Posted by: Fred ||
09/16/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Happy Birthday/Daily Gam Shot
Janis Paige aka Peggy Dayton in "Silk Stockings" aka Deborah Vaughn in "Please Don't Eat the Daisies" aka Elvira Kent in "Romance on the High Seas" aka Sally Athelny in "Of Human Bondage" aka Polly in "Two Guys from Milwaukee" aka Sue Jackson in "The Time, the Place and the Girl" aka Jackie in "Love and Learn" aka Peggy Markham in "Winter Meeting" (age 89)
#1
I would be a bad luck indirect fire weapon, like a mortar round. Killing SF is not easy, because they "fight smart" and don't make a lot of the typical infantry mistakes.
It was alleged that SPETZNAZ was so concerned about the effectiveness of SF, that once it had identified a SF soldier, they would compile a dossier, and on top of their other duties, two SPETZNAZ soldiers would be given the assignment to become experts on him, as his personal assassins if the need arose.
#2
Not just SF Moose, I was in Paris for the air show and went to a big Embassy shindig. I was introduced to a Soviet Colonel, the military attache to their embassy, and he asked me how my wife was and used her name.."Ah Captain, how is your wife _______ and how is your Bassett Hound with the weird name."
Soviet intell was very very good and I have no doubt it is still among the best in the world...better than ours and maybe better than the Brits and the French.
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
09/16/2011 10:33 Comments ||
Top||
A former Army captain has been recommended for the Medal of Honor, having played a vital role two years ago countering an ambush in eastern Afghanistan and braving enemy fire to help retrieve the bodies of three fallen Marines and a corpsman.
Will Swenson, who left active duty in February, was put up for the nation's highest combat valor award for his actions during the Sept. 8, 2009, battle in the remote village of Ganjgal, according to an officer who was with Task Force Mountain Warrior, the brigade that oversaw Swenson's unit. Swenson worked alongside then-Marine Cpl. Dakota Meyer, who received the Medal of Honor on Thursday for actions in the same battle.
Approval of Swenson's award had apparently stalled, but it received new scrutiny last month by Marine Gen. John Allen, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal. The second look came after rampant speculation as to why Swenson had not received an award for valor.
Continued on Page 49
#1
Thank you, Captain Swenson. Good to see the MOH going to survivors. Too bad the processing can't be completed before they leave the service. But it is good to have these living legends among us publicly recognized.
So he complains about the ROE, it gets in the Army Times and his CMOH recommendation is conveniently shoved into the bottom of the file cabinet.
Nothing this administration does surprises me, they are thin-skinned about every word of criticism and vindictive toward those who do criticize.
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
09/16/2011 10:20 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Not only criticism, Bill.
Bobby Jindal mentions that during the BP oil spill, his Emergency Management Administration sent a routine request to their federal counterparts asking them to expedite Social Security and Unemployment payments to the communities affected. This is a routine request made by states whenever a federal disaster is declared. GW Bush handled several of these without comment.
The first thing Barack did when he got off the plane in LA was accuse Jindal of trying to make him look bad and threatening retribution.
Al
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
09/16/2011 11:24 Comments ||
Top||
[An Nahar] Fighters loyal to Libya's new rulers were inside Sirte, the country's military said on Thursday, after a massive convoy of its forces launched a bid to take Moammar Qadaffy's ...who single-handedly turned a moderately prosperous kingdom into a dictator's fantasyland... hometown.
"Misrata's thwar (fighters) arrived at the al-Gharbiyat Bridge inside Sirte," the Misrata Military Council said in a statement.
A front man for the convoy of forces loyal to the National Transitional Council, which set out from Misrata earlier in the day, confirmed that the pro-NTC troops had entered Sirte.
"I confirm our forces are in Sirte, it is a big force," said the front man, Fathi Bashaga.
