The district governor of Nad-e-Ali pointed across parched fields toward a line of trees from where the Taliban attacks come. "That's where our enemy is," said Habibullah Shama-lany, 58, standing outside a police fortress, the ground around his feet littered with discarded ammunition cartridge cases from recent battles. "Their shadow government begins over there." Behind him a teenage police recruit wearing jeans and an Adidas shirt squinted down the sight of his machine-gun toward where the governor was pointing.
Shamalany is a close ally of British soldiers who patrol the dangerous roads around Lashkar Gah, the provincial capital 30 kilometres away. The Taliban sow fear in the villages, he said, but it is Pakistan that is the true enemy of Afghans like him. "Yes, our Afghan village boys join the Taliban," he conceded. "But only because they are scared by Taliban threats to their families.
"It is Pakistan that trains, funds and leads them. When we capture their fighters they confess that they are trained in Pakistan. The Pakistanis find religious boys, give them weapons, and send them across the border into Afghanistan to kill us, and to kill your British soldiers." Villagers grunted in agreement. "Pakistan is against Afghanistan, they want to destroy us," said Mullah Yar Gul, 29, to approval.
They had gathered to discuss a new "safer fields" scheme, described by the commander of British forces in the district, Lt.-Col. Lincoln Jopp MC, as Neighbourhood Watch, Helmand-style. "The difference is that instead of reporting possible burglars, farmers are encouraged to keep their land free of bombs and landmines by keeping an eye out for suspicious activity," he said.
The colonel arrived with a detachment of 1st Battalion Scots Guards in armoured vehicles to be embraced as an old friend by the governor.
Only a year ago the area was under Taliban control, and it remains frighteningly violent. Last Sunday three Taliban died in a gunfight with police a mile from the fortress, a mud brick construction festooned with razor wire and with an Afghan flag fluttering over it. Days before that, two of Col Jopp's soldiers died when they came under fire trying to rescue an injured comrade.
At dawn British and American soldiers had started Operation Black Prince to push the Taliban out of one of the few pockets of Nad-e-Ali they still controlled, a few miles to the north of the fortress.
Villagers said they were glad the insurgents were being pushed back again. They queued up to denounce the Taliban, who they said had stolen food and press-ganged their young men. They believed that many of the gunmen, who they were forbidden from talking to, were Pakistani fighters, speaking Pashtun with unfamiliar foreign accents.
The governor was delighted to hear David Cameron accuse Pakistan of promoting the "export of terror" and saying that Helmand was one of the places to which it was exported. "I agree with your prime minister," he said, jabbing his finger in the air for emphasis. "I am glad he said this about Pakistan. Almost every day here we see the bloody consequences of their work."
Bismillah Khan, 22, the deputy leader of the Afghan police contingent said he chose to work for the police because the Taliban was against Afghanistan and killed innocent people. "Friends from my village joined the Taliban and there is a lot of trouble now at home. My family has been threatened," he said.
Like other Helmandis, he fears what will happen when the British and other NATO troops finally pull out, a process which is expected to begin next year. "The Afghan security forces are not strong enough by themselves. There will be civil war again," he said.
[Bangla Daily Star] British troops targeting a Taliban stronghold in southern Afghanistan have found a cache of bomb-making equipment, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said. Bomb making equipment? In Afghanistan? Boy, y'don't see those very often!
The improvised explosive device (IED) components were found as troops pushed forward into an area of central Helmand province in Operation Tor Shezada.
The operation, which began before dawn on Friday, aims to remove bad boys from an area near the town of Saidabad. The explosives found in the bomb-making factory were detonated on site. "Private Mucklewame!"
"Sir!"
"Your stogey, please!"
"And cover your mustache, lad, you don't want it singed."
Earlier, commanders had said troops had met only light resistance as they consolidated their hold on ground seized from the Taliban. Insurgents are thought to make bombs and plan attacks from the area around Saidabad.
Hundreds of British and Afghan troops are being led by 1st Battalion, The Duke of Lancaster's Regiment. Others involved come from 21 Engineer Regiment, the Counter IED taskforce, 1st Battalion, The Royal Regiment of Scotland, the Joint Helicopter Force (Afghanistan) and the Afghan National Army.
The MoD said troops worked to clear compounds around Saidabad throughout the early hours of yesterday. It said the "large find" of bomb-making equipment was found when soldiers, working alongside Afghan security forces, began searching and clearing buildings.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/01/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Y'don't see 'em very often either, but we may find some jihadists in Afghanistan, too. Eep!
