#4
Notice carefully the bicycle helmeted police-person at the onset of the video, and his or her lack of action or involvement. Reminds me of "police" action in Target stores during Katrina.
#7
Cindy Sheehan and Ward Churchill were on hand, too. Boulder's a liberal stronghold, with eco-terrorists, PETA, and enviro-wankers the norm. Look carefully, as some of these always seem to show up at every protest and are probably on Soros' payroll.
#8
Look on the bright side "Denver expects $160 million boost from DNC" "This is a once in a lifetime opportunity," said Door, president and CEO of the Downtown Denver Partnership. "There are a lot of exciting exhibits to see and demonstrations to go to." As for people's concerns about protest activity, Door says there is plenty of security downtown and protests are expected to be peaceful. We'll see. If I were a local, I'd stay the heck out of Denver for the next week.
#9
I lived in Denver in the mid- to late-1970s. The city changed considerably during that time. The change actually began in the late 1960's, when many oil exploration companies began making their headquarters there. The city changed from a conservative, Republican stronghold to a Democratic one, and the climate of the city changed as well. I wouldn't want to live in Denver these days. It's only 65 miles north of me, but I don't get up there twice a year any more. If there's something I want to do, I can either do it elsewhere, or not do it. Unfortunately, the city of Denver and its suburbs contain 4 million of the state's 4.75 million people, and pretty much control the political landscape.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
08/25/2008 16:26 Comments ||
Top||
#10
And the fun has barely begun...
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
08/25/2008 16:42 Comments ||
Top||
#11
Is there anything more typical than a violent "peace" protester. Sometimes I think that they ARE protesting peace. (God bless the USMC: the greatest force for true peace there is)
KABUL, Afghanistan - Taliban insurgents once derided as a ragtag rabble unable to match U.S. troops have transformed into a fighting force - one advanced enough to mount major conventional attacks and claim American lives at a record pace.
The U.S. military suffered its 101st death of the year in Afghanistan last week when Sgt. 1st Class David J. Todd Jr., a 36-year-old from Marrero, La., died of gunfire wounds while helping train Afghan police in the northwest. The total number of U.S. dead last year, 111, was a record itself and is likely to be surpassed.
Top U.S. generals, European presidents and analysts say the blame lies to the east, in militant sanctuaries in neighboring Pakistan. As long as those areas remain havens where fighters arm, train, recruit and plot increasingly sophisticated ambushes, the Afghan war will continue to sour. "The U.S. is now losing the war against the Taliban," Anthony Cordesman of the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, wrote in a report Thursday. A resurgent al-Qaida, which was harbored by the Taliban in the years before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, could soon follow, Cordesman warned.
Cordesman called for the U.S. to treat Pakistani territory as a combat zone if Pakistan does not act. "Pakistan may officially be an ally, but much of its conduct has effectively made it a major threat to U.S. strategic interests."
An influx of Chechen, Turkish, Uzbek and Arab fighters have helped increase the Taliban's military precision, including an ambush by 100 fighters last week that killed 10 French soldiers, and a rush on a U.S. outpost last month by 200 militants that killed nine Americans.
Multidirectional attacks, flawlessly executed ambushes and increasingly powerful roadside and suicide bombs mean the U.S. and 40-nation NATO-led force will in all likelihood suffer its deadliest year in Afghanistan since the 2001 invasion, experts say.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, on a visit to Kabul last week, said he knows that something must "be raised with Pakistan's government, and I will continue to do so." French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who rushed to Afghanistan after the French attack, warned Thursday that "terrorism is winning."
"Military sanctuaries are expanding in the (Pakistani) tribal areas," Gen. David McKiernan, the American four-star general in charge of the 50,000-strong NATO-led force here, said last week. McKiernan has called for an additional three brigades of U.S. forces, roughly 10,000 troops, to bolster the 33,000-strong U.S. force here.
Complicating relations between the Afghan government and the U.S., a joint Afghan-U.S. military operation in Herat province last week killed about 90 civilians, President Hamid Karzai's office says. The U.S. said it was investigating.
About 188 international soldiers have died in Afghanistan this year, including the 101 Americans, according to an Associated Press count. This year's toll is easily on track to surpass the record 222 international troop deaths in 2007.
U.S. critics of the Afghan government are becoming more vocal. Rep. Jim Marshall, a Georgia Democrat who is a member of the House Armed Services Committee, said last week that Karzai's government "is not nearly where it should be." "I'm not willing to have a long-term U.S. commitment, a substantial U.S. commitment to Afghanistan, without seeing substantial reform and improvement in the government," Marshall said on a visit to Kabul.
Karzai's influence barely extends outside the capital. The Interior Ministry is seen as uniformly corrupt, and opium-poppy cultivation has soared in recent years. "There is a sense of real frustration with the government of President Karzai," McKiernan said. "People were expecting gains over time, but they aren't feeling much."
Karzai admitted in an interview last week that Afghanistan still lacks a properly functioning government and that corruption is rampant. He said he will run for a second term next year in hopes of addressing those problems. The president also blamed the rise in Afghan violence directly on Afghanistan's and NATO's neglect of the sanctuaries, training grounds and financial center of the Taliban - a clear reference to Pakistan.
The U.S. is believed to have launched several missile strikes into Pakistan's tribal areas this year in an attempt to take out militant leaders. Missiles destroyed a suspected hideout in South Waziristan, near the Afghan border, on Wednesday, killing at least five people.
Seth Jones, a RAND Corp. analyst who has studied Afghanistan for years, said Taliban militants have simply become better at war after seven years of practice against U.S. and NATO forces. Fighters, particularly militant commanders, are also using their sanctuary in Pakistan to devastating effect, he said. "I think there's got to be a strike on the leadership structure, including Mullah Omar, Siraj Haqqani and (Gulbuddin) Hekmatyar," who live in Pakistan, Jones said. "As the insurgency has become more sophisticated, many of the senior leaders continue to exist, and they are one of the reasons the insurgency is getting better."
Marshall, the Democratic congressman, said Pakistan itself is feeling threatened by the increase in militancy on its soil and wants to see insurgent leaders taken out. "You've seen the progression here," Marshall said. "Initially, we wouldn't even fire back across the (Pakistan) border. We changed that. We're firing back. We're pursuing and now acting on intelligence. We are prepared to use discreet weaponry to take out high-value targets (in Pakistan)."
"They want the minimal American presence to help them do that," he said.
Bull Shit, I trust Our Air Force, Air Calv, Marines, Army, Navy, Coasties more than any other Armed Force in the entire World!
Posted by: Red Dawg ||
08/25/2008 4:50 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Why are these foreign terrorists flocking into Afghanistan? 'Cause they got whipped at home. Up to now, the Taliban has been more of a nuisance to any trained and equipped force. With these reinforcements, they will need to be taken a bit more seriously. But just keep in mind that while the new fighters are tougher, they are mostly losers back home.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
08/25/2008 7:17 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Experts.
