Posted by: Fred ||
09/13/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
I missed the opportunity to congratulate Fred on his Rantburg's 10th anniversary, so congrats and many thanks!
I found Rantburg through Instapundit, maybe 6 years ago (? I get worse at estimating how long ago things were as time goes on). I think that I was slowly working my way through his links from A to Z, so it took me a while before I discovered Rantburg. As soon as I saw it, it was a new favorite site.
I had long hated the fact that all the wars against Islamic extremism were being covered as though they were unrelated. And I was always saying there should be a place where all these stories were gathered together every day. I had no idea that such a site already existed. And then there were so many interesting, well-informed comments and funny jokes as an added bonus! I was blown away.
I was a little intimidated to comment much at first. As a recovering liberal (9/11 - and the Democrats reaction to it - had put an end to that), I was a bit nervous about the possibility of not being accepted at "such a right-wing site" (I'm a gay guy and those were my biases at the time, silly as it seems now). When, in an early comment, I mentioned I had been with my boyfriend for 14 years, Trailing Wife responded by saying "14 years? That's a good start." It still makes me smile. And I realized that as long as a few good regulars were on my side, to hell with anyone else. Of course, I've never gotten the slightest bit of hostility from anyone here on this issue, ever. By now I've learned full well that, in general, conservatives are far more tolerant of my relationship than liberals are of my being conservative.
And that's just one of the ways that Rantburg has helped change my life for the better. I could say a lot more, but for now I'll just say thanks to Fred, all the regulars and not-so-regulars here, and even some of the trolls (for being such attractive targets for good snark).
Jacqueline Bisset aka Cathy in "Bullitt" aka Julie in "Day for Night" aka Gail Berke in "The Deep" aka Countess Andrenyi in "Murder on the Orient Express" aka Natasha O'Brien in "Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe?" aka Yvonne Firmin in "Under the Volcano" aka Christine Adams in "The Grasshopper" aka Vickie Cartwright in "The Sweet Ride" (age 67)
Virginia Madsen aka Maya in "Sideways" aka Agatha Sparrow / Fabrizia in "The Number 23" aka Helen Lyle in "Candyman" aka Sara Campbell in "The Haunting in Connecticut" aka Beth Stanfield in "Firewall" aka Audrey 'Audie' Farmer in "The Astronaut Farmer" aka Katherine in "The Prophecy" (age 50)
Elisabetta Canalis aka Sister Gabriella in "Virgin Territory" aka Elisabetta in "Natale a New York" aka Lady in Castle in "Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo" aka Paloma in "A Natale mi sposo" aka Felicity in "La fidanzata di papà " aka Ilaria Fiorito in "La seconda volta non si scorda mai" (age 34)
Blasts and gunfire echoed through the city, as the Taliban said several attackers armed with rocket-propelled grenades and suicide vests were targeting government buildings near the embassy district.
At least six loud explosions were interspersed with gunfire around the middle of the day. Television pictures from near the attack showed a burned out minivan, a bicycle lying in the middle of the street and people running away.
Police and other security officials blocked roads around the US embassy and other diplomatic missions, and said the attack had happened at a nearby square.
"There are several armed attackers in Abdul Haq Square," said Mohammad Zahir, head of Kabul's Crime Investigation Unit.
Several Taliban attackers armed with rocket-propelled grenades, AK-47s and suicide vests have taken up positions in Kabul, near the embassy district, to attack government buildings, a spokesman for the insurgents said."The primary targets of the attackers are the intelligence agency building and a ministry," Zabihullah Mujahid told Reuters by phone
#1
are these the Moderate Taliban™ with the new office in Qatar
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/13/2011 9:54 Comments ||
Top||
#2
When you project weakness, you become a target. Osama's dead and all is now peace and love? Take a look at Kabul.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
09/13/2011 10:39 Comments ||
Top||
#3
BO might have to reschedule his tee time over this.
Posted by: Chris W. ||
09/13/2011 11:06 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Not a chance, Chris. I mean there's priorities and there's priorities.
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
09/13/2011 13:00 Comments ||
Top||
#5
The Taliban are getting bold. Things will get worse if BO leaves only 3000 troops in Afhanistan. It will not be good for the U.S. civilians who are also there. To what end did he announce this move? Left-wing votes?
