#1
Under the cover of a benign government information-gathering program, a Defense Department official set up a network of private contractors in Afghanistan and Pakistan to help track and kill suspected militants
Nice work Mr. Furlong. I hope you documented lessons learned in order that your excellent work can be institutionalized. Congratulations on your new job at Lackland.
#2
the secret use of private contractors may be seen as an attempt to get around the Pakistani governments prohibition of American military personnels operating in the country
Also cuts the ISI out of the loop. No wonder it was successful.
#5
I'm still trying to get to the main issue, which is, how the NYT thinks what the contractors are doing is wrong? Sources that produce the identification of genuine enemy combatants, regardless of status,are acceptable. Am I missing some arcane s*cialist reasoning here?
Killing the enemy is the game isn't it?
[Al Arabiya Latest] Despite international assistance the Somali government's military forces are ineffective and corrupt, and it remains dependent on foreign troops for survival, a U.N. group concluded in a report.
"Despite infusions of foreign training and assistance, government security forces remain ineffective, disorganized and corrupt," the U.N.'s Monitoring Group on Somalia said in a report to be presented to the Security Council this week.
Somalia's internationally-backed Transitional Federal Government has been boxed into a tiny perimeter in the capital Mogadishu by an insurgency launched in May 2009 by the al-Qaeda-inspired Shabab group and its more political Hezb al-Islam allies.
The Shabab now control most of the centre and south of the Horn of Africa country, which has embroiled in a virtually non-stop civil war since 1991.
The U.N. group said "the military stalemate is less a reflection of opposition strength than of the weakness of the Transitional Federal Government."
It described government forces as "a composite of independent militias loyal to senior government officials and military officers who profit from the business of war and resist their integration under a single command."
The U.N. group said last November the government had about 2,900 operational troops, although it could also count on the support of some militias Mogadishu thought to number between 5,000 and 10,000 fighters.
However, the U.N. group concluded that the Somali government "owes its survival to the small African Union peace support operation AMISOM, rather than to its own troops."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/15/2010 00:00 ||
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#4
Until someone mans up and pulls a hardcore sweep of that "country", these problems will continue. I personally think that the West should arm the Ethiopians to the teeth and send them in using the AU as political cover : the Ethiopians and Kenyans need to calm Somalia down before it sucks the rest of the area into a multi-sided ethnic war.
He just won't die. We could help with that ...
The Lockerbie bomber -- who was released from a Scottish prison last year because cancer had supposedly left him at death's door -- could be kept alive for up to five more years.
Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi was said to have just months to live when Scottish authorities made the controversial decision to free him and allow him to return to Libya. But the terrorist, given a life sentence for the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, which killed 270 people, has since been taking the chemotherapy drug Taxotere, the British paper The Sun reports today.
Other reports said that al-Megrahi had not been given the drug while he was in prison -- and might not have been allowed a "compassionate" discharge if it had been prescribed.
Scottish opposition spokesman Bill Aitken demanded full disclosure from Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill.
"Was the existence of a drug which is reportedly now extending the life of the Lockerbie bomber included in any of the reports Kenny MacAskill read before making the decision to release him?" he asked.
Al-Megrahi has prostate cancer, but his condition reportedly has stabilized.
"After his treatments, he can be unwell for two or three days but then enjoys a period when he's quite well," a source close to the bomber told the paper.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/15/2010 08:30 ||
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SAN'A, Yemen The U.S. al-Qaida suspect detained in Yemen had persuaded his guard to unshackle him so the two could pray together and then snatched his unattended gun and killed him during the suspect's failed escape attempt, senior security officials said Saturday.
Sharif Mobley, a 26-year-old American of Somali descent, had traveled to Yemen two years ago, ostensibly to study Arabic, and was recently arrested there in a sweep against al-Qaida.
Posted by: lord garth ||
03/15/2010 10:16 ||
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#1
It would be nice if they slice off his head. Go ahead and add to the military aid we are giving Yemen the money they saved us on trial and incarceration.
