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Dronezap kills several in Pakistan
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 1: WoT Operations
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Page 6: Politix
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12 00:00 Cleretch Scourge of the Nebraskans3551 [3]
Good morning
Posted by: Fred || 05/13/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Happy Birthday/Daily Gam Shot

Senta Berger aka Trudi in "The Victors" aka Serena in "The Spy with My Face" aka Inge Lindt in "The Quiller Memorandum" aka Magda Simon in "Cast a Giant Shadow" aka Francesca Madeiros in "The Ambushers" aka Eva in "Cross of Iron" (age 70)


Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 05/13/2011 0:32 Comments || Top||

#2  I am always amazed at how few of these movies I recognize. Zero for six in this list, for example.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike || 05/13/2011 6:38 Comments || Top||

#3  Interesting. She looks quite youthful, in her 20's, but the "look" - the haircut and the clothing - is distinctly non-1960's. More like mid 1970's onward.

Wonder when the pic was taken.
Posted by: no mo uro || 05/13/2011 8:08 Comments || Top||

#4  interesting fact: that tower was three stories shorter before that pose
Posted by: Frank G || 05/13/2011 8:45 Comments || Top||

#5  Whiskey Mike

O.F.s might remember these from the sixties.

The Victors
The Spy with My Face
The Quiller Memorandum
Cast a Giant Shadow
The Ambushers
Cross of Iron
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 05/13/2011 9:48 Comments || Top||

#6  Senta Berger is 70. Get out of town! Ageless to me.
Posted by: JohnQC || 05/13/2011 12:35 Comments || Top||

#7  I saw Cross of Iron. Almost as good as the book.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 05/13/2011 14:10 Comments || Top||

#8  A Matt Helm movie !!!
Wikipedia on Matt Helm
Matt Helm is a fictional character created by author Donald Hamilton. He is a U.S. government counter-agent—a man whose primary job is to kill or nullify enemy agents—not a spy or secret agent in the ordinary sense of the term as used in spy thrillers.
Posted by: Water Modem || 05/13/2011 17:33 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
Cameron: begin troop withdrawal from Afghanistan now
Following the killing of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan, the Prime Minister is increasingly determined to start bringing the Afghan mission to an end. He has told defence chiefs he wants to start the withdrawal this summer, as the US begins to reduce its troop numbers.

But British commanders have warned David Cameron that an early exit could jeopardise the counter-insurgency mission, allowing the Taliban to regain territory and popular support. As a compromise, defence chiefs have reluctantly drawn up plans to withdraw 450 of Britain's 10,000 troops from Afghanistan. Mr Cameron wants to agree their withdrawal with Barack Obama when he visits London later this month.

The British troops could leave Afghanistan as soon as July, when the American withdrawal begins.
Hard to blame the Brits: they're stretched thin (that's another subject), and they see Obama ready to bug out. Why should they be left holding the bag? Looks like it'll be a race for the exits...
But Whitehall sources said that defence chiefs, led by Gen Sir David Richards, the Chief of the Defence Staff, are still resisting Mr Cameron's calls to reduce the size of the current deployment. The objections are expected to mean that no combat troops are withdrawn this year. Instead, talks in Whitehall are focusing on identifying "fat that can be trimmed" from the British deployment, such as cooks and administrative clerks who could leave this year without affecting the central mission.
It's just that for the duration the fighting troops won't be fed or paid. So that's ok.
Those withdrawn are expected mostly to be non-combat personnel assigned to support roles at Camp Bastion, the main British base in Helmand. Personnel from the RAF Regiment based at the camp could also leave.

It is understood that the Ministry of Defence had hoped to keep the summer troop withdrawal down to around 200. But Mr Cameron and his officials put pressure on defence chiefs to go further.

One senior Whitehall official said: "There is a very active conversation going on. On the one side there is the military concern about force density and continuing the mission, and on the other side is the PM's political imperative for some sort of announcement on draw-down."

Mr Cameron has already said that Britain's combat mission in Afghanistan must end by 2014, in time for the next general election.

A government source said that the killing of bin Laden had increased Mr Cameron's "sense of urgency" about ending the Afghan mission.

"The bottom line is he wants out, and soon. And at the end of the day, he's the Prime Minister, so he'll get what he wants," said the source. "The worry is he's being driven by politics not strategy."

British troops have been fighting in Afghanistan since 2001 and 364 have died. Western commanders say they are just starting to make progress against the Taliban.

Signalling doubts about an early exit, Gen Richards yesterday told the Commons defence committee that the operation should be given more time before decisions are taken on a withdrawal. He said: "At my level, we are very clear that the strategy is sound and we must give it the opportunity to succeed."

In evidence to the committee, the heads of all three Armed Services admitted that their forces were "stretched" and "running hot" fighting wars in Afghanistan and Libya.

An MoD spokesman said: "President Karzai announced in March that the first phase of security transition in Afghanistan has started. This begins the process of a gradual transition which will be completed across the country by the end of 2014.

"As the Prime Minister, Defence Secretary, and Chief of Defence Staff have said, troop reductions maybe possible in 2011 but no decisions have yet been taken. UK forces will no longer be in a combat role or in the present numbers in Afghanistan by 2015."
Posted by: Steve White || 05/13/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The A'stan mission was never explicitly defined; the closest thing to a definition was 'get Binny.' He's been got. So re-define the mission or get out. Is it realistic to define it as 'build a free and prosperous A'stan?' Or even as 'eliminate the Taliban and government corruption?' I think not. Define it as 'monitor for and control AQ activity' and establish staff and operating plan for THAT mission, and it might make sense to stay in A'stan. Need to keep those drone-zaps coming (and going to Pakistan.)
Posted by: Glenmore || 05/13/2011 8:01 Comments || Top||

#2  Yep. The fig leaf for the NATO 'allies' was to get Bennie in accordance with the 'an attack on one is an attack on all' premise of the charter. Bennie's dead now, the rationale is completed. Of course that 'simplistic' response is just the type they condemned the Americans for when they went home in 1919.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 05/13/2011 12:31 Comments || Top||

#3  The reality is that it would take at least 50+ years of sustained footprint to initiate any real change in that country. We would go broke trying to do that. We need to get out. Bin Laden's death is a great excuse. Stupid to have any more young men die for that shithole.
Posted by: remoteman || 05/13/2011 17:59 Comments || Top||

#4  PM CAMERON

versus

* DEFENCE/PK/FORUMS > US TO WITHDRAW 70,000 TROOPS FROM AFGHANISTAN IN THREE YEARS [circa by 2014 handover to Afghan Govt].

Mainly Combat Support troops + units - Grunts + espec SPECOPS to be last to leave.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 05/13/2011 22:40 Comments || Top||


Afghan police: Taliban attack northern village
[Asharq al-Awsat] About 100 Taliban fighters on cycle of violences attacked a northern Afghan village that was working to join the government-sponsored local police program against the insurgency, killing one villager, police said Wednesday. An ensuing battle also left 17 Islamic fascisti dead.

The Tuesday evening attack sparked a shootout that raged intensely for two hours and then continued with sporadic shooting until just before dawn on Wednesday, said Abdul Aziz Ghyrat, the police chief for Jawzjan province.

