Suicide bombers attacked foreign troops in central and southern Afghanistan on Friday, killing five children and wounding at least two soldiers, local police and a provincial government official said. Separately, a US-coalition soldier was killed in eastern Paktia province on Friday, the US military said.
In the first suicide attack, a bomber rammed his car into a convoy of international troops in Tirin Kot, killing five children playing nearby, a provincial government official said. “Two international soldiers were wounded,” Mohammad Nabi told Reuters. Three civilian adults were also wounded, he added. A second suicide bomber attacked a foreign troop convoy in the southern city of Kandahar, wounding at least five civilians, a police official said. He did not know if there were any troop casualties in the Kandahar attack.
A spokeswoman for NATO-led forces in Afghanistan could not immediately give details about either reported suicide attack. A US military spokesman said the soldier killed in Paktia province had died from wounds sustained in combat. He declined to give any details or the nationality or name of the soldier.
Battles between soldiers and the Taliban on Thursday and Friday resulted in more than 24 rebels killed and a teenage boy dying in the crossfire, the US-led coalition added. One clash erupted when Afghan and coalition soldiers raided a Taliban compound in Zabul province. The gunfight that followed “killed a few militants” and the teenager, the coalition said in a statement. A child was also struck by bullets and evacuated to a military hospital for treatment, the coalition added. “After the engagement, local villagers confirmed the enemy fighters killed at the scene were indeed Taliban militants,” the counter-terrorism force said. Three people were also arrested.
In a separate battle, warplanes pounded rebel positions in Helmand province on Thursday, the coalition reported. The fighting erupted after troops were attacked in Sangin district, which was under Taliban control for several weeks this year. “More than two dozen enemy fighters were estimated killed during the nine-hour battle and there are no reports of Afghan civilian injuries,” the statement said. According to the AFP, a search found bomb-making material, rocket-propelled grenades and artillery rounds. In Kandahar province, meanwhile, coalition forces opened fire on men who were positioning a rocket. “One enemy vehicle was destroyed and several enemy fighters were killed,” the statement said.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/16/2007 00:00 ||
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(SomaliNet) Three explosions have Friday rocked the Somalia capital Mogadishu causing casualties on government soldiers, Ethiopians and civilians.
The first blast was targeted on a military truck belonging to the Ethiopian forces that was passing Sanca junction in north of the capital. Two Ethiopian soldiers were reportedly wounded in that explosion which resulted from a hurled bomb. Witnesses told Somalinet that a man has thrown a hand grenade bomb from Mark II Toyota car into the convoy of the Ethiopian soldiers. The attackers escaped unharmed. The Ethiopian army cordoned off the area of the blast and began searching for suspects but no one was arrested so far.
Another explosion occurred minutes later around Suuq Bacaad the second biggest market in Mogadishu where the interim government soldiers have gone under attack. Three soldiers have been wounded in the explosion which was a roadside bomb. The security forces sealed off the area.
Meanwhile, a massive and loud explosion rocked the road between K4 square and MogadishuÂ’s Aden Ade international airport with unconfirmed reports saying that at least three persons mainly civilians were killed in the explosion. The explosion could be heard in parts of the capital as details about it are still sketchy. Residents near the airport said that explosion was powerful enough to shake their homes.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/16/2007 00:00 ||
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Seven men convicted of taking part in a terrorist plot to detonate explosions, including a radioactive ‘dirty bomb,’ were sentenced to prison terms on Friday. Mohammed Naveed Bhatti, Junade Feroze, Ziaul Haq, Abdul Aziz Jalil, Omar Abdur Rehman, Qaisar Shaffi and Nadeem Tarmohamed were convicted of joining a plot led by Dhiren Barot. Barot, a 34-year-old British convert to Islam, was sentenced to life in prison last year. Barot was convicted of plotting to bomb several US financial targets, London hotels and train stations, using limousines packed with gas tanks, napalm and nails.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/16/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Wow, that was fast. May their stay be long and miserable.
An Egyptian man won a reprieve Friday from US government efforts to deport him to Egypt, where he was convicted in absentia of murdering a woman. A federal judge in Pennsylvania stopped the deportation of Sameh Sami S. Khouzam while the court considers his argument that he cannot be sent back to Egypt because he will probably be tortured. "While Khouzam may have no right to be in the United States, he most assuredly has a right not to be tortured," Judge Thomas I. Vanaskie wrote in his opinion. "Granting a stay of removal to assure proper observance of the applicable law serves the public interest."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/16/2007 00:31 ||
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#1
"has a right not to be tortured." Well, ah, actually, no, he has no such right...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
06/16/2007 1:13 Comments ||
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#2
Khouzam may have no right to be in the United States
Let's deport the judge instead. What's not to like?
Him? Of course he's saying that -- he doesn't want to go to Egypt!
Used to be, when I was young, if you made an assertion in court you had an obligation to back it up with, oh, you know, evidence or something.
Now it might be that Egyptian prisons are pretty rough. The whole country seems pretty rough so why should their prisons be any different? And I'm betting, I'm just betting, that Egyptian cons don't like wife-murderers much (unless it was an honor killing).
But absent a clear demonstration of a reasonable belief of torture -- and I'd demand photos -- he goes back to Egypt.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/16/2007 2:04 Comments ||
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#4
who are we to judge their culture?
/multiculti
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/16/2007 7:53 Comments ||
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#5
"Granting a stay of removal to assure proper observance of the applicable law serves the public interest."
Big BS judge. It servers your pathetic need to feel morally superior to the rest of us. It does serve the 'public interest'. You're strata of the ruling class that thinks its 'cruel and unusual' to execute clearly and unquestionable people found guilty of the most hideous and brutal murders in society. Even though the Constitution literally says nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; which even a lay person can understand that granted due process, they can be denied life.
Posted by: Natural Law ||
06/16/2007 10:55 Comments ||
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#7
The Judge has completely missed the point. DON'T KILL PEOPLE, AND THERE'S NO ISSUE TO DEAL WITH send the bastard home, he doesn't like it, tough shit, obey OUR rules and there's no problem.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
06/16/2007 11:19 Comments ||
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#8
Frank: who are we to judge their culture?
