Army Major's Kidnapping Plot Busted At MSP Airport
(WCCO) Minneapolis A major in the U.S. Army is in the Hennepin County Jail, accused of a bizarre plot to kidnap his ex-girlfriend that involved a written plan, and the possibility of using duct tape, a shovel and handcuffs. Timothy Pentaleri, 42, is charged with felony attempted kidnapping, and two counts of felony harassment/stalking.
Pentaleri was arrested June 29, at the Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport, after a Community Service Officer thought he looked suspicious because he was wearing a heavy brown coat in the middle of summer. He was also "wearing a long haired wig, a fake mustache and beard," according to the criminal complaint.
Police report that Pentaleri claimed he was at the airport to surprise some friends. "When asked who his friends were, [Pentaleri] responded by removing his wig, mustache and beard," according to the complaint. He "then said that he wasn't there to see anyone."
Investigators said he was actually there to meet an ex-girlfriend, who broke up with him in April. The Stearns County woman met Pentaleri while they were both living and working in Pakistan. Pentaleri was assigned to the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad.
At the airport, officers frisked him, and found a stun gun, three mace cans, a folding pocket knife and an expandable baton. Pentaleri was issued a ticket for trespassing, and an officer dropped him off "at a nearby hotel where he said he was staying," according to the complaint.
About four hours later, Airport Police took a look at security footage, and discovered that Pentaleri drove back onto airport property, parking his SUV in the short term parking ramp.
Officers went to look at the SUV, and found "thick plastic had been placed to cover the rear" of the vehicle. When officers looked through the windows, they discovered "a roll of duct tape, a shovel, rope and flex cuffs" inside the vehicle.
After officers received a warrant, they found "six condoms, a pillow case cut into strips, a camera, a turkey baster, KY oil, a bag of plastic gloves" among other items.
They also found a notebook "that appeared to lay out a plan for [Pentaleri's] trip from Illinois to Minnesota." Investigators report, Pentaleri had a handwritten flowchart which "outlined a plan to stun [his ex-girlfriend] mace her, and 'club her hard.'"
The Minnesota woman confirmed to police that she flew into the airport on June 29, 2007, and "was unaware of how [he] knew about her travel plans." She also "expressed fear and concern for her safety."
According to the complaint, Pentaleri was reassigned from his duties in Pakistan after he continued to harass his ex-girlfriend. As of late Thursday night, U.S. Army Public Affairs officials at the Pentagon were unable to confirm or deny that report. The complaint also claims, Pentaleri was ordered to stay away from his ex-girlfriend.
Pentaleri is currently in the Hennepin County Jail on $1 million bail.
Bringing Michael Moore's fiction to life. A rare 'feel-good' story; my apologies for putting the whole thing in but I couldn't figure out what to cut. I'd never make it as an editor.
THE REAL KITE RUNNERS FLYING THE AFGHAN SKIES
FORWARD OPERATING BASE SALERNO, Afghanistan
Even though best-selling books have painted pictures of Afghan children flying colorful kites high in blue skies against backdrops of snow-capped mountains that tower over quaint villages, not all Afghan children are fortunate enough to own such simple, yet wonderful toys.
However, when the Polish Battle Group arrived in Ghazni provinces Andar district near the end of June, the local children were finally able to take part in an activity shared by children in almost all countries in the world: flying kites.
While conducting patrols throughout Andar district during Operation Maiwand last month, the Polish soldiers of 1st and 2nd Platoons, Company B of the Polish Battle Group, made many humanitarian aid deliveries to the poor families living in the area.
The extreme poverty of some of the areas was quite a shock to many of the Polish.
It seems like time stopped here 2,000 years ago, said Polish Pfc. Chris Demko, a gunner on one of the giant Rosomak armored personnel carriers. We see these kids running around with nothing, not even shoes, and we want to change that.
Everywhere they went, children crowded around the vehicles as the smiling soldiers pulled out boxes of shoes, clothes, school supplies and toys. But the biggest hit of all were the multi-colored kites that the soldiers unfolded for them.
With big grins and excited chattering, the children jumped up and down shouting, Patang! Patang! (the Pashto word for kite.)
Soon the sky had several of the yellow, green and red kites with International Security Assitance Forces logos flying, much to the delight of the children dancing around below.
These kites are so much fun, said Mahmad-Amid Hahn, a 12-year- old boy, as he made whooping sounds while his kite dipped and swerved in the air. The Taliban would never give us these things.
For the children who had never seen a kite before, some of the Polish soldiers stepped in to assist, unfolding the kites and showing them how to take off with a running start to get it airborne.
Any time spent with children is a good thing, said Polish Pfc. Michal Ozog-Warclaw. It is wonderful to see children who have been through so much with smiles on their faces.
Ozog-Warclaw, who has a daughter of his own back home in Poland, spends as much time as he can with her when he is home.
I spent many days playing with her just like this in the park, or forest, he recalled.
While the children enjoyed their kites and new shoes, the Polish also gave out school supplies as an encouragement for them not only to play, but to learn and attend nearby schools.
The soldiers hope that their presence and influence in these areas will be able to help change an environment where the Taliban threatened parents against sending children to school.
It is sad, because most children here have not had the same opportunities that my own daughter does, Ozog-Warclaw explained. It is not their fault either. Back in Poland, my daughter is developing in school in a safe, loving community where she is free to learn, play, and interact. Every person should have access to these things, because being educated is a weapon against people who would tell you to be something you are not.
While the small youngsters who were screaming with excitement have many things to face as they grow older in their still unstable country, the pristine scene of children flying kites, completely free to enjoy their youth, still feels like it could come out of the pages of a book.
Were simply helping them make their lives better, said Polish Maj. Thomas Stachera, commander of Company B, while watching the children playing as his men prepared to move on.
I believe this to be a picture of what these people really want, a stable, peaceful, productive society, he said. These children are the ones who will be able to make it happen.
#1
How times have changed. Remember when we in the West felt sorry for all the Polish children who didn't have the opportunities we did? This is a wonderful story on so many levels. Thank you, Glenmore.
#2
I just found another forbidden word. Now I have to re-do my comment.
The claims are coming that many, or even most, of those killed were innocent civilians.
Our official response should be; "We don't miss often, and when we do, it is not by much; if you are not hanging right close to somebody shooting at us you won't get hit by us." The civilians are either being used as human shields or are aiding the fighters.
(SomaliNet) A revolted military forces Wednesday have taken over control of the Beledweyn city, 335km north of the Somalia capital Mogadishu, after being brushed aside over their complaint of payment, local official said.
"General, the troops are revolting!"
"They certainly are."
"And they smell terrible!"
Beledweyn is the provincial capital of Hiran region in central Somalia. Eyewitnesses told Somalinet that heavy armed soldiers of the federal government occupied the police station and the headquarter of the regions administration dispersing all local authorities. We have done this, because we were not paid for months and we believe that the local authority is very corrupt, now what we want is to get salaries, said one soldier in condition of anonymity adding that we took over the headquarter of the region peacefully and no one was hurt,
No word yet from the transitional government over the move by the soldiers.
"Aaaarrr! Mutiny, is it, ye scurvy dogs?"
"Shuddup."
"Hokay."
All the offices of the local administration in Beledweyn city were closed while the officials went away.
"We're closed now. Got a important meeting. It's... ummm... someplace else."
The soldiers mutiny came after the commander of the transitional government military forces in Hiran region Colonel Hubeyr accused the Beledweyns administration of taking away the salaries of the soldiers. The authority denied that. However, if it is confirmed that the local administration is corrupt, it would be a big scandal.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/06/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
I'd think that if you were going to steal from someone that you should be the one with the guns and not them.
