An overnight government airstrike on what was believed to be an al-Qaida hide-out in a remote Yemen province accidentally killed a provincial councilman and his two bodyguards, a security official said Tuesday. Moonlighting or wrong place at wrong time?
The incident sparked clashes between tribesmen protesting the deaths and police that claimed three more lives later Tuesday, a local Marib provincial official said.
The security official said the strike late Monday night took place in the Wadi Obeida area in Marib province, about 107 miles (173 kilometers) south of the capital, San'a. The secretary-general of the Marib council, Sheikh Jabir bin al-Shabwani, and the two bodyguards were hit as they were driving home from the terrorist hideout, he said.
Posted by: ed ||
05/25/2010 09:52 ||
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Two American tourists have been kidnapped by armed tribesmen near Yemen's capital, Sanaa, officials say. Their Yemeni driver, who was also seized, later reportedly made a call to the AFP news agency, saying the attackers were demanding the release of a jailed fellow tribesman.
The US said the kidnapping of the US nationals - a man and a woman - was "not believed to be terrorism related".
We'll be the judge of that ...
Yemen's tribes frequently kidnap people to gain leverage in rows with Sanaa.
The Americans were seized by armed men in the Bani Mansour district 70km (45 miles) west of the capital, their driver told AFP. The driver, who identified himself as Ali al-Arashi, said the kidnappers were "calling for the release of a fellow tribesman held by authorities in Sanaa".
He added that the Americans - whose names were not immediately known - were being treated well "in accordance with tribal hospitality".
Why do I get this sense that Ali was the inside man in this job ...
Some reports suggested that the dispute was land related.
The US embassy in Sanaa said it was working with Yemeni officials to resolve the situation.
In Washington, state department Philip Crowley said that the kidnapping was apparently not an act of terrorism. "There has been unfortunately a bit of a side business in what are called 'tourist kidnappings' where, for whatever reason, a certain tribe has a particular grievance with the [Yemeni] government and uses the presence of foreigners for leverage," he said.
More than 200 foreigners have been kidnapped in recent years; most are released unharmed.
In other words, most of the time being kidnapped is part of the tour experience -- think of the stories one would be able to tell at dinner parties upon returning home! Nonetheless, I'm glad Mr. Wife decided not to accept that particular career opportunity -- on occasion having a Jewish wife proves quite, quite useful, and I suspect I'd not to be sanguine when kidnapped by barbarians.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/25/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
The tourists were on their way to go berry-picking in the DMZ in Korea, and then head out for a camping trip in the Korengal valley.
This sounds to me like natural cleansing of the gene pool.
#2
I guess this is "cultural tourism". Time to check in with the Yemen Tourism Board.
"[16/May/2010]
SANA'A, May 16 (Saba) - Undersecretary of Tourism Ministry for Development Sector Omar Balghith said on Sunday that Yemen is a country of rich culture and history and has a unique fascinating nature.
In a meeting with the Turkish journalists delegation currently visiting Yemen, Balghith welcomed the Turkish and international investments in the field of tourism in Yemen, where they would find all facilities and care.
He pointed out that Yemen is distinguished with unique features which make it an important source of tourist attractions ranging from cultural and historical tourism, and then the mountainous, desert and coastal tourism and ending with the environmental tourism.
Rather than judging Yemen according to the misinformation, it is better to travel to Yemen and visit it to know it closely, Balghith explained.
Meanwhile, he called the press delegation to transfer what they saw and their impression on Yemen instead of relying on unconfirmed and wrong information."
#5
But thew Yemen tourism board assures us that the problem will be resolved soon!
PRESS RELEASE
On Monday, the 24th of May 2010, An American couple has been kidnapped by an individual, irresponsible person in the west of Sana'a province.
Hence, the Tourism Crises Management Unit has responded immediately and held a meeting to follow up the matter.
The Ministry of Tourism assures that the couple is safe and will be released in the coming few hours.
The flat raided by law-enforcers Sunday night was a den of banned Islamist outfit Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh and the arrestee was its military wing chief Shiblu, claimed police.
Police have picked up Shiblu's parents and two siblings for squeezing quizzing and recovered nine more homemade grenades from the flat.
Additional Superintendent of Police Zannatul Hasan of the police headquarters said they had information that Shiblu took over the charge of JMB explosive unit after the arrest of former chief Boma Mizan last year. He said Shiblu set up his den there to make explosives for JMB, which is trying to regroup again.
Sources say that a 21-member team consisted of police headquarters, Kadamtoli police and Special Branch of police raided the flat to capture Maulana Saidur Rahman, the current JMB chief.
Zannatul, who led the operation Sunday, told The Daily Star that the name of detained JMB explosive unit chief might be Abu Bakkar Siddique but he took the pseudonyms Nazrul alias Shiblu in his organisation.
The JMB version of a cut-out?
Shiblu was undergoing treatment at Dhaka Medical College Hospital with burn injuries. He was wounded when a homemade grenade exploded in his hands as he was trying to flee by hurling grenades and firing shots at the police Sunday night. The police were raiding the JMB den at South Dania.
Burned hands? That's gotta hurt. Always the chance for sepsis ...
It appears the Bangladeshi bomb-makers are as incompetent as the Pakistani ones. Djinn-based chemistry fails again.
Rab Director (intelligence wing) Lt Col Ziaul Ahsan, however, said as per the information they have, there is no one named Abu Bakkar Siddique or Shiblu at the helm of the military wing of JMB. "If he is taken in TFI [taskforce interrogation cell] for interrogation, we would be able to confirm the identity," he said.
Right before they shoot him ...
"Who was that incompetent bomb maker?" asked the awed crowd.
Additional SP Zannatul reiterated that they had information that JMB operatives have been regrouping again to carry out subversive activities and Shiblu was the chief of the explosives unit.
At least 10 people including eight policemen and Shiblu were injured during the raid at the den on the second floor of a four-storey building at Shahjalalbagh of South Dania. Three other militants escaped by hurling bombs at law enforcers.
The police also recovered books on jihad and pamphlets that mentioned the name of executed JMB chief Shaekh Abdur Rahman, sources said.
