HERAT, Afghanistan -Unidentified gunmen pulled over a car and shot dead a UN driver in western Afghanistan, police and the United Nations said Wednesday. Another UN employee and a government official fled the attack in the Balabuluk district of Farah province late on Tuesday, UN spokesman Aleem Siddique told AFP.
The victim was named as Yar Mohammad, a driver for UN-HABITAT, the United Nations Human Settlements Programme. An unknown number of gunmen in a car stopped a UN-HABITAT vehicle carrying three people. The driver was brutally shot by unknown assailants, Siddique told AFP. The two passengers fled as the assailants drove off, he added.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/14/2006 00:00 ||
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ASADABAD, Afghanistan - Two rockets struck Afghanistans eastern city of Jalalabad on Wednesday, one hitting the airport area hours before President Hamid Karzai flew in, but neither caused any casualties.
Are we sure Hek is in stir?
One of the rockets hit the outskirts of the airport compound at about 8:00 am (0330 GMT), Nangarhar province police spokesman Ghafoor Khan told AFP. The other rocket hit a civilian home, Khan said.
Karzai arrived about two hours later, followed by Pakistan Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, to open a new road.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/14/2006 00:00 ||
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Having, recently, come back to his family, former leader of GSPC (Salafist Group for Preaching and Fighting) said that present organization direction accuses Hassan Hattab, former chief, of taking groups money after his resignation in 2003. Former official of exterior and interior communication in GSPC, Amer Saidi, alias Bilal Walbani, stated that notables council had organized a meeting to assess Hattabs leadership. He asked him to give back the money they took from citizens and from hold-up. However, Hattab left the organizations without letting them know where the treasure was hidden said the source.
Saidi said, in a meeting, that he did not know how much Hattab has got, without knowing if this money had been invested. After leaving GSPC, Hattab got into a great conflict with organization direction. He was accused of dealing with authorities in the framework of Reconciliation. Direction deviated from right activities, he responded. He made clear that many organization elements dread dealing with Reconciliation owing to liquidation.
As a Chief, Hattab had been sent to Niger to get human reinforcement for Sahara Chief. We were leading a group called veiled brigade including 35 members moving between Mali, Niger and Mauritanias frontiers. Hattab saw frequently Saharas tribes in these regions to buy weapons, Saidi said. As for arms sources being got by Bel Mokhtar, Saidi said: armed tribes deal with accomplices in Nigerian and Malian armies. They give us weapons in return for sums of money.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/14/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Dear Sirs,
I am Barrister Charles Eche, an Attorney at law, and the Personal lawyer to Hassan Hattab, a citizen of your country who used to work as former leader of GSPC (Salafist Group for Preaching and Fighting), Hereinafter shall be referred to as my client.
On the 21st of April, 2003, my client was sent to Niger to get human reinforcement for Sahara Chief. He was leading a group called veiled brigade including 35 members moving between Mali, Niger and Mauritanias frontiers. Hattab saw frequently Saharas tribes in these regions to buy weapons. Hattab left the organizations without letting them know where the treasure was deposited according to sources. I am contacting you to assist in claiming the sum of US$8 million in cash, which Hattab deposited with a Security Company in LONDON for safekeeping.
The Security Company in LONDON has issued me a notice to provide the assets of my client or have the deposit with them declared an "abandoned Property" through the laid down legal procedures within one Month. Since I have been unsuccessful in locating Hassan Hattab for over one year now, I therefore, seek your consent to present you as the next of kin of Hassan Hattab since you have the same last name so that the proceed of this deposit valued at US$8 million can be released to you, and I and you can share the money at an agreed proportion.
You will be required to open a non-residence Bank account in LONDON where you will pay in the money when it is released to you by the Security Company. Upon your acceptance to this proposal, the information of the Security Company will be furnished to you so that you establish a contact with them and inform them of your readiness to come and claim the deposit with them.
Every secret information relating to the deposit will be given to you which you shall use to identify yourself as the next of kin of my late client. Please contact me.
The Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) lost yesterday one of its pillars. The terrorist was killed in the Forest Sidi Bounab (west of Tizi Ouzou) by an army unit specialised in the fight against terrorism. The man in question is GSPCs judge Tahar Mouassi known as Abu Yaakub.
Army sources from the area where Abu Yaakub died said that the paratrooper brigade set up an ambush to the terrorist early in the morning as they were tipped that he usually goes to a specific place in Sidi Bounab forest. The hiding place was found to be the Archives of the GSPC. The sources, who qualified the archives as very important as they include documents about the armed organisation mens conflicts, added that the army forces picked up the terrorists arm. A repentant gave the army forces the information about the road Abu Yaakub used to take to the hiding place. The terrorist, who always insisted on going alone to the Archives place, had been under surveillance for many days before the ambush.
