British troops will be ordered to conduct "seek and destroy" operations in southern Afghanistan, according to documents seen by the Sunday Telegraph.
The plans, which form part of a briefing document for senior officers, have revealed that troops will take part in missions to hunt down and kill insurgents, despite an explicit government assurance that this would not happen.
The revelation has led to allegations from serving officers and MPs that the Afghanistan deployment is already facing so-called "mission creep", with troops being ordered to conduct operations that were not part of the original- plan.
Under the heading "Deep Manoeuvre Effects", the document states that the troops will "find and track insurgents, interdict and disrupt opposition sanctuaries and locations and defeat (eventually)", which, according to one source, is an accurate description of a "seek and destroy" operation.
The plans, which formed part of a presentation to Royal Marine officers, state that the most dangerous operations will take place in the Taliban's former heartland near the country's southern border with Pakistan, a lawless area notorious for producing a large proportion of Afghanistan's opium and heroin.
The information within the documents appears to contradict statements made by John Reid, the Defence Secretary, to the House of Commons in January, when he said that British troops were not going to Afghanistan "to wage war or carry out seek and destroy" operations that the Americans had been mounting.
Instead, he said British troops would help to train the Afghan security forces, assist with the reconstruction and support anti-narcotics -operations.
Last night, Liam Fox, the Tory shadow defence secretary, called on Mr Reid to explain to Parliament why British troops would be taking part in combat operations when he had stated they would be mostly involved in reconstruction efforts.
British troops have already begun to arrive in the Helmand province of southern Afghanistan as part of Operation Herrick - Britain's involvement in the multinational operation - but the main bulk of the 3,300 from 16 Air Assault Brigade, which is largely composed of paratroopers, will not be in a position to conduct operations for several weeks.
The Paras are due to be replaced by marines from 3 Commando Brigade, who will begin deploying to Afghanistan in October, but the plans also reveal that the marines will be taking twice as many fighting troops as the Paras.
While 16 Air Assault Brigade will deploy to Afghanistan with one battle group, the commando brigade will deploy with two battle groups of 1,200 men each, based around 42 and 45 Commando, raising fears that the Army is not sending enough troops to Afghanistan to deal with the threat facing them. The Sunday Telegraph revealed in February that the Lt Gen David Richards, the commander of the Nato allied rapid reaction corps, wanted to take two battle groups of 1,200 men each so that one could act as a reserve force which would be used only in an emergency. But military planners at the Permanent Joint Headquarters at Northwood decided such a force was unnecessary.
British commanders believe the main threat to troops will be from suicide bombers and improvised explosive devices such as car bombs. On Friday, three soldiers were injured in a suicide attack in Helmand when an insurgent drove a booby-trapped station wagon into a military convoy.
Last week, Gen James Jones, Nato's most senior commander in Europe, said that the drug cartels operating in Helmand province posed as big a threat to international troops as the Taliban and al-Qaeda.
Mr Fox said the public was not being given the full facts by the Ministry of Defence. He said: "If British troops are going to be involved in seek and destroy missions, then John Reid needs to return to the Commons and explain why we were given such misleading information."
Patrick Mercer, the shadow homeland security minister and a former Army commanding officer, added: "It is clear from these plans that mission creep is going to occur once extra combat troops arrive. The Government has got to come clean on this and explain its real intentions in Afghanistan."
#1
Oh no! You mean they'll have to be like soldiers and use their training and weapons to fight bad guys? Oh the horror! Surely they didn't join the military to fight! This calls for an immediate investigation! Good catch, Telegraph!
Good Griefinessiosity. Take your soma. Let these folks do what they do and keep your silly beaks out of matters beyond your ken.
DIR: US and Afghan troops launched a joint operation in Afghanistan's Kunar province as Pakistan deployed paramilitary forces along the Pak-Afghan border to check the possible infiltration of fleeing Al Qaeda and Taliban elements. Military authorities said that forces were deployed to check the movement of terrorists from Afghanistan to Pakistan, rejecting claims that the troops were deployed to assist US forces. A source in Dir civil administration said that paramilitary soldiers were being deployed along the border stretching from Dir Lower to Dir Upper and Chitral districts. The military declined to reveal the exact number of soldiers to be stationed at the border overlooking Afghanistan's eastern Kunar province.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/16/2006 00:14 ||
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LONDON - British soldiers will be ordered to seek and destroy insurgent remnants of the ousted Taleban regime in Afghanistan, the Sunday Telegraph newspaper said. Citing a briefing document, the British weekly broadsheet said troops would be sent to hunt down and kill insurgents, despite Defence Secretary John Reid telling parliaments lower House of Commons that this would not happen.
Britain, which had 1,100 soldiers in Afghanistan, has started the deployment of 3,300 additional troops in the country, in particular to the lawless south, as part of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force.
Under the heading Deep Manoeuvre Effects, the document said that soldiers would find and track insurgents, interdict and disrupt opposition sanctuaries and locations and defeat (eventually), which, a source told the newspaper, was an accurate description of a seek and destroy operation.
The plans formed part of a presentation to Royal Marine officers. They said the most dangerous operations would take place in the south where a large proportion of Afghanistans heroin and opium is produced. British forces are currently in the area, which still has a presence of the hardline former ruling Taleban, as part of a multi-national operation working on counter-narcotics and reconstruction.
Reid told the Commons in January that the extra British troops were not heading to Afghanistan to wage war or carry out seek and destroy operations that US forces had been undertaking. He announced the deployment of the additional troops to Helmand, one of four southern provinces where Canada has been put in charge of multinational forces hunting Taleban and Al Qaeda terror network sympathisers.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/16/2006 00:01 ||
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Afghan forces and coalition helicopter gunships attacked a suspected Taliban hide-out in southern Afghanistan, triggering a fierce battle that killed 41 militants, a provincial governor said Saturday.
Six Afghan policemen were also killed, but there were no casualties among the U.S.-led forces in Friday's battle in the Zare Dasht district of Kandahar province, Kandahar Governor Assadullah Khalid told a news conference in Kandahar city. A number of militants' bodies had been recovered, he said. A senior provincial official who declined to be named said government forces suffered high casualties as several rockets mistakenly hit them.
A Taliban spokesman, Qari Mohammad Yousuf, put Taliban deaths at only three and said there were "high casualties among Afghan and foreign forces."
"Yarrrrr! We moidalized 'em!"
Four civilians were also killed, residents said.
Khalid, the Kandahar governor, said some of the heaviest fighting in weeks erupted after Afghan and coalition forces came under attack during a search operation for Taliban hiding in the area
ALEXANDRIA, Egypt -- Fighting broke out Saturday between hundreds of Coptic Christians and Muslims at the funeral of a man knifed to death in an attack outside a church.
Egypt's Interior Ministry said 15 people were injured Saturday and security forces used tear gas to quell a disturbance that damaged several shops and left two cars on fire. Fifteen people were arrested.
On Friday, a knife-wielding man attacked worshippers at three Coptic churches in Alexandria, killing the 78-year-old man whose funeral was held Saturday.
The Interior Ministry said the attacker, who also wounded five people, suffered from "psychological disturbances."
At the Saturday funeral procession, police arrested "some fanatic extremist elements who provoked skirmishes and threw stones at each other," the Interior Ministry said in a statement. It said that the detainees included Copts and Muslims.
Coptic Christians make up 10 percent of Egypt's 73 million people and generally live in peace with the Muslim majority, though occasional sectarian clashes occur.
The United States urged the Coptic and Muslim communities of Alexandria to exercise tolerance.
Christians complain that they suffer job discrimination, particularly in the high ranks of the civil service.
Police fired tear gas on Saturday to stop clashes in Alexandria between Muslims and Christians angered by the killing of an elderly Copt a day earlier by a Muslim, witnesses said.
Hundreds of Christians turned out for the funeral of the 67-year-old man. His assailant wounded five other people in the knife attack on worshippers in two churches.
Thirty people were wounded in Saturday's fighting, medical and police sources said. Rocks and sticks were used in the clashes, which the state news agency MENA said started after the funeral.
Two cars were torched, shop windows were smashed and police arrested 15 people, MENA said.
Tensions between Egypt's Christians and Muslims occasionally boil over into violence. In 1999, 22 people where killed in sectarian strife in the southern village of Kosheh.
An Interior Ministry source said the 25-year-old man who carried out Friday's attack said he was taking revenge for insults to the Prophet Mohammad, apparently a reference to cartoons of the Prophet published mainly in European newspapers.
The authorities said the attacker was mentally ill.
But Christian demonstrators in Alexandria said the authorities were trying to make excuses for what some Copts saw as increasing attacks on Christians.
"We want justice. Christ is the winner," they chanted as they marched through the city on Egypt's northern coast.
"Why can't we live in peace?" read a banner held by mourners at the funeral. "No to oppression," read another.
Three people died in Alexandria in clashes with the police in October during protests by Muslims over a church play which they said was offensive to Islam.
Coptic Christians comprise between 5 and 10 percent of Egypt's 73 million people, most of whom are Sunni Muslim.
President Hosni Mubarak said Egypt would confront any attempts to harm national unity.
"Egypt is considered a model of national unity and religious tolerance," Mubarak said in comments published in state press. "The occurrence of an individual incident or problem cannot disturb the serenity and strength of this relationship between the two elements of the nation," he said.
#3
Is anyone else sick and tired of this sectarian violence horseshit? We have only been really aware of it for a few years here in the states, but for a thousand years these A-holes have been throwing temper tantrums in Sandi-Land.
Clashes have erupted in the northern Egyptian city of Alexandria after the funeral of a worshipper killed the day before in attacks on Coptic Christian churches. Egyptian police arrested 15 people in the aftermath of the clashes in the Mediterranean port town's Sidi Bishr suburb on Saturday.
Police arrested "some fanatic extremist elements who provoked skirmishes and threw stones at each other", the interior ministry said. It said that the detainees, who included Copts and Muslims, "went too far" when they set two cars on fire and damaged several shops.
Some 15 people were injured and security forces used tear gas to disperse the crowd. Security forces were deployed around the district to maintain calm on Saturday night.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/16/2006 01:12 ||
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Chirac is tough when he's facing Africans -- at a distance.
French military aircraft in Chad, where the authorities are facing a rebel power grab, transported Chadian soldiers to the country's southeast Thursday and Friday, the French defence ministry said.
A C-160 aircraft carried some 40 troops from the capital N'Djamena to Sahr, 500 kilometres (to the southeast and around 100 kilometres from the Central African border, following a Chadian request.
The plane was also carrying light weapons, the defence ministry said, adding that the flight was considered to be "logistical support", provided under a military cooperation agreement linking France and Chad.
