The Taliban have suffered their first major loss in this year's offensive, but they are putting on a brave face, even spinning the setback as a triumph in their broader battle against foreign forces in Afghanistan.
On Wednesday, several thousand US Marines captured the town of Garmsir in the southern Afghan province of Helmand in their first large operation since arriving to reinforce North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) troops last month. The Taliban-controlled Garmsir had served as a main supply route for their insurgency in the area.
The Taliban, however, claim the loss of one base is not critical, and anyway, for NATO to hold on to its gain it will have to commit thousands of troops to the outpost, which is located in the inhospitable desert, if it is to effectively guard the lawless and porous border through which the Taliban funnel men, arms and supplies.
The Taliban also claim that one of their underlying goals since the US-led invasion in 2001 has been to tie down as many foreign troops as possible, much as the mujahideen wore down Soviet troops in the 1980s. Various Taliban leaders have told the media they will not resist the forces in Garmsir, one of the biggest concentrations since the 2001 assault on the country.
Meanwhile, the Taliban say they will energize their drive to win over the Pashtun tribal districts on both sides of the border and turn them into "Taliban country", a process that is already well underway.
For NATO, the fight against the Taliban has almost gone full circle. From the initial large offensive involving thousands of troops, NATO resorted to limited special operations with heavy reliance on air attacks. This only increased the population's anger against the coalition as many ordinary citizens died in the onslaught from the sky, and the Taliban were able to capitalize on this discontent.
NATO command has now decided to increase its ground presence, even at the risk of greater casualties. As mentioned above, this suits the Taliban and its al-Qaeda-inspired goal of tying up troops.
As NATO consolidates in the Garmsir deserts, the Taliban will be busy in eastern Afghanistan's border provinces, aiming to bring the tribes there under Taliban control.
One of their weapons is fear, as happens in the Pakistani tribal areas, where through targeted killings of high-profile enemies, such as tribal chiefs, clerics and pro-government personalities, they effectively intimidate their rivals.
Now it is happening in Afghanistan, the latest being the suicide attack, carried out by Anwar ul-Haq Mujahid's Tora Bora group, in the Khogiani district of Nangarhar province against the police chief of Khogiani, who had informed US forces in 2001 about the Tora Bora mountains and al-Qaeda's sanctuary there. The police chief survived, but at least 18 other people were killed.
The mastermind of this strategy is Ustad Yasir, a regional commander of the Pakistan and Afghan border regions, though he was recently rooted out from Khyber Agency in Pakistan after the Taliban were betrayed there. (See Taliban bitten by a snake in the grass Asia Times Online, April 26.)
Having "lost" Khyber Agency, where the Taliban had targeted NATO supply lines, they now want to continue this tactic in adjoining Nangarhar province.
The Taliban don't forget - or forgive - though. On Thursday, they launched a suicide attack in Khyber Agency against Haji Namdar, who betrayed them. Only one of the four explosive plates strapped to the bomber exploded, so Namdar managed to escape unhurt, although 30 others were injured.
At the time of the attack, Namdar was appealing to the masses for donations for the Taliban's struggle in Afghanistan. But now he has been exposed as a traitor and in fact not pro-Taliban. This may allow the Taliban to make inroads into his large constituency, which is traditionally suspicious of the Taliban, who still very much want to regain a footing in Khyber Agency.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/03/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
well if they have too put a few 100 men too the outpost on a key route of their arm and drug smggling then i see in the future alot of talibunnies being killes. win win situation to me
Members of the Canadian military who have been encouraging low-and mid-level Taliban to talk with Afghan authorities were out of line, Defence Minister Peter MacKay said Friday. He suggested recent overtures by soldiers on the ground to foment dialogue are a step ahead of an international working group that's trying to hammer together a united front against the deadly insurgency.
The diplomats are out of line every time they provide artillery support, too.
The Globe and Mail quoted Lt.-Col. Gordon Corbould, the new battle group commander, and Sgt. Tim Seeley, a civilian-military co-operation officer for Canada's Provincial Reconstruction Team, on Thursday as saying that channels were being opened to moderate Taliban. Other officials in Kandahar, who spoke privately, backed up the military's assessment calling it creative thinking.
