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Colombia Farc rebel radio station 'shut down' by army
Today's Headlines
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Good morning
Posted by: Fred || 11/21/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Happy Birthday/Daily Gam Shot

Nicollette Sheridan aka Edie Britt in "Desperate Housewives (TV Series 2004– )" aka Paige Matheson in "Knots Landing (TV Series 1979–1993)" aka Allison Page / Sally Jones in "Beverly Hills Ninja" aka Veronique Ukrinsky, Agent 3.14 in "Spy Hard" aka Brooke Ashton in "Noises Off..." aka Izabel Sauvestre in "Raw Nerve" aka Misty in ".com for Murder" aka Carrie in "Lost Treasure" aka Diane in "Code Name: The Cleaner" (age 49)



Nice dog

Hey, get your car washed today
Fill up and you don't have to pay
Hey, get your car washed today
Fill it up, right away

Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 11/21/2011 1:00 Comments || Top||

#2  Happy Birthday/Daily Gam Shot 11/20

Ming-Na (Macau) aka Dr. Jing-Mei Chen in "ER" aka Chun-Li Zang in "Street Fighter" aka June - The Daughter in "The Joy Luck Club" aka Han in "Terminal Voyage" aka Katie Chun in "Hong Kong 97" aka Mimi Carlyle in "One Night Stand" aka Katy Woo in "Teddy Bears' Picnic" aka Dr. Elisha Crowe in "Prom Night" aka U.S. Senator Alice Wen in "Eureka (TV Series 2006– )" (age 48)


Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 11/21/2011 1:10 Comments || Top||

#3  Nicollette Sheridan seems delightfully skanky/slutty. Ming-Na looks wonderfully sexy. Nice point-counterpoint.
Posted by: Scooter McGruder || 11/21/2011 1:27 Comments || Top||

#4  Happy 33rd birthday to Nadine E. Velazquez (actually yesterday but we didn't have a Good Morning post that day). Her break out role was to play the part of Catalina on "My Name is Earl" (in which she plays the part beautifully in every way).

She has been in Stuff and Maxim many times. Here's a picture that you should not look at if you have a weak heart.
Posted by: Lord Garth || 11/21/2011 8:17 Comments || Top||

#5  GB, I'm overwhelmed by Good Morning today--"watch your heart" warning is appropriate. Thanks. Goes well with the morning coffee as a first stop at RB.
Posted by: JohnQC || 11/21/2011 9:41 Comments || Top||

#6  IF it's a slow day tomorrow, you might like to post this.

UK Labour’s guilty secret: its support for Soviet religious persecution
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 11/21/2011 17:40 Comments || Top||

#7  Dog? What dog? I don' see no dog.....
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 11/21/2011 21:48 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
Protest flares in east Afghanistan against US deal
SURKHROD, Afghanistan: Around 1,000 people, mostly talibs students, took to the streets in eastern Afghanistan on Sunday to protest against plans for a long-term partnership deal with the United States, which they fear could lead to an extended presence of US troops.

Afghan political and community leaders endorsed the idea of a strategic partnership, with some caveats, after a 2,000-strong national gathering, or loya jirga, which ended on Saturday.

The demonstrators gathered just outside the capital of eastern Nangarhar province and burned an effigy of US President Barack Obama as they protested against the prospect of US troops remaining in Afghanistan.

“We are totally against any American presence in Afghanistan, they kill our people in their arbitrary operations,” said university talib student Mohammad Tahir Qane.

Other talibs protesters carried banners and shouted “death to America, death to American slaves.”
Posted by: Steve White || 11/21/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Africa North
Coffins run out as the battle for Egypt’s future rages in Tahrir Square once more
Posted by: tipper || 11/21/2011 19:41 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Egypt simply kills their "occupy" protesters.
Posted by: crosspatch || 11/21/2011 23:01 Comments || Top||


Egyptian officer killed in clashes with Sinai jihadi group
EL-ARISH, Egypt (Ma'an) -- An Egyptian officer was killed and another injured Monday as Egyptian security forces and a jihad boy Islamist group clashed in the Sinai city of El-Arish.

Security forces raided the home of a big shot in the "Jihadists and Takfiri
...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who must be killed...
movement in the Jisr al-Wadi neighborhood of El-Arish, a security source told Ma'an.
No need for Mahmoud the Weasel if they'd continued their former practice of openly spurning contact with their neighbors as not Muslim enough.
Militants opened fire on the security forces, who in turn fired back. One officer was killed and another injured in the exchange of gunfire.
Somebody give them the phone number of Rab Headquarters -- they aren't doing it right!
One jihad boy was jugged by police, while the leader managed to escape, a Ma'an correspondent said.
Nooooo! I realize they're Egyptian and it isn't their fault, but after that I really must lie down for a bit.
The man tossed in the clink by police was reportedly in possession of a handgun, grenades and electric detonators.

Egyptian security officials say the "Jihadists and Takfiris" movement follows Al-Qaeda intellectually and demands an end to any military or foreign presence in the Sinai peninsula.

Muhammad Eid Musleh Hamad, also known as Muhammad al-Teehi, was jugged last week by Egyptian security forces. He is accused of planning the deadly attacks in Israeli border city Eilat in August, as well as a number of attacks in the Egyptian peninsula, a Ma'an correspondent reported.

Saboteurs blew up the gas pipeline between Egypt, Israel and Jordan on Nov. 10 in the Northern Sinai using remote controlled bombs, forcing it to shut down, Egyptian security sources said.

Forces launched a security sweep in August to root out suspected Islamist gangs and, according to security sources at the time, captured four Islamist cut-throats as they prepared to blow up a pipeline in El-Arish.
Rooters adds:
One Egyptian policeman was killed and one injured during a raid on an armed Islamist group suspected of involvement in pipeline bombings that have disrupted gas supplies to Israel and Jordan, the state news agency reported Monday.

The pipeline in the desert peninsula of Sinai has been attacked seven times this year as authorities have struggled to maintain control, especially since security was disrupted by the overthrow of Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak
...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011...
in February.

The policeman was rubbed out when his unit approached the hiding place of two members of the armed Islamist group Al-Takfir Wa Al-Hijra (Excommunication and Exodus), news agency MENA reported, citing security sources.

Police set to sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark dock, in a pestilential prison with a life-long lock an Egyptian of Paleostinian origin named Nour Mohamed who was accused of firing shots during the raid.
Posted by: || 11/21/2011 12:56 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Egypt: 'At least 12 dead in Tahrir Square protests'
At least 12 people were killed in clashes between security forces and crowds protesting against Egypt's ruling military council in some of the worst violence since the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak.

