COALITION warplanes bombed Taliban meeting in a mosque in southern Afghanistan, killing up to 50 suspected rebels, Afghan and the US-led coalition officials said. Five Canadian soldiers were wounded and a suspected Taliban killed in a gun battle elsewhere in the volatile south.
The coalition said they dropped a bomb on the rebels when they retreated into a compound after attacking an Afghan and coalition patrol in restive Helmand province's Kajaki district. "The Taliban had gathered for a meeting in a mosque and coalition forces identified their location," Helmand province's deputy governor Amir Mohammad Akhunzada said. "In an attack by planes, around 50 Taliban were killed," he said.
Taliban have yet to figure out that the best way for us to kill them is for them to gather in one spot. Any spot. Anywhere in Afghanistan.
Coalition spokesman Major Quentin Innes said he could believe the figures given by Mr Akhunzada. "Based on the incident, that's not an unreasonable number," he said, after he was asked if the figures were accurate.
"Based on the mess and the number of limbs, lips and noses, we have no reason to dispute the figure."
"This morning Afghan national security forces and coalition forces were attacked by ... suspected Taliban in Helmand province," the spokesman said. A spokesman for the governor's office Mohaidin Khan confirmed the bombing but had no information on the casualties.
Shooting erupted in the Afghan capital Kabul on Monday and some people were killed and wounded, a security official said, during a protest by angry residents after a U.S. military convoy was involved in a traffic accident. It was not immediately clear who opened fire. A Reuters reporter near the scene saw wounded people being taken away.
Witnesses said some protesters had been killed after police intervened and forced protesters to scatter. "There are casualties, killed and wounded," said a security official who declined to be identified.
Authorities were not immediately available for comment.
They were busy ducking for cover.
Earlier, scores of people took to the streets after a vehicle in a U.S. military convoy was involved in an accident with a taxi and then tried to drive away, witnesses said. Protesters set two police vehicles on fire. "People are very angry," said resident Samad Shah.
U.S. military spokesmen were not immediately available for comment.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
05/29/2006 02:04 ||
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Authorities were not immediately available for comment.
They were all off trying to figure out if all this were for real or not.
Earlier, scores of people took to the streets after a vehicle in a U.S. military convoy was involved in an accident with a taxi and then tried to drive away, witnesses said.
"You hit my piece of $hit and tried to run off!"
"No, I hit your piece of $hit and pulled to the side of the road."
"People are very angry," said resident Samad Shah
"And why not? You hit his piece of $hit! Besides, we have to prove to everyone who might be watching that we're good muslims, so we had no choice but to wish death upon our liberators and to behave in such a manner as to cause several to die! They're martyrs now. It's the only logical thing to do since nobody can read and we couldn't just report his license plate."
Posted by: grb ||
05/29/2006 4:33 Comments ||
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Posted by: ed ||
05/29/2006 13:57 Comments ||
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#8
A year ago they were rioting because of alleged koran desecration in Gitmo.
Then, as now, it appears that students are behind the rioting..
Then...
Security analysts said the demonstrations were not spontaneous reactions of the public.
"There appears to be a certain degree of planning and coordination in these protests. It could be one group that is setting them all up," said Nick Downie, who heads an independent body that advises aid organizations on security in Afghanistan.
Many here believe Pakistani operatives could be spurring Afghans to organize the protests.
Posted by: john ||
05/29/2006 21:21 Comments ||
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KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- As Canadian soldiers spent a fourth day sweeping through villages west of Kandahar in search of Taliban fighters, insurgents launched a rocket attack Saturday on the Canadians' home base. No one was injured when a lone rocket hit the sprawling Kandahar Air Field coalition base at 11:03 p.m. There was also no physical damage even though the base contains hundreds of structures and is home to almost 7,000 military personnel and civilian workers.
Must be Hek-trained.
Those numbers include approximately 1,500 of the 2,200 Canadian soldiers serving in Afghanistan. A loud roar echoed over the base when the rocket exploded, followed by the deafening howl from a public address that meant everyone had to go to the concrete bunkers for protection against any subsequent attacks. Forty minutes later, with no more rockets hitting the base, the public address system sounded the all clear.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/29/2006 00:00 ||
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The Taliban have regained control of all southwestern provinces of Afghanistan, Al Jazeera television quoted the group commander, Mullah Dadullah, as saying.
I suppose they could prove the claim by actually administering the provinces.
In his first interview with Al Jazeera since reports of his arrest spread across the world last week, the Taliban leader threatened to attack North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) troops deployed in the south of the country, the channel reported. Dadullah accused the United States of fighting Islam and Muslims.
He's making the assumption that we're fighting all of Islam and all Muslims. If that was the case the matter would be a lot simpler. Instead, we're trying to excise the religion's oozing putrescences like Mullah Dadullah, while leaving the harmless and the merely unpleasant alone. The Northern Alliance, which I'm of the opinion we should have just gone ahead and recognized as the legitimate Afghan government, was quite as Muslim as the Taliban it was fighting. It just wasn't as well armed.
He condemned the US attack on civilians in southern Afghanistan and said that Washington viewed all Afghans as its enemies and therefore killed civilians.
Only those with Taliban in their living rooms.
He held Afghan President Hamid Karzai responsible for the killings of civilians, saying that Karzai wanted foreign troops to stay in the country. He said that the Taliban had adopted a new war strategy. He said that his appearance on the television would disappoint the US and foreign and Afghan troops who had aired news of his arrest.
I'm quite disappointed. On the other hand, we only have to kill Mullah Dadullah once and he won't be on the teevee again, except maybe on the History Channel.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/29/2006 00:00 ||
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The Northern Alliance, which I'm of the opinion we should have just gone ahead and recognized as the legitimate Afghan government, was quite as Muslim as the Taliban it was fighting. It just wasn't as well armed.
The western alliance was a conglomerate who went from the (in Afgahn terms) modernist and pro-woman Massood to the Wahabi Rasul Sayaf.
BTW, it was Sayaf who gave safe conducts to the peopplle who killed Massood. He claimed he had been duped and that a bikt after he tried to warn Massood.
