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US raids kill 15 militants in Yemen
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 1: WoT Operations
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Page 2: WoT Background
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1 11:04 Bill Clinton [336072]
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Page 3: Non-WoT
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2 19:18 Thealet Phearong5452 [336087]
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Page 4: Opinion
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1 11:47 Mike Ramsey [336071]
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Page 6: Politix
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Good morning
Posted by: Fred || 02/01/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336094 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Happy Birthday/Daily Gam Shot

Sherilyn Fenn aka Audrey Horne in "Twin Peaks (TV Series 1990–1991)" aka Curley's Wife in "Of Mice and Men (1992)" aka Laura Lincolnberry in "Fatal Instinct (1993)" aka Sheryl Ann 'Candy Cane' DuJean in "Ruby (1992)" aka Bridget 'Bridey' DeSoto in "Desire and Hell at Sunset Motel (1991)" aka Jain in "Diary of a Hitman (1991)" (age 47)


1990: nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series – "Twin Peaks" That Figures

Women Who Bathe
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 02/01/2012 0:30 Comments || Top||

#2  Excellent Twin Peaks there.....
Posted by: CrazyFool || 02/01/2012 8:20 Comments || Top||

#3  He means the eyebrows. No, really!...
Posted by: mojo || 02/01/2012 15:02 Comments || Top||

#4  Arched and cynical brows; my kinda Gal.
Posted by: Lonzo the Lesser4370 || 02/01/2012 23:37 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
The Hard Way Out of Afghanistan
Posted by: Mike Ramsey || 02/01/2012 11:42 || Comments || Link || [336068 views] Top|| File under:

#1  FTA: Most of the caches [used by insurgents to rapidly assemble and deploy IED's against coalition forces] are believed to be scattered through desert regions beyond the district center, particularly to the east, near the border of Kandahar. From there, components are smuggled piecemeal — a jug one day, a pressure switch the next — and only later assembled in Sangin proper. “If you know how to put one together,” Folsom explained, “it literally takes minutes, if not seconds. If we catch them in the act, we can drop ordnance on them. But if they get away, we’ll track them out to the east until we eventually lose sight of them.” Until recently, the Marines, distributed among their many fixed positions, lacked the manpower to go after these caches and disrupt insurgents infiltrating from the east.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 02/01/2012 12:09 Comments || Top||


U.S.-Backed Militia Fortifies Afghanistan's 'Heart of Darkness'
Posted by: Mike Ramsey || 02/01/2012 11:07 || Comments || Link || [336068 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Even thought it is the NYT, it didn't read like a hit piece.
Posted by: Mike Ramsey || 02/01/2012 11:50 Comments || Top||

#2  This is the first installment in a three-part series

Give it time, Mike. :-)
Posted by: gorb || 02/01/2012 12:29 Comments || Top||

#3  No bet. :-)
Posted by: Mike Ramsey || 02/01/2012 12:49 Comments || Top||

#4  Not a hit piece? Ask yourself why. Cui bono? Could it be the public relations wing of the U.S. Democratic party Liberal Press needs to burnish Mr Obama's credentials a bit?
Posted by: Tamir Pardo || 02/01/2012 13:49 Comments || Top||

#5  Could be. However, it made the army look good. I would think that NYT editors would have a knee-jerk response to that. It felt like I was hearing the NYT praise Nixon....
Posted by: Heriberto Ebbineter4392 || 02/01/2012 14:00 Comments || Top||

#6  Probably trying to show that they aren't understaffed for what they're being asked to do.
Posted by: gorb || 02/01/2012 15:42 Comments || Top||


Two Afghan soldiers killed, 6 injured
[Iran Press TV] At least two Afghan soldiers have been killed and six others maimed in a roadside kaboom kaboom in western Afghanistan, Press TV reports.

The Afghan Defense Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday that the blast happened against a military convoy in Bakwa district of Farah province.

Elsewhere in Kandahar and Ghazni provinces, at least three more Afghan soldiers were maimed in attacks on Tuesday.

No group has grabbed credit for the incidents, but the Talibs usually carry out the roadside kaboom kabooms.
Posted by: Fred || 02/01/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336063 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Africa Horn
23 killed in attacks in Somalia
[Iran Press TV] At least 23 people have been killed and twelve others maimed in two separate attacks in central and southern Somalia, Press TV reports.

Eighteen people, including seven civilians, were killed on Tuesday in festivities between al-Shabaab
... Harakat ash-Shabaab al-Mujahidin aka the Mujahideen Youth Movement. It was originally the youth movement of the Islamic Courts, now pretty much all of what's left of it. They are aligned with al-Qaeda but operate more like the Afghan or Pakistani Taliban...
Islamic fascisti and Somali Transitional Federal Government troops in the southern district of Medina in the Somali capital Mogadishu.

