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India Executes Man Convicted in 2001 Attack on Parliament
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
20:33 2 23:10 Procopius2k [336102]
13:19 1 20:42 Thing From Snowy Mountain [336098]
12:17 23 23:05 Barbara [336106]
11:18 3 16:44 Besoeker [336095]
11:17 2 16:09 Frank G [336090]
10:35 1 11:57 Abu Uluque [336084]
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Home Front: Culture Wars
Steven Seagal To Join Sheriff Joe Arpaio Training Volunteer Posse Members To Defend Phoenix-Area
Posted by: Uncle Phester || 02/09/2013 20:33 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336102 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Hope they have a good weight loss program. Hahaha!!!
Posted by: Raider || 02/09/2013 21:58 Comments || Top||

#2  Already had been riding reserve in Louisiana, with the Jefferson Parish Sheriff department.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/09/2013 23:10 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Minjibir, Nigeria PD repels terrorist attack, captures 2 stragglers
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/09/2013 13:19 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336098 views] Top|| File under:

#1  For a split second I saw the headline "Mjolnir, Nigeria PD repels terrorist attack."
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 02/09/2013 20:42 Comments || Top||


-Lurid Crime Tales-
Hunt for killer continues in snowy California mountains
Cops in BDU's against a backdrop of snow. Someone please send these walking targets some Alpine Overwhites!
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/09/2013 12:17 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336106 views] Top|| File under:

#1  It's potentially more of a problem than that. There is a real possibility that the fugitive Dornan has planned out this whole sequence of events. In which case - the cops are looking in the wrong area and their manpower is being exhausted. Dornan may be using the opportunity to go deeper into cover somewhere else in the country - or to strike back at the LAPD in an unexpected way.
Posted by: Raider || 02/09/2013 13:04 Comments || Top||

#2  More of a problem indeed. He's had ample opportunity for planning and rehearsal. If he's still in the US [which is a big if] he could be assisted by accomplices which brings up an entirely new aspect. The 1996 Atlanta Centennial Olympic park bomber somehow alluded police and Federal agents for five years. The technique of selected assassination which this fellow has used could certainly be repeated.


Posted by: Besoeker || 02/09/2013 13:33 Comments || Top||

#3  An old cop friend of mine used to say, "if all the bad guys were smart the prisons would be empty."

This fellow may well be at least half-smart, and he could be on the run for quite a long time.
Posted by: Steve White || 02/09/2013 14:44 Comments || Top||

#4  .he could be assisted by accomplices.

Given he's in CA, that could encompass a large portion of the population who have zero loyalty to the oppressive racist white conspiracy, The Man (/sarc off). That would be any UC campus, any hood, any dilettante enclave, most of the Bay, etc.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/09/2013 14:56 Comments || Top||

#5  I'll bet he torched his vehicle to make the police think he was in the area. Got a feeling he is long gone--maybe back to where the crimes were committed.
Posted by: JohnQC || 02/09/2013 15:22 Comments || Top||

#6  Here is a full source to Dornan's manifesto. I suggest that you read it. This man is not a rambling lunatic. His wording is lucid, his memory of events is very clear, and he appears to have an honest grievance with the LAPD. It is tragic that he decided to elevate this grievance into a full-blown personal war.

http://www.examiner.com/article/full-chrostpoder-j-dorner-manifesto?cid=rss

The manifesto is long, and while it is not rambling, it may point to psychological problems with Dornan. But that is something we will never know now.

The manifesto is also deadly serious. Dornan is not going to stop drawing blood on the LAPD - until someone brings him down permanently. This ain't over ... until it is over.
Posted by: Raider || 02/09/2013 16:05 Comments || Top||

#7  @ Raider (above)... you are completely correct in your assessment. He would have been better to go to the FBI and the media with his beef. Once you commit murder, you cross the line. Now he's a deadman walking, allowing revenge to be his rather than the Lords. Dad, he actually seems like a decent who was very moralistic before he cracked. I'm also worried about why so long before he executed his plan. He was fired 4 years ago and just recently returned from duty. Why now?? I think the blownup truck was a diversion. Bet they find a timer and explosive residue on the truck. Bet he was long gone by the time they found the truck.
Posted by: Mikey Hunt || 02/09/2013 16:18 Comments || Top||

#8  Mikey ... yep I agree. Dornan has had a long time to plan this all out. That fact alonbe does not bode well. He's got a big time gap in his life since he separated from the LAPD in '08 or '09. No-one seems to know what he was doing, It sure looks like he has planned a very careful revenge operation.

We'll have to see how this plays out. Meanwhile all LAPD officers are on call, and many are pulling duty in the mountains under freezing conditions. This is a real-life Rambo movie. Just crazy.
Posted by: Raider || 02/09/2013 16:24 Comments || Top||

#9  Put a $250,000 tax free bounty 'leading to his arrest or capture' on his murdering ass. Sit by the phone, sip some coffee and wait.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/09/2013 16:32 Comments || Top||

#10  Besorker - that's actually not a bad suggestion. With the economy down and many folks hurting for cash - it would draw a lot of attention. It would also attract many bounty hunters - some of whom are good at what they do. I get the impression that The Thin Blue Line (LAPD) wants to keep this issue as strictly internal - and kill Dornan as fast as possible.
Posted by: Raider || 02/09/2013 17:52 Comments || Top||

#11  The Thin Blue Line (LAPD) wants to keep this issue as strictly internal - and kill Dornan as fast as possible.

The way the LAPD shot up that truck makes that obvious. Panicked for their physical safety and job security.

They must have put a hundred rounds into that neighborhood. Not only the truck, but people's cars and houses. An elite force, don't you know.

If the newspaper delivery woman has a halfway decent lawyer, she should be set for life.
Posted by: KBK || 02/09/2013 18:22 Comments || Top||

#12  "The way the LAPD shot up that truck makes that obvious. Panicked for their physical safety and job security."

I live less than a mile from where that happened. Those shots woke up my family last Thurs morning. I'd say there were about two dozen rounds fired - or maybe slightly less.

But yes - you're right. Inaccurate shooting and no ID of the target. The officers who fired those shots were obviously rattled by the situation. They were protecting themselves and the person they were assigned to keep safe ... but not the neighborhood as a whole.
Posted by: Raider || 02/09/2013 18:27 Comments || Top||

#13  Good thing they were not in Afghanistan. The ROE would have had them all sent to the Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

Of course this is the United Police States where anything goes.

Posted by: Besoeker || 02/09/2013 18:36 Comments || Top||

#14  Read the manifesto. Nice of him to take time out in his rant from issuing death threats and talking about all the weapons he owns to call for gun control and express his support for Diane Fienstein. Very socially conscious. He also gives a shout out to Anthony Bourdain and Michelle Obamas' bangs.
Posted by: Secret Master || 02/09/2013 18:47 Comments || Top||

#15  All that keeps coming to my mind when I think about this is 'helter-skelter' - how the Manson family apparently intended the Tate/LoBianco murders to set off a race war. I was a teenager in a distant LA suburb when it all happened, and I remember how creeped out and genuinely frightened people were by the Manson murders. This gives me the same feeling. He's gone to ground somewhere, almost certainly he has made long-term plans, he probably has friends, and from the comment threads on other websites, he may have a lot of supporters by now. There's a lot of places in SoCal where he can blend in and remain at large. Where my mother lives isn't one of them, although it is a community in San Diego County located on one of the backroads leading towards the Mexican border. There, he'd stand out like a tarantula on a slice of angel-food cake, to quote Raymond Chandler. It does argue against his competence, though, that he bungled stealing a boat from a yacht basin in Point Loma, though.
Posted by: Sgt. Mom || 02/09/2013 18:53 Comments || Top||

#16  Wonder how this nutcase was ever recruited in the first place.

Sorry.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/09/2013 18:55 Comments || Top||

#17  "from the comment threads on other websites, he may have a lot of supporters by now"

"Supporters" - you mean people who approve of murdering innocent people uninvolved in his firing. Gee, too bad the innocent people he murdered weren't their relatives. I'm sure they've still support him, nicht wahr?
Posted by: Barbara || 02/09/2013 19:09 Comments || Top||

#18  Yeah, sick, isn't it? The plain and obvious fact that he DID cold-bloodedly target and murder two people who were only connected by family to a person that he blamed for some of his misfortune is the only thing that likely has kept him from having more supporters.
I can see him being painted in certain circles as a kind of Robin Hoodish crusader for justice ... and protected by an ugly alliance of lefty anti-cop types and black racists.
Posted by: Sgt. Mom || 02/09/2013 19:29 Comments || Top||

#19  Read the Manifesto, NO he DOESN'T sound nuts, he sounds PISSED and with good reason.

Killing is wrong, but I do see where there is NO OTHER OPTION.

I suspect that there'll be n overhaul of the LAPD, and with good reson.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 02/09/2013 19:43 Comments || Top||

#20  Put me in the "you symps should be ashamed of yourselves" group
Posted by: Frank G || 02/09/2013 20:09 Comments || Top||

#21  I checked further facts. Dornan filed a suit thru the CA courts, but lost. He appealed and lost the appeal in 2011. So basically he exhausted all legal options. That left him with two possible approaches. The first was to take his complaint to the Feds - but maybe had had lost faith in the SYSTEM by that stage. Or the second was just to walk away and forget it.

Still ... he's murdered a cop, and two completely innocent people. The two civilians he killed had no direct connection with his life (except as a target for revenge). So he pretty much lost the public sympathy at this stage.

It's a mess.
I doubt that the LAPD will be changed because of it.
Posted by: Raider || 02/09/2013 20:12 Comments || Top||

#22  "It does argue against his competence, though, that he bungled stealing a boat from a yacht basin in Point Loma, though. "

Absolutely true. I thought the same thing. In a weird waqy - he extended his life by a few days. Just how does a 6-foot 270 pound black man blend in ... in Mexico. he would have been picked up immediately.

My guess is that the LAPD may accept help from the Feds and US Special Forces. He will be hunted down and shot. Game over.
Posted by: Raider || 02/09/2013 20:18 Comments || Top||

#23  "I do see where there is NO OTHER OPTION"

I have to disagree, RJ. If he shot one of your family members because he's pissed off at someone else (or even at you), would you still say he had "no other option"?

There is always another option besides murdering innocent people who were just going around minding their own business.
Posted by: Barbara || 02/09/2013 23:05 Comments || Top||


Government
Obama assails special-interest tax breaks, offers special-interest tax breaks
Posted by: DarthVader || 02/09/2013 11:18 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336095 views] Top|| File under:

#1  It is the Chicago-Orwellian way.
Posted by: DarthVader || 02/09/2013 11:19 Comments || Top||

#2  Paging George Orwell. Your office called.
Posted by: Titus Ulans4144 || 02/09/2013 13:53 Comments || Top||

#3  Ole Skeeter picking winners and losers again. Obviously Jeff Immelt and GE and curly fry light bulbs are winners.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/09/2013 16:44 Comments || Top||


Europe
"Green" Europe consuming more coal
Posted by: DarthVader || 02/09/2013 11:17 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336090 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Lignite is a fuel ranked between coal and peat. Here is some information about its characteristics from Wiki:

Lignite is brownish-black in color and has a carbon content of around 25-35%, a high inherent moisture content sometimes as high as 66%, and an ash content ranging from 6% to 19% compared with 6% to 12% for bituminous coal.[2]

The energy content of lignite ranges from 10 - 20 MJ/kg (9–17 million BTU per short ton) on a moist, mineral-matter-free basis. The energy content of lignite consumed in United States averages 15 MJ/kg (13 million BTU/ton), on the as-received basis (i.e., containing both inherent moisture and mineral matter). The energy content of lignite consumed in Victoria, Australia averages 8.4 MJ/kg (6.5 million BTU/ton). When reacted with quaternary amine, amine treated lignite (ATL) forms. ATL is used in drilling mud to reduce fluid loss.

Lignite has a high content of volatile matter which makes it easier to convert into gas and liquid petroleum products than higher ranking coals. Unfortunately its high moisture content and susceptibility to spontaneous combustion can cause problems in transportation and storage. It is now known that efficient processes that remove latent moisture locked within the structure of brown coal will relegate the risk of spontaneous combustion to the same level as black coal, will transform the calorific value of brown coal to a black coal equivalent fuel while significantly reducing the emissions profile of 'densified' brown coal to a level similar to or better than most black coals.[3]


Lots of ash is produced by lignite, so be ready to build hills out of the ash by your power plant.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 02/09/2013 14:57 Comments || Top||

#2  sell it to the Chinese provincial Pols on the take.

"It's even cheaper than flyash and you can pocket the difference. Nobody will know!"
Posted by: Frank G || 02/09/2013 16:09 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Egypt Court Orders YouTube Ban

[ONLINE.WSJ] An Egyptian court on Saturday ordered the video-sharing website YouTube to be blocked in the country for a month after the site declined to remove an American-made video clip that was deemed insulting to Islam.

The decision to temporarily block the site comes five months after anger over the short video, titled "Innocence of Muslims," fueled protests in a number of countries. In Cairo, where protests first broke out on Sept. 11, thousands of mostly Islamist activists rallied in front of the heavily guarded U.S. Embassy, and a handful managed to breach the mission's walls and pull down the American flag.

It wasn't immediately clear on Saturday whether, how or when the ruling would actually take effect. The website, which is owned by Google Inc., GOOG +1.48% was working in Egypt on Saturday.


Young Egyptian activists who rely heavily on YouTube to spread videos of police brutality, political satire and calls for protest mostly jeered at the Egyptian court ruling, calling it yet another example of what they say is scattered, faulty decision-making that has complicated Egypt's two-year transition to democracy.

"It's silly from a technical point of view," said Wael Eskandar, a pro-democracy activist and trained computer programmer. He said it was unclear how the government would carry out the ruling. "It's like someone saying I sentence you to go to the moon but you have to find a space shuttle."
Posted by: Fred || 02/09/2013 10:35 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336084 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring

#1  This is what we expect from the Muslim Brotherhood and the Chinese Communist Party. We do NOT expect this type of action from the President of the United States.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 02/09/2013 11:57 Comments || Top||


-Lurid Crime Tales-
Even the NYT says Menendez Sucks
Senator Robert Menendez was never a distinguished choice for chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the position he ascended to this month by virtue of seniority. Concerns about that quality gap
There's a quality gap between Kerry and Menendez? First time I've heard of that...
have sharply escalated amid new disclosures about Mr. Menendez's use of his position to advance the financial interests of a friend and big donor.
plus there's that underage foreign hooker thing
Instead of trying to protect Mr. Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat, the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, needs to remove his gavel, at least pending credible resolution by the Senate Ethics Committee of the swirling accusations of misconduct.
Under The Bus™, Bob
Posted by: Frank G || 02/09/2013 10:28 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336088 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Instead of trying to protect Mr. Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat, the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, needs to remove his gavel

I would delight to see something else "removed".
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/09/2013 10:38 Comments || Top||

#2  He's dead Harry.
Posted by: Shipman || 02/09/2013 14:41 Comments || Top||

#3  The story must have been presented this way after the Chinese military hacked into the NYT and rearranged it.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 02/09/2013 15:21 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Ruling Tunisian Party Calls a Rally
[VOA News] Supporters of Tunisia's ruling Islamist party have called for a huge rally in the capital Saturday, a day after police clashed with mourners during the funeral of a slain secular opposition leader.

The ruling Ennahda party says its demonstration in Tunis is aimed at showing support for the constitutional assembly whose work on a new constitution was disrupted when opposition leader Chokri Belaid was bumped off earlier this week outside his home.

