Elements of the 1st Brigade, 205th Afghan National Army Corps (ANA), advised by coalition forces, defeated an attempted ambush while conducting a combat patrol near Kakrak village, western Uruzgan province yesterday.
The combined patrol was 4 kilometers (2.4 miles) northeast of Deh Rawod when a dozen insurgents were seen emplacing improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and preparing an ambush for the patrol. The ANA-led patrol dismounted from their vehicles and attacked the Taliban with small-arms fire. Within minutes, the insurgents reinforced their positions with more than 50 additional fighters. They struck the ANA patrol with small arms, machine guns, rocket propelled grenades and mortar fire from multiple compounds within Kakrak Village.
Coalition close air support was called in to repel the enemy attack. Precision-guided munitions were used on positively-identified Taliban firing positions, some within the various compounds comprising the village.
As the fighting continued, the joint ANA/coalition force was joined by an International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) unit. The combined ANA, coalition and ISAF force continued to return fire with accurate small arms and crew-served weapons throughout the day. More than three dozen insurgents were killed in the 14-hour battle.
One Afghan national security force member was wounded and taken to a local medical center for treatment. No other ANA, coalition or non-combatants were reported injured or killed during the fighting.
#1
The Taliban can't keep up this hemorrhaging of personnel much longer. I would be very interested in the breakdown of these turkeys, how many are Afghan and how many Pakistani.
About 2,500 NATO and Afghan troops launched a new operation yesterday to clear Taliban fighters from the country's opium-growing heartland in southern Helmand province, officials said.
The offensive targeting the al-Qaeda-linked movement that ruled Afghanistan until 2001 coincided with a suicide attack in the same province and violence elsewhere that left at least 10 people dead. Troops backed by air power kicked off the operation in the early morning in Helmand's Upper Gereshk Valley, an area that has seen weeks of fighting between Taliban and soldiers, including troops from Britain. "It is an operation to clear out Taliban insurgents in that particular area and help to restore governance to that area," said Major Charles Anthony, a spokesman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).
Anthony, speaking at a news conference in Kabul, gave few details of the operation, saying it was still in its early stages. Large parts of Helmand are out of government control. The province also produces more than 50 percent of Afghanistan's illegal opium, with the drugs trade said to fund part of the insurgency. ISAF and the separate US-led coalition force have several operations underway across Afghanistan in an effort to help the fragile government beat back the Taliban insurgency and establish its authority.
Linked to the Taliban-led violence, a pro-government tribal elder was gunned down by militants overnight in Gereshk, the district where the NATO-led operation is taking place. The outspoken elder, named Mira Jan, supported the government in the Taliban-dominated region and Taliban rebels were likely behind the killing, provincial police chief Mohammad Hussein Andiwal told AFP.
In a separate incident Taliban rebels killed three Afghan security guards providing security for a road construction company in the neighbouring province of Zabul yesterday, local officials said. Separately, an Afghan policemen and two Taliban fighters were killed after the rebels attacked a police convoy in the western province of Herat on Tuesday, a police commander said. Afghan soldiers also killed three militants and wounded two others in a "clean-up" operation in the central province of Wardak on Tuesday, a defence ministry press statement said.
The Taliban were removed from government nearly six years ago but their anti-government campaign, which is supported by al-Qaeda, has grown in strength with militant attacks on a near-daily basis.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/20/2007 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Taliban
His Enormity is also known as al-Ouda. With Hawali, he's one of the two biggest Salafist fatwah boyz.
A prominent Saudi cleric once praised by Osama bin Laden has published an open letter condemning Al Qaeda's violence. In the long letter published on an Arabic Web site, Cleric Salman Bin Fahd al-Awdah calls on Mr. bin Laden to end the killing of innocent Muslims and others in terrorist acts in Iraq and elsewhere around the world. "How much blood has been spilt? How many innocent people, children, elderly, and women have been killed, dispersed, or evicted in the name of Al-Qaeda?" the letter says. "My brother Usama Bin Ladin, the image of Islam today is not at its best."
"The ruin of an entire people, as is happening in Afghanistan and Iraq ... cannot make Muslims happy," he said, attacking Al Qaeda 's policy of revolt across the region. "Who benefits from turning countries like Morocco, Algeria, Lebanon or Saudi Arabia into places where fear spreads and no one can feel safe?"
Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly received a copy of the letter today during his morning briefing, and police department officials are calling the letter a "positive indicator" that Mr. bin Laden could be losing support.
Mr. al-Awdah is an independent cleric who was jailed for several years for criticizing the Saudi government's links to America. He toned down his criticism after his release from prison in 1999, although he reportedly promoted Iraqi resistance when American troops recaptured Fallujah from Iraqi insurgents in 2004.
In the letter, Mr. al-Awdah, who has condemned terrorism in the past, appears to distance himself from terrorist acts that investigators have said were inspired by his teachings. Investigators in the Madrid train bombings, for example, have reportedly said Mr. Al-Awdah's preaching may have emboldened the attackers. Mr. al-Awdah asks, "Have we reduced Islam to a bullet or a rifle? Has the means become an end?"
The editor of an Arabic International Daily, Asharq Alawsat, Tariq Alhomayed, suggested the letter was published too late. " Sheikh Salman al-Awdah's distancing himself from Bin Laden at a time when those absolving themselves of Al Qaeda's leader have nothing to lose and no price to pay." Mr. Alhomayed wrote in an editorial published yesterday. "This comes at a time when no one is shedding any tears for the leader of Al Qaeda organization."
This article starring:
al-Ouda
SALMAN BIN FAHD AL AWDAH
Learned Elders of Islam
Tariq Alhomayed
Posted by: Fred ||
09/20/2007 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: al-Qaeda
#1
HHHHHMMMMM, RUMORMILLNEWS > NEW OSAMA VIDEO > OBL declares war on MUSHARAFF + PAKISTAN??? Also from RMN, New ZAWIHIRI Video > calls on Islamists to attack and strike at US interests and US Allies' around the world???
#2
I note he's wearing glasses, Did Mo have Glasses?
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
09/20/2007 13:01 Comments ||
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#3
Well, with no insult to the good police commissioner - I would take it to mean that these guys have more heads than a Hydra. Just depends on which head you are talking to that day.
#5
It is a profound Islamic tradition to cut off losers and try to save your own ass. When even fanatics like this clown are distancing themselves, it is a good indicator that Osama's shit is weak.
A suspected British member of al-Qaeda was charged with three terrorism offences and will appear at a London court on Wednesday, Manchester police said.
Raingzieb Ahmed, 32, was arrested on September 7 at Heathrow airport on his return from Pakistan, where he was held for more than a year on suspicion of being a member of al-Qaeda.
Mr Ahmed was released when his detention was ruled illegal by Pakistans top judge Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry, who was temporarily suspended from his countrys Supreme Court after questioning the governments policy on the extraordinary rendition of terror suspects.
Mr Ahmed was charged with directing the activities of an organisation involved in commissioning acts of terrorism, the police said. He was also charged for possessing and distributing information useful for terrorist acts and for carrying a rucksack containing traces of explosives.
The offences were alleged to have taken place between April 2004 and January 2007.
Mr Ahmed, who holds dual British-Pakistani nationality, was previously arrested in India for his involvement with a Pakistani militant group fighting Indian security forces in the disputed Kashmir region, HRW said. British authorities later secured his his release.
This article starring:
Human Rights Watch
Pakistans top judge Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry
RAINGZIEB AHMED
al-Qaeda in Britain
Tayab Ali, at McCormacks, the solicitors firm representing Mr Ahmed
Posted by: Fred ||
09/20/2007 00:00 ||
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[3 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Britain
#1
Somewhere in the West, a simple minded leftist is thinking, "He can't be al-Qaeda. He was fighting India in Kashmir for a pro-Pakistani group, which has nothing to do with al-Qaeda. After all, al-Qaeda fights the US because of its policies, so he must have nothing to do with al-Qaeda. Besides, no religious zealot would ally himself with a secular military dictator! It's incontheivable!"
