[Asharq al-Aswat] A US official said that he believes that Al Qaeda's No 3 Sheikh Said al-Masri who was also known as Mustafa Abu al-Yazid was killed recently in a missile attack in the Pakistani tribal region. Abu al-Yazid's responsibilities reportedly stretched from operational command to fund-raising.
Al Qaeda also released an obituary of Abu al-Yazid, who died aged 56, on the internet, describing him as being one of the most prominent jihadists of the past 22 years. The Al Qaeda statement did not include any information about the attack which ended al-Yazid's life, and which members of his family were also reportedly killed in, but it did indicate that other men, women, and children, died in this attack. The CIA has stepped up the number of attacks by unmanned drones recently, targeting the upper echelons of Al Qaeda and the Taliban.
The Islamic Observatory, a human rights organization based in London that is concerned with the news of Islamic fundamentalists across the globe, clarified that "Abu al-Yazid is from the Ash Sharqiya governorate of Egypt and was born in 1955, he graduated with a BA in Commerce from the University of Zagazig, and he became famous as Sheikh Said the accountant, and he was extremely professional and concerned with unity."
Yasser al-Sirri, the head of the London-based Islamic Observatory, also told Asharq Al-Awsat that Abu al-Yazid was wanted by Egyptian security services, and that he was well known for his professionalism, which is something that allowed him to gain the trust of Osama Bin Laden. Al-Sirri claims that Abu al-Yazid ran a number of Bin Laden's businesses and companies in Sudan.
Al-Sirri also revealed that Abu al-Yazid first went to Afghanistan in 1988, although he was not part of any jihadist movement at that time. Al-Sirri also indicated that Abu al-Yazid, who was known as "Sheikh Said" at the time, was a member of Al Qaeda's Shura Council for years before assuming the most senior position in Afghanistan.
Al-Sirri, who was sentenced in absentia to the death penalty and life imprisonment in Egypt, also told Asharq Al-Awsat that al-Yazid was number 15 on a list of 27 individuals and organizations whose assets were frozen by the US in 2002 due to allegations of sponsoring terrorism.
Al-Sirri also confirmed that Mustafa Abu al-Yazid was an alias of Sheikh Said al-Masri, who was responsible for funding the 9/11 attacks. Abu al-Yazid, or Sheikh Said, is known to have travelled to Qatar and then Dubai as part of his operations to finance the 9/11 attacks.
According to the FBI, Abu al-Yazid was responsible for transferring funds via Dubai to Mohamed Atta and Marwan al-Shehhi and Wail al-Shehri, three of the 9/11 hijackers.
For his part, Dr. Hani al-Sibai, the Director of the London-based Maqrizi Center for Historical Studies told Asharq Al-Awsat that Abu al-Yazid's successor is expected to be announced in the coming days. He said that Al Qaeda deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, or even Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden himself, is expected to issue a statement eulogizing about Abu al-Yazid in the coming period.
Dr. al-Sibai said that Abu al-Yazid was with Bin Laden when the Sudanese government forced the Afghan Arabs, the Jihadist leadership and their families to leave Khartoum and return to Afghanistan once again. It was at this time that the Al Qaeda organization first met mujahedeen commanders such as Mohammed Yunus Khalis and Jalal al-Din Haqqani and others, as well as the Taliban leadership, and they were made welcome and well-received in Afghanistan.
Egyptian Islamist Dr. al-Sibai also told Asharq Al-Awsat that Abu al-Yazid, his eldest daughter Shaymaa, and another of his daughters named Jihad, who is married to the son of Omar Abdel-Rahman, the spiritual leader of the al-Gamaa al-Islamiyya and who is currently imprisoned in the US. His son, Mohamed, was arrested in Afghanistan after the US invasion of 2001, and he was handed over the Americans and held in Guantanamo Bay for a number of years, before recently being released into the custody of the Egyptian authorities where he is currently being held in Tora prison.
Dr. al-Sibai also told Asharq Al-Awsat that "despite the fact that Abu al-Yazid was the commander in chief of Al Qaeda in Afghanistan, he was also pledged to Taliban leader Mullah Omar, and he had strong alliances and close relations with the Taliban leadership."
Dr. al-Sibai also revealed that "Abu al-Yazid was married to the widow of Adil Awad Siyam who was also known as Abu al-Nadr. Al-Zawahiri was very close to him and nicknamed him "the ghost" because of how he confounded the authorities...he was killed in an ambush in the Egyptian governorate of Giza in 1994."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/03/2010 00:00 ||
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#4
...well, I'd bet that the university of California system can make that another major to get a degree and diploma in, given the opportunity and money.
[Quqnoos] An estimated 500 to 1,000 insurgents who operate in Kandahar would be targeted during an offensive there, a report says
The long-planned operation in Kandahar, the Taliban birthplace, is expected to start this month and will focus on Kandahar city and the farmland around it, and could take from four to six months, the Daily Telegraph reported.
