This is the same Kendall Myers who was arrested today, along with his moonbat wife, and charged with spying for Cuba.
Britain's special relationship 'just a myth'
A senior American official has spoken of "the myth of the special relationship" between the United States and Britain, arguing that Tony Blair got "nothing, no payback" for supporting President George W Bush in Iraq.
Kendall Myers, a leading State Department adviser, suggested that Mr Blair should have been ditched by Labour but the party had lacked the "courage or audacity" to remove him.
David Cameron, the Conservative leader, was "shrewd, astute" to have distanced himself from America.
In candid comments that will embarrass Mr Bush and Mr Blair, the veteran official said America "ignored" Britain, and he urged Britain to decouple itself from the US.
He asserted that the "special relationship", a term coined by Sir Winston Churchill in 1946, gave Britain little or nothing.
"It has been, from the very beginning, very one-sided. There never really has been a special relationship, or at least not one we've noticed."
The result of the Iraq war would be that any future British premier would be much less cosy with Washington than Mr Blair had been, and the Prime Minister's much vaunted view that Britain was "a transatlantic bridge" was now redundant.
Mr Myers said Donald Rumsfeld's comment before the invasion of Iraq in March 2003 that America could go it alone without Britain had been a clarifying moment.
I think the arrest of this media saboteur and Castro errand-boy IS a WoT operation, btw, and it is certainly a lurid crime tale.
LONDON, June 5 (UPI) -- A 19-year-old rifleman from Reading has become the 137th British serviceman to die from hostile fire in Afghanistan, the military says.
The death of Cyrus Thatcher means that Britain has suffered more casualties in Afghanistan than the 136 deaths recorded in Iraq before its combat operations ended there last month, The Times of London reported Friday.
Thatcher, of the 2nd Battalion The Rifles, was killed by an explosion while on patrol in Helmand Tuesday.
"He was one of the best," said his commanding officer, Lt. Col. Rob Thomson. "He was one of those few who genuinely had a rucksack of potential."
Shadow Defense Secretary Liam Fox says coalition forces in Afghanistan are facing a resurgent Taliban.
Britain plans to increase the number of troops on the ground during the summer to 9,000 from 8,300 to help counter the threat.
[Mail and Globe] Somalis fleeing war and hunger at home are pouring into neighbouring Kenya at an average rate of 7 000 a month, swelling what is already the world's largest refugee settlement, United Nations staff said on Thursday. Voting with their feet, are they?
Eighteen years of civil conflict in Somalia show no sign of abatement, with foreign militants joining Islamist rebels seeking to topple a new government that is the 15th attempt to restore central rule since 1991. ... the "new government" being mostly the Islamic Courts, which is now too moderate for international Islamism...
About 80 000 people have died in the last two years alone, while a million Somalis are refugees in their own land, three million need urgent food aid and hundreds of thousands have crossed borders into Djibouti, Ethiopia and Kenya. "We have been receiving an average of 7 000 refugees [a month] since January and from what they tell us, the major reason why they leave their country is increasing insecurity," said Anne Campbell, head of the UN refugee agency UNHCR's sub-office in Dadaab, north Kenya. Located 100km from the border, Dadaab's three main camps -- Dagahaley, Ifo and Hagadera -- are a large settlement of mainly flimsy huts and tents on sandy scrubland. Set up in 1991, the camp was designed for 90 000 refugees, but now houses 275 000, mainly Somalis.
Aid agencies expect this number to keep increasing, and are seeking more space from the Kenyan government. "We are preparing for a higher influx in mid-June because the rain has made it impossible for those fleeing the current fighting to reach the border easily," added Campbell.
With high food prices and falling donations owing to the global financial squeeze, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) warned that supplies for Dadaab could soon be squeezed.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/05/2009 00:00 ||
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A North Korean patrol boat intruded over the South Korean side of their western sea border on Thursday, but retreated after a standoff that lasted nearly an hour, an official here said, according to Yonhap News.
The intrusion took place at 2:47 p.m. about 12 km off the South Korean island of Yeonpyeong, near which deadly naval battles erupted between the divided states in 1999 and 2002, a Joint Chiefs of Staff official said. The boat returned at 3:38 p.m. after repeated warnings by South Korean naval forces guarding the Northern Limit Line (NLL), the official said, speaking on customary condition of anonymity.
"The North Korean boat reached 1.6 kilometers into the South Korean side," the official said. "It appears the boat trespassed over the border while chasing Chinese fishing boats that were illegally operating."
