#6
I understood the Superman reference in the 'Bloid because Ms. Vale is the spitting image of Lana Lang. But beyond that, I don't "get" a single reference in the comments....
#7
google up "poon" and "olongapo"... jeesh, scooter
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/16/2008 18:25 Comments ||
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#8
Any comment regarding Olanapo needs to include references to Sh!t River bridge..... in the last few years corrugated steel sheeting was installed in an attempt to cut down on peso diving.....
I used to look forward to a dinner at Susans, but in 95(?) it had been replaced by a rocl n roll bar.....
Afghan President Hamid Karzai offered Sunday to provide security for the Taliban's reclusive leader if he agrees to enter peace talks, and suggested that the U.S. and other Western nations could leave the country or oust him if they disagree. Karzai's comments come as international political and military leaders are increasingly mulling whether negotiating with the Taliban is necessary as the insurgency gains sway in large areas of Afghanistan.
Karzai has long supported drawing the Islamist militia into the political mainstream on the condition that they accept the country's constitution. "If I say I want protection for Mullah Omar, the international community has two choices, remove me or leave if they disagree," Karzai said in an hourlong news conference in Kabul. "If I am removed in the cause of peace for Afghanistan by force by them, than I will be very happy. If they disagree, they can leave. But we are not in that stage yet," Karzai said.
"If I hear from (Mullah Omar) that he is willing to come to Afghanistan or to negotiate for peace and for the well-being of the Afghans so that our children are not killed anymore, I as a president of Afghanistan will go to any length to provide protection," Karzai said.
Omar has not directly responded to these calls, but spokesmen associated with the Taliban have previously said their participation in any talks depends on the withdrawal of U.S. and other foreign troops from the country. Karzai dismissed that, saying foreign troops are necessary for Afghanistan's security.
Afghan and coalition forces captured an insurgent leader in eastern Afghanistan, while 10 Taliban were killed in a separate clash, the US military said on Saturday. US forces said the captured man was a 'key insurgent leader' responsible for the deaths of Afghan troops, bomb attacks on coalition forces and the kidnapping of aid workers.
Coalition forces also killed 10 Taliban in a strike against a bomb-making cell in the eastern Paktia province on Friday, the US military said in a separate statement.
Separately, a civilian was accidentally killed by a grenade during a clash with insurgents in Zabul province, a US military statement said. Meanwhile, police thwarted a suicide attack in the eastern city of Khost, officials said.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/16/2008 00:00 ||
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Somali al-Shabab fighters flogged 32 dancers for violating strict Sharia edicts after arresting them for taking part in a traditional dance near the capital Mogadishu, officials and elders said.
The team was flogged in Balad township, 30 kilometers (18 miles) north of the capital Mogadishu, where they were arrested overnight while performing a folklore dance. "They were found dancing to traditional songs outside Balad last night and were flogged this morning. They were arrested by Islamist fighters," said Mohamed Sheikh Hussein, an elder.
'Strict Sharia'
Islamist spokesmanThe fighters who are enforcing a strict form of Sharia law have been slowly advancing on the city, raising the stakes in their two-year rebellion and undermining fragile U.N. brokered peace talks to end 17 years of chaos in the Horn of Africa nation.
Last month, they stoned to death a young woman accused of adultery in the southern port of Kismayu.
Islamist spokesman Sheikh Abdirahim Isse Adow said those arrested had been warned several times against dancing. "We arrested 25 women and seven men who were dancing near Balad (town). We released them after whipping them. We warned them many times, but they wouldn't listen," he told Reuters.
"The dancing of men and women together is illegal and totally against Islam. We neither killed them nor injured them, but only whipped them according to the Islamic law."
"The dancing of men and women together is illegal and totally against Islam. We neither killed them nor injured them, but only whipped them according to the Islamic law," Adow said.
Last month's stoning to death of the woman in Kismayu was the first such public killing by the hardline militants for about two years and drew international condemnation.
The Islamists, despite bringing much-needed peace and stability, carried out public executions when they ruled Mogadishu and most of south Somalia for half of 2006. Allied Ethiopian and Somali government forces toppled them at the end of that year, but they have waged an Iraq-style guerrilla campaign since then, gradually taking back territory.
