WASHINGTON, Dec. 9 (UPI) -- The U.S. Army is shipping new rifles to Afghanistan that will enable snipers to hit a target nearly 4,000 feet away, officials said. The XM2010 rifle can hit targets a quarter-mile farther away than the weapon currently in use, USA Today reported.
Officials said the extra range is important because insurgents firing down from ridges and mountaintops take advantage of gravity, which helps their bullets travel beyond the range of Army snipers."They're not outgunning us, but they are putting our soldiers in a predicament where 800 meters (2,625 feet) may not be enough," said Col. Douglas Tamilio, referring to the maximum range of the current M24 sniper rifle. "You want to give guys the capability to do those things they need to do at those ranges."
Afghan insurgents are also more willing to shoot at U.S. troops than previously. Gunfire attacks on American soldiers in Afghanistan spiked over the past year since topping 1,000 attacks in July 2009.
The new rifles also have a more powerful scope, and incorporate a muzzle flash device that dampens the noise and flash of a shot.
The Army's 2,500 snipers will start receiving the new weapons early next year. The current sniper rifle has been in service since 1988.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
12/12/2010 14:40 Comments ||
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#3
1.2 miles is impressive, as a standard issue rifle, but I would augment it with one, extra special rifle, for the "first chair" sniper in unit.
This rifle is a .300 Winchester Magnum, so I would kick that one up to .50 cal, like a Barrett M82, which would give that sniper an additional 1,900 feet (5,906 ft) effective range.
#5
The US government purchased MK 248 MOD 1 .300 Winchester Magnum match-grade ammunition for use in .300 Winchester Magnum sniper rifles like the U.S. Navy Mk.13 SWS or reconfigured M24 SWS's. This ammunition was developed as a .300 Winchester Magnum Match Product Improvement (PIP) and uses the 14.26 g (220 gr) Sierra MatchKing Hollow Point Boat Tail (HPBT) very-low-drag bullet fired at a nominal muzzle velocity of 869 m/s (2,850 ft/s) ± 15.2 m/s (50 ft/s).
I confirmed this information in 3 different articles including:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XM2010
Anyone familiar with this bullet would know that it is a target round and not designed to expand or explode on impact. But I find it hard to believe it could be Nato approved. Human rights activists will be howling themselves into spasms and convultions over the hollow point design.
[Emirates 24/7] A group of influential international experts on Afghanistan Saturday appealed to US President Barack B.O. Obama to radically change his strategy in the war-ravaged nation and negotiate directly with the Taliban.
A huge US troop surge has failed to stem a worsening insurgency in Afghanistan, with 2010 proving to be a year of record violence.
The letter from 23 researchers, journalists and NGO chiefs comes just days before the White House publishes an evaluation of the US strategy.
Researchers Gilles Dorronsoro from La Belle France and Italian Antonio Giustozzi, as well as Pak journalist Ahmed Rashid, were among those who said the current strategy was failing as the Taliban, ousted from government by a US-led invasion in 2001, grew in strength.
A coalition government that includes the Taliban should be the long-term goal, they said.
"We ask you to sanction and support a direct dialogue and negotiation with the Afghan Taliban leadership residing in Pakistain," the experts said in their open letter.
"It is better to negotiate now rather than later, since the Taliban will likely be stronger next year."
"The situation on the ground is much worse than a year ago because the Taliban insurgency has made progress across the country," the letter said.
"The Taliban today are now a national movement with a serious presence in the north and the west of the country."
The experts said military operations in Kandahar and Helmand, provinces in the south hard hit by the insurgency, are not going well and had become "a full-scale military campaign causing civilian casualties and destruction of property.
"Due to the violence of the military operations, we are losing the battle for hearts and minds in the Pashtun countryside, with a direct effect on the sustainability of the war."
"The military campaign is suppressing, locally and temporarily, the symptoms of the disease, but fails to offer a cure," the group said, decrying the "huge" human and financial cost of the war.
The letter also says the 2014 deadline to put the Afghan army in command of security was unrealistic.
"Like it or not, the Taliban are a long-term part of the Afghan political landscape and we need to try and negotiate with them in order to reach a diplomatic settlement. The Taliban's leadership has indicated its willingness to negotiate and it is in our interests to talk to them."