Belaid's family has accused the ruling party of being complicit in the murder, an accusation the ruling party denies.

On Friday, festivities between police and protesters broke out during Belaid's funeral.

Tens of thousands of mourners converged on the main cemetery in Tunis for Belaid's funeral procession. Police used tear gas at the cemetery to make way for the procession.

Many mourners chanted anti-Islamist slogans and some held banners denouncing Rachid Ghannouchi, leader of the Ennahda party, as an "assassin." Witnesses say some protesters threw stones at the police.
Posted by: Fred || 02/09/2013 10:27 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336084 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


India-Pakistan
India Executes Man Convicted in 2001 Attack on Parliament
[NY Times] India hanged a man on Saturday who had been convicted of involvement in the 2001 attack on Parliament that killed nine people. The hanging of the man, Afzal Guru,
I think his alias was Ghazi Baba, but I'd have to check.
a 43-year-old militant with the group Jaish-e-Mohammad,
...literally Army of Mohammad, a Pak-based Deobandi terror group founded by Maulana Masood Azhar in 2000, after he split with the Harkat-ul-Mujaheddin. In 2002 the government of Pervez Musharraf banned the group, which changed its name to Khaddam ul-Islam and continued doing what it had been doing before without missing a beat...
came more than a decade after the Dec. 13, 2001, suicide attack on India's Parliament in which five gunmen opened fire, killing nine people, including security officials and a journalist. The execution drew protests from human rights groups concerned about the growing use of capital punishment in such cases.
I'm still hazy on why capital crimes don't merit capital punishment. The attack killed nine people. No human rights groups stepped in to try and prevent that.
The human rights groups wait for the bullets to stop flying and then step in to criticize. It's safer that way...
Mr. Guru was convicted of conspiracy in the plot and sentenced to death by a special court in 2002. In 2004, the Supreme Court of India upheld the death sentence.
Pointing out that the attack killed nine people, and that it was on the seat of India's democracy.
After the execution, clashes broke out in Mr. Guru's hometown Sopore, in the northern part of the Kashmir, and the police and paramilitary units were called to restore order.
Lots of Moslems there, y'see.
Days before the execution, President Pranab Mukherjee had rejected a mercy plea by Mr. Guru's wife, according to reports from The Press Trust of India, paving the way for Mr. Guru's hanging in the Tihar Jail complex, officials said.
Posted by: Fred || 02/09/2013 10:26 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336161 views] Top|| File under: Jaish-e-Mohammad

#1  hope it was slow and botched
Posted by: Frank G || 02/09/2013 10:51 Comments || Top||

#2  Sometimes you have to try over and over until you get it right.
Posted by: SteveS || 02/09/2013 11:12 Comments || Top||

#3  I think if I ever knock over a likker store I'm going to wear one of those very cool checker shawls, they don't stop bullets, but it looks like they give your a leg up in court.
Posted by: Shipman || 02/09/2013 14:31 Comments || Top||

#4  Not slow or botched. Just eight minutes for procedure.
Posted by: john frum || 02/09/2013 21:46 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
Originalism and Drone Strikes
In sum, the original meaning of the due process clause is that the President cannot unilaterally kill U.S. citizens he thinks are potentially dangerous. Perhaps there are examples of historical practice that suggest an exception applicable to the present case (as there are obvious historical exceptions on the battlefield and for prevention of imminent harm). But the burden should be on those who want an exception to the text, and that burden shouldn't be met merely by the claim that it would be more convenient to have such an exception.
Posted by: Beavis || 02/09/2013 10:23 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336091 views] Top|| File under:


Africa North
Mali Soldiers Arrest 2 Men With Explosives
[ABCNEWS.GO] Two men with explosives were arrested trying to enter the city of Gao on Saturday, the Malian military said, a day after a suicide bomber blew himself up in an attack that has fueled fears of a militant insurgency in northern Mali.
I do hope nobody thought AQIM was just going to run away? Now comes the sneaky war of attrition, until they run out of cannon fodder or the funding's cut off.
Funding comes from Qatar and the UAE. Good luck with that one...
The two suspected jihadists were in Malian military custody after being arrested at 7 a.m. on a road that leads into northern Mali's largest city, said military spokesman Modibo Traore. "The men were stopped at a checkpoint on the road from Bourem," Traore said of a village that is northwest of Gao.
That's alright. There are more when they came from. Literally.
While Friday's attack killed only the bomber, it has raised concerns about the future strategy of the militants, who initially appeared to put up little resistance to the French and Malian military advance.
That's because they can't stand up to a real army. They're fond of waving guns and looking ferocious, but they seldom fire at actual soldiers, and when they do they usually come out second in the contest.
Malian defense minister Yamoussa Camara told The Associated Press Saturday that the military was continuing to hunt extremists from their hiding places. "We call on the population of Gao to not give in to panic and above all to cooperate with defense and security forces to drive out the terrorists who are trying to inflitrate among civilians," said Camara when reached by phone in Bamako.
The disadvantage the turbans have here is the number of foreigners among them, to include the Tuaregs, who'll be suspicious characters even though they live in the area. Appearance and accent will give the turbans away, and (at the moment) they don't enjoy a lot of support from the locals.
The young man who blew himself up on Friday had been living at a house in Gao that was known jihadist hideout. A guard at the home said that it had been visited three months ago by the one-eyed terror leader Moktar Belmoktar, who claimed responsibility for the attack in Algeria on the BP-operated natural gas plant in which more than 37 people died.
Presumably the dear departed had been living there until the Frenchies showed up, at which point he beat curly-toed slippers along with his Islamic masters.
Other jihadist leaders from the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa -- known as MUJAO -- also had stayed in the luxurious two-story home with a verdant courtyard, which the militants took over when they captured Gao last year, the guard said.
Any differences between MUJAO and AQIM have to do with labeling, not with flavor.
Fears of suicide bombing attacks have been high since the discovery of industrial-strength explosives in Gao earlier this week.
Count on it.
Mali's military has shown growing signs of strain.
Best to dissolve them and start over from scratch. They're not worth much, evidently.
The only ones who were any good were the ones trained by U.S. advisors, and they switched sides...
On Friday, soldiers from a unit allied with the leader of last year's military coup stormed the camp of the presidential guard. Two people were killed and 13 others were wounded, according to a statement from the Malian government.
That's because they had nothing better to do. It's not like they'd been invaded or something...
Malian President Dioncounda Traore called the violence a major disappointment to the Malian people "at a time when the main concern of each and every Malian should be the operations we are in the middle of carrying out in the north."
Oh. Well. The country was invaded, but not the Presidential Guard. Apparently "the Guard lives but never engages," to misquote some Frenchie.
The red beret-wearing former presidential guard, based at the Djicoroni camp in Bamako, was disarmed months ago by the green beret-wearing officers loyal to Capt. Amadou Haya Sanogo, the leader of the coup in March last year. Their camp has been attacked on several occasions by the green berets, who seized the presidential guards' weapons.
The guys with the red hats, y'see, marched ever so much better than the green hats in parades. And they got all the good hookers.
When the green berets arrived at the military camp Friday they were confronted by women and children, and fired tear gas and volleys into the air, according to Batoma Dicko, a woman who lives in the camp. The camp includes housing for military families. The attackers succeeded in entering the camp, carried out a search and set fire to the infirmaries, she said.
That sort of thing is ever so much easier when the wimmin and kiddies are unarmed.
Posted by: Fred || 02/09/2013 10:13 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336114 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in North Africa

#1  The "palace guard" didn't want to support the offensive against the Jihadi's. I've wondered whether they were trying to wait until everyone was distracted to conduct another coup.
Posted by: tipover || 02/09/2013 11:18 Comments || Top||

#2  perhaps it's time for Qatar to have a few "leadership accidents"
Posted by: Frank G || 02/09/2013 14:13 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
The Problems of the White Paper
Posted by: tipper || 02/09/2013 10:12 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336091 views] Top|| File under:

#1  That goes for American enemy combatants, too — continued foot-stamping to the contrary from progressives and libertarians notwithstanding

Admittedly I lifted a stained beverage as Bon voyage to Anwar al- Awlaki’s untimely, albeit fiery, passage to meet his promised virgins. But what Mr. McCarthy fails to say is al-Awlaki was never charged much less convicted of any crime. His citizenship was never revoked and most importantly he was never designated as an enemy combatant. So yeah, I will do some foot-stamping (even for a turd like al-Awlaki) when any US citizen's liberties are denied.
Posted by: DepotGuy || 02/09/2013 13:36 Comments || Top||

#2  .....he [Triple-A] was never designated as an enemy combatant.

But he was someone who had evidently communicated with MAJ Nadal Hasan, and who knows what other "American Citizens" of a similar leaning.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/09/2013 13:53 Comments || Top||

#3  After four years of watching Obama enthusiastically adopt what he once condemned, we now know Bush detractors were animated by politics, not conviction.

...were animated by politics and a hatred for their perceived enemies; conservatives, not conviction.
Posted by: JohnQC || 02/09/2013 15:52 Comments || Top||

#4  "we now know Bush detractors were animated by politics"

We now know? We who, exactly? The "we" at Rantburg knew that 8 years ago, or more. >:-(
Posted by: Barbara || 02/09/2013 17:32 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
Afghanistan, Pakistan Seek A Fatwa Against Suicide Attacks
The Muhammad Mustafa mosque sits in a fairly well-off part of Kabul where government employees and some high-ranking officials live. Muhammad Ehsan Saiqal, a moderate, 54-year-old Muslim who welcomes girls into his Quran classes, is the imam. The slight, gray-bearded cleric preaches against suicide bombings.

"Islam doesn't permit suicide attacks," he says. "If someone kills any Muslim without any cause, under Shariah law [Islamic law] it means that he kills the whole Muslim world."

For the past decade or so, suicide bombings have become a standard tactic for Islamist militants in Afghanistan and its neighbor Pakistan. In an effort to stem these deadly bombings, the Afghan government convinced its neighbor to convene a joint council of religious scholars to issue a fatwa, or Islamic decree, banning suicide attacks.

But so far, the two countries have spent more time arguing about the conference rather than organizing it.

Saiqal supports the proposed conference of senior Islamic scholars, or ulema, to deal with the issue.

"Of course it will be very effective because ulema have proficiency in Islam," he says. "They have reliable and rational explanations that will decrease the level of suicide attacks."

That's if the conference actually takes place.
Posted by: tipper || 02/09/2013 10:04 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336068 views] Top|| File under:


Government
New plan: mandatory gun insurance
Posted by: DarthVader || 02/09/2013 10:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336099 views] Top|| File under:

#1  And thus drive guns into the black market.
Posted by: DarthVader || 02/09/2013 10:00 Comments || Top||

#2  Gee, that will work as well as mandatory auto insurance did in Illinois.
25% of drivers here have neither a license or insurance, which of course really jacks up the cost for those of us silly enough to actually obey the law.

Here's a concept, how about putting law breakers in jail instead? Just think of all the new Government Union Members!
Posted by: Griter Crart8496 || 02/09/2013 11:00 Comments || Top||

#3  The "Firearm Owners ID" has been a huge crime fighting success story in Illinois for the past 40 odd years as well.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/09/2013 11:10 Comments || Top||

#4  Will that include 'uninsured Thug' insurance - just in case an uninsured Thug decides to shoot someone and ends up shooting themselves in the nuts you can pay for their longterm medical care.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 02/09/2013 11:17 Comments || Top||

#5  The gun control campaign has gone fully into the “Big Tobacco” strategy. In short, they figured out that schemes that attempt to penalize the individual are met with fierce resistance and therefore ineffective. Hint: Remember President Skeet-shooter recently telling his minions not to call the average gun owners names? And of course, he neglected to chastise his friends when they called the NRA “gun-runners”. Funny how that works huh? Proposals like these are diversions. Control proponents believe they can achieve the same ends with increased taxes and fees on the firearms industry. Occupy Smith & Wesson!
Posted by: DepotGuy || 02/09/2013 12:06 Comments || Top||

#6  Good ole Skeeter. Never let a crisis go to waste.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/09/2013 12:09 Comments || Top||

#7  The government subsidizes every imaginable right from cell phones to housing and healthcare. But one the most explicit rights is routinely ignored, stepped on and discouraged. If the feds cared at all about rights we should have line for free guns, training and tax credits for purchases.
Posted by: airNdee || 02/09/2013 12:11 Comments || Top||

#8  So...can we make all politicians pay for "Stupid Ass Insurance" before allowed to run for office? That way when the courts decide the crap they sponsored trampled the basic rights of citizens, they pay for misusing the office they hold.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/09/2013 13:36 Comments || Top||

#9  I'm still looking for wet Sunday Newspaper insurance.

I have many claims to backfile.
Posted by: Shipman || 02/09/2013 14:43 Comments || Top||

#10  Protection racket
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 02/09/2013 15:23 Comments || Top||

#11  P2k, I'd sign on for "Stupid Ass Insurance" for politicos. Premiums should be proportional to the harm and damage they cause.
Posted by: JohnQC || 02/09/2013 15:34 Comments || Top||

#12  Make me get insurance? Fine, then let me carry concealed anywhere I go, including schools and federal facilities - Im INSURED!
Posted by: OldSpook || 02/09/2013 15:39 Comments || Top||

#13  Why, just the other day I was getting my homeowners re-evaluated and was asked specifically if I had any firearms...you know for special coverage against loss.

I didn't like the way it was asked, it was not in a casual as an example type of way. Changed the subject as at this value of coverage what about computers and tablets and such...

OS, should also include if any injury or death caused by the use of the firearm, if found innocent of any felony behavior, insurance would cover any and all civil court damages.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 02/09/2013 15:54 Comments || Top||

#14  Sounds like infringement to me.
Posted by: gorb || 02/09/2013 16:42 Comments || Top||

#15  "can we make all politicians pay for "Stupid Ass Insurance" before allowed to run for office?"

Doubtful, P2k. What insurance company would be dumb enough to insure against that? That would be like insuring a convicted arsonist against future arsons.
Posted by: Barbara || 02/09/2013 17:35 Comments || Top||

#16  "Hello? Mutual of Gaza?"
Posted by: Frank G || 02/09/2013 17:59 Comments || Top||

#17  Well, premiums would be high for a start, then the eval would be interesting, all similar to drivers. DUI, speeding tickets, etc seem to start the precipitous climb in costs that doesn't effect most good drivers. Same for politicians. Reckless pattern of behaviors, spouting off ridiculous assertions, etc should raise the rates to the point [as they're trying with guns] where they can't afford the insurance and without proof of insurance, register for election/re-election. Let the market forces decide - or - let them put their money where their mouth is.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/09/2013 18:31 Comments || Top||

#18  As long as - and this is the most important thing - the politicians have to pay for the insurance out of their own pockets.

No sticking the taxpayers with the bill, no raising their pay to cover the premiums, no getting the premiums paid for by the DNC (or RNC), the unions, George Soros, etc.
Posted by: Barbara || 02/09/2013 19:00 Comments || Top||

#19  ..one added feature, incumbents would finally be in less advantageous positions than fresh new challengers who don't have a record of bombastic rhetoric and grandstanding. Think of it as a way of drying up reelection funds as the rates shoot up with a logarithmic curve each year. Just like progressive tax rates, what's good enough for the rich is just as good enough for our pompous pols.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/09/2013 19:42 Comments || Top||

#20  Unfortunately, there will always be people like Nanny Bloomberg who would see the insurance premium as just a cost of doing business.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 02/09/2013 21:54 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
Navy: Lincoln Refueling Delayed, Will Hurt Carrier Readiness
Homeland [in]Security and others can spend millions and millions on ammunition but not this - one of the Primary purposes of the Federal Government? WTF?
The U.S. Navy will delay the refueling of the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) for an unknown period because of the uncertain fiscal environment due to the ongoing legislative struggle, the service told Congress in a Friday message obtained by USNI News.
Well as long as the ObamaBots get their ObamaPhones!
Lincoln was scheduled to be moved to Huntington Ingalls Industries' (HII) Newport News Shipyard later this month to begin the 4-year refueling and complex overhaul (RCOH) of the ship.

