British troops supported Afghan forces during a three-day offensive in which 80 suspected Taleban fighters were killed in Helmand province, a military spokesman said yesterday. More than 500 members of the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) attacked a heavy concentration of militants in the area of Babaji, north of the provincial capital Lashkar Gah. Supported by UK and other international troops, the operation was reported to be the biggest offensive aimed at clearing a district to allow reconstruction work to begin in the province. Fighting began on Thursday, with a reported 70 militants killed on the first day. There were a "small number" of ANSF casualties, according to official UK sources. British troops provided air, medical and logistic support during the advance.
Lieutenant-Colonel Rory Bruce, spokesman for the UK Task Force, said: "This is the largest pre-planned operation undertaken by the ANSF so far and it marks another significant step towards Afghans being able to provide security for themselves. "This operation has been a great success and has exceeded our expectations."
This article starring:
Lieutenant-Colonel Rory Bruce, spokesman for the UK Task Force
I mean, if he were on the bad guys' side, wouldn't we be reading reports of good guys dying in droves? That's what I figure.
But these guys probably see it as an opportunity to short-circuit all the safeguards and get straight into the highest level of heaven. Maybe if they were just a little bit holier they could win once in a while . . . .
KABUL - Nearly 100 Taleban militants have been killed in the latest operation by Afghan and NATO forces in the southern part of Afghanistan, the government said Monday. At least 19 rebels were killed in the latest clashes on Sunday, in the Mir Manda and Haider Abad areas of Gerishk district of southern Helmand province, bringing the death toll since the start of the operation on Thursday to 99, the defence ministry said in statement.
It said the operation was initially conducted by Afghan military forces in the districts of Nadali, Gerishk and Lashkargah - where 69 Taleban militants and seven Afghan policemen were killed. NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) later joined forces in the campaign, the ministry said.
Posted by: Steve ||
03/26/2007 8:25 Comments ||
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#6
The "Feel-Good" story of the week! These double-digit kills are just so envigorating.
Posted by: Captain Lewis ||
03/26/2007 8:34 Comments ||
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#7
Quick question: how many are in a battalion? An article here the other day said NATO was killing Taliban in battalion-sized groups on both sides of the border.
#9
It varies widely, TW. An American battalion includes the battalion commander (Lieutenant Colonel -- in the Marine Corps, sometimes a Colonel), his staff, and headquarters, the Command Sergeant Major (CSM) (or Sergeant Major in the Marine Corps), and usually 3-5 companies, with a total of 300 to 1,200 soldiers or Marines.
Minimum of 300 up to around a thousand.
Posted by: Steve ||
03/26/2007 10:13 Comments ||
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#10
The Taliban dying in droves would be even nicer if it wasn't so %^#$%$%^#%^ easy to replace them.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/26/2007 10:31 Comments ||
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#11
But battalions organized on the Soviet model can have as few as 200.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/26/2007 10:33 Comments ||
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#12
Thank you, gentlemen. 200-300 plus it is, then.
#13
Just an FYI. I did add this to the Terrorist Death Watch because it was from a Brit spokeman. Most of the claims I see are from the local Barney Fife so I discount them.
#14
Chuck. I'm addicted to Terrorist Death Watch. THANKS! So, you'll use any confirmed kills from a reliable Western source (NATO, Coalition website, etc...)? Any idea how many terrorist we claim to have imprissioned?
Posted by: Captain Lewis ||
03/26/2007 11:43 Comments ||
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#15
Re #10 - so %^#$%$%^#%^ easy to replace them.
PakiWaki birth control. Instead of RU486 they use RUTaliban.
#16
But battalions organized on the Soviet model can have as few as 200.
In order to make their army look larger for propaganda purposes the Soviets made smmlller units. This also allowed to have keep people being happy for being generals instead of mere colonels.
For instance a WWII Soviet Division was a third in size of a German one and I am not sure it was a combined arms unit (like DBrigades and Divisions are). The real equivalent of a German Division both ins size and organization was the Soviet Army Corps, the equivalent of a German Army Corps was an Army, the equivalent of a German Army was called a Front.
Absolutely first class warriors and we are lucky to have them.
SYDNEY (AFP) - Australia is close to committing special forces soldiers to Afghanistan to counter an expected Taliban spring offensive, Defence Minister Brendan Nelson said Sunday.
Nelson said it was likely that elite Special Air Services (SAS) troops would be sent to southern Uruzgan province, a former stronghold of the fundamentalist Taliban regime.
"We believe there is a need. We think that the Taliban will be mounting a very strong offensive shortly," he told Australian television.
"We are very close to making a decision about it."
Canberra, which currently has 400 soldiers in the Central Asian nation, pulled a 200-strong SAS contingent out of Afghanistan in September.
Nelson said he had spoken Saturday to defence force head Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, who was in The Hague to discuss troop deployments to Afghanistan with Dutch officials, and the government was close to recommitting SAS troops.
"We believe we have satisfied and settled the command and control arrangements that are necessary for us to do the job," he said.
"And if we do redeploy, and I think it's likely that we will, it will be a special forces task group."
Nelson said he would discuss additional deployments with US Defence Secretary Robert Gates and other defence ministers when they meet in Canada next month.
"We are in Afghanistan because Afghanistan is the crossroads to a modern and a free world," Nelson said.
Australia first sent troops to Afghanistan in late 2001 following the September 11 attacks on the United States.
A 33,000-strong NATO-led International Security Assistance Force is deployed in the country to tackle a growing insurgency by supporters of the former Taliban regime and to expand the influence of the weak central government.
Security forces in Morocco have foiled a fundamentalist Islamic terrorist cell plotting to send suicide bombers to target British and other foreign tourists. Popular holiday resorts Agadir, Marrakesh and Essaouira were to be attacked along with foreign cruise liners visiting Casablanca.
Popular holiday resorts Agadir, Marrakesh and Essaouira were to be attacked along with foreign cruise liners visiting Casablanca.
The plot was uncovered following an incident on 11 March when Abdelfettah Raydi, 23, blew himself up in an internet café in Casablanca, injuring four customers. The explosion happened during a scuffle when Raydi was challenged for looking at jihad websites. A follow-up investigation led to the arrest of 24 other fundamentalists. Chakib Benmoussa, Morocco's interior minister, revealed details of the plot and said that at least half of those arrested had intended to blow themselves up in a series of suicide attacks on tourist targets. Police are still searching for six other alleged members of the cell.
Morocco has been on red alert since the beginning of last month. This follows a surge in activities across Arab north-west Africa by the self-styled Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat, which recently changed its name to al-Qaeda of the Islamic Magreb with the personal blessing of Osama bin Laden.
Sana'a, Yemen - A French student and a Yemeni one were killed and several other Yemeni students were injured after Shiite rebel fighters attacked a religious institute in northern Yemen on Monday, a Defence Ministry statement said. The statement said 'terrorist elements attacked a group of students of the Dammaj institute,' in the restive province of Saada. 'Two students, a Yemeni and a French national, who was attending an Arabic language class at the institute, were killed,' the statement posted on the ministry's website said.
It said the attack took place as the students were walking on a road near the Dammaj Institute for Islamic Studies in Saada, some 230 kilometres north of Sana'a. Saada has been the scene of fierce battles between the army and members of the outlawed Shiite group Believing Youth since last December. Students from different nationalities, including Westerners, attended the institute for Islamic studies or Arabic language classes.
Cuz where else can you properly study Islam except in a war zone?
Fierce battles broke out between the army and rebels acting under the umbrella of the underground Believing Youth late last December after authorities accused rebels of attacking military and police posts in Saada. On March 7, the army said it killed at least 160 rebel fighters in two weeks of fierce fighting in Saada.