Since taking office, Obama has ordered more than 50,000 extra troops into battle to reverse Taliban momentum and build up Afghan government forces so that combat troops can start leaving in 2011.
There are more than 140,000 US-led NATO troops on the ground -- two-thirds of them American.
But the increased numbers has also seen more troops killed this year than ever before, with more than 680 foreign soldiers dead so far in 2010 and the tally mounting almost daily.
Afghanistan's Caped PresidentHamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai has made overtures to the Taliban and other bully boyz to negotiate an end to the war, but that was "not enough", the experts said.
"The United States must take the initiative to start negotiations with the bully boyz and frame the discussion in such a way that American security interests are taken into account," they said.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/12/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
I like it better when "experts" are "baffled"...
#2
"Due to the violence of the military operations, we are losing the battle for hearts and minds in the Pashtun countryside, with a direct effect on the sustainability of the war."
"These demands are not open to negotiation or discussion. The Taliban must act, and act immediately. They will hand over the terrorists, or they will share in their fate."
George W. Bush, Statement To Joint Session Of Congress September 20th 2001
A little reminder for the 'experts' re the historical context of the Afghanistan war.
Oooooh ouch, g(r)omgoru. Think how even more fun could be had by all, were they to send the vice president instead (that's Joe Biden, in case you forgot, distracted by more important things, like butterflies). ;-)
Any time experts say "must", we know what isn't going to happen, anyway.
[Al Jazeera] Southern Sudan's governing party has officially said it will support secession from the north in an independence referendum planned for next year.
The announcement on Saturday by the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) is significant because it is at odds with the terms of the 2005 peace agreement that ended the south's civil war with northern Sudan.
In that deal, the SPLM agreed to work with the north's ruling National Congress Party (NCP) towards unity.
Anne Itto, from the SPLM, said: "Since unity has not been made attractive, we are promoting what our people choose because we are following the people."
Asked what she meant, Itto answered "separation".
Her comments prompted an angry warning from the north, with Rabie Abdelati, Senior NCP official, accusing Itto of breaking the terms of the peace deal.
"They [the SPLM] are now working for secession regardless of the result of the referendum ... The referendum will be nominal, illegal. I do not think that the NCP should recognise any process or any result that comes out of it," he said.
Referendum due
Itto is from the party's dominant southern sector. Yasir Arman, from the party's northern sector, declined to comment.
The referendum, which will decide whether the oil-producing south should secede or stay in Sudan, is scheduled for January 9.
The vote is a key part of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that ended Africa's longest-running civil war, in which an estimated two million people were killed.
Most analysts expect the south to vote to break away and split the country in two.
Organisers of the vote said on Wednesday that almost three million people have signed up to vote.
Talks to resume
Itto said that progress was slow on the remaining key issues that still need to be agreed between north and south before the polling day.
These include the final demarcation of the border between north and south, the sharing of oil revenues and the status of southerners in the north and northerners in the south if the region votes to break away.
Itto said that there had so far been "little progress" on these issues.
"We have had several meetings with no success at all, not in security, not in international treaties, not in finance, economic issues, natural resources, not even in citizenship.
"If you add all that together it is a clear indication as to how NCP doesn't want to get to referendum," she added.
Talks are due to resume on Monday.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/12/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
The referendum, which will decide whether the oil-producing south should secede or stay in Sudan, is scheduled for January 9.
Wonder is anyone's checked Chinese shipments to Sawakin or Port Sudan?
[Ennahar] Last Friday's prayer has turned, in the town of Bordj Emir Khaled, province of Ain Defla, into an open war between groups of the faithful from the same region.
The imam of the mosque, who was preparing to perform the "Khotba" (Friday sermon) on the topic of "zakat" (alms), when opponents belonging to the Salafi stream, began to heckle to interrupt him. The situation degenerated into blows and insults between the belligerents inside the mosque itself.
The two parties, without any scruple, hurled insults and accused each other in an atmosphere of anger and excitement. Each party wanted to impose its logic on the other and have the monopoly on the mosque, through the management commission of the mosque, granted to the religious association.
It took the intervention of some wise to avoid the worst; Fitna, that some wanted to create by encouraging the faithful to disobey the Imam.
Outside, coppers stepped in, to prevent the conflict from spreading into the street.
