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B.O. visits Afghanistan on grand tour
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
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Good morning
Posted by: Fred || 07/20/2008 01:50 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  smoking hot with that innocent look....
Posted by: Frank G || 07/20/2008 8:51 Comments || Top||

#2  Oh, Grace. You remain my all-time favorite. But never ever cover your hair again.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon || 07/20/2008 12:20 Comments || Top||

#3  Grace was indeed one of a kind. I can't blame Prince Rainier for wanting her. Too bad her children weren't as classy as their mom.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 07/20/2008 14:27 Comments || Top||

#4  but Princess Stephanie is so darn HOT...
Posted by: Abu do you love || 07/20/2008 16:05 Comments || Top||

#5  Rice farmer?
Posted by: Jack is Back! || 07/20/2008 16:07 Comments || Top||

#6  Ima think Dave D was her older brother.
Posted by: .5MT || 07/20/2008 17:46 Comments || Top||

#7  I don't recall Dave D having legs like that, .5MT dear.
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/20/2008 17:48 Comments || Top||

#8  I can tell you from personal experience that Dave D. doesn't have legs like that. He is, however a lot of fun at a party.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 07/20/2008 19:22 Comments || Top||

#9  Fred, nice to see you're past your Dorothy phase.
Posted by: Ho Chi Hupaviper1979 || 07/20/2008 19:49 Comments || Top||

#10  I need my occasional Dorothies.
Posted by: Fred || 07/20/2008 20:43 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
Canadian soldier killed by roadside bomb in Afghanistan
(Xinhua) -- A Canadian soldier has been killed by a roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan, Canada's Defense Ministry said Saturday. The soldier was hit by an improvised explosive device Friday night while on a foot patrol in Panjwayi District near Kandahar. He was airlifted to an airfield hospital but was pronounced dead upon arrival, said the ministry in a statement. Another soldier was hurt lightly. Canada now has 2,500 troops stationed in southern Afghanistan. Since 2002 when Canada first sent troops to Afghanistan, a total of 88 soldiers and one diplomat have died there.
Posted by: Fred || 07/20/2008 01:14 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Commander: Media Reports On Afghanistan Outpost Battle Were Exaggerated
A snippet of Col. Charles "Chip" Preysler, commander of the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team report

The Army did not "abandon" the base after the attack, as many media reporters have suggested, Preysler said.

He said the decision to move from the location following the attack was to reposition, which his men have done countless times throughout their tour, and to move closer to the local seat of government.

"If there’s no combat outpost to abandon, there’s no position to abandon," he said. "It’s a bunch of vehicles like we do on patrol anywhere and we hold up for a night and pick up any tactical positions that we have with vehicle patrol bases.

"We do that routinely.... We’re always doing that when go out and stay in an area for longer then a few hours, and that’s what it is. So there is nothing to abandon. There was no structures, there was no COP or FOB or anything like that to even abandon. So, from the get-go, that is just [expletive], and it’s not right."

He also didn’t like the media’s characterization that his men were "overrun."

"As far as I know, and I know a lot, it was not overrun in any shape, manner or form," an emotional Preysler said. "It was close combat to be sure — hand grenade range. The enemy never got into the main position. As a matter of fact, it was, I think, the bravery of our soldiers reinforcing the hard-pressed observation post, or OP, that turned the tide to defeat the enemy attack."

Though Preysler and his staff have seen several reports on the fight and numbers of enemy, he said true specifics still remain unclear.

"I do not know the exact numbers. But I know they had much greater strength than one U.S. platoon," he said. "I believe the enemy to number over 100 in that area when he attacked. I don’t know the casualties that he took, but I know that it’s got to be substantial based on the different reports I’m getting. We may not know the true damage we inflicted on the enemy, but we certainly defeated his attack and repulsed his attack and he never got into our position."

Preysler and his staff also object to media reports that because of the size of the attack, it could be a harbinger of change in the way militants fight in eastern Afghanistan.

"I think people are taking license and just misusing statistics, and I refuse to do that," he said. "We’re in the middle of the fighting season. When we first got here last summer and started fighting here in June, we were only seeing the enemy and engaging him first about 5 percent of the time. Now we’re between 25 and 40 percent. We see the enemy, and we’re engaging him first."
Posted by: Sherry || 07/20/2008 01:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Taliban

#1  Only our bright and honest media could look at a battle were we kiled 100 and lost ?10? and call it a defeat. Well I guess they enemy would call this a victory? Yep sure they would.
Posted by: Cyber Sarge || 07/20/2008 12:48 Comments || Top||

