#1
The more serious, + potentially catastrophic, issue is whether the Bammer deliberately sacrificed or refused any rescue to the Benghazi holdouts.
The Bammer Admin's argument is that their failure at Benghazi relief was a BASIC/SIMPLE
"MISTAKE/ERROR IN JUDGEMENT", PERCEPTION + CALCULATION + FINAL ACTION, N-O-T "DERELICTION OF DUTY/RESPONSIBILITY" LET ALONE "INTENTIONAL" OR "DELIBERATE" "MURDER".
Besides the Democrat-controlled Senate + pro-Bammer special interests, any attempt to formally impeach the Bammer has to defeat the above arguments.
As said before, IMO the only way to impeach the Bammer is to find someone(s) deep in the inside who knows the real truth + is willing to testify before the Congress andor Federal Courts. ANTI-BAMMERS NEED SOMETHING AKIN TO THE 1960'S
"VALACHI" HEARINGS + RELATED.
As things stand, the Bammer will no longer be POTUS + a Grandfather before the Anti-Bammers find anything to impeach him with.
The Amer People can forgive an honest albeit deadly or mortal mistake, but they won't forgive deliberate murder + cover-up.
h/t Gates of Vienna
Since antiquity, the Middle East has been the trading nexus of three continents — Asia, Europe, and Africa — and the vibrant birthplace of three of the world’s great religions.
Middle Eastern influence rose again in the 19th century when the Suez Canal turned the once-dead-end eastern Mediterranean Sea into a sea highway from Europe to Asia.
With the 20th-century development of large gas and oil supplies in the Persian Gulf and North Africa, an Arab-led OPEC more or less dictated the foreign policy of thirsty oil importers like the United States and Europe. No wonder U.S. Central Command has remained AmericaÂ’s military-command hot spot.
Yet the Middle East is becoming irrelevant. The discovery of enormous new oil and gas reserves along with the use of new oil-recovery technology in North America and China is steadily curbing the demand for Middle Eastern oil. Soon, countries such as Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Iran are going to have less income and geostrategic clout. In both Iran and the Gulf, domestic demand is rising, while there is neither the technical know-how nor the water to master the new art of fracking to sustain exports.
The recent Boston bombing reminded the West that nearly twelve years after 9/11, most terrorism still follows the same old, same old script, acted out by angry young men with Muslim pedigrees claiming to act on radical Islamist impulses, without much popular rebuke from the Muslim world.
There is not much left to the stale Middle East complaint from the 1960s that Western colonialism and imperialism sidetracked the regionÂ’s own natural trajectory to democracy. After the derailed Arab Spring, the world accepted that the mess in the Middle East is not imported but rather the result of homegrown tribalism, sexual apartheid, religious intolerance, anti-Semitism, illiteracy, statism, and authoritarianism.
Revolutionary theocrats always seem to follow the ouster of fossilized thugs. “Reformers” who were “elected” after the fall of the Shah of Iran and Hosni Mubarak in Egypt on spec conjured up the same old bogeymen as did their predecessors, subverted the rule of law in the same old fashion, and wrecked the economy in the same old manner.
Barack Obama senses that there is no support for American intervention in the Middle East. Even his idea of “leading from behind” in Libya led to the loss of American personnel in Benghazi. After Iraq, the U.S. will not nation-build in Syria. Apparently, Americans would rather be hated for doing nothing than be despised for spending trillions of dollars and thousands of lives to build Middle East societies.
I guess its hard to find a pig farmer that would subject their charges to such humility.
A Massachusetts state senator says the federal government should intervene in the quest to find a final resting place for the elder Boston Marathon bomber. How about an open field in Guantanamo?
State Sen. Harriet L. Chandler, D-Worcester, said Uncle Sam needs to alleviate a Wochester funeral home's onerous burden of having accepted Tamerlan Tsarnaev's corpse on Friday after it was released by the state medical examiner. Burial at sea?
"The federal government needs to step in," said Chandler. "But I'm not sure what they're going to do or where will they go. Peter Stefan is a very respected and respectable funeral home director in Worcester. He's a good man. This can't continue. He's taking a financial loss as a result of this." New Joisey Meadowlands?
Stefan accepted Tsarnaev's body Friday after it was initially sent to a North Attleborough funeral home, where it was greeted by about 20 protesters. I would guess 20 protesting pigs. I hear that they have a fine sense of dignity.
"My problem here is trying to find a gravesite," Stefan added. "A lot of pig farms
people don't want to do it. They don't want to be involved with this. Plus their pigs would probably go on strike in protest.
#3
Cremate him and dispose of him like any indigent or John Doe. I am sure the State or City has standing contracts for this stuff. Or bill his wife or whatever. No heroic measures.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
05/05/2013 16:00
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"Use them to feed the prisoners at Guantanamo."
Hell, grom, use him to feed them. >:-(
Posted by: Barbara ||
05/05/2013 17:08
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What did the swine ever do to you to deserve that fate Redneck?
Posted by: Secret Asian Man ||
05/05/2013 17:31
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Lest we fergit, 1990's CLINTONISM = THE US MUST "ABSORB" + "TOLERATE" A TERROR ATTACK(S) BUT NOT RESPOND OR RETALIATE WID MILITARY FORCE UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES.
Is the above not consistent wid [PRE-]SURRENDER???
D *** NG IT, WE "SURRENDERED" BEFORE WE ATTACKED!
Who knew a blue dress could give a POTUS "the vapors"!
Federal officials investigating the Boston bombings have discovered radical Islamist materials on a computer belonging to the widow of the deceased suspect, it has been revealed.
Katherine Russell Tsarnaev, 24, has repeatedly claimed through her attorney that she knew nothing about the deadly April 15 bombings allegedly set off by her late husband, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, and his younger brother, Dzhokhar.
However, the discovery of al Qaeda's Inspire magazine on Russell-Tsarnaev's computer, along with the presence of explosive residue throughout their home, have raised new questions about Russell's possible involvement in the act of terror.
According to a government document obtained by NBC News, an analysis of the bombs used at the Boston Marathon and pipe bombs that the Tsarnaevs had allegedly thrown at police may have been built following instructions that appeared in an Inspire article titled: Make a Bomb in the Kitchen of Your Mom.
Officials have yet to determine whether the Islamist files found in Russell-Tsarnaev's possession belonged to the 24-year-old mother, her late 26-year-old husband or a third party, a source told The Washington Post.
Russell-Tsarnaev's attorney, Amato DeLuca, had previously said his client was kept in the dark about the deadly plot, and she was shocked to learn that her husband and brother-in-law were allegedly responsible for the attacks.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/05/2013
13:21 ||
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"just a little light reading. I like the crosswords"
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/05/2013 13:42
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[HOSTED.AP.ORG] A 46-year-old soccer referee who was punched by a teenage player during a game and later slipped into a coma has died, police said.
Ricardo Portillo of Salt Lake City passed away at the hospital, where he was being treated following the assault last weekend, Unified police front man Justin Hoyal said Saturday night.
Police have accused a 17-year-old player in a recreational soccer league of punching Portillo after the man called a foul on him and issued him a yellow card.
"The suspect was close to Portillo and punched him once in the face as a result of the call," Hoyal said in a blurb.
The teen, whose name hasn't been released because of his age, has been booked into juvenile detention on suspicion of aggravated assault. Hoyal said authorities will consider additional charges since Portillo has died.
An autopsy is planned. No cause of death was released.
Portillo suffered swelling in his brain and had been listed at death's door, Dr. Shawn Smith said Thursday at the Intermountain Medical Center in the Salt Lake City suburb of Murray.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/05/2013
11:52 ||
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Chinese and Indian armies have withdrawn simultaneously from face-off point at Daulat Beg Oldi sector in Ladakh, official sources said on Sunday evening.
According to reports, the agreement between the two sides was reached following a high-level meeting. Both countries decided to end the deadlock at 7.30pm, PTI quoted official sources, as saying.
Earlier reports said that Chinese troops have refused to budge from the Indian territory occupied by them. Chinese troops reportedly asked the Indian forces to pull back first in the Daulat Beg Oldie (DBO) sector of Ladakh.
Senior military personnel of the two countries led by Brigadier-level officers held a fouth flag meeting at Chushul on Saturday but their discussions lasting 45-minute ended without any positive outcome with the Chinese refusing to restore status-quo ante as it obtained on April 15 before they intruded 19 kms deep on the Indian side of Line of Actual Control (LAC) pitching five tents and bringing in some 50 soldiers besides military vehicles and dogs.
Official sources said that the Chinese side asked the Indian troops, which have also established tented posts about 300 metres from the Chinese, to pull back first before they could think of going back. The Indians said that any pull back had to be simultaneous and that the Chinese should vacate their intrusion. The sources said that in view of this impasse there was no breakthrough in the meeting but the two sides decided to continue the dialogue.
The Chinese side also reiterated their earlier stand that India should dismantle bunkers constructed along the LAC in Phuktsay and Chumar areas to which the Indian side contended that similar activities were being carried out on the Chinese side.
Chinese officials maintained that the activities on their side was more of a developmental work and that India should stop pushing its grazers in Chumar division, south east of Ladakh.
On April 15, Chinese troops had intruded nearly 27 kms deep into the Indian territory but an early detection and aggressive patrolling by the security personnel posted in the sector managed to pull them back to the present position near the old patrol base in the DBO sector, which is still 19 kms from the LAC.
Posted by: john frum ||
05/05/2013
11:42 ||
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Prolly best to take wid a grain of salt for now, as MIlBloggers claim Net sources are only quoting from report from the Press Trust of India [PTI], while the latter per se is repor that a "fourth flag" meeting between India + China has once again failed???
FYI TOPIX > CHNESE TROOPS HAD PROBED INDIAN ARMY POSTS AT THREE POINTS/PLACES IN LADAKH DBO SECTOR, before its final incursion.
Anyhoo,
* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > [Pravda] CHINA THREATENS TO END MILITARY ROLE OF USA IN ASIA.
> CHINA'S RIFT WID JAPAN IS OPEN CHALLENGE TO IS - THE JAPAN TIMES.
> [Defense News] CHINA-JAPAN ISLAND DISPUTE COULD BECOME FLASHPOINT. Sino-Japan dispute the REAL PROBLEM, N-O-T KIM JONG-UN = NORTH KOREA.
> [Defense News] JAPAN-CHINA ISLAND SPAT [Yonaguni] THREATENS JGSDF DEPLOYMENT + MUCH MORE.
> MYANMAR ANOTHER ARENA OF COMPETITION OR BATTLEFIELD BETWEEN US + CHINA?
Truth be told, IMO Yonaguni is prolly a bigger realistic threat to the PLA than Japan's control of the China-claimed Senkakus/Daoyus. I'm pretty sure the PLA has Yonaguni in their high-priority, To-Be-Attacked-First/ASAP target lists like Taiwan.
* TOPIX > [HuffPo] WE HAVE LOST SIGHT OF THE REAL TICKING TIME BOMB ON THE KOREAN PENINSULA.
ROK + DPRK steady econ deterioration leading to possible chaos + worse?
* CHINA DAILY FORUM > NEW GALLUP POLL: ONLY ONE-HALF OF AMERICANS THINK THE US IS STILL #1 MILITARILY. Steady decline in mainstream belief since Summer 2009.
VERSUS
* CHINESE MILITARY FORUM > SINGH TO CHINA: PULL OUT YOUR TROOPS [Ladakh] OR I WILL SPEND ONE MORE NIGHT [or maybe TWO] IN JAPAN - CHOOSE! | [Times of India] SINGH EXTENDS JAPAN TRIP, SENDS STRONG MESSAGE TO CHINA.
* DEFENCE FORUM INDIA > [AJW Asahi Shimbun] CONTEMPT FOR CHINA LEADS TO CONSPIRACY THEORIES AGZ [indigenous] OKINAWANS, by mainland + island-based Non-Okinawan Japanese, + Okinawan-vs-Okinawan inter-indigenous criticisms.
Anti-Nippon, Pro-China Left-winger? treason + sedition in the ranks???
* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > JAPAN TRIED TO BUY ISLANDS [Northern Territories = South Kuriles]BEFORE SOVIET COLLAPSE: OZAWA, but Gorbachev turned the offer down.
* WORLD MILITARY FORUM > "SANKEI SHIMBUN" JAPANESE MEDIA: JAPAN PM ABE WARNS BALANCE OF POWER BETWEEN JAPAN + CHINA, EAST ASIAN NATIONS COULD BE COMPLETELY BROKEN DOWN [collapsed] BY 2015.
* SAME > NORTH KOREAN AIR FORCE CHIEF THREATENS ICBM, NUCLEAR "SUICIDE/KAMIKAZE" ATTACKS AGZ THE US IFF NORTH KOREA IS ATTACKED.
* WORLD NEWS > XI'S WAR DRUMS | CHINA LEADER'S PLOY MORE THAN JUST NAVAL GRAZING | CHINA'S XI JINPENG IS SPOILING FOR A FIGHT, BUT WID WHOM?
CAN CHINA ACTUALLY FIGHT?
Posted by: Fred ||
05/05/2013
10:56 ||
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...Listened to this twinkie on NPR the other night. Sounded like she not only doesn't have a brain in her head, but that she refuses to admit that her big mouth might have killed a good band and alienated all her fans.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
05/05/2013 14:06
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#2
Sounds like life at the truck stop on I-20 got a little boring...
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/05/2013 14:10
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There was no way around it: The room was half-empty.
The 2013 edition of South by Southwest was just getting underway as Natalie Maines stood onstage at Austin City Limits Live at the Moody Theater, sporting a brunette faux-hawk and holding an acoustic guitar.
Whole sections of the 2,750-capacity space sat devoid of bodies. Those who were in attendance chattered incessantly, glued to smartphones or loudly ordering drinks from the bar. The venueÂ’s emptiness carried an almost oppressive weight.
The music began — gone were the breezy, poppy country songs, replaced by something darker and tougher — and for the next hour, the audience’s indifference to Maines and her bandmates did not subside.
This is the price you pay for starting over.
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/05/2013 14:48
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Whole sections of the 2,750-capacity space sat devoid of bodies.
Now, again, who is Texas ashamed of? /rhet question
[RTTNEWS] At least seven people have been killed and more than ten others injured in a suicide car kaboom on a government convoy in Somalia's capital city of Mogadishu, media reports citing local officials said Sunday.
The attack reportedly targeted a government convoy carrying foreign aid workers. It was not immediately clear whether foreigners were among the casualties in the attack, which is said to have destroyed at least four cars in the targeted convoy.
No group has grabbed credit for the attack yet, but Somali authorities are blaming the al-Shabaab ... the personification of Somali state failure... krazed killer group. The al-Qaeda aligned outfit is Somalia's most prominent and influential Islamist krazed killer unit. The group, branded as a terrorist organization by the United States and most of the international community, is the military wing of the Islamist movement ousted by Æthiopia-backed Somali forces in 2006.
Until recently, al-Shabaab and other allied groups controlled large areas in southern Somalia where they enforced strict Islamic laws or Sharia. But Somali forces, backed by African Union ...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful... peacekeepers, managed to seize control of most of the rebels-held regions in recent months, except some pockets in rural southern and central Somalia.
Notably, Sunday's attack came just days ahead of an international conference on Somalia in London. The conference, which opens on Tuesday, will be co-hosted by Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and British Prime Minister David Cameron ... has stated that he is certainly a big Thatcher fan, but I don't know whether that makes me a Thatcherite, which means he's not. Since he is not deeply ideological he lacks core principles and is easily led. He has been described as certainly not a Pitt, Elder or Younger, but he does wear a nice suit so maybe he's Beau Brummel ... .
Posted by: Fred ||
05/05/2013
10:51 ||
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[TBO] ...Obama told the Spanish-language network Telemundo in an interview that he will defer to the Israeli government for comment. He also repeated his view that the Israelis justifiably have to guard against the transfer of advanced weapons to organizations like Hezbollah. The U.S. considers Hezbollah a terrorist organization...
Posted by: Fred ||
05/05/2013
10:10 ||
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#4
The heat is off O. The Israelis are defacto doing his policy work for O, though O was not going to do anything but stand off some 50,000 yards and look through heavy lenses.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
05/05/2013 12:26
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WaPo continues its week-long perspective on Guns in America with this four-month old story of a Georgia mother who emptied her 38 into an intruder, when he opened the door to the crawl space. Cops were on the way. Funny -- I missed the story four months ago. By the time Melinda Herman called her husband at work to say an intruder was in the house, she had rushed both children into an upstairs bedroom and locked two doors behind her. She also had retrieved a .38 from the gun safe. The only place left to hide was a crawl space that led to the attic, and that's where Herman crouched, with her son and daughter beside her and a revolver in her hand.
