Bankhead came from a powerful Democratic political family in the South in general and Alabama in particular. Her father was the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1936-1940 (in the 74th, 75th, and 76th Congresses), immediately preceding Sam Rayburn. She was the niece of Senator John H. Bankhead II, and granddaughter of Senator John H. Bankhead. Bankhead herself was a Democrat, albeit one of a more liberal stripe than the rest of her family.
#6
Fred, I do appreciate the opportunity you give us to see these women in their prime, particularly since previously I'd only seen them in their old age when I couldn't figure out what the attaction was.
Nine policemen were killed in Afghanistan on Sunday in international military air strikes called in after police and soldiers mistook each other for the Taliban and clashed.
The fighting erupted at around 1.30am when Afghan and international soldiers moved into a district without informing the police, who mistook the soldiers for militants, said Farah province Deputy Governor Mohammad Younus Rasouli, adding, "An engagement took place with each side thinking the other was the Taliban." He said the troops called for air support after which military aircraft bombed a police post, adding, "Nine police officers were killed and five were wounded."
The US-led coalition said the combined Afghan and US patrol acted in self-defence after coming under attack from a "non-uniformed hostile force".
Posted by: Fred ||
07/21/2008 00:00 ||
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(Xinhua) -- Afghan troops have killed and injured more than three dozen insurgents in Afghanistan's southern Kandahar province, the former stronghold of Taliban, the defense ministry said Sunday.
"An operation aimed at cleaning up Daman, Dand and Panjwai districts from militants launched days ago with the support of the U.S.-led Coalition forces have left 18 militants dead," the ministry said in a statement.
It also said that 25 more insurgents had been injured and 15 others made captive. However, it did not say the casualties of Afghan and Coalition troops. Taliban militants fighting Afghan government have yet to make comment.
Afghanistan has witnessed a surge of violence and riot throughout the south to east over the past months while militancy and conflict left more than 2,300 people including over 700 civilians dead in various so far this year.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/21/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
what really happened in that recent afghan firefight involving the 173rd airborne
(Xinhua) -- Nearly seven civilians including five school children have been killed and almost 12 others were wounded Sunday after artillery shells and bullets hit residential areas in Mogadishu following renewed fighting between insurgent fighters and Somali government forces and Ethiopian troops, witnesses and local media reports said.
Five school children from the same family were killed in Gubta neighborhood shells hit them as they left their schools while eight others were injured, witnesses said.
"Three children died when a shell hit as they entered their home," an eyewitness in Gubta who requested anonymity told Xinhua. "More than eight other people were injured in our neighborhood shells rained all over the place."
Another witness Mohamed Musse confirmed the figure but added that two more children from the same Quranic School died when a shell landed close to where they were.
Residents said shelling started shortly after the children were released from schools in the neighborhood.
Local media reported that two young men died in Yaqshid district in the northwest of the Somali capital and four others were seriously wounded after they were hit by stray bullets from the battle between Somali government forces backed by Ethiopian troops and rebel fighters.
Somali transitional government officials told local media that the insurgent fighters attacked bases of the government forces and those of the Ethiopian troops in northwest Mogadishu. They denied insurgent allegation that the Ethiopian troops shelled residential areas after the attack.
Spokesman for fighters of the Union of the Islamic Courts Union said they launched "concerted attacks" on Somali government and Ethiopian army posts and claimed to have caused "huge loses" on them.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/21/2008 00:00 ||
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Heavy fighting broke out in Yabariweyne area and part of lower Shabelle region Sunday afternoon residents said.
Residents in the locale said they had heard Thundering explosions and gunfire could be heard at afternoon under one of the heaviest bombardment.
The fighting has started after armed islamist fighters have ambushed armed Som-Ethio troops were heading to Mogadishu Baidoa town south central Somalia. Fighters hostile to the interim government have been setting up defensive-lines in the battling area in the last days. It's yet unknown the causalities of that fighting.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/21/2008 00:00 ||
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BANGLADESH security forces have arrested a schoolboy and seized illegal weapons and ammunition they say he was supplying to terror groups, officials said today.
