Hi there, !
Today Mon 06/05/2006 Sun 06/04/2006 Sat 06/03/2006 Fri 06/02/2006 Thu 06/01/2006 Wed 05/31/2006 Tue 05/30/2006 Archives
Rantburg
533207 articles and 1860399 comments are archived on Rantburg.

Today: 123 articles and 640 comments as of 22:19.
Post a news link    Post your own article   
Area: WoT Background    Non-WoT    Opinion    Local News       
Man shot in UK anti-terrorism raid
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 1: WoT Operations
5 00:00 anymouse [2] 
11 00:00 11A5S [4] 
6 00:00 Zenster [1] 
1 00:00 ed [2] 
4 00:00 Clomorong Snerens2831 [3] 
1 00:00 Frank G [7] 
0 [5] 
18 00:00 Zenster [2] 
4 00:00 ed [6] 
6 00:00 Steve [1] 
0 [3] 
3 00:00 Redneck Jim [2] 
0 [5] 
7 00:00 Zenster [2] 
14 00:00 Zenster [] 
9 00:00 Redneck Jim [1] 
8 00:00 Zenster [2] 
0 [1] 
0 [1] 
0 [5] 
6 00:00 remoteman [] 
0 [1] 
17 00:00 Intrinsicpilot [2] 
2 00:00 The Ghost of Walter Duranty [2] 
25 00:00 Manolo [1] 
3 00:00 tu3031 [2] 
4 00:00 Howard UK [2] 
0 [7] 
1 00:00 Sherry [2] 
9 00:00 Old Patriot [1] 
1 00:00 Zenster [2] 
0 [2] 
26 00:00 tu3031 [2] 
0 [2] 
0 [1] 
2 00:00 liberalhawk [2] 
2 00:00 Robert Crawford [2] 
0 [1] 
0 [8] 
1 00:00 Darrell [] 
0 [2] 
1 00:00 anymouse [1] 
2 00:00 Steve White [2] 
Page 2: WoT Background
3 00:00 Anonymoose [7]
1 00:00 3dc [5]
28 00:00 DarthVader [3]
12 00:00 DarthVader [1]
3 00:00 Hyperfine []
0 [1]
2 00:00 Omavish Anginetch8492 [7]
2 00:00 6 [1]
8 00:00 Frank G [1]
16 00:00 DMFD [2]
6 00:00 6 [5]
2 00:00 Thinemp Whimble2412 [1]
15 00:00 Zenster [4]
5 00:00 Frank G []
3 00:00 Jinenter Phealing5856 [2]
4 00:00 Robert Crawford []
7 00:00 Parabellum [1]
0 [1]
9 00:00 Redneck Jim []
0 [1]
2 00:00 Zenster [2]
0 [1]
0 [1]
2 00:00 Ulart Thomotch5445 [5]
2 00:00 Madeleine Albright [2]
7 00:00 Cyber Sarge [2]
5 00:00 Zenster []
0 [7]
2 00:00 6 [6]
4 00:00 Zenster [1]
2 00:00 DanNY [7]
7 00:00 Parabellum [1]
Page 3: Non-WoT
7 00:00 Scooter McGruder [2]
4 00:00 Thinemp Whimble2412 []
5 00:00 Thinemp Whimble2412 [1]
0 [1]
3 00:00 Darrell [1]
7 00:00 3dc [3]
0 [1]
7 00:00 Thinemp Whimble2412 [5]
5 00:00 macofromoc []
3 00:00 3dc [1]
3 00:00 Rafael [2]
2 00:00 Mannheim [1]
2 00:00 Barbara Skolaut []
5 00:00 zazz []
2 00:00 6 [1]
16 00:00 ed [1]
2 00:00 tu3031 [1]
33 00:00 TMH [1]
0 [1]
2 00:00 Thinemp Whimble2412 []
10 00:00 tu3031 [1]
23 00:00 Red Dog [1]
12 00:00 Thinemp Whimble2412 [1]
0 [1]
3 00:00 borgboy [1]
9 00:00 Thinemp Whimble2412 [3]
1 00:00 Barbara Skolaut []
Page 4: Opinion
2 00:00 DMFD [1]
8 00:00 Sherry []
3 00:00 Broadhead6 []
1 00:00 no mo uro [1]
2 00:00 bigjim-ky [4]
1 00:00 Fordesque [1]
2 00:00 DepotGuy [1]
8 00:00 mcsegeek1 []
3 00:00 Broadhead6 [1]
Page 5: Russia-Former Soviet Union
14 00:00 RD [1]
16 00:00 Remoteman []
3 00:00 3dc [3]
5 00:00 6 [1]
11 00:00 Barbara Skolaut [5]
1 00:00 3dc [1]
2 00:00 Cheregum Crelet7867 [1]
3 00:00 tu3031 []
6 00:00 mojo [1]
1 00:00 mcsegeek1 [1]
7 00:00 Besoeker [1]
17 00:00 Besoeker [1]
Afghanistan
Taliban commander threatens Canada for role in Afghanistan
OTTAWA -- An elusive, one-legged Taliban commander has threatened to "wreak vengeance" upon Canadian troops in Afghanistan if they don't withdraw, according to a new translation of a recent interview with the commander by an Arab satellite network.
Can you narrow it down? Seems like every third Talibanner is missing a limb

"America now wants to avoid the heat of battle, so it pushes other countries towards it," Mullah Dadullah is reported to have said in a translation released Thursday by the Washington-based Middle East Media Research Institute.
oh, it's Mullah Dad again.

"Our advice to Canada and Britain is to refrain from defending the American propaganda and from standing by this historic American crime ... Our advice to these countries is to avoid the heat of battle, because we will wreak vengeance upon them, one by one, like we are doing with the Americans."
We've noticed your boys have been flinging themselves one by one in front of our bullets lately.
Dadullah recently conducted the interview with an Al-Jazeera reporter and it initially aired on the Qatar-based network last weekend, but it wasn't until the institute posted an English translation of excerpts of the interview Thursday that the threats against Canada emerged.

It is not the first time that Canada has been threatened directly by al-Qaida or the Taliban. Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden first pointed the finger directly at Canada in 2002 as a target of his terrorist group for its support of the U.S.-led war on terrorism. A Taliban spokesman has also claimed responsibility for the suicide bomb attack that killed Canadian diplomat Glyn Berry in Kandahar in January.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve || 06/02/2006 12:41 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Is that his rain turban?
Posted by: tu3031 || 06/02/2006 13:00 Comments || Top||

#2  He's full of piss and wind. The only thing his boys are good at is getting killed.
Posted by: Apostate || 06/02/2006 13:27 Comments || Top||

#3  "If you don't cut and run we're going to seeth bleed all over you!"
Posted by: CrazyFool || 06/02/2006 14:34 Comments || Top||

#4  Oh my, they have just been threatened by a 40 year old pedophile for allah with a diaper on his head. Insert laugh track here.
Posted by: Clomorong Snerens2831 || 06/02/2006 14:36 Comments || Top||


Afghan army planning to re-take district
The Afghan army was planning an assault on a district in the southern province of Uruzgan that had been in Taleban control for more than 24 hours after being stormed by the rebels late Tuesday, an army general said.

The strike on Chora district was being planned with coalition forces and police, said General Rahmatullah Raufi, military commander for southern Afghanistan. “The district is out of our hands,” the general said. A small deployment of police in the remote district resisted the Taleban assault, which some officials said was launched by “hundreds” of rebels, but fled after a few hours.

The Taleban movement, trying to regain control of the government that it lost in a US-led operation in 2001, often claims to hold districts in the south where they are most active. This is the first time however that a government official has admitted they have been in control of an area for more than a few hours.
Posted by: Steve White || 06/02/2006 01:08 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


More on the Afghan "work accident" - would-be boomer was a crossdresser
A suicide car bomber was killed yesterday close to a base for US troops serving with a Nato-led peacekeeping mission in western Afghanistan when his bomb went off too soon, a provincial governor said. The suicide blast, the latest in a raft of such attacks in Afghanistan, rocked the small provincial capital of Farah in the country’s far west, a relatively quiet area that is seeing an increase in militant violence.

A suspected suicide bomber detonated an explosives-filled car while being chased by police through the city centre, provincial governor Isatullah Wasifi said. The intended target of the suicide bomb was not certain although the bomb exploded near a Nato peacekeepers’ base and governor’s office. Wasifi said a 22-year-old man wearing a burqa, the all-covering garment worn by some Afghan women, was detained near the site of the blast on suspicion of helping the attacker detonate the explosives.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 06/02/2006 00:55 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Michael Jackson moves to Yemen and starts wearing women's clothes, now all Islam has gone to hell, or at least copycatting. Sniff, sniff, even the Spetzies-Radics have gone le chic alternatist.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 06/02/2006 1:11 Comments || Top||

#2  LOL Joe!

haute le sac

it's the latest rage for any respectable splody.
Posted by: RD || 06/02/2006 6:28 Comments || Top||

#3  I guess some want to get 72 virgins and others want to be one of the virgins. Equal opp splodeydopes.
Posted by: Thinemp Whimble2412 || 06/02/2006 6:46 Comments || Top||

#4  I have a feeling quite a few of the I-slamic terrorists are self-repressing homosexuals.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 06/02/2006 7:22 Comments || Top||

#5  Good thing he blew himself up, because, you know, you can't shoot the innocent women (& children). And how do you tell the difference between a pregnant woman in a burka and a man wearing a big bomb in a burka?
Posted by: glenmore || 06/02/2006 7:23 Comments || Top||

#6  Story sez the cross-dresser wasn't the boomer, just his boyfriend helper.

a 22-year-old man wearing a burqa, the all-covering garment worn by some Afghan women, was detained near the site of the blast on suspicion of helping the attacker detonate the explosives.
Posted by: Steve || 06/02/2006 8:07 Comments || Top||

#7  haute le sac

har har har!
Posted by: 6 || 06/02/2006 8:52 Comments || Top||

#8  This reminds me of the contraversy in the U.S. and I believe in Australia over photo ID's. Muslm women who prefer to wear a Burqa while driving; another mystery to me for safety reasons, want their ID's like driver licenses to show them with the full head covering. The problem is that there is no way to properly identify them during a traffic stop for example. The women and men argue religious freedom and privacy, but law enforcement argues security concerns and identification. Particularly if it is a male terrorist dressed as a women.
Posted by: Delphi2005 || 06/02/2006 9:28 Comments || Top||

#9  If I recall correctly, even in Saudi Arabia women must bare their faces for identity document photos. And of course, they aren't allowed to drive, so that whole burqa-d while driving question is moot. On the other hand, .com had some pungent things to say about Saudi men driving while wearing the kuffiyeh (?) headwear, which apparently cuts off all peripheral vision.
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/02/2006 10:06 Comments || Top||

#10  There is no right to drive. If the states passed a law that only naked can drive, then a lot of folks will have really great tans.
Posted by: ed || 06/02/2006 10:28 Comments || Top||

#11  "Does this burqa make my butt bomb look big, Hamid?"
Posted by: Desert Blondie || 06/02/2006 11:12 Comments || Top||

#12  There is no right to drive
Pursuit of Happiness isn't in the Constitution is it? Rats. Should be implied, like the right to privacy and free medical care.


Posted by: 6 || 06/02/2006 12:03 Comments || Top||

#13  Joe keeps this up, we're gonna have to make him a moderator.

Or I'm going to have to become his campaign manager in '08.
Posted by: Steve White || 06/02/2006 12:04 Comments || Top||

#14  Joe keeps this up, we're gonna have to make him a moderator.

Strobing ultraviolet.
Posted by: 6 || 06/02/2006 14:19 Comments || Top||

#15  #11 - LOL, DB!
Posted by: Throluting Thravimble3768 || 06/02/2006 14:21 Comments || Top||

#16  Is that a bomb in your burqa, or are you just glad to see me?
Posted by: Zenster || 06/02/2006 14:23 Comments || Top||

#17  "work accident" - ROFL

Must be hard to get a workers comp policy in this place.
Posted by: Intrinsicpilot || 06/02/2006 15:44 Comments || Top||


Afghan govt. claims arresting 20 Taliban
The Afghan military Thursday said they had arrested 20 Taliban militants during a crackdown in southern parts of Afghanistan over the past 24 hours. The operation was launched in the volatile Zabul province after the insurgents attacked a police convoy and killed deputy police chief of the province. Spokesman for the governor of the Zabul province Gulab Shah Alikhel told journalists hundreds of soldiers backed by the US-led coalition forces were taking part in the operation started two days back in the province. He said police and military personnel had been fanned out in Qalat, Shojoy and Shahri Safa districts and they were also searching buildings where they believed Taliban had taken refuge. Deputy police chief of Afghanistan's Zabul province was killed in a rocket attack by Taliban on Tuesday.

The spokesman said rocket-propelled grenades (RPG), some heavy machineguns and motorbikes have also been recovered during raids on the hideouts of the insurgents. But Taliban spokesman rejected the claim as baseless and said none of their fighters were arrested by the police or Afghan army. Meanwhile, the coalition forces said they had arrested a Taliban fighter following a shoot-out in the Arghandab district of the southern Kandahar province. Spokesman for the US-led coalition forces in Kandahar Major Innis said their forces were attacked while patrolling in Karto village. The forces chased the attackers and arrested one of them.
Posted by: Fred || 06/02/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  They can attack a police convoy, kill the deputy police chief of the province, and all we can do is fan out and search house to house? 20 arrests? How many are actually Taliban? How do you tell? How many were arrested based on witness identification or evidence linking them to the attack? And how many will be set free in a month or less? I sense we are losing ground here.
Posted by: Darrell || 06/02/2006 17:56 Comments || Top||


Africa Horn
Darfur Jihad Organization formed in Sudan
Al-Intibaha, a newspaper affiliated with the Sudanese Just Peace Forum, conducted an interview with Abu Jihad, leader of the Darfur Jihad Organization, concerning that group’s establishment, jihad mission, and affiliation with al-Qaeda. The text of the meeting is posted to the website of the Sudanese Space Channel, and has been distributed amongst several jihadist forums. The primary message underlying Abu Jihad’s answers is the intention to fight the “new colonization” of Sudan, and act when politicians and tribes are more concerned about a power struggle and future positions while the people of Darfur suffer. He states: “The people of Darfur do not know what to do. They are crying and nobody hears and they will not find a bite of bread on the deceiver’s table.”

