A small excerpt of a long, and important, despatch.
. . . IÂ’ve seen the Iraqi Army with my own eyes. IÂ’ve done many missions in 2005 and 2007, in many places in Iraq, along with the Iraqi Army: please believe me when I say that, on the whole, the Iraqi Army is remarkably better in 2007 and far more effective than it was in 2005. By 2007, the Iraqis were doing most of the fighting. And . . . this is very important . . . they see our Army and Marines as serious allies, and in many cases as friends. Please let the potential implications of that sink in.
We now have a large number of American and British officers who can pick up a phone from Washington or London and call an Iraqi officer that he knows well—an Iraqi he has fought along side of—and talk. Same with untold numbers of Sheiks and government officials, most of whom do not deserve the caricatural disdain they get most often from pundits who have never set foot in Iraq. British and American forces have a personal relationship with Iraqi leaders of many stripes. The long-term intangible implications of the betrayal of that trust through the precipitous withdrawal of our troops could be enormous, because they would be the certain first casualties of renewed violence, and selling out the Iraqis who are making an honest-go would make the Bay of Pigs sell-out seem inconsequential. The United States and Great Britain would hang their heads in shame for a century.
Alternately, in an equation in which the outcome is a stable Iraq for which they (Iraqi Police and Army officials) are stewards, the potential benefits are equally enormous. Because if Iraq were to settle down, and then a decade passes and we look back and even our most severe critics cannot deny that Iraq is a better place, a generation of IraqÂ’s most important leaders would have deep personal bonds with their counterparts in America and Great Britain. This could actually happen. The ultimate irony is that many of those same people who would have gotten the blame likely would be getting the credit. But somehow I doubt thereÂ’d be as much of a circle-point to share the glory. . . .
Posted by: Mike ||
01/09/2008 17:00 ||
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#1
brits should be hanging their heads in shame after Basra (IMO)
#3
I don't think these friendly relations will be busted up so easily, even with a Democrat president in the WH. This is because our military leaders still snarl at the memory of the US betrayal of the ARVN.
So from the get-go, and frequently thereafter, they enlightened their Iraqi counterparts as to the fickle nature of US politics. This was a warning that, with very little notice, the US military might have to pack up and go, so the Iraqis *have* to be ready to take over at any time.
Forewarned is forearmed. For at least two years now, the Iraqi army has been able and ready to take over. On the day when we knew that they could, without disaster, take over, everybody, both US military and Iraqi military, breathed a sigh of relief.
Everything beyond that is icing on the cake. The Iraqis have a shopping list of everything they need to become and remain a world-class military. They have been run through endless training exercises, battalion, brigade, and even division sized operations.
They have military schools for enlisted, NCOs, officers, senior and general officers, and branch specialties, all run by Iraqis but on the US models. They are one of the few armies in the world that takes maintenance and logistics as seriously as it should.
Probably their biggest problem right now is paperwork, bureaucracy, and interacting with the civilian government. And like the Turkish army, the Iraqi government knows that if it tries to undermine or cheat the Iraqi military, it could very well take over the country. And ironically, run it as the most honest Arab nation ever.
The bottom line is that the US has created an almost living being in the Iraqi military, one unique to the middle east. And the implications of our having done so will impact the entire region for a hundred years or more.
#4
THe Iraqis still have not even come close in Logistics and Maint. Thats going to take a few years. But they are quick students in terms of operations at the battalion level and below, and in some areas they are actually able to operate cohesively at a brigade and division scale operation.
Ya know what? If things continue, in about 3 years the Iraqis are going to scare the dogshit out of the Iranians - quality and quantity, schoole din the American ways of operational art, and finally having mastered logistics.
The Spanish government says two men arrested in the Basque Country are suspected of carrying out the deadly 2006 Madrid airport bombing.
The blast in a car park killed two Ecuadoreans and wrecked peace talks with the Basque separatist group Eta.
Martin Sarasola and Igor Portu were arrested on Sunday.
"These are the people who caused the explosion which killed two people in Terminal Four," Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba said.
Mr Portu was hospitalised with a broken rib and punctured lung after police said he had resisted arrest.
Another suspected Eta member still on the run is also accused of involvement in the 30 December 2006 attack.
The deaths of the Ecuadorean migrants at the Barajas airport multi-storey car park were the first attributed to Eta in more than three years.
The armed separatists had declared a permanent ceasefire in March 2006. The group seeks an independent state in northern Spain and south-west France.
After the airport bombing Eta admitted responsibility and said the deaths were unintended. Eta formally called off its ceasefire in June 2007.
The interior ministry said a sketch map found on one of the two arrested on Sunday led police to 125kg (275 pounds) of bomb-making materials in a cache in the northern province of Huesca.
Eta has been blamed for killing more than 800 people in its campaign, which has lasted more than three decades.
(KUNA) -- Turkish police have arrested a man in connection with a car bombing last week, which killed six people and injured several others in the south-eastern city of Diyarbakir. The suspect is a member of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) who was trained at camps in northern Iraq, the Turkish NTV news network reported on Tuesday.
One of the injured in the bombing died of wounds earlier in the day, taking the bombing death toll to six, the NTV said. Turkey has blamed the PKK for the attack, which came after Turkish warplanes had launched several strikes on PKK targets in northern Iraq. The bomb was set off remotely as a military bus was passing through the city centre. On Monday, the PKK released a statement, saying it was investigating the possibility that some of its militants may have planted the bomb - acting on their own behalf. Kurdish separatists have carried out bombings in the region before. The blast caused a huge blaze, igniting several vehicles.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2008 00:00 ||
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IMPHAL: Three women who were running betel nut and cigarette kiosks were rounded up by militants on Sunday night at Irengban in Imphal West district. They were released after being tonsured and produced before presspersons.
