Saudi Arabia has passed onto the Interpol the names of 18 of its most wanted terror suspects and asked it to trace them, a senior security official said. Maj. Gen. Mansour Al-Turki, official spokesman of the Interior Ministry, said the ministry had published the list of wanted terror suspects outside the Kingdom. âItâs an alert to all countries that these men are wanted by the Saudi government for security reasons and also a notice to the ports of those countries to arrest them upon identification and hand them over to Saudi authorities,â said Al-Turki. âThis is not new. Details of individuals wanted for security reasons are passed onto the Interpol,â he pointed out.
Maj. Gen. Ali Al-Obaishi, a senior Saudi security official said in Berlin that the suspects, many believed to be living outside Saudi Arabia, were notified to Interpol last week. âWe provided about 18 names,â said Obaishi, who heads the Saudi national bureau of Interpol. âWe have a big suspicion that most of them are outside Saudi Arabia,â he said, without naming any country.
Interior Minister Prince Naif was quoted by newspapers this month as complaining the Kingdom had not received enough international cooperation in its crackdown on militants. Saudi Arabia has been battling a two-year wave of attacks by Al-Qaeda militants. Officials say they have broken up militant cells and supply lines inside the country but that more attacks are possible, particularly if Saudis fighting in the Iraqi insurgency bring their battle back home.
A Saudi security source said the Kingdom had been looking for greater help from Syria, Yemen, Iran and Iraq in tracing or arresting the suspects. It had also sought assistance from Mauritania, where one man is believed to have fled. But he said it had had little response from these countries. Obaishi, speaking at Interpolâs annual conference in Berlin this week, echoed Prince Naifâs frustration over the lack of help, saying some countries were not implementing Interpol âred noticesâ filed by Saudi Arabia. Red notices are worldwide requests to arrest suspects with a view to extradition. âWe ask Interpol to work harder to encourage other countries. Some countries donât take good care of red notices,â Obaishi said. âIf we want someone and we know heâs in country A, and that country does nothing, itâs very frustrating for us.â
Interpol Secretary-General Ronald Noble acknowledged that lack of cooperation in implementing red notices was an issue, but said it was a sovereign decision for each member country whether to make arrests on the basis of the notices.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/24/2005 00:00 ||
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Mr. Waverly is looking really old in that pic.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/24/2005 10:14 Comments ||
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Yemen has officially asked the United States to drop the name of a prominent Yemeni cleric from a list of suspected financiers of terrorism, the official Saba news agency reported yesterday. âThe Republic of Yemen has sent a letter to the US administration asking it to drop charges against Sheikh Abdul-Majid Al-Zindani,â said the agency.
In February 2004, the US Treasury Department added Al-Zindani, 55, to the list of people suspected of supporting terrorist activities, dubbing him as âa loyalist to Osama Bin Laden and supporter of Al-Qaeda.â It accused him of recruiting for Al-Qaeda training camps and playing a key role in the purchase of weapons on behalf of the terror network and other terrorists.
Yemen, however, insisted in its official letter that âmost of the information upon which the US charges were based might have been taken from intriguer partisan newspapers,â said Saba. âIf any proofs against Sheikh Al-Zindani exist, they should be submitted to the Yemeni government, which would carry its responsibility and take the necessary legal actions,â read the letter, quoted by Saba. Zindani, an outspoken cleric, is chairman of the central committee of Yemenâs biggest opposition party, Islah.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/24/2005 00:00 ||
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Does every Yemeni holyman have to look like Saruman with a dye job disaster?
Posted by: ed ||
09/24/2005 3:00 Comments ||
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Orange beard, eh? Maybe he's Trump's uncle or something?
A BRITISH-BORN "international warrior" who waged jihad across the globe before being caught at the Channel Tunnel with explosives on his socks was jailed for 15 years yesterday.
Petty drugs dealer turned al-Qaeda weapons expert Andrew Rowe, 34, was believed to be on the verge of carrying out a terrorist attack when he was caught, the Old Bailey heard.
Peter Principle clearly at work.
Anti-terrorist officers described him as "a very dangerous man indeed". His contacts included known terrorists, and Malaysian security sources believe he was involved in a planned mortar attack on Heathrow airport. He is also thought to have been carrying out recruitment missions for the cause as he travelled between war zones.
Mortar attack? These guys have seen too many bad movies.
Yesterday Rowe was convicted on two counts of possessing an article for the purpose of terrorism. He was found guilty of having a notebook which detailed how to fire a mortar and of possessing a code which would allow him to discuss a terrorist attack while referring only to various types of mobile phones.
The jury of six men and six women was unable to agree on a third charge of having a pair of socks which, as they contained traces of explosives, the authorities believed had been adapted for cleaning a mortar. Rowe maintained the socks, which were rolled in a ball and tied with a chord, were used as a target in martial arts training.
Jailing him for seven-and-a-half years on each count and ordering that the terms should run consecutively, Mr Justice Fulford said he believed Rowe was on the verge of an act of terrorism when he was caught. "Whatever your terrorist purpose was, its fulfilment was imminent," he said.
He told Rowe: "You were a paid operative over a substantial period of time, travelling the world and furthering the cause of Muslim fundamentalism." He called for a change in the law to enable a life term to be passed for the offence, in place of the current ten-year maximum.
Rowe was arrested on the French side of the Channel Tunnel as he prepared to travel back to Britain in October 2003. The Islamic fundamentalist was already being monitored by the security services. A search of his former flat in west London in August 2003 had turned up a notebook with 22 pages of hand-written instructions on how to aim and fire a mortar.
After his arrest police searched the Birmingham home of Shaibia Tafla, his estranged wife and mother of his four children. In a video cassette case they found a code which Mark Ellison, the prosecutor, said "made it possible to communicate in an innocent message which only spoke about mobile phones".
Giving examples of the code, Mr Ellison said money was "Nokia 3310", trouble-police was "3410", weapon was "3610", airport was "3310" and army base was "3331". Other codes for explosive materials made it a "shopping list for terrorism", said Mr Ellison. Other words on the list included "target one", "target two" and "target three", as well as the ingredients of the home-made explosives used in July's London terror attacks. Rowe had also made a list of English counties, used for substition with foreign countries.
A draft letter revealed that Rowe was travelling abroad on "mobile phone business" and that he would soon be meeting a man who needed his help.
Since converting to Islam at the age of 19, Rowe had travelled extensively and had applied and received four passports in the past seven years. The prosecution has, however, failed to uncover wether or not he was part of an al-Qaeda plot to attack Heathrow Airport. According to reports from Malaysia, he and Lionel Dumont, a French national, were planning to attack the airport using a shoulder-mounted missile.
The head of Scotland Yard's anti-terrorist branch, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Peter Clarke, said yesterday that Rowe "intended to use some form of violence during a terrorist attack. "We don't know where, we don't know when and we don't know exactly how. But it was quite clear that he did intend to commit acts of terrorism."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/24/2005 00:03 ||
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Here's a perfect profile of a terrorist: young Jamaican convert to islam, no visible means of support, travels extensively with explosive soaked socks. Anyone in Britain and the US taking notice or has political correctness killed all common sense?
Posted by: ed ||
09/24/2005 3:07 Comments ||
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VIENNA, Austria -- The European Union submitted a motion Friday setting Iran up for referral to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions, and it pushed for a decision today when the 35-nation board of the International Atomic Energy Agency reconvenes.
Iran increased its own pressure against referral, threatening to restart uranium enrichment -- a possible pathway to nuclear arms, diplomats accredited to the agency told The Associated Press. They said Iran also warned it could block access for International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors it had agreed to under a document Iran hasn't yet ratified.
The diplomats -- who demanded the only thing they ever demand, anonymity because their information was confidential -- said both threats were contained in unsigned letters and shown by a member of the Iranian delegation to the IAEA head, Mohamed Elbaradei. If signed and submitted, the letters become part of the official record.
The EU motion -- a draft resolution to the IAEA's board of governors -- calls on the 35-nation board to consider reporting Iran to the council. As grounds, it mentions noncompliance with provisions of the nuclear nonproliferation treaty and suspicions only suspicions, mind you, that Iran's nuclear activities could threaten international peace and security, according to a draft copy obtained by the AP as well as common sense.
The board agreed to reconvene today; and the Europeans, backed by the U.S. and its allies, were expected to call for approval by consensus or, alternatively, for a vote.