/multiculti
that is sick good, ima keep thatr. ;-)
Posted by: Red Dawg ||
06/16/2007 16:18 Comments ||
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#9
The US would never send someone back to an oppressive government against his will.
The Sindh home department announced on Friday the identity of the suicide-bomber who blew himself up at Nishtar Park last year as Siddique from Mansehra, a press statement said. The statement said six members of the banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LJ) were involved in the incident, and police had arrested three of them – Mufti Zakir, Jamil and Rehmat. It said that all LJ members, who hailed from the NWFP, gathered in Orangi Town at Rehmat’s residence on 11 Rabiul Awal, a day before the blast, where Siddique had offered two rakat nafil prayers, before setting out for the attack.
Two men identified Sultan and Khalid took Siddique to Nishtar Park, offered prayers there and left him after the attack. The home department said that Siddique attempted to jump on to the stage of the Sunni TehreekÂ’s public meeting and blew himself up. The blast killed around 60 people, including the entire leadership of the Sunni Tehreek (ST) and other Sunni leaders, who belonged to the Barelvi school of thought.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/16/2007 00:00 ||
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QUETTA: Police made more than a dozen arrests on Friday after tribal militants shot dead 10 security personnel in southwest Pakistan, hours after a visit by a top US diplomat, officials said. US Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher had stopped in Quetta on Thursday afternoon for talks on improving security along the border with Afghanistan.
The Balochistan Liberation Army has claimed responsibility for the ambush on Thursday night. The attackers pumped bullets into the back of an open van carrying soldiers returning from home leave in other parts of the country, leaving bodies piled up in a blood-stained heap, an AFP photographer said. Eight soldiers and a policeman were killed instantly and four people were injured. One of the injured died in hospital overnight, said doctor Ghulam Haider of the Quetta Civil Hospital.
The attack happened directly outside the city’s railway station. Police said up to four attackers followed the victims in a car and fled after the attack. Senior police officer Rahul Khan Brohi told AFP that 17 people had been arrested in raids overnight. “They are being interrogated,” Brohi said. More arrests were expected as raids continued Friday, he added. “We launched the attack to avenge the killings of our innocent people in military operations, including bombing raids,” Balochistan Liberation Army spokesman Beeberg Baluch said in a telephone call to the Quetta Press Club. “It was a retaliatory strike and such attacks will continue,” he vowed.
Quetta DIG (Operations) Rehmat Ullah Niazi said BNP Labour Secretary Agha Hasan Baloch had also been arrested. Security has been tightened in Quetta where police set up roadblocks and stepped up patrols.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/16/2007 00:00 ||
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The U.S. military, which just days ago completed its latest troop buildup in Iraq, has launched a large offensive operation in several al-Qaida strongholds around Baghdad, the top U.S. commander said Saturday. Gen. David Petraeus said the operation began in the last 24 hours, and will put forces into key areas surrounding Baghdad that, according to intelligence, al-Qaida is using to base some of it car bomb operations.
Posted by: ed ||
06/16/2007 07:21 ||
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#1
The momentum for this push began with the arrival of Petraeus and the Baghdad sweep. The sweep had been going so well that he ordered exploitation pursuit into the terrorist havens in the suburbs.
It is a rare event, but the hallmark of good leadership, to be ready and able to to conduct such an operation above and beyond a planned mission, when it turns out the enemy is weaker than expected.
Such exploitation can turn a victory into a major sweeping rout of the enemy. Momentum can sometimes be more valuable than gold.
BAGHDAD (AP) - A U.S. Air Force F-16 fighter jet crashed Friday during a close air support mission for ground forces - a rare loss in Iraq of the workhorse aircraft. An Air Force announcement, which referred to the 12:27 a.m. crash of the F-16 as an accident, did not say where it occurred or what happened to the pilot, the single crew member. It said the military was investigating the cause of the crash.
An Ohio National Guard spokesman said the pilot, whom he did not identify, was a member of the 180th Fighter Wing based in Toledo. Spokesman Mark Wayda said about 270 of the unit's 1,000 members were deployed to Iraq last month. The jet was operating under the 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing at Balad Air Base, 50 miles north of Baghdad.
The loss of an F-16 is an uncommon event in Iraq. One crashed last Nov. 27 in the western province of Anbar, killing the pilot.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/16/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
"Crashed" is a euphemism for "shot down". I wonder if it was AAA or SAM.
#3
Sounds like the pilot got target fixated during a gun run and augured in. Same thing happened in Nov. 2006. Really, a $40Million high speed F-16 shouldn't be doing gun runs. Leave that to slower attack aircraft costing 1/10th.
Posted by: ed ||
06/16/2007 7:50 Comments ||
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#4
But the A-10 Warthog isn't sexy.
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
06/16/2007 8:19 Comments ||
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#5
A-10 may not be sexy, but it's got TWO engines, while the F-16 has just one. Both aircraft were designed to address shortcomings that were revealed during our last major conflict (Vietnam) and went into service in the late 1970's. It takes environment stress (war) to force evolution (of weapons). THIS war is forcing rapid evolution of robotics and remote sensing. If that evolution proceeds normally, we will be a good leg up on the Chinese, if a war with them should develop: they may be able to match/steal the sensor and robotic hardware, but nothing but a war will 'de-bug' them.
#6
Very sad. Unofficial reports here say he was at 20,000+ and disappeared from radar and nosed in at night. No ejection. Could be a number of things, to include suicide. I doubt it was a MANPAD. Smoking holes don't tell stories. Doubt we will ever know.
#7
If he was at 20,000+ feet, any missile capable of reaching him would have been detected. If that was the case WE might never know, but the guys who need to would. Perhaps an oxygen system failure. Or a heart attack - ANG guys are older than too many friends I've lost that way in the past few years.
Sad.
