In late September, U.S. fighter jets streaked over the cedar-studded slopes of Korengal, the so-called Valley of Death, to strike a target that hadn't been seen for years in Afghanistan: an al Qaeda training camp.
Among the dozens of Arabs killed that day, the U.S.-led coalition said, were two senior al Qaeda members, one Saudi and the other Kuwaiti. Another casualty of the bombing, according to Saudi media and jihadi websites, was one of Saudi Arabia's most wanted militants. The men had come to Afghanistan to impart their skills to a new generation of Afghan and foreign fighters.
Over the past six to eight months, al Qaeda has begun setting up training camps, hideouts and operations bases in the remote mountains along Afghanistan's northeastern border with Pakistan, some U.S., Afghan and Taliban officials say. The stepped-up infiltration followed a U.S. pullback from large swatches of the region starting 18 months ago. The areas were deemed strategically irrelevant and left to Afghanistan's uneven security forces, and in some parts, abandoned entirely.
Precise numbers of al Qaeda fighters in Afghanistan at any given time are hard to come by. But officials say al Qaeda camps and gathering spots similar to the one targeted in September are now scattered across sparsely populated Kunar province, a few inaccessible parts of Nuristan province and, most worryingly to some officials, the edges of Nangarhar province. That province sits astride a major overland route from Pakistan and is home to one of Afghanistan's major cities, Jalalabad.
But the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) is on the case. Happy hunting, guys!
[Tolo News] If the Afghan government continues making mistakes, it may face popular uprising similar to those in the mid east, Opposition Leader Abdullah Abdullah ... the former foreign minister of the Northern Alliance government, advisor to Masood, and candidate for president against Karzai. Dr. Abdullah was born in Kabul and is half Tadjik and half Pashtun... warned on Wednesday.
Leader of Change and Hope coalition Dr Abdullah Abdullah, speaking at a gathering in Kabul, blamed the recent violence during Koran protests on "some hands in the government".
The gathering was titled Lessons from Mid-East and North Africa.
Dr Abdullah also accused Afghanistan's Caped PresidentHamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai ... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use... of dictating the Attorney General.
He said the Attorney General has insulted the nation by refusing to appear before the House of Representatives.
The Afghan Attorney General has been accused of interfering in electoral affairs for which he was summoned to the parliament earlier this week, but he rebuffed the call in a letter and said the parliamentarians did not have the right so summon him.
"The Attorney General was summoned but he refused to go to the parliament. Isn't the rejection letter he sent to the parliament ludicrous?," said Dr Abdullah.
Mr Abdullah also accused the Afghan government of using the judicial body as a tool.
Dr Abdullah urged fundamental changes in the current political system in Afghanistan.
"We do not want the current system to collapse, this system has been achieved through sacrifices of a nation, but the people want change and god-willing the Afghan people will finally be able to bring change," he said.
He said if the Afghan government listens to the Afghan people and shake itself it still has a chance and three years ahead to serve Afghans.
"If the current leadership keeps making mistakes, it can only expect a similar fate as the leaders of the Middle East and North Africa," said Dr Abdullah.
Head of Masood Foundation, Ahmad Wali Masood, also made a speech expressing concern about the current political situation in the country.
"If the stakeholders, authorities and especially the international community do not take action, I have to regretfully say that Afghanistan may go in an unknown direction," Mr Masood said.
Dr Abdullah called on the Afghan nation to be united and not let anyone to misuse their honest feelings against the national interests of Afghanistan.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/08/2011 00:00 ||
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"Afghan Govt May Face Revolt"
Too late - it's already revolting.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
04/08/2011 22:32 Comments ||
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Sudan has deployed helicopter gunships and tanks near the disputed region of Abyei, a group based in the US said on Thursday. The Satellite Sentinel Project was begun by actor and Sudan activist George Clooney and relies on satellite imagery.
The group said that the northern Sudanese Armed Forces have sent two Mi-24 helicopter gunships and at least nine T-55 tanks about 60 miles from Abyei's border. Trucks with heavy armor have also been sent.
"The introduction of heavy air and ground attack capacity by SAF represents a significant buildup of firepower in a tense region," said John C. Bradshaw, the executive director of the Enough Project, an affiliated project.
