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Area: WoT Operations    Non-WoT            Politix   
Logar Governor Killed By Blast in Mosque
Today's Headlines
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Page 6: Politix
4 11:42 Bill Clinton [6]
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4 11:58 Glenmore [7]
13 16:23 Barbara [7]
18 20:36 USN, Ret. [4]
Afghanistan
Vote-Buying Already a Problem: IEC
[TOLONEWS] Over six months ahead of the spring vote, the Independent Election Commission (IEC) has already reported instances of vote-buying, especially in eastern provinces, citing it as one of the biggest threats to the success of the elections.
Anyone who sells his vote has essentially voted for the one who bought it. Not everyone votes for statesmanlike reasons.
The IEC has said that tribal elders and other influential community leaders have started buying voting cards or taking them by force in order to benefit certain candidates.

"Security is not our major concern anymore, tribal leaders are more troublesome because they purchase voting cards from people, they pay people and encourage them to manipulate the election. This extremely concerning. Obviously, over the next two to three months, we will be taking serious measures," said Sareer Ahmad Barmak, a Commissioner of the IEC.

The IEC has said that it will do all that it can to seek punishment for those found responsible for vote-dealing. Barmak encouraged voters to resist the temptation to sell their votes.

"If the tribal elders are encouraging voters for a specific candidate, it is part of democracy, but they can't take voting cards from them either through money or force," explained Barmak.

IEC officials in Nangarhar have reportedly relieved employees in the Mehmand district of their duties due to evidence that they had prepared forged lists and were distributing voting cards to people illegally.

Reports also indicate that voting cards have been sold in Kunduz province in return for a sacks of rice and potatoes.

"Without a doubt, based on the laws of Afghanistan, this is an illegal act. We hope that related institutions such as the IEC will cooperate with us by reporting areas where these incidents take place so that we can make arrests," said Sediq Sediqi, the spokesman for the MoI.

Presidential and Provincial Council Elections will be held on April 5, but it would seem many preparations related to security and the prevention of improprieties remain necessary if there is hope for broad participation and unadulterated results.

Posted by: Fred || 10/17/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:


Africa Horn
Money Transfer System Used to Arm Militants in Kenya
[Shabelle] Arms are being transferred from Somalia into Kenya through hawala, an unregulated and traditional Somali transfer system that works with a network of agents, according to immigration officials and hawala brokers here.

"A lot of weapons are being transferred without moving them physically, in the same exact way that money is transferred without moving it physically," Hussein Aden, a hawala broker from Garissa in Kenya's North Eastern Province, told IPS.

Hawala, an undocumented system, works when a client pays a broker or "hawaladar" the money they wish to transfer. The broker then calls his counterpart at the transfer destination authorising the payment. The broker on the other side usually pays the recipient with his own funds, charging a commission of up to two percent. But this system is now being used to transfer arms.

"Hawala money is getting into the pockets of Al-Shabaab
... Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda...
... we need an immediate crackdown on hawala brokers and we need to use Somalis who are against gunnies to smoke out this network of traders." -- Yusuf Muhamed, a high-ranking police officer

"There is a network of hawala brokers who send weapons without moving them, exactly the same way they do with cash. We have hawala traders in Somalia with a network in East Africa and the Horn of Africa," Issa Khalif, a hawaladar in Nairobi's Eastleigh, told IPS.

Weapons from Russia and Ukraine are being shipped into Somalia and distributed to the rest of East Africa, according to Ibrahim Ahmed from local NGO Northern Kenya Caucus, which seeks to improve the lives of residents in northern Kenya.

"Hawala is attractive for weapon smuggling," Ahmed told IPS.

He said that the mostly non-existent border between southern Somalia -- which until recently was a stronghold for the Islamist krazed killer group Al-Shabaab -- and Kenya's North Eastern Province was one way that arms were entering Kenya.

Khalif said that Al-Shabaab and its sympathisers were using the system to buy these already-smuggled arms for their counterparts in Kenya and other East African countries.

Khalif explained that all someone in Somalia had to do was give their local broker the weapons they wanted to transfer and a broker in Nairobi would then provide the recipient with weapons already in their possession "without moving the original pistols."