They were accused of selling tobacco products and betel leaves banned by a proscribed underground organisation, the Revolutionary PeopleÂ’s Front.
They have been debarred from opening their kiosks for two months.
Women found selling or smuggling such banned items here had been rounded up and punished in this manner earlier also. Their photographs were published along with reports in newspapers.
Militants had even shot dead wholesale and retail traders. Police do not take notice of such parading of business people.
In view of the curbs by militants, betel nuts are being sold at double the normal price.
Posted by: john frum ||
01/09/2008 05:27 ||
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#6
Yes, the IIUC, liberation was marked by a quasi-civil war, during which the commies "dealt" with many of their opposition, in addition to the basic brutalities from local bullies. I've been told, and think it's probably right, that this trauma is one of the reasons (the other being the gaullist poison) why there is no real conservative movement in France since WWII, because the actual right has been traumatized by this and the imposed guilt of being forcefully associated with hitlerism (while hitler was a leftist, in final analysis) and collaboration (while many collabos were socialists or commies, and the french communist party was a collaborator and TRAITOR party even before war broke out, and until the Motherlan was invaded in 1941) by the allied gaullists & commies.
Security forces on Tuesday resumed artillery fire on miscreantsÂ’ hideouts in the Matta and Kabal areas of Swat, as there were reports that rebel cleric Maulana Fazlullah may have been killed in the shelling.
A Daily Times Monitoring report quoted Geo News as saying that rumours about FazlullahÂ’s death arose following the security forcesÂ’ shelling of rebel hideouts, but neither security officials nor Taliban leaders confirmed them.
Also on Tuesday, security forces targeted militant positions in Piochar and Ocharaee Sar in Swat. The troops also arrested a paramedic, Hilal Ahmad, on charges of providing first-aid to militants. Meanwhile, official sources told Daily Times that
More than 500 miscreants – some of them close confidantes of Fazlullah’s and would-be suicide bombers – have been arrested by security forces since the launching of the operation.
more than 500 miscreants – some of them close confidantes of Fazlullah’s and would-be suicide bombers – had been arrested by security forces since the launching of the operation in the valley. The sources said the detainees were being investigated at different locations and some of them had provided key information to interrogators.
Meanwhile, the government said its writ had been restored in 90 percent of Swat, adding that Kabal was on high alert following a suicide bombing on Sunday. Curfew was also in place in areas between Baryam Bridge and Venai on Tuesday.
This article starring:
HILAL AHMED
TNSM
MAULANA FAZLULLAH
TNSM
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
500 close confidantes?
What's it take to be a close confidante? A My Space Invite?
#4
"A Daily Times Monitoring report quoted Geo News as saying that rumours about FazlullahÂ’s death arose following the security forcesÂ’ shelling of rebel hideouts, but neither security officials nor Taliban leaders confirmed them."
#6
tu,
Pics of Maulana Fazlullah are hard to come by, IIRC I think I have a poor group pic of his with two others taken from a distance. still lookin.. Jamestown might have it..????
His pre-cleric name is Fazal Hayat. According to Rahimullah Yusufzai in the Daly Jang.
in fact the Jang has several good articles..
example: Maulana's brother was killed in air strikes by the CIA-operated pilotless predator on a madrasa in Bajaur Agency.
#7
RD ....this was sent to me via email....its Fazullah....couretsy of NBC News who have it attached to a story of Fazullah surviving the attack overnite.
Simultaneous attacks on the offices of pro-government peace committees supporting commander Maulvi Nazir will lead to “serious consequences” for Baitullah Mehsud, officials and tribal elders said. Baitullah is being chased by the government for his alleged involvement in the assassination of former premier Benazir Bhutto.
“Anyone who is from the Mehsud tribe is leaving Wana following the late Sunday night attacks in which ten comrades of Maulvi Nazir were killed,” the officials told Daily Times. “The current situation will help the government and endanger Baitullah Mehsud’s life,” the officials said. Maulvi Nazir’s men retaliated and killed a Mehsud Talib and captured four others hours after the attacks.
A Mehsud tribesman said that there was tense situation for non-Wazir residents in Wana where announcements were being made via loudspeaker-mounted vehicles asking the Mehsuds to “leave the Wana soil. Most Ahmedzai Wazirs believe the attacks were orchestrated by Baitullah Mehsud and that Maulvi Nazir people can retaliate.”
Separately, Nazir summoned a meeting of elders of his clan on Wednesday to discuss the situation after the killings, his aides told AFP. The Mehsud tribe also held a meeting and decided to send a delegation for talks with aides of Baitullah Mehsud, local administration official Khaista Rehman said.
This article starring:
Baitullah Mehsud
Taliban
Maulvi Nazir
Taliban
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2008 00:00 ||
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Miscreants fired 11 rockets on the Army Garrison Colony on the Warsk Road, officials said. The rockets were fired early on Tuesday at around 2:30am. One rocket that hit the house of Swat Scouts Colonel Asadullah didnÂ’t explode, while others hit the outer walls of the Army Public School, a guesthouse, D-block and a playground. The incident panicked the residents of the area which houses a mini army garrison, a military training camp, officersÂ’ colony, guesthouses, playground and offices located close to the Yakaghund checkpost, entry point to Mohmand Agency. Police sources said the rockets were fired from the Shin Ghar and Dab Korona areas.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2008 00:00 ||
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Intelligence agencies arrested an Al Qaeda-linked militant and six of his associates in connection with an attack on an air force bus in November that killed eight people and wounded about 40 others, a security official said on Tuesday.
