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Massive car bomb rocks Hezbollah stronghold in Beirut
Today's Headlines
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Page 4: Opinion
1 11:24 Jack Salami [1]
3 08:18 Ptah [1]
9 16:10 Shipman [4]
Page 6: Politix
4 23:09 JosephMendiola [3]
10 14:23 Nimble Spemble [2]
Afghanistan
Champ considering total US pullout from AFG in 2014
Posted by: Besoeker || 07/09/2013 10:05 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  IF it's a good idea in 2014 it's a good idea now in 2013.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 07/09/2013 11:33 Comments || Top||

#2  It's about time he stop asking people to die in a war he plans to lose.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 07/09/2013 11:34 Comments || Top||

#3  Can't turn a septic tank into a bottle of Chanel No. 5. Should have gone the glass parking lot route in 2001. Might still have the paks' attention if we'd done that...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 07/09/2013 11:58 Comments || Top||

#4  If Obama thinks it is a good idea then it is probably a very bad one for the Free World.
Posted by: JFM || 07/09/2013 12:19 Comments || Top||

#5  When we pull out I still think we have not dealt with the source of political islam ie Saudi, Pakistan and Iran.
Posted by: Paul D || 07/09/2013 12:33 Comments || Top||

#6  I second TFSM's sentiments. Afghanistan on a good day is in the condition that you threaten to beat your worst opponent into, as a forceful threat.

If Obumble pulls everyone out quickly, it will be the only thing he's ever done as President with which I agree enthusiastically. I have to assume that he and his cronies will think up some way to screw up even that good thing - but I will hope for the best.
Posted by: Lone Ranger || 07/09/2013 12:33 Comments || Top||

#7  C'mon, he pulls out in 2013 and it'll be forgotten by the time the 2014 Congressional elections come around.
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 07/09/2013 12:39 Comments || Top||

#8  Lone Ranger has it right. We are never going to transform Afghanistan into anything positive. Get our men and women outta there ASAP. Every dollar spent and every life lost is a waste.
Posted by: remoteman || 07/09/2013 12:58 Comments || Top||

#9  IF it's a good idea in 2014 it's a good idea now in 2013

It's like rob said: can't get 2014 mid-term election impact if it's done in 2013.
Posted by: Pappy || 07/09/2013 13:00 Comments || Top||

#10  It was a good idea as originally conceived in 2001: gob-smack the Taliban, support the Northern Alliance, and destroy al-Qaeda. We got about 95% of that mission done in less than a year.

Then GWB made a big mistake: he listened to Democrats, Europeans, and academia. He bought the "Pottery Barn" idea and thought that we had broken Afghanistan, so we had to fix it and "support democracy". Thus we embarked on "nation building", conveniently ignoring that in Afghanistan there is no nation to build.

If we no longer buy into this then a return to the 2001 plan is a good one: let the crazy Pashtuns and Paks have their playground in the south, and support the Northern Alliance.

But that won't win votes either.
Posted by: Steve White || 07/09/2013 13:06 Comments || Top||

#11  Dr. Steve is correct. GWB blew the mission by believing his own "compassionate conservatism" malarky.

If you're going to nation build you have to take over lock, stock and barrel as we did in Japan post WWII. We can't/won't do that anymore so the shampoo approach is the correct one.

Re: 2014 vs. 2013 it is all about the election. If done in 2013 there's a whole year for the situation to go to hell, which it will no matter when we pull out. This way the Demoslobs can say "We pulled out the troops, hooray." while if they pull out in 2013 the 'pubs can run on the smoking ruins that will be there at that time.
Posted by: AlanC || 07/09/2013 13:19 Comments || Top||

#12  Dr. White is spot on. If there is anything to be saved [and that can be debated at great length], it is in the North. A counterinsurgency with a lengthy border sanctuary and safe haven, is a disaster waiting to happen. At this point the entire fok'n place isn't worth a single American or Allied life. Not one !
Posted by: Besoeker || 07/09/2013 14:18 Comments || Top||

#13  If you're going to nation build

Start with some place where they already had a nation.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 07/09/2013 15:06 Comments || Top||

#14  Wreck the infrastructure as you pull out.

You want the 14th century? Here ya go.
Posted by: Muggsey Mussolini || 07/09/2013 15:13 Comments || Top||

#15  Is there anyway we can hand Vlad this monkey and make it look like a happy meal?
Posted by: Shipman || 07/09/2013 16:02 Comments || Top||

#16  E.G. STARS-N-STRIPES > AFGHANISTAN:[Post-2014] CIVILIAN LAYOFFS RAISES FEAR OF STRONGER INSURGENCY, i.e. that soon-to-be-layed-off former Us-NATO Aghan civilian workers will end up joining the Hard Boyz due to post-2014 national economic turmoil or chaos.

