Karachi, 27 April (AKI) - (by Syed Saleem Shahzad) - The Pentagon today said it was holding one of al-Qaeda's most experienced operatives in detention at Guantánamo Bay following his capture as he tried to enter Iraq. The man was identified as Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi, a paramilitary leader in Afghanistan in the late 1990s and led efforts to attack US forces in the country after the 2001 invasion.
Abd al-Hadi Al-Iraqi was initially the treasurer of Al-Qaeda and was based in South Waziristan and North Waziristan. Hadi used to supply money to Al-Qaeda operatives for international operations. In 2003, on the instructions of network number two Ayman Al-Zawahiri, he was part of an operational plan to kill General Pervez Musharraf but his role was mainly supplying money to the operatives involved in the plot. "Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi was trying to return to his native country, Iraq, to manage al-Qaida's affairs and possibly focus on operations outside Iraq against western targets," the Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said on Friday.
A logistics guy, excellent! He'll have much more info than a fighter
Well-placed sources in Al-Qaeda had told this correspondent many months ago about the migration of Abd al-Hadi Al-Iraqi from Afghanistan to Iraq. Therefore it seems difficult that he would be arrested recently while crossing into the border of Iraq, as his presence in Iraq has already been confirmed.
Likely he's been in the CIA's hands for awhile. They handed him over to the military at Gitmo after he'd been squeezed dry
Abd-al-Hadi compiled a detailed account in a book which reflects al-Qaeda's tactical ideas and deals with chemical weapons and explosives and their application, such as planting them on bridges and at strategic installations to get optimum results. In the circle of al-Qaeda the book is referred to as Encyclopedia of Jehad. It is intended to equip international operations with clear tactical ideas on how upcoming battles should be fought. The encyclopedia is available in jihadi circles in book form as well as on compact disc. It was written in Arabic and translated into Pashto, Urdu and English.
Abd al Hadi moved out of Waziristan after some major divergences emerged between Al-Qaeda and the Taliban over tactical issues, in particular the Pakistan Talibans non-aggression pact with the Pakistan authorites.
This article starring:
Abd al-Hadi Al-Iraqi
Posted by: Steve ||
04/27/2007 14:13 ||
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#1
Abd al-Hadi Al-Iraqi was initially the treasurer of Al-Qaeda
A bagman! He'll have lots of names and addresses. Let's hope he knows all the donors too! When they're done grilling this guy, they should hook up his plums to a car battery for a few hours.
#4
"Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi, a former major in Saddam Husseins army, was apprehended as he tried to enter Iraq from Iran and was transferred this week to the high-value detainee programme at Guantanamo Bay.'
#5
One of the other article posted about this capture makes clear that the Iraqi Army was the gentleman's first career, robi. Only afterward did he suddenly feel an overwhelming need to become a jihadi-enabler with Al Qaeda. One wonders if Saddam Hussein was aware of this overwhelming need...
Karachi, 27 April AKI - The Maaskar training camp, run by senior al-Qaeda lieutenant Sheikh Abu Laith Al-Libbi, dispatched the suicide bombers to attack Bagram Airbase on the day US vice President Dick Cheney was visiting, sources close to al-Qaeda have told Adnkronos International (AKI). Last week Taliban leader Mullah Dadullah said in an interview that Osama bin Laden himself had ordered the 27 February attack in which at least 18 people died.
However information acquired by AKI shows that while bin Laden may not have directly ordered the assassination attempt, it was Abu Laith al-Libbi in the Pakistani tribal region of North Waziristan who planned the whole suicide mission.
Sheikh Abu Laith Al-Libbi is from Libya and is considered a classic guerilla fighter. He is said to be the best Arab trainer who has provided the Taliban with the necessary training in guerrilla tactics and is said to train fighters for suicide missions and on how to inflict optimum damage through suicide attacks. Previously he was said to have set up a militant training camp in the south-eastern Afghan province of Khost which was destroyed by the United States in 2005. Now it is believed that he has moved to North Waziristan, where he carries out training and provides guidelines to Taliban fighters on how to carry out fresh attacks.
At the time of the attack at the Bagram Airbase, the US authorities had ruled out that the attack - in which at least 15 Afghan labourers were killed - was targeting Cheney, arguing that his visit to the airbase was only decided at the last minute because of weather problems. The suicide bomber reportedly detonated a device while he was among labourers queuing for daily jobs at the base. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack shortly afterwards.
Sources told AKI that the suicide bomb attack would have been scheduled at least couple of days earlier and that the attackers were sent to Bagram after al-Qaeda's headquarters in Pakistan's remote tribal region of Waziristan were given the go ahead.
The fact that Taliban commander Mullah Dadullah attributed the attack to Osama bin Laden can be partly explained because of bin Ladens absence from all video and audio broadcasts of late, fuelling speculation about bad health or his demise, at least from the summit of the al-Qaeda leadership. Dadullah has in the past made similar comments which seem partly intended to boost the morale of bin Ladens followers worldwide, and reassure them that he is still in command.
Most analysts concur that Osama bin Laden has never been directly involved in any operational planning of any attack. In the last two years, bin Ladens role in al-Qaeda operations was not heard. So much so during internecine strife between Uzbek warriors and Taliban fighters in South Waziristan, Osamas intervention could have made a difference but nobody heard a single word from him.
Indeed
This article starring:
MULLAH DADULLAH
Taliban
SHEIKH ABU LAITH AL LIBI
al-Qaeda
SHEIKH ABU LAITH AL LIBI
Maaskar training camp
Maaskar training camp
Posted by: Steve ||
04/27/2007 14:10 ||
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KABUL, Afghanistan Hundreds of Afghan soldiers and police retook a district outside the capital from the Taliban on Friday, pushing out militants who had seized the area in fierce fighting a day earlier, a senior Afghan official said.
"Wow, look at the time! Gotta go now."
Marajudin Pathan, the governor of Ghazni province, said a hastily organized force of more than 250 officers encountered no resistance when they swept into Giro. "The district is under our control," Pathan told The Associated Press by telephone. "There was no resistance because the cowardly enemy escaped." He said police, assisted by Afghan soldiers and troops from the U.S.-led military coalition, were combing villages in search of any fighters still hiding there.
The Taliban takeover of Giro, just 110 miles from Kabul, helped undermine claims by the Afghan government and its foreign backers that President Hamid Karzai has expanded government control of the country. Militants have repeatedly overrun towns in rural areas, especially in the south and east, despite the presence of NATO and U.S. troops whose numbers have swelled to the current 47,000. But the Taliban's hold is usually short-lived.
As are they
Officials said more than 100 suspected Taliban attacked Giro on Thursday evening, setting fire to buildings and cutting telephone lines. The district mayor, police chief and three policemen were killed during several hours of fighting, deputy governor Kazim Allayer said. Pathan estimated that about 10 of the militants also died.
NATO and the U.S.-led coalition said they were aware of the incident, but had no details. NATO-led forces are pushing forward with their biggest-ever offensive in southern Afghanistan to root out militants in the opium-producing heartland of Helmand province. Taliban fighters have also stepped up their operations in recent weeks after a winter lull, and few areas of the country remain free of political violence.
In the western province of Herat, the coalition service member was killed during a gun battle with insurgents on Friday morning that led troops to call in an airstrike, a coalition statement said, without providing further details.
In Oslo, Norway, NATO's top diplomat said he saw no need to change a policy of transferring prisoners held by the alliance to local authorities despite allegations that detainees had been tortured after being handed over by Canadian troops. Canada's Globe and Mail newspaper reported Monday that dozens of detainees said they had been choked, starved and given electric shocks by Afghan officials. "I do not think personally there is any reason to suspend the transfer of detainees on the basis of the allegations that we have seen," Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer told reporters on the sidelines of a NATO meeting. He said the Afghan government had agreed to an inquiry into the reports of mistreatment.
Canada signed an agreement with Afghanistan in 2005 that committed Canadian soldiers to hand over captured Taliban prisoners to local authorities. Other NATO nations have signed similar agreements.
The U.S.-led coalition said, meanwhile, that its forces killed five suspected Taliban militants and arrested five others during an operation Friday in southeastern Zabul province. The killings and arrests came as the coalition, acting on a tip, raided a compound where Taliban involved in weapons smuggling and planning attacks on coalition forces were suspected to be hiding. The coalition said it found weapons in the compound and in adjacent caves.
In other violence, gunmen assassinated a policeman responsible for criminal investigations as he was driving in eastern Khost province Friday, said provincial police chief Gen. Mohammad Ayub. A relative in the car also was killed, and the driver was wounded, Ayub said, adding that two suspects have been arrested. It was not immediately clear if it was a personal conflict or an insurgency attack.
In southern Uruzgan province, Taliban militants ambushed a police convoy patrolling late Wednesday night, and the ensuing clash left four policemen and six Taliban dead, said provincial police chief Gen. Abdul Qasim Khan.
Posted by: Steve ||
04/27/2007 12:31 ||
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Taliban insurgents captured an Afghan district government headquarters, killing the top administrator, the police chief and three policemen, a senior provincial official said on Friday. The Taliban, who are threatening to step up their war against Afghanistan's Western-backed government and foreign troops supporting it, said they carried out the late Thursday attack in Giru district, 170 km southwest of Kabul.
"The district is still with the Taliban. We are preparing to retake it," said the deputy governor of Ghazni province, Mohammad Kazim Allahyer. He had no information about Taliban casualties. Reinforcements had been called in, police said.
Violence in Afghanistan has been picking up in recent weeks after a traditional winter lull. There have been numerous suicide and roadside bomb attacks but few big guerrilla raids or major clashes with foreign troops. NATO forces and the government say the Taliban are resorting to bomb attacks out of desperation.
