KABUL, Afghanistan (CNN) -- The U.S. military bombed about 300 tons of poppy seeds in a dusty field in southern Afghanistan Tuesday in a dramatic show of force designed to break up the Taliban's connection to heroin.
The air strike occurred mid-day in Helmand province and was observed by CNN's Ivan Watson, who is embedded with the U.S. Marines operating in that province. The military dropped a series of 1,000-pound bombs from planes on the mounds of poppy seeds and then followed with strikes from helicopters.
Tony Wayne, with the U.S. State Department, said the strikes on poppy seeds, that can be used to make opium and heroin, is part of a strategy shift for the military to stop the Taliban and other insurgents from profiting from drugs.
"There is a nexus that needs to be broken between the insurgents and the drug traffickers," Wayne said. "Also, it is part of winning the hearts and minds of the population because in some cases they are intimidated into growing poppies."
In a bid to encourage Afghan farmers to swap out their poppy plants for wheat crops the U.S. Agency for International Development has been offering them seeds, fertilizers and improved irrigation.
You know every time they describe the Taliban as 'insurgents' rather than 'terrorists' (which is what they are) they both sugar-coat their terrorism and insult legitimate 'insurgents' who do not engage in terrorist acts.
Breaking news this morning that the President will award the Medal of Honor posthumously to Sgt 1st Class Jared C. Monti, a 10th Mountain Division trooper.
#2
If this hero were my son, I would request that former President G.W. Bush present the award, and that the incumbent office holder go find somewhere else to play.
Godspeed SFC Monti - we are all very proud of you.
NAWA, Afghanistan -- Josh Habib lay in a dirt field, gasping for air. Two days of hiking with Marines through southern Afghanistan's 115-degree heat had exhausted him. This was not what he signed up for. Habib is not a Marine. He is a 53-year-old military translator/contractor. When he applied for the lucrative linguist job, Habib said his recruiter didn't tell him he would be part of a ground assault in Taliban country. He carried 40 pounds of food, water and gear on his back, and kept pace -- barely -- with Marines half his age.
The company that recruits most U.S. citizen translators, Columbus, Ohio-based Mission Essential Personnel, says it's difficult to meet the increased demand for linguists to aid the 15,000 U.S. forces being sent to southern, Pashto-speaking parts of Afghanistan. Only 7,700 Pashto speakers live in the U.S., according to the 2000 census. Troops and translators say they suspect recruiting companies try to send as many interpreters as possible to Afghanistan to collect fees. Millions of dollars are involved. Known as Category II translators -- U.S. citizens who can obtain a security clearance -- such linguists earn a salary that starts at $210,000 a year. It is going on 8 years since 9/11 and the USA still has not dealt with its own language gap in a meaningful way. The military needed Pashto/Dari/Arabic/Farsi speakers, whatever, then, and even more now. No crash program in training healthy young US citizens to speak these languages was ever started, unlike the case after Sputnik was launched in 1957, when colleges all over the country suddenly started Russian language programs. Josh Habib should have been hired 8 years ago to teach courses in Pashto to 20-somethings. It seems there will be a continuing shortage of translators for another 8 years.
#1
The Defense Language Institute Foreign Language School and Presidio of Monterey (DLIFLC) is just a fraction of the size it needs to be. To make matters worse, the facility is shared by lots of other federal agencies, especially the FBI. CIA has its own facility, as do the other intelligence services.
However, there is a fundamental problem. Instructors at foreign language programs are often foreign nationals, or US citizens of foreign origin. This creates a conflict of interest when training US forces that might be at war with their native country, or in this case, religion.
The seriousness of this problem is seen elsewhere, such as the foreign desks at the State Department, where loyalties can often be confused, at best.
#2
This creates a conflict of interest when training US forces that might be at war with their native country, or in this case, religion. I grant you the possibility of a conflict of interest. However, Mission Essential Personnel is obviously able to come up with some interpreters who meet the very basic DOD standards to go to Afghanistan. (The possibility of a conflict of interest is even higher there.) Rather than sending the decrepit specimens mentioned in the article into the field, make them the teachers for intensive, multi-year, domestically based language training. The government has not shown signs of seriousness in dealing with this, unlike it did in the '50s. This is not a partisan issue, and would be just as important if combat operations were not going on.
#3
There is different solution initiative well under way, to provide troops with handheld electronic translators. The earliest ones only managed set phrases but more sophisticated capabilites are on the way. Protoptypes have been tested in some countries and right now a project at the Afghan national military academy is collecting inputs for a Pashto version.
And once the hardware and setup capabilities are in place, adding new languages is manageable.
#6
The issue is one of attitudes. The current conventional wisdom a multifaceted one. Part of it is that what takes away from the troop's ability to fight can be supplied by contractors.
Another is the attitude that it was all supposed to be a war with lots of coming and going in many places. Hence no one language would do.
The third is the attitude of academia. They don't like the current war; they won't cooperate. Besides Russian was more 'romantic', given the political tendencies of academia at the time. Hence the wider availability and aquiescence to studying the Russian language.
Clashes and a Taliban attack killed up to two dozen people in northern Afghanistan, a once peaceful region where insurgent violence is spreading ahead of elections, officials said on Wednesday.
Fourteen civilians were "killed and injured" in a Taliban attack on Tuesday in the province of Kunduz, where Afghan forces have launched an offensive to root out Taliban-linked rebels, the local governor said. Muhammad Omar, Kunduz provincial governor, could not give an exact number of civilians killed when the Taliban fired a rocket or mortar into a house where students were gathering, but said, "Most of them are dead." Hmmmmmmm...perhaps the Taliban will adjust their ROE to prevent civilian casulties?
