Hi there, !
Today Sun 12/30/2007 Sat 12/29/2007 Fri 12/28/2007 Thu 12/27/2007 Wed 12/26/2007 Tue 12/25/2007 Mon 12/24/2007 Archives
Rantburg
531695 articles and 1855968 comments are archived on Rantburg.

Today: 74 articles and 427 comments as of 13:15.
Post a news link    Post your own article   
Area: WoT Background    Non-WoT    Opinion    Local News       
Benazir Bhutto killed by suicide bomber
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 1: WoT Operations
4 00:00 JosephMendiola [5] 
2 00:00 mrp [3] 
55 00:00 twobyfour [4] 
7 00:00 Thomas Woof [3] 
15 00:00 RD [3] 
29 00:00 JosephMendiola [4] 
14 00:00 JosephMendiola [5] 
0 [3] 
5 00:00 Icerigger [3] 
2 00:00 sinse [4] 
0 [3] 
17 00:00 Old Patriot [3] 
0 [4] 
13 00:00 trailing wife [3] 
0 [3] 
0 [3] 
0 [3] 
0 [3] 
0 [5] 
0 [4] 
0 [3] 
1 00:00 newc [3] 
0 [3] 
Page 2: WoT Background
1 00:00 trailing wife [2]
0 [2]
3 00:00 Thomas Woof [2]
6 00:00 Mike [3]
5 00:00 tu3031 [2]
9 00:00 3dc [2]
8 00:00 Old Patriot [2]
4 00:00 mojo [2]
21 00:00 Thomas Woof [2]
10 00:00 Thomas Woof [2]
2 00:00 Angela [2]
3 00:00 Kittuah [2]
0 [2]
0 [2]
0 [2]
1 00:00 sinse [2]
0 [2]
0 [2]
Page 3: Non-WoT
6 00:00 Icerigger [4]
1 00:00 USN,Ret. [2]
13 00:00 Glung McGurque2454 [2]
25 00:00 trailing wife [2]
4 00:00 Barbara Skolaut [2]
8 00:00 Anguper Hupomosing9418 [2]
8 00:00 JosephMendiola [3]
2 00:00 Mike [2]
0 [2]
2 00:00 Chuck Simmins [2]
5 00:00 twobyfour [2]
5 00:00 tu3031 [2]
5 00:00 Frank G [2]
0 [3]
2 00:00 tu3031 [2]
0 [2]
Page 4: Opinion
14 00:00 JosephMendiola [3]
0 [2]
3 00:00 Thomas Woof [2]
2 00:00 twobyfour [2]
8 00:00 Anguper Hupomosing9418 [2]
12 00:00 Zhang Fei [2]
0 [2]
12 00:00 Barbara Skolaut [2]
0 [3]
1 00:00 newc [2]
Page 5: Russia-Former Soviet Union
4 00:00 Frank G [4]
1 00:00 Thomas Woof [3]
4 00:00 Barbara Skolaut [3]
7 00:00 Seafarious [4]
9 00:00 Barbara Skolaut [3]
17 00:00 mojo [4]
10 00:00 Frank G [3]
Africa Horn
Police corner Somali kidnappers of aid workers
Security forces fought and surrounded Somali kidnappers on Wednesday hours after they abducted a Spanish and an Argentine aid worker with the medical charity Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF). “The police captured two of the kidnappers after a heavy exchange of gunfire, and they are now surrounded,” Puntland Trade Minister Abdishamad Yusuf Abwan told Reuters.

In the latest such abduction in the semi-autonomous northern Puntland region, the women’s car was ambushed by a gang with machineguns in Bosasso port as they drove to a hospital. But they were pursued by authorities and engaged in a gunfight shortly after, locals said. Spain’s ambassador in Nairobi, Nicolas Martin Cinto, was quoted by Spanish news agency Efe as saying the kidnappers of Spanish doctor Mercedes Garcia and Argentine nurse Pilar Bouza had surrendered and asked not to be killed. A Spanish Foreign Ministry spokeswoman also said of the drama that “it looks like this is going to be resolved”. The abduction in Bosasso port came two days after gunmen in Puntland released French journalist Gwen Le Gouil, whom they kidnapped and held for eight days demanding $80,000 in ransom.
Posted by: Fred || 12/27/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:


Africa North
Tourists' killers linked to al-Qa'ida
NOUAKCHOTT: The Christmas Eve murder of four French tourists in Mauritania has been linked to al-Qai'da's African affiliate. Gunmen shot the tourists as they picnicked on the side of a road near Aleg, a small town 245km east of the capital, Nouakchott, police said. The attackers then fled south towards the Senegalese border.

The sole survivor was seriously injured and had been flown to the main hospital in Senegal's capital, Dakar, where he was in intensive care, hospital spokesman Moussa Samb said. French radio station France Info said the man, in his 70s, would be sent to France today and admitted to hospital in Lyon.

By last night, five people had been arrested over the shooting in the normally safe south of the country, including one who last year had been given a suspended two-year prison sentence for belonging to a terrorist group, prosecutors said in a statement. Two of those believed to have fled to Senegal were "young Mauritanians who are suspected of belonging to extremist Salafist groups". Both were arrested last year on suspicion of belonging to the Algeria-based Salafist Group forPreaching and Combat, which has declared allegiance toal-Qa'ida. One of the two was freed without charge, while the second was acquitted of belonging to a terrorist organisation, a decision that prosecutors were appealing against, their statement said. The acquitted man had "taken part in military training outside the country".

The tourists - four male relatives and a male friend - were on a driving trek between Paris and Burkina Faso and were on their way to Mali when they were attacked, the French Foreign Ministry said in Paris. It said the victims included two adult children of an elderly man who was shot in the leg and wounded. His brother and a family friend were also killed. "They were en route to Mali when they were surprised by an armed group comprised of three people who demanded money, without success, before attacking them in a barbaric fashion."
Posted by: Fred || 12/27/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in North Africa


Tunisia jails 10 men for links to al Qaeda in Iraq
A Tunisian court jailed 10 men for up to five years on Wednesday for attempting to join al Qaeda fighters in Iraq, a defence lawyer said. "Karim Elbaloumi, an architecture student, was given five years in prison and the other nine were sentenced to two years in jail," lawyer Samir Dylo said. Dylo said the court convicted the men of planning to join insurgents, having military training and recruiting people to fight U.S.-led coalition forces in Iraq.

Tunisian authorities have been cracking down on people willing to join insurgents in Iraq, despite widespread sympathy among the North African country's 10 million population for anti-U.S. fighters in Iraq. Lawyers say about 1,000 people have been arrested since 2003 on terrorism charges, including recruiting fighters for the Iraqi insurgency.
Posted by: Fred || 12/27/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda


Two bombs go off in Algeria
At least two soldiers would be killed in a bomb explosion which occurred in Lakhdaria town (120 km east of Algiers) while another bomb went off in Boumerdes Province (5o km east of Algiers) on Wednesday.

The first attack targeted a Gendarmerie National station at 5 p.m. in Souk Alhad area, 20 km west of Lakhdaria and the second bomb was blown up four hours later at a judicial police station in midtown Lakhdaria, according to corroborating sources. Residents said they were scared as they heard the sound of the explosion. Because of that, they did not leave their homes.

On the other hand, witnesses confirmed that the bomb had seriously damaged the judicial police building without giving more details about the number of possible victims neither did they say how the explosion occurred. The damages show that people were killed in the attack, said the same sources. Several gunshots were heard after the explosion which occured in Lakhdaria. That means an armed clash would have taken place between Algerian security forces and terrorists after the attack.

A total of 41 people were killed and many were wounded in a two suicide attacks at the Constitutional Council and the office of UN refugee agency in Algiers. The attacks were claimed by the so-called Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.
Posted by: Fred || 12/27/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in North Africa

#1  None of this will be permitted.
Posted by: newc || 12/27/2007 0:07 Comments || Top||


14 terrorists surrender in Western Algeria
Judicial police of the locality of Tlemcen (300 Kms west of Algiers) dismantled this month, two networks working for the support and supply of terrorist groups. Five terrorists bearing nicknames were arrested in the first operation at the small village of Tadjmout located in the southern borders of Tlemcen.
"Bearing nicknames"? Y'mean like "Muggsy," "Butch," "Ratso," and "Mahmoud the Weasel"?
Or "Abu Ali alias Abu Ahmed"
"Abu Ratso"? "Mad Dog Abu"?
As to the second operation carried out in the same region, this one resulted in the arrest of 6 farmers and shepherds accused of supporting, recruiting members for terrorists groups as well as supplying them with commodities. The two fruitful operations coincide with the surrender of one terrorist in the village of Tajmout and 14 others likely to do so, sources revealed. On the other hand, a vast combing operation was carried out by the national popular army troops in the mountainous regions of the area to eliminate the remaining terrorist members.
Posted by: Fred || 12/27/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:


Arabia
Three security soldiers killed in southern Yemen ambush
Three soldiers were killed and seven wounded in an attack by tribesmen on a convoy of security forces in southern Yemen on Wednesday, police sources said. Armed tribesmen ambushed the convoy in a mountainous area in Taiz province, some 250 kilometres south-eastern the capital Sana'a, the sources said. They said the attackers belonged to the Qaisi clan, whose tribal leader Abdul-Salam al-Qaisi, was killed in an unexplained shooting by a police patrol in October.
"Why'd you bang Abdul-Salam, Officer Friendly?"
"I just can't explain it."
Eight policemen involved in the shooting were put on trial. On December 5, a first instance court sentenced three policemen to death and gave five others jail terms ranging from one to five years after it condemned them in al-Qaisi's killing. Clashes between tribesmen and security forces happen frequently in this impoverished Arabian Peninsula country, where men carry firearms openly in rural areas.
This article starring:
Abdul-Salam al-Qaisi
Posted by: Fred || 12/27/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:


India-Pakistan
Bhutto's supporters take anger to the streets, set stuff on fire
Pakistan put its paramilitary forces on "red alert" across the country on Thursday after the assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto sparked violent protests by her supporters. The unrest was predictably fiercest in her native Sindh province and its capital, Karachi. "Police in Sindh have been put on red alert," said a senior police official. "We have increased deployment and are patrolling in all the towns and cities, as there is trouble almost everywhere." At least 20 vehicles were torched in the central Sindh town of Hyderabad. Trouble was reported from the interior of Sindh province, including the Bhutto ancestral home at Larkana, police said.