Walton County sheriff's deputies barreled toward the subdivision, but the intruder reached the crawl space first. When he opened the door, Herman fired six times. Sadly, the perp survived. More training needed! Reading further, she did hit him with five of the six shots.
...from the case file:
Mrs. Herman stated the subject came in the bathroom and opened the crawl space door. Mrs. Herman stated she started shooting at the subject. Mrs. Herman stated she kept shooting at the subject and the subject started yelling please stop.
Mrs. Herman stated she realized she had shot all of her rounds in the weapon. Mrs. Herman stated she kept yelling at him to stay down. Mrs. Herman stated she told him if he tried to get up, she would shoot him again. Mrs. Herman stated she grabbed her kids and they ran downstairs.
The deputies' report does not mention the blood, the walls, the carpet or the screaming and crying. Nor does it say that the revolver Herman used was loaded with ammunition from a visit to a gun range a week before.
"Her husband had just talked her into learning how to shoot," says Capt. Greg Hall, chief of detectives, sitting across the desk from the sheriff. "You've got two little kids trying to hide behind mama. The lady did what any mother would do."
Herman fired six shots, missing only once. Paul Ali Slater, 32, an unemployed father of six,
From which detail we are to conclude that he was just trying to support his family...
was shot five times in the face and torso. He made it back to his vehicle but crashed a few blocks away. He barely survived his injuries. Last month, Slater was sentenced to 10 years in prison. He told the judge that he thought the Herman's house was empty when he broke in to steal.
Then why did he chase the residents all the way to the top of the house, instead of either grabbing what was at hand or leaving upon being seen? There were plenty of other houses in the neighborhood, surely.
Sitting at his desk, Sheriff Chapman says Slater sought out Herman and her children, bypassing a purse on a counter and a big-screen TV to reach the crawl space, breaking through two locked doors in his path.
This is starting to sound like a "Darwin wins" situation.
Before the shooting, in an effort to keep dangerous individuals and scam artists from residential neighborhoods, Chapman had urged the Walton County Board of Commissioners to adopt an ordinance that required background checks, registration and fingerprinting of all door-to-door salespeople.
Not that it would have helped in this case, as our perpetrator had no legal intentions whatsoever.
Two months ago, because of difficulties enforcing local regulations, the ordinance was repealed. So what's a Mother to do?
"He came to my house before he went to the Hermans'," says Anita Brown, 38. "I saw him drive up." Brown says she was in her office when she saw an SUV pull into her driveway. The man who got out was wearing a hoodie and baggy jeans" Brown says. She grabbed her phone and went outside before he could make it to her front door.
He said he was looking for a coach, according to Brown. He was vague when she asked for specifics. "Where's he coach at?" Brown asked. The man retreated to his vehicle and left. Brown went inside to cook lunch. She did not hear the gunshots a few cul-de-sacs away at the Hermans' house.
"If she hadn't shot him, we'd be having a murder trial right now," Brown says. "I firmly believe that." This is the WaPo. How are they gonna work this into The Narrative?
"Let's go," Zakia Slater calls to two of her sons, who have just inhaled dinner and are 20 minutes from the start of basketball practice. They load into the SUV.
The same one her husband took on his robbery expedition?
As Zakia backs out of the driveway, the steering wheel shimmies. "Mom, it's obviously not safe," the 9-year-old boy says.
"It certainly isn't," Zakia says, trying to conceal one more frustration in a life now built on them.
Suddenly she is on her own with six children, and her husband is known as "that guy who got shot by the lady."
Too late for Darwin to kick in, it appears.
She owes a lawyer $7,500. Her phone rings with collect calls from jail.
"I want to see Daddy," her youngest daughter says. "When are we gonna be able to see Daddy?"
"Daddy broke the law," she says.
The community that Paul Slater upended includes his own family. His wife of nine years
Six children in nine years? Goodness.
was so frightened by the public outrage that she slept with a knife under her mattress. She spent her days in her classroom with "The Legend of the Bluebonnet" and her nights in a chair at the hospital for five weeks. This went on as teachers and colleagues from school came to her house with casseroles, lasagna and red velvet cake. One crocheted a scarf for her. "We're praying for you," they said.
She has prayed a lot herself. Zakia can't explain why her husband broke into a house with a crowbar. She imagines Herman and her children, "scared out their minds," she says. But her husband said he was looking for jewelry, not people. Her fiercest conviction is that he had no intention of hurting anyone. "I can never imagine him doing anything like that," she says.
To which Capt. Hall of the sheriff's office says, "Bless her heart."
Which, I have been told, is Southron for a great many things, most of which do not mean "Bless her heart."
As time has passed, the same unease that affects the rest of Walton County has settled in her. Deciding that a knife under a mattress wasn't enough, she went to a pawnshop and bought a gun. Thus endeth the lesson.
More details from an article in Daily Mail dated January 6, 2013. Perp had a record and had served time.
Posted by: Bobby ||
05/05/2013
09:12 ||
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Six rounds expended with the outcome as noted above. And they say (magazine) size does not matter.
Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal al-Mekdad told CNN Sunday morning that Israel’s airstrike on a Syrian military research facility was a “declaration of war.”
Al-Mekdad told CNN that Syria would retaliate, though he did not specify exactly how or when.
Officials and activists have said Israel targeted highly accurate, Iranian-made guided missiles that Syria may have been sending to Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah.
An intelligence official in the Middle East spoke with the Associated Press on condition of anonymity, confirming that Israel targeted Fateh-110 missiles in Damascus, Syria, Sunday morning, the second attack in three days.
An Israeli military spokesman declined to comment when questioned by CNN, but CNN points out that Israel has said before it would stop any transfer of weapons to Hezbollah.
A senior Israeli defense official, not authorized to speak to the media, told CNN‘s Sara Sidner on condition of anonymity: “We are watching everything when it comes to the movement of these types of weapons. We have the means to do that.”
Posted by: Barbara ||
05/05/2013 10:50
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Syria is just holding on against the rebelsfreedom fightersoppositionMB (Saudi proxy) ...whatever they are. Opening a second front would be suicidal.
#11
Personally I'm more concerned about China + Iran - Iff Baby Assad goes to war agz Israel, IMO his Russian + other backers are quite likely to cut off his existential supply of $$$ + arms.
In addition, despite Iran deeming both Syria + Hezbollah-controlled Lebanon as "Iranian territory", + despite a war wid Israel being poten what he needs to break Iran's control, he has to weigh agz the risk of a Syrian-Israeli mil conflict destroying his regime, A SCENARIO WHICH NO ONE REALLY WANTS.
As long as Israel targets Iran's delivery of "50,000" FAJIR missles + other arms to Paleo + Hezbollah Militants, I believe Assad will covertly ignore Israel's strikes despite any rhetoric to the contrary.
#12
JM has it right. Iran will try to get things through with "Quantity" rather than have their precious babAssad risk death from an airstrike. They've poured to much into Syria at this point to lose it over this.
Posted by: Charles ||
05/05/2013 20:39
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#13
De latest ... ...
* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > IRAN CALLS FOR [regional] STAND AGZ ISRAEL AFTER SYRIA ATTACK, but sezzes no need for any direct military intervention.
* TOPIX > [Daily Mirror.UK] IRAN SENDS ARMY INTO SYRIA, REPUBLICAN GUARD TO HELP ASSAD AS ISRAEL BOMBS SYRIA.
* SAME > [Xinhuanet] IRAN CONDEMNS ALLEGED ISRAELI AIRSTRIKE ON SYRIA, SAYS READY TO HELP TRAIN SYRIAN ARMY, agz the wily dastardly Israelis.
* SAME > ANALYSIS: ISRAEL READY FOR LARGER MILITARY ROLE IN MIDDLE EAST.
Officials with the Puebla state attorney general's office say they have detained three individuals who were planning an attack on Mexican president Enrique Pena Nieto Sunday, according to Mexican news accounts.
According to a report which appeared on the website of El Mundo de Cordoba the three men were detained Saturday in Primera Privada Francisco Villa in Tlaxcalcingo, Puebla state after police were tipped off to the plan of attack.
Detained were Ivan Izazola Vazquez, an engineering graduate of the Universidad Tecnologica de Tehuacan, Eduardo Salazar Vazquez and Xavi Vazquez.
According to officials in the Puebla state Procuraduria General de Justicia del Estado, both Eduardo Salazar Vazquez and Xavi Vazquez were detained at a private villa with devices used to make Molotov cocktails. The plan was revealed when the alleged ringleader, Izazola Vazquez, tried to buy more materials but was instead reported through the local emergency phone system.
According to reports, Izazola Vazquez is the member of the Puebla Revolucion 2013 movement, which along with YoSoy132 student movement which began last summer, had been planning a protest march against Pena and his national government later in the afternoon in Zocalo square.
Members of both organizations have been scrubbing "more aggressive" comments from Facebook pages in the wake of the detention of Izazola Vazquez. Those organizations have also disclaimed any connection to the planned attack.
According to the report, the plan was to attack Pena and a number of Mexican officials during Cinco de Mayo celebrations in a convoy which will begin at 1100 hrs Sunday.
The planned attack comes at the end of a difficult 10 days for President Pena. A visit from US President Barak Obama ended with Obama refusing to address his government's role in the Fast and Furious government sanctioned gun running scandal.
One of Pena's social programs, La Cruzada Contra la Hambre or Crusade Against Hunger is in deep trouble with the national Chamber of Deputies when it was found that officials in Veracruz state have been using the program for political purposes. That revelation has raised calls for the resignation of his Secretaria de Desarrollo Social (SEDESOL) Rosario Robles.
Another victim of those revelations is the stalled legislative agenda from the Pacto Por Mexico, which all three major political parties signed on to at the start of Pena's term last December.
Yo Soy 132 is a student movement begun during Pena's presidential campaign in which Pena campaign officials identified 131 students who participated in a particularly raucous demonstration and demanded they be disciplined.
The Yo Soy 132 movement now claims the three detainees are provocateurs in their midst.
Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com and BorderlandBeat.com
#1
Golly, President Obama refused to address, ie. admit to Fast and Furious? It seems to me the next move is for the Mexican attorney general to file a case directly with the U.S. Supreme Court, as nothing less will get our beloved president's attention.
On May 23, 2012, the movement released its manifesto. An excerpt from it states:
"First – we are a nonpartisan movement of citizens... we do not express support of any candidate or political party, but rather respect the plurality and diversity of this movement's participants. Our wishes and demands are centered on the defense of Mexicans' freedom of expression and their right for information... We are a movement committed to the country's democratization, and as such, we hold that a necessary condition for this goal is the democratization of the media...
BERIUT, Lebanon — A series of powerful explosions rocked the outskirts of Damascus early Sunday morning, which Syrian state television said was the result of Israeli missile attacks on a Syrian military installation.
If true, it would be the second Israeli airstrike in Syria in two days and the third this year.
The airstrike that Israeli warplanes carried out in Syria overnight on Thursday was directed at a shipment of advanced surface-to-surface missiles from Iran that Israel believed was intended for Hezbollah, American officials said Saturday. That strike was aimed at disrupting the arms pipeline that runs from Iran via Syria to Hezbollah, the militant Lebanese organization, and it highlighted the mounting stakes for Hezbollah and Israel as Syria becomes more chaotic.
Iran and Hezbollah have both backed President Bashar al-Assad in the Syrian civil war, now in its third year. But as fighting in Syria escalates, they also have a powerful interest in expediting the delivery of advanced weapons to Hezbollah in case Mr. Assad loses his grip on power and Syria ceases to be an effective channel for funneling weapons from Iran.
Going to stuff the channel just in case...
The missiles that were the target of the Israeli raid had been shipped from Iran and were being stored in a warehouse at Damascus International Airport when they were struck, according to an American official.
Should have done FedEx direct to the Bekaa...
Iran has sought to use the threat of a Hezbollah missile attack against Israeli territory as a means of building up its ally and deterring Israel from conducting airstrikes on Iranian nuclear installations that Israeli and American officials believe are part of an Iranian nuclear weapons program.
In Lebanon, some analysts said they believed that a strong Hezbollah could also emerge as a powerful ally for Mr. Assad if he is forced to abandon Damascus, the Syrian capital, and take refuge in a rump Iranian-backed state on the Syrian coast, a region that abuts the Hezbollah-controlled northern Bekaa Valley.
Pencilneck wouldn't want to be that close to the Joooz. That's definitely reach out and touch someone distance...
“The relationship between Hezbollah and the Assad regime is stronger now,” said Talal Atrissi, a professor at Lebanese University in Beirut who has good relations with Hezbollah. If Mr. Assad falls, Hezbollah knows the axis of Syria, Hezbollah and Iran will be greatly weakened, he said.
Israel, for its part, has repeatedly cautioned that it will not allow Hezbollah to receive “game changing” weapons that could threaten the Israeli heartland even if a new Syrian government takes power.
As the Obama administration dithers considers how to dissuade Mr. Assad from ordering a chemical weapons attack — the use of such weapons, the White House has said, would cross a pink blur “red line” — Israel, by striking the warehouse, is clearly showing that it is prepared to stand behind the red lines it has set.
On Friday, SANA, the official Syrian news agency, reported an attack on the Damascus airport by Syrian rebels firing rockets at an aircraft and fuel dump — an account that American officials say may have been intended to obscure the fact that the target was a warehouse full of missiles.
An American official, who asked not to be identified because he was discussing intelligence reports, said the targeted shipment consisted of Iranian-made Fateh-110’s — a mobile, accurate, solid-fueled missile that has the range to strike Tel Aviv and much of Israel from southern Lebanon, and that represents a considerable improvement over the liquid-fueled Scud missile. Two prominent Israeli defense analysts said the shipment included Scud D’s, a missile that Syrians have developed from Russian weapons with a range of up to 422 miles — long enough to reach Eilat, in southernmost Israel, from Lebanon.
Syrian forces loyal to Mr. Assad have used Fateh-110 missiles against the Syrian opposition. Some American officials are unsure whether the new shipment was intended for use by Hezbollah or by the Assad government, which is believed to be running low on missiles in its bloody civil war. But one American official said the warehouse that was struck in the Israeli attack was believed to be under the control of operatives from Hezbollah and IranÂ’s paramilitary Quds Force.
Hezbollah is now believed to have more missiles and fighters than it had before its 2006 battle with Israel, when Hezbollah missiles forced a third of IsraelÂ’s population into shelters and hit as far south as Haifa. A Pentagon official said in 2010 that HezbollahÂ’s arsenal was believed to include a small number of Fateh-110s, and additional shipments would add to HezbollahÂ’s striking power.
In carrying out FridayÂ’s raid, Israeli warplanes fired air-to-ground weapons, apparently staying clear of Syrian airspace and operating in the skies over neighboring Lebanon.
Though if they had intruded on Syrian airspace it wouldn't have mattered; the Syrian anti-air defenses are pretty much useless and the Syrian air force will not come out to play...
A spokesman for the Israeli Embassy in Washington declined to acknowledge the attack, saying only in a statement, “Israel is determined to prevent the transfer of chemical weapons or other game-changing weaponry by the Syrian regime to terrorists, especially to Hezbollah in Lebanon.”
In late January, Israel carried out a similar airstrike in Syria, which it also refused to publicly confirm, that used similar tactics, including a route over Lebanon, according to a former senior American official. The January attack was against a convoy carrying SA-17 antiaircraft weapons, which were supplied by Russia. The transfer of those weapons to Hezbollah would jeopardize the Israeli Air ForceÂ’s ability to operate over Lebanon.
On Sunday, the Syrian government said the missile struck a military complex at Jamraya, a base Damascus said Israel attacked in January. Large blasts sent towering plumes of flame and smoke into the night sky above Mount Qasioun, which towers over downtown Damascus, according to residents and video posted by opposition activists.
The area is home to an array of Syrian military facilities, including the headquarters of the ArmyÂ’s Fourth Division, as well as military research centers. Jamraya is on the far side of the mountain. SyriaÂ’s Ikhbariya television, a state-owned channel, asserted that Israeli had carried out the strikes.
“The new Israeli attack on the Center for Scientific Research in Jamraya in the Damascus suburbs confirms the organic link between terrorist groups and the Israeli enemy,” the station said. The government has long said that the uprising against it was fueled by foreign-backed “terrorists” and served Israeli and American interests.
