Posted by: Frank G ||
11/11/2004 10:08 Comments ||
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#6
Special thanks to all the Rantburg vets. The analysis you do here is your second round of service. (I'll thank my local guys and gals personally, and stop by a friend who ships out care packages to Iraq, where her nephew is a sniper.)
#7
All yesterday and today the press have been calling about one of my son's friends who just died fighting in Fallujha. Make's for a sad morning. I got woke up with WABC calling. I salute these brave kids.
#11
Thanks to Dad and all 3 uncles who served in WWII. Thank you, soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, for your courage not only on the horrific battlefield, but in the face of degradations from the MSM. How you hang in there is an amazing inspiration to us all watching from the safety of home.
#12
I agree with Jules! Keep your head high, ignore the MSM and kill some jihadis for me! Seriously, thanks for all you do. But special thanks goes to the Rantburg vets for their analysis, a service that keeps me sane in the insane world of the LLL.
Posted by: BA ||
11/11/2004 18:50 Comments ||
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Yemen is reportedly releasing 100 suspected sympathizers of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden because they have repented and renounced violence. Daily "September 26" said the release of the suspects started Wednesday on the orders of President Ali Abdullah Saleh. Hammoud al-Hattar, the president of the committee meeting with extremists returning from Afghanistan, said none of the 100 being released are suspects in criminal acts. "They have all vowed and promised to renounce violence and respect the country's constitution and laws and help ensure national security and stability," Hattar said. He said the released suspects will be monitored by moderate Muslim clerics as well as security forces.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
11/11/2004 2:17:40 PM ||
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He said the released suspects will be monitored by moderate Muslim clerics as well as security forces.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
11/11/2004 15:22 Comments ||
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#5
Yemen and Egypt, like France, are not really with us on this WOT thing.
Posted by: Tom ||
11/11/2004 15:25 Comments ||
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#6
This does, however, clear up the issue of how half the population of Yemen seems to be tied in some capacity or another to the U.S.S. Cole bombing. It's really just the same couple hundred guys ... they just keep getting released.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
11/11/2004 15:28 Comments ||
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#7
Did the Yemeni government pay for their tickets to Iraq as well?
#9
(/sarcasm on/) Now, now, Onionman, how do we know they didn't just release them (much like Egypt just releasing a bunch of Islamic Brotherhood) for them to go to Yasser's burial? (/sarcasm off/). All joking aside, I hope they head right to Fallujah! Maybe we could nominate a "moderate imam" or two to "watch" these guys in Fallujah, eh? Hey, I'd rather them face the marines in Fallujah than I would see them running around free in Yemen to wreak havoc there, like the USS Cole.
Posted by: BA ||
11/11/2004 19:16 Comments ||
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#10
"HITCHIKERS MAY BE ESCAPING INMATES"
And if you'd seen those inmates, you'd want to be escaping them, too.
Posted by: Old Grouch ||
11/11/2004 19:40 Comments ||
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#11
I've seen a similar sign on the highway in NV between Carson Sity and Silver Lake
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/11/2004 19:48 Comments ||
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#12
BA, if we make it an exploding moderate imam to watch them, you have my vote.
Kazakhstan says it has broken up a network of Islamic militants linked to al Qaeda who trained suicide bombers and planned a "terrorist act" against a top official in neighbouring Uzbekistan. Some members of the group, calling itself Jamaat of Central Asian Mujahideen, participated in violent attacks on police and foreign embassies in Uzbekistan which claimed more than 50 lives earlier this year, the KNB security services said on Thursday. "We must face up to the fact that terrorist organisations and people with terrorist intentions are in Kazakhstan, living among us," Vladimir Bozhko, deputy head of the KNB -- a successor to the Soviet KGB, told a news conference. "Religious terrorism is a real threat to all of us."
The KNB did not say exactly how many people it arrested, but said the detained militants included nine Kazakhs and four Uzbeks. It also detained four Kazakh women who had trained to be suicide bombers, Bozhko said. The KNB had evidence proving that those arrested planned to kill a top Uzbek official, he said but gave no details. Bozhko said the illegal group had been set up by the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, a group that targets the Uzbek government and has had links to al Qaeda in Afghanistan, according to security analysts. KNB operatives seized weapons, explosives, banned literature and cassettes with speeches by Osama bin Laden, he said. "Those arrested confessed that their future participation in acts of terrorism and suicide attacks had been explained to them by the need to fight the Uzbek authorities who allegedly oppress Muslims," the KNB said in a statement. "They also were told to fight 'enemies of Islam', including the United States, Britain and Israel."
The U.S. State Department last week warned U.S. citizens of possible terrorist attacks in Uzbekistan. During two years in Kazakhstan Jamaat recruited 50 Uzbeks and up to 20 Kazakhs, Bozhko said. Some of them were trained in al Qaeda's camps abroad, he said. KNB officers ran a video cassette for journalists, featuring a modestly dressed middle-aged woman. They said she was a mother of four who had been trained as a suicide bomber. "I address all Muslims and all the mujahideen still at large. Stop. Because we, ordinary Muslims and ordinary people are the ones to suffer," she said in Russian. "I am confident that there are still many deceived people like me."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
11/11/2004 2:05:00 PM ||
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The leader of anti-Moscow rebels in Chechnya says up to 98 pro-Russian soldiers have died at the hands of separatists in the seven days beginning 30 October. In a statement, Chechen leader Aslan Maskhadov said at least one Russian soldier had been captured and 103 others wounded in separatist attacks. Two Russian military helicopters and five lorries had also been damaged.
The statement, published on the pro-Chechen website Chechenpress.com, said some of the attacks were carried out in the neighbouring republics of Ingushetia and Dagestan. The announcement came a day after Russian media reported military sources saying a fighter linked to the assassination of Chechnya's pro-Moscow president, Ahmad Kadyrov, was among a number of separatists killed in a recent firefight. Ramzan Kadyrov, the killed leader's son, said special troops had infiltrated a separatist base in Chechnya's turbulent Vedensky region and killed 22 fighters in a brief gun battle. Kadyrov said one of the dead was a member of the group under Shamil Basayev's command that carried out the attack on his father in May. Russia's NTV channel showed pictures of scorched bodies, some clad in camouflage gear and some still clinging to their AK-47s, piled in front of a brick building, with Russian soldiers silently picking through them.
Maskhadov also said Chechen refugees in neighbouring states continued to be persecuted by Russian forces. Citing a report by the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), Maskhadov said Russian authorities were accused of forcing refugees to return home, threatening them with eviction and the cessation of humanitarian aid. Up to 43,000 Chechen refugees remain in Ingushetia. The NRC has said it is impossible to compel the internally displaced people (IDP) to return to the crisis territory where they could not be provided with the elementary housing conditions. "Security checks in IDP settlements, eviction threats, the removal from humanitarian distribution lists and the suspension of utilities (gas or electricity) in IDP settlements, contributed to spreading the feeling among IDPs that return was the only solution," said the NRC report.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
11/11/2004 4:21:44 AM ||
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Dutch police arrested two people after a violent 14-hour stand-off at a house in The Hague, in which four officers were wounded by a hand grenade. The two are suspected of "terrorist conspiracy with the aim of murder". Anti-bomb experts were searching the apartment at the centre of the siege on Wednesday night for explosives. Police said four people were detained in Amsterdam and one in Amersfoort as part of the same investigation into a network of radical Muslims. A Muslim school in Uden was burned down earlier on Wednesday, and attacks have targeted Christian and Muslim buildings across the Netherlands.
The area where The Hague raid took place - near the Holland Spoor train station - was sealed off and airspace immediately over it was closed. The building was surrounded by police in riot gear, fire engines, ambulances and special forces. Police evacuated neighbours and they were bussed to local shelters. "Around 1630 (1530 GMT), after special units fired teargas into the apartment, two men were arrested," The Hague prosecutor Han Moraal told a press conference.
Police chief Gerard Bouwman said there had been an exchange of gunfire, and a hand grenade was thrown at the arresting officers, which exploded injuring several. Two of the injured officers were reported to be in a serious condition. One of the suspects was shot in the shoulder after he failed to obey police instructions, officials said. The area remained sealed off on Wednesday night as police searched the apartment for explosives, the BBC's Geraldine Coughlan in The Hague said.
Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende told parliament that extremism was undermining democracy. "It is the joint task of Muslims and non-Muslims to warn young people against radicalisation," he said, according to the Associated Press news agency. The Dutch Immigration Minister, Rita Verdonk, has warned that EU countries are at risk, because of an increasing radicalism among young Muslims. She said member states must act urgently to improve the integration of foreigners. The minister, whose nation holds the EU presidency, said countries must ensure that immigrants learn the local language and accept Western values, but she said the EU also needed to develop, in her words, a common vision of integration. Last week EU leaders agreed to create a common asylum system by 2010 to try to prevent illegal immigration into the EU.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
11/11/2004 4:06:14 AM ||
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How about this: the immigrants assimilate and learn the language and accept the host country's values, or they get deported. The host country needs to remember that they are in charge. Sheesh!
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
11/11/2004 17:30 Comments ||
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#2
apparently Spoor has the same meaning in several languages
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/11/2004 17:52 Comments ||
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#3
Hokay, now get this:
"Two of the seven terrorism suspects that were apprehended yesterday, turn out to be brothers.
Yeah, I got a warm fuzzy feeling too.
What's more, they're not Moroccans. They're Dutch Americans, both from Amersfoort. Their father was an American soldier based in Europe. Their mother was Dutch. The oldest of the two is name[d] Jason W. He is 19 years old and, according to some sources, converted to Islam five years ago. Another source states he converted at the age of 13, which at least isn't contradictory. At that time, he got a new name: Abu Mujahied Amrik, according to shock blog GeenStijl." -- Zacht Ei, Terrorism is All About Family Values, November 11
More converts. More info at link. [From a Dutch English-language blog that's been following this.]