"They targeted Abduraman village. The people there planned to join the local police and the Taliban had heard about this plan," Ghyrat said.

The Afghan Local Police, or ALP, is a controversial new program that encourages villages to select a group of local men to be trained and equipped by the Afghan government to fight the Taliban. Its American and Afghan backers argue that the force is needed to defend areas that are under threat from the Taliban but don't have a strong formal police presence.

Critics, however, say the program essentially funds private militias.

The villagers in Abduraman fought the attackers themselves until reinforcements arrived in the form of Afghan police, army and NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the style of the American pants...
air support, Ghyrat said.

At the end of the fighting, one villager and 17 Islamic fascisti were dead, he said. Among the dead Islamic fascisti was a local Taliban capo who had planned bombings and attacks in the region, he added.

Elsewhere, calm returned Wednesday to an area of Nuristan province in eastern Afghanistan where some 400 Orcs and similar vermin attacked police outposts a day earlier.

Mohammed Zareen, a front man for the Nuristan government, said violence ended late Tuesday after police sent 150 reinforcements to the area. He said that the Islamic fascisti had fired down from the mountains with rockets, mortars and heavy machine guns.

"It's not like a face to face gunbattle. They occupied some mountaintops and used heavy weapons," Zareen explained. He said four Islamic fascisti had been killed in Tuesday's firefight, but no coppers.

Meanwhile,
...back at the the conspirators' cleverly concealed hideout the long-awaited message arrived. They quickly got to work with their decoder rings...
NATO said a bomb killed a coalition service member in eastern Afghanistan on Tuesday. The military alliance did not provide further details on the dear departed, in line with a policy of waiting for national authorities to release the information.
Posted by: Fred || 05/13/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Taliban

#1  Doesn't sound like the Taliban sent their A-team to this battle. Or else their A-teams are getting pretty poor.
Posted by: Glenmore || 05/13/2011 8:05 Comments || Top||


Africa Horn
Fighting kills over 30 in north Somalia
[Iran Press TV] Heavy festivities between government troops and gunnies have killed at least 30 people in the autonomous region of Puntland in northeastern Somalia.

Gunmen loyal to beturbanned goon leader Sheikh Mohamed Atom attacked Puntland soldiers on Wednesday evening in Gal Gala town, located 40 kilometers (25 miles) southwest of the capital Bossaso, a Press TV correspondent reported.

Clashes broke out after the troops responded with heavy fire.

Heavy crackling of machine gun fire and artillery barrages could be heard inside the town and its suburbs. Clashes also left at least 89 people injured.

Gal Gala had initially fallen into the hands of heavily-armed beturbanned goons, but they were later repulsed.

Atom is believed to be a key supplier of arms to the al-Shabaab
... Harakat ash-Shabaab al-Mujahidin aka the Mujahideen Youth Movement. It was originally the youth movement of the Islamic Courts, now pretty much all of what's left of it. They are aligned with al-Qaeda but operate more like the Afghan or Pakistani Taliban. The organization's current leader is Ibrahim Haji Jama Mee'aad, also known as Ibrahim al-Afghani. Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, a Kenyan al-Qaeda member, is considered the group's military leader...
group that controls much of the rest of Somalia.

Last year, Puntland government forces launched several raids against Atom's gunnies in the remote mountainous Gal Gala town.

In January, Puntland's authorities announced that they had broken with the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) based in Mogadishu.

The measure was taken after Mogadishu government issued a statement saying that the TFG "does not represent Puntland in international forums" and that the United Nations
...aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society...
Political Office for Somalia should "reconsider its position and support for the TFG at the expense of other Somali stakeholders."

Boilerplate follows...
Somalia has not had a functioning government
since 1991, when warlords overthrew former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.
Posted by: Fred || 05/13/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Shabaab


Africa North
Gaddafi in place where NATO 'cannot reach'
Interesting phrase. Might mean he is dead. Article suggests he was wounded in NATO strike.
Posted by: phil_b || 05/13/2011 20:55 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Great! Gaddafi will get to spend some time with Osama, Saddam, and friends.

Posted by: CincinnatusChili || 05/13/2011 21:39 Comments || Top||


Nato air strikes hit Gaddafi compound in Tripoli
[Emirates 24/7] NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the style of the American pants...
air strikes hit Muammar Qadaffy's compound on Thursday, hours after the Libyan leader was shown on television for the first time since another aerial attack killed his son nearly two weeks ago.

Libyan officials who showed news hounds around the scene of the air strike, at Qadaffy's Bab Al Aziziyah compound, said three people had been killed and 25 maimed.

The corner of a two-storey building was blown away, leaving fragments of concrete on the street below. Deep craters were left in two other locations around the compound, which has been targeted several times since NATO began its campaign.

Government front man Mussa Ibrahim said the strikes hit near a spot where dozens of Libyans come every night, some with families, to shout slogans in support of Qadaffy. He denied the compound contained any military facilities.

"The NATO alliance is completely bereft of morality," Ibrahim said.

"No one has the right to say to the people of Libya move away from the cities so we can bombard you."

"This is our country. We are proud of it. We will continue to be a fighting nation," he told news hounds.

An official at NATO headquarters said the target it hit overnight was a large command and control bunker complex.

"These locations were known to be command and control facilities engaged in coordinating attacks against civilian populations in Libya," said the official.

"While the possibility of collateral damage will always exist, we go to great lengths to reduce such possibilities."

Earlier, Qadaffy had drawn a line under nearly two weeks of speculation over his fate when Libyan television showed him meeting officials in a Tripoli hotel.

The Libyan leader had not been seen in public since an April 30 strike killed his youngest son and three grandchildren. He made his appearance on Wednesday in trademark brown robe, dark sunglasses and black hat. Qadaffy was shown greeting a group of tribal leaders who support him.

"You will be victorious," an old man told Qadaffy.
Posted by: Fred || 05/13/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


NATO strikes on Gaddafi compound kill 6
[Iran Press TV] At least six people have been killed and 10 others maimed after NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the style of the American pants...
Arclight airstrikes struck headquarters of embattled Libyan ruler Muammar Qadaffy in Tripoli.

Explosions roared across the Libyan capital early on Thursday as missiles landed in Bab al-Aziziya compound. It was not immediately known which of the compound's buildings were targeted, AFP reported.

"There were three dead here and three dead in another place in addition to 10 others maimed," an unnamed government official said as he was pointing to scattered sandbags next to a crater in the ground in a street of Bab al-Aziziya compound.

NATO Arclight airstrikes came hours after Libyan state TV showed a footage of Qadaffy meeting with officials in Tripoli. His appearance was the first since his son was killed nearly two weeks ago.

Qadaffy's youngest son, Saif al-Arab Qadaffy, and three of his grandchildren were killed in a NATO aerial strike on April 30 in what the government labeled as a direct attempt to assassinate the Libyan ruler.

The video, which was aired late on Wednesday, showed Qadaffy in a meeting with a group of Libyan tribal leaders from the eastern part of the country in a Tripoli hotel. The footage did not specify the date of the meeting and was only a few minutes long.

"We tell the world those are the representatives of the Libyan tribes," Qadaffy said in the meeting, as he pointed to the dignitaries and then introduced some of them. The footage also showed an old man telling Qadaffy, "You will be victorious."