Francis Mugatha, an immigration official at the Kenya-Somali border, told IPS that hawala was being "exploited, particularly in the trade of weapons. The gun business is thriving in areas such as Nairobi's Eastleigh suburb."

He added that Al-Shabaab was also using the traditional system to fund their operations.

"They continue to use a network of 'hawaladars' to fund their operations, such as paying for Al-Shabaab trainees. Further, this is how Somali militia groups in North Eastern Province are being financed," Mugatha said. IPS has reported that a growing number of Kenyan Somalis, who are sympathisers of Al-Shabaab, were setting up their own small militia groups in the Kenyan province thanks to the mostly non-existent border between the two countries.
Posted by: Fred || 10/17/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under: al-Shabaab

#1  GREETINGS! I AM SON OF NIGERIAN OIL MINISTER WITH FUNDS IN ABEYANCE, WHO WILL SHARE MUCHO ROBERT DINERO WITH YOU WHEN YOU SUPPLY ME WITH...

// Y'all know the rest...
Posted by: Raj || 10/17/2013 0:20 Comments || Top||


Somalia piracy is back, says UK intel firm
[Shabelle] UK firm Dryad Maritime Intelligence has warned that the attack of two vessels in the space of four days indicates that maritime piracy has returned to West African waters.

Last Friday, 296,919dwt Hong Kong-flagged crude carrier MV Island Splendor came under attack 230nm off the Somali coast, when pirates in two skiffs opened fire on onboard private maritime security personnel.

According to Dryad, the attack, which represented the first on a large merchant vessel since April, was followed by a second, 270 nautical miles further East, four days later. Dryad has since concluded that the two attacks were undertaken by the same pirate gang or "Pirate Action Group" (PAG).

"Despite the pressure applied by coalition forces and the assessed depletion of pirate resources, there was a likelihood that we would see a break out of a PAG into the sea lanes and that the hijack and ransom of a single large merchant vessel would be all it would take to feed the infrastructure of the Somali pirate criminal enterprise," said Ian Millen, intelligence director at Dryad. "Following Monday's report, it would appear that the attack on two vessels in the space of four days confirms that the Somali pirate business model is not yet broken."

Millen indicated that numerous reports of pirate activity in the Gulf of Aden during the Southwest Monsoon were "not considered these to be pirate related".

"We do, however, continue to encourage all vessels and their embarked security teams to report their concerns, whilst encouraging them to understand normal patterns of behaviour to avoid tragic consequences for themselves or for the many innocent seafarers they encounter. The incident with Island Splendor last Friday is a classic example of where vigilance and a professional response paid dividends in preventing what could have been the first real pirate success of 2013."
Posted by: Fred || 10/17/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under: Pirates

#1  Well, September 19th is the start of pirate season...
Posted by: Pappy || 10/17/2013 10:32 Comments || Top||

#2  with no daily limit. Where's mah Pirate Hunting Cruise Charter?
Posted by: Frank G || 10/17/2013 13:54 Comments || Top||

#3  Not till the end of Dove season Frank.
Posted by: Shipman || 10/17/2013 16:06 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Egypt-U.S. Ties in 'Delicate' Phase
[An Nahar] Egypt's foreign minister acknowledged in comments published Wednesday that relations with Washington were in a "delicate" phase after it suspended some military aid in response to a July 3 coup.

Nabil Fahmy said the U.S. administration had overestimated the amount of leverage that its aid dollars bought it over the policies of the interim government installed by the army after it overthrew elected Islamist president Mohammed Morsi
...the former president of Egypt. A proponent of the One Man, One Vote, One Time principle, Morsi won election after the deposal of Hosni Mubarak and jumped to the conclusion it was his turn to be dictator...
"We are right now in a delicate phase reflecting turmoil in the relationship and whoever says otherwise is not speaking honestly," Fahmy said in an interview with state-owned daily Al-Ahram.

Fahmy said Washington was wrong to assume that its October 10 decision to suspend deliveries of major military hardware and cash assistance of $260 million would influence the interim government's policies.

He blamed the hiccough in relations on the dependence on U.S. aid of the regime of Hosni Mubarak
...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011...
which was ousted in 2011 after three decades in power.

