Frontpage Interviews guest today is Pierre Rehov, a French filmmaker who has filmed six documentaries on the Palestinian Intifada. One of his recent documentaries, Suicide Killers, explores the psychology of suicide bombers. It is based on interviews with the victims of suicide bombers, the families of suicide bombers, would-be bombers themselves, and experts on suicide killer mentality. He is currently in Iraq filming a new documentary on the psychology of suicide killing.
FP: So lets begin with why you decided to go to Iraq.
Rehov: After the success of Suicide Killers, and you have to remember that I invented the term by contraction of "Suicide Bombers" and "Serial Killers," I decided to make a new film about the "proliferation" of suicide killing. After addressing this dangerous trend in "Suicide Killers," I decided to go deeper into the psychopathology of individuals who are ready to sacrifice their lives as long as they kill others.
The question I am asking myself in making this film is: "What do kamikazes from WWII, Palestinian suicide killers, the murderers of Columbine, Cho at Virginia Tech and other suicide criminals around the world have in common? "Proliferation" (The tentative work title for now) is a new survey of this phenomenon.
I am trying to answer another very important question: "How do we stop it?" Knowing that the US attacked Iraq in part as a response to 9/11, I wanted to see how this was handled. That's why I went to Iraq.
FP: Your impressions in Iraq?
Rehov: I came to Iraq not knowing what I was going to find exactly. To report on war is not always an easy thing. Since I am here to include Iraq in my next documentary on suicide bombing (the international part of SK), I have been trying to find an angle to use the events here. The army actually found it for me.
The job that the US army is doing here is remarkable. Forget all CNN, left wing NYT and other anti-Bush critics, reports, images. The strategy that they are building here is to interact with the Iraqi population, make them understand that they care, try to solve their daily problems and, at the same time, show them that US soldiers are strong, and that they won't let them down.
Basically, the US army is replacing a corrupt, non-efficient government, and it is trying to train the population to the idea of democracy. For a long time, I thought that you could not change things among Arab-Muslims, since their culture is so different from ours. But I was wrong to a certain extent, since I forgot one part of the deal. Yes, you can make changes by bringing hope for a better life and help the growth to grow, but on one condition: you have to take care of it yourself.
Corruption is so embedded in the Arab mentality (and accepted by the non-corrupted ones) that you cannot just "give them" things. The first thing you have to show them is strength. I would actually call any article I would write "Strength and wealth." You cannot give anything to the leaders and let them take care of their populations. But, when those nice boys with a high ideal go, everyday, at high risk, in every single house, to talk to every single mother, father, of each family, asking questions, gathering intelligence, offering help, you can see the streets of Baghdad crowded again, and people waiving with enthusiasm when the US Humvees go down the street.
P: So is this really an occupation then?
Rehov: Not at all. I have memories of my childhood, when my father was telling me about how the US army conquered Algeria, and delivered them from the Nazis and the French collaborating government. Sixty years later, the US army is acting the same. It is not an occupation army. It is an army of liberation.
When I was a kid, my father always told me about the night when the US Army delivered his city, in Algeria. Jews suffered a lot under the Vichy regime, and even in Algeria they knew how Germans treated the Jews. So, during one full night, while sounds of war could be heard in a distance, the rumor spread that the Germans had defeated the Allies and that they would arrive in the morning. French people and Arabs would go down the streets where some Jews lived, chanting : "tomorrow we'll get you, tomorrow you're dead." At dawn, a first armored car arrived in the city. It was bearing an American flag. Next day, life changed for everybody.
Everybody who has been through this, remembers the US army bringing freedom and amelioration to their life. The well known image of American soldiers distributing chocolate, coffee, food rations and cigarettes to the population is vivid in my memory, like as if I had been there, in 1942, many years before I was born.
What I discovered in Iraq is very similar to these naïve but powerful symbolic images. Therefore, I believe that the impact of the US troops, in the long run, can be the same to the Iraqi population. Everywhere we go, kids are waiving at us, parents too. Every house we go in, the first word we hear is "welcome," "thank you for being here."
Certainly the dictators of the world don't appreciate any kind of democratic success. But, on the field, no matter what political side I would be on, I have to admit a very simple thing: democracy is contagious, when it spreads among the people, despite all the efforts made by their leaders, whether religious or secular.
FP: What advice would you have for American policy makers toward Iraq?
Rehov: From what I see here, the worst of all mistakes would be for the US to withdraw now. They are on the right path. It will take a few more years, but the end result might be good. Iraq is a rich country, full of good people who are tired of the ancient Arab mentality and who want to see a better future for their children. This silent majority is what counts. As long as the US is here, taking care of their security, they can feel strong enough to defeat Al Qaeda and other radical groups from inside. If tomorrow the US withdraws, radical groups are still strong enough to take over power. It would be the biggest mistake the US could ever make. Iraq will plunge into darkness.
As per DUBYA's = US REGIONAL-GLOBAL ENTRENCHMENT, and given IRAN + ISLAMIST GLOBAL AGENDA, I don't think Iran's Muslim fundamentalists or Radical Islam can wait ten years.
Britain and Afghanistan fell out in spectacular fashion yesterday after President Karzai accused his British allies of bungling the military operation in Helmand and setting back prospects for the area by 18 months.
Mr Karzai, Britains key ally in Afghanistan, had little praise for the efforts of the 7,800 British troops deployed in his country. Most are in the restless southern Helmand province, where Britain has invested billions of pounds in trying to defeat the Taleban, bolster central government authority and begin reconstruction.
But Mr Karzai said that they had failed in the task, particularly the initial military mission launched nearly two years ago by 16 Air Assault Brigade a unit that is returning for its second tour this year.
There was one part of the country where we suffered after the arrival of the British forces, Mr Karzai told a group of journalists at the Davos Economic Forum. Before that we were fully in charge of Helmand. When our governor was there, we were fully in charge. They came and said, Your governor is no good. I said All right, do we have a replacement for this governor; do you have enough forces?. Both the American and the British forces guaranteed to me they knew what they were doing and I made the mistake of listening to them. And when they came in, the Taleban came.
Asked if he was blaming British failure for the return of the Taleban, he added: I just described the situation of mistakes we made. The mistake was that we removed a local arrangement without having a replacement. We removed the police force. That was not good. The security forces were not in sufficient numbers or information about the province. That is why the Taleban came in. It took us a year and a half to take back Musa Qala. This was not failure but a mistake.
Britain had no immediate comment to the criticism. But senior military commanders and diplomats in Afghanistan have bemoaned privately the lack of co-operation with the Karzai administration and its controversial appointments of key provincial posts to the police and local government in Helmand. So far they have refrained from public criticism of President Karzai, who remains the Wests only credible figurehead.
The same is not true of the Americans, however. David Satterfield, the US Co-ordinator on Iraq, told The Times this week that Iraq would turn out to be Americas good war while Afghanistan was going bad. In many ways Iraq may be seen to be the success story with all reservations and cautions that are appropriate. And Afghanistan the much more threatening, bad picture.
Mr Satterfield added that Afghanistans problems went beyond differences with Nato and the lawlessness across the border in Pakistans tribal areas, where al-Qaeda and other militants are openly helping the Taleban.
It is the nature of Afghanistan. Afghanistan has many deficits not present in Iraq. Iraq is a wealthy country, it has resources badly used but it is rich. Iraq for all its difficulty in unifying politically has many quasi-democratic recognisable political forces. Afghanistan has warlords.