'Creeping Talibanisation'
When in power in 2006, the Islamists carried out executions, shut cinemas and photo shops, banned live music, flogged drug offenders and harassed women for failing to wear appropriate dress in public.
Alarmed by the strict and fundamentalist version of Sharia law, the United States led Western concern over a "creeping Talibanisation" in Somalia by the Islamists.
Somalia has had no effective government since the 1991 ouster of President Siad Barre touched off a bloody power struggle that has defied numerous attempts to restore stability.
The turmoil in Somalia has fuelled instability across the Horn of Africa, fuelling one of the world's worst humanitarian disasters and triggering a wave of pirate attacks in the Gulf of Aden, a vital shipping lane for trade between Europe and Asia.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/16/2008 00:00 ||
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#2
This reminds me of an article, can't say if I read it in english online (that's what I believe) or possibly translated in french in a mag, but this was quite a few years ago already, and the somali writer, a more or less westernized journalist, complained very bitterly about the rapid growth of salafi islam... and how this "new" brand of islam was deliberately aimed at erasing all traditional somali culture, dance, song, veiling wimmen in abaya, having enforcers of "morality" (familiar?),... all this lavishly funded by oil money from the Gulf.
Somai probably were sufis, a far cry from wahabism, though sufis has a very underserved rep for being an "enlightnened" islam, which it never was except in the minds of hip western apologists/sufi converts IIUC... and this pattern has been ongoing over and over, a traditional, folk, "peaceful" islam being forcibly replaced by militant salafism, in north africa, in bosnia, in chechnya,... with an attendant aculturation, all this funded by the money stolen by the arabian princes, in a general movement of an aggressive and imperialist islamic "renaissance" born in 19th century India (John Frum had great comments about that).
A Yemeni court on Saturday sentenced to death an Iranian for drug trafficking and imposed 25 year prison sentences each on another 11 Iranians and a Pakistani, officials said.
Ayub Mohammed Houd, 33, who faces the death penalty, and his 12 accomplices were found guilty of bringing 1.5 tons of hashish into Yemeni territorial waters, hidden in the hold of a ship coming from Iran. "It was the work of a gang of criminals, who turned to trading in narcotics," according to the prosecuting statement.
The prosecutor immediately entered an appeal, saying all the accused men should be condemned to death. Defense lawyers also said they would appeal the sentences. The men denied the charges and said they had nothing to do with the seized drugs.
The prosecution said the 13 men were arrested by a U.S. navy warship, which found the drugs on board their boat. They were handed over to the Yemeni authorities after the destruction of all but 20 kilograms of drugs.
At the opening of the trial on October 12, the men, whose statements in Farsi were translated into Arabic, denied the charges and said the U.S. sailors threw a large quantity of fish into the sea from the hold.
Another group of 13 Iranian fishermen are on trial in Yemen, also for drug running.
On Friday, Yemeni authorities announced the seizure of seven tons of drugs on a ship off the Yemeni island of Socotra in the Indian Ocean, during an operation by coastguards in cooperation with international forces. Nine people aboard the ship were arrested, an interior ministry official told AFP on Saturday.
Yemeni authorities have said they seized 27 tons of various drugs in the first nine months of the year, mostly from Iranian traffickers wanting to distribute them via Yemen to Gulf countries.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/16/2008 00:00 ||
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PESHAWAR, Pakistan -- Pakistan temporarily barred oil tankers and container trucks from a key passageway to Afghanistan, threatening a critical supply route for U.S. and NATO troops on Sunday and raising more fears about security in the militant-plagued border region.
The suspension came as U.S.-led coalition troops reported killing 30 insurgents in fighting in southern Afghanistan and detaining two militant leaders _ both in provinces near Pakistan's lawless border.
Al-Qaida and Taliban fighters are behind much of the escalating violence along the lengthy, porous Afghan-Pakistan border, and both nations have traded accusations that the other was not doing enough to keep militants out from its side.
The tensions come as violence in Afghanistan has reached its highest level since the U.S.-led invasion ousted the Taliban regime in 2001, and as a surge in U.S. missile strikes on the Pakistani side of the border has prompted protests from Pakistan government leaders.