Nah....
Local media reported that 11 civilians were killed in the attack, which was aimed at security forces but veered off target. On Tuesday, 13 Taliban, including two foreigners, were killed while fighting against Afghan forces in the province's Chahar Dara district and 14 Taliban were arrested in the same district on Wednesday, Omar added. Citing intelligence reports, the governor claimed that about 20 Al Qaeda-linked foreign Taliban and 300 Taliban fighters had flooded into his province, a strategic region bordering Tajikistan. General Muhammad Zahir Azimi, Afghan defence ministry spokesman, told reporters that Taliban were infiltrating the north potentially to disrupt supply convoys crossing into Afghanistan from central Asia. Meanhwile, Afghanistan is repositioning forces to the south after complaints too few were involved in major US and British offensives against the Taliban, officials said on Wednesday, even as clashes erupted in the north, Reuters reported.
Thousands of US Marines and British troops launched assaults in the southern Taliban stronghold of Helmand this month.
A convoy belonging to a minor presidential candidate, former Taliban commander Mullah Salam Rocketi, was ambushed as he returned to Kabul after campaigning in northern Baghlan and one of his campaign officials was killed, Rocketi said. Rocketi, an army commander during the Taliban rule who renounced the militants after their overthrow to become a minister of parliament, was unhurt. He took his name because he often fired rocket-propelled grenades at occupying Soviet troops.
Brigadier General Lawrence Nicholson, commander of US Marines in Afghanistan, complained about a week after Operation Strike of the Sword began in Helmand that there were not enough Afghan troops involved. "You can do the math," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/23/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
note - kunduz province - the one Pashtun bastion in the north.
Posted by: liberal hawk ||
07/23/2009 9:36 Comments ||
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ION PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUMS > US BALUCH LEADERS SEEK INDIAN INTERVENTION TO END PAKISTAN STATE TERRORISM IN BALUCHISTAN [aka Balochistan]. Any means and every means necessary to help the Baluchis + STOP PAKI PERSECUTIONS [read, MILITARY].
BERLIN, July 22 (Xinhua) German soldiers, equipped with heavy weaponry including tanks, are engaged in its largest military offensive in Afghanistan so far as part of a major military campaign against the Taliban forces ahead of the country's presidential elections in August, German officials said on Wednesday.
German Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung justified the offensive involving about 300 German soldiers and 900 Afghan security forces with a deteriorating security situation in areas around the northern Afghan city of Kunduz. "We are now particularly challenged in Kunduz," Jung told reporters in Berlin.
Wolfgang Schneiderhan, inspector general of the German military, the Bundeswehr, said that the goal of the latest offensive is to bring security situation under control to ensure an orderly progress of the presidential elections slated for August. He also said that the offensive launched within a radius of 30 kilometers around Kunduz would still take about a week.
According to the German Defense Ministry, German air force had also provided "close air support" for the ground troops for the first time in Afghanistan.
The rising level of German military combat in Afghanistan has caused worry at home, with some pacifist politicians warning of a "circle of violence." Cycle. Cycle of violence. Please use the correct lefty hand wringing cliches.
Thank you.
According to German media reports earlier this month, the German government has revised some rules of engagement for German troops in Afghanistan to make it earlier for them to engage in combat. Some 3,700 German troops are deployed in Afghanistan as part of the 60,000-strong International Security Assistance Force led by NATO.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/23/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Cycle of Violence? Haven't seen that motorcycle here in a long time.
#3
The Bundeswehr have been so caged by their politicians that they are going nuts. I would not want to be the bad guyz who meet up with some antsy, pissed off, aggressive German troops for the first time.
#4
It's more like the war came to them, than the Germans being let off the leash. There haven't been Taliban *in* Kunduz until now for the Hun Hordes to descend upon. The Kraut politicians can't rightly complain about German troops getting into combat if the combat comes their way, can they?
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
07/23/2009 12:53 Comments ||
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COUNTER-terrorist bomb experts are making their way to a unit block and a street is in lockdown tonight after suspicious liquids and powders were discovered.
The Newcastle neighbourhood has been locked down and some residents evacuated after police raided a top-floor unit in a suburban area late this afternoon and found the potentially deadly combination of substances, The Daily Telegraph reported.
A man in his early 20s fled when police arrived. Sniffer dogs later found him hiding in the building's roof cavity. He was arrested at the scene and is tonight assisting police with inquiries.
Chief Inspector Wayne Humphrey said the unit had been structurally altered - heightening police fears of what activity had been taking place inside. "There are obvious fears about what materials and substances were found in the unit, along with the structural changes to the building," Insp Humphrey said.
Police, forensic specialists and NSW Fire Brigade HAZMAT officers are standing guard over the unit block. Structural changes? Were they digging a tunnel or what. Maybe just some innocent Paleo refugees got nostalgic for the good old days.
#2
Could be a case of the owner having a hard time selling the building into this real estate market and hiring some guy to set it up to collapse so he could 'sell' it to his insurance company instead.
Posted by: Grenter, Protector of the Geats ||
07/23/2009 13:53 Comments ||
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#9
Nothing says meth lab like:
suspicious liquids and powders
I was thinking more along the line of "Mother of Satan" explosive, so much the favourite of amateur jihidis in the West because it can be mixed up in the bathtub. Meth would be less malign.
And, as you'll read, his mother doesn't love him anymore ...
He was the terrorist next door.
A former Boy Scout from Long Island turned his back on his All-American life and converted to Islam, joining al Qaeda in Pakistan and firing rockets at a US military base in Afghanistan, authorities said yesterday. Bryant Neal Vinas, a 26-year-old son of South American immigrants who came to the United States to give their son a better life, instead became a jihadist hell-bent on destroying America.
