[Tolo News] A former military commander has warned that if the Kunduz crisis is not managed properly -- along with that of other northern provinces -- these provinces could fall into the control of the Taliban.
Former army general Zalmai Weesa, who was previously the commander of 209 Shaheen battalion, blames the current surge of violence on Pakistain and says that if the National Unity Government does not take decisive steps to stamp out the bandidos Death Eaters the country will face serious problems.
Weesa, who retired four months ago, lead forces in nine northern and north eastern provinces for five years. His philosophy is that the fight against bandidos Death Eaters needs to be managed better.
"It's not only Kunduz that can fall - but everywhere else where the armed forces are not professional - and most importantly -- where they don't have the support of local people," Weesa said.
He says it is still unclear on who is responsible for the recent upsurge in violence in the north but says the matter is not being investigated closely enough by government.
"Since the creation of Pakistain, their aim has been to not let us live in peace. We must never be deceived by what Pakistain says. We must always be prepared, and stand up to those who want to spread terror," said Weesa.
Security forces have been embroiled in ongoing festivities with the Taliban for three days. On Monday, over 2,000 reinforcement troops were sent in to the area to bring it under control.
"All the troops that were needed in Kunduz, have been acquired from battalion 111, and have started an expanded operation," says Dawlat Waziri, Deputy Spokesman for the MoD.
Sources who have spoken on condition of anonymity have said that during the battle in Badakhshan, many troops were sent from Kunduz -- leaving the area vulnerable to attack. People have criticized this move and claim it is such actions on the part of government that point towards poor management.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/28/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
And then you'd have a collapsed Kunduz. Whatdayado? (How could you tell the difference?)
Posted by: ed in texas ||
04/28/2015 8:02 Comments ||
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[Tolo News] The Independent Directorate of Local Governance (IDLG) announced on Monday that Mohammad Asif Rahimi has been appointed governor of Herat ...a venerable old Persian-speaking city in western Afghanistan, populated mostly by Tadjiks, which is why it's not as blood-soaked as areas controlled by Pashtuns... province and Homayoun Azizi as governor of Kandahar province.
The new appointments, which were recommended by the IDLG and then approved by President Ashraf Ghani
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
04/28/2015 00:00 ||
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[Tolo News] The promised large-scale military offensive by the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) against gunnies in Kunduz has been delayed, reports TOLOnews correspondent Karim Amini from the battlefield.
Officials failed to give reasons as to why the offensive has not started, while the provincial governor also refused to comment on the issue.
Security officials in the area have however confirmed that the battle is intensifying and that Taliban fighters launched a fresh offensive on Imam Sahib district and that they have taken control of several areas.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
04/28/2015 00:00 ||
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GAROWE, Somalia -- Takaful Insurance Company has on Monday opened its doors in Somalia’s northeastern state of Puntland for the first time in over two decades, ushering in what analysts believe boost for the country’s fledgling insurance industry, Garowe Online reports.
Puntland Commerce Minister Mohamed Hassan So’adde along with Information and Environment Ministers has presided over a ceremony held for the launch of Sharia compliant insurance at Puntland State University (PSU) campus in the capital, Garowe.
Takaful General Manager, Hassan Bashir said in his opening remarks at the launching event that they have been seeking Sharia-based insurance for the last ten years in the Horn and central Africa: “But the dream is prevailing in Puntland today”.
Meanwhile, Takaful Somalia head Omar Haji Hussein revealed that they would provide indemnity against a lot of losses facing business community.
“This company is meant for addressing the problems facing different walks of life. We comply with whatever Sharia makes lawful, we are open, we are Somalis and we aim to become leading Sharia-compliant insurance company,” Hussein told a crowd that included prominent clerics and government officials over the course of the ceremony.
In support of purity and certainty, prominent cleric Sheikh Mohamud Haji Yusuf praised the opening of Takaful in Puntland.
“The service [Insurance] has been vague; it signifies civilization, governance, peace. Whenever you hear of Insurance, you will get to know the lives of the people,” stated Puntland Information Minister Abdiweli Hirsi Abdulle Indho-Guran while speaking about the positive impact of Sharia-compliant insurance.
Opened in Mogadishu in December 2014 at first, Takaful insures cars, buildings and other essential properties for risks.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/28/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
Their first ad campaign will feature "Hajib Flo".
Posted by: ed in texas ||
04/28/2015 7:57 Comments ||
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#2
I would hate to see those rates.
Posted by: chris ||
04/28/2015 8:31 Comments ||
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#3
I can see Mutual of Gaza branch office coming soon.