At least my imagined leftist would have the virtue of a consistent, if inane, set of principles with which to understand the world.
Posted by: Baba Tutu ||
09/20/2007 3:36 Comments ||
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#2
It's incontheivable!
I am going to work this expression into conversation today. Priceless.
Almost a year and a half after 12 Danish cartoons of the prophet Muhammad sparked worldwide protest that left scores dead, Swedish cartoonist Lars Vilks has ignited similar controversy. After Mr. Vilks's controversial series of drawings featuring Islam's prophet with the body of a dog garnered attention in Sweden art galleries refused to display them Nerikes Allehanda, a Swedish newspaper, printed one in August. As with its Danish predecessor, the cartoon drew outrage from the Islamic world and has started a debate about freedom of expression. On Monday, the situation became even more serious, with Vilks going into hiding following a death threat from Al Qaeda in Iraq.
This article starring:
Swedish cartoonist Lars Vilks
Al Qaeda in Iraq
Posted by: Fred ||
09/20/2007 00:00 ||
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[3 views]
Top|| File under: Global Jihad
#1
Can't be true. There is no Al Qaeda in Iraq.Ask Hillary.
A dungeon-like room in the Psychotechnology Research Institute in Moscow is used for human testing. The institute claims its technology can read the subconscious mind and alter behavior.
MOSCOW -- The future of U.S. anti-terrorism technology could lie near the end of a Moscow subway line in a circular dungeon-like room with a single door and no windows. Here, at the Psychotechnology Research Institute, human subjects submit to experiments aimed at manipulating their subconscious minds.
Elena Rusalkina, the silver-haired woman who runs the institute, gestured to the center of the claustrophobic room, where what looked like a dentist's chair sits in front of a glowing computer monitor. "We've had volunteers, a lot of them," she said, the thick concrete walls muffling the noise from the college campus outside. "We worked out a program with (a psychiatric facility) to study criminals. There's no way to falsify the results. There's no subjectivism."
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has gone to many strange places in its search for ways to identify terrorists before they attack, but perhaps none stranger than this lab on the outskirts of Russia's capital. The institute has for years served as the center of an obscure field of human behavior study -- dubbed psychoecology -- that traces it roots back to Soviet-era mind control research.
What's gotten DHS' attention is the institute's work on a system called Semantic Stimuli Response Measurements Technology, or SSRM Tek, a software-based mind reader that supposedly tests a subject's involuntary response to subliminal messages.
SSRM Tek is presented to a subject as an innocent computer game that flashes subliminal images across the screen -- like pictures of Osama bin Laden or the World Trade Center. The "player" -- a traveler at an airport screening line, for example -- presses a button in response to the images, without consciously registering what he or she is looking at. The terrorist's response to the scrambled image involuntarily differs from the innocent person's, according to the theory. "If it's a clean result, the passengers are allowed through," said Rusalkina, during a reporter's visit last year. "If there's something there, that person will need to go through extra checks."
Rusalkina markets the technology as a program called Mindreader 2.0. To sell Mindreader to the West, she's teamed up with a Canadian firm, which is now working with a U.S. defense contractor called SRS Technologies. This May, DHS announced plans to award a sole-source contract to conduct the first U.S.-government sponsored testing of SSRM Tek.
The contract is a small victory for the Psychotechnology Research Institute and its leaders, who have struggled for years to be accepted in the West. It also illustrates how the search for counter-terrorism technology has led the U.S. government into unconventional -- and some would say unsound -- science.
All of the technology at the institute is based on the work of Rusalkina's late husband, Igor Smirnov, a controversial Russian scientist whose incredible tales of mind control attracted frequent press attention before his death several years ago.
Smirnov was a Rasputin-like character often portrayed in the media as having almost mystical powers of persuasion. Today, first-time visitors to the institute -- housed in a drab concrete building at the Peoples Friendship University of Russia -- are asked to watch a half-hour television program dedicated to Smirnov, who is called the father of "psychotronic weapons," the Russian term for mind control weapons. Bearded and confident, Smirnov in the video explains how subliminal sounds could alter a person's behavior. To the untrained ear, the demonstration sounds like squealing pigs.
#1
Smirnov was a Rasputin-like character often portrayed in the media as having almost mystical powers of persuasion
A 'liquid version' called "Smirnoff" has the same persuasive effect on me.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
09/20/2007 15:45 Comments ||
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#2
To bad they can't bring my Mom back from the departed they'd save a ton of money. She could read your mind before you had a chance to understand what you were thinking. Un*freeking*canny!
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
09/20/2007 15:47 Comments ||
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Osama bin Laden will release a new message soon declaring war on Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, al-Qaida announced Thursday. The announcement of the upcoming message came as al-Qaida released a new video in which bin Laden's deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, boasted that the United States was being defeated in Afghanistan, Iraq and other fronts.
Speakers in the video promised more fighting in Afghanistan, North Africa and Sudan's Darfur region. The messages are part of a stepped-up propaganda campaign by al-Qaida around the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Earlier this month, bin Laden released two messages -- including his first new appearance in a video in nearly three years.
A banner posted on an Islamic militant Web site on Thursday advertised that another message would be released, though it did not say whether bin Laden would appear in video or speak in an audiotape. "Soon, God willing: 'Come to Jihad (holy war)', from sheik Osama bin Laden, God protect him" the banner read. "Urgent, al-Qaida declares war on the tyrant Pervez Musharraf and his apostate army, in the words of Osama bin Laden," it read.
Such advertisements usually precede the release of the video by one to three days, according to IntelCenter, a U.S. counterterrorism group that monitors militant messages.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/20/2007 11:21 ||
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Top|| File under: al-Qaeda
#1
Perv, see what you get when you harbour terrorist!!!!
What goes around comes around sucker!!!
Posted by: Paul ||
09/20/2007 12:27 Comments ||
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#2
That was a stupid move by Osama. If he'd only declared his bid for president of Pakistan, he'd win in a landslide.
#4
Ayman al-Zawahri, boasted that the United States was being defeated in Afghanistan, Iraq and other fronts.
Pervacious has got his Hubristic Tit in a wringer once again, just like he likes it.
I have to agree with the Ayman al-Quack on this one. Thanks to the DumboCra'ps and a sizable portion of the Media the US of A is takin quite a beating around the World.
Posted by: Red Dawg ||
09/20/2007 13:18 Comments ||
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#7
Seems to me AQ has always been at war with Pakistan (at least some elements thereof). The tribal areas have always "mistrusted" the Paks, and since they are AQ's allies, this is no surprise.
KATHMANDU - At least 19 people including a police officer have died in violence in south western Nepal sparked by the killing of a local Muslim leader, police said Wednesday.
They have Muslims in Nepal?
Hundreds of houses and vehicles were destroyed when angry mobs rampaged through the area in protests that followed the shooting of politician Mohid Khan on Sunday, police said. Khan was the leader of an anti-Maoist vigilante group during Nepals 10-year civil war between the former rebels and the government, said Kadayat.
Five more bodies were discovered Wednesday and local people have told us that another nine people were burned to death, but we need to test the charred remains to verify that they are human, said Kuber Kadayat, the district deputy superintendent of police. Curfews were slapped on three areas in the district from Sunday evening, and remained in place until Wednesday, the police officer said.
Police said they did not know when or why the victims were killed. We have no idea who was behind any of these killings, including Khans, said the police officer said from Kapilvastu district, 230 kilometres (143 miles) south west of Kathmandu.
Hmmm, Maoists are trying to take over the place, while Khan and his hard boyz prefer a caliphate. Nope, his death is a mystery to us all.
