#5
Bill Clinton has fully endorsed Hussein, uh, I mean Obama. Said that he has matured on the campaign trail. I didn't listen to the speech but I am sure he mentioned that Obama realized that there are not 57 states, that Russia is on the UN Security Council so the UN Security Council cannot denounce Russia, that his pastor of 20+ years is after all a racist, and that his campaign for public office (the state office) did kick off in the home of a Weather Underground terrorist, that dad was a Muslim, etc., etc. etc..
#9
Last night's tv seems to have excited most of you. Have to talk about that instead of this beautiful young woman and her dog. She considered her right profile to be more photogenic than the other. Harry Cohn said her right side was angel, her left side horse. Here it looks more like angel and dog. Thanks, Fred, for a nice image to start the day.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
08/28/2008 9:44 Comments ||
Top||
#10
Last night's tv seems to have excited most of you.
Yep the Libs in my family have become un-glued, insuferable air-heads..... wait they were already un-glued, insuferable air-heads.
/belch
Posted by: Red Dawg ||
08/28/2008 9:57 Comments ||
Top||
#11
Fred, this is the prettiest one you've shown in days! She has that fresh wholesome look you just can't wait to take home to Mother.
As for Obamaramadingdong, having annointed Joe Biden as his running mate, he has as much chance at the Presidency as Twiggy has swimming the English Channel, carring a 30-ton anchor.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
08/28/2008 10:34 Comments ||
Top||
#12
Looks to me like having her show up with a keg of brandy and a friendly attitude could make for a hellaciously good time. Heck, if I knew she was coming to rescue me I'd make it a point to need some rescuing.
... watch the Bears in their final exhibition game.
Decisions, decisions ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/28/2008 11:19 Comments ||
Top||
#15
Doc, if only someone had the forethought of scheduling a Bears/Bronco game at Invesco tonight and The Ones trademark Pomposity during half time... Chicago viewers dilemma solved.
#16
With her lying on her stomach that way and that dog in the picture, it is giving me some ideas. Please note that the dog is not an active participant in my ideas. I am not one of "those".
The Russian-backed Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov will inaugurate the "largest mosque in Europe" on October 17 in Chechnya, the Russian official news agency Novosty reported.
"The largest mosque in Europe... will by inaugurated on the first day of the International Peacemakers' Conference, titled 'Islam - Religion of Peace and Progress,'" the grand mufti of Chechnya, Sultan Mirzayev, told the press.
Mirzayev underlined that approximately 50 countries have already approved their participation in the three-day conference.
Kadyrov, 31, is the son of Ahmad Kadyrov, an anti-Russian rebel leader who at one point was titled "Chechnya's rebel mufti" [mufti - an Islamic, cleric who issues religious decrees].
In 1999 the Kadyrovs defected to the Russian side. On March 2, 2007 then Russian president Vladimir Putin nominated Kadyrov as Chechen president.
#2
if these are pro-Russian Chechens, this place will be anti-AQ.
So on what basis do you think this will be terror apologist? Unless you mean cause it backs the Putin govt, and he in turn backs HAmas, Hezbo, Iran, etc. But then youd have to include lots of Ortho churches in Russia that support Putin.
WASHINGTON - U.S. officials say a review of an American airstrike in Afghanistan refutes claims by the United Nations and others that as many as 90 civilians were killed.
The results of the review have been presented to Afghan government officials. The Americans have asked them to participate in a joint U.S.-Afghan investigation in hopes of arriving at a common conclusion.
The Afghan government has said publicly that dozens of civilians were killed, and it sharply criticized the U.S. military for a mistaken attack. The U.S. military says it is sticking to its initial finding that 25 militants were killed, plus five civilians.
#1
How about telling the UN that we will cut our funding to them as long as they lie and propagandize against us. Then shut off payments. Totally. Draw a line in the sand and when they sueal and bitch, break out the UN scandal docs we've been burying
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/28/2008 21:03 Comments ||
Top||
#2
I find the above Afghan claims quite modest - in my opinion it should be at least a few thousand.
Nine years ago, a certain David Sheffer, the US ambassador-at-large for war crimes
announced that as much as" 225.000 Kosovar men may hae been killed" by bloodthirsty Serbs.
Blatant lie - according to the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia the total number of victims was just ... 2788 (both fighting sides), i.e. about 80 (eighty) times less.
I wonder how and when did USA acquire the patent to inflate numbers?
Posted by: Matt K. ||
08/28/2008 23:51 Comments ||
Top||
KABUL, Afghanistan - Afghan officials said Thursday that a deadly U.S.-led special forces raid on a remote western village last week was based on misleading information provided by a rival clan.
It was the latest twist in a tangled debate over what happened. U.N. officials say the raid killed up to 90 civilians, most of them children. A NATO official said U.S. and Afghan troops were fired on first, touching off a battle of several hours that killed 25 militants and five civilians.
The U.S. government is pressing for a joint U.S.-Afghan probe in hopes of reaching a common conclusion. Two Pentagon officials said Thursday a U.S. review concluded civilian deaths were far fewer than claimed by others. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the report had not been made public, said the findings were given to Afghan leaders. Evidence from all sides has been scant, with no conclusive photos or video emerging to shed light on what happened in Azizabad on Aug. 22. But the claim of high civilian casualties, also made by Afghan officials, is causing new friction between President Hamid Karzai and his Western backers.
Karzai has castigated Western commanders over civilian deaths from military operations, saying they create anger among Afghans that the Taliban and other insurgents use as leverage to turn Afghans away from the government. Claims of civilian deaths can be tricky, however. Relatives of Afghan victims are given condolence payments by Karzai's government and U.S. military, providing an incentive to make false claims.