Mr Karzai angrily rejected that when it was put to him by The Times and denied that his country was suffering from a rise of extremism. He also rejected responsibility for appointing inappropriate representatives in Helmand. But British Forces believe that, in many respects, their Afghan allies pose more of a challenge to their mission than the Taleban, which was defeated in the key town of Musa Qala last month and has since failed to launch a single attack in the area. It is the Afghan Government that is now proving more of an obstacle to stability in an area where a mixture of official corruption, ineptitude and paranoia are stymying British efforts.
In Musa Qala itself, Mr Karzais assessment must seem ironic. The Afghan President lambasted Britain for encouraging him to remove Sher Muhammad Akhunzada as Helmand governor in 2006, a move which he claimed undermined the security situation. Mr Akhunzada was a fierce fighter against the Soviet occupation and is seen as staunchly anti-Taleban.
However, he was also accused of being a prominent figure in the drug trade and embroiled in numerous personal vendettas. He was removed after British officials told President Karzai that their troops would struggle to bring peace to Helmand if the governor remained in power, he has retained a strong background influence and is angling to be reinstated.
Mr Akhunzada told The Times this week: Im not against the British in Helmand but they should listen to President Karzai on matters of structuring local government.
Now a senator, he and Mr Karzai are old friends, their relationship cemented during the years of fighting in the mujahideen against the Soviet occupation. The British, however, regard him as such a destabilising influence that Gordon Brown is reported to have tried to exact a promise from Mr Karzai to keep the former governor on the sidelines.
Mr Karzai also accused the British of forcing him to remove key police officials, such as Abdul Wali Khan, also known as Koka. who was notorious for his human rights abuses and so disgusted local people that they allowed the Taleban into Musa Qala as a favourable alternative to government authority.
Yet now his reinstatement, along with a hundred of his fighters, is being considered as a serious option by the Karzai Government, despite top-level requests from Nato commanders and diplomats to block the appointment.
The UK does not want Koka here, one British commander in Musa Qala said. All our good work could be undermined by the baggage he brings with him. Afghan civilians in the bazaar agreed. Wali Mahmoud, a village elder, said: He was like a king here, doing whatever he wanted. He killed more people than I could count.
#2
Karzai is actually a pretty subtle guy, and a lot better politician than he's given credit for being. It would be an enormous step backward for our efforts to see him "replaced."
Next election is a different matter. For my own preference, I'd like to see Younus Qanouni make good -- the point against him being that he's not a Pashtun.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/25/2008 8:40 Comments ||
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#3
So Basra isn't the only place the Brits bungled?
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/25/2008 10:53 Comments ||
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#4
In late September 2006, a secret truce was allegedly made with the Taliban under which British troops would quietly move out of Musa Qala in return for the Taliban not attacking the region. The truce had the sanction of Mohammad Daud, the governor of Helmand province, and most tribal elders, who felt they could now exercise control over the Taliban themselves. It was also seen as a move to help integrate the Pashtuns on the side of the US-allied government. Others however, saw the move as a cop-out; Lieutenant-General David Richards, the NATO commander in Afghanistan said at the time that this move turned these four centers into magnets for the Taliban.
#5
sounds to me like Kharzai, whos probably been as good as we could have got, as Fred says, but also has weaknesses, had a guy in place in Helmand who really was a problem, but the Brits, having been heavy handed in forcing Kharzais guy out, were then expected to do better in Helmand then they did - showing that the problems in Helmand were not ALL due to Kharzais dude.
As to who succeeds Kharzai, I really need on update on all these guys, and what theyve all done since 2002.
I used to like Abdullah Abdullah (and not just for his name) - whats he up to?
#6
It's hard to say what the Brits were thinking about Musa Qala. But it's usually pretty difficult to get a large number of terrs all together in one place, advertising their presence.
This one worked out.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey ||
01/25/2008 12:39 Comments ||
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#7
Afghanistan has 2 resources: opium and mountains. And ski resorts are a long way off.
#8
WAFF.com > TELEGRAPH.UK > PAKISTAN URGES UK TO LEAVE AFGANISTAN. Less firepower, more political process and development [i.e. NATIONBUILDING] - else, Britain = NATO should leave as are justifying the presence of major Islamist forces-orgs in Paki. Also from WAFF > ZEENEWS - PAKISTAN'S NEW PORT HAS STRATEGIC IMPLICATIONS FOR INDIA. Gwadar = CHINESE???; + CANADA HINTS AT NATO INTERVENTION IN PAKISTAN. The Canucks are threatening to come.
Only a third of military helicopters are fit for front-line duty, seriously hampering operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, figures have shown. The lives of soldiers, reliant on helicopters for medical evacuation in Helmand province, are being further put at risk by a 10 per cent shortfall in air crews.
The Tories, who obtained the figures from the Ministry of Defence, blamed Gordon Brown for the problems because he presided over a £1.4 billion cut in spending on helicopters when he was Chancellor. Dozens of helicopters have had to be cannibalised in order to keep frontline aircraft flying.
The figures show out of a fleet of 40 Chinook transporters, only 17 are "fit for purpose", while 20 out of 60 new Merlin work properly and only 25 Apache attack helicopters are functioning - almost a third of the total.
Liam Fox, the shadow defence secretary, said the shortage was sure to impact on capabilities in Afghanistan and Iraq.
"When I visited troops in Helmand Province, in November, it became clear there was a shortage of Apaches and Chinooks to support troops on the ground," he added.
Col Bob Stewart, the former British commander in Bosnia, said the lack of basic equipment "translates into greater casualties".
"If you cannot move people by air it means they have to travel by road which leads to a proportionate increase in the dangers faced," he added.
The MoD said commanders in Iraq and Afghanistan had enough helicopters to do "key tasks" although "with more they could do more".
A government minister yesterday gave the clearest signal yet that there will be an inquiry into the circumstances surrounding Britain's participation in the US-led invasion of Iraq.
Lord Malloch-Brown, the Foreign Office minister, told peers: "The time may come and, I suspect, definitively will come where such an inquiry is necessary. We ... have not yet reached that point. We still come back to the issue of not if there is an inquiry but when." Malloch-Brown, a former senior UN official and opponent of the invasion, said there needed to be "distance and perspective" to allow an inquiry to offer a "non-partisan source of analysis and advice for the future" that would "stand the test of time".
The minister was responding to demands for an inquiry by Lord Owen, former Labour foreign secretary and supporter of the invasion, who told peers: "We cannot just go on ignoring what has been done. It is not just the politicians. The senior diplomats in the Foreign Office have to be held to account. The senior generals and the senior armed services have to be held to account". He continued: "In my profession [medicine], there is a tradition that when you make a mistake you have a postmortem and a case conference where you examine where you have made mistakes."
The government has indicated that it would agree to an inquiry but only once most of the British troops have left Iraq, probably next year.
#1
Is it me, or is second-guessing now the norm with British (and U.S.) politicians? I'm pretty sure this didn't happen as frequently with previous wars.
#2
Someone needs to kneecap Mollusk-Clown, just under the chin, with a chain saw. His continued use of oxygen is a crime against humanity. It'll never happen, but it's nice to dream...
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/25/2008 16:46 Comments ||
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#3
Much easier to rewrite history if you let an inquiry do it for you. Gives the second guessing in hindsight the official stamp of approval.
