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Helicopters open fire to disperse Syrian protesters
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 1: WoT Operations
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Good morning
Posted by: Fred || 06/12/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  That's Hedley!


/Harvey Corman
Posted by: Frank G || 06/12/2011 0:30 Comments || Top||

#2  Happy Birthday/Daily Gam Shot

Jenilee Harrison aka Cindy Snow in "Three's Company" aka Jamie Ewing in "Dallas" aka Kathy Bloodstone in "Prime Target" aka Sarah, hooker in "Tank" aka Sarah Snyder in "The Redemption" aka Elizabeth Armstrong in "Curse III: Blood Sacrifice" (age 52)



A cold night on the Red Carpet
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 06/12/2011 0:41 Comments || Top||

#3  Welcome, Instapundit readers! :-)
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/12/2011 15:03 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
Marines earn Navy Cross for Ganjgal heroism
Two Marines who survived a bloody ambush in eastern Afghanistan in September 2009 will receive the Navy Cross on Friday for heroism, Marine officials said.

Capt. Ademola D. Fabayo and Staff Sgt. Juan J. Rodriguez-Chavez will be pinned with the nation’s second highest award for valor in a ceremony at the National Museum of the Marine Corps, near Quantico, Va. They were members of Marine Embedded Training Team 2-8, which was pinned down on Sept. 8, 2009, in an early-morning ambush in Ganjgal, a village near the Pakistan border in violent Kunar province.

Fabayo, then a first lieutenant, is credited with pushing into a kill zone on foot and engaging enemy at close range with his M4 carbine. He braved heavy enemy fire to carry wounded Army Sgt. 1st Class Kenneth Westbrook several hundred meters, treated wounded Afghan forces that his unit was training and took the gunner’s position in a gun truck with three other service members as they drove into the kill zone to recover the bodies of three Marines and a corpsman killed in the battle.

Rodriguez-Chavez was assigned to the unit’s security element during the ambush. Under heavy fire, he drove a gun truck into the kill zone three times to cover the withdrawal of the training team and partnered Afghan forces. He then made a fourth trip into the deepest part of the kill zone in another truck to recover the bodies of the fallen Marines and corpsman, positioning his vehicle to shield fellow service members from the intense fire as they left the vehicle to retrieve the bodies.

In October, the Marine Corps recommended that the gunner with Rodriguez-Chavez, former Cpl. Dakota Meyer, receive the Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest award for valor, sources with knowledge of the award process told Marine Corps Times. He is credited with charging into the kill zone repeatedly on foot to find the missing Marines, who had been shot to death and stripped of their weapons. No decision on his award has been announced.

The casualties recovered that day were Gunnery Sgts. Edwin “Wayne” Johnson and Aaron Kenefick, 1st Lt. Michael Johnson and Hospitalman 3rd Class James Layton. They each received the Bronze Star with V posthumously last September for working together after they were pinned down to hold off the enemy, allowing a group of Afghan troops they were training to rejoin a larger group of coalition troops nearby.

At least eight Afghan troops and an interpreter working with the Americans that day also were killed, according to military documents outlining the battle. Westbrook died in October 2009 at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington due to medical complications from his wounds.

The training team, out of Okinawa, Japan, was pinned down without artillery and air support for hours by well entrenched insurgents armed with assault rifles, rocket propelled grenades and machine guns, prompting a joint Army-Marine military investigation.

Conducted by Army Col. Richard Hooker and Marine Col. James Werth, it determined that “negligent” leadership by three officers at nearby Forward Operating Base Joyce contributed “directly to the loss of life which ensued.” They refused direct calls for help from U.S. forces on the ground and failed to notify higher commands that they had troops in contact with enemy, the investigation found. The officers were members of Task Force Chosin, a unit comprising soldiers from 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, out of Fort Drum, N.Y.

In February, Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C., a member of the House Armed Services Committee, said Army officials told him that two of the three officers ultimately received reprimands, a likely career killer.
Posted by: Steve White || 06/12/2011 00:03 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I hope the govt. pays for whatever they neeed to carry their blls around in
Posted by: chris || 06/12/2011 1:34 Comments || Top||

#2  See: http://www2.insidenova.com/news/2011/jun/12/marines-receive-navy-cross-ar-1102007/

Interesting that Fabayo was born in Nigeria, and Rodriguez-Chavez was born in Mexico. Immigrants such as these have always helped make Ametica great.
Posted by: Lone Ranger || 06/12/2011 7:49 Comments || Top||

#3  In February, Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C., a member of the House Armed Services Committee, said Army officials told him that two of the three officers ultimately received reprimands, a likely career killer.

..and maybe they should have been given a follow on assignment to Recruiting Command for Kiska Island Alaska.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 06/12/2011 8:57 Comments || Top||


Afghan blasts leave many dead
[Al Jazeera] The commander of a provincial Afghan police rapid reaction force has been killed in a suicide kaboom in Khost in eastern Afghanistan, sources have told Al Jizz.

Saturday's attack, which killed Commander Zahir, also claimed the lives of two of his bodyguards. Up to 16 others were maimed in the blast.

The attack occurred when a bomber went kaboom!" in front of the police unit's base, Mohammad Yahqoob Mandozai, the Khost deputy police chief, told the AFP news agency.

"The suicide attacker who was waiting outside the base let 'er rip as the vehicle carrying the police commander exited the base."

"The majority of them civilians have been injured," Mandozai said.

In another attack on the same day, Afghan authorities said a roadside kaboom hit a bus in the south of the country, killing 15 people, including eight children.

The ministry of interior said the attack took place in the Arghandab district of Kandahar province. The ministry also said in a statement that one person was maimed in the blast.
Posted by: Fred || 06/12/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Africa Horn
Somali pirates free Kuwaiti cargo ship
[Iran Press TV] Somali pirates have released a Kuwaiti ship after receiving over USD 12 million, the largest ransom paid so far by an Arab nation to free a trapped vessel.

MV Zirku, a UAE-flagged fat merchantman owned by a Kuwaiti company, and its 29 crew members were released after the pirates received the huge ransom, a Press TV correspondent reported.

The ship had been caught on the way from Singapore to Sudan on March 28.

Rampant piracy off the Indian Ocean coast of Somalia has made the waters among the most dangerous in the world.

The Gulf of Aden, which links the Indian Ocean with the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean Sea, is the quickest route for more than 20,000 vessels traveling annually between Asia, Europe and the Americas.

However,
there's more than one way to stuff a chicken...
attacks by heavily armed Somali pirates on speedboats have prompted some of the world's largest shipping firms to switch routes from the Suez Canal and reroute cargo vessels around southern Africa, leading to climbing shipping costs.
Posted by: Fred || 06/12/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Pirates


Africa North
Violence and Intimidation against Copts Increases
salafists are doing the dirty work of mutilating Christians and leading boycotts, etc., the Muslim Brotherhood is trying to say these are all minor isolated problems.

Europe silent
US silent
Posted by: Lord Garth || 06/12/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I Am not
Posted by: newc || 06/12/2011 3:12 Comments || Top||

#2  But don't forget - it's supposed to be Springtime for Hitler Arabs.
Posted by: Pappy || 06/12/2011 21:07 Comments || Top||


Support to terrorism and counterfeit of banknotes
[Ennahar] Security services in Annaba and Setif have successfully dismantled a network of support for terrorism and counterfeit of banknotes of 2000 dinars, after one of its members is set to sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark dock, in a pestilential prison with a life-long lock in possession of counterfeit notes of 2000 dinars worth of a billion centimes

The accused, on whom a shotgun was found, was brought before the public prosecutor at the court of Setif in recent hours, for trafficking in counterfeit and support to terrorists.

