ROME -- Italy will be looking for an exit strategy from Afghanistan after the presidential election there next month, Premier Silvio Berlusconi said in the first suggestion of a possible pullout of Italian troops.
The premier said Wednesday night that any withdrawal would be agreed on with Italy's international allies.
Mr. Berlusconi's comments followed calls from within his own government to bring back Italy's 2,800 troops in Afghanistan. Those calls sparked controversy and Mr. Berlusconi was quick to assure allies that Italy would stay the course.
"Only after (the election), will it be possible to think about an exit strategy," Mr. Berlusconi said during a meeting with senators from his own conservative party. He said any exit strategy "will have to be the subject of careful and agreed-upon analysis with international allies."
Violence in Afghanistan has been surging in July, and U.S, NATO, and Afghan forces are working to provide security for the country's Aug. 20 presidential election, which Taliban militants have vowed to disrupt.
Italy's troops are stationed in the western region of Herat and in Kabul. Rome is also sending an additional 500 troops on temporary deployment ahead of the vote.
A total of 14 Italian troops have been killed in the war, with the latest fatality a soldier who was killed by a roadside bomb earlier this month.
[Quqnoos] An Afghan presidential candidate, Baz Mohammad Kofi, stepped out of the race on Wednesday and vowed support for incumbent Karzai
In a news conference held on Wednesday morning in the Afghan capital, Kabul, Mr Kofi urged his supporters to vote for Hamid Karzai in the presidential election, slated for August 20.
Baz Mohammad Kofi is the fourth Afghan candidate who withdraws from the rivalery, in which 37 others including former cabinet members Abdullah Abdullah, Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai and Ramazan Bashardost are still running for a victory.
Nearly two weeks ago, a presidential candidate, Nasrullah Baryalai stepped out in favor of hopeful Abdullah and another one, Daud Mirakay, had withdrawn without revealing whom to support in the historic Afghan polls.
Karzai has been able to gain the support of two of his rivals over the past two weeks. Few days ago, another presidential runner, Sayed Hashimi, at the gathering where Karzai was present, stepped out and preferred the Afghan incumbent to lead the country for another five-year term.
As the date for the August 20 presidential election is getting closer, coalition-forming among some candidates is expected.
It was rumored over the past few weeks that 21 of the 41 presidential candidates will merge to back a single runner, but, according to a spokesman of the group, the members have not reached any general agreement.
Afghanistan's second presidential and provincial council elections in the post-Taliban country are going to be held on August 20 amid tight security, as Taliban militants have vowed to disrupt it.
As of now, 37 candidates are running for the presidency and more than 3,300 others are competing for the seats of provincial councils in the 34 Afghan provinces.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/30/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Well, this technique worked pretty well for Obama while he was in Chicago.
Didn't Russia's Peter the Great find that a bit difficult, once upon a time?
A regional Taliban commander has warned that Swedes serving in Afghanistan will be the target of reprisals following the killing of three of the guerrilla group's fighters by Swedish troops last week. "Revenge will come. Maybe not today, or tomorrow, or next week. But it will come," the Taliban leader told the TT news agency in an interview published on Wednesday. "Swedes will be killed."
Described as a sinewy man in his forties and referred to as Zamir, the man claims to be second in command of Taliban forces fighting in the northern Afghan province of Balkh.
In an interview carried out in a secret location several hours from the provincial capital of Mazar-i-Sharif, the base of operations for Swedish troops in the area, Zamir emphasized that he and other Taliban supporters have no plans to submit to the wishes of foreign peacekeepers or the current government of Afghanistan. "Faith burns deep in our hearts and we'll never resign ourselves to a foreign ceasefire. We'd rather die as martyrs," he told TT.
He claimed foreign soldiers weren't interested in helping Afghan citizens, but instead were trying to "poisoning our faith" and create artificial divisions pitting Afghan against Afghan.
According to Zamir, there are around 60 guerrilla fighters in the Char Bolak district, about 40 kilometres west of Mazar-i-Sharif. They are armed with Kalashnikovs, rocket launchers, and mines, and are prepared to employ suicide bombers in an effort to drive out foreign troops and disrupt the upcoming Afghan elections, scheduled for August 20.