Taliban spokesman Qari Mohammad Yousuf said Taliban fighters had killed eight Afghan government men, including the district chief and police chief in the raid. Three policeman had been captured, he said by satellite telephone. Yousuf said two Taliban were wounded.
This article starring:
deputy governor of Ghazni province, Mohammad Kazim Allahyer
QARI MOHAMAD YUSUF
Taliban
Taliban
Posted by: Steve ||
04/27/2007 08:05 ||
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US special troops and Afghan police clashed with foreign militants in eastern Afghanistan, leaving at least five militants dead, the US military said on Thursday.
Some 10 militants attacked Afghan border police in Dand Wa Patan district in Paktia province on Wednesday, before police assisted by US special forces clashed and chased them through the mountains, the military said in a statement. After trapping the enemy in a valley before nightfall, the troops requested close air support to strike the enemy position, it said. The remains of five militants were found in the area.
Separately, a bomb exploded near a provincial government headquarters in eastern Afghanistan on Thursday, killing a passer-by, while three more civilians died in attacks blamed on Taliban insurgents.
A Taliban spokesman meanwhile refused to comment on a deadline of Friday to meet demands for the release of two French aid workers captured with three Afghans three weeks ago, but said they were in good health.
The blast in the town of Mihtarlam, about 100 kilometres from Kabul, was outside the offices of the Laghman provincial government and a passer-by was martyred as a result, said a provincial spokesman.
Another civilian man was killed and one wounded overnight when around 20 rockets were fired into Barmal province, officials said. The rockets appeared to have been targeted at a base of NATOs International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) but instead hit a civilian house, provincial officials said.
Elsewhere in the same province, armed men shot dead two other civilians, the officials said. Taliban spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi said the men were spies. A statement posted on the Taliban website on April 20 said Frances 1,000 troops with ISAF must be withdrawn and Kabul must release Taliban prisoners within a week for the release of the abducted pair. Taliban spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi said on Thursday he could not comment on the deadline.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/27/2007 00:00 ||
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(SomaliNet) The Ethiopian forces in Beledwein, provincial capital of Hiran region in central Somalia intercepted two trucks carrying weapons towards the capital, Mogadishu, sources say on Thursday. Witnesses say that the Ethiopian forces stationed in Janda-Kundishe checkpoint, outside of Beledwein confiscated the weapons including explosives like anti-tanks mines.
It is still unclear whether the weapons were for sale or they wre sent to insurgents fighting in the capital with the Ethiopians.
One way or the other ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/27/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
COMMUNIST PARTY USA > PEOPLES WEEKLY BOARD > CONFLICT/WAR IS NOT BETWEEN ETHIOPIA AND SOMALIA. Its dose pesky US foreign policies again.
#3
Everyone capable of dispassionate thinking has noticed, Paul dear. But until their oil can be at least partially replaced, which Iraq and Canada are working on flat out, or until the Saudis are replaced or at least their grasp of the oil rich strip of territory is broken, we're stuck pretending we're best friends forever... while trying to keep their knives from being stuck too deeply in our backs.
It would have been more cost effective to invade Saudi instead of Iraq.Saudi are destroying/influencing more countries worldwide than Iraq ever did!!!!
Posted by: Paul ||
04/27/2007 8:27 Comments ||
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#5
Paul -
They're on the list. And it's a short list.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/27/2007 14:47 Comments ||
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#6
It's probably too late for you to read this today, Paul, over there in England. But Saddam Hussein's Iraq was responsible for providing advanced training and supplies to various terrorist groups, including Al Qaeda, whereas the Saudis only provide money and the jihad ideology. Besides, Saddam Hussein was in the midst of a hudna, and uncompleted war with the entire United Nations. What possible excuse could we have offered the world for attacking Saudi Arabia, apparently unprovoked? The same question held true for Syria, by the way, however much they deserved having their rubble bounced.
Ethiopian tanks supporting the Somali interim government pounded insurgent positions in Mogadishu on Thursday, but Somalias prime minister said most fighting had ended with many hostile areas overrun. Government troops backed by Ethiopian tanks were still working on the ninth day of battles with insurgents to clear pockets of resistance, Ali Mohamed Gedi said, after clashes locals say have killed some 300 people, most of them civilians. Most of the fighting in Mogadishu is now over. The government has captured a lot of territory where the insurgents were, Gedi told a news conference. Artillery and machinegun fire could still be heard in northern parts of the city.
He urged any clan militia who had joined the ranks of Islamist gunmen and foreign jihadists in fighting the government to return to their homes and stay there until his administration could incorporate them into a new national army. The battles have devastated neighbourhoods of Mogadishu, forcing about half of its residents to flee. The UN refugee agency said on Wednesday that the exodus of nearly 340,000 people was fast turning the seaside capital into a ghost city.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/27/2007 00:00 ||
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A leader of an Algerian Islamist group affiliated with Al-Qaeda was killed on Thursday in clashes with the army, a media report said. Samir Saioud alias Samir Moussaab was believed to be the second-ranking leader in the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat, recently renamed as Al-Qaedas branch in northern Africa.
He was killed in fighting in the Si Mustapha region east of Algiers, the APS agency reported, citing an unnamed security source. Saiouds body was identified by former members of his group, it said.
He was killed in fighting in the Si Mustapha region east of Algiers, the APS agency reported, citing an unnamed security source. Saiouds body was identified by former members of his group, it said.
The group claimed responsibility for a series of car bomb attacks earlier this month at the governments headquarters and another location that killed 30 people and injured more than 200. It is also blamed for various other attacks, including those in the mountainous area of Kabylie and against workers from the US and Russian companies in Algeria.
Between the beginning of March and early April, attacks against police resulted in at least 34 deaths, including a Russian national. Authorities describe the organisation as the last armed Islamist group operating in Algeria. Dozens of young militants have reportedly joined the group since the beginning of the year.
The Algerian army often conducts operations in the Kabylie area, where militants have holed up, using heavy artillery and helicopters. The groups former leader was killed by the army in 2004. The current leader is believed to be Abdelmalek Droudkel alias Abu Mossaab Abdelouadoud. Since this months car bomb attacks, authorities have stepped up security in Algiers and other cities.
This article starring:
Abdelmalek Droudkel
Abu Mossaab Abdelouadoud
Samir Moussaab
SAMIR MUSAAB
Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat
Samir Saioud
SAMIR SAIUD
Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat
Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat
Posted by: Fred ||
04/27/2007 00:00 ||
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(AKI) - The leader of the Organisation of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, Mokhtar Belmokhtar, who is in charge of the area of Algerian Sahara is ready to surrender, according to a report in Algerian daily al-Shuruq published Thursday. The paper, which quoted unnamed informed sources, said authorities are negotiating directly with the family of Mokhtar considered the Emir of the so-called Area Number Five, southern Algeria.
"I seen wot happened to Samir Saioud. I surrender!"
Belmokhtar, whose nom de guerre is Abu al-Abbas or Louar, was reportedly close to Hassan Hattab, the former leader of the now defunct Salafite Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), which changed its name to Organisation of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb in January after pledging allegiance to the international terrorist network of Osama bin Laden. Hattab has surrendered under a national reconciliation plan offered by Algerian authorities to end a brutal civil war in the 1990s in which an estimated 200,000 people have died.
Belmokhtar is allegedly in northern Mali, living with an Arab tribe, the al-Berrasha, also involved in the mediations which are taking place in the area of Ain Khalil, 35 kilometres from Mali's border with Algeria. The terror suspect is reportedly demanding a passport and the cancellation of all charges against him, including a sentence to death, in exchange for his surrender. The 11 April attacks in Algiers in which 30 people died allegedly led Belmokhtar to distance himself from al-Qaeda.
This article starring:
Abu al-Abbas
Hassan Hattab
Mokhtar Belmokhtar
Organisation of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb
Posted by: Fred ||
04/27/2007 00:00 ||
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CAIRO, Egypt - Police have arrested 172 militants who were plotting to attack Saudi Arabia's oil fields, the Saudi state TV channel Al-Ekhbariah reported Friday. The channel broadcast footage of the large quantity of weapons of all kinds that were discovered buried in the desert. The arms included brickettes of plastic explosives, ammunition cartridges, handguns and rifles wrapped in plastic sheeting.
Interior Ministry spokesman Brig. Mansour al-Turki told the rival Al-Arabiya channel that the militants included non-Saudis and that one cell planned to storm a prison and release the inmates. The Interior Ministry issued a statement saying that more than 120 million riyals ($32.4 million) had been seized in the operation, one of the largest sweeps against terror cells in the kingdoms.
Al-Ekhbariah showed investigators breaking tiled floors with hammers to uncover pipes that contained weapons. In one scene, an official upends a plastic pipe and bullets and little packets of plastic explosives spill out. The ministry statement said that one cell had planned to carry out suicide attacks against "public figures, oil facilities, refineries ... and military zones."
Posted by: Steve ||
04/27/2007 09:17 ||
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#1
The Interior Ministry issued a statement saying that more than 120 million riyals ($32.4 million) had been seized
#3
Maybe an error. However, I just heard the $32 million again on Fox although Fox doesn't always get it right. Sounds like a fairly large operation. Almost follows the plot of an Oliver North novel entitled "The Assassins."
#8
Additional: RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) - Police arrested 172 Islamic militants, some of whom had trained abroad as pilots so they could fly aircraft in attacks on Saudi Arabia's oil fields, the Interior Ministry said Friday. A spokesman said all that remained in the plot ``was to set the zero hour.''
The ministry issued a statement saying the detainees were planning to carry out suicide atttacks against ``public figures, oil facilities, refineries ... and military zones'' - some of which were outside the kingdom. ``They had reached an advance stage of readiness and what remained only was to set the zero hour for their attacks,'' Interior Ministry spokesman Brig. Mansour al-Turki told the Associated Press in a phone call. ``They had the personnel, the money, the arms. Almost all the elements for terror attacks were complete except for setting the zero hour for the attacks.''
