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Last gunny killed in Mumbai, ending siege
Today's Headlines
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Africa Horn
Egypt willing to fight Somali pirates: minister
Egypt is willing to intervene militarily against piracy in the Gulf of Aden and off the Somali coast, alone or as part of an international force, a minister said in remarks published on Saturday.

"Egypt is prepared for military intervention if necessary, to protect shipping and tackle the pirates, who can be fought under international law," state newspaper Al-Ahram quoted Moufid Shehab, minister of state for legal and parliamentary affairs, as saying.

Egypt is also ready to take part in an international force, he added.

The Somali-based pirates threaten to cut into Egypt's Suez Canal revenue by pushing ships into using the Cape of Good Hope route around Africa instead of using the canal to travel between Asia and Europe or America. At least three major shipping companies have said in the past few days that their ships would avoid the canal, fearing pirates would capture their ships and hold them for ransom.

Many countries have sent warships to the Gulf of Aden to deter piracy but the area is vast and they cannot prevent every attack. Once the pirates take a ship and hold the crew hostage, any rescue attempt endangers the lives of the crew. Shehab's remarks was the first official sign that Egypt is considering a military response. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has said that tackling piracy is the responsibility of the "international community". Naval experts say the Egyptian navy has enough suitable ships to make an effective contribution to an anti-piracy operation.
Posted by: Fred || 11/30/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Pirates

#1  Hmm. An Egyptian ship armed with the equivalent of 50-cals has the balls to volunteer for this, but western governments are too scared to get involved at much more than a symbolic level unless shamed into action. Hmm.
Posted by: gorb || 11/30/2008 14:43 Comments || Top||

#2  "Hmm. An Egyptian ship ...has the balls..."
they also have a vested interest in seeing traffic through the canal, something that Western powers don't. as long as the good reach port, someway, it is easier passing on the higher costs to the consumer, rather than actually doing anything about the problem. i personally expect Bambi to pull any USN 'anti-pirate' assets out and deploy elsewhere.
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 11/30/2008 19:09 Comments || Top||

#3  The Baltic Dry Weight shipping index has dropped by an eye-popping 90% this year. Leased ships are cheap at the moment. Increased insurance rates for the Suez route make the Cape route economic.

Egypt has a big problem.
Posted by: phil_b || 11/30/2008 19:32 Comments || Top||

#4  An Egyptian ship armed with the equivalent of 50-cals has the balls to volunteer for this, but western governments are too scared to get involved at much more than a symbolic level unless shamed into action.

More like the Egyptians see a severe monetary loss, due to decreased Suez Canal traffic. 'Balls' have nothing to do with it.

At this point, proportionally few 'Western' ships have been taken and 'Western' traffic has not been seriously impaired.. Q.E.D., few Western governments see the need to get involved at anything more than a symbolic level.

Insurance rates will rise, just as they did in Southest Asia. The 'Western' nations have alternatives. The Mid-East and Eastern Africa do not. Just as in Southeast Asia, the regional nations are going to have to take matters into their own hands.
Posted by: Pappy || 11/30/2008 21:43 Comments || Top||

#5  BTW, this almost an exclusively a European problem and their trading partners in the ME and Asia. Little US trade goes through the Suez Canal and that which does can more easily take the Cape route than Euro trade.
Posted by: phil_b || 11/30/2008 21:58 Comments || Top||


'Opposition to have more say in Somalia'
Senior Somali opposition leader Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed says they are going to have more seats in the evolving parliament.

Sharif announced the likelihood of greater opposition say in the future parliament which, he claimed, is going to be comprised of 550 seats, the Press TV correspondent in Somalia reported. He also raised the possibility of constitutional reforms.

The opposition and the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) have been holding talks aimed at formation of a national-unity government. The negotiations recently yielded a power-sharing pact.

The opposition faction based in Asmara, Eritrea, the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC), however, opposes the idea vowing to resist compromise.
Posted by: Fred || 11/30/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic Courts


Caribbean-Latin America
Weekend violence toll in Tijuana at 17; 4-year-old among dead
Another descent into chaos
TIJUANA – One of the deadliest waves of violence in the city continued Saturday night and Sunday morning as 11 people were killed in several attacks, raising the weekend death toll in Tijuana to 17, authorities reported.

The dead included the nephew of the state's tourism director.
not gonna see that in a brochure
Authorities did however, detain three gunmen who confessed to being part of a cell fighting for control of drug trafficking in the region, said the director of the state police force.
think that confession was "under duress"?
Four people were killed in the deadliest of the attacks Saturday night, which occurred in Tijuana's eastside. Municipal police said gunmen arrived at a grocery store in colonia Lomas de la Presa shortly after 9 p.m. and opened fire inside and outside the store. Two children, ages 4 and 13, were among those killed.

The bloodshed continued at 9:40 p.m. when a man was shot to death inside a station wagon parked on 11th Street in downtown Tijuana, municipal police reported.

At midnight, the bodies of three men who had been shot to death, their hands and feet bound, were found in an alley in colonia Alemann on the city's westside.

At nearly the same time, police found the body of a man wrapped in a blanket and blue adhesive tape in an alley in colonia Libertad, adjacent to the border.

About 3:30 a.m. Sunday, a young man was assassinated on avenida Las Ferias, in the upscale neighborhood of Lomas Hipodromo. The Baja California attorney genera'l office identified the victim as Angel Escobedo, nephew of Oscar Escobedo, head of the state's tourism agency, and Maria Escobedo, president of the chamber of commerce.

Meanwhile, about 5:30 a.m. Sunday in Rosarito Beach, local police reported finding the body of a man inside a 1993 Honda Accord parked in front of a taco shop. He appeared to have been tortured, and a message, believed to be from drug traffickers, was found next to him. Police did not reveal the contents of the message.

Earlier Saturday, gunmen carried out four attacks in Tijuana, killing a total of six people and wounding five others.

Three gunmen who fled after one of the Saturday night attacks in Tijuana were chased and intercepted by authorities, said Juan Guillen, director of the state police force. They had seven rifles, several chargers for AK-47s and R-15 rifles, bulletproof vests, helmets and masks, he said.

He identified the three as Jose Ramon Garcia, 33; Saul Arnoldo Jacobi, 30; and Roberto Castañeda, 42. The latter was a state police investigator, Guillen said.

Guillen said the three gunmen confessed to being part of a cell run by Filiberto Parra Ramos, nicknamed “La Perra,” who works for a cell led by Teodoreo Garcia Simental, known as “El Teo.”

Authorities believe Garcia Simental is one of the drug lords fighting for control of the lucrative border region.

Those battles have pushed the death toll in Tijuana to an unprecedented 726 killings this year.

as long as the drug gangs kill each other, no problem. Problem is, they have all the training and accuracy of Paleo gumen (i.e.: nobody's safe)
Posted by: Frank G || 11/30/2008 17:09 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Home Front: WoT
Status of the case against Ft. Dix defendants
Posted by: ryuge || 11/30/2008 07:21 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


India-Pakistan
India considers anti-terror body
Posted by: tipper || 11/30/2008 20:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


"no politician must enter my house"
Faced with criticism for delay in showing respect to slain NSG commando Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan, Kerala chief minister V S Achuthanandan on Sunday called on the soldier's family members here, but a depressed father of Sandeep declined to accept his condolences.

