A ROYAL Marine sniper from Edinburgh has described marking his first kill with a cigar after "slotting" a Taliban commander from more than 1000 metres.
"He was just standing there. It was beautiful. He was only exposed a few seconds......"He was hit full in the upper chest. It took him a couple of seconds to drop but I knew he was slotted [dead]......"It was my first kill. I had a cigar afterwards. That's gotta be worth at least a bottle of scotch, you get a cigar just for making them soil their pants.
I didn't lose any sleep about it. He was a Taliban commander after all." Worms, meet TaliMan. TaliMan, meet worms.
My thoughts exactley 1000yards with a 7.62? I would guess this was either something more along the lines of the 50cal variety or this Rook is one bad MoFo. He would be haveing to shoot something like 10' over.
#8
I think the Brits have access to the .338 Lapua Magnum rifles. Whether or not he was shooting one I don't know. The stats: 250-grain bullet at roughly 3,000 fps out to 1,500 meters (effective range).
A suicide car bomber wounded six Afghan soldiers in eastern Afghanistan on Monday,
The bomber, riding alone in a car, approached the Afghan soldiers patrolling in Paktika provinces Bermel district before blowing himself up.
while NATO-led troops and Afghan police killed two suspected Taliban militants and detained four others in the south, officials said.
The bomber, riding alone in a car, approached the Afghan soldiers patrolling in Paktika provinces Bermel district before blowing himself up, said Gen Murad Ali, the regional deputy commander for the Afghan National Army. The wounded soldiers were in stable condition, Ali said. The suicide attacker was killed and his vehicle was totally destroyed, said Paktika Governor Mohammad Akram Khepelwak.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2007 00:00 ||
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( Sh.M.Network) - Government forces have incarcerated at least seven Pakistani men, who were preaching people praying in a mosque near the presidential palace of Villa Somalia where President Abdulahi Yusuf is staying currently.
The religious men known as Tabliq (Preachers or missioners) always traveled to every part of the country to preach people about Islam. Abdulkadir Abdi Dahir, a resident Hamar Jajab, where the incident took place, told Shabelle that residents suddenly rallied at the area to protest against the government forces who took the men in a car. The police force have dispersed us and they told us they would investigate the mens identity and motive in the country, he said. Tabliq are known to be linked to no political group or particular religious organization.
That's a polite description. Others would describe them as al-Qaeda's recon corps cum recruiters.
#1
Pakistan is a piece of junk because of Islam. Therefore it makes little sense for Pakis to try to export their social idiocy. Of course, common sense is anathema to a koranimal.
The beat goes on.
MOGADISHU, Somalia - U.S. helicopter gunships launched new attacks Tuesday against suspected al-Qaida members, a Somali official said, a day after forces launched airstrikes in the first offensive in the African country since 18 U.S. troops were killed there in 1993. Choppers? Wonder where they're operating out of?
Helicopter gunships launched new attacks Tuesday near the scene of a U.S. airstrike in the village of Hayi, although it was not clear if they were American or Ethiopian aircraft, and it was not known if there were any casualties.
Two helicopters "fired several rockets toward the road that leads to the Kenyan border," said Ali Seed Yusuf, a resident of the town of Afmadow in southern Somalia.
The aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower arrived off Somalia's coast and launched intelligence-gathering missions over Somalia, the military said. Three other U.S. warships are conducting anti-terror operations off the Somali coast.
U.S. warships have been seeking to capture al-Qaida members thought to be fleeing Somalia after Ethiopia invaded Dec. 24 in support of the government and drove the Islamic militia out of the capital and toward the Kenyan border.
The White House would not confirm the attack, nor would the Pentagon.
But a U.S. government official said at least one AC-130 gunship was used. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the operation's sensitivity.
The airstrike occurred Monday evening after the suspects were seen hiding on a remote island on the southern tip of Somalia, close to the Kenyan border, Somali officials said. The island and a site near the village of Hayi, 155 miles to the north, were hit.
The main target was Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, who allegedly planned the 1998 attacks on the U.S. embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, that killed 225 people.
He is also suspected of planning the car bombing of a beach resort in Kenya and the near simultaneous attempt to shoot down an Israeli airliner in 2002. Ten Kenyans and three Israelis were killed in the blast at the hotel, 12 miles north of Mombasa. The missiles missed the airliner.
Fazul, 32, joined al-Qaida in Afghanistan and trained there with Osama bin Laden, according to the transcript of an FBI interrogation of a known associate. He came to Kenya in the mid-1990s, married a local woman, became a citizen and started teaching at a religious school near Lamu, just 60 miles south of Ras Kamboni, Somalia, where one of the airstrikes took place Monday.
Largely isolated, the coast north of Lamu is predominantly Muslim and many residents are of Arab descent. Boats from Lamu often visit Somalia and the Persian Gulf, making the Kenya-Somalia border area ideal for him to escape.
President Abdullahi Yusuf told journalists in the capital, Mogadishu, that the U.S. "has a right to bombard terrorist suspects who attacked its embassies." Deputy Prime Minister Hussein Aideed told The Associated Press the U.S. had "our full support for the attacks."
The U.S. Central Command reassigned the Eisenhower to Somalia last week from its mission supporting NATO-led forces in Afghanistan, said U.S. Navy spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Charlie Brown in Bahrain, where the Navy's Fifth Fleet is based."Eisenhower aircraft have flown intelligence-gathering missions over Somalia," Brown told The Associated Press.
The spokesman said the Eisenhower was the only U.S. aircraft carrier in the region. The vessel is carrying approximately 60 aircraft, including four fighter jet squadrons, he said.
Ethiopia forces had invaded Somalia to prevent an Islamic movement from ousting the weak, internationally recognized government from its lone stronghold in the west of the country. The U.S. and Ethiopia both accuse the Islamic group of harboring extremists, among them al-Qaida suspects.
Ethiopian troops, tanks and warplanes took just 10 days to drive the Islamic group from the capital, Mogadishu, and other key towns.
Ethiopian and Somali troops had over the last days cornered the main Islamic force in Ras Kamboni, a town on Badmadow island, with U.S. warships patrolling off shore and the Kenyan military guarding the border to watch for fleeing militants.
#2
Obviously the jihadis are useless in a stand-up fight. But we still need to learn how to handle a bug-hunt. First suggestion: Get rid of the cameras.
#3
"Choppers? Wonder where they're operating out of?"
When I was still USN, ACDU, it was not unusual for Army helos to practice on the CVs as we transited to/from beautiful downtown Bremerton. And if they were USMC units, isn't there still one of the Gator-freighter SAGs still in the Gulf??
#5
...IIRC, Army gunships have operated off George Washington and Kitty Hawk if this is indeed the case here and they're working from Eisenhower , somebody seems to have grown a brain and some initiative somewhere. Here's to 'em.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
01/09/2007 15:58 Comments ||
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#6
The main target was Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, who allegedly planned the 1998 attacks on the U.S. embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, that killed 225 people.
From the WAPO --
In an interview early Tuesday, Abdirizak Hassan, chief of staff for Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi, confirmed the strike. Hassan said he heard from American officials that Fazul Abdullah Mohammed had been killed, although U.S. officials said he had not been in their immediate sights. "Among the targets was Fazul," he said, "and we understand that Fazul is no more."
#7
And this morning, on some Fox show, some Sen said "Yes, I think this is true" then attempted to back out with it not being confirmed, with an opps, "I shouldn't have said that" look.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 9, 2007 A U.S. Air Force AC-130 gunship attack in Somalia on Jan. 7 targeted senior terrorist leaders, a senior Pentagon official confirmed today.
Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman told reporters the attack targeted "what we believe to be principal al Qaeda leadership" operating in the southern part of Somalia.
Whitman declined to discuss damage assessments or the effectiveness of the strike, or future operations in the area.
The U.S. 5th Fleet moved the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower into the waters off Somalia in an effort to capture al Qaeda terrorists attempting to flee the country, a 5th Fleet spokesman said.
Whitman said the attacks were aimed at terrorists who may have struck the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. "We are going to continue to work in close cooperation with our allies in the region, who all understand the importance of pursuing terrorist activities and denying them safe havens," he said.
More U.S. ships are moving in to the waters off Somalia to reinforce the maritime interdiction effort there, said U.S. 5th Fleet officials. Due to rapidly developing events in Somalia, U.S. Central Command has tasked USS Dwight D. Eisenhower to join USS Bunker Hill, USS Anzio and USS Ashland to support ongoing maritime security operations off the coast of Somalia, said Navy Lt. Cmdr. Charlie Brown, a spokesman for 5th Fleet in Bahrain.