Three of his fighters were killed last week in a fire fight with Swedish and Finnish troops who were on patrol 150 kilometres west of Mazar-i-Sharif as part of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).
Taliban supporters under Zamir's command also have contact with other Taliban sympathizers in Afghanistan and Pakistan, he said. But the group's orders originate with Mulla Omar, the leader of the Taliban who served as the de facto head of Afghanistan when the group ruled the country between 1995 and 2001.
Zamir explained that Taliban supporters would only be willing to lay down their weapons once foreign soldiers have left Afghanistan and current president Hamid Karzai agrees to share power with the guerilla group.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/30/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Good rule of thumb: Do not tick off people who worship Norse gods and carry large axes.
[ADN Kronos] The number of people displaced by conflict in Saada in northern Yemen has increased over the past two months, putting the overall number at more than 100,000 people, say United Nations and aid agencies.
An update from the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) released on 24 July said that in "June and July 2009 the number of internally displaced people (IDPs) increased by several thousand as intermittent fighting continued...".
In June 2009, the World Food Programme (WFP) and the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) registered 5,000 newly displaced people, and WFP was continuing the registration of an additional 5,000 IDPs, IDMC said.
"In contrast to the extensive information available on displacement resulting from natural disasters, information on people displaced by the conflict in the north has been limited by access difficulties and the lack of a profiling exercise.
There was consensus amongst the United Nations and international agencies in July 2009 that an estimated 100,000 people remained displaced," the IDMC report said, adding, however, the total number of people may be higher.
The Saada conflict between the government and Al-Houthi rebels, who take the family name of the leader of the rebellion, in which hundreds have been killed and thousands displaced, began in 2004 and has flared up on several occasions since. As of June 2009, Saqayan, Haydan, Razih, and Ghamar districts in Saada were contested or under Al-Houthi control, IDMC stated.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said in an operational update on its activities working with IDPs on 24 July that upsurges in fighting had provoked population displacement in numerous countries, including Yemen.
A map on displacement in Yemen from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs as of 3 July said that based on Yemeni Red Crescent and WFP registration figures there were about 130,000 IDPs in Saada governorate, of whom about 70,000 were in Saada City.
About 2,500 people were displaced in the last two weeks of June alone, OCHA said. ICRC told IRIN on 16 June that an increase in clashes had displaced 3,500 people who had fled to Saada City.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/30/2009 00:00 ||
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Just another step down the road to a socialist dystopia ...
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is taking steps to tighten restrictions on the media despite mounting opposition by private media to a series of proposed reforms that would expose them to criminal prosecution. Chavez supporters argue that the measures limiting broadcasting rights for radio and television will lead to a significant "democratization" of the media, which has been controlled by a handful of owners.
And who controls the democratization? One guess ...
"We will launch a strong fight for the democratization of communication, to break the media oligarchy in Venezuela," Communication and Information Minister Blanca Eekhout said recently.
In a recent report, National Telecommunications Commission (Conatel) chief Diosdado Cabello said 27 families have "privileged ownership" of 32 percent of the radio broadcast industry.
Meaning the rest is more or less wide open.
But for Chavez's opposition, this "now or never" approach to the media is just the latest onslaught on press freedoms by the firebrand leftist leader, who has never forgiven the privately owned media for backing a failed coup against him in 2002.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/30/2009 00:00 ||
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[Kyodo: Korea] U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon on Wednesday expressed willingness to visit North Korea as a way to solve the nuclear issue. ""The situation in the Korean Peninsula is very serious. And whatever I can do as secretary general -- I am wiling to do, including my own visit to Pyongyang,"" the U.N. chief told a news conference.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/30/2009 00:00 ||
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SEOUL, July 29 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's top nuclear negotiator Wi Sung-lac may meet key U.S. officials, including Washington's point man on North Korea, at an international seminar he will likely attend in Hawaii next week, a diplomatic source here said Wednesday.
Wi received an invitation from the East-West Center, an established education and research organization focused on the Asia-Pacific region, to attend the closed-door forum slated for Aug. 4-5, according to the source.
"He is positively considering attending it," the source said, requesting anonymity.