Rab and police sources said executed Siddiqul Islam alias Bangla Bhai was the first military wing commander of JMB. After Bangla Bhai became the second-in-command of the militant organisation, JMB chief executed Shaikh Abdur Rahman's brother Ataur Rahman Sunny was given the charge of the military wing.
Sunny was arrested on December 14, 2005, and Mizan alias Boma Mizan took over the charge. After Mizan's arrest on May 15, 2009, Shiblu took up the job, said sources. Rab officials said Maulana Saidur Rahman took the outfit's helm after Abdur Rahman and five others were executed in 2006.
Those burnt hands suggest the Rab have gotten inside the JMB's training cycle. Well done, lads!
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/25/2010 00:00 ||
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recovered nine more homemade grenades from the flat.
Jeebus. Talk about taking the express bus to the Darwin Awards.
Posted by: ed ||
05/25/2010 0:44 Comments ||
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Those burnt hands suggest the Rab have gotten inside the JMB's training cycle. Well done, lads!
Indeed. Getting into the OODA loop of the leadership is quite a task, and an accomplishment, in itself.
Two criminals, including an outlawed party leader, were killed in separate 'shootouts' with law enforcers in Chittagong and Kushtia early Monday taking the total of such extra judicial killings to 127 in over nine months from August 1, 2009 to May 14, 2010.
We've featured most of those here at the Crossfire Gazette ...
Lovingly, in great detail, with footnotes.
With this 35 extra judicial killings took placed in the year of 2010. Meanwhile, RAB DG recently said as many as 622 people were killed in 'crossfire' since the formation of RAB on March 26, 2004.
Now up to 623, read on:
A ringleader of an infamous gang was killed in a shootout between his accomplices and police at city's Mohara Ananya residential area early Monday.
We have no idea at all where that is ...
Yes we do, silly -- it's in Bangladesh.
The deceased was identified as Ali Akkas, 35, hailed from Sitakunda Jangal Salimpur area.
We don't even get a blow-by-blow account. No pickup, no drive to the banana orchard, no miscreant accomplices, no sniffing out the RAB, no rounds of bullet zinging through the air, mysteriously whacking only Ali, no absconding of the miscreants as if they were never there in the first place, no quick hustle to the hospital to be declared dead, no slow trot to the morgue for autopsy, and no photos with the precious shutter gun.
Pah. I want my money's worth!
Me too. I long for the good old days when 'crossfire' writers still cared abut their readers.
In another incident in Kushtia, an outlawed party leader was killed in a shootout between his cohorts and law enforcers near Kursha channel in Mirpur upazila early Monday. The deceased was identified as Siddiqur Rahman, 35, district commander of Purba Banglar Communist Party and son of Late Ismail Hossain of Chok village in the upazila.
See? SEE? Not even an honored Purba Banglar gets a detailed accounting of his short life and unhappy death in the back of a RAB truck.
Has no one any sense of the artistic any more?
*sigh* English classes just aren't what they used to be, back when we were young.
The unlawful killings are taking place despite mounting protests by human rights activists, civil society members and political parties and repeated assurances of the government that such killings would be stopped and actions would be taken against those found responsible.
The whole point is to whack the bad boys that the government can't otherwise handle.
I had it on reliable authority (his family have been bureaucrats in Bangladesh since the time of the British Raj, or thereabouts) that the Rab are well-loved because they actually achieve justice, unlike the courts. The government isn't going to do anything to stop them unless there are large numbers of dead girls and live boys involved.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/25/2010 00:00 ||
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Looks like they've wiped up the Purba Banglar Commie regional commanders and are now working the district commanders...
At least 27 people, almost all civilians, have died in gun battles in Jamaica, police have said, as the hunt continues for a suspected drug lord. Troops and police had stormed the stronghold of Christopher "Dudus" Coke in the Tivoli Gardens district of the capital Kingston.
A state of emergency has been in place in parts of Kingston since Friday, when several police stations were attacked.
A decision to extradite Mr Coke, 41, to the US had angered his supporters.
Mr Coke, who insists he is a legitimate businessman, enjoys the support of many impoverished Kingston residents who see him as a benefactor and have vowed to protect him at any cost.
But the US justice department accuses him of being one of the world's most dangerous drug barons.
On Tuesday, the third consecutive day of unrest, thousands of heavily-armed police and soldiers continued their assault into the capital's most violent slums, battling masked gunmen loyal to Mr Coke. Gangs from slums just outside the capital also joined the fight, erecting barricades on roadways and shooting at troops, the AP news agency reported.
At least one member of the security forces and 26 civilians were killed in the two-day raid, a police statement said. Another seven officers and 25 civilians were also injured. A total of 211 others have been detained, including six women, but there was no confirmation that Mr Coke was among them.
Military helicopters hovered as the sound of gunfire could be heard across the city centre, the BBC's Nick Davis says in Kingston.
Soldiers and police have been going house to house looking for Mr Coke, who is wanted in the US on drugs and gun-running charges.
Minister of National Security Dwight Nelson said security forces had nearly retaken areas loyal to Mr Coke.
In recent days, 18 police stations across the capital have been attacked, Mr Nelson said. Other gunmen were using the security forces' focus on west Kingston to carry out other crimes, he added.
The fighting has intermittently blocked the road to Kingston's airport and forced some flights to be cancelled.
The US State Department has issued a travel alert, warning citizens against travel to Kingston and the surrounding areas.
Britain "strongly advised" its nationals to avoid all "non-essential travel" to the Kingston area, and Australia urged its visitors to show a "high degree of caution".
The Jamaican High Commissioner in London, Anthony Smith Johnson, told the BBC that Jamaica was obliged to respond to the US request to apprehend Mr Coke.
"There is a bilateral treaty between the United States and Jamaica which determines how these matters are dealt with," he said.
Mr Johnson said the violence was limited to one square mile of Kingston. "It's a small area, and they do have it surrounded, and the rest of the city is going on about its business," he said.
The Jamaican government last week agreed to extradite Mr Coke to the US, reversing months of opposition to the move.
Mr Coke is said to lead a gang called the Shower Posse - owing to the volume of bullets used in shootings - and operate an international smuggling network. The gang has also been blamed for numerous murders in Jamaica and the US.
