AN ice cream van is dishing out cooling cones to our troops in Afghanistan - thanks to three ex-soldiers.
Squaddies sweltering in the desert dust queue to lap up the 99s.
Former Para sergeant Neil Peacock and two pals spent nearly £30,000 from their savings to buy the van and fly it out. They painted it in camouflage colours with a Mind The Troops sign on the back - but it still has its Whistle While You Work chimes.
Two girl servers have handed out 18,000 ice creams in two weeks - with British and US troops paying around £1.30 and local kids getting theirs free.
Neil, 47, said: "We are Afghanistan's first ice cream men, sticking up two fingers to the Taliban. The response has been phenomenal. Everyone smiles when the van rolls by."
Neil, former Royal Marine Craig Brewitt, 45, and ex-Guardsman Gordon Fleming, 45, came up with the idea while working as security men in the 60°C (140°F) heat of Kandahar.
The 1993 van from Plymouth cost them £4,000 on eBay. The mates then chipped in £8,000 each to have it air-freighted to the danger zone via Amsterdam and Dubai.
An Irish dairy farmer supplies the ice cream. Neil, from Newcastle upon Tyne, said: "I grew up having Mr Whippy on family trips to the seaside.
"This took six months of hard work but now we have lovely serving girls, our Nato hygiene certificate and a trading name, ConeKAF. The only thing we need now is air conditioning."
#3
this is a brilliant idea!! It could do wonders throughout the areas that we're deployed and the local kids will be the biggest recipients and talk about "very cool" Western ideas- the ice cream truck puts a smile on everyone's face, way to go guys!
#4
I love it!!! Now they need to get franchises going. Maybe they can buy locally grown pistachios and a few dairies, with jobs for local girls, nails nicely polished, to serve--the Ice Cream Revolution could defeat the Taliban.
#5
I would do it one better. Create a "paradise park", out of missile range within a military reservation. Lush, green, with lots of fountains, flowers and fruit trees. Open for (inspected) women and their young children.
If done properly, it isn't very expensive, and leaves the children in awe of what might be, compared to the desolation, violence and misery that the Taliban offer.
It is a superb, soft sell message, not of "This is what heaven will look like", but "This is what Afghanistan can look like, if you work to make it so."
If Gaddafi can keep sending 2000 "refugees" per day for the next two months, he should have the EU on bended knee begging to surrender to him, so as to stop the boats.
Six more boatloads of migrants, mostly Libyans, arrived at the Italian island of Lampedusa yesterday, exacerbating a refugee crisis that already appears to have ended the long-standing Schengen arrangement for passport-free movement around Europe.
In Italy, which has born the brunt of waves of migrants fleeing turmoil first in Tunisia and now Libya, key members of the government were again warning about the repercussions of Nato's bombing campaign across the Mediterranean.
"For this reason we have continually pressed for a strong diplomatic response to the situation in Libya," said Italy's interior minister Roberto Maroni, of the anti-immigration Northern League party, who has repeatedly called for an end to Italy's role in Nato air raids. "Otherwise there is no way to stop the boats."
Ignazio Accomando, from the National Institute for the Health of Migrants, told the Ansa news agency: "About 2,000 migrants are expected to arrive on the island. They are tired, worn out, dehydrated and with some bruises, but overall there are no particularly grave health cases."
[Al Jazeera] Egypt's interim ruling military council has vowed to use all means to crack down on what it called "deviant groups" threatening stability and security.
"The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces warns this deviant group ... that it will use all its resources to confront and completely destroy this phenomenon as soon as possible." The council said in a statement on Friday.
The announcement follows widespread complaints that the military that took over after President Hosni Mubarak ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011... was forced from power by pro-democracy unrest in February have been slow to deal with a breakdown in security in which remnants of the old regime, Islamists and thugs have sewn fear and strife in Egypt.
Egypt has witnessed a sharp rise in attacks on cop shoppes, hospitals and houses of worship, sometimes in broad daylight, since the autocratic Mubarak stepped down.