Three Afghan officials said Thursday that U.S. commanders were misled into striking Azizabad, a village in Shindand district of Herat province.
They said U.S. special forces troops and Afghan commandos raided the village while hundreds of people were gathered in a large compound for a memorial service honoring a tribal leader, Timor Shah, who was killed eight months ago by a rival clan. The officials said the raid was aimed at militants supposed to be in the village, but they said the operation was based on faulty information provided by Shah's rival, who they identified as Nader Tawakal. Attempts to locate Tawakal failed.
Afghans targeted in U.S. raids have complained for years of being pursued based solely on information given by other Afghans who sometimes are business rivals, neighbors with a vendetta or simply interested in generic reward money for anti-government militants.
In a report after the raid, Oliver North, a Fox News reporter who accompanied the U.S. special forces unit during the firefight, interviewed an unidentified American major on camera who said credible information had come from a council of local tribal elders indicating a Taliban meeting would be held in the village. A top NATO official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the results of the U.S. investigation have not been released, said the U.S. and Afghan troops were fired on first when they moved into the village before dawn. He said combat spanned several hours, during which troops called in airstrikes from Apache helicopters, AC-130 gunships and Predator drones.
The clash destroyed or damaged 15 houses, the official said. Afghan officials give similar accounts of the extent of the damage on the property. The U.S. and Afghan troops stayed in the village until 8 a.m. and counted 30 dead — 25 militants and five civilians, the NATO official said. The target of the operation, a militant named Mullad Siddiq, was killed, and there were no reports of mass casualties among civilians, the NATO official said.
Reports filed by North, a former Marine who played a key role in the Reagan administration's Iran-Contra affair, also said the first shots fired in the clash came from the village. He said the U.S. and Afghan troops received heavy fire from AK-47 assault rifles and machine guns during a 2 1/2-hour battle. The Afghan military gave similar accounts of the clash soon after the raid, but within hours Afghan civilian officials were saying many innocent civilians had been killed.
Ahmad Nader Nadery, the head of Afghanistan's Independent Human Rights Commission, said his investigators concluded 91 people were killed in Azizabad: 59 children, 19 women and 13 men. Nadery said 76 of the victims belonged to one large, extended family — that of Timor Shah's brother, who is named Reza. Reza was also killed, Nadery said. Nadery said Reza, whose compound bore the brunt of the attack, had a private security company that worked for the U.S. military at nearby Shindand airport and was thus unlikely to be a Taliban member.
Afghan officials who were part of government investigative commissions claimed Thursday there were no insurgents among the civilians killed.
Nek Mohammad Ishaq, a provincial council member in Herat and a member of both government delegations sent to Azizabad, said that when he visited the village hours after the raid, he counted 76 dead civilians laid on the grounds of the mosque. More bodies were brought out of the ruins the next day, he said. "Some of them were decapitated, some did not have a hand. Each body was photographed," Ishaq said.
He said photographs and video of the victims were with Afghanistan's secretive intelligence service. The spokesman for the service, Sayed Ansari, would not confirm or deny that officials held such evidence. He said they would not share such material with journalists in any case. Ishaq said the investigative commissions were provided with a detailed list of victims' names, genders and ages. As his delegation sat with village elders on the floor of the mosque, Ishaq said, a man walked in holding a handkerchief, which he wanted everyone to see. In it were body parts of children: fingers, bits of hand and feet, Ishaq said.
#2
I say BS. I doubt a tip led to all this. Assuming such a tip existed, if the tip isn't completely anonymous, the perp will be found. If the tip was anonymous, I doubt the US would just take it at face value and bomb a so-called wedding party.
KABUL (AFP) - Afghan and international troops have killed more than 100 Taliban militants in several clashes in the troubled southern province of Helmand over the past three days, the US-led coalition said Thursday.
"Afghan National Security Forces and coalition forces killed over 100 insurgents during combat operations in Helmand province August 25-28," the coalition said in a statement. "Numerous engagements" were sparked when troops were attacked several times by insurgents armed with guns, rocket-propelled grenades and mortars, it said.
"The patrols returned fire and called in close-air support against the insurgents," it added.
It was not possible to independently verify the figures.
Posted by: Scott R ||
08/28/2008 14:19 Comments ||
Top||
#2
There doesn't seem to be any adequate defense against close-air support. Bad news for any sort of irregulars. Good news for governments. Plays well when the government is bettter than the rebels, terrible if the reverse.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
08/28/2008 14:46 Comments ||
Top||
#3
i'm starting to run low on candy to pass out here... fortunately Halloween's coming up.
We learn the hard way sometimes. Everyone in Afghanistan now understands that if your interpreter suddenly can't be found, you'd better change your mission. Op-sec is a never ending battle.
According to FRANCE 24 sources, this version of the facts was given to journalists by soldiers who had participated in the mission while they were being treated at the French military hospital in Kabul. According to the newspaper, French officials speaking anonymously admitted that the insurgents knew about the French patrol's mission "through the missing interpreter, or through Afghan police or soldiers."
Franck Berruyer, FRANCE 24's correspondent in Kabul, said that the presence of heavy artillery was clear evidence of an information leak. "Heavy mortars had been set up at the spot. The Taliban do not walk about with these weapons -- you set them up when you know you're going to use them." The French weekly goes on to say that "right at the beginning of the ambush, four of the French soldiers were imprisoned and executed by the insurgents." No source is, however, attributed to this information.
