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Kabul dismisses report Karzai met Haqqani
Today's Headlines
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Afghanistan
Chinooks over Afghanistan
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 06/29/2010 13:42 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Thanks GolfBravo. Guess I don't need that afternoon cup of coffee then..

Thank you those who build, maintain, fly, fight from and return home in quite a machine.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 06/29/2010 15:54 Comments || Top||

#2  Shithooks are tough, if you're a kid taxi driver.
Posted by: Flapper Scourge of the Algonquins4926 || 06/29/2010 21:29 Comments || Top||


150 Tickets to Paradise issued since Sunday
As many as 150 insurgent fighters have been killed since Sunday in a major offensive involving about 700 U.S. and Afghan troops along eastern Afghanistan's border with Pakistan, a senior military official confirmed to Fox News early Tuesday.

The U.S.-led operation was one of the largest yet in the region, officials told The Washington Post, who described the assault as "one of the most intense battles of the past year."

In a statement Sunday, NATO's International Security Assistance Force said more than 600 ISAF and Afghan troops were pursuing Al Qaeda and Taliban militants in Kunar and that "a number of insurgents" were killed.

Two American troops were also killed in the battle, according to ISAF.

The offensive was designed to flush out growing numbers of Taliban militants bidding to open up a second front in Kunar, as U.S.-led forces root out insurgents in southern Afghanistan, the Post reported.

"The Taliban know we are bringing our surge of forces, and they realize they can't just let that happen, so they are pursuing their own surge," Maj. Gen. John Campbell, the senior commander in eastern Afghanistan, told the newspaper.

The U.S.-led force in Kunar gave no prior warning of the offensive, unlike the onslaught in Marjah in southern Afghanistan earlier this year.

"We needed the element of surprise in that terrain," Colonel Andrew P. Poppas was quoted as saying.

U.S. and Afghan troops were flown in before dawn Sunday on Black Hawk helicopters and seized mountainous ground in Kunar's Marawara district, but soon came under attack from as many as 200 insurgents, the newspaper reported.

"Once the battle began, others from the area tried to maneuver into the area," Poppas was quoted as saying. "This was a tough fight."

The heaviest fighting subsided by Monday morning. U.S. and Afghan forces are now trying to restore government authority in Marawara's main village.

"The tough part is still ahead," Poppas said.

Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 06/29/2010 10:08 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  maybe they should try not telling them when oyu aee coming more often.Never understood that anyway.
Posted by: chris || 06/29/2010 13:48 Comments || Top||

#2  Me neither. I can just see it now. Eisenhower announcing to the Germans: "No you idiots. We are coming ashore at Normandy. Patton's First Army is a charade. Ya got it? And, oh by the way we are trying to do this thing at or about the first week of June. Don't waste your U-boat resources. Focus on the Channel."

Hearts and minds my a$$.
Posted by: anymouse || 06/29/2010 14:35 Comments || Top||

#3  Just give them bad acid and then kill them from the top down. Oops, me well bad, but at least they get a glimpse of Hell afore they get there.
Posted by: Rhodesiafever || 06/29/2010 15:36 Comments || Top||

#4  If your enemy are half intelligent, when told where an offensive will be, if outgunned they will bug out. But this is freaking Asia. Common sense and honesty do not apply.

I remember a lecture given by LTC Bo Gritz, who with his top notch Hmong army, deep behind enemy lines, told his Hmong that they needed to do a mission on the Tet holiday.

They immediately started digging in. Puzzled, he asked them WTF?, to which they responded that when dug in, they would make a racket, that would attract the NVA. Then, no matter the outcome of the battle, they would either be dead, or able to go home for Tet.

He decided that maybe a mission during Tet wasn't such a hot idea after all. As it turned out, nobody wanted to fight during Tet. Had the mission gone down, he would have arrived at the mission objective to find it empty. All the NVA when home for Tet as well.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 06/29/2010 17:56 Comments || Top||


Caribbean-Latin America
Mexican Candidate for Governor Killed, Cartels Blamed
MEXICO CITY—A leading Mexican gubernatorial candidate was killed early Monday in a state bordering Texas, in the highest-level assassination of a politician here since President Felipe Calderón declared war on drug cartels in 2006.

The killing of Rodolfo Torre, who was seen as a shoo-in for governor in Tamaulipas, represents an escalation of the drug traffickers' war against the Mexican state. Twelve of Mexico's 30 states are due to elect new governors and mayors on Sunday.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 06/29/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


San Luis Potosi: Mexican Military Bags Bad Boys -- UPDATED
Google Translate

Updated detailed list of contraband seized:

Two dead armed suspects and one dead Mexican soldier is the toll from a lengthy confrontation between elements of the Mexican Army and suspected armed gang members in San Luis Potosi, say Mexican news reports.

The confrontation began at 0420 hrs. in Rioverde in the Prolongacion Escandón district when elements of the 65th Infantry Battalion arrived at a location in response to an anonymous tip reporting armed suspects.

Soldiers were fired with rifles and hand grenades upon the moment they arrived. For more than four hours neighbors in Cruz Verde, La Huerta, Insurgentes and Prolongacion Escandon districts listened as a firefight raged between the Mexican Army and suspected gang members.

Residents during this time were not allowed to leave their homes. Several homes were raided by the army. More than 300 soldiers supported the operation along with a helicopter flying in support. At about noon, a convoy of 20 vehicles carrying Mexican Federal agents arrived.

The firefight ended about 1800 hrs.

Three soldiers were wounded in addition to three civilians. The soldiers were evacuated to a hospital.

Seven prisoners were arrested, including three women.

Seized were 10 .223 rifles, one fragmentary hand grenades, 2,479 cartridges for various weapons, 104 magazine, three rifle scopes, five silencers, .45 pistols, 2.5 kilograms of marijuana, 46 uniform components, three police uniforms, 25 military uniforms, a Mazda van and a Volkswagen GTI with a theft report on each, a Ford Super Duty and a Ford Ranger.
Posted by: badanov || 06/29/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Tamaulipas: PRI Gubernatorial Candidate, Four Others Murdered
Google Translate with a hat tip to Notas Roja for additional information
Five members of an entourage of Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI) gubernatorial candidate Rodolfo Torre Cantú, including the candidate himself were ambushed and killed near the airport at Cuidad Victoria, Tamaulipas Monday morning. according to Mexican news accounts.

The convoy was travelling down a seven kilometer road between Cuidad Victoria and Soto La Marina, where he was scheduled for a private meeting before moving on to Matamoroas to meet with other PRI politicians there.

Reports say armed suspects used a tow truck to block the passage of the two vehicle convoy carrying Cantu before they open fired. The attack began at 1030 hrs.

Killed in the ambush were: Luis Gerardo Sotelo, a bodyguard, Enrique Blackmore Smer, a local deputy, Rubén López Zúñiga , and David Lopez Catachan.

Wounded in the attack were: Alejandro Martínez Villarreal, Cantu's private secretary, Enrique de la Garza Montoto, Aurelio Balleza Díaz, a bodyguard and Dante Quiroz Aguilar, also a bodyguard.

Investigators at the scene say AK-47 assault rifles and 9mm weapons were used in the attack.

Cantu was considered a frontrunner in the governor's race. Elections for governor, offices in 43 municipalities and state deputies are set for July 4th.

The PRI-PVEM coalition as well as the opposing PAN political organizations have suspended activities in the state.

