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Today: 57 articles and 274 comments as of 11:51.
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Area: WoT Background    Non-WoT    Opinion    Local News    Politix   
Zardari sez not to do anything rash
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 1: WoT Operations
23 00:00 Frank G [1] 
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6 00:00 trailing wife [] 
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9 00:00 JosephMendiola [1] 
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Page 2: WoT Background
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Page 3: Non-WoT
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Page 4: Opinion
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Page 5: Russia-Former Soviet Union
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3 00:00 Richard of Oregon []
Page 6: Politix
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Good morning
Posted by: Fred || 12/02/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Pulling props makes for muscles and ready for bed.
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 12/02/2008 0:29 Comments || Top||

#2  Lovely,lovely--and the airplane is attractive, too. Curtiss Hawk series?
Posted by: Mike || 12/02/2008 6:30 Comments || Top||

#3  [Take your vowels and be off wit' yez!]
Posted by: Larkenvesee || 12/02/2008 7:46 Comments || Top||

#4  Clean up! Vowel dumpage on aisle #3!
Posted by: GORT || 12/02/2008 7:52 Comments || Top||

#5  nice - a morning vowel movement eliminated
Posted by: Frank G || 12/02/2008 8:04 Comments || Top||

#6  Anyone up for a week of Dorothies? Or six degrees of Dorothy Sebastian?
Posted by: Fred || 12/02/2008 9:11 Comments || Top||

#7  I'm a up for a week of old airplanes... with wimmin by them.
Posted by: 3dc || 12/02/2008 9:54 Comments || Top||

#8  3dc, hows this for your old plane fetish?

Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 12/02/2008 10:04 Comments || Top||

#9  Golfbravo, that is one lovely video.
Posted by: Mike || 12/02/2008 10:08 Comments || Top||

#10  I don't care what their names are, I like Lovely Ladies. And Airplanes.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 12/02/2008 10:28 Comments || Top||

#11  Deacon, your wish is my command.


Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 12/02/2008 10:40 Comments || Top||

#12  3dc & Deacon here's a little eye candy icing for your love of aircraft.


Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 12/02/2008 11:40 Comments || Top||

#13  After further review it looks like the last aircraft is a little tail heavy. But, what the heck, a good pilot can handle a tailspin and once you get her trimmed you can sit back and enjoy the ride.
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 12/02/2008 11:52 Comments || Top||

#14  Golf...
Wonderful planes!
The tourism site you got that stew shoot from is interesting too.
http://www.jaunted.com/

Do you have anything to do with it?

Posted by: 3dc || 12/02/2008 12:02 Comments || Top||

#15  3dc, No I just love aircraft and their accessories. I flew back seat in the Marine Corps and one of my good friends restores WWII fighters. He did a couple of P-40s and a Mustang. Flew one of the P-40s in the Movie 1941 and raced a Yak-11 at Reno. He also did some P-40 flight scenes in the Pearl Harbor movie a few years ago. Here is his latest project, F4F Wildcat:



When his planes were on static display he would put a sign on the control panel that read: Rides - Gas, A$$ or Grass
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 12/02/2008 12:39 Comments || Top||

#16  (wipes drool from chin)
I Love Airplane Noise
Between the raspy growl of an old radial or the whiff of burnt JP in the morning, i don't even have time to think about anything else (well except for scantily-clad wimmins posing by 'em)
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 12/02/2008 14:04 Comments || Top||

#17 
Nose Art is kind of nice too.

Thanks for the info GolfBravoUSMC.
Posted by: 3dc || 12/02/2008 14:28 Comments || Top||

#18 
Not sure what this was about...
Posted by: 3dc || 12/02/2008 14:39 Comments || Top||

#19 
Back to Golf's style...
Posted by: 3dc || 12/02/2008 14:45 Comments || Top||

#20  RE, number 18 post:

Q: What is the name of that aircraft?

A: Chi-nookie!!
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 12/02/2008 16:31 Comments || Top||

#21  3dc You're absolutely on target. There is nothing like a good set of Radial Engines. Doesn't that Twin Beach prop pitch motor cover (spinner) look a little long and hard. I wonder why?



Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 12/02/2008 16:48 Comments || Top||

#22  Yikes! I'm seeing double.


Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 12/02/2008 16:54 Comments || Top||

#23  Now that's funny.


Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 12/02/2008 17:00 Comments || Top||

#24  My dad was a ground crewman for B-24's in WWII. One of his best friends was very artistic, and did the nose art for several planes in the unit. Of course, today, those pictures would be banned for being at least R-rated.
Do they even do nose art on planes anymore?
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 12/02/2008 17:31 Comments || Top||

#25  Rambler:

I'm afriad I'll be referring you to the Rantburg IG's office for the mention of this sexist practice. I would recommend you block your schedule for the inevitable sensitivity training sessions.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/02/2008 17:40 Comments || Top||

#26  I wonder why the penguin is wandering in front of the Chinook's wheel?
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/02/2008 18:12 Comments || Top||

#27 
Kind of small at 500pixles wide per photo but look at photos in background in this ww-ii photo.
Posted by: 3dc || 12/02/2008 18:23 Comments || Top||

#28 
Posted by: 3dc || 12/02/2008 18:31 Comments || Top||

#29 

The last B-24
Posted by: 3dc || 12/02/2008 18:34 Comments || Top||

#30  Norma Jean (A.K.A Marilyn Monroe) assembling target drones June 1945.


Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 12/02/2008 18:59 Comments || Top||

#31  it appears the drone likes her
Posted by: Frank G || 12/02/2008 19:30 Comments || Top||

#32  My Old Man used to fly Beavers when he was in the Army.

Seriously. Beavers. You could look it up.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:De_Havilland_Beaver_DA-SC-99-04701.jpg
Posted by: Parabellum || 12/02/2008 19:35 Comments || Top||

#33  I'll have to give my vote to GulfBravo and "Bluebirds." Very well done Devil Dog.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/02/2008 19:49 Comments || Top||

#34  "#26 I wonder why the penguin is wandering in front of the Chinook's wheel?"

Please don't hit me, TW, but I think it is because he can't fly.....
/runs/ducks/cowers/////
Posted by: USN,Ret. || 12/02/2008 21:49 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
Afghanistan: Suicide boomer targets market in southwest
.(AKI) - A suicide bomber killed at least 10 people, including two policemen, and wounded 27 others in a town in south-western Afghanistan on Monday. The attacker was believed to have targeted a police convoy in a crowded bazaar in the Musa Qala district of Helmand province.

In a separate incident in Ghazni province, Taliban gunmen killed district chief Abdul Rahim Desiwal, while in the northern Baghlan province two Taliban militants were killed while planting a bomb.

Helmand province is one of Afghanistan's most volatile provinces because it is the country's largest opium-producing area, accounting for up to two-thirds of the national crop.

Posted by: Fred || 12/02/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Africa Horn
Somali pirate plot to hijack cruise ship foiled
A bid by Somali pirates to hijack a luxury cruise ship was foiled by an international taskforce, officials said on Monday, as ransom negotiations for a Saudi super-tanker stretched into overtime.

A spokesman for the Danish navy, the current lead nation in the NATO taskforce, confirmed the operation had stopped a group of pirates from boarding a civilian vessel which reports said was carrying some 400 passengers and 200 crew.

"The (Danish) navy's tactical command on Sunday led a military operation, dispatching a vessel from the coalition to the aid of a civilian ship threatened by pirates, thereby preventing an act of piracy," Danish navy spokesman Jesper Lynge told AFP. Lynge said it was up to the countries involved to give details of the cruise ship involved.

But according to Danish TV2 News, six to eight armed pirates on two speed boats were observed speeding toward the Nautica, a cruise liner that had set sail from Florida. A French navy warship, alerted by the Danish Navy, scrambled a helicopter to the scene, which sent the pirates fleeing, TV2 News said.
Posted by: Fred || 12/02/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Pirates

#1  Captain Abraham Smollett: Where to, Captain Hawkins?
Jim Hawkins: To wherever the wind may take us!
Gonzo: Off to Zanzibar to meet the Zanzibarbarians!
Rizzo: Oh, brother! Here they go again!
Posted by: swksvolFF || 12/02/2008 17:07 Comments || Top||