The suspect, identified as Ahsanul Haq, a retired army major, was caught in Lahore last month following the November 1 attack in Sargodha, the official said.
Haq told security forces the name of the bomber, who belonged to an outlawed militant group, the security official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media. “Ahsanul Haq was the mastermind of the attack on the air force bus, and six of his associates have also been arrested on his information,” the official said.
This article starring:
Ahsanul Haq
al-Qaeda
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2008 00:00 ||
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Clashes between security forces and militants in South Waziristan left one soldier dead and three others injured on Tuesday, Online reported. Unidentified miscreants opened fire on checkposts at Tayyarza Force and Chaghmalai Force.
Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) spokesman Major General Waheed Arshad confirmed the casualties. Armed men fired rockets and opened fire with automatic weapons at a security forces fort, an official told NNI. Separately, political agents said miscreants also targeted checkposts at Omar Adda, but no loss of life and property had been reported, Online said. Police in nearby Tank city said unidentified men fired several rockets at the city last night, but there was no casualties, NNI added.
Kidnapped: Three soldiers were also kidnapped from the Sarokey area of South Waziristan, according to locals. The soldiers from the Waziristan Scouts Force were kidnapped while travelling in a private car, local officials said. Masked armed men stopped the car, forced the soldiers out and took them to an undisclosed location, reported NNI.
Authorities blocked all traffic on the road to stop the militants from shifting the soldiers out of the tribal region, locals said.
Caretaker Interior Minister Hamid Nawaz Khan says security forces have planned a major operation against Baitullah Mehsud, the linchpin militant commander in South Waziristan. President Pervez Musharraf has blamed Mehsood for Benazir BhuttoÂ’s assassination and accused him of recruiting suicide bombers. One of Baitullah MehsudÂ’s spokesmen, however, has denied any involvement in BenazirÂ’s assassination.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2008 00:00 ||
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Security officials at the Torkham border crossing have seized more than five kilograms of heroin on Tuesday.
One and a half kilograms of heroin were recovered from a couple while crossing the border from Afghanistan into Pakistan, officials said. The Afghan national, named Ba Khan and his wife were taken into custody on charges of smuggling the narcotics. The woman was later freed while the man remained locked for further investigations. Another three and a half kilograms of heroin, packed in packets of a popular detergent powder making company, were seized from a handcart.
People crossing the border usually hire handcarts to carry their baggage, as they had to walk nearly half a kilometre distance before reaching the taxi stand.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
If the Supreme Court rules the three drug cocktail used for lethal injection unconstitutional, maybe the US should buy up the poppies so all our prisoners on death row can have a speedy deep sleep. Win/win solution.
#1
So we still can't trust the Iraqi Army (not like The New York Times, anyway) and the elusive insurgents still slip away before the fumble-fingered Americans.
At least the baby ducks and fluffy bunnies got out of town with the women and children before the so-called secret attack.
I love The New York Times. Anybody taking bets on when they'll crash and burn?
Posted by: Bobby ||
01/09/2008 6:49 Comments ||
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#2
Sounds like the insurgents go running away like little girls when men with guns come around. The fierce lions of islam, dont make me laugh. Just keep them running, they'll drop from exhaustion sooner or later.
#3
At least no ducks or fluffy bunnies got hurt. But what about all the CO2 pollution from the operation? Gaia is a risk! Bush is killing the planet by Global Warming and not enough health care for all!!
BAGHDAD – Coalition Force events in support of Operation Marne Thunderbolt continued to reduce the ability of al-Qaeda in Iraq operating in areas south of Baghdad Jan. 5 and 6.
On the morning of Jan. 6, a structure rigged with explosives was reported to Soldiers from 6th Squadron, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, currently attached to 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Inf. Div. An air strike by a U.S. Air Force F-16 fighter jet destroyed the structure with a 500-pound GBU-38 bomb. Quicker and more spectacular than the old iron ball swinging from a crane (safer for the operator too.)
Later the same day, an air weapons team from the Combat Aviation Brigade, 3rd Inf. Div., observed a group of haystacks with an opening leading to an underground tunnel used by extremists. The helicopters destroyed the tunnel, making the tunnel system inoperable. Is Bill Murray busy? All these tunnels being found lately are just begging for the Carl Spackler touch.
Posted by: Glenmore ||
01/09/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Operation Marne Thunderbolt (Caddyshack Iraq)
Combat Aviation Brigade, 3rd Inf. Div., observed a group of haystacks with an opening leading to an underground tunnel used by extremists.
Sounds like a job for Tunnel Rats,
In order to fit down into the small narrow tunnels these soldiers were chosen from a pool of willing men who were small in stature.
But let everyone know that each and every soldier and Marine Tunnel Rat who went down into those black enemy tunnels had gigantic weavos inorder to do the job. RVN.
I can honestly say It is not a job I would ever volunteer for. "Let's Use TNT Sarge", would be my suggestion. LOL!
#3
I actually got to meet an (at the time), senior US Army Major, who in his youth had been a tunnel rat.
Tunnel rats are only needed for elaborate underground sites. That is, they not only have multiple entrances, but are designed in such a way that a large explosion on an entrance will just close it, not damage the contents of the cave.
Since air dropped munitions of the time were inaccurate, cave entrances were often destroyed with ground charges of conventional explosives.
But tunnels in Iraq would be much more primitive than those built in Vietnam.
