BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan (AP) The top U.S. general in eastern Afghanistan said Friday he saw "some very interesting movement" of insurgents across the border into Pakistan this spring, possibly to join Taliban militants battling government troops. Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Schloesser's comments come amid concern in Washington and Islamabad that the buildup of 21,000 additional U.S. forces in Afghanistan may push Taliban militants into Pakistan, further destabilizing the border region in that country.
The Obama administration has declared eliminating militant havens in Pakistan vital to its goals of defeating al-Qaida and winning the war in Afghanistan.
Fighters have historically moved back and forth across the border to back Taliban insurgencies in both countries.
But Schloesser's remarks in an interview with The Associated Press suggested a larger transfer into Pakistan than has been seen previously, as the fighting between Pakistan's troops and the Taliban has intensified. He suggested that most of the movement in the past has been from Pakistan into Afghanistan, calling the new development "an interesting movement backward."
He did not provide details or numbers of those heading toward Pakistan.
It is unclear to what extent the Taliban is moving to help militants in Pakistan or fleeing from U.S. forces in Afghanistan. Schloesser suggested that both factors could be at play.
Pakistani officials have long complained that insurgents were crossing over the porous border from Afghanistan into Pakistan. They have also expressed worries that the surge of U.S. troops into Afghanistan could lead to more militants crossing over into their country. Pakistani military officers say that Afghan, Tajik and Uzbek fighters are taking part in the current fighting in Pakistan's Swat Valley and in other border regions, but that the vast majority are Pakistani.
Schloesser, who commands American troops in eastern Afghanistan, suggested that some of the current movement may be intended to reinforce Taliban fighters in Pakistan. "I would suppose that ... some of that movement is fighters going back to help their insurgent groups that are involved in fighting, for example in Bajur or the fighting that is occurring in Buner or in the Dir area or potentially even in Swat," Schloesser said.
Pakistani troops launched an offensive last month in the Swat region against militants who had pushed into the adjacent Buner district within 60 miles of the capital, Islamabad. The army claims it has killed more than 1,000 militants and won back swaths of territory in Swat. But it faces stiff resistance. Earlier this year, Pakistan launched an offensive in the Bajur tribal area.
Schloesser's troops helped the Pakistani offensive by trying to prevent militants from crossing from Afghanistan into Bajur.
The area under Schloesser's command includes the provinces of Nuristan, Kunar, Khost and Paktika, all with active insurgent groups, some supported from within Pakistan. It abuts most of Pakistan's volatile tribal areas, a region of high mountains.
The current movement of fighters into Pakistan could also partly be a result of pressure from the thousands of new U.S. troops that have joined the fight in Afghanistan this year, Schloesser said.
In Washington, the top U.S. military officer said Thursday he was concerned that the U.S. troop buildup to roust insurgents from Afghanistan could further destabilize Pakistan.
However, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen, speaking to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the military planning is under way to try to avoid that. Mullen said he believes the upcoming increase of 21,000 U.S. forces in Afghanistan "is about right" for the new strategy of trying to quell the insurgency and speed up training of Afghan security forces.
#1
I would bet most of those crossing (back)? into Pakistan are Pakistani. What a novel idea, Pakistanis returning home, now if the rest would do that, 'domestic' terror in the grown-up world would lessen to a great degree.
#2
With pressure from the east by the Pak army and pressure from the west by our troops and pressure from the sky by those drones, these are mighty exciting times for the Taliban.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
05/22/2009 19:49 Comments ||
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#3
ION WORLD MIL FORUM > IIUC PAKISTAN'S ARMY AND TALIBAN CONTINUE DECISIVE BATTLE FOR CONTROL OF KARAKORAM HIGHWAY. PAKIS ARMY KILLED ONLY 800 TALIB FIGHTERS IN PAST EIGHT YEARS, BUT OVER 1200 TALIB FIGHTERS IN LAST FIFTEEN DAYS. PAKIS HAS CAPTURED FIGHTERS FROM UZBEKISTAN, ARAB MUSLIM COUNTRIES, AND "EAST TURKISTAN".