"Our forces arrested Pantha Hossain Dipu, 18, from Mirpur area in the capital Dhaka, late on Sunday," said Lieutenant-Colonel Ahmed Tabrej Shams Chowdhury, a director of Rapid Action Battalion Force said. During questioning, the O-level student, confessed he was the leader of a gang which supplied weapons commercially to terror groups, Lt-Col Ahmed said.
The Colonel quoted Dipu as saying he had been in the arms business for three years and earned around 75,000 taka (around $1024) a month renting out weapons. Police seized three revolvers, a pistol, 60 rounds of ammunition, a knife and cartridge cases.
The RAB, comprising members of the army, police, paramilitary troops and auxiliary forces, is leading a crackdown against corruption, smuggling, illegal weapons and terrorism by Islamist and other militant groups.
#1
At eighteen, young Master Dipu is no longer a boy. Given that he'd achieved the profession of arms dealing several years previous, clearly he'd also moved up to the adult status of Mister.
#2
If you rent out a weapon and the renter declines to return it, what do you do?
He must have had some kind of muscle on call.
Not just selling feelthy pictures on the playground, this is.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey ||
07/21/2008 7:55 Comments ||
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BRITAIN'S SAS has revealed plans to cut down casualty rates in Iraq and Afghanistan by parachuting in German shepherds to spy on rebels.
The Sun reports the dogs are being trained to leap from planes at 25,000ft wearing their own oxygen masks and strapped to special forces teams. Once they land, the dogs will lead the way by finding enemy hideouts with cameras fixed to their heads. The images will then be beamed back to the troops, warning of rebel locations and ambushes. The bold plan comes after three SAS troopers were shot dead on raids in Iraq over two years, with eight seriously wounded.
An SAS source told The Sun: "The dogs will be exposed to very high levels of danger on these operations and you never know what's going to be behind a door. Nobody wants to see the dogs get killed but if it's their life or a man's it is obvious which the commanding officer would prefer."
The dogs will be used in a precise manoeuvre technique called High Altitude High Opening, jumping as much as 35km from their targets and gliding towards them for up to 30 minutes.
Dogs were first trained to parachute in the Second World War by the British on rescue missions. But they have never jumped from high altitude, the best way for small groups of men to get behind enemy lines undetected. The dogs have big advantages over soldiers in that they arouse less suspicion approaching targets, can squeeze into tighter spaces and can sniff out booby-trap explosives. Two have been issued to each of the regiment's four squadrons with troopers specially selected to be their handlers.
#5
While it sounds grotesque, I suspect such dogs would, or at least should, have implants so that they can be "remote controlled". This is a lot different than it sounds and much research has gone into it in the past.
In practice, it is a "horse and rider" remote. The operator sends signals giving general directions of where to go and what to do, but it is up to the dog to figure out how to do it the best way.
For example, one signal will mean "guide right", because that is the general direction of the target in a forward direction. Another is the "good" signal, for the dog to continue to do what it is doing.
Such signals even work with lab rats. And dogs are not only a lot smarter, but have been bred to respond to complex commands, like the Shepard breed.
#7
I can just see a batallion of mother Grizzlies coming down on Miranshah. Won't THAT put a kink in the talibunnies' tails? Faster, please.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/21/2008 11:42 Comments ||
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#8
How about wolverines? (and I don't mean the Ann Arbor type;) Anyone remember the old sci-fi story about aliens who visit Earth and witness a wolverine whuppin' a grizzly bear, then deciding that Earthlings were too tough?
#9
Spot, that is one of my favorite SF stories - I wish I could find it again.
I wonder if wolverines are haram?
Posted by: Rambler in California ||
07/21/2008 12:05 Comments ||
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#10
How about just cloning the AFLAK duck? They would come with their own parachute ( sort of) and after 3 or 4 minutes of the innane commercials the talibunnies would be happy to off themselves.......
