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Goss Resigns as CIA Head
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
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Page 4: Opinion
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Afghanistan
Two Italian soldiers, five Afghans killed in spate of violence
Two Italian soldiers were killed in a bomb blast in Kabul while five Afghans, including a tribal chief, died in the restive south in the latest violence blamed on Taliban rebels, officials said.

The Afghan army Friday also said it had ambushed and killed four fighters from the Taliban movement, which has been waging an insurgency since they were removed from government in late 2001 by a US-led invasion.

An Italian military convoy with the NATO-led peacekeeping force in Afghanistan was struck by a bomb while on patrol in the southeast of the city, a spokesman for the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said. "Four were injured and two died," Staff Sergeant Brian Lamar said.

An Italian military spokesman in the Afghan capital said he believed the two were the first Italian troops to die in hostile action in Afghanistan. Italy has nearly 2,000 troops with ISAF, which came under NATO command in 2003. ISAF troops have sustained scores of casualties, including 25 soldiers killed over the past nine months.
Rest at link.
Posted by: ed || 05/05/2006 14:17 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Al-Qaeda still active in Afghanistan
The al-Qaida terrorist network is training Arab militants in southern and southeastern Afghanistan in the use of roadside explosives and in ambush tactics, a senior Afghan general said Thursday. Lt. Gen. Sher Karimi, chief of operations for the Afghan National Army, said in a videoteleconference with reporters at the Pentagon that elements of al-Qaida also are working with Taliban militants and aiding narcotics smugglers.

Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaida followers had used Afghanistan as a sanctuary from which to plan and direct terrorist attacks. They were protected by the radical Taliban government, which was ousted when U.S. forces invaded in October 2001. Almost five years later, both the Taliban and al-Qaida remain a threat there.

Karimi said people should not underestimate the difficulty of eliminating the Taliban and al-Qaida threat in his country. "The Taliban were running this country for five years," he said. "They were a government with a force supported directly by many nations, by many donors. They were developed. They were stationed all over the country."

A reporter asked Karimi whether he saw evidence that al-Qaida was still influencing events in Afghanistan. "They are active by training some elements to terrorize people and also use IEDs (improvized explosive devices), remote-controlled mines on the roads and approaches and also use some of the very minor tactics like ambushes in some areas _ hit-and-run type of tactics," he replied. "And, of course, they train some of the people which are for their benefit, like Taliban and also smugglers who are engaged in narcotics."

Karimi also said he saw evidence of links to bin Laden, who is generally thought to be hiding in the area along the Afghan-Pakistan border. "Some of the people that have been captured during the fighting or some of the suicide attackers are Arabs; they're not Afghans, they're Arabs and some other nationalities," Karimi said. "So the Arabs are directly connected to Osama bin Laden, and many other militants or extremists from other nations are also under the control and training of al-Qaida."
Posted by: Dan Darling || 05/05/2006 01:46 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Taliban threaten UK with a river of blood
BRITISH forces were placed on notice by the Taleban yesterday that their mission to impose security over southern Afghanistan would end in failure. On the day that Britain took command of the Nato forces that are being deployed in their thousands across the most volatile provinces of the country, the Taleban leadership sent them a chilling message. “Our activity will increase day by day. We now have the confidence to fight face-to-face and we have all the ammunition we need,” said Mohammad Hanif Sherzad, the spokesman for Mullah Omar, the reclusive, one-eyed Taleban leader, who has a $10 million (£5.4 million) bounty on his head.

“We will turn Afghanistan into a river of blood for the British,” he told The Times on a satellite telephone from an undisclosed location. “We have beaten them before and we will beat them again.”

That threat could once have been dismissed as the rantings of a dying movement that was driven from power by the US-led invasion of 2001. But today the warning will be taken seriously.

The Taleban have rearmed, recruited new followers and are planning a hot reception for the 8,000-strong Nato force from Britain, Canada and the Netherlands, which hopes to impose order on an area the size of Britain. The deployment is intended to allow America to scale back its combat troops and help the Afghan Government to extend its writ beyond Kabul, the capital.

Lieutenant-General David Richards, the Briton in command of the Nato forces, said that he was not concerned about the threat and noted that his troops would “respond very robustly” if attacked.

But while Nato launched the “most challenging” ground mission of its history, the task looked increasingly daunting. “Outside of the main city and provincial towns everything is controlled by the Taleban,” Mullah Sayed Mohammed, an MP from Kandahar, said.

In Helmand province, assigned to the British, the Taleban sent a grim message yesterday to those who challenge their authority with the discovery of the beheaded body of a policeman.

Neighbouring Kandahar province is even more dangerous. Four Canadian soldiers were killed in a roadside bomb last month. In the worst recent clash, Canadian troops fought a pitched battle against a force of 200 Taleban in the Panjwai district, only a 20-minute drive from the city of Kandahar.

The Dutch, who are sending a force of only 1,000 men after a heated political debate at home, might have the most challenging task of all. They have been assigned southern Uruzgan province, a mountainous region, much of which is under Taleban control.

Veteran British forces in Afghanistan are convinced that they have a fight ahead of them. Eight Harrier fighter pilots based in Kandahar have never been busier, and the deployment of the fighter jets has been extended by six months. Flight Lieutenant Scott Williams, 29, said: “I was here last year at the same time and the fighting is much fiercer this year.”

An incident on February 13 in the Deh Rawood district of Uruzgan illustrated the scale of the threat. When he flew over the scene, four American Special Forces were dead, killed by a massive roadside bomb. The US survivors were pinned between a ridge and a river and were taking heavy fire from Kalashnikovs and rocket launchers from a force several hundred strong.

“Every time I had radio contact with the guys on the ground I could hear gunfire in the background,” Flight Lieutenant Williams said. To try to suppress the threat he and his comrades flew over the area at an altitude of less than 100ft, hoping that the noise would scare off the Taleban.

It did not. A Harrier then fired a rocket into the group of insurgents. This, too, failed to subdue a stubborn and apparently well-trained enemy. A Harrier then dropped a 540lb (245kg) airburst bomb, which can destroy an area the size of a football pitch. “It’s not going to be pleasant after one of those has been dropped.” the pilot said. “Things went pretty quiet.”
The lesson, Flight Lt, is to use the airburst bomb first next time.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 05/05/2006 01:36 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  A flyover, then a rocket, then the airbust bomb? How polite! Why not that bomb first, then a flyover with wing-wagging?
Posted by: Bobby || 05/05/2006 8:07 Comments || Top||

#2  We now have the confidence to fight face-to-face and we have all the ammunition we need

Thanks to German kidnapping payoffs and the Russian arms industry.
Posted by: Boesoeker || 05/05/2006 8:11 Comments || Top||

#3  Would a "river of blood" put out a "sea of fire"?
Discuss.
Posted by: tu3031 || 05/05/2006 8:13 Comments || Top||

#4  The Brits really need to copy this style of airbased ground support. bittorrent for video at this link
(AC-130 in action over Afghanistan)
Posted by: 3dc || 05/05/2006 11:33 Comments || Top||

#5  Of Afghani civilians, one presumes.
Posted by: gromgoru || 05/05/2006 12:06 Comments || Top||

#6  LOL Tu.
Posted by: 6 || 05/05/2006 19:22 Comments || Top||

#7  Arclight puhleeze.... let's make those trails impassable
Posted by: Frank G || 05/05/2006 19:58 Comments || Top||

#8  Oooh, river of blood! Did they happen to mention whose blood? And does this mean the brutal Afghan winter meme is no longer in play?

/me predicts the propery values in Pakistan's NWFP are going to take a downturn soon.
Posted by: SteveS || 05/05/2006 20:56 Comments || Top||

#9  Saving Britain, Scandinavia and NORDLANT, besides North Atlantic oil, for the Motherly Russian/Soviet Red Banner Northern Fleet.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 05/05/2006 21:26 Comments || Top||


Hek openly throws in with Binny
Afghan warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar says that he is ready to fight under the banner of al-Qaeda, according to a video broadcast by al-Jazeera TV. "We hope to participate with them in a battle that they lead. They hold the banner and we stand alongside them as supporters," he said in the video. The rebel warlord is classified as a terrorist by the United States. He is opposed to the central government of Hamid Karzai and urges war against foreign troops in Afghanistan.

Mr Hekmatyar was Afghanistan's prime minister from June 1993 to June 1994. His faction, the Hezb-e-Islami, helped end the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.
In the video, a bearded Gulbuddin Hekmatyar wears a black turban and has a machine gun propped up against the wall behind him. He berates Western governments for not taking seriously a truce offer made by Osama Bin Laden in January to the American people and another to European countries in April 2004.

"The Americans and their friends the Europeans are the ones who declared war on the Muslims and ignited the flames in Palestine, Afghanistan and Iraq," he says.
"They are trying to rule Muslim states directly or through their vassals. They are plundering the wealth of Muslims and holding them back from self determination."

His group has been blamed for several recent attacks against US-led coalition forces in Afghanistan. Correspondents say that statements from Gulbuddin Hekmatyar are rare, but when they appear, their theme and tone is the same: hatred of the United States and its allies in Afghanistan and calls for rebellion there in the name of Islam.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 05/05/2006 01:26 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Another roach emerges from the motel ...
Posted by: doc || 05/05/2006 10:55 Comments || Top||

#2  Hek Openly throws In.....
:>
Funny glasses too.
Posted by: 6 || 05/05/2006 19:24 Comments || Top||


Africa Horn
Somalia: Weapons banned to carry in Balad district
Bal'ad 05 May. 06 ( Sh.M.Network) Balad town of middle shabelle region in Somalia have banned to carry weapons in the streets of the town on Friday. Officials said. The administration of Balad 30 km north of Mogadishu said if any one seen in carrying gun in the town would be fined with 300,000 So.Shillings as well as two months of prison.
Wyatt Earp did the same thing in Dodge City, when's the shootout with the al-Clanton clan?
Balad town is under the control of Muse Sude Yalahow, one of powerful warlords in Mogadishu and member of the newly formed alliance for restoration peace and counter terrorism (ARPCT), which fought with militia of Islamic courts in the city. The district troops have been told to remain in their barracks outside of the town.

The chairman of Balad admin Mohamed Muse said the move was taken to prevent the insecurity and it has already brought changes to the situation.
"Thar's a new sheriff in town!"
Posted by: Steve || 05/05/2006 12:34 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Somali pirates stranded on an oil tanker
Harardhere 05 May. 06 ( Sh.M.Network) Group of Somali pirates are reported to have been trapped on an oil tanker which they have recently hijacked it near Elmaan port of northern Mogadishu after the residents of Harardhere district in central Somalia formed militia designed to stop pirates from stationing in the area.

About seven pirates and 18 crewmembers have been stranded on the ship after they couldn’t afford to come offshore due to armed militia who vowed to protect Harardhere area against pirates, as Ahmed Ali Sheik ‘Gamase’ who is the commander of anti piracy militia told Shabelle radio.

He noted that the local militia surrounded the area the ship is being held, preventing the hijackers to come offshore. However Mr. Gamase said the Korean fishing boat held at the coast was illegally fishing the Somali waters and they would be brought before justice but opposing the hijacking of commercial and aid ships.

It was for the first time the residents established anti piracy militia to stop pirates from basing in the district.
Posted by: Steve || 05/05/2006 12:29 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Stranded? On a Tanker?
Cursed with the pirates shame?

How awful.
Posted by: J McCord || 05/05/2006 19:32 Comments || Top||


JEM refuses to sign Darfur peace deal
The Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), one of three rebel factions from Sudan's Darfur region under intense pressure to sign a peace plan, said on Friday it would not sign the document as it stands.

The African Union, which drafted the peace plan, earlier said it would not reopen substantial negotiations on the text.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 05/05/2006 01:01 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  dan,

why this headline?

The larger SLM will sign, apparently, as will the Khartoum govt, opening the way to the deployment of UN peacekeepers. Im holding my breath for snags in the process, but todays news is good.
Posted by: Liberalhawk || 05/05/2006 9:22 Comments || Top||

#2  why this headline?