Reports said security was deteriorating in Karachi, where thousands poured on to the streets to protest. At least three banks, a government office and a post office were set on fire, a witness said. Tires were set on fire on many roads, and shooting and stone-throwing was reported in many places. Most shops and markets in the city shut down.

There were also small protests in Rawalpindi and the nearby capital, Islamabad.

Protesters blocked roads with burning tyres and chanted slogans against President Pervez Musharraf in Muzaffarabad, capital of Pakistani Kashmir in the mountainous north.

Police said they had been ordered to block the main road between Punjab province and Sindh province, apparently to stop the movement of protesters.

Disturbances were also reported in the southeastern city of Multan, although details were sketchy. In the eastern city of Lahore, Bhutto party workers burnt three buses and damaged several other vehicles, police said.
Posted by: Seafarious || 12/27/2007 14:58 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I'll be impressed when they start hanging "students" and their instructors outside of the local hate-factories. That'd suggest some sort of 'silent majority' exists *somewhere* in Pakistan. Until we start seeing that sort of response, the best policy is to figure out how to steal their nukes before someone nastier and more suicidal does so, and shift the balance of our logistics in Afghanistan to the northerly routes through Tajikistan.
Posted by: Mitch H. || 12/27/2007 15:39 Comments || Top||

#2  Secure the nukes. Things are gonna get real ugly soon.
Posted by: DarthVader || 12/27/2007 16:26 Comments || Top||

#3  Hopefully, BENAZIR's siblings i.e. SISTER, may decide to enter the realm of politics, ala GHANDI family of INDIA???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/27/2007 23:31 Comments || Top||

#4  Benazir's death is very problematic for OSAMA-AQ as well as for MUSHARAFF.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/27/2007 23:33 Comments || Top||


Getty Images from Pakistan
Including Bhutto's coffin being carried by the crowds, all at the link.
Posted by: Steve White || 12/27/2007 14:33 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Link no longer available.
Posted by: phil_b || 12/27/2007 15:12 Comments || Top||

#2  Type "Bhutto" in the search edit line. The word "grisly" is an understatement.
Posted by: mrp || 12/27/2007 18:18 Comments || Top||


Who killed Benazir Bhutto? The main suspects
The main suspects in Benazir Bhutto’s assassination are the Pakistani and foreign Islamist militants who saw her as a heretic and an American stooge and had repeatedly threatened to kill her.
I'm not Colombo, but if somebody said they were going to kill somebody and then the somebody turned up dead, I know who I'd suspect.
But fingers will also be pointed at Inter-Services Intelligence, the agency that has had close ties to the Islamists since the 1970s and has been used by successive Pakistani leaders to suppress political opposition.
It's a loose cannon that should be dismantled.
Good luck with that. The ISI wouldn't go quietly ...
Ms Bhutto narrowly escaped an assassination attempt in October, when a suicide bomber killed about 140 people at a rally in the port city of Karachi to welcome her back from eight years in exile. Earlier that month, two militant warlords based in Pakistan's lawless northwestern areas, near the border with Afghanistan, had threatened to kill her on her return. One was Baitullah Mehsud, a top commander fighting the Pakistani army in the tribal region of South Waziristan. He has close ties to al Qaeda and the Afghan Taleban.
I stopped making a distinction between the Afghan and Pak Taliban about a year ago.
The other was Haji Omar, the “amir” or leader of the Pakistani Taleban, who is also from South Waziristan and fought against the Soviets with the Mujahideen in Afghanistan.
Ms Bhutto revealed that she had received a letter signed by a person who claimed to be a friend of al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden threatening to slaughter her like a goat.
After that attack Ms Bhutto revealed that she had received a letter signed by a person who claimed to be a friend of al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden threatening to slaughter her like a goat.

She accused Pakistani authorities of not providing her with sufficient security and hinted that they may have been complicit in the bomb attack. Asif Ali Zardari, her husband, directly accused the ISI of being involved in that attempt on her life. Mrs Bhutto stopped short of blaming the Government directly, saying that she had more to fear from unidentified members of a power structure that she described as allies of the “forces of militancy”.

Analysts say that President Musharraf himself is unlikely to have ordered her assassination, but that elements of the army and intelligence service would have stood to lose money and power if she had become Prime Minister. The ISI, in particular, includes some Islamists who became radicalised while running the American-funded campaign against the Soviets in Afghanistan and remained fiercely opposed to Ms Bhutto on principle. Saudi Arabia, which has strong influence in Pakistan, is also thought to frown on Ms Bhutto as being too secular and Westernised and to favour Nawaz Sharif, another former Prime Minister.
This article starring:
Asif Ali Zardari
BAITULLAH MEHSUDTaliban
HAJI OMARTaliban
Nawaz Sharif
Posted by: tu3031 || 12/27/2007 11:20 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: Taliban

#1  Listen for impromptu firing squads at the barracks, and watch who comes out alive. That'll define the state of play...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 12/27/2007 11:31 Comments || Top||

#2  She accused Pakistani authorities of not providing her with sufficient security and hinted that they may have been complicit in the bomb attack. Asif Ali Zardari, her husband, directly accused the ISI of being involved in that attempt on her life.

If the ISI was believed to be involved in assassination attempts, why would Ms. Bhutto want more of them around to "protect" her?
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/27/2007 11:41 Comments || Top||

#3  This is how extremists react when confronted by the encroachment of liberty: they simply murder their political opposition; most recently in Lebanon, and now, in Pakistan.
Posted by: mrp || 12/27/2007 12:01 Comments || Top||

#4  I await the obligatory "No Musllim could have possibly have done this as it is against Islam." thing.
And, of course, Rage Boy...
Posted by: tu3031 || 12/27/2007 12:05 Comments || Top||

#5  "Qui bono?", as the Romans would say. Who benefits? Always a good investigative precept.

After that, top of the pops is "Follow the money."

Posted by: mojo || 12/27/2007 12:11 Comments || Top||

#6  I've been on the phone with my people in DC, and they are really watching this one close... It probably isn't the work of one of M's Boyz, it doesn't fit their M. O. Mu has worked too hard getting Pakistan to where it is now to try such a foolish act. They need our support and also from within now more than ever, we really need them to stay in our camp on the GWoT. The establishment of Pakistan as a viable Nation-State in the world arena is evolving slowly, and I hope and Pray that doesn't set the nation and region into s state of devolution... BTW R-Burgers, I'll be heading to A-Stan for 15 months soon, so if I can get a drop on the NIPR side of the satilite, I'll try to continue to post the real world dope as I did during OIF 1. To Fred and All,

With fondest Arabian Regards, I remain

Yr. Af. Sr, Bodyguard
Posted by: Bodyguard || 12/27/2007 12:11 Comments || Top||

#7  Respects to Benazir Bhutto. Whatever faults she may have had, she must have been an exceptionally brave lady campaigning as she did for democracy when she knew she was likely to be killed for it. Maybe it says something about the lure of power but it would have been a whole lot easier and safer for her to get a flat in London and forget the whole mess.
Posted by: Abu Uluque6305 || 12/27/2007 12:15 Comments || Top||

#8  Good luck and good hunting, Bodyguard. We look forward to your reports and your safe return.
Posted by: Seafarious || 12/27/2007 12:29 Comments || Top||

#9  Go well, Bodyguard -- and may the NIPRNET welcome you regularly. ;-)
Posted by: lotp || 12/27/2007 12:31 Comments || Top||

#10  why would they dismantle the "loose cannon" when it is what keeps the ones in power in power
Posted by: sinse || 12/27/2007 12:38 Comments || Top||

#11 
#4
We're still doing the countdown until they blame it on RAW, too.
Posted by: Fred || 12/27/2007 12:43 Comments || Top||

#12  God be with you BG.
Posted by: Icerigger || 12/27/2007 12:45 Comments || Top||

#13  mojo: "Qui bono?", as the Romans would say. Who benefits? Always a good investigative precept.

After that, top of the pops is "Follow the money."


Cui bono doesn't always work because the actual (vs theoretical) consequences might not actually benefit the perpetrators. Some Muslims literally doubt that bin Laden carried out 9/11 because it brought the wrath of Uncle Sam on his head. In hindsight, many think he should have foreseen the US's vigorous response to such a provocation. Therefore, bin Laden can't have carried out 9/11 - it must have been the work of fiendish Mossad* agents. In reality, of course, bin Laden was responsible for 9/11 - it's just that what bin Laden thought would happen (a US retreat from Saudi Arabia and all over the Muslim world) and what actually happened (a US attack on the Taliban and al Qaeda) were totally different things.

* Not that Muslims weren't happy to see a lot of Americans killed and billions of dollars of American infrastructure burned to the ground.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 12/27/2007 12:46 Comments || Top||

#14  in power in power

Wheels within wheels, sinse?
Posted by: twobyfour || 12/27/2007 12:47 Comments || Top||

#15  Go well, Bodyguard! Keep safe, and get the job done! Easy for me to say, safe here, of course; but, still, thanks for your service!
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 12/27/2007 12:49 Comments || Top||

#16  ANALYSIS: Conspiracy theories abound over Benazir Bhutto slaying

By Yossi Melman, Haaretz Correspondent

The most intriguing question that arises from the assassination of Benazir Bhutto is who plotted and carried out the killing.

After the failed assassination attempt in Karachi, observers in Pakistan theorized extreme Muslim groups who were outlawed by President Pervez Musharraf, or Al-Qaida elements aligned with these groups, were responsible.

From these groups' point of view, Bhutto and her party are an enemy, perhaps an even more dangerous enemy than Musharraf. Yet, in Pakistan, considered one of the world's most fertile breeding grounds for conspiracy theories, many more possible suspects will be bandied about. Indeed, the blame can be laid at the feet of any of a large number of elements.

The most astounding aspect of Thursday's events is the negligence displayed by Bhutto's security detail. According to reports, the assassin managed to approach Bhutto and position himself within a short distance of her, before proceeding to shoot her and detonate the explosives with which he was strapped. Not only did the assassin want to cause maximum casualties, but he also hoped that authorities would later be unable to identify him and thus ascertain which organization he was working for.

What makes the security failure all the more startling is the fact that it comes just weeks after the first assassination attempt following Bhutto's return to Pakistan from a lengthy political exile.

