For the past two days, U.S. and NATO forces have been conducting a major attack against a compound in a remote area of Eastern Afghanistan where Osama bin Laden or another senior al Qaeda leader may be hiding, ABC News has learned.
According to eyewitnesses and local reporters in Kunar province, Coalition forces launched a fierce attack on a small enclave in the village of Mandaghel, approximately 17 miles from the border with Pakistan, on Friday afternoon. Warplanes pounded the positions ; U.S. special forces and Afghan National Army soldiers moved in shortly afterwards.
The assault appeared to meet stiff resistance from militants at the compound. Heavy artillery and gunfire could be heard for hours, local witnesses said. A handful of civilians were reportedly wounded in the strike. Though sealed off from outside access, the area now appears to be under coalition control.
U.S. officials declined to identify who the operation was targeting, but indicated they were after a "High Value Target" (HVT). Official sources would not rule out that al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden himself was the intended victim. Afghan officials said the target could be another senior ranking al Qaeda leader.
The Coalition, which generally refuses to discuss ongoing operations, declined to make an official comment.
According to a local official, the compound under attack belongs to an Islamic militant and suspected drug trafficker named Haji Aminullah. The area of Kunar province is known as a stronghold of Wahabbistsfollowers of the strict sect of Sunni Islam practiced in Saudi Arabia, according to Barnett Rubin, senior fellow at New York University. Since the 1980's, the area has been a haven for Arab militants, including Osama bin Laden.
#1
According to a local official, the compound under attack belongs to an Islamic militant and suspected drug trafficker named Haji Aminullah. The area of Kunar province is known as a stronghold of Wahabbistsfollowers of the strict sect of Sunni Islam practiced in Saudi Arabia, according to Barnett Rubin, senior fellow at New York University. Since the 1980's, the area has been a haven for Arab militants, including Osama bin Laden, who is Tits-Up
GHALANAI: The Afghan Army fired unprovoked shots at a Pakistani forward post in Mohmand Agency, said a Pakistan military spokesman on Friday. It was unprovoked firing, but nobody was injured, Maj Gen Waheed Arshad told Daily Times over the telephone from Islamabad. A senior administration official in Ghalanai, the headquarters of Mohmand Agency, said the post manned by paramilitary forces in Kudakhel had been attacked in the morning. The firing continued for hours, but there were no casualties on the Pakistan side, the official told Daily Times. He did not clarify whether the post was damaged or not, only saying that Pakistani security forces had retaliated by firing.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/03/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
It was unprovoked firing, but nobody was injured
Back to the range for those guys!
Ve vill not tolerate such lousy schooting.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
03/03/2007 1:38 Comments ||
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#2
well what goes around comes around.... heh heh heh
#8
(Shooters) Ok we now know that the border post is unarmed, testing complete, prepare for the "Cross Border Incursion" tomorrow, there's no resistance.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
03/03/2007 11:31 Comments ||
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#9
I have travelled highways between the frontiers that divide Peru with both Chile and Ecuador, and there are posted warnings of minefields on both sides. Pashto parasites who hide in NWFP and Balochistan, deserve the same treatment. It's better to blow them up at the border, than to waste a bullet on those subhumans in Kandahar or Kabul.
The NATO force in Afghanistan said on Friday that its soldiers and warplanes had killed 12 Taliban in a battle in the south while a known terrorist was arrested in a separate raid. The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said in a statement that the battle, which had occurred in Zabul province on Tuesday, kicked off when 30 militants attacked a joint ISAF-Afghan patrol with gunfire and rocket-propelled grenades. The military struck back with heavy-weapons fire and close air support, the statement said, while confirming that an ISAF soldier had sustained injuries. Most foreign soldiers in Zabul are United States nationals.
Known terrorist arrested: In a separate incident, the US-led coalition, which works alongside ISAF, announced that it had arrested on Friday a known terrorist and seven other people whom were suspected of aiding terrorist fighters and facilitating terrorist operations in Paktika province.
Allied convoy under fire: Meanwhile on Friday, witnesses said that a convoy carrying western troops was struck by at least three blasts as it passed through the Taliban-riddled Uruzgan province in the south of the country, where both NATO and US troops operate. However, residents said that they did not know whether there were any casualties or what had caused the blasts on a road in the provincial capital of Tirin Kot.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/03/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Ahh, yes, "NATO". I expect those were Swedish or French or German troops doing their bit to prevent Afghanistan from once again sliding into the nightmare.