Torre Cantu was 46 years old, born in Ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas, in 1964 and studied medicine in his native state.
Posted by: badanov || 06/29/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


More Mexican Mayhem
Six Die in Chihuahua Violence

Six individuals were killed today in drug and gang related violence that included two Juarez female police officers shot while assisting state police agents in an ambush.
  • A police chief in Chihuahua was shot to death on a remote road in Chihuahua Sunday night, say Mexican news reports. Ernesto Flores was killed as he travelled down a road near Majalca about 30 km. north of Chihuahua, Chihuahua with his family. Armed suspects aboard a Ford pickup truck shot at Flores and then escaped overland. Flores is thought to have returned fire wounding at least one of the gunmen.

  • Two female municipal police officers were shot and wounded in a shootout in Juarez Monday morning, according to Mexican news reports. State police agents were attacked aboard their Dodge Ram pickup trucks by armed suspects riding in a Honda Accord using pistols near the intersection of Bulevar Oscar Flores And Calle Montes Apeninos. When agents returned fire, the gunmen switched to rifles. The two female police agents arrived on scene and were fired on wounding both, one seriously.

    Brisa Maria Moreno was taken to the hospital in serious condition. Valadéz Guadalupe is the identity of the second police officer. Following the exchange, the armed suspects fled the scene.

  • Three unidentified people were shot to death and an unidentified woman was found dead in three separate crimes in Juarez, according to the Mexican daily La Polaka. Mexican Federal agents found the corpse of a woman wrapped in a blanket near the intersection of calles Abeto and Granados in the Granjas Santa Elena district. No evidence of a murder weapon were found at the scene.

    An unidentified man was shot to death in his Pontiac near the intersection of calles Zihuatanejo and Rafael Velarde in the Galeana district. Witnesses say an AK-47 was used in the attack.

    Two unidentified men were shot to death on Calle Arturo Papaya Gamiz of the colony January 15 in the courtyard of a house. Investigators at the scene found 15 spent cartridge casings, but did not release any more information.

  • An unidentified man in his 30s was shot to death at a hamburger stand in Juarez Monday afternoon, according to Mexican news reports. The attack occurred when the victim stopped at Kiko's near the intersection of calles 16 de Septiembre and Constitución in the central district to ask for directions. The man was shot in the back as a half dozen diners watched.
Posted by: badanov || 06/29/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Mexican Army Pix





Posted by: Fred || 06/29/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Hidden behind masks, like terrorists or common criminals. Tells you all you need to know about the fragility of the Mexican state.

Why are we importing an underclass from this failed state? For what conceivable policy goal or social benefit?
Posted by: lex || 06/29/2010 0:24 Comments || Top||

#2  The masked fellas are usually Mexican Federal agents or counterterror police, who require security from organized crime unlike soldiers.

You'll see masked police in police departments a lot in the US if they are undercover agents.
Posted by: badanov || 06/29/2010 0:35 Comments || Top||

#3  Why are we importing an underclass from this failed state? For what conceivable policy goal or social benefit?

Its for political benefit for the Democrats (all those slaves now on the vote plantation) as well as providing a new 'slave' class for the liberals (and too many conservatives).
Posted by: CrazyFool || 06/29/2010 1:12 Comments || Top||

#4  Why are we importing an underclass from this failed state? For what conceivable policy goal or social benefit?

1. it keeps the price of lettuce cheap
2. the economy would fall apart if you ended the institution of slavery illegal immigration
3. the little brown folk are better off than they would be if they were not slaves legal workers
4. they enjoy doing work that the white folk liberal elites won't do
5. it is morally superior to support the institution of slavery illegal immigration.
6. bloodshed and chaos would ensue if you ended the institution of slavery illegal immigration
7. Motherhood and Apple pie would suffer because the apples would rot in the field thus it is for the good of the children
8. it has been and shall always be that way.
9. The barbarians can become civilized through the process (and vote democrat)
10. Without them, who would mow your lawn, clean your house or wipe your butt when you are an infant or old? You Would!!
Posted by: Betty Jerenter8589 || 06/29/2010 5:30 Comments || Top||

#5  Spoken like a good, progressive troll, Betty.

Do you get your talking points from Journolist?
Posted by: Steve White || 06/29/2010 7:55 Comments || Top||

#6  Maybe Betty was being sarcastic.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 06/29/2010 8:08 Comments || Top||

#7  Trying to get the purer Spanish blood ruling caste of Mexico to quit dumping their mestizos y indios upon the US is like trying to get the Chinese to realistically revalue the yuan. In neither case is it in the interest of the party to make any change. The ruling caste wants to retain power no matter what it does to its country. They saw that the population they couldn't/wouldn't take care of because it would have diminished their power and wealth would eventually grow to the point that historically results in revolution. So, they dumped them upon the stupid bleeding heart gringos and petty short sighted yankee businessmen. What the ruling caste failed to comprehend was the consequences of the narco trade which literally threw gasoline on the smoldering embers of their stratified little fiefdom. Money begot power and power becomes competitive, particularly in an environment and culture that is built upon corruption.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 06/29/2010 8:23 Comments || Top||

#8  I vote for sarcasm
Posted by: Frank G || 06/29/2010 8:47 Comments || Top||

#9  For what conceivable policy goal or social benefit?

Kept their civil war from escalating for about two decades.
Posted by: Pappy || 06/29/2010 9:03 Comments || Top||

#10  Sarcastic or blunt? I see a great deal that slavery and the modern "illegal immigration" crap have in common.
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 06/29/2010 10:02 Comments || Top||

#11  One thing's for sure, Obama's lawsuit against Arizona proves the federal government has no intention of ever stopping them. Add an order for release of 46,000 prisoners out of California prisons leaves no doubt Washington D.C. does not have the Western United States best interests at heart. Fighting the urge to make fury-laden comments with references to the Civil War..must..not...no...must...not..
Posted by: Spinemp the Ruthless1385 || 06/29/2010 10:33 Comments || Top||

#12  Have any of you who have commented here ever been to Mexico or know anything whatsoever about Mexicanos, other than what you hear from others? To suggest that people from Mexico are "barbarians" or make racist comments like "little brown people" is shameful... though it seems that many of you have no shame. instead of commenting on a vast group of people and subjects which you clearly have no knowledge of perhaps you should spend time getting to know latinos. They are wonderful, more-often-than-not conservative, christian, family oriented people with rich and wonderful cultures. Unfortunately, without having a real understanding for these people, it is too easy to color an entire group with racial slurs and uneducated stereotypes. In truth, they'd be much more likely to vote republican if people like you didn't scare the bejesus out of them.
Posted by: LatinoAmigo || 06/29/2010 11:11 Comments || Top||

#13  Hey, LatinoAmego.

Fuck you, you liberal fuck.

There is a major difference between the hard working class and the layabouts and drug runners. We support the LEGAL hard working Mexicans that just want a better life for themselves.

All the rest can go to the fucking hell that is the failed drug state of Mexico.

And yes, I have some wonderful in-laws and friends that are LEGAL hard working Americans that have Mexican heritage and/or LEGALLY here.
Posted by: DarthVader || 06/29/2010 11:18 Comments || Top||

#14  Clean up on aisle #13.

Let's keep this civilized, guys.

Al
Posted by: Frozen Al || 06/29/2010 11:25 Comments || Top||

#15  I believe the question was "Why are we importing an underclass from this failed state?" not legal vs. illegal. And, the generalizations that I referenced were not indicative of either a legal or illegal context. Nor did I mention anything about my views regarding liberalism, conservatism or the like. But, you have proven through your language and word choices that you are a person who speaks not with knowledge but with anger. Calling me a liberal whatever is just another example of your speaking before you know anything whatsoever about the person in which you address. You have no idea who I am but have already classified me.
Posted by: LatinoAmigo || 06/29/2010 11:31 Comments || Top||

#16  Whadda mean, you people?