#8
I was stationed at Shaw in the mid-1980's, when the wing there was transitioning to the F-16. The plane is not terribly forgiving. We had at least three crashes in a year, which is a lot. Most of the 'gotchas' have been identified, and pilots trained to recognize them. It's still an aircraft that requires constant supervision, or you end up as a hole in the ground. Won't speculate, except to say I doubt it was shot down, especially from 20K.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
06/16/2007 13:04 Comments ||
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#9
Could have been another problem with chafing in the 'fly by wire' system. Agree with OP on the unforgiving part. We didn't use to call them "Lawn Darts" for nothing.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/16/2007 23:02 Comments ||
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Enraged Fatah leaders on Saturday accused Hamas militiamen of looting the home of former Palestinian Authority chairman Yasser Arafat in Gaza City.
"They stole almost everything inside the house, including Arafat's Nobel Peace Prize medal," said Ramallah-based Fatah spokesman Ahmed Abdel Rahman. "Hamas militiamen and gangsters blew up the main entrance to the house before storming it. They stole many of Arafat's documents and files, gifts he had received from world leaders and even his military outfits." Which should be fumigated and checked for HIV.
Abdel Rahman said the attackers also raided the second floor of the house and stole the personal belongings of his widow, Suha, and daughter, Zahwa. "They stole all the widow's clothes and shoes," he added. "They also took Arafat's pictures with his daughter." Prolly looking for the account numbers for the billions arafish stole
Eyewitnesses told The Jerusalem Post that dozens of Palestinians participated in the raid, which took place late Friday. Once a Paleo......
"Most of the looters were just ordinary citizens," they said. "They stole almost everything, including furniture, tiles, water pipes, closets and beds." Once a Paleo II......
According to the Fatah spokesman, the raid on Arafat's house, which has been empty since 2001, occurred despite promises from Syria-based Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal to prevent such an attack. Once a Paleo......But, but, Hamas promised!
"The Palestinian people will never forgive the Hamas gangs for looting the home of the Palestinian people's great leader, Yasser Arafat," Abdel Rahman said. "This crime will remain a stain of disgrace on the forehead of Hamas and its despicable gangs."
The homes of several other Fatah leaders have also been looted over the past few days, Palestinian reporters in Gaza City said over the weekend. Among them are the homes of Muhammad Dahlan and Intisar al-Wazir (Um Jihad). Once a Paleo......III
Wazir complained that looters stole her jewelry, furniture, clothes and family albums and the personal belongings of her husband, Khalil al-Wazir (Abu Jihad), a top PLO leader who was assassinated by Israel in 1988 in Tunis.
She said the looting occurred in broad daylight and under the watchful eye of Hamas militiamen. "We don't feel secure any more," she said. "We fear for our lives and propertyand now I understand how the Jews feel."
The Popular Resistance Committees, an alliance of various jihadi terrorist armed groups, announced over the weekend that its men stormed Dahlan's house and confiscated a suitcase full of infidel, but valuable gold, forged US and Pakistani passports and an ID card belonging to Nissim Toledano, an Israeli Border Police officer from Lod who was kidnapped and murdered by Hamas in December 2002. If he were kidnapped and murdered by Hamas, how did fatah get it?
Following the raid, hundreds of Palestinians rampaged the house and stole all of Dahlan's furniture and clothes. Once a Paleo......IV
Dahlan and some 80 top Fatah officials are now staying in hotels in Ramallah. On Friday night, a group of 15 senior Fatah security commanders arrived in the city after Israel gave them permission to leave the Gaza Strip. At least 150 other Fatah security commanders and activists have fled to Egypt aboard fishing boats. So, the Jooos saved them and let them get to the West Bank.
The Fatah officials who fled to Ramallah had been abducted by Hamas militiamen late Thursday night and released a few hours later. They include Jamal Kayed, commander of the PA's National Security Force; Musbah al-Buhaisi, commander of Abbas's Presidential Guard, and his deputy, Hamoudeh al-Sheikh; Tawfik Abu Khoussa, Fatah's spokesman in the Gaza Strip; and Majed Abu Shamalah, a Fatah legislator. Fine and upstanding Paleos all.
"What's happening in the Gaza Strip these days reminds me of the first days after the US invasion of Baghdad," said Omar al-Ghul, a columnist from Gaza City. "In Baghdad, the Iraqis stole everything they could get their hands on inside Iraqi ministries and institutions. And in Gaza City the Palestinians stormed security installations and stole everything, including windows, doors and food." Once a Paleo......V
#1
It would certinly appear to be good time for Israel to assist a Fatah army in crossing over from West bank to Gaza, to launch a full-scale frontal attack on the Hamas forces. Get the "meat grinder" effect going on both sides - kreep the bullets and grenades flowing to both sides.
#3
They stole almost everything inside the house, including Arafat's Nobel Peace Prize medal
One of the greatest abortions of modern reason ever perpetrated is rectified by by some of the most unreasoning Neanderthal cretins on the face of this earth. There is something deeply and profoundly satisfying about this event.
#5
Now's the time to nuke Gaza and Ramallah. All the bad eggs are in one place on each side. Israel will have decades of relative stability, after proving to the entire paleo world it not only has nukes, but will use them.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
06/16/2007 22:11 Comments ||
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#6
The Nobel Peace Prize Committee does not have to give one to Hamas--they have one already!
#7
If he were kidnapped and murdered by Hamas, how did fatah get it?
There are some things best not known...though I imagine it had something to do with an exchange of goats for practices best left undescribed by civilized people.
Fatah activists are settling scores with Hamas in Lebanon as well as West Bank. Rampaging Fatah gunmen took revenge for their defeat in Gaza on Hamas activists on the West Bank in a rampage Sat. June 16 through the Hamas-held parliament, government and local council offices on the West Bank. Hundreds of Hamas officials were detained.
Saturday night, Fatah gunmen also hurled themselves against Hamas bases and offices in Lebanese refugee camps. Serious clashes erupted near the southern port of Sidon.