Ok, actually I don't believe "NATO" had anything to do with it.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
03/03/2007 11:35 Comments ||
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#3
RJ - only SOME of NATO meet that description. The British, Canadian, and Danish forces seem to be capable of being VERY offensive. France and Germany, on the other hand...
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/03/2007 12:17 Comments ||
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#4
NATO? All I noticed is that a dozen Muhamheadians are looking for their 72 rasins in hell.
One known terrorist and seven other suspects were detained by Afghan and the U.S.-led coalition forces early Friday in Gorwek Valley of Paktika province in eastern Afghanistan, a coalition statement said. The detainees were in connection with aiding terrorist fighters and facilitating terrorist operations, it said. "Reliable information led the combined force to the compound, where the inhabitants complied with a request for peaceful surrender," the statement said.
No shots were fired, and there were no injuries to Afghans or coalition forces or reported damages during the operation, it added. Paktika has been a hotbed of Taliban and other militants, who clash with Afghan and foreign forces frequently.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/03/2007 00:00 ||
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Some Taliban militants destroyed a vehicle of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Helmand province of southern Afghanistan on Friday, a local senior police officer told Xinhua. "Some Taliban insurgents ambushed an ISAF convoy and damaged one vehicle in Nadali district," Isa Khan said.
There were no casualties of the attacked ISAF soldiers, who are from Britain, and Taliban militants, he added. Taliban spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi confirmed the ambush, saying the Taliban caused some damage to ISAF vehicles. Over 5,000 British soldiers are deployed as part of ISAF in Helmand, known for its gigantic opium product and rampant insurgency.
This article starring:
YUSUF AHMEDI
Taliban
Posted by: Fred ||
03/03/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Bad publicity has kept all but a few Pakistanis out of the actual fighting, while they finance it. Most of the terrorists are phony Afghan refugees who enjoy UN subsidy. Starve a jihad; feed counter-terror.
A series of blasts hit the Somali capital Mogadishu on Friday, witnesses said, a day after Ugandan peacekeepers started arriving in the lawless Horn of Africa country. Residents said they heard mortar bombs being fired in the direction of Mogadishus port. A reporter at the scene said three fell in central Mogadishu, hitting a restaurant, a house and a minibus. He said six people were wounded.
The assault happened a day after gunmen shot dead three people at the house of the director of Mogadishus port, the latest in a series of guerrilla strikes in the capital. The daily attacks came as reminders of the tough task facing the African Union (AU) mission designed to help Somalias interim government pacify the anarchic country.
The insurgents targeting a joint force of government troops and their Ethiopian allies are suspected to be a mix of Islamist guerrillas and clan militia fighting for control of the capital. Backed by Ethiopian soldiers, weapons and tanks, government troops ousted rival Islamist rulers from their strongholds in Mogadishu and much of southern Somalia in a two-week war.
A cargo plane dropped off 35 uniformed Ugandan officers in Somalia on Thursday, as part of a proposed AU force of 8,000 troops. Officials expect the rest of the 1,635-strong Ugandan contingent to land in Somalia probably next week. Kampala has kept the exact date of deployment secret, mindful of the threat to its troops by insurgents who have vowed to attack any foreign peacekeepers or government allies.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/03/2007 00:00 ||
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kidnapped five British tourists with links to the UK government in a remote desert in north-eastern Ethiopia, sources said yesterday. The incident happened on Thursday at the same time as up to ten French tourists in another party were also reported missing, believed kidnapped.
The UK tourists - some of them connected to the British Council, Foreign Office and Department for International Development
A group of western nationals, including British Nationals went missing in North East Ethiopia on 1 March. Five of those are members of staff, or relatives of members of staff, at our Embassy in Addis Ababa. Pending further clarification we advise against all travel to the Afar and Danakil regions of North Eastern Ethiopia.
- were travelling in a convoy with armed escorts to visit sites of antiquity and unique geological formations in Afar, about 500 miles from the capital, Addis Ababa. Hundreds of tourists travel the northern route each year but they have to be prepared for blistering temperatures and encounters with hostile tribesmen.
And apparently, troops from neighboring countries.
While it is possible Afar rebels have taken the group hostage, diplomats are investigating the possibility they were seized by Eritrean soldiers who had crossed the border.
And a source in the tourist industry in Addis Ababa, who supplied a cook and guide to the Britons, said: "There was a group of Eritrean soldiers in full uniform who crossed into Ethiopian territory. "They stopped the convoy and made the passengers get out and marched them over the border into Eritrea. It looks as if they may have been taken by the Eritreans in order to highlight their border dispute with Ethiopia." He said the party was about 10 miles from the border when the soldiers appeared.
