[Iran Press TV] Supporters of Afghanistan's presidential candidate, Abdullah Abdullah ... the former foreign minister of the Northern Alliance government, advisor to Masood, and candidate for president against Karzai. Dr. Abdullah was born in Kabul and is half Tadjik and half Pashtun... , have staged a protest rally in the capital over alleged election fraud.
On Thursday, Abdullah's supporters erupted into the streets of Kabul and rolled their eyes, jumped up and down, and hollered poorly rhymed slogans real loud against outgoing President Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai ... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use... and the Independent Election Commission to mark the first public rally against the presidential election.
The demonstration came after Abdullah on Wednesday accused the government of engineering a widespread fraud. He said that according to evidence obtained by his campaign team, some ballot boxes were filled with votes a day before the June 14 run-off.
He also demanded that vote-counting be stopped.
"We suspend engagement with the (election) commission and we have asked our monitors to leave their offices," Abdullah said, adding, "We are asking for the counting process to be stopped immediately."
He accused his rival, Ashraf Ghani, President Karzai, and the election commission of attempting to change the results.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/20/2014 00:00 ||
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[DAILYMAIL.CO.UK] A white man speaking 'fluent English' was in charge of an Somali Islamist group al-Shabaab ... Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda... which bumped off at least 60 people in a Kenyan coastal town on Sunday evening, according to witnesses.
Several residents in Mpeketoni reported that they saw a pale-skinned man who spoke English and Arabic giving orders to the gunnies.
The eyewitness accounts support the theory that the men were sent by al-Shabaab by a seasoned foreign jihadi unit now working with the Somali Islamists.
'I saw a white man who was speaking in fluent British English commanding the rest of the attackers,' said Mary Gachoki, a teacher who lives in Mpeketoni and speaks good English told The Telegraph.
Today the Inspector General of Police said several people have been tossed in the slammer Into the paddy wagon wit' yez! including suspected ringleaders.
David Kimaiyo also said that someone had been arrested for using social media to say that al-Shabaab was behind the attacks.
'We have arrested several suspects in connection to Mpeketoni incident including the owner and driver of one the vehicles used by attackers,' Mr Kimaiyo said on Twitter.
'Also in police custody is a suspect who was operating social media accounts purportedly used by al-Shabaab to claim responsibility.'
Posted by: Fred ||
06/20/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
Was he carrying a white cat and look something like this?
[Iran Press TV] Democrats and Republicans in the US Congress should hold President Barack Obama Because I won... responsible for launching an illegal war on Libya and destroying it, instead of playing a political football over the September 2012 Benghazi attack, a political commentator says.
Don DeBar, an anti-war activist and radio host in New York, made the remarks in a phone interview with Press TV on Thursday, commenting on the recent arrest of a suspect of the attack on the US diplomatic compound in the Libyan city of Benghazi that left four US diplomats, including Ambassador Chris Stevens, dead.
According to CNN, up to 35 CIA operatives were working in Benghazi during the attack on September 11, 2012, but it has never reported how many of them died or injured.
"This incident in September 2012 has been a political football between the Democrats and Republicans of the United States where instead of holding President Barack Obama responsible or culpable for conducting an illegal war, destroying a country, murdering the nominal head of state, [committing] all international war crimes, violation of American and international law, instead of holding him responsible for that, they fight over the killing of the US ambassador, who also apparently was the CIA station chief there during the entire takeover of the country -- and several of his aides. That is what the focal point has been," DeBar said.
"And now that this guy has been grabbed assuming he even had anything to do with it, we are going to be seeing all kind of allegations paraded out here while he is in a condition of complete non-contact with the rest of the world, and everything that comes out from 'him' is gonna be controlled heavily by the US military and security forces," he added.
"You know, there's a major crime that took place in Libya, which was that the United States and its allies devastated the country, conquering it essentially, and leaving chaos in its wake, that is not being examined whatsoever, instead we have this circus -- this is one of the three-rings, I guess, that we are going to see over time -- where the Republicans and Democrats can point fingers at each other over an incident that is really nothing but a collateral incident to the devastation of Libya," DeBar concluded.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/20/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
they fight over the killing of the US ambassador, who also apparently was the CIA station chief there during the entire takeover of the country -- and several of his aides. That is what the focal point has been," DeBar said.
missed it by thaaaat much
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/20/2014 15:22 Comments ||
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[Iran Press TV] The United Kingdom has banned the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant ... the current version of al-Qaeda in Iraq, just as blood-thirsty and well-beloved as the original... (ISIL) bully boy group that is wreaking havoc on Syria and Iraq.
British Immigration and Security Minister James Brokenshire told politicians on Thursday that the move will send a message on just how strongly the UK condemns terrorism.
The ban will make it a criminal offense to be a member of or to provide support to the ISIL.
British Home Office officials have said that the move was triggered by the Takfiri ...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who most be killed... group's actions in Syria, but developments in Iraq had underlined the need to ban the group in Britannia.
The latest developments come as ISIL is waging a war that has engulfed a large swathe of both Iraqi and Syrian territories.
Fears are growing that European Death Eaters trained and hardened in Syria may carry out terrorist attacks once they return home.
Hundreds of Europeans have gone to Syria to fight against the Damascus government.
On June 3, British Prime Minister David Cameron ... has stated that he is certainly a big Thatcher fan, but I don't know whether that makes me a Thatcherite, which means he's not. Since he is not deeply ideological he lacks core principles and is easily led. He has been described as certainly not a Pitt, Elder or Younger, but he does wear a nice suit so maybe he's Beau Brummel ... said the terrorist threat from Syria was more dangerous than threats from Afghanistan or Pakistain. Cameron also said that British security services had to work hard to prevent a terror attack in Britannia.
European opponents of the Syrian government voice concern as Death Eaters appear to be biting the hand that feeds them.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/20/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
Were they not helping them in Libya sas captured by farmers with explosives by pipelines they just don't have a written contract with the House of Saud like the Bammy people and the State Department and so on down the list of dumb asses! Brand New Toyota TAN (ROUND HAT LEGGINGS WALKING STICK POWER LINES SUMMER 2009)before fall ALL SOLD OUT TAKE CARE KIDS!
#2
Were they not helping them in Libya sas captured by farmers with explosives by pipelines they just don't have a written contract with the House of Saud like the Bammy people and the State Department and so on down the list of dumb asses! Brand New Toyota TAN (ROUND HAT LEGGINGS WALKING STICK POWER LINES SUMMER 2009)before fall ALL SOLD OUT TAKE CARE KIDS!
[Ynet] The number of Syrians who are housed in refugee camps and cities in neighbouring Turkey has reached 1.05 million, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Besir Atalay told a news conference on Thursday.
Ankara has maintained an "open border" policy to refugees fleeing the conflict between President Bashar al-Assad's forces and rebels in Syria.