The ministry did not say the militants would fly aircraft into oil refineries, as the Sept. 11, 2001 hijackers flew planes into buildings in New York and Washington, but its statement said some detainees had been ``sent to other countries to study flying in preparation for using them to carry out terrorist attacks inside the kingdom.''
/BDS ON But, but, I thought the Twin Towers and Pentagon were blown up by Dick Cheney! Bet Bush got his Saudi friends to fake these arrests to help his poll numbers. /BDS OFF
Posted by: Steve ||
04/27/2007 12:30 Comments ||
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#9
Sounds like at least one of Tehran's cells in Saudi Arabia has been penetrated. Hope they find the rest and penetrate them, too. The Saudis do get beligerant when their home turf appears to be under attack.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/27/2007 14:59 Comments ||
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#10
No mention of any gun battles during the arrest operations. That seems queer to me. One would assume that the word would get out that arrests were going down and that at least some of these 172 would fight rather than be caught/tortured/chopped into pieces by the Saudi's. The veracity of this operation needs confirmation from where I sit.
April 27, 2007 -- A Russian military helicopter carrying paratroopers has gone down in southern Chechnya killing 17 people.
Russian news agencies citing unidentified officials reported that Chechen rebels shot down the helicopter, which was carrying out an operation near the town of Shatoi in southern Chechnya. According to the reports, the dead included three crew members and 14 soldiers
#2
Russia supplies surface-to-air missiles to Iranians to shoot down US helicopters in Iraq. A few of them find their way back to Chechnya, and are used against Russian aircraft. Russia suffers a military aircraft loss. I do feel sympathy for those that died, but the Russian government can FOAD.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/27/2007 15:01 Comments ||
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(KUNA) -- Two Turkish soldiers were killed in a landmine explosion in southeast Turkey on Thursday, Turkish security forces said here. The mine was planted by Kurdish rebels in Shirnak and Bitlis provinces, which are overwhelmed by Kurdish population majority, they added. The mine explosion took place when Turkish soldiers were patrolling southeastern areas on the border with Iraq, the Turkish Army Staff said in a release.
Many Turkish forces are now carrying out a military operation at the area in a bid to hunt Kurdish rebels there, it added. The Turkish government accuses the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) of planting landmines in Shirnak and Bitlis provinces. The PKK is listed by the US, EU and Turkey as a terrorist organization. The PKK has been fighting against the Turkish government for a Kurdish independent state since 1978. The conflict has so far claimed the lives of over 37,000 people. Y'kinda gotta wonder where the PKK is buying their explosives. And where they get their dough.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/27/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
37,000 people seems to me an awful lot to be killed by cooking gas and landmine explosions, even over three decades.
My guess would be Russia for the explosives, and quite possibly at no charge. Or maybe China. Either one would have some interest in disrupting their competitors - of which Turkey is a nominal ally. Also, China might regard expanded Kurdish 'problems' as a lever to gain further influence in Iran. As an analog look to their role Nepal & Assam, India. While Iran also has interest in seeing turmoil in Turkey, I don't see them wanting to aid Kurds.
#3
Y'kinda gotta wonder where the PKK is buying their explosives. And where they get their dough.
Offhand, I'd say they're getting the stuff in the Balkans, Belorussia, and (to a lesser extent) Europe. The money is likely from criminal activities and from donations from the same areas.
I always thought of the ULFA as a Pakistani Nexus terrorist group, where China seemed to work the Naxalite angle in Bihar and Chattisgargh. Any links on that theory. Methinks China is beginning to replace US dominance by quitely maneuvering. The Great Game is always being played and we need to not take our eye off the real threat.
#5
The Great Game is always being played and we need to not take our eye off the real threat.
Rightwing, I trust that you are referring to China. Islam is a mere speed bump in comparison to China. They are the true enemy that must be confronted at some future date. Sadly, China has taken a page from the Saudis and bought every American politician with a price tag. And that is most of them.
#6
I'm beginning to believe the Kurdish situation isn't as straightforward as it appears. I'm beginning to believe it's an Iranian plot to discredit the Kurds, not only in Turkey, but in Iraq and Iran, too. It would be to Iran's advantage if Turkey waged war against Iraqi Kurds, as well as hammering their home-grown variety. I'm beginning to believe that Iran is spending every cent it can get its hands on to destabilize everything from Turkey to Kenya, from Pakistan to Libya, Chad, and Sudan. They're probably getting significant help from Russia and China, not that either Russia or China are aware of the double-dealing. If they are, they're ignoring it. Tehran and Riyadh are overdue for a HUGE smackdown. That would not only reduce the problems in the MME, but would also cost two of our adversaries tons of money in lost "investment".
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/27/2007 15:07 Comments ||
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#7
Tehran and Riyadh are overdue for a HUGE smackdown. That would not only reduce the problems in the MME, but would also cost two of our adversaries tons of money in lost "investment".
Said the exact same thing myself a few days ago. Iran simply has got to go. They are the puppetmaster for so many terror groups and proxy wars that their elimination would uncloud a lot of our current problems. It is also crucial to make certain that this world understands how any form of Islamic Theocracy is totally unacceptable. In signal processing terms, decoupling Iran from the equation would remove a lot of spurious interference, lower the noise floor and clean up reception.
PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - At least three suspected Islamist militants were killed and two wounded by an explosion in a Pakistani tribal region regarded as a hotbed of support for al Qaeda and the Taliban, officials said. Officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, gave starkly differing accounts of what caused the blast in a house in Saidgai, a village 15 km (10 miles) north of Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan. A senior military official said the militants were killed while making bombs.
The old "Red Wire Syndrome"
However, an intelligence official said the explosion was caused by a missile fired from a pilotless drone aircraft operated by U.S. forces in Afghanistan. "The missile was probably fired by a U.S. drone," he told Reuters. The intelligence official said four people were killed, including two Afghans and two Pakistanis.
Good shooting, if it happened
If it was a U.S. drone attack, it wouldn't be the first time Pakistani military officials have stuck by a version suggesting bomb materials in a house used by militants had exploded. Pakistan's public stance is that it will not allow its territorial sovereignty to be violated by foreign forces stationed in Afghanistan.
The explosion happened in a house surrounded by a walled compound next to a religious school, or madrasa, run by a pro-Taliban cleric, Maulana Noor Mohammad. The intelligence officer said Mohammad used it as a "guest house."
So either a "work accident" or "Hellfire" is a real possibility
In January last year, a helicopter gunship attack killed eight of the cleric's family, and two months later Pakistani helicopter gunships and ground forces launched an attack in Saidgai, that killed around 45 militants, mostly foreigners.
So it's likely the targeting data on his home is well known. 50/50 on either option
This article starring:
MAULANA NUR MOHAMAD
Wazir Taliban
Posted by: Steve ||
04/27/2007 08:09 ||
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#1
Work accident, Hellfire, either way it's 3 more dead bad guys.
I do wish someone would publish somewhere a count of how many bad guys it's estimated have been killed by US and Coalition forces so far in the WoT.
#2
Spread the word that those Brave Jihadis that hang out at Maulana's somehow always seem to end up dead for some reason, yet Maulana seems to keep on breathing. Mention something about a high placed "American spy". Could be a high muckymuck Holy Man even...
I'm a firefighter and lost alot on 9/11. Call it revenge, have you forgotten, alot of anger, hatred, whatever. I've been meticulous if not obsessed with compiling enemy fatality statistics from US, Indian, Afghan, Israeli, Ethiopian and Coalition operations. My best guess puts somewhere around 40 - 41k. This includes Pakistan operations in the Tribal belts, the expulsion of the Uzbeks, Al Qaeda deaths in Iraq, Somalia, Kenya, Egypt etc. Anywhere there s a press release of and related to Islamic terrorism, I've been documenting it. I've been distressed about the lack of body counts etc. from combat. Difficult to gauge any kind of positive situations from combat when you only hear of US fatalities. I have no idea if my numbers are accurate, but my gut tells me they are on the low. My co-workers seem to apreciate my efforts so I'll keep it up. I sure would like to get some official numbers though. If you find anything let me know on the burg.
Needs to be 10X or 100X that much. Even at 100X it would barely keep up with the Islamic head count in Darfur alone. Islam needs to take some major body blows.
#5
Agreed Zen, the total civilian fatalities of Muslim terror, genocide etc, is to the tune of 500k (majority of these are muzzies). My number was for AQ / Taliban / Muzzie radicals KIA. Sorry for the confusion.
#6
No confusion, Rightwing. I understood that your number was strictly our side's headcount. I want to see it increased by orders of magnitude. Islam has yet to be held accountable for its atrocities. Nothing but the obliteration of a few major Muslim population centers is going to change things. Islam must be made to pause and reconsider its game plan. If it continues to make a nusiance of itself, rinse and repeat as needed.
#1
The islamsist blame-game. It's not the kid's fault that he hacked a muslim's head off. It's the muslim men. It's not the muslim men's fault. They couldn't control themselves because of the JOOOOOOOOOOOS and infidels.
#2
Which is why Pakistan no longer belongs in the global community. It is a pariah nation and should be dismantled at the earliest opportunity. Pakistan is the picture perfect example of what results from Islamic government.
#3
Some INDIAN + CHINESE Netters have one belief in comon which is that PAKISTAN will one day be Chinese territory, or a PC Chinese-controlled proxy state ala the Norkies.
#5
All those lovely trees to be turned into paper, and those rugged mountains ground up for cement perhaps, gromgoru. China still has lots of rivers to dam, and the designs must be drawn on something. ;-)
#7
Jules, what do you have against the people of a certain off shore island ? Pakis are actually Indians who have the misforture of being brainwashed by the religion of blood and death. They'll be fine once they shed the yoke of Islam and rejoin the human experience.
