The agreement would allow not only military trainers to stay to build up the Afghan army and police, but also American special forces soldiers and air power to remain.
The prospect of such a deal has already been met with anger among Afghanistans neighbours including, publicly, Iran and, privately, Pakistan.
It also risks being rejected by the Taliban and derailing any attempt to coax them to the negotiating table, according to one senior member of Hamid Karzais peace council.
A withdrawal of American troops has already begun following an agreement to hand over security for the country to Kabul by the end of 2014.
But Afghans wary of being abandoned are keen to lock America into a longer partnership after the deadline. Many analysts also believe the American military would like to retain a presence close to Pakistan, Iran and China.
MOGADISHU: A surveillance drone has crashed in the Somali capital of Mogadishu. An Associated Press reporter saw pieces of the drone, which was shaped like a small plane, before it was removed by African Union soldiers.
It had crashed into a house in the city center. It was not immediately known who was operating the downed drone, but the US is known to fly surveillance craft over Somalia, where rebels are battling the weak UN-backed government.
The rebels pulled out of their bases in the capital last week but are still believed to have fighters in the city in disguise. Somalia has not had a functioning government for more than 20 years.
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08/20/2011 00:00 ||
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To see the vitae of General Leopoldo Diaz Perez, click here ( Microsoft .Doc format.)
By Chris Covert
A story has been in circulation on the Internet about a December 20, 2009 meeting between drug lord Marcos Arturo Beltran Leyva and General Leopoldo Diaz Perez in Cuernavaca, Morelos the night Marcos Arturo Beltran Leyva was shot to death by Mexican Marines.
As the leader of the Beltran-Leyva cartel was waiting along with five of his lieutenants including Edgard Valdez Villareal AKA El Barbie for his guests a force of more than 200 marines spent hours quietly evacuating the surrounding residences of the exclusive Lomas de Selva colony. At around 1700 hrs, the marine force eliminated Beltran Leyva's security team outside. At about the same time Valdez Villareal had escaped the scene.
Meanwhile General Leopoldo Diaz Perez and two other officers were detained that night just outside the colony, were covered in hoods and led away.
While on the face of it at the time, the detention of General Diaz Perez looked terrible, it is also the same time that Mexican president Felipe Calderon Hinojosa was sending emissaries to the leaders of the drug cartels in an effort to get them to clamp down on the violence. From a Wikileaks cable, it is said the disgraced Mexican General Mario Arturo Acosta Chaparro had been sent to meet with Marcos Arturo Beltran Leyva, bit it would not be the first time a US State Department cable got their information wrong.
From the descriptions, however, it is more likely that General Diaz Perez was used as a decoy to get Marcos Arturo Beltran Leyva in a spot where he could be destroyed. And destroyed he was, shot multiple times with 5.56mm assault rifles, and then, allegedly albeit unlikely mutilated by bayonets. General Diaz Perez at the time of the meeting was in no position to use his counteriunsurgency experience, which was extensive yet had a flaw, but he could have well been played by Marcos Arturo Beltran Leyva lieutenant Edgard Valdez Villareal using Mexican security forces to assassinate a rival.
The trajectory is Diaz Perez's career in nearly every respect is not unremarkable for a senior Mexican military officer. He entered the Mexican Army in 1967 as a cadet. He became staff qualified in 1977 after sending three years at the Escuela Superior de Guerra war college, taught at the war college in the early eighties, and served as commander in various capacities in several rifle units throughout Mexico until 1988. He also served on the staff of the Secretaria Defensa Nacional (SEDENA) for two years, and served for two years as military and air attache for the Mexican embassy in Washington DC.
Following his posting in Washington DC, Diaz Perez served as commander, acting commander or chief of staff in a number of different rifle battalions, two of them at he start of the Chiapas conflict. It has been mentioned in Mexican press that he attended the US run school on counterinsurgency doctrine, although his vitae doesn't reflect it.
Diaz Perez took command of the Chiapas Grouping in 1996. The posting would have also had long term implications for how the Chiapas Conflict ended and on Diaz Perez's career.
The Chiapas Grouping was the name of a cluster of paramilitary formations armed and trained by the Mexican Army namely by Mexican General Mario Renan Castillo Fernandez who had just taken over command of the Chiapas 7th Military Zone in 1995.