#8
Thanks tu. I stand corrected. BO announced on 6-22-2011 he is withdrawing 10,000 US troops from Afghanistan by the end of this year and will bring home a total of 33,000 troops by the middle of next year--just prior to election.
#9
Not that the election has anything to do with it.
Posted by: Bobby ||
09/13/2011 19:08 Comments ||
Top||
#10
The impulse of the Left to cut and run is part of what got Nixon elected in 1968, after the Tet Offensive. Zero ought take a look at the history of presidential elections if he thinks that a military drawdown that is followed by major enemy attacks will make the "peace" candidate the front runner.
[Tripoli Post] The NTC fighters Sunday presented a former trusted friend of the former Libyan leader and member of the deposed Mammary Al Qadaffy ...whose instability has been an inspiration to dictators everywhere... regime, Abu Zaid Omar Durda to Rooters news agency, that said he was incarcerated in his private house in the Zenata district of Tripoli on Saturday.
Durda was reportedly appointed to head the Libyan intelligence service after the defection last April of Mussa Kussa.
On his presentation to journalists Durda, sitting on a sofa not handcuffed or physically restrained, was described as having been defiant and angry. He denied any wrongdoing and was even "unapologetic about his role as head of the External Security Organisation (ESO).
According to Rooters he suggested he was not ready to criticise the ousted autocrat just to please Libya's new rulers, and even suggested that the men who incarcerated him had no right to the moral high ground.
He was quoted telling one of his captors who had remarked that many had died in the Libyan conflict: "People have died from the two sides."
Rooters reported him telling his captors: "You had two parties, one of them was an existing regime and the other was the people who rebelled against it and that's the truth."
He was reminded that he had served in several senior jobs for the ousted leader. In fact, the 68-year-old had an important role in the regime. For four years, from October 1990 to January 1994 he served as general secretary of the General Peoples Committee (equivalent to Prime Minister) and for six years also represented the country at the united Nations as Libya's permanent representative. He was also a 'parliament' speaker
Durda, known as a technocrat, and not an intelligence officer by training, shouted that he did not deny assuming any official post. "Did I deny it? Did I deny it? Did I deny it? I was carrying out my duties," he said.
Durda's captors had wanted to present him to the media to prove their claim to have captured him, but Rooters said that as exchanges between him and his captors grew heated, any hopes of an interview faded.
Durda said he was so angry about his questioning by his captors that he was not willing to address the media directly.
Durda entered politics as Governor of Misrata Province in 1970, serving in that capacity until 1972. After that in 1974, and for two years he was served as general secretary for information and as undersecretary for foreign affairs. Then in 1990, he was appointed 'Prime Minister', and in 1997 became Libya's Permanent Representative at the UN.
Before he was called upon to replace Mussa Kussa, Durda was reported to be in Tunisia awaiting a flight in an attempt to defect Al Qadaffy's regime. There had been speculations that he returned to Libya after threats to his family if he defected.
His capture comes three weeks after the fall of Tripoli. Many thought he would have left the country after that, but in fact stayed in the city. The NTC fighters said they captured him after intercepting phone calls between him and the members of the Al Qadaffy family who had decamped to the desert.
Durda has never been associated with the bloodiest periods in Al Qadaffy's years as ruler, and is known as having been one of the few officials unafraid to speak his mind in the presence of the runaway leader
Durda said he would not denounce the government he once served. "You will never hear it from a man like Abu Zaid Durda. I am not running from anything. I am not running away from anything," he said.
Rooters reported one of the fighters by the name of Said Haftar asking him: "So you consider it (Al Qadaffy's government) to be something good and nice?"
His reply was: "Good or bad, it does not matter, because, any statements made at this moment is considered a humiliation."
Posted by: Fred ||
09/13/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
[Tripoli Post] Deposed Libyan leader Muammar Al Qadaffy ...whose instability has been an inspiration to dictators everywhere... loyalists Monday staged unsuccessful attacks against the important Libya coastal oil complex at Ras Lanuf. At the end of the day, that NTC fighters managed to hold back the assaults and according to a commander, killed 15 attackers.