France, which ordered 150 troop reinforcements to Chad on Wednesday in response to the worsening security situation, has said its 1,200 soldiers based in the country are not involved in fighting the rebels.
The ministry said the operation was intended to prevent a possible offensive by rebel forces seeking to oust President Idriss Deby Itno.
On Thursday a leader of the rebel United Front for Change (FUC) alleged that French fighter planes had bombed rebel-held towns in eastern Chad, a charge dismissed by the French authorities as "without foundation".
#1
The C-160 is a high-wing twin turboprop aircraft used by France, Germany, and Turkey, looking very similar to that of the Lockheed C-130 Hercules. Info HERE. It is supposed to be retired soon and replaced by the Airbus Military A400M.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
04/16/2006 16:12 Comments ||
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Egypt's Coptic Christians have protested in the city of Alexandria to demand greater protection following knife attacks at three churches. Hundreds rallied with banners reading: "Stop the persecution of Copts."
One person was killed and several others injured in the attacks during Friday Mass. The interior ministry said the assaults had been carried out by one "deranged" man but earlier police reports talked of three simultaneous attacks.
Ah, three deranged men.
Christians make up 10% of the Egyptian population and have complained of harassment and discrimination. Egypt's opposition Muslim Brotherhood endorsed the Christians' protest, calling the incident very sad news.
The interior ministry named the assailant as Mahmoud Salah-Eddin Abdel-Raziq, 25, and said he was "psychologically disturbed". It said the man attacked two churches and was arrested as he tried to enter a third. But police told the AP news agency that three men had been detained in simultaneous incidents and that an attempt to attack a fourth church had been foiled.
Sounds like a coordinated attack -- must have been a splinter group from somewhere.
The ministry said five people had been injured, the police as many as 16.
About 600 Copts protested outside one of the churches attacked - Saints Church - holding banners with slogans such as "Until when?" and "Hosni Mubarak, where are you?" referring to the nation's president. One woman worshipper, Nadia Lofti, said: "We cannot enter their mosques and kill them, yet they can come to our churches and kill us. Where are the police and the government?"
You've been oppressed for 1300 years, doncha know the answer by now, dhimmi?
Some Copts argue that previous attacks on them have gone unpunished or have drawn light sentences.
Like I was just saying ...
Witnesses said the churches only had one guard each on Friday. A doctor told AP that one policeman refused to fire on an attacker, saying he did not have orders.
The Muslim Brotherhood sympathised with the Copts' protest. Senior official Saber Abou el-Fotooh said: "The interior ministry's resources are stretched thin because it is preoccupied with chasing the Muslim Brotherhood."
Now there's a sly, self-serving statement.
Most Christians in Egypt are Copts - Christians descended from the ancient Egyptians. Their church split from the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches in 451AD because of a theological dispute over the nature of Christ, but is now, on most issues, doctrinally similar to the Eastern Orthodox church.
Four rebels have been killed in clashes with security forces inside a mosque in northern Yemen, the government says. Security officials said the clashes, which erupted as Friday prayers started in the Grand Mosque of Harf Sufiyan, northwest of Sanaa, killed four supporters of slain cleric Hussein Badr Eddin al-Hawthi, and wounded another three.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the clashes began when al-Hawthi loyalists attacked police in the mosque, in the province of Amran, about 40km northwest of the capital Sanaa. And Abdullah Mohsin Dhabaan, a member of the Amran city council, accused the worshippers starting a gun battle with policemen guarding the mosque. "A group of al-Hawthi's loyalists tried to take over the mosque by shooting the police, which forced the policemen to return fire," Dhabaan said.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/16/2006 01:36 ||
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Apr 15: Two terrorists were killed in crossfire between police and a group of terrorists in the small hours of Saturday at Ramkrishnapur under Doulatpur upazila in Kushtia.
Two more commies; Islamic terrorists get off with a warning.
The deceased were identified as Mohidul and Samiul.
Now known as Dead and Deader.
Police said acting on a tip off they conducted a raid on Thursday at Doulatpur and arrested them.
"Howdy boys! Youse comin' wit us for a little question-and-answer session."
"Uurp. Suddenly I don't feel so good."
Later, following their confessions, ...
"Wotcha think, [thump] Mahmoud, they ready [thump] to talk?"
"Oh yeah, [thump] most anytime now."
... police carried out another drive on Friday night at about 3 am along with Mohidul and Samiul at Ramkrishnapur area to arrest their accomplices and recover arms dens there.
From the secret lair at 3 am. Almost like it was planned.
Police said when they reached Ramkrishnapur area under Doulatpur upazila, the accomplices of the nabbed terrorists opened fires on them from their hideout.
"Cheez, it's the police! Git yer shootin' ir'ns, boys, and fill the sky with lead!"
Police also retaliated.
Well of course they did.
At one stage of melee, police claimed, Mohidul and Samiul tried to escape and caught several bullet injuries.
"Now's our chance! Let's get [thwip thunk BANG thud!] ... rosebud ..."
Police said both of them died on the spot.
In the back of the truck or just after hopping out?
The accomplices of the decease, according to police who opened fires on them, however, managed to flee the scene leaving two pistols and 11 round of bullets in the spot.
Got away so as to star in another exciting episode of 'Crossfire' in the near future.
Police said Mahidul and Samiul were accused in twelve systems nine cases.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/16/2006 00:20 ||
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#1
Please meet me again Under the Upazila
Cause the visegrips of your passion
Has bullet hit my country-made heart.
British authorities extradited to Spain a terrorist suspected of having connections with Al Qaeda, NewsRu reports. 46-year-old Khadi Ben Youssef Budhib left Britain from Northolt airbase. Spain has been tracking down Budhib, who according to Madrid Prosecutors Office supplied the terrorists responsible for March 11th 2004 attacks in Madrid with forged documents and money.
#1
Good old Northolt RAF Base, I remember it well. Spent a gloomy April deployed there for an exercise during my tour at RAF Alconbury. That's where I learned why the Brits are so tough. You have to be to eat what they're fed!
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/16/2006 15:36 Comments ||
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A bomb explosion on a busy pedestrian street on the outskirts of Istanbul wounded 31 people on Sunday, police said, in the latest violence to strike Turkey in recent weeks.
Istanbul's police chief Celalettin Cerrah said two civilians were in critical condition and had been rushed to hospital for emergency surgery. He told reporters at the scene two plainclothed policemen, patrolling the area, were also injured from broken glass.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility.
Istanbul -- a popular tourism destination -- has been struck by a series of bombings in recent weeks amid the worst street riots in more than a decade in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast, which left 16 dead.
Scores of soldiers and rebels of the separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) have also been killed in separate clashes.
The bomb had been placed in a garbage bin in front of shops, cafes and kiosks in the busiest part of the pedestrian street in the Bakirkoy district on the European side of Turkey's largest city and near the airport.
The blast blew out windows of stores in the street.
The pedestrian street was closed off and forensic experts were examining the area.
Police fired into the air to disperse angry residents who initially thought a person taken in by the police was a bomber. Police said the person was a witness.
The Kurdistan Liberation Hawks (TAK), a shadowy group which has ties to the PKK, has claimed responsibility for a series of deadly bomb blasts in Istanbul. TAK, formed by former PKK guerrillas, has warned of further attacks.
Militant groups, including Kurdish separatists, Islamists and ultra-leftists, have carried out attacks on civilians, security and military targets in Turkey in the past.
Security has been stepped up across the country, which is seeking European Union membership. The armed forces have also moved a large number of troops to areas near the border with Iraq ahead of an expected spring offensive against PKK rebels.
Vladimir Kravchenko, Procurator of Chechnya, announced the news in early April of this year. According to him, Chechen militants are preparing to carry out a series of large-scale terrorist acts.
"The militants plan to advertise themselves," declared Kravchenko, - "and earn the monetary assistance which unfortunately they continue to receive. They have named the period 'Fiery Summer'." Almost immediately afterwards, the Federals announced that they won't permit a deterioration of the situation in Chechen Republic (which they hold under complete control).
Alu Alkhanov, Chechnya's head, likewise expressed faith that the militants won't be able to make the situation in the Republic worse this summer. "The militants have endured a heavy blow this year, their centralized system of command has been destroyed and famous field commanders killed."
Representatives of the other side reacted to the news about their preparation for the large-scale operation "Fiery Summer" a little later. In the beginning of May in an interview with "Radio Liberty", famous Chechen field commander Doku Umarov announced the fighters' intentions "to carry out military activities on the territory of the opponent."
According to him, only by Aslan Maskhadov's demand did they thus far restrict military operations to the territory of Chechnya. Now however "when the murder and kidnapping of peaceful Chechen citizens has attained not only a full-scale but demonstrative character," the decision was made to introduce broad-scale military operations on the territory of Russia.
Thus the separatist websites have posted several new orders of Abdul-Khalim Sadulayev - Aslan Maskhadov's successor to the post of President of Ichkeria.
According to site gazeta.ru, one of the orders announced the creation of a united "Caucasus Front" of the Ichkerian Military Force. The stated document claims that Ossetian, Ingush, Kabardino-Balkarian, Stavropolian, Karachaevo-Cherkessian, Adigean and Krasnodar 'sectors' of the Western Front of the the Ichkerian Military Force are included in the "Caucasus Front" along with commanding fronts within Chechnya proper.
What the leaders of the "Caucasus Front" specifically plan to do - that which would seize practically all of the Northern Caucasus Republics remains as of yet unknown. Nevertheless, there are enough factors to predict that if they don't spread their presence deep into Russia, they will at least do so throughout the Northern Caucasus.
Sadulayev directly declared that whilst Europe doesn't help them to upstart political discussions with Moscow, their plan will remain, "forcing the Kremlin to peace", and that blows will be dealt to the "Achilles Heel of the Kremlin inhabitants and their helpers." This is according to gazeta.ru with a link to separatist websites. What will come of these threats is left for time to tell.
Both the Russian military and the separatists have recently been disseminating information about their great achievements. They are both putting forward ciphers concerning the scale of losses and damage to the enemy which convey a sense of imminent victory.
It is true that in March and April the Russian soldiers and local "powers" carried out a whole row of successful "Special Operations." As a result Aslan Maskhadov was killed as well as several mid-echelon separatist commanders / "emirs". Practically all skirmishes in which "Djamaat Emirs" are destroyed have occurred in or around Grozny. This in some measure affirms information about the concentration of militants earlier and possible large-scale actions on their part.