The divisive nature of the draft was expected to result in a vote, which the Europeans were expected to win against Iran's allies at the IAEA.
The Security Council could impose sanctions if it finds Iran violated the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, but veto-carrying members Russia and China were certain to oppose such action.
Stock up on popcorn.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
09/24/2005 06:20 ||
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Iran's Foreign Minister was heard to exclaim,"I fart in your general direction."
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Mrs. Davis, they grew nothing. If this even makes it to the SC, the Russians and Chinese will never go for sanctions.
Besides, its the UN we're talking about here, its not like anyone will actually do anything, it is home of the 3 C's - criminal, corrupt, cowardly.
For what? Tea and crumpets and a jolly slap on the back?
Yeah, like that'll help. :-(
I've got a better idea: Let's "refer" the U.N. to Iran. As in move their sorry asses to Tehran. At least, that way they'll be right there to receive their bribe payments while helping waiting for Iran to complete their nukes.
The United States on Saturday hailed a resolution passed by the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog that required Iran to be referred to the U.N. Security Council over its nuclear plans and thanked India for backing Washington's bid to isolate Tehran.
"This is a significant step forward in the international effort to isolate Iran and a setback for Iran's nuclear strategy," said U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns in a conference call with reporters.
Earlier on Saturday, the International Atomic Energy Agency's board in Vienna passed a resolution requiring Iran to be reported to the U.N. Security Council at an unspecified date over a failure to convince the agency its nuclear program was entirely peaceful.
Posted by: john ||
09/24/2005 17:21 Comments ||
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One Turkish soldier was killed Friday and five others were injured in an ambush laid down by Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) activists in the city of Siirt. Security sources have reportedly said that land mines went off to kill the soldier and wound the other five. Elsewhere, one more soldier was injured as he stepped on a land mine, and two others were also wounded while trying to defuse other mines.
Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul urged the US to take more practical measure against the PKK. The Anatolia news agency quoted Gul, who is in New York currently, as asking for more support from the US. "As a strong ally of the USA in the war against terror, we expect more support from the USA regarding fight against the terrorist organization PKK," Gul said.
Gee, that's too bad. You might recall we asked for your help a while back and you said no. But we don't hold grudges, nope, nope, we sure don't. Now if you'll kindly take a number ...
Gul warned that the "presence of the terrorist organization PKK in north of Iraq poses a serious threat for Turkey's and Iraq's security." "Turkey and the USA are strong allies who have common values. These two countries are sharing similar goals and ideals regarding many issues. We should enhance our relations and partnership to increase the prosperity of our countries and the entire world," Gul said as he praised bilateral ties with the US.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/24/2005 00:00 ||
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"Strong Allies" don't side with teh French and do their bidding. "Strong Allies" don't stab friends in the back.
I hate Commies like the PPK. However in the case of Turkey FOAD HAND.
(Hormigueros, Puerto Rico) The FBI kept a tight cordon Saturday around the home of a Puerto Rican nationalist leader wanted in the 1983 robbery of a Connecticut armored truck but could not say whether the suspect was alive... With police and federal agents blocking access to the rural farmhouse, the FBI said it was unable to determine if Filiberto Ojeda Rios was killed in a gun battle with authorities. One FBI agent was wounded.
Earlier, a law enforcement agent speaking on condition of anonymity and Hector Pesquera, president of the Hostiano independence movement, told The Associated Press the nationalist leader was killed when the FBI closed in to arrest him Friday. The FBI detained Ojedo Rios' wife, Elma Rosado Barbosa, who was unharmed, the agency said in a statement.
The robbery of the Wells Fargo depot in West Hartford, Conn., is considered an act of domestic terrorism because it allegedly was carried out by 19 members of the Puerto Rican nationalist Macheteros, or Cane Cutters.
Law enforcement agents were reluctant to speak on the record about an FBI-controlled operation that they said included U.S. Marshals, Puerto Rican police and Puerto Rican prosecutors.
Ojeda Rios, leader of the Macheteros, is one of four men still wanted for the Wells Fargo robbery. He was released on bail in 1988 after about three years in prison awaiting trial in Connecticut. In 1990, he cut off an electronic monitoring bracelet and became a fugitive. He was convicted in absentia in 1992 on charges of robbery, conspiracy and transportation of stolen money and was sentenced to 55 years in prison...
Only about $80,000 of the $7 million stolen has been recovered. The federal government believes most was used in Puerto Rico to finance the independence movement.
Three other men remain fugitives in the case, including Victor Manuel Gerena, a former Wells Fargo guard who allegedly injected two other guards with a sleeping substance to facilitate the robbery. He is on the FBI's most-wanted list. One man imprisoned in the case, Juan Segarra Palmer, was granted clemency by President Clinton in 1999.
The U.N. nuclear watchdog passed a resolution on Saturday requiring Iran to be reported to the Security Council over a failure to convince the agency its nuclear program was entirely peaceful.
With 22 votes for the resolution, 12 abstentions and only one vote against, the outcome highlighted the split between rich Western nations and poorer developing nations led by Russia, China, South Africa, which disagree with Washington and Europe on how to deal with Iran.
In what EU diplomats said was a victory for Western efforts to ratchet up the pressure on Tehran, both China and Russia, which had strongly opposed the EU's proposed resolution, abstained. Venezuela was the only country to vote against it.
India, which had opposed the EU resolution, voted for it.
Posted by: john ||
09/24/2005 12:14 ||
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They might as well pass gas.
It would probably be more useful against Iran.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
09/24/2005 18:34 Comments ||
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True. The only good I saw come out of it is India voting in favor of the resolution.
The United States, Australia, Britain, France, Germany, Canada, Argentina, Belgium, Ghana, Ecuador, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Sweden, Slovakia, Japan, Peru, Singapore, South Korea, India
Abstaining:
Pakistan, Algeria, Yemen, Brazil, China, Mexico, Nigeria, Russia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tunisia, Vietnam
Voting against the resolution:
Venezuela
Posted by: john ||
09/24/2005 19:21 Comments ||
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This is good news for many reasons. Things seem to be moving rapidly for the UN. Has Mr Bolton made a difference?
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
09/24/2005 20:47 Comments ||
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Britain, on behalf of the European Union, submitted a resolution to the International Atomic Energy Agency's Board of Governors during a tense late-night session Friday, finding Iran to be in noncompliance with its obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty safeguards agreement.
The board will reconvene at 3 p.m. Saturday to make a decision, said IAEA spokeswoman Melissa Fleming.
Tensions are running high among IAEA members as the European Union seems determined to pass the resolution despite fierce resistance from China, Russia and member countries of the Non-Aligned Movement, as well as increasing pressure from Iran.
There are fears this course of action could split the normally consensus-based body, as about one-third of the 35 members oppose the resolution.
NAM countries asked to push back the meeting until Oct. 3 to study the resolution in detail, but they were overruled by the European Union.
A diplomat close to the IAEA said the atmosphere was "emotional and angry" and several delegations and individuals voiced their protest.
The resolution calls on IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei to "continue his efforts to implement this and previous resolutions and to report again, including any further developments on the issues raised in his report of 2nd September to the Board which will address the timing and content of the report required. ..."
This implicit threat of referral to the U.N. Security Council differs from earlier versions, in which the European Union and other like-minded member states demanded Iran's referral to the Security Council for "failures and breaches" of its NPT obligations.
The resolution also uses strong language to describe Iran's failures to comply with earlier resolutions and says Iran is in "noncompliance" with its safeguards agreement.
According to IAEA statutes, this wording requires the member state in question to be reported to the Security Council.
Iran is threatening to withdraw from voluntary, confidence-building measures like the suspension of uranium conversion activities or its implementation of the NPT Additional Protocol if it is referred to the Security Council.
According to diplomatic sources, Iran exerted pressure on IAEA board members, saying it would raise the price of oil, should it fail to gain support for its cause.
Iran has hidden its nuclear program from the IAEA for 18 years. While Tehran maintains its program was only for energy-generating purposes, the Western nations fear Iran is working on a secret nuclear weapons program.
The IAEA is still "not yet in a position to clarify some important outstanding issues," the draft of the resolution said, adding that Iran's "full transparence is indispensable and overdue," reminding the members of Iran's shaky record of cooperation with the nuclear watchdog.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/24/2005 00:34 ||
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Resolved that we ask for tea or coffee over breakfast. Passed.
