#3
A perfect example of photographic composition based on the 'rule of thirds'.
The photographer even thoughtfully arranged the dice to point arrows back to the center of interest. He must have studied Japanese prints for inspiration.
KARACHI - The Taliban and their al-Qaeda associates, in what they considered a master stroke, this year started to target the Western alliance's supply lines that run through Pakistan into Afghanistan. Their focal point was Khyber Agency, in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas, a key transit point for as much as 70% of the alliance's supplies needed to maintain its battle against the Afghan insurgency.
The spectacular blowing up on March 20 of 40 gas tankers at Torkham - the border crossing in Khyber Agency into Afghanistan's Nangarhar province - sent shock waves through the North Atlantic Treaty Organization-led (NATO) coalition. So much so that it made a deal for some supplies to transit through Russia, a much more arduous route. The Torkham success was followed by a number of smaller attacks, and the Taliban's plan appeared to be going better than they could have expected.
Then came this week's incident in which the Taliban seized two members of the World Food Program (WFP) in Khyber Agency, and it became obvious the Taliban had been betrayed, and all for the princely sum of about US$150,000.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/26/2008 00:15 ||
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#1
"the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) - which Pakistan's intelligence community says maintains its biggest South Asian presence in Pakistan - sprung into action and staged a coup of its own"
You mean the CIA actually had someone who, instead of spending all his time undermining the Administration's policies, went out and did what a spy agency is supposed to do?
Color me very surprised.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
04/26/2008 15:54 Comments ||
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#2
Nothing like good old red-on-red. It does the heart good.
#3
NATO chose not to promote Secularism in Afghanistan and Pakistan. However, in a climate where doubt in religious positions is enabled, militant groups are subject to defectors and infiltrators. I have always opposed Karzai's cultivation of Taliban-lite as a final solution to division in Afghanistan.
The spokesman of the Islamic courts union sheikh Ibrahim Suley has announced that several soldiers with armed vehicle deserted from Somali government have given in their islamist fighters on Friday. Is a telephone news conference he held for the local media Sheikh Suley has stated that unnumbered soldiers with gunship vehicle have give in to the Islamic courts and he added that would be parts of the Islamic fighters fighting against Somali government and Ethiopian troops in Somalia.
He further said that the defected soldiers from the TFG couldnt endure a plight they faced from the government that caused them to run off from the government as he put it.
The fighting was one of the fiercest in the Islamist stronghold of northern Mogadishu where the government and its Ethiopian allies are trying to flush out the remnants of a sharia courts movement ousted from the capital at the end of 2006.
He lastly called for the government troops to unite with their fighters. We call for them to repent for Allah and join in the Islamic revolution he heatedly said.
The surrendered troops were parts of Heliwa district soldiers where one of the heaviest battles between the Ethiopian allied government troops and armed islamist fighters occurred last week that left more than one hundred and wounded hundreds of others.
The interim administration is struggling to contain deepening Islamist-led deadly battles involving near-daily attacks on allied Somali-Ethiopian troops.
The Horn of Africa nation of nine million people has suffered constant violence since the 1991 fall of a military dictator. Ethiopia sent thousands of troops in 2006 to help the Western-backed interim government oust Islamists from Mogadishu.
Saying it was impossible to verify facts on the ground without a permanent U.N. presence, Ould-Abdallah called for the world body's mainly Kenyan-based offices dealing with Somalia to be moved into the country, with proper security. "We cannot, for 18 years, be sitting in Nairobi and say we will work on Somalia ... by remote control," he said. "Either we move closer to the victims of abuse, of violence, of drought, of famine ... Or we give up on Somalia and devote these resources to other places."
The envoy saw little prospect of a U.N. peacekeeping force in Somalia until there was internal political progress. "This will not happen if we don't have a group of Somalis who have the courage to sit together and make that minimum agreement," he said. "The U.N. has so many things on its plate. They are requested and welcome in many other places, so I don't see them rushing to Somalia unless there is minimum stability."
A small 1,800-strong African Union force, mainly Ugandans, has done little to stem violence in Somalia, though it has won plaudits for providing medical care and securing areas like Mogadishu's port and presidential palace.
Ould-Abdallah said the awkward truth was that some Somali leaders were "comfortable" with perpetuating war for selfish motives, despite the immense suffering to the population. He criticised the international community for its "neglect, terrible abandonment" of Somalia, particularly on failing to pursue justice for war crimes as it had done in places like Ivory Coast, Cambodia or former Yugoslavia. "I have not seen anyone put on the blacklist ... or sanctions against criminals and their foreign associates, people sending weapons," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/26/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
spokesman of the Islamic courts
---------------------------------------------
Author seems unfamiliar with the area meme.
Posted by: George Smiley ||
04/26/2008 7:23 Comments ||
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I'd like to see the US run a Global Hawk mission over western Somalia until they had strong evidence of where the "Somali Court" forces hang out, then run an ARCLIGHT strike at maximum altitude down through that area. I also wouldn't tell anyone that I was doing it, and wouldn't admit it after I'd done it - just let two or three hundred iron bombs rain down from a "clear" sky on whatever location was providing shelter - preferably at o-dark-thirty at night. Leave everyone wondering if another attack is eminent, and where it might land.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/26/2008 14:55 Comments ||
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(KUNA) -- The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said Friday that the latest flare-up in fighting this week in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, has sparked a fresh exodus of an estimated 7, 000 people rushing to escape violence that has killed a substantial number of civilians and reportedly wounded some 200, including women and children. UNHCR spokesperson Ron Redmond told reporters that the exodus from the war-ravaged city further aggravates the situation in a country where over 1 million people are already internally displaced. He noted that some 700,000 of them fled Mogadishu last year alone. Redmond added that the latest violence also prevents the internally displaced living in areas surrounding the city from returning to their homes. Many of those fleeing the capital have sought safety in the bush or on the road leading to the small town of Afgooye, 30 kms to the west, which has more than 250,000 displaced civilians already living in precarious conditions.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/26/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
after our Blackhawk Down episode, I don't care if they level and pave Mog. Fuck those ungrateful qhat-chewing rustics. Take their pirates and feed them slowly to sharks. My sympathy level is below zero
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/26/2008 0:07 Comments ||
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You said it Frank G; I will always lay the blame at the foot of Les Aspen and ultimately Bill Clinton (Where the 'buck stopped') for not rushing the 'required weapons and tactics' in to save our Rangers and Special Forces troops, in that valiant attempt to ward off a near city wide attempt to 'Get The Americans'! Mohamed Farrah Aidid should have been splattered that day, by a Hellfire missile for allowing his goons to drag our guys through the streets like that!
