohammed Yunis on Monday night in the district of 17 Tamuz, west of Mosul, in Iraq's ethnically divided Nineveh province.
Shaikh Farahan was the leader of a local Arab tribe and an important politician with the Hadba List, the Arab nationalist coalition that won January's provincial council elections in Nineveh on a platform of taking control of the province from Kurdish parties.
Those Kurdish parties swept to power in Nineveh's local government after a Sunni-Arab boycott of the last provincial polls in 2005.
Nineveh is among the most ethnically and religiously diverse provinces in Iraq. Almost every day, deadly bomb attacks and shootings have made its capital, Mosul, and the area around it, among the most dangerous places in Iraq, despite successive security pushes aimed at fighting Sunni insurgents in the area.
Earlier on Monday, four civilians and two policemen died in a blast that targeted a police patrol in the southern Mosul neighbourhood of Al Ghazlani.
Police said they had earlier detained four suspected members of Al Qaeda in Iraq who are wanted on charges of planning bomb attacks against police officers in and around Mosul, roughly 400 kilometres north of Baghdad.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/08/2009 00:00 ||
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The Obama administration has raised the prospect of selling Standard Missile-3 missile defense system, produced by Raytheon sea-based missile defense system to Israel. In return, the administration would end the current Missile Defense Agency program to develop and deploy the Arrow-3, an enhanced version of Israel's medium-tier interceptor.
SM-3, deployed on U.S. Navy cruisers, has been regarded as the most effective system to intercept enemy ballistic missiles. "SM-3 could complement Israel's existing missile defense network and the fact that its sea-based would enable the interception of ballistic missiles in the initial stage of launch," an official said.
The administration offer was part of a White House plan to cut U.S. missile defense procurement and development over the next two years. Unlike the previous administration, Obama was said to be skeptical over the effectiveness of a U.S. missile defense network.
"There is pressure that whatever U.S. [missile defense] funds are left should go to American companies without any participation of foreign partners," the official said.
Arrow-3 has marked a partnership between Boeing and the state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries. Arrow-3, expected to be deployed by 2013, was designed to intercept missiles at an altitude of more than 100 kilometers, which would enable the destruction of enemy nuclear warheads.
#2
That's how I read it, though the Arrow has our hand in it as well.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/08/2009 12:59 Comments ||
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#3
95% of the cost of developing the Arrow was paid by US taxpayers. The interesting parts are made by US defense contractors. About of the cost of deployment comes directly from Uncle Sam. In reality, the vast majority likely comes from the US taxpayer via the Israeli share coming from the $3B annual military aid.
Putting the foot down on Arrow-3 serves to consolidate US BMD dollars into fewer overlapping systems.
Posted by: ed ||
04/08/2009 22:18 Comments ||
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#4
About of the cost = About half of the cost
Posted by: ed ||
04/08/2009 22:19 Comments ||
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A week after an ax-wielding terrorist infiltrated the West Bank settlement of Bat Ayin killing a young boy and wounding another boy, at least sixteen Palestinians were wounded in a clash with Bat Ayin settlers.
From the initial investigation into the incident it seems that the Palestinians began the violence when they attacked the settlers, who were walking from Bat Ayin to the cemetery at the nearby settlement of Kfar Etzion on Wednesday morning, Army Radio reported.
The Palestinians, however, claimed that the settlers entered their village shooting in the air and damaging their property.
IDF soldiers arrived at the scene in order to break up the clash. However, the Palestinians said that the soldiers did not prevent the settlers from firing their weapons.
The IDF said that due to massive stone hurling, the soldiers used riot gear to stop the clash, including rubber bullets. But when the vioelnce continued the troops were ordered to shoot at the legs of some of the stone hurlers.
Learning from the Paleos? Shoot 'em in the feet?
There were conflicting reports regarding the number of people hurt in the clash. According to the latest report by Army Radio, 18 Palestinians were hurt in the clash. One man was moderately-seriously wounded, seven were moderately wounded, and ten were lightly wounded.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Israel carried out a test launch of its Arrow II interceptor missile on Tuesday, the Defense Ministry said, a system designed to defend against possible ballistic missile attacks by Iran and Syria. "It was a successful test," the ministry said.
The Arrow intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile comparable to Iran's Shahab-3, which can reach the Jewish state, that was fired by an Israeli fighter plane over the Mediterranean, a defense source said.
Israel Radio said it was the 16th test launch of an Arrow. The defense source said 90 percent of those tests have been successful.
It was the latest successful test of the Arrow, a project launched in 1988 as part of the then Star Wars program under late U.S. president Ronald Reagan that was abandoned in 1993. The project is jointly funded by Israel and the United States to serve as a strategic shield against ballistic missiles in the arsenals of Iran and Syria.
At least two Arrow batteries have been deployed in Israel, which has been testing the system to improve its performance at high altitudes and against multiple incoming missiles.
[Jerusalem Post Front Page] An Arab motorist was shot and killed in east Jerusalem Tuesday morning after hitting three border policemen, who were overseeing the demolition of the home of a Palestinian terrorist who carried out a lethal bulldozer attack in Jerusalem last year.