But the official did not rule out the possibility that North Korea had deliberately sent the vessel to further raise tension in the Yellow Sea.
South Korea radioed a warning message to the boat once before and twice after it trespassed, he said, adding the incident marks the third time North Korea has breached the maritime border this year.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/05/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
I'm sure Obama has already apologized to North Korea.
[ADN Kronos] A Turkish soldier was killed and three others were injured on Thursday in a clash between security forces and Kurdish separatists in the southeast of the country. The Anatolian news agency said the conflict took place in the Bestler-Dereler region in the southeastern province of Sirnak.
News agencies earlier reported Turkish security forces had conducted a widespread ground operation in the region backed by military helicopters.
The clash comes three days after the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) announced it would halt its armed attacks against Turkish targets until 15 July.
In April, the organisation announced it would suspend armed attacks until 1 June. However, Turkish media have reported dozens of Turkish soldiers have been killed in attacks carried out by the PKK during that period.
Turkish army chief Ilker Basbug rejected calls for the army to cease operations as a peace overture to the PKK, in comments published in the Hurriyet newspaper on Thursday.
"Nobody should expect the Turkish armed forces to cease operations for peace or stay quiet or stand in the corner," he said. "I will neither stop nor wait for the terrorists to come. On the contrary, I will seek them out and exterminate them."
[ADN Kronos] Italian police have issued arrest warrants for five North Africans accused of plotting terror attacks in the northern cities of Milan and Bologna in early 2006. The five are alleged to have planned attacks against the subway system in Milan and the San Petronio cathedral in Bologna which dates back to 1390.
Police claimed the five were part of an international group which is active in Algeria, Morocco and Syria. They are facing several charges including association with the objective of carrying out terrorism in Italy and abroad and funding international terrorism. They are also accused of recruiting and training individuals to be sent to Iraq and Afghanistan to carry out terror attacks against civil and military targets.
Apart from Italy, the international organisation was also believed to have been looking at activities in France, Spain and Denmark. Italy's paramilitary police or Carabinieri said since their investigations had identified such a serious threat, they are likely to press the ministry of the interior to deport several supporters associated with the group.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/05/2009 00:00 ||
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The Tennessee man suspected in Monday's attack on a recruitment center in Little Rock, Arkansas, was brainwashed and tortured while imprisoned in Yemen, his lawyer said Thursday. "My client is a young man, I think, brainwashed," attorney Jim Hensley told CNN. "What else could be explained for a young man who's a true American, plays football, helps his grandmother and mows the lawns of his neighbors? Comes back and then finds himself in this situation? That is not a normal situation in my book."
That sounds like one desperate lawyer ...
Abdulhakim Muhammad, formerly known as Carlos Bledsoe, is charged with killing Pvt. William Long, 23, of Conway, Arkansas, and wounding Pvt. Quinton Ezeagwula, 18, of Jacksonville, Arkansas. The 23-year-old convert to Islam has pleaded not guilty. But, according to court records, he told police that he had "political and religious" motives for the shooting.
In September 2007, Muhammad left Tennessee State University in Nashville, where he was studying business, and traveled to Yemen to teach English to children and to learn Arabic. There, "he felt at peace with these people," even marrying a Yemeni, Hensley said. But things began to change when his client was detained for a minor visa violation in Yemen and sent to prison, where he was housed with radical Islamic fundamentalists, Hensley said.
In November 2008, Muhammad was arrested in the port city of Aden for overstaying his visa and deported two months later in cooperation with the U.S. Embassy, a Yemeni official said. There is disagreement about the time he was incarcerated. The lawyer said Muhammad told him he had served four months in prison. Hensley said Muhammad told him that, during the last two weeks he was held, he was deprived of sleep and food and "was slapped around a little bit," enduring beatings on the backs of his legs.
However, Mohammed AlBasha, a spokesman for the Yemeni Embassy, rejected Hensley's assertion. "It is understood that the process of radicalization can take a number of years, not a couple of weeks," he said. "So, the statement that his lawyer made, that he was brainwashed and tortured for weeks in Yemen, are baseless."
During Muhammad's time in the prison, an FBI agent visited him not as an ally but as an interrogator, Hensley said. The FBI agent "believed that Carlos was some kind of hardened terrorist hellbent on doing violence to America," Hensley said.