Abu Yaakub joined terrorist groups in 1994. He was a Mufti officer in the second region. When Nabil Sahrawi known as (Mustafa Abu Brahim) became leader of the organisation as a replacement for Hassan Hattab (Abu Hamza) in 2003, he appointed him as a judge of the Group. According to several repentant witnesses, the appointing Mouassi at the top of the council was imposed and caused a regional conflict about the position, which is currently hold by organisations chief Abdelmalek Droukdal called Abu Musaab. According to the same source, the elements of the fifth region (East) was outraged because elements coming from Eastern wilayas have been marginalised and alienated from important positions in the Notables Council.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/14/2006 00:00 ||
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A man with criminal records was killed in a 'shootout' between Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) and his accomplices at Khilgaon in the capital in early hours yesterday. The dead is Nannu Miah, 28, an accused in at least 20 cases for murder and mugging.
Aye. A bad 'un, he wuz. Got 20 notches on his shutter gun...
According to a Rab-3 press release, being tipped off, a team of Rab-3 raided a house at Mirpur section 1 on Tuesday morning where a group of muggers and carjackers were staying. The team captured one Mohammad Hanif, 32, with a pistol and four bullets from there.
"Stick 'em up, Mohammad! Drop the bullets and the pistol!"
The anti-crime forces recovered a hijacked private car in front of his house as well.
"Hey! That's my car! That sucker stole my car!"
Later, Hanif's information led the Rab team to arrest Nannu from Ashulia in Savar at 1:00pm.
"Nannu!"
"Nannu nannu!"
"Stick 'em up!"
During quizzing, Nannu admitted that his group gathered in Banasree area in Khilgaon, stated the press release. The Rab team then went to Banasree area along with Nannu at around 3:45am yesterday, where Nannu's cohorts attacked the team that initiated the gunfight, Rab claimed.
"It's the RAB! [BANG! BANG! BANGETY BANG!]"
Nannu got shot during the shootout, claimed Rab.
"Aaaaaiiiieeee! Rosebud!"
The doctors at Dhaka Medical College and Hospital declared Nannu dead after Rab with the help of local police took him there at 6:20am.
"He's dead, Jim!"
The team recovered a foreign-made pistol with six bullets and a chapatti, added the press release.
Mmmmmm! Chapattis!
Nannu's wife Selina Begum said her husband left their Bhuiyanpara house in Khilgaon on Tuesday at 10:00am after someone made a phone call to him.
[RING!]
"Nannu?"
"Nannu nannu! Cheezit! The RAB's after yez!"
Nannu, owner of a small business, went missing ever since, said his wife. She came to know about Nannu yesterday after the locals informed her that he had been killed in 'crossfire' with Rab. She also claimed ignorance of any cases filed against Nannu.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/14/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Did they really claim the recovery of a chapati? Or was something lost in translation.
An alleged criminal was killed in crossfire with Rapid Action Battalion-2 (RAB-2) in the citys Adabor area in the early hours of Sunday.
If the RAB got him there's no 'alleged' about it.
The deceased was identified as Kana Dulal alias Kosai Dulal (35), son of Ali Akbor of Nabodoy slum near Nabodoy Housing Limited under Adabor police station. Kosai Dulal hailed from Chanmonpur village under Gosairhat upazila in Sharyatpur district.
We have no clue where that is.
According to RAB sources ...
... who hit 'alt-F6' on his keyboard ...
... member of the elite forces arrested Kosai Dulal from a Dhaka bound passenger bus near Kaliakoir bridge under Gazipur district at about 3.00 pm on Saturday.
"Kosai! Whatchadoin' onna bus? Why not travel in comfort wit us!"
Immediately after arresting him, RAB took Kosai Dulal to Adabor area located at road no-10 for arresting his associates and recovering firearms from his possession.
Kosai didn't get the reference to 'road number 10' but that's okay ...
When RAB member along with the criminal Kosai Dulal reached at road no-10 area under Adabor police station, the armed hoodlums swooped on them and started firing gunshots at about 2.45 am on Sunday.
"It's the RAB, boys! Let's swoop them up!"
Then, RAB members responded by firing in which Kosai Dulal was hit by bullets.
"Hey! I don't like being [BANG] in the middle [BANG] of this ..."
Soon after the gunshots, ...
"rosebud!"
... Adabor police recovered the body and sent to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) morgue for autopsy.
"Hey Dr. Quincy! Didn't know you moved to the DMCH morgue!"
"Yeah, it was time for Sam to set up his own shop. Stack that one over there."
The elite forces recovered a local gun and two rounds of used bullet from his possession.
Both rounds coming from the back of Kosai's head ...
RAB claimed Kosai Dulal was wanted on twelve systems in four criminal cases including murder, mugging, hijacking and toll collection in different police stations, RAB sources said.
I'm guessing his mother didn't love him anymore ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/14/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
The elite forces recovered a local gun and two rounds of used bullet from his possession.
New Translator, again.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
09/14/2006 6:12 Comments ||
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The new guys get the Crossfire Desk. Then they move up to obituaries...
