[FOXNEWS] A new elite Taliban force is proving its strength in the strategic southern province of Helmand ...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan... , pointing to the krazed killers' ability to refine their battlefield techniques to match Afghanistan's increasingly professional national army.
The Taliban regard Helmand as their heartland. They share Pashtun ethnicity with its residents and the province's vast opium output has helped fund the war against the government in 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.... , now in its fifteenth year.
In recent weeks, the Taliban have taken huge swaths of the province and now they appear to be closing in on the capital, Lashkar Gah.
Afghan officials in Helmand say the army is facing an krazed killer fighting force that is better-organized and more skilled than ever. They say the Taliban have been sending men into the fight who appear to be members of a commando-like unit, believed to consist of several hundred elite fighters.
A senior Taliban capo confirmed the existence of the new, highly-trained force.
Speaking on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak to the media, the commander said the force numbered "around 300 fighters now, after starting out with 200." The new commando unit is called Sara Khitta, which means Red Group or Danger Group in Pashto.
"This kind of force is giving us very good results, and we have been discussing whether or not we should deploy this sort of unit more widely," he said.
The Taliban would give no further details, and military officials refused to discuss the subject. But civilian officials in Helmand said the force is led by a commander known as Haji Nasar, former operational head of the Taliban operating in Kandahar and Zabul provinces.
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08/07/2016 00:00 ||
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[Khaama (Afghanistan)] Afghanistan has ordered a commission to launch an investigation regarding the crash-landing of a Pak Mi-17 helicopter in Azra district of Pashtun-infested Logar province.
The Office of the President in a statement confirmed that the Pak authorities had requested to use the Afghan airspace for the flight of the Mi-17 helicopter to Uzbekistan for repair.
The statement further added that the Civil Aviation Authority of Afghanistan only granted permission for the helicopter to use the Afghan airspace after recording the specifications of the helicopter.
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. .. chaired a security meeting today and discussed regarding the latest information concerning the crash-landing of the helicopter in Azra district.
The Office of the President said it was agreed during the meeting that a delegation should investigate the different angles of the issue including the crash-landing of the helicopter to confirm the specifications of the Mi-17 helicopter which was forwarded to the Afghan authorities in the request letter by Pakistain.
A committee was also tasked to review the existing laws and regulations in a bid to immediately resolve the possible gaps and present a comprehensive plan for the full prevention of such incidents.
The Mi-17 helicopter crash-landed in Azra district late on Thursday afternoon and at least 7 on board the helicopter were captured by the bully boys.
There are still no reports regarding the fate of the missing crew members and passengers on board the helicopter but media reports in Pakistain suggest that the Taliban group in Afghanistan has confirmed the safety of the crew members in their custody.
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08/07/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
I suspect the sudden and unforeseen effects of the mass of the Earth on objects with little weight and no power.
Which brings to mind:
Yo mama so fat she got Notice to Airmen making her crib a no fly 4 miles around.
Outgunned, outmanoeuvred, hopelessly outnumbered and besieged in the Afghan desert, a small band of British soldiers chose to save a final bullet for themselves rather than fall into Taliban hands.
For nearly two months, the 88 men of Easy Company – a mix of Paratroopers and the Royal Irish – had faced the overwhelming force and firepower of up to 500 Taliban determined to over-run the remote Helmand outpost of Musa Qala.
And their near miraculous survival has been described as a latter day Rorke’s Drift, evocative of the 1879 siege in which 140 British soldiers held off a Zulu force of 3,000, later immortalised in the blockbuster film starring Michael Caine.
For 56 days in the autumn of 2006, the men at Musa Qala faced constant fire from fixed machine gun posts and mortars.
Hungry and frequently at the point of exhaustion, they were forced to somehow fend off 360-degree attacks from the Taliban, with little protection beyond a series of low mud walls.
They used up a quarter of all the British Army’s Afghan ammunition for that entire year.
Yet today their heroism remains little known, not least because the Ministry of Defence has never permitted the full story of what happened there ten years ago this month to be told.