#4
I'm sure that many who have actually visited the area will confirm that the biggest problem in most MME countries is corruption. That includes all the nations from Turkey to Sudan, from Morocco and Mauritania to Pakistan and Bangladesh. It's not a new problem, and it's not going to change any time soon. One might be tempted to say it's a genetic disposition.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/06/2007 14:48 Comments ||
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(SomaliNet) Three government soldiers were confirmed wounded in bomb explosions on the police station in Waberi district, south of the Somalia capital Mogadishu late Wednesday after two nights of lull. Unknown gunmen have thrown two hand grenade bombs on the police station around 7:28pm local time, according to local resident.
Soon after the bomb attack, the police in the station opened fire but did not succeed to find the attackers. The area of the blast was sealed off as the police began investigation in time of curfew. No one was arrested for the latest bomb attacks so far.
Minutes after, other explosions and exchange of gunfire could be heard on the Wadnaha road in Howlwadag district, south of the capital but it is unclear who was fighting who. Mogadishu has been quiet for the past two days.
The latest bomb explosions which are the part of the acts against the government and the presence of the Ethiopian forces came as the capital received 3,000 additional new policemen to restore peace and security in Mogadishu.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/06/2007 00:00 ||
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(SomaliNet) Mogadishu mayor Mohamed Omar Habeb Mohamed Dhere today survived a remote controlled roadside bomb attack in Shibis district, north of the Somalia capital Mogadishu early Thursday. Eyewitnesses told Somalinet that the explosion missed the car in which the mayor was traveling. Soon after the blast, the bodyguards opened fire in all directions but did not succeed to find the plotters. No soldier was hurt in the latest bomb attack.
The attempt killing on the city mayor prompted massive house to house search operations carried out by the Ethiopian forces in the capital. The key roads of the southern parts of the capital like wadnaha and Sodonka were cut off as the allied forces backed by tanks scattered in all alleyways searching for weapons.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/06/2007 00:00 ||
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Egyptian police revealed a hideout containing 1,200 kilograms of TNT in the northern Sinai desert, Army Radio reported Thursday overnight. Reportedly, the explosives were intended to be smuggled into the Gaza Strip.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/06/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
I think they are jumping to conclusions... there is no reason at all to believe that anyone would smuggle explosives into gaza....
Posted by: Abu do you love ||
07/06/2007 13:50 Comments ||
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#2
The bigger question is where did it come from, and how did it get there. Twelve hundred kilograms (2640 pounds) of TNT isn't something you smuggle in a Toyota pick-up.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/06/2007 14:53 Comments ||
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#3
That works out to about an aspirin tablet per Paleo (aren't there about 4 million of them now?) - but more if you only count the Gazans. The should each take their share as a suppository and detonate it.
A failed asylum seeker who kept a collection of manuals on how to carry out car bombings, with guidance on "suitable targets" including nightclubs and airports, is facing a lengthy jail sentence.
Omar Altimimi, 37, who had links to al-Qa'eda, was a "clean skin" who was unknown as a terror suspect when he arrived in England and applied for jobs with the police and as a teacher. However, he used multiple identities to cover his tracks and was so successful that police are still unsure of his true identity. He also hoarded computer files detailing how to carry out terror attacks.
The father-of-three, from Bolton, Lancs, was found guilty on Wednesday of four counts of possessing material for the purpose of terrorism following a four-week trial at Manchester Crown Court. Yesterday, he was convicted of two more charges of possession of material for a purpose connected with terrorism and two charges of money laundering.
Altimimi claimed to have no knowledge of the material on his computer. But the court heard he was linked to terrorists in the Netherlands and to Junade Feroze, 31, from Blackburn, who was jailed last month for 22 years for his part in bomb plots led by Dhiren Barot, a prominent al-Qa'eda terrorists in the UK.
Altimimi came to Britain from the Netherlands in 2002 claiming asylum for himself, his wife and their three children. He claimed benefits, including more than £100,000 from the National Asylum Support Service, while applying for jobs with Greater Manchester Police and a local college. He was arrested in March last year on suspicion of money laundering after £27,000 was stolen from the Yemen Tourist Board.
Detectives searched two homes he kept in Bolton and seized his computer. Files on the computer contained instructions for making bombs, detonators and explosives as well as information on bombing strategies. He also had video clips of executions of hostages in Iraq.
He kept video clips showing Osama bin Laden praising the London bombings of 2005, and information on carrying out suicide bombings on buses, as well as tips on other targets such as stadiums and cinemas. Police also found a shopping list of common substances used to make explosives and a reference to the use of radioactive radium in bombs. Much of the material was downloaded from a secret, password-protected al-Qa'eda internet site.
The Recorder of Manchester, Judge David Maddison, is due to sentence Altimimi today. Det Chief Supt Tony Porter, head of the Greater Manchester Police counter terrorism unit, said: "We will never know who Altimimi really is. He developed a range of identities, which would allow him to expand his terrorist activities. We will never know exactly what Altimimi was preparing to do but it was clear he had support and links with terrorists across the world."
Posted by: ryuge ||
07/06/2007 07:37 ||
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#1
after £27,000 was stolen from the Yemen Tourist Board
I'm surprised the Yemen Tourist Board had $27,000
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/06/2007 10:47 Comments ||
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#2
I might consider a holliday in yemen if you paid me 27,000 pounds... and a pony...
Posted by: Abu do you love ||
07/06/2007 13:53 Comments ||
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#3
On the dole and had 2 houses? i want some of that!!! Seriously, hope they confiscate at least one and sell it off to repay some of the welfare. (fat chance of that)
Police searching for clues in three car bomb plots investigated a rented house near Glasgow, where media reports speculated Thursday that bombs had been made. The government lowered the terrorism threat level from critical to severe after the arrest of eight people connected with the three failed attacks, but authorities were still investigating the possibility there may be other suspects on the peripheries of the plot still at large.
With all suspects connected to the medical profession, Prime Minister Gordon Brown has ordered an investigation of the procedures of recruiting foreign doctors, which Health Secretary Alan Johnson promised would be done "very quickly."
"It is what more we need to do between striking a balance between ensuring that we have people with the right skills in this country to make sure the NHS (National Health Service) works properly and how we ensure we have a proper oversight of security," he told British Broadcasting Corp. radio.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/06/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Recruiting muslim doctors doesn't seem like a healthy thing to do.
#3
if england could go back to a market driven medical system and not the socialist rot they have, then maybe more of the locals would want to become doctors.
Posted by: Abu do you love ||
07/06/2007 13:57 Comments ||
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#4
Abu, I was just waiting for somebody to say that. The problem is that it makes too much sense.
#5
Smile - Hillary wants to impose something equally dreadful on the US. Another good reason to ensure the Donkeys get sent to the showers.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/06/2007 15:02 Comments ||
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#6
Even in this country (US) there are some fields which have been mostly abandoned by US educated doctors. One example is infections. US educated doctors seem to consider this field to be dumb-down medicine and if you get a really nasty infection you'll probably be treated by an native Indian or Egyptian or such.
A speaker at a rally protesting against caricatures of Prophet Mohammed (PTUI PBUH) was convicted on Thursday of inciting murder. Mizanur Rahman, 24, of London, spoke at a February 2006 demonstration protesting the publication of the caricatures in Europe, first published in Denmarks Jyllands-Posten daily.