(Especially if the Yogi Berra ones were replayed incessantly)
#12
Re #8 - also, the aliens decided not to attack Earth after the wolverine, which had whipped the grizzly (which had almost broken their Ferocity Meter), approached a bunch of human children. Instead of destroying the children, the wolverine allowed them to pet it and play with it. The aliens reasoned that if this over ferocious wolverine would allow mere humans to play with it, the humans must be even more ferocious.
Posted by: Rambler in California ||
07/21/2008 15:19 Comments ||
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#14
An SAS source told The Sun: " . . . Nobody wants to see the dogs get killed but if it's their life or a man's it is obvious which the commanding officer would prefer."
Can they go back to the old way if Obama is leading a search team-- like during a publicity stunt in a war zone? Just wondering.
#15
Thats what I was thinking - Pigs are smart as well. Put some razor armor on them, a camera and some freakin lasers on their head, and the ability to combust.
#17
Gaaawd I miss my dog(s) - my old dog RICO ruled the neighborhood as a Guard Dog and ALpha Male, but was scared to death of heights and water even iff I was holding him [shake like a puppy]. My present dog Brownie is also a good Guard Dog, but he'd covertly sneakily play and sleep wid "the Pack/Hood" unless he knows/sees I'm watching, whereupon he'll suddenly turn traitor and chase his Dawgs-in-the-Hood Boonie Boyz away like GUARD-ZILLA!
D *** NGED SNEAKY MR BURGULAR-DO-YOU-THINK-MY-BUTT-LOOKS-PRETTY LOVABLE DOGGY TRAITOR!
Three separate bus explosions killed at least three people and injured 14 in the southwestern Chinese city of Kunming on Monday, media said, amid a security clampdown ahead of next month's Beijing Olympics.
The causes were not immediately clear, but the blasts came within a matter of hours of each other in the capital of Yunnan province and less than three weeks before the Beijing Games, which China has warned could be a target of terrorist attacks.
An explosion on one bus happened at the Panjiawan stop at 7.10 a.m. and the second blast was nearby, the official Xinhua news agency said. Pictures showed a gaping hold in the side of one of the buses and glass scattered in the street.
Another explosion occurred near Minshan, also nearby, the semi-official China News Service said in a report on its Web site (www.chinanews.com.cn).
Two people were killed at the scene and one died on the way to hospital, the report said.
But a Yunnan government official said there had only been two explosions. "We're still investigating the cause," the official said by telephone from Kunming, declining further comment.
#1
Big news in the run-up to the Olympics. I doubt it's the East Turkestan folks, they've been hit hard lately. Either the central government did it to justify greater security, or it's someone who the local government screwed and is now taking revenge.
(Xinhua) -- Four bombs exploded in the northern Spanish province of Cantabria Sunday but cause no injuries, government officials and local media said.
The blasts occurred in the coastal city of Laredo and the nearby beach resort town of Noja after a warning call, which said four explosive devices had been planted by the separatist group ETA. "We received a call at around 10:30 a.m. (0830 GMT) from someone who said they represented ETA and told us ETA had planted four bombs on beaches at Laredo, Noja and Noja golf course," said an emergency services official.
The caller also said the bombs would explode between 12:00 p.m.(1000 GMT) and 3:00 p.m. (1300 GMT), according to government officials. There were no casualties as the authorities evacuated the areas in response to the warning, they said.
Laredo and Noja are popular tourist destinations in summer, each with long, sandy beaches facing the Bay of Biscay. Authorities said the explosions marked the beginning of ETA's traditional summer bombing campaign, aimed at hurting Spain's key tourism industry by attacks on its holiday resorts.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/21/2008 00:00 ||
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ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) -- A court on Monday barred the disgraced architect of Pakistan's atomic weapons program from speaking about nuclear proliferation, less than three weeks after he implicated the army in the sharing of nuclear technology with North Korea.