It is understood that Western diplomats were trying to make urgent contact with the Eritrean government to establish where the tourists were being held. Tony Blair, the Prime Minister, was last night being kept up to date with developments. British officials said that the government's emergency planning committee, Cobra, had met to discuss the issue of the missing tourists. And a 10-strong "crisis team" is being sent to Ethiopia to help deal with the response to the kidnapping, the Prime Minister's office said.
The British group was camping in the small town of Hamedali, a jumping off point for visits to spectacular salt lakes, geysers and deep fissures at the meeting point of three tectonic plates. They set out on the two-hour drive to Dalol to visit the lakes on Wednesday on a route that skirted close to the border with Eritrea, but never returned.
And their fates are still unlearned...
Ethiopia went to war with its tiny northern neighbour in the late 1990s over the disputed frontier. The United Nations has drawn up a new route for the border, but Ethiopia has so far refused to pull back to the revised position.
Banditry is rife in border areas and rebels linked to Somali groups have taken hostages in the past, but the involvement of Eritrean raiding parties would represent a new departure. Tourists have also been kidnapped in the region before by local people. In 1995, rebels from the Afar Revolutionary Democratic Unity Front snatched a party of Italian tourists, who were eventually released unharmed. Increasing numbers of hardy tourists are making their way to the remote Afar region. Vast salt plains, active volcanoes and brightly coloured mineral deposits make for a spectacular landscape.
Afar is known as the cradle of humanity. Archaeologists have dug up the world's oldest stone tools here as well as the skeleton of Lucy - a 3.2 million-year-old ancestor of humans. Margaret Beckett, the Foreign Secretary, confirmed that five people connected with the British embassy were missing. "We are in close touch with the family members of our staff. And I would ask the media to respect their privacy at this difficult time." A Foreign Office spokeswoman added that the party had been on an organised tour, in a well-known tourist region and warned other Britons to steer clear of the area.
#2
The Brits should remind Ethiopia that they still have a handfull of light Carriers and expect thier citizens returned safe within say a week expect bombardment of all government/military establishments. And no we will not pay or repair when done!
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/03/2007 10:22 Comments ||
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why would the brits threaten ethiopia? the article clerly states eritrea. The brits and everybody else shoudl be thanking ethopia, one of the few with guts left to take on the islamic threat.
the level of intelegent debate on rantburg sure has hit lows compared with 2-3 years ago.
Posted by: dan ||
03/03/2007 10:42 Comments ||
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#5
I'm sure C-low made an innocent mistake. I, for one, googled up the map of Eritra and took a look at their 3 noted ports.
And, btw, clerly is spelled clearly, and Intelegent is spelled Intelligent...that's ironic, isn't it?
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/03/2007 10:54 Comments ||
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#6
Eritrean brazenness enhanced because they figure the Ethiopian troops are tied up over in Somalia.
Glenmore: Eritrean brazenness is enhanced because they figure the British will do little to nothing to rescue their civilians and will do just as little to make Eritrea pay for this outrage. They are correct in so figuring too, I might add.
#9
Oh no, dan dear, there was plenty of stupid debate here both two and three years ago (and four years, and five...). But to assume that ignorance or stupidity rather than careless error caused C-Low's mistake seems a bit harsh. And your follow-on comment a bit rude.
But quite possibly you forgot to add a winky thingy or type /end joking at the bottom, to keep people from reading your intent wrongly.
#1
We've got to keep the faith with these guys. They gave damn near everything for their country; their country cannot allow them and their sacrifice to be forgotten or unrewarded. We need to keep a very close eye on VA funding to make certain that the traitors on the Demo side of the aisle don't decide to "save" some money there to fund one of their pet projects, like, say, a gay/lesbian/transgender outreach program.
Posted by: mac ||
03/03/2007 17:11 Comments ||
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America's wounded veterans are regarded by most people in the country as truly heroic, so the fall-out has been considerable.
For many Americans it is a shock to discover that the men and women they care so deeply about have been so badly let down, our correspondent says.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Saturday emphatically rejected statements made in the Senate in Washington that US troops in Afghanistan were authorised to pursue Al-Qaida and Taliban elements inside its territory.
"No one is permitted to cross our territorial borders," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam said in response to comments by US Lieutenant General Douglas Lute that US troops could target terrorist sites inside Pakistan.
"There is no such understanding," Aslam said, adding that mechanisms like the tripartite US-Afghan-Pakistani commission and the newly opened joint intelligence-sharing centre in Kabul dealt with the question of militant incursions.