"This delay is due to uncertainty in the Fiscal Year 2013 appropriations bill, both in the timing and funding level available for the first full year of the contract," the message said.
"CVN-72 will remain at Norfolk Naval Base where the ships force personnel will continue to conduct routine maintenance until sufficient funding is received for the initial execution of the RCOH."
And how many billions have gone to ACORN like programs? How many wasted on useless CRAP the federal government has no business doing anyway?

BTW: Nice picture of 5 carriers all in a row down at the link. Carrier row?
Posted by: CrazyFool || 02/09/2013 08:52 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336147 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "Those making over $250,000 per year can afford to pay a little more".
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/09/2013 9:12 Comments || Top||

#2  This is Navy version of closing the Library, Parks and making Johnny walk to school.
Posted by: Shipman || 02/09/2013 10:21 Comments || Top||

#3  Gets worse. Carriers get a refuel and overhaul halfway through their life. The carriers after Lincoln are lined up for the same. Delay Lincoln and you delay their overhauls as well. It's a domino effect. Now you might be able to stretch this out a little, but continue to delay Lincoln and at some point you won' be down one carrier, you'll be down two.
Posted by: Steve White || 02/09/2013 14:53 Comments || Top||

#4  Shrug. It's not like we're at war or anything.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 02/09/2013 15:08 Comments || Top||

#5  All part of the Donks shoving costs off onto the Trunks and the people not being able to figure out why they government keeps spending no matter who is in charge.
Posted by: gorb || 02/09/2013 16:35 Comments || Top||

#6  See also TOPIX > PANETTA: US MAY BECOME A SECOND-RATE POWER.

As said before, as per PEAK OIL-RESOURCES + OWG "The Govts-Perts Consensus is that there is no COnsensus"; + a US suborned under anti-Nationalist, anti-Sovereign, anti-Borders, + anti-Constitution, "multi-polar" anti-US OWG + NAU 2015 = IFF THE US IS STRONG, CHINA ETAL. WILL BE STRONG; IFF THE US IS WEAK, CHINA ETAL. WILL BE WEAK.

* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > IN SEVEN YEARS, CHINA'S STORY WILL BE OVER.

Iff true, ditto also broadly for the US come 2020 [plus-minus = 2020-2025].

Not that far off the negative timelines for the US indicated vee US Govt's own Think-Tanks.

and

* PACIFICNEWSCENTER [fka Guam K57 RADIO News] VIDEO: PANETTA WARNS THAT SEQUESTRATION CUTS MAY REDUCE PACIFIC US NAVAL OPERATIONS BY ONE-THIRD.

* IIRC WAFF > SENKAKUS/DIAOYUS ISLANDS DISPUTE: JAPAN MULLS RELEASING CHINESE RADAR DATA.

Prolly in response to China's claim that Japan is lying about China's ships locked their weapons radar on a Nippon vessel + helo.

FYI RUSSIA = denied Nippon claims that RF mil aircraft penetrated Japanese airspace.

* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > [Telegraph.UK] JAPAN DEMANDS AOPOLOGY FROM CHINA OVER WEAPONS-LINKED RADAR.

Japan PM Shinzo Abe repor has angrily rejected China's denials about locking weapons radars on Japanese vessels or aircraft.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/09/2013 22:03 Comments || Top||

#7  DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > CHINA MOBILIZING TROOPS ON THE COAST?, vee Google translation seemingly in possible utility or support in a war by China agz JAPAN???

versus

* SAME > [AntiWar.com]US MARINES HEADING FOR VIETNAM. CAMBODIA [(FOR "ASIAN PIVOT" PLAN) | ASIA SYRGE: US MARINES HEADING TO VIETNAM, CAMBODIA. US HOPES TO INCREASE PRESENCE ACROSS PACIFIC.

USGovt-DOD may create a dedicated USMC Battalion [BLT] for Vietnam + Cambodia = SE Asia. Future New Unit formation + routine Deployment(s) to Malaysia-Indonesia, etc. not ruled out.

* SAME > INDEPENDENCE MOVEMENT FOR HONG KONG?

* SAME > CHINA DEMANDS TERRITORIAL CONCESSIONS TO BRING IT CLOSER TO INDIA'S SENSITIVE SILIGURI CORRIDOR.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/09/2013 22:18 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
The Mainstream Media Explained
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/09/2013 05:19 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336069 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The slime master.

Posted by: junkiron || 02/09/2013 17:46 Comments || Top||

#2  Can you give us another shot, with just his finger tips above water ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/09/2013 18:38 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Egypt: children on trial for insulting Islam; family sentenced for conversion to Christianity
Two Egyptian Christian children are on trial for insulting Islam. According to different versions of the allegations, they tore pages out of the Qur’an or urinated on them.

“They are just small children, and they don't really understand what all the fuss is about – they can't even tell the difference between the Qur’an, the Bible or any other holy book,” said Karam Gabriel, their attorney.

The trial is taking place in Beni Suef, a city of 230,000, where a mother and her seven children were sentenced to 15 years in prison last month for converting back to Christianity from Islam.

“We were sure, especially after the revolution, that our court will respect the right of every human being to choose his or her religion, but apparently the court is relying on the Islamic sharia, and therefore Nadia was sentenced to 15 years in prison,” said Yusuf Zaki, head of the Coptic Alliance.
Posted by: tipper || 02/09/2013 03:12 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336081 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Just run them other with the tanks that that the most intelligent POTUS thoughtfully provided.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/09/2013 4:48 Comments || Top||

#2  And we are still giving these creatures F-16s?
Posted by: CrazyFool || 02/09/2013 8:48 Comments || Top||

#3  Nothing to see here, just a little twisted curve in the path to a modern state.
Posted by: Shipman || 02/09/2013 10:15 Comments || Top||

#4  Why shouldn't they get F-16s?

Everyone (non Muslims in the West included) is morally obliged to observe Sharia restrictions on free speech. This is consensus opinion among the Western political class.
Posted by: Elmerert Hupens2660 || 02/09/2013 10:42 Comments || Top||


Egypt protects liberals’ homes after death threat
Egyptian police deployed security at the homes of prominent liberal opponents of the government on Thursday after a hardline cleric called for their deaths and a secular politician was gunned down in Tunisia.

The killing on Wednesday of Chokri Belaid, an outspoken critic of Tunisia’s Islamist-led government, sent tremors through Egypt.

In both countries where “Arab Spring” uprisings swept away veteran authoritarian rulers, two years of political turmoil have exposed divisions between Islamists and their secular opponents.

On the same day, Egyptian liberal politician Mohamed el Baradei, former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, sounded the alarm over a hardline cleric’s call for his death.

The cleric, Mahmoud Shaaban, appeared on a religious television channel and said leaders of Egypt’s main opposition coalition would get a death sentence under sharia (Islamic law).

He specifically mentioned el Baradei, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, and former presidential candidate Hamdeen Sabahy.

President Mohamed Mursi, a member of the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood which has dominated democratic elections since mass protests ousted President Hosni Mubarak in 2011, condemned such comments as tantamount to “terrorism.”

But he renewed accusations that the liberal opposition was inciting unrest.
Posted by: tipper || 02/09/2013 03:04 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336098 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I was going to say something along the lines of "amazing how a glimpse of the hangman's noose sharpens one's thoughts".

But I've a feeling that Morsi and his ilk decided that it's not yet time to deal with the opposition; Mahmoud Shaaban was just a wee bit premature with his fatwa.
Posted by: Pappy || 02/09/2013 9:49 Comments || Top||

#2  And if you decide to deal with them---you already have soldiers in place.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/09/2013 10:18 Comments || Top||

#3  But still you wonder
Who's cheatin' who, who's being true
Who takes extra care at the door
It makes you wonder
Who picked a fight or target tonight
Who's technical's parked next door
Posted by: swksvolFF || 02/09/2013 12:23 Comments || Top||

#4  who gives a shit as long as the technical is a hyundai and is full of eu troops it's all good let them kill one another!
Posted by: Creash Elmomp8953 || 02/09/2013 17:56 Comments || Top||


Bangladesh
’19 Christian Children Rescued From Islamic Traffickers in Bangladesh’
Nineteen Christian children who were to be sold to Islamic boarding schools ('madrassas') in Bangladesh have been rescued, a religious rights group said Thursday, February 7.

Traffickers lied to the children's parents saying they would take the children to Christian boarding schools in the capital Dhaka, when in fact, they were intending to sell the children to the various madrassas, explained International Christian Concern (ICC).

Students from Dhaka University reportedly discovered the children, ages 5 to 12, and rescued them Sunday, February 3.

A key trafficker, who was publicly identified as Binoy Tripura, allegedly confessed that he "collected the kids from their parents with lies and convinced them that [he] will admit all the kids to a Missionary [Christian] school in Dhaka."

He then collected 15,000 taka ($183) from each of their parents and intended to receive payment from the madrassa upon delivery of the children.

TRIPURA TRIBE

"The children, Christians from the Tripura tribe, realized something was not right during their long bus journey from the remote Cimbuk Hill in the Bandarban district to Bangladesh's capital city, Dhaka," ICC said in a statement.

"Twelve of the children ran away at a rest stop and called their parents to explain what was happening. Not knowing what else to do, the parents called Tripura tribal students attending Dhaka University, desperately asking for help. The university students met the bus in Dhaka, rescued the remaining six children, and captured Binoy, who is now in police custody," the rights group added.
Posted by: tipper || 02/09/2013 02:59 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336069 views] Top|| File under:


Home Front: WoT
Bangladeshi Admits Trying to Blow Up Federal Bank
A Bangladeshi man who tried to blow up the Federal Reserve Bank of New York remotely only to find that the bomb was fake and his plot had been under the constant surveillance of federal agents pleaded guilty on Thursday to terrorism charges.

The plea of the man, Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis, 21, brought a quick resolution to a case that used one of the government's most popular strategies for identifying and pursuing terrorism suspects: Undercover agents and a confidential source who learned that Mr. Nafis wanted to conduct an attack gave him the materials for a fake bomb and other support, leading him all the way to the moment of detonation before arresting him in October.

In response to criticism of the law enforcement approach -- and the claim that men like Mr. Nafis could not pull off an attack without the government's help -- Loretta E. Lynch, the United States attorney for the Eastern District of New York, emphasized that Mr. Nafis had entered the United States with plans to carry out the attack and that the sting operation was the best way to stop him.

"He came with information about how to make bombs," Ms. Lynch said in a news conference outside the Federal District Court in Brooklyn. "At every opportunity this defendant showed his determination and commitment to this plan."
This article starring:
Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis
Posted by: tipper || 02/09/2013 02:55 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336067 views] Top|| File under:


Home Front: Culture Wars
The New Age of Falsity
h/t Belmont
We live in an age of falsity, in which words have lost their meanings and concepts are reinvented as the situation demands. The United States is in a jobless recovery -- even if that phrase largely disappeared from the American lexicon about 2004. Good news somehow must follow from a rising unemployment rate, which itself underrepresents the actual percentage of Americans long out of work.

At the same time, we are supposed to be relieved that we are in a contracting expansion, where fewer goods and services are proof of a resilient economy. In our debt-ridden revival, borrowing $1 trillion each year is evidence that we don't have a spending problem.

...An ambassador and three other Americans were murdered, ostensibly because of an anti-Muslim video whose producer still languishes in jail in California. The party line was that Libyan demonstrators, irate over that Internet production and out for a walk one evening, brought along their GPS-guided mortars and machine guns to spice up a demonstration at our consulate. Things can always get out of hand, when a right-wing chauvinist makes a hurtful video.

...Al-Qaeda must be imploding, as its new profile from Libya to Mali is proof of its overstretched presence. The Muslim Brotherhood is largely secular; jihad is a personal spiritual journey; we ordered an overseas contingency operation to get bin Laden, who had been responsible for some man-caused disasters, and one of whose acolytes waged workplace violence that threatened our diversity programs. After Chuck Hagel forgot what he had said, what the president had said, and what his inquisitors had said, we knew he would be confirmed as defense secretary. All these are mere bothersome details that should not impede the general truth that the United States is now on the right side of history, at home and abroad.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/09/2013 02:52 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336075 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The recent, quite unbelievable sympathy extended a hate filled, murdering former LAPD cop confirms "The Age of Falsity" has now become a contagion.

Perhaps the gunman's manifesto and actions could be referred to as a.... "terminated employee's right to choose".
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/09/2013 7:08 Comments || Top||

#2  " right to choose" that's kind of catchy sounding isn't it?

That's a good phrase that could be applied to other worthy causes.
Do you know any other situations where "right to choose" might be just the ticket?

Get a large pointed sharp steel canula and a Gompers Suction unit and spread your legs and say it slowly, "RIGHT to choose."
We all need to have our "rights" after all. Know any other catchy phrases like "One Nation under God" for instances?
ONE?
Nation?
Under God?

What part do we need to leave out to give it the proper ring?
Or maybe we need to add something? Like what? Hope? Change? ...anything else?
Posted by: Threater Flusoper9823 || 02/09/2013 7:45 Comments || Top||

#3  A system predicated upon lies will implode when the appropriate internal or external event occurs, leaving the former power class and brokers often wondering what went wrong because they came to believe the lies themselves. Of course they usually don't go down without a struggle usually costing others far more pain and suffering in a vain effort to retain that power they once enjoyed.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/09/2013 9:24 Comments || Top||

#4 
I think what we are doing is enforcing a resolution that has a very clear set of goals, which is protecting the Libyan people, averting a humanitarian crisis, and setting up a no-fly zone. Obviously that involves kinetic military action, particularly on the front end.

It really doesn't matter.
Posted by: DepotGuy || 02/09/2013 13:57 Comments || Top||


Africa North
U.S. mulls putting Algeria militant on 'kill' list: report
Senior members of US President Barack Obama's administration want to put the mastermind of last month's attack on an Algerian natural-gas facility on a secret "kill" list, The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday.

Adding Algerian militant Mokhtar Belmokhtar to a US list for targeted killing would entail a significant US military expansion into northwestern Africa, the newspaper said, citing unnamed US officials.

It would mean extending drone strikes and other lethal counterterrorism operations to the region, the paper added.

Thirty-seven foreign hostages, including three Americans, were killed when gunmen last month stormed the In Amenas gas plant and the Algerian army launched a military assault in response. One Algerian and 29 of the insurgents were also killed.

The push to target Belmokhtar is being led by US military and intelligence officials, the Journal reported.

And some were pressing for a more direct involvement in the hunt for Belmokhtar, whether with drones, other aircraft or American forces, the paper added.

Posted by: tipper || 02/09/2013 02:01 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336085 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The Algerians should be held responsible for policing their own borders and protecting foreign nationals? Evidently we've permitted the Libyans to bring those responsible for the murders in Benghazi to justice. Why the suggestion of different methods?

This entire "kill list" strategy should concern everyone.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/09/2013 7:26 Comments || Top||

#2  Secret list? Published in the WSJ? I see that words like freedom, constitution and rights aren't the only terms that this a**holes don't understand.