SHAHDADKOT: Unidentified men shot dead a cousin of former Balochistan chief minister Zulfiqar Magsi and injured his gunman at Jhal Magsi on Thursday. Mir Ghulam Mustafa Magsi was going to his fields when armed men opened indiscriminate fire on his vehicle, killing him at the scene and critically injuring his gunman Tariq Magsi.
Nailed him and wounded his hired gun. Sounds pretty discriminate to me.
Levies personnel reached the scene after the attackers fled.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/27/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Look what they did to my cousin!
Posted by: Don Magsi ||
04/27/2007 5:41 Comments ||
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A court in Pakistan has ordered the authorities to re-open the offices of the Al-Rashid Trust, according to a report on the Pakistani Aaj News television channel. The Al-Rashid Trust is on the United States and United Nations lists of terror organisations and the Pakistani authorities had shut down 28 of its offices in several cities in February and prohibited it from collecting funds.
The court in the southern port city of Karachi ruled in favour of the Al-Rashid Trust after the authorities failed to produce the official orders barring the activities of the organisation. The court also restored the trust's bank accounts in Pakistan that were frozen more than five years ago.
The Al-Rashid Trust was active in the relief efforts in Pakistan Kashmir after the 2005 earthquake, but it was also said to have backed the Taliban in Afghanistan. The trust was also controversial for its direct links with the Taliban even after the collapse of the regime in late 2001. It was also implicated in previous bomb blasts in Karachi. The group has always denied these allegations and said that it is only involved in charity activities.
This article starring:
Al-Rashid Trust
Posted by: Fred ||
04/27/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
I suspect the Bukha Bunnies can expect a large grant for their madrassa soon now.
(KUNA) -- At least three suspected Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) guerrillas, one of them a Pakistani national, were arrested in the Indian capital Thursday. A Delhi Police Special Squad arrested the three guerrillas following intelligence reports, a top police official of the city told reporters here this evening. The arrested guerrillas were planning to target markets in Delhi, the official said.
Delhi police have also recovered some arms and ammunition from the arrested guerrillas, including two hand grenades, two kg RDX and a few detonators. Two of the arrested guerrillas were from Jammu and Kashmir, the official said.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/27/2007 00:00 ||
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A policeman and an angry youth targeting each other during a clash at Nowhatta Chowk near Jamia Masjid in downtown Srinagar shortly after Friday prayers. The clashes, which left 17 persons including five scribes and three cops injured, erupted when the youth took to the streets to protest the alleged desecration and demolition of a mosque inside historic Hari Parbat fort in the city.
Posted by: John Frum ||
04/27/2007 18:19 Comments ||
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The US Defence Department has taken one of al Qaeda's most senior and most experienced operatives into custody. The suspect has been named as Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said. He was handed over to the the Pentagon by the CIA, Whitman said. Whitman said the suspect was responsible for plotting cross-border attacks from Pakistan on US forces in Afghanistan. He is being held in Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.
Apologies if old news - been away for a week.
This article starring:
ABD AL HADI AL IRAQI
al-Qaeda
Posted by: Howard UK ||
04/27/2007 11:06 ||
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#1
But the administration lied to us about Jessica Lynch!
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/27/2007 11:18 Comments ||
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#3
Joe Wilson proved Saddam was not interested in nuclear weapons!
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/27/2007 11:20 Comments ||
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#4
This is a big catch. Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi supposedly held a top spot in the new al-qaeda leadership structure. Hopefully the intelligence ripped out of him will spawn more good news.
#7
Perhaps Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid or John Murtha should volunteer to take care of him in their own homes. Seeing as how al-Iraqi is just a poor misunderstood freedom fighter.
"one of al-Qaida's most senior and most experienced operatives." Where and when al-Hadi was captured has not been disclosed; he is a native of Iraq who served in Saddam's military before going to Afghanistan to join bin Laden. Al-Hadi was apparently trying to return to Iraq from an undisclosed country when he was apprehended. The Wikipedia entry on al-Hadi includes this "wanted poster" put out by the U.S. government:
Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi is one of Usama bin Ladens top global deputies, personally chosen by bin Laden to monitor al Qaeda operations in Iraq. Al-Hadi was the former Internal Operations Chief for al Qaeda. He has been associated with numerous attacks in Afghanistan and Pakistan and has been known to facilitate communication between al Qaeda in Iraq and al Qaeda. Al-Hadi rose to the rank of Major in Saddam Husseins army before moving to Afghanistan to fight against the Soviet Union. He has a reputation for being a skilled, intelligent, and experienced commander and is an extremely well-respected al Qaeda leader. He has commanded numerous terrorist training camps in Afghanistan. Al-Hadi is reportedly still in contact with Usama bin Laden.
Oh the stories to be told, that will never be told. All these journalists, wanting to write the "big one" and make lots of money, are missing so many good stories that folks like me want to read, rather than one more BDS book.
#9
Since the CIA captured him and he "was responsible for plotting cross-border attacks from Pakistan on US forces in Afghanistan", I'd guess most likely he got nabbed in Pakistan.
Posted by: Steve ||
04/27/2007 12:54 Comments ||
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#10
Also gleamed from Bill Riggio's site and post on this capture...Al Hadi was a "caretaker to Zawahiri" at one point in time....this gentleman has the keys to the kingdom.
#18
My wife has a tracing wheel used to trace patterns. It has many, many little teeth - not sharp, but uncomfortable. Strap him to a door laid across saw-horses, and use that on his feet until he screams for mercy. Feet are one of the most sensitive parts of the human body. It doesn't take much to break a person's spirit when you start messing with his feet. After you've wrung him dry, use the blowtorch on his eyeballs.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/27/2007 15:16 Comments ||
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#19
Perhaps Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid or John Murtha should volunteer to take care of him in their own homes. Seeing as how al-Iraqi is just a poor misunderstood freedom fighter.
Why would you house him with these traitors? They would just plot a way to return him to Pakistan with an apology note and $5M compensation for his troubles.
#20
OP, you always make me laugh when you get wound up on "how to get the job done right". I think it is your lack of nuance that I appreciate so much. That and your obvious understanding of the power of a B-52 Arc Light strike. I'm glad you are on our side. I just wish more of your ideas would be put into action.
#22
What? He's all wrung out? Why didn't the Washington Post tell us he was in captivity? What about the New York Times? Ya just can't trust the Main Stream Media anymore? What's Valerie Plame and Joe Wilson been up to lately? How come they didn't know?
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/27/2007 17:50 Comments ||
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#23
I wonder how he liked that bland, tryptophan-free diet. I wonder if he is even aware he spilled everything. Old Spook once explained that if they have time, there's no need for physical torture -- the victim questionee happily tells everything to his new best friend.
#27
Does anybody know the withdrawl symptoms for massive scopalomine and LSD use? Does anybody know how to make they more acute and longer duration? Can you send the info to Guantanamo please... a new tenant needs to have his amperage adjusted...
The Pentagon said Friday it has custody of one of al-Qaida's most senior and most experienced operatives, an Iraqi who was attempting to return to his native country when he was captured.
Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman, said the captive is Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi. He was received by the Pentagon from the CIA, Whitman said, but the spokesman would not say where or when al-Iraqi was captured or by whom.
The Pentagon took custody of him at Guantanamo Bay this week, Whitman said.
Whitman said the terror suspect was believed responsible for plotting cross-border attacks from Pakistan on U.S. forces in Afghanistan, and that he led an effort to assassinate Pakistan's president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf.
"Abd al-Hadi (al-Iraqi) was trying to return to his native country, Iraq, to manage al-Qaida's affairs and possibly focus on operations outside Iraq against Western targets," Whitman said, adding that the terror suspect met with al-Qaida members in Iran. He said he did not know what time period al-Iraqi was in Iran.
The Pentagon said al-Iraqi was born in Mosul, a city in northern Iraq, in 1961. Whitman said he was a key al-Qaida paramilitary leader in Afghanistan in the late 1990s and during 2002-04 led efforts to attack U.S. forces in Afghanistan with terrorist forces based in Pakistan.
#1
Hmm..He'd been to Iran (sometime) and was captured trying to return (from somewhere).
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/27/2007 11:19 Comments ||
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#2
If he was born in Mosul in 1961, it seems likely he's a Kurd... I wonder if he joined Al Qaeda independently, or if he was a gift to them from Saddam Hussein. No doubt the CIA knows, by now.
#4
He musta' been caught coming back to Iraq from some mission in Turkey - maybe one that involved a high-ranking Iranian general! Yeah, that's the ticket...
Fardh al-Qanun Efforts Against Extremists Continue:
Iraqi Security Forces and Coalition efforts to reduce the violence continue as Operation Fardh al-Qanun enters its ninth week. Joint Security Stations, manned by Coalition and Iraqi forces, continue to stand up throughout the city and establish a permanent presence in troubled neighborhoods. Another initiative to improve security is the emplacement of temporary concrete barriers around Baghdad neighborhoods that have experienced high levels of violence.
Attacks against Baghdad civilians have declined 50% over the last six months. In November 2006, 41% of all attacks reported in the city were directed against civilians; however, during the month of April, only 20% targeted the civilian population.
While attacks have continued to decline over the first nine weeks of the new security plan, lethal high-profile attacks have continued, highlighted by the four vehicle-borne improvised explosive bombings in the Baghdad area April 18. Al-Qaida in Iraq, who likely conducted those bombings, continues to indiscriminately target civilians to undermine the GOI and dishearten the Iraqi people.
To date, more than 200,000 patrols have been conducted in support of Operation Fardh al-Qanun. More than 300 caches have been uncovered and more than 800 improvised explosive devices have been found.