Mr Coke faces a life sentence if convicted of the charges filed against him in New York.
The drugs trade is deeply entrenched in Jamaica, an island nation of 2.8 million people with one of the highest murder rates in the world. Some 1,660 homicides were recorded there in 2009, the AP news agency reports.
Posted by: john frum ||
05/25/2010 15:53 ||
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The police say seven members of the security forces have been injured and one killed. They also say 26 civilians have been killed and 25 injured.
The police say those killed were mainly males whose bodies were recovered from areas close to barricades, building entrances and gullies running through Tivoli Gardens.
Ya, mon, jus headin out fa da ice cream, n get unlucky methink...
The son of an alleged gangster, the 41-year-old Coke has strong ties to the governing Jamaica Labor Party, which has counted on gunmen inside his Tivoli Gardens slum to intimidate election rivals.
History question: how does this ongoing pattern compare to other gangland wars in Mexico and elsewhere?
Eight people died in drug and gang related violence, including a Juarez police officer who died in the line of duty, and a raid by armed suspects in western Chihuahua.
Two young men were found executed on the Pan-American highway south of Juarez, according to Mexican news reports. Jorge Pedro Gonzälez Quintero, 21, and Alejandro Ruiz Salazar, 19, were found with wounds from AK-47 shots. They were found beside a Jeep Cherokee they presumably drove.
Ttwo unidentified people were murdered and several homes were destroyed by fire in a daylight assault Sunday by a gang of armed men in Madera, Chihuahua, according to Mexican news reports. The assault took place around 1753 hrs when a convoy with at least 15 light trucks carrying 60 armed men entered the tiny western Chihuahua community.
Apparently the gang found its victims and executed them. An armed contingent of four Chihuahua CIPOL agents and five local police officers retreated from the area after facing off the gang. An unknown number of structures were destroyed by fire including a structure used by the CIPOL agents.
Reports say weapons used in the assault include .50 caliber Barret rifles and fragmentary hand grenades, as well as other heavy armaments.
An unidentified man was found beaten to death on a street in Chihuahua, Chihuahua. The corpse was found Monday morning with evidence of a severe beating at La Cantera Avenue.
A Juarez municipal police officer was killed Monday afternoon attempting to prevent an armed robbery at a local bank, according to Mexican news reports. Pedro Peña Mena, 32, died at the scene.
Three armed suspects entered the Banco Santander bank at Plaza las Torres near Avenida de las Torres and Mitla at about 1500 hrs demanding cash from open cash drawers. The police officer was killed by the suspects as they left when he identified himself.
One armed robbery suspect was wounded in a botched armed auto robbery attempt involving intervening Mexican federal agents Monday afternoon, according to Mexican news sources.
Three unidentified men were shot to death and two were wounded in at attack at a halfway house in Juarez Monday afternoon, according to Mexican news reports.
Reports say the victims were brought out in an ambush by a request for donations from the victims near the intersection of Yepomera and Zaguän streets, in the Hacienda Las Torres district. One victim was murdered in the residence patio while the other two were killed in the street. Reports say they were shot with a high powered rifle.
#1
History question: how does this ongoing pattern compare to other gangland wars in Mexico and elsewhere?
Dunno. Does it sound a little like Chicago in the 1920's?
Here's another question: Who's gonna win? I mean, one would think that eventually somebody would emerge out of all this chaos with some semblance of control. But I got a bad feeling he's not gonna be a nice guy.
The following are key points from the text of the report issued by the North's KCNA news agency.
"The Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea, accordingly, formally declares that from now on it will put into force the resolute measures to totally freeze the inter-Korean relations, totally abrogate the agreement on non-aggression between the north and the south and completely halt the inter-Korean cooperation.
"In this connection, the following measures will be taken at the first phase:
"1. All relations with the puppet authorities will be severed.
"2. There will be neither dialogue nor contact between the authorities during (South Korean President) Lee Myung Bak's tenure of office.
"3. The work of the Panmunjom Red Cross liaison representatives will be completely suspended.
"4. All communication links between the north and the south will be cut off.
"5. The Consultative Office for North-South Economic Cooperation in the Kaesong Industrial Zone will be frozen and dismantled and all the personnel concerned of the south side will be expelled without delay.
"6. We will start all-out counterattack against the puppet group's 'psychological warfare against the north.'
"7. The passage of south Korean ships and airliners through the territorial waters and air of our side will be totally banned.
"8. All the issues arising in the inter-Korean relations will be handled under a wartime law.
"There is no need to show any mercy or patience for such confrontation maniacs, sycophants and traitors and wicked warmongers as the (South Korean President) Lee Myung Bak group."
#3
Has anyone thought to tell our "asleep at the wheel" Dumbo that he may have a war on his hands in Korea and that he should make plans to actually do something. If we do not defend S. Korea, the Japanese will defend them and rearm. Who wants a rearmed Japan? No one on this planet.
#6
Yes, they're in trouble. It's possible that only a north south war like our civil war will bring resolution after bloodshed. And President Obama's null and void thought process might still has him hoping that things like this just work themselves out. Well, things like this never just work themselves out. It's not human nature. Sad that when it kicks off we're going to did in their civil war.
#8
Can we say the "Supreme Leader" is certifiable? And that he has the nuclear trump card over South Korea? South Korea is going to need some counterbalancing force that is nuclear-armed such as us to prevent Kimmie from playing this trump card. Some leader, somewhere, sometime is going to have to put this tin horn dictator nut case back in his cage and keep him from gnawing through the straps again. I don't see the One doing that.
1) They are too embarrassed to talk and/or what they have to say is weak. It's easy to avoid all these little complications by cutting off communications.
2) The Norks just implemented sanctions against themselves. Ignore them completely from now on in the name of keeping the peace. Don't send them any humanitarian or other forms of aid because it will only extend the time before the government there collapses.
3) They shouldn't overtly go out of their way, but don't give the Norks an inch on use of SKor airspace and waters.
4) Make sure the psych war is one that keeps the Nork leadership stuck on the fence and frustrated and causes lots of internal argument. If that's possible. Maybe hold massive barbeques near the DMZ all the time, including lots of laughing, music and dancing. Maybe let the Norks know that they have so much extra food of all kinds that they are just dumping it into the sea to get rid of it.