As a convert to the Wahhabist version of Islam, Sayyaf was set apart from other Afghans and closely connected to the Saudis and their petro-dollars. The Saudis, through their chief of intelligence, Prince Turki, sent billions to Afghanistan to fight the communists and spread the Wahhabist creed.
Four Afghan policemen and two Taliban were killed and five other constables were injured in separate incidents of violence in Afghanistan's volatile southern parts on Sunday. A policeman was killed and five others wounded in Ghazni province when the militants blew up a police jeep with a remote-controlled bomb. The attack was carried out in the Andar district. In the ensuing firefight, police said they had killed two Taliban and arrested two others.
Police chief of the province Abdur Rahmand Sar Jang said the arrested Taliban were being interrogated. He said fresh contingents of police had been arrived on the scene of the battle and the area had been encircled by the police.
Separately, security officials in the neighbouring Helmand province say they have found beheaded bodies of the three policemen, who were kidnapped by Taliban two days back. Spokesman for the provincial governor Muhiuddin said the three policemen were kidnapped by Taliban on Friday evening when they were on patrol on a link road in the Kajakee district of the province. This morning, said the spokesman, their beheaded bodies were found in the same area.
The last three days were calm in the otherwise volatile southern provinces, which were scene to fierce fighting between Taliban and the coalition and Afghan forces. More than 300 people were killed in a week time in the four southern provinces of Afghanistan. The dead also included more than 20 civilians, who had become victim of coalition forces' bombing in Kandahar province on Monday last.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/29/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
I don't meant to be unkind, but that really is one butt-ugly freakazoid.
#3
Damn! I've looked all over for towels that long and concluded they just don't sell them West of Londonistan - and now you go and tell me they're curtains! Sheesh. Color me embarrassed. :^)
That'll make some nice film for the Bangla Evening News...
DHAKA (Reuters) - A Bangladesh court on Monday sentenced seven top Islamist militants to death for killing two judges in a bomb attack in southern Jhalakati town in November last year. "They will be hanged until death," Judge Reza Tarik Ahmed said in his verdict. The seven included chiefs of two outlawed groups -- Shayek Abdur Rahman of Jamaat-ul Mujahideen and Siddikul Islam Bangla Bhai of Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh.
"I pronounce this highest penalty as involvement of the accused has been proved beyond doubt," the judge said in a courtroom packed with lawyers and security officers, witnesses said.
All but one of the convicts are in custody, police said. The other one is on the run and was tried in his absence. Two judges were killed when a bomb was thrown at a vehicle carrying them to a court in Jhalakati, 300 km (187 miles) south of the capital Dhaka, on November 14, 2005. The outlawed groups, trying to turn Muslim dominated Bangladesh into a sharia-based Islamic country, killed at least 30 people and wounded around 150 in a spate of countrywide bomb attacks between August and December last year.
A soldier and a policeman were killed and three soldiers were injured on Sunday when a car exploded at a checkpoint in Pakistans restive tribal region bordering Afghanistan, officials said. The lone occupant of the vehicle also died in the blast, a security official said, adding that officials were investigating if it was a suicide attack or whether some explosive material in the car went off accidentally.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said police and paramilitary soldiers manning a checkpoint in Datta Khel stopped a car and asked its driver to get out. The vehicle exploded before the troops could search it and the man inside was blown to pieces, the official said.
A paramilitary soldier and a tribal policeman also died in the blast and three paramilitary soldiers were wounded, he said. Datta Khel is 24 kilometers (15 miles) west of Miranshah, the main town in the tribal region of North Waziristan.
The incident came hours after masked pro-Taliban militants gunned down a pro-government tribal elder in the region. Gunmen sprayed bullets at Malik Takhti Khan, leader of the influential Jani Khel clan, when he visited the bazaar in the town of Mir Ali in North Waziristan, a local official said. Witnesses said the masked attackers fled in a waiting car. Khan, 55, had been supporting the governments drive against militants in the region, residents said.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/29/2006 00:00 ||
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Over 120 suspected militants were detained in Quetta, Naushki, Sibbi and Kharan after overnight rocket attacks in the restive southwestern Balochistan province, Inspector General of Balochistan Police Chaudhry Yaqub said in telephone interview with Arab News yesterday. The attacks killed a woman and wounded three others. Special teams have been sent to Mastung, Dhadhar, Sibbi, Naushki and Kharan to arrest more suspects whose names have figured in intelligence reports, Yaqub said. He said most of those arrested belong to the defunct Balochistan Liberation Army and Balochistan National Party.
Militants struck Saturday night firing seven rockets and opening machine-gun fire in Quetta, Naushki and Kohlu. The rockets landed in different localities creating panic among the residents. One of the rockets hit a residential area in Samungli killing the woman and wounding her husband and two children.
Yaqub, at a press conference in Quetta yesterday, accused the militants of the outlawed BLA for the attack who are agitating for more political and economic rights in the impoverished province. The suspected militants also targeted paramilitary checkpoints in Kohlu, Harnai and Dera Bugti areas, west of the provincial capital Quetta but there were no reports of any casualties.
Mobile police teams on night patrol detained a large number of suspects from different areas after the attacks. The authorities have registered cases against 15 people, including a son of a rebel tribal chief Nawab Akbar Bugti and a senator belonging to his Jamhoori Watan Party, for Fridays terrorist attack in the main natural gas town of Sui.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/29/2006 00:00 ||
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Fred, if one's available, may I suggest posting a still from Casablanca? Specifically, a shot of Claude Rains in his "Captain Renault" outfit? :-D
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) ||
05/29/2006 20:57 Comments ||
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At least three people, including a top chief of a separatist organization, were killed in fresh violence across Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday. Indian security forces killed a top commander of Hizbul Mujaheedin, identified as Munawar Shah, near the health resort of Pahalgam in south Kashmir, news agency Indo-Asian News Service reported from capital Srinagar. Police told reporters today in Srinagar that Munawar had been active in south Kashmir for the past many years.