Abdul Qadeer Khan has been largely confined to his home in the capital since taking sole responsibility in 2004 for leaking nuclear secrets to Iran, North Korea and Libya. However, he recently began agitating for an end to his confinement, disowning his 2004 confession in media interviews and saying the army had known all about at least one act of proliferation in 2000. President Pervez Musharraf issued a swift denial.
The Islamabad High Court, ruling Monday on a petition filed by Khan's lawyer, said the retired scientist must be allowed to meet close friends and relatives subject to security clearance -- something the government says he can already do.
Presiding Judge Sardar Mohammed Aslam also said that Khan "will not convey, transmit, relay any comment or give interview to any channel, news reporter, print or electronic media, in any manner whatsoever in respect of issue of proliferation." Aslam, in a written order, also banned Khan from discussing proliferation with family or friends.
It was unclear whether Khan would appeal the decision, which was made after government lawyers asked the judge to silence him to avoid international sanctions on Pakistan. His lawyer, Javed Iqbal Jaffri, said the ruling established that Khan was a "detainee" and that Khan could file more complaints to win his freedom.
Officials insist Khan is not formally under house arrest, but that restrictions are needed for his own safety and to prevent others from tapping his knowledge of state secrets.
Which he seems eager to spill ...
A government lawyer appeared pleased with the ruling and suggested it could blunt growing calls for Khan's release. "The court has certainly given tangible relief to Dr. Qadeer, and that is reflecting the aspiration of the people of Pakistan," Ahmer Bilal Sufi said.
Khan's 2004 confession spared Pakistan from even greater international condemnation over the leaking of nuclear technology to three countries which, at the time, were all at loggerheads with the West. Musharraf, who seized power in a 1999 coup and only resigned as army chief last year, quickly pardoned Khan.
The United States, which was counting on Musharraf as a key ally in its war on terror, has praised Pakistan's subsequent effort to investigate the international nuclear smuggling ring in which Khan played a key role.
The new government, like its predecessor, insists the chapter is closed and that it will not probe Khan any further or allow foreign investigators to question him.
But experts say it remains unclear whether other countries obtained sensitive technology from the Khan network. They also doubt that senior Pakistani officials were unaware of the trafficking.
Since the ISI pretty much knows everything that is happening in Pakiwakiland ...
Khan, a hero to many Pakistanis for making their country a nuclear power, alarmed authorities when he began giving telephone interviews to journalists after Musharraf's political allies were eclipsed in February parliamentary elections.
Khan said he only agreed to the televised confession after officials promised he would be quickly freed. He also claimed he had done nothing illegal or "unauthorized" and that his long confinement was affecting his health. Khan, 72, underwent surgery for prostate cancer last year.
Early this month, he said Musharraf as the army chief had knowledge in 2000 that a shipment of used centrifuges -- equipment used to enrich uranium so it can be used as fuel or in nuclear bombs -- was being sent from Pakistan to North Korea.
"It was a North Korean plane, and the army had complete knowledge about it and the equipment," Khan said in a July 4 interview with The Associated Press. "It must have gone with his (Musharraf's) consent." Khan sent a handwritten note to the court claiming that he had been misquoted in various articles.
But government lawyers argued that Khan's comments threatened to trigger international sanctions on Pakistan, and asked the judge to stop him from talking to the media in the interests of national security.
Posted by: john frum ||
07/21/2008 07:40 ||
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#1
WTF?
State sponsors of terrorism, didn't we lay out the penalty for that long ago?
#6
#5) Seal team. .50 cal. Leadership required.
Posted by: Hellfish
dittos..
Except the hitter/s should be a young girl, an old woman, the milk man, his goat lover, his racing camel or what ever the fuck can get close enough to ANY of these assholes that are spreading Nukes and or Nuke Technology!
Whether Tools, Blue Prints, Weapons Grade Plutonium or Uranium, Centrifuges, Critical Partz, etc. etc. Anything to do with with Putting The Entire World In Danger, then Death By Assassination Is Totally justified! IMO.
