THE Jordanian suicide bomber who killed seven CIA officers in Afghanistan claimed in a video made before he died that he only intended to kidnap a Jordanian intelligence officer, before he stumbled on an unexpected opportunity to attack a large group of Americans.
The Bundestag has backed the German government's plan to raise the number of its troops in Afghanistan by up to 850 - from 4,500 to 5,350 - although the cross-party consensus on the mission looked increasingly shaky.
The ruling Christian Democrat and Free Democrat parties were joined by opposition Social Democrats to vote by 429 to 111 for the increase. Guido Westerwelle, foreign minister, called the result "a victory for responsibility and rationality" and pledged it would usher in a "new chapter" in German foreign policy, one now intent on better training for Afghan soldiers and police.
Of those who voted against, it is thought that the 76 lawmakers from the anti-war Left Party were joined by some opposition Greens and Social Democrats.
Although then Social Democrat chancellor Gerhard Schröder committed troops to Afghanistan in 2002, the party's new chairman Sigmar Gabriel spent the past weeks considering whether the party should now withdraw its backing.
Such a U-turn could have helped the SPD set itself apart from the Christian Democrats, with whom they ruled from 2005 until last year. But it could have also have been a hard sell to voters, given the SPD's past backing for the policy.
Although the SPD initially demanded the government pledge a date for the withdrawal of German troops, the party accepted a verbal promise from Angela Merkel, the chancellor, that Berlin would "if possible" bring the troops home by 2014.
Berlin's plan to send an additional 500 Bundeswehr soldiers - plus keeping on hand a "strategic reserve" of 350 for short-term assignments like securing elections - falls far short of US hopes Germany would commit 2,000 or more.
An al-Qaida double agent that killed seven CIA operatives and a Jordanian spy called for jihad in Jordan and attacks on its intelligence agency in a posthumous video message posted on extremist Web sites Sunday.
Humam Khalil Abu Mulal al-Balawi also described Sunday in the 43-minute video his recruitment by Jordanian intelligence and how he double crossed them after they sent him to Afghanistan to spy on al-Qaida.
The video was apparently filmed shortly before the 32-year-old al-Balawi blew himself up at a CIA facility on Dec. 30 in Afghanistan's eastern province of Khost where he'd been invited to reveal information on al-Qaida No. 2, Ayman al-Zawahri.
Al-Balawi said he only expected to kill his Jordanian handler, Ali bin Zaid, but the addition of the CIA members was a windfall.
"We planned for something but got a bigger gift, a gift from Allah, who brought us, through His accompaniment, a valuable prey: Americans, and from the CIA. That's when I became certain that the best way to teach Jordanian intelligence and the CIA a lesson is with the martyrdom belt," he said in the video.
The secretive eastern Afghan CIA base was reportedly used as a key outpost in the effort to identify and target terror leaders, many of whom were taken out by the drone-fired missile strikes.
It was one of the worst losses for the CIA ever and revealed the cooperation between the American and Jordanian intelligence services.
Al-Balawi, who appeared in a military fatigues cradling an assault rifle and what appears to be C4 explosives, described the successes of Jordanian intelligence against extremists over the years and their close working relationship with the CIA.
He said Jordan had provided information for the killing of Al-Qaida in Iraq chief Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in 2006 as well as that of top Hezbollah commander Imad Mughniyeh, who died in a car bomb in Damascus in 2008.
"The Jordanian intelligence apparatus has a record which emboldens them to such behavior, but with Allah's permission, after this operation, they will never stand on their feet again," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/01/2010 00:00 ||
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[Quqnoos] The US is planning to launch a major offensive later this year to target Taliban hideouts in Kandahar. The operation would be a part of 12 -- 18 month push aimed at turning the tide in the staled Afghan war.
Thousands of NATO and Afghan forces involved in Operation Moshtarak, a Dari word for together, have been targeting Taliban strongholds in southern Helmand province for the past three weeks.
Previously, Gen Stanley McChrystal, the top commander of foreign troops in Afghanistan said the local population in Kandahar is at risk, indicating a plan on Kandahar offensive is underway.
"If the goal in Afghanistan is to reverse the momentum of the Taliban... then we think we have to get to Kandahar this year," an official in the White House told reporters. As Michael Yon points out, to get to Kandahar you ... drive there. It's an open city, and plenty of westerners are roaming around with minimal escort.
The White House official described Marjah -- a key Taliban stronghold in Helmand -- as "a tactical prelude to a comprehensive operation in Kandahar City."
