The Army is planning to spend as much as $100 million to expand its Special Operations headquarters in northern Afghanistan, evidence of its increasing reliance on covert operations.
#4
That's a hundred million we'll never get back, to build a place in a worthless hellhole. We'd be better off carpet-bombing cities with bundles of $100 bills.
#5
You all missed the critical keyword in that article: "northern". Now ask yourself why in the world would we want to build that facility in relatively peaceful "northern" Afghanistan?
I suspect that the purpose of this HQ has far less to do with a bunch of mud worshiping Taliban than "other activities".
Here is a map of Mazar-e Sharif, where the HQ is located. Close to the borders of Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and, I might add, within view of any traffic to or from China, because of a mountain range.
[Dawn] Afghan forces fired five artillery shells across the border into a Pakistani village, damaging two homes but causing no casualties, officials said Friday.
The incident took place in the Khyber district in northwest Pakistan that straddles the Nato supply line into Afghanistan and is hotbed of both Taliban fighters and other smaller homegrown militia.
The shells exploded Thursday in Pastokai village, about 20 kilometres (13 miles) south of the Torkham border crossing with Afghanistan, officials said.
"Five artillery shells fired by the Afghan army hit the village," Shafirullah Khan, the top administrative official of Khyber, told AFP.
Asked whether Pakistan had lodged any protest with the Afghan government the official said: "We reported the matter to the interior ministry and now they will take further action".
An intelligence official in Landi Kotal, the main border town of Khyber, told AFP that two shells landed in the village damaging two houses, while three slammed into nearby waste land. There were no casualties, he said.
"According to our report, the shells were fired by the Afghan army in Nangarhar province", the intelligence official added.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/05/2010 00:00 ||
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Link ||
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Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Pakistan
#1
The Afghans know who the true enemy is ie.Pakistan.Does obama?
Posted by: Paul D ||
06/05/2010 6:43 Comments ||
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#3
The first thought that came to mind is what the Afghan forces were responding to, when they fired those artillery shells. The Pakistanis are awfully fond of firing first.
[Asharq al-Aswat] Al Qaeda revealed on Thursday the identity of one of the most dangerous women in the organization who was detained by Saudi security forces last February. Sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that Haylah al Qassir was arrested as part of a group of 113 terrorists for having links to Al Qaeda in Yemen. The arrests were announced last March.
An audiotape attributed to Al Qaeda was released on Thursday in which Saeed al Shehri, a deputy leader within Al Qaeda, called for kidnapping Saudi government officials in revenge for Haylah al Qassir's arrest that was carried out by the Saudi authorities in Riyadh. Al Qassir is described as one of Al Qaeda's most dangerous women.
Haylah al Qassir played a significant role in handling money issues for the Al Qaeda organization. As a result of her arrest, Al Qaeda in Yemen has lost one of its most important sources of finance. One of the sources that spoke to Asharq Al-Awsat said that the recording in which Saeed al Shehri called for revenge for al Qassir's arrest represents nothing but its "grief" because Al Qaeda in Yemen has had its funding cut off.
According to information that was approved by the source that spoke to Asharq Al-Awsat, before February, Haylah al Qassir tried to transfer around 650,000 [Saudi] Riyals to Al Qaeda in Yemen.
Last September, Saeed al Shehri appeared in a video recording with Yemeni Al Qaeda operative Mohammed al Ghezeli by his side in which he called for Saudis to support him financially. It is assumed that the 650,000 Saudi Riyals did reach Al Qaeda following that video recording at some point between last September and February.
Five months after al Shehri's video recording in which he called on Saudis to donate to Al Qaeda, the Saudi security forces arrested Haylah al Qassir who is considered one of Al Qaeda's most important sources of funding.