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/20/2014 15:18 ||
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#1
The U.S. House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly in favor of blocking the Air Force from retiring the A-10 gunship next year.
The Republican-controlled chamber late Thursday approved a series of amendments to its fiscal 2015 defense spending bill, including a provision that would prohibit the Pentagon from spending any money to retire the fleet of Cold War-era aircraft.
The measure, which passed 300114, was sponsored by Reps. Candice Miller, a Republican from Michigan, and Ron Barber, a Democrat from Arizona.
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/20/2014 15:20 Comments ||
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#2
This crap will only end when -
1 - the A10 system, it's personnel authorization, and budget slice move to the Army.
2 - when senior AF GOs are told, don't bother sending any promotion lists to Congress to rubber stamp for the next couple of years.
3 - or reconstitute the old Army Air Corps with guess who as subordinate to the CSA.
#3
Band aid. Good to have for now but the A-10 needs to go to the Army.
The Army needs to come up with something either drone like or a hybrid like the Osprey for their own CAS. The air force won't be able to give them much with the fast movers.
#4
We never seem to hear the Army or Marines clamoring to take this baby from the Air Force. Given the numerous tales of how the happy BZZZZZ of the A-10's gun brings joy to guys on the ground and it's almost perfect evolution as a CAS platform, one would expect some kind of noise from the ground forces.
#5
SteveS - its because the Generals who sit in the budget meetings are politicians and too busy kissing ass. They aren't the ones who need CAS. The ones who do love the A-10s don't get to manage those big expensive programs. If that budget could be added, without cutting the rest of Army Aviation (which is the big fear), the Army would take those in a heartbeat. Train them in Ft Rucker, base them in Ft Bragg (SOCOM Supt ABN SUpt, and regular Army mission), Ft Hood (Desert, Regular Army) and Ft Carson CO (High Altitude/mountain). Permanent OCONUS bases Desiderio Army Airfield Camp Humphries Korea (Obvious), and the 12th Combat Avn Bde in Ansbach (For USAEUR, until its moved)
#6
#5SteveS - its because the Generals who sit in the budget meetings are politicians and too busy kissing ass.
Unfortunately what appears to have always been bad, is now far worse. Today's Army "leadership" have their collective heads buried deeply within the gluteal cleft of the regime. Only their shoulder boards prevent a full envelopment.
[Iraq Sun] An Iraqi man accused of being a senior member of al-Qaeda was formally charged by the U.S. war crimes tribunal in Guantanamo Bay on Wednesday with conspiring to bomb Western forces in Afghanistan and killing civilians and U.S. soldiers.
Abd al Hadi al-Iraqi did not enter a plea during his arraignment on five counts that also included attacking a U.S. military medical helicopter. His attorneys said they wanted to file pretrial motions before entering a plea.
Court documents filed by prosecutors described Hadi al-Iraqi as one of al Qaeda's top military operatives.
Military prosecutors contend Hadi al-Iraqi served on al-Qaeda's senior advisory council, tried to acquire chemical weapons and issued orders to kill Americans and their allies. His orders also authorized al-Qaeda gunnies "to view civilians and medical personnel as acceptable targets," according to prosecutors.
Hadi al-Iraqi is accused of criminal masterminding an April 25, 2003, attack on a U.S. military convoy at Shkin, Afghanistan, that killed two U.S. soldiers and injured numerous others. After another one of his attacks on Oct. 25, 2003, killed two more U.S. soldiers, Hadi al-Iraqi's fighters shot at injured coalition soldiers, prosecutors said.
A roadside kaboom set by Hadi al-Iraqi's fighters killed four U.S. soldiers on May 29, 2004, in Qalat, Afghanistan, the court documents say. In a Nov. 16, 2003, attack, Hadi al-Iraqi is accused of paying Taliban fighters $200 to $300 to kill a civilian U.N. worker near Ghazni, Afghanistan.
Judge Captain J. Kirk Waits agreed to Hadi al-Iraqi's request to replace Army Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Callen as his defense counsel with a civilian attorney. Callen is scheduled to be released from active duty in September.
The arraignment was monitored by Rooters over closed-circuit television at Fort Meade, Maryland.
Hadi al-Iraqi is the 12th person accused of terrorism to be charged before the Military Commission at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility in Cuba. He has been held there for seven years and the U.S. military classifies him as one of 16 high-value detainees.
Following the arraignment, Callen said Hadi al-Iraqi "has great concerns about the fairness of this process."
Chief Prosecutor Brigadier General Mark Martins defended prosecution by a military commission, saying, "The military commissions have rules of evidence that are better-suited to a battlefield."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/20/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
It's important to get his 'street cred' up before we trade him for tickets to Disney World.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
06/20/2014 7:23 Comments ||
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[DAWN] ISLAMABAD: A mock exercise conducted in Islamabad on Wednesday revealed the preparedness and the vigilance of the police force. It also tested the response time of different cop shoppes, as external help was also acquired.
During the drill, Shahzad Town cop shoppe was attacked by a group of five 'terrorists', armed with modern and sophisticated weapons and explosives, the police sources said. Reluctantly, a policeman was 'killed' and two others 'injured'. However the police team managed to gun down two attackers and incarcerated Into the paddy wagon wit' yez! three.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
06/20/2014 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] The Tehrik-e-Minhajul Koran (TMQ) of Dr Tahirul Qadri ...Pak politician, founder and head of Tehreek-e-Minhajul Quran. He usually resides in Canada, but returns to Pakistain periodically to foam at the mouth and lead demonstrations. Depending on which way the wind's blowing, Qadri claims to be the author of Pak's blasphemy law. Other times he says it wasn't him... on Thursday submitted a First Information Report (FIR) application seeking nomination of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... , Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif ...Pak dynastic politician, brother of PM Nawaz Sharif, chief minister of Punjab... and his son MNA Hamza Shahbaz among others in the Model Town killings case, DawnNews reported.
At least eight people including Pakistain Awami Tehrik (PAT) supporters were killed when they clashed with local police on Tuesday.
The application for registering the FIR, against a total of 21 people, was submitted by a delegation of the Minhajul Koran Trust to the Faisal Town Police Station's Muharrir in absence of the SHO.
Federal Minister for Railways Khawaja Saad Rafique, Law Minister Punjab Rana Sanaullah and State Minister for Water and Power Abid Sher Ali were also named in the application.
The trust also named former DIG Operations Rana Abdul Jabbar and former SP Model Town Tariq Aziz in the application.
Chief Minister Sharif had vowed to resign from his post if found responsible for the brutal incident.
Earlier today, PAT chief Qadri's son Hussian Mohyuddin's name was taken down from the FIR due to lack of evidence available against him.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/20/2014 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] ISLAMABAD: The government has decided to carry out a 'targeted operation' in the capital to eliminate terrorist elements, DawnNews reported.