Next
Posted by: Captain America ||
09/24/2005 0:53 Comments ||
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"IFF AMERICA DOES NOT ATTACK, AMERICA WILL BE ATTACKED" - if America does not invade nuclearizing Iran and North Korea, etal., Radical Spetzlam and aligned Fascistas, Rightistas, Centristas, Capitalistas, Federalistas and Americanistas, etc. will attack the USA wid new nuke/WMD-capable 9-11's. Either way the Fed, AND ONLY THE FED, is forced andor induced to expand and militarize, centralize, bureaucratize, welfarize, and subsidize. * SOZILIST AMERIKAN PHRASE OF WEEK - Left> the USA vv the Fed, and only the Fed, MUST MAINTAIN A "PERMANENT STATE OF READINESS/SECURITY" for everything and anything from Dubya-caused new Hurricanes to Terror events.
An attacker detonated an explosive belt on Friday at a crowded bus stop in central Baghdad and killed six people, the latest bloodshed in what American officials have predicted will be a period of heightened violence before the national constitutional referendum in three weeks.
Insurgents also killed three more American soldiers, including two near Ramadi, the restive provincial capital where insurgents and American forces have fought intense skirmishes recently.
The suicide attack in central Baghdad happened around noon about a half-mile east of one of the main bridges over the Tigris River, an official with the Interior Ministry said. The attack, which also wounded 12 people, struck a site where workers gather to catch minibuses that shuttle around the city.
The buses run mostly to Sadr City, the huge Shiite neighborhood in northeast Baghdad, and to other largely Shiite areas of eastern Baghdad - strongly suggesting that the blast was specifically intended to kill Shiites. The leader of the terrorist group Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, has called for a war against Shiites, who have become the favored targets of the Sunni Arab-led insurgency as well.
Heavy fighting was reported in Ramadi, in Anbar Province, about 60 miles west of the capital. A police captain there, Nasir al-Alousi, told The Associated Press that American forces airlifted military equipment into a stadium in Ramadi before dawn on Friday and that periodic skirmishes near there and a nearby industrial area continued until the afternoon. The A.P. also quoted a doctor at the Ramadi hospital saying two people had been killed and eight others wounded in the clashes.
Small-arms fire in Ramadi on Thursday killed one American soldier assigned to the Second Marine Division, the military said in a statement. Near Taqaddum, east of Ramadi, another soldier was killed and one more was wounded when insurgents detonated a large roadside bomb near the soldiers' patrol, the military said. On Friday, a roadside bomb detonated southeast of Baghdad about 8:30 p.m., killing a soldier, the military said.
In Baghdad, an official with the Interior Ministry said a member of the committee charged with ensuring that former senior members of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party are kept from influential roles in the new Iraqi establishment was killed Thursday night in the Shurta neighborhood of western Baghdad. A mid-level Interior Ministry official was also assassinated, the official said.
Suicide bombers struck at least twice in southern Iraq. One killed an Iraqi soldier and wounded three others in an early afternoon attack on a checkpoint near Hilla, the Interior Ministry said. Another suicide bomber attacked a checkpoint north of Karbala on Friday night, killing a child and wounding four people, including two policemen.
In Falluja, an Iraqi man arrested at an American military checkpoint on Sept. 20 was shot and killed by a marine while in detention. The Marines said that after the man had been arrested for suspected terrorist activities, he attacked a guard while being brought to a screening room for questioning. The guard shot him once in the chest with a handgun, the Marines said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/24/2005 00:16 ||
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It seems the terrorists think of themselves as Palestinians, and of the Iraqis as Israelis.
#2
Given the Constitution they are about to vote on, it would be rather amusing if the Iraqis decided to think of themselves as the Israelis in this situation as well.
A U.S. commander yesterday declared that the Iraqi city of Tal Afar is now under coalition control after weeks of street-to-street fighting that disrupted an entrenched alliance of Abu Musab Zarqawi terrorists and Saddam Hussein loyalists.
"It is very clear that control of Tal Afar has been restored and they are now working very closely with both the Iraqi army, the police and our forces," said Army Brig. Gen. Kevin Bergner, deputy commander of multinational forces in northwest Iraq.
Insurgents took over the city of 150,000 last spring, turning it into a command center and training ground for foreign fighters moving from the Syrian border, through Tal Afar, to Mosul and then points south.
A regiment led by Army Col. H.R. McMaster, and augmented by an Iraqi army division, began assaulting the town this past summer. Soldiers found a well-structured network of terror cells. Some enforced order via killings and kidnappings. Others indoctrinated youths in radical Islam. One cell taught the techniques of building deadly improvised explosive devices (IEDs).
"What the enemy did is they waged the most brutal and murderous campaign against the people of Tal Afar," Col. McMaster said at a press conference last week.
Gen. Bergner said the fighting in Tal Afar, and other parts of northwest Iraq, has resulted in severe damage to al Qaeda in Iraq, which is headed by Zarqawi, who has pledged allegiance to Osama bin Laden.
Al Qaeda's murderous ways have also prompted more Iraqis to join the democracy movement and provide tips on the location of the enemy and of hidden IEDs, according to the general.
"The population here is no longer on the fence," Gen. Bergner said. "They want freedom."
The general said weekly attacks have dropped from about 110 last winter to 60 to 70 today.
"That's largely enabled by the Iraqi people coming forward and reporting things that they didn't have the confidence to do before," he said.
Northwest Iraq, like the rest of the country, is preparing for an Oct. 15 referendum on a new constitution that will pave the way for elections in December of a permanent parliament. More than 100,000 new voters have registered in the north.
In Tal Afar, the coalition is working to create a police force that will keep the city in coalition hands once the Iraqi army withdraws.
The United States has trained an Iraq security force of more than 180,000, but few units can operate totally on their own without American assistance.
"Many are capable of limited independent operations at the small unit level right now," Gen. Bergner said. "Police are shooting back when they get shot at."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/24/2005 00:13 ||
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"Whack A Mole" v9.13.2
Posted by: Captain America ||
09/24/2005 0:55 Comments ||
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THE Federal Government will not confirm reports it has informed Japan it plans to withdraw Australian troops protecting Japanese military engineers in southern Iraq by May next year.
Japan's Kyodo news agency today reported Japanese government sources had said Australia and Britain had told them they planned to pull out of the southern Iraqi city of Samawah, where Japanese forces are involved in humanitarian and reconstruction work, by May.
It said Tokyo would look at pulling out its troops in line with the Australian and British moves.
Australia has not given a definite timetable for withdrawal, however when the Government deployed 450 troops earlier this year to protect Japanese personnel it said the initial deployment would be for 12 months.
Defence Minister Robert Hill is currently overseas and his spokesman could not confirm the Japanese report.
However, he said a withdrawal in May next year was in line with the Government's commitment.
Asked last week whether Australia had given Japan a timeline for withdrawal, Senator Hill replied: "We haven't told them any more than what we've said publicly.
"We've made a commitment to a 12-month deployment. I think that takes us through to about April, maybe even May of next year, and during the course of that 12 months we said we would look to the future, and that future will in part depend on Japan's decisions in relation to a continuation or otherwise in Iraq."
A withdrawal of Australian and British troops from southern Iraq would make it impossible for the Japanese forces to continue their mission in Iraq.
Posted by: Oztralian [AKA] God Save The World ||
09/24/2005 00:00 ||
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The US army announced on Friday that a crackdown operation in the northern city of Mosul has ended up in the arrest of a terror suspect holding a Tunisian citizenship. A statement by the Multi National Forces (MNF) in Iraq, a copy of which was received by KUNA, said the terror suspect Yusef Noureldein, also known as Ali Mabrouk and Abu-Muhammad, had been arrested on September 17.
The suspect has confessed to having been recruited at a mosque in France and been sent to Syria, then acrossed the borders to Mosul, the statement added. Another man, allegedly responsible for shelting for the Tunisian was also arrested. The statement revealed no information about the party which recruited the Tunisian or the parties which had facilitated his travel to Iraq.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/24/2005 00:00 ||
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One Iraqi soldier was killed and four were injured in when a booby-trapped car, driven by a suicide assailant, went off near a checkpoint in southern Baghdad Friday. The injured were rushed to a hospital according to a source of the Iraqi police. The Iraqi capital has been, like other parts nationwide, subjected to daily assaults by outlawed militants.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/24/2005 00:00 ||
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Four Iraqis were killed and eight others injured in the explosion of a bomb planted in the bus they were riding in Baghdad, said an Iraqi police source. In a statement, the source said the blast took place at a bus stop serving passengers heading from the Plane Yard to Baghdad. However, eyewitnesses said the blast was a suicide-bombing carried out by a terrorist who blew himself up among the passengers. As the area was sealed by Iraqi police, ambulances transported the casualties to a medical center.
