I think we're about to find out the truth about counterinsurgency, which is that it is basically a mopping-up operation possible only after you've wiped out big chunks of the enemy's forces. Meanwhile, the softly-softly approach begins to rack up a body count similar to what we saw in the highest casualty months in Iraq:
Warplanes in Afghanistan are dropping bombs and missiles on insurgents at about 25% of the rate they did three years ago despite more widespread combat, reflecting commanders' emphasis on reducing civilian deaths.
So far this year, jets have dropped bombs on only 10% of their combat support missions, compared with almost 40% in 2007, Air Force records show. The decline coincides with the arrival of most of the additional 30,000 U.S. troops ordered to Afghanistan by President Obama. Attacks on U.S. and allied troops as well as deaths are at all-time highs.
The reduction in bombing comes amid debate about rules restricting the use of overwhelming firepower for troops in combat. Some military analysts, including Barry Watts, who flew combat missions in Vietnam, say the rules have increased risk to ground forces fighting the Taliban.
"My sort of gut reaction is that there is frustration about the rules of engagement," said Watts of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. "It looks to me like it's gone a little too far in terms of limiting (civilian casualties)."
Meanwhile, commanders, including Gen. David Petraeus, the top officer in Afghanistan, have said they will examine how the directives that govern the use of firepower, including airstrikes, are practiced in Afghanistan.
Petraeus and other commanders have drawn a distinction between the rules, which are aimed at protecting civilians, and how they are implemented, suggesting that the review will focus on whether some commanders have placed too many restrictions on firepower.
The rules are being reviewed to ensure troops don't misinterpret them and are able to use firepower when needed.
Petraeus "wants to make sure that as we move forward with any adjustments, if there are any, that we continue to protect the Afghan civilians as much ... as we possibly can," said Lt. Gen. David Rodriguez, the No. 2 allied commander in Afghanistan.
Still, Rodriguez said he was not aware of any incident in which airstrikes were denied when troops were in a tight spot.
Eliminating civilian deaths can reduce attacks on coalition troops, according to a recent study by the non-partisan National Bureau of Economic Research. If two civilian deaths from a coalition attack could be eliminated, there would be six fewer violent incidents in the area in the next six weeks, the study showed. The report was done for commanders and briefed to top military officials.
Military operations that alienate the public spur insurgents' recruiting and overall support, the study said.
Marines often face the tension of protecting civilians while also fighting the Taliban.
A Marine who loses a friend in a fight "will drop a bomb on any man," said Marine Col. Randall Newman, a regimental commander in Helmand province. Sometimes commanders have to hold the impulses of the Marines in check if civilians are at risk.
So far, Newman said, the rules haven't hurt his ability to fight the enemy and firepower is used when appropriate. "I've got every tool in the toolbox and we use them when appropriate," he said.
One complication, Newman said, is that the enemy knows the firepower restrictions, too, and incorporates that into its tactics.
#5
.....said Lt. Gen. David Rodriguez, the No. 2 allied commander in Afghanistan. Still, Rodriguez said he was not aware of any incident in which airstrikes were denied when troops were in a tight spot.
Let me help you General. Under the current ROE, Air strikes, arty, even returning fire cannot even be requested or conducted unless the troops in contact have PID" (positive ID) of the enemy. So, as a starting point, take a count of the engagements less PID. It shouldn't be too difficult, there are many each week.
#7
I suspect BEIJING = CHINA recognizes that iff the US phased withdrawal from Afghanistan = AFPAK is delayed for any reason, the Radic Islamist Militant Groups will simply cross over the borders into WEST CHINA, INDJUH [India] + OTHER CENTRAL ASIA STATES, + create shennanigans anew.
Which is why CHINA is escalating or intensifying its VARIOUS BILATERAL COOPS WID ISLAMABAD [AMAP before 2011 + after].
#8
Geneva Convention rules should only apply if the warring parties qualify...ie...uniformed combatants.
If the enemy doesn't wear uniforms is not readily identifiable and hides between women and children, how do we know if it's civilians that we killed?
And because of this there is no way to prevent collateral damage and civilian deaths.
Posted by: Mike Hunt ||
07/14/2010 22:25 Comments ||
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Eight American troops died in attacks in southern Afghanistan, including a car bombing and gunfight outside a police compound in Kandahar, officials said Wednesday as the Taliban push back against a coalition effort to secure the volatile region.
A suicide attacker slammed a car bomb into the gate of the headquarters of the elite Afghan National Civil Order Police late Tuesday in Kandahar, a NATO statement said. Minutes later, insurgents opened fire with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades.
Three U.S. troops, an Afghan policeman and five civilians died in the attack, but NATO said the insurgents failed to enter the compound.
The special police unit, known as ANCOP, had only recently been dispatched to Kandahar to set up checkpoints along with international forces to try to secure the south's largest city, the spiritual birthplace of the Taliban.