To wipe out sleeper cells of faceless myrmidons following the commencement of a military operation in North Wazoo, a door-to-door search operation is expected to be launched in Islamabad which will act on intelligence reports.
Rangers and police personnel would conduct the targeted operation, however, troops of the Pakistain army would remain on standby for their support.
The operation would be initiated from the suburbs of the federal capital.
According to sources, there were intelligence reports that Death Eaters have some strong connections in Turnol and Bhara Kahu areas, adjacent to the capital city.
Earlier this month, two Lieutenant-Colonels were killed in a suicide kaboom in the Turnol area near Fatah Jhang.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/20/2014 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] The opposition parties in the National Assembly on Thursday demanded the government to withdraw the FIRs registered against Dr Hussain Mohiuddin, the son of Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) chief Dr Tahirul Qadri and his followers over the Model Town incident.
Commenting on a point of order, Leader of the Opposition Syed Khurshid Shah, belonging to the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), said that the government had failed to adopt the political strategy to handle the situation in Lahore.
"The government played the role of Gullu Butt in Lahore incident," he said.
Shah said that the PAT chief Dr Tahirul Qadri also organised a huge protest against the PPP government during its last tenure in Islamabad but the party leadership dealt with Dr Qadri by adopting the political strategy of reconciliation with the support of its coalition parties.
He also said that it is the constitutional right of the people to protest peacefully while the loss of precious lives in Lahore incident was a big failure of a democratic government.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/20/2014 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] Pakistain on Thursday condemned recent drone strikes that took place near Miranshah ... headquarters of al-Qaeda in Pakistain and likely location of Ayman al-Zawahiri. The Haqqani network has established a ministate in centered on the town with courts, tax offices and lots of madrassas... in North Wazoo, and said there was no connection between the strikes and ongoing military operation.
Foreign Office Spokesperson Tasnim Aslam in her weekly briefing said Pakistain condemned the recent incidents of US drone strikes that took place near Miranshah in North Waziristan during the early hours of Wednesday.
She said there was no link of these drone attacks to the military operation in North Waziristan and that it was completely misleading and wrong to attach these strikes with the ongoing operation.
The spokesperson added that Pakistain regarded such strikes a violation of its illusory sovereignty and territorial integrity. She also said these strikes also had a negative impact on government's efforts to bring peace and stability in Pakistain and the region.
Referring to previous statements and efforts of Pakistain on the drone issue, the spokesperson said Pakistain had agitated the issue at various international fora and presented and passed a number of resolutions against drone strikes.
She said a resolution, sponsored by Pakistain, was also passed by the Human Rights Council on drone strikes and that Pakistain had also taken up the issue of drone strikes with US officials at various levels to lodge its protest.
In response to an other question about the military operation in North Waziristan and contact with the Afghan leadership, the front man said Pakistain has conveyed to the Afghan leadership that this operation was the need of the hour and to purge the area from hard boy and terrorist elements.
She said there was a need for better border management and parallel steps on the other side so that no terrorist could escape into Afghanistan.
She said Pakistain has emphasised that there should be better management across the border this time and the Afghan government should also take adequate steps so that there could be no disturbance and interference from Afghan side in this operation.
Responding to a question about asking the Canadian government to stop Dr Tahir ul Qadri to travel to Pakistain as he is Canadian citizen, the spokesperson said although there were international norms in this regard but Tahir ul Qadri was also a Pak citizen, therefore, this law was not applicable.
Commenting on the forthcoming visit of Advisor to Prime Minister on National Security and Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz to the Russian federation, the spokesperson said he will attend a conference but he will also meet his Russian counterpart during this visit and discuss bilateral relations and regional situation.
The spokesperson said Pak-Russian ties had been on a positive trajectory in the last few years and these relations in different sectors were improving.
She said Sartaj Aziz will discuss with he Russian leadership to find ways and means to further improve these ties, especially in trade and economic sectors.
Replying to a question on latest situation in Iraq, the spokesperson said, "We are concerned about escalation of violence in Iraq."
She said "Pakistain wants stable, peaceful and calm, not only in Iraq but also in the region."
The spokesperson said Pakistain's envoy in Storied Baghdad had informed that all the Paks living in Iraq were safe and sound as they were living away from the disturbed areas.
Replying to a question, the spokesperson said there were 281 Pak in different prisons of China.
She said 90 percent of these Pak prisoners were held on charges of drug and illegal trade activities while very few were in the jails on the charges of illegal entry or stay in China.
On the question of any contact between Pakistain and India, the spokesperson said two sides were in contact with each other.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/20/2014 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] It was a day for voting on the government's budgetary demands in the National Assembly on Wednesday but Gullu Butt of Lahore overshadowed the first part of the session.
At least it seemed so for every now and then some MNA, mostly from the opposition benches, would stand up and ask the ruling PML-N to disclose the identity of Gullu Butt, the man caught on video by television channels smashing private cars during the bloody police crackdown on Allama Tahirul Qadri's followers outside his Minhajul Quran Secretariat in Lahore the previous day.
No sooner Finance Minister Ishaq Dar was finished with the formality of seeking approval of his 'demands for grants', three opposition woman MNAs sprang to their feet to demand the treasury benches to tell if Gullu Butt was a PML-N worker as speculated.
Dr Shireen Mazari of Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf, Dr Nafeesa Shah and Shazia Marri of the PPP, all in one voice raised queries about Gullu Butt, whom media have reported an office bearer of the local PML-N chapter. Gullu was the guy seen on the news channel merrily torching cars and chatting amiably with the coppers standing by. Dar claims he doesn't know any Gullu or Ullu Butt
Dr Nafeesa Shah was spot on when she asked the government to clear its position with regard to the Lahore incident and Gullu Butt because, "front pages of today's newspapers show as if battlefield has shifted from North Waziristan to Lahore where police have killed people in broad daylight."
The politician from Sindh said if this was the government's plan to beef up national internal security, then the opposition was right in demanding cuts in the budgetary allocations the government has included in the budget in the name of security.
Though she wasn't allowed time to speak, Dr Mazari of the PTI demanded a statement on Gullu Butt from the government side. Dr Mazari claimed that Mr Butt had vandalized private vehicles on the instructions of the provincial government.
Ms Marri too wasn't provided time by the speaker. She wanted a statement on Gullu Butt by some government minister. The house should be informed about the whereabouts of Gullu Butt. Gullu by now has a brand new passport with a new name and is on his way to Riyadh or maybe London, unless he's met with a terrible accident.
Sheikh Rashid of Rawalpindi equated the Lahore incident with the famous Jallianwala Bagh massacre under the British rule when British army opened fire on peaceful protesters back in 1919 in Amritsar.
According to Mr Rashid this time the Punjab government had made a major crime which it wouldn't be able to wish away.