Posted by: American Delight ||
08/01/2010 7:38 Comments ||
Top||
#2
The sooner Pakistan becomes the late, unlamented, the better the entire world will be. Split it between Afghanistan and India, along the Indus River (funny how nobody ever comments on the fact that the Indus, which gave India its name, is now 90% in Phakestain).
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
08/01/2010 13:40 Comments ||
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#3
Pakistan is 85% of the problem with Afghanistan. With the remaining 15% slit between the usual suspects, Iran, Syria, and most recently Turkey.
[The Nation (Nairobi)] A cell phone suspected to have been left behind by the people who masterminded the Kampala blasts led detectives to the three Kenyans arraigned in court on Friday.
Intelligence sources in Uganda said an unexploded bomb left behind by the terrorists at a night spot in Makindye division helped them to piece together evidence that led to the arrest of Kenyans Idris Magondu, 42, Hussein Hassan Agade, 27, and Mohammed Aden Addow, 25.
The trio was charged with 76 counts of murder. The three men did not enter a plea.
Condemned arrest
But, speaking in Nairobi on Saturday, the suspects' lawyer Mbugua Mureithi and human rights activist and chair of the Kenya Muslim Human Rights Forum Al Amin Kimathi condemned the arrest and handing over of the trio to Ugandan authorities.
They said Mr Magondu and Mr Agade were part-time preachers in Nairobi.
Mr Mureithi accused Kenyan authorities of breaching the law in handing the suspects over to Ugandan authorities. Mr Mureithi said he has filed an application to have Kenyan police compelled to produce the suspects in court on Monday.
"We shall be in court Monday because, as far as I am concerned, my clients were kidnapped by a government that does not want to follow the judicial process," he told the Sunday Nation on the phone on Saturday.
He said that since they were arrested on Monday, July 22, neither their families nor their lawyers had contacted them directly.
Are depressed
"The families are depressed after receiving nothing but mistreatment from the government," he said.
Mr Kimathi also described the handing over of the suspects to Ugandan authorities as illegal.
Under the illusion they've got Constitutional rights, are they?
Seventy-six people died and many others were injured in explosions at the Kyadondo Rugby Club and the Ethiopian Village Restaurant. The victims of the blasts were football fans watching the World Cup final between Spain and The Netherlands on the night of Sunday July 11.
The militant Somali group al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the bombings.
The Uganda police were backed up in their investigations by detectives from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation who offered technical assistance.
The suspicions
Mr Magondu, Mr Agade and Mr Addow were arrested in Kenya after the Ugandan police notified their Kenyan counterparts of their suspicion that the trio had made calls to a number in Uganda.
A detective told the Sunday Nation they had evidence that the trio had earlier made "several trips between Kampala and Nairobi by bus".
"We have their original bus tickets," the officer said.
Twenty-seven Ugandan nationals have also been arrested for allegedly hosting terror suspects. Police sources said some al-Shabaab agents are still hiding in Uganda and have issued threats to attack some places.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/01/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Man...the Kenyan Trio, I just loved their music. Hang down your head Tom Dooley, hang down head and cry...
Posted by: Secret Asian Man ||
08/01/2010 13:24 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Secret Asian Man, that's definitely room-worthy. :-) One of my many favourite songs, that is.
48 Hours Rule on this one inasmuch as the story seems legitimate. No other news outlet has picked up the story, oddly enough...
A text message in Spanish and originating in Mexico is offering $1 million price on the head of controversial Maricopa County, Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio, Saturday, according to press reports.
The messages comes with a telephone number with more details, and a request to forward the message. The offer is allegedly by someone in the Juarez Cartel. The message was sent out Tuesday, July 29th.
#1
In his time, Arpaio has gotten a bunch of death threats, and even some attempts. However, sheriffs in other counties are also getting threatened, usually when they make a major cartel drug bust, or even seize a bunch of their drugs.
This is unwise.
The Earps, for better or worse, were Arizona lawmen. I might also add that they were Republicans, and while the Clantons may or may not have been Democrats, before and after the OK Corral fight, they, being bad guys, were supported by the Democrat political types in the area, who tried to railroad the Earps.
#2
killing Joe Arpaio would be the stupidest move the cartels or illegal-activists could possibly do. It would be open season and very few captures, just kills
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/01/2010 10:23 Comments ||
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Posted by: Frank G ||
08/01/2010 13:28 Comments ||
Top||
#7
#5: I wonder what Obama will do about this.
