"Tom Paine" over at Silent Running says it for me: From all accounts it appears Mr Charles is indeed out there in the light green, gathering for a big assault on our wire some dark night very, very soon. Maybe even tonight. Weâve got the claymores positioned, weâre popping flares, and weâre patrolling aggressively, but you know Charlie, if he wants something bad enough, he usually finds a way... I dunno. Maybe nothing at all will happen. Maybe theyâll try something incredibly dumb and half-assed and weâll get a whole bunch of new folk to visit with and have long chats to.
Or... Merry Christmas - Lock and Load.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/24/2003 11:41:41 AM ||
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Let nothing ye despair folks... I've broken the seals onto my mighty Christmas Club, which is really just a 34 ounce Louisville Slugger with a 3 penny nail at the sweet spot... A navel destroyers as it were.
A Thai man was squeezed and bitten until he was unconscious by a captured 4-meter python that he had volunteered to release in a forest, officials said Wednesday. Kids, leave this to the professionals.
Samruay Polpruk, 43, was found Tuesday by the roadside in the town of Prachin Buri, about 90km north of Bangkok, with the python wrapped around his neck. He was rushed to the hospital after police and onlookers pulled the snake from him. Police Lt Jumpol Baujum said the snake was caught Wednesday by residents when it wandered into the town. Wandered? Just how does a snake wander?
Samruay volunteered to return the giant snake to the jungle, and a friend agreed to drive him there on his motorcycle. The pair had not even left city limits when the friend noticed that Samruay was being strangled. He abandoned the motorcycle at a busy intersection and ran for help. "Sam, you ok back there? Sam?"
Posted by: Steve ||
12/24/2003 10:46:02 AM ||
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The pictures make the story ...
As you know, Santaâs reindeer are gearing up for their "big night," just a few days away. Theyâve been cooped up all year long, saving their energy to pull St. Nickâs sleigh all around the world. This, of course, gives the reindeer all a serious case of cabin fever and reporter Meghan Stapleton from NBC station KTUU learned that the hard way. As she was squatting down next to "Blitzen," he got spooked. The reindeer leaped right over Stapleton and knocked her down. But to her credit, Stapleton never let go of the reins. This is coincidentally what Santa trains his own elves to do. Stapleton was not hurt. Blitzenâs handler said that the reindeer wasnât attacking her, instead getting a little "frisky." When asked why she didnât let go of the reins, Stapleton said, "It would be a shame to lose Blitzen two days before Christmas."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/24/2003 12:06:14 AM ||
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"The Detroit Lions Football Club had no comment on reports that they will be signing Blitzen to a 5-year contract as an offensive lineman."
Two Indian engineers kidnapped by suspected Taliban rebels nearly three weeks ago in one of a spate of attacks on workers linked to a U.S.-backed road project have been freed, a senior Interior Ministry official said Wednesday. The engineers were abducted Dec. 6 on a shopping trip in southern Zabul province, where they were working on the refurbishment of the Kabul-Kandahar highway, the countryâs main transport artery. It was unclear if the government had made any concessions to the kidnappers to secure their release. On Monday, an official in southern Zabul province, which the road runs through, said Taliban rebels had sent a letter demanding the release of 55 of their prisoners in return for the engineers.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
12/24/2003 1:03:54 AM ||
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Almost identical story, almost exactly same data on al-Beeb, but titled 'Taleban' free abducted Indians Are 'they' just using 'scarequotes' to show they cannot 'spell' Taliban? But their South Asia News Page also has a faux headline Pakistan 'kills' Chinese militant linked to a story posted here yesterday where he was reported as 'shot dead.' They may be even more unsure of their orthography than we could imagine. Those are common simple words. And I'd damned well better not have any spelling errors in this comment.
#2
I'm very glad to see these guys released. A few days ago our comments (including mine) were all 'no negotiations', with some very interesting twists on 'coercing' the Taliban to let them free (OP's thoughts on aerial ballet being particularly enjoyable!) so I really do hope that no concessions were made.
Spelling looks OK to me Glenn ;)
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
12/24/2003 4:49 Comments ||
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I thought I read somewhere that the Affie officials are saying it was just a bunch of guys hanging out with Kalishies and not the Taliban.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
12/24/2003 6:07 Comments ||
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Tony: Mine, or Beeb's? On concessions, my thoughts exactly. cttoi, no thanks to Noah Webster, mere minefield-crossing shit-ass luck no words like color, caliber, defense, or their ilk, appear in my comment
(:-)>
Aah, Beeb story has (same link) an UPDATE
Mr [Afghan Interior Minister Ali Ahmad] Jalali said the men were released late on Tuesday.
"The people who abducted them agreed to free them without conditions," he said.
Mr Jalali said negotiations had taken place through local tribal leaders and elders. ... there was "no connection between [the Taleban] and those who kept them in the area".
Another stylistic idiosyncrasy just noticed. Beeb's consistently 'proper' reference to, in this case, "Mr Jalali," much as NYT doing same story would consistently do "Mr. Jalali." Do UK versions of Windows spell-check accept that? US version says "Mr." is a word, "Mr" is not.
Just noticed that it's Christmas day in ... Islamabad! - so a very merry Christmas day to all those Jihadis out there. Also a big shout to all those in Tehran, hope you all get the Christmas presents you deserve guys!.
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
12/24/2003 14:39 Comments ||
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The grand council, or loya jirga, assembled in Kabul for the last nine days to debate a new constitution, has overwhelmingly opted for a democratic system â and specifically the strong presidential system advocated by President Hamid Karzai.
I'm not sure Karzai and "strong presidential system" really fit in the same sentence, but that's still a good move...
In what appears to be a major success for Mr. Karzai and his United Nations and American supporters, delegates said all 10 working groups formed to discuss the draft articles in detail had voted to adopt the presidential system. The final draft and proposed amendments will be put to a vote of the full assembly this week, but with every committee supporting a presidency, it will probably be approved. Some delegates boycotted the committees, each of which had about 50 of the 502 delegates, but their opposition is thought not to be strong enough to alter the overall support.
"Yar! Maybe we can't win the vote, but we can boycott it, by Gar! That'll fix 'em!"
"The fundamentalists will resist and push for a parliamentary system, but we have the votes," said Abdul Hakim Nurzai, a delegate and member of a new political party, the National Unity Movement. He said that his committee had voted 43 to 0 to adopt a strong presidential system and that all the other committees had similar votes. Another delegate said only one man in his committee had supported a parliamentary system. "For the moment all the districts are controlled by warlords, so this would not allow for free elections and we would end up with a parliament of warlords," Mr. Nurzai said during a prayer break in the afternoon session. "We prefer a strong president to break the power of the warlords, and to prepare for free and fair elections."
A parliamentary system would give the warlords and the fundos the opportunity to impose the kind of gridlocks MMA has imposed on Pakland for the past year. It could become all talk and posturing, with nothing of substance done. On the other hand, a "strong" presidential system in coming years will be more susceptible to tin hats and men on horseback — not that a parliamentary system ever stopped Hekmatyar from grabbing for it all. Y' pays yer money and takes yer chance.
A 15-member Reconciliation Committee will tabulate the votes and the suggested amendments from the 10 committees, said Safia Seddiqui, the spokeswoman for the council chairman. A committee will then draw up a final draft to be put before the full assembly. The final session could take place Wednesday or Thursday, allowing the council to break up by Friday, officials said. "There are not many articles where there is diversity of opinion," said Farooq Wardak, director of the Constitutional Commission secretariat.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
12/24/2003 00:22 ||
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With the Afghani history of shifting alliances, a parliamentary system would be a mess -- it'd look like Italy in the 1970s, only better armed. Good for them to have seen that future, and select a better one.
#2
Karzai will act stronger if elected especially if his election gives him legitimacy outside of Kabul. In a stronge president format the president will have to be Pashtu. A stronge president structure is necessary with Hek and others still engaged in an active insurgency.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
12/24/2003 15:07 Comments ||
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More than 100 Saudi intellectuals and academics have again petitioned their rulers to press ahead with political reforms to help curb the recent surge in armed attacks. One of the reform petition's architects said on Tuesday that it partly attributed Islamist violence in Saudi Arabia to the absence of political participation.
Actually, I attribute it to ignorance and a culture that reveres, yea, venerates violence. And to xenophobia. And in-breeding...
The reformer, who declined to be named, said the petition - the second since September - asked the ruling family to give ordinary Saudis a say in affairs of state and transform the absolute monarchy into a constitutional one similar to Jordan or Bahrain. It also reiterated calls for an elected parliament, an independent judiciary and equal rights for women, who are not allowed to drive in the ultra-conservative Muslim kingdom.
Nope. That'll never fly.
"This document has been signed by academics, Islamic judges and scholars, former ministers, human rights activists and other key personalities in society," the reformer said. "We wanted to be convincing and to tell the ruling family that this is the opinion of those who want reform because they care about our country and want to see it prosper."
Well, your mullahs won't let you do it, so don't even think about it.
He said the document was mailed to Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler Crown Prince Abdullah and several ministers last week.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
12/24/2003 00:22 ||
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Mailed it in! Thats like not showing up in roundball.
"The aim of this operation was, first and foremost, to let him [the Saudi officer] and every apostate tyrant know that he will not in any way be protected from the Mujahideen and their weapons, Allah willing⊠This operation was the first measure by the Brigades in the land of the two holy places, and part of its plan to purge it, as it was decided that the first stage would focus on the two groups of apostates:
"The first group is the leaders of the Crusader attack on the land of the two holy places, and it includes all those who cooperated with America in any way â by gathering information on the Mujahideen, by writing reports, by giving advice to the Crusaders, by raiding peaceful Muslims and intimidating them in their homes, by bringing their sons to the prisons, and by raiding the Mujahideen groups. The second group is the hangmen, which includes anyone who carries out torture in the prisonsâŠ
"This is a message from The Al-Haramayn Brigades, [a message] based on a plan for âcleansing the land of the two holy places,â directed at anyone whose hand is stained with the defilement of collaboration [with the Americans] or whose defiled hand has tortured any of the monotheists [i.e. the Islamists]: He must cease this immediately, or the hands of the monotheists will reach himâŠ"
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/24/2003 12:17:13 AM ||
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First of several stories from MEMRI regarding the activities of the Arabian al-Qaeda.
High-ranking Al-Qaâida member Abd Al-âAziz bin âIssa bin Abd Al-Mohsen, also known as Abu Hajer, who is on Saudi Arabiaâs most-wanted list, referred to the dispute over the attacks inside Saudi Arabia in an interview with an Al-Qaâida online magazine, The Voice of Jihad: "Jihad members and Mujahideen sympathizers were divided: Some said we must attack the invading forces that defile the land of the two holy places [i.e. the Arabian Peninsula], and must cause the Americans to become preoccupied with themselves and their bases so they wonât leave them to crush the countries and lands of the Muslims, country by country.
"Others said we had to preserve the security of this base and of this country [i.e. Saudi Arabia], from which we recruit the armies, from which we take out the young people, and from which we receive [financial] backing. It must therefore remain safe.
"My opinion is an intermediate opinion, between the two groups. It is true that we must keep the enemy preoccupied with himself and not give him a sense of security, because as soon as he secures his bases and his lines of supply, he will have an opportunity to use them to attack our brothers in different parts of the countries of the Islamic world. But we must prepare ourselves and be ready for this momentous event the best way we possibly can. We told them: âWait, we are readying ourselves.â Then we attacked the Americans.
"It is also true that we must take advantage of this country [Saudi Arabia] because it is the primary source of funds for most Jihad movements, and it has some degree of security and freedom of movement. But we must strike a balance between this and Americaâs invasion of the Islamic world and its hobbling of the Jihad movement and even of other Islamic movementsâŠ"
Al-Qaâida members deny that Muslims have been killed in their bombings in Saudi Arabia, but recognize that the regime has managed, via the media, to convey such a message â which has damaged Al-Qaâidaâs image.
In an interview in The Voice of Jihad, Louis Attiya Allah (an alias), one of Al-Qaâidaâs leading ideologues, stated: "Regarding the Al-Muhaya operation [the November 8, 2003 bombing in Riyadh], it can be claimed that the house of Salul had some media success in portraying the battle as the killing of Muslims, and in inciting some against the Mujahideen. But this effect is temporary and will disappear if, for example, the Mujahideen strike another blow in America. Then sympathy will return to what it was in the past, and may even increase." Louis is a member of the supreme council of the global jihad and is reputed to have taken Yousef al-Ayyeri place as the top terror theoretician. "Salul" is what Qaeda calls the Soddy royals.
When asked whether the attacks in Saudi Arabia "caused Mujahideen shares to plummet" in Saudi society, he responded: "That may have happened, but we must look at the matter with a broader view, and place these operations in the framework of the war of the Mujahideen against the whole Western-American plan. At certain stages of this war, the Mujahideen can think they require these operations, despite their high price in terms of morale."
The statement that Al-Qaâida members in Saudi Arabia are fighting the Americans and not the Saudi security forces has repeatedly appeared in The Voice of Jihad. In the interview, Abu Hajer said: "We have not carried out a single attack. All the operations that took place were defensive operations. The brothers try as much as possible to avoid clashes with the military and the security forces. Nevertheless, the government is escalating its war, and is trying to uproot me, uproot you, and uproot all Islamists⊠I have sworn to purge the Arabian Peninsula of the polytheists. We were born in this country, and we will fight in it against the Crusaders and against the Jews until we remove them or taste what was tasted by Hamza bin Abd Al-Muttalib [i.e. martyrdom]âŠ"
Voice of Jihad editorial writer Suleiman Al-Dosari went even further, calling on the Mujahideen to fight the Saudi security forces only when it was clearly self-defense: "We draw the attention of the Mujahideen to the strategy of the Sheikh of the Mujahideen, Abu Abdallah Osama bin Laden, and Sheikh Dr. Ayman Al-Zawahiri, a strategy on which many of the great Mujahideen have agreed in regard to fighting the enemy: Our number-one enemy is the Jews and the Christians, and we must make ourselves available and invest all our effort until we destroy them â and we are capable of doing this if Allah allows us to â because they are the main obstacle to the establishment of the Islamic state.
"⊠Notice the trick used by the [Arab] tyrants⊠[In their view] the blood of an American is equal to the blood of all the Muslims. They are willing to send hundreds [of Muslims] to their deaths in exchange for Americans enjoying security and well-being⊠We must be wary of this trick and avoid, as much as possible, confronting the stateâs armies and forces, so that we can deliver knock-out blows to the occupiers, Allah willing.
"This does not mean surrendering to those defending the Crusaders if they raid us; on the contrary, in this case we must resist with all our might and punish them so they turn their swords towards the Americans and fight in our ranks, refrain from confronting us, or stand against us and wait for what is anticipated for them [at our hands], by virtue of Allah and with His strengthâŠ" Snip.
The damage done to Al-Qaâidaâs image by the Saudi bombings is not the only reason the organization prefers targeting "Crusaders" in Saudi Arabia or carrying out attacks in the West. According to Louis Attiya Allah,some Al-Qaâida members claim that the Saudi regimeâs continued existence is in the organizationâs best interest, because it prevents the U.S. from striking hard at the Islamists in the Arabian Peninsula.
When asked why there had been no Jihad operations against the royal family, Attiya Allahsaid: "I donât know. Personally, I think attacking the heads of the regime will hasten its collapse. These decisions are discussed at Mujahideen meetings, and it is they who make this kind of decision, as ultimately these are military decisions.
"Perhaps the aim of the Mujahideen is to refrain from toppling the regime because the treasonous cover provided by the Saudi regime prevents America from striking a powerful blow to the entire country. That is one of the ideas that led the Mujahideen [to prefer] first of all neutralizing America, or paralyzing it, and only afterward turning to this regime and its ilk. I say this, even though I maintain that eliminating some members of the regime would be very useful and would make things easier for the Mujahideen without causing the regimeâs downfall."
Attiya Allah also discussed what might happen in the region were the Saudi regime to collapse. When asked whether "the Americans would leave us alone if the zero hour arrives and the regime of the House of Salul is removed," Attiya Allah responded:
"No, they would not leave us alone. As a first step, they would try to secure the oil fields, in accordance with an old plan. They would not stand idly by. But the question is whether they would be able to do this in the event that the regime completely collapses and anarchy prevails. I doubt this very much. If they become more and more entangled in the Iraqi quagmire, and if we strike painful blows in America, those blows will deprive them of their ability to focus on [Saudi Arabia]⊠What arouses real concern is the acts of their allies the Shiites in the event of the collapse [of the Saudi regime]. This would be an extremely grave situation requiring great thought and preparation of alternatives by the Mujadiheen."
Also in the interview, Attiya Allah explained why Al-Qaâida was more concerned about the U.S. than about the Saudi regime: "The Mujahideen are waging a great ongoing war with the masters [the Americans], and the slaves [the Saudis] have no place in this battle. The slaps and kicks that harm the slave during the Mujahideenâs battle against its master are of no consequence in light of his fate when his master is defeated⊠The Mujahideen are warring with the masters, but we may soon see a little more attention directed toward these slavesâŠ"
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/24/2003 12:15:41 AM ||
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Not to belabor the obvious, but wouldn't it be safer for al-Q if they kill Soddies, as opposed to Americans?
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/24/2003 1:48 Comments ||
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So many infidels, so little time. Bizzy hands are happy hands.
#4
"... this base and of this country [i.e. Saudi Arabia]" Would be insightful to know exactly where he was physically placed when he used "this" twice in succession.
I was gonna tear up the rhetoric in the last paragraph but not worth the effort. Are these things out strictly for our amusement or what? Looks like a lot of work. I bet a good comedy writer could easily finish off a paragraph that started with, "Did you hear the one about the testicle, the condom, and the Saudi passport?"
One thing that bugs me, that I don't see mentioned here, was that in Al Qaeda's largest recent attack in Saudi Arabia, their main target was Lebanese Christian expatriates. It's like they suddenly decided they couldn't decide to discuss it in those terms. Perhaps that attack made their funders nervous, as they need the guest workers for Saudi Arabia's economy to survive?