[ALMANAR.LB] Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir Head of the National Congress Party. He came to power in 1989 when he, as a brigadier in the Sudanese army, led a group of officers in a bloodless military coup that ousted the government of Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi and eventually appointed himself president-for-life. He has fallen out with his Islamic mentor, Hasan al-Turabi, tried to impose shariah on the Christian and animist south, resulting in its secessesion, and attempted to Arabize Darfur by unleashing the barbaric Janjaweed on it. Sudan's potential prosperity has been pissed away in warfare that has left as many as 400,000 people dead and 2.5 million displaced. Omar has been indicted for genocide by the International Criminal Court but nothing is expected to come of it. was reelected on Monday with 94.5 percent of the vote in polls he had been widely expected to win, the National Electoral Commission said. I was wondering how that was gonna turn out.
"The number of votes obtained by candidate Omar Hassan Ahmed al-Bashir of the National Congress Party was 5,252,478, or 94.5 percent" of ballots cast, NEC chief Mokhtar al-Asam said at a news conference in Khartoum.
Bashir -- wanted by the International Criminal Court ... where Milosevich died of old age before being convicted ... for war crimes -- had faced just 13 little-known challengers for the presidency, and the mainstream opposition boycotted the vote.
His closest competitor, Fadl el-Sayed Shuiab of the small Federal Truth Party, won "79,665 votes, or 1.43 percent," Asam said. Not to worry. 'Truth' ends last here as well and at nearly the same percentage. Polling stations had been quiet during the vote, despite a nationwide one-day extension, and the African Union ...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful... 's Election Observer Mission said there had been a "generally low turnout of voters throughout".
Asam said turnout was 46.4 percent across the four days of polling, in which representatives of the national and state parliaments were also chosen.
The United States, Britannia and Norway slammed Sudan last week, saying "failed to create a free, fair and conducive elections environment".
Posted by: Fred ||
04/28/2015 00:00 ||
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[ALMANAR.LB] The top diplomats from the United States and Iran will discuss the conflict in Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic... on Monday, U.S. 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... said, as he urged 'everybody do their part' to reduce violence and encourage negotiations, Rooters reported.
'Yemen's future should be decided by Yemenis ... not by external parties and proxies,' Kerry said, adding he expected the conflict to come up in his talks later in the day with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/28/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
Jawn,
Why don't you butt out and let the Saudis handle it.
The Yemenis aren't driving the train on the revolution (as anyone with two brain cells could see), so saying the fate of Yemen should be determined by the Yemenis is at least a TWO HARFer in my book.
And you are going to meet with the country whose best interests are served by Yemen circling the drain.
[ALMANAR.LB] Yemen's warring political factions were on the verge of a power-sharing deal when Saudi-led Arclight airstrikes began a month ago, derailing the negotiations, the United Nations ...where theory meets practice and practice loses... envoy who mediated the talks said.
Jamal Benomar, who spearheaded the negotiations until he resigned last week, told The Wall Street Journal the Saudi bombing campaign against Yemen
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
04/28/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
Generally, political discussion pretty much ends when one of the parties starts firing anything larger than 100mm.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
04/28/2015 8:00 Comments ||
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[ALMANAR.LB] Like ISIL, Saudi Arabia, the source of Takfiri Wahhabism, is destroying the historical identity of Yemen by targeting its monuments.
Among the most prominent historical monuments that the US-Saudi targeted are:
1. The mosque and the shrine of the orator Imam Abd al-Razzaq bin Humam al-San'aani, Sheikh Ahmed bin Hanbal and Sufyan bin A'ayena who died in 211 (AH) in al-Hamraa area in Dar al-Hadeed village which lies in Sanahan directorate in the province of Sanaa.
2. The old fence, market and buildings of Saada as well as al-Qishleh Fort which was constructed in the third century (AH).
3. The ancient Sirah Fortress which was built in Aden province in the tenth century (AH).
4. Ogaal Temple in Sarwah Directorate in Maareb province which dates back to the era of the Saba State before Islam.
5. The historical city of Zbeid in al-Hadida province which has been considered a moderate educational beacon whose light radiates all over the world and that was constructed in the thirteenth century (AH).
6. The monumental Dar al-Hasan in Damat directorate in al-Dalei province. The influential role of Damat dates back to the pre-Islamic centuries.
7. The historical Fajj Attan fort on Attan mountain in the Capital's Secretariat in Sanaa. It is considered one of the most important forts in that area.
Yemen has been since March 26 under brutal aggression by Saudi-US coalition. Riyadh launched the attack on Yemen in a bid to restore power to Yemen’s fugitive president Abdrabbu Mansour Hadi who is a close ally to Saudi Arabia.
On Tuesday night, Saudi Arabia declared the end of the aggression, dubbed “Decisive Strom”. However, the Saudi-led warplanes are still conducting airstrikes on several areas across Yemen.