In another development, the US army foiled an ambush in northern Baghdad, killed a terrorist and arrested 19 others. The army, in a release, said the terrorists were preparing to set up an ambush at one of the city's main routes. The injured terrorists were transferred to a medical center and the others were referred to interrogation. Also, a US soldier killed an Iraqi prisoner in Fallujah on Tuesday. In a press release on Friday, the army said the prisoner attacked the soldier during interrogation, which made the soldier defend himself by shooting the assailant and killing him. The soldier will be interrogated.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/24/2005 00:00 ||
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Israel killed four Hamas terrorists militants in a missile strike Saturday and moved artillery cannons to the Gaza border, launching what it vowed would be a "crushing" response to a Hamas rocket barrage on Israeli towns. Israel also sealed the West Bank and Gaza, barring all Palestinians from its territory, within hours of the Hamas attack - the group's first major violence since Israel withdrew from the Mediterranean coastal strip two weeks ago.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon called his Security Cabinet for a meeting later Saturday to approve the military action, expected to last several days. A large-scale operation appeared unlikely but the timing of the meeting suggested a sense of urgency. The Cabinet session comes as Sharon faces a major leadership challenge in his Likud Party over the Gaza withdrawal, completed two weeks ago. Sharon's challenger, former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has warned the pullout will endanger Israel, and the barrage of 39 rockets, with five Israelis wounded, could boost his agenda.
The escalation followed an explosion Friday at a Hamas rally at a crowded Palestinian refugee camp that killed at least 15 Palestinians. Witnesses said the blast went off near a pickup truck carrying masked terrorists militants and homemade rockets. Hamas blamed Israel and said it fired rockets on Israeli border towns in retaliation. But the Palestinian Authority said the blast was an accident resulting from terrorists militants mishandling explosives. It renewed demands that terrorists armed groups stop flaunting their weapons.
In its struggle to bring order to Gaza, the Palestinian Authority won agreement from terrorist militant groups for a ban on displaying weapons starting late Saturday. Hassan Yousef, a Hamas leader, said the group would abide by the ban. "There will be no military parades in the streets and Hamas weapons will go into the shadows," he said.
Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz met Saturday with the army chief and the head of the Shin Bet security service to formulate Israel's response. "We have to make it clear to the Palestinians that Israel will not let the recent events pass without a response," Mofaz said in a statement. "The response needs to be crushing." Mofaz ordered large numbers of ground forces to deploy near northern Gaza, from where most rockets have been launched. Security officials said thousands of soldiers have been called up.
On Saturday afternoon, Israeli aircraft fired five missiles at two cars in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City, killing four Hamas terrorists militants, according to medics, witnesses and Palestinian radio reports. Nine people were wounded. Palestinian Information Minister Nabil Shaath denounced the strike as an "act of criminal aggression" and accused Israel of trying to destroy a truce that largely has held since February. Of course, all the attacks by Hamas and other terrorist groups didn't threaten the truce at all.
In an unprecedented step, Israel also set up five artillery cannons on the Gaza border, guarded by seven armored personnel carriers. Soldiers appeared to be settling in, building a command post and rolling out barbed wire. Israel in the past retaliated for Palestinian rocket fire with airstrikes or ground incursions. Artillery fire is less precise, however, and artillery shells fired into densely populated Gaza could cause many casualties. [Tap][Tap]. Nope. Sympathy meter still reads zero. Israel appeared to be signaling it is determined to stop the rocket fire at any price.
At another border staging area, four armored personnel carriers, five tanks and four huge D-9 bulldozers with stamps of ISM students on the sides joined a fleet of about 30 armored vehicles that are regularly deployed there. I guess they meant it when they said "crushing response."
Friday's explosion brought a terrifying end to what became the last terrorist militant victory celebration of Israel's Gaza pullout before the weapons ban takes effect. Abbas' ruling Fatah movement canceled a final rally planned for Saturday. The exact number of casualties from the Jabaliya camp remained unclear Saturday. Doctors at two Gaza hospitals counted 15 dead and 83 wounded, but the Palestinian health ministry put the toll at 17 dead and 140 wounded, possibly due to duplicate hospital registration during the initial chaos.
About 10,000 mourners attended prayers for 10 of the dead at a Jebaliya mosque Saturday. After the ceremony, the crowd split into three processions, with Hamas holding a separate march for four of its dead. Gunmen shot in the air, and women watching from balconies threw rice into the crowd. The deadly rally appeared to put Hamas on the defensive for the first time since the Israeli withdrawal; it also gave Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas greater leverage to enforce the weapons ban. Not that he has any desire to.
Islamic terrorists militants took center-stage after Israel's withdrawal, holding military-style victory parades, and many Palestinians endorsed the terrorists' militants' claim that they had driven Israel out by force. Now, Israel's reprisals have caused new hardships for Palestinian civilians, who might blame Hamas. Israel's indefinite closure of the West Bank and Gaza, imposed Saturday, means thousands of Palestinian laborers won't be able to reach jobs in Israel. Nope. Still reads zero.
Many Gazans also had hoped for a return to calm after Israel's pullout and might not be willing to tolerate a new era of airstrikes. Abbas, meanwhile, is under growing pressure to stop the rocket fire, with Israel demanding he deploy his troops in northern Gaza, the favored rocket launching ground. This could force Abbas into confrontations with Hamas that he has been trying to avoid.
#2
If Gazans wanted a "return to calm", a Hamas military parade and rocket attacks on Israel were not their best choices. Ariel Sharon's Gaza strategy is working -- the target is provoking, sealed, Israeli-free, and ready for obliteration. Fire away.
#3
If a bon on openly displaying weapons is considered a step on the roadmap then we need to reboot Mapquest. I think think this path is a cul-de-sac.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/24/2005 19:28 Comments ||
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#4
This is what could be called a standard tactic: counter-battery fire. The idea is to get an artillery round in the air as soon as radar pick up an incoming rocket, triangulating for its launch point.
At first it will take out one or two slower rocket crews. Then it will take out the launcher. The bad guyz will then surround the launcher with victims, hoping for sympathy against the c-b fires, but they will run out of victims real quick.
The c-b fires, as they become less effective, may turn into time-on-target fires from several batteries at once, crunching anything within 20 yards of the target. At *that* point, the locals start objecting to someone setting up a rocket launcher in their neighborhood.
As long as the Israelis keep up a quid pro quo exchange, they can laugh off any international condemnation. And, of course, just because they use c-b doesn't mean they can't use other tactics at the same time.
#5
Anonymouse - spot on. In the first Gulf War, the Iraqi artillery crews typically were able to get off one round before they were destroyed by counter-battery fire. That was almost fifteen years ago and counter-battery tech has undoubtably gotten better.
The Israeli air force attacked three buildings in the Gaza Strip early Saturday, the first airstrikes since Israel withdrew from Gaza last week after 38 years of occupation, the army said. Hospital officials said three people were hurt. I hope they become "stable."
The attacks, which Israel said targeted terrorist militant weapons facilities, came after terrorists militants fired 21 homemade rockets from the Gaza Strip into the Israeli town of Sderot, injuring five Israelis, the army said. Hamas claimed responsibility for many of the rockets, blaming Israel for a blastnd a weapons factory and warehouse in Gaza City.
One missile landed in a field near an abandoned workshop where terrorists militants used to make homemade rockets in Gaza City, according to security officials. The owner of the workshop, Mahed Abu Assi, 42, denied that it was used to produce weapons. "Nope. Not weapons. They were fireworks for celebrating."
The second airstrike hit a garage outside the house of a Hamas terrorist fighter. The third landed near the house of an Islamic Jihad terrorist militant in Gaza City.
Before leaving Gaza last week, Israeli officials said they would deal harshly with any attacks originating from the volatile coastal strip. We're still waiting to see something harsh. Terrorists Militants fired a total of 30 homemade rockets from Gaza into Israel since Friday afternoon. Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the first wave, saying they were retaliation for an Israeli raid near the West Bank town of Tulkarem that killed three Islamic Jihad terrorists militants.
Hamas spokesman Mushir al Masri said the group would retaliate for the airstrikes. How dare you strike back at us.
They gotta call for Dire Revengeâ¢, it's in the handbook.