The military council faced its most serious challenge last week when 12 people died in sectarian strife in the Cairo suburb of Imbaba, which many Egyptians blamed on conservative Islamists known as Salafist ...Salafists espouse an austere form of Sunni Islam that seeks a return to practices that were common in the 7th century. Rather than doing that themselves and letting other people alone they insist everybody do as they say and they try to kill everybody who doesn't... s and former Mubarak loyalists.
The statement said Egypt's economic woes and security problems were engineered by enemies "inside and outside the country." It singled out attacks on cop shoppes and those spreading rumours to stir sectarian strife.
The statement said severe punishments were being mooted against criminals, including the first death penalty since the February revolution. It gave no details.
Hundreds of mostly Christian protesters have been camping outside Egypt's main state television building in central Cairo demanding that those behind the Imbaba attack, in which a church was burned down, be brought to justice.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/14/2011 00:00 ||
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Egypt has witnessed a sharp rise in attacks on cop shoppes, hospitals and houses of worship, sometimes in broad daylight, since the autocratic Mubarak stepped down.
[Al Jazeera] Suzanne Mubarak, Egypt's former first lady, has suffered a "suspected heart attack" after Egyptian authorities ordered her jugged over allegations she took advantage of her husband's position to enrich herself.
A doctor said she passed out on Friday upon hearing the news, and state-run Egyptian television later reported that she had been put in the intensive care unit at the hospital in the Red Sea resort community of Sharm el-Sheikh.
Egypt's anti-graft agency has ordered former president Hosni Mubarak ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011... and his wife jugged as part of a probe into charges they used their influence to amass wealth unlawfully.
Investigators interrogated Mubarak, who has denied wrongdoing, for more than three hours on Thursday evening in Sharm el-Sheikh, and questioned Suzanne on Friday, the state news agency MENA reported.
Mubarak's wife was later admitted to the hospital with what the facility director called a suspected heart attack.
"Suzanne Mubarak has been admitted to hospital with a suspected heart attack and high blood pressure. She will be put under observation for 24 hours," Mohammed Abu al-Futouh told the Rooters news agency.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/14/2011 00:00 ||
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The tumbrels are warming up, and they're cleaning and oiling Madame la Guillotine, as this People's Revolution treads the familiar path.
WASHINGTON The U.S. and NATO will continue military operations in Libya as long as Moammar Gadhafi keeps attacking his people, the White House said Friday as top U.S. officials met in Washington with leaders of the Libyan opposition.
The meetings come as a deadline nears on the 60-day window President Barack Obama has to keep the U.S. military involved in the Libya campaign without congressional approval.
Every president since Nixon as said that the War Powers Act is unconstitutional, but Obama is the first one to laugh it off...
While lawmakers do not appear likely to enforce the limits outlined in the War Powers Resolution, U.S. officials said they are looking for ways to keep U.S. action in Libya in compliance.
It only takes one of 535 to go to U.S. District Court...
White House spokesman Jay Carney offered no specifics Friday on how the U.S. planned to do that, only saying that officials were, "in regular communications with Congress and that will continue."
The U.S. has stepped up its support of anti-Gadhafi rebels, with Obama authorizing $25 million in non-lethal assistance and $53 million in humanitarian aid. Leaders of the Libyan Transitional National Council, including top representative Mahmoud Jibril, were in Washington for meetings at the White House and State Department. Neither Obama nor Vice President Joe Biden planned to attend the meetings.
The White House said it was looking for ways to increase U.S. financial support to the opposition, in part through congressional legislation that would free up a portion of the more than $30 billion in frozen Gadhafi regime assets in U.S. banks so it could be used to aid the rebels.
Perfect. Use the money to repay our costs to date as well. Buy more Tomahawks and Hellfires.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/14/2011 00:00 ||
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"Days, not weeks."
Posted by: Matt ||
05/14/2011 10:27 Comments ||
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TRIPOLI, Libya Taunting NATO, Moammar Gadhafi said Friday that he is alive despite a series of airstrikes and "in a place where you can't get me."