Kandahar, the birthplace of the Taliban, has been a hotbed of the Taliban-led insurgency over the past few years.
Operation Moshtarak was launched in mid-February, and has several more weeks to go as roadside bombing has slowed down the progress. Afghan and NATO officials say that nearly 100 militants and at least 15 foreign troops have been killed during the operation.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/01/2010 00:00 ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] A Hamas leader who was killed in his Dubai hotel room, allegedly by Mossad agents, was drugged and then suffocated to death, police said on Sunday.
"The killers used the drug succinylcholine to sedate (Mahmoud) al-Mabhouh before they suffocated him," the statement quoted Major General Khamis Mattar al-Mazeina, deputy commander of Dubai police, as saying. "The assassins used this method so that it would seem that his death was natural," the statement said, adding that "there were no signs of resistance shown by the victim."
Succinylcholine is used to induce muscle relaxation and is favoured by anaesthetists and emergency doctors because of its fast onset.
Mabhouh, one of the founders of Hamas' military wing, was killed last month in his hotel room in what Dubai police say was almost certainly a hit by Israel's Mossad spy agency.
Dubai authorities have identified 26 people suspected of involvement in his killing. Once their part in the operation was completed, the suspects, reportedly fled to different parts of the world, with two suspects leaving Dubai by boat for Iran.
Two Palestinians suspected of providing logistical support were in detention and Dubai's police chief, Lieutenant General Dahi Khalfan, has said he believes the operation could not have been carried out without information from inside Hamas on Mabhouh's travel details.
Interesting -- inside Hamas, you say?
Posted by: Fred ||
03/01/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Apparently Mahmoud's treatment was a lot gentler than his treatment of his own victim's. NO sympathy here.
Assassins in our midst! Two of the 26 suspects wanted in the January 20 Dubai assassination of a Hamas leader entered the U.S. after the hit job, sources tell The Wall Street Journal. One entered the country on February 14 with a British passport and another on January 21 with an Irish passport. There is no record of either having left the U.S., though itÂ’s possible they exited with different papers, since their passports are suspected of being fraudulent. DubaiÂ’s police chief has said he is 99 percent certain the Israeli intelligence service Mossad is responsible for the assassination, though he has not provided evidence to back up that claim.
#5
Could this possibly be a multi-agency hit??? It would give all involved plausible deniability, coordinated with lots of operatives ignorant of the others' part. Probably just wishful thinking.
#6
This operation could have been carried out using one or two personnel. What took place appears to have all the elements of a live-fire, clandestine service training academy graduation execise.
#8
There is no record of either having left the U.S., though it's possible they exited with different papers, since their passports are suspected of being fraudulent.
Unlike most countries, the U.S. doesn't check passports when people leave, so there wouldn't be a government record of them leaving. Airlines check passports to ensure the passengers will be able to enter the place they're flying to, but that's about it.
Posted by: Cowboy is a compliment ||
03/01/2010 13:34 Comments ||
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#9
I still think it was an assassination by stampede! All those feet running towards a shoe giveaway. And, Mab-hoo did get himself a pair. Was the GPS system in his old shoes? Will Sherlock, in Dubai, ever let us see the alias Mab-hoo was using? Was evidence thrown into the shark tank at the mall? Wait for the whack-a-mole The Musical.
Posted by: Carol Herman ||
03/01/2010 15:08 Comments ||
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#10
If they were axphixiating him, why didn't they make it look like an INXS wanking-game gone wrong?
A Spanish judge believes there was "Venezuelan government cooperation" in the collaboration between ETA and the FARC, who were plotting to murder Colombian personalities in Spain, including President Alvaro Uribe, judicial sources said Monday.
Judge Eloy Velasco included in the indictment of six suspected members of ETA and seven of the FARC "show the Venezuelan government involvement in the unlawful collaboration between the FARC and ETA."
Velasco, judge of the Audiencia Nacional (Spanish main criminal tribunal) considers that this is particularly so in the case of suspected ETA member Arturo Cubillas Fontan, one of the defendants.
Cubillas is married since 1990 to the "Venezuelan Lataillade Goizeder Odriozola, who has held public office in the Venezuelan government of President Hugo Chavez, and was appointed in 2005 director within the Office of Management and Services of the Ministry of Agriculture and Venezuela's land," said the court order provided to AFP.
