A coalition airstrike killed more than 20 Taliban insurgents after they had gathered to oversee a public execution in northeastern Afghanistan on Saturday, Afghan officials said.
Some Afghan officials in Kunar Province, where the attack took place, put the death toll much higher, at 40 to 50. NATO said only that at least two dozen insurgents were killed after a joint Afghan-NATO ground operation observed a large gathering of armed men and called in an airstrike.
After the attack, Afghan and NATO officials inspected the site and said no civilians were killed by the bombing, the coalition said.
The bombing took place in the Chapa Dara district of Kunar Province, a remote area close to the border with Pakistan. According to locals and the police chief of the Chapa Dara district, the insurgents had gathered after a quarrel between two families resulted in a death. The victims relatives surrounded those they said were responsible for the death and called in the Taliban to administer justice.
Egypt's Islamist President Mohamed Morsy will visit Iran to attend the Non-Aligned Movement meetings on Aug. 30, Egyptian state news agency MENA said, the first such visit by an Egyptian head of state to Tehran since the Islamic revolution.
MENA quoted sources at the Egyptian presidency saying on Saturday that Morsy "will participate in the summit" on his way back from China.
A spokesman for Morsy was not immediately available for comment. Egyptian media reports have suggested Morsy might send his newly appointed deputy, Mahmoud Mekki, instead.
Since Egypt's Hosni Mubarak was toppled in a popular uprising last year, Egypt and Iran have signalled interest in renewing ties severed more than 30 years ago after Iran's Islamic Revolution and Egypt's recognition of Israel.
However, with the West pushing Iran to halt its disputed nuclear program and the United States being a major donor to Egypt's military, any improvement in ties could become a tricky path to tread.
The later one, showing some stodgy old Republicans fussing about voter ID, I can appreciate how the morons feel, but I have ALWAYS been happy to show my ID.
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/18/2012
13:47 ||
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I have started making a list of things you need to show ID for: flying on a plane, driving a car (of course), getting medical care, riding on a train, donating blood, visiting someone in a hospital, picking up a package at FEDEX, and on and on. I don't see why it should be a big deal to show ID to vote.
Of course, just showing ID will not prevent all voter fraud. For example, my father passed away six years ago. He was a rabid Democrat (we rarely discussed politics). My brother is a junior, so he has the same name. If Dad's voting district has not purged the voting rolls, my brother could show his ID and vote in Dad's name. (They vote the same.)
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
08/18/2012 16:57
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Google your father's county board of elections, Rambler, and check to see if he is still registered. If yes, call them to find out what it would take to get his name removed, given he's dead and all. You might want to do the same with all your previous places of residence, to make sure you aren't still voting somewhere else, all unknowing.
The Arizona Supreme Court on Friday upheld a state law that requires elected officials to be able to read, write and speak the English language.
The states top court, in affirming a lower courts ruling, said the long-standing language requirement manifests a legitimate concern that those who hold elective office be minimally proficient in English in order to conduct the duties of their office without the aid of an interpreter.
The court rejected an argument that a lower courts interpretation of the law violates the right to participate in government, with the high court holding that there is no constitutional right to seek office. The state law requiring English proficiency as a qualification for public office has existed since before statehood, the opinion said.
Such a requirement helps ensure that the public officer will in fact be able to understand and perform the functions of the office, including communications with English-speaking constituents and the public, Justice Robert Brutinel wrote in the opinion.
The case came about when the mayor of the city of San Luis sought to disqualify a candidate for city council on the grounds that she could not read, write and speak the English language as required by the law. The lower court conducted a hearing and decided to preclude her from the ballot.
The candidate contended that she met the states requirements and appealed to the state supreme court.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/18/2012
13:41 ||
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How soon does this get denounced as racist, nativist, or both?
#2
Raj, the simple fact of bringing the suit means that it has been dnounced as both so the court upholding the law (what a concept) doesn't change anything.
A woman police call, the 'Gangster Granny,' fought back a home invasion suspect.
73-year-old Margaret Jackson had just gotten home Friday afternoon when her dog heard something outside.
She said he kept running back and forth. She looked out the back window and said she saw a teen trying to break into her home, so she came up with a plan. She grabbed a pair of scissors, a big BBQ knife and went to the backdoor.
"I opened the door like this. Real fast. And he was back there. And he came from back there. And he pushed me. We were struggling," said Jackson as she demonstrated the fight.
She said the teen then tried to get away.
"He was trying to get away. He was pushing on me. He turned around. And when he turned around. That's when he messed up. I got him right in the neck," Jackson told Local 2.
She said after she stabbed him in the neck, he took off running south on Wayside from her home on Lynette in northeast Houston.
"I don't want 'em in here. Cause they come one time and see what's in here and they're coming back. Well he gonna go tell all his friends so they don't come here. Don't go there because you're subject to get killed with a fork!" Jackson said.
After she fought off the burglar, she said she was too tired to call police. She let her daughter call 911. When police arrived, she said they called her the 'gangster granny.'
Posted by: Fred ||
08/18/2012
13:36 ||
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Got him in the throat with a BBQ knife. Way to go Granny!!!
Twenty people were shot, two fatally, across the city Friday night and Saturday morning.
The weekend's violence started about 6:20 p.m. Friday when two men sitting in the back seat of an Oldsmobile were shot in the 500 block of South Kilpatrick Avenue in the West Garfield Park neighborhood by someone who walked up to the vehicle, police said.
One victim, 22, was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. He's dead, Jim! just after 7 p.m., and the other, 18, was shot in the upper back and was taken to John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospitalof Cook County, officials said. The dead man, Richard Johnson, lived in the 1600 block of Plum Street in Aurora, a spokeswoman for the Cook County medical examiner's office said.
The other homicide happened about 12:15 a.m. in the 11500 block of South Wentworth Avenue in the West Pullman neighborhood. Two men were shot and one didn't survive. Police said an 18-year-old was found dead with a gun in his hand and a second man, 25, was dropped off at Roseland Hospital with gunshot wounds to the leg. The 18-year-old affiliates with a gang but it's not clear if he fired his gun before he was struck, police said. The Cook County medical examiner's office identified the dead man as Derrick L. Baker, of the 11600 block of South Yale Avenue.
A woman in her late teens was shot in the head in 2100 block of West 35th Street in the McKinley Park neighborhood about 5:05 a.m., Chicago Police Department News Affairs Officer Robert Perez said. She was inside a vehicle with at least one other person when someone walked up and opened fire, he said. She's at death's door at Mount Sinai Hospital with a gunshot wound to the head, and it appears she was the only one maimed in that attack.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/18/2012
13:33 ||
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earning their bones before the next school year starts.
Posted by: Water Modem ||
08/18/2012 13:54
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When TransCanada said its $7 billion Keystone XL oil pipeline from Alberta to Texas would pass about two miles from this tiny town in central Nebraska -- crossing 92 miles of the state's ecologically sensitive Sand Hills and parts of the vast Ogalla Aquifer -- it stirred opposition throughout the state. But few are worried about the Sand Hills or the Ogalla - except the WaPo.
Political boundaries crumbled as the pipeline proposal united Nebraskans across party lines and divided them within. Ultimately, it became a political litmus test in the presidential race. Its route riled Nebraskans who fear water contamination and resent the ability of a corporation -- especially a foreign one -- to wield the right of eminent domain. I bet a lot of property owners don't care for eminent domain. Even though you are supposed to get "fair market value".
So when President Obama rejected TransCanada's Keystone XL pipeline proposal, saying his administration needed more time to weigh the environmental impact of the route through Nebraska, he was practicing his own version of "triangulation" politics, playing to environmental groups and making common cause with people in a solidly red state. "I was really impressed with that," Bernt said of Obama's decision in January. "He showed more backbone that I thought he had." I had to leave that part in. Maybe Champ can use it in his campaign.
Refusing to make a decision equals more backbone? What an odd definition. One wonders if Mr. Bernt is one of those legendary professional Man Of The Street types who too often people MSM reports these days...
At the same time, Obama must tread carefully in an election year in which Democrats as well as Republicans are seduced by the promise of jobs -- even if it may be an illusion. What about reducing oil imports? Isn't that a concern to the WaPo? Is that a rhetorical question?
Actually, the jobs have proved surprisingly real. For some this is a problem.
Deb Fischer, a state senator from a Sand Hills region and a favorite of the tea party, was among the legislators in Nebraska to vote unanimously against the pipeline initially, but she now supports it. Changing your mind is OK by me.
But she is attuned to the eminent domain issue, which rankles Nebraskans, violating their sense of propriety. In 2006, she introduced a bill that became state law to limit the effect of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 2005 and restrict the use of eminent domain if it were for "an economic development purpose" or on agricultural land.
There was no mention of pipelines, however, which she now places in a different category. "I understand the feeling of people who face a similar thing whenever a road is built in an area or a transmission line," she said. "Would I want it? No. But that's what we do in the United States."
Asked about the extra greenhouse gases that would be emitted extracting the heavy oil sands crude that will flow down the pipeline, Fischer said simply: "I'm not going to get into a discussion of climate change." Too bad, but that's why we have Democrats.
That, however, is where Kerrey starts. In an interview with the Omaha World-Herald, he said that climate change was a key issue that propelled him into the race. On the other hand ...
But Kerrey also told the Omaha newspaper that he had not thoroughly reviewed the pros and cons of tapping Canada's oil sands. "It may be that that genie's out of the bottle already," he said, "and if you're down to a choice of summarily shipping it West and having it end up being sent to China or shipping it south and used by the United States, it's probably difficult to oppose it at this point. But I haven't reached an absolute decision on it." Perhaps this suggests he can still be bought?
"Bob has taken the position that if they're going to build it, it is better to send [the Canadian oil] to the United States than to China," his campaign manager, Paul Johnson, said in an interview. "If the appropriate authorities approve it, that's fine with him."
About six in 10 Americans said the government should approve the pipeline while fewer than two in 10 oppose it, according to a Washington Post poll. Even among Democrats, 48 percent say it should be built; while 26 percent say it should not be built. Even among those who think the pipeline would cause significant environmental damage, there is a 39 percent to 42 percent split on whether it should be built.
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/18/2012
13:27 ||
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Refusing to make a decision equals more backbone? What an odd definition.
Indeed. Dude obviously never listened to that Rush song.
As for the 'environmental impact', if you have ever seen pipeline map, you know the country is already criss-crossed with 'em.
#3
I'm thinking the WaPo's sources are all Sierra Club members in other states or EPA staff
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/18/2012 19:46
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Eminent domain is just another form of legalized theft, as understandable and defensible economically as it might be. Never seems to enter the minds of the left that's why some people like government kept small and limited. Real limited.
Sen. John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, the Senate's current foreign policy expert, filling the vacated wingtips of Joe Biden... , the 2004 Democratic presidential candidate on Friday charged that critics are trying to "swiftboat" President B.O. with false and "ridiculous" claims and that Willard Mitt Romney ...former governor of Massachussetts, currently the presumptive Publican nominee for president. He is the son of the former governor of Michigan, George Romney, who himself ran for president after saving American Motors from failure, though not permanently. Romney's charisma is best defined as soporific, which is probably why he is leading the Publican field. On the plus side, he isn't President B.O... is a foreign policy rookie who embarrassed himself during a recent trip to London.
In a letter to Obama's supporters, he railed on the charges Obama has been hit with, including those from the so-called "birthers." I've never been a 'birther.' The 'evidence' that B.O. was born in Kenya is less than overwhelming. I'm not too sure about any evidence that his parents were married, but I consider that unimportant. I do think, however, that the fact that he uses a Connecticut social security number and his refusal to to release his college transcripts both are.
The attacks, he said, "remind me all too well of the notorious 'Swift Boat' attacks I faced in the 2004 campaign." He was referencing devastating charges from fellow Vietnam War veterans questioning his service. Well do I remember the 'swift boat' attacks, in which JFK's famous trip up the river into Cambodia made him a laughingstock. The story of his 'lucky hat' is seared into my mind.
In the note, he also slapped Romney for being a foreign policy novice and potential presidential disaster. "Republicans have a candidate with absolutely no foreign policy experience, who thinks Russia is our 'number one geo-political foe' and who is advised by people who think -- and have repeatedly said -- the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia are countries that still exist. Romney's two major foreign policy speeches never even mentioned Al Qaeda once, and he's prone to stumbles when he steps onto the foreign policy stage. He can't even manage to visit London without causing an international incident!"
Posted by: Fred ||
08/18/2012
10:49 ||
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Good. The most effective antidote to these fucktwits s the truth.
#2
They keep trying to give the term a negative connotation, but "swift boating" was nothing more than exposing a self-important, lying asshat for what he was. The swift boaters are heroes. Kerry is nothing but an unorganized grabasstic piece of amphibian shit.