After he was released in January, Muhammad returned to Nashville, Tennessee, where his parents noticed their son was "fidgety, frustrated, can't sit still," Hensley said. The same FBI agent approached him and threatened to put him under surveillance, "to do everything we can to cause you trouble," Hensley said. A federal law enforcement source told CNN that the FBI was investigating Muhammad, but FBI spokesmen would not confirm any contact they might have had.
Hensley added that Muhammad's parents told him that, once he returned to Nashville, "he was a different human," one who blamed the United States for the war wounds suffered by some of the children whom he had taught, children without arms or legs. He also blamed U.S. immigration policy for his inability to bring his bride back to the United States with him, Hensley said. "A first-year psychology student would be able to see that this young man needed some help, and that wasn't offered him by anyone," Hensley said.
Muhammad eventually moved to Little Rock to help his father's Memphis tour business expand into Arkansas. Just before the shooting, he was working out of a Hilton hotel in Little Rock in the family business, driving a sightseeing van.
Hensley said he was speaking to the news media because Muhammad had asked him to. "His agenda is different from mine; he wants to be a martyr," the lawyer said.
Federal agents said Wednesday that they were looking into whether Internet searches of various locations in several other U.S. cities were a sign that Muhammad was seeking "additional targets." The cities investigators included Atlanta, Georgia; Louisville, Kentucky; New York; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Memphis, Tennessee, where Muhammad grew up. Columbus too, it seems.
Hensley told CNN that his client was not the only person who was using the computer.
Muhammad is being held on a state count of capital murder and 16 counts of engaging in a terrorist act by firing into an occupied building.
#2
The Tennessee man suspected in Monday's attack on a recruitment center in Little Rock, Arkansas, was brainwashed and tortured while imprisoned in Yemen, his lawyer said Thursday.
So why didn't Abdulhakim Muhammad shoot up a mosque or falafel house?
Posted by: ed ||
06/05/2009 9:20 Comments ||
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#3
"My client is a young man, I think, brainwashed," attorney Jim Hensley told CNN. "What else could be explained for a young man who's a true American, plays football, helps his grandmother and mows the lawns of his neighbors? and shoots American soldiers, wants to kill Jews and infidels
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/05/2009 9:39 Comments ||
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#4
When you have all those ingredients, shouldn't this case have been a Full Investigation?
#5
This guy was arrested in Knoxville in 2004. Can't figure out why he was put into the wind.
"...Muhammad, then known as Carlos Bledsoe, was arrested in Knoxville in 2004 with an ounce of marijuana and a cache of high-powered firearms that he told police he planned to sell.
Court records show only a single charge was filed, possessing an illegal weapon, and it was dismissed four months after the arrest. John Gill, special counsel to Randy Nichols, the Knox County prosecutor, said Wednesday he wasn't legally allowed to make any public statements about the case.
The newspaper reported court records weren't clear on whether some of Bledsoe's record might have been expunged."
His parents said he was weird in January, 2009. He may have been "a jihadist" for longer than that. He also has links to a Columbus mosque that is considered radical.
#9
The Columbus mosque he had frequented also turned out four others indicted on terrorist charges. Sounds like the FBI/Homeland Security has really dropped the ball on this one.
#10
The "brainwashed" defense is a gift to the prosecutor. In his shoes, I would play on that like a trumpet.
"So, was it just this particular mosque that 'brainwashed' him, is this particular sect of Islam a 'brainwashing cult', or do you mean to imply that an inherent part of Islam is 'brainwashing'?"
"Describe the techniques used to 'brainwash' the defendant."
"What parts of these brainwashing techniques are standard among cults that brainwash? Was any chanting involved, or repetitive movement? Was there peer group pressure to conform? Rejection of prior values? Was the doctrine confusing? Were the rules uncompromising? Was verbal abuse or hostility directed at anyone? Was there a dress code? Efforts to isolate the "victim" from non-members? Were there attempts to instill guilt or fear? Changes in diet or sleep plans? All of these are traits common to cults."
"Has anyone else with this 'cult' been 'brainwashed' as well, so are 'ticking time bombs' waiting to go off and slaughter innocent men, women and children?"
"If this network of cults exists elsewhere in the country, should its members be put into protective custody until they can be psychologically evaluated or institutionalized until they can be de-programmed?"
"Certainly any children associated with this 'cult' should be removed and placed under foster care to insure that they are not being 'brainwashed' as well."
By now, the defendant would be desperate to change his plea to "guilty".