Posted by: Old Grouch ||
11/11/2004 19:55 Comments ||
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#4
what are the chances they're caucasian?
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/11/2004 20:00 Comments ||
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EFL, but this seems to be the general al-Qaeda formula. The "Syrian" referenced here may be Ismail, whom the Milan wiretaps identified as the top man in the Netherlands. The operation prompted comparisons with a Spanish police raid in Madrid last April, when three suspects in the city's March train bombings blew themselves up in their apartment rather than surrender. Spanish papers have said they have uncovered close ties between some suspects in the Madrid bombings and alleged Dutch Islamist networks. The Dutch daily De Volkskrant said yesterday the inquiry into Van Gogh's murder was focused on an unnamed Syrian who is said to serve as the link between a number of terrorist cells in the Netherlands. According to the paper, up to 200 extremists, including former combatants in Afghanistan and Chechnya, are living in the country.
More than a dozen mosques, churches and schools in the Netherlands have been hit in tit-for-tat arson attacks since the November 2 killing. An Islamic school in Eindhoven was bombed on Monday night, and another in Uden was burned down early yesterday. The words "Theo RIP" and a "white power" sign were scrawled on the walls. Also on Tuesday, a little-known Islamist group threatened vengeance against the Netherlands if the attacks on Muslim buildings did not stop. The traditionally tolerant Netherlands is home to almost a million Muslims, about 6% of the population.
Witnesses said police had asked the suspects in yesterday's raid to surrender, but the men replied with shouted threats and gunfire. "I saw one policeman crumble to the ground and another was dragged away to safety," said Sylvia Cordia, a neighbour. Scores of police moved into the neighbourhood, sealing off several blocks. The immigration minister, Rita Verdonk, said Van Gogh's murder "raises doubts, doubts about whether we have been too lax. Natives and immigrants in the Netherlands cannot look away and excuse radicalism, but must reject it and act against it." She added: "The suspect carried documents on him that show clearly he was driven by the same evil power that was behind the attacks on New York and Madrid: the all-destroying hatred of fundamentalist Islamic terrorism."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
11/11/2004 4:18:39 AM ||
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At the moment Dutch government tries to appease the tensions between natives and islamic immigrants by telling what is right and not right to do through the media. Problem is that most people have had it with that approach and are not listening anymore. More tensions are inevitable in the future due to demographic developments.
#2
close ties between some suspects in the Madrid bombings and alleged Dutch Islamist networks.
Of course there are. The EU is supposed to supercede the European nation-states, and this is one result -- just as the radicals across the U.S. link to one another.
French prosecutors are looking into alleged multi-million dollar transfers into the bank accounts of the wife of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. Officials have confirmed reports of an inquiry into the financial transactions of Paris-based Suha Arafat. They acted after the Bank of France alerted them to transfers of nine million euros ($11.5m) from Switzerland to two of Mrs Arafat's accounts.
Prosecutors say the investigation is at a preliminary stage. It was launched by the Paris public prosecutor last October after the Bank of France reported that nearly $1.27m was being transferred on a regular basis from Switzerland to Mrs Arafat's accounts in Paris. Officials said the alleged transfers were also confirmed by a government anti-money laundering body. The prosecutor's office said it was checking transfers made between July 2002 and July 2003 into Mrs Arafat's accounts at Arab Bank and French bank BNP.
The investigation only came to light this week in the satirical French weekly Canard Enchaine. Officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the probe was preliminary to determine whether there was sufficient grounds to take investigations further. The Palestinian leader has in the past rejected allegations of financial corruption with the Palestinian Authority. Mrs Arafat could not be contacted for comment. According to the Associated Press news agency, a lawyer who has represented Mrs Arafat in the past said he had not been approached by her about the probe.
Posted by: tipper ||
11/11/2004 3:39:31 AM ||
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How much is being kicked back to Chirac? And who's got his hands on the remaining 99.9% of the billions that Don Yassir looted?
The Department of Homeland Security yesterday lowered the terrorist threat level for five financial institution headquarters in Washington, New York, and New Jersey, and US Capitol police began removing 14 antiterror vehicle checkpoints around the Capitol. The government dropped the threat index for the financial buildings from ''orange" (high risk) to ''yellow" (elevated risk) because security measures and tightened security in the financial sector nationwide eliminated the need for the higher alert, said James Loy, deputy homeland security secretary.
The government is not signaling, however, that the terrorist threat to the nation has passed, because officials believe the danger remains very high, Loy said. Capitol Police Chief Terrance Gainer said yesterday that he decided to remove the controversial barriers, erected on Aug. 1, because ''there was a preelection threat, and we all said we would be reexamining the state of play after the election." Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge lowered the alert level for Washington's World Bank and International Monetary Fund buildings, the Prudential Financial headquarters in Newark, and Manhattan's New York Stock Exchange and Citigroup building ''with President Bush's blessing." But the move was made because of improved security and not because the election had passed, Loy said.
While US intelligence officials had warned that Al Qaeda wanted to disrupt the US electoral process, they remain fearful of a terrorist strike through the Jan. 20, 2005, presidential inauguration and beyond, Loy said. The heightened threat level was imposed after intelligence officials seized computer disks in Pakistan showing that Al Qaeda members had conducted detailed surveillance of the sites, noting security guard shift changes, the angles of security cameras, and the like. The buildings were cased in 2000 and 2001, but the computer files -- taken from the laptop computer of an alleged Al Qaeda associate -- appeared to have been updated in the last two years. The decision to raise the buildings' threat status was made ''to err on the side of conservatism," Loy said. Asked whether the August orange designation was timed to the election season, Loy, a retired Coast Guard admiral, said, ''We don't do politics at this department. . . . It never crosses my mind."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
11/11/2004 4:09:03 AM ||
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The Spectre of A Greenspan is still on the horizon.
Posted by: Jack Tatum ||
11/11/2004 12:10 Comments ||
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A federal judge Wednesday found two U.S.-based Islamic charities and an alleged fundraiser for the Palestinian militant group Hamas liable for damages in the 1996 shooting death of an American teenager in Israel. A jury trial in December will determine the amount of damages in the $300 million lawsuit filed by the parents of David Boim, a 17-year-old American student who was killed while waiting for a bus in the West Bank. In a 107-page opinion, Magistrate Judge Arlander Keys held Texas-based Holy Land Foundation and another charity, the Islamic Association for Palestine, liable for damages in the shooting. Keys also held Mohammed Salah, a Chicago man currently under indictment in an alleged Hamas fundraising conspiracy, liable for damages in the May 13, 1996, shooting.
"This is a huge win for victims of terrorism," said Stephen J. Landes, an attorney for Stanley and Joyce Boim, former New Yorkers now living in Jerusalem, who brought the suit on behalf of their son and his estate. The Boims maintain that the charities funded Hamas and therefore financed the violence that led to the death of their son. Landes said it was the first lawsuit brought against institutions based in the United States for supporting terrorism. A previous case in Rhode Island was brought against the Hamas organization itself but not against U.S.-based institutions, he said.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
11/11/2004 4:58:01 AM ||
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As US troops hunted rebels in Fallujah, rebels hit back with a rampage in Mosul and a car bomb that killed 17 people and wounded at least 20 in Baghdad.
Marines fired mortar barrages against elusive guerrillas in Fallujah's Jolan district as tanks squeezed down alleys to eliminate resistance on the third full day of the offensive.
Impacts from relentless mortar blasts and sporadic artillery fire blanketed parts of the city with black smoke as rebels responded with occasional mortar rounds and sniper fire.
US officers said Marine Corps and army units had gained a large presence throughout Fallujah but were still meeting some fire from Saddam Hussein loyalists and foreign militants.
Tanks had punched through Jolan to the Euphrates river and were now chasing down remaining rebels to consolidate control over the city 50km west of Baghdad.
But while US-led troops appeared to gain the upper hand in Fallujah, insurgents in the northern city of Mosul set police stations ablaze, stole weapons and roamed the streets.
Residents said Iraq's third largest city seemed to slide out of control as grenade blasts and gunfire rang through empty streets and smoke billowed from two burning police stations.
Rebels attacked Iraqi national guards controlling a bridge in the city centre, killing five of them, witnesses said.
A cameraman for Reuters filmed gunmen raiding weapons and flak jackets from a police station before setting it on fire.
"It's crazy, really, really crazy," said Abdallah Fathi, a resident who witnessed the police station attack.
A Reuters photographer was shot in the leg and taken to hospital. Doctors said one civilian had been killed and at least 25 wounded in the past two days of fighting.
Violence has worsened in Mosul, a strongly nationalist city of three million people, over the past year, but residents said the chaos of the past two days had broken new ground.
"Yesterday, the city felt like hell, today it could be the same or worse," Fathi said.
As US forces battle to suppress insurgents in Fallujah, rebels have staged attacks in the Sunni towns and cities of Samarra, Baiji, Baquba, Tikrit, Ramadi and parts of Baghdad.
A car bomb killed seven people and wounded 18 in the Iraqi capital, hospital officials said. A Reuters reporter saw four charred bodies in burned-out cars after the explosion near a police patrol in Nasr Square. The bomb devastated a nearby building and sent black smoke billowing skywards.
Twisted metal and shards of glass littered the commercial Saadoun Street district as police cars rushed to the scene.
Kirkuk's provincial governor escaped unhurt when a car bomb blew up near his convoy in the northern city, wounding 16 people, police and hospital officials said.
In Fallujah, residents said the stench of decomposing bodies hung over the battered city, power and water supplies had been cut for five days and food was running out for thousands of civilians trapped in their homes by the fighting.
With the offensive in its third full day, a death threat hung over three of interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's relatives kidnapped by Islamist militants.
A militant group has threatened to behead Allawi's 75-year- old cousin Ghazi and two women relatives unless he calls off the assault. The government has said its policy will not change.