The article sparked a firm response from French authorities. The French army spokesman in Kabul denied that the Afghan interpreter in question had fled, saying that he had been killed during the clashes and that his body had been returned to his family. Berruyer also reports French authorities, "firmly denying" the imprisonment and execution of the four soldiers. "According to our sources, the four soldiers did not die immediately, but were under shock. The Taliban got to them later, and killed them on the spot, but did not take them as prisoners," reports our correspondent.
#4
Yes, deliberate leaks, especially from people from the same political side are said to be its main source of infos. Like I said, it's a scandal rag, left-oriented, but also the only credible investigative paper in France.
#5
And, this leak is probably aimed at putting french public opinion even more against sarko & the french involvement in afghanistan along the USA, both from le canard and from the leaker(s).
Afghan and international forces killed or wounded more than 30 militants in fighting in the south and southeast of the country, the Defense Ministry and the U.S. military said on Thursday.
Afghan and international soldiers killed and wounded 18 insurgents in clashes in the district of Arghandab in the southern province of Zabul, the Defense Ministry said in a statement on Thursday. "Twelve dead bodies of the insurgents were left on the battlefield," it said. Soldiers also found 10 kg (22 lbs) of opium left by the insurgents.
In a separate incident, Afghan soldiers killed 10 insurgents, including drug traffickers, during a security operation in Girishk district of southern Helmand province on Wednesday, the Defense Ministry said in another statement. The incident was part of a larger operation aimed at clamping down on drug traffickers in the area. Helmand produces two-thirds of the country's opium, the raw ingredient of heroin.
Elsewhere, Afghan soldiers were engaged in fierce fighting with Taliban insurgents in Nad Ali district in another area of Helmand province. "Heavy casualties were inflicted during fierce fighting between Afghan soldiers and insurgents, but the exact number of casualties is not known," the Defense Ministry said. One soldier was killed and another wounded during the fighting, it said.
One soldier from the U.S.-led coalition forces was killed while on patrol on Wednesday in southern Afghanistan, the U.S. military said in a statement. It did not release the nationality of the dead soldier.
In southeastern Paktika province, U.S.-led coalition forces killed one militant on Wednesday after he attacked the soldiers, the U.S. military said in a separate statement.
Posted by: ed ||
08/28/2008 08:47 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under: Taliban
#1
How can they tell they were not civilians? Oh, the UN and Karzai haven't heard about this yet? I'll buy that.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
08/28/2008 11:13 Comments ||
Top||
The hijackers of a Sudanese plane that was forced to land in Libya released all the passengers on Wednesday, a Libyan aviation authority official said. "We can confirm that all the plane passengers have been freed by the hijackers," a top official from the authority told Reuters. Libya's state news agency confirmed that successful negotiations had led to the release of all passengers.
The airliner was hijacked on Tuesday after leaving Sudan's war-battered Darfur region and was forced to land in the remote Sahara desert oasis of Kufrah. Libya's Civil Aviation Authority said 95 passengers were on the Boeing 737/200.
The manager of the Sun Air airline which was flying the plane said earlier that agreement had been reached to free all the passengers. Mortada Hassan referred to only a single hijacker. He said the hijacker had demanded food and fuel to fly to France.
Libya's state news agency Jana said the hijackers had demanded fuel to fly to Paris. The pilot told Libyan authorities the hijackers claimed to be members of a branch of the Sudanese Liberation Movement (SLM), a Darfur rebel group. "They said they belong to SLM's Abdel Wahed Nur who lives in Paris. They had coordinated with him to meet them in the French capital," Jana quoted the pilot as telling Libyan authorities.
The SLM faction led by Abdel Wahed Mohammed al-Nur strongly denied the hijackers were members of the group.
The Jana agency said Libya granted permission for the plane to land after the pilot told the authorities the plane was running out of fuel.
Three senior members of a former Darfur rebel movement which has signed a peace accord with the government were among the passengers, a spokesman for their group said.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/28/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Sudan
#1
"They said they belong to SLM's Abdel Wahed Nur who lives in Paris. They had coordinated with him to meet them in the French capital,"
Chez Jacques at 1950hrs and don't be late!
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
08/28/2008 11:19 Comments ||
Top||
An armed group in Somalia has released the local UN refugee agency chief who was seized in June near Mogadishu, Somalia's capital, the refugee agency said.
The UNHCR said on Wednesday it was "pleased" with the release of Hasan Mohamed Ali Keynan who was abducted from his home near the war-riven Mogadishu by unidentified gunmen. "Ali is in good health and preparations are underway to reunite him with his family far far away from Somalia," the agency said in a statement released in neighbouring Kenya.
A UN official in Mogadishu told the AFP news agency that Keynan had arrived at the UN compound in the capital. "His kidnappers gave a call to the UN headquarters in the afternoon telling staffers that they released Mr Keynan," the official said.
Several aid workers have been seized this year in the lawless nation by gunmen who often demand hefty ransoms. The UNHCR said it would nonetheless continue to provide aid to displaced Somali civilians.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/28/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic Courts
Two hijackers of a Sudanese plane have surrendered to Libyan authorities, a Libyan official has said. They surrendered at a remote desert airport after freeing all passengers on board, almost 24 hours after the drama began.
The attackers, who claimed to be from Sudan's conflict-ridden region of Darfur, hijacked the plane on Tuesday shortly after takeoff from Darfur's main city of Nyala on a flight to the Sudanese capital Khartoum. But they gave themselves up on Wednesday, several hours after releasing all 87 passengers from the Sun Air Boeing 737 which was forced to land on Tuesday evening after it ran short of fuel.