It appears highly certain that Al Qadaffy loyalists still cannot digest the fact that theirs is a lost cause and that the dictatorial regime of the runaway leader is well and throughly over. On the other hand, the incidents also suggest that revolutionary forces still face resistance in areas they control.
There were two back-to-back attacks with saboteurs setting fires and then a convoy of gunnies riding in from the desert continued their assault.
Describing the first attack, Col. Hamid al-Hasi, a commander for the revolutionaries in eastern Libya, said a group made up of 15 persons set fire to the facility. He said five of the saboteurs were killed and the rest incarcerated.
Then in a separate attack, a convoy of Al Qadaffy armed loyalists apparently based in a refugee camp about 25 kilometres south of Ras Lanuf, targeted the port. Revolutionary commander, Fadl-Allah Haroun, said a total of 15 people were killed in both attacks.
The size of the ground assault force was unclear, but Haroun said it may have been as big as 40 vehicles.
NTC forces meanwhile, have been facing stiff resistance from Al Qadaffy supporters in Bani Walid since last week. They have captured most of the northern half of the town, which is one of several remaining bastions of Al Qadaffy's rule, but the battle for the town is far from over, and until it is taken the fighting will be fierce.
When it comes to NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis.... , the alliance's warplanes maintained air strikes on remaining pro-Al Qadaffy sites. The military alliance said its targets Sunday focused on Sirte, particularly a military logistics facility and three surface-to-air missile systems.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/13/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
KGB agents tried and failed to recruit David Cameron when he was a young student, the Prime Minister told his Russian hosts yesterday.
um, okay ...
On a visit to Moscow, he joked that he apparently failed to pass the "interview" during the bizarre incident on a gap-year trip to the Black Sea coast in 1985.
When told of the incident, President Dmitry Medvedev said that Mr Cameron would have made a "very good KGB agent".
Mr Cameron described the apparent approach during a speech to students at the Moscow State university. "I first came to Russia as a student on my gap year between school and university in 1985," he said. "I took the Trans-Siberian railway from Nakhodka to Moscow and went on to the Black Sea coast.
"There, two Russians, speaking perfect English, turned up on a beach mostly used by foreigners."
He continued: "They took me out to lunch and dinner and asked me about life in England and what I thought about England."
A naive Mr Cameron apparently did not immediately realise what had happened at the resort of Yalta until returning to Britain. He is understood to have been travelling with a friend, Anthony Griffith. The Prime Minister said: "When I got back I told my tutor at university and he asked me whether it was an interview. If it was, it seems I didn't get the job."
The anecdote was met with an uncomfortable reaction among the Russian students in the auditorium.
But later, when asked about the incident, President Medvedev and other senior Russian figures laughed it off.
"David would have been a very good KGB agent, but in this case he would never have become a Prime Minister of the UK," the Russian President said at a press conference in the Kremlin.
Never would have happened, we didn't do it and you can't prove it.
There have long been rumours that Left-wing politicians, including the Labour prime minister Harold Wilson, were groomed by the KGB.
Those comrades principled leftists, spies? I'm shocked, shocked! Actually, it's quite possible they didn't realize it if they were being groomed.
However, it is unusual for a Right-wing politician to admit any links to the Soviets.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
09/13/2011 12:17 Comments ||
Top||
#10
Barry was wholly owned by the CIA. So was his mother and his maternal grandfather. On top of H.W. Bush and Clinton, who was deeply suspected of playing footsie with CIA, it's about time to send CIA a message to cool it with former personnel trying to become POTUS.
Yes, lots of generals have become POTUS, and there is nothing wrong with an ex-CIA type becoming POTUS, but not this many, this fast. They need to ease up and let civilians run things again for a while.
'Several' Dutch nationals are involved in a jihad in foreign countries, the acting head of the AIVD security services has said, without giving further details. Over the past years, several dozen Dutch men have gone to or attempted to visit countries such as Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia and several of them are still active, Jan-Kees Goet said.
This weekend VPRO radio quoted a UN report which said one Dutch Somali is active with al-Shabaab in Somalia.
