Up to 2,000 Marines will deploy to Afghanistan in November to replace the 3,400 leathernecks scheduled to return home in the coming months, the Defense Department announced Monday.
The Marine Air-Ground Task Force will comprise units from across the Corps, officials said. Camp Lejeunes 3rd Battalion, 8th Marines, will form the MAGTFs ground element, according to Maj. David Nevers, a spokesman for the Corps. Led by Lt. Col. D.L. Odom, 3/8 recently completed predeployment training at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center at Twentynine Palms, Calif.
Its not immediately clear which units will form the headquarters, logistics and aviation sections of the ad-hoc unit, Nevers said.
Approximately 3,700 soldiers from the Armys 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, are scheduled to join the MAGTF in January, according to the Pentagon. Both units were previously scheduled to deploy to Iraq.
The 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit along with 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines are currently serving in Afghanistan. The 24th MEU is fighting near the Afghan-Pakistan border while 2/7 is engaged in a mission to train Afghan security forces. Its unclear if 3/8 will assume either of those roles or if it will take on a new mission, Nevers said.
And while the deployment ensures a continued Marine presence in volatile southern Afghanistan, the smaller force means fewer Marines on the ground. Historically, fighting in Afghanistan is fiercest in the spring and summer. Indigenous forces tend to pull back during the harsh Afghan winters.
The 2/7 commander, Lt. Col. Richard Hall, acknowledged last month in a discussion with military bloggers that his unit has suffered significant casualties in Afghanistan.
The move to send 3/8 to Afghanistan comes a few weeks after Commandant Gen. James Conway made his latest entreaty to shift the Corps focus from Iraq to Afghanistan. He has been unabashed for more than year in calling for Marines to take on the Afghanistan mission.
#3
The 24th MEU is fighting near the Afghan-Pakistan border while 2/7 is engaged in a mission to train Afghan security forces. Its unclear if 3/8 will assume either of those roles
Without going into detail, it's probably something close to the former.
(AKI) - The 12-year-old son of a Pakistani woman facing charges in the United States for her alleged links to Al-Qaeda has been handed over to Pakistani officials by Afghan authorities.
Muhammad Ahmed has been in custody since July, when his mother, Aafia Siddiqui, was detained outside the governor's house in the central Afghan province of Ghazni.
According to the Pakistani government, the Afghan Ministry of Home Affairs handed the boy to Pakistani Ambassador, Asif Durrani, in Kabul on Monday.
The boy's mother, Aafia Siddiqui, who is suspected of links to Al-Qaeda militants, was first taken to a US military base and then flown to New York where she faces charges of attempted murder. Siddiqui, 36, is currently facing trial charged with attempting to kill American soldiers and FBI agents in a police station in Afghanistan
According to Pakistan's GeoNews one of her three children had already died while there was no information about her daughter and whether she would be handed over to Pakistani officials. Muhammad Ahmed was expected to be sent to Pakistan on the first available flight.
This article starring:
Aafia Siddiqui
Muhammad Ahmed
Posted by: Fred ||
09/16/2008 00:00 ||
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The EU does not have a joint military command, so the "co-ordination unit" is needed to gather ships together from several member states. Eventually there will be real ships sent. Hopefully.
#3
In fact I'd like to see someone throw a dart at a map and then task whichever country it lands on to go forth and wipe 'em out. Might be a challenge for LIchtenstein or the Papal States but I think they'd still manage.
#4
Always remember that process, committee meetings, reports and analysis, and more committee meetings are immensely more important than actually doing anything.
#6
The US constitution still allows Congress to issue letters of marque and reprisal. And set up prize courts.
So Blackwater gets themselves an old destroyer and makes sure to capture the pirates after they've taken a ship. That way, Blackwater gets a share.
Or anybody who can front the money, actually.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey ||
09/16/2008 18:58 Comments ||
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#7
Old destroyer? Heck, Blackwater would get themselves a decent sized mother ship and a bunch of zodiac boats. Plenty of arms and ammo, come back to the mother ship when ready, and go pirate hunting. The mother ship could be a nice 'Q' ship in addition.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/16/2008 21:05 Comments ||
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#8
an "attractive" mothership, say a faux tourist three-maste with 50's front and back. As long as nobody survives an encounter, *wink wink*, the cover would be secure, at least until the NYT got wind of it
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/16/2008 21:12 Comments ||
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#9
First a committee must be formed, then bylaws, then lunch, then an agenda, then dinner, then willing fair maidens, then a hearty breakfast. Then form a subcommittee to slap a study on it. Lather, rinse, repeat.