Prosecutors showed video of Rahman speaking about British soldiers and saying, We want to see them coming home in body bags. We want to see their blood running in the streets of Baghdad. Rahman also had placards calling for the beheading and annihilation of anyone who insulted Islam.
He and three others convicted of offenses at the demonstration face sentencing on July 18. Rahman had pleaded not guilty, and said the microphone had been thrust into his hand and that he was only repeating chants from others. In a previous trial in November, a jury could not reach a verdict on the incitement to murder charge against Rahman, but did find him guilty of inciting racial hatred.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/06/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Honest, I never said that stuff. It is all part of a Jooo plot!
Three men, who used the Internet to urge Muslims to fight non-believers, were jailed for between six-and-a-half and 10 years on Thursday. Tariq Al Daour, Younes Tsouli and Waseem Mughal had close links with Al Qaeda in Iraq and thought there was a global conspiracy to wipe out Islam, Woolwich Crown Court, in southeast London, was told. Moroccan-born Tsouli, 23, was jailed for 10 years; UAE-born Al Daour, 21, received a six-and-a-half year sentence; and 24-year-old Mughal, who was born in Britain, was given seven-and-a-half years.
Al Daour on Wednesday admitted a charge of inciting another person to commit an act of terrorism wholly or partly outside the United Kingdom which would, if committed in England and Wales, constitute murder. Tsouli and Mughal admitted the same charge on Monday. The guilty pleas came two months into their trial. Al Daour and Tsouli, who lived in west London, and Mughal, from Kent in southeast England, also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud banks, credit card and charge card companies.
The trial was told the computer experts spent at least 12 months trying to encourage people to follow Al Qaedas head Osama Bin Laden, using email and radical websites. Films of western hostages and beheadings were found among their possessions.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/06/2007 00:00 ||
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A former Islamist radical has warned that a key extremist group operating in Australia and the UK numbers many doctors and engineers among its leadership.
Ed Husain was raised in a traditional Muslim home in London in the 1980s and by the age of 16 he was active in three fundamentalist organisations, including Hizb ut-Tahrir, an extremist group which advocates jihad in the name of Islam.
Yup, that's what they do allright.
Hizb ut-Tahrir is currently legal in Australia and in Britain, where new Prime Minister Gordon Brown says he is looking at adding it to the country's list of proscribed organisations.
Wouldn't think it would take Gordo that long to make a decision. Perhaps he has to consult with Gorgeous George.
"My only criticism of the reports coming out of Australia is that you've correctly identified sections within Wahhabism to be a problem," Mr Husain, who has now renounced radicalism, told ABC TV's Lateline program. "But we must also remember that Australia is also now home to one of the most extreme Islamist organisations, not Islamic, Islamist organisations known as Hizb ut-Tahrir.
"That organisation functions in Australia and its leadership takes its call and its literature and the London based Hizb ut-Tahrir.
"So that's a threat in the making that I think your policy-makers and people in the media need to identify and educate the wider Australian population about.
"On a final thought, even here [in the UK] the leadership of Hizb Ut Tahrir, as well as the leadership of Wahhabist organisations, are filled with engineers and doctors."
Police are questioning eight people with links to the medical profession, including Gold Coast doctor Mohammed Haneef, in connection with the botched car bomb attacks in London and Glasgow.
Mr Husain said Islamist radical organisations around the world had many highly-educated recruits. "The vast majority of Islamist organisations right across the world from the Muslim Brotherhood to the Jamaat Islami in the Indian subcontinent have their rank and file filled with people who are highly educated in medicine and engineering facilities from some of the finest universities in the world," Mr Husain continued. "Their identities are very complex. Being a doctor is a means to an end.
"Many of these people were asked to become doctors simply because that's what their parents wanted them to be. Many of these young Asian people born and raised for the first time here in Britain and their parents have a strong influence. Among Arabs and Asians there's a preference for doctors, lawyers and engineers. Their being doctors is default, it's not a career choice for them that they've deliberately made out.
"It just so happens that while they're at university, while they are isolated from mainstream communities and while they have this identity crisis, they're recruited into extremist organisations at a very young age."
This article starring:
Hizb ut-Tahrir
Posted by: Oztralian ||
07/06/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
"It just so happens that while they're at university, while they are isolated from mainstream communities and while they have this identity crisis, they're recruited into extremist organisations at a very young age."
That was always a tough choice for me, summer of love or days of rage; which to attend.
#2
With even their best educated being subverted to jihadism it becomes increasingly difficult to imagine who within the Muslim community can be trusted at all.
#3
The problem for any Muslim with a technical education is that it inevitably leads to a religeous crisis.
Whenever a muslim learns something that contradicts the Koran, he is told "Who knows more? You or God?"
The Muslim technologist spends his days acting like the Scientific Method determines truth. Then he goes home and acts like the Koran and Hadiths override everything (e.g. the world is flat; the Sun revolves around the Earth, etc.)
The stresses these contradictions create will ultimately drive these people crazy. This is why so many "well educated" Muslim scientists and engineers wind up as terrorists
Al
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
07/06/2007 13:31 Comments ||
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#4
Damn good point, Al! Islam is wholly incompatible with intellectual honesty.
JERSEY CITY, NJ (AP) -- The FBI is investigating anonymous threats against the Goldman Sachs investment firm contained in handwritten letters warning that ``hundreds will die.''
Sent to newspapers across the country, the letters threaten the investment titan, warning, ``We are inside. You cannot stop us.''
The Star Ledger of Newark reported the letters were all mailed from Queens, and signed ``A.Q., U.S.A.'' One of the letters, postmarked June 27, was received recently by the newspaper. . . .
Posted by: Mike ||
07/06/2007 09:30 ||
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Click to his site to click on his links; his links in italic:
Musharraf approves amnesty; update on latest news from the Lal Masjid and the Taliban's response
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, who survived an assassination attempt earlier today, is prepared to pardon the Islamists and the leaders of the Lal Masjid, or Red Mosque, according to Pakistan's Daily Times. President Musharraf "approved a plan to extend a general amnesty to about 100 militants still holed up inside Lal Masjid, provided they lay down their weapons and surrender to the security forces," sources privy to a meeting in Rawalpindi told the Daily Times. "The sources said that the government had decided to withdraw all criminal cases filed since February against the 100 or so militants, including Lal Masjid deputy cleric Maulana Abdul Rashid Ghazi, provided they surrender." There is no word if Abdul Aziz, Ghazi's brother who was captured attempting to escape the mosque in a burka, will also be pardoned.
The impetus for this amnesty offer comes from within the military and intelligence establishment, "who suggested that the militants had taken Ghazi hostage." Rumors have persisted that both Ghazi and Aziz have been coerced by "militants" to take a radical position, however this ignores Ghazi and Aziz's long history of supporting radical endeavors. Most importantly, the clerics were behind the 2004 fatwa, or religious edict, which "stated that Pakistani soldiers fighting South Waziristan did not deserve a Muslim funeral or burial at Muslim cemeteries in the event that they were killed while fighting in the tribal region" against the Taliban and al Qaeda operating there. "The decree turned out to be a major reason why many officers and soldiers in the Pakistani army refused to fight militants in Waziristan."
Both clerics have been instrumental in fomenting the current crisis in Islamabad. They have threatened suicide campaigns, and vowed to start the "Islamic revolution in Islamabad" at the beginning of April by implementing sharia law. Aziz and Ghazi have repeatedly supported the cause of both the Taliban and al Qaeda. "We have a relationship of love and sincerity with jihadi organisations," Aziz said in an interview on Pakistani television yesterday. He also called al Qaeda "our foreign friends."