Last Monday, a band of militants hijacked around a dozen trucks whose load included Humvees headed to the foreign forces in Afghanistan. Renewed security concerns prompted officials to impose the temporary ban on tankers and trucks carrying sealed containers late Saturday, government official Bakhtiar Khan said. He said it could be lifted as early as Monday.
Lt. Cmdr. Walter Matthews, a spokesman for the U.S. military in Afghanistan, acknowledged only that "the appropriate authorities are coordinating security procedures."
"The convoys will continue flowing. We will not discuss when, or where, or what," he said.
Denied entry to the route, dozens of the trucks and oil tankers were parked along a main road near Peshawar, the regional capital.
Asked about security fears, Rehmatullah, a driver who gave only one name and said his truck was carrying a military vehicle of some sort, said, "This is our job, and we have to do it, but yes, we have a security risk every time we pass through the route."
Many of the supplies headed to foreign troops arrive in the southern Pakistani port city of Karachi in unmarked, sealed shipping containers and are loaded onto trucks for the journey either to the border town of Chaman or the primary route, through the famed Khyber Pass.
Last week's ambush took place at the entrance to the pass. Police said around 60 masked militants forced the convoy to stop, briefly trading fire with nearby security officers. U.S. officials say the attackers seized two Humvees and a water truck. Several trucks carrying wheat for the World Food Program were also hijacked.
While critical of U.S. missile strikes in Pakistan's northwest tribal regions, both Pakistan's prime minister and president denied any plans to subvert the supply line as a pressure tactic in recent interviews with The Associated Press.
Posted by: john frum ||
11/16/2008 09:59 ||
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#2
no lets remember this when the next AID check is supposed too be handed over
Posted by: chris ||
11/16/2008 13:30 Comments ||
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#3
This is what will drive us out of Afghanistan. The Taliban can't possibly beat us in the field, and they won't convert the population to their cause. But they can disrupt supply sufficiently that we and NATO will have little choice, and I expect our NATO 'allies' to fold first.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/16/2008 17:49 Comments ||
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CIA director Michael Hayden has warned that every major terrorist threat confronting the world has ties to Pakistan.
In a speech to the Atlantic Council on Thursday, Mr Hayden also claimed that Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden was hiding in Fata. "Let me be very clear. Today, virtually every major terrorist threat that my agency is aware of has threads back to the tribal areas," Mr Hayden told the Washington-based think-tank.
The CIA director, however, acknowledged that Bin Laden was isolated from the day-to-day operations of Al Qaeda, although the organisation was still the greatest threat to the US. "If there is a major strike on this country (the US), it will bear the fingerprints of Al Qaeda," he warned.
Gen Hayden, however, depicted Al Qaeda chief as an extremely frustrated man who spent all his time trying to survive and had no time for guiding his militants. "[Bin Laden] is putting a lot of energy into his own survival, a lot of energy into his own security," the CIA chief said. "He appears to be largely isolated from the day-to-day operations of the organisation he nominally heads."
Capturing Bin Laden, however, remained the US government's top priority, he added. "His death or capture clearly would have a significant impact on the confidence of his followers - both core Al Qaeda and unaffiliated extremists throughout the world," he said.
After depicting Pakistan as the hub of all major terrorist activities in the world, the CIA chief also conceded that Pakistan faced a complex situation. "While the problem looks easy from thousands of miles away, it's extremely difficult up close because of the tribal issues," he said.
The CIA chief said he believed the Pakistani government had been "extraordinarily helpful" in responding to this challenge. Their plan, which they started to implement in 2006, to slowly expand their reach over the Fata would have been wise and far-reaching were it not for the extreme urgency of the threat, he added. We've killed and captured more top Al Qaeda operatives with the support of the Pakistani security forces than anywhere else in the world. What remains unclear is what the end game is," he added.
According to him, Al Qaeda was chased out of Yemen in the 1990s only to reconstitute in Afghanistan. It was run out of Afghanistan in 2001, only to disperse, setting up a rump headquarters in Pakistan and declare Iraq the "central front" of its effort. "Where, then, does it stop? Or is this simply a case of perpetual penalty kicks?" he asked.
Mr Hayden warned that despite the losses the terrorist group had to incur after 9/11, Al Qaeda was still spreading in Africa and the Mid-East.