The group was first established by Shiite cleric Hussein Badruddin al-Houthi in mid-2004. Hussein was killed in clashes with the army in September 2004. Bloody confrontations between the rebels and the army have since left more than 720 government troops dead, according to the official toll. Hundreds of rebels have also been killed. Government officials have accused the rebels, led by local Shiite leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, of trying to topple the republican regime and establish an Islamic state, saying that 'foreign parties' have been supporting them.
Yemeni media reports recently quoted government officials accusing Iran and Libya of financing the rebels. Both states have denied the charge.
Posted by: Steve ||
03/26/2007 11:17 ||
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#1
I was under the impression that Yemini Arabic is more pure than Saudi? So that would be a good place to polish one's command of the language -- except for it being in Yemen, of course.
#4
Should be "rouge sur rouge", but for once I think I'd agree on that one (cf. tu's comment).
Btw, only use of "rouge sur rouge" I'm aware of in french language concerns alcohol consumption and likehood of vomiting after intoxicating oneself with wine.
#5
I was under the impression that Yemini Arabic is more pure than Saudi?
Perhaps, but that is not the reason Jiahdists would go to Yemen. From the analogy with the Spanish spoken by Sefardis and from Qubecois French (ie communities isolted from main linguistic body) Yemeni Arabic is probably archaic, ie closer to the language spoken by Mahomet and given his idolatric cult for Mahomet your average jiahdist who already tries to dress like him, uses khol to protect his eyes (like Mahomet did against desert sun) even when living in Sweden) you ca bet he will also want to speak like Mahomet.
#6
"rouge sur rouge" I'm aware of in french language concerns alcohol consumption and likehood of vomiting after intoxicating oneself with wine.
So I can like say to the waiter, "Hey mac, thisn fish-likey thing ain't gonna gimme the rouge sur rouge is it?" and sound like an in the know world-traveler?
#7
"I was under the impression that Yemini Arabic is more pure than Saudi? So that would be a good place to polish one's command of the language -- except for it being in Yemen, of course"
If one actually wanted to use the language to, ya know, communicate in modern times, youd go to Cairo, IIUC, since Cairo is the communications, film, radio, etc center of the arabw world, and so cairo dialect is more widely understood than most.
Now if youre trying to get back to the 7th century .....
Hundreds of workers rioted in Yemen on Sunday over a French engineer's alleged defilement of Islam's holy book, damaging a gas export terminal project and setting fire to cars and a helicopter, officials said. Security officials and witnesses said around 400 workers were protesting against what they said was the desecration of the Qur'an at the site, a liquefied natural gas terminal under construction in Belhaf, south-eastern Yemen. The project is being led by France's Total.
The official Saba news agency said a peaceful demonstration after a "dispute with one of the engineers" turned violent when protesters attacked some of the project's assets. The agency said a team that includes security and labour officials was investigating the incident. It said there were no casualties in the riots quelled by the project's security force.
The Yemen LNG project, one of the main growth projects for the French energy giant, is due to start by the end of 2008 with the aim of producing 6.7 million metric tons a year. The security sources, who wished not to be named, said the Yemeni army had intervened to calm the violence and had evacuated the French engineer at the centre of the row.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/26/2007 00:00 ||
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POS
David Hicks has entered a guilty plea, after an initial hearing which was immediately thrown into disarray when the judge effectively disqualified two of his three lawyers.
Hicks appeared in court wearing an olive green outfit, and thongs on his feet. The judge warned his defence counsel that in future he should not appear in prison-type clothes, in order to make sure that his presumption of innocence was maintained.
Hicks's hair was long, reaching down to his shoulder blades, but he had shaved off a long beard for his first court appearance in two and half years.
He looked in reasonable health, although, as his father Terry said, he looked puffy.
He was unrecognisable from old photographs of him, although the extra weight has made him resemble his father.
He spoke in a grunting, loud voice, protesting about the loss of his lawyers. The judge offered to let them remain on his defence table for the day, but Hicks said he wanted them as his lawyers, not advisers.
He appeared in reasonable spirits at the beginning of the proceedings, but as his defence team left the room, leaving only Marine lawyer Major Michael Mori, he appeared increasingly worried.
For most of the proceedings he squinted, concentrating on the legal argument.
He was led into court being held on each arm by two military guards, who placed his hands on the defence table before a third guard pushed the seat in as he sat down. He was not allowed to stand up when the judge entered the room.
The presiding judge, Colonel Ralph Kohlmann said that Major Michael Moris assistant could not, at least for the moment, represent him because she was not a serving member of the military.
The judge also decided that Hickss civilian lawyer, New York criminal attorney Joshua Dratel could not represent Hicks because he had not signed a form demanded by the court saying he would conform to the regulations governing proceedings.
Mr Dratel protested strongly, saying he could not sign the form because the regulations governing the conduct of attorneys had not yet been formulated by the Secretary of Defence. He was not going to sign a blank cheque for his ethical obligations.
The judge also ruled in his own favour when Major Mori, who was left alone at the defence table, attempted to argue that judge Kohlmann was not impartial because he had not only effectively ruled against Hicks's defence team, but had also tried to schedule the hearing last week, when Hicks's civil lawyer was unavailable.
The judge also refused to follow the defences suggested schedule of hearings, saying it would mean that the trial would not get underway until 2008.
His father Terry met with him for more than two hours before the hearing.
He said: He just wants to get back to a normal life, and he knows that John Howard and the Government is frightened that he will do something when he gets back. What the hell is he going to do, he did nothing in Afghanistan.
His main aim is to come back to Australia, see his kids, and settle down.
Australian parties condemn "kangaroo court"
The Australian Demorats and Greens today condemned the ejection of Hicks's lawyers, saying it was further evidence of the the judicial process being rigged against the Australian.
"That's the problem with a kangaroo court, it makes its own rules," Democrats leader Lynn Allison said in Canberra.
"It's a continued abuse of justice and of David Hicks himself.
"We must remember this is just the beginning. It could be several years before he's brough to trial proper."
Australian Greens leader Bob brown compared the dismissal of Hicks's lawyers to the processes under the former Soviet Union's legal system.
"This court is nowehere near the level of justice that we expect in a Western democracy, particularly in Australia.
"It's got the Howard Governement's tick of approval but it is mightily unpopular with Australians and as it's unfolding it's going from bad to worse."
The judge also refused to follow the defences suggested schedule of hearings, saying it would mean that the trial would not get underway until 2008.
His father Terry met with him for more than two hours before the hearing.
He said: He just wants to get back to a normal life, and he knows that John Howard and the Government is frightened that he will do something when he gets back. What the hell is he going to do, he did nothing in Afghanistan.
His main aim is to come back to Australia, see his kids, and settle down.
Australian parties condemn "kangaroo court"
The Australian Demorats and Greens today condemned the ejection of Hicks's lawyers, saying it was further evidence of the the judicial process being rigged against the Australian.
"That's the problem with a kangaroo court, it makes its own rules," Democrats leader Lynn Allison said in Canberra.
"It's a continued abuse of justice and of David Hicks himself.
"We must remember this is just the beginning. It could be several years before he's brough to trial proper."
Australian Greens leader Bob brown compared the dismissal of Hicks's lawyers to the processes under the former Soviet Union's legal system.
"This court is nowehere near the level of justice that we expect in a Western democracy, particularly in Australia.
"It's got the Howard Governement's tick of approval but it is mightily unpopular with Australians and as it's unfolding it's going from bad to worse."
