Posted by: Fred ||
07/06/2011 00:00 ||
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Birthday/Daily Gam Shot
Luana Patten aka Ginny in "Song of the South" aka Tildy in "So Dear to My Heart" aka Priscilla Lapham in "Johnny Tremain" aka Libby Halstead in "Home from the Hill" aka Nora White in "Follow Me, Boys!" aka Tracey Hamilton in "A Thunder of Drums" (Died in 1996 at age 57)
Posted by: Barbara ||
07/06/2011 12:24 Comments ||
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#5
Yes JQC I noticed that as well. Luana died of respiratory failure. Bessie died at 88. Not bad.
Many do live on to a ripe old age. Carmen Miranda is the one that I couldn't believe. Doing a dance number she has a heart attack recovers and finished the dance number and later had a second heart attack which was the end. 47 as I recall.
#6
Dalida is a fascinating world renowned singer. Polled she placed second to de Gaulle (now there's a blast from the past). Died at 54 I believe. Very little exposure for her in the states. With the news in this part of the world such as it is a lighter side;
At least 33 police and five civilians were killed in fighting after Taliban crossed over from Pakistan and attacked a remote region in eastern Afghanistan, an official said Wednesday.
Nuristan provincial governor Jamaluddin Badr said about 40 Pakistani invaders rebels also died in the two days of clashes that follow weeks of tit-for-tat allegations of cross-border attacks that have fanned diplomatic tensions between the neighbours.
A Russian-designed Ilyushin-76 cargo plane chartered by the U.S. military crashed into a mountaintop in eastern Afghanistan, officials said Wednesday, as fears rose for the fate of its nine-member crew.
The plane belonged to an Azerbaijani company, Silk Way, whose deputy director Adyl Katsymov said the fate of the crew was unknown. The flight originated from the Azerbaijan capital of Baku, said Kabul airport official Yaqub Rasoliob.
Anar Aghayev, the deputy chief of mission for the Azerbaijani embassy in Pakistan, said four of the crew members were Azerbaijani citizens, three were from Uzbekistan, and two were from Russia.
[Tolo News] Pak Taliban Attacked on Afghan police check post in eastern Nuristan province on Tuesday killing one person, local officials said.
The attack happened earlier today in Kamdish district of Nuristan province in which one Afghan border police was killed and one other was maimed, Gen. Aminullah Amarkhil, border police chief in eastern Afghanistan told TOLOnews.
Mr Amarkhil said that Afghan border police have killed nine Pak Talibs in the festivities. Pak Taliban also set on fire some residential houses in the district, he added.
Unconfirmed reports said that some non-combatants were killed in the attack. But Mr Amarkhil said there are no reports about civilian casualties.
Nuristan is bordered by Pakistain and previously beturbanned goons have crossed the border and attacked Afghan border police check posts.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/06/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Clearly border checkpoints are the latest thing in Taliban circles. As far as I can tell it allows them to shoot off their guns and make fearsome faces -- thus acquiring jihad credit -- without having to venture deeper into dangerous territory. Or is there more to this that I'm unaware of, in my military ignorance?
North Sudan has massed what looks like a large convoy of troops in its Southern Kordofan oil state, the site of clashes that have threatened the peaceful secession of the south, a satellite monitoring group said on Wednesday.
They say northern troops have been targeting civilians from the Nuba people, many of whom sided with the south during decades of civil war and want greater autonomy for their region. Khartoum has denied the allegations.
Southern Kordofan is important to the north because it has the most productive oil fields that will remain under Khartoum's control after the split. The south could take as much as 75 percent of Sudan's 500,000 barrels per day of oil output.
LONDON-(Dow Jones)- A fire that broke out on an oil tanker after a pirate attack off the Yemeni coast now appears to be extinguished, an official at the company managing the ship said Wednesday. "It seems there is no fire anymore," said Andreas Louka, an official at Athens' Central Mare Inc., the company managing the 1 million barrels tanker, called the Brillante Virtuoso. "The crew is safe, the vessel is safe. There is no pollution," he said.
Noukchott - Mauritanian soldiers patrolled the town of Bassiknou on Wednesday after al-Qaeda-linked extremists attacked a nearby army base which houses an anti-terrorist unit, a military source said.
Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) launched the raid ten days after one of its camps was destroyed in a raid by the Mauritanian army in western Mali, as it sought to flush out extremists in the desert region. A military source speaking on condition of anonymity said soldiers were keeping watch around the town in the extreme south of the country, ready against any eventuality.
The area was rocked by gunfire and explosions as the army, backed by military aircraft, battled AQIM militants in a counter-attack which lasted "less than an hour".
"The army riposte was strong and effective, causing 20 deaths among the assailants. Ten were taken prisoner and at least three vehicles were destroyed," the military source said. Soldiers, assisted by military aircraft, then pursued those who had fled, into Mali. It was not yet known whether they had made any arrests.
AQIM on Wednesday denied the death toll reported by the Mauritanian army, saying only two of its followers had been killed. "The mujahedeen lost two of their fighters: Algerian Eness Abou Fatima Alazairi and Abdel Halim Al Azawadi from northern Mali," an AQIM spokesperson told the private Nouakchott news agency, which often publishes AQIM statements.
But, as has frequently been said elsewhere, Al Qaeda affiliate spokesmen are known to be exceedingly frugal with the truth.