Israeli officials had no comment on the explosions. Nor did American officials, who signaled that the United States did not carry out the attack.
“They are definitely going after military facilities on or around Qasioun,” said Andrew J. Tabler, an expert on Syria as the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. “There are a lot of research and military facilities there that are tied into the command and control structure of the regime.”
“It is unprecedented and something all of Damascus can see,” he added, stressing that it would likely have an important political impact in Syria.
Suggesting that Pencilneck isn't the strong horse anymore...
President Obama, who is traveling in Central America, said Israel was entitled to defend itself from its enemies.
“The Israelis, justifiably, have to guard against the transfer of advanced weaponry to terrorist organizations like Hezbollah,” he told the Spanish-language TV station Telemundo.
I'm a little surprised he put himself on the line...
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/05/2013
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#1
Prez Obama's 'israel was justified' comment would not be made except that the saudis, qataris, arabemirates and a few others have told Obama bluntly that they want israel or the usa to take out Iran asap
Posted by: lord garth ||
05/05/2013 0:34
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#4
The Bekaa Valley is *not* adjacent to the Alawi heartland, Mount Lebanon and the back-country of Tripoli lie in between. That's part of why Homs is so important, and why there's a nasty sub-war that keeps breaking out in Tripoli and environs.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
05/05/2013 7:04
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#5
This kind of thing would never occur if we had a President like Jimmy Carter in office. Oh wait ...... my bad.
#6
Mitch (#4) - I always like maps, so I google mapped Bekka Valley and with the terrain feature turned on, it looks like Rt. 4 runs from Homs straight down the Bekka Valley. Terrain makes better borders than straight lines drawn by 19th century Englishmen.
Posted by: Bobby ||
05/05/2013 9:08
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#7
the use of such weapons, the White House has said, would cross a pink blur "salmon line"
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/05/2013 9:41
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#8
would cross a pink blur "salmon line"
Hey!
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/05/2013 14:06
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#9
*sets hook, locks reel and drag and starts reeling in...*
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/05/2013 14:43
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#10
Terrain makes better borders than straight lines drawn by 19th century Englishmen
[Pak Daily Times] Pakistain's tribal belt may have been dubbed the world's most dangerous place by the United States, but enthusiastic rustics are defying the Taliban to vote for change at next week's polls.
More than 60 people have been killed in jihad boy attacks targeting politicians and political parties since April 11, but amazingly, no one in the seven districts that make up the semi-autonomous region on the Afghan border.
One of the most remote and undeveloped parts of the country, the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) provide rear bases for the Afghan Taliban, the Pak Taliban and other al Qaeda-linked groups.
But after years of army offensives designed to clear out Taliban hideouts, some of the 1.7 million registered voters in FATA say they feel safe enough to vote and even that women, normally kept in purdah, will vote.
For the first time, political parties can campaign directly in FATA -- a reform introduced by the outgoing government in 2011 in an effort to give rustics more of a stake in the country and curb militancy.
"People want change. They want a change in the system not just a change of faces," said Miraj Ali, a doctor who runs a clinic in the village of Michni in the district of Mohmand.
Tribesmen in the districts of Mohmand, Khyber, Bajaur and North Wazoo who spoke to AFP accused the outgoing government of doing nothing to improve their lives and blamed it for fighting that has displaced hundreds of thousands.
Instead they are looking to the religious parties, cricket star Imran Khan ... aka Taliban Khan, who ain't the brightest knife in the national drawer... , looking to make a political breakthrough at the May 11 polls, or opposition leader 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... bidding for a historic third term.
"The two party leaders with the most support are Imran Khan and Nawaz Sharif," admitted Ali.
All main parties are visibly campaigning, but of the 339 candidates competing for 12 National Assembly seats from FATA, only 81 represent parties -- the rest are officially independents, even if some privately favour one party over another.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/05/2013
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[Pak Daily Times] Jamaat Ulema-e-Islam ...Assembly of Islamic Clergy, or JUI, is a Pak Deobandi (Hanafi) political party. There are two main branches, one led by Maulana Fazlur Rahman, and one led by Maulana Samiul Haq. Fazl is active in Pak politix and Sami spends more time running his madrassah. Both branches sponsor branches of the Taliban, though with plausible deniability... -Fazl (JUI-F) chief Fazlur Rehman has issued a decree (fatwa) against Imran Khan ... aka Taliban Khan, who is the lightweight's lightweight... , saying that vote to Imran is 'haram'. Good idea. Voting for other than Fazl is un-Islamic. Allen just loves fatwas.
Talking to news hounds on Saturday, he assured that Imran was an agent of 'Ahmedi' and Zionist lobbies.
Moreover, Fazl reminded that Imran gave a fake decree with the reference of Maulana Saeed Ahmad Usmani, who had passed away in 2010.
A few days ago, the JUI-F leader had accused Imran of being supported and funded by Ahmedis, saying that the PTI chief had promised to benefit the lobby if voted to power. Fazl had predicted a bloodbath if Imran came into power.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/05/2013
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Food for thought, and something those who say we could have rescued our embassy personnel have to address. As the old saying goes, professionals study logistics...
By Billy Birdzell
On April 30, 2013, Fox News aired an interview with a supposed member of U.S. Special Operations Command who said that members of "C-110," who were training in Croatia on September 11, 2012, could have both arrived at the Benghazi consulate in 4-6 hours and arrived before the second attack on the annex during which Tyronne Woods and Glen Doherty were killed. The mystery man critiques the Obama administration's decision-making, yet offers no information as to how C-110 would have influenced the battle in such a way that the outcome would have been different. Perhaps because it was actually impossible for C-110 to arrive before the attack, and if they did, they would not have been able to do anything that would have prevented our heroes, Woods and Doherty, from being killed.
"C-110" stands for Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 10th Special Forces Group. It is a unique company within the 10th SF Group in that it is trained as a Commander's in-Extremis Force (CIF). Each of the five active duty SF Groups has a CIF and they respond to important threats within their geographic area which are below the threshold for, or availability of, elements from the Joint Special Operations Command (like the Delta Force). A CIF has approximately 40 operators.
According to the Pentagon timeline posted by CNN, the enemy attack began at 2142 and all US personnel were out of the consulate by 2330. By 2330, Ambassador Christopher Stevens and the foreign service information officer, Sean Smith, were dead. President Obama was briefed at 2300 and SOF were approved to launch from Croatia (C-110) and the United States (Delta Force) at 0239 and 0253 respectively. At 0515, the attack began against the annex. Doherty and Woods were killed by mortar fire shortly thereafter.
Obama gave the launch order at 0239. The mystery operator said 4-6 hours. That's 0639-0839. Woods and Doherty died at 0515. An Air Force C-17 was evacuating personnel from the Benghazi airport at 0740. Mystery man and Fox News can't add. Strike one.
For argument's sake, assume Obama gave the launch order 10 minutes after he met with General Dempsey and Secretary Panetta at 2300. Four to six hours turns into 0310-0510. Six hours, however, would have been impossible.
If the Commander of European Command coordinated with his counterpart in Africa Command as soon as the National Command Center informed General Dempsey at 2230 and they diverted a C-17 to Croatia in anticipation, it is still highly unlikely the plane would have been on the ground in Croatia before midnight; it takes an hour to fly to Croatia from Germany and a crew would have had to have gotten ready, briefed, examined contingency plans, and fueled the plane. From Zaton Military Airport in Croatia, it is over 900 miles to Benghazi, which would have taken approximately two hours in a C-17 cargo plane. Zaton is on the coast and it more likely the CIF would have flown out of Udbina Airport, but this is a best case scenario.
Assuming the Air Force was willing to land a C-17 at the Benghazi airport with an unknown security situation, once on the ground, the 40-man CIF would have then had to have moved to the annex which was 30 km away. Moving such a far distance would have required vehicles. 40 operators can move in 8 HMMWVs, which can fit into one C-17. However, did they have the vehicles with them? Did they have everything on the training mission that they needed to go into combat? If not, it would have taken more time for someone to get everything ready. Maybe the man of mystery is creative and planned on renting cars from Avis (yes, Avis has a location at the Benghazi Airport) and using stealth to get to the consulate in a move akin to the French using taxis to get to the front in order to stop the Kaiser's hordes back in 1914. Mystery man is really a cook who has never been on a deployment. Strike two.
Even if one of them had Avis First and the cars were waiting on the runway, the timing would have been iffy. Parachuting would have been another option. There is a large, open field close to the U.S. consulate at the southwest intersection of Third Ring Road and Shan Al-Andulus Road that could have accommodated the CIF. However, one is defenseless while parachuting, so it is a good idea to insert a good distance from the action to ensure one is not shot before his boots hit the ground. The Benghazi Zoo is only 3 miles from the consulate and the combination of trees and animal cages would have provided good cover, as well as entertainment, in case someone saw 40 people parachuting into the middle of the city.
Assuming magical planes were waiting for the CIF and they were somehow able to physically get to the annex before 0515, mystery man failed to mention that Doherty and Woods were killed by mortar fire. Forty operators armed with rifles and light-machine guns can neither stop mortar rounds nor determine from where the mortar is being fired. The only thing the CIF would have done had they gotten to the annex before 0515 is created more targets and overcrowded the consulate.
Even if the CIF was on ready 5 (fully armed, sitting in the aircraft with pilots at the controls) in Sigonella (the closest European base to Benghazi) with advanced warning of an attack but unsure of the time, and they launched at 2232 on only-in-Hollywood orders from someone other than the president, they would not have been able to do anything about Stevens and Smith's deaths, nor stopped the mortar rounds. Strike three.
The person in the interview is a clown and I am incredibly disappointed in the news for not using Google.
Billy Birdzell served as a U.S. Marine Corps infantry officer and special operations team leader from 2001 to 2009. He is currently pursuing a master's degree in security studies at Georgetown University.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/05/2013
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#1
The person in the interview is a clown and I am incredibly disappointed in the news for not using Google.
If the author's current knowledge of Tier-1, and Tier-2 Special Forces, In-extremis Force opns, and Non-Combatant Evacuation (NEO) planning is based on Google searches and hypothetical "Pentagon" timelines, I too am "incredibly disappointed". The name calling speaks for itself.
As an aside, USMC time-in-grade (TIG) for promotion from Captain to Major is 9-11 years. Appears the author may have left the service as a Captain.
#3
Well, I cannot speak for the AFRICOM CIF force in 2012, but - way back in the early 1980's - I know how things worked in the 82nd Airborne Division. My perspective then was as War Plans Officer for one brigade of the 82nd. And - I will guess that a US Special Forces Company designated as CIF will operate the same way.
Your overall unit is designated a "Ready Force". Within that unit, you have an element that is designated the "Initial Ready Force" - and it is IN FACT sitting at the airfield, next to full-prepared, fueled and armed US Air Force aircraft, with aircrews sleeping within 100 meters - and if the National command Authority said "go" - the wheels of the first aircraft would be off the ground within 120 minutes. In Emergency Deployment Readiness Exercise tests, the "IRC" (Initial Ready Company") was usually off the ground within 75 minutes.
It would make no sense at all to even have an regional Army Component CIF designated unless you also had both transport and CAP air assets also designated and on ready status.
A small CIF would probably not deploy via C-17, which would be much larger than needed. But - I am ignorant of current airlift assets available in the Mediterranean Theater. I would not expect a small ready force to plan to close the last 30 miles to an URGENT objective by road, within a potentially hostile country. The risk of that would outweigh the risk of inserting by parachute. Ideally, rotary wing aircraft would be supplied from some nearby source (carrier group?) to fly air-landed element from airfield to mission objective area.
In all cases, the "waterfall cascade" concept of notifications from top command to lowest execution unit should not be sequential. The military - particularly in reaction force situations - uses the concept of a "warning order" that goes out as soon as potential deployment situation is identified. A warning order should flow from top to bottom in about 30 minutes these days. It just designates the forces to participate, gives them a rough target location, and perhaps sets in progress an immediate relocation to a mission-specific jump-off point. A more detailed Operations Order then follows - but - you do NOT wait for the full OPORD to begin deployment to the target area.
At least one company from each Ranger Battalion, and the IRC from the 82nd Airborne Division can insert into ANY SPOT ON EARTH within about 15 hours of an execution order - with a full battalion inserted within 24 hours - and that is deploying from the continental USA. Within their regions, each regional command can probably ROUTINELY insert their primary reaction force element into any spot within their region within 6-8 hours. That's in worst case, and includes niceties such as clearing overflight routes through national airspace. For Libya, approach could be over international waters, removing an hour or two of necessary "dwell time".
Billy Birdzell's comments sound like they came from the perspective of a bureaucrat talking about routine deployment of an isolated military unit. His comments did not sound like they were taking into account the way that Joint Quick Reaction Forces are staged and deployed. And - I am sure that QRF's are particularly prepared for incidents occurring on anniversaries of 9-11.
There would be one valid excuse for an AFRICOM QRF not staging toward a developing incident in Libya - and that would be if a more serious "hot spot" threat had also been identified elsewhere - and the CIF was given that other threat as a higher-priority stand-by target. But - I have no suggestion of this.
#4
Assuming magical planes were waiting for the CIF and they were somehow able to physically get to the annex before 0515, mystery man failed to mention that Doherty and Woods were killed by mortar fire. Forty operators armed with rifles and light-machine guns can neither stop mortar rounds nor determine from where the mortar is being fired. The only thing the CIF would have done had they gotten to the annex before 0515 is created more targets and overcrowded the consulate.
#7
If those SEALS carried in a AN/PEQ-1A or some other Laser Designator variant, chances are very high they knew they had a predator overhead or were expecting some other type of platform. If you've got a Pred and overhead cover, your chances of survival are pretty good.
The capabilities which airborne FMV (Full Motion Video) brings to the game are virtually endless. If those SEALS were actually talking to the Pred, well that brings up an entirely new dimension.
Placing effective mortar fire on top of a building requires a bit of skill or a large amount of luck...or both. I too would like to know more about the mortar fire that killed these two brave men.
#8
Said it before:
Although laser designators were after my time, I would guess painting a target is a waste of time at the very best if you're not sure you have somebody ready to shoot for you. Even be in commo with a shooter ready to drop the hammer.
So it seems likely that the SEAL had some hope of somebody shooting for him. Not just a "hope", but the real deal ready for targetting info and a weapons free order.
Just exactly how fast does the CIF have to get there, if air assets are providing covering fire in the interm? Acting as if it's CIF on the ground or nothing seems to be illegitimately shaping the argument.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey ||
05/05/2013 7:14
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#9
Just exactly how fast does the CIF have to get there, if air assets are providing covering fire in the interm?
The RED FORCE will likely break contact if an armed Predator fires Hellfire(s), or fast movers show up, or additional personnel and firepower arrive via HALO (high altitude low opening) parachute, or other insertion method. If nobody shows up in 3-4 hours or less, RED FORCE can pretty much assume the facility has been written off.
#11
If they exist, Congress can subpoena them. If they have been subsequently wiped, that tells you a lot
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/05/2013 11:03
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#12
For the decision to be made there wouldn't be enough time, I'm wondering how could they have known how long this attack would last? To not even make an attempt.
For Ty Woods to give up his position identifying the mortar site he knew he'd have back up.
I am so very angry with this extreme coverup, and with Hilary's what difference does it make comment, Jay Carney's it was a long time ago comment and especially Obama continuing with his campaigning at the time disgusts me to no end.
The White House is scrambling to cover their tracks and I want justice and see these clowns kicked out of office.
Posted by: Jan ||
05/05/2013 12:28
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#13
Let there be no mistake, the decision to abandon a US diplomatic mission, annex, or personnel overseas which are under attack could have only come from one man.
#14
The problem I have with Mr. Birdzell's analysis is that it is retrospective: Because we now know that Woods and Doherty died shortly after 515, or so he says, we might as well have taken our sweet time launching a rescue effort, because it wouldn't have gotten there in time to save them. At the time, the assumption had to be made that Woods and Doherty -- what with them being skilled and determined operators -- would hang tough. Doing something may not have saved them, but doing nothing was certainly far worse.
Posted by: Matt ||
05/05/2013 14:12
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#15
1. This is in Foreign Policy. Not exactly an unbiased publication.
2. Unless Mr. Birdzell is still 'in the loop', he cannot possibly have intimate knowledge of the SOF situation four years after his departure from the Marines.
3. It's also highly unlikely that, after four years away from active service in the Marines and the SOF community, Mr. Birdzell has intimate knowledge of what assets were in-theater at that time, what the current SOP and contingency plans were, what AFRICOM and the other commands were doing at the time of the assault, et cetera, et cetera.