#3
The Ethiopians will stay in Somalia since there is NO exit from it for them : Ethiopia stands to lose the Ogaden area to Somalis if the present disorder continues. The Ethiopians' situation is what the US would be up against if Mexico blew up again in one of its periodic civil wars - no matter how repugnant the sides in that war, we would have to pick one to support and then build the hell out of our border.
Spain said Friday it was pressing ahead with diplomatic efforts to secure the release of a Spanish trawler and its crew of 26 who were hijacked by pirates off the coast of Somalia at the weekend. "The government is permanently mobilised to resolve this situation, with the main priority being safeguarding of the safety of the 26 crew members of the trawler," Deputy Prime Minister Maria Teresa de la Vega told a news conference.
Madrid was "working on all fronts" and carrying out "intensive diplomatic and operational activities" to deal with the situation, she said.
The 76-metre-long (250-foot-long) Playa de Bakio with its crew of 13 Spaniards and 13 Africans was seized while fishing for tuna in the waters off Somalia on Sunday by pirates armed with grenade launchers. Spain's ambassador to Kenya has since held talks with officials in Mogadishu, including Somali Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein, to try to secure their release. Spain has also dispatched a frigate, the Mendez Nunez, to the waters off Somalia as well as a Spanish air force reconnaissance plane to Djibouti which neighbours Somalia.
The pirates are believed to be seeking a ransom payment.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/26/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
There are times and places where diplomacy can and will work. There are other times, other places (I.E., Israel/Palestine) where no amount of talking, no amout of diplomatic effort, will show results. At that time, it's time to try "diplomacy by other means" - a full military strike at the heart of the problem. Somalia is beginning to be a bigger and bigger problem for the world. It's about time the world stepped in and put an end to the problem. Of course, that means the FREE world, since the petty dictators, communist "proletariats" and sundry other "leaders for life" don't particularly want the problem solved. That puts them on my list as part of the problem, and deserving of "special attention".
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/26/2008 15:09 Comments ||
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A main militant group behind a string of recent attacks in Nigeria's southern oil region said Friday it has sabotaged another pipeline -- the fourth in the past week -- as key producer ExxonMobil reported workers on strike. White-collar workers at ExxonMobil Corp. -- one of the largest producers in Nigeria, with an output of about 2 million barrels a day in crude -- have "commenced a safe and orderly shut-in of production" to push for more pay, the company said in a statement. It didn't specify how much production had been lost, and officials didn't immediately reply to queries.
Also Friday, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, or MEND, said its fighters hit a pipeline late Thursday in southern Rivers State, bringing to four the number of pipelines the group claims it has blown up in the past week. The group said in a statement that the pipeline belongs to a Royal Dutch Shell PLC joint venture. A Shell spokesman had no immediate comment Friday.
MEND says it is fighting to force the government to give more oil industry revenue it controls to its region, which remains deeply poor despite four decades of oil production in the area.
The militants have stepped up activities as one of the group's reputed leaders, Henry Okah, faces trial on terrorism and treason charges. The group emerged two years ago and quickly established itself as the region's most effective militant organization. But crime and militancy are intermingled in the region, with gunmen stealing crude oil for resale or robbing banks one day and battling security forces or blowing up oil infrastructure the next.
Nigeria's southern Niger Delta, where the crude is pumped in Africa's biggest oil industry, is traversed with pipes that carry oil from well heads via transfer stations and on to export terminals. The infrastructure in the vast region of creeks and swamps is virtually unguarded. Since Okah's arrest, the group has not launched any of the coordinated, military-style armed raids on staffed facilities that originally made it notable.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/26/2008 00:00 ||
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Harkat ul Jihad (Huji) leader Arif Hasan Sumon in his confessional statement yesterday said that they made the grenade attack on the Awami League rally on August 21 in 2004 for killing Awami League president Sheikh Hasina. But the attempt failed because of too much hurry, he said before a magistrate confessing to his involvement in the grenade attack that killed 24 people and injured 300 others.
Huji leader Sumon, who was arrested by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) on April 12 from his Mohammadpur residence, gave the confessional statement on the 12th day of his remand in phases.
CID assistant superintendent of police Fazlul Kabir produced Suman before the court at noon where he gave the confessional statement before Chief Metropolitan magistrate Ismat Ara for about three hours.
According to the court sources, Suman disclosed that he threw two grenades and one of it exploded. At least 12 people took part in the attack and after the incident, he left the scene by a bus. As their mission failed, Huji boss Mufti Hannan rebuked them for it, he added. Huji leader Suman also admitted that he had planted a bomb at the Ramna Batamul as part of their 'test case'.