The past 2-3 weeks have been especially rich in victorious announcements from the side of the Russian military and local power structures. Announcements about the liquidation of militants are released almost every day. The "hand" of the Special Services overtakes them everywhere: in private homes, apartments, in the mountains, on the plains, in the forests and fields. "Are neutralized" the former VP of Ichkeria Vakha Arsanov ,dangerous international terrorist Danilbek Eskiyev, and the emirs of Shelkovsky, Gudermes and other regions and populated points. Several assumed suicide-terrorists.
However, even believing the reports of the Regional Operational Headquarters about almost daily liquidation of a long time not engaging by businesses Vakhi Arsanov or several "Djamaat emirs" - this can hardly signify a real victory for the Federals. After all, for the carrying out of diversionary-terroristic acts, the militants have no deep need of a "centralized command system" - the one which the soldiers and special operatives have been trying to destroy for all these years. The tactics of partisan warfare specifically differ from those of classical because various formations and groups act autonomously, striking at convenient times in strategic places, proceeding from reasons of expediency in each concrete occasion and without seeking approval for their activities from "high command".
As the Federals, the militants did sharply increase their level of activation with the arrival of the spring-summer season - especially in the mountainous areas of the Republic. In the past 2-3 weeks active military clashes and skirmishes have occurred in Nozhai-Yurt, Shatoi, Achkhoi-Martanovsky and a series of other regions in Chechnya.
It's possible that this activation is linked to the promised "Fiery Summer" of Shamil Basayev, but one must not exclude the fact that this happens practically every year as soon as the leaves turn green. Many observers calculate that if Basayev did indeed intend to carry out a series of large-scale terrorist acts on the territory of Russia, then he will use all possible and impossible means in order to accomplish the feat.
As confirmation of this one may recall the year 2003. In spring of that year Shamil Basayev declared the commencement of an "operation of punishment" under the name "Boomerang". Afterwards a whole wave of terroristic acts swept across Chechnya and Russia.
On 12 May 2003 loaded of an explosives-rigged "KAMAZ" blew up an administrative building in the village of Znamenskoe (59 killed, nearly 200 wounded). Three days later female suicide-bombers detonated themselves in a crowd which had gathered for holiday in the settlement of Iliskhan-Yurt (26 killed, nearly 150 wounded). In June, suicide-bombers blew up an autobus full of aviation-technical workers at the military hanger near Mozdok (16 killed, 20 wounded). Then there was the trolley explosion in Essentuki, and terror acts in Moscow - in Tushino and near the hotel "National".
At any rate, summer in Chechnya and maybe throughout the entire Northern Caucasus is expected to be if not "fiery" then at least pretty "hot". According to several sources, just in the past few weeks a few hundred young people left various regions of the Republic and went into the mountains.
#2
Russia - if it does give money to the paleos - will come to regret it, and regret playing footsie with Iran, as their money (plus Iran's) is used to fund terrorism against Russia.
The Russians doing it as a proxy fight against the U.S., but it's going to come back and bite them in the ass. Soon.
Anyone know how to say "clueless dumbass" in Russian?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
04/16/2006 12:42 Comments ||
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#3
Anyone know how to say "clueless dumbass" in Russian?
In the Chechen Republic August is marked not only for sharp growth of tension, routine strengthening of security measures in line with the anniversary of the seizure of Grozny by Fighters 6 August 1996, but also for the reoccurring declarations of jihad. On 4 August the new Mufti of Chechnya Sultan Mirzaev announced to accept of phetva the clerical-legal decision of Islamic scholars on an actual question which declared holy war on Wahhabism and terrorists.
The First Vice-Premier of the Government Ruslan Kadyrov, Minister of the MVD Ruslan Alkhanov, Commander of all Power Structures of Chechnya and Imams of fourteen regions of the called Wahhabism took part in the ceremony proclaiming the new jihad. The Mufti called Wahhabism the scourge of the XXth and XXIst centuries and declared that there must be no doubt in the correctness of the activities of those who with this declaration struggle. He also expressed his personal readiness to take up arms and fight with Wahhabi militants. It is far from the first attempt to start holy war on the territory of the Chechen Republic. There have been several in the past fourteen years.
In the fall of 1991, after Djokhar Dudaev came to power in the republic and attempts of the Russian leadership to enforce Emergency Rule onto the territory of the Chechen Republic, several spiritual personages called to declare jihad on Russia (in an integrated Caucasian Gazavat). His announcement most likely has prevented the quick failure of stated action.
Just three years later, in the winter of 1994, when the Kremlin announced the start of armed operations for restoration of constitutional order on the territory of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, jihad was declared on Russia. This was done by the then Mufti of the Republic Makhmad-Khusein-Khadji-Aslabekov. However Aslabekov retracted his declaration after a few months.
In 1995 the new-named Mufti of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, Akhmat-Khadji Kadyrov once again declared jihad on Russia. After the completion of the first Chechen War the necessity of declaring jihad didnt disappear. His declaration was now against the kidnappers and even against each other. In 1998 after the confrontation in Gudermes between the security forces of CRI and the jamaat-ites, these and others declared jihad. But all it was limited to words.
During that time, faces of Arab nationality began to appear in Chechnya (many of whom for some reason or another spoke excellent Russian). These also advocated the idea of jihad among Chechen youth. Valiant and brave Chechens were called to make jihad not to any old place, but to the Near East, more specifically to Jerusalem, in order to liberate the holy city and one of the most important of Mosque Al-Aqsa.
In 1999 after the beginning of introduction of Russian troops to the territory of the Republic, Aslan Maskhadov appealed to the clergy to call the people to gasavat. Today the new mufti of Chechnya called for a sequential jihad-in holy war against the Wahhabis and terrorism. (Incidentally, the incitement to holy war has a place not only in Chechnya. Since the beginning of military activities in Iraq by the USA, the head of the spiritual authority of Muslims in the European part of Russia, also declared jihad ...against the United States.)
The First Vice-Premier of the Government - Ramzan Kadyrov, called the Muftis accepted document important and timely, proclaiming jihad against Wahhabism and terrorism on the territory of the Chechen Republic. I welcome this decision. I welcome in the name of all the leadership of the Chechen Republic as well as the workers of the law-enforcement organs, which factually are located on the front lines in the war against terrorism and Wahhabism. These are the ones who must be sure that their actions do not conflict with the Koran and Islam, he announced.
The State Duma of Russia Deputy Ruslan Yamadaev is unified with the First Vice Premier. I consider that it is a very important, timely and well thought-out decision, giving an answer to that complicated question worrying the minds of Chechen society as a whole and of fighters of the MVD and other security structures in particular. he stated to the agency Interfax.
In the fight against Wahhabis and terrorism hundreds and thousand of workers of law enforcement organs have been killed. Among them - tens of my loved ones and relatives, the President of Chechnya Akhmat Kadyrov and his nephews. My brother was killed the hero of Russia Dzhabrail who was commanding special subdivision East he noted. They blew up and shot many police officers, imams, and state servants, all in the name of jihad. But now we give a clear-cut and singular-meaning answer to that question who in the fact is of value on the path of jihad.
However, the proclamation of jihad against Wahhabism and terrorism in Chechnya did not find the support of the religious and social actors of Russia. In an interview with Russian GAZETE the Supreme Mufti of the Asian part of Russia, Sheik Hafigulla Ashirov declared with the absence of legal definition of Wahhabism in the modern RF legislation, such calls in the name of a Muftiat (that is to say a social organization) cannot have legal force. They break the united legal field of the Russian Federation- said Ashirov Wahhabism has nothing to say about calls to terror. It is a trend in Islamic thought and not a tactic in the conduct of struggle. Also the modern legislation does not forbid thought.
Aleksei Malashenko member of the Scientific Council of the Moscow Carnegie Center and political analyst agrees with Ashirov. The GAZETE printed his opinion. The Pro-Russian segment of Chechen Society enraptured with Islam and it cannot be a factor in mobilization. The fighters will only laugh at those to whom also one former komsomolets declared jihad. It is not the most intelligent route. More likely the report on the done work in reply to Basayev's interview in the USA. Jihad now has become a word of provocation. You declare jihad on me fine, I declare jihad on you. These are any checkers», he said.
The Jihad or Holy War of which Prophet Mohammad spoke has purpose. But this purpose is somewhat different in character from that of the interpretations various spiritual leaders come up with today. The word jihad comes from a root word in Arabic meaning endeavor, apply strength. In Islam jihad means any exertion directed towards the dissemination of truth. Gazavat or little jihad is holy war. In accordance with Islamic law, in countries where Shariat does not apply, to declare war even holy war is a right only the head of state may have.
Undoubtedly, one of the forms of jihad is war, but only in those circumstances when avoidance is impossible. The Prophet Mohammed, in reference to jihad said that the Supreme Jihad, in which struggles a person is the jihad with ones own self. This means that the true believers must above all struggle with their own selves, with their own shortcomings and mistakes, straining to correct them and not tolerate them in the future.
In the khadis of Mohammed it is stated that as the Prophet Mohammad returned from one of his engagements, said, ...we returned from a little jihad, in order to arrive at the Great Jihad. Make note of the fact that afterwards he never again took part in any battles.
According to one of the imams of a mosque in Grozny, not one line of the Koran in its historic and textual purity permits fighting on the grounds of ethnic, religious or racial discord. The armed jihad is not only strictly restricted by words which may or may not grant it legal force, but is severely regulated. The Prophet Mohammed said, as it is necessary to behave on a battle-field, said the imam. Never resort to war of a peaceful solution is possible. Measures must be pure and not egoistic or personal, nor for national interests, and plans must not be present force. There must be a proclamation of war, announced by official powers and after appropriate consultations. The civil population must not suffer. Never permit marauding, looting and wonton destruction.
The declaration of jihad against Wahhabism and terrorism after a six year counter-terrorist operation on the territory of the Chechen Republic, which cost the lives of tens of thousands of our countrymen, definitely looks a bit strange and out of place. The inflammatory call to strike with jihad the Wahhabis and terrorists hardly will result in the establishment of peace and stability in our republic or of the accord and mutual understanding in which our already broken Chechen society is lacking.
Jihad is definitely necessary for us today, but not that jihad in which one Chechen will exterminate others. We need jihad against murders and the kidnapping of people, jihad against extra-judicial killings and torture, jihad against the bureaucratic apparatus, against bribery and arbitrary of the bureaucracy, against total unemployment, against drug addiction and alcoholism - Jihad for the renewal of a nation, restoration of our republic and the future of our descendents.
OOO-kay, this is one of 3 things:
1.KGB FSB disinforation.
2.Garbled in translation.
3.The Chechens are starting to get a clue.
My initial reaction is 1. I hope its 3.