#4
Weak. Israel's enemies fire randomly into Israeli cities and all they do is hit a few tin warehouses. Israel's response just invites more attacks. Pick a populated grid square and level everything in it. Repeat as necessary.
Posted by: ed ||
09/24/2005 1:48 Comments ||
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#5
well if they bomb the shit out of them then everyone in the world would bitch and moan about how defenseless they are
#6
Screw world opinion. It will always go with the winner anyway. Kill your enemies in Gaza and the WB with viciousness and impunity--it's the only way to make sure the rest of the hating but cowardly Arab bastards will respect you enough to leave you alone.
Posted by: mac ||
09/24/2005 9:45 Comments ||
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#8
Debka:
The IDF set up its first artillery battery since 2000 at Kibbutz Nahal Oz, a target of Palestinian missiles. It is primed to respond to further Palestinian fire
#9
In addition to tank and infantry units, artillery batteries were deployed on the Gaza border, an unprecedented step following a Hamas rocket barrage on Israeli towns.
Reporters saw five artillery cannons being set up near Kibbutz Nahal Oz on the border. Seven armored personnel carriers took up positions nearby, and a command post was set up. Troops also set up netting and barbed wire around their position, suggesting they were settling in for a longer period.
from Upsilon's link (thx!, BW)
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/24/2005 12:07 Comments ||
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#10
Israel needs an overwhelming, concentrated response, not a tit-for-tat one. There must be serious consequences for an attack on Israel, or she will bleed from a thousand cuts.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
09/24/2005 12:51 Comments ||
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#11
I fear Israel is doomed.
As others have said this tit for tat is a losing equation. The Israelis are so concerned about world opinion, they're willing to let themselves be killed via a thousand cuts over time.
Hamas lobs 30 missles, Israel surgically takes out 4 or 5 bad guys... You'll never break their will that way. Lob enough artillery to kill 1000, 2000, 5000 of these savages, and ignore the bleating from the UN and other Jew haters of the world.
Wars are won by breaking the will of your opponent, or killing them to extinction. Israel is doing neither.
Too bad, because I have tremendous admiration for that tiny nation, but until they get serious about their existence, and less concerned about world opinion, they will never know peace.
Posted by: Francis ||
09/24/2005 16:17 Comments ||
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The Fatah faction of Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas has blamed the resistance group Hamas for the deadly blast at a military parade in Gaza that killed at least 19 people and wounded 80 others. "The Fatah Central Committee holds the Hamas movement fully responsible for the victims of the military parade (that was held) among civilians," the committee said in a statement.
... apparently with live ammunition. Normally, when you go to a parade, they just polish up the guns and such and leave the ammunition and explosives back in garrison.
Hamas earlier said the explosion at its rally in the northern Gaza refugee camp of Jabaliya was caused by an Israeli airstrike.
"Yeah! I seen it, I tell yez!"
Israel denied involvement in the blast, the first deadly incident in the territory since it completed its Gaza pullout.
"You ain't seen nuttin'. You gotta quit drinkin' that stuff. You'll go blind!"
Fatah's Central Committee slammed Hamas for holding a rally in the densely populated camp, where thousands watched the parade procession attended by dozens of fighters, armed with rifles and other weapons.
Brilliant, wasn't it?
The massive blast on Friday ripped through the Jabaliya refugee camp as throngs of people celebrated Israel's recent withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, just hours after Israeli troops shot dead three Palestinians in the West Bank.
"Hurrah! Hurrah! [KABOOM!]"
Medical sources said 19 people were killed with more than 80 wounded. Among the casualties were children and resistance fighters.
And no doubt some child resistance fighters...
Among those hurt, 20 were in serious or critical condition, Muawiya Hassanein, head of the Palestinian emergency services in the Gaza Strip, told AFP. Palestinian security sources put the death toll at 19, but there was no immediate confirmation from medics.
"I'd put the death toll at 20. How about you, Mahmoud?"
"19. This one's still moving."
Accusations from a Hamas spokesman that the explosion was caused by rockets fired from an Israeli drone were categorically denied by the Israeli military.
"It was a rocket! I seen it!"
"Oh, shuddup."
"Help! Help! The Zionists are oppressing me!"
The jeep was ferrying men from the Islamist movement's armed wing to the open space earmarked for the festivities, when it exploded, sending mangled body parts of fighters, children and bystanders flying. The explosion occurred just as a main leader of Hamas, Ismail Haniya, was to address the swell of activists and supporters.
No word on whether he's one of the 19 or 20 deaders...
The crowd panicked and tried to escape as others tried to provide first aid before the ambulances arrived. The jeep was partially destroyed and a plume of white smoke spluttered out of its burnt, bloodied wreckage.
I love al-Jizzle's characteristically descriptive prose...
"There was smoke all over, and then we saw people in pieces, but we couldn't make out what really happened," said Hazem Abu Rashad, 18.
Brilliant. No doubt it's only my extensive experience in combat that would have made me think it was an explosion right away. Or maybe he didn't hear the "boom."
Witnesses said many children were among the dead and wounded. Hamas said six of its fighters were among those killed, including Jihad Shaleal, the head of the military wing in Jebaliya.
Goodbye, Jihad. Give our warmest regards to Himmler...
The Palestinian interior ministry and witnesses said the blast appeared to have been caused by Hamas explosives inside the car. "There is absolutely no excuse to parade weapons in the streets," Palestinian National Security Adviser Jibril Rajoub said on Friday. "They (resistance groups) are merely trying to express their power and their capabilities. I would hope Palestinian society will soon be rid of all of these images."
He means guys with guns pretending to be soldiers...
Abu Rashad, who was just metres from the explosion, said three fighters with two homemade rockets were in the truck's bed. Three or four other fighters, who are extremely popular with children, rode inside as teenagers thronged the vehicle, he said.
The Palestinian Interior Ministry issued a statement calling on Hamas "to shoulder its responsibility for these ... explosions instead of making accusations against others".
"Grow the hell up, why don'tcha?"
If an accident, the explosion would be only the latest in a string of deadly mishaps.
Yeah, we've been following the red wire-green wire thing with a certain amount of interest for the past few years now...
Six people were killed earlier this month in Gaza City when a Hamas weapons warehouse exploded. Hamas claimed it was an Israeli attack, but an investigation by Palestinian security officials said the blast was an accident caused by the fighters.
"Hey, Ahmed! We got an ash try in here?"
"An ash tray? For what? This is the powder magazine... awshit... [KABOOM!]"
During an Islamic Jihad rally at the abandoned settlement of Netzarim last week, a fighter died after accidentally shooting himself in the head.
"Hey, y'all! Watch what happens when I do this!... [BANG!]... Ow. Rosebud!"
After the blast on Friday, seven or eight fighters stood in the back of another pickup truck as it drove through the streets of Gaza, using their feet to stop a half dozen rockets from bouncing around in the bed.
Indescribably brilliant.
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri told AFP "an Israeli drone fired several rockets at a convoy of cars participating in the parade, creating a large number of martyrs and injured. This is an abominable Israeli crime."
"It couldn't possibly have been our own stoopidity that dunnit! It hadda be them! I know it was! I heard 'em laughin' after the explosion!"
Speaking to Aljazeera, Hamas representative in Beirut Osama Hamdan said tens of Palestinian have seen with their own eyes the Israeli missiles falling down, and expressed dismay over the official statements issued by the Palestinian Authority which attributed the matter to an explosion resulting from "internal error" just minutes after the incident.
"Yeah! We seen it!"
Hassan Yousof, another Hamas leader, also expressed surprise as to how the Palestinian Authority rushed to adopt the Israeli version and reject the testimonies of tens of Palestinians who saw the missiles coming from the Israeli spy planes. "The Israeli missiles have targeted leaders of Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades and political leaders in Hamas," he said. A Hamas spokesman said the rockets and Qassam missiles exhibited during the military parade were actually "plastic models" as can be seen by anyone close enough or by zooming a camera on any of the missiles. Hamas leader Nizar Rayan exhibited an electric device picked from the debris which he said was proof of an Israeli missile attack.
"Hey! What is that thing?"
"It's... ummm... a thing on a wire."
Posted by: Fred ||
09/24/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
I remember an ad from 20 years ago about a power supply company. They made power supplies for the Tomahawk (ACM? Maverick?) ground-attack missile. They showed a picture of the power supply retrieved from the debris of a test firing. It still met specs. I wonder if what this guy has is...