Un-named experts.
What would we do without them.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
08/25/2008 8:28 Comments ||
Top||
#8
Expert - n. - The first guy in the reporters Rolodex.
Posted by: Grenter, Protector of the Geats ||
08/25/2008 10:47 Comments ||
Top||
#9
Not un-named - they cite Cordesman, who's a bona fide pencil-pusher. I suspect that Michael Yon would agree with most of the analysis laid out here - he called Afghanistan a spec ops hunting preserve, and he didn't mean it as a compliment.
I get the impression that Karzai is trying to play Prince Sihanouk these days - he's starting to act as if he's got an interest in triangulation.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
08/25/2008 10:54 Comments ||
Top||
#10
Scroll up to the next post titled "Pakistan bans Taliban after suicide bombings". One of the parts in dealing with Apache was to put sufficient constant pressure on them that they turned upon Mexican communities to raid, loot, and pillage. While the Apache were conducting their sport on the Gringo side of the border the authorities in Mexico City didn't give a damn about diplomatic protests or demands to do something. When the stuff came home, things started to finally change.
#11
Karzai is either weak or a player in the opium trade. The poppy fields need to be burned. They are the financial life blood of the taliban. Until this happens, everything we do is window dressing. Notice that Karzai never calls for the elimination of opium poppy in his country. He is a dick.
#12
Karzai may be scared. With the world's heroin supply at stake, there are some powerful profiteers with an interest in poppy fields, besides the Taliban. Notice NATO hasn't been very aggressive, either.
#13
Bull shit!!! McCain takes a cut of the drug money
TRUTHERS HURT!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by: Albert Grotle3730 ||
08/25/2008 17:09 Comments ||
Top||
#14
See also CHINESE MILITARY FORUM > US SEES 101st COMBAT DEATH IN AFGHANISTAN AS TALIBAN TURNS INTO A LETHAL, SOPHISTICATED FIGHTING FORCE.
Also TOPIX > STUDY: US, ALLIES MUST TREAT MILITANT SANCTUARIES IN PAKISTAN AS EXTENSIONS OF AFGHAN CONFLICT; + IRAN'S INFLUENCE GROWS BEYOND THE PERSIAN GULF IN ASIA + IRAN: FUTURE NEW SUPERPOWER IN ASIA?
Why RUSSIA = "KEEPING YOUR FRIENDS CLOSE AND [future]ENEMIES CLOSER", in GEORGIA.
Yarrrrr! Newsweek blames Bush, mateys. Washington's terror fixation has been a boon for the region's pirates--and is leading to another famine.
The last radio message sent by the Stella Maris--a 54,000-metric-ton Japanese freighter plying the Gulf of Aden--was chilling: "Pirates onboard." After that transmission, on July 20, the ship went silent. A French warship patrolling nearby was sent to help. But before it could arrive, pirates sent the Stella Maris, its crew of 20 Filipinos and its cargo of zinc and lead ore steaming toward Somalia's lawless shores.
SHANKSVILLE, Pa. (AP) -- As hundreds of firefighters bowed their heads in prayer, a cross made out of steel from the World Trade Center was dedicated Sunday near where United Airlines Flight 93 crashed into the ground on Sept. 11.
The 2-ton, 14-foot high cross sits on a concrete base shaped like the Pentagon at the Shanksville Volunteer Fire Co., just a few miles from where the plane crashed into a field. The cross made a 311-mile journey from Brooklyn on Saturday, accompanied by hundreds of motorcyclists, many of them current or retired New York firefighters.
"We wanted to find a home for this steel," said Paddy Concannon, a retired lieutenant from the Fire Department of New York. "This is an effort on our part to tie the three events together: the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and Shanksville."
The cross is not part of the official $58 million Flight 93 National Memorial. That memorial will be built in phases and is expected to about 40 percent complete by the 10th anniversary of the attacks.
Shanksville Chief Terry Shaffer said the cross dedicated Sunday would serve as inspiration whenever his department responds to a call. "I couldn't have dreamed this would turn out any better, all the brotherhood coming down from New York and New Jersey and showing up here today to pay their respect to this piece of steel," Shaffer said.
Gary Sims, a firefighter with New York's Ladder 22, was among those in the motorcycle escort and said he took part "to help carry the word," of Flight 93. The crash killed the 40 passengers and crew members onboard.
Among those attending the ceremony was Patty Sumner, of Martinsburg, whose firefighter brother, Joseph Girard Leavey, died in the south tower. He had been on the 78th floor and his body was recovered more than a month later, on the day he was to take his captain's test, she said. "I'm in heaven," she said after the ceremony, during which the names of the victims were read aloud. "I was very happy that everyone was able to get together."
Flight 93, which was en route from Newark, N.J., to San Francisco, was the only one of the four planes hijacked that day that did not reach its intended target, believed to be in Washington, D.C. Investigators believe the hijackers crashed the plane into a field near rural Shanksville, about 65 miles southeast of Pittsburgh, as passengers rushed the cockpit.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/25/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
This unofficial memorial is going to be more meaningful than the official one. And no Muslim theme either.
#3
Well, it still looks crescent-shaped to me
http://www.nps.gov/flni/parkmgmt/the-memorial-design.htm
Seems a 5-sided memorial with twin obelisk towers standing within an amphitheater-type area surrounding the impact zone would have been more fitting. The obelisks would have made the area a landmark view for miles.
#5
Q: How long before osme group files siut about the cross ( indicating some religious affiliation) being installed on public property and done so using public funds ( separation of church and state)? and what is the likelihood the group bringing the suit aren't local?
#6
USN, Ret. A. How about a nice cup of STFU? (For those who would file suit, not you.)
I think that the Shanksville Volunteer Fire Department is a private organization. I am willing to bet that the money for the cross and memorial came from private donations. So all those who say that this is a government endorsement of religion can go pound sand.
Posted by: Rambler in California ||
08/25/2008 19:12 Comments ||
Top||
#7
As was said 145 years ago about another small town in Pennsylvania,
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicatewe can not consecratewe can not hallowthis ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract.
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
08/25/2008 20:18 Comments ||
Top||
#8
Well done, Eric. Superbly appropriate connection.
The Surprise Meter is beginning to glow from over-use ...
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- The five-month-old coalition government in Pakistan collapsed Monday [Aug 25, 2008] when the head of the minority party, Nawaz Sharif, announced his members would leave the fractious alliance, citing broken promises [insufficient access to bribes perhaps] by Asif Ali Zardari, the leader of the majority party....
To drive home the point about broken promises, Mr. Sharif, a former two-time prime minister, released an accord signed by the two men on Aug. 7. The document shows that Mr. Zardari and Mr. Sharif agreed that all the judges would be restored by an executive order one day after Mr. Musharraf's impeachment or resignation. But Mr. Zardari stalled.