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/26/2007 21:15 ||
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#1
Well, don't I feel like an asshole...
Posted by: Major Michael Mori: USMC ||
03/26/2007 21:24 Comments ||
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#2
Greens (/spit/) -- commies that aren't quite ripe yet.
#3
It never had to come to be the circus it is. Somebody should have left him for the locals to ditch in the dirt back in Afghanistan - a truly "fair go" for a nasty little piece of work. Would have been nobody crying today about poor old him or his only getting one or two attorneys instead of four.
#5
How about true kangaroo court--a boxing match with 3 grownup kangaroos (One may do, but I'd like have some reserve... to triangulate about, may be a pretier sight from a composition POV).
#6
The bargaining needed for Hicks' guilty plea would probably make me puke. So, I'll refrain from speculating. A death sentence was all this shithead deserved.
PESHAWAR, Pakistan Mar 26, 2007 (AP) Police challenged a group of suspected militants Monday at a high school in northwestern Pakistan after hearing that they wanted to "motivate" students for holy war, sparking a gunbattle that left six people dead, police said. Five militants and one police officer were killed in the shooting at the privately run Oxford Public School in Tank, a town about 60 miles from the Afghan border, said Javed Khan, a local police officer. It was unclear whether any students were hurt.
Khan said the militants told the administrators of the boys' school to assemble the students so the militants could address them. "They wanted to speak with the boys and motivate them for jihad," Khan said by telephone from Tank.
Running out of willing volunteers from the madrasses?
He described the militants as "local Taliban," a term commonly used to describe militants in the tribal belt along Pakistan's border with Afghanistan. Tank is on the edge of South Waziristan, a stronghold of militants aligned with the Taliban movement fighting in neighboring Afghanistan and of foreign militants linked with al-Qaida.
Posted by: Steve ||
03/26/2007 07:59 ||
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As clashes between Afghan and NATO troops and the Taliban continue, a British paper claimed the Taliban have invited thousands of Uzbek Islamists to the volatile Helmand province. Uzbek militants, who last week clashed with Pakistani tribesmen in the border region of Waziristan have been told they should join the Taliban, The Sunday Telegraph claimed. According to the paper, around 10,000 Uzbek militants are hiding in the border region, under the command of Tahir Yuldashev, who is thought to be a close associate of Osama bin Laden, the al-Qaeda chief. If they accept the invitation, the violence in Afghanistan's Helmand region will escalate, wrote the paper, noting that 43 British soldiers have been killed there over the last five years.
And thousands of Osama's "close friends" are pushing up poppies
The clashes in Waziristan, which left around 160 dead, broke out when the members of the Islamic Movement Union of Uzbekistan fell out with their Pakistani hosts after accusing some tribal leaders of spying for the Pakistani government; 130 of the dead were Uzbek militants. Taliban fighters intervened to broker a cease-fire, but local officials have told The Sunday Telegraph that neither side is likely to back down. Taliban sources have revealed that they have offered the Uzbeks safe passage into Afghanistan in order to bring an end to the violence, reported The Sunday Telegraph. "The tribesmen are determined to flush [the Uzbeks] out. Given that they cannot be extradited back to their own country because they are all wanted there, one way they are considering to accommodate them is to send them to Afghanistan," said Lateef Afridi, a tribal leader from the province.
Just let us know when they'll arrive, we'll alert the welcome wagon.
Afridi said the Taliban felt compelled to give the Uzbeks a way out because if the battle continued between the local tribesmen and the foreign fighters, the Taliban elements would have to choose which side to back, unleashing further bloodshed. The Uzbeks are believed to have killed more than 1,500 local tribesmen in the past two years, reported The Sunday Telegraph.
That'll wear out your welcome
Meanwhile, Afghan and NATO troops killed 12 suspected Islamist insurgents overnight when they tried to attack a military base in a southeastern province on the border with Pakistan, the coalition said yesterday. Fighting between the Taliban rebels and troops has escalated with the end of winter in Afghanistan in what is expected to be a crunch year for both sides, reported Reuters. The latest incident took place near Fire Base Tillman in Paktika Province, and the attackers were repulsed with small arms fire, backed by air support and artillery, a statement from the coalition said. Two coalition and two Afghan soldiers received minor wounds, it added.
This article starring:
Lateef Afridi
TAHIR YULDASHEV
Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan
Islamic Movement Union of Uzbekistan
Posted by: Steve ||
03/26/2007 07:40 ||
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#1
So a bunch of Wazoo dope farmers lit these guys up for a 4/1 kill ratio?
Sure. Send 'em over. We'll finish the job.
#2
Sending them over to their cousins on the Afghan side of the border? Oh yes, the Uzbeks will get a warm welcome there... long before the British and Afghan Army units arrive. Isn't the tradition tea with the elders, then bashing in the guests' heads? the Uzbeks are still ahead on points -- 1500 tribesmen over the last two years plus 30 in the recent exchange -- and at least they know the terrain they're dug into.
#3
they wouldnt go anywhere near the ethnic Uzbek parts of Afghanistan - thats solid Northern Alliance territory for the most part, where the Taliban has no influence. They would enter the Pashtun south, where the Taliban would presumably use them as cannon fodder against coalition forces.
#5
Alone, no home, nobody wants em.....perhaps its time to institute a switch, a common meme amongst afghan clans, where they become members of whoever the apparent winners are going to be. Perhaps that is the real story here, already.
#7
i'm not trying too be a dick head, but if they have lost 43 in 5 yrs thats nbot a bad total like thetaliban are taking, conciderign they are haign toom call in bacjup
Pakistan army patrols of the border with Afghanistan and refugee camps are helping to block Taliban reinforcements moving into the south, a NATO commander said on Sunday. A NATO and Afghan operation launched in the southern province of Helmand nearly three weeks ago had not been met with any major mobilisation of forces, Major General Ton van Loon told reporters. In that area, We are seeing that there are limited amounts of foreign fighters coming into the country and I think the Pakistanis are really making a big difference, the Dutch general told reporters. There had been an increase in patrolling at the border and around refugee camps by the Pakistani army, he said.
Afghan and Western officials stepped up pressure on Pakistan in past months to do more to stop militants moving from bases on Pakistani soil into Afghanistan to feed the Taliban-led insurgency.
International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and Afghan troops involved in the operation, called Achilles, had encountered hardcore Taliban extremists, he said. But, To date we have not seen signs of a major mobilisation of enemy forces ..., the ISAF commander for southern Afghanistan said.
The operation had resulted in limited casualties to the military and we have killed several Taliban extremists, Van Loon said, refusing to detail casualties because this could give a false sense of progress.
Achilles, involving 5,500 Afghan and foreign troops, is focused on the northern part of Helmand and against ideologically inspired Taliban, foreign jihadists and drug lords. Its aim is to secure the Kajaki hydropower dam so it can be rehabilitated to supply power and irrigation.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/26/2007 00:00 ||
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MINGORA: The banned Tehreek Nafaz-e-Sharia Muhammadi (TNSM) has set a 72-hour deadline for the release of former TNSM chief Maulana Sufi Muhammad, threatening suicide attacks all over the country if the demand is not met.
TNSM workers participated in a public meeting at Mela Ground in Matta after forcing their way through several roadblocks set up by the administration. Addressing the participants, TNSM leaders Maulana Abdul Haq, Maulana Dost Muhammad and Maulana Safiullah warned the government that 100 suicide bombers were ready to hit various targets across Pakistan if Sufi Muhammad was not freed.