The ships will stop vessels and search them for al Qaeda terrorists attempting to escape from Somalia, officials said.
Repost, because I like this title better :)
In the first known direct U.S. military intervention in Somalia since a failed peacekeeping mission that ended in 1994, an AC-130 plane rained gunfire on the desolate southern village of Hayo near the Kenyan border late on Monday. Payback's a b*tch, ain't it?
"I understand there are so many dead bodies and animals in the village," the senior source told Reuters." {Mr. Berns}Exxcellent!{/Mr. Berns}
"The Americans are saying an al Qaeda member heading operations in east Africa is among the Islamists there," the source said. He did not know the man's name or whether he died. Translation, we gotta go through a lot of goop before we figure that one out, eeeewwwww!
'PUFF THE MAGIC DRAGON' Flew by the Sea! And blew the cr@p out of Al Qaeda, in a land calld Somali...
Posted by: Ol Dirty American ||
01/09/2007 08:05 ||
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#1
"I understand there are so many dead bodies and animals in the village"
#2
An AC-130 plane rained gunfire on the desolate southern village of Hayo near the Kenyan border late on Monday
Just how desolate can it be if it is full of fluffy bunnies?
Posted by: john ||
01/09/2007 8:54 Comments ||
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#3
I love the prickish press and it memes, it's a "massacre" we commited if it's islamists buying the farm, it's our folk dead, it's a quagmire or failure. Screw um'.
#5
From PJ Media Link Here
..
How could the Ethiopians roll up the jihadists so quickly? Pajamas Media has learned that one significant factor is that U.S. air and ground forces covertly aided the Ethiopian military since its intervention began on Christmas day.
U.S. ground forces have been active in Somalia from the start, a senior military intelligence officer confirmed. âIn fact,â he said, âthey were part of the first group in.â
These ground forces include CIA paramilitary officers who are based out of Galkayo, in Somaliaâs semiautonomous region of Puntland; Special Operations forces; and Marine units operating out of Camp Lemonier in Djibouti.
...
The presence of U.S. airpower in Somalia became public knowledge yesterday when CBS News reported that an AC-130 fixed-wing gunship carried out a strike against suspected al-Qaeda members in southern Somalia. Unmanned aerial drones kept the targets under surveillance while a gunship operated by the U.S. Special Operations Command flew from its base in Djibouti to the southern tip of Somalia.
Pajamas Media previously reported that Ethiopia's use of helicopter gunships capable of targeting the Islamic Courts Union's ground forces was a decisive factor in the army-to-army fighting against the ICU. A senior military intelligence source says that some of the gunships earlier described as Ethiopian were in fact U.S. aircraft. This has been confirmed by Dahir Jibreel, the transitional government's permanent secretary in charge of international cooperation, who said that U.S. planes and helicopters with their markings obscured have been striking targets since December 25.
Given late breaking developments, SOCOM spokesman Ken McGraw was unavailable for comment at press time.
Jibreel said that the U.S. and Ethiopia planned this military incursion for several months. He said that he saw U.S. military planes and soldiers at Wajer, a strategic airstrip in Kenya, in October 2006.
Asked about the revelations of early U.S. support for the Ethiopian intervention, Jibreel said, "We believe that the United States was very helpful in defeating the al-Qaeda-guided and al-Qaeda-affiliated Islamic Courts Union, and the foreign fighters who were essentially Eritreans, global jihadists, and Ethiopian opposition groups."
#7
Most of the MSM are scum swilling bastards with a defeatist agenda--the hate America crowd. Glad to see this cesspool in Somalia being addressed--it's been too long in coming. Yup payback is a bitch.
#9
It was during WWII: a number of officials went to watch a demonstration of the Hawker Hurricane in
a ground attack role. Unfortuantely something went wrong and the bombs and bullets fell in the tribune with the officials.
#10
"I understand there are so many dead bodies and animals in the village"
for clarity, those "animals" would be al qaeda
Umm, Dan, you are forgeting it could be a love-goat or a love-sheep that was killed too...
Count the dead goats ahd sheep and divide by 4 to get the total number of dead 'Qaedas, then multiply by 72 to see how many virgins are needed...
Posted by: Tell D Truth ||
01/09/2007 12:51 Comments ||
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#11
Dakota Freedom: Nice video. I don't suppose you know where I can find some more of our troops at work?
Posted by: Charles ||
01/09/2007 13:41 Comments ||
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#12
AC130s were fear-makers in the Panama and Grenada operations. I forget the numbers but dozens of bullets are fired per second from those beasts. And they can launch so many flares that they can divert heat-seekers.
#13
For a nice video of the gunship in Iraq:
http://www.vidiac.com/video/839e2db6-fb98-4201-baf8-21b041422f93.htm
Nope, this is a vid of an Apache 30mm cannon (posted here many moons ago under the title "Terrorist salad", IIRC); see Internet Archive Details Apache kill
Original posted late yesterday, and this story is too good not to celebrate.
A U.S. Air Force gunship has conducted a strike against suspected members of al Qaeda in Somalia, CBS News national security correspondent David Martin reports exclusively. The targets included the senior al Qaeda leader in East Africa and an al Qaeda operative wanted for his involvement in the 1998 bombings of two American embassies in Africa, Martin reports. Those terror attacks killed more than 200 people.
Anas Al-Liby, perhaps?
Sources say a lot of bodies were seen on the ground after the strike, but there is as yet, no confirmation of the identities.
The AC-130 gunship is capable of firing thousands of rounds per second, and sources say a lot of bodies were seen on the ground after the strike, but there is as yet, no confirmation of the identities.
Puppies, kittens, baby ducks, fluffy bunnies, a few young brides, the usual lot...
They'll need tweezers, a sponge and lots of baggies
"Sam, bring me the Multispecies DNA Test Kit, we got jihadis mixed in with fluffy bunnies in these samples."
"Right away Dr. Quincy!"
The gunship flew from its base in Dijibouti down to the southern tip of Somalia, Martin reports, where the al Qaeda operatives had fled after running awayfleeing being chased out of the capital of Mogadishu by Ethiopian troops backed by the United States.
Once they started moving, the al Qaeda operatives became easier to track, and the U.S. military started preparing for an air strike, using unmanned aerial drones to keep them under surveillance and moving the aircraft carrier Eisenhower out of the Persian Gulf toward Somalia. But when the order was given, the mission was assigned to the AC-130 gunship operated by the U.S. Special Operations command.
When you care enough to send the very best
Truly a Hallmark Moment®.
If the attack got the operatives it was aimed at, reports Martin, it would deal a major blow to al Qaeda in East Africa.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
See what happens when you go caveman on these guys? Results.
#4
With four possible configurations for the AC-130, I'm sure they picked the one that would cause the most deaths the quickest. Probably used the "A" configuration, with four 7.62 gattling guns and a 20mm on the ramp. No need for the 105MM (configuration "B"), or the two 20mm instead of 7.62 ("C"). "D" configuration is classified.
I hope they've destroyed all the ICU's "technicals". That in itself would be a major defeat for ANY Somali "army".
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/09/2007 13:46 Comments ||
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#5
OP-
My understanding is that at least up until a few years ago, we had beehive rounds for the 105s - if they used a few of those, those guys were literally hamburger.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
01/09/2007 16:05 Comments ||
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re: Al Qaeda bits and pieces...
Indeed wonderful news, great team work! pouring myself an extra rich cup of coffee in celebration.
The leader of an al Qaeda-linked Algerian militant group called in a web video posted on Monday for attacks against the French and their allies in the North African country. Abu Musab Abdul-Wadud, leader of the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), said the group was awaiting instructions from Osama bin Laden after acquiring weapons and ammunition. "To Algerians I say... the French and the allies of Crusaders who occupy our land (Islamic countries) are within your reach and so are the throats of those who sold the blood of martyrs," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Meanwhile, the French insist on letting Salafist crap into their country.
New Yorkers learned today how a gas leak can cause havoc and economic loss. Western leaders need to think of the consequences of an attack by the unflushed jihad immigrant class. I forsee shooting on sight, members of Islamofascist groups like CAIR, Muslim Students Assn, and the Islamic Society of North America, in the event of a terror attack. Muslims should not be working in any power plant or fuel production center, period.
#4
In fairness, this perspective is not unique to the islamists.