The above, + any + all prior MSM-Net Artics + Pert Analyses anticipating such is why mainstream Amers should never listen to the DemoLeft + aligned on why the US-Allies should NOT engage in "nation-building", "national rconstruction, or even "imperialism" when it comes to winning or engaging in overseas military conflicts ala "winning hearts-n-minds".
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 07/09/2013 19:48 Comments || Top||

#17  More ...

* MEMRI.ORG > AL-QAEDA TOP PAKISTANI OFFICER USTAD AHMED FAROOQ: WAR UNDERWAY IN [Pakistani] TRIBAL AREA IS THE BATTLE FOR THE WHOLE OF THE INDIAN SUBCONTINENT.

D *** NG IT, DOES INDONESIA + ASEAN + WESTPAC KNOW???

[Lest we fergit, "RED STAR" TURBAN here].

versus

* SAME > [AL-HAYAT = 06/15/13] SENIOR SAUDI JOURNALIST: UNLESS SSAUDI ARABIA CAN ACT IMMEDIATELY TO REMOVE [Syria's] ASSAD FROM POWER, "NIGHTMARE " OF [Regional? TranS-Regional?]"SHIITE CRESCENT" MAY MATERIALIZE.

From Iran to the Mediterranean = now including EGYPT?
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 07/09/2013 23:01 Comments || Top||


Africa Horn
3rd round of Somalia-Somaliland dialogue opens in Turkey
But I think we all saw this coming...
GAROWE, Somalia -- A dialogue process between Somalia's Federal Government (SFG) and the country's separatist region of Somaliland entered a third round of discussions hosted by the Turkish government in Istanbul, Garowe Online reports.

Parliamentary delegations representing the SFG and Somaliland are currently in Istanbul, led by Federal MP Khalid Omar Ali and MP Baashe Mohamed Farah, Deputy Speaker of Somaliland Parliament, respectively. Speaking on VOA Somali Service on Sunday, the two MPs said the talks commence on Monday and that the agenda is "continuation" of the agenda of talks in June 2012 in Dubai, and April 13, 2013, in Istanbul.

Head of Somaliland's delegation, Deputy Speaker Baashe Mohamed Farah, said the Somaliland delegation's agenda is clear in demanding full independence from the rest of Somalia.

In previous two rounds of talks, hosted by UAE and Turkish governments respectively, the dialogue process commenced and the key agreements included continuation of dialogue and prevention of divisive comments via the media.
That's, um, quite an accomplishment for two rounds of talks. Did you also determine the shape of the table and the color of the tablecloth?
Puntland region borders Somaliland's separatist region in northern Somalia and has fought sporadic territorial conflict with Somaliland over Sool and Sanaag regions for over a decade.

However, Puntland is not represented in the talks and Puntland President Abdirahman Mohamed Farole had previously declared that any talks between the federal government and Somaliland that excludes Puntland will not be recognized by the Puntland authorities.
Splitter! Though you'd think there is an obvious solution here, depending on the shape of the table...
Posted by: Steve White || 07/09/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Mound not sound.
Posted by: Shipman || 07/09/2013 4:46 Comments || Top||

#2  "Sound" is appropriate, considering that's all that's usually produced.
Posted by: Pappy || 07/09/2013 11:14 Comments || Top||

#3  The sounds carrys and bringeth forth the mounds.
Posted by: Shipman || 07/09/2013 16:03 Comments || Top||

#4  I shall use in a sentence.

300 lbs of dialogue were disc'd into the topsoil.
Posted by: Shipman || 07/09/2013 16:04 Comments || Top||

#5  Ship wins the thread! :-D
Posted by: Barbara || 07/09/2013 18:33 Comments || Top||

#6  Shipman has been on a roll, lately. :-)
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/09/2013 19:21 Comments || Top||

#7  Don't encourage him. "Out of hand" comes to mind :-)
Posted by: Frank G || 07/09/2013 20:54 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Tunisia police to probe attack on actors
[Al Ahram] Tunisia's public prosecutor Monday ordered police to investigate an attack on 19 actors by Salafist Mohammedans, while they decided whether to charge the artists with alleged "indecency", a lawyer for the drama group said.

"The public prosecutor decided ...to allow the investigation to progress so that coppers could hear the artists' statements as victims," their lawyer Ghazi Mrabet said.

The actors had been due to appear before the public prosecutor on Monday, and were expected to be charged with indecency.

Mrabet added that the prosecutor had not yet decided whether or not to press charges against the members of the theatre troupe.

"The artists should receive a summons from the police now," he said.

The group was putting on a performance in the western town of Kef in a small theatre and in the street when ultra-conservative Salafist Mohammedans attacked them.