The facts date back about a week, when the accused "B. L.", aged 35, was under surveillance by security services in following information according to which he was part of a terrorist support cell. Armed with a search warrant, the police services raided his home in the neighbourhood called "Fermatou" in Setif where a billion centimes in counterfeit dinar banknotes of 1000 and 2000 was found, in addition to a shotgun.

Investigations were conducted during the last week before the accused is brought before the public prosecutor who ordered his detention.

According to information received, the accused would be in relation with a terrorist support network in the eastern regions of the country, according to the confession of a terrorist set to sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark dock, in a pestilential prison with a life-long lock in Annaba, who told about the existence of a network of support for terrorism in Setif, whose mission was funding terrorist groups.
Posted by: Fred || 06/12/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in North Africa


Pro-Gaddafi forces crushed the historic city of Ghadames
[Ennahar] Forces loyal to Colonel Muammar Qadaffy
... dictator of Libya since 1969. From 1972, when he relinquished the title of prime minister, he has been accorded the honorifics Guide of the First of September Great Revolution of the Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya or Brotherly Leader and Guide of the Revolution. With the death of Omar Bongo of Gabon on 8 June 2009, he became the longest serving of all current non-royal national leaders. He is also the longest-serving ruler of Libya since Tripoli became an Ottoman province in 1551. When Chairman Mao was all the rage and millions of people were flashing his Little Red Book, Qadaffy came out with his own Little Green Book, which didn't do as well. Qadaffy's instability has been an inspiration to the Arab world and to Africa, which he would like to rule...
pounded on Saturday the historic city of Ghadames, some 600 km southwest of Tripoli, said official rebel sources.

These are the first festivities in the area between the loyal forces and rebels since the beginning of the February 15 uprising against Colonel Qadaffy.

"The battalions of Qadaffy pounded the archaeological city of Ghadames for the first time since the outbreak of the revolution," a source said rebel.

AFP was unable to verify this information from independent sources.

Ghadames, known as the "Pearl of the Desert", is one of the oldest pre-Saharan cities in the region. It took over Cydamae, Cornelius Balbus walled city which had made an ally of Rome during his victorious expedition against the Garam, in 19 BC AD

Located on the border of Tunisia and Algeria, this city became a UNESCO world heritage in 1986.
Posted by: Fred || 06/12/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  There was a long Totten post a few years ago about Ghadames - supposedly the regime had banned actual habitation of Old Ghadames, having forced everybody out to live in a typical Third-World concrete slab hive, basically "New Ghadames".

So either the locals moved back to the old town in the absence of the assholes who'd thrown them out in the first place, and this was somebody sending a flying column through to roust out "squatters", or else this is bullshit aimed at pulling heart-strings among those tools who prize masonry over men. And since NATO seems to think that they can win a war by blowing up empty palaces and barracks, maybe the bullshitters know what they're doing...

And since Ghadames is on the far side of Zintan and Yafran, which is where the southwestern "front" was at last report - and that report was of the regime forces beating feet, presumably northward to participate in this week's counterattack on Misrata and Zlitan, my sympathies in this analysis leans towards "bullshit story". Unless this is some sort of local dust-up of actual, legitimately local regime loyalists acting on their own hook. Ah, who knows.
Posted by: Mitch H. || 06/12/2011 23:21 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Bahrain opposition rally draws thousands
[Al Jazeera] More than 10,000 demonstrators have joined Bahrain's first public rally in months as the Gulf nation's main Shia political party shows its resolve after fierce crackdowns on protests for greater political rights.

Security forces stayed back from the crowds on Saturday in a mostly Shia area northwest of the capital Manama. Police helicopters passed overhead. There were no reports of festivities.

"With our blood and soul, we sacrifice for Bahrain," the crowds chanted.

Bahrain's Sunni leaders allowed the rally on Saturday less than two weeks after lifting martial law-style rules imposed to crush protests for broader political freedom. At least 31 people have died in the unrest since February.

Bahrain appointed its parliament speaker to lead a national dialogue in the wake of the crackdown, the state news agency said on Saturday, but the opposition said the crown prince should lead the reform process.

Khalifa al-Dhahrani, speaker of the Council of Representatives, said he hoped to bring "all parties concerned with matters of the state" into the dialogue.

He said the talks would "accelerate the pace of reform towards further development in various fields that will meet the expectations of all citizens," Bahrain News Agency cited him as saying on Saturday.

The leading Shia Mohammedan opposition group Wefaq objected to the appointment.

"The real dialogue that needs to take place must be between the king or the crown prince and the opposition because what we are discussing is a pivotal issue of difference between the ruling family and the people," Khalil al-Marzooq, a Wefaq leader, said.

"The call for dialogue was meant to complete the one which the crown prince had started previously. It raises a lot of questions about the extent of the seriousness of this dialogue in looking for a political solution that will meet the demands of the people," he said.

Marzooq said of Dhahrani's appointment: "We respect him but he has already taken his position. He has previously said that he objects to discussion of reforms over elections, constitutional amendments and the issue of discrimination.

"We call for the crown prince to lead these talks ... to pull this country out of the bottle neck which it is stuck in."

The government imposed emergency law in March and brought in troops from neighbouring Sunni-ruled countries to quash the protests. Thousands of people were jugged or dismissed from government jobs for taking part in the protests.

The emergency law has since been revoked and many detainees have been released.

On Friday, Bahrain News Agency reported a labour ministry order that 571 people who had been sacked had been given their jobs back "for lack of legal foundations justifying their dismissal".

King Hamad
...King of Bahrain (since 14 February 2002), having previously been its emir (from 6 March 1999). He is a Sunni, while the rest of Bahrain is predominantly Shiite...
bin Isa al-Khalifa announced that a national dialogue would begin on July 1 and would be open to reform in all areas. Opposition groups have complained the lack of parameters made it difficult to know what options for reform were really on the table.

Shia have long complained of discrimination in jobs and housing, as well as over the gerrymandering of district lines for elections in favour of the Sunni population.
Posted by: Fred || 06/12/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under:


Wounded Yemen president's health 'bad': source
[Beirut Daily Star] The state of Yemeni President President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh's
... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower...
health was described as "bad" Saturday by an informed source in Riyadh, where the beleaguered leader is being treated for kaboom wounds.

"The information we have says that President-for-Life Saleh
... exemplifying the Arab's propensity to combine brutality with incompetence...
is still in bad condition, mainly as he suffers problems in the lungs and respiration," said the Yemeni expatriate who requested anonymity.
Told ya. Those 'wood splinters' in the lung meant he had a thoracotomy, and I'll bet at least a partial, if not full, pneumonectomy (removal of the lung) on the left side. He's not feeling so good.
Saleh was flown to Riyadh on June 4 on board a Saudi medical aircraft to be treated, a day after an kaboom destroyed a mosque where he was praying inside his Sanaa presidential compound.

Yemeni officials have insisted Saleh is speedily recovering, and tens of thousands of his loyalists erupted into the streets of the Yemeni capital on Friday after news that he was out of intensive care.

A Saudi official told AFP on Wednesday that the health of Saleh was "stable" and dismissed reports about a deterioration in his health as "baseless."

Saleh has not been seen in public since the attack.