According to CID sources, before his arrest, he had planned to flee to South Africa where one of the masterminds of the attack Maulana Tajuddin is believed to be hiding. Checking two passports of Sumon, investigators found that he recently obtained visas for South Africa and Zimbabwe.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/26/2008 00:00 ||
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(KUNA) -- Two Kurdish soldiers were killed in clashes with Kurdish militants, Turkish military forces announced on Friday. The clashes occurred during a wide-scale Turkish offensive against rebels of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) south east of Turkey. Turkey has resorted to the use of commandos, with the intension of obliterating any future PKK rebel attacks on Turkish land. Turkey has previously undergone ground and air offensives on PKK targets in Iraqi-Kurdistan. The PKK is held accountable by Turkey, for more than 37,000 deaths, since it started its attacks on Turkey in 1984, planned to establish an independent Kurdish state north east of Turkey.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/26/2008 00:00 ||
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When he faces an immigration judge in two weeks, a popular Muslim cleric fighting deportation may have to counter claims that he confessed to being a member of a terrorist group.
According to Israeli military authorities, Imam Mohammad Qatanani admitted being a member of Hamas, which both the United States and Israel consider to be a terror group, during interrogation in 1993 in Israel. "Imam Mohammed Katanani was convicted based on his own admission on charges of belonging to an unauthorized association and providing services to an unauthorized association, for being a member of Hamas and acting on its behalf," the Israeli army said in a statement faxed to The Associated Press.
The U.S. State Department includes Hamas on its list of "designated foreign terrorist organizations." Anyone identified as a member or a supporter of an organization on the list can be refused entry to the United States, according to Lucille Cirillo, spokeswoman for U.S. Customs and Border Patrol.
According to the army statement, an Israeli military court sentenced Qatanani to three months in prison and a 12-month suspended sentence, and also fined him. Qatanani, who heads the Islamic Center of Passaic County in Paterson, faces possible deportation for not disclosing the conviction when he applied for citizenship in 1999. He is scheduled to appear before immigration Judge Alberto J. Riefkohl in Newark on May 8. Qatanani has said he was not notified of the conviction until last year when he appealed a 2006 ruling denying his citizenship application. He also has denied being a member of Hamas.
Qatanani referred questions about the alleged confession to his attorney, Claudia Slovinsky, who said her client was the victim of physical abuse by Israeli authorities while in detention. "It is beyond refutation that in the Israeli detention system in 1993, interrogations included abusive methods that most people would consider torture," she said.
According to Slovinsky, these methods included sleep deprivation, hoods, loud music and a technique in which detainees were kept shackled in uncomfortable positions for hours at a time. Slovinsky said she has not seen the confession and that lawyers representing U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement had not produced it by a court-ordered deadline last Friday. "We don't do guilt by association here," Slovinsky said. "We have due process. If they have something on Mr. Qatanani, then they should bring it out."
ICE attorneys involved in the case declined to comment, and a spokesman for ICE did not comment other than to confirm Qatanani's trial date.
Qatanani is married and has six children, three of whom were born in the United States and three in Jordan. The three foreign-born children would be subject to deportation along with Qatanani and his wife, Sumaia.
After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks — and after it was revealed that several of the hijackers lived for some time in Paterson, New Jersey — Qatanani gained publicity for his efforts to reach out to other religious leaders and law enforcement authorities. His mosque offered classes explaining Islam to those of other faiths, and he was praised by the FBI for providing Arabic speakers to help translate interviews with community members. Political leaders, including New Jersey Gov. Jon S. Corzine, have expressed support for Qatanani, and the imam's followers have raised about $135,000 for his defense in recent weeks. They are planning a rally in Newark, New Jersey on the day his trial begins, according to Aref Assaf, president of the Paterson, New Jersey-based American Arab Forum.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/26/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Imam Mohammad Qatanani admitted being a member of Hamas.. check.
Qatanani is married and has six children, three of whom were born in the United States and three in Jordan. The three foreign-born children would be subject to deportation along with Qatanani and his wife, Sumaia.
Mrs. Qatanani dropped 3, Born in America Hamas babies.
After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks - and after it was revealed that several of the hijackers lived for some time in Paterson, New Jersey recon what Qatanani's reaction on 911 was?.
Qatanani gained publicity for his efforts to reach out to other religious leaders and law enforcement authorities. His mosque offered classes explaining Islam to those of other faiths, and he was praised by the FBI for providing Arabic speakers to help translate interviews with community members. Political leaders, including New Jersey Gov. Jon S. Corzine, have expressed support for Qatanani, and the imam's followers have raised about $135,000 for his defense in recent weeks. They are planning a rally in Newark, New Jersey on the day his trial begins, according to Aref Assaf, president of the Paterson, New Jersey-based American Arab Forum.
Total World population in 1780s was about 625-800 million?
America's population in 1776 was 2,527,450. 2.5 mil
#3
Political leaders, including New Jersey Gov. Jon S. Corzine, have expressed support for Qatanani, and the imam's followers have raised about $135,000 for his defense in recent weeks.
Mob connections to Hamas? Very frightening but also would help explain the political assistance given by the democratic party against our war efforts.
A former teacher at a Muslim school in Maryland was again sentenced to 15 years in prison Friday for providing support to a Pakistani terrorist group, even though a federal appeals court had ordered the trial judge to reconsider the original sentence.
The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia earlier this year ordered a new sentencing hearing for Ali Asad Chandia, saying the judge needed to explain why he applied a rarely used "terrorism enhancement" that more than doubled Chandia's prison time to 15 years.
Chandia, who taught third grade at the al-Huda school in College Park, Maryland, was convicted in 2006 of providing military support to Lashkar-e-Taiba, a militant group in Pakistan that violently opposes Indian rule of the disputed Kashmir territory.
Specifically, Chandia was found guilty of acting as a driver and assistant to Lashkar leader Mohammed Ajmal Khan on his visits to the United States in 2002 and 2003 and helping Khan ship 50,000 paintball pellets from the United States to Pakistan.