But Lute was categorical that engagement rules allowed US forces to pursue insurgents or any one "demonstrating hostile intent" into Pakistan in certain circumstances.
"We have all the authorities we need to pursue, either with (artillery) fire or on the ground, across the border," Lute told the Senate Armed Services Committee in Washington on Thursday.
Commanders on the ground could respond if they meet an imminent threat, he said, referring to a corresponding agreement with Pakistani authorities. But permission would be needed to go after a munitions factory further inside the border.
The Foreign Ministry in Islamabad noted that such cross-border operations were political decisions that could not be taken by the military alone.
As US-Pakistani relations show growing signs of strain over Afghanistan-related security issues, ministry spokeswoman Aslam reminded that the two countries were "partners and not adversaries in the war against terrorism."
Meanwhile, chief military spokesman Major General Waheed Arshad stressed that only Pakistani armed forces can take action inside the country.
"There is no agreement or arrangement whereby US troops can cross wherever they want to," he said.
Some 80,000 Pakistani troops are positioned down the largely tribal regions bordering Afghanistan, where there have been incidents of fighting that spilled into Pakistan.
Pakistan and Afghanistan received visits in recent weeks by Vice President Dick Cheney and US Defence Secretary Robert Gates.
Both are thought to have applied pressure on Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf to step up control of the border and also stamp out Al-Qaida elements, which, Washington says, are now running some of their global operations from Pakistan's tribal areas. The claim is hotly disputed by Islamabad.
Posted by: John Frum ||
03/03/2007 10:34 ||
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We asked? why bother?
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
03/03/2007 14:16 Comments ||
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seems to me, Pakland, that if you cede control of your formerly sovereign territory to Taliban Tribes, that the Tribes are the only ones that can complain if we respond to their attacks. They can leave a comment card in the DOD customer service office
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/03/2007 14:38 Comments ||
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#3
Pakistan objects to our crossing the border like they deny there are Taliban there in the first place. It is pro forma, and nobody takes it seriously.
#5
I hope nobody tells the pakis that it doesn't matter what they authorize if POTUS says the military can go into pakland.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
03/03/2007 16:52 Comments ||
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#6
Screw them. Any military force has the inalienable right to retaliate against attackers and military planners, anywhere. International law permits hot pursuit operations. And given that pre-emption is central to US military doctrine, I would condone destruction of any financial or training facility from which beligerents are either paid or directed. The real problem for Mushy is: maintenance of Punjab domination over Pakistan minorities. He allows terror because doing so directs ethnic hostility against third parties. In retrospect - and it is Monday morning quarterbacking - it would have better to bomb the Pashto menace to charcoal, from the North and support an indigenous Northern Alliance takeover. Neither relations with Pakistan nor the beligerent armistice has served US security. Scorched earth is a viable option in face of neverending subsidized Paki interference, and Kharzai (a Pashto) brinkmanship.
#7
Hey Pppervvvv. Better get your act together or we may "pursue" some of these "Taliban" all the way to ISI headquarters. And there's no guarantee we'll feel like stopping there.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/03/2007 20:48 Comments ||
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#8
Something tells me that this may very well be scripted; first the VP 'drops in' on Perv to 'discuss' things and now we have a heavy hitter in uniform saying that we are not gonna stop just cuz the map changes color form blue to green ( or whatever). This should get some Pakiturbans well wound deciding how to deal with this 'threat.' And it would be doubly interesting to see what the consequences are when (not if) our guys do go into Pakland. Seems there is another article posted here that showed nothing happened when some Afghan troops fired across the border.
A militant commander on the Indian armys most wanted list in Indian-held Kashmir was shot dead during a fierce gunbattle with troops, police said on Friday. The militants bodyguard was also slain, police said. The two were killed late on Thursday in Morha Daraj village, police officer Farooq Ahmed said.
Mohammed Yasin, a top commander of Hizbul Mujahedin, and his bodyguard were killed during a four-hour battle sparked by a raid on a hideout following a tip-off, police said. Yasin was the Indian armys most wanted militant in the southern twin districts of Rajouri and Poonch. His death is a big setback to Hizbul, Ahmed said.
This article starring:
Farooq Ahmed
MOHAMED YASIN
Hizbul Mujahedin
Hizbul Mujahedin
Posted by: Fred ||
03/03/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Mohammed Yasin went from most wanted to "soon to be forgotten" in a pleasant piece of Rantburg evening news.
Hizbul Mujahedin
Largest Kashmiri militant group.
Militant wing of Pakistan's largest Islamic political party, the Jamaat-i-Islami.
