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Bolton to resign
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 1: WoT Operations
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Afghanistan
'Dozens of Taleban' die in battle
Nato forces in southern Afghanistan say they have killed about 70 Taleban fighters following an ambush. Troops fought a four-hour battle after a large-scale insurgent attack near the town of Musa Qala in Helmand Province, the alliance says.

British troops recently brokered a truce with rebels to allow local forces in Musa Qala to police the area. The attack happened outside the area of Musa Qala covered by the deal struck in October between British forces, Taleban fighters and local elders. The attack may fuel suspicions the Taleban use Musa Qala as a safe haven, a BBC correspondent in Kabul says.
Why yes, it just might.
A Danish patrol serving alongside British troops came under fire outside Musa Qala and called in air support, a Nato spokesman said. Between 70 and 80 suspected Taleban died in the battle and no Nato troops were killed, he added.
There's an excellent kill ratio -- 80 to 0!
Posted by: Steve White || 12/04/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Allahu akbar!
Posted by: gorb || 12/04/2006 0:10 Comments || Top||

#2  WORLDNEWS.com/OTHERS > SAUDIS + IRANIANS PREPARE FOR WAR, wid each other iff and when Amer milfors pullout or "re-deploy". Ironically, the Iranians are almost thanking = saluting America for destroying the Taliban and Saddam. Guess this means to expect FLOWERS + TEARS OD SADNESS FROM IRAN AT OUR FUNERAL(S) AFTER IRAN KILLS US!?
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/04/2006 0:24 Comments || Top||

#3  British troops recently brokered a truce with rebels to allow local forces in Musa Qala to police the area.

Hopefully British Officers will get it into their thick heads that you can't broker deals with these chimps. Back into Musa Qala we go...
Posted by: Howard UK || 12/04/2006 4:04 Comments || Top||

#4  The MSM will report, "Dozens of peaceful Muslim terrorist die after NATO attacks a mass gay Islamic wedding ceremony".

Cause we know the Islamic PR MSM victimhood news services never report Muslim terrorists being killed. I'd look like we might be winning and the Dhimmicrats can't stand that.

Spit!
Posted by: Icerigger || 12/04/2006 7:15 Comments || Top||

#5  The press release from NATO does NOT specify any Talibs killed numbers. My worry is that these numbers are the result of a follow up call in which some PAO guesstimates the killed just to answer the questions. At this point, I'm not using the number in my totals.

NATO is really sloppy compared to Central Command or MNF-Iraq with its reports. The Brits themselves never report enemy losses, only their own.
Posted by: Chuck Simmins || 12/04/2006 9:19 Comments || Top||

#6  If this is the quailty of the people using this place as a safe haven, then I think it was a good deal.
Posted by: plainslow || 12/04/2006 10:10 Comments || Top||

#7  Man Chuck you're tough scorer. Williams would have batted .392 with you on duty.
Posted by: Shipman || 12/04/2006 16:47 Comments || Top||


At least 8 killed in Afghanistan
At least eight people were killed in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar on Sunday in a suicide car bombing against NATO troops and subsequent gunfire by soldiers, police and witnesses said. Three civilians died when the bomber struck a military convoy and five more were shot by troops afterwards, they said. NATO said three of its soldiers were wounded in the attack for which the Taliban claimed responsibility. Asked about the accounts of troops shooting civilians, NATO spokesman Major Luke Knittig said: “We will establish the facts. It is still unclear in what way the troops reacted.” Another Afghan civilian was killed and six others were injured as NATO troops opened fire on a civilian car, fearing it might be a second bombing attempt after the early morning attack in the Dorahi area of Kandahar, they said.

Meanwhile, the Taliban said on Sunday they had shot down a US civilian helicopter chartered by NATO that crashed in bad weather in southern Afghanistan. “The chopper has crashed and there have been mortalities. We do not know how many,” said Interior Ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary said, adding that the cause of Saturday’s crash in a remote area of southern Kandahar province was not known. Asked about a Taliban spokesman’s claim of responsibility, he said: “I cannot deny or confirm that.”
Posted by: Fred || 12/04/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Africa Horn
Puntland arrests holy man and journalist
(SomaliNet) Police in Puntland state in northern Somalia raided a house in Bosaso town overnight picking up and arrest a well known Islamist cleric named Sheik Nadir. It is not yet clear so far where the Sheik was arrested. He was charged that he had recently called on the people in Puntland to join the Jihad war against Ethiopian troops in the region.

Relatives asked Puntland authority the release of Sheik Nadir sooner. There has been no word from Puntland government on the arrest of the cleric. Officials in Puntland threatened to take tough step against any one who is suspected to involve in extremism activities putting them on trail.

Meanwhile, on Saturday, Abdi Aziz Guled, a journalist working for Radio of peace in Galkaayo city and also was correspondent for Radio Simba in Mogadishu was arrested by the Puntland police. He was accused of airing reports that he supported the Islamic Courts in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia. The semi autonomous region of Puntland in northern Somalia which came its existence in 1998 introduces restrictions on religious men and also journalists.
Posted by: Fred || 12/04/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Oh, two guys. I thought they were one and the same.
Posted by: Bobby || 12/04/2006 5:49 Comments || Top||

#2  Sheik Nadir?

I guess you can't get any lower than that, huh?
Posted by: mojo || 12/04/2006 14:46 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Egypt busts a terror cell at al-Azhar University
Not much detail in this first report from AP, but it sounds like a major bust. I bet all the perps 'cept the American get out of jail next Eid.
Police have arrested an American, 11 Europeans and several others from Arab countries for allegedly plotting terrorist attacks in Middle Eastern countries including Iraq, the Interior Ministry said Monday. The group was part of an Islamic militant terror cell that had adopted extremist ideas and were living in Egypt under the guise of studying Arabic and Islamic studies, the ministry said in a statement.
Simple if well-armed and -financed students.
Along with the American, police arrested two Belgians, nine French and several others from Egypt and other Arab countries including Tunisia and Syria, the statement said. The ministry did not provide names or say how many Egyptians and Arabs were arrested.
"We can say no more."
"Investigations have confirmed that those elements are related to some terrorist organizations abroad," the ministry said. "They were seeking to recruit others, teach them destructive beliefs, urging them for jihad, traveling to Iraq to carry out operations via other countries in the region."

The U.S. Embassy in Cairo declined to comment about the arrests. Telephone messages left with the Belgium and French embassies were not immediately returned.
"We can say no more, neither."
They were arrested about a week ago, and some had been studying at Al-Azhar University, Sunni Islam's most important seat of learning, police officials said. They spoke on condition on anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media. It was not immediately clear if all the arrests took place in Cairo. All of the arrested were in jail pending further investigation, the ministry said.
And the story is not complete without a little editorializing from our betters at AP:
Egypt operates under emergency laws, which gives the government wide powers to detain suspects without charging them. The laws have been in place since the assassination of President Anwar Sadat in 1981 despite a growing chorus of opposition from both inside and outside the country.
Posted by: Seafarious || 12/04/2006 14:07 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Something tells me these guys were a threat to Hosni. Whether they were a threat to anyone else, except Israel, of course, is prolly a toss-up.

Hosni looks after his own ass. He gets paid $2Bn / year not to attack Israel. As far as I can see, that sums it up since he deigned to accept our jizya...
Posted by: .com || 12/04/2006 16:11 Comments || Top||

#2  What? They shut the whole place down?
Posted by: Dreadnought || 12/04/2006 16:22 Comments || Top||

#3  Hosni looks after his own ass. He gets paid $2Bn / year not to attack Israel.

Until he feels ready.
Posted by: gromgoru || 12/04/2006 17:13 Comments || Top||

#4  Egypt's al-Azhar University is reputed to be one of the foremost seats of Islamic learning. It speaks volumes that they themselves did not uncover or report these activities to the appropriate authorities.

This breeding ground for Islamic terrorists must be placed upon the target list.
Posted by: Zenster || 12/04/2006 19:47 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Yemen releases Australian brothers
Two Australian men arrested in Yemen in October have been released without charge. The two brothers - Mohammed and Abdullah Ayub, aged 19 and 21 - were alleged to have been involved in smuggling weapons to Islamist militia in Somalia.

The Ayub brothers are the sons of Abdul Rahim Ayub, a man allegedly linked to Jemaah Islamiah (JI). The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) overnight confirmed that the pair have been released unconditionally.