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
12/24/2003 11:05 Comments ||
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When asked whether the attacks in Saudi Arabia "caused Mujahideen shares to plummet" in Saudi society, he responded ... That is an interesting stock market metaphor that I have not seen before.
"No, they would not leave us alone. As a first step, they would try to secure the oil fields, in accordance with an old plan. Sounds like AQ is aware of .com's plan.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
12/24/2003 15:39 Comments ||
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These are some of the major headlines and their brief stories in Turkeyâs press on December 24, 2003.
MEDDLESOME POLICEMAN CAUSES PANIC
A head of police station and police commissioner who caused leakage of uncertain tip-off that a bomb attack would be staged against Akmerkez, a shopping mall in Istanbul, were removed from office. Police sent the tip-off to security units of Akmerkez by mistake. The warning was transmitted on the internet and the concerned were removed from office. The tip-off said, ââmilitants bound to Habib Aktas, who planned the former suicide attacks, came from Syria for a third attack. Akmerkez is one of the possible targets.ââ This tip-off was transmitted on the internet. Citizens learned about the tip-off and panicked. Istanbul Police Chief Celalettin Cerrah said, ââit is an uncertain tip-off. Our internal message about measures to be taken as sent to other places. We removed director of special security department and police commissioner from office.ââ Fired their asses.
SPECIAL SHIELD FOR ERDOGAN
The system which saved Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf from a bomb attack ten days ago will also protect the prime minister. As tip-offs that an attack will be staged against Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, extraordinary security measures was taken to protect Erdogan. The first measure is the security shield which gives magnetic waves. This shield had saved life of Pakistani President Musharraf in an attack on December 14. The bomb placed on the route of Musharraf and his convoy exploded after the convoy passed that place. This is the ECM system which is supposed to block radio signals used to remote detonate bombs. Guess itâll be on the Christmas wish list of every head of state.
IBDA/C IN TERRORIST LIST, ââNEW PKKââ STILL OUT OF LIST
European Union (EU) is including IBDA/C in its list of terrorist organizations in the wake of the terrorist attacks in Istanbul. EU is expected to add IBDA/C to its updated list of terrorist organizations which will officially be unveiled today. Turkey had notified names of ten terrorist organizations to Brussels to be included in the list after the September 11th terrorist attacks against the United States. Bulent Ecevit, then the prime minister, gave place to the name of IBDA/C in the list he sent to EU Commission President Romano Prodi on November 22, 2001. But, EU only added PKK and DHKP/C in its lists. However, new derivatives of PKK, which had changed its name as KADEK firstly and then as Kurdistan Peopleâs Congress (KHK), are not included in the list. Sigh
Posted by: Steve ||
12/24/2003 1:14:56 PM ||
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I speculate that eventually the ECM device will be defeated in one of several ways:
1. Optical triggers (lasers)
2. Tiggering early with a time delay. Will require knowing the spped of the convoy accurately.
3. Shielding the triggering device from jamming in the direction of convoy. The mine would have to be triggered from an unshielded direction.
The presence of a high value target in a convoy will be compromised unless these devices are generally distributed.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
12/24/2003 16:12 Comments ||
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More likely to trigger on the jammer's signal itself. Listen for it, than detonale when it's power peaks and starts to drop off.
Very close call.
Spanish police have foiled a Basque separatist plot to detonate two powerful bombs aboard a train at a bustling Madrid railway station. Two suspected members of the armed Basque separatist group ETA have been arrested in the Basque region, Interior Minister Angel Acebes said. One of the two 55lb bombs had actually been placed on the train traveling from the Basque city San Sebastian to Madrid, but police stopped the train in the northern city of Burgos, evacuated it, removed the bomb and defused it. A second bomb was seized in posssession of one of the two detainees before it could be planted on the train, he told a news conference. Both bombs had been placed in suitcases or knapsacks and the one found on the train was timed to go off just before 4pm (1500 GMT) as Madridâs Chamartin station was packed. "This is ETAâs way of making its presence felt: Christmas Eve, 4-o-clock in the afternoon, 50 kilos of explosives at a station full of people that are going to travel to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas with their families," Mr Acebes said. The suspect with the suitcase bomb still in his possession was arrested in San Sebastian. Police also seized a timer, a pistol, a wig and a train ticket to go from San Sebastian to Madrid.
The one who managed to place a bomb on the train was arrested shortly thereafter in Hernani near San Sebastian.
Posted by: Seafarious ||
12/24/2003 11:31:38 AM ||
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Turkish police have detained a Turkish man with alleged ties to al-Qaida and have also seized enough chemical fertilizer to fill five truck bombs like those used in the Istanbul suicide bombings last month, news reports said Tuesday.
The daily Vatan and Sabah newspapers said police detained a suspected top member of al-Qaida in Turkey, identified as Harun Ilhan, in the central city of Konya. Private NTV television carried a similar report and said that some 20 people were detained in Konya and Istanbul in connection with the bombings.
The news reports also said that an arrested relative of Habip Aktas, a suspected leader of al-Qaida in Turkey, helped lead police to the 12 large sacks of chemical fertilizer in a home in Istanbul. The fertilizer was the same as that was used in the four attacks last month, according to Vatan and Sabah.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/24/2003 12:25:29 AM ||
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The gangster bosses behind the assassination of a pro-Western Serbian prime minister, Zoran Djindjic, aimed to spread fear across the country and then take power, a senior prosecutor said Tuesday. The prosecutor, Milan Radovanovic, read out a 40-page indictment on the second day of the most high-profile trial in years in Belgrade. The man accused of being the mastermind behind the assassination, Milorad Lukovic, of the feared Red Berets paramilitary unit, remains at large. Mr. Radovanovic told the court that Mr. Lukovic, better known as MuggsyLegija, conspired with a powerful crime gang leader, who was later shot dead by the police, to kill Mr. Djindjic, the reformist prime minister, "in order to gain profit and power."
No turbans involved, but the same basic idea...
"By killing the prime minister and with other acts of violence, the members of the criminal gang wanted to jeopardize the security of Yugoslavia and instill a feeling of insecurity among the citizens," he said. Mr. Djindjic, who was killed March 12, had helped oust the former Yugoslav leader, Slobodan Milosevic, in 2000.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
12/24/2003 00:22 ||
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An international team of nuclear specialists backed by armed security units swooped into a shuttered Bulgarian reactor and recovered 37 pounds of highly enriched uranium in a secretive operation intended to forestall nuclear terrorism, U.S. officials said Tuesday.
The elaborately planned mission, which was organized with the cooperation of Bulgarian authorities, removed nearly enough uranium to make a small nuclear bomb, the officials said. The material was sent by plane on Tuesday to a Russian facility where it will be converted into a form that cannot be used for weapons, they said.
It was the third time since last year that U.S. and Russian authorities have teamed up to retrieve highly enriched uranium from Soviet-era facilities in an effort to keep such material from falling into the hands of terrorists or rogue states. Experts worry that such caches of uranium scattered in obscure corners of the former Soviet Union and its satellite states represent one of the most vulnerable sources of fissile material for would-be bomb-makers.
"Proliferation of nuclear materials is a worldwide problem and requires a worldwide solution," Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham said in a statement. "We must not allow terrorists and others with bad intentions to acquire deadly material, and the Department of Energy will continue doing its part."
U.S. authorities have begun stepping up such joint operations with the Russians. In August 2002, a team from the two countries retrieved 100 pounds of weapons-grade uranium from an aging reactor in Yugoslavia. The second seizure of uranium took place three months ago, when 30 pounds was removed from a facility in Romania.
"We hope that youâll be seeing this more frequently," Paul M. Longsworth, the Energy Departmentâs deputy administrator for nuclear nonproliferation, said Tuesday. In conjunction with the Russians and the International Atomic Energy Agency, U.S. officials have developed a schedule to recover all Soviet-originated highly enriched uranium and return it to Russia by the end of 2005 for safekeeping and conversion, Longsworth said.
After last yearâs mission in Yugoslavia, the State Department compiled a list of 24 other foreign reactors that use weapons-grade nuclear fuel, some in old and poorly guarded facilities.
"Weâre certainly going in the right direction, although one might prefer speedier development," said Alexander Pikayev, a nuclear nonproliferation scholar at the Carnegie Moscow Center, a research institute here. "But it takes time. . . . Such problems cannot be solved overnight."
The complexity of the Bulgarian operation demonstrated the challenges involved. Officials focused on a Soviet-designed, two-megawatt research reactor built in 1959 at the Institute of Nuclear Research and Nuclear Energy in the capital, Sofia. The reactor was closed in 1989, and the nuclear fuel assemblies have been stored ever since.
An IAEA team, accompanied by U.S. and Russian nuclear engineers, removed seals from storage containers and verified the contents before the material was loaded into four special canisters provided by the Russian government. The U. S. government paid the $400,000 bill for the mission. The operation took 48 hours, and special units of the Bulgarian domestic police took responsibility for securing the facility and transporting the uranium to the airport at Gorna Oryahovitsa, about 100 miles northeast of Sofia.
The uranium taken from the Sofia facility was 36 percent enriched, which scientists consider usable in nuclear weapons but not the most potent form called weapons-grade, which refers to uranium enriched 90 percent or more. Still, because it has not been irradiated, officials said, the Bulgarian material would be particularly attractive to outlaw elements.
"Itâs quite useful to a terrorist," said Longsworth. "You can handle it without protection."
The uranium was flown aboard a Russian AN-12 cargo plane to Dimitrovgrad, in the Volga region of Ulyanovsk about 520 miles southeast of Moscow. A facility there, which is undergoing comprehensive upgrades due to be finished in the next couple of months, will blend down the uranium until it can no longer be used in a nuclear weapon, officials said. At that point, it could be sold for use in commercial nuclear power plants, officials said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/24/2003 12:22:16 AM ||
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#1
Wasn't there one of these raids on a Yugoslavian site a couple of years ago?
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
12/24/2003 0:50 Comments ||
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#2
"We hope that youâll be seeing this more frequently..."
Um...that's scary... just how much of this stuff is missing?!
That aside, it is encouraging to see the international cooperation in the raids.
Posted by: Dar ||
12/24/2003 13:05 Comments ||
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#3
Hm... Guess it's not "missing" upon re-reading more closely.
Posted by: Dar ||
12/24/2003 13:17 Comments ||
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Panery, December 24: More than 50 ULFA and NDFB militants were on Wednesday captured in the mopping up operations against them in Bhutan even as the Royal Bhutan Army disclosed that the offensive may last for five more days. More than 50 militants have been captured in the operations, which was continuing in the south and eastern Bhutan jungles, RBA sources said. He said that since December 13, more than 200 militants belonging to the ULFA, NDFB and the KLO have been captured and most of whom had been already handed over to the Indian Army. When asked as to how long the operation would continue, the source said that it may go on for the next four or five days but at present no exact time frame had been fixed. "Itâll be over when itâs over."
The source said that the RBA was at present concentrating on flushing out operation in the eastern and southern side where the rebels had gone after being dislodged from the camps. The source confirmed that all the 30 camps, including 18 of the ULFA had been totally demolished and at present the militants were hiding, some with weapons, in the dense jungles and hilly terrains. "Run away!"
The RBA source denied having also captured some women and children from the ULFA and NDFB camps. Reports at Darrangamela had said that a group of 34 women and children who were family members of ULFA and NDFB militants were reaching a refugee camp at Tamulpur on Wednesday. The source however, assured that if there were women and children they would be taken care and no one would be harmed. As to the exact figure of casualty, the source said, it was very difficult to say as the operation was carried out in dense jungle and the terrain was difficult. "No one would even know if a body is lying in the jungles for five days because it is very difficult to reach those places", he said. Not falling into the old "body count" trap.
When asked to comment on the offer by Assam Chief Minister for general amnesty to the ultras who surrendered, the source said, this has no relevance with the Himalayan kingdom. "That is the prerogative of the Indian government what to do with the ultras if and when they surrender but our objective is to clean the country and send them to their home," the source added. "Go away and stay away."
Posted by: Steve ||
12/24/2003 9:24:43 AM ||
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Bhutanese officials in New Delhi on Sunday denied reports that the second son of King Jigme Singye Wangchuk had been injured in the week-old military offensive to evict anti-India rebels. "From the information available with us, Prince Jigyel Ugyen Wangchuck is not directly involved in the flushing out operation as he is a member of the militia that guards vital installations. He is not taking part in the military action," said an official at the Bhutanese embassy who did not want to be named. Some media reports that emerged from within the kingdom on the prince being injured were "not correct", the official told IANS.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
12/24/2003 1:00:58 AM ||
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So far 14 militants including 10 belonging to the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) have been killed by the Indian Army while trying to flee from Bhutan into the Indian side of the border ever since operations by the Royal Bhutan Army against Indian insurgents began in that country on December 15. That extremists belonging to the Arunachal Dragon Force were also sheltered in camps in Bhutan is now evident. One of those to have been killed in encounters with the Indian Army has been identified as belonging to the outfit.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
12/24/2003 1:00:41 AM ||
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Who knows, they may even mean it ... Iran is Indiaâs ally in the great South Asian game of things so this is a mighty dumb move on the scientistsâ part, especially the fundo nuts like Abdul Qadeer.
Pakistan on Tuesday promised legal action against people found to have been involved in sharing nuclear secrets with other countries and reaffirmed its commitment to nuclear nonproliferation. Masood Khan, a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry, said at a news conference, "There were indications that certain individuals might have been motivated by personal ambition or greed." But he maintained that no final determination had been made. "If they are found responsible at the end of the debriefing session, we shall take action against such individuals if warranted and if they are found culpable under our law," he added.
On Monday, Pakistan confirmed that Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan, the developer of its atomic bomb, was being questioned in connection with news reports that the United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency was investigating links between Pakistan and Iran. Centrifuge designs used in Iran closely resemble some of those used by Pakistan. Officials in Islamabad strongly reiterated Pakistanâs commitment to uphold nuclear nonproliferation. "The government of Pakistan has not authorized or initiated any transfers of sensitive nuclear technology or information to other countries," the Foreign Ministry spokesman said. "This is out of the question."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/24/2003 12:48:07 AM ||
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#1
Well, when I read such a piece, all that comes to mind is an old Bill Cosby monologue - Fat Albert and all - about someone's mother telling her kid to "go fetch me something to whip you with", and Cos thinking "boy, I wish my mother would assign me to go select the whipping tool - I'd go get a long blade of grass, hand it to her, bend over, and tell her to 'go ahead, wail away....' "
Elaborates a little on yesterday's post...
Pakistan has begun investigating the possible transfer to neighbouring Iran of sensitive information on nuclear technology, the country's foreign ministry said yesterday. "There are indications that certain individuals might have been motivated by personal ambition or greed, but let me add we have not made a final determination," said Masood Khan, the foreign ministry spokesman. "We have been approached by the IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency]. We had been given some information by the government of Iran. The information that was shared with us pointed to certain individuals and we had to hold the debriefing sessions," added Mr Khan, referring to the cases of three nuclear scientists and Abdul Qadeer Khan, Pakistan's best-known nuclear expert, who the government confirmed this week had been questioned. Mr Khan said the questioning of some of the nuclear scientists began five to six weeks ago after the approach by the UN's nuclear watchdog and receipt of information from the Iranian government. Other Pakistani officials and western diplomats said the IAEA was concerned that the designs used in Iranian nuclear centrifuges bore a close resemblance to those believed to have been manufactured by Pakistan. "The similarities immediately alarmed the IAEA and they got in touch with the Pakistanis," said one western diplomat. US officials have said that they accept the assurances from the government of General Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's military ruler, that leaks might have taken place before he took charge of the country in a bloodless coup in 1999.
"Yes, yes! If there were any leaks at all — and we're sure they were minor, if there were any at all, which there probably weren't — they must have occurred when someone else was in charge..."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
12/24/2003 00:22 ||
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#1
So who wants to bet that Ghaddafi was getting help from some 'rogue' Pak scientists?
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
12/24/2003 0:53 Comments ||
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#2
One well-placed shot to the head by a trained sniper, and Abdul Qadeer would be a problem no more.
The brother of an al-Qaida suspect who was detained by Pakistan has said he believes his brother is being held in Guantanamo Bay.
Guantanamo? Oh, horrors!
Tahir Mahmoud told Aljazeera.net that his family have not seen Tariq Mahmoud, a British national, since he was arrested in Pakistan in October. He said he now fears Tariq is being detained with more than 600 other "terrorism" suspects in the notorious US detention camp in Cuba.
"I mean, he was arrested, we ain't seen him. Where else could he be?"
"I have no reason to believe the Pakistani authorities when they say that my brother is still in Pakistan. They have changed their story more than once, and no one from his legal team or from the British Foreign Office have seen him which leads me to believe he is in American custody in Guantanamo Bay."
He's not shacked up with a blonde someplace, is he?
Tahir Mahmoud also criticised the British government for not pressing the Pakistanis on the whereabouts of his brother, and for not supplying the family with information on his detention. "I believe that if my brother was a white British man and he had gone missing whilst under arrest in Pakistan, Tony Blair would have stepped in and demanded some answers."
"But he's not. He's a dumbass who hangs around with terrorists, and Tony Blair doesn't give a hairy communist's rectum!"
Abd al-Rahman Siddidque, Tariq Mahmud's soliciter in Paikistan, told Aljazeera.net that confusion surrounds the whereabouts of his client.
"I am so confused! Where am I? Have we been introduced?"
Siddique said Pakistani intelligence officers (ISI) arrested Mahmoud on 4 October whilst he was out shopping in Rawalpindi with another British national.
"Drop the quaint artifacts of local manufacture and stick 'em up, Mahmoud! You, too, Clive!"
The British Foreign Office confirmed in November that a second British man was arrested at the same time as Mahmoud but has since returned to the UK.
"Here's your ticket. Get the hell out and don't come back!"
Mahmoud's lawyer said the first Attorney General handling the case in October had been petitioned by him to ensure that Mahmud attended the court hearing.