4. The Benghazi timeline is still not set in concrete; I've revised my own many several times since last September, plus the ones I have obtained from open sources (including CNN) vary.
On a personal (and quite unprofessional) note: It will be very interesting to see where Mr. Birdzell gains employment upon completion of his degree at Georgetown.
[An Nahar] Clashes erupted in the Libyan capital on Friday between crowds demonstrating against militias in the city and supporters of a law to exclude Qadaffy-era officials from top government jobs, an AFP journalist said.
Several hundred people gathered in Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... 's central Algeria Square to protest against militias that have been laying siege to the justice and foreign ministries to call for the sacking of officials from the ousted regime of Muammar Qadaffy ... one of those little rainstorms from the Arab Spring...
Protesters waved placards reading "The era of the militias is over" and "Attacks on the ministries are attacks on the Libyan people" as well as "No to weapons, yes to dialogue."
The crowd marched to Martyrs' Square where they clashed with demonstrators calling for the adoption of the law to exclude Qadaffy-era officials from top government posts, although no one was hurt.
The main demonstration then left the square for the prime minister's office to "express Tripolitans' solidarity with the government and the legitimate authorities in the country," an organizer said.
Libya's army had taken up positions earlier on Friday at strategic sites around the capital, and soldiers in pickup trucks mounted with machineguns were also deployed on Martyrs' Square ahead of the protests.
Meanwhile, ...back at the Senate, the partisans of Honorius went for their knives and the partisans of Stilicho went for the doors... in the eastern city of Benghazi, gunnies waving guns broke up a protest by a group demonstrating against the sieges of government ministries in Tripoli, activist Mabrouka al-Mesmari said.
"There were 15 of us at the demonstration. A group of armed gunnies came and stopped us from gathering and threatened us with their weapons," she said.
Gunmen in Tripoli have encircled the Foreign Ministry since Sunday and the justice ministry since Tuesday, to demand that the General National Congress (GNC) adopt a bill that would purge former officials of the ousted regime of Muammar Qadaffy.
The same groups, most of them former rebels who fought to oust Qadaffy in 2011, briefly occupied the finance ministry on Monday.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[Pak Daily Times] The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP) had declared war against the state of Pakistain and killed about 40,000 Paks, and yet 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... was expecting to come to power on the crutches of the TTP, said Raja Riaz Ahmed, former deputy opposition leader in the Punjab Assembly.
In a statement issued on Saturday, he said that Pakistain Moslem League-Nawaz's political selfishness had no parallel. "How many more cold-blooded murders by the TTP will melt the deep-frozen heart of Nawaz Sharif to condemn the barbarity of Death Eaters who were on a killing spree of candidates belonging to the moderate and democratic forces?" Raja Riaz said.
He said that the TTP killed an ANP's National Assembly candidate and his minor son in 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... the other day, but Nawaz and his party leadership was not moved a bit over the tragic deaths. He said that Nawaz Sharif's moral bankruptcy had been exposed to the core and he had passed the test of inhumanity because he was not sharing grief with the victims' families who did not bow before the Taliban's enforced sharia. He said that a Moslem and good human being would not hesitate to share grief with other Moslems or fellow human beings in the moments of grief. He said that it was shocking that Nawaz and his party seemed to have been emasculated to the extent of indifferent entity, having no feelings for human tragedies.
He said the PML-N chief's silence was solely propelled by political self-aggrandisement to climb to the seat of power by using the TTP as a springboard. "But their calculations and obsession for power will definitely crash them in a quagmire of ignominy and derision on May 11." Raja Riaz said that the people of Pakistain were watching PML-N's moves and conduct, and would pay them in the same way on the Election Day. "It was naïve on their part to presume that they could enter the corridors of power by hoodwinking the masses," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[Pak Daily Times] Pak embassy officials visited a hospital in north India on Saturday where a Pak prisoner was at death's door in the intensive care unit after being attacked by an Indian inmate.
Sanaullah suffered multiple head injuries in a prison in India's northern city of Jammu in an apparent tit-for-tat attack after an Indian prisoner, Sarabjit Singh, was fatally assaulted in Pakistain.
On Friday, Sanaullah was airlifted to a government hospital in Chandigarh.
A spokeswoman for the government hospital said Sanaullah was in the intensive care unit and on a ventilator as his condition "continues to remain critical".
The Pak High Commission (embassy) officials "came to the hospital and we have given them Sanaullah's medical update", added Manju Wadwalkar, the spokeswoman of the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research Hospital.
Sanaullah, who hails from Sialkot in Pakistain, was attacked by a prisoner who was identified as a former Indian army soldier nearly 24 hours after Singh's death in Lahore.
India's foreign ministry said Pakistain High Commission officials had been given daily access to Sanaullah.
Pakistain's foreign ministry said earlier in the week in a statement that the "obvious retaliation to the death of Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh is condemnable".
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
"next!"
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/05/2013 10:22
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[An Nahar] Five Islamist jacket wallahs on Saturday targeted a military patrol near Gao in northern Mali, leaving two Malian soldiers and the attackers dead, a Malian military source said.
Spending five lives to get two? Not terribly efficient...
"A Malian military patrol was in the village of Hamakouladji (40 kilometers/25 miles north of Gao) this Saturday," the source who requested anonymity told Agence La Belle France Presse.
"Jihadists blew themselves up as (the patrol) passed. Two Malian troops were killed on the spot. Five jihadists also died," said the source in Gao, north Mali's main town.
La Belle France launched a military intervention in the west African country in January to quash al-Qaeda-linked groups that had taken control of the north.
The French-led campaign destroyed the bases and installations of armed Islamist groups in northern Mali, leaving them unable to conduct coordinated operations, but they are still capable of small-scale attacks against Malian and French soldiers.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/05/2013
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[Bangla Daily Star] Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina ...Bangla dynastic politician and current Prime Minister of Bangladesh. She has been the President of the Bangla Awami League since the Lower Paleolithic. She is the eldest of five children of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father of Bangla. Her party defeated the BNP-led Four-Party Alliance in the 2008 parliamentary elections. She has once before held the office, from 1996 to 2001, when she was defeated in a landslide. She and the head of the BNP, Khaleda Zia show such blind animosity toward each other that they are known as the Battling Begums.. 's offer of talks to the opposition for reaching an understanding on ways to hold national election with participation of all political parties has met with rejection from the opposition. The nation is left disappointed. Khaleda Zia Three-term PM of Bangla, widow of deceased dictator Ziaur Rahman, head of the Bangla Nationalist Party, an apparent magnet for corruption ... in her massive public rally at Shapla Chattar yesterday gave a 48-hour ultimatum to the government to announce its decision to restore caretaker government system or else she would accentuate movement for the ouster of the incumbent government. Expressing solidarity with Hefajat-e Islam's siege programme scheduled today, she virtually seemed to have leaned on the radical side as counter-poise to Shahbagh Projonmo Chottor.
With the pronouncement of an ultimatum, the barometer of political temperature has shot up. We have to see how Hefajat-e Islam's blockade programme goes today to be able to gauge the level of tension.
However sympathetic we have been with the opposition's sentiments over a lack of space and oppression they have been subjected to, we have to say that ultimatum is not the language of democratic politics.
The spirit in which the prime minister had offered talks to the opposition should have been met with some reciprocity in view of the fact that without discussion between major political parties no pathway can be laid for peaceable and negotiated settlement of the interim caretaker issue.
This brings the stance of the opposition BNP into a sharper focus. Its insistence that the government concede the demand for a restoration of the caretaker system has in recent days been tempered by a call for a credible election-time government prior to the actual voting. That seems like having the potential for a good beginning, a process the opposition will have been well advised to carry forward through engaging the ruling party in negotiations across the table.
But we must make it abundantly clear that the government needs to release all the tossed in the slammer ... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not... opposition leaders and withdraw cases against them by way of proving its bona fides in regard to creating an atmosphere conducive to holding a dialogue between the two sides. This is absolutely crucial for the flickering prospect for talks to materialise in some shape or form. We should emphasise here that laying any precondition to the talks cannot be helpful just as an open-ended unfocused discourse would be of little meaning.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/05/2013
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[TOLONEWS] Taliban forces of Evil captured and took away 28 local police and 5 national police in northern Faryab province on Wednesday evening, local officials said.
The northern Faryab province parliamentarians said that these local police forces went missing after a clash with the Taliban in Ghurmach district of the province.
The Taliban launched an attack on four check posts of local police in Ghurmach district where 33 local and national police were taken away by bad boys.
They added that both sides have suffered casualties as a result of the festivities but the exact figure is not clear.
"During the festivities, Taliban took away 28 local police and 5 national police in Ghurmach district, local officials as well confirmed the reports," MP Rangina Kargar said.
Meanwhile, ...back at the Council of Boskone, Helmuth ordered the entire 614th quadrant searched. The Green Lensman must be found!... Faryab's Governor Mohammadullah Baktash confirms that a number of police forces have vanished from the area but he does not tell about the exact number of the forces.
"A number of the coppers have disappeared, it is unclear if they previously compromised with the Taliban or their ammunition finished," Baktash said.
The parliamentarians said that clash is still going on in the area but the Ministry of Interior rejected the claims.
"I don't confirm the continuation of festivities. Based on the reports, the police retaliated to Taliban's attack. We have casualties but the figure is still unclear," the Ministry of Interior's Spokesman Sediq Sediqi told TOLOnews.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/05/2013
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#1
"A number of the coppers have disappeared, it is unclear if they previously compromised with the Taliban or their ammunition finished," Baktash said.
count the brass and blood spots
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/05/2013 9:30
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[Pak Daily Times] At least eight snuffies were killed and three hideouts destroyed in security forces' action against Islamic fascistiin Orakzai Agency ... crawling with holy men, home to Darra Adam Khel, the world's largest illegal arms bazaar. 14 distinct tribes of beturbanned primitives inhabit Orakzai agency's 1500 or so square kilometers... on Saturday, while faceless myrmidonsrubbed out a tribal leader in Khyber Agency.
According to details, security forces conducted operations against Islamic fascistiin different areas of Upper Orakzai Agency, including Qismat Sanga and Sheen Qamar. The forces engaged the suspected hideouts of snuffies with heavy artillery fire and destroyed three of them, killing eight bad boys.
In Baizrot, a landmine by the roadside went off, but no loss of life was reported. Meanwhile, ...back at the pond, Gloria slowly backed away from the eight-foot bull frog. If the creature croaked she would surely be deafened... in the Sanober area of Tehsil Bara, Khyber Agency, faceless myrmidons barged into the house of local tribal leader Haider Khan and fled after shooting him.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/05/2013
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[Bangla Daily Star] The Qawmi madrasa-based Islamist group Hefajat-e Islam is to lay siege to the capital today.
The organization claimed that it would mobilise several lakh workers and supporters at Amin Bazar, Abdullahpur, Demra, Jatrabari, and at Kanchpur, Postogola and Babubazar bridges to make the Dhaka siege programme a success.
The organization has recently been campaigning to realise its 13-point demand that includes stern punishment to "atheist leaders" of the Shahbagh movement.
Hefajat Secretary General Junaid Babunagri told The Daily Star yesterday that their programme would begin at daybreak. He said Hefajat's ameer Shah Ahmad Shafi would say when to end the siege.
With the country's main opposition BNP rendering its support to the siege, Hefajat-e Islam yesterday rejected the prime minister's call to call off the programme.
It said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina ...Bangla dynastic politician and current Prime Minister of Bangladesh. She has been the President of the Bangla Awami League since the Lower Paleolithic. She is the eldest of five children of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father of Bangla. Her party defeated the BNP-led Four-Party Alliance in the 2008 parliamentary elections. She has once before held the office, from 1996 to 2001, when she was defeated in a landslide. She and the head of the BNP, Khaleda Zia show such blind animosity toward each other that they are known as the Battling Begums.. had not given any assurance of meeting its 13-point demand.
"In her speech, there was an effort to confuse the nation through contradictory and wrong interpretations [of the demands]," said Mufti Fayezullah, joint secretary general of Hefajat-e Islam.
"That's why, we have decided to continue with the May-5 Dhaka blockade programme," he said.
Additional Secretary Khandakar Mainuddin of the home ministry said law enforcers would cooperate with Hefajat in holding peaceful rallies at the entry points of the capital.
However, women are made to be loved, not understood... Hefajat's appeal for permission to hold a rally in front of Baitul Mukarram mosque this afternoon was turned down.
Inspector General of Police (IGP) Hassan Mahmood Khandker, who yesterday had a meeting with different deputy commissioners of Dhaka and superintendents of police of different districts surrounding the capital, told The Daily Star that public life would not be disrupted during the siege.
Asked whether people would be able to get in and out of the capital, the IGP said they would try their best to make sure people do not have to suffer.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/05/2013
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In which the Vicar of Christ -- will he, nill he -- takes a hand in this little world war of ours.
[Telegraph] The cathedral of Otranto in southern Italia is decorated with the skulls of 800 Christian townsfolk beheaded by Ottoman soldiers in 1480. A week tomorrow, on Sunday May 12, they will become the skulls of saints, as Pope Francis canonises all of them. In doing so, he will instantly break the record for the pope who has created the most saints.
I wonder how he feels about that. Benedict XVI announced the planned canonisations just minutes before dropping the bombshell of his own resignation. You could view it as a parting gift to his successor. Or a booby trap.
The 800 men of Otranto -- whose names are lost, except for that of Antonio Primaldo, an old tailor -- were rounded up and killed because they refused to convert to Islam. In 2007, Pope Benedict recognised them as martyrs "killed out of hatred for the faith". That is no exaggeration. Earlier, the Archbishop of Otranto had been cut to pieces with a scimitar.
Some accounts of the martyrdoms will raise a sceptical eyebrow: Primaldo reportedly remained standing after he was decapitated, a Pythonesque miracle that stretches credulity.
But the murders really happened, and their significance is immense. The Turks had been sent by Mohammed II, who captured the "second Rome" of Constantinople and planned to do the same to the first. His fleet landed in Otranto, Italia's easternmost city, and laid siege. The citizens held out for two weeks, allowing the King of Naples to muster his forces. Rome did not fall.
"All of this took place because of the indifference of the politicians of Europe to the Ottoman menace," wrote the conservative Italian senator Alfredo Mantovano in an article about the martyrdoms in 2007. You can guess where his argument was heading. "In Otranto, no one displayed rainbow pacifist flags, nor invoked international resolutions... Today Europe is under attack, not by an institutionally organised Moslem phalanx but by a patchwork of non-governmental organizations of fundamentalist Moslems."
Pope Francis desires warm relations with Islam -- so, as I say, I wonder how pleased he was to discover this event in his diary. Already the interfaith lobby is squirming, always a fun sight. But, equally, the Church can't allow the ceremony to be hijacked by rabble-rousers.
There are, however, good secular reasons for welcoming this canonisation. Our history is distorted by a nagging emphasis on Christian atrocities during the Crusades combined with airbrushing of Moslem Andalusia, whose massacre of Jews in 1066 and exodus of Christians in 1126 are rarely mentioned. Otranto reminds us that Islam had its equivalent of crusaders -- mighty forces who nearly captured Rome and Vienna.
The Moslem Brüderbund is still committed to a restored Caliphate; this week its supporters prophesied the return of a Moslem paradise to Andalusia. These are pipe dreams, it goes without saying. But they matter because they inspire freelance Islamists whose fascination with southern Europe has nothing to do with welfare payments. They think of it as theirs because they know bits of history that we've forgotten.
Our amnesia comes in handy in dialogue with Moslems: we grovel a few apologies for the Crusades, sing the praises of the Alhambra, and that's it. But what does this self-laceration achieve? Arguably it's counterproductive, because it shows Moslems that we're ashamed of our heroes as well as our villains. Which is why the mass canonisation of 800 anonymous men is so welcome: it ensures that, even though the West has forgotten their names, it won't be allowed to forget their deaths.
#1
Given the occasion, the solemnity, the tragedy, I am ashamed that my first and primary thought is that this act of sacred honor is an up-yours to Muslims and their apologists.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey ||
05/05/2013 7:06
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#2
Works for me, Richard.
Posted by: Barbara ||
05/05/2013 9:13
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#3
I'm not ashamed. It's a confirmation of faith and renewal that Christianity will not yield like so many politicians.
Posted by: Charles ||
05/05/2013 9:56
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#4
resistance to forced conversion to any faith is a right. Can you name any other current religions that are so insecure in their appeal and righteousness that they have to FORCE conversions and kill those who leave?