At least 100 people have been killed in Nepals southern Terai region since the start of the year in ethnic violence, clouding a peace deal reached late last year between the government and former rebel Maoists. Around a dozen armed ethnic groups have emerged who say they are fighting for greater autonomy for residents of the Terai, home to around half of Nepals 27 million people, who have long been sidelined by Nepals political elite.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/20/2007 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under:
Unidentified militants kidnapped a havaldar and six Frontier Constabulary soldiers in Hangu district late Tuesday night, police said on Wednesday. Tall Police Station Duty Officer Wajib Alam said the men were kidnapped from the Spin Tall checkpost, from an area bordering the Orakzai tribal region. They were probably taken to North Waziristan, he added. The paramilitary soldiers offered no resistance and the attackers also took away their weapons and ammunition, a Hangu city security official told Daily Times. No group has claimed responsibility for the incident yet.
The government also denied reports that the abductions were hurting the armys morale. They are fighting back ... the security forces are in high spirits, Interior Ministry spokesman Javed Cheema told a weekly briefing, AFP reported. He said officials were seeking a solution that avoided an operation that would endanger civilians, including offering development projects in the region, AP reported.
Two soldiers abducted: In a separate incident, two paramilitary soldiers were captured late on Tuesday, said militant spokesman Ahmadullah Ahmadi, Reuters reported.
This article starring:
AHMEDULLAH AHMEDI
Taliban
Duty Officer Wajib Alam
Interior Ministry spokesman Javed Cheema
Orakzai tribal region
Posted by: Fred ||
09/20/2007 00:00 ||
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[3 views]
Top|| File under: Taliban
MINGORA: Militants ransacked then blew up a hotel in Chota Kalaam, Swat on Wednesday, police said. The miscreants took the hotel owner and staff and dropped them off at a deserted place. The Sardar Hotel owner said he received anonymous letters threatening to destroy the hotel because women customers came to eat at his restaurant, which the letters termed un-Islamic.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/20/2007 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: TNSM
#1
Anyplace left in Swat that they haven't blown up?
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Coalition forces on Thursday arrested a suspected member of an elite Iranian unit that has been accused of training and equipping insurgents in Iraq, the U.S. military said.
The military said the suspect, who was not identified, is a member of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps - Quds Force.
The U.S. military calls the force "a covert action arm of the Iranian government responsible for aiding lethal attacks against the Iraqi government and coalition forces."
The military said the Quds Force suspect was involved in bringing roadside bombs from Iran into Iraq and in training foreign terrorists in Iraq.
The man, captured in the Iraqi Kurdish city of Sulaimaniya, is one of several Iranians in U.S. custody in Iraq.
Also on Thursday, an Iraqi National Police intelligence officer was taken into custody for "suspected involvement in illegal militia activities," the U.S. military said.
Col. Thamir Mohammad Sinah al-Husayni, also known as Abu Turab, was arrested by U.S. troops.
The officer used his position "to direct Iraqi National Police officers to use traffic checkpoints throughout western Baghdad to detain Sunnis, thereby aiding in sectarian evictions in Shia areas," the military said.
The military also said he abused Sunni detainees and used them to obtain ransom.
Meanwhile, two Iraqi soldiers were among three people killed Thursday when a parked car detonated near an Iraqi Army checkpoint, an Interior Ministry official said.
The official said a tow-truck driver hauling a car approached the checkpoint and asked troops if he could drop off the vehicle he was towing near the checkpoint because he had to tow another car.
The driver dropped the car off and left. Moments later, the parked car blew up, the Interior Ministry official said
The bomb exploded in the Habibiya neighborhood at the edge of Sadr City, the densely populated Shiite slum in northeastern Baghdad. Seven people were wounded, including four soldiers.
Coalition forces elsewhere in Iraq on Thursday killed seven suspected al Qaeda in Iraq insurgents and detained eight others, the U.S. military said.
The seven were killed in fighting during a raid in Mahmoudiya, southwest of Baghdad. Three people were detained there.
North of Baghdad in Samarra, five people were seized in another raid.
Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno, a top U.S. commander in Iraq, told reporters Thursday that attacks across the nation have dropped "to their lowest levels" since the strike in February 2006 on the Askariya mosque in Samarra, an attack that spurred intense sectarian violence.
And in Baghdad, he said, civilian casualties have dropped since last year from an average of 32 per day to 12 per day.
The U.S. military announced the non-combat death of an American soldier Wednesday in Iraq's Anbar province.
This brings the number of U.S. troop deaths in the war to 3,785; seven civilian contractors for the Defense Department also have been killed. Fifty U.S. troops have died in Iraq so far in September.
Samarra, Iraq -- Like their hardline Islamist brethren in other nations -- such as the Taliban in Afghanistan, and the Islamic Courts Union in Somalia, among others -- the Islamic State of Iraq (or ISI, the name under which al Qaeda in Iraq has organized in Iraq) has built a brutal reputation not only for terrorism against its members own countrymen and against the coalition, but also for being a proponent of the most medieval, fundamentalist interpretation -- and enforcement of what its leaders claim to be the laws of the Koran.
Enforcement of these laws -- which can perhaps be described as Sharia taken to the greatest extreme -- has included taking measures to brutally punish people who commit the slightest offense, from smoking, to a woman failing to cover her head in public, to a man not growing a long enough beard. The strictest social mores are to be observed and any deviation from the standard can result in a punishment consisting of torture, mutilation, or death -- including, as the western world has seen on a few occasions (though not enough to grasp the extent of its use), beheading
Unfortunately for those who might have chosen to join this hardline Islamist faction in hopes of keeping more virtuous company, the recent apprehension of a key ISI figure showed just how hypocritical and, as if more evidence was necessary, unspeakably inhuman -- the leadership of that movement is capable of being.
Earlier this week in Samarra, the Iraqi National Police apprehended a man named Ahmed Mohammed Sabar Hamud al-Medhi al-Bazi, a key figure in a five-man ISI cell which was responsible for an attack on the National Police using an Improvised Explosive Device (IED), as well as for IED, rocket-propelled grenade (RPG), and small arms attacks on coalition forces.
Upon being taken into custody, Medhi openly declared himself to be a member of al Qaeda, and freely admitted (and signed a written confession stating) that he had helped orchestrate and execute these attacks on Iraqi Security and Coalition Forces. Perhaps wishing to escape the punishing clutches of the NPs, and knowing full well -- as do all fighters in Iraq and elsewhere how strict the rules are that Americans must abide by with regard to the humane treatment of prisoners and detainees, Medhi asked to be handed over to the coalition forces from Charlie Company 2-505 PIR (82nd Airborne) at Patrol Base Olson, in northwestern Samarra. In exchange for the transfer of custody, he had more information (and more confessions) that he was willing to provide.
What it was that he confessed to once in American custody shocked and outraged even his seasoned coalition captors, who had been facing ISI in this city for over a year.
Without a bit of pressure -- indeed, without the appearance of a care in the world -- Medhi, described in graphic detail the other half of his ISI cells operations: running an organized al Qaeda Rape ring in Samarra. With a modus operandi of breaking into various houses and either raping women on the spot or threatening the family with death while taking their daughter away to become a hostage and a sex slave, Medhi, a self-described homosexual who engaged in intercourse (via rape) with women because other members of this group did, confessed to his cells penchant for abducing girls and holding them [hostage] just for their pleasure. Most recently, he said, he had taken part in the rape, kidnapping, and/or killing of five women, three of whom were supposedly still alive.
Among these most recent victims was a twenty-five year old virgin, who was alone in her house when the al Qaeda leaders raided it. Breaking into the house, all five members of the cell held her captive in her own home and raped her repeatedly. Finally, when all five had quenched their base desire for that action which they so brutally prohibited others from humanely engaging in, under the guise of enforcing true Islamic law, the terrorists departed, leaving the woman alone in her pain and misery.
If there is such a thing as getting off easy for a girl who is gang-raped, this first woman did just that. Two others, both age 23, met a much more gruesome fate shortly after the first, as they were taken from their houses (in front of their families), raped repeatedly by the entire al Qaeda cell, and then slaughtered. According to Medhi, their bodies were buried in a cemetery somewhere in the city.