Supporters of the actors said that police had not bothered the Salafists
...Salafists are ostentatiously devout Moslems who figure the ostentation of their piety gives them the right to tell others how to do it and to kill those who don't listen to them...
, while they placed in durance vile
Into the paddy wagon wit' yez!
the artists and asked for them to be prosecuted for indecent behaviour, a charge that carries a sentence of up to six months in prison.

Police have not made their statements available to the actors' defence lawyers, so the exact nature of what they are accused of remains unclear.

The performance in question was organised to raise funds for a local theatre in Kef damaged in an arson attack.

Police said the performance was also a tribute to anti-Islamist MP Chokri Belaid, who was assassinated in February by suspected Salafists. Entertainers are frequent targets of Salafists.
Posted by: Fred || 07/09/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under: Salafists


US calls for 'maximum restraint' from Egypt military
[Al Ahram] The United States on Monday called on Egypt's military to exercise "maximum restraint" after dozens of people were killed while demonstrating against last week's ouster of president Mohamed Morsi. "Egypt's stability and democratic political order are at stake," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters during a briefing in which she said Washington "strongly" condemns violence on all sides.
Posted by: Fred || 07/09/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring

#1  maximum restraint

Whatever.
Posted by: gorb || 07/09/2013 1:05 Comments || Top||

#2  to exercise "maximum restraint" after dozens of people were killed

So thousands be killed?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 07/09/2013 7:24 Comments || Top||

#3  How about as much restraint as the Nobel Peace Prize Winner Obama has shown with his DroneKill Program(tm)?
Posted by: Procopius2k || 07/09/2013 8:27 Comments || Top||

#4  Pinch hitting for John Kerry..Jen Psaki.
First pitch swinging...oh, bit on the changup, slow roller to second. Out.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 07/09/2013 11:29 Comments || Top||

#5  Egyptian military calls for US to "piss off"...
Posted by: Muggsey Mussolini || 07/09/2013 11:37 Comments || Top||

#6  I dare the State Department to STFU for a day, then a week, then a month...
Posted by: Dopey Sinatra9196 || 07/09/2013 15:00 Comments || Top||

#7  Maximum restraint? How about maximum accuracy from the Egyptian Army, thereby helping the Egyptian people rid themselves of the parasites.
Posted by: WhiskeyMike173 || 07/09/2013 21:31 Comments || Top||


US condemns Brotherhood's violence calls
[Al Ahram] The White House on Monday condemned "explicit" calls to violence by Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood and said it would take its time to determine whether the ouster of president Mohamed Morsi was a military coup. When asked how long it would take to determine whether Egypt's military had carried out a coup by forcing Morsi from power, White House spokesman Jay Carney said the administration was wary of moving "unnecessarily quickly."
Posted by: Fred || 07/09/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under: Muslim Brotherhood

#1  White House spokesman Jay Carney said the administration was wary of moving "unnecessarily quickly."

That's been the administration's modus operandi since 2008.
Posted by: Pappy || 07/09/2013 11:16 Comments || Top||


Egypt's Wasat Party calls for army's retreat from political stage
[Al Ahram] Moderate-Islamist Wasat Party says military's departure from domestic politics is 'only solution' to Egypt's current precarious state of affairs
Posted by: Fred || 07/09/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Egypt's Nour Party proposes alternative 'roadmap,' slams interim president
[Al Ahram] The Salafist Nour Party proposed an initiative on Monday as an alternative to the army-imposed "roadmap" for Egypt's political transition, which was unveiled last week by Defence Minister Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi following the ouster of former president Mohamed Morsi.

The initiative, the party said, should involve all political currents, along with the armed forces. It should also include the formation of a committee tasked with fostering "national reconciliation."

The committee, the party added, should "tackle the problem from the very beginning, when Mohamed Morsi came in conflict with opposition forces, and should include credible figures under Al-Azhar's supervision."
Wonder what kind of solution a committee sponsored and supervised by Islamic holy men would devise?
The initiative came in response to statements made by Al-Azhar Grand Sheikh Ahmed El-Tayeb, who had initially endorsed the military-imposed roadmap, in which El-Tayeb called for alternative proposals for the country's post-Morsi transitional phase.
Posted by: Fred || 07/09/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Salafists


White House to decide if Egyptian act was a 'coup'
[USATODAY] The White House is reviewing whether last week's removal of Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi constituted "a coup" -- a decision that will affect billions in U.S. aid to the embattled nation.

"This is a complex and difficult issue, with significant consequences," said White House front man Jay Carney on Monday.

Sen. John Maverick McCain
... the Senator-for-Life from Arizona, former presidential candidate and even more former foot soldier in the Reagan Revolution...
, R-Ariz., and other politicians said what happened in Egypt last week was clearly a coup, as the military removed and placed in durance vile
Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try!
a democratically elected Morsi, established an interim government and called for new elections.