The "1.5-track" seminar will draw dozens of Asia-Pacific scholars and government officials, including Stephen Bosworth, U.S. special representative for North Korea policy, and Keith Luse, senior professional staff member with the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Frank Jannuzi, senior East Asia specialist with the Foreign Relations Committee, James Kelly, former assistant secretary of state who handled negotiations with North Korea, and Marcus Noland, senior researcher at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, are also expected to attend, according to organizers.
If Wi meets Bosworth there, the two are expected to discuss details of the proposed 'comprehensive package' of incentives for North Korea should the communist nation dismantle its nuclear program in a complete and irreversible way, Wi's aides said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/30/2009 00:00 ||
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North Korea has gone wireless again after the authoritarian government abruptly shut down the mobile communications service and banned cell phone usage in 2004. The reclusive country has teamed up with Orascom Telecom of Egypt to launch a third-generation mobile network. Although the technology would enable users to send and receive text messages and video content, North Korean customers will only be allowed to speak over their phones.
Naguib Sawiris, CEO of Orascom Telecom, said, "The prospects of this company are to build a network that will accommodate about 22 million people in North Korea." The Egyptian company has reportedly invested US$400 million and could put down more if subscribers reach 100,000 or more.
The country's first cell phone dealership has opened for business in Pyongyang. Anyone can sign up to use the wireless service -- if they can afford it. Citing a source in China, the U.S.-based Radio Free Asia last week reported the going price for a handset is expected to be around $700, or five months of pay for an average North Korean worker. In April of 2004, Pyongyang pulled the plug on the its cell phone service in the wake of the Ryongchon train explosion near the country's border with China that left hundreds of people dead and injured.
The highly secretive regime is thought to have tried to deter the outside world or its own people from finding out about the gravity of the disaster and rising death toll.
Or perhaps they thought someone used a cell phone to trigger the big kaboom ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/30/2009 00:00 ||
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Nobody knows what it is since it became the War on Fudge. I believe it's now called the Overseas Contingency Operation Against Man Caused Disasters.
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano urged Americans on Wednesday to join a "collective fight against terrorism" that combines the efforts of individuals, companies and local, state and foreign governments.
Answering critics who have accused the Obama administration of downplaying the risk of terrorist attacks, Napolitano said the threat has not abated and outlined an approach that emphasizes burden-sharing as federal spending and political support for post-Sept. 11 security measures wane. "I am sometimes asked if I think complacency is a threat. I believe the short answer is 'yes,' " Napolitano said, speaking to the Council on Foreign Relations in New York before visiting the World Trade Center site destroyed in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. "But I think a better question is this: Has the U.S. government done everything it can to educate and engage the American people? The answer is 'no,' " she said. Wouldn't that imply the long answer's "yes," too? Or does she mean the long answer's "of course"? But it being the Obama administration, it could mean the long answer's in a paper somewhere that nobody's read because it's too long and they just don't have the time.
In what aides called a major counter-man made disaster terrorism policy address, Napolitano noted that American hotels were targeted in bombings this month in Jakarta, six Americans were among 164 people killed in a commando-style assault in Mumbai in November and three Americans were among 54 killed in a Marriott Hotel in Islamabad in September.
To confront a man made disaster terrorism threat that "is even more decentralized, more networked and more adaptive," she said, counter-man made disaster terrorism efforts also need to exploit the values of "networks." For example, the nation needs better technology, training and linkages to share information with 780,000 local law enforcement agents, Napolitano said, promising to strengthen 70 state-run intelligence "fusion centers" that began under the Bush administration.
Except that those links are problematic to the progressives who see J Edgar Hoover lurking behind every corner. Those links might be used to inform on them. The progressive Left has been trying to get those linked curtailed.
James Jay Carafano, an analyst with the conservative Heritage Foundation, praised the speech as a nonpartisan, policy-oriented approach that reflects political and budget realities. "The only fiscally responsible way they can keep levels of homeland security up is to stop doing stupid things that waste money and integrate efforts with other communities and have them work better," Carafano said. "The old answer, throwing more money at the problem, is not going to be the routine."