But they were sternly corrected by the minister. "They certainly don't speak for the government of Canada," MacKay said in a telephone interview from Halifax. The Department of National Defence "doesn't make policy," he said, "only the government does that."
MacKay repeated the hardline stand by the Conservatives that Canada does not negotiate directly with terrorists.
That'd be people who're likely to explode around non-combatants.
The idea that Canadian soldiers would be stepping up with Afghans to encourage militants in the war-ravaged province to lay down their weapons and talk has won high praise in Kandahar City.
Powerbrokers such as Ahmed Wali Karzai, the younger half brother of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, say it's just the kind of push that's need to stem the tide of violence. Tribal leaders in the hotly contested Panjwaii district, where much Canadian blood has been shed, are also happy with the thought. But MacKay said reconciliation isn't something that Canadians can make happen for the Afghans. It's an "initiative that must be led by them" and that Ottawa is content to support Karzai's peace overtures, but "at a distance."
Posted by: Fred ||
05/03/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Stupid field officers buying into "Hudna", it seems. Good to see MacKay isn't buying that shiite. The idea of Afghans laying down arms is more ridiculous than the US stripping the 2nd amendment, wholesale.
#2
Remember that in Afghanistan, money doesn't talk, it screams. The Taliban has been reduced to what is left of its leadership and hired Pushtun mercenaries. But if you offer these mercenaries even a modestly better deal than the Taliban can, they will turn their guns around.
This is very obvious to military personnel, but goes right over the head of diplomats, who assume that people only fight for something because they care about it.
To be in charge in Afghanistan is first to prove that you are the biggest and meanest dog around second, that you get what you want; and third, that you share some of the loot, because you are the employer.
It is very hard to get people out of a pattern like this, as it is very free market oriented.
A US air raid that killed a senior figure in Somalia's armed al-Shabaab group has put UN-sponsored peace talks under threat as the biggest opposition alliance said it was considering a boycott.
We knew that was coming, didn't we?
The Alliance for Liberation and Reconstitution of Somalia said on Friday that it was considering pulling out of the talks scheduled for May 10. The negotiations are aimed at addressing the escalating fighting and humanitarian crisis in the country.
Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed, the exiled chairman of the Alliance for Liberation and Reconstitution of Somalia said: "The US strike can undermine the UN-sponsored peace parlay."
Posted by: Fred ||
05/03/2008 00:00 ||
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An Al-Jazeera cameraman recently released from the Guantanamo Bay Prison has accused the US authorities of insulting Islamic symbols. There were "many violations -- (we were) deprived from praying and there were... deliberate insults to God's holy book, the Qur'an, at the US military prison in Guantanamo," Sami al-Hajj said from his hospital bed in Khartoum, AFP reported on Friday.
Right on schedule. al-Qaeda mook claims we insulted the holy book ...
Former Sudanese Guantanamo detainee al-Hajj was sent home on Thursday following six years of detention.
Pakistani intelligence officers seized al-Hajj while he was traveling near the Afghan border in December 2001. He was handed over to the US military in January 2002, accused of being an "enemy combatant," and was flown to the US base in Cuba.
Al-Hajj went on a hunger strike in January 2007, demanding 'the right for detainees to practice their religion freely and without duress, application of the Geneva Convention to the treatment of Guantanamo detainees and his release or trial by a federal US court.'
#12
Hilarious. This guy was grimacing in pain as they carried him off the plane on a stretcher in front of the AP cameras. Later in the same segment he was hale and hearty, standing and, like Goebbels, shaking his finger as he criticized his treatment at Gitmo.
#13
Some footage of the inmates praying and such would be nice to release about now along with the quotes from others that have been released about how well they were treated and the bits from Al Queda about how to lie about imprisonment.
We have not been properly fighting the information war. Not at all.
Journalists in Sweden are increasingly subjected to threats and violence. Almost two in three editorial offices have been threatened, according to a new report by Reporters Without Borders.
Swedish journalists are finding it increasingly difficult to work in safety. "This is a very serious development that we have to draw attention to," said Jesper Bengtsson, chairman of Reporters Without Borders in Sweden.
Not ready to be a dhimmi, Jesper?