A US military spokesman said yesterday US-led forces had taken 70 per cent of Fallujah, but did not have full control.
"(We) still need to go house to house in that area to ensure there aren't any anti-Iraqi forces left," he said.
The Iraqi military governor in Fallujah said his men had found "slaughterhouses" where militants had held and killed hostages, along with records of victims.
But Major-General Abdul-Qader Jassim told reporters he could not say if the evidence offered any clues to the fate of at least nine foreign hostages still missing.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
11/11/2004 2:14:38 PM ||
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#1
Atta boys! Fight back against those mean, nasty Americans by killing Iraqis! That'll show them!
From Jihad Unspun
... In news just in, the tactical decision taken by the Mujahideen to open up two roads leading to the city centre turned out to be very effective. According to sources close to the Mujahideen, as a result of heavy shelling on civilian neighborhoods all around the perimeters of the city, a decision was made to move the battle into the center of town by opening two main roads that lead into Fallujah central.
The first road opened was "Nisan 7", which is 17 -20 meters wide and stretches from the rail network north of Fallujah, passes by the Al-Mualimeen zone, on to Nisan 7 to Al-Forqan Mosque and ends in the Al-Shuhada neighborhood. The second road opened was "Tharthar Street", which is 15 -18 meters wide extends from railway station, from where the Americans are handling forward control, passes through the Al-Ghuaifi neighborhood and ends at Officers neighborhood. After opening the two roads, Mujahideen made a tactical withdrawal from the city's perimeters to permit the Americans to enter the two roads. The plan was successful; the Americans are now on the two roads just where the Mujahideen wanted them to be. ....
The Mujahideen had a very successful day Wednesday and their morale is running high. Not only were they able to weather the relentless, round the clock shelling dished out by the Americans using all kinds of weapons, but they managed to push occupation forces back. The Mujahideen are currently controlling 70% of the city, not the Americans, as mainstream news is reporting. .... American occupiers temporarily took control of certain areas but their formations quickly fell apart and Mujahideen regained control. .... There had been claims that 90 Resistance fighters had fallen, he said, but such figures were totally baseless, the true numbers being far fewer.
In a dispatch posted at 8:25pm local time (7:25pm Mecca time) the al-Fallujah correspondent of Mafkarat al-Islam reported that during the night of Tuesday-Wednesday, Resistance forces had taken eight American troops prisoner after attacking them as they drove two Humvees into al-Fallujah. Resistance fighters, having commandeered the Humvees from the captured Americans then took joy rides through the streets of the city, raising the morale of the people and their Resistance fighters. The eight new prisoners followed 36 Americans, including some women soldiers, who had been captured in the south of the city on Monday.
Preliminary counts of Wednesday's casualties are 43 Americans killed and 19 Mujahideen martyred however the number of Mujahideen martyred is expected to rise as treatment for the wounded is limited under current conditions. In addition, inside the city of Fallujah itself, seven tanks were destroyed and an Apache aircraft was shot down. Outside the city, when Mujahideen attacked the rear supply lines of the American occupiers, 25 different mechanized vehicles were destroyed. ....
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
11/11/2004 11:10:59 PM ||
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I see some one has been hitting the Crack again.
From Slate, an article by Bing West, a former Marine who is writing a book about Fallujah.
In a small ops center inside a tent, a dozen Marines peered at two 26-inch flat-panel displays. On the screens, the black edges of the hospital roof stood out in sharp contrast to the white thistle clumps of palm trees in the courtyard below. A line of white ghosts snaked around the trees and flowed onto the roof.
"Those guys are wearing packs. They're friendlies," Lt. Col. John Neumann, the mission commander, said. "It's the 36th Iraqi commandos."
"Concur," said Lt. J.P. Parchman, the watch officer. "The movement's too disciplined to be muj."
A few miles away in Fallujah, Operation Phantom Fury had commenced at dark on Nov. 8. Inside the tent, the Marines of unit VMU-1, which flies the Pioneer Unmanned Aerial Vehicle or UAV, were looking at video taken from the UAV by a Forward-Looking Infra-Red (or FLIR) camera. The pictures were bright as day.
"The raiding party wants us to scan across the river," Cpl. Robert Daniels said, reading a chat-room message that had popped up on his computer monitor. "Someone's firing."
"Take us east," Neumann said over his shoulder. "Shift from white-hot to black-hot."
Behind him, the pilot of the UAV adjusted the flight path as his partner tightened the zoom on the plane's camera. The images on the screen jumped slightly and focused on two black spots hopping from place to place behind an earthen berm.
"I confirm weapons," said Sg. Jenifer Forman, an imagery analyst. "Watch their right arms when they run. They're shooting across the river."
When the black spots bobbed together, the screen suddenly bloomed white, then settled back into focus, showing a thick gray cloud and a scattering of small black spots, like someone in the cloud had thrown out a handful of rocks.
"Tank gun got them," Neumann said. "Picked them up on their thermals. They're scratched. Scan up the street."
The camera tracked up a wide, empty boulevard bordered by ramshackle warehouses, tin-roof repair shops, and dingy apartment buildings. Four dark spots—presumably insurgents—were splayed against one corner of a large concrete building, with three similar spots on the other corner
"One's lying down," Neumann said. "They're manning a crew-served weapon pointed at the bridge. Tell Fusion we have targets for Basher."
Neumann's VMU unit flew the UAVs and analyzed the video for targets but rarely communicated directly with the shooters. Matching targets to shooters was the specialty of the Fusion Center located on the other side of Fallujah. There a staff pulled together information from Marines on the front lines, UAVs, electronic intercepts, agent reports, and other sources. The Fusion Center compiled target lists, tracked battle damage, prioritized targets, and assigned shooters.
Cpl. Daniels typed in and sent the center a grid location accurate within a few meters. The center sent a one-line response: Basher on the way. Marines doing various chores around the op center stopped what they were doing and clustered behind the screens. A minute went by. The four dark spots moved slightly but stayed in the shadow of the building next to the street. On the screen a ball of black hit the edge of the building, sending black chunks flying out. Another black ball and another and another, enveloping the dark spots crouched along the side of the building.
"Basher," an Air Force AC-130 aircraft, had illuminated the ambushers with its huge infrared spotlight and was pounding them with 105 mm artillery shells, each round packing 50 pounds of high explosives. Gray smoke rose from the scene.
"Watch for squirters," Neumann said. "There's one now, heading north. Stay with him."
A black spot broke out of the smoke. Against the background of the macadam on the street, the man's silhouette stood out plainly. He was running with the speed of a sprinter.
"Ten to one he's headed for the mosque up the street,'" Neumann said.
"Same as always," Lt. Parchman said as he watched the runner climb over a wall. "He's made it. Can't hit him there."
The camera tracked back to the damaged building. Basher had moved on to another target. The Pioneer UAV circled the building to assess battle damage. A large door in the back of the building slid open and two men ran around the side and quickly returned, dragging something behind them. The Marines watched as this was repeated a few times. The article continues. See also the Thursday article.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
11/11/2004 10:39:08 PM ||
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good article - is this really Mikey????
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/11/2004 23:01 Comments ||
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#2
Frank, I try and try for you to like me. Thanks for saying it was a good article!!
.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
11/11/2004 23:12 Comments ||
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INSURGENTS have tried to break through the US cordon surrounding Fallujah as US soldiers and Marines launched an offensive against rebel concentrations in the south of the city.
Eighteen US troops and five Iraqi government soldiers have been killed so far in the four-day assault.
US military officials estimated that about 600 insurgents had been killed in Fallujah, many of them in massive air and artillery bombardments that paved the way for US ground forces. Another 178 Americans have been wounded in the fighting, along with 34 Iraqi soldiers.
But as the noose tightened on Fallujah's defenders, insurgents launched major attacks in Iraq's third-largest city Mosul, 350km to the north, in an apparent bid to relieve pressure on their allies trapped in central Iraq.
As night fell, American soldiers and Marines launched attacks south of the main east-west highway that bisects Fallujah, a Sunni Muslim insurgent stronghold 65km west of Baghdad.
An Iraqi journalist still in the city reported seeing burned US vehicles and bodies in the street, with more buried under the wreckage. He said two men trying to move a corpse were shot down by a sniper.
Two of the three small clinics in the city have been bombed, and in one case, medical staff and patients were killed, he said. A US tank was positioned beside the third clinic, and residents were too frightened to go there, he said.
"People are afraid of even looking out the window because of snipers," he said, asking that he not be named for his own safety. "The Americans are shooting anything that moves."
Most of the insurgents still fighting in Fallujah are believed to have fallen back to southern districts ahead of the advancing US and Iraqi forces, although fierce clashes were reported in the west of the city around the public market.
American officers said the majority of the rebel mortar and machine gun fire was directed at US military units forming a cordon around the city to prevent guerrillas from slipping away.
Officers suggested the insurgents were trying to break out of Fallujah rather than stand and defend it.
Meanwhile, two Marine Super Cobra attack helicopters were hit by ground fire and forced to land in separate incidents near Fallujah, the military said. The four pilots were rescued, though one suffered slight injuries.
At a US camp outside Fallujah, Major General Richard Natonski, commander of the 1st Marine Division, said the operation was running "ahead of schedule" but he would not predict how many more days of fighting lay ahead.
"Today our forces are conducting deliberate clearing operations within the city, going house to house, building to building looking for arms caches," Natonski said. He said militants have been using mosques as military strongpoints.
"In almost ever single mosque in Fallujah, we have found an arms cache," he said. "We have found IED-making (bomb-making) factories. We have found fortifications. We've been shot at by snipers from minarets."
Natonski also said he had visited a "slaughter house" in the northern Jolan neighborhood where hostages were held and possibly killed by militants. He described a small room with no windows and just one door. He said he saw two thin mattresses, straw mats covered in blood and a wheelchair used to transport captives.