Posted by: Alaska Paul in Tok, AK ||
09/16/2008 22:42 Comments ||
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Activists from the terrorist group al-Qaeda posted a harsh warning to Egyptian political analyst Diaa Rashwan in which they threatened to kill him if he does not stop his criticism of al-Qaeda. According to the statement, published in the Egyptian independent daily al-Badeel, the group warned on its website that the expert on militant Islam at the Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies to keep silent and stop writing analyses "against Islam and Muslims" and "fighting God and His prophet."
The statement included a picture of a knife with drops of blood and a caption that said "The Mujahideen don't joke."
"We managed to get Bhutto with all her guards, so don't be fooled by whoever pays you. You have to know that the lions are watching, so be very careful," the statement warned.
Diaa Rashwan told AlArabiya.net that the threat came only minutes after comment he made about al-Qaeda's latest tape, released on the eve of the seventh anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks for which al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden accepted responsibility.
Rashwan said the title of his criticism of the tape's title, "Eight years of Crusade wars," was likely the provocation. "I commented that the title was catchy, but that they haven't scored any victories," said Rashwan. "This of course is the exact opposite of what they believe."
Rashwan said al-Qaeda members are always disturbed by facts. "That is why they described me as an agent of the Egyptian regime."
"This is not the first time I receive death threats from al-Qaeda activists via their website, but it was never that explicit. The title of the statement was 'A message to Diaa Rashwan' and was written by someone with leverage on al-Qaeda online forums," he added.
Rashwan said he was not concerned about the threats. "Al-Qaeda has no members in Egypt, and even if it has they wouldn't have threatened me. They would've just proved how serious they are and act right away," he said.
I'd still hire a food taster and a car starter ...
He said the message proved al-Qaeda's intolerance and fanaticism since its members consider anyone who disagrees with them an enemy. He also saw it as a proof that they do not mind shedding the blood of Muslims or any other people who disagree with them. "I never talked about religious beliefs and never made permissible anything that is religiously prohibited. I am surprised about this kind of thought that easily allows killing people," said Rashwan. "This shows how unaware they are of true religion."
Rashwan added that members of al-Qaeda differ ideologically. For example, Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri, who hails from Egypt, condoned bloodshed as well, but always focused on heads of state, who they see as the source of corruption, and not intellectuals. "What is very ironic is that in Egypt I am considered a supporter of the Muslim brotherhood, while for al-Qaeda I am a mercenary of the regime."
Posted by: Fred ||
09/16/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Kudos and props to a guy who calls 'em as he sees 'em. This is the sort of talk that defines a Muslim as moderate.
ANOTHER man has been found guilty of being part of a Melbourne terrorist cell which plotted to kill thousands. Amer Haddara, 28, of Yarraville, was today found guilty of being a member of a terrorist organisation, knowing it was a terrorist organisation.
But he was found not guilty of possessing a computer connected with preparation for a terrorist act.
The jury in Australia's biggest terror trial was still unable to reach a verdict on charges against Shane Kent, 31, of Meadow Heights. Six people were yesterday found guilty of being part of the terrorist group, including its leader Abdul Nacer Benbrika.
(PTI) Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama has supported the cross-border raids by US forces into Pakistan but described them as "baby steps" by the Bush administration in the right direction. "Senator Obama has been saying for well over a year, in fact, has been saying frankly since before the invasion of Iraq that the central front in the war on terror is Afghanistan and Pakistan. And we need to invest there," Susan Rice, the top foreign policy adviser to Senator Obama, said.
"The Bush administration has come to that point of view. That's the kind of policy we have to pursue and continue, ...This is a baby step, but it's a baby step in the right direction and something that John McCain hasn't been willing to acknowledge," she said.
Senior officials of the administration have parried queries on attacks by American forces inside Pakistan that are supposedly signed by the President himself.
Rice said that President Bush and the administration was doing what Senator Obama believed in, saying invading Pakistan did not mean hurting the country's sovereignty but should be viewed as an act of self-defence.
"President Bush and the administration, indeed, are doing what Senator Obama said we must, well over a year ago. If we have actionable intelligence about a high-value terrorist target inside Pakistan and Pakistan is unwilling or unable to take that target out, such as Osama bin Laden, Senator Obama's view is we should act.
"Not to invade. Not to take over Pakistan's sovereignty, but to take out that target as an act of self-defence," Rice said.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/16/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Sounds very much like something the Sarahcuda said last week; something about defending ourselves and pre-emptive strikes. Or did I make that part up?
#5
Thank you, A. Is this another example of a "typo-lie," the incidental insertion of false information that can be dismissed as a simple error if it is challenged.? Or just simple mis-information?