More than 2,800 people were martyred by the Saudi aggression, most of them are civilians. Thousands more were injured.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/28/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
The National Museum in Ta'izz, Yemen is one of the greatest in the world. The Lonely Planet Guide puts it: "Not really a museum at all, but more the petrified palace of Imam Ahmed, this museum preserves the life and times of its previous and slightly peculiar owner."
#3
Meanwhile in the US, tiptoeing into similar waters, Prezident Redline merely sent historical objects back to the donor; didn't even have the ballz to smash them like the manly real Islamists. #whataputz
[EN.ZAMANALWSL.NET] The uncle of Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Terror of Aleppo ... is under investigation in La Belle France for amassing a 90-million-euro fortune, including a stud farm and luxury apartments, despite being kicked out of Syria "with nothing" 30 years ago.
French Sherlocks have provided details to AFP of their year-long probe into the finances of Rifaat al-Assad, the younger brother of late dictator Hafez al-Assad.
Rifaat has spent more than 30 luxurious years moving between homes in Gay Paree, London and the southern Spanish city of Marbella since he was forced into exile for trying to seize power from his brother.
His family's assets, outlined by French customs in a May 2014 report, are valued at around 90 million euros ($98 million) -- much of it held through a web of businesses based in Luxembourg.
The inventory includes a stud farm near Gay Paree, as well as two mansions, two apartment blocks and a plot of land in the French capital.
Rifaat told Sherlocks he "had nothing" when he left Syria, having always given his wages away to the poor, according to a source close to the investigation.
"It was (then French president) Francois Mitterrand who asked me to come to La Belle France... he was very kind," Rifaat said, according to the source.
The investigation into Rifaat's finances was triggered by Sherpa, an activist group representing the victims of financial crime, which claims the fortune was stolen during his time at the heart of the Syrian regime.
The family claims it is the result of gifts from wealthy Saudi supporters, including former king Abdullah, with whom Rifaat shared a love of horse-racing.
"The stud farm was given to my father by prince (later king) Abdullah of 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... ," Rifaat's 43-year-old son, Soumar al-Assad, told Sherlocks earlier this year.
Rifaat claims he invested these gifts in property, but did not keep a close eye on the details.
"I only occupy myself with politics," he said, according to the source.
"They bring me papers to sign... I don't know how to pay, even in restaurants."
Other members of the family have given evidence that Saudi backers have supported them ever since their exile in the 1980s.
Rifaat "lives principally from the sale of apartments... and from the regular help of Saudi Arabia".
Posted by: Fred ||
04/28/2015 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] President Barack Obama The point I was making was not that Grandmother harbors any racial animosity. She doesn’t. But she is a typical white person... secretly exempted the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) from carrying out adequate intelligence-gathering missions in Pakistain before conducting drone strikes in the country. These are the tax rules for your 401k's, until we decide to secretly change them. If you like your Master Limited Partnerships, you can keep them.
The Wall Street Journal quotes current and former United States (US) officials as saying President B.O. made rules for the US drone programme stricter in 2013, but secretly approved a waiver allowing the CIA more flexibility when it comes to conducting drone strikes against suspected murderous Moslems in Pakistain.
The rules introduced in 2013 were meant to reduce the possibility of civilian casualties, and required that targets must be an imminent threat to the US.
The waiver, however, exempts the CIA from adhering to these rules while launching drone strikes in Pakistain.
The deaths of two hostages, Warren Weinstein and Giovanni Lo Porto, who were killed in a drone strike targeting Al-Qaeda Death Eaters, could have been avoided had the exemption not been in place for Pakistain.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/28/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
...Double secret probation?
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
04/28/2015 7:33 Comments ||
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#2
If Bush had done this, the press would be calling for his head. Everyone in the CIA would be under indictment. Instead, the attitude is "oh, well"
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
04/28/2015 9:19 Comments ||
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Of course he will. They're some of his favourite people, doing one of his favourite things.
[Breitbart] Former U.S. Democratic President Jimmy Carter will travel to the Gaza Strip on Thursday and meet with officials from Hamas, the Jihadist terror organization that rules the Palestinian territory.
"Carter will arrive in Gaza on Thursday through the [Israeli-controlled] Erez border crossing to meet with leading Hamas officials," a Palestinian security spokesperson told Anadolu Agency, a news outlet based in Turkey.
Carter, 90, will meet with the Hamas military chief Ismail Haneya, Xinhua reports.
Continued on Page 49
Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps ships intercepted a Marshall Islands-flagged commercial cargo vessel in the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, forcing it "further into Iranian waters," the Pentagon said. Multiple U.S. government sources said there were no Americans aboard the Maersk Tigris.
The Straits are not Iranian waters, no matter what the Iranians claim...