5) Invent something that makes a wake like a torpedo and then just disappears. Shoot it at some of their ships and enjoy the reaction. If they shoot back, sink them. Might want to tell the world what happened, might not. Maybe now, maybe later, maybe never. Maybe get it on tape, maybe not.
North Korea on Monday insisted the South must admit a team of inspectors to verify the findings of an international probe into the sinking of the Navy corvette Cheonan. The National Defense Commission, the North's top policy-making body, warned the South will be held accountable for "fabricating accusations" that the North sank the ship on March 26. The official KCNA news agency quoted a spokesman for the National Defense Commission as saying, "If South Korea has nothing to hide, then it should allow our inspectors to enter."
The statement came in response to President Lee Myung-bak's announcement that Seoul will halt all trade with the North.
A North Korean military commander on Monday responded to Seoul's announcement that it is resuming so-called psychological warfare -- broadcasting propaganda across the demilitarized zone -- by warning the North will fire at South Korean loudspeakers. "If South Korea installs new speakers for psychological warfare, we will directly aim at them and open fire to destroy them," he said. "If the South Korean traitors challenge our rightful response, we will counter with mightier physical strikes to eliminate the root cause of their provocation," KCNA quoted him as saying.
Defense Minister Kim Tae-young told lawmakers on Monday, "If the North disrupts our psychological warfare by opening fire at loudspeakers, we will counterattack immediately." A Defense Ministry official said psychological operations broadcasts via FM radio frequencies began Monday, while broadcasts using loudspeakers will start in two weeks and electronic display boards will be set up in about four months.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/25/2010 00:00 ||
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If the NKors open fire, fire should be returned immediately.
Seoul is halting all trade with North Korea over the sinking of the Navy corvette Cheonan in March. The measure is one of seven announced by President Lee Myung-bak and the unification, foreign, and defense ministers Monday.
In a public address following the announcement of the Cheonan investigation results, Lee attributed the sinking of the Cheonan to a "military provocation by North Korea." "Under these circumstances, any inter-Korean trade or other cooperative activity is meaningless."
Unification Minister Hyun In-taek said separately Seoul will halt inter-Korean trade, ban South Korean citizens from visiting the North and making new investments there, and put assistance projects on hold.
The government decided to halt new business and investment in the joint Kaesong Industrial Complex and downsize staff there but to continue sending humanitarian aid.
Oh good grief ...
The government also banned North Korean ships from passing through the Jeju Strait and resumed psychological warfare against the North.
More sanctions are planned in cooperation with international community. The government will ask the UN Security Council to tighten sanctions against the Stalinist country, carry out joint anti-submarine exercises in the West Sea with the U.S., and stage maritime intercept exercises in Korean waters and overseas under the Proliferation Security Initiative to prevent proliferation of nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction.
Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan urged the UNSC to adopt a new and separate round of sanctions against the North. "Strictly speaking, the new sanctions should be imposed independently of the existing UNSC sanctions against the North," he said.
Defense Minister Kim Tae-young said a maritime exercise will be staged in the area under Navy control during the second half of this year, and the Navy will participate in similar intercept exercises overseas under Australian control in September.
Lee said South Korea "will not tolerate any provocation by the North and will maintain the principle of proactive deterrence. If our territorial waters, airspace or territory are violated, we will immediately exercise our right of self-defense."
Forgive me but the Norks might not believe that, since you didn't exercise your right of self-defense last time ...
The principle of proactive deterrence envisages building security capacity "to preempt further provocations and threats from the North against the South, as well as simply exercising the right of self-defense," according to presidential spokesman Lee Dong-kwan.
The military is expected to change the rules of engagement in preparation for possible skirmishes near the Northern Limit Line, the de facto inter-Korean border, and along the military demarcation line.
The president warned North Korea "will pay a price corresponding to its provocative acts." He urged the North to apologize to South Korea and the international community and "immediately punish" those responsible for the sinking.
"Our ultimate goal is not military confrontation but stability and peace on the Korean Peninsula," he said. He stressed the importance of inter-Korean dialogue, adding, "The Korean Peninsula must no longer be left standing as the danger zone in Northeast Asia. The two Koreas must take the initiative and resolve this issue."
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/25/2010 00:00 ||
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"Our ultimate goal is not military confrontation but stability and peace on the Korean Peninsula,"
Moron, half the peninsula wants your blood, and you want to talk?
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
05/25/2010 2:01 Comments ||
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We should have finished this nearly 60 years ago when Gen. McArthur wanted to go nuclear. In interviews published posthumously, MacArthur said he had a plan that would have won the war in 10 days: "I would have dropped 30 or so atomic bombs . . . strung across the neck of Manchuria." .
More, via Drudge: The Atlantic follows the Times with more of classified info, surprisingly under The One's command
Last summer, the White House authorized a massive expansion of clandestine military and intelligence operations worldwide, sanctioning activities in more than a dozen countries and giving the military's combatant commanders significant new authority to conduct unconventional warfare.
The New York Times reported on one major operational plan, which authorizes intelligence gathering and reconnaissance activities in the Middle East, the Horn of Africa and Central Asia. A Joint Unconventional Warfare Task Force Execute Order, was signed on September 30, 2009, by CENTCOM commander in chief David Petraeus. It was marked "LIMDIS" -- as in "limited distribution," and hard copies were delivered to about 30 people.
The Times did not report its original classified codename, "Avocado." The name has since been changed.
Other "ex-ords" signed by combatant commanders include provisions for secret American bases and operations in countries like Georgia, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan and in the Dagestan region of the North Caucuses. In the latter space, U.S. soldiers were tasked with tracking down members of identified separatist groups with loose ties to Al Qaeda. One of those groups was responsible for the March 31 bombings in Kizlyar, according to American intelligence officials.
The Obama administration had been reluctant to allow such an expansion of nontraditional military activities in countries where the U.S. formally has no presence. That practice was unfavorably associated with the Bush-Cheney administration's disregard for international norms.