[An Nahar] Four terror suspects placed in durance vile in Sweden at the weekend have ties to the Somali Islamist movement Shebab and were plotting an attack using bombs and firearms, a newspaper reported Monday.
Neither Sweden's intelligence agency nor the police have confirmed the report, and have released few details about the arrests.
"Police suspect the men were about to carry out a terrorist attack with firearms and bombs," Gothenburg regional daily GT said in its online edition.
"Police sources have told GT the suspects are linked to the terror network Shebab," the paper said, without disclosing its sources.
An elite counter-terrorism unit and police placed in durance vile four people in Gothenburg, Sweden's second city, and evacuated hundreds of people from a building in the city hosting an art fair "after concluding that there was a threat that could endanger lives or health or cause serious damage," officials said Sunday.
Police then searched the building thoroughly, breaking open seven lockers, the paper said.
It is not known why the venue was seen as a target, and art fair organizers have not been given an explanation, GT said.
The paper speculated that a Swedish artist who has received death threats from Shebab for depicting the Prophet Mohammed as a dog had planned to attend the event but did not in the end.
Lars Vilks has faced numerous death threats and a suspected liquidation plot since his drawing of the Mohammedan prophet with the body of a dog was first published by a Swedish regional newspaper in 2007, illustrating an editorial on the importance of freedom of expression.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/13/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Europe
#2
They have until today to charge or release them, something tells me they have been released. The Swedish system is one hell of a system to be registered on, though. Good luck, guys, shame about sticking out like a sore thumb.
#3
Is the Swedish prison system as nice as Norway's? The way Social Security is going and talk of government confiscation of retirement savings, I may be looking elsewhere to retire.
#7
Erdogan is badly embarrassed by the Syrian situation and several attacks against Turkish soldiers by the PKK.
Combine this with his Islamist proclivity and it creates this head exploding type rhetoric.
It will be interesting to hear the reaction of Egyptians to this guy. Turks are not loved by Egyptians for a number of reasons.
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
09/13/2011 11:17 Comments ||
Top||
#8
And you just know that the Israelis have to be cocked and locked, ready to take out all the neighbors in a spasm of mutual destruction on short notice.
#10
I think Garth may be right. Erdogan is trapped in one hell of a political case of cognitive dissonance. His ally and neighbor Syria is becoming more and more toxic to his citizens and the members of his governing coalition, but he *can't* address his people's concerns with the butchery going on in his southern border.
Therefore, he needs to change the subject. It's easier to play bargain-bin Gamal Nasser & make faces at the happily-distant Jews than continue to be indecisive and helpless about the ugliness to his south. The IHH people are apparently also involved in the agitation against the Syrian Ba'ath and their crackdown - what better way to divert them than to revive the flotilla theatre?
This gambit only works if the Jewish military is clued-in to the game and doesn't let it get out of control. I'm not up on the current state of the rolling Turkish military purges - how intact is the admiralty?
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
09/13/2011 11:52 Comments ||
Top||
#11
Turkey is playing a very dangerous game, as is WTF ever Egypt is.
#12
Probably the best thing for all concerned right now is for Erdogan to get caught up in a stupendously embarrassing political scandal. These are fairly easy to manufacture, by a competent intelligence agency, and are the cat's pajamas in defusing dangerous situations.
Get a couple of his more stridently pious Islamist ministers, and put some Roofies (Rohypnol) in their hummus. Then bring in the photographers and the rest of the orgy participants.
Ordinarily, you would blackmail them into getting Erdogan to STFU, but this is a rush job, so they would be tabloid bait, probably in Britain. They might even do a little Photoshop so that it *might* be Erdogan himself in one of the pictures, in the background. Not too clear, but clear enough.
#13
he's ordered Turkey's US-supplied F-16's Radars altered (IFF system) so that Israel's jets are now able to be identified as "foes"
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/13/2011 13:38 Comments ||
Top||
#14
Israel is a convenient whipping boy for diverting attention from your own domestic and neighborhood issues. The arabs have been using it for years, but it is getting threadbare.