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/05/2013 10:50
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Just to clarify, the "up-yours" part works for me. ;-p
Posted by: Barbara ||
05/05/2013 10:53
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I suppose I could rationalize it by saying that any Muslim opposition would--possibly--straighten out some western apologists for the Religion of Peace My Sweet Aunt Fanny.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey ||
05/05/2013 11:00
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#7
Doubtful, Richard.
The only thing that will straighten out most of the Western useful idiots apologists is a scimitar applied forcefully to the neck - and then it will be too late for them.
Posted by: Barbara ||
05/05/2013 11:49
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#8
Well Richard it works like this... [takes deep breath... shuts down all logical thinking... enters liberal thinking mode....]
The 800 or so (And their archbishop) had it coming for creating a cathedral and bringing the church to what would eventually be part of the Islamic World. I bet they were worshiping in public, spreading the word, and displaying their crosses and religious symbols too! They pre-provoked the poor misunderstood members of the Religion of Peace! They DESERVED it!
Whew! [rubs head.. restores logical thinking...] Ok I have to go lie down now and recover.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
05/05/2013 20:18
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#10
I seem to recall those Muslim Invaders having a rude welcoming from Naples forces, Jim.
And they were remembered, maybe not by the world, but by the town and the faithful of Italy. Otherwise their skulls wouldn't be there to be blessed. It's never sufficient for those who've stood for what is fundamentally RIGHT to be honored after the fact. But we who know, we who REMEMBER, will always honor them.
Might be little passionate, and 300 isn't the best example. But that darn poem in it's various translations stirs something in me. Perhaps the Tomb of the Unknowns in Washington is more in-line.
Posted by: Charles ||
05/05/2013 20:56
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[PJMedia] I can't believe I'm about to say this, but Mitch McConnell might have just won the internet.
McConnell has a tumblr -- yes, he has a tumblr -- called ObamaDrink. Send in a picture of yourself sharing drinks with an empty chair, and be entered to win drinks with a chair filled with Mitch McConnell.
Click on headline for examples. Click on ObamaDrink, above, to go to Senator McConnell's tumblr -- whatever that is -- to see submitted photos and add your own.
We gotta submit that pic of Kimmie in his underwear with the cognac...
Please do -- I think Fred would enjoy winning... or Kimmie winning -- which would certainly be interesting for all involved.
Too many news outlets are leaving off Mrs. Tsarnaev's proper last name these days. Can't imagine why...
Federal law enforcement officials are sharpening their focus on the widow of the dead suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing after finding al-Qaeda's Inspire magazine and other radical Islamist material on her computer, according to law enforcement officials.
The probe of the computer belonging to Katherine Russell Tsarnaev,
See what I mean? It's like WaPo is trying to help her distance herself from her late, not-lamented husband. Why is the MSM doing that?
24, widow of Tamerlan Tsarnaev, is part of the effort by investigators to determine whether Russell-Tsarnaev knew anything about the April 15 bombing plot or helped her husband and his brother, Dzhokhar, hide from authorities, according to the officials.
Officials have concluded that fingerprints and female DNA found on fragments of the pressure-cooker bombs do not match Russell-Tsarnaev's, but they say they are continuing to investigate.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, the surviving suspect, has told investigators that he and his brother learned to build the bombs from an English-language Inspire magazine and that they were partly influenced by the online sermons of Anwar al-Awlaki, an al-Qaeda propagandist who was killed by a U.S. drone strike in Yemen in 2011.
According to officials, DzhoÂkhar Tsarnaev also told investigators that he and his brother built the bombs in Tamerlan Tsarnaev's apartment in Cambridge, Mass., where the elder brother lived with Russell and their daughter. Officials said that Russell-Tsarnaev called her husband when she saw his photograph on television -- following the FBI's release of the pictures of the suspects -- but did not notify authorities.
That's likely a crime right there and is a logical reason for her not to be cooperating with authorities, as noted here. She's lawyered up and clammed up.
One of the key questions for investigators is whether the radical Islamist materials on Russell-Tsarnaev's computer belonged to her or were downloaded by her husband or someone else.
Russell-Tsarnaev's attorney, Amato DeLuca, did not return phone calls seeking comment. DeLuca had previously said his client played no role in the plot and was shocked to learn of the involvement of her husband and brother-in-law.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/05/2013
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#1
Jeff Foxworthy observed that women who like bad boys usually wind up hanging out of a trailer in a tube top, screaming "lock his ass up!"
But Mrs. Tsarnaev stayed in her burqa like a good girl. Why? Was it (1) active complicity; (2) fear of retaliation by Speedbump and/or his associates; (3) Stockholm syndrome? She had to have been pretty brainwashed to live as she did.
Whether she committed a crime isn't immediately evident to me. Depends on what she said when she called hubby: she may have told him to turn himself in, before he got killed. She may not have known his location, thus, no relevant information to report. Even if she was actively complicit, proving that she had the requisite intent could be difficult.
Don't mean to defend this dumb, screwed-up lady, but I'm not ready to condemn her either.
#4
Here in Riverside, at University of California, Riverside, we easily have about two dozen young ladies running around dressed like Mrs. Tsarnaev. They extoll the virtues of Islam and how the religion respects women. Seems most of these misguided women are in gender studies, and the radical feminists and critical theory crap leads them to believe that hiding in a burqah makes them less of a sex object to men.
I gained some insight into why the academics and lefties like Islam with that, it fits their narrative of white men and Christian white men at that oppressing women and minorities...what they carefully edit from the narrative is the arab slave traders and how women are treated as livestock in the Middle East. The westernized misrepresented religion bears no resemblance to that actually practiced in the ME.
Mrs. Tsarnaev may be one of those ladies who was originally brainwashed by a radical feminist professor.
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
05/05/2013 11:14
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#5
Hard to carry weapons in a tube top, Random.
Well,...umm, uh...never mind.
#6
I don't know about that. Once saw and advertisement for a holster which fits it right up between the bumpers. Woman could reach up, draw [down], and fire in about 1.5 seconds...
#8
Right, I'm well aware of those bizarro leftie/muzzie feminist types, and the fanaticism of recent converts. I'm just evaluating this from a prosecutor's standpoint.
I'm just sayin, given the information available so far, I'm not convinced Mrs. Tsarnaev is guilty of any crime. Specific intent is an element of any crime she'd be charged with, and so far I'm not seeing proof of that. Her motivations remain unclear and other explanations remain plausible. For now.
If anything is a red flag, it's that her parents immediately mortgaged their house, presumably to pay for her legal defense. If she's truly as innocent and clueless and shocked as her lawyer says, why would that be necessary?
#9
If anything is a red flag, it's that her parents immediately mortgaged their house, presumably to pay for her legal defense
Speaking as a parent with reasonable news awareness, RandomJD, that's what I would do, regardless of guilt or innocence. Actually, especially if I believed my young and stupidly naive offspring were innocent. Look at poor Zimmerman, down in Florida, will likely have lost everything, along with his parents, defending himself against a legal lynching. After all, if the money turns out not to be needed, it can be used to pay off the mortgage that provided it, for only the cost of the application. But after the hue and cry is raised, it may be impossible to find someone willing to loan the parents anything at all.
#10
they probably just got a great rate and wanted the interest deduction for taxes...
*snort*
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/05/2013 13:44
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#11
#7 Go Crazy
Good God - that's one of the most dangerous holsters I've ever seen! Any holster that requires you to point a gun at your chest should be avoided at all costs! Especially by a novice!
Posted by: Unang Omeans6347 ||
05/05/2013 14:11
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#12
Hm, good point, TW. Except, I can't imagine that any offspring of yours would make such an appalling series of bad judgments, that would necessitate such action on your part.
IMO, the extent of Mrs. Tsarnaev's radicalization is difficult to determine. I do not know if or where she went to college, or what she may have studied, which would be interesting information.
Because otherwise, she fits a pretty classic abused-wife profile. Apparently Speedbump was abusive to women long before he got religion. At the time she married him and had a baby, he was a garden-variety wife-beater, not an Islamonazi. Later, she busted her hump at a menial job to support him, which she was upset about, and may have started dressing as he demanded just to keep his anger in check.
I can only speculate, but it seems most of Mrs. Tsarnaev's life activities were coerced. If so, it would follow that any aiding/abetting may also have been out of fear of what he'd do to her if she didn't. Hard to say, without more information.
#14
I'm not cutting her any slack. Husband's gone to Russia and you didn't leave/divorce him? You can only play the abused wife card til you had a chance to run
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/05/2013 14:52
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#15
If anything is a red flag, it's that her parents immediately mortgaged their house
Katie is coming home to live in the basement. We'll need new laptops and pressure cookers !
#16
Pretty harsh there, Frank. Even General Patton recognized that PTSD/battle fatigue is distinct from malingering.
More to the point, I can't identify any acts of omission or commission that amount to an offense to charge her with (yet). And there's still the issue of requisite intent. Maybe she had it. Maybe she didn't.
#17
Harsh? at some point you have to take responsibility, even if it's for failure to act. We aren't talking a cultural scene that would've punished her for bailing out. SHE is an adult. SHE should be blamed for
1) not getting out if it was an abusive relationship - she had 6 mos to do so
2) not seeking help if she was oppressed to the point of PTSD. There's no dearth of available help, especially when your oppressor is GONE for 6 months
3) possibly participating
Quit giving camp followers and co-conspirators a pass because they're wymyns. They demand equality, I want to give them that
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/05/2013 18:01
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#18
Back up a sec, Frank. You're talking about judging her as a human being. I'm talking about charging her with a crime and getting a conviction that will stick. Not seeing how a case can be made just yet.
Don't get me wrong, I loved putting people in prison for a living. Guilty ones. Not innocent ones, whose way of life happened to offend me.
For example, I got forced into one of those by a superior with an attitude like yours. There was zero physical evidence, and the "victim's" testimony changed every time she opened her mouth. So I made damn sure the charges got dismissed. That was a guy charged with rape, by the way. A scumbag, and maybe he was guilty. But I couldn't prove it.
Believe me, you want federal prosecutors with a sense of ethics and restraint like that, who can check their prejudices and emotions at the door, especially with an administration like the one we have now.
[FoxNews] Fox News has learned the names of the self-described Benghazi "whistleblowers" who are set to testify before a widely anticipated congressional hearing on Wednesday.
Appearing before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee will be three career State Department officials: Gregory N. Hicks, the deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Libya at the time of the Benghazi terrorist attacks; Mark I. Thompson, a former Marine and now the deputy coordinator for Operations in the agency's Counterterrorism Bureau; and Eric Nordstrom, a diplomatic security officer who was the regional security officer in Libya, the top security officer in the country in the months leading up to the attacks.
Nordstrom previously testified before the oversight committee, which is chaired by Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif.,
... a very busy man, what with all the hearings he's been chairing, to the immense frustration of the Administration...
in October 2012. Of the three witnesses, he is the only one who does not consider himself a whistleblower. At last fall's hearing, however, Nordstrom made headlines by detailing for politicians the series of requests that he, Ambassador Stevens, and others had made for enhanced security at the U.S. consulate in Benghazi in the period preceding the attacks, requests mostly rejected by State Department superiors.
#1
I commend Issa, but how about he finish a project he starts; like Fast and Furious for one. where is the pressure on Holder and Champ for that little excursion, especially since el prezidente made a deal about US guns being responsible for all that violence in Mexico....
#2
Stalled until they can get around Executive Privilege. Which is why Obama did that.
Posted by: Charles ||
05/05/2013 9:58
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I was surprised to learn the Deputy Chief of Mission [a career foreign service officer] was set to testify. If he backs up the claims of his Regional Security Officer (RSO) who is set to testify a second time, it may not be so comfortable for the Hildebeast and Champ.
And with that knowledge we will learn why the talking points were changed. Was the White House caught by surprise? Did the president not want an al-Qaeda incident before the election?
The Champ Regime tends to take a "see no evil, hear no evil" approach to the problem of Islamic radicalism and terrorism.
In November 2009, when Maj. Nidal Hasan murdered 13 people and wounded dozens of others in a Fort Hood shooting spree, while repeatedly shouting "Allahu akbar," most Americans realized at once that the faithful follower of the extremist imam Anwar al-Awlaki (the spiritual leader of a number of the 9/11 hijackers) was a radical Muslim. But not the Champ -- whose administration misleadingly mislabeled the assault "workplace violence," thereby depriving the victims of benefits commensurate with combat injuries.
A long time ago on September 11, 2012, when al Qaeda terrorists stormed the American consulate in Benghazi, Libya, killing Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans, the Champ administration covered for the Islamic terrorists by blaming the incident on spontaneous reactions to a rudimentary Internet video critical of Islam. This false claim was repeated by both Ambassador Rice and Secretary Hildebeast in multiple public statements. A bullshi* claim also repeated by WH spokesperson, the odious and despicable Jay Carney.
Weeks later, the lie was fully exposed when former Klingon Director General David Petraeus reportedly testified before Congress that the initial "speaking points" produced by the Klingons "stated there were indications the attack was linked to al Qaeda," and suggested the terrorism reference was removed sometime during an interagency review process. Judicial Watch has filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against Champ's Director of National Intelligence seeking access to records detailing the attack, including the speaking points Petraeus says were scrubbed. We'll keep you posted.
More recently, on April 15, 2013, when Islamic terrorists attacked the Boston Marathon, killing three and maiming nearly 200 others, Champ refused to acknowledge their Muslim ties, instead admonishing the American people not to "rush to judgment -- not about the motivations of these individuals." Even after evidence gathered by the FBI proved conclusively that the bros. Tsarnaev were radical Islamists, Champ steadfastly refused to admit what was brutally obvious to the rest of the world. But not at all obvious to Homeland Insecurity Director, Big Sis, who eagerly parroted the regime's talking points.
None of this clear-cut evidence of the Champ administration's dishonesty about Islamic terrorism will come as a surprise to supporters of Judicial Watch. In fact, however, as it turns out, it may be only the tip of the iceberg -- the depths of which reach all the way down into this administration's actual collusion with known Islamic terrorist fronts.
Many Weekly Update readers will recall that in late January, we sounded the alarm about a top Obama State Department official, Mark Ward, participating in a December 2012, conference sponsored by two groups -- the Muslim American Society (MAS) and the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA) -- both with chillingly close ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, which is known as the parent organization of Hamas and al Qaeda.
At the conference, Ward conducted a seminar focused on career opportunities for Muslim youth. Here is how the event was billed: "Besides being a citizenship duty, there are benefits that Muslims can add to the American Muslim community and the global Muslim world by joining the US Foreign Services. This session will shed light on the different career opportunities for Muslim youth in the US Foreign Services Department. It will also clear any concerns that many people have feared about pursuing in this career."
[Bangla Daily Star] Rapid Action Battalion personnel incarcerated Book 'im, Mahmoud! three Jamaat-e-Islami ...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores... leaders and a member in the capital and seized 22 hand bombs, a revolver and a huge number of jihadi books from their possession early Saturday.
The arrestees are Nazrul Islam, 53, Jamaat ameer of Chapainawabganj district unit and also the principal of a school, Phulkuri Islamic Academy, in the district; Abdul Latif, 48, baitul maal (finance) secretary of the unit and also a teacher of local Birshreshtha Captain Mohiuddin Jahangir College; Md Abu Bakar, 42, nayeb-e-ameer of Feni district unit; and Shahjahan, 40, a member of the party's Chapainawabganj unit.
Acting on a tip-off, Rab personnel conducted a drive at a house at Uttara sector-4 around 2:30am and arrested Nazrul, Latif and Shahjahan along with 10 hand bombs, one foreign-made revolver, three bullets and Jihadi books, Director of Rab's legal and media wing Commander Habibur Rahman said at a press briefing.
A team of Rab-3 arrested Abu Bakar conducting a drive at Hotel Asia International in Motijheel of the capital around 3:00am. They also recovered 12 hand bombs and books of jihad from his room, he said.
Of them, Nazrul is an accused of six cases while Latif of one case, the Rab official said adding that all the cases were filed with Chapainawabganj Sadar Police Station.
The trio came to Dhaka to take part to the rally organised by the 18-party alliance Saturday afternoon, he added.
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[TOLONEWS] The Afghanistan's Caped PresidentHamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai ... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use... on Saturday has said that Afghanistan has never recognised the Durand Line.