With just a week before voting in the first free parliamentary election in decades, the confrontations in the capital Cairo and other cities raised worries about how smooth voting will be.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 11/21/2011 01:37 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Once more into the breach
Death toll now reported more than 22

Posted by: tipper || 11/21/2011 7:23 Comments || Top||

#2  33 now
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 11/21/2011 8:10 Comments || Top||


Imam Shahin announces deal, police will pull out of Tahrir, youth will sit-in
[Al Ahram] 3:15am: Imam Mazhar Shahin, the revolution's preacher who led Friday prayers since the outbreak of the revolution and a harsh critic of the old regime, announces via microphone in the squarethat he brokered a deal with government whereby police will cease attempts to break sit-in, youth will form popular committees to secure square , and an end to bloodshed.

2:35am: Numbers in Tahrir halved in the last hour. Thousands still holding square.

2:20am: Young protesters hurl molotov cocktail bombs at police from a buildig roof on Mohamed Mahmoud street to relieve protesters confronting security forces firing rubber bullets and tear gas below. A protester catches fire from a molotov bomb but quickly saved by comrade.

2:15am: Mazhar Shahin Imam of Omar Makram mosque in Tahrir square said on ONTV that he brokered a deal between protestors, the army and the Police. According to Shahin the Police will back up from the outskirsts of Tahrir square while the protestors will refrain of trying to attack the Ministry of interior, while army vehicles will act as a buffer between protestors and the police. It is still unclear if all the groups of protestors will accept the deal.

2:08am: Activists identify green lazer beams that police use when snipers are mobilised.

2:02am: Protesters chant against Tantawi and call for the military council to depart.

1:50am: Battle rages at two entrances to Tahrir. Reports that the police has attacked one of the two field hospitals in the square and demolished it for the second time today. Doctors are making phone calls to divert cases to near by hospitals such as Kasr El-Aini 10 minutes off Tahrir.

1:30am: Police are firing tear gas from Falaki square - 200 meters northeast of the square into the area. Gas is rising and filling up apartment buildings on Tahrir street whch leads into the square.

1:15am: Former presidential candidate Aiman Nour tells ONTV that the army today behaved like Mubarak's repressive forces and it feels that the former Minister of Interior Habib El-Adly is not in jail but actually free and reining repression on the people like the old days.

1:00am: Field hospital outside of KFC in the square continues to treat protesters suffering from gas tear and rubber bullets.

12:15am: Around fifty thousand protesters are still in Tahrir. Clashes still ongoing at Tahrir Street and Mohamed Mahmoud street leading to the Ministry of Interior between protesters and military police

12:04am:Ministry of health raises count of dead to 10 and injured to over 1700 after two days of festivities.

10:30pm: Ministry of health raises count of dead to 6 and injured to over 1000 after two days of festivities.

10:27pm: Protesters continue to hold off police at Mohamed Mahmoud street off square.

10:11pm: The president of the influential Journalist syndicate, Mamdouh El-Wali, defends the people's right to protest, condemns violence against news hounds and protesters by authorities, and announces that the entire board of the syndicate demands the resignation of the government of Essam Sharaf.

9:55pm: Crowds in Tahrir demand that military council give up power. "The People want the field marshal out!", "Depart means go! What do you not understand?"

9:45pm: Egyptian state tv releases the first statement issued by SCAF following the failed attempt
Curses! Foiled again!
of security forces to evacuate protesters from Tahrir in which the council calls on all political parties and youth groups to assist the council in containing the situation in Tahrir.

9:40pm: Numbers increase in the square. Tens of thousands roar in Tahrir against military council. "Speak up, do not be scared - the council must depart", We will defend the revolution till death" and other chants.

9:18pm: Presidential hopeful Mohamed El-Baradei releases a statement condemning government violence in dispersing Tahrir protesters, supports demands of stopping military trials against civilians and the formation of a salvation government with full jurisdiction.

8:53pm: Protest in front of the security directorate headquarters in the city of Qena, in solidarity with Tahrir protesters.

8:21pm: Police firing tear gas at the protest in front of the Alexandria police headquarters in Semouha. Residents in close buildings can hear the screams and chants, smell the tear gas.
Posted by: Fred || 11/21/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Tidbits on the capture of Seif al-Islam
New tidbits on the capture of Seif:
"The final act of the Libyan drama," as a spokesman for the former rebels put it, began in the blackness of the Sahara night, when a small unit of fighters from the town of Zintan, acting on a tip-off, intercepted Seif Al-Islam and four armed companions driving in a pair of 4x4 vehicles on a desert track.

It ended, after a 300-mile flight north on a cargo plane, with the London-educated younger Qaddafi held in a safe house in Zintan and the townsfolk vowing to keep him safe until he can face a judge in the capital.

His captors said he was "very scared" when they first recognized him, despite the heavy beard and enveloping Tuareg robes and turban he wore. But they reassured him and, by the time a Reuters correspondent spoke to him aboard the plane, he had been chatting amiably to his guards.

"He looked tired. He had been lost in the desert for many days," said Abdul Al-Salaam Al-Wahissi, a Zintan fighter involved in the operation. "I think he lost his guide."
Posted by: Steve White || 11/21/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  First paragraph reads like the RAB boilerplate, don't it?
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 11/21/2011 21:49 Comments || Top||


Libyan spy chief captured
TRIPOLI: Abdullah Al-Senussi, Libya's feared former intelligence chief, was cornered and captured at a remote desert homestead on Sunday, a day after Muammar Qaddafi's son was seized by Libyan fighters in the same region.

A commander of former rebel forces nominally loyal to the National Transitional Council (NTC), General Ahmed Al-Hamdouni, told Reuters that his men, acting on a tip, had found and surrounded Senussi at a house belonging to his sister near the town of Birak, about 500 km (300 miles) south of Tripoli and in the same general area as Seif Al-Islam was seized on Saturday.

NTC spokesman Abdul Hafez Ghoga later confirmed that Senussi, who is Seif Al-Islam's uncle by marriage, had been captured. It was not immediately clear if the arrests were linked, though there has been speculation since the fall of Tripoli three months ago that the pair were hiding together.

Fighters who intercepted Seif Al-Islam on a desert road in the early hours of Saturday said they believed one of his companions was also a nephew of Senussi, whose wife is a sister of Muammar Qaddafi's second wife Safiya.

Like Muammar Qaddafi, who was captured and killed on the coast a month ago on Sunday, Seif Al-Islam and Senussi were indicted this year by the International Criminal Court for alleged plans to kill protesters after the Arab Spring revolt erupted in February.