The CIA believes progress has been made in curbing Al Qaeda's activities in the Philippines, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and Iraq. Other areas, however, are showing an increase in activity, including East Africa, the Maghreb, Yemen and Pakistan. Mr Hayden claimed that in Pakistan Al Qaeda had established safe haven and was training a "bench of skilled operatives."
Gen Hayden was appointed CIA director in May 2006 by President George Bush but it's not clear whether he will retain his job when President-elect Barack Obama takes office in January.
Posted by: john frum ||
11/16/2008 09:54 ||
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#1
And we've been saying that for how long? Gee, Rantburg scoops the CIA. Who alerted Gen. Hayden to our group? Whoever it was, congratulations. Now if he (and a few others) would only listen to our advice, especially about Pakiwakiland and Somalia. Remember, General, it's better to be feared than to be treated with contempt. Most of the Islamic world has nothing but contempt for the US, because we've been playing war as if it were a British tea party. Turn the Pashtun areas into a totally inhospitable desert, and 90% of the problems in Afghanistan and Pakistan would disappear. Bomb all the madrassas in pakistan, and even more problems would be eliminated. They may hate us, but they're darned sure not going to attack us, especially if we tell them the next time we do it with nukes.
Salafi Islam is a cancer. The sooner we excise ALL of it (including the Magick Kingdom), the sooner things quiet down. Take their fricking oil as payment for our need to respond to their aggression, grind them into dust, and tell any other islamic nutjob we'll be coming after them with the biggest stick in our arsenal if they cause any more problems. These people only respond to the strongest horse. We've been acting like a broken-down Shetland Pony. Time to bring out the Thoroughbreds and Clydesdales.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
11/16/2008 11:47 Comments ||
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#2
well they do say you learn something new everyday. (sarcasm)
Posted by: chris ||
11/16/2008 13:31 Comments ||
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#3
It's one thing for us to say this online at the Burg and to congratulate one another on our insight.
It's rather another and more significant thing for the Director of the CIA to say it in a public speech during a period in which we've launched dozens of UAV attacks into Pakistan.
Gurguri tribesmen blocked the Hangu-Tull road near Dalan on Saturday in protest against the abduction of 12 people including a Taliban commander belonging to their clan.
The tribesmen alleged that the Baland Khel tribe of Upper Orakzai Agency was involved in the abduction. Hundreds of armed tribesmen blocked the road, while the district administration tried to solve the issue by holding talks with elders of both the tribes.
Local sources told Daily Times that the abducted commander was identified as Nasurullah and was affiliated with the Hafiz Gul Bahadar group of the Taliban operating in North Waziristan.
Meanwhile, unidentified men killed Taliban commander Maulana Tayyeb in Orakzai Agency. His body was dumped in the Rabia Khel tribe's area in Anajawar.
So far no one has claimed responsibility for the killing. Political authorities have also confirmed Tayyab's murder. Separately, suspected Taliban blew up houses of two tribal elders of Ferozkhel tribe in the Merubak area of Lower tehsil of Orakzai Agency. The houses were partially damaged. However, no causalities were reported.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/16/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Give him back. In quart-sized zip-lock baggies.
Three suicide bombers have entered Peshawar to hit targets including the Malik Mohammad Saad Shaheed Police Lines, according to a note put up at the Police Lines on Saturday. The men have been identified as Ali Raza and Naeem from Khanjar Abad Koroona and another, also named Naeem, from Karachi. The attacker will identify himself as the son of a police or military officer and could be on foot, in a car or on a motorcycle, the note said. Police officials were not immediately available for comment.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/16/2008 00:00 ||
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The United Nations has increased the security level in Peshawar and ordered its international staff to leave the province in the wake of recent attacks on international aid workers, including the killing of a USAID official. The UN sources told Daily Times that following a series of suicide blasts and killing of foreigners, the UN had raised the security level in Peshawar to phase four, adding all UN projects in Peshawar might be closed. The international staff will be relocated outside the province and shifted to Islamabad, the sources said, adding only the staff concerned with emergency or security operations would remain in the area. The dependents of UN international staff in Islamabad, which is under security phase three, have either left the country or have restricted their movement, the sources said, adding all international and senior local staff were operating from their houses in Islamabad.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/16/2008 00:00 ||
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Political authorities suspended supplies to NATO forces in Afghanistan via Torkham Border on Saturday due to security concerns on the Pak-Afghan Highway, a private TV channel reported.