Dr Muhammad Azhar Khan Jadoon of PTI lawmaker from Abbottabad, informed the house how a child in his family surprised him with a question about Gullu Butt.
"The child asked me whether as a sitting member of the National Assembly I am more powerful than Gullu Butt and frankly speaking I have no answer to his innocent querry."
If this trend continued, next generation will fantasize Gullu Butts than law-abiding citizens of the country, warned Mr Jadoon.
However, in response Senator Dar angrily retorted, saying, once the Punjab government had constituted a judicial commission to investigate the incident, legislators sitting in the house should wait for its outcome.
"I don't know who is this Gullu or Ullu (owl) Butt, however, since a judicial inquiry is underway everybody should wait for its findings."
The MQM members of the National Assembly attended the session with black armbands, as the party had declared one day mourning to protest the Lahore incident.
Unlike routine days, on Wednesday opposition front rows of the National Assembly were empty as main leadership of the PTI was in Lahore to show solidarity with Pakistan Awami Tehrik (PAT).
Posted by: Fred ||
06/20/2014 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] Despite administrative and police threats, the Pakistain Awami Tehrik (PAT) and Tehrik Minhajul Koran will establish 10 camps in various areas of the garrison city on Thursday to welcome Dr Tahirul Qadri ...Pak politician, founder and head of Tehreek-e-Minhajul Quran. He usually resides in Canada, but returns to Pakistain periodically to foam at the mouth and lead demonstrations. Depending on which way the wind's blowing, Qadri claims to be the author of Pak's blasphemy law. Other times he says it wasn't him... at Benazir Bhutto ... 11th Prime Minister of Pakistain in two non-consecutive terms from 1988 until 1990 and 1993 until 1996. She was the daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, founder of the Pakistain People's Party, who was murdered at the instigation of General Ayub Khan. She was murdered in her turn by person or persons unknown while campaigning in late 2007. Suspects include, to note just a few, Baitullah Mehsud, General Pervez Musharraf, the ISI, al-Qaeda in Pakistain, and her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, who shows remarkably little curiosity about who done her in... International Airport (BBIA).
The camps, titled 'condolence camps' will be set up at Tench Bhatta, Pirwadhai, Khanna Bridge, Kuri Road, Adiala Road, Dhoke Ratta, Morgah, Sir Syed Chowk, Dhoke Chiraghdin and Golra Mor.
PAT Rawalpindi spokesperson Suhail Abbasi told Dawn that these camps were being established to receive condolences for the tragic incident in Model Town where more than 11 civilians bit the dust.
"The local administration and police are terrorising our people. Our leaders have received messages from the police asking them to submit plans to the relevant cop shoppes or the City Police Office," he added.
He said: "The police have sought information on those attending the welcome reception at BBIA and their families."
"We will not give details to the police as we are independent citizens and have the right to express ourselves. Rallies and public meetings are democratic and a basic civil right," he said.
He added that the rally will go from Rawalpindi to Lahore and will be led by Dr Tahirul Qadri.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/20/2014 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] As Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... is bracing itself for the influx of people from North Wazoo after the launch of military offensive against turbans there, the federal government is understood to have decided not to ask the United Nations ...aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society... and other foreign relief agencies for help and support for the internally displaced persons.
An official dealing with the ongoing relief activities told Dawn on Wednesday that the federal government had stopped the relevant agencies from receiving assistance from foreign relief bodies, including the UN.
"We (the federal government) have issued clear directives to all concerned not to ask the UN or any other bodies for relief assistance," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/20/2014 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] Police held Gullu Butt, the baton-wielding man who was caught on camera damaging vehicles outside the Minhajul Koran Secretariat on Tuesday, on Wednesday for damaging vehicles.
Butt, also known as Sher-e-Lahore, battered the vehicles of Pakistain Awami Tehrik (PAT) workers in the presence of police.
Butt was being kept at some location on Raiwind Road.
According to law, he should have been locked up in Faisal Town cop shoppe. Police say he was kept at some holy man's guesthouse an undisclosed location for people might have attacked him in the lockup.
Faisal Town Police Station In Charge Sanaullah and investigation officer Rafique denied the arrest of Butt.
Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif ...Pak dynastic politician, brother of PM Nawaz Sharif, chief minister of Punjab... had directed the inspector general of police to arrest Butt.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/20/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
Couldn't find his Butt with his own hands.
Posted by: Steven ||
06/20/2014 1:46 Comments ||
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Everyone seems to agree that the Sunni extremists who are striving to carve out a caliphate in Syria and Iraq have upended the region, but there is no consensus on what to call the militant group, in English at least.
Many news outlets, including New York Times, have been translating the group's name as the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or ISIS for short. But the United States government and several news agencies call it the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL (The BBC, curiously, uses the ISIS acronym, but "Levant" when spelling the name out.)
Neither way is an exact rendering of the group's Arabic name "al-Dawla al-Islamiya fil-Iraq wa al-Sham". The difficulty is with last word "al-Sham", which is the Arabic term for Damascus and its hinterlands.
Al-Sham is the classical Arabic term for Damascus and its hinterlands, and over time, it came to denote the area between the Mediterranean and the Euphrates, south of the Taurus Mountains and north of the Arabian desert. Similarly, in Egypt, "Masr" may refer either to Cairo or to the whole country. Used in that sense, al-Sham takes in not just Syria but also Israel, Jordan, Lebanon and the Palestinian territories, and even a part of southeastern Turkey.
That is fairly similar in extent to what Western geographers call the Levant, a once-common term that now has something of an antique whiff about it, like "the Orient." Because of the term's French colonial associations, many Arab nationalists and Islamist radicals disdain it, and it is unlikely that the militant group would choose "Levant" to render its name.
The scum find the term "Levant" to be insulting. ISIL it is!
#1
The scum find the term "Levant" to be insulting. ISIL it is!
Is our Federal government going to act to change the name by pulling trademarks as they have with the Washington Redskins? Does their reach go as far as Syria and Pakistan?
#3
we can call them late for dinner if we want Don't forget to add the appropriate hyphens and diacritical marks in the right places to show how multicultural you are, e.g.: Qǖṝǻʼn, isn't that the correct spelling?
(Munich-Mossul, Kirche in Not) After the capture of the northern-Iraqi metropolis Mosul by Islamist forces, all the Christians who were still living there have now fled. The Catholic Archbishop of the city, Amil Shamaaoun Nona, corroborated this while speaking with the worldwide Catholic relief service Aid to the Church in Need.
“All the faithful have left the city. Who knows whether they will ever be able to return,” Abp. Nona said. “In 2003 there were still 35,000 faithful living in Mosul. Three thousand were still there in early 2014. Now probably not one is left here, and that is tragic,” the Archbishop declared. The city of Mosul, with a population of three million, was already mentioned in the Bible as Nineveh, and for thousands of years it has been a place of Christian civilization.