The Mujahid Slimane Ghoul, from the region, who was among the worshipers inside the mosque, succeeded in restoring peace among the excited crowd. He has managed to calm down the crowd by calling in a severe tone, for the respect of the imam.
Two people were jugged by police and taken to security headquarters of the district for questioning, while officials of the mosque have filed a complaint with the state prosecutor at the court of Khemis Meliana, against the group of Salafis for incitement to violence and disobedience of the faithful.
Bordj Emir Khaled Mosque recorded last month, a cold war between Salafist group current and another group. Each group wanted control and management of the mosque.
This conflict has resulted in the dismissal of several imams, sometimes for incompetence, sometimes to the refusal of the majority of the faithful.
This kind of conflict is not the first in the province of Ain Defla, since several other mosques have experienced political settling of scores between groups trying to impose their logic and their religious ideologies even during election campaigns.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/12/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
The EDL has muslim members. A UK documentary revealed that they are very loosely organized, and get together only to prevent extremist protest against UK troops. There is really nobody in authority who could invite the koran burner. In any case, the Florida cleric doesn't even have tax free status. He lost it when he started to use his 50 member flock to provide free labor to his furniture business.
#4
Tax exempt or not, Jones is a canary in the coal mine.
He was bullied by the government into submitting to 'Rushdie Rules.' The net effect of NATO's military presence in Afghanistan is that the Afghans get to dictate the scope of civil liberties in the west.
During the cold war the west was facing an adversary with a vast conventional and nuclear arsenal. Yet an intellectual surrender of this nature would have been unthinkable.
Now burning the Koran is verboten. What will be next?
Protests against the Ground Zero Mosque?
Strip clubs near the Ground Zero Mosque?
Cartoons, novels, movies etc?
I'm pretty certain that any of these would offend and inflame the Muslim world and especially the Afghans.
[Chosun Ilbo] The Unification Ministry on Wednesday released a new white paper which states that the Sunshine Policy of engagement with North Korea has failed.
"Despite outward development over the past decade, inter-Korean relations have been under criticism from the public in terms of quality and process," the white paper says. "They have in fact become increasingly disillusioned with the North and more worried about security as the North continued its nuclear arms program."
The white paper says that despite massive aid from South Korea and inter-Korean exchanges and cooperation during the last decade, neither the North's economy nor its people's lives have improved. "No satisfactory progress has been made in the issues of separated families, South Korean prisoners of war and abduction victims," it adds. "The North has made no positive change in proportion to aid and cooperation" from South Korea.
Over the past 10 years, "the North Korean regime has adopted perverse foreign and inter-Korean policies," it says. As an example it cites the North's nuclear brinkmanship.
It warns against future under-the-table deals like massive payments in 2002 to bring about the first inter-Korean summit. In future inter-Korean exchanges, cooperation projects and aid should take place only in formal and transparent ways, it says.
The white paper adds that in sinking the South Korean Navy corvette Cheonan in March "the North proved that it has been consistently maintaining a reunification doctrine based on a strategy to turn the entire Korean Peninsula communist despite its outward policy in favor of cooperation and reconciliation."
Since 1998, "the North has tried to look as if it made efforts to build inter-Korean cooperation and trust by accepting aid amounting to about US$4.5 billion, engaging in exchanges and economic cooperation, and responding to about 270 rounds of inter-Korean talks. But behind the South's back, it has launched provocations in the West Sea and conducted nuclear tests."
The white paper blames the Kim Dae-jung and the Roh Moo-hyun administrations for having focused on vague sentimentalism toward the North or unilaterally adopting a leftwing ideology, and stresses the importance of raising awareness of the "two-faced" nature of the North Korean regime in the future.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/12/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
"The North has made no positive change in proportion to aid and cooperation"
Finally the lightbulb is coming on south of the DMZ. Kipling was right.
It is always a temptation to an armed and agile nation
To call upon a neighbour and to say: --
"We invaded you last night--we are quite prepared to fight,
Unless you pay us cash to go away."
And that is called asking for Dane-geld,
And the people who ask it explain
That you've only to pay 'em the Dane-geld
And then you'll get rid of the Dane!
It is always a temptation for a rich and lazy nation,
To puff and look important and to say: --
"Though we know we should defeat you, we have not the time to meet you.