This is the first time that Sweden has been named in the report which details the incidence of threats against journalists across the European Union. The report addresses for example the threats directed against local newspaper Nerikes Allehanda following the publication of Swedish artist Lars Vilks portraits of the Muslim prophet Muhammad as a dog. The Religion of Peace
The newspaper was obliged to increase security around its editorial staff and journalists were afforded bodyguards.
The report also details an incident in the Gothenburg suburb of Bergsjön. When journalists arrived at the scene of a shooting they were threatened, assaulted and forced to surrender their films and photos. "Freedom of speech - go to Hell!"
The Swedish experience is typical of the development across the EU. The Muhammad cartoon controversy led to a series of threats directed against journalists in Denmark, the Mafia is main threat in Italy and in Northern Ireland journalists are still a vulnerable group despite the peace process. Pish posh relativism.
#2
I just keep reminding myself that it can be a very, very bad idea to keep poking Norsemen until they finally lose their patience. Because once that genie is out of the bottle...
The $542.5 billion defense authorization bill adopted by the Senate Armed Services Committee includes money to buy 20 more F-22 Raptors, but doesn't recommend funding any additional C-17 cargo lifters.
The baseline defense authorization legislation was adopted unanimously by the committee, Armed Services Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) said May 1, adding: "We adopted the numbers that were sent over by the administration."
Those numbers included funding for an additional 20 F-22 stealth jet fighters. The authorizing committee also approved $497 million either for advanced procurement of F-22s or for shutting the manufacturing line down. "That either/or decision will be made by the next president," Levin said.
The Bush administration did not seek any C-17s in its fiscal 2009 budget request "and none were authorized," Levin said. However, the need for additional C-17s tops the U.S. Air Force's Unfunded requirements List. The services placed 15 aircraft worth about $3.9 billion on its FY '09 list.
I'm not smart enough to know what we need more: more F-22s or more C-17s. But clearly funding both is a problem.
Sen. John Warner (R-Va.) who joined Levin at a Capitol Hill news conference said he "personally would support that program continuing" but the committee left it "to the next president to determine whether or not that program should continue." And Levin said the decision does not mean the committee thinks the Pentagon has enough airlift capability. "There's a number of options for that. The C-17's not the only option," he said, but did not go into detail.
That might be a reference to the C-5 refit program, which is way behind schedule and way over budget.
The Armed Services Committee also authorized continued funding, $430 million, for the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) alternate engine program.
That's the engine the Air Force doesn't want but Ted Kennedy wants for them, and you can guess why ...
But lawmakers also authorized $35 million to Pratt & Whitney, manufacturer of the JSF's original F135 engine, to improve technologies.
The bill also fully funds the administration request for the U.S. Army's Future Combat Systems and adds $87 million to increase the access of Defense Department unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to the National Air Space.
Lawmakers agreed to fully fund the Pentagon's plan to base interceptor missiles and X-Band radar in Eastern Europe - provided the system is successfully tested and the Polish and Czech parliaments approve deployment.
That's a clear and quiet win for the Bush administration.
The bill adds more than $270 million for near-term missile defense capabilities, including $100 million for Aegis BMD and SM-3 missiles, and $115 million for the Theater High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system.
Hard to continue ignoring the success of these programs. The Dhimmis can no longer claim that they can't and won't ever work.
The committee also cut $50 million from the Space Tracking and Surveillance System, another $50 million from the Multiple Kill Vehicle program and $45 million more from the troubled Airborne Laser (ABL) program. The cut to ABL does not remove funds allocated for ABL's long-awaited 2009 shootdown test.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/03/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Complicated issues here: the F-22 lobby suspects that the JSF procurement will get stretched out (i think so to FWIW) so there is a legit need for an interim aircraft, especially since teh F-15 is encountering fatigue problems.
The JSF group would like to see the Raptor's budget zero'ed out so there can be more $$ put into JSF development and initial low rate procurement.
The C-17 is a solid aircraft and the C-5 and 141's are nearing the end of their original life, the ME has accelerated their usage and fatigue. But trucks aren't sexy like sports cars, so there is no real lobby for the Globemaster III.