"There is still resistance but our fighters will be able to overcome it," he told an Agence La Belle France Presse correspondent in Wadi Bey, a desert town where part of the Sirte-bound convoy was held up in a battle with Qadaffy loyalists.
"They are attacking us with 40- and 43-mm mortars and all kinds of weapons."
Pro-NTC forces had earlier raised their flag on the outskirts of Sirte, the military said in a separate statement.
"Misrata's thwar at a distance of 3 km from the Sirte -- Independence flag flying over the last petrol station before the city," the Military Council said in an English statement, referring to the new regime's forces.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/16/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
[Dawn] Libya's provisional government said on Thursday that its forces had reached the outskirts of toppled leader Muammar Qadaffy's ...a proud Arab institution for 42 years... hometown of Sirte -- still controlled by his loyalits.
"It has been a major advance today," ruling National Transitional Council front man Jalal el-Gallal told Rooters. "They are on the outskirts."
Until earlier this week, repeated attempted advances by anti-Qadaffy based in the Misrata area had been blocked more than 50 km from Sirte.
Sirte is one of Qadaffy's last main bastions along with the towns of Bani Walid and Sabha.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/16/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
[An Nahar] Yemeni troops opened fire Thursday on thousands of people demonstrating in Taez for President President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh ... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower... to step down, wounding at least 10 people, the protesters said.
The live bullets were fired into the crowd by members of the elite Republican Guard, which is headed by Saleh's son Ahmed, and local security forces in Taez, the country's second city, they said.
Medical officials who spoke to Agence La Belle France Presse on condition of anonymity confirmed the casualties, adding three of the maimed were in "critical condition".
Taez has been the scene of sporadic festivities between government troops and forces deployed since June by influential tribal leaders to protect pro-democracy protesters from attacks by Saleh loyalists.
A truce was reached last month after a previous ceasefire agreed upon in June collapsed.
In Sanaa, a source in the office of leading tribal chief Sheikh Sadok al-Ahmar said three people were killed when a tank shell struck a house in the capital's al-Hassaba district earlier on Thursday.
Two non-combatants were killed immediately by the blast while the third victim died later of injuries sustained in the kaboom.
Following the strike, violent festivities broke out between Saleh's forces and dissidents loyal to Ahmar, who supports protester calls for Saleh to step down from power.
Two of his fighters were also maimed in the overnight violence.
The head of the U.N. human rights ...which often include carefully measured allowances of freedom at the convenience of the state... office, Hanny Megally, warned on Wednesday that Yemen is heading towards civil war.
Saleh, who has ruled Yemen for 33 years, has lost his grip on power since nationwide protests erupted calling for his resignation in January.
He has been in Soddy Arabia since June, recovering from a kaboom on his presidential compound in Sanaa.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/16/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[9 views]
Top|| File under:
The imam of a mosque in the North Caucasus province of Dagestan was gunned down by unidentified gunmen. The victim, Zainudin Daiziyev, was at least the third imam killed since June in Dagestan.
Running a mosque or a shrine quickly leads to inordinate personal prosperity and power. These are things to be prized by the right sort of mind,
Unidentified gunmen entered Daiziyev's home in the village of Kadar late on Thursday and opened fire at him with automatic weapons, according to Dagestan's Interior Ministry. Police found 57 spent shells at the scene.
3:33 CST time -- seems all is OK
Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona is on lockdown, but a spokeswoman at the Tucson base would release few details other than no one was being allowed in or out of the base. Air Force Staff Sgt. Caitlin Jones refused to tell The Associated Press why the base was on lockdown.
The base is best known as the boneyard for old military and government airplanes.
2:40 CST -- ABC
No Shots Fired at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base Near Tucson
Davis-Monthan Air Force Base Near Tucson, Ariz. officials declared a higher state of security after "reports of suspicious activity." "Officials are currently investigating the situation, and more information will be forthcoming. More information will be provided as it becomes available," according to a statement from the base.