In the attempt, suicide bombers killed 150 people, although Bhutto escaped unharmed. Under these circumstances, it was chiefly incumbent on her security guards to do all in their power to prevent direct access to her, even during the course of an election campaign in which a candidate seeks to come into contact with the public.

One can make the claim - and some already have - that foreign agents of countries in conflict with Pakistan (re: India) orchestrated the assassination so as to create chaos and to create an image of a country that is unstable and unreliable.

Others will point the finger at Musharraf and his supporters, who viewed Bhutto as a rival who was likely to win next month's elections.

The likelihood of both claims is extremely low, especially considering the apparent deal in principle struck between Musharraf and Bhutto whereby both would enter a power-sharing arrangement and form a joint coalition.

Another possible perpetrator is former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, a bitter political rival of Bhutto who once ordered her husband arrested on corruption charges.
Posted by: tu3031 || 12/27/2007 12:51 Comments || Top||

#17  There may be a tendency to over-think this stuff. A shooter with a bomb-belt is not exactly rare in Pakistan and various other hot-spots. This one got lucky. He may have directly represented a small, factional interest rather than the ISI, et al. What is more important is the broader interests all of these forces of reaction represent and what, if anything, Bhutto's people will do about it.
Posted by: Excalibur || 12/27/2007 12:59 Comments || Top||

#18  With fondest Arabian Regards, I remain

Yr. Af. Sr, Bodyguard


*happy sigh* I do adore you, Bodyguard! Not many know how to properly abbreviate your affectionate servant nowadays, let alone when to use it. We shall think of you often while we await your missives, written in this next round of changing key bits of the world to make it safer for us all.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/27/2007 13:04 Comments || Top||

#19  Given the fact that AlQ has penetrated the ISI, you have to assume that they have also penetrated the Bhutto campaign.

The fact that an assasin could get this close (in fact this isn't the only time) makes it very possible that the assasin had help from someone (or more than one) in the Bhutto campaign.

The fact that the assasin went boom means that Al Q was certainly involved.
Posted by: mhw || 12/27/2007 13:29 Comments || Top||

#20  BG: Good luck, good hunting, and come home safe. I'll encourage the Cub Scouts (who are now Boy Scouts) who wrote you during OIF 1 to do so again.
Posted by: Mike || 12/27/2007 13:30 Comments || Top||

#21  Stay safe, Bodyguard.

Something that we at the Burg generally understand that the average American pro'ly doesn't: this is how things work in that part of the world. Bhutto's assassination isn't extra-ordinary, it isn't out of place, it isn't unusual.

It's just how things are done.

Islamicists (be it al-Qaeda, LeT or any other gang of crazed killers) want anyone who stands in their way dead. Bhutto was in the way so she's whacked. They'll do the same to Perv and to anyone else in Pakistan, or Afghanistan, or Hamastan, or Lebanon, or Algeria, etc, etc, etc. The victims are either 'infidels' or 'apostates' or have some other convenient label applied to them to make it okay, but victims they shall be.

This isn't extraordinary. The Islamicists aren't insane by clinical standards. This is just how they do business, and it's way they're such a threat.
Posted by: Steve White || 12/27/2007 13:35 Comments || Top||

#22  Lot of early analysis at Counter Terrorism Blog
a symposium at National Review Online about Benazir Bhutto's assassination

Bhutto's Assassinaton Needs a Real Investigation
By Aaron Mannes

Pakistan on the Brink: Assassination of Benezir Bhutto triggers widespread violence in Pakistan
By Animesh Roul

Benazir Bhutto's Assassination -- a Lethal Assault on Democracy
By Jonathan Winer

Posted by: 3dc || 12/27/2007 13:36 Comments || Top||

#23  But fingers will also be pointed at Inter-Services Intelligence, the agency that has had close ties to the Islamists since the 1970s and has been used by successive Pakistani leaders to suppress political opposition.

-It's a loose cannon that should be dismantled.

-Good luck with that. The ISI wouldn't go quietly ...


But the secondary explosions would go on for a while, and would be rather...illuminating, dontcha think?
Posted by: Seafarious || 12/27/2007 13:43 Comments || Top||

#24  "If the ISI was believed to be involved in assassination attempts, why would Ms. Bhutto want more of them around to "protect" her?"

I think they wanted more and better technical stuff, IED detection stuff, not more personnel. Warm bodies, the PPP has.
Posted by: Liberalhawk || 12/27/2007 13:57 Comments || Top||

#25  "Given the fact that AlQ has penetrated the ISI, you have to assume that they have also penetrated the Bhutto campaign"

good point. AQ could have penetrated the PPP. Or the ISI could have penetrated the PPP.
Posted by: Liberalhawk || 12/27/2007 14:02 Comments || Top||

#26  good luck Bodyguard... wish I waz going with you to Afghanistan. Plz Send the Talibs my Hard Reguards.

TW: Not many know how to properly abbreviate your affectionate servant nowadays, let alone when to use it. We shall think of you often while we await your missives, written in this next round of changing key bits of the world to make it safer for us all.

TW, were youse that high born? Where else would one learn themselves up on such like?

~:)
Posted by: RD || 12/27/2007 14:05 Comments || Top||

#27  This is a sobering read from Andy McCarthy at National Review

illed by the real Pakistan.

By Andrew C. McCarthy

A recent CNN poll showed that 46 percent of Pakistanis approve of Osama bin Laden.

Aspirants to the American presidency should hope to score so highly in the United States. In Pakistan, though, the al-Qaeda emir easily beat out that country’s current president, Pervez Musharraf, who polled at 38 percent.

President George Bush, the face of a campaign to bring democracy — or, at least, some form of sharia-lite that might pass for democracy — to the Islamic world, registered nine percent. Nine!

If you want to know what to make of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto’s murder today in Pakistan, ponder that.

There is the Pakistan of our fantasy. The burgeoning democracy in whose vanguard are judges and lawyers and human rights activists using the “rule of law” as a cudgel to bring down a military junta. In the fantasy, Bhutto, an attractive, American-educated socialist whose prominent family made common cause with Soviets and whose tenures were rife with corruption, was somehow the second coming of James Madison.

Then there is the real Pakistan: an enemy of the United States and the West.


You will want to read the rest!
Posted by: Sherry || 12/27/2007 14:19 Comments || Top||

#28  Another point of interest: How many (and, perhaps more importantly, which) of her bodyguards got dead too?
Posted by: mojo || 12/27/2007 14:28 Comments || Top||

#29  "Magic Bomber Theory?"
Posted by: doc || 12/27/2007 14:38 Comments || Top||

#30  NRO: President George Bush, the face of a campaign to bring democracy — or, at least, some form of sharia-lite that might pass for democracy — to the Islamic world, registered nine percent. Nine!

Actually, I'm impressed he got 9%, this being Pakistan we're talking about.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 12/27/2007 14:50 Comments || Top||

#31  Mojo, dunno how petinent that might be. Jihadi theology is pretty much of the "Kill them all, Allah knows his own" variety. Innocent men, women, children; confederates, and infidels alike play an essential role in their murderous liturgical celebration.
Posted by: mrp || 12/27/2007 14:57 Comments || Top||

#32  The cavalry to the rescue....oops, sorry, just the UN "condemning in the strongest possible terms"
Posted by: tipper || 12/27/2007 15:01 Comments || Top||

#33  "There is the Pakistan of our fantasy. The burgeoning democracy in whose vanguard are judges and lawyers and human rights activists using the “rule of law” as a cudgel to bring down a military junta. In the fantasy, Bhutto, an attractive, American-educated socialist whose prominent family made common cause with Soviets and whose tenures were rife with corruption, was somehow the second coming of James Madison."

On another site I visit, the house Commie is going on how she was a corrupt, dictatorial member of the elite, who supported the US. Now shes teh eevil for being a socialist?

Look, she twerent James Madison, but this is Pakistan.

As for the OBL number, who knows what that means - its easy to say something to a pollster to show how macho you are. In elections, the MMA hasnt done all that well.
Posted by: Liberalhawk || 12/27/2007 15:23 Comments || Top||

#34  LH: On another site I visit, the house Commie is going on how she was a corrupt, dictatorial member of the elite, who supported the US. Now shes teh eevil for being a socialist?

Look, she twerent James Madison, but this is Pakistan.


Actually, McCarthy is praising her, because any (democratic) socialist is preferable to any Islamist. That's why he casts her on the fantasy part of his narrative. The reality, unfortunately, is that she was unable to survive the hatred of a rabidly-Islamist population, let alone win a popular election.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 12/27/2007 15:54 Comments || Top||

#35  Where else would one learn themselves up on such like?

Reading Jane Austen novels while eating chocolate bonbons, of course, dear RD. Or else at my parents' dinner table. My parents were university people, and I remember dinner conversations at which world politics, Freudian vs. Piaget theory of child development, and the reason fish forks are of solid silver rather than having attached steel blades like dinner knives were equally passionately discussed. (As I recall, the conclusion was that carbon steel is permanently stained by lemon juice, whereas silver blades polish up nicely.)
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/27/2007 16:04 Comments || Top||

#36  Looks like they're going into lockdown, paras deployed to quell riots, everything closed.

Might be a good time to snatch their nukes...
Posted by: mojo || 12/27/2007 16:15 Comments || Top||

#37  While her party was originally socialist, she was a member of the feudal landlord elite.

Her grandfather was the dewan (PM) of the Princely State of Junadagh, now part of India. He reportedly assisted the Nawab in carting off the state treasury to Pakistan.
Posted by: john frum || 12/27/2007 16:20 Comments || Top||

#38  "The reality, unfortunately, is that she was unable to survive the hatred of a rabidly-Islamist population, let alone win a popular election."

Oh is that why? IIUC its been a long time since Paki had an election she was allowed to participate in. They were about to have one, when some suicide bomber killed her.

The population of pakistan killed her? Duh, thats just rhetoric "who killed the Kennedys, well you know, it was you and me"

Fact is she had a large base of support Sharif and Imran Khan may have had a bigger one, but I doubt their people wanted her dead. The MMA supporters did, but theyre 20% of the pop at most.
Posted by: Liberalhawk || 12/27/2007 16:39 Comments || Top||

#39  Chances of a proper investigation are nil now that the blast scene was washed down with fire hoses.

Couldn't believe what I was seeing on TV.
Posted by: john frum || 12/27/2007 16:42 Comments || Top||

#40  Couldn't believe what I was seeing on TV.