We will therefore pay you cash to go away."
And that is called paying the Dane-geld;
But we've proved it again and again,
That if once you have paid him the Dane-geld
You never get rid of the Dane.
It is wrong to put temptation in the path of any nation,
For fear they should succumb and go astray;
So when you are requested to pay up or be molested,
You will find it better policy to say: --
"We never pay any-one Dane-geld,
No matter how trifling the cost;
For the end of that game is oppression and shame,
And the nation that pays it is lost!"
#3
In the bar called Gitche Gumee
Way uptown on 82nd
Where they serve the giggle water
There sits shoe clerk Melvin Watha
Drinking cola laced with bourbon.
When the far more cheery drunkards
Call out gaily, "Hiya, Watha!"
Keeps on boozing, gets more sullen,
Falls across the bar unconscious.
Urving Kahn
Posted by: Goldies Every Damn Where ||
12/12/2010 8:12 Comments ||
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[Pak Daily Times] Japan may deploy Patriot Advanced Capability-3 interceptor missiles at air bases nationwide, Kyodo news said on Saturday, as part of a new five-year defence plan to be released later this month. The Japanese Self-Defence Forces also plan to increase the number of submarines patrolling the seas off Okinawa in southern Japan, where is it locked in a territorial dispute with China. The move to deploy missile interceptors comes amid heightened regional tensions following North Korea's deadly artillery shelling of the South last month. The PAC-3 missile system is designed to shoot down an incoming missile from the ground before it lands. It will be deployed on ships as well as air bases, Kyodo cited government and defence officials as saying. Japan will announce the National Defence Programme Guideline (NDPG) covering the period from fiscal 2011/2012 starting in April laying out defence priorities. It will be the first review in six years and also the first under the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) government, which swept to power last year.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/12/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
pssst: a nuke deterrent would be the cherry on that and give China the willies
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/12/2010 13:14 Comments ||
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#2
China could also get the willies from ...
To wit,
* TOPIX > FOREIGN MINISTER: NORTH KOREA NEEDS NUCLEAR DEFENSE TO DETER US, SOUTH KOREA.
Speaking of DIMITRI, RUSSIA > is considering to base MAJOR STRIKE FORCES, INCLUDING TACTICAL + HEAVY NUC BOMBERS, SUBS + MISSLE UNITS, ON PROPOSED BASES IN FORMER JAPANESE KURILES.
* PEOPLES DAILY FORUM > JAPAN'S NUCLEAR WEAPONS PROGRAM.
ARTIC = Although Japan does not possess any NucWeaps at present, TOKYO'S NUCLEAR ENERGY AGENCY + JSDFS HAD ALWAYS PLANNED + TRAINED BOTH FOR PEACETIME NUC DISASTERS, NUC TERROR INCIDENTS, AS WELL AS WARTIME HANDLING + DEPLOYMENT OF JAPAN-PRODUCED MILNUKES ["just-in-case"]. JAPAN HAS ENOUGH NUCMATS = PLUTONIUM STOCKPILES SUCH THAT IT WOULD ONLY NEED ONE YEAR TO BEGIN PRODUCING A STEADY LINE OF ADVANCED = THERMONUCLEAR NUCWEAPS [including Reliable LRBMS, Personnel, etc].
Once Tokyo Pols + Govtcritters make up their collective minds + give the Official Order(s).
* PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUM > JAPANESE PM [Nato Kan] PROPOSES SENDING SDF TROOPS INTO NORTH KOREA IN CASE OF SECOND KOREAN WAR.
RELATED: WMF > KOREAN MEDIAS ASK JAPANESE PM NATO KAN TO SEND MILITARY TROOPS INTO NORTH KOREA DURING WARTIME TO RESCUE JAPANESE CITIZENS-NATIONALS.
ARTIC = IOW, once any major DPRK-ROK war begins, FOREIGN CITIZENS-NATIONALS, i.e. US-ROK-JAPAN and OTHER ALLIED, MAY FACE MILITARY-, POLICE-LED ABUSE, TORTURE, IMPRISONMENT, OR EVEN DEATH AT THE HANDS OF THE DPRK, PERHAPS EVEN HELD HOSTAGE FOR FUTURE OPTIONS.