#2  Sarge, the MSM has been looking for THE Afghan TET offensive or a battle they could fit to that narrative for a long time. At this time, they also have another incentive - that is to support the Obama presidential bid by bolstering his calls for more troops for Afghanistan.
Posted by: Omagum Bonaparte8537 || 07/20/2008 14:55 Comments || Top||

#3  When you are as invested in defeat of any American war, business, democracy advocacy or exports then you will damn well make up the stories to fit the agenda. The legacy media needs to put more emphasis on legacy and get lost.
Posted by: Jack is Back! || 07/20/2008 16:10 Comments || Top||

#4  The MSM has a wet dream whenever they can use the words, "lose, abandon, retreat, capitulate, or withdraw." Go figure. There are a few good, real journalists reporting on this war--most of them are referenced or posted at Rantburg. You don't see much of them in the MSM.
Posted by: JohnQC || 07/20/2008 16:19 Comments || Top||

#5  With a son still in Iraq, I am really, really close to a "F**k the MSM" attitude. Pretty darn sad.
Posted by: anymouse || 07/20/2008 16:41 Comments || Top||

#6  Good luck anymouse. Prayers and gratitude for you, your family and your son.
Posted by: JohnQC || 07/20/2008 16:48 Comments || Top||

#7  That's why you come to Rantburg, anymouse, where the few grains of wheat have been separated from the tons of chaff.
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/20/2008 17:51 Comments || Top||

#8  The false premise that the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Iraq have the upper hand over our forces is being pushed by Barak Obama.

Obama says Afghanistan 'precarious and urgent'

Of course he will not talk to the Commander of the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team, a Commander on the ground. Obama then trys to use that false report to demand troops leave ... Iraq, to join with Afghanistan troops. If the commanders on the ground, who are much more knowledgeable than the junior Senator, would have done so already. They have done so to the extent necessary.
Posted by: a yankee || 07/20/2008 18:08 Comments || Top||

#9  I do appreciate it, ladies and gents. He will returning from his first tour really soon. Anymouse's wife does not know about the steel re-enforced coffin her only son lived in at the FOB because of the mortars.
Posted by: anymouse || 07/20/2008 19:40 Comments || Top||


A Story: That Day at that Forward Base in the Stan
Everything was on fire. The trucks. The bazaar. The grass.

It looked surreal. It looked like a movie.

That was what Spc. Tyler Stafford remembered thinking as he stepped onto the medical evacuation helicopter. The 23-year-old soldier would have been loaded onto the bird, but the poncho that was hastily employed as his stretcher broke. His body speckled with grenade and RPG shrapnel, the Vicenza, Italy, infantryman walked the last few feet to the waiting Black Hawk.

That was July 13. That was when Stafford was blown out of a fighting position by an RPG, survived a grenade blast and had the tail of an RPG strike his helmet.

That was the day nine Chosen Company soldiers died. It was just days before the unit was scheduled to leave the base.

The first RPG and machine gun fire came at dawn, strategically striking the forward operating base's mortar pit. The insurgents next sighted their RPGs on the tow truck inside the combat outpost, taking it out. That was around 4:30 a.m.

This was not a haphazard attack. The reportedly 200 insurgents fought from several positions. They aimed to overrun the new base. The U.S. soldiers knew it and fought like hell. They knew their lives were on the line. "I just hope these guys' wives and their children understand how courageous their husbands and dads were," said Sgt. Jacob Walker. "They fought like warriors."

The next target was the FOB's observation post, where nine soldiers were positioned on a tiny hill about 50 to 75 meters from the base. Of those nine, five died, and at least three others -- Stafford among them -- were wounded.

When the attack began, Stafford grabbed his M-240 machine gun off a north-facing sandbag wall and moved it to an east-facing sandbag wall. Moments later, RPGs struck the north-facing wall, knocking Stafford out of the fighting position and wounding another soldier.

Stafford thought he was on fire so he rolled around, regaining his senses. Nearby, Cpl. Gunnar Zwilling, who later died in the fight, had a stunned look on his face.

Immediately, a grenade exploded by Stafford, blowing him down to a lower terrace at the observation post and knocking his helmet off. Stafford put his helmet back on and noticed how badly he was bleeding.

Cpl. Matthew Phillips was close by, so Stafford called to him for help. Phillips was preparing to throw a grenade and shot a look at Stafford that said, "Give me a second. I gotta go kill these guys first."