Targets Indian forces and leaders in Kashmir.
MULTAN: An anti-terrorist judge was wounded and three policemen were killed when a remote-controlled bomb attached to a bicycle exploded in Multan on Friday, said police. Judge Bashir Ahmed Bhatti, who often hears cases against Islamic militants suspected terrorists, was among nine people injured by the blast around 100 metres away from the court building at around 8:50am, said district police chief Munir Ahmed Chishti. APP reported that 11 people were injured in the attack.
AP quoted the city police chief as saying that Bhatti was travelling to his court when the bomb went off. The blast wrecked the front end of the car believed to be the judges and left blood stains on the seats and the ground, said an AFP reporter from the scene of the attack. A police van was almost destroyed.
A bomb of high intensity was planted on a bicycle in front of a basketball stadium near the court, and it exploded as the car of the special anti-terrorism court judge passed."
A bomb of high intensity was planted on a bicycle in front of a basketball stadium near the court, and it exploded as the car of the special anti-terrorism court judge passed. It was a targeted attack, said Chishti, ruling out the possibility of a suicide attack. Two police gunmen died on the spot, and another nine people were injured: the judge, six policemen and two bystanders, said Chishti. He declined to say who might have been behind the attack.
An injured policeman later died at a local hospital, said doctor Fahim Javed at Nishtar Hospital, bringing the death toll to three. He said that the three wounded policemen were in critical condition. He identified two of the three people who died as Mohammed Iqbal and Ijaz Ahmed. AP quoted Javed as saying that Bhatti was in critical condition, but APP quoted the Nishtar Hospital medical superintendent as saying that the judges condition was stable.
Police cordoned off the area following the attack, and bomb disposal squad officers collected evidence and fragments of the bomb. It was a locally made high-intensity device, said a bomb disposal officer. The bomb was thought to have been detonated by remote control, said regional police chief Mohammad Ali. Nobody immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. Mirza Mohammed Ali, another police officer, said Bhatti was hearing the case of Malik Ishaq, a leader of the outlawed Sunni Muslim militant group, Sipah-e-Sihaba, which is implicated in sectarian attacks against Shias. Ishaq was arrested two years ago, and was accused of killing several Shias, said Mohammed Ali, although he had no details of the charges against the suspect. Chishti said that Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi had announced that Rs 500,000 would be given as financial assistance to the families of the dead policemen.
This article starring:
Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi
district police chief Munir Ahmed Chishti
doctor Fahim Javed
Ijaz Ahmed
Judge Bashir Ahmed Bhatti
MALIK ISHAQ
Sipah-e-Sihaba
Mirza Mohammed Ali, another police officer
Mohammed Iqbal
regional police chief Mohammad Ali
Sipah-e-Sihaba
Posted by: Fred ||
03/03/2007 00:00 ||
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BAGHDAD- US and Iraqi troops will soon launch a major sweep in the Shi'ite militia bastion of Sadr City, military officials said today.
American-led forces have conducted targeted raids in the Mehdi Army militia stronghold of anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr aimed at death squad leaders, but have so far held off from a concerted push into the teeming slum.
In the new campaign, US and Iraqi troops will set up joint checkpoints in Sadr City and conduct large-scale door-to-door operations on houses and buildings, a significant escalation in a plan regarded as the last chance to avert sectarian civil war.
Washington calls the Mehdi Army the greatest threat to peace in Iraq. Sadr is a key political ally of Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and the raids could test Maliki's pledge to target all militants regardless of sectarian affiliation.
Details of the plan emerged during a meeting of senior US and Iraqi military commanders on Thursday in Sadr City, which was also attended by the mayor of Sadr City.
Sipping minted tea in a police station as four helicopter gunships hovered overheard, they agreed to set up a joint security station in Sadr City in a few days.
It will be the first US forces have had a permanent presence in the slum since the 2003 invasion.
"We have conducted special operations in Sadr City for some months but this will be the first time we will launch full-scale operations there and the first time we will have a permanent presence there," said Colonel Billy Don Farris, coalition forces commander for Sadr City and Adhamiya neighborhoods.
"There will be no sanctuaries in Iraq. We are going to go to every building and every house and incrementally clear the area. We will target any group that attacks Iraqi and US troops," he told Reuters.
US commanders have said past plans to stabilize Baghdad failed because the Shi'ite-led government shied away from cracking down on Shi'ite militiamen. These are blamed for many sectarian killings but regarded by many Shi'ites as their best defence against Sunni Arab insurgents such as al Qaeda.