"Our air superiority is incredible," said Sgt Michael Carmody, 26, of Thompson, Pennsylvania, with the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines in northern Fallujah. "All we can do now is clear through the city and look for survivors. Air power is our best friend."
However, a steady stream of wounded flown to the US military's Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany suggests that fighting in some parts of Fallujah has been intense.
Hospital staff were expanding bed capacity as 102 wounded US service members were flown in - up from the usual 30 to 50 a day the military hospital receives, officials said. A day earlier, 69 wounded were brought in.
Military officials cautioned that the figure of 600 insurgents killed in the city was only a rough estimate. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Richard Myers, said that "hundreds and hundreds of insurgents" have been killed and captured.
Myers called the Fallujah offensive "very, very successful" but would not spell the end of the insurgency.
"If anybody thinks that Fallujah is going to be the end of the insurgency in Iraq, that was never the objective, never our intention, and even never our hope," Myers told NBC.
Commanders said before the offensive that 1200 to 3000 fighters were believed in Fallujah before the offensive.
In northern Mosul, guerrillas attacked police stations, overwhelming several, and battled US and Iraqi troops around bridges across the Tigris River running through the city, where a curfew was imposed a day earlier.
A US military spokeswoman Capt. Angela Bowman said it could take "some time until we fully secure the city."
Smoke was seen rising over the city as US warplanes streaked overhead. City officials warned residents to stay away from the five major bridges. Militants brandishing rocket-propelled grenades were seen in front of the Ibn Al-Atheer hospital.
Saadi Ahmed, a senior member of the pro-American Patriotic Union of Kurdistan party, said nine police stations were attacked and that "Iraqi police turned some stations over to the terrorists."
"The internal security forces...are a failure and are ineffective because some of them are cooperating with the terrorists," Ahmed said.
Insurgents also launched attacks Thursday against an Iraqi National Guard base along the main highway between Baghdad and Mosul highway near Mashahdah, about 40km north of the Iraqi capital.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
11/11/2004 6:07:37 PM ||
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#1
I know the Iraqi elections aren't far away (end of Jan), but I am still incredulous that the silly notion that Iraq, an invention dating to the Sykes-Picot Martini Hour, is treated as unassailable and continues to hold the Kurds hostage to the progress (er, the lack is more accurate) of the Iraqi Arabs. Sigh.
#2
"The Americans are shooting anything that moves."
GOOD! He caught on, didn't he? No excuses, then, is there. Stay down, lock the friggin door, and keep the "Survivor" show volume down low as well.... good tips, follow 'em
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/11/2004 19:59 Comments ||
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"On another occasion, the snipers tensed when they heard movement in the direction of a smoldering building. A cat sauntered out, unconcerned with anything but making its rounds in the neighborhood.
#4
Okay, I'll bite - where's all the Radical Islamists whom professed to prefer death rather than allow US milfors to descrate a holy shrine/city. Armed men whom profess to be so dedicated to Allah and the Prophet should be dying-in-place, NOT running to escape death.
Looks like panic is starting to settle in.
FALLUJAH, Iraq (AP) - Insurgents tried to break through the U.S. cordon surrounding Fallujah on Thursday as American forces launched an offensive against concentrations of militants in the south of the city. Some 600 insurgents, 18 U.S. troops and five Iraqi soldiers have been killed in the four-day assault, the U.S. military said.
#11
careful on the Scott's Rutter vs Ritter - one is a legitimate Colonel, Fox commentator, and the other is a pedophile apologist for Saddam (allegedly - wink wink)
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/11/2004 22:57 Comments ||
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After three days of measurable progress, American forces trying to take full control of Fallujah are confronting an insurgent force that has renewed energy.
And as American and Iraqi forces spread their grip across the city, the constant skirmishes of close urban combat and burst-in searches door-to-door are revealing more about insurgent tactics, including sleeper cells.
Thursday night, forces braced for a significant counteroffensive by Iraqi insurgents - an effort coinciding with the "Night of Power," an annual Islamic holy day marked by intense spiritual devotion, which is said to cleanse sins and determine destiny.
Loudspeakers from at least one mosque began what US Marine officers said was a "revving up" of militants by chants that resembled the "martyr's last rites."
"We expect an increase of suicide attacks, by cars, motorcycles, and people wearing explosive vests," said Lt. Col. Michael Ramos, commander of the 1st Battalion 3rd Marines, from Dallas.
"It's going to get a lot worse tonight," Capt. Gil Juarez, commander of the Light Armored Reconnaissance (LAR) company told his platoon chiefs, as marines loaded their vehicles at dusk with extra ammunition.
"I think there's going to be a big fight tonight, so get your heads ready to get back in the game," said Captain Juarez, from San Diego, Calif. "These [insurgents] are pushing the offensive right now. We've got to get ready."
Despite a day of steady US tank and artillery fire that rumbled across Fallujah like a thunderstorm ready to pour, insurgents began their work.
One armored unit was ambushed in the south center of the city by militants who struck with rocket-propelled grenades. Separately, another vehicle was hit with gunfire, wounding a marine.
Those involved in the ambush said a trap had been laid, and that the area was marked with earth berms in defensive posture, and metal-box firing positions. Shortly after the firefight, US-fired artillery rounds crashed into the area.
"They have been working on it, an L-shaped ambush," said one corporal, whose face was blackened by smoke from the attack. "It looks like something out of Mad Maxx."
"We walked right into a hornet's nest today," said a sergeant with the worn look of a survivor. Their names and units involved could not be released, in line with military rules that prevent such details until the wounded's next of kin have been notified. "They were probing us and fired six RPGs before we went for it. They lassoed us right in."
As American and Iraqi forces have spread their grip across Fallujah, the constant skirmishes of close urban combat and burst-in, door-to-door searches are revealing more and more about insurgent tactics.
In the course of locating seven weapons caches in a single block around a mosque in northeast Fallujah, an Iraqi platoon Wednesday found a suitcase full of vials labeled "Sarin," a deadly nerve agent.
While further analysis determined that the find was probably part of a Soviet test kit with samples, its discovery in a room with mortar shells appeared to indicate an intent to weaponize the material.
On the eve of the US-Iraqi assault on Fallujah, insurgent leaders in the city promised a massive counterattack.
Until late Thursday, resistance in Fallujah had been piecemeal, with individual rocket, mortar, and rifle teams making surprise attacks. US heavy artillery, tank guns, and airstrikes have waged steady barrages, paving the way for marine infantry advances.
US military leaders have deemed the effort in Fallujah so far as a success. In three days of fighting, coalition units have swept across more than half the city, sustaining relatively few casualties.
But Thursday night, casualties appeared to mount. Coalition forces have been targeted from mosques. They have uncovered unarmed sleeper cells that they believe have been seeded throughout the city and primed to strike after the initial assault.
Insurgents continued a wave of violence elsewhere. A car bomb ripped through a crowded Baghdad commercial street, killing 17 people, police said. In the north, guerrillas overwhelmed several police stations in Mosul and battled US troops.
This time, Iraqi nationalists and Islamic militants loyal to the network of Al Qaeda affiliate Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, may have been depending on mosques as staging areas, US officers say.
"Almost every single mosque we've come through has been used for weapons storage and insurgent military training," says Lt. Col. Ramos.
Marines have shot at the speakers of minarets, which are normally used for the Muslim call to prayer, though in recent days they've served as a literal call to arms.
Before the assault began, US intelligence officers warned of unarmed Iraqis wearing dishdashas (traditional long gowns worn by men) moving to US lines and reporting back to guerrilla cells.
Instead, marines have found that small groups of unarmed men, claiming to have stayed behind to prevent looting of their house, may in fact be sleeper cells, waiting for orders to link up with prepositioned weapons and attack.
One example Wednesday was a group of four men, found in their house by the LAR Raider Platoon during a search. They said they had recently been caught by the mujahideen, or holy warriors of the resistance, and been tortured.
Later that day and several blocks away, Raider Scouts searching other buildings found four more men. They also said they stayed behind to guards their houses, and that they had been tortured.
But further questioning found that there were no signs of torture - militants in Fallujah typically kill suspected traitors - and that the men's claimed identities did not hold up to investigation.
"It was well rehearsed," said Lt. Michael Aubry from Arlington Heights, Ill. "The first time didn't look suspicious, but the second time ... it did."
"There are sleeper cells all over the place," says Juarez. "They are either going to start coming out of their holes and attack us, or [they] will leave."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
11/11/2004 2:11:46 PM ||
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#2
The Christian Science Monitor (www.csmonitor.com) is one of the few MSM outlets that plays it straight, and gets it right. Superb foreign coverage, especially, and without the NYT or WaPo spin. I read it more often than I read the NYT and WaPo combined.
#3
Say Mr. Sleeper Cell, you want to sleep? We'll put you to sleep! With pleasure! I think the Marines are looking forward to the counter attack from these guys. If they don't attack, it seems we do not kill them and that is just what we have to do to reduce their forces and prevent a repeat of Fallukah 1.
#4
lex - Bro, we're still being had - and I often read CSM, too...
"But Thursday night, casualties appeared to mount."
See anything to back it up in the text that follows? See any numbers to indicate it? No - the following text describes precisely the same actions and situation our forces have faced both times they entered Fallujah - absolutely nothing new is presented, sadly. It's that old MSM loser / defeatism spin.
The Truth isn't relative. Our expectations are so incredibly low that someone who's only half full of shit looks phreakin' wonderful, lol!
The only wonderful aspect of this engagement are our troopers, IMHO.
#7
Great Post!! Kicking Ass and Taking Names!!
I don't get it though, If your gonna rise up against the Iraqi government, you had best wait till the USA has left the whole damn region. What a bunch of fools!!
