[Tolo News] The United States Army announced Friday that 1,800 soldiers from two stateside installations would deploy in the coming months to Iraq and Afghanistan.
About 1,300 soldiers from Fort Campbell, Kentucky will deploy to Iraq in the spring, while about 500 soldiers from Fort Drum, New York will travel to Afghanistan later this winter on regular rotations to replace outgoing units, according to an Army statement.
In Afghanistan, 2-87 Infantry will join the 10th Mountain Division headquarters, which is serving at Bagram Air Field as the National Support Element.
"Our nation's Army continues to call upon Mountain soldiers to serve around the world in places such as Afghanistan due to their proven record of high standards, mission success and selfless service," said Maj. Gen. Jeffrey L. Bannister, commander of the 10th Mountain Division.
There are about 9,800 U.S. troops serving in Afghanistan primarily to train and advise Afghan forces and conduct some counterterrorism operations. President Barack Obama They get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them... announced in October he would keep 5,500 troops in Afghanistan into 2017, but some members of Congress have called for a larger U.S. presence amid recent gains by the resurgent Taliban.
The top American commander in Afghanistan, Army Gen. John Campbell, recently said the United States should at least maintain its current posture there for the foreseeable future.
"My intent would be to keep as much as I could for as long as I could," he said.
In Iraq, the soldiers will be tasked with advising and assisting Iraqi security forces as they prepare to fight Daesh [Islamic State].
There are about 3,500 U.S. troops deployed to Iraq, serving primarily as advisers to Iraqi forces.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/10/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
"My intent would be to keep as much as I could for as long as I could," he said.
[Tolo News] The Wolesi Jirga (Lower House of Parliament) on Saturday summoned key security officials to answer questions over the growing spate of Taliban threats targeting the nation's strategic provinces and towns.
Those summoned before parliament were the Minister of Interior Noorulhaq Olomi, acting minister of defense Masoom Stanekzai and acting chief of National Directorate of Security ...the Afghan national intel agency... (NDS) Masoud Andarabi.
In their remarks before the politicians, the security officials said that the Taliban has been trying to shift their war to some strategic provinces - including Nangarhar The unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country.. , Helmand ...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan... , Kunduz and Kabul ...the capital of Afghanistan. Home to continuous fighting from 1992 to 1996 between the forces of would-be strongman and Pak ISI/Jamaat-e-Islami sock puppet Gulbuddin Hekmayar and the Northern Alliance, a period which won Hek the title Most Evil Man in the World and didn't do much for the reputations of the Northern Alliance guys either.... Emotions however ran high in parliament as politicians demanded answers from the high-ranking officials -- who told MPs that the Afghan cops are committed to continuing their military campaigns and special operations against the Taliban.
Concerns have grown in recent weeks after reports surfaced of a possible shift in the geography of the war, with threats growing against villages and highways and reports that Afghan forces on the frontline are still on the defensive opposed to the offensive.
"Taliban are likely willing to continue their bloodshed and war, the security forces must learn from their experiences during the past four months and move the plan for the next four months on the basis of the experience in the past," Andarabi said.
Responding to a question about some countries using the Taliban against Daesh [Islamic State], the NDS chief said that the Taliban has been requested to defeat Daesh [Islamic State].
"Taliban has been contacted to use all resources to suppress Daesh [Islamic State] in their quest to reach their objectives," he said.
But he said security forces have defeated Daesh [Islamic State] in Zabul, Farah and Helmand, adding that government is itself committed to rooting out the group in the country.
"Since its formation, the National Unity Government has been determined to combat Daesh [Islamic State] effectively, government is committed to eliminate Daesh [Islamic State] in Nangarhar province as well," he added.
"We have prepared a strategy to eliminate the Taliban, al-Qaeda, Daesh [Islamic State] and other terror groups from central Asia who intend to take a foothold in Afghanistan. The security forces have formulated inclusive programs to deal with the issue," Olomi said.
"Anyone who takes up arms against the system has the status of an enemy to us and will be suppressed, because their action is against the constitution and the system. Such elements would be the target of the security forces of the country," acting defense minister Stanekzai told the politicians on Saturday.
"The strategy is not acceptable to the people, the security institutions must form more inclusive strategies and share it with the parliamentary commissions on security," the speaker of the Wolesi Jirga Abdul Rauf Ibrahimi said.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/10/2016 00:00 ||
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An Egyptian court has upheld a three-year prison sentence for graft that was already served by former President Hosni Mubarak, who is out of prison and will not have to serve additional time.
Mubarak and his sons, one-time heir apparent Gamal and wealthy businessman Alaa, who were also implicated in the case, spent over four years in custody. Saturday's ruling gave them credit for time served. The three were found guilty of embezzling millions of dollars' worth of state funds that were intended for the maintenance of official residences but were instead used to upgrade the Mubaraks' private homes.