The TALIBS are fighting hard to control or maintain access to its STRATEGIC CORRIDOR [Men, $$$, Arms, Drugs Trade, etc] TO AND FROM CENTRAL ASIA AND MIDDLE EAST???
Troops killed 34 Taliban and seized 15 tonnes of drugs during an ongoing operation in southern Afghanistan's insurgent stronghold of Helmand, the US military said on Thursday.
The joint Afghan and international action started on Tuesday in Marja, about 40 kilometres from the provincial capital Lashkar Gah, the force said in an update released to media. "A total of 34 Taliban have been killed," the statement said. "The most recent enemy deaths were caused by a series of precision air strikes during heavy fighting in the area."
The Afghan army had announced 25 deaths on Wednesday. The latest battle started when troops began to secure an area called Loy Cherah Bazaar, which the statement said was a Taliban stronghold and drugs-processing hub. They found at the bazaar two "war rooms" stocked with maps, communication equipment, Russian-made night vision goggles, US military vehicle parts and weapons, the statement said.
The troops in the Marja operation had uncovered 15,000 kg of high-grade narcotics, "a massive supply" of products used to make heroin, 40 tonnes of explosive materials and drugs packed into drums for use in suicide car bombs, the statement said. "The Afghan commandos have dealt a significant blow to the insurgents," said US military spokesman Colonel Greg Julian, adding routing a main command centre and uncovering the massive supply of drugs "hit them where it hurts the most".
#2
The devout can't get to Jannah unless they're high as a kite. Sez so in the koran.
Posted by: ed ||
05/22/2009 11:36 Comments ||
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#3
No doubt they had stocked a large number of the drums, funky skunk, but temporarily needed some to keep the drugs from being contaminated by the explosives... or vice versa. Besides, there aren't many who'd interfere with a drugs delivery if they thought it actually was a vehicle borne improvised explosive device.
#6
Powdered milk is explosive if one has the right fuel-air mixture.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
05/22/2009 16:32 Comments ||
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#7
like the exploding silos in the midwest
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/22/2009 17:28 Comments ||
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#8
Would heroin be distilled from opium the same way, Redneck Jim?
Sorry memory is incomplete, I just remember the use of ether gave law enforcement an edge, either the ether exploded, or was easily traced when bought in bulk.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
05/22/2009 18:16 Comments ||
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#9
I remember a bit more, this comes from my Drag Racing days, I tried to buy ether to add as a fuel aditive and found it was hevily regulated.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
05/22/2009 18:19 Comments ||
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#10
Ether is used to make freebase cocaine, probably the most addictive substance on earth. Ether is dangerous by itself, but mix with cokeheads and you get Flambe ala Richard (Pryor).
Posted by: ed ||
05/22/2009 19:22 Comments ||
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German troops serving in Afghanistan will soon be equipped with a highly effective new form of protection against rocket, artillery, and mortar attacks. The German government has contracted with the Dusseldorf-based Rheinmetall Group to supply the Bundeswehr with newly developed air defence systems worth around EUR110.8 million.
The current contract encompasses two systems as well as an option for additional services such as documentation and training at a later date, worth approximately EUR20 million. Under a follow-on contract, worth around EUR13.4 million, Rheinmetall will also supply the corresponding ammunition.
Dubbed the Nachstbereichs-Schutzsystem, or "very short-range protection system", the state-of-the-art NBS is a major milestone in the Bundeswehr's SysFla programme, which is progressively upgrading Germany's air defence capabilities; it also represents an important strategic success for Rheinmetall.
Until now, the Bundeswehr - like the armed forces of other nations - lacked a weapon system capable of intercepting small incoming projectiles; in recent months, Bundeswehr bases in Kunduz and Masar-I-Sharif have come under repeated attack by insurgents employing typical hit-and-run tactics.
The NBS C-RAM is specifically designed to defeat the threat which rocket, artillery and mortar attacks pose to Bundeswehr units deployed in hazardous areas of operation. The Bundeswehr will be the world's first army to possess an effective defence against this kind of asymmetric threat, which is particularly prevalent in Afghanistan.
No doubt they'll find a ready market in Israel.
Building on decades of expertise and experience in the field of air defence, Rheinmetall's "Skyshield" technology will make it possible to detect, track and shoot down incoming projectiles before they can reach their target, with virtually no advance warning.