Earlier on Wednesday, Libyan revolutionary forces seized control of the airport in the western city of Misratah after heavy fighting
... as opposed to the more usual light or sporadic fighting...
with pro-Qadaffy forces.

Misratah has been under siege by pro-Qadaffy forces for nearly two months with regime forces repeatedly bombing and shelling the city.

Misratah has a population of more than half a million, many of whom are still grappling with shortages of food, water and medical supplies.

The US and NATO have unleashed a punishing UN-mandated offensive against Qadaffy to force him to cede power, but the Libyan ruler has shown scant signs of a willingness to abandon his 41-year-old reign.
Posted by: Fred || 05/13/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Geography thwarts Qaddafi on Libya's western front
[Arab News] Col. Tarek Zanbou stood high above the desert plains where Libya meets Tunisia, and explained how his rebels happen to hold the Western Mountains. He was brief.

"The geography is with us," he said, in English honed at Durham University in the northeast of England.

With their planes grounded by NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the style of the American pants...
, it is hard to imagine how forces loyal to Muammar Qadaffy can expect to retake the chain of hardscrabble towns that sit atop the Western Mountains, on a vast, bleak plateau of sand and scrubland.

Ill-equipped and poorly-trained, the rebels hold a single mountain-top road that runs about 200 km (125 miles) from the Tunisian border to just beyond the town of Zintan, some 150 km short of the capital, Tripoli.

Crucially, they seized the border crossing last month, opening a vital artery for food, fuel and medical supplies.

Their families had already decamped across the frontier, to live in Tunisian homes or in camps under the blistering North African sun.

Only the men remain, most of them armed and waiting for Qadaffy to fall.

"Now, we are just defending," said 43-year-old Zanbou, who said he served as an intelligence officer in Qadaffy's army based in Tripoli. "If we get weapons, we can push them (pro-Qadaffy forces) to Tripoli. But now we are in a defensive situation."

The sound of rebel gunfire ricocheted between the mountains. "We are sending them a message that we have everything," he said, "when in reality we have nothing."

With good reason, Zanbou's ambitions are modest. In Kabaw, some 230 km southwest of Tripoli, Zanbou's band of men is hardly the most formidable.

At training on Wednesday, after chanting "We're coming, Muammar!" most struggled to strip and reassemble their old, rattling Kalashnikov rifles.

In Zintan, they have a few tanks, but lack the expertise to use them effectively, while some of the anti-aircraft guns mounted on pick-ups appear to be decades old.

They lost six men on Wednesday, including a 17-year-old, when an attempt to block a road used by loyalist forces turned into a shooting match with villagers seen as supporting Qadaffy.
Posted by: Fred || 05/13/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Arabia
Security forces target Bahrain medics
[Al Jazeera] An Al Jizz investigation has found evidence that Bahrain's security forces are torturing medical workers to force criminal confessions.

Since pro-democracy protests erupted in the Gulf kingdom in February, doctors and nurses have been targeted, with hundreds facing arrest, Charles Stratford reports in this Al Jizz exclusive.

The government of Bahrain deployed security forces onto the streets on March 14
Those are the good guys, insofar as Leb has good guys...
in an attempt to quell more than four weeks of protests.

Medics working to save the lives of hundreds of maimed demonstrators were among those threatened and placed in durance vile.

Forty-seven health workers, 24 doctors and 23 nurses have been charged since the protests began, while 150 more are reportedly under investigation by the government.

Some medics reported being taken from their homes by armed masked men.

"We were blindfolded for about 10 hours. Only at the time when [we] were videotaped did they take the blindfolds off," one medic told Al Jizz's Stratford.

"When we started to talk, if they didn't like the things that we were saying they stopped us and told us again that we should say this this and this."

The health workers now face trial on charges that include inciting hatred against the Bahraini government.

"Those people who interfered with the accessibility of the hospital to the population of Bahrain are the guys who are responsible for a criminal act and disobedience of the civil service rules of the government of Bahrain," Mohamed Amin Alawadi, the chief of medical staff at Salmaniya medical complex, told Al Jizz in response to claims the medical staff were targeted because they treated Shia protesters.

Sabah al-Mukhtar, from the Arab Lawyers Association, told Al Jizz: "There is a presumption that the judiciary is independent but if the legislation ties the hand of the judiciary in this case the judiciary cannot do very much."

"I think the judiciary in Bahrain will be just as bad as the other third world countries generally speaking," he said.

Al Jizz has been trying to contact the Bahraini government for response to the latest allegations but has heard nothing from the officials so far.

Earlier, Bahraini officials denied an Al Jizz report that police had carried out raids on girls' schools, detaining them and beating them, during its crackdown against pro-democracy protesters.

"The allegations made by Al Jizz English are totally baseless and without credibility," sources quoted by the Bahraini news agency said.

Bahraini authorities were responding to the first exclusive report by Charles Stratford, where secret filming by our correspondent revealed shocking evidence of the state's brutal crackdown on dissent.
Posted by: Fred || 05/13/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  TOPIX > EXPERTS: POST-1979 BAHRAIN GOVT. RESTRICTIONS AGZ IRANIANS [+ Shias] LED TO UNREST, in 2011.

Bahrain Royal Family's fear of spread of 1979 Iran revolutionary influence to local Shias + domestic economy.

* ION PEOPLE'S DAILY FORUM > QATAR LEAVES YEMEN SOLUTION, i.e. rejects GCC Plan for same.

and

* TOPIX > QATAR REJECTION OF YEMEN PEACE PLAN THREATENS MEMBERSHIP.

FUTURE US-BASE-TOO-FAR-QATAR = "American Dunkirk" in Iran, ala US-Iran War???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 05/13/2011 22:52 Comments || Top||


2 Dead in Spreading Violence in Yemen
[Yemen Post] At least two antigovernment protesters were killed and a dozen others injured when the security forces fired live bullets at thousands of people demanding an immediate ouster of the regime in Yemen's province of Baidha'a.

Witnesses said that at the protest, which coincided with the escalating protests faced with deadly crackdown in many cities, the people rolled their eyes, jumped up and down, and hollered poorly rhymed slogans real loud condemning the killing of the protesters and calling for the resignation of President-for-Life Saleh
... exemplifying the Arab's propensity to combine brutality with incompetence...
and opening trials for the officials responsible for crimes including the protester killings.

The demonstrators also tried to break into the provincial headquarters of the ruling party, the witnesses said, a day after at least 19 had been killed and thousands injured in some cities including the capital Sana'a.

Recently, the youth-led protesters at the month-long street sit-ins squares have started an escalation plan calling for marches on the presidential palaces across Yemen, at a time when the political parties are trading accusations over derailing the GCC West-backed power transition proposal.

The ruling and opposition parties officially accepted the GCC initiative and both sides should have finalized it last month.

Apart from the topic, independent sources said that festivities started between the tribes and the elite republican guard in Al-Haima Al-Kharigeyah, but the reason was not clear.
Posted by: Fred || 05/13/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Caribbean-Latin America
Witnesses Report Shootout in Old Guerrero - Helicopter Firing Rockets
Witnesses report a major gun battle across Falcon Lake from Zapata.