According to an online report by La Jornada, the establishment of the Chiapas Grouping was a recommended step in reasserting order in an area of armed revolt. La Jornada said the idea was taken straight from SEDENA's manual on counterinsurgency operation, published just a few months before General Castillo Fernandez took over in Chiapas in 1995.
At the time the FZLN, the Zapatistas and the Mexican national government were in talks and a truce, and the FZLN has entered a unarmed propaganda phase of their operations. Much of the doctrine discussed in the manual conformed with US experience in the Philippines in the 1930s and in Greece in the 1960s. The centerpiece of counterinsuregency operations was control of civilian forces by the military including arming and training them. According to La Jornada General Castillo Fernandez set out to implement much of the doctrine set out in the document and apparently he needed a commander to implement and operated the program.
Then Lieutenant Colonel Leopoldo Diaz Perez was the commander General Castillo Fernandez chose.
Diaz Perez was an excellent choice, not because of his extensive command and staff experience, though that probably helped, but because of his contact in Washington DC during his stint as military attache in Washington DC in the late 1980s.
But a massacre in 1997 by elements with his Chiapas Group, demonstrated just how out of control the Chiapas Group actually was despite the excellent choice of a commander.
This unfortunate tendency to lose control of subordinates appear to be a pattern that would eventually haunt him in a later command. Part II on Sunday: The Acteal Massacre
Standard & Poor's on Friday downgraded Venezuela's credit ratings as it implemented a new methodology more heavily focused on political riska key weakness in the oil-producing country. S&P cut Venezuela's long-term sovereign rating to B-plus from BB-minus. The outlook on the new rating is stable. The agency's new methodology was published on June 30, a little more than a month before it invoked political concerns to downgrade U.S. credit ratings.
Political risk has been a constant issue in Venezuela, where change in economic rules and nationalization of companies are common. Uncertainty about the health of President Hugo Chavez, who had surgery in Cuba earlier this summer to remove a cancerous tumor followed by chemotherapy treatment, has added to those risks, S&P said in a statement.
"In our opinion, changing and arbitrary laws, price and exchange controls, and other distorting and unpredictable economic measures have undermined private-sector investment and hurt productivity, weakening Venezuela's domestic economy," S&P analyst Roberto Sifon Arevalo wrote in a report.
Venezuela's vast oil and gas reserves "somewhat" offset the policy uncertainty, S&P said. The country posts steady current account surpluses which, combined with strict capital controls, result in positive net asset positions.
However, S&P expressed concern about the actual level of Venezuela's gold and foreign exchange reserves after reports that the country plans to repatriate them.
"When you have the reserves held abroad, you do have some level of confidence," Arevalo told Reuters in an interview. "That is not going to be the case anymore. They are going to be held at the central bank domestically, then you fall in the same circle of lack of transparency that everything else has in Venezuela."
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/20/2011 00:00 ||
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North Korea has allowed South Korean non-governmental groups to monitor food aid distribution sites after Seoul made monitoring a precondition of resuming civilian aid to the country.
The Unification Ministry says it received a video earlier this month from the Korean Council for Reconciliation and Cooperation that shows a flour distribution area in North Hwanghae Province. The Seoul-based organization has sent 1,000 tons of flour to the North since last month, and this is the first time an NGO has submitted this kind of evidence to the government.
The government had asked for evidence amid concern that aid sent to the North is redirected to the elite and military instead to those who need it most. The government has also asked the NGOs for data related to the recent flood damage in the North.
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[Dawn] The leaders of anti-Taliban Adezai Qaumi Lashkar have alleged that provincial government has stopped supporting their volunteers and left them at the mercy of orcs.
"Militants will get strengthen in the suburban areas of provincial metropolis as government has intentionally stopped supporting our volunteers," Dilawar Khan, the head of the lashkar, told a presser here on Thursday.
He said that elders of the area had formed the lashkar on the directives of government. But government didn't materialise its promises to support them, he alleged.
Flanked by several leaders of lashkar including Haji Abdur Razaq, Waqif Khan, Haji Inam Gul, Irshad Khan and Haji Ali Ahmed, he said that more than 100 volunteers of the lashkar had been killed since its formation in 2008. "These volunteers sacrificed their lives to defend their motherland and hundreds of their colleagues were maimed by cut-throats but they have not been paid proper compensation so far," he added.
Mr Khan alleged that provincial government left them at the mercy of cut-throats as it was not ready to materialise its promises of providing food, arms and ammunition to them. "We have to arrange weapons on our own," he said.