The interviewer questions the group’s relationship to al-Qaeda, to which Abu Jihad refuses to answer, but to another query concerning their affiliation with the Sudanese government as a puppet, this he denies and warns that soon people will observe the distance between them. Abu Jihad also voices his belief that Security Council resolutions and African Peace are futile efforts and will not carry the strength or purpose of jihad, stating: “We insist on jihad as a doctrine and not a hobby. But you should know that caring about Muslim blood is much more and greater.” Addressing the Darfur people, he recites a verse from the Qur’an about fortifying territory and stationing army units where the enemy may strike.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 06/02/2006 00:58 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


New outbreak of fighting continues in northeast suburb of Somali capital
Translated from the original Chickladorian...
Fierce battle using with heavy machine-guns, artillery and rocket propel grenades RPG is continuing in northeast outskirt of the capital between militia of anti terror alliance and those Islamic courts on Monday. Reports say. It is yet unclear the casualty of the latest clashes.
I don't think either side is too concerned about casualties, except maybe their own, and then only among the commanders.
The fighting began early this morning at El-Irfid and Darmolie villages where militia loyal to Mohamed Dhere, the man who controls middle Shabelle region, reached yesterday to enforce the defeated militia of anti terror alliance, local official told Somalinet.
Throwing in the reservers, are they?
Sources close to the Islamists say the militia of Islamic courts, who had yesterday taken the control of several key locations from anti terror alliance, attacked new areas positioned by militia of warlords along side the road link Mogadishu and Balad town of middle Shabele region which controlled by trade minister Muse Sudi who is also member of ARPCT.
"Your Excellentness! The hated enemy withdraws to the north post haste!"
"Hah! My plan goes accordingly! Pursue the wretches using my myrmidons!"
"Yes, Your Corpulence!"
People in Balad district in middle Shabelle region fear the fighting might spread into their settlement as some of them began fleeing to safer areas.
"Here they come again, Martha! Run!"
Sources confirmed Somalinet office in Mogadishu. Unconfirmed reports say mortar and rocket sells were falling into Balad district not knowing the casualty so far. The new out break of fighting came day after the Islamic militiamen took over main positions held by warlords through gun-point. Meanwhile the death toll of yesterday’s fighting in northeast suburb of the capital has mounted to 13 people mostly civilians killed by stray bullet rounds in their homes.
Posted by: Fred || 06/02/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  All lions of islam are directed to report for duty at Mogadishu ASAP. Pick a side and start shooting.
Posted by: anymouse || 06/02/2006 1:34 Comments || Top||


Efforts to free Kensaney hospital from militia is underway
Mogadishu, (Somalinet) Self endeavored individuals including traditional elders, politicians and other intellectuals are now involving in efforts to persuade Somali trade minister Muse Sudi Yalahow and also member of anti terror alliance to withdraw his militia from inside Mogadishu’s main hospital Kensaney in north of the capital which has been in siege for four days. ICRC official in Nairobi said.

Pedram Yazdi, the spokesman of international Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) told the local media on Thursday the peace holders who had telephone contacts and meetings with Muse’s aides, were hopeful that his militia would pull out the hospital. The siege of the Keysaney Hospital has lessened the medical services in the capital city and prompted relatives to move patients away hurriedly. ICRC said in a statement. "International Humanitarian Law prohibits the use of a hospital for the conduct of hostilities,"

Militia loyal to Muse Sudi occupied the ICRC run Kensaney hospital with their weapons on Monday. Meanwhile an official on behalf of Muse Sudi who contacted to Somalinet’s office in Mogadishu argued that his militia didn’t storm that hospital, but temporarily are ensuring its security. He said the move was to be very cautious of their counter-part which he meant Islamic militiamen who have these days been using war tactics hiding through the civilians. “There are militiamen and also battlewagons in the main hospitals in the capital allotted for securing the stability, so our administration has the right to tighten the security in the public service areas according to the tense situation” the official who asked not to be identified said.
Posted by: Fred || 06/02/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "battlewagons"???
Pulled by Donkey/Ox/Small Children/Goats??
No Shutter® Guns?

We need to know!!
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 06/02/2006 8:38 Comments || Top||

#2  Battlewagons are the next step up from technicals. Although I'm partial to the John-Wayne style war-wagon myself. Heeya!
Posted by: Steve White || 06/02/2006 12:05 Comments || Top||


Africa Subsaharan
Oilmen kidnapped from Nigeria rig
Eight foreign oil workers have been kidnapped from an offshore oil rig in Nigeria, the rig's owner says. The Nigerian military says six Britons, a Canadian and a US national were seized by armed men in the Niger Delta. No-one has admitted responsibility. The rig sent out a distress call, saying it was under attack from between 20 and 30 men in speedboats.

There has been a spate of recent attacks in the region by militants, who want more local control of oil wealth. They have kidnapped oil workers and warned them to leave the Delta. The upsurge of attacks on foreign oil interests has cut Nigeria's oil production by 25% - a key factor in the high world price of crude oil.

"Some unknown persons boarded the rig at 0300 [local time, 0200 GMT] and took eight workers," an executive from one of the companies that operate the Bulford Dolphin rig told Reuters news agency. The rig, which is owned by the Norwegian company Fred Olsen Energy ASA, is about 20km off the coast of Warri. A British Foreign and Commonwealth Office spokeswoman said: "We are in touch with both the Nigerian authorities and the men's company and are making urgent efforts to find out more information."
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve || 06/02/2006 08:29 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Can't let grease under $70bbl can we?
Posted by: 6 || 06/02/2006 8:53 Comments || Top||

#2  The fatboys who trade oil futures must love these mogoloids.
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 06/02/2006 12:09 Comments || Top||

#3  Hmmmmm, you triggered a thought, what if they're covertly financing them, while the oil futures guys reap millions?
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 06/02/2006 14:19 Comments || Top||


Britain
MPACUK: "Rise Up!"
MPACUK = Muslim Public Affairs Committee - UKBREAKING
NEWS: 250 Police Officers Raid London House. One Person Shot.
Friday, 02 June 2006
Reports have come in about a 23 year old man arrested after being shot by anti-terrorism police in Forest Gate, East London.

Though details are not yet clear, MPACUK would like to remind readers of the hundreds of false arrests that have taken place on 'intelligence' reports - and the tragic incident of Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes who was mistakenly identified as a suicide bomber and shot by the police. Just weeks after three individuals who leaked the report about Mr Menezes have been cleared of any charge associated with exposing the true details of his death, we can only wait to hear the story behind this latest incident in the hub of the Muslim Community.

If British intelligence is anything to go by, we can only hope the sleeping Muslims of East London will wake up and rise against the tyrrany being perpetrated against our youth in the name of combating terrorism.

False arrest?

Let's wait and see.
Posted by: Steve || 06/02/2006 13:10 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Cool. Rise up, get shot down.
Posted by: mcsegeek1 || 06/02/2006 13:54 Comments || Top||

#2  Gee, in the UK does calling for revolution amount to treason?
Posted by: AlanC || 06/02/2006 14:08 Comments || Top||

#3  Betcha that once the facts about this come out, MPACUK will declare them all lies.

Remember, they're the folks involved in the threats sent to LGF.
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 06/02/2006 14:31 Comments || Top||

#4  What rises up sometimes gets smacked down. Hard.
Posted by: tu3031 || 06/02/2006 15:31 Comments || Top||

#5  If it gets too uncomfortable, they can always leave....
Posted by: anonymous2u || 06/02/2006 19:29 Comments || Top||

#6  What rises up sometimes gets smacked down. Hard.

Old Japanese saying:

The nails that sticks up will be hammered down.
Posted by: Zenster || 06/02/2006 19:33 Comments || Top||


Update on British Terror Raid
Accounts from the scene by al-Guardian:
As anti-terrorist officers wearing specialist protective clothing continue their search of the terraced house in Forest Gate they raided this morning, more details began to emerge from the hundred onlookers thronging the high street alongside Lansdown Road.

Witnesses described to reporters at the scene the moment when at least 25 armed police officers smashed the front window of what is believed to be 46 Lansdown Road at dawn and brought out two men, who they claimed were brothers. The elder was wearing a bloodstained shirt and being supported by a police officer, while the younger man walked down in boxer shorts with his hands tied behind his back with cables. cable ties, plastic handcuffs
One of the neighbours, Nimesh Patel described how the officer then heaved the injured man off his shoulder and leant him up against the wall outside.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve || 06/02/2006 11:26 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Right, right, and arbitrary attack on innocent black people.

Right comment, wrong country, asshole.
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 06/02/2006 11:49 Comments || Top||

#2  "...It is traditional that in this country you cannot have jihad."

Well, yeah, the Brits don't have a tradition of throat slitting Islamonutjobs that goes back more than a few years.

AND IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT, LEAVE!
Posted by: AlanC || 06/02/2006 11:51 Comments || Top||

#3  No. If you don't like it, we'll kill you.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 06/02/2006 11:57 Comments || Top||

#4  Chemical, biological, or radiological suspected?
Posted by: doc || 06/02/2006 11:59 Comments || Top||

#5  One of the neighbours, Nimesh Patel described how the officer then heaved the injured man off his shoulder and leant him up against the wall outside.

Love that little detail. Oh, the humanity!
Posted by: Xbalanke || 06/02/2006 12:34 Comments || Top||

#6  Gimme that old time religion
Gimme that old time religion
Gimme that old time religion, its good enough for me.

Don't you miss the good old days when the Old time religions met out in the desert and got into it with broadswords and maces?

I kinda wish they would do that now.........but the children of peace in Islam are a bunch of penis envy, impotent, cowardly, sodomites and pedopiles who are too chicken to come out and fight for real.

Most of these brave jihadists are a bunch of sissified back stabbers and thumbsuckers.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 06/02/2006 12:39 Comments || Top||

#7  You left out crossdressers.
Posted by: doc || 06/02/2006 12:47 Comments || Top||

#8  "...mosque just around the corner "

What mosque is that? Who preaches there? Who else worships/worshipped there? What US phone numbers have been called or called to that mosque, its preachers or its worshipers? Where have any of these people travelled in the past five years? Do any of these possibly linked people work with or otherwise have access to CBR agents? Etc.
Posted by: glenmore || 06/02/2006 12:52 Comments || Top||

#9  Hopefully, we're beginning to inflitrate these wackos. It's not that difficult to learn the rituals and any fool can learn to talk like a jihadi. Just imagine you've got a two-inch dick and blame it on the infidels.
Posted by: Apostate || 06/02/2006 13:36 Comments || Top||

#10  Newer converts (the muslem equivalent to born again) would probably be more fanatical. And more apt to running their mouth.
Posted by: BrerRabbit || 06/02/2006 13:37 Comments || Top||

#11  Updates:

A man shot by police today in a massive anti-terrorist raid was later arrested in hospital. The 23-year-old was held on suspicion of the commission, preparation and instigation of acts of terrorism, Scotland Yard said.

A second suspect, aged 20, was arrested under the Terrorism Act during the huge raid in which police forced their way into the house by breaking a ground floor window. He is being held at Paddington Green high security police station.

A woman living opposite said: "I have seen the people who live there but they don't talk to us. They are Pakistani."

Explosives officers and firearms officers remained at the scene along with firefighters but the HPA later said the risk to the public from harmful substances was considered to be "very low". Police said the search in the property could take several days and a cordon at the end of Lansdown Road was expected to remain in place until it was finished. Workmen were erecting a two-storey high scaffolding screen outside the property this afternoon. It is expected to cover the entire house.

Police said officers in the property had spent the day so far photographing the contents of each room before anything was removed for forensic examination.


You don't go through this much trouble if you haven't found something.
Posted by: Steve || 06/02/2006 14:16 Comments || Top||

#12  "Dirka dirka jihad!"

"Perfect, follow me!"
Posted by: Throluting Thravimble3768 || 06/02/2006 14:18 Comments || Top||

#13  "Red Flag Warning - they took up that old time Religion of Peace"

Ah no, that would be the religion of piss founded by the pedophile for profit, Muhamhead.


Posted by: Jaise Spomosh2605 || 06/02/2006 14:43 Comments || Top||

#14  Fascinating how the British press still uses Asian. I mean how unspecific can you be. At least West Asian or subcontinental would narrow it down to a handful of ethnic groups but this term pretty much includes Japanese all the way to Hebrew in one big brushstroke.

I also find the term black interesting. It might be accurate, it might be coloqual for Pakistanis, but at least in the US it is generally reserved for Africans. Another sort of wishy-washy term used to prevent Pakistanis from feeling bad?
Posted by: rjschwarz || 06/02/2006 14:59 Comments || Top||

#15  Apostate, you bring up an interesting idea. A few years ago when talking about profiling it came up again and again that it doesn't work because Muslims can look caucasion, at least those in Chechnya and Iran. So they can blend.

Blending goes both ways.