Zapata County Sheriff Sigifredo Gonzales says that his office began getting phone calls from people on the lake around 5:30 Thursday evening. One boater reports seeing a Mexican military helicopter firing missiles into Old Guerero.

Sheriff Gonzales said the Mexican military has been concentrating on the area because it's a stronghold for the Zetas, but they have not confirmed the incident on Thursday.

"This information about the missiles came from a citizen who reported it to me, that between 20 to 24 missiles were fired from a helicopter. It's not confirmed; it's just given to us by a witness." said Zapata County Sheriff Sigifredo Gonzalez.

Old Guerrero is regarded as a longtime stronghold for the Zeta Cartel. The town is on the Mexican side of Falcon Lake along the Arroyo Salado.

There were no reports of any Americans being injured in the incident.

The Zapata County Sheriff's Office is now waiting on Mexican officials for details on what exactly happened Thursday in Old Guerrero.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 05/13/2011 17:25 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Well, they are in the middle of a civil war. It's about time Mexico started taking it seriously.
Posted by: Pollyandrew || 05/13/2011 18:21 Comments || Top||

#2  14:00 local time: ZAPATA COUNTY – Zapata County Sheriff Sigifredo Gonzalez says the Mexican navy told him they conducted an operation near Old Guerrero on the Mexican side of Falcon Lake on Thursday, but he says the navy wouldn't give any details.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 05/13/2011 18:52 Comments || Top||

#3  BARNEY RUBBLE > "[Gee], IT MUST BE SERIOUS"???

Must be iff the Mexi Govt-Policia need Mil Helos wid AGMS to combat Civilian Cartels.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 05/13/2011 20:16 Comments || Top||

#4  Yep.
They're in deep Barney.
Rubble.
Trouble.
Posted by: Pollyandrew || 05/13/2011 22:11 Comments || Top||


Europe
Irish Muslim arrested in Dublin over Obama threats
An Apee article posted on myway.com
Posted by: Delphi || 05/13/2011 12:13 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Muslim Radicals in the UK continue to vent post-Wedding rants = criticisms agz the Royals.

* PEOPLE'S DAILY FORUM > DEATH THREATS AGZ UK MUSLIM WOMEN WHO REFUSE TO WEAR THE VEIL.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 05/13/2011 22:35 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
US synagogue 'not legitimate terror case'
THE glaring absence of federal authorities at this week's announcement of the arrests of two men accused of plotting to attack a New York City synagogue is raising questions about the strength of the case against them and how severe the threat was.
The terrorism arrests were announced with fanfare in City Hall and a dramatic photo of a daylight takedown by the New York Police Department.

Only one thing was missing: the FBI.

A law enforcement official said the FBI backed away from the investigation because it concluded it wasn't a legitimate terrorism case. The official wasn't authorised to speak publicly about the case and spoke today on condition of anonymity. NYPD spokesman Paul Browne says the doubts are unwarranted.
Posted by: phil_b || 05/13/2011 19:58 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  oh, i am sure the FBI was chomping on the bit to declare that this was "not terror related" but the NYPD decided to skip that announcement and rely on the facts instead.
Posted by: abu do you love || 05/13/2011 20:02 Comments || Top||

#2  THE glaring absence of federal authorities at this week's announcement of the arrests of two men accused of plotting to attack a New York City synagogue is raising questions about the strength of the case against them and how severe the threat was.

Actually, it's a sign that the NYPD has finally figured out that a reliance on the Federal government to prevent terrorist attacks leads to things like 9/11.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 05/13/2011 22:18 Comments || Top||


Obama Admin Blast: Tightening Security Around Seal Team 6 and Families
The US is to tighten security around the elite military unit that killed Osama Bin Laden, US Defence Secretary Robert Gates has said. Mr Gates revealed that the US Navy Seal team had expressed concerns over their safety and that of their families.
I am sure in a secret meeting, but now it is all over the world wide web. And with all the influx of islamists Obama is letting in, and no border security, all the jihadists have to do now is go to their front doors.
Al-Qaeda has vowed to avenge the death of its leader in the helicopter-borne raid on his compound in Abbottabad, northern Pakistan.

Mr Gates said threats against US forces had increased since Bin Laden's death.

The defence secretary, addressing US marines at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, said he had met the Seal team last week and they raised the issue of their security "and particularly with respect to their families".
If the families of our heros have not entered the jihadist minds as a target, thanks to Gates, they are thinking about it now.
Posted by: Elmavinter Gleack3621 || 05/13/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I sense the opportunity to set a honey trap here.
Posted by: gorb || 05/13/2011 0:20 Comments || Top||

#2  The SEALs can personally thank Joe "VP Cheney's secret bunker is under the Naval Observatory" Biden.
Posted by: Zebulon Thranter9685 || 05/13/2011 1:42 Comments || Top||

#3  Foot stomp x 4, and please awaken those snoozing in the last row:

Gates could care less about the military. The military is a tool, a cover, to be used at his discretion and for his exploitation. The immediate release of information concerning the unit(s) involved in the operation, both ground and air (before they were even debriefed or had an opportunity to shower) provides clear and present evidence of this. Note the Administration extremis force wizzard Leon Panetta, the operation's all-knowing master planner and handler. Gates and Panetta are first and foremost KLINGONS!

Operations of this type should remain CLASSIFIED and compartmented from start to finish, and it is by no means finished. They and the brave souls involved should not be used as part of a political media campaign. Photos from the White House situation room, news release cock-ups and retractions, displays of false bravado and celebration. All a sickening media circus which has the potential to produce unwelcomed dividends for men and women in uniform and their families.

Members of Congress are having to make special appointments with Panetta's agency, then be called forth to the Klingon Temple for a special viewing of the view Osama photographs. Tell me please, whom do YOU feel wields the power?



Posted by: Besoeker || 05/13/2011 3:21 Comments || Top||

#4  You can tell that this is b.s., simply because if there was any real concern, they and their families would be quietly shipped out on TDY to places where they wouldn't be noticed, definitely out of CONUS.

The US has forces deployed in over 100 countries, many of which have family with them. So put one SEAL in an AF uniform, with his family in Seoul; a couple bachelors in a BOQ in Germany, running the post O Club; assign another and his family to the US embassy annex in Scotland, etc.

It is not hard at all to do "friendly disappearances", and is part of their job description.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 05/13/2011 9:45 Comments || Top||

#5  Amazing 1 (one) day secret!

Mr Gates said details of the raid had leaked despite the intention by officials to keep them secret.

"Frankly a week ago Sunday, in the [White House] situation room, we all agreed that we would not release any operational details from the effort to take out Bin Laden," he said.

"That all fell apart on Monday, the next day."
Posted by: Willy || 05/13/2011 10:05 Comments || Top||

#6  The whole thing was desperate political theatre.
Posted by: gorb || 05/13/2011 10:18 Comments || Top||

#7  Press release:

INFIL bird has "mechanical trouble" had to be destroyed with the thermite grenade... except for the tail rotor which rests adjacent the compound wall.

Alternate scenario:

All birds made it fine to the INFIL site without a hint of mechanical trouble. One of the lead birds flared for landing too early and too low, stuck the tail boom on the compound wall, and had to be destoyed with a thermite grenade.