Posted by: Bobby ||
09/16/2008 6:09 Comments ||
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#8
Lol! Whew! I gotta stop posting on hydrocodone!
Posted by: Mike N. ||
09/16/2008 9:02 Comments ||
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#9
One has to wonder how Obama's erstwhile supporters on the Left are going to react, once it dawns on them that it means that war is going to last a whole lot longer.
#10
How positively Nixonian of him. To me, this would be a great compliment, but Obamatons may regard it as a grave insult.
In particular, I wonder what his VC contingent; Ayers, Dohrn, and the Hollywood Grays; make of this willingness to attack enemy sanctuaries in another country. They weren't so pleased when Nixon did it in Cambodia.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates made a surprise visit to Iraq on Monday, saying the new U.S. commander will inherit a "mission in transition" as the U.S. force shrinks and turns over more of the country to Iraqis.
Gates is making his eighth visit to Iraq since he took over at the Pentagon in December 2006. On Tuesday he will preside over a ceremony to transfer command of U.S.-led forces in Iraq to Lieutenant-General Ray Odierno from General David Petraeus, whose term was marked by the deployment of 30,000 extra U.S. troops and a substantial decline in violence.
"The challenge, I think, for General Odierno is: How do we work with the Iraqis to preserve the gains that have already been achieved, expand upon them, even as the numbers of U.S. forces are shrinking," Gates told reporters on his plane. Odierno, who served as the number two U.S. commander in Iraq for 15 months until February, will be promoted to full general on Tuesday.
The "end game" is now underway, Gates said last week. "There is no question we will still be engaged as we are, but the areas in which we are seriously engaged will I think continue to narrow," Gates told reporters on Monday.
With levels of violence down to around four-year lows after an 18-month "surge" in U.S. forces, President George W. Bush last week announced plans to send 8,000 troops home by January. Many troops who were scheduled to replace those departing from Iraq will now head to Afghanistan, where insurgent violence has grown dramatically in the past two years.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/16/2008 00:00 ||
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#2
The "end game" is now underway, Gates said last week
Reminds me of: At the close of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia on September 18, 1787, a Mrs. Powel anxiously awaited the results, and as Benjamin
Franklin emerged from the long task now finished, asked him directly: "Well Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?" "A republic if you can keep it" responded Franklin.
A dramatic fall in violence has breathed life into Baghdad's once moribund property market, although the hunt for homes in Sunni and Shiite enclaves bodes ill for sectarian reconciliation in the Iraqi capital.
Real estate prices have doubled in some parts of Baghdad in recent months and many properties sell or are leased as soon as they hit the market, say the city's realtors, who as recently as last year were jobless as sectarian killings raged in the city.
"Last year there was lots of real estate to sell and no buyers. Now it's the opposite," said Abdullah Jasim of the al-Noor real estate agency."There's not enough for sale. If you put something up for sale, it's immediately sold."
The government has urged millions of Iraqis to return home, sometimes even sponsoring flights to bring them back, following a drop in violence to four-year lows in recent months.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/16/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
MSM too busy engaged in witchhuntcharacter assassination 'she who will not be named' to pass up a "Big Boom in Baghdad" headline?
(AKI) - Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, reportedly has a secret plan to accelerate nuclear arms production by simulating a breakdown at the nuclear reactor of Bushehr. That is according to a memorandum circulated among several western intelligence services cited in the Italian daily, La Stampa.
The Khamenei initiative dates back to the day after 6 September 2007 when Israeli warplanes struck an alleged nuclear reactor that was allegedly being developed in northern Syria. The effectiveness of that attack frightened Khamenei who feared the same could happen to Iranian nuclear plants.
A few weeks later in Iranian capital Tehran, Khamenei gathered a group of senior officials responsible for national security and nuclear power, including Mohsen Fahrizadeh, entitled Project III - the programme suspected of planning the development of nuclear arms.
On that occasion, according to the memorandum, Khamenei spoke of the need to accelerate the military project in such a way that it did not run the risk of breaching the rules of the United Nations' nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency. During the meeting several proposals were discussed and at the end of the talks, "Khamenei called for a plan to be drawn up to exploit the nuclear material of the Bushehr plant to obtain plutonium".
According to sources cited in the document, there were moments of tension during the meeting because several of the officials there "warned Khamenei repeatedly" that if they took this course, Iran would "pay a serious political price". But Khamenei reportedly decided nevertheless to approve details of the plan that had been presented to him.
Under the plan submitted, options included heating bars of material for 300 days, producing plutonium but of an inferior quality to military fuel to produce 600 kilogrammes to make 75 bombs of low quality.