They have called for suspension of aid, if only to pressure the Egyptian military to follow through on its promise to hold new elections as quickly as possible. "If millions of Egyptians come to believe that democracy offers them no opportunity to advance their goals peacefully, it will only fuel violence and extremism," McCain said.
Posted by: Fred || 07/09/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring

#1  It was the will of the people. Morsi wasn't following the rules.

I can't imagine a better way that this could have been practically accomplished.
Posted by: gorb || 07/09/2013 1:06 Comments || Top||

#2  It was indeed a "military coup". Morsi had used executive fiats to sidestep the parliament which made the parliament essentially ineffective. Tourism had dwindled to virtually nothing and unemployment had skyrocketed. A number of high ranking members of the military had been purged. The will of the people was generally being ignored and a radical Islamic sharia government was being constructed through personal, non-elected appointment. All of these actions had created a politically divisive schism throughout the land.

Any similarities to our current political situation here in the States is of course, purely coincidental.



Posted by: Besoeker || 07/09/2013 6:02 Comments || Top||

#3  Or as Charles the Hammer says in a posted article on Page 4 --

Nothing of the future of this revolution is going to depend on what happens in Washington. And I think [in] this argument, the word ‘coup’ is an example of how we are infected by legalism. The policy of the United States ought to be set by our national interests and not lawyers in the State Department.”

Infected by legalism. Most of DC is run by lawyers, yes?
Posted by: Bobby || 07/09/2013 6:35 Comments || Top||

#4  Remember State was the one who called the act in Central America a 'coup' ignoring that the Constitution of that country called for the military to act when the politicians violated the Constitution.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 07/09/2013 8:25 Comments || Top||

#5  That's right, for Honduras it was instantly a coup.

Just the president, vice pres, Department of State current and previous, so forth
Posted by: swksvolFF || 07/09/2013 9:11 Comments || Top||

#6  No money. That's an easy call.
Posted by: Muggsey Mussolini || 07/09/2013 11:38 Comments || Top||

#7  Might be interesting to find out what else they call it.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 07/09/2013 14:54 Comments || Top||

#8  How about a "kinetic change of government"?
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 07/09/2013 14:55 Comments || Top||

#9  Where in the hell is Bill Clinton when we need him?
Posted by: Shipman || 07/09/2013 16:06 Comments || Top||

#10  Morsi had used executive fiats to sidestep the parliament which made the parliament essentially ineffective.

Sounds suspiciously Obama's style.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 07/09/2013 16:51 Comments || Top||

#11  The Bammer Admin has put up self-imposed "red lines" which have been crossed, + has repeatedly failed to act upon or enforce.

WINNER, OR SOON-ENUFF-WILL-BE = CHINA IN EAST ASIA, NUCLEAR IRAN, NUCLEAR NORTH KOREA, RADICAL ISLAM + NUCLEAR GLOBAL JIHAD = OWG/GLOBAL NUCLEAR CALIPHATE.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 07/09/2013 19:54 Comments || Top||


Africa Subsaharan
Boko Haram banned in Nigeria after US bounty announced
The Islamist group Boko Haram has been officially banned by the Nigerian government and declared a terrorist network.

The move follows an announcement by the United States that it will pay an unprecedented bounty for the capture of key leaders of terror networks in West and North Africa.
Posted by: Steve White || 07/09/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Boko Haram


British Government Bans Boko Haram
LONDON -- Britain's government is banning Nigerian terrorist insurgent group Boko Haram, a move that makes membership of or support for the terrorist organization a criminal offense.

Britain's Home Office said in a statement Monday that Boko Haram would be added to its list of outlawed terrorist organizations, a roster of foreign and domestic terror groups that includes al-Qaida and the Irish Republican Army. The move is subject to parliamentary approval.

Boko Haram, a terrorist radical Muslim group whose name means "Western education is sacrilege," has been blamed for a spate of brutal terrorist attacks across Nigeria, including one on Saturday which left at least 30 people dead when a dormitory was set ablaze while the students slept.
Posted by: Steve White || 07/09/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under: Boko Haram


China-Japan-Koreas
2 Koreas Agree to Reopen Kaesong Complex
Officials from North and South Korea in marathon talks from Saturday morning to the early hours of Sunday agreed in principle to reopen the Kaesong Industrial Complex. The officials met at the border truce village of Panmujom. They said both sides wish to "normalize operations" at the industrial park and "resolve difficulties" faced by the manufacturers that had to close their facilities.

The agreement comes 96 days after North Korea on April 3 closed the border to traffic going into the industrial park, apparently aggrieved by South Korean media reports that it would not be able to close the complex as it needs the money too badly.