#8
Oh Jihadi, prepare religiously for your "Night of Power". Unable to even pleasure, let alone to sexually satisfy your women folk, you turn to terror and cowardice. Your women folk, unable to experience sexual fulfillment, they turn into suicide bombers. Your culture is weak. So much to be ashamed for: How can you even look yourselves in the mirror? Is it any wonder the jihadi flee in fear from Falujah having seen the face of the infidel? I think not.
Posted by: Mark Z. ||
11/11/2004 17:52 Comments ||
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#9
Loudspeakers from at least one mosque began what US Marine officers said was a "revving up" of militants by chants that resembled the "martyrâs last rites."
IMHO, that mosque has switched from place of worship to an element of the enemy's command and control system. Flatten it.
In the course of locating seven weapons caches in a single block around a mosque in northeast Fallujah, an Iraqi platoon Wednesday found a suitcase full of vials labeled "Sarin," a deadly nerve agent.
While further analysis determined that the find was probably part of a Soviet test kit with samples, its discovery in a room with mortar shells appeared to indicate an intent to weaponize the material.
Yep. Accusations of US using gas were prep for the jihadis using gas.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
11/11/2004 18:16 Comments ||
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#10
I dunno, but my BS meter just kicked in. Let's see here...further analysis (on vials found just Wednesday) determined that it was Soviet stuff? That's pretty quick work. Too much just thrown out there...I'm not ready to buy that bit as yet.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
11/11/2004 18:31 Comments ||
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#11
Stay safe guys, and good hunting - you're doing a terrific job!
As for 'Night of Power' - paaathetic! sounds like some college 'battle of the bands' event. Where the volume only goes up to 6. Wankers.
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
11/11/2004 18:31 Comments ||
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#12
"some college 'battle of the bands' event..."
Or one of those cheap drugstore colognes that gets advertised between Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Posted by: Old Grouch ||
11/11/2004 20:29 Comments ||
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Posted by: Fred ||
11/11/2004 12:12:17 PM ||
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#1
The lowest pic in the right hand column is, I believe, the guy resuced from the jihadi torture chamber. Caught some Fox while at lunch; the poor guy has whip or burn marks all over him.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
11/11/2004 12:35 Comments ||
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#2
The lowest pic in the right hand column is, I believe, the guy resuced from the jihadi torture chamber. Caught some Fox while at lunch; the poor guy has whip or burn marks all over him.
And not one bloody reeking word on any national news network that hostages have been rescued . . . not one bloody word . . .
Posted by: Jame Retief ||
11/11/2004 12:40 Comments ||
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#3
What do the mooks in the lower left have, an AA gun or a recoiless?
The rapid U.S. push into Fallujah has come without the sort of fateful showdown that would break the back of the insurgency. In fact, advance U.S. and Iraqi government warnings gave the militants plenty of time to get out of town, and it appears many did just that. Military reports say small bands of guerrillas, with no more than 15 members each, fled the city in the weeks before the U.S.-led onslaught, which was widely telegraphed by public statements and news reports. "That's probably why we've been able to move as fast as we have," an officer in the Army's 1st Cavalry Division said Wednesday.
Insurgencies typically succeed by avoiding face-to-face battles with stronger military forces and by staging attacks where armies are weakest. The guerrillas who fled Fallujah might simply be repositioning themselves to fight elsewhere, said the officer, who agreed to discuss the Fallujah situation on condition of anonymity. Under embed rules, military officers have the option of not being identified in news reports for security reasons. The development might mean that the world's most powerful army is chasing a smaller band of insurgents than previously thought. Before the assault, the 1st Cavalry estimated that 1,200 guerrillas were holed up in Fallujah, with as many as 2,000 in nearby towns and villages. It was unclear how many were left inside or had been killed.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
11/11/2004 4:10:45 AM ||
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#1
I presume this op includes more than just Fallujah and that we will be rolling these bad boyz up in their new residences over the next few weeks. At least I sure hope so.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
11/11/2004 11:57 Comments ||
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#2
The question is, fled to where? If there was a tight cordon around the town, none of them should have gotten away.
#5
Something I might add, is that all these warnings given ended up being counterproductive. Allawi had already given these rebels an opportunity to give up or try the politcal route and they obviously declined. At this late stage of the game, it's unlikely that any more converts are going to be won over, so the logical course of action is to find the remaining rebels and dust them off. In order to do this succesfully, plans and intentions should not be telegraphed.
#6
Bomb-a-rama, I respectfully disagree. It helped our military a lot to get the civilians out of fallujaih on a tactical as well as propoganda level.
We should have announced we were going in, and we should also have announced marshall law in the area after nightfall in the months before the action. Anyone found sneaking through the date-palms or swamps at night would be shot without question. That would have convinced the civilians to leave the ordinary way and made the bad guys worry about leaving. Then you set up sniper teams with equipment to call in big guns if they see something they can't handle and you kill the rats leaving Fallujah.
#7
#6, to do that we would have had to have all the troops and equipment in position. Not only would that have been difficult logistically, it takes the edge off of fighting troops when they are poised for combat but then are stuck with guard duty.
Keep sight of the military objective here, folks: control of Fallujah for the civilian government, not necessarily the end of the "insurgency". The latter would be nice and it is hastened by the op in Fallujah, but not completed there.
I therefore disagree with Bomb-a-rama. To achieve the political goal of stabilizing Fallujah ahead of the elections it was appropriate to telegraph intent widely and convincingly while negotiating alternatives. Most of the Iraqis, I think, realize that the Baathists and jihadis had an opportunity to avoid the violence. That will help, a bit, when the extend of damage in Fallujah is seen -- far less than would have been in a full assault, but still a lot.
#8
One thing that I wish was telegraphed was a threat that any car or truck left in Fallujah during the US/ING assault would be summarily destroyed. No cars = no car bombs. Our guys should just assume that all cars are booby trapped and should smoke them all.
Posted by: Tibor ||
11/11/2004 13:08 Comments ||
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#9
To achieve the political goal of stabilizing Fallujah ahead of the elections it was appropriate to telegraph intent widely and convincingly while negotiating alternatives. Most of the Iraqis, I think, realize that the Baathists and jihadis had an opportunity to avoid the violence.
There's only one problem with this approach - the possibility that it would be tried again (and again), and that rebels will have yet additional opportunities to escape, again. Stability comes when those people that lean toward violence to further their aims are removed from the mix.
That will help, a bit, when the extend of damage in Fallujah is seen -- far less than would have been in a full assault, but still a lot.
I can see doing this once, but not twice or more. If the intent was to send a nice, clear message, then consider it sent and understood, and let there be no more talk of warnings. They've had their chances, now it's time to face the consequences. This insurgency isn't going to be stamped out overnight, but whacking as many of these little worms as possible goes a long way toward that end. The key is leaving them no avenue for escape.
#10
It is...inconceivable, yes that's the word, to me that the military did not anticipate this outcome and that their plan does not take advantage of the disarray and relative visibility of the escaping terrs. I certainly hope we are in hot pursuit of these guys and that we don't do any telegraphing as we track them down.
OTOH we are now in a land war in Asia.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
11/11/2004 17:46 Comments ||
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#11
Mrs D, I would hope that UAVs and gunships and the like are wiping these scum out in detail.
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
11/11/2004 17:54 Comments ||
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Israel sealed the West Bank and Gaza Strip and sent troop reinforcements to the areas Thursday, in response to Yasser Arafat's death. Israeli troops also beefed up security at Jewish settlements, for fear they could be attacked by Palestinians.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
11/11/2004 3:58:35 AM ||
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Could be the basis for the false reports we were talking about yesterday. Either the jihadis had some shells and didn't know what they had, or the speed of the assault kept them from using it.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
11/11/2004 10:03:50 AM ||
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#1
WMD's? Impossible. I've been assured by CBS,NBC,ABC,BBC,
IAEA, U.N., EU, AP, UPI, Reuters, Al-Jizz, Arab News, NPR, and the DNC that WMD's don't exist and never did exist in Iraq.
Posted by: Mark Z. ||
11/11/2004 11:19 Comments ||
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#2
Is she naked?
Well, she thought that was the most important thing to report from the 2003 campaign, at least in her book about it.
#3
Rumors about CW weapons in the hands of the muj terr's in Iraq have been flying thick in the rumor mill.
This is why I was up in arms last night about the "US used CW in Fallujah" report - they were setting up the US to take the fall for the muj using it in Fallujah.
Sounds like we decapitated the leadership in Fallujah and moved so fast that we kept them disorganized to the point that they couldnt get the stuff into combat.
Big thing now is to verify this find, and spread the news far and wide - especially in the Arab World - that the "Foreign Fighters" and Al Qaeda were going to gas people, and concentrate on the fact that the civilians have NO protection agains tthis stuff, and that it harms women, children, kittens, baby ducks...
#7
I don't think they would contaminate areas waiting for U.S. troops. Sarin is very volatile and evaporates fast.
My real worry would be the water. Water can be contaminated easily with sarin and poisoned wells could kill many people. Of course these would be inhabitants serving propaganga purposes.
As we know there have already been claims that the "Americans" used chemical weapons.
Minister Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao has said that continued influx of foreign militants from Afghanistan and other countries has made it difficult for the security forces of Pakistan to fight against terrorism. In an interview with Geo Television on Wednesday, Aftab Sherpao said that according to intelligence reports, about 100 foreign militants are hiding in South Waziristan and more militants are continuously entering the area from Afghanistan. About the possible presence of Osama bin Laden in the region, Sherpao said he believed Osama is not in Pakistan and is hiding somewhere in Afghanistan. "I am aware of those areas in Afghanistan where the security forces have not yet reached," he added.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
11/11/2004 4:16:13 AM ||
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#3
I'm not making this up. I hope someone else saw this interview this morning (11-11-04) on NBC Today's Show.
Matt Lauer asked General Richard Myers to comment on "reports" that to date, only "72 insurgents" had been confirmed "killed" in Falujah. Myers remained calm and softly advised Matt Lauer that he had reason to believe the number of insurgents "killed" exceeded 72 persons. The General went on to advise he didn't wish to get into a "numbers game" with the media.