Several officials, including caretaker Prime Minister Ali Mohammad Mujawar and head of Parliament Abdulaziz Abdulghani, were hurt in the bomb and are being treated in Soddy Arabia.

"They were seen in hospital with their bodies entirely covered in wound dressings," the source said referring to the two officials.

At least 200 protesters have been killed in Yemen in more than four months of protests demanding the ouster of Saleh, who has been in office since 1978.

But Saleh has been adamant in refusing to sign a Gulf-brokered deal that would see him quit in return for immunity against prosecution.
Posted by: Fred || 06/12/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [9 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I would NOT want to be presedente for life, there's too many people who would like to end it.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 06/12/2011 7:56 Comments || Top||

#2  the "term limits" of a president-for-life are generally applied ballistically
Posted by: Frank G || 06/12/2011 10:22 Comments || Top||

#3  I'm beginning to think we have one waiting in the wings, just hoping, hoping...
Posted by: Old Patriot || 06/12/2011 15:30 Comments || Top||


Yemen says 30 killed in Islamist clashes in south
[Beirut Daily Star] Yemen said its army killed 21 al Qaeda members Saturday in a southern province whose main city was seized by Islamist Islamic fascisti during the country's bloody political crisis.
Nine Yemeni soldiers were killed in the fighting in Abyan province, whose capital Zinjibar fell to Islamist fighters last month, sparking fighting that has set nearly all its population to flight.

Oil giant Soddy Arabia and Western countries fear the chaos resulting from such festivities could give al Qaeda a foothold in the impoverished Arabian Peninsula state, which straddles oil export routes and has been a cornerstone of U.S. counter-terrorism strategy.

In a statement sent via text message, the defence ministry said its troops had killed 18 "terrorists" in Zinjibar and three in Lawdar, a second provincial city. The army destroyed a weapons and ammunition cache in Zinjibar, it said.

State television said fighting continued across the province, and residents of an area near Zinjibar said government forces carried out air strikes on the city.

Even before protests erupted nearly six months ago demanding the ouster of President President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh,
... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower...
Yemen was gripped by conflict with separatists in the south and periodic fighting with Shi'ite rebels in the north.

Saleh flew to Soddy Arabia for surgery eight days ago after an attack which U.S. officials say left him seriously burned. His foes vow he will never return to power and demand he sign over all authority to his deputy, now the acting president.
Posted by: Fred || 06/12/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Arabia

#1  ION DEFENCE.PK?FORUMS/WORLD NEWS > [Siasat Daily] "BEWARE YEMEN-IGHANISTAN THE WHIRLWIND", iff Yemen chaos continues to worsen.

and

* SAME > [CIA Chief Panetta] 1000 AL-QAEDA STILL IN IRAQ.

* DEFENCE>PK/FORUMS > US ANALYST: IFF CHINA WANTS GWADAR BASE, LET THEM HAVE IT!?
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 06/12/2011 21:28 Comments || Top||


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
3 militants slain in Russia's Dagestan
[Iran Press TV] Three Orcs and similar vermin have been killed in an exchange of fire with police in Russia's North Caucasus republic of Dagestan, as violence continues unabated in the volatile region.

Police officers tried to stop a car near the Manas village on Friday. The armed occupants, however, opened fire during the police check and were killed by return fire, RIA Novosti news agency reported.

One of those Orcs and similar vermin slain in the incident was identified as Kamil Magomedov, who was accused of involvement in an attempt to organize a terrorist attack in the Russian capital, Moscow, on December 31, 2010.

The second one was identified as Magomedsultan Aigunov. The identity of the third man has not been established yet.

Sporadic attacks and bad boy festivities are common in Russia's North Caucasus republics, especially Chechnya, Dagestan, and Ingushetia.

Russia has been fighting Orcs and similar vermin in the North Caucasus since the mid 1990s.
Posted by: Fred || 06/12/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:


China-Japan-Koreas
Bomber Targets Government Building in North China
[An Nahar] Two people were maimed in a suspected Dire Revenge™ bombing at a government building in China, state media said Saturday, the second such attack attributed to disgruntled locals in recent weeks.

The jugged suspect, a man surnamed Liu, allegedly set off the kaboom in the northern city of Tianjin on Friday out of "Dire Revenge™ against society," Xinhua news agency reported.

Two people were slightly injured in the incident at a municipal government building in the Hexi district of Tianjin, a major city about 100 kilometers southwest of Beijing, the report said.

Calls to the Hexi district government offices went unanswered Saturday.

China sees thousands of protests and other public disturbances each year, often linked to anger over official corruption, government abuses and the illegal seizure of land for development.

Bomb attacks have been increasingly frequent in recent years and are typically carried out by individuals angry over perceived injustices, business disputes or other pressures associated with China's rapid modernization.

In late May, four people were killed and several injured in a series of similar kabooms at government buildings in south China's Jiangxi province.

A 52-year-old man identified as Qian Mingqi allegedly triggered kabooms at the parking garage of the city prosecutor's office and at two other district government offices in Fuzhou city.

In an Internet posting ahead of the bombings, Qian reportedly detailed alleged corruption by local officials in the eviction and demolition of two properties he owned and vowed Dire Revenge™.

In another blast Thursday, one policeman was killed and two others injured when an kaboom reduced to rubble parts of a multi-storey cop shoppe in Huangshi Township in Hunan province, the China Daily reported.

Local officials immediately said the accidental detonation of confiscated explosives was the cause of the blast, but numerous postings on the Internet maintained the kaboom was a Dire Revenge™ attack against corrupt police.
Posted by: Fred || 06/12/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Uighurs, etal. + AFPAK in the West, Mongols to the North, Indjuh in the South, + DPRK to the East/Northeast.

Just sayin'.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 06/12/2011 0:32 Comments || Top||

#2  One day, the Chinese will realize that fireworks are made of explosives, too. You can buy a mortar shell the size of a human head at the fireworks market.
Posted by: gromky || 06/12/2011 8:59 Comments || Top||


Europe
Cashiered Russian Colonel Shot to Death in Moscow
Rewritten from the AyPee article and translated Russian sources. And if you read the headline, apparently conviction of a murder makes you an ex-Russian.
The Russian former colonel convicted of killing a female suspected Chechen sniper was shot to death in Moscow Friday night, according to several English and Russian language news sources.

Reports say the shooter shot Yuri Budanov at close range with a suppressed/silenced Makarov 9mm pistol hitting him four times in the head. Budanov had just emerged from a notary's office when he was shot. The partially torched Mitsubishi getaway car and weapon used in the shooting were later found.
Aah, just a typical Moscow mugging. Nothing to see here, move along...
Budanov earned his notoriety when he was charged with kidnapping rape, abuse of a prisoner and murder following a 2000 interrogation he conducted of Heda Kungayeva, 18. The rape and torture charges were dropped for lack of evidence.

Budanov was released after serving eight of his nine year sentence in 2009. He was also stripped of his rank and his decorations as punishment.
Posted by: badanov || 06/12/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Hang onto your vowels, B...
Posted by: 2sealys || 06/12/2011 8:17 Comments || Top||

#2  Silenced Makarov is the preferred weapon of Russian intelligence. Not saying it was them who did it, just saying.
Posted by: gromky || 06/12/2011 8:56 Comments || Top||

#3  And four rounds to the head? Just in case three wasn't enough? Wow. Sounds personal to me.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike || 06/12/2011 9:14 Comments || Top||

#4  From the descriptions it sounds like the shooter pumped the four rounds in the head while he was already down.
Posted by: badanov || 06/12/2011 10:48 Comments || Top||

#5  This story reminds me of a Pat Travers song. Boom Boom, Out Go The Lights!