He said that their new generation was deprived of education owing to insecurity in the area. "During the past few months, we have foiled three suicide kabooms. The would-be bombers were killed before they could hit the target but none of the
government officials and ministers bothered to encourage our volunteers," he said.
The lashkar chief said that instead of appreciating their efforts the government tried to claim credit for the successful operations against terrorists.
He also criticised politicians for what he called lack of interest to contact the volunteers or visit their area at least for condolences when scores of their colleagues were killed in suicide attacks in the recent past.
The provincial government, he said, was not supporting the lashkar because he was district president of PML-Q and Waqif Khan, another commander of the peace body, was associated with PML-N. "We all belong to different political parties but we are fully united on a single point to fight militancy, protect the area and stop entry of beturbanned goons into Beautiful Downtown Peshawar at all costs," he aid.
Mr Khan claimed that an important Taliban capo Jangrez was killed during a clash with volunteers that helped them control terrorist acts in Peshawar.
He also threatened to quit PML-Q if party leaders didn't change their behaviour with workers. "The federal government had announced pride of performance for us but owing to our political affiliation provincial government created hurdles in it," he alleged.
He asked Senior Minister Bashir Ahmed Bilour and Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain to stop opposing him on political basis otherwise entire responsibility would rest with them if anything happened to him.
The lashkar leader asked religious scholars to take a firm stand against cut-throats and declare them non-Mohammedans as they were slaughtering innocent people.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/20/2011 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] Sindh Home Minister Manzoor Wasan on Friday ruled out the need to call the military in Bloody Karachi in order to bring the law and order situation under control in the metropolis.
Wassan was speaking to the media in Islamabad before attending a meeting summoned by President Asif Ali Zardari on the situation in Bloody Karachi. The Home Minister said results of the governments' measures for peace in the city will come to the fore.
"Vital decisions will be taken in a meeting chaired by President Asif Ali Ten Percent Zardari", ... husband of the late Benazir Bhutto, who has been singularly lacking in curiosity about who done her in ... he added. He said that all political parties in Bloody Karachi had a stockpile of weapons and the people to use them, but they were all on the same page when it came to restoring peace in the city.
He said positive results will be seen in the coming days regarding law and order in the city. Wassan maintained that action has been taken against myrmidons and arrests had also been made.
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08/20/2011 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] Interior Minister Rehman Malik Pak politician, current Interior Minister under the Gilani administration. Malik is a former Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) intelligence officer who rose to head the FIA during Benazir Bhutto's second tenure. He later joined the Pak Peoples Party and was chief security officer to Bhutto. Malik was tossed from his FIA job in 1998 after documenting the breath-taking corruption of the Sharif family. By unhappy coincidence Näwaz Shärif became PM at just that moment and Malik moved to London one step ahead of the button men. has said that anti-state elements were involved in lawlessness to destabilise the country.
"I assure you that all the gunnies will be brought before the media as soon as possible after thorough investigation," he said while talking to media at the Crisis Management Cell here on Friday.
He said that two hit mans have been placed in long-term storage and a large quantity of weapons were recovered from them.
"Videos will also be released to the media," he further added.
To a question, he said that community policing was need of the hour and it would not be possible to control the law and order situation without their help.
Earlier, the minister held detailed meetings with the members of the business community to discuss law and order situation and cases of extortion.
The office bearers of Federation of Pakistain Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) and Bloody Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) also attended the meeting.
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08/20/2011 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] On a day when at least 30 people were killed across the city, a depressed home minister said: "Today is not a good day for the Sindh government, police and other law-enforcement agencies."
While briefing the media on the decisions regarding the city's law and order situation taken at a meeting convened by the chief
minister on Thursday, Manzoor Wasan said the government had decided to take impartial action against those involved in assassinations, street crime and extortion activities, irrespective of their political association.
The government had demonstrated enough tolerance and restraint in a bid to restore durable peace to the metropolis with the cooperation of all stakeholders but there appeared to be some elements who did not want durable peace in the city, he said.
The meeting, which was earlier held at the CM's House, was attended by Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Waseem Ahmad, Home Secretary Arif Ahmad Khan, Sindh police chief Wajid Ali Durrani, and representatives of the ISI, the MI and other law-enforcement agencies.
"We are quite aware of those hands behind this killing spree and disturbances," the minister said, adding that the government was well aware of its responsibility to protect life and property of people.