Think you will find that many of the regulars here know exactly what they are talking about.

Lex, I get what you are saying, but these of people in official garb and department. There are a number of reasons why the outfit would include face protection, one of which is identity protection. You will notice the officer on the far right receiving the distressed child is also in official garb which does not include face protection.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 06/29/2010 11:33 Comments || Top||

#17  Have any of you who have commented here ever been to Mexico or know anything whatsoever about Mexicanos, other than what you hear from others?

Mexico's Constitution -

Chapter III

Foreigners

Article 33. Foreigners are those who do not possess the qualifications set forth in Article 30. They are entitled to the guarantees granted by Chapter I, Title I, of the present Constitution; but the Federal Executive shall have the exclusive power to compel any foreigner whose remaining he may deem inexpedient to abandon the national territory immediately and without the necessity of previous legal action.

Foreigners may not in any way participate in the political affairs of the country.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 06/29/2010 11:39 Comments || Top||

#18  Mexico has a very different kind of army than the US does. There is no posse comitatus act and regularly use their military for law enforcement. In recent years the drug war has gone 'Hot' and many special groups involved in anti smuggling have formed to deal with the evolving cartel system.
They wear masks so they don't get shot between the eyes at the grocery store or their kids don't get kidnapped walking home from school. The amount of money flowing from the drug trade is almost unimaginable. A bad guy can do all kinds of harm to a person or a whole family with just a little money in mex.
It's a war, a real war. I don't think most people realize that. When you pull into a small town to buy gas and there is a burned out car full of bullet holes in the parking lot you start to get the idea though.
Posted by: bigjim-CA || 06/29/2010 12:18 Comments || Top||

#19  Here is the bottom line LatinoAmigo:

The United States of America is a sovereign state and as such has a right to control is borders and immigration policies. You may have trouble with this concept with all of your testosterone and emotion but we don't. We don't want people from Mexicans conquering our country. We don't want to lose our country. We don't want to be pushed out of our communities like they do in San Diego, Tuscon, Phoenix, Los Angeles, Salinas, etc.

I grew up on the border. I've seen it happen. I know. I've known lots of Mexican-Americans all my life. I know they are decent, hard working, honest, family oriented, fun loving people...that is, the ones that are here legally.

But among them are some real trouble makers, criminals and would be political leaders who really do dream of an expanded Mexico that would include Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Colorado and California. The rest, I'm afraid, with their passivity and lack of sophistication, will go along.

I've been to Mexico. I know, I was just a turista who surfed the beaches and partied on Revolution Avenue in Tijuana. But I saw the poverty, the little kids running around with runny noses and no pants, the little shacks, the dirt yards and dusty streets and I don't want that in San Diego.

You don't like the way things are in Mexico? Fix it. I don't care how. DO NOT bring your problems into MY country. The USA is NOT your lebensraum.

You deny that it's an invasion? You deny the Reconquista? Just because the people come across the border looking for work with their women and children instead of with guns, tanks and warplanes doesn't make it any less of an invasion. Clinton, Bush and Obama are all corrupt bastards. They let it happen so guys like me worry that you may end up actually pulling it off. But, as DarthVader said, ???? You.
Mod change here
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 06/29/2010 13:03 Comments || Top||

#20  Shoulda thought about that F-bomb before I dropped it. Sorry. That's one of the things I deride the KOS Kiddies for. But I firmly believe in the rest.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 06/29/2010 13:17 Comments || Top||

#21  I've been to Mexico, although not recently. I marched in a parade as part of the US contingent during Mexican Independence parade, several decades ago. I've been to Tiajuana, Juarez, Monterrey, and Aguascalientes, as well as Mexico City. I know the grinding poverty, the lack of individual rights, and the pure destitution of most Mestizos. I don't like it, but allowing them unlimited access to the United States is not a good thing. Too many of them believe the US owes them something. Too many of them bring their machismo and lack of common sense to this country, and end up in jail. Too many of them are on welfare. We don't need it, we really can't afford it, and it's not doing a he$$ of a lot of good for us or Mexico. We need to secure the southern border, especially now with the growing drug war there. Mexico needs to do whatever it takes to stop the poverty in Mexico, not export it to the US.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 06/29/2010 14:30 Comments || Top||

#22  Not really sure what any of the responses to my post have to do with calling people who you don't know "Barbarians" and "little brown people" but OK. If my civilized comments warranted at least 2 people saying nasty things to me, I'm left to wonder what the responses would have been had I written in as angry a fashion as some who have followed me. In any case, bigotry is bigotry and it does little but devalue any legitimate argument that could otherwise be made. Let's not forget that the Mexican Army has crossed our borders too... remember hurricane Katrina? They came in sizable numbers to the aid of our citizens. Additionally, I am a born and bread US citizen and not from Mexico as some have mistakenly presumed. The core of my argument was not to presume things about people that you don't know but it doesn't look like I'm going to make any headway with some who haven't properly read my post(s).
Posted by: LatinoAmigo || 06/29/2010 14:35 Comments || Top||

#23  swksvolFF, I didn't say "you people". I did however say "people like you" in direct reference to the person making the racist comments. If you are among them then it applies to you but otherwise, it was not directed at you.

Old Patriot... well said. I couldn't agree more. You sound like someone with a solid understanding of the Mexican/ American dilemma.

If we lived in an impoverished country that exists right next to the greatest country in the world, I'm sure we'd be tempted to uproot our families and trespass in an effort to improve our lives. Not saying that is the best or worst course of action... just saying that it would be very tempting. I have a baby girl and I imagine that I'd do just about anything to make sure she had the best life I could give her. It is a tough situation, but ultimately one that will be solved through understanding and cooperation with all involved.
Posted by: LatinoAmigo || 06/29/2010 14:47 Comments || Top||

#24  You're playing the race card. That is deliberate distortion and obfuscation because you don't want to face the fact that our country is being invaded. I am not a racist. I have friends who are of Mexican descent who are citizens of the United States. As for barbarians: I call Iowans barbarians because there are places in that state where you can't get real butter for your pancakes. And face it, a lot of people coming across that border tend to be short and brown. It's a fact. It doesn't mean we hate them. We just don't want them coming across the border. I don't care if these people are red, white, blue, black, brown or green. It's my country. Not theirs. Race has nothing to do with it. Nationality, culture, language and politics have everything to do with it.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 06/29/2010 15:12 Comments || Top||

#25  "It's my country. Not theirs."

I think that Native Americans (you know... the OTHER "little brown people" probably said the same thing. I wonder... do you consider George Washington to be a "barbarian". Do you think that the Europeans who first came to America, ultimately in search of personal and religious freedoms, should have stayed in their own country and made it better... instead of "invading" someone else's land? Maybe that was too long ago to matter and maybe in a couple hundred years these arguments we are having now will be too old to matter.
Posted by: LatinoAmigo || 06/29/2010 15:24 Comments || Top||

#26  If we lived in an impoverished country that exists right next to the greatest country in the world, I'm sure we'd be tempted to uproot our families and trespass in an effort to improve our lives.

Yes, during the 19th and early 20th Century, millions upon millions did that coming to a country for opportunity and a future for their families when we had wide open spaces and resources to exploit. They often resided in specified neighborhoods be they ghettos or little Chinas. However, while teaching their children to be proud of their heritage, they expected their children to become Americans and not in the socialist internationale collective form. Look again at the post how Mexico treats foreigners in their Article 33. The sovereign nation of Mexico doesn't book a large foreign population within its borders. From their own document, we are not all collectively Americans.