3:12 -- Fox
Senior Airman Timothy Dunaway says traffic has been reduced to a single-point entry but he refused to elaborate. He says the Sonoran Science Academy on the base is on lockdown. KVOA-TV reports the kids are safe on the base.
Tucson fire spokeswoman Trish Tracy says the agency sent two ambulances and two fire trucks to the base.
3:32 -- Fox
A military official said a special agent on the base reported that an armed individual walked into a building on the base on the outskirts of the southern Arizona city, where earlier this year a gunman gravely wounded Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and killed six people.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing.
Ambulances were sent to the base, sparking fears of injuries, but it was just a case of bad timing, Martin said.
"Any ambulance you saw leaving earlier, not too long ago was actually a woman going into labor," he said.
As the lockdown unfolded Friday, students were kept in schools on the base. Dunaway said traffic was reduced to a single point entry; vehicles lined up at the base's main gate and were being turned around.
[Dawn] Dozens of soldiers of the Frontier Constabulary (FC) were deployed on Wednesday in parts of Orangi Town,
including the Kati Pahari area, in what appeared to be the first sign of the federally-administered force going to exercise the powers delegated to it last month, according to a bigwig.
Authorities said the areas being given under the FC 'would increase gradually' and in the first phase some neighborhoods around Orangi Town were chosen keeping in view their sensitivity and history of violence.
"The FC personnel have taken over the posts set up in the strife-torn areas of Orangi Town that included Qasba Colony and Kati Pahari," said DIG (west) Imran Yaqoob Minhas. "Obviously the areas of Kati Pahari and Qasba Colony are considered to be some of the most sensitive localities and that is why FC is being deployed there in the first phase." He said the FC soldiers were also deployed on the exit and entry points of the town under the guidelines given by the local police.
"Although the FC is governed by the federal government, it was operating in Bloody Karachi as per the local police requirements and their areas of deployment are also decided by the city police. So, the FC deployment in parts of Orangi Town is primarily sought and suggested by the police," said the DIG.
The Sindh government last month decided to launch a 'full-scale operation against criminals and terrorists' and allowed FC to exercise the police powers in the city. The Rangers are already exercising the police powers that include carrying out raids and arrests.
Largely drawn from the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... , FC is regulated by the interior ministry and mandated to operate in any province of the country. Though a number of FC soldiers have already been deployed in the city for security of some particular individuals and facilities, fresh troops arrived here last month after the Sindh government came out with the decision to delegate it the policing powers.
"Initially 10 to 12 posts in different pockets of Orangi Town will be manned by FC soldiers, who will discharge their duties at all the entry and exit point of the town along with the area police," said DIG Minhas.
Earlier in the morning, hundreds of Rangers personnel and police commandoes cordoned off the localities around Sohrab Goth and carried out a search operation in two residential buildings. They jugged more than 50 suspects during the 'targeted operation', officials said, pointing out that law-enforcement agencies had launched the action after a surge in assassinations last month in the city.
Police officials said the Sohrab Goth operation was led by the Pakistain Rangers, Sindh, and assisted by the area police and police commandoes. The Rangers mainly targeted Al-Asif Square and Indus Plaza.
"The total strength of the force involved is not known but nearly 50 vehicles carrying Rangers and police personnel were employed in the operation," said DSP Iftikhar Lodhi, the area's sub-divisional police officer (SDPO).
"Several apartments in the two buildings and many houses in the area were searched. Drugs and arms, including assault rifles AK-47, were seized during the search."
Though he showed his unawareness about the number of suspects jugged by the Rangers during the operation, sources in the police said that some 52 people were being interrogated by the paramilitary force.
"More than 100 people were rounded up in the operation but most of them were released after initial questioning," another official explained.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/16/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
[Dawn] Militants beheaded a local primitive on Wednesday in the remote Tirah valley of Khyber Agency on charges of spying, sources said.