In Kandahar itself, NATO will use Afghan government forces to lead efforts to support the local police and legal system.
Although the British Maj Gen Nick Carter will command the Kandahar operation, most of the troops will be American and Canadian.
Meanwhile, the British forces stationed in Helmand province came under command of a US general as NATO's regional command in southern Afghanistan was split into two commands last month.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/03/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Maybe NATO could use a bar graph or two to keep them focused, too.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/03/2010 9:26 Comments ||
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#3
it can (or it just feels like it...) Ever sat through a two-hour Presentation where the speaker reads the powerpoint slides to you? And you have the printed PPT right in front of you? Arrrggghhhhhh
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/03/2010 9:51 Comments ||
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#4
at least we can count on the media telling them exactly when the extra troops will arrive and where at at the exact time of day! What happened too keeping some of this shit a secret until go time
Posted by: chris ||
06/03/2010 9:58 Comments ||
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#5
True chris. However, I do recall reading a debrief of Germans from Normandy during the bocage campaign where they were constantly monitoring the American's undisciplined radio traffic and thus knew what the Americans were up to. It didn't do their morale much good constantly hearing so much stuff was both heading towards them and on top of them. All they could do was keep plugging holes with less and less and still knowing more and more was pounding on their ever thin lines.
#7
not too mention alot of the soldiers on the Atlantic wall where the younger ones except maybe a few panzer divisions. ALSO the taliban don't care if they die and this gives then time too plant more mines or IEDS
Posted by: chris ||
06/03/2010 15:17 Comments ||
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#8
and the media then where on our sides and the BBC was sending out coded messages too partizans
Posted by: chris ||
06/03/2010 15:18 Comments ||
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#9
unlike today where the BBC sends messages to the enemy in the clear as well as playing naked propaganda to undermine our efforts abroad
Posted by: abu do you love ||
06/03/2010 16:29 Comments ||
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#10
Ever sat through a two-hour Presentation where the speaker reads the powerpoint slides to you? And you have the printed PPT right in front of you?
This is apparently corporate practice in Japan. When appropriate, in their best high school English pronunciation.
Soldiers from Somalia's Puntland region stormed a Panama-flagged cargo vessel held by pirates, but gang members killed the captain in the operation, a minister said on Thursday.
"Our troops stormed the Panama-flagged vessel and engaged the pirates. There was brief fighting before they defeated them," Said Mohamed Raage, Minister of Ports and Marine Transport, told Reuters. "We arrested seven pirates after they killed the captain of the ship." You'd have done better to say that "No pirates were found aboard the ship" and leave it at that. You'd be heroes. "They were all shot while attempting to surrender ..."
Semi-autonomous Puntland is a base for sea gangs targeting the Gulf of Aden, but is more peaceful than the rest of the failed Horn of Africa state.
Pirates seized the MV QSM Dubai cargo ship and its 24 crew members from Egypt, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Ghana on Wednesday. The 15,220 deadweight tonne vessel was taken inside the internationally recommended transit corridor and had come from Brazil.
Raage said the ship was carrying sugar to Bossaso.
#2
Um, "Soldiers from... Puntland"? What makes this more than an intermural skirmish between rival bands of pirates? If I'm not mistaken, almost all the pirates call themselves "coast guards" and claim to represent some sort of sovereign power in Somalia or fragment thereof.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
06/03/2010 9:16 Comments ||
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#3
Puntland is an autonomous region in central Somalia. The tribes are different than in the south and north. Puntland's tribal leaders have been trying to establish an independent state, and what they have so far isn't too far off the mark. No other state will recognize them, at least not now, but they have a government, a military of sorts, and a currency.
Somalialand, the region to the north, is doing the same and is doing even better at it.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/03/2010 9:29 Comments ||
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#4
And Somalialand & Puntland between them represent the whole of the Aden coast which is the new Barbary Coast of "coast guard" piracy. What I was arguing is that this business reeks more than a little of Captain Renault style officious hypocrisy.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
06/03/2010 13:58 Comments ||
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#5
There is a lot more money in being a recognized state and the resulting foreign aid then there is in piracy. Plus, you get all of the fancy benefits like diplomatic passports, national banks, and recognized currency with associated printing presses. Also, right now anyway, the West is footing the bill in Kenya for new prisons and courts to try and imprison pirates -- think permanent jobs programs paid for by the West.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Fighting in two central Somali towns left least 24 people dead and 50 wounded as rebels clashed with a pro-government militia, a rights group said on Wednesday.
The moderate Ahlu Sunna Waljamaca group that is aligned with President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed's weak U.N.-backed administration fought with al-Shabaab insurgents in Marergur and Gadon towns in the Galgadud region on Tuesday.