I doubt your statement. I expect you believed it instantly.
Posted by: Thomas Woof || 12/27/2007 17:01 Comments || Top||

#41  I'm serious. I caught myself talking to the TV.

"You can't do that. It's a bomb scene. You're washing the evidence into the drains!"

Posted by: john frum || 12/27/2007 17:06 Comments || Top||

#42  Then 1 nano-sec later you remembered, wait, this is Pakistan, at least the streets are getting cleaned.
Posted by: Thomas Woof || 12/27/2007 17:11 Comments || Top||

#43  A shooter gets in a neck and a head shot from an Asian mob and then booms themselves. It's straight out of a Hollyweird plotline and I'm not buying it.

A more likely scenario is the shooter is a pro and thinks the boomer is there to allow him to get away, but in fact is there to clean up the evidence, i.e. him (or maybe the shooter did get away). A slick operation that says ISI or possible a foreign government - Iran?
Posted by: phil_b || 12/27/2007 17:18 Comments || Top||

#44  Mossad?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/27/2007 17:35 Comments || Top||

#45  Ayman al-Zawahri number 2 in Al Qaeda organized assasination activity beginning in October. The first attempt in October failed, this one succeeded.

Bhutto as Prime Minister would allow US Troops to enter Pakistan to go after AQ and Ayman al-Zawahri was determined to take her out.
Posted by: www || 12/27/2007 17:38 Comments || Top||

#46  Not sure if any of the reports here covered this. From the News.com.au report

A senior official of Pakistan's Interior Ministry confirmed that Ms Bhutto had died but there were conflicting accounts of how she was killed. A party security adviser said Ms Bhutto was shot in the neck and chest as she got into her vehicle, before the gunman blew himself up.

"The man first fired at Bhutto's vehicle. She ducked and then he blew himself up," police officer Mohammad Shahid said last night.

There were also reports Ms Bhutto had been hit by ball bearings and pellets in the bomb hidden in the jacket worn by the suicide bomber.


The BBC reported the boomer was 50 yards away. Either the boomer was a lot closer or the shooter was a different person.
Posted by: phil_b || 12/27/2007 17:42 Comments || Top||

#47  http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2007/12/us-checking-al.html

An obscure Italian Web site said Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, al Qaeda's commander in Afghanistan, told its reporter in a phone call, "We terminated the most precious American asset which vowed to defeat [the] mujahedeen."

It said the decision to assassinate Bhutto was made by al Qaeda's No. 2 leader, Ayman al Zawahri in October. Before joining Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan, Zawahri was imprisoned in Egypt for his role in the assassination of then-Egyptian President Anwar Sadat.

Bhutto had been outspoken in her opposition to al Qaeda and had criticized the government of President Pervez Musharraf for failing to take strong action against the Islamic terrorists.

"She openly threatened al Qaeda, and she had American support," said ABC News consultant Richard Clarke, the former White House counterterrorism adviser. "If al Qaeda could try to kill Musharraf twice, it could easily do this," he said.
Posted by: www || 12/27/2007 17:44 Comments || Top||

#48  I thought Special Forces were already ghosting through the provinces on the Pakistani side of the Afghan border, and President General (retired?) Doctor Musharref had recently given permission to increase the numbers... but perhaps I misunderstood something I read.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/27/2007 18:46 Comments || Top||

#49  "Evidence, schmevidence, better to wash it out, who knows what skeletons could pop up."

This has not an AQ signature. It is an intel op. Either ISI, or as phil_b hints, IRGIS. Unlikely?

Big "Qui bono?" on Iran's side. Stirring that Pak pot is in their utmost intest.
Posted by: twobyfour || 12/27/2007 20:45 Comments || Top||

#50  Iran is very unlikely as the instigator. Their best people are busy putting down their own citizens. Besides, Shia don't do suicide bombing much and they wouldn't waste a Urdu speaking premium agent on someone who was probably no higher than 20th on their enemy list.
Posted by: mhw || 12/27/2007 21:01 Comments || Top||

#51  ... and they wouldn't waste a Urdu speaking premium agent

Aaah, mhw, do you think they would need to? They would use that agent to convince some Pak tool that it is a bright idea.

They don't care what position of enemy roster Bhutto was on, if killing her would invoke the desired result.

As for IRGIS tied up domestically, hmm, it's curious that it does not hinder them in Levant at all, it seems.
Posted by: twobyfour || 12/27/2007 21:12 Comments || Top||

#52  Im not convinced its not AQ. Theyve certainly combined shooting and booming. generally they boom first and shoot later. Could do it the other way round. Or, more likely they could have been working with some of their folks inside ISI. Which doesnt make it an ISI op per se.
Posted by: liberalhawk || 12/27/2007 21:52 Comments || Top||

#53  No quarrel, LH. I just think that they must grinnin in Tehran, from ear to ear (insert Cox & Forkum imagery). The proverbial shite is nearing very close to the fan, indeed. Maybe they were lucky. But I say they pushed it.

Posted by: twobyfour || 12/27/2007 22:45 Comments || Top||

#54  DRUDGE > AL QAEDA IS LEAD SUSPECT. Iff this letter claim is true, it bodes ill for OSAMA, ZAWI, etc. + AQ, for reasons which are kinda complicated.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/27/2007 23:25 Comments || Top||

#55  Joe, not that complicted. But methink al-Yazid is an idiot, that he claimed it. Zawi is probably white like an oven by anger and this dude has already a mark on him, I bet... give him mayhaps a week to partake on air.
Posted by: twobyfour || 12/27/2007 23:37 Comments || Top||


Benazir Bhutto killed in suicide bombing: More
Benazir Bhutto, the Pakistani opposition leader and former Prime Minister, has been killed in a suicide bombing on her political rally today.
Murder most foul...
Ms Bhutto had been addressing crowds at the garrison city of Rawalpindi, ahead of Pakistan's general election next month, when the bomber detonated his explosives, killing around 20 people. She was taken to hospital, but could not be saved. "At 6:16 p.m. she expired," said Wasif Ali Khan, a member of Ms Bhutto’s party who was at Rawalpindi General Hospital.

Rehman Malik, a security adviser for her Pakistan People's Party, suggested that the killer opened fire as she left the rally, hitting her in the neck and chest, before blowing himself up. He blamed the government for failing to protect Ms Bhutto. "We repeatedly informed the government to provide her proper security and appropriate equipment including jammers, but they paid no heed to our requests," said Mr Malik.

The exact nature of the attack remained unclear, however. "It may have been pellets packed into the suicide bomber’s vest that hit her," Javed Cheema, an interior ministry spokesman said.

Russia and the United States both swiftly issued condemnations of the atrocity, which was being blamed on Islamic militants. A Russian foreign ministry spokesman predicted that it would bring fresh instability to the region, and trigger a fresh round of terrorist attacks. "The attack shows that there are still those in Pakistan trying to undermine reconciliation and democratic development in Pakistan," said an official from the US State Department.
Wow. No kidding? Perhaps if a considerable part of "Pakistain" wasn't under the control of al-Qaeda or Taliban warlords the country might have some remote chance of missing failure, if only by a hair. But probably not, since the remainder of the country spends its time bumping each other off over matters religious and ethnic almost as much as do the primitives of NWFP and FATA.
As news of her death filtered out, Ms Bhutto's supporters at the hospital began chanting "Dog, Musharraf, dog," referring to Pakistan’s President, Pervez Musharraf. Some of them smashed the glass door at the main entrance of the emergency unit, others burst into tears.
Breaking things is almost as characteristic of Pak political discourse as killing people.
Islamic militants have vowed to kill Ms Bhutto, a secular politician and a proponent of women's rights who returned to Pakistan in October to contest parliamentary elections. Today's bombing is the second major attack on her since her return.
Only took one to succeed, didn't it?
A suicide bomber killed nearly 150 people on October 18 as Ms Bhutto paraded in an open-topped bus through the southern city of Karachi after returning home from eight years in self-imposed exile. On that occasion she missed injury by seconds after leaving the top deck of her bus to give an interview.

The latest bombing was the second outbreak of political violence in Pakistan today.
Earlier, gunmen inside the offices of a political party that supports Mr Musharraf opened fire on supporters of another former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, killing four.
Earlier, gunmen inside the offices of a political party that supports Mr Musharraf opened fire on supporters of another former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, killing four, police said. Mr Sharif was several kilometres away from the shooting and was on his way to Rawalpindi after attending a rally.

Ms Bhutto, 54, served twice as Pakistan’s prime minister between 1988 and 1996. She was born on June 21, 1953, into a wealthy landowning family. Her father, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, founded the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and was president and later prime minister of Pakistan from 1971-77. After gaining degrees in politics at Harvard and Oxford universities, she returned to Pakistan in 1977, just before the military seized power from her father. She inherited the leadership of the PPP after her father’s execution in 1979 under military ruler General Mohammad Zia-ul-Haq.

First voted in as prime minister in 1988 - the first woman ever to serve as prime minister of a Muslim country - Ms Bhutto was sacked by the then-president on corruption charges in 1990. She took power again in 1993 after her successor, Mr Sharif, was forced to resign after a row with the president.

But Ms Bhutto was no more successful in her second spell as prime minister, and Mr Sharif was back in power by 1996. In 1999, both she and her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, were sentenced to five years in jail and fined $8.6 million on charges of taking bribes from a Swiss company hired to fight customs fraud. A higher court later overturned the conviction as biased. Ms Bhutto, who had made her husband investment minister during her period in office from 1993 to 1996, was abroad at the time of her conviction and chose not to return to Pakistan.

Mr Sharif meanwhile was deposed by General Pervez Musharraf in a military coup, and went into exile from which he too only returned in the last few weeks.

In 2006 Ms Bhutto joined an Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy with her arch-rival Mr Sharif, but the two disagreed over strategy for dealing with President Musharraf. Ms Bhutto decided it was better to negotiate with him, while Mr Sharif refused to have any dealings with the general. Both had recently thrown themselves into campaigning for the multi-party parliamentary elections due to be held in Pakistan on January 8. Global stock markets fell on news of the killing, and the price of gold and government bonds rose.
Posted by: Fred || 12/27/2007 09:11 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  Only took one to succeed, didn't it?