I'd also think it funny to not have anyone infiltrate as Chechnyans but let it slip to the NY Times (who would no doubt print it) that we've got a number of agents within Al Queda sells pretending to be Chechnyans. Then watch as Chechnyan bodies start turning up.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 06/02/2006 15:02 Comments || Top||

#16  I'd also think it funny to not have anyone infiltrate as Chechnyans but let it slip to the NY Times (who would no doubt print it) that we've got a number of agents within Al Queda sells pretending to be Chechnyans. Then watch as Chechnyan bodies start turning up.

No way the NYT would print that. You gotta add some of the spin they like -- say, we have agents posing as Chechnyans, and they've been involved in some (minor) attacks. That makes us look bad, but should be enough to set off the bloodbath.
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 06/02/2006 15:37 Comments || Top||

#17  rjschwarz shhhh. Your not supposed to let that out.

Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 06/02/2006 15:38 Comments || Top||

#18  "It is traditional that in this country you cannot have jihad."

Keep this sh!t up and "jihad" will just be another word alongside Etruscan vocabulary in a compendium of dead languages.
Posted by: Zenster || 06/02/2006 15:51 Comments || Top||


Missile in truck set for UK
A 15FT long anti-aircraft missile has been found on an England-bound lorry at Calais. Anti-terror police were last night inspecting the 1œ-ton weapon after the shock discovery — described as “very worrying” by a terror expert. The driver — an Italian in his 40s — was being quizzed by French security services last night. He has told them the delivery was “authorised” by an agent in London. But French authorities have invoked emergency powers drawn up to deal with the threat of terrorist attack.

Cops last night refused to reveal the type and make of unarmed missile “for security reasons”. It was found on Monday night during a random check on Dover-bound lorries approaching Calais. The area was evacuated for an hour.

A French police spokesman said: “We’ve never made a discovery like it. Our immediate priority was the safety of the public because we didn’t know if the missile was armed, or operational. It may be that it had been ordered legitimately by an agent in Britain, but we couldn’t take risks. It could have fallen into the wrong hands.”

World expert on terrorism, Prof Paul Wilkinson, said: “It seems extraordinary that a missile was found on a London- bound lorry. It’s a very worrying development. We know al-Qaeda has shown an interest in targeting civil aircraft.”
Posted by: Howard UK || 06/02/2006 05:09 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Anyone taking bets on the type and original source?
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 06/02/2006 5:13 Comments || Top||

#2  bet #2.

a nuke will have to go off in Londonistan or the souks of Frogistan before the peasants revolt.
Posted by: RD || 06/02/2006 6:07 Comments || Top||

#3  *yawn*

Just another boring story about the RoP.
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 06/02/2006 7:18 Comments || Top||

#4  Testing, testing, 1...2..3...Testing.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 06/02/2006 7:45 Comments || Top||

#5  Mebbe someone wanted to hunt an infidel pigeon?
Yeah, thats the story, pigeon hunting...
Posted by: DanNY || 06/02/2006 8:04 Comments || Top||

#6  15 ft. long? Hell.... A Roland? Rapier? What's the Russ equvalent?
Posted by: 6 || 06/02/2006 8:56 Comments || Top||

#7  Damn! The've discovered my Uranium Pew-36 Explosive Space Modulator!
Posted by: mcsegeek1 || 06/02/2006 9:25 Comments || Top||

#8  15 feet long is a full blown Surface to Air Missile, not a shoulder fired model. Perhaps some one needed a conversation piece for his front lawn.
Posted by: Steve || 06/02/2006 11:44 Comments || Top||

#9  Must be hunting the Scottish elk.
Posted by: Steve White || 06/02/2006 12:06 Comments || Top||

#10  Maybe an SA-3 or some other ancient Soviet system, taken from an ancient base in East Germany as a souvenir?
Posted by: WhitecollarRedneck || 06/02/2006 12:40 Comments || Top||

#11  SA-2 or 3 would be my guess.
Posted by: mojo || 06/02/2006 14:58 Comments || Top||

#12  An SA-3 is about 23 feet long. The only missile I know that's 15 feet long is the SA-6. I don't see how it could be used without the launcher and supporting radar. The SA-8 is about 12 feet in length. Of course, some of the multiple-launch Soviet-era rockets were around 15 feet, so it could have been one of those. They're unguided, so it wouldn't be much use against an aircraft. It could be used against an AIRFIELD or other stationary target, however. Can you imagine the uproar if one of those struck Buckingham or Windsor? We wouldn't have to worry about nuking Saudi Arabia - the Brits would do it first.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 06/02/2006 15:47 Comments || Top||

#13  Estes experimental model #3
Posted by: Frank G || 06/02/2006 16:50 Comments || Top||

#14  Estes experimental model #3

Now available with the Ultra-Hyper-Super-Duper-Turbo-Disco F Series Booster Engine.
Posted by: Zenster || 06/02/2006 19:50 Comments || Top||


BBC: Man shot in UK anti-terrorism raid
A 23-year-old man has been shot by police during a house raid involving 250 officers carried out early on Friday under the Terrorism Act. The man, who was later arrested, was taken to hospital after the search in Forest Gate, east London. His injuries are not life-threatening. A 20-year-old man is also being held at a central London police station. A single shot was fired, according to the Independent Police Complaints Commission which will investigate. The operation was not linked to the London bombings of July 2005, police have said. Deputy Assistant Commissioner Peter Clarke, head of the Met's anti-terror branch, said the operation was planned in response to "specific intelligence".

"Because of the very specific nature of the intelligence we planned an operation that was designed to mitigate any threat to the public either from firearms or from hazardous substances," he said. He said the purpose of raid was to prove or disprove intelligence they had received. A protective tent has been set up outside the house BBC Home Affairs correspondent Daniel Sandford described it as the most significant anti-terror operation this year.

The 23-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of the commission, preparation and instigation of acts of terrorism as he was being treated at the Royal London hospital The 20-year-old man was being questioned at Paddington Green police station.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Howard UK || 06/02/2006 03:28 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Any bets he was homegrown!!!!!

Bite the hands that feed them.

I say go to an Islamic state and see how much benefits you receive!!!!Spongers!!!
Posted by: Cheregum Crelet7867 || 06/02/2006 6:37 Comments || Top||

#2  Residents said Forest Gate was a typical east London "mixed" community with a large number of Bengali and Pakistani families,

East and West Pakistanis, back together again...

Posted by: john || 06/02/2006 6:54 Comments || Top||

#3  Terrorist supporting "ummah colony" more like.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 06/02/2006 7:21 Comments || Top||

#4  Hmmm, missile intercepted at Calais....
House raided in London...
Air exclusion zone over area...
Naah, couldn't be...
Posted by: DanNY || 06/02/2006 8:13 Comments || Top||

#5  Debka has more: Chemical, biological or radiological substances suspected in terrorist bomb factory raided at private East London address
One man was shot, another arrested - both of Pakistani orign - in the pre-planned, intelligence-led British police anti-terror raid in Forest Gate, East London early Friday. The police officers were armed and wore protective clothes. The area has a large Muslim immigrant population, early Friday. Security and health department personnel took part in the raid. The man shot is not in danger.

London police say the raid was not directly linked to last year's July 7 attacks on London transport. UK security agencies estimate that the number of militants affiliated to al Qaeda at large in UK has quadrupled in a year from an estimated 250 to at least one thousand now.
Posted by: ed || 06/02/2006 9:21 Comments || Top||

#6  Quick, we must propose an incentives plan for these lads.
Posted by: Captain America || 06/02/2006 9:44 Comments || Top||

#7  #6 - I got your incentive plan right here.

It involves my friends Mr. Smith and Mr. Wesson...
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 06/02/2006 10:39 Comments || Top||

#8  You go Barbara! Say aloe to my lil frenn!
Posted by: mcsegeek1 || 06/02/2006 11:03 Comments || Top||

#9  You forgot my friends Mssrs, Mossberg, Colt, Winchester, Stevens, and Kalishnikov.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 06/02/2006 14:29 Comments || Top||


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Assassination attempt on Ingush health minister
Ingushetia's health minister escaped unhurt after attackers raked his car with gunfire Thursday, officials said.

The attack on Magomet Aliskhanov happened around 12 p.m. in the region's largest city, Maikop, and officials were searching for the assailants, said Interior Ministry spokesman Nazir Yevloyev. No one was hurt.

Ingushetia's chief prosecutor blamed the attack on Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 06/02/2006 01:08 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:


Europe
Al-Jazeera shocked Alouni verdict upheld
Al Jazeera has expressed shock at the Spanish Supreme Court's decision on Thursday to uphold the seven-year jail term of its correspondent, Teyseer Alluni. Alluni had been convicted in September 2005 on charges of collaborating with al-Qaeda. The same court, however, had acquitted him of being a member of al-Qaeda.
I'm shocked too, but for a different reason.
Hours after the Supreme Court upheld Alluni's conviction, Al Jazeera said it was consulting its legal team to appeal against the ruling, to "ensure Alluni regains his freedom".
Just threaten to blow something up. Worked before.
The Arab Committee for the Defence of Journalists described the move by the court as unjust and called upon all civil rights and media groups to "uncover the truth" of Alluni's case.

Concerns have been expressed about the health of Alluni who suffers from high blood pressure and problems with his spine.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Dan Darling || 06/02/2006 00:53 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "uncover the truth", eh? Ok, I'm all for it. Truth is that Al Jazeera is a virulently anti-american Al Qaeda PR front. Listen, if Dish Network goes ahead with plans to broadcast an english version of Al Jazeera on US TV, everyone should dump their dish in front of their HQ and crap on it.
Posted by: mcsegeek1 || 06/02/2006 12:03 Comments || Top||

#2  Words of advice, Teyseer. If your gonna be a reporter on the take, always back the strong horse. That's what worked for me...
Posted by: The Ghost of Walter Duranty || 06/02/2006 12:07 Comments || Top||


Al-Qaeda bankroller Youssef Nada wants damages from Swiss government
Attorneys for Muslim Brotherhood Banker Youssef Nada, founder and president of the Al Taqwa Bank, have announced their intention to file a new claim against the Swiss government, on Nada’s behalf, for economic losses, defamation and mental distress allegedly caused by the Swiss Government’s three year investigation of Nada’s alleged involvement in financing terrorism. The charges were dropped last May (2005) when the Swiss Prosecutor’s office concluded it had insufficient usable evidence to bring the matter to trial. At the time concerns were expressed over the lack of cooperation and information sharing between relevant intelligence and investigative agencies in the United States and Switzerland, and the difficulty the Swiss Prosecutor's office had in obtaining and turning intelligence into usable evidence.

Nada, and Al Taqwa were designated by the UN Al Qaeda and Taliban Sanctions Committee and by the US Treasury in November 2001 for providing financial support to Al Taqwa. Press reports have speculated that Nada is seeking up to 200 million Swiss Francs as damages, but his attorneys have suggested that these stories are "speculative" and that no claim amount has yet been established. Despite UN and US designation, Nada continues to direct a substantial worldwide business network and has reportedly re-established himself as liquidator of at least some of his holdings maintained through Shell companies in Liechtenstein.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 06/02/2006 00:41 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Nada ... reportedly re-established himself as liquidator ...

Of Jews and infidels.
Posted by: Zenster || 06/02/2006 19:53 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
Nashville Cops Find Ricin, Pipe Bombs in Search of Home
Authorities said they found pipe bombs and a jar containing the potentially deadly poison ricin while searching a home in suburban Nashville. The ricin was found sealed in a baby food jar in a shed at the home of William Matthews, according to a joint statement Thursday from Nashville police, the FBI, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, and health officials. Officials said the jar was sealed and they do not believe the neighborhood was threatened.

Authorities first searched the shed Wednesday after receiving a tip from Matthews' estranged wife. They also found five gun silencers, a bowl containing ricin residue and bomb-making materials.

Matthews, 55, began serving a nine-month jail sentence last week for violating orders of protection taken out by his wife while he was being treated for substance abuse. No charges had been filed Thursday night, but authorities said they were talking with the U.S. Attorney's office. It was not immediately known whether Matthews had a lawyer.

Ricin is a poisonous protein that can be used as a biological weapon. As little as 500 micrograms of the protein, roughly the amount that fits on the head of a pin, is enough to kill an adult, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Posted by: ryuge || 06/02/2006 03:11 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Sounds like the lady saved her life - and others. Good for her. No doubt he'll have some bizarre reason for constructing pipe bombs and possessing ricin. "The drugs made me do it!", or some such. One lethal dose of ricin or one pipe bomb ought to be enough to straightjacket this moron for the remainder of his natural life.

No pleas, please.
Posted by: Ulart Thomotch5445 || 06/02/2006 5:04 Comments || Top||

#2  man I'm glad to see that we're sending a clear message to anyone that thinks they can have this crap in a back yard.
No charges had been filed Thursday night, but authorities said they were talking with the U.S. Attorney's office.
Hell yeah. To think that someone with drug problems and "violating orders of protection" issues could get and harbor this is frightening. Yeah, let's make sure he has a good lawyer. Meanwhile back at the ranch no one was threatened they say. BS!
Posted by: Jan || 06/02/2006 5:27 Comments || Top||

#3  ...was being treated for substance abuse.

Matthews was a longtime Metro Nashville employee who recently left his job working in the city's drug court testing laboratory...

Occupational hazard? Perhaps they should wear respirators in ye olde lab.