Under a second option, the reactor would be activated to its maximum power for two months to produce 120 kilogrammes of material for 15 nuclear bombs.
All would have been done in secret to coincide with a fake accident at the reactor - an incident that would justify to the international community why its normal activities had stopped.
The memorandum is in marked contrast to the many official pronouncements by the Iranian government that it only intends to use nuclear material for peaceful purposes.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/16/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
"Not run the risk of breaching the rules of the United Nations watchdog.." > Okay-y-y, so IICC this means HOW TO OBEY THE UNO BY CHEATING IT, OR CONVERSELY HOW TO CHEAT THE UNO BY OBEYING IT???
#2
Nobody will care, cause if they did, then they'd have to do something about it. And that's hard, sitting around with your thumb up your ass is much easier. It's all about the free buffet guys, not results.
The White House warned Iran Monday that it faced possible new sanctions after the U.N. atomic watchdog reported it had been unable to make much progress in investigating Tehran's suspect nuclear program.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/16/2008 00:00 ||
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Iran urged the U.N. nuclear watchdog not to be swayed by U.S. pressure in its report on the disputed Iranian atomic program due to be released on Monday, as the Islamic Republic's air force and defense units began war games aimed at testing equipment and boosting readiness.
Iran's Fars and ISNA news agencies said the air force exercise was being held in half of the Islamic Republic's 30 provinces but did not give details or say how long it would last. The commander of Iran's aerial defense, Brigadier General Ahmad Mighani, said it was staged to practice tactics, use modern equipment and increase military readiness, Fars said.
Iranian media earlier this month said three days of maneuvers were due to begin on Sept. 8, also involving anti-aircraft defense systems; but it was not clear whether they were the same ones which instead got under way on Monday.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/16/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Yes, the slingshots and clubs are ready.
Enough already, we've heard the spiel a hundred times about the great Revolutionary Guard.
They haven't fought a war in 20 years, and they used kids to flush out the mines then.
Israel on Wednesday issued a request to the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) to address Hezbollah's violations of UN resolution 1701 south of the Litani River in Lebanon.
Foreign Ministry General Secretary Aharon Abramowitz met Monday in Jerusalem with UNIFIL commander Claudio Graziano and told him Israel expects UNIFIL to submit more extensive reports on the violations and to stop ignoring Hezbollah's moves to repair their infrastructure in villages in southern Lebanon near the border with Israel.
Graziano responded "UNIFIL does not have proof of Hezbollah operations south of the Litani, and if Israel does have such intelligence, they are welcome to send it to us." Graziano added that UNIFIL is doing all that it can to police Hezbollah, but is constrained by their rules of engagement in the field.
Graziano's request came despite Israel's repeated submissions to UNIFIL of intelligence detailing violations of UN resolution 1701 by Hezbollah.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/16/2008 00:00 ||
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#2
Or else we'll have to warn you again, in even more grave and threatening tones. Don't make us do it again. It's 3 PM in NY and we have cocktail hour coming right up.
Iran runs a network of agents in the six Arab monarchies of the Gulf that could be used to destabilize the region, a senior defector charged in an interview published on Monday. Adel al-Assadi, who was consul general in Dubai before defecting in 2001, said Shiite Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps started to set up the sleeper cells right after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
"Iran has an undercover presence in the six GCC countries," he told Gulf News.
"I think Tehran has enough manpower to destabilize the GCC countries, which is bad news," said Assadi.
Iran "used to send them through a third country," said the former diplomat, who now lives in Sweden, where he has been granted political asylum. "I have no reason to think that this policy has stopped because the practice of recruiting agents in the Gulf is deeply rooted in the way the intelligence institution is operating and is considered a strong point for Iran."
Posted by: Fred ||
09/16/2008 00:00 ||
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Posted by: Fred ||
09/16/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
They are taking advantage of the unrest in Georgia/Pakistan!!!
Posted by: Paul ||
09/16/2008 5:30 Comments ||
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#2
Oh my!
What an unexpected twist!
I guess we should give them some breathing room if the double super promise that they only want nuclear missiles for "peaceful civilian power generation".
The current standoff with Iran will continue till after the election. Then sometime between 3 Nov 08 and 19 Jan 09 Israel will terminate Iran's nuclear program.
WASHINGTON (AP) Top U.S. counterterrorism officials Monday said al-Qaida is "imploding" and that its violent tactics have turned Muslims worldwide against the organization. "Absolutely it's imploding. It's imploding because it's not a message that resonates with a lot of Muslims," said Dell Dailey, the State Department's coordinator for counterterrorism.