It has taken a Channel 4 documentary team to piece together fragments of testimony from survivors who have now left the Army, to reveal in devastating detail how close the 88 officers and men came to being massacred.
They lost three men and saw 12 badly wounded before a ragged ceasefire was brokered by tribal elders, allowing them to evacuate their Helmand hell-hole. As with Rorke’s Drift, the final, devastating assault somehow never came.
Their ordeal began almost immediately when, on August 23, Easy Company was dropped by Chinook to replace a mainly Danish Nato contingent struggling to bring stability and security to the remote region. It was a terrible start.
The Taliban watched in satisfaction as the Danes took with them more than 40 armoured vehicles, eight heavy machine guns and a 12-strong medical team with armoured ambulances.
Their British replacements had just two heavy machine guns, one doctor, two medics and a quad bike. When Taliban spies reported the huge reduction in armour and weaponry, the terror leaders scented an easy victory.
To make matters worse, the village was often too dangerous for helicopter support, and reinforcements – although it is still not entirely clear why – simply never came. More at the link
As an aside, the film Zulu Dawn is easily one of the best war flicks ever filmed.
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] A group believed to be affiliated to the banned Egypt’s Moslem Brüderbund movement claimed on Friday responsibility over the failed attempt Curses! Foiled again! to kill the country’s former Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa.
Movement of the Hands of Egypt, also known as Hasem, said on its Facebook account that Gomaa was targeted on Friday at 12:05 PM local time in October 6 city, 32 km south of Cairo.
But with many civilians being present at the scene and with Gomaa running to a mosque nearby, the operation proved to be futile, Hasem said.
Hasem said the operation was against what it described as "the military and its militias belonging to [Egyptian President] Abdullfatah Al-Sisi."
While it is not possible to verify the authenticity of Hasem’s Facebook account, the group sees Gomaa as a supporter to the military establishment, and vowed more attacks against Sisi’s government.
In late June, Cairo celebrated the army’s 2013 overthrow of an Islamist president belonging to the Moslem Brüderbund, which is now a blacklisted movement in Egypt, with a new national holiday.
The government referred to as the holiday as the "June 30 Revolution."
Shortly after the incident, Gomaa stayed resilient.
"If Ali Gomaa dies there are millions who will take his place," Gomaa told state television ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
shortly after news of the attempt was made public. "I gave my sermon right after my survival."
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08/07/2016 00:00 ||
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[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] A front man said on Saturday that the Saudi-led Arab Coalition will revive its Operation Restoring Hope after Yemeni peace talks in Kuwait ended in the same day without any real results.
While the operation began on April 21, 2015 and it is still active, "Operation Restoring Hope will be revived again," Saudi Brig. Gen. Ahmed Al-Asiri, front man of the Arab Coalition, told Al Arabiya’s sister channel Al Hadath.
The operation was launched to bolster political and peace efforts but without ruling out the use of force. The operation followed the military Operation Decisive Storm.
Asiri, who is also an advisor to the Saudi defense minister, said Iran-backed Houthi ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews ... militias considered the ending of Yemeni peace talks in Kuwait as an "opportunity" to expand their operations.
He said after suspending the talks between the two warring Yemeni sides, the Houthis started launching operations on the Saudi borders.
The brigadier general said a fire exchange following an aggression by the Houthis led to the killing of a Saudi soldier on the border, reiterating that the kingdom won’t tolerate such violations.
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08/07/2016 00:00 ||
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[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] The United States’ ambassador to The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... has again denied allegations his country was involved in last month’s failed coup attempt, Turkish media reported Saturday.
"I just want to say again, as I’ve said before and as we’ve said from Washington, the United States government did not plan, direct, support or have any advance knowledge of any of the illegal activities that occurred the night of July 15 and into July 16. Full stop," US ambassador John Bass said in remarks published in English daily Hurriyet Daily News.
He added that he was "deeply disturbed and offended by the accusations" targeting his country.