This was only about 30 to 60 seconds into the attack.
Support our troops and read this first hand account of that day in the Stan
Posted by: Sherry || 07/20/2008 00:57 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I have to say it: if Vietnam War conditions were permitted, incoming rounds would have been suppressed with air launched Napalm. Somebody wants this enemy to live.
Posted by: McZoid || 07/20/2008 7:20 Comments || Top||

#2  More like it was a case of using the air assets that were available.
Posted by: Pappy || 07/20/2008 11:19 Comments || Top||

#3  #2 More like it was a case of using the air assets that were available. Posted by: Pappy

That may be true, Pappy, but we're still fighting this damned war with boxing gloves on our hands and a foot in a bucket. I'm sure a little napalm would go a long way on stopping the talibunnies from forming into large groups. We own the night. We need to find groups like this when they're gathering, and napalm them. Let them know we can not only kill them, but do so in a way that will GUARANTEE they never make it into "heaven". Remember those "burned" bodies several years ago? The taliban would be TERRIFIED of burning to death. They must be properly buried to get into "heaven" and get their "virgins". Napalm would be an extremely potent weapon against these nutcases. Our not using it is a crime against our fighting forces.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 07/20/2008 14:37 Comments || Top||

#4  45 US troops and 24 Afghan troops under attack by 600. 100 taliban coming from one direction, 100 taliban coming from another direction, with 400 in the village laying down cover fire for the taliban.
Posted by: a yankee || 07/20/2008 15:12 Comments || Top||

#5  From the OP, Pitts got on the radio and told his comrades he was alone. At least three soldiers went to the OP to rescue Pitts, but they suffered wounds after encountering RPG and small-arms fire.

Pitts fought the Taliban and survived the attack at the OP. The Observation Point was never taken by the Taliban. The top officer of the US troops, 1st Lt. Jonathan P. Brostrom, was killed at the Obserbation Point in hand to hand combat after he and two others came up to personaly reinforce the OP.

Killed were:

1st Lt. Jonathan P. Brostrom, 24, of Hawaii.

Sgt. Israel Garcia, 24, of Long Beach, Calif.

Cpl. Jonathan R. Ayers, 24, of Snellville, Ga.

Cpl. Jason M. Bogar, 25, of Seattle, Wash.

Cpl. Jason D. Hovater, 24, of Clinton, Tenn.

Cpl. Matthew B. Phillips, 27, of Jasper, Ga.

Cpl. Pruitt A. Rainey, 22, of Haw River, N.C.

Cpl. Gunnar W. Zwilling, 20, of Florissant, Mo.

Pfc. Sergio S. Abad, 21, of Morganfield, Ky.
Posted by: a yankee || 07/20/2008 15:24 Comments || Top||

#6  Clinton, TN is nearby as is Lake City, TN. Our paper reported the following about Jason Dean Hovater:

Hovater leaves his wife of 19 months, Jenna Hovater of Anderson County. They only had six weeks together before Hovater was deployed.

He was the son of Gerald and Kathy Hovater of Lake City and one of their four children.

It's a close-knit, highly religious family. All have musical talents. The parents have written and published compact discs of spiritual songs that feature their other sons, Joe, 23, of Oak Ridge on drums and Jesse, 21, of Lake City on guitar. Jason Hovater was an accomplished keyboard player.

The parents learned of their son's death when Army officers knocked on the door of their home at 2 a.m. Monday, Jessica Davis (sister) said. They are devastated by the loss, she said.

Jason Hovater enlisted in the Army both out of a sense of duty and because "he wanted to have some discipline in his life," she said.

"He was dedicated to it, and he believed in it," Davis said. "He said he wanted to be a part of it.
Posted by: JohnQC || 07/20/2008 16:42 Comments || Top||

#7  They died true heroes, although they probably wouldn't have thought of themselves as such. May their memory bring comfort to those they left behind.

Good catch, a yankee. As our troops become more aggressive, no doubt there will be more of these battles in Afghanistan until the jihadis and their Afghan supporters realize they've lost and run off to a temporarily safer battlefield.
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/20/2008 17:57 Comments || Top||

#8  I would think that since the locals in the village stayed and helped the talib, the village should have been napalmed and then bulldozed.

To clear the field of fire for the COP, of course.
Posted by: OldSpook || 07/20/2008 18:24 Comments || Top||

#9  Oldspook,

Flatten the village would be appropriate. The troops kept recalling how there were many RPGs. That place was an arsenal, and they did not want the newly arrived troops to uncover that arsenal, so they got the manpower together to use it on our troops, IMHO. Also, the troops may have stumbled unto the location of a major AQ or Taliban figure. So, yep, flatten the place.
Posted by: a yankee || 07/20/2008 19:21 Comments || Top||

#10  John Q, another Tennessee Volunteer doing what he believed in. No football reference intended. I spent 2 years in Oak Ridge and the families there are pure Gold.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 07/20/2008 19:28 Comments || Top||


#12  Kunar has been a favoured spot of insurgent groups. Its impenetrable terrain, extensive cave networks and border with the semi-autonomous Pakistani Northwest Frontier Province provides several advantages for militant groups. The province is informally known as "Enemy Central" by American troops.