The CIA is working to improve overseas spying through more high-risk operations and less reliance on foreign intelligence services, according to CIA Director Porter J. Goss.
"The CIA credo is that the U.S. must always have the place of primacy among our interests," Mr. Goss said of CIA plans to conduct more "unilateral" spying operations.
In a meeting Thursday with CIA employees, Mr. Goss was critical of the agency's Directorate of Operations, which intelligence officials say has been opposing reform efforts by Mr. Goss and his key aides. The No. 2 official in the directorate, Robert Richer, resigned in protest last week because he disagreed with Mr. Goss' operations-related reforms.
Mr. Goss said the CIA is "doing better" at conducting unilateral operations and is working to place more spies around the world under different disguises than in the past.
"When I say we need to be global, this is an admission that we are not in all of the places we should be," Mr. Goss said. "We don't have this luxury anymore."
Posted by: Captain America ||
09/24/2005 01:29 ||
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#1
"The CIA credo is that the U.S. must always have the place of primacy among our interests,"
#2
Unfortunately, it is a return to an old policy. The Tranzies who infiltrated the buearucracy and who still breath within its walls have loyalties beyond the Constitution.
#3
I would rather they just officially declare their real business ("cocktails on the embassy party circuit"), and stay out of the way of the real intel organizations.
Posted by: Carl in N.H. ||
09/24/2005 9:32 Comments ||
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#4
You may laugh at this, but it is deadly serious. The CIA has been sliding downhill for some time now. The conventional wisdom was that the world was one big happy family and we could trust others to look out for our interests. Now that wisdom is being dumped (thank God) in favor of the Reagan model: Trust but verify. There must be a ton of CIA retirements coming or Gos would nt have got initiative running.
#5
Well good luck with that. As the CIA itself stated, groups like Al Qaeda would be impossible for an American to infiltrate ** cough ** Johnny Taliban ** cough ** Adam Gadahn ** cough.
#6
An American might get in at Splodeydope level, but promotion prospects might be limited.
"Abu Billy Bob, here are the plans for the big attack. What do you think?"
Yeah, right.
#7
I suspect that this is laying the groundwork for a permanent SOCOM military-style ground operative division. In the Cold War, the vast majority were information gatherers, with literally only a dozen or two James Bond types doing all that work.
The need today is para-military agents working in a combined resource. They act as liason to the agency, as ground operatives with other non-military and military personnel, and mostly as "free-lancers", floating operatives, adaptable to many missions.
Their operational groups are mission specific, and they do the I/O with agency support as needed. Optimally, most major missions would have one along, and inter-agency consensus would be reached at the debriefing so that there would be clarity about who did what to whom, why, what was gained, and where do we now stand?
#8
The disintegration and feminization of the CIA begun under Stansfield Turner crippled US intelligence for years. There need to be an awful lot of girlie men swept from the Agency to be replaced by ruthless, competent individuals who really DO put our national interests first.
Fully concur with #7...we need much tighter interagency cooperation.
Posted by: Old Marine ||
09/24/2005 20:29 Comments ||
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Authorities in the breakaway enclave of Somaliland arrested six al Qaeda suspects accused of planning attacks in the lead-up to next week's parliamentary poll, officials said on Friday.
Somaliland Interior Minister Ismail Osman Aden said heavy machine guns, two boxes of anti-tank mines and a large cache of ammunition were retrieved in the operation late on Thursday.
"The terrorists we have arrested are from the al Qaeda cell in Mogadishu. They include a terrorist on the list of internationally wanted terrorists," he told Reuters, declining to identify the suspects.
Some of the suspects included locals from the former British protectorate that broke away from Somalia in 1991, he added.
Somaliland, a relatively stable enclave which is not recognised internationally, is preparing to hold its second multiparty elections next week.
"These terrorists were planning to kill senior government officials and some prominent foreigners and destroy buildings to create chaos in this election week or on the voting day," Osman said.
Four suspects were arrested in a raid on a house in the main city of Hargeisa. The other two were detained separately.
A doctor in the main hospital in Hargeisa said three policemen were wounded in the operation.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/24/2005 00:11 ||
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#1
As we all know it's not allen's will for there to be any part of that former state that is safe or stable.
I am wondering how many of these guys are "leaders"? Are they just the typical 9,999th most important members of al-Qaeda like 99.9% of the usual bunch.
#2
Dan, could the wanted terrorist be Faisal Abdullah Mohammed or is that hoping for too much?
Posted by: Jim G. ||
09/24/2005 6:40 Comments ||
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#3
Crap, they're all locals: Sep 24, 2005 â By Hussein Ali Nur
HARGEISA, Somalia (Reuters) - The self-declared republic of Somaliland said on Saturday eight al Qaeda suspects arrested days before a parliamentary election were all locals from Islamic religious circles. Somaliland President Dahir Rayale Kahin accused the detainees of "disguising" themselves as clerics to plot attacks prior to the September 29 poll. Police in the Somaliland region of Burao said one of them â taken in the latest swoop on Friday night â was a prominent local cleric Sheikh Mohamed Mohamoud Nur.
"Islam is a religion of peace, but terrorists, like chameleons, change colors and try the one they can easily blend with," Kahin told a new conference. The suspects, who are accused of working for the al Qaeda network, were all Somaliland locals but trained outside in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, he added.
Posted by: steve ||
09/24/2005 11:10 Comments ||
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The US military officer heading forces in southern Afghanistan said Friday that about there are still about 800 members of the Taliban operating in the southern provinces of the country.
That sounds kinda light to me. Maybe that's just the number of Number 3's...
Colonel Kevin Owens, speaking to reporters at the Pentagon via videophone from Kandahar, said that coalition forces in Afghanistan have "significantly degraded" Taliban capabilities, but have not completely devastated their presence. In other parts of Afghanistan, such as the northern Zabul Province, Owens said the area has traditionally been a sanctuary for Taliban forces. "It is very remote, very rugged terrain. It is very isolated both geographically and politically from the rest of Afghanistan," said Owens.
Sounds like a great place for napalm...
Owens acknowledged that it is hard to "get at" the Taliban in those locations, but said he believes the US military has had "a lot of success in being able to go where coalition forces really have not been able to operate effectively in the past". Although last weekends elections in Afghanistan saw little violence, six candidates were murdered in the run-up to the parliamentary elections by Taliban-claimed attacks.
They thought there was too much violence...
Owens said he is optimistic that the recently executed National Assembly election is going to have a significant impact in its ability to reach and affect a broader segment of the Afghan population. As for the location of Osama Bin-Laden, who was suspected in the past of finding refuge in remote areas of northeastern Afghanistan, Owens ruled out that the US "most-wanted terrorist" is located in the southern region of the country. But Owens admitted he has no idea where Bin-Laden is. In addition, the Pentagon said it does not believe Mullah Omar, a partner to Bin-Laden, is operating in Afghanistan or has any leading role in current Taliban operations there.
"Last we checked, he was still in Peshawar..."
Moreover, the nearly 10,000 US troops still stationed in Afghanistan will not be significantly downsized or withdraw before Afghan forces are "fully trained top to bottom," Owens said. Owens said Afghan forces must be capable of providing security independent of coalition assistance and that right now this is not situation on the ground.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/24/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
"a lot of success in being able to go where coalition forces really have not been able to operate effectively in the past".
#2
Considering several factors, the terrible attrition of Taliban in Afghanistan up until the forced deportations from Pakistan swelled their ranks, and the really terrible attrition since then, that number may be fairly accurate.
Remember also that the Talibs have no significant allies left, in fact being in blood feud with several Pushtun tribes, it would not be unreasonable to suggest that in the South, they have been whittled down.
This is not to say, however, that those are the only Talibs left. There are probably large bands still on the loose in Pakistan and Iran, and any with wealth have probably left for other climes.
AN Australian special forces soldier has been wounded and an Afghan soldier killed in a firefight with Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan. In the first time Australian special forces have come under direct fire since their deployment this month, a band of more than 50 suspected Taliban fighters on Thursday attacked a joint patrol. Defence Minister Robert Hill, who arrived in Afghanistan yesterday for a whistlestop visit, said the small and light special forces patrol had been fired on with rocket-propelled grenades and mortars.
The Australian special forces soldier, who has not been named, suffered minor shrapnel wounds, while the Afghan National Army soldier died at the scene. The coalition forces returned fire and Senator Hill said a significant number of the attackers were killed. "The Australians called in and received air support in the form of fixed-wing aircraft and also Apache attack helicopters," Senator Hill said. The Australian soldier is being treated at the special forces base, in an undisclosed location.