The alleged activist has been "responsible for the ETA group in that part of America since 1999, taking charge of coordinating relations with the FARC and the participation of members of ETA explosives and weapons workshops and dissemination techniques of urban guerrilla terrorist ", said judge Velasco.
Fontan is accused by Judge Velasco, along with members of the FARC Edgar Gustavo Navarro Ramon Vargas Morales and Victor Salazar, the "crime of conspiracy to commit terrorist murder."
SEOUL, Feb. 28 (Yonhap) -- South Korea has accepted a proposal by North Korea to hold military-level talks at their joint industrial complex in the North early this week, a military source in Seoul said Sunday.
Last week, North Korea offered to hold the talks on Tuesday in the northern border city of Kaesong, where the complex is located, to discuss border transit, customs and communication issues involving the industrial park.
Another high-ranking government official said the military-level talks will not be postponed.
Despite tensions on the Korean Peninsula, Seoul and Pyongyang have been trying to set up the meeting of working-level military officials to discuss eased access and fewer restrictions on border crossings to the complex by South Koreans.
Currently, 115 small-sized South Korean garment and other labor-intensive firms are operating at the park, employing about 40,000 North Koreans. The park is the most visible outcome of reconciliation efforts between the divided Koreas.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/01/2010 00:00 ||
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SEOUL, March 1 (Yonhap) -- A state-run military research institute said Monday it has started technology evaluations on a indigenous unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV), hoping to enhance South Korea's defense capabilities. The research is to be carried out up till 2012 with a decision on whether to build the unmanned weapon to be made in the following year, according to the Agency for Defense Development (ADD). Everyone wants 'em, especially homegrown ones ...
"Technical research will be centered on such areas as ground link control systems and stealth capabilities with an overall blueprint on a possible UCAV to be drawn in the 2011-2012 period," a ADD source said. Evaluations will also involve collecting overseas data for assessment.
ADD will be in charge of the research, with a separate institute that has strength in aeronautics, avionics and electronics to be designated in April to conduct detailed tests and feasibility studies.
If the government decides to build an UCAV fleet it may be deployed along the military demarcation line that separate the two Koreas, according to the ADD. The unit could be used in emergencies to strike high-profile missile launch facilities in the North or to attack coast batteries, anti-ship missile installations or long-range multiple rocket launchers, which pose a threat to urban centers in South Korea.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/01/2010 00:00 ||
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SEOUL, March 1 (Yonhap) -- President Lee Myung-bak urged South Koreans Monday to halt their "ideological confrontation of attrition" and choose the path of harmony, saying it is the only way for the country to seize the chance to become an advanced nation.
"We can't take even a step forward if locked in the obsolete frame of ideology. We can't go on the path of advancement if the people remain divided due to confrontation and conflict," the president said in an address during a ceremony held in Cheonan, some 90km south of Seoul, to commemorate the 91st anniversary of the March 1 popular uprising for Korea's independence from Japanese colonial rule.
Lee said he would continue to push for "centrist, pragmatic" policies, stressing the need to "stop the ideological confrontation of attrition and respect each other."
Lee's strongly-worded message, broadcast live nationwide, comes as his reform drive faces obstacles due to political wrangling.
On North Korea, meanwhile, Lee again called for the communist neighbor to seek inter-Korean dialogue in a sincere manner. Lee's policy on North Korea is also politically controversial at home.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/01/2010 00:00 ||
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Israel on Sunday lodged a formal complaint with Spain, charging that anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism are being instilled in elementary students across parts of the country.
The Israeli embassy in Madrid has received dozens of postcards addressed to the Israeli envoy - from students ages 5 and 6 - including hand-written messages such as "Jews kill for money," "Evacuate the country for Palestinians," and "Go to someplace where someone will be willing to accept you."
According to sources in the Foreign Ministry, this is an organized campaign by officials outside the education system in Spain that have been given permission to work with the students.
The Foreign Ministry had originally planned to summon the Spanish envoy to Israel, Alvaro Iranzo, to rebuke him.
However, in an effort to prevent a diplomatic crisis, the ministry decided instead to discuss the matter with him via telephone.
Naor Gilon, the Foreign Ministry's deputy director for Western Europe, spoke with Iranzo on Sunday and said, "Israel feels strong discontent over the postcards sent by school students and views the matter with utmost gravity."
The Spanish envoy explained that the postcards were a private initiative, and not one that is part of Spain's education ministry.
How .... convenient.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/01/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Three ideas who apply not only on Spain and antisemitism but to liberal teachers indoctrinating your children.