Posted by: gorb|
I don't wonder, I know - NOTHING. O'bumble won't do anything that might cost him a single vote. A pile of sh$$ is more valuable than O'bumble - at least it can be used as fertilizer. O'bumble just destroys.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
08/01/2010 13:45 Comments ||
Top||
#8
Zero, that POS, would blame Arizona and SB1070, he would call for understanding the poor plight of the mexican cartel. He would have Jan investigated for setting up the death of a Sheriff. Its simple what that worthless person would do..
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
08/01/2010 16:45 Comments ||
Top||
#9
Maybe he could grovel to the Mexican president.
#11
I remember the words of a newly-elected Maricopa County prosecutor, back when shooting burglars was something of a national controversy. The media asked him about his policy on that, and he replied, "If somebody breaks into your house, you shoot the S.O.B."
And he did not abbreviate that last bit.
And there used to be a Sheriff in Flagstaff, who had a small jail, so if he had extra customers, they would go with him on his beat around town. They did not speak, nor make any effort to escape, though they were not handcuffed. For they all knew that he was an expert, and deadly shot.
The Arizona governor's appeal to lift a temporary block on provisions of the state's controversial immigration law has been dismissed.
US District Court Judge Susan Bolton on Wednesday temporarily blocked a section of the law which requires police to check the immigration status of anyone they suspect could be an illegal immigrant, Reuters reported.
Other provisions blocked by Judge Bolton included an order requiring immigrants to carry documentation at all times, as well as banning undocumented immigrants from seeking work in public places.
Arizona Governor Jan Brewer and her legal team called on the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco on Thursday to overturn the injunction and arrange public oral arguments in the case for mid-September.
But the court dismissed the state's request to expedite the appeal in Friday evening and set a hearing for the week of November 1.
Arizona's controversial immigration law has sparked protests in the state especially among the Hispanics and labor activists who blocked roads and held demonstrations in the state cities on Thursday and Friday.
Seventy-one people were arrested during the demonstrations.
Other cities in the US have moved to condemn the new law by enacting resolutions and tens of thousands of people across the US have joined protests against the law.
Opponents of the law say it constitutes discrimination and encourages racial profiling.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/01/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
tens of thousands of people across the US have joined protests against the law.
And MILLIONS of us who are too busy working to join a protest actually support the law. However, that doesn't support the narrative, so the MSM doesn't mention it.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
08/01/2010 0:13 Comments ||
Top||
#2
But the court dismissed the state's request to expedite the appeal in Friday evening and set a hearing for the week of November 1.
#4
Agenda based press. 9th Circus court - agenda based. This county is going to be a total loss if people dont wake up. I have seen this in third world countries, socialist agenda, playing on the apathy of the masses until its too late.. We are going to lose the greatest nation on earth, the boomers have destroyed this country.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
08/01/2010 1:37 Comments ||
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#5
9th circuit is the most often reversed court in the land. Let them take their good old time coming to the wrong conclusion, then on to SCOTUS.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
08/01/2010 1:56 Comments ||
Top||
#6
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has thus ensured this will be an election issue across the country, at a time when the Democrats appear increasingly vulnerable.
#8
Last year, the SCOTUS reversed 15 of the 16 9th Circuit cases it heard. 94%. However, the problem lies with their being no "Second Court of the United States", to review the other 3,000 cases the SCOTUS never hears.
This is why a "Second Court" has been proposed: under federal auspices, but acting on *behalf* of the States. That is, 100 State-appointed judges, just like US Senators, to review that vast number of cases advanced by the circuit courts.
It would likely kill a huge amount of "legislating from the bench", by screwy lower federal judges, as well as them bullying the States, by doing things like forcing States to appropriate money for things the judge wants.
#11
We need a way to force activist judges from the bench. The "good order" clause is far too weak and "mealy-mouthed" to stand up under pressure. We need a constitutional amendment that would IMMEDIATELY vacate a judicial appointment if a federal judge passes down a decision contrary to the CONSTITUTION.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
08/01/2010 13:50 Comments ||
Top||
#12
#8 Last year, the SCOTUS reversed 15 of the 16 9th Circuit cases it heard. 94%. Moose
Anyone besides me see a systemic problem here? I suggest we proceed with OP's cmnt at #11 and use Moose's statistics as justification.