Libyan state television showed visibly tired but relieved passengers surrounded by Libyan soldiers following their release. "The night was terrifying and difficult. I thank the Libyan authorities for their efforts which allowed us to be freed," a Sudanese passenger told Jana, the official Libyan news agency. Another passenger said the hijackers were armed with small calibre pistols.
Sudan called on the Libyan authorities to arrest and deport to Khartoum the "terrorist" hijackers. "We condemned the hijacking and we have appealed to the international community to condemn it as well," Ali Sadiq, spokesman for Sudan's foreign ministry, told Al Jazeera.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/28/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Sudan
Two detainees at the Guantanamo "war-on-terror" jail were recently transferred to Algeria, the US Defense Department said Tuesday, adding that about 260 people are still being held at the facility. The department declined to identify the two prisoners or provide other details, but said they were transferred to Algeria in July.
"These detainees were determined to be eligible for transfer following a comprehensive series of review processes," the department said in a statement. "The transfer is a demonstration of the United States' desire not to hold detainees any longer than necessary."
Some 260 detainees remain at the center in a US enclave in Cuba, with 65 awaiting repatriation, according to the Pentagon.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/28/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda
#1
bet Gitmo was ....less painful. Cya Mooks!
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/28/2008 9:59 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Yup, Gitmo detainees will probably start asking the US to let them stay at Gitmo. CAIR will gripe that we are doing something bad by shipping them to places like Algeria. Lawsuits will follow. Ya da ya da ya da...
NEW DELHI: With Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh proving to be active partners in probing fake Indian currency notes (FICN) related cases, India has recently traced Pakistan's London connection in printing and circulation of counterfeit notes.
Although the role of Pakistani intelligence agency ISI in printing and circulation of FICN has never been a secret, sleuths recently found that the spy agency had, of late, impressed upon the government in Islamabad to import additional currency-standard printing paper from companies located in London to pursue its nefarious designs in India.
Referring to recent probes done in coordination with sleuths of Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh, officials pointed out that Pakistan has been procuring currency-standard printing paper in huge quantities from London-based companies — much higher than normal requirement of the country for printing its own currency — for diverting it to print FICN.
This is, however, only one aspect of Pakistan's direct involvement in the FICN racket which is being carried out by using the network of underworld kingpin Dawood Ibrahim not only in India but also in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal in close association with different terror outfits. The ISI has, in fact, been using state air-carrier Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) to tansport counterfeit currency to its conduits in Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, sources in investigating agencies said.
The modus operandi of the ISI was revealed by two Nepali counterfeit currency traffickers who were arrested by Thailand police in October last year. During interrogation, the accused disclosed that they were working for a prominent Nepali businessman who was the son of a former minister in King Gyanendra's regime. “The fact that Nepali territory is being used by Pakistanis to smuggle counterfeit currency is well known. The first such expose was made when Pakistani diplomats were caught distributing FICN in Nepal,” an official said.
Recent arrests made in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh also pointed to Pakistan's connection in the circulation of FICN.
One Naushad Alam Khan, arrested in Dhaka on April 24 with FICN worth Rs 50 lakh, had admitted his direct link with HuJI (Bangladesh) chief Mufti Abdul Hannan. It was found that both Khan and Hannan had fought for Taliban in Afghanistan
Sri Lankan police had arrested two Pakistani nationals and a local in Colombo and seized a large amount of counterfeit Indian currency from them on July 8. It was found during the probe that both of them had arrived from Karachi.
All those arrested in neighbouring countries had also disclosed that the ISI had been using its printing facilities in Quetta, Baluchistan, to print FICN before transporting it to different countries for its onward push into India.
Besides Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, counterfeit currency is also sent to Thailand before it finally makes its way to India using the south-east Asian network of Dawood.
Posted by: john frum ||
08/28/2008 16:11 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
JAMMU: Security forces on Wednesday killed the last of the three terrorists holed up in the residential building in Chinore in a crowded area on the city's outskirts, 20 km from the international border, ending a 19-hour hostage drama and gunbattle. Earlier on Wednesday morning, terror struck Jammu when terrorists suspected to have infiltrated from Pakistan killed four persons including an Army officer.
In a day-long gunbattle that stretched till night, the security forces killed all three terrorists. Three hostages were killed, all four children and their mother were rescued. IGP Kuldip Khoda said the second terrorist was killed while he was trying to escape under the cover of darkness.
Police said two civilians, a jawan identified as Havildar Vijay Kumar and a JCO Naik Subedar V V K Paarkashan were killed by the terrorists. Six people were also injured. Earlier reports said three civilians were killed. The terrorists, who were suspected by police to be the same people who had infiltrated across the border under a cover of firing by Pakistani forces, first came in a goods carrier and attacked an Army checkpost in the Domana-Mishriwala area on Jammu-Akhnoor-Poonch highway on Wednesday morning.
Posted by: john frum ||
08/28/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Enough of this nonsense. The standard burial for such Muslim terrorists should be wrapped in pig skin. When the Muslims bitterly complain and threaten violence, just respond by saying "Don't do crap like this, and you won't be buried in pig skin. Your choice."
#2
Nonsense, Anonymoose. What India needs is one of those Circus cannon that fires people into a net. India needs to begin firing all terrorists back into Pak Held Kashmir with such cannon, regardless of whether they're alive or dead. It's up to the Pakistanis to provide the net. India should give no advance warning the cannon is to be used.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
08/28/2008 10:43 Comments ||
Top||
#3
In medieval times they would throw dead people and livestock (Deadstock?) over the city walls to cause disease.