DEBKAfile's military sources report that the IDF is quietly allowing Fatah intelligence officers and al Aqsa Brigades activists freedom of movement across the West Bank. They are not stopped at Israeli checkpoints and allowed to pass without the usual searches for weapons or explosives.
"Shouldn't we stop these two, Ari? I think they're Fatah hard-boys."
"It's red-on-red, David. Hokay you two, off you go, and best o'luck to you!"
Hamas has warned Fatah to call off its purges in the West Bank and Lebanon or else face deadly terrorist attacks including suicide bombings, shooting attacks and car bombs. Mahmoud Abbas' government headquarters and the homes of Fatah political and military leaders will be singled out.
According to our Palestinian sources, Mohammed Dahlan, Abbas' No 2, who has just arrived secretly in Ramallah, is a prime Hamas target.
I'll bet he is, they've hated him for a long time. Look for him to turn up in Mauritania sometime soon.
They add that Sami Abu Zuhairi, who issued the threat to Fatah, headed a group of Hamas intelligence and terrorist officers who trained near Khartoum especially for the Gaza coup under Iranian Revolutionary Guards instructors.
Hamas, Iran and Sudan all working together. Wotta surprise.
Abu Zuhairi now heads the intelligence team urgently sifting through the archives captured in the offices of Palestinian Authority security services, as DEBKAfile revealed on June 15. He also led the looting of Yasser Arafat's villa in Gaza Saturday in search of incriminating materials against Fatah and Israeli leaders in the records of the 12 years Arafat and top PLO leaders spent in Tunis from 1982-1994.
#1
Hamas has warned Fatah to call off its purges in the West Bank and Lebanon or else face deadly terrorist attacks including suicide bombings, shooting attacks and car bombs.
At last, the mask finally slips and we find Palestinians using bomb vests and car bombs on each other. A more deserving fate is difficult to image, save them being wiped out entirely. Terrorists terrorizing the terrorists. Priceless.
#3
Jeeze Louise, people. You are all having a good olde time jawin, and Ima tryin to unload these 100# propane cylinders off the truck. Somebodieeee!!!! Barbara's got the industrial sized popcorn popper going full throttle and it's eatin up propane like Jack the Pig. Gott hook up the next cylinder before the active one runs out.
Canola oil feed is good, no problems. Popcorn feed is flawless. Archimedes screw from Hell.
Man, this machine has an appetite!!!
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
06/16/2007 17:23 Comments ||
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#4
Red on Red. Sweet! Will that last one left standing please turn out the lights? It's probably coming from a Joooooooooooooooish power plant anyway.
#5
By the way, here is a pic of Barbara Scolaut's Popcorn Machine.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
06/16/2007 17:36 Comments ||
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#6
Thanks for the propane and the backup, AP.
I've been on the phone all day trying to expedite my extra railcars of popcorn and salt, and tanker trucks of butter.
BTW, don't mind your showing the pic of the Special Gaza-Watchers Industrial Popcorn Machine And Butter Warmer, but mum's the word on the secret location, 'K? Wouldn't want a stampede or anything....
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
06/16/2007 21:03 Comments ||
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#7
ATTENTION: THIS JUST IN - NEWSFLASH
In an attempt to locate Barbara Skolaut's Special Gaza-Watchers Industrial Popcorn Machine And Butter Warmer facility, determined Rantburgers have hijacked a freight train destined for this top secret industrial site.
Hundreds of Fatah gunmen on Saturday stormed Hamas-controlled institutions in the West Bank, including parliament and government ministries, and told staffers that those with ties to Hamas will not be allowed to return.
Meanwhile, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas met with a senior U.S. diplomat, his office said. The meeting between Abbas and the U.S. consul-general in Jerusalem, Jacob Walles, took place at Abbas' headquarters in Ramallah, hours before Abbas was expected to swear in an emergency government.
At the parliament, the Fatah supporters chanted, "Hamas Out," climbed on the roof of the building and fired in the air. They planted Fatah and Palestinian flags on the building, and also tried to seize the deputy speaker but were stopped by employees.
Many government employees tied to Hamas had not showed up for work on Saturday, the start of the work week in the West Bank, after Hamas took control of Gaza in a military campaign. Apparently, the staffers feared reprisals. A member of the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, a violent offshoot of Fatah, said his group planned to take control of all Hamas institutions, in response to Hamas' takeover of Gaza.
At the parliament building, Fatah gunmen entered the office of Deputy Speaker Hassan Kreisheh and tried to grab him, but Fatah employees stopped them. Other Fatah activists took over the Education Ministry and the prime minister's office.
In the West Bank city of Nablus, Fatah gunmen took over the Hamas-controlled city council and planted the Fatah flag on the top of the building. Fatah supporters also kidnapped seven Hamas supporters, and deposed a senior member of the Religious Affairs Ministry.
Also Saturday, a crowd looted the home of late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, destroying one of the strongest symbols of the Fatah movement in the Gaza Strip, witnesses and Fatah officials said. Fatah officials said the crowd took furniture, wall tiles and Arafat's personal belongings.
Posted by: ed ||
06/16/2007 07:11 ||
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#1
Go Fatah! Kill them Hamas bastids!
(Goes out to the theatre lobby for more popcorn.)
Posted by: Mike ||
06/16/2007 7:21 Comments ||
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#2
Ah, a counterattack. Excellent. I thought the show was over. I got a couple extra boxes of Milk Duds and Junior Mints for anyone running out of Popcorn.
#5
Ah, a counterattack. Excellent. I thought the show was over. I got a couple extra boxes of Milk Duds and Junior Mints for anyone running out of Popcorn.
Yes! Brother Rabbit is stand up to the Cartel!
Go, go Fatah
Go, Hamas
Go, Go, Islamic Inner Struggle
Watch out, no popcorn vig and Barbara will drop a fatwa warrant on yo' ass.
Also Saturday, a crowd looted the home of late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, destroying one of the strongest symbols of the Fatah movement in the Gaza Strip, witnesses and Fatah officials said. Fatah officials said the crowd took furniture, wall tiles and Arafat's personal belongings.