Mubarak is being retried over the killing of hundreds of protesters during the 2011 uprising that ended his nearly three decades in power. Gamal and Alaa are still embroiled in corruption cases.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/10/2016 00:00 ||
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New York: Yemen told the United Nations on Friday that it has rescinded its decision to expel the leading UN rights official in the country, diplomats said. The Yemeni foreign ministry announced a day earlier that it had declared George Abu Al Zulof persona non grata, accusing him of lacking impartiality in his reporting on the human rights situation.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had urged the Saudi-backed government to reverse its decision and allow Zulof to stay, warning that Yemen would be falling short of its obligations by "impeding" UN human rights work.
Such work having made such a difference in Yemen...
Relations between the United Nations and the government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi have become testy over the world body's increasingly vocal criticism of the Saudi-led coalition's air campaign in Yemen.
Earlier on Friday, Ban said he had received "troubling reports" of cluster bomb attacks on January 6 on the rebel-held capital Sanaa and warned that the use of these munitions "may amount to a war crime."
Cluster bombs are banned under a 2008 international convention, although Saudi Arabia and the United States are not signatories.
So it's not a war crime after all...
The UN chief said he was "deeply concerned about the intensification of coalition airstrikes and ground fighting and shelling in Yemen, despite repeated calls for a renewed cessation of hostilities."
He is "particularly concerned about reports of intense airstrikes in residential areas and on civilian buildings in Sanaa, including the Chamber of Commerce, a wedding hall and a center for the blind," said the statement.
UN envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed was in Riyadh on Friday for talks on renewing a ceasefire in Yemen, which faces the threat of famine amid the dire humanitarian crisis. He suggested Geneva as a location for holding peace talks due to the superb dining restart this month, Saba news agency reported late on Friday.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/10/2016 00:00 ||
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[SACBEE] North Korea trumpets a hydrogen bomb test. South Korea responds by cranking up blasts of harsh propaganda from giant green speakers aimed across the world's most dangerous border. Now Pyongyang warns of war, even as it reportedly has started its own broadcasts.
As the world looked Saturday for ways to punish the North over a nuclear test that pushes Pyongyang closer to its goal of a nuclear-armed missile that can reach the U.S. mainland, the two Koreas have quickly slid into the kind of Cold War-era standoff that has defined their relationship over the past seven decades.
A top North Korean ruling party official's warning that the South's broadcasts have pushed the Korean Peninsula "toward the brink of war" is typical of Pyongyang's over-the-top rhetoric. But it is also indicative of the real fury that the broadcasts, which criticize the country's revered dictatorship, cause in the North.
Seoul resumed the cross-border broadcasts Friday for the first time in nearly five months. Pyongyang says the broadcasts are tantamount to an act of war. When Seoul Korea briefly resumed propaganda broadcasts in August after an 11-year break, Seoul says the two Koreas exchanged artillery fire.
South Korea's Yonhap news agency, citing an anonymous military source, reported late Saturday that the North had started its own broadcasts, presumably to keep its soldiers from hearing the South Korean broadcasts. The North's broadcasts were too weak to hear clearly on the South Korean side of the border. South Korean military officials wouldn't confirm the Yonhap report.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/10/2016 00:00 ||
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#2
An act of war? Technically, they are in a state of war. Does China want a hot war? I don't think so. I would find ways to turn up the heat. E.g. seize a nork freighter on the high seas carrying banned missle parts. Especially if that freighter had stopped in a Chinese port.
Posted by: Sven the pelter ||
01/10/2016 12:27 Comments ||
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SOKOR is repor asking the US to deploy STRATEGIC WEAPONS on its soil in addition to asking the US for support in dev its own, WHICH IMO LIKELY SUITS PUDGY = KJU/NOKOR JUST FINE AS PER DETERRING CHINESE TAKEOVER OF THE NORTH WIDOUT A FIGHT.
Again, the Pudge Man = KJU + Regime is walking a very dangerous line = tripwire. KJU must ...
> Prevent NOKOR Econ + State Collapse.
> Prevent formal or de facto Chinese takeover [includ ANNEXATION] of NOKOR for any reason.
> Keep his Family + Regime potent and in-charge, espec as per any Reunification negotiations and Post-Renification new Inter-Korean Govt.
* COROLLARY = force stronger SOKOR to treat econ weaker NOKOR as an "equal", NOT as an "inferior" or non-Party, at any Inter-Korean Reunification , etc. negotiation tables.
NO ONE IN NOKOR ANDOR SOKOR WANTS TO BE THE ONE THAT LOST ANOTHER HUGE AREA OR SECTION OF THE ANCIENT KOREAN HOMELAND/MOTHERLAND TO CHINA OR OTHER.