They said that faceless myrmidons kidnapped Rahim Shah, a resident of Dray-Plar area of Bara Qambarkhel, and later left his beheaded body in the nearby mountains. A letter left with the body alleged that the dear departed was involved in spying on faceless myrmidons and desecration of worship places.
Meanwhile, ...back at the cheese factory, all the pieces finally fell together in Fluffy's mind... the Manzakhel branch of Akkakhel tribe has extended its full support to the local peace committee in its campaign against myrmidons.
The decision was made at a jirga of tribal elders where scores of local armed volunteers joined the peace committee and also established a number of checkpoints to monitor the movements of myrmidons.
The jirga also constituted 13 groups, each comprising 10 armed volunteers, to patrol the Akkakhel-Matani Road. The groups were directed to operate under the command of Haji Gul Miran, the head of Akkakhel Peace Committee.The political administration of Khyber Agency in collaboration with security forces launched a surgical operation few days ago in Akkakhel area. Local sources said that scores of families once again shifted from the area to safer places owing to fresh military offensive and anticipated counter attacks by myrmidons.
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, several houses of suspected faceless myrmidons were demolished as security forces continued operation in different areas of Baizai tehsil along Pakistain-Afghanistan border on Wednesday.
Official sources said that nine houses of suspected faceless myrmidons were demolished during the operation in Garai area of Safi tehsil with the help of local peace committee. Security forces backed by artillery and tanks took part in the operation.
Officials said that security forces also established three new checkposts in Karrer and Garai areas of Safi tehsil to flush faceless myrmidons from the region.
About 49 families have so far migrated from Sham Shah, Yarakhel, Mirokhel and Babazai areas to Nahqi IDPs camp owing to the ongoing operation against myrmidons.
Meanwhile, ...back at the wreckage, Captain Poindexter awoke groggily, his hand still stuck in the Ming vase... Hamzakhel and Shinwari tribes held a meeting with Political Agent Adil Sadiq to discuss law and order situation in their respective areas with him.
The political administration released 27 rustics, who were set to sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark dock, in a pestilential prison with a life-long lock under the collective responsibility clause of Frontier Crimes Regulation.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/16/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: TTP
[Dawn] The United States named the Indian Mujahideen A locally recruited auxilliary of Pakistain's Lashkar-e-Taiba, designed to give a domestic patina to Pakistain's terror war against its bigger neighbor... to its official blacklist of foreign terrorist organizations on Thursday, saying it has killed hundreds of innocent civilians in attacks dating back to 2005.
"These designations highlight the threat posed by IM not only to Western interests, but to India, a close US partner," Ambassador Daniel Benjamin, the State Department's coordinator for counterterrorism, said in a statement announcing the group's designation, which bars US citizens from providing any material support to the group and freezes any assets it may have in the United States.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/16/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
Police and the Crime Investigation Department (CID) on Thursday placed in durance vile seven more suspected hit mans from different areas of Bloody Karachi and recovered weapons from their possession, DawnNews reported.
The CID raided the area of Pak Colony and placed in durance vile a worker of a political party, Miraj alias Qasai, and recovered a Kalashnikov from him. Police claimed that Qasai was involved in murders of PPP workers.
Saddar Town police took into custody four suspects from the area of Upper Gizri. Superintendent Police (SP) Saddar, Tariq Dharijo, said that the suspects had admitted that they were involved in eight incidents of murders.
Meanwhile, ...back at the pie fight, Bella opened her mouth at precisely the wrong moment... another suspect Zafar alias Andha was picked up by police during a raid in Saudabad. SP Shah Faisal Town Chaudhry Asad said that Andha was also involved in murders.
Four suspects were also placed in durance vile in Pak Colony, police claimed that one of the suspects was involved in four incidents of murders.
Police also recovered a large cache of arms from them.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/16/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
"large cache of arms" Hold on now, they could only have 2 arms apiece.