Despite that the Al Qaeda organization knew the exact date that Haylah al Qassir was arrested by Saudi security forces (Sunday 21 February, 2010), and this was mentioned by al Shehri in the new audio tape, the organization did not issue a statement at the time. Rather, the organization only revealed on Thursday in an audio recording the arrest of Haylah al Qassir, after more than three months since her arrest. According to the source that spoke to Asharq Al-Awsat, this reflects the "financial predicament" of Al Qaeda nowadays, especially as Saudi forces were able to arrest Haylah al Qassir, who was one of the most important sources of funding for Al Qaeda in Yemen.
The available information about Haylah al Qassir indicates that she was married to a well-known religious figure in the city of Buraida called Abdul Karim al Humayed (who was arrested by Saudi authorities a while ago). After they divorced, al Qassir married one of al Humayed's students, Mohammed al Wakil, who was killed during clashes with Saudi security forces on December 29, 2004.
The sources that spoke to Asharq Al-Awsat confirmed that in addition to funding Al Qaeda elements, Haylah al Qassir was also entrusted with the task of accommodating fugitive elements of Al Qaeda.
Last March, Saudi Arabia announced the arrest of a terrorist network consisting of 113 elements affiliated to Al Qaeda. At the time, Major General Mansour al Turki explained that the group that was arrested included a woman and she was being interviewed in order to determine her role in the organization and that her family had been informed of her arrest.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/05/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Arabia
Nine people were murdered in northern Mexico in drug and gang related violence including a nine men shot in nine hours in Chihuahua, Chihuahua.
Three unidentified men were shot to death late Thursday night in Chihuahua, say Mexican news reports.
The shootings took place near the intersection of Otilio Montaño and Tarahumaras streets when three armed suspects riding aboard a Dodge Stratus opened fire on a trio of men on foot.
Witnesses say the three were shot with rifles.
Investigators at the scene initially found two corpses later finding a third, whom had apparently attempted to flee the assault but was caught barely a city block away.
An unidentified man and woman were found shot to death in a section of Chihuahua known as "Las Conchitas" early Friday morning, say Mexican news reports.
Investigators also found an abandoned Dodge Nitro at the scene.
No other information was made available.
Four unidentified men were found shot to death in a vacant lot in Chihuahua, Chihuahua late Thursday night, according to Mexican news reports.
Reports are the four were found face down, hands bound with cable ties, mouth covered, and shot execution style near the intersection of Baja California and La Paz in Industrial district of Chihuahua.
The bodies were found with their faces destroyed by fire and with a threatening message to police. Investigators said AK-47s were used in the shootings.
#1
Investigators said AK-47s were used in the shootings.
Of course, they would have been shot with muskets if the US had not ended the assault weapons ban.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
06/05/2010 0:33 Comments ||
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#2
No, more likely chopped with Machetes.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
06/05/2010 0:58 Comments ||
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#3
They would smite each other with imported rocks,igenous, other. M3.
Unidentified militants beheaded a 60-year-old Afghan refugee for "spying" for the US military based in neighbouring Afghanistan, in Datta Khel tehsil of North Waziristan Agency. The beheaded body, identified as Wadeen, was found in village Darpa Khel, some five kilometres west of Miranshah, headquarters of the tribal agency. The body was lying on the Datta Khel-Miranshah Road. A paper close to the body alleged that Wadeen was spying for the US and anyone doing the same would meet the same fate.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/05/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under: TTP
[Ma'an] The An-Nasser Salah Ad-Din Brigades released a statement Friday morning laying claim to a series of projectiles fired from the Gaza Strip toward southern Israel.
The militant unit, affiliated with the Popular Resistance Committees, said they fired two projectiles Thursday night.
Police told Israeli media that there were no injuries, noting the projectiles landed in areas outside Ashkalon.
In their statement, the brigades said the projectiles were launched as a message indicating their committment to resistance and Jihad.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/05/2010 00:00 ||
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[0 views]
Top|| File under: Popular Resistance Committees
Federal Minister for Interior Rehman Malik has said that the policy against the banned religious organisations has been forwarded to the Punjab government and the security forces have held as many as 700 terrorists belonging to southern Punjab, a private TV channel reported on Friday.