"The rebels [al-Shaboobs] attacked our forces using speedboat and armed vehicles. We killed six al-Shabaab rebels in the fighting," Somali government official Ahmed Hassan said.

Al-Shabaab officials confirmed the festivities and said their fighters killed more than five government troops and are now in control of the town.

In another incident on Tuesday, at least five people bit the dust in a kaboom in the Galmudug region of central Somalia.

The attack targeted the house of Somali Minister for Water and Mineral Resources Abdi Hassan Awale, who is known as Qeybdid, in the south of Galkacyo town, located about 700 kilometers northwest of Mogadishu.

Residents said two of Awale's guards were among the dead but Awale was not injured.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, but al-Shabaab Islamic fascisti frequently carry out kabooms targeting Somali government officials and security forces.
Posted by: Fred || 02/01/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336071 views] Top|| File under: al-Shabaab


Arabia
US raids kill 15 militants in Yemen
SANAA: US airstrikes targeting leaders from Yemen's active Al-Qaeda branch killed 15 suspected terrorists militants, Yemeni officials said on Tuesday. Yemeni security and military officials said missiles struck a gun festooned safehouse school and a car crammed with ammo in Abyan province in an area between Lauder and Mood where the terrorists militants were believed to be hiding.

A Western official in Washington confirmed the US carried out a strike against suspected terrorists leaders from Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, but said initial indications were that five terrorists people were killed. The official did not say where the strike occurred or specify whether it was carried out by a drone or a warplane.
Posted by: Steve White || 02/01/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336098 views] Top|| File under:


Bangladesh
Cops prevent Jamaat from holding rally with corpse
Ewww.
[Bangla Daily Star] Jamaat-e-Islami
...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores...
activist Shafiqul Islam, shot to death during Monday's festivities in Rajshahi, was buried at Hatim Khan graveyard under police protection yesterday, foiling an alleged attempt by the party to bring out a procession with his body.

After an autopsy was performed on Shafiqul at Rajshahi Medical College Hospital around noon, law enforcers handed over the body to the family and the party, said Assistant Commissioner (Boalia Zone) Nurul Islam.

But as Jamaat men tried to hold the procession, police took the body back and carried it to Shafiqul's village home Basua Achintola in Rajshahi.

It was brought to Hatim Khan, five kilometres off the city, after namaz-e-janaza, he added.

Monzur Rahman, younger brother of Shafiqul, denied any attempt to bring out such a procession. He claimed that the Jamaat men just wanted to carry the body on their shoulders and walk to the graveyard.

AC Nurul Islam said police wanted to avoid any untoward incident. They allowed all relatives and party men to attend the funeral.

Meanwhile,
...back at the laboratory the fumes had dispersed, to reveal an ominous sight...
the autopsy report on Shafiqul Islam has confirmed that a bullet from a small firearm had hit Shafiqul, resulting in heavy bleeding.

Mansur Rahman, chief of a three-member medical board formed to prepare the report, told The Daily Star last evening that the bullet had entered the body at the lower portion of the chest and went out by the back near the neck. The report was handed over to police.

Yesterday, police sued 900 opposition activists in connection with Monday's violence as the BNP-led alliance observed a peaceful hartal
... a peculiarly Bangla combination of a general strike and a riot, used by both major political groups in lieu of actual governance ...
in the city.

Hafizur Rahman, a sub-inspector of Boalia Police Station, filed two separate cases against 900 activists of the BNP and its key ally Jamaat-e-Islami with the cop shoppe in the early hours.

The complainant named 16 accused in the cases.

Of the cases, one was filed on charge of disrupting public life by holding a mass procession and obstructing police from discharging their duties and another under the Explosives Act.

The BNP-Jamaat alliance enforced the half-day shutdown for six hours from 6:00am to protest the death of Shafiqul.

No BNP or Jamaat men were seen picketing during the hartal hours while security was tight with deployment of additional law enforcers.

Thirty-year-old Shafiqul was hit by a bullet when police, under attack, opened fire on the violent activists of the Jamaat and Islami Chhatra Shibir
... the student wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh...
at Hatim Khan on Monday.

It all began as law enforcers stopped an opposition procession. In the ensuing fighting, around eighty others, including 19 cops, were maimed.