A Democratic lawmaker says the White House is dramatically underestimating the true cost of the militarys involvement in Libya by relying on accounting that obscures the total financial burden being saddled on taxpayers.
Don't count on the White House making clear what the Libyan War is costing us.
Rep. Brad Sherman, a lawyer and accountant, told The Washington Times on Thursday that more accurate accounting of the mission would provide a clearer picture of just how much money the U.S. pours into this and other U.N.-backed missions while putting Congress in a better position to silence critics who say the nation is shortchanging the global body. The Californian also said the cost of the U.S. involvement in Libya should be covered with the estimated $33 billion in Libyan assets that have been frozen by the Treasury Department.
Apply the remaining funds to deficit reduction and we'd have an incentive to get rid of Gaddafi quickly.
As much fun as I find cost accounting, the reason I raise these issues is because I think those Libya assets ought to be available to pay for what goes on over and in Libya, and because I think in negotiating with other countries over whether we are doing enough for the U.N. we should not hesitate to point out the high cost of what we are doing [with U.N. support], he told The Times.
Last week, Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates testified that the nations initial involvement in establishing a no-fly zone over the skies of Libya Operation Odyssey Dawn carried a $550 million price tag and that the cost of the support role to NATO going forward would be about $40 million a month. Mr. Gates also assured lawmakers that he had enough money in his budget to absorb the costs, though he wasnt ready to reveal the source of the money.
But in a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on U.N. funding Thursday with Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., Mr. Sherman said the Pentagons estimates of the mission in Libya are based on whats known as marginal-cost accounting, which doesnt consider such things as overhead costs from the development of the weapons systems and equipment being used, or the salaries of the military men and women flying airplanes in the skies and floating on ships in the seas around Libya.
That effort is costing us billions a week, Mr. Sherman told his colleagues, while arguing that full-cost accounting is a more legitimate system of accounting that would generate a more accurate snapshot of the financial burden shouldered by the United States. By doing so, he said, the country would gain the diplomatic advantage of telling the world the enormous burden the taxpayer absorbs in order to make available to such actions as Libya our unique military capacity.
Instead of the world thinking that we're cheap...
In a testy exchange, Mrs. Rice said that the Libya mission is not one that falls under U.N. accounting or U.S. budgeting. It is something we are undertaking in a national capacity.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/08/2011 00:00 ||
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In a testy exchange, Mrs. Rice said that the Libya mission is not one that falls under U.N. accounting or U.S. budgeting. It is something we are undertaking in a national capacity.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
04/08/2011 13:17 Comments ||
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No democrat is counting money. As the rep today stated, "It is like we are arguing about who will pay for drinks on the Titanic" - No democrat cares how they spend your money so they are never serious about money. They are but tapeworms that will never really care.
[Asharq al-Aswat] A leading member of the Libyan Transitional National Council has accused the Chadian Government of backing Colonel Muammar al-Qadaffy's regime against the revolutionaries for the purpose of preventing it from collapse. He said the Chadian president was trying to pay back an old debt he owes Qadaffy when the opposition tried to enter Ndjamena in February 2008. But the Chadian Government has denied these accusations vehemently saying they are baseless and seeking to destroy the historic relationship between the two peoples and announced it has closed its borders with Libyan to stop the infiltration of any Al-Qaeda organization elements to Chad, according to a bigwig in Ndjamena.
That makes no sense. Chad and Libya fought a series of proxy wars in the 1970s and 1980s. They don't like each other. The Chadians would be pleased to see Drapery Man deposed.
The Libyan leader, who preferred not to be named for security reasons, told Asharq Al-Awsat that the talk about mercenaries from Chad as reported by some news agencies and satellite channels was not right "since what is happening is an intervention in the Libyan affair by the regime of Idriss Deby in support of Qadaffy. Its aim is to protect his regime from collapsing."
After pointing out that the revolutionaries were not hostile to the Chadian people because of their historic interrelationships, he said: "Deby is trying to pay an old debt he owes Qadaffy who foiled an attempt by the Chadian opposition to bring down the regime when they attacked Ndjamena in February 2008." He added that known leaders in the Chadian regime were in charge of providing the weapons and ammunitions and sending them to areas where Qadaffy's regiments are deployed in addition to bringing in fighters from African countries.