Um, because this is one of the three rebel factions, and won't sign?
Posted by: Pappy || 05/05/2006 10:42 Comments || Top||

#3  theglass is half full.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 05/05/2006 10:47 Comments || Top||

#4  sorry, I see this is wapos headline. Suprised Reuters ran this factoid seperately from the larger story, which is that a deal HAS been reached.
Posted by: Liberalhawk || 05/05/2006 10:52 Comments || Top||


Bangladesh
Tales from the Crossfire Gazette
Robber killed in 'crossfire' with Rab
A member of a notorious gang of robbers was killed in 'crossfire' during a gunfight between his associates and the Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) at Bakerganj of the district early yesterday. Rafiqul Islam alias Alauddin alias Babul, second in command of the Nantu Bahini, died on the spot as his associates fired on the law enforcers and tried to snatch him from the Rab custody at Peyarpur under the Bakerganj Police Station.
Another position open for a Number Two. Apply at Monsters.com
Rab and police claimed Rafiq, accused in more than six cases of robbery, murder, looting, abduction and toll collection in areas under different police stations, was a top most wanted criminal.
"You just watch yourself. I'm a wanted man. I have the death sentence on twelve systems."
Lt Col Ershad, director of Rab-8 unit in Barisal, said Rafiq had been absconding since his gang leader Nantu was killed in crossfire two months ago.
Working their way down the list
Obviously he didn't abscond far enough.
Upon information, a special team of Rab-1 arrested Rafiq from Badda in Dhaka last Tuesday. He was handed over to the Barisal Rab the next day.
"Here you go, have fun"
Following his confession to the Rab interrogation team,
"I'll talk! I'll talk, just get that away from me!"
Rafiq was taken to Peyarpur launch terminal area around 4:00am yesterday to recover arms and ammunition hidden by the gang.
Our story now moves to the deserted boat dock where....
A gunfight ensued as Rafiq's associates, who had been hiding there, fired on the law enforcers.
.....a shot rang out!
The Rab members seized a gun with eight cartridges and a revolver with five bullets from the spot.
Before or after the revolver was emptied into poor Rafiq?
The dead body of Rafiq was sent to Barisal Sher-e-Bangla Medical College morgue for post mortem.
Doctor Quincy must have gotten a teaching gig
Locals brought out a procession rejoicing at the news of the criminal's death.
"Huzah! Rafiq is dead! Sweetmeats for all!"
Posted by: Steve || 05/05/2006 09:18 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Odd, they siezed five bullets and eight cartridges,
I think they need someone to tell them the difference between Bullets and Cartridges, seems they think they're the same thing and the difference is the type of gun, WRONG.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 05/05/2006 13:38 Comments || Top||

#2  Odd that so far there has been no account of Rafiq's associates smelling his body. perhaps cordite mixed with blood and a hint of marine salt is too much....
Posted by: USN, ret. || 05/05/2006 14:03 Comments || Top||


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
FSB busts Chechen hard boy
Police in the Tver region in cooperation with the local Federal Security Service (FSB) department exposed and arrested a militant from a criminal group operating in Chechnya, press spokesman for the local FSB unit Vadim Koven told Interfax on Thursday.

"The man was an active member of an illegal paramilitary formation set up in 2001 in the Sunzhen district of Chechnya and was probably involved in an attack on policemen in Achkhoi-Martan, in which one policemen was killed," the spokesman said.

The militant was handed over to Chechen law enforcement bodies for subsequent investigation, he said.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 05/05/2006 01:55 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Qoqaz is back online
A communiqué issued yesterday, May 2, 2006 and posted yesterday to alqoqaz.net, the Arabic website of the Chechen jihad, announces three different operations in Chechnya. According to the message, the mujahideen destroyed two Russian vehicles in separation operations in Shatoy and the village of Qaldaqn, and killed three Russian soldiers during a confrontation in Jan Fedino while they were conducting “inspecting operations”. In addition, the message states that soldier maneuvers being performed outside of the Chechen borders are only to lift the low morale of the Russians and provided “information propaganda” for Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is “still in a critical situation within the offenses of Chechnya”.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 05/05/2006 01:54 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Al-Qaeda priorities in the North Caucasus
An analysis by Agentura.Ru Studies and Research Centre (ASRC) how the role played by Al Qaeda an global jihad movement in the North Caucasus has changed over the last years. Compiled by experts from the Institute of Defense and Security Studies (Singapore) and Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies (Israel). First published in Novaya Gazeta.

All experts agree that Al-Qaeda's presence in any given region is signified by public beheading of hostages, terrorist attacks on Western targets, and the use of suicide bombers (shakhids).

All this evident is in Iraq. Experts at the IDSS (Institute of Defense and Security Studies in Singapore) say it will all be evident in Afghanistan as well in 2006. They point out that the Taliban wasn't exactly skillful from the military standpoint in the past, but interaction with foreigners enabled them too hone their skills. Some sources imply that Taliban activists are split into of groups 10 to 25 men each, and each group includes an Al-Qaeda member or a mercenary from the Persian Gulf countries who teaches the rest the tactics deployed in Iraq. Coordination of terrorist attacks has improved greatly as a result.

The Taliban started using suicide bombers in late 2005. These tactics were largely unknown in Afghanistan before September 11, because "istishhad" (the eagerness to become a martyr) was alien to the Afghan culture. Not any more.

Beheading hostages is becoming a widespread tactic in Afghanistan. The Taliban is using these executions to emphasize its contacts with the global jihad movement.

All this is essentially absent in Chechnya. Chechen terrorists don't use suicide bombers nowadays (the most recent terrorist attacks of that kind took place in 2004), and don't attack American or British targets. Al-Qaeda leaders don't call Chechnya the third battlefield of the global jihad (after Iraq and Afghanistan). Moreover, Russian secret services have never uncovered any evidence that any act of terror in Russia was organized under Al-Qaeda's direct command.

And yet, the conflict in Chechnya retains its considerable role in propaganda for the global jihad. The Al-Qaeda suicide terrorists who hijacked passenger jets on September 11 had once intended to fight in Chechnya. These days, video recordings of battles in Chechnya are being viewed in Iraq.

In fact, experience in Chechnya is being widely used in other countries. Iraq's first suicide bomber blew herself up on September 28, 2005. Although some extremists had used women in this capacity in the past, it was in Chechnya that women first began blowing themselves up for religious rather than political motives. The first female suicide bomber drove a KamAZ truck loaded with high explosives into the building of a federal forces commandant's office in Alkhan-Yurt in Chechnya in June 2000 - and that incident sparked a series of similar explosions worldwide. Israel's first female suicide bomber blew herself up in January 2002, and two women followed suit in Uzbekistan in March 2004.

However, it is highly unlikely that Al-Qaeda abandoned the actual Chechen front (not the propaganda front) only because of the absence of American military contingent there.

IDSS experts John Harrison and Rohan Gunaratna believe that Al-Qaeda is in decline nowadays. Yoram Schweitzer agrees. He maintains that Osama bin Laden's organization never succeeded in transformation from a group into a movement. Moreover, the second generation of fighters appeared in the global jihad now - from Iraq, Europe, and South Africa - and they pushed bin Laden's Afghani and Bosnian followers into the background. Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the head of the Iraqi Al-Qaeda network, makes an emphasis on this new generation and is practically out of bin Laden's control now.

Bin Laden built his global terrorist network using Afghanistan, and al-Zarqawi is now using Iraq in the same manner. Aware of the fact that a great many Al-Qaeda ringleaders and senior officers are arrested, al-Zarqawi would not mind taking over its cells on the territory from North America to Asia.

Al-Zarqawi has enormously boosted his influence in Libya, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, and Persian Gulf states. Terrorist web-sites usually post information on al-Zarqawi's operations nowadays, leaving Al-Qaeda as such and bin Laden in the periphery of attention. Using his considerable skills in dealing with media outlets, al-Zarqawi is becoming the symbol of global jihad.

What information is available at this point indicates that emissaries of both structures (Al-Qaeda and al-Zarqawi's network) operated in the Caucasus until recently. Bin Laden was represented in Chechnya by Abu Omar al-Saif between 1995 and November 2005 when he was killed. Al-Zarqawi has been represented since 2002 by Abu Hafs al-Urdani. Al-Saif of Saudi Arabia was an ideologue rather than field commander. He bears a lot of titles, all of them with religious undertones: legal advisor to Chechen mujahedin, member of the Shar'ah court, head of the Court of Appeals in Chechnya, etc. Al-Saif's opinion was not valued in the Caucasus alone.

Calling the war in Iraq "the third wave of Crusades against Muslims," al-Saif actually viewed peace as a never-ending battle for the triumph of Islam. He did not really care about regional and cultural differences between Muslims from different countries.

Abu Hafs Al-Urdani is a Jordanian. He represents al-Zarqawi and Chechen diaspora in Jordan. It is common knowledge that "Arab" Chechens have played a major role in the conflict in the Caucasus ever since 1995. The first Foreign Minister of Ichkeria Shamil Beno was a Jordanian Chechen. Zijad Sabsabi, representative of Chechnya in Moscow, was born in Syria.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 05/05/2006 01:06 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Europe
Pakistani dies in German jail
German policemen have tortured to death a Pakistani, Amir Abdu Rehaman Cheema, reported Geo television on Thursday.
"Fritz! Gimme meine Schpeinenschnäpper!"
"Jawohl, Herr Obertörtüremeister!"
"Und bringst du der Gärdenhöse! Ziss vill be meßy!"
Amir was arrested in Berlin for attacking a German newspaper’s editor for printing the cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad (may his drip clear up peace be upon him).
"Youse can't make fun o' my Profit (PTUI) an' get away with it!"
"Wass der Helle?"
"You mit dem Blüdgeon! Schtick 'em up!"
Amir’s father Nazir Cheema told the channel that a Foreign Office official had telephoned him on Thursday and told him about his son’s death while in police custody.
"He's todt, Herr Obertörtüremeister!"
"Vell, cäll der fämily und bringst du mir another one!"
Cheema said Amir’s body would be handed over to the Pakistani embassy in Berlin on Monday for sending to Pakistan. He lamented the government could take no action, saying, Pakistan would accept whatever German officials say - my family is actually worried about Amir’s dead body.
"Fritz!"
"Ja, Herr Obertörtüremeister!"
"Do sömething terrible to the body before zending it bäck to Päkischtan!"
Foreign Office Spokesperson Tasneem Aslam confirmed the incident. Pakistan has asked Germany for details of the incident, she said. “German officials note to the embassy in Berlin read: Amir Cheema committed suicide in the prison by hanging himself with a rope,” she added.
"Congratulations, Herr Obertörtüremeister! You haff tortured him into hanging himzelf mit einen Röpe!"
“Pakistan has stressed that Amir’s body be handed over as soon as possible.” She said Pakistan would decide to launch protest Amir’s death in police custody after receiving a final investigation report from German officials’. MMA and PML-N MPs raised the issue in the parliament but to no avail, added the channel. MNA Farid Piracha and Mian Aslam also visited Amir’s family and assured them they would raised the issue in the National Assembly today.
Posted by: Fred || 05/05/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  LOL, Fred!
Posted by: Thith Javitle6306 || 05/05/2006 3:04 Comments || Top||

#2  hee hee hee Captain Fred!
Posted by: 6 || 05/05/2006 7:28 Comments || Top||

#3  Ok, ein tote. Haaben zee MORE bitte ?????
Posted by: Boesoeker || 05/05/2006 7:47 Comments || Top||

#4  Mausetot. Dead as doornails. Ich errinere mich.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 05/05/2006 11:25 Comments || Top||

#5  “German policemen have tortured to death a Pakistani…”

Apparently if you have a quote from the stiffs pappy it’s not mandatory to actually have proof of such an allegation. After all, someone that's as stable to attack another for printing a frikkin’ cartoon would never intentionally commit a self-inflicted upper-lumbar stretching.
Posted by: DepotGuy || 05/05/2006 12:11 Comments || Top||

#6  Abu Amir's accusation is more plausible than German accusations of Guantanamo torture. At least there is a body in this case.
Posted by: ed || 05/05/2006 12:33 Comments || Top||

#7  intentionally commit a self-inflicted upper-lumbar stretching.
I'm sure Steve W will concur that it was his Cervical spine that was stretched, not his lumbar (lower back). I used to do that for physical therapy, but had a collar that didn't break my bones or choke off my air supply. Either way, he's doorknob dead - one less irrationalislamic to deal with.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 05/05/2006 13:36 Comments || Top||

#8  OP: that's what you get when you combine Pilates and Autoerotic asphyxiation....
Posted by: Frank G || 05/05/2006 14:19 Comments || Top||

#9  I worry about you Frank.
Posted by: 6 || 05/05/2006 15:16 Comments || Top||

#10  Frank you called?
Posted by: Michael Hutchence || 05/05/2006 15:58 Comments || Top||

#11  heh heh
Posted by: 6 || 05/05/2006 19:34 Comments || Top||

#12  heh heh
Posted by: Frank G || 05/05/2006 20:10 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Salva Judum - India's local anti-Maoist campaign
In the southern part of the Indian state of Chhattisgarh tribesmen from several villages, sometimes from as many as 30 or more, trek for miles carrying traditional bows, arrows, drums and cymbals.