Police claimed that they fired rubber bullets and shotgun shells only to scatter the rioters, not targeting anybody. Rather, gun-wielding Jamaat-Shibir activists shot at the law enforcers and went kaboom! cocktails.
Posted by: Fred || 02/01/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336070 views] Top|| File under: Jamaat-e-Islami


India-Pakistan
Pakistani jets kill dozens of Taliban fighters in dawn raid
Pakistani jets bombed insurgent bases in the country's mountainous tribal areas before dawn on Wednesday morning, killing at least 31 Taliban fighters, according to security officials.

The strikes targeted four compounds run by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan in Orakzai district.

The past week has seen an upsurge in clashes -- with at least 80 people dead - as the spring fighting season draws near. Warplanes and helicopter gunships were involved in the latest round of fighting according to a senior military official in the north-western city of Peshawar.

"The Pakistan Air Force engaged four targets in Sheikhan and Samana Bazar at midnight," he said. "More than 20 militants were killed."

He added that a senior local commander, Moin ud Din, may have been killed in the bombing.
Posted by: tipper || 02/01/2012 03:49 || Comments || Link || [336073 views] Top|| File under:

#1  as the spring fighting season draws near.
Followed by cricket season and soccer season?
Posted by: Glenmore || 02/01/2012 6:05 Comments || Top||

#2  you forgot kite fighting season
Posted by: chris || 02/01/2012 8:06 Comments || Top||

#3  ..along with burning Girls' Schools season.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/01/2012 8:18 Comments || Top||

#4  as the spring fighting season draws near.

this is just pre-season intramural scrimmages.
Posted by: Frank G || 02/01/2012 9:41 Comments || Top||

#5  No small surprise that the Paks were agressive on this particular outing.

But then again, dead men tell no tales.
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 02/01/2012 10:10 Comments || Top||


Excise police seize huge quantity of hashish
[Pak Daily Times] KARACHI: The Excise Police claimed to have seized a huge quantity of hashish from a container here on Tuesday. The Excise & Taxation Officer, Malir Zone Bloody Karachi
...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It may be the largest city in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous...
, Karam Ullah Kalwar informed that a team of Excise Police Malir chased a truck on a tip-off at Khator Morr, Super Highway. The driver managed to flee from the scene, abandoning his vehicle, which contained 1,600 kilogrammes of fine quality hashish, he added. Kalwar said unknown culprits were trying to smuggle the narcotics from Beautiful Downtown Peshawar into Bloody Karachi for a likely smuggle through Bloody Karachi seaport.
Posted by: Fred || 02/01/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336068 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  So was the hashish possession illegal only because the smugglers didn't pay excise taxes on the hashish?

Why else would the excise & taxation police be the ones with authority over this case??
Posted by: American Delight || 02/01/2012 9:19 Comments || Top||

#2  Zardari's gotta get his 10 percent.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 02/01/2012 11:39 Comments || Top||

#3  160 kilos of skunk might explain the pak governments "thinking"....
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 02/01/2012 11:43 Comments || Top||

#4  which contained 1,600 kilogrammes of fine quality hashish

How did the reporter know the quality of the hashish?

/inquiring minds
Posted by: Frozen Al || 02/01/2012 12:52 Comments || Top||

#5  How did the reporter know the quality of the hashish?

"Its like... like I'm guessing man. Just look at them colors, man!"
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/01/2012 17:05 Comments || Top||


Ban imposed on pillion-riding in Karachi
[Pak Daily Times] The Sindh government has decided to impose a ban on pillion-riding in Bloody Karachi
...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It may be the largest city in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous...
, effective from today (Wednesday) till 12th Rabi-ul-Awwal amid new wave of murders in the metropolis. The announcement was made by Sindh Home Minister Manzoor Wasan, who was accompanied by the IG Sindh Mushtaq Shah, in a cycle of violence and four-wheeler distribution ceremony for Madadgar held here at the Garden Police Headquarter on Tuesday. Wasan said that the ban on riding double was being imposed in view of the security condition during Rabi-ul-Awwal. The home minister also announced formation of a joint investigation team to probe the murder of MPA Balochistan
...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it...
Mir Bakhtiar Domki's wife, daughter and a driver who killed in the early hours of Tuesday in Clifton area.
Posted by: Fred || 02/01/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336068 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  Just from the title, I thought it was to prevent women from riding horses astride.....
Posted by: Albert Omerese4211 || 02/01/2012 12:14 Comments || Top||