Definitely. Call Bibi tomorrow. He'll take as many as you can manufacture.
Moreover, since the sensor data enable determination of the impact zone as well as attacker's location, base personnel are able to take cover and/or appropriate countermeasures. The system remains in a high state of readiness around the clock.
Never mind tomorrow - call Bibi today.
An NBS C-RAM system consists of an operations/fire control centre, two sensor units and six 35mm automatic guns. These are capable of firing 1,000 rounds per minute and, like the fire control unit, are largely automated. The automatic guns fire programmable "Ahead" ammunition, developed by Rheinmetall specifically for C-RAM applications.
#1
The US offered the Israelis C-RAM a long time ago, and they refused, because they were trying to build their own weapon that did the same thing. Meanwhile, the residents of Sderot had to sit defenseless, because even if the Israeli government got C-RAM, it intended to put them all on the northern borders, and still leave Sderot defenseless.
#3
While the 35mm gun at 1000 rounds/min throws out the same mass as a 20mm Gatling at 3000 rounds/min (Phalanx settings are for 3000 and 4500 rounds/min), the programmable airburst shell greatly increases the odds of a hit/shell using expensive ammunition. The Phalanx CRAM requires a direct hit using more of a less expensive ammunition. In Afghanistan, the lower ammo expenditure 35mm programmable ammo seems the way to go. For Israeli border protection, the longer range of the 35mm requires fewer (expensive) systems than Phalanx.
Posted by: ed ||
05/22/2009 10:48 Comments ||
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#4
Made a mistake. The mass of the 35mm projectile (not the entire shell) is 750 grams or 7.5X the mass of the 20mm round, so each 355 gun is throwing the equivalent of the of the 200mm firing at 7500 rounds/min (or 3X slow or 1.66X fast). Pretty impressive.
Posted by: ed ||
05/22/2009 11:01 Comments ||
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The U.S. military said nine suspected militants have been killed in separate operations in southern and central Afghanistan.
It said U.S.-led coalition forces killed two militants and captured six others in a clash Thursday in the southern province of Helmand.
Separately, the military said seven militants were killed during an airstrike that followed a gunbattle in the central province of Ghazni Wednesday. It also said a Taliban commander was detained.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/22/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
These dead militants will morph into innocent civilians by sunrise.
The four men accused of plotting to bomb New York City synagogues and shoot down military airplanes with missiles are down-and-out ex-convicts living on the margins in a faded industrial city. One is a petty criminal who spent a day in 2002 snatching purses and shooting at people with a BB gun from an SUV. His lawyer calls him "intellectually challenged." Three have histories of drug convictions, one of them for selling narcotics in a school zone. The man prosecutors portrayed as the instigator of the scheme said he smoked pot the day he planned to blow up the temples.
They went to Wal-Mart for cameras to photograph their targets and had to call around to various contacts to get guns, prosecutors said. But if they sometimes seemed amateurish, the men were dangerous people fueled by their hatred for Jews and America, prosecutors said. The plotters managed to get their hands on what they thought were lethal explosives and a surface-to-air missile system, only to find out that they were inert devices supplied by the FBI in a sting operation. "It's hard to envision a more chilling plot," assistant U.S. attorney Eric Snyder said. "These are extremely violent men."
A group of religious leaders, including rabbis, priests and an imam, were to meet Friday morning at one of the targeted synagogues, the Riverdale Jewish Center in the Bronx, to thank authorities. Rabbi Bob Kaplan of the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York said the religious leaders also plan to "stand together against poisonous hatred."
With an informant's help, the FBI monitored the plot every step of the way, including with video and audio surveillance of a home in Newburgh where the conspirators gathered, according to a criminal complaint.
James Cromitie, David Williams, Onta Williams and Laguerre Payen were calm as they appeared in court Thursday, their hands shackled, to answer charges of conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction within the U.S. and conspiracy to acquire and use anti-aircraft missiles. They did not enter pleas and were held without bail; they face life in prison if convicted.
Relatives said the defendants were struggling men who worked at places such as Wal-Mart, a landscaping company and a warehouse when they weren't behind bars. Payen's lawyer said he was on medication for schizophrenia and has "a very low borderline" IQ.