Suicide Vehicle Bomb Strikes U.S. Military Outpost, Killing Nine:
A suicide car bomber struck a U.S. military outpost north of Baghdad, killing nine soldiers and wounding 20 others, in the deadliest attack on American forces in 16 months.
The bomber exploded his vehicle against a patrol base in Diyala province April 23, bringing the U.S. military death toll for April so far to 70, according to the U.S. military. Fifteen of the wounded were later able to resumetheir duties, but the attack was still the bloodiest since December 1, 2005.
Britain Turns over Logistics Base to the ISF:
The Shaibah logistics base, once the main center of British military operations in Iraq, was turned over to the Iraqi national army April 24 for use as a training base. The brief ceremony by British and Iraqi forces was the latest example of the Coalitions efforts to give Iraqi forces control over some parts of Iraq as British forces plan to begin withdrawing from southern Iraq where most of them are based.
Two other British bases -al-Saie and Shatt al-Arab -were turned over to Iraqi forces in Basrah, Iraqs second largest city, in the last month.
Fourth Fallujah City Councilman Killed in Two Years:
Fallujah city council chairman Sami Abdul-Amir al-Jumaili, a critic of al-Qaida who took the job after his three predecessors were assassinated, was killed April 21. The 65-year-old Sunni shaykh was the fourth city council chairman to be killed in 14 months as insurgents target fellow Sunnis willing to cooperate with the U.S. and Iraqi forces. Abdul-Amirs predecessor, Abbas Ali Hussein, was shot to death February 2.
Iraqs Yazidi Minority Demands Protection After Killings:
Sectarian tensions are high in the Mosul area of northern Iraq following the killing of 23 members of the Yazidi minority (a small, ancient heterodox sect who are ethnic Kurds) and following the stoning death of a Yazidi woman who recently converted to Islam to marry a Sunni Muslim man.
Criminal Proceedings Begin at New Rule of Law Complex:
On April 2 in Baghdad, criminal proceedings were initiated in a newly opened and secure Rule of Law Complex, Mujama Siyadat al-Qanun, against an alleged al-Qaida suspect accused of killing scores of civilians, and against a Shia national police officer accused of torturing and abusing mostly Sunni detainees while in his custody.
Prime Minister Maliki Receives Promise of Support from Egypt During Visit:
During a visit to Cairo by Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif pledged to continue supporting Iraq in order to restore peace and stability in the country. Prime Minister Nazif added that Egypt stands strongly on the side of Iraq and by every means backs it in achieving peace and stability.
UNICEF Launches Immunization Campaign:
In coordination with UNICEF, Iraqi health workers launched a large-scale immunization drive this week aimed at protecting 3.9 million infants with the MMR vaccine against measles, mumps, and rubella. I know you'd all want to know what the UN is doing!
Secretary Rice Urges Iran to Take Part in Iraqs Neighbors Conference:
Secretary Rice urged Iran to take part in Iraqs Neighbors Conference next month, telling the Financial Times it would be a missed opportunity if Tehran fails to attend.
Ambassador Satterfield Urges Iraq Neighbors on Debt Relief:
While talking to reporters in Kuwait, Ambassador Satterfield urged Iraqs neighbors to invest in the country and called on oil-rich Gulf states to fulfill their pledge to forgive billions of dollars in debt owed by the former regime of Saddam Hussein.
Islamic Cabinet Named by Sunni Insurgent Group:
An Internet video posted April 19 by the Islamic State of Iraq announced an Islamic Cabinetfor Iraq and named Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, the head of al-Qaida in Iraq, as minister of war.The message came shortly after the Sunni insurgent group posted another video showing the execution of 20 men said to be members of the Iraqi military and security forces.
Shaykh Abu Abdul-Rahman al-Falahi was named as the emirs first minister,while other positions included ministers of information, prisoners and martyrs,agriculture and health. Prisoner and Martyrs is one ministry?
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/27/2007 09:04 ||
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DAMASCUS - Refugees from Baquba city who have found shelter in Damascus describe their hometown as a "dead city" where armed men roam the streets and al-Qaeda reigns.
Baquba, capital city of Iraq's Diyala province is located 50 kilometers northeast of Baghdad on the Diyala river. In 2002 the estimated population was 280,000. The city has been inhabited continuously since pre-Islamic times and is the trade center for Iraq's commercial orange groves.
The city became a hot spot of resistance early on in the occupation. It has been torn apart in fighting between occupation forces and the Iraqi resistance - and also between various militia groups and al-Qaeda, which has emerged as a distinct new group, its fleeing residents say.
By the end of 2006, the city was largely under the control of Sunni resistance groups, but by early 2007 residents report that al-Qaeda had formed a larger presence in the city. As a result, more than half the people in the city have fled, refugees say.
"Life in Baquba nowadays is unbearable," Aziz Abdulla, an unemployed university professor who arrived in Damascus last week, told Inter Press Service (IPS). "There is no security at all. Violence is increasing day after day because there is no control from the government and no real existence of coalition forces there. Terrorists and other fighters rule the city. Baquba is a city of terror."
Abdulla said that killing and kidnapping are rampant. "We have all become used to seeing dead bodies in the streets. I've seen too many. When we see them, nobody touches the body because if you do you are killed by gunmen. They watch for who touches the body, and kill that person right then or later."
"I think well over half of our city has left, and those who remain never leave their homes," Abdulla said. "Those who are left sit in their homes and wait for their death. They may take their fate from a terrorist entering their house, or a car bomb, or a shooting."
Baquba General Hospital is in a state of collapse, refugees say. Ahmed Shibad, a 30-year-old doctor from the hospital, fled Baquba a month ago and now lives in the al-Qudsiya neighborhood on the outskirts of Damascus with tens of thousands of other Iraqi refugees.
"I left Baquba because of the terrorists and the Iraqi Army. The conditions at my hospital were very, very bad," he told IPS. "We had no supplies, and the Iraqi forces occupied the hospital and used it as an observation post and used the roof as a sniper platform."
He, like Abdulla, said al-Qaeda is largely in control of the city, and that US forces are doing little to stop them. But his main complaint is about the Iraqi forces. "The Iraqi forces determine who enters the hospital or not, and this causes a big problem for the doctors," he said. "They take many innocent people from the hospital. Our morgue can holds 12 corpses, but it is always overfilled."
Shibad said prior to the invasion and occupation of Iraq, Diyala province had 600 doctors. The last he knew, he said, there were only 124, and the number is decreasing each month.
One of the bases in the city is referred to as Camp Boom by the US soldiers stationed there because it takes so many hits from armed groups, refugees said. Another US Forward Operating Base (FOB) called FOB Scunion is separated from the larger Camp Freedom by a highway known as "RPG [rocket propelled grenade] Alley" because of the many attacks against coalition forces there.
"Americans only control one kilometer of road, which is the main road where the governor's office and court building are in central Baquba, and they rarely run patrols in the city because they are attacked every time," a refugee who had just arrived from Baquba told IPS.
He asked to be referred to as Haida for fear of reprisal attacks from armed groups, al-Qaeda or US forces. "Every day we see attacks against the Americans. This is because the coalition forces created their own enemies by being so rough on the people of Baquba since the beginning of the occupation."
Haida said that control of the city is shared between Iraqi resistance groups who are fighting coalition forces, and "the other group is al-Qaeda". Either way, he said, men carrying guns control most of Baquba.
Despite its small size, Diyala province has seen the sixth-largest number of US troops killed in Iraq among the 18 provinces in the country. According to the Department of Defense, at least 144 troops have been killed there, 44 of them this year.
Haida and Abdulla, who come from different areas of Baquba, told IPS separately that the city has almost completely shut down now. No markets are open and those who remain live on locally grown vegetables and fruit.
"There is nothing transported from Baghdad because there is no way to travel there due to the unofficial checkpoints controlled by militias," said Haida. "If you pass through one and you are the wrong sect of Islam, you are killed immediately. People have stopped going to Baghdad. We are cut off."
Abdulla said gasoline is too expensive for most people, and inflation is "out of control". In any case, gas is rarely available since "tankers can no longer reach the city from Baghdad".
Money counts for little, he said. "There is no money at the banks because bringing the money from Baghdad to Baquba is too dangerous. The government cannot control it, and the money will be stolen by so many different groups of people. Our city has become a dead city."
#1
Refugees from Baquba city who have found shelter in Damascus describe their hometown as a "dead city" where armed men roam the streets and al-Qaeda reigns.
Welcome to the Wonderful World of Islamic Terrorism you stupid shits. Maybe you should have devoted more time to blowing away the real enemy instead of thwarting the Coalition's efforts. You get what you deserve. Let me know when you get up the courage to begin tearing al Qaeda a new one. Then, I'll applaud.
#3
Babuqa is only 30 miles from the Iranian border and 20 miles from the reportedly IRG controlled salient of Iraqi territory between Kurdistan and Iran. Curious that.
#4
Consider FOX NEWS > USA > Several individuals in major US City arrested for manufacturing up to 70 IED-type explosives similar to what insurgents use agz US milfors in Iraq.
#6
Wasn't this one of the first areas given over to Iraqi administration a few years ago? Too soon, it would seem. Harbinger of what the Dems want for the whole country?
Haven't we been reading recently about Coalition brigade(s) deployed to Diyala, even at the expense of the Baghdad 'surge', to address the status of Baquba as the new refuge of AQ? With more on the way? It is the logical place for AQ 'leadership' to go - and likely the focus of Iranian support to the Sunni side of the AIF (Basra/Najaf for the Shia side).
If this article is largely correct, the 'good' guys have already left. So we should pull our forces out, block the exits, and fumigate the place with a powerful pesticide.
#7
Yeah, self-described refugees in Damascus giving po-faced the sky-is-falling-in-Baquba interviews to international media are unimpeachable witnesses to be accepted without the slightest sodium uptake.