The two most recent victims -- girls aged 23 and 20 -- were also taken from their family and gang-raped by these supposed enforcers of Islamic virtue. Both, claimed Medhi, were still being held hostage somewhere in Samarra. Unfortunately, the al Qaeda captives keenness to confess to such atrocities as though they were simply ordinary daily activities did not translate into a willingness to provide coalition forces with an accurate location of his cells current hostages. Twice Charlie Company platoons were dispatched to raid houses fingered by al-Medhi as being the site of his groups activities; both times, the information turned out to be inaccurate. However, on the last raid -- early on the morning of September 18th -- Charlie Co.s White (2nd) Platoon was able to gather enough information to confirm that the other members of the cell, upon Medhis capture, had fled Samarra, with the leader having gone all the way to Syria.
The dungeon was never found, nor were the two supposedly living captives, though the best guess by coalition forces is that they were either freed or -- much more likely -- killed when the remaining members of Medhis al Qaeda cell decided to depart the region.
The mindset of such a person as Ahmed al-Medhi is impossible for a civilized person to comprehend; however, this is the face -- and the mind -- of the radical Islamist movement. This faction, which so brutally enforces Islamic virtue in others, is capable of turning right around and walking into families houses, taking their daughters (about whom, Medhi said, there was nothing special they just happened to be randomly chosen); and, after gang-raping them, either holding them hostage or slaughtering them.
Though few now seem to remember (only 4œ years from the end of his reign), this is the type of treatment that women in Iraq were subject to under the bloody rule of Saddam Hussein and his two sons, Uday and Qusay. Rape rooms were common throughout the country, and any woman in the vicinity of the Hussein family or their trusted high-ranking Baathists had to fear being randomly selected for such brutal treatment.
Now, though such horrifying acts can be (and, unfortunately, are) perpetrated, there is a chance that those who commit such atrocities will be captured, killed, or -- at the very least -- driven out of the region (and hopefully out of Iraq). Ahmed al-Medhi is an example of this new situation; while he was able to abduct, rape, and murder women for a time, he has been apprehended -- by none other than the new Iraqi authorities -- and is now in custody and awaiting trial. In another departure from the way that things were done in Iraq under Saddam Hussein, Medhi will have his day in court, with his own defense counsel and with the ability to call witnesses on his own behalf.
Based on his own confession, this should not prohibit him from receiving the stiffest penalty that the magistrate court he will be facing can hand down to him. However, the trial will be both fair and open, and as a result, this terrorist -- who is now off the streets, and will likely never be able to harm another person again -- will have a far greater opportunity to influence his own fate than he ever gave to the countless young girls whose dignity, and whose lives, he so wantonly stole.
#1
Again, this is less a religious driven movement or ideology but rather a sick appeal to psychotic sociopaths from Thugistan. Mehdi's declaration that he is homosexual allows me to suggest we change the name of Al-Queda to Al-Queerda.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
09/20/2007 15:42 Comments ||
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#2
Death penalty. The rare case where the Sharia version should be applied - small stones hurled by the families of his victims and any other interested women.
The US military said it arrested an Iranian agent in northern Iraq on Thursday, as a senior American commander said the country was emerging from the most violent phase of the war. The commander told reporters that violence across Iraq has fallen to its lowest level since early 2006.
US troops raided a hotel in the majority Kurdish city of Sulaimaniyah, a military statement said, and detained an Iranian it said was a member of the Quds Force, the covert operations arm of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards. He was the latest Iranian national to be detained in Iraq by the US military, which accuses Iran of helping fund and arm Shiite militia groups in the country's bloody sectarian conflict. "Contrary to recent diplomatic initiatives, this individual has been involved in transporting improvised explosive devices and explosively formed penetrators (EFPs) into Iraq," the US statement said.
EFPs, which when they explode emit a white-hot slug of molten copper that can cut through the armoured skins of US military vehicles, have been blamed for the deaths of at least 200 US service personnel since May 2004. "Intelligence reports also indicate he was involved in the infiltration and training of foreign terrorists in Iraq," the statement said.
A Kurdish regional government official earlier told AFP that an Iranian businessman was detained by US forces in a pre-dawn swoop at the Sulaimaniyah Palace hotel. The spokesman, Jamal Abdullah, identified the man only as Farhadi and said he was a member of an Iranian commercial delegation which has been visiting Sulaimaniyah from the Iranian province of Kermanshah for the past two days.
This article starring:
Quds Force
Revolutionary Guards
Farhadi
IRGC
Jamal Abdullah
Posted by: Fred ||
09/20/2007 11:39 ||
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[4 views]
Top|| File under: IRGC
Looks like the Iranians want to move their terror bombings northward. Punish the Kurds.US-led forces in Iraq say they have arrested an Iranian officer operating in the north of the country.
They say the man was a member of the Quds Force - an elite unit of Iran's Revolutionary Guards - and was detained in the Kurdish city of Sulaimaniya.
"This individual has been involved in transporting improvised explosive devices," the American military said.
The US has accused the Quds Force of helping arm Shia militias in Iraq. Iran denies any involvement with militants.
A statement by the US military said the arrested man had been involved in the "infiltration and training of foreign terrorists in Iraq".
According to a spokesman for the regional government in semi-autonomous Kurdistan, he was taken away overnight in a raid on a Sulaimaniya hotel.
A government official in Baghdad said the arrested man had been part of a commercial delegation, but gave no further details.
Posted by: Bobby ||
09/20/2007 11:04 Comments ||
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#3
As long as the gentleman in question had a cell phone and/or a computer, and is susceptible to a lack of tryptophanes in his diet, keeping or returning him later doesn't matter so much, I'd think.
#4
If he's so "elite" how come he got captured?
When the media refers to to a Middle Eastern army unit as "elite", I don't worry much about it. See: Iraqi Republican Guard, Elite...
#5
Well, doesn't really matter what Iran claims, they're not owning up to the guy. Put him against a wall, since he's not an Iranian officer according to Iran, then he's just a terrorist and they've got nothing to complain about.
#6
When the media refers to to a Middle Eastern army unit as "elite", I don't worry much about it. See: Iraqi Republican Guard, Elite...
The press gets confused over the First World and Third World definitions of "elite". In the First World, an "elite" unit is highly trained and highly motivated. In the Third World, an "elite" unit is loyal.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
09/20/2007 12:15 Comments ||
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#7
They really need to bring back war protocol on spies. If they are a member of the nation's military, and they aren't in uniform, they get shot.
Not new information, but newly posted as an official release.
BAGHDAD, Iraq Coalition forces killed an al-Qaeda in Iraq military advisor during an operation Aug. 31 west of Tarmiyah. Coalition forces conducted a precision operation west of Tarmiyah Aug. 31. The assault force followed a vehicle containing two suspected terrorists and attempted to get the driver to stop. When the driver resisted capture, the assault force fired on the vehicle. Both the driver and the passenger were killed in the operation. Coalition forces later identified one of the men as Abu Yaqub al-Masri.
Al-Masri, who is also known as Zakkariya or Doctor, was a military advisor to al-Qaeda in Iraq leaders in Baghdad and the surrounding belts. He provided guidance and direction for attack planning, coordination and execution.
Intelligence reports indicate al-Masri was directed by senior al-Qaeda in Iraq leaders to plan attacks that would cultivate sectarian strife. The former al-Qaeda in Iraq military emir of Baghdad, now detained by Coalition forces, described al-Masri as director of the car bomb division.
Al-Masri was one of the primary architects behind the Nov. 26 car bombings in Sadr City that killed 181 Iraqi civilians and injured another 247. He also planned major attacks on the bridges in the Rusafa area to isolate the Shiite population there.
Al-Masri previously fought against Coalition forces in Afghanistan and is linked to several senior leaders of al-Qaeda. He was allied with Dr. Ayman Zawahiri, bin Ladens second-in-command. He was also close to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the former leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq killed in a Coalition air strike in June 2006.
Coalition operations are disrupting and destroying al-Qaedas terrorist networks, said Maj. Winfield Danielson, MNF-I spokesperson. There is nowhere to hide.