He added that Gen. Ramadan Arobo, governor of Borkou and former Chadian security director; Gen. Sair Abadi, governor of Adre Province; and Gen. Tofa, the Elite Republican Guards commander, were supervising the dispatch of African forces and deploying them in the areas between Al-Zawiyah and Tripoli. The same source said that these forces were protecting the road between these two cities, adding that "the Chadian ambassador in Tripoli, Daoussa Deby, and a bank director are the ones paying the money for bringing in the Africans, particularly from Chad, who are then landed in the Umm Jaras or Tanda airport at the borders with Libya and then taken by vehicles inside the country." He pointed out that the elements which took part in seizing Ra's Lanuf for Qadaffy's forces were Chadian forces.
The Libyan leader went on to say that the revolutionaries have no interest in being hostile to Chad particularly as the two countries fought many wars in the past and said: "What we are asking from the Chadian Government is to be neutral in the ongoing struggle in Libya since it is an internal struggle with which they not concerned." He reported that Gay Paree has confirmed information and threatened to attack any vehicle heading toward Libya.
On his part, Omar Yahya, the Chadian president's adviser, rejected the accusations of his country's involvement in the ongoing struggle in Libya and has told Asharq Al-Awsat that his country is not interfering in the Libyan affair or standing with any party despite the historic relations between Deby and Qadaffy. He added that the two countries had fought many wars but their relations improved under Deby's reign and pointed out that the revolutionaries' accusations against his country were being leveled through the internet and they did not have evidence, not even about the names mentioned by the leading Transitional Council member, calling this "mere rumors." He said: "They have not captured any Chadian soldier with a military identity card from the Chadian Armed Forces. They are talking on the internet." He pointed out that there are "Al-Qaeda" elements in several Sahara countries, including Libya and said: "Therefore we acted with the neighboring countries, especially Mauritania and Algeria, to protect our borders which we have closed with Libya to stop the infiltration of any (Al-Qaeda) elements." He added: "We do not rule out the possible presence of elements from (Al-Qaeda) in the ongoing struggle in Libya. We are protecting our borders and cooperating with the countries neighboring Libya." He denied there were pressures from Western countries, particularly La Belle France, on Chad with regard to Libya and said: "Why should they pressure us? About what?"
Yahya went on to say that his country has not announced that Qadaffy had asked for asylum in it in future and pointed out that the time was not right to talk about receiving Qadaffy in Ndjamena and added: "The Libyans determine Libya's future. But we call on the Libyan revolutionaries and government to reach peaceful solutions." He noted that his country has not came forward with any initiative to the Libyan parties, especially as the revolutionaries are accusing Chad of siding with Qadaffy, but said: "We are working with the African Union [AU] and if we are asked to help it in reaching a solution in Tripoli, then we will not hesitate to do so." He denied that Ndjamena had any contact with the revolutionaries but said "we are willing to help stop the shedding of blood in this dear country through the AU."
Posted by: Fred ||
04/08/2011 00:00 ||
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[Arab News] Egypt on Wednesday emphasized its strategic alliance with GCC countries and said it considered the Arab identity of Gulf states a "red line" after they accused Iran of trying to destabilize Bahrain.
In a statement, Egypt's Foreign Minister Nabil Al-Arabi said: "The stability and Arabhood of the GCC countries is a red line against which Egypt rejects any trespass."
The statement was in response to a Gulf ministerial meeting on Monday that accused Iran of interfering in Bahrain and Kuwait in a bid to destabilize the region.
The government says 24 people including four coppers were killed in the crackdown, which according to the United Nations ... aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society... saw arbitrary arrests and killings and seizure of medical facilities.
Bahraini police have been reinforced with more than 1,000 armored troops from Soddy Arabia and other Gulf states, but the foreign forces have kept a low profile.
Arabi said that Gulf countries "succeeded in moving in a coordinated fashion to preserve the security of Bahrain, giving a practical application to the concept of collective security in the Gulf region."
The minister, himself appointed to his post by virtue of a pro-democracy movement that toppled the former regime in February, also "welcomed the results of the latest ministerial meeting for the Gulf Cooperation Council."
Egypt itself has had no formal diplomatic relations with Iran for decades but Arabi said earlier this week his country wished to improve ties with the Islamic republic.
Hassan Nafie, an Egyptian political analyst, said Arabi's statement reiterated that Cairo's relationship with Iran would not be at the expense of its stand with the GCC.