"Nah-nah nah nah-nah!"
The defiant audio recording was broadcast after the Libyan government accused NATO of killing 11 Muslim clerics with an airstrike on a disputed eastern oil town.
Gadhafi had appeared on state TV but not been heard speaking since a NATO attack on his Tripoli compound two weeks ago, which officials said killed one of his sons and three grandchildren. In a brief recording played Friday on Libyan TV, Gadhafi said he wanted to assure Libyans concerned about a strike this week on his compound in Tripoli.
"I tell the coward crusaders I live in a place where you can't get to me," he said.
We'll be the judge of that...
"I live in the hearts of millions."
Many people "driven by their love for me put in many calls to check on my well-being after they heard of the cowardly missile attack of the crusaders on Bab al-Aziziya last Thursday, May 12," Gadhafi said in the recording, which lasted just over a minute.
NATO laughed shrugged off the statement.
"We are not targeting him, our targets are solely military," alliance spokeswoman Carmen Romero said in Brussels.
And the Duck of Death is a military man...
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/14/2011 00:00 ||
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Taunt indeed - it just comes natural to Qaddafi.
Posted by: Andy Jiger6835 ||
05/14/2011 0:45 Comments ||
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This group is ready for the catwalk. Who's going to win the next series of Libya's Top Model?
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
05/14/2011 12:57 Comments ||
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I accidently re-posted the same story. Oops!
By the way, does anyone remember the scene with John Cleese as the French knight on top of the castle taunting Graham Chapman as King Arthur below, in Monty Python and Holy Grail. I had visions of this scene in my head after I read this story.
Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has likely been wounded in western airstrikes and has probably left Tripoli, Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said Friday.
Nice job, CIA! You got the Italian minister on board!
A Libyan government spokesman immediately denied that Gaddafi had been harmed.
"Lies! All lies!"
Frattini told reporters that he believed what he had been told by Giovanni Innocenzo Martinelli, the Catholic bishop in Tripoli, that Gaddafi had probably left Tripoli and had probably even been wounded by NATO airstrikes.
"I tend to give credence to the comment of the bishop of Tripoli, Monsignor Martinelli, who has been in close contact over recent weeks, when he told us that Gaddafi is very probably outside Tripoli and is probably also wounded. We don't know where or how," Frattini said.
"It's nonsense," Libyan government spokesman Mussa Ibrahim said in Tripoli. "The leader is in high morale. He's in good spirits. He is leading the country day by day. He hasn't been harmed at all."
"He's strutting about in a new uniform! It has even more bling and sprockets than the last one! Really, the entire Tour de France has fewer sprockets than our beloved leader!"
Asked about the Libyan denial, Frattini said he still believed what Martinelli said.
In a separate interview published on the website of the Corriere della Sera, Frattini also said that he did not believe that Libyan TV footage of Gaddafi greeting tribal leaders on Wednesday was authentic.
"I strongly doubted that those images were taken on that day and above all in Tripoli," Frattini said. He added: "The international pressure has likely led Gaddafi to decide to seek shelter in a safe location. I tend to think that he fled Tripoli, not Libya."
Contacted from Rome, Martinelli's office said the bishop had left Tripoli for Tunis.
Smart and necessary move...
The bishop himself was not reachable.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/14/2011 00:00 ||
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Thousands of Egyptians started to gather in Tahrir Square in downtown Cairo on Friday to participate in a protest in support of national unity and to condemn the sectarian confrontations that took place last week and resulted in the death of 15 Christians and Muslims.
Egyptian political forces, including the campaign to support Mohamed El-Baradei, the April 6 Youth Movement and the Muslim Brotherhood, called for the protest to condemn the confrontations between Muslims and Christians in the neighborhood of Imbaba. The confrontations took place last Saturday after rumors that a Christian woman who had converted to Islam was being detained in a church in the area.
Other groups called for a protest on Tahrir Square to commemorate the 63rd anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba (calamity) and the establishment of the state of Israel.
