#2
We have had the privilege of seeing Doris many times in the Carmel/Monterey area. It is a treat when KiloBravo and I go to the Cypress Inn, her hotel in Carmel, for an adult beverage. (Pets welcome)
When I used to play golf at Quail Lodge Resort in Carmel Valley her house sat on a bluff overlooking the course. If we played in the late afternoon you could hear the ruckus when she came out to feed her many dogs.
Doris has been a real treasure. It is too bad she has had a penchant for marrying neredowell bums and scam artist.
#4
What is it with all the Portuguese-speaking spammers lately? I thought I had taken care of that when I ordered the underseas cables cut the other day. Oh well, there's still one left . . . .
(SomaliNet) A court in Morocco has jailed a Moroccan man to 20 years in prison for links to the 2004 Madrid train bombings that killed 191 people.
He was found guilty of forming a criminal gang and a series of terrorism-related charges. He was arrested in Syria and transferred to Morocco, where he was acquitted in 2007 for lack of evidence. He was detained again in February after Spanish investigators produced new evidence.
Spain had requested his extradition but Rabat never hands over Moroccan suspects. It is the first time a court in Morocco has tried a Moroccan citizen for offences committed abroad.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/20/2008 00:00 ||
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(SomaliNet) A security source working in the industry said on Wednesday that gunmen in Nigeria released a Russian, a Mexican and a Nigerian who were kidnapped two weeks ago in the Niger Delta.
Speaking on conditions of anonymity, the security source said the three were taken hostage on 4 December after their vessel Oceanic Orion was attacked some 13 nautical miles off the coast of Akwa Ibom state near a crude oil rig operated by Canada's Addax Petroleum.
Meanwhile, piracy is common in the Gulf of Guinea off Nigeria's Atlantic coast while attacks on oil industry facilities and kidnappings for ransom are frequent in the creeks of the Niger Delta, home to Africa's biggest oil and gas industry. The insecurity has cut Nigeria's oil output, which averages around 2 million barrels per day, by a fifth over the past three years. The country's installed production capacity is around 3 million bpd.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/20/2008 00:00 ||
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Three German hostages captured by Yemeni tribesmen were freed on Friday after a five-day hostage ordeal in remote mountains near the capital of Sanaa, a tribal source said. "The three Germans were released on Friday at 10 a.m. (0700 GMT) after mediation by a tribal dignitary from the Bani Dhabyan region" of the abductors, the source said on condition of anonymity.
The tribesmen had abducted the Germans -- a woman who officials said worked for the United Nations and her parents -- to press for an end to a land dispute with another tribe and the release of fellow tribesmen jailed in the United States, Yemeni sources had said.
After their release the three "are now in the house of the mediator, Sheikh Abdel Qawi Ahmed Obed al-Shuraif, in Bani Dhabyan," the source said. The sheikh was to deliver them to the Yemeni authorities.
A tribal official said initially that one of the kidnappers was demanding $200,000 to compensate him for lost land and that police release his brother and son who were arrested four months ago over a land dispute. The architect of the kidnapping was named as Abd Rabbo Saleh Al-Tam.
On Thursday, a tribal source told AFP the tribesmen holding the family hostage were also demanding the release of two Yemenis detained in the United States for supporting al-Qaeda.
Unconfirmed reports on a Yemeni Internet site, Marebnews, said the mediator had promised Tam a ransom of 100,000 dollars in return for the hostages and an assurance that he would not face prosecution.
Tribes have abducted more than 200 foreigners over the past 15 years in a bid to extract concessions from the central government whose writ extends with difficulty over the lawless countryside.
In December 2005, five members of a German family, including a former deputy foreign minister, Juergen Chrobog, were held for three days by tribal kidnappers demanding the release by Yemen of five members of their clan.
All foreign hostages have been freed unharmed except for three Britons and an Australian seized by Islamist militants in December 1998. They were killed when security forces stormed the kidnappers' hideout.