Yeah, but most of the rest of us are willing to limit ourselves to kicking certain French "officials" in the groin with steel-toed boots. We're not necessarily into car-b-ques or IEDs.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/09/2007 13:49 Comments ||
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The US Treasury on December 19, pursuant to Executive Order 13224, designated a British citizen as a supporter of terrorism. Adam Szubin, director of the US Office of Foreign Assets Control, stated: "Mohammed Al Ghabra has backed al Qaida and other violent jihadist groups, facilitating travel for recruits seeking to meet with al Qaida leaders and take part in terrorist training. We must act against those who fund and facilitate al Qaida's agenda of violence against innocents." The Sunday Times reports that Britain has agreed with the US and the assets of Mohammed Al Ghabra are now frozen by the UK Treasury, the Bank of England. Ghabra admits to being an active member of the Muslim Prisoner Support Group. This is an organization which campaigns for the rights of Muslims who are imprisoned as suspected terrorists.
Mohammed Al Ghabra lives in Forest Gate, east London. He is a supporter of George Galloway's "Respect" party. He has spoken to the Sunday Times at his home, and denies the claims. He said: "If I am the moneymaker and this is why they have decided to put the sanctions against me, how could I have so many financial problems myself?"
Ghabra, born in Syria, is a known associate of Haroon Rashid Aswat. This individual, from Dewsbury, west Yorkshire, met Ghabra in a religious school in Lahore, Pakistan. Aswat is wanted on an extradition order by the United States, for his involvement with Abu Hamza and James Ujaama to set up an Al Qaeda training camp at Dog Cry Ranch in Bly, Oregon. Aswat was arrested in Zambia shortly after the 7/7 bombings, originally suspected of involvement in the London Transport attacks as an organizer. Aswat is in custody, and he was a member of Al-Muhajiroun.
26-year old Ghabra claims he was "shocked" to see Aswat's picture on TV after he was arrested. According to the US Treasury designation press release, Ghabra has organized travel for individuals going to Pakistan to meet AL Qaeda members to become involved in jihad training. The report sates: "Additionally, Al Ghabra has provided material support and facilitated the travel of UK-based individuals to Iraq to support the insurgents fight against coalition forces. In addition, Al Ghabra has also provided material and logistical support to other terrorist organizations based in Pakistan, such as Harakat ul-Jihad-I-Islami (HUJI)."
HUJI is a Kashmiri separatist group and terrorist organization. Ghabra is said by the US to be an associate of Faraj Al-Libi, a Libyan citizen who was arrested in May 2005 near Peshawar in Pakistan by Pakistan's intelligence and security agency ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence). Al-Libi is a suspect in two attempts upon the life of Pakistan's President Musharraf. The group Al-Muhajiroun (to which Aswat belonged) is also implicated in these plots. Libi was an associate of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the man who is said to have planned 9/11. Following Mohammed's arrest on March 1, 2003, Faraj al-Libi is believed to have been elevated to Al-Qaeda's "number three in command".
39-year old Libi has lived in the UK, in Manchester. He is also linked to the two embassy bombings in East Africa in 1998. According to the US Treasury, Mohammed al-Ghabra stayed at Al-Libi's home in Pakistan. Ghabra was also associated with Harakat Ul-Mujahideen, the group which is said to have provided jihadist training to two of the 7/7 bombers, Shehzad Tanweer and Mohamed Sidique Khan. Apparently Al Ghabra wanted to become a jihadist in Kashmir, but was advised against this by Harakat ul-Mujahideen as they needed people based in the UK to raise funds for them.
In December, Al Ghabra's home, a two storey maisonette which Ghabra shares with his mother and sister, was raided by agents of Scotland Yard's counterrorism unit. The search warrant stated that the detectives were seeking "explosives, precursor chemicals, weapons, component parts of weapons or improvised explosive devices." He also received a letter last month stating: "The Treasury has reasonable grounds for suspecting that you are, or may be, a person who facilitates the commission of acts of terrorism."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2007 00:00 ||
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#2
I am a reluctant supporter of capital punishment. However, I would personally execute any terror financier. They are as bad as the front line koranimals.
#5
That's it. According to the polls, there are tens of thousands of British muslims who comprise the ModMuzMajority. Just watch now -- those muslims will take to the streets, fed up with how their religion has been hijacked by the few radicals in their midst. This is gonna be good!! They'll rally to proclaim their outrage! They'll create programs to educate their young in the true ROP as reflected in the koran and the words of the profit (sic). Boy, the muslims who support terror are really gonna get taken to the woodshed by their coreligionists! Woo Hoo!!!
on the other hand, there's also a chance that won't happen.
(Itar-Tass) - A total of six participants in illegal paramilitary units have given themselves up in Chechnya over the past 24 hours. One of the militants has surrendered a submachine-gun, Chechen Interior Ministrys spokesman Magomed Diniyev told Itar-Tass. Since the beginning of this year, some 24 militants have given themselves up to Chechnyas law-enforcement bodies, and their involvement in grave and especially grave crimes is being ascertained, Diniyev said.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2007 00:00 ||
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BEIJING, Jan 9 (Reuters) - China said on Tuesday that the hunt was still on for terrorists at large, adding they had links to international forces, a day after it disclosed details of a massive raid in its Central Asian border region of Xinjiang. Police killed 18 people the government described as terrorists and captured another 17 in the raid on a training camp in the Pamirs plateau in southern Xinjiang that it said was run by the East Turkestan Islamic Movement.
"At present, some terrorists are still at large. The Public Security department is pursuing them," Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao told a regular news conference. "We have evidence that East Turkestan groups are connecting with international terrorist forces and plan to conduct terrorist activities," he said.
Memo to al Qaeda: China is a paper tiger and ready to fall. They wouldn't think about crossing an international border. heh
Oil-rich Xinjiang is home to 8 million Uighurs, a Turkic, largely Islamic people, many of whom resent the growing Han Chinese presence in the region and government controls on their religion and culture. China has accused Uighurs in the region of using violence to agitate for an independent East Turkestan state, but human rights groups say it has used its support for the U.S.-led war on terror to justify a crackdown on Uighurs characterised by arbitrary arrests and closed-door trials. Liu did not disclose the ethnicity of those in the camp, but said the raid was made "in accordance with the law".
Authorities were still investigating whether the suspects had links to al Qaeda, Liu said, adding that a stash of hand grenades were found at the site, in a remote part of Xinjiang, near the Pakistan and Afghanistan borders.
Gee, now why would they suspect them?
Police spokesman Wu Heping pledged that authorities would take tough measures to deal with terror attacks, indicating that there may be more raids in Xinjiang. "In order to protect the stability of our border regions and the safety of people and property, the police will keep a close watch on this issue and continue to take strong measures ... to strike against all criminal activities of terrorist groups," Wu told a news conference.
China has also taken a leading role in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, a regional grouping of China, Russia and Central Asian nations that takes the fight against "extremism, separatism and terrorism" as one of its main tasks.
Liu said China would work with Central Asian border countries in the interest of safeguarding peace and stability in the region.
"And if that doesn't work, we'll handle it ourselves"
Posted by: Steve ||
01/09/2007 08:11 ||
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#1
Wouldn't it be ironic if some of these East Turkestan Islamics got hold of a Nork nuke?
#3
There was a time when I would have opposed oppression of local peoples by the ChiComs. In this case at least, that time has come and gone. Tally ho, Commies!
#4
I have no idea what it would take, but if China could some how be coerced into crossing borders and killing everything in Waziristan, I would be berserk happy for years.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
01/09/2007 20:22 Comments ||
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POLICE investigating an alleged terrorist plot using stolen Australian army rocket launchers are close to arresting more suspects, including a member of Australia's biggest outlaw motorcycle gang.
Toecutter lives!
The Rebels bikie from Sydney's southwest is one of several people suspected of playing a part in a stolen weapons trail leading to alleged Sydney arms dealer Taha Abdulrahman and his clients - one of whom is a terror suspect. It is believed that police are close to making a number of further arrests in connection with the illegal sale of the anti-tank weapons which police allege were intended to be used to attack targets including the American Express headquarters in Sydney.
Mr Abdulrahman, 28, was arrested and charged on Friday with 17 offences, including unauthorised possession of a prohibited weapon and unauthorised supply of a prohibited weapon. The charges relate to five shoulder-mounted, anti-tank rocket launchers among seven allegedly stolen from the army. Police have recovered one of the launchers after cutting a deal with Sydney underworld figure Adnan Darwiche, who is serving a double life sentence for murder.
"Give em up, Adnan, and we'll cut one lifetime off your sentance"
It has been revealed that the Darwiche family, which was caught up in a string of shootings in western Sydney stemming from a feud with the rival Razzak family, had access to some of the rocket launchers. Five of the stolen rocket launchers are believed to have been sold to a Sydney man who is now facing terrorism charges. Community sources have said that a member of one Middle Eastern crime family has privately boasted of possession of at least one rocket launcher.