The July 15 military action blamed by Ankara on US-based Moslemholy man Fethullah Gulen has rattled Turkey’s relations with the United States and the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him... has accused the West of supporting the plotters and warned Washington that relations will suffer if it fails to extradite Pennsylvania-based Gulen.
Erdogan has also accused the US of hiding and sheltering the preacher and described the failed military action as a "scenario written from outside" in an allusion to foreign involvement.
Shortly after the coup attempt, Labor Minister Suleyman Soylu went even further to say "the United States is behind the coup."
And this week, Turkey’s former army chief, Ilker Basbug, claimed that the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was also behind it.
"Frankly, if we would have had knowledge we would have told the Turkish government about it immediately," Bass said.
[IsraelTimes] Massive sweep against alleged supporters of US-based holy man continues ahead of Sunday pro-Erdogan rally in Istanbul
Dozens of special forces personnel were tossed in the clink Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'! in The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... Saturday in the latest development in a sweeping crackdown following the failed coup in the country that killed over 270 people, the state-run Anadolu news agency said.
Nearly 90 staff members were arrested after being identified by a commission established by the Special Forces Command following the July 15 coup, the agency reported.
The crackdown targets suspected followers of US-based holy man Fethullah Gulen, who Ankara accuses of criminal masterminding the coup attempt. Tens of thousands of employees in the military, police force, judiciary and throughout the public sector have been dismissed, detained or arrested.
Turkey has also been reforming its security apparatus in the aftermath of the failed coup, with the military being brought firmly under civilian authority in a series of governmental decrees following the declaration of a state of emergency.
Earlier on Saturday Prime Minister Binali Yildirim hosted a security summit of high-level government and military officials in Ankara. Those attending included the country’s foreign, justice, interior and defense ministers, the chief of general staff and the heads of Turkey’s national intelligence agency and the national police. No decisions were announced following the meeting.
As part of its anti-coup campaign, Ankara has been encouraging nightly anti-coup rallies throughout the country, with officials preparing for the grand finale to be held in Istanbul on Sunday.
The "Democracy and Martyrs’ Rally" is meant to represent the unity of the country, with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him... urging attendees to bring only the Turkish flag instead of party banners.
"There we will stand together as a single nation, a single flag, a single motherland, a single state, a single spirit," he said.
The event will be attended by the highest levels of Turkish leadership and two of Turkey’s three opposition parties. The pro-Kurdish People’s Democracy Party, or HDP, was not invited.
Anadolu news agency estimates that millions could attend the event.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/07/2016 00:00 ||
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Last month, newly-appointed Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort issued a request that the campaign hire on Cambridge Analytica, the very same marketing firm that helped to defeat the establishment powers in Great Britain earlier this year with the stunning Brexit vote; a vote that was a direct shot across the bow of globalist powers intent on seeing a world without individual nations and borders.
Cambridge Analytica is particularly adept at focusing on the concerns of first-time voters using a multitude of issues-based data points.
Many within political circles consider them the best of the best when it comes to this kind of political messaging technology.
As recently as a few months ago, Trump had considered this technology to be "overrated" which some have suggested had more to do with its cost rather than its potential effectiveness.
With the urging of Manafort, and Trump's own ever-growing experience in the rough and tumble world of national politics, the Republican presidential candidate is now willing to give Cambridge Analytica a try, a reversal that is likely good news for Trump supporters grown despondent over the candidate's messaging difficulties the last two weeks that has Hillary Clinton once again emerging on top of various recent polls.
#1
Cambridge Analytica has a bunch of egghead Ph.D. number crunchers on staff. Whether their number crunching efforts translate into votes is the question. Seems like they ought to be targeting voters who usually don't get out, independents, Bernie's ticked off supporters, and minorities who might be peeled off from their usual voting habits.
#2
It stunned the hell out of British bookies who were fortunate not to have taken a bath; fortunate because those who thought Brexit would succeed were not so convinced as to put their money down.
#3
There is a tension between the kind of spontaneous insanity and emotional thralldom that secured this idiot the nomination, and the kind of cold hard, fact driven, cash gulping, by-the-numbers campaign that might deliver a victory.