The battles at the mosque are still ongoing. Sporadic gunfire was reported throughout Friday, and "intense firing" was reported around midnight. The Pakistani Army has blown holes in sections of the wall, and continues to fire tear gas into the compound. Over 60 students fled the mosque and were captured, and a security official told Dawn a number of them were members of Jamaat-ud-Dawa, which is the new name of the banned terror group and al-Qaeda affiliate Lashkar-e-Taiba. Jamaat-ud-Dawa has been put on the Specially Designated Global Terrorist list.
#6
Just when you think it can't get any more loony, the theater of the absurd becomes a farce. Exactly who does Musharraf think keeps on trying to kill him? Gremlins?
#11
Limited special ops or air strikes in Waziristan and the NWFP, perhaps. Not to stike openly in the city that houses the military command and ISI, I think.
#13
Jamaat-ud-Dawa has been put on the Specially Designated Global Terrorist list.
did anyone else here think of Animal House and the 'double secret probation'?
Posted by: Abu do you love ||
07/06/2007 18:52 Comments ||
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#14
I'm not a John Derbyshire of The Corner fan in any way... but I did find this comment interesting
The Last Straw [John Derbyshire]
An arresting sentence in this BBC report on Pakistan President Musharraf's latest troubles:
"The turning point clearly was the abduction of the Chinese massage parlour girls," says a senior diplomat in Islamabad.
"We know that the Chinese sent a very strong message that they could take losses in Balochistan or the tribal belt but were not prepared to see their citizens abducted and tortured bang in the heart of the capital."
This is all to do with Musharraf having finally authorized an assault on the "Red Mosque" seminary in Pakistan's capital. It's a nest of radical jihadis, who have been making a nuisance of themselves going round the city imposing Islamic virtue, Taliban-style. One of those impositions somehow led to them kidnapping the madam of a Chinese-staffed brothel much frequented by Pakistan's movers and shakers (if you'll pardon the expression).
Musharraf has been loth to stomp on the jihadis for all the usual reasonsmainly, the Pak army's long, long record of using jihadis as proxy troops in various conflicts (Afghanistan, Kashmir,...). Those jihadis really come in handy. However, the kidnapping of the madam got the Chinese mad. Everybody elseincluding usis chronically mad with Musharraf for foot-dragging over his country's jihadis, but China's too close (they share a 300-mile border) and too mean (WAY meaner than us), and the Pak-Chinese relationship goes too far backall the way back to Cold War days, when the line-up was Russia with India, Pakistan with China (and then, after Nixon/Kissinger, with us).
#16
If I recall correctly, didn't China give Pakistan the nuclear bomb technology? I seem to remember someone commenting Dr. Khan's PhD (such as it was) being in geology, or some such, nothing anywhere near physics or even engineering.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
07/06/2007 20:15 Comments ||
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#18
I wasn't terribly good at chemistry (a side effect of being the child of a biochemist, I've been told). I don't remember, do uranium and plutonium count as metals?
#19
He did post doc work at a Netherlands research lab that was engaged in uranium enrichment research and gas centrifuge technology.
The Dutch finally became suspicious but the CIA wanted to keep monitoring him to figure out who he was connected to/with. He skipped town back to Pakistan and Bhutto put him in charge of the effort for a Pakistani nuclear bomb.
Gunners fired after President Gen. Pervez Musharraf's plane took off from a military base on Friday in what one official described as a failed assassination attempt.
Security forces quickly raided a nearby home with anti-aircraft guns on the roof, taking the owner in for questioning and searching for a couple who rented the property this week, officials said.
A senior security official said Musharraf was aboard when the plane came under fire, but insisted the aircraft was not within range of the attempt in Rawalpindi, a garrison city south of the capital where Musharraf narrowly escaped two attempts on his life in 2003.
Television footage from an overlooking building showed a large gun pointed skyward next to a satellite dish as security officials rushed around. Two anti-aircraft guns and a light machine gun were found on the roof and the homeowner was taken in for questioning, three officials told The Associated Press.
"It was an unsuccessful effort by miscreants to target the president's plane," the senior security official told AP. The official, like those who described the raid on the house, spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the record. "They fled quickly, and our security agencies are still investigating."
Army spokesman Maj. Gen. Waheed Arshad denied local news reports that the president's plane was targeted by a rocket, but provided no further details.
A resident in the neighborhood, Mohammed Asif, 31, said that he heard two loud bangs about "a minute or less than a minute" apart and then saw a man firing an AK-47 rifle from an off-white Suzuki car passing by his home.
"A small plane was flying at that time," Asif, a worker in Rawalpindi's fruit market, told an AP reporter.
According to state-run Pakistan Television, Musharraf flew from the air base Friday and later safely landed in Turbat, a remote southwestern town where he was to inspect efforts to bring relief to hundreds of thousands of people affected by recent catastrophic flooding.
Khan Mohammed, a road construction worker, who was in a nearby street, said he heard someone fire single shots and then a burst from an automatic weapon but he said he didn't know where the gunfire originated or what it was aimed at.
"It lasted for about five minutes," Mohammed said.
Mohammed said that he heard the roar of a flying plane when the firing occurred.
In northwestern Pakistan, a suicide attacker on a bicycle rigged with explosives struck a military convey and killed four soldiers Friday, officials said. And a remote-controlled bomb exploded near a military convoy in Dir, in the same area.
In North Waziristan, elsewhere in the Afghan border region, tribesmen chased militants who had kidnapped an army instructor, sparking a shootout that left six people dead and the soldier injured, officials said.
Laura and I join all Americans in extending our heartfelt sympathy to the peace loving people of the nation Pakistan as they mourn the loss of a great general and leader, a friend of the United States and a...... etc, etc.
#3
But seriously, folks, we need to offer this guy and some of his trusted associates a life of luxury in suburban Virginia if they will just hand over the nukes before the barbarians smash the gates.
#6
Security forces quickly raided a nearby home with anti-aircraft guns on the roof...
You'd have thought that would have been noticeable before they opened up.
Though, I guess in Pakistan, having heavy weapons on the roof is just considered Islamic.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
07/06/2007 11:56 Comments ||
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#7
Why NOVA? I say there's a big white house in the District wigh a big security fence. Put him there.
Posted by: Captain Lewis ||
07/06/2007 12:02 Comments ||
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#8
Anyone else feel like AQ has something big in the pipeline? We got the Zark video, the bombings in the UK, Red Mosque thingy, and now an attempt on Mush. Definitely feels like something ominous is on the way.
Fwiw, I've seen a bunch of rental vans pulled over during the past week on my commute to work and it seems like something is definitely going on behind the scenes.
#9
Wait -- what?? What kind of rental vans, and where were you driving, NickVtx? Iraq, Afghanistan, Virginia, San Diego? I haven't noticed any rental vans driving in Cincinnati, but I'm pretty sure my not noticing is as intended.