No sign of this reported on The Tennessean web site.
Posted by: psychohillbilly || 06/02/2006 11:13 Comments || Top||

#4  Creating ricin is the real substance abuse here...
Posted by: Seafarious || 06/02/2006 11:34 Comments || Top||

#5  Ricin is not something you order from a catalog. From where did it come? You'd think even a cub reporter could pose that question.
Posted by: Steve White || 06/02/2006 12:58 Comments || Top||

#6  Wasn't there another terrorist imitator incident in Nashville a couple of years ago? Opryland parking lot car bomb or something like that? No Islamic or other group terrorist links - just your garden variety nut-job? Must be something about that music up there that drive people nuts.
Posted by: glenmore || 06/02/2006 13:00 Comments || Top||

#7  Castor bean seeds, SW... they grow wild here in SoCal...we have to eradicate them as a non-native species, but they grow like f*&king weeds. IIUC it's not that hard to make
Posted by: Frank G || 06/02/2006 13:28 Comments || Top||

#8  Matthews was working in the city's drug court testing laboratory...

Occupational hazard? Perhaps they should wear respirators in ye olde lab.


Self-styled quality control expert, maybe?
Posted by: Zenster || 06/02/2006 19:57 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Pakistan police arrest Militant Mastermind
QUETTA, Pakistan -- Police raided a militant hideout and arrested the alleged mastermind of sectarian attacks that killed more than 100 Shiite Muslims in southwestern Pakistan, police said Friday. Habib Ullah, a leader of the outlawed Lashkar-e-Jhangvi Sunni militant group, was captured late Thursday at a home in Quetta, provincial police chief Chaudhry Mohammed Yaqub said.
I'd guess he is the unnamed militant they arrested in the other story
Ullah is suspected of masterminding 28 attacks against Shiites, including two attacks in 2003 and 2004 that killed more than 100 people. Yaqub said Ullah confessed to the crimes. "This is a major success, and police are also trying to capture other associates of Habib Ullah," the police chief told The Associated Press.
How about taking him to find an arms cache?
At least 60 people died and dozens other were wounded on July 4, 2003, when suspected Sunni militants with grenades and guns attacked a Shiite mosque in Quetta, the capital of southwestern Baluchistan province. In March 2004, suspected Sunni militants struck a religious procession of Shiite Muslims in Quetta, throwing grenades and opening fire on worshippers before blowing themselves up in an attack that killed 47 people.

Yaqub said Ullah was an important figure in Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, a Sunni militant group which is believed to have killed hundreds of Shiites in recent years.
Posted by: Steve || 06/02/2006 12:28 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under:

#1  he confessed? That's gonna leave a mark.....
Posted by: Frank G || 06/02/2006 21:36 Comments || Top||


Three Lashkar-e-Toiba Hardboyz dispatched
Mumbai, June 1: Militants disguised as policemen tried to storm the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s headquarters in Nagpur shortly before dawn today but were gunned down in their car outside the gates. The attack bid began unravelling around 4.15 am when policemen on duty spotted a white ambassador with a red beacon outside the eastern gate of Hegdewar Bhavan, the RSS headquarters named after its founder. “When the policemen challenged the vehicle, it started speeding towards the gate, breaking the barricades. Our team chased them and killed the three occupants in an encounter that lasted about five minutes,” Nagpur police commissioner S.P.S. Yadav said.

The shootout took place about 100 metres from the eastern gate of the sprawling, tightly guarded building, but the militants managed to breach the first barrier, 200 metres from the gate.

“The police found three AK-Ms, a modified and superior version of the AK-47, and 13 hand grenades, along with 5 kg of some suspicious powdery substance which seems to be RDX,” Yadav said.

Preliminary inquiries suggested the attackers were members of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba, police sources said. They wore police inspectors’ uniforms and were about 20-22 years old. One of them carried a diary. “The diary indicates they were Islamic militants,” Yadav said. The militants, he added, had left Patna a couple of days ago and intelligence agencies had alerted police chiefs.

Taking no chances, Mumbai police today stepped up vigil at big shrines in the city. The thwarted attack comes weeks after a huge cache of arms was seized in phases in Maharashtra’s Aurangabad and 11 suspected Lashkar militants were arrested.
ADDITIONAL: Friday, June 2, 2006 (Nagpur): The three heavily armed terrorists killed while attempting to attack the RSS headquarters have been identified as Pakistanis, state CID sources said on Friday.

"They were identified as Afzal Ahmad Butt and Abu al Kalam Alad, both from Lahore while the third ultra was Mohammad Usman Habib from Gujranwala in Pakistan," a top CID official said. "Their identity could be established on the basis of seized diaries where names were written in Urdu along with their telephone numbers of respective places," the official added.

Police are searching nearby villages to trace local supporters of militants and the owner of the car used in the abortive raid. They said the Aurangabad licence plate on the car was fake. Police have also found three names in a diary carried by the gunmen. Investigators are trying to figure out the nature of the explosive device and ascertain whether it was plastic or RDX.

The arms and ammunition carried by the militants are similar to those recovered in Malegaon near Nasik a few weeks ago. Officials from the Mumbai anti-terror police squad are in Nagpur to aid investigators.
Posted by: DanNY || 06/02/2006 11:56 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:


'Troops die' in Waziristan bomb
Four Pakistani soldiers and at least one attacker has been killed during a suicide attack near the North Waziristan region, officials say. At least seven soldiers are said to have been wounded, the army says. Tens of thousands of Pakistani soldiers have been deployed in the area to flush out Taleban and al-Qaeda militants.

The attack took place just outside North Waziristan in an area characterised by insurgency, tribal rule and criminal gangs.
That pretty much covers the entire subcontinent
The army says that the attack took place on a military convoy heading from the town of Mirali to Bannu. A spokesman said at least one suicide bomber, maybe two, drove a car packed with explosives into a military convoy.

Security forces are regularly targeted by pro-Taleban militants in this rugged region along the Afghan border. The BBC's Barbara Plett in Islamabad says that usually, the military come under gun or rocket fire and that suicide bombings are rare. But our correspondent says that militants have recently threatened to carry out suicide attacks if soldiers continued to stop them at check posts.

The army launched operations in the tribal areas to wipe out remnants of al-Qaeda and the Taleban taking refuge there. But many analysts say this has empowered a new generation of Pakistani militants linked to the Taleban in Afghanistan and inspired by the global jihad ideologies of al-Qaeda.

On Sunday a soldier and a policeman were killed and three paramilitary soldiers were injured in North Waziristan when a car exploded at a checkpoint, officials said. Hundreds on both sides have died in recent years.
Posted by: Steve || 06/02/2006 08:35 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:


12 police killed in land mine blast in eastern India
PATNA, India - A land mine thought to have been planted by communist rebels blew up a police jeep on Thursday in eastern India, killing 12 officers from a paramilitary police force, an official said. The officers from the Central Reserve Police Force were heading back to their base in the state of Jharkhand after defusing land mines when their jeep struck a mine, said the state’s top police officer, B.C. Verma.

The explosion took place near the village of Karampada, about 250 kilometers (155 miles) south of Jharkhand’s capital, Patna, he said. The area is in a remote part of the state and initial reports had said five officers were killed while clearing land mines at a school.

The rebels claim to be inspired by Mao Zedong and have been fighting for more than two decades. They are active in central and eastern India.
Posted by: Steve White || 06/02/2006 00:47 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under:


Police arrest militant wanted in 28 terrorists cases in Pakistan
Police in two different raids in Southwestern Baluchistan province arrested a militant wanted in 28 terrorist cases and recovered huge cache of arms and ammunition, said an official Thursday. Chauhdary Muhammad Yaqoob, the Inspector General (IG) Quetta city, at a press conference said that police has arrested a militant of outlawed Lashkar-i-Jhangvi (LJ) terrorist outfit in a raid. Without giving details about the militant, the IG said that he was wanted in 28 terrorist activities in the insurgency-hit province of Baluchistan.

Meanwhile, in a different raid, police force seized huge cache of arms and ammunition. Also, police sources told KUNA, a vehicle hit a landmine, being planted by suspected nationalist militants, in Sui district, wounding two and damaging the vehicle badly. In Dera Bugti tribe, the heart of nationalist insurgency, Frontier Core (FC) troops and militants exchanged fire for about 30 minuets. But there was no human or property loss.
Posted by: Fred || 06/02/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under:


Iraq
ABC News: Military Has Already Exonerated Troops At Ishaqi
Horrific images of Iraqi adults and children have fueled new allegations that U.S. troops killed civilians in the Iraqi town of Ishaqi. But ABC News has learned that military officials have completed their investigation and concluded that U.S. forces followed the rules of engagement.

A senior Pentagon official told ABC News the investigation concluded that the allegations of intentional killings of civilians by American forces are unfounded.

Military commanders in Iraq launched an investigation soon after the mid-March raid in the village of Ishaqi, about 50 miles north of Baghdad.

Maj. Gen. William Caldwell will make a statement about the Ishaqi allegations today in Baghdad, ABC News has learned.

In Ishaqi, American forces were going after a high-value terrorist target they succeeded in apprehending. The U.S. military reported in March that four people died when the troops destroyed a house from the air and ground.

But previously unaired video shot by an AP Television News cameraman at the time shows at least five children dead, several with obvious bullet wounds to the head. One adult male is also seen dead.

"Children were stuck in the room, alone and surrounded," an unidentified man said on the video.

A total of 11 people died, according to Iraqis on the scene. The Iraqis said the people were killed by U.S. troops before the house was destroyed...
Posted by: Anonymoose || 06/02/2006 18:08 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Um hum. I suspected exactly this. Dead collaborators families. Boo hoo.

Will the MSM trumpet the truth as loudly as they did the lies? Don't hold your breath.
Posted by: Parabellum || 06/02/2006 18:23 Comments || Top||

#2  This AP cameraman wouldn't by any chance happen to be Bilal Hussein?
Posted by: ed || 06/02/2006 18:31 Comments || Top||

#3  Who is accountable for slandering the troops? The military has an extensive system of accountability, but not the MSM.
Posted by: Captain America || 06/02/2006 18:35 Comments || Top||

#4  But previously unaired video

But, but but. Nope. MSM will continue to play the staged spin story and disregard facts. As always.

And the islamists know they will. They're counting on it and more of these misreports and staged events are coming down the pipeline.

They'll be mixed in with provocative events much like the Pal kiddies sent to attack with "toy" guns in hopes of creating an incident of outrage or the guy driving pregnant women to their death playing chicken with checkpoints. It's the newest tactic.

And until MSM can get their minds around the fact they're being circle-jerked, we're in for a bumpy ride.
Posted by: Thinemp Whimble2412 || 06/02/2006 18:37 Comments || Top||

#5  Rope. Tree. Journalist.
Some assembly required.
Posted by: DarthVader || 06/02/2006 18:40 Comments || Top||

#6  Whoa! Coffee alert, aisle 5!
Posted by: Rex Mundi || 06/02/2006 19:10 Comments || Top||

#7  I can't take credit for it. The Rottweiler started it and even has a T-shirt that I will have to buy with that on there.
Posted by: DarthVader || 06/02/2006 20:46 Comments || Top||

#8  Good news, now they are going to have to try to restore the careers of the officers, NCO's, and soldiers that were relieved pending the investigation.

I hope murtha get an ulser.
Posted by: 49 Pan || 06/02/2006 22:06 Comments || Top||

#9  Journalist, tree, and rope indeed.

I don't know how else we are supposed to react to unwarranted opposition to our civil authorities and our elected government by the media. It's not just political opposition here. Everyone is entitled to that. You are not however entitled to active subversion and support for our mortal foes.

The fact is the media are not investigated and
vetted the way that they claim to investigate everyone and everthing else. The repetition of lies like "Bush stole the election, twice" "Geroge Bush attacked Iraq because Saddam was involved in 9/11" the "Bush lied people died". Out right lies made and repeated as facts. The credulous who just happen to live in all the major urban areas of this nation take these lies as truth. They believe them. The Media is accountable to no one asnd the cover up for each other. This can't continue.

Rope. Tree. Journalist. indeed. Treason in war time is a crime deserving the death peanalty.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 06/02/2006 22:23 Comments || Top||

#10  Good news, now they are going to have to try to restore the careers of the officers, NCO's, and soldiers that were relieved pending the investigation.


the MSM will be too busy - they're on to the next outrage.
Posted by: Frank G || 06/02/2006 22:38 Comments || Top||

#11  If you look at the video in the BBC article I posted to earlier and the stills of the dead kids, you'll see that they probably aren't filmed on the same day. The video is taken on an overcast day while the pictures of the dead kids is taken on on a very bright day, probably in the winter was my guess from the shadows. The kids were probably caught either in a bombing unrelated to the American operation or just in a collapsed house (which happens all the time in those parts).
Posted by: 11A5S || 06/02/2006 23:58 Comments || Top||


Abu Ghraib dog handler sentenced
FORT MEADE, Md. - A military jury sentenced an Army dog handler to 90 days hard labor and a reduction in rank Friday for allowing his Belgian shepherd to bark within inches of an Iraqi detainee’s face at Abu Ghraib prison. Army Sgt. Santos A. Cardona was the 11th soldier convicted of crimes stemming from the abuse of inmates at the prison in late 2003 and early 2004.

He was found guilty of dereliction of duty and aggravated assault for allowing his dog to bark in the face of a kneeling detainee at the request of another soldier who wasn’t an interrogator. The military jury acquitted him of other charges, including unlawfully having his dog bite a detainee and conspiring with another dog handler to frighten prisoners as a game.

It wasn’t clear where Cardona, who was based at Fort Bragg, N.C., will serve the sentence or what sort of hard labor he will be require to do. He won’t be confined during the sentence. Cardona’s rank was reduced to specialist and the court ordered him to forfeit $600 a month in pay for 12 months. “It wasn’t an acquittal,” Cardona’s civilian attorney, Harvey Volzer, told his client, “but it was pretty darn good.”
Other than the fact that his military career is over, you mean ...
Prosecutor Maj. Matthew Miller had recommended 12 months confinement and a bad conduct discharge. “You can win all kinds of battles and end up losing the whole dang war basically for boneheaded decisions and misjudgments,” Miller told the jury.