In an interview with the BBC Urdu-language radio service on Saturday, Mr. Zardari defended his position, saying agreements with the Pakistan Muslim League-N were not "holy like the holy Koran."
The Aug. 7 accord, signed as the two parties maneuvered to force Mr. Musharraf out, also said the two men would agree on a presidential candidate. Instead, according to Mr. Sharif's aides, Mr. Zardari went ahead to plan his own candidacy for the presidency, and arranged for the election to be held on Sept. 6 without consulting Mr. Sharif.
Pakistan banned the Taliban on Monday, toughening its stance after the Islamic militant group claimed responsibility for deadly suicide bombings against one of Pakistan's most sensitive military installations.
The ban imposed by the fragile governing coalition comes just a week after the ouster of Pervez Musharraf, a key U.S. ally whose departure has prompted concern that the nuclear-armed country is too unstable to beat back extremists.
Anyone caught aiding the Taliban in Pakistan -- which will have its bank accounts and assets frozen -- faces up to 10 years in prison.
The Interior Ministry announced the ban 24 hours after rejecting a Taliban cease-fire offer in Bajur tribal region, a rumored hiding place for Osama bin Laden, where an army offensive has reportedly killed hundreds in recent weeks. Another 200,000 people are said to have fled their homes.
"This organization is a terrorist organization and created mayhem against public life," said ministry chief Rehman Malik.
The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, an umbrella group of terrorists militants along the rugged Afghan border set up last year, has claimed responsibility for a wave of suicide bombings that have killed hundreds since the fragile civilian government took power some five months ago. The deadliest attack, a spectacular twin suicide bombing at one of Pakistan's largest and most sensitive military installations, just 20 miles from the capital, left 67 dead on Thursday, almost all of them civilians.
"I think at the moment they definitely have the upper hand, and we need to do something better," Asif Ali Zardari, leader of the Pakistan People's Party, which has the largest bloc in Parliament, told the British Broadcasting Corp. shortly before the ban was announced.
And it's not like they're going to listen to you once you become 'president' ...
Whatever the world, Pakistan included, has done in the last 10 years to fight terrorism, the presidential hopeful said, "it's not working."
Malik said the Taliban group was not banned more quickly because the provincial government had been trying to negotiate with it to secure peace. The restrictions would include offering financial aid, handing out propaganda or providing any other type of support.
The militants, meanwhile, called the ban "meaningless."
That's a true statement ...
"We are neither registered nor do we have any bank accounts," said Muslim Khan, spokesman for the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, which has threatened to step up its campaign of violence nationwide unless the military ends its operations in Bajur. "We are slaves to no one."
Malik noted that, despite a peace deal struck with some insurgents in Swat, a former tourist destination-turned-battlefield, al-Qaida and Taliban-linked militants kept attacking security forces, burning schools and damaging public buildings. Eight were killed in the latest violence Monday, a pre-dawn rocket-and-bomb strike on the home of provincial lawmaker Waqar Ahmed Khan in Swat, police and the politician said. His brother, two nephews and five guards were killed.
Separately, an armored vehicle believed to be going to NATO forces in Afghanistan was set ablaze by terrorists "miscreants" as it was being transported in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi, said Iqbal Mahmood, a police official.
Despite its hardening stance toward militants, Pakistan's government appears increasingly fragile. The People's Party was building alliances with smaller parties in Parliament in case its main junior partner, headed by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, pulled out. The two sides have been drifting apart over several key issues, including whether to slash the powers of the next president.
The Pakistanis have finally gotten an inkling, after the millionth time the taliban have blown up Pakistani civilians, that maybe, just Maybe, they don't have their best interests at heart.
#4
It's just a political move. Mulla Omar or OBL would be elected for president of Pakistan in a landslide if a free & open election were to be held. The Pakis loooove their Taliban.
#5
Not sure. The taliban surrogate MMA lost big the last election. Of course the Paki electorate could have thought them no pure enough.
Posted by: ed ||
08/25/2008 15:08 Comments ||
Top||
#6
It seems like the Pak government, such as it is, finally understands that it's survival depends on destroying Taliban. As poor as their army is and as bad as it gets undercut by Taliban sympathies, they seem to be able to inflict harm to them.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
08/25/2008 16:39 Comments ||
Top||
Armed militants, numbering around 1,200 and owing allegiance to various jihadi outfits, are camping along International Border (IB) in Pakistan occupied Kashmir and Line of Control (LoC), ready to enter the state, top defence sources have said.
"Sergeant Chaudray!"
"Yes sir!"
"Inform the men that we shall have a live-fire exercise this morning!"
"Yes sir!"
"A large number of small and big groups of armed militants are camped along LoC, ready to infiltrate into Jammu and Kashmir to boost the sagging morale of local insurgents," a top defence source said in the wake of a gunbattle to foil the latest such bid by the ultras that claimed the lives of 13 militants, a colonel and two more troops.
Intelligence and ground reports say the militants numbered around 1,200 and have 18 camps or "launchpads" for infiltration bids, mostly in Goi, Kotli, Nikial, Bindi, Samani, Dhallupar, Hijira, Sensakudiala, Bhimber and Mamana.
"There are 26 militant training camps, including 21 along LoC and four along International Border in PoK. While 19 of these camps are in Jammu, falling under 16 Corps, the rest are opposite to 15 Corps," the source said.
Intelligence reports indicate over 400 militants waiting to cross into the state with increased movements along LoC, particularly in the Rajouri-Poonch sector of Jammu and Machial, Kupwara and Gurez sectors of Kashmir.
Security agencies say around 137 militants have entered Jammu and Kashmir in the first six months this year and the bids peak in summer with the melting of the snow. As many as 34 infiltration attempts were foiled in 2008, resulting in the killing of 42 terrorists.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/25/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) secretary-general Syed Munawar Hassan in a strongly worded statement on Sunday said that Asif Zardari is an unfit candidate for the office of president, for there had been numerous cases of corruption against him in local and foreign courts. Those cases were shelved under the NRO promulgated by former President Pervez Musharraf.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/25/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
Pakistan on Sunday rejected a ceasefire offered by Taliban militants in the troubled Bajaur tribal region near the Afghan border as troops killed seven more rebel fighters, officials said. Advisor to Prime Minister on Interior Affairs Rehman Malik immediately rejected the offer. "We will not accept the ceasefire," Malik told reporters in Islamabad. "We do not believe in their verbal commitments. If they are sincere they should first surrender," he said, adding that tribal militants have violated their pledges in the past after troops stopped their operations. Pakistani forces moved into Bajaur, a known hub of Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants, earlier this month. The government says at least 500 militants have been killed since then. Troops fired artillery shells and gunship helicopters pounded suspected militant hideouts almost daily since the operation was mounted on August 6.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/25/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under: TTP
#1
Surrender or die! I like the sound of that, even as I mistrust the Pak government.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
08/25/2008 7:01 Comments ||
Top||
#2
That just means they're gonna do backdoor negotiations.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/25/2008 7:49 Comments ||
Top||
The Pakistani Taleban have "the upper hand" and should be put on the list of banned organisations in Pakistan, Benazir Bhutto's widower, Asif Ali Zardari, has said. He says the world and Pakistan are losing the war on terror. "It is an insurgency", he said, "and an ideological war. It is our country and we will defend it.