He also noted that Republicans accused Obama this winter of softening his stance by abandoning the phrase "war on terror" and faulted Napolitano for not mentioning the word "terrorism" in remarks prepared for her first appearance before the House. This time she used the word or its variants 23 times in a half-hour speech.
Either someone showed her a scary file or she's throwing the eye-wash around.
Still, Napolitano laid out few new programs, mostly signaling continuity with work begun under former President George W. Bush.
It's like Bush knew what he was doing or something ...
But she faulted approaches that stoked public alarm while asking little from individuals to improve society's resilience against attacks. "The consequences of living in a state of fear, rather than a state of preparedness, are enormous," Napolitano said. "For too long, we've treated the public as a liability to be protected rather than an asset in our nation's collective security."
She also singled out the need for greater cooperation from companies. "More than dollars," Napolitano said, the nation needs "the active engagement of employers" who control most critical targets, such as power plants and communication systems to help identify them and plan how to secure them.
Perhaps they're afraid they'll get blamed and sued like the telecomms were threatened with last time they cooperated ...
In a blunt warning, she added, "We may be better prepared as a nation than we were on 9/11. But we are nowhere near as prepared as we need to be."
Perhaps Janet has figured out who the public will blame if we're attacked again ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/30/2009 00:00 ||
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[Geo News] Pakistan and Tajikistan on Wednesday agreed to initiate a strategic dialogue on regional peace, security and development, besides cooperation in energy sector.
President Asif Ali Zardari and his Tajik counterpart Emomali Rahmon in their wide-ranging talks held at Qasr-e-Millet - Palace of the Nation, also agreed to establish regional electricity networks and early implementation of the Central Asia South Asia 1000 MW project.
The two leaders also vowed to explore and establish transit and transportation corridors, including direct air flights to link the two countries.
President Zardari who is in the Central Asian Republic on a three-day visit, also had a joint press stakeout along with his Tajik counterpart and termed terrorism and militancy as the biggest threat to the 21st century.
"We stand together against this threat and have decided to cooperate in other areas as well," President Zardari said.
He said the two countries have agreed to enhance cooperation in banking and transportation sectors, with the sole intention to bring the two people closer.
President Zardari and President Rahmon also stressed the importance of having greater interaction between the private sectors of the two countries. He said Tajikistan has rich natural resources and the two countries can gain a lot from increased cooperation.
President Zardari said Tajikistan can make a use of Pakistan's land routes and ports Pakistan, which will bring trade and economic benefit to the nations.
President Zardari and Tajik President also had an exclusive meeting before the delegations of the two sides joined them at the bilateral talks.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/30/2009 00:00 ||
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[ADN Kronos] Pakistani investigators have found substantial evidence directly connecting the militant group Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) to last year's Mumbai terrorist attacks which killed 166 people and injured 300 others, said an official report published on Wednesday.
The findings provided the basis for the trial which started last week of five arrested LeT operatives by an anti-terrorism court inside Rawalpindi's Adiala jail.
"The investigation has established beyond any reasonable doubt that the defunct LeT activists conspired, abetted, planned, financed and established communication network to carry out terror attacks in Mumbai," said the report.
It is the first time that Pakistanis are being tried inside the country for carrying out terrorist attacks on foreign soil.
Political and security analysts in the capital Islamabad said the serious nature of investigation into LeT's involvement and the trial indicated Pakistan's determination and commitment not to allow its territory to be used for planning and launching terrorist attacks.
An updated report on Pakistani investigation handed over to India on 11 July said the material recovered from LeT camps in Karachi and the coastal town of Thatta indicated that the terrorists were provided training and weapons by the militant outfit.
The investigation gives some new and startling details about people involved in training and providing finances for the worst terrorist attack in India which heightened tensions between the two South Asian nations.
The LeT, which is the most powerful Pakistan-based Jihadi group, was outlawed in 2002, but it continued to operate in Kashmir.
Western intelligence agencies maintain it continued its activities in Pakistan under the banner of Jamaatud Dawa, the charity wing of the group which also was declared a terrorist outfit by the United Nations Security Council earlier this year.
Pakistan has already arrested and charged five LeT commanders including Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi and Zarar Shah with planning and facilitating the bloody assault.