Mr Wasan, who was flanked by Information Minister Sherjeel Memon, Secretary Information Safdar Ali Shah, Special Assistant to CM Syed Waqar Mehdi, and the Sindh police chief, said that those set to sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark dock, in a pestilential prison with a life-long lock would be brought before the media after
investigations were completed.
'Reaction or sabotage'
In response to a question, he said the fresh bout of killings could be a reaction to the previous day murder of five youngsters from Lyari or an attempt to sabotage the ongoing reconciliation talks between the Pakistain People's Party and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement ...English: United National Movement, generally known as MQM, is the 3rd largest political party and the largest secular political party in Pakistain with particular strength in Sindh. From 1992 to 1999, the MQM was the target of the Pak Army's Operation Cleanup leaving thousands of urdu speaking civilians dead... in Islamabad.
When his attention was drawn towards the display of banners in Hyderabad demanding a new province, the home minister said that the MQM had made a categorical statement that the party was against any such move to divide Sindh. "Action will be initiated against those indulging in wall chalking and display of banners," he said.
Mr Wasan added that Sindh had a history spread over 5,000 years and it could never be divided.
To another question, he said reconciliation did not mean vested interests what some circles kept on propagating. "When we talk about reconciliation, we mean taking along all the communities and people living in Bloody Karachi as the city can be made a
cradle of peace only with sincere efforts of all the stakeholders," he said.
The minister said normality could not return to the city merely by staging a peace rally as it needed cooperation of all parties and stakeholders with the government.
In reply to yet another question, he said the situation in Bloody Karachi did not deteriorate in a day. It had reached to this tipping point due to the policies of the past few decades. Political parties were aware of the rampant use of weapons in the city, he
added.
"Bloody Karachi is a sensitive city and that's why I being the home minister am going to everyone to seek their cooperation for peace in the city."
Mr Wasan dispelled the impression that only the people of any specific ethnic or religious community were targeted over the past 48 hours. He said the victims were not only Urdu-speaking people but also the Balochs, the Sindhis, the Pukhtuns and even Hindus as well.
When his attention was drawn to the PML-N chief's demand for fresh elections after dissolving the assemblies, Information Minister Sherjeel Memon said this demand was a conspiracy against democracy and insult of the mandate of people.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/20/2011 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] An alarming increase in the dumping of corpses by the roadside in different parts of the city has been witnessed this year, said police and rescue workers.
Perhaps because there's no room in the mortuary...
The phenomenon common in the 1990s seems to have returned with the mere difference that plastic bags have replaced the old jute bags, which were used to dump bodies then.
Jute at least was biodegradable. Have these people no concern for the environment?
Often the bodies that initially remained unidentified had torture marks or gunshot wounds, police and hospital sources said.
While the killings and the subsequent dumping of bodies became more frequent during the bouts of political or ethnic violence, their occurrence did not stop even during relatively peaceful days, law-enforcement officials said.
According to police records, 1,241 people were killed during the last seven months in the city, while last year the metropolis had witnessed a total of 1,339 killings.
"Yes, there is a sharp surge in the number of bodies being found every day in the city," said Anwer Kazmi, a bigwig of the Edhi Foundation. He added the occurrence had increased many times this year.
Initially these bodies remained unidentified but once legal formalities were completed they were shifted to the Edhi morgue where families turned up and identified the bodies of their loved ones in most cases, he explained.
The senior functionary of the country`s largest charity said: "On a daily average, two bodies were found lying abandoned in different parts of the city this year."
The last month, however, was an exception with more than 300 killings in different localities of the metropolis, he added.
Mr Kazmi said the morgue mostly remained full to capacity these days, bearing evidence of the recent rise in the number of bodies found stuffed in gunny bags and dumped by the roadside.
A rescue worker said that most of the bodies found stuffed in gunny bags bore torture marks or a gunshot wound. "It has been noticed that the bodies recovered from gunny bags often had a single bullet in the head that caused the death," said a medico-legal officer of the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre.
Ramzan Chippa, the patron of what can be described as the city's second largest ambulance network, also acknowledged the fact that the phenomenon had increased sharply during the current year. The number of bodies being found in the city had increased in recent months, he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/20/2011 00:00 ||
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WASHINGTON Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Friday that Iraq has agreed to negotiate an extension of noncombat U.S. forces there beyond 2011.
My view is that they finally did say, Yes, he said during his first small-group press interview since taking office July 1.