Or, maybe that should be...Boom Boom Boom Boom, Out Go The Lights!
Posted by: Chavinter Hupavirong3890 || 06/12/2011 15:34 Comments || Top||

#6  I understand that a silenced weapon has MUCH lower muzzle velocity. I guess a professional would know that just one or two rounds is no guarantee of death. But with three or four you can be pretty sure, and then get on with fleeing the scene.
Posted by: Scooter McGruder || 06/12/2011 16:41 Comments || Top||

#7  It was a 9mm. Typical muzzle velocity for a 9mm (9x19) is 1200 to 1400 feet per second depending on bullet mass and powder charge. A suppressed weapon is usually coupled with appropriate velocity ammo; if not, the weapon isn't really suppressed. 9mm sub-sonic ammo would be traveling in the range of 900-1000 feet per second. You want the bullet to not break the speed of sound (the sub-sonic part) which would thereby ruin the suppression of the sound of the gas escaping the muzzle of the barrel since the bullet would then produce a supersonic crack.
Typical velocity at the muzzle of a suppressed weapon is around 1000 feet per second or less regardless of bullet caliber, more than enough for skull penetration and lethality with a 9mm.
A bullet penetrating the skull is generally lethal (or certainly the low point in your day) and if it didn't exit (a characteristic of lower velocity rounds) they tend to circulate within the skull (think blender).
Say the bullet penetrated and exited. The exit wound is 'usually' larger than the entrance wound. Brains don't like leaking out much.
Four is a lot.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike || 06/12/2011 18:08 Comments || Top||


Fresh Blast at Ikea Store in Germany
[An Nahar] An bomb went off in an Ikea furniture store in the East German city of Dresden late Friday, slightly injuring one person, a police front man told Agence La Belle France Presse Saturday.

At the end of May several small booby-trapped packages went kaboom! in Ikea stores in La Belle France, Belgium and The Netherlands, with no claim of responsibility.

At least one woman suffered damage to her eardrum in Friday's blast in the kitchen showroom part of the store, front man Thomas Geithner said.

He said it was too early to say whether it had any connection with the earlier kabooms on May 30 in the Belgian city of Ghent, Eindhoven in The Netherlands and Lille, in northern La Belle France.

No one was hurt in any of the blasts, which caused no damage.

An Ikea spokeswoman in Sweden said those kabooms had been caused by small fireworks devices.

"We had not received any threats against Ikea at all," Charlotte Lindgren told AFP.
Posted by: Fred || 06/12/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:


The Grand Turk
Turkey sending troops into Syria
Has anybody seen this from another source? Because this could make things interesting as the new Ottomans continue their attempt to seduce Iran into what they fondly imagine will be sensible partnership. Hattip Anonymoose.
DEBKAfile

Syrian soldiers are now dying in battle


A new and dramatic turn in the Syrian crisis: Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan Friday night, June 10, ordered his army to move into northern Syria where battles were blazing in Idlib, Maarat al-Numaan and Jisr al-Shuhour. DEBKAfile's exclusive sources report that the prime minister's office and high command in Ankara are still working out how to define the Turkish military mission in Syria. One proposal is to evoke UN Security Council's 1973 resolution which mandated the NATO operation in Libya to protect civilian lives against Col. Qaddafi.

Ankara decided on military intervention Friday night, two days before Turkey's general election, after learning about the latest turn in the showdown between the Syrian government and the opposition.

Away from the limelight, heavy fighting also raged in Idlib, west of Syria's second largest town Aleppo, and Maarat al-Numaan, a small western market city located on the highway between Aleppo and Hama. In these places, the Syrian army encountered the guns of a Muslim Brotherhood militia fighting alongside a group of defecting soldiers, according to our military sources.

1.  To stem the swelling stream of Syrian refugees fleeing massacre at the hands of government forces. Ankara has accepted over 3,000 refugees from Jisr al-Shughour who are desperate to escape certain slaughter; it is not prepared to take on tens or possible hundreds of thousands of Syrians fleeing from larger towns like Idlib, Maarat al-Numaana and the Kurdish regions abutting the Turkish border.

2.  To mark out a military zone on the Syrian side of the border where the Red Moon-Shaped Thingy Crescent will set up camps for Syrian refugees to shelter under Turkish army protection;

3.  Next week, the Turkish army will establish a military buffer zone in the Kurdish region of northern Syria near its main town, Qamishli.

The Erdogan government will be taking the chance of Assad deciding that the Turkish military incursion is an act of war.
Which, of course, it is.
The Turks have the most competent Muslim army in the world. The Syrians have an army that is adept at keeping Pencilneck on the throne by murdering civilians. We'll see who wins this one.
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/12/2011 14:26 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  ...Go to Jim Dunnigan's priceless A Quick And Dirty Guide to War for a very good explanation of a difference between armies and 'police armies'. In the Middle East there is exactly ONE professional army whose job is to defend its people and not keep them down. There may be two very soon, but the jury really is still out on that.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 06/12/2011 16:25 Comments || Top||

#2  Hmmmmm. Want to see Pencilneck overthrown and his baathists strung up, I'd also like to see Yippy bloodied and humiliated. A quandary
Posted by: Frank G || 06/12/2011 16:26 Comments || Top||

#3  Turbans tighten in Tehran.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 06/12/2011 17:48 Comments || Top||

#4  I've been watching the English language Turkish news sources, and so far nothing.

Hurriyet Daily News

Today's Zaman
Posted by: Anonymoose || 06/12/2011 18:02 Comments || Top||

#5  Turkish Press

Posted by: Anonymoose || 06/12/2011 18:04 Comments || Top||

#6  VERY interesting, if true.
Posted by: Scooter McGruder || 06/12/2011 18:42 Comments || Top||

#7  From Moose's link

Premier Erdogan underlines importance of boosting cooperation with Iraq

Tighter turbans in Tehran. Almost as if Erdogan is daring the Mullahs to attack him so he can call Nato's obligation to defend him and after the victory become caliph.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 06/12/2011 19:15 Comments || Top||

#8  debka... needs alot of salt, as usual
Posted by: 746 || 06/12/2011 19:19 Comments || Top||

#9  "DEBKAfile's exclusive sources "

This means that the story is false. I have never in my entire life seen a "DEBKA exclusive" that turned out to be true. This story has a 99.9999% probability of having been made up by the person writing it in order to get web views to the site.

Posted by: crosspatch || 06/12/2011 19:48 Comments || Top||

#10  OK Mike - the ONE is obvious, but who is the second maybe "very soon"?
Posted by: Halliburton - Mysterious Conspiracy Division || 06/12/2011 20:15 Comments || Top||

#11  ...Iraq. Even in the condition they're in now, they are light years beyond any other Arab army in terms of placing training and skill above political and religious reliability. They've also been taught that their loyalty is to the Nation above Party and Faith - something no other Arab army can say. The trouble is we don't know yet whether or not they've learned that lesson.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 06/12/2011 20:36 Comments || Top||

#12  See also WAFF > TURKEY MULLS BUFFER ZONE ON SYRIAN BORDER, for Syrian refugees as protected by Turkish forces.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 06/12/2011 21:16 Comments || Top||

#13  ya ever flush a JUSTICE turd , and it comes back?
Posted by: Frank G || 06/12/2011 22:00 Comments || Top||

#14  I think it's because both ends are dumb
Posted by: Frank G || 06/12/2011 22:02 Comments || Top||

#15  Srsly, JUSTICE

I have better things to do than to moderate your comments and I s'pect you do too. You should do them.
Posted by: badanov || 06/12/2011 22:05 Comments || Top||

#16  "I s'pect you do too"

I s'pect it doesn't, Bad.