The two sides agreed to let the South Korean manufacturers check and repair machinery in their factories and collect finished goods and raw materials. The North promised South Korean personnel safe passage.

Follow-up talks are scheduled for Wednesday in Kaesong, which is when the manufacturers will also visit.

But the two sides failed to agree on specific terms necessary for operations to resume. The South called on North Korea to admit responsibility for the shutdown of the industrial complex and provide solid guarantees for the safety of South Korean personnel. But North Korea apparently did not respond.

A government official here said the latest agreement was only "in principle" and added it does not signify a return to the former state of affairs.
Posted by: Steve White || 07/09/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  So the Norks got to loot the place for free.

Great.
Posted by: gorb || 07/09/2013 1:07 Comments || Top||

#2  collect finished goods and raw materials
I fear a nasty surprise for the Southers.
Posted by: Shipman || 07/09/2013 4:48 Comments || Top||

#3  Lucy Van Pelt to the courtesy phone.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 07/09/2013 8:23 Comments || Top||

#4  Remind me again what the Skors have to gain from this. I mean, other than "thank you sir, may I have another".
Posted by: Spot || 07/09/2013 10:51 Comments || Top||

#5  This is stupid.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 07/09/2013 13:31 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Senate committee proposes 7-point Action Plan for Cyber Secure Pakistan
[Dawn] The Senate Committee on Defence and Defence Production organised a policy seminar on "Defending Pakistain Through Cyber Security Strategy" in coordination with Pakistain Information Security Association (PISA) in order to address security issues related to the internet.

The event was held at the Pakistain Institute of Parliamentary Services (PIPS) in the federal capital city of Islamabad in wake of startling revelations made by Edward Snowden who claimed that the American National Security Agency (NSA) was spying on Pakistain through internet and online communication systems with 13.5 billion pieces of email, phone and fax communications intercepted.

Senator Mushahid Hussain, Chairman of Senate Committee on Defence and Defence Production, in his welcoming address, highlighted the cyber security threat and how it can affect Pakistain's national defence, security, intelligence, diplomacy, nuclear and missile programme, economy, energy, education, civil aviation as well as industrial and manufacturing units both in the private and public sector.

"Cyber security is an issue of paramount importance for Pakistain's stability and progress," the Senator added.

"Our cyber security must have three fundamental elements. Pakistain's digital infrastructure must have the ability to resist attacks, cyber penetration and disruption; Defend against emerging cyber threats, whether state sponsored or otherwise, and ability to retaliate regionally, at least; Ability to recover quickly from cyber incidents, whether caused by cyber aggression, accident or natural disaster," said Mushahid Hussain while addressing the participants of the moot.

Since last year, the Senate Committee on Defence & Defence Production had identified cyber warfare as a new, non-military security threat to the country given its location and strategic role.

During the Q&A Session, Senator Farhatullah Babar suggested the formation of a focal ministry or division exclusively to handle cyber security issues.

He said laws for data protection should be introduced and in this regard, industry experts have to join hands with Parliamentarians.
Posted by: Fred || 07/09/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


No executions in Pakistan until President Zardari retires
[Dawn] President Asif Ali Ten Percent Zardari
... husband of the late Benazir Bhutto, who has been singularly lacking in curiosity about who done her in ...
would not reject any mercy petitions of criminals facing the death penalty as long as he is in office, a close presidential aide said Monday.

Presidential front man Senator Farhatullah Khan Babar confirmed that President Zardari would prolong the matter until he retires on September 8, 2013.

In Pakistain, all executions must be approved by the president.

A presidential order issued in 2008 had imposed a moratorium on the death penalty. The Pakistain Mohammedan League -- Nawaz (PML-N) government decided to end the moratorium after the presidential order expired on 30 June.
Posted by: Fred || 07/09/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Al Jazeera: Report calls handling of bin Laden affair a 'national disgrace'
[USATODAY] According to Al Jazeera, the report finds the government's intention in conducting the inquiry was likely aimed at "regime continuance, when the regime is desperate to distance itself from any responsibility for the national disaster that occurred on its watch." It says that the inquiry was likely "a reluctant response to an overwhelming public and parliamentary demand."

The report blames "Government Implosion Syndrome" for lack of intelligence on bin Laden's nine-year residence in Pakistan and its response to the U.S. raid.

The commission says Bin Laden and his family were apparently able to stay and travel in Pakistan without detection because he had a small, but dedicated, network "that met their every need."

"They kept a very low profile and lived extremely frugally," the report says. "They never exposed themselves to public view. They had the cover of the two Pakistani Pashtun couriers cum security guards. They had minimum security. OBL successfully minimized any 'signature' of his presence. His minimal support blended easily with the surrounding community."

