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Iraq police arrest five Shias wanted for over 720 murders
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-Lurid Crime Tales-
Mistrial for Naveed Haq for shootings at Greater Seattle Jewish Federation
Posted by: 3dc || 06/05/2008 20:05 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The sickness is so embedded here in the West that pretty much any vile act prefaced by an pisslamic squawk will get a pass from the jury nullifiers...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 06/05/2008 21:17 Comments || Top||

#2  Those jurors are collecting a bad karma. They'd have to pay up one day.
Posted by: Spike Uniter || 06/05/2008 22:17 Comments || Top||


Africa Horn
Gulf of Aden: Canadian Frigate intervenes in pirate attack
photos and game play type sketches at link
Posted by: 3dc || 06/05/2008 20:15 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Cooool.

Next time blow them out of the water. Just on principle.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 06/05/2008 21:31 Comments || Top||

#2  The commenter at the site got it right. Sink their boats. Make 'em swim...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 06/05/2008 21:37 Comments || Top||

#3  When Caesar caught the pirates that ransomed him, he crucified them. Nailing them down has shown remarkable success in deterring second offenses.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 06/05/2008 22:51 Comments || Top||

#4  I suppose it could be claimed that they were just looking or some crap like that. Make it illegal to do that and then shoot those who break the rule.
Posted by: gorb || 06/05/2008 23:07 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
BREAKING NEWS: Top 2 Air Force Officials to Resign
Both the top uniformed officer of the Air Force and its civilian leader have been asked to submit their resignations, FOX News confirms.

Air Force Chief of Staff Michael Moseley and Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne will resign by the end of the day, two sets of sources tell FOX News.

Defense Secretary Gates has publicly identified a number of problems recently with the Air Force, including last year's accidental flight of nuclear weapons on a B-52 bomber, a top ranking official who ran into contract problems.

Gates also recently spoke at the Air Force Academy describing the Air Force's sluggishness to step up its force readiness.
Posted by: Sherry || 06/05/2008 13:30 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  While gordo england is inviting pisslamists to run the Pentagon, these two mooks probably did something really awful, like use the wrong fork at lunch in the Pentagon cafeteria...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 06/05/2008 13:38 Comments || Top||

#2  Now that our forces have shrunk so much since the end of the Cold War, maybe it's time to fold them back into the Army. Hmm?
Posted by: crosspatch || 06/05/2008 13:51 Comments || Top||

#3  Wonder if this is a run up to the GAO's tanker contract decision......
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 06/05/2008 14:18 Comments || Top||

#4  I wonder if this has anything to do with plans to bomb Iran. Perhaps these guys were too gung ho, or reluctant, so Gates is looking for leadership that will follow the plan.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 06/05/2008 14:24 Comments || Top||

#5  While gordo england is inviting pisslamists to run the Pentagon, these two mooks probably did something really awful, like use the wrong fork at lunch in the Pentagon cafeteria...

Wow, Junior - it's your chance to show the puzzle palace what a military geenyus you are. Did you send in your resume?

It's a culmination from a lot of things. The Barksdale nuke screwup (among other 'nuke' issues), the tanker contract and other procurement issues, readiness issues regarding deployments, etc.

Looks like Gates wanted to send a message.
Posted by: Pappy || 06/05/2008 14:40 Comments || Top||

#6  I was thinking along the lines of rjschwarz but then, all I know is what I read at Rantburg. Seems like a pretty dramatic move, though. The kinda thing that makes you wonder when the other shoe is gonna drop.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 06/05/2008 14:52 Comments || Top||

#7  Interesting. At least in the academic world, a change of leadership, when done for reasons of age, desire for change, or personality conflict is done with due regard for appearances. You really have to screw up to be asked to resign and clear your desk out (this happened to one of our department chairs not so long ago so I got to watch).

Not sure how it is in the military, but it seems to me, with what little I know, that either these two screwed the pooch in some big way, or they were standing in the road saying 'no!' when people above them wanted them to say 'yes, sir!'. I suppose the story will come out.
Posted by: Steve White || 06/05/2008 15:00 Comments || Top||

#8  Let's not forget the institutional resistance to having UAV manned and deployed with vigor. The AF has particularly been foot dragging in keeping its pilots in the driver seats while the other services have been using non-commissioned officers to fill the air.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 06/05/2008 15:03 Comments || Top||

#9  Bet it turns out to be a straw we don't know about yet. The AF would love to bomb Iran, they've gotten terrible press in this war. The Minot thing is weeks old and would be handled more gracefully. Sounds like something new was thrown on the camel's back.

I wouldn't want to be in Roughead's black shoes.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 06/05/2008 15:14 Comments || Top||

#10  i was thinking more along the lines of Pappy. Major procurement issues, back to that whole tanker leasing thing. Im sure other stuff we dont know about. From what I can gather this englund is a strong manager - not as willing to put up with each service doing its own thing as some were - but others here now far more than I do, I think.

Note, of course, management of the SERVICE is mainly about procurement and related support stuff. Stuff about actually fighting a war with the CINC's.
Posted by: liberalhawk || 06/05/2008 15:31 Comments || Top||

#11  Lemme run down a partial list:

Coziness of senior leadership with contractors. Contract and procurement irregularities. Issues with 'traditional USAF spending' (buy 'support' then go back for money to buy the weapons). UAV deployment, future UAV development. Personnel readiness, especially for deployment. Low morale in what used to be strategic defense.