The dead civilians included three Afghan translators and two security guards, Kandahar provincial police chief Sardar Mohammad Zazai said.
Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi telephoned reporters Wednesday to claim responsibility for the attack. The insurgents, which are prone to exaggerate death tolls inflicted on Afghan and international security forces, claimed 13 international troops and eight Afghan security forces died in the raid.
NATO and Afghan troops are fanning out elsewhere in Kandahar province to pressure insurgents in rural areas. The strategy is to improve security with more and better-trained police and troops so that capable governance can take root and development projects can move forward and win the loyalty of ordinary Afghans.
The Taliban have responded by ratcheting suicide attacks and bombings, making last month the deadliest of the nearly 9-year-old war for international forces.
On Wednesday, four more American troops were killed by a roadside bomb in the south, while one more U.S. service member died the same day of wounds from a gunbattle.
So far in July, 45 international troops have died in Afghanistan, 33 of them Americans.
In other attacks around the country, nine Afghan civilians died in the south when their vehicle hit a roadside bomb in the volatile district of Marjah in Helmand province, the Ministry of Interior said. Another homemade bomb killed two security guards traveling on a road in eastern Paktika province.
Two suspected Taliban also died in Helmand's Lashkar Gar district when the roadside bomb they were trying to plant exploded prematurely, the ministry said.
Homemade explosives planted in roads and pathways are a leading killer of international forces and also kill hundreds of civilians each year.
#1
I have a new name for Obama. LBJ. With the same type of troop buildup he just implemented in a place where such a build up will not work, Obama now has his very own Vietnam.
* NEWS KERALA > NATO SECRETARY-GENERAL: AFGHANISTAN TO FALL UNDER CONTROL OF TALIBAN IFF NATO PULLS OUT TOO EARLY.
* PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUM > AFGHANISTAN: US SANDWICHED IN AFGHANISTAN BETWEEN INDIA'S "COLD START" DOCTRINE + PAKISTAN'S [Anti-India/New Delhi Nuclear] DEFENSE WITH WATER [Regional Water Strifes, Future "Water Wars"?] FUELING THE FIRE.
* MEMRI.ORG > [paraph]AL QAEDA'S OFFICIAL FOR PAKISTAN USTED AHMID FAROOQ JUSTIFIES THE TALIBAN JIHAD/INSURGENCY AGZ PAKISTAN SAYING "IFF THERE IS CAUSE THAT IS RESPONSIBLE FOR TURNING THE ENTIRE REGION INTO BLOOSHED + WAR, IT IS THE PAKISTAN ARMY....IT IS PAKISTAN WHICH ALLOWED ITS AIR-SPACE, TERRITORY, AIR BASES, CITIES, + COMPLEXES TO BE USED BY AMERICA"
Also from MEMRI > EGYPTIAN GOVT. DAILY: SYRIA COMMITTED TO IRANIAN AGENDA [helping Tehran = Iran foster Regional distrust + Strife between EGYPT + REGIONAL ARAB-MUSLIM NEIGHBORS.
Wehell, HEZBOLLAH is repor concentrated on both the LEBANESE BORDER WID ISRAEL AS WELL AS ON THE LEBANESE BORDER WID SYRIA, + MINOR AREAS [for now] AGZ TUREKEY.
Burundi stepped up security in response to a direct threat from Somalia's Shabab, who carried out deadly attacks against Uganda, Bujumbura's military partner in Mogadishu, the army said Tuesday.
"We want to reassure the Burundian population. We have taken the necessary measures and adopted strategies that I cannot reveal," army spokesman Gaspard Baratuza told AFP.
"Shabab will not find in Burundi a terrain where it can operate," he said.
On Sunday night, three explosions ripped through crowds watching the football World Cup final at two entertainment spots in the Ugandan capital, killing at least 76 and wounding dozens.
The blasts, the worst attacks since the 1998 Al-Qaeda bombings against the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, were claimed by Somalia's insurgent group Shabab, whose leadership has proclaimed its allegiance to Osama bin Laden.
The group said the attacks were in retaliation for Uganda's leading role in the African Union force (AMISOM) which has thwarted their efforts to topple Somalia's western-backed president and take over the whole of Mogadishu.
The Kampala bombings demonstrated the Shabab's ability to strike beyond Somali borders and the Islamist rebels' spokesman warned Burundi it could be next on the list.
"Burundi ought to learn a lesson from what happened in Kampala because the Shabab's mujahideen (holy warriors) are unstoppable," Shabab spokesman Ali Mohamoud Rage told reporters on Monday.
But Baratuza was defiant and insisted that his country would not pull out the three battalions it has deployed to AMISOM since December 2007.
"We have taken this threat seriously. But while Shabab wants to carry out attacks to show its strength, I don't think this is a true measure of strength," Baratuza said.