KJU WANTS REUNIFICATION WID SOKOR N-O-W, OR ASAP -IMO NO WAY IN HELL WILL HE, NOR C-A-N HE = NOKOR, ACCEPT A US-VS-USSR STYLE, PROTRACTIVE OR ENDURING INTER-KOREAN "COLD WAR". EVERYONE IN NOKOR WOULD HAD DIED OF STARVATION, OR HAD BEEN SHOT BY CHINESE BORDER GUARDS TRYING TO ENTER CHINA, ETC. LONG BEFORE ANY INTER-KOREAN "COLD WAR" ENDS.
ITS DUBIOUS IFF NOKOR CAN SURVIVE BEYOND 2020 - 2022.
BEIJING -- China said Friday that it holds no "key" to curbing North Korea's nuclear ambition, while the United States is urging Beijing to put more pressure on Pyongyang after the North's fourth nuclear test. The remarks by Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying were seen as a rare public acknowledgment that China's influence on its unruly ally North Korea is limited.
I think you undersell yourselves: turn off the oil and wheat shipments for a couple of weeks, and the ability to launder money through Chinese banks, and Pudgy will do whatever you tell him to do...
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry told Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, during a telephone conservation on Thursday, "There cannot be business as usual" after North Korea claimed it successfully conducted a hydrogen bomb test.
Kerry said he reached the agreement with Wang, after making clear to his Chinese counterpart that the latest nuclear test has proven that Beijing's approach to the North Korean nuclear issue "has not worked."
The Wednesday nuclear test by North Korea is viewed as a diplomatic failure by Chinese President Xi Jinping in trying to rein in North Korea.
No, it's a useful way to force the West to jump through hoops, and destabilize the region enough but not too much...
In response to such a view, Hua said, "I want to emphasize that the origin and frictions of the North Korean nuclear issue do not lie in China. The key of resolving the issue does not lie in China."
However, Hua repeated that, "China urges the North Korean side to stick to reaffirming its commitment of denuclearization and stop taking actions that make the situation worse."
South Korea resumed the propaganda broadcasts into North Korea earlier in the day in retaliation against the North's latest nuclear test. The broadcasts were previously viewed by North Korea as an act of war.
Everything is an act of war to the Norks...
"All sides should also remain calm, continue to peacefully address the issue and refrain from taking actions that may aggravate tensions," Hua said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/10/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
Obama/Kerry's credibility is so low I don't see how they can do much about the norks. Why should anybody be surprised that reducing US influence in the world would be a bad thing? It is an article of faith for the apologist in chief that America is the problem. Reality, it is a bit*h.
Posted by: Sven the pelter ||
01/10/2016 8:07 Comments ||
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SEOUL (Yonhap) -- South Korea and China's chief negotiators for the six-party talks on denuclearizing North Korea agreed Friday to closely collaborate in punishing North Korea for its recent nuclear test, the Foreign Ministry said.
In their telephone conversation earlier in the day, Hwang Joon-kook, special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs, and his Chinese counterpart Wu Dawei discussed how they will act together in the aftermath of what the North claimed was a successful hydrogen bomb test on Wednesday.
"(China) will communicate and cooperate closely with South Korea when the United Nations Security Council takes suitable action against the latest situation," Wu was quoted as having said in the phone conversation which lasted for 45 minutes.
The remark was made in reaction to Hwang's urge for "close South Korea-China cooperation in taking differentiated, harsh action" in UNSC, according to the ministry.
China is "firmly opposed to North Korea's fourth nuclear test" and it "will never accept North Korea as a nuclear-possessing country," Wu also said during the conversation, pledging that he will continue with the goal of denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula.
China "will continue its efforts to resolve the North Korean nuclear issue in the frame of the six-party talks," he also stressed.
But you won't turn off the oil and wheat shipments to North Korea, will you...
The officials, both representing their countries in the multilateral denuclearization forum, also discussed bilateral ties during the telephone conference, the first of its kind between Hwang and Wu since the Wednesday nuclear test.
[AnNahar] North Korea has defended its latest nuclear test, saying the fate of Saddam Hussein in Iraq and Moamer Kadhafi in Libya showed what happened when countries forsake their nuclear weapon ambitions.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/10/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
China has said that they can't/won't help. How to pressure China then becomes the question.
Posted by: Sven the pelter ||
01/10/2016 12:31 Comments ||
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[Rooters] Riot police broke up far-right protesters in Cologne on Saturday as they marched against Germany's open-door migration policy after asylum seekers were identified as suspects in assaults on women on New Year's Eve. The attacks, ranging from sexual molestation to theft, shocked Germany, which took in 1.1 million migrants and refugees in 2015 under asylum laws championed by Chancellor Angela Merkel, despite fervent opposition.
Police said around 1,700 people attended the rally organized by the far-right anti-Islam PEGIDA movement, which has seized on the alleged involvement of migrants in the Cologne attacks as proof Merkel's policy is flawed. Demonstrators, some of whom bore tattoos with far-right symbols such as a skull in a German soldier's helmet, had chanted "Merkel must go" and "this is the march of the national resistance". "Rapefugees not welcome," one banner read.