"At least 24 people died and 50 more were wounded, mostly combatants, in the long hours of fighting," said Ali Yasin Gedi, vice chairman of the Mogadishu-based Elman rights group. "Civilians fled to bush areas, some were barefoot with no belongings."
Western security agencies say Somalia -- a failed state that has been torn by civil war for nearly two decades -- has become a haven for militants including foreign jihadists, who are using it to plot attacks in the region and beyond.
The rebels want to extend their area of control from the south towards the pro-government northeastern region of Puntland. Ahmed's government controls little more than Mogadishu's sea port, the airport and his palace in the capital.
"Large forces of al-Shabaab and Hizbul Islam attacked us but we chased them away after fierce fighting," said Sheikh Abdullahi Sheikh Abu Yusuf, an Ahlu Sunna Waljamaca spokesman.
"Their goal was to capture Dhusamareb, but they failed."
Residents in Marergur town spoke of fierce fighting.
"The two sides fought the whole of yesterday and they are still at face-off," Nur Abdi, an elder in Marergur, said. "Many dead bodies are scattered all over the place and residents have fled."
A local al-Shabaab official, whose group has declared loyalty to al-Qaeda, vowed that his forces would seize the whole region from the pro-government militia.
"We shall never stop fighting until our fighters capture the whole region and impose the Islamic sharia," Sheikh Yusuf Sheikh Isse, a senior al-Shabaab official, told reporters.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/03/2010 00:00 ||
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[Bangla Daily Star] A gunfight between Rab and a gang of criminals in the city's FDC area yesterday evening left the gang leader and his bodyguard killed.
The ringleader Selim alias Raipura Seilla, 38, who hailed from Raipura upazila of Narsingdi stayed at Nakhalpara in Tejgaon area. Another deceased was identified as Selim's bodyguard Jabbar alias Pichchhi Akash.
A patrol team of Rab 2 chased the gang when they were taking preparation for committing crimes, said Major Mohammad Ershadul Huq of Rab 2.
He told The Daily Star that they chased the criminals from Nabisco area and when the criminals reached near the Land Survey Directorate by a car, they opened fire on them (Rab men). The elite force also retaliated it that led to the gunfight.
"During the gunfight that continued for 15 minutes, the Rab fired a total of 44 rounds while the gang of five members shot at least 15 rounds", the Rab official said, adding, "At one stage, Selim and Jabbar received bullets and fell down on the road while three others managed to flee the scene."
The car of the criminals was seized and two firearms were recovered from the spot.
Rab said the criminals could not take their vehicle as a truck parked on the roadside.
Locals and police said Selim had been committing crime in Tejgaon area over the last 15 years.
At least 12 cases, including murder case, were filed against Selim with Tejgaon Police Station, said OC Mahbubur Rahman of the police station.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/03/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
...Selim alias Raipura Seilla, 38, who hailed from Raipura upazila...
Eight People died in drug and gang related violence in northern Mexico including two Mexican federal agents ambushed near Santiago, Nuevo Leon.
A man was found shot to death Wednesday inside a car in Camargo, Chihuahua, according to Mexican news reports. Anastasio Portillo Muñoz, 44, was found lying in the front seat of his Ford sedan with wounds from multiple AK-47 shots near the intersection of Tercera and 20 de Noviembre streets.
The vehicle, which was shot up, was reported stolen last January, 2010.
An unidentified 30 year old man was shot to death near a soccer field and two schools by armed suspects in the Chaveña district of Juarez, according to Mexican news accounts. The shooting took place at noon near the intersection of Freedom and Juan de Oñate while children were leaving school.
An unidentified man was shot to death trying to avoid being abducted by armed suspects Tuesday evening in Chihuahua, Chihuahua, according to Mexican news accounts. The incident took place near the Lombardo Toledano district of Chihuahua when armed suspects attempted to abduct the three as they rode in a light truck. Witnesses say armed suspects aboard two light trucks fired on the vehicle forcing them to stop. When the victim attempted to flee, he was shot.
Investigators at the scene found several spend .223 cartridge casings.
An unidentified man and woman were wounded in a shootout between rival gangs Tuesday evening in Chihuahua, say Mexican news reports. Municipal police were called to an area around Pascual Orozco and Ciudad Guerrero streets after sounds of gunfire were heard. The two victims were sent to the hospital by ambulance.
Investigators are currently investigating the incident.
Two unidentified armed suspects were killed, one Coahuila State police agent, and a local police agent were wounded in a police operation Wednesday morning in Torreon, Coahuila, say Mexican news reports.
The incident, near the intersection of Calle Zaragoza between Avenidas Hidalgo and Morelos in the San Pedro district of Torreon, began when police attacked a parked SUV carrying three armed suspects. One of the men aboard the light truck fled after two of the suspects exited the vehicle dead from police return fire.