Or, you know, not. The whole article reeks of "look how successful we those nasty al-Queda boys are in Town X".
Not that it might not be true. But the slant is definitely towards insurgent propaganda. Bragging about how impossible they've made the situation through "refugee" cutouts. Who refuse to give their real names, despite having fled to Damascus. What, you aren't safe in Assad's capital? Whyever not?
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
04/27/2007 8:53 Comments ||
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#8
Now that the city is "dead" and only terrorists are there, how about several MOABs and fuel air explosives to finish off the job?
#10
This article reminds me of the stories coming out of Falluja before the Marines went in. Funny how where ever Al Qaeda takes over, these stories follow them. Could it be these guys aren't the nicest people to be around?
Al
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
04/27/2007 9:56 Comments ||
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#11
Could it be these guys aren't the nicest people to be around?
#12
I agree with those above, if this town is truly so deserted, this would be the perfect time and place to finally get all Medieval. Rubblize the whole damn town and send photos of it to our next hot-spot.
#14
This description of an empty town is consistent with what Michael Yon wrote in his latest dispatch. Seems like all of the Sunni-dominated areas have to go through this pain before realizing that Al Q means only death.
(KUNA) -- Up to seven terrorists were killed during Multi-National Force (MNF) operations in Sadr city and Anbar province Thursday. A statement by the MNF, revealed that three were killed during operations in Sadr city aimed at eradicating terrorist training campsites in the area while the other four casualties occurred when coalition forces exchanged fire with insurgents in Anbar province.
In other developments, the Central Criminal Court of Iraq (CCCI) sentenced four terrorists to death due to violations against the Iraqi terrorism law.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/27/2007 00:00 ||
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(KUNA) -- At least 16 Iraqis were either killed or injured when a booby-trapped car exploded at a headquarters for Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) near Mosul city, northern Iraq, said a statement by the Party Thursday. The KDP source told KUNA that private properties in the area have suffered from damages due to the bombing.
Meanwhile, a source at Kirkuk's police said that a cafe in the city was subjected to an attack, leaving five citizens injured. The source also indicated that a human head was found near Al-Huwaija court southwest of Kirkuk, adding that when police tried to pick up the object a bomb went off but fortunately no casualties were reported. The head belonged to Ali Ahmad, a food supplies driver for the Iraqi army who was kidnapped two days ago on Huwaija.
In Baghdad, three citizens were killed in separate attacks. The police revealed the deaths occurred when a car detonated near a Bank in southern Baghdad which left one person dead while three others were injured. The other casualties took place when mortar shells targeted Abu Dashir area south of the capital, resulting in the two deaths in addition to the injury of 11 citizens.
Also in the capital, four Iraqis were killed and ten others were injured when a booby-trapped car exploded in Al-Hussein square.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/27/2007 00:00 ||
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(KUNA) -- In the last 24 hours, Iraqi security forces killed one "terrorist" and arrested 217 suspects, said "law enforcement" operations command in Baghdad in a statement Thursday. The "terrorist" was killed in Al-Mahmoudia area, while 108 "terrorists" and 109 suspects were arrested throughout scattered areas of the capital Baghdad, the statement said.
It added that forces also managed to dismantle three bobby-trapped cars in Sadr city, Markaz Al-Resafa and New Baghdad, in addition to defusing 85 explosive devices.
The command also announced that one of its personnel was killed, and nine others were injured during combat operations. In a related story, two people were killed and ten others injured in a bomb blast in Al-Wathba courtyard, central Baghdad, Iraqi police said today.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/27/2007 00:00 ||
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#3
Iraqi security forces killed one "terrorist" and arrested 217 suspects
They need to invert those arrest and kill numbers. I'd also like to see what the actual retention time is for those 217 arrestees. So far, Iraqi law enforcement has been a revolving door.
(KUNA) -- Coalition forces killed four "terrorists" this morning while targeting Al-Qaeda in the Iraqi area of Al-Taji, northern Baghdad, said the Multi-National Forces in Iraq (MNF-I) in a statement Thursday.
The forces targeted the location based on intelligence reports that indicated associates with Al-Qaeda's deadly vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices network were present at the location, the statement added.
Ground forces were searching buildings at the targeted location when they came under heavy small arms fire from one of the buildings. Coalition forces returned fire and engaged the armed terrorists, the statement said.
Despite efforts to subdue the armed terrorists, coalition forces continued to receive enemy fire. Coalition forces used appropriate escalation of force to react to the perceived threat and called for close air support, killing four armed terrorists, it added.
According to the statement, MNF-I believe that two women and two children were also killed during the strike. "Unfortunately, Al-Qaeda in Iraq continues to use women and children in their illegal activities," said Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Garver, MNF-I spokesperson. "Al Qaeda continues to demonstrate they do not care about the future of Iraq, and we will continue to target all terrorists in Iraq regardless of their titles or positions within the community".
Posted by: Fred ||
04/27/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
"Unfortunately, Al-Qaeda in Iraq continues to use women and children in their illegal activities,"
A member of the Fatah-affiliated Force 17 security force was killed and another three Palestinians were wounded on Thursday night in a gunfight in Ramallah. Israel Radio reported that the clashes erupted after the security force tried to arrest several members of a large gang in the West Bank city.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/27/2007 00:00 ||
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#3
we just found out that one of the 9 killed monday was a guy who my wife babysat as a child.great kid now man. i saw a video somwhere on the net mon or tues that showed the intiaL blast and cannot find it now. if anyone knows what i'm talking about please post it for me. For some unknownst reason my wife wants too see it.
Failed government efforts to quell the Islamic insurgency in southern Thailand have left the area's Buddhists frustrated, armed and raring to fight back.
The violence has taken an ominous turn lately with a string of what seems like tit-for-tat outrages. On March 14, hooded insurgents ambushed a van and killed eight Buddhists, including two teenage schoolgirls. That evening, two bombs outside a nearby mosque and at a teashop killed three Muslims and injured about 20, and five days later, gunmen opened fire at a dormitory of an Islamic boarding school, killing three students. It's the first time Islamic institutions have been targeted since the insurgency broke out in 2004.
No one has claimed responsibility, and the government has accused Muslim militants of launching all of the attacks as provocations, and played down suspicions that some of them may be Buddhist acts of vengeance. But the end result is heightened distrust on both sides that many fear could turn into communal warfare.
"We are ready to declare war," said Prasit Nuannin, the Buddhist chief of Ban Bala, a mountain community whose population of 2,000 is split about equally between Buddhists and Muslims.
Policemen and village militia armed with assault rifles and shotguns have stepped up their guard over the local Buddhist temple here, fearing insurgents will try to torch it.
"We are most concerned that people will be divided to the point that Muslims and Buddhists will wage a war against one another," said army spokesman Col. Akara Thiprot. "The insurgents are trying to cause rifts among people to show that the situation has gone beyond the government's control."
It's impossible to verify the claim that Muslims are attacking their own, but the theory isn't ruled out by some analysts, including moderate Muslim ones, who see how the insurgents could profit from radicalizing the Muslim population. Either way, the latest violence is a blow to the government's hope of solving the problem.
Ban Bala is an example of a mixed community that had been peaceful and is now infected by the violence. A few days after the van ambush, a Buddhist man in Ban Bala was shot dead in his home and two nearby houses were burned down, while three Muslim men were wounded in two separate shootings. Rumors spread that Muslim insurgents wanted to torch the temple.
Romali Jehheng, a 51-year-old Muslim in Ban Bala, said he had no idea whether vengeful Buddhists shot the three Muslims, but he is "afraid of everybody." He said he has stopped visiting teashops popular gathering places that have become terrorist targets.
Army spokesman Akara said 38 Muslim families, fearing revenge by Buddhists following a shooting incident, abandoned their homes in Yala province's Bannang Sata district in February, and returned only after the authorities remonstrated with their suspicious neighbors.
The region is awash in firearms, thanks in part to the government. In 2004, revered Queen Sirikit bluntly urged people to defend themselves, and she sponsors arms training programs that cater almost exclusively to Buddhists. After the attack on the van her military aide, Gen. Napon Bunthap, quoted her as saying: "We have to help people there to survive. If they need to be trained, train them. If they need to be armed, arm them."
In Ban Bala, some 400 village militia members, mostly Buddhists, share 140 shotguns they take out on patrol, according to village chief Prasit. The Interior Ministry has also trained and armed thousands of other civilians Muslims and Buddhists alike to defend their villages. Many southerners have bought handguns and rarely leave home without them despite a ban on carrying unlicensed weapons in a public place.
The government is persisting with its peace effort. Visiting the south last week, Prime Minister Surayud said the government was considering offering the insurgents an amnesty something the previous government rejected. At the same time, he supported the arming of Buddhists to protect their families.
But the government's inability to curb the violence is raising tempers. Lately, Buddhist mourners at funerals for insurgency victims have directed their fury against the authorities for failing to protect them. "When state power does not function, people feel the responsibility to protect themselves and take justice into their own hands," said Chaiwat Satha-anand, a political scientist at Bangkok's Thammasat University.
#1
"When state power does not function, people feel the responsibility to protect themselves and take justice into their own hands," said Chaiwat Satha-anand, a political scientist at Bangkok's Thammasat University.
Yes. And it helps if you have had the Second Amendment to protect your ability to take that responsibility of self-protection.
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness."
#4
It takes a lot to bring the Buddhists to a boil. But, once their blood is up, they can hang with anyone as far as mayhem and payback. Stack Muslims in piles in the center of the villages. Light them off and keep them sizzling until only fine ash remains. Do it over and over. Maybe they'll catch on.
#5
In 2004, revered Queen Sirikit bluntly urged people to defend themselves, and she sponsors arms training programs that cater almost exclusively to Buddhists. After the attack on the van her military aide, Gen. Napon Bunthap, quoted her as saying: "We have to help people there to survive. If they need to be trained, train them. If they need to be armed, arm them."