Al Qaeda in Britain has threatened suicide attacks on British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his predecessor Tony Blair unless London withdraws its troops from Iraq and Afghanistan, a US-based monitoring service said on Thursday. The message was posted in English to an Al Qaeda-affiliated online forum by Umar Rabie Al-Khalaila, the SITE Intelligence Group said. Al Qaeda, blamed for suicide bombings in London in 2005, vowed fresh attacks if Britain fails to withdraw its troops from Iraq and Afghanistan by the end of March.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/25/2008 00:00 ||
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MOSCOW - A group of gas-exporting states led by Iran and Russia is moving towards creating a formal body similar to the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, a Russian daily said on Thursday.
Where's Hugo? More importantly, where's Nigeria?
The charter for the proposed gas OPEC would be presented for approval at the seventh annual meeting of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum in Moscow in June, the Kommersant broadsheet said, citing unnamed Russian government sources. The main issue being discussed by the Gas Exporting Countries Forum is the transformation of an informal club that has no centralised organisation... into a serious international organisation of gas suppliers, the paper said.
The paper noted that a draft charter of the organisation, almost identical to that of OPEC, had been drawn up by Iran last year. Russia has the worlds largest proven gas reserves, while Iran has the second-largest.
Talk of a gas OPEC aimed at coordinating issues such as pricing has contributed to worries among Western countries that they are threatened by over-dependence on gas supplying states. Quoting experts, Kommersant predicted the body was likely to be created, but that strong opposition by the European Union and the United States could limit its influence.
Take another look at the Stratfor piece we ran yesterday. Now read this item again. Russia and Iran would like to keep Europe and Asia dependent on them for natural gas because it's one way to leverage political power. I'm a bit impressed that the EU could recognize and start to deal with this, especially in a subtle way -- didn't think they had it in them. Building a 'ONGEC' with the ability to set and control world prices for NG would create real problems for Europe, particularly if their current alternative suppliers, the ones they need to wean from the Russians, also join in.
So it may be (to the extent that the Stratfor piece isn't total nonsense) a 'wheels-within-wheels' scenario. Russia recognizes the danger to its plan to use NG as a lever on Europe and decides to look for partners. Iran needs the leverage and also needs to push up the price of NG, for the same reasons it wants every dollar possible for oil. And other NG producers could be tempted to leverage a small political investment into a large economic return. Look for a move by Nigeria to join up, since Nigeria produces a lot of NG which it moves as LNG to Europe and the U.S. If that happens, then there's a concerted plan.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/25/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
gas-exporting states led by Iran and Russia
Iran's exporting gas now?
Posted by: Thomas Woof ||
01/25/2008 6:59 Comments ||
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#2
Yes, in your choice of mustard or sarin flavors.
Posted by: ed ||
01/25/2008 7:28 Comments ||
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#3
It's impossible for them to just sell gas. They have to create a cartel, manipulate the market, use the product as political leverage and blackmail shivering people in the middle of the winter if they are going to sell it at all.
#4
Brazil just discovered HUGE reserves of natural gas off its Atlantic coast. There are trillions of cubic feet of gas in the Gulf that are not being exploited. There's enough natural gas in the Roan Plateau to supply the United States for ten to twenty years (which the enviroweenies are doing their da$$$$est to lock up). There is coal throughout the entire Great Plains area that's too deep to mine, but that can be tapped for methane. There's a growing indication that most of the Netherlands is sitting on a huge natural gas supply. It's going to be EXTREMELY difficult for any country or group of countries to control natural gas. The Ruskies and Iran might create their little cartel, but I don't see it working for very long.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/25/2008 16:52 Comments ||
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Six members of a suspected militant cell from South Asia arrested in Barcelona were ready to blow themselves up on public transport, the Spanish prosecutor-general alleged Thursday. Strange, I thought these attacks were supposed to stop when Spain pulled it's troops out of President Bush's illegal occupation of Iraq. They make any other demands you're not telling us?
Candido Conde-Pumpido told a press conference that two others were the suspected commando chiefs of the group, while the other two were explosives experts. They were intending to attack the Catalonian capitals public transport system very soon, he added. The Spanish authorities have nevertheless admitted that the traces of explosives found during their arrests were not sufficient to mount a major attack.
Police arrested a total of 14 suspects last Saturday a dozen Pakistanis and two Indians. Four have since been released, but on Tuesday a judge at an anti-terrorist tribunal placed the remaining 10 in provisional detention.. The 10 suspects constituted an organised group of extremists, with clear and precise allocation of roles, said the judge, Ismael Moreno.
The cell had chosen three of its members, all Pakistanis, to commit suicide bomb attacks on Barcelona public transport last weekend, Moreno said in his ruling.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/25/2008 00:00 ||
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With even more U.S. contractors now in Iraq and Afghanistan than U.S. military personnel, government officials told Congress yesterday that the Bush administration is not prepared to manage the contractors' critical involvement in the American war effort.
At the end of last September, there were "over 196,000 contractor personnel working for the Defense Department in Iraq and Afghanistan," said Jack Bell, deputy undersecretary of defense for logistics and materiel readiness.
Contractors "have become part of our total force, a concept that DoD [the Defense Department] must manage on an integrated basis with our military forces," he also said in prepared testimony for a hearing yesterday of the Senate homeland security subcommittee. "Frankly," he continued, "we were not adequately prepared to address" what he termed "this unprecedented scale of our dependence on contractors."
Stuart W. Bowen Jr., special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, and William M. Solis, director of defense capabilities and management for the Government Accountability Office, testified that not enough trained service personnel are available to handle outsourcing to contractors in the wars.
Solis said a military officer with a Stryker brigade deployed in Iraq had told the GAO about a contractor that had mishandled security screenings of Iraqis and foreigners. In the end, Solis said, the officer used his own personnel to accomplish the task, diverting staff from "their primary intelligence gathering responsibilities."
Retired Army Gen. David M. Maddox, who has studied the contracting effort in Iraq as a member of an Army-appointed commission, said in his statement that it "has not fully recognized the impact of a large number of contractors" and "their potential impact to mission success."
Maddox said the Army had five general officer positions for career contracting professionals in 1990 but has none today. The two-star general who runs the Joint Contracting Command for Iraq/Afghanistan, Maddox said, is an Air Force officer.
Maddox added that 3 percent of Army contracting personnel are active-duty and that the acquisition workforce shrunk by 25 percent from 1990 to the end of fiscal 2000. While the contracting workload has increased sevenfold since 2000, he said, about half of the military officers and Army civilians in the contracting field "are certified for their current positions."
Sen. Thomas R. Carper (D-Del.) , the subcommittee's chairman, noted that the Defense Contract Audit Agency has reported that $10 billion of about $57 billion in contracts for services and reconstruction in Iraq "is either questionable or cannot be supported because of a lack of contractor information needed to assess costs." He added that more than 80 separate criminal investigations are underway involving contracts of more than $5 billion.
Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), a subcommittee member who has investigated the contract issue during her trips to Iraq and Kuwait, stressed that "if people are not fired or demoted or if there is not a failure to promote in the military because of massive failure of appropriate oversight and management, things will not change." But when she asked Bowen and Solis if they knew of anyone who had been fired or denied promotion because of contracting mistakes disclosed in more than 300 reports over five years, they said they knew of none.
#2
The problem is that contractors fit into a gap in a military situation. They can no more be "managed" by the military than an equal number of US citizens visiting Iraq on their own. They can be told where they can't go, but they can't be told what to do.