I wouldn't want to be in Roughead's black shoes.

The Navy will be next.
Posted by: Pappy || 06/05/2008 15:57 Comments || Top||

#12  More here.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 06/05/2008 16:08 Comments || Top||

#13  And Here

Despite reports you may be reading elsewhere, this firing was not about nukes or missiles, well-placed sources say. "Far and away the biggest issue was the budget stuff, not the nuclear stuff. The UAV [unmanned aerial vehicle] fight, the F-22 deal... Gates really didn't appreciate it," one of those sources tells Danger Room. Now, with the botched missile and nuke shipments, "the SecDef [Secretary of Defense] has good cover to do something that suits him bureaucratically."

"The problem seems to be a philosophical difference between Gates and the USAF [U.S. Air Force], not anything to do with nuclear weapons," another adds. And Moseley and Wynne may not be the last to go. Rumors are swirling of more top-level Air Force officers getting the axe. Stay tuned.

ht: In from the Cold - reunification?
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 06/05/2008 16:22 Comments || Top||

#14  I've noticed a few things driving around Peterson AFB lately that may privide a bit of insight. There are too many general officers, and the Air Force staff has been reluctant to trim at the top, where it's needed. General Moseley is a TAC Air guy, and doesn't really relate much to the strategic side of the picture. With the break-up of SAC, there have been a long string of "mishaps" from the strategic fleet, culminating with the Barksdale affair and Minot's failure of their last Security Inspection. Progress on next-generation fighters, bombers, and reconnaissance aircraft hasn't gone as well as they should have, and expenses have increased significantly. The need for rapid response to innovations from the field have not been met, while there has been significant foot-dragging about a dozen or so different projects that are simply bogged down in paperwork. Finally, too many of the military's top officers want to fight the current war with lawyers instead of bombs. We may be in for a MAJOR house-cleaning, from the top down.

I've been through three of these. One, when I was in New Mexico, resulted in everyone above the rank of Major being fired and transferred out. The Air Force leadership, both military and civilian, can be brutal when there's a major screw-up - even moreso when someone dies because of it.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 06/05/2008 16:27 Comments || Top||

#15  I've noticed a few things driving around Peterson AFB lately...

Stay away from building one then.
Posted by: DarthVader || 06/05/2008 17:01 Comments || Top||

#16  Update:
Apparently this is because somebody accidently shipped some nuclear fuzes to Taiwan.

Al
Posted by: Frozen Al || 06/05/2008 18:42 Comments || Top||

#17  The US NPE = "powers that be" in Washington DC must be confident that ISLAMIST IRAN + JIHADISM -TERRORISM WON'T GO NUKLAR AFTER 2010.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 06/05/2008 19:09 Comments || Top||

#18  They just found out that they had exceded their level of incompetance and would have to be moved up to politics.
Posted by: Chief || 06/05/2008 19:37 Comments || Top||

#19  Seems the fighter mafia may be getting a house cleaning.

Big issue from the Army side is the USAF attempt to grab control of ALL UAV - and when that was curtailed, they didnt want to dedicate any of their budget to support the Army in a timely fashion nor budget sufficient amounts. Tasking USAF UAV assets is difficult at best.

Or so I heard.
Posted by: OldSpook || 06/05/2008 20:59 Comments || Top||

#20  I'll suggest they are hopelessly addicted to manned combat aircraft that are enormously expensive and rapidly becoming obselete.

If the Israelis use their long range UAV bomber against Iran and I suspect they will, then we will know for sure that there is nothing a manned aircraft can do that can't be done by a UAV.
Posted by: phil_b || 06/05/2008 21:05 Comments || Top||

#21  Bombing is one thing, an unmanned fighter is another.

They're coming, but I'm just sayin' ....
Posted by: lotp || 06/05/2008 21:41 Comments || Top||

#22  lotp agreed, but starving the UAVs to maintain fighter seats and golf coruses at bases... And then being slow to Army requests, and trying to rob the Army of its direct asset UAVs...

Well, lets say that brass needs to un-ass the command chairs and get someone in there that isnt beholden to the flight suit crowd.
Posted by: OldSpook || 06/05/2008 22:02 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
Lt Grayson - Not Guilty On All Counts
Lt Andrew Grayson, a defendant in the infamous Haditha case, has been found not guilty on all counts by a seven-member panel of Marine officers at Camp Pendleton.
More here. Looks like a complete exoneration. Paging Congressman John Murtha to the black courtesy phone ...
Posted by: Anonymoose || 06/05/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  X-Marine Murtha will ignore this news.
Posted by: Muggsy Gling || 06/05/2008 0:10 Comments || Top||

#2  At least 2 of the Marines Murtha accused are suing him. I hope the trial date is nearing.
Posted by: ed || 06/05/2008 1:00 Comments || Top||

#3  Iraq locals would watch as terrorists set up deadly IEDs and positioned trigger men to set off the charges. Al-Jazeera produced numerous episodes of celebrating locals, after US troops moved out. In the Hadith case, personnel saw a fellow soldier blown in 2 pieces. Given local support, they proceeded to clear the area under hair-trigger commands. Self-defense and confrontation of terrorists were not on the mind. In fact, killing civilians would have put soldiers in danger of retaliation. If innocents died, then all the blame can be placed on al-Qaeda in Iraq, or other terror groups.
Posted by: McZoid || 06/05/2008 3:58 Comments || Top||

#4  Always nice to hear that people on top beginning to realize that loyalty is a two way street.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 06/05/2008 6:54 Comments || Top||

#5  Murtha should be toast....
I just hope like hell he can be made to answer for his High Crimes!
Posted by: RD || 06/05/2008 7:18 Comments || Top||

#6  #2: At least 2 of the Marines Murtha accused are suing him. I hope the trial date is nearing.
Posted by: ed|| 2008-06-05 01:00 ||Comments Top||


I hope to God the rest do so as well.
Posted by: Ptah || 06/05/2008 9:12 Comments || Top||

#7  Suing Murtha into poverty works for me.