#13
The Tennessee man suspected in Monday's attack on a recruitment center in Little Rock, Arkansas, was brainwashed and tortured while imprisoned in Yemen, his lawyer said Thursday.
But ... but ... but ... we all know that torture doesn't work. Right?
#14
The FBI agent "believed that Carlos was some kind of hardened terrorist hellbent on doing violence to America," Hensley said.
The name's "Abdulhakim Muhammad", counselor. He picked it, not you. Carlos doesn't exist anymore, as much as you'd like to convince a jury that the poor, mixed up kid does.
#16
one who blamed the United States for the war wounds suffered by some of the children whom he had taught, children without arms or legs.
It couldn't have possibly been the internal strife that has killed tens of thousands since 1965 that caused any of these poor children to suffer and be wounded, it has to be Uncle Sam. Sounds like Carlos was smoking something more than a little hash. As for bringing back his "bride", there are procedures. If you don't use them, you'll have all manner of difficulty. I've known several people who married German wives, and had to go through a ton of paperwork to bring them to the States afterwards. It's not like it's an automatic thing.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
06/05/2009 14:10 Comments ||
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#17
The torture consisted of him being slapped around a little bit.
Awww the poor baby! And that made him murder random Americans because . . . ?
Al
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
06/05/2009 14:51 Comments ||
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#18
The FBI and other police agencies must be very, very careful when investigating Muslims. They cannot seem to be persecuting Muslims, even those who shout "Death to America". Especially African-Americans who convert to Islam. Then it is racist and Islamophobic to investigate them.
Investigating someone who does not commit a crime can end an agent's career.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
06/05/2009 18:12 Comments ||
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A US federal judge on Wednesday dismissed lawsuits accusing telecommunications companies of illegally spying on Americans, citing a controversial law granting those companies retroactive immunity. Vaughn Walker, a San Francisco district judge, ruled that Congress did not violate the constitution's separation of powers last year by allowing the US attorney-general to certify privately to the court that the companies had been asked to co-operate in an antiterrorism programme authorised by the president.
In San Francisco? I'm impressed.
"Congress has manifested its unequivocal intention to create an immunity that will shield the telecommunications company defendants from liability in these actions," Mr Walker wrote. He added that Congress did not go too far in delegating authority to the executive branch, although he said that matter was "a close question".
Mr Walker has been weighing a number of cases since it was revealed in late 2005 that the National Security Administration was directing surveillance of international phone calls without warrants in apparent violation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
The original case against AT&T gained heft the next year with the submission of documents from Mark Klein, a former employee, that showed copies of all domestic as well as international electronic traffic through AT&T's San Francisco hub being diverted into a locked room.
Other employees confirmed in interviews that only those with NSA clearance could enter that room, which contained equipment for storing and sifting through data. Current and former officials in the administration of then president George W. Bush said that it was part of a second, broader programme, again without warrants, that sought to mine data.
AT&T and other companies said they could not defend themselves without revealing classified information, and the justice department backed them up. But Mr Walker had previously refused to throw the case out on "state secrets" grounds. He wrote then that, by going public in defence of the first, international, operation, the White House had confirmed enough of its essence for the suits to proceed.
In its unsuccessful opposition to the latest motion to dismiss, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the civil liberties advocates, tried to poke holes in certification from Michael Mukasey, former attorney-general, that the phone companies were acting in a post-September 11 2001 anti-terror operation.
The group said Mr Mukasey stated in public that the companies were not engaged in a "content-dragnet", while its evidence showed otherwise. Mr Walker said the EFF made "a valiant effort" to challenge the private certification, considering it was barred by law from viewing it.
Wednesday's ruling does not affect cases turning on similar facts against the government itself, several of which are before the same judge. Lee Tien, attorney for EFF, said the group would appeal against the dismissal of the phone company cases.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/05/2009 00:00 ||
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We get condemned for killing Muslims - but the kind of Muslims we are killing are just the evil and crazy ones who are doing this kind of thing.
A Taliban suicide bomber killed more than 40 Pakistanis during an attack at a mosque in the district of Dir in the insurgency-infested Northwest Frontier Province.
The suicide bomber entered the mosque compound in the remote village of Hayagai Sharqai and attempted to detonate his explosive vest in the middle of a crowd of worshipers attending Friday prayers. The small mosque was leveled in the attack, and Pakistani officials believe the death toll will rise.