Santos’ military lawyer, Capt. Kirsten M. Mayer, said Miller exaggerated the circumstances. “What we have here is a soldier who let his dog get too close to a detainee, and the dog barked,” she told the jury.

Although none of the offenses was alleged to have occurred during interrogations, Cardona’s defense team focused on interrogation policies, including three memos issued in a month’s time by Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez, then commander of U.S. forces in Iraq. The memos authorized harsher interrogation techniques such as stress positions, sleep deprivation and dogs at Abu Ghraib — but only with written authorization.

The changing policies confounded Col. Thomas M. Pappas, an intelligence officer who assumed the prison’s management in late 2003. Pappas was reprimanded last year for approving a request to use dogs in an interrogation without Sanchez’ approval — something Pappas testified he believed at the time the policy allowed. “We were all confused at one time or another,” Pappas testified.
Posted by: Broadhead6 || 06/02/2006 12:43 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  So if my dog barks at a muslim, do I get 90 days in prison too? Or is it only if he is a muslim terrorist?
Posted by: ed || 06/02/2006 18:22 Comments || Top||


BBC uncovers another "Iraq massacre" [scare quotes from BBC]
Duplicate, see below.
Actually, this story has been out there for a while, but no serious media outlet has covered it until now. This appears at the very end of the article:
The video tape obtained by the BBC shows a number of dead adults and children at the site with what our world affairs editor John Simpson says were clearly gunshot wounds. The pictures came from a hardline Sunni group opposed to coalition forces.
In the video clip that accompanies the article, Simpson says that the BBC can't show any details since it's all just too bloody horrifying. Here however, are some stills. The pictures are disturbing, but none show any evidence of gunshot wounds. All of the dead appear to be covered in white dust, consistent with a building collapse. The BBC report clearly shows a partially collapsed building then goes on to say that this contradicts the US report that the building collapsed. I filed this under Politix instead of Operations since this is obviously politics, not reporting.
Posted by: 11A5S || 06/02/2006 00:23 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I left out something important in my analysis. Simpson said that the video clearly showed bullet wounds. The stills show no such thing.
Posted by: 11A5S || 06/02/2006 1:44 Comments || Top||

#2  How does the BBC know the alleged civilians were "innocent"? Innocent of what?
Posted by: Bobby || 06/02/2006 7:09 Comments || Top||

#3  Ya know, if they gave this much coverage to what the jihadis did, there'd be 100% support for the WoT.

Oh, of course. How silly of me -- the press doesn't want that.
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 06/02/2006 7:20 Comments || Top||

#4  The BBC supports the enemies of the west, and appeasement.

It has allways done so.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 06/02/2006 7:25 Comments || Top||

#5  Declare war on the BBC!
Posted by: DarthVader || 06/02/2006 10:32 Comments || Top||

#6  You want to lose your lunch, you should read the comments attached to this "article". Euro tranzis make me want to barf...guess I'm on a theme here
Posted by: remoteman || 06/02/2006 13:28 Comments || Top||


Maliki condemns Haditha killings
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki yesterday condemned as a terrible crime an alleged massacre of civilians by US Marines last year. Maliki’s coalition goverment said a national security committe would work with US-led forces to make sure there was no repeat of what occurred in the western town of Haditha in November.

Many Iraqis believe unjustified killings by US troops are common, but few have been confirmed by investigations. “The crime and misery of Haditha ... is a terrible crime where women and children were eliminated,” Maliki told a news conference after a cabinet meeting.

He said this week he wanted investigations into Haditha and other cases. In an interview on Tuesday he said his patience was wearing thin with excuses that US troops kill civilians “by mistake”.

His deputy said those responsible should be brought to justice and punished. “We will engage with multinational forces command seriously about means and modalities to prevent the re-occurrences of such incidents,” Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih said yesterday.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 06/02/2006 00:51 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I suspect this is something he has to do given the blowback he's catchin. He knows the country goes to much deeper shit the minute the Coaltion leaves.

This so-called massacre is a ruse, a set-up by Zarq and the Iraqi insurgents. They know how to use the blowhorn MSM.
Posted by: Captain America || 06/02/2006 1:09 Comments || Top||

#2  Seems they find 20 or 30 bodies every day in Iraq. Who are they? Once, they were almost exclusively Shia - whacked by the Zarqi types. But since the Shia took control after Allawi, the "police", in particular, and military have been used as death squads and the victims are as likely to be Sunnis, now.

The Shia parties, SCIRI et al, are running things, and will be for good - unless Iraq is partitioned. Sistani's either in collusion with Tehran, or he's an addled imbecile. These are his guys. Jaafari and Maliki - no difference. The farce of replacing Jaafari with Maliki and the absurd trumpeting of him as an "effective" leader and now progress would be forthcoming was high comedy.

The south is controlled by the Shia militias. It's a complete cock-up. Teheran's dream come true.

Elsewhere, through Jabr's term running the Interior Ministry "under" Jaafari, which controls the "police", we had, and still have, the death squads. He kept the externally-trained police, real policemen relatively speaking, out of the force, out of the way. And the deaths continue apace. Discovery of this fact changed nothing - now he gets to suborn the Finance Ministry for the Mullahs. Why is he still favored with a Ministry post? Because Maliki, Sistani, and the gang want it that way, approved of his subversion, and are in league.

For Maliki to make hay out of Haditha is farce, but it will help create the MSM-desired meme, the Iraqi My Lai meme they've salivated for these last 3 years. In the majority, in control, the big Shia dogs would love it if the US pulled out - as long as we continued to put $ on the line to rebuild this shithole - and provide them something to skim. They're the hand-selected govt of the Mullahs, what else could we expect?

This entire exercise has gone downhill since Allawi, PR aside. Considering the devastating first-hand info that Verlaine in Iraq posted this week, we've dropped the ball and seem content to play it out a bit longer before drawing down. It stinks of political schemes, both here and there, and completely forgets and mocks the good people who have made the ultimate sacrifice in this effort.

The noises about cleaning up Ramadi certainly must appeal to Maliki & Co - it'll be Sunnis who do most of the dying. Given where we are now, the senior military's reluctance to do it right, as Verlaine pointed out, I consider it to be more than a waste - US soldiers will die in some number, and one death for this political farce is too many.

Personally, I have become disgusted with the entire enterprise over the last 6 months or so. Before the Shia took over, I had hope. Since then, it has been dashed.

Partition. At least the Kurds are worthy of our effort. Fuck the Arabs. Fuck the politicians, here, there, and everywhere. Fuck the military leadership, US and UK, who apparently have become politicians in uniform. Fuck them all. I wouldn't trust the lot of them to do the right thing, much less for the right reasons. Those who have served and, particularly, those who have died, deserve so much more, so much better.
Posted by: Sniting Chereck4226 || 06/02/2006 1:59 Comments || Top||

#3  I'm sorry the post was so long and poorly constructed - it's late. :)
Posted by: Sniting Chereck4226 || 06/02/2006 2:07 Comments || Top||

#4  Sniting Chereck: Fuck the military leadership, US and UK, who apparently have become politicians in uniform. Fuck them all. I wouldn't trust the lot of them to do the right thing, much less for the right reasons.

Does your attitude encompass 100% of our military leadership, or would you grant that some small portion, at least 5%, still deserve our respect?

Also, what ranks should be fucked? Colonels and above? Majors and above? Please clarify.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester || 06/02/2006 3:23 Comments || Top||

#5  Hmmm. It seems to me, Mike Sylwester, that Sniting Chereck4226 was quite explicit in identifying them as those "who apparently have become politicians in uniform."

Since it's obvious you disagree, please, do present your case, point by point, refuting the post. I thought SC hit some very valid points, though I don't agree so much with his total disappointment. I think you're a troll, and not a clever one at that, since your reading comprehension is so poor. Please clarify.
Posted by: Ulart Thomotch5445 || 06/02/2006 4:49 Comments || Top||

#6  All this leaves me very pissed off at Bush and his "advisors" both military and cvilian. The cut and run Dems and the seditious MSM will play this out for every bit it's worth. My NYT daily Email arrived and this was the lead story.

Just freeking wonderful. Iran has a full hand to play and GWB once again appears to not be able to find his ass with both hands let alone his cards. There are some major failures here Plenty are political, some of them are military, some are with intel. Those responsible need to go, now. It may be part of the reason Goss was cut lose too.

Stupid SOBs.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 06/02/2006 4:51 Comments || Top||

#7  Ulart Thomotch5445: Sniting Chereck4226 was quite explicit in identifying them as those "who apparently have become politicians in uniform."

Could you name some particular members of our country's military leaders "who apparently have become politicians in uniform" and therefore should be fucked?

Or else could you describe some characteristics of the military opinions and advice of such US military leaders who should be fucked? How should we know specifically which US military leaders should be fucked?


Posted by: Mike Sylwester || 06/02/2006 7:25 Comments || Top||

#8  Mikey's back!!! heh
Posted by: lotp || 06/02/2006 8:34 Comments || Top||

#9  How shall I fuck off, O Lord?
Posted by: mcsegeek1 || 06/02/2006 8:44 Comments || Top||

#10  Mikey - Had you come here to actually learn or discuss, you could begin with Gen Chiarelli. He fits the bill.

But that's not why you're here.

Given your single-mindedly goofy posts, you've come to demonstrate you're still the same pointless insipid cunt that .com identified you to be long ago.

Congratulations, you've succeeded.
Posted by: old timer || 06/02/2006 8:52 Comments || Top||

#11  That's an insult to cunts.
Posted by: anon || 06/02/2006 8:55 Comments || Top||

#12  How's the paranoid gig going?
Posted by: Jack Rubenstein || 06/02/2006 9:00 Comments || Top||

#13  MS bangs the UN drum in 5...4...3...
Posted by: SR-71 || 06/02/2006 9:13 Comments || Top||

#14  Note that Mikey still employs the same kiddie gambit of trying to set the agenda - "Address my strawman!". He was challenged to refute the post's substance. He bravely ran away.

Still the same asshole who was justly banned for his inability to actually debate anyone or contribute anything meaningful or germane.
Posted by: Throluting Thravimble3768 || 06/02/2006 9:22 Comments || Top||

#15  captain America is right.

Maliki could hardly do anything less than this and retain credibility at home. Hes our ally, not our puppet, and its time we had the maturity not to expect our allies to act like our puppets.

His first step was NOT ramadi, but to make a move on the militias in Basra. How serious that move is has yet to be seen, and much will depend on who he picks for Interior Minister on Sunday.
Posted by: liberalhawk || 06/02/2006 9:35 Comments || Top||

#16  Mikey's gotta hard-on over more accusations of American war crimes. At least he's predictable.
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 06/02/2006 9:39 Comments || Top||

#17  LH, yep, Maliki is walking the political tight rope over there between looking down the road and dealing w/the extremists in his own backyard.

Welcome back Mike. I think it was apparent he is ranting and using some hyperbole to express a figurative point - though that's just me. Truth be told I like an honest disenting devil's advocate - but that's only if someone is here to actually do that effectively instead of nitpicking and doing the ole grab/twist/pull ala old Aris.
Posted by: Broadhead6 || 06/02/2006 10:24 Comments || Top||

#18  Spike returns - like the Herpes boil - erupting at times when he can tell us how superior the UN is and how bad everyone else is. Asshat. Your blue helmet buggery won't fly ...still.
Posted by: Frank G || 06/02/2006 11:09 Comments || Top||

#19  Is Jihad BunDone in our future?
Posted by: 6 || 06/02/2006 12:13 Comments || Top||

#20  Well this certainly could be a turning point for US involvement. We are going to get hammered on this and now the jihadis are going to be able to make claim after claim about "atrocities" and the media will just lap it up.

I read Iraq the Model yesterday and he was claiming that Sunni harboyz are trying to enforce Sharia on multiple neighborhoods within Bagdhad. If you wear short pants, for example, you get shot in the legs. Course the F*ckin BBC won't cover that. Yes, I admit I am getting tired of this shit and am wondering more and more whether the lives of our brave men and women are worth risking trying to make something of this Arab shithole. I hope that I am wrong.
Posted by: remoteman || 06/02/2006 13:08 Comments || Top||

#21  "Flea bitten range bums folks like Mikey don't usually stop in Lago Rantburg. Life here's a little to quick for 'em."
Posted by: mcsegeek1 || 06/02/2006 13:26 Comments || Top||

#22  "...and much will depend on who he picks for Interior Minister on Sunday."

LH, Perhaps an understatment but spot on nontheless.
Posted by: DepotGuy || 06/02/2006 14:14 Comments || Top||

#23  Sadly, the "rules" say the Interior must go to a Shia and Defense to a Sunni.

Wonderful qualifications specs. So f'n f'd.
Posted by: Throluting Thravimble3768 || 06/02/2006 14:17 Comments || Top||

#24  23,


I dont see what thats such a big deal. Im old enough to remember when a citywide ticket in NY had to include the 3 i's - Italy, Ireland, and Israel. When people kept track of the number of Catholics in US cabinet. And when there was one (but only one) "jewish seat" on SCOTUS.

It doesnt mean you cant get qualified people, and it doesnt mean youre not a democracy (of course Felix Frankfurter was heckuva lot better than Abe Fortas :) )
Posted by: liberalhawk || 06/02/2006 16:52 Comments || Top||

#25 
"Sniting Chereck4226"

.com? Is that you? Come on, don't be shy!

-M
Posted by: Manolo || 06/02/2006 18:49 Comments || Top||


Zarqawi tape blasts Shi'ites for not rioting over Danish cartoons
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, al-Qaeda's leader in Iraq, has called on fellow Sunnis to reject any reconciliation with Shia, according to an audio tape posted on the internet. The tape, posted on Thursday in a website often used by Iraqi insurgent groups, could not be authenticated.

