[Pak Daily Times] Taliban fighters shot at a US helicopter head-on from nearly point-blank range, US politicians heard Thursday, in what was the single deadliest incident for US and NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A single organization with differing goals, equipment, language, doctrine, and organization.... forces in the Afghan war.
Lawmakers were grilling US military officials over the August 6, 2011 attack on the Chinook that killed 30 Americans as it transported Navy SEAL commandos, along with other American and Afghan troops, to flush out a Taliban capo in Wardak province.
Families of some of the victims have alleged the military has not revealed all the facts of the incident, failed to punish commanders in charge of the operation and mishandled some of the remains of the dead.
They have also suspected Afghan soldiers involved in the operation could have passed word to the Taliban of the chopper's route.
But officials sought to counter allegations that have circulated online, saying officers at the time employed the right helicopter and the right tactics and that the remains of the dead were handled with respect.
Taliban fighters atop a building near the designated landing zone fired rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) at the chopper from nearly head-on, at a distance of less than 250 yards (meters), said Garry Reid, the Pentagon's principal deputy assistant secretary of defense for special operations and low-intensity conflict.
The close range left "the pilot no chance to perform evasive maneuvers," Reid said. The attack occurred when the American CH-47D Chinook with the call sign "Extortion 17" flew low into the Tangi Valley.
US Army Ranger forces had staged an operation earlier targeting the Taliban figure and the Navy SEALs were flown in to try to cut off the escape route of the fleeing commander.
Reid dismissed the possibility that Talibs learned about the helicopter's route beforehand, saying only the Navy SEALs and air crew knew the flight route and landing zone. A C-130 aircraft, a Predator drone and two Apache helicopters had flown over the designated landing area minutes earlier and failed to detect the Taliban fighters nearby, he said. The harsh reality is that helicopters remain vulnerable to RPGs and other shoulder-launched weapons, he added, saying the Chinook is the standard helicopter used by troops at high elevations in Afghanistan due to its longer range and that flying a modified model designed for special forces would not have made a difference.
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03/02/2014 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Egypt's army chief, who has made no secret of his intention to stand for president despite not yet announcing his candidacy, remains defense minister in a new cabinet sworn in Saturday.
Field Marshal Abdel Fattah al-Sisi retains the defense portfolio in the new line-up led by Ibrahim Mahlab, a former member of ousted strongman Hosni Mubarak ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011... 's ruling party.
The cabinet, which is tasked with organizing the presidential election, is expected to work in Sisi's favor, after the previous government faced mounting criticism for failing to tackle a floundering economy and worsening industrial unrest.
A majority of the 31-member cabinet also served in the previous administration led by Hazem al-Beblawi.
Sisi, who has emerged as Egypt's most popular political figure since leading the ouster of Islamist president Mohammed Morsi ...the former president of Egypt. A proponent of the One Man, One Vote, One Time principle, Morsi won election after the deposal of Hosni Mubarak and jumped to the conclusion it was his turn to be dictator... last July, has not officially announced his presidential candidacy.
But his aides say he has already decided to stand in the election scheduled for the spring. In order to do so, Sisi must first step down as defense minister and army chief.
One of his aides told Agence La Belle France Presse this week Sisi is expected to stay on as defense minister until an electoral law has been passed.
The new government led by Mahlab, a former member of Mubarak's National Democratic Party, faces a host of challenges including huge security problems and economic woes.
The forthcoming presidential election is seen as a major step in a roadmap outlined by the interim military-installed authorities after Morsi's ouster.
Morsi, Egypt's first democratically elected and civilian president, was removed after mass protests against his year-long rule which was marred by allegations of power grabbing and making an already dilapidated economy even worse.
Analysts say the formation of a new government by Mahlab, who was also a member of the upper house of parliament in 2010 during Mubarak's presidency, is likely to work in Sisi's favor as he would like to stand for president with a government that has a good record.
Since July, Egypt has been battling deadly street violence and Death Eater attacks that have scared off foreign investors and tourists alike.
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03/02/2014 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Libya's electoral commission Saturday announced the preliminary results from polls for an assembly to draw up a new constitution, although 13 of 60 seats remained vacant after unrest in several areas stopped voting.