Several Iranian patrol craft intercepted the Tigris at 5:05 a.m. eastern time as it traveled "on an internationally recognized maritime route," according to a statement from the Office of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
"The IRGCN contacted the vessel and directed the Maersk Tigris' master to divert further into Iranian Waters. The master initially declined and one of the IRGCN patrol craft fired shots across the Maersk Tigris' bow. The master then complied and diverted under escort by the IRGCN vessels," according to the statement.
In response to a distress call, the U.S. Navy ordered the USS Farragut, an Arleigh Burke Class Guided Missile Destroyer, "to proceed at best speed to the nearest location of the Maersk Tigris," while reconnaissance aircraft kept track of the diverted vessel, according to the statement.
The U.S. military has been in contact with officials from the Maersk shipping company, who say that the Iranians boarded the Tigris.
The confrontation occurred as the U.S. Senate prepared to take up legislation aimed at giving lawmakers more of a say on President Barack Obama's proposed nuclear deal with Iran.
While the Marshall Islands are a sovereign state, "the United States has full authority and responsibility for security and defense of the Marshall Islands," according to the State Department.
The semi-official Iranian news agency Fars reported that Iran had taken control of a U.S. ship and its 34 crew for "trespassing" in its territorial waters, Reuters said. I wonder how these clowns will behave if they ever get the bomb.
This is an act of war. The Marshall Islands are in full association with the U.S., and we are responsible for their security per treaty. An attack on them is an attack on us. The ayatollahs are yanking Champ's chain, hard, because they know they can.
The Iranians didn't pay a price and thus correctly concluded that asymmetrical warfare on the coalition would be risk free and ultimately lead them to a triumphal success.
#6
...This was the warning. The next one seized and boarded will be a supertanker.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
04/28/2015 17:55 Comments ||
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#7
The Iranians keep pushing and pushing, then back off. Psyops. O is going to have a harder and harder time pushing his nuke agreement framework understanding appeasement document whatever with Congress regardless how whimpy they are now when Iran keeps causing mischief and upping the ante.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
04/28/2015 20:00 Comments ||
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#8
Marinetrafic.com is reporting the Tigris is still at anchor in Iranian waters as of 15 mins ago.
#9
The Devil is in the Details = PCorrect-Deniable LEGALISMS.
There seems to be a divergence on the MSM-Net as to whether a Marshall Islands-flagged commercial vessel is the "equivalent" of a US-flagged commercial vessel per se, + iff the MAERSK TIGRIS was actually "boarded" by Iranian security forces, as opposed to being fired upon but only ordered by same to move to an Iranian port under armed naval escort???
The owners of the MAERSK TIGRIS are repor in alleged $$$ = debt-related cahoots wid Iran entities, at least as Tehran is claiming.
* "MARSHALL ISLANDS-FLAGGED" > D *** NG, YOU KNEW CHINA-DESIRED CHUUK LAGOON, FKA EX-WW2 TRUK LAGOON IJN MILBASE, WAS INVOLVED SOMEHOW.
Sniff, sniff, IS THERE NO LOVE IN THE KSA-VS-IRAN YEMEN CRISIS FOR ULITHI LAGOON???
Lest we fergit, DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > [Want China Times] PLA'S DF-21D ANTI-SHIP MISSLE CAN REACH THE PHILIPPINES: REPORT.
Imagine iff these Chinese DF-21D's + OtherPLA MilAssets-Forces were based in a possible post-FSM, Compact future independent CHUUK STATE???
FYI again this incident wid the MAERSK TIGRIS isn't the first time Iran engaged in maritime shennanigans wid a foreign commercial ship ...
* FYI CNN AM [old] > VIDEO: US-FLAGGED SHIP
"INTERCEPTED" BY [4-vessel]IRANIAN PATROL.
MAERSK KENSINGTON.
--------------------
More this AM as per the MAERSK TIGRIS...
* BLOOMBERG > IRAN BOARDS CARGO SHIP INSIDE OWN WATERS, US PENTAGON SAYS.
* SAME > PENTAGON: SHIP SEIZED BY IRAN NOT US-FLAGGED, NO US SHIP SEIZED BY IRAN.
#11
I seem to remember many happy days spent in the Persian Gulf/Indian Ocean launching aircraft to escort tankers through the Straits. Iranians left those ships alone, but then they understood what a real redline meant.....
Not long ago, retired Marine Corps Gen. John Allen was a pretty good argument for the wisdom of the old adage "Be careful what you wish for." As fighters for the so-called Islamic State (IS) rolled through Iraq last summer, sources say Allen was privately furious with the Obama administration's deballed tepid response. As the deputy commanding general of Marine forces in Anbar province back in 2006-08, Allen had participated in the Sunni uprising against al-Qaida in Iraq, commonly known as the "Anbar Awakening." Those kinds of bonds endure, and Allen knew that many of the Sunni sheikhs and tribes that the Marines had fought alongside were in the direct path of the IS juggernaut that captured roughly a third of Iraq.