"There were calls in Egypt that the country should establish stronger relations with Iran without considering the viewpoints of GCC countries," he pointed out.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/08/2011 00:00 ||
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Pakistan is repor keeping TWO PAK ARMY DIVS at the ready should their assistance be requested by Saudi Arabia + the GCC to help quell unrest in the Region, including any inside the KSA itself.
This may not end well - IMO no way will Iran stand for for PAK Milfors helping, or seemingly appearing to help, local Sunni Govts. to suppress local Shias.
[Bangla Daily Star] A top US general said yesterday it was unlikely that Libya's rebel forces could launch an assault on Tripoli and oust the regime's leader Muammar Qadaffy. ... a proud Arab institution for 42 years ...
Asked at a Senate hearing about the chances that the opposition could "fight their way" to Tripoli and replace Qadaffy, General Carter Ham, head of US Africa Command, said: "Sir, I would assess that as a low likelihood."
His comments underscored growing concern in Washington and European capitals that the conflict in Libya is heading towards a stalemate, with Qadaffy firmly in control in Tripoli and badly-organized rebels unable to turn the tide even under the cover of NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the style of the American pants... -led air power.
The general, who led the first stage of the international air campaign in Libya, said bombing raids had undercut the regime's ability to target civilians -- except in the besieged city of Misrata.
The air strikes launched on March 19 had "significantly degraded" the regime's ability "to attack civilians with the notable omission of Misrata," he said.
The rebels are struggling to defend Misrata, Libya's third city, under an onslaught from better armed regime forces.
Ham said Qadaffy had moved tanks and troops into parts of the city and that had made air strikes more difficult to carry out without endangering civilians.
The US military pulled back fighter jets this week from the UN-mandated air campaign with NATO taking command of the Libya operation, which is designed to protect civilians from attacks by regime troops.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/08/2011 00:00 ||
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growing concern in Washington and European capitals that the conflict in Libya is heading towards a stalemate
[Ennahar] The Moroccan authorities once again lead their dirty war against Algeria, this time they attempt to involve it in the civil war in Libya. The latter accuses Algeria of supporting mercenaries and manipulating them.
These surprising accusations by the Moroccan authorities, supposedly citing security sources, are the result of other previous accusations against Algeria at the beginning of the war in Libya, according to which the mercenaries would be transported in Algerian aircraft to Libya, in an attempt by Morocco to hold the public opinion view on Algeria and Libya instead of Morocco where the people are threatening the throne of King Mohammed VI.
The Moroccan site "Maghreb Intelligentsia" accuses the Algerian army to support and manipulate the mercenaries in Libya, according to the site, adding that the doomsday scenario feared by Algeria, begins to unfold on the Algerian-Libyan border. It questioned the possibility of manipulating leaders of the Algerian army by mercenaries after they have been manipulated by the latter.
The site continues the accusing the Algerian military to mount international opinion against her, when the Algerian diplomacy has denied all allegations that certain parties want to focus on Algeria. Algeria, which is, according to the Makhzen, no longer able to control the Tuareg mercenaries in the south since the civil war in Libya, mercenaries supported by the Algerian regime in Algeria returned without worry as the Algerian authorities turned a blind eye to their activities. The Moroccan site adds that after the bombing of the Libyan army, the mercenaries had decamped and left their arms to the Algerian army in order to return to their country, Mali, Niger and Mauritania, while others have managed to keep their weapons which they sold in the south.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/08/2011 00:00 ||
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[Al Jazeera] Egyptian state prosecutors have ordered that a former top aide to Hosni Mubarak, ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011... the country's ousted president, be nabbed for 15 days pending a corruption investigation.
Zakaria Azmi, Mubarak's chief of staff for 22 years, was tossed in the slammer on Thursday after being accused of using his position to amass a personal fortune.
Prosecutor Assem el-Gawhari announced Azmi's preliminary imprisonment on state television.
Azmi was considered an influential figure within Mubarak's ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) and is one of many former regime officials whom protesters would like to see prosecuted or at least investigated.
The slow pace of those investigations, and a lack of arrests, have spurred the protest movement to rally followers back into the streets, with large demonstrations planned for Cairo's Tahrir Square on Friday.
Protesters are also demanding the complete dissolution of the NDP.