The election to choose the body to draft a new constitution had been billed as a milestone in the country's transition from the 42-year dictatorship of Muammar Qadaffy ...Custodian of Wheelus AFB for 42 long years until he was ejected from the gene pool by his indignant citizens... , but failed to spark enthusiasm among voters.
Political parties were not officially represented at the vote, which was organized on February 20, and only individuals were allowed to present themselves as candidates.
Early results suggested liberal candidates did well in the capital Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... and the eastern city of Benghazi, which has been a hotbed of Islamist unrest since Qadaffy's ouster in October 2011.
But the electoral commission said voting had not taken place in 93 out of some 1,600 stations because of unrest and a boycott by minority groups in some areas.
Although the commission had reorganized ballots on Wednesday in areas where voting had been prevented on February 20, unrest once again stopped the vote from going ahead.
As well as the 11 seats left vacant because of violence, another two seats reserved for the Berber minority will remain empty after the community boycotted the vote in protest at the absence of mechanisms to guarantee its cultural rights under a future constitution.
The General National Congress, the country's highest political authority, will decide what to do with the 13 vacant seats, the commission's president Nuri al-Abbar said.
Abbar said the definitive results should be ready in two weeks, and that candidates would have a 12-day period to contest them.
The constituent assembly was due to have 60 members equally representing Libya's three regions -- Fezzan in the south, Tripolitania in the west and Cyrenaica in the east -- along the lines of the country's 1951 constitution, which was abolished by Qadaffy in 1977.
Six seats on the assembly were reserved for the minority Tuareg, Toubou and Berber communities, as well as another six for women.
The body will also be based in the eastern town of Bayda, as it was during the 1951 constitution.
Turnout in voting on February 20 reached just 45 percent of the less than one-third of eligible voters who even bothered to register.
The figure was sharply down on the 2012 vote to the GNC, Libya's first freely contested election held amid the euphoria that followed Qadaffy's overthrow and killing the previous year.
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03/02/2014 00:00 ||
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[BRECORDER] Nigeria's presidency on Friday said the country was at war with Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... , apparently backing off previous claims that the Salafist tough guys were on the run and desperate. President Goodluck Jonathan ... 14th President of Nigeria. He was Governor of Bayelsa State from 9 December 2005 to 28 May 2007, and was sworn in as Vice President on 29 May 2007. Jonathan is a member of the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP). He is a lover of nifty hats, which makes him easily recognizable unless someone else in the room is wearing a neat chapeau... 's administration has been fiercely criticised over its handling of the conflict, both for its inability to stop massive attacks on defenceless civilians and for what some have described as mixed and contradictory messages on the severity of the crisis.
Jonathan has termed the ongoing military offensive in Boko Haram's north-eastern stronghold a success and maintained that normality will be restored to the embattled region by May. On Friday, presidency front man Doyin Okupe told the private Channels television station that the Boko Haram conflict was a "war situation". "We are dealing with a very, very serious enemy," he said.
"We are engaged in a war that has been internationalised," he added in an apparent reference to Boko Haram's reported but unconfirmed presence in neighbouring countries like Cameroon. The conflict has killed thousands since 2009 but many argue the plight of civilians in the north-east has worsened since the military began its operation in May. Since then, nearly 300,000 people have been displaced in the region, according to the UN, and more than 1,500 people killed, according to the UN and figures compiled by AFP.
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03/02/2014 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Former Guantanamo Bay detainee Moazzam Begg
... see here and here for articles in the Rantburg archive...
appeared in court in London on Saturday charged with providing terrorist training and funding terrorism in Syria.
The 45-year-old from Birmingham in central England indicated he would plead not guilty to the charges and was remanded in jug until the next hearing on March 14.
Begg, who was jugged ... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not... on Tuesday at his home, spent three years at the U.S. detention camp at Guantanamo Bay on Cuba before being released without charge in 2005.
He has since become an outspoken critic of the so-called "war on terror" and is outreach director of Cage, a British group which campaigns for detainees' rights.