"We chose the easy option and did not diversify our options... this led the US to wrongly believe that Egypt would always follow its policies and aims," Fahmy said.
Posted by: Fred || 10/17/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring

#1  "I need a blank check, stat!"
Posted by: Raj || 10/17/2013 0:14 Comments || Top||

#2  "Get Vlad on the phone"
Posted by: Frank G || 10/17/2013 9:21 Comments || Top||


Salafist leader criticises draft protest law
[Al Ahram] The leader of Egypt's largest Salafist party has called on interim President Adly Mansour not to issue a controversial protest law without first conducting a national dialogue, or at least discussing it with political forces.
The Nour Party's Younes Makhioun said in a Tuesday statement that it would be better to wait for the next parliament to adopt such a law.

The draft law gives the interior minister or senior police officials the authority to cancel, postpone or change the location of a protest, and allows governors to designate "protest-free" areas near state buildings, including presidential palaces.

The interim authorities should only use their exceptional legislative powers for urgent matters, Makhioun added.

He accused the country's new authorities of reproducing deposed president Mohammed Morsi
...the former president of Egypt. A proponent of the One Man, One Vote, One Time principle, Morsi won election after the deposal of Hosni Mubarak and jumped to the conclusion it was his turn to be dictator...
's errors by adopting controversial laws without consultation, Al-Ahram Arabic news website reported.

The draft law was prepared by the justice ministry and contains 21 articles, the most controversial of which are articles 6, 10 and 14.

Article 6 states that a written appeal should be handed to the local cop shoppe 24 hours before any scheduled protest. The appeal must include its location and purpose, the name of its organisers and how to reach them, as well as its demands and the proposed start and end time.

Article 10 gives the interior minister or senior police officials the authority to cancel, postpone or change the location of a protest, although protesters can seek emergency judicial intervention against such decisions.

During Morsi's year in power, neither the interior minister nor senior police officials were able to issue a direct order to cancel a protest. Such a demand had to be issued by the judiciary.

Article 14 states that governors have the power to designate "protest-free" areas of 50 to 100 metres around state and governmental premises, including presidential palaces, headquarters of legislative authorities and the cabinet.

The draft law stipulates a punishment of imprisonment and a fine of between LE100,000 and LE300,000 for those who pay or receive money for participation in protests, and who organise protests without prior disclosure at the local cop shoppe.

Egypt's Youth Revolutionary Block on Tuesday denounced the draft law, which has been approved by the cabinet and is currently under review by the interim president, stating that it would enable the return of the police state.

The April 6 Youth Movement (the Democratic Front) also denounced the draft law, saying in a Monday statement that it refused to "go back to the era of rulers issuing laws to silence their opponents."
Posted by: Fred || 10/17/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Rights group adds to criticism of Egypt's draft protest law
[Al Ahram] An Egyptian human rights
...which are often intentionally defined so widely as to be meaningless...
group has said the country does not need more laws restricting rights and freedoms, with a number of political forces echoing similar sentiments.

The Arab Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) said the draft protest law was reminiscent of "the security grip imposed under [Hosni] Mubarak and [former interior minister] Habib El-Adly that failed to prevent a popular revolution against them."

The controversial protest law is being reviewed by interim President Adly Mansour after it was approved by the cabinet. Among its most controversial measures is the right given to the interior minister or senior police officials to cancel, postpone or change the location of a protest.

The law also entitles governors to designate "protest-free" areas near state buildings, including presidential palaces.

Gamal Eid, executive director of ANHRI, said it was unfortunate that "the same authoritarian approach continues when dealing with rights and freedoms in Egypt."

"Resorting to security and police solutions will lead to more failure and worsen the political conflict in Egypt," Eid added.

He accused the authorities of trying to gain public approval for the law by claiming it would only be used against "a certain group," referring to Mohammed Morsi
...the former president of Egypt. A proponent of the One Man, One Vote, One Time principle, Morsi won election after the deposal of Hosni Mubarak and jumped to the conclusion it was his turn to be dictator...
supporters, who have been protesting since the Islamist president was ousted in July.