Posted by: Steven ||
09/16/2011 14:34 Comments ||
Top||
ANBAR / Aswat al-Iraq: West Iraqs Anbar Police have reported on Thursday that the Army and Police forces have detained 11 suspected persons charged with having been behind the Nukeib massacre that killed 22 men in Anbar Province last Monday, an Anbar security source reported.
An Army and Police force had managed to arrest 11 suspected elements, charged with involvement in kidnapping and killing 22 men of a passenger bus in Anbars Nukheib township, along with a stolen car and 2 explosive belts, the security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
An armed group had kidnapped a 30-passenger bus, coming from Syria in al-Qadher Valley, 70 km away from Nukheib township in west Iraqs Anbar Province last Monday, forced women and children out of the bus and shot dead 22 of its men passengers.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/16/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Suspected Men? What else might they be?
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
09/16/2011 11:32 Comments ||
Top||
[An Nahar] Israel's Shin Bet internal security service said on Thursday that it had arrest a hardline Islamist group in northern Israel that was suspected of plotting attacks on security personnel.
A Shin Bet statement said that five Arab men from the Galilee village of Daburiyya were suspected of planning to attack an Israeli police post, and a soldier and border policeman living in the village.
It said that their arrests earlier this month had prevented the suspected plot, which also included stealing the servicemen's weapons.
Apart from the Druze community, Israel's Arab citizens are not obliged to perform the military service which is compulsory for most Jews but some volunteer for the army or the paramilitary border police.
The Shin Bet said the men followed the Islamic fundamentalist principles of the Salafi movement and were suspected of believing in jihad, or holy war.
The Salafi movement, which is dominant in Soddy Arabia, believes most modern Mohammedans follow a corrupted version of Islam that should be abandoned in favor of the practices of the first three generations of Mohammedans, the Salaf.
The Shin Bet said that the five men nabbed had been charged with "conspiracy to commit crime, conspiracy to set up a forbidden organization, weapons offences and acts of violence."
Israel's Arab citizens, who make up nearly 20 percent of the population, are Paleostinians who remained in the Jewish state following the 1948 war that attended its creation along with their descendants.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/16/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
Suspected terrorists insurgents walked into a packed mosque and gunned down two worshipers in a brazen attack during Friday prayers in southern Thailand. The victims were a police officer and a defense volunteer. Nearly 100 people witnessed the slaughter in Yala province by four terrorists Muslims believed to be separatists.
Friday's killings in Yala came a day after five paramilitary rangers were gunned down in an ambush in Pattani province after the pickup truck they were riding in was hit by a bomb.
Three soldiers wounded by roadside bomb
Three soldiers were wounded when a home-made bomb exploded on a local road in Narathiwat province on Thursday night.
The device exploded about 10 p.m. as six soldiers were walking from their outpost to set up a security check-point in the village. It had been hidden under some banana trees and blew up as the soldiers were passing, injuring three of them.
Gunmen then opened fire on the soldiers' outpost. The two sides exchanged gunfire for about 10 minutes before the attackers fled. Police later found more than 100 spent cartridges from M16 and AK47 assault rifles at the scene.
Syrian forces gunned down 12 people on Friday and deployed heavily in rural areas around Damascus to try to thwart the protests against Assad which have shaken the country for six months.
Despite the deployment, activists reported demonstrations on the outer edges of the capital, the northern province of Idlib bordering Turkey and other parts of Syria, waving banners saying they were "on course to bring down the regime".
State television broadcast an interview on Thursday night with one of the most prominent military deserters, recanting claims made when he defected and saying he had never been ordered to fire on protesters. It was not clear how Lieutenant-Colonel Hussein Harmoush, who announced his desertion in June, ended up back in Damascus. Turkey's foreign ministry said it did not hand him over to Syrian authorities, adding it would be out of the question to return anyone against their will.
Activists said most of Friday's killings occurred around the city of Hama and in Jabal al-Zawiya, a rugged region near Turkey. Protesters were also killed on the edge of Damascus, including a 12-year-old boy, and in Homs.