No doubt a holy relic handed down from his granpa
Police said last week that Mr Abdulrahman had no immediate connections to the Australian Defence Force and that no ADF members were said to be under investigation at this point.
But the focus of the police investigation is now on how the weapons were moved from the army to the Rebels, Mr Abdulrahman and then into the hands of a potential terrorist cell.
But NSW Police Assistant Commissioner for Counter Terrorism Nick Kaldas said the arrest last week of Mr Abdulrahman was "one phase of the operation". "It is by no means the end of the investigation. A number of significant lines of inquiry are being actively pursued and that effort will be sustained until the matter is resolved," Mr Kaldas said.
Mr Abdulrahman is accused of knowing several of the 23 terror suspects arrested in Sydney and Melbourne in late 2005 during the nation's biggest counter-terrorism sweep, known as Operation Pendennis. But how he may be allegedly linked to the Rebels bikie gang is still being investigated.
In recent years there has been a rise in the number of Middle Eastern Australians joining motorcycle gangs but experts say they have been mainly swelling the ranks of rival clubs, such as the Nomads.
And here we thought all those jokes about this war loking like scenes from "Mad Max" were just jokes...
Former federal agent turned academic Michael Kennedy said the links between the Rebels and the Middle Eastern community in southwest Sydney were likely to be more entrepreneurial. Dr Kennedy said the Rebels members would know "someone" who would know someone else who could move the weapons on the black market.
Biker gangs seem to be the same worldwide
Last week police said they would allege one of the 66mm portable rocket launchers was destined to be fired at a Sydney target. Australia's only nuclear reactor and the Australian headquarters of AmEx in Sydney were touted as among the likely targets for Mr Adbulrahman's alleged terrorist clients.
Or on each other. The biker gangs in Scandinavia use RPGs on each other all the time
The country's intelligence and spy agencies are conducting a nationwide audit of the defence forces' weapons and munitions stocks.
#1
Maybe they read DEFENSETECH.org's + WAFF.com's article of France's SPECFOR "Cannon wid Wheels = HARLEY-ized Mobile Cannon" answer to the German Wessel/Weasel vehiiiiicle.
An investigation dossier on suspected al-Qaeda regional leader Malek Charahil, who was arrested in the southern Turkish city of Hatay, has been completed. Adana public prosecutor Ayhan Unal stated in the summary of the Tunisian suspects cross examination that he had established financial links between Europe and Iraq. The prosecutor noted that Belgian-origin Bilal Soughir was regularly sending large sums of money to accounts opened in various banks in Malek Charahilis name, who in return was transferring these sums to the late Iraqi Al-Qaeda leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawis account. Caught by the Turkish National Intelligence Agency (MIT) and Turkish police in a joint effort in August 2006, Malek, who is Tunisian and 27, denied any ties to Al-Qaeda in his first interrogation. Charahili is still in custody and has been accused of being a member of a terrorist organization, acting in the name of that organization and carrying a fake passport.
The prosecutor opened proceedings in the Sixth High Criminal Court of Adana, and prepared the summary, which is considered a preliminary step for charges. It is written in the summary that Charahili came to Hatay in April 2006.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2007 00:00 ||
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Again.
A Moroccan convicted as an accessory to murder in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks was sentenced Monday to the maximum 15 years in prison. A German appeals court had convicted Mounir el Motassadeq, a friend of three of the suicide pilots, of the charge in November and sent the case to a state court in Hamburg for sentencing. The Hamburg judges followed the recommendation of federal prosecutors, who said el Motassadeq deserved the maximum penalty because he had known that the hijackers intended to use planes to stage attacks.
Defense lawyers, who insisted the 32-year-old should be acquitted, said they may appeal to a European court.
In November, a federal appeals court ruled that judges in Hamburg had wrongly acquitted el Motassadeq in 2005 of direct involvement in the attacks, even though they sentenced him to seven years in prison for belonging to a terrorist group. The appeals court convicted el Motassadeq as an accessory to the murder of 246 passengers and crew members aboard all four jetliners used in the attacks, and ordered the Hamburg state court to set a new sentence. The federal appeals court said evidence showed el Motassadeq knew that the hijackers planned to hijack and crash planes. It found that his actions transferring money, and helping the hijackers keep up the appearance of being regular university students by paying tuition and rent fees facilitated the attacks. The federal court also said it was irrelevant to el Motassadeq's guilt whether he knew of the plot's timing, dimension or targets.
El Motassadeq was convicted and sentenced to the maximum 15 years in prison in 2003, but that verdict was overturned by a federal court the following year largely because of lack of evidence from Al Qaeda suspects in U.S. custody. At a retrial that resulted in the 2005 conviction, the U.S. provided limited summaries from the interrogation of, among others, Ramzi Binalshibh, a suspected liaison between the Hamburg hijackers and Al Qaeda.
This is from counterterrorism.blog, reported by Olivier Guitta
The Saudi daily Al Watan just reported that there have been a number of thefts of airport vehicles in US airports in the past few days including an United Air car on Chicago O'Hare's airport. Also attempts were made in the Buffalo airport to steal authorized vehicles, and supposedly airport authorities around the country have noticed strange people watching restricted areas in airports.
#1
And VALERIE PLAME has been denied permission to use/reveal her undercover activities in the CIA, reportedly for a book deal. GUESS WE'LL NEVER KNOW, OR DO WE - BWAHAHAHAHAHA..............???
Friends and family of a US Muslim leader deported to his native West Bank say they are worried for his safety after both Israeli and Palestinian authorities said they had no knowledge of his whereabouts. The US government said it deported Fawaz Damra, 47, on Thursday for his support of Islamic Jihad, a group the State Department classifies as terrorist. But since then, Damra's family in Ohio and the West Bank have had no word from him.
"Hello, Mom?"
"Fawaz! We been so worried about youse! Where are you?"
"Newark."
Damra, who was imam of Ohio's largest mosque, was convicted in June 2004 of concealing his ties to Islamic Jihad when he applied for US citizenship in 1994. An immigration judge ordered his deportation a year ago and he was jailed until leaving the US Damra immigrated to the US in the 1980s. "We want to know where the heck he is," said Don Bryant, president of the Greater Cleveland Immigrant Support Network and a family friend of Damra. "We are outraged with the way this was handled. He was taken away on a witch hunt." Immigration authorities said Friday that Damra was flown to Amman, Jordan, on Thursday, then crossed the Allenby Bridge to the West Bank. A friend of Damra's, Haider Alawan, said Palestinian government officials told Damra's relatives they did not know his whereabouts.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
So put his ugly mug on a milk carton; perhaps somebody will have seen him.
Notice the story says he was flown 'to Amman, Jordan,' not that 'he deplaned in Amman Jordan.' Maybe he deplaned OVER Amman, Jordan.....just speculatin', is all...
A Pakistani immigrant was sentenced on Monday to 30 years in prison for hatching an unsuccessful plot to blow up a busy Manhattan subway station as revenge for wartime abuses of Iraqis.
Shahawar Matin Siraj, 24, was arrested Aug. 27, 2004, on the eve of the Republican National Convention. Though there was no proof he ever obtained explosives or was linked to any terror organizations, prosecutors said his intentions were ominous: He wanted to blow up the Herald Square subway station, a bustling transportation hub located beneath Macy's flagship department store.
Defense attorneys had sought to convince U.S. District Judge Nina Gershon that Siraj's sentence should not exceed 10 years, arguing in recent court filings that their client was "not a dangerous psychopath but more of a confused and misguided youngster." Prosecutors countered that the defendant deserved at least 30 years behind bars as the "driving force" behind a "workable terrorist plot."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Wow. Thirty years strapped over a pommel horse. That's gonna leave a mark. Of some kind or another.
Law enforcement agencies have arrested 16 suspected Taliban from a hotel in Pashin Bazaar on Monday. All the arrested men are reported to be Afghan nationals and had come to Pashin from Quetta. However, MNA Maulana Noor Muhammad of the MMA told a private channel that the 16 persons arrested in Pashin were students of Madrassa Darul Aloom and had gone to Pashin to preach and that they were not Taliban.
In another incident, Khuzdar police arrested 11 men for alleged involvement in bomb blasts and firing incidents in Balochistan. Khuzdar DPO Agha Babar Gul said that Abdul Kabir, Abdul Karim, Sanaullah, Qari Abdul Basit, Naimatullah, Ghulam Mohammad, Hazebullah, Samiullah, Mohammad Usman Abdullah and Mohammad Khan were arrested from Killi Juey Noora of Wadh tehsil. He said the men were wanted in various cases of bomb blasts and other sabotage incidents.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2007 00:00 ||
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The Mahdi Army, the militia loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, is preparing for war in Sadr City, the vast Baghdad slum.