Meanwhile, separatists Kashmiris killed Abdul Rashid Khan, a surrendered ultra at Bandipore in north Kashmir. In the shootout one woman was also killed while a child was seriously injured, the agency reported.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/29/2006 00:00 ||
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Two members of a CBS News team, veteran cameraman Paul Douglas, 48, and soundman James Brolan, 42, were killed and correspondent Kimberly Dozier, 39, was seriously injured Monday when the U.S. Army unit in which they were embedded was attacked. A U.S. soldier was also killed in the attack, and six others were wounded.
The CBS crew was on a patrol with the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, when their convoy was hit. They were reporting a "routine" story, covering American troops for Memorial Day. The trio was only planning to be out for a few hours, in order to get back to the CBS Baghdad bureau in time to edit their piece.
Following what the U.S. military is calling a "curious incident" in the Karada neighborhood of Baghdad, Dozier, Douglas and Brolan got out of their armored vehicle. That's when a nearby car packed with explosives detonated. Douglas and Brolan died at the scene. Dozier sustained serious injuries and was flown to a U.S. military hopsital inside Baghada's Green Zone, where she underwent surgery. She is in critical condition, but doctors are cautiously optimistic about her prognosis.
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#2
Unfortunate loss, but deserves no more attention than the loss of any one of our brave men and women in harm's way.
Posted by: Captain America ||
05/29/2006 14:45 Comments ||
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#3
DV, that's beyond the pale. These are Americans, out there getting killed getting news. They don't determine what goes on the air, nor whether to 'balance' the view with that delivered to Al Jazeera.
Posted by: ed ||
05/29/2006 14:47 Comments ||
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#5
Dozier seemed to much more knowledgable and serious than the average CBS crew, especially compared to that Australian bimbo.
Posted by: ed ||
05/29/2006 14:50 Comments ||
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#6
I hate that word "decimated." One in ten of them was killed?
Posted by: Fred ||
05/29/2006 14:51 Comments ||
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Following what the U.S. military is calling a "curious incident" in the Karada neighborhood of Baghdad, Dozier, Douglas and Brolan got out of their armored vehicle. That's when a nearby car packed with explosives detonated...
#8
I have yet to see a CBS, ABC, or NBC reporter do anything but undermine the war effort. If this chap was different, his loss is bigger than we can count. Otherwise, he was a traitor and good riddence.
When I was in, there was a joke about if you see somebody pointing a rifle at you, and you see another guy pointing a camera, shoot the guy with the camera first. He does more damage to your effort.
#15
There is an argument about the length of the war and how the MSM in the US has prolonged the terrorist actions. The terrorists killed 2 of their own today. Without the US Military, there probably would not be any freedom of the press anywhere. We set the standard and the world followed. Funny how you think your fellow Americans working for MSM would take a different approach to the war on terror and try to make us look more like liberators than occupiers.
However, they don't and I could care less about anyone working for CBS ABC NBC CNN.....
They are traitors taking advantage of one of the greatest things Dead American Soldiers gave them.
It sucks that we lost a soldier in this incident along with 6 wounded along with the death of an interpreter.
Maybe if they spun the war a little differently those in todays incident that lost their lives might be at home today enjoying what the dead American solider has given all of us.
#17
Guys, guys...c'mon here. I don't bow to anyone in my level of hatred for the fifth-column media, but I'm not going to celebrate this as a "red-on-red" story. When we're tempted to wish these traitorous bastards harm, we need to remind ourselves that we're better people than they are.
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) ||
05/29/2006 20:53 Comments ||
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#21
Frankly, I don't give a rat's ass about them. They have celebrated my brother's and sister's deaths and dismemberment and have done their best to make Iraq and Afganistan a loosing war for them. For some to be taken out on memorial day is delicious irony. As I said before, I don't know anything about them, but I have yet to see a MSM reporter that wasn't against the US and the military. There are some out there that are not, but they either went to work for Fox or their stories are buried. Some here might not wish for celebration at their deaths, and I commend you for it. However, I have lost friends before and during this conflict and to see someone that celebrated my friend's deaths wacked by their own side (the terrorists) brings much happyness to my heart.
#23
Some reasons to exit a humvee in injun country:
1) Pre-scheduled security halt as per the convoy commander's brief before step off. Participants then do a 5&25 security sweep of the area for anything out of the ordinary. Usually includes a piss break.
2) Security halt due to whatever reason - suspected ied in the way, etc. Participants still do the above.
In today's case, I have no idea. I'm not familiar w/the reporters that got killed today and so do not celebrate their demise nor do I think they deserve more notoriety than my comrades who die the same way every day in Iraq. It's just too bad it wasn't Sean Penn and Mike Moore on the cameras today out there - now, that would've been deliciously ironic.
#24
No surprise here - IMHO the CBS team was likely the victims of a wilful, pre-planned terror attack. The Radics, despite their losses, remain dedicated to CYA vv PC expanding the war by enticing or inducing America to invade Iran, e.g. Shia holy places, even if it means simul wilfully attacking Sunnis, Shias, and neutrals, etc. whom as a class have done little or nothing against the Radics. When weak, let the enemy believe you are strong - once America is induced into de facto invading Iran, Radical Islam hopes that the US action will motivate Muslims to gener support their cause of "People's Resistance" + "defense of God/Islam" = Regional-Global Jihad for empire.
#25
This is a tough one folks. These were Americans...but then Alger Hiss was an American. I won't celebrate the deaths of the CBS crew, but I sure as hell won't shed a tear. The MSM has done NOTHING to engender my sympathy for their work, so if some get whacked in the process...that's tough luck. Nothing more. On the other hand, it does look very curious. Reporter types getting out of the vehicle...let alone the green zone....that's very new. I dunno...something definitely fish-like here.
That said..my heart goes out to the families of all service members who are grieving this day. God bless 'em.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
05/29/2006 23:50 Comments ||
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Update: 11:45 am CDT: link provided. Please provide a link, folks! AoS.
Iraqi security forces have captured a number three senior aide of al Qaeda leader in Iraq Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in Baghdad, a Defence Ministry spokesman said on Monday.
Defence Ministry spokesman Kassim al-Mosawi said that Kassim al-Ani, one of the most wanted people in Iraq, was arrested on Sunday evening. "The Iraqi army forces arrested three terrorists who belong to al Qaeda, one of them is a senior aide of Zarqawi in Baghdad," Mosawi said. "He was one of the most wanted ones," he told Reuters, adding that Ani was suspected of being behind many attacks in the Iraqi capital.