The most controversial articles of the law are articles 6, 10 and 14.

Article 6 states that a written appeal should be handed to the local cop shoppe 24 hours before any scheduled protest. The appeal must include its location and purpose, the name of its organisers and how to reach them, as well as its demands and the proposed start and end time.

Article 10 gives the interior minister or senior police officials the authority to cancel, postpone or change the location of a protest, although protesters can seek emergency judicial intervention against such decisions.

During Morsi's year in power, neither the interior minister nor senior police officials were able to issue a direct order to cancel a protest. Such a demand had to be issued by the judiciary.

Article 14 states that governors have the power to designate "protest-free" areas of 50 to 100 metres around state and governmental premises, including presidential palaces, headquarters of legislative authorities and the cabinet.

The draft law also stipulates a punishment of imprisonment and a fine of between LE100,000 and LE300,000 for those who pay or receive money for participation in protests, and who organise protests without prior disclosure at the local cop shoppe.

Younes Makhioun, head of Egypt's largest Salafist party, has called on President Mansour not to issue the law without first conducting a national dialogue, or at least discussing it with political forces. He also said it would be better to wait for the next parliament to adopt such a law.

The ultraconservative Islamist group Al-Gamaa Al-Islamiya and its political wing the Building and Development Party have also criticised the draft law, saying it would be used to crackdown on any kind of political opposition.

The group is one of the Moslem Brüderbund's strongest allies and has been taking part in protests calling for Morsi's reinstatement.

Egypt's Youth Revolutionary Block said the draft law would enable the return of the police state and ignored the January 25 Revolution's demand for freedom.
Posted by: Fred || 10/17/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Home Front: WoT
Hagel Apologizes for Swenson's MOH Delay
AP - article noted General Odierno praised him for complaining about the lack of support, which got two officers disciplined.
Posted by: Bobby || 10/17/2013 06:32 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  At least he's an officer. Imagine a noob butterbar trying to tell a SFC MOH what to do.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey || 10/17/2013 6:50 Comments || Top||

#2  ...but what about the JAGs who insisted on their interpretation of the ROEs which was in violation of Art. 99 of the UCMJ?
Posted by: Procopius2k || 10/17/2013 8:56 Comments || Top||

#3  Listening [from the contractor peanut gallery] to a no-time-in-grade JAG Major from Kandahar inject his opinions and 'command guidance' into a Brigade Commander's S-3 operations briefing..... one of the most interesting, as well as sad moments of my working career.
Posted by: Besoeker || 10/17/2013 9:50 Comments || Top||

#4  Inadvertent deletion from #3:

Please add 'wet nosed and arrogant'....to no-TIG.
Posted by: Besoeker || 10/17/2013 9:52 Comments || Top||

#5  Sounds to me like a whole lot of JAGs need to be introduced to a noble old military tradition. Question from an old squid - do they call it "blanket party" in the Army?
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) || 10/17/2013 9:54 Comments || Top||

#6  Listening [from the contractor peanut gallery] to a no-time-in-grade JAG Major from Kandahar inject his opinions and 'command guidance'

I can count about a half-dozen times when a target opportunity was lost or denied thanks to a JAG decision or worse, waiting on a decision.
Posted by: Pappy || 10/17/2013 10:43 Comments || Top||

#7  Jimminey Christmas! Jag officers in ops briefings? Oh boy thank you Obama.

At least I never had to worry about that crap. Sure at certain times the ROE were a bit strange but I never had to worry about debating tactics with a lawyer...most of my work contained instructions such as "avoid contact at all cost" or "leave no witnesses if contact is made"
At some point someone has to remember that war is a kill or be killed operation and in some areas such as SE Asia, and Central Africa, the enemy combatants can be a pregnant woman with a grenade or a 6-year old with an old Soviet pistol.
Posted by: Bill Clinton || 10/17/2013 11:26 Comments || Top||