Posted by: Mark Z. ||
11/11/2004 11:35 Comments ||
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#4
I'm not making this up. I hope someone else saw this interview this morning (11-11-04) on NBC Today's Show.
Matt Lauer asked General Richard Myers to comment on "reports" that to date, only "72 insurgents" had been confirmed "killed" in Falujah. Myers remained calm and softly advised Matt Lauer that he had reason to believe the number of insurgents "killed" exceeded 72 persons. The General went on to advise he didn't wish to get into a "numbers game" with the media.
Posted by: Mark Z. ||
11/11/2004 11:36 Comments ||
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#5
I'd suggest Perky Katie and Matt become embeds.....
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/11/2004 11:39 Comments ||
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#6
Put Katie with the Marines. Let her elarn the real world at the hands of people who live in it. and subdue it.
Who knows, she may even get a "pity" boink or two from a real man out of the deal over there (instead of some NY writer or TV guy).
U.S. forces consolidated their grip on Falluja on Thursday, though they were still meeting some resistance, U.S. Marines and witnesses said. "There are large numbers of U.S. forces across Falluja, based on information from tanks going in and out, and from radio traffic," Marine Master Sergeant Roy Meek told Reuters. Meek, part of a tank company operating in northwest Falluja, was speaking after Marine artillery resumed shelling targets in the nearby Jolan district, scene of some of the fiercest fighting since a full-scale assault on Falluja began on Monday. Another Marine, who asked not to be named, said he had seen large concentrations of U.S. soldiers, Marines and support units gathering on the main highway that runs just east of Falluja.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
11/11/2004 4:02:32 AM ||
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Marine Master Sergeant Roy Meek told Reuters.
That would be the Lord Gawd Almight to You pencil push.
Posted by: Jack Tatum ||
11/11/2004 12:20 Comments ||
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A detailed account of the incident mentioned in an article below. Entertaining details, too. American troops scored one of their biggest successes in the battle for Fallujah when an estimated 70 foreign fighters were killed in a massive precision artillery strike on a building in a mosque complex. Military intelligence officers were last night trying to confirm that a "high-value target" or HVT died in the attack. The man is suspected of being a key lieutenant of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the most wanted man in Iraq, and responsible for marshalling hard-line insurgence from other Arab countries.
The strike took place on Tuesday afternoon, less than 24 hours after the invasion of the rebel-held Sunni bastion began, after an Abrams tank commander from Phantom troop, part of the US Army's Task Force 2-2, observed large numbers of men converging on a building next to a mosque. "Guys with short brown hair, dark pants and carrying AK-47s were moving in groups of between two and five across the road to a yellow building," said Lt Neil Prakash, the tank commander. "Then some started throwing Molotov cocktails and pouring gasoline on the road to create a smokescreen." They apparently thought the smoke would obscure them from view.
Lt Prakash, whose call-sign is Red 6, observed the scene through the optical sight of his tank, 2,400 metres away in an "area of responsibility" or AOR covered by the 1st Company, 8th Marines, west of Task Force 2-2's AOR on the eastern edge of the city. The constraints of firing into another AOR, where US marines might be operating, and the danger of damaging the mosque, which would have provoked outrage in the Arab world, meant attacking the building had to be authorised at a very senior level.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Bulldog ||
11/11/2004 8:10:56 AM ||
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#1
....and indicated that the very senior Zarqawi lieutenant had perished. A final assessment on who died has yet to be made.
Yeah, we're still trying to put the pieces together - heh.
#2
Wow, over an hour to confirm an artillery strike. Good to hear that they are at least trying to be polite about it, and even better to hear the political and military command said, "Screw 'em!"
Break out the DNA kit - you'll only be testing body parts, if there is anything left. Arty has come a long way since my day: they probably put them in a TOT, finishing half into the building then the rest air burst for the nice "Steel rain" shrapnel effect.
Artillery is the one thing we have not used until now. And now the criminals in Fallujah will learn why even the mighty German army of ww2 with it spnazers fears the US Army: Our ability to put artillery on anything and do it damned quick.
They dont call it "King of the Battle" for nothing...
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/11/2004 10:38 Comments ||
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#6
OldSpook >> 10 years ago they still had those copperhead rounds that were laser designated/guided type rounds. At first I cringed when they used the term mosque...and 155mm rounds.
Just like Virginia Slims...."Arty, you've come a long way baby!"
"I saw him fall off, hit the ground and bounce up. There were about five bodies that went three, four, five storeys up in the air..."
#7
The press isn't telling you the half of it, Old Spook can confirm. This is a small example of how quickly and efficiently our Marines and soldiers have been killing them, and literally leaving them no time to regroup. After the battle you'll finally hear about how many IEDs there were, and yet they've had minimal effect on us. These jihadis are literally clueless and helpless against this offensive. When it's finished (including Ramadi, Baquba, al Bilal), the game will be up for Zarkawi, even if he lives. He'll have no chop houses, no video facilities, no factories to build bombs or car bombs. Some shit will continue to happen, but in sharply reduced numbers, and once the elections have passed, there will be no question of the legitimacy of the elected government.
Regrettably, the only thing we did wrong was not doing this a long time ago. But if we'd done it then, we wouldn't have been able to do it with all the Iraqi forces that are in the game now. Yes, we lost face in Arab world for stalling earlier, but the Iraqi forces get to gain serious credibility as a result of these operations. They've been on the losing end of the US stick and it sucks; now they get to work with us on the winning end of the US stick, and they get to win. Winning becomes a habit, and it's a habit they'll want to feed. Belmont Club needs to write this more poetically, but you're seeing the tide turn, even if the press has no clue what's happening. Can't promise that Iraq will become a rosy, happy arab democracy, but the nation is well on its way to fending off the predators who would claim it, from Syria and Iran to the jihadinazis and FRE. A year from now the insurgency will be a fading memory, and the Iranians will be shitting bricks as all those Iranian Shia make their pilgrimages across a peaceful, free Iraq to Najaf, and wonder why it can't be that way back home in Tehran.
And the jihadis, unable to affect Afghanistan, Pakistan, greater Russia or Iraq, will move to where they can operate more freely, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and North Africa. In the end, they will eat their own.
For all of you who've turned the Arab world upside down in the last three years, Thank you very much on this fine, fine Veterans' Day, and here's a belated Happy Birthday to our US Marine Corps (from a squid who's happy to have you on board).
#10
Anon2: Naw, if the enemy is dumb enough to stay under observation for over an hour, they got what they deserved. They knew we saw them. They stayed put. Cause, meet effect.
#11
I sure hope it's not like Gettysburg. Kill every last one of them now.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
11/11/2004 11:43 Comments ||
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#12
sounds like the US has purposely bypassed Jolan and is circling back to surround/drown the terrs there, also using the main e-w highway and the river as lemming-points
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/11/2004 11:49 Comments ||
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#13
There's nothing quite like US artillery, trust me on that one.
Posted by: Bobby Lee ||
11/11/2004 12:25 Comments ||
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#14
Great article, but I don't get the Gettysburg reference. There was no surrounding or last stand made at Gettysburg.
I hope it's more like Custer's Last Stand--Zarqawi's Last Stand has a nice ring to it.
Posted by: Dar ||
11/11/2004 12:26 Comments ||
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#15
Lieutenant Neil Prakash. Haaahahahaha, I love it.
#16
Don't know about the accuracy,but I heard aquote attributed to Napolleon that goes"Only thunder and lightning are prefferable to cannon".From the classic western:Major Dundee.(Fall in behind the Major)
#17
Nice analysis LL. I hope you are right about the good guy Iraqis getting a taste of victory and the confidence to handle these jihadi clowns on their own.
What's happening right now is so lopsided it sounds more like very high stakes pest eradication than it does traditional warfare--even of the urban variety. I'm sure the jihadi's thought they could turn this into another Grozny. I'm very proud of our people that it's not.
HOSTAGE slaughterhouses have been discovered in the heart of Fallujah by coalition troops, the Iraqi government said last night. Westerners are believed to have been held in them before being beheaded by followers of terror chief Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. And yesterday three members of Iraqi interim prime minister Ayad Allawi's own family were abducted at gunpoint from their Baghdad home. Iraqi commandos found CDs and records of people who have been kidnapped and beheaded in the murder centres, an Iraqi official confirmed. Major General Abdul Qader Mohammed Jassem Mohan said: "We have found hostage slaughterhouses in Fallujah that were used by these people and the black clothing they used to wear to identify themselves, hundreds of CDs and records with names of hostages." It is not known if the records reveal the whereabouts of kidnapped British aid worker Margaret Hassan.
The killing houses were located in the northern part of Fallujah, where US officials believe the hard-core fighters have been holed up. Premier Allawi's 75 year-old cousin, Ghazi Allawi, his cousin's wife and his cousin's daughter-in law have been threatened with death unless the Fallujah attack is abandoned. The previously unknown extremist group Ansar al-Jihad group claimed responsibility on an Islamic website, saying: "If the agent government doesn't respond to our demands within 48 hours, they will be beheaded."
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
11/11/2004 4:54:10 AM ||
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Marines of the 1st Division use a bolt cutter to take of the handcuffs of an Iraqi, at a makeshift military hospital in Fallujah, Iraq, Wednesday, Nov. 10th, 2004. The Iraqi whose name was not released, was found handcuffed in an insurgent hiding place in Fallujah, after being kidnapped 10 days ago in Baghdad's suburb of Abu Ghraib. The Marines believe he was used as a 'human shield'.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
11/11/2004 5:35 Comments ||
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#2
(link) Close up of the Marines from 1st Divison removing handcuffs off of one of the Iraqi hostages taken by Fullujah based terrorists. The man handcuffed was kidnapped 10 days ago in Baghdad's suburb of Abu Ghraib by the 'brave' jihad killers.
