The soldiers call it "the witching hour," the time when the fierce Afghan heat has mellowed enough for Taleban to sneak into a nearby graveyard and unleash a torrent of rocket grenades, mortar and rifle fire.
Combat Outpost Nolen, a small mud-walled school in the middle of grape and pomegranate fields providing perfect insurgent cover, has experienced some of the fiercest fighting in Arghandab district, a key Taleban insurgency route on the way to Kandahar city.
Just three weeks after arriving, an American platoon belonging to the 101st Airborne Division -- shock troops of the US military -- is withdrawing from the valley, their numbers cut in half by horrific war injuries.
"Out there the enemy owns the terrain. It's hard to see him with the foliage. Stay out of the Agent Orange. It'll fcuk you up.
"Many of our guys compare it to what they've seen in Vietnam, except for the jungle canopy," First Platoon commander Lt. Norman Black, 36, told Reuters. I'm suspicious of that Reuters quote, which makes me suspicious of the entire article. Vietnam shut down in 1974, if I recall correctly. I was there '67-'69 and retired with 20 years in 1985, which by my count was 25 years ago. Had I stayed for 30 years I'd have retired in 1995. 30 is mandatory retirement without special permission. I don't think there are many people left in the Army who reminisce about their Vietnam experiences now.
A soldier from a separate unit was shot in the head here at long range a few weeks ago as he stood guard mid-morning in watchtowers since covered in camouflage netting.
Black's platoon started the mission with 17 men including the medic, and now they're down to 10. A small courtyard in the base is scarred with rocket grenade impact craters near the only well, while fly wire on school rooms is ripped by shrapnel. RPGs thump into the thick walls at night.
The area around COP Nolen has been heavily seeded with hidden bombs, forcing soldiers to use varying routes through fields and climbing over high walls in combat gear to avoid IEDs and ambushes. But they are near impossible to avoid.
Troops try to walk in each other's footsteps in narrow trenches of overgrown vine, weeds and mud that are swelteringly humid and make IEDs invisible, as well as concentrate their effect when they detonate.
In a July 4 Independence Day prelude, shrapnel tore into Sgt. Matthew Kendall's arm and face as he walked beside a soldier from another unit on a handover mission to learn about dangers in the area.
Eight days later, on July 12, Spc. Kevin Gatson lost a leg and three fingers on his left hand to a bomb, while Black blew out an eardrum.
Staff Sgt. Kyle Malin stepped on another IED and lost both legs while on his way to aid Gatson as part of a quick reaction force. Within 45 minutes, Pfc. Corey Kent stepped on a third bomb and lost both legs and part of his left hand.
Staff Sgt. Avionne Reese's incredible luck ran out on July 19 when he walked into the third IED of his short deployment. This one sent bomb fragments into the right side of his body, while Spc. Pedro Torres was badly wounded in the same blast.
In three weeks of fighting the platoon has been recommend for 10 purple hearts and a Bronze Star for valor for a soldier who helped a comrade to safety over a field of IEDs.
"It's very thick orchards, grape fields where you can only go down the edges of the fields because you can't really jump every different level of the vines. And then the open fields, they set up and wait for you as an ambush," said Black.
Outpost Nolen was set up near Charqulba village, now deserted and was supposed to be a base for patrolling in the area. The village now provides a killing field for insurgents.
A walled graveyard to the west provides Taleban with a safe firing haven against American automatic grenade guns pointed at them and US helicopter gunships that prowl the skies at night in protective overwatch missions.
"We call that "death valley" and there's not much we can do about it," said combat medic Pfc. Scott Donahue."
Black said his platoon was part of an artillery unit recast into infantry, but its manpower was only around two-thirds of a regular infantry unit.
"As we've been taking casualties, we've not been able to push out, and they've been coming in closer," he said. "It's been tough going for us."
#2
Probably alot of 60+ yr. old 11Bravos and platoon leaders out there humping in the valley of death. Besides the valley of death for the 101 was the Au Shau where the fought for years.
#3
Did we co-opt the old Soviet 3rd Shock Army? Or is the the Stosstruppen "shock troops" (whcih quickly becomes storm troopers) we are not being compared to? This author is full of shit, as seen by the Vietnam reference and the oblique "Storm Trooper" SS implied comparisons.
Who wrote this piece of puerile propaganda?
Posted by: No I am The Other Beldar ||
07/22/2010 11:45 Comments ||
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#4
Reuters. Looks like he pulled an old "Invincible Viet Cong" article from 1966 out of the archives and changed a few words.
#7
I served with the last of the draftees. Anyone seeing combat in Vietnam would be around 55 years old or older. Now I don't doubt that there are some 55+ reservists here and there ... but I doubt many are humping loads of gear and ammo at over 6000 feet altitude. Let alone the number of people that "Many of our guys" implies.