But political imperatives, the threat of terrorism, and the knowledge of what the U.S. military can accomplish if its strings are cut away has slowly changed the minds of some of Obama's senior advisers. It is helpful that Congress has generally given the military a wide berth to conduct activities that intelligence agency paramilitaries would find objectionable.
The authorization to write the orders allow combatant commanders to put together task forces for almost any purpose, and draw from almost any existing military unit. JUWTFs are not classified and are in regular use. But until last summer, they tended to be formed for temporary and limited purposes. Even during the Bush administration, the military did not insert American personnel into Iran, which is what the Avocado execute order now permits.
Not surprisingly, the larger counter-terrorism task forces tend to be full of operators from the clandestine Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), as well as contractors from companies like L3. But JSOC is not the executive authority for these missions, as one might suspect. Rather, the commanders, like CENTCOM's Petraeus, have direct authority.
Military commanders began to circulate drafts of the secret orders in the summer of 2009, a few months after U.S. Navy SEALS rescued sailors aboard the hijacked marine vessel the Maersk Alabama off the coast of Somalia.
At the time, news reports suggested that the SEALS were mobilized from a base in the United States. But that was false. The SEALS, part of the fabled DevGru special mission unit, or SEAL Team Six, were 45 minutes away at an operational base in Manda Bay, a resort beach town in Kenya.
That operation, and the delay in standing up the SEALS, laid the groundwork, officials said, for a series of meetings involving senior counter-terrorism and intelligence officials, about the possibility for a coordinated worldwide unleashing of U.S. military assets.
Gen. Stanley McChrystal, at the time the director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, advised President Obama to allow combatant commanders more latitude to combat terrorism using task forces. Coming from McChrystal, it was a surprising endorsement of a policy that would shift responsibility for unconventional warfare from JSOC, which he had commanded, to the combatant commanders.
In September, two task forces of American commandos surveilled and killed two top Al Qaeda operatives in Somalia, even though they had the opportunity to capture and imprison the two men. The authority to execute the terrorists was given to the commander of one of the squadrons. A task force operating in Yemen has helped Yemeni forces kill terrorism suspects, but it has also carried out unilateral operations.
The intelligence community, including the Defense Intelligence Agency and the Central Intelligence Agency vets the lists of targets and decides who needs to be captured for the purposes of intelligence collection, or who can be killed. The National Security Staff is notified about the eventual final status of the terrorists, and it can overrule the decisions of the intelligence agencies.
There was little opposition to the expansion from the CIA's leadership, which was content to handle its traditional portfolio without having to resort to the type of paramilitary activities that, when revealed, invited intense scrutiny from Congress and the public. One exception is the CIA's Predator Drone program, which an official called a "stealth, but not denied capability." There are a few others.
By contrast, there has been almost no investigation of JSOC's activities during the Bush administration, and there is little oversight of the activities of the terrorism task forces that operate worldwide.
The Times reported that all operations are run by the National Security Staff, though it is not clear how many officials there are aware of the specific details.
"They naively think that because [Obama] told them to do it and to be responsible that they are not going to be unchecked," a military officer in contact with the National Security Staff said. "The real headline is that Petraeus is doing his own thing."
It is unusual for a combatant commander to be given the ability to ask civilians to collect intelligence in countries like Iran. It is not clear under what legal authority he can do so. The CIA's National Resources Division regularly keeps touch with academics and business people who travel to hostile countries, and occasionally requests from them specific tasks. The Department of Defense, at Petreaus's request, set up a parallel organization called the Civillian Expeditionary Workforce that hires non-soldiers and non-contractors for temporary military-type tasks using detainee interrogations.
White House and Pentagon spokespeople declined to comment.
#1
For once I do agree. These ops need to continue.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
05/25/2010 11:50 Comments ||
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#2
1 - if something goes wrong, we'll see if the 'commanders' or the troops executing their orders are in front of the next Courts Martial.
2 - if it's classified, the Administration will deny or stonewall any legal proceeding on behalf of the defendants to 'show us the papers'.
3 - the Administration will then deal with the unwanted problem by turning them over to the 'International Tribunal' cause the American system won't work for them to bury their part in this process. The tribunal will allow them to get away with it in order to establish the precedent of prosecuting Americans.
#4
Those are the risks from all administrations. Ops are all loosely defined to protect commander and the president. Right or wrong, the JSOC guys know if something goes wrong the commanders will do what they can, but once the press starts to distort it, the politics and DOJ take over.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
05/25/2010 12:37 Comments ||
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#5
Glenmore, my thought exactly. And the idea that someone would compromise national security to damage a potential political opponent is an unhappy one.
Posted by: Matt ||
05/25/2010 13:44 Comments ||
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#6
With 30 copies on the LIMDIS list, there should have been 30 different typos - so if one was compromised (read leaked/etc) you'd know the source
#7
This strikes me as a pre-emptive strike against any political aspirations Gen. Petraeus might have.
That and more broadly a panicked reaction from the White House attempting to prop up Bambi's cratering poll numbers. It's the "Hey look, I'm actually doing something" hail Mary on defense.
#9
Also, I find it very interesting that those who may have looked into Bambi's student loan records may end up in prison while classified programs continue to be splashed on the front pages with no consequences for anyone.
#11
(NYT)In broadening its secret activities, the United States military has also sought in recent years to break its dependence on the Central Intelligence Agency and other spy agencies for information in countries without a significant American troop presence.
CIA leak?
Turf war?
Anyhow, the nyt seems to be the preferred chamber pot for security leaks
#18
I vote for CIA turf war. They haven't done shit for ops in forever. It would be terrible if DOD starting taking the lead over the perfumed princes of Langley.
#19
#15 Not one single
named source in the
story.
Why on earth could that be?
Please be specific.
I would be proud to sign my name as a by-line to this if it instilled the fear of the unknown of getting whacked in a dark corner to the enemy, however, this seems like giving ammo to law-fare.
#20
Avocado:
Brown Skin
Soft inside.
Big Nut at core.
It's OBAMA!
You forgot that an avocado is green. Very green.
Also, Petraeus doesn't strike me as the kind to run for office. Has he implied any political aspirations?