"There is no reason to withdraw Burundian troops from Somalia... it would not stop Shabab from (carrying out attacks abroad). We must continue to help the Somali population, which is suffering," he added.
Uganda and Burundi are the only two countries who have agreed to send troops to Somalia as part of the African Union's peacekeeping efforts there.
The Shabab accuse them of being embarked in a Christian crusade against Muslim Somalia and of killing civilians during their operations to secure the weak transitional administration's key institutions.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/14/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
NEWS KERALA > UGANDAN BLASTS [Kampala] SHOW AL-SHABAAB INTENT ON STRIKING US HOMELAND.
FBI, etc. USGovt Boyz on their way to Uganda.
versus
* SAME > NIGERIA: ABDULMUTALLUB - NATION MUST SEE TRIAL.
#3
I doubt if we need another Crusade. They didn't work well for the most part. You need to be a (capital) Believer, otherwise you end up sacking Constantinople and not doing much else.
It'd make a lot more sense to dismantle the Somali cancer sore: recognize Puntland and Somaliland. The remainder can either go to Ethiopia and/or Kenya or remain "unincorporated." There should be no Somali passport, and no Somali should be allowed close to a civilized country.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/14/2010 11:44 Comments ||
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#4
no Somali should be allowed close to a civilized country
Too late. Our own government has already imported a whole bunch of these people.
#5
I have a better idea: do what Fred said about dismantling Somalia, but rather than allow the sore to fester in the "unincorporated" area, use it as an international target range. The US Navy lost Vieques Island - Somalia would be a GREAT replacement. Open the area for pounding by any nation that has the resources to get there (that'll eliminate a lot, but not all, of the states that Somalia once depended upon). Allow the use of ANY type of weapon except nukes. Build a high fence around the area, and patrol it with rabid dogs. We can check back every 25 years or so to see if the people there have learned anything about living in peace with their neighbors. Still haven't learned, or refused to accept? Rinse and repeat.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/14/2010 18:19 Comments ||
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More than 20 al-Qaida militants on Wednesday raided two highly-guarded security intelligence buildings in the south province of Abyan, killing at least one intelligence agent and wounding five others, said a statement posted on Yemeni Defense Ministry's website 26sep.net.
The ministry said security forces had repelled attacks on the intelligence headquarters' building and the general security camp in Zinjubar town of Abyan.
"Al-Qaida militants took advantage of the summer vacation, using a neighboring school to carry out its attacks, in which they used heavy machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades. However, their attempts were foiled by our security forces," said the statement.
The security forces "killed two al-Qaida militants and captured seven others in the fierce clashes," added the statement.
However, a provincial intelligence officer told Xinhua that none of the al-Qaida militants had been killed, wounded or captured because there were not enough security forces at that time.
Earlier Wednesday, a local security official confirmed to Xinhua that at least 10 intelligence personnel were killed in the two coordinated gun attacks.
The official said the assailants carried out coordinated attacks against the two neighboring buildings of the intelligence office and the general security camp in Zinjubar.
The attackers launched serious shootings by heavy machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades from four cars and broke into the two buildings. The dead and injured were rushed to a nearby hospital, said the official.
The attackers managed to flee while backup security forces were sent immediately to the scene, added the official.
On June 19, militants raided the intelligence headquarters in the southern port city of Aden, killing at least 11. Al-Qaida later claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it killed at least 24 people.
Yemen, the ancestral homeland of al-Qaida network leader Osama bin Laden, has intensified security operations and air raids against terrorist groups, after the Yemen-based al-Qaida wing claimed responsibility for a failed Christmas Day attempt to blow up a U.S. passenger plane bound for Detroit last year.
Posted by: tipper ||
07/14/2010 11:45 ||
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Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Arabia
#1
VARIOUS > IS YEMEN THE NEXT AFGHANISTAN?
* Also, COUNTERRTERRORISM BLOG > COCAINE, AL QAEDA, + TROPICAL GANGSTERS; + [US] DOJ: TERROR CAMPS STILL OPERATE IN PAKISTAN TRIBAL AREAS.
* SAME CT > BOLIVIA'S TRI-BORDER ZONE A HAVEN FOR TERROR FUNDING. AREA INCLUDING PARAGUAY, BRAZIL, + ARGENTINA TO SUPPORT ISLAMIC GROUP + NETWORKS.
HEZBOLLAH, HAMAS, + Al QAEDA = More MilTerr Groups anticipated to set themselves up in Region + Americas.
[Arab News] Bangladeshi police charged 824 people -- most of them border guards -- with murder, arson and other criminal acts in last year's deadly mutiny among security forces, officials said Monday.
The guards revolted over alleged discrimination and demands for higher pay and other perks enjoyed by army officers, who control troops along the frontier.