When those 19th and early 20th Century immigrants came, they did not insist in changing America to suit them but understood they were to melt in with the rest of the crowd, each giving up loyalty to prior tribe, clan, or blood and giving a new loyalty to the new community. I could never imaging a large parade of Americans in Monterrey marching in the streets, as Mexicans did in Chicago, waving American flags demanding the host nation alter its laws and enforcement for the benefit to their blood and kin.

If any identifiable group, to include Americans, perpetrated crimes of murder, assault, robbery, rape et al against a host population at the level America now experiences in its midst, the popular outrage would be untenable for any government to tolerate. Here, we are betrayed at nearly ever attempt to just remove the criminal and recidivists.

As I've posted before, this is the result of the institutionalized social stratification and racism that marks Mexican society between the ruling caste that has failed to develop Mexico and its citizens. They've avoid internal revolution up till now, by dumping a large portion of their population upon the Americans to deal with it. Just take 1950 as a start point. Compare South Korea with Mexico. South Korea was basically destroyed in the Korean War in the early 50s. With a fraction of the population and geographic area, very limited arable land and natural resources, South Korea today ranks round 13th in GDP. Mexico which has far greater lands, resources, and population and didn't suffer similar effects of such a war, is around 11th. All that potential has been squandered by those who have own and operate Mexico.

Why should the people in Mexico change? They have aiders and abettors in America who'll let them keep doing what they do. And once the illegals get in, what is the motivation to change things back home? It's not their problem anymore, because they're be protected by the bleeding heart suckers and the quick buck businessman. If you've been someplace where things worked and then returned home, maybe you'd be more motivated to make changes that you know work than simply accept what's been done for generation after generation.

Either you recognize the right to sovereignty or you don't. Fundamentally, the issue is if you have no loyalty to me as a fellow citizen, then I owe no loyalty to you and its every man, women, and child for themselves.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 06/29/2010 15:36 Comments || Top||

#27 
You know what, Latino Amigo, you are not an amigo. A lot of people probably fall for your 'native people' spiel. I am here to tell you the jig is up.

"It's my country not theirs" That is correct. This is the United States of America. If you don't respect her as such, and respect her laws, and this nation, leave. I really do not care if you are latino, asian, jewish, black, native america. If you stay on here, but harbor designs on an overthrow, you deserve nothing you are getting here. You would leave if you had any honor.

BTW, native peoples have been displaced throughout History. It doesn't give every displace person a claim on modern day land. If that were true, half of eastern Europe and Japan are in the hands of those who kicked someone out. If every piece of land worldwide was returned to its origins, there would be total war. It has no bearing on the sovereignty of the current times. Aborignal Inu's with some Caucasoid/Russian blood once occupied the Northern Island of Japan. Should they invade mainland Japan and take over? By your logic (which doesn't fly) they are entitled. Wrong. You aren't entitled to anything. What god giveth, God can taketh away.
Posted by: Dinah Soares || 06/29/2010 15:38 Comments || Top||

#28  Dude! Amigo! Let go of the LBP's and barbarians, please.

Go back and read Betty's post (have a glass of wine first -- I recommend Pinot Grigio or Pinot Noir). She was being sarcastic...dry in an almost British style, dawling.

You sound reasonable in a testy sorta way -- take a deep breath. You could add a lot here.
Posted by: Gabby || 06/29/2010 15:40 Comments || Top||

#29  ..I think that Native Americans..

The one's of myth or reality. The ones who competed for territory and resources as any group does? The tribes that conquered their neighbors to extract slaves and sacrifices? The ones who kicked their neighbor's butts to sent them into less desirable lands? The only difference was that the 'new' guy competing had better technology and social organization skills to stay around longer than the earlier Viking visitors. The Romans did it to the Gauls, the Goths did it to the Romans, the Huns did it to the Goths. It's more fun doing it to others than getting it done to yourself. That's history, not morality. The victor writes the history, ask the Carthaginians.

Ask the natives in New Mexico what they think about the Spanish. Their grievances go back to the conquistadors. Let them recite how the church employed the Spanish and Mexicans authorities to brutally punish them for practicing their native religions. Ask them about the Mexican slavers who hauled their people south. You want to see some animosity, ask the Acoma.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 06/29/2010 15:50 Comments || Top||

#30  I think that Native Americans probably said the same thing. No, they didn't, not the vast majority living in the western hemisphere in 1492. They had zero conception of the eastern hemisphere, the rest of the world. There were some native nations with a vague idea of territorial sovereignty, which had always been gained at the expense of some other native nation their warriors conquered, enslaved, &/or ate. Had those native nations killed & ate every single explorer who landed in the western hemisphere, we wouldn't be having this discussion. But, you know, it didn't. happen. that. way.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 06/29/2010 16:03 Comments || Top||

#31  Gabby, thank you for your response. I don't feel testy and I appreciate humor as much as the next person but it never sounds/ is humorous to me when racism is involved... even in sarcasm. Just my opinion though. In any case, my initial and subsequent posts were meant to say, in as many words as I thought I did, not to judge a book by its cover. So far, I've been called an F*ing liberal (which I never said I was)... I'm not a friend (I guess because I have a diverse opinion) and I've been told that if I don't like things the way they are here that I should leave - even though others are suggesting that if the Mexican people don't like it in Mexico then they should stay and fix their own country and NOT leave. And, for the record, since I am of Scottish and German heritage mostly and my family has been here for more than 5 generations, I think will stay). [Latino Amigo... again meant to point out that you shouldn't judge by a cover or a screenname]. Perhaps 'Amigo de Latino' would have been more to the point.

Dinah, you make good points and I am not suggesting that we let everyone come in illegally, but I would just think that there would be more sympathy and understanding. These are not just criminals coming across the border, they are people risking and leaving everything that they know out of desperation. It is easy to look down on someone and tell them to go away. It is easy to say that immigration problems are Obama's fault and that he wants them to become slaves and vote for him (actually it isn't very easy to say that in my conscious but apparently for some it is) and it is generally easy to dismiss people who we view as a threat to our culture, economy, etc. Since people have brought up God though... when did Jesus ever say that poor desperate people should be turned away? Have you applied for entry FROM Mexico or El Salvador... many die in Mexico and El Salvador waiting.

Just open your minds and your hearts a liiiitle bit. That's all I'm saying and I'll end it there before I cause any more outrage among my own fellow Americans - who I live next door too, who I care for, who I respect and who I would stand by and have stood by... BUT... I have sympathy for all people regardless of where they were born.

Bring on the Pinot Grigio!
Posted by: LatinoAmigo || 06/29/2010 16:15 Comments || Top||

#32  "If we lived in an impoverished country"

And who the hell impoverished that country, LA?

Here's a hint - it weren't us, so don't bring your problems here.

I'd suggest that Mexicans start defending themselves (guns may be illegal there, but that apparently doesn't stop the cartels - why let it stop anyone else?). Mexico has plenty of natural resources, and people willing to work - it doesn't have to be an "impoverished country."

Yes, it's easier for me to say it than for Mexicans to do it, but bringing your problems here won't fix Mexico.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 06/29/2010 16:24 Comments || Top||

#33  Lets face it, sympathy and understanding =

Money.
Schooling.
Health Care.
Jobs.
Jail Cells.
Lost tax revenues not being paid.
Law enforcement.

By illegals, whose tabs get picked up by poor, middle, and upper class Americans. How about some sympathy for struggling Americans, Amigo de Latino?