The opposition parties in Kerala have accused the state government of having shown disrespect to the Kerala-born soldier, who lost his life while combating terrorists in Mumbai, by not sending any minister to his funeral, attended by a large number of people, including Karnataka chief minister B S Yeddyurappa, here on Saturday. ( Watch )

Achutanandan accompanied by Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan rushed to the city on Sunday evening.

As Sandeep's father Unnikrishnan remained firm that no politician should enter his house and refused to meet the dignatories from his own state, police persuaded Dhanalakshmi, mother of the slain commando, to talk to the guests.

Amid continued protests from Unnikrishnan, Balakrishnan gave words of comfort to Dhanalakshmi and Achuthanandan followed him.

Sources close to Unnikrishnan said he even went to the extent of issuing a threat that he would commit suicide if any politician entered his house.

He had told his friends that his son, whose valour was witnessed by the entire country, did not belong to Kerala alone but to the entire nation.

Unnikrishnan refused to allow police sniffer dogs into the house when security personnel came there ahead of the Kerala Chief Minister's visit to perform their duties.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for Achuthanandan in Thiruvananthapuram said the political secretary of the chief minister had attended the funeral.
Posted by: john frum || 11/30/2008 15:19 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Apparently the pols were treated to choice Malayalam cusswords from the father, a retired ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) engineer.
Posted by: john frum || 11/30/2008 15:30 Comments || Top||

#2  Father of an apparently very courageous man shoudl have his say in his house. Period.
Posted by: OldSpook || 11/30/2008 16:17 Comments || Top||

#3  video of the incident

"Get out of here you stinking dogs!"

The Chief Minister of Kerala does not look happy
Posted by: john frum || 11/30/2008 16:21 Comments || Top||

#4  No politician must enter my house"

Damn is that me or does it have a sort of awesome Abrahamic quality about it?

Posted by: .5MT || 11/30/2008 19:23 Comments || Top||


Mumbai's Taj hotel was warned of terrorist attack
Posted by: tipper || 11/30/2008 10:39 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


The age of 'celebrity terrorism'
Posted by: tipper || 11/30/2008 09:57 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  People like this author have a prejudice that fighting terrorism can only incite other terrorism and allegedly give the terrorists what they want. This author, and those like him, confuse passivity and weakness with enlightenment. They ignore the rapid advances of the terrorists when the US followed their advice and largely ignored the first attack on the WTC, the bombing of our African embassies, etc. etc. This passivity in the face of danger led directly to the terrorist success of 9/11, not the dimuition of violence this author would predict. And yet .. the nonsense continues.
Posted by: Odysseus || 11/30/2008 10:45 Comments || Top||

#2  The author is perfectly willing to give up _our_ freedoms (not to mention our sons and daughters) to attain the 'peace' of slavery and Dhimmitude.

After all - if we would only bow down and worship their moon god five times a day and allow some self-proclaimed Iman to dictate every aspect of our lives; or pay the Jitza(sp?) tax in humililation; or simply be put to the sword; everything would be 'just fine'. Oh and don't worry about those camps or those being led to them with stars on their clothing... *you* won't have anything to worry about....[yet]
Posted by: CrazyFool || 11/30/2008 11:02 Comments || Top||


The fallout begins: India's home minister offers to resign
A top aide says India's home minister has offered to resign in the wake of the deadly Mumbai attacks. R.K. Kumar says the minister, Shivraj Patil, sent his resignation to the prime minister to take responsibility for the attacks. The prime minister has yet to respond. Patil, who has long been unpopular in India, is in charge of much of India's internal security services.
Posted by: Seafarious || 11/30/2008 01:51 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  National Security Adviser (NSA) M K Narayanan resigned on Sunday following the Mumbai terror attacks but Prime Minister Manmohan Singh rejected his resignation, official sources said. ( Watch )

"He (Narayanan) will not be stepping down as the NSA," said a home ministry official.

Sources in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) had earlier said the NSA had submitted his resignation to Manmohan Singh.

An aide to the prime minister said "more senior members of the government are likely to be shown the door" in the wake of the Mumbai attacks.

The government sources said home secretary, Intelligence Bureau chief and head of the Coast Guard were likely to be sacked.

Earlier in the day, Home minister Shivraj Patil, under tremendous criticism over a spate of terrorist attacks in the country since last year, has resigned in the wake of the Mumbai terror strikes. Patil has said that he felt obliged to take "moral responsibility" for the brutal attacks in Mumbai, an official government source said.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has accepted resignation of Home minister Shivraj Patil and has forwarded it to the President.

Finance minister P Chidambaram will take over as the new home minister and the finance ministry will now be under the direct charge of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The CWC, which met here on Saturday night, gave the marching orders to Shivraj Patil.
Posted by: john frum || 11/30/2008 8:26 Comments || Top||


Why did NSG take 9 hrs to get there?
Sounds like a cross between a Keystone Cops movie and Indian bureaucracy at its finest. Not very confidence inspiring.
The terrorists strike Mumbai at 9.30pm. Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh is in Kerala. He is briefed about the attack on the city’s prime locations. By the time Deshmukh grasps the enormity of the situation, 90 minutes have gone by.

He rings Union home minister Shivraj Patil at 11pm and asks for NSG commandos. "How many men?" Patil asks. "200," says the CM. Patil calls NSG chief J K Dutt and tells him to send 200 battle-ready commandos to Mumbai.

Most of the NSG men have to be roused from sleep. They don their uniforms, strap on safety gear, collect ammo and firearms. It is discovered that the only plane that can take 200 men, the IL 76, is not in Delhi but Chandigarh. Precious minutes are ticking by.

The IL 76 pilot is woken, the plane refuelled. It reaches Delhi at 2am. By the time the commandos get in and the plane takes off, four-and-a-half hours have elapsed. Experts say that unless a response is mounted within 30 minutes of an attack, the enemy can assume key defensive positions.

It takes the aircraft almost three hours to land at Mumbai airport. Unlike the Boeing and Airbus, IL 76 is a slow plane. By the time the NSG commandos board the waiting buses it is 5.25am.

The buses take another 40 minutes to reach the designated place in south Mumbai where the commandos are briefed, divided into different groups and sent out on their mission.

By the time they start their operation, it is 7am — in other words, nine-and-a-half hours after the terror strike.