"He broke my heart. This is not my son," his Argentinian-born mother, Maria Vinas, of Medford, LI, told The Post, choking back tears. "I hope I never see him again."
The one-time devout Catholic's zeal to shed American blood was not contained to conflicts abroad, authorities said. According to court papers filed in Brooklyn federal court, he also handed over to his al Qaeda handlers "expert advice and assistance" about how to blow up the subway here in New York and the Long Island Rail Road.
When he was finally arrested on the battlefield in Afghanistan and US officials caught wind of the plot, it prompted a massive security alert at Penn Station and other transit hubs last Thanksgiving.
Vinas' bizarre journey from an average suburban life in Suffolk County to that of a bearded mullah in the terrorist no-man's land of Waziristan in Pakistan has emerged as a cautionary tale of militant Islam's reach.
"A wonderful boy, my sweetheart," his mother said. "I called him my teddy bear."
Maria lost track of her son not long after giving up custody when she and her husband divorced nine years ago. When he moved out, Bryant, a one-time Scout, was active in the Catholic church. "My husband was very religious," she said. "He destroyed my son, obviously."
The father, Juan Vinas, originally from Peru, told the Los Angeles Times that his son was living with him as late as September 2007 and became immersed in Islam after he began attending a mosque in Selden, LI. He said Bryant grew increasingly reclusive and headstrong.
No kidding. Really? Gosh, you could never have seen that coming, huh Pops?
Bryant began wearing Islamic robes and a skullcap, said, Juan Vinas, who was extensively interviewed by the feds. "He became very excited" about Islam, converted from Catholicism and even tried to get his father to convert.
The imam at the Islamic Association of Long Island, Nayyar Imam, said Bryant showed up there in mid-2006 and quickly began attending four to five times a week. He stood out as the only Latino at the mosque that primarily is attended by immigrants from Pakistan. "He never mentioned anything happening in the news or anything in the newspaper," Imam said. "I just can't believe that this sort of person would do this. I'm shocked."
Floored. Never saw it coming. Didn't preach anything in the mosque other than peace, harmony and good will. No idea where Vinny got all that bile about hating the Jooz ...
Law-enforcement sources said Vinas had discovered a different, more dangerous kind of Islam when he began perusing militant Web sites.
As opposed to the peace and fluffy bunny Islam at the mosque ...
In late 2007, Vinas left his hometown abruptly, without telling his father where he was going.
"Hey Boy, where you going?"
"None of your beeswax, Pops!"
Federal investigators say Bryant turned up in Pakistan in December 2007 and convinced al Qaeda recruiters that he was sincere about his commitment to radicalism. Someone close to the group vouched for him, the LA Times reported.
And who might that be, and what connection does he have with the mosque back home? A real shame we can't, you know, check telephone records or something ...
"He had a good reference, so they trusted him," an anti-terror official said.
"Boss, Mahmoud just called. Sez Vinny is a good fella."
"Hokay, that's enough for me. Vinny, you're a made man!"
"Gosh, you mean it? This is the happiest day of my life -- well, until I can go explode somewhere!"
As a result, he received "military-type training" from May to August at an al Qaeda camp and went on a mission near the lawless Afghan border. Vinas became known by other names, including Ibrahim, Ben Yameen al-Kanadee and Bashir al-Ameriki -- "Bashir the American." AKA; Cannon Fodder
He was dispatched to bring jihad to the next level. In September 2008, he and a group of cohorts fired rockets at a US base in Afghanistan, according to court papers filed by Assistant US Attorney James Loonam. The papers did not specify if there were any casualties.
Missed by a country mile?
The papers also revealed that Vinas provided al Qaeda with detailed information "based on his "specialized knowledge" of New York's subways and the LIRR. Got the T-shirt with the subway map printed on it
But in November, he was captured by Pakistani forces. He immediately sang to investigators with critical information about meeting with al Qaeda operational chiefs about a plot to blow up the transit systems, although law-enforcement sources said it never got beyond an "aspirational stage."
In reality, Vinas was just a wannabe talking a big game and did not have inside information about the transit systems, having never worked for them, a source said. Instead, he had the kind of commuter knowledge that any Long Island resident would have.
Which was more than any Peshawar resident would have ...
The MTA said yesterday it had been "in constant communication with local and federal authorities" as the probe developed. "There was never an imminent threat to the system," the agency said in a statement.
After Vinas was captured, he was taken into custody in Brooklyn. On Jan. 28, he pleaded guilty in a closed-door hearing before federal Judge Nicholas Garaufis.
Didn't even have to play Muskrat Love to get him to confess?
Since then, he has also been cooperating with European investigators, who are probing cases in Italy and Belgium, allegedly involving al Qaeda terrorists who Vinas met in Pakistan.
One case involves Malika El Aroud, 50, the Belgian ex-wife of a man behind the slaying of Afghan leader Ahmed Shah Massoud. Massoud was a key anti-Taliban leader assassinated in a bomb attack two days before Sept. 11, 2001. Aroud was one of five terror suspects captured in Belgium last winter. Vinas is expected to be a star prosecution witness when the case against Aroud, a prominent pro-terrorist blogger, goes to trial. He is currently being held at an undisclosed location.
"I think the FBI know where he is," said his father, Juan. "But they won't tell me. They don't want to tell me."
Relatives told the LA Times that they were interviewed last year after a truck bomb killed 55 people at the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad, Pakistan. The agents said they were checking on Americans living in Pakistan and had determined that Bryant Vinas was there.
Since those interviews, Juan Vinas said, he hasn't been able to get any information from the FBI.