I figure that the only secret list is the one with Tea Party members and NRA leaders on it.
Posted by: AlanC || 02/09/2013 9:20 Comments || Top||

#3  An attempt to make the "kill list" politically palatable and, eventually, a mundane thing?
Posted by: Pappy || 02/09/2013 9:51 Comments || Top||

#4  You must realize that “the media mollusk are not for peace; they’re for Barack Obama. They’ve continued to depict this war president as your good kind of killer; a thoughtful, great leader who agonizes over his kill lists with excruciating care.”

- Mercer

Posted by: Besoeker || 02/09/2013 10:28 Comments || Top||

#5  I have no problem drone-zapping Belmokhtar if we find him in Mali. There's no effective indigenous government or military there, and the French certainly won't mind.

But if Belmokhtar is in Algeria then I expect the Algerians to deal with him. If the Algerians need help with that let them ask formally. That's why we have diplomats.
Posted by: Steve White || 02/09/2013 14:56 Comments || Top||

#6  What's with this administration? They have death panels and kill lists. Abortion is O.K. The death penalty is not O.K. Death by firearms is not O.K. Death by driving off a bridge while drunk is O.K.; murdering some little girl with a golf club, is O.K. Must be difficult dealing with all these inconsistencies.
Posted by: JohnQC || 02/09/2013 14:56 Comments || Top||

#7  Don't get me wrong, some of these guys are deserving. Maybe I'm a little paranoid but I just want to see that our Constitution is adhered to when it come to citizens in the U.S. I see the Constitution being gradually eroded.
Posted by: JohnQC || 02/09/2013 15:07 Comments || Top||

#8  Even if the Algerians ask nicely why should we make the US military a mercenary force to take out moslem nitwits the powers that be don't like. This playing cowboys and indians with moslems will not end well. I'd rather play allies and nazis. That ends better.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 02/09/2013 15:12 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Mortar attacks 'kill several' at Iran exile camp in Iraq
Mortar attacks on an camp housing Iranian dissidents near Baghdad killed a number of people early on Saturday, an Iraqi security official and a United Nations spokeswoman said.

The mortars "led to a number of deaths and injuries among the residents," said Eliana Nabaa, spokeswoman for the UN mission in Iraq. "Also a number of Iraqi policemen were injured... We cannot confirm exactly how many."

An interior ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity, put the toll at five dead and 40 wounded.

The Mujahedeen-e-Khalq (MEK) said in a statement that six people were killed in 35 rockets and mortars.

The mortar rounds struck at a transit camp known as Camp Liberty where some 3,000 residents who members of the MEK were moved on Iraq's insistence, from their historic paramilitary camp of the 1980s - Camp Ashraf.

Posted by: tipper || 02/09/2013 01:54 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336069 views] Top|| File under:


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Tbilisi Mayor and parliament member assaulted
United National Movement MPs and other officials, including Tbilisi City Mayor Gigi Ugulava have been physically assaulted by crowd gathered near National Library. Crowd blocked the entrance, refusing to allow any UNM members or President in. President press speaker Manana Manjgaladze announced that to prevent further escalation of situation President would address the nation from the Presidential Palace.

Crowd broke into the National Library, broke glass windows and demanded entrance. Later, demonstrators physically assaulted Tbilisi Mayor Ugulava. One female MP, Taktakishvili was seen with bleeding nose, after crowd attacked her. UNM activists, who later showed up near the Library, were also beaten up by the demonstrators.

Later Interior Minister Irakli Gharibashvili arrived at the Library, asking demonstrators to leave because, as he said, the scuffles "played into the hands of political opponents" of Georgian Dream. He also said the UNM members did not use secured corridor and therefore there were doubts, that the scuffles were provoked by UNM. Minister said that all offenders will be punished accordingly.

Parliament Speaker Davit Usupashvili also commented on the incident, blaming UNM members and Mayor Ugulava of provoking the crowd because they did not use the safe corridor. He also mentioned that all people who were involved in physical assaults should be punished accordingly. Usupashvili also said that Saakashvili rushed to make this speech although he could have waited for Parliament's approval.
Posted by: Clotle Craling4346 || 02/09/2013 00:29 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336072 views] Top|| File under:


Africa North
Libya: Reconciliation in Kufra on the Way to Succeed
[Tripoli Post] The process of reconciliation is moving ahead in various parts of Libya after two years since the uprising.

In the case of Kufra where fighting occurred many times last year between those belonged to Tabu tribe and those from Zuwiya tribe the reconciliation process is succeeding.

On Thursday, leaders and elders from both groups formed one delegation and met in Tripoli the Prime Minister Ali Zidan to inform him of their desire to enter reconciliation with each other.

Both Zuwiya and Tabu leaders made it clear that they had the good intentions to problems of the past and were willing to abide by the law and Sharia in order to end their conflict.

On his part the Prime Minister reminded the delegation of the history Kufar and its heroic role in the Jihad against colonialism, the unity of its inhabitants and the sacrifices all the tribes made at the time.
Posted by: Fred || 02/09/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336068 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Caribbean-Latin America
Venezuela Sharply Devalues Its Currency
[BIGSTORY.AP.ORG] Venezuela's government announced Friday that it is devaluing the country's currency, a long-anticipated change expected to push up prices in the heavily import-reliant economy.

Officials said the fixed exchange rate is changing from 4.30 bolivars to the dollar to 6.30 bolivars to the dollar.

The devaluation had been widely expected by analysts in recent months, though experts had been unsure about whether the government would act while President Hugo Chavez remained out of sight in Cuba recovering from cancer surgery.
Posted by: Fred || 02/09/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336067 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  rxperts had been unsure about whether the government would act while President Hugo Chavez remained out of sight in Cuba recovering from cancer surgery

Apparently the Ouija board was working.
Posted by: Pappy || 02/09/2013 10:03 Comments || Top||

#2  yeah. I think this is a tacit admission that he's dead, JIm
Posted by: Frank G || 02/09/2013 10:14 Comments || Top||

#3  I'm still surprised it was before the election. LOL did do "best practices" tho, Friday before Carnivale. This year likker ban has been lifted. Really.
Posted by: Shipman || 02/09/2013 10:26 Comments || Top||

#4  They are merely matching the official rate to the black market rate. Of course, the black market rate will now zoom from 6.30 per $1 to 9 per $1.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 02/09/2013 15:21 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
Hero of COP Keating battle to receive MoH
A former staff sergeant who helped repel one of the largest, most vicious battles against U.S. forces in Afghanistan will receive the Medal of Honor, the White House announced Friday.

Clinton L. Romesha, 31, will be the fourth living service member to receive the nation's highest award for valor for actions in Afghanistan or Iraq. Seven other service members have posthumously been awarded the Medal of Honor for their actions in those wars. Romesha will be awarded the medal Feb. 11 at the White House.

Romesha was a section leader in B Troop, 3rd Squadron, 61st Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division during the Oct. 3, 2009, attack on Combat Outpost Keating in eastern Afghanistan.

Eight American soldiers were killed and two dozen others wounded in the battle as the troop-sized element fought against an overwhelming enemy force that launched a brazen attack to overrun the COP.

The attack on COP Keating remains one of the deadliest attacks against coalition forces in Afghanistan and is chronicled in the book "The Outpost" by Jake Tapper.
White House announcement is here.
Posted by: Steve White || 02/09/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336098 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Should have been awarded the MOH years ago, along with a direct commission. Uncommon valor of the first order!
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/09/2013 9:39 Comments || Top||

#2  It is noteworthy that these are being awarded long, long after the event...
Posted by: Pappy || 02/09/2013 10:00 Comments || Top||

#3  It is noteworthy that these are being awarded long, long after the event...

What explains that? Bureaucratic delay or infighting? Someone staging a little theater or distraction?
Posted by: SteveS || 02/09/2013 11:14 Comments || Top||

#4  So why didn't Bush award them sooner?

Oh ..... has it been that long?
Posted by: Bobby || 02/09/2013 11:15 Comments || Top||

#5  Look at the date in the article - October 2009. I think any MOH consideration would have been during Bumbles bumbling reign.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 02/09/2013 11:21 Comments || Top||

#6  Bureaucratic delay or infighting?

Yes, upper level Puzzle Place intrigues of the bureaucrats, both in uniform and out. The whole mess has been taken over by block checking managers rather than fighters. We've been at war for 10 years, how many commanders and leaders on the battlefield have been promoted without regard to 'box checking'? They've kept the "friggin" peacetime promotion system in place and the 'mother my I' award system.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/09/2013 11:48 Comments || Top||

#7  Couldn't figure out why Outpost Keating was place where it was; basically at the low point of a bowl formed by surrounding mountains. The high ground was occupied by the enemy. The outpost was hard to get to by helicopter and by road. It seems the outpost was stuck out there and basically forgotten. Maybe, I'm missing something but that doesn't seem like any way to fight a war. The people at the outpost had a good accounting of themselves--brave soldiers.
Posted by: JohnQC || 02/09/2013 15:13 Comments || Top||

#8  just looking at my spurs on the plaque on my wall over there, wondering where I stored my Stetson ... If you ain't Cav...

Scouts OUT!
Posted by: OldSpook || 02/09/2013 15:16 Comments || Top||

#9  Typical cavalry mission. Go someplace obvious, draw in craploads of hostiles, and hope you can kill enough of them to survive until the relief force gets there. We've been doing that since the Indian wars on the great plains. Such has always been the duty of "scouts" and "covering forces"
Posted by: OldSpook || 02/09/2013 15:20 Comments || Top||

#10  Just like Dien Bien Phu. It works until it doesn't.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 02/09/2013 15:23 Comments || Top||

#11  Maybe, I'm missing something but that doesn't seem like any way to fight a war

Same reason you put the biggest f---ing flag you can find on the mast and go steaming up the Straits of Hormuz in the middle of the day. Because you're hoping* the 'other guy' is stupid and angry enough to attack you.

*you're also hoping that the TLAMs and Harpoons are ready and aircraft from the carrier are close enough.
Posted by: Pappy || 02/09/2013 20:06 Comments || Top||

#12  Gee, I wonder when/where/how this fine serviceman's parents came up with that first name? In any case, he has now raised that name to noteworthy distinction. My deepest respect to this fine NCO.

Now, if the gears could just get unstuck in regards to the MOH process for CPT Will Swenson -
http://www.special-ops.org/swenson-moh-verdict-stalled-at-white-house-congressman/.
Posted by: Lone Ranger || 02/09/2013 21:17 Comments || Top||

#13  Gee, I wonder when/where/how this fine serviceman's parents came up with that first name?

Could have been named for a certain actor who played Rowdy Yates on an old TV western.
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 02/09/2013 22:53 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Nawaz calls for immediate talks with Taliban
[Dawn] Pakistain Moslem League-N chief Nawaz Sharif
... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf...
urged the government on Thursday to take the Taliban offer for talks seriously and immediately start the dialogue process.

"The government should pay serious attention to the talks offer by Taliban and begin a serious, meaningful and result-oriented dialogue without any delay," a statement issued here on Thursday by the former prime minister said.

"Though the government does not hold such a (good) track record that one can stand a guarantor for it, we support the talks' process," he said, referring to the Taliban's condition of three guarantors for the talks.

In a video message issued on Feb 3, the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain's front man Ehsanullah Ehsan had said that they could engage in talks only if three senior politicians acted as guarantors.

"We need solid guarantors who can assure us about the army, because the army is the real power in Pakistain," he had said.
Posted by: Fred || 02/09/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336071 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  Nawaz calls for immediate talks with Taliban

OK Nawaz, start talking.

Posted by: Redneck Jim || 02/09/2013 8:28 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Series of deadly car bombs target Iraqi Shiites
[FRANCE24] Four car bombs struck two outdoor markets in predominantly Shiite areas of Iraq on Friday, killing at least 31 people and wounding dozens at a time of mounting discontent among minority Sunnis.

The bombings in Baghdad and a town south of the capital were the latest attacks by suspected Sunni insurgents trying to re-ignite sectarian violence and undermine the Shiite-led government.

A recent spike of particularly lethal insurgent attacks comes at a time of anti-government protests by Iraq's disaffected Sunnis, including tens of thousands who rallied Friday in Sunni areas in western and northern Iraq.

Demonstrators blocked Iraq's main highway to Jordan near the city of Ramadi, performing Muslim prayers, the highlight of the religious week. Ramadi is the capital of the Anbar province and a former al-Qaida stronghold that saw some of the fiercest fighting against U.S. forces during the Iraq war.

Protesters have rejected calls by an al-Qaida-linked group that they take up arms against the government, but there is concern militants are trying to exploit mounting Sunni discontent.

Friday's bombings targeted an outdoor pet market in Baghdad's northern Kazimyah neighborhood and in a vegetable market in the Shiite town of Shomali in Hillah province, south of the Iraqi capital.

Every Friday, Iraqis converge on markets to shop and spend family time during the Muslim weekend. Markets are a frequent target for militants who seek to inflict large numbers of casualties.

In Baghdad, the first car bomb exploded around mid-morning at the entrance to the Kazimyah market, two police officers said. When panicked shoppers tried to flee the area, a second parked car exploded a few meters (yards) away, according to the officers.

At least 17 people were killed and 45 were wounded in the two blasts, police said. All the victims were civilians.

About an hour later, two car bombs exploded simultaneously at the Shomali market, killing at least 14 people and wounding 26, two police officers said.

Health officials confirmed the casualty figures in each attack. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to release information.
Posted by: Fred || 02/09/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336071 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Iraq

#1  Let me guess....the Moslems are killing EACH OTHER.

There is an opportunity here.
Posted by: Threater Flusoper9823 || 02/09/2013 7:26 Comments || Top||

#2  A pox on both their Houses.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 02/09/2013 8:34 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Tunisia faces general strike as political crisis deepens
[Al Ahram] Tunisia faces a general strike Friday, with tens of thousands expected to take to the streets after the murder this week of a leftist opposition leader that sparked violent clashes with police.

The General Union of Tunisian Workers (UGTT) called the strike to coincide with the funeral of Chokri Belaid, a lawyer and vocal critic of the ruling Ennahda party who was shot dead outside his home Wednesday by a lone gunman.

The strike call from Tunisia's most powerful trade union comes after the murder triggered demonstrations in both the capital Tunis and the central mining region of Gafsa, amid a deepening political crisis.

Belaid will be buried after weekly prayers in the Muslim country, where a long-established secular tradition has been countered by the rise of one of the region's most powerful Islamist parties.

After an explosion of public outrage over the murder, Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali, who is from the Ennahda party, Wednesday said in a televised address that he would form a new administration of non-political technocrats.

But Ennahda's parliamentary leader Sahbi Atig said on Thursday his bloc of MPs had rejected the plans, laying bare deep divisions within the Islamist party and furthering a confused political situation.

"We have rejected this proposal... The head of the government took the decision without consulting the (ruling) coalition or the Ennahda movement," he said.

Any reshuffle would have to be confirmed by the national assembly.

The United States has urged Tunisian leaders to come together to resolve the tensions and called for calm.

"There's no place for violence in Tunisia's democracy," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters Thursday.

"It won't resolve the issues that Tunisians face, and it's not an appropriate response to murder. It's only going to bring more violence."

In the capital Thursday, police fired tear gas at demonstrators who staged a march despite a huge deployment of security forces in Habib Bourguiba Avenue, epicentre of the 2011 uprising that toppled dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

Thousands had gathered there Wednesday in scenes reminiscent of the revolt, on a day when violence in the capital left one policeman dead and protesters torched and ransacked Ennahda offices in a number of towns, including Gafsa.