Posted by: Red Dawg ||
07/21/2008 18:16 Comments ||
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#7
"Disgraced"? Khan is a national hero. He lives in a luxury compound. Anything resembling subjection of him to legal procedure is only a smokescreen to keep the US money burning process. Hopefully, John McCain can see through the current stupidity. The White House is asking Congress for $15,000,000,000 in aid and military commitments to the terrorist state.
Several people were hurt in an explosion at Kashmir's main mountain tourist resort Sunday, the second attack in two days, police and witnesses said. "Preliminary reports suggest that several people were hurt in an explosion in Gulmarg," a police officer who did not want to be named said. "Police teams have rushed to the spot," he said. Gulmarg is a hill station popular among Indian tourists wishing to escape the summer heat of the subcontinent, and a well-know adventure ski resort in the winter.
It is situated 52 kilometers (32 miles) west of the summer capital Srinagar and close to the Line of Control, the heavily militarised border dividing Kashmir between nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan.
The blast came a day after nine Indian soldiers were killed and 16 injured when their bus was hit by an improvised explosive device near Srinagar.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/21/2008 00:00 ||
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Two girls in Jammu and Kashmir's Doda district were allegedly tonsured by Lashkar-e-Taiba militants on suspicion of being army spies, an act that drew strong protests from the locals.
Two LeT militants - Yasir Wani and Sajjad Ahmed - intercepted the girls when they were grazing cattle at Beli area last evening, official sources said.
Labelling them as army informers, the militant duo shaved off the hair of the two girls from Chalias village of Gandoh. The girls were set free with a warning that they will be killed if they don't stop working for security forces as informers, the sources said.
Locals informed the security forces and police about the incident. The people resorted to protest demonstrations in the area today. The militants are yet to be traced.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/21/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Oh Brave Lions of Islam, a little off the top and leave the sideburns alone.
Posted by: Steven ||
07/21/2008 0:32 Comments ||
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Barely a day after killing 10 army personnel, militants on Sunday gunned down an army officer and a policeman besides wounding four others in a fierce encounter in Rajouri district of Jammu region. Elsewhere, two militants and two civilians, including a tourist were killed and four others wounded in different incidents across the valley since Saturday evening.
Rajouri gunbattle: Acting on a tip-off regarding presence of militants, police and Army launched a joint cordon-and-search operation in upper reaches of Zadawali near Shahdra Sharief in Thanamandi on Saturday night. Shafiq Mir quoting police sources reports from Rajouri: When Major Bhano Partap Singh of 43 RR and SOG head constable, Anjeeb Ranna alias Angu Ranna entered a house, the militants present there opened indiscriminate fire killing both on the spot.
Sources said other troopers had to take shelter in maize field after they came under heavy fire from the militants. Two soldiers and a policeman were injured in the assault. They were identified as sepoy Ravinder Singh, lance naik Gyan Prakash and constable Zaffar Javed. However, the militants managed their escape under the cover of darkness.
In a tele-statement to Greater Kashmir, Lashker-e-Taiba spokesman, Dr Abdullah Ghaznavi, claimed the militants reached their hideouts safety. "They killed four army personnel, including a major," Dr Ghaznavi claimed.
However, there is another version. Local sources said that a team of SOG and Army in civvies led by Major Singh were on the look out for militants last night. Incidentally, they entered a house where a group of militants opened indiscriminate fire killing the major and the constable from close range. Police maintained silence on whether the slain troopers were carrying arms or not.