Like many of the mountainous eastern provinces of Afghanistan, the groups involved in armed conflict vary greatly in strength and purpose. Native Taliban forces mingle with foreign Al-Qaeda fighters, while mujahadeen militias, such as Gulbuddin Hekmatyar's Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin, continue to operate as they did in the chaotic post-Soviet years. Another strong militia in the region is the Hezbi Islami faction of the late Mulavi Younas Khalis, who had his headquarters in neighbouring Nurestan Province.

Compounding the problems of the province is an extensive criminal trade in smuggled lumber and other natural resources. This criminal activity is often organized along tribal lines, and has led to intense deforestation in some areas.

Hunt for Bin Laden
Osama bin Laden has often been rumoured to be in the province, or close by. In an intensive military operation in summer 2005, called Operation Red Wing, American forces undertook a massive hunt for bin Laden and other senior Al-Qaeda leaders. While attempting to rescue four stranded Navy SEALS during the operation, 19 American Forces were killed when their CH-47 Chinook helicopter was shot down, representing the single biggest loss of American forces since their invasion of the country.
Posted by: a yankee || 07/20/2008 20:47 Comments || Top||


Africa Horn
Thirteen die in Somalia as violence escalates
(Xinhua) -- Thirteen people were killed and 15 others wounded Friday separately in the internally displaced people (IDPs) camps on the outskirts of Mogadishu and in clan clashes in villages in southern Somalia, witnesses and local media said. "Hooded men armed with pistols arrived while we were taking food handouts from a local aid agency and people run away, but three men who were helping with the distribution were shot dead," Baadi Elmi, a resident, told Xinhua. "We do not know who they were or why they killed them."

The killing comes as IDPs in Elasha Biyaha camps have been protesting for the fourth straight day running against the targeting of aid workers.

Five aid workers have been killed recently in Somalia and four others are being held hostage by armed groups. Some aid agencies have scaled down their operations in the war-torn country while others have drawn their staff altogether after the increase in violence against aid workers.

The UN World Food Program warned Friday that attacks on aid workers on the ground and threats to ships delivering food aid to Somalia are jeopardizing the lives of millions who now need urgent food assistance.

Meanwhile, witnesses in the southern Somali port of Kismayu say that 10 militias were killed in fighting between rival clans and 15 others wounded, some of them seriously.

Local media reports say the clashes started Thursday and continued into Friday in Buriyo and Baghdad villages, 500 km south of Mogadishu, the capital.

The fighting began following revenge attacks for the killing of a member of one of the clans. Elders in the area are reportedly trying to calm the situation.
Posted by: Fred || 07/20/2008 01:14 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic Courts

#1  Have any of these jerks ever thought of taking up arms and fighting the people killing aid workers? Their "protests" are worthless. The only thing that will stop the "Islamic Courts Union" is hot lead. Make it cost enough, and they'll quit. Even farm implements can be used as weapons, although they're not as effective as other implements. The best way to make sure the NGOs don't abandon Somalia to die is to stand up to those that are trying their best to run the NGOs out. If you can't do that, you're worthless and deserve to die.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 07/20/2008 14:42 Comments || Top||

#2  Somalia for the Somalis!
Posted by: Brett || 07/20/2008 21:22 Comments || Top||


Europe
Four people killed, 7 wounded in eastern Turkey
(Xinhua) -- Four people were killed and seven others wounded most likely due to a family feud in eastern Turkey on Saturday, the semi-official Anatolia news agency reported.

Earlier, Anatolia reported that a group of militants of the outlawed Kurdish Workers' Party opened fire at Turkish citizens in arable fields in Genc town of Bingol province, killing four people and injuring seven others.

Bingol Governor Irfan Balkanlioglu was quoted as saying that the incident occurred at 19:30 local time (1630 GMT), most likely due to a family dispute.

The injured have been taken to Bingol State Hospital for medical treatment, said the report, adding that the investigation into the incident is underway.
Posted by: Fred || 07/20/2008 01:14 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


India-Pakistan
Taliban Threaten to Kill Officials Held Hostage
The Pakistani Taliban have taken dozens of hostages, including police officers, paramilitary fighters and even state bank officials, and threatened on Friday to begin killing them unless the government released four of their comrades captured last week.

The standoff has grown into one of the most serious recent challenges to the government's resolve to curb the militants' rapid expansion. The threat comes just 10 days before Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani is scheduled to meet with President Bush at the White House.

So far, the government has held firm, sending hundreds of soldiers to the area, Hangu, in North-West Frontier Province, to engage in the first real fighting with the militants since the two sides agreed to a new series of peace deals this year.