Elusive enemy
Sadr, who led two uprisings against US forces in 2004, criticised the new security plan this week and said it would not work because US forces were involved.
Sheikh Raheem al-Darruji, the mayor of Sadr City, said the Sadrists were willing to give the plan a chance but said if attacks against the Shi'ite community continued "the people of Sadr City would defend again their neighbourhoods".
#1
The trick to this is that they are not seeking confrontation, but occupation, of every nook and cranny in Sadr City. Instead of Mahdi army on every street corner, there will be Iraqi army and police, many of whom, at least at first, will be Kurds.
The secret is in realizing that the Mahdi army is mostly a vigilante organization. And as such, the main reason for its popular existence is maintaining law and order when the government does not.
This means that when the government *does* show that it is maintaining L&O, the vigilante organization withers.
#2
This article is from Feb 15, but it's the best I've read about how we are moving to that 'occupation' stance. The most dangerous spot I could find
BAGHDAD Army Capt. Erik Peterson's newly established combat outpost is just blocks from a battle line separating Sunnis and Shiite militias, who fight in the streets almost every day.
Gunfire crackles through the night, and snipers occasionally fire into the fortified compound, which houses U.S. and Iraqi soldiers. Yet Peterson says it's the perfect place to start restoring order.
"I wanted the most dangerous spot I could find, so I planted my flag right here," Peterson says.
Peterson and his men from Company C of the 2nd Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment spend 24 hours a day in this outpost in Ghazaliyah, one of Baghdad's most violent neighborhoods. Sandbags are stacked in the windows, and the buildings are ringed by concrete walls. It's surrounded by vacant lots, garbage-strewn streets and abandoned homes.
Working side by side with Iraqi soldiers, the troops use the building as a base for traditional combat with insurgents and militias. They also go out on patrol and deal with everything from neighborhood squabbles to kerosene deliveries. "We've been the cops," says Peterson, 29. "We've been the local army. We've been the ambulance service."
Outposts such as this are a centerpiece of the new U.S. and Iraqi plan to improve security in Baghdad. About 100 American and 120 Iraqi soldiers are crammed into the outpost's buildings, sleeping on cots. The outpost functions like a local police station, intended to quell violence and improve daily contact with ordinary Iraqis.
"If you want an image of what America's long-term plans for Iraq look like, it's right here at Balad. Tucked away in a rural no man's land 43 miles north of Baghdad, this 15-square-mile mini-city of thousands of trailers and vehicle depots is one of four "superbases" where the Pentagon plans to consolidate U.S. forces, taking them gradually from the front lines of the Iraq war. (Two other bases are slated for the British and Iraqi military.) The shift is part of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's plan to draw down U.S. ground forces in Iraq significantly by the end of 2006. Pentagon planners hope that this partial withdrawal will, in turn, help take the edge off rising opposition to the war at homelong enough to secure Iraq's nascent democracy."
Posted by: Bruce from MS ||
03/03/2007 17:23 Comments ||
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#6
Quoting Newsweak, huh, Bruce?
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/03/2007 17:26 Comments ||
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#7
What is your point, Bruce?
Posted by: Dave D. ||
03/03/2007 17:37 Comments ||
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#8
A Newsweek article from May, 2006, and you find that authoritative, Bruce dear? For the rest of the universe it is almost a year later. Do try to catch up.
#9
Bruce from MS -- well, May 06 was a few months ago. Apparently, you have missed, there is a new sheriff in town and changes are happening. (Check out the pics in the post above)
Also, if you had read the article, you would have found, these guys WERE on a big base, they have now moved into a complex of six houses they found empty and are now paying rent to the Iraqis who returned with their arrival.
Before setting up the outpost, Peterson's unit was stationed at a massive U.S. base near the Baghdad airport. Soldiers patrolled into Ghazaliyah and then returned to their base at Camp Liberty, about 2 miles away. As in other neighborhoods in Baghdad, conditions in Ghazaliyah worsened. If there was trouble, it took his troops time to get ready and drive here, says Peterson, from Chesterton, Ind. Now, his troops can join with Iraqi forces and respond to trouble immediately.
And this is from a Feb 15th article, not one written in May 06.
Visit the 'Burg a little more often, the daily updates are worth it to keep you current with the happenings.
#10
So why are we , once again, telling everybody, including the bad guys what we are going to do? this gives them time to either reinforce or melt away. just friggin' do it, already.
So my title is a bit lame. The original title is "US air strikes target insurgents in Iraq" - as opposed to the fluffy bunnies and baby ducks they usually go after.