Azmi, an NDP politician from east Cairo, served as Mubarak's chief of staff from 1989 until the president stepped down on February 11, following 18 days of upheaval that saw millions of Egyptians take to the streets.
Following Mubarak's resignation, state prosecutors tossed in the slammer three high-ranking officials: interior minister Habib el-Adly, housing minister Ahmed Maghrabi, and tourism minister Zuheir Garana.
Protesters have continued to demand investigations into other powerful figures, including Safwat el-Sherif, speaker of the upper house of parliament, and Fathi Sorour, speaker of the lower house.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/08/2011 00:00 ||
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Sudan says it may respond to what it denounces as a recent Israeli Arclight airstrike, which killed two people in the northeast of the country.
Foreign Minister Ali Karti said "Sudan reserves its right to react" to the 'Israeli attack' near Port Sudan, the country's main port city, Rooters reported on Wednesday.
The missile attack reportedly destroyed a car, killing both its occupants. Israeli Foreign Ministry's front man Yigal Palmor, however, has declined to comment on the matter.
Karti said Israel had carried out the attack on the false claim to prevent transfer of weapons to the Gazoo Strip, reaffirming Khartoum's denial of arms transfer to the coastal sliver.
Tel Aviv has been imposing a total siege on the Gazoo since mid-June 2007, claiming it seeks to block shipment of weapons into the impoverished enclave.
The restrictions have been depriving Gazoo's 1.5 million Paleostinians of food, fuel, medicine and other necessities. They even prevent the entry of construction materials into the region -- largely in ruins from Israeli attacks.
The Tuesday attack served to remind a January 2009 strike by an unidentified aircraft on a convoy in Sudan, which killed a total of 119 people.
#3
There is no danger to Israel from nuking Khartoum, funny boy. Keep yankin' Israel's chain, and that's what you might get. Eritrea needs to stock up on Iodine tablets, possibly Ethiopia also, but none of the fallout would reach Israel.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/08/2011 18:04 Comments ||
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The South Korean military is on heightened alert as North Korea has stepped up exercises of submarines from naval bases on the east and west coasts since last month.
"The North has been staging drills by mobilizing five or six subs including new Shark-class ones from naval bases on the east and west coasts," a South Korean government source said Wednesday. "The North used to stage sub drills every March in the past, but the scale is a little greater than in previous years, so we're watching their movements closely."
The Shark-class subs constitute the main submarine force of the North Korean Navy, which has about 40 of them. It has apparently deployed both the basic 35 m 325-ton type, the same kind that infiltrated into waters off Gangwon Province in 1996, and the new-type K-300, which is 40 m long. It also reportedly has small infiltration subs without torpedo launch tubes.
The North is testing the adaptability and performance of the subs in preparation for an infiltration rather than making actual moves to invade, the South Korean military speculates. That belief is based on the fact that the subs are rarely long gone from their bases but return after a couple of days. If they tried to infiltrate South Korean waters they would be gone at least three days, it believes.
Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin Wednesday said, "It seems that the North has begun usual drills as the weather is getting warmer to practice infiltrating on the east and west coasts." The sub drills seem to be part of the exercise, he added.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/08/2011 00:00 ||
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The SOKORS say its highly "unusual" for the North to conduct these drills in March = at this time of the year???
South Korean fighter jets and helicopters are easy targets for North Korea's medium-range infrared missiles, a discovery that has apparently prompted the military to look for solutions.
According to the Board of Audit and Inspection, an audit between March 2 to April 30 of last year showed that all of South Korea's airborne weapons systems, including its 500 F-15K fighter jets, transport airplanes and helicopters, are vulnerable to North Korea's newest medium-range infrared missiles.
The BAI submitted a report of its findings to the Defense Ministry in December.
North Korea has SA-18 Igla shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles and AA-11 Archer short-range air-to-air missiles that use 3-5 ㎛ medium-range infrared waves and are not diverted by short-range flares launched by South Korean aircraft but continue tracking the heat signatures of the fighter planes.
The South decided back in 2009 to develop medium-range infrared flares by 2016 to deal with the North Korean missiles. But the development has been brought forward to 2014 following the discovery of the latest threat. But even if the development goes as planned, South Korean aircraft will remain vulnerable for at least the next four years.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/08/2011 00:00 ||
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ION KORYE, WAFF >KOREA: UNEXPECTED RE-UNIFICATION BY WAY OF VOLCANIC ERUPTION.