The fighting has resumed as the government faces mounting pressure from the United States to take stronger action against Taliban sanctuaries in Pakistan's lawless tribal areas, which the militants use as launching pads for attacks against NATO and American troops in southern Afghanistan.

The news media in Pakistan have been abuzz about suggestions in Washington that the United States might act directly in the tribal areas to stop the flow of Taliban fighters into Afghanistan. Most Pakistanis would strongly oppose such a move as a violation of sovereignty.

But the militants have increasingly extended their presence into more settled areas of Pakistan, like Hangu, where the provincial police arrested about half a dozen armed Taliban fighters riding in a pickup truck last Saturday.

In revenge, other Taliban members kidnapped a variety of officials and are holding them in an undisclosed place. The Taliban said they had 49 hostages; the government said there were 29.

The militants' response was so ferocious because one of the Taliban arrested, to the surprise of the police, was a man known as Rafiuddin, a lieutenant of the leader of the Pakistani Taliban, Baitullah Mehsud, according to the inspector general of the provincial police, Naveed Khan.

The capture led to unusual and repeated demands from the Taliban for Rafiuddin's release, Mr. Khan said. "That proves he means something to them," he said.

Another of the Taliban suspects in custody goes by the name of Anwar. He is one of 18 Taliban in the original core of Mr. Mehsud's organization and is one of his most cherished comrades, said a Pakistani counterterrorism and intelligence official in Peshawar, who could not be identified because his job does not allow his identity to be published.

Anwar is perhaps Mr. Mehsud's most important fighter and has been with him since 2004, the intelligence official said.

The spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban, Maulvi Omar, said in a telephone interview on Friday that the Taliban were waiting for the results of mediation before deciding what to do with the hostages. "If there's no result, we will start killing them," he said.

Mr. Omar said Rafiuddin was a "religious scholar" at the sprawling Kahi madrasa in Hangu. "He's not a fighter," he said. "That's why we want him back."

Mr. Omar also demanded the resignation of the new secular provincial government. It was elected in February, replacing a government dominated by religious parties sympathetic to the Taliban. If the government does not resign within five days, Mr. Omar said, the Taliban will take "organized action" against it.

Afrasiab Khattak, the provincial leader of the Awami National Party, which heads the province's government, dismissed the notion of releasing any of the Taliban, a stiffer stance than that taken by previous governments. "The government is not considering the release of anyone," he said. "It's only for the courts of law to deal with the situation."
Posted by: Fred || 07/20/2008 01:14 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Taliban

#1  you now know who's important to Mehsud. You let him know that if a hostage is killed or harmed, his valued pal is the first to take a bullet in the head, immediately, without trial. Next up is his buddy Anwar, then the next, then the next.....
Posted by: Frank G || 07/20/2008 8:50 Comments || Top||

#2  Perv really, REALLY needs to let the US attack the Tribal areas, no holds barred. Otherwise, he and his government are dead. For our part, we should tell Perv he has 30 days to deal with the talibunnies, or the entire northwest of his nation becomes a kill zone. Wipe Peshawar off the map, turn Quetta into something the Romans would have left behind, and destroy anything that moves in between. Quit trying to fight a "nice" war, and go Mongol. The world will thank us - in a hundred years or so.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 07/20/2008 14:50 Comments || Top||

#3  I think it's the civilian government and the new head of the Army of the Pure that have to give permission now, Old Patriot.
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/20/2008 17:59 Comments || Top||


FC man, 10 militants killed in Sui clash
QUETTA/LAHORE: A security personnel was killed while 10 militants were gunned down in retaliatory fire during a clash in the Och area of Sui in Balochistan on Saturday, Geo News reported.
Wotta shame. My heart [urp] bleeds ...
According to the channel, a mobile team of the Frontier Constabulary was patrolling the area when unidentified militants attacked their vehicle, killing one FC personnel. FC personnel returned fire, killing 10 attackers, the channel added. Separately, two people were killed and one injured in a bomb blast near the Och gas fields on Saturday, the police said.

According to the police, two security officials were on routine patrolling near the Och gas fields when one of them stepped over a landmine that exploded, killing bystander Muhammad Akbar and injuring two others. One of the injured died while he was being taken to hospital.