[Reuters] Syria denied reports on Saturday that Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor... 's deputy had defected and his forces pressed an offensive against rebels, bombarding parts of Aleppo ...For centuries, Aleppo was Greater Syria's largest city and the Ottoman Empire's third, after Constantinople and Cairo. Although relatively close to Damascus in distance, Aleppans regard Damascenes as country cousins... in the north and hitting an thug-held town in the oil-producing east.
Vice-President Farouq al-Shara "never thought for a moment about leaving the country", said a statement from his office broadcast on state television ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
issued in response to reports that the veteran Baath Party loyalist had tried to defect to Jordan.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/18/2012
10:35 ||
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US Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said Friday that the US "must lead the world in stopping Iran's genocidal regime from obtaining a nuclear weapons capability."
Romney's comments came after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Friday that Israel is a "tumor" that needs to be wiped out. The Republican presidential candidate reiterated remarks he made in a visit to Jerusalem in July, claiming: "We have seen the horrors of history. We will not stand by. We will not watch them play out again."
"Ahmadinejads latest outrageous remarks are just another reminder of what is at stake," Romney stated. The comments by Ahmadinejad came at a rally marking Al-Quds Day (Jerusalem Day), an annual anti-Zionist event calling for Palestinian liberation.
Republican congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, used Ahmadinejad's statements to reiterate Romney's position that the administration of US President Barack Obama has failed to deter Iran's nuclear ambitions, putting Israel's existence in danger.
Ros-Lehtinen said Friday that Ahmadinejad's "incendiary" comments were just another warning that "a fuse is burning."
#1
Forget Romney & Obama. I can't believe the Israeli's ever allowed such an important decision to be politicized. They should have hit Iran with everything they've got ... as soon as they confirmed the warhead development R&D at Parchin.
A MISSILE launched from a U.S. drone struck a suspected militant hideout in a tribal region in northern Pakistan where allies of a powerful warlord were gathered Saturday, killing five of his supporters, Pakistani officials said.
The strike in North Waziristan against allies of Hafiz Gul Bahadur, a militant commander whose forces frequently target U.S. and other NATO troops in neighboring Afghanistan, comes amid speculation over whether Pakistan will launch an operation against militants in the tribal region.
The U.S. has pushed Pakistan repeatedly to take such a step and earlier this week U.S. Secretary of DefenCe Leon Panetta told The Associated Press that Pakistan was preparing an operation targeting the Pakistani Taliban in North Waziristan.
Pakistan has been reluctant to undertake an offensive there, saying its military is already overtaxed by fighting in other tribal areas and parts of Pakistan.
#3
And both our troll's posts have now been erased forever. I'm not sure what it intends to accomplish -- there's no link to be followed by the gullible, nor any message for the otherwise gullible, just strings of more or less random words,
A senior Iranian commander says a possible Israeli airstrike against his country's nuclear facilities is "welcome" because it would give Iran a reason to retaliate and "get rid of" the Jewish state "forever."
The remarks by Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, head of the Revolutionary Guard's air force, were reported Saturday by the official IRNA news agency.
Hajizadeh says in the event of an Israeli strike, Iran's response would be "swift, decisive and destructive." But he also claims Israeli threats of a strike are just part of a psychological war against Iran.
His comments are the latest in a war of words between the archenemies.
[AFP] US regulators are investigating claims Deutsche Bank and other global banks funneled billions of dollars for Iran, Sudan and other sanctioned nations, The New York Times ...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize... reported Saturday.
The probe is still in its very early stages, law enforcement officials told the Times, adding that Deutsche Bank was not believed to have moved funds on behalf of Iranian clients through its US operations after 2008.
In 2007, the bank decided that it would "not engage in new business with counterparties in countries such as Iran, Syria, Sudan and North Korea and to exit existing business to the extent legally possible," a front man told the newspaper.
The investigation of Deutsche Bank is among a series of cases against global financial firms since 2009 suggesting that financial firms often transferred money for Iranian banks and companies under a loophole in US policy that ended in 2008, the Times noted.
It said US prosecutors were concerned that a $340 million settlement between a New York banking watchdog and the London-based Standard Chartered bank would suggest that US authorities are divided or uncoordinated, dissuading foreign banks and regulators from cooperating.
But prosecutors have yet to find any money transfers that went to designated terrorists, narco mobs or individuals and companies owned or operated by countries under sanctions during their probe of Standard Chartered, which is still under investigation.
Over the past decade, the United States and allies have ramped up sanctions against Iranian banks, institutions and individuals in a bid to stop Iran's nuclear enrichment programs over concerns the Islamic republic is trying to develop a military nuclear capability under the guise of a civilian program.
#1
Since 2001 Norway has seen decreased grains produced in their country. In six years they will have to import. Currently no increased costs have been passed on as yet to consumers. Then they project their fish export industry to grow six times its current export level. Oil production will grow even more than it has so far(growth till 2020 as I recall).
#2
There are even motions and applications by Turkish authorities to Iran indicating that PKK militants are using Iranian military outposts along the border.
Do you mean like...the Taliban using Pakistani Frontier Corps outposts along the Durand Line? I tell you, I simply cannot believe it.
#5
It is not a violation of their religious tenets to lie to an infidel.
Because we are infidels, hence they will lie to us...quid pro quo
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
08/18/2012 13:19
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go back in time to the 4th IDs invasion of Northern Iraq... Oh it didn't happen?
go back further in time.... a huge fraud run by one of Turkey's leading family Mafias smashes the financial structures of both Motorola and Nokia. The vaunted World Court rules in the companies' favor and Turkey supports defies the WC (heh) by refusing to turn over the perps, release the stolen funds and/or return the property not paid for. A fine upstanding nation (NOT)!
Posted by: Water Modem ||
08/18/2012 14:07
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Maybe off-topic but probably not; a quick search of Google still indicates nobody's seen this guy lately.
Yet another reason to come to the Burg on a daily basis...the entire Middle East is running the qualifying heats for the Archduke Franz Ferdinand Memorial Steeplechase, but we hear virtually nothing about it from the American MSM.
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) ||
08/18/2012 14:14
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UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon Iran's leaders' comments as "offensive and inflammatory."
"(Ban) believes that all leaders in the region should use their voices at this time to lower, rather than to escalate, tensions," it said in a statement.
"In accordance with the United Nations Charter, all members must refrain from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state."
Ahmadinejad delivered his speech at a Tehran rally held in honor of Al-Quds (Jerusalem) Day, marked each year on the last Friday of Ramadan in accordance with a tradition established by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the late supreme leader of Iran.
Ahmadinejad referred to Israel as a western "tool to dominate the Middle East" and an "insult to all humanity."
"Today, Israel and the Zionist entity are against the preservation of all human rights and human dignity," IRNA quoted Ahmadinejad as saying at the event.
During the same speech, AFP quoted him as saying: "The Zionist regime and the Zionists are a cancerous tumor. Even if one cell of them is left in one inch of (Palestinian) land, in the future this story (of Israel's existence) will repeat."
#6
"You kids play nice. Don't make me come out there!"
That was always effective in the back yard because we knew after the fourth or tenth warning, Mom would, indeed, come out and chase us around the yard with a wooden spoon. Exactly how many wooden spoons does the UN have?
#7
jeez, Steve, you had it easy. My Mom had the Spork of Death
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/18/2012 13:53
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Agent Ahmadinejad: The Zionist regime and the Zionists are a cancerous tumor.
Human beings are a disease, a cancer of this planet, says Agent Smith in the film The Matrix.
[Ma'an] Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, security forces have incarcerated I ain't sayin' nuttin' widdout me mout'piece! a senior Salafi sheikh who was injured in June in an Israeli Arclight airstrike, a Salafi leader said Friday.
Sheikh Abu Suhaib Rashwan was set to sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark dock, in a pestilential prison with a life-long lock Drop the rosco and step away witcher hands up! Wednesday as he left a hospital, where he was recovering from wounds sustained on June 20 in Israeli shelling on the southern Gazoo Strip, Abu Abdullah al-Muhajir said in a statement.
Al-Mujajir said Hamas forces had cracked down on Salafis in Gazoo since an attack in Egypt's Sinai in which 16 Egyptian officers were killed on Aug. 5. Several Salafis have been summoned for interrogation since the incident, he said.
"We are not responsible for the Sinai attack," he said, adding that jihadi Salafis in Gazoo aimed "to fight Israel."
Salafi Jihadi, the biggest jihadist group in Sinai, has also denied involvement in the incident.
"We have never raised our weapons against the Egyptian army," the group said in a statement Thursday, adding that its true fight was with the "Zionist enemy," Israel.
The statement said other jihadist groups, which it did not name, were behind past attacks on Sinai's gas pipeline that delivers gas from Egypt to Israel and Jordan.
The group also said Sinai jihadists had fired rockets at Israel in the last few year. Egypt had repeatedly denied that rockets had ever been fired from Sinai into Israel.
In Gazoo, Hamas has launched several crackdowns on armed salafi groups since it took control of the enclave in 2007, notably following attacks on women and Christians.
In 2009, Hamas raided a mosque and killed 28 people after a Salafi imam declared an Islamic emirate in Gazoo.
Bulgarian interior minister says investigation suggests attack that killed 5 Israelis was carried out by country or terror group, but refuses to name suspects
"Out of thousands of people, we need to find four or five," Bulgarian Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov said on Friday in reference to the police investigation into the terror attack that killed five Israeli tourists and a Bulgarian bus driver in the resort city of Burgas.
In an interview with Bulgarian news website Novointe, Tsvetanov estimated that "the probe might take years."
The Bulgarian minister noted that they were not able to establish a claim made by two Israeli witnesses, by which the bomb was hidden in the luggage compartment of the bus that was transferring Israeli tourists to their hotels. He added that the investigation indicates that a country or terror organization were behind the attack, but refused to name any suspects.
Immediately after the attack, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Hezbollah, saying "it's time that all the world's countries speak the truth clearly and say that Iran is behind the wave of terror."
On Thursday, Bulgarian authorities released a computer-generated image of a suspected accomplice of the jacket wallah. The image of a man with short dark hair was accompanied by a photo from a fake driver's license, in which the man appears to be wearing a wig.
Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon on Thursday praised the Kenyan goverment for its efforts to stop Iranian terror threats against Israeli and Jewish targets.
Keep up the good work, guys!
Ayalon who is currently visiting Kenya as part of a round of visits in three African countries -- Uganda, Æthiopia and Kenya, praised the local authorities after they tossed in the slammer I ain't sayin' nuttin' widdout me mout'piece! the two Iranians in June when the suspects led Kenyan security forces to 15 kilograms (33 pounds) of RDX, a powerful explosive, in the coastal city of Mombasa where several hotels are owned by Israelis.
It has now been revealed that the targets included Israel's Ambassador to Kenya, Gil Haskel.
One official said the Iranians are members of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps Quds Force, an elite and secretive unit.
During Ayalon's visit, all three countries expressed concern ...meaning the brow was mildly wrinkled, the eyebrows drawn slightly together, and a thoughtful expression assumed, not that anything was actually done or indeed that any thought was actually expended... regarding Iran's attempts to increase its terror activity in Africa.
Ayalon is also using the visits to conduct a diplomatic battle against Iran, and is trying to convince the African leaders not to take part in the conference of Non Aligned Nations at the end of the month in Teheran.
Avi Granot, deputy director of the African section in the Foreign Ministry, said that the Israeli request to send a delegation of lower ranking representatives was being mulled.
They'll go anyway, but back home the police have been warned to keep an ear open for men with funny accents.
A week before Ayalon arrived in Africa Iranian Vice President Hamid Bakai visited the continent for a round of visits and handed each leader a personal invitation to the conference.
[An Nahar] Russia on Friday rejected a proposal to set up no-fly zones to help civilians flee fighting in Syria's border areas after the United States said it was ready to consider the move.
"You have to solve citizen security issues using methods put in practice by international humanitarian law," Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told Sky News Arabia in an interview to be aired in full on Saturday and released to Russian media.
"But if you try to create no-fly zones and safety zones for military purposes by citing an international crisis -- this is unacceptable," he said.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ... sometimes described as The Heroine of Tuzla and at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as Another Walter Q. Gresham ... said following talks last weekend with her Turkish counterpart that the issue of imposing safety and no-fly zones around ravaged cities such as Aleppo ...For centuries, Aleppo was Greater Syria's largest city and the Ottoman Empire's third, after Constantinople and Cairo. Although relatively close to Damascus in distance, Aleppans regard Damascenes as country cousins... "need greater in-depth analysis."
She added that the two countries -- both spearheading international calls for Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Trampler of Homs... to step down -- agreed "to have a very intensive operational planning" discussions during which they could deliberate further moves.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/18/2012
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#1
Famous last words???
