The National Post's Brian Hutchinson is travelling with Canadian troops on Operation Baaz Tsuka, a major NATO-led military campaign underway in the Taliban strongholds of Afghanistan.
ZHARI DISTRICT, Afghanistan - With one pump of his fist and a menacing glare, a burly soldier from Alpha Company, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, exhorted his mates this week to put on their game face and confront the Taliban. "Let's get it on, boys," the soldier yelled, seconds before jumping into his LAV-III, a light armoured vehicle now ubiquitous in Kandahar province.
The rest of his Shilo, Man.- based company needed no encouragement. The soldiers from A Company are no strangers to close combat. They engaged the Taliban within days of arriving here in August, and a month later played a key operational role during Operation Medusa, the violent, two-week-long campaign that saw Canadian troops strike deep into Taliban country and secure a front line 30 kilometres west of Kandahar city.
#1
Maybe we need missionaries to get together and bring food and Christianity to those hills. Now that the people know what Islam can do to them, the time is ripe for a change.
#2
I know it would get old quickly, but why can't a US reporter, reporting on US troops just one every year or so be a little Rah Rah? Naw, we're Americans, jaded, wordly, seen it all at J-school.
Somali government troops rolled into Mogadishu unopposed Thursday, the prime minister said, hours after an Islamic movement that tried to establish a government based on the Quran abandoned the capital.
The Islamic militia promised a last stand in southern Somalia. Last stand? That sounds promising...
"We are in Mogadishu," Prime Minister Mohamed Ali Gedi said after meeting with local clan leaders to discuss the handover of the city. "We are coordinating our forces to take control of Mogadishu."
Gedi was welcomed to the town of Afgoye on the outskirts of Mogadishu by dozens of traditional leaders from the capital and hundreds of government and Ethiopian troops who have been fighting for more than a week against the Islamic militia. The Islamic fighters had at one point taken over the capital and most of southern Somalia.
The Islamic movement's retreat early Thursday, which its leaders called tactical, was followed by looting by clan militiamen, some of whom had been allied to the Islamists. It was a chilling reminder of the chaos that had once ruled Mogadishu. Gunfire could he heard in many parts of the city and witnesses said at least several people had been killed.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi vowed to inflict total defeat on the Islamic movement and said he hoped the fighting would be over "in days, if not in a few weeks. Forces of the transitional federal government and Ethiopia are on the outskirts of Mogadishu now," he told reporters in Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa. "We are discussing what we need to do to make sure Mogadishu does not descend into chaos. We will not let Mogadishu burn."
Mogadishu's clan leaders, though, have the greatest influence over whether order or lawlessness follows the retreat of the Islamic movement known as the Council of Islamic Courts.
President Abdullahi Yusuf said Thursday his troops were not a threat to the people of Mogadishu. "The government is committed to solving every problem that may face Somalia through dialogue and peaceful ways," the statement said.
Mohamed Jama Furuh, a former warlord and current member of parliament, claimed control of the capital's seaport on behalf of the government at midday on Thursday. His militia had controlled the port before Islamic forces took over. "The port is now in my hands. I want to provide security and protect it from looting ... until we hand it over to any other administration," Furuh told The Associated Press by telephone.
Abdirahman Janaqow, a top leader in the Islamic movement, said he had ordered his forces out of Mogadishu to avoid bloodshed. "We want to face our enemy and their stooges ... away from civilians," Abdirahman Janaqow said in a telephone interview. ...and their little dogs, too!
Yusuf Ibrahim, a former Islamic movement fighter who quit Thursday, said only the most hardcore fighters were still opposing the government and its Ethiopian backers. He said they numbered about 3,000 and they were headed to the port city of Kismayo, south of Mogadishu, which the Islamic forces captured in September. I believe Yusef now wants to be called, "Brave Jihadi Warrior (Ret.)"...
Ahmed Ali Harare, the military commander for the region, told the AP they would not quit Kismayo without a fight. Backs up against the ocean? Surrond them, kill them. It's not like the QE2 will be showing up to take them out.
Islamic fighters have gone door-to-door in Kismayo, recruiting children as young as 12 to make a last stand on behalf of the Islamic courts, according to a confidential U.N. situation report citing the families of boys taken to the frontline town of Jilib, 65 miles north of Kismayo. Sounds familiar. Like the Germans in Berlin...
Residents told the AP Islamic leader Hassan Dahir Aweys had arrived in Jilib with hundreds of fighters aboard 45 pickup trucks mounted with anti-aircraft guns.
In Iraq, an insurgent group linked to al-Qaida in Iraq urged Muslims to support the Islamists in Somalia who were abandoning the capital Thursday and fleeing government forces, according to an Internet statement. The so-called Islamic State of Iraq - a coalition of Sunni insurgent groups, chief among them al-Qaida in Iraq - said all Muslims should "stand by the side of their brothers in Somalia and to support them financially, with weapons and men and with prayers."
#1
The southern border is with Kenya, where there are already Somali refugees. So best bet for the jihadis when they run is to try to blend with refugees, cross into Kenya, go to ground in Mombassa, and then try to high tail it to the ME or South Asia.
#2
Yup, makes sense. Kenya barely holds itself together and they've had a growing 'insurgency' problem. Apparently the Muslims there are seething and eye-rolling. So we'll see a 'National Islamic Somali Resistance Jumbilaya Front' or some such nonsense springing up.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/28/2006 10:45 Comments ||
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#3
Here's the Reuters spin on it:
The SICC had brought a semblance of stability to Mogadishu after chasing U.S.-backed warlords from the city in June. Islamists and residents said order had collapsed with their departure.
#4
Alas the Powerful Islamic Courts (which whipped the US-backed-Warlords) are no more, the ineffectual transitional government based in the borderville of Baidoa has trumped over a coalition of memes. But the destruction of the Powerful Islamic Courts has birthed A Return to Looting.
Posted by: Cliches R Us ||
12/28/2006 11:58 Comments ||
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#5
Maybe what we are witnessing is some CIA money well spent?
#6
As usual, the pressfilth love any fascist regime that "keeps order," as long as it kills lots of innocents and hates America
Posted by: E. Brown ||
12/28/2006 12:21 Comments ||
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#7
As aharia inc. leaves a new kleptocracy will be in place soon. Of course the only things worth stealing are the stuff brought in the foreign aid folks.
The people will mostly prefer the kleptocracy because some of the stolen goods will eventually trickle down.
#9
He said they numbered about 3,000 and they were headed to the port city of Kismayo, south of Mogadishu, which the Islamic forces captured in September.
I hope the Ethopians take them apart there and not let them escape to Kenya or Yemen.I bet the seas will be busy in following weeks!!!!
#11
I don't know if this is true or not, but I heard that Muslims are forbidden from waging jihad on Ethiopia, becuase they gave shelter to Mos' relatives when he got chased out of Mecca.
#13
The only way to fix Mogadishu is to find, fix and finish the top 10 clans there. That means the head of the clan, his brothers and his immediate family above the age of 12, including the wives. HE, sniper bullet, knife in the back, cyanide in the food, however it happens, it needs to be done.
Same goes for the "Islamic Courts" - toake the top 10 mullahs and top 10 leaders, same treatment.
Cruel. But it works, and thats they rules of the game THEY chose to play by.