Quite a change from Operation Origami.
Nice to see somebody there has their shit together...
#6
"We are most concerned that people will be divided to the point that Muslims and Buddhists will wage a war against one another," said army spokesman Col. Akara Thiprot. "The insurgents are trying to cause rifts among people to show that the situation has gone beyond the government's control."
Well, then it's about damn time the government got a grip. Might have to try that ruthless thing.
A 14-year-old boy and his grandmother were severely wounded on Friday when suspected insurgents blasted their stall selling rice puddings in Thailand's southernmost province of Narathiwat. The bomb, planted aside the stall in Narathiwat's Tak Bai district, exploded on Friday morning. The owner of the stall Lert Kongsamret, 68, and her grandson Chongchaikwan were critically injured and rushed to the Tak Bai hospital, the Bangkok Post newspaper reported on its website.
Meanwhile, in nearby Yala Province, patrol soldiers narrowly escaped a bomb when their vehicle was speeding past a spot where insurgents hid the bomb. Local police said the vehicle was heading towards Ban Toh Bakae in Raman district when a bomb went off right after the vehicle passed a fire extinguisher tank hidden on a roadside. The blast produced a hole of 3-meter-wide and 1.50-meter-deep, but the vehicle was not damaged and nobody was injured.
Sri Lankas military said it targeted senior Tamil rebel leaders Thursday with an airstrike in the north, but it was not immediately clear if there were any casualties, military officials said.
The rebels claimed the attack hit a civilian area. Government ground troops, meanwhile, attacked insurgents mortar positions in the northwest following a day of fierce fighting that left 23 combatants dead. Air force fighter jets bombed a location in the northern town of Kilinochchi following intelligence reports that senior leaders of the Tamil Tiger rebels were meeting there, said air force spokesman Group Capt Ajantha Silva.
It was not clear who was hurt in the strike, but the place was destroyed, Silva said. But rebel spokesman Daya Master denied the militarys claim, saying the air force had bombed an area populated by civilians, and that two were wounded. We dont have camps in that area and none of our leaders were wounded, Master said by telephone from the rebel stronghold of Kilinochchi. There was no way to independently verify the claims of either side. In northwestern Sri Lanka, soldiers tried to knock out rebel mortar positions bordering the islands northwestern Mannar and Vavuniya districts, from where the Tamil Tiger insurgents have often launched attacks on military defence lines, said military spokesman Brig Prasad Samarasinghe.
Rebel satellite: The US-based Intelsat has shut down the radio and television broadcasts of Sri Lankas Tamil Tiger rebels, the Sri Lankan government said in a statement here Thursday. Intelsat, the worlds largest commercial satellite communications provider, has told Colombos mission in Washington that the service of the Tigers was shut down over the weekend. Intelsat has terminated the unauthorised use of one of its satellites, Intelsat12, by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) for its TV and radio transmissions to Europe and Asia, the government statement said.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/27/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Oh no, can't be becuz SRI LANKA, like INDIA, PAKISTAN, RUSS FAR EAST, and rest of ASIA-PACIFIC RIM, are future territories = proxies of CHINA, and China suppors the Tamils???
#2
Joe, if China is supporting the Tamil Tigers, they're wasting their money. The Tamils have proven that they'll do anything, including targeting civilians, even hospitals, to gain a bit of publicity or some weird, distorted sense of vengence. The Sri Lanka government has given up on trying to appease them, and now plans to wipe them out. Nothing China can do will prevent that. I think India had better plan for a large influx of Tamils back to their homeland, Tamil Nadu, in India's southeast.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/27/2007 15:38 Comments ||
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#3
The Chinese are actually training the Sri Lankan pilots.
(KUNA) -- Sri Lankan air force fighter planes Thursday attacked a position of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in northern part of the island nation.
Sri Lankan air force jets today bombed a LTTE position near Kilinochchi, news agency Indo-Asian News Service reported. The damage caused to the LTTE was not yet known, it added. Today's attack was part of an exercise that Sri Lankan government feels necessary to weaken the LTTE's air strike capability. The LTTE had carried out two separate air attacks on government military bases last month and earlier this week.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/27/2007 00:00 ||
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The bodies of two Lebanese youths feared kidnapped were found Thursday dumped near a roadside south of Beirut, police officials said. The bodies of Ziad Qabalan, 25, and Ziad Ghandour, 12, were found by police in Jadra, just north of the southern port city of Sidon, after police earlier Thursday received a phone call informing them of the location where they had been left.
Police said the bodies were swollen, suggesting they had been killed for at least 48 hours but did not have immediate word on how they were killed. Qabalan and Ghandour disappeared on Monday after leaving their homes in the West Beirut district of Wata al-Mseitbeh. The case has raised concern of renewed sectarian tensions in Lebanon.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/27/2007 00:00 ||
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#2
I'm shocked! They haven't blamed the Jews yet. Blood libel call in 3–2–1…
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
04/27/2007 8:16 Comments ||
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#3
I'm shocked! They haven't blamed the Jews yet. Blood libel call in 321
Maybe because Passover was recently past and over before the murders, so the Passover matzoh canard won't fly. Otherwise, I'm sure some imam/mufti/sheik would be spewing such bile by now. Hell, I'm probably being too logical here and giving too much weight to ME "logic" - one of them will probably claim it anyway.
A BOUNTY of $625,000 has been put on the head of Prince Harry once he lands in Iraq, government officials say. Insurgents affiliated to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network are circulating the offer, sources at the Foreign Office and Defence Ministry confirm. The bounty is for information leading to the prince's death.
Army chiefs fear an attack on two British soldiers last week was a practice run for an attempt to kill the prince. Iraqi troops and police are being tempted by the offer to break ranks and reveal the prince's whereabouts.
He is expected to arrive as early as next month, but there is still debate in Britain as to whether Harry should go. The chief fear is that soldiers under his command will come under greater threat, given the obvious target Britain's third in line to the throne would be.
Army chiefs fear a dry run in preparation to kill the prince has already been made. An attack last week was on the same type of vehicle the prince will use and took place in the part of the country where he is due to be deployed. Two soldiers died when their Scimitar was hit by a roadside bomb.
Harry will command four Scimitars and 11 troops. The prince has told friends he is "not afraid to die", saying after coping with the death of his mother, Princess Diana, he is ready to handle the rigours of operations.
But the attack has meant a last-minute review. Army chiefs have drawn up contingency plans to fly Harry to Kuwait if they believe a base has come under attack because he is a target.
Militia leaders say they have downloaded photographs of the prince from the internet and distributed them among insurgent groups. Already one militia group has declared its intention to kill the prince.
Abu Zaid, commander of the Malik Ibn Al Ashtar Brigade of the Shia militia group the Medhi Army, has vowed to cut off Harry's ears. "We are awaiting the arrival of the young, handsome, spoilt prince with bated breath, and we confidently expect he will come out into the open on the battlefield," he said. "We will be generous with him. For we will return him to his grandmother, but without ears," he said.
Any chance we could just, you know, whack Abu? Might not be the most sporting thing but then, he's asking for it.
Harry is a second lieutenant with the Household Cavalry's Blues and Royals regiment, and has threatened to quit if he is not sent to Iraq with the rest of his regiment.
#5
The Household Cavalry's Blues and Royals regiment is not the navy. They are much like the Scot's guard. If Al-qaeda does take down the prince, it will be over a mound of dead. Mostly them but with all the soldiers protecting the prince.
#7
I give Harry a lot of credit for wanting to get into the fight with his troops. It is what he has trained for. He clearly has the stones to do it, so I would lay off the "royal brat" angle. He may, in fact, be a beacon to his real countrymen and help wake them up to the threat of the islamonuts in their midst.
#8
I too, think FU on the "royal brat" angle, Zen. The man has done his duty, is more than willing to step into harm's way, knowing it would be a nasty end if captured. He deserves your respect. You're better than that
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/27/2007 19:27 Comments ||
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#9
Think of the possibilities!
Set up an extremely lethal kill zone, then let it be known to the usual suspects that Prince Harry is there, just hanging out, an easy target for even a dumbass with an AK to take out and easily make his escape after cutting off His Highness' head as proof.
Then dig a BIG ditch with a backhoe to put the bodies in, when they show up for easy kill.
#10
So are they paying in US dollars or Euros? Rat ba$tards.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
04/27/2007 21:05 Comments ||
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#11
shit. Even Dr. Evil paid:"....one...million..dollars"
cheap Islamic shysters
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/27/2007 22:24 Comments ||
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#12
The problem for the Brits is that the Scimitar is a light, think skinned recon/cavalry vehicle. Great for open fields and repaid exploitation of new territory held by light forces, but a death trap in urban patrolling where the shaped charge had been perfected over the past few years. Stones notwithstanding, Harry will draw a lot of attention in a crappy vehicle for the mission....
Having a legless Prince come back from Iraq is problematic for the Brits.
#14
Frank, I wish Harry no harm. I'm just fed up with Iran getting off of the hook for decades. Besides their role in the Coalition, Britain has done little to stem the onslaught of Muslim colonization in Europe. The Anglican Church, Ken Livingstone and George Galloway all come across as monumental appeasers. Only of late has Britain even begun to lock up its worst Islamic radicals. Britain's recent capitulation in the Iranian hostage crisis was consistently shameful.
While Harry himself seems to be acquitting himself rather well, his own father stands as one of the biggest appeasers of them all. Much more progress might be achieved if Harry directed his efforts towards making his father see the light. NONE of this promises to do any good in thwarting Iran's incessant meddling. Meddling that is KILLING American troops.