Many lives might have been saved had this delay not happened. The obvious question is why is the NSG stationed only in Delhi. When Indian cities are vulnerable to terror attacks, why is there no commando force like the NSG, or its units, in every city?
Posted by: tipper || 11/30/2008 01:19 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Hindsight runs into reality. a. There are only so many troops trained to the top level. b. India is a BIG country. Our response on a federal level may have been quicker but not by much. That's why we have local SWAT teams with support agreements with other local and federal teams (similar to fire fighters).
Posted by: tipover || 11/30/2008 2:04 Comments || Top||

#2  The NSG are all in Delhi to protect the politicians there. Everybody else is less important.
Posted by: john frum || 11/30/2008 6:54 Comments || Top||

#3  Why does action have to wait for commandos?
Posted by: .5MT || 11/30/2008 10:49 Comments || Top||

#4  Don't forget that the top 3 police officials in Mumbai were all killed at the start of the attack. Then the assailants neutralized the downtown police station.

I'm sure this paralized the police and kept them from reacting faster or communicating with higher headquarters.
Posted by: Frozen Al || 11/30/2008 14:40 Comments || Top||

#5  Correct there Ali. I didn't take that into the consideration.
Posted by: .5MT || 11/30/2008 15:13 Comments || Top||

#6  And the NSG took hours to arrive by Il-76 transport.

The terrorists probably factored all of this in their planning.

However Bombay is also the HQ of the Indian Navy's Western command and the location of the Abhimanyu Marine Naval Station, home of the Marine Commando Force.

Were it not for the MARCOS, many more people may have died.
Posted by: john frum || 11/30/2008 19:37 Comments || Top||


Mumbai locals helped us, terrorist tells cops
All very strange. Did all or most of the terrorists case the city first? If so why was there a need to leave and launch a seaborne assault?
Did some Mumbai locals provide support to the Pakistani terrorists? Azam Amir Kasab, the only Pakistani terrorist nabbed alive, has revealed names and addresses of at least five people from the city who helped the terror operation.

Sources said that help like, providing shelter, taking them around and showing places, passing information on police stations and nakabandhis were given by these locals. Joint commissioner of police (crime) Rakesh Maria said,"We suspect there could be local assistants but it is subject to verification. It will be very premature to comment on this at this stage as our investigations is going on.''

Kasab has told police that they were sent with a specific mission of targeting Israelis to avenge atrocities on Palestinians. This was why they targetted Nariman House, a complex meant for Israelis. Sources said Kasab's colleagues killed in the operation had stayed in Nariman House earlier.

"They have stayed in Nariman house on rental basis identifying themselves as Malaysian students.'' said a source. Police are trying to find out how Nariman House rooms were given to non-Jews. Police has taken all the records books of for verification. The second target was the CST railway station because casualties would be high.

Crime branch has also recovered several fake identity and credit cards from the belongings of dead terrorists. "All the cards are in different names and of different banks. Now we are at least trying to figure out how they procured credit cards from various banks.'' said Maria. The recovery of so many cards with different names have led Mumbai police to suspect the involvement of ISI.

Though Maria maintained only 10 terrorists had sneaked in, the two blasts in taxis in Wadi Bunder and Vile Parle have led the police to believe there could be possibility of the presence of another two or more terrorists in the city.
Posted by: tipper || 11/30/2008 01:07 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Yes, if this was an operation by Dawood Ibrahim's "D-Company", they would have had a lot of local help. The gang is based in Mumbai and Dawood lives in Karachi.
Posted by: crosspatch || 11/30/2008 12:48 Comments || Top||


The Israeli Mossad False Flag Opperation Strikes In Mumbai
Muslim logic at its finest.
Posted by: tipper || 11/30/2008 00:32 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Well, at least both sides agree that if it is true that events justify smacking down the planners, who live in Pakistan.
Posted by: gorb || 11/30/2008 2:05 Comments || Top||

#2  Muslim logic at its finest.

Watch this "explanation" spun in MSM, before you snear at Muzi stupidity.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 11/30/2008 6:27 Comments || Top||

#3  PLEASE READ THIS MAIL THRICE
Angels of distruction will hit the killers,conspirators and all the
hidden cowards behind the kiling of Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and his
wife, Rivka Holtzberg. They are damned wherever they go. Their soul
will instantly leave their body...and they will not survive a month.
Dark will be their path and God's angel will chase them. A disaster
they have never experienced will beget each one of them and all curses
known in the Torah will apply to him. I deliver to you, the angels of
wrath and ire, The angels will smother them and the specter of him,
and cast him into hed, and dry up his wealth, and plague their
thoughts, and scatter their mind that they may be steadily diminished
until they reach heir death. Put to death the cursed murderes of Rabbi
Gavriel Holtzberg and his wife, Rivka Holtzberg . May they be damned,
damned, damned!"
AFTER READING IT THRICE
PLEASE FORWARD IT TO THREE FRIENDS WITHIN THREE SECONDS.

YOU WILL EXPERIENCE A MIRACLE



Posted by: Ebbutch the Bunyip2669 || 11/30/2008 6:28 Comments || Top||

#4  PAKSITANI DEFENCE FORUM > SIGNS OF AN ATTEMPTED COUP IN NEW DELHI. Core group comprised mainly of Right-Wing Secular Ideologues and Hindu Nationalists, etc. are believed to strongly oppose the Govt of P.M. Manhoman Singh, and are in favor of India emerging as a regional Superpower in close alliance wid the USA???

Also, RENSE > GLOBAL RESEARCH -US IS FOSTERING THE RIFT BETWEEN INDIA AND PAKISTAN.

IOW, the USA vee Radical Islamist proxies covertly desires the breakup of RUSSIA, CHINA, + INDIA = PAN-ASIAN GEOPOL-NUCLEAR ORDER???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 11/30/2008 21:10 Comments || Top||


Shahzad Tanweer sprayed with blood in Mumbai
Or at least the actor who portrayed him in the movie about the 7/7 Tube bombings...
Posted by: || 11/30/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Life imitates art with the IronyMeter turned up to max.
Posted by: phil_b || 11/30/2008 0:23 Comments || Top||


Mumbai attack and Obama’s plans for Afghanistan
An important topic, which this Rooters article sheds absolutely no light on. Posted for the headline only.
Posted by: phil_b || 11/30/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Investigation Underway as Assault in Mumbai Ends
Indian officials said Saturday that they had killed or captured 10 gunmen responsible for the three-day assault on India's financial and cultural capital. Nearly 200 people died in the attacks that began Wednesday.

The violence ended Saturday morning when government security forces, methodically searching the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower Hotel here, killed the last four gunmen.
The violence ended Saturday morning when government security forces, methodically searching the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower Hotel here, killed the last four gunmen. Officials said that around the city, nine gunmen had died and one was captured. The commandos recovered 22 bodies at the Taj Mahal hotel Saturday. Clean-up operations at the hotel continued through the day.

"Many unexploded hand grenades were lying on the corridors, we want to defuse them and only then wanted to declare the building safe," said J. K. Dutt, the chief of the National Security Guard, India's specialized commando troops. "We checked the rooms to see if there are any small bombs, near the air conditioners or any other corner."

Authorities said that the death toll had risen to 195 as more bodies were discovered and that 295 people were wounded, in the attacks on two luxury hotels, the Jewish center and several other sites in Mumbai. Among the dead were two Americans from Virginia; the American rabbi who ran the city's Chabad-Lubavitch center and his Israeli wife; and three of their visitors, including an American man, an Israeli woman and a man with U.S. and Israeli citizenship. In all, at least 16 non-Indians have been reported killed.