David Williams' relatives were floored by the allegations against a man they knew as a good father to his 7-year-old daughter and newborn son. "You don't raise your children to be terrorists," said Aahkiyaah Cummings, his aunt. "I don't know that guy that was arrested." Just four years ago, Williams, now 28, told a parole board that prison was a wake-up call after his conviction on drug and weapons charges drugs he said he sold because he was making only $150 a week in his job. Onta Williams, 32, and Cromitie have also served prison sentences for drug convictions Cromitie said in court he had used marijuana as recently as Wednesday. He said he was 55, though law enforcement records give his age as 44.
Payen, 27, did time for attempted assault in 2002, he and others fired a BB gun out an SUV window, hitting two people in the head. He snatched purses from two women later the same day, said state Division of Parole spokeswoman Heather Groll. Payen appears to be a Haitian citizen, while the other three are Americans. The Williamses are not related.
New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said he believed the defendants knew each other from their time behind bars. Relatives said Payen, David Williams and Onta (AWN'-tay) Williams were introduced to Islam in prison a trend in prisons around the country in recent years. "The Onta I know wouldn't do something like this, but the new Onta, yeah," said Richard Williams, an uncle. "He wasn't raised this way. All this happened when he became a Muslim in prison." He said his nephew, who loaded tractor-trailers at a warehouse, had been shaken by his mother's death in 2006 and a separation from his wife. She has custody of his three children.
Payen was apparently staying in a rundown house that neighbors say was known as a home for parolees. Penniless and jobless, he had been fighting deportation and seeking custody of his 3-year-old son, said Hamin Rashada, an assistant imam at the Masjid al-Ikhlas mosque, where authorities say the informant first met Cromitie in June 2008.
Cromitie was burning with anger about the U.S. war in Afghanistan, where his parents had lived before he was born, according to the criminal complaint. He told the informant he was interested in jihad and "doing something to America" and was crestfallen that "the best target (the World Trade Center) was hit already," the complaint said. In the same conversation, Cromitie said: "I hate those mother-------, those f------ Jewish b------ .... I would like to get (destroy) a synagogue," according to the complaint. In one conversation, Cromitie said he longed to shoot Jews in the head as they walked on the street near a synagogue, the informant told authorities. In another conversation with the informant, Onta Williams said the U.S. military was killing Muslims, "so if we kill them here with IEDs and Stingers, it is equal," according to court papers.
A woman who answered the phone at a Bronx listing for several of Cromitie's relatives said she didn't want to speak about him and hung up. No one answered the door at his Newburgh address, but neighbor Luis Pena said Cromitie was "a real nice guy."
Cromitie told the informant last July that he wanted to join Jaish-e-Mohammed, a Pakistani terrorist group with which the informant claimed to be involved, the complaint said. Authorities say Jaish set up training camps in Afghanistan under the Taliban, and several senior operatives were close to Osama bin Laden. By December, Cromitie was asking the informant to supply explosives and surface-to-air missiles. The suspects obtained the weapons not knowing they were disabled earlier this month, according to the complaint.
#3
We need to shut down those prisons that are being used by Muzzies to recruit jihadis. I say shut them down and move all those prisoners to Super Max facilities in Colorado.
#4
Al Qaeda is really scraping the bottom of the barrel. They went from postgraduate suiciders and trained pilots to retarded criminals who couldn't even stay out of prison?
They got em surrounded, I tells ya!
The Pakistani army has encircled the Taliban in a number of strongholds across the Swat valley, a senior army officer said yesterday as the UN launched a $543m appeal for 2 million people displaced by the conflict.
"The noose is very tight around them. They are taking casualties every day," said Major General Sajjid Ghani, who leads the fight in the northern half of the valley. "We are closing in on them and we will eliminate them."