So, where were these pious assholes a decade ago when Yasser was in such desperate need of offing? As always, Islam's a day late and a dollar short.
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/16/2007 9:05 Comments ||
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#8
Yesterday afternoon I was flipping back and forth between coverage and saw that CNN had some memeber of the Fatah goverment talknig abou8t how the UN and international community should coume to their aid. Oh and this was all Bush's fault for invading Iraq! This was after the CNN Reporter Propagantist prompted him with: "To some degree is the invasion Iraq responsible for what is happening in Gaza now?" So to surmise here it is no longer the fault of Israel, but of that evil Bushhitler. I mean everyone know that the Arab in Gaza were little lambs until the stolen election of 2000.
Debka, so don't believe everything they say...this post is especially apocalyptic...
The Fatah-led general intelligence and security services caved in too fast to shred, wipe or burn documents, computer disks and archives. The entire collection fell into HamasÂ’ hands when they seized Palestinian Preventive Intelligence HQ at Tel Awa (henceforth Tel al-Islam) and the Palestinian General Intelligence center near Gaza port.
DEBKAfileÂ’s intelligence sources say: Never before has a bonanza of Western intelligence secrets on this scale ever reached an implacably hostile Islamist terrorist gang. The US, British and Israeli intelligence services may have suffered their greatest debacle in the war on Islamist terror. It will take them many years to recover.
Hamas has taken possession of hundreds of thousands of documents cataloguing the clandestine operations of Western intelligence services in the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia and the oil emirates. It is now the owner of complete archives of Palestinian undercover links with foreign intelligence services going back decades, with names of spies, political collaborators and double agents. The documentation covers the secret ties Palestinian intelligence maintained from the 1970s, when Yasser Arafat was based in Lebanon, with the Americans, the British, the French, the Israelis and many others.
Most intelligence experts say Israel should have bombed the two buildings and destroyed their contents rather than letting them fall into the hands of an organization and country dedicated to its eclipse.
For Hamas, this booty is priceless – and not only as the repository of bombs for planting under Mahmoud Abbas and his cohorts. The Palestinian group’s Syrian and Iranian sponsors will pay a king’s ransom for this unique collection of explosive secrets hidden by many a Western intelligence agency and government. Damascus and Tehran will be hugely empowered with the means to stay a jump ahead of American moves in the region and tools to sabotage US policies at any time. They will have a store of national secrets and compromising information to hold over the heads of Western leaders and officials, lists of undercover agents, and records of covert operations carried out by the Israeli Mossad, Shin Bet and Military Intelligence, CIA, British MI6 and other Western agencies. Iran, Syria and Hamas will know the names of politicians, including Israelis, who worked secretly with Palestinians and their shady deals.
One intelligence expert said that the Gaza hoard left in enemy hands by Abbas and Mohammed Dahlan are the crown jewels compared with the Saddam HusseinÂ’s intelligence archives.
In the Palestinian security service building, Hamas found computer hard disks covering years of undercover activity and a complete set of sophisticated wiretapping and surveillance equipment and sensors which the CIA and MI6 gave Mahmoud Abbas and his forces. It was all in perfect condition ready to switch on.
After the Nazi regime was defeated at the end of World War II and Eastern Germany fell in the 1990s, there were officials willing to make a desperate effort to destroy or hide their intelligence treasure. Palestinian intelligence officers did not burn a single page.
#2
That was my first thought, too, 'moose. Why would any sane person have given Fatah any intelligence with diddly-doot?
Some of you closer to the tip of the spear could certainly show us the error of our ways....
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/16/2007 11:06 Comments ||
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#3
What 'moose said.
The only reason I'd worry is that the CIA might be involved, there's always a chance they accidently gave away 4 years of Go Code.
#4
If the intelligence was so valuable, the IDF could have turned the Fatah intel compound into fine powder with a bombing run or two. But the IDF did not, so I think that the treasure trove is a little overstated.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
06/16/2007 11:38 Comments ||
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#5
WorldNetDaily, March 27, 2007
The U.S. said today the bulk of the new aid package – $43.4 million – will be used to strengthen Abbas' Force 17 presidential guard units. According to the announcement, the sum includes $14.5 million for "basic and advanced training," $23 million for equipment, $2.9 million to upgrade the guard's facilities and $3 million to provide "capacity building and technical assistance" to the office of Mahmoud Dahlan, Fatah's strongman in Gaza.
After seeing those new Colt M4's being toted around by Hamas hoodlums on the news, I wonder if some or all of those US taxpayer millions are now in the hands of Hamas?
#6
For some reason, most of this seems like crap. The US government would never put valuable intelligence or assets in the hands of a corrupt organization.
Would it? :-)
And yes, I'll bet dollars to donuts that Hamas has their hands on all sorts of cool new guns. For as long as the ammo holds out.
What other kinds of stuff might we have really given a terrorist organization Fatah?
#7
What caliber do those new colts use, whatever it is, I'd be looking hard at attemps to buy same, and active prevention of any substantial sales.
You think that any of our "Alphabet agencies will look at ammo sales? Nah, me either, it makes too much sense. Just think you could identify the sellers, buyers, and transfer banks all at one fell swoop, therefore it WON'T be done.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
06/16/2007 15:32 Comments ||
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#8
Most intelligence experts say Israel should have bombed the two buildings and destroyed their contents rather than letting them fall into the hands of an organization and country dedicated to its eclipse.
Gotta go with Alaska Paul on this one. Actually, Israel still should have bombed the compound just out of sheer principle. Hamas must be thwarted at every turn. This must become Israel's new doctrine.
#9
let the sale go through - substitute defective ammo
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/16/2007 16:02 Comments ||
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#10
keep in mind that this is a DEBKA report. That means that there is a very, very tiny probability that this is factual. There is probably some small bit of truth to it but DEBKA tends to be just about the most unreliable source in "news" circles.
I would take anything they publsh with a mountain of salt.