The US contract with them is on the same footing as a typical civilian contract, *not* a government contract. That is, a government contract has all sorts of silly rules that have to be micromanaged and enforced by bureaucrats *in the US*.
However, contractors overseas don't have all those bureaucrats to watch over them, and they aren't going to, either. So they have to be dealt with simply. That is, like a typical non-government contract.
If you hire someone to remodel your kitchen, you usually pay them half down and half when they satisfactorily complete the job. You have NO right to tell them HOW they do their job, WHO to buy their materials from, HOW to hire workmen, etc.
No unions, no OSHA, no nothing. And while that bugs the HELL out of Washington, tough titty. If they want the job done, they have to do it the way the contractors want to do it; not the way Washington bureaucrats want it done.
The one odd angle is under who's laws the contractors work. If they work under local laws, it will probably be cheaper in all respects, both price and quality. If they work under US laws, then it will cost a LOT more, but the quality will possibly be better. However, even under US laws, it doesn't mean under US rules.
#3
TW, the number needed is the few thousand (2-3?) required to plus up the logistical system admin again. Many of those contractors will not be needed once we reduce forces in Iraq. I personally would not volunteer again if I knew I was going to interspace my training with KP. Most of the contracts deal with relatively short term logistics better dealt with by a contractor than plussing up Army units that don't get used. Personnel are a huge percentage of the Defense budget.
#4
Maddox added that 3 percent of Army contracting personnel are active-duty and that the acquisition workforce shrunk by 25 percent from 1990 to the end of fiscal 2000.
S'where the 'savings in government' came from...
While the contracting workload has increased sevenfold since 2000, he said, about half of the military officers and Army civilians in the contracting field "are certified for their
current positions."
And there are a heck of a lot of hoops to jump through to get certified. That also means time and money. Also, I don't see any mention of acquisition-workforce turnover (which in my branch is fairly high). Lots of other places in government and industry to go to where the money is better and the political/Congressional b.s. isn't as deep.
#5
logistics isn't sexy, but an ill-equipped, ill-fed military performs exactly as you'd expect. Using contractors allows for flexibility, and is the smart move. Naturally, that doesn't sit well with our Donk opposition, who would like to reduce the military to peacekeeping in areas in which we have no strategic interest
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/25/2008 19:49 Comments ||
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#6
"our Donk opposition, who would like to reduce the military to peacekeeping getting shot at, while not being allowed to shoot back, in areas in which we have no strategic interest"
There - fixed that for ya', Frank.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
01/25/2008 21:32 Comments ||
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WASHINGTON (AP) - The Bush administration paid a $5 million reward to a former Minnesota flight instructor who provided authorities with information that led to the arrest and conviction of 9/11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui. Two colleagues questioned why he got the money. The recipient, Clarence Prevost, was honored Thursday at a closed-door ceremony at the State Department, although the payout was secretly authorized last fall by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and the Justice Department, U.S. officials told The Associated Press.
The reward from the State Department's ``Rewards for Justice'' program is the first and only one to date to a U.S. citizen related to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the officials said. It is also unusual because Moussaoui, who was imprisoned at the time of the attacks, was never named as a wanted suspect by the program. The program mainly seeks information about perpetrators or planners of terrorist acts against U.S. interests and citizens abroad.
The State Department would not identify the recipient, citing privacy and security concerns. Two administration officials, however, said the reward went to Prevost, a key witness at Moussaoui's trial who has previously spoken out about his involvement in the case. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the matter.
Seems like officials will speak about anything if they aren't named. Lovely system.
Prevost, 69, is a former Navy pilot who later flew for Northwest Airlines and goes by his nickname ``Clancy.'' He was Moussaoui's flight instructor at the Pan Am International Flight Academy outside Minneapolis. He was one of several people who worked at the flight school that Moussaoui attended in August 2001 and who alerted the FBI to his suspicious desire to pilot jumbo jets.
News of the reward came as a surprise to two other Pan Am flight instructors, Tim Nelson and Hugh Sims, who also have been credited with tipping the FBI to Moussaoui and were honored by the Senate in 2005 with a resolution that commended their ``bravery'' and ``heroism.'' Sims, in a phone interview from Fort Myers, Fla., said he didn't want to comment ``till we get a few things straightened out.'' ``He was certainly there but he didn't call the FBI. I have no idea why he received the reward,'' Sims said.
Prevost said during the trial that he urged flight school officials to call the FBI and one day an agent showed up to ask him questions about Moussaoui. Sims recounted meeting Moussaoui at Pan Am on a Monday, and said that two days later he and Nelson each called the FBI separately. ``Clancy had a part of it. Whether he continued to expand on his portion of this, that's fine,'' Sims said. ``Today has been a very large surprise for me.''
Nelson was talking with family members Thursday evening and was not immediately available, his wife, Jodie Quinn-Nelson said. She said the reward ``was given out to the wrong person'' and said her husband was upset. ``We're just kind of dumbfounded with what happened here,'' she said.
Prevost and the others said they thought it was strange Moussaoui wanted to learn to fly a Boeing 747 despite the fact that he had little flying background.
After his arrest, Moussaoui sat in jail for 3 weeks on an immigration violation, saying little to investigators before hijacked planes slammed into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon or crashed in a Pennsylvania field on Sept. 11. The Minneapolis FBI agents who responded to the tips were unable to persuade their superiors in Washington to seek a national security warrant to search Moussaoui's belongings and laptop computer.
Moussaoui later confessed to being the ``20th hijacker'' and was sentenced to life in prison without parole in 2006 after a trial marked by numerous outbursts, conflicts with his lawyers and questions about his status, if any, within Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network. He told jurors he was to have piloted a fifth plane on Sept. 11 and fly it into the White House. But after the jury decided against sentencing him to death, Moussaoui recanted his testimony and denied any role in 9/11, saying he lied on the stand because he assumed he had no chance of getting a fair trial.
No problem, he's in prison forever. Enjoy.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/25/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Strange. Usually, the US government uses any excuse available to weasel out of paying reward money.
The Pentagon is "ready, willing and able" to send U.S. troops to conduct joint combat operations with Pakistan's military against al-Qaeda sanctuaries in Pakistan's tribal areas, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said yesterday. The U.S. military is also beginning to construct as many as eight coordination centers along the Afghan-Pakistani border that will be staffed by officers from the three countries to more closely share intelligence and conduct combat operations, according to Maj. Gen. David Rodriguez, the top U.S. commander for eastern Afghanistan.
The first border center is being built at Torkham Gate in Afghanistan, a key crossing near the Khyber Pass and about 30 miles from the Pakistani city of Peshawar, Rodriguez said.
Cross-border attacks into eastern Afghanistan have dropped by more than 40 percent in the past three months, compared with the same period last winter, as Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters increasingly wage war on the Pakistani government, according to Rodriguez and a U.S. military review of border incidents.
Suicide bombings increased more than tenfold in Pakistan -- from five in 2006 to 60 last year -- while they remained relatively constant in eastern Afghanistan, according to the U.S. military data. "Insurgents are focusing more on gains and expansion opportunities in Pakistan," the assessment stated.
Gates and Adm. Michael Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, left little doubt yesterday that they believe U.S. troops -- whether in combat or as trainers -- can bolster the efforts of Pakistan's military in the rugged and lawless Federally Administered Tribal Areas, where U.S. officials say about 700 Pakistani troops have been killed battling al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters.