An adviser to Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh has rejected accusations that Iran is involved in the secessionist unrest which is escalating in the country's southern provinces.
"Perish the thought!"
"Tehran plays no role in the clashes between police forces and separatist rebels in the southern provinces of Dhale and Lahj. To everyone's surprise, a US flag is hoisted on the roof of the building which houses a prominent leader of the Southern Movement, Tariq al-Fadhli," the IRNA news agency cited Abdel Karim al-Ariani as telling the Kuwaiti daily al-Siyassah on Saturday.
Yemen launched an offensive against southern separatists after they called for an anti-government uprising in February 2010.
Separatists have attacked police officials and razed several buildings in the unrest. A number of people from each side have been killed in the conflict.
Since shortly after the unification of the country, the people of oil-rich southern Yemen have criticized the northern-based government of President Ali Abdullah Saleh for systematic discrimination, land expropriations, meager state funding, and the steady loss of jobs to northerners.
The Southern Movement is an umbrella organization that embraces several secessionist groups demanding a separate state in what was until 1990 the Marxist republic of South Yemen.
The Southern Movement, which is supported by powerful tribal leaders, emerged in 2007, led by former military officers who say the southerners have been treated badly since the civil war.
Southern Yemen, a former British colony which covered the provinces east and south of Sana'a, was an independent state from 1967 until 1990, when it merged with the tribal-dominated north under Saleh.
The rising political unrest in southern Yemen, fueled by a tough security crackdown, threatens to erupt into a full-blown insurgency and lead to the breakup of the Arab world's poorest state.
The situation could also open the door for the expansion of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula since Yemen is the ancestral homeland of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. The group has claimed responsibility for several attacks on foreign missions, tourist sites, and oil installations in southern Yemen.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/15/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
VARIOUS > AHMADINEJAD: NEW MIDDLE EAST WAR(S) WILL NOT SAVE ISRAEL, from inevitable downfall.
IOW, STRATEGIC OR OTHER MILPOL VICTORY(S) DOTH NOT MEAN NOR GUARANTEES THAT ISRAEL WILL SURVIVE, AS IT DID IN WARS PAST.
SUB-IOW, ISRAEL is now dealing wid IRAN = PERSIA/OTTOMANS now, NOT the Jordanians, Syrians, Saudis, Libyans, or even the Egyptians.
[Bangla Daily Star] Jamaat leader Gias Uddin gave a confessional statement before a Rajshahi court Saturday that all tiers of Jamaat-e Islami helped Islami Chhatra Shibir in the February 9 violence at Rajshahi University following an organisational decision.
Gias, also former Rajshahi City Corporation ward councillor, was taken on five days' police remand in three terms after his arrest on February 26. Police took him to the court of Metropolitan Magistrate Ziaur Rahman at 2:00pm on Saturday.
Police officials in Rajshahi, however, remained tight-lipped about the judicial statement of Gias.
Sources told The Daily Star that Gias, also a military trainer of Shibir cadres, confessed that he participated in the second meeting jointly held by Jamaat, Shibir men and outsiders in Islamia College of Binodpur on February 8 night that agreed to help Shibir.
As per the decision of the second meeting, Jamaat and Shibir leaders, activists in and around the campus including former Shibir leaders of different RU hall units, participated in and assisted Shibir men during the violence.
Earlier in the afternoon, Shibir leaders held their first meeting at the same venue and it decided to drive out activists of Bangladesh Chhatra League from different RU halls for restoring their stronghold on the campus.
After the violence, the attackers talked to Rajshahi city Jamaat Ameer Ataur Rahman, general secretary Abul Kalam Azad and assistant general secretary Siddik Hossain and went into hiding.
Meanwhile, the same court yesterday rejected the bail petition of Jamaat Ameer Ataur Rahman and 36 other Shibir men who were earlier arrested in connection with the RU violence.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/15/2010 00:00 ||
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The new U.S. special envoy for North Korean human rights issues has reaffirmed that the U.S. will not normalize relations with the North unless it improves the treatment of its people. Robert King was speaking at the State Department on Friday in his first meeting with reporters since he started the job.