This article starring:
Abd Rabbo Saleh Al-Tam
Posted by: Fred ||
12/20/2008 00:00 ||
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Two Iraqis accused of murdering British soldiers must stand trial in Baghdad - even if it leads to a death sentence, the High Court in London declared yesterday. The two men, both senior Ba'ath party members under Saddam Hussein, are currently being held by UK forces in Iraq.
Senior judges threw out their claim that their human rights would be breached if they were handed over to Iraqi justice.
Seems like a no-brainer: Faisal and Khalaf killed the two Brits during the war and did so in Iraq. Either military justice applies, in which case Faisal and Khalaf are non-uniform combatants and can be stood against a wall, or they were Iraqi soldiers in which case they're POWs. But in any case the trial (or field hearing) doesn't belong in Britain.
Faisal Al-Saadoon, 56, and Khalaf Mufdhi, 58, are accused of murdering father-of-two Staff Sergeant Simon Cullingworth and Sapper Luke Allsopp during the Iraq war in March 2003. The two bomb disposal experts were captured during an ambush of a supply column, driven to nearby Ba'ath headquarters and executed.
Sickening images of their bodies surrounded by cheering Iraqis were shown on Arab TV. What would Churchill have done? And far away could the blast be seen when he did it?
The case marks a major departure from the Government's long-standing policy of not handing over criminal defendants to regimes which might execute them.
But Britain does not want to be seen to be undermining the Iraqi legal system and the legal powers for UK troops in Iraq to hold any prisoners expire at the end of this month, meaning soldiers at the cell block could themselves face criminal charges.
Posted by: Matt ||
12/20/2008 14:18 ||
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Some 38 people have been detained by the Turkish police in raids on suspected members of al-Qaeda, state-run Anatolian news agency reported on Friday. The number's been going up every day. In a couple months they'll be in the thousands.
The raids were the latest in a series targeting suspected members of the Islamist militant group in recent years. Islamist radicals have carried out bomb attacks in Turkey in the past, especially in 2003 when more than 60 people were killed and dozens injured in a series of bombings by al-Qaeda militants in Istanbul.
"Thirty-eight people were detained in an operation against a radical right-wing group carried out simultaneously in Istanbul, Izmir and Manisa," the agency quoted Istanbul Police Chief Celalettin Cerrah addressing a news conference. Cerrah said 23 of them were detained in Istanbul, suspected of involvement in 12 criminal acts.
Anatolian and other media said the operation was directed against suspected al-Qaeda militants. Istanbul police declined to confirm the reports.
Anatolian on Wednesday reported that 15 suspected al-Qaeda members had been detained in Istanbul. It was not clear whether the suspects to which Cerrah referred on Friday were the same.
On Wednesday a Turkish prosecutor charged two suspected al-Qaeda members over an attack on the U.S. consulate in Istanbul in July that killed three police officers.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/20/2008 00:00 ||
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Security forces destroyed several Taliban hideouts in a military operation in Bajaur Agency on Friday, official sources said. The sources told Daily Times that several of the Taliban's hideouts were destroyed in the forces' shelling in Mamoond and Nawagai tehsils. No casualty was reported.
Meanwhile, the security forces arrested suspected people in Khar tehsil, the sources said.
Separately, Bajaur Agency Political Agent (APA) Shafirullah Khan said that a cell to provide financial assistance to the people affected by the Bajaur operation had been established in the agency on the directives of the federal government.
The APA distributed commodities of daily use to the victims in various areas of Salarzai tehsil. He said the political administration had received a notification for the establishment of the relief cell. He said the administration had also demanded the federal government compensate tribesmen whose houses were destroyed in the military operation.
Orakzai: Meanwhile, unidentified gunmen abducted a PTCL employee from Kalaya area of lower Orakzai Agency on Friday. The sources said the armed men abducted telephone operator Zahid Khan when he came out of the Kalaya Telephone Exchange.