To wit,
* WAFF > [DefenceNet.GR] ASSAD ULTIMATUM TO TURKEY: WE WILL GIVE SA-7 [Grail MANPAD], SA-8 [Gecko AADS] TO PKK, unless Turkey halts any + all support to Syruhn Rebels + Kurds.
Methinks Iran will take issue wid BFF Assad over giving the Rebs + espec the Kurds anything.
#5
We will be sending in hot air balloons ships with gigantic fax machines attached to them. The flat lander research of the 2nd dimension has paid off for the Pentagon we will fax our air fleet in right on top of them and Iran! We have to win the weather war first so the planes can reconstitute themselves!
[Dawn] Two workers 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... , a cable operator and a hairdresser were among five persons killed in separate acts of violence in the city on Friday.
An activist of the MQM was killed by assailants in Makhdoom Shah Colony in Orangi Town Sector 11½.
The victim was identified as Farhan Gilani, 30. He was maimed and being driven to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital when he died. A large number of MQM workers reached ASH on learning about the killing.
Police said following the murder, unknown persons resorted to intense firing in different parts of Orangi Town and forced shops to shut.
Police said the victim belonged to Unit 120 of the party and was in charge of Makhdoom Shah Colony. He lived in Benazir Colony.
Police suspected that the killing was linked to some dispute over Fitra collection.
Another worker of the MQM was killed by suspects near Nagan Chowrangi.
Police said the incident took place at an Eid Bachat Bazaar, where unknown suspects riding a cycle of violence opened fire wounding Adeel, 30, Adnan, 30, and Faisal Siddiqui, 28.
The maimed were rushed to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, where Adeel died.
Police said the three victims had set up stalls at the Eid Bazaar. Adeel was employed at a private bank.
He was associated with the MQM's Unit 134 and lived in Country Tower apartments.
Cable operator
A cable operator was killed by unknown persons in a Baldia Town locality in the early hours of Friday.
Police said the incident took place in Naval Colony, Baldia Town, where suspects rubbed out Abdul Rahim, 22, at the doorstep of his home.
Police said the victim had returned home after buying food items for Sehri when two assailants riding a cycle of violence shot him dead.
Hairdresser
A hairdresser was killed by unknown persons in Yousuf Goth.
Police said Shahzad Baloch was shot thrice in the chest in his shop.
Meanwhile, ...back at the Hubba Hubba Club, Nunzio had his hands full of angry bleached blonde... the body of a young man was found in an apartment in Lyari.
Police said the victim was identified as Iqbal, 45, son of Mohammad Khan.
He was a former government schoolteacher.
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UNITED NATIONS: Russia called off a meeting planned for Friday of an international action group on the Syria conflict after western nations told them they would not attend, diplomats said. Russia said the meeting at the UN headquarters, called by its UN envoy Vitaly Churkin, had been "postponed."
Diplomats said, however, that the United States, France and Britain had told the Russians they would not attend. Only China and a UN representative had confirmed they would go to the talks, one diplomat told AFP.
"There were consultations before and the countries said they would not be attending," one diplomat told AFP on condition of anonymity.
"It is not a boycott. At this stage we just cannot see the point of this meeting. The divisions are such that there is no chance of this action group making political agreement on Syria," added a second diplomat.
Churkin said Thursday that invitations had been made and that Russia wanted the international group to set a deadline for the Syrian government and opposition to halt the violence.
"The meeting has been postponed at the request of some members of the action group," Russian UN mission spokesman Anton Uspensky told AFP. He said it was not immediately sure whether a new date for the meeting would be set.
The United States had expressed doubts about the point of the meeting on Thursday after Churkin's announcement.
"Frankly, we're not sure we understand the objective and the goal of the meeting," US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters in Washington. "As we've said all along: to have meetings for meetings' sake is not what any of us needs to do. What we need to do is have meetings that support the Syrian people and support an end to the bloodshed."
Western nations are still angry at Russia and China for three vetoes of UN Security Council resolutions on Syria which condemned President Bashar Assad's actions and threatened sanctions. Russia, Assad's main western ally, has accused the United States and its allies of only seeking regime change.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/18/2012
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[Dawn] A bomb went kaboom! near a vehicle of local security forces in Quetta, killing four including two officials and injuring three others, DawnNews reported early on Saturday.
According to sources, the attack was conducted through an Improvised Explosive Device (IED), planted at Qambrani Road.
An eye-witness said the blast was so powerful that it shook all nearby buildings.
The law enforcement agencies cordoned off the area and found a vehicle full of explosives during a search they were conducting after the incident.
Posted by: Fred ||
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A spate of bombings and gun attacks that killed at least 53 people in Iraq overshadowed preparations Friday to mark the end of the holy month of Ramadan, amid warnings that insurgents could strike again.
The violence on Thursday, the deadliest in a single day since unrest last month killed 113 on July 23, struck 15 cities and towns nationwide and left 260 wounded in more than a dozen explosions and shootings across the country. The latest unrest takes the overall death toll from violence this month to 198, according to an AFP tally based on security and medical sources.
The deadliest violence on Thursday struck in and around Baghdad, where 26 people were killed in a series of bombings.
In the predominantly Shia north Baghdad neighbourhood of Sadr City, 11 people were killed and 41 wounded by an evening explosion, while six people were killed and 26 wounded by a car bomb in the Husseiniyah district, also in the north of the capital, security and medical officials said.
North of Baghdad, gunmen with silenced weapons attacked a checkpoint in Massud, killing at least six soldiers and wounding seven others, security forces and medical officials said. And three other people were killed and 11 wounded by twin blasts in the east Baghdad neighbourhood of Zafraniyah.
In Tal Afar, north of Baghdad, a suicide bomber wearing an explosive belt killed six people and wounded 10 others, police Second Lieutenant Abed Ghayib and Dr Mohammed Tawfik said.
A series of attacks in Kirkuk province, north of Baghdad, killed nine people.
In the town of Daquq, a suicide attacker blew himself up at an anti-terrorism departments compound, while in the provinces eponymous capital, at least four car bombs were set off across the city including two at the offices of the state-owned North Oil Company.
I came to investigate one of the attacks near the company compound, said police Colonel Abdullah Kadhim, head of Kirkuk citys sniffer dog unit. Suddenly, another bomb went off near me, and it damaged lots of cars and company property inside the parking lot.
Provincial health chief Sadiq Omar Rasul put the toll from the attacks in Daquq and Kirkuk city at eight dead and 56 wounded. Provincial police Brigadier General Sarhad Qader said the victims included six police officers who died in the Daquq attack.
Also in Kirkuk province, two bombings near the home of a police captain in the town of Dibis killed his brother and wounded four others, including the captain himself, police and a doctor at nearby Kirkuk hospital said.
The violence in ethnically-mixed Kirkuk city was concentrated in its Kurdish-majority areas, and came on the anniversary of the founding of Iraqs most powerful Kurdish party, the Kurdistan Democratic Party.
In Kut, 160 kilometres (100 miles) south of Baghdad, a car bomb exploded on Thursday evening, police Colonel Dhargham Al Assadi said. Five people were killed and 70 others wounded, according to Dhia Al Din Jalil Al Ibboudi, the head of the Kut health directorate.
Attacks also struck Al Garma, Al Baaj, Badush, Tuz Khurmatu, Mosul, Taji, Khales and Baquba, leaving seven dead and dozens wounded.
A day earlier, 13 people were killed in attacks north of Baghdad.
On Monday, British security firm AKE Group warned that terrorists in Iraq may be planning mass casualty explosive attacks against large gatherings of civilians to mark the end of Ramadan later this week.
We havent received any specific intelligence on the matter but they (insurgents) may be saving up their willing bombers for the closing period of the month, due around 17-18 August, AKE analyst John Drake said.
Official figures put the number of people killed in attacks in July at 325, the highest monthly death toll since August 2010.
Miss us yet?
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/18/2012
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Oh? And what are the attackees, aka the Mighty Pak Army, going to do about it?
[Dawn] Interior Minister Rehman Malik Pak politician, Interior Minister under the Gilani government. Malik is a former Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) intelligence officer who rose to head the FIA during Benazir Bhutto's second tenure. Malik was tossed from his FIA job in 1998 after documenting the breath-taking corruption of the Sharif family. By unhappy coincidence Nawaz Sharif became PM at just that moment and Malik moved to London one step ahead of the button men. He had to give up the interior ministry job because he held dual Brit citizenship. claimed on Friday that because of an advance warning about a possible attack on PAF installations terrorists' attempt to harm Kamra assets on Thursday was foiled and all the attackers were killed.
Addressing a presser, Mr Malik said four of the assailants had been identified. They had received training in Wazoo and the raid, he said, could be traced back to North and South Waziristan.
He said the Taliban were harbouring criminals from all over the country and stressed the need for finding out the criminal mastermind who had sent bully boyz to Kamra.
Mr Malik praised the Commander of Karma airbase who led the operation to safeguard the facility and was injured while fighting the attackers.
Answering a question, he said no decision had yet been taken about launching an operation in North Waziristan, adding that such a decision would not be taken under foreign pressure.
In other words, nothing will be done. How mighty of you.
Rejecting western media reports, he said the defence of the country and its nuclear assets were in safe hands. "When we can develop nuclear assets we also know how to protect them."
About the Babusar Top attack, he said the bully boyz had killed innocent people. He appealed to the people of Gilgit-Baltistan to demonstrate patience and foil attempts to destabilise the country.
He said the government would soon announce a compensation package for families whose loved ones were killed in the sectarian attack.
Mr Malik said an amount of Rs100 million had been allocated to ensure safety on Sharah-e-Karakoram.
He said there was no US national on the premises of Police Lines Headquarters in Islamabad, but conceded that some foreign trainers, including from Australia, were there fro training police personnel.
The interior minister said law-enforcement agencies and police department had been directed to maintain security on Eid.
Yaqoob Malik adds from Attock: Ten suspects were picked up during a search in various areas around the Kamra cantonment on Friday and they are being interrogated.
A large number of Afghan refugees have been living in different parts of Kamra district for years and there is no record about them with the authorities concerned.
Meanwhile, ...back at the shouting match, a new, even louder, voice was to be heard... a team has been set up to investigate the incident and identify the bad boys.
The post-mortem on the bad boys' bodies was conducted late on Thursday night at the mortuary of DHQ hospital under the supervision of Dr Khalid Mehmood Khan amid tight security. During the autopsy, law-enforcement personnel collected fingerprints which would be sent to the National Database and Registration Authority to establish the identities of the attackers.
That assumes barbarians from the tribal territories have their fingerprints on file, of course.
Meanwhile, ...back at the alley, Slats Chumbaloni was staring into a hole that was just .45 inch in diameter and was less than three feet from his face ... a security man who was injured during the fighting with the attackers died on Friday. PAF front man Group Captain Tariq Mahmood said that Mohammad Iqbal's funeral prayers were held at the PAF base in Minhas.
Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Tahir Rafique Butt visited the base on Friday.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/18/2012
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Four riot police officers were killed near Grozny, the capital of the Russian North Caucasus republic of Chechnya, when their car was attacked, a police spokesman said.
He said, Unknown assailants opened fire from automatic weapons at a police car near the locality of Alkhan-Kala, adding that the incident occurred late on Friday.
Four policemen inside the car died of wounds, he said.
[Dawn] The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... government has banned travel of foreigners from Beautiful Downtown Peshawar to southern districts of the province and tribal and semi-tribal regions through Kohat tunnel. Besides, security at the tunnel has been beefed up and all those intending to travel through it must carry their computerised national identity cards.
The standard operating procedure (SOP) in this regard was announced by Home and Tribal Affairs Department, Peshawar, on Friday. It stated that travel of foreigners from Peshawar to Kohat, Hangu, Karak and Bannu districts, and North and South Wazoo agencies through Kohat tunnel had been banned, as for this they would have to pass through the restive Darra Adamkhel, a Frontier Region (FR) of Kohat district, and onwards through Kohat tunnel.
Similar restriction is also meant for all those Pak staff members working with any international or local NGO. The restraint is also applicable in case of other remaining five FRs i.e FR Peshawar, FR Bannu, FR Lakki, FR Tank and FR Dera Ismail Khan ... the Pearl of Pashtunistan ... as well as the seven tribal agencies, including Bajaur, Mohmand ... Named for the Mohmand clan of the Sarban Pahstuns, a truculent, quarrelsome lot. In Pakistain, the Mohmands infest their eponymous Agency, metastasizing as far as the plains of Peshawar, Charsadda, and Mardan. Mohmands are also scattered throughout Pakistan in urban areas including Karachi, Lahore, and Quetta. In Afghanistan they are mainly found in Nangarhar and Kunar... , Khyber, Orakzai, Kurram, North Waziristan and South Waziristan.