But NTC officials have said they can convince the ICC to let them try both men in Libya. Ghoga said NTC members meeting on Sunday had confirmed that preference, as did the current justice minister -- although legal experts point out that international law demands Tripoli make a strong case for the right to try anyone who has already been indicted by the ICC.
Possession is 9/10ths, folks. The accused are Libyan nationals and the new Libyan government is internationally recognized as such. It's their business unless they choose to involve the ICC.
Given the state of Libya's legal system after 42 years of dictatorship, as well as the depth of feelings after this year's civil war, the ICC may not agree. Its chief prosecutor is expected in Libya this week.
Can you say, 'persona non grata'?
While the ICC, backed by a UN resolution, can demand Libya hand over the prisoners, many Libyans are keen to see them tried for alleged crimes committed over decades, well beyond the scope of the ICC charges relating to this year only. And many also want them hanged, something barred at The Hague.
And that's exactly why the Euros want them--hanging is icky, you see.
Among other old wounds, Senussi is suspected of a key role in the killing of more than 1,200 inmates at Tripoli's Abu Salim prison in 1996. It was the arrest of a lawyer for victims' relatives that sparked Libya's Arab Spring revolt in February. And many of the dead were members of Islamist groups which are expected to be a major political force in a democratic Libya.

The case of Senussi, long the elder Qaddafi's right-hand man and enforcer, may also revive interest in international incidents long shrouded in mystery, from the days in the 1980s and 90s when Qaddafi's Libya waged undercover war on the West. Senussi's name has been linked with the Lockerbie bombing of 1988. He was among six Libyans convicted in absentia in Paris of bringing down a French UTA airliner a year later.
Posted by: Steve White || 11/21/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Caribbean-Latin America
Colombia Farc rebel radio station 'shut down' by army
(BBC) - Colombia's army says it has shut down the main radio station operated by the Farc rebels, after 15 years on air. Troops captured transmitters and other broadcast equipment when they overran a guerrilla camp in the Meta region.

The rebel radio station Voice of Resistance broadcast the Farc's revolutionary message across large areas of eastern and central Colombia. The army also disrupted its broadcasts last year, but the left-wing rebels got the station back on air.

Troops found the clandestine broadcasting operation in a rebel base protected by some 60 improvised bombs, the army said. The captured equipment included microphones, computers, amplifiers, a mixing console and a generator.

'Indoctrination'
"This is a powerful blow to the Farc terrorist group, as this broadcaster was an important tool for the hard boys' daily work," the army said in a statement. "For more than a decade it has been fundamental for the political indoctrination of Farc members as well as for broadcasting strong criticism of the institutions of state," it added.

The capture of the radio operation comes two weeks after the Farc leader Alfonso Cano was killed by the security forces. He has been replaced by Rodrigo Londono - better known by his alias Timochenko.

The Farc (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia)
FARC or FARC-EP, is either a Marxist-Leninist revolutionary guerrilla organization or a narco mob based in Colombia. It claims to represent the rural poor in a struggle against Colombia's wealthier classes, and opposes United States influence in Colombia, neo-imperialism, monopolization of natural resources by multinational corporations, and the usual raft of complaints. It funds itself principally through ransom kidnappings, taxation of the drug trade, extortion, shakedowns, and donations. It has lately begun calling itself Bolivarian and is greatly admired by Venezuela's President-for-Life Chavez, who seemingly fantasizes about living in the woods and kidnapping people himself. He provides FARC with safe areas along the border.
are the country's oldest and biggest rebel group.

The have been fighting to impose a Marxist revolution since the 1960s.
Once upon a time that was the cutting edge political app, back in the days when punch cards were a radical improvement on paper tape.
Over the past decade they have suffered a series of setbacks, losing thousands of fighters and several of their top commanders. But they remain a powerful force in large areas of rural Colombia, thanks in part to money gained from cocaine production and trafficking.
Posted by: trailing wife || 11/21/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  You can't locate a radio station by direction-finding? Huh.
Posted by: gromky || 11/21/2011 0:14 Comments || Top||


Death in Durango: Toll in Mass Graves Rises to 280
For a map, click here. For a map of Durango state click here
To read the last Rantburg report on the Durango mass graves, click here

Another seven unidentified skeletons were exhumed Saturday in Durango state, according to Mexican news accounts.

The bodies were discovered in in the village of Leona Vicario in San Juan del Rio municipality which is about 115 kilometers north of the capital, Durango.

The newly discovered dead brings the death toll in the several graves in and around Durango to 280, the worst mass grave in modern Mexican history.

Starting last April and lasting throughout the past early summer, Mexican Army units had been working to exhume bodies from 13 separate locations in Durango state including the cities of Durango, Santiago Papasquiario, Cuencame and Ciudad Lerdo.

The Durango Fiscalia General Estado (FGE) or attorney general's office reported early on in the investigation that many of the dead were killed as far back as four years ago. Many of the early discovered dead had been buried alive.

To date of the 280 dead found only 25 have been identified and claimed by relatives.
Posted by: badanov || 11/21/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Home Front: WoT
Round-up: Naturalized jihadi charged in foiled New York City bomb plot
Well done, NYPD Intelligence Department!
(AFP) - New York authorities announced Sunday they had arrested and charged a US Al-Qaeda sympathizer in a plot to build a pipe bomb to kill government workers, elected officials and others.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg said 27-year-old Jose Pimentel was targeting police, postal facilities and others and said he was a "lone wolf" without affiliation to foreign terrorist organizations.

City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said Pimentel, though not affiliated with an outside group, was a follower of slain radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaqi, who was killed in a US raid earlier this year.

Kelly said Pimentel, a native of the Dominican Republic who was a US citizen, had followed a online magazine from Awlaqi including an article "How to make a bomb in the kitchen of your mom."

Pimentel "talked about killing US servicemen returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, particularly US army and marine corps personnel. He talked about bombing post offices in and around Washington Heights and police cars in New York City, as well as a police station in New Jersey," the police chief said.
AP adds:
The charges accuse him of conspiracy going back at least a year, first-degree criminal possession of a weapon as a crime of terrorism, and soliciting support for a terrorist act.
The New York Times adds more detail:
Mr. Pimentel, who is also known as Muhammad Yusuf, will face charges that include criminal possession of a weapon in the first degree as a crime of terrorism, which is considered an A-1 violent felony.

Mr. Pimentel made incriminating statements to an informant who was working with the Police Department, investigators said, and those conversations were recorded.

"He was in the process of building three pipe bombs," the law enforcement official said. "We weren't going to wait around to figure out what  he wanted do with his bombs. He was in Harlem about an hour from actually assembling the bombs," but had all the "unassembled components ready to go."
Including nails for shrapnel.

And from CNN:
The police commissioner identified the suspect as a follower of Anwar al-Awlaki. Pimental allegedly tried to contact al-Awlaki directly, but never got a response.