The government used 350 security forces and 400 police officers to capture or kill the gunmen, officials announced at a news conference Saturday. On the basis of preliminary inquiry, we know that there were a total of 10 terrorists. Nine have been eliminated, one is caught," said Vilasrao Deshmukh, the chief minister of the state of Maharashtra, of which Mumbai is the capital. "They split into teams of two for action, and there were four at the Taj."

In Washington, President Bush pledged U.S. aid to India as it investigates the attacks and said U.S. officials are working to ensure the safety of Americans in India.
Posted by: Fred || 11/30/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Lashkar e-Taiba


ISI chief not going to India
Pakistan has demanded evidence for Indian charges it was involved in the Mumbai attacks and reversed its decision to send its spy chief to India.

Pakistan's government on Saturday reinforced its pledge to help India identify and apprehend those behind the attacks, which left more than 190 people dead in the financial hub of Mumbai. "We stand shoulder to shoulder with the Indian people to defeat this common enemy," Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi told a news conference in Islamabad.

However, Qureshi insisted that Pakistani authorities - including intelligence agencies that New Delhi has long accused of sponsoring terrorism - were not behind the carnage. "If they have evidence they should share it with us," Qureshi said. "Our hands are clean."

His government also backed off a pledge made on Friday to send the chief of its Inter Services Intelligence agency in person. Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari blamed the about-face on a "miscommunication" with India. Zardari said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had asked in a telephone call on Friday only that a "director" of the agency not the chief go to India.
Posted by: Fred || 11/30/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1 
Posted by: 3dc || 11/30/2008 10:09 Comments || Top||

#2  Like you couldn't see that one coming. IIRC the Foreign Minister was the one who announced he was coming.

Then a General announces he's not coming after all. This is like the 3rd time the military has publically slapped down the Foreign Minister in a week.

From now on we should disregard anything Qureshi says on military matters.
Posted by: Frozen Al || 11/30/2008 15:06 Comments || Top||

#3  Pakistan had better take this seriously. I don't think any country is in a mood to take any more of Pakistan's lame excuses. For years they have been telling us that they have no idea where bin Laden, Zawahiri, and Dawood Ibrahim are and that they aren't in Pakistan when the entire world knows that the opposite is true.

Practically any major terror event in the world is traceable to Pakistan.

Pakistan had better change their attitude concerning this stuff. If the government can not control what goes on, then maybe it is time to install a government that can control what goes on.
Posted by: crosspatch || 11/30/2008 22:41 Comments || Top||

#4  Or multiple governments each in their own piece of the Former Republic of Pakistan.
Posted by: phil_b || 11/30/2008 23:07 Comments || Top||


Pakistan may pull back troops from Afghan border
Tensions with India would force Pakistan to pull nearly 100,000 troops from its western borders, Defence sources said on Saturday.

The officials said Pakistan had already made it clear to the US and NATO that in case of mounting escalation with India, Pakistan's priority on the war on terror would shift and it would to take care of the more immediate threat to its security.
Events in Mumbai do seem a bit .. convenient ...
They said Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee threatened Pakistan and its leadership and that forced Pakistan to adopt a tougher line. India had already put its air force on high alert, they said, adding Pakistan would take measures to ensure its security and safeguard its interests.

They said India had not given any evidence of the alleged involvement of groups or individuals from Pakistan in the Mumbai attacks, and Pakistan would take action against such elements if there was credible evidence.

"I can say with my authority under my command that there's no involvement of any Pakistani institution in any manner," Reuters quoted a high-ranking officer as telling reporters at a briefing. "It's not an ideal situation for a country to go to war. Coercion is there and it's going up and it needs to be neutralised."They said that instead of blaming Pakistan, India should try to find the real culprits.

According to a private TV channel, the defence officials said the next 48 hours would be crucial. "They'll have clarity of thought and we'll have clarity of the situation in next 24-48 hours," Reuters quoted officials as saying.
Posted by: Fred || 11/30/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  They said India had not given any evidence of the alleged involvement of groups or individuals from Pakistan in the Mumbai attacks, and Pakistan would take action against such elements if there was credible evidence.

I guess the Smile Test has yet to make it to Pakistan.
Posted by: Hammerhead || 11/30/2008 10:05 Comments || Top||

#2  It has been suggested that India should contribute 4-5 divisions in Afghanistan as a response.

That should keep the Pak troops at the Afghan border
Posted by: john frum || 11/30/2008 14:32 Comments || Top||


Salahuddin slams Mumbai attacks as 'reprehensible'
United Jihad Council (UJC) chief Sayed Salahuddin has called the killing of civilians in the Mumbai terrorist attacks 'reprehensible', and denied that any member of his alliance was involved. The UJC is an umbrella organisation banding together around a dozen militant groups in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK). "Let me be very clear once again that the United Jihad Council does not approve of civilian killings and under its code of conduct such an act is reprehensible," Salahuddin said. "I can say with utmost certainty that none of the Kashmiri jihadi groups has any involvement with the events in Mumbai," he told Reuters by telephone. Suspicion has fallen on a non-member, Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LT). Though it fights for the Kashmiri cause, the LT was founded in Punjab and mainly recruits Punjabis to its ranks. Salahuddin, whose own group is Harkatul Mujahideen, said the attacks in Mumbai were probably carried out by an Indian group in response to the oppression of minorities, including Muslims. AJK Legislative Assembly Speaker Shah Ghulam Qadir condemned India for levelling accusations before fully investigating, and said it endangered peace talks begun in 2004. "Blaming Pakistan even before holding preliminary investigations is condemnable," Qadir said.
Posted by: Fred || 11/30/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: United Jihad Council


TTP denies role in Mumbai attacks
A senior leader of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) on Saturday accused the Indian government of 'using the Mumbai attacks' as a pretext to defame Pakistan. "Neither Pakistan nor the mujahideen are involved in the attacks in Mumbai, and India should not use the occasion to blame us for something which we have not done," TTP deputy chief Maulana Faqeer Muhammad said. New Delhi has pointed fingers at Islamabad for Wednesday's attacks in Mumbai. Faqeer told reporters over telephone that the Indian government 'staged the attacks' to defame Pakistan.
Posted by: Fred || 11/30/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: TTP


Pakistan will extend full help to India in investigation: Qureshi
The federal cabinet has decided to co-operate with India to investigate the Mumbai terror attacks, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said on Saturday. "It is in the interest of Pakistan and India to co-operate to defeat terrorists," he told reporters after an in-camera cabinet meeting.

Qureshi said Pakistan and all state institutions stood united against terrorism and would give full moral and material support to India. He said terrorism was a common threat and Pakistan was standing shoulder to shoulder with India to combat terrorism.

Qureshi said Pakistan attached the highest importance to its relations with India and recognised good relations were vital for peace and stability of the region. He asked the media to help lower the tension by playing a positive role in the crisis.