Don't think Donald has the patience or self-discipline, and don't think his Trumpkins will follow him down that path. As for actual conservatives, I know that no slick ad is going to change my mind.
“A man will be imprisoned in a room with a door that's unlocked and opens inwards; as long as it does not occur to him to pull rather than push.”
― Ludwig Wittgenstein, Culture and Value
[Ynet] The United States has resettled 8,000 Syrian refugees inside US borders since October, Anne Richard, assistant secretary of state for the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, told news hounds on Friday.
The United States is on track to meet President Barack Obama That’s just how white folks will do you.... 's goal to resettle 10,000 refugees from Syria's civil war by the end of the fiscal year, Richard said.
[DETROITNEWS] FBI counterterrorism agents have uncovered a link between Sebastian Gregerson, the American Moslemlocked away You have the right to remain silent... Sunday after he allegedly bought illegal grenades, and an al-Qaeda leader who radicalized underwear bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, The News learned Friday.
When FBI agents raided Gregerson’s home on the west side of bankrupt, increasingly impoverished, reliably Democrat, Detroit ... ruled by Democrats since 1962. A city whose Golden Age included the Purple Gang... on Sunday, they found several CDs marked "Anwar al-Awlaki ... Born in Las Cruces, New Mexico, zapped in Yemen, al-Awlaki was a dual citizen of the U.S. and Yemen. He was an Islamic holy man who was a trainer for al-Qaeda and its franchises. His sermons were attended by three of the 9/11 hijackers, by Fort Hood murderer Nidal Malik Hussein, and Undieboomer Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. He was the first U.S. citizen ever placed on a CIA target list... ," the al-Qaeda recruiter who met with Abdulmutallab before the failed Christmas Day 2009 terror attack on a Detroit-bound plane, according to sealed search warrant records obtained by The News.
The CDs are listed among dozens of items seized Sunday, including seven rifles, two AK-47 assault rifles, a shotgun, handguns, thousands of rounds of ammunition, computer equipment and cellphones, according to a sealed search warrant inventory.
The contents of the al-Awlaki CDs are unclear, but the late, radical U.S.-born holy man was known for Internet sermons that helped inspire attacks on the U.S. Abdulmutallab spent hours listening to al-Awlaki’s video clips posted online, FBI Special Agent Timothy Waters testified in 2011.
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08/07/2016 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh, a day after a terse war of words with Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar at the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) Interior Ministers’ meeting in Islamabad on Thursday, apprised the Indian parliament of his visit.
"All of our prime ministers have done their best to improve relations with our neighbours, but this neighbour never learns," he said referring to Pakistain amid a smattering of laughter in the house.
In a response to Nisar's remarks about Indian violation of human rights ...which are usually entirely different from personal liberty... in Kashmire, Rajnath told the Indian parliament that "Pakistain is the biggest violator of human rights", NDTV reported.
The Indian home minister said he had skipped a luncheon meeting as he 'had not gone there to have lunch'.
"It is true that Chaudhry Nisar invited everyone for lunch. But then he left in his car. I also left. I have no complaints or grudges as I had not gone there to have lunch," he said.
Singh said that journalists accompanying him were not allowed to cover his speech, according to Indian media reports.
"I will not comment on whether Pakistain was right or wrong in not allowing coverage. I did not register any protest there. I will need to ask the foreign ministry about protocol of past occasions," he said.
The only broadcaster allowed inside the venue was Pakistain Television, Dawn earlier reported.
The Press Trust of India quoting a government source said it is standard Saarc practice for the host country's opening statements to be made public and open to the media, while the rest of the proceedings are in camera, which allows for a frank discussion of issues.
According to the Press Trust of India, an interior ministry official in Islamabad also said that there was no such blackout of Singh’s speech as none of the speeches of participating ministers was shown.
Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar during the Saarc meet ─ after relinquishing his position as chairman of the meeting ─ had issued a rejoinder to Rajnath Singh when the Indian home minister indirectly accused Pakistain of sponsoring terrorism.