Announcements on Iraqi TV last night said that the cleric will force every man in Sadr City between 15 and 45 to join his militia.
Sadr supporters believe they will be targeted by U.S. and Iraqi government troops after President Bush unveils his new Iraq strategy Wednesday night. The Mahdi Army is rumored to be distributing grenades to every family in Sadr City, a district already brimming with weapons.
#2
Storing ammunition in private homes turns those homes into legitimate targets of war. If we had press and politicians worth a nickel, they'd point this out and then level Sadr City.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
01/09/2007 21:14 Comments ||
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#3
Game on! The more dum enough to step out and die now is less we will have to deal with when we punch Iran's ticket.
I hope we have learned from the roll into Iraq 03' were all those that just laid down arms and ran when SHTF but were not killed anyway turned out to be the guys we are still chasing down today in Anbar ect.. If they show up they are enemy friendlies in the least so deal with it today.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 7, 2007 Four insurgents were killed, an al Qaeda cell leader was captured and 35 other insurgents were detained through several recent operations in Iraq. A Marine tank also hit a roadside bomb, coalition officials said.
Coalition forces killed four terrorists and detained a fifth armed gunman during a morning raid yesterday in Baghdad. The raid targeted terrorists involved in the production of homemade bombs.
When coalition forces arrived at the objective, five armed individuals attempted to flee the scene. The forces tracked four of the individuals to a nearby building where they refused to surrender, officials said. Their subsequent actions were deemed an immediate threat to the forces and Iraqis in the area. The troops reacted by engaging and killing the four terrorists.
The fifth individual, found hiding in a ditch, surrendered to coalition forces.
In Samarra yesterday, members of the 4th Iraqi Army Division, with coalition advisors, captured seven members of a homemade bomb cell during operations.
The suspects are responsible for coordinating and conducting bomb attacks against Iraqi civilians and security forces, officials said. Cell members also are involved in small-arms and mortar attacks in the Samarra area. They are suspected of using their homes and businesses as places to store and sell weapons and explosives to other insurgents in the area.
On Jan. 5, more than two dozen suspects were detained and weapons caches seized in several operations.
In southern Baghdad, coalition forces captured the leader of an al Qaeda terrorist cell, officials said. Tied to senior level al Qaeda leadership, the terrorist allegedly is responsible for coordinating and conducting kidnapping, torture and murders of Iraqi civilians and security forces.
Coalition forces detained an additional person for questioning.
South of Baghdad in Iskandariyah, officials said Iraqi Police special forces, with coalition advisors, captured four suspected insurgents during operations.
The suspects are responsible for coordinating and carrying out kidnapping, murder and small-arms attacks against Iraqi civilians and security forces. They also are suspected of conducting bomb and mortar attacks against Iraqi security forces in the Iskandariyah area.
In the southeastern Baghdad neighborhood of Hadar, elements of the 3rd Battalion, 6th Brigade, 2nd National Police Division, detained four men at a checkpoint.
The men were detained after illegal weapons and terrorist propaganda materials were found in their cars following a search at the police checkpoint, officials said. A sniper rifle, a rocket-propelled grenade launcher, assault rifles, assorted ammunition, weapons magazines and bomb-making materials were recovered from the suspects two vehicles.
The men are being held for further questioning.
In Ghazaliyah, a western Baghdad neighborhood, coalition forces found and destroyed a cache used for manufacturing and assembling bombs Jan. 5.
Soldiers from Company D, 2nd Battalion, 12th Cavalry Division, attached to the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, found about 200 pounds of explosives in two houses near the Al-Shadra Mosque, officials said.
The first of the two adjacent houses was identified as a homemade bomb facility, while the second was identified as the bomb-assembly site.
In addition to the explosives, the soldiers found washing machine timers, Iraqna cell phone cards, passports, blasting caps, time fuses, detonation cords and numerous physics and engineering books.
After securing the area surrounding the two houses, an explosives disposal team arrived and the teams on-scene commander spoke with a local sheik and community leaders to explain the severity of the situation. The local community leaders agreed to in-place disposal of the items.
The explosives team conducted a controlled detonation. Any collateral damage to surrounding houses was identified and the owners were instructed on the claims process, officials said.
Samples of all suspected explosive material was collected for further analysis.
In Hurriya, a northwestern Baghdad neighborhood, elements of Multinational Division Baghdad, along with Iraqi army elements, conducted clearing operations designed to disrupt insurgent activities and deny urban support zones to terrorists from Jan. 1 to Jan. 5, officials said.
While conducting the operation, elements from the 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, and 1st Battalion, 1st Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division, detained 16 suspected insurgents, found seven illegal weapons caches and conducted a civilian medical assistance operation.
Officials said the confiscated caches included rocket propelled-grenade launchers, AK-47 assault rifles with AK-47 ammunition magazines, rifles, machine guns, pistols, mortars, and blocks of C-4 explosives. Rocket-propelled grenades, rocket-propelled grenade stabilizer shafts, and rocket-propelled grenade booster rockets, along with identification cards, maps, insurgent propaganda, and $3.25 million Iraqi Dinar and $2,200 in U.S. currency also were confiscated.
With the support of Task Force 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment, Iraqi troops also aided the community by providing medical care to the local population.
Iraqi medics treated and provided medication to about 2,000 Iraqi civilians during this operation, officials said. Iraqi army personnel handed out blankets to those waiting in line, and passed out candy, soccer balls, stickers and gum to the waiting children.
Elsewhere in Iraq on Jan. 5, a Marine tank was severely damaged when it struck a roadside bomb in Fallujah, officials said. It caught fire but no coalition force casualties have been reported.
Marines cordoned the area and established security around the damaged vehicle to protect local citizens and begin recovery of the vehicle.
Near Ubayday, south of Baghdad, the same day, Iraqi highway patrolmen and paratroopers from 2nd Battalion, 377th Parachute Field Artillery Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division, found and destroyed a roadside bomb, officials said.
The Iraqi officers contacted the paratroopers, who requested an explosives detachment. A controlled detonation destroyed the bomb on site.
On Jan. 4, west of Mahmudiyah, soldiers from the 2nd Battalion, 4th Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division and Battery A, 2nd Battalion, 15th Field Artillery Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry), detained two suspects during a joint operation.
The operation targeted bomb-making cells operating near the town. Working on Iraqi army intelligence, troops worked with local residents of the area to help identify and detain the first suspect.
U.S. soldiers, working with aviation support, tracked the second suspect, who was seen fleeing the area. Iraqi army soldiers caught and detained him in a nearby palm grove.
Both suspects are being held for further questioning.
#1
Note that probably 100% of the bad guys iced/nabbed in these ops are Sunni. About 95% of the chatter and emotion on warblogger comment boards is about Sadr and Shi'a militias. There's a fairly widespread view - simply preposterous - that Iran is the key to short-term security issues in Iraq. You squash the Sunni rejectionists and their sympathizers' spirits, you do more to deprive Sadr et al of oxygen than anything (OK, Najaf/Karbala-type ops literally deprive them of oxygen, but I'm talking day-to-day, and they're not gonna offer "battle" like that again if they can help it, I'm betting).
The first problem to solve, which involves far more kinetic ops than politics or jobs programs, and has been so since the outset, is the Sunni one. That hasn't changed, even with Iranian meddling and Iraqi pathologies (corruption, incompetence, etc.) becoming more evident as obstacles to standing up Iraqi security forces and police.
Failure to focus on Sunni suppression first was a mistake. A repeat of that this time will be our last mistake, given the political situation (itself substantially the product of sins of omission by the administration). I'm pessimistic that a leadership (both civilian and military) that could persist with such an obviously ineffective strategy for so long will now suddenly get practical and do the hard stuff.
There are no non-military solutions to the type of problems presented by the Iraqi insurgency. Only non-military supporting elements (minor, really). But only incredibly rich, powerful, semi-disengaged hyperpowers can toy with COIN games and theories when the stakes are real blood, treasure, and national interests.
#2
Well-said Verlaine. My connections in Iraq tell me that there are Soddy fingerprints all over the Sunni insurgents. The latest scuttlebutt is that Ibrahim the Red is hiding out in Soddy.
#3
Of course you're correct Verlaine. These Sunnis should have been virtually exterminated on the first pass thru. It's too late now. Petraus isn't going to do this or follow this course of action. So, I don't see much improvement. The only hope is that the troop buildup is really to back strikes on Iran coming right up.