[An Nahar] As Syria on Thursday marked six months since anti-regime protests erupted, protesters vowed to hit the streets again, undaunted by a brutal crackdown in which more than 2,600 people have died.
Looking to Friday, the Mohammedan day of weekly prayer when demonstrations tend to be the heaviest, people were called to turn out under the slogan "we advance toward the fall of the regime."
"Six months. More than ever determined to (continue) the March 15 uprising," activists wrote on Facebook page The Syrian Revolution 2011, one of the main engines of the revolt.
"We have been massacred and we are more determined than ever; we have been thrown in prison and are more determined than ever," the page said. "The revolution has burst forth and will not stop until the regime is tossed.
"A new generation has been born in Syria during the six months of the revolution, a generation that refuses to be servile and to prostrate itself before images of the tyrant," the page added.
The latest events follow another day of killings, with human rights ...which often intentionally defined so widely as to be meaningless... activists saying security forces rubbed out eight people, including a child, in a huge sweep on Wednesday against anti-regime protesters in northwestern Syria.
Armed with heavy machine guns, the forces cut off roads leading to the Jabal al-Zawiya villages of Baliun, Marayan, Ihsem, al-Rami and Iblin, setting up checkpoints and arresting several people, said the Britannia-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Four people were killed and dozens more maimed in the operation, it said, and 100 people were jugged, including the family of Riad al-Assad, a soldier who defected.
Elsewhere, a child was killed when security forces opened fire to disperse a demonstration in the village of Janudiya near the Turkish border, and three people were rubbed out in the central provinces of Hama and Homs, the Observatory said.
And a Red Islamic Thingy ambulance driver maimed recently as he was rescuing people in Homs died on Thursday, said the Local Coordination Committees (LCC), an opposition group with people on the ground.
In other violence, state news agency SANA reported a bus driver was ambushed in the city of Hama by an "armed terrorist group," while five soldiers and a guard rubbed out by a similar group were buried in Aleppo ...For centuries, Aleppo was Greater Syria's largest city and the Ottoman Empire's third, after Constantinople and Cairo. Although relatively close to Damascus in distance, Aleppans regard Damascenes as country cousins... and Homs.
And there were shootings and arrests in the 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... suburbs of Harasta, Zabadani and Madaya, the LCC said.
Iblin is the hometown of Lieutenant Colonel Hussein Harmoush, the first military officer to publicly declare his desertion in early June in protest against the repression of the protest movement.
Harmoush managed to leave Syria and had been leading the "Brigade of Free Officers," a group of dozens of officers who have deserted the regime.
According to opposition sources in Damascus, he was recently captured in Turkey by Syrian intelligence agents and brought back to Syria.
State television said it would broadcast the colonel's "confession" at 1730 GMT on Thursday.
A week ago, three other military defectors were killed in Iblin when security forces raided the home of the colonel's brother, Mohammed, the Observatory said.
Mohammed Harmoush was kidnapped during the raid and "his body was returned to his family," said the Observatory's head, Rami Abdul Rahman.
The United Nations ...a lucrative dumping ground for the relatives of dictators and party hacks... estimates the Syrian government crackdown on protests has killed 2,600, mostly civilians, since March, while rights groups say thousands of people have been jugged in the crackdown.
The Observatory's Abdul Rahman says more than 70,000 people have been jugged since the protests began, with more than 15,000 still in jug, with "schools and sports grounds turned into detention and torture centers."
Damascus has consistently maintained the protests are the work of "armed gangs," rejecting reports by Western embassies and human rights groups that the great majority of those killed have been unarmed civilians.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/16/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[7 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
[An Nahar] A unit from the Syrian army accidentally fired at the Lebanese army when the former infiltrated northern Leb on Thursday, reported the National News Agency.
It explained that a 15-member unit from the Syrian army entered Leb near the northern town of al-Mwanseh as it was following shepherds along the Lebanese-Syrian border.