Mosawi said the army had received intelligence information that Ani and the two other suspects were in a house in Baghdad's northern Adhamiya district, a predominantly Sunni area. "We prepared a plan and raided the house and arrested them without resistance," he said.
#6
How about a Memorial Day top 10 list of those you would most like to see jugged or resigned to a dirt nap? I'd start off like this:
1. Zarqawi
2. OBL
3. Zawahiri
4. The entire Mullahcracy of Iran
5. The entire membership of all the Palestinian terror groups, AND their political wing enablers.
6. All hatred spewers in the mosques -- irrespective of brand (Shia, Sunni, other)
A tribal chief who challenged Iraq's most feared terrorist and sent fighters to help U.S. troops battle al Qaeda in western Iraq died in a hail of bullets yesterday - the latest victim of an apparent insurgent campaign against Sunni Arabs who work with Americans.
Sheik Osama al-Jadaan was ambushed in Baghdad's Mansour district, a Sunni area. Jadaan was a leader of the Karabila tribe, which has thousands of members in Anbar province, an insurgent hotbed west of Baghdad. He had announced an agreement with the U.S.-backed Iraqi government to help security forces track down al Qaeda members and foreign fighters.
In March he issued a warning to al Qaeda in Iraq's leader, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. "Under my leadership and that of our brothers in other tribes, we are getting close to the shelter of this terrorist," Jadaan said. "We will capture him soon."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
05/29/2006 02:17 ||
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Pardon me, that should be "pro-US sheikh from Anbar," not that he was killed in Anbar.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
05/29/2006 2:18 Comments ||
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#2
Not smart - he now has a whole clan against him. Plus the others see the kinds of things Zarq is up to.
If he's lucky US forces will capture him.
If not, he will get a little tribal Justice, and we'll get the flayed, beheaded corpse.
#3
Maybe, OS, but don't some people in this part of the word obtain 'promotions' by bumping off the boss? I would be surprised if there was not internal dissension within the tribe over whether to support or oppose the US and the Iraqi government.
#5
I don't know guys, bumping off a sheikh in such a manner is usually a bad call unless you're in a Saddam like position w/much $$$, power & prestige to throw around. W/us on his ass 24/7 I'm not sure Zarqi has that kind of logistical leverage.
An Iraqi college student from the university of Mosul and a civilian were killed on Sunday by unknown gunmen northern Iraq. An Iraqi police source said gunmen assassinated Mohammad Ali Khuder, a literature major student in his second year in college. The student was on his way home in a minicab when he was shot, police said. The minicab was close to a police checkpoint when gunmen stopped the car and shot him, police said.
Students from the university protested the killing and called it an assassination attempt that aims to instigate a sectarian strife. Last week, two students one from Al-Naseryah town and another from Telefar were killed. In separate incident, gunmen killed a civilian in Al-Jazaaeria area west of Mosul. Police said the victim was one of Saddam's loyalists.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/29/2006 00:00 ||
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Iraqi Police announced it de-activated on Sunday a bomb that was planted near a children's school in Diali governorate. A source from the Joint Coordination Center told KUNA today that explosives experts defused the bomb that was placed near an elementary school in Al-Amin district in Babuka, Diali's largest city. Iraqi Police announced earlier it had defused another bomb planted near a water center in Babuka.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/29/2006 00:00 ||
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a bomb that was planted near a children's school
Brave lions of islam.
Brave, brave lions of islam.
And people wonder why we are so... entusiastic, in tracking down and killing everyone associated with terrorism, and why we tend to go for overkill when we think we have a legit target.
Posted by: N guard ||
05/29/2006 0:18 Comments ||
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IP did this? Good on them! They must be getting tips, or else investigating a lot better than they were just a year ago.
Those guys have a lot of guts taking on the bad guys bombs on-the-job, and the bad guys thugs in thier home life (threats, etc).
THIS is the sort of good news - the context - that gets lost in the noise.
One person was killed and ten others wounded as a result of a bomb blast near a restaurant in Iraqi capital, Baghdad, Iraqi Police source said on Sunday. The source told KUNA that the bomb went off in Al-Ibtisam restaurant, located in Palestine street, eastern Baghdad. The injured of the blast were transferred to Al-Kindi hospital for treatment.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/29/2006 00:00 ||
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The military wing of the Popular Resistance Committees, Salahideen battalions, Sunday claimed responsibility for an attack on the Israeli town of Azata with a Naser-IV advanced missile. A statement by the battalions said the group that executed the attack operated at dawn and managed to return to its base unharmed. "This attack is in retaliation over massacres against our people in Gaza and the West Bank and the assassination of Islamic Jihad leader Al-Majthoub and his brother in Sidon, Lebanon on Friday," the statement said.
The battalions added the missile used in this attack is the first that was engineered by its own experts and its range of up to 15 kilometers makes Israeli towns "easy targets."
Posted by: Fred ||
05/29/2006 00:00 ||
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Popular Resistance - We Prayin in the Kool Mosque.
Advanced compared to an Estes kit, I suppose. I know, they can kill if they hit someone, but that seems to happen purely by coincidence not "guidance".
Israeli forces including artillery units and gunship helicopters attacked targets in southern Lebanon on Sunday, a security source said. The source said the Israeli bombardment targetted vicinity of the village of Rmeish, while the multi-winged aircraft struck locations close to another southern village, Aitaroun.
Al-Manar, the television station of the Islamic Hezbollah organization, reported that fighters of the organization and Israeli troops engaged in armed clashes in the frontier Shebaa farms. Later sources close to Hezbollah said a member of the group died in the border duels. The Hezbollah-run television station said one Israeli soldier died and another was wounded in the fighting. The duels, involving gunners, erupted hours after Katyusha rockets, fired from southern Lebanon, crashed into northern Israel wounding an Israeli soldier.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/29/2006 00:00 ||
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Another report (Debka I think) says Israel took out electronic evesdropping sites installed by Iran and Syria in S. Lebanon.