One State Police agent was lightly wounded, and a Preventative Police agent was seriously wounded after being fired on from other areas by other unidentified armed suspects after the third suspect left the scene. Officials seized a number of munitions in the raid, including rifles and magazines.
Two unidentified people were found executed in south Monterrey, Nuevo Leon Wednesday, according to Mexican news accounts. Police were called to Km. Marker 243 of Carretera Nacional highway in the Santiago municipality in south Monterrey at the El Charro restaurant to investigate the report of two corpses in a car.
No other information was available.
Two unidentified Mexican federal agents were found executed on a highway in Nuevo Leon Wednesday, according to Mexican news reports. The two agents were found dead in their patrol car on a highway to Garcia in the town of Santa Catarina near a trucking company location.
Reports are the two were executed at about 1400 hrs. The two are the third and fourth federal agents murdered in 10 days in Nuevo Leon.
#1
Houston Chronicle: An alleged plot by a Mexican drug cartel to blow up the five mile long Falcon Dam on the Rio Grande along the Texas border and unleash billions of gallons of water into a region with millions of civilians sent American police, federal agents and disaster officials secretly scrambling last month to thwart such an attack, authorities confirmed Wednesday.
The attack may have been thwarted in Mexico. It raises the fear of what the powerful cartels could do.
It would have been a hell of a disaster, said Gene Falcon, director of emergency preparedness for Starr County, site of the dam. There was plenty of concern.
With handbills and bullhorns, members of the Zeta cartel are said to have warned the civilian population on the Mexican side of the river near the dam to get out of the area, according to residents and intelligence information from law enforcement officials.
A border law enforcement official told the Chronicle the warnings originated in part by the seizure of small amounts of dynamite near the dam, and the discovery of a copy of the alert on the Mexican side of the border.
#1
ION FUEL = POL, FREEREPUBLIC > HOW FAR CAN THE GULF OIL GUSH SPREAD?
* IIRC DRUDGEREPORT > DAY 44: GULF OIL GUSH MAY LAST UNTIL CHRISTMAS.
Personally, I'm more concerned about when the gush will finally be stopped + Effect-Loss on US-World Oil, Energy Reserves. BP repor is considering NOT stopping the gush until NEW ALTERNATE OIL RIGS-WELLS ARE SET UP.
D *** NG IT, GOOD REGRESSED "PERMANENTLY POOR BUT OPTIMISTIC" SOVIET AMERIKANS OF THE OWG MIGHTY USSA = OWG WEAK USRoA SSR DEMAND THE OWG-NWO FORCIBLY CAUSE THE US-WORLD TO RUN OUT OF ITS OIL + FOSSIL FUELS! CLEARLY WE MUST ASYMMETR INTENTIONALLY DESTROY ANY AND ALL OF OUR NATURAL FOSSIL FUELS IN ORDER TO EMPOWER MASS CONSUMER-BASED "JETSON-IAN" NUCLEARIZATION + DEEP SPACE. + THUS SAVE SPACE DOG ASTRO + THE EARTH!
#3
I wonder sometimes just how deep the indentation is on the CAPS LOCK key on Joe's keyboard ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/03/2010 9:39 Comments ||
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#4
lol steve
Posted by: chris ||
06/03/2010 9:56 Comments ||
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#5
I enjoy Joe's contributions to the Burg and find them to be full of really good stuff. You have to concentrate and dig deep and use your imagination, but that's the sign of an inventive writer.
Maybe I enjoy his writings because I was a musician in the '60s - at least I think I was - not sure now - but you get the drift.
Keep pounding the keys, Joe. The Burg would NOT be the same without you.
[Al Arabiya Latest] A U.S. aircraft carrier will join a major anti-submarine naval exercise with South Korea next week in a show of strength to North Korea after the sinking of the warship incident, sources said Wednesday.
South Korea, which accuses the North of torpedoing its ship Cheonan in March with the loss of 46 lives, is also mounting a diplomatic drive at the United Nations but indicated it would not seek new sanctions.
About 10 ships, including the USS George Washington, an American Navy supercarrier, will leave its base in the Japanese port of Yokosuka around Saturday and arrive in the Yellow Sea early next week, said a U.S. military source.
On Wednesday North Korean border guards were seen wearing combat helmets, instead of their usual caps, while on duty at the border village of Panmunjom.
"They started wearing metal helmets last Thursday for the first time this year," said Kim Yong-Kyu, a spokesman for the U.S. military in South Korea.
The South will deploy a 4,500-ton destroyer, a submarine and F-15K fighter jets.
The joint drill was initially planned for late June or early July but was brought forward to send a "strong signal and show off a firm defense posture," the source said.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/03/2010 00:00 ||
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[4 views]
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#1
Have the Norks even moved a single soldier anywhere? By choice, or due to lack of resources?
Looks like the emperor may not be wearing any clothes . . . .