Talking to journalists outside the Parliament House in Islamabad, he said that the law enforcement agencies throughout the country have been told to crack down on the banned militant groups and the government was ready to combat with the terrorists. He said that the banned groups would not be allowed to stage protests and the crackdown applies to all major cities.
To a question, the minister said the Rangers had been asked to take action against the groups which were creating law and order situation in Karachi. He said that two criminal groups working in Lyari were seeking political patronage.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/05/2010 00:00 ||
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[1 views]
Top|| File under: Hezbollah
Iraqi and US forces have hit al Qaeda in Iraq hard over the last several months, crippling the terror group's senior leadership and disrupting its communications with al Qaeda's top leaders in Pakistan and Afghanistan, the top US commander in the country said.
"Over the last 90 days or so, we've either picked up or killed 34 out of the top 42 al Qaeda in Iraq leaders," General Ray Odierno, the commander of US Forces - Iraq, told reporters during a Pentagon press briefing.
Odierno said it isn't clear if the new al Qaeda in Iraq leaders (replacements named for the above 34) are real people or merely placeholders .
"They've named some names, but we're not even sure if there's actually people behind those names," he said. "We call those names roughly honorific names. They're names that are very common names in the Arabic world. So we're not sure there's actually people behind those names yet."
#1
Roggio lists 12 actions in which named AQII were killed or captured - all 12 cited "Iraqi forces killed.....", not US (though we presumably helped.)
#4
g(r)omgoru, I think we are playing whack-a-mole. Al Queda right now is over in Afghanistan and Pakistan causing us trouble and we are able to clean house in Iraq. At some point they might move back when/if we start to defeat them again in Afghanistan. Each time their recruiting gets dumber folks with less time to train so their is an endgame out there if we have the patience.
#5
RJ, IDF killed something like 500 - 1000% of Hamas leadership. As long as the money flows, there will always be replacements---it isn't like the job required unique mental qualifications.
#6
As soon as we leave, they will become magically 'fixed'.
Sadly, I bet they are training somewhere right now.
Why do we announce our plans in advance.
Has our commander-in-chief any common sense?
(don't answer that question)
Posted by: Mike Hunt ||
06/05/2010 14:44 Comments ||
Top||
#7
Broken?
No worries. The Saudis have superglue (money) to put it back together again.
From the security cameras aboard the Mavi Marmara: the passengers of the Gaza flotilla are seen here preparing for confrontation with the IDF soldiers. The rioters put on gas masks and arm themselves with rods, slingshots, broken bottles, metal objects, and water hoses. As the IDF soldiers approach the ship the rioters immediately attack the forces by hurling these objects at them.
Posted by: ed ||
06/05/2010 18:52 ||
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Link ||
[1 views]
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#1
Just more quaint tribal practices, like shooting at NATO aircraft during a wedding. Nothing to see here...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
06/05/2010 20:35 Comments ||
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#2
I have been doing an all-day battle with San Diego's Loons on this thread - fucking lying assholes, Maoists, and traitors
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/05/2010 21:18 Comments ||
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The website of the Malaysian NGO which is co-sponsoring the Rachel Corrie, reports that the ship was taken by the navy at about 5:50 am on Saturday morning.
#1
Update:
Israeli forces seized a Gaza-bound aid vessel without meeting resistance on Saturday, preventing it from breaking an Israeli maritime blockade of the Hamas-ruled territory days after a similar effort turned bloody.
The military said its forces boarded the 1,200-ton Rachel Corrie cargo ship from the sea, not helicopters.
The takeover stood in marked contrast to a violent confrontation at sea earlier this week when Israeli commandos blocked a Turkish aid vessel trying to break the blockade. At the time, Israeli commandos rappelled from helicopters and a clash with passengers left nine pro-Palestinian activists dead.