Five members of illegal armed groups and their collaborators have turned themselves in to the Chechen law enforcement authorities in the past 24 hours, Chechen Interior Ministry spokesman Magomed Deniyev told Interfax on Wednesday. Three of them are residents of the Naura district. They confessed that they were members of the criminal armed group under Bugurayev's command during the first campaign. Another ex-militant, a resident of the Shatoi district, kept weapons belonging to an active member of an illegal armed group, supplied food to militants and put them up for the night. He surrendered two anti-tank mines.
A militant from Gudermes said he had kept a Kalashnikov rifle that belonged to a member of a criminal armed group, Deniyev said. A woman from the Itum-Kale district voluntarily surrendered 11 kilograms of explosives and a hunting gun. She was questioned and her testimony is being checked. She might get a compensation payment as provided for in a Chechen government resolution, said Deniyev.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/14/2006 00:00 ||
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KARACHI - Osama bin Laden is on the move, and Tuesday's terror attack on the US Embassy in the Syrian capital, Damascus, could be a tangible result of this.
Exclusive information obtained by Asia Times Online shows that the al-Qaeda leader recently traveled from the South Waziristan tribal area in Pakistan to somewhere in the eastern Afghan provinces of Kunar and Nooristan, or possibly Bajour, a s mall tribal agency in the Federally Administered Tribal Area of Pakistan in North-West Frontier Province.
According to a witness, bin Laden traveled in a double-cabin truck with a few armed guards - not in a convoy. Apparently, this is how he now prefers to move around.
Bin Laden, with a US$25 million bounty on his head, has not been sighted for some time, and he has not been seen on any new videotape since late 2004, although audio tapes purporting to be him speaking surfaced this year.
At the same time, a close aide responsible for bin Laden's logistics and media relations told Asia Times Online that bin Laden had recovered from serious kidney-related ailments.
In Tuesday's attack in Damascus, four men tried to drive two explosives-laden cars into the US Embassy compound. Four of them and a security official were killed. One of the cars exploded outside the compound.
The incident not only carries al-Qaeda hallmarks, it is also very much in line with the al-Qaeda leadership's focus, agreed on during the Israel-Hezbollah war, to extend the flames of conflict across the region.
In this vein, bin Laden's No 2, Ayman al-Zawahiri, warned on Monday that the Persian Gulf region and Israel would be the next targets of al-Qaeda. He was speaking in a video message released to coincide with the fifth anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States.
In addition to bin Laden's improved health, al-Qaeda has in the past few months gained some breathing room to regroup and solidify its logistics as a result of the situation in the semi-autonomous North and South Waziristan tribal areas.
This area has long been home to al-Qaeda elements, but until recently they had been under intense pressure from Pakistan's security forces. However, as the tribals gained more strength - some Taliban-affiliated districts have even been declared independent of Islamabad - the authorities realized they were fighting a losing battle.
This culminated last week in security officials and the "Pakistani Taliban" agreeing to a temporary ceasefire. Previously choked channels between the Waziristans and other parts of Pakistan were now fully opened, allowing al-Qaeda to start moving money again.
The bigger playing field
A new dynamic among militant groups has emerged in Egypt to complement al-Qaeda's designs in the Middle East. Tuesday's Damascus attack could also be an illustration of this.
Many youths previously associated with the militant Gamaa Islamiya of Egypt have formed independent cells, while some Egyptian youths of Palestinian origin have created underground organizations to target the pro-Israeli Egyptian government and US interests.
Credit goes to al-Qaeda that in the past six months it established inroads into these organizations, to the extent that they are now directly under the command of the al-Qaeda leadership.
This was confirmed by Zawahiri last month in a videotape aired on Al-Jazeera news network: "We announce to the Islamic nation the good news of the unification of a great faction of the knights of the Gamaa Islamiya ... with the al-Qaeda group."
Al-Qaeda has evolved into more of an ideological inspiration to sharpen Muslim reaction against the West and create a backlash than a militant group. Five years of the US-led "war on terror" damaged its structure and it was forced to melt into the local resistance movements of Iraq and Afghanistan. Already, the Taliban and Iraqi resistances complement each other, sharing experience, skills and even logistics.
From this position, al-Qaeda will work to bind all local resistance movements into one coordinated unit against the US and its allies, with the ultimate aim of creating a universal Muslim backlash against the West.
The Israel-Hezbollah war proved the ideal starting point for this plan. The successful defense of Lebanon by Hezbollah was largely taken in the Arab world as the first Arab victory against Israel. Sentiment on the streets of the Middle East turned noticeably against the US, Israel and pro-West Muslim rulers.
Al-Qaeda wants to keep this mood, and inflame it even further. Attacks like the one in Damascus could be such pot-boilers. More, and bigger, ones are most likely being plotted by the masterminds sitting in the tribal areas between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
#1
Pakistasn has to decied how much of it will be vitrified. That is the message they should be hearing from US, Russia, China et all. Give up AQ and it's leadership, no more games, do it or pay.