They are on a mission to get rid of the region's Maoist menace.

Over the last year, more than 100 such marches and pledge ceremonies have taken place in Dantewara, the southern-most district of the state and a Maoist stronghold.

The campaign, which is supported by the state and federal authorities, is called Salva Judum (or Peace March when translated in the local Gondi dialect) and is aimed at ridding the area of the rebels.

Village heads are asked to identify those who may have links with the rebels.

"This will help in breaking the network of the rebels who have been able to set up a chain at village level to keep track of all activities in the area including the movement of security forces," says inspector general of police MW Ansari.

The administration says that more than 2,000 Maoist supporters have been identified this way.

But others say the move is a very minor achievement as the supporters form the lowest rung of the Maoist organisational set-up.

Ruchir Garg, an expert on the Maoists in the region, says rebels entered this area about 25 years ago have set up a chain of command.

It encompasses local, regional and state military squads as well as mass organisations such as cultural, women, peasant and workers' wings.

The Salva Judum campaign started last June after reports that the rebels were prohibiting villagers from collecting forest produce and beating up anyone who defied their orders, in some cases even torching their houses.

Tribesmen and women collect tendu leaves, which are used to make a kind of local cigarette, as well as honey and herbs in the region's jungles and are the mainstay of the indigenous communities living in the area.

Those at the forefront of the campaign say elders from several villages felt the need to attack the Maoists who are hurting their economic development.

Some argue, however, that the campaign has been organised by the police by spreading misinformation.

The police and administration describe it as a "people's voluntary uprising against the oppression of the rebels".

But many independent observers feel it is a police strategy to combat the Maoists using the tribes people as a shield.

Since June last year when the campaign started, as many as 150 people have been killed by the Maoists.

Nearly 50,000 people from more than 600 villages have fled and are living in government-run camps.

Many have fled to towns and villages in nearby states or migrated to the cities out of fear of the rebels who have escalated their violence and have twice even raided fortified camps.

The Maoists have accused the security forces of forcing villagers to participate in the Salva Judum campaign and say they will crush it.

The allegations appear to have some basis.

"Leaders from the campaign visited our village and ordered that one member from each family should participate in the meeting otherwise we would be considered working for the rebels," said the head of a family who have fled the area and are trying to resettle in a city.

International human rights group, Amnesty International, has also raised concerns over the safety of ordinary people, including indigenous communities, in the wake of violence between rebels and members of the campaign.

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh has said that the government will now ask those running the campaign to keep the gatherings smaller so that security can be provided.

Twenty-eight people were killed in February when trucks carrying villagers from one such anti-Maoist meeting hit a rebel landmine.
Posted by: john || 05/05/2006 20:01 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Showdown in Pakistan imminent?
Across the jihadi world, there is a strong conviction that by the end of this year Taliban leader Mullah Omar will be back in power in Afghanistan, from where he was driven by US-led forces in 2001.

Realistically, eight months is likely to be too ambitious a time frame for a Taliban victory, if victory is achievable at all. Nevertheless, there is no doubt that the Taliban movement is poised to enhance its nuisance level significantly in the United States' strategic back yards in the region - notably Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Acutely aware of this, the US is leaning heavily on Pakistan, its key ally in the "war on terror" in the region, to go on the offensive against the strong Taliban foothold in the North and South Waziristan tribal areas on the border with Afghanistan. What the US is asking for, in effect, is a Tora Bora-style aerial bombing of the area, similar to that undertaken in the mountains of that name in Afghanistan during the rout of the Taliban five years ago.

The Taliban are integrated into the local population and there would be high civilian casualties. This is considered acceptable as civilians would be deemed Taliban sympathizers.
Which they are.
According to highly placed officials who spoke to Asia Times Online, the Pakistani military has already drawn up a blueprint for such an attack, which could be implemented in the near future.
Lots of drums.
In response, the Taliban, along with al-Qaeda, have a counter-plan in which they will go on the offensive, and an extensive network is primed to launch attacks on the Pakistani establishment.

This is the first time since the fall of the Taliban that the al-Qaeda leadership has activated Pakistani jihadis all over the country for operations both inside and outside the country. The effect of this is illustrated by an incident in Kandahar, Afghanistan, recently in which three suicide bombers were arrested after they failed to detonate their devices because of technical problems. All three were from the Pakistani port city of Karachi. Detailed investigations at the Kandahar military base by agents of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation revealed a network starting from a book shop in Karachi, going on to a contact in Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province in Pakistan, and then on to Chaman in the same province. From there the three men launched their attack in Kandahar.

These arrests spotlight just one of many powerful networks established across Pakistan to carry out jihadi activities on a scale that has not existed since the fall of the Taliban.

This is reinforced by a recent broadcast by Ayman al-Zawahiri, al-Qaeda's No 2, in which he called on Pakistanis to topple President General Pervez Musharraf, calling him "a bribe-taking, treacherous criminal". He especially asked the Pakistani army to mutiny against Musharraf.

Zawahiri made a similar broadcast in 2003, but a lot has changed since then. At that time, the Taliban were bruised and down, scattered and without central leadership. Al-Qaeda was also on the run, its network in a shambles, and survival was the only issue. Broadcasts by bin Laden and Zawahiri had only two purposes: to keep the morale of the jihadis high and to sow uncertainty in the ranks of the rival camp.

Both aims were achieved. Each message kept the jihadis spiritually connected with their leadership, and opponents were kept guessing about the Taliban and al-Qaeda. Soon after Zawahiri's call, a number of assassination attempts were made on Musharraf's life, with the complicity of sections within the armed forces.

In the meantime, al-Qaeda began to develop its "netwar" strategy - a complex organization of cells and groups. While Zawahiri continued his broadcasts, bin Laden disappeared from the scene. To keep thousands of inactive jihadis in Pakistan involved and to bring them into al-Qaeda's net, various methods were used, including the distribution of training manuals, motivational compact discs and action clips of the Taliban in Afghanistan.

At the same time, al-Qaeda and the Taliban established a foothold in North Waziristan, renaming it the "Islamic State of North Waziristan" and seizing virtual control of the area. Jihadis were invited to the base, which has expanded to parts of South Waziristan and neighboring villages in Afghanistan. This was in preparation for the Taliban's powerful spring offensive, which is now under way, directed toward Kabul as well as Islamabad.

The sudden emergence of bin Laden in a broadcast this month was a global message to the jihadi movement, urging them to come to the base (Waziristan) as a new "war" had begun, of which the spring offensive is the first major salvo.

This was followed by Zawahiri's call to do battle against Musharraf. Unlike in 2003, the jihadis are now much better organized to take on the Pakistani establishment.

The situation is now dangerously poised. Musharraf, under US pressure, is prepared for an all-out attack on the Taliban and al-Qaeda. At the same time, the military rulers are well aware of the renewed strength of the jihadis, and are extremely reluctant to go for the "final solution" and all it would involve.

Asia Times Online contacts claim that in this explosive environment, some sort of a compromise deal, as in the past, might be worked out, with both sides agreeing to back off for the time being. In such an eventuality, the only winners would be the Taliban and al-Qaeda: they can only go from strength to strength, and they will not give up on their ultimate goal of toppling the administrations in Kabul and Islamabad.

The following are translated excerpts from a broadcast by Ayman al-Zawahiri that was aired on Arabic television last weekend.

... As for the second thing I wish to talk to you about, it is the dark fate toward which the traitor Musharraf is pushing Pakistan. Without a doubt, Pakistan is one of the most important of the countries targeted by this new colonialist crusade which seeks to weaken Pakistan and fragment it into entities under the control of India, which is allied with the Americans and Jews.

And here I wish to clarify an extremely important point, which is that the anti-Islamic American/Crusader/Zionist plan has no place for the presence of Pakistan as a strong, powerful, able state in South Asia, because this plan doesn't forgive Pakistan for separating from India in the name of Islam, and doesn't forgive it for including the largest Islamic schools with wide influence among the Muslims of South and Central Asia, and doesn't forgive it for the flourishing of the popular jihadi movements in it against the Indians in Kashmir and first the Russians and then the Americans in Afghanistan, and doesn't forgive it the favorable response of its people, scholars, students, mujahideen and tribes to the Islamic emirate in Afghanistan - since its founding and to this very day - and to its amir the lion of Islam, Mullah Mohammed Omar, may Allah protect him, and doesn't forgive it its overwhelming public sympathy for the call of Sheikh Osama bin Ladin for jihad to expel the Americans and Jews from the holy places of the Muslims and their homes.

In this context, India appears to be the best candidate to implement the Zionist/Crusader plan to humiliate Pakistan and weaken it and tear it apart. And [President George W] Bush's recent visit to Pakistan at the beginning of March was one of the biggest pieces of evidence of that, as he gave a strong push to India's nuclear program, while handing out orders and instructions in Pakistan. And I will review with you in brief just a few of the many woes and misfortunes which Musharraf and his supporters have brought on Pakistan.

The first of these woes is Musharraf's combating of Islam in Pakistan. With an order from the Crusaders, he provided all the backing needed to expel the Islamic emirate from Kabul. And he has made war on the Islamic schools, and is seeking to review the Hudood Act related to rape], in addition to inventing - with Crusader guidance - a new Qadiani creed which invites the people to an Islam without jihad and without enjoining of good and prohibition of evil and without observation of the rules of the sharia, which he calls "Enlightened Moderation".

The second of these woes is Musharraf's threat to Pakistani national security. Musharraf was the primary backer of the ouster of the Islamic emirate from Kabul, and was the primary reason for the establishment of a government in Kabul allied to America and India and hostile to Pakistan. And as a result of Musharraf's betrayal, Indian intelligence has crept close to the Pakistani-Afghan border and opened its consulates in the cities adjacent to Pakistan. And the Pakistani army, with the exit of the Taliban government from Kabul, became a double loser: first, the Pakistani army lost the strategic depth which Afghanistan, with its highlands and mountains, can offer it in any Pakistani-Indian confrontation. And second, the Pakistani army's back became exposed to a regime hostile to it and allied with its enemies. And if you add to this India's success in exploiting air bases in Tajikistan and its seeking military cooperation with the Central Asian states, you will realize the extent of the predicament which the Pakistani army has gotten itself into.

And Musharraf is the one who placed the Pakistani nuclear program under American - and hence Jewish and Indian - supervision. Musharraf exploited America's accusation of Abdul Qadeer Khan [father of Pakistan's nuclear program] to impose its surveillance on the Pakistani nuclear program. And then is it credible that Abdul Qadeer Khan was outside the surveillance of Pakistani military intelligence? Thus the first ones who should be brought to trial in the case of Abdul Qadeer Khan are the leaders of the Pakistani army and intelligence. But Abdul Qadeer Khan was used as a scapegoat to please America.

And Musharraf is the one who is fanning the flames of civil war in Pakistan on behalf of America, in Waziristan and Balochistan, in a bloody conflict whose losses have no end, and which will only rebound on Pakistan with the worst of damages. The worst thing any army in the world could wish for is that it be assigned to defend the borders of its country at a time when it is embroiled in an internal civil war. Pakistani memory has yet to forget the catastrophe caused by the civil war in East Pakistan [that led to the creation of Bangladesh]. And what Musharraf has done in Bajaur, Waziristan and Balochistan he will repeat in Karachi, Lahore and Peshawar, and indeed, any place the Americans request him to strike.