The other three accused are Hammad Amin Sadiq, Mazhar Iqbal alias Al Qama and Shahid Jamil Riaz, all activists of LeT.
Ajmal Amir Qasab, the sole surviving gunman of the Mumbai attack who is now in Indian custody, in his statement named Lakhvi, Zarar Shah and some other LeT commanders for training and launching the terrorists.
Qasab who came from the town of Faridkot in Pakistan's Punjab, was among 10 terrorists who carried out the attacks. The other nine killed during the attacks also belonged to Punjab which is the main stronghold of LeT.
The accused were taken on Saturday before a makeshift anti-terrorism court in the high-security Adiala jail in Rawalpindi.
"There are sufficient oral, direct documentary, circumstantial and scientific evidence which directly connect the accused with the commission of the offence," said the charge-sheet.
Lakhvi, Zarar Shah and Mazhar Iqbal (also known as 'Al Qama') have also been charged with planning, preparation and execution of the attacks and operational handling of the 10 terrorists.
Lakhvi, the top commander of the LeT who was arrested on 18 February, is a resident of Rinala Khurd in the district of Okara. He is named as the mastermind of the entire Mumbai massacre operation.
Investigators here said they had recovered handwritten diaries, training manuals, Indian maps and operational instructions from the LeT camps.
"The accused were running training camps for terrorists, providing sea and navigational training, conducting intelligence courses and directions for terrorist attack," the report said.
According to the new details, training sessions, codenamed 'Azizabad', were held in an LeT camp in the Pakistani city of Karachi from where the investigators seized militant literature, inflatable lifeboats, detailed maps of the Indian coastline, handwritten literature on navigational training and manual of an intelligence course.
Another training camp in Thatta was housed in five thatched rooms about two kilometres from a creek from where small boats sail to the sea. The terrorists also received training in this camp.
The investigators seized pocket diaries containing names of the accused and other persons and details of expenditure of the camp.
Pakistan has asked Indian authorities to provide more information about Faheem Ansari and Sabauddin Ahmed, the Indian nationals suspected to be involved in facilitating the attack.
Both are in custody and the Indian authorities had earlier denied that any of their nationals was involved in the attacks.
During investigations, the two had confessed to visiting Lahore, Rawalpindi, Muridke, Karachi and Muzaffarabad. They were also believed to be in contact with the five accused.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/30/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Looks like the Le T are being hung high out to dry!
Will the ISI be happy or just say they had no involvement with Le T re Mumbai ?
[The News (Pak)] Speakers at a daylong dialogue here on Wednesday expressed concern over the humanitarian crisis in the Kurram Agency and termed the government, the neighbouring countries and religious fanaticism responsible for the strife.
"The Mullahs (clerics) cannot decide the fate of the people. Take powers from them and things will be settled down," said Munir Hussain, a resident of the agency, speaking at a dialogue titled 'Humanitarian Crisis in Kurram Agency: Need for Effective Remedial Measures' organised jointly by Actionaid and the Centre for Research and Social Development (CRSD).
"The Mullahs cannot decide the fate of the people. Take powers from them and things will be settled down."
Munir said the Shia and Sunni sects were living peacefully in the agency but after religious fanatics took hold of power, the sectarian issue started in the agency. He said that today the clerics were enjoying all powers in the agency and Maliks, elders and political administration had become powerless and helpless against them. The speaker said the conflict in the restive Kurram Agency was not sectarian rather it was tribal feud among various tribes on different issues but they were portrayed as a sectarian issue.
Another speaker held the banned religious outfits responsible for the conflict, saying unless the armed religious groups from both Sunni and Shia sects were eliminated, durable peace in Kurram Agency would remain a far cry. "The situation will not improve in the agency until the government takes strict action against banned religious organisations active in the agency," he said.
Dr Riaz Hussain, the PPP president of the agency, said that time and again he informed the PPP-led federal government about the ongoing situation in the Kurram Agency and difficulties being faced to the people but to no avail. "The government as well as the spy agencies know what is going on in the Kurram Agency but they are silent over the sufferings of the people," he said. Dr Riaz said the government had to take action against foreign and local militants in the agency to restore its writ.