But a third Australian, Marek Samulski from Sydney, remains in custody. Mr Samulski's lawyer, Stephen Hopper, says it is just a matter of processing before his client is released. Mr Hopper says there is no inference to be drawn from the fact his client remains in custody. "All that means that the processes in relation to those boys finished before my client. That's the only conclusion that can be drawn at this stage," he said.
Posted by: Fred || 12/04/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  My old cobbers Mohammed and Abdullah? Of course they're innocent!! Struth!! And their Mum is a real laugh. Crikey, I was sayin' to me old mate Bruce, over a vegimite sandwich, that we oughtta look up our old mates Abdullah and Mohammed. Probly see em next week. At Cronulla. Should be a riot. Struth.
Posted by: Bunyip || 12/04/2006 1:44 Comments || Top||


Britain
Radioactive spy Islam convert?
Scotland Yard detectives are now trying to discover if Litvinenko had any secret links with Islamic extremist terror groups, the London Sunday Express is reporting.

Their biggest fear, the paper reports, is that Litvinenko, who died of polonium-210 poisoning in a London hospital, may have been helping al-Qaida or other extremist groups get hold of radioactive material to be used in a devastating "dirty" atom bomb.
Posted by: tipper || 12/04/2006 07:16 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  i've been saying this for days now.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles in Blairistan || 12/04/2006 7:48 Comments || Top||

#2  Has any credible source confirmed Litvinenko's alleged reversion?
Posted by: exJAG || 12/04/2006 7:54 Comments || Top||

#3  Yeah it's an interesting theory. It's also plausible that Putin's thugs (KGB) planted the story of the conversion to misdirect
MI5 and MI6 in order to divert attention away from Moscow.

The only thing I know for sure is that until this story broke I had never heard of polonium - 210 and didn't know how deadly dangerous it can be.
Posted by: Mark Z || 12/04/2006 8:11 Comments || Top||

#4  It's a good Cold War conspiracy theory. Ludlum, Le Carre and the like would love it.
Posted by: SwissTex || 12/04/2006 8:23 Comments || Top||

#5  That's what I was thinking too MZ -- it would be awfully convenient for Pootie & Co. if Litvinenko could be linked to Chechen/AQ thugs, discrediting him and alienating his sympathizers.

I am familiar with radioisotopes, having handled some in my research, so I'd add one other thing for sure: if I was trying to construct a dirty bomb, alpha emitters like 210-Po would be last on my list of goodies to add to the mix. External exposure to a bottle of Drano would do more damage.
Posted by: exJAG || 12/04/2006 8:29 Comments || Top||

#6  ExJAG - is that because alpha-emmitters are so weak they hafta be inside of you?

My physics is a bit dated.....
Posted by: Bobby || 12/04/2006 8:45 Comments || Top||

#7  Yep. Alpha particles are big, fat, and slow (2p + 2n). A piece of paper or skin can stop them, so you literally have to eat them before they'll do much damage. An organic chemist has an excellent discussion of the internal effects here.

Posted by: exJAG || 12/04/2006 8:59 Comments || Top||

#8  Is this the same stuff used on Static Masters?
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 12/04/2006 9:10 Comments || Top||

#9  sounds like KGB misdirection to me. Putin knows our big fear is Islamofascism.

He iced this guy to stop the dissent. He is a tyrant.
Posted by: anon1 || 12/04/2006 9:33 Comments || Top||

#10  Waht does, whoever started this rumor think? That to show the stuff was good quality to the terrorist he drank some?
Posted by: plainslow || 12/04/2006 10:07 Comments || Top||

#11  It is far too convenient to have Putin himself involved in this assassination. While an Islamic link to this plot might be compelling, the question remains: Who benefits most from damaged relations between Russia and the West, which includes torpedoing the Russian WTO ascension?
Let's look at what I define as the core problem: What is China doing if it is not preparing to go head-to-head with the US militarily (which is being hotly debated)? The Chinese have far more resources available than is being put into their buildup. Simple logic dictates that the ‘smart’ Chinese play be a ‘sideways’ (asymmetric) move, one meant to remove the US from the world stage as a dominant power. The same would be true of its biggest regional threat: Russia. My .02.
Posted by: Ike || 12/04/2006 10:28 Comments || Top||

#12  I checked out the link provided by exJAG. It's a very good explanation for those of us that have no knowledge of the subject.
Also, one of the commentors put forth a theory that I have not heard before. It states that he could have been killed by the Brits in return for Putin taking it easy on some Brit spies being held in Russia for treason. It seems very plausible to me.
Posted by: Mike N. || 12/04/2006 11:14 Comments || Top||

#13  The only theory I haven't yet encountered about the Litvenko assassination is that the Jooos did it. Po-210 is inherently hard to understand: Needs a sophisticated support network to generate a fatal dose, easily shielded from outside detection in transit, and in sufficient dose quite fatal and irretrievably so (no real treatment once ingested).
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 12/04/2006 11:24 Comments || Top||

#14  LGF is reporting that his conversion is legit.
Posted by: Raj || 12/04/2006 11:42 Comments || Top||

#15  Anguper Hup:

IIRC, the theory that Israel is behind the assassination has already been suggested by Pat Buchanan, perhaps most recently in a column he writes for...? Buchanan's theory was addressed last week here at RB.

Buchanan is alleged to be anti-semitic given the positions he has taken for the past 30 years relative to US support for Israel. I can offer no evidence to suggest Buchanan is anything but anti-semitic. Buchanan is a Catholic. So am I. Buchanan is an extreme embarrassment to me insofar as we are co-religionists.
Posted by: Mark Z || 12/04/2006 11:54 Comments || Top||

#16  A deathbed conversion seems pointless, but that was his business I guess. As for the ties to Chechen rebels they surely have more to do with anti-Putin then pro-Islam. I'm not biting the "He was building a dirty bomb and accidentally swallowed some." theory.
Posted by: Mike N. || 12/04/2006 12:33 Comments || Top||

#17  Whether or not he was a muslim, to me, seems like yet another red herring, just like all the news items last week about how you could mail-order polonium 210 from Bob Lazar (although the fact that the dosage used in the poisoning was four or five orders of magnitude larger than that was buried deep in the article, if it was present at all, after a couple thousand words devoted to laughing at the silly conspiracy theorists).
Posted by: Phil Fraering || 12/04/2006 12:40 Comments || Top||

#18  From Raj's link:

#40 Earth2moonbat 12/4/2006 08:32AM PST

Work accident?
Posted by: .com || 12/04/2006 12:41 Comments || Top||

#19  Hey, this UK blog had the scoop of Litvinenko being a muslim since last week, it seems.

Also :
"... Scotland Yard, which has been investigating Litvinenko’s poisoning says it was “unexplained death.” It is worth mentioning that one of the first condoling letters was published by Maskhadov’s family. At a web-site owned by Chechen separatists Litvinenko was called their “brother, Muslim, famous human rights activist.”"
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 12/04/2006 12:59 Comments || Top||

#20  I'd forgotten what Pat Buchanan said, although I had read it at the time. In one end & out the other, for him...
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 12/04/2006 13:13 Comments || Top||

#21  Anguper Hup:

I owe you an apology (and to the RB folk). It just dawned on me that I've made a terrible mistake. Buchanan did not suggest the death of Litvinenko was the work of Mossad. It was the Christian gentlemen in Lebanon recently assassinated that Buchanan suggested was the work of Mossad. I am sorry.

(but I don't take back anything else I said about Buchanan despite my cred being shot out of the water by my own gun!)
Posted by: Mark Z || 12/04/2006 13:55 Comments || Top||

#22  .com,

Not sure if I am willing to beleive that he would make that kind of mistake. And why Polonium? Does it work well as a dirty bomb? Water supply?

I still think this is just another Pooty hit job.
I think the last guy was Dioxin, so they couldn't use that again.
Posted by: Mike N. || 12/04/2006 13:58 Comments || Top||

#23  Mike N - actually, I just thought it was funny, given the new bit about his Muzzinessiosityism.

I agree with you: Tsar Putty / Pooty.
Posted by: .com || 12/04/2006 14:03 Comments || Top||

#24  Mike N. :

A deathbed conversion to islam might not seem pointless to a former KGB agent guilty of unspeakable deeds who wished to guarantee himself a special place in Hell to better serve his Dark Master. Makes sense in an islamic sort of way...


Posted by: Mark Z || 12/04/2006 14:07 Comments || Top||

#25  So if nothing else the prick is a traitor to the west and his grave will be one other site for my to visit overseas, to poop on.
Posted by: Icerigger || 12/04/2006 14:40 Comments || Top||

#26  The nice thing about his conversion is that I will never have to meet him post worm food.
Posted by: Mike N. || 12/04/2006 14:56 Comments || Top||

#27  You tend to find that people in eastern Europe who are anti-Putin, are also very pro-Chechnya. This is similar to the observation that people who are anti-Israel are also anti-US, for the most part.