At Friday's hearing in Alexandria, U.S. District Judge Claude Hilton said Chandia's actions showed a clear intent to help Lashkar advance its terrorist agenda against India. He said the evidence was clear that Chandia, who grew up in Pakistan and whose father is a prominent attorney there, knew that Lashkar was a violent organization that used terrorist tactics. "This defendant knew the purpose of (Lashkar). The evidence clearly shows he knew it," Hilton said.
Chandia's defense attorney, Marvin Miller, said he will again appeal the sentence, and that Hilton's explanation did not address the appellate court's fundamental concern — that Chandia did not engage in violent acts and is therefore ineligible for the terrorism enhancement.
Federal sentencing guidelines call for a tougher sentence when a defendant's crime was specifically intended to promote terrorism.
Miller cited a passage in the ruling from U.S. Circuit Judge M. Blane Michael: "The acts underlying the convictions in this case were not violent terrorist acts. ... Therefore, these acts cannot, standing alone, support application of the terrorism enhancement."
Under federal sentencing guidelines, Chandia would have been subject to 6 1/2 years at most without the terrorism enhancement. Under the enhancement, Chandia could have received a sentence of 30 years or more, but Hilton said that 15 years was appropriate under the circumstances.
Chandia, appearing in court in a worn blue prison T-shirt and orange pants, again maintained his innocence and said he never supported violence.
"What government was supposed to be intimidated by my actions?" Chandia asked the judge. "Do you think the government of India will feel intimidated by a few boxes of paintballs?"
Chandia's family and dozens of supporters filled the courtroom, with nearly all the women sitting to the left of the aisle and all the men sitting on the right.
Chandia's father, Noor Mohammed Chandia, said he believes his son is holding up bravely, and also questioned the rationale for the stiff sentence.
Chandia is the last of 12 people who were convicted as part of what prosecutors called a "Virginia jihad network" that used paintball games in 2000 and 2001 to train for holy war around the globe. Chandia did not participate in the paintball games but was acquainted with some of those who played.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/26/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
. Chandia did not participate in the paintball games but was acquainted with some of those who played.
That one sentence makes a mockery of his "Trial".
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
04/26/2008 13:48 Comments ||
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DUMKA (JHARKHAND): Three policemen and two Naxalites were killed in an encounter near Makra Pahari in Jharkhand's Dumka district early Saturday morning.
"The officer-incharge of Shikaripara police station, Samshad Ansari and two constables were killed in the encounter," Superintendent of Police Sidho Hembrom said.
Two Naxalites were killed in the encounter. A Naxalite was arrested and two rifles seized from his possession.
Posted by: john frum ||
04/26/2008 12:55 ||
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A car bomb has ripped through a police station in northwestern Pakistan Friday, killing four people and wounding at least 30 others. Local Taliban militants say they have carried out the attack to avenge killings of their fighters. The bombing took place in the northwestern town of Mardan, where Taliban militants have frequently carried out attacks.
Speaking by telephone, local police chief Akhtar Ali Shah told VOA that the bomb was planted in a car packed with explosives. He says initial evidence at the scene suggests a timer was used to explode the bomb. The police chief condemned the attack as an act of terrorism.
A pro-Taliban movement led by Pakistan's most wanted militant commander, Baitullah Mehsud, took responsibility for the attack. A spokesman said said the bombing was carried out to avenge the killing of a senior Taliban commander by the police in Mardan. Friday's attack seems to have ended a month-long lull in militant violence in Pakistan. Until the lull, terror attacks claimed hundreds of lives this year.
Friday's bombing comes despite orders from Taliban leaders to their fighters to stop attacks on security forces and official installations. It also comes amid reports that Pakistan's new government is attempting to strike a peace deal with Mehsud. The Taliban spokesman said the group is still observing the ceasefire but will respond if security forces hit them.
Fugitive Taliban commander Mehsud is accused of planning terror attacks on security forces in the country, especially in the tribal areas near the Afghan border. He is believed to have close ties with the al-Qaida network and is also alleged to have ordered the assassination, in December, of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/26/2008 00:00 ||
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(KUNA) -- At least five people were killed and nearly 30 others were wounded in a car bomb explosion in a northern Pakistani district on Friday. Taliban have claimed responsibility for the explosion. A powerful time-bomb weighing 40-50 kg planted in a car exploded with a huge bang in Mardan district of North-West Frontier Province (NWFP), a local senior police officer Tahir Khan told KUNA in a telephone call. He said the car had been left in the parking area of a police station, adding that the explosion killed three people on the spot, including two policemen, and wounded nearly 30 others. Hospital sources confirmed two of the wounded died at hospital, bringing the total killed to five. Police officer Tahir Khan said that the explosion badly damaged the police station.
Meanwhile, a purported Taliban spokesman, Maulvi Umar, talking to media took responsibility for the attack and said the target was policemen. The incident is the first after the newly-installed government in NWFP launched a new round of peace talks with militants and agreed to withdraw military forces from the bordering tribal region.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/26/2008 00:00 ||
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US forces have killed a leading military commander in Al-Qaeda and three of his aides in an air strike in Saladdin district, according to an Iraqi police source on Saturday.
The source told KUNA that the US forces targeted the car that the operatives were driving with a missile, and identified the commander as Mohammad Muzahem Al-Harbouni.
Last Tuesday evening an Apache helicopter crew noticed three criminals loading a mortar into the trunk of their car in Sadr City. After insuring there were no civilians nearby, the American soldiers fired a Hellfire missile which obliterated the front end of the vehicle. The criminals rushed to the mangled auto and grabbed the mortar, tossed it into a second vehicle and sped away.