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad declared on Sunday that its gunners fired a salvo of Russian-made Katyusha missiles on northern Israel. The group made the declaration in a statement, released in the Lebanese capital, coinciding with duels in southern Lebanon involving Israeli artillerymen and the Lebanese Islamic resistance movement, Hezbollah.
The clashes broke out hours after Israeli warplanes pounded bases for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine -- General Command -- in south and southeast Lebanon. Israel said the air strike was in retaliation for the missile attack that wounded one Israeli soldier. Islamic Jihad has accused Israel of being behind assassination of a commander of the group and his brother in a bomb blast in the southern city of Sidon last Friday, and vowed revenge.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/29/2006 00:00 ||
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AUSTRALIAN troops say they are close to controlling security in East Timor, with soldiers confiscating hundreds of weapons from gangs terrorising the capital.
Taskforce commander Brigadier Michael Slater today launched a defence of his soldiers' efforts to rid Dili of the "gutless thugs" and restore order.
World Vision chief Tim Costello yesterday suggested the Australian military was not doing enough to end the chaos in the city and avert a looming humanitarian crisis.
But Brig Slater said his soldiers had confiscated more than 450 high-powered rifles, handguns, shotguns and grenades in 48 hours from gangs which have looted and burned homes in the capital.
"The gangs have been out there trying to settle old scores - they're into payback," Brig Slater said on Channel 9 this morning.
"They are largely gutless thugs that have some very sophisticated weapons.
"We've been taking the weapons off them and they are losing their freedom of action because we have so many soldiers out there providing the security amongst the population.
"It's not fixed but we're getting there, and we're getting there probably quicker than anyone could have reasonable expected."
Rebel Timorese soldiers and police were handing in their weapons, he said, and security in Dili was improving quickly.
"The security situation in the city is such that people are now out and they're walking around," Brig Slater said.
"There is food in the shops, there are groups of ... refugees who are throughout the city, but they are leaving those concentration areas, going to the shops through the day, buying food and moving back by night to the refugee concentration areas because they feel safety near the soldiers.
"There are some very large groups of internally displaced people - there is no humanitarian crisis here.
"There is the potential for one if we don't sort out the security."
Control over the violence in Dili would happen sooner than expected, he said, but he did not give a time frame.
"The problem here is not one that the military can solve. The problem here is one that the Timorese have to solve, their government has to solve," Brig Slater said.
"But from a military perspective, the security issue I think will be brought under control fairly quickly because the people here so desperately want it and I think realise it is time to sit down and talk."
The fledgling nation has been plagued by unrest since Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri sacked 600 soldiers, about 40 per cent of its armed forces, in March after they protested over alleged discrimination against soldiers from the east of the country.
President Xanana Gusmao met with Mr Alkatiri and his cabinet yesterday for crisis talks and is expected to announce a Cabinet reshuffle today.
#1
"They are largely gutless thugs that have some very sophisticated weapons."
Kinda sorta sums up a lot of these 'insurgent' groups, eh? They do well against school children and unarmed civilians, but seem to die in large numbers when going up against real soldiers.
(IsraelNN.com) Iran has supplied Hezbollah, a radical Islamic terror group in southern Lebanon dedicated to destroying Israel, with rockets that can strike in the heart of Tel Aviv.
The rockets, carrying warheads of 600 kilograms (1325 lbs) have a range of 200 kilomters (125 miles) and can strike virtually anywhere within Israels densely populated industrial heartland.
By supplying the rockets to Hezbollah, Iran effectively boosts its strategic threat in relation to Israel.
#2
By supplying the rockets to Hezbollah, Iran effectively and publicly declares conventional war on Israel an any response Israel makes is well with in international law and is fully justified.
#3
Oh, they'll stop just short of putting their names on the damned things and publicly claiming responsibility (until Israel is destroyed, of course). And the leftists and those who apologize for Islamofascism will insist they are innocent until proven guilty (and thereafter as well).
I wonder to what degree we will be able to apply norms of international law in any way during the next 20-30 years or so.
#9
The rockets, carrying warheads of 600 kilograms (1325 lbs) have a range of 200 kilomters (125 miles)
Quite doubtful.
Something in this class is a true ballistic missile, most likely using liquid fuel.
The quoted range is greater than a SCUD-A
Hezbollah doesn't have the technical capability to handle such a thing.
Not to mention the fact that these types of missiles have a long vehicle train - the TEL vehicle, the command vehicle, the fuel storage tankers etc.
Something impossible to hide from the israeli air force.
Posted by: john ||
05/29/2006 16:24 Comments ||
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#10
Hezbollah's Strategic Rocket Arsenal (Nov 2002) Last month, the London Sunday Times reported that Iran has deployed Zelzal-2 "ballistic missiles" in Lebanon, capable of "carrying half a ton of chemical or conventional warheads as far as Tel Aviv."9 However, the paper's sensationalist reporting on Mideast military topics does not have a very accurate track record, particularly when it cites unnamed defense sources. The Zelzal-2, in any case, is not a missile, but a 610mm heavy artillery rocket with a 1323 lb (600 kg) payload and range of 130 miles (210 km). The rocket wouldn't quite be able to hit Tel Aviv unless launched from easily-detectable positions straddling the border, but would nevertheless pose an enormous threat to Israeli population centers.
In addition: However, it also includes several hundred 240-mm Fajr-3 rockets and 333-mm Fajr-5 rockets. The Fajr-3, with a range of 25 miles (40 km), and the Fajr-5, with a range of range of 45 miles (72 km), each carry a 200-lb warhead and can be launched from vehicles, making them relatively easy to move and conceal. The Fajr-5 would allow Hezbollah to hit targets south of Haifa, a range that covers about a third of Israel's population, around half of its industry, and its main oil refinery.
Posted by: ed ||
05/29/2006 16:43 Comments ||
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#11
The Zelzal-2 is apparently a locally produced version of the Luna-M [NATO name FROG-7] missile with a launcher based on the MB LA-911 truck chassis.
Posted by: john ||
05/29/2006 16:47 Comments ||
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#12
The 8.3 meter-long rocket has a range that is variously estimated at between 100km to 400km, though 200km is the most widely quoted estimate and 100km is the most likely estimate based on the performance of the Soviet missile.