#8  Good for Odierno. I expect he's got his retirement home set up. He's still on active duty, isn't he?
Listening to the MOH cite mention lots of supporting fires and air assets. Wonder how much of that was padding.
Got to feel bad for the guys who got busted, though. Their informal rules, formally enforced, probably imply that a dead US soldier for lack of fire support is not as bad as a dead civilian due to fire support.
Swenson bitched. Who would have expected that?
Still like to know who withheld fire support when the SEALs' Chinook was ambushed. Probably got an ARCOM.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey || 10/17/2013 14:59 Comments || Top||

#9  Maybe combat units should have embedded JAGs - at least the grunts wouldn't have to call them up to get an opinion about whether to shoot back or not.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 10/17/2013 20:00 Comments || Top||

#10  Good idea. When coming under fire, instead of consulting their law books, they could just scream out in terror, "SHOOT THE BASTARDS!!!" Which they will do. Probably every time...
Posted by: tu3031 || 10/17/2013 21:09 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Lal Masjid out to occupy amenity plot
[Dawn]While a large number of residents left Islamabad for their native areas and the remaining ones remained busy preparing for Eidul Azha, the management of Lal Masjid started encroaching on the adjacent amenity plot on which Jama Hafza and the children's library stood before being demolished in 2007. As the CDA offices were also closed for Eidul Azha, the Lal Masjid management started building a boundary wall around the amenity plot.

The construction of the boundary wall started early Tuesday and continued throughout the day. The labourers were told to finish the job before Eid prayers on Wednesday.

Those who asked about the construction activities at the site were told that the government "had been kind enough to give the land to Lal Masjid only for prayers."
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 10/17/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [13 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
More Rebel Groups Reject National Coalition
[An Nahar] Rebels fighting Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Supressor of the Damascenes...
's regime in southern Syria said Wednesday the main opposition National Coalition had "failed" and announced they no longer recognize the Western-backed group.

The video statement signed by nearly 70 groups comes after a group of key rebel groups in the north of the country announced their rejection of the National Coalition in late September.

"Having seen the failure of the political groups that claim to represent the opposition and the revolutionary groups... we leaders of the military and revolutionary groups in the southern provinces withdraw our recognition from any political group that claims to represent us," a rebel front man said in the video.

The front man referred specifically to "the Coalition and its leadership."

Nearly 70 rebel groups signed on to the statement, which comes after fighters in northern Syria said last month they also rejected the Coalition.

Filmed in an unnamed desert area, the video statement shows rebels dressed in army fatigues and holding up their weapons. Behind them is a banner with the mainstream rebel Free Syrian Army logo.

Speaking to Agence La Belle France Presse, the FSA's political and media coordinator Louay Muqdad stressed the statement was not a rejection of the mainstream rebel force headed by General Selim Idriss.

"We saw the statement, and we will be in contact with the leaders of these groups," Muqdad said.

"As for our brothers in the Coalition, they need to listen carefully to the voice of the people inside Syria, to those who are paying with their blood in Syria, to the revolutionaries on the ground," he said.

"The revolutionaries' demands must not be taken lightly," he added.

The fractured Coalition, representing the opposition abroad on the political front with Western backing, has gone through several crises over the course of Syria's 31-month war.

Based outside Syria, its inability to secure weapons and much-needed humanitarian assistance for residents of the strife-torn country have raised the ire of opposition activists and rebels for many months.

The Idriss-led command council called in early October for unity among rebel ranks.

Rebels fighting Assad's troops have made significant progress in recent months in southern Syria, particularly in Daraa province, strategically located on the border with Jordan and near Damascus province.
Posted by: Fred || 10/17/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Chemical Watchdog Says Has Verified 11 of 20 Syria Sites
[An Nahar] The world's chemical weapons watchdog said Wednesday its inspectors have checked 11 out of 20 sites identified by Damascus as it works to eliminate Syria's banned weapons.

"The OPCW mission has now conducted verification activities at a total of 11 sites that are identified by Syria's disclosure," the Hague-based Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said.

The OPCW has said that there are a total of 20 sites to be visited in Syria.

Since inspectors arrived in the country two weeks ago, activities have also included "critical equipment destruction at six sites as well as some Category 3 weapons destruction", the organization added in a statement.

The chemical watchdog, which last week was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, classifies Category 3 as "unfilled munitions and devices and other equipment specifically designed to aid the deployment of chemical weapons".