A poor broke family man American to an illegal Mexican: Hey illegal Juan, can you send my Johnny to school, pay for his health care, maybe give me your Job? Didn't think so.

We can't spare the charity like we may have been able to in the past. Cheers.
Posted by: Dinah Soares || 06/29/2010 16:27 Comments || Top||

#34  ...when did Jesus ever say that poor desperate people should be turned away?

When did Jesus ever say "envy thy neighbor's wealth and steal thy neighbor's wealth"?
Posted by: Procopius2k || 06/29/2010 16:38 Comments || Top||

#35  "Just open your minds and your hearts a liiiitle bit. "

More like wallet. I had relatives almost die in concentration camps while awaiting passage out of Germany in the early part of the last century. They still came here LEGALLY. Sorry, the sympathy aspect is beside the point. Can't go for that.
Posted by: Dinah Soares || 06/29/2010 16:39 Comments || Top||

#36  Yes, what is the one commandment about covetousness? J/K. Its this:

You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

Posted by: Dinah Soares || 06/29/2010 16:41 Comments || Top||

#37  I think the 'Little Brown Folks' reference was a sarcastic saying about how the Liberals in this country (and again too many 'republicans') view mexicans. "Oh poor little brown people need someone to take care of them and feed them and wipe their little tushes because they are too stupid or poor or Barbaric to do it for themselves.".

Again that appears to be what too many Liberals think - not conservatives.

Just like the way Liberals treat Blacks with 'Affirmative Action' and Quota programs and the like. To get them addicted to the government entitlements and hooked on the public teat so that they will now, and forever, vote Democrat.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 06/29/2010 16:46 Comments || Top||

#38  When was Jesus in charge of border security?

I musta missd a Gospel...
Posted by: mojo || 06/29/2010 16:47 Comments || Top||

#39  So should illegal aliens who (by definition) are law-beakers and have little respect for the rule of law, be give a place in line ahead of the person (Mexican, San Salvadorian, Filipino, etc... ) who has been waiting for many years to come here legally? I say no.

You want to help out desperate Mexicans (or better yet Foreigners) who come here? Fine - do it legally and by the rule of law - not in spite of it. Setup a program, a screening process, etc...

Or invade Mexico and make it the 51'st - 57th state.... (That was a JOKE!).
Posted by: CrazyFool || 06/29/2010 16:55 Comments || Top||

#40  I always love when illegal immigrant apologists run the Jesus Comments -- maybe you think Jesus would like folks to give charity at the point of a Roman spear? If we're talking quotes then you would agree that God helps those who help themselves - so Mexicans should get off their collective butts and fix Mexico or, have the cajones to die trying.

At any rate and more relative to the argument, re-read the 1st Amendment to the U.S. Const. As much as I revere the teachings of Jesus they are irrevalent to this discussion. John McCain already tried the "they are all God's children" angle of which I could've punched him in the face for being so stupid.
Posted by: Broadhead6 || 06/29/2010 17:00 Comments || Top||

#41  When was Jesus in charge of border security?

Lol. Well, Border Patrol may employ a Jesus, a hardworking American, here legally, and responsible for upholding border security. Many legal Mexican American residents themselves agree with laws.
Posted by: Dinah Soares || 06/29/2010 17:01 Comments || Top||

#42  Have any of you who have commented here ever been to Mexico or know anything whatsoever about Mexicanos, other than what you hear from others?

You can understand why I thought you were addressing the site in general?

Though they were about to have a baby, Jesus' parents didn't break into anyone's house.

Mojo, see Book of Armaments.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 06/29/2010 17:17 Comments || Top||

#43  At any rate and more relative to the argument, re-read the 1st Amendment to the U.S. Const. As much as I revere the teachings of Jesus they are irrevalent to this discussion. John McCain already tried the "they are all God's children" angle of which I could've punched him in the face for being so stupid.

Agreed about McCain Broadhead6, but the last time I read the first amendment, religious speech is DOUBLY protected, both by being religious AND speech.

I am amazed at how people pretend to talk about Jesus supporting government programs funded by forced taxes: Jesus was tempted three times in the wilderness, and the big one, Satan offering all the kingdoms of the world to him, is EXACTLY the temptation to use secular power to achieve "good" ends. Jesus said "NO", but too many "christians" have said "YES". Dense though they were, the DISCIPLES were smart enough, when faced with 5000 hungry men, to bring food to Jesus to multiply HIMSELF when JESUS said,
"YOU feed them!", not run to the Romans or Herod. The lesson is clear: if you're worried about feeding the people, YOU FEED THEM! If you can't do it, run to God to do it, and if you FEEEEEEEL the need to rely on mammon's ways, THEN ADMIT you're f'ing powerless to REALLY do it "the way Jesus did".

It took centuries for the Church to learn that they couldn't trust to government to replace their inability to get people saved. It took even longer for the Church to learn that they couldn't trust to government to replace their inablity to make people moral. The church NOW has to learn that they can't trust to government to replace their inablity to SERVE others or make people SERVE others.
----
In my mind, the real sticking point in this "debate" is the INTERNALIZATION of the Rule of Law: It is one thing to make a law, but as the non-enforcement of the Immigration laws demonstrates, it is quite another to have it OBEYED. When Americans obey the law without being told or watched or threatened, they have internalized the attitude that the Law, not men, rules. When Illegal aliens (and Congressmen taped taking bribes) break the law when it suits them, then they have NOT internalized "Rule of Law". It is THIS internalization that has kept America from becoming a police state. Liberals may poo-poo this, preferring to SAY that "fly over americans" are seething caldrons of hate and bigotry, BUT THEY ACTUALLY COUNT ON THIS: They KNOW they can say "Don't take the law into your own hands!" to Americans, and TRUST that Americans won't lynch them. They KNOW that saying "Don't come into this country illegally" to foreigners is wasting breath, so they GAME the system, catering to those who won't listen to them to win them over with goodies they extort by taxes from Americans, and whom they seek to silence by intimating (through denunciations of the Tea Party) that asking for lower taxes is "being a smart-ass".

Posted by: Ptah || 06/29/2010 20:36 Comments || Top||

#44  In truth, they'd be much more likely to vote republican if people like you didn't scare the bejesus out of them

Amigo, your heart's in the right place but your head's too soft. The essence of the problem is that a cynical Mexican elite, abetted by a cynical vote-seeking US political elite and US sweatshop owners, has decided to export its failures northward. Now, it's true that this is what Ireland and many other nations did a century, or two centuries, ago, to their detriment and to America's (eventual) benefit, but there are two huge differences between the American labor market of 2010 and that of 1910 or 1850:

1) there is no shortage of unskilled labor in 2010-- in fact, there's a surplus of labor

2) a huge welfare state has grown up in the last 40 years, creating a major drain on state budgets

Despite the complete horse$hit, the fibs 'n' fairytales, constantly peddled about how "we need their [unskilled, semiliterate/illiterate] labor," in point of fact we need scarcity in the low-end labor market. Otherwise we will continue to see real wages FALL, as they have for going on four decades now, on the low end of the labor market.

The solution to the problem-- both the compassionate and the hard-headed solution-- is to help working families on BOTH sides of the border.

This begins with a points-based, skills-oriented immigration policy in the US that closes the border to both legal and illegal immigrants who lack education and advanced skills.

The next step is to end the loopholes in NAFTA that allow King Corn in the US, specifically Cargill and ADM and other mega-agrobusinesses, to devastate the low-end Mexican rural sector by dumping US corn into Mexico. It's unbelievable, I know, but it's been happening since 1996. Sort of like dumping rice into Japan. Only the Mexicans would tolerate such a $hitty deal-- precisely because of the cynicism referred to above (cf exporting failure, etc).