"O Sunnis! Prepare to get rid of the infidel snakes and their poison ... and don't listen to those advocating an end to sectarianism and calling for national unity. This is a weapon to get you to surrender," said the speaker on the tape who sounded like al-Zarqawi.

The speaker blasted Iraq's top Shia cleric, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, as the "leader of infidelity and atheism" and said his followers were more concerned about honouring their own saints than protesting against cartoons of Prophet Muhammad published in Danish and other newspapers around the world. "We did not see them rise up with the same fervour when blasphemous pictures of the Prophet were published because they prefer their own leaders to God and his Prophet," he said.

The speaker accused Shia groups and government forces of being responsible for numerous attacks on Sunnis and their places of worship. He suggested that Shia themselves were behind the February bombing of a Shia shrine and other attacks which touched off a wave of sectarian killings and revenge attacks. "The attacks were a charade ... that revealed their (Shia) hatred of the Sunnis," the speaker said.

The tape, which was issued in three parts totalling about four hours, covered what the speaker said were examples of Shia enmity towards Islam throughout history. The speaker criticised a militia loyal to Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr for stopping their fight against US forces after uprisings in 2004 against US troops.

The speaker also attacked Lebanon's Shia group Hizbollah, and said majority-Shia Iran had helped the United States in Afghanistan and was in contact with Washington over Iraq.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 06/02/2006 00:49 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Maybe the Shias don't have a finger permanently stuck in their proverbial unlike Fat-boy? Then again, looking at Iran...
Posted by: Howard UK || 06/02/2006 3:50 Comments || Top||

#2  This guy is an anti-insurgency dream come true. He can open his mouth and do more damage to the "resistance" in five minutes than we can do in a month.
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 06/02/2006 10:50 Comments || Top||

#3  Sorry, Zark. But they were too busy laughing at your machine gun video. Forward, reverse...kept them in stitches for weeks.
Posted by: tu3031 || 06/02/2006 12:54 Comments || Top||


BBC claims to have video of US killing 11 Iraq civilians in Ishaqi
Snip, duplicate, see below.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 06/02/2006 00:47 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  You beat me, Dan, while I was hunting down the photos.
Posted by: 11A5S || 06/02/2006 1:13 Comments || Top||

#2  Heh, beat you both.
Posted by: Steve White || 06/02/2006 1:24 Comments || Top||

#3  But who hunted down the photos and did the analysis? Anyone can post a link ;-)
Posted by: 11A5S || 06/02/2006 1:39 Comments || Top||

#4  Al-Qaeda present? A job well done.
Posted by: Howard UK || 06/02/2006 6:10 Comments || Top||


Attorney: 7 Marines, sailor face murder charges
Update 12:30 am CDT: link fixed. AoS.
And the MSM is now in high gear against our mility
SAN DIEGO - Military prosecutors plan to file murder, kidnapping and conspiracy charges against seven Marines and a Navy corpsman in the shooting death of an Iraqi man in April, a defense lawyer said Thursday.
7 Marines and 1 sailor to take out one Iraqi? I can accept 7-8 Iraqis and 1 Marine. Come on Marines, get your PR folks working and stop this. The MSM is your enemy, now, go git 'em. Please?
The eight men are being held in the brig at Camp Pendleton Marine Corps base north of San Diego, said Jeremiah Sullivan III, who represents one of the men. The men served in Iraq with the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, and are members of the battalion’s Kilo Company. The highest-ranking among them is a staff sergeant.

Sullivan said he learned from Marine Corps attorneys that the charges have been drafted and official charging documents could be given to the men as early as Friday.

Separately, another group of five Marines in Kilo Company, including a lieutenant who commanded the platoon, are under investigation for injuring a suspect in their custody, according to a defense attorney who has been contacted by the family of one of the Marines. He spoke Thursday only on condition of anonymity because he has not taken on the case.

The Iraqi man was killed west of Baghdad on April 26. His death was unrelated to the shootings of as many as two dozen civilians in the western Iraqi city of Haditha. The Marine Corps and Pentagon spokesmen have refused to comment on any aspect of the Iraqi’s death since an investigation was announced May 24.
Posted by: Sherry || 06/02/2006 00:40 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Opps.... forgot to do the link. Sorry about that..... but the Scotch is good...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13090111/



Posted by: Sherry || 06/02/2006 0:50 Comments || Top||


New massacre allegations against US troops
Another allegation making the rounds; we need to gather info.
LONDON - British broadcaster BBC aired purported videotape evidence of a massacre by US troops against Iraq civilians in March in a town outside Baghdad. The US military said that four people were killed inadvertently in operations on March 15 in Ishaqi, about 100 kilometres north of the Iraqi capital. Iraqi police have alleged that 11 people were deliberately shot to death by US troops in the incident.

The video, supplied to the network by a Sunni Muslim group opposed to the US-led occupation, shows the bodies of several adults and children who appear to be dead of gunshot wounds. The BBC said that it compared the video to other footage from Ishaqi and believed the film clip to be genuine. The US claimed that the four dead - an Al Qaeda terrorist suspect with two women and a child - were inside a building that collapsed under heavy gunfire.

Iraqi police have alleged that 11 people inside the building - including four women and five children - were shot in cold blood before the building was demolished. It was not clear how the BBC video disproved the US claims of either a lower death toll or the circumstances of death.
Posted by: Steve White || 06/02/2006 00:19 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  still will never match the 5066 people killed by Islamic terrorists since 9/11.
Posted by: newc || 06/02/2006 9:16 Comments || Top||

#2  They sure know how to manipulate the press and keep it going. Never do they show the IED that blew a half dozen soldier into pieces. If these cowards want to use women and kids as fodder then we better get used to the photos.
Posted by: 49 Pan || 06/02/2006 9:28 Comments || Top||

#3  Right newc. Did MSM ever spend a lick of time outside an offhand report of directed killing of civilians? Compare the amount of time spent on each separate attack by the enemy and the amount of time MSM will spend on this. I guess you don't want to talk down your friends, just your enemies. Fair and Balanced - Right!
Posted by: Shinemp Ebbitch6305 || 06/02/2006 9:41 Comments || Top||

#4  "...were shot in cold blood..."

Hmmm...now who did I recently hear use that phrase again?
Posted by: DepotGuy || 06/02/2006 10:57 Comments || Top||

#5  This is already spiraling....our troops are to receive "ethics training" and the lawyers are circling like buzzards. We're one step away from defeat.
Posted by: Rex Mundi || 06/02/2006 11:07 Comments || Top||

#6  Hope you're wrong Rex, it's also getting many steps closer to the obviously ridiculous of the Marines kill babies for their candy and steal their prams hub-caps variety.
Posted by: 6 || 06/02/2006 12:11 Comments || Top||

#7  When each platoon is assigned a civilian oversight committee, you'll know we've lost.
Posted by: Rex Mundi || 06/02/2006 12:19 Comments || Top||

#8  Sunni Muzzies Lie.
Posted by: Inspector Clueso || 06/02/2006 17:28 Comments || Top||

#9  I'd do a deep forensics check to see how many of those women and children were killed by AK-47s instead of M-16s. I wouldn't put it past the Shiites or Sunnis to kill their own people to bring discredit upon our armed forces.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 06/02/2006 20:05 Comments || Top||


Al-Qaeda making inroads in Ramadi, not yet as bad as Fallujah in 2004
Al Qaeda militants have gained ground in Ramadi and the 1,500 extra U.S. troops brought to Iraq to help fight them will be used to try to break their grip on the town, the U.S. military said on Thursday. "We are very concerned about Ramadi. The situation in Ramadi is very serious," chief U.S. military spokesman Major General William Caldwell told a news conference.

The U.S. military has not suggested publicly that a big offensive is expected in Ramadi, 110 km (70 miles) west of Baghdad. But U.S. military officials appear to be focusing more on the town, capital of Anbar province, the insurgent heartland in western Iraq.

Two extra battalions have moved to Iraq from Kuwait to step up the fight against al Qaeda militants and insurgents in Anbar. "Al Qaeda militants have increased their presence. The extra troops have been brought in to facilitate the movement of other troops and deal with al Qaeda," said military spokesman Colonel Nelson McCouch.

He said the troops would be based in Ramadi, which has emerged as the biggest hotspot in Iraq after a major U.S. military offensive crushed al Qaeda militants and insurgents in 2004 in nearby Falluja, a former rebel bastion.

Asked if the situation in Ramadi was similar to that in Falluja before the assault, when residents said al Qaeda militants ruled the streets, McCouch said: "They are different. We have a presence and positions in Ramadi. In Falluja, we were trying to establish positions."

Caldwell said the performance of Iraqi forces had improved and they conducted 40 percent of the 389 military operations last week on their own. But Anbar remains the area most vulnerable to insurgent forces. Ramadi residents say they have noticed increased U.S. and Iraqi checkpoint and patrol activity in the city.

Al Qaeda-allied militants, led among others by Jordanian Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, and nationalists loyal to Saddam Hussein's banned Baath party have found refuge in the desert wastes of Anbar since the U.S. invasion three years ago. They often conduct bold operations in Ramadi, frequently attacking the building housing the governorate.

U.S. Marines have launched a series of offensives against rebel strongholds, notably in towns along the Euphrates River from the Syrian border to Falluja.

U.S. commanders' hopes have been raised over the past year by signs of growing disillusionment among the local Sunni Arab population with the rebels, especially with Islamists who have bloodily imposed Taliban-style rule on some towns at times. Local people also voted in substantial numbers for the first time in December's parliamentary election and Sunni leaders are in the national unity government formed last week.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 06/02/2006 00:38 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:


Five killed, eight injured in several attacks in Diyala province
Five people were killed and eight others injured Thursday in several attacks carried out by insurgents in the Diyala province, Iraqi Police said. A statement by the Joint Coordination Center said five people were killed and three others injured in an attack on their vehicle by unknown militants in Al-Hashimiyat district in Baquba, Diyala's largest cities. Another statement by the center said three civilians were injured in a bomb explosion near a shop in Baladrose in Baquba. Meanwhile, a bomb exploded near a home in Al-Jazeera district in Baquba, injuring one civilian. Another civilian was injured in an explosion in a market in Bani Saad town in southern Diyala.
Posted by: Fred || 06/02/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Iraqi killed, four injured, weapons found in wheat truck
Iraqi Police announced Thursday that a woman was killed and four people were injured in an attack in Diyala province. A statement from the Joint Coordination Center distributed here today said a group of gunmen attacked civilians near an educational institution in Baquba, Diyala's largest cities.

Meanwhile, US Army announced Thursday that its soldiers found a large quantity of weapons in a truck transferring wheat in Baghdad. US Army statement said today the truck was stopped on May 5 after the army found weapons in it including 15 mortar heads, but 21 days later they discovered more weapons in it hidden under wheat bags. Updated list of what they missed on the first search: The cache consisted of 28 rockets, 82 land mines, 43 rocket-propelled grenade rounds, one rocket launcher, two 60 mm mortar systems, one 81 mm mortar system, 30 mortar rounds, 33 rocket-propellant sticks, and other bomb-making materials, the military said.
Posted by: Fred || 06/02/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Couldn't have been room for much wheat with all that. How'd they miss it the first time?
Posted by: Thinemp Whimble2412 || 06/02/2006 18:19 Comments || Top||

#2  Well, the bags said "wheat", so what else would be in them?
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 06/02/2006 18:22 Comments || Top||


Two Iraqis killed, two others injured in attack in Mosul
Two Iraqis were killed and two others were injured Thursday in an armed attack in the northern city of Mosul, police said.

In Baghdad, the Interior Ministry said in a statement that the government security personnel arrested "a terrorist cell's leader" in Dyali, north of Baghdad during a raid on militants' hideouts. The statement said the terrorist leader was involved in killing tens of citizens and participated in several terrorist operations targetting security men. The personnel found a saw that he used in slaughtering the victims, and blood stained clothes.