I would prefer drawing and quartering for the traitor, but we will make due with making him eat dirt.
Posted by: DarthVader || 06/05/2008 9:39 Comments || Top||

#8  grom,

actually as far as the Corps goes we've had a good history of the brass taking care of the lads - and contrary to popular belief we have a good history of forgiving subordinates who mess up when that mess up was done in good faith.

In the age of technology we still believe that the strength of the Corps is the individual Marine and the strength of the Marine is the Corps.
Posted by: Broadhead6 || 06/05/2008 10:44 Comments || Top||

#9  Since, during, Viet Nam, the military has attempted to appease the hippies by throwing innocent fighting men off the cliff. Did it in Panama, Somalia, the famous sniper case in Afghanistan, and with Haditha. Note the help they had from Time Magazine. The NCIS withheld exculpatory evidence. Think that happened accidentally?
The military never learns that you can't appease the hippies no matter how many innocent soldiers you screw over. It shows weakness, not compassion or justice.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey || 06/05/2008 11:32 Comments || Top||

#10  At least 2 of the Marines Murtha accused are suing him. I hope the trial date is nearing.

That should be interesting.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 06/05/2008 11:38 Comments || Top||

#11  fact of the matter is they were never going to be convicted for this and that's too bad. We don't kill innocent people and that's exactly what they did. They should not have to go to prison but they should be sent to the rear with the rest of the trigger-happy loons that make up the Marine Corps. Semper Fi my balls!!!
Posted by: the truth hurts || 06/05/2008 13:14 Comments || Top||

#12  mr. truth hurts is welcome to repeat that observation with a sign on a stick at a corner of its choice. Ignorance will not be treated as innocent.
Posted by: Muggsy Gling || 06/05/2008 13:42 Comments || Top||

#13  I see our Long Beach moonbat is back.
Posted by: Pappy || 06/05/2008 14:43 Comments || Top||

#14  the truth's stupidity hurts my brain.
Posted by: DarthVader || 06/05/2008 14:43 Comments || Top||

#15  fact of the matter is they were never going to be convicted for this and that's too bad. We don't kill innocent people and that's exactly what they did. They should not have to go to prison but they should be sent to the rear with the rest of the trigger-happy loons that make up the Marine Corps. Semper Fi my balls!!!

So you believe that willfully killing innocents should be rewarded with a safe job at the rear while everyone else is still in risky combat?

You know, it occurs to me that even if you're "right" you're still horribly horribly wrong.
Posted by: Abdominal Snowman || 06/05/2008 14:52 Comments || Top||

#16  Not that I think Lt. Grayson was guilty, but if he were, the UCMJ has sentences for that sort of offense for a reason.
Posted by: Abdominal Snowman || 06/05/2008 17:39 Comments || Top||

#17  Not guilty works for me.
Posted by: JohnQC || 06/05/2008 18:20 Comments || Top||

#18  The REAL Piece-o-Shite in this is an (unnamed) Marine General who was feeding this stuff to Murtha, and who pushed down from above to charge and try these guys, especially the LtCol whose trial is upcoming.
Posted by: OldSpook || 06/05/2008 22:00 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Mortar shells fired at Ghalanai
Several mortar shells were fired in Ghalanai, headquarters of Mohmand Agency, on Wednesday, but there were no reported casualties. The mortar shells landed near the College of Management, Ghalanai press club and a mosque.
Right. The Mohmand College of Management. Now there's a resume topper!
Local elders engaged in talks with Taliban to bring peace in the area said the attack was a failed attempt to disrupt the ongoing peace process between the government and Taliban. They said that the Taliban had condemned the attack and dissociated themselves from it.
Posted by: Fred || 06/05/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Govt to release 75 Taliban prisoners today
The government is to release 75 Taliban prisoners from the TimerGara jail in Malakand today (Thursday), Daily Times has reliably learnt. “This batch of 75 prisoners consists of those put into ‘grey’ and ‘black’ categories of the Taliban prisoners,” said an official source on condition of anonymity. Those coming into ‘white’ category had already been freed, he added. The release of all Taliban prisoners was agreed to in the pact signed on May 21 in Peshawar between the NWFP government and Swat-based Taliban. The source said the prisoners’ release was discussed during a high-level meeting between the provincial government and Taliban in Peshawar on Tuesday and that all Taliban prisoners would be set free in the coming week in a gradual process.

Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan dissociated his men from the recent incidents of violence in Swat and said some anti-peace elements were involved in the recent incidents of kidnappings and other crimes. NWFP Minister for Environment Wajid Ali Khan, who is a key member of the government committee negotiating with the Taliban, said officials would review cases of the prisoners and would release those found innocent.
This article starring:
MUSLIM KHANTaliban
NWFP Minister for Environment Wajid Ali Khan
Posted by: Fred || 06/05/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Taliban

#1  This is not a smart move.
Posted by: Mark Espinola || 06/05/2008 9:46 Comments || Top||


Taliban member killed, spokesman vows Dire Revenge™
A member of Taliban was killed and three others injured when security forces opened fire at a vehicle in the Navagai area of Bajaur Agency, sources told Daily Times on Wednesday. The dead Talib has been identified as Ziaur Rehman. Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan spokesman Maulvi Umer condemned the security forces’ attack and warned of Dire Revenge™ for the killing of their colleague. He said that Taliban had started peace efforts in the agency but some elements were not sincere and wanted to disturb the law and order situation in the agency.
This article starring:
MAULVI UMERTehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan
ZIAUR REHMANTehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan
Posted by: Fred || 06/05/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Two killed in Dera Bugti mine blast
Two people were killed when they stepped on a landmine planted by unknown militants at Sobho Sudrani, Dera Bugti, on Wednesday, police said. According to reports, Fateh Din and Sher Ahmed were on their way home when they stepped on the landmine. Both received critical injuries and died shortly after the incident. Area police have registered a case against unknown militants.
Posted by: Fred || 06/05/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Militants blow up 2 dozen music shops in Kohat, Miranshah
Bombs ripped through several music and video shops in northwestern Pakistan on Wednesday, wounding at least four people, officials said.

The injuries occurred when a blast hit a video shop located on the 2nd floor of Bannu Market in main Bazaar of the garrison town of Kohat, which has seen several attacks in recent months blamed on Pakistani Taliban militants.

“The bomb was planted in a CD and video shop, resulting in the wounding of at least three people. The shop was destroyed and some nearby shops were also damaged,” local police official Shakirullah, who goes by one name, told AFP. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

Miranshah: Separately, bombs destroyed two dozen businesses, including around eight music shops in Purani Ghari Mandi in Miranshah, the capital town in the North Waziristan, officials and residents said.

The attack came overnight, at the end of a one-week deadline issued by militants in the town near the Afghan border for shopkeepers to close outlets showing still and moving images, or selling music.

“We received a letter one week ago from the Taliban that we must close down our business and not sell any music, videos or photos,” shop owner Inayatullah Khan told AFP. “Now they have carried out their threat and left us without our business.”No one was hurt in the attack, according to the sources.

“About 25 masked militants came at about 1:30am, planted explosives and blew up the entire market,” said Mohammad Sakhi, who runs a workshop next to the market. The stalls offered pirated Indian and Hollywood films as well as CDs of Pashtun folk music. Some kept more racy movies under the counter, a resident said.

There have been numerous attacks on video and music shops in remote northwestern border regions by militants who see all music, film and television as un-Islamic. Last year, hardline religious students from a mosque even tried to press video shops to close in the capital, Islamabad.
Posted by: Fred || 06/05/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Taliban

#1  Before long the only acceptable employment will be setting bombs for the Taliban.
Posted by: Menhadden Snogum6713 || 06/05/2008 8:03 Comments || Top||

#2  Wew!! Thank God they made that truce with the Taliban. Could of been a bigger bomb.
Posted by: plainslow || 06/05/2008 9:04 Comments || Top||

#3 
“We received a letter one week ago from the Taliban that we must close down our business and not sell any music, videos or photos,”

The Islamist death cultists should all relocate to dark caves.
Posted by: Mark Espinola || 06/05/2008 9:42 Comments || Top||

#4  2 dozen music shops? That kafir music must be really popular with some of the muzz thereabouts...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 06/05/2008 13:46 Comments || Top||


Qaeda Says It Carried Out Embassy Kaboom
Al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for a suicide attack on Denmark's embassy in Pakistan three days ago, saying it was Dire Revenge™ for the publication of cartoons lampooning the Prophet Muhammad, Reuters reported.

Denmark was targeted as it didn't apologize for the publication of the caricatures, al-Qaeda said in an Internet statement yesterday signed by the group's leader in Afghanistan, Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, according to Reuters. The authenticity of the statement couldn't be verified, the news service said.

The attack was ``revenge against the infidel government ... of Denmark which published degrading drawings of the prophet ... and refused to apologize,'' Reuters cited the statement as saying. At least six people were killed when a car bomb blew up outside the embassy in Islamabad.

The bombing, the first at a diplomatic mission in Pakistan in more than two years, came six weeks after al-Qaeda deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahiri called on Muslims to ``cause damage to Denmark'' following the publication of the cartoons.
This article starring:
Mustafa Abu al-Yazidal-Qaeda
Posted by: Fred || 06/05/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda

#1  Great job guys blowing up the folks you claim speak for. What next? A market, preschool?
Posted by: ed || 06/05/2008 1:08 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Mahdi Army uses “flying IEDs” in Baghdad By Bill Roggio
Photos and story at link
..

What is clear is that the devices are using 107mm rocket charges. The US military said these charges are "of Iranian-manufacture." The lot numbers and dates of manufacture show the rocket casing have been manufactured within the past three years.