IMHO, Since Erdogan is not going to get Turkey into the EU, he is going for king of the hill of the Islamic world. The Israelis will not get into a pi$$ing contest with him. They will hope that he will quietly go away eventually, and they will play their cards close to their chest, being ready for Erdogan's mischief, but not publicly warning him.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
09/13/2011 13:43 Comments ||
Top||
#15
Turkey should be trying to convince their Kurdish citizens to move into Syria, change the name to Kurdistan, and call it a day.
[Dawn] Around 200 suspects were rounded up and a large cache of arms and ammunition was seized on Sunday by Rangers and police during raids on different places, including the office of a political party, mainly in central, western and southern parts of the city.
One of the targeted operations resulted in the unusual recovery of around 1,000 computerised national identity cards, which were found stuffed in a gunny bag.
The paramilitary force assisted by police carried out search operations in different localities of Baldia, Lyari, trans-Lyari, New Bloody Karachi Industrial Area and Nazimabad.
Several people were picked up during the operation in the areas of Nayabad, Singulane, Daryabad, Agra Taj Colony and Bihar Colony. They were brought to one place where scrutiny of the jugged suspects was carried out, sources said.
Rangers personnel also surrounded the head office of the Sunni Tehrik, situated near Bhimpura, and seized arms from the police guards posted at the place. However, some men learn by reading. A few learn by observation. The rest have to pee on the electric fence for themselves... nobody was picked up from the party office, Rangers officials claimed.
Hundreds of grenades, some rifles and pistols were seized during a raid on a house in Nazimabad.
Police said that acting on a tip-off, they raided the unoccupied house in Nazimabad No 1, and recovered 256 rifle grenades, two AK-47 rifles, three TT pistols from the premises during a search.
The police claimed that the house was owned by Mohammad Sadiq, who was missing. An FIR (267/2011) was registered against the house owner under Sections 13-E of the Arms Ordinance and 5 of the Explosives Act at the Rizvia cop shoppe.
In Baldia Town, the Rangers conducted targeted operations in Yousaf Goth and Saeedabad sectors A-3, 4-D and B-3. Police remained at an outer cordon while assisting the paramilitary force in these actions.
During the Saeedabad Sector 4-D search operation, the law-enforcers recovered a sack from a storm-water drain, which contained around 1,000 computerised national identity cards (CNICs).
"Some of the CNICs were original while others were duplicates," said the Saeedabad station house officer. He added that the police had sent the recovered CNICs to the National Database Registration Authority for verification.
Similarly, the action in Sector B-3 led to the recovery of a small quantity of arms. The law-enforcers said that the arms were buried in courtyard of a mosque.
In Sector 6-B of New Bloody Karachi Industrial Area, police seized some rifles, pistols and ammunition concealed in a gunny bag at a graveyard. "Acting on a tip-off, the police recovered the bag containing a 7mm rifle, two rifles, two pistols and two magazines," said SP Abdul Salam Sheikh.
An FIR (367/2011) was registered at the New Bloody Karachi Industrial Area cop shoppe.
In early morning raids on different places in Quaidabad and Sherpao Colony, Rangers picked up an activist of the Mohajir Qaumi Movement (Haqiqi) Kashif Abdi. Shortly afterwards, another raid was conducted at the house of another MQM(H) activist, Maqbool Husain, but no arms or ammunition was recovered.
Specialised units of police under the supervision of SSP South Naeem Shakih also conducted a raid on Iqbal Plaza and neigbouring buildings on M.A. Jinnah Road.
While around 100 people were rounded up, all were released after initial scrutiny, the police said.
Later, the arms and ammunition seized in the Sunday operations were put on display during a media briefing at held at the People's Stadium.
Brigadier Waseem Aftab told the media that around 200 people had been rounded up from Lyari, but after carrying out scrutiny, only eight suspects were placed in durance vile.
He described the placed in durance vile suspects as important.
The arms and ammunition recovered during the raids included 15 AK-47 rifles, 15 repeater rifles, 40 TT pistols, 15 revolvers and a huge quantity of ammunition.
The brigadier said the arms seized from the guards at the Sunni Tehrik office would be sent to the home department for verification of their licences.