This article starring:
Abu Yaqub al-Masri
Posted by: Glenmore ||
09/20/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Iraq
#1
OSAMA as SPOCK as ELECTRA > "I've been dead before"???
#2
I find it curious it took almost a month to release this information. Did it take that long to get the DNA analysis back for ID? Or did it take that long for him to succumb to injuries (during/following extended 'discussions' with various parties)? I suspect Maliki could have found some people who were interested in talking to him about the Sadr City bombings.
#3
A month is about right. DNA tests take a little longer than you see them take on CSI. And, two people, one car, sorting out the parts by owner would be a chore. A pleasant one, but a chore none the less.
Posted by: Boss Elming1226 ||
09/20/2007 13:48 Comments ||
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#6
The former al-Qaeda in Iraq military emir of Baghdad, now detained by Coalition forces, described al-Masri as director of the car bomb division.
*wipes tear* al-Masri had an exceptional soft spot for Yugos
In the Pantheon of Green Human Achievement al-Masri did more to help mankind than even Abu al-Gore to rid the planet of the pernicious automobile
Posted by: Red Dawg ||
09/20/2007 15:07 Comments ||
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Al Qaeda fighters in Iraq have seized control of a village in the restive province of Diyala after a two-day battle with a rival Sunni insurgent group, police said on Wednesday. Dozens of fighters from the group arrived in boats on Monday and launched an attack on Al Shuan village on the banks of the Diyala river, police Lieutenant Colonel Ibrahim Al Obeidi said. Members of the rival Brigades of the 1920 Revolution fought back but the Sunni Arab village eventually fell to the Al Qaeda militants.
Obeidi said the village had been attacked after its 300 or so inhabitants refused to align with Al Qaeda in its fight against Iraqi and US security forces. Al Qaeda militants attacked the village two days ago and took control of it (Tuesday), said Obeidi.
Iraq wants Blackwater replaced after shootout: Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki on Wednesday called on the US authorities to replace private security operator Blackwater. This crime has generated a lot of hatred in the government and the people against Blackwater, Maliki told reporters. For their own interests, the Americans should hire a new company to protect their people so they can move freely.
This is a big crime and the seventh such crime committed by this company and which has been registered by the interior ministry, Maliki said.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/20/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Iraq
#1
This is the first I've read in a long time of AQ moving offensively in such large numbers as well as about them trying to hold ground. Given recent reports, one might believe their life expectencies have decreased substantially.
Posted by: Baba Tutu ||
09/20/2007 3:52 Comments ||
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#2
Since Blackwater guys aren't too busy right now maybe they can escort a convoy to Al Shuan today.
Hey asshat, Blackwater is good-to-go by tomorrow morning at 0800, or we're done, cashed out, finished, outta here by Christmas. Have a nice phueching day.
#5
"...Americans should hire a new company to protect their people so they can move freely..."
You gotta love Maliki, and his thinking on making things 'right' and 'lovely' again! Coming from the very guy who'll be sitting in the back of a Blackhawk when the US leaves, he has a lot of nerve, as the head of his country, to complain about the self defense of a people (Blackwater)who's trying to shine his 'scepter' for him! Personally I won't shed a tear should his convoy happen upon an IED on one of his ignominious trips through the country; I just pray our guys aren't around!!
#6
Form a new company, same exact ownership interests as Blackwater, call it Greenwater Security, have them buy out Blackwater for $1. Replace all Blackwater contracts with Greenwater contracts (same personnel and equipment). No more Blackwater in Iraq. Maliki wins his political points and business continues.
Or some slightly more subtle variation.
US-led forces killed an Al-Qaeda militant allegedly responsible for a string of car bombings in Iraq, including an attack that killed 202 people in Baghdad, the US military said on Wednesday.
Abu Yaqub al-Masri was shot dead on August 31 near the town of Tarmiyah, north of Baghdad, a statement said. "Al-Masri, who is also known as Zakkariya or Doctor, was a military advisor to Al-Qaeda in Iraq leaders in Baghdad and the surrounding belts," the statement said. "He provided guidance and direction for attack planning, coordination and execution."
An Al-Qaeda leader captured earlier this year described Masri as "director of the group's 'car bomb division,'" it added.
Masri was one of the primary architects of a series of simultaneous car bombings in Baghdad's sprawling Shiite slum of Sadr City last November that killed 202 people, the statement said. It said that during on operation west of Tarmiyah on August 31, a US-led assault force had followed a vehicle containing "two suspected terrorists" and attempted to get the driver to stop.
"When the driver resisted capture, the assault force fired on the vehicle. Both the driver and the passenger were killed in the operation. Coalition forces later identified one of the men as Abu Yaqub al-Masri."
Masri had previously fought against coalition forces in Afghanistan and is linked to several senior leaders of Al-Qaeda, the statement said. He was also allied to Osama bin Laden's Egyptian deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri and close to Iraq's Al-Qaeda chief Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who was killed in a US air strike in June 2006.
The US military spokesman in Iraq, Major General Kevin Bergner, said US and Iraqi forces were destroying Al-Qaeda's "safe havens" and having success in targetting its leaders. This had helped see violence dip in Iraq to the lowest level in 18 months, he said. "While Iraq remains a violent place beset by many problems, it is a less violent place than it was last winter," Bergner told a press conference in Baghdad. "Since the surge operations began 13 weeks ago, the overall security incidents throughout Iraq have followed a downward trend," he said, referring to a US troop "surge" which began in mid-February. "It is now the lowest level of incidents since March 2006," Bergner said.
"The total number of attacks on a weekly basis against Iraqi citizens, Iraqi security forces and coalition forces has declined for the eighth straight week. This is the longest sustained downward trend since January 2004."
Part of the reason, he said, was that US and Iraqi forces were destroying Al-Qaeda networks and that Iraqi citizens were cooperating more and more with police and security force members in the fight against the insurgency. "We are also continuing to see effective operations by Iraqi security forces. They are increasingly in the front line of defence and are suffering losses three times that of coalition forces," Bergner said.
This article starring:
ABU MUSAB AL ZARQAWI
al-Qaeda in Iraq
ABU YAQUB AL MASRI
al-Qaeda in Iraq
AIMAN AL ZAWAHIRI
al-Qaeda
US military spokesman in Iraq, Major General Kevin Bergner
#1
That picture is revolting but I guess the "fat lady is singing" to celebrate the demise of yet another Muslim doctor. Of course, I could be mistaken and it's one of the virgins waiting for him.
Masked gunmen crouch behind piles of sand, fingers on the triggers of their rifles, while others rig explosives along the streets of Gaza.
If there's no enemy in sight, they're play acting, aren't they? Trying to impress the girlies...
Or the boy-os.
Nobody does street theater better than Hamas.
The Hamas-run Gaza Strip is bracing for a major incursion by Israeli forces after the Jewish state labelled the territory an "enemy entity" on Wednesday, a move the Islamist group described as a declaration of war.
Prior to that they were a friendly entity?
Wearing brightly coloured headbands, hundreds of militants have taken up positions along the border fence with Israel and in Gaza city whilst ordinary people shovel sand into bags to use as barriers to block any invading troops. "The preparations by militants gave us the feeling the Israelis are about to invade any minute," said taxi driver Khaled Ali, as militants flagged him down at a checkpoint. "God forbid, if Israel invaded there would be a massacre."
Israel said on Wednesday it would reduce its fuel and power supplies to Gaza and would continue military activity and "targeted killings" in the territory after a rocket fired by militants hurt some three dozen Israeli soldiers last week. Hamas, which seized control of Gaza in June after fighting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's secular Fatah faction, said the move was tantamount to declaring war.
Shooting rockets into Israel wasn't?
"We will not surrender and we will fight together with all our people," Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said.
"WE WILL FACE THEM WITH DEATH"
Militants in Gaza regularly fire rockets into Israel and Israeli forces have raided the enclave, from which troops and Jewish settlers were evacuated two years ago. Israel, which retains tight control of Gaza's air, land and sea borders, has so far opted for targeted incursions rather than a broad offensive, which could cause heavy casualties on both sides. But Hamas forces have been bracing for tougher reprisals after last week's strike on the army base.