1) Those teachers are diverting tax payer's money on advancing their political agenda. They should be forced to refund their whole salary (including payments to social security made by the state) for every month where they have engaged in political activism
2) Those teachers have betrayed the trust of the children parents. They thought that the time spent at school was spent in walking the first steps on the roads who leads to engineer degrees and good jobs.
3) Adults abusing children this way and taking advantage from the children weakness and of their own status as adults and teachers is the political equivalent of pedophilia. The only difference between the conventional pedophile and the political one is the nature of the satisfaction searched by the adult but both display the same lack of any moral limit in order to reach their ends.
Fourth observation less directly related to America: Since 1975 many Spaniards feel strongly about occupation of West Sahara and expulsion of the Saharaouis by Morocco who is plundering its natural resources. I notice that those socialist and communist teachers don't feel concerned about the Saharaouis or about the fate of Blacks in Sudan, they seem only concerned by people who try to blow maternities and have sworn to complete Hitler's job. Just a coincidence.
#1
Entrusting nuclear strike strategic decision making capabilities to this bugger makes me nauseous and dizzy. My God in heaven what have we wrought with this man?
#2
The changes appear to be driven entirely by "pressure" from the left wing of the party, whose motives in turn appear to be entirely driven by some vague pacifist ideology that has little connection with reality. One wonders whether this heritage of pacifism is simply a left-over from a time when it "conveniently" matched the military objectives of the Soviet Union to weaken western defenses. The enthusiasm for theater missile defense and Prompt Global Strike is a bit of a surprise however.
Posted by: Tom- Pa ||
03/01/2010 7:50 Comments ||
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#4
There does need to be some serious revision of nuclear warfare theory, both offense and defense. Actual numbers of missiles needed for the major powers is pretty formulaic, so most of the effort needs to be on eliminating the utility of nuclear weapons for rogue nations.
The best way to do this is by expanding the old MAD theory, the major powers threatening the small nations that if they use nuclear weapons against their hated enemy, the large powers will annihilate them.
Right now, this would seem to be a four way game, with the US, Russia, China and France as the major powers, and North Korea, Iran, Pakistan and Israel as the minor powers told to behave themselves.
But this is a two way sword, because in exchange for preventing the use of nukes, the powers have to some extent guarantee sovereignty, or at least guarantee surety, of these small nations nuclear weapons.
China, for example, has to be prepared to march into North Korea if its government collapses.
#5
China, for example, has to be prepared to march into North Korea if its government collapses.
Ummm, "Moose" don't you mean When?
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
03/01/2010 11:03 Comments ||
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#6
They're trying to figure out how many they need for 'fly over' country. The area is so dispersed, vice the concentration of the blue metro areas, that to have enough would basically be MAD because of the collateral consequences. However, the reverse is not as true if they initiate such an exchange and get a reply.
#8
trailing wife: The major powers still balance against each other, so the protocol would have to be strict. Only aggressive first use of nukes could be responded to with such retaliation.
This would be done just to let Israel know that while it could freely attack Iran, for example, it could not do so with nukes, as that could cause a medium sized nuclear exchange that would affect even us, on the other side of the planet.
The true power of the MAD theory is that it is too horrible to put into practice. It always has been that.
There is some theory that this MAD-extension is already in effect, because when Pakistan and India looked like they were going to go nuclear, Richard Armitage flew from the US to both countries, and overnight persuaded them to "keep it conventional." Which had to be one hell of a threat.
[Geo News] Saudi Arabia today said it was worried over the activities of al-Qaeda and Taliban in Pakistan and asked the political leadership in that country to unite and ensure that the extremists do not achieve their objectives.
"Pakistan is a friendly country to us. Therefore, seeing any kind of dangerous trend in a friendly country, one is not only sorry but also worried," Saudi foreign minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal told reporters here.
It is the duty of all political leaders in Pakistan to unite to see that extremism does not find it way to achieving gains in that country, he said.
The minister was asked whether Saudi Arabia was worried about the situation in Pakistan because of extremism.
He said extremism can only be tackled through a united political leadership in Pakistan. "We hope this is what will be achieved."
Asked about collaboration between al-Qaeda and Taliban forces in the region, he said "there is no relation between Saudi Arabia and Taliban.