Look up "Catapult" easy to build, much longer range than the clown cannon.
I built one as a kid, used to throw bricks a bit farther than a city block, lots of fun.
Dad said "Be sure to point that thing away from the house", we did. (Me and my 2 brothers)
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
08/28/2008 13:01 Comments ||
Top||
#4
I'd drop a Pigskin MOAB full of rendered lard right on top of all of 'em!
Pakistani security forces have killed more than 40 fighters, including some foreigners in the country's northwest, near the border with Afghanistan, military officials said.
Major Murad Khan, an army spokesman, said on Wednesday troops using guns and artillery fired on fighters holed up in a health centre in the Bajaur region. He said several of the dead fighters were foreigners, but gave no further details, adding that no Pakistani troops were hurt in the incident.
An unnamed military official, however, told Reuters news agency: "Our troops carried out an operation this morning and we have reports that 30 militants, including some Uzbeks, were killed."
The Pakistani military also claims to have killed 11 fighters in South Waziristan, another tribal region on the border, when a base was attacked overnight. "Around 75-100 militants attacked a check post on the night of August 26-27. Security forces effectively repulsed the attack. Reportedly 11 militants were killed and 15-20 others injured," a statement from the military said.
Violence is spreading across Pakistan at a time of both political uncertainty following the resignation of Pervez Musharraf as president, and economic instability as Pakistani stocks sunk to their lowest level in more than two years.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/28/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: TTP
MINGORA: The Taliban bombed a market in the general bus stand of Matta tehsil in Swat on Wednesday. Awami National Party (ANP) leader Afzal Khan Lala owns the property. Locals said that four shops were destroyed but there were no casualties. The attack was the third on ANP leaders and their property by the Taliban in as many days.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/28/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under: TTP
A special anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Wednesday declared Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud and 11 others proclaimed offenders (PO). Judge Sakhi Muhammad Kahut was hearing the case of two explosives-laden vehicles recovered from Rawalpindi and directed the Federal Investigation Agency to arrest the POs and produce them in court on September 27. The police produced twelve other persons, allegedly involved in terrorist activities, in the ATC amid tight security. The court also ordered publication of advertisements in the media for the arrest of Mehsud and the other accused, and to display the ads at police stations and public places for the PO's identification by the general public.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/28/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: TTP
Security forces killed 11 Taliban militants after fighting in Wana Bazaar on Wednesday. "Eleven militants have been killed and 15-20 injured in an exchange of fire with security forces in South Waziristan," the army said in a press statement. The militants had attacked the Tiarza Fort late on Tuesday night, following which a curfew was imposed in parts of South Waziristan, but the militants defied the curfew.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/28/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under: TTP
Troops killed up to 50 militants including foreign fighters in the Bajaur tribal agency on Wednesday, amid an upsurge in Taliban-inspired bloodshed, security officials said.
In the most serious incident, troops rained fire from guns and artillery on militants holed up in a health centre, killing 30 and wounding many more, military spokesman Maj Murad Khan told AP. "Security forces killed 25-30 militants, including some important commanders and foreigners in Bajaur's Raghan region," a security official told AFP.
Security forces assessed the toll with the help of intercepted radio traffic among the insurgents, Maj Murad said, but spokesmen for the militants could not be reached to confirm the report.
In another clash on Wednesday, helicopter gunships and aircraft pounded militant hideouts in Loyesam, Charmang and Ghonday areas of agency headquarters Khar, and Rahgan, Aupusht and Dherai area of tehsil Salarzai, killing eight rebels and wounding 12 others, other security officials said. Police said eight militants died and 10 were wounded when government forces fired on suspect vehicles in two areas of Bajaur early Wednesday, though the reported casualties could not be verified independently.
According to witnesses, fresh military reinforcements have arrived in Nawagai tehsil of Bajaur. Shops, schools and business and commercial centres in the agency remained closed.
Troops are engaged in bloody offensives against extremists in the region --considered a launchpad for Taliban operations into neighbouring Afghanistan. Officials say hundreds of militants have died in the weeks-old operation, while residents say civilians have also been killed. About 200,000 people have fled to safer areas.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/28/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under: TTP
#1
Now can we launch cross-border attacks into Pakistan?
In April 2007, Baghdad was ramping up for what would become the cityÂ’s deadliest month for U.S. soldiers. Americans had flooded the city as part of the "surge." Insurgents, including Mahdi Army militia members, werenÂ’t happy.
The 51 American deaths during the ensuing fighting made April the worst month in the city up to that point, and more than twice as bad as just two months earlier. The casualties would keep climbing into May and June, when 59 soldiers died in each of those months.
In April "American deaths" were 42 KIA in the entire country, plus additional 10 died in non-hostile circumstances. Two months before 29 died, Aprils losses would have to exceeded 58 to be more than "twice as bad". I may there were 19 deaths and June recorded 29 deaths, not 59 soldiers in "each of those months".
April was the same month that American soldiers with 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry Regiment allegedly took at least four suspected Mahdi Army members to the side of a Baghdad canal, lined up the blindfolded and handcuffed prisoners and shot them in the head. (The battalion has since been redesignated 1st Battalion, 172nd Infantry Brigade.)
The GBU-54 – used for the first time in Iraq on Aug. 12 – will help US forces hit moving targets and minimize civilian casualties, say military officials.
Retreating insurgents will have a harder time escaping US forces in Iraq and Afghanistan now that the United States Air Force has begun using the next generation of guided bombs designed specifically to destroy moving targets. While guided munitions have been key to air operations for years, most were developed to hit stationary targets.