I would say that Rob Taylor of Reuters simply made that up or that Lt. Black did. Someone certainly did.
Dr. Abdullah, Karzai's top rival in last year's presidential election, said that the announced commitments by Afghan President and International Community are of no importance
"Unfortunately, the Afghan government does not have the ability to fulfill its commitments. And the prediction is that the pledges will be left only on papers," said Dr. Abdullah.
While highlighting that resolving the Afghan challenges requires a fundamental change, Dr. Abdullah said he will back any move for the improvement of the current situation in Afghanistan.
The historic Kabul International Conference ended with commitments made by the Afghan President and International Community about security betterment, crack down on corruption, economic improvements and the control of Afghan government over fifty percent of donor countries aid.
Our country needs a national unity and it can only be reached after the government brings fundamental changes to its strategy, he said.
"The way out is to bring a basic change in the system, so that on the one hand it should be a system that could address Afghan people's desires and on the other hand it could get legitimacy," he said.
Meanwhile, he commented that the Afghan security forces do not have the capability to take full security leadership by 2014 and it requires some more time.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/22/2010 00:00 ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir arrived in Chad on Wednesday, his first visit to a full member state of the International Criminal Court demanding his arrest for genocide.
Bashir was indicted by the ICC for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur last year. This month the court added genocide to the charges, accusing him of presiding over rape, torture and murder in the remote west of Sudan.
The ICC said that as a member state Chad was obliged to arrest Bashir.
Bashir was greeted by Chadian President Idriss Deby on his first trip abroad since the genocide warrant. Since his initial indictment, Bashir has made several trips abroad in defiance of the court.
"My presence in N'djamena bears witness to our wish to turn the page after the differences between our two countries," he told journalists at the airport.
"We are in a new phase of the history of our two countries, in the interests of our two peoples," said Bashir, in Chad to take part in a meeting on Thursday of the Community of Sahel-Saharan States (CEN-SAD).
Posted by: Fred ||
07/22/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Choice is Bashir under ICC - South secession impossible = more deaths. Bashir over ICC South Secession very possible.
Earned 86% of the vote in Sudan popular with stuffed ballots but no resistance.
Let what is set up or take it all down.
I prefer what is set up right now. It is not like the ICC has other "papa doc's" to persue over this planet at this time.
[Maghrebia] Algeria's Ministry of Religious Affairs has drafted a new code of conduct for imams after an incident in which several such leaders raised the spectre of Black Decade-style extremism by refusing to stand for the national anthem.
The code will be sent out by religious affairs departments across wilayas at the start of Ramadan. "This [code] has been made necessary by our opening up to the world and the entry of a number of different Islamic currents into Algeria," a ministry official in charge of communications, Adda Fellahi, announced in Algiers on July 11th.
He added that "there needed to be protection for society, the state and the religious institutions themselves, to prevent a drift away from the nation's established position".
Fellahi said the code, which is aimed at imams, requires respect for Algeria's laws and religious obligations. It also stresses the importance of respecting the Malekite and Ibadhite rites, and for obligations such as reading the Qur'an "in the 'Ouarch' version, the reading of the 'Sahih Boukhari' and the 'Hizb Erateb', and the teaching of fiqh in mosques".
Algerian officials, Islamic groups and religious scholars have denounced a handful of imams who refused to stand up for the national anthem on June 28th, when it was played at an Algiers meeting attended by Religious Affairs Minister Bouabdellah Ghlamallah.
Imams and other Algerians contacted by Magharebia had mixed reactions to the announcement of the new code of conduct.
Mehdi Ilyés, 36, who preaches in a mosque in a working-class district of Algiers, said: "I'm worried that the ministry is going to take advantage of this to impose politically correct speech, and there will be very little leeway for imams."
"I agree that we need to respect the laws of the republic, but at the same time, an imam should still have a certain amount of room to manoeuvre, otherwise he becomes nothing more than a civil servant," said Ilyés.
Imam Djamel Sahli, 41, said: "We have a very delicate mission to accomplish, and we must do this within a well-regulated framework. There are lines which we simply must not cross under any circumstances."
"The code that the ministry is talking about will lay down the boundaries for our preaching and it's a very positive thing, particularly for young imams who can be influenced by religious currents from outside our own society," said Sahli.
Worshippers contacted by Magharebia had more positive reactions to the code.
Mohamed Malhi, a sales manager attending Friday prayers, said: "It's good that the ministry is taking action. It's a serious thing if imams are preaching contrary to the country's rites and established religious position."
"With this code, the imams have been given notice, the lines have been laid down, and they just need to keep within them," he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/22/2010 00:00 ||
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SANAA Yemeni authorities freed 82 prisoners detained during anti-government protests in the south in a step towards implementing an accord sealed with the opposition, a local official told AFP on Wednesday.