The OPCW and the United Nations
...an organization originally established to war on dictatorships which was promptly infiltrated by dictatorships and is now held in thrall to dictatorships...
now have about 60 experts working in Syria to eradicate chemical weapons, around a month after the OPCW accepted Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Light of the Alawites...
's application to join the Chemical Weapons Convention, in a bid to stave off a possible Western military strike.

The key convention came into force on Monday.

So far Syria has won rare praise for its cooperation with the inspectors, but the U.N. has stressed that key deadlines in the destruction of the war-ravaged country's chemical weapons should be met.

This included verifying Syria's disclosed chemical weapons, identifying key equipment, destroying production facilities and starting the destruction of Category 3 chemical weapons by November 1.

Inspectors have until June 30, 2014 to complete the destruction of Syria's chemical arsenal.

Meanwhile in Syria, cooperation between U.N. and OPCW experts has been "excellent and the morale of the joint mission teams remains high," the OPCW said.

The United States threatened a military strike after an August 21 chemical weapons attack near Damascus in which hundreds died.

Under a disarmament plan that has been given added force by a U.N. Security Council resolution, Damascus now has until mid-next year to get rid of its reported stocks of sarin, mustard and VX gas.

Syria must give the OPCW a plan for destroying its estimated stockpile of 1,000 tonnes of chemicals by October 27 -- one month after the Security Council Resolution.

By November 15, the OPCW will have set out a detailed plan with a timetable for the destruction of actual chemicals.

Russia and the Unites States, which drew up the disarmament plan, are still working with the OPCW on how to destroy the chemicals, diplomats said at the U.N. on Monday.

Russia has proposed building at least one furnace in Syria to burn it, they said.

However,
death is not the end. There remains the litigation over the estate...
OPCW and U.N. experts have doubts whether a furnace can be installed while the conflict, which has left more than 100,000 dead, rages on.
Posted by: Fred || 10/17/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [11 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria

#1  These are Chemical Sites!
Lunch anyone?
A cross border nooner perhaps? eh?
Posted by: Shipman || 10/17/2013 16:08 Comments || Top||

#2  "Any in here, Muldoon?"
"I don't detect any, sir."
"Okay. The bar at the Damascus Four Seasons. Cross it off the list."
"Well, men. Since we're here..."
Posted by: tu3031 || 10/17/2013 21:15 Comments || Top||


Israeli Website Says Mustafa Badreddine Is Hizbullah's New Military Commander
[An Nahar] An Israeli website that is expert on terrorism revealed on Wednesday the identity of Hizbullah's new military commander, the successor of slain official Imad Mughniyeh.

"Mustafa Amin Badreddine assumed his responsibilities as the party's new military commander," the website, 910, said according to Paleostinian news agency SAFA.

Badreddine is one of the party's founders and was the commander of several special operations, according to SAFA.

The website also published never seen pictures of the new military commander.

The Special Tribunal for Leb has accused Badreddine along with 3 other Hizbullah-linked suspects of being involved in the liquidation of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in February 2005.

According to the arrest warrant in the murder case, he is accused of planning and overseeing the execution of the liquidation.

Badreddine, also known as Sami Issa, was born 1961 and has strong ties with Hizbullah leader His Eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah
The satrap of the Medes and the Persians in Leb...
and Iran.

He is a cousin and the brother-in-law of slain Hizbullah military commander Mughnieh.

He is a member of the Hizbullah's Shura council and the head of its external operations.

He was enjugged
... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not...
and imprisoned in Kuwait in 1983.

In 1990, he managed to escape prison and flee to Iran where the Revolutionary Guard returned him to Beirut.

The 910 website drew its name from the title given to the external operations' cell in Hizbullah, 910, and it strives to gather information on this unit and has also offered financial rewards for those willing to reveal new data about it.

Badreddine, is reportedly in charge of the 910 unit which, according to the website, is also behind the deadly blast in Bulgaria's Burgas.

Five Israeli tourists and their Bulgarian driver were killed in the July 18 2012 bombing on their tourist bus. The identity of the lone bomber, who also perished, has so far remained a mystery.