During ongoing operations south of Balad Ruz, Iraq, soldiers of the 1st Brigade, 5th Iraqi Army, with support from coalition forces, continue to target specific terrorist cells that use the area as a safe haven.
The current operations began Jan. 4, with a combined air and ground assault into the outskirts of Turki village.
Iraqi army and coalition force soldiers established mobile and stationary positions along possible escape routes to isolate the area and facilitate searching the area for weapon supplies, bomb-making material and terrorists.
"The terrorists believe we will not attack them in their safe havens and believe they can use these areas to spread violence throughout the region," Col. David W. Sutherland, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division commander, and senior U.S. Army officer in the Diyala province, said. "The 5th Iraqi Army Division believes that we must continue to take the fight to those individuals that use violence against the Iraqi people for their own personal and financial gain.
The coalition forces will continue to support this Iraqi force," he added.
During the initial hours of the operation, the Iraqi army, with coalition force soldiers supporting, encountered numerous roadside bombs in an attempt to defend these safe havens and slow down the movement of coalition forces. The insurgent efforts were ineffective and the obstacles were cleared.
Additionally, coalition aircraft engaged a number of insurgents in fighting positions, as well as those who were spotted placing roadside bombs along one of the main roads. Several suspects were detained.
"Although the Iraqi army and coalition forces have not encountered heavy resistance as of yet, this operation remains critical for the establishment of a safe and secure environment for the citizens of Diyala," Sutherland said.
So far, what we have found, and the actions of the enemy, is consistent with our expectations. There have been no surprises, and operations will continue based on the goals of the Iraq army and the government of Diyala," Army Maj. Robert Cain, the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division executive officer, said. "The Iraqi army and coalition forces are here to capture or kill the terrorists and provide security for the citizens of Diyala.
Because the Iraqi army will soon take full responsibility for securing the province, it is vital the soldiers conduct these types of operations, Sutherland said.
"The morale of the Iraqi soldiers is high and they are continuously showing discipline and professionalism when dealing with the local civilians; this includes men, women and children," Sutherland added. Developing a military force with valid leadership skills comes from training. The Iraqi army is training (and) are doing very well," Sutherland added.
Hundreds of U.S. and Iraqi troops battled with insurgents in a stronghold of the Sunni insurgency in central Baghdad Tuesday.
The firefight began before dawn and followed two days of violence in the neighborhood that left as many as 50 insurgents dead.
The U.S. and Iraqi troops came under attack by snipers, mortar rounds, and small arms fire.
By midday Tuesday (4 a.m. ET), the U.S. military sent in fixed-wing aircraft and Apache attack helicopters to support the ground forces.
U.S. military sources said the insurgent group included elements from the Saddam Hussein regime, foreign fighters, and members of al Qaeda in Iraq.
They said the group was waging a sophisticated, coordinated battle, and was fighting against 400 U.S. troops and 500 Iraqi soldiers.
Casualty figures were difficult to determine while the battle continued to rage, but the Iraqi army said nine of its troops and 23 insurgents had been killed.
U.S. military sources on the ground said between 30 and 50 insurgents had been killed and wounded.
The violence along Haifa Street began Saturday after Iraqi police trying to recover bodies dumped near a cemetery were attacked and withdrew, according to an Interior Ministry official.
The Iraqi army, which controls the area, requested backup from the U.S. military and a gunbattle ensued, the official said.
At least 11 insurgents were killed in Saturday's clashes and several others detained.
On Sunday eight Iraqi soldiers were killed and six others were wounded when they ran out of ammunition during a firefight with insurgents.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said on Saturday that Iraq's armed forces were set for an assault on Baghdad to take out militias and rogue security forces.
And in a different story in the same article:
Plane crash north of Baghdad kills 30
A plane carrying Turkish workers crashed Tuesday near an airport in Balad, Iraq -- north of Baghdad -- killing 30 and injuring two others, according to Turkey's Foreign Ministry.
The plane, operated by a company based in Moldova, went down in heavy fog about 2 1/2 kilometers (1.5 miles) northwest of Balad, the ministry said.
It had departed from Adana, Turkey, around 6 a.m. (7 a.m. Baghdad time) and crashed about six hours later.
#2
Hummm interesting statement, that On Sunday eight Iraqi soldiers were killed and six others were wounded when they ran out of ammunition during a firefight with insurgents.
There's that Iraqi logistics problem sticking it's head up again.
#5
OK, this is MNC-I's purview and there's more I don't know than I do know, but I cannot understand how this did not turn into a nearly 100% obliteration of the bad guys (it doesn't sound like it did).
This area is right in the heart of Baghdad, even adjacent to the IZ in part. We should have a QRF big enough and mean enough to engulf and completely annihilate anything like this. There should only be one objective: capture or kill every single bad guy. Encircle the area, and detain every single military-aged male for testing, separation, interrogation. Use as much force as needed to minimize friendly casualty risk - collateral damage is too bad ... or perhaps a very useful side-effect that illustrates to the local non-combatants which side to join in the longer run.
Martial law? Complete cordons of large areas? Evacuation/displacement of civilians? MaSS Detention of MAMs? Disruption of business? Hello? It's a friggin' war. Make it feel, taste, and look like one. That such a thing can even happen is testament to the failure of warfare-without-war as a strategy.
How can an insurgency have a "stronghold" in the middle of the capital? No excuses about Maliki obstructing actions against Shi'a - that's not the case here.
Yet the odds are our top priority was to restore "normal" life in the area ASAP. Handing out leaflets about compensation for damage instead of responding with the equivalent of "tell it to the Ba'athist colonel and the AQ emir of Haifa Street, pal" when the local adult males come angrily complaining about the destruction.
It's almost to the point where I'm getting a little frustrated with all this ..... (!!!!!)
The NY Times printed a map of Sunni and Shiite strongholds, with mixed areas showing which sect is taking over various neighborhoods. What is happening is: Sunnis are grabbing the south river lands, to the airport. A small Christian section is located near the Green Zone. Baghdad University will fall into Shiite hands. Baghdad will look like Israel and the occupied Arab dominated lands.
Should the US be on constant patrol, trying to stop every act of violence? It can't be done, and should not be tried. No US administration is going to defend ethnic cleansing. However, tacit approval is obvious. I opposed Clinton on his mindset against demographic shifting of belligerent minorities. The Clinton War on Serbs was the stupidest conflict that the US ever participated in.
Drawbacks. The Sunni Triangle has minimal oil resources. These are in Kurd and Shiite areas. The Wall Street Journal and other morons believe that playing the Shiite - self-flagellating freaks - card will yield US security. I believe that once Baghdad is ethnically divided, then Sunnis will wage total war against Shiites. It is only the mixed neighborhoods that prevents that from happening now.
Again: the US has had mutually beneficial relations with fundamentalist Sunnis; the US has never had anything but belligerent relations with Shiite Islamofascists. Therefore: play the Sunni Card, after Shiite power is neutralized.
Potential disaster: if US troops are forced to perform according to the recently released Counter-Insurgency Manual, then 80% of field troops will be on constant mobile patrol. Forget disaster; that would be a catastrophe. Massive intelligence operations, followed by commando actions and air bombardment would work a hundred times better. Manuals like that prove the old adage: those than can, do; those that can't, teach.
#9
So long as the Sunnis are wholly owned subsidiaries of the formerly ruling Baathists and the Saudis, playing footsie with them isn't going to help in either the short or long term.
#10
The part that really pisses me off is that I am going to have to apologize for failing my Brother when he returns from Bagdad.
All I know about his duty is that he is working with the Ministry of Defense, but if I combine that with what I already know about the man he is, its enough to tell me that he knows what needs to be done and whom it needs to be done. I already know full well that he has the will to do it. Success or failure will not be from a lack of will on the part of Americas soldiers. It will depend on the will of Americas civilians.
I have failed to help build the stateside support necessary for them to carry out the mission. Every civilian in the country owes an apology to every single one of this Nations soldiers.
Apologizing to strangers is easy, looking my brother in the face after that won't be.
Time is running short for our leaders to be leaders. There is no excuse for any President -especially the lame duck variety - to play politics with a war.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
01/09/2007 17:54 Comments ||
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#12
Mike N. - Thank you for putting into words what I've been feeling. My heart is breaking at the thought of what lies ahead for the brave souls serving. I wish I could believe that the likes of Pelosi and Reid and their ilk aren't aware of the consequences of their actions, but I think they know. They have to know. I'll never forgive them.
How can we ever apologize enough for what some in this country are allowing to happen?