Proxy war
The spokesperson, speaking on condition of anonymity, said AQIM had managed to recover the body of the Malian, but the other was left "on the battlefield." Others who took part in the attack had "arrived back at their bases safe and sound", he said.
Again, truth frugality.
At least four Mauritanian soldiers were injured, said a source at the Bassiknou hospital where they were admitted.
On June 24, the Mauritanian army destroyed an AQIM base during a raid in the Wagadou forest of northwestern Mali. The military said the base had housed heavy anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons which posed a threat to the country, and reported the deaths of 15 AQIM members and two Mauritanian soldiers.
On Monday, AQIM released a statement saying at least 20 Mauritanian soldiers were killed and 12 army vehicles destroyed in the raid.
How to calculate the probability that any of that is true?
AQIM once again accused Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz of fighting "a proxy war on behalf of France", urging Mauritanians to denounce this, learn from their losses "and save themselves from a war which is not theirs".
Regional force
AQIM has bases in northern Mali from where it carries out armed attacks and kidnappings in the Sahel desert region where the group is also involved in arms and drugs trafficking.
Mali and Mauritania are among the countries hardest-hit by AQIM activities, along with Niger and Algeria, where the organisation has its roots. The nations work closely together in efforts to crack down on the organisation. Since July 2010, Mauritania has carried out military operations on AQIM camps in Mali.
AQIM is holding four French citizens kidnapped in Niger in September 2010 as well as an Italian woman taken hostage in Algeria in February. It has demanded that French President Nicolas Sarkozy withdraw his troops from Afghanistan as a condition for their release.
Mali has called for a regional push to train up to 75 000 troops within the next 18 months to combat extremists in the Sahel desert region.
BENGHAZI, Libya Libyas rebels, increasingly confident on the ground, no longer need weapons drops from France, Paris said Tuesday.
There is emerging a political order distinct from that of Tripoli, French Defence Minister Gerard Longuet said. The (rebel) territories are organising their autonomy... That is why the parachute drops are no longer necessary.
Last week, France said it supplied light arms including rifles and rocket launchers to the rebels for self-defence in line with a UN resolution and that it informed NATO and the Security Council of its plan to do so.
Russia criticised the arms drops, and Frances NATO ally Britain expressed reservations.
UN Security Council Resolution 1970, passed in February, prohibited states from providing any kind of arms to Libya. Resolution 1973 in March authorised nations to take all necessary measures to help protect civilians.
Longuet was cautious about the rebels chances of defeating Gadddafi in a major offensive they have said they are preparing on Tripoli. They have a growing capacity to organise politically and militarily but are currently not in a stabilised, centralised system, he said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/06/2011 00:00 ||
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The sandstorm season is gathering pace and power. The gods are moving in the Ducks favour.Will he be able to exploit the situation, who knows? It makes sense of the stalling game he's been playing.
#2
Perhaps but it also gives the Transitional Council time to shore up its position in the East. The longer it goes with them in charge there the more they look like a legitimate government.
Hmmm, how does 'Republic of Cyrinacia' sound?
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/06/2011 10:53 Comments ||
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[Al Jazeera] Libyan officials are claiming to have intercepted two boats carrying a cache of weapons from Qatar, reportedly intended for rebels fighting forces loyal to Muammar Qadaffy.
On Monday, Moussa Ibrahim, a government front man, said 11 rebels were captured from the boats close to shore near the town of Janzour, just west of Tripoli.
"In the early hours of this morning around 4 o'clock our security forces intercepted the submission of many weapons from a ship that raises the Tunisian flag to two small Libyan boats with some Libyan rebels on board the boats," he said.
"I was told that this was the load of one major container, so this would be something like one out of ten or something like that," Ibrahim added.
Foreign news hounds were later taken to Tripoli's port where they were shown a cache of rifles and ammunition displayed in a tent, but not the captured boats.
The weapons included about 100 Belgian-made FN assault rifles, as well as thousands of rounds of ammunition of the same calibre used in the guns.
Several of the ammunition boxes were marked in English as coming from the armed forces of Qatar.
Qatar has emerged as one of the main supporters of the rebels. And its involvement in the country's civil war has enraged Libyan officials.
Mahmoud Jibril, of Libya's Transitional National Council, said on Thursday that foreign deliveries of military hardware would give the rebels a chance to win the battle against Qadaffy quickly and with the least amount of blood spilt.
French supplies
Colonel Thierry Burkhard, French military front man, said last week that La Belle France had airlifted weapons to Libyan civilians in a mountain region south of Tripoli.
The deliveries of guns, rocket-propelled grenades and munitions took place in early June in the western Nafusa mountains, when Qadaffy's troops had encircled civilians.
China and Russia have both questioned whether the supplying of weapons breached the terms of the United Nations ...aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society... Security Council resolution that authorises international action in Libya.
Britannia's government has insisted that the French decision to supply weapons fell within the terms of the UN resolutions.
Last week, William Hague, British foreign secretary, announced that the UK was sending 5000 sets of body armour, 6,650 uniforms, 5000 high-visibility vests and communications equipment, to coppers in rebel-held areas.
The rebels have been battling Qadaffy's forces since February in a bid to end his more than four decades long rule.
They swiftly managed to secure a number of military arms depots, and have turned those weapons on forces still loyal to the Libyan leader.
The conflict has turned into a civil war, with the rebels now controlling much of the eastern third of Libya.
They also hold pockets in the west, including the vital port city of Misrata, about 200km from Tripoli, and a number of mountain towns southwest of the capital.