King said the U.S. enactment of the North Korean Human Rights Act reflects these concerns, while the six-party nuclear talks are a step into the future of U.S.-North Korea relations.
"The six-party talks are not just one little narrow box" but can discuss other agendas, he added.
Unlike his predecessor Jay Lefkowitz, a political appointee who was seen as largely ineffectual and ill-informed, King occupies the post full-time, playing a part in policy-making and implementation. King said he discusses policy with Sung Kim, the special envoy on North Korean affairs, several times a day and meets Stephen Bosworth, the part-time special representative for North Korea policy, whenever he is available.
King also called for attention to increasing corruption in North Korea as the State Department's annual report on human rights released on March 11 found, which he believes make the life of North Koreans even harder.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/15/2010 00:00 ||
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The cases are extreme, but millions of moderate Europeans also are re-examining the meaning of the liberal values widely cherished across the continent. How, many are asking, should a liberal society respectfully deal with immigrants who often espouse illiberal values? Should the immigrants adopt the values of their adoptive land or, to the contrary, should society change to accommodate the newcomers who now form part of it?
Posted by: ed ||
03/15/2010 09:02 ||
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#1
It would be grand if some Imam declared that the Louvre was obscene, and that the artwork within should be destroyed as haraam, and that French people should be forced to speak Arabic.
#2
It is not just art. Western values in general are provocative - equality under the law, women as people, freedom of religion, speech and thought, voting. The whole mess is pretty un-Islamic.
#4
Simple enough solution - get rid of muslims. Send 'em home, do nasty things to those that balk, and shoot those that try to come back. Problem at least temporarily solved.
If we cut ALL food exports to the Islamic world, there would be about 40% fewer muslims in 36 months. If we were as arrogant and insolent as muslims, we'd do it.
There is an ongoing war between us and them, our values and theirs. The sooner we understand that and get on a war footing, the more likely we are of surviving as a free people. I refuse to be a muslim, and I will NEVER be a slave.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/15/2010 23:16 Comments ||
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#5
"How, many are asking, should a liberal society respectfully deal with immigrants who often espouse illiberal values?"
They shouldn't.
Idiots.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
03/15/2010 23:29 Comments ||
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The Muslims of the Americas organization (MOA) (Jamaat ul-Fuqra) and their anti-Semitic leader in Pakistan, Sheikh Mubarak Ali Gilani, are back at it with the crazy talk. Apparently, the movie Avatar is a tool of Satan, and Gilani has the keys to save the day with his study of Jinniology' and miracle-making abilities. I knew James Cameron was a jerk, but now I really don't like him.
For those who are unfamiliar with this group, the Christian Action Network (where I am the national security advisor) released a documentary last year called Homegrown Jihad about them and their isolated communities in the U.S. (i.e. Islamberg) that are sometimes dozens of acres large. As Daffy sez, "He's so craaazy."
Posted by: ed ||
03/15/2010 01:42 ||
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#1
Americans better wakeup.
'True Believers" as the fascist muzzies like to think of themselves, are more numerous than is reported.
Posted by: Mike Hunt ||
03/15/2010 12:10 Comments ||
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The CIA and Justice Department are fighting over a secret investigation into a controversial program by legal supporters of Islamist terrorists held at Guantanamo Bay that involved photographing CIA interrogators and showing the pictures to prisoners, an effort CIA officials say threatens the officers' lives.
The dispute prompted a meeting Tuesday at CIA headquarters between U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald and senior CIA counterintelligence officials. It is the latest battle between the agency and the department over detainees and interrogations of terrorists.
Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. angered many CIA officials and Republicans in Congress by reopening an investigation last August into whether CIA interrogators acted illegally in questioning senior al Qaeda detainees. According to U.S. officials familiar with the issue, the current dispute involves Justice Department officials who support an effort led by the American Civil Liberties Union to provide legal aid to military lawyers for the Guantanamo inmates. CIA counterintelligence officials oppose the effort and say giving terrorists photographs of interrogators has exposed CIA personnel and their families to possible terrorist attacks.
As part of the disagreement, a senior Justice Department national security official removed himself from the counterintelligence probe last week after opposing CIA security worries. Donald Vieira, a former Democratic counsel on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence who in September became chief of staff at the Justice Department's National Security Division, recused himself from the counterintelligence investigation into the recent discovery of photographs of CIA interrogators in the possession of defense lawyers at the prison in Cuba.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/15/2010 13:39 ||
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#1
A terrible climate for our spooks to operate in. Who's side is the Justice Department on in WOT?
#2
Spying is just so, ya know, uncool these days, um, unless it's the left doing it to their perceived enemies.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
03/15/2010 16:17 Comments ||
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#3
Things may have change following 9/11, but priot to that I cannot recall a time when Justice or the FBI sat in the same corner as the Army or Intelligence Services. They have always had a seperate agenda.
Via InstaPundit.
Legal counsel to some of the detainees went far beyond vigorous representation of their clients. Doesn't the public have a right to know?
Posted by: ed ||
03/15/2010 01:24 ||
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Posted by: ed ||
03/15/2010 1:33 Comments ||
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#2
I went to the website purely for a chance to see the picture of the Cartoon.
Guess what: its there. It looks like a pig in a kaffiye...very realistic pig just as they appear at Uncle John's Farm ( except for the kiffiye, of course).
Strangely reminiscent of Arafat, actually( PBUH of course.)Beady eyes, protuberant lips and LARGE nose. But then that could be a lot of Arab faces...
he probably got the "look" from his Mother.
You dont HAVE to be offended..if you dont WANT to be offended.
ISLAMABAD: India has evolved a master plan to cause severe damage to Pakistan economy under the garb of talks and assigned an important target to its intelligence agency RAW to provide over one trillion rupees to anti Pakistan Taliban through Afghan transit.
Well placed sources told Online Saturday that Indian intelligence agency RAW has started providing financial assistance to Taliban through alcohol and beetle nut (chalia) under Afghan trade to use them to serve its nefarious designs while they were earlier being assisted through drug trafficking.
Sources told RAW at present was supplying over two hundreds containers of alcohol and beetle nut illegally to anti Pakistan Taliban every month in the name of different companies through Afghan transit. This way billion of rupees are being distributed among Taliban so that on one side Pakistan economy could be undermined and on the other side Afghan Taliban could be strengthened financially in order to use them for fulfillment of its vicious designs.
Sources further told during the recent visit of foreign secretary Suleman Bashir to India and Afghan president Hamid Karzai both India and Afghanistan demanded of Pakistan to allow them transit trade through Wahga border. While the security agencies were of the opinion if transit trade was allowed through Wahga border to Afghanistan and India, this will deliver a serious blow to Pakistan economy.
On the condition of anonymity, a senior officer of Custom Intelligence confirmed to Online Bhattia traders, M.H International, Troob well traders and other companies were supplying containers of alcohol and beetle nut in large number to Afghanistan while Afghan people neither use beetle nut nor drink alcohol, therefore he was much concerned over export of beetle nut and alcohol in such huge quantity to Afghanistan by Indian companies. "I am helpless to take any action in this regard due to pressure of some influential figures", he added.
The Customs Intelligence Officer further told that top figures of customs, NLC and Saif transporters were involved in illegal supply of these containers. These containers were handed over to Taliban near Pak-Afghan borders instead of transporting them to Afghanistan, he pointed out. Online tried to contact FBR chairman on many occasions to ascertain his stance as to what extent Pakistan was suffering financial loss due to illegal trade of containers and non payment of taxes but it could not contact him.