#11
Wait...my wife and I rented a pickup truck to move some appliances this week...does that make us terrorists TOO? (she's gonna be really pissed if it does) :)
back on the Pakistani topic...Musharraf may be a thug, but he's OUR thug!! While it would be nice to have John Adams running that country, it aint gonna happen. Given that, I prefer to have someone running it who ISN'T trying to wipe US out...and that means Prez. Pervez
Wishful thinking at best and delusional at worst. Musharraf runs with the fox and hunts with the hounds. He has played America for a gigantic fool while clutching the reins of power in Pakistan. He's nobody's friend but his own. If I knew for certain that Bush still had the spine to confiscate Pakistan's nuclear weapons, I'd just about cap the sucker myself. Perv is going to go, I just hope our administration is courageous enough to strip out Pakistan's atomic weapons when it happens. Pakistan is second only to Iran on the list of dangerous Islamic countries.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
07/06/2007 13:10 Comments ||
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#15
re # 8 Nick: I think we will see something; i am not convinced that there was only those 8 idiots running around only the UK last week. If you give the Goldman Sachs story any credibility, stand by.
PESHAWAR: Four policemen were killed and two others injured when suspected Taliban militants attacked their vehicle in Mattani police precincts late on Wednesday night, police said.
A senior police official asking not to be named told Daily Times that a group of 25 to 30 attackers opened fire on a police picket at around 1:30am. The attackers also shot at a police vehicle arriving at the scene, killing four policemen and injuring two others. The official said that the attackers fired nearly 500 rounds on the police party amidst slogans of Allah-o-Akbar. He added that the assailants had come from Darra Adam Khel, which borders Matani village. The dead policemen were identified as Wasil Khan, Muhammad Iqbal, Hidayat Shah and Sher Afzal.
NWFP IG Sharif Virk announced recruitment in police for one son of each of the dead, Rs 500,000 and officials full salary to their families, one piece of land at Regi Lalma, Peshawar, free education to their children and other incentives under the Shuhada (martyrs) Package.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/06/2007 00:00 ||
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LANDI KOTAL: Four missiles were fired early on Thursday morning at a military base in Khyber Agency near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border but caused no damage, security officials, who wished to remain unnamed, told Daily Times. At around 2.30am on Thursday, four missiles were fired at the army camp in Landi Kotal in Khyber Agency from a hilltop around 150 metres from the camp, the officials said. Two of them landed in the camp, one near a helipad and another hit a room in Niki Khel, but there fortunately werent any casualties, they added.
The culprits escaped, they said, leaving behind three stands from which they had fired the missiles. The Khyber Agency administration arrested two suspects near the Michni check-post who claimed to be from Torkham, an administration official said.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/06/2007 00:00 ||
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DERA MURAD JAMALI: A traffic police constable was killed and three passers-by injured when a bomb planted in a bicycle went off in Dera Allah Yar, Jaffarabad District Police Officer (DPO) Suhail Ahmed Sheikh said on Thursday. Some unknown suspects had parked an explosive-laden bicycle at Sohbatpur Road. The resultant blast killed traffic police constable Muhammad Ishaq on the spot while three other citizens Ali Sher, Nadir Ali and Muhammad Nawaz were seriously injured. Police have registered a case.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/06/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
now if they could get some of those Courtesy Ticketers?
(We have a pivate firm issuing parking tickets, they give Nazis a good name)
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
07/06/2007 6:03 Comments ||
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TAFTAN: Two brothers with dual Turkey and Germany citizenship have been arrested at Pak-Iran border on suspicion of having links with the Al Qaeda movement. The brothers reportedly admitted that they had come to Afghanistan to participate in jihad. They said they had been involved in such activities for the last six months and entered Pakistan through Iran. The levies also recovered fake identity and refugee cards from their possession. Intelligence agencies have taken them into custody.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/06/2007 00:00 ||
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Police on Thursday presented Lal Masjid chief cleric Abdul Aziz in an anti-terrorism court in Rawalpindi, where Judge Sakhi Muhammad Kahut remanded him in police custody for seven days.
Not that anything will come of it, mind you...
Aziz and his daughter were arrested on Wednesday as he tried to flee from Lal Masjid wearing a burqa amidst a group of girls. His daughter was remanded in judicial custody. There were reports that Aziz wife and Jamia Hafsa principal Umm-e-Hussan was arrested with him, but she denied the reports, telling TV channels over the phone that she was still in the mosque.
Aziz and his brother Abdul Rashid Ghazi face seven cases of murder, attempted murder, ransack and subversive activities.
Aziz was presented in court amidst tight security under the command of Inspector Shahid Naeem. His remand was sought in the case of the kidnapping of Chinese nationals. The case was lodged in Margalla police station, but it is not known where Aziz is being kept. The police did not allow journalists to get pictures and interviews of Aziz during his presentation in court, and kept them at a distance with gun butts and batons.
Aziz and his brother Abdul Rashid Ghazi face seven cases of murder, attempted murder, ransack and subversive activities. Ghazi was still in Lal Masjid on the third day of the siege. Aziz had told a TV channel that he tried to escape covered in a burqa in consultation with his brother Ghazi.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/06/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Sadly, this report omits any description of his court attire: was he burqua-ed or not? high heels or flats? so many burning questions......
#2
I'd like to see his headless body wash ashore on the beaches of Somalia, myself, along with those of his "adoring" wife, children, relatives, and all his jihadi bretheren.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/06/2007 15:17 Comments ||
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Security forces used helicopters and explosions to rattle militants still holed up inside Lal Masjid on Thursday, as the government turned down a conditional offer from the mosques deputy chief cleric to surrender. Abdul Rashid Ghazi whose brother Abdul Aziz Ghazi was caught on Wednesday told a television channel he was willing to hand over the mosque and its affiliated madrassas to the government department for religious buildings.
I want to stay in one of the houses behind in the mosque compound with my mother who is sick and with the wife of my brother until I get an alternate place to move to.
I want to stay in one of the houses behind in the mosque compound with my mother who is sick and with the wife of my brother until I get an alternate place to move to.
Minister of State for Information Tariz Azeem dismissed the offer, telling AFP that Ghazi must surrender unconditionally and allow all women and children in the mosque to leave.
Another 38 students surrendered yesterday, taking the total to 1,146 - 745 boys and 401 girls. Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao said 50 to 60 hardcore militants were still inside with AK-47s and petrol bombs. Azeem said the militants planned to use women and children as human shields. Security forces kept up a tight ring around the complex and made repeated announcements calling on the militant students to surrender. Helicopters hovered overhead and armoured personnel carriers patrolled around the mosque.
Early on Thursday, loud blasts rocked the mosque as witnesses said security forces blasted holes in the outer walls. Blasts were heard later as well and official sources said they were trying to break the will of the militants holed up inside. Intense gunbattles erupted in the afternoon, with students opening fire on troops and hurling hand grenades. Rangers arrested six men with links to banned militant groups and suspected of planning suicide attacks from near Lal Masjid. The official toll since clashes began is 19 dead and 98 injured. Unofficial figures say 30 have died and 200 been injured.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/06/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
I want to stay in one of the houses behind in the mosque compound with my mother who is sick and with the wife of my brother until I get an alternate place to move to.
I wanted a pony for my birthday too but I didn't become a terrorist over it. So you wanted a camel, get over it.
Abdul Rashid Ghazi whose brother Abdul Aziz Ghazi--must be the islamic version of Darrell and Darrell.
This is by the guy that Michael Yon reports on from the NYT's. Registration rquired, so here's his entire article
Capt. Ben Richards had been battling insurgents from Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia for three weeks when he received an unexpected visitor. Abu Ali walked into the Americans battle-scarred combat outpost with an unusual proposal: the community leader was worried about the insurgents, and wanted the soldiers help in taking them on.
The April 7 meeting was the beginning of a new alliance and, American commanders hope, a portent of what is to come in the bitterly contested Diyala Province.