On Wednesday, Air Force officials announced that F-16s had dropped the guided bomb unit-54 (GBU-54) in combat for the first time, destroying a moving insurgent truck in IraqÂ’s Diyala Province on Aug. 12.
Designed largely to meet the battlefield needs of commanders in Iraq and Afghanistan, the new bomb shows how the Air Force has begun adapting its arsenal to conduct counterinsurgency missions where accuracy is critical.
“In COIN [counterinsurgency operations] we’ve got to be more precise,” says Brig. Gen. Brian Bishop, 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing commander stationed in Balad, Iraq. “Hitting moving targets has always been very, very difficult, and I would say that it’s not until recent years that we’ve been able to truly have technology that allows us to do that with a pretty good degree of certainty.”
Created by Boeing Company, the GBU-54 works by combining Global Position Systems (GPS) targeting capabilities with a laser guidance system in a 500-pound bomb, a standard piece of ordnance that most airplanes can carry. The pilot sets an initial GPS coordinate as the target and then releases the bomb. He then follows the target with a laser and the bomb continually updates its GPS destination until it makes contact.
Prior to the GBU-54, most bombs intended for vehicles or other moving targets were meant for tanks, which move more slowly and cannot access many of the back roads used by insurgents in civilian vehicles. To take out many militants on the run, pilots had to improvise with existing weapons platforms, adjusting their techniques to make the bomb delivery fit the mission requirements.
Consequently, it was easy for pilots to miss their target, and strikes lacked the necessary element of precision required in a counterinsurgency. Often times insurgents got away because commanders had to abort an airstrike to avoid potentially unacceptable levels of collateral damage.
“One of the things we noticed here is how many targets that we didn’t hit because we didn’t have a weapon that was designed to go after a mover,” says Lt. Col. Dave Lujan, 332nd Expeditionary Operations Group deputy commander who also helped leverage the development of the new weapon. “It became an urgent operational need to have a weapon that would be able to engage a mover.”
In early 2007, Boeing began developing the GBU-54 in conjunction with the Air Force and the Navy. Traditionally, designing a new weapon can take up to 10 years, depending on the requirements, but engineers managed to deliver a completed product to airmen in
Iraq and Afghanistan only 17 months later. Air Force officials attribute the rapid turnaround to the intense operational demand for the system in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Ultimately, Lieutenant Colonel Lujan says that the GBU-54 will allow for a more efficient Air Force. “It’s a very flexible weapon,” he says, “especially in an urban warfare environment where you need that flexibility.”
#1
Good to see we're reaching the point in the war where lots of development turnaround times can be publicized. UAVs, ordnance, the semi-mythical stuff - the surge tactics - all staying on the offensive.
Hope the central european and central asian diplomatic initiatives are keeping up with this pace.
The one niggling doubt in the back of my mind is that these surgically clean weapons systems remove any impetus for the "civilians" to rise up against our/their enemies.
An attitude of "oh well, I just have to keep my head down and rely on the Americans to clean up all our messes". This kind of goes along with the idea that by going so easy on the civilian population we enabled the bad guys.
#3
These things are way more expensive than the Toyota pickups they are targetting. It would probably be tactically a lot more efficient to have a B-52 dump a whole load of dumb iron but when every fluffy bunny is precious we just can't afford the propaganda cost of collateral damage.
An Iraqi official says U.S. forces have arrested Ali al-Lami, a top Shiite in charge of keeping senior supporters of Saddam Hussein out of the government.
The offical, Qaiser Watout, is a member of the committee headed by al-Lami. Watout said al-Lami was arrested Wednesday at Baghdad International Airport, upon arrival from Lebanon. Watout says U.S. forces waited for al-Lami as the plane's doors opened.
U.S. military officials said they arrested a senior Shiite militant at the airport on Wednesday, but did not release his name and would not say if it was al-Lami. The military says the suspect is believed to be behind a June bomb blast in Baghdad that killed four Americans and six Iraqis.
Posted by: ed ||
08/28/2008 08:41 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: Mahdi Army
#1
QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA, Associated Press Writer
Any time we can pick up a behind the scenes shit-stick like al-Lami for his role murdering Americans it is a Damn GOOD THING.
Sadly it's just too bad he will skate the use of the pliars till death for killing 10 people, including four Americans. [my own private point of view, NOT US policy]
Posted by: Red Dawg ||
08/28/2008 9:49 Comments ||
Top||
#2
QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA is nothing but a mouthpiece for Iran and is helping to kill American forces by supplying the MSM with Iranian propaganda.
I would trust MSNBC before I trusted anything this POS wrote.
Posted by: Full Bosomed1072 ||
08/28/2008 10:09 Comments ||
Top||
Posted by: Red Dawg ||
08/28/2008 9:52 Comments ||
Top||
#2
I don't see an Apache, but there's a Bradley at center-left. Still an impressive piece of work. Some of those guys probably get a great sense of satisfaction doing something like that.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
08/28/2008 10:55 Comments ||
Top||
#4
It fooled me for a while until I turned up the volume. The cadence of the shots sounds like 30mm chain gun and you can hear the chopper in the background.
(VOI) -- Fourteen civilians in Ninewa were wounded in the third suicide car bombing today, which took place in a southern Talafar suburb, a source from the Iraqi army said on Wednesday. "A suicide attacker driving an OPEL car bomb blew himself up today on al-Mattar street, southern Talafar (60 km west of Mosul city)," the source told Aswat al-Iraq -- Voices of Iraq -- (VOI) on condition of anonymity.