Karachi police still clueless about killers
[Pak Daily Times] Police have no clue yet to the killers of the incident in which MPA Balochistan
...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it...
Mir Bakhtiar Khan Domki's wife, daughter and driver were rubbed out by gunnies in the wee hours of Tuesday near the Gizri flyover. Police high ups, including District South DIG Commandant Shaukat Ali Shah, SP Tariq Dharejo and other officials told media that nothing could be said about the incident as the investigation was underway. They said that culprits used kalashnikovs in the shooting. DSP Nayyarul Haq said that the family of the victims was not cooperating with the police in the probe. Domki has said that they were also receiving threats but he did not mention, who were receiving threats. The police did not have any exact information about the girl who remained safe in the tragedy as what the witnesses said that the culprits got a minor girl out of the car, who was supposed to be a housemaid, before opening the fire. Police have registered an FIR (27/12) under section 7 ATA and 302/34 against faceless myrmidons on the complaint of state.
Posted by: Fred || 02/01/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336068 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Forces blow up house of wanted terrorists in Swat
[Pak Daily Times] Security forces on Tuesday blew up the house of two wanted forces of Evil who refused to surrender to the law enforcement agencies despite repeated warnings. Sources say the house of two turban bothers, Haider and Usman, was demolished in the Bara Bandai area of Kabal tehsil. Sources also said that father of the wanted turbans, Humayun, was killed during operation Rah-e-Rast in Swat.
Posted by: Fred || 02/01/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336069 views] Top|| File under: TNSM


Eight soldiers, 35 terrorists killed in Kurram firefight
[Pak Daily Times] At least 35 bad boyz were potted in a gun-battle after a newly-established security checkpost was attacked in Kurram Agency
...home of an intricately interconnected web of poverty, ignorance, and religious fanaticism, where the laws of cause and effect are assumed to be suspended, conveniently located adjacent to Tora Bora...
, also leaving eight soldiers killed and scores of others injured, a military statement said on Tuesday.

Over 100 Islamic fascisti attacked the post in Jogi heights of Kurram Agency, damaging the post badly, sources told Daily Times, wishing not to be named. The attack took place in the morning.

They said, "The gun-battle continued for hours." However,
if you can't be a good example, then you'll just have to be a horrible warning...
the sources gave little information about the number of soldiers manning the post and that how the Islamic fascisti could take bodies of their killed comrades with them.

"Security forces foiled myrmidons' attempt to dislodge a newly-established checkpost at Jogi heights in Mamozai. The post was established to sever a frequently used route from Tirah Valley into Kurram Agency and North Wazoo by the myrmidons," the military statement said.

In exchange of fire 35 bad boyz were potted, it claimed and also acknowledged loss of eight soldiers and injury to 15 others in the attack.

Mamozai area of Kurram region is seen as stronghold of Taliban, who in recent times have inflicted heavy casualties on the government forces, kidnapping and killing scores of mainly paramilitary soldiers.

The military launched an offensive in Kurram in July 2011 and declared victory about a month later, but violence has continued.

A similar process has taken place throughout Pakistain's semiautonomous tribal region along the Afghan border. The military has launched a series of operations against the Pak Taliban in the past few years, and has often declared victory only to see fighting flare up again. The Pak Taliban have killed thousands of people throughout the country in suicide kabooms and other attacks. The group aims to topple the Pak government, partly because of its alliance with the United States.
Posted by: Fred || 02/01/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336068 views] Top|| File under: TTP


Four more fall prey to Karachi violence
[Pak Daily Times] Four people, including a retired army doctor, were rubbed out in murders in different parts of the city on Tuesday. Dr Ashfaq Ahmed Qazi was rubbed out near Malir railway crossing within the precinct of Saudabad cop shoppe. According to police, he was going to his clinic when two gunnies opened fire on him near the Malir crossing, killing him on the spot. Police shifted the body to Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre for medico-legal formalities. DSP Imdad Solangi said the victim was a resident of Askari Phase IV, adding that the police received two empty shells of bullets from the scene of the crime. Later, the police handed over the body to the heirs. SSP (Investigation) Niaz Khoso claimed that it was an incident of sectarian killing and the victim belonged to the Deobandi school of thought. Separately, Naeem Abbas, 25 was standing in Mughal Hazara Goth when unidentified gunnies opened fire on him, injuring him seriously. Gulistan Jauhar police shifted him to nearest private hospital where he departed this vale of tears. Police said that the victim hailed from Gilgit-Biltistan and had come to Bloody Karachi
...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It may be the largest city in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous...
only two month ago, adding that they believed personal enmity was the motive behind the incident. The victim belonged to the Shia community. In another incident, a man was rubbed out in Bawani Challie within the limits of Site A cop shoppe. The victim, 42-year-old Omar Rehman, was standing in front of his house when unidentified gunnies sprayed him with bullets, killing him on the spot. In another incident, Muhammad Ahmed was rubbed out in the limits of Garden cop shoppe. The incident took place at Ramswami near BP Factory where unidentified gunnies shot Ahmed dead. It is pertinent to mention that around 49 people have been killed in incidents of murder in the first month of 2012.
Posted by: Fred || 02/01/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336067 views] Top|| File under:


Iraq
20 wanted arrested in Basra
BASRA / Aswat al-Iraq: Police forces arrested today 20 wanted persons, including 9 on charges of terrorism, police sources said today. The source told Aswat al-Iraq that security operation were conducted in several parts of the province that led to arresting 11 for criminal charges and 9 implicated in terrorist actions.