Militants from factions aligned to Hamas and other political groups started preparing for a possible incursion a few days ago, holding training sessions for gunmen and planting explosives at night which are defused at dawn. They beefed up security ahead of Wednesday's Israeli security cabinet meeting to foil any surprise attack. "We have God at our side and God is greater than Israel and America," said Abu Ahmed, spokesman of the Islamic Jihad armed wing, which claimed joint responsibility for last week's rocket attack. "We will face them with death," he told Reuters.
Some Gazans said a confrontation with Israel could alleviate factional tensions between Hamas and Fatah by forcing the rivals to units to fight their common foe. Abu Thaer, a spokesman for Fatah's Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, said all groups should unite against Israel because the "enemy's fire does not differentiate between Hamas and Fatah. A raid will make Hamas and Fatah brothers fight against the Zionist enemy."
Supermarket owner Ali, a Fatah supporter who declined to give his full name, agreed. "A war with Israel may stop or at least put aside the internal conflicts," he told Reuters as he served customers.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/20/2007 00:00 ||
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Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Hamas
#1
FYI, Israeli News Poster > claims "true population" in Gaza is closer to 1.0Milyuhn people than commonly reported.
#2
The Hamas-run Gaza Strip is bracing for a major incursion by Israeli forces after the Jewish state labelled the territory an "enemy entity" on Wednesday,
Oooh, were the dumb ones on that committed on vacation?
a move the Islamist group described as a declaration of war.
As if what they have been conducting against Israel HASN'T been war? As if their declaration in their charter that Israel be destroyed wasn't a declaration of war?
They are acting as if Israel has caught a clue. To my chagrin, I am wondering of the Paleos are, as usual, wrong again...
#6
What else do they have to give their lives meaning? Not a prosperous society, not a representative and funtional government presiding over an economy (of any kind), not learning and exploration, not living quiet lives or creating objects of beauty or .....
Nope, death is the one thing they can aspire to achieve. And comradship towards death, along the way.
#7
Gaza on war footing as Israel declares it "enemy"
What's different? They already call for Israel's destruction in their charter, they've stockpiled weapons for years, they have alliances with Iran and Syria and they shoot rockets into Israel. What more do they need to do to be on a "war footing?"
#10
"God forbid, if Israel invaded there would be a massacre."
What is it with the way these goons pre-snark the articles for us? Do they even suspect that Israel might not invade at all yet still cause one helluva massacre? Simple artillery shelling will kill them just a surely as a bullet.
"We have God at our side and God is greater than Israel and America,"
Which doesn't do much to explain how Israel and America consistently kick Islamic hiney to tiny little pieces. Then again, no one in their right mind ever said the Palestinians were the least bit contaminated by even a scintilla of logic or reason. God may well be at their side but that sure looks like a hickory switch in His hand.
#11
Crouched behind piles of sand for concealment, yet wearing brightly colored headbands; reminds me of the wanna-be rednecks here that paint ther 4WDs camo and then hang big ol chrome rims on them.....
and if the piles of sand were along the streets wouldn't they make lovely improvised dikes for another sewer 'splosion and the resulting flow would wash away all the shit (wearing brightly colored headbands)?
After a decade of effort, by several different companies, someone finally developed a guided version of the 70mm air-to-ground rocket. Lockheed-Martin just announced that their DAGR 70mm guided rocket is ready for service. DAGR has a further advantage in that it uses the Hellfire fire control system. Lockheed-Martin developed DAGR with their own money. Earlier this year, the U.S. Army cancelled work on a similar effort, APKWS (Advanced Precision Kill Weapons System). Both are basically a 25 pound 70mm rocket, with a laser seeker, a six pound warhead and a range of about six kilometers. Laser designators on a helicopter, or with troops on the ground, is pointed at the target, and the laser seeker in the front of the DAGR homes on the reflected laser light.
The 2.75 inch (70mm) rockets were developed during World War II as an air-to-air weapon for use against heavy bomber formations. The Germans had developed a similar, and very successful weapon (the R4M), but before long it was noted that neither the Japanese nor the Germans had any heavy bombers, and the U.S. 70mm rocket was switched to air-to-ground use. Actually, the 70mm rocket was retained for air-to-air use into the 1950s, but it was never successful in that role. The 70mm rocket became very popular in the 1960s, when it was discovered that the weapon worked very well when launched from multiple (7 or 19 tube) launchers mounted on helicopters. The 42-55 inch long rockets could be fired singly or in salvoes, and gave helicopter pilots some airborne artillery for supporting troops on the ground. There are many variations in terms of warheads and rocket motors. Some versions can go over 10 kilometers.
Developing a guided 70mm rocket took so long because the manufacturers underestimated the technical difficulties of getting the laser seeker and flight control mechanisms into that small a package, at a weight and price the army could afford. The price of the DAGR is about $20,000 each (about the cost of a smart bomb). The AKWS developer, BAE, believed it was close to perfecting AKWS, but Congress ran out of patience.
The guided 70mm rocker is to be used against targets that don't require a larger (hundred pound), and more expensive (over $100,000) Hellfire missile, but still need some targeting precision. In tests, the APKWS hit within a few feet of the aiming point, and the DAGR is apparently just as accurate. The DAGR makes an excellent weapon for UAVs, especially since you can carry four of them in place of one Hellfire.
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC ||
09/20/2007 12:19 ||
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Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Global Jihad
#1
The DAGR makes an excellent weapon for UAVs, especially since you can carry four of them in place of one Hellfire.
Schaweet! As someone who has devoted a lifetime to miniaturization, me like!
Roughly "A dozen members of a US Special Forces advisory group," operating on a rotation basis with Philippine Military in the Mindanao region, "Have been deployed to the Island province of Basilan." radio reports in Manila said Thursday. The area has seen in the last three months, "heavy fighting," between U.S. backed Philippine forces and members of the Islamic terrorist organization, The Al Harakatul Al Islamiyah or Abu Sayyaf, and Jemaah Islamiyah or JI.
The U.S. units, primarily provide technical and humanitarian support in coordination with the Philippine Armed Forces. "The deployment was at the request of Philippine Armed Forces Western Mindanao Command." Philippine military officials told the PNC bureau in Manila that the deployment is not of a combat nature, but, is near an area of "recent heavy fighting."
"Primarily, the request was to help with medical and communications logistics." reports went on to say, "The operations of the JUSTOF-P or Joint Special Operations Task ForcePhilippines often involve non-combat technical support and synergy with Philippine forces." Philippine Armed Forces officials told reporters early Thursday morning in Maniia.
Armed, but only authorized to fire in self defense, the units have had a history of a high level of success in civil-military hearts and minds, operations.
The units often are comprised of medics, technical support staff, civil military humanitarian teams, and, engineers.
The U.S. Pacific Command in Hawaii, which has operational supervision over JUSTOF-P activities, does not issue comments on the "Ongoing operations and projects," of the members of JUSTOF-P. The Philippine Military Spokesman, in Mindanao stressed all actions are in strict compliance with U.S. - Philippine agreements and law.
Terrorist groups like the Abu Sayyaf, operating in the Southern Philippines have a long history of ties to Al Qaeda and other foreign terrorist organizations.
The Philippines is a former US Commonwealth, as well as a major Non-NATO ally of the U.S.A., and has a treaty of mutual defense as well as access agreements for training and cooperation.
US Announces $190 Million Dollar Aid Package For Mindanao
Wednesday, The U.S. Ambassador to the Philippines Kristie Kenney announced a new aid package of support of economic and infrastructure programs and funds to help the Philippine peace process.
The Malaysian brokered and U.S. funded peace talks hope to end nearly 34 years of Insurgent fighting between Islamic separatists of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front or M.I.L.F. a combination of development assistance, education grants, and direct funding of livelihood programs by the U.S. Agency for International development have largely reduced the level of fighting in Mindanao.