The Lebanese army soon arrived at the scene to inspect the affair.
The Syrian unit then accidentally fired at the army after it had mistaken its identity, the agency said. "Heh! Sorry about that! Thought you were unarmed civilians!"
The situation returned to normality after contacts were made to clarify the incident, NNA added.
Later on Thursday, the Lebanese army's orientation directorate issued a communiqué on the incident's circumstances.
"This afternoon, a patrol belonging to the Syrian Arab Forces crossed around 200 meters into the Lebanese territory at the al-Mwanseh point in the north province, and fired a number of machinegun salvos while pursuing runaways across the border," the communiqué said.
"At once, an army unit arrived at the spot only to find that the aforementioned patrol had returned to where it came from, while upholding its shooting from the Syrian side of the border, which led to minor damages to a military vehicle, without any human casualties," the orientation directorate added, noting that "the issue is being followed up in coordination between the Lebanese and Syrian armies."
Posted by: Fred ||
09/16/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[7 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
#1
Yawn. Red on red.
Posted by: Barbara ||
09/16/2011 0:11 Comments ||
Top||
A group of Syrian opposition activists announced Thursday the creation of a council designed to present a united front against President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad's One of the last of the old-fashioned hereditary iron-fisted fascist dictators. Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor... regime, which has waged a bloody crackdown on anti-government protesters during the past six months.
The Syrian opposition consists of a variety of groups with often differing ideologies, including Islamic parties and secularists, and there have been many meetings of dissidents who say they represent the opposition.
But activists said the new "Syrian National Council," formed during a meeting in Turkey, is the most serious initiative aimed at bringing revolutionary forces together.
The United States gave its support, noting the difficulties the groups are facing.
"Any opposition movement in Syria faces tremendous obstacles," State Department front man Mark Toner said. "It's very hard for them to organize politically and to draft and communicate a platform while their members and leaders are being hunted down and killed."
The Council groups some 140 opposition figures, including exiled opponents and 70 dissidents inside Syria, said Bassma Kodmani, a Gay Paree-based academic. Kodmani added that the council "categorically opposes" any foreign intervention or military operations to bring down Assad's regime.
"We are in agreement over the peaceful nature of the revolution," she said.
A popular uprising began in Syria in mid-March, amid a wave of anti-government protests in the Arab world that have already toppled autocrats in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya. Assad has reacted with deadly force that the U.N. estimates has left some 2,600 people dead.
The meeting in Istanbul took place as Syrian troops carried out raids in the suburbs of the capital Damascus ...The City of Jasmin is the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world. It has not always been inhabited by the same set of fascisti... , the central province of Homs and the northwestern region of Idlib that borders Turkey, activists said.
The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said one person was killed and five were maimed when security forces opened fire during raids in the Damascus suburb of Zabadani. The group said a paramedic who was maimed last week also died in hospital on Thursday.
The new opposition council aims to "convey the Syrian people's just problems on the international platform, to form a pluralist and democratic state," a statement said. It also hopes to bring down the "leadership that is ruling through dictatorship, and to unite the prominent politicians under one umbrella."
The reason it took so long to form the council is that "we wanted to make sure everyone was on board," said Adib Shishakli, an opposition member based in Soddy Arabia. Shishakli said the council would elect a leader at a later time.
Ahmad Ramadan, another opposition member, said the council would form 10 bureaus, including a foreign relations office dedicated to "relaying the demands of the revolution, the people's requests to the outside world." He said it would also work to form a television station to help overthrow the regime.
Louay Safi, a U.S.-based academic, said the council is broad-based and includes Sunnis, Shias, Alawites, Kurds and members of the Moslem Brüderbund. It is "open to everyone unless they are against democracy," he said.
The emphasis on unity comes amid fears of civil war between Assad's ruling minority Alawite sect and the country's Sunni Mohammedan majority.