Posted by: Carl ||
01/09/2008 13:40 Comments ||
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#6
Pump it full of kerosene and toss in a burning cigarette. Look for smoke coming up from other areas nearby. Listen for screams.
Cruel? Yes. War is cruel. Fighting it any other way is only giving the advantage to the enemy.
I know (or have known) several tunnel rats, plus a few "gray ghosts" - the guys that went into Laos to keep watch on the Ho Chi Minh superhighway network. VERY brave men! This country seems to still produce them in plentiful supply. Our only worry is to keep the liberals from denying them the opportunity to do what HAS to be done.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/09/2008 13:57 Comments ||
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#8
If you start putting kerosene, gasoline vapors, or propane down the tunnels, so that the fuel is dispersed--it works--the terrs will start taking civilians down the tunnels, as their buds did in VN.
So, we switch to tear gas, run the folks out, separate the civilians from the terrs, and the libs start screaming about "chemical warfare". Happened in VN.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey ||
01/09/2008 16:10 Comments ||
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#9
Send libs in the tunnel. This way they don't scream.
#10
Maybe use something like ethylene oxide in the tunnel. It has a flammability limit of between 3% and 100%, so it brings enough oxygen with it to the party.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/09/2008 23:19 Comments ||
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BAGHDAD - Gunmen kidnapped eight members of a US-backed neighbourhood militia in Baghdad and shot dead one of their leaders, officials said on Tuesday, a day after a suicide bomber blew up another Awakening leader. “Gunmen in five cars arrived in Shaab neighbourhood on Monday evening and abducted eight Shia Awakening members who were controlling a checkpoint,” an interior ministry official told AFP.
Shaab, in northeast Baghdad, is a mainly Shia neighbourhood where members of anti-Qaeda fronts being set across the country by the US military, known as Awakening councils, have taken control of security. Awakening groups, which the US military says have contributed to a 62 percent fall in attacks across the country since June, have been formed mainly in Sunni areas but also increasingly in Shia-dominated neighbourhoods and towns.
Ismael Abbas, the Awakening leader in Shaab, was shot dead in the street by gunmen using silencers, the official said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/09/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
We need to do more to protect these guys from Al-Q. They're a prime target. We also need to move everything we can to find and rescue these people before Al-Q bumps them off. Capturing the leaders and hanging them in a main square in Baghdad would also go a long way toward ending these kidnappings.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/09/2008 14:17 Comments ||
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#2
We need to do more to protect these guys from Al-Q.
I thought the idea was "these guys can replace US military in dealing with AQ"?
Coalition forces captured a suspected Special Groups leader and detained three other suspects early today during operations to disrupt criminal networks in the Baghdad area.
The targeted individual was reportedly a Baghdad Special Groups leader who facilitated the training of numerous criminals in activities including murders and kidnappings. The wanted individual was also reported to be an associate of other senior-level criminal element leaders involved in attacks on Coalition forces. Intelligence led ground forces to the target area where they captured the wanted individual and the three other suspected criminals without incident.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2008 00:00 ||
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Coalition forces killed three terrorists and detained 28 suspects yesterday and today during operations targeting al-Qaeda in Iraq networks in central and northern Iraq.
East of Mahmudiyah today, Coalition forces conducted an operation targeting an alleged al-Qaeda in Iraq leader for the network in Arab Jabour. The targeted individual is reportedly responsible for an attack in Hawr Rajjab in November that killed two Iraqi police members.
As the ground force arrived in the area, they observed three armed men maneuvering around the target buildings. Coalition forces tracked the men to a static location and directed them to come out, but they did not comply. The men then began to maneuver in separate directions. One of the men threw a grenade at the ground forceÂ’s position, and they engaged the hostile threat, killing him. The ground force then engaged the remaining armed men in a separate location, killing them. Upon clearing the area, Coalition forces discovered three machine guns and military style assault vests. The ground force also detained six suspected terrorists.
In Baghdad, Coalition forces captured a wanted individual believed to be an associate of the al-Qaeda in Iraq media and propaganda network. The wanted individual allegedly replaced a suspect detained by Coalition forces Dec. 21, and is believed to have ties to numerous senior al-Qaeda in Iraq leaders in the region. Two suspected terrorists were detained in addition to the wanted individual.
North of Manusuriyah, Coalition forces detained five suspects while targeting associates of the al-Qaeda in Iraq network operating in the northeast Diyala River Valley region. As the ground force cleared the area, they discovered numerous machine guns, military style assault vests and grenades which were safely destroyed on site.
During operations yesterday, Coalition forces detained 14 suspects in Baghdad and Mosul while targeting associates allegedly involved in al-Qaeda in Iraq media networks and assassination operations. “The barbaric nature of al Qaeda and their Taliban ideology is being rejected by the Iraqi people,” said Navy Capt. Vic Beck, MNF-I spokesman. “Iraqi and Coalition Forces will continue to close ranks against these terrorists, disrupting their networks and forcing them out of their safe havens and operating bases.”
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2008 00:00 ||
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The 1-10th Mountain Division's 2nd Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, along with the Iraqi Army searched Iraqi farmlands for caches and other evidence of terrorist activity as part of Operation Courage Harvest Jan. 2 through 5.
The 2-22 Inf.Â’s mission was a smaller part of a brigade-level operation the 1-10th Mtn. Div. is conducting called Warrior Harvest. The intent is to disrupt terrorist activity in the Kirkuk area of northern Iraq where the brigade is deployed so citizens feel safer and emboldened to rise up against terrorists living among them.