#2
ION WMF > US THINK TANK: CHINA'S EIGHT BRIGADES OF DF-21C's IS EQUIVALENT TO US "PERSHING II" MISSLES. DF-21 SERIES BMS TO COMPRISE THE BULK OF PLAAF SECOND ARTY CORPS BATTLEFIELD AND THEATER CONVENTIONAL, "DUAL-USE" TACTICAL FIREPOWER.
* SAME > IN A SECOND KOREAN WAR, CHINA WILL DEPLOY ITS NUCLEAR STRIKE SUBMARINES TO PROTECT NORTH KOREA, EMPOWER DIPLOMACY-LED PRO-CHINA INTERNATIONAL CONCESSIONS.
* SAME > CHINA IS HIGHLY VULNERABLE TO POSSIBLE EXCLUSIVE/INDEPENDENT, NEAR-TERM OUTBREAKS OF WAR IN THREE VITAL OR STRATEGIC ASIAN REGIONS [India-vs-PAK, DRPK-vs-ROK, Various = South China Sea].
* SAME > HATOYAMA RESIGNATION OER OKINAWA BASE ISSUE SHOWS THE US DESIRES CHINA TO BECOME A SECOND SUBSERVIENT/SLAVE-VASSAL JAPAN.
* SAME > JAPAN VOTER ANGER OER OKINAWA BASES + HATOYAMA RESIGNATION MAY DESTROY THE CURRENT JAPANESE POLITICAL/ELECTORAL SYSTEM. Beginning of the end for the post-WW2, post-Cold War "Status Quo" as per Japan's Govt = Pol establishment???
#4
If your only goal is sub-chasing, other platforms can do the job. But a carrier battle group has other skills besides running anti-sub drills: battle space management, air defense and the ability to blow up a wide variety of things.
#6
OTOH... we don't have antisubmarine carriers (like the nifty ones the Japanese and Italians and whatnot have built) and we no longer have, afaik, antisubmarine squadrons on the big carriers.
#9
The only ASW assets onboard the CVs are the various H-60 variants, and the SH-60's carried on the small boys. No more fixed wing assets (S-3); all a consequence of the 'All-Lawn dart Air Wing.'
And what used to be a dedicated ASW bird on the CV, the SH-60F has been multi-tasked to become a Heinz 57 vehicle; assumes ASW, logistics, VERTREP duties. Among others.
Oh yes, Barb. The political system there takes care of that part quite nicely.
As for ASW assets on CVs, don't I recall the Chinese popping up in subs not far behind a full CV battle group about two or three years ago? Wouldn't be Bambi's fault if this is related.
#12
That was the Kitty Hawk ( CV-63) that had the Chicom sub pop up; and IIRC the CO was relieved.
There were no airborne assets at the time in the air, so the CV was depending upon the blackshoes to sweep the seas. That does not imply that the airdales would have found the sub; a common tactic is to trail the surface target by hiding right under it.
#13
all a consequence of the 'All-Lawn dart Air Wing.'
Ah, the Hornet. Is there anything it can't do? If two of them could carry a fuel bladder in the same way two sparrows transport a coconut between them, our tanker worries would be over.
A Roman Catholic bishop was stabbed to death in southern Turkey on Thursday, a day before he was scheduled to leave for Cyprus to meet with the pope, officials and reports said.
Luigi Padovese, 63, the apostolic vicar in Anatolia, was attacked outside his home in the Mediterranean port of Iskenderun. The killing was not believed to be politically motivated.
Dogan news agency video footage of the scene showed the bishop lying dead in front of a building.
Mehmet Celalettin Lekesiz, the governor for the province of Hatay, said police immediately caught the suspected killer. He said the man, identified only as Murat A., was Padovese's driver for the last four and a half years and was mentally unstable.
"The initial investigation shows that the incident is not politically motivated," Lekesiz said. "We have learned that the suspect had psychological problems and was receiving treatment."
Padovese, who is the equivalent of the bishop for the Anatolia region, was scheduled to leave for Cyprus on Friday to meet with the pope, who is visiting the island, and fellow bishops from around the region to prepare for a synod of Roman Catholic bishops in the Middle East. The synod is scheduled for October.
The Vatican-affiliated Asia News agency cited unnamed witnesses as saying the driver appeared to be "depressed, violent and threatening," in recent days.
No one answered phones at his church in Iskenderun.
The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, told The Associated Press in Rome that the Vatican felt "immense pain, consternation, (and) bewilderment" over the death and noted that it showed the "difficult conditions" of the Catholic community in the region. He said the pope's upcoming visit to Cyprus and the upcoming synod of bishops on the Middle East showed "how the universal church is in solidarity with this community."
The killing is the latest in a string of attacks in recent years on Christians in Turkey, where Christians make up less than 1 percent of the 70 million population. In 2007, a Roman Catholic priest in the western city of Izmir, Adriano Franchini, was stabbed and slightly wounded in the stomach by a 19-year-old man after Sunday Mass. The man was arrested.