"We fear the death toll may rise to 45 because people are still trapped under the debris. Rescue work is under way and there are body parts scattered in the courtyard of the mosque," Atifur Rehman, the senior government officer in Upper Dir told AFP. More than 70 people were wounded in the bombing.
The word infested sounds so right in context here.
I seem to recall after 9-11, some muzz leading light claimed that "there are no innocents" in the West, and all Americans were / are legitimate targets. Seems they (muzz) don't dig that shoe so much when it's on the other foot. Quel surprise.
While I feel for any / all innocents who die when a splodeydope goes boom, I wonder how frequently some of the "victims" were go-along-get-along types who, ya know, might have contributed cash-guns-sons to the tabibholes and handed out sweets on more than one festive occasion where "some infidels" got killed.
Just sayin'...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
06/05/2009 13:51 Comments ||
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#2
they condemn us for killing civilian muslims or blowing up a mosque yet they do it themselves
#3
"The suicide bomber entered the mosque compound in the remote village of Hayagai Sharqai and attempted to detonate his explosive vest in the middle of a crowd of worshipers attending Friday prayers. The small mosque was leveled in the attack..."
Attempted? As in the author of the article attempted to outdo the English in his use of understatement?
[Geo News] The spokesman of Pakistan Army has confirmed the arrest of six leaders of banned Tehreek-e-Nifaz-e-Shariah Muhammadi (TNSM) including their spokesman Ameer Izzat, Geo news reported late on Thursday. According to statement of Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) issued here, following the information regarding the presence of terrorists, the security forces raided on a Madarsa located in Aman Darra area, arresting from a room, the Molana Alam, Wahab and Ameer Izzat besides three apparent Afghan militants. Forces also claimed seizing as many as eight hand grenade and other explosive materials from their possessions.
Sufi Muhammad jugged, too
Banned Nifaz Shariat-e-Muhammadi has confirmed arrest of its Amir Maulana Sufi Muhammad and other leaders. According to sources, Maulana Sufi Muhammad was arrested in Amandarra who along with other leaders were shifted to unknown place. Maulana Sufi's sons have also been apprehended, sources added. The latest reports say the arrested also include Maulana Sufi's spokesman Maulana Ameer Izzat, Syed Wahab, Salman and Maulana Muhammad Alam.
[Geo News] At least seven security personnel lost their lives including a police officer during clashes with militants here late on Thursday, Geo news reported. A militant was killed while 18 others received injuries during counter militancy and another was arrested, police sources claimed. Police sources told Geo news, the deadly skirmishes between militants and security forces took place in Mardan, an area located at border of Rustam and Buner areas, featuring three hour long shootout which left a militant killed other injured and 18 were arrested while seven security persons were also killed including a police officers. Meanwhile, the martyred personnel included DSP Mardan Fareed Hussain Bangash, SHO Rustam police station Sher and Inspector Abdul Hannan besides Frontier Corps (FC)'s Captain and three soldiers. According to sources, 90 per cent situation in Buner had been brought under control which led to security forces influx in the area during which, militants ambushed the security forces.
[Geo News] Six alleged terrorists have been arrested in Mianwali. According to DPO Mianwali, the arrests took place as a result of search operation and that the arrested have alleged links with Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan Chief Baitullah Mehsud. Police said the arrested have been involved in attacks on police check posts. They were arrested from Musakhel, Bachran and Mauj.
[Bangla Daily Star] Taliban militants yesterday freed all remaining Pakistani staff and students from an army-run boarding school who were snatched three days ago, drawing a line under the brazen mass abduction. At least 42 students and two staff from a college in the tribal area of North Waziristan, where Washington says al-Qaeda are plotting attacks on the West, were released to tribal elders, officials and the Taliban said.
Masked gunmen had ambushed a convoy of about 30 vehicles carrying staff and students from Razmak in North Waziristan home at the start of the summer holidays, and busloads of people were abducted on Monday, officials said.
Earlier militants blew up a girls' school on the outskirts of Pakistan's northwestern city of Peshawar on Thursday as the military pressed on with an offensive against the Taliban, police said.
The school was heavily damaged in the attack in the Budaber area, about 10 kilometres (six miles) south of Peshawar, local police chief Abdul Ghafoor Afridi said.
At least 40 kilogrammes (88 pounds) of explosives were used to blow up the school, he said, adding that "four rooms were completely destroyed and three were damaged."
Another police official, Shakarullah Khan, said militants used a timed device to blow up the building.
There were no casualties as schools are closed for the summer, he said.