Eighty-two prisoners were freed in Al-Mukalla, the main city in the southeastern province of Hadramawt, on the orders of President Ali Abdullah Saleh after the deal was signed with the opposition, the official said.
All of those released have participated in protests in support of Yemens Southern Movement, the official added, referring to a coalition of groups with demands ranging from greater autonomy to full independence for the south.
The agreement to embark on a national dialogue was signed on Saturday with the opposition Common Forum, which groups the main Islamist opposition Al-Islah (Reform) the Yemen Socialist Party which was once the ruling faction in the formerly independent south as well as other smaller groups.
It focuses on mechanisms to implement a February 2009 accord for national dialogue and the postponement of a parliamentary election until April 2011 to allow time to amend Yemens constitution and restructure its political system.
The Yemeni president said on Saturday that the new agreement was a positive step towards political detente. Saleh also renewed calls for the opposition to join a national unity government.
In May, he invited all political groups inside and outside Yemen to a responsible national dialogue, within the framework of constitutional institutions.
Officials in the region estimate that some 300 southern activists are in custody.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/22/2010 00:00 ||
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[Bangla Daily Star] Changes made to the constitution in around four years after the August 15, 1975 changeover altered the fundamental principles of state policy, destroyed the secular character of the constitution and allowed politics based on religion.
Besides, the changes replaced Bangalee nationalism with Bangladeshi nationalism, and provided political right to anti-liberation forces including Jamaat-e-Islami and war criminals that resulted in an alarming growth of political parties and organisations based on religion.
All those amendments, modifications, substitutions, omissions and additions to the constitution were indiscriminately made during the martial law rule that began immediately after the assassination of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
And the constitution's fifth amendment bill passed in the second parliament during the rule of Ziaur Rahman in 1979 ratified all the actions that also made the supreme law of the land subordinate to martial law proclamations, orders and regulations.
The August 29, 2005 High Court verdict that declared the fifth amendment illegal also said it undermined the very sovereign character of the republic.
The Supreme Court on February 2 this year upheld the landmark HC verdict with 'modifications' and 'observations'. Copy of the apex court judgement might be released soon.
Article 8 of the original constitution, which speaks of the four fundamental principles of state policy--nationalism, socialism, democracy and secularism -- was amended to omit secularism and insert the words "absolute trust and faith in Almighty Allah".
The principle of socialism was also given a new explanation, saying, "socialism would mean economic and social justice".
Socialism and freedom from exploitation in articles 9 and 10 were substituted by the concepts of promotion of local government institutions and participation of women in national life.
The amendment omitted article 12, which contained secularism and freedom of religion.
"These changes were fundamental in nature and changed the very basis of our war for liberation and also defaced the constitution altogether," the HC observed in its watershed verdict. The changes transformed secular Bangladesh into a "theocratic state" and "betrayed one of the dominant causes for the war of liberation of Bangladesh".
Trial of war criminals stopped and their political rehabilitation began with the scrapping of Bangladesh Collaborators (Special Tribunal) Order 1972 by Khandaker Mushtaque Ahmed, who assumed presidency and put the country under martial law following the killing of Bangabandhu.
By the second proclamation on May 3, 1976, Justice AM Sayem, who became president later, omitted the proviso to Article 38 of the constitution, which banned politics based on religion.
In the light of the proviso, the Special Powers Act provides for punishment for use of religion for political purpose.
But omission of the proviso radically altered the nature of political activities in the country. It led to the rise of religion-based political parties, which were constitutionally banned immediately after the independence for their anti-liberation role.
The constitutional bar on war criminals convicted under Bangladesh Collaborators (Special Tribunal) Order 1972 from becoming voters and contesting parliamentary elections was also lifted during the rule of Zia.
During his military rule, Zia brought some fundamental changes to the constitution by a proclamation on April 23, 1977.
The preamble to the constitution was preceded by "Bismillah-ar-Rahman-ar-Rahim" (in the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful).
The preamble also underwent two changes--the words "a historic struggle for national liberation" were replaced with "a historic war for national independence", and "nationalism, socialism, democracy and secularism" were replaced with "absolute trust and faith in Almighty Allah, nationalism, democracy and socialism meaning economic and social justice".
Posted by: Fred ||
07/22/2010 00:00 ||
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No big surprise here: Hugo didn't like that Colombia elected a new president, Juan Manuel Santos, who plans to follow the policies of soon to be ex-President Uribe, particularly against FARC. Santos received just under 70% of the vote in the run-off and seems to be as genuinely popular as Uribe was.
Posted by: Dar ||
07/22/2010 16:21 ||
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#2
Yeah, seems like an attempt to somehow intimidate Santos politically. Columbia should just treat Venezuela as if it were a lake. For all practical purposes Venezuela is going to become a lake in an economic sense anyway. Chavez is destroying the country.