The foreign sales of the C-17 haven't materialized, although we are leasing some to UK and the Aussies have bought 4 (i think). The JSF alternate engine program is, or was viable up until the P & W either proves itself or goes south and right now all indications are positive. when the P & W gets all signed off, then pulling the plug on the GE makes sense, but for now i think the GE should stay in play.
Notice how there is no mention of any UAV assets?
#3
Finish the JSF. Here in Canada, our F-18's are old enough to fall apart in the hanger. Once the JSF production line is humming, you can afford all of the 22s, C-17s, C-5s, et al, you want. I suspect we'd like some 22s for northern CAP, but that doesn't seem to be in the cards.
If some idiots on Capital Hill want to get in the way, well, there's an election in a few months...
#4
No problem. There's plenty of airlift to go around and a huge shortage of air superiorty aircraft. Roumor flows that the Taliban have stolen the blueprints for the S.p.A.D.
Posted by: George Smiley ||
05/03/2008 7:06 Comments ||
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#5
Another reason against C-17s is that there is major redesign in progress to develop drone cargo aircraft, which will be as different from C-17s as Predators are from A-10 Warthogs.
#7
Do we really need the C-17 when you can just bungee cargo on the back of a (multi-multi-role) Hornet? The F/A-18F Super Hornet variant even has an extra guy to keep an eye on the load.
For really heavy stuff, two Hornets could carry it slung between them, much the same way that a pair of African swallows carry a coconut.
#8
Excuse me but can you tell me why in the hell develop a drone cargo aircrft? Crew and the space needed for it is a tiny fraction of overall weight and you are not goinfd to make high G turns on a cargo plane.
#10
Do we really need the C-17 when you can just bungee cargo on the back of a (multi-multi-role) Hornet? The F/A-18F Super Hornet variant even has an extra guy to keep an eye on the load.
For really heavy stuff, two Hornets could carry it slung between them, much the same way that a pair of African swallows carry a coconut.
the Genius of out-of-the-box thinking from the Army Of Steves ;-)
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/03/2008 15:08 Comments ||
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#11
How does the saying goes "Amateurs study tactics, professionals study logistics"?
#14
JFM: One of the big frustrations about cargo air traffic is that most of what pilots do is about as difficult as long haul trucking. Boring beyond boring. Even takeoff and landing should be as rote as possible. So why not automate it? That has been a dream for decades.
If the cargo is special, or the trip is unique or challenging, a piloted aircraft is still good, but the vast majority don't need them.
#16
(2) Humanitarian aid drops into rough / inaccessible country without the need for a trained pilot
You will need a trained operator and I fear it is at least as hard to train as a pilot. Only advantage is that you can recruit people with heart conditions. Cargo pilots don't have the same fitness requirements than fighter pilots but there are some NO, NOs who don't apply for drone operators
The Hakeemullah Group, a militant organisation associated with Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud, on Friday claimed responsibility for a suicide attack in the Khyber Agency on Thursday, source said.
Eighteen people were killed in the attack when a suicide bomber attacked a madrassa run by a religio-militant organisation, Amar Bil Maroof Wa Nahi Anil Munkar (Promotion of Virtue and Suppression of Vice). Amar Bil Maroof Wa Nahi Anil Munkar chief Haji Namdar was the target of the attack.
The Hakeemullah Group has claimed responsibility for the suicide attack on Haji Namdar, sources in the religio-militant organisation told Daily Times.
Links with government: The sources said the Hakeemullah Group had told the organisation that the suicide attack on its chief Namdar was the result of its links with the government and the expulsion of Hakeemullah Group by the Amar Bil Maroof Wa Nahi Anil Munkar at the behest of the government.
The sources said Namdar held the Hakeemullah Group responsible for all the mess in the Khyber Agency. They quoted Namdar as saying his organisation had sheltered members of the Hakeemullah Group in the past. The sources also quoted Namdar as saying that his organisation did not want any confrontation with the government or security forces.
Namdar was also quoted as saying that his organisation would fight alongside the security forces against militants.
Meanwhile, the body of the suicide bomber killed in the blast was handed over to an arbitrary jirga sent by the Hakeemullah Group at Bar Qambarkhel in Bara tehsil of the Khyber Agency.