He said Rangers were carrying out targeted operations on intelligence reports. "We have no pressure from any quarter and no will be spared," he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/13/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
[Dawn] Three persons, including a soldier, were killed and nine injured in fresh festivities in Mohmand ... Named for the Mohmand clan of the Sarban Pahstuns, a truculent, quarrelsome lot. In Pakistain, the Mohmands infest their eponymous Agency, metastasizing as far as the plains of Beautiful Downtown Peshawar, Charsadda, and Mardan. Mohmands are also scattered throughout Pakistan in urban areas including Karachi, Lahore, and Quetta. In Afghanistan they are mainly found in Nangarhar and Kunar... Agency on Sunday, sources said.
They said that volunteer of an anti-Taliban tribal lashkar and a cut-thoat were also among the dead. The security forces and tribal lashker launched action against Death Eaters in Soran Darra and Kodakhel area of the tribal region, they added.
Sources said that three soldiers and six volunteers of the lashkar were maimed in landmine kabooms while body of a primitive was found in the area. The dear departed was identified as Gul Mohammad.
Sources said that forces and volunteers of the tribal Lashkar captured several hilltops after heavy shootout with cut-thoats. Troops were advancing towards the main hideouts of cut-thoats, they said.
Sources said that security forces and lashkar launched offensive against Death Eaters in Baizai area from two sides. Several areas were secured after fierce festivities between security forces and cut-thoats, they added.
Officials said that 85 landmines were defused during the action. The operation also caused displacement of civilians from the area.
In Khyber Agency, three persons, including two children, were killed and two others received injuries in three different incidents on Sunday.
Officials said that a minor boy was killed and two others were maimed when a mortar shell hit a house near Landi Kotal-Torkham bypass early on Sunday morning.
They said that at least three mortar shells were fired by unidentified Death Eaters from the nearby hilltops. They said that possible target of Death Eaters was an army camp, which was missed by only few metres.
In another incident, a child was killed on the spot when he was hit by a passenger coach near Michni checkpost.
In Bara, officials said that they found perforated carcass of a young man at Karigarh Garhi. The dear departed was kidnapped by unidentified abductors a day before.
Meanwhile, ...back at the Hubba Hubba Club, Nunzio had his hands full of angry bleached blonde... security forces and Khasadar Force established a security checkpost at Dro Adda in Akkakhel area of Bara tehsil.
Officials said that security forces succeeded in establishing a checkpoint at an important location for the first time since the launch of military operation in Bara two years ago.
They said that they also started a surgical operation in Akkakhel and adjoining areas with the assistance of local peace committee against suspect cut-thoats.
Akkakhel area has witnessed in the recent past a rapid surge in sabotage activities with Death Eaters frequently destroying government installations, including schools and bridges, and targeting convoys of security forces.
Officials said that the sphere of the targeted operation would be expanded to Shalobar and Sipah areas after eliminating Death Eaters in Akmakhel completely.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/13/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: TTP
[Al Jazeera] Officials say the bodies of at least 22 Shia pilgrims who were rubbed out have been found in a remote desert area in western Iraq.
The bodies were discovered late on Monday night, hours after the gang of gunnies stopped the bus at a fake security checkpoint and told all the women to get off, according to one security official who interviewed a survivor.
An Iraqi army patrol found the deserted women, weeping and wailing, by the side of the highway and brought them to the scenic provincial capital of Ramadi for help.
One of the women told officials that there were four gunnies who were dressed in military uniforms and stopped the bus at a fake checkpoint.
The gunnies then drove the bus a few kilometres off the main highway between Storied Baghdad ...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate... and the Jordanian border in Iraq's Sunni-dominated Anbar province.
The 22 bodies were found there, about 300km west of Storied Baghdad.
"Some gunnies stopped the bus coming from Syria Monday around 9:30pm (1830GMT), they made the 22 passengers get off the bus and killed them with automatic weapons in the desert region of Noukhair," police general Haider Rzayj told the AFP news agency.
Two Iraqi security officials and a political leader from the southern Shia city of Karbala, where the pilgrims were from, confirmed the shooting details, but an interior ministry source put the corpse count at 20 men.