[The Nation (Nairobi)] Funds for the legal representation of suspected Somali pirates have been diverted to other uses, a court was told on Wednesday. "They had a big sale on Heineken, so we bought enough to last for awhile."
Lawyer Francis Kadima, representing seven suspected Somali pirates, said a European Union official told him the funds were no longer available. [Bu-u-u-u-u-urp!]
"My conscience cannot allow me to continue with the matter. It will be a sad day for justice for the accused to be placed in a begging situation where they have been denied facilities to put up a credible defence because funds have been misdirected," said Mr Kadima. "Sad, ain't it? Like another cold one?"
He told senior resident magistrate Mr Tito Gesora that his clients had been unable to organise their defence in clear breach of a multilateral memorandum of understanding between the government and the EU.
He said he had correspondence from a UN official indicating that the organisation had provided Sh240 million for the suspected pirates' defence. He said that according to the memorandum of understanding, piracy suspects were entitled to legal representation and that the EU would take care of their fees.
Mr Kadima told the court that the suspects were, however, not told of their right to legal representation when taking their pleas.
"It is after I got access to the MOU that I realised what was going on. At the time, I had four piracy cases with more than 30 clients," said Mr Kadima.
He said another four previous cases were taken away from him and given to a Nairobi-based lawyer. The seven suspected pirates are Mohamud Kheyre, Abshir Salat, Abdullahi Ahmed, Abdirahman Hussein, Abdikarim Abdullahi, Hassan Isse and Feysal Ali.
They are alleged to have attacked the MV Polaris on February 11 last year in the Indian Ocean. They were allegedly armed with five AK 47 rifles, a pistol, and an RPG-7 portable rocket launcher. The case continues.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/22/2010 00:00 ||
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Retired Marine Corps lieutenant colonel Jeffrey Chessani broke more than five years of silence Tuesday to tell Defend Our Marines what it was like to finally leave the Marine Corps he loves without ever being entirely exonerated of failing to adequately investigate an alleged massacre that never happened.
Rep. Sue Myrick, a Republican from North Carolina, is worried that Iranian agents are slipping across the U.S.-Mexico border after receiving training in Venezuela. Myrick, the ranking member of the House Subcommittee on Intelligence Community Management, says Farsi tattoos are popping up in prisons in the United States, and she sees this as proof of Iranian influence.
Last month she asked the Department of Homeland Security to investigate. But the intelligence community doesn't buy what critics call a confusing conspiracy theory. "We know Iran is trying to increase its presence in Venezuela and has regular flights there. However, the presence we have noted so far is only to increase Iran's cultural influence in that country," says one intelligence official. "We have seen no planning or activity that indicates Iranians are trying to get to the homeland via Latin and Central America to conduct operations." DHS also says there's no "credible evidence" of any terrorist groups operating along the border.
U.S. Rep. Sue Myrick Tuesday faulted the U.S. intelligence community for failing to see a connection between a terrorist group and a radical Charlotte blogger now believed to edit an al-Qaida magazine in Yemen.
Meanwhile a spokesman for local Muslims said he and others met with Samir Khan at least twice in 2007 in an unsuccessful effort to steer him away from supporting terrorism.
Intelligence sources told national news organizations Monday that they believe Khan is the top editor of "Inspire," an online magazine designed as a recruiting tool for the group al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula.
Myrick, a Republican member of the House Intelligence Committee, told the Observer she's frustrated. "It becomes clear to me that he had contacts with al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula while he was in the U.S.," she said. "And if that's the case, the intelligence community should have been able to discover that. And if they knew it and didn't do something, that raises more red flags."
Khan, about 24, is a Saudi-born U.S. citizen whose family moved to New York City when he was 7 and to North Carolina in 2004. He's a former Central Piedmont Community College student who in 2005 started a blog called "Inshallahshaheed," or "a martyr soon if God wills." It was the first of a succession of blogs he edited from the suburban home in northeast Charlotte that he shared with his parents.
According to a 2007 New York Times story, one blog featured "glad tidings" from a North African militant whose group had massacred 31 Algerian troops. Links connected readers to sites where they could get insurgent videos from Iraq. "I will do my best to speak the truth," he told the Times, "and even if it annoys the disbelievers, the truth must be preached."
A few months later, responding to a letter in the Observer about Muslims' view of women, he wrote his own letter to the editor. "Muhammad said, 'This world is a prison for the believer and a paradise for the disbeliever,'" he wrote. "Our women who die upon Islam will receive rewards from Allah which no eye has ever seen ... In Paradise, Satan won't exist so evil thoughts won't ever exist."
Jibril Hough, spokesman for the Islamic Center of Charlotte, said local Muslims grew alarmed at Khan's increasing radicalization. A group of men influential in the Muslim community - including Khan's father - twice met with him at Hough's southwest Charlotte home. "We were trying to give him good advice, tell him he was going down the wrong road," said Hough. "He didn't listen."