#13
Actually, while 94% is high for a circuit court, the SCOTUS can review so few cases from the circuit courts, that they generally try to pick ones they will overturn. With a potential docket of something like 3,000 cases a year, upholding a case is seen as something of a waste of their time.
Again, this is why we need a Second Court of the US. With a hundred justices, they could punch through the circuit court decisions *and* support States rights at the same time.
[Dawn] Three people were killed on Friday night in incidents of target killing in Karachi.
Unknown gunmen shot a person in Baldi Town No.4 and his body was transferred to Civil Hospital.
Another man was killed in Layari's New Lane area while the third person was shot dead in Kemari's Ghas Bandar area.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/01/2010 00:00 ||
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[5 views]
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BAGHDAD - July was the deadliest month in Iraq since May 2008 with a total of 535 people killed across the country as a result or violence, according to government figures released on Saturday.
A total of 396 civilians, 89 policemen and 50 soldiers died in attacks in July, data compiled by the health, defence and interior ministries showed. The death toll is the highest for a single month since May 2008 when 563 people were killed in violence.
Saturdays figures also showed that 1,043 people 680 civilians, 198 policemen and 165 soldiers were injured in attacks this month, the highest such number this year. The data also showed that 100 insurgents were killed and 955 were arrested.
Four American soldiers died in July only one in a hostile incident bringing to 4,413 the total number to have died in Iraq since the US-led invasion in 2003 that toppled dictator Saddam Hussein, according to an AFP tally.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/01/2010 00:00 ||
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NINEWA / Aswat al-Iraq: Seven people, including five policemen, were wounded on Saturday when a roadside bomb went off west of Mosul city.
The blast targeted a police patrol at the al-Zinjeeli area, west of Mosul, a local security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. He noted that in addition to the injuries, the blast damaged one of the patrols vehicles.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/01/2010 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] Iraqi soldiers arrested two suspected insurgents behind a brazen series of attacks in Baghdad this week that killed 16 people and wounded 14 others, a security official said on Saturday.
The pair were arrested as a result of security camera footage that showed insurgents setting alight three dead soldiers and planting Al-Qaeda's flag, a defence ministry official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The private surveillance tape was taken from a shop in the predominantly Sunni area of Adhamiyah where the attack, which also involved homemade bombs being placed on routes to the scene of the fire, took place on Thursday.
"The private security camera recorded the entire operation and shows the gunmen attack an army checkpoint, plant bombs and burn dead bodies," the official said.
According to the official, the videotape shows the gunmen killing the soldiers after a 10-minute gun battle, pouring oil over their bodies and setting them on fire.
"Then, they put bombs on the roads leading to the scene, and planted the flag of the Islamic State of Iraq (Al-Qaeda's front group) near the dead bodies before fleeing," the official said.
He said two people including a lawyer had been arrested as a result of the footage of the attacks, which occurred within 15 minutes of each other.
In addition to the original killing of the soldiers, three homemade bomb attacks on different routes to the scene of the shooting killed 13 more people, including three soldiers and three policemen, and wounded 14, among them seven police and two civil defence members, the interior ministry said.
Baghdad security spokesman Major General Qassim Atta said "large numbers of weapons and explosions were found within the last 24 hours" in raids as part of an investigation into the attack.
"A number of suspects and wanted persons have been arrested after the terrorist attack in Adhamiyah," he said.
US and Iraqi officials have warned of the dangers of an upsurge in violence as negotiations on forming a new governing coalition drag on, more than four months after the country held a parliamentary election.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/01/2010 00:00 ||
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[1 views]
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#1
here's hoping the "interrogation" is strenuous, and painful
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/01/2010 10:26 Comments ||
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[Dawn] Iraqi officials say a roadside bomb has killed four Iraqis, including three soldiers, and wounded 11 people south of Baghdad.
The blast took place on Saturday near the municipal offices in Rashid district just south of the Iraqi capital, as soldiers were responding to an earlier explosion in the same area.
Police and hospital officials say the three soldiers and a bystander succumbed to their wounds in a Baghdad hospital. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the media.
Violence has dramatically dropped in Iraq since 2008, but insurgent attacks are still a daily occurrence at a time when US forces are withdrawing and leaving the country's nascent forces alone in charge of security.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/01/2010 00:00 ||
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[1 views]
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The Islamic Jihad organization said on Sunday that it has decided to resume suicide attacks against Israel from the West Bank. The threat came in response to attacks launched by IAF planes on the Gaza Strip following the firing of rockets on Israel in the past few days.