I'm guessing the NY Slimes is just trying to appear relevant, and has tentatively jumped on the bandwagon with something that could be construed as Obama-bashing to some, and a vindication of W's approach to others.
Pakistan's Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld a lower court's decision to release an Islamist militant who India accuses of masterminding a 2008 assault on Mumbai, dismissing a government appeal.
Pakistan's central government and a provincial government had challenged the release of Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militant group, by a high court last year. But the Supreme Court quashed the appeals, saying the government had failed to provide sufficient evidence against Saeed. "The appeals are dismissed," Justice Nasir-ul-Mulk, head of a three-member panel, said while announcing the decision.
India is likely to be dismayed by the decision, which comes shortly after the two countries agreed to resume talks that had been frozen by India after the Mumbai attacks, in which 166 people were killed.
Pakistan has acknowledged that the Mumbai attack was plotted and partly launched from its soil and has put on trial seven suspects, including a senior commander of the LeT, for their roles in the assault. But Pakistan says India has not provided sufficient evidence to prosecute Saeed.
Pakistan detained Saeed in December 2008 after a U.N. Security Council resolution to put him and a charity he heads on a list of people and organisations supporting al Qaeda. But the high court in the eastern city of Lahore released him last year on the grounds of insufficient evidence, prompting the government to appeal to the Supreme Court for his re-arrest.
Pakistani and U.S. investigators cited growing evidence Saturday that a Pakistani army major had been in cellphone contact with a man who allegedly attempted to bomb Times Square in New York, including the possibility that they spoke shortly before the failed bombing.
U.S. officials said they were aware of cellphone traffic between Faisal Shahzad and the unidentified Pakistani military officer, bolstering reports days earlier from Pakistani law enforcement sources.
A Pakistani law enforcement source added detail Saturday, saying the major had cellphone contact with Shahzad on May 1, the day of the botched bombing, including a conversation that occurred as the Pakistani American was allegedly parking his SUV rigged with propane tanks, fertilizer and fireworks.
Investigators are keenly interested in the major's role in the bombing attempt because he had more than one cellphone conversation with Shahzad from the time the suspect allegedly loaded his Nissan Pathfinder with bomb components to the moment he parked the vehicle and walked away, said the Pakistani source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak about the investigation.
U.S. officials said they could not confirm that timing of the conversations between Shahzad and the major. U.S. investigators have limited information about the major, who is in custody in Pakistan, and are negotiating with the Pakistani government to interrogate him, they said.
The Pakistani source said the sequence of phone calls suggests that the major was aware of the plan that Shahzad is accused of trying to carry out detonating a bomb in one of New York's prime tourist magnets though investigators are still trying to determine the major's exact role.
Investigators know of at least one meeting between the major and Shahzad in Pakistan's capital, Islamabad, sometime in 2009, the Pakistani source said. Authorities have previously said they believed that Shahzad arrived in Pakistan from the U.S. last summer and later went to Pakistan's tribal areas, where he got training in bomb-making at a Taliban camp.
The bomb was poorly constructed and had little chance of causing a large number of deaths, suggesting that its maker was unable to follow through with whatever training he did receive.
Although Pakistani authorities have been cooperating with U.S. investigators in ferreting out Pakistanis linked to Shahzad, they have tried to downplay any ties he might have to the Taliban, instead portraying him as a lone wolf.
Three weeks into the investigation, however, there appears to be little doubt of the Pakistani Taliban's strong link to Shahzad and the bombing attempt.
Pakistani law enforcement sources have said that, while Shahzad was in Pakistan last summer, he met with a Taliban facilitator at least three times. At one of those meetings, the Taliban member provided an undisclosed sum of money because Shahzad had said he was running out of cash. U.S. officials familiar with the case have said that the Taliban gave Shahzad about $15,000 to finance the attack.
A Taliban member who said he was familiar with Shahzad's travels in Pakistan's tribal areas last year said Taliban facilitators transported Shahzad from the northwestern city of Peshawar into the Mohmand region in the tribal belt along the border with Afghanistan.
There, he said, Shahzad was taken to Omar Khalid, the Pakistani Taliban's leader in Mohmand, before getting five days of training at a Taliban camp near the village of Baizai, near the border.
It remains unclear whether the major had any connection with the Taliban. However, his role in the case could become an embarrassment for the Pakistani military, which regards the Taliban as a formidable threat to the country and has launched large-scale offensives against the militant group in the country's restive Swat Valley and in several tribal belt regions, including South Waziristan, Bajaur and Orakzai.
The army has denied that any officer has been arrested in connection with the Shahzad case and said that the major in question was arrested for disciplinary reasons. It also described him as a retired army major. However, the law enforcement source said the major was in the army at the time of his arrest.
The major is one of at least 13 people who have been arrested or detained in Pakistan in connection with the Shahzad case. Pakistani authorities have also arrested Salman Ashraf Khan, the co-owner of a catering company that serves embassies and large companies.
It is unclear how Khan might be tied to the Times Square bombing attempt. On Friday, the U.S. Embassy issued a warning about the catering company, Hanif Rajput Catering Service, saying that it had links to terrorist groups.
Posted by: john frum ||
05/25/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
How is it just a major embarrassment and not a Casus Belli for war?
#2
Pakistanis linked to Shahzad, they have tried to downplay any ties he might have to the Taliban, instead portraying him as a lone wolf.
Ah yes the "lone wolf" theory. U.S. officials also ran with this theory for awhile until it was no longer viable. Bloomberg, Holder, etc. The MSM hoped the failed boomer would not be a muslim. They were hoping for a domestic, lone wolf, white supremist or a even better a disgruntled Tea Party member but that theory was not supported by long-term trends, evidence, or data.
KHAR: Security forces killed a terrorist and injured several others in a search operation on Monday in Hashim Charmang area of the Nawagai tehsil in Bajaur Agency. Security forces destroyed a terrorist stronghold near the Pak-Afghan border, and also arrested 26 suspected terrorists and shifted them to an undisclosed location for interrogation.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/25/2010 00:00 ||
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SWAT: Five terrorists surrendered to security forces in the Minglawar area, while the houses of two terrorists were destroyed on Monday, sources told Daily Times. The sources said that the houses of two terrorist commanders Daud Khan and Shahi Roomi were destroyed at Shakar Dara of Matta tehsil, while five terrorists surrendered to security forces at upper Minglawar area. The surrendered men were wanted by police for committing various crimes.