"The world is losing the war. I think at the moment they (the Taleban) definitely have the upper hand.
"The issue, which is not just a bad case scenario as far as Pakistan is concerned or as Afghanistan is concerned but it is going to be spreading further. The whole world is going to be affected by it."
So Gomez, you gonna control the ISI when you're 'president'?
Mr Zardari's strong remarks came shortly after the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) put his name forward as its presidential nominee. Mr Zardari says he is confident he has the numbers he needs to win on 6 September.
Asif Zardari spent more than a decade in prison on murder and corruption charges but he insisted that the cases had failed because they were politically motivated. He also dismissed reports that the Swiss authorities were still considering whether they should pursue a money-laundering case against him there.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/25/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[7 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
#1
To beat the Taliban:
1) Say what you mean. Clearly.
2) Do what you say you are going to do. Strongly.
But this requires unity, will, and leadership - all of which are in short supply.
Taliban militants in a troubled Pakistani tribal region near the Afghan border yesterday offered a unilateral ceasefire as a two-week-old military operation left some 500 people dead, a spokesman said. "We have directed our militants to stop attacks against the government and security forces in Bajaur from today," Maulvi Omar, spokesman for the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (Taliban Movement), told AFP.
The decision has been taken following talks with tribal elders, he said in a telephone call from unknown location. "The jirga (elders council) insisted that Taliban should stop fighting in the interest of the people of Bajaur." The jirga has "assured" that troops will also suspend shelling and bombing raids in the area, he said. "We are ready for talks with the government and the truce is an important development towards dialogue," Omar said.
Pakistan on Sunday rejected a ceasefire offered by Taliban militants in a troubled tribal region near the Afghan border as troops killed seven rebel fighters, officials said. That means they'll be negotiating behind closed doors so nobody sees what they're giving away. A month or two after the agreement's reached the festivities will resume.
Pakistani forces moved into Bajaur, a known hub of al-Qaeda and Taliban militants, earlier this month. The government says at least 500 militants have been killed since then. Troops fired artillery shells and gunship helicopters pounded suspected militant hideouts almost daily since the operation was mounted on August 6. Beat hell out of sending pickup teams of Frontier Corps to fight them, doesn't it?
The offensive displaced nearly 200,000 people in the region. Pakistan's fragile coalition government, which forced US ally president Pervez Musharraf to resign on August 18, is under heavy international pressure to tackle al-Qaeda and Taliban militants. US and Afghan officials say the rebels have sanctuaries in the rugged tribal border regions of Pakistan that they use to train, regroup and launch attacks on international troops in Afghanistan. Yeah, but just because we say it doesn't make it so. These guys could be somebody else entirely, right?
This article starring:
MAULVI OMAR
Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan
Posted by: Fred ||
08/25/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under: TTP
Main Paragraph
He said that under the 27-point deal all American combat troops will be withdrawn from Iraqi cities by next June ahead of a complete withdrawal by 2011.
#1
"US lawmakers will not be asked to approve the pact...political sensitivity" > This may change due to the REGIONAL-WORLD SITUATION in 2011, espec vv the ISLAMIST "WAR OUTSIDE OF IRAQ" = RAMPAGE IN CENTRAL ASIA and its follow-on PAN-ASIAN CONSEQUENCES [Nuclear Jihad-Terrorism].
* RUSSO-GEORGIAN CONFLICT, etc. > Its RUSSIA now, but none of the other MAJOR-MINOR ASIAN NATIONS[read, CHINA, INDIA, JAPAN, etal.] are IMMUNE FROM EITHER ISLAMIST VIOLENCE NOR ENGAGING IN RUSSIAN-STYLE REGIONAL MILPOL BELLICOSITIES [defensive].
BAGHDAD (AFP) - Iraq is now producing as much power as it did on the eve of the US-led invasion of 2003 but is still meeting barely 50 percent of peak demand, a senior electricity ministry official said.
"2008 is the first year when production has reached the level prior to that of Saddam Hussein's fall," the ministry's operations and control chief Adel Mahdi told AFP in an interview. "But we still need much more."
Current production stands at 5,302 megawatts, virtually the same as the 2002 level of 5,305 MW, Mahdi said. But demand has risen sharply over the same period, forcing the ministry to continue rationing domestic supply. The average household still receives just six hours of power a day from the national grid.
Whereas peak demand in 2002 stood at 6,049 MW, leaving a shortfall in generation of 12.3 percent, demand this year is averaging 9,708 megawatts, leaving a shortfall of 45.4 percent. Over the past three months, as the searing summer heat has sent demand for power for refrigeration and air conditioning soaring, the generation shortfall has reached 48 percent, Madhi said.
The increase in supply has been significant. In the months after the invasion, Iraq was producing just 3,452 MW.
"The increase in the generation of electricity has been achieved by repairing some old plants and installing some new ones," Mahdi said. "Distribution is now much improved as sabotage has been eliminated to a very high extent because the security situation is much better. This has affected our network. Now most of the network is in operation."
However Mahdi acknowledged: "There are still some lines which were sabotaged two or three years ago and now we are trying to rebuild them.
"The capacity of Iraqi power stations is actually far higher, but plants are so outdated and in bad shape that they frequently shut, slashing generation to less than half of the 13,000 MW of nominal capacity."
The electricity ministry's plan foresees supply finally exceeding demand in early 2012, when it expects to generate 20,320 MW against projected demand of 19,200. But Mahdi acknowledged that the demand forecast was almost certainly an optimistic underestimate. The ministry worked on the basis of an annual increase of 10 percent but improved security could begin to lure home some of the two million Iraqi refugees, triggering a doubling of demand, he said.
"We may face a very serious problem if we do not put in place new power generation," said the electricity ministry employee of 32 years. "The need for energy will be much more. We have millions of Iraqis out. If these people return to Iraq, this means that new projects would be needed. This is a pressing need."
Starting this year, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has waived the normal tendering process for power generation projects in a bid to bring new plants on line as quickly as possible. "He has authorised us to negotiate directly with companies of international standing," Mahdi said.
The move has paced the way for a flurry of new deals with firms from China, Germany, Iran and South Korea as well as the United States. US firm General Electric is to supply three gas-fired 650 MW plants, which should be ready by late 2009 or early 2010. Germany's Siemen's is to provide 16 gas-fired stations of between 160 and 270 MW with delivery due within two years.