Yes, the good guys (not saying bhutto was oe of them) have to be lucky every day. The bad guys just have to get lucky once (like on 9/11) Seems like eliminating the bad guys is the only sure way to change that calculus...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 12/27/2007 9:29 Comments || Top||

#2  Midevil would work.
Posted by: 3dc || 12/27/2007 10:28 Comments || Top||

#3  Karachi, 27 Dec. (AKI) - (by Syed Saleem Shahzad) - A spokesperson for the al-Qaeda terrorist network has claimed responsibility for the death on Thursday of former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

“We terminated the most precious American asset which vowed to defeat [the] mujahadeen,” Al-Qaeda’s commander and main spokesperson Mustafa Abu Al-Yazid told Adnkronos International (AKI) in a phone call from an unknown location, speaking in faltering English. Al-Yazid is the main al-Qaeda commander in Afghanistan. It is believed that the decision to kill Bhutto, who is the leader of the opposition Pakistan People's Party (PPP), was made by al-Qaeda No. 2, the Egyptian doctor, Ayman al-Zawahiri in October.

Death squads were allegedly constituted for the mission and ultimately one cell comprising a defunct Lashkar-i-Jhangvi’s Punjabi volunteer succeeded in killing Bhutto.
Posted by: Steve || 12/27/2007 10:38 Comments || Top||

#4  Swillary told an audience in Iowa that "Bhutto's father was also assissinated..." Hanged on trumped up charges is the same result, but not the same thing...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 12/27/2007 11:25 Comments || Top||

#5  She was brave but foolhardy. Her security precautions were lousy for the number one jihadi target in the country. Now we'll see whether her party is more than just a dynastic vehicle. What's needed is a purge of the army of all Islamist elements followed by an Algerian-style counter-insurgency. Pakistan is in for a rocky future.
Posted by: Apostate || 12/27/2007 11:41 Comments || Top||

#6  She was brave but foolhardy. Her security precautions were lousy for the number one jihadi target in the country. Now we'll see whether her party is more than just a dynastic vehicle. What's needed is a purge of the army of all Islamist elements followed by an Algerian-style counter-insurgency. Pakistan is in for a rocky future.

Before this assination Paki-Waki-Genetic-Land was a collection of unstable pieces...
wot now?
Unstable pieces waring with other unstable pieces ad infinitum.

Will the ISI and Perv all live happily ever after now? [lol!]

[unconscious speculation on my part]
You have to wonder did she have an unconscious death wish or was her own death wish part of her conscious political calculus?

*On it's face was Ms Butto's courage a Ghandilike courage? A pure loving gesture towards all Pakistanis, to be fearless of the future?
Posted by: RD || 12/27/2007 13:26 Comments || Top||

#7  *On it's face was Ms Butto's courage a Ghandilike courage? A pure loving gesture towards all Pakistanis, to be fearless of the future?

A big of hope in a hopeless world? Hell, why not. Gimme Washington and the points
Posted by: Thomas Woof || 12/27/2007 17:07 Comments || Top||


Benazir Bhutto killed by suicide bomber
FORMER Pakistani leader Benazir Bhutto has been killed in a bomb attack.
The ultimate failure of the Pakistani state...
At least 20 people were killed when the bomber struck after opposition leader Mrs Bhutto addressed a political rally, witnesses said.
That's kinda the Pak political process in a nutshell, isn't it? Rather than answering arguments, kill them. Kill as many bystanders as you can. Kill yourself, too.
A witness at the scene said he heard two shots moments before the blast. “As party leaders, including Bhutto, started coming out a man tried to go close to them and then he fired some shots and blew himself up,” said a police officer, at the scene.
The police look particularly competent when the guy's not only wearing a boom vest, but waving a gun. Obviously they were right on top of things.
Police said about 15 people had been killed in the blast. Earlier, party officials said Bhutto was safe.
That's the other Pak characteristic: lie, even if it's to your advantage to tell the truth.
Body parts and flesh were scattered at the back gate of the Liaqat Bagh park, in Rawalpindi, where Bhutto had spoken. Police official Abdul Karim had said Bhutto had already left the area in her vehicle when the blast went off, just minutes after her speech to thousands of supporters.
Doesn't look like she got far.
Another police official, Saud Aziz, said it was a suicide attack.
The signature of Islamicism...
The road outside was stained with blood. People screamed for ambulances. Others gave water to the wounded lying in the street. The clothing of some of the victims was shredded and people put party flags over their bodies.
Posted by: Delphi || 12/27/2007 08:30 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  Martial law, anyone?
Posted by: M. Murcek || 12/27/2007 8:50 Comments || Top||

#2  that will confirm, for many, that Perv did it both to get rid of her, and as an excuse for martial law.
Posted by: Liberalhawk || 12/27/2007 8:53 Comments || Top||

#3  Her supporters at the hospital began chanting ``Dog, Musharraf, dog,'' referring to Pakistan's president Pervez Musharraf.

Even if he didn't have anything to do with it, he's gonna get the blame. Things are going to get interesting, real fast.
Posted by: Steve || 12/27/2007 8:59 Comments || Top||

#4  Agreed Steve, and not "interesting" in a good way, either.

'Hawk, you're right, whether Perv did it or not, he'll get blamed, and it will be to the advantage of many to push that meme.
Posted by: Mike || 12/27/2007 9:08 Comments || Top||

#5  The leftoids at the office are already blaming... the Americans! "They said they would protect her.", etc. With what f*cking magic wand?
Posted by: Excalibur || 12/27/2007 9:09 Comments || Top||

#6  In practical terms, who is going to do what?

Bhuttos people are initially blaming Perv, but that could quickly change if he offers them power like he did Bhutto. While it won't be all sweetness and light between them, they will not refuse power.

But then what?
Posted by: Anonymoose || 12/27/2007 9:22 Comments || Top||

#7  Chalk another one up to the Religion of Pieces
Posted by: PlanetDan || 12/27/2007 9:26 Comments || Top||

#8  At this point, Im not sure a PPP-Perv power sharing agreement would work. The agreement with Bhutto had already broken down. To prove he wasnt involved, hed have to give up more.
Posted by: Liberalhawk || 12/27/2007 9:27 Comments || Top||

#9  I wouldn't be surprised if it was the work of the talibunnies/al-quada and the ISI working together. And in reality, this is the last thing Musharraf needed. I think we might be looking at the first stages of a Islamic taker.

The other possiblity is a couple kooks got lucky. But it the fallout will be similar to scenario one.
Posted by: DarthVader || 12/27/2007 9:38 Comments || Top||

#10  A couple kooks "got lucky," perhaps, but that's because somebody has a strategy of throwing dozens of boomers out there on the assumption that some of them will succeed.

I don't think Perv did it, but he set up the situation that made it possible by being in bed with the Talibs.
Posted by: Fred || 12/27/2007 10:18 Comments || Top||

#11  Jules Crittenden:

More likely the jihadis got lucky. No peaceful transition to civilian leadership for Pakistan, with the murder of a major popular pro-American secularist. Questions:

Jihadis, ISI, or some combination?

Does this unite them against jihadis or just further fragment Pakistan to the jihadis benefit?

Does the election even go ahead, or is it straight to martial law? Short-term or long-term suspension, and in the event of an election, who rises?

If they buy the “dog Musharraf dog” line, or if it’s true, how bloody will the demonstrations be, and will they lead to a coup? If there’s a coup, who and what ends up on top?

No good answers to any of that yet. I have a very bad feeling about all of this. The potential for critically destablizing a flank that was difficult enough as it was, is huge. I’d feel slightly better if Rumsfeld had doubled the size of the Army, and wish Bush and Congress would crank that up. This war is far from over. This war is no artificial Bush creation or figment of anyone’s imagination, and should still be very much part of our own election, wishful thinking notwithstanding.
Posted by: Mike || 12/27/2007 10:22 Comments || Top||

#12  AQ: We Did It.
Posted by: doc || 12/27/2007 10:48 Comments || Top||

#13  Good find, doc. But, of course Al Qaeda claimed it. They haven't exactly had many big wins (or even small wins) for quite some time. It will be interesting to see who else claims the triumph.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/27/2007 11:02 Comments || Top||

#14  Benazir was not pro-amerrican and was no secularist. She would have gladly supported islamists if that would helped her. The only thing prevented this scnerio was Islamist unwlligness to be ruled by a wymin not her not wanting.
Posted by: JFM || 12/27/2007 11:35 Comments || Top||

#15  al-Qaeda will claim it but will blame it on the USA and George Bush, with a nod towards Israel.
Posted by: RD || 12/27/2007 13:31 Comments || Top||


Benazir Bhutto Dead
Opposition leader Benazir Bhutto had been critically injured after a suicide attack at a political rally in Pakistan. She had been undergoing emergency surgery at a nearby hospital.
Posted by: doc || 12/27/2007 08:20 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  Just yesterday someone on here was commenting they where surprised that she wasn't dead yet. kinda eary isn't it
Posted by: sinse || 12/27/2007 8:29 Comments || Top||

#2  You can eliminate Perv because if he wanted to shut her up he would have arrested her LOOOONG ago. My bet is on Islamo Facists.
Posted by: Cyber Sarge || 12/27/2007 8:32 Comments || Top||

#3  Definitely the Islamofascists. IIRC, they tried blowing her up when she arrived in-country.
Posted by: Mike || 12/27/2007 8:36 Comments || Top||

#4  I don't think Perv can be ruled out. There was heavy government involvement in the first suicide bombing on her arrival. Street lights were cut out and a traffic jam was arranged to bottle up the procession at th point of the first bombing. This time it was both an assassination squad and bomber working together. After she was hit, they could not rush her to the hospital for 30 minutes. Enough time for her to bleed out. That takes a lot of "security" looking the other way for that to happen.

MSNBC
A party security adviser said Bhutto was shot in the neck and chest as she got into her vehicle, then the gunman blew himself up.
Posted by: ed || 12/27/2007 8:55 Comments || Top||

#5  Only question is whether it was al-Qaeda, one of the Taliban groups, or ISI. My first guess would be al-Q, but it could be any one of them, or all three in concert.
Posted by: Fred || 12/27/2007 8:56 Comments || Top||

#6  But if ISI was involved, that still begs the question if it was elements hostile to Perv, or under the control of Perv. And Perv has been insisting, in public, that ISI is under control (Well, he has to, but it still doenst help now to have said that)

I dont think Perv will last.