You didn't seem to care a whole lot when Vinny went off to Pakistain ...
His mother first learned of his al Qaeda connection when The Post called her Medford home yesterday. "I know he's crazy, but not that crazy. This is horrible," she said. "I thought he was dead when the FBI [first] contacted me."
Wait ...
Vinas' identity was a closely guarded secret as the investigation into his al Qaeda ties expanded. The case is part of probes in at least seven countries. "It is a massive case," a Justice Department official said.
Vinas' mother could think of little to say to her son, whom she hasn't seen in eight years. "He chose to be like this. I feel very sorry," she said. "Good luck."
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/23/2009 12:37 ||
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"I called him my teddy bear."
Gawd, no wonder he rebelled. She tried to keep him a child.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
07/23/2009 13:24 Comments ||
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#2
Gawd, no wonder he rebelled. She tried to keep him a child.
Well, still living at home at 23 kinda, sorta, means he's still a child - at least in the mind. He'll soon find out that nobody else will treat him that way, and he's screwed himself well and good.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/23/2009 15:11 Comments ||
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Even as the Jammu and Kashmir government readies to file an affidavit in the Supreme Court about the rape and murder of two women in Shopian, the troubled district has been hit by another shocking incident. In the latest a three-year-old boy and his father were gunned down late on Wednesday night (July 22) allegedly by militants in Dunardu in Shopian.
A group of unidentified gunmen reportedly burst into the house of Mohammmad Aslam Awan late Wednesday night and opened fire.
While Aslam and his son Arif were killed instantly, others in the family sustained injuries. In a similar incident in April this year, Aslam's mother Reshma was shot dead.
No militant outfit has claimed responsibility for the incident.
The police have sent the bodies for a post mortem and launched a manhunt for the militants.
Posted by: john frum ||
07/23/2009 13:19 ||
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I don't know why any reasonable terrorist wouldn't be eager to claim bragging rights on this.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
07/23/2009 16:45 Comments ||
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The confession of lone surviving 26/11 terrorist Ajmal Kasab shows that he was "a young man without much purpose in life", US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said, pitching for good education and jobs to wean away the youth from "blandishment" of terrorist groups. Clinton, who just concluded a five-day visit to India and was here to attend the ASEAN Regional Forum meeting, referred to "the very dramatic trial" of Kasab during an interview with The Nation, a partner of the Asia News Network. "What I found so interesting about his confession is that he was a young man without much purpose in life, he was in a job he did not find satisfying and he was susceptible to the blandishment of terrorist organisations: This will make you feel strong and powerful, this will give you a meaning and purpose in your life; and he bought into that and joined this group that was trained for the Mumbai attacks," she said.
Listening to the confession as she heard on Indian television, the 61-year-old felt "this was not someone who had some deep, overriding ideological commitment; this was somebody who got swept up in it." "So we want to convey to families and communities across the world that there's a better way... Now, we have to put some meat onto the bone of that statement, we have to make sure people get good education, we have to make sure that the people do have jobs," she said. These will be part of a more positive alternative to what the "terrorists are selling", Clinton said.
Posted by: john frum ||
07/23/2009 13:01 ||
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we have to make sure people get good education
Like Mohammed Atta? Ayman Al-Zawahiri?
Posted by: john frum ||
07/23/2009 13:25 Comments ||
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#2
Hillary just put her foot in her mouth up to mid-thigh. How many of the people involved with terrorist plots over the past ten years have been highly educated? From what I've read, the majority of them were college graduates. Most of them didn't have jobs because they were being supported by Islamic "holy men". Osama bin Laden is (or was) a multi-millionaire. The "state department" is a disaster, and needs to be completely flushed and re-staffed with non-Beltway, non-Ivy League people with intelligence but no preconcieved ideas about what the world is really like. At least we won't have Hillary as president - she's done enough stupid things as Sec/State that the people in this country wouldn't trust her to be dog catcher.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/23/2009 15:27 Comments ||
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#3
Ah, yes. Ye Olde The Poor Illiterate Bastards Have No Other Alternative Defense.
Kinda like Binny, son of one of the richest men in Saudi Arabia? Sorry, Madame Secretary, but that one got blown away a long time ago.
Look how dey massacred my boy...
U.S. officials believe Saad bin Laden -- a son of Osama bin Laden -- has been killed by an American missile in Pakistan.
Saad bin Laden reportedly spent years under house arrest in Iran before traveling last year to Pakistan, according to former National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell. It's believed he was killed by Hellfire missiles fired from a U.S. Predator drone sometime this year. Went all that day to Pakistain just to get drone-zapped?
A senior U.S. counterterrorism official tells NPR that without a body to conduct DNA tests on, it's hard to be completely sure. But he characterized U.S. spy agencies as being "80 to 85 percent" certain that Saad bin Laden is dead.
The U.S. counterterrorism official says Saad bin Laden wasn't important enough to target personally -- that he was "in the wrong place at the wrong time."
He was active in al-Qaida, but was not a major player, the official said. He was believed to be in his late 20s."We make a big deal out of him because of his last name," the official added.
It's not known whether Saad bin Laden was anywhere near his father when he died. Too bad he wasn't sitting in his lap...
#3
He was active in al-Qaida, but was not a major player,
Yet, for years Saad was called Al Qaeda's (now ex-) heir apparent. Too bad, so sad, but I hear Kim Jong Nam is out of work and available for an heir apparent position.
Almost forgot. ULULULULULULU!!!! Bacon flavored candies for everyone!
Posted by: ed ||
07/23/2009 1:25 Comments ||
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#4
He's in Al Qaeda and sought death of innocents, live by the bomb, die by the bomb. Not all his children took their father's path, so it's not the peaceful one we want. I'd expect revenge if dad is still alive.