A police spokesman said roughly half of those at the PEGIDA protest were from the 'hooligan scene'. Some in the crowd threw bottles and fire crackers at officers, and riot police used water canon to disperse the protesters. Two people were injured in the clash, and police detained a number of demonstrators, a Reuters witness said.
PEGIDA, or Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the West, almost fizzled out last year when its leader resigned after a photo was published of him posing as Adolf Hitler. But its ranks have swelled as resentment spread of Merkel's welcoming stance to refugees.
In all, about 1,700 police officers were on the streets of Cologne, dwarfing the number on duty during the chaotic scenes of New Year's Eve when at least 120 women were robbed or sexually molested.
About 1,300 people attended a rival left-wing protest in Cologne, according to police.
Shortly before Saturday's protest began, Merkel hardened her stance toward migrants, promising expulsion for criminals and a reduction in migrant numbers over the longer term to Germany. Merkel's remarks on Saturday were in stark contrast to her earlier optimism about the influx to Germany, which has taken in far more migrants than any other European country. Her 'we can do it' slogan irritated many Germans, uneasy about the mass arrivals.
Under German law, asylum seekers are now typically only deported if they have been sentenced to at least three years in prison, and providing their lives are not at risk at home. Merkel's conservative party said it wanted to reduce and control migration to Germany, and send those who had been refused asylum home promptly. Such a move would require a change to German law.
Earlier in the week, German federal police said they had identified 32 people who were suspected of playing a role in the attacks on women on Cologne, 22 of whom were in the process of seeking asylum in Germany. They documented 76 criminal acts, most of them involving some form of theft, and seven linked to sexual molestation.
Of the suspects, nine were Algerian, eight Moroccan, five Iranian and four Syrian. Three German citizens, an Iraqi, a Serb and a U.S. citizen were also identified.
Similar assaults happened in other cities such as Frankfurt.
Oh? That's the first time I've seen Frankfurt mentioned (presumably the West German one on the Main River).
[dw.com] Cologne police have said the number of women coming forward with complaints that they were assaulted on New Year's Eve has risen to 379. Forty percent of the reported crimes were said to be of a sexual nature.
Police say more than 500 complaints have now been filed in connection with the New Year's Eve attacks, with about 40 percent involving sexual offenses. Germany's justice minister said the violence appeared orchestrated.
As for the 1,700 police officers at the PEGIDA event, that compares to the 129, as I recall, guarding Cathedral Square on New Years Eve. As the article says, dwarfing the number.
[TODAYSZAMAN] Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Saturday that his Justice and Development Party (AK Party) will appoint deputies to three eastern and southeastern provinces where no ruling party politician managed to get elected to Parliament.
"Our candidates were elected to Parliament in 78 of 81 provinces; we failed to do so only in three provinces. But we have made a decision; our citizens in these provinces should feel assured and never feel they are not taken care of. We, as the AK Party, are taking care of them," Davutoglu told an AK Party meeting in the western province of Afyonkarahisar.
"We are appointing two deputies each to Tunceli, Sirnak and Hakkari and will consider these deputies as deputies of these provinces," he said.
The AK Party won a landmark victory in Nov. 1 parliamentary election, receiving 49.5 percent of the votes and 317 seats in the 550-seat Parliament.
In all the three provinces where AK Party failed to get any candidate elected, the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) led the polls.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/10/2016 00:00 ||
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[TODAYSZAMAN] The Justice and Development Party (AK Party) is looking to take a new constitution that involves switching Turkey's parliamentary system to a presidential system to a referendum in the fall, and the party might seek a snap election if it fails in this endeavor, according to political observers.
The AK Party wants a Constitutional Reconciliation Commission to be established in Parliament to prepare the new constitution in six months.
A Constitutional Reconciliation Commission with representatives from all parliamentary parties was established for the first time following the 2011 general elections. It reached an agreement on 60 articles of the new constitution. The new Constitutional Reconciliation Commission is expected to add articles to those 60 within the six-month period. If the number of articles on which the parties agrees reaches 100, this will have strengthened the hand of the AK Party, say analysts.
The AK Party, which received around 50 percent of the nationwide vote in the snap election held on Nov. 1, is sure that it will take the new constitution to a referendum. An AK Party deputy who requested anonymity told Sunday's Zaman that the AK Party sees a potential rise in its 50 percent share of vote in future elections, while the popularity of the opposition parties is dwindling.
"In one year, the constitution will have been changed, and we will have adopted a presidential system. We believe this demand of the president [for a switch to a presidential system] will be met by our people," said the AK Party deputy.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/10/2016 00:00 ||
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[TODAYSZAMAN] After a series of controversial decisions that critics claim are intended to support the ruling party, the Constitutional Court is losing credibility and risks appearing as supporting the Justice and Development Party (AK Party), legal experts and politicians have said.
The Constitutional Court once again made headlines when it recently decided to leave untouched an application on an amendment that bestowed sweeping powers to the National Intelligence Organization (MIT) and a law curtailing Internet freedoms.