Of the 74 people killed, 57 were military commanders.
Several civilians including two politicians were among those charged Monday, said chief investigator Abdul Kahar Akhanda, calling the February 2009 mutiny a pre-planned and cold-blooded massacre.
State prosecutor Mosharraf Hossain Kazal said the accused face the death penalty.
The border guard revolt rattled a new government, taking place just two months after the influential military -- which has backed 21 coups in the country's 38-year history -- relinquished power to civilian rule.
The army was angry with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's handling of the mutiny, which ended through negotiations, including offers of amnesty.
When dozens of bodies were discovered in shallow graves or sewers, the government rescinded the amnesty offer for leaders of the revolt. Hasina has said she will ensure justice for the families of the victims.
The mutiny started in Dhaka and spread nationwide. The mutineers opened fire, blocked roads and drove commanding officers from offices and homes.
Investigators have questioned 9,500 border guards and civilians and detained 2,307 suspects in what is the country's largest criminal case.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/14/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
ION TOPIX > [Burma = Myanmar] IRRAWADDY: JUNTA BUILDS/FORMS A MISSLE FORCE TO GUARD AGZ EXTERNAL THREATS.
and
* WMF > INDONESIA IN PANIC: CHINA STILL CLAIMS FORMAL SOVEREIGNTY OVER THE 27 ISLANDS + NATURAL RESOURCES OF KEPULUAN NANTUNA/NATUNA [located between the MALAY PENINSULA + KALIMANTAN].
This story is expected to run into tomorrow as more bodies are found.
A mass grave containing the remains of at least six unidentified individuals was found this morning by Mexican Federal and state police.
The discovery, at a junkyard named Cranes Monterrey at 820 Calle RÃo Escondido in the Industrial La Silla district, was made because of an anonymous tip to police about the grave. So far six bodies have been found, but investigators expect the toll to rise.
Nine graves have been found so far. Police also seized two vehicles, a GMC pickup truck and a Chrysler sedan.
Google Translate with a hat tip to Nota Roja for additional details.
Three separate shootouts between civilians, and between armed suspects and police ended with a toll of at least two dead including one Zapopan police officer Monday afternoon, according to Mexican press reports.
Ricardo Rubio Gonzalez was shot to death as he dismounted his official vehicle with his partner at about 1340 hrs near the intersection of Avenida Sierra de Mazamitla and calle Teotihuacän in the Pinar de La Calma district. The officers were part of the Miscellaneous Crime division of the Zapopan police department and were conducting an investigation when four armed black hooded suspects opened fire on the two. Witnesses say they were shot with AR-15 assault rifles.
In the second incident at about 1915 hrs the same day, two groups of people in two vehicles began firing on one another near the intersection of calles Arturo Chaires and Guadalupe Sevilla in the Paseos del Sol district.
A Ford Lobo pickup truck was crashed into by a Lincoln pickup truck and the occupants of the Lincoln and another vehicle, a Nissan Altima behind the Ford open fired on the occupants, two men and a woman.
The driver of the Ford sped away from the attack while the occupants of the Lincoln continued their armed assault. Along with way at least two unrelated vehicles were wrecked.
The Ford Lobo arrived at an area private hospital, Las Arboledas, where the driver entered. Reports say one of the victims in the opening assault died at the hospital.
According to witnesses, occupants of the Lincoln pickup launched a 40mm grenade through glass windows into an emergency room. The resulting explosion wounded one attending physician and caused damage to an adjacent operating room.
Following the grenade attack, the driver of the Lincoln pickup truck fled south, ran a traffic light and crashed into another truck overturning it near the intersection of calles Carnero y Galileo Galilei. No injuries were reported in that wreck.
A few blocks away near the intersection of calles San Antonio and Circunvalación Sur in the Las Fuentes district, occupants in the Lincoln were intercepted by police and Mexican Army troops and finally stopped. Three were arrested.
Inside the truck police found seven 40mm grenades, a grenade launcher, three assault rifles, two pistols, nine magazines of various calibers, a radio set for police frequencies, as well as caps and jackets with logos of the Federal Pollice.
Reports are the attacks were commissioned by the Sinaloa crime gang and were part of an ongoing battle for control of drug trafficking routes through Jalisco.
Google Translate
Elements of the Mexican Army 21st Military Zone concluded a counternarcotics sweep in Michoacan yielding the arrest of four unidentified suspected drug traffickers and the seizure of a number of weapons and drugs, according to Mexican news reports.
The operation began July 8th and concluded July 11th in the municipalities (counties) of Senguio, Zitacuaro, Ario de Rosales, Ciudad Hidalgo, Irimbo, Maravatao, Jungapeo, Ocampo, Benito Juarez and Tacambaro.