#3
Overblown threat. F-15s fly too high for manpads and MiG-21s w/ IR missiles aren't too menacing, even if the North could get some off the ground. Helicopters are much more vulnerable, but again these are very short ranged missiles.
#6
SA-18 uses 2 color detectors (1-2 and 3-5μm), so flares not only need to be very bright but also match the relative spectral power of a target (jet exhaust) at those wavelengths. Basically, it's about finding 2 or more flare colors (in infrared) that can be combined to mimic the jet exhaust spectra.
A priest in Finland faces being defrocked after describing one of the worlds most-wanted criminals as a terrorist. He was referring to Doku Umarov the man behind the Moscow metro and airport bombings, among other crimes.
He received death threats and when he reported them to police, he was prosecuted for hate speech crimes. He is now considering moving to Russia because he believes it there is more liberty there than in politically correct Finland.
#1
Had to look around for a bit, but he is a Lutheran priest. As with the US Lutheran church, it has been torn apart by liberals seeking to incorporate their leftist doctrines as church doctrines.
Terrorists, terrorist wanna-be's, and garden variety jihadis all dream about one thing - murdering all the infidels and the Joooooooos.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
04/08/2011 20:09 Comments ||
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...oh, and strip clubs.
February 25-March 4, 2001: 9/11 Hijacker Jarrah Stays in Jacksonville Again, Frequents Strip Club
After returning to the US for the fifth time, 9/11 hijacker Ziad Jarrah flies immediately to Jacksonville, Florida, where he stays at the Ramada Inn for a week. He had previously visited Jacksonville (see January 22-26, 2001), as had Mohamed Atta and Marwan Alshehhi (see (October 2000)). While in Jacksonville, he frequents Wackos strip club. A worker there will later say that the FBI comes to the club after 9/11 to ask questions and show pictures of the 9/11 terrorists, and a dancer recognizes Jarrah from a photo line-up. - here
#3
How do you think that Canadian Intel found out what those terrorists were dreaming? They got INSIDE the terrorists brains! I can't tell you the details but it involved beer, country music and maple syrup coated bacon, all provided by Allan's Snackbar.
Fun title, serious article, probably nothing surprising for some of you. But if a strange gentleman with bleached hair passes me carrying a gallon of nail polish remover and a bag of fertilizer, I'm calling the FBI.
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) released the fifth edition of its English-language jihadist magazine Inspire on March 30. AQAP publishes this magazine with the stated intent of radicalizing English-speaking Muslims and encouraging them to engage in jihadist militant activity. Since its inception, Inspire magazine has also advocated the concept that jihadists living in the West should conduct attacks there, rather than traveling to places like Pakistan or Yemen, since such travel can bring them to the attention of the authorities before they can conduct attacks, and AQAP views attacking in the West as striking at the heart of the unbelievers.
To further promote this concept, each edition of Inspire magazine has a section called Open Source Jihad, which is intended to equip aspiring jihadist attackers with the tools they need to conduct attacks without traveling to jihadist training camps. The Open Source Jihad sections in past editions have contained articles such as the pictorial guide with instructions titled Make a Bomb in the Kitchen of Your Mom that appeared in the first edition.
In this latest edition of Inspire there are at least three places where AQAP encourages jihadists to conduct lone wolf attacks rather than coordinate with others due to the security risks inherent in such collaboration (several jihadist plots have been thwarted when would-be attackers have approached government informants looking for assistance). In recent years there have been a number of lone wolf attacks inside the United States, such as the June 2009 shooting at an armed forces recruiting center in Little Rock, Ark.; the November 2009 Fort Hood shooting; and the failed bombing attack in New Yorks Times Square in May 2010. Of course, the lone wolf phenomena is not just confined to the United States, as evidenced by such incidents as the March 2 shooting attack against U.S. military personnel in Frankfurt, Germany.
Many of the steps required to conduct a terrorist attack are undertaken in a manner that makes the actions visible to any outside observer. It is at these junctures in the terrorist attack cycle that people practicing good situational awareness can detect these attack steps not only to avoid the danger themselves, but also to alert the authorities to the suspicious activity.