"Our relationship was abrogated because Taliban gave sanctuary to al-Qaeda. Since then and till today we have no relations with Taliban. That will give you an indication of how seriously we look at the issue."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/01/2010 00:00 ||
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Iraq's top Shia cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani has issued a Fatwa (religious ruling), declaring vote-buying as Haraam (forbidden) ahead of the country's parliament elections.
Speaking on behalf of the Ayatollah, Sheikh Abdul Mahdi al-Karbalaei, called on candidates and political parties to respect election laws and avoid trying to influence voter decision through dishonest means.
"Candidates and political entities must adopt a realistic and feasible program to encourage people to vote for them," Sheikh Abdel Mahdi al-Karbalai told worshippers during the Friday prayers sermon in Karbala's Imam Hussein mosque.
"They should avoid making unrealistic promises... [They should] also refrain from slandering one another, because it is unacceptable and immoral," he added.
Karbalai, who is a representative of the leading Shia spiritual leader, also noted that the religious leadership did not favor any particular group or candidate.
He said, however, that showing up at the ballot box on March 7 was not enough, stressing that everyone had a moral responsibility to choose the candidate that they believed would best secure Iraq's present and future interests.
The cleric also explicitly stated that distributing money, gifts and promises of future handouts to impact election results are an impermissible act based on all religious and ethical principles.
"Accepting these sums is Haraam. Even if you disregard that fact, it would be degrading to Iraq's national dignity if people start being drawn to a special candidate or group [for these reasons]," he explained.
Vote-buying is not an unheard of phenomenon in the Middle East, but Lebanon is considered on top of the list of regional countries where it is practiced.
According to a New York Times article, foreign money played a major role in determining the result of the country's latest parliamentary elections, which ended in favor of the pro-West and Saudi-backed March 14 coalition.
Based on the American daily's report, one adviser to the Saudi government has even confessed that Riyadh had spent hundreds of millions of dollars on the elections in Lebanon, a country that only has a population of four million.
"We're supporting candidates running against Hezbollah," the Saudi advisor had told the New York Times.
The paper also said that Saad Hariri, the billionaire leader of the parliamentary majority and a Saudi ally, was alleged to be the biggest election spender.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/01/2010 00:00 ||
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#2
Vote-buying is not an unheard of phenomenon in the Middle East, but Lebanon is considered on top of the list of regional countries where it is practiced.
Also practiced in that third world country called Chicago, and by its refugees whereever they alight.
#3
He seems to be a well seasoned and tempered leader. He has done well for Iraq and he does not use his standing often so when he makes these decisions, they count.
#1
As a matter of logic, (as opposed to training or education), rapid refueling (the training that 'hints' at a strike), seems to me to be more important while under attack. The Nazis didn't need rapid refueling during the Battle of Britian.
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/01/2010 6:06 Comments ||
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#2
Israel will be attacked via Syria, Lebanon and Iran in the event they take action against the Iranian stockpile, one imagines.
#5
I still wonder why there has been little or no interest in fanwing technology? It uses a centrifugal fan, like in an evaporative cooler, is mechanically simple, and far more efficient that propeller fans. Likewise it is a lot quieter and has better lift.
#8
Eurocopter manages to pair down the blade-vortex interaction so thoroughly that the sound only reaches the whisper volume of 3 or 4 decibels.
3-4 dB is a very low sound pressure (or intensity). Zero decibels is the threshold of hearing. If 3-4 dB is more than a few inches from the human ear, you wouldn't hear it since sound dissipates with distance. If 3-4 dB is at the human ear, it would have the sound pressure level of a whisper. This helicopter would have considerable advantage (in stealth) over our present helicopters. The helicopter would be on you before you knew it.
Iran's supreme leader charged Sunday that U.S. and its allies are behind the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency's claim that Iran may be making nuclear bombs, despite its repeated denials.
The comments by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, broadcast on state television Sunday, came 10 days after the International Atomic Energy Agency said it was concerned Iran may be working on nuclear weapons, echoing conclusions reached by the U.S. and several of its allies.
"Some IAEA reports and actions show that this international agency lacks independence," the television quoted Khamenei as saying. "The IAEA should not be influenced by the U.S. and some (other) countries because unilateral acts erode trust in the agency and the United Nations. It is also very bad for the prestige and reputation of these international bodies."
The language of the report - the first written by Yukiya Amano, who became IAEA head in December - appeared to be more directly critical of Iran's refusal to cooperate with the IAEA than most of those of his predecessor, Mohamed ElBaradei.