The third step is to tell the Mexicans the only way to halt their slide into still mroe poverty, chaos and revolution is to educate their people and follow the path upward that the other, former exporter-of-poverty carved so successfully in the last decade of the last century: Ireland. By investing heavily in education, and attracting white collar offshore, actually nearshore, jobs from US multinationals in finance, pharma and software, Ireland turned itself from a basket case into one of the wealthiest nations in the world-- in one generation.

If the Irish can do it, so can Mexico. We need to help them, but the best help here is tough love: take away the human-export safety valve.
Posted by: lex || 06/29/2010 20:40 Comments || Top||

#45  Also, there is no way that most uneducated, unskilled latinos will ever vote Republican. For any unskilled person in this new economic environment is not through hard work and entrepreneurship. It's by glomming onto a public sector union. That's by far the best combo available to a semiliterate unskilled worker when you have double-digit employment on the one hand and a huge and swelling, La Raza-friendly public sector movement on the other.

The city of San Jose recently decided as part of its budget-cutting efforts they would outsource janitorial services. What were they paying janitors? Reportedly, over $40 an hour. Where in the private sector can any unskilled worker make north of $80,000 per year?

TO return to the original premise: why the hell would any unskilled latino favor the party of free enterprise when the party of Big Gummint is offering him $80,000/yr, now, with early retirement and gold-plated healthcare? The GOP will be lucky to get north of 10% of unskilled latino votes in this environment.

Oh, and before you say, "Education's the path upward for illiterate campesinos in the US," that's the Mexican state's problem, not California's. We can't turn that one around here. Over 75% of Mexican/"hispanic non-white" kids in CA public skills are failing (per STAR test data). More than half of the Mexican/hispanic kids drop out in LA and other major city school districts. And they're now more than HALF the public schoolpopulation int he state.

Broken, irretrievably. Can't fix. No amount of "they're God's children" rhetoric and increased school spending will turn this around.

Bottom line: low-end America has become Mexified. That process needs to be halted in its tracks if we are not to see the rest of US society end up looking like a latin oligarchy.
Posted by: lex || 06/29/2010 20:58 Comments || Top||

#46  Unfortunatly it's a bit too late Lex. In fact it may have been too late 10 years ago.
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/29/2010 21:07 Comments || Top||

#47  For every illegal Mexican you deport (destined to return) you have 5 disloyal Mexican-American traitors (destined to never leave) who continuously trash the U.S., glorify Mexico, and create an unsafe environment for women and children everywhere they settle. That being said, we need to do our best to get along because I'm not giving up Mexican food, Mexican women, or the chance to hire 3 Mexicans outside Home Depot to paint my apartment when I move out (so I can get the deposit back, of course). Damn, I think I'm turning Mexi-can, I think I'm turning Mexi-can, I really think so... doo doo doo doo(sung to the tune of "I think I'm turning Japanese")
Posted by: Vortigern Omerelet7487 || 06/29/2010 21:57 Comments || Top||

#48  You lack scruples, are part of the problem that is
eroding the social fabric. And like to be as womanizer. Go away
Posted by: Cleremble the Prolific6958 || 06/29/2010 22:14 Comments || Top||

#49  You lack scruples, are part of the problem that is
eroding the social fabric. And like to be as womanizer. Go away


You lack a sense of humor...
Posted by: badanov || 06/29/2010 23:21 Comments || Top||

#50  Since people have brought up God though... when did Jesus ever say that poor desperate people should be turned away? Have you applied for entry FROM Mexico or El Salvador... many die in Mexico and El Salvador waiting.

That Call To Jesus stuff only works on Christians, dear LatinoAmigo, so you're on pretty thin ground with the Rantburg crowd -- lots of atheists, agnostics, Jews, and a diversity of other faiths. A number of us are even Liberals and Democrats, although all are warmongers. ;-) ("Jackson Democrats" is the old term for that view of things.) Also a bunch of Hispanic-Americans, legal ones as far as I can tell, although that set intersects with some of the others. On the other hand, you did hit a nerve with Ptah, who has spent a lot of his free time over the decades ministering in nearby prisons, and that didn't quite go the way you intended, either. One needs to be careful flinging assumptions at new sites, my dear.

As for those poor, dear, illegal Mexicans having to wait for decades for their visa number to reach the head of the queue... I'm sorry, but I have no sympathy. You see, my mother and many of her relatives were in that position in about 1936 in Germany. Mama and her parents ended up spending a portion of the next decade in hiding in Holland, relying on the kindness of strangers. You can read about it in the Holocaust Museum in D.C., if you happen to wander by one day, or in Yad Vashem. My grandmother's memoir is archived in both places. I needn't mention, I'm sure, how it was that my mother and her parents were able to execute their visa in 1947 instead of a great many decades later.

Let the Mexicans be grateful they can spend their waiting decades peacefully at home with their families, embedded in their communities. All they are suffering from is poverty, as do a great many others around the world, many in much worse straits than they. Let them be grateful they don't suffer the poverty of the North Korean re-education camps or being a member of the wrong tribe in Zimbabwe or a Kurd in Turkey.

You seem a kind-hearted man, LatinoAmigo, and clearly mean well. It's just that you haven't quite thought things through, my dear.
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/29/2010 23:35 Comments || Top||


The Grand Turk
Turkish troops kill two villagers by mistake
ISTANBUL - Turkish soldiers shot dead two villagers gathering herbs in southern Turkey after mistaking them for militants, the state-run Anatolian news agency reported on Monday.
That's what they say now ...
The shootings coincided with an increase in attacks by Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) guerrillas in Turkey.

The villagers were collecting thyme when security forces opened fire at Hassa in Hatay province near the border with Syria, the agency said without specifying when the incident took place. Another villager was wounded.

“We are very sad and regretful at this incident,' Hatay Governor Mehmet Celalettin Lekesiz was quoted as saying.

The nearby Mediterranean port of Iskenderun was the scene of a PKK rocket attack which killed six soldiers at the end of May. Since then Kurdish separatists have launched attacks on a military post in southeastern Turkey and on a bus carrying military personnel in Istanbul.
Posted by: Steve White || 06/29/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  International condemnation in 5..4..3
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 06/29/2010 0:09 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Qaeda Figure Is Reported Killed in Pakistan
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Eight militants, including a commander in Al Qaeda, were killed Tuesday in what residents and a Pakistani security official said was a United States drone strike in the South Waziristan tribal area near this country's Afghan border.

The United States has ramped up its campaign of drone attacks against suspected militants in the border areas of Pakistan, but most have been concentrated in North Waziristan, an area that western officials consider the single most important refuge for militants with Al Qaeda and the Taliban. Tuesday's attack was the first in weeks in South Waziristan, a former haven that Pakistan invaded last October.

The drone was believed to have fired two missiles at a compound in a village near Wana, the regional capital. The Qaeda commander, Hamza al-Jufi, had lived in Wana for many years. Most of the other militants killed in the strike lived nearby, though two came from another province, Punjab, said a fighter in the area who visited the site after the attack.

The fighter said that the eight bodies were mutilated beyond recognition but that no one else was wounded in the strike, which leveled the compound in the village, Ghwakhwai. According to some accounts Mr. Jufi was leading a group called Jundullah, which Pakistani security officials said was involved in sectarian violence around the port city of Karachi.

On June 19 militants affiliated with Jundullah barged into the city courts there and freed three of their members from police custody while one arrested militant and a policeman were killed in an exchange of fire. The freed militants had been arrested by the police and were suspected of involvement in episodes of sectarian violence in Karachi.