To prove the point, the army flew reporters to a mountain peak with a commanding view over the valley it had captured two days earlier after a 12-hour battle. Ghani pointed out several recently captured villages including Matta, a former Taliban stronghold. But the general refused to estimate how long the operation would take, and the sound of explosions and machine gun fire in the near distance suggested more tough fighting lay ahead
To the west lay Piochar, a remote valley bordered by snow-peaked mountains that houses the Taliban headquarters and where Pakistan's top commando force, the Special Services Group, has been engaged in intense fighting for the past week. On the other side was Malam Jabba, Pakistan's only commercial ski resort, which was wrecked by militants last year and remains under their control. And due south, about five miles down the meandering Swat valley, lies Mingora, the commercial capital of the valley.
There, civilians are hunkered inside their homes, surviving on dwindling supplies of food and fuel. Despite intense air attacks, the Taliban remain in control, with fighters holed up in schools and government offices, apparently preparing for a bloody ground offensive.
More than 1.7 million residents have registered for help in neighbouring districts, while at least 300,000 are unregistered. "The scale of this displacement is extraordinary," said UN official Martin Mogwanja, launching the $543m (£345m) appeal in Islamabad. Ghani said several areas, including the former Taliban stronghold of Matta, would soon be safe enough for people to return home. In northern Swat, he said, villagers were forming militias to oppose the Taliban spreading.
But even in areas under army control, the peace appears fragile. Although officers said it was safe for residents to return to Khwazakhela, a few kilometres from the captured mountain, they refused to allow journalists to wander the streets.
Instead they produced a 16-year-old youth who escaped Taliban captivity and three foreign prisoners two Uzbeks and an Afghan for interview inside their camp. They also showed images of Taliban leaders, including the reclusive cleric Maulana Fazlullah and a commander known as Ibne Amin, whom Ghani termed the "monstrous murderer of Matta".
The army needs to maintain fragile public support while convincing western allies it is serious about routing the Taliban after two failed previous attempts. Since operations started in Swat in November 2007, the army has killed 1,014 militants and lost 92 soldiers and officers.
#1
I need more salt to digest this news item, lots and lots of more grains. Still, it looks like the Paks are doing something very remarkable here and something I never thought I'd see.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
05/22/2009 19:42 Comments ||
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#2
WAFF.com > NEW US STRATEGY TREATS AGHANISTAN, PAKISTAN AS AN INTEGRATED THEATER [albeit under different US foreign policies]; + IRAN DEPLOYS MISSLE LAUNCHERS IN STRATEGIC WATERWAY [Gulf of Hormuz + peripherals]. IOW, SAMS [read, anti-Israeli AF,USAF]+ SSMS [read, anti-USN, UK]; +
KADAFFI DECLARES WAR AGZ AMAZIGH PEOPLES IN MOROCCO [Libya's DA KOLONEL seeks to overtly legitimize the Amazighs in order to covertly deny them formal status and treatment, etc. as a separate Arab-Muslim people].
* TOPIX > HIZBOLLAH CALLS FOR "REGIME CHANGE" [pro-SHIITE = IRAN, SYRIA] IN LEBANON. The Hizzies, Hezzies Huzzies, etc. claim are perfectly capable of governing + running Lebanon.
Sixteen police are feared dead after they were ambushed by Maoist rebels in the western Indian state of Maharashtra on Thursday, police said, the latest in a series of attacks which hit India's recent general election.
"Sixteen policemen perhaps have been killed, I have got the information," Pankaj Gupta, a senior state police official, told CNN-IBN news channel. "Trees were felled and put across the road, and it was obviously a trap it seems." Dozens of people have died in recent weeks while Maoist violence marred India's month-long general election. The rebels attacked security forces and polling officials, bombed civic buildings and urged voters to boycott the poll. The Maoists say they are fighting for the rights of poor farmers and the landless. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh described the Maoist insurgency in India as one of the gravest threats to India's internal security.
The Taliban in Peshawar are warning people against wearing Western clothes, residents said on Thursday.
"I received a piece of paper written in Pushto, saying that doctors and medical workers are wearing un-Islamic dress which should be stopped," said Abdul Hammed Afridi, chief executive of Peshawar's main government hospital. "It was from Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP)," he said. "I have not issued any order to change dress. Anybody is free to wear whatever clothes he/she likes," Afridi added.