Pimentel had been monitored by authorities since 2009 and his extreme positions "made some of his like-minded friends nervous," said Kelly.
I am truly grateful the CIA taught the NYPD all that spy stuff that the New York Times, et al were fussing about a few months ago.
His aim, the police commissioner said, was to show there were "mujahedeen" -- or Islamic militants -- in the city ready to wage "jihad."
And so he has done.
He was arrested at 3:30 p.m. Saturday in an apartment in Washington Heights, a neighborhood in northern Manhattan, after he began to drill holes in the would-be pipe bomb, Kelly said.
Update -- even more from the NY Post, summarized:
The unemployed pothead converted to Islam in 2009 in while living in Schenectady, NY, where he caught the eye of local police. After he started beating his wife to encourage her to join him in conversion, and forcing their child to watch jihadi videos, she took the child and left. Following his return to NYC, his mother threw him out because of his radicalism, so he moved in with an uncle. The Schenectady police tipped off the NYPD, who apparently bugged the uncle's apartment for sound and video,
Somebody got to watch him scrape the sulfur heads off of 700 matches...
put a tap on his computer, and sent an informant
*ring, ring* "Mahmoud the Weasel, at your service!"
to be his friend. Like Santa Claus, the police know where he's been, what he's done, read, and posted on his website since he moved back to New York. Our lad confessed all, insisting that "Islamic law obligated all true Muslims to wage war against the United States."
The wonder being how few have acted on that obligation, and how many of those were lone wolves. You'd think the Muslim community would be trumpeting that with pride.
According to Mayor Bloomberg, this is the fourteenth jihadi plot against New York City since 9/11.
This article starring:
Anwar al-Awlaki
Jose Pimentel
Posted by: trailing wife || 11/21/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


'Lone Wolf' Muslim terrorist arrested in NYC
The New York Police Department has foiled an alleged terror plot targeting law enforcement and soldiers returning from the battlefield.

Jose Pimentel, 27, of Washington Heights, New York, was arrested yesterday at his apartment. The charges include conspiracy, first-degree criminal possession of a weapon as a crime of terrorism, and soliciting support for a terrorist act. He was to be arraigned later Sunday.

He was believed to be acting as a 'lone wolf', New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said during a press conference tonight. Mayor Bloomberg said Pimentel was 'plotting to bomb police patrol cars and also postal facilities as well as targeted members of our armed services returning from abroad.'

The NYPD's counter-terrorism unit has been tracking Pimentel since May 2009, when he began discussing his terror plans.

Pimentel, an unemployed American citizen originally from the Dominican Republic, had converted to Islam and was allegedly inspired by Al-Qaida - namely radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki. He had converted to Islam and was going to change his name to Osama Hussein, the name of his two heroes, Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein, Mayor Bloomberg said.

The date of his alleged attack was not immediately clear.

Pimentel was reportedly able to build three pipe bombs using instructions found in an article in the online terror magazine Inspire. The magazine featured an article entitled, 'How to build a bomb in the kitchen of your mom.'

He also intended to test the effectiveness of the bombs by placing them in mailboxes and detonating them.

His terror plot intensified from talk to action with the dealth of Awlaki, Inspire's publisher, in September. Commissioner Kelly said: 'What set him off was the elimination of Anwar al-Awlaki on September 30.'

Bloomberg said: 'This is just another example of New York City because we are an iconic city... this is a city that people would want to take away our freedoms gravitate to and focus on.'
Posted by: Steve White || 11/21/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  FYI I'm more interested in the whereabouts of his family, espec Father + Uncles.

But I digress ...
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 11/21/2011 1:04 Comments || Top||

#2  The arrestee's blog is here. He has images of his favorite Jihadists here.

His website probably won't be up much longer.
Posted by: Lord Garth || 11/21/2011 8:47 Comments || Top||

#3  Good find, Lord Garth. A rogue's gallery of Lions of Islam -- apparently that's the common description, not just another little Rantburg joke.
Posted by: trailing wife || 11/21/2011 10:40 Comments || Top||

#4  His website probably won't be up much longer.

Just downloaded it...
Posted by: badanov || 11/21/2011 12:08 Comments || Top||

#5  Even if the website disappears, it will be found here
Posted by: badanov || 11/21/2011 12:50 Comments || Top||

#6  per the AP, the Feds were invited to participate in the criminal investigation of Mr. Pimentel but declined to do so.
Posted by: Lord Garth || 11/21/2011 15:44 Comments || Top||

#7  Cleric Anwar al-Awlak was a bad influence on some dim-witted folks. Reminds that it was a good thing that he received his due.
Posted by: Hank || 11/21/2011 22:29 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
People flee Kurram amid heavy shelling
[Dawn] [Dawn] At least 10 Death Eaters were killed and several others injured as helicopter gunships pounded hideouts of Death Eaters for hours on Saturday in different areas of Upper Kurram Agency.
...home of an intricately interconnected web of poverty, ignorance, and religious fanaticism, where the laws of cause and effect are assumed to be suspended, conveniently located adjacent to Tora Bora...
Taliban strongholds and hideouts in Adokhel, Mir Kalamkhel, Jabba, Sama Bazaar and Mamozai came under attack. The shelling was so intense at times that people started leaving their areas.

The large-scale shelling continued for the fifth day running in Mamozai, forcing hundreds of people to leave their homes and move to safe areas.

Syed Zamin, a primitive who decamped Mamozai, told journalists that the situation in Sama Bazaar, Arghanjo, Mir Kalamkhel, Adokhel, Jabba, Khunzadgan Kalli and other areas was serious and continued shelling by helicopters and artillery had forced people to hide in bunkers and other safe places in their houses.

He said that during a break in the shelling a large number of people started fleeing the areas, adding that displaced people were facing great hardship because all key routes had been closed by security forces.

Several hideouts were destroyed and a cut-thoat training centre was also razed. Four hideouts were destroyed in Akhun Kot area in a clash and a huge cache of arms was seized.

According to security sources, 10 Death Eaters were killed and several others injured in the shelling.
Posted by: Fred || 11/21/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: TTP


Prayer leader shot dead
[Dawn] A prayer leader was rubbed out while his lover companion sustained serious injuries when unknown motorcyclists opened fire on them while going to a mosque to offer prayer on Saturday night. The incident occurred at Shaidu. Following the killing of the religious leader, Maulana Abdullah Haqqani, residents of the area blocked the GT road for some time. Maulana Abdullah Haqqani died while being taken to hospital.

When the news of his murder spread residents came out of their houses and blocked the GT road in protest. The villagers said Mr Abdullah Haqqani was against the militancy.
Posted by: Fred || 11/21/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: TTP


Two 'militants' among four killed in Khyber
[Dawn] Four persons including two suspected Death Eaters were killed on Saturday in two
separate incidents in Khyber Agency.

Official sources said that unidentified gunnies rubbed out two suspected Death Eaters in Akkakhel area of Bara. They said that suspected Death Eaters were riding a cycle of violence when then were attacked by the gunnies.

The attackers managed to escape after the incident.

Local sources in Tirah said that two rustics were killed when a mortar shell fell on a house in Toor Toot area on Saturday.

"The locality is situated near the border with Orakzai and Kurram agencies where security forces are targeting bad boy positions with heavy artillery and tanks," they said. A number of artillery shells have reportedly fell in the fields and deserted places in the area.

In Bannu, suspected Death Eaters blew up a link bridge and a house in different areas on Saturday.