Speaking at a presser in Kabul after the recent border festivities between the Afghan and Pak forces, President Karzai said Pak military installations across the Durand Line in the Afghan territory was an "futile attempt" to push Kabul to discuss the border issue with Islamabad, something President Karzai said his government "will never be ready for it."
"They [the Afghan people] should stand with this young man who was martyred in defending his soil," Karzai said, referring to a slain Afghan border policeman, Mohammad Qasim, who was killed Wednesday night in a border gunfire with Pak forces.
There were reports that two Pak soldiers were also maimed in the exchange of fire.
The Afghan president praised a nation-wide reaction of the Afghan people in encouraging their armed forces to defend their country, calling on the Taliban to "turn their weapons against the enemies of their properties."
Karzai's remarks are likely to unsettle already shaky ties with Pakistain and come as the US wants Pakistain to help Afghanistan persuade the Taliban to engage in peace talks ahead of the withdrawal of most foreign troops by the end of next year.
Afghanistan and Pakistain have had testy relations since Pakistain was formed in 1947, at the end of British colonial rule over India.
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#1
HHHHMMMM, HHHMMMM, I'm not sure but as per various Net Artics I'm not confident that Karzai was referring only to Pakistan when he called on the Taliban ro fight Afghanistan's enemies.
[Al Ahram] Iraqi electoral officials say a coalition led by Iraq's prime minister has won the largest single bloc of seats in seven of 12 provinces participating in local elections, and tied in eighth, although it failed to achieve a majority in any of the districts.
The results announced Saturday showed little change to preliminary results released last week. Crucially, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki ... Prime Minister of Iraq and the secretary-general of the Islamic Dawa Party.... 's State of Law coalition was the top vote-getter in Storied Baghdad ...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate... and in the southern oil hub of Basra.
The vote offers a measure of support for the country's political blocs heading into next year's parliamentary elections, which will determine who holds the prime minister's job and other federal posts.
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[Al Ahram] Twelve alleged Black Bloc members were incarcerated You have the right to remain silent... Friday night for attacks on Egypt's High Court in downtown Cairo, the deputy of the Prosecutor-General of North Cairo Court Wael Hassan tells Ahram Online.
The suspects were arrested within the High Court perimeter and are believed to belong to the black-clad anarchist-inspired youth group opposed to Islamist President Mohamed Morsi.
Hassan details to Ahram Online that the 12 were referred to investigation Saturday for their alleged involvement in inciting violence around the High Court area and face charges of vandalism and rioting.
A number of masked young men reportedly attempted to attack the High Court Friday evening, tossing Molotov cocktails at the courthouse and clashing with street vendors near the area.
Black Bloc made its first appearance on the eve of the second anniversary of Egypt's January 2011 revolution with the primary aim of fighting the Moslem Brüderbund, from which President Mohamed Morsi hails. Members of the group typically dress in black and mask their faces.
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[TOLONEWS] The Pak military has started building up check posts in Narai district of eastern Kunar province ... which is right down the road from Chitral. Kunar is Haqqani country..... , provincial governor said Saturday.
An Afghan delegation's investigations show that the Pakistain military have entered about 300 meters in Narai district of the province and started building military check-posts, the provincial governor Sayed Fazlullah Wahidi told TOLOnews.
"We have decided and ordered our military forces to stop them and push them back to their areas," Wahidi said.
He said the people informed authorities about the building up of the new military check-posts in Narai district and that they had also seen helicopters bringing equipment.
"We sent a delegation led by the provincial police chief in the area. Their investigation says that Pak military have entered about 300 meters and built a military check-post," he said.
It comes as, the Afghan officials have warned that if Pakistain's military violation continues in the border area, Afghan cops will strongly react against them.
The Afghan border military officials claimed to have killed at least seven Pak soldiers in the clash which took place between Afghan and Pakistain Border Forces late Wednesday night in Goshta district of eastern Nangarhar The unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country.. province.
One Afghan border police was killed and three others maimed, officials added.
Afghanistan has the longest border with Pakistain and this border has always been full of risk for the security of the country.
Alongside terrorists' infiltration from Pakistain into Afghanistan, Pakistain's military have also been problematic for Afghanistan.
The exchange is the latest incident in a series of cross-border attacks, which Afghan and Pakistain authorities have traded blame for initiating.
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[An Nahar] At least two people were rubbed out Friday in Conakry during fresh festivities between Guinean police and opposition protestors, a hospital source and an opposition official said.
"Three of our supporters were rubbed out Friday in Conakry," senior opposition official Cellou Dalein Diallo told AFP. A medic at a hospital in Conakry was able to confirm two deaths.
The troubled west African nation's opposition, protesting against a "unilateral" government decision to stage long-delayed legislative elections on June 30, had already clashed with police on Thursday.
A policeman who was seriously maimed in Thursday's unrest died of his injuries on Friday, a police front man said.
More than 20 people were maimed on Thursday when the protest march veered off its authorized course.
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[Bangla Daily Star] Hefajat-e Islam on Saturday rejected the prime minister's call for withdrawing its May 5 Dhaka siege programme, saying that she failed to give any guideline regarding its 13-point demand.
"In her speech, there was an effort to confuse the nation through contradictory and wrong interpretations (of the demands)," said Mufti Fayzullah, joint secretary general of Hefajat-e Islam.
"That's why, we have decided to continue with the May 5 Dhaka blockade programme," he said.
He was reading out a written statement while addressing a press briefing at Lalbagh Madrasa in the capital.
Any activities related to the rescue operation at the collapsed Savar building, Rana Plaza, will remain out of the purview of Hefajat programme, said Mufti Fayzullah.
The organization demanded compensation for those who laid their lives during the ongoing Hefajat-e Islam movement for the fulfillment of its 13-point demands and better treatment for the injured.
It also demanded release of the organization's members tossed in the slammer ... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not... during the movement.
Party secretary Junaid Babunagari, who was also present at the briefing, said they sought permission from Dhaka Metropolitan Police for holding a rally in front of Baitul Mukarram National Mosque for 3:00pm Sunday.
The Hefajat had announced the siege programme at its rally at the capital's Motijheel on April 6 to press home its 13-point demand, which included punishment to bloggers for "defaming" Islam and Prophet Muhammad (PTUI!).
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[TOLONEWS] A number of Afghan MPs on Saturday said that many boundary parts of the country are sold to Pakistain by some government circles.
Afghan MPs who went to Goshta District of eastern Nangarhar The unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country.. for investigation, believe that secret protocols were signed in eastern Nangarhar and Kunar province ... which is right down the road from Chitral. Kunar is Haqqani country..... s, based to the protocols, Pakistain claims its territory up to Kama district's bridges in Nangarhar.
The MPs said that "dealers should be identified and introduced to the country's courts.
"The building of the gate in Goshta district [ by Pak military] is not only the subject, as well, many parts of the boundary districts of Nangarhar province up to the bridge of Kama district are sold to Pakistain through signing protocols. The people who committed such treachery should be tried," MP Naeem Lalai Hamidzai said.
"Pakistain is building its military installations in boundary parts of Kunar province and they already founded their installations in Narai district of the province," said another MP Ghulam Sakhi Mashwani said.
"The protocols were signed in Goshta district and the government tries to hide these realities," said MP Abdul Latif Pedram.
Meanwhile, ...back at the buffalo wallow, Tex and his new-found Indian friend were preparing a little surprise for the bandidos... some other MPs have said that "there is national unity against Pakistain but at first, diplomatic ways should be sought to find a solution to the problem."
" There is a motivation to unite against Pakistain but Afghanistan's government should try to find lasting diplomatic solution for the problem, otherwise all Afghans will stand against Pakistain military's aggression," said MP Fawzia Kofi.
"Pakistain's servants in Afghanistan and the Taliban who are supporters of Pakistain's interests, should know that any country that tries to attack Afghanistan will face serious strikes and also security forces will give them mutual responses," said MP Baktash Siawash.
Meanwhile, ...back at the mall, Clarissa suddenly spied Mr. Bartlett at the checkout counter. He was buying Grecian Formula!... the House Speaker, Abdul Raouf Ibrahimi accused Pakistain of obvious aggression on Afghanistan soil, saying that Pakistain supports the Taliban.
"Pakistain has violated international norms and provides equipment to beturbanned goons for dispatching to Afghanistan. Pakistain's military move to our border parts is obvious aggression and they must be prevented." Abdul Raouf Ibrahimi said.
The MPs said that many other significant issues and national betrayal which are done in border areas will be disclosed on Monday, asking parliament speaker to openly hold Monday's meeting.
The comments come after officials in eastern Afghanistan criticized Pak military over building of check-posts in Goshta district of eastern Nangarhar and Narai district of eastern Kunar province.
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[Pak Daily Times] Pakistain Tehrik-e-Insaf ...a political party in Pakistan. PTI was founded by former Pakistani cricket captain and philanthropist Imran Khan. The party's slogan is Justice, Humanity and Self Esteem, each of which is open to widely divergent interpretations.... (PTI) chief Imran Khan ... aka Taliban Khan, who ain't the brightest knife in the national drawer... on Saturday pledged that if voted to power his party would abandon the war on terror as "it was an American war being fought on Pakistain's soil."
"I will order the army to shoot down the US drone if it crosses the Pak border," Imran Khan said while addressing election rallies in Buner, Swabi, Charsasda and Nowshera districts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... .
He alleged that JUI-F chief Mualana Falzur Rehman, ANP President Asfandyar Wali Khan and PML-N chief Mian 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... were dragging the country into a war of others.
The PTI chief alleged that Maulana Fazlur Rahman had enjoyed perks and privileges during the tenures of Pervez Perv Musharraf ... former dictator of Pakistain, who was less dictatorial and corrupt than any Pak civilian government to date ... and Asif Ali Zardari and now he was again fooling the masses in the name of religion to seek their support. He remained silent on drone attacks in Wazoo, but is now criticising the same, he added.
He alleged that some of the political and religious parties of the country were directly involved in the ongoing wave of militancy.
He said thousands of people were massacred during the Afghan war when they were misled by religious leaders during the US-Soviet Union war.
He said that according to US secret reports, Pak politicians had double standards as on one hand they supported the US aggression and on the other they spoke against the Americans in the public.
He further alleged that both Maulana Fazlur Rahman and Asfandyar Wali Khan had made huge assets abroad. Accountability of only 500 people after elections will put an end to the menace of corruption in the country forever, he added.
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President Barack Obama came close to ruling out deploying US troops to Syria, saying he did not foresee a scenario in which that would be beneficial to the United States or Syria.
"As a general rule, I don't rule things out as commander-in-chief because circumstances change and you want to make sure that I always have the full power of the United States at our disposal to meet American national security interests," Obama said. "Having said that, I do not foresee a scenario in which boots on the ground in Syria -- American boots on the ground in Syria -- would not only be good for America but also would be good for Syria."
So having said that he does not, can not and will not rule things out, he rules out ground troops in Syria. Shrewd, real shrewd...
Good illustration of the diffo between stupidity and ineptitude.
This president covers both. Jimmy Carter would be a significant improvement.
Speculation has mounted that the Obama administration could reverse its opposition to arming the rebels after the White House said last week that President Bashar Al Assad likely used chemical weapons on his people.
Obama has been reluctant to intervene in the war but faces mounting criticism that he has allowed the Assad regime to cross his own declared "red line" on using chemical weapons.
But the US president has also stressed that more proof is needed for the United States to step up its involvement in a civil war that has already claimed more than 70,000 lives and is now in its third year.
"How much more proof?"
"A lot more proof!"
Speaking during a visit to Costa Rica, Obama said there was evidence that chemical weapons had been used in Syria, but that "we don't know when, where or how they were used."
So he moved the red line...
But he noted that any strong evidence of the Assad regime using such weapons would be a "game changer" because they could fall into the hands of groups like the militant group Hezbollah, based in neighboring Lebanon.
"In terms of any additional steps that we take, it is going to be based on, number one the facts on the ground, number two it's going to be based on what's in the interest of the American people and our national security," Obama said. "As president of the United States I'm going to make those decisions based on the best evidence and after careful consultation because when we rush into things, when we leap before we look, then not only do we pay a price but often times, we see unintended consequences on the ground."
Experts say a military mission to secure the chemical weapons would require a large ground force and pose huge risks, with the outcome hinging on the quality of Western intelligence.
Or we could just let the Israelis stomp the chemical weapons depots...
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#1
"Having said that, I do not foresee a scenario in which boots on the ground in Syria -- American boots on the ground in Syria -- would not only be good for America but also would be good for Syria."
[Al Ahram] Afghanistan's Caped PresidentHamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai ... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use... on Saturday denied that CIA cash delivered each month to his office was used to buy the support of warlords who could tip the country back into civil war.
The US Central Intelligence Agency has secretly handed over tens of millions of dollars to Karzai's office over the last decade, the New York Times ...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize... said recently in a revelation that provoked anger in both Washington and Kabul.
But Karzai said the bundles of cash -- allegedly packed in suitcases, backpacks and plastic shopping bags -- were used for health care and scholarships, and that full receipts are issued to the Americans.
"This money was not given to warlords," the president told a presser in Kabul. "The major part of this money was spent on government employees such as our guards... it has been paid to individuals not movements.
"It is used for different issues such as treating patients, scholarships for youths... we give receipts for all these expenditures to the US government."
The New York Times alleged that some of funds were used to bribe warlords into supporting Karzai's US-backed government as the international coalition tries to stabilise the country before NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions... troops withdraw next year.
Warlords who fought against both the Soviet occupation in the 1980s and Taliban regime retain huge influence, and many have close links to Karzai's government that rose to power after the Taliban were ousted in 2001.
With the NATO-led mission winding down after more than 11 years of fighting, the warlords look set to renew their battle for power in Afghanistan and the weak central government faces a tough challenge to impose stability.
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#1
No, it goes right into Karzai's Swiss bank account.
#2
Purchased loyalty requires that at least a portion of it be pushed down to the user levels, that being provincial governors [warlords], intelligence service, Afghan National Security Forces [ANSF], police and Border Patrol. These are the structures holding Karzai up.
[TOLONEWS] The Afghan Interior Minister Mojtaba Patang on Saturday warned that Pakistain will face military reaction "if it tries to rebuild military installations in border areas."
Saying that Afghanistan owns modern equipment for defending border areas. Mr Patang stressed that until foreign hands work in Afghanistan, the country will never reach lasting stability, the Interior Minister said.
The building of the Pak military checkposts in the Afghan border areas has tanked relationship of the two countries as both sides' militaries engaged on Wednesday night in Ghoshta district of eastern Nangarhar The unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country.. province, but finally Afghan border police succeeded to clear Pak installations from Afghanistan's soil, according to officials.
"Afghanistan citizens will stand beside security [police and army] forces and will jointly defend," Mojtaba Patang said.
His comment come as, the Provincial governor Gul Agha Shirzai Gul Agha Shirzai is the former governor of Kandahar province. The Taliban actually got their start chasing him from office -- his corruption and cruelty got them lots of local support. After the Talibs were chased out Karzai appointed somebody else as governor of Kandahar and Gul Agha chased him out. He was eventually enticed out of his old stomping grounds by giving him the governorship of Nangahar. has said the Pakistain should stop interfering in Afghanistan, otherwise, it will face serious reactions."
"There is no need for the United Sates' tanks and artilleries. We defend the country ourselves and Pakistain can not do anything," Gul Agha Shirza said.
Meanwhile, ...back at the pond, Gloria slowly backed away from the eight-foot bull frog. If the creature croaked she would surely be deafened... the brother of Mohammad Qasem, Afghan border policeman who was killed during the Wednesday border conflict, said that his brother's "death is a pride."
"This martyrdom is a pride not only for me but also for all Afghan people," said Qasem's brother, Parwiz. "It was the beginning of the night when Pakistain's military attacked and we also opened fired. We defended strongly defended our country." The maimed border police said.
The Afghan government has said that both sides' activities across the Durand Line should be confirmed by two sides. But it is not yet clear when the border challenges will end.
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#1
As per CHINA-VS-JAPAN-VS-THE-DEBT/SEQUESTRATION-RIDDEN-USA, meanwhile out from left field where no one was looking save for a Madonna fan from Guam .... ...
[Bangla Daily Star] Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has accused former Colombian leader Alvaro Uribe of plotting to assassinate him.
Maduro said he had evidence that right-wing Venezuelan politicians had been involved in the plot.
He has alleged conspiracies against him since taking over from the late His Excellency President-for-Life, Caudillo of the Bolivarians Hugo Chavez and winning disputed elections last month.
Uribe -- a fierce critic of President Chavez -- dismissed Maduro's accusation as "immature".