Go to any one of many pro-Chechnya protests and you'll discover that a lot of those people are anti-Putin (or Russia in the broader sense) and they call Chechens their brothers. It isn't surprising then that anyone who fits in with this group would take it one step further and convert.

Such is life and you can't have it all. Anti-Putin and pro-Chechnya and pro-Muslim, or pro-Putin and anti-Chechnya and anti-Muslim (as far as that part of the world goes).
Posted by: Flineck Threrese8072 || 12/04/2006 15:14 Comments || Top||

#28  You can read Pat Buchanan's weasel-worded "Cui Bono! Cui Bono! AWK!" "non-accusation" here.
Posted by: Phil Fraering || 12/04/2006 15:30 Comments || Top||

#29  How long before Putty claims he was a Chechyn Spy?
Posted by: .com || 12/04/2006 15:33 Comments || Top||

#30  Do the rest of you really think the fact that some of his victims, or indeed, some of the Soviet Tradition's millions of victims, were Moslems going to make up for the fact that the regime there is currently enabling Iran's attempt to obtain nuclear weapons?
Posted by: Phil Fraering || 12/04/2006 15:39 Comments || Top||

#31  Who made that claim, Phil?

Putty is our enemy. Livinenko was probably (certainly?) no friend.

I don't see anyone in On/Off mode.
Posted by: .com || 12/04/2006 15:46 Comments || Top||

#32  Except you.
Posted by: .com || 12/04/2006 16:05 Comments || Top||

#33 
How does one get on international flights with something so radioactive and not get caught?

Seems to me that a TSA-like geiger counter would be basic stuff to get bad guys and their goods.
Posted by: Master of Obvious || 12/04/2006 17:16 Comments || Top||

#34  How does one get on international flights with something so radioactive and not get caught?

Maybe not so easily now but, for some insight, read this article from today's Helsingin Sanomat: Radioactive cobalt in luggage hold delays Finnair flight from Moscow
Posted by: mrp || 12/04/2006 18:10 Comments || Top||

#35  .com:

It's the whole situation that the discussion thread's going to be a bunch of people standing around discussing whether he converted and whether that means he deserved it as if it were materially relevant to the case.

As I said earlier, the first "wave" of stories was about how Polonium-210 was really readily available, except, well, when you look at the details, it isn't.

The "Litvinenko was a Moslem" story just looks like the second layer of an onion.

The "work accident" bit looks like the third layer. Of course, you need to ignore that you need a reactor and significant facilities to manufacture and extract significant amounts of the stuff.

I wonder if the West isn't being subtly told... "you have to support the Mubaraks, the Musharrafs, all the dictators, both with what they want to do to their citizens at home, AND their citizens in the west, OR... there's going to be another 'incident' where 'those darn jihadi extremists' will get their hands on anthrax, or polonium, and it winds up someplace where it could cause a lot more than one death, or a couple dozen casualties in mailrooms..."

"Nice Biosphere, be a shame if something happened to it."

And everyone wants to concentrate, 33 messages strong, on whether or not Litvinenko was a Moslem and therefore a traitor to the west or something.

It's all useless.

Master of Obvious: If it's an alpha emitter, it's easily shielded.

And although it was on the other thread, Glenmore talked about the "work accident" theory. So what are the chances that Al Qaeda gets its hands on a lethal amount of radioactive material and only manages to kill a disgruntled former KGB agent?

Finally: If terrorism is a game of "let's you and him fight" then who benefits from the current battle between Islam and the West?

Who benefits from the Arab/Israeli conflict?

Who benefits from a western view that the Moslem world is a unified bloc behind the dictators that rule them (except, of course, for those extremists who think the dictator is a weakling and try to blow him up, but upon closer examination always seem to be in a group they sponsor indirectly. Like Al Qaeda in Saudi Arabia... they're attacking us, killing our civilians, because we supposedly support the corrupt Saud Dynasty. When was the last time they actually attacked someone in the Saud Dynasty?)

That particular pattern, BTW, goes back to the Boxer Rebellion in China.
Posted by: Phil Fraering || 12/04/2006 19:06 Comments || Top||

#36  The comments discuss the article topic:
Radioactive spy Islam convert?

You're throwing a shit fit for no reason other than you have an excess of straw and feel like a snort.
Posted by: .com || 12/04/2006 19:33 Comments || Top||


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Dead Russian spy to be buried as a Muslim
Alexander Litvinenko, the former Russian intelligence agent poisoned in London, is to be buried according to Muslim tradition after converting to Islam on his deathbed. The spy's father, Walter Litvinenko, said in an interview published today that his son - who was born an Orthodox Christian but had close links to Islamist rebels in Chechnya - made the request as he lay dying in University College Hospital.

"He said ’I want to be buried according to Muslim tradition’," Mr Litvinenko told Moscow's Kommersant daily. "I said, ’Well son, as you wish. We already have one Muslim in our family - my daughter is married to a Muslim. The important thing is to believe in the Almighty. God is one.’"
Posted by: Fred || 12/04/2006 13:57 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  So he was in fact a traitor. Oh well it will give me one more site to visit overseas, and poop on.
Posted by: Icerigger || 12/04/2006 14:26 Comments || Top||

#2  ROFL
Posted by: Vlad Putin || 12/04/2006 17:12 Comments || Top||

#3  This is starting to sound like a 'work accident'. Or maybe an 'on purpose' designed to look like one. What if Litvinenko was actually trying to procure or supply ingredients for a dirty bomb to Chechen terrorists and Pooty found out - what better way to handle damage control?
Posted by: Glenmore || 12/04/2006 18:16 Comments || Top||

#4  Litvinenko's affiliation with the Chechen terrorists has been obvious for a long time.
Among other things, he was a conspiracy theorist on the same level as the lunatics who claim that 9-11 was an inside job. He wrote a book claiming that the 1999 Moscow apartment bombings, which set off the latest round of the Chechen war, were in fact the work of the KGB. He also alleged that the 2002 Moscow theatre siege was another false flag operation, despite extensive documentation of the dead terrorists' identitites, most notably by the Chechen jihad itself.
Like the 9-11 conspira-lies, these claims have a following in the west's elite media-culture circles. A Michael Moore style film about the Moscow apartment bombings ("Disbelief") premiered at the Sundance film festival in 2004.

Personally, I don't know who killed him, but conspiracist terror-tools the world over may finally be seeing the chickens come home to roost.
Cause---> effect.

Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy || 12/04/2006 19:04 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
Bolton to resign
Facing opposition from key senators, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton will leave office in a matter of days, the White House announced on Monday. Spokeswoman Dana Perino said President George W. Bush had reluctantly accepted Bolton's decision to leave the U.N. post when the current session of the U.S. Congress ends, likely at the end of the week.
Posted by: Fred || 12/04/2006 13:29 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Thanks, John - a job very very well done. Dunno know you stood it, though...
Posted by: .com || 12/04/2006 13:41 Comments || Top||

#2  Damn shame. He's the best thing that ever happened to the UN.
Posted by: Zenster || 12/04/2006 13:51 Comments || Top||

#3  Dittos,

one more shameful political episode concerning the UN, that the one of our best Americans who tirelessly represented our interests against UN corruption and slime could be betrayed by DemoCrap polititions says it all.

Merry Christmas John!
Posted by: RD || 12/04/2006 13:54 Comments || Top||

#4 
Here is a man that I could support for President.

As goes the world, so goes our Nation.

Freedom lost; socialism won.
Posted by: Master of Obvious || 12/04/2006 13:57 Comments || Top||

#5  You all know Bolton can’t be Christmas appointed a second time. Even if he could Mike wasn’t going to get paid and quite frankly working in New York is expensive. With no end in sight (Harry Reid hates him as much as he hates America) dealing with the Dhimmicrats, Bolton said good bye I’m out of here.

What is interesting to note is that Bolton’s number two, Chris Burnham has left also. Partially out of disgust. Donald Trump was in Chris’s office telling him it was going to take $700,000,000 to redo the UN building. A figure that Burnham may have thought was high to start out with. Realistically with all the red tape the UN remodel is going to take a $1,000,000,000 (yes folks a billion and we are paying half of it. Burnham not wanting to sit on this pile of BS left with his head held high and has taking a job with a German bank (Deutsche Bank).

From a phone interview I had in DC over lunch.
Posted by: Icerigger || 12/04/2006 14:22 Comments || Top||

#6  Good riddance.

Neeeext. And faster please!
Posted by: Slomoque Shinemp1807 || 12/04/2006 14:43 Comments || Top||

#7  Lol.
Posted by: .com || 12/04/2006 14:45 Comments || Top||

#8  No sweat. Next recess appointment for Amnassador Nyet.
Posted by: ed || 12/04/2006 14:45 Comments || Top||

#9  Many of us gnash our teeth around here over many things, most of them serious, but this episode really shakes my basic confidence in many things. The guy was not just an effective rep, he was by far the most articulate and effective spokesman for sanity and the USG on the world stage. He could shut down a silly journalistic line of questioning with one firm, colorful, unanswerable reply. Only Rummy came close in terms of public communication.