"What do you think we are...stupid?"
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/13/2011 10:33 Comments || Top||

#8  I would have preferred President Ronald Reagan's approach in how to discuss this mission, compared to President Obama.

These young Americans sent a message to terrorists everywhere ... You can run but you can't hide.
(On US pilots who captured four terrorists)
- Ronald Reagan


Say as little as possible, to reduce the chance that your comments could be used by those, who wish to do us harm. Sadly, I have to say, it's too late now.
Posted by: Delphi || 05/13/2011 12:22 Comments || Top||

#9  Amen Delphi.

Also, smells like:

a. No one in the administration ever thought the missionj would gain approval and actually be executed.

b. Therefore no thought given to post event security, civilian media releases, or effective Information Operations planning.

c. Amateurs teaching amateurs how to become amateurs. If you fail to plan, you plan must surely be to fail.
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/13/2011 12:32 Comments || Top||

#10  I have heard it described, that what we are seeing now, is what happens when you let the B Team players take the lead, instead of placing the best of your A Team instead. Amateurs!
Posted by: Delphi || 05/13/2011 12:40 Comments || Top||

#11  Not knowing what to do and having no firm plan for the post event, one would think they might huddle and arrive at logical, well thought out COA's based on security and other reasonable post-event assumptions.

No, not even! Throwing common sense and reason to the wind, they immediately launched into a media circus ained at praising and lifting up on shoulders The One!
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/13/2011 12:51 Comments || Top||

#12  Gates could care less about the military. The military is a tool, a cover, to be used at his discretion and for his exploitation.

Gates is a career bureaucrat with a track record, and on his way out. Change that to "the President's discretion" and you might, might be halfway accurate.

No one in the administration ever thought the missionj would gain approval and actually be executed.

If the rumors are to be believed, it was pretty much a 'go' after the White House political handlers had been dealt with.

Therefore no thought given to post event security, civilian media releases, or effective Information Operations planning.

More like the political wing of the White House, having been either bypassed or trumped on the decision, saw an opportunity to exploit the situation. Senate committees were briefed and from there it was leaked down the political chain almost immediately.

It's the old saying of "success has many fathers, but failure is an orphan". Had the operation failed, the blame would have been laid on both Gates and Panetta, the NSC, and to a lesser extent, the SecState. I suspect an immediate presidential foreign trip would've been announced as well.
Posted by: Pappy || 05/13/2011 12:54 Comments || Top||

#13  "I suspect an immediate presidential foreign trip would've been announced as well."
Followed by another vacation - don't forget the vacation, Pappy.
Posted by: Sgt. Mom || 05/13/2011 13:10 Comments || Top||

#14  Your assessment could very well be accurate, but in the end, it matters little because the circus still came to town. The Information Operations advantage was pissed away, as was operational security (units, unit members, families, potential future similar missions etc). What possible benefit could be harvested from an already successful operation, by informing the world of "the treasure trove" of document exploitation materials recovered in the raid? A classic cock-up of the first order all for the benefit of one man and his communist cadre.
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/13/2011 13:12 Comments || Top||

#15  When I coached football I told my running backs to "act like you've been there before" when they score a touchdown.

The Obambi administration is not acting like they've been there before. It's as if they have never done anything and something worked.

It is just pathetic to see the pushing and shoving of all of the administration types fighting over the microphone and the needy little nebishes in the administration trying to get something by leaking anything and everything to the press.

I don't care whose administration this is, the freaking leaks and blown intell sources has to stop now. Someone needs to be drawn and quartered about leaking info and maybe it will stop.

The nitwits in the CIA that leaked all of those things to the NYT should be in jail as should the reporters and editors who printed the information that protracted the search for OBL.
Posted by: Bill Clinton || 05/13/2011 13:21 Comments || Top||

#16  What possible benefit could be harvested from an already successful operation, by informing the world of "the treasure trove" of document exploitation materials recovered in the raid?

Given this bunch, I'd say "never attribute to incompetence what can be attributed to naked political ambition".

At least they haven't left the bodies lying dead in a park.
Posted by: Pappy || 05/13/2011 13:23 Comments || Top||

#17  I think BHO's handlers are asking themselves two questions:

1- How can we get a couple of the SEALs to campaign with BHO?

2- What happens if one of the SEALs shows up on a stage with Sarah Palin? (In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if BHO's "oppo research" team has put together a little file on each of the SEALs, just in case.)

At the rate security is falling apart on this, I doubt the names of the team will stay out of the press for more than another 30 days. There's just too much glory here.

Pardon my cynicism.
Posted by: Matt || 05/13/2011 14:09 Comments || Top||

#18  "Operations of this type should remain CLASSIFIED and compartmented from start to finish, and it is by no means finished."

No one should ever have mentioned anything at all. That includes that little boy man President. You kill OBL and STFU. That way, you garner intel. That way, everyone is safe. That way, every haji on a thumb drive is found and killed.

This is how you know your President is a stupid A-Hole. It's all politics all the time. It's all about him, not the lowly guys who could snap his neck.
He is a clown show in a clown car in an empty suit, eating a fake sandwich which he pretended to steal from a commoner. F-O$AMA
Posted by: newc || 05/13/2011 14:11 Comments || Top||

#19  Comeon guys! What's the big deal?

So what are the lives of a few SEALS and their families against the advance of Obama and the socialist's political goals?

After all, isn't he the ONE?

I find your lack of faith disturbing....

(/sarc)

So put one SEAL in an AF uniform, with his family in Seoul; a couple bachelors in a BOQ in Germany,

Don't forget to employ one as a cook on a Battleship....
Posted by: CrazyFool || 05/13/2011 14:52 Comments || Top||

#20  A Tempest in a glass of water: for Muslims any random Americans (or even Pakistanis) are perfectly acceptable revenge targets. The only danger to the Seals is from useful idiots.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 05/13/2011 15:03 Comments || Top||

#21  Terrorists love soft targets. Real SEALs epitomize the term hard target. The multitudes of newly self-appointed SEAL team 6 "members" (aka as the loudmouth barstool brigade) are a different story.

Hard to know who to root for there.
Posted by: Whenter McCoy5965 || 05/13/2011 15:23 Comments || Top||

#22  Even real battleship cooks can be dangerous.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 05/13/2011 20:42 Comments || Top||

#23  Excellent story Anguper.
Commissioned on 30 June 1973, USS Miller (FF-1091), a Knox-class frigate, was named in honor of Doris Miller.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 05/13/2011 21:27 Comments || Top||


Two 'terrorism' related arrests in New York: reports
[Asia One] Two men have been incarcerated in New York on suspicion of plotting to attack a synagogue, US media reports said Thursday.

The pair were caught in a sting operation discussing plans to buy guns and grenades with the "aspirational" plan to attack a Jewish house of worship, The New York Times
...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize...
quoted unidentified law enforcement officials as saying.

According to the report, the men will be prosecuted by the Manhattan District Attorney's office, rather than federal prosecutors, who usually handle terrorism cases.

A spokeswoman for the DA's office refused to comment but said a statement was expected later.

Reports said the men were of North African descent, but it was not clear whether they were US citizens or not.