Archbishop Nona reported on the capture of Mosul: “We have never experienced anything like it before. A major city like Mosul has fallen victim to chaos.”
The fighting, he said, began on Thursday, June 5; at first, however, it was limited to several districts in the western part of the city.
“The army began to bombard the areas that were affected, but then the armed forces and the police suddenly left Mosul during the night between Monday and Tuesday, leaving the city at the mercy of the aggressors.”
More than half of the inhabitants and the entire Christian community immediately fled to the nearby Nineveh Plain.
“At around 5:00 on Tuesday morning we took in the families of refugees and tried to lodge them in schools, catechism classrooms and abandoned houses,” Nona reported. He is presently staying in the village of Telkef to the north of Mosul.
According to official statements, the attack was carried out by the terrorist organization “Islamic State of Iraq and Syria” (ISIS), which is notorious for its cruel assaults on the Christians in Syria. Archbishop Nona thinks, however, that other groups participated in the attack also: “We do not yet know which groups they were. Many people talk about the ISIS; others think that it might have been members of various groups. We must wait a while in order to understand the actual situation better. It is certain that the extremists are here. Many people have seen them patrolling the streets.”
Archbishop Nona asks the Christians in Europe for their help and their prayers for Iraq. “We continue to pray for our country, that it might finally have peace,” he explained. “It is not easy, not to lose hope after so many years of suffering, but we Iraqi Christians are steadfast and unshakable in our faith and have to keep our hopes up despite the persecution. After what has happened in recent days, that is an enormous challenge.”
Aid to the Church in Need supports the Christians in Iraq especially in the Kurdish autonomous region in the northern part of the country, to which most of the people have fled.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/20/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
I firmly believe Sunni Islam is less tolerant than Shia Islam and at its core is our best friend Saudi Arabia.
Extremists in Syria and Iraq targeting new generation of young American jihadists
The FBI are investigating up to 15 Somali-American men believed to have traveled from Minneapolis-St Paul, MN to follow the ISIS call to jihad
As many as 50 American jihadists believed to be fighting in the Middle East
'Outgoing party-lover' from Minneapolis and father of nine Abdirahmaan Muhumed, 29, confirmed among them
Security experts blame social media for 'blurring lines' and encouraging people to see themselves as part of jihadist movement
Posted by: Fred ||
06/20/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
As long as they get to be little yucky scattered parts.
Posted by: Steven ||
06/20/2014 1:39 Comments ||
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#2
Maruf and Beledi both had joined al-Shabaab and died in Somalia, with Beledi becoming the second Minnesotan suicide bomber in the Horn of Africa country.
There seems to be no advancement in this position as a suicide boomer. Might have done better working for the IRS.
#5
When they get done there they can work for china and harry reid fixing chinas oil interests that ISIS is capturing on behest of Saud Hillary MC Cain and Inbred European Crew guppie fish pastey skin google eye beard freaks trailer trash crew dumb fucks traitor criminals! Or they can work for the BLM shooting women and children for China!
#6
When they get done there they can work for china and harry reid fixing chinas oil interests that ISIS is capturing on behest of Saud Hillary MC Cain and Inbred European Crew guppie fish pastey skin google eye beard freaks trailer trash crew dumb fucks traitor criminals! Or they can work for the BLM shooting women and children for China!
BAGHDAD/ Aswat al-Iraq: Chairman of (Sons of Iraq) bloc Sheikh Abbas al-Muhamadawi called the Iraqi government to expel the US ambassador and his personnel, charging Washington to be a part of the "conspiracy" to destabilize the country.
Muhamadawi called for enhancing Iraqi relations with Iran, Russia, East European countries and China to buy arms, instead of the United States.
US president Obama pre-conditioned an agreement among Iraqi politicians before
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/20/2014 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] US President Barack Obama I inhaled. That was the point... on Thursday said he was ready to send 300 military advisors to Iraq and if necessary to take "targeted" and "precise" military action to counter radical Sunni fighters.
Obama said Washington was ready to deploy advisors to study how to train and equip Iraqi forces and had already increased its surveillance and intelligence capabilities in the country.
The US teams could set up joint operations centers in Storied Baghdad and near djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... , the northern Iraqi city that fell to myrmidon rebels last week, the president suggested.
"Going forward, we will be prepared to take targeted and precise military action if and when we determine that the situation on the ground requires it, "Obama said at the White House after meeting senior members of his national security team.
Obama said it was a good investment for Washington to intervene in Iraq if it prevented Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant ... the current version of al-Qaeda in Iraq, just as blood-thirsty and well-beloved as the original... (ISIL) fighters establishing bases which could eventually pose a threat to the West.
But he repeatedly insisted US troops would not be going back in to direct combat in Iraq, two-and-a-half years after the last American soldier came home from the war.
Obama did however pledge to help Iraq bolster its own forces against the advance of the radical Sunni fighters.
"We're prepared to send a small number of additional American military advisers, up to 300, assess how we can best train, advise and support Iraqi security forces going forward," Obama said.
The president also renewed US warnings that only non-sectarian leadership could rescue Iraq from its current plight -- an apparent implicit rebuke of Shia Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.
"Shia, Sunni, Kurds, all Iraqis must have confidence that they can advance their interests and aspirations through the political process rather than through violence," Obama said.
"It is clear, though, that only leaders that can govern with an inclusive agenda are going to be able to truly bring the iraqi people together and help them through this crisis."
Obama warned that he would not authorize political operations that were designed to promote one sect in Iraq over another.
And he said that he would dispatch Secretary of State John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a lucky hat, conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State... to Europe and the Middle East this weekend to consult with US allies on the next steps forward on the Iraq crisis.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/20/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
"What kind of military action?"
"Precise military action. None of the flopping around like you guys usually do."
#3
Personally, + given the Bammer's stubborn defense of his "red lines" from Libya to the Ukraine-Crimea Crisis, I'm interpreting "precise" as PCorrectly-Deniably synonymous wid LIMITED = SELECTIVE = MINOR SUPPORT OR MILACTION.
* TOPIX > [IOL.CA] AMERICA [Obama?]LEAVES ITS ALLIES IN DANGER.
Which one day in future may result in ... ...
* TOPIX > [Freerepublic] TERROR GROUP ISIS [Etal?] MAY BE COMING TO AMERICA.
D *** NG IT, DON'T BE RIDICULOUS, MORIARITY, AMERICA = AMERIKA MAY HAVE LEGAL SHARIA LAW BY THEN, + ISIS, ETAL. MAY HAVE NUKES-WMDS ALSO!
[Iraq Sun] With the spectre of civil war looming, Iraq has formally called on the US to launch air strikes against jihadist Sunni faceless myrmidons who have overrun several key cities over the past week. The White House indicated that President Barack Obama I've now been in 57 states -- I think one left to go... has not yet ruled out air strikes in Iraq.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari was quoted by news channel Al Arabiya as saying: "We request the United States to launch air strikes against murderous Moslems."