Dat sound you're hearing is Beijing going "AARRGGHHH"! + twiddling its fingers again both in fear + anger, as it + many other World States do, did before in Histoire', when TALK TURNS OR BEGINS TO MENTION GRUNT TROOPS.
* PEOPLES DAILY FORUM > WHERE WILL JAPAN'S DEFENSE POLICY HEAD FOR? | JAPAN'S NEW MILITARY DOCTRINE [seemingly]DOES NOT RECALIBRATES ITS [historical] "GUN MUZZLE" POLICY AGZ CHINA, BUT WILL POSE A THREAT TO THE REGIONAL PEACE + STABILITY.
[Ennahar] The United States considers Catalonia as "the greatest center of radical Islamist activity in the Mediterranean" and installed for this reason an intelligence unit in Barcelona, according to U.S. diplomatic cables revealed by Wikileaks and quoted Saturday by El Pais.
"The Spanish and American authorities have determined that Catalonia was the greatest center of radical Islamist activity in the Mediterranean," says the document sent October 2, 2007 in Washington by the U.S. embassy in Madrid.
This has led Washington to open "an intelligence agency bringing together several services in the Catalan capital to fight terrorism and organized crime," according to El Pais, which states that "the decision was adopted in October 2007 and that this secret center is operational for two years at the consulate in Barcelona."
According to documents from the embassy, quoted by El Pais, "the importance of immigration, both legal and illegal, from North Africa (Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria) as from Pakistain and Bangladesh makes of the region a magnet for terrorist recruitment."
"The National Police estimated that around 60,000 Paks living in Barcelona and its surroundings, mostly men, unmarried and without papers. There are also many immigrants from North Africa," they added and according to the U.S. States, "Spain is a favorite target of jihad."
"If the Americans welcome the number of detentions since 11-M (the Islamist bombings of March 11, 2004 which killed 191 people in Madrid), they also criticize the lack of coordination within the Spanish services" and "they try to influence government decisions on the fate of some inmates," according to El Pais.
"There is not a complete list of Orcs and similar vermin shared services, which complicates the identification and location of people interesting the United States," said a cable dated September 15, 2005, quoted by El Pais.
In recent years, several operations took place in Spain against groups linked to the Islamist movement, especially in Catalonia.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/12/2010 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Europe
Normally this event would qualify the lad as a late entry into this year's Darwin Award, but the fact that he could breach all the legions of checkers and security reveals the farce that TSA has foisted upon the public as high drama and low substance.
#1
TSA merely saw a possible Somali male walking on the runway and were too busy with granny in the wheelchair.
Posted by: Jack Salami ||
12/12/2010 10:23 Comments ||
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#2
I'll bet that was a horrible way to die for the poor kid. My prayers for the family and my gratitude that some of the foolish decisions I made as a teen didn't go as terribly wrong as this.
#4
Ditto here, my house is also in the path of the runway into Logan. The planes fly so close on final approach or after takeoff, some days you can see the dirt marks on the undercarriage. I won't look at them the same way again.
What a horrible way to die. My prayers go out to the family.
#6
I doubt he froze before oxygen deprivation got him.
These wheel well suicides happen way too often. You would think that the airlines would come up with a cheap fix to prevent that. If for no other reason than to protect their landing gear.
[Al Jazeera] The US attorney-general has defended the use of sting operations involving government informants, saying they are an "essential" tool in preventing attacks.
Addressing a Mohammedan community group near San Francisco on Friday, Eric Inaction Jackson Holder said he would make "no apologies" for a sting operation in which a Mohammedan was jugged while trying to detonate a fake bomb last month.
"These types of operations have proven to be an essential law enforcement tool in uncovering and preventing potential terror attacks," Holder told the annual dinner of Mohammedan Advocates.
Somali-born Mohamed Osman Mohamud, 19, was charged last month with attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction at a Christmas tree lighting ceremony after he tried to blow up what he thought was a car boom, supplied to him by undercover agents.
Mohamud's lawyer has said agents were "grooming" his client for arrest and seeking publicity, a position which taps into concerns that Mohammedans in the US are being targeted and stereotyped by authorities.
"I make no apologies for how the FBI agents handled their work in executing the operation," Holder said according to an advance copy of his speech.