"Fourteen civilians were wounded in the attack," he said. "Some injuries are critical," he added. He did not mention further details, but noted, "The explosion also caused damage to some nearby shops."
Earlier today, Talafar's mayor said that two civilians were wounded in a suicide car bombing that occurred in a residential neighborhood in western the suburb. "On Wednesday afternoon, a suicide attacker driving a car bomb blew himself up at the entrance of al-Malaeen neighborhood, western Talafar suburb," General Najem Abdullah told VOI.
"Two civilians were wounded in the attack," he said. "The two injuries were admitted to hospital for treatment," he added. "The attack did not target any of the military or security forces in the area," he noted. Also today, a source from Ninewa police said that five civilians, including two women, were wounded in a suicide car bombing that targeted a U.S. army patrol in eastern Mosul. "The car bomb that was driven by a suicide attacker went off targeting a U.S. army patrol in al-Maliya neighborhood, eastern Mosul," the source told VOI on condition of anonymity. "Five civilians, including two women, were wounded in the attack," he said. He did not mention further details, but noted, "Injuries were admitted to a nearby hospital for treatment."
Posted by: Fred ||
08/28/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State of Iraq
(VOI) -- Four people on Wednesday were killed and one was wounded in a tribal clash that occured in Kut's southern suburb of al-Hay, said a security source from Wassit's police command, explaining that police forces imposed a curfew on the city after they had failed to stop the gunfire exchanged between the two conflicting sides.
"Armed confrontations took place today between the tribes of Zubaid and al-Shahman in al-Hay suburb, 40 km south of Kut," the source told Aswat al-Iraq -- Voices of Iraq -- (VOI) on condition of anonymity. "Four people, including a woman, were killed and one person was wounded in the confrontations," he said. "The wounded was admitted to al-Hay hospital for treatment," he added. "Police forces could not stop the gunfire exchanged between the two sides in dispute; therefore, they imposed curfew on the city," he noted. Sounds like a bunch of Paks, doesn't it?
"There are different views about the reasons behind the clashes," he explained. "Some people attribute this issue to revenge purposes, while others believe it was due to a dispute over a livestock market in the area. Armed confrontations continued until 04:00 pm today. The curfew encompasses vehicles, pedestrians, and will last until further notice."
Posted by: Fred ||
08/28/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
(VOI) - Iraqi joint security forces on Wednesday arrested al-Qaeda-linked group operatives in the northern province of Ninewa, a military source said. "An Iraqi army and police force captured two fighters from self-proclaimed Iraq's Islamic State in al-Qadisiya district of Talafar town, 60 km west Mosul,"an Iraqi military source, who requested anonymity, told Aswat al-Iraq-Voices of Iraq(VOI) . The source pointed out the arrest operation "was based on information confessed by a detainee captured on Tuesday". Self-proclaimed Iraq's Islamic State is a mantra for seven armed groups that have activities in central and northern Iraqi cites and areas. Al-Qaeda is one of its major groups.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/28/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State of Iraq
(VOI) -- Five civilians, including two women, were wounded in a suicide car bombing that targeted a U.S. army patrol in eastern Mosul, a source from Ninewa police said on Wednesday. "The car bomb that was driven by a suicide attacker went off targeting a U.S. army patrol in al-Maliya neighborhood, eastern Mosul," the source told Aswat al-Iraq -- Voices of Iraq -- (VOI) on condition of anonymity. "Five civilians, including two women, were wounded in the attack," he said. He did not mention further details, but noted, "Injuries were admitted to a nearby hospital for treatment."
Posted by: Fred ||
08/28/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State of Iraq
(VOI) - Police forces on Wednesday arrested a gunman while attempting to plant a bomb in south of Kirkuk, the chief of local police said. "Acting on intelligence tip, which indicated the presence of two persons attempting to plan a bomb between al-Mahmoudiya village and Mahalet Domez in south of Kirkuk, police forces arrested on of them, while the other managed to escape," Brig. Sarhad Qader told Aswat al-Iraq - Voices of Iraq (VOI). "The forces waged a crackdown operation in the region, where they seized a large amount of weapons and ammunitions and an amount of TNT," hje added. "They also arrested six suspected gunmen during the raid," he also said.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/28/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State of Iraq
(AKI) - Anti-bomb squads defused five bombs in two separate areas of Baghdad, the Interior Ministry said on Wednesday. "Anti-bomb squad defused three explosive charges in the Zaiyouna region in eastern Baghdad and found ammunitions and a mortar shell in the same area," the ministry said in a statement published by the news agency, Voices of Iraq.
The bomb squad's breakthrough came after 28 people were killed and 45 others were wounded in a suicide bomb attack in the Iraqi province of Diyala on Tuesday. The bomber attacked a line of police recruits in the northwestern town of Jalawlah, just before midday local time.
Tuesday's bombing was the latest in a series of attacks, launched mainly by Sunni Islamists in Diyala, which is one of the most dangerous regions in Iraq.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/28/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: Iraqi Insurgency
#1
launched mainly by Sunni Islamists in Diyala
Is that code for Al Qaeda in Iraq? Or are they merely the ragtag ends of what used to be several Sunni terror groups including AQI and the Saddamite leftovers?
Police on Tuesday arrested an Israeli peace activist who had sailed to the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip to challenge Israel's blockade of the coastal enclave. They accused Jeff Halper, who also has U.S. citizenship, of violating a ban on Israelis entering Gaza.