Army spokeswoman Lt. Col. Avital Leibovich says Saturday's takeover took only a few minutes and that the vessel was being taken to Israel's Ashdod port.
The Irish ship named for an American college student who was crushed to death by a bulldozer in 2003 while protesting Israeli house demolitions in Gaza was carrying hundreds of tons of aid, including wheelchairs, medical supplies and cement.
The standoff has raised international pressure on Israel to lift the 3-year-old blockade that has plunged the territory's 1.5 million residents deeper into poverty.
Activists on board the boat, including Irish Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mairead Corrigan, had said they wouldn't resist if Israeli soldiers tried to take over their vessel.
#2
Activists on board the boat, including Irish Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mairead Corrigan, had said they wouldn't resist if Israeli soldiers tried to take over their vessel.
The Irish are known for their traditional peace activities; and a Nobel Prize winner would never tell a fib. Sink the boat by dropping a bulldozer from a couple of thousand feet.
#4
Sink the boat by dropping a bulldozer from a couple of thousand feet.
Now ya know, I like that. Major originiarlity points.
I suspect it possible (and likely been looked into by forces powerful and secret) that a D-9 Cat could easily be fitted with a nosecone and tailcone, giving excellent aerodynamics. With a shroud in place this could easily be fitted to a large booster (Like a Saturn 5 only big). My friends a D-9 Cat screaming in from CircumLunar trajectory would mean peace in our time.
#5
Israel should impose all sorts of 'port and customs fees' on the Corrie, amounting to hundreds of thousands of dollars, which are then given to the survivors of the Israeli soldiers.
#6
Israel responded well. The blockade breakers had all sorts of legal cargo this time and were hoping Israel would go to down against peaceful folk assuming a replay or worse of the last time. Except Israel didn't overreact which really puts the previous engagement into perspective.
#7
Rachel Corrie wasn't "crushed to death" by a bulldozer. The vehicle didn't touch her. She was killed when construction materials struck her on the head. The cause of death was: hematoma, which occurs when trauma causes the brain to bleed to the point where blood pressure on the skull stops mental function. The actress, Natasha Richardson, died from same after a fall last year.
#8
I want to understand the denial of the Iran-Connection to the Marmara-Instigation. Some facts:
1. Turks didn't participate in last Summer's flotilla follies. Their sudden interest followed an Iranian diplomatic campaign, after the EU backed the dhimmi "Goldstone Report" blaming Israel for unnecessary civilian deaths.
2. Leaders of Turkey and Iran met last October, and announced mutual support, including resolved joint action on "palestine."
3. The IHH (based in Turkey) announced participation in the Flotilla Campaign.
4. Suddenly, with public opinion AGAINST Iran for their governments perceived hegemony, Muslim Brotherhood (Ikhwan) sites - especially "arabianawareness.com" (accessible by Google translation) - commenced solidarity campaigns in favor of Iran and their Hizbollah puppets.
5. While Ikhwanis maintained their silence - for profit - against the Saud terror entity and its Wahabist backers, al-Qaeda issued a Fatwa (June 1) calling for the "assassination" of Saud parasites.
6. On May 31 - the 21st anniversary of ayatollah Khomeni's end of his pollution of the earth - IHH terrorists were met by IDF commandos and attempted to murder same, only to be rebuffed.
7. Then the IHH terrorists announced - in unison with Ikhwan terrorists - "Phase 2" of the Flotilla aggression, which is in preparation.
8. Erdogan suggested NATO flagging of Flotilla vessels, while the IHH directed the "RachelCorrie-Instigation," (the allged disrepair of that boat appears to have been disinformation).
9. Last year, Flotilla aggressors had to use small ships; the Mavi Marmara is a huge passenger cruiser. Diplomatic efforts suggest Iran complicity in the Instigations. In fact, Iran's Press TV has been championing the work of the IHH for months. Given that their main rivals in the Middle East are Wahabists, support of this campaign clearly unites Shiite and Sunni terrorists. Cui bono? Iran.