Using his Iraqi partners to pick out the insurgents and uncover the bombs they had seeded along the cratered roads, Captain Richardss soldiers soon apprehended more than 100 militants, including several low-level emirs. The Iraqis called themselves the Local Committee; Captain Richards dubbed them the Kit Carson scouts.
It is the only way that we can keep Al Qaeda out, said Captain Richards, who operates from a former Iraqi police station in the Buhritz sector of the city that still bears the sooty streaks from the day militants set it aflame last year.
#1
For once the NYT has a real reporter on site and actually prints what he reports. Probably only because we had Mr. Yon there reporting it all first, so they (NYT eds) would be caught if they lied.
Today marks D +16 of Operation Arrowhead Ripper, the Battle for Baqubah. . . .
Media coverage went from a near monopoly (Michael Gordon from New York Times and me) to a nearly capsized boat as journalists flooded in from other parts of Iraq to see the fight. They managed to miss most of it. Today, Im told, there are now only 3 journalists remaining, including one writer (me.)
As with the Battle for Mosul, which I held in near monopoly for about five months during 2005, the most interesting parts of the Battle for Baqubah are unfolding after the major fighting ends. But as the guns cool, the media stops raining and starts evaporating, or begins making only short visits of a week or so.
The big news on the streets today is that the people of Baqubah are generally ecstatic, although many hold in reserve a serious concern that we will abandon them again. For many Iraqis, we have morphed from being invaders to occupiers to members of a tribe. I call it the al Ameriki tribe, or tribe America.
Ive seen this kind of progression in Mosul, out in Anbar and other places, and when I ask our military leaders if they have sensed any shift, many have said, yes, they too sense that Iraqis view us differently. In the context of sectarian and tribal strife, we are the tribe that people canmore or less and with giant caveatsrely on.
Most Iraqis I talk with acknowledge that if it was ever about the oil, its not now. Not mostly anyway. It clearly would have been cheaper just to buy the oil or invade somewhere easier that has more. Similarly, most Iraqis seem now to realize that we really dont want to stay here, and that many of us cant wait to get back home. They realize that we are not resolved to stay, but are impatient but to drive down to Kuwait and sail away. And when they consider the Americans who actually deal with Iraqis every day, the Iraqis can no longer deny that we really do want them to succeed. But we want them to succeed without us. We want to see their streets are clean and safe, their grass is green, and their birds are singing. We want to see that on television. Not in person. We dont want to be here. We tell them that every day. It finally has settled in that we are telling the truth.
Now that all those realizations and more have settled in, the dynamics here are changing in palpable ways.
Since my reporting of the massacre at the al Hamari village, many readers at home have asked how anyone can know that al Qaeda actually performed the massacre. The question is a very good one, and one that I posed from the first hour to Iraqis and Americans while trying to ascertain facts about the killings.
No one can claim with certainty that it was al Qaeda, but the Iraqis here seem convinced of it. . . . Like many things in Iraq, the question of whether or not the murderers were al Qaeda is flawed from beginning. Al Qaeda is not a union, it doesnt issue passports. What is al Qaeda but the collection of people who claim to be al Qaeda? Those responsible for murdering and burying those bodies in al Ahamir (or al Hamira) had the markers of al Qaeda, the same al Qaeda that had boastfully installed itself as the shadow government of Baqubah. The al Qaeda who committed atrocities in Afghanistan, New York the list is long. As for al Ahamir, the massacre walks like a duck. It happened in duck headquarters. The people here say the duck did it. The duck laughs.
And so on 05 July, or D + 16, after the meeting, Iraqi leaders including the Deputy Governor of Diyala, and also Abdul Jabar, one of the Provincial chair holders, headed to some of the most dangerous areas in Baqubah on what Americans would call a meet and greet. At first the people seemed hesitant, but when they saw Iraqi leadersalong with members of their own pressasking citizens what they needed, each place we stopped grew into a festival of smiles.
The people were jubilant. None of the kidsand by the end of the day there were hundredsasked me for anything, other than to take their photos. These were not the kids-made-brats by well-meaning soldiers, but polite Iraqi kids in situ, and the cameras were like a roller coaster ride for them. The kids didnt care much for the video; they wanted still photos taken. While the kids were trying to get me to photograph them, it was as if the roller coaster was cranking and popping up the tracks, but when I finally turned the camera on themsnap! it was as if the rollercoaster had crested the apex and slipped into the thrill of gravity. Of course, once the ride ended, it only made some clamor for more. Iraqi kids that have not been spoiled by handouts are the funniest I have seen anywhere.
American soldiers just watched, but during one of the impromptu stops, an Iraqi man who might have been 30-years-old came up and said that hed been beaten up by soldiers from the 5th Iraqi Army. He had the marks on his face to lend initial credence. But most striking was that he hadnt gone to the Iraqi leaders, nor did he come to the man with the camera and note pad. He did what I see Iraqis increasingly doing: he went to the local sheik of al Ameriki tribe. In this case, the sheik was LTC Fred Johnson. . . .
More and more Iraqis put their trust in Americans as arbiters of justice. The man said he was afraid to complain to Iraqi officials because he might get killed, but he wanted to tell LTC Johnson, who listened carefully. When the man pleaded for anonymity, Johnson said he needed written statements from witnesses. The man pointed to some witnesses, and then disappeared and came back with statements, and I can say from my own eyes that Johnson was careful with those statements, guarding them until he could get alone with an Iraqi general later on 05 July. . . .
Posted by: Mike ||
07/06/2007 08:48 ||
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#1
al Ameriki tribe... hehe. I like that. It sums up America nicely.
#2
He did what I see Iraqis increasingly doing: he went to the local sheik of �al Ameriki tribe.� In this case, the sheik was LTC Fred Johnson. . . .
Heh. If you look at this from a sociological or organizational point of view, its actually a group process that is already incorporated in a different fashion within the existing military order -
TITLE 10 > Subtitle A > PART II > CHAPTER 47 > SUBCHAPTER XI > § 938
§ 938. Art. 138. Complaints of wrongs
Any member of the armed forces who believes himself wronged by his commanding officer, and who, upon due application to that commanding officer, is refused redress, may complain to any superior commissioned officer, who shall forward the complaint to the officer exercising general court-martial jurisdiction over the officer against whom it is made. The officer exercising general court-martial jurisdiction shall examine into the complaint and take proper measures for redressing the wrong complained of; and he shall, as soon as possible, send to the Secretary concerned a true statement of that complaint, with the proceedings had thereon.
Sheik, the old man, the big kahuna, it's all the same. Just different cultural rituals. Heh.
#3
And then their boy was brought in with his mouth stuffed. The boy had been baked. Al Qaeda served the boy to his family.
oh. my. god.
Could this be an Iraqi urban legend? Imagine the horror.
Posted by: Captain Lewis ||
07/06/2007 10:39 Comments ||
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#4
Re number 3
Captian, I highly think that part is probally an urban legend. It is horrific but just sounds too "movie like". It is understandable how this happens when people are under terror. IF its trues that is truly incredible
Posted by: LSU guy ||
07/06/2007 10:58 Comments ||
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#5
Any more urban legend than an AP or Reuters story? Decapigate comes to mind.
#7
Urban legends merge seamlessly into propaganda. Usually theirs, since we seem reluctant to even attempt such psy-ops. (Or we're so good at it that I don't even realize it's going on.)
One of the best legends was that our guys' fancy sunglasses gave them x-ray vision. That one kind of worked both ways - we were 'invincible', but also evil, because we were looking right through their womens' burkas and stuff.