However, facts are stubborn; statistics are more pliable... the people will have to obtain prior permission from the Home and Tribal Affairs Department so that necessary NOC and proper security arrangements could be made for them well in advance. Ban on travel through Kohat tunnel is in addition to the restriction already imposed for 10 districts for visiting foreign tourists, diplomats, foreign missions, expatriates and Pak staff members working in NGOs and INGOs with regard to entire seven districts forming Malakand Division, including Swat, Lower Dir, Upper Dir, Shangla, Buner, Malakand and Chitral and three southern districts of Hangu, Tank and Dera Ismail Khan.
The home department advisory clarified that all ambassadors/foreign missions/diplomats/embassies' officials intending to visit the aforementioned specific areas were advised to route their written requests through the federal ministry of foreign affairs, Islamabad, so that it should reach the provincial government's home department, Peshawar, a fortnight or at least 12 working days in advance, enabling it to process it and obtain security clearance from the quarters concerned and to make proper security/ protocol arrangements for the visiting foreigners/dignitaries.
The government has asked the foreigners/expatriates and Pak staff working for NGOs/INGOs to route their written requests for visiting the abovementioned areas through their respective organizations.
For visiting the rest of the districts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, all categories of foreigners might forward their written requests to the home and tribal affairs department, Peshawar, at least five working days prior to their visits so that proper arrangements could be made for their visit.
Meanwhile, ...back at the Esquimeau village our hero was receiving a quick lesson in aeronautics...... to thwart any threat to strategic Kohat Friendship Tunnel two extra army units and sniffer dogs have been deployed there, turning it into a nuisance for a large number of people proceeding to their hometowns for celebrating Eid, sources told Dawn in Kohat on Friday.
The National Highway Authority and security forces have also renewed their request to people to keep their identity cards and papers of vehicles with them for easy passage through the tunnel. The security forces have forbidden travel through the tunnel for those people who did not possess CNIC.
The sources said that this time the authorities had also not opened the hilly track between Darra Adamkhel and Kohat to ease traffic at the tunnel. They said that the villages close to the hilly track on Darra Adamkhel side were still infested with krazed killers, who could cause harm to passengers.
Posted by: Fred ||
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ISLAMABAD -- A senior military commander of Pakistan army has dismissed as 'speculative' reports of an impending military operation in the militant-infested North Wazoo and insisted that no decision had been taken so far. "Fantasy" would probably be more accurate...
"It doesn't seem so," responded Peshawar Corps Commander Lt-Gen Khalid Rabbani when asked if a military operation in North Waziristan was imminent. "No such decision is in front of me," he said at a dinner in Peshawar on Thursday evening.
"Why, to do that we'd need an army," the general continued...
The Peshawar corps commander, whose area of military jurisdiction includes North Waziristan, took a swipe at reports in Western media that Pakistan had agreed to undertake a military operation in North Waziristan.
"I asked one of my officers this morning, 'who is carrying out the operation?' At least I am not aware of any such operation," he said in a lighter vein.
Guarded and careful, Gen. Rabbani said that political ownership and national consensus were pre-requisites for any decision to launch a military operation in North Waziristan.
So it'll never happen...
US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta claimed early this week that Pakistan had told US military officials that it planned to launch combat operations against militants in North Waziristan. He also said that it would be soon.
But Gen. Rabbani sought to play down claims by Panetta, saying that a decision on "when to launch an operation, why to launch an operation and against whom to launch the operation, would be made in Pakistan and not outside".
"Let me tell you, the decision will be made in Islamabad and not outside. Whenever there is an operation, if there is an operation, it will be done by the Pakistan Army. There will be no foreign signature or footprints," Rabbani was quoted by the media as saying.
"The decision will have to be made in our own environment," he added.
Posted by: Steve White ||
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Controversial 'Islamorealism' Ads Go Up In Metro-North Stations In Westchester
An anti-Islamic advertisement has gone up at several Metro-North Railroad stations in Westchester County.
It reads: "It's not Islamophobia ...the irrational fear that Moslems will act the way they usually do... , it's Islamorealism."
Picture of the billboard at the link.
The American Freedom Defense Initiative paid for it. It associates Islam with 19,250 terrorist attacks carried out by bully boyz since 9/11.
The Defense Initiative is led by blogger and political activist Pamela Geller.
A very busy lady, according to our archives.
She said its message is it's not "Islamophobic' to oppose jihad terror."
The group won a federal court decision this summer that said the MTA violated its First Amendment rights when it rejected one if its ads, WCBS 880′s Paul Murnane reported.
Some Metro-North commuters were shocked to see the ads early Friday morning, but others didn't see it as much of an issue.
"I think generally you want to be neutral with advertising if they're getting a lot of complaints," one person said.
"Maybe some people are offended, but today, people are so easily offended by so many things," another said.
#4
Ms. Geller's one possible mistake in all this is to associate the 19,000+ attacks as "Islamic" instead of "jihadist".
By not making this clear distinction, I think she's given some ammo to her numerous Islamic detractors.
#7
MH, listen to Tayip Erdogan the Islamic head of Turkey. " Ms. Geller's one possible mistake in all this is to associate the 19,000+ attacks as "Islamic" instead of "jihadist".
He says, as do many of his leadership ilk, that it is an insult to imply that there is a difference between the two. There is no moderate Islam, Islam is Islam.
You should believe people that tell you that they want to kill you.
[An Nahar] A member of the armed wing of Gazoo's ruling Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, movement died when a bomb he was guarding went kaboom! accidently, the Paleostinian bad boy group said on Friday.
The victim, Majed Khalout, was killed when the bomb went kaboom! as he was patrolling the site where it was stored, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades said in a statement.
Allah clearly made his opinion known. It is he who chooses the movement of the molecules, you know.
Witnesses said the incident occurred in a northern district of Gazoo City.
A front man for the Israeli army said he was not aware of the kaboom.
Earlier this month, another member of the Brigades died when a bomb went kaboom! in the car in which he was travelling in west Gazoo City.
The Israeli military said it was not involved in that incident.
#2
Psssssst...Hey, Mahmoud. Got ya bomb parts. Anything ya want. Best prices in town. Whaddya say?
Posted by: The MOSSAD ||
08/18/2012 2:10
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#3
GREAT INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITY !
A British Engineer just started his own business in Afghanistan.
He's making land mines that look like prayer mats. It's doing very well.
He says prophets are going through the roof.
Posted by: Jack Salami ||
08/18/2012 20:33
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[Dawn] The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP) has grabbed credit for an attack on a Pak military airbase early Thursday, which left 10 people dead, including a soldier, and damaged at least one Air Force aircraft.
The cut-thoat assault renews questions about security at key military installations, particularly at a base which has been attacked before.
Taliban front man Ehsanullah Ehsan claimed nine heavily armed TTP bully boyz stormed the PAF Minhas airbase at Kamra, located about 70 kms from the capital Islamabad in Punjab's Attock city, sparking an intense shootout lasting almost five hours.
"The attack was launched from two different sides. A team of four members entered from one side and five from the other and than they launched a collective attack inside the camp," Ehsan told Dawn.com, speaking from Qazi's guesthouse an undisclosed location, confirming that all nine attackers were killed in the assault.
The cut-thoatfront man further claimed that they had achieved their targets and killed "more than a dozen security personnel" inside the base.
PAF officials also confirmed all nine bully boyz had been killed, however, they said only one Pak soldier, Mohammad Asif, had lost his life in the attack.
The Taliban front man also claimed the attackers had destroyed three JF-17 thunder aircraft as well.
PAF officials said that only one of aircraft at the base was damaged in the attack.
Several squadrons of fighters and surveillance planes are believed to be housed at Kamra's Minhas base. Officials also confirmed that over 30 planes were parked at the base, including state-of-the-art JF-17 Thunder fighter jets.
The airbase is a heavily guarded compound with the air force's Kamra Aeronautical Complex also in its vicinity, where Pakistain assembles and overhauls JF-17 Thunder fighter jets in collaboration with China. According to reports, at least 11 Chinese engineers were working at the Kamra Aeronautical Complex.
All Chinese and others foreign engineers and technicians involved in co-production of Chinese and Pakistain JF-17 Thunder aircraft project were shifted to a high profile secure location, official sources told Dawn.com, adding that the engineers were not present near the attack area.
Early morning attack
Although the attack took place at about 2 am, it is likely many of the soldiers on the base were awake for prayers or breakfast during the fasting month of Ramazan.
"The base has been cleared. The operation has been completed," a PAF front man said after over five hours of fierce shootout between bully boyz and Pak military commandos.
Although the TTP front man claims the bully boyz attacked the base from two sides, it was not clear how the attackers managed to enter the sprawling base.
The gunnies disguised themselves in uniforms armed with automatic weapons, grenades and boom jackets, the air force said.
"Other myrmidons then fired RPGs from outside the base boundary wall. As a result one PAF aircraft got damaged," it added in a statement.
Special Forces and police were scrambled to the scene. Gunfire, rocket and hand grenade kabooms were heard during heavy festivities. One officer told news agency AFP that he saw flames after waking up for his pre-dawn meal.
"There was an announcement by megaphone for soldiers not to move from the barracks and we were forbidden from going to the area where I saw the fire," he said.
"The attackers were wearing security force uniforms but I can't specify of which force uniform they were wearing," he added. "One body of a jacket wallah strapped with explosives has been found close to the impact area."
Base commander, Air Commodore Muhammad Azam, who led the operation against the attackers, was maimed, but is in stable, pH balanced condition, said the front man. One other security official also received injuries.
Revenge for bin Laden's death
Taliban front man Ehsan claimed the cut-thoat organization had carried out the attack "to avenge the deaths of the late Osama bin Laden ... who has left the building... , the TTP Amir Baitullah Mehsud and other fighters who had been killed by the Pak security forces."
Pak forces are fighting a challenging war on their soil against Islamist bully boyz based, including al Qaeda and its offshoots and Pakistain's own version of Talibs.
The front man claimed the Taliban would continue to target security installations "until the establishment of a true Islamic state in Pakistain."
Investigations ordered
Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Tahir Rafique Butt has ordered investigation into the incident.
The Air Chief Marshal summoned a meeting today at Air headquarter Islamabad to analyse the situation after the attack and to mull over the initial intelligence reports. The meeting would be attended by top leadership of Pakistain Air Force.
Chief of Kamra aeronautical complex and Base Commander will brief the meeting.
The government and military's top leadership, including President Asif Ali Ten Percent Zardari ... husband of the late Benazir Bhutto, who has been singularly lacking in curiosity about who done her in ... , Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaque Pervez Kayani ... four star general, current Chief of Army Staff of the Mighty Pak Army. Kayani is the former Director General of ISI... and Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf were notified of the attack, and the operation was being closely monitored by the army chief.
President Zardari strongly condemned the attack and expressed government's resolve to eliminate terrorism.
Intel of possible attack
In recent weeks, military intelligence had warned of the possibility of such an attack on military installations. However, a hangover is the wrath of grapes... there was no specific information about an attack being targeted at the Kamra base.
This is not the first time that Kamra has been the target of a cut-thoat attack. On Oct 23, 2009, a suicide bomber went kaboom!" at the entrance of the Pakistain Aeronautical Complex in Kamra. Two security officers and six other people were killed in the attack.
Last year, six Taliban gunnies attacked a naval base in Pakistain's biggest city Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It may be the largest city in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... to avenge the killing of Osama bin Laden. At least 10 military personnel were killed and 20 maimed in the 16-hour assault.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[An Nahar] Hizbullah Secretary-General His Eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah The satrap of the Medes and the Persians in Leb... on Friday noted that "what happened in the past two days was out of Hizbullah and AMAL's control," warning that his group would make lives of Israelis "a living hell" if Leb is attacked.
"It's untrue that Hassan al-Meqdad is a Hizbullah member," Nasrallah said of a Lebanese man kidnapped near Damascus ...The place where Pencilneck hangs his brass hat... on Tuesday by a Syrian gang which claimed that he is a Hizbullah sniper.
Al-Meqdad clan, which has also denied the claims, said Wednesday that its "military wing" kidnapped more than 20 Syrians and a Turkish national to try to secure Hassan's release.
On Wednesday, dozens of Syrians were kidnapped and Syrian-owned shops vandalized in Beirut's southern suburbs after unconfirmed reports that several Lebanese taken hostage in Syria had been killed in an Arclight airstrike on the Aleppo ...For centuries, Aleppo was Greater Syria's largest city and the Ottoman Empire's third, after Constantinople and Cairo. Although relatively close to Damascus in distance, Aleppans regard Damascenes as country cousins... town of Aazaz.
Addressing the issue of the 11 Lebanese pilgrims who were kidnapped in Aazaz on May 22, Nasrallah said: "Ever since the failure of their release, Hizbullah maintained silence over this issue for the sake of the captives because we feared the exploitation of our statements."