Attaullah Khan, another resident of Kurram Agency, alleged that religious organisations from the two sects were actively involved in fanning sectarian violence between the two sects. He demanded of the government to conduct an inquiry into the massacre in Kurram Agency through a judicial commission and the culprits should be awarded exemplary punishment.
Dr Said Alam Mahsud, leader of Amn Tehrik, held religious fanaticism responsible for the unrest in the area. He said it was started during the regime of General Ziaul Haq with the aim of defeating former Soviet Union. He strongly criticised foreign elements for meddling in the affairs of Kurram Agency, saying that Uzbeks, Arabs and Punjabis should keep themselves away from the issue.
The PMAP leader said it was the responsibility of the state to resolve the issue. He said the state had, however, failed to resolve the conflict in the last three years and now the tribesmen had themselves taken the initiative to solve the problem as per Pakhtunwali.
Senior journalist Shamim Shahid accused some foreign countries of harbouring and providing huge funds to their respective ideological militant groups for their own vested interests. He said the clergy exploited the Pakhtuns in the name of religion and they should get rid of such forces to resolve their issues amicably.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/30/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Islam is at the core of all your problems....
Face it!
[Jerusalem Post Middle East] A Fatah leader returned to the West Bank Wednesday after more than 40 years in exile.
Mohammed Ghneim was one of Fatah's last holdouts in the diaspora. Only three of Fatah's two dozen top leaders refused to return with then-Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to the Palestinian territories after the 1993 Oslo Accords.
At the time, Ghneim said he would leave exile in Tunis only to enter a Palestinian state. Recently he relented. On Wednesday, he was greeted in Ramallah by hundreds of activists. He plans to run for a top post at next week's Fatah convention, the first in 20 years.
His return is a boost for Arafat successor, Mahmoud Abbas, who has come under harsh attack by another top Fatah exile, Farouk Kaddoumi, who accused him of poisoning his predecessor.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/30/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
translation: Tunis was tired of him and he has no boodle left
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/30/2009 20:07 Comments ||
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General Atomics Aeronautical Systems has released the first public images and the new name of its Predator C "Avenger" unmanned air vehicle.
The pictures reveal a stealthy design powered by a Pratt & Whitney Canada PW545B; the same engine that powers the Cessna Citation XLS business jet. The UAV's 20m (66ft) wingspan is swept at 17°, allowing a maximum speed of over 400kt (740km/h), General Atomics says. Operating altitude can exceed 60,000ft, the company adds.
Further details about specifications and performance are not being released. But company officials acknowledge that a second aircraft is already in production with a 0.61m fuselage extension, raising overall length to just over 13.1m.
The first Avenger has completed at least three test flights, with the first flight recorded on 4 April at the Gray Butte Flight Operations Facility in Palmdale, California.
The UAV is designed to operate in the same hunter-killer role as General Atomics' Predator B/MQ-9 Reaper, but with a significantly faster response time. The manufacturer confirms it is also developing a new full motion video sensor for the aircraft.
The Avenger could also carry General Atomics' Lynx synthetic aperture radar and a forward-looking infrared sensor adapted from the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.
#3
With an aerial refueling capability it could stay aloft as long as it has ordinance and only come home for maintenance/reload. You could literally loiter over an area for a week. They would need a serious engine overhaul facility, though, if they pushed those things that hard. Overhaul interval is 10,000 hours.
#4
I still like my idea of 'disposable' drones - glorified Radio Shack planes air-deployed over target area in launch pods, which can then be flown right into windows or cars or even people as kamikazes. Swarms of big, mad, explosive hornets silencing snipers in minarets (or even just those annoying screechers.)
#5
The comm gear alone on drones is expensive. Spike is better than suicide.
Posted by: ed ||
07/30/2009 9:09 Comments ||
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#6
Glenmore: I'm projecting two classes of UAVs, the high quality, even turning supersonic, yet still being very maneuverable; and the "expendable item" UAVs, that are built in sheer numbers for air armadas.
Of the latter group, the smallest would be a "flying shotgun", with a light plastic, one use barrel, and a cheapie camera. Alternatively, it could fire a penetrating HE round against a suspected IED. In either case it would destroy the aircraft.