In the first incident, Death Eaters planted improvised bomb at the house of Gul Azad in the limits of Saddar cop shoppe. The device went off with a big bang and damaged the boundary wall, doors and windowpanes of the house.

The blast was followed by another kaboom in the limits of Hooveed cop shoppe where Death Eaters planted a bomb at a bridge and detonated it. The bridge was partially damaged in the blast.

In Lakki Marwat, a house was damaged when a bomb went kaboom! in Darra Pezu Town late on Friday night.

Sources said that an bomb was planted outside the house of Chaudhry Aslam that went off late in the night and damaged the main gate and a portion of the boundary wall of his residence.

Chaudhry Aslam, a businessman, is an active member of the town's welfare and peace body.

In Bajaur Agency, aka Turban Central, a tribal elder and leader of Salarzai Peace Committee beat feet unhurt in a roadside kaboom on Saturday.

Locals and political officials said that Malak Gul Akbar along with another associate was coming from Pashat area to his home
in Danqool area of tehsil Salarzai. When he reached near his home a remote controlled bomb planted by unidentified persons went kaboom! with a bang. However,
a clean conscience makes a soft pillow...
Malak Gul Akbar survived while his other aide sustained injuries. He was taken to hospital.

No group has grabbed credit for the attack. The peace committee volunteers launched search operation in the area soon after the incident.

Meanwhile,
...back at the chili cook-off, Chuck and Manuel's rivalry was entering a new and more dangerous phase...
security forces in a crackdown nabbed more than 12 tribal people in connection with blowing up of a government primary school in Danqool area under collective territorial responsibility clause of FCR.

On the other hand Salarzai rustics have decided to set up peace committees for security of school buildings and heath centres in different areas of the region. Each committee will consist of 10 armed volunteers.
Posted by: Fred || 11/21/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: TTP


Police arrest criminals involved in attack on Saudi Consulate
[Dawn] The crime branch of Bloody Karachi police has incarcerated four bully boyz belonging to a banned outfit, who were involved in a grenade attack on the Saudi Consulate in Bloody Karachi, DawnNews reported on Sunday.

One of the members of the outfit was injured and incarcerated during a shootout in another incident.

According to the SSP crime branch, Farooq Awan, the police conducted a raid early morning in the Eid Gah area and incarcerated three suspects named, Zaki, Mohsin and Muhammad Ali Kazmi. During the interrogation, the incarcerated suspects confessed their links to Lashkar-e-Mehdi -- a banned outfit -- and admitted attacking the Saudi embassy and a mosque at Sakhi Hassan.

They also stated that eight hit mans, incarcerated by the special investigation unit earlier this year, were a part of their gang.

During interrogation, they pointed out one of their accomplice in the Gulistan-e-Jauhar area. The police incarcerated injured Asif alias Munna after a shootout in the area. The maimed culprit was shifted to a hospital.
Posted by: Fred || 11/21/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Pakistan


Nato containers torched near Dasht area
[Dawn] Gunmen on Sunday torched three trucks carrying supplies for NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions...
troops in Afghanistan in the southwestern Pak province of Balochistan
...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it...
, officials said.

Gunmen on a cycle of violence fired at the vehicles and then set them on fire after pouring petrol on them in the Dasht suburb of the picturesque provincial capital Quetta, local police official Ismail Sumalani told AFP.

There were no casualties in the attack, which happened when the trucks had stopped at a roadside tea stall, he said.

No group has grabbed credit for the attack but the Taliban has in the past said they carried out similar attacks to disrupt supplies for more than 130,000 US-led international troops fighting in Afghanistan.

Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked hard boyz frequently launch attacks on NATO supply vehicles in the northwest and southwest regions of Pakistain, which border landlocked Afghanistan.

Most supplies and equipment required by foreign forces in Afghanistan are shipped through Pakistain, although US troops increasingly use alternative routes through Central Asia.
Posted by: Fred || 11/21/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: TTP


About 150 politicians received death threats over text messages: Malik
[Dawn] About 150 members of Pakistain's parliament, provincial assemblies and senate have received anonymous text messages demanding that they resign or be killed, the interior minister said.

Two suspects from Larkana district in Sindh province are being held over the threats, 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.
told news hounds on Saturday, after help from the cyber crime wing of the Federal Investigation Agency.

"Threatening SMS were sent... asking them to resign or get killed," Malik said.

Pakistain is battling multiple insurgencies including Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked networks whose attacks are blamed for thousands of deaths in the past four years including those of several politicians.

An MP from northwestern Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa
... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central...
province, speaking on condition of anonymity
... for fear of being murdered...
, told AFP that he and colleagues regularly received such threats "by SMS and other means" but that he believed authorities dealt with them well.

"It is a routine, we get so many threats, but our institutions are tackling this issue very well. Many culprits have been jugged in the past for sending threatening messages," he said.
Posted by: Fred || 11/21/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Seven militants killed in Orakzai operation
[Dawn] Security forces clashed with armed Death Eaters in Orakzai Agency
... crawling with holy men, home to Darra Adam Khel, the world's largest illegal arms bazaar. 14 distinct tribes of beturbanned primitives inhabit Orakzai agency's 1500 or so square kilometers...
on Sunday, killing seven suspected myrmidons, DawnNews reported.

According to sources, hard boyz attacked an armed forces convoy, injuring a security personnel. Seven hard boyz were killed in retaliatory action by the forces.

Orakzai is one of the most lawless areas in Pakistain's northwest tribal region, which is made up of seven districts near the Afghan border.

The area is home to supporters of Pak Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud.

Security forces launched a major operation in the agency in March last year after hard boyz fled a sweeping offensive in the nearby tribal district of South Wazoo.
Posted by: Fred || 11/21/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: TTP


Militants set ablaze NATO oil tankers in Mastung
Some unidentified terrorists militants set ablaze on Sunday at least three NATO oil tankers by opening fire in western province of Balochistan, local media reported.

According to reports, terrorists attacked tankers carrying oil supplies for NATO troops stationed in Afghanistan in Dasht area of Mastung district of the province, IRNA reported. The terrorists gunmen were safely managed to escape from the spot after attack.

The sources said that levies forces rushed to the spot and cordoned off the area and launched a search operation in the area. No causalities were reported initially, the sources said. No terrorist group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Posted by: Steve White || 11/21/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Four arrested in murder of Saudi consulate official
ISLAMABAD: Police arrested four people on Sunday in connection with the murder of a Saudi Consulate’s official in Karachi. According to Clifton Police head Tariq Dharejo officials claim the suspects belong to banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi group.

Senior Superintendent of Police Farooq Awan confirmed that three suspects were arrested from the Arambagh area namely Zaki alias “Kamran Mohsin,” Mohammad Ali and Tehseen alias “Tabish.”

The fourth suspect was arrested from Gulistan-e-Jauhar area. The suspect was injured during the operation when he resisted arrest.