The Army seized eight vehicles including two 6.5 ton trucks, a BMW sedan and a Jeep Cherokee. Also seized were 150 kilograms of unpackaged marijuana, 82 kilograms of packaged marijuana, 75,600 pesos ( $5,951.58 ) in cash and $233.00 US.
Weapons seized include 24 rifles including AR-15 assault rifles, 21 handguns, 13 magazines and 894 cartridges. The Army also found and dismantled a synthetic drug lab which contained about 300 liters of chemicals.
25 people were killed in drug and gang violence in northern Mexico which included 12 people found shot to death and dumped on a road in Tamaulipas.
Five people in all were shot to death near Chihuahua, Chihuahua and near Parral, Chihuahua in three separate crimes Monday afternoon, according to the Mexican daily La Polaka. Two unidentified individuals were found shot to death in the Cimarrón district north of Chihuahua city. Investigators think the victims were previous abducted near calles RÃo de Janeiro and Carbonel in the Panamericana district.
Two unidentified men ere found shot to death minutes later near the intersection of calles ArtÃculo 35 and López Rayón in the Cimarron district aboard a Toyota sedan. Witnesses say armed suspects riding aboard a Dodge Durango and Ford Lobo shot the two then fled in two different directions.
An unidentified man was found beaten and shot to death on the airport road in Parral. The victim's head was covered in black plastic and investigators found spent shell casings around the body.
Three men died and a fourth was wounded in an attack in Juarez Tuesday morning, according to Mexican press reports. The attack took place near the intersection of calles Gaviota and Pablo Lopez in the Granjas Chapultepec district when an armed suspect shot at a group of four men. Two died at the scene while a third died later in the hospital.
Two unidentified men were found executed Tuesday morning on a road to Juarez just north of Chihuahua city, say Mexican press accounts. The victims were found on Km. Marker 4 near the Curvas del Perico, bound and gagged using tape with signs of torture. They were shot in the head. Reports suggested the two were previously abducted.
Two individuals were found shot to death aboard their van near Carborca, Sonora, according to Mexican press reports. The victims were found on Km. Marker 13 of the Caborca-Puerto Lobo aboard a Ford van. They had been shot at close range with an AK-47 assault rifle.
Two men were found shot to death in Nogales, Sonora Monday afternoon, according to Mexican press reports. Justin Perez Vega, 40, suffered bullet wounds to his head while another unidentified man in the same shooting died from wounds on his legs. The attack took place on calle Galeana, in the Colonia Obrera district.
Tamaulipas authorities began investigation of 11 men and one woman found shot to death and dumped on a road near Matamoros, Tamaulipas Monday morning. The victims were found on the Valle Hermoso-Ciudad Victoria road near the Las Yescas farm. Reports are all 12 had the letter Z on their clothing, denoting involvement with the criminal gang Los Zetas. The victims had been tortured and shot.
Five unidentified people were abducted at a farm in Coahuila Sunday evening, according to Mexican press reports. Witnesses say two pickup trucks carrying fifteen armed suspects forced the victims inside before they fled the Rancho Alegre farm. A subsequent police alert failed to turn up the vehicles or the victims.
Northern Ireland's political and security leaders condemned Irish nationalist militants Tuesday who injured 82 police officers during two nights of rioting sparked by the province's annual parades by the British Protestant majority.
While most of the officers sustained minor injuries like cuts and bruises, two remained hospitalized: a policeman wounded in the chest and arms by a shotgun blast, and a policewoman who had a paving stone dropped on her head from a shop rooftop above.
The rioting in working-class Catholic parts of Belfast and other towns came both before and after tens of thousands of Protestants of the Orange Order brotherhood marched at 18 locations across Northern Ireland in an annual show of communal strength. It was the worst rioting in Belfast since the same event exactly one year ago. Politicians said the rioters, influenced by Irish Republican Army dissidents opposed to compromise, were chiefly motivated to attack the police themselves. Brian Rea, chairman of a joint Catholic-Protestant board that oversees Northern Ireland police, said the rioters "were intent on causing maximum disruption and inflicting terror on police and the wider community." Several Belfast roads remained closed Tuesday as workers cleared away the remains of the riots: blackened shells of cars that were stolen and torched; roadways littered with glass shards and scorched by impacts from Molotov cocktails; errant objects - wood planks, a beer keg, iron scaffolding, a child's bicycle - that had been thrown at police; garbage cans lined up on a bridge and set on fire.
A moderate Irish nationalist lawmaker, Conal McDevitt, said most rioters were teenagers who lack any coherent political philosophy, only a desire to lash out at police.
"This seems to be as much about aping what they saw previous generations of so-called 'hard men' doing, than protesting or opposing an Orange march," said McDevitt, who asked Catholics to tell police about the rioters living in their communities. "No community deserves to be dragged back into the past by a tiny minority who have no idea why they are rioting or what they want to achieve."