Several American military and intelligence sources have informed us that the Ethiopians are not taking 'foreign' prisoners on the battlefield - al-Qaeda fighters are being summarily executed. Some advantages the Ethiopians possess over the United States is a willingness to use all means necessary to eliminate the ICU and al-Qaeda, and a willingness to ignore international condemnation for its actions.
#15
I can think of a few reasons that the ICU was allowed to expand past Mogadishu before it was attacked and destroyed.
1) Setting the international scene : the world press was talking about the ICU taking over Somalia and their connections with Al-Q for a couple of months before the Ethiopian blitzkrieg. The ICU was arrogant enough to openly discuss a "Greater Somalia" that meant cutting off parts of Kenya and Ethiopia to add to the present Somalia. That made all sorts of people nervous.
2) Intelligence gathering : SOCOM in Djibouti has been keeping an eye on all major and terrorist groups in North Africa and mapping locations, building organization charts, tracing smuggling routes, etc. What has come out in the past couple of days is that the US provided Ethiopia with a lot of operational intelligence on the ICU for this blitzkrieg.
3) Logistics : Ethiopia need a couple of more months to get all the spares in place, the equipment built up, the troops run through live fire training, and the depots put in place for the advancing columns. Plus, the Ethiopians have been rebuilding/rehabing a lot of their ex-Soviet military aid {tanks, APCs, and the like}; and not all of what they thought they needed may have been ready until the past couple of weeks.
The whiny-assed lefty clowns keep whining about Geneva Conventions - I say we should follow them. And do as you suggest - shoot the bastards on sight, even if they surrender.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
12/28/2006 22:00 Comments ||
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#2
Ambassador Abdalhaleem "said Sudan envisions a hybrid force as being staffed by African Union troops under African command, with U.N. personnel involved only in logistical and technical duties, not peacekeeping."
Translation: "we'll let the UN bring our Janjaweed food, ammo and clothing, tell us where the refugees are so we can kill the remaining ones, and gather totals on dead black Sudanese."
Ethiopia's busy. I think it's time for someone else to step forward. Unfortunately, the only people with a useful army are either South Africa, Libya, or Egypt. I'm not sure I'd trust any of them. There's lots of hard feelings between Sudan and Egypt, so maybe that's the best group to intercede.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/28/2006 13:07 Comments ||
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#5
Old Patriot, I've made some snide comments about the Egyptian army, based mostly on Mr. Wife's observations of soldiers standing guard in Cairo with both sandals and weapons held together -- literally -- by duct tape. This was back in 1987 or so, when he lived there for the better part of a year during a factory start-up. Is Egypt's army really capable of effective functioning beyond the country's borders?
Mogadishu 27, Dec.06 ( Sh.M.Network) Insecurity problems have escalated in Baledweyn and Abbudwaq, the main towns of Hiran and Galagadud provinces, central Somalia.
Already pining for the good old days of law and order with the Islamists.
A group of militias in Abudwaq has raged insecurity problems, setting up checkpoints in the town. Witnesses said the militias have opened gunfire indiscriminately at town, endangering the lives of ordinary people in the town.
The ICU fighters have fledrun awayran like rabbits abandoned Abudwaq after they feared attacks from the Ethiopian troops that now took control of all Middle Shabelle and central provinces in the country, reportedly heading for the capital, Mogadishu.
Residents in Baledweyn say that they are mugged at the nights by groups of robbers armed with AK 47 rifles and pistols.
Residents in Jawhar have welcomed the arrival of government militias, witnesses reported. Early in the morning, people were fleeing their homes to the capital Mogadishu in fear of the escalating war.
Shabelle reporter in Jawhar Nor Bukhari said many people in the town were rejoicing the return of Mohammed Dheere, a former warlord who controlled Jawhar before Islamist fighters evicted him. People who owned small cinemas and those who traded in Khad, a narcotic stimulant leaf, shouted they were finally pleased to reopen their business to earn their daily bread.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/28/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
But I thought Insecurity was an Islamic Principal, not an ORDINARY principal. But who is to say anymore. I guess if you are going to run the earth like a mindless gulag, you may as well do as the bad angel does and tell the people just exactly what you will do to subjicate them while bombing anything at your pleasure. You would be suprised at how many wusses there are.... but then... THEN.... There is Ethiopia!
#5
I thought a CNN article was pretty funny. They had someone saying they weren't disbanding, just making another tactical adjustment and the article mentions seeing a "large convoy headed South". Of course, anyone knowing the geography knows that there is nothing South of Mogadishu except the sea. That convoy better have its water wings.
#9
Kill them til they run away then hunt them down and kill them some more then demolish the mosques, shoot the clerics and burn the korans. Remember, it's important to keep taking all of your antibiotics even after the symtoms are gone to make sure you have killed all of the bacteria to prevent a recurrence.
#12
Headline: Insecurity rages in Islamist abandoned areas
Right. Maybe the Ethiopians should stick around and do some nation-building. On second thoughts, maybe not. But you hafta admit it was good for a laugh.
(SomaliNet) The Islamic Courts Union fighters in Somalia capital have laid down their weapons and handed over to the clans in the capital later on Wednesday in part of efforts by the city clan-elders and intellectuals to avoid more bloodshed amid there is insecurity in the capital, which is now seeing events of robbing, killing and revenge attacks. Reports say the major Hawiye clans in the capital began to consult ways to negotiate with the interim government without war and intellectuals met with the Islamic officials over the future of the capital in Somalia. Each of the main clans in Mogadishu retook its weapons and there has been going on plans to welcome the government in the capital.
As the Ethiopian backed interim government troops move close, the capital Mogadishu began to slide back to disorder and instability after resting eight months unprecedented peace and security brought by the Islamic Courts Union. Before the sunset, every Somali among the ordinary people hurried to reach his/her home for security reasons. The long pressed bandits picked up their guns to do their job. In some locations in the capital armed militiamen were robbing cars and mobiles.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/28/2006 00:00 ||
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#3
Er, does this mean that the Courts are disbanding, or are they pulling an Uncle Joe & trying to get the clans to buy into a defense of Mogadishu? Or am I completely misreading this 'un?
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
12/28/2006 8:00 Comments ||
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#4
Whoops, never mind. Wow, that was like the shortest war since '67.
If the Pentagon is serious about recruiting foreigners, I think we've just seen a pretty good argument for Ethiopian recruits.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
12/28/2006 8:05 Comments ||
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#5
'Unprecendented security', my rear end. The warlords never gave in, as seen by the fact that they're coming out of retirement awfully damned fast. They were just waiting for the right moment.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
12/28/2006 8:40 Comments ||
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#6
I like the sound of those revenge killings. Who has the popcorn?
#7
Mike - it seems taqiyya works between muslim clans as well as it does with foreigners. Why are we surprised? If I were the Transitional government, I'd ask the Ethiopians to stay awhile, until I could get a functioning national government up and running. Of course, that may take forever...
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/28/2006 13:13 Comments ||
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(SomaliNet) The top leaders of Islamic Courts Union in the capital have announced on Wednesday that they resigned and are ready to hand over the administration to the people in Mogadishu to avoid destruction and bloodshed in the city. "We quit! We don't want to see our blood shed!"