"A military approach will not be enough. We acknowledge the need for a drastic political solution," the Iraqi foreign minister added.
Top US military commander Gen Martin Dempsey confirmed the news to the Senate Appropriations subcommittee: "We have a request from the Iraqi government for air power.".
Obama on Wednesday is to meet with the majority and minority leaders of both the House of Representatives and the Senate for a classified briefing on possible military action in Iraq. He has rejected the deployment of combat troops but is reportedly considering the use of drones or bombs.
The developments came as the Sunni faceless myrmidons launched an attack on Iraq's biggest oil refinery at Baiji, north of Storied Baghdad.
The Sunni murderous Moslem groups attacked the largest oil refinery in Salahudin province sparking a huge fire. Hundreds of gunnies, including the faceless myrmidons linked to the Islamic State in Iraq and Levant (ISIL), an Al Qaeda offshoot, waged an attack at dawn on the refinery compound in Baiji city from several directions with machine guns and mortar rounds
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki ... Prime Minister of Iraq and the secretary-general of the Islamic Dawa Party. Maliki imposed order on Basra wen the Shiites were going nuts, but has proven incapable of dealing with al-Qaeda's Sunni insurgency. Reelected to his third term in 2014... earlier urged Iraqis to unite against the murderous Moslems.
He has also warned that the escalation of violence in his country will spill over to those countries which led a "conspiracy" against Iraq.
"We will face terrorism and we will bring down the conspiracy. But be sure they will flee to you and your countries will also be burned by sectarian wars," Maliki said in his weekly televised speech, referring to the countries that Iraq earlier accused of supporting terrorist groups.
"What happened in djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... was a setback, but not a defeat," he said.
On Tuesday, Maliki's office had issued a statement accusing neighbouring Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... for "financing and supporting" the myrmidon groups in Iraq.
Riyadh rejected in a statement any foreign intervention in Iraq's affairs and urged Bagdad to ensure the participation of all factions of the Iraqi people in determining the future of their country on an equal footing
On Wednesday, Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant faceless myrmidons were engaged in fierce fighting with Iraqi security forces for control over the country's largest oil refinery in Baiji.
By afternoon, roughly three-quarters of the refinery had fallen under ISIS control, according to an Iraqi official speaking on the condition of anonymity to Rooters news agency.
Authorities had evacuated foreigners from the refinery the night before in anticipation of the attack.
Adding to the tense situation are the reports of kidnapping of 60 construction workers on Wednesday, including 40 from India and 15 from Turkey.
Iraq's military also said its forces had regained parts of the strategic city of Tal Afar near the Syrian border, which ISIL captured on June 16, according to the News Agency that Dare Not be Named.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said the "Iranian people" would spare no effort to protect Shiite holy sites in the Iraqi cities of Karbala, Najaf and Samarra, amid the Sunni myrmidons' advance, state-run Mehr news agency reported.
Ahead of the meeting with Obama, Senate leader Harry Reid ... the charismatic senator-for-life from Nevada, currently majority leader ... , a Democrat, said he did not "support in any way" getting American troops involved in the Iraqi "civil war".
Gen Dempsey told a Senate panel that it was in US' national interest to counter [ISIS] wherever we find them".
UK Prime Minister David Cameron ... has stated that he is certainly a big Thatcher fan, but I don't know whether that makes me a Thatcherite, which means he's not. Since he is not deeply ideological he lacks core principles and is easily led. He has been described as certainly not a Pitt, Elder or Younger, but he does wear a nice suit so maybe he's Beau Brummel ... told Parliament in London that ISIS was also plotting terror attacks on Britannia.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/20/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
given Obama's behavior, Iraq should use reverse psychology and say "DON'T launch air strikes on the militants!"
Then Barak can launch strikes just to show them who's boss.
Al
Posted by: frozen al ||
06/20/2014 11:29 Comments ||
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#2
From what I have been watching, Iraq has been actively engaged in a civil war since Christmas and nearly constant ops against ISIL for over 90 days.
Civil war is not looming, it had done been here and set up house.
Posted by: abu do you love ||
06/20/2014 15:04 Comments ||
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[Iraq Sun] Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has said he will not quit as a condition for air support against Sunni militants after US President Barack Obama came under pressure from senior politicians to persuade the leader to step down, a British daily reported Thursday.
"Our focus needs to be on urgent action -- air support, logistic support, counter-intelligence support to defeat these terrorists who are posing a real danger to the stability of Iraq, to the whole region," the Guardian quoted Maliki's spokesperson Zuhair al-Nahar as saying in a radio programme Thursday.
He added that Maliki, a Shia Muslim, had "never used sectarian tactics".
Iraq's Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari Wednesday urged the US to launch air strikes against militants threatening Baghdad but senior US politicians want Obama to persuade Maliki to step down over what they see as failed leadership in the face of an insurgency.
Dianne Feinstein, the chair of the Senate intelligence committee, said Wednesday that Maliki's government "has got to go if you want any reconciliation", and Republican John McCain called for the use of US air power but also urged Obama to "make very clear to Maliki that his time is up".
Posted by: Fred ||
06/20/2014 00:00 ||
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[Iraq Sun] Secretary of State John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a lucky hat, conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State... stressed Thursday that any US intervention in Iraq to help stem the advances by Islamic bully boyz is not meant to support the country's Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.
"This is not about al-Maliki," Xinhua quoted the top American envoy as saying in NBC's Today programme. "Let me stress, what the United States is doing is about Iraq. And nothing that the president decides to do is going to be focused specifically on Prime Minister al-Maliki."
There is a growing chorus of calls in Washington for Maliki to step down and pave the way for reconciliation among the country's dividing sects, though the White House has not publicly endorsed the idea.
Asked about slow US response to the lightning advances by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), whose fighters are pressing on to the capital city of Storied Baghdad after seizing two major cities in northern Iraq -- djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... and Tikrit -- in recent days, Kerry said: "Not the least of which is we didn't have operational capacity at that point in time, partly because Prime Minister Maliki denied the kind of permissions necessary."
The US moved its aircraft carrier USS George HW Bush from the North Arabian Sea into the Gulf days ago.
Kerry said the US is "deeply concerned" regarding the advances by the ISIL, an offshoot of Al Qaeda. "They represent a threat to every country in the region," he said. "They are more extreme even than Al Qaeda, and they are threatening the United States and western interests."
The White House said Obama has put all options on the table, except for sending back US troops into combat in Iraq, including Arclight airstrikes as requested by Maliki.
The Pentagon has planned to send Special Forces to Iraq, with focus on intelligence gathering, according to a CNN report.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/20/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
Are there some unsecured Donk votes over there?
#2
Not the least of which is we didn't have operational capacity at that point in time, partly because Prime Minister Maliki denied the kind of permissions necessary.