Are there any leftists which want to rush to Iraq to become a 'human shield' now? The next time the Kerry losers start acting up, ask them.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
11/11/2004 5:45 Comments ||
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#3
Funny.... I was watching ABC news awhile ago and this wasn't mentioned at all.
Yet the big blast in Bagdad was front and center. Oh and the coverage of what a terrible, horrorible time the marines are having taking Fallujah (no mention they hold 70-80% of the city already....).
I guess its a good think the terrorists didn't place woman's panty on his head.
A suspected car bomb ripped through a central Baghdad square today, with witnesses reporting many casualties. The explosion set a dozen cars ablaze and sent black smoke billowing into the air, witnesses said. An AFP correspondent on the scene saw bodies littering the pavement, which had been packed with shoppers when the attack happened about 11.30am (1930 AEDT). Doctor Anwar Barnouti, who runs a clinic nearby, said "my clinic shook and is now filled with sand and dust. There is no obvious target in the area. This is a commercial district of doctors, lawyers and shopkeepers." The US military had no information on the blast. Twisted metal and shards of glass littered the commercial Saadoun Street district as police cars rushed to the scene. A car bomb near the Culture Ministry in Baghdad killed seven people yesterday.
The Culture Ministry? Well, that's kinda apropos...
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
11/11/2004 4:31:42 AM ||
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Smoke rises after a huge explosion hit the heart of Baghdad, Iraq Thursday, Nov. 11th, 2004. Police said the blast was caused by a car bomb that hit Nasser Square on Saadoun Street, a densely populated commercial area with major hotels housing foreigners.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
11/11/2004 5:28 Comments ||
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#2
The terrorist geniuses' campaign for hearts and minds continues apace. Your extinction beckons, murdering scum.
AP reports "there have been unconfirmed reports that two top guerrilla leaders, Abdullah al-Janabi and Omar Hadid, have been killed. Janabi who styles himself Emir of the 'Islamic Republic of Falluja' is head of Fallujah's majahideen shura council and imam of the Saad ibn Abi Wakkas mosque. Hadid, who also sits on the muj shura in Fallujah, is Zarqawi's de facto field commander there. Today's Telegraph points to the liklihood that Hadid has in fact been liquidated as the paper reported that "an estimated 70 foreign fighters were killed in a massive precision artillery strike on a building in a mosque complex."
"Military intelligence officers were last night trying to confirm that a 'high-value target' or HVT died in the attack. The man is suspected of being a key lieutenant of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the most wanted man in Iraq, and responsible for marshalling hard-line insurgence from other Arab countries." Hadid, a Fallujah native who commands the Black Banners Brigades of the Islamic Army, controls foreign fighters as well as Iraqis. The last confirmed sighting of Hadid in Fallujah was on Tuesday, November 7 by Washington Post and Getty Images stringer Ghaith Abdul-Ahad.
Posted by: Robert Stevens ||
11/11/2004 12:15:25 AM ||
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#6
Correction: Hadid seen in Fallujah by Ghaith on Saturday November 6. Not Tuesday the 7th. Tuesday was the 9th anyway. My bad.
Posted by: Robert Stevens ||
11/11/2004 1:44 Comments ||
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#7
Heads on pikes please.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
11/11/2004 6:18 Comments ||
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#8
Speaking of unconfirmed... heard a teaser on NPR this morning about sarin gas possibly found in Fallujah. Has anyone seen this elsewhere, or was it just a ploy to make people listen to them recount Arafish's life?
#9
Been rumors about CW weaponry in Fallujah for quite a while - it came into Iraq from Syria when the terr's came into Iraq from Syria.
That's why I was hopping mad on the "news" article coming out of Iran that the *US* was using those weapons - because it was a setup for them to use the gas and blame it on the US.
Sounds like the speed of our advance caught them flat footed.
The Naxalites were a problem on Deep Space Nine as I recall.
HYDERABAD — The Naxalites of the CPI (Maoist) yesterday warned that if the government and the police continue to put obstacles in the way of their public meetings and the construction of martyrs' memorial, then the government will be responsible for the consequences.
"Youze guys are gonna get it!"
The CPI (Maoist) leader Narsimha Reddy alias Ganganna and the emissary Vara Vara Rao yesterday said that the government was not respecting even minimum democratic rights by preventing the public meetings and demolishing the memorials constructed in memory of the revolutionary martyrs. "If the government and the police continue to stop our meetings, then the people will have to decide how the chief minister's Pallebata program will continue," Ganganna said.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/11/2004 12:04:15 AM ||
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Ya know, I wonder if the writers for the various sci-fi stories and shows simply take the names of obscure tribes for alien race names.
"Lets see here, Spaceman Spiff vs. The Bugti empire?...naah too silly..."
Posted by: N Guard ||
11/11/2004 8:22 Comments ||
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#2
Naxalites sound like they maybe ought to be in chariots.
BTW N Guard the Buglfi empire was destroyed by a hybrid dynasaur-tiger turned loose on the unsuspecting planet.
Almost half of the mosques in the Iraqi town of Falluja have been destroyed, with US warplanes launching air strikes and fierce fighting on the ground continuing.
Sounds pretty good to me...
An Iraqi journalist told Aljazeera that US forces on Wednesday resumed attacks on the city, targeting Julan in the north-west to al-Jughaivi in the north-east. Fadil al-Badrani said there are an estimated 120 mosques in the city. "Almost half of the city's mosques have been destroyed after being targeted by US air and tank strikes," al-Badrani added.
Could have something to do with the fact that they were arms depots, chock full of Bad Guyz...
Fierce clashes also erupted between armed fighters as the US forces thrust deeper into the city in the early hours, he said. Machinegun, mortar and rocket fire shook the city as planes made several bombing runs over Julan district in the space of 15 minutes, a Reuters reporter said. Smoke was rising from houses just beyond Falluja's captured rail station, where marines and Iraqi forces have a base. Marines said their opponents showed no signs of giving up, even though US forces penetrated to the centre of the city, west of Baghdad, after an offensive launched on Monday night.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/11/2004 9:23:52 PM ||
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Article: An Iraqi journalist told Aljazeera that US forces on Wednesday resumed attacks on the city, targeting Julan in the north-west to al-Jughaivi in the north-east. Fadil al-Badrani said there are an estimated 120 mosques in the city. "Almost half of the city's mosques have been destroyed after being targeted by US air and tank strikes," al-Badrani added.
This guy is Fallujah's Comical Ali or Baghdad Bob. He is providing comic relief fiction for al-BBC, al-Reuters and al-Jazeera all at the same time.
#4
I heard that they waved a white flag, then fired on Marines. Sheesh talk about stupid. Six minutes later no more mosque.
Posted by: Douglas De Bono ||
11/11/2004 7:20 Comments ||
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#5
Our biggest politico-military mistake in all of this has been the "hands-off" policy of not taking on the mosques. Some one has to revist this policy and damn the torpedoes! Once the terrs go into the mosque armed or store ordance there or use it as sniper platforms it should be declared a target and used as such.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
11/11/2004 9:19 Comments ||
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#6
But Jack, the "hands off" policy encouraged the bad guys to use the mosques as forts and ammo dumps. So now everything/everybody is nicely in one place, and our guys get to watch all those pretty secondary explosions and bouncing bodies. Do you suppose this was intentional, or simply an enjoyable by-product of a mistaken political decision?
#7
Inadvertant, TW, inadvertant. The military intelligence crews are not that on top of things. Planning for the future only goes are far as the next prisoner in line for interrogation.
Long term thinking is a Psyops thing and they are largely ignored by the fighthing-type commanders. The guys pulling the triggers are usually pretty proccupied with making certain about the right nows, not the might be's.
Posted by: Jame Retief ||
11/11/2004 12:48 Comments ||
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#8
I agree with trailing wife on this. We nailed 70 guys in one mosque outbuilding. By leaving Fallujah alone we encouraged the bad guys to pile into the city and make it symbolic. By leaving mosques alone we encouraged the bad guys to pile into them and use them as mini-forts.
Now that the gloves are off they are much easier targets.
Yasser Arafat, who triumphantly forced his people's plight into the world spotlight but failed to achieve his lifelong quest for Palestinian statehood, died Thursday at age 75. He was to the end a man of many mysteries and paradoxes — terrorist, statesman, autocrat and peacemaker.
Mostly terrorist and autocrat...
Palestinian Cabinet minister Saeb Erekat confirmed The Associated Press that Arafat had died. The Palestinian leader spent his final days in a coma at a French military hospital outside Paris. Arafat's last days were as murky and dramatic as his life. Flown to France on Oct. 29 after nearly three years of being penned in his West Bank headquarters by Israeli tanks, he initially improved but then sharply deteriorated as rumors swirled about his illness. Top Palestinian officials flew in to check on their leader while Arafat's 41-year-old wife, Suha, publicly accused them of trying to usurp his powers. Ordinary Palestinians prayed for his well being, but expressed deep frustration over his failure to improve their lives. Arafat's failure to groom a successor complicated his passing, raising the danger of factional conflict among Palestinians.
Now stay in the damned box. The Fat Lady's tired of this!
Posted by: Fred ||
11/11/2004 11:13:25 PM ||
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#1
Yeah, and CBS broke into the end of CSI-NY with their breaking news logo. I figured the president got shot, somebody got nuked, etc. No, it was that the Arafish had died and they went into a somber bio of his life. I don't think they mentioned terrorist once. Bastards.
Posted by: Steve ||
11/10/2004 23:49 Comments ||
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#2
Harold Arlen in 1939, said:
As coroner
I must aver
I thoroughly examined her
And she's not only merely dead
She's really, most sincerely dead!
#7
Let the ululating and rejoicing commence and Satan needs to throw another log on the barbie--Yasser needs to toast on both sides real good!
(Missed (most of you) guys since I got lost in the Democrat fever swamps of the election!)