Hough said even an Imam from Raleigh tried to intervene with Khan. "Our counseling didn't look like it made that great of an impact," Hough said.
Bill Warner is a private detective in Sarasota, Fla., who tracks jihadist web sites. He followed Khan's postings closely. He said he tried unsuccessfully to get authorities to shut them. "It's unbelievable," said Warner, who was featured in a 2008 WBTV report on Khan. "Now it's going to be a bigger problem. He's going to have a worldwide audience now. ... They had more than one opportunity to shut him down."
FBI spokeswoman Amy Thoreson said although she can't comment on specific cases, blogs are protected by the First Amendment. "If someone is not acting on something, they're allowed to say it," she said. "The moment people act on something is when it crosses the line."
Khan is believed to have gone to Yemen in 2009. Myrick argues that his association with al-Qaida didn't happen overnight. "If you don't have contacts, they don't take strangers into their midst," she said. "This is a closed society. Unless they know you, they don't trust you. Somewhere along the line there were connections."
The feds charged a disgruntled ex-American Airlines employee Wednesday with threatening to reveal in-flight safety secrets to Islamic groups.
Rodney Lorenzo authored two anonymous letters mailed from Queens to the airline's corporate headquarters last year claiming he sent information from the safety and security manual "to 25 Muslim charity organizations both here and in the U.K.," a criminal complaint unsealed in Brooklyn Federal Court says.
Lorenzo, a former flight attendant, has a grudge against the airline stemming from his dismissal for throwing a coffee pot at a fellow attendant during a flight, court papers charge.
"Karma will soon bite back and your aircraft will begin to fall from the sky like dead birds," Lorenzo wrote in the letter, which was enclosed in an envelope bearing the word "Boom!!" prosecutors say. He claims to have made "hundreds of copies" of the safety manual, FBI agent Michael Lewis stated in the complaint.
Lorenzo came under suspicion because he included threats in the letters against the employee he attacked, as well as enclosing photos of decapitated and mutilated women. Lorenzo was released on $50,000 bail. Defense lawyer Heidi Cesare could not immediately be reached for comment.
JULY 21--The Virginia man who this year threatened the creators of "South Park" over an episode featuring the Prophet Muhammad dressed in a bear suit, was arrested today on federal charges after speaking openly to the FBI about his connection to a terror organization and his plans to travel overseas to fight with the group.
Zachary Chesser, 20, was charged with providing material support to Al-Shabaab, a terror group affiliated with al-Qaeda. According to the below affidavit sworn by FBI Agent Mary Brandt Kinder, Chesser, a convert to Islam, spoke at length with agents about his attempts to travel to Kenya and Somalia to join Al-Shabaab and his devotion to jihad, which has included his operation of web sites and a You Tube channel stocked with jihadi propaganda.
Through the revolutionmuslim.com site, Chesser remarked in April that "South Park" creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker would "probably end up" like a Dutch filmmaker who was murdered in retaliation for a film critical of the treatment of Islamic women.
Along with focusing the public's attention on his extremist beliefs, Chesser's "South Park" threat resulted in fallout within his family. After his mother received death threats following the "South Park" remarks, Chesser told the FBI, "he was no longer on speaking terms with his parents."
Michael Katz, 58, of Plainsboro, NJ, and Alaa Allia Ahmed Mohamed, a/k/a Alaa Ahmed Mohamed Abouelnagaa, 44, of Brooklyn, NY, were both sentenced today for conspiracy to traffic in counterfeit goods and trafficking counterfeit goods, announced United States Attorney Zane David Memeger. Katz was sentenced to 12 months in prison; Mohamed was sentenced to 18 months in prison. The two were charged in an indictment that also charged Moussa Hamdan and others, including Hassan Hodroj, with attempting to provide material support to Hizballah in the form of approximately 1,200 Colt M4 Carbines (machine guns). In July 2008, Katz and Mohamed participated in the purchase and transportation of 1572 pairs of counterfeit Nike® shoes and 334 counterfeit Mitchell & Ness® sports jerseysitems with a total retail value of approximately $246,200.
In addition to the prison sentence, U.S. District Court Judge Stewart Dalzell ordered Katz to pay a fine in the amount of $1,000 and ordered Mohamed to pay a fine in the amount of $250.
The charges against Katz, Mohamed, and four conspirators, were filed in November 2009. Katz pleaded guilty March 4, 2010. Mohamed pleaded guilty April 9, 2010.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigations Joint Terrorism Task Force, the New Jersey State Police, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Internal Revenue Service, the United States Secret Service, Defense Criminal Investigative Service, the Philadelphia Police Department, the Department of Commerce, Customs and Border Protection, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, the Federal Air Marshals, Pennsylvania State Police, and the Department of State.