Meanwhile, a man was killed and another injured when some unidentified men opened fire on them on Saturday, police said. According to police, Kadim Hussain was travelling with his friend in a vehicle when some unidentified men riding on a motorcycle opened fire on them. As a result, both were injured and shifted to hospital, where one succumbed to his injuries.
Posted by: Steve White || 07/20/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Nine killed in Tirah clashes
Red-on-Red. More please.
BARA: At least nine people were killed and 10 injured in clashes between Lashkar-e-Islam (LI) and Ansarul Islam (AI) in the remote Tirah area of Khyber Agency, local sources said on Saturday. They said the clashes took place in the Daki, Sangar and Inqilab Morcha areas. One of the dead and three injured were moved to Bara.
Posted by: Steve White || 07/20/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Police-protesters clash leaves 4 dead in Quetta
QUETTA: Four members of the Hazara community were killed on Saturday in a clash with the police, while 12 others, including three police personnel, were injured, the police said on Saturday. The clashes erupted between the Anti-Terrorist Force (ATF) and the Hazara community members when the latter were protesting against the murder of a fellow Hazara, who was killed in a car-snatching incident. The ATF also reportedly opened fire on a delegation of four ministers, injuring Hazara Qaumi Jirga Chairman Qayyum Changazi. The ministers had gone to the scene.

Jan Ali Changazi, a Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) member of the Balochistan Assembly from the Hazara community, told Daily Times that the ATF was responsible for the killing of four Hazara community members and that the force had opened fire on him and three ministers when they tried to reach the scene to calm down the protesters.

A senior police officer said that Hazara community members had reacted to the killing of a community member in a car-snatching incident on Saturday morning by marching towards the murder scene, resulting in a clash with a Baloch tribe. The police officer said that when the ATF arrived at the scene and tried to control the situation, the protesters opened fire on the force, injuring three police personnel. The ATF returned fire, killing four protesters and injuring nine, he added.

Balochistan Chief Minister Nawab Mohammad Aslam Raisani met with a delegation of the Hazara community and condemned the incident.
Posted by: Steve White || 07/20/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Taliban kill rival group leaders
GHALANAI/PESHAWAR: The Umar Khalid group of Taliban killed two top leaders of a rival militant group in Mohmand on Saturday. Taliban spokesman Dr Asad said that the chief of Shah group, Muslim Khan, and his deputy, Maulvi Obaidullah, were shot dead after a Taliban court ordered their executions.

Meanwhile, Baitullah Mehsud called an immediate meeting of Taliban Shoora to hold accountable Khalid for the killings, Geo TV quoted Maulvi Umer as saying.
Posted by: Steve White || 07/20/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I'm sure they had due process.
Posted by: McZoid || 07/20/2008 7:26 Comments || Top||

#2  That was due process, Taliban style.
Posted by: Punky Elmineling4042 || 07/20/2008 8:38 Comments || Top||

#3  The picture - "Last Day of Khalid Shultz?"
Posted by: M. Murcek || 07/20/2008 12:28 Comments || Top||

#4  Red on red! Who brought popcorn?
Posted by: anymouse || 07/20/2008 16:41 Comments || Top||

#5  Barb's got the franchise and she makes OPEC look like Schmoos United for Happy Times.
Posted by: .5MT || 07/20/2008 17:52 Comments || Top||


Gunships pound Zargari in Hangu
ISLAMABAD/ PESHAWAR/ LAHORE: Gunship helicopters pounded militant hideouts in the Zargari town of Hangu district in the early hours of Saturday, officials said. Hangu District Co-ordination Officer Shahab Ali told reporters that the security forces were “combing the area” to drive militants out of the town and its suburbs. Interior Secretary Syed Kamal Shah said the situation in Hangu district was under control after the military operation.

Talking to reporters in Islamabad after a Senate committee meeting, Shah said Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud was behind the violence in the district. The government launched the military crackdown on Wednesday after militants, backed by Mehsud, ambushed a military convoy near Zargari last week and killed 17 troops.
Posted by: Steve White || 07/20/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Iraq
US troops kill son of Iraqi governor
US forces shot dead the 17-year-old son and another relative of the governor of northern Iraq's Salahuddin province in a raid today, local officials said. The US military said it shot two armed men and later found out they were both related to the governor.
As Seafarious would say, 'oopsies' ...
Governor Hamad al-Qaisi's brother, Lieutenant-Colonel Saad al-Qaisi, said American troops stormed a family house in the town of Beiji, where the governor's son Hussam and his cousin were staying. "They shot dead Hussam and wounded three others. This is barbaric and inhuman," he said.

A statement from the US military said its forces had wounded and captured an al-Qaeda financer in the house. "As they entered the target building, coalition forces encountered two armed men. Perceiving hostile intent ... they shot and killed the men. It was subsequently determined that the two ... were related to the governor," the statement said.