In a separate incident, a policeman was kidnapped from Shahukhel area of Hangu district. The policeman was identified as Ijaz Saeed.
Bannu: Separately, the Taliban attacked a police station and a picket in Bannu, a private TV channel reported on Friday. According to the channel, the Taliban fired rockets on Meriyan Police Station and Kashi police picket on the Link Road in Bannu before police and the Taliban exchanged fire. Residents came out of their houses to help the security officials, the channel added. The channel said the Taliban later fled towards Janikhel area.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/20/2008 00:00 ||
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SRINAGAR: For the past week, Indian intelligence officials eavesdropping on Lashkar-e-Taiba communication channels havent heard a word. Ever since global pressure compelled Pakistan to crack down on the terror groups parent political organisation last week, mobile phones, wireless sets and satellite phones used by field commanders in Jammu and Kashmir have gone silent.
But the group has not been killed off by Islamabad, police and intelligence officials in Jammu and Kashmir believe. It is just playing dead. Despite Pakistans December 13 crackdown on the Jamat-ud-Dawah, there is as yet no sign of any apparent effort to dismantle jihadist groups across the Line of Control raising the prospect that the crackdown may prove less than durable. Lashkar cadre, intelligence sources told The Hindu, remain in place along an arc of forward positions used by the jihadist organisation to push infiltrators across the LoC into Jammu and Kashmir.
For example, Lashkar cadre do not appear to have been evicted from positions in Kel in the Dudhniyal sector of northern Kashmir, or from Nekrun, which faces high-altitude forests in Kanzalwal. Similar forward positions used by the Jaish-e-Mohammad, the Hizb ul-Mujahideen and al-Badr also appear to be intact.
In another sign that the crackdown has been less than serious, a major Lashkar communications base at Kel, located close to Pakistans 32 Infantry Brigade headquarters, has not been dismantled.
Work on the centre, which was intended to house state-of-the-art equipment, began this spring as part of a wider strategy to defeat Indian communications intelligence operations.
Lashkar commanders also placed orders for low-frequency encrypted wireless communication sets, to replace equipment vulnerable to eavesdropping.
In Muzaffarabad, the United Jihad Council a coordinating body for several terrorist groups operating in Jammu and Kashmir and chaired by Hizb chief Mohammad Yusuf Shah is reported to have removed signboards, shut its offices and ordered commanders to stop issuing public statements.
However, the Hizb bases and training facilities remain operational, and the cadre are yet to be dispersed, Jammu and Kashmir police sources said.
The Hizbs main office in Muzaffarabad, the Bait-ul-Islam, continues to function along with the Garhi Habibullah, Khalid bin-Waleed and Umar bin-Khatib camps.
It doesnt take the resources of the military to see that the crackdown on the Jamat-ud-Dawah is less than complete: its website, www.jamatdawah.org, which operates using a Lahore-based server, was updated on December 17 and it carried reports of protests against the Pakistan governments action.
Pakistan cracked the whip on the Jamat-ud-Dawah after the United Nations Security Council imposed sanctions on the organisation and four of its top leaders, sealing its offices, shutting down its accounts, and detaining 31 functionaries including its overall chief Hafiz Mohammad Saeed.
But a welter of confusing and sometimes contradictory statements from high Pakistani officials have since created doubts whether Islamabad in fact intends dismantling the organisation.
Earlier this week, The Wall Street Journal reported that the Jamat-ud-Dawah succeeded in moving funds out of its bank accounts in Pakistan before the crackdown. For reasons that are unclear, Pakistan has chosen not to act against the Lashkars multimillion dollar charitable front, the Idara Khidmat-e-Khalq.
Interestingly, the Jamat-ud-Dawah leadership appears to have been held under Pakistans Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) regulations rather than its harsh anti-terrorism laws. The MPO allows detention of individuals in their homes for up to three months.