"Those who characterise the FBI's activities in this case as 'entrapment' simply do not have their facts straight - or do not have a full understanding of the law."
A Baltimore man also was jugged earlier this week on charges he plotted to detonate a vehicle bomb at an armed forces recruiting centre in a separate case involving an undercover FBI agent.
Holder's speech was focused on a call for better relations between Mohammedans and law enforcement and a promise to prosecute hate crimes.
He acknowledged that some Mohammedans and Arab Americans felt they were not being treated respectfully by authorities and other Americans, and said the government should reach out to those communities even as it pursues "potential terrorists".
The FBI claims its use of informants has prevented numerous attacks since the events of September 11, 2001.
However, The infamous However... Mohammedan Advocacy is just one of several Mohammedan groups voicing concerns over the tactic.
"The relationship with law enforcement right now is tense," Ibrahim Hooper, the front man for the Council on American-Islamic Relations ... the Moslem Brüderbund's American arm ... told Washington Post in October.
"There's a sense of being under siege in many Mohammedan communities. People just assume there are agents or informants in their mosque now. It's a fact of life."
Posted by: Fred ||
12/12/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
I always assume the guy sitting next to me in church is an informer.
But then, I don't worry about him trying to kill me.
Posted by: Bobby ||
12/12/2010 11:46 Comments ||
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#2
There are informants in every mosque. Remember that Abu the next time you even think about acting on the precepts of your killer cult.
[Pak Daily Times] New US intelligence reports paint a bleak picture of the security conditions in Afghanistan and say the war cannot be won unless Pakistain roots out beturbanned goons on its side of the border, according to several US officials who have been briefed on the findings.
The reports, one on Afghanistan, the other on Pakistain, could complicate the B.O. regime's plans to report next week that the war is turning a corner. US military commanders have challenged the new conclusions, however, saying they are based on outdated information that does not take into account progress made in recent months, says a senior US official who is part of the review process.
The analyses were detailed in briefings to the Senate Intelligence Committee this week and some of the findings were shared with members of the House Intelligence Committee, officials said.
The reports, known as National Intelligence Estimates, are prepared by the Director of National Intelligence and used by policymakers as senior as the president to understand trends in a region. The new reports are the first ones done in two years on Afghanistan and six years on Pakistain, officials said. Neither the Director of National Intelligence nor the CIA would comment on either report.
The new report on Afghanistan cites progress in "ink spots" where there are enough US or NATO troops to maintain security, such as Kabul and parts of Helmand and Kandahar provinces. Much of the rest of the country remains Taliban-controlled, or at least vulnerable to Taliban infiltration, according to an official who read the executive summary. The report contains public opinion polling that finds Afghans are ambivalent, as willing to cut a deal with the Taliban, as they are to work with the Americans, the official said.
It also shows US efforts are lagging to build infrastructure and get trained security forces to areas where they are needed, the official said. And it says the war cannot be won unless Pakistain is willing to obliterate terrorist havens in its lawless Tribal Areas bordering Afghanistan.
The new report on Pakistain concludes that the Pak government and military "are not willing to do that," says one US official briefed on the analysis.
The document says Pakistain's government pays lip service to cooperating with US efforts against the terrorists, and still secretly backs the Taliban as a way of hedging its bets in order to influence Afghanistan after a US departure from the region.
In describing the Afghanistan report, military officials said there is a disconnect between the findings, completed in recent weeks, and separate battlefield assessments done by the war commander, General David Petraeus, and others that contain more up-to-date and sometimes more promising accounts.
A military official familiar with the reports said the gloomier prognosis in the Afghanistan report became a source of friction as a preliminary version was passed among government agencies.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/12/2010 00:00 ||
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[4 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
#1
Take out Gul and you are halfway there.
Posted by: Water Modem ||
12/12/2010 1:08 Comments ||
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#4
Its bigger than Hamid Gul the Pak Army want a friendly Govt on the Western Border which they feel they have not got with Karzai being too close to India in their minds.
Lets not forget The Taliban Govt was created by the Pak Army/ISI
Posted by: Paul D ||
12/12/2010 15:25 Comments ||
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[Pak Daily Times] Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... Chief Minister Ameer Haider Hoti said on Saturday that dialogues with snuffies were impossible.