New York, which has been targeted by Islamist bombers repeatedly over the last two decades, has been on heightened alert since US commandos killed the late Osama bin Laden
... who no longer has to waste time and energy breathing...
in Pakistain.
More from the Wall Street Journal:
Ahmed Ferhani, a 26-year-old Algerian native, was tossed in the slammer Wednesday by a swarm of police after purchasing three weapons, ammunition and a hand grenade from an undercover detective in Midtown Manhattan, authorities said. Mr. Ferhani had agreed to pay $700 for the cache, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said. Mr. Ferhani's alleged cohort, Mohammed Mehdi Mamdouh, a 20-year-old native of Morocco, was tossed in the slammer moments later, standing not far from Mr. Ferhani's car.

At a news conference Thursday, Mr. Kelly said that just before he was tossed in the slammer, Mr. Ferhani told the detective he wanted more guns, silencers, a box of grenades, bullet-resistant vests and police radios. "Using an expletive, [the suspect said] that he was fed up with the way Mohammedans were being treated around the world: 'They're treating us like dogs,'" Mr. Kelly said.

The arrests stemmed from an investigation that began seven months ago. Police wouldn't say what first drew their attention to Mr. Ferhani. To an undercover detective, he "expressed interest in killing Jews," Mr. Kelly said.

After an arraignment in a crowded Manhattan courtroom Thursday evening, the men were jugged without bail. As prosecutor Margaret Gandy listed the charges and evidence, they shook their heads, as if in disbelief. Mr. Mamdouh mouthed the word, "what?" after Ms. Gandy said the suspects considered disguising themselves as Hasidic Jews to gain entry to a temple.

Mr. Mamdouh's attorney, Steven Fusfeld, said his client, who lives with his family in Whitestone, Queens, denies any involvement in a terror plot. Stephen Pokart, a Legal Aid lawyer defending Mr. Ferhani, also from Whitestone, said his client denied the charges, too.

The arrests mark the first time New York state terrorism
... any action taken by a non-Moslem state that constrains the violent impulses of Moslems or their allies ...
charges, rather than federal, will be used against individuals suspected in a terror plot. If convicted, the men could face life in prison without parole.

Mr. Kelly said that it was decided the office of Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance would handle the case because an unrelated criminal case in that office had touched off the probe.

However,
The wishy-washy However...
a law-enforcement official with knowledge of the case said detectives from the New York Police Department's Intelligence Division brought the case to the Joint Terrorism Task Force, which is comprised of multiple agencies, including the NYPD, but is led by the Department of Justice and the FBI.

JTTF members declined to participate because they were concerned the case wasn't strong enough to win a conviction in federal court, the official said. Since Mr. Kelly's return as police commissioner in 2002 there have been several well-publicized festivities between the FBI and NYPD. Under Mr. Kelly, the NYPD started its own antiterrorism unit.

At the news conference, the police commissioner said Sherlocks found no ties between the men and al Qaeda or other terrorist groups. "We are concerned about lone wolves acting against New York City in the wake of the killing of [Osama] bin Laden," Mr. Bloomberg said.

Mr. Ferhani has been tossed in the slammer at least six times, including for robbery, according to a law-enforcement official. Mr. Kelly said Mr. Ferhani moved from Algeria with his family in 1995. His parents were granted asylum, and he is a permanent resident. However,
The wishy-washy However...
because he failed to appear before an immigration judge to answer questions about his arrests, his case was under review for possible deportation, Mr. Kelly said.

Mr. Mamdouh immigrated to Queens from Casablanca in 1999 with his family. He is a U.S. citizen.
Posted by: Fred || 05/13/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda

#1  According to the report, the men will be prosecuted by the Manhattan District Attorney's office, rather than federal prosecutors, who usually handle terrorism cases.

It sounds more like the same wishy washy approach that the Administration in Washington wanted to use with KSM. Rather then try the KSM in a Military Tribunal, do it in a Civil court as a traditional law violation.

Fortunately, this was nipped in the bud, before it got off the ground. I wonder how many of these lone wolves are out there, that we don't know about? Kudo's to law enforcement for bagging these two.

I wonder what would have happen, if these two were successful, would they have still been tried in a criminal court in N.Y., or would have been immediately passed on to the Federal courts? Or would Janet Napolitano have to rule in on how to handle it.
Posted by: Delphi || 05/13/2011 13:40 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Pakistan bomb attack 'revenge for Bin Laden
The Pakistani Taliban said today it carried out the twin blasts at a Frontier Corps training centre that killed at least 69 people, nearly all of them recruits, to avenge the killing of Osama bin Laden.

The attack is the bloodiest in Pakistan since the US raid that killed the al-Qa'ida chief on 2 May.

Ahsanullah Ahsan, a spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban, told The Associated Press in a phone call that its fighters conducted the attack on the Frontier Constabulary in Shabqadar in retaliation for Bin Laden's death.

A suicide bomber detonated at least one of the blasts at the main gate of the centre for the Frontier Constabulary, a poorly equipped, but front-line force in Pakistan's battle against al-Qa'ida and allied Islamist groups close to the Afghan border.

Like other branches of Pakistan security forces, it has received US funding.

Dozens of people were wounded, said police official Nisar Khan. He said a suicide bomber, a man in his late teens or early 20s, set off one blast.

Many recruits were boarding vehicles to go home for a short break at the end of a recent training session.

A vegetable seller at the site said some recruits were sitting in white minivans and others were loading luggage on top of the vehicles.

"There was a big blast," he said. "I saw smoke, blood and body pieces all around."
Posted by: tipper || 05/13/2011 03:47 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Popcorn.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 05/13/2011 4:54 Comments || Top||

#2  i heard a bbc reporter saying today what surprised him most that the talk in Pakistan is not the shock that OBL was staying in the country for 5+ years but that US were able to carry out an operation without the army knowing!

Says it all about the bastion of Islam!
Posted by: Sliling Grumble1797 || 05/13/2011 9:19 Comments || Top||

#3  I think we should build a high wall around the place, close all of the airports and cut their internet access.

They can feed on each other until it's the last mullah standing.

They are just self destructing.

Imagine, they are so mad at the US that they go out and kill 80 of their own young men...from an organization that obviously knew nothing about the operation to get OBL...recruits at that.

What do the crazy imans say about killing each other? Other moslems, same sect?

Pakistain is committing a Jonestown on a national scale.
Posted by: Bill Clinton || 05/13/2011 9:55 Comments || Top||

#4  Pak public seem more upset re the OBL seals mission and getting away with it unchallenged than the fact OBL was on their soil for many years which does not seem to surprise anyone bar the Pak Government!
Posted by: Paul D || 05/13/2011 10:57 Comments || Top||


Dronezap kills several in Pakistan
At least five people have been killed after a suspected US drone fired two missiles into a vehicle in Pakistain's North Wazoo, local security officials say.

Thursday's raid was the third such attack reported in the tribal district near the Afghan border, which Washington has dubbed the global headquarters of al-Qaeda, since US commandos killed the group's leader, the late Osama bin Laden
... who doesn't live anywhere anymore...
, in a Pak city near Islamabad.

"A US drone fired two missiles on a orcs' vehicle in the Datta Khel area of North Waziristan," one Pak security official told the news agency AFP. "Five faceless myrmidons were killed."

Another local official confirmed the strike and the toll, saying: "The target was a pick-up van."