Decisions rendered in favor of the AK Party in cases relating to criminal courts of peace, which the AK Party has been accused of using as a weapon, and the approval of the "reasonable suspicion" clause which allows individuals and their residences to be searched and property to be seized indicates the top court is becoming seen as a supporter of the AK Party.
Also the Constitutional Court recently rejected a petition by pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democracy Party (HDP) in "quia timet" on anticipated fears of injury to the rights or property arising from the curfews declared in the Southeast by the government.
The decision was seen as the court's approval of the curfews that have sometimes lasted weeks, preventing people in the Southeast from accessing basic necessities such as clean water or food and has denied children access to education.
HDP deputies have taken the issue to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). The court has asked defense from the Turkish state on the ongoing curfew and state of siege in the Cizre district of Sirnak.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/10/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
Again, in their on-going drive to suborn the US under non/anti-Electoral OWG-NWO + US-Global Socialist Order, the Secular-loving DemoLefties + aligned are supporting most or all Alternatist or Sub-Cultural agendas in the US, including but not limited to those legally or commonly allowed or tolerated in Islamic Societies.
By the time our pro-OWG Unitarian Govt in Washington come around to actually formally adopted SHARIA LAW [Marxism-Communism?], AMERIKA WILL ALREADY BE AS LEGALLY ANDOR CULTURALLY
"ISLAMIC" AS OUR GOVT-SOCIETY CAN BE WIDOUT ACTUALLY BEING A DE FACTO, LEGALLY OR CONSTITUTIONALLY ISLAMIC COUNTRY.
The ISIS/ISIL + Qaeda Boyz, etal. really won't have much or anything legally or electorally to do save to just keep on attacking + killing "Infidel/Un-believers" andor "rogue" Muslim Amerikans in Islamerika, + enforcing Infidel public taxation.
America is vulnerable to attack by Islamic extremists from a southern flank, and it's not the U.S./Mexico border, a top general says.
The number of ISIS devotees living in or coming from the Caribbean is on the rise, according to U.S. Southern Command chief Gen. John Kelly, who oversees security throughout South America.
He said he has seen a shift in rhetoric by top ISIS leaders geared toward a "few very, very radical mosques" in the region, essentially directing would-be disciples to direct attacks from their homes rather than trek to the Middle East and risk capture by law enforcement.
"It seems like the Islamic extremists and terrorists have shifted a lot of their message, and that is, 'Hey, rather than come to Syria, why don't you stay at home and do San Bernardino, or do Boston, or do Fort Hood?'" Kelly said Friday at a Pentagon press briefing.
He estimated that the number of radicals who left the region to join the group has risen from 100 to 150 over the last year.
The Marine Corps four-star general said he was particularly worried that "nuts can cause an awful lot of trouble down in the Caribbean" because small island nations like Jamaica lack law enforcement agencies, such as the FBI or the Transportation Security Administration, and many of them have "very, very small militaries, if they have militaries at all."
Kelly, who will retire later this year after more than 40 years in uniform, first sounded the alarm about the Caribbean threat earlier this year.
"While in Syria, they get good at killing and pick up some real job skills in terms of explosives and beheadings, things like that," he said during a press briefing in March. "Everyone is concerned, of course, if they come home. If they went over radicalized, one would expect they will come back at least that radicalized but ... with really good job skills that they picked up in the fight."
"If they get back to some of these countries ... it's pretty easy for them to move around," the general added.
Kelly's latest remarks are sure to be added by President Obama's critics to the litany of reasons why they believe he doesn't have the right strategy to destroy the terror network.
Posted by: gorb ||
01/10/2016 03:57 ||
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While the US has touted its bombing campaign against terrorists in Syria, a closer look at the numbers reveals that for every militant killed, another is recruited.
Since the US began military operations in Syria, the Pentagon's strategy has been to kill every individual associated with the Daesh terrorist group, also known as IS/the Islamic State. Right. Unless there's a civilian or goat within 100 miles that might end up as collateral damage.
"If you're part of ISIL, we will kill you. That's our rule," Col. Steve Warren, spokesman for Operation Inherent Resolve, told reporters earlier this week.
Most importantly for the Obama administration, US strategists have assured the public that their goals can be accomplished with nothing more than an air campaign. I think we've all heard this one before. Several times. 0bean hasn't.
This allows the president to continue to push for the ouster of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, rather than accept ground coordination from the legitimate Syrian army, and keep his pledge of keeping US boots off the ground in the Middle East.
President Obama recently announced the deployment of US Special Forces into Syria, but prefers not to officially describe that action as "combat."
But despite the Pentagon's claims of success, a cursory look at the numbers proves that US airstrikes have had little -- if any -- effect.
At the start of the campaign in 2014, the CIA provided an estimate for the size of Daesh's fighting force.
"[The terror group] can muster between 20,000 and 31,500 fighters across Iraq and Syria," a CIA spokesman told CNN.