"There is no room for dialogues with snuffies who were shedding the blood of innocent people. Doors of reconciliation are only open in case they surrender, accept the writ of the government, law and constitution and guarantee peaceful living," he said after inaugurating Government College of Management Sciences in Mardan.
"We are at war," he said, adding that spreading chaos in Hangu and Kohat during the sacred month of Muharram is regrettable. He said concerted efforts had been made in collaboration with Shia and Sunni holy mans to curb terrorism.
The chief minister clarified that US Counsel General Elizabeth Rood went back home for personal reasons. "Her performance during her stay in Beautiful Downtown Peshawar was brilliant and she was too active during floods." Local media reports said on Saturday that she allegedly "received threats from Taliban" and "requested the State Department to relieve her of her job in Peshawar." She was recently deputed in Peshawar.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/12/2010 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
[Pak Daily Times] Pakistain People's Party General Secretary Senator Jahangir Badr has alleged that former president Pervaiz Musharraf was the killer of Benazir Bhutto.
He expressed these views while talking to the media after visiting an exhibition of Benazir Bhutto's photographs organised by photographer Agha Feroz with the help of the United Nations, aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society Association of Pakistain at Alhamra Art Gallery on Saturday. PPP Information Secretary Fauzia Wahab was also present on the occasion.
Both the leaders appreciated the exhibition and said it was a great effort by the organiser who highlighted the lives of martyr party leaders in photographs.
Badr said the photographs reflected PPP history and sacrifices of its leaders and workers. He said they expressed the struggle of the party for the country and democracy.
He said party workers would continue the mission of Benazir Bhutto according to the philosophy of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto under the leadership of Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and President Asif Ali President Ten Percent Zardari. ... husband of the late Benazir Bhutto, who showed remarkably little curiosity about who actually done her in ... Replying to a question, he said many people were jugged after investigation into the murder case and many more would be jugged soon. Fauzia said such exhibitions should be organised in other cities of the country, adding that students and youth should visit these exhibitions.
She said the photographs would be posted on the Internet so that everyone could see the efforts of PPP leaders and workers for democracy.
Fauzia said 2010 was the best year for the PPP as the government had introduced the 18th Amendment with consensus and the NFC Award was announced and implemented after several years.
She said the murderers of Benazir Bhutto would be jugged soon.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/12/2010 00:00 ||
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[5 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
[Pak Daily Times] Balochistan Frontier Corps (FC) Inspector General Maj Gen Ubaidullah Khan said on Saturday that no Taliban or Quetta Shura existed in any part of the province.
Addressing a presser at the FC Headquarters, he said, "Propaganda was made that Taliban and their Quetta Shura existed in the provincial metropolis so that Balochistan could be destabilised. There is no truth in such allegations as no bully boyz are present in the city." Ubaidullah said that the FC was manning the checkposts along the vast Afghan border and had knowledge about cross-border activities. "I am confident that there is no Taliban leadership in Balochistan," he said.
Referring to thug groups, the FC chief said that problems could not be resolved by picking up guns and taking to hills but by education.
Responding to a query, he said those who were making improvised bombs (IEDs) in their houses and working against Pakistain would not be spared at any cost nor would FC compromise on this issue. "Without the support of society, law enforcement agencies cannot succeed in maintaining order and peace, thus I have directed all the officers to play their role for bridging the communication gap and remove the misperception regarding FC," he said.
Ubaidullah held the Afghan refugees responsible for the deteriorating law and order situation throughout the country.
He conceded that law enforcement agencies, including the FC, had failed to properly handle the refugees, thus they had become a serious threat to the security of the country.
He strongly condemned the allegation levelled against the FC of picking up Baloch people and said that the FC had never been involved in such illegal activities and took action under the constitution and law of the land.
He said that it was also a wrong impression that the FC had set up parallel state in Balochistan. "I have discussed the issue with the chief minister, the chief secretary and other officials and they did not complain about the FC," he said.
Ubaidullah said that he had never warned NATO forces over violation of country's airspace because it did not come under his jurisdiction and the federal government was responsible for it.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/12/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
The facts and common sense say otherwise. Another khan-man.
[Al Jazeera] A prominent Iraqi Kurdish leader has called for the right to self-determination for his region, the AFP news agency says.