The IAEA is set to meet later this week to discuss Iran's refusal to accept international demands to halt enrichment of uranium - a key step in the process toward nuclear weapons production, though enriched uranium also has peaceful uses.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/01/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Or maybe the Iranian bomb making activities are behind the IAEA claim?
[Iran Press TV Latest] Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has blasted Israeli inhumane crimes, insisting that the era of the Israeli regime and its allies is inching towards an end.
"Your [Israelis and their allies] time is over... You should respect the Palestinian people and go back to your own home," Ahmadinejad said during an international conference on Palestine in Tehran on Sunday.
"You have no repute among the regional nations...You should recognize that regional nations are wise. The Zionist regime will face no other fate than collapse if it continues its aggression," he added.
Ahmadinejad said that Israel has no mission but occupation, aggression and spreading warmongering policies, adding, "Anti-terrorism slogans are just pretexts for presence in the region and support for the Zionism."
He emphasized that the Israeli regime is on the decline and has reached an impasse, calling on the Palestinians and regional nations to strengthen their unity to achieve victory over Israel.
"Unity and readiness of the Palestinian people are the only ways to control this evil demon and send it to the bottom of hell," said the Iranian president.
He expressed Iran's full support for the Palestinian resistance against Israel.
Ahmadinejad reiterated that the European and American people intend to put an end to Zionist thoughts and added, "If the European governments and the US have doubts about this fact, they should allow their people to express their views about the fake Zionist regime in a free referendum."
He stressed that Zionists are the root cause of all wars, terror acts, crimes and destruction in the world.
"Their (Israeli) presence even in one inch of the region's soil causes threat, crisis and war," he said. "The only way to confront them is through the heroic resistance of the Palestinian youths and that of the regional nations."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/01/2010 00:00 ||
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The captured ringleader of the Jundallah terrorist group, Abdolmalek Rigi, was scheduled to meet US special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke at the Manas Air Base for talks on waging an insurgency against the Islamic Republic of Iran, a journalist says. Then he was gonna continue on to Asadabad where he had a date with Paula Abdul. They were gonna go dancing.
Rigi had planned to meet a high-profile US official at the Manas Air Base near Kyrgyzstan's capital Bishkek.
This senior US official must have been Holbrooke, who was in Kyrgyzstan to visit the only US air base in Central Asia, the IRNA news agency quoted journalist Wayne Madsen as saying on Saturday.
In a televised confession on Press TV on Thursday, Abdolmalek Rigi said that in a Dubai meeting with CIA agents, he was promised unlimited support that included a military base near the Iranian border equipped with weaponry and training facilities.
The Jundallah leader added that he was to meet a top US intelligence official at the US military base in Kyrgyzstan to work out the details of the support the US would provide for his group.
During their meetings with him, the US operatives insisted that Iran is their primary focus in the region, even more important than al-Qaeda and the Taliban, the terrorist leader stated.
Rigi added that the CIA agents also explained to him that since a US military attack on Iran would be very difficult, they planned to support all anti-Iran groups that have the capability of waging war inside Iran and destabilizing the country.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/01/2010 00:00 ||
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An Iranian lawmaker has called on the country's military authorities to impose a deadline for Russia to deliver the S-300 missile defense system to Iran.
A long time has passed since Russia signed a deal with Iran to sell the S-300 system to the Islamic Republic, Majlis (Parliament) National Security and Foreign Policy Committee Deputy Chairman Hossein Sobhaninia said on Saturday.
"The Russian side has cited unspecified technical reasons for the delay in the delivery of the air defense hardware to the Islamic Republic. We hope technical problems are behind the delivery of the air defense system to Iran, not other issues," he added.
The MP noted that Iranian scientists have been able to develop indigenous technology every time contract parties failed to live up to their commitments for political reasons.
The S-300 anti-aircraft system is designed to defend large industrial and administrative centers, army bases, and similar facilities. The system is capable of destroying ballistic missiles. The most recent modifications of the system can shoot down hostile missiles or aircraft up to 150 km (90 miles) away.
Israel and the United States have repeatedly asked Russia to scrap the contract to sell Iran the truck-mounted S-300 missile system.
However, Russia has insisted that it will eventually deliver the S-300 missile system to Iran.
This article starring:
Nic Robertson
Posted by: Fred ||
03/01/2010 00:00 ||
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The U.S. administration has asked Syrian President Bashar Assad to immediately stop transferring arms to Hezbollah. American officials made the request during a meeting Friday with the Syrian ambassador to Washington.