"If asked to assist, I think we could do a lot," Mullen said at a Pentagon news briefing.
Gates said that the possible joint combat operations, likely to involve small teams of U.S. troops, are a topic of "ongoing dialogue" with Pakistan's leaders and that U.S. troops would join in the fighting at Pakistan's request. "They have not fully thought through exactly how they intend to proceed and their strategy going forward," Gates said. "I expect that that will happen."
Gates said al-Qaeda has allied with other extremists in the border area, possibly including Baitullah Mehsud, a tribal leader linked to the Taliban. "They clearly are much more active and working with other people," he said.
Rodriguez said Pakistani military leaders are increasingly willing to cooperate in operations on either side of the border. There is "a growing realization amongst all of them, that everybody needs to do more together," he said at a Pentagon briefing this week.
Last year, the U.S. military in Afghanistan established a shared computer link with the Pakistani military's headquarters and set up high-frequency radio communications to coordinate cross-border operations. It also surveyed Pakistani, Afghan and U.S. border positions, and stepped up training of Afghan border police.
#1
Cross-border attacks into eastern Afghanistan have dropped by more than 40 percent in the past three months, compared with the same period last winter, as Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters increasingly wage war on the Pakistani government
Prominent human rights activist Hina Jillani on Thursday termed the NWFP governments plans to promulgate regulation for law enforcement through Qazi courts in its Provincially Administered Tribal Areas (PATA) which includes Swat, Dir and Chitral contradictory to the 1973 Constitution and nothing but further attempts by the military to instigate sectarianism and war-lordship.
Speaking to Daily Times on the development that surfaced overnight, Jillani the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) Punjab chairwoman and Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary General on Human Rights Defenders said such plans were not devised to nip evil in the bud, but to control territory in the name of Islam by nurturing sectarianism and creating religious differences through the Shariah.
Parallel judiciary: Jillani said the regulation would create a parallel judicial system a step not allowed for in the Constitution. This proposed judicial system is not related to the mainstream judicial system, she said. It is clearly contradictory to the 1973 Constitution, particularly Article 227.
The HRCP, other organisations and individuals could attempt to pursue legal action over the matter, said Jillani, but questioned what that could achieve in light of the serious questions hanging over the independence of the judiciary.
These measures will weaken the people of PATA politically and psychologically, she said. It is time for the Pakistan Army to confess, she said, the militants it is fighting in PATA were once its partners. This is not a fight for Islam but for territorial control and political power perpetrated by warlords in the name of Islam, with the army aiming to assert its own control over them.
In this environment, these plans to enforce Islamic regulations are merely further efforts to strengthen a judicial system of the rule of terror, she said. The Shariah seems to be a tool for certain elements to gain political power in the areas in the name of Islam, for which they have been extending partnerships to General Zia ul Haq, Nawaz Sharif and Pervez Musharraf.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/25/2008 00:00 ||
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A top US general warned on Wednesday that the Taliban and Al Qaeda militants have postponed their spring offensive in Afghanistan as they want to focus on their efforts to destabilise the Pakistani government.
Major-General David Rodriguez, who commands US forces in eastern Afghanistan, said the militants change of plan could already be seen in the areas bordering Pakistan where Taliban infiltrations have reduced significantly. I don't think there'll be a big spring offensive this year, he said.
Earlier this month, US officials warned that the Taliban and Al Qaeda forces were planning a major offensive this spring and last week Defence Secretary Robert Gates approved the deployment of an additional 3,200 Marines to Afghanistan.
But Gen. Rodriguez told a Pentagon news conference that Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters, who operate from bases in the tribal belt, have now shifted their focus toward targets inside Pakistan rather than across the border in Afghanistan. The political turmoil in Pakistan is one reason fewer militants are crossing the border this year compared to last, he said.
The militants, he warned, saw new opportunities to accelerate instability inside Pakistan. So I think that again they will move where the best opportunity is so as to get the highest pay-offs, said the general while explaining the new shift in the militants strategy. Right now that probably seems to be in Pakistan based on what's happened over the last couple of months there.
He said the Pakistani military was aware of this threat, and had begun to make preparations to meet the challenge. They are working, for example, to develop a better capacity to do counter-insurgency operations like any other nation because that has not been their forte, he said. They are adjusting their military right now to do those things.
Rodriguez said US forces in Afghanistan communicated and shared information with the Pakistanis, but he knew of no plans to conduct unilateral operations inside Pakistan. We have no plans that I'm involved in, or even heard of, to do anything like that. So I'm not going to comment on it, he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/25/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
A top US general warned on Wednesday that the Taliban and Al Qaeda militants have postponed their spring offensive in Afghanistan as they want to focus on their efforts to destabilise the Pakistani government.
I'm sure that it would take very little coaxing to get the Coalition to start attacking AlQ from the Afghan side of the border.
#2
I'm not so sure they're going to walk away from all that opium money. On second thought, I'm sure they're not going to walk away from all that opium money...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
01/25/2008 10:08 Comments ||
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Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) President Shujaat Hussains brother Wajahat Hussain and son Shafay Hussain landed at the Islamabad Airport on PIA flight PK-786, after British officials allegedly detained and deported them after they had landed at a London Airport from Spain.
According to sources, the pair was given deported passenger status. The immigration officers offloaded them from the plane and detained them for questioning.
Geo News television channel quoted sources as saying that the airport officials had doubts that the two detainees might have links with the 11 Pakistanis who were arrested in Barcelona a few days ago for their alleged links with terrorists. Wajahat and Shujaats son came to London to mobilise the Pakistani community ahead of President Pervez Musharrafs address, according to sources.
The British Foreign Office issued a brief three-line explanatory statement following the deportation of Chaudhry Shujaat Hussains brother and his son, saying that they were not deported and were free to visit the United Kingdom, Geo News reported.
The British High Commissioner in Islamabad said in a statement that six people were arrested from Gatwick Airport on January 22 for questioning and were released the next day. It said that the detention and questioning didnt affect the visa status of these people.Also, Foreign Office (FO) spokesman Muhammad Sadiq said in a statement that it was a sad event.
Pakistan has complained with the UK authorities about this. FO sources said the UK High Commission in Islamabad had apologised to Shujaat for the misunderstanding.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/25/2008 00:00 ||
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Investigators have identified Abid Hunzala of Rahimyar Khan as the suicide attacker who bombed a Pakistan Air Force bus in Sargodha on November 1 last year, sources told Daily Times on Thursday. They said Hunzalas links with Lal Masjid in Islamabad were now being probed into. They said Major (r) Ehsanul Haq and his accomplices, who were earlier arrested in connection with the PAF bus blast, had told the Punjab Crime Investigation Department (CID) that they used Hunzala as the suicide bomber to hit the PAF bus.
CID deputy inspector general in Karachi, Saud Mirza, also confirmed the development. I can confirm that we (the CID) have identified the suicide bomber involved in the Sargodha attack as Abid Hunzala, Mirza said. He added that security personnel tried hard to locate Hunzala before the attack but he was not in touch with his family members or friends in his hometown.
Links to Lal Masjid: The sources said investigators had learnt that Hunzala had been studying at a madrassa in Islamabads Sector G-11/2 and had joined the clerics of the Lal Masjid. They said Hunzala was arrested from Lal Masjid during the operation against its clerics that ended on July 12, 2007. He was later released with other prisoners, they added. The sources said Hunzala had already been identified by the Sondh CID as a potential bomber on September 23, 2007, almost a month before the attack in Sargodha.