It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Nancy Beam Winter and Stephen A. Miller, and National Security Division Counterterrorism Section Trial Attorneys Jolie F. Zimmerman and Mary Futcher.
A King Salmon weatherman and his British-born, stay-at-home wife on Wednesday became the first people to face a domestic terrorism case in Alaska when they were charged and pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about a jihadist hit list.
Red-bearded Paul Gene Rockwood Jr., 35, a convert to Islam and a follower of a radical, anti-American cleric, faces an eight-year prison sentence the maximum under his plea deal. Nadia Piroska Maria Rockwood, 36, a dual U.S. and British citizen, is set to get five years probation, which she will be allowed to serve in Great Britain.
The blue-eyed couple admitted in back-to-back hearings in U.S. District Court that they misled counter-terrorism agents in Anchorage about the source and nature of an assassination list containing the names of about 15 people in the Lower 48 they deemed enemies of Islam.
Charging documents filed by the U.S. Attorney's office said Paul Rockwood drew up the hit list based on websites he read while a federal employee in King Salmon and considered shooting his targets or sending them package bombs. On a visit to Anchorage in April, Nadia Rockwood delivered the list to an unnamed person, and it somehow found its way to the FBI. The couple was interrogated about the list on May 19, which is when they lied, according to charging documents and their admissions.
U.S. District Judge Ralph Beistline set sentencing for Aug. 23. He withheld his decision about whether he will accept the plea deals. If he doesn't, or decides to send Nadia Rockwood to prison, the couple can withdraw their pleas and go to trial. Lying to a federal agent normally carries a maximum five-year penalty, but three years can be added if the lying concerned domestic terrorism.
As the surprising case unfolded Wednesday, many questions were left unanswered. For instance, though officials knew about the hit list around the time that Nadia Rockwood brought it to Anchorage in April and they confronted the couple about it May 19, neither was ever taken into custody. After leaving King Salmon several months ago, they lived a relatively normal life in Anchorage until Paul Rockwood was led away to jail following his guilty plea Wednesday. Prosecutors agreed that Nadia Rockwood could remain free without having to post a cash bond.
At a news conference after the hearings, U.S. Attorney Karen Loeffler and the head of Anchorage FBI office, Kevin Fryslie, declined to say why neither was jailed during the previous months. Fryslie said steps were taken to protect the targets on the list but wouldn't go into details.
There was also no information about who was on the list, other than a statement in the charges that some might have been U.S. military personnel. The list might have included institutions at one place in Paul Rockwood's plea agreement, prosecutors said the list contained "names and entities."
The plea agreement said that Paul Rockwood gave his wife the list in April to deliver it in Anchorage to another person "who Paul Rockwood believed shared his beliefs." Neither the documents, nor Loeffler and Frylie, said whether that person was an agent, informant or someone else. Also secret was how the list got from that person to the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force in Anchorage. Did either Rockwood take any actions to further an assassination plot other than to draw up a list and read about making bombs? Loeffler wouldn't say.
"Obviously the case went beyond simply going on the Web and looking at sites, because that is First Amendment (protected) speech," Loeffler said. "But when it got to handing out a target list and talking about taking action that's all that we have in the plea agreement, and I won't go beyond that."
Paul Rockwood is specifically charged with denying at the May 19 meeting that he created the list, denying the purpose of the list and denying ever having such a list of names. Nadia Rockwood denied delivering a hit list, telling the FBI it was only a book and an ordinary letter.
According to the charging documents, Rockwood was living in Virginia when he converted to Islam in late 2001 or early 2002. He soon became an adherent of the radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, a jihadist born in Las Cruces, N.M., and now believed to be hiding in Yemen. Al-Awlaki met with some of the 9/11 hijackers and has solicited jihadists for al-Qaeda over Internet sites.
Four al-Qaida-linked detainees have escaped from a Baghdad area prison that was handed over by the U.S. to Iraqi authorities a week ago, Iraq's justice minister said Thursday. Dara Noureddin said the four, awaiting trial on terrorism charges, escaped from the prison formerly known as Camp Cropper.
The escape could be a major embarrassment for Iraq, which took over control of the prison from U.S. forces on July 15. The handover of the facility marked a milestone for Iraq's push to regain full sovereignty as the U.S. pulls out the last of its combat forces by the end of next month.
Noureddin did not name the men who escaped, but said they had been arrested by U.S. forces in 2008 in western Iraq. "The four detainees were awaiting trial after their arrest" on terrorism charges, Noureddin said.
Two Iraqi intelligence officials and a third in the Interior Ministry who are knowledgeable about the case said authorities believe the four men -- whom they identified as al-Qaida members -- were aided by the man in charge of their prison block. The intelligence officials said the four were discovered missing Tuesday during an evening roll call. When prison staff went to inform the unit head, they found that he, too, was missing. He has not reported for work since, they said.