Events like these have become commonplace as neither American nor Iraqi Security Forces have been patrolling the streets of Sadr City. Even though Muqtada al Sadr has declared a cease-fire, the Sadr City District has been a very dangerous place for Coalition forces. The lower-class neighborhoods of eastern Baghdad (Sadr City) continue to remain an Al Sadr stronghold. So much so, that the area has been cordoned and Iraqi and Coalition forces do not venture into the majority of the eastern Baghdad slums. The area is laced with IEDs and armed criminal elements that will stand and fight, if confronted. So, the majority of the Coalitions security is facing inward and the city streets are patrolled from the sky. Contrary to some reports, Sadr City is not under siege. There are control points to stem the influx of illegal weapons, but people are free to come and go as they please.
Rest assured, Sadr City is under constant surveillance. High above the attacking Apache, an Unmanned Arial Vehicle (UAV) circled the district. Air Force controllers watched the Apache attack and the enemy speed away in their streaming video broadcast from the drone. They stalked the vehicle as it sped through the streets like a hawk circling its prey. When the thugs finally stopped in an empty field, another Hellfire screamed out of the evening sky. This time both criminals were killed and the vehicle and mortar were destroyed.
... sniff ... I love happy endings ...
There may not be a cop on every corner in Sadr City, but the ISF and American Forces can see what is going on and they can swiftly react to acts of aggression. For some time now, there has been a tense stalemate in Sadr City. Al Sadrs radical followers continue to conduct violent acts in the form of mortar and rocket attacks, IED attacks on Coalition and Iraqi Security forces, and outright skirmishes with the authorities. More often than not, the fighters are rounded up or killed, but they continue to harass the establishment.
All the while, the vast majority of the civilian population is trying to live a peaceful life amid this small groups struggle for power and influence. Security is slowly returning to the other districts of Baghdad and as the streets become safer, overall life is improving for the every-day Iraqi. The streets are being cleaned up, markets, parks and schools are open and there is a glimmer of hope for the future. Bread winners are returning to work and children are returning to school.
But Muqtada and his followers do not want the people of Sadr City to gain hope for their future. Their power comes from the downtrodden, from the poor, from the disadvantaged. They want to have continued chaos in Sadr City, Baghdad and Iraq. Stability is their enemy. So, Sadrs supporters roam the streets in armed gangs, lob mortar rounds at American facilities, plant IEDs and rocket the International Zone. Recently, after British troops withdrew from the streets of Basra, Sadrist thugs took over Iraqs second largest city.
Last month, the Iraqi government moved to restore law and order in Basra. Until then, Muqtada al Sadr and his radical followers enjoyed a shaky stalemate with the Coalition forces and the government in Baghdad. Al Sadr, who has been hiding in Iran, has issued a fatwa declaring a cease-fire with the Multi-National Forces in Iraq. He has been literally sitting on the sidelines, waiting for American forces to go home. But, his Mahdi army has seized every opportunity to make trouble. Some many of Muqtada Al Sadrs followers have violated the cease-fire and have quickly been killed or captured.
When the ISF moved to retake Basra, Sadrist thugs throughout the country counterattacked from Basra to Nasiriyah to Sadr City. Last week, Iranian-made 107mm rockets were hurled across the Tigris River into the International Zone from the most southern reaches of Sadr City. Iraqi Security Forces quickly moved into that area with coalition support. They have built a temporary barrier that separates the southern edge of the district from the rest of Sadr City. The rocket teams that have not been killed have been forced out of effective range to be able to hit the International Zone. While the ISF are in the lead, there is a considerable Coalition force supporting the Iraqis, particularly in the air.
With support of the Coalition, Iraqi Security Forces have had great success in neutralizing, killing and destroying the mortar and rocket teams who were firing from within Sadr City. We have taken out literally dozens of those teams Rear Admiral Greg Smith, Director of Communications for the Multi-National Force Iraq, added that some of these criminals were, in the process of setting up to fire. These criminals were lobbing rockets across the Tigris River, attempting to hit government and Coalition targets in the International Zone. Most of the rockets fell short, killing and injuring innocent Iraqi civilians.
The burned out vehicles we are seeing in the streets on the nightly news belong to rocket and mortar teams, victims of precision weapons launched from Unmanned Arial Vehicles (UAVs) or Apache helicopters. The enemy cannot escape the watchful eyes of coalition forces. What you have is a very persistent coverage from the air by US forces. Smith went on to say, We spot em, we track em and we kill em.
Still, the levels of violence today are higher than they were before Easter Sunday. There was a serious peak of violence after the Iraqi government moved to take back the streets of Basra. The number of incidents has recently decreased, but is still elevated in nearly every category.
What is Next?
The next few weeks will be crucial to bringing the citizens of Sadr City into the fold. Today, Muqtada al Sadr has a significant following within the slums of the city named after his martyred father. But, his influence is waning. Extremists want him dead and moderates are considering reconciliation. The Iraq government will be pumping $150,000,000 into the southern extremities of Sadr City. The money will be used to revitalize the areas that are under government control. If the moderates see that the government is making an effort to help the people of Sadr City, they may be inclined to denounce the violent elements that control their neighborhoods.
Even then, the future of the citizens of Eastern Baghdad, and most of southern Iraq, rests in the hands of Muqtada al Sadr and the violent factions within his following. If the government of Iraq can provide some political accommodations to the Sadrists, if Al Sadr can be convinced that he can maintain his power base peacefully, if the extreme shia can reconcile with the moderate shia, there might be a chance of a peaceful outcome in Sadr City.
Let us all hope that sane minds prevail because if they dont, a military operation will be needed to clear Sadr City, ala Najaf, Fallujah and Basra. Muqtada Al Sadr needs to realize that we can do this the easy way or the hard way, but the Coalition and Iraqi Security Forces will not be deterred from bringing peace and stability to all the people of Iraq, including those in Sadr City.
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC ||
04/26/2008 03:31 ||
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#1
well written. In some ways, these areas aren't so different than in our own inner cities. In some ways they are better off because at least the troublemakers are outright eliminated.