Letter recovered: The CID had also recovered a letter written by Hunzala to his wife from his hideout in Malir, Karachi, advising her to remarry after his martyrdom since he was going on a Gods mission, they said, adding that three suicide jackets were also found. Taranda Muhammad Panah, in Rahimyar Khan, was the address mentioned on the letter, they said. Hunzala had not mentioned the details of his assignment in the letter and the CID were unable to arrest anyone from Malir, they said. Information of a possible suicide attack was distributed to all law-enforcement agencies across the country and Hunzalas brother, Arif, was arrested from Rahimyar Khan shortly after the seizure of the suicide jackets and the letter, they said.
The sources said Arif had told CID investigators that his father Ali Ahmed had also been martyred in Afghanistan while waging jihad against the enemies of Islam, and one of his brothers was martyred in Jihad-e-Kashmir. They said Arif could not have provided information about Hunzalas whereabouts since the brothers were not in touch. Arif was later released, they said.
This article starring:
Lal Masjid
Abid Hunzala
Lal Masjid
Ali Ahmed
al-Qaeda
Ehsanul Haq
al-Qaeda
Posted by: Fred ||
01/25/2008 00:00 ||
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Indian External Affairs Ministry has dashed French President, Nicholas Sarkozys plans to present a prestigious award to controversial Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen, citing recent violence in India over her writings. Nasreen, who remains exiled in Delhi after being thrown out of Kolkata in the wake of violence in the West Bengal capital for hurting feelings of Muslims, was named as recipient of Simone de Beauvoir award by the French government on January 9. France had proposed to honour her during Sarkozys two-day trip to Delhi. Disfavouring any such move, the ministry has conveyed to the French government that Nasreen was free to travel outside the country to receive the award to be presented to her for her writings on womens rights.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/25/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
More appeasement designed to garner the elusive Muslim votebank
Posted by: john frum ||
01/25/2008 15:47 Comments ||
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Negotiations to begin on taking American forces out of combat
BAGHDAD - The United States and Iraq will soon begin negotiating a power shift for U.S. forces, nearly five years after they invaded Iraq and installed a new government, Iraqi and U.S. officials told NBC News on Thursday.
Both countries are working on assembling negotiating teams to shape a new long-term bilateral strategic agreement redefining the fundamental role of U.S. troops, whose mission would shift from combat operations to logistics and support, the officials told NBC News Richard Engel.
President Bush did not address the report at an economic briefing for reporters Thursday afternoon in Washington, but Gen. David Petraeus, commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, confirmed that negotiations would begin soon. Petraeus would not provide details, but he said the U.S. role in Iraq would be changing.
Officials of both countries have said in recent weeks that they envision an eventual drawdown of U.S. military forces inside Iraq. The Iraqi officials did not provide an estimate Thursday of how many U.S. troops could be withdrawn from the country, stressing that the agreement had yet to be negotiated.
But a senior member of the Iraqi negotiating team, which has been almost completely appointed, said they would seek to have U.S. troops who for five years have conducted aggressive combat missions across the country against al-Qaida and other radical Muslim militias largely confined to their bases.
U.S. troops would have only limited freedom of movement off base under Iraqs position, leaving only when requested to provide intelligence, air support, equipment and other logistical support, the Iraqi negotiator said.
Plan would let Iraq fight its own battles
U.S. officials have long maintained that the Iraqi army is all teeth and no tail, meaning it is entirely focused on combat but is unable to operate independently because of equipment and intelligence shortfalls. The agreement, as envisioned by Iraq, would shift military operations inside the country to emphasize Iraqs combat strength with sophisticated background support from U.S. units.
#1
Our military is crystal clear in making Iraq's military so formidable that there is no doubt they would clean Iran's clock in a fight. Their training, doctrine and combat experience are already enough so that Iran would be brought to its knees if it tried.
But our military wants Iraq to be so powerful, that if Iran tries it on, Iraqi soldiers will be walking the streets of Tehran in short order, and the Iranians will be wondering just what the hell hit them so hard.
#1
Thanks for posting this GB. I didn't know such a group existed. These guys deserve our help. This is a great idea to provide custom built homes that serve their needs specifically. A great place to donate and really support the men and women who support us every day.
#2
This is a great organization and it appears very successful. America is truly great. Thank all patriots for the moral boost for each other and for the needy soldiers who have served us so well.
Egypt has assured the Palestinian Authority that it will reseal its border with the Gaza Strip in the coming days, PA officials in Ramallah said Thursday.
Egypt also informed the PA leadership that Cairo would not exclude the PA from any future agreement over controlling the Rafah border crossing, they said.
Meanwhile, Hamas threatened to send half a million Palestinians marching toward the Erez border crossing in northern Gaza.
"The next time there is a crisis in the Gaza Strip, Israel will have to face half a million Palestinians who will march toward Erez," said Ahmed Youssef, a senior Hamas official. "This is not an imaginary scenario and many Palestinians would be prepared to sacrifice their lives."
The PA is concerned that the events at the border with Sinai will boost Hamas's popularity and enable the Islamist movement to smuggle more weapons into the Gaza Strip. The PA is also worried that Egypt will strike a separate deal with Hamas over the Rafah crossing.
"The Egyptian government has told us that the situation along the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt will return to normal," a senior PA official told The Jerusalem Post. "They said they won't be able to end the chaos in a day or two and this is understandable."
The Egyptian message came as tens of thousands of Gazans continued to enter Sinai for a second straight day, after gunmen destroyed large parts of the security wall along the border.
Sources in the Strip estimated that at least half a million Palestinians had crossed the border since Wednesday morning. Other sources put the figure at 700,000 - nearly half the population of the Gaza Strip.
The Egyptians have rejected the idea of Israel waiving responsibility for the Gaza Strip that was floated by Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilna'i.
"The border will go back as normal," said Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki, adding that Cairo had not been approached by Israel about a possible change in the status of the Gaza Strip. "The current situation is only an exception and for temporary reasons," he said.
A Cairo-based Arab diplomat said the Egyptians were worried that Israel was trying to "export" the problem of the Gaza Strip to Egypt.
"The Egyptian regime does not want anything to do with the Gaza Strip," he said. "As far as the Egyptians are concerned, Israel remains the only party responsible for what happens there."
Hamas legislator Mushir al-Masri said his movement was not interested in turning the Strip into an Egyptian problem. "The Gaza Strip belongs to Palestine, not Egypt," he said. "The Israelis are trying to throw the ball into the Egyptian court. But the Israeli dream will never be fulfilled."
On Thursday, Egypt deployed several hundred border guards along the border, preventing pickups and cars from crossing into Sinai. However, the guards, who were equipped with dogs and clubs, did not try to stop civilians from crossing the border on foot.
President Hosni Mubarak on Thursday warned the Palestinians against harming Egyptian security forces guarding the border.
"We reject attempts to initiate clashes with Egyptian security forces in Rafah," Mubarak said. "We know very well our national security considerations. We won't allow them to compromise on them or harm them."
Mubarak called on the various Palestinian factions to end their differences and to work toward improving the situation in Gaza.
He also criticized Israel for temporarily suspending fuel supplies to the Strip, sayings such actions were harmful to the peace process.
#2
Ima contemplating the evils that could be done with sticky foam, especially sprayed from a crop duster.