... also pet of jihad-loving Amnesty International, the BBC, and the UK literary set.
Begg appeared at Westminster Magistrates Court alongside a 44-year-old woman, Gerrie Tahari, also of Birmingham, who is charged with facilitating terrorism overseas.
Tahari, who was also arrested on Tuesday, denied the charge and was remanded in jug until March 14.
Two men arrested on the same day, aged 20 and 36, remain in police custody on suspicion of facilitating terrorism overseas, West Midlands Police said.
Begg moved to Afghanistan with his wife and three children in 2001 but fled to Pakistain after the U.S.-led invasion to topple the Taliban after the September 11 attacks.
He was detained in Islamabad as an "enemy combatant" in February 2002 and taken to the Bagram prison in Afghanistan and then Guantanamo.
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03/02/2014 00:00 ||
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[See BS news] WASHINGTON -- As Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu flies to Washington - due to arrive on Sunday (March 2), to prepare for talks with President Champ at the White House on Monday - it's clear that there are several points of friction between Israel and the United States.
The two countries are allies, but their leaders often differ on the details of key issues: Israel's peace talks with the Palestinians, America's nuclear talks with Iran, how to approach political turmoil in Egypt, what might be done to limit Syria's horrible civil war, and a broader issue of whether the Middle East sees President Champ as a powerful, influential leader. The issue of "Champ as a powerful influential leader" has been fully resolved.
Recently, as I sought to update a book I co-wrote about the history of Israel's intelligence agencies, sources close to them revealed that they felt pressure from the Champ Administration - more than a hint - to stop carrying out assassinations inside Iran.
Although Israel has never acknowledged it, the country's famed espionage agency - the Mossad - ran an assassination campaign for several years aimed at Iran's top nuclear scientists. The purpose was to slow the progress made by Iran, which Israel feels certain is aimed at developing nuclear weapons; and to deter trained and educated Iranians from joining their country's nuclear program.
At least five Iranian scientists were murdered, most of them by bombs planted on their cars as they drove to work in the morning. Remarkably, the Israeli assassins were never caught - obviously having long-established safe houses inside Iran - although several Iranians who may have helped the Mossad were arrested and executed. Yes, not getting caught is the key to the Mossad retirement program.
In addition to strong signals from the Champ Administration that the U.S. did not want Israel to continue the assassinations, Mossad officials concluded that the campaign had gotten too dangerous. They did not want their best combatants - Israel's term for its most talented and experienced spies - captured and hanged.
President Champ - much to the discomfort of Israeli officials - is pursuing negotiations with Iran. The United States is one of the P5+1 nations, continuing to talk with the Iranians about rolling back some of their nuclear potential. Worked so well with the NORK's, bound to be effective here.
Sources told us that Netanyahu has now ordered the Mossad to focus on hunting - inside Iran and elsewhere - for evidence that the Iranians are cheating on the commitments they made in their interim agreement with the P5+1 last November.
Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Champ will also discuss progress - said by all concerned to be limited, but not non-existent - in Israel's talks with the Palestinian Authority which began last year. Secretary of State John Kerry has had many frustrations in his chosen role as mediator: not least, the harsh but well deserved
criticism of Kerry voiced by some members of Netanyahu's coalition government who distrust the peace process and feel that giving up any of the West Bank would be needlessly dangerous for Israel.
[Ynet] Representatives of 22 nations participate in conference to promote Palestinian development; delegates repeat their support of PA's demand for Palestinian state
Not many would-be suicide bombers make it past the Wall checkpoints these days. The money seems to be going in Gaza for rockets, and in the West Bank for high tech slingshots and knives.
The United States may have already redeployed a permanent military presence in the Philippines amid tensions with China in the South China Sea, reports China's nationalistic Global Times tabloid.
Not that there's anything wrong with that...
Philippine president Benigno Aquino III said recently that he was "very close" to completing an agreement to boost the number of US troops allowed into the country as tensions with China continue over islands including the Spratlys and Scarborough Shoal.
The US officially ended its permanent military presence in the Philippines after the closure of the Subic Bay naval base in 1991, and has since rotated around 400 troops into the country each year to aid in counter-terrorism operations as consultants and instructors, according to government sources.