But they say that they are ill-equipped and are in dire need of fresh supplies to break the current stalemate in fighting and drive out Qadaffy from power.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/06/2011 00:00 ||
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[Emirates 24/7] Four civilians and six gunnies were killed in a series of air raids on Tuesday that targeted Orcs and similar vermin who have taken control of most of Yemen's southern city of Zinjibar, sources told AFP.
Three of the non-combatants were killed when an air strike hit the home of a top Yemeni official on the outskirts of Zinjibar, an official in Jaar Mohsen Saeed told AFP.
"The home of the deputy head of the parliament, Mohammed Ali al-Shadadi, was hit by an air strike that killed three family members and injured seven," Mohsen Saleh Said told AFP.
"I don't know why Shadadi's home was targeted," he said, adding that Shadadi who is in Cairo.
Shadadi had pledged support for protesters who have for six months been calling for the ouster of President President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh ... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower... , hospitalised in Riyadh for wounds sustained in a kaboom at his palace compound last month.
Yemen's military aircraft carried out several strikes Tuesday against positions held by Islamists linked to Al-Qaeda in Zinjibar and its outskirts, an official in Jaar said.
A medical official said one civilian was killed and three others were maimed in the raids on Zinjibar.
Meanwhile, ...back at the Hubba Hubba Club, Nunzio had his hands full of angry bleached blonde... four fighters were killed in an air raid that targeted them in the nearby town of Jaar, a source on the ground in the town said.
The official in Jaar said another raid on the road linking Jaar to Zinjibar killed two other krazed killers.
Yemeni forces have been engaged in fierce fighting with gunnies of the Partisans of Sharia (Islamic Law) movement who seized much of Zinjibar in late May.
The Sanaa regime says the gunnies are allied with Al-Qaeda but the opposition accuses it of playing up a jihadist threat in a desperate attempt to keep embattled President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh in power.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/06/2011 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Yemeni authorities placed in durance vile the head of a Shiite opposition party, Hassan Zaid, at Sanaa airport on Tuesday as he was headed for the Saudi city of Jeddah, his son said.
"My father was jugged," Mohammed Hassan Zaid told Agence La Belle France Presse. "He was travelling to Jeddah when he was jugged and not allowed to leave."
Zaid said the whereabouts of his father, leader of the party Al-Haq, remained unknown although "everybody knows the reason is political."
He pointed the finger at "the national security and those behind it," apparently referring to relatives of President President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh, ... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower... who was flown to hospital in Riyadh last month with wounds sustained in a kaboom.
Saleh has not appeared in public since the attack on his Sanaa palace compound, raising uncertainty over his return to power following anti-regime protests which have gripped Yemen since late January.
However, some men learn by reading. A few learn by observation. The rest have to pee on the electric fence for themselves... members of his family retain a firm grip on the impoverished state's security services.
Al-Haq party is part of an alliance of parliamentary opposition groups and represents Yemen's Zaidi Shiites, based in the north of the mainly Sunni Mohammedan country.
Armed Zaidi rebels have been engaged in sporadic fighting with government forces in northern Yemen since 2004. A ceasefire between the rebels and government forces went into effect on February 12, 2010.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/06/2011 00:00 ||
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[Yemen Post] A citizen was killed and others injured as the elite republican guard continued shelling some areas in south and north Yemen on Monday.
In Nihm district on the outskirts of Sana'a and where the army has been battling the tribes for more than a month, citizen Abdu Barakat was killed and others injured when the elite republican guard heavily targeted some villages.
In nearby districts including Arhab and Bani Matar, hundreds have decamped over the past days amid strikes from the elite republican guard camps that destroyed homes and affected markets and farms.
Sporadic battles have been reported in these districts after reports said that rustics took over military camps and prevented elite republican guard forces from heading to the capital Sana'a to crack down on the protesters calling for the ouster of the regime.
In the southern city of Taiz, the elite republican guard forces have been shelling villages in the district of Sharab for weeks since a tribal elder vowed to defend the antigovernment protesters who retook the square of freedom in downtown Taiz.
The forces launched their fiercest attack at homes leaving many injured after several soldiers and non-combatants were killed and others injured in the past two days.
Also, Tens of families have decamped northern parts of Taiz amid the confrontations, as civil society organizations described the military operations as crimes against humanity.
The developments come as the UN mission which arrived here to investigate human rights ...which are usually open to widely divergent definitions... violations amid the month-long unrest is still doing its job.
So far, the mission has visited squares of change and freedom in some cities and met with some victims.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/06/2011 00:00 ||
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[Bangla Daily Star] Unidentified people set fire to five buses and a covered van at different parts of the city on Tuesday on the eve of a countrywide 48-hour hartal ... a peculiarly Bangla combination of a general strike and a riot, used by both major political groups in lieu of actual governance ... called by opposition parties.
Police suspect that pro-hartal pickets might have set fire to the vehicles.
Meanwhile, ...back at the cheese factory, all the pieces finally fell together in Fluffy's mind... a mobile court sentenced one-year jail to one Motaleb Miah on charge of torching a bus at Chankharpool of the city Tuesday night, said Masudur Rahman, additional deputy commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police.
In a separate incident, seven people were tossed in the clink for one month each on charge of attempting to torch vehicles in Motijheel area Tuesday night, police said.