Meanwhile, the United States asked both Syria and Israel to lower the temperature and avoid an escalation in the region.
The decision to call Syrian Ambassador Imad Moustapha to the State Department was relatively unusual. In a statement, Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey Feltman asked the Syrian ambassador to meet.
The move was described as an opportunity to discuss the next steps following the visit to Damascus by Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs William Burns on February 17.
The administration also said the meeting was part of its efforts to achieve a direct dialogue with Syria on issues of interest to both sides.
Haaretz has learned that Burns' visit to Damascus ended unsatisfactorily for the U.S. administration. During Burns' meeting with Assad, the Syrian leader denied all American claims that his regime was providing military aid to terrorists in Iraq, or to Hezbollah and Palestinian terror groups.
Assad essentially told Burns that he had no idea what the American was talking about.
A senior diplomatic source who was briefed on the meeting with the Syrian ambassador said that one goal was to calm tensions between Syria and Israel.
The meeting with the ambassador was preceded by meetings in Washington between U.S. officials and Defense Minister Ehud Barak. On Thursday, U.S. officials met with their Israeli counterparts at the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem.
The diplomatic source noted that Barak's meetings in Washington focused on arms transfers from Syria to Hezbollah.
"Barak stressed that the quantities of arms smuggled have increased, and there have also been significant upgrades in the quality of weapons," the source told Haaretz.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/01/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Stop arming Hizb'Allah immediately, or what?
A formal letter of protest?
You will send the Hildabeast?
You will make serious stern and frowning faces?
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/01/2010 1:54 Comments ||
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#2
Or Washington officials will huff, and they'll puff . . . .
[Al Arabiya Latest] Al-Qaeda is running out of cash, experts say, with traditional sources of financing under increasingly tight surveillance and donors demotivated or suffering from the financial crisis.
As a result, the heart of the network founded by Osama Bin Laden is busy financing its own survival while counting on partners, often relatively unknown, to organize attacks against traditional targets, they say.
"Yes, I do think they are short of money," said Richard Barrett, United Nations pointman for monitoring al-Qaeda and Taliban activities.
"We see quite a lot of statements asking for money, and we hear in other ways too that they are short of money."
He says the drop off in funds is partly due to stepped-up international surveillance of radical Islam's traditional financing networks, as well as the international financial crisis.
"Donations have dried up a lot," said Barrett, a former anti-terrorist chief at Britain's MI6 intelligence agency.
"Partly because of the international regime of sanctions: if you're found to be giving money to al-Qaeda, then you suffer considerably, because your reputation, your business, all goes down the drain," said Barrett.
Under surveillance
Islamic aid agencies and other non-governmental organizations have in recent years come under increasingly tight surveillance.
Previously opaque financial dealings in the Gulf and in South Asia now come under the scrutiny of bodies such as the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which develops policies to combat money laundering and terrorist financing.
The FATF was set up by the G7 industrialized nations and 175 countries are now members.
"The sympathy for al-Qaeda's aim has dropped off a lot," adds Barrett. "So it's much less likely that you have a lot of people giving small donations."
No more extensive militant training camps, travel and lodging costs reimbursed, operations planned years in advance, pricey pilot classes in the United States for would-be suicide pilots.
"Al-Qaeda Central"
Bin Laden and his acolytes, known to intelligence services worldwide as "al-Qaeda Central", no longer have an operational role and are content simply to inspire, doubtless from hideouts in Pakistan, copycat attacks around the world.
"Osama bin Laden and (his deputy Ayman) Al-Zawahiri maintain a high profile, they project an image of threat," said Loretta Napoleoni, terrorism finance specialist and author of "Terror Incorporated."
"They are iconic figures, but they don't do anything, except survive. They don't plan attacks, they are icons hiding in Waziristan and that's it. They don't need a lot of money for that.
"Their inspirational element is still very strong: look at all the different attacks that were made in their name, but these attacks are funded in a different way than the 9/11 attacks," she told AFP.
"They are funded locally, mostly through crime. They don't receive money from al-Qaeda Central, and they don't need to... The cost of terrorist attacks since 9/11 has collapsed: it's very cheap to do an attack today."
A case in point is al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) which consists largely of Algerians and has made a specialty out of providing logistical support to drug and people smugglers in their corner of the Sahara.
They are also involved with kidnappings of Europeans, raking in millions in ransom payments.