Posted by: Liberalhawk || 12/27/2007 9:09 Comments || Top||

#7  I don't make much distinction between those three groups. To me that is like saying it was either the Gestapo or the SD or the Abwehr.
Posted by: Excalibur || 12/27/2007 9:12 Comments || Top||

#8  Very predictable. She and her entourage did not take her security very seriously. It seemed like she believed in defying the Islamofacists and counting on the love of the people. Just looking at the press service video, her security kept a very low profile. In Paki-waki land that gets you a hole facing Mecca.

Make no mistake this is a real bad for all Pakistanis.
Posted by: TomAnon || 12/27/2007 9:28 Comments || Top||

#9  The Bhutto party will blame Perv at first (as well as blaming America and maybe even England, France and Israel) but most of the country distrusts the Bhutto party and with good reason because its corrupt. In fact I wouldn't be surprized if people in the Bhutto organization were taking money from Al Q to provide intel to the terrorists.

Regarding the 'who done it', nobody seriously believes that the ISI does suicide bombing.

Posted by: mhw || 12/27/2007 9:30 Comments || Top||

#10  "nobody seriously believes that the ISI does suicide bombing. "

I dont think anyones suggesting that an ISI man martyred himself. Rather it might be that the ISI worked with Islamists.

Posted by: Liberalhawk || 12/27/2007 9:42 Comments || Top||

#11  as for corruption, Sharif was just as corrupt, but more popular. At this point, Perv firing judges to keep himself in office was considered a more serious kind of corruption than skimming a few Rupees.
Posted by: Liberalhawk || 12/27/2007 9:43 Comments || Top||

#12  from the ABC news account,

"..."The man first fired at Bhutto's vehicle. She ducked and then he blew himself up," said police officer Mohammad Shahid."

ironic name for the police officer
Posted by: mhw || 12/27/2007 10:07 Comments || Top||

#13  You have to remember that Perv threw her out of office (behind MASSIVE popular support). She was not as popular and definately not some messiah like she is painted. She was a manipulative, corrupt, and greedy political hack. There was a LONG line of people that wanted her below ground and truth be told she wasn't much of a political threat to Perv.
Posted by: Cyber Sarge || 12/27/2007 10:29 Comments || Top||

#14  You can eliminate Perv because if he wanted to shut her up he would have arrested her LOOOONG ago.

But her return to form a Bhutto-Musharref coalition government was openly pushed by President Bush, Cyber Sarge. How could he then have her arrested? I agree with your last comment, though.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/27/2007 11:08 Comments || Top||

#15  no cyber, Perv pushed out Sharif, Bhutto had been pushed out in a prior coup.

As for the corruption, it was a few million, chicken feed, not on a scale like a Mobuto. She was taking a little baksheesh on govt purchase of military hardware and stuff, and it wasnt bad stuff.

It was a big issue in the 90s, but from everything Ive read it wasnt that big an issue anymore.

As for Perv, ANYONE was a threat to Perv, hes very unpopular.
Posted by: Liberalhawk || 12/27/2007 11:26 Comments || Top||

#16  To me that is like saying it was either the Gestapo or the SD or the Abwehr.

Gestapo = Geheime Staat Polizei (internal matters

SD = SS security service.

Abwehr = German spy agency was lead by Admiral Canaris who advised Franco agsint joining Germany and later took part into the 20th July plot.

Better find a better analogy like KGB and GRU
Posted by: JFM || 12/27/2007 11:47 Comments || Top||

#17  So, it seems to me that we are getting closer to having to implement our Plan™ for securing Pak Nukes. I hope that we are ready as Pakistan slides into anarchy and then into an Islamist state. That will keep the US occupied and Iran can go about its business more easily, as the spotlight will be off Dinnerjacket.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 12/27/2007 11:51 Comments || Top||

#18  A sampling of the comments at Arianna Huff-n-puff's blog.
she died for the sins of republicans everywhere
We all know Bush ordered the CIA to do it and the moderate democrats (righties) allowed it. Bush knows that we need Pakistan to fall in order to attack Iran. Pakistan is the only middle eastern muslim nation with nukes. If we take them down from the inside, we are free and clear to attack Iran for their oil.

I wore my haz-mat suit and have been thouroughly de-loused.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 12/27/2007 12:55 Comments || Top||

#19  Liberalhawk, I disagree on the unpopularity of Perv. Have there been demonstrtions? Sure but they were small and highly organized by Bhutto. Th thuggery going on now seem small scale as well: Small fire, broken glass, but very few killings. They haven't attacked Perv or his supporters.
Posted by: Cyber Sarge || 12/27/2007 13:21 Comments || Top||

#20  "Liberalhawk, I disagree on the unpopularity of Perv. Have there been demonstrtions? Sure but they were small"

The ones going on every day were small. There were larger ones from time to time. Brutally suppressed. And IIUC lots of folks who werent brave enough to protest, supported the protesters.


"and highly organized by Bhutto."

Havent heard that at all. The protests were led by Paki lawyers who werent all that close to Bhutto.

"Th thuggery going on now seem small scale as well: Small fire, broken glass, but very few killings. They haven't attacked Perv or his supporters"

Well they dont KNOW it was Perv as did this, now do they?
Posted by: Liberalhawk || 12/27/2007 14:01 Comments || Top||

#21  update

Reports said security was deteriorating in Karachi, where thousands poured on to the streets to protest. At least three banks, a government office and a post office were set on fire, a witness said.

Tires were set on fire on many roads, and shooting and stone-throwing was reported in many places. Most shops and markets in the city shut down.

At least 20 vehicles were torched in the central Sindh town of Hyderabad.

There were also small protests in Rawalpindi and the nearby capital, Islamabad.

Protesters blocked roads with burning tyres and chanted slogans against President Pervez Musharraf in Muzaffarabad, capital of Pakistani Kashmir in the mountainous north.

Police said they had been ordered to block the main road between Punjab province and Sindh province, apparently to stop the movement of protesters.

Disturbances were also reported in the southeastern city of Multan, although details were sketchy. In the eastern city of Lahore, Bhutto party workers burnt three buses and damaged several other vehicles, police said.

Trouble was reported from the interior of Sindh province, including the Bhutto ancestral home at Larkana, police said.

"The situation is not good in the interior of Sindh. A large number of people have come out on the roads in many cities to protest," said senior police official Fayyaz Leghari.

Posted by: Liberalhawk || 12/27/2007 14:12 Comments || Top||

#22  At least 20 vehicles were torched in the central Sindh town of Hyderabad.
They have a long way to go to catch up with France.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 12/27/2007 14:16 Comments || Top||

#23  LH: At least 20 vehicles were torched in the central Sindh town of Hyderabad.

She was Sindhi, so her ethnic compatriots are likely to be out in full force.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 12/27/2007 14:48 Comments || Top||

#24  yeah, thats got to scare the Punjabi dominated military.
Posted by: Liberalhawk || 12/27/2007 15:18 Comments || Top||

#25  yeah, thats got to scare the Punjabi dominated military.
Posted by: Liberalhawk || 12/27/2007 15:18 Comments || Top||

#26  The MQM is powerful in Sindh, and they have long advocated banning Jamaat-i-Islami, which is the largest Islamofascist group in Pakistan. The JI is a jihad organization, posing as a political group. However, Bhutto's PPP has strong support in the Punjab, and this could lead to attacks on the JI, and that would be good. The MMA - which was dominated by the JI - only received 10% of votes in the last general election in Pakistan. If the public turned against them, then the state would have a free hand and suppressing terrorist elements.
Posted by: McZoid || 12/27/2007 15:49 Comments || Top||

#27  At least 20 vehicles were torched in the central Sindh town of Hyderabad.
That's just step one in the Islamic healing process, which is intended to bring about "closure"
Should be interesting to see what the next steps are going to be.
Posted by: tipper || 12/27/2007 16:12 Comments || Top||

#28  I was the one who yesterday wondered why Bhutto was still alive. I had nothing against her & certainly was not rooting for her assassination. It was just a matter of observation & knowledge of recent history -- Pakistan is a failed state. An attempt was made on her life as soon as she returned there some weeks ago. Nothing could be more un-Islamic than a woman leading the country. Pakistan will go from bad to worse, as it has for its entire history.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 12/27/2007 20:04 Comments || Top||

#29  RANTBURG > IS TATER CLEANING HOUSE [Sadr in Iran?]?

HMMMMMM, RIAN [Russia] > FUTURE FOR RUSSIA Report > already reported on alleged assassination scenario vv PUTIN in Jan 2008; + ditto for MOUD as per his recent UN/Columbia University visit, ZARQ?, now BENAZIR???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/27/2007 23:39 Comments || Top||


Update: Morticia DEAD
Fox just updated - no linky yet - shrapnel wounds from blast and gunshot in neck - assassination "squad" attacked, kept her from medical help for half an hour. Gomez wounded as well
Opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was undergoing surgery Thursday after she was wounded in a homicide attack that killed at least 20 other people, a party aide said.

Sen. Safdar Abbasi said Bhutto was hit in the bomb blast and was in serious condition. "BB is serious and she is in the operating theater," Abbasi said. Other top party leaders were at the Rawalpindi General Hospital, crying.

The bomber attacked the former prime minister's supporters as they were leaving a rally. An Associated Press reporter at the scene saw body parts and flesh scattered at the back gate of the Liaqat Bagh park in Rawalpindi, where the rally was held. He counted about 20 bodies, including police, and could see many other wounded.

The road outside was stained with blood and people screamed for ambulances. Others gave water to the wounded lying in the street. The clothing of some of the victims was shredded and people put party flags over their bodies.

The bomb went off just minutes after Bhutto spoke to thousands of supporters, and she appeared to be the target of the attack. Farahtullah Babar, the spokesman for her party, said her vehicle was about 50 yards away from blast, which went off as she was leaving the rally venue. "She had just crossed the gate when we heard a deafening sound. We could feel its impact but by the grace of God, she is safe," he said.
Posted by: Frank G || 12/27/2007 08:20 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  Something wicked this way comes.
Posted by: doc || 12/27/2007 8:24 Comments || Top||

#2  Live updates Here.
Posted by: doc || 12/27/2007 8:25 Comments || Top||

#3  RAWALPINDI, Pakistan - Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was assassinated Thursday in a suicide bombing that also killed at least 20 others at a campaign rally, a party aide and a military official said.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

RAWALPINDI, Pakistan (AP) — Opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was seriously injured and was undergoing surgery Thursday after she was wounded in a suicide attack that killed at least 20 other people, a party aide said.