#8
Don't put it past them. They have gutted children and hidden bombs inside to kill family members when they went to pick up the body. There is a level of depravity among muslims that Americans are not prepared for, so the public closes their eyes and pretends it does not exist.
Posted by: ed ||
07/06/2007 20:56 Comments ||
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AN NASIRIYAH, Iraq, July 5, 2007 The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is helping to create new situations to enable Iraqi women to take an active part in the reconstruction and security restoration of Iraq.
The Corps of Engineers is building a new Female Training Police Station in An Najaf Province, said Army Lt. Col. Jan Carter, senior project manager, Gulf Region South, Multi-National Security Transition Command-Iraq. It is a three-story facility with offices, jail cells, an armory, a communications room, guard towers, sleeping quarters and a courtyard for training new female police officers.
The objective for building the $134,000 female training police station is to help advise, organize and train Iraqi female officers on basic infantry tactics from squad to battalion level to further enhance the Iraqi police stations, Carter said. This project is very important and will help to eliminate terrorist acts and restore security in the Iraqi provinces, she said.
"The new police station will replace the existing station located near the Euphrates River. The project consists in providing the labor, supervision, equipment, and materials to construct the IPS in the city of An Najaf, southeast of Baghdad, Kadim said.
Carter said the Iraqi women impressed her especially during elections, when older women speak their minds and when women in the Government of Iraq act with authority while still respectful to their culture.
There are Iraqi women in some very high level positions in the Government of Iraq, she said. That surprised me to see them in these positions because I didnt expect them to speak up bravely and openly - but they definitely do speak their minds where it is needed.
They are here to make a difference in their lives and to help them to regain their country. This is a new element of security for the Iraqi people - to have female police officers. Females are a very important part of the society, she added.
An Iraqi female officer said, As an Iraqi woman, I wish I could see more changes in the Iraqi community. I joined the Iraqi Army to participate in the noble mission of restoring security in Iraq. I want to see all the Iraqi people happy and living in peace.
Posted by: Bobby ||
07/06/2007 08:12 ||
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#1
Chuck; Its very apparent that we are killing a lot of our enemies. Beyond that statement, I would caution the reader that there are too many unknowns for any sort of statistical conclusions. Other than the short period of the surge, the military is only releasing one third of the enemy losses. The command staff receives a morning brief that has the daily numbers but the choice has been made to not reveal those numbers.
#4
The MSM doesn't report Muslim terrorist KIA numbers because in fact they are traitors reveling on the blood of American soldiers.
In our area, KSTP, WCCO and KARE11 will never report these numbers. It makes me sick.
Which leads up to a question, more of a statement actually. It is time to boycott every single business that buys advertising from these pricks. Or should I say, the Muzzy terrorist allies?
A car bomb exploded in front of a photo shop where a wedding party had gathered in a southern Baghdad neighborhood Thursday killing at least eight people and wounding 20, police said.
The blast in the Shiite district of Abu Dshir went off at 6:45 p.m. while dozens of relatives and friends of a bride and a groom waited as the couple walked in to take a wedding picture, according to police. The couple were not hurt but most of the killed and wounded were from those waiting outside, a police official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the press.
The official said that women and children were among the victims. Abu Dshir is a Shiite enclave in Baghdad's lawless, mainly Sunni neighborhood of Dora. Explosions and mortar attacks in the area have been common in the past months leaving hundreds of people killed or wounded.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/06/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
There's no way the US can sustain a 1:6 kill ratio in this war. Even beyond an unwillingness to do so, we're already outnumbered 4:1 and being way out-reproduced. A 1:20 ratio would work if we wanted it to, but 1:100 would be a more realistic 'success' ratio (except then there would be complaints that we weren't 'fighting fair.')
IDF troops swept into the central Gaza Strip on Thursday, killing at least eight Hamas gunmen during a mission to root out terrorist infrastructure being set up along the border fence. Under the cover of tanks and attack helicopters, the Givati Brigade's Zabar Battalion entered central Gaza before dawn and surrounded a number of homes in the El-Bureij refugee camp. Two soldiers sustained light wounds after their armored personnel carrier was hit by an anti-tank missile.
The IDF said that the operation was aimed at clearing out Hamas and Islamic Jihad terror infrastructure from the border area. The troops, who probed about a kilometer and a half inside Gaza, encountered fierce resistance by Palestinian gunmen. "The resistance is proof that the terror groups are continuously trying to launch attacks and fortify their positions along the border," a source in the Southern Command said.
Hamas spokesman Abu Obeida said its gunmen initiated the clash by opening fire at an IDF undercover unit. Witnesses reported a heavy exchange of fire as IDF tanks and bulldozers moved in, and soldiers took up positions on rooftops. Hamas and Islamic Jihad gunmen, meanwhile, laid mines against the soldiers.
During the clashes, Hamas operatives fired three mortar shells at the Erez Crossing. Palestinian hospital officials said six gunmen were killed, and Hamas said all belonged to its group. Among the dead was Mohammed Siam, 37, the Hamas field commander in central Gaza, Hamas TV said. Another 13 Palestinians, including children, were reported wounded. IAF aircraft later fired missiles at Hamas targets in the area, the army said. Hospital officials said two gunmen were killed. Again, Hamas identified the dead as its members.
Deposed Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas, and a spokesman for Fatah, Hamas's bitter rival, both condemned the operation and urged Palestinians to fight back. "We assert that our people have the full right to defend themselves and to confront these aggressions," Haniyeh said.
Separately on Thursday, outgoing Judea and Samaria Division Commander Brig.-Gen. Yair Golan said that Israel need not be concerned that Hamas would take over the West Bank following its violent Gaza takeover three weeks ago. "You cannot compare Hamas's abilities in the West Bank to its abilities in Gaza," he said during a ceremony welcoming his replacement Brig.-Gen. Noam Tibon. "It is not that Hamas has given up on trying; it has to do with the fact that IDF operates freely and without restrictions" in the West Bank.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/06/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
interesting that Hamas cited the existence of IDF undercover units but the IDF did not
#2
A message to the People of Gaza.
IDF has undercover units among you. Any masked & armed man can be a Zionist assassin come to kill you. So shoot first!
The Thai government closed down an Islamic boarding school Friday in the country's violence-wracked south where security forces arrested seven alleged bomb-making specialists earlier this week, officials said.
Police and soldiers arrested the seven suspects Sunday night when they raided the Islam Burapha school in Narathiwat province's Muang district. Authorities found rifles, pistols, bomb-making ingredients including gasoline and ammonium nitrate, and mobile phones commonly used to trigger bombs. Army spokesman Col. Akara Thiprote said authorities on Wednesday arrested an "ustad," or teacher, who is a key member of the operation. "The school was used as a venue for meetings and training of insurgents," said Nattapol Vichienpraed, deputy governor of Narathiwat province. "It also gave refuge and hiding ground to the militants."
The school was among many Islamic schools in the south that have been employing Muslim extremists as teachers, fueling the insurgency, said Nidir Waba, head of southern Islamic schools association. "It is a school that has been on the watch list for a long time and they have not been following the peaceful means that religious schools are supposed to comply with," said Nidir. "There are more schools like that but the government will need to have enough evidence to take action." Some teachers and the principal were earlier taken in for questioning, police said.
The men arrested are suspected of involvement in some of the worst recent violence in the region, including a roadside bombing that killed 11 paramilitary troops on May 31, Akara said earlier. Some of the suspects were top members of Runda Kumpulan Kecil, or RKK, Akara said, a shadowy organization believed by some terrorism experts to be an informal network of separatists who allegedly received training in Indonesia.