Halper spent three days in the territory before entering Israel through the Erez border crossing, where he was arrested. "He is being questioned at the police station in Sderot for entering the Gaza Strip in defiance of a military decree banning Israeli citizens from doing so," Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.
Halper was among 44 "Free Gaza" activists from 17 countries who sailed in two boats from Cyprus to the Gaza Strip on Saturday in defiance of the blockade. The activists plan to sail back to Cyprus on Thursday and have vowed to take several Palestinians with them, including students prevented by Israel from leaving Gaza to study abroad.
An Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman said Israel had not yet decided whether to prevent the Palestinians from sailing from the Gaza Strip with the activists. Israel allowed the activists to sail to the Gaza Strip, the first foreigners to reach the territory by sea since travel restrictions were tightened after Hamas's takeover more than a year ago, saying it wanted to avoid a public confrontation.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/28/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
3 days? He didn't hang around long.
Your work's not done there, Tonto. Better send him back.
An Israel Defense Forces court on Tuesday sentenced the former mayor of the northern West Bank town of Jenin, Hatam Ridah Grar to six years in prison and three years probation for ties he had with Hamas. The court's indictment read that Grar used his authority as mayor of Jenin to provide assistance to Hamas.
On Sunday, Police shut down the offices of a central Islamic Movement sub-branch based in the northern Israeli Arab town of Umm al-Fahm, suspected of giving financial and logistical support to Hamas for their activities in Jerusalem. Large forces from the Valley District Police raided the offices of Al-Aqsa, the national organization's central body in the north, after Defense Minister Ehud Barak deemed it an "illegal organization.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/28/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: Hamas
Terrorists Suspected rebels fighting for a separate state in southern Thailand have shot dead four people in attacks across the Muslim-majority region, police said. In Pattani province, a 33-year-old woman and a 29-year-old man were shot dead in separate attacks late Wednesday, while a similar shooting in nearby Yala province killed a 51-year-old state electricity employee. Also late Wednesday in the third insurgency-hit province of Narathiwat, a government social worker was killed in a drive-by shooting, police said.
You want em, you got em...
Hizbullah sources confirmed the group was responsible for firing at a Lebanese military helicopter, killing a navigator and forcing the aircraft to make an emergency landing, Channel 1 reported Thursday night.
The helicopter was attacked as it flew over a Hizbullah stronghold in southern Lebanon, earlier on Thursday. According to a statement released by the Lebanese army, the helicopter was on a training mission when it came under fire from "armed elements" and was forced down in the highlands of the Iqlim al-Tuffah province. The statement said 1st Lt. Samer Hanna was killed and that the aircraft was damaged. No other crew were hurt.
Hizbullah did not release a formal statement on the shooting. The terrorist group has not clashed with the Lebanese military in recent years and their forces often coordinate their activities. It is likely, for example, that the army would have informed Hizbullah that one of its helicopters would be flying over the area.
Thursday's incident occurred outside the zone of operations of UN peace-keepers near the border with Israel, a region also patrolled by Lebanese troops. But we all know who really did it... A top Shi'ite cleric, Sheik Abdul-Amir Kabalan, urged the army to investigate swiftly and suggested that a collaborator with Israel may have fired on the aircraft. Lebanese military was investigating the incident, Channel 1 reported.
The area where the incident took place is a predominantly Shi'ite Muslim region southeast of the southern port city of Sidon, far from Lebanon's sensitive Syrian and Israeli borders. It's a stronghold of Hizbullah, who is believed to have bases and concealed positions there.
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.
WASHINGTON - U.S. officials say a review of an American airstrike in Afghanistan refutes claims by the United Nations and others that as many as 90 civilians were killed. 
KABUL (AFP) - Afghan and international troops have killed more than 100 Taliban militants in several clashes in the troubled southern province of Helmand over the past three days, the US-led coalition said Thursday. 
Afghan and international forces killed or wounded more than 30 militants in fighting in the south and southeast of the country, the Defense Ministry and the U.S. military said on Thursday.
Two detainees at the Guantanamo "war-on-terror" jail were recently transferred to Algeria, the US Defense Department said Tuesday, adding that about 260 people are still being held at the facility. The department declined to identify the two prisoners or provide other details, but said they were transferred to Algeria in July. 
In April 2007, Baghdad was ramping up for what would become the cityÂ’s deadliest month for U.S. soldiers. Americans had flooded the city as part of the "surge." Insurgents, including Mahdi Army militia members, werenÂ’t happy.
Retreating insurgents will have a harder time escaping US forces in Iraq and Afghanistan now that the United States Air Force has begun using the next generation of guided bombs designed specifically to destroy moving targets. While guided munitions have been key to air operations for years, most were developed to hit stationary targets.
(VOI) -- Four people on Wednesday were killed and one was wounded in a tribal clash that occured in Kut's southern suburb of al-Hay, said a security source from Wassit's police command, explaining that police forces imposed a curfew on the city after they had failed to stop the gunfire exchanged between the two conflicting sides. 
(AKI) - Anti-bomb squads defused five bombs in two separate areas of Baghdad, the Interior Ministry said on Wednesday. "Anti-bomb squad defused three explosive charges in the Zaiyouna region in eastern Baghdad and found ammunitions and a mortar shell in the same area," the ministry said in a statement published by the news agency, Voices of Iraq.
Police on Tuesday arrested an Israeli peace activist who had sailed to the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip to challenge Israel's blockade of the coastal enclave. They accused Jeff Halper, who also has U.S. citizenship, of violating a ban on Israelis entering Gaza. 