"That's usually why they're wanted men, Jimmy."
"Gosh, Mr. Kent, I had no idea!"
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/25/2010 00:00 ||
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QUETTA: The Bomb Disposal Squad (BDS) found three explosive devices planted at the Provincial Excise and Taxation Headquarters on Monday, sources said. According to sources, unidentified men planted three bombs at the office premises. Security forces and the BDS rushed to the spot and defused the bombs.
The sources added that one of the devices had a fuse, which failed to ignite, otherwise the explosion would have caused huge damage to the office and the surrounding area. BDS officials said that the explosive devices weighed around two kilogrammes. Police cordoned off the area and started a search operation, before clearing the premises.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/25/2010 00:00 ||
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QUETTA: Two people were killed and 15 others, including women and children were injured in a bomb blast at the Quetta Airport Road. In a statement issued soon after the blast, the Shia Ulema Council claimed that the main target was renowned Shia scholar Allama Najfi who remained unhurt.
Official sources said unidentified men had planted an explosive device in a rickshaw, which was parked on the main intersection of the Airport Road. Two people including the rickshaw driver and a passenger died on the spot and 15 others, including three women and seven children who were on their way to a wedding in a passenger van were injured.
Police officer Mohammad Riaz said that it was possible that the passenger in the rickshaw, who died in the blast, was carrying the bomb, which exploded prematurely.
"Hey driver! Watch out for the ruts in the ---"
The bodies of the two men who were killed in the blast, as well as the injured were taken to government Sandman Hospital Quetta. Hospital sources said that three of the injured children were in a critical condition. Police and Frontier Corps rushed to the site soon after the incident and cordoned off the area.
The Bomb Disposal Squad said around 15 kilogrammes of explosive material was used in the blast.
33 pounds of kaboom? That's a big kaboom ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/25/2010 00:00 ||
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But don't tell anyone else. It's a secret.
The top American commander in the Middle East has ordered a broad expansion of clandestine military activity in an effort to disrupt militant groups or counter threats in Iran, Saudi Arabia, Somalia and other countries in the region, according to defense officials and military documents.
The secret directive, signed in September by Gen. David H. Petraeus, authorizes the sending of American Special Operations troops to both friendly and hostile nations in the Middle East, Central Asia and the Horn of Africa to gather intelligence and build ties with local forces. Officials said the order also permits reconnaissance that could pave the way for possible military strikes in Iran if tensions over its nuclear ambitions escalate.
While the Bush administration had approved some clandestine military activities far from designated war zones, the new order is intended to make such efforts more systematic and long term, officials said. Its goals are to build networks that could penetrate, disrupt, defeat or destroy' Al Qaeda and other militant groups, as well as to prepare the environment' for future attacks by American or local military forces, the document said. The order, however, does not appear to authorize offensive strikes in any specific countries.
In broadening its secret activities, the United States military has also sought in recent years to break its dependence on the Central Intelligence Agency and other spy agencies for information in countries without a significant American troop presence.
General Petraeus's order is meant for small teams of American troops to fill intelligence gaps about terror organizations and other threats in the Middle East and beyond, especially emerging groups plotting attacks against the United States.
Posted by: ed ||
05/25/2010 10:00 ||
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#1
More. Faster. Harder. Meaner...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
05/25/2010 10:37 Comments ||
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#2
JPOST > GROUNDWORK FOR [Iran] ATTACK, A WARNING TO TEHRAN. ISRAELI OFFICIAL says NEW PETRAEUS ORDER authorizes UNILATERAL + EXPANDED RECON AIR FLIGHTS AGZ IRAN + OER ENTIRE MIDEAST REGION thus establishes a PRECONDITION FOR LR MILSTRIKES AGZ IRAN.
* Also in JPOST/TOPIX > VARIOUS > NASRALLAH: WE WILL ATTACK ALL SHIPS HEADED TO ISRAEL IN FUTURE WAR [from Hezb Lebanon bases].
** HAARETZ > MASSIVE IDF DRILL FINDS ISRAEL Ill-PREPARED FOR CHEMICAL THREAT. Only 5% of Israelis have GAS MASKS due to Nationwide shortage.
NINEWA / Aswat al-Iraq: Parliament's candidate from al-Iraqiya Alliance died on Monday of wounds he sustained earlier in western Mosul, a police source said.
"Bashar Mohammad Hamed al-Akidi died in the hospital of wounds," the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. He did not give more details.
Another police source said that the man and his driver were wounded earlier when unknown gunmen opened fire on them in front of his house in al-Aamel neighborhood in western Mosul.
The tree of liberty is being liberally watered with blood in Iraq nowadays.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/25/2010 00:00 ||
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BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq: One U.S. soldier was killed on Monday during a military operation, raising the U.S. fatalities in May to 4, the U.S. army said in a statement.
One U.S. Soldier was killed Monday while conducting operations in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom,' said the statement received by Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
The name of the deceased is being withheld pending notification of next of kin and release by the Department of Defense,' it added.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/25/2010 00:00 ||
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HT Drudge A small Syrian-backed terrorist group in Gaza said its activists blew up a donkey cart laden with explosives close to the border with Israel on Tuesday, killing the animal but causing no human casualties.
Abu Ghassan, spokesman for the terrorist group, said more than 200 kilograms of dynamite were heaped on the animal-drawn cart. He added that the explosives were detonated 60 meters from the concrete security barrier that separates the territory from Israel.
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/25/2010 19:24 ||
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#1
WHOA, D *** NG IT, THEY'VE BLOWN UP EDDIE MURPHY IN "SHREK"!
CNN/FOX NEWS this AM > Wehell, HEZZIE Leader NASRALLAH did warn = threaten that Hezbollah will attack Any + All MILITARY, CIVILIAN, + COMMERCIAL-INDUSTRIAL TARGETS in the next Israeli-Hezb War.