Maybe he should try a hunger strike.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
12/24/2003 00:22 ||
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#1
"I have no reason to believe the Pakistani authorities when they say that my brother is still in Pakistan."
Oh, he's probably in Pakistan, but in a cell or a shallow grave somewhere. Gitmo? Why would he be worth the plane fare? Know something that you're not saying?
Posted by: Tom ||
12/24/2003 9:35 Comments ||
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#2
The brother of an al-Qaida suspect who was detained by Pakistan has said he believes his brother is being held in Guantanamo Bay.
Then he shouldn't have any "fear" about his brother being there. Being in the hands of Americans is not quite the same as being in the hands of, say, the ISI. On the other hand, if his brother is in the hands of the ISI, he has plenty of reasons to be fearful.
#4
A whole bunch of British jihadis travelled to the Middle-East right as the WOT was beginning. Why would Tony Blair go out of his way to track down these people except to capture them?
Posted by: Super Hose ||
12/24/2003 16:46 Comments ||
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With shouts of "Dave, Dave!" U.S. soldiers greeted the American late night TV show host David Letterman as he visited troops in central Baghdad on Christmas Eve. Letterman, the host of CBSâ "Late Show," chatted with wounded and sick soldiers in the militaryâs main combat hospital and met soldiers at one of Saddam Husseinâs ransacked palaces that now serves as part of the U.S.-led coalitionâs headquarters. Soldiers said the visit was an important boost over the holiday spent far from home.
Last Christmas, Letterman visited troops in Afghanistan. Dave - the new Bob Hope.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/24/2003 2:16:10 PM ||
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#1
Not a big Letterman fan, but did he get a better reception than Hillary?
#2
I am definitely a fan of Dave's. Not only does he park in the same NYC garage as me (he has a Porsche that he drives most days and a Dodge something or other that is always there), but he has visited US troops in a war zone two Christmases running. Let's hope he visits US troops in Tehran and Damascus next Christmas.
P.S. - Biff Henderson, a former Marine, went with Dave to Afghanistan and Iraq. He also parks in the same garage. I accidently bumped his car once.
Posted by: Tibor ||
12/24/2003 14:55 Comments ||
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#3
Then I take it that Biff is not a big fan of Tibor. :)
Glad to see that some celebrities take the time and dare the risk to visit our troops. Way to go Dave!
#4
I was travelling at about .33 MPH when it happened. Biff was in the car at the time, and looked at me like "what the hell are you doing"? I apologized and went on my way.
Posted by: Tibor ||
12/24/2003 15:32 Comments ||
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#5
I too like Dave Letterman.Recently saw video of Robin Williams in Afghanistan or Iraq (sorry, I'm not sure which of the two countries he was in when the video was made). He was entertaining the Troops who to a man appeared most appreciative. This was not Robin's first overseas trip to entertain the guys. Here's my problem: When Robin is in the US he's adamantly opposed to President Bush, VP Cheney, Condi Rice, Don Rumsfeld, and White House policy in the War on Terror. Sorry, but I find Robin's position to be hypocritical. I'm of the opinion one can't say: "I support all the troops but I feel the policy of the White House administration that put you boys in harms way is stupid, unilateralist, evil, and wrong". It's sort of like going to a gay bath house and saying: "Hey all you queer guys...I love you and support you but the fact that you're HIV positive butt pirates is disgusting and perverted and if you only had healthy minds you'd realize that you're just very sick". Nope...sorry folks...for my money you can't have it both ways: It's wrong to say I support the Troops BUT I hate the president and distrust his world view that put you here in the first place.
Posted by: Mark ||
12/24/2003 16:24 Comments ||
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#6
Mark--Why can't Robin Williams have his own opinion of the administration and still entertain the troops? Much as I despise his politics, I give him credit for going out of his way to entertain the troops.
Posted by: Dar ||
12/24/2003 16:59 Comments ||
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#7
Actually I tend to give his views more credence seeing as he is actually "supporting" the troops.
#8
Dar...(#6)...I hear your point. I appreciate the fact that the troops are being well entertained under bleak circumstances and I will credit Mr. Williams for that. I'm just can't get past the notion that the entertainer (in this case Mr. Williams) thinks Mr. Bush (in Mr. Williams' opinion)is a fool whose warped foreign policy has put the boys wrongfully in Iraq and in harms way. It doesn't sit well with me. It's like when Hillary went to Afghanistan/Iraq and told the troops:"you guys are supported at home, but there are many serious questions about this admisnistration's policy". Bullshit. It would have been better had Hillary not gone to visit the troops than to try to have it both ways. Anyway....Merry Christmas to all.
Posted by: Mark ||
12/24/2003 18:05 Comments ||
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High-level former regime elements and other Iraqi citizens helped the 101st make northern Iraq a safer place Tuesday by turning over weapons caches. Three Shuaâbah, or third-tier, Baâathists in northwest Iraq turned over rifles and ammunition to 3rd Brigade compounds. The Shuaâbah of Avgani, who turned in three caches in the previous three days, handed over 11 AK-47 assault rifles to 3rd Brigade soldiers. The Shuaâbah of Tallafar turned in 5 AK-47s, and ten magazines. The Shuaâbah of Kisik turned in 40 AK-47s and 27 magazines. All three vowed to turn in more weapons in the future. The Coalition for Iraqi National Unity, a concerned group of citizens in Northwest Iraq, turned in 4 RPG rounds, two launchers, and four heavy machine guns to a 3rd Brigade compound in the vicinity of Tallafar. In Mosul, a walk-in source led 2nd Brigade Military Police to a cache of 13 57 mm rounds hidden in a cluster of trees.
The divisionâs 2nd Brigade Combat Team conducted simultaneous cordon-and-knock operations on nine former regime personnel, detaining five targets and 20 additional personnel. During the searches, a vehicle attempted to run a traffic control point outside a target house. Soldiers engaged the vehicle, killing the driver, and the vehicle crashed into a High Mobility Multi-Wheeled Vehicle at the control point, causing little to no damage. During another operation targeting a possible bodyguard of a high-value target, two Mosul police were wounded, one was killed, and two Iraqis were detained. The search was conducted based on information from a walk-in source. Mosul police were conducting surveillance of the target house when unknown number of enemy engaged them with small arms resulting in the casualties. When 2nd Brigade MPs arrived, they were engaged by small arms fire from an adjacent rooftop. An RPG was fired from down the street, glancing off an MP vehicle before exploding. MPs searched the target house, adjacent house, and a vehicle outside, detaining two individuals, and confiscating three Berretta assault rifles, two AK-47s, seven magazines, and a large amount of Baâathist propaganda. There were no U.S. casualties in these operations.
If Christmas truly is the season of giving, here is some proof that it started a bit earlier than usual this year. Seven weeks ago, Capt. Scott Todd, a 28-year-old Mequon native who is part of the 101st Airborne in Iraq, sent an e-mail to what his parents estimate was 20 or 30 friends and family members. He had a modest request. The Army ranger had spent some time at the Al Razzee Hospital in Mosul, and noticed there was a need for things like pacifiers and toothbrushes, formula and diapers - simple things. He included an address where donations could be sent, asked that any packages be mailed prior to Dec. 1 because this unit will be returning to the States early next year, and said "thank you" in advance. Suddenly - without warning - needy Iraqis were hauling in more stuff, even, than a Packers receiver running a deep route on Monday night. EFL. This is how weâll win this fight, through the goodness of our hearts.
#1
The donation drive was eventually extended to Dec. 15, and the Todds aren't sure how much eventually was sent. But they know that they alone forwarded hundreds of boxes. Donations were made in at least 17 states.
"There was stuff sent that we are just now finding out about," said Dick. "A young 12-year-old girl in Atlanta went out and raised $700."
"Apparently," said Kathy, "she went door to door."
They hear from Scott that Iraqis can't believe the stuff is not coming from the government or the United Nations.
It is simply coming from individual Americans, people with all sorts of political views but one overriding impulse.
EFL:
With Saddam Hussein under arrest, a power struggle has started within the remnants of his Baathist regime. At least three rival groups are positioning themselves to fight for the control of what they call âpopular resistanceâ (Al-Muqawemmah Al-Shaabaiyah). The three main groups involved in the power struggle are organized along tribal and clan lines covered by a veneer of ideology. It always comes back to the tribes.
What is possibly the largest group is led by Col. Hani Abdul-Latif Al-Tilfah Al-Tikriti, a former head of the Secret Services Organization (SSO) and a cousin of Saddam. Hani and his younger brother Rafi are reportedly trying to maintain the cohesion of what is left of the Tikriti clan that provided Saddam with his principal support base. Although both brothers feature in the âplaying cardâ pack issued by the US-led coalition, there are indications that they are still able to operate with some freedom within the so-called âSunni Triangle.â Their group includes Sabaawi Ibrahim Al-Tikriti, a half-brother of Saddam, and Lt. Gen. Tahir Dalil Harboush, a Soviet-trained intelligence expert.
The nominal head of the second group is Izzat Ibrahim Al-Duri, who was No. 2 in Saddamâs Revolutionary Command Council (RCC). This group has absorbed the remnants of the Baath partyâs secret military organization, of which Duri was leader since 1986. Some members of the Fedayeen Saddam Organization, led by the deposed dictatorâs eldest son, the late Uday Hussein, may have also rallied to the group. According to Iraqi sources the faction built around Duri is, in fact, led by Maj. Gen. Seyfallah Hassan Taha Al-Rawi, a former chief of staff of the presidential guard. The Rawi clan has a history of uneasy relations with Saddamâs Tikriti clan. Two cousins, Muhammad Zamam Abdul-Razzaq Al-Saadoun and Abdel-Baqi Abdelkarim Abdallah Al-Saadoun are believed to be the groupâs major contact men with Sunni Arab tribes, especially in regions close to the Syrian border.
The third group, the civilian wing of the insurgency, presents itself as âthe true Baathâ. It is led by Muhsin Khudhair Al-Khafji who has just declared himself âPresident of the Iraqi branch of the pan-Arab Socialist Baath Partyâ. A former security officer, Al-Khafji who spent some time studying in France, is trying to provoke clashes between Iraqi civilians and the occupation forces in Baghdad and its Sunni suburbs. Last week Al-Khafji succeeded in setting up website, possibly with the help of Baathist elements in Algeria. He also seems to have restored contacts with pro-Saddam Baath party branches in Yemen, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt and Morocco.
Al-Khafji has also maintained contacts with non-Iraqi, mostly Palestinian militant organizations that Saddam financed and supported over the years. "Someday, and that day may never come, Iâll call upon you to do a service for me"
His contact man with some of those groups is one Khamis Sarhan Al-Muhammad, once head of the Baath in Karbala. The groupâs principal contact man with the tribes is believed to be Rashid Maan Kadhim who was last seen in Mosul in June. In a statement published Monday, Al-Khafji claimed that Saddamâs capture had been the result of âbetrayal by mercenariesâ. The statement claimed that Saddam remained secretary-general of the pan-Arab Baath party which has branches in 11 Arab countries. It is not clear who the âmercenariesâ mentioned in the statement are. But some Iraqis see a hint that the Al-Rawi clan members are the target of the accusation. This is because it was information provided by one of the Al-Rawis, captured by the US, that ostensibly led to the discovery of Saddamâs hide-out. Sounds reasonable
The âtrue Baathâ group is trying to patch up relations with Syria, mostly through contacts in Europe. It wants Damascus to agree to a reunification of the Baathist movement, and throw its support behind a campaign to end the occupation of Iraq.
Syria would love to regain control of the pan-Arab Baath movement, which it lost in the 1970s largely because of Saddamâs rising power in Baghdad. Syriaâs President Bashar Assad still claims to be the supreme leader of all branches of the Baath in the Arab world, including Iraq. But it is not clear whether he would wish to risk a confrontation with the US by actually taking the remnants of the Iraqi Baath into his tent. Go ahead, whatâs the worst that could happen? Oh, right...
Differences among the three groups over strategy have become clearer in the past two weeks. The so-called âtrue Baathâ favors a strategy of urban guerrilla, by small units, plus civil disobedience. It hopes that this would force the coalition, or the transitional government to be installed next June, to seek some accommodation with it. It worked so well for the Palestinians.
For its part, the Tikriti clan appears intent on organizing sporadic attacks on the coalition and killing as many American soldiers as possible. The "Blackhawk Down" strategy.
The Al-Rawi clan is apparently trying to rally tribal elements, especially in areas controlled by the Duwailim and the Al-Shamar confederations. It believes that, by playing the tribal card, it would gain a place at the negotiating table over the shape of new Iraq. When playing tribal cards, you need to sit with your back to the wall.
The situation is complicated by the presence of half a dozen other groups, some consisting almost entirely of non-Iraqi militants, who have their own agendas and pursue their own strategies. You got your Shiites, your Sunnis, al-Qeada, etc..
Posted by: Steve ||
12/24/2003 10:25:40 AM ||
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With Saddam Hussein under arrest, a power struggle has started within the remnants of his Baathist regime.
Now, if we can get them to kill each other off....
During the last 24 hours, soldiers in Al Anbar conducted 196 patrols, including six joint patrols with the Iraqi Border Guard and Iraqi police.
Last night in 1st Brigade, 1st Infantry Divisionâs area, an informant led soldiers to a cache buried west of Ar Ramadi. The cache contained 66 RPG rounds, 69 RPG fuses, over 550 14.5mm rounds, and two boxes of propellant. Soldiers from 1st Brigade also discovered a separate cache east of Ar Ramadi. There were 100 155mm artillery rounds, seven RPG rounds, a case of grenades, a case of TNT, and small arms ammunition.
In 3rd Armored Calvary Regimentâs area, soldiers from the regiment continued with Operation Rifles Fury. The focus was on civil military operations in the Rawah area. Renovation projects were initiated on a medical clinic, a sanitation building, the city building, water stations, the electric office, and the mayorâs office.
Civil affairs personnel with 3rd Brigade distributed body armor to police departments throughout their area. The new vests will allow the police to perform higher risk missions with less dependence on coalition forces.
Additionally, an Iraqi Civil Defense Corps class graduated from the Navea Training Center today. There were 185 students in the class and they will join coalition forces in providing stability and peace to Iraq.
US forces raided the headquarters of the Kurdish Islamist group Jamaa Islamiya, arresting 20 people suspected of having links to Ansar al-Islam, said police sources and a human rights activist in Kirkuk, Muayad Ibrahim hmed. Jamaa's leader Ali Bapir was arrested on July 10 by US forces. The US State Department has alleged that Ansar al-Islam, which operates in northeastern Iraq, has close links to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda terror network.
And Jamat-e-Islami is one of its funnel organizations, and probably its "legit" front organization.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
12/24/2003 00:22 ||
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A tribal chief with close ties to Saddam Hussein's number two, Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, was arrested by US troops in Mosul, relatives and a member of the Iraqi security force that helped arrest him told AFP. Sheikh Ghazi Hanash, head of the influential Tayy tribe, was detained at his Mosul home along with three of his sons after an exchange of fire which left one of Hanash's bodyguards dead, said Waadallah Tewfik Hassan, a member of the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps who participated in the operation.
I think we can assume they're not going to question Ghazi and let him go for lack of evidence...
The tribal chief's daughter was also wounded during the gunfight, said Hassan and Hanash's relatives.
"One false move, infidel dogs, and the broad gets it!"
"Jones! Shoot him. Try not to kill her!"
"Yessir!"
Hanash was arrested because of his ties to Ibrahim, Hassan said. An AFP journalist who visited the chief's house later saw the impact of three projectiles which damaged windows. The fugitive former number two, who is suspected of directing many of the attacks against US forces and forging an alliance with Islamic extremists, is a childhood friend of Hanash, the sheikh's relatives said.
Yasss... They used to torture they little friends together. It was so sweet!
Earlier Tuesday, US soldiers and Iraqi police in Mosul arrested a former general from the Mukhabarat intelligence service, said police Lieutenant Salah Hassan al-Zubeidi, who took part in the operation. He said the suspect, Abdullah Jassem Ahmed, had been a director of the service and was arrested on suspicion of ties to the resistance.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
12/24/2003 00:22 ||
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An AFP journalist who visited the chief's house later saw the impact of three projectiles which damaged windows.
This is Associated French Press so I guess I shouldn't be to hard on the journo or editor, but this barely literate english. It could mean the journo saw a couple of kids throw stones that broke windows.
When Maj. Gen. Graeme Lamb, a 50-year-old Briton, arrived in June to lead the mainly European force controlling southeastern Iraq, he was skeptical. He felt that "this is going to be a lot more difficult than we realized." But as General Lamb prepared to hand his command to another British general, he said that Saddam Hussein's capture and other changes, including progress in restoring oil installations, power stations and running water, as well as the Iraqis' fast-rising prosperity, had fostered a new confidence that the American-led occupation force can eventually hand a politically stable Iraq back to its people. "Is this do-able?" he said. "You'd better believe it."
The British officer described himself as neither optimist nor pessimist but "a hard-boiled realist," then offered an upbeat assessment that matched that of American generals: "I think we're in great shape." He took a jab at the press. Western reporters, he implied, had come to an early conclusion that the allied undertaking in Iraq would not succeed, and had failed to adjust. He compared this with criticism that greeted allied forces in the first stages of the spring invasion, when resistance stalled the drive to Baghdad. The plan provided for 125 days to take Baghdad, and it was accomplished in 23 days, he noted. But, he told reporters, "you had us dead and buried in seven days."
The general is finishing his six-month command of an 11-nation contingent of 13,000 troops, based in Basra, that controls an area covering about a quarter of Iraq, home to five million people. He has served in front-line units in Afghanistan, the Persian Gulf war, the Balkans, Northern Ireland and the Falkland Islands, and was with British headquarters staff during the invasion of Iraq in March. The general said Mr. Hussein's capture on Dec. 13 in an underground bunker near Tikrit had lifted the shadow that his months as a fugitive left on Iraqis. "We've just buried that nail in the coffin," General Lamb said. "He's not coming back." For the insurgents, this removed a figurehead, if not a cause; for other Iraqis, particularly Shiites, the country's largest single group, it lifted a widespread fear of Mr. Hussein's restoration that had acted as a drag on the allied forces' prospects. "These are difficult waters that those who are against us swim in," the general said.