So was this a 'spontaneous' demonstration or just the usual rubes?
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/14/2011 00:00 ||
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Egypts Assistant Justice Minster for Illicit Gains Affairs Assem al-Gohary ordered on Friday the detention of ousted President Hosni Mubaraks wife, Suzanne Mubarak, for 15 days for the first time on charges that she benefited illegally from her husbands position, the MENA state news agency reported.
Everyone else around Hosni benefited, so it would be strange if Suzanne somehow kept her hands clean...
A team of investigators from the Illicit Gains Authority headed by Khaled Selim questioned both Mubaraks on Thursday in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.
It was the first time the Mubaraks have been questioned by this branch of the Justice Ministry, which is looking into charges that they used their position to acquire wealth illegally, the office said.
The former First Lady was questioned about the Library of Alexandria bank accounts, containing a total of US$147 million, which she was authorized to make deposits in and withdraw funds from.
It remains unclear if Mubaraks wife will be transferred to El-Kanater prison for women in Cairo, or she will be held in Sharm el-Sheikh Hospital as her husband.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/14/2011 00:00 ||
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After weeks of equivocal statements, reformist Muslim Brotherhood leader Abdel Moneim Abouel Fotouh has announced that he will run for president, in supposed clear defiance of his organizations decision not to field a presidential candidate, according to a Reuters report published Thursday.
I guess Jerry Lewis Abu Moussa has a competitor for the job...
The 60-year-old doctor affirmed that he would run as an independent in the election slated for December.
He speaks to the frame of reference of the Egyptian people, which is moderate conservatism. None of the other candidates are like that, Ahmed Osama, an official spokesperson for Abouel Fotouhs campaign, told Al-Masry Al-Youm.
There is no such thing as a 'moderate' or 'reformist' member of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Abouel Fotouh, working with at least ten close advisers, is immersed in hammering out the details of his platform, which will focus on education and development. In a months time, the platform will be unveiled, according to Osama.
In recent years, Abouel Fotouh has risen to the fore as a dovish voice within the 83-year-old Islamist organization. His liberal views on women, Copts and the role of Islam in politics set him at odds with the groups hawkish leadership.
Supposedly. It just may be the way the MB can 'win' the election and put a smiley face on the new administration, all the while getting ready to drop the hammer on the rest of Egypt.
The tension between Abouel Fotouh and conservatives culminated in his exclusion from the Guidance Bureau, the groups highest executive body in an allegedly fraudulent poll in 2010. He has nonetheless maintained his appeal within the ranks of young, more open-minded Brothers.
Weeks after Hosni Mubarak stepped down, some of these youths launched an online campaign to endorse Abouel Fotouhs candidacy for presidency. Since then he has only made vague statements on the matter.
The Muslim Brotherhoods position on the candidacy was unequivocal. After a high-level meeting, hawks within the group affirmed an earlier decision not to field any presidential candidates and added that they would not back Abouel Fotouhs candidacy if he decided to run.
Now the group might have to deal with the tension caused by Abouel Fotouhs announcement. His candidacy is expected to exacerbate the rift between the old and young factions within the Muslim Brotherhood, says Diaa Rashwan, an expert on Islamist groups with the Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies.
Abouel Fotouh is considered one of the groups founders and he is very much liked by many youths, said Rashwan. His nomination will add to the debate within the Muslim Brotherhood. It will at least raise the question of why not back an Islamist who comes from the Muslim Brotherhood.
Because the MB wants Moussa, who the west 'knows' and deals with from his time at the Arab League. You want a smooth, oily diplomat type in charge of the front office while you're remaking the country in your own image.
A division over this question has already begun. Half of Abouel Fotouhs campaigners are Muslim Brotherhood youths, according to Osama. More young brothers, especially vocal and defiant ones, might back Abouel Fotouh soon.