The group, however, admitted that it has become very difficult to launch suicide attacks out of the West Bank because of security coordination between the Palestinian Authority and Israel.
"Suicide operations require places for training and preparing explosive belts," said Abu Ahmed, spokesman for the Al-Quds Battalions, the armed wing of Islamic Jihad. "It's very difficult to do these things because of the policy of security coordination and the arrest of [would-be] suicide bombers."
He said that members of his group were "suffering a lot" in the West bank because of the PA's security measures and "persecution." Abu Ahmed described the PA's crackdown as a "national crime" against Palestinians.
For the PA to enforce its own laws is a 'national crime' against Palestinians? A prime example of Paleo logic.
They don't make sense even when they don't make sense ...
#1
"Suicide operations require places for training and preparing explosive belts," said Abu Ahmed, spokesman for the Al-Quds Battalions, the armed wing of Islamic Jihad.
#3
WAFF > {Syria's] ASSAD WARNS OF GROWING THREAT OF NEW MIDEAST WAR. No negotiations = conditional talks/compromise wid Israel oer RETURN OF THE GOLAN HEIGHTS TO SYRIA.
and
* SAME > TURKISH SOIL MULLED AS AN OPTION FOR US ANTI-IRAN MISSLE DEFENSE | US TO ACTIVATE MISSLE SHIELD OVER SOUTHERN EUROPE.
* YNET NEWS > [UN Envoy Mohammed Khazee]IRAN OFFCIAL: WE WILL "BURN TEL AVIV" IN CASE OF ATTACK.
* VARIOUS > IRAN THREATENS TO DESTABILIZE PERSIAN GULF/MIDDLE EAST [security] IFF ATTACKED.
[Ma'an] Palestinian Authority security forces detained at least 20 Hamas leaders in Nablus over the past two days, a security source told Ma'an Saturday.
Among those detained was Islam Al-Betawi, son of Hamas-affiliated lawmaker Hamed, the source said. Additionally, over 200,000 was seized by PA forces after locating what the source described as a "Hamas hideout" in the city.
The source identified four other detainees as Samer Al-Masri, Ghassan Daoud, Mousa At-Tanbur and Muhyi Ad-Din As-Sal'us, but refused to give further details on their arrest, saying all were still being questioned.
Earlier Saturday, Hamas said PA forces detained two party supporters in Nablus, including an elementary school teacher and a university student, but did not mention the detention of West Bank leaders.
The Islamist movement has accused the Fatah-affiliated forces in the West Bank of detaining several leaders. In June, Hamas spokesman Salah Bardawil said the movement would be "obliged to reciprocate" to political arrests after Khalid Al-Hajj, a party leader, was detained in Hebron.
Both rival movements have accused one another of carrying out political arrests in the areas they presently govern, with Hamas issuing nearly weekly statements on supporters being detained by Palestinian Authority security forces.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/01/2010 00:00 ||
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[1 views]
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Warplanes hit smuggling tunnels on the border with Egypt without causing casualties, witnesses said.
Also on Saturday, two Palestinians were wounded by Israeli fire while searching for scrap material near the Gaza border fence, Hassanein said. The army had no immediate comment on the shooting incident.
The airstrikes came after a rocket fired by Gaza militants on Friday slammed into the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon.
The United Nations criticised the action.
Which, bombing the tunnels or firing the rockets?
Posted by: Fred ||
08/01/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Without Killing anybody, or are bodies simply too deep to find?
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
08/01/2010 12:42 Comments ||
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A Muslim man was shot dead and his cousin seriously injured by gunmen who stormed their hut in Ire Buergae village of Narathiwat's Janae district while they were sleeping late Friday night, said Pol Col Thirawut Thissathian, Janae police chief. Police blamed terrorists separatist militants.
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.
The district governor of Nad-e-Ali pointed across parched fields toward a line of trees from where the Taliban attacks come. "That's where our enemy is," said Habibullah Shama-lany, 58, standing outside a police fortress, the ground around his feet littered with discarded ammunition cartridge cases from recent battles. "Their shadow government begins over there." Behind him a teenage police recruit wearing jeans and an Adidas shirt squinted down the sight of his machine-gun toward where the governor was pointing. 
[Bangla Daily Star] British troops targeting a Taliban stronghold in southern Afghanistan have found a cache of bomb-making equipment, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said.