In Baghdad, Iraqi police announced six citizens were injured when mortar shells hit a bazaar in the southern sector of the city. They were moved to hospital for treatment.
Posted by: Fred || 06/02/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Ten killed, 47 injured in mortar attack in southern Baghdad
Ten Iraqi civilians were killed and 47 injured when mortar shells fell on a popular restaurant in southern Baghdad on Thursday, a security source said. The source told KUNA the mortar shells fell on Al-Baghdadi restaurant while the place was packed with customers. Other shells fell on a shop near the restaurant. According to Al-Yarmouk hosptail, Initial death casualties were 10 and 47 people were injured. Sources at the hospital anticipated the increase of deaths. Eyewitnesses told KUNA ambulances and private cars were taking the wounding to Al-Yarmouk hospital.
Posted by: Fred || 06/02/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Islamic Jihad missile hits close to Israeli Defense Minister's home
TEL AVIV — Israeli officials said the Islamic Jihad targeted Defense Minister Amir Peretz with a missile that struck his neighbor's home while Peretz was at home.
Not a smart thing to do, IJ.
Israeli military sources said Islamic Jihad fired a Kassam-class short-range missile that nearly struck the defense minister's home in Sderot.
Peretz was in the house when the missile struck a neighbor's home. Nobody was injured, Middle East Newsline reported.
"He is a Zionist enemy minister," a Jihad spokesman told a news conference in Gaza City on Wednesday.
Well, IJ, you just signed a bunch of death warrants.
"We will find the way to implement activities that prevent these organizations from firing toward Sderot and other communities," Peretz said.
I hope that his quote is an understatement. Overwhelming retaliation is needed here, no tit for tat.
Jihad said it fired four Al Quds-4 missiles, regarded as a variant of the Kassam, toward Sderot. Two of the missiles landed in Sderot and the remainder fell in nearby fields.
The sources said Peretz had been warned that he would be a target of Jihad and Palestinian insurgency groups. They said the defense minister has refused appeals by the military to reinforce his home.
How about disassembling the enemy? Where is the strength of Israel these days?
"Jihad has suspended its attempts to strike strategic facilities in Ashkelon," a military source said. "Instead, Peretz is the target."
Now it is IJ's turn to be the target.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 06/02/2006 18:37 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I bet this will smart. Yeah, Gaza, that old beach.
Posted by: newc || 06/02/2006 19:47 Comments || Top||

#2  The bad news for the Paleos is that the Israelis won't miss.
Posted by: Darrell || 06/02/2006 20:43 Comments || Top||

#3  "Overwhelming retaliation is needed here, no tit for tat"
I will say give Israel all the help and a complete freedome to evaporate a few Mooselimb lands and populations and let them ask who is the next. I bet, you will never hear any threat from the entire stupid mooselimb word for the next tweny years. Destroy them all and you will never hear any threat from them for ever. This is as simple as it is. Your choice, whether you want your grand children to obey Talibans or not. My dear friends, take it straight, you can not please the Islamists without a total surrender to them - you, your children and grand children. Pay the price now for there will be no price to pay in the future.
Posted by: Annon || 06/02/2006 20:56 Comments || Top||

#4  Buzzards, Rats, And Creepy things.
Posted by: newc || 06/02/2006 22:59 Comments || Top||

#5  paleofascists == sh** for brains
Posted by: anymouse || 06/02/2006 23:39 Comments || Top||


Israeli - al Qaeda clash in Negev
Three uniformed al Qaeda infiltrators from Egypt lose two men in first direct clash with Israeli troops in the Negev. One Israeli soldier slightly hurt. The infiltrators tossed grenades at the Israeli patrol before dawn June 2 from an ambush near Mt. Sagi, 10 km from the Nitzana-Eilat highway in southern Israel. Two were killed by return fire, the third escaped across the border to Egyptian Sinai. Two Kalashnikov rifles, 9 ammo clips and a radio were found by the bodies, disguised in the uniforms of Egyptian officers.

DEBKAfile’s counter-terror sources tie the incident to a battle staged Wednesday night, May 31, between an Egyptian special unit and a large al Qaeda band bound for another attack on the Multinational Force base at Al Gora near El Arish in northern Sinai. The terrorists carried rifles, explosives and grenades for a mass strike against the mostly US and Canadian peacemakers. The Egyptians captured 35 of the assailants. Many of them were Palestinians recruited to Musab al Zarqawi’s Sinai network. Two of the Palestinians were named as Hamad Abu Kabal, 27, a student at the El Arish branch of Cairo University, and Yusuf Mohsein.

Their initial interrogation by Egyptian intelligence revealed that Zarqawi’s Sinai-Gaza network is in the first stages of a new offensive in Sinai, aimed at seizing and massacring a large number of Israeli and Western holidaymakers as well as strikes inside Israel. It now operates as “Al Qaeda-Palestine,” dedicated according to its communiqués to attacks on “The Children of Zion.”

Israeli security heads are disturbed by the growing number of Palestinians joining al Qaeda. The triple bombing attack at the Dahab resort of April 24, the repeated attempts to hit the MFO and the infiltration of Israel Thursday night come together to indicate al Qaeda’s numbers, infrastructure and reach are expanding and attacks on Israel are integral to its targeting aims. DEBKAfile’s military sources report that the tasks of breaking up al Qaeda’s Sinai operation, curbing its penetration of the Gaza Strip and holding back its border incursions into southern Israel are way beyond the capabilities of Egyptian security.
Posted by: Steve || 06/02/2006 09:07 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Three uniformed al Qaeda infiltrators from Egypt
Egyptian uniforms I assume, although I guess they could be Paki or Saudi.
Posted by: 6 || 06/02/2006 9:14 Comments || Top||

#2  haaretz confirms Egyptian uniforms, and officers uniforms at that. Haaretz says still uncertain who it actually was. Givent the geographical area, Debkas assertion that it was guys affiliated with the Sinai AQ affiliated groups whove been booming the resorts sounds pretty plausible.
Posted by: liberalhawk || 06/02/2006 9:30 Comments || Top||

#3  why would Paleos not be joining AQ? They've been the cannon fodder for everyone else, just a new master
Posted by: Frank G || 06/02/2006 10:55 Comments || Top||

#4  ...and AQ can probably pay 'em.
Posted by: tu3031 || 06/02/2006 13:03 Comments || Top||

#5  If the third AQ guy had been killed as well, it would have been a total AQ victory, according to Muslim logic.
Posted by: HV || 06/02/2006 13:35 Comments || Top||

#6  Oops!:
Two Egyptian security officers were killed on Friday in an exchange of fire with Israeli troops. Three Egyptian security officers fired at soldiers after crossing several dozen meters into Israel, Israeli military officials said.

The Israeli troops returned fire, killing two of the infiltrators, the officials said on condition of anonymity since they were not authorised to discuss such matters with the media.

Egyptian police said that three Egyptian security personnel exchanged fire with the Israeli soldiers after crossing the border and that two of them were killed. The reason for their infiltration into Israel was not immediately known, said Essam al-Shaikh, the head of Egyptian police in the border area. He did not say who shot first.

The Israeli army confirmed that two gunmen were killed in an exchange of fire along the border with Egypt, but did not give the identity of the men.

The incident happened in the central part of the border with Egypt, near Mount Sagi, the army said. Israel Radio said the exchange of fire occurred in an area of the border that is not fenced. Israel's defence ministry has opened an investigation into the incident, Army Radio reported.
Posted by: Steve || 06/02/2006 14:22 Comments || Top||


Two Israeli soldiers injured in bomb explosion
Two Israeli soldiers were injured when a roadside bomb exploded near the Jenin refugee camp in northern West Bank. Israeli radio said the bomb blew up when an Israeli army jeep passed by while on its way to take part in a raid on the Jenin camp. Al-Quds brigades, the military wing of Islamic Jihad movement, claimed responsibility for the 140-kg bomb explosion.

Israeli forces raided the Jenin camp and clashed with Palestinian militants for several hours. The Islamic Jihad Movement vowed to continue fighting Israel in retaliation for the crimes committed against Palestinians. Israeli radio said the army arrested three members of the Islamic Jihad movement. They claimed they have found weapons in one of the detainees' houses.
Posted by: Fred || 06/02/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:


Al-Quds brigade shell Nahel Ouz settlement
Al-Quds brigades, the military wing of Islamic Jihad Movement on Thursday claimed responsibility for shelling Nahel Ouz settlement in eastern Gaza with two rockets, Quds 2. Al-Quds brigades said the shelling took place dawn on Thursday in retaliation to the Israeli crimes committed against Palestinians. Israeli army spokesman said no casualties or damage were reported as a result of the shelling.
Posted by: Fred || 06/02/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  3dc said it. Cut the water and power.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 06/02/2006 4:54 Comments || Top||

#2  cant find a place by this name in any Israeli source. Presumably this is an arabic spelling of the name of a place east OF Gaza, not in "eastern Gaza"
Posted by: liberalhawk || 06/02/2006 9:22 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Philippines probing Malaysian JI reports
SECURITY officials are verifying reports that a splinter group of the Southeast Asian terror network Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) has been using the southern Philippines as a training ground for terrorists and transit point for arms shipments, according to military spokesmen.

"When we receive the report [from Malaysia] through the DFA [Department of Foreign Affairs], we will take the matter seriously," military spokesman Major General Jose Angel Honrado said in a phone interview when asked about the Darul Islam. "As of now, we don't have information on the group," Armed Forces Public Information Office (PIO) Chief Colonel Tristan Kison said in a text message.

The military is waiting for a report from its Malaysian counterparts on the Darul Islam, which Kuala Lumpur officials claimed was crippled with the recent arrest of 11 Islamic militants, including two Filipinos, Honrado and Kison said.

In a statement Wednesday, Malaysian police chief Bakri Omar said the arrests of six Malaysians, three Indonesians, and two Filipinos in the northern Malaysian province of Sabah effectively paralyzed the Darul Islam. Bakri said the Darul Islam helped two alleged masterminds of the 2002 Bali blasts, Umar Patek and Dulmatin, and five other JI militants slip into the predominantly Muslim southern Philippines between 2003 and early 2006.

The group also smuggled three M16 rifles and eight automatic pistols from Mindanao to Sabah for use by Indonesian militants during the same period, Bakri said.

While he refused to confirm or deny the alleged presence of the Darul Islam in the country, Undersecretary Ricardo Blancaflor of the Anti-Terrorism Task Force (ATTF) spokesman doubted the ability of Islamic militants to train in Mindanao. "It's hard to set up training camps or even train while on the run," Blancaflor said in a separate phone interview, stressing that the military has dismantled JI training camps in central Mindanao.

Dulmatin and Patek were last spotted in Central Mindanao in late 2005 with Khadaffy Janjalani, the chieftain of the al Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf.

The Darul Islam was borne out of regional rebellions in Indonesia's West Aceh province in 1948 and in South Sulawesi and Aceh provinces in 1953, according to the think-tank International Crisis Group. The rebellion later developed into a movement for the establishment of an Islamic state in Indonesia, Malaysia, and the southern Philippines. Military intelligence said that as of 2005, there were about 500 Abu Sayyaf and 30 JI members in the Philippines.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 06/02/2006 01:10 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Syrian forces kill four suspected militants
More details on 'attack' DAMASCUS (Reuters) - Four gunmen and a guard were killed when Syrian security forces foiled an attack on Friday near the premises of the state-run television in Damascus, the official SANA news agency reported. Two militants and two members of the anti-terrorism security forces were wounded during the shootout, SANA said. Authorities arrested four other militants.

The gunmen were members of an Islamist militant group and had obtained their weapons from a neighboring country "to carry out acts of sabotage against a number of vital targets," SANA quoted an unidentified Interior Ministry official as saying. Syrian Television showed footage of the four gunmen's bodies and said they were armed with U.S.-made M-16 assault rifles.
Pictures at site show old model M-16s
Security forces also seized home-made explosives and other weapons, along with tapes of religious sermons, the Interior Ministry official said. The statement did not name the group or give further details on the weapons' source.

Syria's relations with neighboring Jordan have deteriorated since last month when the kingdom, a close U.S. ally, said it had arrested members of the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas on charges of plotting attacks in the country. Jordan said the suspects had been trained in Syria. Damascus is also under U.S. pressure to seal its eastern border to stop militants from crossing into Iraq to fight U.S. forces there. Syria says it is doing its best but calls on Washington and Baghdad to do more too.

Fayez al-Sayegh, head of Syrian radio and television, told Reuters a police patrol had spotted the gunmen and engaged them in the heavily guarded Ummayad Square area in central Damascus. "This is a major area in Damascus, full of security installations, hotels and other state buildings," he said. "The security force dealt effectively with the group as shown from the number of casualties among its members."
I think this is the same 'heavily guarded area' another group tried to 'attack' last year
The Interior Ministry official said the gunmen were spotted while trying to sneak to a deserted building in the area but gave no reason.
Last year's 'attack' was also on a empty building, we seem to have a pattern
Traffic was normal near the television compound few hours after the shootout, a Reuters witness said. There was no sign of increased security.
Packed up the 'shutter guns' and left?
Syrian forces clashed with Islamists militants several times last year, usually in raids to arrest them.

Authorities said in December they had found a bomb factory in the northern city of Aleppo belonging to a militant group that, they said, was monitoring government officials and state facilities. Political analyst Thabet Salem said the group responsible for Friday's shootout was likely to be "similar to the ones authorities have been facing lately."

Damascus says the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of neighboring Iraq gave rise to militants in the region.
"It's Bush's fault!"
In the early 1980s, Syria crushed a fundamentalist revolt led by the Muslim Brotherhood, leading to the killing and imprisonment of thousands.
Posted by: Steve || 06/02/2006 09:35 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "See? We do our part! We'll kill 4 more 'from another country' next time the heat's on, just to show our determination to fight Islamic terror"
Posted by: Frank G || 06/02/2006 10:53 Comments || Top||

#2  armed with U.S.-made M-16 assault rifles.
Aren't those illegal in Syria?
Posted by: 6 || 06/02/2006 12:15 Comments || Top||

#3  DAMASCUS, (SANA) – Primary investigations into the arrested terrorists who tried to infiltrate this morning into buildings Western Damascus were provided with weapons from a neighboring country, interior ministry said Friday. An official source at the ministry said "primary investigations of the arrested terrorists showed that until last Ramadan ( the fasting month in Islam) last October; they were following one of the Sufi ways, then they joined a Takfiri group ( Islamic fanatic militant group)."

The source noted that "arms were supplied to the group by a neighboring country to stage sabotage acts aimed at vital targets and national interests."

The source underlined that the arrested terrorists would be sent to the specialized judiciary after completing the investigation.

The source clarified that an armed clash took place at 6,15 h this morning among members of the fighting terror units froces and a terrorist group including ten members when they tried to infiltrate into a deserted building near the general customs headquarters Western Damascus.
" The clash led to the killing of four armed terrorists and the martyrdom of a member of the fighting terror forces while the other terrorists were arrested, two of them wounded," the source said.