During the course of 2-22 Inf.'s three day operation two caches were discovered.
They consisted of explosives, weapons and other materials used to target Coalition and Iraqi Security Forces. Iraqi Army Soldiers also discovered and detained a targeted individual listed on their suspected terrorist list.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2008 00:00 ||
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Iraqi Special Operations Forces, advised by U.S. Special Forces, detained a known extremist cell leader and three additional suspected extremists Jan. 7 in the Zafaraniyah and Diyala areas of Baghdad.
The known extremist is said to lead a cell believed to be behind numerous improvised explosive device and indirect fire attacks against Iraqi and Coalition Forces as well as a wide range of criminal activities including kidnapping and murder. The extremists are also said to threaten government and political figures. No Iraqi or U.S. Forces were injured during the operation.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2008 00:00 ||
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U.S. Air Force F-16 fighter jets dropped two 500-pound bombs, destroying an al-Qaeda in Iraq safe house used to make and store improvised explosive devices near Busayefi Jan. 6.
After the structure was destroyed, a site survey was conducted by Multi-National Division – Center Soldiers and IED-making materials were found.
The remnants of the IED-making materials found in the rubble included one 122 mm projectile, one 120 mm mortar round, three 57 mm projectile rounds primed with detonation cord, 50 DSHKA large-caliber machine gun rounds, three spools of copper wire, two crush wire strips, 30 meters of command wire, three bundles of detonation cord and a video camera.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2008 00:00 ||
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(KUNA) -- The US military in Iraq announced on Tuesday the beginning of "Operation Phantom Phoenix." The operation is a series of joint Iraqi and Coalition division- and brigade-level operations to pursue and neutralize remaining al-Qaeda and other extremist elements in Iraq, Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno, commander of Multi-National Corps - Iraq said in a statement.
"Working closely with the Iraqi Security Forces, we will continue to pursue al-Qaeda and other extremists wherever they attempt to take sanctuary," Odierno said, "Iraqi citizens continue to reject extremist elements. We are determined not to allow these brutal elements to have respite anywhere in Iraq.
"Iraqis are not passively allowing extremists to conduct their criminal activities. We are continuing to see citizens joining Concerned Local Citizen groups, provide tips for criminals and weapons and ammunition caches, and cooperate with the Government of Iraq. This is another step aimed at providing Iraqis long-term sustainable security," he said.
However, Odierno did not reveal where the operation would be carried out.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
OTOH REDDIT [paraph] > AMERICA PAYS 70,000 INSURGENTS US$10.0 A DAY NOT TO BE VIOLENT???
#2
This is odd. Both the use of the word "Phoenix", which has some interesting connotations, and that it is being carried out in an unspecified area, imply that this might be used to take down either infiltrators in the Iraqi government or mobile terrorist teams who avoid conflict.
GAZA, Jan 9 (KUNA) -- Salvos of missiles roared anew in direction of southern Israel on Wednesday and Israeli aircraft went into action to hit a location in the north of Gaza Strip where the rockets were unleashed. Spokesman of the Israeli Army told Israel Radio five missiles were fired from the north of Gaza Strip targeting southern Israel. Three of the rockets crashed near the town of Zekim and two others near Sderot. The rockets caused no losses.
Al-Quds Brigades, military wing of Islamic Jihad, said it was responsible for firing the new salvo of missiles, adding that its attack was "in retaliation for US President George W Bush's visit to the region due later today."
The National Resistance Brigades, the military wing of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, said it was responsible for hitting an Israeli military position with a rocket in eastern part of the strip.
Al-Nasser Salah-Eddine, the military arm of the Popular Resistance Committees in Palestine, said in a statement one of its fighters was killed in an Israeli air strike that targeted a group of its guerrillas near the town of Beit Lahia in the north of the strip earlier today. Amjad Abdel Dayem, 26, a member of a missile unit, was killed and four fellow fighter were wounded in the strike. The group confirmed that the raid was carried out after the unit launched missiles on southern Israel.
Meanwhile, a spokesman of the Israeli Army declared blocking all checkpoints around the strip and the West Bank as a security precaution ahead of Bush's visit.
Israel has declared security alert ahead of the expected visit of the US president.
In a statement, another Islamic organization, Hamas, condemned Bush's regional whirlwind saying it "would be part of international schemes against the Palestinian cause."
#1
Ima thinking the next Paleo-holding prison facility oughtta be in missile range in Sderot, just make sure the shake-n-bake doesn't damage the walls so's they can get away
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/09/2008 20:06 Comments ||
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Ma'an – Israeli forces arrested five Palestinians from the village of Beit Ummar north of Hebron, in the southern West Bank, on Tuesday morning, after storming their homes, Palestinian security sources said. Separately, the security sources said that 15 soldiers occupied the home of Ishaq Abu 'Eisha in Hebron and detained the family for several hours.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2008 00:00 ||
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Ma'an – The Palestinian Authority arrested four journalists in the West Bank City of Tulkarem on Tuesday, the Hamas movement said.
According to Hamas, the detainees included the head of Al-Aqsa television in the West Bank, Muhammad Shtewi, Al-Aqsa correspondent Tariq Shahab, Palestine newspaper journalist Salim Tayeh, and another journalist named Fareed As Sayed.
The Fatah-controlled Palestinian Authority shut down the Hamas-affiliated Al-Aqsa satellite channel in the West Bank after Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip in June.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2008 00:00 ||
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(KUNA) -- The Governor of the Palestinian city of Nablus Jamal Moheissen said some 20 members of the pro-Fatah Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade handed in on Tuesday their weapons and surrendered to Palestinian security forces.