Intelligence reports from the area said the dead included "foreigners" - a term normally used for Afghan Taliban, Uzbek fighters or al-Qaeda.

On Tuesday, a similar strike killed four people near Angoor Adda village in the neighbouring district of South Waziristan, and last Friday eight suspected fighters were reported killed by US missiles in North Waziristan.

North Waziristan, a stronghold of al-Qaeda and the Taliban, has been subject to frequent missile attacks.

Civilian casualties
Washington does not confirm drone attacks, but its military and the CIA operating in Afghanistan are the only forces that deploy the unmanned aircraft in the region.

The strikes have spread anti-US sentiment in Pakistain, because of the high number of civilian deaths.

A total of 957 Pak non-combatants were killed in American drone attacks in the country in 2010, according to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistain.

The strikes doubled last year, with more than 100 drone strikes killing more than 670 people, according to an AFP tally, and the CIA has said the covert programme severely disrupted al-Qaeda's leadership.

But some experts say the discovery last week of bin Laden living hundreds of kilometres from the tribal area, in the city of Abbottabad two hours' drive from capital, exposes the limits of drone strikes to hit important targets.

US officials are now poring over a trove of intelligence obtained in the May 2 helicopter-borne raid on a suburban compound that killed the al-Qaeda leader, including what is claimed to be a handwritten journal containing his "operational ideas".
Posted by: Fred || 05/13/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Pakistan

#1  A total of 957 Pak civilians were killed in American drone attacks in the country in 2010

You so silly, al-Duranty.
Posted by: Zebulon Thranter9685 || 05/13/2011 1:52 Comments || Top||

#2  Civilains??

How do you identify a civilian when none of the Taliban wear uniforms? Is it because it was a child? Well the kids are blowing themselves up everywhere. A woman? Let's see now, how many female suicide bombers have we had in the last year?
Civilians? I would love to see the definition these thumb suckers use to define a civilian from a terrorist in that region.
Posted by: Bill Clinton || 05/13/2011 10:16 Comments || Top||

#3  simple, a 'civilian' is anyone who's body is not currently carrying a gun that was killed by the 'evil' side.
in p-stan, if US killed em, they are civilians unless you can prove they had a gun.
in libya, if Q-daf killed they is civilians, if rebels killed em, they aint.
in Israel, IDF (or any other jew) kills them they is civilians, if the koranimals are killin, they aint.


i think you see the pattern. i dont have the fancy words of a NYT style guide, but am pretty sure that is how they decide it
Posted by: abu do you love || 05/13/2011 17:31 Comments || Top||


Afghan Taliban free abducted policemen
[Dawn] Three border coppers, who were kidnapped by Afghan Taliban during an attack on a checkpost in Arsoon village about a week ago, were set free by their captors on Wednesday morning.

District Coordination Officer Rahmatullah Wazir told Dawn that he had sent a jirga to Nuristan province of Afghanistan to seek safe release of the kidnapped coppers.

"Afghan Taliban released the three personnel of district border police unconditionally after holding negotiations with jirga members," he claimed. They were handed over to the representatives of district administration on Wednesday morning near Kandao village of Chitral, he added.

It is to be mentioned here, that Taliban attacked Paitasun checkpost in border village Arsoon on the night of May 3 and killed a soldier Abdul Ghafoor.

Three other personnel of border police identified as Mohammad Hassan, Ghaziuddin and Muhibur Rahman were kidnapped along with their arms and taken to Nuristan province of Afghanistan.

Meanwhile,
...back at the the conspirators' cleverly concealed hideout the long-awaited message arrived. They quickly got to work with their decoder rings...

security forces claimed to have incarcerated a would-be jacket wallah, who was entering Darra Adamkhel from Khyber Agency, at Spina Thana checkpost on Wednesday.

Officials said that 12-year-old Shehzad, a resident of Donga Qambarkhel village of Khyber Agency, was coming to Darra Adamkhel from a mountain situated behind the checkpost. He confessed that he was trained for suicide kaboom by Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistain, they added.

The alleged would-be bomber was shifted to Qazi's guesthouse an undisclosed location for further interrogation.

Taliban also fired several rockets at Arakhel residential area in Frontier Region of Kohat. However,
The wishy-washy However...
no loss of life was reported in the incident.

Meanwhile,
...back at the wrecked scow, a single surviver held tightly to the smashed prow...
bomb disposal squad defused an bomb planted at a house in Ustarzai village near Orakzai Agency
... crawling with holy men, home to Darra Adam Khel, the world's largest illegal arms bazaar. 14 distinct tribes of beturbanned primitives inhabit Orakzai agency's 1500 or so square kilometers...
on Wednesday.

Police said that unidentified persons had planted an improvised bomb, filled with liquid and attached to non-electric fuse and cartridges of 12 bore. The device was planted at the house of Zubair Hussain.

The Ustarzai police called the bomb disposal squad, which defused the device safely. They termed it highly dangerous and most modern bomb.

Police started the paperwork but haven't done much else against unidentified persons and launched investigations.

Meanwhile in Nowshera, police foiled a sabotage bid by defusing a five-kilogram heavy bomb, planted on G.T. Road.

According to police, unidentified persons had planted a remote controlled bomb on the road to target school buses. But the bomb was safely defused by police.

Police also launched a search operation in Vatar area of Ismail Khel and incarcerated 31 suspects including Afghan refugees and recovered arms and ammunition from their possession.
Posted by: Fred || 05/13/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Southeast Asia
9-year-old boy beheaded in southern Thailand
WARNING: Graphic image alert!

A video at the link shows the aftermath of the carnage at the home of a family that was butchered by terrorists in Narathiwat province recently.

[h/t Michael Yon's Facebook page]
Posted by: ryuge || 05/13/2011 02:51 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Thank you for the devotion to the cause of reason. Your focus on the extraordinary violence in Mexico and in Thailand among a steadily growing number of places is one of the very few sources available to Americans about the reality of the world in which we live. Despite constant shrill propaganda about war on terror we have not focused our energy or attention on how to respond to a threat that will only grow over the next few decades no matter how many half-assed "wars" we fight, squandering our resources while pandering to the surrender-monkeys who dominate our universities and the press they have educated into imbecility.
Posted by: jono39 || 05/13/2011 10:47 Comments || Top||

#2  You watch this video and it makes one wonder why people in this country get all bent out of shape about showing bin Leaden with holes in his head. Pics of bin Leaden might stand as a warning to jihadists and wannabees.
Posted by: JohnQC || 05/13/2011 12:33 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Syria's Assad reported to have ordered no shooting
Interesting if true. Indicates a power struggle between the Assad clan and the army.
Or a struggle between Bashir and Maher...
(Reuters) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has ordered troops not to fire on pro-democracy demonstrators, a rights campaigner said, ahead of Friday prayers that have become a rallying point for protesters in an eight-week uprising.

Louay Hussein said Assad's adviser Bouthaina Shaaban told him in a phone call on Thursday that "definitive presidential orders have been issued not to shoot demonstrators and whoever violates this bears full responsibility."