The Global Times, however, says following an investigation at Subic Bay, now an industrial and commercial area known as the Subic Bay Freeport Zone, that it is an open secret that it will only be a matter of time before the US military makes a permanent return to the Philippines.
Global Times reported observing large gray warehouses, power plants, pipelines and docks in the Subic Bay area that appear to be for military use but are far too large and extensive for the Philippines Navy. Its sources also claimed that the premises of the former naval base is being maintained by a "mysterious" foreign company which is said to be preparing for the US Navy to move back in at any time. Under the current negotiations between the two countries, the Philippines may reportedly give the US access to bases including Subic Bay, which is considered an extension of the South China Sea.
A professor in the department of politics at the University of the Philippines, told the Global Times that the US military has already made a permanent return to Subic Bay and is also making a gradual return to the former Clark Air Base in the province of Pampanga, situated about 60 kilometers northwest of Metro Manila. President Aquino has also opened up the country's 25 airports and naval bases to allow the US Navy to enter and leave freely, he added.
#4
This may be propaganda: The Global Times is owned by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.
Al
Posted by: Florida Al ||
03/02/2014 15:48 Comments ||
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#5
I seem to remember some large buildings, pipelines and other assets that 'could' have a military use in place at Cubi Point and Subic Bay while the Navy was there. Fond memories of Midway hangar and waiting for liberty call....
The United States is reportedly pressuring Israel to stop assassinating Iranian nuclear scientists, a number of whom have been mysteriously killed in a campaign thought to be carried out by Mossad.
#6
The mad mullahs and dinner jacket have both said they will wipe Israel off the map. They also call America the great satan. We the People recommend the continuation of defensive action by any means necessary.
[An Nahar] Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... has hit back at Russian criticism of its reported plans to supply shoulder-launched missiles to Syrian rebels, saying it was Moscow's support for Damascus that was prolonging the conflict.
A front man told the official SPA news agency late Friday that the foreign ministry had been "astonished by Russian criticism of Saudi Arabia for its support of the Syrian people".
He said it was persistent Russian backing for Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Despoiler of Deraa... , and its repeated use of its veto at the U.N. Security Council, that was blocking a peaceful solution.
"This support is the principal reason for the barbarity of the Syrian regime and for the conflict dragging on for three years without hope of a settlement or of an end anytime soon to one of the most serious humanitarian crises of our time."
On Tuesday, Russia warned Saudi Arabia against supplying Syrian rebels with shoulder-launched missile launchers, saying such a move would endanger security across the Middle East and beyond.
The Russian foreign ministry said it was "deeply concerned" by news reports that Saudi Arabia was planning to buy Pak-made surface-to-air and anti-tank systems for Syrian rebels based in Jordan.
"If this sensitive weapon falls into the hands of gunnies and hard boyz who have flooded Syria, there is a great probability that in the end it will be used far from the borders of this Middle Eastern country," the ministry said.
Long-existing tensions between Russia and Saudi Arabia have intensified further as a result of the Syria conflict, with Moscow standing by Assad but Riyadh offering open support for the rebels.
Russia and Iran are Assad's last major allies in a conflict that has left an estimated 140,000 people dead since it began as a peaceful uprising in March 2011.
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03/02/2014 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] The Lebanese army and the Internal Security Forces are on a mission to hunt down a group of four veiled women wearing explosives belts and who are tasked by Lebanese Sheikh Sirajeddine Zouraykat of the Abdulllah Azzam Brigades to carry out suicide terrorist attacks, the As Safir daily reported on Saturday.
The women who were able to leave the Syrian area of Yabrud and head to the northern Bekaa, are said to be of Iraqi and Lebanese nationalities. They are tasked to execute suicide kabooms in religious places of a specific sectarian orientation, sources told the daily.
A security source told As Safir on condition of anonymity that detained myrmidons, captured over the past few months, guided by Zouraykat, confessed that Speaker Nabih Knobby Berri Speaker of the Lebanese parliament, a member of AMAL, a not very subtle Hizbullah sock puppet... and former Minsiter Wiam Wahab were allegedly the target of an liquidation bid, and that Minister Ali al-Khalil and Amal official Ahmad Baalbaki were being closely watched.