#6
I'll bet the leftist posters at the DUmp (Democratic Underground maggot pinkhoes) are on suicide watch. Along with Obama, I mean Osama, and the rest of the Amerika haters.
#7
"It's believed he was killed by Hellfire missiles fired from a U.S. Predator drone sometime this year'
Recently enough for the new admin to take credit, I wonder? :)
Anyway, congrats to the USAF (or CIA?) drone boys for their excellent hunting.
Posted by: liberal hawk ||
07/23/2009 9:32 Comments ||
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#8
"Not a big player" in other words we killed your son A$$ hole for our sons and daughters killed fighting you sorry A$$. He was not a big player or really worth a $hit but since he was your son, we zapped him, courtesy the red white and blue!
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
07/23/2009 10:51 Comments ||
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Posted by: Frozen Al ||
07/23/2009 11:16 Comments ||
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#10
Doesn't sound like such small potatoes to me...
2006-11-15
Iran has freed a son of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden from house arrest, a German newspaper reported on Wednesday. Die Welt said the Iranian Revolutionary Guard released Saad bin Laden on July 28 with the aim of sending him to the Syria-Lebanon border. It linked the reported move to the outbreak of war between Israel and Lebanese-based Hizbullah.
"From the Lebanese border, he has the task of building Islamist terror cells and preparing them to fight together with Hizbullah," Die Welt said, quoting intelligence information. "Apparently Tehran is counting on recruiting Lebanese refugees in Syria for the fight against Israel, using bin Laden's help," it added in a preview of a report to appear in its Thursday edition.
#12
Apart from the success of the mission itself, the dismissive tone of the spin is perfect. He was just an incidental casualty, wrong place, wrong time.
#14
Magwa will only be whole when the Grey Hair and all his seed are dead.
Posted by: regular joe ||
07/23/2009 16:35 Comments ||
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#15
He played a prominent role in co-ordinating between al-Qaeda and Iran, where he is believed to have been arrested in 2003 after he sought sanctuary there after fleeing from Pakistan in 2001.
He allegedly helped facilitate communication between al-Qaeda's number two leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, and the Quds Force, an elite unit of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, following an al-Qaeda attack on the US embassy in Yemen in 2008.
Nothing new, but for the record.
Posted by: ed ||
07/23/2009 20:36 Comments ||
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#16
By "arrest", the Iranians mean luxury villa compounds on the Caspian Sea.
Posted by: ed ||
07/23/2009 20:37 Comments ||
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#17
Within an narrow scope, "Reported/allegedly killed" is not the same as being "de faco/confirmed killed"....
E.g. to wit,
* The photo of EITM LEADER [UIghur Separatism] repor killed in 2003 is the SAME PHOTO used in the past for ABU MUSAB ZARQHAWI [RB's "Zark"} whom was killed long after.
* PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUM > TALIBAN VOW NEW WAVE OF ATTACKS IN PAKISTAN [vow to continue their Je-e-e-had until SHARIA LAW is empowered and enforced]. OOOPPPSIES > SAME ARTIC claims FEZZIE [Fezhullah, etc.]is still ALIVE, and NOT WOUNDED OR DEAD AS REPOR IN US-ALLIED MEDIAS???
Three vehicles laden with explosives have been sent to Punjab to attack high value targets, according to intelligence reports available with the Interior Ministry. The vehicles are a Corolla (licence plate No IDG-6540), a pick up (registration No OR-108) and anther Corolla (No LXD-1923). Also, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief Baitullah Mehsud has ordered suicide bombers to target law-enforcement agencies, sensitive installations and important buildings and personalities in Punjab and Islamabad, in reaction to the military offensive in Malakand, according to the reports. Sources told Aaj Kal that the Interior Ministry had already notified all provincial home departments of the threat. Law-enforcement agencies have been directed to put security on high alert in light of the threat.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/23/2009 00:00 ||
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Bullet-riddled bodies of four Mehsud tribesmen were found on Wednesday near Pather village. Police sources said the bodies of the tribesmen -- residents of Sheikh Utar -- were dumped on the outskirts of Tank.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/23/2009 00:00 ||
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The political administration launched a crackdown against criminals in the area on Wednesday, and arrested 12 suspects under the Frontier Crimes Regulation and confiscated six vehicles. The crackdown -- launched against offenders from Sultankhel tribe, a sub-tribe of Haleemzai -- was ordered after the Haleemzai tribe failed to surrender men wanted by the government. Meanwhile, security forces launched a search operation in Kulachi tehsil to hunt down people facilitating local Taliban. The forces have so far arrested Asad Sheikh, brother of local Taliban leader Karamad Sheikh.
This article starring:
Asad Sheikh
TTP
Karamad Sheikh
TTP
Posted by: Fred ||
07/23/2009 00:00 ||
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Troops killed at least 27 Taliban in various districts of Malakand division over "the last 24 hours", said the ISPR in the latest update of the military offensive in the region, after fighter jets reportedly destroyed two Taliban hideouts in South Waziristan, killing six men believed to be associates of Baitullah Mehsud.
The ISPR said troops had also arrested several Taliban and destroyed a number of their hideouts. In South Waziristan, the AP news agency said the airstrikes flattened hideouts of Baitullah's associates in two villages late on Tuesday.
Separately in North Waziristan, Taliban fired two mortar shells at an army camp in Khar, killing a security forces personnel and seriously wounding five others. The injured were flown to hospital in Peshawar, where one of them is said to be in critical condition.
In Bajaur Agency, a jirga of elders and clerics from Alizai tribes handed over six Taliban commanders wanted by the government to the political administration. The jirga also announced full support for the government against the Taliban.