Hussein was among four opposition figures who saw Shaaban this month and presented demands that included an end to violent repression of protesters and the introduction of political reform in the country, ruled by the Assad family since 1970.
Posted by: phil_b || 05/13/2011 04:48 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I suspect this just reflects Assad's cowardice, in that he has a great fear of ending up like Saddam. So he is putting out that "It was all Goering's fault--I didn't know nuttin' about them camps!"
Posted by: Anonymoose || 05/13/2011 9:36 Comments || Top||

#2  "Don't shoot em! *wink, wink*"
It's called plausible deniability. Or, in plain English, bullsh*t.
Posted by: Spot || 05/13/2011 10:39 Comments || Top||

#3  Pencil-neck's a figurehead.
Posted by: mojo || 05/13/2011 10:52 Comments || Top||

#4  Why shoot 'em when you can shell 'em with tanks?
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 05/13/2011 12:08 Comments || Top||

#5  This is clearly opposition disinformation. When the regime stops killing its adversaries, it will collapse. The 20th century has seen Islam move towards literalist interpretations of the Koran - what we call fundamentalism. In fundamentalist (Sunni) Muslim eyes, having an Alawite government is worse than being ruled by Jews - Jews are merely people of the book, whereas Alawites are out-and-out heretics, and some Sunnis view Alawites as pagans as well.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 05/13/2011 14:29 Comments || Top||


Terrorist admit to insurgency in Syria
[Iran Press TV] Syria's state television
... and if you can't believe Syria's state television who can you believe?
has aired confessions by an armed terrorist group, pointing to its plans to launch attacks against government forces and institutions.

The confessions bore out assertions by Syrian authorities that armed gangs -- as well as foreign elements -- are behind recent unrests that have claimed the lives of hundreds, including security forces across the country since March.

Safi Yassin, one of the beturbanned goons that are currently in the government's custody, blamed the violence on Salafi sheiks that subscribe to an extremely intolerant interpretation of Islam.

He said they would call for a liberation movement and incite worshippers to topple Syrian President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad's
One of the last of the old-fashioned hereditary iron-fisted fascist dictators. Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor...
government during their Friday prayer sermons.

Yassin said the preachers would call for the establishment of a Salafi state, admitting that people were supplied with weapons and ammunition to attack security and army forces.

Another terrorist member, Ismail al-Bayyasi, charged with vandalism and murder, said that part of the group's plan was to plant mines in key areas.

On Wednesday, at least two military officers were killed and five soldiers injured by armed terrorist groups during Syrian military's anti-terror operations in the Bab Amr district of the western city of Homs.
Posted by: Fred || 05/13/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria

#1  Lovely. Let's support the overthrow of Pencil-neck - because a Salafist state would be oh-so-much better!
Posted by: Glenmore || 05/13/2011 8:16 Comments || Top||

#2  If you hit somebody very hard for a very long time and then stop, they will confess to anything to get you not to start again.

Or you can use actors to make your point and then announce later that they've been executed while people that resemble them enjoy a modest retirement.

Or you can surprise them by killing them, just to make sure.
Posted by: Fred || 05/13/2011 9:24 Comments || Top||


Deaths reported as tanks shell Syrian cities
[Al Jazeera] Nineteen people have reportedly been killed in shelling by tanks in residential areas in Syria as president Bashir al-Assad attempts to crush anti-government protests, defying calls for an end to the brutal crackdown.

Ammar Qurabi, head of the National Organisation for Human Rights in Syria, said 13 people were killed in the southern village of al-Harah on Wednesday.

Tanks also shelled a residential district in Syria's third largest city Homs and at least five people were killed, a rights campaigner in the city said. A sixth person was killed by a sniper shot to the head as he stood in front of his house.

Most were killed in shelling, but gunfire killed several of the victims, Qurabi said.

"Homs is shaking with the sound of kabooms from tank shelling and heavy machine guns in the Bab Amr neighbourhood," Najati Tayara, a human rights
...which are usually open to widely divergent definitions...
campaigner, said.

The official Syrian news agency
... and if you can't believe the Official Syrian News Agency who can you believe?
said one soldier was killed while in "pursuit of armed terrorist gangs".

Reports have also emerged that troops have deployed tanks around the central city of Hama, known for a bloody 1982 revolt which was crushed by government forces.

It is not possible to independently verify information on casualties as Syria bars international media from reporting inside the country.

Rights groups say about 800 people have been killed since protests began in March.

Reports of the latest bloodshed came as the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, urged Syria to halt mass arrests and to heed calls for reform.

Ban said UN humanitarian workers and human rights monitors must be allowed into Deraa, as well as other cities so as to assess the situation and needs of the civilian population.

"I urge president Assad to heed the call of the people for reform and freedom and desist from the mass arrest of peaceful demonstrators, and to co-operate with the human rights monitors," Ban told a news conference in Geneva.

"I am disappointed that the United Nations
...an international organization whose stated aims of facilitating interational security involve making sure that nobody with live ammo is offended unless it's a civilized country...
has not been granted access yet to Deraa and other places," he added.

Fresh sanctions
Assad initially responded to the unrest, the most serious challenge to his 11-year grip on power, with promises of reform. He granted citizenship to stateless Kurds and last month lifted a 48-year state of emergency.

But he also deployed the army to crush dissent, in Deraa, where demonstrations first erupted, and then in other cities, making clear he would not risk losing the tight control his family has held over Syria for the past 41 years.

Activists said security forces used batons to disperse a pro-democracy demonstration by 2,000 students on Wednesday at a university campus in Syria's second largest city, Aleppo.
...For centuries, Aleppo was Greater Syria's largest city and the Ottoman Empire's third, after Constantinople and Cairo. Although relatively close to Damascus in distance, Aleppans regard Damascenes as hicks...

Amid the continuing turmoil, Catherine Ashton, the EU diplomacy chief, said on Wednesday that the bloc would look at fresh sanctions this week against Assad's regime after already honing in on his inner circle.

Asked by members of the European Parliament to explain why Assad's name was not on a list of 13 Syrian officials targeted by European Union sanctions, Ashton said "we started with 13 people who were directly involved" in cracking down on protests.

"We'll look at it again this week," she added.

"I assure you that my intention is to put the maximum political pressure that we can on Syria."

Speaking to the New York Times,
...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize...
a powerful cousin of the president said the Assad family was not going to capitulate.

"We will sit here. We call it a fight until the end... They should know when we suffer, we will not suffer alone," Rami Makhlouf, one of the 13 people targeted by additional sanctions, told the newspaper.

Makhlouf, a tycoon in his early 40s who owns several monopolies, and his brother, a secret police chief, have been under specific US sanctions since 2007 for corruption.

Demonstrators have shouted the name of Makhlouf as a symbol of graft in a country that has been facing severe water shortages and unemployment ranging from government estimates of 10 per cent to independent estimates of 25 per cent.

Makhlouf maintains he is a businessman whose companies provide jobs for thousands of Syrians.

Presidential adviser Bouthaina Shaaban told a New York Times correspondent, briefly allowed into the country, that the government was close to re-establishing order after unrest it blames on "armed terrorist groups".

"Now we've passed the most dangerous moment... I hope we are witnessing the end of the story," Shaaban said.

State-run TV said on Wednesday the government had formed a committee to come up with a new election law that would be "up to international standards".
Posted by: Fred || 05/13/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria



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Fri 2011-05-13
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Tue 2011-05-10
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Sun 2011-05-08
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