The same year, a group of men entered a Bible-publishing house in the central Anatolian city of Malatya and killed three Christians, including a German national. The five alleged killers are now standing trial for murder.
The killings -- in which the victims were tied up and had their throats slit -- drew international condemnation and added to Western concerns about whether Turkey can protect its religious minorities.
In 2006, amid widespread anger in Islamic countries over the publication in European newspapers of caricatures of Islam's Prophet Muhammad, a 16-year-old boy shot dead a Catholic priest, Father Andrea Santoro, as he prayed in his church in the Black Sea city of Trabzon. The boy was convicted of murder and sentenced to 18 years in prison.
Padovese was appointed to his post in 2004.
Mustafa Sinanoglu, the mufti or top Muslim cleric for Hatay province, told the Anatolia news agency that he and Padovese had been working together toward establishing closer dialogue between their faiths.
"I have been deeply affected by the death of a colleague with whom I had been working together on projects for the region, Turkey and world peace," he said. "These kinds of incidents are damaging our country's image."
Asia News said the Bishop was also involved in work for the unity of the Christian church and to revive the tiny Christian community in Turkey.
Turkey's Culture Minister Ertugrul Gunay paid tribute to Padovese saying he had "made important contributions to the culture of tolerance through his services in Hatay."
The Foreign Ministry said the death of Padovese was an "important loss from a religious and scholarly point of view," adding that the Bishop had written extensively on Turkey.
In a 2006 telephone interview with the AP, following another knife attack that injured another priest, Padovese expressed concern over the safety of Catholics priests in Turkey. "The climate has changed," he said. "It is the Catholic priests that are being targeted." Any bets that he was 'depressed' over the flotilla?
#1
Even in Turkey, the Muslim murderer's defense of mental illness they figure, will probably get them a less harsh sentence. Land of 'Midnight Express'.
according to the Turks, the driver of the bishop's car was mentally unstable and had been so for 4+ years during which time he continued to be the bishop's driver
Posted by: lord garth ||
06/03/2010 13:22 Comments ||
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#3
He said the man, identified only as Murat A., was Padovese's driver for the last four and a half years and was mentally unstable
#6
Didn't, years ago, the site used to have a Murat from Turkey(might have been cyprus) around, being a troll? My memories could be completely wrong of course.
Posted by: Charles ||
06/03/2010 15:31 Comments ||
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#7
Yes, and that's who I was referring to in my original comment.
...1979 followed two years of Carteresque utopian proclamations. Do we remember them all still? There was Cy Vance, in perfect aristocratic style, and in perpetual atonement for his earlier support of the Vietnam War, with his creased brow and sermonizing tone, bringing in the kinder, gentler orderresigning over the failed hostage rescue, replaced by a stoic Ed Muskie, an Andrew Young at the UN trying to be a sort of proto-Barack Obama, reaching out to the radical Palestinians, and so on.
Remember the commandments? No more inordinate fear of communism; human rights governing U.S. foreign policy; no more nuclear weapons housed in South Korea which was to be free of U.S. troops; outreach to the terrorist/rebel/reformer Mugabe, and so on.
In other words, it took a flawed world about 24 months to size up the new idealistic administration, and to determine that it either could not or would not continue U.S. foreign policy of the previous three decades. Soon the more daring then decided to make regional adjustments'. Finally a panicked Carter was attempting everything from boycotting the Olympics and arming Islamicists in Afghanistan to threatening to use nuclear weapons in the Middle East and restoring draft registration to reclaim lost U.S. deterrence.
Obama started out in similar fashion with his first al-Arabiya interview. Then followed the apology tour, the bowing, the Cairo mythmaking speech, the reach out to Ahmadinejad, Assad, Castro, Chavez, and Putin, the estrangement with Israel, the neglect of the brave Iranian dissidents, the phony deadlines over Iranian proliferation, the missile defense walk-back from the Poles and Czechs, the constant Bush-bashing reset-button diplomacy rhetoric, the serial humiliation of things British, the failed deal to appease Putin in hopes of Russian help in stopping Iran from going nuclear, the new loud commitment to the UN, the promises to end all nuclear weapons, the nuke deal with Russia that saw us give up sophisticated weapons to match dismantling of poorer Russian modelsall amid a backdrop of massive U.S. spending and the highest two budget deficits in American financial history.
We have sowed and now we shall reap, and so soon we shall endure our first postnational, postracial, Nobel Laureate president treated quite shabbily by those whom he was supposed to mesmerize. In places like Teheran or Damascus, Obama's racial heritage, his Harvard Review billet, his membership in the Trinity Church, his brotherhood with Wright and Ayers, all that and more mean less than zero. To such thugs, Obama is the face of America, and he is to be tested rather than worshipped. Hugo Chavez is not a Harvard dean; Putin is not a senior Newsweek editor. Their legs do not tingle when they hear the President, except perhaps in giddy anticipation of what they might wrestle from him. They are not impressed with identity politics; they care little for degrees or titles; they have no elite white guilt. Again, Obama is just an American President who must be analyzed, tested, and if need be dared and humiliated....