In reading this I realize this type of militia street fighting is futile against modern technological armies. While organized street thugs can prevent order from being formed in their own areas, if they want any real power, they are going to have to learn how to play politics with the big boys.
#2
When the thugs finally stopped in an empty field, another Hellfire screamed out of the evening sky. This time both criminals were killed and the vehicle and mortar were destroyed.
#3
But was the video released to Baghdad News 5 so that everybody in Sadr City could see how the criminals are hunted down like vermin and destroyed? The PR war is critical and we sure have flubbed it here. I hope that's because the guys who know how to do it right are there, but I doubt that.
#4
Bring out your chiefs an' surrender
You can call us on your cell phones
Don't jump in your car, 'cause you won't get far
You can't get away from the drones.
Posted by: Mike ||
04/26/2008 8:53 Comments ||
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#5
But MuqtadaRev Wright and Jesse Jackson and his followersLiberals do not want the people of Sadr CityDetroit or any other big Dem City to gain hope for their future. Their power comes from creating and taking advantage of the downtrodden, from the poor, from the disadvantaged.
#12
If they didn't have bad luck they wouldn't have any luck at all. The criminals have to stop engaging in high risk activities. There's no percentage in it.
#15
*happy sigh* Poetry! Thank you, Mike... and the rest of you who've been playing with that wonderful Kipling poem. I've enjoyed your efforts immensely.
(KUNA) -- An Iraqi policeman was killed and another two were kidnapped in separate clashes with armed insurgents on Friday. The policeman was attacked by unknown insurgents in the Iraqi city of Mosul, northern Iraq, whereas the two policemen were kidnapped in a separate attack, in the Sumer district, south of the country. The whereabouts of the two policemen is unknown till this time, according to Iraqi security forces.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/26/2008 00:00 ||
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Hospital officials say overnight clashes between US and Iraqi forces and Shiite militants in Baghdad's embattled Sadr City district killed seven people and wounded 45.
The US military had no immediate comment about the fighting that broke out late Thursday in the sprawling district of 2.5 million people. Sadr City is a stronghold of the Mahdi Army of anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Witnesses say clashes ended in the early hours of Friday. US helicopter gunships reportedly struck targets in Sadr City. The district has been the scene of daily combat between militants and Iraqi government and US troops for the past month.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/26/2008 00:00 ||
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(KUNA) -- The Iraqi security authorities have barred key aides of Shiite leader Moqtada al-Sadr from entering the southern city of Basa on Friday. "The move takes place a few hours after Al-Sadr's call for halting the bloodshed in Iraq," deputy chief of the political department of the Sadrist Trend Abu-Shuja' Al-Khafaji told KUNA here.
In a statement read at Friday sermons here Al-Sadr reiterated his appeal for militiamen of his Al-Mehdi Army to continue observing the shaky ceasefire, freezing armed activity and refraining from attacking government forces. "In synchronization with the call, the Sadrist Trend formed a political delegation including members of parliament and Hauza (Shiite religious establishment)," Al-Khafaji pointed out. "The delegation consisting of Hazem Al-A'raji, Mozhaffar Al-Battat, Suhail Al-Aqabi, a number of MPs and me was tasked to visit Al-Basra to assess the situation on the ground and restore calm there." "However, the Iraqi security authorities denied the delegation access to the city under unjustifiable pretexts," Al-Khafaji regretted.
The delegation kept waiting for three hours and contacted a number of political leaders including President Jalal Al-Talabani and Minister of Interior Jawad al-Bulani but to no avail," he pointed out. "The delegation was forced to return to Al-Najaf Al-Ashraf city after its aborted mission," he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/26/2008 00:00 ||
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Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr pulled back from confrontation with the government on Friday, asking his followers to continue to observe a shaky ceasefire and not to battle government troops.
He's safe in Qom, but someday he might have to come back to Iraq.
Sadr, whose call for calm was read out in a major mosque in Baghdad, said a recent threat of "open war" was directed only at U.S. forces, not the Iraqi government.
"So, really, y'got nothing to worry about from me. You don't really have to kick my ass..."
His comments could ease some of the tension that has been simmering in Iraq since Prime Minister Nuri al Maliki cracked down on Sadr's Mehdi Army militia a month ago and threatened to ban his mass movement from provincial elections in October. "You are the best who committed and were patient with the decision to cease fire, and were the most obedient to your leader. I wish you would continue your patience and your belief," said Sadr's statement. "When we threatened 'open war' we meant a war against the occupier, not a war against our Iraqi brothers."
A Reuters correspondent heard the statement read out by a cleric during Friday prayers in Sadr's eastern Baghdad stronghold of Sadr City. Many of Sadr's followers, who have been agitating for the ceasefire to be scrapped and say government and U.S. forces have used it to kill or arrest their members, were unhappy. "We were disappointed by the statement," said Abu Yasir, a Mehdi Army commander. "We waited impatiently to end this ceasefire and this is the opposite of what we hoped."
Other fighters chided Sadr for veering between confronting government forces one day and urging reconciliation the next. "He was supposed to give us a decisive solution: either we should end the ceasefire or we should stay at home and keep silent," said Abu Aya, another commander, visibly angry.
It's Iraq. These are Arabs. What was said yesterday isn't the same thing as what will be said tomorrow, and neither resembles what's being said today.
Sadr first imposed the ceasefire on the Mehdi Army last August. It has been widely credited with helping cut violence in Iraq but seemed almost defunct at times over the past month.
Hundreds have died in Shi'ite areas since Maliki, himself a Shi'ite, launched a crackdown in the southern oil city of Basra. Although Basra has since become quieter, fighting has continued in Sadr City and other Shi'ite parts of Baghdad.
The U.S. embassy said Sadr should renounce all violence in order to secure a position in Iraqi politics. "We urge Sadr and his followers to desist from violence in all of its forms and against all persons, Iraqi or otherwise," U.S. embassy spokesman Armand Cucciniello said. "We're of course happy that he's urging his followers to extend the ceasefire. But that he's willing to extend the fight against the coalition isn't something we're supportive of."