The police suspected that may have a connection with the killers of an officer and wounding another mid of the city yesterday. The source added that 48 Kalashnikov machine guns were seized and two pistols, in addition to a great quantity of ammunition.
Posted by: Steve White || 02/01/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336070 views] Top|| File under:


Car bomb north of Baghdad kills 3 Iraqi soldiers
BAGHDAD: An Iraqi official says a bomb blast north of Baghdad has killed three Iraqi soldiers, hours before the nation’s parliament is to reconvene after lawmakers ended their boycott to protest persecution of Sunni officials.

Police spokesman in Diyala province, Maj. Ghalib Al-Karkhi, says a parked car bomb detonated near a military patrol late Monday in Baqouba, killing three soldiers and wounding three others. Baqouba is a former Al-Qaeda stronghold, 35 miles (60 kilometers) northeast of Baghdad.
Posted by: Steve White || 02/01/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336069 views] Top|| File under:


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Syria resolution may lead to 'civil war'
[Iran Press TV] Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov says a Western-backed UN Security Council resolution on Syria will pave the way for a "civil war" in the Arab country.

Gatilov told Russian media on Tuesday that a draft resolution on Syria "will not help in the search for a compromise" if it is approved.

"Pushing it through is the path towards civil war," Gatilov added.

On January 27, the UN Security Council met to consider the draft, which was presented to the UN body by Morocco and supports an Arab League
...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing...
plan that calls on Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Supressor of the Damascenes...
to resign and hand over power to a deputy to form a national unity government "with the opposition within two months."

The United States, the United Kingdom and La Belle France have supported the new Arab League plan.

Gatilov had earlier said Moscow would "not support any measure which orders Assad to leave office."

Arab League Secretary General Nabil al-Arabi said in a statement issued on January 28 that the organization had decided to "immediately stop the work of the vaporous Arab League's mission to Syria" due to "the critical deterioration of the situation" in the country.

The observer mission had been in Syria since December 26, 2011 and was tasked with monitoring the implementation of the Arab League resolution to end the unrest in the country.

The Syrian government said on Saturday Damascus
...Capital of the last overtly fascist regime in the world...
"regrets the decision taken by Arabi to suspend the observer mission" and that the decision called for "foreign intervention" and encouraged "gangs to increase violence."
Posted by: Fred || 02/01/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336067 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


U.N. Draft Resolution Rules Out Military Intervention in Syria
[An Nahar] A draft U.N. resolution on Syria seen by Agence La Belle France Presse Tuesday calls for the regime to put an immediate stop to violence against protesters and for Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Light of the Alawites...
to hand power to his deputy.

The text also stresses there will be no foreign military intervention in a conflict that the United Nations
...aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society...
says has killed more than 5,400 people in the past 10 months.

It demands that "the Syrian government immediately puts an end to all human rights
...which are usually entirely different from personal liberty...
violations and attacks against those exercising their rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association".

It calls on Assad to delegate his "full authority to his deputy" and then to form a national unity government leading to "transparent and free elections under Arab and international supervision".

The text insists it does not compel states "to resort to the use of force, or the threat of force", which a diplomat said was a statement aimed at answering the concerns of Russia and China.

Russia, a veto-wielding U.N. Security Council member, has exasperated the West by insisting it will not back a resolution calling on Assad to step down.

China and Russia used their veto powers as permanent members of the council to block a previous resolution on Syria.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
... sometimes described as For a good time at 3 a.m. call Hillary and at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as Another Elihu Root ...
, the head of the Arab League
...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing...
and the foreign ministers of Britannia and La Belle France were gathering in New York on Tuesday to push forward the U.N. resolution and persuade Russia to drop its opposition.
Posted by: Fred || 02/01/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336067 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Arab League Urges Security Council to Stop Syria 'Killing Machine'
[An Nahar] Qatar's prime minister, speaking on behalf of the Arab League
...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing...
, urged the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday to take action to stop Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad's
Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor...
"killing machine."

Opening a top-level Security Council meeting on the Syrian crisis, Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem al-Thani said that the vaporous Arab League had tried to seek a solution with Assad in face of the 10-month uprising.