Safdar Abbasi said Bhutto was hit in the bomb blast.

"BB is serious and she is in the operating theater," he told The Associated Press. Other top leaders of Bhutto's party were at the Rawalpindi General Hospital, crying.
Posted by: tu3031 || 12/27/2007 8:26 Comments || Top||

#4  Expect riots and burning of American flags. (Standard Pakistan reaction to ANY event).
Posted by: DMFD || 12/27/2007 8:41 Comments || Top||

#5  "At 6:16 p.m. she expired," said Wasif Ali Khan, a member of Bhutto's party who was at Rawalpindi General Hospital where she was taken after the attack.

A senior military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment, confirmed that Bhutto had died.

Her supporters at the hospital began chanting "Dog, Musharraf, dog," referring to Pakistan's president Pervez Musharraf. Some of them smashed the glass door at the main entrance of the emergency unit, others burst into tears.
Posted by: tu3031 || 12/27/2007 8:42 Comments || Top||

#6  Im sad for Bhutto, and sad for all of us.

This is NOT good, people.
Posted by: Liberalhawk || 12/27/2007 8:54 Comments || Top||

#7  A party security adviser said Bhutto was shot in neck and chest as she got into her vehicle to leave the rally in Rawalpindi near the capital Islamabad. A gunman then blew himself up.
Posted by: tu3031 || 12/27/2007 8:57 Comments || Top||

#8  Let's see. She escaped the bomber, was well away from him when the bomb detonated and now she is dead. Am I a the only one who thinks she was killed later and teh bomber was just for coverup?
Posted by: JFM || 12/27/2007 12:19 Comments || Top||

#9  No, you're not, JFM. I'm with you. The extra body parts and blood were a distraction.
Posted by: Seafarious || 12/27/2007 12:22 Comments || Top||

#10  It's very possible Farahtullah Babar saw her get into the vehicle and thought she was safe. She apparantly died from the gunshot wounds.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 12/27/2007 13:32 Comments || Top||

#11  Another strange thing: what weapon was used, apparently a pistol or revolver since he had to close for the bomb and a rifle would have benn noticed. And he shoots at neck and head (obviously because he thinks Benazir could have been carrying a body armor. Now at least you are very, very thoroughly trained try, just try to hit a so small targat as a head beyond three yars with only two or thre tenths of second for aiming.

For the record American cops are trained to aim at the body mass on the assumption that such niceties like firing at the head are far too difficult and they still need to send a lot of bullets to hit anything. US Marine perosnnel who carry pistols are also trained to shoot at body mass.

And this jihadi aimed at the head and didn't fail. Either he was te reoncarnation of Jessie James, Buffalo Bill and Wiatt Earp put together or he was well inside the perimeter of the bodyguards or rthe bomber was there just for the show and the shots were made by a sniper with a rifle and plenty of time for taking aim. Or, she was rushed out of scene "for her safety" and once she was no longer with her henchmen she was murdered in cold blood.
Posted by: JFM || 12/27/2007 18:05 Comments || Top||

#12  Ah JFM, when it comes to hitting that they aim at, Pashtuns are pretty good.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/27/2007 20:10 Comments || Top||

#13  Bhutto's death is shade of BENIGNO AQUINO's assassination during the tenure of Philippines' Prez FERDINAND MARCOS - wife CORAZON/COREY AQUINO later rose to poitical office/power after Marco's resigned.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/27/2007 23:28 Comments || Top||

#14  The Philippine's = Core Aquino's, etc. "PEOPLE POWER" revolution reportedly began at the MENDIOLA BRIDGE.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/27/2007 23:29 Comments || Top||


Suicide bomber strikes Bhutto rally in Pakistan
RAWALPINDI, Pakistan - A suicide bomber struck shortly after Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto addressed a political rally in this garrison city on Thursday, killing at least 20 people, witnesses said.
Posted by: Omineth Ulotch8208 || 12/27/2007 07:51 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Man arrested near PPP rally venue
City police on Wednesday recovered firecrackers weighing around 400 grams and arrested a man trying to enter the Arbab Niaz Stadium, the venue where Benazir Bhutt was addressing a public meeting, sources said.

The man, identified as Rehmat Salam, in his 20s, was caught while carrying explosives in his pocket at the main gate of the stadium. According to police sources, Salam, a resident of Matani village located on city suburbs, was insistent that he was carrying firecrackers because he had just left a marriage party of his relatives.

However, SP City Zafarullah denied any arrest and recovery of firecrackers and said no such incident had taken place.

Meanwhile, a firecracker exploded in a drain, about one and a half kilometers away from the Arbab Niaz Stadium, which falls in the limits of Fiqir Abad Police Station. The security arrangement were tight for the public meeting of PPPP Chairwoman Benazir Bhutto, however, unknown miscreants panicked people by throwing a firecracker in a nullah in front of the Jinnah Islamia College at around 10:30 am.
Posted by: Fred || 12/27/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


2 FC men kidnapped, 7 troops released
Unidentified gunmen kidnapped two Frontier Corps (FC) personnel in the North Waziristan Agency while they were heading towards the Razmak army camp early on Wednesday, sources told Daily Times.

Also, local Taliban militants released seven security personnel kidnapped about three weeks ago in Bajaur, AFP quoted officials as saying. The militants abducted the seven from two security posts in early December and then blew up the posts located around Khar, the main town of the Bajaur district. Masked gunmen ambushed three FC men near Mamo Sar post of the Razmak subdivision, some 75 kilometres from North Waziristan Agency headquarters Miranshah, Daily Times report continues. Altaf Hussain Tori and Amir Mohammad Bangash were kidnapped.
Posted by: Fred || 12/27/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Troops capture Fatehpur
Security forces continued their advance in Swat, and captured the Fatehpur area on Wednesday. Sources said that there was a curfew in the area between Khwazakhela and Bahrain. Troops also started a search operation to arrest Maulana Fazlullah’s aides. Swat Media Centre in charge Colonel Nadeem said security forces had arrested 18 suspected militants in the Fiza Ghat, Kanjoo and Kabal areas. The security forces seized explosives from the house of Maulana Alam, he said.
This article starring:
MAULANA ALAMTNSM
MAULANA FAZLULLAHTNSM
Posted by: Fred || 12/27/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under: TNSM


13 more killed in Kurram Agency sectarian violence
At least 13 people, including five children, a woman and two FC personnel, were killed and over 54 injured in continued sectarian clashes in various parts of the Kurram Agency on Wednesday, hospital sources said. Locals said five children and a woman were killed when a mortar shell hit a government school in Sadda town. Around 31 people have been killed and dozens injured during that past five days of clashes.

The clashes started about a month ago when some miscreants hurled a hand-grenade at people coming out of a mosque after offering the Friday prayers in Sadda. Life is paralysed in the agency as many houses and shops have been burnt or looted and mortar firing from rival Sunni and Shia sects.

Unofficial reports say that around 20 people were killed in mortar fire and arson attacks by the rival sects on Wednesday. Residents said two people were killed when a rocket landed in the Sakhi Ahmad Shah area of Lower Kurram in the afternoon. Earlier, two FC personnel, identified as Niaz Gul and Sakhi Gul, were killed as a mortar hit the Mengak checkpost in the same area.

Schools, hospitals: According to residents, people in several areas have started fleeing to safer places because of fresh clashes. They are shifting their women and children in schools, government hospitals and other places deemed safe. There is a shortage of food and medicines because all roads leading to the agency are closed due to a heavy exchange of fire between the rival groups. Both groups are using heavy weapons against each other. A curfew has been in place in Parachinar for the last five days without any break.

Earlier, a jirga formed by NWFP Governor Ali Mohammad Jan Orakzai announced a temporary ceasefire between the rival sects. However, the two sides attacked each other before January 10, the last date fixed by the jirga for the ceasefire’s expiry.
Posted by: Fred || 12/27/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Takfir wal-Hijra


Iraq
More Terrorist Tunnels near Mosul
MOSUL, Iraq – Coalition Forces destroyed a series of tunnels with a joint direct attack munition near Mosul Dec. 25.

During search operations in the area, a series of tunnels were discovered. The search also discovered 15 150mm mortar rounds, multiple hand grenades, multiple AK-47 rifles and other IED-making material.
Posted by: Glenmore || 12/27/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Iraqi Insurgency

#1  They've Palestinians around Mosul?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/27/2007 0:08 Comments || Top||

#2  I knew they should have made a left turn at Albuquerque ...
Posted by: Steve White || 12/27/2007 0:32 Comments || Top||

#3  I *told* them they should stop and ask back at the Piggly Wiggly. But do they ever listen?

Meh.
Posted by: Seafarious || 12/27/2007 0:34 Comments || Top||

#4  JDAM.

December 25.

Merry Christmas!

Wonder if the armorers chalked holiday greetings on the thing - hope so.
Posted by: Verlaine || 12/27/2007 3:51 Comments || Top||

#5  mexicans?
Posted by: Icerigger || 12/27/2007 16:54 Comments || Top||


Shia Mosque/Arms Depot Disarmed
BAGHDAD – Iraqi National Police found two caches after receiving a tip regarding the location of terrorists near the Al-Kartheemain Mosque Dec. 24 in east Rashid.

When INP and Multi-National Division-Baghdad Soldiers, from Company F, 2nd Squadron, 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment and of the 1st Company, 7th Battalion, 2nd Brigade arrived, the suspected terrorists had fled into the mosque.

The national police searched the mosque and found two caches. The first cache included 107 mm rockets. The second cache consisted of mortar rounds, plastic explosives, TNT, grenades and other components needed to make improvised explosives.

“The discovery of these caches by the Iraqi national police confirms reports that Shia extremists continue to use mosques to plan and stage attacks against Coalition Forces, Iraqi Security Forces and the people of Iraq,” said regimental spokesman, Maj. Jon Pendell. “These groups are actively working to undermine the improving security situation in Baghdad.”