What a bunch of horseshit. On his never ending campaign trail Obama needed to say he ended the war in Iraq. You can be sure the 300 military advisors now have diplomatic immunity.
[Iraq Sun] Under pressure to come to the aid of the embattled Iraq government, President Barack Obama said the US is prepared to send up to 300 military advisers to Iraq, but won't be returning to a combat role there.
The US advisers would be deputed to Iraq to "assess how we can best train, advise and support Iraqi security forces" in the face of advancing Sunni fighters of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), he said Thursday.
But "armed forces will not be returning to combat in Iraq", Obama said in a White House announcement after a meeting with his national security team on options that also include the possibility of future air strikes.
Obama also announced a series of steps designed to improve intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance of the militant army that has taken several Iraqi cities and is threatening the capital in Baghdad.
The president also announced that he will dispatch Secretary of State John Kerry to the region for diplomatic efforts that include demands for a more inclusive government in Iraq.
Asked about some allies call for removal of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, Obama told reporters that "it's not our job to choose Iraq's leaders".
In addition to military advisers, Obama said he is planning to create "joint operation centres" with the Iraqi military to help coordinate plans and designate possible targets among the militants.
While the US has an interest in preventing civil war in Iraq and making sure it does not become a new haven for terrorists planning to attack the US and its allies, Obama said ultimately it's up to Iraq to solve its problems, .
The advisers will not be combat troops, and "I think we always have to guard against mission creep", Obama said.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/20/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
OTOH see WORLD NEWS > [WaPo] CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER: [POTUS Obama = USA's]ABDICATION OF FOREIGN POLICY RESPONSIBILITIES HAS A PRICE.
Outcome(s) which may include but isn't limited to the following .. ....
* SAME > [IRNA] [Saeed] JALILI: IRAN BECOMES AN INTERNATIONAL POWER.
IMO also read, GLOBALIST-DESIRED, SOON-TO-BE-NUCLEAR, US-STYLE? OWG CO-SUPERPOWER.
IMO again one of many.
* TOPIX > [Reuters] OBAMA ISN'T THE ONLY ONE WID A PASSIVE-AGRESSIVE FOREIGN POLICY.
true, but from Libya thru the Ukraine-Crimea Crisis, + possibly now ISIS-threatened Iraq + Rising China?, US MILPOL CREDIBILITY AS A SUPEROWER GOES DOWN WHILE THAT ITS [OWG Globalist] SUPERPOWER-WANNABE RIVALS OR PROTAGONISTS INVERSELY GOES UP.
#3
As per CNN this AM, the Bammer wants to see more + fairer representation of Sunnis + Shias, + Kurds in a newer = better Iraqi Govt. as a condition for continued US support.
Looks like IRAN is in broad or tacit agreement ...???
* WORLD NEWS > [IRNA] IRAQ IN DIRE NEED OF NATIONAL CONSENSUS TO FIGHT BACK AGZ ISIL MILITANTS : [Iran] DAILY.
[Iran Press TV] The United States is keeping more than 6,000 security and back-up forces in Iraq. Sources say these forces are former military members who have remained in the country after changing their official job title.
The US military presence in Iraq comes as the administration of President Barack Obama Ready to Rule from Day One... has recently ordered the urgent deployment of several hundred troops to the troubled country.
Washington is said to be after military operations in the Arab country under the pretext of fighting terrorism there. This is while a recent poll by a US firm shows that 74 percent of Americans oppose sending US forces to Iraq.
The United States and its allies invaded Iraq in 2003. A couple of years before that, they also invaded Afghanistan under the pretext of fighting terrorism. However, there's more than one way to stuff a chicken... over a decade after these invasions, the two war-torn countries are still grappling with rampant militancy and a high humanitarian cost.
The USA is also pressing ahead with its drone strikes in the region that has claimed the lives of thousands of civilians in Afghanistan, Pakistain and Yemen.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/20/2014 00:00 ||
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Britain set up a colonial regime in Iraq after a long military campaign during World War I. In response to Iraqi resistance, including a country-wide uprising in 1920, British forces battled for over a decade to pacify the country, using airplanes, armored cars, firebombs and mustard gas.
Air attacks were used to shock and awe, to teach obedience and to force the collection of taxes.
Winston Churchill, as responsible cabinet minister in the early years, saw Iraq as an experiment in high-technology colonial control. Though officials in London sometimes had qualms about the violence, colonial administrators on the ground like Gertrude Bell expressed enthusiasm for the power of the imperial military enterprise. Link
#3
I learned a lot from that link. Found a brief bio of Gertrude Bell, who had a lot to do with the structure of post-WWI Iraq: Bell is thus both the model of a policymaker and an example of the inescapable frailty and ineptitude on the part of Western powers in the face of all that is chaotic and uncertain in the fashion for "nation-building." Despite the prejudices of her culture and the contortions of her bureaucratic environment, she was highly intelligent, articulate, and courageous. Her colleagues were talented, creative, well informed, and determined to succeed. They had an imperial confidence. They were not unduly constrained by the press or by their own bureaucracies. They were dealing with a simpler Iraq: a smaller, more rural population at a time when Arab nationalism and political Islam were yet to develop their modern strength and appeal.
But their task was still impossible. Iraqis refused to permit foreign political officers to play at founding their new nation. T.E. Lawrence was right to demand the withdrawal of every British soldier and no stronger link between Britain and Iraq than existed between Britain and Canada. For the same reason, more language training and contact with the tribes, more troops and better counterinsurgency tactics-in short a more considered imperial approach-are equally unlikely to allow the US today to build a state in Iraq, in southern Afghanistan, or Iran. If Bell is a heroine, it is not as a visionary but as a witness to the absurdity and horror of building nations for peoples with other loyalties, models, and priorities.
[Israel Times] Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon signed an order Thursday declaring the Islamic Relief Worldwide charity an unlawful organization, for funneling funds to Hamas.
The order bars the global relief organization, headquartered in the UK, from operating in Israel and the West Bank and prevents it from transferring money to West Bank residents.
The defense ministers decision was reached following a tip from the Shin Bet security service and a recommendation from Israeli courts.
This is an additional financial source for Hamas, and we dont intend to let it run and assist terror activity against Israel, Yaalon said. This is another step in our measures against Hamas in Judea and Samaria [the West Bank], and in the pressure we are applying on it, the goal of which is hurting the leaders and members of the organization, as well as its civilian infrastructure, which forms the basis of the organizations activity among the [Palestinian] population.
In 2006, the Gaza project director of IRW was arrested by Israeli forces and later deported, after admitting to transferring money to Hamas institutions. Iyaz Ali, a Pakistani-born British national, told Israeli interrogators he was aware of the nature of these organizations, according to a Foreign Ministry statement.
Israeli forces have embarked on a massive campaign to locate three kidnapped boys while simultaneously destroying parts of the Hamas terror infrastructure in the West Bank.