It was not immediately clear if the caravan was headed to the Sayyida Zainab shrine in 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... or coming home.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/13/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State of Iraq
Four people in one family, including two children, were injured Sunday when an explosive device planted on a roadside exploded. A bomb squad rushed to the scene and sent the wounded to a nearby hospital.
The victims are Abdulraso Duramae, 38, and his wife Aharo Duramae, 35, as well as their two boys aged 7 and 3.
The incident took place while they were on a motorcycle following a military pickup truck which apparently was the target of the roadside bomb, but the army vehicle passed through shortly before the bomb was detonated.
The soldiers were not injured and their vehicle was not damaged, but the family on their motorcycle was hit by shrapnel from the blast, which also knocked down a large tree which blocked the road.
[An Nahar] Fierce machinegun festivities between a Lebanese group and a Paleostinian group are still ongoing since 7:00 pm in the "Kurds neighborhood" on the outskirts of the Beirut southern suburb of Borj al-Barajneh, state-run National News Agency reported.
"Security forces have not been able to reach the place due to the intensity of the festivities," NNA added.
Meanwhile, ...back at the barn, Bossy had come up with a new idea... security sources told MTV that "10 Hizbullah members were maimed in a clash with a Salafist ...Salafists espouse an austere form of Sunni Islam that seeks a return to practices that were common in the 7th century. Rather than doing that themselves and letting other people alone they insist everybody do as they say and they try to kill everybody who doesn't... group near Borj al-Barajneh."
Future News television, for its part, said festivities erupted between "Hizbullah members and Paleostinian elements in Borj al-Barajneh."
Later on Monday, around 8:25 pm, Al-Jadeed television said that the festivities were contained and that a meeting between Hizbullah officials and representatives of the Paleostinian factions in the Borj al-Barajneh refugee camp was underway.
In an interview with Al-Jadeed, Fatah Movement's secretary in the Borj al-Barajneh camp said "no clash erupted between Paleostinians from the Borj al-Barajneh camp and the brothers in Hizbullah; it was rather a personal dispute that escalated after unknown assailants tossed a hand grenade."
Voice of Leb Radio (100.5) reported that "ten Hizbullah members were maimed in fierce machinegun festivities between a Hizbullah group and another comprising Lebanese Salafists in the 'Kurds neighborhood' on the outskirts of the Borj al-Barajneh camp."
"The maimed were rushed to (Hizbullah-affiliated) Greatest Prophet Hospital amid extreme secrecy concerning the names," VOL reported.
"The clash started after a hand grenade was tossed on the street and followed by gunfire," VOL added, noting that "security forces are trying to unveil the circumstances" of the incident.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/13/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under: Hezbollah
[An Nahar] Security forces in Syria rubbed out at least 17 people around the central city of Hama on Monday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, as activists called for a day of protest against Russia for backing the regime.
"The toll of victims from the operation mounted by security forces and the army in the Hama area has risen to 17 dead," the Britannia-based group told Agence La Belle France Presse. More than 60 people were set to sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark dock, in a pestilential prison with a life-long lock, it said.
The Observatory also reported a 12-year-old boy killed in Douma, near 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... , by gunfire from security forces who fired on a funeral, and a man and his son killed in the central province of Homs in the town of al-Rastan.
The latest violence comes after freedom fighters called for a "day of anger" on Tuesday in protest at Russia's backing for President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad One of the last of the old-fashioned hereditary iron-fisted fascist dictators. Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor... , whose regime has waged a deadly six-month crackdown on protesters.
"Do not support the killers. Do not kill the Syrians with your position" in favor of the regime, activists urged Russia in a posting on The Syrian Revolution 2011, a Facebook page that has been the engine for the revolt.
They wrote that a "day of anger" against Russia would be held on Tuesday.
"We express our anger towards Russia and the Russian government. The regime will disappear, but the people will live," the posting said.
Russia has blocked attempts by the United Nations ...a lucrative dumping ground for the relatives of dictators and party hacks... to sanction Assad's regime and is promoting a separate draft resolution that simply calls on the government and the opposition to open direct talks.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Monday defended the Syrian regime against sanctions for its crackdown, and also warned visiting British Prime Minister David Cameron ... has stated that he is certainly a big Thatcher fan, but I don't know whether that makes me a Thatcherite, which means he's not. Since he is not deeply ideological he lacks core principles and is easily led. He has been described as certainly not a Pitt, Elder or Younger, but he does wear a nice suit so maybe he's Beau Brummel ... of the dangers of such a move.