And Musharraf is the one who is seeking to change the combat doctrine of the Pakistani army by repeating that the real danger to Pakistan is from within and not foreign: ie, he is inciting the Pakistani army to fight its people and brothers and turn a blind eye to the Indian threat. And if the combat doctrine of any army becomes corrupted, and its fighting turns into fighting for the sake of salary and position alone, then this army will run away from the battlefield whenever fighting breaks out.

And how is it possible for the Pakistani officer or soldier to be persuaded that he is defending Islam when he is the one who enabled the Americans to kill tens of thousands of Muslims in Afghanistan, and enabled them to oust the Islamic emirate from Kabul? And how is it possible for the Pakistani officer or soldier to be persuaded that he is defending the sanctity of Pakistanis when his commanders order him to kill women and children in his own country? And how is it possible for the Pakistani officer or soldier to be persuaded that he is defending the honor and dignity of Pakistan when he sees his leaders order him to carry out a new slaughter every time they are visited by a high-ranking American official?

The third of these woes is Musharraf's squandering of the issue of Kashmir and his painstaking effort to dispose of it at any cost. Musharraf is the one who strangled the jihadi resistance against India, which led it to increase its savagery and draw up the borders. And Musharraf is the one who made and continues to make one concession after another in the Kashmir issue, even as India hasn't budged one step from its stance. And Musharraf is the one who seeks to deceive the Muslim ummah [community] in Pakistan by pretending to them that the problem with India will be resolved with confidence-building measures, in order to neutralize the effort to liberate Kashmir, which is the real problem between Pakistan and India.

And Musharraf is the one who wars against the Arab mujahideen and their brothers from all corners of the Islamic world, who represent one of the most important weapons in the liberation of Kashmir, in the same way that they contributed before to the liberation of Afghanistan from the Russians. And Musharraf is the one who brought American military and intelligence forces to Kashmir under the pretext of helping the victims of the earthquake. They came in under this cover and commenced to strengthen their defenses and fortifications in order to establish permanent Crusader bases on the Pakistani-Indian border.

The fourth of these woes is Musharraf's recognition of Israel, to prepare the Pakistanis psychologically to recognize a Hindu state in Kashmir. The fifth of these woes is his affront to Pakistani dignity and sovereignty when he gave free reign to American intelligence and investigative agencies in Pakistan, and turned Pakistan's army and security services into hunting dogs at the service of the Crusaders.

The sixth of these woes is his corruption of political life in Pakistan. Through bribery and election fraud, Musharraf declared himself president and formed a party of bribe-takers and opportunists which he provided with a parliamentary majority, and distributed to them and the rest of his supporters the country's treasures, which he had seized, even though he is the same one who claimed at the beginning of his rule that he came to combat fiscal corruption in Pakistan.

And the West, which claims to defend democracy, was hostile to Musharraf at the outset of his rule, but later did a U-turn in admiration of him and his treachery, and indeed, today encourages him to stay in power by any means, after he demonstrated his aptitude for killing Muslims. Musharraf's real problem is bribery. And Musharraf reckons that his success in procuring wealth will only be achieved by betraying Pakistan and appeasing America and throwing himself at its feet.

But he forgets the other half of the reality, which is that America tosses its agents into the rubbish bin when there is no longer any need for them. And were he to look across his western borders, he would see the fate of the shah [of Iran] bearing witness to that, when they ordered him to leave Iran, and then deprived him of asylum and indeed, even medical treatment, which he only found with his friend the bribe-taker Anwar Sadat [of Egypt].

And in keeping with Musharraf's worship of wealth and his mad dash for bribes, he tries to persuade the Pakistani people that they must take care of their interests without paying attention to any moral or religious considerations. This is the same logic of drug dealers, white-slavery gangs, spies and traitors, and the outcome of this attitude is the loss of this world and the next. Allah the Exalted says, "Satan threatens you with poverty and bids you to immorality, while Allah promises you His forgiveness and bounties, and Allah cares for all and He knows all things." - Al-Baqarah 2:268.

I address the Pakistani people, to call on them to stand today in the ranks of Islam against the Zionist/Crusader assault on the Islamic ummah and on Pakistan, and I call on them to strive in earnest to topple this bribe-taking, treacherous criminal, and to back their brothers the mujahideen in Afghanistan with everything they have until they defeat the plan of the Crusaders and Zionists allied with India.

I also call the Pakistani army's attention to the dismal fate which awaits them in this life and the other, for the Pakistani army has turned into forces aligned under Bush's cross in his crusade against Islam and Muslims, just as it has become a tool in the destruction and tearing apart of Pakistan. Let every soldier and officer in the Pakistani army know that Allah has threatened anyone who allies himself with the infidels against the Muslims with a painful punishment. Allah the Exalted says, "To the hypocrites give the good tidings that there is for them a grievous chastisement; those who take for friends unbelievers rather than believers: Is it honor they seek among them? Nay, all honor is with Allah." - Al-Nisa 4:138-139.

And let every soldier and officer in the Pakistani army know that Musharraf is throwing them into the burner of civil war in exchange for the bribes which he took from the Americans, and that he doesn't care if 10,000 or 20,000 Pakistani troops are killed, as long as his pockets are full of bribes. And let them know that Musharraf has made preparations to flee abroad - where he has his secret accounts - on the victory of the popular revolution.

For this reason, I call on every officer and soldier in the Pakistani army to disobey the orders of his commanders to kill Muslims in Pakistan and Afghanistan, or otherwise he will be confronted by the mujahideen who repelled the British and Russians before. The Truth - Exalted is He - says, "Say to those who have disbelieved, if they cease [from disbelief], their past will be forgiven. But if they return [thereto], then the examples of those [punished] before them have already preceded [as a warning]. And fight them until there is no more fitnah [disbelief and polytheism] and the religion will all be for Allah alone [in the whole of the world]. But if they cease [worshipping others besides Allah], then certainly, Allah is All-Seer of what they do. And if they turn away, then know that Allah is your maula [patron, lord, protector and supporter] - [what] an excellent maula, and [what] an excellent helper." - Al-Anfal 8:38-39.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 05/05/2006 02:38 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Dust the whole of Waziristan with ...
Posted by: 3dc || 05/05/2006 2:51 Comments || Top||

#2  Great read, Dan - Thank-you. Time to get across that border and clean up N & S Waziristan NOW - if the taliban are really resurgent and inflict any serious casualties on NATO/US troops then it could well be crunch time for Perv - time to face up to the old-lags in the ISI who are seemingly pulling the strings in Pakland.

If they plan on taking power in Afghanistan(!) then they better have an answer to the Crusader-Zionist Death Ray™ we used on them so effectively in 2001!
Posted by: Howard UK || 05/05/2006 4:03 Comments || Top||

#3  Thats all good. "Fry them up Dano"

To choose between India or Pakistan what should we do. I'll go with India.
Posted by: SPoD || 05/05/2006 4:16 Comments || Top||

#4  It doesn't surprise me this report is from Asia Times, which has a track record of hyping up the capabilities of the Jihadis and acting as their mouthpiece. In October 2001 they were saying that the US was in an "unwinnable" war in Afghanistan. One their hacks, called Pepe Escobar, is a lying, American-hating, marxist dog.
Posted by: Apostate || 05/05/2006 4:48 Comments || Top||

#5  Syed Saleem Shahzad in particular, while having some interesting things to say, has been essentially repeating the same article about the Taliban resurgence for 3 years now.
Posted by: Paul Moloney || 05/05/2006 5:51 Comments || Top||

#6  Dan,
Here is the Pakistani stupidity. There are more Muslims in India than in Pakistan. Muslims in India are far better socially and economically than Muslims in Pakistan. Even the president of India is a Muslim and he is the second Muslim president of India. Kashmir used to be a tourist’s heaven adding a huge sum of money to benefit the majority Muslim population of Kashmir. Pakistani inspired / supported Islamic terrorism has destroyed the tourist business in Kashmir and by doing so Pakistan is actually causing poverty to the Muslims in Kashmir.
Posted by: Annon || 05/05/2006 6:05 Comments || Top||

#7  Here is the Pakistani stupidity.
...Pakistan is actually causing poverty to the Muslims in Kashmir.


You make the assumption that Pakistan cares about the welfare of Indian muslims.
It does not.

Prosperous Indian muslims are not in the interest of Pakistan. That is why you see the envy of Bangalore and the jihadi attacks starting there. The desire to wreck the Indian economy is strong.

If Indian muslims prosper, then what was Pakistan created for? This is what the Pak people will ask their rulers and there is no easy answer.



Posted by: john || 05/05/2006 6:34 Comments || Top||

#8  Even the president of India is a Muslim

And the paks hate him.

Not only is he a muslim, he is a rocket scientist who built India's first space launch vehicles, its first ballistic missiles and who supervised the second Indian nuclear test series.

Paks see him and compare him to the metallurgist AQ Khan, "the father of the islamic bomb".
While AQ Khan lives under house arrest, in disgrace, APJ Abdul Kalam lives in the Raj era palace built for the Viceroy.
Posted by: john || 05/05/2006 6:40 Comments || Top||

#9  Across the jihadi world, there is a strong conviction that by the end of this year Taliban leader Mullah Omar will be back in power in Afghanistan, from where he was driven by US-led forces in 2001.

So the name change from Bizzaro World to Jihadi World is official?
Posted by: tu3031 || 05/05/2006 8:37 Comments || Top||

#10  When I read articles like this now, I have in mind Shelby Steele's words about our being "delicate with the enemy", and our "minimalism and restraint in war". Why haven't we totally exterminated the Taliban by now? And why haven't we crushed Waziristan by now? When are we going to get serious? If Zawahiri was feeling the full force of US power, he wouldn't have time for writing his fantasy fiction,in which he stupidly imagines that there is some real comparison between the jihadis and the Crusaders (may God protect them). The jihadi is to the Crusader like a tick on a lion, but the lion is holding back. Sorry, maybe I just don't understand the difficulties involved.
Posted by: HV || 05/05/2006 8:39 Comments || Top||

#11  Actually, it wouldn't be an entirely bad idea to allow the Jihadis to completely dominate a half province in Pakland and maybe even a cluster of villages in Afghanistan.

It would allow for more efficient information gathering on our part and would arguably also redistribute some jihadis from the interior of Afghanistan to the jihadi districts.
Posted by: mhw || 05/05/2006 9:14 Comments || Top||

#12  One their hacks, called Pepe Escobar, is a lying, American-hating, marxist dog.

He's a reporter, right? So "lying, American-hating, Marxist dog" is assumed.
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 05/05/2006 9:33 Comments || Top||

#13  RC, no, he's a journalist.

Reporter's job is to report, while journo "influences opinions".

I haven't seen a reporter in a long time, almost as if they became extinct.
Posted by: twobyfour || 05/05/2006 10:09 Comments || Top||

#14  My bad, 2x4. You're right -- it's the journalists who fit that description. I don't think there's been a prominent reporter in the business in my lifetime, though, so I hope you understand my confusion.
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 05/05/2006 10:21 Comments || Top||

#15  I beg to differ.
Michael Yon is a great reporter!
http://www.michaelyon-online.com

also:
Michael Totten is a reporter too.
Posted by: 3dc || 05/05/2006 11:18 Comments || Top||

#16  Showdown in Pakistan imminent?
Palestinian Police will fight terrorists.
Posted by: gromgoru || 05/05/2006 12:05 Comments || Top||

#17  I've said repeatedly that we've missed the boat on how to deal with the jihadis. They understand only one thing - power. We need to display just how POWERFUL we can be, without using nuke weapons. I think Quetta would be an ideal target area for us to totally destroy, not only breaking the rocks, but breaking the pieces into sand. Then we need to start up the Afghan/Pak border, indiscriminately bombing the he$$ out of everything until there's not two bricks standing. THEN let "mullah omar" claim how powerful he is.