Posted by: N guard ||
04/16/2006 9:49 Comments ||
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#2
The Chechens ar no ones fool. They see the losses in Afghanistan and the whole Wahhabi movement falling down. It look to me that they are distancing themselves and their fight from the East. Next event will be their political movement calling for peace.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
04/16/2006 11:00 Comments ||
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#3
Jihad against Wahhabism?
I've got the popcorn concession!
I'm gonna be rich. :-D
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
04/16/2006 12:43 Comments ||
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#4
Jihad against Wahhabism, ya say? How .........er......recumbant...
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
04/16/2006 22:05 Comments ||
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#5
Correction: recumbent, as in recumbent folding (geological term)
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
04/16/2006 22:07 Comments ||
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Chechen police operatives and the local Federal Security Service (FSB) department have killed a man suspected of involvement in a hostage-taking raid on the town of Budyonnovsk in the Stavropol territory in 1995.
Police officers attempted to detain Umar Isakov, who was on the federal wanted list, in the community of Kadi-Yurt in Chechnya's Gudermes district on Friday, the Chechen Interior Ministry told Interfax on Saturday. The man attempted to throw a grenade at the policemen and was killed. "Two members of illegal armed units were also detained in the Achkhoi-Martan district," the Interior Ministry said.
Srinagar: In an major success, Jammu and Kashmir police on Sunday killed Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Aftab Ansari in south Kashmir. Inspector General of Police, Kashmir Range, K Rajendra told PTI that Ansari, a Pakistani national, was shot dead in the higher reaches of Kokernag in Anantnag district. He termed the killing as "a major success." This comes at a time when JeM has been responsible for carrying out a series of grenade attacks in Srinagar city.
Posted by: john ||
04/16/2006 13:28 ||
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#1
Happy Easter Aftab. Jesus loves you, but Shaitan is gonna punk you.
Posted by: ed ||
04/16/2006 13:59 Comments ||
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Suspected Taliban militants kidnapped five paramilitary troops in North Waziristan tribal agency, a day after the military killed suspected top Al-Qaeda militant, said intelligence sources Saturday. The troops were kidnapped in Razmak area, south of Miramshah, the main headquarters of North Waziristan agency, on Friday night, sources told KUNA.
Troops shot dead a militant who threw a grenade wounding at least two soldiers near Miranshah, the main town in a Pakistani tribal region close to the Afghan border, security officials said yesterday. The grenade attack took place as a military convoy approached the outskirts of Miranshah. Residents said they believed the explosion was caused by something more powerful than a grenade. There was a huge explosion and then firing broke out. The market is being closed, a witness said, adding that it was unclear what had caused the blast.
Miranshah, in North Waziristan, has been the scene of fierce clashes between Pakistani forces and Al Qaeda-linked militants and local allies among the tribesmen in recent weeks.
A young captain laid down his life for his country in a recent operation in the badlands of the Frontier. When his mates lined up to pray behind his corpse, the presiding imam pronounced that the captain did not deserve a Muslims funeral prayer, namaz-e-janaza, for he was killed fighting the forces of good, on behalf of the forces of evil (haq aur batil). The best that could be done for the deceased was a prayer for deliverance (dua-e-maghfirat), the imam said.
And so it was.
Posted by: john ||
04/16/2006 13:26 Comments ||
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Security forces backed by helicopter gunships killed several suspected militants near the Afghan border in an airstrike sparked by intelligence that Al Qaeda operatives were hiding out in the area, Pakistani officials said Thursday.
The officials said the principal target of the strike by Pakistani forces was Muhsin Musa Matwalli Atwah, an Egyptian member of Al Qaeda suspected of being involved in the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. Those blasts killed more than 200 people, including 12 Americans, and prompted Washington to offer a $5-million reward for Atwah's capture.
It was unclear late Thursday whether Atwah was one of the suspected militants who died in the attack in the village of Anghar in Pakistan's volatile North Waziristan region. The helicopters fired missiles and dropped bombs late Wednesday on a compound believed to be sheltering both foreign and Pakistani militants, leveling two mud-brick houses and killing nine people, including at least one child, residents said.
Pakistani Information Minister Sheik Rashid Ahmed told the Reuters news agency that Atwah was among the dead, but Pakistani military sources would not confirm the statement.
"I can't say [anything] about the presence or killing of any senior Al Qaeda man in the operation," said Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan, an army spokesman. He said, however, that "information about Al Qaeda people" in the region had triggered the attack.
A senior military officer said the intelligence came from 19 militants who surrendered to security forces after a face-off in North Waziristan this month. The militants told interrogators the arms they had used in an attack on a Pakistani security post were given to them by Atwah.
Residents of Anghar, a hamlet about four miles from Miram Shah, North Waziristan's chief hub, said a man in their village who appeared to be of Arab descent was known to be commanding militants in the area. Sources said Atwah was believed to be staying with four other foreigners in a part of the compound reserved as a guest house.
In addition to reducing the suspected hide-out to rubble, the helicopters destroyed two vehicles laden with weapons that were parked inside the compound, residents said.
Atwah was indicted by a federal grand jury in New York along with 21 other Al Qaeda members, including Osama bin Laden, in connection with the attacks on the embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. He was one of more than a dozen militants accused of orchestrating the bombings, which caused U.S. officials to beef up security at diplomatic missions.
Many of those indicted remain fugitives.
In Washington, one of the FBI's lead officials involved in investigating the embassy bombings said Thursday that Atwah was known as one of Al Qaeda's most experienced and deadly explosives technicians not just in the 1998 attacks but in plots afterward as well.
"This was not some guy with a few Bunsen burners," said the agent, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to discuss ongoing counter-terrorism activities. "He was extremely intelligent and extremely good at his craft. So if he has been killed or otherwise removed from the battlefield, Al Qaeda has lost one of their preeminent bomb makers."
If true, the agent said, "it is as big a victory as we could ask for. You take away the bomb maker, and you disrupt plots. His handiwork resulted in the deaths of more than 200 people and 5,000 injuries in a single day."
The agent said Atwah built both of the bombs used in the 1998 attacks, which occurred almost simultaneously but hundreds of miles apart. He said Atwah traveled from Kenya to Tanzania to participate in both plots, and that one of the photos on the FBI's "most wanted" flier of Atwah was the one he had used on his visa entering Tanzania from Kenya in the weeks before the attacks.
A second FBI agent who also has been involved in the hunt for the indicted embassy bombing co-conspirators said Thursday that the agency had "no independent confirmation" of Atwah's death. The second agent also requested anonymity.
MIRANSHAH: Security forces on Saturday shot dead a suspected terrorist who had attacked a convoy of army vehicles, military sources said. Six army jawans had been wounded in two attacks on two different convoys heading towards Miranshah, the capital of troubled North Waziristan, sources said. However, military sources in Peshawar confirmed one attack but said no soldier had been wounded.
Eyewitnesses said that a remote control bomb, which had been triggered to strike another army convoy coming from Dattakhel area to Miranshah near Chunghi Chowk just outside Miranshah bazaar, wounded four soldiers. Two injured civilians were also seen fleeing the site of attack but it was unclear how they got injured. Meanwhile, one tribesman died and another injured when a bomb exploded in a scrap shop in Ghulam Khan bazaar, 15 kilometres north of Miranshah, eyewitnesses said.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/16/2006 00:18 ||
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Are the Americans poised to go the whole distance in their search for 'terrorists'? The NWFP government is worried that this may be the case
The news is quite disturbing for the people and the governmnet of the NWFP; it has been reported that the United States has warned that it will bomb any part of the province in pursuit of 'terrorists'.
The warning, it is said, was conveyed to the NWFP governor, Khalilur Rehman and of course to the chief minister, Akram Khan Durrani, by none other than President General Pervez Musharraf himself at a meeting in Islamabad. The tone of the message, an insider tells TNS, is tantamount to bullying. "The president told the governor and chief minister that Americans have warned that those who are hiding in the Frontier and elsewhere will be bombed out," a source privy to the meeting revealed, requesing anonymity. The warning left the president angry as well as concerned, the source added, saying this could be an epilogue to increased target hitting by umanned Drones on Pakistani territory.
Apart from killing Commander Nek Muhammad in South Waziristan Agency, the US planes have targeted two suspected terrorist hideouts in Miramshah and Mirali areas of North Waziristan and Damadola in Bajaur Agency over the past few months. In Miramshah, all the victims turned out to be local tribesmen while mystery shrouds the president's claim that Hamza Rabia, al-Qaeda's No-3, was killed in a raid on Khisokhel village in Mirali sub-division of North Waziristan. Sources, having links with militant groups active in the tribal belt and across the border in Afghanistan, deny the claim.
Similarly, claims by the American media and Pakistani authorities that al-Qaeda's No-2, Aiman Al-Zawahiri, was the target of the air strike in Damadola, or that top al-Qaeda operatives have actually been killed, are still to be verified.
The clergy-led government in the Frontier, already on the defensive over its silence on military operations in tribal areas and US air strikes, is taking the new warning as a declaration of open war. Confirming that President Pervez Musharraf has informed him of the new dangers ahead, Akram Khan Durrani has said that the US has warned to go after the so-called 'terrorists' even in the settled areas of NWFP, if the attacks against the Americans and their allies continued in the neighbouring Afghanistan.
We don't like being on the defensive, as you'll find out.
"What use is our strong defence if we cannot defend our innocent people against such naked aggression," said Durrani when approached for comments regarding the fresh US warnings. The US authorities, official sources said, are of the opinion that extremists and terrorists take shelter in the tribal areas along the Pak-Afghan border and parts of NWFP after carrying out terrorist attacks in the eastern and southern provinces of Afghanistan. Pakistani nationals have been identified carrying out suicide bombings and fighting the US and allied forces in Afghanistan.
Pakistani national = Taliban on many occasions.
"This is a conspiracy against Pakistan. The US believes that bombing can unite the Pashtuns on both sides of the Durand Line," said Durrani, adding that by doing so the Americans are making more enemies than friends.
Yeah, yeah, that's what everyone says. If we do something we make enemies. If we don't do something we make enemies.
In the wake of the warning, Pakistani officials foresee that the US air strikes against 'terrorists' might be more severe than the ones carried out in North Waziristan and Bajaur agencies. "The US action will not be limited to the tribal or border areas this time. It will engulf the whole of NWFP and even beyond," the sources said.
We'll pretty much do what we have to do. Perv has been useful to us for a long time, and while we're not quite ready to upset the Paki applecart, we have our limits.