Al Jazeera quotes the report as saying the commission finds that "culpable negligence and incompetence at almost all levels of government can more or less be conclusively established."

The report focuses intently on the night of the raid, interviewing bin Laden's family and members of the household extensively.

In summing up its assessment of the killing of bin Laden, the commission spares few words:
The whole episode of the U.S. assassination mission of May 2, 2011 and the Pakistan government's response before, during and after appears in large part to be a story of complacency, ignorance, negligence, incompetence, irresponsibility and possibly worse at various levels inside and outside the government.

Among other findings:
  • Bin Laden entered Pakistan in mid-2002 after narrowly escaping capture in the battle of Tora Bora in Afghanistan. Over nine years, he moved to various places inside the country, including South Waziristan and northern Swat Valley.

  • In Swat, the al-Qaeda leader reportedly met with Khalid Shaikh Mohammad, the alleged mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, in early 2003. About a month later, KSM was captured in Rawalpindi in a joint U.S.-Pakistani operation, and bin Laden fled the area.

  • Bin Laden, along with two of his wives and several children and grandchildren, moved into the custom-built compound in Abbottabad, a military garrison town, in 2005 and lived there until the U.S. raid.

  • Bin Laden was very concerned about surveillance. The report says bin Laden wore a cowboy hat outside to avoid detection from above and considered buying and cutting down a row of poplar trees on the perimeter of the Abbottabad compound because he thought it might provide cover for observers.

  • The presence of a CIA support network to help track down bin Laden without the Pakistani establishment's knowledge was "a case of nothing less than a collective and sustained dereliction of duty by the political, military and intelligence leadership of the country."
  • Posted by: Fred || 07/09/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda

    #1  Bin Laden was having an affair too? That Jill Kelley sure gets around.
    Posted by: Glenmore || 07/09/2013 9:12 Comments || Top||

    #2  The presence of a CIA support network to help track down bin Laden without the Pakistani establishment's knowledge was "a case of nothing less than a collective and sustained dereliction of duty by the political, military and intelligence leadership of the country."

    Spreading the "dereliction" around are we ?
    Posted by: Besoeker || 07/09/2013 9:19 Comments || Top||

    #3  "culpable negligence and incompetence at almost all levels of government can more or less be conclusively established"

    There's a word missing... ah, yes.

    'Willful'.
    Posted by: Pappy || 07/09/2013 11:42 Comments || Top||

    #4  See also TEHRAN TIMES > BIN LADEN RAID WAS AN ACT OF WAR [by USA]: PAKISTAN GOVT. REPORT.

    versus

    * BHARAT RAKSHAK > DRONES COULD LEAD TO [direct US = PAK] STANDOFF [military?]: PAKISTAN WARNS US - THE HINDU.
    Posted by: JosephMendiola || 07/09/2013 22:53 Comments || Top||


    Iraq
    Saddam Hussein's half brother dies of cancer
    Saddam Hussein's half brother and former director of his feared general security services died of cancer on Monday in a Baghdad hospital, a senior official said. Sabawi Ibrahim Al Hassan, who had received several death sentences, was transferred to the hospital from prison as his health deteriorated at dawn. His body will be handed over to his family.

    Al-Hassan had lived in exile for a period after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, but was deported to Iraq by the Syrian government in 2005. He was suspected of directing and financing insurgency operations by Saddam loyalists in Iraq from Syria.

    His photo appeared as the Six of Diamonds in decks of playing cards distributed by the US military featuring members of Saddam's deposed regime. Al Hassan was No. 36 on the US list of the 55 most-wanted Iraqis at the time.

    Under Saddam, Al Hassan served as head of intelligence and security during the 1991 Gulf War. He then ran the general security services until 1996, when he took up his final post of presidential adviser to Saddam.

    His son, Ayman Sabawi Ibrahim, was arrested in Saddam's hometown of Tikrit and was sentenced to life in prison, but escaped in northern Iraq in late 2006.
    Posted by: Steve White || 07/09/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

    #1  Sabawi Ibrahim Al Hassan, who had received several death sentences

    But only one of them mattered.
    Posted by: gorb || 07/09/2013 1:08 Comments || Top||

    #2  Did someone actually care?
    Posted by: Muggsey Mussolini || 07/09/2013 11:38 Comments || Top||


    Israel-Palestine-Jordan
    Arab Israeli jailed for joining Syria rebels
    [Al Ahram] An Arab Israeli was sent to jail on Monday for more than two years for going to Syria where he joined rebels battling against the regime of Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
    Lord of the Baath...

    Hikmat Massarwa, from Taibe village in Galilee, was given 30 months in prison by Lod District Court as part of a plea bargain in which he admitted contacts with an enemy agent, illegally leaving the country and infiltration.