Also
The FROG-7 is a short-range, road mobile, solid propellant unguided rocket designed for use on the battlefield. The name FROG comes from NATO, which designated it early on as the Free-Rocket-Over-Ground.
The FROG is an unguided missile, essentially a long-range artillery system. The angle and direction of the launch are the primary determinant of where the rocket will land. The accuracy of the launch depends upon the ability of the rocket to fly straight. As the early rocket systems were unstable, they possessed extremely poor accuracy and required nuclear warheads to compensate. The main drawback of the FROG is that its range is insufficient to effectively engage strategic targets, as conventional forces would most likely intercept the launchers before they could move within range.
Posted by: john ||
05/29/2006 16:49 Comments ||
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#13
When has anyone in Gaza or Lebanon ever fired on Israel and come out ahead in the exchange? They would probably do better just exploding them where they sit.
#14
One googled source on the FROG-7 gives a maximum speed of 1200m/s, ie 2600 mph.
If they fire something like that at Israel, they aren't going to have much time to react. They may have to assume the worst...
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
05/29/2006 18:49 Comments ||
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#15
Like any artillery system, it is vulnerable to counter battery fire.
Locating radar will point out the Frog-7 launch sites and Israeli MLRS and F-16s will take them out.
Posted by: john ||
05/29/2006 18:56 Comments ||
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#16
Of course, worst case is htat it's actually a Fateh A-110, which is a guided version of the Zelzal. It has a GPS guidance package with a predicted CEP of 100 m.
If I remember my FM 100-2 series, the FROGs were supposed to be used in massed fires with chemical agents against operational targets. The persistent agents would be used in areas that the Soviets didn't plan on traversing later, while the less persistent agents would be used in areas that the Soviets did plan on fighting through. Accuracy for those tactics wasn't that important. You just needed to land in the same grid square to have an effect on target. It was classic Soviet industrial scale, get a bigger hammer style warfare.
Israeli air force raided several sites of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) led by Ahmad Jebril in Beqaa and areas south of Beirut, Lebanese security forces said Sunday. Sources told Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) the Israeli jets launched six rockets on "Sultan Yaqoub" base that belongs to the PFLP in western Beqaa, in east Lebanon. A column of smoke was seen rising from southern Beirut. Anti-aircraft artillery fired at the Israeli aircraft which are still hovering in Lebanese airspace.
Earlier today, an Israeli was injured when Katiosha rockets were launched from southern Beirut towards Israel. The raids come in retaliation after a chief in the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement and his brother were murdered in a booby-trapped car southern Lebanon last Friday. Israel was accused of being the one behind the killing.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/29/2006 00:00 ||
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#2
More, please. Israel must exact such a high cost for sending rockets over the border that the various bad guys get palpitations at the very thought of doing such a thing again.
#3
Disproportionate Response is the phrase Ima thinking of
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/29/2006 9:44 Comments ||
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#4
Frank, while I'd enjoy a disproportionate response as much as the next Rantburgian, Israel, despite it's world-wide reputation for them rarely actually indulges in them. Or the disproportion is on the mild side: rockets land near Israeli children and Israel 'responds' by attacking empty fields as a warning. Nice to see them rachet it up a bit without any crazed European response as of yet.
Six Palestinians were wounded in an Israeli air strike that taregted positions of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) of Ahmad Jebril in the Beqaa and areas south of Beirut, Lebanese security forces said Sunday. The sources told Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) the Israeli jets launched six rockets on "Sultan Yaqoub" base that belongs to the PFLP in western Beqaa, in east Lebanon.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/29/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
love the pic - must be taken from an IAF - Paleo Air Force dogfight? What?...they don't...oh, my bad
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/29/2006 13:22 Comments ||
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There have been demonstrations in several parts of north-west Iran, with thousands of ethnic Azeris protesting at a newspaper cartoon. Reports from the cities of Ardebil, Naqadeh and Meshkin Shahr say Iranian security forces fired on demonstrators, killing at least five people. Dozens of others were injured and hundreds arrested.
Azeris are the largest ethnic minority in Iran, and the cartoon caused outrage among those who believed it suggested that all Azeris were stupid.
Thousands of people took to the streets in protest and, shortly afterwards, the newspaper was shut down and its editor arrested. But that did not quell the anger. In the latest protests on Saturday, government buildings were targeted, and a number of banks and television stations burnt down.
A week of riots, and the Teheran gov't can't quite seem to get things under control. How interesting ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/29/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
who believed it suggested that all Azeris were stupid.
BEIRUT, May 28 (KUNA) -- The United Nations peacekeepers in Lebanon succeeded in securing a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah fighters, and calm appeared to have returned to the volatile southern areas by early evening Sunday. "UNIFIL has succeeded in obtaining a ceasefire which should take effect on the ground," Milos Strugel, spokesman for the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), told reporters.
Easy to do: Israelis made their point, and the Hezbollah boys got tired of being pounded by counter-battery fire.
The Israeli artillery bombardment of southern Lebanese villages came to a halt in the early evening, a security source told KUNA.
Lebanese President Emile Lahoud in a statement praised the efforts made by UNIFIL, noting that Israel's continuous attacks on Lebanon were aimed at achieving striking stability and security in Lebanon. He called on the Lebanse political parties to be aware of the Israeli objectives.
Israel launched two air raids Sunday afternoon striking positions of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP)-General Command in Sultan Yaqoub in the Beqqa valley and Naema in southern Beirut. A member of the front was killed and six others were injured in the raid. A PFLP official said the Israeli raids were of "political aims". The official denied that Katyuasha rockets were fired against Israel.
"Wudn't us! Stop bombing us already!"
They may be telling the truth for once. Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the Katyushas yesterday .
The Lebanese Hezbollah party denounced the Israeli raids as "grave escalation"
Yeah, yeah, got whupped again, did ya?
Israel also fired artillery shells on Hezbollah positions in south Lebanon killing one person, Hezbollah fighters returned fire striking the disputed frontier of Shebaa farms.
And apparently didn't hit anything, not that it's a surprise.