Police claim the detained men were involved in target killings, sectarian violence, murder and attempted murder among other charges.
Posted by: Steve White || 11/21/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Iraq
5 Iraqi policemen killed in Ramadi
ANBAR / Aswat al-Iraq: Five Iraqi policemen have been killed and 4 others were injured in an armed attack on a checkpoint in Ramadi city, the center of Anbar Province, along with 3 armed men that were also killed in the clash between both sides, an Anbar police source reported on Saturday.

"A group of armed men have attacked a checkpoint in Taamim district west of Ramadi, using light and middle-size weapons, killing 5 policemen and wounding 4 others, who were drive to hospital for treatment," the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

The police source said that "the police forces returned fire, killing 3 of the armed men, among those who launched the attack, whilst the police forces imposed a cordone around the area of the attack, searching for other attackers, who escaped for an unknown destination."

Ramadi, the center of Anbar Province, is 110 km to the west of Baghdad.
Posted by: Steve White || 11/21/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "[T]he police forces returned fire, killing 3 of the armed men, among those who launched the attack..."

Bravo!
Posted by: American Delight || 11/21/2011 8:41 Comments || Top||


2 Iraqi civilians killed in US Army fire
BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq: Two Iraqi civilians have been killed and 5 others injured in sporadic US Army fire on the main highway passing through west Baghdad's Yousifiya township, following an explosive charge blast on Saturday, a security source reported.

"An explosive charge blew off on the main highway passing through Yousifiya township, aimed at a US Army patrol that did not harm any of the patrol's soldiers," the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency, adding that the US troops opened sporadic fire on the passing cars, killing 2 persons and wounding 5 others."
Posted by: Steve White || 11/21/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Southeast Asia
One killed, ten injured in southern Thailand
Three monks, three policemen and three locals were slightly injured after an improvised bomb went off in front of a laundry in Pattani province on Monday morning.

The monks, guarded by three policemen, were collecting alms when the bomb, hidden under a flowerpot, was detonated by remote control when the group was about five meters away. The injured were rushed to the hospital. Police suspected the bomb was planted by terrorists insurgents with the aim of creating chaos in the region.

Pattani Deputy Governor Lertkiat Wongphopan later maintained that the attack on monks and monk-protection officers reflected the terrorists' insurgents' intention to discredit the Thai security force, as the incident took place on the route included in the security plan.

In neighboring Yala province, an explosion took place in a shack inside a banana plantation on Monday morning. Police found the body of Yako Ya-ngo, 55, in front of the shack. Nearby was a 70cm-deep 80cm-wide hole from the five-kg bomb impact and pieces of the metal box, electric wiring and the battery.

An investigation revealed that Yako, a security volunteer for Raman district, was inspecting his banana plantation when he stepped on the bomb and set it off. As Yako had been shot at twice before, police suspect terrorists insurgents were behind the attack, possibly the group led by suspected terrorist insurgent Kama Chaichana, who operates in the district and is wanted in connection with several cases.

Vegetable vendor injured in drive-by shooting

In Narathiwat province, a vegetable vendor was injured in a drive-by shooting. Bahari Salae, 22, was driving a pickup truck on a local road heading to a fresh market when he was shot by a man riding on the back of a motorcycle. The attackers then fled.

In Yala province, two power poles were brought down by explosives late on Sunday night but no one was wounded. Police received a report about the bombings at 7:30 a.m. An investigation showed that two electricity poles had been toppled and turned up evidence of two home-made bombs having been detonated by timers.

Villagers told police that the two blasts occurred about midnight, and the electricity supply was abruptly cut off. No one dared to go out to see what was happening. They reported it to police on Monday morning.

Police blamed terrorists militants for all the attacks .
Posted by: ryuge || 11/21/2011 05:32 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
CIA Spies Caught by Hezbollah
In a significant failure for the United States in the Mideast, more than a dozen spies working for the CIA in Iran and Lebanon have been caught and the U.S. government fears they will be or have been executed, according to four current and former U.S. officials with connections to the intelligence community.
Those are four officials who should be cashiered and lose their pensions. Never, EVER talk about this kind of stuff. It's always 'no comment'.
The spies were paid informants recruited by the CIA for two distinct espionage rings targeting Iran and the Beirut-based Hezbollah organization, considered by the U.S. to be a terror group backed by Iran.

"Espionage is a risky business," a U.S. official briefed on the developments told ABC News, confirming the loss of the unspecified number of spies over the last six months.

"Many risks lead to wins, but some result in occasional setbacks," the official said.

Robert Baer, a former senior CIA officer who worked against Hezbollah while stationed in Beirut in the 1980's, said Hezbollah typically executes individuals suspected of or caught spying.

"If they were genuine spies, spying against Hezbollah, I don't think we'll ever see them again," he said. "These guys are very, very vicious and unforgiving."

Other current and former officials said the discovery of the two U.S. spy rings occurred separately, but amounted to a setback of significant proportions in efforts to track the activities of the Iranian nuclear program and the intentions of Hezbollah against Israel.
Definitely shut up about this issue...
"Remember, this group was responsible for killing more Americans than any other terrorist group before 9/11," said a U.S. official. Attacks on the U.S. embassy and Marine barracks in Beirut in 1983 killed more than 300 people, including almost 260 Americans.

The U.S. official, speaking for the record but without attribution, gave grudging credit to the efforts of Iran and Hezbollah to detect and expose U.S. and Israeli espionage.

"Collecting sensitive information on adversaries who are aggressively trying to uncover spies in their midst will always be fraught with risk," said the U.S. official briefed on the spy ring bust.

But others inside the American intelligence community say sloppy "tradecraft" -- the method of covert operations -- by the CIA is also to blame for the disruption of the vital spy networks.

In Beirut, two Hezbollah double agents pretended to go to work for the CIA. Hezbollah then learned of the restaurant where multiple CIA officers were meeting with several agents, according to the four current and former officials briefed on the case. The CIA used the codeword "PIZZA" when discussing where to meet with the agents, according to U.S. officials. Two former officials describe the location as a Beirut Pizza Hut. A current US official denied that CIA officers met their agents at Pizza Hut.

From there, Hezbollah's internal security arm identified at least a dozen informants, and the identities of several CIA case officers.

Hezbollah then began to "roll up" much of the CIA's network against the terror group, the officials said.

One former senior intelligence official told ABC News that CIA officers ignored warnings that the operation could be compromised by using the same location for meetings with multiple assets.

"We were lazy and the CIA is now flying blind against Hezbollah," the former official said.
Again, don't talk about this. But IF it is true, some heads in Washington need to roll. Perhaps General Petreaus will wield the axe.
Posted by: Steve White || 11/21/2011 14:45 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Definitely shut up about this issue...