Abouel Fotouh seeks to market himself as the missing link between Islamists, on the one hand, and secular and Coptic voters on the other. Speaking to Reuters about recent sectarian clashes, Abouel Fotouh said: Such sectarian strife makes me more determined to pursue the presidency. As elements of religious extremism creep up in the transition period, the country needs someone who is best connected to the Muslim, Christian and liberal sides of the political spectrum.
The Copts can't possibly be foolish enough to think that a 'reformist' MB is going to protect them.
For years, Abouel Fotouh had invested heavily in building bridges with activists and politicians of different ideological camps. His membership in the Kefaya movement in the mid-2000s along with communists, Nasserists and liberals proved his tolerance and the flexibility of his political outlook.
Or it may have been deep cover...
Rashwan contends that this broad appeal remains restricted to the intelligentsia, and it is still to be seen whether he enjoys a similar popularity at the grassroots level.
It is the people who vote, not the elite, says Rashwan. No one can predict how people will vote in the next elections.
Which is why the MB will be the ones counting the ballots...
"We expect the turn out to increase five times in the elections and we do not know how these new voters see the world.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/14/2011 00:00 ||
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US officials have revealed that Osama bin Ladens diaries contain the rather startling conclusion that he didnt think Vice President Joe Biden was worth bumping off.
A counterterrorism official said: There is a note indicating that the vice president is not an important target because that position has less weight.
Osama bin Laden received visits from Taliban leaders and wealthy Arab supporters while he was hiding out in a fortified compound in a Pakistani garrison town, it has emerged.
The revelation that the al-Qaeda chief had direct contact with his followers - and did not rely solely on messengers - came as a US-led task force urgently trawled captured documents and computer files for terror plots and information about extremists. Which we should have been doing without anyone knowing...
British intelligence agents last week joined their US counterparts to sift through the material after repeated references to Britain were found in the haul retrieved from bin Laden's compound when US commandos killed him this month.
An Afghan Taliban commander, who has previously provided reliable information to foreign media, disclosed that he had visited bin Laden at the compound in Abbottabad.
He said that the Saudi terror chief also received sporadic visits from leaders of his al-Qaeda network, Taliban allies and fellow Arab fundraisers.
The disclosure will be crucial for Western intelligence chiefs as they try and assess bin Laden's role in international terror operations. They had initially believed that his contact with the outside world was conducted via messages on computer thumb drives.
#2
I really, really wish Bambi had released the photo of bin Laden rather than the fact that we had all this very interesting information. At least, not until the intel analysts had a chance to go through it and get actionable information. That way, the various people we are finding out about would not have a chance to move to new safe houses and other hiding places. Instead, the first warning that they had been compromised would be a visit from a drone or a SEAL team.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
05/14/2011 16:49 Comments ||
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Donk administration puffing out their chests ahead of a re-election campaign. You're surprised? The loss of value in intel is a minor consideration in their minds
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/14/2011 17:02 Comments ||
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Thanking Obama for killing Bin Laden is like going into McDonalds and thanking Ronald McDonald for the hamburger.
It's the guy cooking the burger that should get the credit, not the clown.
I wish I could say I made that up, just now, but it came in an e-mail from my cousin.
Posted by: Bobby ||
05/14/2011 18:20 Comments ||
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Wealthy Arab supporters? Visits from leaders of his al-Qaeda network, Taliban allies and fellow Arab fundraisers.
I hope Binny kept real good records and these guys are looking over their shoulders. Better yet, I would have wished the information had not been released and that we could have tagged these guys. Well, it is re-election time for the ONE isn't it?
#6
Well, it is re-election time for the ONE isn't it?
"Hello, is this Prince Hadji? Your name came up on a guest list from a certain house in Abbottabad. Ah, yes. They did find it. It is terribly unfortunate, isn't it?
"You know, for a relatively modest monetary donation..."
[Dawn] The United States on Friday welcomed India`s boost in assistance to Afghanistan and called New Delhi a regional leader, despite expected concerns in Pakistain over the aid.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday pledged $500 million in fresh aid to Afghanistan, raising the Indian contribution to $2 billion, on a visit to Kabul that came days after Pakistain was jolted by the late Osama bin`s Laden ... he's rotten though not quite forgotten... killing.