After having crucial and urgent meeting tonight in the capital, the leaders of executive and Shura councils of Islamic Courts Union and deputy leader of executive council of ICU, Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys, Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed and Sheik Abdirahman Janaqow resigned and issued a joint press statement over the current situation in Somalia particular in Mogadishu. Sheik Janaqow read out the statement through the local media saying: Since the Islamic Courts Union came to the power in Somalia, it did a lot of significant acts to the people, particular in terms of security, justice, countrys development, improving the inner and outside politics, reopening the air and sea ports and so on, said in the statement.
The ICU said also in the press release that foreign powers have invaded the country therefore to avoid devastation and fighting inside the capital, the Islamic Courts Union now agreed on the following decisions:
1. It is national duty to protect the sovereignty and the integrity of Somalia and its people.
2. The ICU allows that Somalis should have the option to determine their future and would be ready for taking over the responsibility.
3. The Islamic Courts Union agreed not to allow anyone to create violence in Mogadishu and anybody that is found guilty would be brought before the law and would be taken for the suitable punishment according to the Islamic Sharia.
4. The ICU fighters are responsible for establishing the security and stability in the Somalia capital Mogadishu.
5. Lastly, the ICU is calling on all the Islamic fighters whereever they are in Somalia to secure the stability and get ready in the police stations and other security stations.
The Islamic officials in the capital stressed that it is shame and misfortune that Somalia will again loss their security and peace in which they were brought from starting village, town, city and to country.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/28/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Don't trust them. Keep pressure up until the actual militai's surrender Ethopia, else they will pull a "tater".
Posted by: Charles ||
12/28/2006 0:04 Comments ||
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#2
Agreed Charles - keep the pressure up and drive the foreign jihadis into the sea. Root them out of the police and other security stations, this is Hudna at it's most basic.
#5
While priests and other such scoundrels are great at sending children to die, they get very pacifistic when their own butts are on the line.
All the more reason for the Ethiopians to promise not to sack Mogadishu on the condition that the people execute all the IC leaders and leave their bodies in a neat pile outside the city.
Of course, after *that* ultimatum, the IC leaders will demand that everyone else in the city defend the IC leaders, to their last drop of blood.
While whining and begging any foreign power to evacuate the "holy men".
#7
It's amazing how fast they fold when confronted with actual physical resistance, even by a second rate thrid world army. You'd think somebody would notice and apply the lesson to others, say Iran and Syria. And if it worked with them try Pakistan and the Magik Kingdom.
#8
"We quit! We don't want to see our blood shed!"
Government spokesman Abdirahman Dinari says the Islamist leaders have fled to the southern port of Kismayu.
"The Islamic courts leaders have dispersed into thin air," he said.
Flew the coop; flucked off like the fligeons; cut and run; disappeared up their own fundamental; scarpered; shot through like a Bondi tram - and
forgot to leave a forwarding address.
#11
BAH! Read more carefully. In typical lib fashion, they declare both their readiness to let the people decide how they are ruled, AND are ready to take responsibility: (I.e. you're free to choose whomever you want, provided you choose US!). Also, they continue to insist on the application of their precious sharia law to maintain order and safety: no hints that they will agree that a different set of laws would
apply.
I'm with tu: track the bastards down, behead them, and put their heads on pikes.
#15
TW: Good idea, but since they evaporated into thin air, it is gonna be tough to get them admit they were ever there, much less surrender.
Appears they have even less spine than (fill in your favorite politician's name here).
#16
Newspaper reports, photos, and so forth. They were thrilled to see their names in print when they were winning, and the memory hole isn't very deep yet.
(SomaliNet) Here in Mogadishu, it is within hours of mess and disorder, and no one rules the capital right now as the people began to worry about what is next. Once powerful Islamic Courts men but just weak seem to be disappearing. Scurrying off to live in the shadows and dream of Dire Revenge™...
It is now the end of eight months rule by the Islamic Courts Union in central and southern Somalia, despite the ICU hardliners vowed to launch hit and run attack in Somalia. The traffic in the city is much smaller than days before, what the ordinary people eager to hear is an immediate change with stability and security but feel more anxiety that the advancing Ethiopian backed interim government forces clash with the remnants of the ICU fighters who retreated to the capital, their last stronghold besides southern port city of Kismayo. Ethiopian forces are now advancing toward Kismayo and it is feared to fall out of hand in the coming hours.
Now Mogadishu is the main target of the Ethiopian forces along with the government troops led by some of the former warlords. The powerful forces are coming into two directions heading to the capital in the next hours, notably the capital will be under the control of the government tomorrow, said Mohamed Dhere, a former warlord in northern Jowhar city some 90 km to the capital of Mogadishu. Some of the residents in the capital already began fleeing their home heading to near by regions in southern Somalia. I would suggest the Islamic Courts officials not to order their fighters to fight inside the capital if they are doing favor for the civilians because we dont want any more blood shed, Abdirisak Bakistan, a local teacher in the capital said. The Islamist officials have still chance to flee and seek refuge in the Arab world if not they should surrender to the interim government.
Despite people in Mogadishu now fear of air raids by the Ethiopian forces, Somalia Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi said that there is no intension to bomb the capital. We dont absolutely intend to attack Mogadishu but my government is confident that it will be welcomed by the its people in the capital, said Gedi. what we are hunting down is the foreign insurgents in Somalia and will crush them until their end, the Islamists made the country base for international terrorists,
The capital is now in anarchy condition amid Islamist soldiers changing their uniform after facing sizable defeat in the clashes with the Ethiopian backed interim government forces in central and southern Somalia. In north Mogadishu, self arranged local militia took the control of the area with the Islamic fighters handed their weapons to their clans to get safety and refuge. When I visited the north of the capital just half an hour ago, I could see that the Khat leafy, which was already banned by the Islamists, is being sold publicly. Cinemas also began to open for viewing. All the khat dealers and consumers seem to feel relief. Some are happy to get back to their normal life. I am very happy that Islamists go away and the government came in because the Islamists made the life difficulty and blocked me to get access for my daily life and feed my children as they banned the sale of Khat leafs, Amina Haji, one of female khat dealer told SomaliNet.
Here in Mogadishu, no one knows whereabouts of the leaders of ICU including Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed and others.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/28/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Frankly, there will be a dirty war once the Islamonazis try to replay the same IED/RPG/sniper trick of the Iraq Nazis. I was in Chile when authorities were using extra-legal means to suppress communist revolution. I also saw it in Central America.
Sorry but: sometimes the end justifies the means used.
As I write the President is at his Texas ranch, in deep consideration of various new tactics for the Iraq theater. What would happen if he pleaded, "Disproportion in response to terror, will be the center-piece of US counter-terror strategy in Iraq"?
#3
The Ethiopians have been on the frontline of the worldwide war against Islamic terrorism for 1400 years. Believe me, they know how to deal with terrorists and are not restrained by the seeming congenital stupidity of the American Left when it comes to exterminate threats to their national security.
#4
Unfortunately, the Ethiopians - as with the Nigerians - have an increasing Muslim minority that is breeding like flies. And they are vulnerable to Eritrean guerillas. Face it: bloody-border states have few or no allies against the Muslim menace. Ethiopia is in the same position as it was during the League of Nations folly.