"It's difficult to describe how desperate the situation was last summer, with ISIL [another term for IS] fighters pouring down the Euphrates River Valley, Iraqi Security Forces crumbling, and cities and towns going down one after another in front of the onslaught," Allen said at the Atlantic Council last month. "All of those Iraqis were exposed to the intolerable evil of ISIL, which operates far beyond the pale of civilized nations. So as the emergency unfolded, my thoughts were with my many friends in Iraq at that time."
And then last September, the Obama administration named Allen as its Special Presidential Envoy for the Global Coalition to Counter ISIL. The privately fuming critic was suddenly very publicly in charge, at least in appearance.
The job of "special presidential envoy" is fraught with ambiguity and bureaucratic tensions. Special envoys typically derive their influence from a direct line to the White House, a relationship that, especially in the case of the Pentagon, bypasses a hierarchal chain of command and short-circuits carefully delineated authorities. Those tensions seemed to come to the fore when Foreign Policy published an article last October suggesting dysfunctional squabbling between Allen's team and the staff of Central Command commander Gen. Lloyd Austin. Quoting unnamed sources, the feature denigrated Allen at length under the blunt heading "Is General John Allen In Over His Head?" Contacted for this article, both the Pentagon and the State Department said that supposed tensions pointed to in the article were normal disagreements over a complex security challenge, and greatly overblown.
Given the stakes involved with the rapid advancement of IS and the obvious bureaucratic tensions, even some Allen admirers questioned the need for a special presidential envoy. "I don't think the problem was personality-driven, because both generals Austin and Allen are great guys, but friction was built into their positions and roles," said former CENTCOM commander Gen. Anthony Zinni (USMC-retired). "If I were still CENTCOM commander and a retired four-star general was brought in to elicit coalition support for operations in my area of responsibility, I would certainly be scratching my head. It just seemed odd to me."
Mounting signs of strategic incoherence in the U.S. campaign to "degrade and defeat" IS only added to concerns thatAllen and Austin were not working from the same page. In January, a delegation of Sunni tribal sheikhs visited Washington, D.C., for instance, and complained that they were not getting the weapons or support from CENTCOM or the Iraqi government that they had been led to expect. In February, a senior CENTCOM official told reporters that a U.S.-trained force of some 20,000 to 25,000 Iraqis would launch an offensive to recapture Mosul from IS defenders in April or May -- comments that were roundly criticized by the Iraqi government as imprudent and premature, and downplayed by Allen as a matter to be decided by the Iraqis.
The U.S. campaign in Iraq looked even more disjointed in early March, when Iraqi forces launched their first major counteroffensive in an attempt to retake the city of Tikrit, symbolic to Sunnis and former Baathists as the hometown of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. Not only was the Tikrit operation not coordinated with U.S. military commanders at their Joint Operations Center in Iraq, but it was also ostensibly led by Iranian Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani, and dominated by Iranian-backed Shiite militias that many feared would further provoke a sectarian civil war with retribution killings. U.S. commanders in Iraq washed their hands of the operation, withholding U.S. air support. The Tikrit counteroffensive quickly stalled.
With the anti-IS campaign on a razor's edge, U.S. officials finally pushed hard, and seemingly in unison. At a key turning point in the U.S.'s anti-IS campaign in Iraq, officials from Allen's team at the State Department met face to face with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi numerous times, stressing that he had a critical choice to make. CENTCOM would provide air cover to the Tikrit offensive, but only if all participating units were placed under the direction of the legitimate Iraqi government in Baghdad, and under the command and control of the Iraqi military. The U.S. refused to act as the air force of marauding, Iranian-backed Shiite militias on a mission of revenge.
When al-Abadi finally agreed and imposed control over all participating units, some of the most notorious Iranian-backed Shiite militias abandoned the operation. CENTCOM began launching airstrikes in support of the counteroffensive as promised, and within 96 hours, Iraqi forces broke through IS defenses and recaptured Tikrit. Al-Abadi then traveled to Tikrit and raised the national flag alongside the Sunni governor of the province. When there were initial reports of some looting by Shiite "popular mobilization forces," al-Abadi quickly gathered his security commanders and local officials, and together they stopped the looting.
"The Tikrit operation was very fluid and dynamic, and it did represent an important inflection point," said Ambassador Brett McGurk, the Deputy Special Presidential Envoy to the Global Coalition to Counter ISIL, told me. Since taking office last year, al-Abadi has articulated a vision for stabilizing Iraq that is fundamentally different from that of his predecessor, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, McGurk noted.