The rocket casings shown in the images provided by Multinational Forces Iraq are the same type used in the Chinese made Type 63 towed 107mm Multiple Launch Rocket. The Iranians manufacture this weapons system and the rockets, according to a former US military intelligence analyst familiar with Iranian munitions and weapons systems.

The type of improvised launch system and rocket is not new to warfare. The Irish Republican Army used a similar system to conduct a February 1991 attack on 10 Downing Street, the office and home of the British prime minister.
Posted by: 3dc || 06/05/2008 20:08 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Nuk'em. Both.
Posted by: Spike Uniter || 06/05/2008 22:15 Comments || Top||


H.R. McMaster on Charlie Rose
Posted by: charger || 06/05/2008 15:41 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  This is excellent. Clear and concise. Thanks for posting it.
Posted by: Mizzou Mafia || 06/05/2008 18:41 Comments || Top||

#2  This is one of the BEST explanations you will ever see on how Iraq came to be what it is, and how we came up with a strategy and tactics to defeat it.

See the crossed sabres on his lapels? Crossed SABERS, not rifles. Cavalry. Not the "Mainstream" for the army (usually infantry or Armor, Cav has a rep of being a bit too loose and maverick to be trusted in the Regular Army).

See that patch on his R shoulder?

Same as mine. Same time, same place, ate the same sand.

2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment. "Toujour Pret", (Always Ready). Longest continuous serving regiment on continuous active combat duty in the US Army. (I'm proud!)

One of the best damned Cav Troopers to ever wear the green and gold palmetto & fleur-de-lis of the 2nd ACR.

Go watch the video, and you will see what I have been bragging on this guy for years. I'd follow him into hell because I know we'd come out winning.

The public needs to see this, widely.
Posted by: OldSpook || 06/05/2008 21:12 Comments || Top||

#3  The best part is that he does point out the errors, and why they were made, by prior command and Bremer.
Posted by: OldSpook || 06/05/2008 21:57 Comments || Top||


US Soldier Firing SMAW At Insurgent Sniper Hiding In Balcony In Baghdad, Iraq.
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 06/05/2008 12:27 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I wonder if the sniper was dumb enough to just sit there when he saw them bringing that forward?
Posted by: Anonymoose || 06/05/2008 12:59 Comments || Top||

#2  Didn't that soldier even care that there was a kindergarden class in session on that balcony, with each child holding a baby bunny?
Posted by: Menhadden Snogum6713 || 06/05/2008 13:02 Comments || Top||

#3  The "why maya angelou is my favorite poet" crayon session was cut short...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 06/05/2008 13:42 Comments || Top||

#4  Question (and I'm not ex-mil so I don't know the answer): if there's a sniper there, and he sees a soldier beginning to aim a huge stovepipe at him, why doesn't he shoot?

In watching the video, the soldier runs into the open briefly to get his angle. He then stands away from the armored vehicle, takes careful aim, and fires.

Now if I'm a sniper (and I've never been one), I'm thinking either a) get out of dodge or b) see if I can peg him before he pegs me.
Posted by: Steve White || 06/05/2008 15:04 Comments || Top||

#5  The entry qualifications are a lot looser on the other side. And, no, I don't think the jihad boys get a lot of opportunity to play Call of Duty on their PC, or 360 or PS3, so their cognitive skills are not up there with the average American 7 or 8 year old.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 06/05/2008 15:22 Comments || Top||

#6  No military experience at all here, but what struck me was how quickly that went down. The shooter enters the frame at 0:16. He emerges from the tank at 0:23 and fired at 0:27. At best the sniper has less than 10 seconds to run through his OODA loop. Pretty impressive handling of what I suspect is a heavy, cumbersome weapon. If he was looking out of the building, one of the shooters buddies would have laid down some fire at the sniper. So most likely the sniper had been trying to figure out how to get out of the jam long ago and had determined he was trapped like the rat he is. Too bad, so sad.

Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 06/05/2008 15:26 Comments || Top||

#7  I challenge you to a duel. Bazookas at 10 paces?
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 06/05/2008 19:10 Comments || Top||

#8  Don't forget there is a SAW firing at him to keep his head down. Excellent coordination between the SAW operator and the stovepipe operator.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 06/05/2008 19:10 Comments || Top||

#9  If you notice in the Marine Firefight video posted today, the Marines have fire superiority and then fire two SMAWs simultaneously. Then you hear Cease Fire. And that's all there is to that.
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 06/05/2008 19:29 Comments || Top||


US Marines FireFight With Insurgents In Iraq - Happy ending

US Marines Engage Insurgents With Small Arms In Iraq.

Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 06/05/2008 11:51 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Brings a tear to my eye.
Posted by: Jonathan || 06/05/2008 16:29 Comments || Top||

#2  Get Some, Marines!
Posted by: USMC6743 || 06/05/2008 17:40 Comments || Top||

#3  Oh yes, very VERY nice! Semper Fi Marines!
Posted by: djh_usmc || 06/05/2008 19:37 Comments || Top||


Another death at the wall in Baghdad
Unfortunately we don't yet have a color group for 'propaganda' ...
BAGHDAD (AFP) - Iraqi teenager Abbas Khadum died in his father's arms; one of 25 men locals say were shot dead in a single day by US troops in a crackdown on Shiite militiamen in east Baghdad. His mother fought back tears while his father held a picture of the 19-year-old, his hair slicked back and dressed in a smart shirt buttoned up to his chin, as he gave his version of how US troops had killed his son.