#7
Unfortunately, the Ethiopians - as with the Nigerians - have an increasing Muslim minority that is breeding like flies. And they are vulnerable to Eritrean guerillas. Face it: bloody-border states have few or no allies against the Muslim menace. Ethiopia is in the same position as it was during the League of Nations folly
Muslims are taught to breed like rabbits so they can take over the world.Thats why they come to the West where we foolishly pay for these scroungers!!!!
#10
Plan. Careful, quiet preparation. Mask intentions. More preparation. Train and drill. Gather intel. More training. More preparation.
And then unleash hell.
To this non-mil person, the Ethiops seem to have planned and executed a very well-done invasion, and did so the old-fashioned way.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/28/2006 13:17 Comments ||
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#11
Notice the significant lack of MSM? Just like Darfur. When no one is around, stuff gets done, one way or another. Hint, hint about allowing MSM to operate independent in a war zone.
Somali and Ethiopian troops drove Islamic fighters out of the last major town before Mogadishu on Wednesday, and the government predicted the capital and stronghold of the radical Islamists would fall without a fight. Government spokesman Abdirahman Dinari said no assault was planned on Mogadishu because the forces of the Council of Islamic Courts were crumbling so fast. Islamic courts militias are already on the run and we hope that Mogadishu will fall to our hands without firing a shot, he said.
The Islamic Courts movement had grown steadily in power for six months, until the dramatic entry into the war by Ethiopian troops last week. That was after the Islamic courts, in a move of sheer brilliance, declared jihad on Aethiopia.
Since then, fortunes have changed dramatically with the Islamists in full retreat. "Whuddya mean, 'they took us seriously'?"
On Wednesday, thousands of Ethiopian and Somali government troops were seen in tanks heading toward Balad, only about 30 kilometres away from Mogadishu, said Nadifo Ali Tifow, a resident in Qalimow village, along the same road. Former warlord Mohammed Dheere, who controlled the town of Jowhar before it was captured by the Council of Islamic Courts in June, led the Somali government troops back in, said resident Abshir Ali Gabre. It's probably be a good idea for a series of unfortunate accidents to befall the "warlords," who've been revealed as being much better at being lords than at making war.
We will attack Mogadishu tomorrow from two directions, Mr. Dheere told the crowd, before the government denied that would happen. Doesn't sound like he's on the planning committee. If Somalia's lucky, there's already a toaster sitting on the shelf over his bath tub.
Fighting could be heard at a military camp south of Jowhar and in the village of Lego. An Islamic official said his troops were simply entering a new phase in their battle. Our snakes of defence were let loose, now they are ready to bite the enemy everywhere in Somalia, said Sheik Mohamoud Ibrahim Suley. He did not elaborate, but some Islamic leaders have threatened a guerrilla war including suicide bombings in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia's capital. They do that sort of thing much better than they fight battles or govern.
Hundreds of people had fled Jowhar, anticipating major fighting, but others seemed resigned to it after suffering from drought and flooding over the last two years. We do not know where to escape, we are already suffering from floods, hunger and disease, Abdale Haji Ali said from Jowhar. We are awaiting death.
In Geneva, the UN refugee agency said it was preparing for the possible arrival of thousands of Somalis fleeing the fighting in neighbouring Kenya and Ethiopia. Staff, trucks and emergency relief items for up to 50,000 people are being readied, UNHCR said.
Ethiopia sent fighter jets streaking deep into militia-held areas Sunday to help Somalia's U.N.-recognized government push back the Islamic militias. Ethiopia bombed the country's two main airports and helped government forces capture several villages.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said Tuesday that Ethiopian forces may soon wrap up their offensive against the Islamic militias that until recent days controlled most of the southern part of the country. Mr. Zenawi said he aims to severely damage the courts' military capabilities and allow both sides to return to peace talks on an even footing. He has said he would not send his troops into Mogadishu, which the Islamic movement has held since June.
A State Department spokesman in Washington signalled support Tuesday for Ethiopian military operations against Somalia, noting that Ethiopia has had genuine security concerns stemming from the rise of Islamist forces in its eastern neighbour.
Meanwhile, the chairman of the African Union Commission has called a meeting Wednesday in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, of the 53-nation AU, the Arab League, and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, a seven-nation East African group, to try to end the fighting and resume dialogue between Somalia's warring parties.
The UN Security Council on Tuesday took no immediate action on a draft presidential statement circulated by Qatar calling for a cease-fire and withdrawal of foreign forces, specifying Ethiopian troops. The United States and several other nations objected to singling out Ethiopia and the call for a truce, saying talks and a political agreement are needed for stability before foreign forces can leave. The council agreed to continue discussions Wednesday.
Somalia was largely under the control of warlords until this past summer, when the Islamic militia movement pushed them aside. One critical issue is whether the central government can win the support of Somalis. Many resent Ethiopia's intervention because the countries have fought two wars over their disputed border in the past 45 years. They keep saying that. The Somalis don't seem any more enamored of the Islamists than they were of the warlords. Either way, their lot in life seems to involve a lot of natural disasters followed by starvation.
Experts fear the conflict in Somalia could engulf the region. That would depend on the region taking the conflict seriously, which it doesn't appear to do.
Islamic courts leaders have repeatedly said they want to incorporate ethnic Somalis living in eastern Ethiopia, northeastern Kenya and Djibouti into a Greater Somalia. That way they can all live lives defined by natural disasters and starvation. And the Islamic courts can rule - not govern - even more poor souls whose lives were previously relatively stable and even free.
Any effort by the Somali government or Ethiopia to take the capital risks a disaster similar to the U.S. intervention in Somalia in 1992. That UN-sponsored mission ended in 1993, after Somali militiamen shot down a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter. Eighteen American servicemen were killed in the crash and vicious street fighting that preceded and followed, made famous in the book and movie Black Hawk Down.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/28/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
NYT.com > majority of ICU and aligned fighters are TEENAGERS + YOUNG ADULT MEN, MOSTLY TEENAGERS. OTHERS > Ethiopians are US-Allied trained and well-seasoned, and have modern AFVS includ TANKS. Mostly teeney ICU, etc have at best mostly rusted, old, but working civilian trucks and other vehicles. EITREANS not much better off than ICU - criticized as "HIDING BEHIND SOMALI WOMEN".
#2
The Islamic Courts movement had grown steadily in power for six months, until the dramatic entry into the war by Ethiopian troops last week.Since then, fortunes have changed dramatically with the Islamists in full retreat.
This reporter should stick to hockey.
Posted by: john ||
12/28/2006 7:44 Comments ||
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#3
I love it when you write it as Æthopia. It makes me feel young again.
#5
Our snakes of defence were let loose, now they are ready to bite the enemy everywhere in Somalia, said Sheik Mohamoud Ibrahim Suley.
I don't think the Ethiopians will fight as PC a war as we do. Chances are if they find some of these snakes, they'll be cutting their heads off.
Of course, I'm betting the Sheik will never see it as he probably has "travel plans"...
#7
well. im glad the Islamists have been chased out. This seems to be working out well for us, and a bunch of international jihadis dead for good measure.
But I really dont see the govt of ethiopia turning on the warlords. I doubt very much they want a prolonged occupation, and the easiest way to get out fast is to give power to the guys who already control the guns. Sure, they may try to eliminate the worst ones, and dilute the power of the warlords with some other elements (kinda like we did initially in Afghanistan), but just like Afghanistan, you cant remake a failed state overnight. And Ethiopia doesnt have the resources to do it over time. (And dont anybody look at the US, now)
#8
LH, that's right: the Ethiops, I suspect, will be happy to walk away quickly and let the clans continue to sort out Somalia for the next, oh, thirty years or so.