At times he tempered his enthusiasm. "I sense that we're well in the corner," he said. "We haven't turned the corner â this is a huge undertaking â but we are moving forward." The general said he spoke principally from his experience in the south, where the population is 85 percent Shiite. But he based his conclusions, too, he said, on first-hand knowledge of conditions faced by fellow allied commanders: the American generals who command 120,000 American troops in military districts that account for 20 million other Iraqis, including Baghdad and the restive Sunni Muslim regions north and west of the capital. It is in these regions that more than 90 percent of the attacks on allied forces have occurred. The south has been far quieter, though General Lamb said 20 British troops had died since he took command. Progress, he said, has been rapid in meeting grievances in the south. He gave a chronicle of more than 1,000 repair and rebuilding projects involving oil installations, water-pumping stations and pipes, power stations and cement plants, as well as schools, hospitals, clinics and cultural institutions. With funds from the United States, Britain and others, he said, spending could soon rise to $250 million on infrastructure that had deteriorated disastrously under Mr. Hussein.
Having a competent commander in the south has been invaluable. We expected no less, and the Brits provided no less. Our thanks to Gen. Lamb and to the men who serve under him.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
12/24/2003 00:22 ||
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I often wonder how the Brits with their high and mighty view of themselves versus us would have fared in the north and sunni triangle? First, of course, they don't have the iron or horses and second the moolah but they certainly are always first to compare their own ways to ours when doodoo hits the fan.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
12/24/2003 6:29 Comments ||
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#2
I wouldn't take dismiss the British miltary so lightly,Jack.The Royal Marines are some of the toughest SOB's on the planet,our SEALS and Delta Boys train with the SAS.Saw a Discovery Channel docu on Royal Marine survival training,ain't something I could contemplate doing.
The region's population is about 5 million, of which about 85 percent are Shi'a. The division who's responsible (for this area and civil ?) people that I have is a little over 13,000 troops. About two-thirds of these are British. The remaining third is made up of an Italian brigade, supported by the Carabinieri; a Dutch, Danish and Romanian battle group; of Portuguese police; Norwegian and New Zealand engineers; some police from the Czech Republic -- they had a hospital in the town, which did some great work -- a small contingent from Lithuanian -- Lithuania; and two explosive ordnance experts from Iceland.
I work alongside with over 15,000 Iraq police officers; some 2,000 members of the new Civil Defense Corps -- and there are more being trained -- a new river police service and border force of about another thousand officers. My mission is quite simply to help to create the conditions that will allow the southeast Iraq to make a swift and successful recovery, and we're doing this with the consent and active support of the Iraqi people in the South.
#4
Jack--Pretty harsh condemnation of our staunchest ally in the WoT (basically accusing them of being French)! What brought that on?
Posted by: Dar ||
12/24/2003 13:43 Comments ||
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Pretty harsh condemnation of our staunchest ally in the WoT
Sniping is the British way of life - friends, enemies, whatever - Jack's just getting in a few licks of his own. I think Brits are just insecure - the incessant sniping makes them feel better about themselves. Whatever floats their boat, as long as we're on the same side. (Apropros of nothing, the stereotype of Americans being rugged individualists is wrong - Americans are actually team players, who have no problems taking risks - whereas Brits tend to snipe at every opportunity, while sticking religiously to the rule book).
#7
Same here Jack, I've read through the article (quite long) and couldn't find any 'high and mighty' attitude.
"GEN. LAMB: Yeah, the question was about are the British forces more experienced in dealing with the Iraqi people, and therefore did the Iraqis ask us to assist? And the answer is, -- and the experience line was being questioned against my American partners in this coalition. A number of years ago, I'd have said without a question of doubt the British were very much more experienced in dealing with some of these issues. One should not underestimate just how busy the United States have been in the Balkans and elsewhere around the world in gaining some of those experiences. Put against the benchmark of where we are, I sense they're just slightly behind the drag curve. And that's a result of thirty years over in Northern Ireland, working in Africa and then working in the Middle East in particular over many years. So I sense actually we've just got a bit of an advantage over most of the forces we have here. But when I look around the sum of the experience, there are very few force elements -- and it's wrong to just judge in effect a force by the individual you'll speak -- you'll meet on the street, whether he be from Birmingham or from Baltimore. The truth is, actually both of those guys will have probably a little bit of experience. I met some paratroopers up here the other day from the British, and they'd only been in the army for two months. So they got zero experience. They come with -- (inaudible.) So it would be wrong to do that.
But the officers, the NCOs and the leadership of those organizations, I keep on coming across the same faces -- (laughs) -- friends around the world, whether they be from the United States, whether they be from the Netherlands, whether they be from Italy, whether they be from the Norwegians, we keep on coming across -- you know, Afghanistan, Kosovo, Macedonia, Bosnia. So there's a level of experience in doing business."
Anyhow, 70 mins to go to christmas day, so y'all have a good one tomorrow! (I've already eaten far too many mince pies)
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
12/24/2003 17:48 Comments ||
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I have to agree that sniping and whining is not an attractive aspect of british culture, and I'm a brit who left for greener pastures a long time ago. Otherwise ZF is right the Americans are better team players, although this results in the brits are more tolerant of people being different which can be a good thing.
One thing to bear in mind is that when these British officers talk their intended audience is UK public opinion which is much less convinced of the need to pay for a strong professional military than the US public.
How would they have fared in the sunni triangle? The question is moot, because they are not there, but don't forget that they have 25 years of counter insurgency experience in N. Ireland, whereas the US military has none before afghanistan, so I wouldn't write them off as quickly as Jack.
Kurdish and Arab students clashed on Tuesday in the northern Iraqi oil city of Kirkuk. An Iraqi policeman was wounded during the clashes, where ethnic tensions are on the rise. The policeman was trying to separate the fighting students and three Kurdish students and one Turkman were arrested following the tussle at Kirkuk's Technical College, according to Police Captain Athir Ghazi. The fight erupted after Kurdish students refused to allow the Iraqi flag to be raised. The college's dean then asked students to lower all Kurdish, Turkmen and Iraqi flags, but the Kurdish students refused and students came to blows.
Meanwhile, US forces accompanied by Iraqi police arrested 16 residents of two Arab neighbourhoods east and north of Kirkuk, according to police chief Khattab Abdullah Aref. He said the men were suspected of "aiding attacks against US forces and police," and of having planned a foiled attack against a US base at Kirkuk airport Sunday evening. Police had said previously that they arrested four people in connection with this attempted attack and another one targeting a giant fuel depot.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
12/24/2003 00:22 ||
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What these boys need is boxing. Set up a ring, break out the gloves, and let them have at it.
A mid-level Philippines military officer was shot dead in an ambush in a northern Manila suburb on Tuesday, police said. Army Colonel Raul Heredia, 49, a professor at the governmentâs National Defense College, was shot dead in the Quezon City district while at the wheel of his car as he drove to visit his parents, a police report said. A lone gunman attacked the motorist before being whisked away by a motorcycle-riding accomplice. The motive of the attack is unknown, it added. Communist New Peopleâs Army (NPA) guerrillas assassinated more than 100 soldiers and police in Manila during a brief urban insurrection campaign in the late 1980s. The two sides are currently observing a Christmas ceasefire, and the government is trying to convince the rebels to resume peace talks next month.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/24/2003 12:35:11 AM ||
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A bomb has exploded in a religiously divided Indonesian district before the Christmas holidays but police said no one was hurt. A passenger spotted the bomb under a bus seat in the town of Poso in Central Sulawesi. The driver moved it to a field at Lembomawo village on the townâs outskirts but it exploded on Tuesday before a police bomb squad arrived. A policeman in duty in the town said there were no injuries and a nearby office building suffered only slight damage. "The bomb was aimed at provoking a riot in Poso," local police chief Abdi Dharma was quoted by the Jakarta Post as saying. Security officials are hunting gangs who have launched deadly attacks on non-Muslims in the district in recent months. Hundreds of police reinforcements have been sent.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/24/2003 12:28:52 AM ||
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Third MEMRI story, this one focusing around Louis Attiya, who seems to be laying out the foundations for the next round of al-Qaeda propaganda.
In the interview, The Voice of Jihad asked Louis Attiya Allah how he responded to those who argued that Al-Qaâida had no comprehensive political program. He said, "Does [Saudi Crown Prince] Abdullah bin Abd Al-Aziz, for example, have a political program, apart from being an agent and slave of the Americans? Do any of the existing regimes in the Islamic world have a genuine political program?⊠If you mean a political program compatible with the existing world order, I say to you that yes, Al-Qaâida has no political program compatible with the existing world order, simply because the existing world order does not recognize us as an independent Islamic state, and forces us to be its satellite, to adapt ourselves to its secular laws and to be subjugated to its military rule.
"Al-Qaâida is absolutely opposed to this, and states: The world order must be removed from the region and defeated, first of all militarily. Then, the Islamic state must be reestablished, in accordance with the Islamic regime. This means that we will control our fate, rule over ourselves, and control our resources. More generally, we will rebuild our lives according to our foundations and our principles. The experience [of an Islamic state] is real, and it existed 1,300 years ago. The peoples of the East ruled themselves and lived according to their own rules long before the West was in the region. There is nothing to prevent the revival of these rules, which are based on the Koran and the SunnaâŠ
"No political program has a chance of succeeding if we do not defeat the West, militarily and culturally, and remove it from Muslim countries. Then, it will not be difficult for the nation, with the help of its tremendous resources, to rebuild life according to religious Islamic principles. We will become the masters of the world, as the worldâs economic fate depends on us because we have the resources the world needs and all the elements of controlling the world are in our hands. What we are lacking is to live free and to rule ourselves by ourselves, cut off from the West and its agents."
Sounds like a plan for world domination to me. How... ummm... unoriginal. Doctor Fu Manchu! Code Blue! Professor Moriarty, please call your office!
Attiya Allah also spoke of the fate Al-Qaâida has planned for the Arab countries: "The [Arab] nation-states⊠are a Western model that the West created to allow it to build up its general colonialist plan for the Islamic East. These countries have no religious foundation, and have neither a right to exist nor a popular base. They were forced upon the Muslim peoples, and their survival is linked to the Western forces that created them. Therefore, the general aim of the Jihad and the Mujahideen is to strike at the foundations and infrastructure of the Western colonialist program or at the so-called world order â or, to put it bluntly, to defeat Crusaders in the battle that has been going on for over a century. Their defeat means, simply, the elimination of all forms of nation-states, such that all that remains is the natural existence familiar to Islam â the regional entity under the great Islamic state.
"Expelling the colonialists from the Muslim lands means simply eradicating the borders and all types of nation-states created by the West. The significance of this is that when the Jihad goes into action in Iraq, for example, it will not stop at the colonialist borders; it will not stop in Jordan and recognize it as an entity, because in Islamic concepts this country called Jordan has no [right to] exist. The Jihad movement in the Arabian Peninsula will not be stopped by the borders of the so-called Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, because the entity called by this name is an artificial entity that has no religious foundation. There is no religious consideration that prevents, for example, the transfer of Jihad outside this entity to Yemen or to the countries called the Gulf States. All these types of nation-states have no significance, and they have no [religious] protection preventing their removal when the Jihad goes into action.
"Igniting the fire in the Arabian Peninsula is expected to be one of the keys to the great change, because the Arabian Peninsula is the heart, and any change in the Arabian Peninsula affects the other parts of the Islamic body. Even if we assume that, Allah willing, the sparking of conflicts will lead to painful results in the short term and perhaps in the intermediate term, in the long term the changes happening here will be the key to the cleansing of the entire Islamic world, to ridding ourselves of the colonialists, and to removing the Crusaders â so that we can then prepare for the great conflicts with them in the battles to come, including the decisive war with the Byzantines of which the Prophet spoke⊠The main enemies of the nation, the Byzantines, will not come to their end until Judgment Day, and therefore there is no point in talking of stopping the battle⊠The most important thing is that the Mujahideen will safeguard the burning ember of Jihad. The more martyrsâ blood is shed for the sake of this ember, the greater its light; it will burn the enemies more quickly and victory will draw near, Allah willingâŠ"
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/24/2003 12:19:54 AM ||
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I don't know if I'm thankful to The Voice of Jihad for all this or not. But it's good to see they feel better to get it out. I recommend regular use of Metamucil® to ease the condition.
#2
They're big on that "Allah willing" shit.
My question is, What if Allah's NOT willing? Or does that really matter? I think I already know the answer...
Most of this is a rehash of what we already know, but it does contain some new information.
An official at the US Department of Homeland Security said they had detected a "credible threat" from al-Qaeda operatives due to board a flight from Paris to Los Angeles.
The BBCâs Matt Frei in Washington said US security sources indicated they had alerted the French authorities after scouring the passenger lists.
French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin said the request was due to intelligence "gathered in the framework of Franco-American co-operation in the fight against terrorism".
His spokesman said there were "two or three" names passed to them, but none of those people went through airport security checks and no arrests were made.
US Homeland Security officials are reported to be upset that the flights were cancelled so publicly.
Unfortunately now these individuals can still carry out this type of attack
Walter Purdy, terrorism expert
An unnamed official told the Associated Press news agency security forces had been "hoping that we would be able to lure some of these people in".
Terrorism expert Walter Purdy, of the Terrorism Research Center in the US, told BBC News the intelligence could have been better used to arrest the suspects at the airport.
He said: "The idea is here we had some credible information about a threat, but unfortunately now these individuals can still carry out this type of attack, though not on Air France or out of Paris."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/24/2003 9:07:17 PM ||
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I can't believe I called it right at my weblog: I leaned toward Air France, citing cultural factors preventing the use of an american-based airline or Aero Mexico.
France said Wednesday that national carrier Air France had canceled three U.S.-bound flights from Paris due to security concerns. An Air France spokeswoman confirmed that a flight due to leave Paris at 12:35 p.m. GMT for Los Angeles had been grounded "for security reasons." An Interior Ministry spokesman said that two further flights to the United States had also been canceled. It was not clear whether these flights were bound for Los Angeles or elsewhere.
#1
I say it is good that they are shut down. We need to work closely with the French and have their full cooperation on air transport security or they do not fly or transit here. That goes for everybody.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/24/2003 14:13 Comments ||
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Too many male Muslims age 17-40 booking a one way flight to Los Angeles, CA with cash and no carry-on bags? Prudent move on the part of the French. I'm shocked they'd be so hip to the real world.
Posted by: Mark ||
12/24/2003 15:54 Comments ||
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#7
Apparently, some French higher up found out about a pretty specific Al Queda threat involving these planes, called us up and requested that the planes be grounded.
Ship, why aren't you with your wife? And what's a yut?
#8
Wouldn't it be likely that the flights were scheduled with muslim pilots - possibly Algerian?
Posted by: Super Hose ||
12/24/2003 16:16 Comments ||
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Note they canceled three flights, not all flights, that are US-bound. The threats were likely quite specific, as Jennie said, and it shouldn't suggest flight after flight of New Age kamikazes.
Posted by: Dar ||
12/24/2003 16:20 Comments ||
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#10
whoop--FOX sez they canceled six flights now (1630 EST).
Posted by: Dar ||
12/24/2003 16:25 Comments ||
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Jennie - "yut" - try it with a long U and a Brooklyn accent. (youth)
The Canadian Intelligence Security Service (CSIS) report obtained by the Post claims Gadhafi has become a target for al Qaeda-backed terrorists who want to establish an Islamic state in Libya. Views of the current government are considered anti-Muslim, CSIS says. I guess giving up your WMD program, having female bodyguards, telling the Arab league goodbye, and sponsoring beauty pagents could be seen as anti-muslim.
The report emerges just days after Libya agreed to allow inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency to enter the country for spot checks of its nuclear facilities. Those inspections could begin as early as next week. Libya also pledged to give up efforts to develop weapons of mass destruction. These moves are considered a major policy shift for Libya, which for decades was a pariah and state sponsor of terrorism. Still is, until proven otherwise.
Now, CSIS documents say a group known as the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) is waging a holy war against Gadhafi and has "made numerous attempts" to kill him. Also battling Gadhafi are three other armed groups: the Islamic Movement of Martyrs, Libyan Jihad Movement and Islamic Movement for Change. They donât seem to have had much success, more bark than bite?
Meanwhile, Gadhafi is urging other "rogue nations" to cooperate with the West. The U.S. and Britain hope to use Libya as an example to other states accused of sponsoring terrorism how they can be received back into the international community. Should be interesting to watch.
According to U.S. President George Bush, the new stance in was the result of nine months of negotiations between officials in Libya, the U.S. and Britain. Bush said the move by Libya would be rewarded. Perhaps the means the U.S. will lift sanctions it imposed after the United Nations voted earlier this month to end its punitive measures. Weâll see.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/24/2003 1:46:29 PM ||
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Here's more from the National Post: The Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) is the most powerful radical faction waging holy war against Col. Gaddafi. It aims to establish an Islamic state in Libya and views the current regime as oppressive, corrupt and anti-Muslim, CSIS said. "The group has clearly stated its view on the use of force, promoting the ideology that Libyan people can only gain freedom by actively supporting the mujahedin in the war against Gaddafi's regime," the report said. "In order to achieve their goals, the LIFG has made numerous attempts to kill Colonel Gaddafi," said the "Unclassified: For Official Use Only" report, dated September, 2002, and titled Libyan Islamic Fighting Group.
Headed by Anas Sebai, a key al-Qaeda leader, the Libyan fighting group includes about 2,500 "Libyan Afghans" who fought in the 1979-89 Soviet War in Afghanistan and then returned home to ignite an Islamic rebellion. The group's stronghold is in the mountains on Libya's northeast coast. "Using the mountains around the Benghazi and al-Akhdar area as a base, the LIFG employs ... guerrilla tactics to attack Gaddafi's forces and then retreat into hiding." Three other armed groups, the Islamic Movement of Martyrs, Libyan Jihad Movement and Islamic Movement for Change, are also battling Col. Gaddafi and at one point had "thousands, if not tens of thousands of supporters," CSIS said.