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the Katyusha rocket attack on northern Israel which it said in avengence of the Israqeli killing of one of its leaders on Friday. "Our fighters succeeded in hitting positions and barracks of the enemy at dawn on Sunday in revenge for the assassination by Israel of the martyr leader Mahmoud Majzoub," a statement by the Islamic Jihad broadcast here said.
"Grrrrrrr!! We moidalized 'em!"
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/29/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
What's with this "grave escalation" crap? You want a war or don't you?
#2
My dad was in an artillery batallion during WWII. I've seen and read some of the books he had that related to using artillery. There was a LOT of math involved, something the paleos are weak in. The Quran doesn't have a section on higher math, and memorization doesn't equate to reading and writing. I'm not sure many paleos understand even basic trigonometry, (addition, subtraction?) much less advanced stuff taking into account the curvature of the earth and weather patterns. The Israelis have a MAJOR advantage.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
05/29/2006 16:19 Comments ||
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I've added a drop-down to select all articles by category. Dunno if anyone wants to use it, but it's there. Let me know about any bugs that come with it.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/29/2006 17:40 ||
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Chuck Simmins brings us the stories of two of America's heroes who made the ulitmate sacrifice. Let us honor their memories today and let us work this Fall towards electing some politicians who won't undermine their mission. God bless, and thank you, Amanda and Terrence.
There have been complaints in the media that there are no heroes from the War on Terror. That is not true but it serves their interests well to portray our soldiers as less than courageous. I have been honored to play a small part in memorializing two American soldiers that you have never heard about. Both died in defense of the United States. Both not only did their duty, but did it well. America is a better place because of these two.
Amanda Pinson felt called to defend her country. She was a member of the storied 101st Airborne, working as a signals analyst in Iraq. While standing at a bus stop on-base, out of a clear blue sky a mortar bomb fell, killing her and a fellow soldier next to her. A sad story, but not uncommon in the War on Terror. What followed my note of this death, however, is remarkable. I heard from family, friends, and fellow soldiers about Amanda. What had begun as a short note turned into comment after comment about this extraordinary young woman.
I received comments from members of her unit, from soldiers she worked with, and from soldiers who had heard about her. Her family wrote, former teachers, old friends, friends of friends, and complete strangers. But outside of the city of St. Louis, her family and friends, and the soldiers she knew, almost no one will ever know about Amanda Pinson. Thats a shame.
One of her supervisors from Iraq calls her a hero:
I would like to just pass on some comments about this American Hero and Soldier. She was a kind person that everyone in this organization loved. She was always there to give me that first smile at shift change, ask how things were going, and ask how I was doing. She always shared pictures of loved ones back home and was so proud of her family. I will never forget her smile, her kindness, and love for her country. She made an everlasting impression on all soldiers she worked with. This everlasting impression is Army wide which is evident by all the individual calls and emails sent to express their sympathy.
She was deeply concerned for soldiers safety and news of soldiers that had been injured or worse only increased her energy for her job. She was inexhaustible in her work. She was an expert and I continually called on her to take on some of the hardest work due to her abilities and love for her job. Due to this Heros skills and hard work, soldiers lives were saved. Soldiers in this Division and the ones that worked with her will benefit from her work for a long time. I was glad to hear the soldiers from G2 at Fort Campbell were there to give SGT Pinson the respect and honor that everyone here was praying for. The family will continue to be in my thoughts and prayers. I will always remember SGT Pinson as a true friend, a superb leader, and most of all a Hero. She will never be forgotten.
Another American soldier you wont hear about is Lieutenant Colonel Terrence Crowe from Buffalo, New York. Lt. Col. Crowe was on a training mission in Tel Afar, training the new Iraqi Army when he was killed. Terrence Crowe taught ROTC at Canisius College in Buffalo. It was his job to instill in Army officers the skills and character qualities they would need to lead men.
His country called upon him to do the same in a foreign land. In June 2005, Tel Afar was a dangerous place. The terrorists had to be displaced, and a combined force of Americans and Iraqis was tasked with the job. Lt. Col. Crowe and an American sergeant were with a patrol of about 17 Iraqi soldiers when they were ambushed. As he always did, Crowe was leading from the front. When the firing began, he was hit almost immediately. Many of the Iraqis retreated, leaving Sgt. 1st Class Gary Villalobos and a handful of Iraqi soldiers to fight. They did, and Sgt. Villalobos was able to recover Crowes body. Lieutenant Colonel Terrence Crowe was a teacher. He could have practiced his trade in a classroom on a military base. With his rank, he could have delegated patrolling to someone junior to him. He chose to do neither. It was important for him to be with that Iraqi patrol, out in front, teaching by example. The lessons that Iraqis learned from Terrence Crowe will make Iraq a better place. Almost no one outside of Buffalo and Iraq will ever know about Terrence Crowe. Thats a shame.
Neither Amanda Pinson nor Terrence Crowe will be remembered like Alvin York or Audie Murphy. Neither sought out combat, and their deaths were as random as possible. Both of them represent the unsung heroes of the War on Terror who you will never read about or see on the 6 oclock news. Their memories live on in the hearts of their loved ones and those they touched. A young woman and a teacher, American soldiers. My brief interview with Navy Cross awardee Captain Brian Chontosh will post on my blog at 3 pm.
#1
Thank you, all members of the U.S. Armed Forces - past, present, and future.
We owe our unprecedented-in-all-history liberty to you.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
05/29/2006 12:20 Comments ||
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#2
Amen
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/29/2006 13:17 Comments ||
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#3
Thanks for sharing this one, Chuck. Their memories, and those of so many others, are a blessing on us all. Our gratitude, I think, that there aren't so many more to be remembered.
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.
COALITION warplanes bombed Taliban meeting in a mosque in southern Afghanistan, killing up to 50 suspected rebels, Afghan and the US-led coalition officials said. Five Canadian soldiers were wounded and a suspected Taliban killed in a gun battle elsewhere in the volatile south.
Shooting erupted in the Afghan capital Kabul on Monday and some people were killed and wounded, a security official said, during a protest by angry residents after a U.S. military convoy was involved in a traffic accident. It was not immediately clear who opened fire. A Reuters reporter near the scene saw wounded people being taken away.