South Korea's Hyundai is building 12 diesel plants of 30 MW each and last week Shanghai Electric of China began construction of a 1,200 MW steam turbine plant. In addition, two Iranian companies Saniar and Mapna working on other generation projects under agreements with Siemens.
But whereas the Chinese, Iranian and South Korean firms are all sending their own engineers to help with the assembly of their plants, neither GE nor Siemens will send their own staff to Iraq to help install the equipment they are supplying, forcing Iraq to look to other companies as subcontractors. "Money is not a problem, what we need is that big countries and big companies will consider that we cannot build the network alone, somebody has to help us -- send technicians, especially as security is now much better," Mahdi said.
Iraq's top Shiite cleric took the unusual step Sunday of inviting reporters to his office to deny widespread rumors he was seriously ill.
Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani is thought to be 80 and suffers from an unspecified heart ailment for which he received treatment in London in 2004. The Iranian-born cleric does not give media interviews and rarely ventures out of his modest home in the old quarter of the holy city of Najaf 100 miles south of Baghdad.
"There have been rumors recently about my health. They hurt believers inside and outside Iraq. They are incorrect," an official in al-Sistani's office quoted the grand ayatollah as saying to the reporters.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media, said al-Sistani berated journalists who publish hearsay but also commended the media for what he said was its role in presenting society with the "facts."
Last week, rumors that al-Sistani was critically ill swept Shiite communities throughout the Middle East. Such rumors are not uncommon and surface periodically in Najaf, the world's foremost and oldest seat of Shiite learning.
But Sunday's hurriedly arranged meeting with the reporters, which lasted less than 10 minutes, was the first time that the cleric has gone to such lengths to dispel the rumors.
Al-Sistani, who came to Iraq more than 50 years ago but remains an Iranian citizen, has emerged as the country's top Shiite cleric following the ouster in 2003 of Saddam Hussein's Sunni-led regime.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/25/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
"My health? My health feels good." -- Coach Mike Ditka
Posted by: Grenter, Protector of the Geats ||
08/25/2008 11:41 Comments ||
Top||
Another term to add to the list...
On Thursday, 21 August 2008, a Palestinian was killed in the southern Gaza Strip town of Khan Yunis by an aimless gunshot while gunmen were training in a nearby place. In the same context, on Friday, 22 August 2008, a child was wounded in similar circumstances in Rafah. These incidents are part of the state of security chaos prevailing in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. Whadda ya think, Mahmoud?
I dunno, sarge. It's a mystery. A mystery, I tells ya!
According to investigations conducted by PCHR, at approximately 16:30 on Thursday, 21 August 2008, Ahmed Mousa al-Qedra, 37, from Khan Yunis, was wounded by an aimless gunshot to the chest when he was in front of his shop of vegetables in al-Amal neighborhood in the west of the town. He was hospitalized, but medical efforts to save his life failed. According to eyewitnesses, sounds of shooting were heard in a space area where armed groups were conducting military training to the west of al-Amal neighborhood. They hate these vegetables. Stay away from the vegetables! So the tomatoes and the cucumbers were at it again ...
The spokesman of the police, Islam Shahwan, stated to PCHR that the police initiated an investigation into the incident and called upon armed groups to conduct their military training away from populated areas. Hey, you know you guys just shot somebody in the chest/
Oh...sorry.
Well be more careful next time, okay?
Ummmmm...sure.
In the same context, at approximately 16:00 on Friday, 22 August 2008, 4-year-old Saleh 'Alaa' al-Din al-Mudallal, from Tal al-Sultan neighborhood in the west of Rafah, was seriously wounded by a gunshot to the back from an unknown sources, when he was playing together with other children in a neighbor's house. According to the child's father, sounds of shooting were heard in a training site of Palestinian armed groups near the house. C'mon, pops. Lighten up. It's for the Resistance!
In her year on the vice squad, Lt. Mariam al-Bursh has been on narcotics busts, interrogated male drug dealers and fought off a female assailant with her fists. The 27-year-old is one of 53 women serving in the 11,000-strong Hamas police force, established after the Islamic militants seized Gaza by force more than a year ago.
Since taking power, Hamas has put some educated, motivated women in government jobs, promoted athletics for women, and boosted their presence on male-dominated TV. Hamas says it wants to recruit the best and brightest, regardless of gender, and improve women's status in Gaza's conservative society.
But al-Bursh's working conditions show the limits of Hamas' tolerance. On drug busts, she is unarmed and wears a long blue-and-gray robe and head scarf that reveals only her blue eyes. When she interrogates a drug dealer, a male colleague must be present, because Muslim custom doesn't allow her to be alone with a strange man.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
08/25/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under: Hamas
#1
These people are so messed up. As a woman, you can enforce the laws as long as nobody knows it's a woman doin the enforcin. Can't take a chance on hurting the ego of one of the cowardly Lions of Islam.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
08/25/2008 1:39 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Sounds just like what Angie Dickinson had to go through on "Police Woman"...
Israel will release 199 Palestinian prisoners in the West Bank at 9:30 A.M. on Monday, as a gesture of goodwill to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
The state on Sunday responded to appeals against the prisoner release by saying only the cabinet has the authority to revoke such a decision.
The cabinet voted last week in favor of the release, which includes two prisoners convicted of murdering Israelis - both of whom have already spent nearly 30 years in jail - plus 197 convicted of lesser offenses, including attempted murder.
The prisoners will be released on the same day U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrives in the region for talks on the peace process.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/25/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under: Palestinian Authority
Following the release of 198 security prisoners Monday, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas vowed that the thousands more inmates in Israeli jails would not be forgotten.
"There will be no peace without the release of all Palestinians imprisoned in Israel," Abbas told the cheering crowd at a welcoming ceremony for the prisoners in Ramallah. "We will not rest until the prisoners are freed and the jails are empty."
Ajami said it was too early to talk of what Israel would receive in exchange for Monday's goodwill gesture.
Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah said on Sunday that the Lebanon-based militant group would respond in a firm and decisive manner to any future Israeli aggression against Lebanon, and that its future victory over Israel would be "indisputable."
Nasrallah warned that the results and repercussions of another war will exceed that of the 34-day Second Lebanon War, which took place in the summer of 2006.
Nasrallah's televised remarks, aired on Hezbollah's Al-Manar Television at a graduation ceremony, came after Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said last Tuesday that Israel would "unleash all its force" if Hezbollah guerillas attacked again. Olmert said Israel would utilize the massive firepower at its disposal if Lebanon were to become a terrorist state under the domination of Hezbollah.