The president, a source said, actually read out the exact words sent to Islamabad by the US government. The president has directed the federal government and the NWFP governor to go after these extremists in the tribal belt while the MMA-led provincial government has been asked to make sincere efforts in identifying extremists and those who support them in the province, the source said.
At the same time, President Musharraf has questioned the validity of the list of wanted Taliban leaders that Kabul believes to be residing in Pakistan. Afghan President Hamid Karzai has handed over the list to Islamabad as Kabul asks Pakistan to do 'more' to stop cross border infiltration and to destroy hideouts of the Taliban and other extremists operating from Pakistan in Afghanistan.
Perv has to dissemble here, it's all he can do. He can't face us if he agrees the list is accurate and then does nothing, and if he does something he'll have even more enemies who want to kill him. He's basically stuck.
Sources in intelligence agencies say religious seminaries and places of worship would be kept under strict watch and activities of hardline religious leaders monitored regularly. Already, extremist elements are being blamed and tracked down for explosions in the southern districts of the province and for encouraging mass uprising against the government policies in northern districts of NWFP. Swat and Dir districts are in the grip of a certain kind of preachers these days where the easily installed FM radios enable clerics to air their messages without much hassle.
Intelligence agencies as well as tribal sources believe that a sizeable number of the local Taliban and foreign nationals have moved out of the tribal areas and are believed to be hiding in settled districts of the province.
Posted by: john ||
04/16/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Perv had his chance...
Posted by: john ||
04/16/2006 10:10 Comments ||
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#2
its nice, once in awhile, to remind them that our restraint is just that - restraint.
Cause, they don't seem to graps that concept of restraint. Ah well, all of us learn become wiser on a daily basis.
#3
Our restraint has been too long. The NWFP has bercome a terrorist base, just like Afghanistan was in 9-11-2001. The Bush doctrine applies or it doesn't. All terrorist bases must be denied. Waging a defensive war just burns up our treasure and our troops. The terrorists understand overwhelming force. That's how we need to communicate.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
04/16/2006 11:39 Comments ||
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#4
Agreed, AP. But we needed to line up India and firm up Karzai and the Afghan legislature first.
#5
We're "making enemies"? Good, we have a habit of destroying our enemies. Can you say desolation so vast that even the stones are terrified? We can do that. Just keep pushing. What can you do to destroy a hundred B-52s dropping big bombs on your stone-age villages, except weep? Sow the wind of talibanism, reap the whirlwind of death and destruction.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/16/2006 15:57 Comments ||
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#6
"What use is our strong defence if we cannot defend our innocent people against such naked aggression," said Durrani
You actually said this with a straight face?
How?
Lots of Botox to prevent facial movement?
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
04/16/2006 22:26 Comments ||
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#1
First article I've posted, sorry for the screw up. Anyway, don't you love the "slide towards chaos continues" line....according to the MSM, shouldn't we already be in chaos?
#2
They'll keep hammering at it until it becomes the "conventional wisdom." Bastards...
Posted by: Dave D. ||
04/16/2006 22:49 Comments ||
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#3
Same BS as before when Walter Cronkite made the Tet offensive a 'disaster for american forces' and encourged the enemy (along with Hanoi Jane and John Kerry) to continue the fight - and prolonged the war for years.
How many soldiers did Walter, Jane, and Kerry get killed?
Six people were killed during a raid Sunday as U.S. troops stormed a house looking for an al-Qaida suspect south of Baghdad, the U.S. military said. U.S. forces stormed the house in Youssifiyah, 12 miles south of Baghdad, about 2:15 a.m. Those inside started shooting, and the troops fired back, a U.S. statement said. Soldiers killed two men who were wearing suicide bomb vests, and a third detonated his explosives himself, the statement said. Two other suspected insurgents were killed. A woman also died in the crossfire, and three women and a child were wounded, the U.S. said. Five American troops were injured, but none seriously. Five suspected insurgents, including the target of the raid, were detained and weapons were seized, the statement said. The alleged al-Qaida suspect was not identified but the military said he worked with foreign fighters to plan bombings.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/16/2006 10:31 ||
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#1
vests on? good, but no virgins for you!
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/16/2006 11:20 Comments ||
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"6 Die in U.S. Strike on al-Qaida Safehouse"
Safehouse!
Nope, yerrrrr OUT! :-D
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
04/16/2006 12:37 Comments ||
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#3
This has all the ear marks of an RAB operation! A 0215 raid, wild firing from the hideout, crossfires, alleged suspects detained, weapons seized! Now we're getting somewhere!
"RAB" is a police unit in Bangladesh, whose colorful after action reports read like a dime store crime novel, and is therefore a popular regular feature here on Rantburg.
Oh, and credit where it's due: the comments in those reports from Fred and the crew are a big part of the attraction, too.
search Rantburg for "Rapid Action Battalion" or "Tales from the Crossfire Gazette".
Posted by: Carl in N.H. ||
04/16/2006 19:26 Comments ||
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#8
Five suspected insurgents, including the target of the raid, were detained
Odd, you would figure he'd be the first to boom. Maybe a bad detonator
#11
It's the peons that boom Mr. Collar. The higher ups are much too valuable to the everloving-blue eyed-cause to self-detonate. It's a sacrifice that the leader are willing to undertake.
THE American military is planning a second liberation of Baghdad to be carried out with the Iraqi army when a new government is installed.
Pacifying the lawless capital is regarded as essential to establishing the authority of the incoming government and preparing for a significant withdrawal of American troops.
Strategic and tactical plans are being laid by US commanders in Iraq and at the US army base in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, under Lieutenant- General David Petraeus. He is regarded as an innovative officer and was formerly responsible for training Iraqi troops.
The battle for Baghdad is expected to entail a carrot-and-stick approach, offering the beleaguered population protection from sectarian violence in exchange for rooting out insurgent groups and Al-Qaeda.
Sources close to the Pentagon said Iraqi forces would take the lead, supported by American air power, special operations, intelligence, embedded officers and back-up troops.
Helicopters suitable for urban warfare, such as the manoeuvrable AH-6 Little Birds used by the marines and special forces and armed with rocket launchers and machineguns, are likely to complement the ground attack.
The sources said American and Iraqi troops would move from neighbourhood to neighbourhood, leaving behind Sweat teams an acronym for sewage, water, electricity and trash to improve living conditions by upgrading clinics, schools, rubbish collection, water and electricity supplies.
Sunni insurgent strongholds are almost certain to be the first targets, although the Shiite militias such as the Mahdi army of Moqtada al-Sadr, the radical cleric, and the Iranian-backed Badr Brigade would need to be contained.
President George W Bush and Donald Rumsfeld, the defence secretary, are under intense pressure to prove to the American public that Iraq is not slipping into anarchy and civil war. An effective military campaign could provide the White House with a bounce in the polls before the mid-term congressional elections in November. With Bushs approval ratings below 40%, the vote is shaping up to be a Republican rout.
The Iraqi government, when it is finally formed, will also need to demonstrate that it is in charge of its own seat of government. It will be the second liberation of Baghdad, said Daniel Gouré, a Pentagon adviser and vice-president of the Lexington Institute, a military think tank. The new government will be able to claim it is taking back the streets.
Larry Wilkerson, former chief of staff to Colin Powell at the State Department, said a crackdown in Baghdad was one of the few ways in which a fresh Iraqi government could bind the new national army and prove its mettle.
They have to show they can liberate their own capital, he said. Baghdad is the key to stability in Iraq. Its a chance for the new government to stand up and say, Here we are. They cant do that if they are hunkered down in bunkers.
The operation is likely to take place towards the end of the summer, giving the newly appointed government time to establish itself. If all goes to plan, US troop withdrawals could take place before the end of the year. In the absence of progress by then, the war may come to be seen by the American public as a lost cause.
There are 140,000 US troops in Iraq. Lieutenant-General John Vines, who stepped down as commander of ground forces in Iraq at the beginning of this year, said it was essential to reduce the numbers.
There is an incredible amount of stress and Im worried about it, said Vines. He added that soldiers were on their third or fourth tours of duty in Iraq: The war has been going on nearly as long as the second world war and were asking a lot of the forces.
Vines said there was an enormous amount of work in Baghdad under way but cautioned that any onslaught against insurgents would be fiendishly complicated. The approach would have to be locale by locale. He added: Ultimately we want a police solution in Baghdad.
US forces would try to avoid the all-out combat that was used to subdue Falluja in 2004. If you cut up the city into pieces neighbourhood by neighbourhood, you can prevent it from becoming a major urban fight, said Gouré.
According to defence sources the Americans could augment their forces with heavily armed AC-130 aircraft and F-16s. But close air support is more likely to be provided by Cobra and Little Bird helicopters to minimise casualties.
The generals involved in planning the battle are architects of the clear, hold and build strategy in Iraq, designed to isolate insurgents from the population and prevent them regrouping in urban strongholds as soon as the militarys back is turned.
Viness replacement as commander of ground forces is Lieutenant-General Peter Chiarelli, who pioneered the use of force with Sweat to subdue Sadr city, a working-class Shiite district of Baghdad, in 2004. On the eve of his return to Iraq this year he described how the tactics had worked and vowed to repeat them.
It was not uncommon for the 1st Calvary Division to be engaged in intense urban combat in one part of the city, while just a few blocks away we had units replacing damaged infrastructure, helping to foster business growth or facilitating the development of local government, Chiarelli said.
The general is close to Petraeus, who won praise for his sensitive handling of communities in northern Iraq when he was in charge of the 101st Airborne Division, known as the Screaming Eagles, at the start of the war.
Another model for operations in Baghdad is an American-led Iraqi-backed military campaign at Tal Afar, a rebel town on the Syrian border. In a speech last month Bush hailed the campaign as an extraordinary success and brandished a letter from the towns Iraqi mayor praising US forces as our lion-hearted saviours. But Tal Afar remains far from secure and the military tactics cannot be copied wholesale.
Baghdad is a swirling mess of competing Sunni and Shiite militias and Al-Qaeda fighters, and the city has been sliding into chaos at an alarming rate.
My brother was killed by somebody who told us he was paid $10 for the job, said a Baghdad victim of the violence. A man met him in the street, pointed to my brother and said he was a bad guy and had to die. He never knew why.
Kidnappings have risen to 50 a day in Iraq. Abu Ali, whose 12-year-son was kidnapped in Baghdad last month, said he had received a demand for $250,000 for his release. Sometimes they let me hear him begging or crying for me to help him, he said. At other times they threaten me and say his brothers will be next.
Anybody connected, however remotely, with the administration is seen as a target; 18 traffic police officers have been killed in the past two months. They were simply doing their duty and trying to prevent traffic jams. There are no traffic lights, said Major Hussein Khadem of the transport police.