In November, an anonymous official speaking to USA Today claimed that the air campaign had killed approximately 23,000 Daesh fighters. According to a press briefing given by Army Col. Steve Warren on Wednesday, another 2,500 militants were killed in December. I suspect it's more like 2,300 and 250, respectively.
So, good news! According to these numbers, the US bombing campaign has almost single-handedly eliminated Daesh, leaving only a few thousand terrorists scattered across the desert. With any luck, Daesh will be little more than a distant memory come Valentine's Day.
But during the same briefing, Warren also gave reporters an updated assessment of the terror group. How many militants does the Pentagon believe to be currently fighting with Daesh? Around 30,000.
As Micah Zenko points out, writing for Defense One, this mathematical inconsistency can be partially explained by the fact that Western airstrikes can ultimately be turned into recruiting tools for terrorist groups -- a fact overlooked by the Pentagon. It hasn't been overlooked by Hilla. She's simply substituted Trump for their main recruiting tool. A sneak peek of what's going on inside her head . . . .
"I often ask US government officials and mid-level staffers, 'what are you doing to prevent a neutral person from becoming a terrorist?' They always claim this is not their responsibility," he writes.
"DOS and DHS officials then refer generally to 'countering violent extremism' policies, while acknowledging that US government efforts on this front have been wholly ineffective."
Whatever the cause, Daesh appears just as strong, 22,110 bombs later. I wonder what they are really bombing.
[AnNahar] An Iraqi man bragged about his experience fighting in Syria and the skills he developed as a teenage murderous Moslem as he urged a fellow Iraqi refugee in the U.S. to join him in what both hoped would be martyrdom, according to documents filed in federal court.
Aws Mohammed Younis Al-Jayab, 23, of Sacramento, described his experience fighting against Syrian government soldiers in heroic terms and promised in 2013 he would train Omar Faraj Saeed Al Hardan, of Houston, in how to use weapons and sneak into Syria to join the fight, according to an FBI affidavit unsealed in federal court in Sacramento.
The two Iraqi-born Paleostinians used social media to discuss their plans, according to federal authorities. The communications provided the link that led to terrorism-related charges against the men this week.
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The travel history, computers and finances of the man suspected of shooting a Philadelphia police officer on Thursday have been swept into an FBI investigation into the attack, though officials have downplayed the suspect’s alleged oath to terrorists.
Police said Edward Archer, 33, had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State, though there is no proof he has any affiliation with members of the terrorist group.
Archer travelled to Saudi Arabia for a pilgrimage to Mecca in 2011, and went to Egypt for several months in 2012, FBI spokesman Eric Ruona told the Guardian on Saturday. Ruona said that the federal agency was looking into those trips as well as Archer’s finances and electronic computer records to create “the fullest picture”.
There is no indication that Archer had any affiliation to known terrorists, according to officials. “We don’t have anything about that now but that’s something we’re looking at and trying to figure out,” Ruona said.
So he's at least a lone-wolf, and may well be a known-wolf...
Archer told investigators that police-enforced laws counter the teachings of the Qur’an, officials said on Friday.
Officials and Archer’s family have disputed claims that the attack was religiously motivated, and investigators have so far declined to ascribe a specific motive to the shooting.
Investigators have to keep an open mind, but I think I can connect the dots pretty well...
Archer’s mother, Valerie Holliday, told the Philadelphia Inquirer on Friday that her son had been hearing voices and their family had been encouraging him to seek medical help.
So schizophrenic and a true believer...
FBI terrorism taskforce agents searched Holliday’s home on Friday and left with a cardboard box and evidence bags.
Archer pleaded guilty to firearms and assault charges in March 2014. He was scheduled to be sentenced in a traffic and forgery case on Monday.
Halliday said her son had been a practicing Muslim for some time and that she did not know where he got the gun. “I’m still hoping they have the wrong child,” she told the Inquirer.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/10/2016 00:00 ||
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Not shooter's first run-in with the police or weapons violation:
Archer was arrested in 2012 after a domestic dispute and later pleaded guilty to assault and carrying a gun without a license, court records show. He was out on probation Thursday and was scheduled to be sentenced Monday after he was found guilty on charges of careless driving, forgery and driving with a suspended or revoked license in a 2014 case.
In the 2012 domestic dispute, Archer "pulled a small black and silver semiautomatic handgun from his waist and pointed it towards the complainant's stomach while grabbing the complainant's shirt," according to the affidavit for probable cause.
[DAWN] The Jamaat-e-Islami ...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores... on Friday announced it would stage a 'long march' on Islamabad and hold a sit-in outside the Prime Minister's House if the original China-Pakistain Economic Corridor project was not executed.
The announcement was made by JI provincial chief Mushtaq Ahmad Khan during the party's sit-in staged outside the Governor's House to protest the 'change' in the CPEC original plan.
The sit-in staged on the busy Sher Shah Suri Road from 2pm to 5pm was attended by a large number of JI workers.