Though I wish it would go back to goat-bothering and leave us alone. :-(
Posted by: Barbara || 06/12/2011 22:09 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
'Militant' gets 14 years for carrying bomb
[Dawn] An anti-terrorism court here on Friday convicted an alleged member of Tehrik-i-Taliban Swat
...a valley and an administrative district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistain, located 99 mi from Islamabad. It is inhabited mostly by Pashto speakers. The place has gone steadily downhill since the days when Babe Ruth was the Sultan of Swat...
for carrying an improvised explosive devise and sentenced him to 14 years rigorous imprisonment.

The court presided over by Anwar Ali Khan observed that the prosecution had proved its case against the accused, Jamaluddin alias Ghouri, and the evidence on record connected him with the offence.

The accused was placed in durance vile by Pishtakhara police in the outskirts of Beautiful Downtown Peshawar on July 5, 2010. The police alleged that they had received information about presence of a hard boy near Tajabad locality following which they started search for him.

The police alleged that when they stopped the accused, who is around 19 years of age, he was carrying a sack inside which they found a pressure-cooker filled with explosives. It was added that the bomb disposal squad was called and its officials defused the IED. The BDS officials claimed that the cooker was carrying seven kgs of kaboom and it was also filled with ball-bearings, nuts and bolts so as to increase the intensity of the bomb.

The prosecution claimed that during investigation the accused said that he belonged to Dir area and he remained with the Tehrik-i-Taliban Swat for two years.

Special public prosecutor Mohammad Khalid contended that the accused was caught red-handed and added that had it gone off, it would have caused considerable devastation.

Meanwhile,
...back at the mall, Clarissa spent the day shopping for new underwear. Tonight was going to be a special occasion...
another anti-terrorism court presided over by Ibrahim Khan directed two officials of the Peshawar Central Prison to file replies regarding the allegations leveled by a prisoner that he was tortured for not giving bribe to an official.

An under trial prisoner, Dunya Gul, has given an application to the court stating that he used to sell contraband inside the prison and for that purpose he had to pay Rs15,000 to an official. He stated that now he had abandoned that practice, but the said official was still demanding money from him. He alleged that he was severely tortured on refusing to pay the money.

The accused-applicant was earlier convicted in a case of drug trafficking and was sentenced to five years imprisonment. Furthermore, he has been facing trial before the ATC in a kidnapping for ransom case.

On court notice, superintendent Shahjehan Khan and the concerned official Shamroz Khan appeared before the court. Both were directed to file replies till June 15.
Posted by: Fred || 06/12/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: TTP


Today's Pakaboom: Blasts hit market in Peshawar
[Al Jazeera] Two blasts have destroyed a market area in Pakistain's northwestern city of Beautiful Downtown Peshawar, causing many casualties, police and residents said.

The police operational chief said 20 people had been killed and 50 others maimed.

Dost Mohammed, another police official, said a small blast went off just after midnight on Sunday, drawing rescue workers and police to the site. A few minutes later a large kaboom rocked the area, causing fatalities and injuring 35 people.

Mohammed said initial reports suggested the second blast was caused by explosives placed in a vehicle and detonated by remote control. The source of the first kaboom was unknown.

Al Jizz's Kamal Hyder, reporting from Islamabad, said most of the casualties occurred in a restaurant.

He said the blast had been so powerful it knocked down part of the building and a fire was burning at the site.

One senior police official was among the maimed. The identities of the other casualties were unclear.

The attack took place across the street from the offices of the highest political agent to Khyber, part of Pakistain's volatile tribal region. Housing for army soldiers is also nearby.
Posted by: Fred || 06/12/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: TTP


Police seek more arrests in Sarfaraz Shah's killing
[Dawn] Police on Saturday said they were seeking to arrest another four paramilitary personnel over the killing of an unarmed man in a public park.

Two soldiers from the Rangers paramilitary force, Shahid Zafar and Muhammed Afzal, were on Friday remanded into police custody for five days over the killing which was captured on camera and broadcast repeatedly on television.

"We have sent a request to Rangers officials to hand over four of the remaining soldiers seen in the video," said a senior police investigator on condition of anonymity.

Security forces rubbed out Sarfaraz Shah, 22, in Bloody Karachi on Wednesday, accusing him of robbery, but his family has demanded justice, insisting he was an innocent student passing the time of day.

Widely viewed footage showed a clean-shaven man wearing black trousers and a navy shirt crying and pleading for his life as a soldier cocks his rifle at his neck, then shoots him twice in the hand and thigh in a local park.

As his blood pours onto the ground, the man begs for help from soldiers -- who appear to do nothing but watch -- until he falls unconscious.

Police said they had also taken custody of Afsar Khan, a man in plainclothes who dragged the victim over to the paramilitary soldiers and later filed a criminal case, accusing Shah of robbery.

Another local police official said taking custody of the four soldiers was essential to an investigation ordered by the government and the Supreme Court.

A Rangers front man said he was unaware that police were seeking custody of the other four soldiers who were at the scene.

"I don't know about it, but we'll hand them over if such a request comes our way," front man Bilal Farooq said.

Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry on Friday directed the government to remove from their posts Major General Aijaz Chaudhry, head of the paramilitary in Sindh province, and Sindh police chief Fayyaz Leghari.

The victim's brother Salik Shah, a local news hound, said the family wanted to see everyone involved face justice.
Posted by: Fred || 06/12/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Two men of Rangers 'death squad' sent to lock-up
[Dawn] As a judicial magistrate remanded two Rangers personnel involved in the killing of an unarmed youngster in police custody for five days, other soldiers of the paramilitary force seen in the footage of the incident and mentioned by the complainant in the FIR had still not been placed in durance vile by the law-enforcers, officials and victim's family said on Friday.

The Rangers men -- Shahid Zafar and Muhammed Afzal -- were produced with their faces covered in Ajrak amid tight security in the court of Judicial Magistrate Nadeem Badr Qazi by the Boat Basin police. A large number of litigants, who happened to be at the city courts for their cases, thronged the magisterial court to have a glimpse of the suspects.

However,
you can observe a lot just by watching...
their five accomplices -- three in uniform and two in plain clothes --had not been placed in durance vile despite Sindh Rangers DG Major General Ijaz Chaudary claiming that a total of six personnel were in their custody and facing inquiry.

While Sindh Rangers handed over two of the suspects to the police, no official from the quarters concerned shared any fact regarding the other suspects with the media. The police showed unawareness about handing over of the other suspects and said they were pursuing what had been recorded in the FIR.

"The two men handed over to the police included the one who fired at the youngster," said a senior police official. "The other might be the one who pushed back the youngster when he was pleading for mercy holding the rifle of the shooter. We are interrogating the suspects mentioned in the FIR by the complainant."

However,
Houston lies southeast of Dallas...
the complainant of the FIR disputed the police claim. He mentioned to the police authorities that the people seen in the footage both in uniform and plain clothes were the suspects of his brother's killing.