"We do not know who kidnapped them. We remained silent hoping that the government will exert sufficient efforts to ensure their release," Hizbullah's leader added in a televised speech marking Quds (Jerusalem) Day.
Nasrallah lambasted the Lebanese media for playing a "tragic role" in covering the events of the past two days. Some media outlets said four Lebanese hostages were killed in Aazaz while others said all of the 11 pilgrims died in the Arclight airstrike.
Lebanese television networks have also been criticized for their extensive coverage of the abductions and the public threats voiced by al-Meqdad clan and several angry protesters.
"What happened in the past two days was out of Hizbullah and AMAL's control," stressed Nasrallah, warning that "the situation is spiraling out of control due to the media and political chaos."
"We tried to deter the protesters from blocking the airport road to no avail," he noted.
"The issue of the abductees has become a humanitarian tragedy, a media charade and the source of major political blackmailing," Nasrallah added.
Turning to the issue of the conflict with Israel, Nasrallah warned that his Iranian-backed group would make lives of Israelis "a living hell" if it is attacked.
"There are targets in occupied Paleostine (Israel) which could be targeted by a small number of missiles," Nasrallah said.
"If we are forced to use them to protect our people and our country, we will not hesitate to do so... and that will turn the lives of hundreds of thousands of Zionists into a living hell," he added.
Nasrallah warned of "tens of thousands of deaths, and not just 300 to 500 dead," adding that Hizbullah had chosen its targets.
In case of any Israeli attack on Iran over its controversial nuclear program, "the response will be enormous," he warned. Any such action would present the Islamic republic with "the opportunity is has been dreaming of" since it was founded in 1979.
Last month, an Israeli general warned that Hizbullah would pay dearly if it fired rockets at the Jewish state.
"If we get to another war, Israel will hit Hizbullah decisively, quickly, as fast as we can in order to stop the fire from Leb to Israel," commander of Israel's northern division, Brigadier General Herzi Halevi, said at a briefing.
He also said that towns in southern Leb used as launching bases for Hizbullah rocket attacks would be "destroyed."
Last month, Israel accused Iran and Hizbullah of planning attacks in "over 20 countries" in remarks just days after a deadly attack in Bulgaria that killed five Israeli tourists and their local bus driver.
Iran denied the charges but Hizbullah refused to comment.
Hizbullah follows the example of Tehran in marking Quds Day, a show of support for the Paleostinians over the disputed holy city of Jerusalem.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/18/2012
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#1
"AMAL" > ZOOOMG, IT LIVES!
Thats a name we haven't heard or used in a
l-o-n-g while.
A Charleroi man was arrested Saturday night for allegedly stealing a bag of hemp that had been seized as evidence from the Charleroi Regional police department. Stealing Mary Jane from cops? Dumb dumb-dumb dumb/Dumb dumb-dumb dumb DUMB!
David Allan Thompson, 27, of 426 Fallowfield Ave., reportedly stopped at the cop shop at 338 Fallowfield Ave. about 8 p.m.
Officer David Kimball, who had been working on reports from other incidents that day, took Thompson to a room to speak with him. Kimball left the room to retrieve his Handy, as the Germans say, telling Thompson he would be right back, according to the affidavit by police filed with District Judge Jay Weller. Kimball went to the patrol room to get his phone, noticing Thompson had followed him into that room.
Thompson was escorted out of the patrol room and back into the original room by Kimball. After Thompson finished talking with the officer, he left the station. "Fine, you're done, and there's nothing in my pocke-YEOW! Bhy liphs!"
Kimball, according to the complaint, returned to the patrol room to finish the report and log evidence, including the cannabis, which he noticed was gone. After checking to see if another officer had bagged it, Kimball searched the desk. "I could have sworn I left it right--wait a minute. That guy followed me..."
Kimball told the other officer what happened, and the two went to look for Thompson. Five minutes later, Kimball spotted Thompson walking past the police station and asked him What did you do with the weed? Thompson held out his left hand and placed the bag in the officers hand, according to the affidavit. Police arrested him and said they also found a suspected marijuana pipe in his pants pocket.
Police said that back inside the station, Thompson apologized repeatedly to police, telling them, I just couldnt help myself. That bud smelled so good. Either someone's sniffer is off or the fire changes the smell; I was bringing shopping carts into the store once, and I thought there was a roadkill skunk in the parking lot. A coworker told me no, someone was toking.
He reportedly told police that he initially stopped by to help them out and couldnt believe he was in trouble for taking a little bit of weed. The affidavit didnt specify what help Thompson intended to provide Officer Friendly.
Thompson was arraigned before Weller on charges of making off with what ain't his, receiving stolen property, tampering with or fabricating evidence, possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia. He was released on his own recognizance. A preliminary hearing is set for Aug. 23 before District Judge Larry Hopkins.
#1
Sounds like a future Spox in support of Medical Marijuana + Legal Drug Use, which would be ironic because AFAIK many users desire to maintain their drug habit(s) while also NOT paying any higher public taxes that are likely to occur due to legalized consumption.
#3
Some time ago, I did need to buy a good car for my business but I didn't earn enough cash and couldn't buy anything. Thank goodness my brother suggested to try to get the business loans at reliable creditors. So, I acted that and used to be satisfied with my bank loan.
Posted by: Monroe ||
08/18/2012 22:27
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[Dawn] THE attack on the air force base in Kamra has raised disturbing -- and disturbingly familiar -- questions. That only one security personnel was killed as opposed to nine dead Death Eaters is only a small consolation: the first and foremost question is, how were Death Eaters able to yet again infiltrate a high-security armed services' base and engage security forces inside for many hours? Given that some kind of military operation in North Wazoo against at least the Pakistain-centric Death Eaters is in the offing, the possibility of pre-emptive strikes by the Death Eaters is high. Had the warning of a blowback only been made at the policy level without it filtering down to the security forces likely to be in the cross-hairs of the krazed killers? Already, the very specific threat against PAF bases in Punjab by the TTP in Dire Revenge™ for the killing of a krazed killer leader earlier this month had been picked up by the intelligence apparatus. Surely, then, at this stage of the fight against militancy, the security apparatus should be able to repulse attacks on at least critical sites with more efficiency, particularly with both the circumstantial and direct forewarning appearing to have been available.
As with previous attacks, the possibility of insider help to the Death Eaters in the assault on Kamra is also very high. From sympathisers of radical Islamist thought to direct supporters of krazed killer groups, the army appears to have a militancy problem, the severity of which is hidden from the public because investigations and court martials are often carried out in secret. The wider concern going forward ought to have the army's screening procedures: how robust and effective is the surveillance and vetting of the armed forces' personnel to prevent an incident before it happens? Clearly, as recent history suggests, not robust or effective enough -- but what will it take for a more serious and sustained effort? Finally, the question that has bedevilled the fight against militancy: when will the state, both the army and the political government, drive home the message to the Pak public that the war is real, it is against a radicalised fringe of Pakistain and that unless the war is fought with total commitment and purpose, the state and society itself will spiral towards irreversible disaster? Gen Kayani ... four star general, current Chief of Army Staff of the Mighty Pak Army. Kayani is the former Director General of ISI... 's Independence Day message contained the first strands of that message but it has to be sustained and spread to the farthest corners of the country. The ones shouting 'this isn't our war' -- many on the political right -- need to be countered, firmly and unequivocally. Delay that battle any longer and the already manifold complications will grow yet more complicated.
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#1
From sympathisers of radical Islamist thought to direct supporters of militant groups, the army appears to have a militancy problem, the severity of which is hidden from the public because investigations and court martials are often carried out in secret.
[An Nahar] Syrian forces pounded rebel hubs in the northern city of Aleppo ...For centuries, Aleppo was Greater Syria's largest city and the Ottoman Empire's third, after Constantinople and Cairo. Although relatively close to Damascus in distance, Aleppans regard Damascenes as country cousins... and battled opposition fighters around Damascus ...The City of Jasmin is the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world. It has not always been inhabited by the same set of fascisti... on Friday, activists said, as the U.N. reported a surge in the number of people fleeing.
And despite the imminent departure of the observers, the United Nations ...a formerly good idea gone bad... announced that veteran Algerian diplomat Lakhdar Brahimi will take over as international envoy from Kofi Annan ...Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh and so far the worst Secretary-General of the UN. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize for something or other that probably sounded good at the time. In December 2004, reports surfaced that Kofi's son Kojo received payments from the Swiss company Cotecna, which had won a lucrative contract under the UN Oil-for-Food Program. Kofi Annan called for an investigation to look into the allegations, which stirred up the expected cesspool but couldn't seem to come up with enough evidence to indict Kofi himself, or even Kojo... , who quit earlier this month.
On the ground, violence was also reported in other towns and villages across the country, with the bloodletting showing no signs of any let-up a day after the United Nations formally called time on its observer mission.
"The violence and the suffering in Syria must come to an end," U.N. chief the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon ... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan... said in a statement announcing the appointment of Brahimi.
Ban called on the international community to give "strong, clear and unified" support to the new envoy, after Annan complained that his mission had been mission had been hamstrung by the deep rift on the U.N. Security Council between the West and traditional Damascus allies Beijing and Moscow.
But in sign that the divisions remain as large as ever, Washington called for clarifications on Brahimi's mandate and Moscow called off a meeting on the conflict that had been planned for Friday after Western and Arab governments said they would not attend.
On the ground, at least 72 people were killed as the regime continued its onslaught on Friday, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human rights, a watchdog which has a network of activists on the ground.
The army clashed with rebels near the main military airport in Damascus and shelled southern parts of the capital as well as areas of the commercial city of Aleppo and the eastern province of Deir Ezzor, the Observatory said.
Deadly violence was also reported in the provinces of Homs and Daraa, the cradle of the uprising that began with peaceful protests in March 2011 but has escalated into an increasingly vicious battle between armed rebels and government forces.
Opposition factions reported that 65 bodies had been found dumped on a rubbish tip in a town near Damascus, claiming the victims had been bound, executed and set on fire by pro-government forces.
The Syrian Revolutionary Command Council issued a poor quality video which showed, some of the bodies were in just underwear or half-dressed, their limbs splayed apart, and hands tied behind their backs. Many were charred beyond recognition.
"The victims were handcuffed, extrajudicially executed and burned by Assad forces," the SRGC said in a statement.
It is impossible to independently verify such claims as journalists are unable to report freely in Syria.
With the international community still deeply divided over how to end the conflict, the U.N. said the number of Syrians seeking refuge in neighboring countries had now soared to at least 170,000.
"There has been a further sharp rise in the number of Syrians fleeing to Turkey," the U.N. refugee agency said.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius called for Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Scourge of Qusayr... 's regime to be "smashed fast" as he visited Turkey's largest refugee camp near the border.
"After hearing the refugees and their account of the massacres of the regime, Mr. Bashir al-Assad doesn't deserve to be on this earth." he said.
Russia rejected a proposal to set up no-fly zones to help fleeing civilians after the United States said it was ready to consider the move.
"You have to solve citizen security issues using methods put in practice by international humanitarian law," Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told Sky News Arabia.
"But if you try to create no-fly zones and safety zones for military purposes by citing an international crisis -- this is unacceptable," he said.
More than 23,000 people have died since the revolt against Assad's iron-fisted rule broke out, according to activists, while the U.N. puts the toll at around 17,000.
Assad has described the conflict as a battle for the very survival of his minority Alawite-led regime against a foreign "terrorist" plot aided by the West and its allies in the region.
But he has faced a string of high level defections, including by prime minister Riad Hijab and senior general Manaf Tlass, and a kaboom that killed four security chiefs.
"It is clear that both sides have chosen the path of war... and the space for political dialogue and cessation of hostilities and mediation is very reduced at this point," U.N. assistant secretary general for peacekeeping Edmond Mulet said.
And in a damning report this week, a U.N. panel said government forces and their militia allies had committed crimes against humanity including murder and torture, while also accusing the rebels of war crimes but to a lesser extent.
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[Dawn] BESIDES adding to the Baathist regime's regional and international isolation, the suspension of Syria's membership by the Organisation of Islamic Conference on Wednesday is unlikely to have much effect on the situation in the Levant if the aim is peace. The 57-member bloc coupled the suspension with a call for the development of a peaceful mechanism that would build "a new Syrian state based on pluralism" and a "democratic and civilian system" -- ideals that are in keeping with the spirit of the Arab Spring. However, a poor excuse is better than no excuse at all... ignoring the plea by Pakistain, Algeria and Kazakhstan that the snuffies be also blamed for the bloodshed, the 57-member body's final statement said the "principal responsibility" for the fighting lay with the government of Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Horror of Homs... . The statement coincided with a UN report which said there were "reasonable grounds" to believe that both government forces and the rebels had committed war crimes and "gross violations" of human rights ...which are usually entirely different from personal liberty... , including "unlawful killing, torture, arbitrary arrest and detention, sexual violence, pillaging and destruction of property".