Robert Blake, the US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia, said that Prime Minister Singh "recognised India`s enhanced position as a regional leader".
His visit to Kabul "underscored India`s strong efforts to support international efforts to rebuild a secure and stable Afghanistan," Mr Blake said at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, a think-tank.
Mr Blake also hailed Mr Singh for reaching out to Pakistain.
Mr Singh invited Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani to watch a World Cup cricket match in March, the first time in a decade that a Pak leader visited the historic rival.
Mr Blake said that better ties between India and Pakistain could bring wider economic integration to the region.
"India`s economic rise presents an enormous opportunity for Pakistain, and the normalisation of economic ties could provide immense benefits to millions of entrepreneurs, farmers and businesspeople in both countries," Mr Blake said.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/14/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
ION REGIONAL, DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > PAKISTAN TO GIVE RUSSIA ACCESS TO WARM WATER [Pak Ports].
and
* SAME > [Goodbye US, Hello-o-o Russia]PAKISTAN CHANGES STRATEGIC PARTNERS FROM US.
#2
"India`s economic rise presents an enormous opportunity for Pakistain" vs [Goodbye US, Hello-o-o Russia]
Determined to become the Gaza Strip of SE Asia, eh boys? Maybe, if you are lucky, after the war someone will care enough to do a Japan/Marshall Plan on your sorry asses. Once the radiation dies down.
[Dawn] Security lapse and mismanagement may have led to loss of so many human lives in the twin suicide kabooms on the Frontier Constabulary headquarters in Shabqadar on Friday that left over 80 soldiers and civilians dead and scores of others maimed.
Background interviews with officers and maimed soldiers suggest that standard operating procedures (SOPs) were not implemented before allowing nearly 800 recruits to leave the academy for their hometowns after their formal induction in the paramilitary force.
The soldiers are usually sent on a 10-day leave after completion of their training course at the academy situated near the main Shabqadar bazaar. Recently, the duration of training course for the recruits has been cut from nine months to six months because of the security situation.
"What happened at Shabqadar today is because of the poor security arrangements and carelessness," said an FC officer on condition of anonymity.
He said that it was the responsibility of the officers concerned to release the recruits in small groups rather than allowing all of them together to go out.
The attack on recruits was the second deadliest against security forces in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... in less than three months. A bomber had entered training area of the Punjab Regiment in Mardan in February last killing about 30 recruits.
Wounded soldiers told this correspondent at the Lady Reading Hospital, Beautiful Downtown Peshawar, that 700 to 800 trained personnel who passed out on May 5 were given permission to proceed on a 10-day leave on Friday.
Police said that two jacket wallahs riding a cycle of violence carried out attacks in quick succession when a herd of recruits rushed with their luggage to the nearby bus stand and started boarding vehicles to go home. Over a dozen vehicles were lined up in front of main gate of the fort, built in 1837.
A farewell function comprising skits and music was organised for the recruits at the FC ground on Thursday night. Jubilant recruits hailing from far-flung areas were on their way home when bombers turned the moment into a horrible scene.
"All my colleagues were relaxed and enjoying the occasion. I was heading towards the wagon when the first kaboom occurred only a few yards away," said Sajid Ali, a recruit who received shrapnel on his forehead.
Doctors said that 117 maimed people, including civilians, had been shifted to the LRH and some were referred to other main hospitals. LRH chief executive Dr Hameed Afridi said that 19 bodies were also brought to the hospital and 40 maimed persons were at death's door.
The Frontier Constabulary, which has a training center each in Peshawar and Shabqadar, is primarily responsible for securing border with the tribal area and used as additional force to assist the civil administration in case of emergency.
Officials said that the SOPs were taught to the trainees during training and that they would move in small groups in public and keep low profile to conceal their identity.
Sources said that a few days ago about 500 recruits passed out at their training center in Peshawar. "Unlike Shabqadar, recruits at Peshawar center were asked to leave in small groups," said an official.