Al-Qaida still remains the most dangerous threat to the United States. But of growing concern are organizations like Lebanese Hezbollah and Hamas, which combine social services, local governance, national politics with extremist attacks, said Undersecretary of State James Glassman.
"These are models that have a lot more popular appeal than al-Qaida, that has almost no popular appeal," he said.
Vastly more Muslims than Westerners are killed by al-Qaida car and suicide bombs, particularly in Iraq, where local tribes have largely turned against al-Qaida in Iraq in the last two years. Extremist violence claimed more than 9,500 civilian victims in Muslim countries in 2007.
U.S. intelligence agencies caution against predicting al-Qaida's demise too soon, noting its Pakistan safe harbor and the persistent efforts of its affiliates to conduct attacks in North Africa and elsewhere.
U.S. intelligence officials told The Associated Press in July that al-Qaida leaders learned from Iraq to temper their local activities to ensure continued access and freedom of movement throughout the organization's safe haven in Pakistan. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence.
Some hardline religious leaders who once wielded significant influence in al-Qaida have begun to criticize its violence against civilians, said Ted Gistaro, the national intelligence officer for transnational threats, in an August speech. Gistaro said al-Qaida senior leaders have devoted nearly half their airtime this year to defending the group's legitimacy.
Despite these apparent fissures, al-Qaida is the most potent threat to the United States, according to U.S. intelligence officials and reports. A national intelligence assessment released last year said al-Qaida had regenerated its leadership and ability to conduct attacks in the ungoverned tribal region of western Pakistan.
Afghanistan has grown increasingly violent because of the close ties and collaboration between the Pakistan tribes, the Taliban and the terrorist organization. Al-Qaida continues to attract new fighters to fight U.S. forces in Afghanistan, and radical Internet sites that provide religious justification for attacks and violent anti-Western rhetoric are spreading.
Glassman said he is "skeptical" about claims that al-Qaida is changing its ways, or is even capable of changing its ways.
"The death-cult mentality is part of al-Qaida's DNA. An al-Qaida that could adapt would be a far more dangerous al-Qaida," he said.
A controversial critic of Islam whisked into Cleveland Thursday night under heavy security, made a surprise appearance at the end of the Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards ceremony and disappeared under the protection of armed guards.
When poet Rita Dove made the surprise introduction at the Anisfield-Wolf ceremony, she compared the 38-year-old Hirsi Ali to the abolitionist and former slave Frederick Douglass. Ronn Richard, executive director of the Cleveland Foundation, which administers the awards that honor the year's best books dealing with race, said Hirsi Ali's prize was kept secret to protect both her and members of the audience. Some of the 600 celebrants gasped, then the audience rose to encircle Hirsi Ali with applause.
The soft-spoken Somali-born author came from behind the curtain in the Bolton Theatre of the Cleveland Play House. She smiled and nodded, named the winner for best nonfiction book for her memoir "Infidel."
"I'm honored, humbled, feel encouraged and acknowledged," she said. "I am very, very grateful for this award.
"Bigotry is not only a white man's disease," she said. "It's a universal disease, and the only way to get rid of it is through self-examination. And there is not self-examination if there is no self," a reference to what Hirsi Ali sees as the subjugation of women in the Muslim world.
In an interview with The Plain Dealer, Hirsi Ali acknowledged her isolation, and said she hoped eventually to become a U.S. citizen. "Yes, it is a lonely journey," she said. "But you overcome it. If you get to the plateau where you no longer have to survive and can start living again - meet people, exchange stories - a bit of that loneliness is relieved. And you appreciate life even more."
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.
Up to 2,000 Marines will deploy to Afghanistan in November to replace the 3,400 leathernecks scheduled to return home in the coming months, the Defense Department announced Monday.
Activists from the terrorist group al-Qaeda posted a harsh warning to Egyptian political analyst Diaa Rashwan in which they threatened to kill him if he does not stop his criticism of al-Qaeda. According to the statement, published in the Egyptian independent daily al-Badeel, the group warned on its website that the expert on militant Islam at the Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies to keep silent and stop writing analyses "against Islam and Muslims" and "fighting God and His prophet."
(PTI) Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama has supported the cross-border raids by US forces into Pakistan but described them as "baby steps" by the Bush administration in the right direction. "Senator Obama has been saying for well over a year, in fact, has been saying frankly since before the invasion of Iraq that the central front in the war on terror is Afghanistan and Pakistan. And we need to invest there," Susan Rice, the top foreign policy adviser to Senator Obama, said.
A controversial critic of Islam whisked into Cleveland Thursday night under heavy security, made a surprise appearance at the end of the Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards ceremony and disappeared under the protection of armed guards. 