"That vision is of a more decentralized Iraq, with much more autonomy for local governance. Abadi restated that vision in Tikrit, insisting that local security forces would be responsible for stabilizing the city and the surrounding area. So at the end of the day, Abadi and the Iraqi government get very high marks for wresting control of a volatile situation in Tikrit, and stabilizing it."
U.S. and Iraqi officials clearly hope to capitalize on the momentum from the successful Tikrit operation. After his recent visit to Washington, al-Abadi launched an operation by Iraqi forces in the Sunni heartland of Anbar province, where he traveled to meet with the Anbar governor and to personally hand out more than 1,500 rifles to Sunni fighters. U.S. Special Operations forces have trained roughly 2,000 Sunni fighters, and the Seventh Iraqi Army Division, at Al Asad Air Base in Anbar province. Backed by U.S. airpower, those forces were able to successfully fend off recent IS counterattacks in the Anbar capital, Ramadi, and at the Baiji Oil Refinery. In recent days, Iraqi security forces have secured the center of Ramadi and pushed IS fighters out of some neighborhoods, while recapturing a key bridge in the capital of western Anbar.
Close observers believe those recent battlefield successes have healed whatever rift still existed between Allen's team and CENTCOM. "I think most of the aggravation and tension between General Allen and General Austin has gone away, and in the recent fighting in Anbar we saw CENTCOM working very closely with Sunni tribes who are close to and have a lot of respect for John Allen," said a former senior official with close ties to Allen. "I mean, who would have thought we'd see a Shiite prime minister of Iraq handing out rifles to Sunni fighters? I know from my recent communications with Gen. Allen that his camp is cautiously optimistic about recent events in Iraq."
Al-Abadi's efforts to stitch back together Iraq's shredded sectarian mosaic, however, remains a work in progress. U.S. officials have supported his proposal to create local National Guard units to maintain local security, a potential solution to the fundamental problem of overwhelmingly Shiite Iraqi security forces or militias operating in Sunni areas. But they concede that the idea has met resistance in the Iraqi Parliament, where Shiite and Kurdish lawmakers worry about the law's impact on their own militias. In the meantime, the al-Abadi government passed a budget a few months ago requiring that all "popular mobilization forces" be under the control of the government, with a proportional representation of Sunni volunteers from Anbar. Roughly 7,500 Anbari fighters have joined popular mobilization units to date.
Until Sunni participation in the armed forces is institutionalized with the formation of official National Guard units, however, some experts worry that the current level of cooperation from Sunni tribes might prove fleeting. In the meantime, many experts credit Allen and CENTCOM for an outreach to the Sunni tribes in Anbar that has put IS on the defensive in the region.
"The recent fighting in Anbar around Ramadi shows that a good number of Sunni tribes and Sunni elites are now fighting on the side of the United States and the Iraqi government," says James Jeffrey, a former U.S. ambassador to Iraq, and currently a distinguished visiting fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. He adds: "I still think the United States should get them more weapons, quicker, but the fact that they are fighting on our side is a pretty good indication that Gen. Allen and Ambassador McGurt are doing a great job." No mention made of U.S. Army Infantry and Special Forces trainers and advisors.
Specific proposals to end the appalling violence in Syria, Yemen, and territories controlled by the Islamic State group are scarce in the nascent presidential campaign. That is about to change.
Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina -- who tells Yahoo Finance he's "92-and-a-half percent sure" he's running for president -- wants to send U.S. troops back to the world's most volatile region to stamp out vicious terrorism and remove Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. "Assad has to go," he says in the video above. "We're going to have to send some of our soldiers back into the Middle East."
Many world leaders, including U.S. President Barack Obama, would love to see Assad booted from power. Assad has presided over a four-year-old civil war that has so far caused at least 210,000 deaths and forced nearly four million Syrians to flee the country. Assad's troops have dropped unaimed "barrel bombs" filled with shrapnel on civilian areas, and used chemical weapons, in violation of international treaties. Desperate Syrian migrants are fueling the human trafficking crisis in the Mediterranean that has led to hundreds of drowning deaths as victims try to get safely to Europe.
Finding a way to remove the wily Assad, however, is no easy matter. The Obama administration tried to provide arms to some of the factions fighting Assad, but basically gave up, saying it was too hard to identify reliable allies. Graham's approach would be far more muscular. He'd help form a regional force with 90% of the troops coming from Arab nations, and 10% coming from the U.S. Graham has previously said the number of troops he'd commit might total 10,000 or so.
"I would integrate our forces within a regional army," he says. "There's no other way to defend this nation than some of us being on the ground over there doing the fighting."
A commitment of that nature would almost certainly require U.S. combat forces to deploy -- some to help train foreign armies but others to man the front. U.S. forces are generally more highly trained than Gulf armies, especially with regard to high-skill missions such as rapid armored maneuvers, special operations, logistics, reconnaissance and close-air support. "We can provide capability on the ground the Arab world doesn't possess," Graham says.