Action: To a question, he said India suspected that some of the terrorists came from Pakistan and the government would take action against any element or group found involved in the Mumbai tragedy.

Dialogue: The foreign minister admitted that the on-going composite dialogue would be affected by the latest terrorists activities.

"It is serious and I am concerned about it, as our relations were improving and India was warming up for further engagements with Pakistan," he said. He said finger pointing or coming to hasty conclusions was like playing in the hands of common enemies.
Posted by: Fred || 11/30/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  Great pic, Fred! LOL!
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 11/30/2008 0:21 Comments || Top||

#2  They don't call him wormtongue for nothing!
Posted by: CrazyFool || 11/30/2008 1:26 Comments || Top||

#3  Heh heh.
Posted by: .5MT || 11/30/2008 11:56 Comments || Top||


Lashkar-e-Taiba denies link to Mumbai terrorism
The banned Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LT) denied its involvement in the Mumbai terror attacks even as US media and intelligence speculated about the group's possible role in the attacks that left over 200 people, including several foreigners, dead in India's financial capital, Mumbai.

The New York Times reported on its website there was mounting evidence implicating the Kashmir-based LT.

Citing unnamed intelligence and counterterrorism officials, the newspaper said US intelligence agencies had not so far reached any firm conclusions about the perpetrators of the attacks. However, they said evidence gathered in the past two days pointed to LT or possibly another group based in Kashmir, the Jaish-e-Muhammad, according to the report.

A US counterterrorism official told AFP the LT might have been responsible.

"Some of the things that have been learnt thus far do point in the direction of a Kashmiri connection," the counter-terrorism official told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity. "But it's still too early for definitive conclusions. That does go beyond the fact that some of the features of the attacks are consistent with the sorts of things that we have seen from Kashmiri groups in the past," the official said.
Posted by: Fred || 11/30/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Lashkar e-Taiba


India should not over-react, says Zardari
President Asif Ali Zardari on Saturday went all out to deny any Pakistani role in the Mumbai attacks and pledged action against any group found to be involved, while advising New Delhi not to 'over-react'.

"Whoever is responsible for the brutal and crude act against the Indian people and India are looking for reaction," Zardari said in an interview with Indian CNN-IBN television. "We have to rise above them and make sure ourselves, yourself and world community guard against over-reaction," he said according to an interview transcript issued by the Press Trust of India.

Zardari promised that he would take immediate and strong measures if proof of Pakistani involvement was provided. "Let me assure you that if any evidence points to any individual or any group in this part of the world, I shall take the strictest of action in the light of this evidence and in front of the world," he said. Zardari argued that reducing the Mumbai attacks to an India-Pakistan problem was counter-productive.

"This is a world threat and all the more reason we have to stand up against this threat together," he said. Zardari said there was miscommunication with India over sending the ISI director general to India. "We had announced that a director will come from my side. That is what was requested by the [Indian] prime minister and that is what we agreed," he said.

"It is too early for the director generals to meet at the moment. Let the evidence come to light, let the investigation take its course. Then perhaps there is a position where the directors general could meet," Zardari said. "The DG is too senior a person to get into the investigation. He is a person who overall looks into the investigation," the president said.
Posted by: Fred || 11/30/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  Now, where did I hear this before?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 11/30/2008 6:35 Comments || Top||

#2  Step 2: Musharraf Zardari "flips" to the Indian side.
Posted by: ed || 11/30/2008 7:24 Comments || Top||

#3  I'm writing an opinion piece that points out that the credit cards, IDs, GPS's with saved location is a deliberately left trail of clues pointing back to Pakistan.

The reason such a trail would be left is to ensure Pakistan gets the blame and India is justified (in the eyes of the world) in harsher actions against Pakistan.

The elements in Pakistan behind this clearly want a rift with India and the West. I also think they want a return to a pre-9/11 world when Afghanistan was the ISI's plaything.
Posted by: phil_b || 11/30/2008 8:26 Comments || Top||

#4  Translation: Please don't whack us!
Posted by: Spot || 11/30/2008 8:40 Comments || Top||

#5  Nor under-react.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 11/30/2008 9:47 Comments || Top||


Iraq
New friendly fire coverup: Army shreds files on dead soldiers
I'm no fan of salon.com, but this article raises questions surrounding a widely-viewed video on liveleak & youtube.
Editor's note: On Oct. 14, 2008, Salon published an article about the deaths of Army Pfc. Albert Nelson and Pfc. Roger Suarez. The Army attributed their deaths in Iraq in 2006 to enemy action; Salon's investigation, which included graphic battle video and eyewitness testimony, indicated that their deaths were likely due to friendly fire.

After Salon published Benjamin's Oct. 14 report, the Army ordered soldiers to shred documents about the men. As proof that they were ordered to destroy the paperwork, a soldier saved some examples and provided them to Salon.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: logi_cal || 11/30/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The Army attributed their deaths in Iraq in 2006 to enemy action; Salon's investigation, which included graphic battle video and eyewitness testimony, indicated that their deaths were likely due to friendly fire.

That is not inconsistent. You wouldn't have 'fire' enemy or friendly if there wasn't "enemy action" [at least we expect that discipline to be such that our troops didn't engage the weapons without the enemy present]. That does not preclude the fatal wounds were not inflicted just by enemy fire.

Now this will lead to a full investigation. Everyone had better lawyer up because several violations of the UCMJ have occurred whether or not all the facts are valid in the article. Both sides are subject to various Articles of the UCMJ.

Art. 78. Accessory after the fact
Art. 92. Failure to obey order or regulation
Art. 98. Noncompliance with procedural rules
Art. 107. False official statements
Art. 131. Perjury
for any commissioned officer
Art. 133. Conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman

and if the lads did believe they were ordered to do an illegal act they also could have gone with -

"Art. 138. Complaints of wrongs

Any member of the armed forces who believes himself wronged by his commanding officer, and who, upon due application to that commanding officer, is refused redress, may complain to any superior commissioned officer, who shall forward the complaint to the officer exercising general court-martial jurisdiction over the officer against whom it is made. The officer exercising general court-martial jurisdiction shall examine into the complaint and take proper measures for redressing the wrong complained of; and he shall, as soon as possible, send to the Secretary concerned a true statement of that complaint, with the proceedings had thereon."

which is pretty much a nuke handgrenade, but considering where they are now, not much different.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 11/30/2008 9:34 Comments || Top||

#2  "two who were present in Ramadi during the friendly fire incident, one of them just feet from where Nelson and Suarez died -- were ordered to shred two boxes full of documents"


This doesn't pass the smell test unless they are using combat infantry as file clerks up at higher HQ.
Posted by: OldSpook || 11/30/2008 10:41 Comments || Top||

#3  Just too much coincidence is required. This sounds like a conspiracy theory type of thing where there is actually only fog of war.