Defense Minister Amir Peretz announced Friday that he would step down as soon as the Knesset approved the appointment of new Labor Party chairman Ehud Barak as defense minister. "Defense Minster Amir Peretz will resign immediately after the Knesset vote on Monday," his office said in a statement. "Until then, he will fulfill his duty as usual."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/16/2007 00:33 ||
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#10
Good riddance to bad garbage... after the debacle in lebanon he should have performed ritual sepaku to restore national honor. Just like the policies he propounded, this is too little too late.
Posted by: Abu do you love ||
06/16/2007 16:18 Comments ||
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#11
smell ya later!
Posted by: Red Dawg ||
06/16/2007 16:33 Comments ||
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Palestinians fired at IDF troops operating in the northern Gaza Strip late Friday evening, Army Radio reported. The soldiers returned fire. No one was wounded and no damage reported in the incident.
Tanks and other armored vehicles have been operating in northern Gaza for the past few days in an attempt to counter Kassam rocket attacks on southern Israel.
Overnight Thursday, IDF troops killed a Palestinian terror suspect in the West Bank village of Sayida. The IDF said that soldiers were surrounding a house in order to arrest the Fatah fugitive when they spotted him on the roof. The suspect fell from the roof and died after soldiers shot him in the legs.
Meanwhile, the IDF arrested a Palestinian fugitive northwest of Hebron. The suspect was transferred to security forces for interrogation.
Also Thursday night, an Israeli woman was lightly wounded after Palestinians threw rocks at her car near Kalkilya.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/16/2007 00:20 ||
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#1
As if killing each other wasn't enough, they're now taking on people who can really do them some damage. Oh sorry, we're talking about the Paleos here. My mistook, carry on.
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
06/16/2007 4:16 Comments ||
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#2
The suspect fell from the roof and died after soldiers shot him in the legs.
So much for that vaunted militant Islamic 'resilience' (property of a material that enables it to resume its original shape or position after being bent, stretched, or compressed) - looks like they don't bounce back much after all.
(Xinhuanet) -- The Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) announced late Thursday that they took full control of Palestinian Authority security agencies, according to media reports Friday. Fighters loyal to Hamas, led by Prime Minister Ismail Haniya, waved their green banners from atop the headquarters of the Preventive Security Service in Gaza City and took numerous prisoners from Abbas' Fatah party.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/16/2007 00:00 ||
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#2
But..but..but...fighting doesn't solve anything. /sarcasm off
Certainly solved the issue of who was in charge in Gaza didn't it. He who is willing to apply superior fire power seems to have the last say in this case.
#4
In charge of Gaza, are ye? Well, Mosshe, turn off yonder valve to the water main crossing the border in 1 hour. Our work here is done, and by the bye, disconnect the cutout on yonder power pylon, too. Hamas is gonna go on their own.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
06/16/2007 11:47 Comments ||
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(Xinhua) -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Friday chose Salam Fayyad, a political independent who was former finance minister of the Hamas-led unity government, as new prime minister, replacing Ismail Haneya of Hamas, the pan-Arab al-Jazeera TV reported. Fayyad was asked to set up an interim Palestinian government, one day after Abbas dissolved the unity government between Hamas and Fatah, which took office on March 17.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/16/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
X Finance Minister, soon to be X PM, might make it to Switzerland...and maybe not. I'll take not.
#2
Poor old Fayyad's about the only Paleostinian around with a reputation that wouldn't get him 15-20 in a civilized country.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/16/2007 0:24 Comments ||
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#3
Can't we sell the paleos a suitably big oven, and they can all just stick their heads in?
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
06/16/2007 0:35 Comments ||
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#4
Fayyad -- when he took (accepted, forced) that financial position, memory brings back a lengthy article about him, from deep in the heart of Texas; that Austin paper known as the Austin American Statesman.
I read it carefully. Now, I'm wondering about some of my memory cells and what I remember about that article. He's US educated, from the article it seemed he knew what he was getting into. Yet, accepted it. That ran up a flag to kinda keep watch for him.
The article clearly told a story of a man, living away from his country, gathering all he could from his adopted country, and now seemed the time to return to "his" country. To do what he could do to help.
Talk about the red flags. I really wanted him to be all that he could be, all that he hoped he could bring to his "country." Taking all that he had learned to a country that badly needed some leadership. He seemed to have it and seemed to understand the situation, wanting to help. Yet --- there was that inner urge, "Trust, but verify."
He was the first to bring to the front, the money situation of the PA from a financial basic, publishing P&L's of the PA.
Then, the elections. He disappeared from the news media. And now, appears as prime minister.
I might have to go search the Statesman, and even pay for that article. Fayyad is an interesting story.
#5
Those P&Ls were deeply resented by all involved. Never before had they been required to submit even invented documentation, and Mr. Fayyad demanded the real thing! And then he pointed out, pubically, the stealing, the graft, overspending, underpaying... It was quite, quite humiliating, and I'm somewhat surprised no knives or bullets found their way between the ribs of his back in the interim.
Born in 1952 in West Bank
PhD in economics from the University of Texas
Worked at the World Bank 1987-1995
IMF representative to Palestine until 2001
P.A. finance minister 2002-2005
The Gaza captors of the kidnapped Scottish journalist, Alan Johnston, have promised to release the BBC correspondent within 24 hours, a close source said.
The news came shortly after Hamas vowed to secure Johnston's release, in a gesture apparently meant to avoid alienating the outside world after wresting control of the Gaza Strip. The Islamic militant group is also sending a signal to other armed groups that it intends to impose order in Gaza. Johnston, 45, was snatched in Gaza three months ago by a group believed to have links to Hamas. Hamas has been negotiating with his captors through a mediator. An official involved in the talks yesterday said the captors pledged to release Johnston within 24 hours.
BANNANG SATA, Thailand - Islamic terrorists rebels in Thailand ambushed and shot dead seven soldiers Friday in one of the deadliest attacks this year on security forces in the countryÂ’s Muslim heartland, police said. Terrorists Militants also brutally mutilated a 60-year-old Buddhist man late Friday in the restive south, chopping his severed arms and legs into pieces before setting them on fire, police said.