It added that ten US guns were confiscated from the group with their ammunition and an other ammunition in addition to locally made explosives together with tapes recording including religious preaches and other arms.
Posted by: Steve || 06/02/2006 12:17 Comments || Top||

#4  The US gave a lot of M-16s to the Lebanese.
Posted by: ed || 06/02/2006 12:24 Comments || Top||


Five Killed As 'terrorists' Clash With Police
Damascus, 2 June (AKI) - Police opened fire Friday on a group of "terrorists" occupying some buildings near the state radio and telvision broadcasting centre in Damascus, killing four of the suspects, the official Syrian news agency, Sana, reported. A security guard was also killed in the morning clash in which two of the suspects were wounded, the report said. Police arrested four of the suspects and have started interogating them, it said without providing further details.

Friday's gunfight follows a similar incident last week in the north-eastern city of Raqqa, when security forces opened fire on members allegedly belonging to a cell of the 'Jund ash-Sham' (Army of the Greater Syria), an extremist group consisting of nationals from Saudi Arabia, Yemen as well as Syrians. In March, Syrian authorities announced that security forces killed two "terrorists" in the town of Zabadani, close to the capital Damascus.

ADDITIONAL: June 2, 2006, 1:18 PM (GMT+02:00)
Interior ministry officials say at 4 gunmen and a security guard were killed and two each injured in a terrorist attack on Ummayad Square in central Damascus, site of the media compound, security installations, state institutions and hotels. They were identified as members of the Islamist Jund al-Sham, the operational arm of al Qaeda in Syria. DEBKAfile reports that the guards backed by Syrian troops battled the assailants for more than an hour. Forced back into the television station building, the terrorists continued shooting until Syrian reinforcements stormed the building, killing at least four and arresting the rest.

Jund al-Sham has clashed with Syrian security forces before. In December, the group’s caches of arms and explosives were uncovered in Damascus and a bomb-making factory in Aleppo.
Posted by: Steve || 06/02/2006 08:26 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:


Calm restored after Shiites riot against TV program mocking Hezbollah
By The Associated Press

Calm returned early Friday to Beirut and other parts of the country after Shiite Muslims rioted overnight, blocking roads and burning tires, to protest a TV satirical program that mocked the leader of the militant Hezbollah group.

Several thousand Shiite Muslims enraged by a TV comedy that mocked the leader of Hezbollah took to the streets of southern Beirut on Thursday night, burning car tires and blocking roads - including the highway to Lebanon's international airport, police and witnesses said.

Black soot from burned tires and rocks littered some streets and neighborhoods in Beirut's southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold. Other obstructions were pushed to the side of the road as motorists drove by on Friday, a normal working day.

Rioters began dispersing early Friday after Nasrallah, speaking on Hezbollah's Al-Manar television by telephone early Friday, appealed to his supporters "to end the gatherings and go home." Also, the producer of the TV program apologized, saying he did not mean to offend Nasrallah.

Police did not interfere, but security officials said soldiers were deployed along some areas of the former demarcation line between Christian and Muslim neighborhoods of south Beirut to prevent sectarian friction.

Christian channel aired Nasrallah mockery
The trouble began shortly after a TV show on Lebanese Broadcasting Corp. - a privately owned Christian channel - aired in which an actor spoofed Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, wearing the Hezbollah leader's trademark black turban and sported a similar beard and spectacles.

Hundreds of Hezbollah supporters immediately went out into the streets of southern Beirut, the stronghold of Hezbollah. They carried pictures of Nasrallah and shouted words of support. They also blocked the road to the airport, but officials there said the country's only air facility remained open.

The numbers swelled to several thousand as more people took to the streets. The unrest spread to other Shiite neighborhoods of Beirut proper, where rioters blocked roads and burned car tires, the officials said. Troops blocked some roads in the commercial center in downtown Beirut to stop Hezbollah supporters riding on motorcycles from reaching the area.

Police did not interfere, but security officials said soldiers were deployed along some areas of the former demarcation line between Christian and Muslim neighborhoods of south Beirut to prevent the unrest from taking a sectarian tone.

The security officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.

TV stations reported that more pro-Nasrallah protests were taking place in southern and eastern Lebanon, predominantly Shiite parts of the country where Hezbollah enjoys wide support.

The trouble over the program reflected the boiling political tension in this country between pro- and anti-Syrian camps. Hezbollah, backed by Syria and Iran, has been accused by the anti-Syrian legislative majority of doing the bidding of Syria after Damascus was forced to pull its army from Lebanon 13 months ago under international pressure in the wake of the assassination of former Premier Rafik Hariri. Pro-Syrian factions accuse the parliamentary majority of working for the United States.

Hezbollah broadcast a statement on its Al-Manar TV station that said the TV show had "insulted the symbol of the resistance and its leader" but urged supporters "to exercise patience and end their action" while the matter is dealt with through the appropriate channels.

But the protests continued, prompting Nasrallah to make a direct appeal on Al-Manar by telephone early Friday, thanking his supporters and appealing to them "to end the gatherings and go home."

"We are keen on the safety, security and stability of this country," he said.

The program, "Bassmet Watan," which can be translated either as "A Nation's Smile" or "A Nation That Died," showed an actor in the role of Nasrallah talking about his alliance with Christian politician Michel Aoun.

The satire did not carry any insulting words of the leader, but ridiculed the group's continued assertion of resistance against Israel. One questioner asked the person acting as Nasrallah whether he would lay down his arms, and the man replied by implying the group will use every excuse not to surrender its weapons.

The mere depiction of Nasrallah, a middle-ranking Shiite cleric, was enough to enrage his supporters. Another element that may have angered Hezbollah loyalists is that the LBC TV channel is close to the Lebanese Forces, a former Christian militia during the 1975-90 civil war and a strongly anti-Syrian group in parliament.

The producer of the widely watched TV program, Charbel Khalil, issued an apology broadcast late Thursday. He said he deeply respects Nasrallah and depicting the leader "was not meant to offend him."
"Don't kill me!"

Hezbollah enjoys wide support among Lebanon's Shiite community of 1.2 million people, believed to be the largest sect in this nation of 3.5 million people.
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 06/02/2006 06:47 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "A Nation's Smile" or "A Nation That Died"

How appropriate. Identical phrase that encapsulates the islam belief that happiness is death.
Posted by: Thinemp Whimble2412 || 06/02/2006 7:22 Comments || Top||

#2  "We are keen on the safety, security and stability of this country"

Now that's satire.
Posted by: DepotGuy || 06/02/2006 8:24 Comments || Top||

#3  Michael Totten reports on the way in which Hizboallah has established a cult-like control in areas of Lebanon. Not surprised to read about these riots.
Posted by: lotp || 06/02/2006 8:33 Comments || Top||

#4  Another example of the seething and humiliation response to ridicule. f*&king idiots. Ridicule at will, they deserve it
Posted by: Frank G || 06/02/2006 10:58 Comments || Top||

#5  If they can get this upset over a comedy show they could have a shooting war over "Lebanese Idol".
Posted by: Formerly Dan || 06/02/2006 13:54 Comments || Top||

#6  They should be teased more often. Much more often. :-)
Posted by: grb || 06/02/2006 15:43 Comments || Top||

#7  Coming up next: The Nasrallah cartoon collection.

Seethe until your brains boil out of yer ears, ya f&cking morons!
Posted by: Zenster || 06/02/2006 19:38 Comments || Top||


Good morning...
Posted by: Fred || 06/02/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  who's the sultry vixen? a young Grace Slick?
Posted by: Frank G || 06/02/2006 0:05 Comments || Top||

#2  Need some page 3 photos?
Posted by: 3dc || 06/02/2006 0:16 Comments || Top||

#3  .com has us covered on the Page 3 pix if he ever comes back. Covered for about, oh, 700 years.
Posted by: Steve White || 06/02/2006 0:21 Comments || Top||

#4  Love the newspaper/summary graphic! Dare we hope it will be a regular feature?
Posted by: Scooter McGruder || 06/02/2006 0:45 Comments || Top||

#5  I'm gonna try...
Posted by: Fred || 06/02/2006 0:51 Comments || Top||

#6 
Rantburg Media Corp and Rantburg University

Serving Truth, Justice and a small pet* Veterinary

exercising option to purchase more shares soon.
»:-)


*w/ exceptions...Deacon Blue's large varmints, the spembles and some rather loose lamas.
Posted by: RD || 06/02/2006 1:03 Comments || Top||

#7  Could I have Fido pick this up in the a.m. at the door mat?
Posted by: Captain America || 06/02/2006 1:10 Comments || Top||

#8  very kool and pregnant idea Fred

Veni Vidi Vici Irony


Posted by: RD || 06/02/2006 1:31 Comments || Top||

#9  Way Cool, Fred.

Gonna hafta email copies of that to friends.
Posted by: DanNY || 06/02/2006 7:12 Comments || Top||

#10  We'd be interested in seeing your ad rates.
Posted by: Halliburton Earthquake and Tsunami Division || 06/02/2006 9:40 Comments || Top||

#11  Just tell the paperboy to check his swing a bit. He damn near took out the porch light this morning.
Posted by: Seafarious || 06/02/2006 9:43 Comments || Top||

#12  Cjsfjhu peaceful purposes kdfwiop kjdfjo Zionist plot,sndcn Joooos wflkjwjf, Infidel!
Posted by: Ahmanutjob || 06/02/2006 9:53 Comments || Top||

#13  ROFLMAO!

Fred, honey, have I mentioned you are a GOD? :-D
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 06/02/2006 10:53 Comments || Top||

#14  See if you can get Mendiola to be your Advice Columnist...
Posted by: tu3031 || 06/02/2006 10:55 Comments || Top||

#15  Excellent!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've always wanted a print friendly Rantburg I could carry to my morning constitutional.
Posted by: john || 06/02/2006 11:10 Comments || Top||

#16  Whatever happened to .com anyway? That boy's BS detector was finely honed.
Posted by: JerseyMike || 06/02/2006 11:11 Comments || Top||

#17  hee hee Tu!
It must happen. Also I'd like to see the teeeny, tiny type on the left in the nameplate.

It would be fun to compile the best of Rantburg for a year and fill a tab with it. Go retro, a reverse ju-ju move. Likely bring it it on cheap newsprint (which it looks like) for under 59 cents a copy, with a run under 5,000
Posted by: 6 || 06/02/2006 11:57 Comments || Top||

#18  And yeah, where .com? I sense a conspiracy.
Posted by: 6 || 06/02/2006 11:59 Comments || Top||

#19  Maybe he's posting under different punctuation.
Posted by: wxjames || 06/02/2006 12:26 Comments || Top||

#20  Is that Seafarious, the Page 3 girl?
Posted by: ed || 06/02/2006 12:30 Comments || Top||

#21  Is that Seafarious, the Page 3 girl?


Lets SEE SEA!

Lets SEE SEA!

Lets SEE SEA!

Lets SEE SEA!


>::

Posted by: RD || 06/02/2006 19:06 Comments || Top||

#22  JM, 6, wxj, I always thought he was kind like a benign bacteria determined to crowd out the malignant bacteria making more room for himself and his beloved Rantburgeosie. But mainly for himself, heh. :)
Posted by: Jinenter Phealing5856 || 06/02/2006 19:25 Comments || Top||

#23  Yep JP, benign that's the word I wuz looking for. Yep. Hee. Ahem. (cough) Ha! Ha! hee hee hee.
Haaaaaaaaaa! Haaaaaaaaaaa! Heeeeeeee!

Dammit, Ima got the hickups now.
Posted by: 6 || 06/02/2006 19:38 Comments || Top||

#24  gawd the 6r! LOL!

InshallaShipman!
Posted by: RD || 06/02/2006 19:43 Comments || Top||

#25  Maybe he's really a virus and met up with a virulent streptodeepthroatus and jumped some genes. Kinda like a middle-aged crazy retro virus thing. That's my Phealing, anyway.

Just kidding, dot-person. Peace. :)

I have a remedy for hiccups, but it's worse than having hiccups, sorry. :)
Posted by: Jinenter Phealing5856 || 06/02/2006 19:45 Comments || Top||

#26  Let us know when it starts losing money so we can all ask for lucrative buyouts...
Posted by: tu3031 || 06/02/2006 20:00 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
123[untagged]

Bookmark
E-Mail Me

The Classics
The O Club
Rantburg Store
The Bloids
The Never-ending Story
Thugburg
Gulf War I
The Way We Were
Bio

Merry-Go-Blog











On Sale now!


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.
Click here for more information

Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
tu3031
badanov
sherry
ryuge
GolfBravoUSMC
Bright Pebbles
trailing wife
Gloria
Fred
Besoeker
Glenmore
Frank G
3dc
Skidmark

Two weeks of WOT
Fri 2006-06-02
  Man shot in UK anti-terrorism raid
Thu 2006-06-01
  State of emergency in Basra
Wed 2006-05-31
  Malaysia captures 12 suspected terrorists
Tue 2006-05-30
  Death Sentence for Bangla Bhai
Mon 2006-05-29
  Israeli air raid strikes Palestinian sites in Beqaa, southern Beirut
Sun 2006-05-28
  Plot fears prompt Morocco crackdown
Sat 2006-05-27
  Islamic Jihad official in Sidon dies of wounds
Fri 2006-05-26
  30 killed, many wounded in fresh Mogadishu fighting
Thu 2006-05-25
  60 suspected Taliban, five security forces killed in Afghanistan
Wed 2006-05-24
  British troops in first Taliban action
Tue 2006-05-23
  Hamas force battles rivals in Gaza
Mon 2006-05-22
  Airstrike in South Afghanistan Kills 76
Sun 2006-05-21
  Bomb plot on Rashid Abu Shbak
Sat 2006-05-20
  Iraqi government formed. Finally.
Fri 2006-05-19
  Hamas official seized with $800k


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.
3.21.231.245
Help keep the Burg running! Paypal:
WoT Background (32)    Non-WoT (27)    Opinion (9)    Local News (12)    (0)