Northern Ireland's main rail line remained partly closed after Irish nationalist rioters in Lurgan, southwest of Belfast, tried to set fire to a train with 55 passengers on board. Nobody was hurt because the engineer drove the train away quickly. Passengers on all Dublin-Belfast rail services were being switched on to buses for the Northern Ireland half of the journey.
"If that train had gone on fire, there would have been a major disaster," said John O'Dowd, a politician from the IRA-linked Sinn Fein party who represents Lurgan in the Northern Ireland Assembly. In Northern Ireland's second-largest city of Londonderry, a lone gunman using a nearby pub for cover fired at least five shots from a handgun at police Tuesday as they tried to extinguish a fire that had engulfed a police armored vehicle. Nobody was hurt, and police said the masked gunman escaped.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/14/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Just wow.
I thought that old fight had quieted down. I Thought they were living in harmony now.
82 police indeed.
Young louts should be ashamed...
really and truly, they don't want to go back to The Troubles.
#3
Ah, saints be praised, the boyos in the North always look forward to the Marching Day festivities. Gives everybody a chance to work off a years worth of pent up stress.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Through a crushing majority, the French lower house of parliament voted on Tuesday a law approving the ban of Muslim women from wearing a full-face veil in public spaces
The bill will now go to the Senate in September, but opponents of the ban in its proposed form worry that it will eventually be overturned by the judges of the Constitutional Council, France's highest legal body.
For, while President Nicolas Sarkozy's determination to ban the niqab and the burqa won enough political support to carry it, opponents argue that it breaches French and European human rights legislation.
The bill defines public space very broadly, including not just government buildings and public transport, but all streets, markets and thoroughfares, private businesses and entertainment venues.
Similar laws are pending in Belgium, Spain and some Italian municipalities, but the ban is particularly sensitive in France, whose rundown city suburbs are home to Europe's biggest Muslim minority.
Last week, Justice Minister Michele Alliot-Marie told lawmakers debating the bill that its adoption would assert French values and help to better integrate Muslim communities into the national way of life.
She said being forced to wear the niqab or the burqa "amounts to being cut off from society and rejecting the very spirit of the French republic that is founded on a desire to live together."
"At a time where our societies are becoming more global and complex, the French people are pondering the future of their nation. Our responsibility is to show vigilance and reaffirm our commonly-shared values," she said.
Critics say the law exploits a non-problem -- only about 1,900 women among France's five to six million Muslims wear a veil -- in a bid to pander to anti-immigration voters and to distract attention from France's economic woes.
Most French Muslims come from France's former colonies in North and West Africa, where wearing the veil is rare, rather than from the Arabian peninsula or Pakistan where niqabs and burqas are a cultural tradition.
Fines of 150 ($190) will be imposed on those caught wearing the veil, after a six-month grace period to allow time to educate Muslim women about the ban.
Men who force their wives or daughters to cover themselves for religious reasons face stiffer penalties of up to 30,000 and a one-year jail term.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/14/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
UK next please but i doubt it with the amount of volatile Pakistanis we have!
#2
Story yesterday where Pakistani men are the most frequent viewers of p0rnography on the internet. Maybe anything but a niqab or burqa is considered p0rn. Hypocrites.
#4
#3 Riots in 3...2...1... Posted by: Anonymoose 2010-07-14 08:59
Flamethrowers and heavy machine guns put an end to riots in a hurry. I'm surprised the French haven't used them yet. I know they're entirely fed up with their Muslim "citizens".
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/14/2010 18:35 Comments ||
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#5
A whiff of grape, OP? ;-p
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
07/14/2010 19:20 Comments ||
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#6
I don't know. I still think they should have mandated the full face veil for actively working street hookers. Nobody really cares what they look like anyway.
At least 100 Taliban were killed in a clash with security forces in Orakzai Agency on Tuesday, official sources said.
Political administration confirmed to told Daily Times that 100 Taliban were killed as well as one soldier was injured in the clash in Dabori area of Upper Orakzai Agency. Officials said the security forces pounded Taliban hideouts, adding that dozens of Taliban were also injured in the attack.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/14/2010 00:00 ||
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[2 views]
Top|| File under: TTP
#1
ION NEWS KERALA > [ARM Group]REPORT: "INEPT" AFGHAN GOVT. [President Karzai] WILL NEED A "MIRACLE" TO RESTORE PEACE IN THE COUNTRY.
* WAFF > A ZILLION [Zilyuhn] REASONS TO ESCAPE FROM INDIA.
and
* DAILY TIMES.PK > [UN-International]POVERTY INDEX SHOWS INDIAN STATES WORSE THAN AFRICA.
* WAFF > MORE POOR IN INDIA THAN IN THE WHOLE OF AFRICA, i.e. Africa's 26 worst poverty-stricken Countries.
* TOPIX > CHINESE SEPARATISTS TIED TO NORWAY BOMB PLOT.