Unless there is an agreement on a ceasefire, the Syrian conflict, which has led to 20,000 dead, could expand. Leb is already in a state of tension and fear, with reports that four Arab countries have asked their nationals to leave the country following a string of abductions of some Sunnis by a Shia group. The OIC and the Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... , which suspended Syria's membership last year, ought to have a uniform policy on dissent in Mohammedan countries. Their attitudes towards Bahrain, for instance, are in sharp contrast with their Syria policies. While in the former case the Gulf Cooperation Council sent troops to crush the uprising and save the monarchy, in the case of Libya and Syria they have pursued an active regime-change strategy. What happens if tomorrow there is a democratic stir in Arab monarchies, some of which have not given their people even a semblance of constitutional rule? The Syrian situation deserves to be addressed with all sincerity, but as Pakistain's foreign minister said at the recent Tehran moot, moves that could lead to foreign intervention need to be avoided.
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#1
So they talked a lot and decided that somebody should do something. Good work!
ONCUPINAR, Turkey: French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius called Friday for Syrian President Bashar Assads regime to be smashed fast as he visited Turkeys largest refugee camp near the border.
The Syrian regime should be smashed fast, Fabius told reporters. After hearing the refugees and their account of the massacres of the regime, Mr. Bashar Assad doesnt deserve to be on this earth.
Sure Sparky. When is the Foreign Legion landing in Aleppo?
It is an operation of destruction of an entire people that he is trying to accomplish, he said.
Fabius made the remarks at a refugee camp near the Oncupinar border crossing in Kilis province, where he met a number of Syrian refugees appealing to France for weapons and aid to fight the Damascus regime. In response to the demands, the top diplomat said his country was spending efforts in the political and humanitarian fields, but France could not accept continuation of Assads massacre.
The sooner this regime leaves, the better, he said.
Nice words. What are you doing about it?
The Oncupinar camp is one of several refugee settlements in Turkeys border provinces and houses around 12,000 people in prefabricated buildings.
Fabius had previously visited Jordan and Lebanon, where he had renewed calls for Assad to go in the face of his regimes relentless onslaught against Syrian civilians and predicted more spectacular defections to come soon. Fabius was referring to the recent defections of Assads prime minister Riad Hijab and general Manaf Tlass, his childhood friend and the son of a close aide of Assads father Hafez, who ruled Syria with an iron fist.
The high-level clearance into Oncupinar camp, a Turkish diplomat told AFP, was the result of the improvement in French-Turkish ties after a tumultous period during the term of the previous French president Nicolas Sarkozy.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/18/2012
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#1
How about you'll order your own house first (e. g. carbecues and sharia-inspired rapes)?
[Dawn] 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) chief Altaf Hussain on Friday asked prominent personalities of the country to think about conspiracy behind repeated terrorist attacks on defence installations and Hindus' migration to India.
Speaking to prominent columnist Hassan Nisar on phone, Hussain said Death Eaters had earlier carried out brazen attacks on Mehran Base in Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It may be the largest city in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... , GHQ in Rawalpindi, ordnance factory in Wah Cantt, Manawan Police Training School and other important installations also.
He said Hindu community members were applying for asylum in India because of failing law and order situation in interior Sindh.
Expressing deep concerns over the said issues, the MQM chief asked politicianship to think on threats encircling over the country instead of concentrating on power wrangling.
Nisar agreed with concern of the MQM chief and lamented that people who are intimately connected with events unfolding in the country are doing nothing to improve the situation.
He said people of every field of life would have to think seriously of concerns expressed by Hussain and come forward for playing due role to strengthen Pakistain.
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[Dawn] Eight faceless myrmidons were killed and four others maimed in a shootout with security forces in Mamozai area of 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 Friday, while a man died and 14 others suffered injuries in two kabooms in Parachinar.
Confirming the Orakzai incident, officials said that two security personnel were also injured in the clash.
They said that the troops were patrolling Mamozai area when gunnies launched attack from two sides. They said that the forces immediately retaliated and during exchange of fire eight faceless myrmidons were killed and four injured. Two soldiers identified as Akram and Rashid also received bullet injuries. They were taken to military hospital in Thall.
Meanwhile, ...back at the abandoned silver mine, the water was up to Jack's neck and still rising... security forces conducted a search operation in Ghundai area and recovered weapons and ammunition stored in caves.
In Parachinar, one person was killed and 14 others were maimed in two kabooms in Sadda bazaar and Khar Kallay on Friday.
Officials said that the first kaboom took place in Maaz Market, resulting in death of a PCO owner Jehan Zeb Khan and leaving 12
others maimed. One vehicle and three shops were partially damaged in the blast.
Doctors in the local hospital said that five injured people were at death's door.
The second kaboom occurred in Khar Kallay when a tractor hit a landmine, wounding two persons. They were identified as Zabit Khan and Yaqoob Khan. Meanwhile, ...back at the comedy club, Boogie was cracking himself up, but nobody else seemed to be getting the non-stop jokes... security forces defused a bomb planted on Sateen Road.
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CAIRO -- Egypt's Islamist president has given himself the right to legislate and control over the drafting of a new constitution. He has installed at the top of the powerful military a defence minister likely to be beholden to him.
Under Mohammed Mursi's authority, officials have moved to silence influential critics in the media. And though a civilian, he declared himself in charge of military operations against militants in the Sinai peninsula.
Over the weekend, Mursi ordered the retirement of the defence minister and chief of staff and reclaimed key powers the military seized from him days before he took office on June 30. With that, Egypt's first freely elected president amassed in his own hands powers that rival those of his ousted authoritarian predecessor, Hosni Mubarak.
If left unchecked, there are fears Mursi and his fundamentalist group, the Muslim Brotherhood, could turn the clock back on the country's tumultuous shift to democratic rule and pursue their goal of someday turning the most populous Arab nation into an Islamic state.
Not an irrational fear, though it seems that no one in Champ's administration saw this coming.
Phase I: depose Mubarek.
Phase II: get the Muslim Brotherhood into power.
Phase III: consolidate power and sideline rivals.
Phase IV: transform Egypt into an Islamic state.
Phase V: invade and destroy Israel.
Tell me I'm wrong.
Phase I-IV are easy enough; there are plenty of precedents in living memory. But Phase V has been unsuccessful the four times it was tried openly, not to mention the two Intifadas. As it is said, Israel has been blessed by the incompetence of her enemies.
That they have failed every time they've tried so far doesn't mean they won't try again...
Of course. The definition of insanity and all that. Y'know, if it we weren't assured it's completely contrary to scripture, one would be forced to conclude Allah actually prefers the Zionist Entity to the entities of his most warlike followers.
The Brotherhood already won both parliamentary and presidential elections after the uprising last year that forced Mubarak out. The question now is whether there is any institution in the country that can check the power of Mursi and the Brotherhood and stop them from taking over the nation's institutions and consolidating their grip.
"Are we looking at a president determined to dismantle the machine of tyranny ... or one who is retooling the machine of tyranny to serve his interests, removing the military's hold on the state so he can lay the foundations for the authority of the Brotherhood?" prominent rights activist and best-selling novelist Alaa Al Aswani wrote in an article.
"He must correct these mistakes and assure us through actions that he is a president of all Egyptians," wrote the secular Al Aswani before warning that Egyptians will never allow Mursi to turn Egypt into a 'Brotherhood state.'
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mohamed ElBaradei, the country's top reform leader, issued a similar warning. After Mursi stripped the military of legislative authority, and in the absence of parliament, he cautioned that the president holds 'imperial powers.'
The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), which ruled Egypt for 17 months after Mubarak's ouster, dissolved parliament after a court ruled that a quarter of its members were illegally elected and claimed legislative authority for itself. It stripped the presidency of many of its key powers before it handed the office to Mursi.
The defence minister ordered to retire was the head of SCAF and the outgoing chief of staff was his No. 2. During his campaign and the early days of his presidency, Mursi touted himself as 'the president of the revolution' and spoke tirelessly of democracy. He pledged inclusiveness, tolerance and promised guaranteed freedoms under his rule -- promises he has done little so far to fulfil.
Supporters of the 60-year-old, US-educated engineer say he simply restored his rightful powers that the military grabbed from him.
Mursi's consolidation of his authority comes at a time when his likely opponents are too weak or distracted to challenge him.
The pro-democracy youth groups behind the uprising are in disarray. They lost much of the popular appeal they once had. Squabbling and demoralised, they may do little more than denounce Mursi just as they did when the military grabbed the president's power in June.
Mursi has counted on the support of the pro-democracy movement in his power struggle with the military. But many of the activists view the Brotherhood as politically opportunistic and obsessed with power, suspecting Mursi is driven by those same ambitions.
"Courageous presidential decrees have foiled the counter-revolution plots," Brotherhood stalwart Essam Al Erian wrote on his Twitter account of Mursi's latest stand against the military.
"The president performed his sovereign duty and realised the demands of the revolution. Every revolutionary must support the president to prevent any attempt against the revolution."
For decades the nation's most powerful institution, the military has seen its reputation tainted by the events of the 17 months when it was running the country. Troops clashed with protesters -- sometimes shot them dead or ran them over. The military was vilified for its human rights abuses, dragged into chaotic, post-Mubarak politics and ridiculed in the media.
Mursi's bold order to retire the top brass further hurt the military's image, shattering its aura of invincibility.
Still far from being a spent force or a paper tiger, the military is now led by a defence minister who owes his job to Mursi. He is expected to fight to keep the military's traditional say in key security and foreign policy issues, but he is not expected to challenge Mursi's authority anytime soon. Now Mursi is in effect both the executive and legislative branches combined.
Last week, Brotherhood members of parliament's upper house named 50 new editors of state-owned publications, many of them known to be sympathetic to the group. The move tightened the Brotherhood's stranglehold on the media after one of its members took over the Information Ministry in a newly appointed Cabinet backed by the group. Mursi, according to insiders, is expected to press ahead with efforts to expand the Brotherhood's control.
He plans to soon replace many of Egypt's 27 provincial governors with Brotherhood members or sympathisers of the group and purge the judiciary of judges known to be opposed to its policies, according to the insiders familiar with deliberations in Mursi's inner circle. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they feared retribution.
"We are now rid of a state run by the military. What is left for us to do is to rid ourselves from the state of the Brotherhood," wrote columnist Mohammed Amin in the independent Al-Masry Al-Youm daily.
Posted by: Steve White ||
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#1
Phase V: invade and destroy Israel.
(i) There should be an intermediate phase: "Find the way to feed 70 million Egyptians".
#3
Israel has nukes, a lot of them. I expect they will use them if it comes to that. If they do decide to use them, they're going to 'light up' most of the major muzz population centers in the region.
If they are smart that is. Egypt will have much bigger problems than how to feed the population, even if it is MUCH smaller.
Posted by: Secret Asian Man ||
08/18/2012 20:24
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[Dawn] A bomb struck a bus taking Shia Mohammedans to a protest rally near Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It may be the largest city in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... 's Safari Park on University Road on Friday, killing one man and wounding 11 others, police said.
The attack came one day after 20 Shias were hauled out of vehicles in the northwest and rubbed out by gunnies dressed in military fatigues.
"A low-intensity bomb planted near a bus stand in Gulistan-e-Jauhar neighbourhood went kaboom! and hit a car and a bus," senior police official Shahid Hayat told AFP.
"The bomb killed a man in the car and injured 11 others, most of whom were bus passengers," Hayat said.
The bus was carrying around 40 Shias to a rally marking solidarity with the Paleostinians and to demonstrate against Thursday's sectarian killings.
Police said it was unclear if the Shias were targeted in Bloody Karachi.
"We can't say it was aimed at the bus as the bomb mainly hit the car. But we are investigating," said a police official on the condition of anonymity.
Bloody Karachi is Pakistain's financial capital. Ethnic, sectarian and politically-linked violence has killed at least 1,100 people so far this year in the city, according to Pakistain's leading human rights ...which are usually open to widely divergent definitions... organization.
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A commander of Uzbekistan Islamic Party was killed by bombardment of NATO forces in Afghanistan yesterday. Mullah Anwar came under bombardment of NATO forces and lost his life in the outskirts of Shakamesh district of Takhar city. According to a NATO press statement said to BNA, in this air attack, several other rebels who work for the Uzbekistan Islamic Party were killed. It should be said that in first, military operation was conducted for arresting of Mullah Anwar by Afghan and NATO forces. According to NATO Mullah Anwar directed terrorist attacks of rebels in the vicinities of Borka and Ashkamesh district of Takhar and Baghlan provinces. On the northern border near Uzbekistan.