Posted by: Mike ||
06/03/2010 14:27 ||
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[Dawn] Interior Minister Rehman Malik on Wednesday claimed that the Punjabi Taliban were preparing for a major terror attack in the country and said Lashkar-i-Jhangvi was involved in the attacks on the Marriott hotel in Islamabad, the GHQ in Rawalpindi and the terror attacks in Lahore.
Malik, while briefing the Senate Standing Committee, said the Punjabi Taliban are a big threat to the country and they are preparing to launch a major attack.
He said the government was cooperating with the US in the Faisal Shahzad case.
He further informed the committee that he had asked the Punjab government to take immediate action against the terrorists.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/03/2010 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] More than a dozen militants were killed Wednesday in a district where Pakistan declared an end to major combat operations hours earlier after a two-month assault, security officials said.
Helicopter gunships shelled suspected Taliban hideouts near the towns of Kaasha and Toti Mela in the northwest Orakzai tribal district, killing seven militants, local administration official Sajjad Ahmed told AFP.
More than a dozen militants attacked an army checkpost in the Shahu Khel area in which two soldiers were wounded, the official said.
"Troops retaliated killing six militants and wounding eight. The attack was launched by a group of 15-20 militants," Ahmed said.
Other security officials said 20 militants were killed and 12 wounded in helicopter gunship attacks and ground clashes in upper parts of Orakzai.
It is impossible, however, to confirm casualty statistics independently in what is a closed military zone inaccessible to aid workers and journalists.
A military spokesman in the northwest said there was "complete peace" in the lower reaches of Orakzai, where displaced families had started to return over the past two weeks, he said.
Intelligence sources said upper Orakzai was more volatile and troops were engaged against militants in Ghalju and Dabori towns.
Military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas told AFP that major operations in Orakzai were over, although "stabilisation" operations may continue.
"There are very small pockets of resistance which are being cleared, but the major population centres have been cleared and that includes the passes that were connected to the Tirah valley in the north," he said.
Since March 26, 46 soldiers and 106 militants had been killed in Orakzai, Abbas said. Around 333 suspects were arrested and 200 military personnel wounded, he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/03/2010 00:00 ||
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DIALA / Aswat al-Iraq: Police forces arrested on Wednesday 10 al-Qaeda suspects in al-Saadiya district in northeast of Baaquba, according to a security source.
The forces arrested the suspects in al-Nada region in al-Saadiya district, south of Khanaqin,' the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. He gave no further details.
Khanaqin lies 155 northeast of Baaquba, the capital of Diala province, which lies 57 km northeast of Baghdad.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/03/2010 00:00 ||
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A U.S. citizen who lived in Turkey is among the nine people killed when Israeli commandos stormed a Turkish aid ship heading for the Gaza Strip, officials said today. The victim was identified as Furkan Dogan, 19, a Turkish-American. A forensic report said he was shot at close range, with four bullets in his head and one in his chest, according to the Anatolian news agency. Excellent shooting, IDF! Like their counterparts, the SAS and Delta, the Israeli Sayeret Matkal has some phenomenal pistol shots.
Dogan was a high school student studying social sciences in the town of Kayseri in central Turkey. He was born in the United States and moved to Turkey at the age of 2. He will be buried in his hometown tomorrow. Anchor baby dies at sea. What are the odds?
The body was returned to Turkey today along with eight others, all Turkish nationals, who were on board the Mavi Maramara.
The ship was sponsored by a Turkish charity, the Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Relief (IHH) and was carrying aid to Gaza in defiance of the Israeli blockade. These clowns are more fact-challenged than most media, which is saying a lot: "The ship was sponsored by a Turkish charityterrorist front, the Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Relief (IHH) and was carrying aidredundant junk to Gaza in defiance oforder to break the Israeli blockade and facilitate future weapons deliveries."
The charity released the names of all nine dead. All are male and the ages range from 32 to 61.
"We were handed nine dead bodies, but we have a longer list of missing people," Bullent Yildirim, chairman of the charity, told reporters as he landed at Istanbul airport after returning from Israel, where he said he had been kept in custody and questioned for three days.
The activists on board the ship told a very different version of events from the one released by the Israeli military. Journalistic credulity can reach epic levels when it is willfull.
A Canadian on board, Farooq Burney, described watching an elderly man bleed to death. This would probably be the 61 year old terrorist mentioned above.
The head of a Turkish charity that organized the aid flotilla said an Indonesian doctor was shot in the stomach and a photographer was shot in the forehead. I don't think the doctor (of what?) was attempting to aid the battered Israeli soldiers, and the photog was, well, a photog.