Nasrallah responded Sunday, saying, "I tell you as someone who knows the resistance [Hezbollah] and its arsenal, and its quantitative and qualitative development following the July 2006 war... The Zionists will think not one thousand times but tens of thousands of times before they attack Lebanon."
Meanwhile, the head of Hezbollah's parliamentary bloc on Sunday said that Israel will be targeted by thousands of rockets if it attacks Iran. "The first shot fired from the Zionist entity toward Iran will be met by a response of 11,000 rockets in the direction of the Zionist entity. This is what military leaders in the Islamic republic have confirmed," said the Hezbollah official Mohammed Raad. His remarks were reported by Lebanon's National News Agency.
Hezbollah has not said what it would do in the event of a conflict between Iran and Israel. Analysts count Hezbollah, which shares Iran's Shi'ite Islamist ideology, as a major asset for the Islamic republic in the event of conflict.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/25/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under: Hezbollah
#1
The big question for Lebs is how many Leb rockets will it take for Israel to decide several nukes is an even exchange. Poisoning everything from the Litani to the Israeli border with radiation would remove the Hizb threat for a long, long time.
Of course, Israel would have to be lead by a PM with courage, something which rules Olmert out.
#2
I doubt they'd do that. Their problem in 2006 wasn't that Hezbollah was so overwhelming -- the rocket attacks were scary and irritating, but they were actually pretty ineffectual. Olmert's indecisiveness, running ferocious in the morning and afraid he was going to hurt someone in the afternoon, was what screwed Israel.
Having Peretz as defense minister was simply stoopid, and having an air force general command what should have been a combined arms operation made things even worse. Peretz and Haalutz had the grace to resign. Olmert's the thing that wouldn't leave.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/25/2008 7:50 Comments ||
Top||
#3
It would be nice if they didn't have to. The best way to insure that is to make certain the Lebs know both they and Hizb will get it in the neck if they start something. That will take a guy like Bibi being in the driver's seat, although no one made the Muzzies sit up and take notice like Sharon. Whoever Israel's next PM is, they better be ready to kick ass and take names at the first hint of trouble from Leb. Hizb is way too cocky and they need to be reminded who is the boss in that neck of the woods.
Dozens of pro-Palestinian activists from 17 countries toured the Gaza Strip on Sunday after their two fishing boats were allowed in despite an Israeli naval blockade of the Hamas-ruled territory. Mostly American and British, they include Lauren Booth, sister-in-law of former British premier Tony Blair who is now an international Middle East peace envoy. They also include Jeff Halper, an Israeli Jewish activist. The boats made the 370-kilometre voyage from Larnaca port on Cyprus's south coast and carried 200 hearing aids for Gaza children and 5,000 balloons. The activists plan to stay in Gaza for 10 days and visit hospitals, universities and refugee camps before sailing back to Cyprus aboard the two boats, according to the organisers.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/25/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Hamas
Palestinian disappointment: A Gaza activist told Ynet Saturday that local residents were disappointed by the small quantities of food brought in by two boats carrying international leftist activists.
"Many people thought these boats will make a significant contribution to break the siege, not only politically but also in terms of brining in goods, equipment, food, and medicine," he said. "However, once it turned out these boats contain too little food and mostly activists some people left the beach disappointed."
Yeah, but they brought lots of anti Zionist balloons "for the children"...
#2
Paleostinians have to understand that this was just a symbolic breaking of the siege, rather than anything substantial, like bringing in food, or more importantly, weapons and ammunition.
Of course, if the blockade runners had been bringing in anything more than symbols, they would have probably been intercepted or sunk by the Israeli navy.
Posted by: Rambler in California ||
08/25/2008 19:25 Comments ||
Top||
#3
"Hey - where'd our boat go?..."
Posted by: Andy Hupising8050 ||
08/25/2008 23:41 Comments ||
Top||
The cash-strapped Palestinian Authority will receive a financial boost from Saudi Arabia to help Prime Minister Salam Fayyad pay public sector salaries, Palestinian officials said on Saturday. "The Saudi finance minister told the Palestinian Authority that the decision was made to transfer $100 million," said Palestinian Information Minister Riyad al-Malki.
Malki said the money was part of pledges made to the Palestinian Authority at a donors conference in Paris in December and expected the transfer to arrive in the coming days.
Fayyad has struggled in recent months to pay government workers because many Arab donors have not met their financial commitments.
Earlier in the week, the European Union said it will inject 40 million euros ($59 million) of funds on top of the 256 million euros in budget support disbursed so far this year by the European Union.
At the Paris conference, donors pledges $7.7 billion in aid to the Palestinians over three years. But only a fraction of that has materialized and most of it is earmarked for projects and not general spending. Fayyad wants more allocations to budget support.
Delays in paying salaries would be embarrassing for Fayyad, who was appointed last year with Western backing when President Mahmoud Abbas fired a Hamas government after the Islamists violently took over Gaza Strip after routing his forces there.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/25/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: Palestinian Authority
#1
Lots of promises, possibly even some actual money that will be siphoned off for private bank accounts and slightly less private armies, to continue the internal fighting. Goodie.
Arab League chief Amr Moussa on Sunday hailed the "daring step" taken by pro-Palestinian activists whose boats docked in the Gaza Strip despite a tight Israeli blockade of the Hamas-ruled territory. "The act of protest against the Gaza blockade and the solidarity shown by these pro-Palestinian activists sends a strong message highlighting the suffering endured by the people of Gaza," Moussa said in a statement.
The head of the pan-Arab body said he hoped this was the beginning of a wider movement by campaigners from around the world to express their rejection of a blockade he said violated international humanitarian law.
Two boats from Cyprus carrying 44 pro-Palestinian activists from 17 countries, including Israel, docked in the Gaza Strip on Saturday. The boats, Liberty and Free Gaza, had embarked on the 370-kilometre (230-mile) voyage from Larnaca port on Cyprus's south coast and carried 200 hearing aids for Gaza children and 5,000 balloons.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/25/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under: Hamas
#1
Thanks, Jerry. Good luck with the telethon next weekend...
WASHINGTON The Army has accelerated purchasing a high-tech artillery shell that can be fired from as far away as 14 miles yet explode within 30 feet of its target to avoid civilian casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan, Army officials and analysts say.
An urgent request from commanders in Iraq for more accurate artillery to reduce civilian deaths prompted the Army to speed production of the Excalibur shells, according to the Government Accountability Office. In May, the Army awarded an $85 million contract to buy Excaliburs the most ever spent for the shells.
The need for precise weapons was underscored by Friday's airstrikes in Afghanistan by the U.S.-led coalition that President Hamid Karzai said killed at least 89 civilians. The U.S. coalition acknowledged civilian casualties and said it would investigate.
One Excalibur shell can destroy targets that would require dozens of conventional rounds. The Excalibur uses Global Positioning System signals to home in on targets, while traditional shells are aimed in a general direction.