Namdar and Qambarkhel Shura members were also present at the occasion.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/03/2008 00:00 ||
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Haji Namdar, the little-known pro-Taliban commander in Khyber Agency who survived a suicide attack on Thursday, said that he was helping to detoxify militants staying with him through Islamic classes, that teach them that attacking Pakistani forces, people or state installations is no jihad at all, and that rather, by doing so we are strengthening anti-Islamic forces.
Namdar heads the religio-militant Amar Bil Maroof Wa Nahi Anil Munker (Promotion of Virtue and Suppression of Vice) organisation in the Bar Kambarkhel area. These [mujahideen] leaders brainwash teenagers, telling them that each and every Pakistani is their enemy and his or her killing is justified. And it is also jihad that they should keep killing Pakistanis, said Namdar. I am reforming these mujahideen as Islam does not allow jihad against Muslims.
Talking to Daily Times in an exclusive interview two days before the suicide attack that targeted him and left many injured at his headquarters in Takya, he, however, did not name any of the Taliban leaders who were brainwashing teenagers.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/03/2008 00:00 ||
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The big powers have formally acknowledged for the first time that the policy of isolating Hamas through an economic blockade of Gaza is not working. In a statement issued after talks at foreign minister level in London, the Quartet for Middle East peace opened the door to Egypt to find a "new approach" for Gaza, which was seized by the militant Islamic Hamas movement in June last year. The blockade, which was intended to provoke Palestinians into rejecting the Hamas leadership, has in fact proved counter-productive, and caused a humanitarian catastrophe for the majority of the 1.5 million population of the Gaza Strip.
Counter-productive? In what way? The Hamas leadership could stop all of this simply by putting down the Qassams and agreeing to a two-state solution. Then again, that would remove the principal reason for Hamas to exist.
"Principals strongly encouraged Israel, the Palestinian Authority and Egypt to work together to formulate a new approach on Gaza that would provide security to all Gazans, end all acts of terror [and] provide for the controlled and sustained opening of the Gaza crossings for humanitarian reasons and commercial flows," said the Quartet.
At a separate meeting in London, the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council plus Germany came up with a new package of incentives to break the deadlock over Iran's nuclear programme, after Tehran rejected earlier initiatives. However details were only to be unveiled after the proposals had been presented to Iranian authorities.
The Quartet meeting was attended by the United States, Russia, the EU and the UN, which sent the UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon. Tony Blair was also present as the Quartet's envoy.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/03/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Maybe if the isolation were played for keepsies and not just until there was a whimper and then relaxed, it might just work. that or road test some of those new IDF Flat-o-pillars.....
The British government launched a leadership training program in the Philippines Saturday in a bid to help counter Islamic radicalism among the country's Muslim minority. Meg Munn, Britain's minister for Southeast Asia, said there was a need to develop Islamic leaders "who will actively work in reforming the education, health, governance and economic systems in their respective communities, with the ultimate goal of improving human security in the Southeast Asian region." The British government's Philippine partner in the two-year initiative, the Asian Institute of Management, will implement the program with a 14 million peso (US$330,000; 213,480) grant provided by the British government.
"The confusion and crisis in Islamic leadership allows radical ideology to take root," said Prof. Ernesto Garilao, a former Philippine socio-economic planning minister and an executive director of AIM. "Promoting and nurturing exemplary practice of Islamic leadership is critical." Garilao said the program will train Muslim political, military, business and religious leaders "engaged in promoting development, multiculturalism and diversity."
"The role of Muslim leaders is crucial in ensuring that the Muslim community realizes its full potential," Munn said. "We hope the project will give Muslim leadership effective tools to work more effectively for the good of the communities they represent and for the Philippines as a whole."
The British embassy said in a statement that the project was designed "to foster cross-cultural openness and understanding and enhance skills in peaceful conflict resolution." It said the project will also be implemented in Indonesia and Malaysia if it is successful in the Philippines.
#4
Frankly, I liked Black Jack Pershing's way of dealing with Islamic "militants" in the Philippines: He captured a bunch of them, 20 or 50. He put all but one of them in front of a firing squad. The firing squad slaughtered a pig and dipped their bullets in the pig's blood. They then shot the militants. The survivor was let go to report on what had happened. Pershing had much less trouble with the militants after that.