This article starring:
Baitullah Mehsud
TTP
Posted by: Fred ||
07/23/2009 00:00 ||
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Waziristan Baba, 42, believes that Baitullah was behind the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto. He said he would avenge the killings of innocent people who fell victim to attacks launched by Baitullah. "Those who destroy hospitals and schools and kill our brothers and sisters are not our well-wishers," he said.
The alliance comes after Baitullah assassinated archrival Qari Zainuddin -- who was gunned down by one of his own bodyguards. Zainuddin had been urging tribesmen to rise up against Baitullah's TTP. The TTP chief and his followers have said that anybody working against the group would meet a similar fate.
This article starring:
Abdullah Mehsud group
Baitullah Mehsud
TTP
Haji Tehsil Khan Wazir
TTP
Ikhlas Khan alias Waziristan Baba
TTP
Ikhlas Khan Mehsud
TTP
Qari Zainuddin
TTP
Turkistan Bathni
TTP
Posted by: Fred ||
07/23/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
"Those who destroy hospitals and schools and kill our brothers and sisters are not our well-wishers," he said.
July 22 (Bloomberg) -- The lone surviving Pakistani gunman from last years Mumbai attacks said he is ready to face the gallows for his actions, a day after a surprise confession which his lawyers argued was not an attempt to escape a death sentence.
Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, the 21-year-old captured in a shootout with police during Novembers three-day rampage by 10 gunmen in Indias financial capital, stunned a Mumbai court and his own attorneys on July 20 with a detailed admission of his role in the attacks which killed 166 people and raised tensions with nuclear-armed neighbor Pakistan.
If the punishment is hanging, then go ahead and hang me, Kasab, who says he is from Faridkot in Pakistan, said in court today after Judge M.L. Tahaliyani asked him if he was aware of the enormity of his confession.
Defense lawyer Abbas Kazmi said the only two punishments for the crimes Kasab is accused of were the death penalty or life imprisonment, and his clients abrupt change of heart after earlier denials was not a ploy to lessen the sentence. Special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam had argued that by shifting more of the blame on to an accomplice in his confession, the gunman was attempting to save his life.
Kasab has been charged with murder and waging war on the state.
He's a foreigner. By international law he's either an agent of Pakistan or a brigand -- indeed, since he came by sea, he's technically a pirate. Either condition, agent or pirate, earns him the death penalty. Wring all the information one can from him and then hang him in a public square in Mumbai.
Tahaliyani will decide tomorrow whether to accept the admission of guilt as evidence and proceed with the trial or move to sentencing after winding up the three-month hearings, which are followed daily by tens of millions of people.
In court inside a Mumbai jail today Nikam said that if the court agreed to continue with the trial it could be wrapped up within a month. Kasab has admitted his complicity in the crime. Now we would expose why Mumbai was targeted and foreigners killed, Nikam said. We would like to expose the infrastructure of the Lashkar-e-Taiba network India blames for the attacks.
The militants arrived in Mumbai aboard an inflatable dinghy on Nov. 26 and targeted two luxury hotels, a Jewish center, a restaurant popular with tourists and the main railway terminal with automatic guns, grenades and explosives. It ended as special forces commandos killed the last gunman in the Taj Mahal hotel on Mumbais Colaba waterfront. Security camera footage of Kasab strolling around with an automatic weapon and backpack has become an iconic image of the attacks which India refers to as 26/11.
In his confession, Kasab told how he and his accomplices had attended forest camps where they were trained in handling AK-47s, rocket launchers and grenades, and described how he and a fellow attacker, Abu Ismail, were told to fire into crowds at the citys main railway station before taking hostages and firing at arriving security forces.
Kasab said his decision to admit his part in the attacks was triggered by information from his guards that Pakistan had admitted he was a Pakistani citizen and was investigating. Perhaps a picture was created that now there is no hope, even Pakistan has disowned you, Kazmi, his lawyer, told the Associated Press yesterday.
A spokesman for Pakistans foreign ministry, Abdul Basit, said by telephone today from Islamabad an investigation was ongoing. When Kasab makes statements there, that wont have any effect on our investigation or trial. Our own legal procedures will be followed.
And boy howdy do they have procedures to follow ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/23/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Since he's Muslim I think it would only be fair to use a Muslim execution style on him rather than hanging him. I think stoning, where everybody he harmed (by killing or wounding their friends or family, or just by scaring them) gets to share in 'pulling the scaffold trap door lever.'
JOINT BASE BALAD -- The emergency-room trauma call and the medical staff's immediate action upon his arrival is only a memory to her now; sitting quietly at the bedside of her brother-in-arms, she carefully takes his hand, thanking him for his service and promising she will not leave his side.
He is a critically injured combat casualty, and she is Army Sgt. Jennifer Watson of the Casualty Liaison Team here.
Although a somber scene, it is not an uncommon one for the Peru, Ind., native, who in addition to her primary duties throughout the last 14 months, has taken it upon herself to ensure no U.S. casualty passes away alone. Holding each of their hands, she sits with them until the end, no matter the day or the hour.
"It's unfortunate that their families can't be here," said Watson, who is deployed here from Fort Campbell, Ky. "So I took it upon myself to step up and be that family while they are here. No one asked me to do it; I just did what I felt was right in my heart. I want them to know they are heroes.
"I feel just because they are passing away does not mean they cannot hear and feel someone around them," she continued. "I talk to them, thanking them for what they have done, telling them they are a hero, they will never be forgotten, and I explain my job to them to help them be at ease knowing the family will be told the truth."
In general, Watson explains to the patients that the CLT works within the Patient Administrative Department here, acting as a liaison for all military and civilian patients in-theater and initiating the casualty-notification process to the patient's next-of-kin.