AQIM "finances itself though drug dealing from western Africa to western Europe," said Napoleoni.
"They are in joint-ventures with drug dealers for that. And they resort to kidnappings too. They make a lot of money like that. ... It's people who know people, and they do business with each other."
Like many businesses, al-Qaeda is having to implement cutbacks as the crisis bites, says Barrett: "They may have some money left, but nothing like in the past, when money was no object.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/01/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
He says the drop off in funds is partly due to stepped-up international surveillance of radical Islam's traditional financing networks, as well as the international financial crisis.
Of course the EU is threatening to end the Terrorist Finance Tracking program that has been so useful ....
Ah, reporters. Who can out-stage them? Why, a reporter, that has written a book, and then had it made into a movie! Starring Matt Damon no less. And using questionable shenanigans to get the Marines to evacuate him from his war zone embed
When the Washington Post's Rajiv Chandrasekaran abandoned his war-zone embed with the Marines in Afghanistan last week for "personal reasons," military officials thought it sounded serious. But he just needed to go hang out with Matt Damon.
Chandrasekaran, an associate editor and star reporter at the Post for his coverage of Iraq and Afghanistan, spent most of February in close quarters with Marines in Marja, Afghanistan, where NATO forces have been mounting a major combat offensive against the Taliban. The action in Marja is a hot story, and embeds with military units in Afghanistan are hard to come by right now--the waiting list currently stands at 56 reporters.
But Chandrasekaran left the combat zone last week, citing unspecified "personal reasons." He was free to leave, of course. But when the military public affairs officers who oversee embeds pointed out that, as per Department of Defense policy, the Post would have to lose its embed slot and Chandrasekaran's place would go to the next reporter on the waiting list, he raised a stink and demanded that his fellow Post reporter Joshua Partlow be allowed to take his place, a military source in Afghanistan tells Gawker. After some back and forth, the DOD relented and allowed Chandrasekaran to leave without giving up the Post's position.
So why all the tsuris? The "personal reason" that Chandrasekaran needed out of Marja, it turns out, was so he could attend the New York premiere of The Green Zone, the new Matt Damon film based on Chandrasekaran's 2006 book Imperial Life in the Emerald City. Chandrasekaran's last byline from Marja appeared on February 23, and here he is at the premiere on February 25.
"I had a number of reasons for needing to come back," Chandrasekaran told Gawker. "Certainly attending the premiere of a movie inspired by a book that I wrote was among them. Unfortunately, there was a scheduling conflict and I had to leave Afghanistan when I did." But Chandrasekaran never told the military officials who bent the rules for him and his paper why he needed the special treatment, and at least one of them was under the impression that it was some sort of family emergency. "I didn't go into my reasons for needing to leave," he said, "but I didn't keep anything from them, and I certainly did not at any point say that there was a family emergency. They evaluated our request and they made their decision. They have their usual procedures, but I believe the public affairs staff recognizes that they'd like to have certain large news organizations covering significant military operations. That includes the Washington Post and others." (Someone should tell Chandrasekaran that his boss thinks the "Washington Post is not a national news organization of record serving a large general audience.")
Other reporters who've had to leave the combat zone in Marja--presumably for less lofty reasons than attending a movie premiere--haven't gotten the same indulgence from military officials. National Public Radio's Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson unexpectedly had to leave the front lines last month, and wasn't able to immediately sub in her replacement Corey Flintoff, who is currently cooling his heels at a Marine base in Helmand province awaiting a slot and doesn't expect to see combat until next week. Partlow, on the other hand, is in the thick of it and filing dispatches.
UPDATE: This post originally stated that "Chandrasekaran asked the Marines to evacuate him from the combat zone last week," which is what we understood him to mean when he told us that his travel in and out of Marja was conducted by Marine transport. Chandrasekaran just called us to clarify that by the time he lodged a request for Partlow to take over his embed, he had already made his way to a Marine base away from the front lines by taking an open seat on a helicopter. He also disputed a quote in which we had him saying that The Green Zone was "based on" Imperial Life in the Emerald City; he says instead that the film was "inspired by" his book.
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.
[Quqnoos] The US is planning to launch a major offensive later this year to target Taliban hideouts in Kandahar. The operation would be a part of 12 -- 18 month push aimed at turning the tide in the staled Afghan war.
The U.S. administration has asked Syrian President Bashar Assad to immediately stop transferring arms to Hezbollah. American officials made the request during a meeting Friday with the Syrian ambassador to Washington. 