Whether it's the Islamists or a nationalist leader like Berre, a unified, strengthening Somalia is a threat to Ethiopia. This is their third war in fifty years. Confusion and factionalization in Somalia suits the Ethiops just fine.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/28/2006 13:20 Comments ||
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#9
If you want to go back far enough, NS, try Abysinia. Ethiopia was an independent kingdom for a long, long time, primarily Christian since about the 4th Century.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/28/2006 13:28 Comments ||
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#10
"It's probably be a good idea for a series of unfortunate accidents to befall the "warlords," who've been revealed as being much better at being lords than at making war."
Followed by:
"Doesn't sound like he's on the planning committee. If Somalia's lucky, there's already a toaster sitting on the shelf over his bath tub."
Since this is pointed at the (former)warlord known as Mohammed, and he will probably retreat at the first sign of retribution towards him, you can then rightfully say:
"Nothing runs like a Dheere."
(I'm here all week, tell your friends)
A passenger tried to hijack a Russian plane on Thursday but was overpowered and the aircraft was able to make an emergency landing in Prague, officials said.
"One of the passengers on board the Moscow-Geneva flight said he had an explosive device and ordered (the crew) to change course," Lev Koshlyakov, deputy general director of Russian airline Aeroflot, told Reuters. "By now the passenger has been pacified and is in the hands of law protection officers," he added. "There are reasons to believe that this was an act of hooliganism."
The Airbus A-320 on the Moscow-Geneva route made an unplanned landing in Prague after the pilot declared an emergency on board. Russia's transport ministry said there were 168 people on board.
"A drunk person was on board. He provoked a brawl with passengers, threatened to damage the plane and demanded that it change the course," Itar-Tass news agency quoted Aeroflot representative in Prague Viktor Parkhimovich as saying. Czech police spokesman Pavel Hantak said the man was subdued on the plane. "According to our information none of the passengers, nor crew, were hurt. The culprit apparently was not injured either," he said.
The plane landed in Prague at 10:42 a.m. local time (0942 GMT). After landing, it was directed to taxi to an outer area of the airport, where it was surrounded by emergency vehicles, officials said. Aeroflot's Koshlyakov said the plane was now preparing to continue the flight to Geneva.
(SomaliNet) Russia's highest court on Tuesday upheld a life sentence for the only militant known to have survived the 2004 Beslan school siege that killed more than 300 people, rejecting appeals from the man's lawyers and relatives of the victims.
Nur-Pashi Kulayev was convicted in May in the attack by a court in southern Russia. The Supreme Court upheld its verdict Tuesday, said Pavel Odintsov, a court spokesman. Ella Kesayeva, the head of Voice of Beslan group of victims' relatives, told Ekho Moskvy radio that Kulayev's trial failed to properly investigate the circumstances of the raid and botched rescue efforts.
The Sept. 1-3, 2004, attack on Beslan's school No. 1 by militants demanding the withdrawal of Russian troops from Chechnya killed 334 people, more than half of them children, as well as 31 suspected militants and 11 Special Forces soldiers. Most of the victims died when explosions tore through the school and security forces stormed the building.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/28/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Aww, the poor widdle "militant" pwobabwy gettin' tired of his 3' cage. I feel so sowwy for him. Not. I hope he lives to be 120.
(IANS) Ashraf Ganaie, a divisional commander of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) who masterminded the killing of 35 Hindus in Jammu and Kashmir earlier this year, was killed in a encountercrossfire gunfight with security forces Wednesday evening. A close associate of the LeT commander was also killed in the more than six-hour-long fierce gun battle with forces of the Indian Army and police in Karra village of Doda district, about 200 km north of here.
The militants had killed 35 Hindus; 22 in Kulhand on May 1 and 13 in Basantgarh area of the adjacent hilly district of Udhampur a day earlier - the worst massacre of Hindus in Jammu and Kashmir in the past three years.
It was around 10 a.m. when a joint operation to nab the militant was launched in the sparsely populated village. "A stoolie specific information led us to the militant's hideout," Senior Superintendent of Police (Doda) Manohar Singh said, ...
... thanks to Mahmoud the Weasel ...
... adding that the operation's success was due to the grit and determination of the security forces. "We were determined this time that we would not allow Ashraf to escape," Manohar Singh told IANS on phone. "He had been dodging us for the past over six months, and we knew that today it was our opportunity to neutralise him."
"He's dead, Jim"
Col. D K. Badola, spokesperson of 16 corps of the army, said that it was an "operation conducted with precision". Inspector General of Police (Jammu Zone) S.P. Vaid said it was a "big success for the security forces".
Posted by: Fred ||
12/28/2006 00:00 ||
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Ex-dictators execution expected to be carried out by start of Eid holiday BREAKING NEWS
Former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, sentenced to death for his role in 148 killings in 1982, will have his sentence carried out by Sunday, NBC News reported Thursday. According to a U.S. military officer who spoke on condition of anonymity, Saddam will be hanged before the start of the Eid religious holiday, which begins this Sunday.
Saddams sentence, handed down last month, ordered that he be hanged within 30 days.
Earlier Thursday, Saddams chief lawyer implored world leaders to prevent the United States from handing over the ousted leader to Iraqi authorities for execution, saying the former dictator should enjoy protection from his enemies as a "prisoner of war."
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/28/2006 19:06 ||
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#1
drinks are on me in the O-Club!
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/28/2006 19:19 Comments ||
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#2
Doh! I had just posted this. Please erase admins.
#10
Will believe it after he's hanged on Sunday. The pro-Saddam BAATHISTS have basically warned that iff Saddam is executed, a dedicated terror attack agz Dubya in retaliation will be considered by them and their allies.
I was in Baghdad when this happened and heard a great deal about it. A lot of GIs, and more than a few Iraqis, wouldn't want anything but a knife and five minutes alone with this vermin.
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi special forces backed by U.S. advisers have captured an al Qaeda cell leader believed to be behind the kidnap in June of two U.S. soldiers who were found tortured and dead, the U.S. military said on Thursday.
A U.S. statement said the man was captured in a raid on Tuesday in Yusifiya, 15 km (9 miles) south of Baghdad. It said he had recently been seen commenting on a video CD showing the kidnapping of the soldiers that was shown at a mosque. "The terrorist is believed responsible for kidnapping two U.S. soldiers from a checkpoint in Yusifiya in June, 2006. The soldiers were later found tortured and murdered," a U.S. statement said. It must really burn Al Reuters to use the word "terrorist" to get an accurate quotation.
A third soldier was killed in the attack on the checkpoint in which Privates First Class Kristian Menchaca and Thomas Tucker were seized in the south Baghdad al Qaeda stronghold. The mutilated and booby-trapped bodies of Menchaca, 23, and Tucker, 25, were found three days after the June 16 attack.
"The terrorist is also suspected of perpetrating numerous kidnappings, murders and other violent crimes within the Yusifiya area," the U.S. statement said. There were a number of perps in this incident, of course. One of them was reportedly caught with ID and personal effects from one of the murdered soldiers in his possession. Scuttlebutt has it that he was "released" to the tender mercies of anti-AQ vigilantes in the area.