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. air strikes in and around Baghdad killed senior insurgents suspected of targeting U.S. helicopters and seven members of what the U.S. military said on Saturday was an al Qaeda cell responsible for car bombings.
The U.S. military said an air strike on Friday north of Baghdad near the town of Taji, which is home to a major U.S. air base, destroyed weaponry including a vehicle mounted with anti-aircraft artillery.
"Coalition forces believe key terrorists were killed during the air strike ... Intelligence reports indicated this network is responsible for threats to coalition aircraft," the military said in a statement, without elaborating.
Insurgents have shot down eight helicopters in Iraq since January 20, killing 28 people, mostly soldiers. Six of those helicopters were U.S. military aircraft and two belonged to a private American security firm.
U.S. commanders say insurgents appear to be targeting helicopters to undermine a security crackdown in Baghdad that began last month and is regarded as a last ditch effort to stop Iraq from tearing itself apart.
The U.S. military said another air strike in Arab Jabour in southern Baghdad on Saturday killed seven al Qaeda suspects thought responsible for a large number of suicide car bombings.
After being fired on by insurgents on the opposite side of the Tigris river, U.S. forces called in aircraft which dropped two bombs, setting off a secondary explosion the U.S. military said indicated the targeted building contained explosives.
A U.S. spokesman said there were no civilian casualties in the strike.
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/03/2007 12:41 ||
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#1
Intelligence payoff from picking up those Iranians guesting at the SCIRI MP's house?
#4
Knowing our guys, they probably set up a hunter killer op, with one bird acting as bait while one or more others kept watch.
As soon as the missile is launched, its launch position comes under some hairy fire from one or two low angles. And because the bait helicopter is light loaded and expecting fire, it is ready to avoid or countermeasure quickly.
Bodies of 14 Interior Ministry employees, who earlier were allegedly kidnapped by a Sunni militant group, were found in Diyala province, northeast of Baghdad, Interior Ministry source told Xinhua.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/03/2007 00:00 ||
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A car bomb blew up in the Shiite- dominated Sadr City in eastern Baghdad on Friday, killing at least three and wounding 20 others, Iraqi police source told Xinhua. "An explosive-laden car parked in a Cars Fair Field in Sadr City detonated around 5:00 p.m. (1400 GMT), killing at least three people and injuring 20 others," the source said on condition of anonymity.
Sadr City is the stronghold of Shiite militia "Mehdi Army" loyal to Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. This area has been repeatedly targeted by car bombings and suicide bombings in the past. On Nov. 23 last year, a series of apparently coordinated bombings killed 200 people and wounded another 250 there, making it the deadliest attack in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.
Meanwhile, the police source said that another car bomb went off on Friday afternoon near a passing police patrol in Saydiyah neighborhood in southern Baghdad, killing a policeman and wounding two others, including a policeman. The blast also damaged two police vehicles and several civilian cars, the source added. Violence persists in Baghdad despite the presence of tens of thousands of U.S. and Iraqi soldiers across the capital in a major security crackdown aimed at curbing insurgency and sectarian violence in the war-torn country.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/03/2007 00:00 ||
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Suspected Muslim insurgents shot dead two teenage female students who were on their way to take an exam Saturday in Thailand's restive south, police said.
Kanokkarn Khumvaen, 15, and Sukanda Srichan, 17, were heading to Yala Technical College in Yala province when unidentified assailants ambushed and shot them in neighboring Narathiwat province, said Police Lt. Chavanin Kitichaiwat.
Also on Saturday, a Muslim man was shot and killed as he was riding to work at a rubber plantation in Yala, police said.
#1
Kanokkarn Khumvaen, 15, and Sukanda Srichan, 17, were heading to Yala Technical College in Yala province when unidentified assailants ambushed and shot them
Thai army rangers are searching for a band of armed militants who escaped after an exchange of gunfire near their mountain stronghold in this troubled southern province Friday, a senior police officer said Saturday.
Pol. Maj-Gen. Yongyuth Charoenvanich, Narathiwat police chief, said army rangers are sweeping for the escaped insurgents and their wounded, believed still hiding on Ta Wae mountain. "It's believed there are not less than 10 militants in the group with a blood trail found, indicating that some were able to escape," according to Maj-Gen. Yongyuth.
Bodies of five dead men and identification cards were found at the scene of the clash and, according to the police chief, none of the five were on the security list for creating violence in the region. The five corpses are now in a hospital morque here for autopsy.