ARTIC > NORWAY OFFCIALS = CHIN UIGHUR implicated in Norway Bomb Plot marks first time that PRO-AL QAEDA TURKESTAN ISLAMIC PARTY [TIP = former ETIP Movement] has engaged in an Overseas = Euro-locat Terrop NOT RELATED TO ITS GOAL OF PROMOTING UIGHUR/XINJIANG SEPARATISM IN CHINA. Use of relatively obscure Uighur, etc. Militants-Cells illustrates the depth of AQ's desire + methodology to SUCCESSFULLY PENETRATE DEEP INTO THE HEART OF EUROPE [Resources-sharing collusion among autonomous MilTerr Groups]???
The Taliban on Tuesday blew up yet another government school in Bajaur Agency, taking the total number of destroyed schools to 94. According to officials in the political administration, using powerful detonative explosive, the Taliban blew up the government-run boys middle school in Tanai area of Mamoond tehsil. The building was completely destroyed. The officials said that the Taliban also planted explosives at the power grid, which supplies power to Bajaur Agency. However, the Bajaur Levies Force, along with the Bomb Disposal Squad, foiled the terrorists' attempt by diffusing the bomb in time. Separately, the political administration arrested 24 men belonging to the Mamoond tribe for their alleged involvement in missiles attack in Khar, the agency headquarters.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/14/2010 00:00 ||
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BASRA / Aswat al-Iraq: A total of 22 wanted persons were arrested and an amount of weapons and ammunitions were seized in separate raids in Basra, a police source said on Tuesday.
Policemen waged on Tuesday (July 13) crackdown operations in separate areas of Basra, where they arrested 22 wanted men and found an amount of weapons and ammunitions, the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
The U.S. base at the Basra international airport, northeast of Basra, came today under Katyusha rocket attack, with no word on damage, he added.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/14/2010 00:00 ||
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Ay-Pee . . .
The captain of the Moldovan-flagged Amalthea told the Israeli navy just before midnight Tuesday that engine troubles had hobbled the ship, and that efforts were being made to repair it. The military, which had four missile ships tailing the Libyan vessel, said it was still idled about 80 miles (130 kilometers) from Gaza early Wednesday. Must be bad muffler bearings.
Israeli military officials said Tuesday that the captain informed Israel he was heading for the Egyptian port of el-Arish, near Gaza. Egypt had promised to transfer the ship's supplies to Gaza if it docked there. "No! All we need is a left-handed metric crescent wrench and we will continue with our journey!"
However, a spokesman for the Libyan mission insisted the ship still intended to try to reach the Palestinian territory -- but wouldn't violently resist any efforts to stop them. "They will continue their holy mission as soon as we can find one of these "quad-rod pullers" they are asking for."
JERUSALEM (AFP) A Libyan aid ship resumed its voyage on Wednesday after stalling overnight, with the organisers insisting it was on course for Gaza and defying calls by the Israeli navy to dock in Egypt.
But it was not clear if the freighter was actually heading for the Gaza Strip in defiance of an Israeli naval blockade, or whether it was instead going to El-Arish, an Egyptian port some 50 kilometres (30 miles) to the west. "It's moving and getting closer to El-Arish," a military spokesman told AFP, without specifying exactly where it was. "We are preparing for a scenario in which it tries to redirect and go to Gaza."
Maritime tracking websites showed the Amalthea cargo ship moving very slowly just off the Egyptian coast, about 15 nautical miles from El-Arish. And a senior Egypt official said that the Amalthea had requested permission to dock there. "Egypt has agreed to a request from the Libyan aid boat to drop anchor at the port of El-Arish instead of at the port in Gaza," he told the official MENA news agency, without saying when the request was made.
But the Libyan charity which chartered the Amalthea insisted the boat was still heading for Gaza. "The ship has resumed its journey but the going is difficult," Yussef Sawan, head of the Kadhafi Foundation, told AFP. "Israeli naval boats are trying to block its course and divert it from the Gaza coast," he said, adding that the boat was "about three hours from Gaza."
Sawan said the Israelis had given the boat the choice of either turning back or heading to El-Arish. "If not, they have threatened to resort to force."
The foundation said four warships were on either side of the vessel, "trying to force it to change destination."
Shortly after the vessel began moving, Israeli public radio, which is monitoring the exchanges between the navy and the crew, reported that the ship's Cuban captain was ignoring repeated calls in English and Spanish to state his destination.
The Amalthea developed engine trouble overnight and stalled at a spot in international waters 60 nautical miles from El-Arish and 80 from Gaza, the military said.
Public radio said the Israeli boats were within sight of the vessel, and were contacting the captain with questions every time there was suspicious movement on deck.
The ship, which is carrying a cargo of 2,000 tonnes of foodstuffs and medicine, has been charted by a charity run by Seif al-Islam, son of Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi.