#2
A: Let's see how he likes his fingernails yanked out then break every bone in both starting w/ the fingertips and work your way up.
I say we tie this guy up, weigh him down (cement overshoes) and dump him in the river. Simple and very clean, except for the part where he's messing his shorts while the cement's setting. And even that can be dealt with - just pump him full of morphine, and he'll spent much of that time in dreamland.
#4
Too much "hearts and minds", too soon, and not enough "thud".
We'll start making some headway against this enemy when we convince them we're willing to be more brutal than they are. And not one moment sooner.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
12/28/2006 10:16 Comments ||
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#5
Naw, I really like the third world Ice trick of sitting them on ice with a hand grenade between their knees. It takes a long time before the shivers get uncontrolable.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
12/28/2006 10:18 Comments ||
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#6
First, take his head apart with questioning. No torture of course (no, no, certainly not!) but make sure you empty his head of everything useful.
Then shoot him. Don't mutilate him, shoot him.
Then bury him in an unmarked grave. No lard, etc., just bury him. Tell the family they can't have his body.
And make it clear: you torture our guys, we come, we find you, we kill you, and you disappear forever. No heroic capture, no grandstanding at a trial, no solemn execution. You're just gone.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/28/2006 10:23 Comments ||
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#7
I like Steve's idea - but include the family - and maybe neighbors.
#14
Blood spurts from major arteries, Broadhead6. That's an extra load of laundry you're recommending -- considerably more expensive in net than shooting a bullet... not to mention cleaning the floor afterward. Do try to be practical! ;-)
#16
Hee-hee: trailing wife is telling a Marine to be practical. :-)
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/28/2006 13:23 Comments ||
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#17
Pump him for any information we can get from him, then chain him to an exterior wall. Let everyone who's ever lost a family member to this piece of slime have two whacks at him with an axehandle. Then scrape up what's left and dump it in the nearest river for the fish to eat. Repeat with every one of these bas$$$$s we catch. Pretty soon, there won't be anyone else to catch, and we'll have "peace" (instead of "pieces") in Iraq.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/28/2006 13:40 Comments ||
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#18
Don't waste the morphine; just give him an IV of caffiene so he is awake and alert. Throat slitting on the sand is far easier to clean up than indoors, you just need a rake.
#19
Marines are good at a lot of things, killing included, and they rarely listen to outsiders, but in this case Marines know not to piss off home-6. I'm sure Broadhead will take his mess outside first. LOL
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
12/28/2006 14:24 Comments ||
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#20
jds: I like Steve's idea - but include the family - and maybe neighbors.
(KUNA) -- At least 18 Iraqis were either killed or injured when a booby-trapped car exploded near a Al-Talabiya bridge in Cairo neighborhood north of here on Wednesday, a security source said. In a statement to KUNA, the source added that the explosion caused destruction to nearby shops and vehicles.
Meanwhile in Al-Abaidi neighborhood of east Baghdad, US marines and members of the Shiite militant group, Al-Mahdi Army, exchanged fire during a US operation there. Police said five citizens were injured during the clashes and were sent to hospital for treatment.
Special polices forces also involved in clashes with militants when they fought with Sunni insurgents in Al-Sayediya neighborhood southwest of the capital which also resulted in the injury of three Iraqis. Yarmouk neighborhood west of Baghdad also witnessed some violence when a bus packed with employees was intercepted by masked gunmen who stormed the vehicle with gunfire resulting in the injury of two citizens.
Elsewhere, a roadside bomb in Al-Kradah neighborhood caused the injury of three policemen and damaged their vehicle. In Irbil, a local Kirkuk municipality member was killed by masked gunmen. In preparation for Eid Al-Adha, a joint force by the police and army will initiate a security plan to protect citizens.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/28/2006 00:00 ||
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In response to continued violence between the Hamas and Fatah factions in the Palestinian Authority, Israel approved on Wednesday night the transfer of 2,000 automatic rifles, 20,000 ammunition clips and 2 million bullets, to the Fatah security forces in the Gaza Strip.
The decision, taken following Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's meeting last Saturday with PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, marked the first time Israel agreed to allow arms into Gaza in some six months.
With the approval of the United States, the weapons were transferred from Egypt via the Kerem Shalom crossing, after which a police escort guarded the guns as they were moved to the Karni crossing, where representatives of Abbas collected them.
Likud MK Yuval Steinitz called the move a "bad mistake. A lot of IDF soldiers and Israeli civilians will be killed with these weapons," Steinitz told Army Radio. "We haven't yet seen that Abbas is determined to contain terrorism, and there's a greater chance that these weapons will be used against [our] soldiers, and we'll have to combat terrorism."
National Infrastructures Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer rejected Steinitz's comments and insisted that the arms would be put to good use by Abbas. "The weapons delivery is intended to give Abbas the ability to cope with those organizations which are trying to ruin everything. If it helps Abbas become stronger, I'm for it," said Ben-Eliezer in an interview with Army Radio.
Israel's decision to allow the arms shipment to Fatah was a sign that the government was starting to think in more complex terms, Lt.-Gen. (res.) Yochanan Tzoref told Israel Radio.
Tzoref explained that while Fatah might be at a disadvantage as far as its arsenal in its struggle with Hamas, the real challenge facing the organization was that it had lost the faith of the Palestinian public. "Fatah has to undergo an internal process that will strengthen it, and allow it to compete with Hamas in the public's eyes," Tzoref said. Hamas had the [Palestinian] public's support almost "instinctively," Tzoref continued, whereas the Fatah "old guard" was holding up necessary reforms.
Meanwhile, a source in Abbas's Presidential Guards denied on Thursday that Fatah had received weapons and ammunition from Egypt. The unnamed source told Israel Radio that the Egyptian shipment had contained an X-ray machine, televisions, and computers to be used at the Gaza border crossings.
Saeb Erekat, a spokesman for Abbas, declined comment, as did Olmert's spokeswoman Miri Eisin and the Defense Ministry.
#1
As long as they're killing Hamas scum, this is a good idea. Should they agree to once again concentrate on killing joooos rather than each other, not so good.
#2
basically this illuminates the split within Israel wrt to the Pal Civil War - the big question to them is "Do we have a dog in this fight?" Olmert, Kadima, and Labour, say "yes we do" while Likud says "No we do not".
#3
I really don't like shipping weapons to the Paleos, no matter what the political machinations are. Fatah is fighting Hamas today but they'll be happy to kill Jews with the same weapons tomorrow.
Sun Tzu reminds us that we should never interfere when our enemy is in the midst of destroying himself. The Hamas-Fatah fight is a cage match best watched on cable TV. Israel shouldn't interfere and shouldn't encourage, directly or indirectly, one over the other.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/28/2006 10:48 Comments ||
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#4
I see Fatah is enjoying Most Favored Faction status this week.
#5
The Hamas-Fatah fight is a cage match best watched on cable TV. Israel shouldn't interfere and shouldn't encourage, directly or indirectly, one over the other.
#6
"Sun Tzu reminds us that we should never interfere when our enemy is in the midst of destroying himself."
Olmert, Peretz and the rest of Israels center and left dont identify Abbas as necessarily an enemy - or if he is, hes an enemy you can make peace with.