In Gafsa Thursday, protesters lobbed petrol bombs at police who responded with volleys of tear gas.

Tunisian lawyers, judges and some teachers had already started a strike on Thursday. Courtrooms stood empty at the main courthouse in Tunis, while hundreds of people gathered outside Belaid's home.

Ennahda has been accused by Belaid's family of being behind the killing -- a charge it vigorously denies.

The Tunisian League for Defence of Human Rights said threats and intimidation were continuing under the Ennahda-dominated government, and called for the protection of political figures.

Jebali is considered a moderate within his party and has for months been locked in negotiations with the secular parties in the coalition who have demanded that some ministries be assigned to independents, a move rejected by Ennahda hardliners.

Four opposition groups including Belaid's Popular Front bloc said they were pulling out of the National Constituent Assembly, elected in October 2011 but which has failed to draft a new constitution.

Pro-Ennahda militias have been accused of organising attacks on secular opposition groups already at loggerheads with Ennahda over the constitution.
Posted by: Fred || 02/09/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336068 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring

#1  "There's no place for violence in Tunisia's democracy," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters Thursday

Unless of course you as the ruling party just happen to have a gang of thugs wearing purple shirts available...
Posted by: Pappy || 02/09/2013 9:57 Comments || Top||

#2  There's lotsa room for violence in Salafism.
Posted by: Fred || 02/09/2013 11:21 Comments || Top||


Islamic summit backs Mali government, omits France
[Al Ahram] Leaders of Muslim nations declared support on Thursday for the unity and territorial integrity of Mali and condemned terrorism in the west African state but said nothing of French military intervention to drive out Islamist fighters.

A resolution adopted at a two-day summit of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation backed the deployment of an international military mission in Mali under African leadership and called for a roadmap for presidential and parliamentary elections.

The omission of any mention of France reflected embarrassment over the recourse to a former colonial power in a Muslim country, even though the 57-member OIC condemned "terrorism and extremism and attacks on historic sites in Mali".

Paris sent troops and warplanes last month at the request of the Malian government to stop al-Qaeda-affiliated fighters that had captured the north of the country advancing towards the capital, Bamako, and help Malian forces retake northern towns.

Senegalese President Macky Sall, the outgoing chairman of the OIC, praised the French action in his speech on Wednesday but other countries were reluctant to make reference to it.
Posted by: Fred || 02/09/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336068 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in North Africa


-Lurid Crime Tales-
Jesse Jackson Jr. Signs Plea Deal In Federal Probe
[NBCCHICAGO] It's been nearly three months since Jesse Jackson Jr. resigned from Congress, but now NBC News confirms that Jackson has signed papers in a plea deal within the past several days.

Jackson's case is being handled by the US Attorney's office in Washington DC. While no public announcement is expected today, those with knowledge of the investigation believe the loose ends now deal with Jackson's wife, former Alderman Sandi Jackson, and whether or not she is ultimately charged.

Under the terms of the deal Jackson signed, he pleads guilty and his fate -- as to jail time -- would be in the hands of a federal judge, not yet assigned.

He would repay the government hundreds of thousands of dollars -- for items like the $40,000 Rolex watch, travel expenses for a woman he described as a "social acquaintance" and furniture purchased for his home.

Converting campaign contributions for personal use is strictly prohibited by federal law. It opens Jackson up to "not more than 5 years" in prison.
Oh, yasss. Strictly.
It's clear Jackson's move to resign from Congress works in his favor as his attorneys negotiate this plea deal.

Just last month his wife also resigned from her elected position as Chicago's 7th Ward alderman, however her role in the alleged misuse of campaign funds still may land her in legal trouble. For years she received a $5,000 a month check from her husband as his political consultant.
Posted by: Fred || 02/09/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336069 views] Top|| File under:

#1  At the end of the day, cooperation is the only currency he has to work with. It will be interesting to see who he is selling down the river...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 02/09/2013 4:09 Comments || Top||

#2  ... or if he is found floating face down in one
Posted by: abu do you love || 02/09/2013 7:14 Comments || Top||

#3  Hey look, an apple! Yea, must have fallen from this apple tree.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/09/2013 8:09 Comments || Top||

#4  Hey look, an apple! Yea, must have fallen from this apple tree.
As they say, the apple doesn't fall far from the apple tree.
Posted by: tipper || 02/09/2013 8:36 Comments || Top||

#5  Many thanks for the uplifting link Tipper.

My guess and only a guess, this fellow saw LAX out the window a few days ago, and is now sipping tea in an middle-eastern internet shop under an assumed name beginning the Mohammad.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/09/2013 8:58 Comments || Top||

#6  Manifesto; a sort of personal terrorist fatwa? There, I said it... I used the "T" word.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/09/2013 10:36 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Ten militants killed in Orakzai air strikes
[Dawn] Ten hard boyz have been killed and four others injured as jet fighters targeted hard boyz hideouts in upper Orakzai agency's rugged mountainous terrain on the border of Kurram and Khyber agencies on Friday, officials said.

Assistant Political Agent upper tehsil Muhammad Rafiq Mohmand confirmed that the fighter jets have destroyed five hideouts of the hard boyz in Arkhanjo, Mamozai, Mir Kalam, Samaa Bazaar and Lando Qamar areas of upper Orakzai agency.

"We also have reports from security forces that at least 10 hard boyz have been killed in the strikes while four others have been injured," he added.

Security officials claim that up to 92 per cent of Orakzai agency has been cleared of hard boyz in the ongoing military offensive in the restive tribal region.
Posted by: Fred || 02/09/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336069 views] Top|| File under: TTP


Home Front: Culture Wars
Exclusive: Illegal Immigrant to Testify in Senate Next Week--With ICE Agent Who Cannot Arrest Him
Please make it stop.......
Posted by: Uncle Phester || 02/09/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336066 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Last year, President Barack Obama introduced new guidelines to stay the deportation of “Dreamers,” those brought to the U.S. illegally as children.

More... "Dreams from My Father".
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/09/2013 7:13 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
U.S. Drones Kill Nine in Pakistan
[An Nahar] U.S. drones fired two missiles into a compound in Pakistan's northwestern tribal belt Friday, killing at least nine militants and wounding more than five others, local security officials said.

The attack took place in a village on the border of North and South Waziristan tribal areas, around 50 kilometers (30 miles) south of Miranshah.

"Six drones were hovering in the sky at the time of the attack. One drone fired two missiles at a house," a security official in Miranshah told Agence France Presse.

"At least nine militants were killed and more than five were injured in the strike. Their identities were not clear yet, but there may be some foreigners among them," he said.

"The compound was completely destroyed. The militants had surrounded the area after the attack," the official added.

A security official in the northwestern city of Peshawar confirmed the attack in the tribal belt, which is a notorious stronghold of Taliban and al-Qaida-linked militants.

The covert strikes are publicly criticized by the Pakistani government as a violation of sovereignty but American officials believe they are a vital weapon in the war against Islamist militants.

Few of the victims are publicly identified, but on January 3 Pakistani officials said warlord Mullah Nazir was killed in a strike on South Waziristan.

He sent fighters into battle in Afghanistan and was accused of sheltering al-Qaida in South Waziristan.
Posted by: Fred || 02/09/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336068 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Pakistan


Polio drive postponed after threats
[Dawn] A polio eradication campaign scheduled to be launched in the district from Feb 11 has been postponed by the health authorities after workers say they were hurled threats by some unidentified people, health authorities said on Thursday.

District Health Officer Dr Meh Jabeen says she and scores of health department had received threats from unidentified people for launching the campaign in the district. She did not specify the threats.

After weighing the threats and workers' concerns, the department has postponed the drive in Gujranwala district.

DSP: A traffic deputy superintendent of police (DSP) has been issued a notice to vacate a public residence she has been residing in for the last years. DSP Farkhanda Kausar has been residing in a house owned by the Nandipur municipality for the last eight years, municipal sources say.

She denied the charge of illegally occupying the residence.

Additional District Collector Saleha Saeed has ordered her subordinates to get the house vacated from the DSP in three days. She said she had written to the accountant general of Punjab to deduct Rs137,000 from her salaries in heads of rent.
Posted by: Fred || 02/09/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336083 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Africa North
Clashes in Kafr El-Zayat as protesters attack police station
[Al Ahram] A number of unidentified protesters attempted to storm a police station in the city of Kafr El-Zayat in Gharbiya governorate, prompting clashes with police forces in front of the building, reported Al-Ahram Arabic.

Hundreds of anti-government protesters gathered in front of a police station Friday afternoon, setting fire to a number of car tyres to block off the surrounding area, and throwing rocks at the building.

When a group of unidentified assailants attempted to break into the station, police fired gunshots in the air and rounds of teargas to disperse protesters. Some protesters were taken to hospital suffering from tear gas asphyxiation.

Police forces also detained eight protesters.

Opposition forces have called for mass protests on Friday to condemn police violence and call for social justice and the removal of the current Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Hisham Qandil.
Posted by: Fred || 02/09/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336083 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Bangladesh
100,000 Demand Ban on Bangla Jamaat
[An Nahar] Tens of thousands of people rallied Friday in the capital Dhaka and other cities to demand a ban on Bangladesh's largest Islamic party and the execution of its leaders who are on trial for war crimes.

The protests have been going on since Tuesday when Abdul Quader Molla, a senior figure in the Jamaat-e-Islami party, was sentenced to life imprisonment for mass murder during the 1971 independence war against Pakistan.

But the numbers swelled on Friday, a weekend here, with pro-government supporters saying the sentence from a domestic war crimes tribunal was too lenient and that Molla should have been sent to the gallows.

Eight other leaders of the party are still being tried by the court, which Jamaat and the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) say is biased and designed to silence the government's enemies.

"Jamaat and (its student wing) Shibir wing must be banned," said Kamal Lohani, one of the organizers of the protest in Dhaka.

Sirajul Islam, police chief for the Shahbagh region of central Dhaka, told Agence France Presse "more than 100,000 people" had joined the rally in the capital.

Similar protests were held in a dozen other cities, police said.

Molla's sentencing was the second by the tribunal, a domestic set-up which lacks any international oversight and criticized by rights groups and jurists.

Last month it handed down the death penalty to an Islamic TV preacher whose whereabouts are unknown.

The latest sentence triggered deadly protests nationwide as Jamaat rejected the verdict and its supporters clashed with police, leaving at least four people dead.
Posted by: Fred || 02/09/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336068 views] Top|| File under: Jamaat-e-Islami


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Russian imam denies extremist activity
Ilkhom Merajov, an imam of the Asian Muslim Administration of Russia, has refused to concede guilt for extremism formations. Merajov and his assistant were suspected of participating in the so-called Nurjular, an international association banned in Russia in 2008. The imam said he was not aware of its illegality.

The operation for disarming members of Nurjular has been ongoing in Novosibirsk since 2009. The organization was created in the region in May 2008 and continued operation until 2011. It published extremist literature and promoted radical ideology.
Posted by: ryuge || 02/09/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336069 views] Top|| File under:


Africa North
First EU Military Trainers Arrive in Mali
[An Nahar] The first group of 70 EU military instructors, deployed to train Mali's deeply divided and underfunded army to take on Islamist rebels, arrived Friday in the capital, a French officer said.
How exactly do they improve on the U.S. trainers who were there until the trained guys switched sides?
"We are here to enable the Malian army to hold all the nation's territory and so that Mali can have a good army at its disposal, prepared to engage," said Colonel Bruno Heluin, the commander of the first group of what will ultimately be 500 European trainers.

The arrival of the trainers in Bamako was overshadowed by a gunfight which erupted between feuding Malian soldiers, a sign of tensions left over after a March 2012 coup which has left the nation weakened as conflict rages in the north.

Several were reported injured when soldiers attacked a camp of elite Red Beret paratroopers loyal to ousted president Amadou Toumani Toure, who had protested being absorbed into other units for the battle in the north.

Bertrand Soret of the EU in Mali said the 70 trainers, from Spain, Britain, Romania, Sweden, Finland and France were "forerunners of the mission coming to train and improve the chain of command in the Malian army."

"Their mission is to set up the base which will house the 500 European Union instructors."

He said the mission's training was aimed at "restoring the armed forces' military capacity with the objective of allowing them to lead combat operations aimed at restoring the territorial integrity of the country."

French General Francois Lecointre, who is leading the mission, explained there was "a real need to recreate the Malian army, which is in a state of advanced disrepair."

"The soldiers are badly trained, badly paid and under-equipped", lacking arms, transport equipment and communications equipment, he said.
Posted by: Fred || 02/09/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336067 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in North Africa


Tunisian police clash with protesters in Gafsa
[Al Ahram] Tunisian police fired teargas to disperse anti-government protesters throwing stones and petrol bombs in the mining town of Gafsa on Friday, witnesses said. Demonstrators had marched in Gafsa and other Tunisian cities to mark the funeral of secular opposition politician Chokri Belaid, who was assassinated by an unidentified gunman on Wednesday.
Posted by: Fred || 02/09/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336072 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Kerry Says U.S. 'Evaluating' Next Steps in Syria Conflict
[An Nahar] The United States is weighing up what steps to take next to try to end the conflict in Syria, new Secretary of State John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry
Former Senator-for-Life from Massachusetts, a foreign policy expert of the Joe Biden school, currently secretary of state...
said Friday, adding there was "too much killing" in the 22-month war.
How much is an appropriate amount of killing?
"There's too much killing and there's too much violence and we obviously want to try to find a way forward," Kerry said, adding: "It is a very complicated and very dangerous situation."
Ah, yes. The nuances of it all. Spit? Go blind? Decisions, decisions!
"We are evaluating now, we are taking a look at what steps, if any, diplomatic particularly, might be able to be taken in an effort to reduce that violence and deal with that situation."

His comments came after the White House defended its decision to reject a plan to arm the Syrian opposition, put forward last year by top members of President Barack Obama's
On this Memorial Day, as our nation honors its unbroken line of fallen heroes -- and I see many of them in the audience here today...
cabinet.

Kerry said he was not aware of what decisions had been made before he took over as secretary of state a week ago, stressing he planned to go forward now.
"I've no idea what was going on before I got here. I'm not too sure what's going on now. Who the hell are you? Have we been introduced?"
Posted by: Fred || 02/09/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336071 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria

#1  "Evaluate" Kerry, then fire him, (Out of a cannon, preferably)
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 02/09/2013 9:33 Comments || Top||

#2  "Quagmire" Kerry says.
Posted by: JohnQC || 02/09/2013 15:19 Comments || Top||


Good morning
Posted by: Fred || 02/09/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336074 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Birthday Gam Shot

Sharon Case[Filmography](age 42)



Intelligent Design


Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 02/09/2013 0:10 Comments || Top||

#2  Bras. Why do they hate us?
Posted by: gorb || 02/09/2013 16:10 Comments || Top||


Caribbean-Latin America
Bad guys detonate 3 grenades near Neuvo Laredo US Consulate -- UPDATED

For a map, click here. For a map of Tamaulipas state, click here

UPDATED: According to an El Universal news update, unidentified sources with the Tamaulipas state Procuraduria General del Estado office said that explosions never took place. However, a news account published on the website of Vanguardia news daily said gunfire as well as explosions were heard in the area. That account can be seen here. The official news release by the US Consulate can be found here. The tweet from the US Consulate in Nuevo Laredo linking to the announcement can be seen here.

By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com

A shootout between armed drug gangs took place last Thursday evening near the US Consulate in Nuevo Laredo in Tamaulipas, according to Mexican news accounts.