Media reports from Pakistan say Saeed has been allowed to address a religious congregation near his home and that he continues to receive visitors.
Under the Pakistan Anti-Terrorism Act, last amended in 2001, special courts may try cases involving a wide range of offences, from the doing of anything that causes death to inciting hatred and contempt on religious, sectarian or ethnic basis to stir up violence.
This law also allows the state to proscribe organisations that engage in terrorism, which is defined to include activities ranging from the incitement of hatred and contempt on religious, sectarian or ethnic lines to the failure to ostracise those who commit acts of terrorism and present them as heroic persons.
Posted by: john frum ||
12/20/2008 00:00 ||
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ISLAMABAD: In a potential embarrassment to the Zardari government, the former Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif, has revealed that Pakistani authorities have sealed a village in Pakistans Punjab province to which journalists traced the origins of Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone surviving gunman in the Mumbai attacks, and are preventing the media from meeting his family.
The disclosure is bound to prompt questions in India and the international community if the Pakistan government was engaged in a clean-up of evidence after investigations by two Pakistani media outlets Dawn newspaper and Geo Television and T he Observer established that Ajmal belonged to Faridkot village in Okara district of Punjab.
President Asif Ali Zardari had said media exposes were not enough to prove the gunmans links to Pakistan, and that India had to provide real evidence.
It has been said that this Ajmal Kasab belongs to Faridkot village. I have personally checked that the village and its surrounding areas have been cordoned off. His parents are not being allowed to meet anyone, the Pakistan Muslim League (N) leader said in an interview to Geo Television on Thursday.
Why, and for what has this been done? If he is not involved [in the Mumbai attacks], then he is not involved. People should be allowed to meet everyone in the village, Mr. Sharif said.
The media should be allowed to meet his parents, and let them say they have not seen him for two or three years, he said, adding that all this points to the fact that we too need to set our own house in order.
The former premier said Pakistan at this time, is presenting a picture of a failed state.
Later, Mr. Sharifs party clarified that the former premiers remarks could not be construed as his acceptance that Ajmal was a Pakistani.
Meanwhile, the Lahore High Court has admitted a petition by a PPP activist against Geo TV for reporting Ajmals links to Faridkot. The petitioner said the report had damaged Pakistans image in the world.
Posted by: john frum ||
12/20/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Ajmal Amir Kasab embarrassed the government; as a warning to others authorities have razed sealed his village, which now no longer exists.
#3
"At this time" my left hind leg. Pakistan has been a failed state since it was created. The only way to rectify the error is to "uncreate" Pakistan, and divide its territory between Afghanistan and India. The only way to get the ISI out of the terrorist business is to disband it and the country that supports it. The sooner the better. If it requires cratering a lot of folks' houses (and all of Pakistan's cities), that's too bad.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/20/2008 12:50 Comments ||
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US and Iraqi soldiers detained an official from the "social" branch of anti-US Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's movement overnight, a spokesman for the movement said on Friday.
"Sheikh Farid al-Fadheli, the Mumahidun co-ordinator for the east bank in Baghdad, was arrested at 2am on Friday by a joint unit of US and Iraqi forces in the Maamel district" of the city's northeast, Abu Zahra told AFP. The Mumahidun are the demilitarised wing of Sadr's 60,000-strong Mahdi Army militia, which he stood down in August.
"The Mumahidun is an educational project aimed at combating secularism -- its weapons are the pen and knowledge," Fadheli told AFP in early December. "The programme should protect the Sadr movement from bad elements and separate the good from the bad," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/20/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
So: I suspect his actions did not match his words (though the article does not say why he was picked up).
Aswat al-Iraq: A police force on Friday arrested a dangerous gunman who said he is "the prince of slaughters" in north of Babel, a police source said.