But read on and you'll see that the Iraqis deny this, and even Panetta sez that the request isn't 'formal'. This is either high-stakes poker or just the spreading of bullshit; you be the judge.
Six weeks ago, an exasperated Panetta urged Iraqi leaders to Dammit, make a decision about extending the U.S. troop presence beyond the scheduled Dec. 31 withdrawal. Now, although Iraqi leaders have yet to make a formal request, Panetta said the Pentagon is moving forward, because there is unanimous consent among key Iraqi leaders to address U.S. demands.
Those demands include that Iraqis begin negotiating internally what type of U.S. training force they would like, begin a process to select a defense minister, craft a new Status of Forces Agreement and increase operations against Iranian-backed militants.
After word of Panettas comments spread, however, the Iraqi government quickly rebuffed Panettas claim.
Since it will be another civil war in Iraq if they don't get the Sadr party and forces in line on this one.
We have not yet agreed on the issue of keeping training forces," Ali Mussawi, media advisor to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, told the Agence France Press news service on Friday.
Pentagon press officials also sought to clarify Panettas statement.
"Cheez, the Boss did it again!"
"Easy son, he's new here."
The Secretary was asked if there had been progress in our discussions with the Iraqi government since his visit six weeks ago, Pentagon spokesman George Little said in a statement. He made clear that the Iraqis have said yes to discussions about the strategic relationship beyond 2011, and what that relationship might look like.
During negotiations with Iraq, the U.S. will continue the drawdown as planned, Panetta said. We will fulfill the commitment that we are going to take all of the combat forces out of Iraq.
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08/20/2011 14:29 ||
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[Ennahar] Former Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz, who was sentenced to death, asked the Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to speed his execution because of his deteriorating health, said Wednesday his lawyer.
If only his wish could be my command...
"His health is very bad and he asked me to deliver a message to Mr. Maliki, calling him to spped his execution as soon as possible," Badie Aref said by telephone.
"He said it was his wish now. He asked because of his health, he suffered," he said.
Aref said Aziz was being treated well in prison, but he suffered from diabetes, high blood pressure, stomach ulcers, heart problems and prostate cancer.
Funny, he managed quite well with all those chronic conditions before the war. And prostate cancer means he only has three months five years to live...
Unique Christian among of Saddam Hussein's team, Tarek Aziz was sentenced to death last October after being convicted of "deliberate killing and crimes against humanity."
Many foreign capitals and the Vatican called on Storied Baghdad ...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate... to the clemency of Mr. Aziz. Opposed to capital punishment, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani has already announced he would never sign the execution order.
The 'many foreign capitals' likely include the Euros, to whom fifteen years in jug seems excessive.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Article from earlier this month, but still useful, I think.
Sections of investigation into Dirar Abu Sisi, taken into custody from Ukraine and brought to Israel, released for publication.
Gaza power plant engineer Dirar Abu Sisi, who according to foreign media reports was taken into custody from the Ukraine in March and brought to Israel, provided a rare in depth look at Hamas attempts to develop longer-range rockets aimed at Israeli civilians and efforts to improve its military capabilities following Operation Cast Lead.
The Beersheba Magistrate's Court released sections of the investigation by security forces of Abu Sisi for publication on Thursday.
Abu Sisi is charged with national-security offenses, conspiracy to commit murder and being active in a terrorist organization.
According to a report by Channel 10, during questioning, Abu Sisi described Hamas as a hierarchical organization that seeks to learn from mistakes and to constantly improve its attack capabilities against Israel.
He reportedly confessed to carrying out rocket experiments, during which projectiles were fired into the Mediterranean Sea from Khan Yunis.
The rocket fell [into the water] 22 km. away, though it was supposed to reach 30 km., he said during questioning.
During the time of the experiments, Hamas was lacking material required to extend the range of the rockets. The material was later acquired through smuggling tunnels linking Sinai to Gaza.
According to the report, Abu Sisi expressed regret for his work on behalf of Hamas, saying: Im very sorry for belonging to the Muslim Brothers and Hamas, and for my activities in extending the range of rockets and setting up Hamas military operations.
Abu Sisi also said he regretted all the information he gave to Hamas that now threatens the security of Israeli civilians, the report said.
Abu Sisi said that following Operation Cast Lead, when Hamas gunmen abandoned their positions in the face of advancing IDF troops, Ahmed Jabari, who heads Hamass military wing, Izzadin Kassam, and senior Hamas member Muhammad Def concluded that the organization had failed during the conflict, and appointed Abu Sisi to help set up a military academy.