The next largest would be something like a model aircraft, carrying one pound of C-4 surrounded with another pound of ball bearings, and a cheapie camera to guide it in to the target.
Next largest would carry a light machine gun with a thousand rounds, likely 5.56mm, purely for strafing an enemy in the open.
Several more models doing various things, and the largest model, about as expensive as a small, used car, and likely with a prop engine, that could carry several different loads, like twin .50 cal MG, a couple of 250 lb Small Diameter Bombs, etc.
#7
Comms gear is expensive because the development costs are amortised over only a few units.
The build cost should be really low. Think of the power in a 3g mobile. Mine has 5MP camera, GPS, compass, accelerometer, TCP/IP & HTTP(S), VOIP, a flat touch screen and weighs 100grams. The expensive bit is the touch-screen, so you should easily be able to write a flight program on a platform that costs <500dollars.
ed, get the government out of the bid specs ("made of #3 gray type C plastic at plant in Cong. Dist F etc.), and just define performance needs (deliver shotgun blast at X square foot target Z% of the time, deployed and controlled from Y meters.)
[ADN Kronos] A source close to Indonesian police, who requested anonymity, said the bombs used in the recent bombing in Jakarta, were prepared in Boyolali, Central Java, by a group of well-trained terrorists months in advance.
The source also mentioned that some were personally trained by the notorious fugitive and Al-Qaeda linked terrorist Noordin M. Top.
"The bombs were delivered to the target locations a few months before the actual day of the bombings. The bombs were then smuggled piece-by-piece into the hotels with help from an insider," the source said.
However he refused to elaborate.
Suicide bombers posing as guests attacked the J.W. Marriott and Ritz-Carlton Hotels in Mega Kuningan, South Jakarta, on 17 July. To date, the bomb attacks killed as many as nine people, six of whom were foreigners, and injured 55 others.
The police are still investigating the case by deploying dozens of detective teams to hunt down those who are the suspected masterminds of the bombings.
An intelligence analyst said that most likely the terrorists involved in the attack would not have necessarily left the bomb site.
"Usually the perpetrators stay near the location until around 10 days after the D day. This is also known as the second observation for them," said Dino Chrisbon, quoted by Indonesian daily The Jakarta Post.
He said they were known to rent boarding houses located near the bomb sites in order to monitor the development of the situation, including considering whether they should deliberate on a new plan or attack another location so as to strengthen their point.
"And if later on they find out that the blast has not met their expectations then they would not hesitate to strike again in another location," he added.
Chrisbon also said that the terrorists always work in groups when executing their goals, and are tasked to make sure the effects of what they do meet all their expectations.
"They don't tolerate failure, especially in relation to their goals. So everything must be well prepared.
"The team is meant to make sure that everything runs according to plan."
He said the groups usually coordinated with suicide bombers by providing data from day-to-day surveillance. The data is very significant as it helps the suicide bombers formulate and plan their attack.
Usually, he added, it would take three to six months for group members to study everything they needed to know regarding their target.
"So if the target is a hotel, such as the recent bombing incident, then the group members would study all daily routines, including staff working hours and potential security loopholes that might provide a way for them to enter the location," he said
"These people even study the habits of the security officers so they can predict their reaction afterward," he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/30/2009 00:00 ||
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Iranian police arrested mourners who gathered at a Tehran cemetery to commemorate victims of the unrest that followed the country's disputed June presidential election, witnesses said on Thursday.
The police forced Mirhossein Mousavi, a defeated candidate at the election, to leave the cemetery.
"Hundreds have gathered around Neda Agha-Soltan's grave to mourn her death and other victims' deaths ... police arrested some of them ... dozens of riot police also arrived and are trying to disperse the crowd," a witness told Reuters.
The witness saw police detaining three mourners. Officials were not available to comment on the number of detainees. Later the witness said: "Police forced Mousavi to return to his car and leave the cemetery. Police also are warning mourners to leave the place or face the consequences."
Posted by: ed ||
07/30/2009 09:24 ||
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[Iran Press TV Latest] More than a month after Neda Aqa-Soltan was killed in the post-election frenzy in Iran, a key witness to the incident moves to set the record straight.