According to security officials, the militants were working under Mr. Jufi, a well-known figure in South Waziristan who was said to have survived a drone attack in 2008. The area around his base of Wana is controlled by the Waziri commander Maulvi Nazir, who has been accused of sheltering foreign fighters affiliated with Al Qaeda and of sending militants to Afghanistan to fight American-led forces there.
Posted by: || 06/29/2010 12:20 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Kashmir Korpse Kount
SRINAGAR/NEW DELHI: Two teenagers were killed and around 20 people injured on Monday when troops in Indian-held Kashmir (IHK) fired to disperse thousands of anti-India protesters across the disputed Himalayan region, police said.

Thousands of people thronged the streets, clashing with Indian-occupied forces and blocking the Srinagar-Muzzaffarabad Highway on Monday. IHK Chief Minister Omar Abdullah also criticised the Indian security forces for resorting to indiscriminate firing, and called upon Indian Home Minister P Chidambaram to control the forces. According to the authorities, all schools and colleges had been closed for two days. The last 24 hours have seen the deaths of three youth in IHK.

On Monday, nine-year-old Tauqir Ahmed was allegedly killed after Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel opened indiscriminate firing on protesters in Baramulla. Earlier, 20-year-old Tajamul was killed in Sopore following clashes between protesters and the security forces.

On Sunday, Bilal Ahmed Wani, 20, was gunned down after the CRPF personnel used rubber bullets to disperse protesters.

IHK Law Minister Ali Muhammad Sagar also condemned the indiscriminate firing by the CRPF personnel and termed it “totally unwarranted'. Separately, CRPF Director General Vikram Srivastava denied reports of any firing on protesters. “No ammunition has been fired by the CRPF at the funeral procession,' he said. Also on Monday, head of his own faction of the Hurriyat Conference, Syed Ali Shah Gilani called for a shutdown until Wednesday.
Posted by: Steve White || 06/29/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Five more dead in Karachi target killings
KARACHI: Five men, including two members each from the Shia and Barelvi sects, were gunned down on Monday in different areas of the city in the ongoing spree of target killings.

At least four unidentified motorcyclists ambushed Sajid Ali Abbas and killed him at a bus stop near a medical store in Nazimabad No 1. Riots broke out in Rizvia Society, Nazimabad, Paposh Nagar and Essa Nagri to protest the killing. Aerial firing was also reported in various areas.
"I'm really upset about Sajid's death."
"Yeah, me too. But what can we do about it?"
"Hey! I know! Let's riot!"
"Yeah, great idea!"
Senior police officials suspended Rizvia Station House Officer (SHO) Ameer Gondal for failing to maintain law and order in the area. Newly-posted Rizvia SHO Ali Raza said the situation was brought under control as soon as the law enforcement officials arrived at the scene.

Jafaria Alliance Pakistan spokesman Ali Ahmer said the death toll of the members of the Shia sect had risen to six in the last two weeks. He blamed the members of banned organisations for the killings.

Separately, a member of the Dawat-e-Islami, a religious organisation of the Barelvi sect, was killed by two unidentified men on a motorcycle in the Liaquat Market area in Malir. Saudabad SHO Azhar Lahori said Qasim Muhammad Umer, 31, was a resident of the Malir area.

In another incident, an Internet café proprietor was gunned down in Gulistan-e-Jauhar. Police said Akhtar Rasool, 25, was on his way home when unidentified men shot him near Jauhar Chowrangi.

In a separate incident, Ali Muhammad, 27, was murdered outside his house in Muslimabad. The Peerabad police said the incident took place in the wee hours when Muhammad left his house after receiving a phone call. SHO Rahim Khan said street criminals might be behind the incident as the victim had ties with some criminals.

Meanwhile, an unidentified man's bullet-riddled body was recovered in Haji Miandad Goth and taken to the hospital where doctors pronounced him dead.
Posted by: Steve White || 06/29/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


4 soldiers, 66 Taliban killed in Orakzai, Bajaur
HANGU: At least 66 Taliban were killed and another 30 injured in airstrikes and clashes with the security forces across the country' northwest on Sunday, security sources said.

In Orakzai Agency, the forces said they killed at least 63 Taliban in the last 24 hours.

The sources said around 15 Taliban were killed and another six injured in a clash with the forces in the agency's Dabori area. Three soldiers were critically injured in the clash.

Separately, eight Taliban were killed and another 24 injured in a clash with the security forces in the Bakar Ghari area of Upper Orakzai.

Also, the sources added that fighter jets attacked a Taliban-run makeshift hospital in Upper Orakzai late on Sunday, killing 40 Taliban under treatment at the facility.

Meanwhile, in Khar, four soldiers were killed when the Taliban ambushed an army patrol in Bajaur Agency, officials told AFP. The terrorists attacked the troops during a patrol in the border town of Kharaki, 25 kilometres north of Khar.

“Four soldiers were killed in the attack', which in turn triggered retaliation from the soldiers in which three terrorists were killed, he said.
Posted by: Steve White || 06/29/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Iraq
Army arrests 6 wanted persons in Ninewa
NINEWA / Aswat al-Iraq: Six wanted men were arrested on Monday by army forces in west of Mosul, a military source said.

“A force from the 11th brigade of the 3rd division of the Iraqi army arrested six out of eight wanted men for their involvement in armed operations in Senjar and al-Baaj districts, west of Mosul,' the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

“The two other wanted persons turned themselves in to the Iraqi forces in Senjar,' he added, without giving further details.
Posted by: Steve White || 06/29/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Baghdad unrest kills five, wounds 14
BAGHDAD - Attacks in the Iraqi capital Baghdad killed two women civilians and an intelligence officer on Monday, while two policemen died trying to defuse a bomb, medical and security sources said.

Several unidentified gunmen stormed into a house in the Sunni Arab Dora district of south Baghdad, killing the two women in an attack that also wounded four other people, two of them women, police said.

In the Harthiya district in the west of the capital, a magnetic bomb attached to the car of an intelligence officer killed its target and wounded four civilian bystanders, the interior ministry said.

In the city centre, two policemen died and four others were injured as they tried to defuse a roadside bomb on Sheikh Omar Street, police and medical officials said.

Another two people were wounded when a magnetic bomb exploded in Karrada, a busy commercial district of the capital.
Posted by: Steve White || 06/29/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Israel arrests Arabs wanted for Qaeda-inspired attacks
Israel has arrested seven Arab citizens on suspicion of planning attacks against Jews and Christians that were inspired by the speeches of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, officials said Monday.

According to documents released by the district court in Nazareth, northern Israel, three of the men were charged with the murder of a 54-year-old Jewish taxi driver and the attempted killing of another man. The suspects were arrested two months ago, but the news was blocked by a court gag order which was lifted on Monday. Police said six of the men were from Nazareth, the largest Arab city in Israel, and the seventh from a nearby village.

Regional police chief Aviv Elgrisi said the group was uncovered after two of its members went to east Africa, hoping to join Islamic militants there. "Two Nazareth residents travelled to Kenya with the intention of reaching Somalia and fighting alongside the Muslims against the infidel and the American enemy," Elgrisi told Israeli public radio. "These two aroused the suspicions of the security services in Kenya who sent them back here and informed our security service.

Elgrisi said Israel's Shin Bet internal security service arrested the men upon arrival and interrogated them, which led to the arrest of the five other suspects. "Their intention was to harm any non-Muslim," he said.