Speaking to the Maariv daily, a senior military official said naval forces were not expecting any problems from those on board but they were prepared to respond if it became necessary. "We do not expect any resistance," he said. "But if our soldiers do encounter problems, they will not hesitate to use force."
EL-ARISH, Egypt (AFP) A Libyan ship, initially bent on breaking Israel's Gaza blockade, docked in Egypt on Wednesday after agreeing to deliver its cargo of aid through Egyptian territory, an AFP correspondent reported.
The news ended fears of a new confrontation between activists and the Israeli navy, which had threatened to use force if the ship did not either turn back or head for Egypt.
The Libyan charity which chartered the vessel, the Kadhafi Foundation, said it had obtained guarantees from Cairo and from a "European mediator" that Israel would allow the ship's cargo of 2,000 tonnes of food and medicine into Gaza.
Libya has also received the green light to "spend 50 million dollars towards housing construction in the Gaza Strip by winter," the charity's executive director, Yusef Sawan, said, adding that the foundation would also provide 500 prefabricated houses.
#13
The Libyan charity which chartered the vessel, the Kadhafi Foundation, said it had obtained guarantees from Cairo and from a "European mediator" that Israel would allow the ship's cargo of 2,000 tonnes of food and medicine into Gaza.
I guess the Libyans don't get the same news as most of the rest of the world.
[Ma'an] Hizb Ut-Tahrir said Gaza government security forces assaulted and detained dozens of the faction's supporters on Tuesday, who were trying to stop the convening of a festival, a statement read.
The pan-Islamist party said forces arrived at the event and opened fire in the air to disperse conveners, injuring an infant at a nearby balcony.
Palestinian medical sources confirmed the injury, saying the baby girl was evacuated to the Ash-Shifa Hospital in Gaza Strip for treatment, where she was transferred to the intensive care unit.
Hizb Ut-Tahrir further said several supporters were detained and violently beaten. Security forces disassemble the stage erected for the festival, the movement added.
A Gaza government police representative denied the report, but said the festival was being held without the required permit.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/14/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
same group held workshops in Sydney last week
they are banned across the ME for their goal of the pan-Islamist state
They are to al-Qaeda what Sinn Feinn were to the IRA
[Al Arabiya Latest] A Lebanese court sentenced a man to death on Tuesday for spying for Israel and giving the Jewish state security information it used during its 34-day war in 2006 with Hezbollah, judicial sources said.
Ali Mantash was sentenced on the same day that a prosecutor charged Charbel Qazzi, an executive at Lebanon's state-owned mobile phone firm Alfa, with spying for Israel.
Lebanon and Israel remain technically in a state of war, and convicted spies face life in prison with hard labor or the death penalty if found guilty of contributing to Lebanese loss of life.
Mantash's arrest and trial was part of a broad espionage investigation which has led to more than 50 arrests since April last year. Security sources said sophisticated communication devices were found in his possession.
Mantash, who was arrested in April 2009, is the second Lebanese to be sentenced to death for spying for Israel.
Lebanon has described the arrests as a major blow to Israel's intelligence gathering in the country and said many of the suspects had played crucial roles in identifying targets that were bombed during the 2006 war.
Israel has not commented on the two cases.
Earlier in the day, a Lebanese prosecutor charged Qazzi, an executive at state-owned mobile phone firm Alfa, with spying for Israel and referred him to a military court. If convicted, he could be given the death penalty.
Qazzi's arrest last month shocked the country because of his senior position in the company and prompted debate on how deeply Israel had infiltrated Lebanon's telecoms and security sectors.
MP Hassan Fadlallah, a member of Shiite militant group Hezbollah and head of parliament's information and telecommunications committee, said Azzi had been giving Israel "vital information" on Lebanese communications and security for 14 years.
President Michel Suleiman, who under Lebanese law must sign a death sentence before it is carried out, has called for severe punishment for spies. The cabinet also agreed that death sentences handed down to spies for Israel should be carried out.
Lebanese courts have until now handed down what were widely seen as light sentences against nationals who worked with Israeli occupation forces and their local militias. Israel ended its 22-year occupation of mainly Shiites south Lebanon in 2000.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/14/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Around a year ago there was a report that the US was supplying intelligence to the Lebanese, at the time that about a dozen Israeli spies were caught. Since then the number of spies caught has grown to, say, over twenty. Was that initial report true? I haven't seen any reports since the first 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.
Eight American troops died in attacks in southern Afghanistan, including a car bombing and gunfight outside a police compound in Kandahar, officials said Wednesday as the Taliban push back against a coalition effort to secure the volatile region.
BASRA / Aswat al-Iraq: A total of 22 wanted persons were arrested and an amount of weapons and ammunitions were seized in separate raids in Basra, a police source said on Tuesday.