Neda, 26, was shot dead on June 20 in an alley away from the scene of clashes between security forces and demonstrators in Tehran.
She immediately became an international icon after graphic videos of her bleeding to death in a matter of seconds, grabbed the attention of world media outlets.
Hamid Panahi, Neda's friend and music teacher who was by her side in her final moments, dismissed the slew of eyewitness accounts of the sad incident -- particularly the one given by Arash Hejazi.
Arash Hejazi, an Iranian physician currently studying in England, told the BBC that he had witnessed a member of the Basij shooting Neda.
His comments were a contributing factor in the Western-led media campaign against the Ahmadinejad government.
Panahi said contrary to Hejazi's account of the incident, 'there were no security forces of Basij members nearby'.
"In his interviews with foreign media outlets, Mr. Hejazi said that the culprit behind Neda's death was arrested on the spot. I saw nothing of the sort. There were only about a dozen people present at the scene. No one was arrested," he said.
To prove his point, Panahi said that new revelations have found that Neda was in fact shot not in the chest, but in the back.
Panahi is not the first to dismiss Hejazi's account of Neda's death. Earlier in June, the man who drove Neda to hospital had also said that there were no Basij members around at the time.
Iranian security forces have dismissed the reports out of hand, asserting that they did not open fire on protestors during the sporadic unrest.
While Media outlets in the West blame Neda's death on Iranian security forces, new revelations show that she was murdered by a small caliber pistol-- a weapon that is not used by Iranian security forces.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has asked Judiciary chief Ayatollah Hashemi-Shahroudi to conduct a through investigation into the incident.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/30/2009 00:00 ||
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Lebanon accused Israel of trying to preempt an investigation into a recent explosion in a building containing weapons and ammunition by blaming Hezbollah for storing the arms cache in violation of a UN resolution.
In letters to the Security Council and Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon circulated Monday, Lebanon's charge d'affaires Caroline Ziade said the Lebanese Army has concluded that the weapons and munitions were left over from the 34-day war between Hezbollah and Israel in the summer of 2006. That's because they included 100mm Israeli tank shells with Hebrew writing and ammunition for 130mm artillery, which Hezbollah does not possess but which was used by a Lebanese militia that collaborated with Israel prior to its withdrawal from southern Lebanon in 2000, she said.
All weapons and munitions at the site were also "of types used during the July 2006 war." Ziade said Israel's allegation that Hezbollah was putting civilians at risk by storing weapons in residential areas "is intended to justify intentional targeting of Lebanese civilians by Israel in the future." She said a joint investigation by the Lebanese army and the UN peacekeeping force known as UNIFIL began two days after the July 14 explosion in the village of Khirbat Silm in southern Lebanon because explosives experts from the two bodies determined the site was not safe to approach the following day.
"That refutes false Israeli allegations that the Lebanese Army deliberately delayed the deployment of UNIFIL at the explosion site and the start of the investigation," she said. Lebanese Army officers in the investigating commission determined that the building where the explosion took place contained a variety of munitions and weapons "and that the cause of the explosion had been a fire that broke out in the unfinished non-residential building," Ziade said.
"In view of the close cooperation between the Lebanese Army and UNIFIL in investigating the cause of the explosion, Israel has attempted to pre-empt the results of the investigation by leveling accusations of arms smuggling in the force's area of operations south of the Litani River," she said. "Those accusations are false and a blatant attempt to interfere with the investigation in order to influence its conclusions," she said.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is mulling seeking the re-activation of an armistice commission with Lebanon in order to talk to its northern neigh our with which it remains technically at war, a report said on Wednesday.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/30/2009 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.
ROME -- Italy will be looking for an exit strategy from Afghanistan after the presidential election there next month, Premier Silvio Berlusconi said in the first suggestion of a possible pullout of Italian troops.
He claimed foreign soldiers weren't interested in helping Afghan citizens, but instead were trying to "poisoning our faith" and create artificial divisions pitting Afghan against Afghan.
[The News (Pak)] Speakers at a daylong dialogue here on Wednesday expressed concern over the humanitarian crisis in the Kurram Agency and termed the government, the neighbouring countries and religious fanaticism responsible for the strife.