"The scorpion force raided the house of Saeed Niama Yasser in al-Buhayrat region in al-Askandariya district in north of Hilla and arrested him," the source told Aswat al-Iraq. "He is known as the prince of slaughters for killing so many people," he added. He did not give more details.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/20/2008 00:00 ||
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WASHINGTON Radio logs from a deadly 2007 shooting in Baghdad cast doubt on U.S. government claims that Blackwater Worldwide security guards were unprovoked when they killed 14 Iraqi civilians. The transcripts of Blackwater radio reports, obtained by The Associated Press, describe a hectic eight minutes in which the guards repeatedly reported incoming gunfire from insurgents and Iraqi police.
Five guards face manslaughter and weapons charges for their roles in the shootings. A sixth has pleaded guilty. Prosecutors said the men unleashed a gruesome attack on unarmed Iraqis, including women, children and people trying to escape.
But the radio logs from the Sept. 16, 2007 shooting suggest otherwise. Copies of the logs were turned over to prosecutors by Blackwater. Because Blackwater guards were authorized to fire in self-defense, any evidence their convoy was attacked will make it harder for the Justice Department to prove they acted unlawfully.
The logs, which document radio traffic heard by the company's dispatch center inside the U.S.-controlled Green Zone, show that the Blackwater convoy known as Raven 23 reported taking small arms fire_or SAF_ from insurgents within one minute of shutting down traffic in Baghdad's Nisoor Square.
"Mult insuirg SAF @ R23," the log states at 12:12 p.m.
One minute later, the Raven 23 convoy reported taking fire from Iraqi police: "R23 rpts IPs shooting @ R23."
It's unclear why Iraqi police would fire on the Blackwater convoy. Prosecutors could argue the police fired because they believed Blackwater was attacking civilians. It's also common for insurgents to dress as Iraqi police or military officials.
Raven 23 was told to leave the square and return to the Green Zone at 12:14, according to the logs. But one minute later, the convoy reported that one of its heavily armored vehicles was disabled. Guards jumped out of another truck and set up a tow rig, still under fire, according to the logs.
"R23 in trfc still under sporadic SAF," the log shows at 12:20 p.m., as the convoy made its way back to the Green Zone.
"Unless these guys are lying to their command watch in real time, making up stuff, that's real-time reporting that they were taking small arms fire," said defense attorney Thomas Connolly, who represents Nick Slatten, a former Army sergeant and indicted Blackwater guard.
Connolly provided the logs to the AP because he said prosecutors knew there was evidence of a firefight, yet unfairly described it as a massacre. "The Justice Department began their presentation to the American people with a lie," Connolly said.
Justice Department spokesman Dean Boyd declined to discuss the contents of the logs. "We cannot comment on evidence related to a pending case, but we are fully prepared to address in court arguments made by the defense concerning the documents you reference," he said.
Blackwater, based in Moyock, N.C., confirmed the authenticity of the logs but declined further comment.
The logs add a new uncertainty to an already murky case. Iraqi witnesses say Blackwater fired the only shots. And some Raven 23 members, including at least one who set up the tow rig, told authorities they saw no gunfire, according to people close to the case who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss it publicly.
Others in the convoy told authorities they did see enemy gunfire. And Blackwater turned over to prosecutors pictures of vehicles pocked with bullet holes, which the company says proves the guards were shot at. The photos were not time-stamped, however, and the trucks were repainted and repaired by the time FBI agents began investigating.
The Iraqi government has labeled the guards "criminals" and is closely watching the Blackwater case. The shooting strained diplomacy between Washington and Baghdad and fueled anti-American insurgency in Iraq.
U.S. prosecutors were aggressive in their charges against the guards. They used an anti-machine gun law to attach 30-year mandatory prison sentences to the charges. And though they can't say for sure exactly which guards shot which victims, all five guards are charged with 14 counts of manslaughter. A sixth Blackwater guard struck a deal with prosecutors, turned on his former colleagues, and pleaded guilty to killing one Iraqi and wounding another.