Police also picked up around 20 people from different parts of the city including Motijheel, Paltan, Pallabi and Rampura areas on different charges including attempting to torch vehicles.
In Motijheel, a group of people set fire to a bus at noon.
Fire fighters doused the fire within half an hour. No-one has been injured, said police.
Abdullah Al Mamun, an assistant sub-inspector of Motijheel Police Station, said it was a staff bus of Agrani Bank.
"The bus was parked at Motijheel AGB Colony at about 1:45am when the incident took place," he told The Daily Star.
Md Abdul Alek, driver of the bus, said he was sleeping in the bus and suddenly saw the fire. He managed to escape unhurt.
In Jatrabari, police said a group of unknown youths set fire to a bus of Shahi Paribahan in Maniknagar Pukurpar area at about 3:15pm.
The incident took place when the driver and the helper went to their launch to a nearby restaurant after parking bus in the area, Kuddus, a sub-inspector of Jatrabari Police Station, told The Daily Star.
Locals took around 20 minutes to put out the blaze.
In Kafrul, a city bus was set on fire while going to Motijheel from Mirpur at about 4:45pm near Al Helal Hospital at Rokeya Sarana in Mirpur, said Amirul Islam, a sub-inspector of Kafrul Police Station.
He said no one was injured as the passengers got off the vehicle before setting the fire.
Firemen doused the blaze by half an hour of the incident, the police official said.
In Kakrail, police said unidentified people set fire to covered van while labourers were unloading goods from it near Karnaphuli garden city shopping complex at about 4:00pm.
SI Motiar of Ramna Police Station said the local people put out the blaze of van owned by Rifat Multi-product Ltd immediately.
In Rampura, some unknown people torch a passenger bus near the Bangladesh Television building at about 6:20pm, fire brigade officials said.
In Chankharpool, a group of young men set a bus on fire at around 6:50pm, the officials added.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/06/2011 00:00 ||
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[Bangla Daily Star] Chief of notorious pirate gang 'Nasir Bahini', which operates in the Sundarbans area, was killed in a 'shootout' between his cohorts and the law enforcers in Botiaghata upazila in Khulna early Tuesday. The RAB has a sea unit?
A police personnel -- Nayek Abul Bashar -- was bullet-hit in the shootout and was undergoing treatment at Botiaghata Upazila Health Complex, our Khulna correspondent quoted police to be claiming.
Nasir, 32, was accused a number of cases, according to police.
Abdul Quader Beg, officer-in-(OC) charge of Botiaghata Police Station, said a joint team of police and Rab-6, acting on a tip-off, conducted a raid in Narayankhali area at around 4:20am while Nasir and his gang members were allegedly holding a clandestine meeting.
Sensing police presence, the pirates opened fire on them, prompting them to retaliate. [BANG! BANG! BANGETY BANG!]
said the OC.
Nasir was caught in the line of fire and was struck down in his prime receiving bullets, police claimed, adding that his cohorts managed to flee the scene. ... as though they had never been...
A revolver, a pistol and two bullets were later recovered from the spot, claimed police.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/06/2011 00:00 ||
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An increasing number of North Korean military officers and soldiers are caught watching South Korean films or soap operas in barracks, sources say.
A Beijing-based source who visits the North often said Monday, "Several Army officers and soldiers have been caught watching South Korean movies or TV dramas since last year, and the military has been providing extensive indoctrination for all officers and soldiers with a view to preventing the cultural infiltration of imperialism."
The North Korean military's discipline and morale are eroding under international sanctions, with one officer caught selling bootleg porn DVDs in the North Korea-China border region.
The North Korean military is reportedly focusing on widespread South Korean broadcasts in the current indoctrination classes. An officer was arrested for letting soldiers watch South Korean films or soap operas that he had recorded at home, the source said.
And a group of officers and soldiers at a frontline Army unit were caught watching South Korean TV and listening to South Korean radio, while an officer was arrested for listening to South Korean radio broadcasts and explaining Seoul's North Korea policy and democratic elections to his colleagues.
Another officer was arrested for making a porn film himself. A North Korean source in China's northeast said, "Rumor has it that an officer in the border region was arrested for selling porn films that he had made himself on the Chinese side of the border with North Korean women in their 20s and 30s after watching Western porn movies." He was apparently executed.
One high-ranking official said in a regime leadership meeting, "Even though we have waged a powerful struggle to thwart ideological and cultural infiltration, we've achieved no tangible results and even the Army is faltering," according to another source.
The poor state of military discipline is due mainly to economic difficulties since the botched currency reform in late 2009. The food shortage is worsening in barracks, as it has become difficult to collect food from the public.
A Beijing-based Chinese North Korea expert said, "It's likely that the North Korean military's power to distribute resources has weakened as the regime shifted its priority from the military to the party after the big party congress last year."
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/06/2011 00:00 ||
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#3
"The food shortage is worsening in barracks, as it has become difficult to collect food from the public."
Can't collect what's not there. Cause, meet effect.
Posted by: Barbara ||
07/06/2011 13:31 Comments ||
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#4
"the regime shifted its priority from the military to the party"
That is the key phrase, and it's a humdinger. To shift resources from the military to the party is as dangerous a gambit as it gets in a totalitarian state.
When Stalin died, the two candidates were queried by the military with one question: "guns or butter?" The other guy said "butter", but Khrushchev said "guns", so the military made him the boss. But Khrushchev double crossed the military and went for "butter".