On Sunday morning, troops launched a search operation and arrested the inmates of the house where the militants had reportedly taken shelter. Among them are Zahoor Ahmad, Muhammad Sharief, Gulzar Begum, Muhammad Zubair and Samina Akhter. Major Bhano Partap was resident of Rajasthan. He was given two out of turn promotions by the government for his anti-militancy operations.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/21/2008 00:00 ||
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The militant toll in battles between security forces and militants in the Och area of Dera Bugti rose to 33 on Sunday, while at least 9 security personnel and a Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL) engineer had also been killed since the clashes started, Aaj TV reported on Sunday. The FC also arrested nine injured militants, recovering a huge cache of arms from their possessions and was using helicopters and armoured carriers in the search for militants. Meanwhile, a powerful bomb detonated outside the Frontier Corps fort and damaged its wall and two power pylons were blown up when powerful bombs detonated in the in the Kohlu district, sources said. No loss of life was reported as a result of the blasts, the channel said.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/21/2008 00:00 ||
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Bodies of unidentified tribesman are lying in some areas of the Mohmand Agency, a Taliban spokesman said on Sunday. Clashes among rival groups in the agency have led to casualties in the last two days. Dr Asad, claiming to be Taliban spokesman in the agency, said Taliban are searching the area for dead bodies. He also said that the Taliban were clearing the area of the rivals.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/21/2008 00:00 ||
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Two militants were killed in an exchange of fire with security forces in Swat's Matta tehsil on Sunday. The security forces retaliated when the militants attacked a security post in the Venai area. Two militants were killed and five injured in the clash. Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan confirmed the killing of only one militant.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/21/2008 00:00 ||
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Troops and helicopter gunships killed 15 pro-Taliban militants and captured 60 others while clearing Turawari -- a restive northwestern town near the Afghan border -- the military said on Sunday. "15 militants have been killed in the operation so far, while 60 others have been captured," chief military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas told AFP. Abbas said helicopter gunships were providing cover for troops on the ground.
"Five of our soldiers have been injured," he said, adding that troops had managed to push militants out of the valley and were now targeting them in the mountains. Abbas provided no details of how the militants were killed or captured in the operation, which the army has said will continue until the area is cleared of militants.
More than 100 militants attacked the Turawari fort after midnight, but were held off by the 29 paramilitary soldiers inside until army reinforcements arrived. Army troops destroyed six vehicles belonging to the militants as they fled. An estimated 20 militants were injured. Authorities launched an offensive in the increasingly troubled district of Hangu on Wednesday after Taliban insurgents occupying the area killed 17 paramilitary troops in an ambush.
Pakistan is under intense pressure from the United States and other Western allies to crack down on Taliban forces on its side of the porous border with Afghanistan. The operation in Hangu, which borders the country's militant-plagued tribal belt, is the biggest against extremists since Pakistan's new government took charge. Meanwhile, curfew in Doaba city entered into day 12 while curfew in Hangu continued for the fifth consecutive day.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/21/2008 00:00 ||
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Tater has touted that he has a new weapon and it is believed he is in favor of smaller secret groups vs the Mahdi Army. Could this be the weapon and could the Hezbollah Brigades be his new insurgent group instead of the Mahdi army?
#4
Wish I could find the link, but there was a video out last week of a flying p*nis which was eventually batted out of the air at some meeting or class of some kind.
Posted by: Menhaden S ||
07/21/2008 16:23 Comments ||
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#5
What was with the red circles? Were they highlighting rockets spinning in the air?
And the bonfire, did they set the launch devise ablaze?
#10
we should encourage them to launch these from their mosques and strongholds. Looks as likely to kill everyone involved in the launch as anyone else....
nice ME tech
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/21/2008 19:39 Comments ||
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#11
Basically the same weapon as a Nazi V-1. No general target, no real targeting ability, Purely a terror weapon.
Way to go Shit-ites, that'll convince peopel to join, killing people randomly including children.
#12
From Web Video Title:
"hezbollah brigades in iraq :
Ashtars rockets (the flying IEDS)the dangerous newest weapons,attacked the us american base in our base in kesra-atach in 7/8/2008,and we can see during the attack a spy blink is OUT of control."
I think they meant blimp. Maybe to mooselimbs the a spy blimp is a "blink".
Sounds like Inspector Clouseau.
"You have ra-ceived a bimp. One could get a concussion from such a bimp."