He was so much more savvy about the world we live in than 90% of his lightweight Senate detractors that they really couldn't even speak in the same terms. His confirmation hearings were a low-point (no mean feat) in current congressional input to foreign policy (he got mad at people? he was harsh with subordinates? are effing kidding me?). His inability to get a floor vote is greatly under-appreciated in terms of the disastrous and amazing departure it represents from almost all US history of executive-congressional interaction on foreign policy. It's a watershed - of the most perilous, and tawdry, variety.

That such mediocre and unqualified twits (many of my personal acquaintance) could get jobs in the Clinton years - eff them up royally - and now Bolton can't even get a vote on the floor ..... things are really very depressing if you look at them squarely. So I won't, for now .....
Posted by: Verlaine || 12/04/2006 14:47 Comments || Top||

#10  The RATs favor a girlie man at that position. They want a weak UN Ambassador that genuflects to the mindless leftist drivel that is the UN lingua franca.
Posted by: Clolutle Slans5753 || 12/04/2006 14:57 Comments || Top||

#11  The case for CW-II gets clearer every day. It will accelerate over the next 2 years. Bolton's fate will be a relative minor blip, though it's actually a huge loss for the US - just as Verlaine says.

No one will be acceptable to the Senate that is acceptable to Americans who know the UN is our enemy.

I'd wish for ed to be right: appoint Captain Nyet... but it won't happen.

I wonder what sort of total fucking wormy cheesedick will eventually replace Bolton...
Posted by: .com || 12/04/2006 15:02 Comments || Top||

#12  Lol - answered while I was typing. Can't beat Rantburg.

Thx, Clolutle Slans5753, lol.
Posted by: .com || 12/04/2006 15:11 Comments || Top||

#13  Maybe we will get lucky and Bush is gonna close the UN....

I know, I'm dreaming...
Posted by: DarthVader || 12/04/2006 15:39 Comments || Top||

#14  Of course he will.
Note anybody the Dems might want to grill forever in the house and senate is quiting.

Expect to see more.

Nobody wants to face the coming Inquisition by the Hate America Democrats of the Left Coast and the east coast Dean-e-acks.

Expect endless Inquistion for 2 years.
Followed by a nuke in our cities and a totally destroyed executive branch.

Welcome to the "Court of Nancy"
Posted by: 3dc || 12/04/2006 15:58 Comments || Top||

#15  The case for CW-II gets clearer every day.

Lol! You have no idea.

Are you gonna go postal soon?
Posted by: Floper Javirt7795 || 12/04/2006 16:49 Comments || Top||

#16  Bush should leave the post vacant.
Posted by: RWV || 12/04/2006 16:52 Comments || Top||

#17  What's Ann Coulter doing for the next year?
Posted by: DMFD || 12/04/2006 16:53 Comments || Top||

#18  Leave the post vacant.
Posted by: Shipman || 12/04/2006 16:56 Comments || Top||

#19  Spot on, Verlaine. There are times I bitch and whine . . . and there are times my stomach turns over and my petty bitching ceases. At those times, I go for a good hard run and thank J.C. I still can, because the future this portends will not be for the weak.
Posted by: exJAG || 12/04/2006 18:19 Comments || Top||

#20  I totally agree with Master O, "Here is a man that I could support for President."
Posted by: Glenmore || 12/04/2006 18:20 Comments || Top||

#21  More's the pity that Bush hasn't the courage to feed Bolton a script regarding the impending nuclear decimation of the Middle East that can then be plausibly denied as Bolton's parting shot at the UN. This was a perfect opportunity to read Islam the riot act.
Posted by: Zenster || 12/04/2006 19:52 Comments || Top||

#22  What's Ann Coulter doing for the next year?

Rumors have her chained to my guest room's futon.
Posted by: Zenster || 12/04/2006 19:54 Comments || Top||

#23  Zenster, Re: #21 - Gawd that is a dumb post. It has nothing to do with courage - and everything to do with the fact that you're just jerking off in the blogosphere for shits & grins - while Bush lives in the real world.
Posted by: .com || 12/04/2006 20:03 Comments || Top||

#24  .com, are you still of complete faith that Bush will definitely attack Iran? Just curious.
Posted by: Zenster || 12/04/2006 20:24 Comments || Top||

#25  Yes. I watched his interview with Brit Hume today. He's not "embattled" or "in retreat" or any of the other MSM meme-mongering crap. He is who he is and it hasn't changed. That will infuriate many, since he's still not their clone, but there it is. He's still the same guy who says what he means and means what he says. Boggle that.

And #21 is stillI> dumb as dirt.
Posted by: .com || 12/04/2006 20:27 Comments || Top||

#26  Tag frag...
And #21 is still dumb as dirt.
Posted by: .com || 12/04/2006 20:28 Comments || Top||

#27  Leave the post empty. That will piss off the Dems, and it's not like the UN matters anyway.
Posted by: Omush Hupineck4173 || 12/04/2006 20:41 Comments || Top||

#28  That's tempting, lol, and would make for some interesting symbolism and Moonbat Meltdown... but we need a placeholder, the Captain Nyet, to torpedo everything that comes down the pike.

Since we can't have a strong voice for the US and sanity in general, then I agree with ed's #8 - I just wonder about the crap that will come down the line during the congressional session. I presume there will still be someone in the delegation who can deliver the Nyets during that period.
Posted by: .com || 12/04/2006 20:48 Comments || Top||

#29  He's not "embattled" or "in retreat" or any of the other MSM meme-mongering crap.

And neither have I said anything of the sort. I'm just with OldSpook in wondering why Bush has not used his bully pulpit to more adequately address how the Religion of Peace [spit] is anything but that. Speculations that Rice is behind Olmert's appeasement of the Palestinians certainly do not help but I'm more than willing to attribute that to the Israeli jellyfish all by himself.

I still hope that Bush will have the moral integrity to dismantle Iran's nuclear program. To that extent, I'm still committed to defending Bush in every way possible should he face impeachment or any other sort of prosecution for such an act.

Nonetheless, Bush's ongoing amelioration of Islam's threat continues to concern me and it is not an unknown tactic to employ an end-of-term underling to expound upon speculative policy that is later denied as official.

For Bolton to suggest that the MME (Muslim Middle East) might face nuclear counterattack for continued terrorist activity is nowhere out of the question in light of Ahmadinejad's constant threats of using atomic weapons against America.

Finally, this is Rantburg and it is all about the rants. I'm confident you can sort out those which are based in fact and those which are of a more speculative nature. If not, that might more of your own problem than mine.
Posted by: Zenster || 12/04/2006 20:58 Comments || Top||

#30  If you wanna rant, then use the tags. I'm sure you're capable of doing it. Otherwise, I'll take your comments as posted and make fun of stupidity as I see fit.
Posted by: .com || 12/04/2006 21:03 Comments || Top||

#31  In other words, you're completely willing to ignore my previous posts that you've agreed with in order to dispute ones that are easily interpreted as musings. Fine. Duly noted.
Posted by: Zenster || 12/04/2006 21:09 Comments || Top||

#32  You're the most disingenuous ass on Rantburg. Comment Coward. Kanard King.

#21 is a silly stupid post.

#24 is your attempt to distract attention, to move to a nice gray area where you can pontificate - and we'll all forget about #21.

#29 employs:
a) Call on Allies (whether real or not).
b) Suck up to perceived power figure.
c) Associate yourself and gain whatever positive response that generates.
d) Substantiate distraction / keep focus on safe gray point.
e) Post lotsa text. "Wow, he posted more so he must know what he's talking about / be right."

#31 is a Plea for Sympathy / Trash the Critic.

All you had to say was, "Um, yeah, a little over the top. That's what I wish he'd do with his last day." And everyone would've agreed, including me.

You don't use any tags because if it flies, if you get Attaboys, then you're a Star - your whole fucking reason for being here - adulation, recognition, attention. If it flops, you can start spinning and dropping flares, as noted above, hoping no one gets a lock-on.

Pay a therapist and leave the rest of us out of it.
Posted by: .com || 12/04/2006 21:35 Comments || Top||

#33  Zenster, don'tcha know you're not supposed to write post implying that George II ain't perfect, you silly twit?
Posted by: gromgoru || 12/04/2006 21:48 Comments || Top||

#34  Lol, grom. You're such a embittered bile-ridden dolt. Lol.
Posted by: .com || 12/04/2006 21:50 Comments || Top||

#35  "Um, yeah, a little over the top. That's what I wish he'd do with his last day."