Of course Salon writers have lots of experience with commanding troops in combat to make that judgement, right?
Posted by: OldSpook || 11/30/2008 10:49 Comments || Top||

#4  -- were ordered to shred two boxes full of documents"

Thinking more on that - two boxes? Hell of a lot of witness statements to be two boxes. Personnel records went digital and minimal well before then. So two boxes of what paper? Which, if anyone has done staff work would understand, would be multiple copies of various drafts sent to applicable offices for comments and reviews on work at hand. And the second and third rewrites because someone wants 'shall' rewritten to 'will'. Originals would normally be kept, but staffing copies would be destroyed rather than just trashed because of privacy requirements.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 11/30/2008 11:42 Comments || Top||

#5  Muh Dad sez send boxes to Parris Island. Have dem unshredded.
Posted by: .5MT || 11/30/2008 19:27 Comments || Top||

#6  Comare wid RENSE: OBAMA IS AN INTEL SPOOK.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 11/30/2008 20:37 Comments || Top||

#7  I concur w/ Old Spoof #s 2. & 3.

When did Salon ever put our finest Men and Women FIRSTUS before their "Leftest Rag & Leftest Righters"??
Posted by: RD || 11/30/2008 22:25 Comments || Top||

#8  Please excuse my BAD TYPO!

I concur w/ OldSpook #s 2. & 3.

/sorry OS

Posted by: RD || 11/30/2008 22:27 Comments || Top||


US Military In Iraq Face New Enemy. Good Food.
CAMP SPEICHER, Iraq -- Al Qaeda and other extremist groups aren't the only enemy facing U.S. troops stationed at this massive base in central Iraq. The Americans also are engaged in the mother of all battles -- against gaining weight.

You've heard of the freshman 15. How about the Iraq 20?

Forget the K-rations of World War II and the chewy, tasteless MREs -- "Meals, Ready-to-Eat" -- that sustained U.S. Soldiers in more recent conflicts. With most of America's 150,000 troops in Iraq living on large bases, the combat ration has given way to a smorgasbord of food that has some Soldiers bingeing and others in fits.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Anonymoose || 11/30/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The fried chicken, and the garlic bread at the pasta bar, and the late-night ("mid-rats") onion rings were my main enemies, and I think the result was a stand-off. I might have gained a pound or two, at most. If work had been a little less insane - and I had been more disciplined - I'd have easily burned off the extra at the palace gym, or Liberty pool (I left before the days of suddenly competent, er .... Iranian-led and trained .... mortar attacks on the IZ, so the pool was open).

There was actually quite a bit of fruit available (and salads, either fresh or 3-bean sort, depending), so one could do the right thing if one had the will or inclination. By the second year there were even dates harvested from the palace grounds, which had a "library" of date trees (I think the best/biggest in Iraq).

The food the employees brought in was usually stellar, either home-cooked or commercial (oh, the baklava from the several famous bakeries in Mansour .... mmmmmmm).

Amidst this paradoxical culinary plenty, and in a building that was a 24-hour military HQ as well as an embassy and much else, the enduring mystery: lousy coffee. A Green Beans coffee bar opened in the palace ballroom, offering a quality alternative (and great "gift cards" good only in Iraq, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, etc.), and many offices/individuals had beans they ground and brewed on their own. But KBR's failure on coffee was striking, given the tremendous job they did (IMHO) on food in general.

Another amusing detail: the Iraqi employees who helped themselves to plenty of bacon at breakfast time. Man, do I love bacon (like most), and I've never had it available every day of the week. I recall before going over, wondering if there'd be pork at all ..... !!!

And I still recall the pulled-pork sandwiches that were offered now and then the second year. In the heart of the ancient caliphate, a foreign invader amidst the dust, heat, and mostly dud mortars and rockets - and the pulled-pork sandwich was damn close to something you'd get at Parker's in Wilson, NC, just to pick a great one at random .... THAT is American power on display.
Posted by: Verlaine || 11/30/2008 3:44 Comments || Top||

#2  Does griping about the stellar quality of the food mean that we won?
Posted by: One Eyed Glaith2735 || 11/30/2008 3:49 Comments || Top||

#3  Well Verlaine, is there anything bacon can't do?;)
Posted by: Spot || 11/30/2008 8:38 Comments || Top||

#4  Food in Vietnam was ok but not sensational. Some of the food downtown was strange, but pretty good. And MREs are WAY better than K-rats or C-rats. The best chow hall food I've ever had was at the chow hall at Bolling AFB, in DC. The worst was at a transit lounge on Okinawa. Most food, at most bases, was at least edible, and some of it was well above average.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 11/30/2008 12:56 Comments || Top||

#5  "Good Food" > HERESY, HERESY I SAY! How are soldiers going to defeat an enemy army iff they're happy with their food - ITS JUST NOT DONE, PEOPLE, LIKE HAVING JOHN WAYNE PLAY "HAMLET" OR "ROMEO", OR GODZILLA NOT STOMP TOKYO!?

* "OHH Juliet, my Juliet, wherefor art thou, PIL-G-RI-I-I-M"!

HERESY, D *** YOU, HERESY!
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 11/30/2008 17:52 Comments || Top||

#6  Has Gawd as My Witness, Ima start playing the lotto. It's the only chance I got for a sudden outbreak of serious monies.

gOTTeM huuuuge desire suddenly to rent a 747 and make about 12 stops.... before the run from San Diego to Guam... an then we will have the clarity, the understanding we need to continue during time of the 2nd Seventies.

Ima also stomp HEREESY while Ima in nieghborhood.
Posted by: .5MT || 11/30/2008 19:34 Comments || Top||


Iraqi MP reinstated after visit to Israel
An Iraqi court has overturned a decision by parliament to strip Sunni MP Mithal Alusi of his immunity for visiting Israel earlier this year, Alusi's aide said on Saturday. Alusi, the Democratic Party of the Iraqi Nation's sole lawmaker, "will be back in parliament" when it convenes in December to discuss the budget, Adel al-Juburi told AFP.

"The constitutional court rejected a request by parliament to postpone by six months a hearing and quickly issued its verdict" to allow Alusi to resume his parliamentary duties, Juburi added.

On September 14, parliament lifted Alusi's immunity for visiting Israel earlier that month to attend an international conference on terrorism, and also voted to ban him from attending parliamentary sessions or traveling abroad. Parliament also asked prosecutors to press charges against Alusi for visiting the Jewish state, with which Iraq has no diplomatic ties. Egypt and Jordan are the only Arab countries to have peace treaties with Israel.

At the time, Shiite MP Ali al-Adeeb, who has close ties with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, said Iraqi law bans trips to Israel.

But Alusi's lawyer, Tareq Harb, told AFP the constitutional court overruled parliament's decision and that its verdict was without appeal.

Alusi also visited Israel in September 2004 when he was a member of the Iraqi National Congress, the party led by former Pentagon favorite Ahmed Chalabi. He was expelled from that party for making the visit and set up his own party.