The military has been conducting nightly raids and sweeps in cities across the West Bank since the teenagers Eyal Yifrach, 19, Naftali Frankel, 16, and Gilad Shaar, 16 disappeared last Thursday, arresting some 300 suspected terrorists, many of them Hamas men, since last week.
[IsraelTimes] The Palestinian Authority on Thursday called Israels actions in the West Bank in recent days collective punishment, while a senior Fatah official said kidnappings were the only means to secure prisoner releases.
Meanwhile Hamas threatened to open the gates of hell upon Israel should it deport group members it has arrested following the abduction of three Israeli teens near Hebron last Thursday.
The PA condemned the continuous arrests of Hamas operatives and closures in the West Bank as an infliction of collective punishment on the Palestinians.
In a statement from PA President Mahmoud Abbass office, the wide-ranging operation was denounced as an excuse to impinge on Palestinian rights.
Israel is using the disappearance of the three teenagers as an excuse to harm the rights of the Palestinians, the PA statement said, according to Ynet. Abbas also strongly criticized the arrest of ex-convicts freed as part of the prisoner exchange for IDF soldier Gilad Shalit in 2011, and called for international condemnation and intervention.
On Wednesday, Abbas came out in support of the security arrangements with Israel, calling for the return of the boys and claiming there will never be a third intifada. His statements were met by strongly worded denunciations by Hamas.
Meanwhile Fatah official Jibril Rajoub told a Palestinian TV station Thursday that After 20 years of talks, we understood that kidnappings are the only language Israel understands. It became clear to us that this is the only way to free our prisoners, whose numbers rise every day, from jail.
Still, Rajoub claimed that he did not condone abductions.
Also Thursday a Hamas spokesman warned Israel against deporting the prisoners in its custody, stating that it would open the gates of hell in response, and said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would be sorry for the wave of arrests of its constituents.
Abbass statement on Thursday came as Netanyahu called on Abbas once again to dissolve his pact with the murderous terror organization.
Netanyahu and Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon insisted the investigation to track down the three kidnapped students was progressing, but was unlikely to be over in the near future.
We know more today than we knew even a few days ago, but there is still ways to go, and we must have patience and perseverance, the prime minister said.
Yaalon said we are progressing. We will eventually reach the terrorists and our kidnapped boys, he pledged.
Quoting Psalms, Netanyahu said Here, near the city of our forefathers [Hebron], I promise you: We will pursue our enemies and overtake them, and we will do everything to bring our boys home.
Israeli forces have embarked on a massive campaign to locate the three kidnapped boys Eyal Yifrach, 19, Naftali Frankel, 16, and Gil-ad Shaar, 16 while simultaneously destroying parts of the Hamas terror infrastructure in the West Bank.
The military has been conducting nightly raids and sweeps in cities across the West Bank since the teenagers disappeared, arresting more than 250 suspected terrorists, many of them Hamas men, since last week.
The teenagers were last seen at a hitchhiking post in the Etzion bloc in the West Bank last Thursday night. Israel has maintained Hamas is behind the attack, but the terror organization has denied the allegations. In the past, abducted Israeli citizens were held as a bargaining chip for the release of incarcerated Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.
[IsraelTimes] Hamas leader currently living in Turkey is believed to be behind the kidnapping of the three Israeli teenagers in the West Bank last week, an Israeli security official said Thursday.
The official spoke as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that the attempts to bring home the three Israelis were making progress We today know more than we knew a few days ago, he said.
According to the unnamed official, Saleh al-Arouri a former West Bank resident deported from the region after serving a prison sentence in Israel for several years, who is now a leading figure in Hamas overseas operations is thought to have been a key figure for years in attempts to initiate terror attacks in the West Bank, funding and arranging the training of terror cells.
The official claimed al-Arouri, who used to live in a village north of Ramallah, has urged West Bank operatives incessantly to set up terror cells and perpetrate kidnappings. Al-Arouri has financially sponsored these cells, which were trained and directed to abduct Israelis. Often that money was transferred through charities to obfuscate their real destination, the would-be kidnappers, the official said.
The official conceded that Israel had no smoking gun proving al-Arouris involvement in the kidnapping last Thursday night of Gil-ad Shaar, Eyal Yifrach and Naftali Frankel, but I have no doubt that al-Arouri was connected to the act. There is an increasing belief in the Israeli security services that the kidnapping was directed by Hamass overseas hierarchy, he noted, adding that al-Arouri is answerable to Hamass political bureau chief Khaled Mashaal.
Israeli forces have made some 280 arrests in the West Bank in recent days, and have also targeted Hamas funding networks, confiscating computers in banks and other evidence. Elite IDF units are on call should there be a need for any particularly sensitive operations, Channel 2 news reported. It added that the three Israelis are still believed to be held in the Hebron area, and said further arrests were expected.
We are making progress, Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon said. Well get to the terrorists in the end, and well get to our kidnapped boys.
In the past two years, dozens of al-Arouris emissaries have visited the West Bank after obtaining entry through Jordan, the Israeli official said. Several of them were arrested, but a number escaped the notice of Israeli security officials and were able to leave the country with their missions accomplished.
Those who were arrested brought money and written messages on behalf of al-Arouri, which explicitly directed the establishment of terror cells for kidnappings.
It must be understood that [Hamas] is not a standard army, and there are no direct orders, but only general directives, and even now the directive to kidnap stands, he said.
Overall, the source explained, there are four primary Hamas sources which can organize and commit attacks the Hamas branch abroad, in which al-Arouri is a key figure; the Gaza leadership; operatives in the field, who the official claimed were more constrained by Israeli security; and terrorists held in Israeli prisons, whose freedom of movement is similarly restricted.
The official said it was less likely that Hamas in Gaza or prisoners released to the coastal enclave as part of the Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange were behind the attack.
Although they have also tried to perpetrate attacks, their chances of success were lower.
Overall for Hamas, the official said, the bargaining chip of having Israelis held hostage is immensely valuable, notwithstanding the negative consequences for the Fatah-Hamas reconciliation process. And even though Hamas is less interested in an escalation of hostilities [with Israel], that does not mean kidnappings that could be successful should be stopped. For Hamas, there is one explicit instruction, and that is to continue to kidnap Israelis.
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.
[Iran Press TV] Democrats and Republicans in the US Congress should hold President 
David Cameron
Wazoo
(Munich-Mossul, Kirche in Not) After the capture of the northern-Iraqi metropolis Mosul by Islamist forces, all the Christians who were still living there have now fled. The Catholic Archbishop of the city, Amil Shamaaoun Nona, corroborated this while speaking with the worldwide Catholic relief service Aid to the Church in Need. 
Nouri al-Maliki
Harry Reid
[Iraq Sun] Secretary of State 
Don't blame the Champ, 