Pakistan said Tuesday that soldiers recovered 80 of the students and staff. The army initially said that everyone had been rescued, but school officials later said up to 45 students and two teachers were unaccounted for.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/05/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
School's out for summer
School's out forever
School's been blown to pieces
Pakistan has arrested the key Swat peace deal broker between the government and militants of Swat valley; his militant outfit has confirmed the arrest. According to media reports citing unnamed sources, Maulana Sufi Mohammad has been arrested along with his sons, key party leaders including his spokesmen Maulana Amir Izzat and Maulana Mohammad Alim.
Maulana Sufi of Tanzim-e-Nafaz-i-Shariati Muhammadi (TNSM) was released after over two year long detention in March to help negotiate peace deal between the government and Swat valley militants, led by his son-in-law Mullah Fazllulah.
However, the peace deal failed and the government declared operation against the militants. Since the military launched operation against Mullah Fazllulah and his force of 4000 to 5000, Maulana Sufi has been in hiding missing.
Official sources confirmed to KUNA the arrest and said that they have been flown to Peshawar. Military's media wing confirmed the arrests of his spokesmen and Maulana Wahab, another TNSM key leader. It in a statement said that the arrests were made in a raid on a Madrassah in Aman Darra area of the valley. It added that three Afghan militants were also arrested and eight grenades and a huge quantity of ammunition was also recovered.
Sgt. 1st Class Michael D. Lindsay, left, Capt. Matthew A. Chaney, center, and Staff Sgt. Jarion Halbison-Gibbs pose for photographs at Fort Carson, Colo., on Tuesday. (AP)
Blinded by a dust storm kicked up by helicopter rotor wash and grenade explosions, all Sgt. 1st Class Michael Lindsay could see was shadowy figures scurrying about in the dim light, grabbing weapons. In the ensuing firefight inside a remote rural compound in Samarra, Iraq, Lindsay was seriously wounded. But he and his fellow Army Green Berets kept firing.
When it was over, 11 insurgents were dead - including the target of the predawn raid, a man described by the Army as a high-value terrorist who had been financing weapons and roadside bombs with profits from a kidnapping and extortion ring.
Last month, in recognition of his "conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity" in the Sept. 10, 2007, firefight, Lindsay, a 1997 graduate of Gates County High School in North Carolina, was awarded the Silver Star, the Army's third-highest medal for valor.
Recalling the incident in a telephone interview from Fort Carson, Colo., Lindsay described a frantic scene as the Iraqi insurgents, alerted by the helicopter landing just 20 feet from the compound, scrambled to fend off the attacking force of 10 U.S. soldiers and 20 Iraqi national police officers.
First there was a burst of AK-47 fire that hit Lindsay in the throat and stomach. Then a grenade went off, sending Lindsay and another soldier flying back out the doorway.
"At that point we were just kind of out there in no man's land," Lindsay said. "The firefight was still going on inside. The bullets were flying over my head, going back and forth."
Struggling to stay conscious, Lindsay couldn't muster the strength to get up or even to lift his rifle. "So I took out my pistol and started shooting," he said. "I wanted to let 'em know I had some fight left."
When the guns finally fell silent, Lindsay, 30, was airlifted to a field hospital in Iraq. He subsequently had weeks of treatment at the U.S. military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany, and Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington. A two-foot section of his intestine was removed. He still has a bullet in his abdomen that doctors deemed too risky to take out.
Since then he has been back to Iraq for another tour of duty, his third of the war.
Two other soldiers from his unit, the 10th Special Forces Group, also received medals for their roles in the 2007 raid.
For Lindsay, there was excitement on the home front last month as well. His wife gave birth to twin daughters, the couple's first children.
#1
When the guns finally fell silent, Lindsay, 30, was airlifted to a field hospital in Iraq. He subsequently had weeks of treatment at the U.S. military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany, and Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington. A two-foot section of his intestine was removed. He still has a bullet in his abdomen that doctors deemed too risky to take out.
Since then he has been back to Iraq for another tour of duty, his third of the war.
I guess making this two paragraphs emphasizes the effect, but read this as a single paragraph for another flavor of Sgt. Lindsay's actions. Minus two feet of colon, with in situ lead, and he's back for a third tour.
#2
Big deal! John Kerry got a Silver Star (and THREE! Purple Hearts) and all he did was shoot an injured teenager.
Just kidding.