#13
ION TOPIX > BRUNEI > WANNA BUY A WARSHIP CHEAP? Major Brit contractor had built three each naval corvettes for Brunei WHICH ARE SO STATE-OF-THE-ART = SOPHISTICATED OR CAPABLE BRUNEI CAN'T USE/MANN THEM???
*WAFF.com > seems the ISRAELIS likethe USN's AEGIS SYS so much they would like to procure and adapt for LOCAL? LAND-BASED BMD???
BAGHDAD (AP) -- The U.S. military in Iraq says it has arrested a suspected propaganda expert linked to a militant group that receives training from Iran. The suspect was arrested Monday in Baghdad.
The military says it believes the man is a member of the Hezbollah Brigades, an Iraqi group it describes as "an offshoot of Iranian-trained special groups." That's how the U.S. refers to Shiite fighters defying a cease-fire order from radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
A military statement says the man uploads to the Web images and video of attacks on Iraqi and U.S.-led forces. The information is allegedly used to raise money and other kinds of support from Iranian backers.
Posted by: Menhaden S ||
07/21/2008 08:17 ||
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The leader of a Muslim terrorist insurgent group in southern Thailand denounced the recent announcement of a cease-fire in the region as a hoax, while terrorists suspected rebels set off a bomb Monday that wounded seven people. Six policemen and a civilian were wounded when the homemade bomb triggered by a cell phone exploded along a road in Yala province, police Lt. Chaiya Phoorahong said. He said Muslim jihadis rebels were suspected in the attack.
Shortly before Monday's violence, the deputy president of the Pattani United Liberation Organization, or PULO, denounced an alleged cease-fire agreement between the Thai government and a group called the United Southern Underground, and said the "struggle for independence" would continue. The previously unknown group, claiming to represent others involved in the insurgency, announced last Thursday that it had ended all violence in the region. The announcement was greeted with widespread doubt.
"It is an opportunist group which was created and orchestrated by an individual to confuse and divide the liberation movement," the PULO's Lukman B. Lima said in an e-mail to The Associated Press. He said the announcement was a political gimmick by a former military commander.
Former army commander and Defense Minister Chetta Thanajaro, who now heads a small political party, has said the agreement was the result of informal talks he held with leaders of the insurgency. He said the organization that made the announcement represented 11 different underground groups operating in southern Thailand, but did not identify them or their leaders. Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej earlier said his government was not holding talks with any separatists, but that at least two insurgent groups were in discussions with mediators in Geneva.
Sri Lankan troops have captured a strategically important Tamil Tiger camp on the islands western coast, the military said on Sunday, as government forces continue their push against the rebels' northern stronghold.
The capture of the rebel base in the northwestern district of Mannar came three days after the military said it had struck a "fatal blow" against the Tigers by capturing the northwestern town of Vidattaltivu, the main base of the rebels' sea wing.
"The army, with troops from 58 Division and Army Commandos captured the largest LTTE base in the Illupaikadavai area, about 10 kilometres north of Vidattaltivu," said military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara, referring to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
"Troops have now advanced nearly 2 kilometres ahead of Illupaikadavai and are now in the process of consolidating their positions." Nanayakkara also said 48-hour fighting in the area had killed 15 Tamil Tiger rebels for the loss of one soldier. Fighting in the 25-year civil war is now concentrated in the north after the Sri Lankan army, which has vowed to finish off the Tigers this year, drove the rebels out of their eastern enclave in 2007.
There is still no clear winner on the horizon as the Tigers regularly retaliate with suicide attacks and roadside bombs, deterring some tourists and worrying investors in the $27 billion economy. An estimated 70,000 people have died since the civil war began in 1983.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/21/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Sea wing? is that like Buffalo Wings?
Posted by: Steven ||
07/21/2008 0:34 Comments ||
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#2
No clear winner? This guy hasn't read his own article...
#3
Sri Lanka, as an island nation, requires sea power in order to dominate. Thus the rebels have their own ships and such, and even a few airplanes for an air wing.