    Israel is technically at war with Syria and it is illegal for its citizens to travel there.

    Massarwa, born in 1984, was jugged
    Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up!
    on March 19 after returning from Syria, where he underwent military training with the rebels, the Shin Bet domestic security agency said in April.

    A Shin Bet statement said: "Massarwa went to Syria with the aim of joining world jihad elements who are working against the Syrian army" and had military training at a rebel camp he helped set up.

    The original indictment included the charge of undergoing military training, which was removed in the plea bargain.

    Massarwa told Sherlocks that he went to Syria to look for his brother, who was fighting there, Monday's ruling read.

    The Shin Bet noted that Massarwa was approached by rebel forces to "carry out a suicide kaboom against the forces of the Assad regime, but he says he refused to do it".

    "The General Security Services (Shin Bet) sees Arab Israelis going to Syria as a very dangerous phenomenon," the agency said.

    A Shin Bet spokeswoman said at the time that there had been only isolated incidents of Arab Israelis going to Syria.
    Posted by: Fred || 07/09/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

    #1  He needs to lose his citizenship and be booted out of the country. If he comes back, he is an enemy and dealt with as such.
    Posted by: Alaska Paul || 07/09/2013 0:57 Comments || Top||

    #2  I like the cut of your jib, AP.
    Posted by: Scooter McGruder || 07/09/2013 2:59 Comments || Top||

    #3  Compared to how we mollycoddled John Walker Lindh.
    Posted by: Alaska Paul || 07/09/2013 13:29 Comments || Top||


    Jordan Islamists condemn Egypt 'massacre'
    [Al Ahram] Jordan's Moslem Brüderbund on Monday condemned the "massacre" of 51 loyalists of Egypt's ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi and urged more demonstrations to restore him.

    "We strongly condemn the massacre committed by the neo coupists that has clearly showed the truth about the bloody military coup," the Islamic Action Front
    ...Jordan's branch of the Moslem Brüderbund...
    (IAF), the political arm of the Moslem Brüderbund, said on its website.

    "We hail the millions of people demonstrating to defend the legitimacy and urge the great Egyptian people to continue their protests to foil the military coup and restore the elected president."
    Posted by: Fred || 07/09/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Muslim Brotherhood


    Syria-Lebanon-Iran
    Syria Baath party leadership replaced, including VP
    [Al Ahram] Syria's ruling Baath party, headed by the country's embattled Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
    Light of the Alawites...
    , announced on Monday that its top leadership would be replaced, including Vice President Farouk al-Sharaa.

    The party's central committee "held a lengthy meeting... on Monday morning," at which "a new national leadership was chosen," the Baath party website said.

    It published the names of the new leadership, which included none of the party's old chiefs with the exception of Assad.
    Posted by: Fred || 07/09/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


    Syria rebel PM Ghassan Hitto resigns
    [Al Ahram] Syria's rebel prime minister Ghassan Hitto announced his resignation on Monday, nearly four months after his appointment and having failed to form a government. "I announce I will not continue in my capacity as prime minister tasked with leading the interim government, though I emphasise I will continue working for the interests of the revolution and towards achieving its objectives," Hitto said in an online statement.
    Posted by: Fred || 07/09/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under:


    Russia doubts new Syrian opposition leader's commitment to peace
    [Al Ahram] Russia said on Monday that remarks by the new leader of the opposition Syrian National Coalition have raised questions about his dedication to a political solution of the conflict, and urged the group to commit to attending a peace conference.

    Ahmad Jarba, elected president of the coalition on Saturday, told Rooters the opposition would not go to the conference that Russia and the United States are trying to convene in Geneva unless its military fortunes improve.
    Posted by: Fred || 07/09/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:


    Iran to unveil new missiles, drones
    Minister of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi said on Monday that the Iranian forces are to test fire new generation of missiles and unmanned planes in the near future, IRNA reported.

    Iran has attained significant success in other defense sectors which will be made known to public in due time, Vahidi said.
    Posted by: Steve White || 07/09/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [9 views] Top|| File under:

    #1  See also TOPIX > [AEI] IRAN CAN "CRUSH US WARSHIPS LIKE CANS".

    * Also from TOPIX > US CONGRESS DELAYS AID TO SYRIAN REBELS - SOURCES.

    Pray tell, what "aid" what that???

    * SAME > [CNN.com] SYRIA A "TEN-YEAR ISSUE", TOP US GENERAL SAYS. USA Chief of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey.

    * SAME > JIHADISTS SEE EGYPT TURN [Morsi coup] AS PROOF [US-Western style Liberal Secular]DEMOCRACY IS INEFFECTIVE.