"Here's your bandaid, mate!"
"Thanks! How about one o' those sudsers, too?"
The area in which the Australian forces were operating has not been patrolled by coalition forces for some time. "It was known as one of the traditional strongholds of the Taliban," Senator Hill said. "The contact (firefight) wasn't surprising but the intensity of the contact is something of a surprise." Terror mastermind Osama bin Laden is believed to be hiding in the area, close to the Khyber Pass.
The patrol of about a dozen coalition troops was operating from a special forces base at Gardez southeast of Kabul and close to the Pakistani border. It is only the second time members of the 190-strong team of Australian SAS soldiers, commandos and support troops have come under fire since leaving Perth in the first week of this month. "There was another incident a few days ago when they were fired on with rockets," Senator Hill said. "But they missed the target ... by a fair margin."
That'd be Hek's boyz, of course...
Special forces patrols' tactics and procedures will be reviewed in the wake of the firefight, which happened outside the immediate response zone, so the patrol had to fight its own way out. Joint patrols with the Afghan national army are a relatively new experience for the special forces. He said the Government would extend condolences to the family of the Afghan who was killed and looked forward to a full and speedy recovery for the Australian soldier.
The special forces are operating in remote regions of Afghanistan, conducting combat patrols, reconnaissance and surveillance operations. The SAS troops are carrying out long-range fighting patrols in specially designed vehicles. Operating in small teams, they are combing Afghanistan's rugged mountains for al-Qaida and Taliban strongholds. The incident response regiment members are experts in anti-terror measures, including dealing with chemical weapons and improvised bombs.
The Australians are part of a combined force of more than 34,000 troops from two dozen countries, about two-thirds of whom are American. The Australians were sent to Afghanistan to help quell Taliban and al-Qaida resistance ahead of elections last weekend. The parliamentary elections were relatively trouble free, but more than 1000 insurgents and civilians have died this year, along with more than 60 US troops. Australia's only military casualty in Afghanistan is 33-year-old SAS sergeant Andrew Russell, who died when his vehicle struck a landmine in 2002.
Posted by: Oztralian [AKA] God Save The World ||
09/24/2005 00:00 ||
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In two-day long military operation Friday, forces arrested at least twenty tribesmen involved in a series of rocket strikes in recent days in North Waziristan tribal agency, bordering Afghanistan, said sources. The armed forces also engaged four helicopter gunships in the 11-hour long search operation in Dutta Khel and nearby Hamozi and Mizar MadaKhel tribes of the agency, official sources told KUNA. Sources said that residential compounds were searched in tribes and heavy arms and ammunition were recovered from the mud-houses.
Operations were launched after a series of rocket attacks on the security forces. An armyman was wounded in an attack, targeting military convoy on Thursday. About 1,000 army, paramilitary troops and personnel of the Quick Reaction Force last week conducted a major operation in North Waziristan agency. Forces busted biggest Al-Qaeda den, a Madrassah and adjacent compound of former Taliban minister Sirajuddin Haqqani, also known as Al-Qaeda rebel, in the agency and seized 15 truckloads of arms and ammunition. They also arrested 21 militants including 11 foreigners, believed to be of Uzbek, Tajik and Arab origins.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/24/2005 00:00 ||
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This is the ten deaders from yesterday, plus a few more...
US and Afghan forces have surrounded a Taliban commander in a central province, an Afghan official said on Friday, after fighting in which the US military said 14 insurgents and an Afghan soldier were killed. Uruzgan Governor Jan Mohammad Khan said Afghan and US forces launched an operation on Thursday after learning that senior Taliban commander Mullah Dadullah was in the area. âWe have information that Dadullah is here. Fighting is going on,â Khan said. The US military said 14 Taliban had been killed in the fighting in Uruzgan province. An Afghan soldier was killed and a US soldier wounded. But a US spokesman said he had no information about a Taliban commander being surrounded.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/24/2005 00:00 ||
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The police launched a crackdown against foreigners living in Lahore without proper documents in the aftermath of Thursdayâs bombings, police sources told Daily Times on Saturday. The police arrested 70 people, mostly Afghans. Police sources said that Africans might also come under this operationâs net.
"Y'ain't from around here, air yew?"
Seven to eight members of an Afghan family, including women and children, were arrested from Awan Town, while six Afghans were arrested from the Ravi Road precincts, sources said. Female police joined the raiding teams. A police official told Daily Times that the crackdown started early in the morning. He said, âWe canât give details about the operation but we got a tip and are working on it.â
"I can say no more!"
He said that Afghan settlers in Pakistan were recruited by various Jihadi organisations and they were involved in robberies, selling illegal weapons, drugs and smuggled goods. The source said that some Al Qaeda members and Taliban had been arrested during operations against Afghan camps in the past. Most of the unregistered Afghans living in the city had their own homes in the suburbs of Lahore.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/24/2005 00:00 ||
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Umar Bakri gave terrorist training
According to Khabrain, Sheikh Umar Bakri â recently deported from the UK â used his Al Muhajirun organisation to attract Muslim youth to extremism in British amusement parks, then took the selected ones from amongst them to a village where they were told about the methods of holding and using weapons and making and using bombs. No weapons were, however, actually used during training.
Why was Maulana Fazlur Rehman deported?
Writing in the weekly Azm, Tanvir Qaisar Shahid stated that MMA-JUI leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman was recently deported from the UAE because he had gone and met Libyaâs Qaddafi who had in the past insulted the Saudi king who had even withdrawn his ambassador from Libya in protest. It could be that Saudi Arabia asked the UAE to deport him to prevent him from entering Saudi Arabia. It was also possible that the UAE deported him thinking he was Fazlur Rehman Khalil, the militia leader of the banned Harkatul Mujahideen. Maulana Fazlur Rehman had also visited him in Islamabad just a week earlier to hear him say that he should ask the government not to arrest him again.
What do boys do after madrassas?
Writing in the Jang, Nazeer Naji stated that every year, thousands of graduates came out of religious seminaries to look for jobs. They passed the equivalent of FA and BA exams at the seminaries but remained without the basic functional knowledge to do anything productive. They usually became teachers of the Quran, imams and khateebs in functioning mosques. Many got into the auqaf department, others went into the army and rangers to serve as priests, or got into jails to serve as priests for the prisoners. They also went abroad to serve expatriate Pakistanis and benefited from copious community funds there. In time, they competed with one another on the basis of sect, which competition could become quite ugly.
âNaaginâ takes revenge
According to Khabrain, a pair of cobra snakes entered the house of district health officer Muhammad Nawaz of Phalia. He used a stick and killed the male snake while the naagin (female cobra) fled the house. But after a week the naagin returned and bit the daughter of Nawaz. After that it attacked the second daughter, but she was saved by people. The daughter who was bitten died later on because of the revenge of the naagin.
Hizb al Tahrir recruits in Australia
According to the weekly Azm, Hizb al Tahrir was recruiting Muslims from the Green Acres area of Sydney for Al Qaeda. It stated that Muhammad Atta, the bomber of 9/11, had contacted the Hizb in Germany and that the 7/7 London bomber Shehzad Tanvir also had contacts with Hizb Al Tahrir. The organisation was found distributing pamphlets among the Muslims of Australia. Meanwhile, the head of Islamic Teaching Institute in Australia, Sheikh Khalid Yaseen, had asked Muslims not to make friends with non-Muslim Australians. He also said that disobedient wives should be beaten up and homosexuals should be put to death. The mufti of Australia Sheikh Tajuddin Hilali had condemned this fatwa.
Khar has Bhuttoâs last chair
Talking to the Nawa-e-Waqt magazine, Ghulam Mustafa Khar said that he had bought the chair from jail officials on which Zulfikar Ali Bhutto sat for the last time before he was hanged. Bhutto tried to write something the night of his hanging but could not finish it and kept tearing up the pages. The officers wanted him to write and sign something but he did not want this. They beat him so badly that he could not stand up. His hanging was brought forward and he was carried to the gallows on a stretcher but when he realised that he was being filmed, he asked them to let him walk. On the gallows, he just said âfinish itâ and thus went to his death. His dead body hung for one and a half hours. Before burying him, the officials sprinkled chemicals in the grave. Khar said that he loved being with women and had married five times and had ten children. He said that unfortunately, he had had to divorce his wives on occasion.