Also Thursday, Syrian state TV aired excerpts of a video showing army Lt. Col. Hussein Harmoush, one of the first officers to defect after the uprising began. The pro-government daily Al-Watan said he was jugged during "a special operation" in Idlib.
Harmoush, of the so-called Free Officers Movement, has previously appeared in videos calling on the army to stand by the people instead of the regime.
Meanwhile, ...back at the shouting match, a new, even louder, voice was to be heard... French President Nicolas Sarkozy ...23rd and current President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra. Sarkozy is married to singer-songwriter Carla Bruni, who has a really nice birthday suit... said he dreamed that one day young Syrians will have the same opportunity as young Libyans have for democracy. He made his remarks from Tripoli during his first official visit to Libya since rebels ousted dictator Moammar Qadaffy ...who single-handedly turned a moderately prosperous kingdom into a dictator's fantasyland...
"The best I can do is dedicate my visit here in hopes that everyone in Syria also benefits," he said.
In La Belle France, Foreign Ministry front man Bernard Valero said Syrian opposition members are meeting in Gay Paree with French officials on Thursday and Friday, though he did not identify the figures or elaborate on the meetings.
Syrian opposition members in Istanbul said they were in contact with La Belle France but had no scheduled talks with French officials this week.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/16/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
From Long War Journal...
During a joint hearing of the Senate and House intelligence committees yesterday, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper testified that the recidivism rate for former Guantanamo detainees has risen to an estimated 27 percent. The total number of "confirmed" and "suspected" recidivists, according to Clapper, is now 161.
"Many of them have been taken off the battlefield through kinetic encounters," Clapper explained, with respect to the recidivists. Ah, "kinetic encounters". What? Did you hit them with a bowling ball?
One of these "kinetic encounters" occurred earlier this month, when Afghan and Coalition security forces killed a former Guantanamo detainee named Sabar Lal Melma 16-pound ball at 800 yards. A combination strike and a hole in one...
and captured another ex-Guantanamo detainee during a raid in Afghanistan. Thus reducing Sabar's recidivism rate to zero percent...
Melma, according to an International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) press release, was "a key affiliate of the al Qaeda network" and "responsible for attacks and financing insurgent operations in the Pech district, Kunar province." Melma was also "in contact with several senior al Qaeda members throughout Kunar and Pakistan." But...not any more.
As of December 2010, most of the recidivists remained at large. The DNI reported that 13 were dead, 54 were "in custody," and an additional 83 remained "at large." The current breakdown of killed/captured versus at large recidivists is not publicly available.
#1
I spoke to a lefty a week ago and I mentioned the recidivism rate of Gitmo alumni. He said that they were all radicalized by our harsh treatment of them. I mentioned that of many of the released alumni did not want to be released because they said the treatment was so favorable. He said, "Yah, Yah Yah... I can't hear you..."
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
09/16/2011 16:59 Comments ||
Top||
Johnson! Stop the presses!!
Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri is still in Pakistan, a Pentagon official said Wednesday, following the release of a video in which Osama bin Laden's successor blasts the United States.
"We have no information to indicate that he is anywhere else than in Pakistan," Pentagon spokesman George Little said.
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.
Fighters loyal to Libya's new rulers were inside Sirte, the country's military said on Thursday, after a massive convoy of its forces launched a bid to take Moammar 
[An Nahar] Yemeni troops opened fire Thursday on thousands of people demonstrating in Taez for President 
Dozens of soldiers of the Frontier Constabulary (FC) were deployed on Wednesday in parts of Orangi Town,
Mohmand
The United States named the 
Police and the Crime Investigation Department (CID) on Thursday 
ANBAR / Aswat al-Iraq: West Iraqs Anbar Police have reported on Thursday that the Army and Police forces have detained 11 suspected persons charged with having been behind the Nukeib massacre that killed 22 men in Anbar Province last Monday, an Anbar security source reported.
Suspected 
President-for-Life Bashir 