#4
"Sentiment on the streets of the Middle East turned noticeably against the US, Israel and pro-West Muslim rulers"
That's a joke. Those "pro-western" leaders use anti-Israeli and anti-American sentiment as a safety valve. All articles from Asia Times to be taken with a pinch of salt. They have a history of hyping up the capabilities of the jihadis. Look up their archives to see what they said about the Taliban's prospects in October 2001.
I suppose that's how some see it.I might agree to "not-as-violently-anti-jewish-as-some-would-like" Egyptian government.
Posted by: Bobby ||
09/14/2006 6:31 Comments ||
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#6
Osama bin Laden has been in hiding for the better part of five years. That's an awfully long time for a kidney stone to pass through -- and if that's what happened, every moment must have been agonizing for him, poor dear.
#7
Sounds like bollocks. He chose the moment at which some sort of ceasefire is arranged in Pakistan to move across the border into the midst of one of the bloodiest, one-sided outbursts of open-field combat since Tora Bora? I don't think so. Not unless he was a corpse looking for somewhere heroic to get perforated and thus go down in a blaze of heroic martyrdom.
Dying of a glorified kidney stone not being exactly the stuff of legend.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
09/14/2006 8:19 Comments ||
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#8
he's dead, Jim
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/14/2006 8:41 Comments ||
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#9
Serious kidney ailments also result from exposure to toxic chemicals and poisons. Hope it is a painsful slow rot.
#10
It is not unknown for people to recover from kidney ailments although it is very rare. My mother recovered from acute renal failure after 4 years of dialysis. So talk of his recovery could be true. Now lead poisoning... that could be fatal.
Posted by: DanNY ||
09/14/2006 10:32 Comments ||
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#11
"Sentiment on the streets of the Middle East turned noticeably against the US"
And I thought they were agaainst us on 9/11, my bad. Did'nt realize they OK up until then.
#12
Osama bin Laden is on the move, and Tuesday's terror attack on the US Embassy in the Syrian capital, Damascus, could be a tangible result of this. ...
The incident not only carries al-Qaeda hallmarks, it is also very much in line with the al-Qaeda leadership's focus, agreed on during the Israel-Hezbollah war, to extend the flames of conflict across the region.
IF this really was an AQ op, it doesn't say much for their capabilities. If you can't successfully pull off a 2-VBIED event in a very friendly country you're not exactly looking like "a strong horse."
#13
I think the US should drop leaflets into the NWF province saying we will carpet bomb the place until not a stone is standing if they turn over Binnie.
Then if they do turn him over bomb anyway as a lesson to all for hiding him.
#15
I think we really don't want Binny. Think about it. Dead or alive, we are better off fighting against the splodydopes than watching a Binny trial 24/7.
#17
According to a witness, bin Laden traveled in a double-cabin truck with a few armed guards - not in a convoy. Apparently, this is how he now prefers to move around.
Wazooo Binny Mobile
fatwa: I don't ever leaver home without one
Posted by: al Binny ||
09/14/2006 14:55 Comments ||
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#18
It has been alleged that Osama was treated in a Pakistani military hospital for his kidney ailment.
Kidneys are available for sale in Pakistan so a transplant would not be out of the question.
Posted by: john ||
09/14/2006 18:32 Comments ||
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(KUNA) -- The Law-Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) Wednesday arrested 14 Taliban militants, six of them wounded, in Southwestern Pakistani province of Baluchistan, said LEA sources.
Rehmatullah Niazi, Chief of CID (Crime Investigation Department), talking to KUNA said that the suspected militants were arrested in a raid on Pakistan General Hospital on Zahoor road of Quetta, the provincial capital. He said six suspects were wounded and the rest were their attendants. He added that all of the arrested suspects are Afghan nationals and belong to Southern Helmand province. It was not immediately clear whether the arrested militants were key Taliban figures but Niazi said that they are under interrogation.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/14/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
How come they only arrest the injured nobodies and not the leadership in Quetta????
A Libyan who was a top aide of Al-Qaeda in Iraq's leader, Abu Ayyub al-Masri, has been killed in an operation by Iraqi security forces, an interior ministry spokesman said on Thursday. Abu Jaafar al-Lybi was killed on Sunday, said Brigadier General Abdel Karim Khalaf.
He said Lybi was the head of "Al-Qaeda's criminal operations" in Baghdad's Rusafa, Karrada districts and the restive province of Diyala, northeast of Baghdad.
Khalaf said two more associates of Lybi were arrested during the operation and are "under investigation." "During the operation, the forces found letters written by Lybi to Osama bin Laden and to Masri explaining his work and achievements in Iraq," Khalaf said.
On Sunday Khalaf had said that Iraqi security forces killed three Al-Qaeda operatives in a morning raid on a house in western Baghdad's Karrada district. He said the three belonged to a terror cell headed by Lybi but that the militant was not among those killed. "We did not announce his death that day in order to continue our investigation," Khalaf said on Thursday.
A large quantity of explosives and a number of suicide vests were found at the site of the raid on Sunday.