A news account published on the website of La Tarde news daily said the gunfight took place near the intersection of Paseo Colon and Calle Allende at around 1920 hrs. No one was reported hurt in the incident.

The US Consulate is located near the intersection of calles Allende and Nayarit.

According to press reports, armed suspects from rival gangs shot at each other near the US Consulate. Included in the exchanges of gunfire were the detonation of three hand grenades.

Reports say that intervention by Mexican security forces, including Mexican Army and Policia Federal troops forced the armed groups to flee the scene. No detentions were reported in the aftermath.

Nuevo Laredo was the scene of a mass execution where four individuals were shot to death last Monday. Three of the victims were identified as US citizens. Unconfirmed reports in the area said that another five unidentified individuals were shot and killed as well.

Last February 1st, seven armed suspects were killed in an encounter with a Mexican Army road patrol near Ciudad Victoria, the capital of Tamaulipas state.

Nuevo Laredo has been the focal point of an intense and bloody competition between the Los Zetas and Gulf Cartels. Nuevo Laredo was Los Zetas territory until last summer, when several grisly incidents signalled that competition for control of the US border crossing had begun.

Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com
Posted by: badanov || 02/09/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336070 views] Top|| File under:

#1  At least we didn't lose another one.

This time...
Posted by: Pappy || 02/09/2013 9:59 Comments || Top||


Europe
Spain Arrests Suspected Islamist for Plotting Attacks
[An Nahar] Spanish police arrested a suspected Islamist for plotting terrorist attacks in Spain and elsewhere in Europe, authorities said Friday.

They arrested Mohamed Echaabi, a 22-year-old Moroccan, on Thursday in the eastern city of Valencia.

A police statement said he had "the same profile" as Mohamed Merah, a French Algerian who shot dead seven people last year, including three children in a Jewish school in Toulouse.

Echaabi had traveled to Gaza in 2011 and had also tried to buy guns and explosives, police said.

"Police consider Echaabi a lone wolf, recruited by terrorist networks and self-radicalized via the Internet," much like the 23-year-old Merah, the statement said.

"Police surveillance and the activities he carried out revealed his intention to commit terrorist acts against certain people and other targets, in accordance with the doctrine of global jihad, in Spain and other European countries."

Police made no material link between Echaabi and Merah, who was shot dead by police in a siege at his home last March.

Spanish authorities last year said Merah had been to Spain in 2007. Media reported that he took part in events at Mosques in the northeastern region of Catalonia.
Posted by: Fred || 02/09/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336070 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Europe

#1  What, no "kill lists" ?

Appears to be solid police work and detentions arrests, with interrogations and the collection of additional valuable intelligence to follow.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/09/2013 7:35 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Hamdeen Sabbahi defies death threats, vows to continue revolutionary path
[Al Ahram] Opposition figure Hamdeen Sabbahi said on Friday that peaceful protests will continue until the revolution's goals have been achieved and until retribution for all slain protesters has been achieved.

Sabbahi stated that this would take place regardless of death threats against him or other members of opposition umbrella group the National Salvation Front (NSF).

"Our faith in the revolution kills any threats," Sabbahi, who stood as a presidential candidate in last year's elections, stated on his official Twitter account on Friday.

His comments came in response to a highly controversial fatwa by Al-Azhar University professor and host of a religious television show on the ultraconservative TV channel El-Hafez, Mahmoud Shaaban, last week.

Shaaban stated that the opposition should be punished by death for attempting to bring down a leader elected by the public, directly naming Sabbahi and fellow NSF leader Mohamed ElBaradei.

Following widespread criticism of the edict, with many calling for harsh measures to be carried out against Shaaban, the presidential office on Thursday released a statement condemning the fatwa.

"Some are promoting and inciting political violence while others who claim to speak in the name of religion are permitting 'killing' based on political differences, and this is terrorism," read the statement.

Following the threat, Egypt's interior ministry provided extra security for Sabbahi and ElBaradei, but Sabbahi refused any extra safeguards saying he "lives and will continue to live as a private citizen."

Tensions between Islamists and anti-Islamists have been on the rise in the Arab Spring countries in recent months.

On Wednesday, Tunisian opposition figure Chokri Belaid, a critic of the Islamist-led Ennahda government, was assasinated by unknown assailants sparking fears of a repeat in Egypt.

Friday is expected to see mass protests in Egypt, with many opposition groups, including the NSF, mobilising their followers to demonstrate against the government of President Mohamed Morsi on what has been dubbed "Departure Friday" or "the Friday of human dignity."
Posted by: Fred || 02/09/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336067 views] Top|| File under: Salafists


Suicide bomber injures soldier at Mali checkpoint
[Al Ahram] A suicide bomber on a cycle of violence blew himself up at a Malian government military checkpoint 100 km (60 miles) north of the northern city of Gao on Friday, injuring one soldier, a Mali military officer said.

It would be the first reported suicide bombing since a French-led intervention swept Islamist rebels from their desert strongholds of Gao, Timbuktu and Kidal.
"Howcome I gotta be the first? Why can't Mahmoud be the first?"
"A kamikaze on a motorbike just blew himself up at the Bourem checkpoint at 6:30 am (0630 GMT). One lightly wounded soldier from Gao," the officer told Reuters by text message.
Posted by: Fred || 02/09/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336084 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in North Africa


India-Pakistan
Malala Yousufzai discharged from UK hospital
[Dawn] Pakistani schoolgirl Malala Yousufzai has been discharged from a British hospital where she had been receiving treatment for nearly four months after being shot in the head by the Pakistani Taliban.

The 15-year-old Malala underwent skull reconstruction and a cochlear implant surgery to restore her hearing last weekend.

Birmingham's Queen Elizabeth Hospital said Friday that Malala has been released after "making good recovery" from her surgery and will now continue her rehabilitation at her family's temporary home in Birmingham and visit the hospital occasionally for outpatient appointments.
Posted by: Fred || 02/09/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336068 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Pakistan


-Lurid Crime Tales-
16 Dom Terrs jugged for Religious Hate
"Sixteen people were sentenced to prison today for hate crimes arising out of a series of religiously-motivated assaults on practitioners of the Amish religion, announced Thomas E. Perez, the Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division

As a result of religious disputes with other members of the Ohio Amish community, the defendants planned and carried out a series of assaults on their perceived religious enemies. The assaults involved the use of hired drivers, either by the defendants or the alleged victims, because practitioners of the Amish religion do not operate motor vehicles. The assaults all entailed using scissors and battery-powered clippers to forcibly cut or shave the beard hair of the male victims and the head hair of the female victims, according to trial testimony.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 02/09/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336070 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Release der Drones!
Posted by: Shipman || 02/09/2013 10:24 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Baloch militants kill two Pakistani soldiers: officials
[Dawn] Gunmen on Friday fired at a Pakistani security forces' convoy killing two soldiers and wounding another in the restive southwestern Balochistan province which borders Iran and Afghanistan, officials said.

"The Baloch militants fired at a paramilitary convoy when it was passing from mountains in Mand area of Turbat district," Akbar Hussain Durrani, the provincial home secretary told AFP.

Mand is a remote town on the border between Pakistan and Iran, around 700 kilometres (430 miles) from the provincial capital Quetta.

"There was an exchange of fire after the attack. However, there is no confirmation of the loss on the militants' side because they were in the mountains," said Durrani.
Posted by: Fred || 02/09/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336099 views] Top|| File under: Baloch Liberation Army


Sri Lanka
LF Urges Hizbullah to Hand Over Suspects in Bulgaria, Harb, Hariri Cases
[An Nahar] Lebanese Forces
A Christian political party founded by Bashir Gemayel, who was then bumped off when he was elected president of Leb...
parliamentary bloc urged Hizbullah on Friday to hand over the party members accused of being involved in a bus bombing in Bulgaria and in the Rafik Hariri and Butros Harb cases to concerned authorities.

"This is just another chapter of the harm Hizbullah's military wing is causing to the country's security, economy, and its international relations," a released statement said after the bloc's weekly meeting, demanding the party to disarm and hand over its weaponry to the Lebanese army.

"We call on Hizbullah to follow the lead of other Lebanese parties and convert into a strictly political movement," the statement added.

The LF MPs said: "Hizbullah must act responsibly and stop involving Leb in serious cases".

The Bulgarian government said Tuesday that Hizbullah was behind a kaboom in July that killed five Israeli tourists and one Bulgarian.

The bombing on a bus carrying Israelis at Burgas Airport on Bulgaria's Black Sea coast, the deadliest attack on Israelis abroad since 2004, also killed the Bulgarian bus driver and the bomber. Some 30 people were maimed.

The bloc condemned the "exploitation of (Bekaa town of) Arsal's incident for electoral gains", calling on concerned authorities to pursue "a transparent probe" in this case.

The politicians stated: "We demand extending the legal bodies' authority on all Lebanese territories".

"Accusations must be directed towards those involved in the incident only while the rest of the town must remain free of such reputation," the bloc remarked.

Major Pierre Bashaalani and First Sergeant Ibrahim Zahraman were killed in festivities in Arsal last Friday as the army was seeking to apprehend a wanted suspect, who was also killed in the unrest.

Following the incident, the army had sealed off all the entrances to Arsal and brought in reinforcements as part of measures aimed at arresting members of an gang that targeted the patrol and killed Bashaalani and Zahraman. The army also erected checkpoints at the entrances of the town to check the identities of passers-by.

The MPs also discussed the situation of refugees fleeing the neighboring war-torn country and coming to Leb, asking the cabinet to reach out to Arab nations and to the international community for help in this regard.

"We condemn critiques against President Michel Suleiman
...before assuming office as President, he held the position of commander of the Leb Armed Forces. That was after the previous commander, the loathesome Emile Lahoud, took office as president in November of 1998. Likely the next president of Leb will be whoever's commander of the armed forces, too...
's statement regarding the deportation of Syrian opposition members back to their country," they expressed, explaining that these activists are "facing torture, jail and murder in Syria".

Suleiman said Thursday there are instructions not to deport any Syrian to his home country in accordance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Posted by: Fred || 02/09/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336071 views] Top|| File under: Hezbollah


India-Pakistan
Time to act
Move with caution
I can say no more.
Posted by: Fred || 02/09/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336068 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I'd close comments now IIWU
Posted by: Shipman || 02/09/2013 14:40 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Mass Casualties as Army Presses Damascus Assault
[An Nahar] Islamist al-Nusra Front rebels killed seven Syrian soldiers at a checkpoint in the northern city of Safireh on Friday, after losing more than 100 men in the area over the past 72 hours, a watchdog said.

The checkpoint was guarding a heavily fortified military factory in the south of the city, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, adding that a convoy of reinforcements arrived after the attack.

"At least 112 rebels have been killed since Wednesday in fighting with troops between Safireh and the town of Khanasir" about 40 kilometers (25 miles) farther south, Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told Agence La Belle France Presse by phone.

He said regime forces were stationed at defense establishments in Safireh and have set up checkpoints on the route to Khanasir, but al-Nusra and several other rebel battalions control the streets of Safireh.

The watchdog said the city has become a "ghost town", after residents fled army bombardments en masse.

The Observatory, which gathers its information from a network of activists and medics in civilian and military hospitals on the ground, gave a toll of at least 99 people killed nationwide on Friday, including 41 civilians.

Elsewhere, troops shelled rebels on the eastern and southern outskirts of Damascus
...The City of Jasmin is the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world. It has not always been inhabited by the same set of fascisti...
amid street battles as an army offensive raged.

The army on Tuesday launched a major assault on rebel zones surrounding Damascus as it sought to break the stalemate in Syria's almost 23-month conflict.

The Observatory said three rebels were killed on Friday in the southern district of Tadamun while six rebels died in shelling on Moadamiyet al-Sham, near the key al-Mazzeh military airbase southwest of the capital.

The Zamalka neighborhood, also in the east, was bombed by warplanes, the watchdog said.

Troops also shelled the eastern city of Deir Ezzor, the northeast province of Raqa, the northwest province of Idlib, the central province of Hama, the northern province of Aleppo and the southern province of Daraa.

The Observatory meanwhile updated its toll from a Wednesday attack on a bus carrying employees from a military-owned factory in Hama province, saying at least 60 civilians, including 11 women, were killed.

"This plant has nothing to do with weapons. They simply sew uniforms and make boots for soldiers," Abdel Rahman said.

The United Nations
...aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society...
says more than 60,000 people have been killed in Syria since the outbreak of a revolt in March 2011 that morphed into an insurgency after the army launched a brutal crackdown on dissent.

Suspected members of an Islamist rebel faction tore up the flag of the revolution on Friday at an anti-regime protest in the city of Saraqeb in Idlib province.

Cries of "Unity, Freedom, an Islamic state!" were met by chants of "Unity, freedom, a civil state!" as a scuffle broke out.

In footage posted on YouTube, a man identified as a member of "the Islamic battalion" taunts another demonstrator holding the three-starred banner aloft.

As the flag-bearer takes a swipe at him, two others rush to grab the pole and push him away. One breaks the pole, and angrily throws the symbol of the revolt on the ground.

Saraqeb is home to the full spectrum of opposition forces and has seen protests against al-Nusra Front in recent weeks despite the hardline group's heavy presence there.
Posted by: Fred || 02/09/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336100 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria

#1  Unfortunately, innocents are always killed in every war that's ever been fought. That's a fact. My heart goes out to all those Syrian civilians killed for no reason.
Although a cruel situation for these non-combatants, it actually may be the best outcome available now for the middle east, having several muslim militias fight each other to the death.
The world will be a much better place without these 50 or 100 thousand hard core animals.
Posted by: Mikey Hunt || 02/09/2013 15:57 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Security fires shots into air as anti-Morsi protesters charge at presidential palace
[Al Ahram] Security forces at the presidential palace fire shots into the air Friday evening to ward off hundreds of anti-President Mohamed Morsi protesters who have managed to remove the barricades surrounding one of the palace's gates.

Hundreds of protesters chanted "Down, down with the Brotherhood," as they removed the wires and barricades which the presidential guard had set up to seal the palace earlier on Friday.

A number of protesters threw Molotov cocktails and fireworks in the direction of the premises of the presidential palace.

Security forces are also using water hoses to clear protesters away from the palace's gates.

Demonstrations against the president have been taking place on Friday in a number of cities, and clashes with security forces have left tens injured in the Delta.

Last Friday during protests at the palace, two protesters was killed and scores were injured when fierce clashes broke out between security forces and protesters after a similar incident.
Posted by: Fred || 02/09/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336072 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


India-Pakistan
14 fall victim to violence in city
[Dawn] The second day of the Supreme Court hearing on Bloody Karachi
...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous...
's law and order situation had little effect on the city situation where as many as 14 people, including a doctor and a policeman, were bumped off in separate acts of violence throughout the day.

A doctor was bumped off in front of his clinic in North Nazimabad on Thursday.

Police said the incident took place in Block-H North Nazimabad outside 'Abid Clinic' located near Usmania Masjid, where two unknown suspects shot Dr Mirza Abid Baig, 56, who was walking to his clinic after coming out of his car.

"He suffered three gunshot wounds, two in the head and one in the back. A 9mm pistol was used in the shooting," SP-North Nazimabad Khurram Waris told Dawn.

The victim was rushed to the nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead.
He's dead, Jim!
on arrival. Later, police shifted the body to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for legal formalities.

The two suspects escaped the scene following the shooting, the police said.

"The killing seems to be a sectarian slaying," SP Khurram Waris said.