Residents have taken to carrying two ID cards and ostentatiously religious CDs because of fears of sectarian violence. If you are stopped at a Shiite checkpoint, you have to show you have a Shiite name, and if it is a Sunni insurgent checkpoint, it is good to show that your name is Omar, said a Baghdad resident who had recently obtained a new ID.
The power of sectarian militias could prove to be a dangerous and unpredictable component of the battle for Baghdad. The Iraqi army and police who will be expected to take over areas once the army has left are largely Shiite dominated.
The battle could be a key test for Iraqi forces. Ultimately we have to see whether the Iraqi army is a national army or a sectarian army, Goure added.
Reuel Marc Gerecht, an expert on Iraq at the neo-conservative American Enterprise Institute, said that while it was essential to bring Baghdad under control, he feared the Americans would leave the bulk of the fighting to the Iraqis and that a showdown could misfire.
You would have to come down like a hammer on the Sunni areas of Baghdad and go house to house and nobody wants to do that, Gerecht said. Its inevitably going to come and its going to be convulsive. The Americans will be there, but not in the numbers needed because American casualty rates will go up.
#6
My brother was killed by somebody who told us he was paid $10 for the job, said a Baghdad victim of the violence. A man met him in the street, pointed to my brother and said he was a bad guy and had to die. He never knew why.
He looks every inch the face of the Iraqi resistance: a tribal leader from the Sunni badlands west of Baghdad, who once served in Saddam Hussein's feared intelligence network.
But Sheikh Osama Jadaan's dislike of foreign occupation is nothing compared to his contempt for Iraq's other intruders - the foreign jihadists who have indiscriminately killed thousands of his countrymen. Now, in what coalition commanders hope will mark a turning of the tide against al-Qaeda in Iraq, he has become the first of the Sunni tribal leaders to declare war on the terrorists to whom, until now, they have given safe haven.
He is well-placed to do so - his al-Karabla tribe lives around the desert city of Al Qaim, near the Syrian border in Anbar province, the Sunni insurgents' stronghold.
Sheikh Jadaan's armed followers claim to have arrested and killed 300 would-be jihadis entering from Syria, many bound for service as suicide bombers with Abu Musab al Zarqawi, the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq.
"I am doing this job because the foreign terrorists kill the civilians," said Sheikh Jadaan, 52, at his heavily guarded villa. "None of them ever attack the Americans except occasionally, they just attack the innocents. This is to restore the reputation of jihad."
Coalition commanders were unable to verify the sheikh's claims to the Sunday Telegraph. However, there seems to be little doubt that he is a bitter enemy of Zarqawi's forces.
Since starting his campaign last year - angry at a suicide bombing that killed 70 Sunnis in Ramadi - there have been two attempts on his life, first with a roadside bomb and then with a machine gun.
The attacks forced him to swap his tribal home for a more easily defended villa in a Baghdad suburb, backed by his formidable security entourage. When his armour-plated Chevrolet four-wheel-drive leaves the CCTV-monitored gates of his compound, so do 13 escort vehicles, packed with armed bodyguards.
On his side, against al-Qaeda, are thousands of his fellow tribesfolk, whose bond of blood takes precedence over loyalty to any other cause.
Sheikh Jadaan fled Iraq in 1998 after falling out with the regime. Last November he accused US and Iraqi forces of heavy-handedness, calling for the "American occupiers to get out of Iraq and leave Iraq to the Iraqis". However, he is convinced that the presence of foreign terrorists such as Zarqawi risks leading Iraq into permanent chaos - potentially prolonging the occupation.
Sheikh Jadaan's stance follows similar moves by many secular Sunni insurgents, who have ended their marriage of convenience with al-Qaeda in protest at its brutal methods.
The split is understood to have received tacit encouragement from the US military, although it is reluctant to encourage private militias, which it says operate to no agreed military guidelines and could pursue private feuds.
#1
He looks every inch the face of the Iraqi resistance: a tribal leader from the Sunni badlands west of Baghdad, who once served in Saddam Hussein's feared intelligence network.
Not that it would dawn on the MSM that these are the same butchers who had no problem killing women and children without hesitation under Saddam. That real torture was commonly practiced. It's not that he specifically was one who received bribes from CNN to make 'happy and glad' stories on behalf of his former patron.
.. foreign occupation..
Nice catch phrase there loyal party member. Just like West Germany and Japan were under foreign occupation. BTW, what was the time between the 'surrender' and the establishment of an elected democratic government in those countries? Are they still under foreign occupation today? Cause I could swear American military are still in country somewhere within their borders.
Islamic Jihad chief Abdullah Ramadan Shala vowed in Teheran on Saturday that his Palestinian militant group would stand by Iran in the event of any United States or Israeli military action. Any threat to the Islamic republic is a threat to the Palestinians, and Iran will not be alone in facing these threats. And any aggression against Iran is an aggression against the Palestinians, he told state television.
The radical Islamic Palestinian group Hamas, which now heads the Palestinian Authority, as well as firebrand Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr have made similar pledges of support. Shalas comments were made on the second day of pro-Palestinian conference in Teheran, which Irans hardline leaders have used to fire off a barrage of vitriolic attacks against the United States and Israel. The Islamic republics supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has also used the event to rally support from Islamic nations for the cash-strapped, Hamas-led Palestinian government.
#1
I hope the United States government has the willpower to take on Iran and destroy it comletely. I also hope tht alSadr, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and all the other terror groups do attack us in retaliation. That gives us a valid excuse to destroy Syria, Gaza, the West Bank, and perhaps even the money-men for all of this, Saudi Arabia. Then we can really begin to build a new, prosperous, and more people-friendly Middle East.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/16/2006 16:09 Comments ||
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Security forces have stepped up the hunt for Abu Sayyaf members in the southern Philippines, following a raid on two terrorist hideouts in Zamboanga City, officials said on Saturday. Soldiers and policemen stormed an ice plant in Rio Hondo, a village, which is notorious for criminals and drug gangs, and seized 300 pieces of blasting caps and C-4 type of explosives on Thursday. The second raid in Baliwasan village yielded electronic timers, but the two places were apparently abandoned by terrorists before the raiding team had arrived, said Army Colonel Edgardo Gidaya, commander of an anti-terror task force here. "These explosives belong to the Abu Sayyaf. We have information about that and there is an ongoing operation against the terrorist group," he said, adding, civilian informants were providing them intelligence report about the Abu Sayyaf.
Gidaya said most of the blasting caps were made in India. It was not immediately known how the explosives were smuggled into the southern Philippines, but the country's coastline is twice the length of that of the United States and is extremely difficult to monitor. Authorities believed that more Abu Sayyaf explosives were hidden in Zamboanga City and that the terrorists were planning an attack on civilian targets. "The Abu Sayyaf is up to something deadly and we are trying to prevent this from happening. We are appealing to citizens to help us by providing authorities with information about suspected terrorists, or suspicious persons and even abandoned packages in public areas. We need the cooperation of the public," Gidaya said.
On Tuesday, troops also killed a key Abu Sayyaf bomber and his father in a firefight in the outskirts of Zamboanga City. Troops gunned down Amilhamja Ajijul and his father, Andalul, after soldiers raided their hideout in the remote Curuan district, about 48 km northeast of Zamboanga City. Four other men were also arrested by the raiders. Ajijul headed the Abu Sayyaf's urban terrorist group and was blamed in the killing of a US soldier participating in a joint military drill in a bomb attack on a roadside eatery in Malagutay village in Zamboanga City in 2002, and the bombings of Shop-O-Rama and Shopper's Central department stores here that left dozens of civilians dead and wounded. His group was also implicated in the twin bombings in downtown Zamboanga City last year that injured 26 people. The military also implicated Ajijul in the kidnapping of US citizen Jeffrey Craig Schilling in Jolo island and dozens of Filipinos in Basilan in 2000.
Just this week, an Abu Sayyaf bomber was killed after tinkering with an explosive he planted on a road to attack patrolling troops in Maimbung town in Jolo island. The powerful blast mangled the man's body.
IRAN is giving $US50 million ($68.42 million) to the cash-strapped Palestinian Authority to fill gaps left by Western aid cuts, Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said.
The donation will help make up the shortfall left by the aid cut-off by the United States and the European Union and Israel's freezing of the transfer of about $US50 million ($68.42 million) a month in tax and customs receipts to the Hamas-controlled Palestinian government.
"I am honoured to announce that Iran has donated $US50 million ($68.42 million) to help the Palestinian nation," Mr Mottaki said in a televised speech to a conference in Tehran on the Palestinian issue.
Mr Mottaki said the gift was Iran's duty as a friend of the Palestinians, but did not say how or when it would reach them.
A Hamas official, who asked not to be identified, later said Iran was donating $US100 million ($136.85 million) to the Palestinian Authority. There was no immediate confirmation from Iranian officials.
Iran has been at odds with the United States since its 1979 Islamic revolution, and has refused to recognise Israel.
Washington and the European Union froze aid to the Hamas-led government because the Islamist group did not comply with their demand that it recognise Israel, renounce violence and abide by interim peace agreements.
The Palestinian economy has been crippled during years of fighting with Israel, and Palestinians are dependent on foreign aid totalling more than $US1 billion ($1.37 billion) a year.
Mr Mottaki called on Muslims around the world to support the Palestinians.
"The Islamic world should help the new Palestinian government to overcome its current problems," he said.
Hamas, which took office on March 29, faces a financial crisis and a struggle to revive an economy suffering from widespread poverty and corruption and high unemployment.
#6
Unless stooped Iran will go on working to take over the PA - HAMAS is just helping to destroy any hopes the Pales. people have for their own state. Their hatred and ire against Israel is so perverse, politicized, and corrupted the Pals. are willing to work wid one future enemy to destroy a contemporary one. The Pals are risking it all in exchange for being a future province of Iran.
#7
I don't know that they are risking it all for Iranian money, Joe. Here is where the Paleos are at:
1) They have continually hung their hopes on total losers like the Arafish and Hamas.
2) They are hung up on hating Israel, so they will not compromise.
3) Their actions and policies are so dumb-sh*t that even the Saudis, who have no Luuuuuv for Israel, won't give 'em any more cash.
4) There is not much left for them to risk.
They will take money from anyone to keep their corrupt machine going. Along comes Iran with the money (and an agenda). The Paleos are finished. Only thing left to do is turn off the lights and shut off the water.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
04/16/2006 22:19 Comments ||
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#8
#5: *technically that makes Iran a terrorist State, yes?