Posted by: ed ||
01/25/2008 18:23 Comments ||
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#3
Howzabout a little surreptitious (or not) release of vomit gas? On the gaza side, of course. Fire hoses could clean it up later - if the paleos want it cleaned.
And have any fire hoses.
And are willing to get off their murderous asses and do anything but kill Joooooos.
I'll order some extra popcorn. :-D
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
01/25/2008 18:29 Comments ||
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#4
Line up a hundred flame-throwing tanks and let it rip. It's time HAMASS gets punished hard for even SUGGESTING such things. Israel needs to grab the "palestinians" by the throat and throttle the bunch of them. If you play games, you get games. If you get serious, you instill fear and respect. As I tell my children, it's better to be feared than treated with contempt - something the United States needs to re-learn.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/25/2008 23:50 Comments ||
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By KHALED ABU TOAMEH
On at least two occasions this week, Hamas staged scenes of darkness as part of its campaign to end the political and economic sanctions against the Gaza Strip, Palestinian journalists said Wednesday.
In the first case, journalists who were invited to cover the Hamas government meeting were surprised to see Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh and his ministers sitting around a table with burning candles.
In the second case on Tuesday, journalists noticed that Hamas legislators who were meeting in Gaza City also sat in front of burning candles.
But some of the journalists noticed that there was actually no need for the candles because both meetings were being held in daylight.
"They had closed the curtains in the rooms to create the impression that Hamas leaders were also suffering as a result of the power stoppage," one journalist told The Jerusalem Post. "It was obvious that the whole thing was staged."
Another journalist said he and his colleagues were told to wait for a few minutes before entering the chamber of the Palestinian Legislative Council so that each legislator would have time to light his candle. He said that when he saw that the curtains had been closed to prevent the light from entering, he realized that Hamas was trying to manipulate the media for political gain.
#1
"he realized that Hamas was trying to manipulate the media for political gain"
I am just shocked!
Hooduh thunk it?
Hey, Khaled, how'd that Cluebat™ feel when it landed upside yo' head?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
01/25/2008 14:55 Comments ||
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#2
If those deaths reported the other day are real, the people in Gaza have Hamas to thank. And for any subsequent "deaths", if any. If they are not, it's yet another staged event.
As a result of the demolition of the separation wall between Gaza and Egypt on Wednesday, police and military forces have increased security measures along the Israeli border with Egypt. Israelis visiting the Sinai Peninsula have been instructed to return home immediately.
Thousands of Gazooks roaming the Sinai desert. Some of them undoubtedly will take the opportunity to become shaheeds and splodydopes.
Hundreds of thousands of Arabs from the Palestinian Authority in Gaza have entered Sinai since Wednesday morning. According to Israeli intelligence assessments, it is likely that PA terrorists have taken advantage of the border breach to exit Gaza in order to infiltrate Israel via the Egyptian border. Commanders from the military, intelligence agencies, the police and other security bodies in the south have been meeting to coordinate their response to the increased threat.
As a first step, IDF forces on the border with Egypt have been put on a higher alert level, and are consulting and coordinating with police and local municipalities in the south. The army has ordered Route 10 along the Israeli border with Egypt to be temporarily closed to civilian traffic due to security concerns.
In addition, the National Security Council's Counter-Terrorism Bureau urges Israelis currently in the Sinai Peninsula to return to Israel immediately. The bureau issued a warning on Thursday saying that Israelis should absolutely avoid travel to the Sinai at this time. Security officials explained that PA terrorists are planning to kidnap Israelis in Sinai and bring them to Gaza. Terrorists would find it easy to enter Egypt and return to Gaza with kidnapping victims due to the open border between Sinai and southern Gaza, they said.
To further preserve security in the south, Public Security Minister Avi Dichter has ordered police to step up operations in the vicinity of the Israel-Egypt border. In the wake of the massive southward flight of PA residents, he expressed concern that terrorists could try to sneak in from the Sinai along with a group of refugees or smugglers.
While Gaza is bounded on the Israeli side by a relatively secure perimeter barrier, the border between Egypt and Israel is much more open. Security officials estimate that hundreds of people, most of them African refugees, smugglers and migrant workers, manage to cross the border illegally every month.
Build a fence. I don't think the Egyptians will mind.
U.S. Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns said Thursday that the US would be willing to help Egypt regain control of the border with Gaza. Burns told journalists that the US believes that Egypt must restore security along its border. In response to pressure along these lines from both the US and Israel, Egypt announced that the border would be closed at Friday at 1 PM.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said Thursday that Egypt would not prevent the free movement of Gaza Arabs in the Rafiah area until they had a chance to purchase goods in Egyptian stores. Israel has allowed only essential goods in through Gaza crossings in recent weeks, causing a sharp increase in the cost of certain products, such as gasoline, cheese, and cigarettes. However, Hamas officials have admitted that the demolition of the Gaza-Egypt border was planned months in advance. It was, they said, not related to the partial embargo imposed by Israel.
Debka - Hamas PM Ismail Haniyas adviser Ahdmad Yousef announced Thursday, Jan. 24, that the terrorist organizations next step after overrunning Egyptian northern Sinai was a march by half a million Palestinians from Gaza through the blocked Erez crossing to Israel to "recover their towns," like Ashkelon. Ashkelon is due North, just up the coast from Gaza. Sounds like an excellent opportunity to use the directed energy system against large numbers of people. See how fast they can return to Gaza.
#1
If Israel was smart they would bait them in, leave a section of the barrier seemingly unguarded, let them break through, and then spring the trap with an ambush of a thousand rabid liberal lawers, oh, wait I mean machine guns, I'm not that cruel.
#2
Snipers to take out the Hamas combat engineers before they finish emplacing the explosives sounds like a safer bet. Not sure I'd want to test something like the directed energy system in such a high-publicity environment. What happens if it turns out to fry little kids and puppies in large-scale crowd situations?
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
01/25/2008 8:28 Comments ||
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#3
They have tested the heck out of the system, and it fits within the realm of less than lethal. However, even a perfect weapon may not work if it is executed improperly or with poor timing. That is why Israel has to be on the ball for this.
2 rather different systems get this moniker. The original DEW are high energy laser-based systems, either tactical (against rockets, mortars & artillery attacks) or strategic (ballistic missile defense, especially the boost stage surveillance & destruction of ICBMs).
But I'm guessing what 'moose has in mind are the crowd control systems which use low energy waves to induce subdermal pain.
#7
Dang, Cloluting - whatchoo got against puppies?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
01/25/2008 10:12 Comments ||
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#8
I think Mitch is write - the IDF will use snipers against the bulldozers. If that dont work, they'll use airpower against the bull dozers. I would be very surprised to see the wall between Gaza and Israel breached. While the Egyptians had domestic reasons to NOT play rough with Hamas, Israel has strong domestic political reasons to play quite rough. People may weep for kids, there'll be no weeping for Hamas engineers.
Human Bangalore Torpedoes? Maybe that's why you never see a really tall shaheed, they're selected out for the Hamas combat engineers.
Posted by: Thomas Woof ||
01/25/2008 11:53 Comments ||
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#10
OK, so "combat engineers" is a bit of an oversell for "mooks with landmines", but what else would you call these guys? It's a kind of combat engineering, if a rather inbred specimen thereof. "Gunmen" sounds preposterous in context.