Court documents charge Ahmed Ali Ahmed, 21, with the fatal shooting last year of cab driver Yefim Weinstein and name Ghaleb Ghanaim, 25, and Haider Zaidana, 21, as accessories, accused of helping him flee the scene. The charge sheet also accuses members of the group of kidnapping and wounding a man from the Jewish suburb of Upper Nazareth and attempting to murder a Christian who they believed had cursed the prophet Mohammed. They also allegedly torched a Nazareth business owned by a Christian Arab.

The accused shouted "Long live Osama bin Laden" and "God is greatest" as they were led into the courtroom, according to the radio.

Members of the group were arraigned on different charges, including murder, kidnapping, assault and weapons offences. They were then remanded in custody for six weeks, with no trial date set.
Posted by: ryuge || 06/29/2010 02:48 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Mashaal: More soldiers will be kidnapped
Hamas plans to kidnap more IDF soldiers and the price for captive tank gunner Gilad Schalit will increase if Israel doesn't meet its demands for a prisoner swap, Damascus-based Hamas chief Khaled Mashaal warned on Monday.
Khaled won't do it himself, of course, but he'll cheer his boys on from the safety of Damascus ...
"Gilad will not be the only one," Mashaal said. "We will kidnap more soldiers, including officers. We will not free Schalit until [Prime Minister Binyamin] Netanyahu gives in to our just demands.

"Israel is responsible for the failure in negotiations," Mashaal added, saying he had relayed a message to the German mediator: "If you come to the negotiations table again with Netanyahu's demands -- don't come, stay where you are."

Directing his remarks to the prime minister, Mashaal said: "We will not repeat our requests over and over. You know the list [of security prisoners demanded], and we will not change it."

The Hamas leader added, "We will not be flexible in our demands. As time goes by, our demands will grow, and so will the price. Israel is America's lackey, that wants to strengthen [Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud] Abbas, and therefore is the real one to blame for the failure in negotiations."

Meanwhile, at the Labor faction meeting in the Knesset on Monday, Defense Minister Ehud Barak hinted that a military option existed for freeing Gilad.
For example, you could kill Khaled ...
Or maybe poison him, and refuse to supply the antidote unless Schalit is freed? Hmmm.
"We sent Gilad Schalit [to the Gaza border], and we must do everything possible to bring him home," Barak told the Labor MKs. "There are negotiations that must develop to create the possibility of his return, and there are other channels of action -- and it would be wrong to elaborate about them."

According to diplomatic sources, Israel has expressed a willingness to release about 1,000 Palestinian prisoners, including 450 names agreed upon with Hamas, in return for Schalit, on condition that more than 100 of these prisoners who are responsible for some 600 Israeli deaths are not allowed to return to the West Bank, but go either to the Gaza Strip or another country.

Israel is also refusing to release "mega terrorists" responsible for the worst atrocities over the past 20 years, including the attack at the Dolphinarium discotheque suicide bombing in Tel Aviv in 2001 (21 teenagers dead and 132 wounded), the Sbarro restaurant suicide bombing in Jerusalem in 2001 (15 civilians dead and 130 wounded), and the Park Hotel massacre in Netanya on Seder night in 2002 (30 civilians killed and 140 wounded).
Lots of information about the March in Israel in this article, which I snipped, because the hand-wringing and breast-beating won't save Gilad. I'm a little disheartened that Mossad and IDF can't figure out where he is -- Gaza simply isn't that big.
Posted by: Steve White || 06/29/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Steve
It doesn't matter if he is held hostage or dead. Israel just needs to consider him dead and kill everybody involved.
Posted by: 3dc || 06/29/2010 0:06 Comments || Top||

#2  Good chance the poor kid is already dead. Or won't live long after any prisoners are released. No one credible has seen him have they? (the International Red Cross is not considered 'credible'.)
Posted by: CrazyFool || 06/29/2010 0:15 Comments || Top||

#3  The International Red Cross/Crescent/anything-but-Star-of-David have never seen or spoken to Sgt. Schalit, CrazyFool. Nor has anyone else not of Hamas or his original captors. There was a video Hamas released last year, in which he held up a newspaper and referenced recent events, I believe.
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/29/2010 1:22 Comments || Top||

#4  Gaza simply isn't that big

Iran is.
Posted by: gorb || 06/29/2010 3:36 Comments || Top||

#5  "I'm a little disheartened that Mossad and IDF can't figure out where he is -- Gaza simply isn't that big."

Assuming that Schalit is still alive he is probably moved a few times a week.

Posted by: lord garth || 06/29/2010 12:51 Comments || Top||

#6  Line up a few dozen artillery pieces on the north of Gaza, and start blasting away. Move south a bit each day, and keep it up until Hamass releases Shalit and leaves Gaza for Somalia (they really won't be welcome there, which is the point). If the artillery reaches the Egyptian border, we'll know that:

a) Shalit is dead.
b) so is hamass.
c) the Israelis can reabsorb Gaza without worrying about a third (or fourth) intifada.
d) the solution worked, and can now be used on the West Bank.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 06/29/2010 14:49 Comments || Top||


Israeli air strike kills Paleo hard boy in northern Gaza
An Israeli air strike on the Gaza Strip on Monday killed at least one Palestinian militant and wounded two other people, medical workers said. An Israel Defense Forces spokeswoman said a military aircraft had "targeted a Palestinian who fired a rocket-propelled grenade at soldiers" that struck inside Israel. There were also reports of a mortar bomb fired from Gaza at Israel, causing no injuries.

"A direct hit was identified" in the attack, the army spokeswoman said. There were no reported casualties from the grenade attack that prompted the air raid, although the army reported that one of their vehicles was damaged.

Palestinian medics said the latest strike struck near the Jebalya refugee camp in northern Gaza, and that the man killed was active with the Palestinian Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a militant group.

One of the two men wounded was in a serious condition, the medics said.
Pray for sepsis ...
Posted by: Steve White || 06/29/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Good morning!
Posted by: Steve White || 06/29/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Happy Birthday/Daily Gam Shot

Clara Bow aka premier Flapper, Betty Lou Spence in "It" (Died in 1965 at age 60)

Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 06/29/2010 2:53 Comments || Top||

#2  advertisement for a Russian Airline...
Posted by: 3dc || 06/29/2010 14:19 Comments || Top||

#3  Their women are better than their planes.
Posted by: Uluger Black8852 || 06/29/2010 14:52 Comments || Top||

#4  Clara Bow was a fine conservative Republican in her post-Hollywood life. She'd drive the Left crazy today.
Posted by: JDB || 06/29/2010 17:14 Comments || Top||

#5  That Russian ad is enough to make me want to fly their airline.
Posted by: phil_b || 06/29/2010 20:21 Comments || Top||



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Tue 2010-06-29
  Kabul dismisses report Karzai met Haqqani
Mon 2010-06-28
  Drone strike kills six Taliban in N Wazoo
Sun 2010-06-27
  15 insurgents killed by their own bombs in Afghan mosque
Sat 2010-06-26
  Mir Ali dronezap waxes two
Fri 2010-06-25
  7 Afghan construction workers killed in bombing
Thu 2010-06-24
  Iranian Flotilla Backs Down
Wed 2010-06-23
  President Obama Relieves Gen. Stanley McChrystal of Afghan Command
Tue 2010-06-22
  Guilty Plea to all Counts in Times Square Bomb Plot
Mon 2010-06-21
  Iran hangs top Sunni rebel Rigi: Report
Sun 2010-06-20
  Gunmen Raid Aden Police HQ, Free Prisoners
Sat 2010-06-19
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Fri 2010-06-18
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Thu 2010-06-17
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Wed 2010-06-16
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Tue 2010-06-15
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