You mean just like when I've said that Bush may well wait until his last five minutes in office before launching an attack against Iran just to avoid any resultant impeachment proceedings? Garsh, what a coinkydink.
Posted by: Zenster || 12/04/2006 22:11 Comments || Top||

#36  I dunno - did you say that? Who cares. I skip most of your posts, nowadays.
Posted by: .com || 12/04/2006 22:15 Comments || Top||

#37  #34,36
Of his modus operandi only this much I could gather: "Pears's shaving sticks will give you little taste and lots of lather."
Posted by: gromgoru || 12/04/2006 22:17 Comments || Top||

#38  Lol. grom can read. Who'da thunk it.
Posted by: .com || 12/04/2006 22:18 Comments || Top||

#39  Zen lay the fuvk off of Bush! He is perfect and if you ever say anything bad about him again,

Oh shit I'll bitch at you later, my neighbor just called and a horde of Mexicans are cuting down his fences and stealing his cattle.

Doh!
Posted by: Icerigger || 12/04/2006 22:20 Comments || Top||

#40  Fuck off, Icerigger. Your BDS is well noted.
Posted by: .com || 12/04/2006 22:22 Comments || Top||

#41  Just like mine supposedly is, except that when you threatened to go and pout if everyone didn't fall in with you and claim that I suffered from BDS, NO ONE did.
Posted by: Zenster || 12/04/2006 22:25 Comments || Top||

#42  Boanerges Blitzen, servant of the Queen,
Is a dismal failure -- is a Might-have-been.
In a luckless moment he discovered men
Rise to high position through a ready pen.
Posted by: gromgoru || 12/04/2006 22:26 Comments || Top||

#43  Geez. The ankle-biters are out in force. Full moon?
Posted by: .com || 12/04/2006 22:28 Comments || Top||

#44  And #21 is still dumb as dirt, fuckwittery and moonbattery notwithstanding. This post was about Bolton - before the zoomers flew out of the caves.
Posted by: .com || 12/04/2006 22:31 Comments || Top||

#45  Why yes, it is a full moon.
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats || 12/04/2006 22:43 Comments || Top||

#46  moonbattery notwithstanding

As in my open and honest admiration for Bolton while viewing his departure as a:

Damn shame. He's the best thing that ever happened to the UN.
Posted by: Zenster || 12/04/2006 22:57 Comments || Top||

#47  I couldn't agree more with that statement.
Posted by: .com || 12/04/2006 23:02 Comments || Top||

#48  Then maybe you should consider trying to find some common ground. You're not obliged to in any sense of the word but you chase a lot of people out of the pup tent with your intolerance.

I arrived at this site calling Bush "Shrub" and disregarding the 2000 election as corrupt (which I still believe it to be). Yet, somehow, I am willing to view Bush as America's legitimate president in 2004. Go figure. If you are not able to grasp that sort of evolution in honorable opponents, the tent you maintain might just not be large enough for a winning congregation.
Posted by: Zenster || 12/04/2006 23:40 Comments || Top||

#49  Your entrance was quite a non-event. Your acceptance of the elections is irrelevant. It's not about you.

If you make statements, you get criticized on their content. That was stupid comment in #21.

Then, because you're fucking incapable of ever backing off, you played a shitty game of propaganda BS on this thread and I called you on it. Everything I said is true. Every fucking word.

Now you're saying I should seek common ground. You say you're an honorable opponent. You imply I need to chill to build a congregation - or whatever the fuck that was supposed to mean. Probably an appeal to Fred to smack me down or something.

I disagree with all of your notions. I have called you out for your crap - and you wanna hudna. Fuck you. You're not honorable, you're a coward who never gives up because your ego is enormous.

If I am harming RB for calling a shithead a shithead, then Fred will stomp my ass - and you can continue being a disingenuous shit who never, ever, comes clean.
Posted by: .com || 12/04/2006 23:54 Comments || Top||


Padilla Video Is a Window Into a Terror Suspect’s Isolation
Long article. Mods, please send folks to the link instead of posting the whole thing if it's better.

Perhaps a better title would be "Don't get caught by the US if you're a terrorist or you may end up like Padilla". I'll bet everything I own that he would prefer death to the life he's living now.

Good.

One spring day during his three and a half years as an enemy combatant, Jose Padilla experienced a break from the monotony of his solitary confinement in a bare cell in the brig at the Naval Weapons Station in Charleston, S.C.

That day, Mr. Padilla, a Brooklyn-born Muslim convert whom the Bush administration had accused of plotting a dirty bomb attack and had detained without charges, got to go to the dentist.

“Today is May 21,” a naval official declared to a camera videotaping the event. “Right now we’re ready to do a root canal treatment on Jose Padilla, our enemy combatant.”
Hopefully sans anesthetic.
Several guards in camouflage and riot gear approached cell No. 103. They unlocked a rectangular panel at the bottom of the door and Mr. Padilla’s bare feet slid through, eerily disembodied. As one guard held down a foot with his black boot, the others shackled Mr. Padilla’s legs. Next, his hands emerged through another hole to be manacled.

Wordlessly, the guards, pushing into the cell, chained Mr. Padilla’s cuffed hands to a metal belt. Briefly, his expressionless eyes met the camera before he lowered his head submissively in expectation of what came next: noise-blocking headphones over his ears and blacked-out goggles over his eyes. Then the guards, whose faces were hidden behind plastic visors, marched their masked, clanking prisoner down the hall to his root canal.
Woohoo! Something to do today!

Continued on Page 49
Posted by: gorb || 12/04/2006 04:29 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  As one guard held down a foot with his black boot, the others shackled Mr. Padilla’s legs.

Ooooh! The imagery!!
Bravo New York Times!!!
Posted by: tu3031 || 12/04/2006 9:06 Comments || Top||

#2  The left out the part where the Zionist beach-ball chased him back into town.
Posted by: Excalibur || 12/04/2006 9:15 Comments || Top||

#3  That traitor was preparing to murder fellow Americans indiscriminatly on a large scale. He ought to be recieving a daily beating before his execution.
Posted by: JerseyMike || 12/04/2006 9:54 Comments || Top||

#4  Great pic for article. I BET THE lo0n@Y Left is lapping this shit up with a spoon..."Oh poor Jose."
Posted by: Cyber Sarge || 12/04/2006 10:22 Comments || Top||

#5  Please zoom out the picture, the violin is much much to large.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles in Blairistan || 12/04/2006 10:45 Comments || Top||

#6  BP - that's a macro zoom shot of a destroyed nanoviolin. It would be invisible of shown 1:1.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 12/04/2006 12:29 Comments || Top||

#7  But the defense lawyers’ questions often echo the questions interrogators have asked Mr. Padilla, and when that happens, he gets jumpy and shuts down, the lawyers said.

Ooh, nice technique! Wonder if they can round up some interrogators who look like the defense team, too? Heh, heh, heh!!
Posted by: Swamp Blondie || 12/04/2006 13:09 Comments || Top||

#8  More on Jose:

"His first major scrape with the law came when he was just 14 when he and six other youths attacked and robbed two members of a rival gang. One of the young gangstas was stabbed in the melee. He died, and Padilla, who had kicked the wounded victim in the head during the robbery, was convicted of the juvenile equivalent of aggravated assault and armed robbery."
Posted by: JDB || 12/04/2006 13:50 Comments || Top||

#9  The NYT is trying to gin up support for this career criminal turned terrorist. The people behind this story are open enemies of our republic. They should be treated as such.

I read this before I went to bed. This is not unusual treatment. Mostly with a few small differences this is how high risk inmates are handled in many State and Federal Prisions. Nothing unususal or shocking here. Nothing to see move along.

Big eye opener for punks who think thy are bad ass.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 12/04/2006 17:07 Comments || Top||

#10  Well, I do agree this has gone on way too long. The proper way to treat captured unlawful enemy combatants is to interrogate them, give them a cigarette, then shoot them.

This process shouldn't take more than an hour.
Posted by: Parabellum || 12/04/2006 18:27 Comments || Top||

#11  This process shouldn't take more than an hour.

If it does, you can skip the blindfold and cigarette part. :-)
Posted by: gorb || 12/04/2006 18:57 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
'Uzbek' bomber kills Bannu cop
A police official was killed and another was injured when a foreigner, believed to be an Uzbek national, detonated explosives tied around his body when the police tried to search him in the Domail area in Bannu, police said on Sunday. “The police surrounded the Persian-speaking man’s car, a private taxi, when he refused a body search and fired at a constable deployed at a check post on the Kohat-Bannu road,” Bannu DIG Abid Ali told reporters. Ali said that platoon commander Ahmad Khan attempted to remove the explosives fixed around the suspect’s body when he exploded. Khan was seriously injured in the explosion and later died.