The activists of the Qaumi Watan Party, Jamaat Ulema-e-Islam ...Assembly of Islamic Clergy, or JUI, is a Pak Deobandi (Hanafi) political party. There are two main branches, one led by Maulana Fazlur Rahman, and one led by Maulana Samiul Haq. Fazl is active in Pak politix and Sami spends more time running his madrassah. Both branches sponsor branches of the Taliban, though with plausible deniability... -Sami and Pakhtunkhwa Olasi Tehrik were also in attendance.
Holding banners and placards, the protesters shouted slogans against the federal government insisting injustice has been done to Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... , Sindh and Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... over the CPEC project.
The sit-in caused massive traffic jam on several arteries linked to Sher Shah Suri Road for almost three hours to the misery of motorists and commuters.
JI provincial chief Mushtaq Ahmad said federal minister for planning and development Ahsan Iqbal had been reluctant to disclose details of the CPEC project.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/10/2016 00:00 ||
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[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The preparatory or quadrilateral meeting of Afghanistan, Pakistain, the United States and China for talks with Taliban would be held in Islamabad on Monday.
Afghanistan would be represented by Deputy Foreign Minister Hekmat Khalil Karzai and Pakistain by Foreign Secretary Aizaz Chaudhry.
The U.S. and China would be reportedly represented by their special representatives for Afghanistan and Pakistain region.
The conference would explore ways to create a consensus for talks between the Taliban and government delegations to end the bloodshed.
Iran has shown willingness to take part in the conference but has not yet received a response from the government of Afghanistan.
The quadrilateral meeting comes after the visit of Pakistain's Chief of Army Chief (COAS) General Raheel Sharif ..Pak chief of army staff, meaning he pulls the strings on the Nawaz Sharif puppet to make it dance and sing and not do much at all.... to Kabul ...the capital of Afghanistan. Home to continuous fighting from 1992 to 1996 between the forces of would-be strongman and Pak ISI/Jamaat-e-Islami sock puppet Gulbuddin Hekmayar and the Northern Alliance, a period which won Hek the title Most Evil Man in the World and didn't do much for the reputations of the Northern Alliance guys either.... where he said that Islamabad would join Kabul in action against myrmidon groups not willing to join the peace and reconciliation process.
The agreement to revive stalled peace talks with Taliban was reached during a meeting between President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani ...former chancellor of Kabul University, now president of Afghanistan. Before returning to Afghanistan in 2002 he was a scholar of political science and anthropology. He worked at the World Bank working on international development assistance. As Finance Minister of Afghanistan between July 2002 and December 2004, he led Afghanistan's attempted economic recovery until the Karzais stole all the money. .. and Pak Prime Minister Mohammad Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... on the sideline of the "Heart of Asia" conference in Islamabad.
For bringing Afghan myrmidon groups to the negotiation table, Islamabad wants Kabul to act against Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP) Chief Mullah Fazlullah ...son-in-law of holy man Sufi Mohammad. Known as Mullah FM, Fazlullah had the habit of grabbing his FM mike when the mood struck him and bellowing forth sermons. Sufi suckered the Pak govt into imposing Shariah on the Swat Valley and then stepped aside whilst Fazlullah and his Talibs imposed a reign of terror on the populace like they hadn't seen before, at least not for a thousand years or so. For some reason the Pak intel services were never able to locate his transmitter, much less bomb it. After ruling the place like a conquered province for a year or so, Fazlullah's Talibs began gobbling up more territory as they pushed toward Islamabad, at which point as a matter of self-preservation the Mighty Pak Army threw them out and chased them into Afghanistan... who is responsible for some deadly attacks in Pakistain.
Islamabad claims that Mullah Fazlullah is hiding in Afghanistan.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/10/2016 00:00 ||
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[TODAYSZAMAN] Iraq's joint operations command denied on Saturday that Turkish forces based in northern Iraq had been attacked by the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) or had clashed with the murderous Moslems, refuting a statement by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him... "The joint operations command denies there was a terrorist attack on the position of Turkish forces in Bashiqa by the terrorist Daesh [Islamic State] (ISIL) recently," said a news flash on state television ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
, referring to a military base near djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... "The joint operations command denies what was relayed in some media outlets from the Turkish president about clashing between the Turkish forces inside Iraqi territory and the terrorist Daesh [Islamic State] whether in Bashiqa or any other areas," another flash said.
Erdogan said on Friday that an attack by ISIL on the military base where Turkish troops are training an Iraqi Sunni militia showed The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... 's decision to deploy troops there was justified.
A colonel in the Kurdish peshmerga forces that control the area, speaking to Agence La Belle France Presse on condition of anonymity, also denied the Turkish base had come under attack. He said IS had fired some mortar rounds in the area but not at the base specifically and that the response to that routine attack was handled by the peshmerga.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/10/2016 00:00 ||
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When Germany gets ditsy, all the feeder countries suffer. In the meantime, they're still streaming in by bus and boat in the hope of making it under the wire... and often enough the busses are crashing, and the boats are overturning in the rough winter waves, killing the passengers.