Masri took over as the chief of Al-Qaeda's operations in Iraq after the slaying of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in a US air strike on June 7 near the city of Baquba, the capital of Diyala province.
KHAN BANI SAAD, Iraq Two men were detained and a small cache discovered after Coalition Forces observed, with an unmanned aerial vehicle, six men fleeing the origin of an indirect fire attack on the civilians of Khan Bani Saad, south of Baqubah Tuesday.
After two mortar rounds impacted near the village, the nearby UAV observed the men fleeing the suspected origin of the attack in a gray sedan at a high rate of speed. With the help of the UAV, Soldiers from the 1-68 Combined Arms Battalion pursued the suspected mortar team.
The suspected Anti-Iraqi Forces attempted to hide the car in a palm grove then fled on foot in opposite directions. Upon arrival at the scene, 1-68 CAB detained two of the men who had jumped into a nearby irrigation canal. The unit found the sedan along with one 120mm mortar system and six AK-47 magazines.
The detainees, the vehicle, and the cache were transported to Forward Operating Base Warhorse where the detainees are being held for questioning.
#1
PC correct Bull%&*t.
Firing mortars into civ targets and they call them suspects. This is a war zone not Kansas. Terrorists, insurgents, etc... but not suspects. Now the FBI will want to interview and give them legal aid.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
09/14/2006 8:38 Comments ||
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#2
Why didn't the UAV fire?
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
09/14/2006 9:29 Comments ||
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#4
Let's prove for once and for all that torture works. Tie them to a tree in the town and let the town's folks take out their frustrations on them, and I'll bet the farm that will put an end to mortar fire on that town.
#6
I recall one of the better bomb-strike videos a while back - from the same area up north - was of another mortar team, which had launched its atttack from a plam grove. The outcome seemed to preclude any worries about detaining them or their treatment in detention ....
Yet another example of why it's a shame we decided to win this one the hard, slow way, with gigantic leverage and little actual war-fighting. I'm all for Iraqis winning this war - but we should have left them a much, much smaller/easier/shorter war to win.
#7
Verlaine - I presume, correct me if I'm wrong, that you include the coalition failure to put much more effort into stopping the Iranian's efforts to subvert the entire process - which includes their proxies in Syria. This is reason #1 I believe the current situation is so far from a solid success.
Reason #2... I am not a basher regards the "failure to win the peace" since plans don't survive first contact and, well, they're fucking Arabs, so no thanks or appreciation for the opportunity dropped in their laps were ever forthcoming. They were always going to bitch and moan and blame us.
Reason #3... Turkey played a large part in the survival of the Ba'athists and the homegrown Sunni"insurgency".
Back to #1... What I am extremely pissed off about is that the coalition never thumped the Iranians or Syrians even when they were caught red-handed, such as arms, jihadis, agents, tanker trucks full of phoney ballots, directly supporting militias, etc. The current Shia parties leading the government, DAWA and SCIRI, seem to be little more than Iranian puppets.
To give the Iraqis the chance to join the 21st century was laudable. To waste the treasure expended in that effort by allowing the whole thing to be stolen by Iran, for a mere trifle of $70M per month, is a travesty - to the Iraqis and to our own people.
For this failure to safeguard, at least in some useful degree during the first three years, meting out an appropriate ass-kicking to the Mullahs and Pencilneck, I blame Bush. #1 is on his plate, IMHO, and has done the most damage to the long-term potential in Iraq.
Of course, toppling the Mad Mullahs will go a loooong way toward correcting this mistake.
For #2 and #3, well, look at the assholes we were dealing with.
Thank you for your posts - they're always from a different POV and based upon facts, not far-away fancy.
#8
Verlaine in Iraq Yet another example of why it's a shame we decided to win this one the hard, slow way, with gigantic leverage and little actual war-fighting. I'm all for Iraqis winning this war - but we should have left them a much, much smaller/easier/shorter war to win.
Along those lines..from an infantry team leader and noncommissioned officer on active duty in the United States Army. 'BUCK SARGENT' Win Lose or Draw Down
~~~
The situation in Baghdad is bleak not because of a hopeless military solution, but due to a feckless political one. Prime Minister al-Maliki has truly found himself caught between Iraq and a hard place. He needs the support of the Shiite coalitions to which he belongs, yet is being made irrelevant by their encroachment on his governments rightful monopoly on force. The Mahdi Army is literally just that: an army all its own. Much like the IRA, they have a political as well as a militant wing, and they wield both to considerable effect.
If Maliki desires to become a true statesman, hes going to have to pay the cost to be the boss. Unfortunately, it smells to these nostrils like the fix is already in.
If you get me elected, youll be protected.
The only thing that can pull the city back from the brink is to allow us to do the job we were purportedly sent here to do. That means open season on the Shiite militias,
which RBurgers have been praying for.. since forever..
whether its popular for al-Maliki with his political base or not. Anything less is a waste of everyones time: his, theirs, and especially ours.