US forces said Khadum was one of 11 "special group" criminals -- a term used to describe fighters armed, funded and trained by Iranians -- attempting to plant roadside bombs. His parents say he was just walking to university.
Where he attended advanced pyrotechnics studies.
Just a simple, heavily armed student ...
Khadum's family live in the heart of the Shiite-dominated Al-Obeidi neighbourhood, where many followers of radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr are rumoured to have sought refuge after being driven out of nearby Sadr City.

Khadum's family home, an anonymous rectangular building with an iron gate, is around a dozen metres (yards) from a wide main road, part-hidden by a large concrete wall erected in mid May by US forces to disrupt militia activities.

US forces built concrete barriers throughout Baghdad in a bid to prevent insurgents launching roadside bomb attacks on military convoys and to block militia movements. People angry at the presence of the ugly grey barrier protested and launched regular attacks against it, to bring it crashing down.
You can't tolerate ugly barriers in this pristine slum, it's against the CC&Rs.
But, according to Khadum's father, Abu Abbas, American forces hit back.
Imagine that. I can, but Khadum couldn't ...
"In the middle of the night, the Americans positioned themselves on a roof of a nearby building site which overlooks the wall," he said, his bespectacled face framed in a traditional red keffiyeh scarf.

'At dawn, I found a bloodied body on my doorstep'
"At dawn, I stepped out of my house to go to prayers, and I found a bloodied body on my doorstep. It was a labourer who had come to work on a building site close to the wall.
Night shift building maintenance.
"Neighbours telephoned me to say I shouldn't go out because the Americans were shooting anything that moved.

"A little later, Said Saad, a man who sold drinks, who everyone in the district knew, was also killed. Then one of my neighbours, Sabah Mahdi, had his head blown off by a bullet," Khadum's father said, as his wife wept.

"About 11 am, my son was due to go to university with his friends. With all the shooting, he told them not to come and meet him at the house, but to wait a few streets away. "He left and then a few minutes later, I was called and told he had been wounded. I raced to him. He had been shot in the back, at shoulder level. He was still breathing. He died in my arms as we took him to hospital," he said.

That evening, a US soldier went to photograph the body at the mortuary and told Abu Abbas that the teenager was shot after attempting to bring down the wall. Khadum had not been in trouble before and "was not involved in politics," his family and friends said.
He was a good boy, always helped old women cross the street.
"It is true that people used to try and knock down the wall, but they came from other districts," his father added.
Perhaps the District of Columbia?
Responding to claims his son was placing roadside bombs, Abu Abbas said Shiite militiamen "don't plant bombs on main streets in Baghdad in broad daylight."
Nope, never happens, do you think we are that dumb? Don't answer that!
That same day, May 21, saw a total of 25 people, all men, killed by American gunfire close to the Al-Obeidi wall, according to the district's residents. Cameraman Wissam Ali Ouda, who worked for private Iraqi television station Afaq, was among those killed; shot dead returning home after work. A week after the shootings, locals still avoid the building site from where locals believe the gunmen took their aim.

In Al-Obeidi, the huge concrete wall serves as a stark inescapable reminder of the bloodshed of that day.
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 06/05/2008 10:54 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  A reminder to not try and behave like Palestinians do with Israelis, because Americans have no sense of humor about these things.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 06/05/2008 11:16 Comments || Top||

#2  Heard this meme on NPR this morning.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 06/05/2008 12:19 Comments || Top||

#3  Learned nothing from the al-dura case outcome, the media did...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 06/05/2008 13:44 Comments || Top||

#4  Sure they did. Make sure your sources can't be interrogated and never, EVER let the original video out of your hands ...
Posted by: Steve White || 06/05/2008 15:06 Comments || Top||

#5  Agence France Press (AFP). Wotta surprise.
Posted by: remoteman || 06/05/2008 15:19 Comments || Top||


More Special Groupies Grabbed
A couple more mid-level leaders get rolled up. Seems to be a lot of that going around these days.
Definite shortage of number threes looming ...
BAGHDAD – Coalition forces captured an alleged Special Groups leader, and the suspected primary Special Groups weapons smuggler and financier for Al Kut in operations south of Baghdad Thursday.

Acting on intelligence information, Coalition forces conducted a raid on the residence of a suspected Iranian-trained Special Groups leader in al-Mahawil, which lies about 70 km south of Baghdad near Hillah. Coalition forces entered the suspected outlaw’s residence where he surrendered without incident.

In a separate operation near Al Kut, intelligence tips ...
Hopefully legitimate and not just personal grievance settling.
... helped Coalition forces track down the hideout of a suspected Special Groups criminal, who sources allege is the primary weapons smuggler and financier for Special Groups elements in that area. Coalition forces stormed the suspected criminal’s location, about 30 km east of Al Kut, where he and another suspected criminal surrendered.

“As Special Groups leaders and their criminal associates flee their normal area of operations, Iraqi and Coalition Security Forces will continue to track and disrupt their activities,” said U.S. Army Capt. Charles Calio, MNF-I spokesperson. “We will continue to deny these criminals refuge in any part of Iraq.”
Posted by: Menhadden Snogum6713 || 06/05/2008 07:42 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: IRGC

#1  Number 2 must be feeling lonely.
Posted by: Number 6 || 06/05/2008 12:20 Comments || Top||


US nets 2 Qaeda suspects, Shia leader in Iraq
The clean-up continues ...
BAGHDAD - American troops grabbed two Al Qaeda in Iraq bombing suspects and a Shia militia leader Tuesday in separate raids north and south of Baghdad, the US military said.