I'm not so sure America SHOULD forgive itself. I know I'm likely never going to completely forgive myself. Because I shouldn't.
Family, friends and total strangers are putting their ass on the line for me right now. What am I doing to support them? I'm on the the internet. That equals precisely zero.
We can send our troops all the cookies they can keep down, but sending cookies isn't the make it or break it effort. (Not that we shouldn't send cookies)
Posted by: Mike N. ||
01/09/2007 20:06 Comments ||
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#14
Sneaze:
Sunni resistance to the new order must be broken. If Sunni barbarism, both before and after March 2003, has irretrievably condemned the Sunni Iraqi community outside Anbar and areas of the north where they predominate, that's unfortunate, but there it is. While smashing Sunni rejectionism should have been the first priority (AQ gets swept up in the process - not the reverse, as the campaign plan seemed to assume), it's still the priority.
There is every variety of thug, opportunist, and local big-shot that is part of the picture on both the Sunni and Shi'a sides, but islamofascists aren't big factors as far as I can see. For the most part, it's a thousand variations on "It's All About Me". For Sunnis, that's blood-on-their-hands,no-futre-in-the-new-Iraq/criminal enterprises/a few committed wahhabi kooks/oh shit, our decades of oppression and recent years abetting barbarous terrorism has a price. For Shi'a, I think there are even more variations, only one of which would be your islamofascists.
Don't know about mutually beneficial ties with Sunnis of any stripe in the past - within Iraq, at this point and since 2003, Sunnis have been the key adversary and have succeeded in wrecking a vulnerable, flawed strategy.
I've always thought we should focus on basic security until that is accomplished (not total or perfect security). Depending on the location, economic development and improved governance and democracy can be parallel, lagging, or "on ice" elements. Our program for the Abu Ghraib neighborhood at this point should bear little resemblance to our program for Najaf, and so on.
A broken Sunni will to resist/spoil would yield instant and wondrous benefits on the Shi'a side of the divide. I'd expect a major sorting out at that point - and islamofascists wouldn't stand a chance. I'm not aware of any sign that the key Shi'a political groupings with strong ties to Tehran in fact support the Iranian political model, or in fact don't oppose it. It's about Iraq, not Iran. And in the absence of a continuing Sunni menace to their security, I think the Shi'a political landscape would be far from scary in terms of our interests.
Mike, I completely sympathize. In fact, while I lack a relative in the sandbox, I feel exactly the same burden and obligation - if I'm going to be back here, the least I can do is try to advance the cause on the civilian, political level. But I find the prospect daunting. The electorate has been abandoned by the administration for years: 24/7 negative news, exaggerated negative news, outright distortion, amazing slanders and morale-killing cheap-shots from one side of the political aisle, punctuated only now and then by limp and vague assertions of bland themes by the WH.
Just today, had another in the endless string of anecdotal confirmations that many, many non-political common-sense voters who were basically supportive of the war have been driven into pessimism and impatience by the combo of a difficult situation and no education, motivation, or analysis from the government.
I hope I'm surprised, but I expect little from Dubya tomorrow. Politically, the long build-up to the announcement of a new Iraq strategy almost dooms anything short of an unlikely dramatic departure to be considered yet another incremental adjustment. So even if there's good substance, the WH has once again shown the leaden political touch that will diminish the positive impact of anything they do.
Wars are typically a mess, from all angles, and in fact this one may even be less of a mess than the average - hard as that is to believe from the perspective of the here and now. So my frustration may be over-done. But the past and current sacrifices, and the stakes, make it hard to take the longer view of an unworthy opposition and an artless leadership wrestling for the steering wheel.
I do agree that being spoon fed little nuggets about the new plan most likely dooms it to be anticlimactic.
If someone gives me a couple of spoonfuls of oatmeal and then makes a grand unveiling of a bowl containing more oatmeal, only this time with sugar, I'm not going to be impressed. The pessimist in me says we're going to get nothing more than some sugar for the this bland oatmeal of a war the country is in, but part of me is hoping that the "strategerist" realizes that he is flat out running out of time to get something done on the single most important issue that his Nation has faced in decades or will face for decades to come.
There is two things that keep me guessing. First, is the fact that he couldn't possibly have intended Iraq to be the last military engagement on his watch. Iraq had less terrorists than Detroit for Christs sake. If he wanted Iraq to be the last mission, he's even dumber then the KOS kids think he is. Second, and much less important, is that the Whitehouse has pulled off a pretty impressive political move. When we would normally be hearing all about the democrats new agenda, (especially the vaunted first 100 hours) we aren't hearing a peep. Its all about the new plan. He's stolen a considerable amount of thunder. At least Rove still has some seeds anyway. I would be more positive about something genuinely new happening if Dick Cheney wasn't still the invisible man. For all I know the country could be without a Vice President at this point.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
01/09/2007 21:18 Comments ||
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#16
Shipman. You asshole. Don't ever post the Sunni card again. I damn near died. I swear, I couldn't inhale for at least 90 seconds.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
01/09/2007 21:21 Comments ||
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As the new year dawns bright, soldiers from the 3rd Battalion, 5th Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division, are stepping up pressure on insurgent leaders in the Karkh section of Baghdad.
The soldiers of the 3rd Battalion take the responsibility of protecting all citizens, both Shia and Sunni, very seriously. The leadership, working with intelligence gained from the residents of the neighborhoods, have developed a top-three list of insurgents who operate in the area that they intend to capture.
Adil Tamra, a man who reportedly kills people for the sport of it, is at the top of that list. Stories abound about Tamra and rival leaders playing a deadly game of one-upsmanship where each man taunts the others to kill more men today than he did yesterday. Hes just like Saddam Hussein, said an Iraqi intelligence officer who works with the battalion. He sits there and shoots people in the head, because they dont share the same beliefs as him.
Much to the frustration of the battalion, Tamra has proven to stay just one step ahead of the Iraqi Army. We raided Adil Tamras house yesterday, said team leader Iraqi Army Maj. Ahmed during a combat patrol through the area Jan. 4. We found his (explosive) vest, some mortars and an RPG. The information we had told us he was in the house minutes before we arrived.
#1
See what happens to these cowards when the IA doesn't run away? Seems like the training is working. I have a feeling that it won't be long before I'm enjoying the stories of terrorists dying by the score. Excellent!
#3
We raided Adil Tamras house yesterday, said team leader Iraqi Army Maj. Ahmed during a combat patrol through the area Jan. 4. We found his (explosive) vest, some mortars and an RPG. The information we had told us he was in the house minutes before we arrived.
#4
It looks like the Iraqi Army is heading toward a tipping point - a point where they'll be going after the enemy wherever he is, and being successful. They're almost there already, but as the guy said, he still wants Coalition forces there to back him up. Congress should read that about 60 times before they do anything stupid.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/09/2007 14:23 Comments ||
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Iraqi security forces have killed 23 militants in Baghdad in a series of raids and firefights since Sunday, the Defence Ministry said on Monday.
Another two militants were killed in Mosul and one in Ramadi, the Sunni insurgent stronghold in western Al-Anbar province, the ministry said in a statement. Iraqi forces chased terrorists in different operations during the last 24 hours and killed 23 terrorists and arrested four others in Baghdad, it said.
Meanwhile, bloodletting continued in Iraq on Monday, with at least seven people killed in a series of attacks in Baghdad. Gunmen ambushed a bus carrying workers to Baghdad international airport and sprayed passengers with bullets, killing four and wounding nine, a security official and a medic said. The bus was ambushed in the Sunni neighbourhood of Jihad in west Baghdad, near the airport. In other violence, three Iraqis were killed in a bomb attack in a market at Zafaraniyah in south Baghdad, a security official said. The bomb was placed under a parked car in the market, he added.
Separately, three devotees returning from the annual Haj pilgrimage to Mecca were wounded near Baghdad when their bus struck a roadside bomb. Also, insurgents have killed another two US soldiers in Iraq, taking the militarys losses since the March 2003 invasion to 3,005, the military said on Monday.
One soldier died of wounds during combat operations in Salaheddin province on Sunday, it said in a statement. Another soldier was killed north of Baghdad on Sunday when his patrol was attacked by small arms fire while it was repairing a crater in a road caused by a bomb.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
We must cut off funds before they succeed! Oh, wait, it's Iraqi security forces (never mind)
Posted by: Captain America ||
01/09/2007 8:00 Comments ||
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#2
If you aren't part of the solution you are part of the problem. This includes whatever idiots at State think the "Saudis" are anything but an historic albatross for democracy and the Israelis for entertaining this nonsense.