"I only came to know the name of two Rangers officials. I tried my best to trace the names of the other four in uniform and two in plain clothes but could not succeed," said Saalik Shah, victim's elder brother and a journalist associated with Samaa TV.

"Neither anyone from police nor any official from Sindh Rangers helped me in finding the names of other suspects," he said, adding that he had insisted on lodging the FIR against all the people seen in the footage. "It was quite obvious and everyone can see them."

Adviser to the Prime Minister on Human Rights Mustafa Nawaz Khokar, however, said he would pursue the police
investigations and was also in touch with the victim's family. "If there is currently any negligence during the investigation process, it would no more be there since the Supreme Court has taken up the matter," he said.

He added that the SC ordered a transparent investigation with hearing on a daily basis and sought a report within 30 days.

"Similarly, I am in constant contact with the victim's family to keep the process up to their satisfaction," he said.
Posted by: Fred || 06/12/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  I've seen the video. An armed robber in Quetta who had held up two women in a new park was grabbed by their security, who disarmed him, and then strong armed him out to where some of these paramilitary rangers were standing.

These guys do not have handcuffs, are not police, and have no jails. Then while they are standing around, the robber starts bouncing about, grabbing at rifle barrels, and screaming at them not to shoot him. Finally, someone puts a couple of rounds in him.

Then, while he is lying there, bleeding, and demanding to be taken to the hospital, the rangers go back to what they were talking about. He is later taken to the hospital, where he bleeds to death.

The bottom line is that the purpose of the rangers is to maintain security in "war zones" that are under martial law. As such, I am not surprised that they would cap an armed robber on the spot.

Unfortunately, a Rooters cameraman was there, took video, and then a Rooters correspondent had hysterics. He later hunted up the armed robbers family, told them he had been killed by Rangers, and videoed their shrieking hysterics that he was "innocent", and a "good boy", and just general shrieking.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 06/12/2011 9:14 Comments || Top||


SC orders removal of Sindh Rangers chief, IG police
[Dawn] The Supreme Court ordered on Friday removal of Sindh Rangers' Director General Maj-Gen Ejaz Chaudhry and Inspector General of Police Fayyaz Leghari over the cold-blooded killing of an unarmed youth by Rangers personnel in Bloody Karachi on Wednesday.

The court set a three-day deadline for the removal of the two officials and directed the Accountant General of Pakistain to withhold their salary if its orders were not carried out.

It was perhaps for the first time in the judicial history of the country that a serving army general appeared before a civilian court on summons and was ordered removed from an important position.

Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, who is heading a five-judge bench which has taken up a suo motu notice of the incident, said that Rangers deployed to stop murders were themselves involved in it. The incident, he added, was serious enough for the chiefs of Sindh Rangers and police to quit.

Sindh Chief Secretary Abdul Subhan Memon conceded failure of the civil administration and surrendered himself before the court.

Federal Interior Secretary Chaudhry Qamar Zaman informed the court that Rangers were under the administrative control of the Sindh government and the notification of their deployment was revised every three months.

The chief justice ordered submission of the notification in the court.

During the break, Attorney General Maulvi Anwarul Haq and the interior secretary went to the PM House to seek instructions from Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani
... Pakistain's erstwhile current prime minister, whose occasional feats of mental gymnastics can be awe-inspiring ...
and later informed the court that they could not meet him because he was in the
National Assembly.

The bench directed the trial court to hear the case on a daily basis and complete the trial within a month and asked the interior ministry to carry out its orders against the DG Rangers and IG police.

The chief justice asked Bloody Karachi police and Sindh Rangers to determine if there was any criminal record of Sarfaraz Shah who was killed by the Rangers.

The court observed that there were discrepancies in investigations and pointed out that the rifle used to shoot the youth was handed over to police only on Friday morning. It expressed doubts over credibility of the investigation conducted under the
IG.

The chief justice said that investigations must be carried out independently. He sought a report within three days. An investigation team headed by DIG Bloody Karachi Khwaja Sultan was asked to complete its work in seven days and submit a
charge-sheet in the court which should complete the trial in 30 days.

The chief justice observed that a case had been registered against the murdered youth to conceal facts.

IG Fayyaz Leghari was snubbed by the chief justice for lying in the court when the police official said the youth had died in
hospital. The chief justice said a wrong report had been presented in the court and termed it an attempt to rub salt into people's wounds. Answering a question, DG Rangers Ejaz Chaudhry informed the court that two of the Rangers personnel nominated in the FIR by the victim's brother had been handed over to police on Thursday and investigation was under way against the others.

The court observed that such incidents added to the hatred against security forces. The chief justice said appointment of incompetent officials led to poor administration.

Justice Javed Iqbal, a member of the bench, said the policy of deploying Rangers in Bloody Karachi should be reviewed and they should be told what their duty was.
Posted by: Fred || 06/12/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


American arrested
[Dawn] An American was placed in durance vile from his residence in the capital on Friday for overstaying in Pakistain, police said.

Mathew Craig's visa expired two months ago, according to police. Police raided his residence in sector E-11 and took him into custody under the Foreigners Act.

The American, who had come to Pakistain two years back on a multiple-business-visa, was put behind the bars in Golra cop shoppe after a case was registered against him under the Foreigners Act. He will be produced in court on Saturday (today).

Police sources said the American, married to a Pak girl, was supposed to leave Pakistain by June 4, adding that he had also stayed in Abbottabad for some months.

Sources said he was under the observation of intelligence agencies for the past some months as he had changed his residence from sector F-8 to E-11 recently.
Posted by: Fred || 06/12/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  How very odd. Don't multiple business visas go to actual businessmen?
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/12/2011 11:29 Comments || Top||

#2  I guess being an illegal alien means it's against the law in Pakiland.
Posted by: Griting Smith6978 || 06/12/2011 16:46 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Deaths in Iraq attacks
[Al Jazeera] Twin car boomings in the northern Iraqi city of djinn-infested Mosul and an attack by eight gunnies on the home of a school teacher in the centre of the country left at least 10 people dead, government officials said.

Violence is raking Iraq as the Shia-led government and other political factions are debating a request for some American forces to remain in the country beyond the December 31 deadline for all US troops to withdraw after more than eight years.

While violence is well below what it had been during intense Shia-Sunni sectarian fighting in 2006 and 2007, opposition fighters are again stepping up deadly attacks around the country. That has led to concerns about what happens when the 47,000 US troops still in the country are withdrawn.

Police and hospital officials in djinn-infested Mosul said two car booms went kaboom! in quick succession, killing six people. At least one of the bombs seemed aimed at a police patrol.

djinn-infested Mosul is Iraq's third largest city, 360km northwest of Storied Baghdad
...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate...
. It has been one of the most stubborn strongholds of resistance.

Abdul-Rahim al-Shimmari, a member of the provincial council, said 52 people were maimed in the blast.

The force of the kaboom shattered the windows and mirrors in a nearby barber shop, and caused the false ceiling to collapse.

"Fortunately, none of us were maimed, but one of my customers, whose hair was half cut, bravely ran away out of fear," the owner, Mahir al-Abbawi, said.

Security forces opened fire randomly in all directions after the first kaboom to prevent those who rushed to help at the scene, he said.

"After about four minutes, we saw a ball of fire coming out of another car that was about 10 meters away from the first kaboom," he added.

Al-Abbawi said he could see people bleeding and women and kiddies screaming and crying.

In the other attack, eight gunnies stormed the house of a school teacher overnight and killed his three sons and daughter, Mohammed al-Asi, the spokesperson for central Salahuddin province, said.