Bravo Zulu, Sergeant Lindsay.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
06/05/2009 18:07 Comments ||
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Five people were killed Friday in Thailand's far south, as Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva met with top brass to discuss security measures in the restive region. Police said the five men - two army rangers, two school guards and a local politician - died in four separate attacks.
A 52-year-old Muslim man who ran the local administrative body in Pattani provincial town was killed by suspected separatist militants in a drive-by shooting at dawn. Three hours later two school guards - one 41-year-old Buddhist and one Muslim - were killed in separate drive-by shootings in a nearby district. Just before midday, two army rangers on foot patrol in the same district died instantly in a roadside bomb blast that wounded two others.
Mr Abhisit was due to meet with top defence staff on Friday afternoon in Bangkok to discuss the government's strategy for dealing with the separatist violence. On Thursday the prime minister defended his government's handling of the situation in the south since he took power in December. He admitted that the government had been warned of possible attacks on teachers after the recent start of the new term.
[ADN Kronos] A Sri Lankan peace activist kidnapped by Islamic militants in the southern Philippines almost four months ago has been released, police said. Umar Jaleel was rescued late Wednesday from members of the Abu Sayyaf in the town of Tipo-Tipo on Basilan island, regional police spokesman Superintendent Danilo Bacas said.
The move is certain to raise hopes for the imminent release of Italian aid worker, Eugenio Vagni, who was kidnapped by the same group in January.
No other details were released about Janeel's release.
His group, the Brussels-based Nonviolent Peaceforce, said he was freed after negotiations conducted by local contacts in Basilan.
Jaleel was seized by teenaged gunmen on 13 February. Police had initially said he was kidnapped by an unknown gang but subsequently pointed to Abu Sayyaf, which has been blamed for the country's worst militant attacks.
Jaleel, a Sri Lankan Muslim, is among 17 international workers from his organisation working in the troubled southern Philippine region where they were seeking to improve relations between Christians and Muslims.
A month before Jaleel was taken, the Abu Sayyaf kidnapped three Red Cross workers, including Vagni. Vagni's two colleagues, Swiss national Andreas Notter and Filippina Mary Jean Lacaba have since been released.
Senator Richard Gordon, chairman of the Red Cross in Manila, said on Wednesday that Vagni had telephoned his wife a day or two ago.
The Sri Lankan navy on Thursday seized a foreign-owned ship loaded with medical, food and other supplies for war-hit civilians, saying the vessel had entered its territorial waters illegally.
The supplies, arranged by supporters of the Tamil rebel cause, were loaded onto a ship in the English port of Ipswich in April -- just weeks before the government declared victory in the ethnic conflict, a navy spokesman said. "We have seized the vessel and we are bringing it ashore now," Captain DK Dassanayake said, adding the crew offered no resistance when the navy boarded the vessel 140 kilometres west of Sri Lanka.
The ship, the Captain Ali, was carrying hundreds of tonnes of food, medicine and other supplies for Tamil civilians caught up in the decades-long conflict, he said. A London-based group called Mercy Mission to Wani had arranged the transport of the supplies at a time when Tamil Tiger rebels were cornered in a strip of coastline in the island's northeast and using tens of thousands of civilians as cover. Wani had formed part of the Tigers' virtual mini-state in the island's northeast before the end of the conflict. So the ship was actually aid for the LTTE. Sounds like it just became spoils of war.
Separately, Sri Lanka has identified six foreign nationals among tens of thousands of war displaced civilians held in state-run camps in the island's north, a minister said on Thursday. Three Australians and one each from Britain, the Netherlands and Norway had crossed over to government-held areas after escaping from the war zone in the island's northeast after the defeat of the Tamil Tiger rebels last month. Human Rights Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe told AFP that the six foreigners of Sri Lankan origin would be screened for links with the LTTE.
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06/05/2009 00:00 ||
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Whaddya mean the war's over? Whadda we gonna do with all this stuff?
[ADN Kronos] Two Lebanese workers employed by the United Nations in Lebanon were released on Thursday after facing claims they were allegedly spying for Israel, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon said. "UNIFIL is assisting the Lebanese authorities in their investigations, per the agreement between Lebanon and the UN on the situation of UNIFIL," said UNIFIL spokesperson Yasmine Bouziane.
According to Lebanon News, Bouziane said that Lebanese authorities notified UNIFIL about the arrest of two employees on 26 May on claims that they were allegedly spying for Israel.
She added that both have returned to their jobs after primary investigations.
Lebanon is understood to be holding 30 suspects, 21 of whom have already been charged.