#6
OS - how much did you have to drug your cat to get him to put up with that? ;-p
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
05/25/2010 23:28 Comments ||
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#7
Cat's like
Day number 224 of my captivity, and these humans dont share my love of capnip, instead they like dynamite, but I was promised makarel and lobster bisque in heaven and some hawt cat.
An Arab attorney from East Jerusalem has been charged with transferring funds from Hamas and Islamic Jihad to Palestinian prisoners in Israel. Two other Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem, an Israeli Arab and a Gaza resident were also indicted in the affair.
The attorney, Shirin Isawi, complained of being tortured, imprisoned in harsh conditions and even sexually harassed in a deposition she gave her attorney, of which Haaretz has a copy. The Shin Bet security service and the Israel Prison Service laughed off denied the allegations.
Isawi is charged with orchestrating the transfer of tens of thousands of shekels from Hamas and Islamic Jihad operatives in the Gaza Strip through the Qalandiyah checkpoint near Jerusalem. Her brother, Madhat Isawi, allegedly deposited the money into the prisoners' bank accounts.
Two other defendants are charged with bribing the final defendant - the director of an East Jerusalem post office - to deposit the money in violation of regulations. The post office director, an Israeli Arab who lives in Abu Ghosh, is charged with enabling the transfer.
The indictment says that on the day Isawi was arrested - April 22, 2010 - she was carrying $100,000 and NIS 53,000 in cash, intending to deposit it in prisoners' accounts. Isawi is also charged with passing information between prisoners in different jails and between the prisoners and their organizations' leaders.
A week ago, attorney Samah Elkhatib Aboub of the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel sent a letter to the attorney general and the Prison Service demanding a probe into Isawi's complaints regarding her incarceration and interrogation. The letter is based on a deposition Isawi gave the attorney two weeks after her arrest.
Isawi said she was kept bound in a painful position for 10 to 19 hours a day during her interrogation. "When I reached the room, they made me sit on an uncomfortable chair. A warden bound my hands behind me, [using] two handcuffs and a 20-centimeter chain fixed to the back of the chair."
The interrogators prevented her from going to the toilet or eating during the lengthy interrogations, she added. "Although I asked, they put food far away from me, without removing the chains," she said.
She also said the interrogators threatened to deport her and her parents and mocked her faith and her head covering.
On one occasion, Isawi was sexually harassed: One of the interrogators, who called himself "Gil," sat close to her, and when she tried to pull away, he put his hand on her thigh and shouted in her ear.
One day, after a particularly harsh interrogation, she started vomiting blood, she said. A warden dragged her to the infirmary, throwing her on the floor. During her two weeks in prison, she lost eight kilograms, she said.
Her lawyers accused the interrogators and wardens of violating Israeli and international law, citing the High Court of Justice's ruling forbidding torture.
Sounds like the usual Paleo nonsense, though gullible Westerners will buy the whole act ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/25/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
they made me sit on an uncomfortable chair
"Bring out... The Comfy Chair!!!!"
- Graham Chapman (Monty Python)
Al-Qaeda's second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahiri, has praised two of the group's leaders killed in a shootout last month and offered condolences for their deaths, in an audio tape aired Friday by al-Jazeera TV and monitored by the US-based SITE Intelligence Group.
Al-Qaeda In Iraq (AQI) leaders Abu Omar al-Baghdadi and Abu Ayub al-Masri were killed in a joint U.S.-Iraqi military operation in Tikrit on April 18. In the 27-minute message titled, "Eulogy for the Two Commanders", al-Zawahiri praised the two leaders "for their character and their actions in jihad", The News reports.he message closed with images of attacks carried out by AQI, which al-Zawahiri in his message calls the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI).
Baghdadi was the political leader of AQI while Masri was the insurgent group's self-styled "minister of war". AQI had confirmed their deaths on April 24.
#9
Never understood why Frank Sinatra married her.
At the time I think she was just out of the jailbait category. He wasn't quite in the Social Security category, but the heady days of his yoot wuz behind him.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/25/2010 20:06 Comments ||
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#10
Bad Frank...
During his short-lived marriage to actress Mia Farrow, Sinatra stunned Farrow when he served her with divorce papers in front of cast and crew of Rosemary's Baby.
Good Frank...
In the early 1990s, when Mia Farrow was publicly humiliated by her long-term lover's, Woody Allen's, marriage to their adopted daughter, Sinatra offered to have Allen's legs broken, an obvious connection to Sinatra's Mafia relationships.
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.
Two American tourists have been kidnapped by armed tribesmen near Yemen's capital, Sanaa, officials say. Their Yemeni driver, who was also seized, later reportedly made a call to the AFP news agency, saying the attackers were demanding the release of a jailed fellow tribesman.
The flat raided by law-enforcers Sunday night was a den of banned Islamist outfit 
Two criminals, including an outlawed party leader, were killed in separate 'shootouts' with law enforcers in Chittagong and Kushtia early Monday taking the total of such extra judicial killings to 127 in over nine months from August 1, 2009 to May 14, 2010.
Pakistan's Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld a lower court's decision to release an Islamist militant who India accuses of masterminding a 2008 assault on Mumbai, dismissing a government appeal.
KHAR: Security forces killed a terrorist and injured several others in a search operation on Monday in Hashim Charmang area of the Nawagai tehsil in Bajaur Agency. Security forces destroyed a terrorist stronghold near the Pak-Afghan border, and also arrested 26 suspected terrorists and shifted them to an undisclosed location for interrogation.
QUETTA: The Bomb Disposal Squad (BDS) found three explosive devices planted at the Provincial Excise and Taxation Headquarters on Monday, sources said. According to sources, unidentified men planted three bombs at the office premises. Security forces and the BDS rushed to the spot and defused the bombs. 
NINEWA / Aswat al-Iraq: Parliament's candidate from al-Iraqiya Alliance died on Monday of wounds he sustained earlier in western Mosul, a police source said.
BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq: One U.S. soldier was killed on Monday during a military operation, raising the U.S. fatalities in May to 4, the U.S. army said in a statement.
Al-Qaeda's second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahiri, has praised two of the group's leaders killed in a shootout last month and offered condolences for their deaths, in an audio tape aired Friday by al-Jazeera TV and monitored by the US-based SITE Intelligence Group.