Nisar termed the use of "torture against innocent children and violence against civilians" as terrorism and added there was a need to "take time out to reflect and sit together to try and work out the problems and reservations that we might harbour towards each other" instead of engaging in blame games and taking swipes at each other.
The interior minister said Pakistain was ready to engage in any dialogue process based on mutual respect and dignity with no string attached. "It is for those who have put conditions and sub-conditions for initiating dialogue to reconsider and realign their position," he said.
The interior minister’s remarks came at a time when tensions are running high between the two nuclear-armed neighbours over fresh unrest and killings by security forces in India-held Kashmire. His remarks rendered Rajnath Singh speechless, and he chose not to respond.
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08/07/2016 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday left the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) Interior Ministers’ meeting halfway through after losing a war of words with his Pak counterpart Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan ...Currently the Interior Minister of Pakistain. He is the senior leader of the Pak Moslem League (N) and a close aide to Nawaz Uncle Fester Sharif. He is noted for his vocal anti-American railing in the National Assembly. However (comma) Khan told the U.S. ambassador that he was in fact pro-American but he and the PML-N would have to be critical of US actions in order to remain publicly credible. Khan cited his wife and children's US citizenship as proof, which means he's lying to one side or the other and probably both. He wears a wig, but you probably guessed that. since hair doesn't grow naturally in that shape or texture... .
The Indian minister indirectly accused Pakistain of sponsoring terrorism. But when Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan responded -- after relinquishing his position as the chairman of the meeting -- Mr Singh found it difficult to digest.
Chaudhry Nisar called for respecting the fundamental rights of people and stressed that legitimate freedom struggles should not be suppressed in the name of the fight against terrorism. He called upon the countries from the region to differentiate between terrorism and freedom movements, sanctified by the UN Security Council, and observed that violence against freedom fighters in a disputed territory under Indian occupation was state-sponsored.
He highlighted how Pakistain itself was one of the biggest victims of terrorism. "Instead of engaging in a blame-game and taking swipes at each other, we should take time out to reflect and sit together to try and work out the problems and reservations that we might harbour towards each other," he remarked.
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08/07/2016 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) early Saturday morning said it jugged Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up! a "blacklisted" US national after he was granted entry by a FIA sub-inspector and his son at the Benazir Bhutto ... 11th Prime Minister of Pakistain in two non-consecutive terms from 1988 until 1990 and 1993 until 1996. She was the daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, founder of the Pakistain People's Party, who was murdered at the instigation of General Ayub Khan. She was murdered in her turn by person or persons unknown while campaigning in late 2007. Suspects include, to note just a few, Baitullah Mehsud, General Pervez Musharraf, the ISI, al-Qaeda in Pakistain, and her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, who shows remarkably little curiosity about who done her in... International Airport (BBIA).
The US national, identified as Mathew Barret, was blacklisted from Pakistain in 2011 on charges of espionage.
The FIA has registered a First Information Report (FIR) against the officials.
According to the FIA, Barret forged documents to enter the city. The move alerted the organization's Islamabad chapter.
After arresting Barret, the FIA transferred him to the immigration cell.
Allegedly, sub-inspector Raja Asif and his son Ihtesham-ul-Haq's negligence led to the security breach for which the two were also named in the FIR.
FIA is conducting raids to arrest the accused.
Houston-based Vice Councilor for Visa Sayeda Altaf was also named in the FIR for issuing visa to Barret, said FIA, assuring, that the main culprits will be unveiled.