In the very first week of ground operations our company alone uncovered enormous caches of offensive weaponry stashed or buried on the grounds of the mosques we searched in the presence of local Iraqi forces. We also randomly searched the headquarters of one of the Islamic political parties and uncovered enough of an arsenal to outfit a small army.
Since then, weve done little else but "clearing ops" which amount to us cordoning off entire neighborhoods and searching every single residence, talking with the people who live there, and collecting census data. This face to face communication and rapport building is indeed important, and was at the heart of our previous success in Mosul, but is only half the solution for a fractured area like Baghdad. There are several rogue militia groups operating with near impunity, responsible for much of the "sectarian strife" that produces not only hundreds of corpses weekly, but dozens of proclamations of "impending civil war" by nearly every news agency on the planet.
Why every mosque in the Baghdad area was not simultaneously raided on a brigade-level scale within days of uncovering insurgent mother lodes right off the bat, I cannot tell you. What I can tell you is that we were purportedly sent down here to "get tough on terrorism" in the city, yet so far we have yet to be let off the leash. Weve cleared entire neighborhoods house by house and block by block, performing census work far more often than targeted raids. Call me crazy, but I figure that when houses of worship are being exploited to house weapons of war, that is when Muslim sensitivities need to take a back seat to modern realities.
Losing Their Religion
I believe the Iraqis themselves must be made to bear the lions share of the blame for allowing their country to remain so fractured over three years after the fall of the House of Saddam. Only Iraqis can fix what Iraqis have broken. The U.S. military can no more help them settle their differences than they could help us restructure Social Security. We can help them carry the nails, but they have to be the ones to hammer them in.
(KUNA) -- Iraqi Police found 60 dead human bodies in several areas of Baghdad in the past 24 hours, sources of the Iraqi Interior Ministry said on Wednesday. Most bodies were bound and had signs of torture and shooting in the head and other parts, they added. Finding the bodies came just one day after an Iraqi Health Ministry report was issued showing that 1,500 people were killed last August.
A medical source, who requested anonymity, told KUNA the number of victims does not include most people killed in the daily bomb explosions across the country. A total of 90 percent of them were corpses found shot and dumped in Baghdad, while ten percent were tortured, stabbed, and beheaded. A report issued by the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) pointed out that the morgues received 1,850 bodies in July, 1,350 in June, 1, 398 in May, 1,155 in April, 1,294 in March, and 1,110 in February.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/14/2006 00:00 ||
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(KUNA) -- Unidentified men assassinated Wednesday chairman of the Iraqi journalists union in Diyala east of Baghdad, the Iraqi press monitor said. A source in the center said in a statement that the armed men opened fire against Iraqi journalist and chairman of the union in Diyala, Hadi Al-Jabouri. The Iraqi press monitor said that up to 136 Iraqi journalists have been killed so far since 2003.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/14/2006 00:00 ||
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Security sources tell us that Ali Salahat, head of Tanzim infrastructure in Bethlehem, was arrested yesterday. The Tanzim organization's infrastructure, lead by Salahat, was involved in many terror attacks and attempted attacks:
A shooting attack at the Tunnel Road checkpoint on November 2003, in which two Israeli soldiers were killed: Sgt. First Class Shlomi Belski and Stf. Sgt. Shaul Lahav;
A shooting attack on January 15, 2002, in which Avi Boaz was murdered in the area of Beit Jala;
A shooting attack on March 2, 2002, in which an Israeli police officer, Moshe Dayan, was killed near the Marsaba Monastery, east of Bethlehem;
An attempt to launch rockets at the Jerusalem neighborhoods of Gilo and Har Homa;
Shooting attacks and detonation of an explosive device at the Jerusalem neighborhoods of Gilo and Har Homa;
The infrastructure had command over many terror cells and was responsible for the manufacturing of explosive belts and other bombs.
The arrest of Ali Salahat follows arrest operations of all senior Tanzim members in Bethlehem in recent months, including the following:
Ra'ad Abiat, a senior member of the Tanzim organization in Bethlehem, killed by IDF forces on April 3, 2006, after identified as being armed;
Gavar Ahres, a senior member of the Tanzim organization in Bethlehem, killed on April 9, 2006, after shooting at an IDF force during an ttempt to arrest him;
Arafat Abu Sha'irah, a senior member of the Tanzim organization in Bethlehem, arrested on April 23, 2006;
Daniel Hamama, one of the Tanzim organization's most wanted men in Bethlehem, killed on April 23, 2006, from exchanges of fire with IDF forces.
(KUNA) -- The Israeli general who was in charge of the northern command during the recent attack on Lebanon has tendered his resignation, Maariv Israeli paper said on Wednesday. The paper added that the Northern Command Commander Major-General Udi Adam requested to resign because of disputes with the higher command of the Israeli Army, considering the resignation a sign of Adam's disagreement with Army Chief of Staff Dan Halutz.