Local officials said Governor al-Qaisi had cut short a visit to Turkey because of the shooting.
Posted by: tipper || 07/20/2008 14:08 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  If there's one thing the Iraq war has taught us, it's that every Iraqi has two faces. But then, we already knew that from other dealings with Arabs. There are no moderates, only different shades of radical.
Posted by: wxjames || 07/20/2008 14:17 Comments || Top||

#2  wx...you are spot on. And, it's why my long term opinion in the ME is cynical. No amount of winning "hearts and minds" can counterbalance a culture that values tribal and family over truth and honesty.
Posted by: anymouse || 07/20/2008 16:38 Comments || Top||

#3  If this experiment doesn't prove out, we'll have to make much of the Middle East a wasteland to get peace. I'm willing to try a little longer before going that route.
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/20/2008 16:47 Comments || Top||

#4  Depending on how close sonny-boy was to his daddy, his old man might find himself out of a job real soon, if he's lucky. If he isn't, he is in for an extended stay in one of Iraq's finer crossbar hotels.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 07/20/2008 21:51 Comments || Top||


3 civilians wounded in Makhmour
NINEWA, July 19 (VOI) – Three civilians, including a woman, on Saturday were wounded in a roadside bomb attack on the main road linking al-Qayiara district to Makhmour suburb, said a source from the Iraqi army. "A roadside bomb went off targeting a civilian car at the main road that links al-Qayiara district to Makhmour suburb (60 km south of Mosul)," the source told Aswat al-Iraq - Voices of Iraq - (VOI) on condition of anonymity.

"Three of the car's passengers, including a woman, were wounded," he said. "The injured persons are residents of al-Qayiara district, and they were on their way to one of Makhmour suburb's villages when the bomb detonated," he added.

"Injuries were admitted to the Emergency Hospital in Arbil, and one of them is in critical condition," he noted.

Makhmour suburb is a disputed area between the two provinces of Arbil and Ninewa, and it lies 68 km southwest of Arbil city, which is 349 km northeast of Baghdad. In its latest report regarding dispute areas, the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) suggested that Makhmour suburb should be administrated by Arbil province, the capital of Iraq's Kurdistan region. Mosul, capital city of Ninewa province, lies 405 km north of Baghdad.
Posted by: Steve White || 07/20/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Report: UK hostage in Iraq is dead
LONDON (AP) - A Shiite militia that has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of five Britons in Iraq more than a year ago said one of the hostages committed suicide, a British newspaper reported. The Sunday Times of London published what it said was a statement in a video it obtained from the group through an intermediary in Iraq.

The video, available on the Times Web site late Saturday night, shows an Arabic-language statement claiming that one of the hostages - identified only a Jason - killed himself on May 25. A photograph, apparently of Jason, is affixed to the top left corner of the statement.
Clubbed himself to death with a three-iron?
The newspaper said the statement blamed the British government for ignoring statements that the kidnappers and the captives have made. In the past, the militia has demanded that that all British forces be withdrawn from Iraq and that Iraqis held by U.S.-led forces be freed. "This procrastination and foot-dragging and lack of seriousness on the part of the British government has prolonged their psychological deterioration, pushing one of them, Jason, to commit suicide on 25/5/2008," the Times quoted the statement as saying.

Five men - information technology consultant Peter Moore and four guards - were kidnapped from the Iraqi Finance Ministry compound in Baghdad in a brazen raid in May 29, 2007. Two of the guards are called Jason and the others are named Alan and Alec. Their surnames have been withheld at their families' request.

In December, a man identified as Jason was featured in a hostage video aired on Al-Arabiya television. Looking haggard and occasionally glancing down as if to read a piece of paper, Jason said he and his fellow captives felt they had been forgotten. Like the video carried by The Sunday Times, the Al-Arabiya broadcast showed a statement and identified the men's captors as the Shiite Islamic Resistance in Iraq.

The British government said Saturday night that it could not confirm the veracity of the latest video or verify its claims. But British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who had just left Iraq after meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on Saturday, called The Sunday Times report a "very distressing development" said that he was taking it seriously. "I raised the case of these men with PM Maliki," Brown said in a statement. "We both share a desire to see them returned safely to their families. I call on those holding the hostages to release them immediately and unconditionally."
Posted by: Steve White || 07/20/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Fatah policeman killed by Hamas gunmen in Gaza Strip
A member of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement was shot and killed early Saturday in the northern Gaza Strip, sources said.

According to witnesses, a group of militants in the early morning attacked the house of Abdel Salam Abu Taqia, 23, near Jabaliya refugee camp and killed him. Hours later, the Hamas-controlled Interior Ministry said the murderer was arrested, and claimed the incident was motivated by family differences. Abu Taqia was a member of the pro-Abbas naval police until Hamas routed all forces loyal to Abbas and took control of Gaza Strip
Posted by: Fred || 07/20/2008 01:13 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Hamas

#1  Popcorn
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 07/20/2008 7:53 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Three killed in Thai Muslim south after "ceasefire"
Jihadis Militants fired on an army outpost and killed three villagers in separate attacks in Thailand's restive Muslim south, police said on Sunday, days after an unknown rebel group declared a ceasefire.