On Friday, Maduro said: "Uribe is behind a plot to kill me. Uribe is a killer.
"I have enough evidence of who is conspiring, and there are sectors of the Venezuelan right involved," Maduro added.
Hours later, Uribe responded by saying: "To the immature accusation by the dictatorship... just one response: repeat the elections."
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[An Nahar] Crouching, belly-crawling into sniper nests in their rugged mountain redoubt, Syrian rebels have started training for a prolonged guerrilla war against stubbornly resilient regime forces.
With Western reluctance to intervene militarily in Syria's civil war, the rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) hopes to topple Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Horror of Homs... by creating a skilled fighting force from mostly civilian recruits, some as young as 16.
The FSA granted Agence La Belle France Presse access to one of its training camps, where a motley group of fighters -- former shopkeepers, farmers, regime defectors -- were training to fight Assad's forces in the mountains and woods of northern Latakia province.
Sprinting up a wooded knoll, crisscrossing between trees, and diving into firing positions, rebels weighed down with guns and bandoliers of ammunition put on a swaggering show of defiance within range of regime troops at a nearby garrison.
But the rebels of the Al-Ezz bin Abdul Salam Brigade acknowledged they face a tough fight against a better-armed foe that enjoys total air superiority -- even above rebel-controlled areas -- as the civil war drags into its third year.
"We need anti-tank, anti-aircraft missiles, communication equipment, satellite technology to monitor the movement of regime fighters," said brigade commander Abu Basir, rattling off a list of much-needed hardware as his men practiced marksmanship behind him.
"If we had these, the war would be over by now," said Abu Basir, the former owner of a meat processing business, who was dressed in olive-green fatigues with a pistol tucked into his trousers.
Latakia -- the heartland of Assad's minority Alawite sect -- has fluid frontlines, unlike those in hotly-contested cities like Damascus ...Capital of the last remaining Baathist regime in the world... and Aleppo where fighting is largely being fought from sniper nests in civilian buildings.
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[Bangla Daily Star] Four coppers were severely injured in an attack on law enforcers allegedly by Jamaat-Shibir activists in the capital's Motijheel yesterday, nearly half an hour before the rally of the BNP-led 18-party alliance began there.
The victims are Sub-Inspector KM Azizul Huq, 40, Assistant Sub-Inspector Ekram Hossain, 35, and constables Ashraful Islam, 25, and Hasinur Rahman, 35, of Motijheel Police Station.
Hasinur suffered stab wounds to the head and forehead and received other injuries elsewhere in the body.
Unable to speak, he was undergoing treatment at the neurosurgery unit of Dhaka Medical College Hospital.
The other three were admitted to Rajarbagh Police Lines Hospital.
The law enforcers came under attack around 1:30pm, when they asked the Jamaat-Shibir men not to take out sticks and other weapons, hundreds of which they had kept in a van near Pubali Filling Station, witnesses said.
On information, other police officials came in and rushed them to the hospitals.
"Without provocation, several hundred people swooped on police while they were on duty," said Nazmul Alam, DMP deputy commissioner of Motijheel division.
Asked about the reason for police inaction following the attack, he said, "We did not take action to honour the opposition's rally and avert festivities."
Azizul Huq told The Daily Star, "When we saw the sticks and other weapons in the vehicle, our seniors had requested them not to take them out so that they could not use the weapons to attack anyone."
He said the attackers belonged to Jamaat-e-Islami ...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores... and its student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir ... the student wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh... as they had many banners demanding release of Delwar Hossain Sayeedi ...Islamic orator and politician. He was a former Member of Parliament in the National Assembly of Bangladesh from 1996 to 2008, and is one of the most prominent leaders of the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami... and other Jamaat leaders.
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#1
Maybe since they are opposed to Westernization, they should throw away their cell phones and quit posting their meetings on Facebook?
How about shutting down their webpage and their computers?
These clowns are nearly as hypocritical as the Enviroweinies who protest global warming and then build a big bonfire and leave trash everywhere.
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
05/05/2013 11:22
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I'd be content if the RAB treated them half as well as the RAB treats the BCP.
A slain Canadian jihadi gave Russian counter-terrorism agents the tip that put alleged Boston Marathon bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev on their radar two years ago, Bay State U.S. Rep. William R. Keating confirmed yesterday — raising questions about whether Tsarnaev’s direct link to the known militant was ever passed on to the FBI or local authorities.
Keating told the Herald yesterday his staff in Russia has learned William Plotnikov, while under interrogation in the militant hotbed of Dagestan, named Tsarnaev as a fellow extremist.
“That’s when the Russian government started looking at Tamerlan and he showed up on a jihadist website,” Keating (D-Bourne) said. “That’s when they contacted the U.S.”
The interrogation prompted Russian authorities to ask the FBI to investigate Tsarnaev in 2011. It is unclear whether the Russians told the FBI that Tsarnaev was associated with Plotnikov or another suspected extremist, Mansur Mukhamed Nidal.
An FBI spokesman yesterday did not respond to the HeraldÂ’s request to view the Russian authoritiesÂ’ plea for help.
Both Nidal and Plotnikov were killed in police raids last summer, and Tsarnaev fled back to the United States shortly thereafter.
The detail of the information from the Russians to the FBI — and whether the feds passed it on sufficiently to local authorities — is sure to come up next week on Capitol Hill, where the House Homeland Security Committee will hold a hearing on the bombings.
“I have no idea what the Russians did or did not share, but the fact they brought up his name should have been a flashing red light,” U.S. Rep. Jason Chaffetz, a member of the committee, told the Herald last night. “You combine that with international travel, and somebody’s going to have to answer some questions.
“The information is only good if it gets to those who can actually act on it,” he said. “I want to know specifically if they shared that information with the authorities in Boston.”
The link between Tsarnaev and Plotnikov implies that Tsarnaev may not have been totally self-radicalized, said Craig Albert, a Georgia Regents University professor who testified about radical Islamists in the Caucasus region at a Congressional committee hearing last week.
“You don’t go to Dagestan and just meet a jihadist,” Albert told the Herald yesterday. “If Tamerlan was able to go there and make contact with this individual, somebody else must have known about him as well, which implies a larger connection than we’re aware of.”
It's almost as if there's an organization dedicated to bringing together planners, hard-boyz and facilitators to make terrorist events happen. Wonder what that organization would be named and who would be leading it?
Another expert on Muslim extremists in the region, Georgetown University professor Christopher Swift, was more cautious about interpreting PlotnikovÂ’s identification of Tsarnaev as a potential terrorist.
“This is a fishing expedition the Russians were on for possible radicals, rather than a hunting expedition for known militants,” he said. “If the Russians had any evidence that Plotnikov was involved with militant activity, they would have detained him rather than interrogating and releasing him.”
Or maybe they knew and they set him free to see where he'd lead them...
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#1
It seems everybody knew about Tamerlan except Big Sis and Eric Holder.
But Sis and Eric knew all about those mythical Christian terrorists. Yes they did.
Al
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
05/05/2013 11:36
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#2
"I have no idea what the Russians did or did not share,
If the RU shared nothing more than a cable or phone warning, we are now led to believe the US intelligence and Law Enforcement ignored it. If the RU shared operational data, electronic intercepts, video, and files.... we are now led to believe these were ignored as well.
In either case, I will never believe Tsarnaev was ignored.
[An Nahar] A leader of Yemen's Southern Movement said on Saturday he was withdrawing from talks to draft a new constitution in protest at a "plot against the southern cause," he said.
In a statement obtained by Agence La Belle France Presse, Ahmed bin Farid al-Suraimah said he had pulled out of the talks, which began on March 18, because they "avoid tackling the rights of southerners to self-determination."
"The current dialogue is aimed only at reproducing a system similar to the one that exists now," he said.
But Suraimah, who presided over the committee responsible for the southern question, said his withdrawal was personal and not on behalf of his group which is led by Mohammed Ali Ahmad and is still represented at the talks.
Most southern factions finally agreed to take join the national dialogue after months of negotiations and under U.N. pressure.
But Southern Movement hardliners led by the former South Yemen's ex-president Ali Salem al-Baid have dug in their heels, insisting instead on negotiations between two independent states in the north and south.
Supporters of southern independence often stage demonstrations against the national dialogue, especially in Aden.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/05/2013
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[TOLONEWS] A senior insurgent leader Jamal Jamal who?
was killed in a joint operation by Afghan and Nato troops in northern Baghlan province Friday, Isaf said.
"An Afghan and coalition security force killed a senior insurgent leader, Jamal, who had ties to both the Taliban and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. Three other insurgents were killed and two insurgents were detained during the operation in Burkah district of the province," Isaf said in a statement.
"As the security force approached Jamal's location, a group of fighters opened fire on the Afghan and coalition troops. The security force returned fire, killing Jamal and three other insurgents," it said.
Jamal was the second high ranking insurgent official in Burkah district and he was also known as Mullah Zabiullah.
"His cell of terrorists is responsible for a significant number of attacks, including suicide bombings, against Afghan civilians throughout Baghlan and Takhar provinces," the statement said.
The leader himself was personally responsible for recruiting and training Afghans in insurgency operations and targeting Afghan officials for kidnappings and executions. He also played a significant role in linking Taliban and IMU fighters in Baghlan, working as a mediator and coordinating operations between the two networks.
The joint forces have also seized four AK-47s and ammunition in the raid.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/05/2013
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The hunt for who or what radicalised alleged Boston bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev is focussing on two young men who were in the Russian region of Dagestan during his visit there last year, and who were killed by security forces shortly before his sudden return to the US.
Russian media reports say anti-terrorism investigators became concerned about Tsarnaev, who was killed in a shoot-out with Boston police four days after the April 15th bombings, when they discovered he had made contact with Islamic radicals William Plotnikov and Mahmoud Nidal.
Tsarnaev travelled from the US to Dagestan in January 2012, and for about six months stayed with relatives in the regional capital, Makhachkala, and in neighbouring Chechnya. A member of the antiextremism unit of Dagestan's security forces told Novaya Gazeta newspaper that Nidal met Tsarnaev several times last April.
Nidal (18), who was of mixed Dagestani and Palestinian parentage, was suspected of being a recruiter for Islamic militants fighting Russian rule across the North Caucasus.
Tsarnaev was also seen at a Makhachkala mosque, which has a reputation for fundamentalist preaching. According to Novaya Gazeta, Tsarnaev had first come to the attention of Russian authorities in 2010, when his name was given to them by William Plotnikov.
Plotnikov (23) was a young man from a Russian family who emigrated to Canada in 2005. According to his father, he converted to Islam in 2009, quickly became radicalised and made his way to the North Caucasus.
Russian security services briefly detained Plotnikov in December 2010 and vigorously asked him to make a list of people he knew who, like him, had a Russian background but were living in North America or Europe. One of the names he gave up was Tamerlan Tsarnaev, with whom he regularly exchanged messages on a web forum for young Muslims.
It is not known whether Plotnikov and Tsarnaev actually met or conversed, but the similarities between them are striking: they were young Russian emigres to North America with an interest in conservative Islam and the insurgency in the Caucasus, and both were accomplished boxers.
Let's see how close we have to nudge the dots before they become connected...
Furthermore, Plotnikov lived in Toronto, where Tsarnaev went to visit an aunt. Plotnikov's contact list prompted the Russians to ask the US for information about Tsarnaev, but the FBI said it did not find evidence of "any terrorism activity, domestic or foreign".
On May 19th, 2012, Nidal was killed by Russian security forces in Makhachkala. On July 14th, Plotnikov and seven other people died in a special forces raid on a house in the Dagestani village of Utamysh. "The Canadian", as locals nicknamed him, was buried there.
Two days later, Tsarnaev abruptly fled left Makhachkala, flying back to the US via Moscow. He departed without collecting his new Russian passport, even though acquiring it was the main reason for his visit to Dagestan, according to his parents.
"It seems Tamerlan Tsarnaev came to Dagestan to link up with the militants. But it didn't happen," said Novaya Gazeta's source. "After Nidal and Plotnikov were wiped out, having lost his 'contacts', he got scared and ran away cleared off."
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/05/2013
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#1
One of the names he gave up was Tamerlan Tsarnaev, with whom he regularly exchanged messages on a web forum for young Muslims.
www.rageandseetheburg.com
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/05/2013 10:15
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Two days later, Tsarnaev abruptly fled left Makhachkala, flying back to the US via Moscow. He departed without collecting his new Russian passport, even though acquiring it was the main reason for his visit to Dagestan, according to his parents.
Thanks to the Spetsnaz, ole Nidal was TANGO-UNIFORM. Fok the RU passport, time for Tsarnaev to unass the AO and get back to the big PX.
#4
The Russians have been steadily attriting jihadi higher-ups in Chechnya and vicinity. Never shows up in the MSM, but you see it on the 'burg. Maybe we should be outsourcing some of our problems to the Rooskis.
#5
Interesting question Anguper. I believe standard procedure nearly everywhere is to turn in your old passport, prior to getting a new one. It would be quite interesting to discover [as a non-US person] he already had a US Passport.....or perhaps the 6 month trip to RU to "get a new passport" was BS? A new passport could be had through a visit and applicaation to a RU mission anywhere in the States.
#6
The American procedure is to turn in your old passport with the renewal application. And yes, it can be done at an American embassy while abroad. But it could easily be that other countries do not have the same procedures.
Update before posting:
I decided to google the question, and it turns out Besoeker is correct: Passports can be renewed at the Russian consulates in the U.S. However, it is very definitely not clear from the Russian embassy site that this is so.
[An Nahar] Three people were killed and 35 others maimed in twin kabooms near a local party office in the southern city of 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... late Saturday, police said, ahead of next week's historic elections.
The two bombs went kaboom! within 20 minutes of each other near an office of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement ...English: United National Movement, generally known as MQM, is the 3rd largest political party and the largest secular political party in Pakistain with particular strength in Sindh. From 1992 to 1999, the MQM was the target of the Pak Army's Operation Cleanup leaving thousands of urdu speaking civilians dead... (MQM) in the middle class neighborhood of Azizabad, senior police official Saleem Akhtar Siddiqui told Agence La Belle France Presse.
"We can confirm that three people have died in the twin blasts while 35 have been maimed. The maimed have been admitted to different hospitals," said Suresh Kumar, secretary of the health department of Sindh province.
No MQM workers were identified among the dead and maimed, Siddiqui said.
A front man for MQM, Qamar Mansoor, said a rally had been planned in the area hit by the Saturday blasts, but would now be postponed and a day of mourning observed instead.
Pakistain will elect its new government for the next five years in polls on May 11. The election of the national and regional assemblies will mark the first time a civilian government has completed a full term and handed over to another, in a country that has been ruled by the military for half its existence.
Campaigning has been marred by Taliban threats and attacks, which have killed 66 people since April 11, according to an AFP tally.
On Friday, national assembly candidate Saddiq Zaman Khattak was rubbed out along with his three-year-old son after praying in a mosque in the city of Karachi.
Khattak was a businessman and a candidate for the Awami National Party (ANP), the leading secular party in Pakistain's ethnic Pashtun northwest.
Earlier on Saturday a candidate running for parliament was injured when his vehicle hit a roadside kaboom in the troubled northwest, officials said.
In a separate incident, an election office of the cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan ... aka Taliban Khan, who ain't the brightest knife in the national drawer... 's Pakistain Tehrik-e-Insaaf (PTI) party was attacked in Beautiful Downtown Peshawar ...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire. .
Posted by: Fred ||
05/05/2013
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[Nigerian Tribune] THERE are strong indications that veterans loser remnants of Mali anti Islamist war are already finding their way into Nigerian Northern borders, just as reports indicated that the Al-Qaeda in the Maghreb (AQIM) has activated its sleeping cells across Northern Nigeria.
Security agencies are also said to be in dilemma over the best approach to the counter-terrorism efforts, especially as the jihadists are not just Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... fighters, but Islamists from AQIM and other sects alleged to be involved in attacks on security agencies.
These indications emerged at a meeting of the Maghreb Union held in Rabat, Morroco, last week where Maghreb countries assessed the fallout of the French intervention which led to the exit of Islamist fighters from Northern Mali.
Outcome: Al Qaeda in North Africa was quickly driven out of Mali, to the relief of the locals, or at least those who weren't killed. The French took care of the war, and left rebuilding to the locals.
Though Nigeria was not part of the meeting, reports indicated that the ministers and counter-terrorism officials at the meeting reviewed the war efforts and concluded that Islamist fighters had retreated to parts of Algeria, Libya with substantial numbers heading back to border regions of Northern Nigeria via Niger and Chad republics.