This article starring:
MAULANA ABDUL HAQ
Tehreek Nafaz-e-Sharia Muhammadi
MAULANA DOST MUHAMAD
Tehreek Nafaz-e-Sharia Muhammadi
MAULANA SAFIULLAH
Tehreek Nafaz-e-Sharia Muhammadi
MAULANA SUFI MUHAMAD
Tehreek Nafaz-e-Sharia Muhammadi
Tehreek Nafaz-e-Sharia Muhammadi
Posted by: Fred ||
03/26/2007 00:00 ||
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#6
Can't the goverment say, and if you send 100 suicide bombers, then we will do the same to you? Then the terrorists (sorry, freedom fighters) could counter with 1000, then the goverment with 1000, then the freedom fighters with 2---well you get the idea.
#9
"after forcing their way through several roadblocks" .. So I can maybe understand being able to blast through 1 roadblock, but all those downstream should have been alerted to what was inbound and ready to act accordingly. this smells....
#11
Maulana Sufi Muhammad is one of the founder of Tehreek Nafaz-e-shariat-e-Mohammadi(PBUH). Western parts of North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) are gradually coming under the grip of religious radicalism. People in Malakand and Swat districts, populated mainly by the Yousafzai Pashtun tribe, have been gathering in public places to burn personal electronics equipment such as television sets, tape recorders, VCRs, computers, CDs and other musical equipment. The significance of this development is that it has been motivated by the religious sect Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi(TNSM), the Movement for the Enforcement of Islamic Laws.
Watch Islamo COPS: HUH Bad Burkas.. Bad Burkas.. whatcha wont.. whatcha wont.. Bad Burkas.. whatcha wont.. whatcha gonna do when we come for you...
Maulana Sufi Muhammad encouraged and organized thousands of people to fight against the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan at the time of the downfall of the Taliban in 2001. Most of his mujahideen were killed or arrested by the Northern Alliance and only a few were able to return to Pakistan, including Maulana Sufi Mohammad. The Pakistani government immediately arrested him and for the past five years he has languished in jail. Locals argue that thousands of mujahideen were killed as a result of Sufi Mohammad's incompetence and lack of combat skills.
LOL, a genius!
As a result, Sufi Mohammad lost much of his support. Additionally, TNSM members have been killed and regularly arrested by Pakistani authorities, reducing the organization's effectiveness. TNSM has been almost completely dormant in its stronghold of Swat and the adjoining areas. Recently, however, this situation has changed.
Addressing an armed protest rally against US-led air strikes on Afghanistan, Maulana Sufi Muhammad said Jihad is mandatory on Muslims as America has launched a war on Afghans and killing innocent people in the guise of campaign against terrorism. He said it was a war between Islam and the infidels.
wow, give that tactical genius high marks for originality, he sure has a knack for getting his own Losers killed, I say release him from club Pak and let the killing commence.
Iraqi security forces arrested a so-called amir (leader) of al-Qaeda Organization in Iraq and two of his aides in Abu Ghraib area in western Baghdad, a spokesman for the Baghdad security plan said on Monday.
"A force from the 3rd Brigade raided Abu Ghraib area and arrested Ahmad Farhan and two of his close associates last Tuesday," Brig. Qassem Atta said in a press conference he held on Monday in Baghdad.
Atta played a videotape showing Farhan confessing to his ties with a wanted man called Abu Omar al-Baghdadi.
"I receive support from Syria and Jordan and have got four groups with an amir and 25 members for each," Farhan said in his videotaped confessions.
Atta said Farhan acknowledged his direct responsibility for 300 killings and 200 kidnappings and relocations, adding 17 hostages were freed and four kidnappers were arrested in Abu Ghraib.
"Seventy-one wanted terrorists were arrested and ammunition seized in the area of al-Latifiya (southeast of Baghdad)," Atta said the in press conference.
Atta said "we realized this week important results in areas considered as hot like al-Ghazaliya and al-Aamiriya," adding the (Iraqi) security forces' strategies turned from defensive into offensive.
Reviewing the Fardh al-Qanoon (law-imposing) security plan's achievements for the March 21-26 period, Atta said "130 terrorists were detained, 227 suspects arrested, 25 hostages freed and large amounts of weapons seized."
Atta said he has just received during the press conference reports that the Iraqi 8th brigade forces in al-Sadr City in Baghdad found 430 anti-tank mines at a house in the area of al-Jamila.
#1
So this is like a US Army Lt? Has four groups of ~25 answering to him? 300 kills and 200 kidnappings is pretty effective work for a unit of that size (depending on how long it took.) Good to get him off the 'street', assuming most of what is reported is true, and not Black & Decker.
#2
blowtorches, panties, and pliars....dispose of the trash properly
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/26/2007 21:15 Comments ||
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#3
Try 40-grit hand-sanders for REAL torture. Begin on the soles of the feet and work up to the ears. I still have scars from some "oops" when I was a kid...
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/26/2007 23:45 Comments ||
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If you aren't reading SMALL WARS JOURNAL, you need to! And the comments reflect knowledgeable folks.
David Kilcullen is one of the participates. He is Senior Counterinsurgency Advisor, Multi-National Force -- Iraq working with King David. This is his latest report.
It has been an interesting few weeks here in Baghdad. Myself and the other advisors felt that a comment on recent developments might be in order. It is still early days for Fardh al-Qanoon (a.k.a the Baghdad Security Plan) and thus too soon to tell for sure how things will play out. But, though the challenges remain extremely severe, early trends are quite positive. Counter-intuitively, the latest series of car bombings includes some encouraging signs.
On March 17th Al Qaida in Iraq (AQI) set off a truck bomb, including chlorine gas canisters, in a Sunni marketplace. Though everyone affected by the gas walked away, there were about 250 injured, and the attack happened on the 19th anniversary, to the day, of Saddams use of poison gas against the Kurds at Halabja. Local Sunnis were appalled and furious.
Think about that for a moment. If insurgents are the fish, and the community is the sea in which they swim, then AQI just showed an incredible level of desperation attacking its own potential constituents, applying a uniquely repellent form of attack, and emulating Saddam on the anniversary of one of his worst atrocities, into the bargain. What were they thinking?
Or consider another recent attack, where extremists bombed a Sunni moderate mosque because its Imam dared to suggest that maybe its time to stop fighting, that there is an honorable path of resistance through political participation and the ballot box rather than pointless violence. Many Sunnis were killed again, extremists targeting moderates for fear that they are about to lose the influence conferred by intimidation.
Both of these attacks were political own goals for the terrorists - the mask is slipping, and people are seeing the real face beneath.
With this kind of inept political action by the insurgents, its small wonder that in al Anbar, where only one out of 18 major tribes supported the Iraqi government a year ago, today 14 out of the 18 tribes are actively securing their people, providing recruits to the Iraqi police and hunting down al Qaida.
And then there are the car bombings in market places. Since the cooperative coalition-Iraqi effort to secure Baghdads population, extremists have continued trying to target Shia communities, particularly markets. But efforts to harden market places and public areas have paid dividends almost all the recent bombs exploded at checkpoints well away from their intended targets, killing far fewer people than intended, and far fewer than in similar attacks last year. And several failed to explode at all, showing a loss of skill as key bomb-makers are taken off the streets.
To cap it off, this week coalition forces captured the leader of the Rusafa car bomb network, the AQI organization responsible for some of the most horrific recent bombings in East Baghdad. Along with captures of bomb-making gear, explosives, and a vehicle rigged as a bomb, this puts a severe dent in the networks capabilities.