One soldier was wounded when a grenade exploded at the outpost late on Saturday in Pattani, one of three southernmost provinces where more than 3,000 people have been killed in separatist attacks since 2004. Also in Pattani, three Muslim villagers were shot dead by suspected militants, police said.

Thai authorities feared a spike in violence after the unknown Thailand United Southern Underground announced a "ceasefire" last week that was dismissed by army officials and security experts who said its leaders had no influence in the region. The Thai army identified the group's leader as Malipeng Khan, a separatist active in the 1980s who had failed to unify insurgent factions in the region annexed by predominately Buddhist Thailand a century ago.

Thai media attention has focused on Chettha Thanajaro, a former defence minister and leader of a minor party in Thailand's coalition government, who announced the "breakthrough" on Thursday after a year of talks with 11 separatist groups. "It was somewhere between a cheap political ploy aimed at putting pressure on the Malay Muslim insurgents in the deep south, or a desperate bid for free publicity," the Nation newspaper said in an editorial on Friday. "Either way, former army chief-turned-politician Chettha Thanajaro ... has raised more questions that he has answered."
Posted by: ryuge || 07/20/2008 06:39 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Two killed in clashes in Ein el-Hellhole
Two people were killed on Saturday in clashes between members of the Fatah faction and Sunni Islamist militants at a Palestinian refugee camp in south Lebanon, camp officials said.

One man was shot while trying to intervene to halt the clash at Ein al-Hilweh camp between Fatah and Jund al-Sham, a small al Qaeda-inspired Islamist group. The second dead man was a member of the group.

Another Jund al-Sham fighter was seriously wounded in the fighting at the camp, which is near the city of Sidon in southern Lebanon.

Earlier on Saturday, gunmen from both sides fired machineguns and rocket- propelled grenades, Palestinian sources said. Rival fighters exchanged fire for almost two hours on the main street of the densely-populated camp outside the southern port city of Sidon, a Palestinian official added. Gunshots were subsequently heard in the city of Sidon itself, with a Fatah leader saying that one person from the movement was killed.

Sunni Islamist groups have substantial influence in the camp, which is off limits to Lebanese security forces.
Thanks to the Saoodis for the influence, and thanks to the goofy UN for the rules.
A Lebanese army spokesman said the fighting was confined to the camp and that troops, positioned at the entrance of the camp, were not involved.

Jund al-Sham's name refers to the ancient Islamic term of Bilad al-Sham, a region which covers Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian territories. Its members are mostly Lebanese, many of whom fought against the army during an Islamist rebellion that broke out on New Year's Eve in 1999 in the predominantly Sunni area of Dinnieh in north Lebanon and left 45 people dead.

The Sunni group also includes Palestinians, mostly dissidents of the fundamentalist Usbat al-Ansar (Band of Supporters) which was outlawed by Lebanese authorities in 1995 for murdering a rival cleric. Jund al-Sham, which has no clear hierarchy or particular leader, is believed to have about 50 militants armed with assault rifles, mortars and rocket-propelled grenades.
Posted by: Fred || 07/20/2008 01:13 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Jund al-Sham



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Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
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Two weeks of WOT
Sun 2008-07-20
  B.O. visits Afghanistan on grand tour
Sat 2008-07-19
  Mighty Pak Army zaps 10 Hangu Talibs
Fri 2008-07-18
  Four Madrid bomb convicts cleared
Thu 2008-07-17
  Israel-Hezbollah 'prisoner' exchange
Wed 2008-07-16
  Paks: NATO massing forces on border
Tue 2008-07-15
  ICC charges against Sudan's Bashir
Mon 2008-07-14
  Failed Meknes suicide bomber sentenced to life
Sun 2008-07-13
  Nine US soldier among scores who die in wave of attacks in Afghanistan
Sat 2008-07-12
  Leb Forms New Cabinet, Hezbollah Keeps Veto Power
Fri 2008-07-11
  Petraeus takes command of CENTCOM
Thu 2008-07-10
  3 dead and 32 wounded in Leb fighting
Wed 2008-07-09
  Turkey: 3 turbans, 3 cops killed in shootout outside U.S. consulate
Tue 2008-07-08
  One killed, scores injured in series of blasts in Karachi
Mon 2008-07-07
  Suicide bomber kills 41 at Indian embassy in Kabul, 141 injured
Sun 2008-07-06
  Maliki: government has defeated terrorism

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