The Excalibur shells are likened to the so-called "smart bombs" the Air Force uses to hit targets, said Andrew Krepinevich, president of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, an independent policy research institute.
Excalibur shells costs $89,000 per round, compared with $300 for a conventional 155mm shell. Over the next decade, the Army wants to acquire 30,000 Excaliburs, said Audra Calloway, an Army spokeswoman at Picatinny Arsenal in New Jersey. As production increases, the cost per shell could be cut in half, she said.
"Excalibur is a very big deal," Krepinevich said. "It is long overdue."
The Pentagon started developing the Excalibur shells in 1997, and the program was marred by delays and cost overruns, the GAO says.
Soldiers fired the first Excalibur shells in Iraq in May 2007 to root out insurgents from Baqouba in volatile Diyala province. The shells, fired from more than 10 miles away, destroyed targets such as insurgents planting makeshift bombs, a rooftop machine gun position and a sniper team, said Maj. Evan Gotkin of the Arrowhead Stryker brigade.
"If there's one or two insurgents shooting at an infantry platoon from an building, I don't want to drop a bomb on it that will destroy the building and kill a lot of civilians," Gotkin said. "It's a perfect weapon for the urban fight."
Better accuracy means the shells can be fired within 50 yards of friendly troops, a critical concern when infantrymen come under sniper fire in urban areas, he said. And an Excalibur can be fired in bad weather when attack aircraft can't fly, he said.
At least seven Excalibur rounds have been fired in Afghanistan, according to the Army.
Capt. Victor Scharstein, whose 1st Cavalry Division unit fired the Excalibur at insurgents in Baqouba, vouched for the shell's accuracy. "It may take me 20, 30, 40, 50, upward of 100 rounds to destroy a target" with conventional artillery, he said. "Now I'm attacking a target with one or two rounds."
Gotkin said that last year, two snipers in a building in Baqouba shot a soldier's helmet, and the soldier survived. Minutes after calling Scharstein's battery, an Excalibur shell destroyed the roof of the building and killed the sniper team.
"It allowed us to destroy everyone inside or on top of the building and then walk in," Gotkin said, adding that there were no civilian casualties.
Excalibur's accuracy means the Army can keep smaller supplies of shells on hand, which puts fewer troops at risk on supply roads, said John Pike, a military analyst and director of Globalsecurity.org.
#2
The problem with those expensive rounds is that in case of real combat where an enemy is throwing hundreds, maybe thousands of targets at you, ammunition runs out quickly because you only have, say a few dozen of the fancy rounds where you could have had thousands of the dumb ones at the same cost.
If we configure our forces for this kind of thing, we would be in a world of hurt against a Russia in Europe scenario.
A senior Iranian commander says the successful simulation of the US Army's combat style has enabled the IRGC to find their weaknesses. Deputy Chief of Staff of Iran's Armed Forces Brigadier General Mohammad Zolqadr said Sunday that the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps is fully capable of countering US tactics. "During the US invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq, the American army's combat methods, its weaknesses and strong points, and its capabilities have been fully monitored," said the Iranian general.
The remarks come shortly after Brigadier General Abdul-Rahim Mousavi said on Friday that Iran has wrapped up three secret military drills over the past two months aimed at strengthening the country's defensive prowess.
Recent reports have suggested that an armada of US and European naval vessels has been stationed in the Persian Gulf in an unprecedented build-up. Mainstream media regarded the deployment as an attempt by the Bush administration to wage war on Iran before President George W. Bush leaves office in January 2009.
"The IRGC is now using innovative methods to counter any threat against Iran," Brig. Gen. Mohammad Zolqadr continued. He added that should Washington attempt to engage in war with Tehran, the US would not stumble upon 'orthodox and classic tactics'.
Iran has warned that if the country comes under attack, it would target Israel and 32 US bases in the region and would not hesitate in taking necessary measures to protect its sovereignty- including the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran has recently equipped its navy with high-tech weapons system, capable of targeting any vessel within a range of 300 km (185 miles) from its shores.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/25/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[9 views]
Top|| File under: IRGC
#1
Excellent. They have simulated winning. My hat is off to them.
But wait! What if we have simulated the weaknesses in their simulation of our weaknesses and have simulated how to win against those tactics. No, because then they would just simulate our simulation of their simulation and pretty soon it would be turtles all the way down.
#7
They have had years to watch us and study our tactics. It's a simple fact that even amatures could find our weaknesses. Two points, first is they will completely understand our flexabiliy in combat. They should fear that above all else. We have plenty of weaknesses to exploit but they will only get that hat trick once. More importantly, the good ol USA must not take these idiots for granted. We must study their tactics, leaders, and know our enemy so well we know the outcome of every battle. We must be better prepared than we ever were with Iraq or Afghanistan. This war will be fought by Iran, Hammas, Hezbullah, etc... and in their respective AO's. If we go, it must be with total war as our method to destroy this enemy. There will be no way to have a measured attack or victory. It must be total.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
08/25/2008 11:19 Comments ||
Top||
#8
This war will be fought by Iran, Hammas, Hezbullah, etc... and in their respective AO's.
Agreed. And one can expect that Iran itself will be... 'assisted'.
#9
Impressive stuff from a country that fought Saddam to a draw. Only problem is that the U.S. Army will probably not be involved in Gulf War III. The IRGC should have spent their efforts on simulating incoming cruise missiles, stealth bombers, and cluster bombs.
#14
Well, it looks like we will end up fighting all our enemies at once, nothing like a fair fight. Hope they like ICBM's! You, OS, and the rest of us better get in shape for the call back, there gonna need help with the clean up when its over.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
08/25/2008 19:21 Comments ||
Top||
#15
Sounds more like they were stimulating democrats.
#16
Unless Barack starts using any big guns he has ala 2008 Elex, the Iranians will believe the next POTUS will be PRO-DUBYA = PRO-"OVER THERE",
"WARMONGER/KILLER" CAIN COME NOVEMBER + JAN 2009.
#17
Post-Jan 2009 + a POTUS MCCAIN > likely safe to say will induce the Iranians to conduct a FORMAL NUKE TEST(S) ASAP [includ LR IRBM/ICBM]. In any case, IMO THE ISLAMIST REGIONAL-GLOBAL "WAR/JIHAD OUTSIDE IRAQ" STRATEGIC COUNTER-SURGE THRU OUT ASIA + AFRICA WON'T STOP NOW - JAN 2009.
GUAM PATRON > claims to had visited and lived for years wid Muslims > argues/opined that MANY MUSLIMS BELIEVE THAT GOD DEMANDS THE VIOLENT DESTRUCTION OF NON-MUSLIMS, AND THAT NOTHING SAVE THEIR DE FACTO DEFEAT AND DESTRUCTION WILL STOP ANY MUSLIM JIHAD = CONQUEST, e.g. "MUSLIMS WILL NOT STOP UNTIL THEY ARE THEMSELVES KILLED"???