To be honest, I'm less worried about the zap guns killing the children and puppies than I am about how many of 'em will get trampled or crushed in the chaos once all of their elders start feeling that all-over hot-foot feeling.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
01/25/2008 13:20 Comments ||
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#11
A claymore in every square yard starting about 10 yards from the wall, and continuing for about 50 yards, backed up by gatling type guns, and a few tanks with flame throwers. Then zero in a dozen artillary pieces at the Gaza staging areas and await further orders.
Israel wants to cut its links with the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip after militants blasted open the territory's border with Egypt in defiance of an Israeli blockade, Israel's deputy defense minister said on Thursday.
"Those people are crazy! We want nuttin' to do with them!"
Didn't take long for the Israelis to seize the opportunity, did it? Makes you wonder if Moshe and Avi were looking the other way when Hamas snuck the jackhammers into Gazoo ...
Israel, which occupied the Gaza Strip in 1967, pulled troops and settlers out in 2005 but still controls its northern and eastern borders, airspace and coastal waters, and has imposed a blockade it says is meant to counter militant rocket fire. Deputy Defence Minister Matan Vilnai said Israel wanted to wash its hands of Gaza altogether by handing over the supply of electricity, water and medicine to others. An Israeli security official said Egypt should take over responsibility. "We need to understand that when Gaza is open to the other side we lose responsibility for it. So we want to disconnect from it," Vilnai said.
Hundreds of Gazans on Thursday streamed past the flattened border wall into Egypt on foot or donkeys to stock up on goods in short supply, including sheep, motorcycles and medicine.
U.S. Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns said Washington was in touch with Cairo about the border and was willing to work with Egyptian authorities to restore order there, although he did not provide details on how that should be achieved. "Our view is that order should be restored to the border," Burns told reporters in Jerusalem, adding that services should quickly be re-established to Gaza's 1.5 million residents.
A spokesman for Hamas, which violently took control of Gaza after routing Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah forces in June, rejected Vilnai's disengagement idea as an attempt to separate Gaza from the occupied West Bank.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/25/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Hundreds of Gazans on Thursday streamed past the flattened border wall into Egypt on foot or donkeys to stock up on goods in short supply, including sheep,
Deh goats, being clever headed for al arish
Posted by: Thomas Woof ||
01/25/2008 7:04 Comments ||
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#1
"Future Combat Systems reduces the amount of heavy armor on combat vehicles on the assumption that the technology will let soldiers see first, then strike first. "
This sounds like a dangerous approach. It reminds me of when the Air Force stopped training our pilots how to dogfight in the late 50's because "we won't be dogfighting anymore".
We had better have a Plan B in place in case the Future Combat System turns out to be vaporware.
My own feeling is that FCS can be a good SUPPLEMENT to our forces, but is not a substitute for armor, firepower or boots on the ground.
Al
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
01/25/2008 16:10 Comments ||
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#2
FCS was intended to be only one part of the future BATTLESPACE package of supertechy, super-integrated ground, air, sea, space and information combat and management systems.
Singapore authorities said they detained two men who allegedly tried to join Islamic militant networks overseas, hoping to wage armed jihad in places such as Afghanistan and Chechnya. Muhammad Zamri Abdullah and Maksham Mohd Shah, both 26, were detained Dec. 5 under the Internal Security Act, the Ministry of Home Affairs said in a statement late Thursday. Maksham is also accused of attempting to make bombs, the ministry said.
Their associate, Mohammad Taufik Andjah Asmara, 26, was given a restriction order, the ministry said. He was originally involved in their activities but later distanced himself from the pair, the statement said. Under such orders, suspects are released but placed under restrictions such as limits on traveling outside the country. All three men are Singapore citizens.
"Zamri became self-radicalized through radical propaganda in publications, videos and the Internet," the ministry said. He became radicalized to the extent that he had gone overseas to try to join a 'mujahideen network,' so that he could wage armed jihad overseas and die a martyr.
In early 2006, Zamri, who falsely claimed to be the Singapore representative of a foreign radical group, collected money from the other two men that he planned to send to another foreign radical group, the ministry said. Zamri and Maksham then traveled to an unnamed country in November 2006, hoping to take an oath of allegiance with leaders of radical and militant groups so they could join foreign mujahideen networks.
Zamri believed they would receive training and fight in places such as Afghanistan, Palestine and Chechnya, the statement said. But the pair failed when they were unable to meet with the leaders.
Maksham experimented with building homemade bombs after being inspired by news footage that showed Molotov cocktails being used in attacks, the statement said. He tried making explosive devices using material from sparklers.
The ministry also said that five detained members of the regional terror organization Jemaah Islamiyah, which has links to al-Qaida, were released between Dec. 20 and Jan. 5. "The five men had cooperated in investigations and responded positively to rehabilitation, including religious counseling," the statement said. Another man, detained for involvement with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, a group of separatist rebels in the southern Philippines, was also released Jan. 5, the statement said. The ministry did not say why the information in the statement was only now being released.
TEHERAN - Russia delivered a sixth consignment of fuel for Irans first nuclear power plant in the Gulf port of Bushehr on Thursday which makes it around 80 percent of the consignment, the official IRNA news agency reported.
The sixth load of nuclear fuel arrived at the Bushehr plant on Thursday morning, said a statement from the Organisation for Production and Development of Nuclear Energy quoted by the news agency.
The delivery brings the nuclear fuel supplied by Russia so far to 66 tonnes or around 80 percent of the total order of 82 tonnes, IRNA said. Previous deliveries were made on December 17 and 28, and January 18, 20 and 22. Two more consignments are due by February according to a timetable agreed by the two sides.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/25/2008 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.
Asked if he was blaming British failure for the return of the Taleban, he added: I just described the situation of mistakes we made. The mistake was that we removed a local arrangement without having a replacement. We removed the police force. That was not good. The security forces were not in sufficient numbers or information about the province. That is why the Taleban came in. It took us a year and a half to take back Musa Qala. This was not failure but a mistake. 
MOSCOW - A group of gas-exporting states led by Iran and Russia is moving towards creating a formal body similar to the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, a Russian daily said on Thursday.
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Bush administration paid a $5 million reward to a former Minnesota flight instructor who provided authorities with information that led to the arrest and conviction of 9/11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui. Two colleagues questioned why he got the money. The recipient, Clarence Prevost, was honored Thursday at a closed-door ceremony at the State Department, although the payout was secretly authorized last fall by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and the Justice Department, U.S. officials told The Associated Press.
Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) President Shujaat Hussains brother Wajahat Hussain and son Shafay Hussain landed at the Islamabad Airport on PIA flight PK-786, after British officials allegedly detained and deported them after they had landed at a London Airport from Spain.
Investigators have identified 
BAGHDAD - The United States and Iraq will soon begin negotiating a power shift for U.S. forces, nearly five years after they invaded Iraq and installed a new government, Iraqi and U.S. officials told NBC News on Thursday.
By KHALED ABU TOAMEH 
By KHALED ABU TOAMEH 
Singapore authorities said they detained two men who allegedly tried to join Islamic militant networks overseas, hoping to wage armed jihad in places such as Afghanistan and Chechnya. Muhammad Zamri Abdullah and Maksham Mohd Shah, both 26, were detained Dec. 5 under the Internal Security Act, the Ministry of Home Affairs said in a statement late Thursday. Maksham is also accused of attempting to make bombs, the ministry said.
TEHERAN - Russia delivered a sixth consignment of fuel for Irans first nuclear power plant in the Gulf port of Bushehr on Thursday which makes it around 80 percent of the consignment, the official IRNA news agency reported.