Alusi has survived several assassination attempts in recent years. Two sons and a bodyguard were killed in one attempt on his life in February 2005.
Posted by: Fred || 11/30/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Mecca-bound Paleopilgrims blocked from leaving Gaza
Palestinian pilgrims bound for Mecca were prevented from leaving the Gaza Strip via Egypt on Saturday as the enclave's Hamas rulers and the rival PA leadership in the West Bank traded blame for the hold-up. The pilgrims hope to reach Saudi Arabia next week for the annual hajj pilgrimage.
"They started it!"
"Did not!"
"Did, too!"
"Not!"
"Did"
"Liar!"
"You're the liar!"
"Liar liar pants on fire!"
"Neener neener neener! He ain't go no wiener!"
"Mom!"
Posted by: Fred || 11/30/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Hamas

#1  John Bunion meets John Barleycorn in Pilgrims Progress - The Next Generation
Posted by: .5MT || 11/30/2008 12:17 Comments || Top||

#2  So much for the usual canned excuse for moving terrorists around.
Posted by: gorb || 11/30/2008 14:41 Comments || Top||


Hamas claims attack on Israeli army base
The Palestinian group Hamas has claimed responsibility for Friday's shelling of an Israeli military base along Israel's frontier with the Gaza Strip where six soldiers were wounded. "In response to the crimes of the (Israeli) occupation, the Izz el-Deen al-Qassam brigades attacked the Nahal Oz military base," Hamas's armed wing said on Saturday, referring to the border kibbutz that has a military garrison. Three mortar bombs landed in Nahal Oz on Friday, hours after an Israeli air strike wounded two Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip.
Posted by: Fred || 11/30/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Hamas


Likud MK calls for using Palestinian prisoners as human shields against Qassam rockets
Following a barrage of mortar shells and Qassam rockets that wounded 8 Israel Defense Forces soldiers near the border with the Gaza Strip on Friday, a Likud MK proposed using Hamas and Islamic Jihad prisoners as human shields to deter future rocket attacks.

MK Gilad Erdan suggested Israel build an open-air, unprotected detention facility in the Western Negev, where the majority of rockets and mortars from Gaza land, and fill it with militants currently held in Israeli jails.

Also on Saturday, Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai said that Israel is "very close to a large-scale operation in the Gaza Strip."

"We have to find the right time, but these actions give us no choice and therefore, a large-scale operation is closer than ever," Vilnai said. "The truce is important for us, and also for them, because we control the border crossings and the other side is worried about the strength of the IDF."

In regard to abducted IDF soldier Gilad Shalit, Vilnai said "we must do all we can in order to return him, either by way of a military operation, or through negotiations and the release of hundreds of prisoners.

Head of the Yisrael Beitenu party MK Avigdor Lieberman issued a criticism of Defense Minister Ehud Barak following Friday's barrage, saying "a Defense Minister who is not capable of dealing with the issue of terrorism, or of giving a response to attacks on IDF personnel, and continues to plead with Hamas for a 24-hour ceasefire, has turned over the security of the state of Israel to the hands of Hamas, and not the IDF."
Posted by: Fred || 11/30/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Hamas

#1  Asymmetrical outcry from HRW in 10...9...8...
Posted by: gorb || 11/30/2008 14:45 Comments || Top||

#2  Using prisoners as human shields is not the way to go IMHO. Israel shouldn't lower itself to the rabid animal's standards.

A more approprate response would be an artillary barrage.

As for Shalit - I strongly suspect he didn't survive the 1st day of his kidnapping. Has ham-ass ever shown recent proof of his living?
Posted by: CrazyFool || 11/30/2008 14:57 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Iran tasks Air Force with guarding nation
The Iranian Air Force will be the 'ultimate bulwark' against foreign threats in the event of war, says a senior military commander. "Today our Air Force is carefully guarding national interests and is capable of defending the country in the face of foreign threats," said the Chief Commander of Iran's Air Force, Hassan Shah-Safi on Saturday.

Brigadier General Shah-Safi said the Iranian Air Force has concentrated efforts to upgrade its defense capabilities following calls by the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei.

Iran's military developments come at a time when the Israeli Air Force is reportedly devising contingency plans for an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities.

Recent reports of Israeli military preparations have fueled speculation that Tel Aviv intends to stage its third attack on Middle Eastern countries over nuclear allegations. Israel had earlier attacked Iraq and Syria, claiming that they sought to attain nuclear weapons technology.

The Hurriyet quoted US political strategist Charles Krauthammer as saying that Israel would strike the Islamic Republic in the same manner it bombed Syria in September 2007. "The Israelis would not attack (Iran) over Iraq. The way to go is through Turkey...When Israel attacked the reactor in Syria, it went up the Mediterranean and through Turkish air space," Krauthammer said.

The Iranian armed forces have repeatedly warned that any attempted violation of Iran's territorial integrity would be a 'suicidal folly'. "After failure in its 33-day-war on Lebanon, Israel has realized that any effort or movement against Iran would have devastating consequences," the top Iranian military commander Yahya Rahim-Safavi said in November.
Posted by: Fred || 11/30/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  Ready Alert!
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 11/30/2008 2:53 Comments || Top||

#2  That's a collector's item,don't destroy it.
Posted by: Woozle Elmeter 2700 || 11/30/2008 11:15 Comments || Top||

#3  IIRC, the Russians were reportedly interested in dev a new advanced version of their venerable MIG21???

Again, IRAN had warned that any ISRAELI attck on IRAN would be interpreted as a US strike on Iran and VICE VERSA, and thus would justify either a formal IRANIAN MIL RESPONSE ANDOR AN IRAN-SPONSORED "THIRD-PARTY/PROXY" = TERROR RESPONSE AGZ US-ISRAELI INTERESTS IN REGION AND AROUND THE WORLD.

IOW, any MIL STRIKE AGZ IRAN WOULD SIGNAL A GENERAL WAR WID IRAN + PRO-IRAN ISLAMIST TERROR GROUPS. As before, and regardless of ISRAELI FORMALLY JOINING NATO, THE EU, ANDOR THE PROPOSED MEDITERRANEIAN UNION, ETC. THE BEST SCENARIO FOR ISRAEL REMAINS TO LET THE USA ATTACK AND INVADE IRAN SINCE IRAN WOULD CONSIDER ANY ISRAELI-ONLY STRIKE AS A US STRIKE ANYWAY [ + vice versa].

* E.g. IRANIAN.WS/OTHER > Iran desires to have as many as 50,000 centrifuges [NUCENERGY?] running in FIVE YEARS [NLT 2012-2013]???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 11/30/2008 18:36 Comments || Top||


Terror Networks
Al-Qaeda #2 Warns America to Convert to Islam & Give Up Beer
Posted by: tipper || 11/30/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Molon labe!
Posted by: DMFD || 11/30/2008 0:13 Comments || Top||

#2  Give up beer?

Not a fucking chance.

No mercy for you sacrilegious assholes.
Posted by: DarthVader || 11/30/2008 0:19 Comments || Top||

#3  Converting to Islam is one thing, but giving up beer is the closest thing to blasphemy I can imagine that the Americans could ever do. We do find your fanatical religious beliefs a bit too looney for our tastes, and we would advise giving us our space, or we can go ape*shit at times.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 11/30/2008 0:26 Comments || Top||

#4  "Beer is proof that Allan loves us and wants us to be happy."