There are several obvious drawbacks to such a plan. It would be highly controversial and might not even draw strong support from Republicans. The Pentagon might resist too, since it usually objects to joining any coalition it doesn't control. Graham is an Air Force reservist who has spent 33 years on active and reserve duty in the Judge Advocate General Corps, which gives him more credibility on national security matters than others with no military background. Still, many Americans would probably object to sending U.S. troops into another intractable Middle East conflict, after more than 4,400 died in Iraq.
If military force did remove Assad, there'd still be the problem of whom to replace him with, lest Syria become another lawless state, similar to Yemen or northern Iraq, ripe for occupation by the Islamic State or other offshoots of Al Qaeda. "You'd have to get a political coalition to rebuild Syria," Graham acknowledges. Easier said than done.
In general, Graham would be far more interventionist than Obama has been or than the president's former secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, would probably be if elected president. Graham would also be more hawkish than most of his Republican contenders, especially Rand Paul, whose isolationist views Graham has frequently attacked.
#3
Graham is an Air Force reservist who has spent 33 years on active and reserve duty in the Judge Advocate General Corps, which gives him more credibility on national security matters than others with no military background.
Oh, my. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time.
#5
Never knew we've had 33 yrs of "Don't ask, don't tell"
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/28/2015 15:09 Comments ||
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#6
Meanwhile "THE AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON" fans, not to be outdone by Senator Lindsey ...
* NEW YORK TIMES, FREEREPUBLIC > RAND PAUL SAYS IT WAS A MISTAKE TO TOPPLE SADDAM HUSSEIN.
I have to agree - SADDAM seemed very nice when he visited Guam back in the 1970's, before he + Baathists overthrew the then-Govt. of Iraq, + later on SCUD war wid Iran.
But whom, like PEPPERIDGE FARM, remembers such thingys???
[EN.ZAMANALWSL.NET] The Secretary General of the Istanbul-based Syrian Turks' Association has pointed out the presence of a growing Iranian influence in Syria.
"Syrian opponents are fighting against Iran, Hezbollah and secret powers rather than Syrian troops in Syria," Ahmed Vezir told The Anadolu Agency Sunday, adding that Iran was increasingly having a "greater say" in Syria.
He also said Iranian troops were taking an "active" role in the country.
In January, a suspected Israeli attack killed an Iranian general, Mohammed Ali Allahdadi. as well as Hezbollah members, in Syria.
Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Scourge of Qusayr... has denied the presence of Iranian troops in his country.
"We invited Hezbollah but not the Iranians. There are no Iranian troops in Syria and they have not sent any troops," said Assad in an interview with French television last week.
Ahmed Vezir, the Secretary General of the Istanbul-based Syrian Turks' Association. Photo: AA
Iran, Assad's main regional ally, has acknowledged sending military advisers to Syria but has denied having combat troops on the ground.
Leb's Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran, has sent fighters to bolster Assad's forces.
Vezir said opposition forces in Syria had united in many locations across the country, making significant gains against the regime troops, citing recent victories in the Idlib province and in the city of Jisr as-Shugur.
"The strengthening of the opposition has weakened the regime, causing disintegration and cracks inside the regime," said Vezir.
As an example of the regime's shaky disposition, Vezir said Rustom Gazooli, the head of Syrian military intelligence, had been murdered by unknown assailants.
While Lebanese media have announced Gazooli's death in Damascus on Friday, citing relatives, reports over the cause of death have been conflicting .
On Saturday and Sunday, more than 60 people were killed by Syrian warplanes and hundreds of others maimed in the city, the Syrian Revolution General Commission said, confirmed by Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Syria has been gripped by stalemate since the regime launched a violent crackdown in response to anti-government protests in March 2011, triggering a conflict that has killed more than 220,000, including in excess of 10,000 children, according to the UN.
The conflict has also forced more than 3.9 million Syrians to seek refuge in neighboring countries.
The Syrian Turks' Association aims to help Syrians in The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... on a social, cultural and educational level and boost their relations with Turkish citizens.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/28/2015 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
[NYT] A top Iranian general said that the leadership of Saudi Arabia was on the edge of collapse and would be toppled soon "Allah willing".
During a speech in Tehran, Islamic Revolutionary Guards chief General Mohammad Ali Jafari called the Saudi-led bombardment of Yemen "shameless and rude and an affront to all Islamic values."
"The traitor Saudi Arabia is following the path of Israel," Jafari said, according to the semiofficial news agency Tasnim, adding, "Saudi Arabia is bombarding this country without any coordination with international bodies. We can no longer stay silent."
Jafari predicted that the Saudi campaign in Yemen would backfire. He also commented on Iran’s rising power, saying that "with the passing of time, all the tricks of the Islamic republic's enemies are deciphered."