So when the opportunity presented itself, the military displaced him. And before they would permit Brezhnev to have the job, they got iron clad guarantees for "guns".
But it enraged Brezhnev. So he spent all his time in office preparing for a major purge of the military. And only when he knew he was going to die, he launched it.
It started out when much of the naval staff, the most radical branch, was (theoretically) wiped out in a plane crash at sea. Literally dozens of top ranked admirals wiped out all at once.
Then their air defenses staff were next, but done individually. Car crashes, heart attacks, slip and falls, it was a bloodbath. About that time, I saw an Soviet command staff poster just covered with red "X's" from all the assassinations.
And this sort of thing works both ways. In Nork, there could be a night of the long knives of party officials, conducted by the military. These are not nice people.
The Army psychiatrist charged in the deadly Fort Hood rampage in Texas will be court-martialed and face the death penalty, Fox News confirms.
Fort Hood's commanding general announced the decision Wednesday for Maj. Nidal Hasan.
Now the case can go forward.
The 40-year-old is expected to appear in a Fort Hood courtroom for an arraignment and could enter a plea. Hasan is charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder in the November 2009 shooting spree at the Army post.
Hasan's lead attorney, John Galligan, had urged the commanding general not to seek the death penalty, saying such cases were more costly, time-consuming and restrictive.
It will be worth every penny. Major Hassan should indeed face the maximum penalty if (when) found guilty. It sends a message not only here at home but also overseas. Imagine the outrage if we're willing to drone-zap number three's in Wazoo or Yemen but not willing to execute just as heinous a terrorist (and that's what Mr. Hassan is) here at home. Can you say, 'double-standard'?
Two Army colonels previously recommended that Hasan be tried in a military court and face the death penalty.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/06/2011 13:07 ||
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Hasan's lead attorney, John Galligan, had urged the commanding general not to seek the death penalty, saying such cases were more costly, time-consuming and restrictive.
Yes, I'm sure our esteemed counselor is extremely concerned about the resources that will be spent on this. Just lookin' out for the taxpayer, right, counselor?
#5
A US military death sentence means nothing. Reagan reintroduced it into the UCMJ, and W. Bush tried to execute a murderer, but some military commander commuted it.
The best bet would be once convicted, to turn Hasan over to Texas authorities for trial about the civilians he killed. The lucky Texas prosecutor who got that would do everything by the book to insure that Hasan met his maker ASAP.
And the chance of the governor of Texas commuting his State sentence is divided by zero.
[Dawn] Dozens of Taliban from Afghanistan launched a pre-dawn attack on a security post in Bajaur tribal region on Monday, killing one paramilitary soldier and injuring another. Three attackers died when Pak forces fired back.
In North Wazoo, four people were maimed when mortar shells fired from across the border hit a house in Bang-i-Dar area, local people said.
It was the latest in a series of cross-border incidents that have raised tensions between the neighbours.
However, Caliphornia hasn't yet slid into the ocean, no matter how hard it's tried... in an attempt to salvage a recent understanding reached at the top level, Pak and Afghan officials at a meeting in Islamabad on Monday condemned the incidents which caused loss of lives and destruction of property by either side, and stressed effective measures to curb krazed killers' activities.
Local people and a political administration official in Bajaur said that dozens of hard boyz from across the border attacked the paramilitary checkpost in the Kitkot area of the Mamoond tehsil with heavy weapons.
Security personnel fired back, forcing the intruders to retreat into Afghanistan.
People in Bang-i-Dar village of North Waziristan said that several mortar shells fired by the Afghan National Army landed in the area with one hitting a house, leaving four people maimed.
According to the sources, a shell hit the residence of Haji Raza Khan at around 8.30am and four people, including a seven-year-old child, were maimed.
Injured Waris Khan, Raees Khan, Rateen Khan and Nek Mall Khan were taken to a hospital.
Agencies add: Military front man Maj-Gen Athar Abbas confirmed one soldier was killed and another maimed in the attack on the Bajaur post, about 3km from the Afghan border.
"Since Bajaur has been cleared by the military, the military is present in the area, so this attack has to come from the other side," he said.
Local administration official Islam Zeb said that more than 100 Afghan Taliban attacked the paramilitary checkpost in the Kitkot area of the Mamoond district, and confirmed the casualties.
"The Pakistain army and Frontier Crops retaliated and exchanged fire" before the hard boyz fled back to Afghanistan, he said.
In Islamabad, Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir and Afghan Ambassador Mohammad Umer Daudzai during an 'in-depth' meeting reviewed the situation following recent attacks in Dir, Bajaur, Mohmand ... Named for the Mohmand clan of the Sarban Pahstuns, a truculent, quarrelsome lot. In Pakistain, the Mohmands infest their eponymous Agency, metastasizing as far as the plains of Beautiful Downtown Peshawar, Charsadda, and Mardan. Mohmands are also scattered throughout Pakistan in urban areas including Bloody Karachi, Lahore, and Quetta. In Afghanistan they are mainly found in Nangarhar and Kunar... and Kunar regions.
"Pakistain condemns the loss of lives and destruction of property on both sides by the krazed killers. We consider Afghanistan's loss as our own loss," a statement issued after the meeting said.
"It is, therefore, imperative that efforts be redoubled by both sides to attain the objectives of shared peace and security and to enhance cooperation for shared development and prosperity."
The foreign secretary conveyed to the Afghan ambassador the importance that Pakistain attached to establishing peace and tranquillity in the border region and the importance of effectively curbing the activities of myrmidons.