According to the channel, hundreds of trucks and containers had been stopped in Peshawar after the suspension of the supply on Saturday.
Khyber Agency Political Agent Tariq Hayat told the channel that supplies had been suspended following incidents of looting of trucks and containers carrying oil and other supplies for the NATO forces battling Taliban in Afghanistan.
He said the NWFP additional secretary had sent a proposal to the federal government on November 11 asking for the suspension of the supplies because of the volatile security situation on the restive Pak-Afghan border.
"But some transporters are transporting supplies on their own responsibility," the political agent told the TV channel.
Quoting authorities, the channel said the supplies would not be resumed until effective security measures were put in place.
Another TV channel quoted FC officials as saying that the authorities had decided to set up security checkposts in Jamrud tehsil to protect the Pak-Afghan Highway and supplies to Afghanistan.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/16/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Where's the 101st? Have them land in Peshawar, take control of the convoy, and move it into Afghanistan. Use AC-130s to guard the route, and DARE phakestan to do anything about it. These people are exhausting MY patience, and I don't think I'm any more impatient than most military commanders. This is an attempt at bribery, and should be treated as such. It's time Rawalpindi/Islamabad disappeared from world maps.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
11/16/2008 11:52 Comments ||
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Nine Taliban including a commander were killed in clashes with security forces in Swat and another six were killed as troops pounded Taliban hideouts in Bajaur Agency on Saturday. The dead commander Ali Rehman was from Derai. Talks between rebel cleric Fazlullah and a Swat peace jirga also began on Saturday. A policeman was killed when a shell landed on his house during the operation against Taliban in Machni. An FC soldier was also killed in the clashes. Troops killed a suspected suicide bomber and an accomplice when they fired a rocket on his car in Shabqadar. They seized Taliban commander Ehtishamul Haq's house.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/16/2008 00:00 ||
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The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) said on Saturday it was not involved in kidnapping for ransom, the killing of innocent people, bomb blasts and robberies. In pamphlets written in Urdu and distributed in Jamrud, the Taliban said they would take action against those involved in these crimes. The pamphlets said Taliban were fighting for 'the sanctity of the religion' and their fight was not against a particular country, group or individual. According to the pamphlets, TTP chief Baitullah Mehsud has nominated Mustafa Kamal as Taliban chief for Jamrud sub-division of Khyber Agency.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/16/2008 00:00 ||
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Terrorists are begging for a ceasefire but the government will not agree to a truce until they surrender, a private TV channel quoted Interior Adviser Rehman Malik as saying on Saturday.
Speaking at a passing-out parade of Pakistan Rangers jawans in Mandi Bahauddin, the interior adviser said terrorists were being trained and funded by foreign countries, adding those who wanted to surrender should contact the political agent of the respective tribal agencies.
According to the channel, Rehman said the government was planning to teach Pakistani security forces the latest counter-terror techniques to fight terrorism effectively. He also announced that the pay and perks of the Pakistan Rangers were being raised and brought at par with those of the army.
About the money laundering scam, the interior adviser said the government would take stern action against Munaf Kalia and Javed Khanani and bring back the foreign exchange illegally transferred abroad.
According to Online, Rehman said the authorities were cracking down on those involved in Hundi and Hawala business. He urged overseas Pakistanis to remit their money through financial institutions.
Earlier, Pakistan Rangers personnel presented a guard of honour to the interior adviser. Rehman distributed prizes among Rangers jawans.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/16/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
I'd prefer that they were begging for their lives, but that's just me.
#1
Good question to ask the president elect, : "This woman clearly has information that puts innocent Iraqi civilians and more importantly your troops in grave danger. As commander in chief, what guidance do you have for US troops advising the Iraqi interrogators?"
#2
The very basic question that the damn suiciders never ask, what is there for them to get killed themselves and to kill others. Americans learned a long time ago not to destroy what their money (taxpayers money) build. No body tells these damn stupid not to die for their handlers. I have no sympathy for these damn stupid who want to bite the same hand hands that feed them. If these stupid people never learned what are good for then, hell with them, kill them all and forget about them. Hey, even God helps those who want to help themselves.