BAGHDAD - Months before the United States is due to complete its withdrawal from Iraq, Washington is stepping up pressure on Iraqi leaders to decide whether US troops should stay to help fend off a still-potent insurgency.
US Defense Secretary Robert Gates, speaking ahead of meetings with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and other Iraqi leaders during a visit to Baghdad, said the United States would be willing to consider extending the US military presence in Iraq beyond the end of this year. A bilateral security pact requires Washington to withdraw its remaining force of around 47,000 troops by years end.
If folks here are going to want us to have a presence were going to need to get on with it pretty quickly in terms of our planning and our ability to figure out where we get the forces, what kind of forces we need here and what specifically the mission they want us to do, Gates told troops on a sprawling US base next to Baghdad airport.
I think there is interest in having a continuing presence, but the politics are such that well just have to wait and see because the initiative ultimately has to come from the Iraqis.
More than eight years after the US-led invasion to oust Saddam Hussein, Iraq is struggling to halt violence from a weakened but still lethal Islamist insurgency and to put an end to a long period of political instability following general elections more than a year ago.
A statement on Malikis website said the prime minister had told Gates that our armed forces in the military and police have the power to confront any attack, and their capabilities to impose security and stability increase day by day.
It did not say whether an extended US presence would be requested.
US officials have said they expect to accelerate the removal of remaining US troops, which mostly focus on training their Iraqi counterparts, in the late summer or fall so that, barring a deal to extend the US presence, the entire force can be removed by the end of the year.
The United States has also been dismantling bases, removing equipment and handing over facilities to Iraqi forces.
General Lloyd Austin, who commands US forces in Iraq, told reporters he had not yet made a recommendation to the White House on how many troops would stay if such a deal is struck. But he said there might be a drop-dead point after which it would be too expensive or difficult to keep troops in Iraq, or send them back once they have left.
The clock is ticking, he said. We will reach a point ... where it will be very difficult to recreate things that weve disassembled.
You can do anything but it costs more money and more resources and, quite frankly, our country right now as you know is not interested in having to expend more resources because we wasted an opportunity.
Austin said political wrangling that preceded the formation of Malikis new government in December, and the continuing lack of new interior and defence ministers, had contributed to Iraqs failure to decide whether to ask for a troop extension. Even more instrumental, however, may be the political pressure that Maliki faces within his tenuous Shia-led coalition government, which was formed only after Maliki made a deal with Moqtada al-Sadr, the anti-American cleric who opposes the presence of US troops on Iraqi soil.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/08/2011 00:00 ||
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I just don't see how Obama can appease his leftist voters without a full & final Iraq withdrawal. (Especially after he broke his word on Guantanamo, did a surge in Afghanistan, & bombed Libya...)
Posted by: American Delight ||
04/08/2011 2:02 Comments ||
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I just don't see how Obama can appease his leftist voters without a full & final Iraq withdrawal.
I expect some conservatives (the ones with brains) will be pleased as well.
There is a considered attempt to create instability, whether religious by church massacre, social with the targeted assassinations, or government with that well conducted assault on the government building the other day.
If all they need to make it are a couple more years of training and advising with some quick reaction teams available in case the toothless fairy and friends pop up, plus presence during this jazzman revolution shakeup...
All coalition troops who were involved performed above and beyond all realistic expectations and those who disagree are damn fools or liars. I'm sure they are ready to get on with their lives, dunno, any opinions by those involved?
I just hope Gates took into account that obama is not really known to get down to brass tacks himself.
[Ma'an] The Mavi Marmara ship which was carrying nine Turkish activists killed in an Israeli raid last May is scheduled to return as part of the "Freedom Flotilla 2" next month, reports said Thursday.
Head of the IHH Bülent Yildirim said the flotilla was slated to depart in the second half of the month. "What happened in last year's flotilla will not affect us or the next flotilla," Yildirim was quoted as saying by the Israeli Ynet news site.
He said the Marmara will depart from Europe carrying artists, journalists and politicians, Ynet reported. Organizers say more than 15 vessels will take part in the flotilla, according to the report.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/08/2011 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Hamid 
A Democratic lawmaker says the White House is dramatically underestimating the true cost of the militarys involvement in Libya by relying on accounting that obscures the total financial burden being saddled on taxpayers.
leader Muammar Qadaffy.
Egyptian state prosecutors have ordered that a former top aide to 