While it's difficult not to laud Harry's willingness to lead by example, I also have to question the wisdom of him going to Iraq. How much extra security will be put in place because of him? The article mentions airlifting him to Kuwait in case of danger. All of this represents a diversion of vital resources. With British spine in such short supply, I'm obliged to support Harry's determination to show some. It's just a pity that others who are more capable and influential have chosen the path of appeasement.
#15
your comments about others? Agreed. Your muddling of the argument with his Dad, questions about increased risk to his crew? Bullshit. You're wrong on this one. Don't "mealy mouth" and it's cool. I've made PLENTY of mistakes here, admitted. Time you admitted one of your own, and reflect a bit. I feel VERY strongly on this one. I'm calling you on this, Zen.
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/27/2007 22:58 Comments ||
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#16
Iran, Ken Livingstone, Galloway have nothing to do with your comment on Prince Harry. They may bear on your frustration (understood) with others....
Do better
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/27/2007 23:04 Comments ||
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#17
Iran, Ken Livingstone, Galloway have nothing to do with your comment on Prince Harry.
Horseradish, if more important Britons were showing a little backbone then maybe Prince Harry wouldn't feel the urge to throw himself in harm's way.
You can do better than that. Hell, sometimes even Prince Harry can do better.
#18
invoking Harry/Hitler? that lack of merit's an equally disengenious invocation of Godwin's Law
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/27/2007 23:49 Comments ||
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#19
It could have been equally stupid as dressing like a Nazi. The point remains that Harry really does not bring much to the party. He's not a seasoned combatant, therefore he is there pretty much only for show. I'll admire his courage but still question the wisdom of his actions.
For the record... Bruce Reidel, counterterrorism expert
INTERVIEW. More than five years into the war on terror, al-Qaida has emerged not only relatively unscathed, but larger. Despite failing to launch another attack on U.S. soil since 9/11, it is spreading violence, creating new cells and expanding its sphere of influence around the globe. Counterterrorism expert Bruce Reidel, a former CIA al-Qaida expert who details this assertion in the May/June issue of Foreign Affairs, spoke to Metro about what the terror group has been up to.
You say al-Qaida is more dangerous today than it has ever been. Why?
I think if you look at the last five years after the invasion of Afghanistan, what you have to be struck by is the breadth and audacity of al-Qaida and al-Qaida-related operations. Al-Qaida and its sympathizers have struck in Algiers, Casablanca, Madrid, London, in the west as far as Bali and in the east repeatedly at targets in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Turkey not to mention the civil wars that they have helped promote in Afghanistan and Iraq. Most of all, weve seen al-Qaida and its Taliban allies rebuild their base of operations in Pakistan and Afghanistan. These operations were disrupted by the invasion of Afghanistan, but instead of finishing the job, we turned our attention to Iraq, and they have successfully recovered. Now in Iraq, a place where al-Qaida was really nonexistent six years ago, we have the most successful al-Qaida franchise weve ever seen.
Are we are more prepared for another attack?
There is no question we have devoted more resources in the intell-igence field and homeland security. Our defenses, in that sense, are unquestionably different than they were on Sept. 10, 2001. But the threat comes at you in a lot of different ways. This enemy is innovative and creative. Osama bin Laden has said on many occasions that his objective on 9/11 was to draw the U.S. into the Muslim world and then bog it down in quagmires. His analogy has always been to what the mujahedeen did to the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. He sees where we are now in Iraq and Afghanistan as where he wants the American enemy to be: where he can gradually bleed us and wear down our resolve.
So what is the solution?
We need to develop a grand strategy to attack al-Qaida in many different ways. First and foremost, we need to go after Osama bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri and their lieutenants. Second, we need to do more in the battle of ideas. Al-Qaida has been able to exploit the American and British invasion of Iraq. We need a better narrative. We spoiled our narrative with Guantanamo Bay and
Abu Ghraib.
Will outlying cells still pose a threat?
Al-Qaida is quite happy to allow local groups a fair degree of independence as long as they adhere to the overall ideology of jihadism and striking the far enemy and the near enemy. The most successful [franchise], of course, is the one in Iraq. Now we see a new franchise in North Africa, which just carried out very significant operations in Algiers. That franchise is particularly worrisome because it opens a new avenue for attacking both the United States and Western Europe.
How does al-Qaida fund its branches?
As best as outsiders can tell, al-Qaida still acquires a considerable amount of money from donors in the Arabian peninsula. There have been estimates that there is as much as $1 trillion in private hands in the various gulf states and Saudi Arabia and some of that money is still continuing to flow to various jihadist causes.
Does al-Qaida have a role in Iran?
Al-Qaida is a very strict Sunni Islamic organization, and for a strict Sunni Islamist like bin Laden, Irans Shia faith is an apostasy. What al-Qaida in Iraq now most fears is not the continuing deployment of U.S. forces but what comes afterward a Shia-dominated Iraq that is closely aligned with Iran. Al-Qaida in Iraq openly welcomes [a war between Iran and the U.S.] because it sees an opportunity for two of its greatest enemies to take each other out.
Bruce Reidel
Reidel has followed al-Qaida since American intelligence first became aware of the group in the mid-1990s. His experience in counterrorism began with his first assignment at the Central Intelligence Agency in 1977, when he worked against Fatah founder Abu Nidal. In the 1990s, he was named national intelligence officer for the Near East and South Asia before moving to the Pentagon to become assistant secretary of defense for the same region. He eventually was brought to the White House during President Clintons second term as a special assistant to the president on that region, and held that job through the first 12 months of the Bush administration.
Al-Qaida is a very strict Sunni Islamic organization, and for a strict Sunni Islamist like bin Laden, Irans Shia faith is an apostasy. What al-Qaida in Iraq now most fears is not the continuing deployment of U.S. forces but what comes afterward a Shia-dominated Iraq that is closely aligned with Iran. Al-Qaida in Iraq openly welcomes [a war between Iran and the U.S.] because it sees an opportunity for two of its greatest enemies to take each other out.
This guy is an obvious putz. It is clear that AlQ and the Iranians have reached a relationship of convenience with the common goal of taking down the Great Satan. He either knows this and is not saying it to support the Mighty Al Qaida meme or he is ignorant and in need of several semesters instruction at RB University.
#2
The reason this cockroach infestation is growing is because, after expelling the Soviet Union from Afghanistan, they have now put the United States Democratic Party into a cut and run mentallity.
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.
Karachi, 27 April (AKI) - (by Syed Saleem Shahzad) - The Pentagon today said it was holding one of al-Qaeda's most experienced operatives in detention at Guantánamo Bay following his capture as he tried to enter Iraq. The man was identified as Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi, a paramilitary leader in Afghanistan in the late 1990s and led efforts to attack US forces in the country after the 2001 invasion. 
US special troops and Afghan police clashed with foreign militants in eastern Afghanistan, leaving at least five militants dead, the US military said on Thursday. 
(SomaliNet) The Ethiopian forces in Beledwein, provincial capital of Hiran region in central Somalia intercepted two trucks carrying weapons towards the capital, Mogadishu, sources say on Thursday. Witnesses say that the Ethiopian forces stationed in Janda-Kundishe checkpoint, outside of Beledwein confiscated the weapons including explosives like anti-tanks mines. 
Ethiopian tanks supporting the Somali interim government pounded insurgent positions in Mogadishu on Thursday, but Somalias prime minister said most fighting had ended with many hostile areas overrun. Government troops backed by Ethiopian tanks were still working on the ninth day of battles with insurgents to clear pockets of resistance, Ali Mohamed Gedi said, after clashes locals say have killed some 300 people, most of them civilians. Most of the fighting in Mogadishu is now over. The government has captured a lot of territory where the insurgents were, Gedi told a news conference. Artillery and machinegun fire could still be heard in northern parts of the city. 
A leader of an Algerian Islamist group affiliated with Al-Qaeda was killed on Thursday in clashes with the army, a media report said. 
(AKI) - The leader of the 
CAIRO, Egypt - Police have arrested 172 militants who were plotting to attack Saudi Arabia's oil fields, the Saudi state TV channel Al-Ekhbariah reported Friday. The channel broadcast footage of the large quantity of weapons of all kinds that were discovered buried in the desert. The arms included brickettes of plastic explosives, ammunition cartridges, handguns and rifles wrapped in plastic sheeting. 
April 27, 2007 -- A Russian military helicopter carrying paratroopers has gone down in southern Chechnya killing 17 people.
PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - At least three suspected Islamist militants were killed and two wounded by an explosion in a Pakistani tribal region regarded as a hotbed of support for al Qaeda and the Taliban, officials said. Officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, gave starkly differing accounts of what caused the blast in a house in Saidgai, a village 15 km (10 miles) north of Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan. A senior military official said the militants were killed while making bombs. 
A court in Pakistan has ordered the authorities to re-open the offices of the 
(KUNA) -- At least 16 Iraqis were either killed or injured when a booby-trapped car exploded at a headquarters for Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) near Mosul city, northern Iraq, said a statement by the Party Thursday. The KDP source told KUNA that private properties in the area have suffered from damages due to the bombing.
(KUNA) -- In the last 24 hours, Iraqi security forces killed one "terrorist" and arrested 217 suspects, said "law enforcement" operations command in Baghdad in a statement Thursday. The "terrorist" was killed in Al-Mahmoudia area, while 108 "terrorists" and 109 suspects were arrested throughout scattered areas of the capital Baghdad, the statement said.
A member of the Fatah-affiliated Force 17 security force was killed and another three Palestinians were wounded on Thursday night in a gunfight in Ramallah. Israel Radio reported that the clashes erupted after the security force tried to arrest several members of a large gang in the West Bank city.
A BOUNTY of $625,000 has been put on the head of Prince Harry once he lands in Iraq, government officials say. Insurgents affiliated to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network are circulating the offer, sources at the Foreign Office and Defence Ministry confirm. The bounty is for information leading to the prince's death. 