Though the Mehdi Army's tens of thousands of fighters claim allegiance to Sadr, it has never been entirely clear how much control he exercises over a mass movement seen by many Iraqis as anarchic and undisciplined. Another commander, Abu Ammar, said: "Despite being unhappy with the statement, we will obey Sadr because we revere him."
This article starring:
Abu Ammar
Mahdi Army
Abu Aya
Mahdi Army
Abu Yasir
Mahdi Army
Armand Cucciniello
Posted by: Fred ||
04/26/2008 00:00 ||
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Yep, that's what he says when the microphones and cameras are on, what does he say in private?
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
04/26/2008 13:18 Comments ||
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#3
Yep, that's what he says when the microphones and cameras are on, what does he say in private?
I don't think it matters much any more WHAT he says, RJ, his "army" is getting its butt kicked everywhere. Sadr is a deader, no matter what he does. If the Iraqi army doesn't get him, the QUDS Force will cut his throat for being a failed "leader". It's all over but the shouting for Tater and most of his tots.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/26/2008 15:46 Comments ||
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#4
Hell, He cannot even get a dentist. Thats your leader?
Common street thugs becoming religious leaders in the Arab world tends to be a sticking point with me.
What happens to the black Christians in Sudan will happen to ALL Moslems.
Thats Prophesy.
Prevention is ending the support for it. Tater is toast . I like to keep him around to see how many idiots really believe he, Iran, or hezbullah have anything worth having above. As far as I know, there is no heaven for any of them.
I'll bet the boss isn't happy with his employees right about now. Totally avoidable. It's hard to believe these guys have enough of a brain to be able to breathe.
The daughter of a senior member of Hamas was killed and her two siblings and mother were wounded in an exchange of fire with Israel Defense Forces, who surrounded the house Saturday morning, Palestinian security forces said. At the end of the exchange of fire, which killed 14-year-old Mariam Marouf, her father Talat Marouf was arrested, the sources said. The house is in Beit Lahiya, in northern Gaza.
An IDF spokeswoman confirmed that IDF surrounded the house of a Hamas suspect on Saturday morning. Armed Palestinians fired from inside the house at the troops while the family was still inside, she said.
Israeli forces also launched two airstrikes in the raid, targeting Palestinian militants who approached the troops, she said.
The family eventually requested to evacuate the house, the IDF spokeswoman said, and the forces agreed. The Hamas operative turned himself in afterward, she said. She did not say if anyone died in the airstrikes against Palestinian militants.
Hamas is trying to assemble bomb-carrying drones, Al-Aharam reported Saturday. The Egyptian newspaper said that the revelation was made by Egyptian security forces during their interrogation of a Muslim Brotherhood terror cell. The interrogators reportedly discovered that the operatives were working with Hamas on the project. Al-Aharam said the security forces learned that as result of the cooperation between the two terror groups, know-how and equipment were acquired to assemble the unmanned planes and were transferred to the Gaza Strip.
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said that the report was a "big lie". He told the Palestinian Information Center (PIC) that such a claim was consistent with the campaign led by Al-Aharam and numerous other newspapers against Hamas and the Palestinian people.
On April 10, An Israeli think tank issued a report issued claiming that since 2005's disengagement from the Gaza Strip, Hamas had forged a formidable military of 20,000 men. Entitled 'Hamas's Military Buildup in the Gaza Strip,' the report said that the breach of Rafah crossing to Sinai in January allowed Hamas to acquire additional weapons.
On April 17, senior defense officials told The Jerusalem Post that Iran had stepped up its efforts to smuggle weapons into the Gaza Strip by using floatable devices that it drops near the waters off the Gaza coast to be picked up by Palestinian fisherman. According to defense officials, Iran is now sending rockets and other advanced weaponry to Hamas and Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip by sea as well as via tunnels dug under the Philadelphi Corridor and connecting the Sinai Peninsula with Rafah.
Egypt sent hundreds of police officers to the sealed Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip on Friday to boost security and prevent any attempt by Palestinians to breach the frontier, security sources said.
They said Egypt was responding to information it received that thousands of Palestinians planned to gather on the Gaza side of the border after Muslim Friday prayers to protest an Israeli-led blockade. "The strengthening of security comes as a precautionary
measure to prevent any operation by the Palestinian side to storm Egyptian territory," one of the sources said, speaking on customary condition of anonymity. "Hundreds of policemen concentrated in Rafah and some armoured vehicles were sent to inside the Rafah crossing and in front of its gate," the source added.
Gaza militants blasted open the border in January in a move that allowed hundreds of thousands of Gazans to stream across the frontier at Rafah to stock up on food and fuel for 10 days before the frontier was resealed. Egypt wants to prevent a repeat of that incident.
Security sources put the number of police sent to the crossing on Friday at between 300 to 400, and identified them as officers already in Rafah town who had been on standby to go to the border. The sources said there was no specific threat to the frontier.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/26/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
The article conveniently ignores the Counterfeit Money Issue?
Pretending it didn't happen?
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
04/26/2008 13:46 Comments ||
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A bomb explosion on a crowded bus near Sri Lanka's capital, Colombo, has killed at least 24 people and wounded more than 40 others. The blast occurred Friday's evening rush hour at a bus station in the suburb of Piliyandala. No one has claimed responsibility, but authorities are blaming the Tamil Tiger rebel group.
Separately, Sri Lankan military officials said Friday that government troops have taken control of a revered Roman Catholic shrine, just two days after one of their deadliest battles with Tamil Tiger fighters. Military officials say soldiers captured the centuries-old Catholic church in Madhu with little resistance. The church is located in Mannar District, on Sri Lanka's northwest coast, on a front line in the renewed civil war between the army and the Tamil Tigers.