In a sense, it means that Iran "Admits" to sponsoring a Terrorist Organization/Neighbor in need. (Hamas)
They're drawing a fine line here, Hamas was elected, they think that being elected whitewashes out the "Terrorist" part, at least enough to tie the UN into debating knots for the next decade or so. (With Irans deliberate help in muddying the Waters)
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
04/16/2006 22:20 Comments ||
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#9
$50M is just a drop in the bucket. Israel used to remit $55M a month in "tax receipts". Since the Mullahs didn't sign up to a monthly stipend, all this does is prolong the agony.
Iran has formed battalions of suicide bombers to strike at British and American targets if the nations nuclear sites are attacked. According to Iranian officials, 40,000 trained suicide bombers are ready for action.
The main force, named the Special Unit of Martyr Seekers in the Revolutionary Guards, was first seen last month when members marched in a military parade, dressed in olive-green uniforms with explosive packs around their waists and detonators held high.
Dr. Hassan Abbasi, head of the Centre for Doctrinal Strategic Studies in the Revolutionary Guards, said in a speech that 29 Western targets had been identified: We are ready to attack American and British sensitive points if they attack Irans nuclear facilities. He added that some of them were quite close to the Iranian border in Iraq.
In a tape recording heard by The Sunday Times, Abbasi warned the would-be martyrs to pay close attention to wily England and vowed that Britains demise is on our agenda.
At a recruiting station in Tehran recently, volunteers for the force had to show their birth certificates, give proof of their address and tick a box stating whether they would prefer to attack American targets in Iraq or Israeli targets.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad warned last Friday that Israel was heading toward annihilation. He was speaking at a Tehran conference on Palestinian rights aimed at promoting Iran as a new Middle Eastern superpower.
According to western intelligence documents leaked to The Sunday Times, the Revolutionary Guards are in charge of a secret nuclear weapons program designed to evade the scrutiny of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Alireza Jafarzadeh, a former spokesman for National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), an opposition group, said a secret, parallel military program was under way. According to sources inside Iran, the Revolutionary Guards were constructing underground sites that could be activated if Irans known nuclear facilities were destroyed.
The NCRI is the political wing of the Mujaheddin-e-Khalq, which is deemed a terrorist organization in Britain and America. However, much of its information is considered to be absolutely credible by western intelligence sources after Jafarzadeh revealed the existence of the Natanz plant in 2002.
Within the past year, 14 large and several smaller projects have been created, according to Jafarzadeh. Several are designed to be nuclear factories; others are for the storage of weapons, he claimed. N.B.: Iran shows intent to attack southern Iraq when it rails against the British. When Blair loudly announced that Britain would not be involved in fighting with Iran, it puts a crimp in their plans. I would expect them to start proclaiming all sorts of perceived British injustices soon.
#6
40,000 is almost easier to handle than a couple of hundred. Easier to find, easier to track, and big missles work well when they group together. It's those last few hundred that are always a nuisance.
#7
plus one or two will ineveitably boom accidently and if they're in tight formation it'll be the Iranian version of Chinese firecracker strings
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/16/2006 17:42 Comments ||
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#8
I remember reading in the initial invasion 1000+ sucide bombers attacked near al Kut in a sandstorm.
There were sucide cycles, tanks, people, dogs, donkeys everything... all died without reaching the troops.
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/16/2006 20:13 Comments ||
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#13
Ten years ago I would have said they can't find 40,000 people that stupid who are smart enough to pull it off. Today I'll just say that it's a long walk to the border from Tehran, especially when you have to detour around those high-radiation zones.
#14
Ten years ago I would have said they can't find 40,000 people that stupid who are smart enough to pull it off. Today I'll just say that it's a long walk to the border from Tehran, especially when you have to detour around those high-radiation zones.
#17
OK, maybe I am splitting hairs, but how can they be "trained suicide bombers" and still be ready for action vs. being pink clouds? Is that like training for infantry with broomsticks or something?
I'm really quite amazed they think this is a real threat. I guess it beats pitch forks and torches, but 40,000 guys charging with back packs just seems like pure idiocy. What is their plan, to secretly smuggle them in by the busload and drop them off at shopping centers without anyone noticing? Jeesh ... you just can't fix stupid, err, islam, um, I repeat myself ...
#18
The NPE and USDOD must be ready for any attempt at Terror-disguised-as-Decapitation Strike(s) against Dubya and the GOP, as its about the only guaranteed way the RINO CINO agenda-less Dems can be POTUS, and espec to be so whether or not Dubya chooses to attack Iran = North Korea [Taiwan?] or
not. The WOT is about CONTROL OF THE WORLD IN GENERAL,; and where the Failed/Angry Left is concerned is about inducing = forcing democratic America under anti-sovereign, anti-American American National and Global Socialism and Socialist World Order, by any means necessary, legal andor illegal. IFF NOT, RUSSIA-CHINA > NUCLEAR WAR AGAINT AMERICA, AND ONLY AMERICA, IS NOT ONLY POSSIBLE/REALISTIC BUT DESIRED, CIRCA 2015-2018, when the economies of both nations will hopefully be modernized enough and strong enough to CHALLENGE A DESTABILIZED WEAKENED AMERICA. Both Russia and China adhere to the "War/Battle/Local Zone" strategem of NUCLEARIZED active defense, includ forms of "People's War, but which emphasizes POLITICAL-DIPLOMATIC VICTORY OVER MILITARY OR ARMED FORCE. THe WOT then, for the Left, can be ascribed amongst other labels as WAR FOR/BETWEEN DEGREE(S) = FORMS OF SOCIALISM - since Britain is alreday a Western deomcratic Socialist nation, ANY MASSED TERROR ATTACKS AGAINST HER WILL HAVE THE EFFECT OF INDUCING COMMUNIST- AND TOTALITARIAN-STYLE ABSOLUTIST SOCIALIST METHODS, like America in the name of Safety, Security, Accountability/
Responsibility, and Protection, .....@etal feel-good populist labels. Its not SOcialism or Communism or Marxism or Totalitarianism, etc. but alleged PC, fell-good, Communists-for-Fascism-for-Communism, Leftist-for-Rightism-for-Leftism "ANTI-FASCISM". The nationalist, internationalist, and globalist agendas for Secular Leftist-Socialists, and God/Faith based Socialists =THeocrats, aka God/Faith-based Lefties, are essens the same.
A senior Hezbollah official said nine men charged with plotting to assassinate the Shiite Muslim group's leader wanted to avenge killings of fellow Sunnis in Iraq, an ominous sign that the sectarian bloodshed may be spilling over into the region.
Government officials declined Saturday to confirm the report, but such a spillover would be particularly worrisome in Lebanon, where a fragile balance among Shiites, Sunnis, Christians and other sects is already under strain from tensions over relations with neighboring Syria.
The target of the alleged plot, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, is striving to avert any rift, saying late Friday that he would not blame Lebanon's Sunnis if the conspirators were shown to be motivated by Sunni militancy.
We don't seek a vendetta and we don't seek revenge, he told thousands of supporters in a suburb south of Beirut while urging all Lebanese to work together on civil peace, coexistence and state-building.
A top Hezbollah official, Sheik Mohammed Kawthrani, told The Associated Press late Friday that the nine men arrested early last week were Salafists who saw in Sheik Nasrallah a good Shiite target to avenge the death of Sunnis in Iraq.
Salafists is the term used for radical Sunni Muslims who follow a strict interpretation of Islam and view Shiites as heretics. They are blamed for most of the bombings, kidnappings and killings targeted at Iraq's Shiites. Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and Jordanian-born Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Iraq's most wanted terrorist, are considered Salafists.
A judicial official said Saturday that authorities could not comment on the plot's motivation because they were still interrogating the nine men charged Tuesday, who are mostly Lebanese. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case.
Nasrallah has had little direct connection to the conflict in Iraq, which has been strained by a cycle of revenge killings between Shiites and Sunnis in recent weeks.
An attempt to kill him in the name of Sunni revenge could suggest a troubling turn for two communities that have been divided for centuries.
Shiites are a minority in most Arab states, but they are a majority in Iraq, and the defeat of Saddam Hussein's Sunni-led regime has intensified tensions over the religious rift as Shiites there have gained power. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak angered Shiites across the region recently by saying they are more loyal to Shiite-dominated Iran than their own Arab nations.
An assassination of Nasrallah also would be a heavy blow to the delicate stability of Lebanon, an ethnically and religiously diverse nation where a devastating 15 years of civil war ended in 1990.
Tensions already are at levels not seen since the end of the war because of last year's assassination of former prime minister Rafik Hariri, a Sunni. Many Sunnis and Christians blame neighboring Syria, while Hezbollah and other Shiite groups are Syria's closest allies here.
Still, Shiite leaders have sought to calm frictions with Sunnis, who with Shiites account for about two-thirds of Lebanon's 3.5 million people.
Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, the country's top Shiite cleric, insisted in an AP interview this week that Shiite-Sunni violence in Iraq would not shake the realities on the ground between Sunnis and Shiites in Lebanon.
Ibrahim Bayram, a prominent Shiite author who writes for Lebanon's leading newspaper, An-Nahar, said Hezbollah views Sunnis as potential allies who could give the Iranian-backed group an opening to a Sunni-dominated Arab world suspicious of Iran.
A main challenge for Hezbollah is to win over the Sunnis, he said. Hezbollah believes that winning over everyone in Lebanon and not the Sunnis would amount to nothing.
Iran has formed battalions of suicide bombers to hit American and British targets if its nuclear installations are attacked, The Sunday Times newspaper said.
According to Iranian officials, 40,000 trained suicide bombers were ready to strike, the British weekly broadsheet said.
Iran is in a stand-off with the West over its nuclear program, which the Islamic republic insists is for entirely peaceful purposes.
The Special Unit of Martyr Seekers in the Revolutionary Guards was first spotted in March when members marched in a military parade.
The force wore explosive packs around their waists and held detonators, the newspaper said.
Doctor Hassan Abbasi, head of the Centre for Doctrinal Strategic Studies in the Revolutionary Guards, said that 29 Western targets had been identified.
The Sunday Times said that at a recruiting station for the force in Teheran recently, volunteers had to state whether they would prefer to attack American targets in Iraq or Israeli targets.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced last Tuesday that the Islamic republic had successfully enriched uranium itself for use as nuclear fuel, sparking a wave of international condemnations.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the United Nations' watchdog, is due to present a report on Iran's nuclear program on April 28.
The United States insists it is seeking a diplomatic solution but has not ruled out the use of force despite opposition from even its closest allies.
Meanwhile, a former White House counterterrorism chief says a United States conflict with Iran could be even more damaging to America's interests than the war with Iraq.