Of course, that won't really work, because the taliban will simply move back into central Pakistan, and leave the Pashtuns to their fate. The only thing that will really work is to completely smash Pakistan, hang all the members of the ISI, shoot all the imams, destroy all the madrassahs, and give what's left over to Fiji. We're "too sensitive" to be that brutal, and it's going to end up costing us thousands of American lives because of it. We're fighting barbarians here, not civilized human beings. We need to fight them on their level, because they don't understand anything else.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 05/05/2006 13:58 Comments || Top||

#18  3dc -- I said it's assumed. There are always exceptions.

So the name change from Bizzaro World to Jihadi World is official?

Nah. "Jihadi World" is the sequel to Bakshi's "Cool World".
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 05/05/2006 14:31 Comments || Top||

#19  "I think Quetta would be an ideal target area for us to totally destroy"

yeah, it would be a really great idea to have perv gone, and have Hamid Gul as president of Pakistan, with Bin Laden, Zawahiri, Mullah Omar, and AQ Khan at his side.

People think only Americans are Jacksonian.

What would you have us do then, bomb Islamabad and Karachi to bricks?


Posted by: Liberalhawk || 05/05/2006 17:36 Comments || Top||

#20  Lib. Hawk.
When I visited Karachi as a kid in 1965 it was scarier then Aden (which became the peoples democratic republic of a few days after I left it)... It was even scarier than Jakarta in the middle of the revolution... Now days it is worse.

One could do worse than cross it off the list of inhabited places.
Posted by: 3dc || 05/05/2006 17:45 Comments || Top||

#21  Note that Paks replicate their failures unto the second and third generations...

These are high school results from the UK

http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=268

Proportion of boys and girls aged 16 who achieved 5 of more GCSEs (grade A*-C), 1999



Posted by: john || 05/05/2006 18:13 Comments || Top||

#22  mmm... smart Indian girls with Bristish accents
Posted by: sludge || 05/05/2006 18:33 Comments || Top||

#23  Lol, sludge - my thoughts exactly. I lived there for awhile and quickly came to the conclusion they were infinitely more attractive than the Euro variety.
Posted by: Thinert Flitle1614 || 05/05/2006 18:45 Comments || Top||

#24  Itn the Welsh that are scrwer up the table. Handicapped with too many consonants in they yoof.
Posted by: 6 || 05/05/2006 19:44 Comments || Top||

#25  Utter and complete bullshit. "Across the jihdi world" right.

Across the fruited plain Omar will be on ice in 2006.
Posted by: Captain America || 05/05/2006 20:55 Comments || Top||


Jirga lays demands before talks
A grand jirga, consisting of representatives from all tribes in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), has set May 12 as the deadline for the government to meet its demands before negotiating a peaceful solution to the issue of the presence of foreign militants in the tribal belt, a tribal elder said on Thursday. During President Pervez Musharraf’s meeting with tribal elders in Peshawar on April 26, Malik Khan Zeb from North Waziristan urged Musharraf to give the “tribal system a chance to resolve the issue”, which the president accepted. A 28-member jirga, including elders and clerics, was later formed.

The jirga’s demands include removal of check-posts and a ceasefire. A major demand is to ensure a “complete independent status” for the jirga to work in “a free environment”.

The elders also stressed that the government should ensure the implementation of the jirga’s decisions and suggestions, a communiqué from the Governor’s House read. “The tribal system has the capability to resolve such sensitive and delicate issues if it is taken sincerely,” Khalilur Rehman, the NWFP governor, told the 28-member jirga. Official sources told Daily Times that the governor was pushing hard to find a negotiated settlement to the North Waziristan problem and “a top civilian official” in Peshawar was assigned the task to work on a non-military solution. “A kind of blue print is close to final and all aspects were discussed to prepare the ground for a political process,” official sources said. Security experts have warned the government saying that the ongoing military operation is “increasing enemies rather than making friends”.
Posted by: Fred || 05/05/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Demands before talks is like cart before horse. But these ppl have this sort of preposterous mindset completely embedded by i-slam.
Posted by: Duh! || 05/05/2006 0:51 Comments || Top||

#2  simple goat trading.
Posted by: Captain America || 05/05/2006 1:32 Comments || Top||

#3  Islam is the plague for which we are long overdue. It isn't a plague of viral or bacterial nature as expected - it's psychological, mental. it's group psychosis and we are ill prepared to fight that. New ground and unkown territory.

Begging for reason and sane approaches does not work in this illness of mind.
Posted by: Thinemp Whimble2412 || 05/05/2006 20:55 Comments || Top||


Eight people injured in grenade attack in Indian-administered Kashmir
At least eight people, including two security personnel, were injured Thursday when terrorists lobbed a powerful grenade at a Border Security Force (BSF) bunker in the Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir region.

Two BSF personnel and six civilians were injured in the Budgam district attack of Jammu and Kashmir, Indo-Asian News Service reported. The injured have been taken to hospital for treatment. According to the agency, no terrorist group has claimed responsibility for the attack yet.
Posted by: Fred || 05/05/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Shia cleric shot dead in Pakistan
Unknown gunmen Thursday shot to death a Shia Muslim cleric near southern Pakistani industrial city of Karachi, known as hotbed of sectarian violence, said police. Maulana Maula Bakhsh Jaffry was returning to home from mosque in Kandhkot town, about 450 kilometers northeast of Karachi, when armed motorcyclists rained bullets at his vehicle, a local police official, Riaz Muhammad Khan, told KUNA.

He said Malulana Jaffry was seriously wounded in the attack and succumbed to injuries in the hospital. He added that his driver died on the spot. Following the incident, angry residents and relatives staged a protest demonstration and blocked the main highway. Riaz Khan said police used baton charge to control the situation.
Posted by: Fred || 05/05/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The Cycle of Violence again...

Shouldn't they upgrade to a Sedan of Violence?
Posted by: mojo || 05/05/2006 10:22 Comments || Top||

#2  Aren't piranhas known to eat each other as well in their feeding frenzy?
Posted by: Duh! || 05/05/2006 12:37 Comments || Top||


Four arrested after attack killed three soldiers near Pak-Afghan border
Security forces Thursday arrested four local suspects following attack on a checkpost early morning that killed three soldiers in Bajaur tribal agency, bordering Afghanistan, said security sources. Four suspects were arrested in a raid in the agency, sources told KUNA, adding that one of the suspects was wounded.

On Thursday morning, unknown miscreants attacked a Levies Force checkpost in Charmung area of the agency. There was an exchange of fire between the forces and miscreants that killed three soldiers.
Posted by: Fred || 05/05/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Iraq
Bomb Kills 3 U.S. Soldiers in Iraq
A roadside bomb killed three U.S. soldiers south of Baghdad on Friday, and coalition forces shot to death three insurgents in Samarra — the site of the bombing of a Shiite shrine in February that set off a wave of sectarian killings in
Iraq.

The violence came as a videotape showing the most wanted terrorist in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, wearing American tennis shoes and struggling to fire a U.S.-made machine gun was repeatedly broadcast on television nationwide. The video — released Thursday by the U.S. military to undercut al-Zarqawi's image — was strikingly different from video posted last month on Islamist Web sites showing the Jordanian militant confidently firing bursts from the weapon like an experienced jihadist fighter. But the U.S. military said the images were all from the same video, which it said American troops seized in a raid last month.

The U.S. command provided few details about the roadside bomb that killed three U.S. soldiers in Babil province south of Baghdad. But Babil Police Capt. Muthana Khalid said the explosion heavily damaged a Humvee in a U.S. military convoy at about 11:30 a.m. near Mahaweel city, 35 miles south of Baghdad. He said two American soldiers were immediately killed and one was seriously wounded and evacuated for medical treatment. The attack raised to at least 2,414 the number of members of the U.S. military who have died since the Iraq war started in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

Elsewhere, U.S. and Iraqi forces clamped a curfew in Samarra on Friday as they searched homes looking for insurgents, police Capt. Laith Mohammed said. On Thursday, U.S. soldiers detained three suspected insurgents carrying roadside bombs in Samarra, then killed three other militants who opened fire on the American forces from the roof of a nearby building, the U.S. military said. An Iraqi citizen was wounded in the crossfire, but the American forces suffered no casualties, the military said.
Rest at link.
Posted by: ed || 05/05/2006 14:10 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  God bless the soldiers and their families.

NSDQ!
Posted by: 49 Pan || 05/05/2006 15:28 Comments || Top||

#2  May their memories be for a blessing.
Posted by: trailing wife || 05/05/2006 20:27 Comments || Top||


Iraqi Kurdistan warns PKK guerillas
SULAIMANIYAH, Iraq - Authorities in northern Kurdistan warned rebels from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) against waging war against Turkey or Iran from Iraqi territory. “They (PKK) are in our land. We want them to respect the law and not use our territory to stage attacks” against Iran or Turkey, said Imad Ahmed, deputy prime minister of northern Kurdistan’s Sulaimaniyah province.
“We want them to leave our country but in peace, not in war. If they want to stay they have to use politics not weapons.”

Ahmed, a member of Iraqi President Jalal Talabani’s Patriotic Union of Kurdistan party, said the region hoped to have good relations with neighbouring Turkey and Iran. “We do not want any problems with Iran or Turkey and I condem any attacks on the two from Iraqi territory,” Ahmed told AFP in an interview.

On Wednesday the PKK, an armed separatist group which is fighting for an independent Kurdish homeland in the region, warned Ankara of a “mass war” if its forces entered Iraqi territory to fight PKK guerillas. “We do not want war, but we will launch a mass war against Turkey if its forces enter Iraqi territory,” PKK executive body chief Murad Karialan said.

The Turkish army reserves the right to venture into Iraq to pursue PKK rebels based there, but has denied reports that such operations are already under way.
Turkey has amassed thousands of troops along the border with Iraq for what officials describe as a large-scale effort to prevent increasing infiltrations by PKK rebels based in mountainous hideouts in northern Iraq.

Ankara has long urged Washington and Baghdad to root out the PKK from northern Iraq, but it has been told that violence in other parts of the conflict-torn country is their priority. The PKK, blacklisted as a terrorist group by Turkey, the European Union and the United States, has been fighting Ankara since 1984 when it took up arms for Kurdish self-rule in southeast Turkey.
Posted by: Steve || 05/05/2006 08:41 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "Ya got two ways to leave: right now or feet-first. Do I make myself clear?"
Posted by: mojo || 05/05/2006 13:39 Comments || Top||


US hot on Zarqawi's heels
The U.S. military said today it was close to capturing the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, after discovering documents and the unedited copy of a video he released last week.

Zarqawi was throwing all his resources into attacks in Baghdad and was probably somewhere close to the capital, U.S. military spokesman Major-General Rick Lynch told a news conference. ''We believe it is only a matter of time until Zarqawi is taken down. It's not if, but when,'' he said.

''He's willing to pull his people from outside the perimeter of Baghdad into Baghdad to go full out on operations inside of Baghdad. Which leads us to believe his personal location is probably somewhere close to those operations. Zarqawi is zooming in on Baghdad, we are zooming in on Zarqawi.'' At his weekly media briefing, Lynch showed brief clips from what he said was the unedited video showing Zarqawi, wearing New Balance running shoes, struggling to handle the machine gun he was shown firing in the version posted on the Internet and aired on television.

Another clip appears to show his aides grabbing the gun's hot muzzle and fumbling with it after he had finished. Each clip lasted only a few seconds and Lynch did not say how much more footage there was. ''So what you saw on the Internet was what he wanted the world to see 'look at me. I am a capable leader of a capable organisation and we are indeed declaring war against democracy in Iraq','' Lynch said.

''What he didn't show you were the clips that I showed you: wearing New Balance sneakers with his uniform, surrounded by supposedly competent subordinates who grab the hot barrel of a just-fired machine gun, ... a warrior leader, Zarqawi, who doesn't understand how to operate his weapons system.

''It makes you wonder.''

Zarqawi was now focusing his strategy on Baghdad to prevent the formation of a government of national unity, Lynch said.

Prime Minister-designate Nuri al-Maliki is forming a cabinet embracing majority Shi'ite Muslims as well as Sunni Arabs and Kurds, a move widely seen as vital in quashing the Zarqawi-led insurgency and mounting sectarian bloodshed. ''The person who has the most to lose in the formation of a government of national unity is Zarqawi,'' Lynch said.