The meeting, which agreed on a number of security measures to contain the fallout, was also said to have hinted that AQIM had refocused its operations, which involved kidnapping for ransom, among others, with the retreating fighters said to be attaching themselves to the sleeper cells of the jihadist sect across the identified countries.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/05/2013
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[Nigerian Tribune] THE controversies surrounding the grounding of a Bombardier jet belonging to the Rivers State government have taken a fresh turn, as sources within the National Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) revealed that the embattled governor of the state, Rotimi Amaechi, would have to pay a total sum of $320,000, about N51.2 million, to the agency for the 16 days its pilot contravened the aviation laws.
According to findings by Sunday Tribune, for violating the airspace regulation for 16 days, the Rivers State government would part with a $20,000 per day fine.
But a source within the state government disclosed that NAMA's position about payment of fine was entirely new to the government, saying: "We are not aware of any fine, neither has the state government been officially briefed. Whenever NAMA briefs us officially on the issue, we will know what to do."
According to the sources, NAMA would not have grounded the plane if the pilot had signed the passenger manifest, stating that it was after the grounding of the plane by NAMA that the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authorities (NCAA) noticed that the plane had registration issues, even as they noted that the grounded plane would be released by the agency as soon as the owner paid the fine.
However, those who apply themselves too closely to little things often become incapable of great things... the sources revealed that NAMA was only concerned with the violation of the airspace regulation, saying the payment of the fine would not stop the NCAA from carrying out its duties as regarding the grounded plane.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/05/2013
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#1
All I hear are clicking noises.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
05/05/2013 6:00
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[Al Ahram] Egypt's ruling Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) denies that the killing of the son of one of its leaders in Egypt's Nile Delta Sharqiya governorate is political.
Hundreds of El-Qataweya village residents dragged 16-year-old Youssef, son of Rabie Lasheen, head of the FJP office in the village, onto the street and beat him to death on Friday.
The secondary school student was accused of shooting a 28-year-old man for insulting his father in a Facebook post. An auto rickshaw (tok tok) driver in his '40s was accidentally bumped off, too.
"The incident is not politically-motivated" reads the statement flatly on their office's Facebook page.
A fight happened to break out Thrusday afternoon between a young man of El-Qataweya village and Youssef Lasheen, says the head of the Sharqiya FJP office, Ahmed Shehata in the post.
"During the fight, a passer-by was killed by mistake," he concluded, omitting anything related to the 28-year-old shooting victim's reported politically-natured Facebook post.
Shehata also called for calm: "We hope that issues are put in their appropriate context and we call on everyone for self-restraint."
"The [FJP] condemns all kinds of violence and emphasises the need to respect the law and for it to apply to everyone," he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/05/2013
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[Al Ahram] The bodies of at least 62 murdered residents have been found in a Sunni neighbourhood of the Syrian city of Banias, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Saturday.
"The bodies of dozens of citizens killed on Friday during an assault by the army and Alawite members of the National Defence Forces in the Sunni neighbourhood of Banias were discovered on Saturday," the Observatory said.
"We have identified 62 citizens by their names, photos, or videos, including 14 children, and the number could rise because there are dozens of citizens who are still missing."
The mass killing is the second "massacre" to be reported in the Banias area this week.
On Thursday, the Observatory said at least 50 people had been killed in the Sunni village of Bayda, south of the coastal city of Banias.
"Witnesses from the village say no less than 50 non-combatants were killed, including women and kiddies," the group said.
"Some were summarily executed, shot to death, stabbed or set on fire."
After the deaths, which were reported on Friday, regime forces began shelling several Sunni neighbourhoods of Banias, prompting residents to flee the area early on Saturday.
"Hundreds of families are fleeing Sunni neighbourhoods in Banias in fear of a new massacre," Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.
"They started fleeing at dawn this morning (Saturday) from Sunni neighbourhoods in the south of the city towards Tartus and Jableh," he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/05/2013
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[Pak Daily Times] A candidate running for parliament in next week's historic election was injured on Saturday as his vehicle hit a roadside kaboom in the troubled northwest, officials said. Raj Mohammad, a National Assembly candidate from the Jamaat-e-Islami ...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores... , was on his election campaign in the Lower Orakzai Agency ... crawling with holy men, home to Darra Adam Khel, the world's largest illegal arms bazaar. 14 distinct tribes of beturbanned primitives inhabit Orakzai agency's 1500 or so square kilometers... when his vehicle hit an IED. "Raj Mohammad and his driver were maimed in the attack and their vehicle was badly damaged," Wali Mohammad, a local government official told AFP. "The victims are out of danger and had no life threatening wounds," he said. Meanwhile, ...back at the mall, Clarissa spent the day shopping for new underwear. Tonight was going to be a special occasion... two people were maimed in a grenade attack on the provincial office of JI on Saturday night. According to police, JI candidate Akhtar Baloch had dismounted his vehicle when two people hurled a grenade at the provincial office of JI. In a separate incident, an election office of Pakistain Tehrik-e-Insaf ...a political party in Pakistan. PTI was founded by former Pakistani cricket captain and philanthropist Imran Khan. The party's slogan is Justice, Humanity and Self Esteem, each of which is open to widely divergent interpretations.... (PTI) was attacked in Beautiful Downtown Peshawar ...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire. . Police said that around five kilogrammes of explosives were planted outside a PTI area office, which went kaboom! in the early hours of the morning.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/05/2013
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[Nigerian Tribune] NO fewer than 39 people were reportedly killed in Wukari Local Government Area of Taraba State on Friday night in a clash between Christians and Moslems at a funeral ceremony.
According to reports, residents said a funeral procession for one of the traditional rulers in Aku Aka of Wukari's domain, made up mainly of Christian faithful, was passing through a predominantly Moslem area of the town, when the violence broke out.
Sunday Tribune also gathered that the funeral was being held by the predominantly Jukun people of Taraba State who were said to have sang songs and rolled their eyes, jumped up and down, and hollered poorly rhymed slogans real loud that angered members of the Moslem community when they got to the territory of the latter.
The procession was also said to have been resisted by the Moslem community because they forbade it passing through a particular area "since it was a Friday."
It was further learnt that a 24-hour curfew was, thereafter, imposed on the town by the State Police Command.
Agence La Belle France Presse (AFP) quoted a rescue worker as having said that 20 bodies had been collected as of afternoon of Saturday, while efforts continued to locate more bodies.
"We are still going round the town in search of more bodies," the rescue worker, who reportedly asked not to be named, said.
The state Police Public Relations Officer, Joseph Kwaji, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), confirmed that 39 bodies had been recovered, while 50 other people were maimed.
He also said more than 80 houses were razed, but gave the assurance that the situation had been brought under control, adding that police were "awaiting a comprehensive report" over the violence.
Also contacted, the chairman of the local government area, Mr. Dan-Azumi Agbu, told Sunday Tribune on telephone that there were casualties during the crisis, but that he was not in a position to give the figure of the victims.
He, however, said the situation had been put under control by security agents, adding that those affected, especially the dear departed and injured, had been taken to the Federal Medical Centre (FMC) Jalingo, "according to the directive of the acting governor of the state earlier received this morning."
Efforts to speak with the medical director, of the FMC, Jalingo, Dr. Inusa Wiza, over the state of the injured persons proved abortive as he was said to be battling alongside other doctors to save the lives of some of the injured.
Posted by: Fred ||
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SEOUL, May 3 -- China's chief nuclear envoy has told his South Korean counterpart that Beijing will not accept North Korea as a "nuclear-armed state,"
A little late for that...
a high-ranking Seoul official said Friday, adding that Seoul, Washington and Beijing reached a consensus on the stance.
The Chinese envoy Wu Dawei made the remarks when he held talks on Thursday in Beijing with his Seoul counterpart Lim Sung-nam, said the official at Seoul's foreign ministry who is familiar with the Lim-Wu talks. The remarks come amid signs that recent tensions might hurt ties between Beijing and Pyongyang, highlighting China's waning tolerance for its neighbor's provocations.
"During the talks, Wu made it clear that China will not accept North Korea as a nuclear-armed state," said the official.
"With regard to the issue, I think that we, the U.S. and China have shared a united stance," the official said, adding he "sensed" a growing impatience by China with North Korea's increasing saber-rattling, particularly after the North's December rocket launch and its third nuclear test in February.
The official said Chinese officials have shown a "significant difference" in their attitude toward North Korea's provocations during the Beijing talks.
Wu's comments also echoed remarks made by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry when he visited Beijing and Seoul last month and told reporters in Seoul that, "The United States will not accept the DPRK (North Korea) as a nuclear state."
The Seoul official also confirmed some media reports that China has ordered its provincial government to strictly implement the latest U.N. sanctions that punished the North for conducting the third nuclear test.
"I think that China has been increasingly disappointed by the North's provocations, including the December rocket launch and the third nuclear test," the official said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/05/2013
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#1
China is putting a shorter leash on a rabid dog which will likely bite them.
Posted by: Barbara ||
05/05/2013 11:52
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#4
The Norks will be a nuclear armed state, but the ChiComs will not accept it.
Nice little semantic throw away line.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
05/05/2013 12:29
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#5
[MIGHTY HOMER SIMPSONIAN "DOH"! here].
Perhaps as best illustrated by Pudgy's "AUNTIE/
UNCLE DEAREST", whom by most accounts do China's will, CHINA ALREADY CONTROLS THE DPRK MILITARY + ROCKET FORCES = STATE POWER CENTRES/LOCII, NOT KJU = PUDGY. Pudgy's job is to smile for the Diplomats + Media cameras, + pretend the DPRK military, etc. will actually obey + follow him into battle widout China's orders.
DPRK = Cold War Soviet Eastern Europe/WARSAW PACT = are allowed certain/select local autonomies which they can do on their own, BUT NOT ENOUGH TO DO WIDOUT BEIJING'S OR MOSCOW'S KNOWLEDGE + CONTROL. Strategic + Tactical Nuclear-Conventional Forces is one of the things local Govts are nevar! allowed "sole" local control.
Lest we fergit, PERTS, MSM-NET > THE COLD WAR NEVER ENDED WID NORTH KOREA.
Unfortunately, as wid the now-former Warsaw Pact nations, the US-NATO/Allies still have to "go through the motions" + pretend Beijing + Moscow don't have the high or prohibitive levels of local control we know they do, + act accordingly.
[An Nahar] A U.N. official said on Saturday that violence at the site of a north Iraq protest in late April killed up to eight children and maimed up to 12 others.
Marzio Babille, Iraq representative of UNICEF, said in an emailed statement that several of the injured children had received severe gunshot wounds.
"UNICEF has received substantial and credible information that up to eight children have been killed and up to 12 others seriously injured during violence ... near the city of Kirkuk in northern Iraq on 23 April 2013," Babille said.
"Among those reported to have been injured -- all boys between the ages of 14 and 17 -- several were said to have received severe gunshot wounds."
Iraqi security forces moved on Sunni anti-government protesters near the town of Hawijah in Kirkuk province on April 23, sparking festivities that killed 53 people.
Dozens more died in subsequent unrest across the country that included Dire Revenge™ attacks targeting security forces, raising fears of a return to the all-out sectarian conflict that claimed tens of thousands of lives between 2006 and 2008.
The late April violence was the deadliest so far linked to protests that broke out in Sunni areas of Shiite-majority Iraq more than four months ago.
The Sunni protesters have called for the resignation of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, a Shiite, and criticized authorities for allegedly targeting their community with wrongful detentions and accusations of involvement in terrorism.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Explosions shook Damascus early on Sunday and Syrian state television said Israeli rockets had struck a military research centre on the outskirts of the capital.
The blasts occurred a day after an Israeli official said his country had carried out an air strike targeting a consignment of missiles in Syria. The research centre hit on Sunday was also targeted by Israel in January.
"The new Israeli attack is an attempt to raise the morale of the terrorist groups which have been reeling from strikes by our noble army," Syrian television said, referring to recent offensives by President Bashar al-Assad's forces against rebels.
The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights quoted eyewitnesses in the area as saying they saw planes in the sky at the time of the explosions. It said the blasts hit the Jamraya military centre and a nearby ammunition depot.
There was no immediate comment from Israeli officials on Sunday's explosions. "We don't respond to this kind of report," an Israeli military spokeswoman told Reuters.
Posted to contrast with the piece on the same news that Fred posted. Read this Irish Times version and you'd never know the religious dimension of the problem. Maybe that's why the people in Europe (and the U.S.) don't know about what's happening -- the MSM doesn't tell them...
Clashes between rival ethnic groups have killed at least 30 people in eastern Nigeria's Taraba state since they erupted yesterday, police said.
Members of the Jukun ethnic group were marching through the small commercial town of Wukari to a funeral when an argument broke out with local Hausa and Fulani youths, which quickly degenerated into pitched battles with guns and machetes. Attackers also set fire to around 30 houses, police said.
"Now we are in full control, although the crisis claimed 30 lives," police spokesman for Taraba state Joseph Kwaji said, adding that 40 suspects had been arrested.
Taraba state is part of Nigeria's volatile "Middle Belt", where its largely Christian south and mostly Muslim north meet.
That's where they 'meet', you see, that's all. Much like where the suburbs meet the city, it's just another line on a map. But the violence in the Middle Belt has nothing to do with religion, no sir Senator...
The Middle Belt often sees violence between semi-nomadic, cattle-keeping communities like the Fulani and settled farming peoples like the Jukun over land disputes. Communal violence has also flared this year in Plateau state, which borders Taraba.
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[TOLONEWS] Afghan Minister of Economy Abdul Hadi Arghandiwal told at ceremony that was held for apparition of governors in Kabul on Thursday that a lack of reward and punishment widened corruption in the country.
Economy minister considers absence of the rule of law as the main barrier ahead of development in the country and added that International Community's assistance has been wasted so far.
"If there is a fight against any kind of corruption it the country, we will have a free and glorious Afghanistan," Afghan Economy Minister, Abdul Hadi Arghandiwal, said.
Meanwhile, ...back at the chili cook-off, Chuck reached for the green sauce... Karzai's brother, Mahmood Karzai, expressed his concern over the country's security situation and said that less attention has been paid to enforce law in country.
"One of the main challenges is security; in my view the security is going failed and we must find a solution, Mahmood Karzai said.
On the other hand a number of governors and parliament members considered existence of corruption shameful and they are emphasising on elimination of corruption in the country.
The governors and representatives believe that regular monitoring is effective in supervision of government functions.
"Afghanistan is in the lead of corrupt countries in the world which is very shameful for Afghan people," MP Nadir Khan Katawazi said.
Posted by: Fred ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Federal officials investigating the Boston bombings have discovered radical Islamist materials on a computer belonging to the widow of the deceased suspect, it has been revealed.
David Cameron
By the time Melinda Herman called her husband at work to say an intruder was in the house, she had rushed both children into an upstairs bedroom and locked two doors behind her. She also had retrieved a .38 from the gun safe. The only place left to hide was a crawl space that led to the attic, and that's where Herman crouched, with her son and daughter beside her and a revolver in her hand.
Wazoo
Nawaz Sharif
[Pak Daily Times] Pak embassy officials visited a hospital in north India on Saturday where a Pak prisoner was 
Khaleda Zia
Orakzai Agency
...Bangla dynastic politician and current Prime Minister of Bangladesh. She has been the President of the Bangla Awami League since the Lower Paleolithic. She is the eldest of five children of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father of Bangla. Her party defeated the BNP-led Four-Party Alliance in the 2008 parliamentary elections. She has once before held the office, from 1996 to 2001, when she was defeated in a landslide. She and the head of the BNP, Khaleda Zia show such blind animosity toward each other that they are known as 
[Al Ahram] Iraqi electoral officials say a coalition led by Iraq's prime minister has won the largest single bloc of seats in seven of 12 provinces participating in local elections, and tied in eighth, although it failed to achieve a majority in any of the districts.
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
[Bangla Daily Star] Four 
[An Nahar] A leader of Yemen's Southern Movement said on Saturday he was withdrawing from talks to draft a new constitution in protest at a "plot against the southern cause," he said.
[Nigerian Tribune] THERE are strong indications that 
[Al Ahram] The bodies of at least 62 murdered residents have been found in a Sunni neighbourhood of the Syrian city of Banias, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Saturday.
[Nigerian Tribune] NO fewer than 39 people were reportedly killed in Wukari Local Government Area of Taraba State on Friday night in a clash between Christians and 