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08/07/2016 00:00 ||
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[StrategyPage] Driving ISIS (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.... in Iraq and the Levant) out of djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... is now a matter of when, not if. More ISIS personnel and their families are leaving the city (with or without permission). The coalition air raids are becoming more frequent and increasingly effective. This is because more target information is coming from inside the city and nothing ISIS does seems to reverse this process. A growing number of ISIS personnel and operations in the city are being moved from captured government and military compounds to residential areas in an effort to avoid air attack. Worse these attacks are largely against specific targets, like ISIS leaders and key technical experts. Weapons and critical equipment (like communications and military vehicles) are also more vulnerable. This is not a new problem, a lot of ISIS artillery and armored vehicles were ordered to leave Mosul for Syria in June. But the coalition keeps finding essential ISIS vehicles and destroying them. ISIS leaders appear to be getting more key people (leaders, tech experts, most reliable fighters) out of the city and back to Syria. Thus when Iraqi troops move into the city there will probably be less than 5,000 ISIS fighters (plus lots of mines, booby traps and roadside kabooms) and few (but still over 100,000) civilians to deal with.
The U.S. led air coalition over Iraq and Syria has been averaging about a hundred attacks (using either a guided missile or smart bomb) a day in June and July. About a third of that is in Syria but more will be switched to Iraq when the fighting is heavy inside Mosul.
As always, Strategy Page articles are information-dense and and well worth reading.
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08/07/2016 01:25 ||
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[RUDAW.NET] A high committee has been established to lead the long-anticipated operation of djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... , announced the Governor of Nineveh, Nofel Hamadi, who added that the committee has sufficient troops for the offensive.
"There is a high committee who will be responsible for the Mosul operation and I’m the head of the committee," Hamadi told Rudaw. "We have enough forces to liberate Mosul and no other troops are needed."
"We have taken over the most important military base through the efforts of the Iraqi army and security forces with no participation of any other force," Hamadi added, referring to the successful offensive to retake Qayara airbase.
Hamadi said that they can liberate Mosul without relying on any other parties, claiming that the plan has been finalized and they are just waiting for the right time to launch the operation.
Some people from Mosul who are currently living in the Kurdistan Region have expressed concern ...meaning the brow was mildly wrinkled, the eyebrows drawn slightly together, and a thoughtful expression assumed, not that anything was actually done or indeed that any thought was actually expended... about the participation of Shiite militia, known as Hashd al-Shaabi, in the battle.
"What we witnessed from Hashd al-Shaabi was inhumane. That is why we refuse to agree to their participation in the battle," said a family.
Sunni leaders have warned that the Shiite militia have detained and tortured civilians fleeing Fallujah.
The majority of the population of Mosul, like Fallujah, ... the City of Mosques, which might have somthing to do with why it's not called Center of Prosperity or a really nice place to raise your kids... is Sunni.
The United States announced last month that they would send an additional 560 troops to Iraq. About 400 from the 101st Airborne Division in Fort Campbell, Kentucky will be deployed to Qayara airbase where they will assist in setting up a logistics base as part of the preparations for the liberation of Mosul, the News Agency that Dare Not be Named reported Friday.
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08/07/2016 00:00 ||
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[RUDAW.NET] Kirkuk Governor Najmadin Karim has urged Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to ramp up efforts and stop delaying the launch of a military offensive to liberate Hawija from 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.... (ISIS) control.
Karim said in a statement late Friday that any more delay in the Hawija offensive "will bring with it more troubles and persecution for the city’s people. We have also in the past asked the Iraqi government for quick liberation of Hawija from ISIS."
Karim also condemned the execution of civilians who were among thousands trying to flee villages around Hawija. The UNHCR reported that 237 families reached safety in Kirkuk but many more were prevented from leaving by ISIS and 12 were killed by the bad boys.
"ISIS bandidosLions of Islam committed another crime, adding it to their disgusting acts after they besieged thousands of civilians and executed a number of them on charges of attempting to flee ISIS-controlled areas in southern and western Kirkuk, ... a thick stew of Arabs, Turkmen, Kurds, and probably Antarcticans, all of them mutually hostile most of the time... " Karim said.
He reiterated that if there are no existing reasons to delay the offensive, then "the government should immediately make plans to clear Hawija of ISIS bad boys."
Peshmerga officials recently revealed that plans were being developed for an offensive to rout ISIS from Hawija and its vicinity.
"ISIS in Hawija is a threat to Kirkuk and Kurdistan," Sheikh Jaafar Mustafa, commander of the Peshmerga 70 army, told Rudaw in May.