"Our efforts and initiatives, however, have been all useless because the Syrian government failed to make any sincere effort to cooperate with us and the only solution available to it was to kill its own people," he said.

"Bloodshed continued and the killing machine is still at work," he said.

He called for support of a U.N. draft resolution, sponsored by Arab League member Morocco, under which Assad would step down from power and agree to an end to violence ahead of negotiations on a settlement.

Russia, a close ally of Syria which holds veto power on the Security Council, has voiced opposition to the draft.

Western allies brought out their diplomatic big guns at the Security Council Tuesday to try to overcome the Russian opposition.

The showdown at the United Nations
...a formerly good idea gone bad...
came as fighting escalated between Syrian government forces and rebels and a senior U.S. official predicted that Assad would be toppled.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
... sometimes described as The Woman to Call at 3 a.m. and at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as Another Henry L. Stimson ...
was leading the charge for U.N. action in Syria, backed by allies British Foreign Secretary William Hague and French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe.

The proposed U.N. resolution, crafted by the Western powers and the Arab League, seeks to stop a Syrian crackdown that the United Nations says has killed more than 5,400 people in the past 10 months. Under the resolution, Assad would be ordered immediately to halt violence and hand power to his deputy.

While there is no threat of use of force in the resolution, Russia says it amounts to regime change.

"I don't think Russian policy is about asking people to step down. Regime change is not our profession," Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said, arguing that while the Syrian president was not an ally of Moscow, it was not up to other nations to interfere.

The text of the resolution, seen by Agence La Belle France Presse, calls for the formation of a unity government leading to "transparent and free elections," while stressing there will be no foreign military intervention in Syria, as there was in Libya during the toppling of Muammar Qadaffy
...The late megalomaniac dictator of Libya, admired everywhere for his garish costumes, funny hats, harem of cutie bodyguards, and incoherent ravings. As far as is known, he is the only person who's ever declared jihad on Switzerland...
.

Assad's government has already flatly rejected a similarly worded resolution proposed by the Arab League.

Russia's deputy foreign minister, Gennady Gatilov, said on Tuesday that the resolution would be a "path towards civil war" in the increasingly divided country.

But in Washington, U.S. intelligence chief James Clapper said the fall of the Assad was inevitable already.

"I do not see how he can sustain his rule of Syria," Clapper, the director of national intelligence, told senators.

"I personally believe it's a question of time but that's the issue, it could be a long time."

The opposition Syrian National Council deplored the international community's lack of "swift action" to protect civilians "by all necessary means," in a statement on Facebook.

The SNC, the most representative group opposed to Assad, reaffirmed the "people's determination to fight for their freedom and dignity," stressing they "will not give up their revolution, whatever the sacrifices."

The head of the now-defunct Arab League observer mission to Syria, General Mohammed Ahmed Mustafa al-Dabi, said there had been a marked upsurge in violence since last Tuesday.

On Monday alone, almost 100 people, including 55 civilians, were killed during a regime assault on the city of Homs, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

On Tuesday, at least 32 people were killed, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The rebel Free Syrian Army said half of the country was now effectively a no-go zone for the security forces.

"Fifty percent of Syrian territory is no longer under the control of the regime," its Turkey-based commander Colonel Riad al-Asaad told AFP.

He said the morale of government troops was extremely low. "That's why they are bombing indiscriminately, killing men, women and kiddies," he said.

However,
the hip bone's connected to the leg bone...
Syria's foreign ministry expressed outrage over "the aggressive American and Western statements against Syria (that) are escalating in a scandalous manner," and blamed violence on "armed terrorist groups."

A report from the state news agency SANA said Assad had visited maimed servicemen and praised their "unique will, bravery."

CIA director David Petraeus told senators in Washington that Assad now faced challenges in Damascus
...Capital of the last remaining Baathist regime in the world...
and Aleppo
...For centuries, Aleppo was Greater Syria's largest city and the Ottoman Empire's third, after Constantinople and Cairo. Although relatively close to Damascus in distance, Aleppans regard Damascenes as country cousins...
, two cities that had been seen as insulated from the unrest.

"I think it has shown indeed how substantial the opposition to the regime is and how it is in fact growing and how increasing areas are becoming beyond the reach of the regime security forces," Petraeus said.

Amid the escalating violence, U.N. chief the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon
... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan...
called for unity at the Security Council.

The Council must be "united this time, speak and act in a coherent manner, reflecting the wishes of the international community and reflecting the urgent wishes and aspirations of the Syrian people, who have been yearning for freedom," Ban said.