Posted by: john frum ||
03/15/2010 18:13 ||
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[Iran Press TV Latest] Early results from Iraq's general election show former premier Iyad Allawi's Iraqiya Alliance is leading in the northern province of Kirkuk.
Iraqiya garnered 123,862 votes, while the Kurdistania Alliance, which had been expected to secure most of the votes, was second with 120,664 votes, followed by Goran with 20,152 votes.
About 61 of the ballots have been counted with complete results expected on March 18 and the final ones at the end of the month.
Kirkuk accounts for 13 parliamentary seats in the 325-member Council of Representatives.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's Rule of Law coalition is leading the polls in major Iraqi provinces, including Baghdad, Basra, Najaf, Babil, Karbala and Muthanna.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/15/2010 00:00 ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] A list led by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki had a wide lead in early results from the southern oil hub of Basra and a coalition led by former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi leads in the northern city of Kirkuk, the country's electoral commission said on Sunday.
Maliki's State of Law coalition had 219,657 votes compared to 121,497 for a fellow Shiite list, the Iraqi National Alliance, which has close ties to Iran.
Iraqiya, a secular, cross-sectarian alliance led by former Prime Minister Allawi, had 36,093 votes. The totals represented 63 percent of the vote in Basra province.
Iraq's electoral commission said Allawi was leading in the northern city of Kirkuk, without giving more details.
So far, results have been released for 14 of Iraq's 18 provinces. The remaining four were set to be announced later on Sunday.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/15/2010 00:00 ||
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[Ma'an] Senior Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahhar said on Sunday that "return to negotiations over captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit would be impossible unless Hamas demands are met."
Zahhar's comments came during a panel held at the Islamic University in Gaza city discussing the future of the question of Palestine in light of current political developments. He said, " the Arab countrys' attitude towards the question of Palestine is currently one of division rather than unity. Defeating the Zionist-American project in addition to Arab and Islamic consensus are prerequisites for backing the Palestinians."
"We can't keep the question of Palestine dependent on causes of Arab countries, neighboring countries, and human right groups, because these are obstacles," he added.
The Hamas leader noted that "indirect talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority began to meet obstacles as Israeli occupation approved building 1600 new housing units in settlements." Zahhar highlighted that settlement expansion coincided with US Vice President Joe Biden's visit to the Palestinian territories.
Zahhar also pointed out that "more than 900 Jewish foundations were attacked in Britain following the Richard Goldstone's report on war crimes during the last Israeli military offensive against the Gaza Strip."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/15/2010 00:00 ||
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Army reinforcements rushed into Bangkok
Tens of thousands of anti-government demonstrators marched on military HQ
Demanding that the government dissolve Parliament
Peaceful so far
Blame PM for winning last election
Thaksin addressed crowd by video link
Thaksin pro'ly behind it all
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/15/2010 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV Latest] As Iran prepares for the Persian New Year, the Judiciary chief said Sunday the events of the past year, which ends March 21st, have made the Islamic Republic stronger than before.
Ayatollah Sadeq Amoli Larijani said although the year was "bittersweet," its events had paved the ground for the foundation of the revolution, the Iranian Labor News Agency reported.
"Although the harsh post-vote events lacerated the public's emotion, the active and conscious presence of the people foiled the [anti-Iran] plots," he said in an allusion to the unrest that followed the presidential election in June.
Iran says Western powers, particularly the UK, were responsible for the unrest. The West, however, denies any involvement in the events that claimed the lives of a dozen civilians.
Ayatollah Larijani also expressed hope that the next year would be filled with success and public satisfaction.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/15/2010 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.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Despite international assistance the Somali government's military forces are ineffective and corrupt, and it remains dependent on foreign troops for survival, a U.N. group concluded in a report.
He just won't die.
The new U.S. special envoy for North Korean human rights issues has reaffirmed that the U.S. will not normalize relations with the North unless it improves the treatment of its people. Robert King was speaking at the State Department on Friday in his first meeting with reporters since he started the job. 