Pakistani umpire fondles girl
According to the Jang, a Pakistani umpire who had gone to Malaysia for Azlan Shah hockey tournament, was reported for showing discourtesy to the female hostess of a Kuala Lumpur hotel. The umpire pretended to pin a Pakistani flag on the shirt of the hostess but fondled her breast in the process.
General Zia was great
Writing in the Jang, Abdul Qadir Hassan stated that had Zia-ul-Haq not stood up to Russian imperialism, there would have been no mosques, no Quran, no Muslim names and no Arabic in Pakistan. The Russians would have annexed Pakistan to get to the âwarm watersâ of the Indian Ocean. Zia was all alone when he confronted the imperialist challenge of Russia which had tasted the blood of Muslims.
General Zia not so great
Writing in the Jang, Irshad Haqqani stated that most rulers of Pakistan were in the habit of spending huge amounts of public funds for their personal good. He remembered that General Zia used to spend colossal sums of public money on himself and his family. He wondered how a man who observed roza and namaz could be guilty of this.
Smelly bathrooms of Kairul Madaris
Writing in the daily Pakistan, Tanwir Qaiser Shahid stated that the head of Multanâs largest madrassa Khairul Madaris had nearly a thousand pupils saying namaz but the bathrooms where they performed their ablutions were extremely dirty and the walls of the seminary were in bad repair. When he met the chief of the madrassa Qari Haneef Jullundhari, he saw that he rode an expensive new Toyota car and that his room was comfortable with rugs and air-conditioners.
âNaghmaâ causes upheaval
According to Sarerahe in the Nawa-e-Waqt, a heejra transvestite named Naghma caused a lot of upheaval at a union council poll in Lahore when he/she announced that he/she was taking part in the elections with the symbol of chiriya (sparrow). He said his sparrow will bring down a whole pack of hawks in the shape of corrupt politicians.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/24/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
revenge of the naagin.
Death to Corvettes!
Posted by: C Shelby ||
09/24/2005 2:34 Comments ||
Top||
#2
...It was also possible that the UAE deported him thinking he was Fazlur Rehman Khalil...
I made that exact same mistake a few weeks ago, when I put Khalil's picture on a Fazl story. Fred was kind enough to fix my error without mocking me too much. If it happened to me, it could happen to anybody...
#3
He said his sparrow will bring down a whole pack of hawks buzzards in the shape of corrupt politicians.
lumpum up pile 'o Demorats.
/tx mr. sparrow
Posted by: Red Dog ||
09/24/2005 12:04 Comments ||
Top||
#4
A heejra transvestite named Naghma
Didn't know if it was yeast or smagma
He/she tried his/her best
Not to faint from the test
But the shame of it all was a drag-ma
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
09/24/2005 12:42 Comments ||
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#5
Alaska Paul that poem is worthy of a lift! Ima stealing it. LOL!!
Posted by: Red Dog ||
09/24/2005 13:24 Comments ||
Top||
#6
In Asia, the Naagin is responsible for deaths. In the US, the Nagin is responsible.
#7
If the rest of the world, and especially the ME, read Fred's Thugburg, tragic faux pas's wouldn't occur. Course, if they shot first and asked questions later, thugburg would be shorter
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/24/2005 15:05 Comments ||
Top||
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.
Saudi Arabia has passed onto the Interpol the names of 18 of its most wanted terror suspects and asked it to trace them, a senior security official said. Maj. Gen. Mansour Al-Turki, official spokesman of the Interior Ministry, said the ministry had published the list of wanted terror suspects outside the Kingdom. âItâs an alert to all countries that these men are wanted by the Saudi government for security reasons and also a notice to the ports of those countries to arrest them upon identification and hand them over to Saudi authorities,â said Al-Turki. âThis is not new. Details of individuals wanted for security reasons are passed onto the Interpol,â he pointed out.
Yemen has officially asked the United States to drop the name of a prominent Yemeni cleric from a list of suspected financiers of terrorism, the official Saba news agency reported yesterday. âThe Republic of Yemen has sent a letter to the US administration asking it to drop charges against Sheikh Abdul-Majid Al-Zindani,â said the agency.
A BRITISH-BORN "international warrior" who waged jihad across the globe before being caught at the Channel Tunnel with explosives on his socks was jailed for 15 years yesterday.
One Turkish soldier was killed Friday and five others were injured in an ambush laid down by Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) activists in the city of Siirt. Security sources have reportedly said that land mines went off to kill the soldier and wound the other five. Elsewhere, one more soldier was injured as he stepped on a land mine, and two others were also wounded while trying to defuse other mines.
The US army announced on Friday that a crackdown operation in the northern city of Mosul has ended up in the arrest of a terror suspect holding a Tunisian citizenship. A statement by the Multi National Forces (MNF) in Iraq, a copy of which was received by KUNA, said the terror suspect 
One Iraqi soldier was killed and four were injured in when a booby-trapped car, driven by a suicide assailant, went off near a checkpoint in southern Baghdad Friday. The injured were rushed to a hospital according to a source of the Iraqi police. The Iraqi capital has been, like other parts nationwide, subjected to daily assaults by outlawed militants.
Four Iraqis were killed and eight others injured in the explosion of a bomb planted in the bus they were riding in Baghdad, said an Iraqi police source. In a statement, the source said the blast took place at a bus stop serving passengers heading from the Plane Yard to Baghdad. However, eyewitnesses said the blast was a suicide-bombing carried out by a terrorist who blew himself up among the passengers. As the area was sealed by Iraqi police, ambulances transported the casualties to a medical center.
The Fatah faction of Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas has blamed the resistance group Hamas for the deadly blast at a military parade in Gaza that killed at least 19 people and wounded 80 others. "The Fatah Central Committee holds the Hamas movement fully responsible for the victims of the military parade (that was held) among civilians," the committee said in a statement. 
Witnesses said many children were among the dead and wounded. Hamas said six of its fighters were among those killed, including Jihad Shaleal, the head of the military wing in Jebaliya. 
Hassan Yousof, another Hamas leader, also expressed surprise as to how the Palestinian Authority rushed to adopt the Israeli version and reject the testimonies of tens of Palestinians who saw the missiles coming from the Israeli spy planes. "The Israeli missiles have targeted leaders of Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades and political leaders in Hamas," he said. A Hamas spokesman said the rockets and Qassam missiles exhibited during the military parade were actually "plastic models" as can be seen by anyone close enough or by zooming a camera on any of the missiles. Hamas leader Nizar Rayan exhibited an electric device picked from the debris which he said was proof of an Israeli missile attack.
The US military officer heading forces in southern Afghanistan said Friday that about there are still about 800 members of the Taliban operating in the southern provinces of the country.
AN Australian special forces soldier has been wounded and an Afghan soldier killed in a firefight with Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan. In the first time Australian special forces have come under direct fire since their deployment this month, a band of more than 50 suspected Taliban fighters on Thursday attacked a joint patrol. Defence Minister Robert Hill, who arrived in Afghanistan yesterday for a whistlestop visit, said the small and light special forces patrol had been fired on with rocket-propelled grenades and mortars. 
In two-day long military operation Friday, forces arrested at least twenty tribesmen involved in a series of rocket strikes in recent days in North Waziristan tribal agency, bordering Afghanistan, said sources. The armed forces also engaged four helicopter gunships in the 11-hour long search operation in Dutta Khel and nearby Hamozi and Mizar MadaKhel tribes of the agency, official sources told KUNA. Sources said that residential compounds were searched in tribes and heavy arms and ammunition were recovered from the mud-houses.
US and Afghan forces have surrounded a Taliban commander in a central province, an Afghan official said on Friday, after fighting in which the US military said 14 insurgents and an Afghan soldier were killed. Uruzgan Governor Jan Mohammad Khan said Afghan and US forces launched an operation on Thursday after learning that senior Taliban commander Mullah Dadullah was in the area. âWe have information that Dadullah is here. Fighting is going on,â Khan said. The US military said 14 Taliban had been killed in the fighting in Uruzgan province. An Afghan soldier was killed and a US soldier wounded. But a US spokesman said he had no information about a Taliban commander being surrounded.
The police launched a crackdown against foreigners living in Lahore without proper documents in the aftermath of Thursdayâs bombings, police sources told Daily Times on Saturday. The police arrested 70 people, mostly Afghans. Police sources said that Africans might also come under this operationâs net.
Umar Bakri gave terrorist training