"During the night a funfair was organised in the Shabqadar fort while in the morning nearly 800 recruits were allowed to come out together from the main compound," he remarked, adding that it was responsibility of the training officer to make security arrangements for the personnel. In fact, faceless myrmidons were offered opportunity that they exploited, he said.
Recruits also said that neither their officers cautioned them before leaving the compound nor they cared, as there was a hustle and bustle and they never thought that such a tragedy could strike them.
The British-era Shabqadar Fort is close to Mohmand ... Named for the Mohmand clan of the Sarban Pahstuns, a truculent, quarrelsome lot. In Pakistain, the Mohmands infest their eponymous Agency, metastasizing as far as the plains of Peshawar, Charsadda, and Mardan. Mohmands are also scattered throughout Pakistan in urban areas including Bloody Karachi, Lahore, and Quetta. In Afghanistan they are mainly found in Nangarhar and Kunar... Agency, where security forces have been fighting against faceless myrmidons in Safi and Baizai tehsils adjacent to Afghanistan. Banned Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistain had surfaced in the area in 2007 when a group of faceless myrmidons under the command of Umar Khalid (real name Abdul Wali) occupied the shrine of Haji Sahab Tarangzai, a great freedom fighter.
According to reports, despite extensive military operation faceless myrmidons were still holding positions in the embattled zones and even had extended their activities to Michini area near Peshawar district.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/14/2011 00:00 ||
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Pakistan Thursday said it would launch an inter-agency process to define the extent of counter-terrorism cooperation with the United States amid tensions over the raid that killed Osama bin Laden.
The decision came at a meeting of the defence committee of the cabinet amid strained relations between Islamabad and Washington over the US raid that killed the Al-Qaeda chief in the Pakistani garrison city of Abbottabad.
While a prisoner of Israel in 1996, Mosab Hassan Yousef the son of Sheik Hassan Yousef, a founding member of Hamas was approached by Shin Bet agents who looked to recruit him to spy within Hamas. He agreed. Mosabs information soon had Shin Bet calling him the most reliable source in the Hamas leadership, and Israeli lives were undoubtedly saved as a result of Mosabs collaboration.
Despite this success, Yousef has since revealed himself to be more double agent than turncoat.
During the initial contact within Israels Maskubia (Jerusalems central prison), Mosab agreed to collaborate in exchange for Israel not targeting his father. After years of providing valuable intelligence, in 2007 Mosab declared his conversion to Christianity, moved to California, and went public with his story. His tale was a sensation, drawing attention and praise from U.S. pro-Israel organizations. But his tale has since been revealed to be a long con, the evidence coming from when he speaks publicly in Arabic.
Mosab did not convert to what the West would recognize as Christianity, but to a fiery, Palestinian brand of the faith that is vehemently anti-Israel. According to Mosab, his main goal in coming to the U.S. is to infiltrate the main source of international support for Israel: the American church.
To Mosab, the Palestinian struggle was lacking: while he praises Hamas leaders as heroes and glorious defenders, he instructs them to enlist more educated political defenders like himself:
With regret, our great leaders and mighty heroes and glorious defenders over there did not realize that instead of spending their wealth and monies on silly issues, they needed to enlist in their ranks writers and educated individuals in order to reverse the image of the Palestinian struggle
.
Mosab stated that he is only against Hamas methodology, but not their agenda:
It appeared at first that my desire was to seek revenge against Hamas How could I do such a thing revenge [against] my own father? He is one of the leaders of Hamas.
Jerusalem's police department increased its deployment near the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan ahead of the funeral of 17-year-old Milad Ayache, who was killed during Friday's 'Nakba Day' riots.
The funeral is scheduled to leave the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Ras al-'Amoud at noon, en route to the Muslim cemetery in Temple Mount area.
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/14/2011 8:53 Comments ||
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#2
That there are any Muslims left in Jerusalem shows a deep character flaw of the Israelis. The al-Asqa mosque should have been torn down at the conclusion of any of their wars, and after an appropriate amount of archaeology, the Israelis should have rebuilt their temple on the site.