''He's been told by his leadership that democracy equals failure for Zarqawi and al Qaeda in Iraq.'' The video and documents were captured during a series of raids around Yusufiya, just south of Baghdad, which Lynch said was a staging post for suicide and other attacks in the capital.

Washington says the edited video was a desperate bid by Zarqawi to win recruits and shore up support. But analysts say it shows he has a long term strategy to challenge the government not based only on suicide bombers.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 05/05/2006 01:27 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Shouldn't be hard to spot in his New Balance shoes.
Posted by: Captain America || 05/05/2006 1:36 Comments || Top||

#2  He would be a natural in Hollywood.
Posted by: Crerert Grarong9661 || 05/05/2006 3:08 Comments || Top||

#3  rofl just look for the guy sneaking about in .. sneakers, i thought he had a peg leg though?? Go go gadget pogo legs!
Posted by: ShepUK || 05/05/2006 7:08 Comments || Top||

#4  This Army Times article has a lot more detail.
Posted by: JAB || 05/05/2006 8:05 Comments || Top||

#5  Actually, when I was in Fallujah, 90% of the residents there said he was a fake and the US used him as an excuse to sack Fallujah. I think this blooper tape might backfire on us, because most Iraqis WOULD grab a hot machine gun barrel and most Iraqis WOULDN'T know how to operate a M249 SAW. When it comes to small arms, they just aren't that bright. The average Joeshit the Ragman in Iraq might relate to this video all too well. Just as most Americans thought the Abu Gharab prison pictures did us harm, I think it was great. Iraqis didn't want you to take them "downtown" to Abu Gharab (aka "The Land of the Naked Pyramids") after those pictures came out. They feared us and where they would go if they didn't cooperate after those pictures were released, and that, my friends, is a good thing.
Posted by: Bama Marine || 05/05/2006 10:28 Comments || Top||

#6  Question of the day: Did Allah wear New Balance sneakers?

Bama Marine -- Zarq videos are for recruitment purposes. The message "Look at me (Zarq), I'm ten-feet tall". But with the uncut version, Zarq is 8 inches tall, even in his NB sneakers.

Given Zarq's ego, the bloopers might enbolden him to step out of the shadows in an attempt to revive his image. Long enough the nab the SOB,
Posted by: Captain America || 05/05/2006 13:01 Comments || Top||

#7  "Hot grinding grizzly bear jaws hot on your heels"
-- Little Jimmy Morrison
Posted by: mojo || 05/05/2006 16:19 Comments || Top||


New Zarqawi strategy outlined in seized document
ABC News has obtained a document seized by U.S. and British Special Forces during a recent raid of an alleged Zarqawi safe house about 20 miles southwest of Baghdad in the town of Yusufiyah. This was the raid where the military believes it narrowly missed capturing Zarqawi himself.

The five-page document appears to sketch out a new strategy for Al Qaeda in Iraq: Reduce attacks in the Sunni dominated areas in the West and concentrate attacks inside Baghdad.

"We will reduce our operations against [the Americans] in our areas for the near future, and will perform our work against them in Baghdad itself," the document says.

It also calls for attacks on the Shia neighborhoods of Baghdad, "Move the battle to the Shia depths," the document says. "Put pressure on them to leave their areas."

It states the strategy is aimed at two goals:

1) Incite people against the Shia and provoke sectarian war.

2) Bringing down the government or at least weakening it (and then destroying the Shias' four year rule).

There is quite a bit of detail in the document with targets mentioned, and tactics ("plant [explosives] by night; explode by day").

There is also some interesting self-criticism.

The document complains that the losses of American forces in Baghdad "are hardly worth mentioning" compared to American losses in the Western provinces. And, in the concluding paragraph, the document says the "rank and file" of the mujahideen in Baghdad know their leadership does not have "a broad view" or "a well-knit plan" and that "this has led to strategic losses for us."

The document was seized by "Task Force 145" — the top secret special operations group (made up of the military's elite operators, including Delta Force and Navy SEALs as well as British Special Forces) that heads up the hunt for Zarqawi.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 05/05/2006 01:03 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  interesting - the new focus on Baghdad (vs the sunni triangle) has been evident for some time. And yeah, most US deaths are in Anbar.

Strategic losses - well, but HOW strategic? IF we can derail the civil war, then Zarq has used up assets for nothing. But if he can continue to get traction in that direction, hes probably strong enough to take advantage.
Posted by: Liberalhawk || 05/05/2006 9:29 Comments || Top||

#2  point #3: Don't get killed.
Posted by: DarthVader || 05/05/2006 9:33 Comments || Top||


US mocks Zarqawi with his own video
The videotape released last week by the terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi showed him firing long bursts from a machine gun, his forearms sprouting from beneath black fatigues, as he exuded the very picture of a strong jihadist leader.

But in clips the American military released on Thursday and described as captured outtakes from the same video, Mr. Zarqawi, head of the Council of Holy Warriors, cut a different figure.

In one scene, Mr. Zarqawi, the most wanted terrorist in Iraq, appears flummoxed by how to discharge the machine gun in fully automatic mode. Off camera, one aide is heard ordering another, "Go help the sheik." A man walks over and fiddles with the weapon so Mr. Zarqawi can fire it in bursts.

Another sequence shows Mr. Zarqawi handing the weapon off to other aides and striding away, revealing white jogging shoes beneath his black guerrilla attire. One insurgent later appears to grab the machine gun absent-mindedly by its scalding-hot barrel and drop it.

In an effort to turn Mr. Zarqawi's own propaganda against him by mocking him as an uninspiring poseur, the American military released the selected outtakes at a news briefing in Baghdad. A senior military spokesman said that American troops had discovered the tape among a trove of information captured last month in Yusufiya, a town just south of Baghdad regarded as sympathetic to the insurgency.

Documents found in that raid also laid out a plan to "cleanse" Shiites from Sunni-dominated areas in Iraq and to provoke sectarian warfare, according to the American military spokesman, Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch.

Intelligence and military officials in Washington said that Mr. Zarqawi, who was once thought to be roaming western and northern Iraq, was tracked to Yusufiya after tips indicated that his men had been behind the downing of an Apache helicopter near there in April. During an early morning raid on a suspected safe house in the town just south of Baghdad on April 16, soldiers killed five occupants and captured five more in a fierce gunfight. The officials said they were later told by Iraqis captured in the raid that Mr. Zarqawi was only blocks away at the time.

General Lynch added that in several raids in the area, soldiers killed at least 31 foreign fighters, possibly destined to become suicide bombers.

The video outtakes and the plans to drive out Shiites, among other documents, were found in the house, General Lynch said, confirming an account first reported in Army Times.

Mr. Zarqawi, a Sunni, long ago declared war on Shiites, whom he considers apostates. The captured documents disclosed at the carefully orchestrated news briefing described a plan to "reduce the attacks on Sunni areas" and instead "be dedicated to cleansing them, calmly, of spies and Shias," according to the American military's translation.

The goal, they said, is to "move the battle to the Shia depths and cut off the paths from them by any means necessary to put pressure on them to leave their areas."

The captured documents further suggested a strategy, perhaps temporary, of shifting the terrorist group's firepower away from attacks on American forces in Sunni regions to attacks in the capital. "We will leave or reduce our operations against them in our areas for the near future, and will perform our work against them in the areas of Baghdad itself, as well as the surrounding areas," the military's translation said.

General Lynch said that even as Mr. Zarqawi was "zooming in on Baghdad, we're zooming in on Zarqawi, and it's focused now in Yusufiya, in the areas around Baghdad."

"Zarqawi's center of gravity for his operations are in Baghdad," the general said. "We believe it's only a matter of time until Zarqawi is taken down. It's not if, but when."

But the military has made such predictions before, only to have Mr. Zarqawi slip away from them. Moreover, officials' view of Mr. Zarqawi as the main architect of violence in Iraq is more convenient than the possibility that much of the mayhem is committed not by foreign jihadists but by Iraqi-born Sunni Arabs.

Questioned on Thursday about how much insurgent activity is actually directed by Mr. Zarqawi, General Lynch acknowledged that "there's no pure science here."

"So for me to give you some mathematical formula that says this many belong to Zarqawi, and this many belong to the Iraqi rejectionists, and this many belong to the Saddamists, I can't do," he said.

The torture and killing of men believed to be the latest victims of sectarian violence have continued unabated in the capital. On Thursday, at least 9 Iraqis were killed and 44 wounded when a suicide bomber attacked a crowd outside a courthouse in Baghdad. The attack followed the discovery a day earlier of the bodies of about three dozen men dumped around Baghdad. All had been tortured and shot in the head.

Several reports also said several civilians were killed in Ramadi by American forces on Thursday. The military said it killed eight insurgents there after marines were attacked by rocket-propelled grenades and machine-gun fire. Two American soldiers were also killed Thursday morning by a roadside bomb in south central Baghdad.

Mr. Zarqawi and his organization have taken responsibility for scores of car bombings, beheadings and other atrocities, many of which have been videotaped, posted on the Internet and shown on Arab satellite television channels.

The selected outtakes released late Thursday were not shown on the most popular Arab channels, Al Jazeera and Arabiya, although Arabiya mentioned them in a newscast later. But they were broadcast on state-run Iraqi television.

In releasing the outtakes, the American military sought to show that Mr. Zarqawi is a phony who cannot even fire a basic infantry weapon without help and who walks around the desert in comfortable Western jogging shoes.

"What you saw on the Internet was what he wanted the world to see," General Lynch said. "Look at me, I'm a capable leader of a capable organization, and we are indeed declaring war against democracy inside of Iraq, and we're going to establish an Islamic caliphate."

"What he didn't show you were the clips that I showed, wearing New Balance sneakers with his uniform, surrounded by supposedly competent subordinates who grab the hot barrel of a just-fired machine gun," he said.

"We have a warrior leader, Zarqawi, who doesn't understand how to operate his weapon system and has to rely on his subordinates to clear a weapon stoppage," the general said. "It makes you wonder."
Posted by: Dan Darling || 05/05/2006 00:56 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  He really asked for it.
Posted by: Duh! || 05/05/2006 3:28 Comments || Top||

#2  He really does SUCK as a machinegunner.
Posted by: Boesoeker || 05/05/2006 7:51 Comments || Top||

#3  A continuous loop of Zman's cluelessness on how to pull back the M249's cocking handle should be on Centcom's website and played on arab satellite TV.
Posted by: ed || 05/05/2006 7:56 Comments || Top||

#4  WHATTA BUFFOOON!!!!!!!!!!!!! KEYSTONE COPS REVIVED???
Posted by: ARMYGUY || 05/05/2006 7:58 Comments || Top||

#5  This needs to be one of a series of comic DVDs we produce and give broad free distribution throughout the middle east. Make the world laugh at these guys. Start a Zarqawi's Heroes prison camp at Abu Ghraib where the prisoners want to wear women's clothers, etc. World domination is tough when you're a laughingstock.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 05/05/2006 8:07 Comments || Top||

#6  Brilliant Psyops move...this is the "blaring insults from Humvees" approach writ large.
Posted by: mjh || 05/05/2006 8:14 Comments || Top||

#7  appears flummoxed

Flummoxed? I know flummoxed. I know "mocking" too! Got a certificate and a "GO" in my job book for both in fact. Send him to me... let the flumoxing begin.
Posted by: SPC Lindy England || 05/05/2006 11:04 Comments || Top||

#8  Don't forget to add insulting cartoon footage to the final tape.
Posted by: 3dc || 05/05/2006 11:36 Comments || Top||

#9  This flat head killer's speciality is beheading trussed up, held down infidels, yet not knowing that an MG needs recocking when it stops firing unintentionally takes the top pot. Again here he needed assistance for the task. And also swung the barrel at his own cheering sidekick.... Perhaps to prove their willingness to die that way too.
Posted by: Duh! || 05/05/2006 12:32 Comments || Top||

#10  "Do as I say, not as I do!" *snark*
Posted by: Dar || 05/05/2006 12:56 Comments || Top||

#11  Let the mockery commence---- I had recommended this in a post a couple of years ago. We need to laugh at these goons, laugh long and heartily... and I do so hope this tape is airing on Al-Jazeera... frequently.
Posted by: Sgt. Mom || 05/05/2006 14:07 Comments || Top||

#12  Let the mockery commence

Yee haw! Before you know it, we'll be mocking them for having a back-assward culture that has produced nothing in the way of science, literature, music or art in the last half dozen centuries. Nothing other than corpses or fatwahs, that is.
Posted by: SteveS || 05/05/2006 23:28 Comments || Top||


Bomb near Baghdad court kills at least nine
BAGHDAD - A roadside bomb exploded near a courthouse in Baghdad on Thursday, killing at least nine people. Police said the blast also wounded 46 people. Interior Ministry sources said the bomb targeted civilians.
Brilliant, Minister, brilliant.
Posted by: Steve White || 05/05/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


High-Ranking Al Qaeda Leader Detained in Iraq
Via Marc at USSNeverdock.
Karbala. High-ranking leader of terrorist organization Al Qaeda was detained today in Iraqi province of Karbala during military operation, Iraqi news agency INA reports.