The general said Iranian ideology prescribes an export of the revolution. He said, "The final cause and goal of the Islamic Revolution is creating an Islamic civilization. And we do our best to develop in the path of creating Islamic civilization."
Jafari joined other Iranian authorities in predicting that the Saudi monarchy would be toppled by a popular uprising. He said, "The House of Saud is on the edge of disintegration and collapse. Regional and international analysts have talked about it a lot, and we hope that it will come true."
#1
Don't know if that will be a good thing or a bad thing? They fund and support many jihadi outfits but do we want a mullah style leadership in charge?
Posted by: paul ||
04/28/2015 2:48 Comments ||
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#2
Both Analysts + Bloggers-Netters are warning that any formal breakup or partition of Yemen's federal union into other, decentralized or independent, not only gives major advantage to IRAN but also sets a very dangerous precedent for the Peninsula + smaller GCC States.
However well-intentioned, the KSA by its campaign in Yemen may had indirectly + irrevocably changed the same regional or peninsular status quo it has been fervently trying to save???
[Iran Press TV] ISIL Takfiri ...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who must be killed... terrorist leader Ibrahim al-Samarrai aka His Supreme Immensity, Caliph of the Faithful and Galactic Overlord, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi ...formerly merely the head of ISIL and a veteran of the Bagram jailhouse. Looks like a new messiah to bajillions of Moslems, like just another dead-eyed mass murder to the rest of us... who is said to have been maimed in a US-led coalition attack is reportedly unable to move due to his injury.
"Sources tell us Baghdadi is still alive, but still unable to move due to spinal injury sustained in the March Arclight airstrike," the Business Insider website quoted Kareem Shaheen at The Guardian as saying in a Tuesday message posted on Twitter.
Another Guardian news hound also said according to his sources Baghdadi is not dead and is receiving treatment from doctors of djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... In an earlier report, an unnamed source said that Baghdadi was hiding in the town of al-Ba'aj in Iraq's northern Nineveh province, adding that he had chosen the place because he knew the US forces did not have much cover there.
The source also confirmed that Baghdadi was maimed during a US-led coalition attack in March and noted even though his wounds were initially life threatening, he had slowly recovered from his injuries.
"He has not, however, resumed day-to-day control of the organization," the source stated.
The report, however, has not been confirmed by US officials. "We have nothing to confirm this report," said a Pentagon front man.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/28/2015 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Islamic State
#1
still unable to move
Hmmm,...stable grid coordinates then?
#4
Iff the adult Al-Baghdadi is as dedicated to Islam as his Leader-Mentor Osama Bin Laden, he will work to recover ASAP AMAP from his injuries, + prove inspirational to his Followers = Radical Islam in the process.
[EN.ZAMANALWSL.NET] At least 15 young Western women who joined Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... and married jihadi fighters are now widows after the bad boy group suffered losses in festivities in Syria and Iraq, according to researchers who closely monitor Islamist faceless myrmidons online.
The Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) think tank in London gave Rooters access to its database of 106 foreign women it says have moved to IS territory and are active online.
Fifteen of the women have either mentioned on social media that they lost their husbands in fighting, or other known IS supporters have announced the men's deaths online, said ISD researcher Melanie Smith.
Although Rooters could not independently confirm the identities of the women, many of them have been said by relatives to have left their home countries for Syria and Iraq. Some have also been named by law enforcement officials in their countries or leave online traces, such as having geographical locators on their Twitter accounts.
Smith said most of the women believed to be widows lost their husbands in the last six months. IS, which swept through northern Iraq last June, has recently suffered some battlefield setbacks including at the Syrian city of Kobani where it was defeated by Kurdish forces backed by U.S.-led Arclight airstrikes.
The morale of foreign women is a concern for IS because it is trying to attract females from abroad to marry Islamist fighters and populate the territory it holds.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/28/2015 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Islamic State
#1
I hold out hopes that they can reach fulfillment by joining their husbands in posterity.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
04/28/2015 7:55 Comments ||
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#2
Luckily they might even pick up a second or third husband before the years is out. After that they can serve ISIS in the Jihadi bordellos or something.
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.
International Criminal Court
[ALMANAR.LB] The top diplomats from the United States and Iran will discuss the conflict in 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
[Breitbart] Former U.S. Democratic President Jimmy Carter will travel to the Gaza Strip on Thursday and meet with officials from Hamas, the Jihadist terror organization that rules the Palestinian territory.
Not long ago, retired Marine Corps Gen. John Allen was a pretty good argument for the wisdom of the old adage "Be careful what you wish for." As fighters for the so-called Islamic State (IS) rolled through Iraq last summer, sources say Allen was privately furious with the Obama administration's 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