Of course, today, he would be cashiered immediately for "cultural insensitivity", and probably brought up on murder charges as well.
Posted by: Rambler in California ||
05/03/2008 23:36 Comments ||
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(AKI) - The Indonesian vice-president, Jusuf Kalla, says the government cannot ban the militant Islamic group, Jemaah Islamiyah, because it does not exist. "Jemaah Islamiyah does not exist as an organisation and therefore it cannot be banned," said Kalla in an interview with Adnkronos International (AKI).
"How can we impose a ban? Who is the [group's] president? Where are its headquarters? Who are its members?" asked Kalla.
Jemaah Islamiyah is the terrorist group blamed for most of the deadly attacks that have hit Southeast Asia in the last few years. These include the 2002 Bali bombings which killed 202 people and injured 209 others.
The group is considered a terrorist organisation in the US, Australia, Malaysia and Singapore but not in Indonesia where it enjoys the support of a minority, particularly those who come from the central-eastern island of Java.
Indonesia has the largest Muslim population in the world. The vast majority of the 200 million Muslims in Indonesia practise a moderate version of Islam.
Earlier this month, Indonesian chief judge Wahjono declared JI a "prohibited organisation" in court as he sentenced two leading JI members, Abu Dujana and Zarkasih, to 15 years in prison for terror-related offences.
Some analysts had hoped that the statement by the judge, the first of its kind, would push the Indonesian government to ban JI.
Kalla said that banning JI is a secondary issue and that Indonesia had achieved good results in its fight against terrorism. "Our approach includes taking an iron fist with the terrorists, improving economic conditions and spreading a moderate message in the Islamic environment," he said. "We have had great results, a fact recognised all over the world."
Hundreds of JI members have been arrested in Indonesia since 2002, where according to some experts, the threat posed by the terrorist group has been minimised.
Experts have also often noted that Indonesia has dealt with terrorism in the country without introducing tough laws.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/03/2008 00:00 ||
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TEL AVIV - Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak said Friday he believed Iran could be within two years of developing a nuclear bomb. "It's possible that it may take another two years, maybe four ... it's all the same if international pressure and other possibilities don't stop the process," Barak was quoted as saying in Friday's online edition of the Israeli newspaper the Jediot Achronot.
When asked whether Israel "was prepared to be alone with the problem," Barak said, "The State of Israel is the strongest country in the entire region, even at a range of 1,500 kilometres."
He stressed that as Israeli defence minister, he did not have the privilege of providing a more detailed answer, but reiterated that there was "no power today that could cause the destruction of the State of Israel."
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/03/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
no power today that could cause the destruction of the State of Israel
Lebanon's feuding government and opposition leaders are poised to hold their first talks in nearly five months under Arab League auspices on Friday, an aide to Speaker Nabih Berri said. "The (opposition) speaker of parliament Nabih Berri and the leader of the (pro-government) Future Movement Saad Hariri will meet on Friday for talks also to be attended by (Arab League Secretary General Amr) Moussa," a Berri aide told AFP.
The announcement followed talks between the visiting Arab League chief and Berri, who has refused to recognize the legitimacy of the rump cabinet of Prime Minister Fouad Saniora since six opposition ministers quit in November 2006. He has since declined to convene parliament to pass government legislation and the standoff has left Lebanon without a president since pro-opposition incumbent Emile Lahoud stood down at the end of his term of office in November.
Doesn't matter, it's not like they have anything to do ...
Moussa, who has been involved in repeated efforts to broker a solution to the standoff, expressed new optimism after his latest talks. "There is a basis for understanding and a situation that could prove profitable," he said after his hour-long meeting with Berri.
The Arab League chief stressed both the "importance of dialogue" between the two sides, the opposition's key demand, and the "need to elect a new president," the consistent demand of the government.
The two sides have agreed on a compromise candidate for the presidency -- army chief General Michel Suleiman. However, they remain at odds over the make-up of a controversial government of national unity and a new electoral law.
Berri has repeatedly called for a dialogue with the ruling pro-government March 14 coalition on the two issues but the anti-Syrian alliance has said that a new president must be elected by parliament first.