Abdel Fatih Isa, a.k.a. Abu Aisha, was arrested in a private home where he had been hiding for a long time. The arrest was made after a few houses in the town had been searched through. The terrorist is among the chief organizers of terrorist acts in capital Baghdad. According to military sources Abu Aisha was an officer from the Iraqi army during Saddam Hussein’s rule, the agency notes.
Posted by: Glenmore || 05/05/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  interesting that he was hiding ou in Shiite Karbala. Not where youd be looking for him.
Posted by: Liberalhawk || 05/05/2006 9:25 Comments || Top||

#2  Another Iraqi batthist thug with ties to al-qaeda.
Hmmmm.. the leftist/socialist rats in America
say there was no tie between al-qaeda and the
saddamite bathists. But there sure are a lot of
former saddamite military and mukharbarat nitwits
with ties with binladen's boys. Maybe the rats need to rethink their assumptions. I know, the
snowball is a better bet.
Posted by: Clolutle Slans5753 || 05/05/2006 10:20 Comments || Top||

#3  probably Abu was planning a multiple boom suicide attack on a primo Shia shrine or, somewhat more likely, a hit and run murder of a Shia bigwig
Posted by: mhw || 05/05/2006 11:50 Comments || Top||


Road-side bombs, gun-fire injure 4 Iraqi soliders
Four Iraqi soldiers were injuried in different incidents on Thursday when road-side bomb blasts and gun-fire trageted Iraqi soldiers during their patrol duties in Huaijah and Kirkuk. A local police chief in Kirkuk Srahad Qadir told KUNA that a bomb exploded on the Kirkuk-Taza road while a patrol vehicle for the Iraqi Army was on duty. The bomb blast caused injuries to three Iraqi soldiers who were rushed to a near- by hospital, said Qadir.

Meanwhile, unknown gunmen attacked an Iraqi Army and Multi-National Force (MNF) patrol in westren Kirkuk injuring one Iraqi soldier, who was sent to the hospital after the attack. Kirkuk witnessed several road-side bomb blasts today but the incidents did not recored any injuries or casualties. On other hand, the area saw discoveries of many weapon caches by the Army and the MNF.
Posted by: Fred || 05/05/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


18 dead bodies found in Iraqi cities of Babylon, Tikrit
Iraqi police said on Thursday that they had found 18 unidentified dead bodies in the cities of Tikrit and Babylon. A police source said all dead bodies had been shot in different places in their bodies. Two of the bodies had been stabbed to death, the source added.
Posted by: Fred || 05/05/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Gunmen assassinate high-ranking official in Iraqi oil ministry
Iraqi police said on Thursday that a high ranking official from the Iraqi oil ministry has been assassinated by unknown gunmen south of the capital. A police source said the armed men killed the general director of the heavy Equipment and Engineering department Wadie' Yahya Saleh. "Armed men have stormed his car with gunfire while he was on his way to work," source added.
Posted by: Fred || 05/05/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Because he was working for the government? (most likely.)
Because he was the 'wrong' sect? (quite possible.)
Because he was corrupt? (could be.)
Because he was interfering with the corrupt? (not impossible.)
So many motives, so many opportunities; where does a detective begin?
Posted by: Glenmore || 05/05/2006 6:31 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Israeli Airstrike Hits Gaza Camp
An Israeli aircraft attacked a training camp used by Palestinian militants in Gaza City on Friday, killing five militants, including four relatives of a top commander, Palestinian officials said. The slain men were training at a base used by the Popular Resistance Committees, an umbrella group responsible for numerous rocket attacks against Israel, the officials said. During five years of fighting, the Israeli army has killed dozens of militants in so-called targeted killings.
Rest at link.
Posted by: ed || 05/05/2006 13:59 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Abu Mujahid, an official with the militant group, said at least three missiles landed on the field as members were training. "God willing, this is not going to stop our heroic battle against the Zionists, and the blood is the fuel of our resistance and our reprisal is coming soon," he said.

This would then be classified as a training accident?
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/05/2006 14:38 Comments || Top||

#2  in so-called targeted killings
Nope, they really are targeted killings, ask the gunner.
Posted by: 6 || 05/05/2006 15:20 Comments || Top||

#3  they TRAIN well....

not so good in actual combat, though.

(let's keep it that way, shall we?)
Posted by: PlanetDan || 05/05/2006 15:40 Comments || Top||

#4  good training, they usually die ineffectively in real fights as well
Posted by: Frank G || 05/05/2006 15:41 Comments || Top||

#5  "The air strike scattered body parts and left pools of blood in a field just yards away from the home of Moumtaz Dourghmush, the group's top militant commander. Dourghmush was not at the scene, but a brother and three cousins were among the dead, hospital officials said." They're dead, Jim.

Great name! Dourghmush sounds Norwegian... or maybe it's what his relatives looked like. :)

Posted by: Inspector Clueso || 05/05/2006 18:13 Comments || Top||

#6  that would be Goulash
Posted by: Frank G || 05/05/2006 19:26 Comments || Top||

#7  Bet the Joooooooooos homed in on the rings of fire.
Posted by: 6 || 05/05/2006 19:47 Comments || Top||

#8  6,

Johnny Cash was Palestinian?
Posted by: Eric Jablow || 05/05/2006 22:33 Comments || Top||


Explosion brings down security officer's house in Gaza
An explosion destroyed the house of Palestinian Preventive Security Squad officer in Jalabia camp north of Gaza strip, security sources said on Thursday. The sources, who asked not be named, said that the unknown gunmen used explosives to destroy the house of the officer, Raed Naser, smashing the house, late on Wednesday.

This is the second time that shodowy attackers use explosives to tear down a security officer's house in the region. The house of officer Shadi Masoud was recently blown up by unknown gunmen. The incidents are under investigations to indentify the culprits, the sources said. The camp witnessed many attacks on Palestinian security forces reminiscent of the shooting of Ahmad Al-Gandoor, a member of Iz Al-Adeen Al-Qassam Martyrs Brigade north of Gaza strip.
Posted by: Fred || 05/05/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Blowing up houses in Gaza? Next thing you know they will be 'dozing them.
Posted by: Penguin || 05/05/2006 0:09 Comments || Top||

#2  For some reason, I cannot work up a nanogram of sympathy for the Paleo gangster's troubles. I can say is "More!! And faster!!".
Posted by: Shieldwolf || 05/05/2006 2:28 Comments || Top||

#3  Time to go to the mattresses.
Posted by: gromgoru || 05/05/2006 11:23 Comments || Top||

#4  "... unknown gunmen used explosives..."

Paleo Multi-tasking.
Posted by: DepotGuy || 05/05/2006 11:56 Comments || Top||


Palestinian dies of wounds in Nablus
A Palestinian man died of wounds he sustained from Israeli forces' gun fire East of Nablus in the West Bank, medical sources said Thursday. The sources added in press remarks that Zakaria Abu Mohsen, 38, was shot by the Israeli forces. The forces opened fire at Abu Mohsen who he was taking passengers from Nablus to Tubas.
Posted by: Fred || 05/05/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The forces opened fire at Abu Mohsen who he was working as a volunteer in children hospital taking passengers from Nablus to Tubas .
Posted by: gromgoru || 05/05/2006 11:27 Comments || Top||


Sri Lanka
Navy 'destroys' Tamil Tiger boat
The Sri Lankan navy says it has destroyed a Tamil Tiger boat off the north-west coast. The navy says five of its boats were on patrol when they came under attack from the Tamil Tiger boats. There has been no comment from the Tigers.

Violence in Sri Lanka has intensified in recent weeks, with a suicide attack on the army headquarters last month. The government retaliated with air strikes against rebel positions in the east of the island. Friday's latest violence is said to have taken place near Kalpitiya, some 140km (86 miles) north-west of Colombo, the Associated Press news agency reports.

"When our naval crafts were patrolling in the sea two suspicious boats approached," navy spokesman Commander DKP Dassanayake told AP. "Another two joined them shortly and started firing at (the) navy boats." The navy said it fired back and one boat was sunk. Later the military says it called in helicopter gunships to attack Tiger forces that were planning to attack the sailors when they came to land.

The BBC's Dumeetha Luthra in Colombo says that each day skirmishes between the Tamil Tigers and the military increase in ferocity and that they are a direct violation of the ceasefire signed four years ago. Our correspondent says the boundaries are being pushed by both sides. Both parties say they are still committed to peace talks, but there is no evidence that the negotiations will start soon.

On Thursday, the Sri Lankan army said that at least seven people were killed in Jaffna when assailants travelling in two three-wheelers threw hand grenades at an army checkpoint. A military spokesperson said that soldiers immediately blocked the road and returned fire. The Tigers say the dead were innocent civilians.

International donors have voiced their concern over the violence and a Japanese peace envoy, Yasushi Akashi, is to travel to Sri Lanka on Saturday. He is due to meet President Mahinda Rajapakse and senior Tamil Tiger leaders, although officials say the precise details have not yet been worked out and it is not clear if he will travel to rebel controlled areas.

The Tamil Tigers and the government had been due to hold talks in Switzerland last month but they were cancelled indefinitely after the rebels pulled out. It followed a disagreement with the government over the safe passage of Tiger leaders based in the east to consult with those in the north.
Posted by: Steve || 05/05/2006 08:38 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Now they need safe passage out of Switzerland.
Posted by: wxjames || 05/05/2006 9:27 Comments || Top||

#2  "The Tigers say the dead were innocent civilians."
Though I'm for neither side, this is quite probable with third world countries in their conflicts. No (willing)witnesses make that too easy.
Posted by: Duh! || 05/05/2006 12:42 Comments || Top||


Two policemen, seven rebels killed in Sri Lanka
At least two policemen and seven suspected Tamil rebels were killed in Sri Lanka Thursday, news report showed here. Two policemen were killed when suspected rebels hurled a grenade at them in Vavuniya, 240 km north of capital Colombo, news agency Indo-Asian News Service reported.

Later in the day, the Sri Lankan army opened fire at a group of suspected rebels inside two three-wheeler taxies in the Nelliady area, 390 km north of Colombo. The army claimed that the first three-wheeler carrying three rebels had hurled a grenade at the soldiers and they were fired on, killing all inside the vehicle. A second three-wheeler carrying four rebels had followed, and all of them were also shot dead, the agency reported.
Posted by: Fred || 05/05/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Lebanese MPs summoned to Syria
Lebanon's attorney general has confirmed receiving warrants summoning two prominent Lebanese MPs to appear before a military court in Syria. The MPs are Druze leader Walid Jumblatt and telecoms minister Marwan Hamade. Reports say Mr Jumblatt, a key member of the anti-Syrian camp in Lebanon, is accused by Damascus of "inciting against Syria". A third man, Lebanese journalist Fares Khashan, has also been summoned to appear before a Syrian Military court.

Mr Jumblatt is an outspoken critic of Syria. He has recently accused the Syrian government of "taking part in terrorism", and on Thursday offered to help exiled Syrian opposition groups work towards a "democratic and free" Syria.