Several others have confessed to have worked for the Israeli intelligence service Mossad. Israel has not commented on any of the arrests.
Lebanon and neighbouring Syria remain technically at war with the Jewish state.
On this day in history: June 5th.
70 Titus and his Roman legions breach the middle wall of Jerusalem in the Siege of Jerusalem.
1933 The U.S. Congress abrogates the United States' use of the gold standard by enacting a joint resolution (48 Stat. 112) nullifying the right of creditors to demand payment in gold.
1944 More than 1000 British bombers drop 5,000 tons of bombs on German gun batteries on the Normandy coast in preparation for D-Day.
1947 At a speech at Harvard University, United States Secretary of State George Marshall calls for economic aid to war-torn Europe.
1956 Elvis Presley introduces his new single, "Hound Dog", on The Milton Berle Show, scandalizing the audience with his suggestive hip movements.
1963 British Secretary of State for War John Profumo resigns in a sex scandal.
1975 The Suez Canal opens for the first time since the Six-Day War.
1977 The Apple II, the first practical personal computer, goes on sale.
1981 The Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that five people in Los Angeles, California have a rare form of pneumonia seen only in patients with weakened immune systems, in what turns out to be the first recognized cases of AIDS.
1998 A strike begins at the General Motors parts factory in Flint, Michigan, that quickly spreads to five other assembly plants (the strike lasted seven weeks). (The beginning of the end)
2001 U.S. Senator Jim Jeffords leaves the Republican Party.
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.
LONDON, June 5 (UPI) -- A 19-year-old rifleman from Reading has become the 137th British serviceman to die from hostile fire in Afghanistan, the military says.
[Mail and Globe] Somalis fleeing war and hunger at home are pouring into neighbouring Kenya at an average rate of 7 000 a month, swelling what is already the world's largest refugee settlement, United Nations staff said on Thursday. 
[ADN Kronos] Italian police have issued arrest warrants for five North Africans accused of plotting terror attacks in the northern cities of Milan and Bologna in early 2006. The five are alleged to have planned attacks against the subway system in Milan and the San Petronio cathedral in Bologna which dates back to 1390. 
The Tennessee man suspected in Monday's attack on a recruitment center in Little Rock, Arkansas, was brainwashed and tortured while imprisoned in Yemen, his lawyer said Thursday. "My client is a young man, I think, brainwashed," attorney Jim Hensley told CNN. "What else could be explained for a young man who's a true American, plays football, helps his grandmother and mows the lawns of his neighbors? Comes back and then finds himself in this situation? That is not a normal situation in my book."
[Geo News] The spokesman of Pakistan Army has confirmed the arrest of six leaders of banned Tehreek-e-Nifaz-e-Shariah Muhammadi (TNSM) including their spokesman Ameer Izzat, Geo news reported late on Thursday. According to statement of Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) issued here, following the information regarding the presence of terrorists, the security forces raided on a Madarsa located in Aman Darra area, arresting from a room, the Molana Alam, Wahab and Ameer Izzat besides three apparent Afghan militants. Forces also claimed seizing as many as eight hand grenade and other explosive materials from their possessions.
[Geo News] At least seven security personnel lost their lives including a police officer during clashes with militants here late on Thursday, Geo news reported. A militant was killed while 18 others received injuries during counter militancy and another was arrested, police sources claimed. Police sources told Geo news, the deadly skirmishes between militants and security forces took place in Mardan, an area located at border of Rustam and Buner areas, featuring three hour long shootout which left a militant killed other injured and 18 were arrested while seven security persons were also killed including a police officers. Meanwhile, the martyred personnel included DSP Mardan Fareed Hussain Bangash, SHO Rustam police station Sher and Inspector Abdul Hannan besides Frontier Corps (FC)'s Captain and three soldiers. According to sources, 90 per cent situation in Buner had been brought under control which led to security forces influx in the area during which, militants ambushed the security forces.
[Bangla Daily Star] Taliban militants yesterday freed all remaining Pakistani staff and students from an army-run boarding school who were snatched three days ago, drawing a line under the brazen mass abduction. At least 42 students and two staff from a college in the tribal area of North Waziristan, where Washington says al-Qaeda are plotting attacks on the West, were released to tribal elders, officials and the Taliban said.
Five people were killed Friday in Thailand's far south, as Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva met with top brass to discuss security measures in the restive region. Police said the five men - two army rangers, two school guards and a local politician - died in four separate attacks. 