The Hawija offensive has, however, been delayed because of Sunni-Shiite rivalries. Shiite militias have insisted that they should participate in any offensive that might be launched on Hawija. While Sunnis say that in previous battles where the Shiite militias were involved, they have committed war crimes against Sunni populations.
The operation to recapture areas south and west of Kirkuk including Hawija, Ryaz and Rashad from ISIS was suspended last month for the third time by Sunni Arab groups in the Kirkuk Provincial Council.
They said they want Peshmerga and Sunni Arab forces to take part in the operation without the participation of Shiite militia forces, known as the Hashd al-Shaabi.
"Our political entities, tribes and organizations do not want Hashd al-Shaabi taking part in the Hawija battle. The power of the Peshmerga forces is enough to capture the occupied areas," Rakan Saeed, head of the Iraqi Arab Republicans, told Rudaw.
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08/07/2016 00:00 ||
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[RUDAW.NET] Three officials in Rojava, northern Syria have been fired after last month’s kaboom in Qamishli, the Directorate of Rojava Asayesh (security forces) announced in a statement on Friday.
"Due to the terrorist kaboom which targeted the Gharbi neighborhood of Qamishli, several Asayesh officials have been fired," the statement said.
The statement named the three officials who have been removed from their positions as Abdul Baset Mohammad Kute, director of the Rojava traffic police, Sheikh Mus Ahmad Ahmad, head of checkpoints for the Rojava Asayesh, and Abdullah Mohammad Sadoun, spokesperson for the Rojava Asayesh.
"We, the Asayesh forces of Rojava, promise our people the full provision of security and safety and we will preserve the lives of citizens and personal property from acts of terrorism, which threatens the entire world," the statement promised.
The directorate added that they have allocated 200 million Syrian pounds (approximately $930,000) for reconstruction of buildings destroyed by the kaboom.
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08/07/2016 00:00 ||
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Good luck getting the poodle press to ask Obama if he's proud of giving $400 million to the people who do things like this.
Iran’s regime executed a gay adolescent in July - the first confirmed execution of someone convicted as a juvenile in the Islamic Republic in 2016 - Amnesty International reported this week.
Hassan Afshar, 19, was hanged in Arak Prison in Iran's Markazi Province on July 18, after he was convicted of "forced male-to-male anal intercourse" (‘lavat-e be onf’) in early 2015, the NGO said in a statement Tuesday.
Stefan Schaden, a LGBT rights activist and spokesman for the European 'STOP THE BOMB' campaign, told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday, “Consensual homosexual conduct remains illegal under Iran’s Sharia law and is punished with public flogging or even execution. While the Islamic State throws gays from rooftops, the Islamic Republic [of Iran] hangs them.”
Amnesty said the Iranian authorities received a complaint accusing Afshar and two other adolescents of forcing a teenage boy to have sex. Afshar, who was arrested in December, 2014, said that the same-sex relations were consensual and the accuser had freely engaged in prior homosexual relations.
“Iran has proved that its sickening enthusiasm for putting juveniles to death, in contravention of international law, knows no bounds," said Magdalena Mughrabi, Deputy Middle East and North Africa Programme Director at Amnesty International.
She added that Hassan Afshar was a 17-year-old high school student when he was arrested.
"He had no access to a lawyer and the judiciary rushed through the investigation and prosecution, convicting and sentencing him to death within two months of his arrest as though they could not execute him quickly enough,” Mughrabi stressed.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/07/2016 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
...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. ..
Outgunned, outmanoeuvred, hopelessly outnumbered and besieged in the Afghan desert, a small band of British soldiers chose to save a final bullet for themselves rather than fall into Taliban hands.
[DAWN] Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh, a day after a terse war of words with Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar at the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) Interior Ministers’ meeting in Islamabad on Thursday, apprised the Indian parliament of his visit.
Currently the Interior Minister of Pakistain. He is the senior leader of the Pak Moslem League (N) and a close aide to Nawaz 