One of the two Al Qaeda suspects, who was captured with four aides in Mosul, is believed to have overseen security for the group's branch in that northern city, the military said. Mosul is one of the terror network's last urban strongholds and the target of a joint U.S.-Iraqi operation. The man, who was not identified by name, is also suspected of masterminding bombings against Iraqi police in the area, the US military said.

The other Al Qaeda in Iraq suspect was apprehended along with an assistant in Tikrit, a Sunni Arab city south of Mosul. He allegedly helped organize suicide bombings and the movement of foreign fighters into the country, a US statement said.

The suspected Shia militia leader and five associates surrendered without incident at his home in Kut, southeast of the Iraqi capital, the US said. He was accused of involvement in the murder of Iraqis and American soldiers, it said.
Posted by: Steve White || 06/05/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Iraq


Iraq police arrest five Shias wanted for over 720 murders
KARBALA, Iraq - Iraqi police in the Shiite shrine city of Karbala have arrested five men wanted in connection with 721 murders committed over a period of 18 months, a senior officer said on Wednesday.

Major General Raed Shaker Jawdat, head of police in the central city, said the men were questioned about the sectarian murders and they said the victims were loyalists of the Baath party of executed dictator Saddam Hussein. "When we searched the background (of the victims), we found that only 11 of the 721 were in fact Baathists," Jawdat said.

He said the five men in custody were supected of leading a criminal gang of some 150 people.

Investigators have found mass graves containing the victims of the wave of killings, some of them women or children. Police did not give a date for the arrests, saying only that they were made recently.

Police identified the suspects as Ali Abdel Taan, who is also known as Ali Shariia, Sayed Monadhel, Muhsen Shariia, Haidar Jouri and Razzak al-Samman. The suspects are also accused of torturing their victims at a mosque.
Posted by: Steve White || 06/05/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Mahdi Army

#1  Muslims don't torture people in mosques. Do they?
Posted by: McZoid || 06/05/2008 5:00 Comments || Top||

#2  some muslims do. Other muslims arrest those who do.
Posted by: liberalhawk || 06/05/2008 9:32 Comments || Top||

#3  and others just sit by and watch the fun playing a game of cards called apathy
Posted by: Mad Eye || 06/05/2008 9:36 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Israel halts Gaza fuel after depot attack
Israel suspended fuel deliveries to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip on Wednesday after a mortar fired by Palestinian militants struck the territory's only fuel depot, wounding a Palestinian worker. "Fuel deliveries were frozen after the mortar hit," said Gil Karie, a spokesman for the Israeli District Coordination Office, which oversees deliveries to Gaza, adding, "They are checking the situation. We don't know yet if it will open again today, or at what time."

Deliveries of European Union-funded fuel to Gaza's sole power station were not affected by the freeze at the Nahal Oz depot because no deliveries had been scheduled for Wednesday, said a EU official. Israel has reduced fuel supplies to the Gaza Strip since Hamas Islamists seized the coastal territory in June 2007. Israel has suspended fuel deliveries in the past after militant attacks.
Posted by: Fred || 06/05/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Hamas

#1  This week's episode of "Shallow Learning Curve"...
Posted by: mojo || 06/05/2008 0:09 Comments || Top||

#2  Shallow Learning Curve

Whose?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 06/05/2008 6:51 Comments || Top||

#3  G(r)omgoru gets the One-Liner prize.

Every time a bomb goes off at the Depot, one week of no deliveries.

Every time a rocket is launched at Siderot, one week of no deliveries, to be cumulative.

If "collective punishment!" is shouted, answer "Siderot is collective punishment."
Posted by: Ptah || 06/05/2008 9:56 Comments || Top||

#4  Amnon Rosenberg, 51, a father of three from Kibbutz Nirim was killed, two others were seriously wounded and a fourth suffered light wounds noontime Thursday when a mortar shell fired by Palestinian terrorists from the Gaza Strip hit a factory in the western Negev kibbutz of Nir Oz.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 06/05/2008 12:59 Comments || Top||


Sri Lanka
18 wounded in Sri Lanka train bombing
At least 18 people were wounded near the Sri Lankan capital Wednesday when suspected Tamil Tiger rebels set off a bomb alongside a packed commuter train, officials said.

The bomb exploded between Colombo’s Wellawatte and Dehiwela areas when the train was rolling past, police spokesman Ranjith Gunasekera said. The blast came nine days after a similar attack against a commuter train - also blamed on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) - killed nine people and wounded 84 people. “It is believed that the bomb had been triggered to target the Colombo-bound and highly crowded passenger train.