Cameron met Medvedev in Moscow for talks focusing on Syria and bilateral disputes as global frustration mounted with Russia's continued support for its ally.
A visiting Assad aide said 1,400 people -- half of them Syrian security and army forces -- had died in violence since the demonstrations erupted in mid-March.
However, man does not live by words alone, despite the fact that sometimes he has to eat them... U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay says 2,600 people have been killed in the crackdown.
Nations such as La Belle France have accused Assad's regime of committing crimes against humanity and the foreign ministry in Gay Paree said on Monday the U.N. Security Council's inability to approve a resolution on Syria was "a scandal."
But Medvedev refused to give any ground on what is fast becoming a heated sequel to the two sides' war of words over the NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions... -led campaign in Libya.
The Kremlin chief insisted that Russia was ready to put more pressure on Assad and argued that his differences with the West were "not dramatic."
Yet he also stressed that any punitive actions must be applied equally to both sides because the opposition was continuing to reject calls to engage in direct talks.
"This resolution must be strict, but it must not lead to the automatic application of sanctions," Medvedev said in reference to action proposed by Western powers.
Medvedev's push for Syrian dialogue was undermined by an Assad adviser in Moscow who appeared to reject the idea of establishing contacts with the opposition.
"Is there any party in Syria with which (Russia) could mediate?" asked Assad media adviser Buthaina Shaaban. "There is no such party."
Her comments were followed hours later by Syrian dissident spokeswoman Basma Qadmani's announcement that the opposition would on Thursday present a list of candidates for a "national council" similar to one formed in Libya.
Medvedev's tough talk and lack of progress on the ground left Cameron to acknowledge that the two sides had essentially failed to bridge their gap on Syria.
"There is a difference of perspective between Russia and Britannia on this issue," Cameron said. "Clearly, Britannia would like to go further. We do not see a future for Assad."
Cameron also conceded that a U.N. resolution may have to be abandoned in favor of a "clear statement about what is happening in Syria."
Britannia and La Belle France have been leading the diplomatic offensive against Assad, and Gay Paree issued another barb at what it called some nations' indifference to the bloodshed.
"How long will the international community remain blind and dumb in the face of this endless sequence of crimes? That's the question we're asking today," said French foreign ministry spokeswoman Bernard Valero.
The U.N. resolution Russia is blocking would most likely affect arms sales -- the one area left untouched by the powerful economic sanctions imposed already by the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... and the United States.
Switzerland ...home of the Helvetians, famous for cheese, watches, yodeling, and William Tell... followed suit on Monday by widening its travel and financial embargo against Assad's regime to 19 individuals and eight institutions.
But Russia has been keen to preserve some $4 billion in current and future Syrian arms contracts and has taken more assertive steps in trying to persuade Assad to adopt political improvements that could keep his hold on power.
His aide Shaaban said after talks with the upper house of parliament's foreign affairs chief Mikhail Margelov that Syria favored the cautious reform process seen in Russia since the Soviet Union's collapse.
"In the past 20 years, Russia has undergone various processes that led to structural changes," she said.
"We want things in Syria to develop the way they did in Russia, in a bloodless manner."
Margelov said he had received Assad's approval to send a group of Russian senators to Damascus and other Syrian cities to independently report on the situation on the ground.
Thousands of Syrian protesters had on Friday issued their first call for international protection against repression.
But SANA quoted Assad as saying that there was a need "to not get caught in campaigns of disinformation against Syria."
Posted by: Fred ||
09/13/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
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.
Deposed Libyan leader Muammar Al 
[Dawn] Around 200 suspects were rounded up and a large cache of arms and ammunition was seized on Sunday by Rangers and police during raids on different places, including the office of a political party, mainly in central, western and southern parts of the city.
Mohmand
Fierce machinegun 
President-for-Life Bashir 
David Cameron