A front man for the Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat, Maulana Akbar Saeed Farooqui, claimed that the slain Dr Baig was a close sympathiser of their party.

As many as two doctors have been bumped off so far this year. On Jan 23, Dr Syed Hasan Alam and on Feb 2 Dr Ismail Suria were bumped off in North Bloody Karachi and Husainabad, respectively.

Meanwhile,
...back at the shattered spaceship, Fffflirgoll the Arcturan slithered stealthily toward the control room, where the humans had barricaded themselves...
the Pakistain Medical Association (PMA) Sindh condemned the killing of another doctor on Thursday along with many other people in the city.

In a statement, PMA Sindh president Dr Samrina Hashmi said: "We can only condemn the killing of Dr Mirza Abid Baig as there is no government and law in the province of Sindh."

Policeman bumped off

A policeman was bumped off by unknown suspects in Mochko area on Thursday.

Police said the incident took place near Jhangvi Chowk in the remits of Mochko cop shoppe where unknown suspects riding a cycle of violence targeted police constable Ghulam Abbas who was performing duty with the election staff.

A front man for the Sindh police, SSP Imran Shaukat, said Ghulam Abbas was performing election duties along with the assistant presiding officer in the area.

The suspects fled after the shooting. The victim was rushed to the nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead.
He's dead, Jim!
on arrival.

Youth rubbed out

A young man sitting in a sanitary shop was bumped off by unknown suspects in the Gulbahar area on Thursday morning.

Police said the incident took place in the Golimar area in the sanitary market within the remit of Gulbahar cop shoppe where unknown suspects riding a cycle of violence targeted Amjad-ur-Rehman who was sitting in the shop.

The maimed victim was taken to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
He's dead, Jim!
on arrival. The police said the victim was a mason. However,
if you can't be a good example, then you'll just have to be a horrible warning...
the police were not sure about motive for the killing.

Killed

Shortly after, not far from the scene of the first killing, another man was gunned by unknown suspects in Peetal Gali within the remit of the Rizvia cop shoppe.

Police said the suspects targeted Mohammad Waseem Siddiqui, 40. Police said the victim died before he could be taken to hospital.

Later, the police shifted the body to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for medico-legal formalities. Police said initial information suggested that the victim was a supporter of the Ahle Sunaat Wal Jammat.

Two brothers waxed

Two brothers were banged on Hawkesbay Road on Thursday.

Police said the shooting took place at a hotel where unknown suspects riding a cycle of violence opened fire on the two youngsters. They were later identified as Arshad and Rashid, both brothers and resident of the same area.

They were taken to the Civil Hospital Bloody Karachi but they pegged out on the way, the police said. The police were not sure about the motive for the killing.

Shot dead

A young man was rubbed out by unknown suspects at a traffic signal in Soldier Bazaar on Thursday morning.

Police said the incident took place at Albela Chowk where Mohammad Zeeshan Baloch, 27, riding a cycle of violence had stopped at the traffic light when two suspects also riding a bike shot him from a close range and fled.

The victim was rushed to the Civil Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
He's dead, Jim!
on arrival, police said.

Police said that victim was resident of Firdos Colony and employed at a shipping company.

Body found

The body of a young man was found in the old city area of Timber Market on Thursday morning.

Police said that body was found from Timber Market in the remits of Napier cop shoppe.

The victim was identified as Mohammad Asim, 28, a resident of Gulbahar. He had been shot in the head, police said.

He was apparently killed after being kidnapped by unknown persons.

Another body

An unidentified body of a young man was found in Malir, Khokhrapar.

A duty officer of the Khokhrapar cop shoppe said that unidentified body was found near the wall of the military dairy farm.

The victim had been shot in the head, the duty officer said. Police shifted the body to the JPMC for legal formalities. The victim was in mid 20's police said.

Deder on a chicken farm

A watchman of a poultry farm was bumped off by unknown suspects in Bin Qasim area on Thursday morning.

Police said the incident took place in the Illyas Goth in the remits of Ibrahim Hydri cop shoppe where unknown suspects rubbed out Jan Mohammad who was on duty at a poultry farm.

The victim was resident of the same area and father of two, police said.

The body was taken to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre for legal formalities.

Man & nephew found dead

Bodies of a man and his nephew were found from outside Bloody Karachi Zoological Garden in the early hours of Thursday.

Police said that bodies were stuffed in gunny bags and had been kept in an auto-rickshaw. The tri-wheeler was parked outside Gate No.2 of the Zoo, police said.

The victims had been subjected to torture and shot in the head, police said. Police shifted the bodies to Civil Hospital for legal formalities, where they were identified as Maula Bukhsh, 39, and his nephew Bilal, 27.

Police said that both were residents of Old Golimar area. Maula Bukhsh was a labourer while his nephew was unemployed. Both the men had been kidnapped by unknown persons sometime on Wednesday evening, police said.

Body found

Body of an unidentified young man was found near Port Qasim on Thursday morning.

Police said the victim had been rubbed out by unknown suspects. Police shifted the body to the JPMC for legal formalities. Police were not sure about motive of the killing.

Wounded shuffles off mortal coil

A man who was maimed in an apparent sectarian attack died during treatment on Thursday.

Police said Syed Zahid Ali Jafri, 35, had received injuries when unknown suspects had shot up his car in front of the Makro store in Lines Area on Feb 5.

He was admitted to the JPMC where he died during treatment, police said. The victim's funeral prayer was offered at Korangi Crossing on Thursday evening.
Posted by: Fred || 02/09/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336073 views] Top|| File under:


Africa North
Wanted Tunisia Salafist Warns Ennahda against Bowing to Secularists
[An Nahar] A wanted Tunisian Salafist leader has urged the ruling Islamists against making concessions to secular parties, warning that to do so would be "political suicide," a U.S.-based monitoring group said on Friday.

"We stress this to the Ennahda movement... that conceding and prostrating in such a decisive moment in our country's history will be political suicide," said Abu Iyadh, who heads the radical Islamist group Ansar al-Sharia.

Abu Iyadh, who is accused of orchestrating a deadly attack on the U.S. embassy in Tunis last September, also urged all Islamic groups in Tunisia to unite "to prevent the country from plunging into chaos."

"The harm of (making political concessions) will not just rebound on it but also on Islam as a religion. We stress that we will never hand over the country to the boys of France and the West, even if that costs us our lives," the SITE Monitoring Service quoted him as saying.

His comments were posted on the Internet on Wednesday, the day that secular opposition leader Chokri Belaid was shot dead outside his home by a lone gunman, sparking violent protests and a major political crisis.

In response, Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali of Ennahda, the Islamist party that heads Tunisia's coalition government, announced plans to form a non-partisan government of technocrats.

The proposal, which Jebali reiterated on Friday after Belaid's funeral, was largely welcomed by Ennahda's secular allies in the coalition, and by opposition parties and civil society groups.

But it has been rejected by Ennahda's parliamentary bloc, laying bare deep divisions within the party, heightening political uncertainty and fueling tensions between liberals and Islamists in a once proudly secular Muslim nation.

Ennahda was squarely blamed by Belaid's family for his murder, accusations it vigorously denied.

Since the mass uprising two years ago, Tunisia has witnessed a wave of violence blamed on radical Salafists.
Posted by: Fred || 02/09/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336069 views] Top|| File under: Salafists


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Chechen leader to attend Israeli soccer game Sunday
The leader of the Chechen Republic is reportedly going to Israel to attend Beitar Jerusalem’s soccer game Sunday.

Ramzan Kadryov’s trip was scheduled to calm tensions in light of the ongoing clash between the soccer club and parts of its fan base over the signing of two Muslim Chechen players. His visit was also billed as an effort to increase tolerance between Jews and Muslims.

The signing last month of Zaur Sadayev and Gabriel Kadiev — the first Muslims to play for Beitar, a club with a strong nationalist orientation — came under racist attacks by some of its fan base, who oppose having Muslims play for the team.

The team faces another test on Sunday, when it hosts the Arab Israeli team Bnei Sakhnin. Kadiev is expected to play in that game.

Apprehension over the signing of the players was exacerbated Friday morning when unknown attackers started a fire at the team’s administrative offices. According to firefighters, the blaze was probably started by a Molotov cocktail thrown into the office of club steward, next to the team’s training grounds. No injuries were reported, but serious damage was caused to the building.

Police set up a special investigative team to deal with the crime.

On Thursday, the Jerusalem District Attorney charged four Beitar Jerusalem fans with racial incitement for their response to the players, who have been in Israel for less than two weeks. News of the indictments came as police said they would work to crack down on racism in the club’s fan base, which has become notorious for displays of hostility towards opposing teams’ players during games.

Three supporters, aged 22 to 24, were accused of shouting chants including “Death to Arabs” and “May your village burn” during a recent Beitar match in the capital. Another indictment was filed against a Jerusalem resident who was charged with trying to break into the team’s training ground with the intent of sabotaging the introduction of Sadayev and Kadiev.

The Jerusalem district police said Thursday it was planning a large-scale operation to penetrate a tightly knit group of 30-50 extremist supporters within the Beitar fan base known as La Familia. Police said they plan to use surveillance and phone tapping in order to gain intelligence on the group and curb its activities.
Posted by: ryuge || 02/09/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336064 views] Top|| File under:


Africa North
Hyundai Resumes Work in Libya
[Tripoli Post] South Korea's Hyundai Engineering & Construction resumed work on projects in Libya after assurances on compensation and security from the interim government.

Speaking in an interview Bloomberg in Tripoli on 6 February, Korean minister counselor Kyunghan Kim said he "asked the Libyan government to expedite the process of re-evaluating all existing contracts and to resolve the compensation, non-payment, bond call, and escalation fees for resuming the projects."

There are 19 South Korean construction companies with 25 projects worth a total of $10.6 billion in Libya, Kim told Bloomberg.

"Many feel worried about returning to work and we are trying to help them as much as we can," Kim said as quoted by Bloomberg.
Posted by: Fred || 02/09/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336067 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Southeast Asia
OIC kudos for MNLF hostage rescue
The Moro National Liberation Front earned plaudits from the powerful Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) after its steamroller attack on terrorist Abu Sayyaf camps in the jungles of Patikul, Sulu where three foreigners, two Swiss and one Dutch, were freed from nearly one year of captivity, MNLF officials said on Friday.

MNLF Chairman Nur Misuari would provide today details of the rescue and the hostages as well as the security situation in Mindanao when he arrived in Manila after attending the OIC meeting in Sudan, Africa, MNLF panel member Absalom Cerveza said.

“The OIC was happy with the MNLF and the Chairman’s (Misuari’s) concern for the safety of the hostages and their families,” Cerveza said.
Posted by: ryuge || 02/09/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336071 views] Top|| File under: Abu Sayyaf


Africa North
Paris Funded Mali Foes with Ransom Payments
Maybe next time use the money to buy a C-17 instead...
[An Nahar] France channeled millions of dollars in ransom payments to the al-Qaida-linked militants its troops are currently fighting in Mali, according to a former U.S. ambassador in the region.

In an interview aired Friday, Vicki Huddleston said France had paid $17 million (12.7 million euros) to free French hostages seized from a uranium mine in its former colony Niger in 2010.

Huddleston, the U.S. ambassador to Mali from 2002-05, said Germany, other European countries with the exception of Britain, and Canada had also paid ransoms which have served to finance the armed Islamist groups which last year seized control of northern Mali.

She said a total of as much as $89 million could have been paid out between 2004-11, although, as it was paid through intermediaries including the Malian army, it was unclear how much would have reached Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and its allies.

France has never confirmed paying to secure the release of hostages and it has stopped doing so since President Francois Hollande came to power last year, according to well-placed diplomatic sources.

Hollande, speaking in Brussels on Friday about French hostages held in the Sahel, said "there was no question of financial questions being evoked" for their freedom.

The policy of paying ransoms under Hollande's predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy was well documented by journalists, an open secret in diplomatic circles and a source of friction with Algeria, Britain and the United States, all of whom opposed the policy.

Huddleston is the most senior official yet to explicitly confirm the payment of ransoms and the first to do so on the record.

"About two years ago... the AQIM took French hostages at the yellowcake uranium mine in northern Niger, and France paid ransoms for the release of these hostages," the retired career diplomat told French television station ITele.

"The alleged amount is 17 million," she said. "Of course France didn't walk over to the Salafis and say 'here is your 17 million dollars'.

"The ransoms, like other ransoms, were paid indirectly, ended in the hands of the Malian government and were turned over, at least part of it, to the Salafis (Islamist extremists)."

Although France, at the time, denied speculation that it paid money for the release of its nationals, it was well known among diplomats, she added.

"When governments might have denied that they paid ransoms... everyone is pretty much aware that money has passed hands indirectly through different accounts and it ends in the treasury, let us say, of the AQIM."

Asked how much had been paid in ransoms between 2004 and 2011, Huddleston said: "The number I have seen is 89 million dollars so that to me seems probably correct.

"Various European governments paid ransoms through the Malian government to obtain the release of their citizens and that allowed AQIM to grow strong, buy weapons and recruit."

Herve Ghesquiere, one of two French TV journalists held by the Taliban in Afghanistan for over a year, last year published a memoir, "547 days", which quotes Sarkozy as saying France had no problem paying ransoms.

"For me that has never been a problem. We know how to do money," Sarkozy was quoted as saying. The same book quoted Sarkozy's foreign minister Alain Juppe as saying France's intelligence agency, the DGSE, handled the negotiations.

In "AQMI, l'industrie de l'enlèvement" (AQIM the kidnapping industry)", another book published last year, AFP and Radio France International reporter Serge Daniel provides detailed figures for the amounts allegedly paid by various governments.

Daniel says two French companies paid a total of 13 million euros (a little over $17 million) for the release of the hostages, Austria paid three million euros, Spain nine million and Canada three to five million.
Posted by: Fred || 02/09/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336070 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in North Africa

#1  "The ransoms, like other ransoms, were paid indirectly, ended in the hands of the Malian government and were turned over, at least part of it, to the Salafis (Islamist extremists)."

Idiots, you don't pay anything at all, but a sharp Knife that springs out of the box AND DECAPITATES THEM.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 02/09/2013 9:29 Comments || Top||


Great White North
Canada needs ability to revoke citizenship of terror suspects
Posted by: ryuge || 02/09/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336075 views] Top|| File under:


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Lebanese Man Impregnates His Sister, Kills Her in 'Honor Crime'
[An Nahar] A man has killed his pregnant teenage sister in south Lebanon in what was seen as an honor crime - the murder of a woman accused of shaming her family.

Voice of Lebanon radio (100.5) said Friday that the body of Baghdad Khaled al-Issa, 18, was found with stab wounds in her head and sides in the area of al-Wazzani.

Investigators discovered that her brother Jihad, 21, had killed her in what is described as an honor crime, VDL said.

It added that the victim was seven months pregnant.

Later on Friday, LBCI television reported that the investigation with Jihad revealed that he had raped his sister, which lead to her pregnancy.

"He confessed to raping his sister," LBCI said, adding that Jihad claimed he was drunk when the incident happened.

The television channel added that he had only recently found out about the pregnancy and asked his sister to undergo an abortion, but she refused.

Every year thousands of women are killed for notions of family honor worldwide, mainly in Moslem countries the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia.
Posted by: Fred || 02/09/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336071 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "He confessed to raping his sister," LBCI said, adding that Jihad claimed he was drunk when the incident happened.

Like that explains things satisfactorily.

Charge him with Rape and Murder, bet his whole outlook on life changes.


Posted by: Redneck Jim || 02/09/2013 8:23 Comments || Top||

#2  So... I take it he wasn't arrested (article doesn't say).