The Roman Catholic shrine housed a 400-year-old sacred statue that attracted mass pilgrimages. The church also served as a sanctuary for thousands of civilians seeking refuge from the war.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/26/2008 00:00 ||
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So, what're you gonna do, Gordo?
Five British hostages who were kidnapped in Iraq almost a year ago are being held inside Iran by Revolutionary Guards, according to two separate sources in the Middle East and London. The hostages were handed over to the Revolutionary Guards by their Iraqi kidnappers last November, the sources believe. One of the sources said they were being held in the western Iranian city of Hamadan.
If confirmed, the involvement of Revolutionary Guards would be seen as evidence that senior figures in the Iranian government had backed the decision to hold them in the country.
However, British officials said that while there had been rumours that the five were in Iran, they had seen no evidence to support the idea.
The hostages are said to be in good physical shape but spending much of their time in solitary confinement.
Unlike the mutts at Gitmo, these folks won't have Amnesty International, HRW, and US military defense lawyers working for their welfare ...
According to one of the sources, they are under the control of Mohammad Safaei, 41, a senior Revolutionary Guard colonel who was previously in charge of special operations in the southern Iraqi city of Basra.
The hostages were kidnapped in Baghdad last May in an attempt to force the Americans to release Qais al-Khazaali, an Iraqi militia leader said to be close to the Revolutionary Guards. Khazaali was apparently being groomed by Iran to take control of a breakaway faction of the Mahdi Army, a Shiite militia, that would be compliant with Tehran. A former chief spokesman for the Mahdi Army, Khazaali was arrested by US troops after masterminding a raid inside a base in which five US soldiers were killed. The Americans have refused to release al-Khazaali in exchange for the British hostages.
One of the sources, who has close links to the Revolutionary Guard, said the captors were looking for a face-saving way of freeing them. They have suggested the hostages write to church leaders in the UK asking for assistance in gaining their release, the source said.
The five were abducted from the Iraqi finance ministry, where one of them, Peter Moore, a computer specialist, was teaching data-processing. The other four were his bodyguards.
The suggestion that the hostages are in Hamadan follows contradictory claims earlier this month that they were in Tehran. This is the first time it has been claimed they are in the hands of Revolutionary Guards. One of the sources has previously proved to be a reliable source of information about them.
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/26/2008 18:52 ||
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#1
MI-5 should grab Mohammad Safaei and his family and hold them counter hostage.
#2
Send old Safaeai the head of one of his kids and maybe the ring finger of his wife with the wedding band still on it.
Joseph Conrad in Heart of Darkness had it right when Kurtz talked about fighting terror with terror.
Take off the gloves and tell our guys "we don't want to know how you did it, but just win this thing and scare those nut jobs into a monastery somewhere"
The OSS wasn't concerned about niceities and neither is MI-5, so what's the problem? The New York Times? Probably.
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.
(KUNA) -- The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said Friday that the latest flare-up in fighting this week in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, has sparked a fresh exodus of an estimated 7, 000 people rushing to escape violence that has killed a substantial number of civilians and reportedly wounded some 200, including women and children. UNHCR spokesperson Ron Redmond told reporters that the exodus from the war-ravaged city further aggravates the situation in a country where over 1 million people are already internally displaced. He noted that some 700,000 of them fled Mogadishu last year alone. Redmond added that the latest violence also prevents the internally displaced living in areas surrounding the city from returning to their homes. Many of those fleeing the capital have sought safety in the bush or on the road leading to the small town of Afgooye, 30 kms to the west, which has more than 250,000 displaced civilians already living in precarious conditions.
Spain said Friday it was pressing ahead with diplomatic efforts to secure the release of a Spanish trawler and its crew of 26 who were hijacked by pirates off the coast of Somalia at the weekend. "The government is permanently mobilised to resolve this situation, with the main priority being safeguarding of the safety of the 26 crew members of the trawler," Deputy Prime Minister Maria Teresa de la Vega told a news conference.
A main militant group behind a string of recent attacks in Nigeria's southern oil region said Friday it has sabotaged another pipeline -- the fourth in the past week -- as key producer ExxonMobil reported workers on strike. White-collar workers at ExxonMobil Corp. -- one of the largest producers in Nigeria, with an output of about 2 million barrels a day in crude -- have "commenced a safe and orderly shut-in of production" to push for more pay, the company said in a statement. It didn't specify how much production had been lost, and officials didn't immediately reply to queries.
A car bomb has ripped through a police station in northwestern Pakistan Friday, killing four people and wounding at least 30 others. Local Taliban militants say they have carried out the attack to avenge killings of their fighters. The bombing took place in the northwestern town of Mardan, where Taliban militants have frequently carried out attacks. 
US forces have killed a leading military commander in Al-Qaeda and three of his aides in an air strike in Saladdin district, according to an Iraqi police source on Saturday.
Last Tuesday evening an Apache helicopter crew noticed three criminals loading a mortar into the trunk of their car in Sadr City. After insuring there were no civilians nearby, the American soldiers fired a Hellfire missile which obliterated the front end of the vehicle. The criminals rushed to the mangled auto and grabbed the mortar, tossed it into a second vehicle and sped away. 
Rest assured, Sadr City is under constant surveillance. High above the attacking Apache, an Unmanned Arial Vehicle (UAV) circled the district. Air Force controllers watched the Apache attack and the enemy speed away in their streaming video broadcast from the drone. They stalked the vehicle as it sped through the streets like a hawk circling its prey. When the thugs finally stopped in an empty field, another Hellfire screamed out of the evening sky. This time both criminals were killed and the vehicle and mortar were destroyed.
Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr pulled back from confrontation with the government on Friday, asking his followers to continue to observe a shaky ceasefire and not to battle government troops. 