Abu Sisi said he had been ordered to head the administration of the academy.
I prepared the management side of things for the new military academy, he said.
Hamas carried out an evaluation of its own performance and found that its decision-making processes had failed and that weapons had not been used correctly during battles, Abu Sisi said. It also found failures at the command and management levels.
He said under interrogation that he had received veiled death threats from top Hamas officials when he expressed a desire to leave the organization.
Article from earlier this month, but still useful, I think.
Sections of investigation into Dirar Abu Sisi, taken into custody from Ukraine and brought to Israel, released for publication.
Gaza power plant engineer Dirar Abu Sisi, who according to foreign media reports was taken into custody from the Ukraine in March and brought to Israel, provided a rare in depth look at Hamas attempts to develop longer-range rockets aimed at Israeli civilians and efforts to improve its military capabilities following Operation Cast Lead.
The Beersheba Magistrate's Court released sections of the investigation by security forces of Abu Sisi for publication on Thursday.
Abu Sisi is charged with national-security offenses, conspiracy to commit murder and being active in a terrorist organization.
According to a report by Channel 10, during questioning, Abu Sisi described Hamas as a hierarchical organization that seeks to learn from mistakes and to constantly improve its attack capabilities against Israel.
He reportedly confessed to carrying out rocket experiments, during which projectiles were fired into the Mediterranean Sea from Khan Yunis.
The rocket fell [into the water] 22 km. away, though it was supposed to reach 30 km., he said during questioning.
During the time of the experiments, Hamas was lacking material required to extend the range of the rockets. The material was later acquired through smuggling tunnels linking Sinai to Gaza.
According to the report, Abu Sisi expressed regret for his work on behalf of Hamas, saying: Im very sorry for belonging to the Muslim Brothers and Hamas, and for my activities in extending the range of rockets and setting up Hamas military operations.
Abu Sisi also said he regretted all the information he gave to Hamas that now threatens the security of Israeli civilians, the report said.
Abu Sisi said that following Operation Cast Lead, when Hamas gunmen abandoned their positions in the face of advancing IDF troops, Ahmed Jabari, who heads Hamass military wing, Izzadin Kassam, and senior Hamas member Muhammad Def concluded that the organization had failed during the conflict, and appointed Abu Sisi to help set up a military academy.
Abu Sisi said he had been ordered to head the administration of the academy.
I prepared the management side of things for the new military academy, he said.
Hamas carried out an evaluation of its own performance and found that its decision-making processes had failed and that weapons had not been used correctly during battles, Abu Sisi said. It also found failures at the command and management levels.
He said under interrogation that he had received veiled death threats from top Hamas officials when he expressed a desire to leave the organization.
#1
ION RUSSIA TODAY > THE MILITARY WING OF HAMAS HAS [just] ANNOUNCED IT IS NO LONGER COMMITTED TO A CEASEFIRE WID ISRAEL.
Yoohoo, POTUS BAMMER, methinks you're up to bat -IMO HAMAS wants to see how deep you can hit the ball, in defense of Israel.
versus
* WORLD NEWS > HAS AL-QAEDA OPENED UP A NEW CHAPTER [front] ON SINAI PENINSULA?
* SAME > [Nigerian]ISLAMIST INSURGENCY MAY BE REACHING OUT TO AL-QAEDA ALLIES, for the purpose of initiating or setting up Jihad all across Africa.
* TOPIX > AL-QAEDA [AQAP aka AQIY] TAKES OVER THIRD YEMEN CITY, OR DID SALEHI'S REGIME JUST GIVE UP?
Proudly surrendering like France since 2011.
* * TOPIX > IRAN'S COVERT WAR WID ISRAEL IN CASPIAN [Iran-Armenia versus Israel-Azerbaijan].
Clearly a case of so-called "Strange Allies"???
versus
* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > STRATFOR DOESN'T AGREE WID US CLAIM OF KILLING OSAMA |STRATFOR DISPUTES OSAMA BIN LADEN KILLING IN ABBOTTOBAD.
Uh, uh, RETURN OF THE JEDI > "ITS A TRAP [fake]"!
ARTIC = Outside of the succession to power of #2 Ayman Zawahiri, the death or passing of Osama has had lttle to no effect on Al-Qaeda's, etc. operational tempo, agendum or activities.