But people working at smaller, private companies said they were steering clear of Western-style trousers and shirts, instead donning traditional dresses after colleagues were beaten up in the streets. "My office advised me in writing to stop wearing western dress and start wearing the national dress after incidents of violence," Muhammad Saghir, who works for a private company, told AFP.
"Last week one of our colleagues was kidnapped by the Taliban, beaten and warned that pharmaceutical staff should stop wearing western dress," said Nasir Khan, president of a medical representatives' organisation. "They put a warning letter in his pocket after beating him," he said.
#2
The practical solution to this is to form vigilante squads, and when some Taliban misbehaves, beat the hell out of him first. And if his buddies retaliate, you retaliate harder.
16 policemen were killed in an attack by Naxal militants in the Gadchiroli District of India's Maharashtra state on Thursday. Official Indian radio reported that two senior officers were amongst the killed.
The policemen were attacked by the gunmen while attempting to remove a road blockade earlier placed by the militants.
The Naxal, who predominantly occupy central and eastern Indian states, have been carrying out more frequent attacks on government establishments and employees recently. The group, who adopt a Marxist communist ideology, are demanding more rights for farmers in the region.
At least nine people four civilians and five security personnel were killed and 25 injured in a suicide attack near an FC fort in Jandola area of Tank on Thursday evening, a private TV channel reported. The channel said an explosives-laden truck was rammed into the FC camp damaging several nearby shops and the fort.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/22/2009 00:00 ||
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Taliban commander Yar Syed alias Chakri and five of his accomplices surrendered to the government at a jirga in Mohmand Agency on Thursday. Yar Syed, an infamous Tehreek-e-Taliban commander in Mohmand Agency, also handed over weapons to the political administration. He conceded that "I was in the wrong", and assured the political agent that he and the five other men would remain peaceful.
This article starring:
YAR SYED ALIAS CHAKRI
TTP
Posted by: Fred ||
05/22/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
He conceded that "I was in the wrong", and assured the political agent that he and the five other men would remain peaceful.
And by strange coincidence that realization came when he found himself staring down the barrels of more automatic weapons than he could safely count.
"I am ready to give you passage through Ahmedzai Wazir areas to Afghanistan if you want to fight the occupational forces there. But I cannot join you against the Pakistani forces..."
Residents of South Waziristan are fleeing the agency amid a build up of forces by the army and the Taliban. "Mehsuds are leaving their areas in Sarwakai and Ladah tehsils for fears of an operation," local sources told Daily Times. Former tribal MNA Maulana Mirajuddin confirmed "hundreds of thousands" of people were on the move.
There have been no reports that Ahmedzai Wazirs are migrating. The tribes are seeking an "unambiguous pledge" from Taliban leader Maulvi Nazir to stay away from Baitullah Mehsud if he fights against the army, Ahmedzai Wazirs elders told Daily Times by phone from Wana. Unconfirmed reports say Nazir has told Baitullah: "I am ready to give you passage through Ahmedzai Wazir areas to Afghanistan if you want to fight the occupational forces there. But I cannot join you against the Pakistani forces..."
A group of elders attempted to meet Nazir on Thursday but could not because the Taliban leader is keeping his location secret to avoid a drone attack from the United States.
Cowardy, cowardy custard!
This article starring:
BAITULLAH MEHSUD
TTP
MAULVI NAZIR
TTP
Posted by: Fred ||
05/22/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
A group of elders attempted to meet Nazir on Thursday but could not because the Taliban leader is keeping his location secret to avoid a drone attack from the United States.
Heve the Predators look for the fake volcano.
Or the Peshawar Hilton...
LOUISVILLE, Kentucky (Reuters) - A former U.S. soldier convicted of raping a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and killing her and her family will be sentenced to life in prison after a jury on Thursday failed to agree on whether he should be executed.
Prosecutors had sought the death penalty for Steven Green, 24, found guilty by the same jury two weeks ago of committing the 2006 crimes near Baghdad. But after two days of deliberations, the jury of nine women and three men could not decide if he should be executed or given life without parole, so the life sentence prevailed.
Judge Thomas Russell of the U.S. District Court in Paducah, Kentucky, who presided over the trial, will issue the sentence on September 4.