"All Libyan Islamist terrorist groups, including the LIFG, are believed to have links with neighbouring Islamic extremist groups in Egypt and Algeria. Furthermore ... the LIFG has openly pledged to show support and loyalty to all jihad groups everywhere. This has led the LIFG to be recognized as a key component in the global network of militant Islamic groups," the CSIS report said. The LIFG began trying to kill Col. Gaddafi in 1995 and its last attempt was in August, 1998, when the colonel's motorcade was attacked. The LIFG smuggles weapons into Libya from neighbouring North African countries, and is funded by private donations, Islamic aid agencies and criminal activity, CSIS said.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/24/2003 14:26 Comments ||
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Now wouldn't that be deliciously ironic?
Posted by: Tibor ||
12/24/2003 15:33 Comments ||
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#3
Christmas just keeps coming this year.
Posted by: Charles ||
12/24/2003 18:51 Comments ||
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The British newspaper The Observer reported last Sunday that Libya provided intelligence on hundreds of al-Qaeda and other Islamic militants, as well as renouncing attempts to develop weapons of mass destruction, in a bid to end its pariah nation status. This must have gotten Al Qaeda more than a bit peeved at Mr. Gadhafi. Perhaps we will hear more about this in the coming weeks... I am wondering whether this new information might have contributed to America's heightened alert state since this info seems to have been transferred just recently.
Posted by: Lars ||
12/24/2003 19:43 Comments ||
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A terrorism task force was investigating three Pakistanis arrested in the US after one of them tried to obtain a state identification card from Motor Vehicle Commission allegedly on the basis of false documents. Theyâre Pakistani, of course their documents are fake.
The three - Mohade Aftab Khan, 29, Muhammed Ivrizwan, 42 and another man who was not identified - were each charged with forgery, tampering with public records and conspiracy. A team of Joint Terrorism Task Force, comprising New Jersey State Police and FBI, was reportedly investigating Khan who told police that he planned to travel to Pakistan and then Iraq after he was arrested on an unrelated charge. Interesting travel plans you got there, Khan.
A bail of 100,000 dollars was set for Khan, an illegal immigrant who was allegedly trying to get the identification, but authorities said the Bureau of Immigration had filed a detainer so that he was not released even if he was able to come up with the bail amount. No "Get Out of Jail Free" card for you.
Ivrizwan, who is in the United States legally, was also being held in lieu of 25,000 dollars bail. No details were released about Khanâs plans to go to Iraq or where the third man was being held last night. Before anyone else says it; "Khaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaann!"
Posted by: Steve ||
12/24/2003 1:26:29 PM ||
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There's one detail that wasn't mentioned: HOW did these guys manage to get in??
#2
So Khan puts up $100K in bail and the Bureau of Immigration won't let him out. Hmmmmmm... I wonder....will he still put up the bail? Rantburg Futures material?
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/24/2003 15:50 Comments ||
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On that topic of persevere against odds I note the passing of two anniversaries. Nearly sixty years ago a very few miles from here Americans withstood the final German counter attack of WWII. If you havenât seen Band of Brothers yet, if you havenât seen the postscript, where a legless man stands on crutches at the edge of the woods and surveys the land he made free, then you should. There was a commemoration of that battle held this past weekend. Iâd have liked to have been there. Survivors from both sides, along with citizens of all nations, walk the battle lines and remember, or imagine. Iâd have liked to have done that; to have felt a hint of that cold they felt. To have wondered at how they could have endured that cold with mortar rounds and shrapnel raining down among them.
And a couple weeks and 53 years ago, the First Marine Division and the Armyâs 7th Infantry Division battled out from Chosin, fought free from 120,000 Chinese soldiers and lived to fight another day. (At least those with all their fingers and toes intact. Frostbite is an unforgiving foe.) If youâre not familiar with Americaâs war with China you can start learning here. Then here and here. If thereâs a commemorative event at Chosin then no Americans will be taking part. There will be no joining of old enemies in peaceful times.
Colonel JOHN E. THEIMER replaced Colonel CONDER as Group Commander on the 12th of December. Twice during December the Group was required to transfer 5% of its Table or Organization strength to the Infantry.
When the enemy made his attack in the Ardennes the 274th and 695th Armored Field Artillery Battalions were taken from the Group and for the night 21-22 December the defense of the line between the rivers (the Saar and Moselle) depended on the 3rd Cavalry Group, one medium artillery battalion (689th) and the 5th Field Artillery Group Headquarters, and Headquarters Battery.
Dad told us that when the attack became apparent, he went to his tent and came back with his .45 strapped on. Co.. Theimer was then to have said "This must be serious if Sgt. Simmins is wearing his sidearm!"
Ethiopia said on Wednesday more than 50 people were killed in a recent clash in the west of the country between the government and rebels it said were backed by neighbouring Eritrea. The government said 50 more people were injured in the violence in the town of Gambella, 700 km (435 miles) west of Addis Ababa, just over a week ago. It raised the death toll, which was earlier put at 30. Police are holding 56 people over the unrest, pending further investigations. âHouses were set on fire and properties were damaged during the violence triggered following the killing of eight people by rebels,â Okelo Aquai, president of Gambella regional state told the state-run Ethiopian News Agency.
The Horn of Africa country has accused the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) and al Itihad al Islamiya group of being behind the unrest which led to the killings near Gambella. The government said the OLF had been supported by the Eritrean Peopleâs Liberation Front, the ruling party in neighbouring Eritrea. The OLF has denied any involvement in the unrest. In a statement on its web site, the OLF blamed the government for the fighting, saying Gambella was not in the southern Oromo territory, where it has been fighting for independence for the region since 1993. Okelo said security forces were rounding up more suspects. UN sources told Reuters on Monday the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) had pulled all international and most of its local staff from Gambella to Addis Ababa.
The UN staff look after about 24,000 Sudanese refugees in camps in western Ethiopia. UN sources said the fighting was between the Anuak and Nuer ethnic groups, who have traditionally clashed over land. An unidentified gang attacked a UN car travelling from a new refugee camp to the UNHCR offices in Gambella. Three people working for the state-run refugee agency, two policemen and three casual labourers were killed. Addis Ababa has previously accused the OLF rebels of anti-government activity including being behind a series of bombings in the country over the past year. Eritrea fought a border war with Ethiopia in 1998-2000. Tensions between the two countries remain high. Al Itihad al Islamiya is thought by some analysts to be linked to Osama bin Ladenâs Al Qaeda network.
Posted by: TS ||
12/24/2003 11:41:09 AM ||
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The OLF is part of the Oromo-Somali-Afar Liberation Alliance (OSALA), a coalition of Islamist groups in Somalia, Eritrea, and Ethiopia formed back in 1997. Most of their manpower is provided by the Islamic Union of Ogaden, which joined al-Qaeda way back in December 1991.
Al-Ittihad seems to be Faisal Abdullah Mohammed's private mob, they're the bastards who killed 18 US troops in Mogadishu back in 1993 and more recently tried to shoot down that El Al jetliner over Mombasa. Ethiopia will probably use this as reason to launch another incursion into Somalia - they can't just take an attack like this lying down.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/24/2003 14:33 Comments ||
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Ethiopia is Africa: East.
Posted by: Patrick ||
12/24/2003 15:14 Comments ||
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Iran said Wednesday it had stepped up security around Western embassies in the run-up to the Christmas holiday following threats from Islamic militant network al-Qaeda as Washington remained on high alert across the Gulf in Bahrain. Tehran province security chief Ali Tala said protection had been increased around the embassies of Britain, Turkey, and Switzerland, which also represents US interests here, since bombings of British interests in Istanbul killed 62 people last month. "After the blasts in Turkey, we intensified the protective measures around some of the Western embassies," said Tala. "We ordered an intensification of protective measures ... and we will keep on holding discussions to confront any threats," he said, adding that some of the information received on the Al-Qaeda threat came from media reports. A staff member at the Swiss embassy confirmed that security there had been stepped up since Monday. A Turkish diplomat told AFP that "the embassy has asked for additional protection measures since the Istanbul blasts". Well, since the Turkish al-Qaeda cell members responsible for the bombings are reported to have fled to Iran.......
Last Sunday, the Baztab website, close to Mohsen Rezaie, former head of the hardline Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, said Iran had received threats from Al-Qaeda since it gave information to an Iraqi Kurdish faction that paved the way for the US militaryâs capture of Saddam Hussein on December 13. Oh, please. Iran tipped off the Kurds as to where Saddam was hiding out? I guess your drug problem is worse than I thought.
Baztab wrote that Al-Qaeda threatened to attack several targets in Tehran, including the British and Swiss embassies. The Swiss? What, they didnât get their free toaster when they opened their bank accounts?
There was no immediate official confirmation of the specific threat against the embassies, although on Monday Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi said Iran was "always" receiving threats from Al-Qaeda. But I thought you had jugged all the al-Qaeda members in Iran?
Posted by: Steve ||
12/24/2003 9:38:01 AM ||
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Iran doesn't seem to have a very good record for protecting embassies. I would evacuate everybody except the guys with the guns.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
12/24/2003 20:58 Comments ||
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A former member of a secretive Islamic fundamentalist organization in Knoxville helped funnel money to militant fighters in Bosnia and Chechnya during the 1990s, but local Muslims said Tuesday the group is no longer active. Mustafa Saied, a former University of Tennessee student and member of the Muslim Brotherhood, told the Wall Street Journal in a story published Tuesday that money raised at the Annoor Mosque ostensibly for poor civilians actually went to Muslim warriors. Knoxville Muslims raised $6,000 to pay for tents, Saied told the paper, but in 1995 a representative of the Benevolence International Foundation, a Chicago-based nonprofit, told him a portion of the money was diverted to fighters in Bosnia and Chechnya.
FBI Special Agent James Van Pelt of the Knoxville office said he isnât aware of any criminal prosecution of any people or groups arising from the activities described in the article. "If something like that would happen today, the person could be guilty of (giving) material support to terrorists," Van Pelt said. The foundationâs leader pleaded guilty in 2002 to buying supplies for fighters in the two countries. The U.S. Treasury Department alleged the group also had ties to al-Qaeda, though the charges were dropped as part of a plea agreement. The paper reported that Saied was part of an active group of Muslim Brotherhood members in Knoxville before he left the campus in 1996, a few credits short of graduating. The Muslim Brotherhood is an international fundamentalist political group.
Rosalind Gwynne, faculty adviser to the UT chapter of the Muslim Student Association said she was surprised to find out the Muslim Brotherhood had been active on campus. There can be as many as 300 students in the association at any one time, and the mix can vary from year to year, she said. Knoxvilleâs mainstream Muslims said they werenât aware of the groupâs presence here either. "Iâve lived here for 30 years, and this is the first time I ever heard about it," said Hanan Ayesh, a founder of the Annoor Academy, a Muslim school. Most of those involved in the Muslim Brotherhood here were foreign students who get involved in Islamic politics before moving back to their countries of origin, said Mostafa Alsharif, a lifelong Knoxvillian. "The majority of Muslims in the United States couldnât care less about the Muslim Brotherhood. Theyâre going to stay in the United States. Thereâs no need to be affiliated with something like that," Alsharif said. Alsharif said the Muslim Brotherhood isnât active here anymore. "Itâs not the reality of whatâs happening in Knoxville today at all," he said.
The lengthy Wall Street Journal article detailed Saiedâs activities in Knoxville nearly a decade ago. Now an adherent of a less strident form of Islam, Saied is an executive at a Florida environmental-testing firm. Saidâs tale offers a glimpse into how secretive organizations like the Muslim Brotherhood operate in the United States. "Anti-American sentiment is usually reserved for closed-door discussions or expressed in languages that most Americans donât understand," Saied told Wall Street Journal reporter Paul M. Barrett. "While such rhetoric has been drastically reduced since 9/11, it is still prevalent enough to be a cause for concern." Saied told Barrett he and other fundamentalist Muslims would meet once a week to drink tea and eat sweets while discussing fundamentalist Islam in secret. Saied said the Knoxville chapter viewed violence as something "we donât do here, unless necessary." Saied told Barrett he feels guilty about his years as an extremist and is applying for U.S. citizenship. He worries, according to the article, that areas of "venomous hatred toward Western society" persist on some campuses and in certain Islamic communities.
Some in the local Muslim community fear that reports of such extremist activities - even those that occurred nearly a decade ago - will prompt other Americans to persecute law-abiding Muslims. Ayesh said she sometimes feels like she had more freedom when she first came to America 34 years ago than her children have today. "Weâre an asset to this community," Ayesh said, "not a threat."
Posted by: TS ||
12/24/2003 9:13:58 AM ||
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Some in the local Muslim community fear that reports of such extremist activities - even those that occurred nearly a decade ago - will prompt other Americans to persecute law-abiding Muslims. Ayesh said she sometimes feels like she had more freedom when she first came to America 34 years ago than her children have today.
"Weâre an asset to this community," Ayesh said, "not a threat."
Then do something. Point out these potential threats when they become apparent instead of acting like nothing's wrong. The fact that Mr. Saied's activities that were revealed happened ten years ago doesn't have a whole lot of value now. What is being done to combat terrorism benefits EVERYBODY, including law-abiding Muslims. If you're convinced that you're an asset to the community, then don't just talk like it. ACT like it, and report extremist activities in your midst to the proper authorities. We're waiting for large numbers of moderate Muslims to be heard - this is your chance.
#2
It is an intrinsic problem with Islam that Muslims are not supposed to be critical of other Muslims. That's why there are no (or very few 'whistleblowers'- I'll look up the relevant Koranic verse in a moment). This applies even when fundamentalist and Anti-West views, and more, are being expressed/acted out. If you recall the Muslim FBI agent who would not inform on other Muslims (to infidels), that is also obeying Koranic instruction. As you can see folks, we have a pretty big problem here to get moderate Muslims to act onside. Until the religion is reformed, which it is protected against by the astute Mo, we are in a difficult position dealing with (being able to trust) all Muslims.
#3
blivet has it right. Tribal blood is thicker than water. I still see the same thing in some rural Alaska villages in issues ranging from child abuse to keeping incompetents in town jobs. Reforming Iraq is a major social engineering project that will require years of commitment. We are talking about a HUGE change in ME society. Some will get it. Some will be hauled into the 21st century kicking and screaming. And there will be some that will have to be killed because they will be trying to kill us and everyone else with their twisted crap-line.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/24/2003 16:05 Comments ||
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EFL & Buttloads of Fun
NABLUS, West Bank: Palestinian children are collecting cards showing unskilled gunmen and suckers soldiers the way American kids trade baseball cards, and some educators are concerned that the uprising hobby is helping to breed a new generation of militants. Are these the same âeducatorsâ that teach from textbooks that do not acknowledge Israel?
The cards are an enormous hit, according to Majdi Taher, who makes them. He said that 6 million cards have been sold over two years and 32,000 albums this month alone in the two main population centers of the northern West Bank - huge numbers in a territory about 1 million Palestinians live, and he plans to expand his business. He later added that many most of the residents of the West Bank are actually featured in the cards.
The card craze reflects a delusional sense of reality in the West Bank, where three years of Palestinian-Israeli violence has become the dominant reality for children. Israeli soldiers enforce curfews to prevent terror atacks, confining terrorists residents to their homes, and often carry out security raids in towns and villages, looking for terrorists militants.
On a side note I would like to wish all posters and readers of Rantburg a merry, and blessed Christmas and a happy Hanukkah.
Posted by: Dragon Fly ||
12/24/2003 8:16:18 AM ||
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Interesting stats they keep:
Mullah Allah Akbar El-Fatwa Jihadi:
Mullah Allah was once considered one of the up and coming baby killers on the West Bank (received the 2001 Saddam Hussein Scholarship to Ein Hellhole State). But then came the "work accident"... and we were left to wonder "what might have been".
Interesting Fact: Home is considered the 17285th most Holy Place in Islam.
#2
Do any of the cards have a before/after hologram?
Posted by: Charles ||
12/24/2003 10:51 Comments ||
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When the IDF goes in and conducts their raids, maybe they should collect up whatever cards they can get their hands on and attach them to the wheels of their vehicles with clothespins..
Professional courtesy, of course.
AMMAN, Jordan (AP) - More than 600 Jordanian lawyers have volunteered to defend former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, the president of the Jordanian Bar Association said Tuesday. Ramsey Clark, take a number!
The Arab Lawyerâs Union, which comprises members from across the Arab world, is setting up an international team for Saddamâs defense, Hussein Mejali told The Associated Press. "I expect more volunteers and thousands of Arab and international lawyers to register their names to be part of the defense team," he said. "We are all willing to spare no efforts to help the Iraqi president." Wait til they find out that Saddam canât afford more than about 100 lawyers.
Officials at the Arab Lawyerâs Union, based in Cairo, Egypt, could not be reached for comment. The vaunted Arab Lawyerâs Union, official motto, "Yes, effendi"!
Mejali said last week he believed Saddam was unlawfully deposed by coalition forces and unlawfully captured by U.S. troops. He maintains Saddam is Iraqâs legitimate president because the U.S.-led occupation has no legality. But heâs a lawyer, heâs supposed to say that.
On Monday, Jordanian lawyer Saleh Armouti said he and French attorney Emmanuel Ludot are trying to obtain American permission to visit Saddam to ask to defend him. Iâm sure they can just sash-shay up to Mr. Bremer and ask.
Jordanian obsequious professional organizations, including the bar association, have long supported Saddam, including during Iraqâs 1990 invasion of Kuwait.
Iraqi Governing Council members have said Saddam will be tried in a special war crimes tribunal established with provisions taken from the International Criminal Court. The tribunal was signed into law on Dec. 10, just three days before U.S. troops captured Saddam near his hometown of Tikrit Thatâs what an experienced trial lawyers calls "a coincidence."
No decision has been made on how or when Saddam will be tried or what charges he will face. "Our lawyers will get back to your lawyers."