The myrmidon cell detained by the ISF Intelligence Branch includes Lebanese nationals Mahmoud and Hassan Abou Aalfa, Paleostinian Hussein Awali and another Lebanese of al-Jomaa.
The detained confessed of an ancillary cell that handles the transfer of jacket wallahs and booby- trapped cars form Syria to the Bekaa which are later transferred to Beirut.
The source added that the security apparatuses are prosecuting members of the cell mainly in the Bekaa valley.
Early in February, the army intercepted a booby-trapped vehicle in the Bekaa region coming form Syria's Yabrud and driven by three women.
The car was going to be transported to Beirut where it was to be handed over to would-be suicide-bombers.
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03/02/2014 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Hizbullah ...Party of God, a Leb militia inspired, founded, funded and directed by Iran. Hizbullah refers to itself as The Resistance and purports to defend Leb against Israel, with whom it has started and lost one disastrous war to date, though it did claim victory... deputy Secretary General Sheikh Naim Qassem ... the Grand Vizier of the Hezbullies... stated on Saturday that "Leb is worthless without the resistance," assuring that it will be mentioned in the ministerial policy statement.
"Leb owns its resistance for deterring Israel," Qassem said at a Hizbullah event.
"Leb is worthless without its resistance. Even more, Leb does not exist without the resistance," he added.
The Hizbullah official considered that the ministerial policy statement is a reflection of the cabinet and its work in the future.
"And the most truthful and realistic policy statement is one that stresses on the resistance's presence," he said.
Qassem continued: "Let's not get distracted by illusions to make political gains through suggestions that will not have any real grounds because the resistance is a reality."
"The resistance is a cornerstone of the policy statement and the draft will not be complete without mentioning it."
However, by candlelight every wench is handsome... Qassem then remarked that a ministerial policy statement is drafted as a result of consensus between different factions and that "no party can impose its own views on others."
"The statement should be consensual and no party should triumph over others," he said.
"There is no reason for getting emotional and tensed over the statement, we should respect one another especially in what concerns the future of the country and its resistance."
President Michel Suleiman ...before assuming office as President, he held the position of commander of the Leb Armed Forces. That was after the previous commander, the loathesome Emile Lahoud, took office as president in November of 1998. Likely the next president of Leb will be whoever's commander of the armed forces, too... said Friday that the land, people and common values formed the country's "permanent equation."
The president's suggestion came as political foes are bickering over the "army-people-resistance" equation and whether it should be included in the ministerial policy statement.
Qassem also voiced surprise at "those that do not see Israeli aggression, the danger Leb is exposed to, Israel's raids on the Lebanese-Syrian border, the occupied Shebaa farms and the Kfarshouba town and the continuous Israeli violations of land and airspace."
"Hizbullah insists on facing aggression and we will not live with it or accept these plans. We want to liberate all territories and gain our independence without any mandate."
Hizbullah confirmed on Wednesday that Israeli fighter jets had shelled one of its positions on the Lebanese-Syrian border on Monday.
It said in a statement: "The resistance will choose the right time and place to retaliate to the strike near the Bekaa region of Janta."
Israel has not acknowledged the raid, but officials have confirmed a general policy of interdicting suspected arms deliveries from Syria to Hizbullah.
"We are doing everything that is necessary in order to defend the security of Israel," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday.
"We will not say what we're doing or what we're not doing," he said.
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03/02/2014 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[An Nahar] Egypt's army chief, who has made no secret of his intention to stand for president despite not yet announcing his candidacy, remains defense minister in a new cabinet sworn in Saturday.
Goodluck Jonathan
Let them eat the grasshopper. 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
[An Nahar] The Lebanese army and the Internal Security Forces are on a mission to hunt down a group of four veiled women wearing explosives belts and who are tasked by Lebanese Sheikh Sirajeddine Zouraykat of the Abdulllah Azzam Brigades to carry out suicide terrorist attacks, the As Safir daily reported on Saturday.