Cops attacked during demolition of terrorist's home
The three security personnel, who were manning a security checkpoint in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Sur Bahir, jumped out of the way and were lightly wounded in the attack, Jerusalem police spokesman Shmuel Ben-Ruby said.
Clashes erupted at the scene of the shooting, as about 50 Palestinians stoned the heavily armed border police, who fired back with tear gas. The driver's body was laid out on the street under a white plastic sheet with one of his hands sticking out. The windshield of his white Seat car was shattered by some 20 bullet holes.
The demolition crew was destroying the top floor of a two-story home where 30-year-old Hussam Dwayat had lived. In July 2008, Dwayat used a huge yellow bulldozer that he worked with on a Jerusalem railway project in a deadly rampage down a main city thoroughfare.
He steamrolled everything in his path, plucking cars off the street, swinging them in the air and then crushing them to the ground with passengers trapped inside. At one point, he rammed into the back of a crowded bus, flipping it on its side.
He killed three people, wounded more than 45 and sent hundreds of panicked residents running for cover before an off-duty soldier shot him dead.
Dwayat's use of a construction vehicle as a weapon was a departure from terrorists' previous attacks, mostly suicide bombings and shooting sprees. But since then, it appears to have spawned two copycat attacks - as well as a third incident in which a Palestinian motorist tried to ram into a crowd of soldiers walking along a sidewalk.
The demolition of Dwayat's home had previously been delayed by legal appeals.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/08/2009 00:00 ||
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[Straits Times] AN INDONESIAN court on Tuesday found three Islamist militants of the radical Jemaah Islamiyah movement guilty on terror charges and sentenced them to 12 years in prison. The three men - Agustyawarman, Heri Purwanto and Sugianto - were found guilty of conspiring and committing acts of terror as part of an alleged 10-member JI cell arrested in Palembang, South Sumatra, last year.
The men were found guilty of involvement in largely separate plots but were given equal sentences for an 'evil consensus', head judge Aswan Nurcahyo told the South Jakarta district court. The judges found Purwanto guilty of involvement in the 2007 murder of Christian teacher Dago Simamora as well as an attack on Christian priest Yosua Winardi with a hammer.
Both Purwanto and Agustyawarman were found to have plotted attacks on other priests. Agustyawarman was also found to have been involved in a plan to bomb a backpacker cafe on Sumatra island in 2006 which was aborted on fears of Muslim casualties.
'The factor aggravating the defendants' sentences is the fact they have never shown remorse for what they did. All their actions were done consciously,' Judge Nurcahyo said.
The three men yelled 'Allahu akbar' (God is greater) as their sentences were read out.
'From the start, I haven't cared if the sentence is harsh or light,' Agustyawarman said after the trial.
Their lawyer said the men were contemplating an appeal.
Singaporean Mohammad Hasan bin Saynudin, the self-confessed leader of the cell, is on trial on separate charges and has told the court he had met Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan and planned to bomb Singapore's Changi airport. Hasan is set to be sentenced on April 21.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/08/2009 00:00 ||
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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.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
A Canadian warship has had a busy weekend on the Arabian Sea, thwarting a pirate attack and delivering supplies to a boatload of Somali refugees all in the same 24-hour period. 
The Taliban have agreed to allow the partial broadcast of cable TV in Swat and operators have started to make arrangements to resume the service in Mingora city eight months after it was banned. "We have been allowed to resume cable TV service by Taliban leaders with certain conditions," cable operators told Daily Times by phone from Mingora city. They said the decision to allow the broadcast was taken on Sunday after a delegation of cable operators met Maulana Shah Dauran, an influential leader of the Taliban in Swat.
Clerics of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) have forced women dancers participating in a traditional spring festival in Shahdadkot district in Sindh to leave the event, officials say. 
Taliban killed five people, including three policemen, in clashes with tribesmen and police, officials and witnesses said on Tuesday. Seeking anonymity, the officials said Assistant Sub-Inspector Afreen Khan, Head Constable Jehanzada and Constable Muhammad Akbar had a clash with the Taliban who crossed into Buner district from Swat. "Malakand Division Commissioner Syed Muhammad Javed has held talks with senior Taliban leaders, but they have refused to leave Buner," they said. 
[Khaleej Times] The leader of an Arab tribe in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul has been fatally shot, police reported.
[Jerusalem Post Front Page] An Arab motorist was shot and killed in east Jerusalem Tuesday morning after hitting three border policemen, who were overseeing the demolition of the home of a Palestinian terrorist who carried out a lethal bulldozer attack in Jerusalem last year. 
[Straits Times] AN INDONESIAN court on Tuesday found three Islamist militants of the radical Jemaah Islamiyah movement guilty on terror charges and sentenced them to 12 years in prison. The three men - Agustyawarman, Heri Purwanto and Sugianto - were found guilty of conspiring and committing acts of terror as part of an alleged 10-member JI cell arrested in Palembang, South Sumatra, last year.