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/24/2003 2:10:47 AM ||
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THE FIRST THING WE DO, LET'S KILL ALL THE LAWYERS!
#2
If Saddam is smart, he'll hire some Jewish lawyers real fast. Although that might end up getting him killed by his fan-base...
Posted by: Charles ||
12/24/2003 2:19 Comments ||
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So these lawyers believe that the Saddamite attacks on Kuwait, Iran and internal ethnic groups were legal? I wonder how these frauds feel about suicide bombers. The United Arab Emirates bases their civil justice system on British civil codes. Jordanians might try that. Didn't Churchill say, "I created Jordan with a stroke of a pen on a Wednesday morning"?
Posted by: Vlad the Muslim Impaler ||
12/24/2003 2:22 Comments ||
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#4
Well, it's going to get (legally) messy over there. They haven't even discussed avenues of appeal from the Iraqi tribunals.
I'd better re-iterate my advice from the day he was captured: First, try him in a US Military tribunal, get him convicted and sentenced (to death). Next, let the Iraqis have him, but maintain physical custody of Saddam, so no tricks can be pulled. They will likely convict him and sentence him to die. Then, probably about the time of the US election, allow the most competent international tribunal to try him, STILL MAINTAINING PHYSICAL CUSTODY. We can offer up a ship under our control to perform the trial on, or it can be done by satellite link, but WE DON'T TURN HIM OVER TO THEM, WE WON'T GET HIM BACK FOR EXECUTION OF OUR SENTENCE IF WE DO.
#9
Let's take a flight of fantasy and suppose that a Jordanian lawyer gets Saddam off on a technicality. What are the odds that Saddam and the lawyer would survive the Iranian, Kurd, Shiite, and Israeli hitmen sent their way?
Question: What do you call 100 Jordanian lawyers at the bottom of the Persian Gulf?
Answer: A good start.
Posted by: Tom ||
12/24/2003 9:49 Comments ||
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4thInfVet: The familiar quote, âTHE FIRST THING WE DO, LET'S KILL ALL THE LAWYERS!â actually supports the profession of lawyers as a safeguard to stable society. The phrase comes from William Shakespeareâs Second Part of King Henry the Sixth, Act IV. Scene II., where plots of bloody rebellion are being hatched, and reads more fully as:
Cade.  Be brave, then; for your captain is brave, and vows reformation. There shall be in England seven halfpenny loaves sold for a penny; the three-hooped pot shall have ten hoops; and I will make it felony to drink small beer. All the realm shall be in common, and in Cheapside shall my palfrey go to grass. And when I am king,âas king I will be,â All.  God save your majesty! Cade.  I thank you, good people: there shall be no money; all shall eat and drink on my score; and I will apparel them all in one livery, that they may agree like brothers, and worship me their lord. Dick.  The first thing we do, letâs kill all the lawyers. Cade.  Nay, that I mean to do. Is not this a lamentable thing, that of the skin of an innocent lamb should be made parchment? that parchment, being scribbled oâer, should undo a man? Some say the bee stings; but I say, âtis the beeâs wax, for I did but seal once to a thing, and I was never mine own man since. How now! whoâs there?
Now, doesnât this sound like familiar political propaganda (a chicken in every pot)? My old trial professor [a staunch evangelical Christian, and incredibly conservative] explained to the class the most basic reason for the American tradition of âinnocent until proven guiltyâ and need for âproof beyond a reasonable doubtâ before a jury of peers (when even the village idiot knows a person to be guilty). He said something to the effect that âWe make sure the systems works, even for the worst of us, and make the government prove its case; so that if the best of us is ever accused, we have some reasonable chance of acquittal.â
Now granted, Iâm a trial lawyer [and a Plaintiffâs trial lawyer at that] defending my profession, but I truly do believe that the third branch of our government, the Courts (and which make lawyers officers of the court and polices the profession) is essential to our way of life. I say give Saddam every conceivable opportunity to make the Iraqi government prove his guilt, let the jury decide, and then let them execute the sentence and send him on to meet his Maker.
By the way, you can have some confidence in what Iâm writing, because Iâm not speaking -- Iâm writing. [Q: How do you know when a lawyer is lying? A: His lips are moving.]
#12
There is/was CTLA, the California Trial Lawyers Association. Some got oopsy about an ambo-chasing image and formed a new group CAOC, Consumer Attorneys of California. There are rumors the acronym was originally to be CACA, until it was noticed California had a significant Hispanic population.
#13
CrazyFool -- actually not, but it is a pretty close match, isn't it? Including promises of largess at the expense of others.
By the way, got any lawyer jokes? -- I love 'em! E.g., two lawyers met at a cocktail party. âHowâs business?â asked the first. âRotten,â replied the other. âYesterday, I chased an ambulance for twenty miles. When I finally caught up to it, there was already another lawyer hanging on to the bumper.â
Or, how about this one . . . A junior partner in a law firm was sent to a far away country to represent a long-term client accused of robbery. After days of trial, the case was won, the client acquitted and released. Excited about his success, the attorney e-mailed the firm: âJustice prevailed.â
The senior partner replied in haste, âAppeal immediately.â
EFL
BETHLEHEM, West Bank (AP) - There is no Christmas tree in Aida Ghaneimâs Bethlehem home this year. No festive lights hang from the ceiling, and the 48-year-old mother of four has no plans to cook her usual feast. It is not that Ghaneim is abandoning Christmas. On the contrary, she said, "It abandoned us." My heart pumps peanut butter for ya Aida.
A shriveling economy, continuing Israeli restrictions and other hardships caused by three years of Mideast violence have left Christians living in the traditional birthplace of Jesus with little desire to celebrate. Yep, all the fault of the Jooos, never mind the other inconvenience the writer forgot to mention.
Few of Bethlehemâs usual decorations are in place: A Santa outside one shop, a few lights outside another. Many of the red, green and blue lights strung over the streets around Manger Square are burned out.
The Palestinian Authority, saying Yasser has "impounded" all the money it lacks the money, refused the town its usual $100,000 decoration budget, forcing local officials to scrounge up $10,000 on their own. What, no donation from Hamas?
"The whole atmosphere of Christmas is gone," said Jane Bandak, 18, whose familyâs traditional 30-person Christmas meal will shrink to half a dozen guests this year.
Some Christians have decided to ignore the holiday that was once the high point of their year. Others have fled abroad to Detroit, splitting up their families. About 2,000 of the townâs 28,000 Christians have left during the recent violence, local officials say. They now make up only 35 percent of a town they once dominated.
Checkpoints, curfews and closures, enforced by Israel to stop Palestinian suicide bombings that have killed more than 400 Israelis over the past three years, make it hard for families spread across the West Bank to get together. Well sure, that being the object of a checkpoint, curfew or closure.
Israel says it plans to ease travel restrictions for Palestinian Christians over the holiday, but many Palestinians are skeptical. They say they do not want to spend their holiday waiting at roadblocks. Stay home and drink the eggnog, folks.
The Rev. Mitri Raheb, pastor of Bethlehemâs Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church, complained that while Christians around the world prepare to sing Christmas carols harking to this town, few appear concerned with the plight of the place where Jesus was born. "The majority of Christians really donât know what is going on in the little town of Bethlehem," he said. Perhaps they should, that might hasten Yasser and Rantisiâs end.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/24/2003 2:04:36 AM ||
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I saw a segment on ?CNN? about how the Christain are leaving Bethlehem because of the economic hardships. Thats what you get for trusting Arafart. Even if the JOOOOS left last week, few people would venture to the Holy Lands. Who wants to get blown up on Christmas?
#2
I saw a segment on ?CNN? about how the Christain are leaving Bethlehem because of the economic hardships. Thats what you get for trusting Arafart. Even if the JOOOOS left last week, few people would venture to the Holy Lands. Who wants to get blown up on Christmas?
#3
The Christian community in Bethlehem is one of the most dhimmized communities in the world. The Christians there, in general, will blame their problems on Israel. The Christian clergy (most of them, there were a few dissenters) didn't even think twice before giving sanction to Hamas with
#6
I guess that the Arafish will not make services at the Bethlehem Church of the Nativity this year.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/24/2003 15:57 Comments ||
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#7
It's my understanding that indigenous Christians are leaving most Middle Eastern countries due to persecution. Complaining about the economic impact on muslims seems like the same Dixie-Chick type logic that Bob Mugabe uses. Economics is often marches with it's cruel shoes over the prone bodies of the stupid.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
12/24/2003 17:03 Comments ||
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#8
Economics is[sic] often marches with it's[sic] cruel shoes over the prone bodies of the stupid.
Wow, that's a great line, SH, and you made that up as you went along, didn't you? May we quote you? I mean, after cleaning it up. No apostrophe in possessive of "it."
#11
Ship: I once wrote offline to Fred bitching about spelling / grammar / homophone errors by the posters here, suggesting not that they watch their language, but rather their use of it. In fairness, I find from experience it's [here it's is proper] like a shark being chummed, one gets into a posting frenzy in its [here its is proper] grandeur, one gets sloppy.
#12
Sorry about the spelling and grammar. My dad and sister both teach english at the high school level. They verbally beat me about the head and shoulders anytime that we meet up. Their (input and yours) keeps me taking myself too seriously.
I come to Rantburg to learn and for the mental challenge of rapidly assimilating the ideas that the regulars toss back and forth. I would process my posts through Word, but usually need to continuously reference the text of the post and other comments for inspiration.
Steal and revise as you see fit. I think the cruel shoes is actually a Steve Martin shtick from the late 70's.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
12/24/2003 21:29 Comments ||
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#13
Steve Martin was an economist??
I are a high-school graduate, in spite of getting D's and F's in English. I did always read a lot. I noticed Kid was terrible at spelling until she got hooked on sci-fantasy books. Her spelling and articulacy improved dramatically and I attribute it to the reading, getting used to seeing what words should look like on paper. I don't even think it matters what you read. I sometimes read history books for relaxation. Or grab a random encyclopaedia (Brittanica, as evinced by the spelling) off the shelf and crack it open in the middle. They're full of interesting stuff. I don't have patience for novels, etc. Someone gave me a copy of Da Vinci Code as a b'day present last month. I'm still fighting with it.
Iran will respond with overwhelming military force to any Israeli attack on its nuclear facilities, senior Iranian army officers and government officials warned yesterday. They were responding to a statement made by Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz on Israel Radioâs Persian-language broadcast last week, in which he implied that Israel would destroy Iranâs nuclear reactors, as it did with Iraqâs in the early 1980s, if it deemed this necessary for Israelâs safety. "The Zionist regime knows that the armed forces of the Islamic republic, and especially its air force, have such high capabilities that if [Israel] carries out a military attack against Iran, it will be digging its own grave," said the commander of the Iranian Air Force, General Seyed Reza Pardis, to the Iranian news agency Mehr. Iranian President Mohammed Khatami, said that Israel would be "swept away" if it dared to attack Iran.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/24/2003 12:55:30 AM ||
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Hmm, for the Mighty Islamic Republic⢠to get to Israel, it seems like they would have to get through a few divisions of U.S. military to do so. I stand by my assertion that mid-air fuelings make Iran vulnerable to whatever Israel decides should be their nuke plant's fate; however, I don't see how the reverse could be true. Seems like a good battalion of armored cav could go through the Iranians like sh*t through a goose. Reminds me of having my stomach barbecued and committing suicide at the Gates of Baghdad.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/24/2003 1:12 Comments ||
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#4
Iran will respond with overwhelming military force to any Israeli attack on its nuclear facilities,
They're equipment hasn't been used since the 80-88 Iraq/Iran War. Not to mention how they would get through Iraq. They would be crushed by the Army of Steve!
I sure hope Iran tries.
Posted by: Charles ||
12/24/2003 1:36 Comments ||
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#5
We stand ready.
The Army of Steveâ¢
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/24/2003 1:54 Comments ||
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#6
Iran will respond with overwhelming military force to any Israeli attack on its nuclear facilities, senior Iranian army officers and government officials warned yesterday.
I see your overwhelming force and raise a glass of wine in toast to the IAF/IDF should they excute such an attack successfully.
#8
Badanov, the attack will go off flawlessly. It's the land mines when we invade Iran that worries me.
Posted by: Charles ||
12/24/2003 2:14 Comments ||
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#9
If Iran's Islamofascist tyranny refused to accept the destruction of their nuclear facilities as anything but a fait accompli, mere threat rhetoric would give Israel a free hand against Hizbullah. Ergo: splash Iran's nuclear potential, probably within the next few weeks. Ditto: Hizbullah.
The Iranian dictatorship is a revolution from above, in any case, and has little popular support. The humiliation of an IDF success in Iran could lead to their demise. However, I would like to know why Egyptian drones are passing over Israeli nuclear facilities.
Posted by: Vlad the Muslim Impaler ||
12/24/2003 2:17 Comments ||
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#10
It's the land mines when we invade Iran that worries me.
Don't think of it as an obstacle, think of it as a deterrent for leaving. Plenty of jihadi will need to be contained some day, persia's as good a place as any.
#13
Iran does have a few submarines, mostly coastal-diesels, but of the newer "quiet" type. Rumor had it a year ago they were trying to buy an Alpha or some fast old nuke boat from the Russkies. My bet is that we have a couple of attack boats in the area and would sink their sub fleet if it sortied.
Dispite their quiet diesel boats, don't they have to surface 5 times a day to let the command-mullah sing from the conning tower?
#14
Rivrdog, LOL--love that!
Betcha the Israelis are really shaking in their yamulkes and have scrapped any war plans for this mission...NOT!
I'll break open a bottle of champagne if the IAF gets all 3 nukeyalar reactors, too!
#15
The best free advice site for HTML coding is Brian Wilson's site,Index Dot HTML. A Google search also led to this table.
I hope the Israelis can wait until the evening of 6 March 2004, however. It would be cosmically appropriate. The pilots could take some nice hamantashen with them to snack on. And everytime the word Ayatollah was spoken, the IDF could drop their fancy noisemakers.
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
12/24/2003 11:12 Comments ||
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#16
LOL Riverdog.
The Kilo export class come with automatic Mecca sensors for fast alignment and noise quietened prayer rugs. (Built by Russian Jews of course).
Intelligence gathered by the U.S. government indicates that al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden and his top deputy personally approved a suspected terrorist attack plan that would strike targets far from major cities, U.S. officials say.
Officials in two rural areas of Virginia have been alerted to the possibility of attack.
Code Orange, or high, the FBI sent a warning to Rappahannock County Administrator John W. McCarthy.
âThey are aware of some sort of threat,â McCarthy said Tuesday.
âThey had intercepted some sort of phone conversation where the word Rappahannock popped up.â
The Los Angeles Times, citing unnamed federal officials, reported Tuesday that intelligence that led to the heightened security warning included broad references to large urban areas, including New York, Washington, Los Angeles and Las Vegas. It said other pieces of intelligence cited much smaller locales, including Rappahannock, a county of 7,000 about 185 miles northwest of South Hampton Roads. McCarthy said that could mean anything.
âThereâs also the Rappahannock River and the town of Tappahannock,â he said. âWeâre not altogether sure it has anything to do with us.â
In fact, the superintendent of the Virginia State Police said Tuesday that state police and the FBI were working closely with officials in the town of Tappahannock, which is about 85 miles northwest of South Hampton Roads.
The FBI opened its command center at its Norfolk headquarters, but officials said they have no credible information that a specific location in Tappahannock has been targeted.
The regional Joint Terrorism Task Force received the threat information from Washington and is monitoring the situation.
âWe noticed the increased presence of the state police,â said Tappahannock Councilman Edward Barry. âBut it seemed like people were, for the most part, going about their daily lives with little concern, for now anyway.â
NBC and MSNBC reported Tuesday evening that U.S. officials said the rationale for attacks on smaller locales would be to spread fears that no one was safe, even in small-town America.
Intelligence indicates that bin Laden himself approved the most recent plan for major attacks, along with Ayman al-Zawahiri, his deputy, NBC said.
Officials told NBC that al-Qaida seemed particularly interested in Tappahannock, a town of 2,016 people that has no military base or major infrastructure.
Similarly, Rappahannock doesnât have any high profile-target for terrorists. It is best known for the Inn at Little Washington, and the closest military installations are miles away at the Marine Corpsâ Quantico Reservation and at the Armyâs Fort A.P. Hill. Snip.
One official cautioned that most of the reports were uncorroborated â some were from only a single informant or communications intercept â and may be unconnected to a larger al-Qaida plot. But local officials boosted security at many such facilities, including the Port of Valdez, where armed Coast Guard patrol boats were more visible and ship boardings were on the increase.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/24/2003 12:38:05 AM ||
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Yorktown has an ammo dump and Dahlgren has a research installation. Rappahanock seems like it's a red herring unless soem Jihadi got poor service at a diner in that area..
Posted by: Super Hose ||
12/24/2003 16:32 Comments ||
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Rebels from west Sudan said yesterday government-armed militias and warplanes killed at least 24 people over the past four days, forcing civilians to flee to rebel camps and mountain caves in the arid Darfur region. The Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), one of two main rebel groups that launched a revolt in the Darfur area in February, said two Antonov planes bombed two villages on Monday. Government officials were not immediately available. "Eighteen people were killed and 25 wounded. Two villages were destroyed and the civilians left the dead unburied and fled to the mountains," JEM general coordinator Abu Bakr Hamid Al Nur told Reuters by telephone. Al Nur said the bombing took place in the Jabel Moon area in Western Darfur state near the Chadian border, where authorities have imposed a curfew. The other Darfur rebel group, the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA), had no information about the attack but said government forces often bombed the area. Both groups said civilians had fled to their camps from a town in neighbouring Northern Darfur state. Al Nur said civilians fleeing from Kebkabiya to a JEM camp 24km north said government-armed militia fighters looted the townâs market on Saturday and killed six people.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/24/2003 12:30:22 AM ||
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Starting next year Russia will send only professional troops to Chechnya instead of draftees, the defense minister said Tuesday as he inspected the countryâs first all-volunteer division. Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov told the 76th Airborne Division that as the first unit to fully switch from conscripts it would serve as a model for the rest of the military. "It has helped us obtain a lot of experience that we can later use in staffing other military units with contract servicemen," the Interfax news agency quoted Ivanov as saying as he visited the divisionâs base in Pskov.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has made reforming the underfunded and demoralized military his top priority. But he has backtracked on his initial plan to fully phase out the unpopular draft, accepting the militaryâs proposal for a mixture of draftees and volunteer professional soldiers. Under that plan, professional soldiers and officers would account for half the 1.1 million-strong military by the end of 2007. Most would serve in high-readiness units such as those serving in Chechnya, which Ivanov said would be staffed by volunteer soldiers starting next year. The starting monthly salary for a volunteer private in Chechnya will be $510, he said. By comparison, a private in the 76th division earns only $170, roughly the average monthly wage in Russia.