Hoheissen, who was speaking during a special interview with the Kuwait News Agency (KUNA), said they made the move voluntarily in order to deny Israeli forces the excuse to continue their intrusion into Nablus to catch the activists.
He said the activists were willing to give the peace process a chance to succeed and have opted to give themselves up as a "national gesture." He added that members of the armed resistance were determined to comply with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' peace pledges, "but it was the Israelis who continued their random killing of Palestinians and destruction of their homes." Moheissen said the 20 activists were now held by security forces in their headquarters and added that a meeting between Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayad and Israeli Army Minister Ehud Barak would meet soon to discuss several issues including the issue of Israeli checkpoints in the West Bank and Gaza.
The meeting was to have taken place Tuesday, but was postponed for some reason, which Moheissen declined to reveal.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Now IAF should flatten the building where they're held, and give out that it was by prearrangement with Abbas.
#2
They probably drop their weapons at the front door, and pick 'em up again at the back door, later. I wouldn't trust a muslim with anything, unless I'd known him for a decade or so, and even then I'd be a bit cautious.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/09/2008 14:26 Comments ||
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(KUNA) -- Israeli warplanes fired rockets at two Palestinian sites in south Gaza Strip on Tuesday. Eyewitnesses said an Israeli helicopter fired several rockets at the site of the marine forces of the deposed Palestinian government that is located on the beach of Rafah city. They said the rockets hit a room that was used by the police and destroyed it without causing any casualties, adding that Israeli military gunboats participated in the attack on the Palestinian site.
The witnesses said that as response to the Israeli attack, Palestinian militants opened fire at the Israeli military gunboats that got close to the Rafah's beach.
Didn't hit anything, did they?
During the aggression on the strip, an Israeli helicopter fired a rocket that deviated off course and roared in the direction of the border with Egypt, eyewitnesses said.
They say it was a deviation ...
Meanwhile, Israeli warplanes fired rockets at a position of Izz Al-Din Al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas's military wing, in Al-Qarara area, south of the strip, witnesses said. The rockets' explosion caused damage and ambulance vehicles rushed to the scene, they added.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Hamas
A Muslim villager was shot at close range and killed by suspected terrorists insurgents in Yala province on Wednesday, police said. Two terrorists insurgents chase (sic) Abdullah Sulong, 34, when he was riding a motorcycle in Yaha district. The victim was shot twice, once in the head, and was killed instantly.
The Pentagon has video and audio tape of an incident in the Strait of Hormuz Sunday in which armed Iranian speedboats swarmed three US warships and radioed a threat to blow them up, officials said Tuesday.
"There was video of the incident and it is in the process of being reviewed, There is some audio on the videotape also," said Colonel Gary Keck, a Pentagon spokesman.
Keck said he did not know whether the video would be released.
A Pentagon official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said he understood that the audio portion of the tape includes the threat radioed by one of the Iranian vessels to blow up the US ships. Unless it was misunderstood Arabic, that's what it sounded like to me!
He said the video consists mainly of long shots of Iranian vessels in the water, but also captures the sounds of ship horns and communications in the bridge of the US ships. "Get the flyswatter!"
"The pellet gun would be more fun!"
"OK, but only after they've had to run back and forth through our wake a few times and give their kidneys something to cry about."
The Pentagon charged Monday that five armed Iranian speedboats approached the USS Port Royal, the USS Hopper and the USS Ingraham at high speeds in international waters as they transited the Strait of Hormuz Sunday morning at 0400 GMT. Where were the USS Prager, USS Medved, and USS Hewitt? :-)
A US defense official, who asked not to be identified, quoted the Iranian radio transmission as saying: "I'm coming at you and you will blow up in a couple of minutes." Who are we going to blow up in a couple of minutes?
Pentagon officials said the Iranians also dropped white floating boxes into the path of the Ingraham, a guided missile frigate which passed by them without incident. Just happened to have them, eh? Do they have something to do with your "identification" process?
The US warships issued warnings and engaged in evasive maneuvers but no shots were fired during the encounter, which lasted less than 30 minutes, according to US defense officials. Ended when one of those guys in the speedboats came down on a nut.
Iranian officials played down the incident. Rules of Taquiyya #1: Downplay the incident.
"What happened between the Guards and foreign vessels was an ordinary identification," Ali Reza Tangsiri, commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' naval forces in the region, told the Mehr news agency. Rules of Taquiyya #2: Blame it on whatever kind of misunderstanding you feel most likely to weasel you out from under the consequences of your actions. Nonetheless, please explain the "I'm coming at you and you will blow up in a couple of minutes" part.
He added that the Guards' naval forces had a right to monitor and identify "any vessel entering Persian Gulf waters" to the northwest. And in a few more seconds there would have been a reciprocal "cultural misunderstanding" regarding the West's views of legitimate self defense had those speedboats not recognized that those were US government warships and not fishing boats.
Iranian state television quoted an unnamed Guards source in the region as saying that "no threatening message was transmitted" in Sunday's incident. Well, look at the bright side, at least they know how they are supposed to behave.
#2
...I dunno. Something about the way the USN responded - and the relatively calm way that POTUS responded as well - suggests to me that we may have had a clue something was coming.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
01/09/2008 10:11 Comments ||
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#3
welll there are thousands out there and it is common for a verbal response like this....but what are the ROE's....seemed danger close and if the transmission is correct the captian should be removed..we look weak...we have stated many times what our intention would be if boats came that close (ala cole)....these iranrags should of been toasted
Posted by: dan ||
01/09/2008 10:38 Comments ||
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#4
I assume it was Farsi they spoke. I'm glad our Navy has the iron discipline to go to open war on our timing, not Iran's.