He said the gunnies were in a minibus and decamped after the midnight attack in a village outside of Tikrit. Authorities were investigating the motive behind the killing to see whether it was an act of Islamic fascisti or tribal conflict, he added.

Tikrit is Saddam Hussein's hometown and is located 130km north of Storied Baghdad.
Posted by: Fred || 06/12/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Iraq


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Gaza tunnel worker dies from electric shock
[Ma'an] A Paleostinian died Saturday from an electric shock while working in a smuggling tunnel under the Gazoo-Egypt border, medics said.

Gazoo medical services front man Adham Abu Salmiya identified the victim as Mahmoud Abed, 23.

Medics say over 160 Paleostinians have died in the network of underground tunnels since Israel imposed a siege on the Gazoo Strip in 2006.

Smuggling tunnels from Egypt have provided a lifeline to the 1.6 million residents of Gazoo, particularly since Israel tightened its blockade in 2007 when Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, took control of the territory.

Gazoo medical services front man Adham Abu Salmiya identified the victim as Mahmoud Abed, 23.
Posted by: Fred || 06/12/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Hamas

#1  I wonder how many the evil Jooos have wacked directly in that time frame?

Any chance the Paleos have killed more of their own in their own unique "struggle" than their enemy?
Posted by: Bobby || 06/12/2011 11:09 Comments || Top||

#2  Any chance the Paleos have killed more of their own in their own unique "struggle" than their enemy?

Yes, Bobby, at a rate of well over 2:1, although I don't remember exactly how high. Hopefully someone will poke their head in today to answer you question more precisely.
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/12/2011 13:33 Comments || Top||

#3  Didn't Egypt open the Rafah crossing, and then Hamass closed it? I guess someone's take was threatened. ARCLIGHT the entire GAZA for three or four days straight - it's the only way to stop the virulent plague that's rampant there.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 06/12/2011 16:37 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Eight held in Indonesia over poison plot
[Straits Times] INDONESIA has set to sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark dock, in a pestilential prison with a life-long lock eight terror suspects who were plotting a mass poisoning of police personnel, an anti-terror officer said on Saturday, as one report said they had planned to use cyanide.

The member of the police's counter-terrorism squad, who did not want to be identified, said six suspects had been set to sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark dock, in a pestilential prison with a life-long lock on Friday in Jakarta after two were held in Pekalongan city, Central Java, on Thursday.

'They planned to attack police personnel by poisoning food at police office canteens,' the source said.

Tempo news website quoted an unnamed senior police official saying the suspects had planned to use cyanide.

Indonesia's police headquarters has yet to issue an official statement on the case.

In recent months police have set to sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark dock, in a pestilential prison with a life-long lock dozens of suspects allegedly part of a new orc cell behind a series of recent incidents, including book bombs which were sent to Mohammedan moderates and counter-terrorism officials.
Posted by: Fred || 06/12/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Jemaah Islamiyah


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Israel Prefers the End Of the Assad Regime
Now this is a letter to the editor!
For the second time, a recent Journal article ("Syrian Violence Tests U.S.," page one, June 3) asserts that Israel has expressed fears of instability in Syria if leader Bashar al-Assad is overthrown. I emphatically denied this the first time ("U.S. Seeks to Raise Heat on Syria," page one, April 25) and categorically deny it again. Israel has expressed no such concerns. Allied with Iran, Mr. Assad has helped supply 55,000 rockets to Hezbollah and 10,000 to Hamas, very likely established a clandestine nuclear arms program and profoundly destabilized the region. The violence he has unleashed on his own people demonstrating for freedoms confirms Israel's fears that the devil we know in Syria is worse than the devil we don't.

Ambassador Michael Oren

Israeli Embassy
Washington
Posted by: Steve White || 06/12/2011 11:26 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  So, yet another part of the Murdoch Empire is pulling ever-so-slightly-shaded untruths out of its nether regions. Why am I not surprised?
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 06/12/2011 11:41 Comments || Top||

#2  Ambassador Oren is also the author of: 6 Days of War, a superb history (with the views of the Arabs presented equally as well) of the '67 ass-kicking inflicted on the Arabs, and Nasser in particular
Posted by: Frank G || 06/12/2011 15:57 Comments || Top||

#3  I have it and have read it. Excellent book.
Posted by: Steve White || 06/12/2011 18:36 Comments || Top||


Helicopters open fire to disperse Syrian protesters
AMMAN - Syrian helicopter gunships fired machineguns to disperse pro-democracy protests, witnesses said, in the first reported use of air power to quell unrest in Syria’s increasingly bloody three-month-old uprising.

The use of the aircraft came on a day of nationwide rallies against President Bashar Al Assad, as unrest showed no sign of abating despite the harsh crackdown by his authoritarian state.

The helicopters opened fire in a northwestern town after security forces on the ground killed five protesters, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

“At least five helicopters flew over Maarat al-Numaan and began firing their machineguns to disperse the tens of thousands who marched in the protest,” one witness said by telephone.

“People hid in fields, under bridges and in their houses, but the firing continued on the mostly empty streets for hours,” said the witness, who gave his name as Nawaf.

Syria’s state television, in contrast, blamed violence in the area on anti-government groups. It made no mention of attack helicopters but said an ambulance helicopter had come under fire over Maarat from “terrorist armed groups,” injuring crew.
Posted by: Steve White || 06/12/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:


Syrian regime seals restive town; mutineers remain
[Arab News] Syrian soldiers and coppers who deserted rather than fire on protesters in a restive northern city remained behind to fight against an expected all-out government assault, a resident said. Troops loyal to the regime came under sniper fire Saturday as they approached.

Tanks and thousands of forces sealed the roads leading to the mostly deserted town of Jisr Al-Shughour in response to what the government claims were attacks by "gangs" that killed more than 120 officers and security personnel last week. Refugees reaching Turkey said the chaos erupted as government forces and police mutinied and joined the local population.

President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
One of the last of the old-fashioned hereditary iron-fisted fascist dictators. Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor...
is struggling to crush a nearly three-month uprising against his family's 40-year rule.

Human rights groups say more than 1,300 people have died in the government crackdown.

Syrian troops backed by tanks, helicopters and heavy armor have been operating in the area for several days, and it was not clear why the army was delaying an assault.

Journalists invited to accompany troops to the north, including an AP news hound, came under fire about a mile outside Jisr Al-Shughour, and the government blamed snipers stationed in nearby hills. No casualties were reported.

Residents and activists reported heavy gunfire in the Qarqouz village, about 4 miles (7 kilometers) from Jisr Al-Shughour, after the army and security forces stormed in, but there were no immediate reports of casualties.

The rare invitation on an organized trip apparently reflects a new government effort to counter criticism and prove the existence of armed gangs. The government has denied a mutiny.

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem called on the United Nations
...where theory meets practice and practice loses...
to help his country fight "terrorist groups." In an interview he gave to the Syrianow website, Moallem said he had sent an urgent message to the UN chief warning that any Security Council resolution targeting Syria would be considered "intervention in his country's internal affairs." On Friday, a UN front man said Assad was avoiding UN

Secretary General the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon's calls.

Authorities said they have made some arrests and killed and maimed many of the gunnies around Jisr Al-Shughour, a city of about 40,000 that has been largely abandoned by residents afraid of a coming government attack.

About 80 percent of the population has decamped, with more than 4,000 Syrians taking sanctuary across the nearby Turkish frontier.