[AnNahar] Lebanese authorities "forcibly returned" more than 100 Syrians to Syria on two separate flights from Beirut airport on Friday afternoon and approximately 100-150 Syrians are waiting to be "forcibly returned" on a 9:30 pm flight later tonight, Human Rights Watch ... During the fiscal year ended June 30, 2011, HRW received a pledge from the Foundation to Promote Open Society, of which George Soros is Chairman, for general support totaling $100,000,000. The grant is being paid in installments of $10,000,000 over ten years.Through June 30, 2013, HRW had received $30,000,000 towards the fulfillment of the pledge.... said in a statement.
"General Security should immediately halt the planned forcible return of Syrians from the Beirut airport to Syria later this evening," said Haley Bobseine, Leb Researcher at Human Rights Watch.
"Authorities should ensure that competent authorities individually examine the claims of any Syrian who fears return to Syria and not return anyone at risk," Bobseine added.
According to the human rights One man's rights are another man's existential threat. watchdog, hundreds of Syrians had arrived at the Rafik Hariri International Airport in Beirut on Thursday in transit to The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... but were unable to complete their onward journey to Turkey due to the new visa regulations for Syrians entering Turkey.
"The individuals are currently in the custody of Lebanese General Security at the Beirut airport in anticipation of their forcible return to Syria at 9:30pm this evening," the HRW statement said.
"The forcible return of anyone in danger of torture or inhuman or degrading treatment contravenes Leb's obligations under the international Convention Against Torture," it added.
Under article 3 of the Convention against Torture, which Leb ratified in 2000, Leb cannot send anyone -- including a convicted criminal -- to a country where the person would face a real risk of torture, the statement said.
"Forcibly returning someone at risk of inhuman treatment shows a total disregard for their rights and safety and is a violation of international law," said Bobseine.
Human Rights Watch reminded that it had previously documented "the forcible return (from Leb) of four Syrian nationals to Syria on August 1, 2012 and about three dozen Paleostinians to Syria on May 4, 2014."
HRW also documented the forcible return of "a Syrian national to Syria in 2014 and the suspected return of two Syrian nationals that same year."
"The government should immediately halt this planned forcible return and make a public commitment to end all forcible returns," Bobseine said.
Earlier in the day, state-run National News Agency said 400 Syrian nationals were unable to travel to Turkey via Beirut's airport after two Turkish planes failed to arrive at the Rafik Hariri International Airport to transport the passengers to the destination.
"Four hundred Syrians who arrived from Syria were supposed to depart to Turkey Thursday evening, but two Turkish planes that were supposed to fly them did not arrive at the RHIA," NNA said.
In December, Turkey's Foreign Ministry announced visa requirements for Syrians preventing them from entering Turkey without obtaining one.
The move is designed to lower the influx of Syrians arriving in Turkey, and it comes after European officials criticized Ankara for not doing enough to limit the flow of migrants from the Middle East and North Africa trying to reach Europe.
The chief of the Beirut airport security, General George Doumit, made contacts with the administrator of the Syrian Arab Airlines Samir Harb to take the necessary measures to return the 400 Syrians back to Syria, NNA said.
NNA added that a Syrian plane had arrived at the airport at 1:30 pm and another two were expected at 5:00 and 9:00 pm.
Iran told the United Nations on Friday that it does not want to escalate tensions in the Middle East, even as it took a swipe at Saudi Arabia for "sectarian hate-mongering," AFP reported.
Few people know more about sectarian hate-mongering than the Iranian foreign minister...
Saudi Arabia was "spreading delusional hype about Iran" after failing to derail the nuclear deal reached with world powers, Tehran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said in a letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
"We have no desire or interest in escalation of tension in our neighborhood," Zarif said in the letter, obtained by AFP.
The foreign minister called for unity to confront extremists and said Riyadh must make a "crucial choice" to either "continue supporting extremist terrorists" or "play a constructive role in promoting regional stability."
Zarif accused Riyadh of waging a "senseless aerial campaign targeting the people of Yemen" and of thwarting efforts to reach a ceasefire and begin political negotiations to end the conflict there.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/10/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
Instead of their more usual anti-Infidel hate mongering?
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.
An Egyptian court has upheld a three-year prison sentence for graft that was already served by former President Hosni Mubarak, who is out of prison and will not have to serve additional time.
North Korea
[TODAYSZAMAN] Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Saturday that his Justice and Development Party (AK Party) will appoint deputies to three eastern and southeastern provinces where no ruling party politician managed to get elected to Parliament.
[TODAYSZAMAN] The Justice and Development Party (AK Party) is looking to take a new constitution that involves switching Turkey's parliamentary system to a presidential system to a referendum in the fall, and the party might seek a snap election if it fails in this endeavor, according to political observers.