Info from MNF, iiuc, is that Iran has lowered their troublemaking their, even as we have kept going after their folks. I dont believe thats them suddenly becoming "moderate" - I think thats them running scared. I think we keep them in that position, and not blow it with an incident at sea. "Dont fire unles fired upon, BUT if they mean to have a war, let it begin here" and all that.
Why they did this I dont know. Testing response maybe. Or some local Repug Guard thugs acting out of indiscipline, or even trying to manipulate politics in Teheran, maybe.
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/09/2008 14:23 Comments ||
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#9
I think the US is waiting for a very overt and undenyable act of war before they crush Iran like the treacherous bugs they are. They want to ensure there can NOT be a "misunderstanding", but without allowing Iran any type of propaganda victory, such as sinking a US warship. If I were an ordinary Iranian citizen, I think I'd move out of Bandar Abbas - say up around the northeast corner of the country, near Afghanistan, in a very isolated spot. Just a guess, but I'd bet that if anything REALLY happened, Bandar Abbas would be unlivable for anywhere from a few months to a thousand years or so.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/09/2008 14:33 Comments ||
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#10
Testing response maybe.
Part of it. Part of it is their primitive need to count coo. But more importantly, I think it is placing the US frog in warm water. We get complacent having Iranian warcraft swarming within firing distance and one day they let loose.
Posted by: ed ||
01/09/2008 15:53 Comments ||
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#11
And by let loose, I don't mean by boats with Iranian markings.
Posted by: ed ||
01/09/2008 15:58 Comments ||
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#12
Wouldn't it be interesting if those RG fastboats mysteriously exploded some dark and stormy night while safely tied up in port? And just by coincidence, right after the explosion a sound vaguely similiar to that of a jet aircraft flying low and fast was heard?????
#13
They have threatened to retaliate on American interests (& not necessarily the US Navy in the immediate vicinity) if "attacked", previously hinting they have radioactive, if not nuclear, capabilities and proxies willing to deliver. The deliberate provocation would be followed by self-justification for starting WW3. Kudos to the Navy.
#14
IRAN must be nervously twiddling/twitching their thumbs as they know Dubya = USA still has six months to a year to do take [unilateral]military action agz it. ADD TO THESE FEARS OR UNCERTAINTIES OF DUBYA'S INTENTS THE "ALTERNATIVE FUTURES FOR RUSSIA 2017" REPORT, i.e. the report's scenario where PUTIN is poten assassinated in JANUARY 2008 resulting in Russ national instability. LEST WE FERGIT, RADICAL MULLAHS, etc > BI-NATIONAL + EVEN GLOBAL MUTUAL DESTRUCTION IS TO ISLAM'S = ISLAMISM'S ADVANTAGE, BESIDES ALSO THE "OIL/RESOURCES CATACLYSM".
IOW, COROLLARY > WAR IS TO ISLAM'S = ISLAMISM'S ADVANTAGE + BENEFIT, AND IT DOESN'T REALLY MATTER WHETHER IRAN = RADIC ISLAMISM STARTS IT, OR THE USA DOES.
#15
Looks like nothing happened at all. Joy rides in speed boats! Talk about making something out of nothing. Didn't realize the U.S. Navy was so easily spooked.
Course, it could just be baloney right?
Anyone have an official U.S. protest of the incident to share?
#17
The Iranians learned valuable intelligence from that "little incursion", namely...1)delay times while upper ranks are brought into the loop, 2)distance to targeting parameters for the laser spotting and radar blanking, 3)that the ships 'can' be diverted by phony sea mines [possible into a laid 'real field'; and 4)freedom circumnavigated close quartered presence had chemical or biological agents been dispersed during favorable wind conditions!! And all of this not withstanding a deadpan silent ramrun into a ship at night during a storm! Send a low level coded message to Iranian Revolutionary Guards that there will be a 'dance' at the next occasion.
#2
bigjim-ky, "W" said it himself today, "...there will be serious consequences if they 'attack' our ships while...", the key and code word is 'attack', the Rules Of Engagement at the current status requires a 'shooting', 'launching', or collision at or with a US vessel, otherwise "W" could just as easily said 'buzzing', 'intercepting', 'interdicting' or to a lesser extent 'interfering' in the triggering event. My guess, this first event is being offered as a gauntlet for the subsequent 'consequences'! Any heightening of the ROE will require a 'redline demarcation' area, the US may or may not reveal!
Two rockets slammed into northern Israel from Lebanon overnight, police said on Tuesday, in an attack that underscored cross-border tensions ahead of US President George W. Bush's regional visit. It was the first such incident in nearly seven months and came a day before Bush arrives on a landmark trip aimed at bolstering revived Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations. "Two 107-mm Katyusha rockets were fired overnight into northern Israel," Avi Edri, a spokesman for the Israeli northern district police, told AFP.
No-one was injured and the rockets caused only minor damage to a house and a nearby street in the border town of Shlomi, but Defence Minister Ehud Barak called the incident "grave." "We will learn what happened together with the army officers, we'll think and decide how to act," Barak said during a visit to Israel's northern border.
The incident was not reported until hours later because residents of the town thought the noise from the explosions was thunder, Shlomi mayor Gabi Naama told army radio. "The rockets fell around 2:00 am (midnight GMT) and were fired from southern Lebanon," he said.