The intelligence officials said one of the escapees is believed to be a senior member of the group, and had the title of finance minister of the Islamic State of Iraq, an al-Qaida front group.
Posted by: ryuge ||
07/22/2010 13:39 ||
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#1
I'm sure iside help helped alot
Posted by: chris ||
07/22/2010 22:36 Comments ||
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General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc., the privately held maker of Predator drones, said it has won U.S. approval for an export version of the unmanned plane that Saudi Arabia and Pakistan are interested in buying.
"Mahmoud, these new drones are great!"
"Um, yeah, sure, Achmed, but why is that one flying directly towards us?"
"There's interest from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates," Frank Pace, president of the Poway, California-based company, said in an interview at the Farnborough Air Show near London today.
The U.S. recently approved the company's request for an unarmed version of the Predator drone for export to countries beyond the NATO block, Japan, Australia and New Zealand, Pace said.
I like the idea of the Paks having Predators, so long as the secret software allows us to take control any time we want.
#3
Guess this is what that latest AID package was for a couple days ago. I wish India would just go ahead and wipe this shithole off the face of the earth.
Posted by: chris ||
07/22/2010 10:09 Comments ||
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#4
What 3dc said....reminds me of the old Outer Limits intro:
"we control the vertical, we control the horizontal"
As long as the cameras send back intel and we control the flight path and the auto destruct...I'm good with it...
#6
Unless there have been drastic changes since GA applied for a DSP5, the Predator XP has been modified to be in the Missile Technology Control Regime Cat 2. Basically, that means there are range and payload limitations that keep this from being as big a deal as it seems.
[Straits Times] A FORMER terror suspect linked to the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) militant group on Wednesday urged Malaysia to repeal a tough security law, saying detainees were subjected to mental torture.
In a rare public statement from an ex-detainee, Mat Sah Satray said the Internal Security Act (ISA) was used as a political tool to detain individuals without trial and said the 'draconian' act should be abolished.
Mr Mat Sah was held without charge under the ISA for eight years until his release last year over alleged links with the South-east Asian terror outfit and the group's spiritual leader, Indonesian radical cleric Abu Bakar Bashir.
'I was held in a small room and was interrogated with questions that were meant to incite anger, such as how many times do you have sex with your wife every day,' he said at the launch of a human rights report.
'The ISA can be used to detain anyone at any time without trial and we can't defend ourselves,' said Mr Mat Sah, who said he was made a 'sacrificial lamb' as the region stepped up anti-terrorism efforts after the September 11 attacks.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/22/2010 00:00 ||
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Another 'war of words' simmers between Israel and Lebanon as Tel Aviv army commanders renew threats to target civilian areas in south Lebanon.
The Israeli Army's Chief of General Staff charged on Tuesday that Hezbollah was consolidating its bases in the populated parts in south Lebanon "where the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) can't discover weapons."
Ashkenazi threatened that his forces would not hesitate to strike Lebanese towns and villages "if need be."
Hezbollah reacted by condemning the remarks and said any such move would violate international law.
"The Israeli claim reflects an intention to target civilians. This has been the case in previous wars and it shows how easily Israel violates human rights," Hezbollah spokesman Hussein Rahal told a Press TV correspondent.
The senior member of the Lebanese resistance movement called on the government in Beirut to take legal action against the Israeli threats.
Former UNIFIL spokesman Timor Goksel also described the accusations and threats as part of Tel Aviv military tactic.
"I think it is only an intimidation; a threat to neutralize the defense of the villages" in case of a future war, he said.
Goskel recalled how people in south Lebanon supported Hezbollah in its resistance against Israeli invaders during the 2006 Israeli offensive, saying Israel was trying to prevent the failure it suffered in the 33-day conflict.
"What we are hearing today is that they are going to see the same, maybe worse in the next war."
Posted by: Fred ||
07/22/2010 00:00 ||
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Iran's OPEC governor has outlined Tehran's plans for countering US and European sanctions, dismissing the unilateral measures as old bids in a new disguise.
"The point is the sanctions are not new. The shape is different. We can carry on," Iran's OPEC governor Mohammad Ali Khatibi told Reuters in a telephone interview on Wednesday.
With the European Union poised to impose tougher sanctions against Iran, Khatibi stressed Tehran is flexible about its currency of choice for oil trade and would not be limited by new restrictions.
"I can say that we are flexible if we feel that the euro is good, also the dollar, also the dirham, the yuan, the yen. We're flexible."
"Still we are developing projects and we can expand our gas industry, refining, petrochemicals industry...We can change our industry to produce more gasoline. We are constructing some refineries," he added.
Khatibi also announced plans for the gradual reduction of fuel subsidies and hikes in the price of gasoline and other fuels "from very low levels to international levels."
"People understand this limitation is because we are engaging in something like war. There are some difficulties I know, but everybody understands that there is some difficulty," he said.