10. After the Flotilla fiasco, Hamas declared that Flotilla operations cease on June 12. Why? That is the anniversary of the Democracy riots in Iran.
11. European public opinion would likely favor NATO flagging of any vessel destined for Gaza; terror logistics from the sea will soon be emplaced.
12. Euro dhimmism has forced Egypt to open the southern border with Gaza; Ikhwanis will demand unrestricted weapon deliveries.
13. Any Israeli reaction to future missile attacks, will be deemed excessive. Effectively, anything done by Israel will be treated as aggressive.
14. Ahmadinejad can now act with impunity against the opposition.
#9
"blood pressure on the skull stops mental function"
Thing is, Rachel Corrie had her higher mental functions stopped long ago - all you need to do is look at the mindless rage on her face in all the pictures of St Pancake in the hijab.
#10
@ #7 One Eyed Thinenter.
I believe what you posted.
But do you have a credible link to go with your assertion?
I want to rub it in some liberal dupes & tools faces.
thank you
Mikey
Posted by: Mike Hunt ||
06/05/2010 14:41 Comments ||
Top||
#14
Can I prove the Iran-Connection in the Marmara-Instigation? I admit to speculation. However, Iran's Press TV - available on Live Station - has been indifferent to Hamas Sunnis, in preference to Hizbollah Shiites. However, after the Oct. agreements between Turkey and Iran, open support was offered, including to the old Muslim Brotherhood enemies. Why?
As for the MB, one of their support websites, also began praising Iran and Hizbollah, at the same time. Why?
http://www.livestation.com/
Ataturkists, Khomenists and al-Bannists (MB) appear to be uniting against Wahabists, by ganging up on Israel.
Use Google translation of the following to confirm what I write about the MB conversion.
http://www.arabianawareness.com/
Why did the IHH led flotilla group, act on the 21st anniversary of the death of Ayatollah Khomeni? Why did they co-ordinate "Phase 2" flotilla work, to end before the anniversary of the Democracy riots in Iran? Today, Ahmadinejad declared zero tolerance for opposition protest. Frankly, he has united Shiites and Sunnis against Israel, while isolating the Saudis. I strongly suspect Iranian financing of the Turkish aspect of the Flotilla operation.
#15
that photo captures the real Rachel Corrie - plus, like the real Rachel Corrie at the end - it's in 2-D
Lol, Frank.
But do you have a credible link to go with your assertion?
The assertions are made in the IDF report, with various references on the web, which has not been made public. The trial of Rachel Corrie vs. State of Israel opened in March and is ongoing, resuming in September.
Good luck finding any more detail than that provided. If you do, post it on RB, please. I think it's pertinent, given the use of the ship bearing the name to smear Israel.
#19
#16 I heard an early report that the Israelis used *female* commandos as part of the op, but have not read any confirmation or other mention. Anyone?
Three men have been found shot dead in the southern Philippines nine days after they were abducted by Islamist militants demanding a ransom payment, local authorities said Saturday. Soldiers tracking the Abu Sayyaf kidnappers recovered the bodies at a remote village on Basilan island, officials said, adding the three local men appeared to have been killed on Friday.
"The bodies were discovered at around 9:45 in the morning today and there is an ongoing operation against the kidnappers," Basilan military commander Brigadier-General Eugenio Clement told reporters. He said the three were taken at gunpoint by Abu Sayyaf gunmen on May 27.
Al-Rasheed Sakalahul, the vice governor of Basilan province, said the gunmen had contacted one of the victims' families and demanded one million pesos (21,600 dollars) in ransom. "The family was not able to raise the amount the abductors demanded," Sakalahul told reporters, adding that the gunmen may also have felt squeezed by the military's search.
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.