Green's lawyers depicted him as a victim of combat stress and a bad childhood trapped in the "Triangle of Death" combat zone south of Baghdad where he saw comrades die and could no longer tell friend from foe.
"America does not kill its broken warriors," defense attorney Scott Wendelsdorf said in his final argument to the jury asking it to spare Green's life.
Prosecutors said Green was the ringleader of a gang of five soldiers who plotted to invade the home of the family of four to rape the girl, and who later bragged about the crime. Three of the four other soldiers pleaded guilty in the attack and the fourth was convicted, all in military courts-martial. They received sentences ranging from five to 100 years, although they could be paroled much sooner.
Green was tried in federal court as a civilian on murder, rape and obstruction of justice charges because his arrest came after he was discharged from the Army with the rank of private first class for a "personality disorder."
Green, 19 at the time of the crime, was described as the trigger-man in the group who donned black "ninja" outfits and raped Abeer Qassim Hamza al-Janabi and shot to death her and her father, mother and 6-year-old sister. The rape-murders took place after the soldiers drank whiskey, played cards, and plotted the attack in Mahmudiya, 20 miles south of Baghdad.
Green, from Midland, Texas, was described by prosecutors as predisposed to killing Iraqis. Defense attorneys acknowledged he took part in the killings but argued he was suffering combat stress after the death of close colleagues and should be spared the death penalty.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/22/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
It doesn't get much worse than this, except maybe in numbers. And maybe I'm wrong, but I'm not buying into PTSD causing pre-planned group criminal behavior. He was broken before he got there, like most criminals who commit crimes, and he ought to get the same considerations as other common criminals get for their crimes. I can imagine PTSD causing spontanteous revenge killings, but this goes way beyond that. He and his cohorts should be handed to the Iraqis for punishment since this was simply a heinous criminal act committed on Iraqi soil against Iraqis.
#3
Agree with everything you say Gorb except about giving them to Iraq. This was not a blood lust event, it was planned and organized, a criminal event.
But soldiers that are handed over to other countries turn into political fodder, everyone loves a show trial. While there may not have been a Status Of Forces Agreement back then in Iraq, I think the UCMJ covers stuff like this fairly adequately. This guy should have been brought back on active duty, tried in military court and shot.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
05/22/2009 13:15 Comments ||
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#4
I agree with the consensus here except that the firing squad is much too good for these savages, and Green was the worst of a very bad gang. He killed the other family members with a shotgun before he raped the girl. He then shot her in the face and set her body on fire. A short rope would be the least we can do.
#5
But soldiers that are handed over to other countries turn into political fodder
I guess there is that. I guess the best thing then would be to make sure that their relatives got their say in court on the USA's dime, and perhaps that the Iraqis had a hand in deciding on their punishment, with limits set by the US Constitution. It looks like they didn't, though.
The medium-range ballistic missile Iran tested this week is similar to a model used by Pakistan, suggesting that Islamabad might be assisting Tehran in its weapons program, Israeli security analysts said (see GSN, May 20).
Iran's Shahab 3 missile developed from weapons technology used by North Korea and the former Soviet Union, while the Sajjil 2 missile Iran tested Wednesday resembled a type used by Pakistan, Tel Aviv University's Yiftah Shapir told Haaretz.
"It is closer to a Pakistani missile, the Shaheen 2, which is based on Chinese technology," the Press Trust of India quoted Shapir as telling the newspaper. "This suggests that it might be the Pakistanis who transferred technology to Iran for the development of the Sajjil ballistic missile."
The solid-fuel Sajjil 2 is believed to have a range of 1,200 miles, enabling it to hit targets in Israel and southeastern Europe. The weapon "should worry the Europeans," according to Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon, who asserted that Tehran also wants to produce a ballistic missile capable of reaching the United States.
Experts noted that the payload capacity of the Sajjil 2 is akin to that of the Soviet and North Korean models
Posted by: john frum ||
05/22/2009 16:08 ||
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#1
...and by similar, we mean they didn't even bother to scrape off the Made In Pakistan sticker.
#2
Or detach the ziplock bag containing the assembly instructions in both Simplified Chinese and Classic Chinglish. (How confident would you be about the quality control of that batch of work?)