The cache was recovered by explosive ordnance disposal personnel for disposal.
I suppose it is too much to ask of Maliki that the Imam of this mosque be invited to discuss the situation with government authorities.
Posted by: Glenmore || 12/27/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: Mahdi Army

#1  Blow it in place.
Posted by: mojo || 12/27/2007 2:07 Comments || Top||

#2  mojo, now you know that would be against protocol too blow up a mosque and hurt the feelings of the mooselimbs. Now if it where a christian church then that would be an appropriate answer. Never desecrate a mosque , unless storing ammo
Posted by: sinse || 12/27/2007 7:30 Comments || Top||


Terrorist Arms Dealer Nabbed in Baghdad (Secondary Explosions Too!)
BALAD, Iraq – Iraqi Special Operations Forces, advised by U.S. Special Forces, detained a suspected terrorist weapons dealer during a Dec. 25 raid in Baghdad.
Since we were only advisors, I presume the Iraqis get custody of the terrorist - I don't think they need our advice on interrogation.
The suspect is believed to deal in a variety of weapons systems including mortars, rockets, medium and small arms. He is also thought to be a possible improvised explosive device cell leader.

During the raid, the assault force recovered several weapons including two assault rifles, four grenades, three combat knives, 11 AK-47 magazines, an RPG launcher sight and an IED initiation system. An Explosive Ordinance Disposal team determined the munitions were unstable and destroyed them at the site.

During the course of the operation, an explosive breach caused a secondary explosion which significantly damaged one of the structures at the target objective.
Secondaries - the Christmas gift that keeps on giving.
The explosion was caused by IED making material stored within the structure.
Seems a good indication the target was more than just a 'suspected' terrorist.
There were no Iraqi or U.S. Forces injured during the operation.
Posted by: Glenmore || 12/27/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Iraqi Insurgency


Video shows car carrying 6 Al Qaeda leaders blown up by U.S. helicopter
A grainy videotape released Tuesday shows a carload of important Al Qaeda terrorists in Iraq being blown up by missiles from a U.S. Army chopper, military officials said.
Helizap!
At least one of the dead operatives was a "high-value" target linked to suicide bomb attacks, including the car bombing of the Australian Embassy in Baghdad, an Army spokesman told FoxNews.com. Of the six men killed in the Sunday attack, one was "believed to be an Al Qaeda cell leader known to facilitate attacks and orchestrate suicide bomb attacks," Maj. Alayne Conway of the 3rd Infantry Division told Fox.

Conway did not release the insurgent's name but said he was arrested Nov. 11 and later released.
Carried the tracking beacon back to his pals, did he?
It is believed he had conducted two attacks on coalition forces, including one on Thanksgiving, Conway said.

The black-and-white 31-second video was shot from the sky and shows a small black sedan idling before it was hit by Hellfire missiles shot from an Apache helicopter.

Military officials told Fox that a tip from local Iraqis put the operation in motion. "Locals gave [us] tips reporting his location and movement," Conway said. "Both the 2nd and 3rd brigades of the 3rd Infantry Division quickly worked together to confirm the precise location of the terrorists." Maj. Dave Fivecoat, operations officer for the 3rd Infantry Division, told Fox the "engagement is an example of two surge brigades sharing information faster than the insurgents can react."
Posted by: Fred || 12/27/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Iraq

#1  A grainy videotape

Tsk, tsk, tsk
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/27/2007 0:24 Comments || Top||

#2  Six guys sitting in an idling compact car in the middle of the night. I'm guessing one of those smooth jazz stations was playing on the radio.
Posted by: Penguin || 12/27/2007 1:08 Comments || Top||

#3  What a strange news, killing innocents becomes AL-QAIDA.bundle of lies by the loosing USA.the target was civilians,
Posted by: wazdan || 12/27/2007 3:44 Comments || Top||

#4  One: I'm astonished - thrilled, but astonished -that our ROE permitted this sort of kill. I mean, there might have been fuzzy bunnies and baby ducks in the trunk of the car.

Two: Maj. Conway is cute - very tragically married, at least when I saw her two years ago, but very cute (and extremely able and friendly, as almost goes without saying). Used to use her balcony at Camp Prosperity for a nice view of town when I was showing folks around on an "IZ tourism" trip.
Posted by: Verlaine || 12/27/2007 3:48 Comments || Top||

#5  Know 'em personally did you, Wazdan? Six of your buddies off for a reunion meeting at the ol' madrassa in Baghdad? You better send a letter a protest to the Iraqis who tipped off the loooosing Anericans about them.
Posted by: Apostate || 12/27/2007 4:00 Comments || Top||

#6  How the fuc& did they fit six full grown men into a compact car? Did they put a goat in the back seat or something?
Posted by: gorb || 12/27/2007 5:45 Comments || Top||

#7  lmao gorb, the amphetamines make em skinny
Posted by: sinse || 12/27/2007 7:33 Comments || Top||

#8  How the fuc& did they fit six full grown men into a compact car?

I'm thinking it involved sharing seats. Whether flies were open and pants down is anyone's guess.
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 12/27/2007 9:39 Comments || Top||

#9  Wazdan,

Could we have your GPS location to send some ... um, flowers too?

Thanks!
Posted by: US Army || 12/27/2007 10:43 Comments || Top||

#10  LOL US ARMY! lets wait and see if Wazdan is still crying over his pals getting zapped.

*********************************

/Sinse? I must admit, she cracked a joke lol!
Posted by: RD || 12/27/2007 14:17 Comments || Top||

#11  Come back after the midnight update, Wazdan. We'll have even more good news for you to bitch about then.
Posted by: Gromomble Oppressor of the Iowans8916 || 12/27/2007 22:30 Comments || Top||

#12  Wazdan is cringing in his tub, doors locked, tinfoil turban on, cuz he knows we can see him and read his pea-brain mind....

Posted by: Frank G || 12/27/2007 22:54 Comments || Top||

#13  Google Earth is a wonderful thing indeed in the right hands, Frank. Poor Mr. wazdan!
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/27/2007 23:07 Comments || Top||


Good morning....
Posted by: Fred || 12/27/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Did her bra designer win a Nobel Prize in Physics? He deserved one.
Posted by: Glenmore || 12/27/2007 0:16 Comments || Top||

#2  You'll put your eye out!
Posted by: mojo || 12/27/2007 2:04 Comments || Top||

#3  Hi. Sorry for my english. Happy New Year!!!!!
Good Luck!
Posted by: Sweta-Zinok || 12/27/2007 2:55 Comments || Top||

#4  And if you're not careful, she'll put your other eye out, too! X-)
Posted by: gorb || 12/27/2007 5:28 Comments || Top||

#5  If you lose an eye, thank an engineer.
Posted by: Chuck Simmins || 12/27/2007 6:09 Comments || Top||

#6  BREAKING: Fox sez Morticia dead in bomb blast
Posted by: Frank G || 12/27/2007 8:19 Comments || Top||

#7  [Sweta-Zinok has been pooplisted.]
Posted by: Sweta-Zinok || 12/27/2007 11:28 Comments || Top||

#8  [Sweta-Zinok has been pooplisted.]
Posted by: Sweta-Zinok || 12/27/2007 11:29 Comments || Top||

#9  Well, ya gotta give the spammer credit for trying.
Posted by: DarthVader || 12/27/2007 11:32 Comments || Top||

#10  I like the fur coat. I like the smile. I like the legs. I like the...ahem...the, uh...well, you know.
Posted by: Abu Uluque6305 || 12/27/2007 12:25 Comments || Top||

#11  She looks like she's moving even when she's standing still...
Posted by: tu3031 || 12/27/2007 12:31 Comments || Top||

#12  You notice how they seem to follow you around the room.....?
Posted by: Gerthudion Spolulet9219 || 12/27/2007 12:57 Comments || Top||

#13  You wish they were following you around the room.
Posted by: Scott R || 12/27/2007 13:07 Comments || Top||

#14  That might be kinda scary. Suffocating, almost...
Posted by: tu3031 || 12/27/2007 13:09 Comments || Top||

#15  [Sweta-Zinok has been pooplisted.]
Posted by: Sweta-Zinok || 12/27/2007 14:37 Comments || Top||

#16  Proof positive that anti-gravity is possible.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 12/27/2007 15:11 Comments || Top||

#17  We need a brigade of Sabrinas - naked Sabrinas - to parade through the streets of Riyadh. The house of Saud will never be the same. (nor will any other male within a mile or two...) The war against islamofascists will be over before the parade ends.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 12/27/2007 16:59 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
44[untagged]
9Govt of Pakistan
3Global Jihad
3al-Qaeda in North Africa
2al-Qaeda
2Iraqi Insurgency
2Hezbollah
2Taliban
1TNSM
1al-Qaeda in Iraq
1Govt of Syria
1Hamas
1Jamaat-e-Ulema Islami
1Mahdi Army
1Takfir wal-Hijra

Bookmark
E-Mail Me

The Classics
The O Club
Rantburg Store
The Bloids
The Never-ending Story
Thugburg
Gulf War I
The Way We Were
Bio

Merry-Go-Blog











On Sale now!


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.
Click here for more information

Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
tu3031
badanov
sherry
ryuge
GolfBravoUSMC
Bright Pebbles
trailing wife
Gloria
Fred
Besoeker
Glenmore
Frank G
3dc
Skidmark

Two weeks of WOT
Thu 2007-12-27
  Benazir Bhutto killed by suicide bomber
Wed 2007-12-26
  15-year-old bomber stopped at Bhutto rally
Tue 2007-12-25
  Government amends Lebanon constitution for presidential election
Mon 2007-12-24
  Hindu nationalists win Indian election
Sun 2007-12-23
  Somalia Islamic movement appoints new leadership
Sat 2007-12-22
  Paks raid madrassah after mosque boom
Fri 2007-12-21
  France Detains Five Men In Connection With Algeria Bombing
Thu 2007-12-20
  Hamas leader appeals for truce with Israel
Wed 2007-12-19
  Turkey's military confirms ground incursion; claims heavy PKK losses
Tue 2007-12-18
  Turkish Army Sends Soldiers Into Iraq
Mon 2007-12-17
  Paks form team to rearrest Rashid Rauf
Sun 2007-12-16
  Kabul cop shoppe boomed, 5 dead
Sat 2007-12-15
  Mehsud to head Taliban Movement of Pakistan
Fri 2007-12-14
  Khamenei appoints Qassem as Hezbollah military commander
Thu 2007-12-13
  Leb car boom murders top general

Better than the average link...



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.
54.92.155.93
Help keep the Burg running! Paypal:
WoT Background (18)    Non-WoT (16)    Opinion (10)    Local News (7)    (0)