One group, the Moro National Liberation Front has already entered into a peace agreement with government. In 1999 U.S. funded peace accord, reducing by several thousand the number of armed rebels in the region.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/20/2007 00:00 ||
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Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under: Abu Sayyaf
#1
Somebody at the 'Milbloggers visit the President' event last week mentioned they had an embed with an outfit in the Philippines coming up soon, which got a raised eyebrow from a general who was there. I wonder if this is the outfit. It would be nice to get some reports out of that theatre.
#2
The Philippines is a major Non-NATO ally of the U.S.A.
You could have fooled me. I don't recall being invited back to Subic Bay. Yesterday the French, today the Philippines; the definition of ally has become a bit too elastic.
#3
The article fails to realize that Allan would protect his faithful whom, I'm sure had just prayed for the successful killing of a million joos. Why take safety precautions, infidel ?
#4
OK, Let's see......Dozens of Iranian engineers dead, 15 Syrian Officers dead, July 23rd chemical weapons cover story, followed by a No. Korean Nuclear shipment to Syria and an Israeli raid in September.
Ready.....Speculate!
These guys were trying to test a dirty nuke warhead that went bad and killed everyone with radiation. The NoK's were delivering the goods to go into full production.
Posted by: Herb Sheans7082 ||
09/20/2007 21:58 Comments ||
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#5
Although the linked article makes many good points it overlooks the possibility that this was a "master class" sort of instructional and cross-training session. A technology transfer "laboratory seminar" would certainly explain the large number of participants. There is also the less likelybut not entirely remotepossibility that the explosion was the result of sabotage instead of carelessness. Still, the old addage applies:
Do not attribute to conspiracy that which can be explained by sheer stupidity.
The United States has denied a visa to Iran's UN ambassador in Geneva, Ali Reza Moaiyeri, to attend next week's ministerial meeting of the UN General Assembly because he was involved in the 1979 US hostage crisis, a UN official said Wednesday. Militant students stormed the US Embassy in Tehran that year after the Islamic revolution and held US diplomats hostage for 444 days. The US broke diplomatic ties with Teheran and the episode sealed Iran as the principal US adversary in the Middle East. It was not clear what role Moaiyeri played in the hostage crisis and a call to Iran's UN Mission seeking comment was not immediately returned.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/20/2007 00:00 ||
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Link ||
[8 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
Wasn't Achmadinutjob involved in the hostage crisis? Why does he get to come?
Hey, I have an idea. How about if we move the UN to Tehran? Heh, heh, heh.
Five bucks says it is a general message recorded long ago with no meaningful specifics (except for where the video freezes, of course). If it does turn out to be the case, it means AQ has been planning this for some time. I wonder if the last release was separate because it was easier to put together that way and intended to bolster this one's credibility. We'll see I suppose.
CAIRO, Egypt - Osama bin Laden will release a new message soon declaring war on Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, al-Qaida announced Thursday.
The announcement of the upcoming message came as al-Qaida released a new video in which bin Laden's deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, boasted that the United States was being defeated in Afghanistan, Iraq and other fronts. Speakers in the video promised more fighting in Afghanistan, North Africa and Sudan's Darfur region.
The messages are part of a stepped-up propaganda campaign by al-Qaida around the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Earlier this month, bin Laden released two messages including his first new appearance in a video in nearly three years. A banner posted on an Islamic militant Web site on Thursday advertised that another message would be released, though it did not say whether bin Laden would appear in video or speak in an audiotape. "Soon, God willing: 'Come to Jihad (holy war)', from sheik Osama bin Laden, God protect him" the banner read. "Urgent, al-Qaida declares war on the tyrant Pervez Musharraf and his apostate army, in the words of Osama bin Laden," it read.
Such advertisements usually precede the release of the video by one to three days, according to IntelCenter, a U.S. counterterrorism group that monitors militant messages. The sophisticated 80-minute video released Thursday on the same Web site was in the style of a documentary, intersplicing the speech by al-Zawahri with footage from the Sept. 11 attacks, interviews with experts and officials taken from Western and Arab television stations, and old footage and audiotapes of bin Laden.
Al-Zawahri began by condemning the Pakistani military's July assault on Islamic militants who took over the Red Mosque in Islamabad, and he paid tribute to one of the militants' leaders, Abdul Rashid Ghazi, who was killed in the fighting.
The siege "revealed the extent of the despicableness, lowliness and treason of Musharraf and his forces, who don't deserve the honor of defending Pakistan, because Pakistan is a Muslim land, whereas the forces of Musharraf are hunting dogs under (President) Bush's crucifix," al-Zawahri said. "Let the Pakistani army know that the killing of Abdul Rashid Ghazi and his male and female students ... has soaked the history of the Pakistan army in shame and despicableness which can only washed away by retaliation," he said.
Bin Laden and al-Zawahri are thought to be cowering hiding in a cave inFazl's guest house the lawless Pakistan-Afghanistan border region, where many analysts believe they have rebuilt al-Qaida's core leadership. Al-Zawahri called for attacks on French and Spanish interests in North Africa and on U.N. and African peacekeepers expected to deploy in Sudan's wartorn Darfur region. Aren't you setting up kind of a wide front there, dead man?
"What they claim to be the strongest power in the history of mankind is today being defeated in front of the Muslim vanguards of jihad six years after the two raids on New York and Washington," al-Zawahri said, speaking in what appeared to be an office, with shelves of religious books and an automatic rifle leaning against them. The pointy end goes towards your shoulder, Bin Laden.
"The Crusaders themselves have testified to their defeat in Afghanistan at the hands of the lions of the Taliban," he said. "The Crusaders have testified to their own defeat in Iraq at the hands of the mujahideen, who have taken the battle of Islam to the heart of the Islam world."
The video included footage of al-Qaida's leader in Afghanistan, Mustafa Abu al-Yazeed, meeting with a senior Taliban commander. In contrast to past videos that showed al-Qaida and Taliban fighters in rough desert terrain, Abu al-Yazeed and the commander were shown sitting in a verdant field surrounded by trees as a jihad anthem played, extolling the virgins that will meet martyrs in paradise.
Abu al-Yazeed said al-Qaida's ties with the Taliban were strengthening. The Taliban commander, Dadullah Mansoor, said: "We shall target the infidels in Afghanistan and outside Afghanistan: inside all the infidel countries oppressing the Muslims. And we shall focus our attacks, Allah willing, on the coalition forces in Afghanistan."
Another clip in the video showed Abu Musab Abdulwadood, the leader of Algeria's main Islamic insurgency movement, addressing bin Laden and vowing that "our swords are unsheathed." Al-Zawahri called on supporters in North Africa to "cleanse the Maghrib (western region) of Islam of the children of France and Spain ... Stand with your sons the mujahideen against the Crusaders and their children."
The video also included what IntelCenter said appeared to be old, but previously unreleased footage of bin Laden. The images show the terror leader, with a beard streaked with gray and a a white cloth draped over his head, in front of a map showing the Middle East and South and Central Asia. He points to the map with a stick and addresses an unseen audience. He condemns Arab Gulf governments that have allied themselves with the United States, saying they have "sold the Islamic nation, colluded with the enemies of Islam and backed the infidels. And this is the greater form of being an infidel ... But Allah permitting, they shall leave the Gulf under the blows of the mujahideen," bin Laden said. Allah doesn't seem to be permitting it just yet.
#4
I think these are demo-tapes to support his applying for the open mike at Air America now that Al Franken has left. Though Osama isn't very funny...neither was Franken.
#5
It makes perfect sense. They were able to get a good portion of the poppy crop across the borders. Sold a bunch.
Smoked a bunch of opium and then with the courage that brought released this video.
#6
We need to tackle the ideology which comes direct from the Saudi religous Establishment
see
http://www.cpj.org/Briefings/2006/saudI_06/saudi_06.html
Posted by: Paul ||
09/20/2007 10:48 Comments ||
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#7
"The Crusaders themselves have testified to their defeat in Afghanistan at the hands of the lions of the Taliban," he said. "The Crusaders have testified to their own defeat in Iraq at the hands of the mujahideen, who have taken the battle of Islam to the heart of the Islam world."