Will they hold a parade in his honor?
Posted by: CrazyFool || 02/09/2013 8:31 Comments || Top||

#3  So SHE dishonored the family by being raped by her brother, who then restores the honor by murdering her?
Posted by: Glenmore || 02/09/2013 10:17 Comments || Top||

#4  Glenmore, yup. That's how Muslims "think".

On the other hand, since Muslims won't even use alcohol based hand cleaner in hospitals, how did he get drunk?
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 02/09/2013 12:29 Comments || Top||

#5  Raping and honor killing my sister. Thats my Jihad.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 02/09/2013 15:57 Comments || Top||

#6  Mo would be proud
Posted by: Frank G || 02/09/2013 17:01 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Gunmen Blow Up Key Yemen Oil Pipeline
[An Nahar] Gunmen in Yemen on Friday blew up a key oil pipeline that repeatedly comes under attack in the country's eastern Marib province, an al-Qaida stronghold, a security official and witnesses told Agence France Presse.

"Subversive elements in Wadi Abida (around 12 kilometers, seven miles from Marib) blew up" the 320-kilometer (200-mile) pipeline that carries oil from the Safer oilfields in Marib to an export terminal on the Red Sea, the official said.

Witnesses said that flames erupted from the pipeline, that carries around 180,000 barrels per day, following the explosion early on Friday.

Later, the army fired artillery at al-Haween in Wadi Abida where the attack took place, tribal sources there told AFP, as warplanes overflew the area.

No casualties have yet been reported.

Attacks on oil and gas pipelines by al-Qaida or by tribesmen seeking to win concessions from the central government are common in Yemen, an impoverished country that produces about 300,000 barrels of oil a day, mostly for export.

In December, the army launched an offensive against tribesmen suspected of repeatedly sabotaging the pipeline, sparking clashes which left 17 people dead.

According to official figures, lost production because of pipeline attacks in the east cost the government more than $1 billion in 2012, while oil exports fell by 4.5 percent.
Posted by: Fred || 02/09/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336070 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Arabia


Africa North
SecDef Panetta: President Absent Night of Benghazi
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta testified Friday on Capitol Hill that President Barack Obama was absent the night [of the attack on the Benghazi consulate] on September 11, 2012.

Panetta said, though he did meet with Obama at a 5 o'clock prescheduled gathering, the president left operational details, including knowledge of what resources were available to help the Americans under siege, "up to us." The 5 o'clock meeting was a pre-scheduled 30-minute session, where, according to Panetta's recollection, they spent about 20 minutes talking a lot about the American embassy that was surrounded in Egypt and the situation that was just unfolding in Benghazi.

Obama did not call or communicate in anyway with the defense secretary that night. There were no calls about what was going on in Benghazi. He never called to check-in. Panetta says that the night of 9/11, he did not communicate with a single person at the White House.
The information on the death of Ambassador Stevens, however, did make it to the White House.

Video also at the link
Posted by: Pappy || 02/09/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336104 views] Top|| File under:

#1  If true [which I find absolutely incredulous], then all we can assume is a campaign fund raiser was more important that the lives of 4 Americans, or perhaps the lives of the everyone in the Benghazi mission.

Was the VP consulted? Was anyone in the administration consulted? If not, why not?

If true, then who gave the order to "stand-down" that was reportedly radioed from the Chief of Station in Tripoli to the besieged station in Benghazi? Who gave the "stand-down" order to the Commander, AFRICOM, who has regional responsibility for the execution of Non-Combatant Evacuation (NEO) operations [rescue of American citizens] ?

The key to this disaster now appears to rest with the testimony of General Ham. I will never accept the "there was no time to execute military action" story. The other key lies with the Chief of Station's senior representative and decision maker in Benghazi [one of the twenty some odd mystery people who cannot be found].

Penatta's testimony was weak, unacceptable, and very poor theater.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/09/2013 6:57 Comments || Top||

#2  Sgt. Schultz should sue for copyright infringement.

This regime is despicable beyond my ability to describe.
Posted by: AlanC || 02/09/2013 7:56 Comments || Top||

#3  'Fish head and rot rule' obviously applies.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/09/2013 8:03 Comments || Top||

#4  Well now we know how Obama handles that 3AM emergency phone call - take the receiver off the hook, cover it with a pillow, roll back over and go back to sleep.

Funny how they can't determine who gave that stand down orders. It had to be signed right? Or are U.S. Military and Diplomatic commands in the habit of blindly following unsigned and unauthenticated orders?
Posted by: CrazyFool || 02/09/2013 8:25 Comments || Top||

#5  If I were General Ham, I would have insisted upon seeing that one in writing with copies furnished my legal section. An unclassified, redacted copy would be stored away with personal papers in a safe deposit box.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/09/2013 8:33 Comments || Top||

#6  B, they can't find General Mireau?
Paths of Glory stuff here. Obtuse reference to the responsibilities of command, its failures, the blame game and who actually pays the price for political intrigues. Human behavior seldom changes.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/09/2013 9:35 Comments || Top||

#7  I concur P2k, but these are not "riddles wrapped in mysteries, inside enigmas". These hearings lack serious investigatory rigor. Ask the right questions and the answers and responsible parties will emerge. If congress elects to do otherwise, then they too become part of the problem. Forgive me, I've just stated the obvious.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/09/2013 9:51 Comments || Top||

#8  Panetta said, “He just left that up to us.”

The unilateral decision to strike a sovereign country can only be made by the Commander-in-Chief. Think about it. President Obama delegated “that” decision to the Secretary of Defense. A more cavalier attitude for the operational chain of command hasn’t been witnessed since the Woodrow Wilson administration. One can only conclude Mr. Obama is only willing to fulfill his official duties when there’s a potential for personal gain.
I know NewsFlash...right?
Posted by: DepotGuy || 02/09/2013 11:28 Comments || Top||

#9  ...or not getting the do-do all over himself. Someone else has to take the fall. The buck stops over there ->.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/09/2013 11:51 Comments || Top||

#10  Photo of Obama on the View - CHECK

Photo of Obama on skeet range - CHECK

Photo of Obama in Situation room during Abbattabod mission - CHECK

Photo of Obama during hurricane Sandy - CHECK

Photo of Obama at Dover AFB - CHECK

Photo of Obama during Benghazi raid - PENDING
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/09/2013 12:05 Comments || Top||

#11  Photo of Obama during Benghazi raid - PENDING

you won't see it. He's on AF1 kicking back with the phone off the hook, smoking a Kool
Posted by: Frank G || 02/09/2013 14:18 Comments || Top||

#12  Photo of Obama during Benghazi raid - PENDING

They're working on it. Good Photoshop takes time.
Posted by: KBK || 02/09/2013 17:26 Comments || Top||

#13  Also:

Dereliction of Duty: Obama Did Nothing to Save American Lives in Benghazi--and Lied About It

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/2013/02/07/Dereliction-of-Duty-Obama-Did-Nothing-to-Save-American-Lives-in-Benghazi--and-Lied-About-It
Posted by: Uncle Phest || 02/09/2013 19:41 Comments || Top||

#14  From Uncle Phester's link:

As [President Obama] told a Denver reporter in October: I gave three very clear directives. Number one, make sure we are securing our personnel and that we are doing whatever we need to. Number two, we are going to investigate exactly what happened and make sure it doesn't happen again. Number three, find out who did this so we can bring them to justice.

Possible explanations:

1. The attack on the Benghazi consulate was considered a minor incident at the time, similar to the embassy attack on Egypt.

2. The attack on the Benghazi consulate was considered a minor incident based on the paucity of information.

3. The attack on the Benghazi consulate was considered a minor incident because, for whatever reason or a multitude of reasons, that was how the incident was presented to the President and the White House staff.

4. The President's management style is/was to leave such things to his subject-matter experts, who then proceeded to a series of decisions that led to the present state of affairs.

5. The consulate was, from the start, expendable.
Posted by: Pappy || 02/09/2013 20:37 Comments || Top||

#15  S'more - we can only "hope":

http://weaselzippers.us/2013/02/09/lindsey-graham-i-will-hold-the-president-accountable-on-benghazi/
Posted by: Uncle Phester || 02/09/2013 20:50 Comments || Top||

#16  Don't hold your breath; the R's are tossing only slightly faster softball questions at all these various 'hearings/confirmations.' The only balls in the entire Capital building are down in the raquetball courts.

Posted by: USN,Ret. || 02/09/2013 21:15 Comments || Top||

#17  And HILLARY, DepState subordinates, andor VPOTUS Biden says ... ....???

Since Hillary has stepped down, KERRY asnew DepState #1 sezzes ...???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/09/2013 21:27 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Al Qaida leaders among seven killed in US drone strike
More detail than usual on the previous article...
[Dawn] Seven militants have been killed in a US drone strike in the Babar Ghar area on the border of North and South Waziristan Agency, intelligence sources said.

The drone fired two missiles on a house, destroying it completely. Five others were also injured, sources said.

Sources said that the fatalities included two al Qaida senior leaders and four Uzbek nationals.

The al Qaida leaders that were killed include Abu Majid al Iraqi and Sheikh Abu Waqas, who is from Yemen.

Abu Waqas was the group's bombs and explosives expert. Sources also said that the compound was full of TTP figures, who were having dinner at the time of the drone attack.

The area is inhabited by Hakimullah Mehsud-led TTP fighters and other foreigners.

This article starring:
ABU MAJID AL IRAQIal-Qaeda
HAKIMULLAH MEHSUDal-Qaeda
SHEIKH ABU WAQASal-Qaeda
Posted by: Fred || 02/09/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336085 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Pakistan

#1  Abu Waqas was the group's bombs and explosives expert.

Abu: "that sounds like a Hellfire incoming"
*BOOOM!!11!!*
"yep...... rosebud"
Posted by: Frank G || 02/09/2013 9:49 Comments || Top||


Bomb Kills 10 near Pakistan DVD Shop
[An Nahar] Ten people were killed and another 26 maimed when a bomb went kaboom! near a shop selling DVDs and mobile phones in Pakistain's northwestern tribal belt on Friday, officials said.

The attack happened in Kalaya, the main town of Orakzai district where the military has been battling Taliban and al-Qaeda-linked snuffies for years.

"The blast killed at least 10 people and maimed another 26," said local administration official, Fazal Qadir, updating an earlier corpse count of eight.

The bomb targeted people from the pro-government Feroz Khel tribe, who have shops in the market, he said.

Government official Mehmood Aslam said that the bomb was planted near the DVD and mobile shop surrounded by small kiosks selling tea and other edibles.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

DVD and CD shops in northwestern Pakistain have been bombed in the past by snuffies who deem their business "un-Islamic".

Orakzai is one of seven tribal districts on the Afghan-Pakistain border where Taliban and al-Qaeda-linked snuffies have carved out strongholds to plot attacks on Pak, Afghan and Western targets.
Posted by: Fred || 02/09/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336082 views] Top|| File under: TTP

#1  probably a Nicholas Cage movie
Posted by: Frank G || 02/09/2013 9:45 Comments || Top||

#2  Deliver them two mega-trons of remakes. Its the only way to be sure.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 02/09/2013 11:42 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Police fire teargas at anti-president demonstrators in Alexandria
[Al Ahram] Clashes have erupted in the city of Alexandria between protesters and police in front of the Sidi Gaber police station. Police fired tear gas to disperse protesters, reported Al-Ahram's Arabic website. The two sides both threw stones.

The central street of Abu-Qir is now completely blocked as clashes continue. The security presence has intensified in the police station's vicinity.

Clashes have also erupted in several cities across Egypt including Tanta, Kafr El-Sheikh and Mahalla.

Hundreds rallied in Alexandria answering a call for nationwide anti-government protests. Demonstrations also protested police brutality after several were reported tortured during last week's detentions and two were reported dead during clashes at the presidential palace.
Posted by: Fred || 02/09/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336085 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring

#1  Wonder how long before we see something like this for Alexandria, VA?
Posted by: USN,Ret. || 02/09/2013 21:08 Comments || Top||

#2  I thought Alexandria, VA was more fashionable than that.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 02/09/2013 21:12 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
US drone attacks unacceptable, Jilani tells Senate body
[Dawn] Foreign Secretary Jalil Abbas Jilani on Friday said that US drone attacks are unacceptable as these are violating illusory sovereignty of Pakistain.

Briefing the Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, the secretary said dialogue with the United States is the only way forward to resolve the issue of drone attacks.

However,
it was a brave man who first ate an oyster...
he said, around 80 per cent of total 3000 people killed in drone attacks were terrorists.

The statement came the same day when in a similar attack at least seven alleged snuffies were killed by the US spy planes in Babar Ghar area of restive Wazoo.

The secretary said international community is supporting Pakistain on the issue. He said some Afghani Taliban prisoners have also been released on the demand of the Afghan government.

US drone strikes last month killed a prominent warlord, who had sent Islamic fascisti to fight NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis....
troops in neighbouring Afghanistan.

Mullah Nazir, one of the highest-profile drone victims in recent years, was the main cut-thoat commander in South Waziristan, part of the tribal zone where snuffies linked to the Taliban and al Qaeda have bases on the Afghan border.

The covert US drone strikes are publicly criticised by the Pak government as a violation of illusory sovereignty but American officials believe they are a vital weapon in the war against cut-thoats.

Legal lobby group Reprieve estimates that up to nearly 900 civilians were among the 2,621 to 3,442 people killed by drones in Pakistain since 2004--
Posted by: Fred || 02/09/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336102 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  The reason the terrorists and their sponsors HATE the drone program, is 1) it works, and 2) they have almost no defense against it.
Posted by: Mikey Hunt || 02/09/2013 16:07 Comments || Top||

#2  Can they shoot them down with jets?
Posted by: Omose Angeaque7353 || 02/09/2013 19:59 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
33[untagged]
9Arab Spring
5al-Qaeda in North Africa
3Govt of Pakistan
3al-Qaeda in Pakistan
2TTP
2Govt of Syria
2Salafists
1Baloch Liberation Army
1Commies
1al-Qaeda in Arabia
1Abu Sayyaf
1Hezbollah
1Jaish-e-Mohammad
1Jamaat-e-Islami
1al-Qaeda in Iraq
1al-Qaeda in Europe

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Two weeks of WOT
Sat 2013-02-09
  India Executes Man Convicted in 2001 Attack on Parliament
Fri 2013-02-08
  Suicide bomber hits north Mali, troops clash in capital
Thu 2013-02-07
  Syrian Army Launches 'All-Out Attack' on Capital Region
Wed 2013-02-06
  Fat Lady Sings for Abd el Kader Mahmoud Mohamed el Sayed
Tue 2013-02-05
  Second big turban nabbed in northern Mali
Mon 2013-02-04
  Ansar Dine #3 arrested in northern Mali
Sun 2013-02-03
  Yemen Troops Kill 12 'Qaida Militants' in Restive South
Sat 2013-02-02
  Syria Suicide Attack on Regime Kills 53
Fri 2013-02-01
  Binori Mosque cleric among 10 killed in Karachi
Thu 2013-01-31
  Boko Haram 'commander' declares ceasefire
Wed 2013-01-30
  Mali and Niger forces retake Ansongo
Tue 2013-01-29
  Sahel jihadist groups splinter
Mon 2013-01-28
  Timbuktu mayor: Mali rebels torched library of historic manuscripts
Sun 2013-01-27
  French and Malian troops begin restoring control in Timbuktu
Sat 2013-01-26
  Green-on-green clash in Khyber tribal region kills 32

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