Mr Bashir pointed out that as affirmed by President Asif Ali President Ten Percent Zardari ... sticky-fingered husband of the late Benazir Bhutto ... and Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani ... Pakistain's erstwhile current prime minister, whose occasional feats of mental gymnastics can be awe-inspiring ... , "Pakistain desires closest relations with Afghanistan"."We believe that both countries are faced with common challenges relating to
militancy and terrorism which require deep and close cooperation," he told the Afghan diplomat.
The foreign secretary and the Afghan ambassador expressed satisfaction on the recent meetings held in Kabul.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/06/2011 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] A roadside kaboom targeting a Frontier Corps (FC) convoy killed five FC personnel and maimed six in Balochistan's Turbat area, officials said.
The attack occurred in the Mand Ballo area of the district.
"Unknown men had planted kaboom beside a road and detonated it with a remote control device when a convoy was passing through," official sources told APP.
As a result of the kaboom, five personnel were killed and six others sustained serious injuries, they maintained.
They said that the maimed personnel were given immediate medical aid in Turbat and later were referred to Quetta.
According to doctors, condition of two of the six injured personnel was very critical.
Official sources confirmed that a search operation has been launched in the area lying along the Pak-Iran border in Turbat district and some suspected individuals had been taken into custody.
Further investigation was underway.
Balochistan is the scene of a low-level insurgency by ethnic Baloch separatists who seek more autonomy for the province and a greater share of the wealth from its natural resources.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/06/2011 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] Militants set off a roadside kaboom targeting a military vehicle in the Pashtun tribal region of North Wazoo on the Afghan border, killing two soldiers and wounding 15, intelligence officials said.
A similar attack on a military convoy in the same region earlier in the day maimed three soldiers.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/06/2011 00:00 ||
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KIRKUK / Aswat al-Iraq: A police General Sarhat Qadir said today that three members of the pro-government Al-Sahwa (Awakening) forces were killed by weapons equipped with silencers in southwest Kirkuk.
Qadir informed Aswat al-Iraq that the three were killed near a checkpoint on the main road connecting Kirkuk with Hawija area. The culprits fled the crime scene, he added.
Looks like a hit by a Shi'a paramilitary group, and likely financed and helped by Iran. al-Maliki has to get that under control.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/06/2011 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] Twin suicide kabooms destroyed the city of Taji north of Storied Baghdad ...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate... on Tuesday, killing at least 35 people, officials said, after Iraq suffered its deadliest month so far this year in June.
"Thirty-five people were killed and 28 maimed when a car boom and an improvised bomb went kaboom! simultaneously outside a government office where national identification cards are issued, and the provincial council offices," the official said.
A police officer in Taji said that one jacket wallah in a car and a second with an explosives belt had caused the carnage.
"A car boomwent kaboom! at the entrance of the identity-cards office, which is next to the provincial council building."
"When people gathered, a suicide bomber in their midst went kaboom! his belt," he said.
He added that the mayor of Taji, security officials from the city and tribal leaders were in a meeting at the provincial council offices when the bombers struck. There was no immediate word on who the casualties were.
Storied Baghdad security front man Major General Qassim Atta said the blasts struck at 12 noon (0900 GMT).
Posted by: Fred ||
07/06/2011 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Islamic State of Iraq
Three activists involved in the "aerial flotilla" to Ben-Gurion Airport have been arrested upon entry to Israel and are in the process of being deported. The activists were from France and Belgium.
Around five activists are believed to have managed to get past security and are in the country. The five are believed to have entered in recent days.
Police were deployed at Ben-Gurion Airport on Wednesday in expectation of arrival of further pro-Palestinian activists.
May I suggest that all their luggage be lost in the rush?
Perhaps lose the activists along with the luggage?
Israel deports five ahead of anticipated influx of pro-Palestinian activists.
Between 600 and 1,200 activists are expected to arrive at Ben-Gurion Airport on Thursday night and Friday, on flights from Moscow and New York, expected to attempt entry to Israel as counterpart to the Gaza flotilla.
#1
If only there were some way of, after identifying such characters, to sneak their names into the US no fly list. Hopefully with extra flags like "Deep Cavity Search req'd".
Israel's air force fired into the Gaza Strip Tuesday, killing two gunnies from an al Qaeda-linked Paleo faction who approached the border fence. The two dead and a cohort injured in the strike belonged to the Tawheed and Jihad group, who have challenged Hamas rule over the sandbox Palestinian enclave.
The Israeli military said it had attacked "a squad of terrorists preparing to launch rockets" across the border.
In another incident, Paleo gunnies fired through the fence at an Israeli military vehicle, slightly injuring the driver.
In a later air strike, the IDF said it targeted a smuggling tunnel in the northern Gaza Strip meant to allow terrorists militants into Israel and said it scored a direct hit. Unfortunately, there were no casualties in the strike.
[An Nahar] A small French pleasure craft with eight protesters on board left Greek waters overnight and set off for Gazoo in an attempt to break an Israeli naval blockade, organizers said Tuesday.
The "Dignite al Karama" is so far the only boat in a planned flotilla organized by pro-Paleostinian activists to set sail from Greece, after the authorities there blocked other vessels from taking part in the protest.
The 19-meter motor cruiser is carrying, among others, the former French far-left presidential candidate Olivier Besancenot, Green Party Euro-MP Nicole Kiil-Nielsen and trade unionist Annick Coupe.