The soldiers were travelling to a school in Yala province to provide security for teachers and students when a roadside bomb exploded near their vehicle, police said. The terrorists rebels then shot the troops dead at point-blank range. ‘Seven soldiers were killed and one injured. They were the security team for local teachers,’ said police commander Colonel Aniruth Im-arb.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/16/2007 00:00 ||
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NAHR AL-BARED: Six Lebanese soldiers were killed on Friday in an explosion in a building booby trapped by Islamist militants at a Palestinian camp in north Lebanon, security sources said. Four more soldiers were injured by the blast, which destroyed the building at the Nahr Al-Bared camp, where the army has been fighting the Fatah Al-Islam for nearly four weeks.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/16/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Booby trap eh? Muzzie masterminds at work. Sad us us Westernfolk have no such capability. Altho the USN is said to a stockpile of dsfawjasdfk ark with writing saying where the USN goes nuttn grows werafvaiu348
#2
Good morning, afternoon, evening, whatever. With that young lady, any hour of the day would be just fine! She certainly looks like the kind of girl who could make a guy lose track of time (and money).
Posted by: Mac ||
06/16/2007 19:32 Comments ||
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Yesterday we pretty much rebuilt the server. The Postgres database is upgraded a notch, to 7.4. PHP is upgraded to version 5, from 4.something. The kernel's upgraded from 2.4 to 2.6, which is a pretty significant and frightening event. That lets us access all the memory on the server, which is right now 2 GB.
Bad and I will be keeping an eye on things, but we expect a lot more stability and a lot better response. I'm really sorry for the horrors of the past few weeks.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/16/2007 00:38 ||
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#1
Any notion of why there was a "file download" agreement message whenever a log-on was attempted? No explanation expected, but it sure was creepy. Fortunately, I knew better about Rantburg and never downloaded the piece o' shite, but it was still quite strange.
Again, thank you all for everything you do to make this place happen!
#2
That was a loose spring when Fred and Badanov opened the hood this afternoon. Naturally it rolled all the way under the workbench with the dustbunnies...
#3
Shazam. When I heard the NASA shuttle computers were down, and then surfed over to here today and saw a malfunction message, I thought maybe rantburg was being hosted out of the Space Station!
..or maybe I should stop watching those The Jetsons reruns.
Posted by: Space Cadet ||
06/16/2007 2:24 Comments ||
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#4
Suggestion for the simplest way to fight a DOS attack and database connections max issues -- put up a gateway page. Make the page very light so the server can keep up with many requests. Require a second click-through or answer to a simple math problem before serving up a database intensive page.
#5
Zenster, are you using anything other than Internet Explorer? I got that download thingy in Firefox yesterday, but not IE. Of course, it didn't occur to me to actually try IE until late last night, but the principle still holds.
Posted by: ed ||
06/16/2007 7:59 Comments ||
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#11
Fred, you and Badanov have rendered service under fire far above and beyond the call of duty in the past few weeks. Thank you both so much for hanging in there to get the 'Burg squared away again.
Posted by: Mac ||
06/16/2007 8:02 Comments ||
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#12
Zenster, are you using anything other than Internet Explorer?
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/16/2007 8:57 Comments ||
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#14
When we brought up the new kernel it reconfigured Apache. It wasn't recognizing the .php extension, so the browser's response was to download the file and let the user make head or tail of it. That's a security hole of the approximate size and shape of Wyoming.
Once that problem was fixed and we brough PHP5 up we discovered that it's not automatically configured for either MySQL or Postgres, much less both of them. We hd to install additional modules.
We were doing the whole thing remote, so if anything had screwed up seriously and locked us out -- which has happened once or twice before -- I'd have had to drive downtown in my jammies, been admitted to the NOC, and fixed it myself. Not a good thing.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/16/2007 10:09 Comments ||
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#15
On the plus side, I suspect that the DOS attacks are a high complement from some real enemy, not just frivolous spammer attacks, no matter their apparent origins.
Which raises the question of "Who has Rantburg really ticked off? Some government?"
#16
Whoever it is that's ticked at Rantburg Good, if the truth hurts bad enough to mount an attack, they need to be ticked off when it does'nr work, and Rantburg not only survives, but grows stronger.
Good work, Medals and prases all around. Piss them off more.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
06/16/2007 10:47 Comments ||
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#17
By he way, that "Download" I finaly managed it with Zip, it disgorged opened the file, and all is well (Finaly).
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
06/16/2007 10:49 Comments ||
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#18
I blame Micro$oft, if you had been running a real OS this wouldn't have happened.
#21
Blast it! My old nickname returns from the dead. Ah, well; that's the way the browser cookie crumbles.
Now, stay on the current name. Stay! Staaaaaaaay!
Posted by: Gary and the Samoyeds ||
06/16/2007 11:28 Comments ||
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#22
Good work, Fred and bad. I've done a bit of that kind of work myself so I have some idea of the trials and tribulations you've been through. But if this is not your day job that multiplies the headache by an order of magnitude. While it's unclear from my vantage whether the problems are caused by mere random spammers or more determined political enemies, it wouldn't be a surprise if it's the latter and in either case they deserve to be strung up by the dangly bits. There is information and opinion here that I've never seen anywhere else and it's easy to imagine that it would make some folks uncomfortable. Sometimes it even makes me uncomfortable but it needs to be faced. Congratulations and thanks for the accomplishment.
#23
Which raises the question of "Who has Rantburg really ticked off? Some government?"
A Serbian lop-eared troll. A Saudi at a techno-park (oxymoronic). A certain seriously unbalanced ex-airdale. A left-wing medical student from the DC area. The Russians. The Paleos. Any number of other Muslim-types from Houston, San Jose, Los Angeles, Australia, the UK, Pakistan and other 'garden spots'.
#24
On the plus side, I suspect that the DOS attacks are a high complement from some real enemy, not just frivolous spammer attacks, no matter their apparent origins.