The suspects were charged with illegal possession of explosive material and more charges, including terrorism-related ones, may follow after further investigation, Akara said.
Lebanese authorities seized weapons and ammunition during a raid on an apartment that belongs to Sheikh Fathi Yakan, a Sunni Islamist leader who is close to Syria, state-run National News Agency reported Friday. It said members of the state security apparatus busted Yakan's apartment in Abi Samra neighborhood in the northern port city of Tripoli at mid-night Thursday.
NNA said machine guns, ammunition as well as binoculars were confiscated from the apartment Yakan had used as an office as well as an arts institution. Authorities also seized guns and ammo during overnight raids on a school in Tripoli's Abi Samra neighborhood and on a house in Qalamoun, An Nahar newspaper reported Friday.
Meanwhile, security sources told the daily As Safir that a Fatah al-Islam ringleader in the May 20 killings of Lebanese army soldiers has been arrested. They said Walid B. was detained Thursday evening in north Lebanon and handed over to the Lebanese army intelligence for interrogation.
#1
We should offer any Lebanese politician or cleric who is identified as being "close to Syria" a one way "trip to Syria" from 45,000 ft. with no parachute...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
07/06/2007 12:29 Comments ||
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#2
nice to know Assad is funding both the Shia terrorists and the Sunni terrorists
Three Islamist militants were killed as the Lebanese army repulsed an attack inside a Palestinian camp in northern Lebanon, security sources said on Wednesday. Fatah al-Islam militants according to the army have lost all their positions and for this reason they are now trying to infiltrate into the army positions.
A correspondent at the scene, meanwhile, reported renewed exchanges of gunfire between the army and Fatah al-Islam fighters around Nahr al-Bared refugee camp, amid bursts of shells fired by the military. The sources said the bodies of three militants were evacuated by civil defense workers after the attack on the army late Tuesday in Nahr al-Bared, the scene of a six-week standoff between troops and Al-Qaeda-inspired extremists. "There was an infiltration attempt. The army fired back and the militants pulled back to positions deep inside the camp, as usual. They have no fixed posts," an army spokesman said, without confirming the casualties.
Fatah al-Islam militants "tried to advance towards buildings near the fringes of the camp to fire at soldiers. The army opened up with artillery, forcing their retreat and silencing their snipers," he said.
According to a count compiled from official figures and security sources, the battle has now claimed at least 173 lives, including 85 soldiers, in and around Nahr al-Bared. The toll does not include the corpses of fighters abandoned in the camp and which number in the hundreds.
Fatah al-Islam, which had spokesmen contactable by mobile phone in the early stages of the battle, was again unreachable on Wednesday. Their phone lines have apparently been cut off.
The International Committee of the Red Cross warned anew of the deteriorating humanitarian situation inside the camp. An ICRC spokeswoman, Virginia de la Guardia, said relief workers had not been able to deliver food and water supplies to the camp since June 20, with trapped residents running out of supplies. "Discussions are continuing with the army" for access, she said.
The last food rations which entered the camp amounted to 760 kilogrammes (1,670 pounds), enough for just over 100 people for two weeks, said the delegate of the ICRC, which has been coordinating relief. The army has been battling the Arab Islamists boxed inside the camp near the Mediterranean port city of Tripoli since May 20. As aid workers continue to seek access to trapped civilians, Palestinian factions have struggled to agree on the mandate of a proposed force to end the deadly showdown in the besieged camp.
In the absence of reliable figures, hundreds of Nahr al-Bared's original population of 31,000 are believed to remain inside the camp. The vast majority took advantage of lulls in the fighting to flee. According to a count compiled from official figures and security sources, the battle has now claimed at least 173 lives, including 85 soldiers, in and around Nahr al-Bared. The toll does not include the corpses of fighters abandoned in the camp and which number in the hundreds.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/06/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Let me be the first to say, "great job!"
Posted by: Captain Lewis ||
07/06/2007 5:40 Comments ||
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#2
"The army opened up with artillery, forcing their retreat and silencing their snipers"
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.
(SomaliNet) Three government soldiers were confirmed wounded in bomb explosions on the police station in Waberi district, south of the Somalia capital Mogadishu late Wednesday after two nights of lull. Unknown gunmen have thrown two hand grenade bombs on the police station around 7:28pm local time, according to local resident. 
(SomaliNet) Mogadishu mayor Mohamed Omar Habeb Mohamed Dhere today survived a remote controlled roadside bomb attack in Shibis district, north of the Somalia capital Mogadishu early Thursday. Eyewitnesses told Somalinet that the explosion missed the car in which the mayor was traveling. Soon after the blast, the bodyguards opened fire in all directions but did not succeed to find the plotters. No soldier was hurt in the latest bomb attack. 
A speaker at a rally protesting against caricatures of Prophet Mohammed (
Three men, who used the Internet to urge Muslims to fight non-believers, were jailed for between six-and-a-half and 10 years on Thursday. Tariq Al Daour, Younes Tsouli and Waseem Mughal had close links with Al Qaeda in Iraq and thought there was a global conspiracy to wipe out Islam, Woolwich Crown Court, in southeast London, was told. Moroccan-born Tsouli, 23, was jailed for 10 years; UAE-born Al Daour, 21, received a six-and-a-half year sentence; and 24-year-old Mughal, who was born in Britain, was given seven-and-a-half years.
A former Islamist radical has warned that a key extremist group operating in Australia and the UK numbers many doctors and engineers among its leadership.
Gunners fired after President Gen. Pervez Musharraf's plane took off from a military base on Friday in what one official described as a failed assassination attempt. 
PESHAWAR: Four policemen were killed and two others injured when suspected Taliban militants attacked their vehicle in Mattani police precincts late on Wednesday night, police said.
LANDI KOTAL: Four missiles were fired early on Thursday morning at a military base in Khyber Agency near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border but caused no damage, security officials, who wished to remain unnamed, told Daily Times. At around 2.30am on Thursday, four missiles were fired at the army camp in Landi Kotal in Khyber Agency from a hilltop around 150 metres from the camp, the officials said. Two of them landed in the camp, one near a helipad and another hit a room in Niki Khel, but there fortunately werent any casualties, they added.
DERA MURAD JAMALI: A traffic police constable was killed and three passers-by injured when a bomb planted in a bicycle went off in Dera Allah Yar, Jaffarabad District Police Officer (DPO) Suhail Ahmed Sheikh said on Thursday. Some unknown suspects had parked an explosive-laden bicycle at Sohbatpur Road. The resultant blast killed traffic police constable Muhammad Ishaq on the spot while three other citizens Ali Sher, Nadir Ali and Muhammad Nawaz were seriously injured. Police have registered a case.
Security forces used helicopters and explosions to rattle militants still holed up inside Lal Masjid on Thursday, as the government turned down a conditional offer from the mosques deputy chief cleric to surrender. Abdul Rashid Ghazi whose brother Abdul Aziz Ghazi was caught on Wednesday told a television channel he was willing to hand over the mosque and its affiliated madrassas to the government department for religious buildings. 
IDF troops swept into the central Gaza Strip on Thursday, killing at least eight Hamas gunmen during a mission to root out terrorist infrastructure being set up along the border fence. Under the cover of tanks and attack helicopters, the Givati Brigade's Zabar Battalion entered central Gaza before dawn and surrounded a number of homes in the El-Bureij refugee camp. Two soldiers sustained light wounds after their armored personnel carrier was hit by an anti-tank missile. 