The attack was the deadliest on Israelis abroad since 2004 and Israel immediately blamed it on Iran and its "terrorist" proxy Hizbullah, but Bulgarian Sherlocks have however been more cautious. Iran denied involvement.
Posted by: Fred || 10/17/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [10 views] Top|| File under: Hezbollah

#1  He is a cousin, uncle, brother, and the brother-in-law of slain Hizbullah military commander Mughnieh.

Posted by: Frank G || 10/17/2013 9:47 Comments || Top||

#2  Seems to be alot of prison breaks in the middle east
Posted by: Paul D || 10/17/2013 19:15 Comments || Top||


Qabalan Urges the State to Disarm 'All Factions'
[An Nahar] The deputy head of the Higher Shiite Islamic Council, Sheikh Abdul Amir Qabalan, called on Wednesday on the authorities to disarm all factions of the society.

In his Eid al-Adha sermon, Qabalan "urged the state to disarm all factions and stop issuing licenses" to gunnies.

He said that the authorities should take "strong measures" against them.

"The land is protected through good deeds and not arms," he added.

Qabalan urged all the people to come to their senses, have good deeds, be religious and become honest.

He said the people should recognize the rights of others and be responsible. "God urged us ... to have patience."

Addressing the waring parties in neighboring Syria, Qabalan said: "Enough with terrorism."

Qabalan also asked Bahrain's rulers to "have mercy and steer clear of violence."

He said "those supporting terrorism through their money and stances" will be held accountable by God.

Qabalan wondered why there was injustice and killing in Leb, Egypt and Iraq.
Golly. What do they all have in common?
Posted by: Fred || 10/17/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [12 views] Top|| File under: Hezbollah


Kurdish parties in Syria merge
Pro-Kurdish parties in Syria are being merged into a united Syrian Kurdish Democratic Party, Anadolu agency reported on Wednesday. According to the report, the new union includes the Azadi Kurdish Party, Kurdish Unity Party and the Kurdistan Democratic Party.
Apparently better to join forces, as the Kurds in Iraq finally learned...
Posted by: Steve White || 10/17/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [10 views] Top|| File under:


Iran, West plan new talks after N-proposal ‘breakthrough’
Iran on Wednesday said it could allow for snap inspections of its nuclear sites as part of a new proposal to end a decade-long standoff with world powers, adding that fresh talks would take place “in a few weeks”.
Great. How did we cave this time?
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif’s announcement of a fresh round of talks came as negotiators from the EU-chaired P5+1 group — the US, Britain, France, China and Russia, plus Germany — pored over a proposal he and his team presented in Geneva a day earlier.

“The continuation of the negotiations will be in Geneva in a few weeks,” Zarif wrote on Facebook. “In the meantime, the P5+1 members will have the opportunity to (study) the details of Iran’s proposals and prepare actions they need to take,” he said.

“Negotiations and reaching a resolution is difficult, and negotiating over details requires time and great deliberation.”
No doubt Uncle Sugar will pay as well as cave...
The two-day talks in the Swiss city have ended a six-month freeze in negotiations over Iran’s refusal to curb uranium enrichment in exchange for easing the international sanctions battering its economy.
Posted by: Steve White || 10/17/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [11 views] Top|| File under:

#1  No doubt Uncle Sugar will pay as well as cave...

Possibly. More likely it'll be a relaxing or removal of sanctions.

My concern is that there will be a Western de facto recognition of a Iranian-controlled 'Shiite Crescent" ranging from Iran through Syria and into Lebanon in return for Iran's (supposed) stopping of its nuke program
Posted by: Pappy || 10/17/2013 10:55 Comments || Top||

#2  Then it'll follow the North Korean pattern... they'll wait until someone else is in office, preferably non-Democrat, before it's suddenly exposed that they've been cheating all along.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 10/17/2013 11:05 Comments || Top||

#3  Great. How did we cave this time?

Obama needs time to concentrate on destroying America. A nuke detonating in Washington or New York is just a distraction.

Al
Posted by: Frozen Al || 10/17/2013 16:56 Comments || Top||



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Thu 2013-10-17
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Wed 2013-10-16
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Tue 2013-10-15
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