Khatibi added that the market price of USD 78 a barrel (on Wednesday) is bound to rise, noting the disastrous BP deepwater spill in the Gulf of Mexico as well as price dependency on other commodities for equipment involved in the industry.
Four rounds of UN Security Council sanctions and new unilateral measures are an integral part of efforts aimed at pressuring Iran into abandoning its civilian nuclear program, amid Israeli-led charges that Tehran is harboring a military agenda.
Iranian officials say that as a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) the country has the right to peaceful nuclear technology for civilian electricity generation and medical research.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/22/2010 00:00 ||
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Iranian Parliament (Majlis) Speaker Ali Larijani discusses a possible US attack on Iran, saying Washington lacks the courage to attack Tehran.
"Iran is ready for any possible incidents and is well aware of the ongoing developments in the region. If the US makes such a mistake, it will pay dearly," Larijani said in a meeting with head of the Cuban Parliament Ricardo Alarcon on the sidelines of the third World Conference of Speakers of Parliament in Geneva on Tuesday.
The Iranian official also pointed to "very complicated" situation in the Middle East and said the US approach to Iran's nuclear case has been a complete farce, ISNA reported.
Washington, Tel Aviv and their European allies claim that Tehran seeks to build a nuclear weapon and is pursuing military work under the guise of peaceful nuclear activities. Tehran, a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty has vehemently rejected the allegations.
Larijani further pointed out that Tehran and Havana enjoy amicable relations and stressed the importance of enhancing parliamentary ties between the two countries.
The Cuban speaker denounced US media propaganda against the Islamic Republic.
"The US tries to hide facts. It pursues an illogical attitude to Iran," Alarcon stated.
According to the Cuban official, Israel is a tool in the hands of the United States and urged Iran, Cuba and countries which seek to become independent from the US to strengthen their ties.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/22/2010 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#2
#1: Washington lacks the courage to attack Tehran.
Might be right. Posted by: JohnQC|
No, only the current "senior leadership" is afraid to attack Iran, because it would be considered "muslim on muslim" violence. I could give a fig. Blasting them back beyond "hunter-gatherer" ability wouldn't bother me at all.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/22/2010 17:30 Comments ||
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Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani says Iran and North Korea are both revolutionary and independent nations trying to resist the world's "greedy" powers.
Meeting with his North Korean counterpart on the sidelines of an Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) conference in Geneva on Wednesday, Larijani hailed staunch bilateral ties between the two nations and thanked the North for its contributions to Iran under late Korean leader Kim Il-sung, ISNA reported.
For his part, North Korean speaker Choe Thae Bok highlighted his country's full support for the Islamic Republic and the common goal of fighting US imperialism.
The Korean official condemned US "accusations" concerning Iran's nuclear program and denounced its move to send Tehran's nuclear dossier to the UN Security Council as aimed at "troubling" the Islamic Republic.
He also went on to criticize the international community's double standard regarding Iran's peaceful nuclear program. "It is not fair that the Security Council cast doubts on Iran's nuclear activity while it turns a blind eye to Israel's nuclear weapons."
Choe further accused the United States of bullying other nations and charged US President Barack Obama with following in track of his predecessor George W. Bush to engage in plots against the world's sovereign nations.
He described the sinking of a South Korean warship in March, which has widely been blamed in the North, as a plot by Washington to widen the gap between the two Koreas, saying the Americans most of all benefit from the tensions in the Korean peninsula.
Choe referred to US opposition to the formation of a joint fact-finding commission comprising of Korean experts as a sign that further proves Pyongyang was not involved in the incident.
The North Korean parliament speaker invited Larijani to visit his country, which was welcomed by his Iranian counterpart.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/22/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Versus
* WMF > CHINA'S MILITARY ULTIMATUM ON YELLOW SEA CAUSES THE HEADS OF THE US STATE, DEFENSE [USDOD] DEPTS TO SET FOOT IN ASIA [SecState Hillary + SecDef Robert Gates].
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.
The soldiers call it "the witching hour," the time when the fierce Afghan heat has mellowed enough for Taleban to sneak into a nearby graveyard and unleash a torrent of rocket grenades, mortar and rifle fire.
U.S. Rep. Sue Myrick Tuesday faulted the U.S. intelligence community for failing to see a connection between a terrorist group and a radical Charlotte blogger now believed to edit an al-Qaida magazine in Yemen. 
The feds charged a disgruntled ex-American Airlines employee Wednesday with threatening to reveal in-flight safety secrets to Islamic groups.
Four al-Qaida-linked detainees have escaped from a Baghdad area prison that was handed over by the U.S. to Iraqi authorities a week ago, Iraq's justice minister said Thursday. Dara Noureddin said the four, awaiting trial on terrorism charges, escaped from the prison formerly known as Camp Cropper.