Since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, al-Qaeda has increasingly turned to local cells that run extremely low-cost operations and generate cash through criminal scams, bypassing the global financial dragnet set up by the United States and Europe.
Although al-Qaeda spent an estimated $500,000 to plan and execute the Sept. 11 attacks, many of the group's bombings and assaults since then in Europe, North Africa and Southeast Asia have cost one-tenth as much, or less.
The cheap plots are evidence that the U.S. government and its allies fundamentally miscalculated in assuming they could defeat the network by hunting for wealthy financiers and freezing bank accounts, according to many U.S. and European counterterrorism officials.
We never 'assumed' that drying up the money alone would solve the problem. But it's an essential step when combined with good intel, good policing, and killing terrorists when they present themselves in lawless lands.
In an ongoing trial here of eight men accused of planning to blow up airliners bound for the United States two years ago, jurors have been told how the accused shopped at drugstores for ingredients to build bombs that would have cost $15 apiece to assemble.
Similarly, the cell responsible for the July 7, 2005, transit bombings in London needed only about $15,000 to finance the entire conspiracy, including the cost of airfare to Pakistan to consult with al-Qaeda supervisors, according to official British government probes. Investigations into several plots in Europe have shown that operatives were often flush with cash, raising far more than necessary through common criminal rackets such as drug dealing and credit card theft.
Testimony in the trial of the accused airliner plotters has shown that the defendants had enough money to buy a northeast London apartment for $260,000 shortly before their arrest, allegedly so they would have a safe place to mix liquid explosives for their bombs.
One of the July 2005 suicide bombers, a 22-year-old part-time worker at a fish-and-chips shop, left an estate worth $240,000 after he blew up a subway train. Neither his family nor authorities have explained where he got the money.
In Spain, the cell responsible for the March 2004 train bombings in Madrid needed $80,000 to finance the plot, according to Spanish court documents. But they had access to more than $2.3 million worth of hashish and other illegal drugs that they could have sold to raise more money, the documents showed.
Even the 9/11 hijackers wired back about $26,000 in surplus funds to accounts in the Persian Gulf area a few days before the attacks.
Authorities said it is often impossible to monitor fundraising by such cells because they generally keep so little in the bank. Instead of receiving wire transfers or making large deposits that would trigger automatic alerts, they move cash in person and are discreet about how they spend it.
"The groups operating in Europe don't need a lot of money. The cost of operations is very low," said Jean-Louis Bruguière, a former senior anti-terrorism judge in France who now works as an adviser to the European Union on terrorism financing. "But they are very skilled at obtaining money and using criminal systems to do it. They can collect thousands and thousands of dollars or euros in a few weeks. It is beyond our control."
That's why we work on other ways to identify them and either arrest or whack them. Stop wringing your hands.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/25/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda
#1
I believe it was probably Al Capone who first mastered terrorism on the cheap.
#2
For the most part, you get what you pay for. Terrorism on the cheap means more botched jobs and more difficulty in recruiting and intimidating the population. Lots of botched jobs since Sept 11, more to follow.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
08/25/2008 6:52 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Where can I get some of that hand cream? I really could use some.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
08/25/2008 6:54 Comments ||
Top||
#4
All you have to do is whack, VERY HARD, the country these asstards come from, and it'll end really quick. Once they learn mom and dad, brothers & sisters, plus cousins, uncles, etc., will pay for their behavior, it stops. It stops faster if that punishment is greatly disproportionate to whatever little damage could be done by the terrorists. Unfortunately, that takes a VERY strong person to initiate that kind of disproportionate response. We don't have many "strong" politicians.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
08/25/2008 20:45 Comments ||
Top||
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.
SHANKSVILLE, Pa. (AP) -- As hundreds of firefighters bowed their heads in prayer, a cross made out of steel from the World Trade Center was dedicated Sunday near where United Airlines Flight 93 crashed into the ground on Sept. 11.
Pakistan banned the Taliban on Monday, toughening its stance after the Islamic militant group claimed responsibility for deadly suicide bombings against one of Pakistan's most sensitive military installations. 
Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) secretary-general Syed Munawar Hassan in a strongly worded statement on Sunday said that Asif Zardari is an unfit candidate for the office of president, for there had been numerous cases of corruption against him in local and foreign courts. Those cases were shelved under the NRO promulgated by former President Pervez Musharraf.
Taliban militants in a troubled Pakistani tribal region near the Afghan border yesterday offered a unilateral ceasefire as a two-week-old military operation left some 500 people dead, a spokesman said. "We have directed our militants to stop attacks against the government and security forces in Bajaur from today," 
BAGHDAD (AFP) - Iraq is now producing as much power as it did on the eve of the US-led invasion of 2003 but is still meeting barely 50 percent of peak demand, a senior electricity ministry official said. 
Iraq's top Shiite cleric took the unusual step Sunday of inviting reporters to his office to deny widespread rumors he was seriously ill.
In her year on the vice squad, Lt. Mariam al-Bursh has been on narcotics busts, interrogated male drug dealers and fought off a female assailant with her fists. The 27-year-old is one of 53 women serving in the 11,000-strong Hamas police force, established after the Islamic militants seized Gaza by force more than a year ago. 
Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah said on Sunday that the Lebanon-based militant group would respond in a firm and decisive manner to any future Israeli aggression against Lebanon, and that its future victory over Israel would be "indisputable." 
Dozens of pro-Palestinian activists from 17 countries toured the Gaza Strip on Sunday after their two fishing boats were allowed in despite an Israeli naval blockade of the Hamas-ruled territory. Mostly American and British, they include Lauren Booth, sister-in-law of former British premier Tony Blair who is now an international Middle East peace envoy. They also include Jeff Halper, an Israeli Jewish activist. The boats made the 370-kilometre voyage from Larnaca port on Cyprus's south coast and carried 200 hearing aids for Gaza children and 5,000 balloons. The activists plan to stay in Gaza for 10 days and visit hospitals, universities and refugee camps before sailing back to Cyprus aboard the two boats, according to the organisers.
The cash-strapped Palestinian Authority will receive a financial boost from Saudi Arabia to help Prime Minister Salam Fayyad pay public sector salaries, Palestinian officials said on Saturday. "The Saudi finance minister told the Palestinian Authority that the decision was made to transfer $100 million," said Palestinian Information Minister Riyad al-Malki.
WASHINGTON The Army has accelerated purchasing a high-tech artillery shell that can be fired from as far away as 14 miles yet explode within 30 feet of its target to avoid civilian casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan, Army officials and analysts say.
Since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, al-Qaeda has increasingly turned to local cells that run extremely low-cost operations and generate cash through criminal scams, bypassing the global financial dragnet set up by the United States and Europe. 