Richard Clarke has written in the New York Times that Iran's likely response would be to "use its terrorist network to strike American targets around the world, including inside the United States".
Mr Clarke says Iran has forces as its command far superior to anything Al Qaeda was ever able to field, citing the country's links with the militant group Hezbollah.
He says Iran could also make things much worse in Iraq.
Posted by: Art ||
04/16/2006 12:34 Comments ||
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#3
Now, who is this Richard Clarke guy, again?
Oh, he's the one who was responsible for our counter-terror program all thorugh the Clinton years and beginining of Bush's presidency, up to 911, right?
On the basis of THAT reusme, we're supposed to trust his judgment and advice now?
LONDON - Iran has formed battalions of suicide bombers to hit American and British targets if its nuclear installations are attacked, The Sunday Times newspaper said. According to Iranian officials, 40,000 trained suicide bombers were ready to strike, the British weekly broadsheet said.
The Special Unit of Martyr Seekers in the Revolutionary Guards was first spotted in March when members marched in a military parade. The force wore explosive packs around their waists and held detonators, the newspaper said.
I wish Halliburton would hurry up with the long-range detonator ray.
Doctor Hassan Abbasi, head of the Centre for Doctrinal Strategic Studies in the Revolutionary Guards, said that 29 Western targets had been identified. We are ready to attack American and British sensitive points if they attack Irans nuclear facilities, he said in a speech, according to The Sunday Times. He said that some of them were quite close to the Iranian border in Iraq.
In a tape recording heard by the respected weekly, Abbasi told the would-be martyrs to pay close attention to wily England and vowed that Britains demise is on our agenda.
The Sunday Times said that at a recruiting station for the force in Tehran recently, volunteers had to state whether they would prefer to attack American targets in Iraq or Israeli targets.
"Paper or plastic?"
"Huh? I want to destroy the Zionist infidels."
"Okay, plastic it is. For your remains. Next!"
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/16/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
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#1
I wonder if he's seen The Life of Brian. Remember the Judean People's Suicide Squad?
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
04/16/2006 1:08 Comments ||
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#2
This sounds a lot like what Saddam threatened before the invasion of Iraq.
#3
'Coalition Armed Forces ready to hit Iranian targets' Which card is the stronger? suicide bombfcks or the coalition? I know who my moneys gonna be on and it aint the suicide bombfcks thats for sure.
To all the great citizens of Rantburg, a peaceful and joyous holiday today. Many thanks for all you do to help make Rantburg what it is.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/16/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
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#1
I don't usually comment, and my name is not Thiling Spaiger7838, but names don't really matter on the internet. I regularly read and appreciate Rantburg. Thanks, and Happy Easter.
#2
Just finished my now-annual "Passion of the Christ" DVD viewing. To all RB'ers - peace of a new world regenerated each and every year.
To our enemies: we won't turn the other cheek any more. And no - I don't blame the ancient Romans or even the current Jooooooos for Christ's death. It was fore-ordained by a higher authority than any of us can generate.
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/16/2006 1:39 Comments ||
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#3
by the way- watch how long those Easter eggs remain unrefrigerated and undiscovered :-)
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/16/2006 1:40 Comments ||
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#4
hmmm, a citizen of Rantburg, kinda has a nice ring to it.
Thanks, and my wish for all of you to have a wonderful holiday with good friends and family as well.
Posted by: Jan ||
04/16/2006 3:06 Comments ||
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#5
Been away for several months. Good to see RB doing well.
Happy Easter and Passover all!
An RB Citizen eh? yes it does have a nice ring to it ;)
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
04/16/2006 5:54 Comments ||
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#6
Hiya Tony! Welcome back and Happy Easter to all.
Posted by: Captain America ||
04/16/2006 9:23 Comments ||
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#10
Thanks for remembering! This is a day of staggering historical significance - and a very happy day. No more need for human or animal sacrifices - and a day to remember that no matter how awful we are or how much we've screwed up in life, we can start fresh, live on the sunny side and inherit a better world.
#11
To the assorted Christians in the crowd:
He is Risen! Happy Easter!
To the Jews:
Next year in Jerusalem! Happy Passover!
To all our enemies, of whatever flavor:
Your skull is mine! Blood for the Blood God!
Posted by: N guard ||
04/16/2006 9:40 Comments ||
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#16
My family is both of Christian and Jewish heritage, and, as a Rantburg Citizen, I wish all of us the best on this Easter holiday. By the way, my son's chickens lay nice brown and turquoise Easter eggs without being told.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
04/16/2006 11:32 Comments ||
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#17
don't kill the chicken that laid the turquoise egg!
#20
What a wonderful day -- here in the middle of the American Midwest the sun shone all day, and the crabapple trees are in lovely, scented bloom. May all the joys of the holidays be yours, O Fellow Rantburgers. And may those still held in the slavery of violence and evil leaders soon be free as we are, kept so by the rough men and women who have volunteered to stand guard while we celebrate. N Guard, 49 Pan, and the rest of our Rantburgers currently serving, thank you and those many others who kill people and break things -- and who also heal people and build things -- to make this world safer for us all. And the many Rantburgers whose uniformed phase may have ended but, by sharing of their knowledge and wisdom, do us another here at the 'Burg. And the rest of you, who know so much about such various subjects, and share freely that we may all become a bit wiser. I am honoured to know you all.
#22
We went back to Buffalo to visit all the grandparents, RD. The trailing daughters actually had Spring Break at the right time -- first time we celebrated Passover with my parents since I left home, lo! these many years ago. ;-) I'll bake tomorrow, then we can have a proper tea party with whoever's about. Only it's Passover, so I'm a bit limited -- no scones or lemon pound cake until next week, I'm afraid.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
DIR: US and Afghan troops launched a joint operation in Afghanistan's Kunar province as Pakistan deployed paramilitary forces along the Pak-Afghan border to check the possible infiltration of fleeing Al Qaeda and Taliban elements. Military authorities said that forces were deployed to check the movement of terrorists from Afghanistan to Pakistan, rejecting claims that the troops were deployed to assist US forces. A source in Dir civil administration said that paramilitary soldiers were being deployed along the border stretching from Dir Lower to Dir Upper and Chitral districts. The military declined to reveal the exact number of soldiers to be stationed at the border overlooking Afghanistan's eastern Kunar province.
LONDON - British soldiers will be ordered to seek and destroy insurgent remnants of the ousted Taleban regime in Afghanistan, the Sunday Telegraph newspaper said. Citing a briefing document, the British weekly broadsheet said troops would be sent to hunt down and kill insurgents, despite Defence Secretary John Reid telling parliaments lower House of Commons that this would not happen.
Clashes have erupted in the northern Egyptian city of Alexandria after the funeral of a worshipper killed the day before in attacks on Coptic Christian churches. Egyptian police arrested 15 people in the aftermath of the clashes in the Mediterranean port town's Sidi Bishr suburb on Saturday.
Egypt's Coptic Christians have protested in the city of Alexandria to demand greater protection following knife attacks at three churches. Hundreds rallied with banners reading: "Stop the persecution of Copts." 
Four rebels have been killed in clashes with security forces inside a mosque in northern Yemen, the government says. Security officials said the clashes, which erupted as Friday prayers started in the Grand Mosque of Harf Sufiyan, northwest of Sanaa, killed four supporters of slain cleric Hussein Badr Eddin al-Hawthi, and wounded another three.
Apr 15: Two terrorists were killed in crossfire between police and a group of terrorists in the small hours of Saturday at Ramkrishnapur under Doulatpur upazila in Kushtia.
British authorities extradited to Spain a terrorist suspected of having connections with Al Qaeda, NewsRu reports. 46-year-old 
A bomb explosion on a busy pedestrian street on the outskirts of Istanbul wounded 31 people on Sunday, police said, in the latest violence to strike Turkey in recent weeks.
Chechen police operatives and the local Federal Security Service (FSB) department have killed a man suspected of involvement in a hostage-taking raid on the town of Budyonnovsk in the Stavropol territory in 1995. 
Srinagar: In an major success, Jammu and Kashmir police on Sunday killed 
Suspected Taliban militants kidnapped five paramilitary troops in North Waziristan tribal agency, a day after the military killed suspected top Al-Qaeda militant, said intelligence sources Saturday. The troops were kidnapped in Razmak area, south of Miramshah, the main headquarters of 
Troops shot dead a militant who threw a grenade wounding at least two soldiers near Miranshah, the main town in a Pakistani tribal region close to the Afghan border, security officials said yesterday. The grenade attack took place as a military convoy approached the outskirts of Miranshah. Residents said they believed the explosion was caused by something more powerful than a grenade. There was a huge explosion and then firing broke out. The market is being closed, a witness said, adding that it was unclear what had caused the blast.
Security forces backed by helicopter gunships killed several suspected militants near the Afghan border in an airstrike sparked by intelligence that Al Qaeda operatives were hiding out in the area, Pakistani officials said Thursday.
Six people were killed during a raid Sunday as U.S. troops stormed a house looking for an al-Qaida suspect south of Baghdad, the U.S. military said. U.S. forces stormed the house in Youssifiyah, 12 miles south of Baghdad, about 2:15 a.m. Those inside started shooting, and the troops fired back, a U.S. statement said. Soldiers killed two men who were wearing suicide bomb vests, and a third detonated his explosives himself, the statement said. Two other suspected insurgents were killed. A woman also died in the crossfire, and three women and a child were wounded, the U.S. said. Five American troops were injured, but none seriously. Five suspected insurgents, including the target of the raid, were detained and weapons were seized, the statement said. The alleged al-Qaida suspect was not identified but the military said he worked with foreign fighters to plan bombings.
Security forces have stepped up the hunt for Abu Sayyaf members in the southern Philippines, following a raid on two terrorist hideouts in Zamboanga City, officials said on Saturday. Soldiers and policemen stormed an ice plant in Rio Hondo, a village, which is notorious for criminals and drug gangs, and seized 300 pieces of blasting caps and C-4 type of explosives on Thursday. The second raid in Baliwasan village yielded electronic timers, but the two places were apparently abandoned by terrorists before the raiding team had arrived, said Army Colonel Edgardo Gidaya, commander of an anti-terror task force here. "These explosives belong to the Abu Sayyaf. We have information about that and there is an ongoing operation against the terrorist group," he said, adding, civilian informants were providing them intelligence report about the Abu Sayyaf. 
LONDON - Iran has formed battalions of suicide bombers to hit American and British targets if its nuclear installations are attacked, The Sunday Times newspaper said. According to Iranian officials, 40,000 trained suicide bombers were ready to strike, the British weekly broadsheet said.