According to this statement, Mullah Anwar had a hand in the abduction of the governor and mayor of Ashkamesh district. Governor and mayor of Ashkamesh district of Takhar province were killed in terrorist events last Sunday. Meanwhile the police officials in the north of Afghanistan called killing of this commander useful in betterment of security of peace in Takhar and Baghlan province. In this operation, two members of Uzbekistan Islamic Party with tens kg of explosive devices were arrested as well. Get the pliers and blowtorch.
Ankara: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkey today advised its country mates not to travel to Lebanon following news of two Turkish nationals and a big number of Syrians being abducted in Lebanon.
In a statement, the Ministry also demanded Turkish citizens not to travel to Lebanon unless deemed necessary.
The Turkish authorities warning comes amid news that some 20 people, including two Turkish, were abducted in Beirut over the last two days. The statement said Turkey would continue efforts with the concerned authorities to set the abducted Turkish persons free.
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Radical Islamists armed with swords and sticks attacked a cultural festival in northern Tunisia late on Thursday, with five people injured in the clash.
It was the third time in just three days that Tunisia's emboldened Salafists have disrupted cultural events, condemning some of them for offending Muslim sensitivities during Ramadan and increasing fears of a rising Islamist tide.
At the music and theatre festival in Bizerte, "around 200 people belonging to the Salafist movement used violence to block a protest organized by various groups to mark Jerusalem Day, denouncing the presence of certain Arab guests," according to the interior ministry.
The ministry said it had dispersed the attackers with tear gas and arrested four of them, adding that five people were injured.
Festival organizers Khaled Boujemma and Slahedine Masri, speaking on private radio station Mosaique FM, said the Salafists were armed with swords and sticks. Human rights activist, Bechir Ben Cherifa, said the police waited an hour before intervening.
Witnesses said the hardliners were angered by the presence at the protest of Lebanese militant Samir Kantar, who spent nearly three decades in jail in Israel before being freed in 2008 in a prisoner swap with Hezbollah. Kantar, sentenced to multiple life sentences for a notorious 1979 attack in Israel that killed a policeman, a four-year-old girl and her father, is considered a hero by many in Lebanon and was honored by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad after his release.
There is increasing concern among artists and activists in Tunisia about the extreme Sunni Muslim movement, which has grown more assertive since last year's uprising.
Two festivals have been cancelled this month and two cultural performances prevented just this week because of threats by the Salafists, who considered them un-Islamic.
Opposition groups have criticized Ennahda, the moderate Islamist party
It's time to replace that with so-called moderate Islamist. "Moderate" with scare quotes is an acceptable alternative for those who prefer verbal efficiency. As expected, that was a ruse.
leading Tunisia's ruling coalition, for failing to do more to rein in the hardliners.
[Dawn] Chief of Army Staff Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani ... four star general, current Chief of Army Staff of the Mighty Pak Army. Kayani is the former Director General of ISI... on Friday said that Pakistain's Army will not launch a joint operation with US army in North Wazoo, DawnNews reported.
Moreover, he said that any kind of joint operation would not be acceptable for Pakistain and its army.
He said that North Waziristan's operation will not begin on any external pressure.
"Country's interest will be given first priority in case of any operation" said Gen Kayani.
Posted by: Fred ||
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GENEVA - Syrians are pouring across the border to escape fighting in their battered homeland and diarrhoeal disease has broken out in rural areas near Damascus, UN aid agencies said on Friday.
There has been an outbreak of diarrhoea among residents in part of the province of Rural Damascus because the water supply has been contaminated by sewage, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said.
"In one pocket of Rural Damascus there are 103 suspected cases of E. coli. Laboratory testing is still going on," Richard Brennan, director of WHO's emergency risk management and humanitarian response department, told Reuters. "It is due to contamination of the water supply."
"We have heard of other pockets (of diarrhoeal disease) in other areas of Rural Damascus, but have no details," he said.
Sixty-one children under age 10 are among the 103 cases discovered by health workers in a mobile clinic, WHO spokeswoman Fadela Chaib said. "The local authorities have been alerted and are taking action," she said.
"We know from Syrian authorities that an estimated 38 hospitals and 149 other clinics have been either substantially damaged or destroyed, which clearly worsens the access to health care," he told a news briefing.
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#2
I wonder if refugees from 'civilized' cities are going into areas where sewage treatment was not generally done - so the residents had built up resistance not found in the city folk. Also, the methods of waste handling that work in low population density fail once they are overwhelmed by too many people. And city folk may not be used to the notion of drinking upstream and pooping downstream (which, with more people, has become someone elses upstream.)
#6
Do not be fooled by this obvious Jihadi trick- it is an offshoot of Al Qaeda They have a different call to doody than the rest of them. They sit 5 times a day when they sound ker-plunk over the speakers! The UN is teaming up with thew digital people to send digital diapers and the CIA will be using it's t2p to clean up the mess. Engagement rules to follow for US soldiers!
[An Nahar] Over 2,000 Syrians, including one defecting general, fled to Turkey on Thursday after a Syrian air strike on the northern rebel bastion of Aazaz in northern Syria, a Turkish diplomat said Friday.
The latest group of 2,204 people brought the number of Syrian refugees in Turkey to more than 62,000, the diplomat told AFP on condition of anonymity.
The last two weeks have seen a dramatic increase in refugee flow to Turkey triggered by fierce festivities between regime forces and rebel fighters for Syria's second biggest city of Aleppo ...For centuries, Aleppo was Greater Syria's largest city and the Ottoman Empire's third, after Constantinople and Cairo. Although relatively close to Damascus in distance, Aleppans regard Damascenes as country cousins... .
The latest exodus of refugees including many injured came after a Syrian Arclight airstrike on a heavily populated area of Aazaz, just north of the main battleground city of Aleppo and a few kilometers from the Turkish frontier.
Turkey has been one of the main regional powers denouncing Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Light of the Alawites... 's regime and is being used as a rear base by several rebel groups.
Turkish officials decline to give an exact number of defecting generals in camps, saying that some have been going back across the border to join in the fight against the Assad regime.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/18/2012
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On Thursday morning, campaign officials waged a full court press against the Special Operations OPSEC Education Fund, a group of former U.S. Special Forces and intelligence officials accusing President B.O. of leaking vital national security secrets and taking too much credit for the killing of the late Osama bin Laden ... who doesn't live anywhere anymore... When the group launched its anti-Obama media campaign Wednesday, consisting of TV ads and a 22-minute film, it wasn't clear if Obama officials would avoid a potentially messy confrontation or refute the military veterans publicly. But now the campaign has made clear it views the attacks in the same light as the 2004 John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, the Senate's current foreign policy expert, filling the vacated wingtips of Joe Biden... "Swift Boat" attack ads, which, however misleading, were painfully effective. And, of course, they weren't misleading...
"The Republicans are resorting to 'Swift Boat' tactics because when it comes to foreign policy and national security, Willard Mitt Romney ...former governor of Massachussetts, currently the presumptive Publican nominee for president. He is the son of the former governor of Michigan, George Romney, who himself ran for president after saving American Motors from failure, though not permanently. Romney's charisma is best defined as soporific, which is probably why he is leading the Publican field. On the plus side, he isn't President B.O... has offered nothing but reckless rhetoric," Obama campaign front man Ben LaBolt told Rooters' Mark Hosenball
...whose report may have been hacked. It's so hard to tell sometimes...
last night. Taking a direct shot at the leaders of OPSEC, an Obama campaign official lambasted the group's accusations about national security leaks this morning.
"No one in this group is in a position to speak with any authority on these issues and on what impact these leaks might have," said the official, speaking on background, "and it's clear they've resorted to making things up for purely political reasons." Which is why he's speaking on background and won't release his name...
#5
"There are a lot of gutsy, successful American warriors who agree with me -- because they want to give something back. They know they didnt -- look, if youve been a successful special operator, you didnt get there on your own. You didnt get there on your own. Im always struck by people who think, well, it must be because I was just so skilled and athletic. There are a lot of fit, brave people out there. It must be because I worked harder than everybody else. Let me tell you something -- there are a whole bunch of hardworking SEALS out there.
"If you were gutsy and tough, somebody along the line gave you some help. There was a great gym teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American military system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in choppers and Zodiac boats. If youve got a hit on some big time terrorist -- you didnt do that. Somebody else made that happen. The Internet didnt get invented on its own. DARPA research created the Internet so that all the SpeOps could do G2 off the Internet.
"The point is, is that when we succeed, we succeed because of our individual initiative, but also because we do things together. There are some things, just like fighting radical Islamists, we dont do on our own. I mean, imagine if everybody had their own SEAL team. That would be a hard way to organize fighting terrorists.
"So we say to ourselves, ever since the founding of this country, you know what, there are some things we do better together. Thats how we funded the G.I. Bill. Thats how we created the middle class. Thats how we built the Golden Gate Bridge or the Hoover Dam. Thats how we invented the Internet. That'w how we killed Osama Bid Laden. Thats how we sent a man to the moon. We rise or fall together as one nation and as one people, and thats the reason Im running for President -- because I still believe I killed Osama not those SEALS. Their not on their own, were all in this together."
Posted by: Bari Shabbaz ||
08/18/2012 9:26
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#6
the Obama campaign isnt hesitating to take down a group of former SEALs whove criticized the presidents national security decisions.
Obama, you are going to end up a bigger loser than you are now going after the special ops community.
It's not about his national security decisions (although some of these decisions suck), it is about Obama and his administration not being able to shut their collective pie holes in an attempt to take credit for something they did not do--to aggrandize themselves at the expense of spec ops security and methods. It is about a lack of humility by Obama and his minions--it is about puffing up and inflating the Narcissistic-in-Chief.
#7
The rest of the military might feel the snake eaters get more ink than they deserve, even when it's not opsec dangerous. But everbody respects what they do.
These clowns are dissing all current and former service members.
It's a lame attempt to distract from such unforgivable crimes as outing the Pak doctor.
Won't work.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey ||
08/18/2012 9:58
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#8
Classic Obama.
Just keep him off script and off teleprompter and he will dig his own grave with his hate and leftist radicalism.
#9
The rest of the military might feel the snake eaters get more ink than they deserve, even when it's not opsec dangerous. But everbody respects what they do.
Respectfully disagree, RA. When I was ACDU the SPECOPS guys got hardly any press, and that is the way they wanted it. Hard to work in the shadows when all the lights are turned your way. We had SEALs as part of our outfits and they were so low-key that until there was a full dress inspection, you most likely didn't even know they won the Trident.
And then President Big Ears tries to claim all the glory....
#11
Considering that this administration seems heavily driven by focus groups and opinion surveys (e.g., Champ's campaign slogan "Forward" tested better than "Backward" or "Sideways" by a margin of 6%), you have to assume that Champ's advisers were having some kind of Ryan-induced mental breakdown when they recommended an attack on the OPSEC group. Every opinion poll since 1776 (like this ) has shown the US military to be the most-respected institution in in the country, and every little boy in the country plays "Navy SEAL" when his liberal parents aren't looking. So Champ is tugging on Superman's cape to begin with. And this particular attack -- "America's heroes vote Republican!"-- just has to have been suggested by Karl Rove.
And it's all Champ's fault for putting himself on that helicopter to Abbottabad.
Posted by: Matt ||
08/18/2012 10:51
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#12
Snake eaters? Why are they called that?
I'll defer to the experts on the exact origin of the name, TW, but as a Ranger friend of mine likes to say, "you should be able to eat anything that can't eat you, and some things that can."
Used to have mandatory survival training which included live hands on instruction in the morning or early afternoon on killing various animals [usually chicken and rabbits and sometimes a snake], then skinning, prepping and then that evening, when we had our turn at 'Field Butchery 101', eating them. The instruction usually was done by a Ranger or other 'Special Ops' type who would also include the display of biting the head off a snake rather than chopping it off. Thus the tag 'snake eater'.
Later that evening when we were killing our 'meals', the real entertainment would begin as those who failed to pay attention to the earlier instructions found 'interesting' way to off the creatures.
#14
I can't see where this makes a bit of sense, except maybe under a "hit back twice as hard" strategy. It will appeal to BHO's left wing base who hate the military, but they are already in the tank. For everyone else, it is unattractive and rather petty, besides.
#15
Barack is REALLY messin up. Not that these guys would do anything illegal, but even from a political perspective, he is messing with people who are committed to a mission success rate of at least 100%.
#16
As of last night the video had over a million hits; as of just now it's 1.47 million. Instapundit linked to it last night. If someone would be kind enough to post the YouTube link in this thread, I would be grateful.