Qatar's prime minister, speaking on behalf of the Arab League, urged the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday to take action to stop Syrian President Bashir al-Assad's "killing machine."

Opening a top-level Security Council meeting on the Syrian crisis, Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem al-Thani said that the Arab League had tried to seek a solution with Assad in face of the 10-month uprising.

"Our efforts and initiatives, however, have been all useless because the Syrian government failed to make any sincere effort to cooperate with us and the only solution available to it was to kill its own people," he said.

"Bloodshed continued and the killing machine is still at work," he said.

He called for support of a U.N. draft resolution, sponsored by Arab League member Morocco, under which Assad would step down from power and agree to an end to violence ahead of negotiations on a settlement.

Russia, a close ally of Syria which holds veto power on the Security Council, has voiced opposition to the draft.

Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 02/01/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336078 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


32 Dead as Rebel Army Says Regime No Longer Controls Half of Syria
[An Nahar] Syrian security forces on Tuesday killed at least 27 civilians, including two children, and five army deserters across the country, according to activists, as the rebel army said the embattled regime of Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
The Scourge of Hama...
no longer controls half of the country's territory.

Fourteen people were killed in the flashpoint northwestern province of Idlib, eleven in the central protest hub of Homs, four in the capital Damascus
...The City of Jasmin is the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world. It has not always been inhabited by the same set of fascisti...
and its suburbs, and three in the southern province of Daraa, the Local Coordination Committees, the main activist group spurring protests on the ground, said.

For its part, the Britannia-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least eight people were killed, three at the hands of regime forces in the central town of Rastan, in Homs, and five others across Idlib in the northwest.

"Three people were killed when the Syrian army unleashed mortar rounds on the city of Rastan, where the regular armed forces incurred heavy losses in terms of lives and equipment in the past two days," the Observatory said.

In Idlib, three young men were reportedly killed in an ambush by a militia loyal to Assad's regime, a citizen was rubbed out in the crossfire between soldiers and deserters, and a fifth was killed after passing a checkpoint.

The Observatory also reported an unconfirmed number of casualties in the outskirts of Damascus, where "corpses" could be seen on the streets of Irbin, which was rocked by "heavy machine gunfire."

"The regime is using disproportionate force in several regions of Syria and the firepower being deployed is the most intense since the start of the Syrian revolution," said the Observatory's chairman Rami Abdul Rahman.

Demonstrations were also held on Tuesday in southern Daraa province as thousands attended the funeral of a slain protester, activists said.

And regime forces began blowing up houses in the protest hub of Rankous, north of Damascus, said an activist, who urged the world to help civilians besieged in the town for a week.

"This morning they started to blow up houses in Rankous. They are using diesel to set fire to buildings," said Abu Omar, an activist front man for the town of 25,000 people.

"The main road to Rankous is completely cut off, as well as communications, water and electricity, and there is no milk for babies. Help them. Send them food. They are dying."

Rights groups said troops penetrated Rankous after having shelled the town.

The opposition Syrian National Council has warned of a possible massacre in Rankous after hundreds of young men were rounded up by security forces.

"They have imposed a siege on Rankous, preventing food and medical aid from entering" the town, it said in a statement.

On Monday violence claimed some 103 lives according to the LCC and the Observatory, marking one of the bloodiest days of the revolt against Assad's regime since it erupted in March.

Meanwhile,
...back at the Council of Boskone, Helmuth had turned a paler shade of blue. Star-A-Star had struck again...
Colonel Riad al-Asaad, head of the rebel Free Syrian Army, said "fifty percent of Syrian territory is no longer under the control of the regime."

He added, however, that this did not mean rebel troops were in control of this territory.

In an interview with AFP, Asaad, who is based in Turkey, said the FSA, emboldened by its growing ranks, was increasingly conducting guerrilla operations against regular army positions before withdrawing to safe positions.

"The operations carried out by the FSA amount to guerrilla operations that consist of carrying out quick attacks against regime forces and then making a tactical withdrawal to safe areas," Asaad said.

He said the FSA, made up of army defectors and sympathizers, was now launching daily strikes against regime checkpoints and was managing to destroy military vehicles before retreating.

Asaad said the army for its part had launched a fierce assault in the last week in a bid to reclaim control of suburbs near the capital Damascus, as well as the central flashpoint city of Homs and the northwestern town of Idlib.

"The army believes ... that if it manages to crush the revolt in those areas then this will put an end to the revolt nationwide," Asaad said, adding that his troops were more determined than ever to continue the fight.

"The people and the FSA will continue to resist, the revolt will continue and the regime will collapse," he said.

He added that the morale of army troops was extremely low.