Next time, will you please make an extra effort to kill Bill Ayers, Bernadine Dohrn, George Galloway, and Cynthia McKinney. You will be doing both yourself, and your real friends in America and Britain a big favor.
#3
Besoeker, how dare you expect a lefty to do anything?
It's all about how they feel, not about what actually happens. It's all about them, don'tcha know?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
06/03/2010 14:35 Comments ||
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#4
If Cynthia Mckinney would go too the part of ATL that pretty much elected her she would probably be killed there
Posted by: chris ||
06/03/2010 15:11 Comments ||
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#5
I hereby nominate the father of high school student, Furkan Dogan, 19, as the Rantburg worst father of the year. He sent his son on a ship, to attack gun toting commandos with a stick, and die, for newspaper headlines! Bad parenting!
#6
I disagree, how do we know it wasn't because Father forbid him from going that he left his High School and joined the Shooting Gallery? It may have been defective offspring not listening to their older, LIVING relations.
Posted by: Charles ||
06/03/2010 15:36 Comments ||
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#9
The charity released the names of all nine dead. All are male and the ages range from 32 to 61.
But what about dear, dear Furkan, The 19 year old high school student that leads the article? The "american". I'm a thinkin of just how many hundreds of thousands middle east and arab residents are about to demand passage back to america and other western countries as citizens. Anchors aweight. For Canada, it's the lebanese who call for help and demand to be saved from their brethern. over 80% illegal canadians but the stupid gov't protects them and has air-lifted hundreds out. including all those who have never set foot in canada,
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/03/2010 20:20 Comments ||
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#12
An idiot and his oxygen are soon parted. Sooner, in most cases, would be better.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
06/03/2010 20:59 Comments ||
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#13
I couldn't recall the advisor's name when I made the post above.
His name is Anwar al-Awlaki born 1971 in Las Cruces, New Mexico according to this.
As for the authorization to kill him:
"By April 2010, U.S. President Barack Obama approved the targeted killing of al-Awlaki as officials explained it was appropriate for individuals that posed an imminent danger to national security. That step required the consent of the United States National Security Council, and made al-Awlaki the first U.S. citizen ever to be placed on the list of those whom the CIA is allowed to kill."
In all likelihood Mr Dogan posed an "imminent threat" to the "national personal security" of Israeli troops, in that he was trying to lynch them.
Nicaragua has suspended its diplomatic ties with Israel in protest at Tel Aviv's deadly attack against an aid convoy heading for the besieged Gaze Strip.
"Nicaragua suspends from today its diplomatic relations with the government of Israel," President Daniel Ortega's office said in a statement on Tuesday.
The Managua government "underscored the illegal nature of the attack on a humanitarian mission in clear violation of international and humanitarian law," AFP quoted Communications Chief Rosario Murillo as saying.
The Central American nation further reiterated its support for the Palestinian people and urged an end to Israel's crippling blockade on the Gaza Strip.
In South America, Brazil joined the international community's condemnation of Israel's attack on the Flotilla and summoned the Israeli ambassador over the brutal assault.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Israel "did not have the right" to carry out such an attack, reminding that the flotilla was traveling in international waters.
Cuba also denounced the "criminal attack," and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez condemned the move as a "brutal massacre."
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon earlier said the bloodshed would not have happened if Israel had lifted its siege on Gaza.
In a pre-dawn attack on Monday, Israeli naval forces in dinghies and helicopters stormed the six-ship Gaza Freedom Flotilla in international waters 150km (90 miles) off the coast of Gaza.
Palestinian sources put the number of those killed at 20 while more than 50 are reported to have been injured.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/03/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Like Israel or any one else for that matter care.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
06/03/2010 9:01 Comments ||
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#2
Nicaragua still had diplomatic relations with Israel? I kind of expected that they would have dropped those not long after Ortega's return to power.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
06/03/2010 9:17 Comments ||
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#3
He was saving it for a special occasion.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/03/2010 9:39 Comments ||
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#4
Hugo is probably biting his ass that he can't suspend ties anymore
Posted by: European Conservative ||
06/03/2010 16:47 Comments ||
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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.
[Bangla Daily Star] A gunfight between Rab and a gang of criminals in the city's FDC area yesterday evening left the gang leader and his bodyguard killed.
DIALA / Aswat al-Iraq: Police forces arrested on Wednesday 10 al-Qaeda suspects in al-Saadiya district in northeast of Baaquba, according to a security source.
A U.S. citizen who lived in Turkey is among the nine people killed when Israeli commandos stormed a Turkish aid ship heading for the Gaza Strip, officials said today. The victim was identified as Furkan Dogan, 19, a Turkish-American. A forensic report said he was shot at close range, with four bullets in his head and one in his chest, according to the Anatolian news agency.