The Taliban have regained control of all southwestern provinces of Afghanistan, Al Jazeera television quoted the group commander, 
Four Afghan policemen and two Taliban were killed and five other constables were injured in separate incidents of violence in Afghanistan's volatile southern parts on Sunday. A policeman was killed and five others wounded in Ghazni province when the militants blew up a police jeep with a remote-controlled bomb. The attack was carried out in the Andar district. In the ensuing firefight, police said they had killed two Taliban and arrested two others.
DHAKA (Reuters) - A Bangladesh court on Monday sentenced seven top Islamist militants to death for killing two judges in a bomb attack in southern Jhalakati town in November last year. "They will be hanged until death," Judge Reza Tarik Ahmed said in his verdict. The seven included chiefs of two outlawed groups -- Shayek 
A soldier and a policeman were killed and three soldiers were injured on Sunday when a car exploded at a checkpoint in Pakistans restive tribal region bordering Afghanistan, officials said. The lone occupant of the vehicle also died in the blast, a security official said, adding that officials were investigating if it was a suicide attack or whether some explosive material in the car went off accidentally. 
Over 120 suspected militants were detained in Quetta, Naushki, Sibbi and Kharan after overnight rocket attacks in the restive southwestern Balochistan province, Inspector General of Balochistan Police Chaudhry Yaqub said in telephone interview with Arab News yesterday. The attacks killed a woman and wounded three others. Special teams have been sent to Mastung, Dhadhar, Sibbi, Naushki and Kharan to arrest more suspects whose names have figured in intelligence reports, Yaqub said. He said most of those arrested belong to the defunct Balochistan Liberation Army and Balochistan National Party.
At least three people, including a top chief of a separatist organization, were killed in fresh violence across Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday. Indian security forces killed a top commander of Hizbul Mujaheedin, identified as Munawar Shah, near the health resort of Pahalgam in south Kashmir, news agency Indo-Asian News Service reported from capital Srinagar. Police told reporters today in Srinagar that Munawar had been active in south Kashmir for the past many years.
A tribal chief who challenged Iraq's most feared terrorist and sent fighters to help U.S. troops battle al Qaeda in western Iraq died in a hail of bullets yesterday - the latest victim of an apparent insurgent campaign against Sunni Arabs who work with Americans.
An Iraqi college student from the university of Mosul and a civilian were killed on Sunday by unknown gunmen northern Iraq. An Iraqi police source said gunmen assassinated Mohammad Ali Khuder, a literature major student in his second year in college. The student was on his way home in a minicab when he was shot, police said. The minicab was close to a police checkpoint when gunmen stopped the car and shot him, police said.
Iraqi Police announced it de-activated on Sunday a bomb that was planted near a children's school in Diali governorate. A source from the Joint Coordination Center told KUNA today that explosives experts defused the bomb that was placed near an elementary school in Al-Amin district in Babuka, Diali's largest city. Iraqi Police announced earlier it had defused another bomb planted near a water center in Babuka.
One person was killed and ten others wounded as a result of a bomb blast near a restaurant in Iraqi capital, Baghdad, Iraqi Police source said on Sunday. The source told KUNA that the bomb went off in Al-Ibtisam restaurant, located in Palestine street, eastern Baghdad. The injured of the blast were transferred to Al-Kindi hospital for treatment.
The military wing of the Popular Resistance Committees, Salahideen battalions, Sunday claimed responsibility for an attack on the Israeli town of Azata with a Naser-IV advanced missile. A statement by the battalions said the group that executed the attack operated at dawn and managed to return to its base unharmed. "This attack is in retaliation over massacres against our people in Gaza and the West Bank and the assassination of Islamic Jihad leader Al-Majthoub and his brother in Sidon, Lebanon on Friday," the statement said. 
Israeli forces including artillery units and gunship helicopters attacked targets in southern Lebanon on Sunday, a security source said. The source said the Israeli bombardment targetted vicinity of the village of Rmeish, while the multi-winged aircraft struck locations close to another southern village, Aitaroun.
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad declared on Sunday that its gunners fired a salvo of Russian-made Katyusha missiles on northern Israel. The group made the declaration in a statement, released in the Lebanese capital, coinciding with duels in southern Lebanon involving Israeli artillerymen and the Lebanese Islamic resistance movement, Hezbollah.
Israeli air force raided several sites of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) led by Ahmad Jebril in Beqaa and areas south of Beirut, Lebanese security forces said Sunday. Sources told Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) the Israeli jets launched six rockets on "Sultan Yaqoub" base that belongs to the PFLP in western Beqaa, in east Lebanon. A column of smoke was seen rising from southern Beirut. Anti-aircraft artillery fired at the Israeli aircraft which are still hovering in Lebanese airspace.
Six Palestinians were wounded in an Israeli air strike that taregted positions of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) of Ahmad Jebril in the Beqaa and areas south of Beirut, Lebanese security forces said Sunday. The sources told Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) the Israeli jets launched six rockets on "Sultan Yaqoub" base that belongs to the PFLP in western Beqaa, in east Lebanon.
There have been demonstrations in several parts of north-west Iran, with thousands of ethnic Azeris protesting at a newspaper cartoon. Reports from the cities of Ardebil, Naqadeh and Meshkin Shahr say Iranian security forces fired on demonstrators, killing at least five people. Dozens of others were injured and hundreds arrested.
There have been complaints in the media that there are no heroes from the War on Terror. That is not true but it serves their interests well to portray our soldiers as less than courageous. I have been honored to play a small part in memorializing two American soldiers that you have never heard about. Both died in defense of the United States. Both not only did their duty, but did it well. America is a better place because of these two.
While standing at a bus stop on-base, out of a clear blue sky a mortar bomb fell, killing her and a fellow soldier next to her. A sad story, but not uncommon in the War on Terror. What followed my note of this death, however, is remarkable. I heard from family, friends, and fellow soldiers about Amanda. What had begun as a short note turned into comment after comment about this extraordinary young woman. 
Lt. Col. Crowe was on a training mission in Tel Afar, training the new Iraqi Army when he was killed. Terrence Crowe taught ROTC at Canisius College in Buffalo. It was his job to instill in Army officers the skills and character qualities they would need to lead men.