Ever since Arafat went to hell, the rap on Abbas has been that he talks a good game, but he wont actually take the stick to Hamas. Well, damn, if his b'hoys actually ARE taking a stick to Hamas, what the hell is the basis for saying hes not a partner for peace?
Palestinian Authority security forces in the Gaza Strip recently managed to foil an attempt by Hamas members to assassinate former PA security minister and Fatah legislator Muhammed Dahlan, Fatah activists said Wednesday. The activists, who did not say when the alleged attempt took place, claimed that the forces discovered a large roadside bomb that had been planted along the route used by Dahlan's motorcade outside his hometown of Khan Yunis.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/28/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
I always see Mo Dahlan as the Hyman Roth of Gaza...
(KUNA) -- Palestinian Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, claimed on Wednesday responsibility for firing one rocket type (Quds-3) toward Ashkelon settlement in southern Israel. Al-Quds Brigades will continue responding to Israeli violations and aggression in the West Bank and "its assassination policy toward Palestinian political figures," the group said in a statement.
Earlier, the Israeli government ordered its military to resume its "assassination policy of targeting Palestinian cells." An Israeli military spokesman confirmed the rocket attack from northern Gaza this evening, Israeli radio said.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/28/2006 00:00 ||
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A military official said Thursday that Radulan Sahiron was appointed leader of the terrorist Abu Sayyaf Group after the alleged death of its spiritual leader Khadaffy Janjalani. Rot, Daffy, rot!
Brig. Gen. Juancho Sabban, 3rd Marine Brigade commander, said that based on intelligence information, ASG sub-commanders immediately held a meeting and declared Sahiron as their new leader after Janjalani died last September. He added that with Sahiron as leader, ASG stands to lose its ties with international terror groups, particularly Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network. "Your Enormity! Daffy Janjalani is dead and Radulan Sahiron has taken over!"
"Dead, y'say? Did we cut his head off?"
"No, your Immensity! Filipino troops shot him in the neck and he drowned in is own blood!"
"Blood, eh? I like blood. That's good. And who's taking over?"
"Radulan Sahiron, O Great Quagmire of Islam!"
"Well in that case, cut all ties with... ummm... what's the name of that group?"
"Abu Sayyaf, O Emission of the Profit!"
"Cut all ties with them. And cut whatsisname's head off! In fact, cut all their heads off!"
He said four ASG guerrillas confirmed that Janjalani died after an encounter with the military last September. "They confessed that they were with Janjalani during last September's encounter. They said Khadaffy Jajalani was injured [in] the neck," he said. Sabban said the surrenderees told the military that they helped in carrying Janjalani's body and buried it two kilometers away from the encounter site. "Cheeze, Eid! He seems an awful lot heavier now than he did for the first kilometer!"
"Let's just bury him here. I gotta get back for a press release!"
That encounter with Janjalani's group took place last September 4 in Barangay Cabuntakas, Patikul in Sulu province. After the encounter, the military claimed that Janjalani was wounded. "Yup. He wuz either wounded or he had two mouths."
"After that big encounter last September, we noticed that [Abu Sayyaf members] became scattered and started surrendering one-by-one," he added. "Don't shoot! We quit! Don't cut our heads off!"
On Wednesday elements of the 3rd Marine Brigade exhumed what it claimed were the remains of Janjalani after the four ASG guerrillas led the military to the burial site. The Marines recovered bones, brown pajamas, a black balaclava and a colored shirt. Sabban said military forensics will take dental and deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) samples from the recovered remains to confirm if the boneswere Janjalani's. "That's his balaclava! I'd recognize it anywhere!"
Janjalani was 23 years old when he inherited his older brother's status as ASG's spiritual leader in 1998. He replaced Afghanistan war veteran Abdurajik Abubakar Janjalani, who was killed in a firefight with the military in Basilan. Janjalani was arrested in 1995 but escaped from Camp Crame's detention facility with another ASG member, Jovenal Bruno. Janjalani is on the US list of most wanted terrorists with a $5 million bounty on his head. He's now worth about $1.39.
Sabban said if the remains were confirmed as that of Janjalani, the four ASG surrenderees would be entitled to the reward.
Posted by: bk ||
12/28/2006 00:27 ||
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#2
The ASG share names leading to confusion. I could be wrong, and I'm wrong more often than not, but the Sahiron Gen Sabban is talking about I believe to be Abu Soliman. In any event with KJ dead - praise be Allah- I don't understand why Hapilon is not running things, unless the reports of him dieing of wounds are correct. In any event this does spell the end of the ASG, again praise be allah. KJ was the guy to hold the different factions together in a team. Now they will slide from their muzzie leadership and go back to being simple pirates and thugs. This will expose the MILF as the source of support for the JI training camps. I expect the peace talks to fall apart this year with a new MILF action arm emerging. The ball is in lipless eddies, eid caballa, court.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
12/28/2006 8:53 Comments ||
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Iran's justice minister was killed in a car accident in central Iran Thursday, according to state-run television. Jamal Karimirad, 50, was traveling with his family from Tehran to the central city of Isfahan when the crash occurred about 100 miles south of the capital, the report said. The broadcast said that members of his family had been hospitalized, but did not elaborate further and gave no details of the crash.
It's a PDF so I can't paste text.
Highlights:
- Arafat (Fatah/Black September Org.) instructed his toadys to kill diplomat hostages
- He knew their demands wouldn't be met -- the real reason they took hostages was to disrupt a peace process
- He ultimately got nothing and told the hostage takers to give up
- The US State Dept realized way back in 1973 that further incidents against US interests were likely
Re: Text - Actually, you can, just change your pointer to the I-Beam / text selection tool.
THE SEIZURE OF THE SAUDI ARABIAN EMBASSY IN KHARTOUM
Summary
In the early evening hours of 1 March 1973, eight Black September Organization (BSO) terrorists seized the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Khartoum as a diplomatic reception honoring the departing United States Deputy Chief of Mission (DCM) was ending. After slightly wounding the United States Ambassador and the Belgian Charge d'Affaires, the terrorists took these officials plus the United States DCM, the Saudi Arabian Ambassador and the Jordanian Charge d'Affaires hostage. In return for the freedom of the hostages, the captors demanded the release of various individuals, mostly Palestinian guerrillas, imprisoned in Jordan, Israel and the United States.
The Khartoum operation was planned and carried out with the full knowledge and personal approval of Yasir Arafat, Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), and the head of Fatah. Fatah representatives based in Khartoum participated in the attack, using a Fatah vehicle to transport the terrorists to the Saudi Arabian Embassy.
Initially, the main objective of the attack appeared to be to secure the release of Fatah/BSO leader Muhammed Awadh (Abu Da'ud) from Jordanian captivity. Information acquired subsequently reveals that the Fatah/BSO leaders did not expect Awadh to be freed, and indicates that one of the primary goals of the operation was to strike at the United States because of its efforts to achieve a Middle East peace settlement which many Arabs believe would be inimical to Palestinian interests.