What does this all mean? Well, as I have previously said, car bombs in terms of size and frequency are not a good indicator of progress since it will always remain possible to pull off an attack, even when all other aspects of security have developed fully. So as professionals we need to be wary of rushing to judgment, either positive or negative, here. But events of the past few weeks tend to suggest that the extremists have begun targeting their own potential supporters, indicating a degree of political desperation, and a likely drop in support. And the attacks though still atrocious have become less effective. Both of these are significant indicators, independent of the bombings themselves.
Though we still need to be extremely cautious and realistic about progress, these are positive signs. We are into the fifth year of the war, and only the fifth week of this operation - so it is still very early days. Tough times and setbacks undoubtedly lie ahead. But the general trajectory of the campaign seems to be changing, in subtle ways that may yet prove decisive.
BAGHDAD - The suicide attack against Iraq's Sunni deputy prime minister is now seen as an inside job carried out by a member of his own security detail a distant relative who had been arrested as an insurgent, freed at the official's request, then hired as a bodyguard, a senior security official and an aide to the victim told The Associated Press on Sunday. Smart move, Salam. Look at the thanks you get...
The assassination attempt, at least the third major security breach involving a top politician in four months, prompted Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to order a government-wide security shake up, including plans to hire a foreign company to guard the Green Zone building where parliament meets, the security official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak with reporters. Looks like more business for Blackwater...
A suicide attacker came within feet of Deputy Prime Minister Salam al-Zubaie and exploded his vest during a Friday prayer service in the private mosque attached to al-Zubaie home. The Sunni official was seriously wounded and nine people were killed. The senior security official as well as a key aide to al-Zubaie said Wahab al-Saadi, the distant relative accused of involvement in the attack, was the only person at the prayer service who has not been accounted for. Well, we think it's him. We haven't put all the pieces together yet. Literally.
They said al-Saadi's car, which was parked outside the al-Zubaie compound, exploded within minutes of the suicide attack.
The al-Zubaie aide said al-Saadi had recently been removed from the bodyguard detail as a "troublemaker" but was still on the deputy prime minister's payroll and for that reason and because he was a relative was not searched when he entered the mosque. Oh, him? Yeah, Salam says he's okay. Besides, it's a mosque. What could happen in here?
A cook for al-Zubaie who has since disappeared is also under suspicion. He was in the kitchen that was only about 30 feet from the prayer room when the attack occurred. What about the butler? Was he in on it?
Sami al-Askari, a top aide to al-Maliki, said al-Saadi had been arrested in the past on suspicion of insurgent activities but that al-Zubaie successfully lobbied for his release and then made him a part of his security detail, most likely because of their family relationship. The security official and al-Zubaie's aide confirmed those details. Yeah, they were close. We called him Fredo...
Other government security officials theorized that al-Saadi enlisted the cook's help to let a second person into the compound to carry out the bombing. They believed al-Saadi was the suicide attacker, although they conceded he could just be on the run. Well, yeah, seeing how his car blew up...
The attack on al-Zubaie, who is now said to be out of danger after surgery in the U.S.-run military hospital in the Green Zone, was the third major security breakdown involving key members of the government or parliament since Nov. 21.
Al-Askari and the security official said those attacks had prompted al-Maliki to order a full investigation of all security guards. Once complete, all those protecting Iraqi officials or lawmakers will be issued new badges by the government. Oh, boy! New badges! That'll stop 'em!
Security IDs currently are issued by the American military. Those passes allow access to secure locations, especially in the heavily guarded Green Zone site of the U.S. Embassy and most Iraqi government offices and parliament.
In the Nov. 21 incident, a bomb exploded in the motorcade of Parliament Speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, also a Sunni, as it drove into the parking lot at the Green Zone Convention Center where the legislature meets. Al-Mashhadani was not in the convoy when the bomb, placed in the trunk of his car, exploded. A second bomb was found under another car in the convoy and was detonated by an American military bomb squad. Jeez, great security this guy's got...
On Feb. 26, Vice President Adel Abdul-Mahdi narrowly escaped assassination when a blast ripped through a government meeting hall just hours after it was searched by U.S. teams with bomb-sniffing dogs. At least 10 people were killed.
Abdul-Mahdi was slightly wounded in the explosion, which splintered chairs and destroyed a speakers' podium. It went off moments after the minister for public works finished a speech in the third-floor chamber. Abdul-Mahdi had made a welcoming address a few minutes earlier, raising speculation the bomb could have been on a timer-trigger that missed the vice president by sheer luck.
Al-Askari said not even the Green Zone was safe these days because personal security details, like the one working for al-Zubaie and other officials, are not under government control. "Every government official and lawmaker choses his own security detail. I'm one of them, I chose my own security detail," he said.
The al-Maliki aide said that two members of al-Mashhadani's security detail, both in possession of their U.S.-issued security IDs, had been caught last summer planting a roadside bomb south of Baghdad.
The top security official said negotiations had been successfully concluded to hire a foreign company to take over security at the entrance to and inside the Convention Center, where parliament meets. The official would not name the security company or say what the cost would be because a contract had not been signed. A second security official said the plan was to sign a six-month contract to allow the Iraqis time to establish their own force of trained bodyguards. Okay. Bodyguard Rule One: Don't blow up the guy you're guarding. It looks bad...
#1
Has anyone heard from Cousin Wahab al-Saadi's family since the incident? Or were they subsequently involved in an unfortunate incident of their own...
#2
If'n my mind isn't playing tricks on me, the Iraq Convention Center (parliament) is and has been guarded by a foreign security company ever since the US military stepped back from it (Global Security - mostly Peruvian ex-military). There were some Iraqis as well, usually working in tandem with the Global guys. This has been the set-up going back quite a ways.
The IZ access (checkpoints) are multi-layered: Iraqi military/police at outer layer, then US or Coalition (Georgians for the past year or more) at the inner layer. Vehicles all get sniffed and otherwise inspected at the checkpoints where they are allowed. Hard to see how they'd get this stuff inside, other than in the Iraqi security details.
I recall one Iraqi security team was fingered as having planned a multiple-bomb attack inside the IZ last year.
There have been ongoing discussions/arguments for some time about shrinking the IZ perimeter to give the Iraqis control of the Conv. Center and Al Rasheed across the street, but so far nothing's happened. Can't imagine the last few months' events will accelerate any such moves in that direction .....
#3
... an inside job carried out by a member of his own security detail a distant relative who had been arrested as an insurgent, freed at the official's request, then hired as a bodyguard
The above incident, along with the overall outpouring of Iraqi thanks for America's liberation of their arid pesthole has inspired me to coin a new oxymoron:
Arab gratitude
It now joins "Arab unity" in my collection of wry and, just as often, true summaries of Arab behavior. I firmly believe that the depths of Arab ingratitude knows no bounds.
#5
I firmly believe that the depths of Arab ingratitude knows no bounds.
And you're wrong. The concept, simply doesn't apply in the context of the code of ethics build on relatedness (not reciprocity like the one you take for granted).
#6
gromgoru, I'm well aware of how high context Arab society is incapable of extending their clannish interactions to the greater world at large. This is what keeps Islam locked in the stone age and allows Arabs to mentally segregate Muslims from Infidels on a moral and ethical level. This lack of compassionate projection is also what obliges me to predict that Islam gets vaporized in the near future.
#7
2 strikes yer out.
this guy, Vice President Adel Abdul-Mahdi, should never be allowed to choose anything to do with guns or personal or security, or ID cards or who gets paroled..
U.S. forces have arrested the leaders of one of the deadliest car-bomb-making networks in Baghdad, a military spokesman said. After months of intelligence gathering, U.S. troops captured the ringleader of the Rusafa car bomb network and three of his lieutenants on Wednesday, Army Maj. Gen. William Caldwell said in an interview Saturday with USA TODAY.