COMPLETELY AGREE
Posted by: Mikey Hunt || 11/21/2011 15:03 Comments || Top||

#2  clowns in action; and it has been thus in the middle east since the 70's; and 100's if not 1000's of Americans are dead because of these intel failures.
Posted by: blackjack || 11/21/2011 15:05 Comments || Top||

#3  Hezbollah or not Hezbollah, it typically takes time for a hostile or enemy spy ring to be "rolled up" en masse, which infers that these rings had been compromised but weren't aware of it.

Iff these operatives aren't executed, shot or beheaded, they'll likely be used as media fodder for Hezbollah's = Iran's anti-US, Zionist campaign.













Posted by: JosephMendiola || 11/21/2011 21:25 Comments || Top||

#4  Funny how folks can't shut up when someone puts a microphone or recorder in front of their face. They just cain't control that urge to look like they's an authority.
Posted by: Hank || 11/21/2011 22:19 Comments || Top||


Spies outed, CIA suffers at hands of Hezbollah in Lebanon
Posted by: Creregum Glolump8403 || 11/21/2011 07:17 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Not mentioned is that f-ing Russia has provided Hezbollah with a ton of counterespionage electronics, specifically to neutralize Israeli and US intelligence efforts in Lebanon.

At this point, the proper response from both Israel and the US should be to start systematically assassinating effective Hezbollah leaders.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 11/21/2011 8:36 Comments || Top||

#2  Something really stinks here. Far too much info. Sounds like a turf issue. 'Current and former' officials speaking like this should be garroted, not to put too fine a point on it.

One takeaway here is that the CIA was able to plant spies. I thought they were no longer capable. Many ways to view that.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike || 11/21/2011 9:23 Comments || Top||

#3  Any time you see this level of detail and bemoaning of lost assets, you ponder if its turf wars, payback to a rival by the loser outing the losses, or damage control, or the most devious of all, the verrification that a dangle asset(s)were snapped up to blunt CI efforts and you want to let them hear you howl as the dangle gets eaten, insulating your true penetration assets as they assume you are devastated.
The most devious and cold-blooded of all is to penetrate the CI system and then feed it meaningless assets to burrow it deeper and learn what valued resources are at risk.
Wilderness of Mirrors.......
Posted by: NoMoreBS || 11/21/2011 9:48 Comments || Top||

#4  Tradecraft and experience has suffered. Although it was not said, a reliance on drones has maybe diminished experience and tradecraft. The hyper-criticism by donks during the GWB admin. of such things as waterboarding, Gitmo, black sites, and Abu Ghraib and other clandestine activities had its effect. Maybe a turf battle. Maybe a battle to preserve budgets.
Posted by: JohnQC || 11/21/2011 10:31 Comments || Top||

#5  It's not just Russia that's introduced counter-espionage electronics to the area. We've given some to the Lebanese government. There are sometimes unintended consequences to that sort of assistance.
Posted by: Odysseus || 11/21/2011 11:29 Comments || Top||

#6  Or moles now far up the CIA chain stateside. Part of the US acceptance of "multiculturalism" thoughout the stateside ranks.
Posted by: Harry Dribble1924 || 11/21/2011 12:28 Comments || Top||

#7  Yet another example of Jimmy Carter decisions still getting people killed 30 years later. His shakeup of the intelligence community to put emphasis on technical intelligence and to gut human intelligence is the gift that has kept on giving for about 30 years now.

Posted by: crosspatch || 11/21/2011 13:08 Comments || Top||

#8  The sarcastic thought crossed my mind, "I wonder how many captured field agents were Elis?(Yale graduates)." Not any, I'd bet. Such people prefer nice offices in the US and clean shoes.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 11/21/2011 15:01 Comments || Top||


Syrian Forces Kill At Least 4 Civilians in Homs, Idlib
[An Nahar] Syrian security forces rubbed out at least four civilians on Sunday in Idlib province in the northwest and in Homs province in the center, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Among 17 dead on Saturday, the Britannia-based watchdog reported seven civilians killed in the Idlib town of Kfar Kharim, close to the Turkish border.

The Observatory also quoted a mutinous officer as saying that two army deserters "were killed in festivities with regular troops in Qusayr" in the restive central province of Homs.

Also in central Syria on Saturday, "deserters raked with gunfire a car carrying four members of the air force intelligence near the village of al-Mukhtara on the Salmiyeh-Homs road, killing everyone on board", the Observatory said.

The Observatory and another key Syrian opposition group, the Local Coordination Committees, reported that the ruling Baath party in Damascus
...Capital of the last overtly fascist regime in the world...
had been by hit several rocket-propelled grenades early on Sunday.

But an Agence La Belle France Presse news hound who went to the area found no trace of the attack while residents denied there had been kabooms.

Posted by: Fred || 11/21/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Deadline passes with no sign of Syria violence abating
[Al Ahram] An Arab League
...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing...
deadline for Syria came and went with Bashar defiantly continuing the brutal crackdown against opposition, but some point to signs that his end is inevitable

"The conflict will continue and the pressure to subjugate Syria will continue," Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad told Britannia's Sunday Times newspaper. "Syria will not bow down." The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 14 people were killed on Saturday by government security forces. On Friday dozens were reported killed in festivities.

The Arab League had on Wednesday set a Saturday deadline for Syria to comply with a peace plan which would entail a military pullout from around restive areas, and threatened sanctions if Assad failed to end the violence. The League, a group of Arab states, suspended Syria's membership in a surprise move last week.

Non-Arab Turkey, once an ally of Assad's, is also taking an increasingly tough attitude to Damascus
...Capital of the last overtly fascist regime in the world...
. Turkish newspapers said on Saturday Ankara had contingency plans to create no-fly or buffer zones to protect civilians in neighbouring Syria if the bloodshed worsens.

"It's almost certain that Bashir al-Assad's regime is going down, all the assessments are made based on this assumption. Foreign Ministry sources say that the sooner the regime goes down, the better for Turkey," one paper said.

"It is out of the question that Turkey carries out a military intervention to change the regime. However,
nothing needs reforming like other people's bad habits...
it takes a flexible stance on opposition groups running activities in Turkey."
Posted by: Fred || 11/21/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


No place for 'authoritarian regimes', Turkey tells Syria
[Al Ahram] Turkish President Abdullah Gul said there was "no place for authoritarian regimes" in the Mediterranean region, heaping more pressure on the embattled Syrian regime, in comments published Sunday.

"I strongly believe that there is no place any more for authoritarian regimes -- single party systems that do not have accountability or transparency -- on the shores of the Mediterranean," he told Britannia's Sunday Telegraph newspaper.

"As someone who has studied in the United Kingdom, lived in the United Kingdom, has this world view, President (Bashar al-) Assad should be able to understand this."

Gul was to arrive in Britannia later Sunday, where he will be undertaking a three-day state visit next week.