Draftees under the Soviets used to get 4 rubles a month, which was even then considerably less than the average monthly wage, so I guess things have improved a bit...
On Tuesday two police officers were killed in a shootout with rebels in the capital Grozny that also left a female bystander dead, an official in the pro-Kremlin Chechen administration said. They were among 15 people killed and 20 wounded in violence in Chechnya over the past 24 hours, the official said.
A professional military force, assuming it's well-trained, should work wonders in Chechnya.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/24/2003 12:27:08 AM ||
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Back in The Day, we feared these guys as a monster of an enemy. They were going to come storming through Fulda, thousands of tanks that the 11th ACR couldn't possibly handle, Americans would be caught once again with their d*cks in their hands, as they were in 1942 and 1950. Didn't know they couldn't afford to do maintenance on their tracks, much less their wheeled vehicles. Now they're auctioning off space flights to newlyweds for hard currency. I guess an all volunteer unit is a good thing, but WTF has been going on up to this point? Have we already seen the collapse of their society, or is it still coming down the tunnel? What a disaster. Big thanks to marx, lenin, stalin, et. al., for this one.
#2
Russia has a long, strong and proud military tradition, many of which survived Stalin and his Stalinettes. Artillery, as an example, always a strong point of the Russian military and an arm which was poorly implemented in the first Chechen war (1995-96), was mainly responsible for Russia's early successes against the Chechens when the Chechens began moving on Dagestan in 1999.
There is a saying amoungst military historians that the farther away one is from the Russian, the greater the tendency to underestimate him.
When the Russian Army stopped being the Red Army, it had to change, and change it did, going from roughly 175 divisional flags and 16 military districts in 1991 to roughly 8 military districts and less than 30 divisions, most primarily in cadre strength only. Much of the doctrine from the era of the Red Army has changed as well. Russians have been slowly transforming their armor forces by brigading them, and by experimenting with corps style organizations and with light organizations.
Russians are not short in ballz or bravado, but they are short in the two critical areas no army can survive without: logistics and the presence of a strong NCO corps. The shortage of both reflects the weaknesses of the Russian/Soviet military system even before the Bolsheviki, and correction of these shortage are a necessary element to the survival of the Russian Federation. Change is slow and painful.
I just wouldn't count the Russians out either as our allies against the ragheads or as a military presence.
Never said they were, but their political structure/command has a lamentable history of leaving the Russian fighting man short (even worse than American politicians) in the lurch. I just wonder if it's possible for a 'professional military force' to exist in modern Russian without being corrupt from the start. The pay better be much higher than has been historically the case.
Russian artillery has always been the Steel Fist of their army. We were always told that we would know when Ivan was massing his arty in e. germany, so we'd have the advantage (?!?!) by knowing what was coming (a chance to kiss our asses goodbye, iow). Personally, I'm tremendously grateful we never fought the Red Army. Nothing to be gained, too much to be lost.
#4
I'm tremendously grateful we never fought the Red Army
So I guess those nukes came in handy after all. I'm glad the Russians understood the concept of mutually-assured destruction, unlike the present day jihadis.
Posted by: Rafael ||
12/24/2003 8:34 Comments ||
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#5
Ground-pounder-type RB'ers: I've been out 28 years now; how realistic was Clancy's brutal/bloody scenario of visiting Warsaw Pact vs. NATO in Red Storm Rising?
#6
Maybe badanov can shed some light on this for us but I really don't understand why the (once-feared) Russian army has had so little success in reining in the Chechen terrorists.
Putin has declared "total war" on them more than once.
Why is it that the Russians seem almost helpless in fighting their part of the GWOIT [Global War on Islamist Terrorism]?
And will it help to for the US to "help" the Russians militarily with this?
The IslamoNazis are dug in pretty deep in the Pankisi Gorge, aren't they?
#7
I read a book on Chechnya that shed some light on the current troubles. Basically the Russians were way to cocky when they first went in. They sent a lot of tanks, but they were manned by draftees and had no infantry support. The Chechyans had a lot of ex-Red Army Afghanistan vetrans along with a lot of Afghanistan Afghanistan veterans who really knew how to fight. It was a blood bath.
Later attempts made no effort at being nice and pretty much leveled Grozny when Putin sent them back in. This cost them any remaining hearts & minds they otherwise might have had and put things back into a guerrilla/terrorist war which requires a bit more finesse than the Russian draftees could manage.
I could be wrong, my info comes from one book and I don't know how accurate/bias it was. Anyway the stories of tankers having their heads cut off by Chechyan swords during the big early battle was pretty grim and showed how dazed and confused the draftees were at the time.
#8
Russia has a tough road in Chechnya. They have made some serious mistakes. I hope their learning curve accellerates. They, like us, need to attack the real thing that keeps the war going, and that is money. And that leads back to Saudi Arabia. If we are going to accellerate progress in the WoT, it will require that we take out the Saudi Jihad purse. Covertly or overtly.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/24/2003 13:44 Comments ||
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#9
Jennie, from everything I have read in the 1994-96 Chechen War, all the planning and execution was strictly top down. The Russians used a mix of interior troops and regular army troops in the early stages of the war, none trained for counter-insurgency, no light infantry, all armored troops. The new years eve 1994 battle in Grozny saw middle grade officers refusing orders to enter Grozny as they considered the operation poorly planned and ill advised. The result: 90 armored vehicles destroyed in ONE NIGHT.
Early on in the current war the Russian Army made some spectacular successes when they could engage the Chechens in areas where the Russian Army has absolute superiority, maily artillery and in interdiction air strikes. Of course, this eventually led to the razing of Grozny, which was a phyrric victory for the Russians at best. At the top, the Russian made Chechnya a focus of their efforts so much so they had a general staff level front organization strictly for the Transcacusus, and the results were generally good albeit there are still some problems.
I have no doubt were the Soviets still in power Grozny would be intact, senior Soviet commanders would be decorating one another for their success in crushing the resistance, and the streets of Chechen hamlets and towns would be stained red, the leaders rounded up and executed or deported to Sibersk.
Even with the political situation improving, glaring long-neglected deficiencies in the Russian army strategic doctrine are starting to show though. The lack of a strong NCO corps, present in every successful modern army, ( and a problem for the Russians dating back hundreds of years ), is something that could take years, even decades to remedy; time the Russians may not have. A strong NCO corps helps a fighting force in tactical situations where small light units (such as rifle squads) can retain their cohesiveness in combat. Leaving tactical deployments and gunnery to NCOs frees up officers for critical tasks such as supplying the troops and gathering/analyzing intel data. And fighting guerillas is almost always small unit tactics, which include ambushes, mining and the like.
With their former reliance on mass of numbers gone forever, this army will transform or it will die.
#10
Now they're auctioning off space flights to newlyweds
Yeah, but think of what you just wrote... space flight. Who else does it? Haven't seen too many Japaneese manned space flights. I'd just assume not to have to mess with the Russ.
#11
And BTW.... is it me or is word-wrap turned off? Must be something here.... haven't noted any comments... monitors not wide enough for the posts... am excellent reason to upgrade. I'm off to shop. I've broken the magic seal that opens the Christmas Club and woe to anyone who gets infront of me.
#12
Shipman, same problem for me here. Posts are off the page, comments are OK. Fred must have hit the eggnog early:).
Posted by: Steve ||
12/24/2003 15:05 Comments ||
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#13
Shipman---same problem for me here. I'm off to Best Buy to purchase a wide plasma screen with my Christmas bonus, heh heh.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/24/2003 15:46 Comments ||
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#14
I think that the transition to a seperated professional and conscript force structure will work well for the Russians. Russia has quite a large border; conscripts would be an effective option for security at outposts. Transitioning to professions in palces where engagements are likely allows you to get the most out of troops that are well trained.
I am not a student of army tactics, but I am struck by the fact that we rolled up the Iraqis who were using Russian tactics. Do the Russians have an alternative to the Warthog or JDAM's? The neo-Blitzkrieg warfare seems to call for armor and infantry advances to contact enemy units for destruction by superior airpower. Note- if you use non-professionals for the infantry/armor assault without GPS and good communications, I speculate that the friendly fire butcher's bill would be ugly.
I wonder whether a Gaza type fence for a Hadrian's Wall effect would slow down the incursion rate.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
12/24/2003 15:59 Comments ||
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#15
Guys, I dashed off an interrogative to Fred about it but, yeah, might have fallen into the eggnog. If you can go 1Kx768 the lines fit, but then they've got just toodamnedmanycharactersinarow to read in Arial, and my eyes are getting too old.
It may also be sabotage by dark outsiders, an evil alQ plot to spawn pollution by coaxing people throw out their 15" 800x600 CRT's.
#16
Well, what the Hell, it worked! Came back as soon as I posted #15. The moral of this is, the way to accomplish something is merely getting the right guy to complain (:-)> = balding man with beard
#18
I really don't understand why the (once-feared) Russian army has had so little success in reining in the Chechen terrorists.
Putin has declared "total war" on them more than once.
Jennie thats one hell of a good question, and I haven't see anyone try to answer it, but its Afghanistan all over again. Its instructive that the American experience in Afghanistan is totally different to the Russian experience. This leads me to think that in tribal islamic societies people will choose their tribe and religion (and I'm not sure of their relative importance) over a corrupt and brutal government. I think there is a lot of nonsense talked about hearts-and-minds, but I do think people will side with the group that that seems to offer the best prospects for protecting person and property. The Russians just end up doing too much random/arbitrary violence.
#19
More thoughts on this and tieing in my response to jennie's question above! I can get the US PBS Nightly News and yesterday there was discussion on how more people 'hate' the Americans than before 9/11. Much wringing of hands and talk about how this is a 'BIG' problem.
Well, I have news for you, It aint a big problem and the brits understand this much better. Its a brit cultural characteristic to like pissing people off (it goes along with the whining and sneering). They enjoy it, especially pissing off people they don't like. The brits understand much better that whatever you do, you are going to upset someone. And the more you try and do, the more people you will upset. A lot more people are going to be pissed off before this over. So I suggest that Americans practice liking the feeling.
Given a choice between being liked and being respected which would you choose? America is getting a lot of respect for its resolve to actually do something about the problems in the world. Check out the quarters where Americans don't get respect. Lets use Michael Moore as a proxy for all those who sneer and degrade the USA. Do you want these peoples respect? Do you want to be liked by them?
#20
Good post phil_b. We would like people to like us, but if they do not like us, then they should respect us. If they won't respect us, then they should fear us. Works for me. Old adage, but good.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/24/2003 18:56 Comments ||
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#21
It aint a big problem and the brits understand this much better. Its a brit cultural characteristic to like pissing people off (it goes along with the whining and sneering). They >enjoy it, especially pissing off people they don't like. The brits understand much better that whatever you do, you are going to upset someone. And the more you try and do, the more people you will upset. A lot more people are going to be pissed off before this over.
God I do love Brits.
#22
I am not a student of army tactics, but I am struck by the fact that we rolled up the Iraqis who were using Russian tactics.
The Iraqi Army under Saddam may have had officers trained in Soviet doctrine but the result was they sure didn't learn anything. Take, for example, the tactic of digging in Russian tanks. The Russian Army doctrine on use of tanks is that it is a mobile shock force. So why dig in tanks? To stop an enemy advance, or to delay it long enough to launch a counterattack. The Iraqis just dug tanks in, no AAA covering fire, no CAP, just dug them in and hope the dumb old Americans didn't notice. That is not Russian doctrine or tactics.
Do the Russians have an alternative to the Warthog or JDAM's?
The Russians stole an American design for the interdiction aircraft, the SU-25. As of this posting it is as an effective ground interdiction platform as the A-10. Russians also have cluster munitions available for their MRLs, tube artillery as well as aerial bombs. However, Russian avionics are at least two generations behind and their doctrine governing the use of aircraft for interdiction is still very much stuck in the 1940s: They expect to lose masses of aircraft and crews and still win a war. Well, no more. Russian Army must rethink its doctrine with a shrinking demographic base.
The neo-Blitzkrieg warfare seems to call for armor and infantry advances to contact enemy units for destruction by superior airpower.
Actually this has been American doctrine for modern warfare dating back to Normandy in 1944. Bring ground troops into contact. If you can't squeeze mobile forces through gaps in an enemy's defenses, just have the troops pins down the enemy and bring in the air force. Modern mobile warfare as it has evolved for the USA in that small forces can control great distances through the use of constant recon via ground and aerial means against a technically and tactically inferior (if not numerically superior) opponent; thus the only issue being one of logistics. As long as you can supply your forces, and the enemy can't, you can control great amounts of territory. This is why for seemingly days in GWII we saw pictures for military units on the move. They didnt seek out anything but soft general targets in a force's rear areas, knowing as they undoubedly did, the sight of a US armor force would be enough to make panic and rout set in.
From what I read about the subject, and this may have changed over the years, is that Russian pilots were totally dependant on ground controllers. In other words, someone on the ground with a big radar would give them orders and direct the pilots' actions. Here's an excerpt from Anthony Robinson's SOVIET AIR POWER , 1985
"Doubts also remain about the level of tactical and flying skills of Soviet pilots, although there is evidence that in recent years the Soviet Air Force has improved the realism of its combat training. Furthermore, there are signs that at last a measure of individual initiative on the part of the fighter pilot is being encouraged. However, in this respect the Soviet forces face the dilemma that any undue emphasis on initiative at the junior levels will undermine the traditions of discipline and strict subordination which commanders see as one of the great strengths of the Soviet military system."
Posted by: Rafael ||
12/24/2003 20:07 Comments ||
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#24
oops, that should be "dependent", not "dependant". Although I guess you could say that Russian pilots were in a sense dependants as well.
Posted by: Rafael ||
12/24/2003 20:19 Comments ||
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#25
From what I read about the subject, and this may have changed over the years, is that Russian pilots were totally dependant on ground controllers. In other words, someone on the ground with a big radar would give them orders and direct the pilots' actions
I have heard the same thing but only about Russian PVO pilots (Air Defense) being little better than air taxi drivers armed to the teeth with anti-air means, but even during WWII, Red Air Force tactical combat pilots when ordered on what were termed 'free hunts' had incredible latutude as to direction, distance and target of their choosing; this during the reign of Uncle Joe(tm). I agree, control of Soviet pilots is very centralized and in the manner this discussion is taking place ( ground strikes against ground targets) missions are tighly controlled by Frontal Aviation and thus integreted into their battle plan. The Russians view the aircraft as another fancy means of artillery and that explains their tendency to have an air army ( roughly 500 combat aircraft, about half dedicated ground strike platforms) attached to each military district, nee front.
Russian combat pilots, as with all combat pilots in the better air forces in the world, have their missions cut out for them by command and in a modern war it would be unlikely a 'free hunt' would be ordered by a Russian air commander given how expensive even the more simple Russian aircraft are, but were such a mission take place, it would be pretty clear what the term means: Pilot's choice.
#26
Badanov, Wouldn't the dig in strategy have come from Sadaam's belief that the French, Germans and Russians would stop the offensive. In GWI I have heard that we hit fewer tanks, Scud Launchers etc. than we originally thought. I think Sadaam expected a repeat. The incident where the Republican Guard tried to reposition or attack during the sandstorm had a poor result.
Rafael, are you saying that the Russians have relatively capable aircraft manned by pilots that can dogfight but not conduct ground support? Do you think its the link capability along the training structure that sets US and Nato air assets apart?
Posted by: Super Hose ||
12/24/2003 21:14 Comments ||
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#27
Well by no means am I an expert on the Russian military. All my info comes from the book I mentioned, which itself specifically talks about Soviet forces. Nonetheless, it provides an interesting insight, and here are some more excerpts that I found, supporting what Badanov said:
"The tactical air forces of Frontal Aviation (Frontovaya aviatsiya) have always formed the backbone of the Soviet air force and their operations have been rigidly subordinated to those of the land army...Thus although the air force is an independent service, its major preoccupation is the support of ground operations." "Soviet air power in its widest sense is concerned with both strategic and tactical missions...At the tactical level, air support of the ground forces is the major mission. A Soviet ground offensive would be accompanied by air and anti-air operations. The air operation would be directed in the initial stages of the conflict at the enemy nuclear forces and at his air force."
"The effectiveness of the Soviet Air Force's ground attack missions is not solely dependent of the characteristics of the weapons that they will use, but will also depend on the weapons delivery skills of the aircrew. Soviet training philosophy differs from that of most Western air forces in that their pilots receive short periods of intensive training rather than this being continual process. A recent trend has been to improve the realism of Soviet air-to-ground training...Air-to-surface missile firings have also been exercised intensively by Frontal Aviation, with an average of 2000 such practices each year...In general, ground attack missions will be tailored to the characteristics of the available Soviet aircraft..."
Posted by: Rafael ||
12/24/2003 22:27 Comments ||
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#28
Glen-Not-R
Clancy was pretty close to the mark. Getting inside thje Soviet I-D-A cycle would have eventually unhinged things on their side, as would classified systems we had at the time (The F117 were active well before they wre revealed). If the initial push were held, they would have collapsed from follow-on echelons being completey scambled.