Police arrested the taxi driver who was driving the suspected militant from Kohat to Bannu – the home district of NWFP Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani – Ali said. The Bannu DIG said that police were informed that some militants would attempt to smuggle explosives from Kohat to Bannu following which three pickets were set up at the entry points of the district. He said that police tried to check a private taxi entering Bannu from Domail when the Persian-speaking foreigner travelling in the car refused a body search, adding that when police insisted, the foreigner opened fire on a constable and ran away from the car. Ali said that the police chased the suspect and managed to get a hold of him after a kilometre. He added that platoon commander Ahmad Khan tried to remove the explosives from the suspect’s body when he blew himself up.
Posted by: Fred || 12/04/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Iraq
Iraqi Army graduates first sniper class
The Iraqi Army recently expanded its advanced marksmanship course to give their military a much-needed asset in the battle for the streets of Iraq’s cities – highly capable and lethal Iraqi snipers.

After nearly seven weeks of training at Besmaya range, 30 kilometers east of Baghdad, seven Iraqi Soldiers graduated from the advanced marksmanship course and sniper training in a ceremony here Dec.1. The students began by learning advanced marksmanship principles using AK-47 rifles before moving into the sniper part of the course, said a Coalition advisor who conducted the training.

“More and more attacks by insurgents have been by snipers; now we have the opportunity to send our soldiers out to defeat those threats,” said Iraqi Army Sergeant First Class Naim, an Advanced Marksmanship Course instructor and NCO-in-charge of Besmaya Range, through an interpreter. Naim attended the sniper course so he would be able to teach the course in the future. “One sniper can stop a battalion. These students are professionals; they are ready for any mission.”

The sniper portion of the course is a “train-the-trainer” session, and graduates take their lessons back to home units to train their own prospective snipers. Several students like Naim were already rated as advanced marksmanship instructors at Besmaya and were taking part in the sniper course to eventually take the program over from the Coalition, the advisor said.

“I want to be a professional sniper,” said Iraqi Army Sgt. Haida through an interpreter. “In my unit we have sniper rifles, but nobody knows how to use them. I really believe this training is going to help me in the future. I want to defend my country.”

Adding the sniper portion to the course was an easy decision in the eyes of the installation’s commander.

“This course is so important,” said Iraqi Army Col. Abbas, Besmaya Range’s senior officer. “This training will give us many new capabilities. When we attack enemies, we need to have a professional sniper on the roof. If we don’t have this, we will not have the power that we need.”

Before starting the course, the students had to pass physical fitness, reading and eye tests, Naim said. After that, the students attended classroom lectures about the characteristics of their weapons before heading to the range to “zero,” or adjust the weapon’s sights to fit each student’s handling of the weapon. In order to zero, students fired several shots on target to form a group.

Typical of sniper training, many students did not complete the course and were sent home after failing to complete the grouping portion, said a civilian contractor providing instruction here.

After zeroing, students fired at pop-up targets in a series of evaluations. The course culminated with each student completing a predawn 10-kilometer ruck march where they had to find a good shooting position, eliminate a target and leave the area while remaining undetected by advisors.

“These soldiers that are left demonstrated the ability to hit targets from ranges of 200 to 600 meters using the Romanian PSL sniper rifle; a version of a Russian sniper rifle, on which many former Soviet Bloc countries based the design of their own weapons systems,” the advisor said.

Naim said standards for this course were intentionally high, since these students are critical to the future success of other Iraqi military snipers.

“The Iraqi Army really needs this training for snipers,” Naim said. “The shooters who graduate from this course will go back to their units to work as instructors for those units.”

The course differed from a traditional sniper course in that instructors built the training based on situations relevant to what an Iraqi Army sniper would face in combat.

“When we started this course, we acknowledged the fact that these snipers would be operating in urban environments, so we did not focus on some of the traditional sniper course techniques such as stalking and the construction of ghillie suits [using elements of the natural terrain to provide natural camouflage for the sniper],” the advisor said. “We instead focused on establishing a good position, breathing and firing techniques and proficiency with the weapon system.”

When the training began, the majority of the students did not have much shooting experience beyond what they had learned in basic combat training. Most of them were “your ‘average Joes,’” the advisor said.

“A lot of them used ‘Kentucky windage and Tennessee elevation’ [terms used by shooters to describe firing based on a shooter’s tendencies to guess target range by feel rather than by computing the wind direction or elevation prior to engaging the target],” the advisor said. “We also needed to work with them to establish a tight shot group pattern rather than allowing them to ‘chase their rounds’ without adjusting their sights, since (forming shot groups) was not something that was focused on in the old Warsaw Pact doctrine.”

“We fired a lot of rounds,” he continued. “With just 19 guys going through this program and many of those washing out, we went through more than 1,800 rounds over the past seven weeks.”

According to Naim, the students of the class were grateful to have the chance to take part in the training and are looking forward to getting back to their units.

“I want to be an instructor,” said Staff Sgt. Sajid, prior to his completing the final evaluation before officially graduating the course. “I want to protect my country because my country needs me. God willing, I will become one.”
Posted by: Anonymoose || 12/04/2006 21:25 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  sniper skool for Iraqis:

this wouldn't be on my to do list as long as our forces are stationed in Iraq. sure as hell a portion of these fuckers will kill some of my countrymen and women.
Posted by: RD || 12/04/2006 21:59 Comments || Top||

#2  I was thinking the same thing.
Posted by: tu3031 || 12/04/2006 22:07 Comments || Top||

#3  That was exactly my first thought when I saw that headline too. I sure hope they screened these candidates thoroughly.
Posted by: Dar || 12/04/2006 22:20 Comments || Top||

#4  If they can teach their fellows to aim before shooting it'll save the Iraqi Army a fortune in bullets and gunpowder (or whatever the modern equivalent is).
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/04/2006 22:56 Comments || Top||

#5  Bad idea
Posted by: KBK || 12/04/2006 23:06 Comments || Top||

#6  Agree KBK.
Posted by: ed || 12/04/2006 23:12 Comments || Top||

#7  Screening is an understatement. They are probably all intensely loyal and connected, the best and the brightest from only the best units. These guys will be the cream of the crop. The odds of them ever shooting at US soldiers is tiny.

However, who knows how well they will screen the second generation?
Posted by: Anonymoose || 12/04/2006 23:30 Comments || Top||


Don't Bring an AK-47 to a JDAM fight
BUILDING DESTROYED AFTER GUNFIRE ATTACKS

CAMP FALLUJAH, Iraq – Regimental Combat Team 5 Marines patrolling on foot Sunday in Hasa, Iraq, were attacked with small arms fire by insurgents positioned in a residential structure.

The Marines attempted to maneuver on the building but were unable to enter due to the high volume of insurgent fire.

The Marines then fired a shoulder fired, anti-tank rocket at the building, and when the fire continued from the insurgents, the Marines employed precision-guided ordnance to destroy the building.

No additional damage or casualties to civilians or Coalition Forces were reported.
Posted by: Glenmore || 12/04/2006 15:11 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  were unable to enter due to the high volume of insurgent fire

Bet that dropped off real quick after the JDAM hit.
Posted by: DMFD || 12/04/2006 16:52 Comments || Top||

#2  the Marines employed precision-guided ordnance to destroy the building

Pretty descriptive, but it really doesn't top the "aerial precision fire was used to mitigate the threat" from a few weeks ago.
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 12/04/2006 17:28 Comments || Top||

#3  How about "A guided, aerially-employed deconstruction device provided minimal collateral unintentionality, while insuring timely ingress to the vicinity to recover anyone who might require assistance."
Posted by: Anonymoose || 12/04/2006 17:47 Comments || Top||

#4  "We blew it up reeeal good!"
Posted by: Parabellum || 12/04/2006 17:55 Comments || Top||

#5  What I liked was 'attacked (from) a residential structure ... destroy(ed) the building.' Apply the same rules to mosques and cut out the delay and I'll be satisfied.
Posted by: Glenmore || 12/04/2006 18:12 Comments || Top||

#6  I second all comments and jokes above. Out.
Posted by: Verlaine || 12/04/2006 20:59 Comments || Top||

#7  "...were attacked with small arms fire by insurgents positioned in a residential structure."

Makes one yearn for the days of Air Marshal Sir Arthur "Bomber" Harris and area-bombing!
Posted by: Lancasters Over Dresden || 12/04/2006 21:47 Comments || Top||


Islamic militant group warns students, teachers to stop attending Baghdad universities
An Islamic militant group responsible for kidnappings and beheadings in Iraq on Monday warned teachers and students to stop attending universities in Baghdad or the insurgents would consider them partners of the government.