"Those who engaged in unprovoked and illegal attacks on civilians, whether during times of conflict or times of peace, will be held accountable," national security prosecutor Patrick Rowan told reporters when announcing the indictments.
Mark Hulkower, an attorney representing Army veteran and former Blackwater guard Paul Slough, said the logs undermine that claim. "It's absolutely bizarre that the Department of Justice thinks it can call balls and strikes for every shot fired in a firefight," Hulkower said. "I think a jury would be reluctant to do that."
In all, 17 Iraqis were killed in the assault. Rowan said evidence in the case could only prove the guards shot 14, although he left open the possibility of future charges. Blackwater Worldwide and its corporate officers were not charged.
#1
"It's absolutely bizarre that the Department of Justice thinks it can call balls and strikes for every shot fired in a firefight," Hulkower said. "I think a jury would be reluctant to do that."
Got it all on tape eh? Good on em! BW knows well the slime balls it is contracted to. Soon to be dropped by DoJ and their US State pals. No sense draggin it all thru a US court system and soiling or exposing the potentially complicit Iraqi police or US Embassy DS outriders who were ULTIMANTELY RESPONSIBLE for all contractor actions (no word yet from DS). Damn good thing it happened prior to the new SOFA and trial by Iraq court system.
#2
i.e: the one who plead guilty. this is how our judicial system works . they got him in there scared the shit out of him and got him too plead guilty too lesser charges. i hope the rest get off if they are truly not guilty
#3
The facts of the case are the facts of the case, and we're all willing to let justice work (so long as it works reasonably and fairly). Having said that, however, I always found it extremely dubious that a massacre would occur. Lots of direct/indirect experience with this sort of situation in B'dad makes one very very very slow to jump to conclusions about a trained BW team just going wild.
What hardly needs any more time or facts is a new layer of disgust with the press (though - shock of shocks - here AP actually reports some apparently exculpatory facts, without so much as a snarky distortion framing them to protect the public from any officially disapproved or uncomfortable thoughts about evil topics like BW and the US in Iraq) with the USG's handling of this.
Iraq is what it is at the moment - and its politicians and even most of its citizens, though often honorable, are even more often immature, ignorant, scared, and thus prone to the worst over-reactions and self-serving stunts.
To try and play along with Iraq's infuriating complex of resentment, entitlement, and dependency ("protect us! kill the bad guys! don't disturb the chickens! don't make any mistakes! restore the power and water! make life better! don't put checkpoints on my road! it's OK to kill your guys! protect us! yes dammit we'll steal you blind instead of implementing your reconstruction program! protect us! massacre! blah blah blah) is shameful - and stupid - on the part of Crocker's outfit, the department, and the administration. Of course in private I'm fairly confident they've sat the Iraqis down and straightened them out - to some extent - but the public face of this is just outrageous. Mollify a pathetic and pernicious Iraqi inferiority/persecution complex by sacrificing a BW team? Breaker Morant, anyone? (though I heard the story on that one was somewhat murkier than the wonderful cinematic version)
Bethlehem /Jerusalem Maan - Israeli TV unveiled new engineering techniques that will allow troops to destroy the extensive tunnel network snaking beneath the Gaza-Egypt border. According to a recently filmed report Israeli soldiers have completed 16 months of special drills and plan to destroy over 600 tunnels. The Israeli army has detailed information about the tunnels including the differences between those used for smuggling food, weapons, and individuals.
The special battalion of Israeli soldiers preparing for the mission has been named Yalhum, or Jewel in English, and are expected to begin a campaign to assert Israeli control over the tunnels as the truce between Israel and Gaza ends.
Ameer, an Israeli military officer commented on the mission saying the enemy is improving its abilities. We decided to surprise them by showing our new abilities. Matan, another officer admitted that the new war will be a war of minds. Israel shall show its intelligence in this field. This could be interesting...
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.
Some 38 people have been detained by the Turkish police in raids on suspected members of al-Qaeda, state-run Anatolian news agency reported on Friday. 