#17
USN. Ret. The snake eaters get lots of popular, hero-worship ink. That's what I was talking about. It's why fat old guys in bars try to pick up chicks by telling them they're ex Navy SEALs instead of, say, ex Mech Infantry. There's something to be said for fighting off lethal boredom in an Orion shadowing Sov boomers for twenty years. Making stuff not happen is laudable, too, but gets no ink.
That said, Obama with his tin-eared, lefty, deliberate ignorance of things military, including minor issues like honor and brotherhood, thinks he's only arguing with some prima donna wannabe politicians.
All of us, from the WW II generation currently fading in nursing homes, to guys on active duty now, have had or contemplated having to do something which, if it had been blown would either not have happened or been a catastrophe.
CSM Eric Haney talks of two ops to get guys out of Laos, both blown. He didn't specify who likely did it. Nobody likes that shit. And you don't have to be in Devgru to be annoyed.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey ||
08/18/2012 14:21
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#18
TW here is the link from Rantburg's post yesterday
Posted by: Jan ||
08/18/2012 15:13
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#19
That's good, too, Jan. I,m glad you thought of it. :-)
Procopius2K and PBMcL, thank you for explaining snake eaters.. I believe OldSpook once wrote similarly about why it's critical to cook caterpillars to well done when eating in the field.
#21
Have the real military leaders we have left come up with a plan yet to kill the stupid people who give phucking useless orders to troops and phuckedup rules of engagement yet?
#22
RA, I agree that riding a P3 hanging on 2 motors chasing a sub isn't as thrilling as offing bad guys, but anybody that uses "I'm a SEAL" to pick up chicks is lower than a Democrat, and I wouldn't call that ink; I was referring to actual pressers and the like.
(for the record, my ASW time was fixing Sikorsky stuff in a per diem free zone)
#24
USN retd
Although born and bred a grunt, the Sullivans act pulled me back from my choice of duty stations, SEA19770, and I was S1 of an ADA-Nike Hercgroup-- until I got out. You ever try to have a conversation with a bunch of engineers?
Hell, my xo thought
Medal For Horatius--available on line--was straight.
But we defended the Detroit-Cleveland Air Defense Zone until the Sovs got tired.
[Dawn] The only terrorist who died outside the boundary of the PAF base here on Thursday killed himself to evade arrest after police surrounded the mound where he was holed up in order to attack the sentry post. He attacked with an AK-47 rifle but the two personnel at the post remained safe.
The attacker had crept onto the mound in front of the post about 100 metres from there when his accomplices were busy cutting wires to provide cover, but security personnel alerted before he could select the targets and he had to remain in a natural trench on top of the mound for four hours before he was surrounded by police.
"I think he was maimed either in firing by the sentry post or by police reinforcements," an official said.
Taking advantage of darkness, the man took position at the mound while a group of attackers used a four-foot ladder to make an opening in the three-foot barbed wires and jumped into the premises.
After the security operation successfully ended in late afternoon, a group of villagers sitting tense under trees in a village graveyard said the spot to cut wires had been carefully selected because it was between two sentry posts and the visibility there was poorest due to dim light.
But the villagers were cautious enough to clarify their own position.
"These were not local people and we have never been involved in any wrongdoing," Abdul Moid of Kamra Chota village said.
"We have always cooperated with the authorities and if anything wrong is seen we inform police or the FIU."
Another resident whose house is located not far from the boundary wall said: "We have always considered them (PAF) as brothers and defenders of the nation. Now the cut-throats scaled the wall just opposite my house. This is really depressing for us."
Kamra Chota, located at the rear of the base and near the villages of SLearned Elders of Islamn Makhan and Kamra Bara, is the least developed among the three and the land there is less fertile.
Though poor, the people of the village were peace-loving, cooperative and decent, local police and intelligence personnel told this news hound.
As the operation continued to subdue the infiltrators, a group of federal security personnel went about in the village to map the area and the mound where the attacker was holed up.
Looking at the marks the security personal said that the attack was not an action in isolation and it was clear that controllers were present somewhere around.
Most security analysts and experts speaking on the electronic media acknowledged an intelligence failure and also blamed the local authorities, especially Punjab police, for not keeping an eye on adjoining localities.
The area falls in the jurisdiction of the Karma police post under the Attock Saddar cop shoppe. The post has a huge area to cover, including a new Sanjwal Road that leads to Pakistain Ordnance Factories (POF) and has link towards the Karma base.
But, headed by a sub-inspector, the post has only nine personnel and one van to contain crime, handle local disputes and maintain round the clock vigil.
"It is always easy and customary to blame police for everything," a policeman deputed at the post said.
"Everybody is talking about an intelligence tip about an attack on Kamra, but even the fuel allocation for the Elite Force has been cut and they have reduced patrolling during nights."
Local people acknowledged that there were supporters of terrorism, including Taliban, in nearby villages.
"We are all against the Taliban and have ideological differences with them," Mohammad Rizwan of Kamra Chota said. "However, those who apply themselves too closely to little things often become incapable of great things... there are issues in Kamra Bara and there are also many outsiders like imams of mosques."
Since there is only one way to Kamra Chota through SLearned Elders of Islamn Makhan and Kamra Bara and the attackers were not inside the former village they must have come from outside. One can easily guess that the attackers used a vehicle to go to the village graveyard and moved to positions.
"It is unrealistic to imagine that a group of people would be walking with loads like shoulder-launched rockets, ladder, guns and kaboom on the streets on the Shabeena when almost everybody is awake," a security official said. Why? What's unusual about that in Pakistain?
In Kamra Bara, one sees a couple of mosques and seminaries with flags of the banned The term "banned" has a different meaning in Pakistain. I think it's synonymous with "ummm..." Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistain ...a Sunni Deobandi organization, a formerly registered Pak political party, established in the early 1980s in Jhang by Maulana Haq Nawaz Jhangvi. Its stated goal is to oppose Shia influence in Pakistain. They're not too big on Brelvis, either. Or Christians. Or anybody else who's not them. The organization was banned in 2002 as a terrorist organization, but somehow it keeps ticking along, piling up the corpse counts... hoisted on them and locals say there is a breed of new holy men in the village who do not respect traditional norms. So there's the mosque, flying the flag of the "banned" organization, and nobody does anything about it. They don't even make 'em take the flag down.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/18/2012
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Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Pakistan
#1
Wouldn't a grenade in the trench have ended this pretty quickly? I'm just sayin'...
Reclusive Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar has urged turban fighters to "emphatically" avoid civilian deaths after a swathe of suicide kabooms this week that killed 63 people, but said Islamic fascistihad successfully infiltrated security forces.
In a message to the Afghan people ahead of the Eid al-Fitr festival ending the holy Ramadan fasting month, the one-eyed leader said forces of Evil should "employ tactics that do not cause harm to life and property of the common countrymen".
"The instructions given to you for the protection of civilian losses are, on you, a religious obligation to observe," Mullah Omar ... a minor Pashtun commander in the war against the Soviets who made good as leader of the Taliban. As ruler of Afghanistan, he took the title Leader of the Faithful. The imposition of Pashtunkhwa on the nation institutionalized ignorance and brutality in a country already notable for its own fair share of ignorance and brutality... said in a seven page statement released late on Thursday and translated into five languages.
"Any violation readily incurs loss in this world and in the world to come. Therefore, I urge you emphatically to be careful about the civilian losses and take this on yourselves as an explicit responsibility," he said.
Amid mounting anger among Afghans over civilian deaths caused by both the insurgency and NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A single organization with differing goals, equipment, language, doctrine, and organization.... , the statement is probably aimed at presenting a more moderate face for the Taliban as efforts continue to re-start peace talks which could foster a power-sharing deal for the insurgency.
Three members of Philippine security forces were wounded in an attack staged by breakaway Muslim terrorists rebels last night.
Col. Prudencio Asto, regional military spokesman, said followers of Ameril Umbra Kato of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters attacked a military detachment around 11:30 p.m. in the village of Bagan in Maguindanao Province. A 30-minute gun battle broke out, leaving three enlisted soldiers injured.
Asto said, "Our troops managed to repel the rebels'harassment. Three of our soldiers sustained wounds but out of danger."
Police are investigating reports that a terrorist attack was planned for a football match, the interior ministry of the southern region of Dagestan said Friday. The two teams are scheduled to play Sunday in Makhachkala, the capital of Dagestan.
Earlier Friday, there was a report that authorities had received a telephone call about a terrorist attack said to be planned by a Spartak Moscow fan named Rodion. The unknown caller was reportedly based in the city of Vyborg near St. Petersburg and said he had heard about the supposed attack online.
"Online media have reported that one of the fans on their way to the capital of Dagestan for the Anzhi-Zenit match is planning to commit a terrorist act," said a statement issued by the Dagestan interior ministry.
It added, "This message is being carefully checked by all the operational law enforcement services."
No additional safety measures will be taken during the match, the ministry added.
Ironically, the staging of the Al-Quds rally in Sydney and the renewal of the campaign coincides with the Palestinians deciding to go quiet in the lead-up to November's US presidential election.
Until his preferred candidate Barack Obama is safely back in the White House, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is not going to put pressure on Obama to support a renewed bid for Palestinian statehood at the UN.
Abbas is already chewing hard on his lip as he watches Obama's election year charm offensive directed at Israel. Any high-profile agitation for Palestinian statehood in the lead-up to the US election could just make things that much harder for the Obama campaign.
The price of discomfort and delay will be well worth paying, however, if Abbas can see his man voted in for a second term.
And if not? Whatever will President Abbas and the rest of the Palestinians do if Bibi's old friend moves into the White House next January?
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.
Twenty people were shot, two fatally, across the city Friday night and Saturday morning.
Sen. 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon Iran's leaders' comments as "offensive and inflammatory."
[Ma'an] 
Bulgarian interior minister says investigation suggests attack that killed 5 Israelis was carried out by country or terror group, but refuses to name suspects
Two workers of the 
UNITED NATIONS: Russia called off a meeting planned for Friday of an international action group on the Syria conflict after western nations told them they would not attend, diplomats said. Russia said the meeting at the UN headquarters, called by its UN envoy Vitaly Churkin, had been "postponed."
A bomb 
Wazoo
Mohmand
A member of the armed wing of 
[Dawn] The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP) has 
President Asif Ali 
A Charleroi man was arrested Saturday night for allegedly stealing a bag of 
THE attack on the air force base in Kamra has raised disturbing -- and disturbingly familiar -- questions. That only one security personnel was killed as opposed to nine dead 
Syrian forces pounded rebel hubs in the northern city of 
...Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh and so far the worst Secretary-General of the UN. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize for something or other that probably sounded good at the time. In December 2004, reports surfaced that Kofi's son Kojo received payments from the Swiss company Cotecna, which had won a lucrative contract under the UN Oil-for-Food Program. Kofi Annan called for an investigation to look into the allegations, which stirred up the expected cesspool but couldn't seem to come up with enough evidence to indict Kofi himself, or even Kojo...
BESIDES adding to the Baathist regime's regional and international isolation, the suspension of Syria's membership by the Organisation of Islamic Conference on Wednesday is unlikely to have much effect on the situation in the Levant if the aim is peace. The 57-member bloc coupled the suspension with a call for the development of a peaceful mechanism that would build "a new Syrian state based on pluralism" and a "democratic and civilian system" -- ideals that are in keeping with the spirit of the Arab Spring. 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
Orakzai Agency
A bomb struck a bus taking Shia 
A commander of Uzbekistan Islamic Party was killed by bombardment of NATO forces in Afghanistan yesterday. Mullah Anwar came under bombardment of NATO forces and lost his life in the outskirts of Shakamesh district of Takhar city. According to a NATO press statement said to BNA, in this air attack, several other rebels who work for the Uzbekistan Islamic Party were killed. It should be said that in first, military operation was conducted for arresting of Mullah Anwar by Afghan and NATO forces. According to NATO Mullah Anwar directed terrorist attacks of rebels in the vicinities of Borka and Ashkamesh district of Takhar and Baghlan provinces.
Radical Islamists armed with swords and sticks attacked a cultural festival in northern Tunisia late on Thursday, with five people injured in the clash.
GENEVA - Syrians are pouring across the border to escape fighting in their battered homeland and diarrhoeal disease has broken out in rural areas near Damascus, UN aid agencies said on Friday.
Over 2,000 Syrians, including one defecting general, fled to Turkey on Thursday after a Syrian air strike on the northern rebel bastion of Aazaz in northern Syria, a Turkish diplomat said Friday.
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
On Thursday morning, campaign officials waged a full court press against the Special Operations OPSEC Education Fund, a group of former U.S. Special Forces and intelligence officials accusing 
[Dawn] The only terrorist who died outside the boundary of the PAF base here on Thursday killed himself to evade arrest after police surrounded the mound where he was holed up in order to attack the sentry post. He attacked with an AK-47 rifle but the two personnel at the post remained safe.