Doing so in '67 or '73 would have meant an end to a lot of strife.
Jerusalem--Smugglers of arms into the Gaza Strip are operating almost freely after a change of leadership in Egypt, Israel's Shin Bet security agency said. A report by the domestic spy agency said with Egypt's new leaders preoccupied with stabilizing their country, "governance in Sinai is not high and this allows smugglers to operate almost without hindrance.
"Today the Egyptian regime's attention is focused on stabilizing the new government and this eases the Sinai smugglers' task," the report said.
The Bedouin people of the Sinai, for whom smuggling is a major source of income, were mostly involved in getting weapons into Gaza to supply the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas which controls the enclave and other smaller militant groups, it said.
It also reaffirmed Israel's belief that Iran, in seeking to strengthen its influence in the region, was supplying Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants with "choice military-grade weaponry."
It said hundreds of rockets with a range of 20-40 kilometers, at least 1,000 mortar bombs, some anti-tank missiles and tons of high explosives and raw material to make high explosives had entered Gaza since the start of 2010.
Outgoing Shin Bet chief Yuval Diskin, who hands over to his successor on Monday, said in a rare speech earlier this week: "In Egypt it is very hard to assess what will happen in the elections expected in the summer ... it's not a good idea to rest on our laurels."
Even under the rule of ousted president Hosni Mubarak, a partner of Israel in the Middle East, "Egyptian actions did not significantly reduce the scale of munitions smuggling," the report said. But matters had now worsened.
The Shin Bet report said munitions were transported from Iran to Sudan, across Egypt's Sinai peninsula and through smuggling tunnels into the Gaza Strip.
Sudan accused Israel of launching an air strike in April near Port Sudan airport that killed two people. Khartoum has close ties with Hamas, but denies giving it direct support.
Israel is also suspected of carrying out an air strike on an arms convoy in eastern Sudan in 2009 for which it has neither admitted nor denied responsibility.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/14/2011 00:00 ||
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North Korea and Iran appear to have been regularly exchanging ballistic missile technology in violation of U.N. sanctions, according to a confidential United Nations report.
The report also said that the illicit technology transfers had "trans-shipment through a neighbouring third country." That country was China.
[Iran Press TV] More than 150 foreign experts and elite are attending the International Conference on Global Alliance against Terrorism for a Just Peace (GAATJP) in Tehran.
The conference, which opens on Saturday, will focus on efforts aimed at uprooting terrorism in the region. Hundreds of Iranian experts will also attend the two-day conference which will wrap up in Tehran on Sunday.
Tehran hosted four exhibitions of posters and caricatures on just peace, as well as exhibitions of photos of the families of the victims of terror attacks in Iran and the Middle East ahead of the on GAATJP on Friday.
The conference comes nearly ten years after the United States initiated the so-called 'war on terror,' which has failed to bring peace and stability to the region.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/14/2011 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Suzanne Mubarak, Egypt's former first lady, has suffered a "suspected heart attack" after Egyptian authorities ordered her 
Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has likely been wounded in western airstrikes and has probably left Tripoli, Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said Friday.
Thousands of Egyptians started to gather in Tahrir Square in downtown Cairo on Friday to participate in a protest in support of national unity and to condemn the sectarian confrontations that took place last week and resulted in the death of 15 Christians and Muslims.
Robert Blake, the US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia, said that Prime Minister Singh "recognised India`s enhanced position as a regional leader".
Punjab
Mohmand
Jerusalem--Smugglers of arms into the Gaza Strip are operating almost freely after a change of leadership in Egypt, Israel's Shin Bet security agency said. A report by the domestic spy agency said with Egypt's new leaders preoccupied with stabilizing their country, "governance in Sinai is not high and this allows smugglers to operate almost without hindrance.
North Korea and Iran appear to have been regularly exchanging ballistic missile technology in violation of U.N. sanctions, according to a confidential United Nations report.