Upon their arrival at the Air Force Theater Hospital, Watson speaks with each combat casualty getting as accurate information as possible about the incident. Once the doctor gives their diagnosis and severity of the patient's injuries, Watson and her team complete and send a Defense Casualty Information Processing System folder report to the Department of the Army or the patient's respective service so that their next-of-kin can be notified.
"I make sure we tell their family everything they want to know, so they know everything that's going on," said Watson. "[Through the report], we'll tell the families everything that is going on with their family member ... so that they don't have any questions."
Furthermore, once the initial report has been sent, the CLT and Watson make hourly rounds to the intensive-care ward or unit to check on the patient's well-being, or, for the more critical patients, to check on their stability.
"We are constantly communicating and making sure the family knows everything we know," said Watson. "We want to put the families at ease and let them know that everything is being done for their loved one. From the moment a servicemember is brought in through Hero's Highway, they are never alone."
Each month, the AFTH, the equivalent of a U.S. Level-1 trauma center, treats more than 539 patients; more than 101 are trauma cases in the emergency department. Although Watson can never predict if and when her fellow brothers- or sisters- in arms may need her, she is always available here.
"The hospital staff is wonderful," said Watson. "They know how important it is for me to be there with them and if they know it's time, someone will come and get me no matter where I'm at.
"I see it as a form of closure, not just for me, but for the families so that they know that somebody was there with their son or daughter," she added. "My heart goes out to every patient that comes into the hospital, especially my wounded in action Soldiers. I feel like everyone who comes through the door is my brother or sister."
Not surprisingly, Watson's dedication to duty and her hard work have not gone unnoticed. She has touched the lives of all those who she has come in contact with, to include the 332nd Expeditionary Medical Group commander, Col. Mark Mavity.
"Sgt. Watson's story is one of the most compelling here in the Med Group," said Mavity. "She is a Soldier's Soldier who combines an unparalleled level of compassion and commitment to our most grievously wounded warriors with amazing professionalism each and every day.
"What is truly incredible is that she is a personnelist by training but with the heart of a medic who has taken it upon herself to hold the hand and keep a bedside vigil with every mortally wounded Soldier who has spent their last hours within the AFTH," continued the colonel. "She will not let her brave brothers or sisters pass alone. This is a heavy burden to bear and at great personal emotional cost to Sgt. Watson, but she is unwavering in her final commitment to these Soldiers. You don't have to look any further than Sgt. Watson to find a true hero."
"Angel" and "hero" are only two of the many titles Watson has been given since arriving at JBB; although she is appreciative of the kind words, she remains humble.
"I am far from an angel," said the sergeant with a smile. "I just do what is in my heart. I guess for me, I think about the family and the closure of knowing the Soldier did not pass away alone. To say I'm a hero ... no. The heroes are my guys who come in [through Hero's Highway]."
Reflecting on her time here, Watson said she is extremely thankful for the opportunity she has had to work side-by-side with the Air Force.
"The staff of the 332nd Expeditionary Medical Group has done an amazing job since I have been here," she said. "They are incredible. They have done procedures and saved the lives of the most critically injured Soldiers, and have been some of the most professional people I have ever worked with.
"I want the families to know that their servicemember was a hero," Watson concluded. "They made the ultimate sacrifice, but before they passed on, they received the best medical treatment, and the staff did everything they could -- they were not in pain and they didn't die alone."
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/23/2009 8:39 Comments ||
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People who are able to comfort the dying while physically touching them are a very rare breed. There are some very deep instinctual and psychological responses at work that drive the heebie-jeebie factor through the roof.
While commendations are in order, the military has never created a uniquely medical commendation; but at the same time it goes to great lengths to provide medical personnel wide leeway in how they do their job.
Senior medical officers, like senior chaplains, are among the very few that can ego check commanding officers. Even MacArthur (PBUH) deferred to his theater medical officer.
Posted by: Art ||
07/23/2009 10:25 Comments ||
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Tried to think of something to say.
Nothing suitable came to mind.
She's earning stars.
God bless her.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey ||
07/23/2009 10:40 Comments ||
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There are some very deep instinctual and psychological responses at work that drive the heebie-jeebie factor through the roof. I've seen that happen many times in my hospital work. It is as if people are afraid the person dying will take anyone nearby with them.
NINEWA / Aswat al-Iraq: Iraqi army forces on Wednesday arrested a Saudi gunman believed to belong to al-Qaeda network in Ninewas Mosul city, according to an army source.
An Iraqi army force from the 3 rd Brigade, Quick Intervention Corps (QIC), arrested a Saudi gunman in al-Zahraa neighborhood, eastern Mosul, the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. The gunman, nicknamed Abu al-Harith, has been arrested in light of intelligence tips, the source added.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/23/2009 00:00 ||
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Maybe they didn't like the band?
Bethlehem - Maan Exclusive - Hamas was behind Wednesdays blast in Khan Younis and Farouq Qaddoumis claims of assassination plots against Yasser Arafat are baseless, Fatah leader Muhammad Dahlan said Wednesday. Dahlan, speaking in public for the first time since accusations of assassination plots were launched against him and one day after an explosion injured 61 at his nephews wedding in Gaza, launched a tirade against fellow Fatah member Qaddoumi during an interview at Maan. Nobody died? I think that means good luck for the happy couple.