(AHN) - Philippine security forces on Sunday confirmed the death of a member of a Southeast Asian regional terrorist network Jemaah Islamiyah, in a sea battle with government troops in Tawi-tawi island, southern Philippines on Saturday.
Philippine Navy Spokesman Giovanni Carlo Bacordo identifies the slain JI member as a certain "Gufran," an Indonesian trusty of Dulmatin, who is among the JI leaders being pursued by government forces in Sulu, south of the capital Manila. In a press conference at the Navy headquarters in Manila, Bacodo said that five other members of the Abu Sayyar terror group, were also killed in the sea battle including two of its leaders. He said the six terrorists were killed when they engaged the Philippine Navy forces off the waters of Balimbing village, Panglima Sugala town in Tawi-tawi, the southwesternmost province of the Philippines on Saturday afternoon.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2007 00:00 ||
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As soon as he was stricken Wednesday, our sources report he was transferred to the emergency department of the Khatam Al-Anbia hospital, since when he has recovered consciousness every few hours and can identify the people around him. "How many fingers do y'see, Your Immensity?"
"Eleven!"
According to our Tehran sources,
After neurosurgeons diagnosed extensive brain damage, two foreign teams of specialists were rushed over from Germany and Switzerland.
after neurosurgeons diagnosed extensive brain damage, two foreign teams of specialists were rushed over from Germany and Switzerland Friday. By Saturday, they had stabilized his condition enough to put him before TV cameras and refute the rumors spreading round Iranian exile communities that he was dead. "And now, adoring public, His Enormity will prove he ain't dead! Take it away, Your Opulence!"
"Grsh?"
"Nurse! Give him an enema, quick!"
The rumors were started when he missed two important state and religious events and was not seen in public after Dec. 24. In the interim, our Tehran sources report the aged, scholarly Ayatollah Mohammed Reza Mahdavi Khani, an apolitical figure, was appointed temporary stand-in for the supreme ruler. Khamenei is considering making the appointment as permanent. "You can be Supreme Leader, but don't go gettin' any ideas. You ain't that supreme!"
Khameneis illness had been kept a close secret in Tehran for fear of an outbreak of factional hostilities. "Muttermuttermuttermutter!"
The elections held last month for the Council of Experts, which is competent to choose the supreme ruler, was not accepted by the radical political and military camps, especially president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his backers, the Revolutionary Guards. They took exception to the comeback of former president Hashemi Rafsanjani, who Khamenei had placed in line as his successor. "He can't be Supreme Leader!"
"Why not? He was elected!"
"Not by us, he wudn't!"
According to our Iranian experts, the supreme ruler has suffered some years from cancer of the digestive system, which recently spread to his prostate glands. "Easy with the enema tube there, Nurse Wretched!"
A 'cancer of the digestive system' would be either gastric, colon or rectal cancer; neither gastric or colon ordinarily spreads to the prostate. That leaves rectal cancer which can spread by direct extension, depending on its location, to involve the prostate; if it does that it's likely spread to and compressing other useful structures like the ureter and/or bladder. If all this is the case he's got a diverting colostomy plus a suprapubic cystotomy tube.
"Nurse! Empty the Imperial Colostomy Bag!"
A cerebral stroke on top of this malady is likely to remove him from public office. "What's with the brussels sprouts?"
"Have a little respect! That's our Supreme Leader!"
"I've haven't seen a Supreme Leader with that many tubes since Stalin."
The Islamic Republic appears therefore to face a period of festivities confrontation and instability in the interim period between Khameneis rule and the succession - up to and including a violent coup detat by the RGs with critical effect on the national nuclear program, depending on which camp prevails. To keep the lid on the threatened factional showdown, Irans ambassador to the UN Mohammad Javad Zarif was ordered to deny reports of Khameneis death. "Really. He ain't dead. Not even mostly dead... Just kinda partly dead."
These rumors were greeted with joy by millions of Tehranis who posted the glad tidings by SMS. Police in the capital were ordered to detain people on the streets and check their mobile phones for these messages.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Hmm...vulture, or dancing girls? Vulture, or dancing girls...hmmmmm...
Well, now it seems his brain is almost totally dead. I call it an improvement. Let's hope the guy behind him wasn't some kind of "if I die this is what you will end up with" insurance policy.
#7
Announcer : And now Gentlemen, and things in burkas, our beloved Supreme Leader, the one, the only, our grand Pooba, Ayatolla Ali Khamenei!
Pay no attention to the reports of severe brain damage. It is written, Those who speak of severe brain damage to our Great one, shall have tongues removed!
The Supreme Poobaa Khamenei : Snicker snacker moof moof.
Interpreter : I have a dying request...
The Supreme Poobaa Khamenei : Gnaash gnaash gurgle blaaa
Interpreter : A ham sandwich...
The Supreme Poobaa Khamenei : Yummy yum de dumm burrge no
Interpreter : And the most recent issue of "Playboy"
Announcer (interrupting): Um er, excuse our leader, um er....
At this point dark clad men come in, only their eyes showing, and escort the announcer and the interpreter away. A voice offstage says "Get two cranes ready, There's a dual hangin' at dawn!"
#10
A 'cancer of the digestive system' would be either gastric, colon or rectal cancer; neither gastric or colon ordinarily spreads to the prostate. That leaves rectal cancer which can spread by direct extension, depending on its location, to involve the prostate; if it does that it's likely spread to and compressing other useful structures like the ureter and/or bladder. If all this is the case he's got a diverting colostomy plus a suprapubic cystotomy tube.
Jeebus, Doc. I love it when you talk dirty like that! May the grand leader's colonoscopy bag runneth over!
Posted by: BA ||
01/09/2007 14:24 Comments ||
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#11
May he live long and suffer immense pain - as a rhubarb. All these "holy" men should become "holey" men, and soon, courtesy of the Iranian masses™.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/09/2007 14:41 Comments ||
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#12
Hope it's painful....
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
01/09/2007 16:21 Comments ||
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#13
THIS sandmonkey is rectally impacted. Make a HOLE!
Posted by: Asymmetrical T ||
01/09/2007 21:55 Comments ||
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#4
Miss Brosmer is going to dislocate a shoulder if she keeps that up. I think she bought the same "Teach Yourself Ballet At Home" book + LP record that my mother got to recover from having babies. One always wears a belt or a bit of elastic round the waist to make sure one's torso is properly aligned. Lovely music, too, and we girls got real ballet classes as a result some years later.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
A ROYAL Marine sniper from Edinburgh has described marking his first kill with a cigar after "slotting" a Taliban commander from more than 1000 metres.
A suicide car bomber wounded six Afghan soldiers in eastern Afghanistan on Monday, 
The US Treasury on December 19, pursuant to Executive Order 13224, designated a British citizen as a supporter of terrorism. Adam Szubin, director of the US Office of Foreign Assets Control, stated: "
(Itar-Tass) - A total of six participants in illegal paramilitary units have given themselves up in Chechnya over the past 24 hours. One of the militants has surrendered a submachine-gun, Chechen Interior Ministrys spokesman Magomed Diniyev told Itar-Tass. Since the beginning of this year, some 24 militants have given themselves up to Chechnyas law-enforcement bodies, and their involvement in grave and especially grave crimes is being ascertained, Diniyev said.
A Pakistani immigrant was sentenced on Monday to 30 years in prison for hatching an unsuccessful plot to blow up a busy Manhattan subway station as revenge for wartime abuses of Iraqis. 
Law enforcement agencies have arrested 16 suspected Taliban from a hotel in Pashin Bazaar on Monday. All the arrested men are reported to be Afghan nationals and had come to Pashin from Quetta. However, MNA Maulana Noor Muhammad of the MMA told a private channel that the 16 persons arrested in Pashin were students of Madrassa Darul Aloom and had gone to Pashin to preach and that they were not Taliban. 
The troops reacted by engaging and killing the four terrorists. 
The first of the two adjacent houses was identified as a homemade bomb facility, while the second was identified as the bomb-assembly site. 
During ongoing operations south of Balad Ruz, Iraq, soldiers of the 1st Brigade, 5th Iraqi Army, with support from coalition forces, continue to target specific terrorist cells that use the area as a safe haven.
As the new year dawns bright, soldiers from the 3rd Battalion, 5th Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division, are stepping up pressure on insurgent leaders in the Karkh section of Baghdad.
Iraqi security forces have killed 23 militants in Baghdad in a series of raids and firefights since Sunday, the Defence Ministry said on Monday.
As soon as he was stricken Wednesday, our sources report he was transferred to the emergency department of the Khatam Al-Anbia hospital, since when he has recovered consciousness every few hours and can identify the people around him. 