#3
FREEREPUBLIC this AM > NEW INTELLIGENCE SUGGESTS IRAN HAS COMPLETED DESIGNS FOR NUCLEAR WARHEAD PRODUCTION.
Lest we fergit, RUSSIA > APPROXI 100 NUCLEAR WARHEADS [+ prob more, NOT less]] ARE STILL REPOR MISSING FROM RUSS = COLD WAR SOVIET INVENTORY.
* 1990's - post 9-11 NET > it may explain Radical Islam's desire to proceed wid its Jihad despite recognizing powerful or catastrophic anti-Islamist milpol opposition from the USA + ALLIES, i.e. ISLAMIST MILTERRS ARE NOT AFRAID BECUZ. AMONG OTHER, THEY ALREADY POSSESS A NUMBER OF NUCWEAPONS = CBRN/WMDS???
#4
They only had various types of trucks = industrial vehicles, maritime vesselsm etc. - WHAT THEIR MOVEMENT + FUTURE OWG-NWO ISLAMIST-JIHADIST SUPERSTATE DIDN'T HAVE WAS LR BALLISTIC MISSLES AND AIR-LAND-SPACE MIL ASSETS TO DETER THE MORE POWERFUL + TECH-SAAVY, NON-MUSLIM ANDOR ANTI-RADIC ISLAMIST WORLD NATIONS [read, US-NATO/Allies].
The more powerful one is at the beginining, the more difficult it may be for enemies over ???time to defeat or destroy you, correct!?
On this day in history: May 22nd.
334 BC The Greek army of Alexander the Great defeats Darius III of Persia in the Battle of the Granicus.
1176 Murder attempt by the Hashshashin (Assassins) on Saladin near Aleppo. (Too bad they missed)
1819 The SS Savannah leaves port at Savannah, Georgia, United States, on a voyage to become the first steamship to cross the Atlantic Ocean. The ship arrived at Liverpool, England on June 20.
1826 The HMS Beagle departs on its first voyage, carrying Charles Darwin.
1843 Thousands of people and their cattle head west via wagon train from Independence, Missouri to what would later become the Oregon Territory. It is part of the Great Migration. They follow what is now known as the Oregon Trail.
1906 The Wright brothers are granted U.S. patent number 821,393 for their "Flying-Machine".
1915 Lassen Peak erupts with a powerful force, and is the only mountain, other than Mount St. Helens, to erupt in the continental US during the 20th century.
1942 Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox enlists in the United States Marine Corps as a flight instructor.
1958 Start of Sri Lankan riots of 1958, this riot was a watershed event in the race relationship of the various ethnic communities of Sri Lanka. The total number of deaths is estimated to be 300, mostly Sri Lankan Tamils.
1962 Continental Airlines Flight 11 crashes after bombs explode on board.
1964 U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson announces the goals of his Great Society social reforms to bring an "end to poverty and racial injustice" in America.
1968 The nuclear-powered submarine the USS Scorpion sinks with 99 men aboard 400 miles southwest of the Azores.
1980 Namco releases the highly influential video game Pacman.
1990 The Windows 3.0 operating system is released by Microsoft.
1992 After 30 years, 66-year-old Johnny Carson hosts The Tonight Show for the last time.
2002 In Washington, DC, the remains of the missing Chandra Levy are found in Rock Creek Park.
In light of this new evidence, I will have to give the nod to Juliet, if nothing else for having been denounced personally by none other than Nikita Kruschev (for her role in Can-Can).
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.
The U.S. military said nine suspected militants have been killed in separate operations in southern and central Afghanistan. 
The four men accused of plotting to bomb New York City synagogues and shoot down military airplanes with missiles are down-and-out ex-convicts living on the margins in a faded industrial city. One is a petty criminal who spent a day in 2002 snatching purses and shooting at people with a BB gun from an SUV. His lawyer calls him "intellectually challenged." Three have histories of drug convictions, one of them for selling narcotics in a school zone. The man prosecutors portrayed as the instigator of the scheme said he smoked pot the day he planned to blow up the temples.
Taliban commander 
A group of elders attempted to meet Nazir on Thursday but could not because the Taliban leader is keeping his location secret to avoid a drone attack from the United States.
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