I agree. This is definitely a concerted effort to strangle the 'Burg. I composed a polite and open letter to the spammers that I wanted to post in "Opinions" but have hestitated to do so because I don't want to aggravate the situation. Would such a thing be permissible? Or is it better just to let sleeping dogs lie?
#25
Fred et al - You guys have nothing to apologize for. We knew the attack was underway from your previous announcements and besides, you guys do the really heavy lifting of keeping this forum up and going.
#27
Fred: I'd have had to drive downtown in my jammies, been admitted to the NOC, and fixed it myself. Not a good thing.
It's a gauntlet out-there Fred, in the event thatr worst turns to worser don't forgets Top Camouflage.
Posted by: Red Dawg ||
06/16/2007 16:09 Comments ||
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#28
John is that you, Skunky Glins5285?
Posted by: Red Dawg ||
06/16/2007 16:10 Comments ||
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#29
ya know? you can prevent skunky glins by applying the Stiff Wire Brush™ and suitable anti-Islam soap
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/16/2007 16:33 Comments ||
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#30
Did anyone else get an e-mail titled "Rantburg" asking for Fred's e-mail address?
No, but because of my Rantburg postings about him, someone emailed me seeking contact information for Yusuf Qaradawi. They must not have read my posts.
#31
From RB postings I check my spam once in a while and I get some pretty weird stuff, even in chinese script, Korean, Arabic. One button and it goes to the sludge digester. Booooshhhhhhhhhhhh.....
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
06/16/2007 17:16 Comments ||
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#32
AP - do you wash your hands and clean your mouse with alcohol after? I hope so...I had lunch with you and shook hands..
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/16/2007 17:21 Comments ||
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#33
That I do, Frank. I always wear surgical gloves when I read up on the WoT stuff, and safety glasses and a surgical mask when I go to MEMRI, heh.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
06/16/2007 17:24 Comments ||
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#34
LOL - K....
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/16/2007 17:29 Comments ||
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#35
hey ima a Craving Platypus today! no gloves just webby feets..
#38
Pappy: I have never been called "...A certain seriously unbalanced ex-airdale..." but I thank you for that. But having said that I would not be fiddling under the Burg hood. Bad things happen to them what do.
Thanks to Fred and Bad for keeping the firing order straight.....
#40
Fred, Bad & everyone else who's been helping - thank you so much for all you've been doing over the past few weeks. You've all done an amazing and impressive job under trying circumstances. The web is like the wild west with an intensive arms race - and you guys have not let the bastards deter you. Keep up the good work and I will be hitting the tip jar soon as well. God bless Rantburg!
#41
USN ret.? I never got the impression you were unwelcome...am I missing something? Or just ignorant? I know, not necessarily mutually exclusive...
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/16/2007 23:34 Comments ||
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#42
thks Chris and Fred - for all you do
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/16/2007 23:35 Comments ||
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#43
Pappy: I have never been called "...A certain seriously unbalanced ex-airdale..."
Oh, Lord- not you, USN ret. You aren't unbalanced. My apologies for not being clearer.
There was another poster here briefly - ex-AO. One very rude, strange dude. He was troll-dumped, and came back in various guises and IPs (including some odd places).
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.
Suicide bombers attacked foreign troops in central and southern Afghanistan on Friday, killing five children and wounding at least two soldiers, local police and a provincial government official said. Separately, a US-coalition soldier was killed in eastern Paktia province on Friday, the US military said. 
Seven men convicted of taking part in a terrorist plot to detonate explosions, including a radioactive ‘dirty bomb,’ were sentenced to prison terms on Friday. Mohammed Naveed Bhatti, Junade Feroze, Ziaul Haq, Abdul Aziz Jalil, Omar Abdur Rehman, Qaisar Shaffi and Nadeem Tarmohamed were convicted of joining a plot led by Dhiren Barot. Barot, a 34-year-old British convert to Islam, was sentenced to life in prison last year. Barot was convicted of plotting to bomb several US financial targets, London hotels and train stations, using limousines packed with gas tanks, napalm and nails.
The Sindh home department announced on Friday the identity of the suicide-bomber who blew himself up at Nishtar Park last year as Siddique from Mansehra, a press statement said. The statement said six members of the banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LJ) were involved in the incident, and police had arrested three of them – Mufti Zakir, Jamil and Rehmat. It said that all LJ members, who hailed from the NWFP, gathered in Orangi Town at Rehmat’s residence on 11 Rabiul Awal, a day before the blast, where Siddique had offered two rakat nafil prayers, before setting out for the attack.
QUETTA: Police made more than a dozen arrests on Friday after tribal militants shot dead 10 security personnel in southwest Pakistan, hours after a visit by a top US diplomat, officials said. US Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher had stopped in Quetta on Thursday afternoon for talks on improving security along the border with Afghanistan.
BAGHDAD (AP) - A U.S. Air Force F-16 fighter jet crashed Friday during a close air support mission for ground forces - a rare loss in Iraq of the workhorse aircraft. An Air Force announcement, which referred to the 12:27 a.m. crash of the F-16 as an accident, did not say where it occurred or what happened to the pilot, the single crew member. It said the military was investigating the cause of the crash.
Fatah activists are settling scores with Hamas in Lebanon as well as West Bank. Rampaging Fatah gunmen took revenge for their defeat in Gaza on Hamas activists on the West Bank in a rampage Sat. June 16 through the Hamas-held parliament, government and local council offices on the West Bank. Hundreds of Hamas officials were detained.
Hundreds of Fatah gunmen on Saturday stormed Hamas-controlled institutions in the West Bank, including parliament and government ministries, and told staffers that those with ties to Hamas will not be allowed to return.
Defense Minister Amir Peretz announced Friday that he would step down as soon as the Knesset approved the appointment of new Labor Party chairman Ehud Barak as defense minister. "Defense Minster Amir Peretz will resign immediately after the Knesset vote on Monday," his office said in a statement. "Until then, he will fulfill his duty as usual."
BANNANG SATA, Thailand - Islamic 