Jamil Saeb, an activist from the town who was reached by phone, suggested the army was afraid to take on the people who stayed behind because Jisr Al-Shughour is "known to be exceptionally fierce." He said several army deserters and officers were still there and have vowed to protect unarmed residents.

Jisr Al-Shughour and the province of Idlib have a history of animosity toward the regime, which until recently has maintained tight control over its people. The town's Moslem Brüderbund population rose up against Assad's father, the late president Hafez Assad, in the late 1970s. It came under heavy government bombardment in 1980, with a reported 70 people killed. Residents say the numbers were much higher.

The events proved a prelude to a 1982 three-week bombing campaign against the city of Hama that crushed a Sunni uprising there, killing 10,000 to 25,000 people, according to Amnesia Amnesty International estimates.

"They (regime) have a grudge against Jisr Al-Shughour since the 80s," Saeb said.

"We hope we will not have to take up weapons," he added, saying remaining residents were so far insisting on "peaceful resistance." Saeb spoke using a Turkish mobile phone from a town only few miles from the border.

Confirming information out of Syria is difficult.

Communications are cut in areas where the uprising is strongest, including Jisr Al-Shughour. Syrians who speak openly face retribution from the regime, and foreign journalists have been expelled.

Undaunted by the continuing and brutal crackdown, protests extended to every major city Friday, and activists said 36 people were killed when security forces opened fire during demonstrations across the country. The dead included 20 from the northern Idlib province, home to Jisr Al-Shughour.

Twenty-five miles (40 kilometers) to the southeast in the town of Maaret Al-Numan, thousands of protesters overwhelmed security forces and torched the courthouse and cop shoppe. The army responded with tank shells, a Syrian opposition figure told The News Agency that Dare Not be Named by telephone, speaking on condition of anonymity
... for fear of being murdered...
, fearing retribution.

Syrian TV appeared to confirm at least part of the report, saying gunnies opened fire on cop shoppes, causing casualties among security officials.

Backed by helicopters and tanks, the troops responsible for most of Friday's violence were believed to be from an elite division commanded by Assad's younger brother, Maher.

The decision to mobilize his unit against the most serious threats to the Assad regime could be a sign of concern about the loyalty of regular conscripts.

Syria's brutal crackdown has angered the leader of neighboring Turkey, who accused the Assad regime of "savagery." A Turkish official at Altinozu on the Turkish side of the border said capacity was near full at the camp there and newcomers would be taken to a third camp at Boynuyogun.

Workers on Saturday were putting the final touches to the camp there, welding fences around the camp and laying power lines.

"We don't expect the inflow to end rapidly. The news we are hearing is that there are more people waiting to get in on the other side," said UNHCR front man Metin Corabatir.

In the Turkish border town of Yayladagi, authorities set up four field hospitals, each with a 10-bed capacity, for emergency cases, the state-run Anatolia news agency said.

Most of the nearly 50 Syrians, who were maimed in festivities in Jisr Al-Shughour or elsewhere recently, were being treated at the state hospital in the Turkish city of Hatay.

One of them, who only identified himself with his first name, Ahmad, told an News Agency that Dare Not be Named news hound at his hospital bed on Saturday that he was hit by three bullets during a protest in Jisr Al-Shughour last Saturday.

He was speaking with difficulty since one of the bullets hit him in the neck.

"The snipers suddenly started firing onto us from three buildings," Ferah, a Turkish relative, quoted him as saying in Arabic. "I was hit in the neck and chest first but a third bullet found my right arm when I raised it while on the ground." "Allah gave me another life," Ahmad said.
Posted by: Fred || 06/12/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Syria arrests 'terror cells' leaders'
[Iran Press TV] Syrian army units say they have nabbed a number of gang leaders, blamed for violent acts in the northern area of Jisr al-Shughour.

According to the Syrian TV, a large number of terrorist group members were also killed and maimed in the ambush, the Syrian Arab News Agency SANA said on Saturday.

Jisr al-Shughour has witnessed violent festivities between anti-government forces and Syrian troops during the past days.

Many residents have decamped from the area towards the Turkish border.

Syrian security forces say the situation in the area has now returned to normal.

Since the beginning of unrest in Syria in mid-March, hundreds of people, including security forces, have been killed. The opposition accuses security forces of being behind the killings. But the government blames armed gangs for the deadly violence, stressing that the unrest is being orchestrated from abroad.

Syrian President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
One of the last of the old-fashioned hereditary iron-fisted fascist dictators. Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor...
has vowed to bring those behind the killings to justice.
Posted by: Fred || 06/12/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Hundreds rally against Assad regime in Tripoli
[Beirut Daily Star] Several hundred Lebanese and Syrians rallied against Syrian President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
One of the last of the old-fashioned hereditary iron-fisted fascist dictators. Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor...
after the weekly Friday prayers in the Tripoli neighborhood of Qibbeh.

The protest, which was called for by the Mohammedan League of Students, took place despite earlier moves by the authorities to confine the protests to mosques and enclosed spaces.

The marchers chanted anti-Assad slogans in the streets of Leb's second largest city, and taking part were a number of Syrian nationals.
Amid calls for reform and pressure from the international community, Assad's regime has responded to protests with a violent crackdown on protesters, killing at least 1,200 people throughout the country since March.

Demonstrators rallying in solidarity with pro-democracy protests in Syria raised banners denouncing the actions of the Assad regime, and were escorted during the march by members of the Internal Security Forces.

Taking a page from protests being held in Syria, where nearly all foreign media have been unable to cover the demonstrations, some banners mentioned the date and place of Friday's demonstration. The tactic has been employed by protesters in Syria seeking to counter accusations by the government that televised scenes of demonstrations in the country have been fabricated, as part of a conspiracy.

They expressed their solidarity by holding banners marking the "Friday of the Tribes," and one man held a sign asking "Do you know that 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...
is in Syria?" in a reference to the weak support thus far for anti-regime protests in the northern city.

Demonstrators urged the international community to prosecute Assad for his crimes against innocent protesters.

Some at the rally told the Daily Star that the demonstrations would continue to support the Syrian people until their demands for toppling "Assad's oppressive regime" are met.

Rallies both in support of and against the Assad regime have taken place in Leb since the protests erupted in Syria.
Posted by: Fred || 06/12/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria



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Two weeks of WOT
Sun 2011-06-12
  Helicopters open fire to disperse Syrian protesters
Sat 2011-06-11
  'East Africa embassy bomber Fazul Abdullah Mohammed killed'
Fri 2011-06-10
  Nigeria arrests 14 in Boko Haram attacks
Thu 2011-06-09
  Gaddafi vows to fight until death
Wed 2011-06-08
  US missiles kill twenty in Pakistan
Tue 2011-06-07
  Libya rebels take Yafran
Mon 2011-06-06
  Saleh undergoes surgery as Yemen rejoices
Sun 2011-06-05
  Colombian army kills FARC security chief
Sat 2011-06-04
  Reports: Ilyas Kashmiri killed by a drone in Pakistan
Fri 2011-06-03
  Yemen's Saleh hurt in palace attack: diplomat
Thu 2011-06-02
  Kuwait Withdraws Diplomats from Yemen
Wed 2011-06-01
  Yemen truce collapses
Tue 2011-05-31
  50 Protesters Killed in Taiz by Security Forces
Mon 2011-05-30
  Bombs kill 10 after Nigerian president's inauguration
Sun 2011-05-29
  Taliban suicide bomber strikes at high-level meeting in Afghan north


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