Negotiations with the BSO terrorist team were conducted primarily by the Sudanese Ministers of Interior and of Health. No effort was spared, within the capabilities of the Sudanese Government, to secure the freedom of the hostages. The terrorists extended their deadlines three times, but when they became convinced that their demands would not be met and after they reportedly had received orders from Fatah headquarters in Beirut, they killed the two United States officials and the Belgian Charge. Thirty-four hours later, upon receipt of orders from Yasir Arafat in Beirut to surrender, the terrorists released their other hostages unharmed and surrendered to Sudanese authorities.
The Khartoum operation again demonstrated the ability of the BSO to strike where least expected. The open participation of Fatah representatives in Khartoum in the attack provides
further evidence of the Fatah/BSO relationship. The emergence of the United States as a primary fedayeen target indicates a serious threat of further incidents similar to that which occurred in Khartoum.
------------------- END OF ARTICLE --------------
Yet one more item on an endless list of reasons why Arafat should have been strangled in the cradle. That Yasser lived long enough to cause so much grief is a monument to needless diplomatic compromises. Arafat should have been offed the instant his organization began to hijack airplanes. The amount of suffering that can be traced back to this one single person is a resounding condemnation of all who ever supported him and, especially, those who could have stopped this demon and eliminated all further opportunity for him to cause even more sorrow.
Arafat's early demise could have assisted in a much swifter dismantling of existing terrorist organizations at that time. Leaving him alive in order that his intense corruption could scatter and distract PLO operatives through mismanagement of resources and infighting should never have been an option. Damn those who thought it was.
#3
What is your major malfunction? Why not post a fucking link - maybe with a small excerpt - and then pontificate? That you DIDN'T post a link to your text is double-plus ungood, BTW. Sheesh.
#6
State lied, people died. But most of the people were just a bunch of Jews, so f*** 'em.
Posted by: J. Baker ||
12/28/2006 16:14 Comments ||
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#7
It wasn't that lengthy of a document. One printed page. I thought that people would enjoy seeing it without some having to go through the burdensome process of downloading a PDF. Feel free to delete it and I'll just repost my own comments. Your own comment in the original post seemed to invite presenting the entire document. My mistake.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
12/28/2006 16:24 Comments ||
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#9
The comments in the article were Planet Dan's - I just told him he could get the contents with a PDF tool. You still haven't figured out the formatting of RB articles? After thousands upon thousands of comments you've posted? Bullshit.
If you check my original postings, you'll find that I am very scrupulous about eliminating needless whitespace from media text. Something that a lot of other posters still have not caught onto quite yet.
#15
Thank you. I did not think a link was needed if the post was entirely related to content in the original post. I'll provide an extra link in the future.
#17
"If you check my original postings, you'll find that I am very scrupulous about eliminating needless whitespace from media text."
I have, and I also find that over the past six months, your comments total more than THREE TIMES the number of bytes as the next most prolific person here, and nearly as much as the four people behind you COMBINED. And since late 2003, your comments here have totalled up to nearly 5 megabytes-- the equivalent of Leo Tolstoy's War And Peace and Anna Karenina strung end-to-end.
You are a bandwidth hog of titanic proportions, Zenster. GIVE IT A BREAK!!!!
Posted by: Dave D. ||
12/28/2006 17:23 Comments ||
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#18
Zen: in the future post the link. Thanks.
About the article: this is old news. We actually talked about it on the Burg some time back (in the comments of another article, as I recall). I didn't know at the time, and it was either Fred or Dan Darling who enlightened me. Arafat personally ordered the murder of American diplomats, and both Carter and Clinton brought him to America afterwards.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/28/2006 17:34 Comments ||
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#19
This story makes Rudy's expulsion of Yurafart from a State Dinner at Lincoln Center in 1995 all the more impressive.
#9
We welcome all but trolls, RecrutX. We're all sorts here, from the little civilian housewife deep in the suburbs to the soldier checking in after patrolling the streets of Baghdad, mechanics to professors, Americans at home and abroad to others for whom English is a recently-learnt foreign language. Pull up a chair and join the conversation!
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.
The National Post's Brian Hutchinson is travelling with Canadian troops on Operation Baaz Tsuka, a major NATO-led military campaign underway in the Taliban strongholds of Afghanistan.
Somali government troops rolled into Mogadishu unopposed Thursday, the prime minister said, hours after an Islamic movement that tried to establish a government based on the Quran abandoned the capital. 
Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi vowed to inflict total defeat on the Islamic movement and said he hoped the fighting would be over "in days, if not in a few weeks. Forces of the transitional federal government and Ethiopia are on the outskirts of Mogadishu now," he told reporters in Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa. "We are discussing what we need to do to make sure Mogadishu does not descend into chaos. We will not let Mogadishu burn."
Mogadishu 27, Dec.06 ( Sh.M.Network) Insecurity problems have escalated in Baledweyn and Abbudwaq, the main towns of Hiran and Galagadud provinces, central Somalia.
(SomaliNet) The Islamic Courts Union fighters in Somalia capital have laid down their weapons and handed over to the clans in the capital later on Wednesday in part of efforts by the city clan-elders and intellectuals to avoid more bloodshed amid there is insecurity in the capital, which is now seeing events of robbing, killing and revenge attacks. Reports say the major Hawiye clans in the capital began to consult ways to negotiate with the interim government without war and intellectuals met with the Islamic officials over the future of the capital in Somalia. Each of the main clans in Mogadishu retook its weapons and there has been going on plans to welcome the government in the capital. 
(SomaliNet) The top leaders of Islamic Courts Union in the capital have announced on Wednesday that they resigned and are ready to hand over the administration to the people in Mogadishu to avoid destruction and bloodshed in the city. 
Somali and Ethiopian troops drove Islamic fighters out of the last major town before Mogadishu on Wednesday, and the government predicted the capital and stronghold of the radical Islamists would fall without a fight. Government spokesman Abdirahman Dinari said no assault was planned on Mogadishu because the forces of the Council of Islamic Courts were crumbling so fast. Islamic courts militias are already on the run and we hope that Mogadishu will fall to our hands without firing a shot, he said.
(SomaliNet) Russia's highest court on Tuesday upheld a life sentence for the only militant known to have survived the 2004 Beslan school siege that killed more than 300 people, rejecting appeals from the man's lawyers and relatives of the victims. 
(IANS) 
(KUNA) -- At least 18 Iraqis were either killed or injured when a booby-trapped car exploded near a Al-Talabiya bridge in Cairo neighborhood north of here on Wednesday, a security source said. In a statement to KUNA, the source added that the explosion caused destruction to nearby shops and vehicles.
In response to continued violence between the Hamas and Fatah factions in the Palestinian Authority, Israel approved on Wednesday night the transfer of 2,000 automatic rifles, 20,000 ammunition clips and 2 million bullets, to the Fatah security forces in the Gaza Strip. 
Palestinian Authority security forces in the Gaza Strip recently managed to foil an attempt by Hamas members to assassinate former PA security minister and Fatah legislator Muhammed Dahlan, Fatah activists said Wednesday. The activists, who did not say when the alleged attempt took place, claimed that the forces discovered a large roadside bomb that had been planted along the route used by Dahlan's motorcade outside his hometown of Khan Yunis.
(KUNA) -- Palestinian Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, claimed on Wednesday responsibility for firing one rocket type (Quds-3) toward Ashkelon settlement in southern Israel. Al-Quds Brigades will continue responding to Israeli violations and aggression in the West Bank and "its assassination policy toward Palestinian political figures," the group said in a statement.