The group, named after the area in Baghdad where it operated, has been linked to at least 14 car bomb attacks since early February that claimed the lives of 265 Iraqis and wounded 650 others, Caldwell said. Among the attacks was a blast Feb. 3 that killed more than 100 people in a Shiite market in downtown Baghdad, he said. "This car bomb network was a major one operating in Baghdad," said Caldwell, the top U.S. military spokesman in Iraq. "They were responsible for a horrific amount of civilian casualties."
It was the biggest bust of car bombmakers since the start of the Baghdad security plan last month, Caldwell said. The plan seeks to restore order by simultaneously targeting Shiite death squads and Sunni insurgents who often use car bombs in Shiite areas to foment sectarian violence.
This article starring:
Maj. Gen. William Caldwell
Posted by: Fred ||
03/26/2007 10:44 ||
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#1
Make them eat their own dog food...Put it on Pay per view.
#6
Use their precious damned power tools on these turds. Get every scrap of information out of them about their filthy support networks then hand them off to a bunch of Sunni housewives armed with nothing more than dull rusty butter knives.
For the first time ever, I'll even say, go ahead, bury them encased in bacon grease. These vicious slaughtering bastards cannot suffer enough in the here and now nor even in whatever afterlife awaits them. I doubt Satan himself could give these shits the attention they truly deserve. The havoc and mayhem they have wrought goes beyond all imagining.
If these are the rectal cavities who were responsible for that car bomb with the two children in it, even Medieval drawing and quartering is too good for them.
#9
Wait until there's a nasty dust storm building, then stake 'em out just in front of it - naked. Pull back far enough away not to be splattered, and just sit it out. Bulldoze the remains.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/26/2007 17:37 Comments ||
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#10
zenster well put but old patriot i like your idea, also shooting in not too good for them unless they shoot them in the right places the first tike not hit majopr arteries
Baghdad, 26 March (AKI) - Four alleged Saudi terrorists belonging to the Iraqi al-Qaeda organisation were killed in recent days during violent clashes with tribal militias in the Sunni province of al-Anbar. Sources of the so-called al-Anbar Salvation Council - a coalition of tribes opposing the Islamic State in the restive western province - have told the Saudi newspaper al-Watan that they had killed at least 70 members of the terrorist group in the past two weeks, including many Arab foreigners.
The more the merrier
The inhabitants of al-Hamadiya village recounted that they had seen fierce fighting and had found various bodies in the area including those of the four Saudis. One of them, whom the council sources identified as Abdullah Abu Abdel Rahman, had arrived in the area three months earlier and was considered a reference point for young people combatting American troops in Iraq.
He can still serve as a reference point, or at least a speed bump
According to Arab newspaper al-Hayat the "1920 Brigades" another insurgent group, is also fighting alongside the tribal militias of al-Anbar against al-Qaeda fighters and together they have managed to drive them back from the area around Abu Ghreib.
This article starring:
ABDULLAH ABU ABDEL RAHMAN
al-Qaeda in Iraq
al-Anbar Salvation Council
Islamic State
1920 Brigades
Posted by: Steve ||
03/26/2007 08:36 ||
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#2
Note that this appeared in a Saudi newspaper. That is the tribes way of telling the Saudis that they are not appreciated in Anbar any more. It's saying "Yeah, we're your oppressed Sunni brothers; but if you come here to 'help' us, we will kill you."
#3
Abdullah Abu Abdel Rahman, had arrived in the area three months earlier and was considered a reference point for young people combatting American troops
Arrived three months ago and he's already a reference point? We must be well inside their training loop -- if they still have one.
#8
FYI: over half of US combat casualties in Iraq, occurred in Anbar Province. The terrorists are funded externally and the province shares a border with the Saud terrorist entity.
Ramadi police seize a truck rigged with explosives and chlorine cannisters. The truck cargo area reveals containers filled with chlorine and explosives. Picture courtesy of MNF-West PAO. Click to view. Al Qaeda in Iraq is pressing forward with its dirty war in Anbar province. On March 23, police in Ramadi's Jazeera district seize a truck filled with "five 1000-gallon barrels filled with chlorine and more than two tons of explosives," according to Multinational Forces West. The truck was parked outside the Jazeera police station. "The police approached the truck for further investigation and detained the driver when they discovered the truck was rigged with explosives and the driver was attempting to detonate the vehicle." The driver was captured and an Explosives Ordnance Demolition team destroyed the truck.
The driver will be interrogated in an attempt to break the al Qaeda network of chlorine bombers. Bravo Zulu IP, Damn close eh.
Oh-oh. Notify Mutual of Gaza...
Bethlehem - Ma'an - The field leader with the Izzeddin Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing affiliated to the Hamas movement, Hassan Ma'roof aged 38, died on Monday whilst training with explosives in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip. No! No! No! This is how you do...
A 4-year-old boy caught in the crossfire of a shootout between Fatah and Hamas forces died of his wounds yesterday, while a pro-Fatah security man was abducted and killed, Palestinian security officials said, raising tensions between the sides just days after the formation of their unity government.
Hassan Abu Nada, 4, was wounded during a gunfight Thursday in the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya. Relatives said the boy died from his wounds early Friday. The boy's father cradled the small body of the boy, wrapped in a green shroud, as he led hundreds of people in a funeral procession. Palestinian security officials said the family had not been targeted by the Hamas gunmen, but lived in the same building as a wanted Fatah militant commander.
Late Friday, the bullet-riddled body of a pro-Fatah security man was found outside the home of a Hamas family, hours after he was kidnapped by unknown assailants, security officials said. The whereabouts of a second man kidnapped with him were unknown, the officials said. Security officials said the dead officer was involved in a shooting last week that killed a Hamas militant. His body was found outside the home of the dead militant's family, the officials said. The family had vowed revenge after last week's shooting, they said. Hamas officials were not immediately available for comment.
On Thursday, a Gaza man was killed during a showdown between his Fatah-affiliated family and members of a Hamas militia. Earlier in the week, a 24-year-old Fatah man was killed in an armed clash between Fatah and Hamas supporters.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/26/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
I must say that while I approve in principle, the actual numbers are rather disappointing.
Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers have bombed a military base near the international airport north of Colombo. Three people were killed and 16 injured when light aircraft dropped two bombs, officials said, hitting a parking area for planes and helicopter gunships. The raid on the air force base took place at about 0045 on Monday (1915 GMT Sunday). The international airport - which was not damaged - closed briefly as a precaution. Flights in and out of the civilian airport were cancelled and roads cordoned off but no civilians were wounded and the runway was not damaged.
A statement from the Tamil Tiger rebel group, carried by TamilNet, claimed responsibility for the attack on the Katunayake base, which is 30km (20 miles) north of the capital, Colombo. The group said two aircraft were used in the bombing and both planes returned to rebel-held territory safely. "It is a measure to protect Tamil civilians from the genocidal aerial bombardments by Sri Lankan armed forces. More attacks of the same nature will follow," said the rebels' military spokesman, Rasiah Ilanthiraiyan.
Air force officials said damage to the military facility was "minor" except for the dead guys and that a search operation was under way. The BBC's Roland Buerk in Colombo says the confirmation that the rebels now have an air capability confirms government suspicions that they had been smuggling in aircraft parts to be assembled in areas of the island they control.
Neil Butler, a British passenger at the airport, was inside the terminal building when the attack happened. "I heard a large thud and we all went to the window. There was a long silence and then several more explosions followed by machine gun fire," he told the BBC News website. "The staff ran for the exit followed by the passengers. When I arrived downstairs in the check-in area a large crowd was running in a panic from the entrance where there had been more machine gun fire." He said: "I saw what looked like kind of fireworks in the sky, like a series of red flashes. But I didn't see any aircraft going over."