- Bin Yamin al-Fili
Posted by: Seafarious || 11/30/2008 0:27 Comments || Top||

#5  Yeah but it's American beer. Big deal.
Posted by: Fester Creanter3194 || 11/30/2008 1:11 Comments || Top||

#6  Depends on what part of America you live in. I'll give up mine if they can pry it out of my cold, dead hands.
Posted by: gorb || 11/30/2008 2:07 Comments || Top||

#7  Maybe just placate them a bit and give up the budweiser shite*.

win-win.

* to be replaced with a real beer.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 11/30/2008 4:09 Comments || Top||

#8  I once carried a case of Anchor Steam Beer as my hand luggage on a flight from SF to NY. In the single 'movie moment' of my life, the case of beer got me noticed by and invited into first class by an attractive woman. The rest of the story isn't suitable for a family audience.

There isn't anything beer can't do.
Posted by: phil_b || 11/30/2008 4:58 Comments || Top||

#9  I guess it will take a cocaine fatwa before our bicoastal retards wake from their stupor.

For phil_b, queue a heavy base line and a "Oh yeah" from Duffman.
Posted by: ed || 11/30/2008 7:22 Comments || Top||

#10  You'd be surprised how many things seem to make sense after repeatedly bashing your head against the floor every day for most of your life. Just wait until he starts demanding that America breed millions of "Love Camels", because they are virtuous, unlike women.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 11/30/2008 8:36 Comments || Top||

#11  I've already given up beer.

I just replaced it with tequila, vodka and rum.
Posted by: Cornsilk Blondie || 11/30/2008 8:43 Comments || Top||

#12  I guess we shouldn't tell the turbans that anything fermented with sugar has alcohol, like bread. Or maybe we should.
Posted by: ed || 11/30/2008 8:54 Comments || Top||

#13  I lost patience with a jihadist type on the net yesterday. We ended up with him screaming about religion so I posted the following for him:

Christians and Buddhists and Animists etc...
Don't go waging jihad on everybody else.

You've trashed them all so let's return the favor.

1) mo was born a barbarian tribal
2) mo's first decent gig was as a boy toy to an older widow.
3) mo didn't really like being a boy toy all that much so moved into trading
4) Somewhere along the line - maybe a whack on the head or something - mo got epilepsy
5) When he got the seizures he claimed to get messages from the big cheese. Sometimes folks believed him and sometimes they didn't. For some reason all the messages were to the benefit of the epileptic boy toy.
6) He used his position as the boy toy trader with epileptic visions to become the bandit chief with booty and a creed of pillage to become the messenger warchief bandit godlet of the rampaging tribes. Something that presaged the cults of the 20th Century with Lenin Stalin Trotsky Mao Che Ho Hitler Emp H. Castro and Kimmy.... A real bloodsucking prototype for future b*stards.
7) He then turned holy war into an art and rape and sacking into harem and sharia justice.

Sounds about right but I likely missed some points...
Tribal, banditry gone holy.

Then he went apesh*t assuming more about what I believed so I wrote (wanting stop his attack on any religion I might or might not claim):
As to my base religious nature Goel - it ran more toward "The Merry Pranksters" as so well described by Mr. Wolfe in some Koolaid test or other...
A roomie from those days still enjoys Burning Man.

Of all the religions the most dangerous to thinking men is the sharia of death one.
It is a Meme of entropy.



Then I sat back and watched as he went totally bonkers on everything and everybody...
Bugs would have loved me... a true elmer fudd moment...

Posted by: 3dc || 11/30/2008 9:48 Comments || Top||

#14  3dc I think you let the mentally ill paedo prophet off lightly.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 11/30/2008 9:52 Comments || Top||

#15  First it was the West getting out of the Saudi Apartheid Islamic Republic, then Israel, giving up Jello, then Indonesia, then Philippines, (fill in the blanks for several 100s of other things), now beer. Shit Ayman, aren't you busy enough managing your honor by dictating what happens between the thighs of Muslim mothers, sisters and wives? Come on, stay out of my womb (oops, that's been take and copyrighted by NOW) I mean frig!
Posted by: Hammerhead || 11/30/2008 9:59 Comments || Top||

#16  DMFD, I think you meant "Molson labe", right?

{8^)
Posted by: Parabellum || 11/30/2008 10:51 Comments || Top||

#17  What n did sounder of 2 Church Keys turning?
Posted by: .5MT || 11/30/2008 15:18 Comments || Top||

#18 
These keys .5MT?
Posted by: 3dc || 11/30/2008 16:48 Comments || Top||

#19  Looks like dem to me. CondorMan.
Known only to the few who carry the Tap for the President.
Posted by: .5MT || 11/30/2008 17:21 Comments || Top||

#20  Beer in my right hand Glock in the left. God bless America and our wonderful Constitution.
Posted by: 49 Pan || 11/30/2008 19:14 Comments || Top||

#21  Oh for goodness sake, ayman, how about you kiss my white, Irish-American ass, you piece of rug-bumping desert trash!
Posted by: NoMoreBS || 11/30/2008 19:57 Comments || Top||

#22 
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 11/30/2008 20:32 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
48[untagged]
5Lashkar e-Taiba
4Govt of Pakistan
3Hamas
2al-Qaeda in Pakistan
2TTP
2Govt of Iran
1United Jihad Council
1al-Qaeda in Iraq
1Islamic Courts
1Pirates

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On Sale now!


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.
Click here for more information

Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
tu3031
badanov
sherry
ryuge
GolfBravoUSMC
Bright Pebbles
trailing wife
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Fred
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Two weeks of WOT
Sun 2008-11-30
  Last gunny killed in Mumbai, ending siege
Sat 2008-11-29
  Sadrists claim security pact 'illegal'
Fri 2008-11-28
  1 terrorist holed up in Taj
Thu 2008-11-27
  Indo security forces engage ''Deccan Mujaheddin''
Wed 2008-11-26
  80 killed, 900 injured, 100 taken hostage in attacks on Hotels in Mumbai
Tue 2008-11-25
  Somali pirates jack Yemeni ship
Mon 2008-11-24
  Holy Land Foundation members found guilty of supporting terrorism
Sun 2008-11-23
  Iraqi forces bang AQI Mister Big in Diyala
Sat 2008-11-22
  Rashid Rauf dronezapped in Pakistain: officials
Fri 2008-11-21
  US strikes inside Pakistain 'intolerable', says Gilani
Thu 2008-11-20
  U.S. Dronezap Kills 6 Terrs in Pakistain
Wed 2008-11-19
  Indian Navy destroys Somali pirate mothership
Tue 2008-11-18
  B.O. vows to exit Iraq, shut down Gitmo
Mon 2008-11-17
  Pirates take Saudi supertanker off Mombasa
Sun 2008-11-16
  Lankan Army seizes entire west coast from LTTE

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