Qaddoumis latest statements and the Hamas bombing work to oppose and create obstacles against the first Fatah conference that will be held in 20 years, Dahlan said. The Gazan leader of Fatah said Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas had the right to take Qaddoumi to court over his accusations of colluding with Israel and the CIA to poison the late Palestinian leader Arafat. I know how the relationship between Arafat and Qaddoumi was while they were in Tunis, Dhalan said, hinting at the bad blood between the two Fatah leaders in the eighties. Relationship? Bad blood? Well, that clears some things up, if ya know what I mean...
About the blast that injured 61 guests at his nephews wedding in Khan Younis Tuesday night, Dhalan directly accused Hamas of organizing the attack. Is he sure they weren't the entertainment?
De facto government police had earlier announced the arrest of three operatives who Israeli media claim were members of the salafist movement of Jund Allah. Mahmoud! The usual suspects! Quickly!
Dahlan speculated that the explosion targeting his family was a sign that Hamas was scared of the upcoming Fatah Sixth Congress, which he said will rebuild Fatah and put an end to the whole trauma. Following the congress, Dahlan said, Absolutely, Fatah will change for the better. If we were going to stay the same do you think Hamas would be putting obstacles in its way? Ummmmmmmmmmmmm...I dunno.
Dahlan promised the coup in Gaza would be on the agenda at the congress, noting, We will punish those collaborators who stood silent in front of everything that was happening in Gaza in 2007. He further urged all Fatah members in Gaza to attend the congress, saying if they were not there it would be Hamas fault for preventing them from leaving the Strip. He then returned to his home to hide under his bed...
A senior Hezbollah official on Wednesday said that a south Lebanon explosion that raised tensions along the border with Israel was set off by old shells, not a secret arms cache.
The comments by the deputy leader Sheik Naim Kassem, was the Lebanon-based militant's group's first comment on the nature of last week's explosion, which Israel and United Nationsofficials called a violation of a UN truce resolution. Resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, prohibits guerrillas from engaging in military activities in south Lebanon and forbids weapon smuggling to the group. But the guerrillas are believed to continue to have a clandestine presence in the area.
After the explosion in an abandoned building in Khirbet Silim, about 9 miles from the Israeli border, Israel accused Iran and Syria of violating those conditions by sending weapons to Hezbollah.
"There is no violation of Resolution 1701, Kassem said. What happened ... is a normal incident that has to do with leftover shells that had been collected during and after Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000," he said.
Kassem spoke in an interview with the Qatari Al-Watan newspaper to be published at a later date. Excerpts of the interview were provided to The Associated Press by Hezbollah's media office Wednesday. Kassem said Israel exaggerated the Khirbet Silim incident in an attempt to deflect from its occupation as well as its daily violations of Lebanon's airspace.
The explosion was followed few days later by a stone-throwing clash between Hezbollah supporters and UNIFIL peacekeepers who were conducting a follow-up investigation to the blast.
The Lebanese Army has meanwhile increased its presence in the Kafr Shuba and Shaba Farms area in South Lebanon, warning residents not to approach the border for fear that Israeli forces will fire upon them. Local media reported that Israel had stepped up its military readiness levels in the region and deployed tanks and armored personnel carriers to the area.
Israeli military sources told Haaretz that they are disturbed by recent events in Lebanon, especially the infiltration by Shi'ite demonstrators of the border at Har Dov on Friday. They said that despite these developments there are no indications that Hezbollah is interested in a confrontation with Israel. The sources say the Shi'ite Muslim organization is currently focused on the formation of the new Lebanese government and its role within it, and is not looking for military conflict.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/23/2009 00:00 ||
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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.
BERLIN, July 22 (Xinhua) German soldiers, equipped with heavy weaponry including tanks, are engaged in its largest military offensive in Afghanistan so far as part of a major military campaign against the Taliban forces ahead of the country's presidential elections in August, German officials said on Wednesday.
Three vehicles laden with explosives have been sent to Punjab to attack high value targets, according to intelligence reports available with the Interior Ministry. The vehicles are a Corolla (licence plate No IDG-6540), a pick up (registration No OR-108) and anther Corolla (No LXD-1923). Also, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief Baitullah Mehsud has ordered suicide bombers to target law-enforcement agencies, sensitive installations and important buildings and personalities in Punjab and Islamabad, in reaction to the military offensive in Malakand, according to the reports. Sources told Aaj Kal that the Interior Ministry had already notified all provincial home departments of the threat. Law-enforcement agencies have been directed to put security on high alert in light of the threat.
Bullet-riddled bodies of four Mehsud tribesmen were found on Wednesday near Pather village. Police sources said the bodies of the tribesmen -- residents of Sheikh Utar -- were dumped on the outskirts of Tank.
The political administration launched a crackdown against criminals in the area on Wednesday, and arrested 12 suspects under the Frontier Crimes Regulation and confiscated six vehicles. The crackdown -- launched against offenders from Sultankhel tribe, a sub-tribe of Haleemzai -- was ordered after the Haleemzai tribe failed to surrender men wanted by the government. Meanwhile, security forces launched a search operation in Kulachi tehsil to hunt down people facilitating local Taliban. The forces have so far arrested 
Troops killed at least 27 Taliban in various districts of Malakand division over "the last 24 hours", said the ISPR in the latest update of the military offensive in the region, after fighter jets reportedly destroyed two Taliban hideouts in South Waziristan, killing six men believed to be associates of 
Three Taliban groups in South Waziristan have formed a new anti-
JOINT BASE BALAD -- The emergency-room trauma call and the medical staff's immediate action upon his arrival is only a memory to her now; sitting quietly at the bedside of her brother-in-arms, she carefully takes his hand, thanking him for his service and promising she will not leave his side. 
NINEWA / Aswat al-Iraq: Iraqi army forces on Wednesday arrested a Saudi gunman believed to belong to al-Qaeda network in Ninewas Mosul city, according to an army source.