A 19th attempt to elect a president has been scheduled for May 13. A previous session, set for April 22, was postponed amid continuing disagreement.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/03/2008 00:00 ||
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Three Iranians and a Lebanese man living in Hizbullah-controlled south Beirut were arrested last week on charges of monitoring the residence of Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea in Meerab, security sources reported Friday. The report came hours after Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat accused Hizbullah of monitoring a Beirut airport runway used by executive jets and warned against a terrorist attack targeting an aircraft using the facility.
It's Beirut. Why would anyone shoot down a jet when they can just do a little road work and plant a bomb?
The sources told a local newsletter the four men were spotted in a rented car near Geagea's residence last week. Upon checking the plate number of the red-painted car it was found owned by a car rental company based in south Beirut and it had been rented to three Iranians and a Lebanese man.
Avis, they try harder ...
Police interrogated the four who claimed to have lost their way as they were on a trip along the "Jesus Trail", and ended up in Meerab, northeast of Beirut. Jesus Christ, according to biblical history, visited south Lebanon and may have reached as far as the Sidon coastline, 45 kilometers south of Beirut.
Just a few pious Muslims with an interest in Christianity. You see that all the time ...
Meerab, however, is almost 80 kilometers north of Sidon.
They're men, they just didn't want to stop and ask for directions ...
One of the Iranian suspects said in his testimony that he visits Lebanon because he is married to a Lebanese woman. The two others said they were students at the Beirut Arab University and the Islamic University, respectively. The three, however, did not know Arabic and asked for interpretation to Farsi during their interrogation, which sounded strange, especially for alleged students at BAU and IU that teach in Arabic.
They're lost. Just following an ancient trail of a different religion. Can't speak the language. And end up at the home of an anti-Syrian leader. Sure. That could happen. No publisher would ever print such a novel, but it could happen ...
The three also said they resided in an apartment owned by a Lebanese friend in south Beirut, a Hizbullah stronghold that is off limits to Lebanese police and state authority.
It also could not be determined why the Iranian, who claims to be married to a Lebanese woman, was residing with friends in south Beirut and not with his wife's parents.
The dowry wasn't big enough. And he's lost. He meant to find her. What was her parents' address again?
The four were set free after the investigation, but lawyers following up the case demanded further interrogation of the four in light of contradictions in their testimonies.
Brilliant. Just brilliant. Let 'em go, they'll just get lost again. No problem.
However, the Iranian embassy officially asked the Lebanese judiciary to postpone for four days the issuing of a subpoena, the central news agency reported.
No reason given, of course, and why should there be? For four lost students who can't speak the language and can't find the wifey? Nah, just a waste of time ...
Mystery shrouds whereabouts of the four, while Geagea's lawyers demand expanded investigation with them in light of information about a possible attack targeting residence of the Lebanese Forces leader either by rockets or projectiles loaded with chemical or biological warheads, the report added.
Anyone bother to check the trunk of the red-painted car?
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/03/2008 00:00 ||
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The most interesting discovery during a visit to Jalalabad, where Osama bin Laden planted his flag in 1996, is that Al-Qaeda seems to have all but disappeared. The group is on the run, too, in Iraq, and that raises some interesting questions about how to pursue this terrorist enemy in the future.
"Al-Qaeda is not a topic of conversation here," says Colonel Mark Johnstone, the deputy commander of Task Force Bayonet, which oversees four provinces surrounding Jalalabad in eastern Afghanistan. Lieutenant Colonel Pete Benchoff agrees: "We're not seeing a lot of Al-Qaeda fighters. They've shifted here to facilitation and support."
You hear the same story farther north from the officers who oversee the provinces along the Pakistan border. A survey conducted last November and December in Nuristan, once an Al-Qaeda stronghold, found that the group barely registered as a security concern among the population.
The enemy in these eastern provinces is a loose amalgam of insurgent groups, mostly linked to traditional warlords. It's not the Taliban, much less Al-Qaeda. "I don't use the word 'Taliban,'" says Alison Blosser, a State Department political adviser to the military commanders in Jalalabad, in the sector known as Regional Command East. "In RC East we have a number of disparate groups. Command and control are not linked up. The young men will fight for whoever is paying the highest rate."