Tiger rebels attacked the airport and base in 2001, killing 18 and wiping out half of the national airline fleet.
Posted by: John Frum ||
03/26/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Looks like the Air Force is going to have to go back and re-bomb one of the destroyed Tamil bases in retaliation.
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/26/2007 8:09 Comments ||
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Sounds like they have a couple of light planes - similar to Cessna 150s - that can fly in very low (under most radar), drop a 20-lb mortar bomb, and make their way back home at the whopping airspeed of 80 knots. Hard to detect, hard to stop.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/26/2007 11:01 Comments ||
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At least one of the Tiger aircraft is believed to be a Czech-made Z-143 two-seater training light aircraft. Pro-rebel Web site www.tamilnet.com posted photographs of shadowy rebel leader Velupillai Prabhakaran, who has lived in hiding for much of the two-decade conflict, standing with Tiger airmen in characteristic Tiger stripes.
They also show two Tiger rebels sitting in the cockpit of a single-propeller two-seater aircraft painted in army camouflage colours, as well as the underside of an aircraft with four bombs attached to it. "They have been caught with their pants down. It's like something out of Biggles," said one foreign security expert on condition of anonymity, referring to novels about a fictional British World War One fighter pilot.
Posted by: Steve ||
03/26/2007 11:29 Comments ||
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As Jane Robert's Seth might have said, "They created their own Reality".
Takes two hands to clap. Little to choose between them but one up for the one with the iconic Mario look-alike this time. (Nice name by a Rantburger, hahaha.)
#8
If they wanted to improve their image (aside from not murdering civilians and such), they could call themselves the Flying Tigers and paint shark teeth on the side of their planes.
Tamil Tiger rebels used two light aircraft to bomb and strafe an air force base next to Colombo International Airport, killing two airmen and wounding 10 others, a spokesman for the group's political wing told CNN.
The rebels were targeting Russian-made MiG and Israeli-made Kfir aircraft, said spokesman S.P. Tamilsevlan in a statement issued from the rebel stronghold of Kilinochchi in northern Sri Lanka. The planes dropped four bombs before returning to their bases intact, he said. A Sri Lankan military source said they failed to hit their targets and instead hit a military hangar, setting it afire and slightly damaging two helicopters. The blaze was quickly extinguished.
The civilian side of the airport, which is separated from the air force base by a runway, did not sustain any damage. But authorities halted incoming and outgoing flights for several hours after the attack, which occurred at 12:45 a.m. (3:15 p.m. ET), the source said. The airport, located 23 kilometers (14 miles) north of the capital, was reopened by dawn. During the 3 1/2 hours it was closed, at least three flights were rerouted to Chennai, instead.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/26/2007 00:00 ||
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TEHERAN - Fifteen British navy personnel seized by Iran last week are currently being interrogated and will have to answer to allegations they violated Iranian waters, an Iranian official said on Monday.
The Iranians better be real careful with their "interrogations". Just saying...
The case of the Britons who violated Iranian territorial waters is following the due legal process and they must answer for their violation, deputy foreign minister Mehdi Mostafavi said, state television reported. The eight sailors and seven marines have not yet been allowed to meet British representatives in Teheran despite a call by British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett to her Iranian counterpart Manouchehr Mottaki.
Mostafavis comments came as Iraqs Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said in a statement issued in Baghdad that the Britons were detained while operating in Iraqi waters as London has already claimed. The 15 were seized on Friday in the Shatt Al Arab waterway in the northern Gulf that divides Iraq and Iran.
The British sailors are currently being interrogated and must clarify whether they entered Iranian waters deliberately or by mistake, the Iranian official said. When it becomes clear, a decision will be made, he added.
Mostafavi denied reports that Iran wanted to exchange the British sailors with Iranians seized by US forces in the northern Iraqi city of Arbil in January.
Britains ambassador to Teheran, Geoffrey Adams, met a senior Iranian foreign ministry official on Sunday seeking a meeting with the detained service personnel, 14 men and one woman. He was seeking another meeting with Iranian officials on Monday, the British embassy said.
Posted by: Steve ||
03/26/2007 08:25 ||
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#1
They have gone after us Brits as Blair and the lefties lack courage/conviction unlike Maggie Thatcher.
Bush would have retaliated by now Blair is too touchy feelie just like Clinton!!!
#5
So will the human rights folks make a big fuss about the violations of the Geneva Convention Iran is planning here? Last I heard, the Conventions say you can't try a captured soldier, or interrogate them. Let me know when the march on Times Square will be, I can probably make time to participate.
#6
Alex, far be it from me to not criticize the Brits for lackluster enthusiasm in starting a shooting war with Iran, but thus far Britain has been among the US' staunchest allies in the WOT and Tony Blair has stood right there shoulder-to-shoulder with us since the day after 911.
Calling him a "homo" is unfair, not to mention phobic and illiterate. It is a bad precedent to set here at Rantburg where we at least try to maintain an air of intellectual honesty.
The thing that bugs me most is that this simply was an act of war. The British have to respond. If they do not it sets a horrible precedent that just encourages the Iranians.
Damn the Iranians are just begging for it.
Posted by: RJB in JC MO ||
03/26/2007 15:56 Comments ||
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#8
Iran has been playing this game for quite some time and something has to be done about it.They started with the Am Embassy, this last Leb. war and now with the Brits.etc.,etc and I do not think that war is the answer..............we do have them economically quasi strangled.........what else?
#9
At the very least, the British Government should address a formal request to the International Red Cross; that the IRC must send a mission to Tehran, where the mission would monitor Iran's compliance with the various articles of the Hague and Geneva Conventions.
Sunni militants are moving into Lebanon from Iraq because they regard it as a soft target for terrorist attacks, a British government minister has warned. Several cells, each with up to 12 members, are said to be operating out of the Palestinian refugee camp of Ein el-Hilweh in the southern Lebanese city of Sidon.
Kim Howells, the Foreign Office minister, spoke out about the danger posed by the emergence of new Sunni jihadists in Palestinian camps after a briefing by the commander of the 12,000-strong United Nations peacekeeping force. "Some very dangerous people have arrived here, from Iraq and other countries, who are seasoned jihadists and who sense that they might get an easier ride here - and there might be softer targets for them in Lebanon," Mr Howells said.
Security has recently been stepped up outside the country's 12 Palestinian refugee camps, which are home to about 400,000 predominantly Sunni refugees. But the camps are no-go areas for the Lebanese army and their internal security is handled by Palestinian political factions, with militant Sunni groups exploiting Lebanon's continuing political deadlock to establish themselves within the camps.
In Nahr al-Bared, a 30,000-strong refugee camp outside Tripoli in northern Lebanon, the Palestinian-born fugitive Shakir al-Abssi is developing his little-known group Fatah al-Islam, while amassing an arsenal that includes explosives and rockets. Recent independent polls show that half of Lebanon's population own, or have easy access to, weapons. "It only takes a gun to shoot someone and cause a massive problem," said Timur Goksel, who was for two decades a senior UN adviser in Lebanon.
Stridently disowned by the Palestinian Fatah party of which it purports to be an offshoot, Fatah al-Islam raised concerns among Lebanese security officials late last year, after reports that 200 of its members had infiltrated the Palestinian refugee camps of Badawi and Nahr al-Bared, in northern Lebanon.