Ansar al-Sunnah, which has ties to al-Qaida in Iraq, set a three-day deadline for teachers, students and administrative employees to stop going to universities, saying the group has canceled all studies for the school year according to a video and statements posted on the group's Web site. The Sunni insurgent group did not say how it planned to cancel university classes in Baghdad. "In order to save the blood of our honorable teachers and dear students and after carrying out a detailed study and consultation ... we decided to cancel studies in all universities and institutes and private colleges for the scholastic year 2006-2007 in the capital Baghdad only," the group said in the video and statements, which could not immediately be verified. A man wearing a ski mask said in the video that "there have been several killing and kidnapping of (Sunni) professors and students by the death squads with direct support from the head of the government and the Shiite parties."

"The universities have been turned from landmark institutions that graduate scientists to dark dens shrouded in black and infested by (Shiite) black turban clerics," the unidentified man said in the 30-minute video.

He also referred to last month's kidnapping of some 150 people from the Higher Education ministry in central Baghdad. The mass kidnapping was widely believed to have been the work of the Mahdi Army, the heavily armed militia of Muqtada al-Sadr, the anti-American Shiite cleric. "A big number of university teachers were forced to flee Iraq because they were included in the death lists," the unidentified man said, reading a statement.

In a separate statement issued Sunday, the group said it was launching a "campaign to help our scientists and students in Baghdad universities" who the group claims have suffered under Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's Shiite-led government.

Ansar al-Sunnah is a radical Sunni group responsible for attacks on U.S. forces, kidnappings and beheadings, including the August 2004 execution of 12 Nepalese hostages and a December 2004 explosion at a U.S. military mess hall in Mosul that killed 22 people.
Posted by: Fred || 12/04/2006 13:54 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Didn't AAS just get its clocked cleaned by the loss of 10 or so of its top management in Iraq?
Posted by: Anonymoose || 12/04/2006 14:48 Comments || Top||

#2  AAS has a rapid advancement policy.
Posted by: gromgoru || 12/04/2006 17:20 Comments || Top||


Marine Killed in Copter Crash in Iraq
A Marine helicopter carrying 16 people made an emergency landing in a lake in a volatile province west of Baghdad, killing one and leaving three missing, the military said Monday.
Twelve passengers survived the crash Sunday in Anbar province, according to a statement. The military said a Marine was pulled from the water but attempts to resuscitate him were unsuccessful, while three other service members were listed as "duty status unknown."

The military said the incident did not appear to be due to enemy action but was still being investigated.
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 12/04/2006 10:21 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The "Sh*thook" strikes again....
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 12/04/2006 11:21 Comments || Top||

#2  God bless them and their families.
Posted by: 49 Pan || 12/04/2006 18:32 Comments || Top||

#3  The CH-46 is in even worse than a CH-47 sh!thook. They are 40 years old and falling apart.
Posted by: Cheagum Throlumble7273 || 12/04/2006 19:34 Comments || Top||

#4  The CH 47 is use today is the D model. It does not leak or come apart at the seams like the old A and B models. It is the only aircraft that can operate at 14,000 feet with any cargo or pax.

The 46 is still a troubled aircraft. Its replacement, CV 22, is even worse.
Posted by: 49 Pan || 12/04/2006 22:21 Comments || Top||


Explosion in N. Baghdad kills 3, injures 10
(KUNA) -- Three Iraqis were killed and 10 others were injured when a booby-trapped car exploded in Cairo neighborhood north of the capital, said a security source Sunday. The source told KUNA that the explosion destroyed nearby cars and properties.

Elsewhere, a joint Iraqi-US patrol was targeted by a road-side bomb which resulted in the injury of six Iraqi civilians and damages to the military vehicles. No details about any casualties among the servicemen were given to the security source.

On counter terrorism operations, the Iraqi defense ministry killed an insurgent and arrested 90 others in several military operations conducted all over Iraq. Back in Baghdad, seven Iraqi students were injured when their school was targeted by mortar shells in Bab Al-Muaddam area. Insurgents also had their share when they abducted an adviser for the Iraqi Minister of Electricity in Al-Sha'ab area Saturday.
Posted by: Fred || 12/04/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Masked gunmen assassinate Muslim cleric in Najaf
(KUNA) -- Sheikh Yassin Al-Harab, a Muslim cleric at Martyr Mohammad Sadiq Al-Sadr office, was assassinated Sunday by the hands of masked gunmen, said a security source.
I'm guessing this was the origin of the rumor that Tater was bumped off yesterday...
The source told KUNA that the victim was shot dead in front of his house in Al-Askari neighborhood northern Najaf. According to the source the murderers fled the scene and the investigations were still conducted to determine who was behind this crime. Despite local, regional, and international calls to stop the Pandemonium here, Iraq still witnesses daily images of chaos.
Posted by: Fred || 12/04/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Sunni? Shia? Unitarian? Methodist? Buddist?

Anybody care?

Oh, in Sadr's office? Guess that makes him a Shia. So near, and yet so far.
Posted by: Bobby || 12/04/2006 6:02 Comments || Top||

#2  They missed Tater? I knew it was to good to be true but at least it will put the Simian for Sharia spinning in his diaper hat.
Posted by: Icerigger || 12/04/2006 7:17 Comments || Top||

#3  Omar at IraqtheModel emailed to say that the source of the Sadr's Dead rumor, albasrah.net, is not trustworthy and probably insurgent (Sunni, I presume) propaganda.

Damn.
Posted by: .com || 12/04/2006 9:29 Comments || Top||

#4  Keep whacking any reasonably competent subordinates of Tater. Help promote the weakest - in the long run it will be the most effective way to weaken the whole organization. Sort of the reverse process of 'culling the herd.'
Posted by: Glenmore || 12/04/2006 10:28 Comments || Top||

#5  Nobody is all bad.
Posted by: gromgoru || 12/04/2006 22:33 Comments || Top||

#6  Really?
Posted by: .com || 12/04/2006 22:38 Comments || Top||

#7  Help promote the weakest
That's what hereditary leaderships like Tater's already do. Can't wait to learn what idiocy the third generation of Kims will reveal.
Posted by: ed || 12/04/2006 22:44 Comments || Top||


Iraq: Kidnapped Sunni soccer official found dead
The bullet-ridden body of the Sunni Arab chairman of one of Iraq's leading soccer clubs was found Sunday, nearly three days after he was kidnapped by gunmen in the capital, police said. Hadib Majhoul, the head of the popular Talaba club and a member of the Iraqi Soccer Federation, was the latest in a series of fatal attacks on sports figures amid Iraq's spiraling sectarian violence.

Majhoul was seized late Thursday by gunmen in two cars who intercepted him while he was going to work, said Tariq Ahmed, an official with the federation. At the time, police confirmed that Majhoul was kidnapped in northern Baghdad but did not elaborate, citing concerns for his safety. On Sunday police recovered the chairman's body in a neighborhood of western Baghdad and brought it to a morgue where it was identified by relatives, said police 1st Lt. Ali Muhsin.
Posted by: Fred || 12/04/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  This is a shame, really.

The Iraqi National Team had a big win over Oman in trying to qualify for the Asian Games. Sports victories can help in bringing countries together under a national identity.

The assasination would seem to undermine that.
Posted by: JDB || 12/04/2006 13:24 Comments || Top||


US airstrikes kill 8 in Iraq
US airstrikes destroyed two foreign fighter safe houses west of Baghdad on Saturday night, killing five insurgents, two women and a child, the US military said on Sunday. Residents put the death toll in the village of al-Lihaib near the town of Garma much higher, saying as many as 24 people had been killed and some buildings levelled. The figures could not be independently confirmed.

“Recent intelligence reports indicated the targeted building was being used to harbour foreign fighters. Intelligence reports also verified that several men were present at the targeted building during the time of the raid,” the military said in a statement. “After the air strike destroyed the building, coalition forces were able to determine that five terrorists, along with two women and one child, were killed,” it said. It said a sixth insurgent had been killed and three detained by ground forces.
Posted by: Fred || 12/04/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Southeast Asia
Muslim terrorists kill teacher in Thailand
Bangkok - Terrorists Insurgents shot a school director Friday afternoon in southern Thailand then set his vehicle on fire killing him in the flames, the English-language Bangkok Post newspaper website reported.