But in Lebanon the army denied any rockets had been fired. "The reports are false, there were no rockets fired from Lebanon today," a Lebanese army spokesman told AFP.
An official with the Hezbollah militia -- with which Israel fought a 34-day war in July-August 2006 -- said the group "had no information on this subject." Hezbollah fired nearly 4,000 rockets into Israel during the 2006 conflict.
The UN peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon (UNIFIL), which monitors the ceasefire between the two sides, said its specialists were examining the incident. "UNIFIL is in the process of ascertaining the facts. We have our team on the ground. In the meantime, we cannot confirm or deny this report," spokeswoman Yasmina Buziane told AFP.
But Israel's foreign ministry said it had filed a "severe complaint" to the United Nation's Security Council over the rocket firing, saying it was a "warning call" for the international community.
The last time rockets were fired into northern Israel from Lebanon was on June 17, 2007, when two projectiles hit an industrial zone in the border town of Kiryat Shmona without causing casualties. At the time Hezbollah denied having fired any missiles and Israeli defence officials said they believed the rockets were launched by a Palestinian group in Lebanon, without naming an organisation. No group ever claimed responsibility for the incident.
The Israeli army early on Tuesday released into UNIFIL custody a Lebanese shepherd whom they arrested the previous day, Lebanese police said. The army had said that the man had been detained after crossing into Israeli territory.
In Beirut, Prime Minister Fuad Siniora's office said Lebanon would complain to the UN Security Council over "the kidnapping" of one of its citizens.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2008 00:00 ||
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[15 views]
Top|| File under: PFLP-GC
#2
I just know someone will take this wrong, but After viewing this section for the last several months I am forced to comment on just how unremarkable these women really are.
Not saying bad, just saying not seeing anything special.
Posted by: Charles ||
01/09/2008 11:27 Comments ||
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#3
Charles must have missed Sabrina.
But then, I though Audry Hepburn was pretty special too.
Or, maybe he's looking for a different kind of web site. You know, the kind that requires a credit card.
Posted by: Mike ||
01/09/2008 12:17 Comments ||
Top||
#7
With todays Pop(ular) choices, these girls are solid. I've had my fill of Brittany Spears being spaced out on drugs, rumors of Paris Hilton's videos, and Hip Hop queens dressed for the pimp look. IMHO.
#8
You say such sweet things, Mike! :-) But, the DS&TP is something Fred does for his own amusement, and that not all share his taste has been mentioned here previously.
#9
I have to agree with Fred's choices. I always knew how pretty Audrey Hepburn was, but I had no idea how gorgeous Helen Hayes was as a young woman (She was a lovely grandmotherly type when I became aware of her.)
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.
(KUNA) -- Turkish police have arrested a man in connection with a car bombing last week, which killed six people and injured several others in the south-eastern city of Diyarbakir. The suspect is a member of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) who was trained at camps in northern Iraq, the Turkish NTV news network reported on Tuesday.
Security forces on Tuesday resumed artillery fire on miscreantsÂ’ hideouts in the Matta and Kabal areas of Swat, as there were reports that rebel cleric 
Simultaneous attacks on the offices of pro-government peace committees supporting commander 
Intelligence agencies arrested an Al Qaeda-linked militant and six of his associates in connection with an attack on an air force bus in November that killed eight people and wounded about 40 others, a security official said on Tuesday.
BAGHDAD - Gunmen kidnapped eight members of a US-backed neighbourhood militia in Baghdad and shot dead one of their leaders, officials said on Tuesday, a day after a suicide bomber blew up another Awakening leader. “Gunmen in five cars arrived in Shaab neighbourhood on Monday evening and abducted eight Shia Awakening members who were controlling a checkpoint,” an interior ministry official told AFP.
Coalition forces killed three terrorists and detained 28 suspects yesterday and today during operations targeting al-Qaeda in Iraq networks in central and northern Iraq.
The 1-10th Mountain Division's 2nd Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, along with the Iraqi Army searched Iraqi farmlands for caches and other evidence of terrorist activity as part of Operation Courage Harvest Jan. 2 through 5.
U.S. Air Force F-16 fighter jets dropped two 500-pound bombs, destroying an al-Qaeda in Iraq safe house used to make and store improvised explosive devices near Busayefi Jan. 6.
(KUNA) -- The US military in Iraq announced on Tuesday the beginning of "Operation Phantom Phoenix." The operation is a series of joint Iraqi and Coalition division- and brigade-level operations to pursue and neutralize remaining al-Qaeda and other extremist elements in Iraq, Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno, commander of Multi-National Corps - Iraq said in a statement.
Al-Nasser Salah-Eddine, the military arm of the Popular Resistance Committees in Palestine, said in a statement one of its fighters was killed in an Israeli air strike that targeted a group of its guerrillas near the town of Beit Lahia in the north of the strip earlier today. Amjad Abdel Dayem, 26, a member of a missile unit, was killed and four fellow fighter were wounded in the strike. The group confirmed that the raid was carried out after the unit launched missiles on southern Israel.
(KUNA) -- The Governor of the Palestinian city of Nablus Jamal Moheissen said some 20 members of the pro-Fatah Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade handed in on Tuesday their weapons and surrendered to Palestinian security forces.
(KUNA) -- Israeli warplanes fired rockets at two Palestinian sites in south Gaza Strip on Tuesday. Eyewitnesses said an Israeli helicopter fired several rockets at the site of the marine forces of the deposed Palestinian government that is located on the beach of Rafah city. They said the rockets hit a room that was used by the police and destroyed it without causing any casualties, adding that Israeli military gunboats participated in the attack on the Palestinian site.