"That's why they are bombing indiscriminately, killing men, women and kiddies," he said.
Posted by: Fred || 02/01/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336088 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria

#1  Half of Syria? That's a lot of people to draw recruits from.
Posted by: gorb || 02/01/2012 12:31 Comments || Top||

#2  These guys are just being modest. They've already won. They've delayed a formal announcement because they planning the victory parade.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 02/01/2012 23:59 Comments || Top||


Germany Calls on U.N. to Act 'Urgently' on Syria
[An Nahar] German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle called on Tuesday on the U.N. Security Council to act "urgently" on Syria, telling a Cairo news conference a strong text on the crisis was "absolutely important."

"The situation is unacceptable and it even became worse in the last couple of days," Westerwelle said after talks with his Egyptian counterpart Mohammed Amr.

"It's a drama what we are seeing at the moment in Syria. The Security Council of the United Nations
...an international organization whose stated aims of facilitating interational security involves making sure that nobody with live ammo is offended unless it's a civilized country...
must act," he said ahead of a council session on the crisis to be joined by his British, French and U.S. counterparts.

On Monday alone, almost 100 people, including 55 civilians, were killed during a regime assault on the flashpoint central city of Homs, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The unrest, which also saw 25 soldiers killed, marked one of the bloodiest days of a revolt that erupted in March, inspired by a wave of Arab uprisings that last year overthrew authoritarian leaders in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia.

"The violence by the (Bashar) al-Assad regime must be condemned by the Security Council -- this is for us absolutely important," Westerwelle said.

"A resolution should be passed urgently and I hope that we can make progress in this direction in today's session and in the next days."

A draft resolution put forward by Morocco on Friday calls on Damascus
...Capital of the last overtly fascist regime in the world...
to put an immediate stop to violence against protesters and for Assad to hand power to his deputy.

The text seen by Agence La Belle France Presse on Tuesday also stresses there will be no foreign military intervention in a conflict that the United Nations said earlier this month had already killed more than 5,400 people since last March.

Russia, a veto-wielding Security Council permanent member, has exasperated the West by insisting it will not back any resolution calling on Assad to step down.
Posted by: Fred || 02/01/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336068 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Lavrov Says Russia Won't Ask Assad to Step Down
[An Nahar] Moscow will not tell Bashir al-Assad to stand down, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said, stressing that while the Syrian president was not an ally it was not up to other nations to interfere.

After 10 months of internal conflict in Syria that the United Nations
...an international organization whose stated aims of facilitating interational security involves making sure that nobody with live ammo is offended unless it's a civilized country...
says has killed more than 5,400 people, Russia is under growing pressure to take a firmer line on Assad and his regime.

Russia, a veto-wielding U.N. Security Council member, has exasperated the West by insisting it will not back a resolution calling on Assad to go.

"I don't think Russian policy is about asking people to step down. Regime change is not our profession." Lavrov said in Australia on Tuesday.

"It is up to the Syrians themselves to decide how to run the country, how to introduce the reforms, what kind of reforms, without any outside interference," he told the national broadcaster ABC.

"We're not a friend, we're not an ally of president Assad. We never said that president Assad remaining in power is the solution to the crisis."

A draft U.N. resolution on Syria seen by Agence La Belle France Presse calls for the regime to put an immediate stop to violence against protesters and for Assad to hand power to his deputy.
Posted by: Fred || 02/01/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336069 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria



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Two weeks of WOT
Wed 2012-02-01
  US raids kill 15 militants in Yemen
Tue 2012-01-31
  12,000 BNP, Jamaat men charged with violence
Mon 2012-01-30
  Assad's family caught trying to escape the country, returned to Damascus
Sun 2012-01-29
  Nigerian military kills 11 militants in northeast
Sat 2012-01-28
  UN loses count on Syria killings
Fri 2012-01-27
  Sectarian clashes kill at least 22 in Yemen
Thu 2012-01-26
  Woman Dead as Bombs, Bullets Rain on Nigeria Police Station
Wed 2012-01-25
  SEALS Spring Two, Bag Nine
Tue 2012-01-24
  EU imposes sanctions on Iran oil
Mon 2012-01-23
  U.S. aircraft carrier goes through Strait of Hormuz without incident
Sun 2012-01-22
  Syrian Forces Kill More than 50 Civilian as Dissidents Clash with Troops
Sat 2012-01-21
  Terror attacks in Kano, Nigeria, kill at least 162
Fri 2012-01-20
  Aslam Awan of Abbottabad Dronezapped
Thu 2012-01-19
  Bangladesh army says plot to topple government foiled
Wed 2012-01-18
  Syria 'absolutely rejects' calls for Arab troops

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