Aswat al-Iraq: Two explosive devices went off on Saturday in Kirkuk, wounding one civilian, while a third bomb was defused, said a source from the city's police. "A roadside bomb detonated in southern Kirkuk, wounding one civilian who was admitted to hospital for treatment," the source told Aswat al-Iraq.
"Support forces found a roadside bomb in the southwest of Kirkuk city, and they detonated it by themselves, without causing any casualties," he said. "In a third incident, an explosive device, which was adhered to the car of a local official, fell down on the road while the car was moving, and then was exploded, without causing any casualties or damages," he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/16/2008 00:00 ||
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An Israeli airstrike killed four Palestinian militants as they fired mortars from the Gaza Strip on Sunday, Palestinian officials said, just hours after another group of militants struck Israel in a separate rocket attack.
The violence was the latest in a surge of clashes that have rocked a 5-month-old truce between Israel and Gaza's militant Hamas rulers. Both sides say they would like to preserve the Egyptian-mediated truce, which is due to expire next month, but events over the past two weeks signal the opposite is happening.
The militants killed in the airstrike were from a small Hamas-allied group known as the Popular Resistance Committees. Abu Attaya, a spokesman for the group, said the four were firing mortars at Israel when they were killed.
The Israeli military said the airstrike targeted a rocket squad in northern Gaza.
After the strike, dozens of onlookers converged on the bodies of two of the dead men shouting "God is great." They then carried the bodies, one wrapped in a blanket, to a nearby civilian car.
Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum threatened retaliation. "Today's crime will not pass without punishment," he said.
At sundown a rocket launched from Gaza hit a house under construction in the battered Israeli border town of Sderot, slightly wounding a resident, police and media reports said.
Palestinians launched two other rockets earlier in the day. No one was hurt, the military said.
According to the Israeli military's count, Palestinians have sent more than 170 rockets and mortars flying at Israel since the violence resumed nearly two weeks ago. Israeli troops have killed 15 militants, and two more died in unclear circumstances. No civilians have been killed on either side.
Israeli leaders signaled they had not given up on the cease-fire. Speaking Sunday ahead of the Israeli Cabinet's weekly meeting, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said, "We are not eager for battle but we do not fear it."
Israel has dispatched several messages to Hamas, via Egypt, saying it wants to see the truce preserved, Israeli defense officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the efforts were not made public. Hamas officials also confirmed they have been in touch with Egypt.
In Gaza, the prime minister of the Hamas government, Ismail Haniyeh, said continuing the truce "depends on stopping the aggression against our people, opening the border crossings and all the terms of the calm."
Israel has sealed Gaza's border crossings since the latest fighting erupted, barring badly needed goods and fuel from entering the impoverished territory. U.N. food supplies in Gaza have been depleted and the fuel cutoff has led to power shortages.
Olmert is set to meet on Monday with Hamas' rival, moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, for another in a series of talks on peace negotiations.
An Abbas aide said the Palestinian leader would ask Olmert "to avoid further suffering of the people in the Gaza Strip," Nabil Abu Rdeneh said.
Although Abbas no longer controls Gaza, he still claims to be the Legitimate leader and representative of the area's 1.4 million people.
Calm returned on Saturday to the Gaza Strip and southern Israel a day after Palestinian militants fired a barrage of 17 Qassam and Grad rockets at Sderot, Ashkelon and their surroundings in response to the death of a Palestinian militant in Gaza. One woman was lightly hurt by shrapnel and 15 others were treated for shock at Ashkelon's Barzilai Medical Center. Government sources said the next few days will be crucial in determining whether the ceasefire with Hamas may be salvaged. I once knew a woman whose 13 children were crucial in determining whether her virginity could be salvaged.
At the same time, Defense Minister Ehud Barak warned against any rash action that may destabilize the situation. "Blowing things out of proportion is not a state policy," Barak said. "This situation is intolerable. The defense establishment must act decisively against Hamas and other extremists in the Gaza Strip," Barak noted during a speech in Netanya. She was a southern lady, and she had the silly habit, or perhaps the affectation, of exclaiming "Well, I never!"
Four of the 17 rockets fired at Israel over the weekend were Grads, which have a greater range and payload than Qassams. Most people would then look at the 13 tow-headed young 'uns and think "Well, yes, you did!"
Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack and said it was acting in response to attacks by Israel Defense Forces against Palestinian militants and following the death of a Popular Resistance Committee gunman in an explosion in northern Gaza early Friday. At which point most people would burst into laughter or at least, if they were very polite, snicker behind a raised hand.
A spokesman for the PRC said the Israel Air Force exchanged fire with a group of militants who approached the Israeli border near the city of Beit Hanoun, killing one of its members. An Israel Defense Forces spokesman said the IAF was not involved in the Friday incident and that the blast was the result of a mishandling of explosives by the militant. "The ceasefire agreement will not prevent Hamas from reacting to Israeli aggression," Fawzi Barhum, a spokesman for Hamas said. "The enemy is turning more corrupt and violent against our people and the holy sites. The military wing of Hamas will avenge every Israeli crime." "But really, we do have a ceasefire!"
Sderot was hit by a barrage of ten Qassam rockets, one of which landed in the center of town lightly wounding a woman. Another landed between two houses in a nearby kibbutz, causing panic.
Residents of Ashkelon, whose city was hit by four rockets, protested against the government following the attack. "We're either at war with Hamas or there's a calm," said Yossi, a youth from Ashkelon. "This is the government's cowardice. They aren't so interested in the security of Ashkelon's residents. The Israeli government cannot pursue its own agenda when rockets are fired at us. Now I understand what Sderot residents have felt for seven years...their fear and anxieties."
Barak On Saturday defended the government's policy of restraint during a speech in Netanya and hinted that Israel's decision to retaliate immediately after Hezbollah's attack on its soldiers, leading to the Second Lebanon War, was rash. "We saw two years ago what a rash decision may do to Israel's national security," Barak said. "In my estimation and according to my professional opinion we are not late in acting [in Gaza]. If and when, we shall carry out an operation and succeed. But such a large-scale action is not a picnic and it must be taken only when other options are exhausted, not the other way around."
The defense minister also rejected claims that the ceasefire with Hamas removed pressure from the Islamic group from reaching an agreement over the return of abducted IDF soldier Gilad Shalit. Barak said that a large-scale operation would not help talks over Shalit's release.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/16/2008 00:00 ||
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#3
Cyber Sarge---you're 90% right. What every UN politician working on the Paleostinian Problem needs to do is to live in Sderot and telecommute from Sderot.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
11/16/2008 13:53 Comments ||
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#4
I give that 10%. I think the Israelis should make that the begining (and non negotiable) step to ANY negotiations in the future.
Sri Lanka's military said troops seized the entire western coast of the Indian Ocean island on Saturday, capturing the key Pooneryn area where Tamil Tiger rebel artillery had kept soldiers at bay since 1993. With the military controlling Pooneryn, a strategic spit of land that runs parallel to the neck of the northern Jaffna Peninsula across a narrow lagoon, it will be in a position to strike the rebel capital of Kilinochchi from three sides.
In one of Asia's longest-running insurgencies, at least 70,000 people have been killed in Sri Lanka since 1983.
"We have completely taken over Pooneryn. We have gone up to the town, and control the roads from Pooneryn to Paranthan," military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said.
The Defence Ministry said troops had encountered stiff resistance as they fought through marshlands south of Pooneryn and across the Paranthan junction overnight.
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) had no immediate comment.
"We didn't find any artillery, because they must have taken those pieces away or hidden them," Nanayakkara said. Saturday's capture came after months of heavy fighting on the west coast.
Surrender: Sri Lanka's president Saturday asked Tamil Tigers to surrender after troops claimed to have recaptured a strategically important town from Tiger rebels following months of heavy fighting. President Mahinda Rajapakse said in a televised address to the nation security forces wrested control of the town of Pooneryn and the main northwestern coastal route of A-32.
"This morning the entire A-32 road and Pooneryn was captured by our security forces," the president said. "On this occasion, I ask (Tiger chief Velupillai) Prabhakaran to lay down and immediately come for talks."
"The best thing he can do for the (Tamil) people in the north is to lay down arms and surrender," he said.
Pooneryn had been a Tiger stronghold since 1993 when the rebels dislodged the main military base after killing some 700 soldiers in three days of intense battles. The rebels had used the coastal area to launch artillery strikes against a military airbase on the northern edge of the government-controlled Jaffna peninsula vulnerable to long-range attacks.