They expect to be off Gazoo within an day or two, the group told Agence La Belle France Presse.
"The boat was able to take on board fuel and food. It's heading towards Gazoo," said Jean-Claude Lefort, front man for "A French Boat for Gazoo", the French wing of the international maritime demonstration.
"We are going to send a delegation to the French foreign ministry to ask for protection. Depending on how that goes, we will advise on our progress," he added. Israel has warned it will halt any vessels approaching Gazoo.
Asked how the Dignite had managed to slip past the Greek authorities, which have prevented the rest of the flotilla in Athens' port Piraeus, Lefort said: "It wasn't spotted. It wasn't in Piraeus, it was somewhere else."
On Monday, Greek forces intercepted a Canadian boat carrying more than 30 Gazoo-bound activists from Canada, Belgium, Italia, Switzerland and Turkey and forced it to moor in Crete.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/06/2011 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Hamas
#1
A small French pleasure craft with eight protesters on board...
The S.S. Minnow vs. the Israeli Navy. Yeah, that'll work. Cue the Gilligan's Island theme...
#5
According to Ha'aretz, they turned back, not wanting to go on alone:
On early Tuesday morning, a French yacht participating in the flotilla left a port near Athens, but turned back after several hours, Israel Radio reported. The report stated that flotilla activists aboard the Dignite-Al Karama did not want to be the only ones sailing to the Strip, after the other boats were prevented from doing so by the Greek coast guard.
The announcement contradicted an earlier message posted by the organizers on the A French Boat for Gaza campaigns website, which stated that "late in the night, the French boat reached international waters. It is heading now towards Gaza." The post went on to say that "the Israeli blockade, which thanks to the Greek government has been extended to the gates of the European Union, has been broken.
Iran is ready if threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz to ships linking the Gulf to international markets, Revolutionary Guards commander General Mohammad Ali Jafari told Mehr news agency on Monday.
[Emirates 24/7] Security forces killed at least seven people on Tuesday in Hama as residents mobilised to keep the Syrian army out of the flashpoint city at the hub of an anti-regime revolt, activists said.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, quoting medical sources, said the casualty toll had risen to seven dead and 35 maimed in the city, which has been surrounded by the military.
"Heavy gunfire has been heard in several districts" of Hama, it said.
The group said the body of one of those killed was dumped in the Orontes river of Hama, which is famous for its ancient watermills.
The activists, contacted by telephone from Nicosia, said a child was among three people rubbed out by security forces on Monday on the outskirts of the city, north of Damascus ...The City of Jasmin is the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world. It has not always been inhabited by the same set of fascisti... , that is home to 800,000 people.
"Tanks are now posted at access routes to the city except for the northern entrance," said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the London-based Syrian Observatory.
"Residents have mobilised. They're prepared to die to defend the city if need be rather than allow the army to enter," he told AFP.
"Residents have been sleeping on the streets and put up sand barriers and tyres to block any assault."
Another activist insisted that Hama, where as many as 500,000 people erupted into the streets for a demonstration on Friday against 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... regime, was putting up a "100 percent peaceful" resistance.
On Monday, more than 20 people were set to sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark dock, in a pestilential prison with a life-long lock on the fringes of the city, the Observatory said, adding angry residents countered by burning tyres and hurling stones.
Apart from the three killed including 12-year-old Omar Khalluf, between 20 and 25 other people were shot and maimed during the sweep which rounded up as many as 300 people, according to a resident contacted from Nicosia.
There was no independent confirmation of the reports from activists as Syrian authorities have curbed foreign media coverage.
In the capital, about 70 serving and former MPs held a meeting on Tuesday to discuss the crisis in Syria, in the third such gathering in a week.
Meanwhile, ...back at the hoedown, Bob finally got to dance with Sally... freedom fighters on their Facebook site, Syrian Revolution 2011, called for a nationwide general strikes on Thursday.
Assad, faced with a revolt since mid-March, sacked the governor of Hama province on Saturday, a day after the massive rally during which security forces kept out of sight.
Since security forces bumped off 48 protesters in the city on June 3, Hama has beat feet the clutches of the regime, according to activists. The next day, more than 100,000 mourners were reported to have taken part in their funerals.
Hama was the scene of a 1982 bloodbath in which an estimated 20,000 people were killed when the army crushed an Islamist revolt against the rule of the president's predecessor and late father, Hafez al-Assad.
In Idlib province, northwest Syria, activists said security forces on Tuesday mounted an assault on the town of Kfar Nubol, the scene of several demonstrations against Assad.
"Tanks have been deployed at crossroads and snipers posted on rooftops of house and government buildings" in the town, said the Syrian Observatory.
The Observatory, in a separate statement, said more than 500 activists and "peaceful demonstrators" had been set to sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark dock, in a pestilential prison with a life-long lock since last Friday, including lawyer Mussab Barish who was jugged in Idlib on Tuesday.
Security forces also set to sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark dock, in a pestilential prison with a life-long lock Bissan Hamed and three other activists Friday on their way to Leb, it said, adding dozens had been rounded up in the Damascus region, including young blogger Omar Asaad and activist Adham al-Qaq.
Assad has decreed two "general" amnesties since the start of the unrest almost four months ago and also lifted a state of emergency that had been in force for five decades.