During the Israeli offensive on Lebanon, Halutz replaced Adam with another general, the west command, a decision that was unapproved by the former. Many Israelis interpreted Halutz' decision as a way to appease soldiers, stationed along the Israeli northern border with Lebanon. According to Maariv, Adam believed he did his best to prepare the northern command for the lastest war with Hezbollah.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/14/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
I have to give Adam credit for having the integrity to resign. There are surely others (more deserving, and higher ranking) who should follow his example.
A Jordanian military court has convicted 10 people in two separate cases that included conspiracies to kill Americans training Iraqi police in the country. The court said on Wednesday that the defendants were found guilty of "conspiring to carry out terrorist acts and of illegal possession of automatic weapons", in two plots foiled last year.
In one case, the court found four suspects guilty of conspiring to kill Americans who worked at an Iraqi police training centre east of the capital, Amman. In the second, the court convicted six suspects, including two fugitives in absentia, of plotting attacks against Americans using five-star hotels and against shops selling alcohol and nightclubs in the capital. Defence lawyers in both cases said they planned to appeal.
In the first trial, the court sentenced four Jordanians, who were arrested a year ago, to jail terms ranging between 10 and 20 years with hard labour. The four had pleaded innocent at the start of their trial nine months ago. Military judges said the prosecution's allegations were "substantiated with strong evidence, and the court is convinced beyond doubt that the four were involved in a terror conspiracy on Jordanian soil". The court initially sentenced three of the four defendants to death by hanging but commuted their sentences to 20 years with hard labour, saying it wanted to give the men a chance to repent.
The fourth defendant, Ibadah al-Hiyari, 24, received the lesser sentence of 10 years in jail with hard labour because it was not proven that he possessed any weapons. The prosecution said that Maath Breizat, 19, al-Hiyari and the other two men monitored a desert road to the US-run training facility.
In the second case, the court sentenced the six, mainly young Palestinians aged between 23 and 26, to jail terms ranging between 10 and 15 years with hard labour. The group's plot was stopped when four members were arrested nearly a year ago in Jordan, according to their indictment. It said the two fugitives, also Palestinian youths, are believed to be in Lebanon. The fugitives were handed down the harsher penalty of 15 years in jail with hard labour. The indictment said suspect Loai Hashem al-Sharif, from the West Bank, was elected leader of the previously unknown Khattab Brigades group. Al-Sharif was responsible for recruiting fighters and raising funds to buy machine guns that were to be used in the attacks.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/14/2006 00:00 ||
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The four assailants who carried out an attack against the U.S. Embassy in Damascus were Syrians, the official SANA news agency reported Wednesday. The only assailant who was captured died Wednesday of severe injuries sustained in clashes with members of the anti-terror squad, it said. "Due to his critical condition, investigators were unable to interrogate him to unravel this terrorist operation," it added.
And the investigators were really, really disappointed...
No more details were immediately available as no organization claimed responsibility for the attack. Four gunmen attempted on Tuesday to blow up two explosive-laden cars at the U.S. Embassy in downtown Damascus, which was foiled by Syrian security forces in a clash, in which three of the assailants were killed and the fourth injured. It was the latest attack against U.S. missions abroad. In March, the U.S. consulate in the Pakistani city of Karachi was attacked and a U.S. diplomat and four other people were killed.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/14/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
OK conspiricy buffs let start the ball rolling!
Why did the Syrians setup these four dead bastards? The troops obviously knew they were comming. half their junk didn't work!
#6
Assad wants to receive a public that a boy from U.S. state department officials so it makes it more difficult to condemn them as a terror sponsor. They sacrificed a son of Syria to protect American interests. Russian intel logic from 70's and 80's - if you don't like the answer to the problem then change the equation.
#7
Russian intel logic from 70's and 80's - if you don't like the answer to the problem then change the equation.
When in 91 the Soviet changed the KGB into a Russian FSB, the 1st Directory (Foreign Intelligence) wasn't dissolved and the "illegal residents" remained in place and so did the logic. IMHO,Vasili Mitrokhin and Christopher Andrew's books and the likes make it clear.
#9
It was one of Daddy Assad's beliefs that when you come to an impass with an opponent, you back off and divert his attention by making him think you are not his opponent, but rather a willing helper.
See, Syria doesn't mean any ill toward America, Syria is willing to step into harms way and do their moral duty.
Also, it's very Arab to use trickery in every undertaking. No 'trust but verify' here.
#10
The "Dead" policeman has dissapeared, now they're saying that three bad guys were killed and one wounded bad guy who later died at hospital, no mention of any cops being hurt or killed.
Also the early reports said that the folks inside the Embassy didn't even know there was a "Disturbance" untill Syrian "Guards" told them.
I personaly would like the US to do a forensics on those four supposed bad guys to confirm that the bullet riddled bodies were fresh, and didn't have freezer burn here and there.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
09/14/2006 18:58 Comments ||
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#11
Check out Debka. They say the Syrian Embassy in Washington blasted the US for causing increased terrorism in the world.
Maybe it's an attempt at payback to Bush on 9/11 for all the heat he's been putting on Assad. It is the election season you know and everyone else is piling on.