The defence ministry described Saturday's capture of Pooneryn as the "greatest feat against terrorists" along the island's northwestern seaboard. The ministry said troops were closing in on the town of Kilinochchi, the political capital of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) further south.
"Pitched battles are still going on in the area," the ministry said. "The terrorists are fast withdrawing" to the northwest. The ministry, however, has made repeated claims in recent months that Kilinochchi was about to fall.
The air force deployed helicopter gun ships to pound suspected Tiger strongholds in the Jaffna peninsula Saturday morning in support of ground troops in the area, the military said.
The latest reports came as the country's parliament was set to vote Saturday on a new war budget allocating a record 1.6 billion dollars for defence in 2009, up from 1.5 billion dollars this year.
The territory held by the separatist Tiger rebels has shrunk sharply since the guerrillas lost the vast eastern province in July last year after months of heavy combat. Security forces have in recent months stepped up their offensive in a bid to capture Kilinochchi, the town where Tigers received visiting foreign dignitaries.
With the fall of Pooneryn, the military has taken the northwestern seaboard of the island and is poised to open a new land route to the Jaffna peninsula, which had so far been supplied by sea and air routes.
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11/16/2008 00:00 ||
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Iran detained 10 spies carrying $500,000 in cash who had entered the Islamic Republic illegally from neighboring Pakistan, state television said on Saturday. Modern espionage cameras and maps of sensitive regions in Iran were found when the group was detained in Iran's south-eastern Sistan-Baluchestan province bordering Pakistan, the report said.
Iran has in the past accused the United States and Britain of trying to destabilize the country by supporting ethnic minority rebels operating in sensitive border areas.
Television did not give any details on the 10 alleged spies' nationality or say when they were detained.
Earlier in the week Iran's Intelligence minister Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejei was quoted by the semi-official Fars News Agency of saying that "over the last two months, Western intelligence agencies have set new priorities in Iran."
"Until two months ago, Western intelligence services focused on Iran's [general] elections, but today they are working on finding ways to foment discord inside the country," Ejei added.
Sistan-Baluchestan is a volatile province known for frequent clashes between security forces and well-armed drug smugglers.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/16/2008 00:00 ||
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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.
Somali al-Shabab fighters flogged 32 dancers for violating strict Sharia edicts after arresting them for taking part in a traditional dance near the capital Mogadishu, officials and elders said.
A Yemeni court on Saturday sentenced to death an Iranian for drug trafficking and imposed 25 year prison sentences each on another 11 Iranians and a Pakistani, officials said. 
CIA director Michael Hayden has warned that every major terrorist threat confronting the world has ties to Pakistan.
Nine Taliban including a commander were killed in clashes with security forces in Swat and another six were killed as troops pounded Taliban hideouts in Bajaur Agency on Saturday. The dead commander Ali Rehman was from Derai. Talks between rebel cleric Fazlullah and a Swat peace jirga also began on Saturday. A policeman was killed when a shell landed on his house during the operation against Taliban in Machni. An FC soldier was also killed in the clashes. Troops killed a suspected suicide bomber and an accomplice when they fired a rocket on his car in Shabqadar. They seized Taliban commander Ehtishamul Haq's house.
An Israeli airstrike killed four Palestinian militants as they fired mortars from the Gaza Strip on Sunday, Palestinian officials said, just hours after another group of militants struck Israel in a separate rocket attack. 
Calm returned on Saturday to the Gaza Strip and southern Israel a day after Palestinian militants fired a barrage of 17 Qassam and Grad rockets at Sderot, Ashkelon and their surroundings in response to the death of a Palestinian militant in Gaza. One woman was lightly hurt by shrapnel and 15 others were treated for shock at Ashkelon's Barzilai Medical Center. Government sources said the next few days will be crucial in determining whether the ceasefire with Hamas may be salvaged. 
Iran detained 10 spies carrying $500,000 in cash who had entered the Islamic Republic illegally from neighboring Pakistan, state television said on Saturday. Modern espionage cameras and maps of sensitive regions in Iran were found when the group was detained in Iran's south-eastern Sistan-Baluchestan province bordering Pakistan, the report said. 