    Moreso iff the USA = POTUS Bammer isn't going to do anything other than give PCorrect = PDeniable, Wafflely lip service to support of same, includ his own "red lines".

    WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG = TAKE PLACE, in saidsame 10 years???

    > Loss of 1/2 of the Pacific to China + PLA.
    > Loss of Middle East + Other to Radical Islam + Global Jihad + OWG/Global Nuclear Caliphate.

    LOSSES TO SUCH AN EXTENT THAT THE US CAN NEITHER HOPE TO STOP OR REVERSE IT, NOR ESCAPE ANY LOSS OF ITS OWN POWER-N-INFLUENCE ACROSS THE WORLD.

    Iran = China = best anti-US weapon is alleged Marxist-Anarchist-Globalist POTUS Obama himself, + the Sequester + US Govtcritters love for expanding the US Debt, Welfare-Nanny State to new heights.

    Again, "GLOBALISM" + OWG-NWO + "MULTI-POLAR WORLD" = THE WORLD HAS SEVERAL "SOLE" NUCLEAR SUPERPOWERS ON PAR AT #1, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE US OF AMERIKA.

    * 1990's CLINTONISM = "The US [ + O-N-L-Y the US] has to be Restrained/Controlled".

    As per the repor growth of Bestiality + S-&-M Clubs in Germany - D *** NG IT, YOU'RE NOT WHIPPING ME OR HANDCUFFING ME HARD ENOUGH!
    Posted by: JosephMendiola || 07/09/2013 0:58 Comments || Top||

    #2  New missiles and drones?

    I thought they already had all they needed since they were already six generations ahead of us.
    Posted by: gorb || 07/09/2013 9:10 Comments || Top||

    #3  It takes time to make cheap models and photoshop them poorly.
    Posted by: Spot || 07/09/2013 10:52 Comments || Top||


    Government
    Files on Bin Ladin raid moved to McLean, VA - Huffpo
    WASHINGTON -- The nation's top special operations commander ordered military files about the Navy SEAL raid on Osama bin Laden's hideout to be purged from Defense Department computers and sent to the CIA, where they could be more easily shielded from ever being made public.
    SOCOM now in charge of file storage at CIA ?
    The secret move, described briefly in a draft report by the Pentagon's inspector general, set off no alarms within the Obama administration even though it appears to have sidestepped federal rules and perhaps also the Freedom of Information Act.
    Alarm bells only are only for surprises.
    An acknowledgement by Adm. William McRaven of his actions was quietly removed from the final version of an inspector general's report published weeks ago.
    Long, long ago. You'd hardly remember. In fact, I can now hardly remember Dr. Shakil Afridi
    Posted by: Besoeker || 07/09/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

    #1  The existing federal rules on transfer or destruction of materials were ignored to execute this attempt to bury information. Anyone who has had to do the annual retirement or transfer of records understands what was pulled here.
    Posted by: Procopius2k || 07/09/2013 8:22 Comments || Top||

    #2  No sir, you won't find them here. This is the Soetoro section. You'll need to start with the B's.
    Posted by: Besoeker || 07/09/2013 8:31 Comments || Top||

    #3  The so-called Steinitz Defense, obvious and generally unpopular. Something is likely brewing backstage.
    Posted by: Besoeker || 07/09/2013 9:26 Comments || Top||



    Who's in the News
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    1Thai Insurgency

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    Two weeks of WOT
    Tue 2013-07-09
      Massive car bomb rocks Hezbollah stronghold in Beirut
    Mon 2013-07-08
      51 dead, 435 hurt in clashes near pro-Morsi sit-in
    Sun 2013-07-07
      Clashes resume outside Cairo, dozens of pro-Morsi protesters arrested
    Sat 2013-07-06
      Thirty killed in alleged Boko Haram attack on Nigeria boarding school
    Fri 2013-07-05
      Morsi Loyalists Clash With Soldiers in Cairo Protests
    Thu 2013-07-04
      Big party in Tahrir Square!
    Wed 2013-07-03
      Egypt army dumps Morsi
    Tue 2013-07-02
      Guards of senior Muslim Brotherhood figure arrested in Egypt
    Mon 2013-07-01
      Egyptian military gives 48 hour ultimatum to Brotherhood, political forces
    Sun 2013-06-30
      Boomers kill 43 in Pakland on Sunday
    Sat 2013-06-29
      Muslim Brotherhood, FJP offices attacked throughout Egypt
    Fri 2013-06-28
      Dagestani lawmaker arrested for ties to Islamist insurgents
    Thu 2013-06-27
      Top Somali militant leader flees former Shebab comrades
    Wed 2013-06-26
      FBI pulls ‘Faces of Global TerrorismÂ’ ads after Muslims get offended
    Tue 2013-06-25
      Taliban attack Afghan presidential palace


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