Mr Hamade was the target of a failed assassination attempt in 2004. It is not known who was behind the attack. Mr Khashan is a regular critic in the Lebanese press of the Syrian government and its supporters inside Lebanon. According to the Lebanon's National News Agency, he is currently outside Lebanon.

BBC Arabic Service correspondent in Beirut, Nada Abdul Samad, says the warrants issued against the three men are seen as part of the struggle in Lebanon between pro-Syrian and anti-Syrian factions in Lebanon. The killing of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in a truck bombing on 14 February 2005 prompted huge street protests and the withdrawal of Syrian forces stationed in Lebanon. Damascus denies any involvement in the assassination.
Posted by: Steve || 05/05/2006 08:30 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Summoned?

SUMMONED!?

Two words...
Posted by: mojo || 05/05/2006 10:19 Comments || Top||

#2  that kind of pressure will give Walid worry-lines
Posted by: Frank G || 05/05/2006 11:05 Comments || Top||


Iranian court jails over 52 Sufi Muslims
An Iranian court has sentenced 52 members of the Sufi Muslim sect to jail on various charges including disturbing the public, a newspaper said on Thursday. The Islamic Republic largely tolerates Sufi Muslims whose belief in a mystical path to God through dance and music does not go down well with some of Iran's most senior religious figures.

Some 1,000 Sufis were arrested in February during clashes which broke out after authorities ordered the closure of a house of worship used by mystical Sufis in the central seminary city of Qom. Most of them were later released.

"Each of them has been sentenced to a one year jail term, some fines and 74 lashes," Farshid Yadollahi, their lawyer, was quoted by the Kargozaran newspaper as saying. The court in the city of Qom found the Sufis, who were free on bail, guilty of a range of crimes including disobeying police orders and disturbing public order, said the lawyer, who also has been sentenced by the court. "I and another lawyer of this case have also been sentenced to a one year jail term and 74 lashes," Yadollahi said. "We have also been banned from practicing law for five years."
Posted by: Fred || 05/05/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Interesting note: the Wikipedia entry for Sufism has been vandalized.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 05/05/2006 0:13 Comments || Top||

#2  Wikipedia is Waqf territorry from sheer numbers of islamist pressence.

Fine example tolerance shown in persecuting their own co-religionists. Pure perversion, hole-ier than holy.
Posted by: Duh! || 05/05/2006 3:34 Comments || Top||

#3  Baliff, what are the charges?
Not Muslim enough, your homor.
Guilty. Next.
Posted by: tu3031 || 05/05/2006 9:19 Comments || Top||

#4  Can't allow those Sufis to practice tolerance...that'd be UnIslamic.
Posted by: imoyaro || 05/05/2006 13:51 Comments || Top||


Terror Networks
Ahmadinejad blows off threat of military action
BAKU. May 5 (Interfax-Azerbaijan) - A U.S. military operation will not be launched against Iran, Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadi-Nejad said. "I don't think such a threat exists," he told a Friday news conference in Baku.
Right before his pants spontaneously combusted he said
…"Iran is an advocate of peace. We believe that peace and stable security should be based only on morality and justice," Ahmadi-Nejad said there are no restrictions or obstacles to cooperation between Azerbaijan and Iran. He said there is great potential for bilateral cooperation in transportation, trade and energy.

$$$That’s right people; currently Iran is now the hottest investment place you may ever hope to find. These never-to-come-back opportunities only come around once in a lifetime. The capital requirement is lower which means the results are more than attractive. With our help you will gain a thorough knowledge of the local conditions and avoid the risks. Strike while the iron is hot and take advantage of these unbelievable market conditions$$$.
Call Mad Mullah Investments LLC

Posted by: DepotGuy || 05/05/2006 13:06 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I got plans for Ahmadinejadi!

/$Depends
Posted by: the Twelfth Imami || 05/05/2006 14:34 Comments || Top||

#2  Unfortunately, morality and justice in islam is by definition anything Mohammed did.
Posted by: ed || 05/05/2006 15:06 Comments || Top||

#3  Iran is a nation of peace? Didn't they just threaten too wipe Israel off the map.
Posted by: Greamp Elmavinter1163 || 05/05/2006 15:28 Comments || Top||

#4  This is just warmongering on the part of this lunatic.

Iran wants the US to attack them for some insane reason that I can't fathom unless it really does boil down to Ahneedastraightjacket's belief that only by igniting a horrific conflagration will the Twelfth Imam return.

Posted by: FOTSGreg || 05/05/2006 15:35 Comments || Top||

#5  Iran is a nation of peace? Didn't they just threaten too wipe Israel off the map.

Islam has a different definition of "peace" than the rest of us. Their "peace" involves lots of blood, death, and slavery.
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 05/05/2006 17:44 Comments || Top||

#6  FOTSGreg: I suspect that Iran was so convinced that the US was going to attack that it pre-positioned its military forces and put them on alert. The trouble with doing that is that after even a short time, your readiness and maintenance starts to degrade so severely, and your costs start jumping so much, that it really starts to put the squeeze on your resources.

Right now, I suspect that with every day that passes, Iran's military noticeably loses its edge. Before long, it will start to disintigrate.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 05/05/2006 18:02 Comments || Top||

#7  There's more than one way to prep the battlefield ;-).
Posted by: lotp || 05/05/2006 18:30 Comments || Top||

#8 
May 5, 2006 Ayat. Ahmad Khatami: We will never back down to "bullying"

you tellem big smellem!
Posted by: the Twelfth Imami || 05/05/2006 18:34 Comments || Top||

#9  hint: think "nail"!

Posted by: the Twelfth Imami || 05/05/2006 18:54 Comments || Top||

#10  Aggressor/Enemy states have historically suffered high to severe manpower and materiel loss ratios fighting against US-only or US-led Allied milfors - aymmetric warfare, aka "People's War(s) or guerilla actions, allows weaker scieties or milfors to preserve their manpower AMAP while engaging a superior or dominat enemy thru traditional or surreal mil-diplomatic-political-econ dimensions. Will say again the greatest single ace MadMoud and even Osama have are those collusory anti-American Americans working within the NPE, MIC, MSM, ... etal. RADICAL-CONTROLLED IRAN WANTS TO BE THE UNIPOLAR "AMERICA" OF THE MUSLIM WORLD, THE BE-ALL AND END-ALL ABSOLUTE CENTRE OF WORLD MUSLIM THOUGHT, POWER, ECONS AND METHODISMS, ETC, i.e. the IRAN/TEHRAN-BASED GLOBAL/OWG CALIPHATE. Unlike America, MadMoud wants de fact OVERT CONTROL of any and all regional and global nations, i.e. iff NAzi Germany's Adolf Hitler was an Absolutist/
Authoritarian GERMANIST or alleged German-centric Ethnicist-Globalist, MadMoud would the same but for an Absolutist PERSIAN-IST!? MadMoud and the Mullahs may be dedicated to hardline Islamism but they are not up for decentralized power-sharing wid other Muslim nations or factions.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 05/05/2006 21:46 Comments || Top||

#11  What?
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 05/05/2006 22:39 Comments || Top||

#12  Dang,

Somebody get Jim the decoder ring for JM's rants...
Posted by: DanNY || 05/05/2006 23:41 Comments || Top||

#13  heh.

Wall of text/10
Posted by: Mark E. || 05/05/2006 23:54 Comments || Top||


Al-Qaeda using video games to appeal to youth
slamic militants to exhort Muslim youths to take up arms against the United States, officials said on Thursday.

Tech-savvy militants from al Qaeda and other groups have modified video war games so that US troops play the role of bad guys in running gunfights against heavily armed Islamic radical heroes, Defense Department official and contractors told Congress.

The games appear on militant websites, where youths as young as seven can play at being troop-killing urban guerrillas after registering with the site's sponsors.

"What we have seen is that any video game that comes out ... they'll modify it and change the game for their needs," said Dan Devlin, a Defense Department public diplomacy specialist.

Devlin spoke before the US House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, at which contractors from San Diego-based Science Applications International, or SAIC, gave lawmakers a presentation that focused on Iraq as an engine for Islamic militant propaganda from Indonesia to Turkey and Chechnya.

SAIC has a US$7 million Defense Department contract to monitor 1,500 militant Web sites that provide al Qaeda and other militant organisations with a main venue for communications, fund-raising, recruitment and training.

The sites use a variety of emotionally charged content, from images of real US soldiers being hit by snipers in Iraq to video-recordings of American televangelists including Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell making disparaging remarks about Islam.

The underlying propaganda message, officials say, is that the United States is waging a crusade against Islam in order to control Middle Eastern oil, and that Muslims should fight to protect Islam from humiliation.

One of the latest video games modified by militants is the popular "Battlefield 2" from leading video game publisher, Electronic Arts.

Jeff Brown, a spokesman for Electronic Arts, said enthusiasts often write software modifications, known as "mods," to video games.

"Millions of people create mods on games around the world," he said. "We have absolutely no control over them. It's like drawing a mustache on a picture."

"Battlefield 2" ordinarily shows US troops engaging forces from China or a united Middle East coalition. But in a modified video trailer posted on Islamic websites and shown to lawmakers, the game depicts a man in Arab headdress carrying an automatic weapon into combat with US invaders.

"I was just a boy when the infidels came to my village in Blackhawk helicopters," a narrator's voice said as the screen flashed between images of street-level gunfights, explosions and helicopter assaults.

Then came a recording of President George W. Bush's Sept. 16, 2001, statement: "This crusade, this war on terrorism, is going to take a while." It was edited to repeat the word "crusade," which Muslims often define as an attack on Islam by Christianity.

Two militant videos were also pointed out to lawmakers including one called "Lion of Falluja," the city in Iraqi's violent Anbar province that has long been seen as a symbol of militant resistance.

Critics of the US video game industry have long blamed the products for violence among American teenagers in civilian society, including high-profile shootings at public schools.

SAIC executive Eric Michael said researchers suspect Islamic militants are using video games to train recruits and condition youth to attack US-led coalition forces in Iraq.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 05/05/2006 01:30 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Say, Allen, isn't that a copyright violation?
Posted by: Captain America || 05/05/2006 1:54 Comments || Top||

#2  The U.S. military has been using video games for years to attract young men, and involve them in military role-playing. As a matter of fact, the enhanced remote piloting abilities of the U.S. military is directly correlated to the game playing by American teenagers. So all Al-Q is doing, is copying the U.S. once again, 4-5 years after we initiate a new training method. Of course to truly emulate our success, they will need access and control of systems like our UAVs, Strykers, and robots.
Posted by: Shieldwolf || 05/05/2006 2:26 Comments || Top||

#3  Those games suck ass. First button you hit and the character explodes.
Posted by: ed || 05/05/2006 7:22 Comments || Top||

#4  lolololrofl, ed I like the red wire blue wire game.:)
Posted by: djohn66 || 05/05/2006 10:42 Comments || Top||

#5  Power the games up with AC batteries. That will keep them occupied for a few days.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 05/05/2006 11:35 Comments || Top||



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Fri 2006-05-05
  Goss Resigns as CIA Head
Thu 2006-05-04
  Sweden: Three men 'planned terror attack on church'
Wed 2006-05-03
  Moussaoui gets life
Tue 2006-05-02
  Ramadi battle kills 100-plus insurgents
Mon 2006-05-01
  Qaeda planning to massacre Fatah leadership
Sun 2006-04-30
  Qaeda leaders in Samarra and Baquba both neutralized
Sat 2006-04-29
  Noordin escapes capture by Indonesian police
Fri 2006-04-28
  Iraqi forces kill 49 gunmen, arrest another 74
Thu 2006-04-27
  $450 grand in cash stolen from Paleo FM in Kuwait
Wed 2006-04-26
  Boomers Target Sinai Peacekeepers
Tue 2006-04-25
  Jordan Arrests Hamas Members
Mon 2006-04-24
  3 booms at Egyptian resort town
Sun 2006-04-23
  New Bin Laden Audio Airs
Sat 2006-04-22
  Al-Maliki poised to become next Iraqi prime minister
Fri 2006-04-21
  CIA Officer Fired for Leaking Classified Info to Media

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