The picture appears much the same in RC South, where British and Canadian troops have faced some of the toughest battles of the war. Members of the British-led Provincial Reconstruction Team in Helmand Province describe an insurgency that is tied to the opium mafia - hardly a bastion of Islamic fundamentalism.
Traveling to the British headquarters in Lashkar Gah in a low-flying Lynx helicopter, you pass mile after mile of poppy fields - and hundreds of Afghan men in turbans and baggy trousers out harvesting the resin that will be turned into opium. British military officers and diplomats describe the core problems in their sector as bad governance, corruption and lack of economic development, not a resurgent Al-Qaeda or Taliban.
Terrorist attacks such as the recent assassination attempt on President Hamid Karzai demonstrate that insurgents are still able to create havoc. Indeed, the statistics gathered by the NATO-led coalition show that civilian and military casualties are up this year. That instability undermines the good work of the development projects. But commanders say it's spasmodic violence, rather than a sustained and coordinated campaign by a tightly knit Al-Qaeda.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/03/2008 00:00 ||
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Killing does tend to dwindle those killed.
Posted by: George Smiley ||
05/03/2008 7:09 Comments ||
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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.
An Al-Jazeera cameraman recently released from the Guantanamo Bay Prison has accused the US authorities of insulting Islamic symbols. There were "many violations -- (we were) deprived from praying and there were... deliberate insults to God's holy book, the Qur'an, at the US military prison in Guantanamo," Sami al-Hajj said from his hospital bed in Khartoum, AFP reported on Friday.
Journalists in Sweden are increasingly subjected to threats and violence. Almost two in three editorial offices have been threatened, according to a new report by Reporters Without Borders.
The $542.5 billion defense authorization bill adopted by the Senate Armed Services Committee includes money to buy 20 more F-22 Raptors, but doesn't recommend funding any additional C-17 cargo lifters.
Lawmakers agreed to fully fund the Pentagon's plan to base interceptor missiles and X-Band radar in Eastern Europe - provided the system is successfully tested and the Polish and Czech parliaments approve deployment.
The big powers have formally acknowledged for the first time that the policy of isolating Hamas through an economic blockade of Gaza is not working. In a statement issued after talks at foreign minister level in London, the Quartet for Middle East peace opened the door to Egypt to find a "new approach" for Gaza, which was seized by the militant Islamic Hamas movement in June last year. The blockade, which was intended to provoke Palestinians into rejecting the Hamas leadership, has in fact proved counter-productive, and caused a humanitarian catastrophe for the majority of the 1.5 million population of the Gaza Strip.
The British government launched a leadership training program in the Philippines Saturday in a bid to help counter Islamic radicalism among the country's Muslim minority. Meg Munn, Britain's minister for Southeast Asia, said there was a need to develop Islamic leaders "who will actively work in reforming the education, health, governance and economic systems in their respective communities, with the ultimate goal of improving human security in the Southeast Asian region." The British government's Philippine partner in the two-year initiative, the Asian Institute of Management, will implement the program with a 14 million peso (US$330,000; 213,480) grant provided by the British government.
TEL AVIV - Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak said Friday he believed Iran could be within two years of developing a nuclear bomb. "It's possible that it may take another two years, maybe four ... it's all the same if international pressure and other possibilities don't stop the process," Barak was quoted as saying in Friday's online edition of the Israeli newspaper the Jediot Achronot.
Lebanon's feuding government and opposition leaders are poised to hold their first talks in nearly five months under Arab League auspices on Friday, an aide to Speaker Nabih Berri said. "The (opposition) speaker of parliament Nabih Berri and the leader of the (pro-government) Future Movement Saad Hariri will meet on Friday for talks also to be attended by (Arab League Secretary General Amr) Moussa," a Berri aide told AFP.
Three Iranians and a Lebanese man living in Hizbullah-controlled south Beirut were arrested last week on charges of monitoring the residence of Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea in Meerab, security sources reported Friday. The report came hours after Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat accused Hizbullah of monitoring a Beirut airport runway used by executive jets and warned against a terrorist attack targeting an aircraft using the facility.