#9
He has been dead for days. They had him on machines to keep it from rotting. Once a deal was done his porker of a wife pulled the plug after she got her cut. This wasn't even very well disguised.
#16
He was to the end a man of many mysteries and paradoxes â terrorist, statesman, autocrat and peacemaker.
Hmm. Yep. And I'm a tall thin short fat idiot genius young white old black man/woman. Shut up. I'm just far too paradoxical and mysterious for most people to understand or judge me.
#17
Steve #1 Talking about spin, according to the CNN website: Israeli Justice Minister Yosef Lapid said that without Arafat "there could have already been peace in the region and a Palestinian state ... The government of Israel will continue with its efforts to reach peace."
They put so much spin on what I heard Lapid actually say on Sky News in his brief statement that I'm still dizzy. Here's the gist of the crucial bits they left out:
"Arafat chose terror, and not just against Israel, but worldwide. He was the godfather of Bin Laden and Al Quaida."
The obvious question arises: why would CNN miss an opportunity to show Israel in a bad light? Why wouldn't they include and emphasize Lapid's anti-Arafat comments on their website?
Oh, silly me, I finally got it. It's because they can't mention the word 'terrorist' - especially in connection with attacks on Israel.
Posted by: James ||
11/11/2004 11:25 Comments ||
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#28
So bye-bye Yasser Arafat guy
Clinton brought you to the White House, but that well has run dry
Now Jimmy Carter's gonna break down and cry
'Cause this'll be the day that you die
This'll be the day that you die
Posted by: Mike ||
11/11/2004 11:41 Comments ||
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#29
Christ Almighty! - what are those on the fat ladies' chest? Hubcaps?
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/11/2004 11:46 Comments ||
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#30
I for one look forward to the legendary pomp and circumstance of a Pali funeral. It's been many years since the eye rollers, screechers, whinners, and thieves have marched in the Pali way down nowhere street. A note to the wise, keep a close eye on the ceremonial white Toyota.
#36
Good fucking riddance. That piece of shit has been responsible for so many deaths of innocent people that their shades must have been thick around his head as his breath became short in his final moments, clouding out the leeches waiting for bank a/c numbers that never came. No virgins for him, rather a waiting list of demons, each with their own list of abominations to perform - ad infinitum.
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
11/11/2004 18:22 Comments ||
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#37
Krutz. He didn't repent before he died. But that's one less terror kingpin in the world and that's good.
A videotape posted Thursday on an Islamist Web site purportedly by Fallujah militants vowed to take revenge on Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi for ordering a U.S.-led attack on their city. The tape was broadcast late Wednesday by Al-Jazeera television and featured a group of men said by the station to be 20 Iraqi soldiers taken prisoner during operations in Fallujah. The men wearing Iraqi uniforms were shown with their backs to the camera. Al-Jazeera did not broadcast the audio portion of the tape but said the militants promised not to kill the prisoners it was holding but warned others captured later would be slain. On the Web site, however, the speaker threatened both Allawi and Iraqi Defense Minister Hazem Shaalan al-Khuzaei, saying both had displayed "meanness toward those who are defending their home, their religion and their honor."
"The Fallujah people's revenge will not be extinguished until the end of life and their revenge against Ayad Allawi will be personal." Allawi ordered the attack on Fallujah after the hard-line clerical leadership there refused to hand over foreign extremists, including Jordanian terror mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Fallujah clerics claimed al-Zarqawi was not in the city. On the tape, the speaker labeled both al-Zarqawi's alleged presence in Fallujah and Saddam Hussein's purported weapons of mass destruction as "synthetic phrases" used by those "who sold their religion and their homeland for money, which is a small percentage of what the American mercenaries are earning."
Posted by: Fred ||
11/11/2004 9:59:23 PM ||
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Allawi should go on the record indicating the insurgents and their collaborators have parents and relatives also, and they would be revealed and "sought out"!
Violence in Karachi? I understand there's coal to be found in Newcastle, too...
A mob set fire to two shops and burned three cars, a motorcycle and a rickshaw in violence in Shah Faisal Colony on Wednesday following last night's incident in which two workers of Sunni Tehrik were killed in a drive-by shooting. Threats from agitators forced businesses and shops to close in the area. A passer-by was also killed in the shooting, which was the result of a serious dispute between Sunni Tehrik and a rival religious group over the control of a mosque. Sunni Tehrik has blamed the Muttahida Qaumi Movement for the killings.
Sort of like a squabble between Methodists and Baptists, only with violence.
"The incident has nothing to do with sectarianism," DIG Operations Mushtaq Shah told the media on Wednesday. Police sources said the dispute centred on the collection of Ramazan donations in Allahwali Mosque. Mr Shah also confirmed that ten persons were arrested in nightlong raids following the shooting, of which members of Sunni Tehrik outside the mosque were the target.
Nothing says "Happy Eid" better than rickshaws in flames and dead passers-by...
Posted by: Fred ||
11/11/2004 9:44:17 PM ||
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Quiz time! How many sentences can you make using these 4 words:
Violence
Karachi
Mosque
Shooting
Foreign militants fighting Pakistani forces in the tribal areas are likely using weapons smuggled across the border from neighboring Afghanistan, Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao said on Wednesday. "The arms and ammunition they have and which they are getting ... to some extent this supply is going on from across the border," Sherpao told the private Geo television network.
And how's it getting into Afghanistan? Do they have trees that grow AK47s?
Sherpao said the long "porous" border with Afghanistan made it difficult for Pakistani security forces to completely stem the flow of weapons into South Waziristan. His comments come a day after Pakistani troops launched a fresh operation against militants in the region, backed by helicopter gunships. At least six militants and three soldiers were killed in the fighting. "The border is porous and the area is difficult, we are facing difficulties (to stop it). We are trying every way to stop this supply." Meanwhile, in an interview with ARY TV, Sherpao said that law enforcement agencies had destroyed 20 terrorist gangs and arrested 200 terrorists across the country. Sherpao reiterated the government's resolve to flush out terrorists from the country.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/11/2004 9:47:33 PM ||
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Pakistani Taliban guerrillas killed two captured Afghan soldiers after troops tried to rescue them in Kandahar, police said on Wednesday. Two Pakistanis Taliban fighters were also killed in a clash that followed the rescue attempt in Maiwand district on Tuesday, said General Salim Khan, the deputy police chief of Kandahar city. "Local troops were on a search mission to find and rescue the two soldiers," Khan told Reuters. "The Pakistanis Taliban killed the hostages and the troops killed two Taliban fighters." The two soldiers were captured while travelling on a road in Maiwand district on Monday, Khan said. He referred to them as hostages although no ransom had been demanded for their release.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/11/2004 9:36:35 PM ||
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City police on Wednesday arrested four men, including an Afghan national, suspected of supplying weapons to a banned militant organisation and seized explosives, timers, detonators and remote control devices from them, a police official said. Aftab Ahmad Cheema, the senior superintendent of police (SSP) for operations, said that Cantt division police, acting on a tip off, arrested the four men on Habibullah Road. They were in a car in which police found explosive, 32 timers, 26 detonators, 36 batteries and remote controls, he said.The men were identified as Gul Rehman, an Afghan national, Khan Bahadur, a resident of the tribal areas, and Muhammad Mudasar Alam and Arshad Ali of Lahore. The SSP said that the four appeared to be weapons suppliers. However, police sources said that Alam and Ali were actually arrested separately a few days ago in Misri Shah in possession of a rifle, a pump action, 20 bullets and some cartridges. The two reportedly confessed they smuggled weapons from the tribal areas and gave the whereabouts of Rehman and Bahadur.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/11/2004 9:30:05 PM ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Yemen is reportedly releasing 100 suspected sympathizers of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden because they have repented and renounced violence. Daily "September 26" said the release of the suspects started Wednesday on the orders of President Ali Abdullah Saleh. Hammoud al-Hattar, the president of the committee meeting with extremists returning from Afghanistan, said none of the 100 being released are suspects in criminal acts. "They have all vowed and promised to renounce violence and respect the country's constitution and laws and help ensure national security and stability," Hattar said. He said the released suspects will be monitored by moderate Muslim clerics as well as security forces.
Kazakhstan says it has broken up a network of Islamic militants linked to al Qaeda who trained suicide bombers and planned a "terrorist act" against a top official in neighbouring Uzbekistan. Some members of the group, calling itself 
The operation prompted comparisons with a Spanish police raid in Madrid last April, when three suspects in the city's March train bombings blew themselves up in their apartment rather than surrender. Spanish papers have said they have uncovered close ties between some suspects in the Madrid bombings and alleged Dutch Islamist networks. The Dutch daily De Volkskrant said yesterday the inquiry into Van Gogh's murder was focused on an unnamed Syrian who is said to serve as the link between a number of terrorist cells in the Netherlands. According to the paper, up to 200 extremists, including former combatants in Afghanistan and Chechnya, are living in the country.
French prosecutors are looking into alleged multi-million dollar transfers into the bank accounts of the wife of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. Officials have confirmed reports of an inquiry into the financial transactions of Paris-based Suha Arafat. They acted after the Bank of France alerted them to transfers of nine million euros ($11.5m) from Switzerland to two of Mrs Arafat's accounts. 
American troops scored one of their biggest successes in the battle for Fallujah when an estimated 70 foreign fighters were killed in a massive precision artillery strike on a building in a mosque complex. Military intelligence officers were last night trying to confirm that a "high-value target" or HVT died in the attack. The man is suspected of being a key lieutenant of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the most wanted man in Iraq, and responsible for marshalling hard-line insurgence from other Arab countries.
Yasser Arafat, who triumphantly forced his people's plight into the world spotlight but failed to achieve his lifelong quest for Palestinian statehood, died Thursday at age 75. He was to the end a man of many mysteries and paradoxes — terrorist, statesman, autocrat and peacemaker.