Apparently the Z-Man doesn't read Chuck Simmins.... heh
Posted by: Frank G on the road ||
09/20/2007 10:57 Comments ||
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#8
We need to tackle the ideology which comes direct from the Saudi religous Establishment
If by "tackle" you mean "blow away Islam's clerical aristocracy and various Saudi Royals", I'm with you all the way.
#9
If by "tackle" you mean "blow away Islam's clerical aristocracy and various Saudi Royals", I'm with you all the way.
Agreed.People focus on Iraq and Afghan/Pakistan but Saudi is the source/inspiration/ideology of all the Jihadis in the world!!!!
Who funded the maddrasses that all of the Taliban leadership came from?.Who provided 15 of the 19 hijackers on 9/11?.Who funds Al Qaeda,Hamas and the MMA?Who funded Bali,Madrid,London etc?
Until we tackle Saudi this shit will continue !!!!
Posted by: Paul ||
09/20/2007 12:17 Comments ||
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#10
Poke him with a stick Jimbo and see if he is dead.
Next week, the US Army will begin testing a new Humvee that has a body and frame made completely from composite materials, Fiberglass, balsa wood, foam and carbon reinforcements. Conventionally, the Army has battled with how to protect Humvees from mines because ironically, adding more armor to the vehicles just weighs them down (and bring them closer to the mines).
The solution was to build a composite frame that makes the Humvee 900lbs lighter (or about 10%). Beyond the weight savings, the other advantage is that the Humvee is reinforced with different composite concoctions where the vehicle needs the most protection from mines (the rear).
Since mines are the biggest killers of US troops in Iraq, such re-engineering should save lives if field testing goes well.
Posted by: Gary and the Samoyeds ||
09/20/2007 00:00 ||
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[4 views]
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#1
Iraqi neighborhoods along major supply routes (MSR) which aid and abet VBIED bombers THAT HAVE BEEN CARPET BOMBED with B-52's ..... also make US Army vehicles much "less susceptable" to attack!
Posted by: Bobby ||
09/20/2007 6:55 Comments ||
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#4
The vehicles will be available from a major politically-connected supplier within 20 years for a mere $100 million each. Plus tax, title and dealer prep. The way things are going, it will be a supplier in Beijing represented by a guy named Hsu. Otherwise, Halliburton and Cheney.
Ummm, 2000 pounds is a ton, makes a Humvee around 4 1/2 tons, Hokay?
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
09/20/2007 13:17 Comments ||
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#10
Sounds about right with all the up-armoring. They are murder on ball joints I know. They replace them every few weeks or something like that.
I would think that the impulse from the bomb blast would in a way be harder on the heavier humvees because they aren't buffeted around so much, which means the armor has to take the full punch instead of being able to reduce the force by backing away from the blast. This would be worst from the bottom I suppose where it would take at least 9000# force to get the vehicle to even start to move. It might not be fun to be thrown around, but I think it would be worse if the bomb blast breaks into the cabin.
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.
About 2,500 NATO and Afghan troops launched a new operation yesterday to clear Taliban fighters from the country's opium-growing heartland in southern Helmand province, officials said. 
Anthony, speaking at a news conference in Kabul, gave few details of the operation, saying it was still in its early stages. Large parts of Helmand are out of government control. The province also produces more than 50 percent of Afghanistan's illegal opium, with the drugs trade said to fund part of the insurgency. ISAF and the separate US-led coalition force have several operations underway across Afghanistan in an effort to help the fragile government beat back the Taliban insurgency and establish its authority. 
A prominent Saudi cleric once praised by Osama bin Laden has published an open letter condemning Al Qaeda's violence. In the long letter published on an Arabic Web site, Cleric 
A suspected British member of al-Qaeda was charged with three terrorism offences and will appear at a London court on Wednesday, Manchester police said.
Almost a year and a half after 12 Danish cartoons of the prophet Muhammad sparked worldwide protest that left scores dead, 
Osama bin Laden will release a new message soon declaring war on Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, al-Qaida announced Thursday. The announcement of the upcoming message came as al-Qaida released a new video in which bin Laden's deputy, 
Five more bodies were discovered Wednesday and local people have told us that another nine people were burned to death, but we need to test the charred remains to verify that they are human, said Kuber Kadayat, the district deputy superintendent of police. Curfews were slapped on three areas in the district from Sunday evening, and remained in place until Wednesday, the police officer said. 
Unidentified militants kidnapped a havaldar and six Frontier Constabulary soldiers in Hangu district late Tuesday night, police said on Wednesday. Tall Police Station 
MINGORA: Militants ransacked then blew up a hotel in Chota Kalaam, Swat on Wednesday, police said. The miscreants took the hotel owner and staff and dropped them off at a deserted place. The Sardar Hotel owner said he received anonymous letters threatening to destroy the hotel because women customers came to eat at his restaurant, which the letters termed un-Islamic.
Samarra, Iraq -- Like their hardline Islamist brethren in other nations -- such as the Taliban in Afghanistan, and the Islamic Courts Union in Somalia, among others -- the Islamic State of Iraq (or ISI, the name under which al Qaeda in Iraq has organized in Iraq) has built a brutal reputation not only for terrorism against its members own countrymen and against the coalition, but also for being a proponent of the most medieval, fundamentalist interpretation -- and enforcement of what its leaders claim to be the laws of the Koran. 
Without a bit of pressure -- indeed, without the appearance of a care in the world -- Medhi, described in graphic detail the other half of his ISI cells operations: running an organized al Qaeda Rape ring in Samarra. With a modus operandi of breaking into various houses and either raping women on the spot or threatening the family with death while taking their daughter away to become a hostage and a sex slave, Medhi, a self-described homosexual who engaged in intercourse (via rape) with women because other members of this group did, confessed to his cells penchant for abducing girls and holding them [hostage] just for their pleasure. Most recently, he said, he had taken part in the rape, kidnapping, and/or killing of five women, three of whom were supposedly still alive. 
Now, though such horrifying acts can be (and, unfortunately, are) perpetrated, there is a chance that those who commit such atrocities will be captured, killed, or -- at the very least -- driven out of the region (and hopefully out of Iraq). Ahmed al-Medhi is an example of this new situation; while he was able to abduct, rape, and murder women for a time, he has been apprehended -- by none other than the new Iraqi authorities -- and is now in custody and awaiting trial. In another departure from the way that things were done in Iraq under Saddam Hussein, Medhi will have his day in court, with his own defense counsel and with the ability to call witnesses on his own behalf.
Al Qaeda fighters in Iraq have seized control of a village in the restive province of Diyala after a two-day battle with a rival Sunni insurgent group, police said on Wednesday. Dozens of fighters from the group arrived in boats on Monday and launched an attack on Al Shuan village on the banks of the Diyala river, police Lieutenant Colonel Ibrahim Al Obeidi said. Members of the rival Brigades of the 1920 Revolution fought back but the Sunni Arab village eventually fell to the Al Qaeda militants.
US-led forces killed an Al-Qaeda militant allegedly responsible for a string of car bombings in Iraq, including an attack that killed 202 people in Baghdad, the US military said on Wednesday.
Masked gunmen crouch behind piles of sand, fingers on the triggers of their rifles, while others rig explosives along the streets of Gaza.
Lockheed-Martin just announced that their DAGR 70mm guided rocket is ready for service. DAGR has a further advantage in that it uses the Hellfire fire control system. Lockheed-Martin developed DAGR with their own money. Earlier this year, the U.S. Army cancelled work on a similar effort, APKWS (Advanced Precision Kill Weapons System). Both are basically a 25 pound 70mm rocket, with a laser seeker, a six pound warhead and a range of about six kilometers. Laser designators on a helicopter, or with troops on the ground, is pointed at the target, and the laser seeker in the front of the DAGR homes on the reflected laser light. 