The real question comes on how effectively the Germans and Brits woudl hold in the north - its decent tank terrain. Terrain where US forces were stationed were excellent for defense. And, at least in the cavalry regiments, the transition to Abrams Bradley and Apache in the mid 80's made deep strike (like in GW 1 and 2) a well practiced set of operations at the regimental level in the US Army. 1GTA, 3rd SHock Army, and other "Army" (western corps) commands would have been rudely surprised by hard hits and fades on them - completely dis-coordinating the front and follow echelons, as well as the supplies neccesary to establish and maintain an advance. Add to this the interdiction by stealth aircraft and striek craft after Iron Hand blew out PVO Strany, and you have a disaster in the making for the Soviet Union.
But it would ahve been a very very close thing. ANd prior to about 1983, it probably woudl have gone the other way just as easily due to lack of training and equipment in the US forces, as well as the German and British.
A shortfall of international aid has forced the World Food Program to halve the food ration for 2.6 million malnourished people in Zimbabwe, and aid officials say supplies for that country of some staples like cooking oil will completely run out early next month.
"Bob? You see that light at the end of the tunnel? That's a fire."
Spokesmen for the organization said the shortages could soon extend to five other southern African countries, where a combination of drought and insufficient donations threatens to worsen hunger problems when the harvest season begins early next year. In a news release on Monday, the food program said it had cut its basic ration of cornmeal in Zimbabwe from nearly 12 ounces a day to about 6, largely because emergency food stocks in Zimbabwe were running low and donations from outside were insufficient to replenish them. The remaining monthly rations â about a quart of cooking oil and two pounds of beans or peas â were continuing, an official said. But even those stocks are expected to run out altogether early next month. "Unfortunately January, February and March are the key hungry months before the harvest," Richard Lee, the program's Johannesburg information officer, said in a telephone interview. "Zimbabwe's situation is by far the worst." Michael Huggins, the agency's regional information director for southern Africa, said in an interview that the agency needed an increase in cash donations to be able to respond quickly to the imminent shortage in Zimbabwe, the former breadbasket of Africa.
"So pony up, boys! Kick in the cash you worked to earn to bail out Zim, where Bob's screwed up what he hasn't stolen. Do it for The Childrenâ¢."
The United Nations-based program is trying to feed 6.5 million hungry people in Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Lesotho and Swaziland. Four million recipients live in Zimbabwe, where large-scale agriculture has all but collapsed since President Robert Mugabe began seizing commercial farms from their white owners in 2000 in a plan to redress misdeeds committed under colonial rule.
Oh, that worked well, didn't it?
Because of earlier shortages, the World Food Program says, it had been able to feed only 2.6 million of those needy people in Zimbabwe. Their rations will now be cut to the newly announced level.
Tough for them, isn't it? Maybe they should go to more ZANU-PF rallies, where free lunches seem to still be in vogue.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
12/24/2003 00:22 ||
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#1
This is the worst news. A growing season coming up and little hope for a harvest sufficient to feed the population, then cuts in aid.
Our little pool on the coming, inevitable Zimbabwe famine is be expiring early, maybe November?
#2
This is criminal. It's obscene to see the way that Zimbabwe has been raped by this man. Just a few grams of lead would have saved the situation too...
"As a representative of the agricultural sector and hence of the growers in what was known as the "food basket of Southern Africa", it is particularly frustrating to see Zimbabwe well past the brink of starvation."
"The 1997 cereal production is estimated at 2.7 million tons, compared to 3.1 million tons in 1996. The maize crop amounts to 2.2 million tons, 16 percent lower than last yearâs good harvest but slightly above average. The output of millet and sorghum is estimated at about 220 000 tons, about the same as the above-average crop in 1996.
The national food supply situation is expected to remain satisfactory during the 1997/98 marketing year. Maize supply is expected to cover requirements, including the replenishment of stocks, and to leave an exportable surplus."
"As a result of the sharp decline in production and severe shortage of foreign exchange, the food supply situation is increasingly tight. The Grain Marketing Board has announced tenders to import 150Â 000 tonnes of maize. Prices of basic food staples, which had increased more than 300 percent from June to August, stabilized or declined after the Government ordered on 12 October price cuts of 5 to 20 percent for maize meal - the basic staple - and bread, meat, vegetables, milk, cooking oil and salt. However, many of the products were unavailable on the markets in the second half of the month. "
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
12/24/2003 5:09 Comments ||
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#3
Food Agency Cuts Zimbabwe Rations and Warns of Shortages
Yes. That's what happens when... you cut back on the food rations!
Another double sawbuck on Zimbabwe please...
#4
Looks like there'll be US beef on the export market, but doubtful Zimbobs could afford to buy much at any price ranchers will be able to sell. Not with Bob wasting investing, what, $4G foreign exchange into Internet Stalinist censorship security.
Libyan leader Muammar Kadhafi said that his government had taken "corrective" action in renouncing weapons of mass destruction and that nations such as North Korea, Iran and Syria, suspected of having nuclear arms, should follow its lead.
Oh, I love this. The cockles of my heart are all warm and mellow...
"In my opinion I should believe that they should follow the steps of Libya, take an example from Libya, so that they prevent any tragedy being inflicted upon their own people," Kadhafi said in an exclusive interview with CNN late Monday. Kadhafi reasoned that such a step would "tighten the noose around the Israelis, so they would expose their programs of" weapons of mass destruction.
Without everybody else trying to come up with warheads, maybe the Zionist Entity™ wouldn't need them?
Libya on Friday took the world by surprise admitting after years of denial that it had weapons of mass destruction and vowing to renounce them.
Floored me, I'll admit. On the other hand, I've also been saying all along that Muammar wasn't as dumb as his tailor makes him look...
Kadhafi, however, told CNN that Libya did not posess nuclear, biological or chemical weapons. "We have not these weapons," he told CNN's Andrea Koppel during his interview in a tent a half an hour's drive outside the Libyan capital Tripoli. The programs to be dismantled, Kadhafi said, "would have been for peaceful purposes â but nevertheless we decided to get rid of them completely."
Good idea. You don't need any peaceful nuclear warheads.
In its official statement, Libya on Friday said it had "formally decided of its own free will to renounce all these substances, equipment and programmes, to become a country free of weapons of mass destruction." US officials on Saturday said that during secret visits to Libya in October, US intelligence agents found a more advanced uranium enrichment program than publicly disclosed but no evidence of actual production of fissile material for nuclear weapons. Asked if US sanctions had impacted his decision to renounce weapons of mass destruction, Kadhafi replied: "The important thing is what we have done. It is the correct â corrective action."
"Sanctions? Thhhhppp! I spit on sanctions! But we were pissing a lot of money away on toys and having adventures, and there are more important things in life than warheads. Like survival."
He said the idea was "to improve relations between our respective countries," adding that he expected cooperation in "the technology industry" and in acquiring industrial equipment. "We wish American companies and these rich companies to cooperate with us and use them together for peaceful purposes," the Libyan leader said. The US government banned the import of Libyan crude oil in 1982 and in the following years imposed extra trade, export and investment bans. More sanctions were imposed in 1986 for Libya's alleged support for terrorism, including a total import-export ban, and expanded economic and travel embargos. Libya is also on a US blacklist as one of seven states accused of supporting terrorism. Libya's surprise announcement last week came days after US troops captured former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein near his home town of Tikrit.
Quite a coincidence, huh?
But Kadhafi said images of a bedraggled and bearded Saddam shown after he was found in an underground bolthole only served to create sympathy for the ousted dictator. "By the way he was shown, the way he appeared, meant everybody sympathizing with him," Kadhafi said. Kadhafi denied Saddam's fall had anything to do with the timing of his decision.
"No, no! Certainly not!"
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
12/24/2003 00:22 ||
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If Iraq, the most powerful Arab state lasted about a week what chance would Libya have against the US. The population and the oil is oh so close to that long shoreline.
And the French and Russians couldn't stop the US.
Kadhafi was enough of a soldier to know he had no chance. He's been aiming to seperate himself from the Arabs and become more Africa-centric for some time now. This is simply the finaly divorce.
#4
Has Libya fought enough wars during his career to even have that many decorations? Still sounds like doubletalk to me. I would not buy a used car from that man.
#7
The campaign ribbon...wonder what that one was for?
And to think he's only a colonel. I'm surprised though, where's that all-female security team? (or is that the wrong dictator I'm thinking of)
Posted by: Rafael ||
12/24/2003 8:26 Comments ||
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#8
Oh, great. Another sequel to "Weekend at Bernie's"?
Posted by: Dar ||
12/24/2003 9:47 Comments ||
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#9
The top one on the left is the "Barney Fife" deputy badge. The top one on the ribbon is the "I Bagged a Beauty Queen" medal from the last contest that he sponsored. The bottom one on the ribbon is the "I Caught the Clap" medal, from the same contest. The blue one in the lower right is the "I Got My Ass Kicked by the Foreign Legion" medal. The one with the red points in the lower left is the "I Got My Ass Kicked by Ronald Reagan" medal. The white one on the left, in the middle, is the one for selling the most Girl Scout cookies in 1957. Finaly, the green one, on the right next to the ribbon, is the "I Got My Ass Kicked by the Egyptian Army" medal. The rest of the medals are probably for other, lesser-known ass kickings.
#10
The programs to be dismantled, Kadhafi said, "would have been for peaceful purposes â but nevertheless we decided to get rid of them completely." I am unaware of a peaceful use for drums of mustard gas. Nort African food is often spicy, but let's not go overboard.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
12/24/2003 15:16 Comments ||
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#11
I did a Midshipman Cruise on the USS Saratoga in the summer of 1987. The ship's store sold tee-shirts that read, "Saratoga 7 Libya 0." the words were puncutated by deatil that looked like seven bullet holes ripped through rivitted aluminum sheet. I wish I had bought one.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
12/24/2003 15:20 Comments ||
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#12
AOL sends me a lot of stuff that MG has hanging on the right (our left) of his sash.
SH did you get to visit Jacksonville? We should have saved the Sara... ;(
#13
Good grief! Someone needs to explain to that idiot that it's tacky to over-accessorize.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
12/24/2003 19:26 Comments ||
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#14
Shipman, I did a YP cruise on the East Coast that stopped in Little Creek, Morehead City, Willmington, Charleston, Savanah and Mayport. I loved the entire trip.
I met the Saratoga in the Med on teh cruise after they torqued of Kadaffy. It was an excellent cruise to be on as well. They visited Cannes, Benidorm, Alexandria and Naples in the six weeks I was aboard. It was a blast. We cruised down across the "line of death" once, probably for crew nostalgia.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
12/24/2003 20:46 Comments ||
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The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei, said Monday that he will go to Libya next week to "kick start" inspections of Libya's nuclear weapons program. Dr. ElBaradei's plans follow Libya's sudden admission of its past nuclear weapons ambitions and its agreement with the United States and Britain to dismantle all its unconventional weapons programs and submit to international inspections. The moves are part of a broader initiative by the Libyan leader, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, to rehabilitate his country's international standing. Dr. ElBaradei said the inspections would help define what actions would be needed to eliminate any nuclear weapons program. Libyan government officials confirmed to him over the weekend that Libya had been developing uranium enrichment technology to enable it to build nuclear bombs. The program included buying uranium from abroad, as well as centrifuge and conversion equipment that was used to build a small, now dismantled enrichment plant.
Seeing how Libya was doing it, perhaps the good Doctor can apply that knowledge when he heads back to Iran... Naw. That'd never work.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
12/24/2003 00:22 ||
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#1
Geezus, these guys have missed every program they ever went to see. I think the Lions out to have a special eyeglass drive just for them.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
12/24/2003 6:11 Comments ||
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U.S. officials fear that commercial aircraft from Europe and Latin America will be hijacked and used to attack targets in the United States, a high-level European official said Tuesday. "They are concerned about several specific flights -- not just flights from Europe but also from Latin America," the official told AFP on condition of anonymity. White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Monday that U.S. officials had information indicating that "Al-Qaeda seeks to use aircraft as weapons in suicide-type attacks" similar to those carried out on September 11, 2001. But he told reporters that the United States has also "shared information with our international partners so that they can enhance aviation security and address the threats that we face out there."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/24/2003 12:09:11 AM ||
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#4
Going after planes yet again strikes me as too obvious. Hopefully we are considering the likliehood that these intercepts are designed to throw us off the trail of other ops.
New intelligence information indicates that al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden and his top deputy personally approved the suspected terrorist attack plan that led the government to raise the nationâs terror threat assessment this week, U.S. officials told NBC News on Tuesday. The officials said U.S. intelligence agencies had gathered detailed information about the plan, in which they said al-Qaida operatives would hijack foreign airliners and fly them into targets in the United States. In some instances, the intelligence is so detailed as to include specific flight numbers, they said. The Defense Department said Tuesday that it was broadening air patrols throughout the country. Security forces have put several U.S. airports under intense scrutiny, the U.S. officials told NBCâs Jim Miklaszewski, specifically naming Newark International Airport in New Jersey. Jersey was where Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman ran his operations out of. Any of his flunkies still around?
The U.S. officials said the new intelligence indicated that bin Laden himself had approved the most recent plan for major attacks, along with Ayman al-Zawahiri, his deputy. U.S. officials and terrorism experts said that while some of the potential targets might seem unusual, there was a method to al-Qaidaâs plot. For example, the officials said, al-Qaida seems particularly interested in Tappahannock, Va., a tiny town of 2,016 people with no military base or major infrastructure. Such an attack would be intended to generate widespread fear that no one was safe, even in small rural towns, they said. âJust remember that al-Qaida is not just looking to kill as many Americans as possible. Theyâre looking to seriously hurt our nationâs economy,â terrorism specialist Roger Cressey, former chief of staff of the Presidentâs Critical Infrastructure Protection Board, said in an interview. That fits with the story regarding Binnyâs bloodlust from the Turkish al-Qaeda a couple of days ago ...
In addition to big cities like New York and Los Angeles, al-Qaida has targeted Las Vegas, the officials said, because of its economic value as the nationâs No. 2 vacation destination and as home to large conventions and trade shows beginning next month. Other possible targets include important infrastructure facilities, such as nuclear power plants and dams. The officials mentioned oil transport facilities at Valdez, Alaska, as a particularly likely target.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/24/2003 12:02:56 AM ||
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#1
The terrorists (spelled "losers") might want to rethink Tappahannock - people out there are likely as not to have guns, and know how to use them. Same for the rest of Virginia, except near D.C. Not to put too fine a point on it, but jihadis would probably stand out in the Tappahannock area, too.
If they're serious about attacking us, they might want to pick a place where only the criminals are allowed to own guns. (D.C. comes to mind, with one of the strictest gun laws and highest murder rates in the country - who'da thunk it?)
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
12/24/2003 0:20 Comments ||
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#2
I'm pretty sure its Rappahannock. You have a good point Barbara, except according to the way the Feds see it, it appears that the Islamofacists plan on ramming a plane into something.If they succeed, my only hope is our response will be disproportionaly violent.
#4
none of this makes any sense. they need something big. after having your network crushed and being chased into a hole, you don't follow up twin towers with uncle ernie's VA farmhouse.
It's midway between Washington, DC and Norfolk, VA.
Posted by: Tom ||
12/24/2003 9:54 Comments ||
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#6
Jersey Mike: "If they succeed, my only hope is our response will be disproportionaly violent."
I expect it will be, at least among us hicks down here. 4thInfVet has it right, I think.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
12/24/2003 10:02 Comments ||
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#7
If they were really going after Rapahanock county, the one target of interest might be the Inn at Little Washington - why target a frou-frou little gourmet establishment in the Virginia Piedmont? Well on any given Saturday night it tends to draw top DC people - lobbyists, pols, and various high mucky mucks. Security is probably light, and if all you have is a truck bomb, you might do better there then in Downtown DC, where youre only likely to kill low level civil servants. If youre AQ you hope you luck out and get someone like Richard Perle, or Don Rumsfeld, and not say a lobbyist for the record industry or the trial lawyers.
#8
I could be wrong but I think the Orange status is a bunch of crap. Al Queda is not gonna hit us they're just sending out increased signals to spread terror. The Government has to respond, just in case. The end result is a lot of scared people and a lot of money spent by the government, and Al Queda managed it on the cheap. Again, I could be wrong but I doubt it.
We've almost given mystical powers to Al Queda when in truth Atta gave off every possible clue that he was a terrorist. He threatened peoples lives, asked questions about security at targets, he didn't try to lay low at all. The US had a blind spot pre Sept 11. Any terrorists working now will have to be Hollywood style smooth and I just don't see the Taliban wonderboys as being that capable.
#9
Water reservoirs, transmission towers, railways, rail and highway bridges, power stations, dams, tunnels, ports and railyards, chemical factories and storage tanks...
They don't need to hit us on a 9/11 scale again to remind us they're here. Look what those two creeps Malvo and Muhammed did to terrorize a region filled with several million people with a nondescript car and a rifle. Look at the anthrax mailings, too. The number of people whose lives were adversely affected went well beyond the number of direct victims.
This morning on FOX I saw part of an interview with Congressman Harold Ford (TN-D), in which he stated the orange alert should be taken more seriously in places like LA and NYC, but not so in Memphis or Nashville.
How asinine! That's the complacency that opens up the entire country for attack. Everybody everywhere needs to be on alert. Al Qaeda may be a bunch of crazed fanatics, but they're intelligent enough to strike where we're weakest.
Posted by: Dar ||
12/24/2003 13:37 Comments ||
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#10
AQ needs to be careful up around that part of the country. They could easily run across their 72 Virginians early and they'd likely be holding 72 pieces, uh.. gats... iron you know like sawyers.
#11
If they hit a small town, it must be a significant town that is recognizable enough to generate significant donations throughout the world. I would expect that it would be something like Kinnebunkport(sp?) or Los Alamos.
Wouldn't it be more liekly that they would hit an unprotected Midwest city. Chicago would provide a high deathtoll but Motown would be symbolic, has a sizable Midlle Eastern community and easy access from Canada?
Posted by: Super Hose ||
12/24/2003 16:41 Comments ||
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#12
SH yes... agree... I was thinking about Pilot Mt. NC.
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