In addition to the bodies and ID cards, rangers also seized a militant training camp at the foot of the mountain. It was the first time security officials had discovered an active militant training base since the renewed violence erupted in Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat. Two M-16 assault rifles, a shotgun and ammunition were found. Officicals believed that the assault rifles were stolen from an army camp in Narathiwat during a raid by militants in January 2004 which sparked renewed violence in Narathiwat, Pattani and Yala.
The training camp, according to senior army and police officers, is at the foot of the mountain and is equipped with a tent and 10 beds. A training field was seen near the tent, they said, adding that army rangers had also seized clothing, Yawi language (a local Malay dialect) teaching materials, rice and dried food.
Army spokesman Col. Akara Tip-roj said at least three groups of youths had received training at the camp, and that training took 30-45 days for each group to complete. Military officers reportedly believed that similar training camps have been set up in dense jungles in the three troubled provinces.
Meanwhile, Col. Sansern Kaewkamnerd, Council for National Security spokesman, said that with cooperation by local security personnel 192 suspected militants were invited to join a military-led rehabilitation course, with 33 now undertaking the course. Thirty-nine suspects were arrested and confessed to staging unrest in the area. Col. Sansern said these operations were launched between October 1 last year, and the end of February this year.
#1
More than almost anything I hope this article has nothing but truth in it. I'd love to think that we are taking the gloves off in dealing with the koranimals from iran, since they really need an industrial sized can of whup-ass opened on them....
#2
It's amazing what can be accomplished with a few hundred thousand good men & women in the heart of what used to be safe territory for jihadis. If this story isn't quite true, there is obviously a great deal going on in the region which the MSM and the US electorate is unaware of.
#4
Some stories just make me feel warm and fuzzy inside, and a story suggesting we seized a real, live, evil, Iranian general is great. As a matter of fact, he does know where the bodies are buried.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/03/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
I dated a woman for a while that loved wearing dresses like that.
True story, I woke up one morning and she was watching me sleep, which is all hunky dorey, except she said, "I was just watching you and wondering what you would do if I put a pillow over your mouth."
Oddly enough, we didn't last long after that.
The moral of the story here gentlemen, is that if your woman likes wearing those old fashioned kinds of dresses, sleep in different rooms and lock your door.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
03/03/2007 0:57 Comments ||
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#2
Mike N.—Channeling Mike H.?
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
03/03/2007 2:01 Comments ||
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#3
Reminds me of that poem:
Lizzie Borden took an ax
And gave her mother forty whacks.
When she saw what she had done
She gave her father forty-one!
#8
BTW, maybe it's the dress but Anna looks like a very short lady.
could be, JDB. Her bio sez she performed for Ziegfeld, and as a setting atop wedding cakes
nahhh I just made that part up
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/03/2007 10:30 Comments ||
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#9
Actually, TW, I knew a lady that was shapped like that by Nature (well, not as much, add some 5-6 inches in the circumference of the mid-part). She was my 1st X. Of course, in time, she got closer to a sausage shape, so the jury is out on that one. ;-)
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.
The NATO force in Afghanistan said on Friday that its soldiers and warplanes had killed 12 Taliban in a battle in the south while a known terrorist was arrested in a separate raid. The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said in a statement that the battle, which had occurred in Zabul province on Tuesday, kicked off when 30 militants attacked a joint ISAF-Afghan patrol with gunfire and rocket-propelled grenades. The military struck back with heavy-weapons fire and close air support, the statement said, while confirming that an ISAF soldier had sustained injuries. Most foreign soldiers in Zabul are United States nationals. 
A militant commander on the Indian armys most wanted list in Indian-held Kashmir was shot dead during a fierce gunbattle with troops, police said on Friday. The militants bodyguard was also slain, police said. The two were killed late on Thursday in Morha Daraj village, police officer 
MULTAN: An anti-terrorist judge was wounded and three policemen were killed when a remote-controlled bomb attached to a bicycle exploded in Multan on Friday, said police. 
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. air strikes in and around Baghdad killed senior insurgents suspected of targeting U.S. helicopters and seven members of what the U.S. military said on Saturday was an al Qaeda cell responsible for car bombings. 
Bodies of 14 Interior Ministry employees, who earlier were allegedly kidnapped by a Sunni militant group, were found in Diyala province, northeast of Baghdad, Interior Ministry source told Xinhua.
A car bomb blew up in the Shiite- dominated Sadr City in eastern Baghdad on Friday, killing at least three and wounding 20 others, Iraqi police source told Xinhua. "An explosive-laden car parked in a Cars Fair Field in Sadr City detonated around 5:00 p.m. (1400 GMT), killing at least three people and injuring 20 others," the source said on condition of anonymity. 