His comments, made before the expiry of an Arab League
...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing...
deadline at midnight Saturday (2200 GMT) for the Syrian government to halt a deadly crackdown on protesters, was the latest criticism of Assad's regime by Turkey.
Posted by: Fred || 11/21/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Tension in Jordan after death of Syria arms sale suspect
[Al Ahram] Angry relatives of a Jordanian who died in detention last week blocked a road to neighbouring Syria on Sunday, accusing authorities of killing him after he allegedly helped Syrians buy arms.

"We blocked the international road from (the border town) Ramtha to Syria to protest against an autopsy report and to demand a trial for the killers," Fathi Zubi, brother of Najem, a 20-year-old taxi driver who died in prison on Wednesday night, told AFP.

"We will continue our protests until the killers are identified," said Zubi, whose family belongs to one of the largest tribes in northern Jordan.

Zubi said his uncle, who is a physician, "attended the autopsy and said the cause of death was asphyxiation."

"According to my uncle, my brother was strangled. He did not hang himself as the report claimed," he added.

Residents in Ramtha, a town north of Amman, confirmed to AFP that the road has been blocked by large rocks and burning tyres.

Police front man Mohammad Khatib played down the incident, saying, "around 30 people blocked the road."

"The situation is currently being addressed by MPs, senators and others who are in talks with Zubi's family," Khatib said.

On Thursday, protesters in Ramtha torched the governor's offices, the courthouse and a police car before a riot squad broke up the demonstration using tear gas.

A Jordanian official, on condition of anonymity, said that day: "Najem took two Syrians, who had arrived in Jordan a few days earlier, to an arms dealer."

His mother insisted on Sunday, "My son Najem had a clean record."

"He was supposed to get a new job in the Civil Defence Department later this week. I do not understand why he was set to sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark dock, in a pestilential prison with a life-long lock," she told AFP.
Posted by: Fred || 11/21/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Assad vows no exit as Arab deadline passes
[Dawn] Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Trampler of Homs...
defiantly vowed to fight and die if needed as an Arab League
...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing...
deadline for his government to stop its lethal crackdown on protesters expired with 20 more people killed.

Upping the pressure on Syria, the vaporous Arab League on Sunday announced it had rejected amendments proposed by Damascus
...Capital of the last remaining Baathist regime in the world...
to its proposal to send a 500-strong delegation to monitor the violence in Syria.

And Turkish President Abdullah Gul said there was "no place for authoritarian regimes" in the Mediterranean region.

Among the dead on the weekend were four intelligence agents killed as gunnies raked their car with gunfire and two mutinous soldiers who died in festivities with regular troops in the central town of Shayzar, rights campaigners said.

The latest bloodletting added to the more than 3,500 killed since mid-March, and came despite the Saturday's midnight (2200 GMT) deadline which had been set by the Arab League for Assad to end the crackdown or face sanctions.

With rebel troops inflicting mounting losses on the regular army, Turkey and the United States have both raised the spectre of civil war as Russia called for restraint.

But in an interview with London's Sunday Times, conducted before the Arab League deadline lapsed, Assad said he was "definitely" prepared to fight and die for Syria if faced with foreign intervention.
"This goes without saying and is an absolute," he said.

The president said he felt sorrow for each drop of Syrian blood spilt but insisted Damascus must go after armed rebel gangs and enforce law and order.

"The conflict will continue and the pressure to subjugate Syria will continue," he said. "I assure you that Syria will not bow down and that it will continue to resist the pressure being imposed on it."

Assad accused the Arab League of creating a pretext for Western military intervention, which he said would trigger an "earthquake" across the Middle East.

Russia has staunchly resisted any attempt to invoke international involvement in the crisis, fearing it could clear the way for a Libya-style military campaign under a UN mandate.

"We are calling for restraint and caution. This is our position," Putin said a day after after his foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, had also likened the situation in Syria to a civil war.

Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak, meanwhile, said he felt Assad had reached "a point of no return" with a change of regime possible within months. Turkey's president rounded on one-time ally Syria.

"I strongly believe that there is no place any more for authoritarian regimes, single party systems that do not have accountability or transparency, on the shores of the Mediterranean," he told Britannia's Sunday Telegraph newspaper.

"As someone who has studied in the United Kingdom, lived in the United Kingdom, has this world view, President Assad should be able to understand this."

The Arab League, in a statement issued in Cairo, said it had rejected a Syrian request to make changes to a proposal to send 500 observers to Damascus to help implement a peace deal agreed earlier this month.

"It was agreed that the amendments and appendices proposed by the Syrian side affect the core of the document and would radically change the nature of the mission which is to oversee the implementation of the Arab plan to end the crisis in Syria and protect Syrian civilians," the statement said.

With the peace deal in tatters, the Arab League has already suspended Syria from the 22-member bloc and saw its deadline expire with no compliance from Assad's security forces.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said three non-combatants were killed in security force fire on Sunday in Idlib province in the northwest and in Homs province in the centre.

Among 17 dead on Saturday, the Britannia-based watchdog reported seven civilians killed in the Idlib town of Kfar Kharim, close to the Turkish border.

The Observatory also quoted a mutinous officer as saying that two army deserters "were killed in festivities with regular troops in Qusayr" in the restive central province of Homs.

Also in central Syria on Saturday, "deserters raked with gunfire a car carrying four members of the air force intelligence near the village of Al-Mukhtara on the Salmiyeh-Homs road, killing everyone on board", the Observatory said.

The Observatory and another key Syrian opposition group, the Local Coordination Committees, reported that the ruling Baath party in Damascus had been by hit several rocket-propelled grenades early on Sunday.

But an AFP news hound who went to the area found no trace of the attack while residents denied there had been kabooms.
Posted by: Fred || 11/21/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria



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Two weeks of WOT
Mon 2011-11-21
  Colombia Farc rebel radio station 'shut down' by army
Sun 2011-11-20
  Libya: 'the executioner' Abdullah al-Senussi captured
Sat 2011-11-19
  Saif al-Islam Gaddafi captured in Libya
Fri 2011-11-18
  Sufi Mohammad's sons acquitted by Swat ATC
Thu 2011-11-17
  Saleh again refuses to sign power transfer
Wed 2011-11-16
  Missile raid targeted top Shabaab leaders
Tue 2011-11-15
  Suspected suicide bomber killed near Afghan loya jirga site
Mon 2011-11-14
  Syria Calls for Urgent Arab Summit
Sun 2011-11-13
  Syrian brownshirts storm Saudi embassy
Sat 2011-11-12
  Iranian Terror Plot Against Bahrain Uncovered
Fri 2011-11-11
  Mexican minister who fought drug cartels killed in crash
Thu 2011-11-10
  Cash shortage threatens Pakistan flood aid
Wed 2011-11-09
  Kim Jong-il Death Rumors Rattle Markets
Tue 2011-11-08
  Syria Says U.S. behind 'Bloody Events', Urges Arab Help
Mon 2011-11-07
  19 Killed as Syrians Rally on Eid al-Adha

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