Rights groups say that more than 1,300 civilians have been killed and 10,000 people set to sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark dock, in a pestilential prison with a life-long lock by security forces since mid-March.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/06/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
It would've been 7000 (and peace & quiet for a generation) with his daddy.
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
07/06/2011 11:51 ||
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#1
I assume the TSA will start having it's thugs begin doing exploratory surgery on 'randomly' selected grandmothers and infants to be sure they're not implanted.
Posted by: Silentbrick - Halliburton Lost Drill Bit Division ||
07/06/2011 13:00 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Snark of the day!
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/06/2011 13:04 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Many decades ago, I read a science fiction short story about a time when people were surgically and psychologically modified to become human terminators. It was told from the point of view of a police officer who was trained to spot and terminate such anti-humanoids. In the end, he became just such a terminator without modifications because he believed there was no hope.
Is this where we are heading? A true end of almost any type of civilization?
#4
I don't think igniting surgically implanted explosives is very easy. There are a lot of ways to do it, e.g., electronic communication, injected chemicals, timed, but each has problems. Another difficulty is that the body inside-which the bomb has been placed will act as a cushion so the bomb would have to be very powerful to do damage.
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
07/06/2011 15:20 Comments ||
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#5
Silentbrick: You kid, but others have already suggested that the TSA will use this as an excuse to subject the public to even further abuses. In short, all people with surgical scars, even c-section scars, will get extra scrutiny.
#6
Oddly enough, while terrorists may not be able to pull this off too effectively (they already tried to assassinate a Saudi Prince with a rectum bomb), the US is capable of covertly implanting a jihadi with a bomb to take out very high value targets, such as Zawahiri.
That is, they would drug a captured al-Qaeda they suspected could find Zawahiri, then use laparoscopic (through the navel) surgery, to implant a sizable high explosive charge in his abdomen.
Then they would fake an injury, like an extremity fracture, by injecting a joint in the area with some temporary irritant to make it painful for a few weeks, and putting it in a cast. This would distract him from any other feelings of discomfort from his real surgery.
Then provide him with some high value if fake intelligence information "by accident", and arrange for him to escape from prison. The information would likely be that someone close to Zawahiri is informing on him, so telling anyone except Zawahiri would not work, as the traitor would intercept the message.
It would be essential that the surgical implant would also be able to send real time audio ELINT, once the al-Qaeda is "back in the zone", and out of surveillance. So the bomb could be detonated by a signal once he was close enough to the target.
As much as this sounds like something out of a spy novel, with a thousand variations this would be one way of nailing somebody the hard way. When other ways don't work. It took a decade just to find Osama, and that is too long.
#7
They had this 'surgical bomb implant into little kids' scenario as a premise in the movie 'Hurt Locker', so I don't know if it's a new method or not.
Then again, maybe H*llyweird is complicite here.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
07/06/2011 16:28 Comments ||
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#8
Anonymoose, it was only about half sarcasm. At this point, I wouldn't put anything past the TSA or the Idiot in the WH. It's like seeing an accident, sorta of fascinating to watch while being horrible.
There's seriously times when I just want that last straw to break so we can all go insane.
Posted by: Silentbrick - Halliburton Lost Drill Bit Division ||
07/06/2011 16:36 Comments ||
Top||
#9
Rectum? Nearly killed him.
Bomb hidden under the boob, squeeze to set it off. Well, just gonna have to, uhum, squeeze and think of England.
IIUC, this technique has been tried for years, especially using animals, by the narco smugglers. I think the problem they had is the person would become so ill or be so drugged that they stood out, hence the move to animals. But as I've said, it has been years since...
#10
HMMMM, HMMMM, I don't mind saying that I've had a number of personal Dreams/Visions about this topic from years ago - A PROB FOR ME IS THAT, AFTER ALL THIS TIME, I'M NOT SURE ON THIS ONE AS TO THE SPECIFIC CAUSE OR SOURCE, I.E. GOD, GUAM TAOTAMONAS, ........ INTEL-PYWAR [FBI-CIA-DOD, etc Xperimentation].
[MACAULAY CAULKIN, MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS, + OWG PAULA "YOU'VE GOT TO REMEMBER" ABDUL here].
D *** NG IT, PAULA, STOP WAGING JIHAD ON THE BACKYARD + HELP YOUR OLD DADDY REMEMBER!
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.
[Tolo News] Pak Taliban Attacked on Afghan police check post in eastern Nuristan province on Tuesday killing one person, local officials said.
BENGHAZI, Libya Libyas rebels, increasingly confident on the ground, no longer need weapons drops from France, Paris said Tuesday.
Qadaffy. 
[Emirates 24/7] Four civilians and six 
,
[Yemen Post] A citizen was killed and others injured as the 
[Bangla Daily Star] Chief of notorious pirate gang 'Nasir Bahini', which operates in the Sundarbans area, was killed in a 'shootout' between his cohorts and the law enforcers in Botiaghata upazila in Khulna early Tuesday.
Wazoo
Mohmand
[Dawn] Twin 
Three activists involved in the "aerial flotilla" to Ben-Gurion Airport have been arrested upon entry to Israel and are in the process of being deported. The activists were from France and Belgium.
Israel's air force fired into the Gaza Strip Tuesday, killing two gunnies from an al Qaeda-linked Paleo faction who approached the border fence. The two dead and a cohort injured in the strike belonged to the Tawheed and Jihad group, who have challenged Hamas rule over the 
President-for-Life Bashir 