Amid Lebanon's worst political crisis since the 1975-90 civil war, there is a growing gulf between the Shia-led opposition movement, spearheaded by Iranian-backed Hezbollah, and the western-backed, Sunni-led government. Sunni groups are reported to be funded by individual contributions from oil-rich Saudis, seeking to offset the influence of Hezbollah, the militant Shia group whose popularity in southern Lebanon was bolstered by its perceived victory in last summer's war against Israel.
Jawad Adra, the managing partner of the Beirut-based independent research body Information International, said that the increasing polarisation was providing a fertile breeding ground for anti-Western extremism among Sunni communities around Tripoli and Sidon. "Western countries need to be careful that their political support for Lebanon's Sunni leaders, to offset the supposed Shia threat posed by Iran through Hezbollah, does not play into the hands of Sunni extremists," he said. "The growth of Sunni extremism, not just in the Palestinian camps but also in impoverished areas of Lebanon, is a ticking time-bomb that is waiting to explode, and could sweep all moderates out of its path."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/26/2007 00:00 ||
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Iran has responded to the latest round of UN sanctions by announcing a partial suspension of co-operation with the International Atomic Energy Agency. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Iran would not stop its nuclear programme despite the sanctions and would "adjust" its ties with those behind the measure.
A government spokesman said on state television that Iran had "decided to suspend code 1-3 of minor arrangements of the safeguards" with the UN's nuclear watchdog. "This will continue until Iran's nuclear case is referred back to the IAEA from the UN Security Council." The Security Council unanimously approved sanctions against Iran on Saturday. But Mr Ahmadinejad said: "Iran will not stop its peaceful and legal nuclear trend even for one second because of such an illegal resolution."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/26/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Am I the only one who thinks this pic of Ahmanutjob makes him look like the Iranian version of Roscoe P. Coltrane? :-)
#4
That pic sez "Mahmoud the Weasel". I'd dearly love to see someone wipe the smirk off his face, preferrably with high explosives. Besides, how can you suspend something that never existed?
Posted by: Mac ||
03/26/2007 9:07 Comments ||
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#7
Is that a pencil he's sticking in his ear? To me, he looks like Alfred P. Newman with decent teeth. I think he MIGHT be about half as brilliant as ole Alf, as well. I'd LOVE to see his face as a 12-ship ARCLIGHT strike targeted his house - with him in it.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/26/2007 11:10 Comments ||
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#8
Now here is a candidate for dog food/rat poison.
The Iranian Foreign Minister accused a group of captured British servicemen last night of having committed an act of aggression, only hours after Tony Blair appealed for their release. The charge against them is their illegal entrance into Iranian territorial waters, Manouchehr Mottaki, the Foreign Minister, told a press conference in New York.
In a telephone conversation with Mr Mottaki last night Margaret Beckett, the Foreign Secretary, made extremely clear our view that our personnel were operating in Iraqi waters, called for their immediate return, and asked for immediate consular access to them, a spokesman said. But Mr Mottaki told the conference that Iran had already provided British officials with details, including GPS coordinates, of the servicemens arrest. The British Ambassador to Tehran was summoned to the Foreign Ministry to explain why 15 service personnel in two inflatable boats had strayed into Iranian territorial waters.
The Iranian authorities intercepted these sailors and Marines in Iranian waters and detained them in Iranian waters. This has happened in the past as well. In terms of legal issues, its under investigation, Mr Mottaki said. His comments were seen as a direct rebuff to the Prime Minister, who only hours earlier had called the seizure of the British servicemen unjustified and wrong and demanded their release.
This is a very serious situation and there is no doubt at all that these people were taken from a boat in Iraqi waters, Mr Blair said. It is simply not true that they went into Iranian territorial waters and I hope the Iranian Government understands how fundamental an issue this is for us. We have certainly sent these messages back to them very clearly indeed. They should not be in any doubt over how seriously we take this act, which was unjustified and wrong.
Mr Mottaki flew to New York for Saturdays unanimous UN vote to tighten sanctions on Tehran over its suspected nuclear weapons programme, after President Ahmadinejad abruptly cancelled his trip. Sir Emyr Jones-Parry, Britains UN Ambassador, tried unsuccessfully to raise the subject of the servicemens fate with the Iranian Foreign Minister.
Behind the scenes, British diplomats worked furiously over the weekend to increase the pressure on Iran by appealing to the regime through friendly third parties. Geoffrey Adams, the British Ambassador to Tehran, asked the Iranian Foreign Ministry yesterday where the 15 captives were being held and demanded consular access to them. So far the Iranians have refused to give any details about their fate, other than to say that they are being well treated. General Ali Reza Afshar, Irans armed forces spokesman, said that they had been taken to Tehran for questioning and that they had confessed to an aggression into the Islamic Republic of Irans waters.
Diplomats involved in the case believe that the British servicemen were ambushed by a naval unit of Irans Revolutionary Guards with the intention of putting pressure on Britain ahead of the key UN Security Council vote to impose sanctions on Tehran for its nuclear programme. If that was the motive, it failed. On Saturday, the day after the abduction, the council voted unanimously to impose sanctions on Iran, banning the export of weapons and freezing the assets of 28 individuals and companies involved in the countrys nuclear and ballistic missile programmes. The resolution has given Iran 60 days to freeze its uranium enrichment work or it could face further sanctions.
Iran said last night that it would limit cooperation with the UNs nuclear watchdog and vowed not to halt its atomic programme even for one second. John Bolton, who until recently was the US envoy to the UN, said he believed that the seizure of the British sailors was a conscious decision by the Tehran Government, related to the Security Councils planned sanctions against Iran. He added: They were possibly picking on the British because they think the Europeans are the weak link in this.
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The US military trial of Guantanamo Bay detainee David Hicks begins tonight (Australian time), where it is expected he will use the opportunity to make a statement to the tribunal. When Hicks first appeared before a US military commission in August 2004, he uttered just one sentence: "Sir, to all charges, not guilty". But this time, his Australian lawyer, David McLeod, says he expects the South Australian to make a lengthier statement. "It's likely that now David's been in prison for quite a long time, he might have a few things to say about the process," Mr McLeod said. "He is certainly more focused on this proceeding." This will be the first test of the new military commission structure after the original system was struck down by the US Supreme Court. More at link
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.
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U.S. forces have arrested the leaders of one of the deadliest car-bomb-making networks in Baghdad, a military spokesman said. After months of intelligence gathering, U.S. troops captured the ringleader of the Rusafa car bomb network and three of his lieutenants on Wednesday, Army 
A 4-year-old boy caught in the crossfire of a shootout between Fatah and Hamas forces died of his wounds yesterday, while a pro-Fatah security man was abducted and killed, Palestinian security officials said, raising tensions between the sides just days after the formation of their unity government. 
Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers have bombed a military base near the international airport north of Colombo. Three people were killed and 16 injured when light aircraft dropped two bombs, officials said, hitting a parking area for planes and helicopter gunships. The raid on the air force base took place at about 0045 on Monday (1915 GMT Sunday). The international airport - which was not damaged - closed briefly as a precaution. Flights in and out of the civilian airport were cancelled and roads cordoned off but no civilians were wounded and the runway was not damaged.
Tamil Tiger rebels used two light aircraft to bomb and strafe an air force base next to Colombo International Airport, killing two airmen and wounding 10 others, a spokesman for the group's political wing told CNN.
Sunni militants are moving into Lebanon from Iraq because they regard it as a soft target for terrorist attacks, a British government minister has warned. Several cells, each with up to 12 members, are said to be operating out of the Palestinian refugee camp of Ein el-Hilweh in the southern Lebanese city of Sidon.
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