#2
Dear Mr. Mossad
He's very sorry for belonging to the Muslim Brothers and Hamas, and for his activities in extending the range of rockets and setting up Hamas military operations. And would like to be excused from PE.
Defense Ministry in talks with Pentagon over equipment, including Humvee combat vehicles for IDF Ground Forces, surplus weapons.
The Defense Ministry is in talks with the Pentagon about the possibility of buying American military equipment that will be retired following the US withdrawal from Iraq. The advantage in purchasing used military equipment from the US is the price, which is dramatically lower than buying the same equipment new.
The IDF Ground Forces Command is looking to renew its aging fleet of Humvee combat vehicles with ones that the US will be phasing out as it reduces its troop numbers in Iraq and Afghanistan. Israel is also interested in acquiring surplus weapons and ammunition the US will no longer require following the withdrawals. "It seems that in some cases it is cheaper to sell to other countries than to transport back to the US or bases in Europe," one defense official said.
#1
The cost of shipping the weapons and ammo and vehicle units back to the US is a matter of weight in transit apparently.
So say the cost is X by weight and Israel, a good customer with ready cash is willing to buy all that used stuff, for X give or take a few bucks. A big stack of thousands of perfectly good Have at Thee, hardly used and all the parts interchangeable...sold by the pound. The US gets the cash and saves the same amount by not shipping it all anywhere. The Israelis load it up and take it back and wash it and paint it and repair it with parts from other parts. New equipment plus the warehouse of spares and parts. A very nice done deal.
What was wrong with Operation Cast Lead was that they didnt finish the JOB and Hamas is so nyah nyah cocky stupid they think there will never be a "next time" and there always is. Israel is too soft and gentle and forgiving and always seems to think that the world will love or likee them ( when it never will ) if they temporise and hesitate about collecting every Hamas they find and forgetting about taking prisoners. Just keep the Press out, do the killing thoroughly, play Duello and get the JOB done.
The reason war works is that there are no more of your enemies if you do the job right. Tarawa was a success for only one reason. When it was over there were NO more Japanese on the island except as oily smoke.
This isnt a philosophical theory, its good business. A JOB done right. DO the job.
Posted by: de Medici ||
08/20/2011 8:49 Comments ||
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Good morning, President Obama Carter. Welcome to 1979. Sadly, no Reagan waits in the wings this time to save us.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
08/20/2011 12:02 Comments ||
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#4
Frank -- deleted the dupe and moved this to WoT Politix.
AoS
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/20/2011 14:14 Comments ||
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#5
thx
Posted by: Frank G on the road ||
08/20/2011 14:19 Comments ||
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#6
Oddly enough, they probably are spies. The question is who are they working for? Typically, their residency and citizenship would be for any other country than that of their employer.
For example, the Soviet Union had a huge Canadian interest office, to conduct operations in the US.
#7
It is a hostage situation. Iran wants something in order to let them go. And yes, they are acting like Russians (the Iranians).
Hikers on THAT border? Plausible. Very beautiful place it is. Snatched over the border the hikers were. Iranians pulled these guys in from another country. That's where the file for the court needs to begin.
[An Nahar] Prime Minister Najib Miqati has called for consolidating the nation against the repercussions of the upheaval in Syria.
During the Iftar of al-Makassed Islamic Foundation on Thursday, Miqati said: "Everyone reject bloodshed and support reforms."
"Let us become an example in not meddling in the affairs of others the same way we used to ask for noninterference in our affairs," he said in his speech.
"Ties between Leb and Syria have a certain particularity and we should consolidate them by not interfering in the affairs of others," Miqati said.
His remarks seemed to be hinting at statements made by March 14 Those are the good guys, insofar as Leb has good guys... -led opposition officials who have stressed support to Syrian demonstrators and slammed the Assad regime for cracking down on its people.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/20/2011 00:00 ||
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Link ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
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.
[Dawn] The leaders of anti-Taliban Adezai Qaumi Lashkar have alleged that provincial government has stopped supporting their volunteers and left them at the mercy of
President Asif Ali 
Interior Minister 
On a day when at least 30 people were killed across the city, a depressed home minister said: "Today is not a good day for the Sindh government, police and other law-enforcement agencies."
An alarming increase in the dumping of corpses by the roadside in different parts of the city has been witnessed this year, said police and rescue workers.
[Ennahar] Former Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz, who was sentenced to death, asked the Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to speed his execution because of his deteriorating health, said Wednesday his lawyer.
Najib Miqati