Eighteen civilians, 15 males and three females... have already been admitted to hospital,” the island’s defence ministry said in a statement. “It was definitely an attack by the LTTE. There is no doubt about it,” the military’s spokesman, Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara, also told AFP. According to the train’s driver, around 1,500 people were on board when the bomb exploded. Police commandos at the scene told AFP that the bomb, which weighed around five kilogram’s, had been laid on a stretch of track parallel to where the train was passing.
Posted by: Fred || 06/05/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Two years of the Defender-Scimitar & Times Picayune!
Posted by: Fred || 06/05/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  A typo?...
Posted by: mojo || 06/05/2008 0:11 Comments || Top||

#2  Impressive architectural design.
Posted by: OldSpook || 06/05/2008 0:13 Comments || Top||

#3  Yeah, sure, 'sits', I sez she's about to topple over, see how she's craining her head back to keep her balance ...
Posted by: Steve White || 06/05/2008 0:28 Comments || Top||

#4  Puhhhhhleaze Note The Chair,

'Oh... God Made Beauties Both Up-Thrusting in a Stunning Experience of Architectural Wonder.

..Oh... How Would I Love to Sit There....
Posted by: RD || 06/05/2008 2:26 Comments || Top||

#5  TWO Years!!

Congratz Fred and Co.!
Posted by: RD || 06/05/2008 2:30 Comments || Top||

#6  MMM . . .
Posted by: gorb || 06/05/2008 2:37 Comments || Top||

#7  Two years of the Defender-Scimitar & Times Picayune!

Congrats to the mods and the very clued up respondants. I've learned a lot.
Posted by: Classer || 06/05/2008 4:50 Comments || Top||

#8  2 Years?!? Wow. I don't know how Fred does it every day. The handful I did were exhausting. To find a nice girl, write the ledes, and set type, each one took me at least an hour and a half of work.
Posted by: Scooter McGruder || 06/05/2008 6:15 Comments || Top||

#9  The RDS&TP: showing the mainstream press what a front page should look like since 2006.
Posted by: Mike || 06/05/2008 6:40 Comments || Top||

#10  Well done, Fred. The RDC&TP brings neatly together all the things that make this place so wonderful. I think I'll hit the tip jar again in celebration.
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/05/2008 7:32 Comments || Top||

#11  Nice candles.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 06/05/2008 8:25 Comments || Top||

#12  She has a very nice set of .... teeth.
Posted by: DarthVader || 06/05/2008 8:26 Comments || Top||

#13  And may there be many more!

And to help ensure that, I just hit the amazon tip jar myself. Can't be easier or more painless, given the, ah, UNIQUE pleasures the Rantburt Experience brings.
Posted by: Ptah || 06/05/2008 9:04 Comments || Top||

#14  Thanks. I've got to buy some more memory tonight. I'm setting up another machine to spell the current server -- we're running out of drive space.
Posted by: Fred || 06/05/2008 9:42 Comments || Top||

#15  I just hit the paypal button. Thanks Fred!
Posted by: Seafarious || 06/05/2008 10:51 Comments || Top||

#16  Pictorial proof of the successful application of the cantilever.
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 06/05/2008 11:17 Comments || Top||

#17  Yikes! Be careful with those things!
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 06/05/2008 11:34 Comments || Top||

#18  we're running out of drive space.

If everyone used smaller fonts for their comments we wouldn't be having this problem.
Posted by: SteveS || 06/05/2008 11:56 Comments || Top||

#19  It's a shame that .com isn't around for the anniversary.
Posted by: Classical_Liberal || 06/05/2008 13:01 Comments || Top||

#20  Well done, Fred, and all the mods too! It's indeed a pleasure to wake up, knowing I have the RDS&TP to look forward to. A constant, ongoing education in what the world is up to (which is mostly stupidity).
Posted by: Old Patriot || 06/05/2008 16:15 Comments || Top||

#21  "I've got to buy some more memory tonight. I'm setting up another machine to spell the current server -- we're running out of drive space."

I've made a note to send you a check next payday, Fred.

And my undying thanks to you and all who help you.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 06/05/2008 16:21 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
57[untagged]
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2Global Jihad
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1al-Qaeda in Britain
1al-Qaeda in Iraq
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1IRGC
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1Mahdi Army

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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.
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Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
tu3031
badanov
sherry
ryuge
GolfBravoUSMC
Bright Pebbles
trailing wife
Gloria
Fred
Besoeker
Glenmore
Frank G
3dc
Skidmark

Two weeks of WOT
Thu 2008-06-05
  Iraq police arrest five Shias wanted for over 720 murders
Wed 2008-06-04
  US-Iraq Negotiating Status Of Forces Agreement
Tue 2008-06-03
  Norway, Sweden close Islamabad embassies in wake of Danish kaboom
Mon 2008-06-02
  Darul-Uloom Deoband issues fatwa against terror
Sun 2008-06-01
  Australia ends combat operations in Iraq
Sat 2008-05-31
  100 Talibs killed in Farah
Fri 2008-05-30
  Suicide bomber kills 16, injures 18 near Mosul
Thu 2008-05-29
  Lebanese president reappoints prime minister
Wed 2008-05-28
  Yemen reports crushing Zaidi rebels near capital
Tue 2008-05-27
  Leb: 9 wounded in gunfight between pro-gov't, opposition supporters
Mon 2008-05-26
  Lebanon Elects Suleiman President as Hezbollah Gains
Sun 2008-05-25
  Iraq says Qaeda cleared from Mosul
Sat 2008-05-24
  Second man arrested after Brit blast
Fri 2008-05-23
  AQI Moneybags Poobah captured by Iraqi Security Forces
Thu 2008-05-22
  Hezbollah Wins Veto After Talks End Lebanon Stalemate

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