Police said the director of a school in Pattani province, 750 kilometres south of Bangkok, was shot in his pickup truck while driving out of school. He was wounded but not killed in the shooting before insurgents set his pickup truck on fire. He was burned alive inside the truck.
That's the religion of peace in operation there. This time it's Muslims versus Buddhists.
Posted by: Steve White || 12/04/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Teachers' unions throughout the World in protest in 5..4..3..
Posted by: gromgoru || 12/04/2006 21:16 Comments || Top||


Troops arrest suspected militant from group linked to Jemaah Islamiyah
Troops have arrested a key member of a radical group of Christian converts to Islam, which has collaborated with the al-Qaida-linked Jemaah Islamiyah terror network, officials said Saturday. Feliciano de los Reyes, a founding member of the small group called the Rajah Solaiman Movement or RSM, had been seeking refuge in Lamitan town on the southern island of Basilan when he was captured on Thursday, said Marine spokesman Lt. Col. Ariel Caculitan. Caculitan said de los Reyes was arrested in a 2002 raid in northern Pangasinan province and was imprisoned for six months, then jumped bail.
Posted by: Fred || 12/04/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Debka sez : Syria’s devious weapon for undermining Siniora – al Qaeda infiltrators
Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert informed the Knesset foreign affairs and security committee Monday, Dec. 4, that Israel does not intend attacking Syria. Like all its neighbors, Israel is bound to be affected by the turmoil in Lebanon, especially if Hizballah’s pro-Syrian coup-by-demonstration succeeds in overthrowing the anti-Syrian government of Fouad Siniora.

DEBKAfile’s military sources report that the Olmert government should be doubly concerned by Bashar Asad’s latest gambit, filtering Al Qaeda operatives from their Syrian sanctuary into Lebanon, there to foment Palestinian support for Hizballah’s drive to topple the government in Beirut.

This ploy has surfaced in certain incidents of the past week:

On Nov. 28, Omar Abdullah, leader of the al-Qaeda-affiliated Tawhid and Jihad, was shot dead by Syrian border guards on his way to Lebanon with nine forged identity papers in his pocket.

Our intelligence sources report that Syrian intelligence staged the incident to signal relevant parties in the Middle East and abroad that al Qaeda is bent on a subversive operation in Lebanon akin to its Iraq venture - and it is in Syria’s power to regulate the threat. The Lebanese media reporting the incident found no other motive for Omar Abdullah’s death since he was a frequent traveler between the two countries and was wont to carry phony documents.

A day earlier, Nov. 27, at the Nahr al Bared camp in the northern Lebanese region of Tripoli, an armed Palestinian faction ceremonially changed its name from Fatah-Intifada to Fatah al-Islam. At the ceremony, its members showed off their new Taliban-style beards and said they had come to realize that the only way to achieve Palestinian goals was “by killing all the Jews and their crusader allies.”

DEBKAfile’s Lebanese sources report the Tripoli region is under the thumb of Syrian military intelligence and its Sunni and Maronite Catholic sympathizers, who could have - but did not - prevent the ceremony taking place.

Then, on Nov. 29, the largest Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon, Ein al Hilwa near Sidon in the south, saw a conference of the heads of the camp’s Jund Al-Sham (picture) factions. Jund Al-Sham, like the Islamic Army of Gaza, is an operational and financial dependant of al Qaeda. They discussed whether to grant entry to Palestinian groups from Syria - and “other Arab factions,” such as “al Qaeda”, “the Islamic Army” and “Fatah al-Islam.”

The consensus they reached was that such groups could not be excluded from the Palestinian refugee camps of the south or from Burj al Barajne, Sabra and Chatila near Beirut, because they were already ensconced in the north.

In an article published in Dar Al Hayat on Nov. 30, the Lebanese journalist Hassan Haydar asked: “How is it possible for all these armed groups to cross the Syrian-Lebanese border without being spotted by the security apparatus of both sides?”

The question was rhetorical. He knows the answer, as do DEBKAfile’s counter-terror sources: As we have reported, Syria is arming sympathetic Lebanese factions in readiness for a showdown with anti-Syrian elements in Beirut. Its next step now is to transplant al Qaeda offshoots and affiliates from Syria into Lebanon’s Palestinian camps for three objectives:

1. To remove this incriminating terrorist presence from Syria ahead of a possible thaw in relations with Washington.

2. To radicalize the Palestinians of Lebanon so that in a civil showdown they will fight alongside the pro-Syrian forces.

3. To radicalize the Palestinian people at large, and so disarm and isolate the moderates - not only in Lebanon, but also in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank as well. Damascus will of course deny deploying these jihadists at strategic points for destabilizing pro-Western governments and defeating peace diplomacy. But Syria also denies a hand in promoting the violence in Iraq by similar infusions
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 12/04/2006 11:20 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Israel withdraws from Lebanese side of Ghajar
Posted by: Fred || 12/04/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Hezbollah celebrates by placing 11 Katyusha launchers in the village (had some tech problems, but the UNIFIL experts were able to help).
Posted by: gromgoru || 12/04/2006 17:11 Comments || Top||


One killed in Beirut clash between Shiites, Sunnis
A Lebanese man was killed on Sunday in clashes that broke out between Shiite and Sunni Muslims in a predominantly Sunni neighborhood in West Beirut, police officials said. Ahmed Ali Mahmoud, a 20-year-old Shiite Muslim, was shot during the clash in the Tarik Jdideh neighborhood. It was not clear where the gunfire came from, the officials said. The gunfire was directed at pro-Hezbollah Shiite protesters.

In a separate clash in another West Beirut neighborhood, a fist fight and stone-throwing clash erupted between groups of Shiites and Sunnis, and several shops were set on fire and the windows of at least one car smashed. Army troops fired smoke bombs to disperse the crowd, and at least 20 people were lightly injured in the stone-throwing.

Tensions have been high in the Lebanese capital as Hezbollah and other pro-Syrian groups have held mass protests calling on Prime Minister Fouad Siniora's government to resign. The mounting crisis threatening the Siniora government in Lebanon, and the specter of a Hezbollah takeover, have spurred senior Israeli government officials in Jerusalem to raise several proposals in recent days aimed at strengthening Siniora, who faces street protests that Hezbollah has launched against his government. The goal is to prove that Siniora can obtain more through peaceful diplomacy than Hezbollah, which has accused him of a "defeatist policy" toward Israel, was able to gain through violence.

Israel and several Arab states, including Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan, are increasingly concerned that Siniora's government will fall, resulting in a Hezbollah takeover that would turn the country into what an Israeli government source termed "the first Arab state to become an Iranian protectorate." Former chief of Israel Defense Forces Army Intelligence Corps, Major General (res.) Aharon Ze'evi Farkash, said Sunday the chances of another war in Lebanon would increase should Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora choose to resign.
Posted by: Fred || 12/04/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Just one? I guess they're not letting Paleos out of their camps yet.
Posted by: gromgoru || 12/04/2006 21:25 Comments || Top||


Good morning....
Kylie's boyfriend snapped with modelOne killed in Beirut clash between Shiites, SunnisSaddam appeals against death sentenceIslamic Jihad warns Gaza Strip cease-fire on verge of collapseTroops arrest suspected militant from group linked to Jemaah Islamiyah'Uzbek' bomber kills Bannu copMasked gunmen assassinate Muslim cleric in NajafPuntland arrests holy man and journalist
Posted by: Fred || 12/04/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  That dress would look much better if the polka dots disappeared. Along with the fabric they were printed on . . . .
Posted by: gorb || 12/04/2006 0:12 Comments || Top||

#2  Quite YUMMIE!!
Posted by: ARMYGUY || 12/04/2006 9:12 Comments || Top||

#3  Daisy Mae Scragg, c'mon home, now, you knows you cain't trust them Hollyweirdin folks...

/Li'l Abner
Posted by: .com || 12/04/2006 9:35 Comments || Top||

#4  So my Gator article hit the cutting room floor? Hahahahahah :-)
Posted by: DragonFly || 12/04/2006 17:19 Comments || Top||

#5  Never saw it, DF. It was prolly that Dr Steve guy. Lol.
Posted by: .com || 12/04/2006 19:59 Comments || Top||



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Mon 2006-12-04
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Sun 2006-12-03
  First blood drawn in Beirut
Sat 2006-12-02
  Hezbers begin campaign to force Siniora out
Fri 2006-12-01
  Hundreds killed, wounded in south Sudan clashes
Thu 2006-11-30
  'Israel losing patience over truce violations'
Wed 2006-11-29
  Kashmir bad boyz offer conditional hudna
Tue 2006-11-28
  Two Kassams land in Sderot area
Mon 2006-11-27
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Sun 2006-11-26
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Sat 2006-11-25
  Olmert agrees to Hudna, promises Peace In Our Time
Fri 2006-11-24
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Thu 2006-11-23
  Sunni Car Boom Offensive Kills 133 Shia in Baghdad
Wed 2006-11-22
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Tue 2006-11-21
  Pierre Gemayel assassinated
Mon 2006-11-20
  Sudanese troops, Janjaweed rampage in Darfur

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