#5
Wow. I used to listen to her on WOR radio with her husband Tex McCrary. I never imagined she was such a fox. But then, that was before I realized they're all foxes.
#6
"But then, that was before I realized they're all foxes."
LOL, NS. Since I don't wanna be a killjoy and cuz it was so damned funny on the initial read, I won't mention any of the exceptions. In some sense, indeed, they're all foxy foxes... just look at how we're so deftly "handled" by tw, lotp, Barbara, ex-lib, Jules, et all. LOL. They're laughing up their sleeves at us, LOL.
#8
flyover, dear, I think I speak for all the Rantburg ladies when I say I wouldn't dream of handling you or any other of the other charming gentlemen here at Rantburg. Nor ever laugh except at the frequent bits of outrageous snark, when the distance between chair and floor suddenly becomes small and thumpy. ;-)
#9
I remember seeing a compilation of TIME magazine photos about WWII that had a segment on USO activities for troops around the world. One of the pictures was of Hollywood starlets who were going overseas to entertain the troops. You'd recognize all the names, IIRC.
Maybe it's just personal taste but I definitely remember thinking that of the women in that picture, Jinx was by far the prettiest of the lot. Supposedly (different source) she also had a really nice personality and hadn't let stardom affect her. I believe she was one of the entertainers who volunteered to go to Attu and Kiska, places dangerous and difficult to get to and most certainly in need of some imported amusement. Quite a girl, even if she wasn't up to Hedy Lamarr's intellectual level.
Very nice work, Fred. Keep 'em coming!
Posted by: mac ||
09/14/2006 18:15 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
HERAT, Afghanistan -Unidentified gunmen pulled over a car and shot dead a UN driver in western Afghanistan, police and the United Nations said Wednesday. Another UN employee and a government official fled the attack in the Balabuluk district of Farah province late on Tuesday, UN spokesman Aleem Siddique told AFP.
ASADABAD, Afghanistan - Two rockets struck Afghanistans eastern city of Jalalabad on Wednesday, one hitting the airport area hours before President Hamid Karzai flew in, but neither caused any casualties.
The 
A man with criminal records was killed in a 'shootout' between Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) and his accomplices at Khilgaon in the capital in early hours yesterday. The dead is Nannu Miah, 28, an accused in at least 20 cases for murder and mugging.
Five members of illegal armed groups and their collaborators have turned themselves in to the Chechen law enforcement authorities in the past 24 hours, Chechen Interior Ministry spokesman Magomed Deniyev told Interfax on Wednesday. Three of them are residents of the Naura district. They confessed that they were members of the criminal armed group under Bugurayev's command during the first campaign. Another ex-militant, a resident of the Shatoi district, kept weapons belonging to an active member of an illegal armed group, supplied food to militants and put them up for the night. He surrendered two anti-tank mines. 
KARACHI - Osama bin Laden is on the move, and Tuesday's terror attack on the US Embassy in the Syrian capital, Damascus, could be a tangible result of this.
(KUNA) -- The Law-Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) Wednesday arrested 14 Taliban militants, six of them wounded, in Southwestern Pakistani province of Baluchistan, said LEA sources.
A Libyan who was a top aide of Al-Qaeda in Iraq's leader, 
(KUNA) -- Iraqi Police found 60 dead human bodies in several areas of Baghdad in the past 24 hours, sources of the Iraqi Interior Ministry said on Wednesday. Most bodies were bound and had signs of torture and shooting in the head and other parts, they added. Finding the bodies came just one day after an Iraqi Health Ministry report was issued showing that 1,500 people were killed last August. 
(KUNA) -- Unidentified men assassinated Wednesday chairman of the Iraqi journalists union in Diyala east of Baghdad, the Iraqi press monitor said. A source in the center said in a statement that the armed men opened fire against Iraqi journalist and chairman of the union in Diyala, Hadi Al-Jabouri. The Iraqi press monitor said that up to 136 Iraqi journalists have been killed so far since 2003.
Security sources tell us that Ali Salahat, head of Tanzim infrastructure in Bethlehem, was arrested yesterday. The Tanzim organization's infrastructure, lead by Salahat, was involved in many terror attacks and attempted attacks:
(KUNA) -- The Israeli general who was in charge of the northern command during the recent attack on Lebanon has tendered his resignation, Maariv Israeli paper said on Wednesday. The paper added that the Northern Command Commander Major-General 
A Jordanian military court has convicted 10 people in two separate cases that included conspiracies to kill Americans training Iraqi police in the country. The court said on Wednesday that the defendants were found guilty of "conspiring to carry out terrorist acts and of illegal possession of automatic weapons", in two plots foiled last year.
The four assailants who carried out an attack against the U.S. Embassy in Damascus were Syrians, the official SANA news agency reported Wednesday. The only assailant who was captured died Wednesday of severe injuries sustained in clashes with members of the anti-terror squad, it said. "Due to his critical condition, investigators were unable to interrogate him to unravel this terrorist operation," it added.