I thought the Tigers were reeling back in March...they seem to be still holding out in a grinding war of attrition. The war is damaging the government's economy as it drags on.
#4
Not really, gromky. Sri Lanka's GNP is up the past year, tourism is rebounding, and the Tamils are losing bases every week to the Army. The last major sea battle between the TT and the SL Navy was a disaster for the TTs, they have a much harder time replacing equipment now that all the major countries have defined them as terrorists.
Coalition special forces teams, likely the terrorist hunter-killer teams of Task Force 88, have captured a Hezbollah Brigades propaganda specialist during a raid in New Baghdad.
The propaganda specialist was positively identified by his wife after the raid, and he later admitted to his role in seeding websites with attack videos.
"The man uploads web sites with imagery and video taken from attacks on Iraqi Security and Coalition forces," Multinational Forces Iraq reported in a press release. "Reports indicate this is part of a propaganda effort in order to earn money and support from their Iranian financiers."
Little information is publicly available on the Hezbollah Brigades, or the Kata'ib Hezbollah. Multinational Forces Iraq indicates the group receives support from Iran and is an “offshoot of Iranian-trained Special Groups."
The logo used by the Hezbollah Brigades is nearly an exact match of the one used by Lebanese Hezbollah, which is directly supported by Iran. The logo shows an arm extended vertically, with the fist grasping an AK-47 assault rifle. US forces captured Ali Mussa Daqduq inside Iraq in early 2007. Daqduq is a senior Hezbollah commander who was tasked with setting up the Mahdi Army Special Groups along the same lines
The Hezbollah Brigades began uploading videos of attacks on US and Iraqi forces this year.
The group has claimed responsibility for the July 8 improvised rocket-assisted mortar attack on Joint Security Station Ur in Sadr City [see video]. One US soldier and one interpreter were wounded after eight of the makeshift "flying IEDs" detonated near the outpost. Shia terror groups have launched a handful of IRAM attacks on US and Iraqi outposts in Baghdad.
http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2008/06/mahdi_army_uses_flyi.php
Hezbollah Brigades also posted video of an attack on a US patrol with an Iranian-supplied, armor-piercing, explosively formed projectile, or EFP.
The capture of the Hezbollah Brigades propaganda expert is the latest in a series of raids against Shia terrorists. Scores of Special Groups operatives have been captured over the past month, including senior leaders, weapons smugglers, financiers, trainers, and cell leaders.
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.
(Xinhua) -- Afghan troops have killed and injured more than three dozen insurgents in Afghanistan's southern Kandahar province, the former stronghold of Taliban, the defense ministry said Sunday. 
BRITAIN'S SAS has revealed plans to cut down casualty rates in Iraq and Afghanistan by parachuting in German shepherds to spy on rebels.
(Xinhua) -- Four bombs exploded in the northern Spanish province of Cantabria Sunday but cause no injuries, government officials and local media said. 
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) -- A court on Monday barred the disgraced architect of Pakistan's atomic weapons program from speaking about nuclear proliferation, less than three weeks after he implicated the army in the sharing of nuclear technology with North Korea.
The militant toll in battles between security forces and militants in the Och area of Dera Bugti rose to 33 on Sunday, while at least 9 security personnel and a Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL) engineer had also been killed since the clashes started, Aaj TV reported on Sunday. The FC also arrested nine injured militants, recovering a huge cache of arms from their possessions and was using helicopters and armoured carriers in the search for militants. Meanwhile, a powerful bomb detonated outside the Frontier Corps fort and damaged its wall and two power pylons were blown up when powerful bombs detonated in the in the Kohlu district, sources said. No loss of life was reported as a result of the blasts, the channel said.
Troops and helicopter gunships killed 15 pro-Taliban militants and captured 60 others while clearing Turawari -- a restive northwestern town near the Afghan border -- the military said on Sunday. "15 militants have been killed in the operation so far, while 60 others have been captured," chief military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas told AFP. Abbas said helicopter gunships were providing cover for troops on the ground.