Massoud Barzani's remarks on Saturday came as Nuri al-Maliki, Iraq's prime minister-designate, is attempting to form a cabinet, in which Barzani's bloc is expected to obtain several ministerial posts.
Speaking at a congress of his Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), Barzani said "the issue of self-determination", which he considered "a right", would be presented to those attending the conference "to be studied and discussed".
Iraq's Kurdistan region remains mired in disputes with central government authorities in Storied Baghdad over land and oil revenues.
The comments mark the first time Barzani has officially presented the issue to the KDP's congress, with the proposal set to be voted on during the party's week-long meeting.
Among those in attendance during Barzani's address were al-Maliki, as well as President Jalal Talabani, a fellow Kurd, Osama al-Nujaifi, the speaker of parliament, and Iyad Allawi, whose Iraqiya bloc won the most seats in Iraq's parliamentary elections in March.
Members attending the congress, the first of its kind since 1999, are to elect around 50 new members to the KDP's top leadership committee.
Al-Maliki, who was awarded the premiership on November 25, has two more weeks in which he must form a cabinet. Iraq has been without a new government since the March polls.
Barzani's KDP is a key member of al-Maliki's governing coalition, and the Kurdish leader played a major role in bringing Iraq's divided political factions together to agree a power-sharing deal last month.
Disputes
Iraq's Kurdish north, made up of three provinces, has its own parliament and exerts control over all areas of policy - except for national defence and foreign affairs.
It is currently in dispute with Iraq's central government in Storied Baghdad over two main issues: a land dispute centred around the ethnically-mixed oil-rich city of Kirkuk and the distribution of revenues from the region's energy reserves.
Arbil claims Kirkuk and parts of three neighbouring provinces, and has attempted signing its own deals with international energy firms without consulting Storied Baghdad, both of which central government authorities contest.
On the subject of Kirkuk, ... a thick stew of Arabs, Turkmen, Kurds, and probably Antarcticans, all of them mutually hostile most of the time... Barzani pointedly told the audience that "when it returns to the region ... we will make Kirkuk an example of coexistance, forgiveness and joint administration, but we cannot bargain on its identity".
The region first attained a modicum of autonomy in 1974, but Barzani's father and then-leader of the KDP, Mulla Mustafa Barzani, returned to war with the Storied Baghdad government instead of accepting limited autonomy.
Kurdistan won greater freedom after the 1991 Gulf War, but Barzani and Talabani, the region's other dominant political leader, remained at loggerheads.
A power-sharing deal was eventually struck between their two blocs and today, Barzani is seen as the dominant part of the pair.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/12/2010 00:00 ||
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Posted by: Frank G ||
12/12/2010 14:45 ||
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#1
The bottom line is not only should the Jews declare Jerusalem entirely theirs, but they should also nationalize all gentile holy sites, declaring them to be property of the state, though available at generous terms for lease to those who would use them.
This would set up an enormous howl, but the bottom line is that the only foreign territory any nation can permit in its borders are embassies, or very limited treaty use. By not nationalizing them, other religions and countries can pretend that they are their, not Israel's property, and aggress against Israel about them.
#3
As I recall, in June, 1967 Israel declared the united Jerusalem to be their permanent capital, forever and non-negotiable. This has been repeated at intervals since. The mistake in recent years was to open the discussion to a possible division of Jerusalem in the final settlement with the Palestinians, after everything else had been worked out. Not smart. Prime Minister Netanyahu has returned to the original position.
#4
Jerusalem is non-negotiable. Nor is the disarmament of a Paleo state. Sinc bot are non-starters to the Paleos, let's get started on the killing and persuading. The Paleos will only give up on their demands and terrorism when they are TOTALLY demoralized and defeated - at home and among their UN enablers. I suspect it will be tough and a lot of impotent denunciations among posturing coward dictatorships
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/12/2010 21:14 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.
WASHINGTON, Dec. 9 (UPI) -- The U.S. Army is shipping new rifles to Afghanistan that will enable snipers to hit a target nearly 4,000 feet away, officials said. The XM2010 rifle can hit targets a quarter-mile farther away than the weapon currently in use, USA Today reported.
A group of influential international experts on Afghanistan Saturday appealed to US President 