Bangladesh
Tales from the Crossfire Gazette
Two more associates of "top criminal" Rozen were killed in an encounter between RAB men and their cohorts at Kadomtoli in the capital city early Monday, four days after the death of the ringleader in the same way.
Rolling up the network, RAB style, just like before ...
The deceased were identified as Babu, 26, and Suman, 25, known as 'killer Suman'.
Now known as 'killed Suman' ...
"Both of them were wanted on twelve systems in a number of criminal cases, including murder and extortion.
So they weren't loved by their mothers ...
They were listed criminal in the city's Jatrabari, Sabujbagh, Shyampur and Kadomtoli areas," a RAB officer said.
We have no idea where those places are, but they pro'ly gave money in the last election ...
Earlier on Nov 26, Rozen and one of his close aides, Bidyut, were killed in crossfire during another encounter with RAB at Shanir Akhra in the city.
Somehow we missed that one ...
Being informed that accomplices of Rozen gathered in Kadomtoli water-purification area to reunite the gang and plan crimes, ...
They meet at a water purification plant? What happened to the secret lair?
... a team of RAB-10 raided the area at about 3:05am to arrest them.
You can guess what happened next ...
"Sensing danger, ...
their spider senses collectively tingled
... the gangsters opened fire on RAB men, ...
Not that they hit anything, including the walls
... forcing them to fire back. During gunfire that lasted 25 minutes, Babu and Suman were caught in the line of fire and died instantly," says a RAB account of the shootout.
[BANG] [thwip] [THUNK!] "Ooooch!" [gurgle] "Rosebud!" [rattle] [twitch]
[BANG] [thwip] [THUNK!] "Ooooch!" [gurgle] "Rosebud!" [rattle] [twitch]
The elite force also recovered two revolvers, one pistol and 203 rounds of bullets from the spot.
No time to plant a shutter gun ...
Both the bodies were sent to Dhaka Medical College Hospital morgue.
"Here's two more for you, Dr. Quincy!"
"Stack 'em in the back with the others, Sam."
Posted by: Steve White || 12/02/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The November 26 passing of Rozen's friend, Bidet was overlooked due to the the extreme mirth and laughter his name created. lotsa sophmoric humor there, you betcha.
Posted by: Kohler bath fixtures || 12/02/2008 0:26 Comments || Top||

#2  They meet at a water purification plant? What happened to the secret lair?
Give 'em a break, Doc. Vacant extinct volcanos are hard to come by in Bangla.
Posted by: Spot || 12/02/2008 8:03 Comments || Top||

#3  two revolvers, one pistol and 203 rounds of bullets

Good lord! That sounds like the kind of ratio Rantburgers would carry.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/02/2008 19:06 Comments || Top||

#4  I'm more partial to the one mob-one ranger thinking, I usualy carry 15 rounds, if there's 16 bad guys, I plan to run from the one remaing.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 12/02/2008 19:59 Comments || Top||


China-Japan-Koreas
North Korea Restricts Border Traffic
North Korea, one of the world's most shuttered states, pulled the curtains tighter on Monday, drastically cutting South Korean access to a joint industrial complex in the border city of Kaesong.
Posted by: Fred || 12/02/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  TOPIX > UNKNOWN SON OF KIM JONG-IL APPEARS TO CONTEND FOR SUCCESSION?

Also from SAME > ARMENIAN EXPERTS ASK RUSSIA TO GIVE PART OF DAGESTAN FOR NAGORNO-KARABAKH [compensation/over 4000 square kilometers of Russ]???

Lest we fergit, [old]RUSSIA THREATENS TO PREEMPTIVELY STRIKE NORTH KOREA [in case NK goes Nukeys].
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/02/2008 2:15 Comments || Top||

#2  Do they think they are punishing the South or something?
Throwing little temper tantrums and starving your own peasants?
Yeah, that'll teach em!
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 12/02/2008 6:51 Comments || Top||

#3  Kimmie said to tell the SorKs, "Thanks for the factories, sucka."
Posted by: ed || 12/02/2008 7:03 Comments || Top||

#4  Well without the technical experts from the south, their transportation, logistics, materials sourcing and consumer market, I don't see the point of even keeping the factories open. It was kind of a freebie for the north, if they don't want it, screw em. They had to bring in all the tech guys and managers from the south I think.
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 12/02/2008 9:27 Comments || Top||

#5  North Korea restricts border traffic? Will anyone notice? I can't imagine a big influx in the northernly direction. North Korea is not exactly a vacation capital of the world.
Posted by: JohnQC || 12/02/2008 12:10 Comments || Top||

#6  South Korea wants to export to Europe via the Trans Siberian Railroad. It could be a very busy and profitable route.
Posted by: ed || 12/02/2008 12:14 Comments || Top||

#7  Did the paleo's get their economics training from the norks or was it the other way around?
Posted by: remoteman || 12/02/2008 12:48 Comments || Top||

#8  North Korea is crazy to think that any one will actually be affected by this. I don't know what will happen to them in the future, but they need to start opening their borders more in order to bring more power into the country. Their civilians will figure out a way around Kim Jong Ill's tyranny.
Posted by: John || 12/02/2008 15:20 Comments || Top||

#9  Obviously this isn't about South Korea. The North Korean elites are gearing up for an old-fashioned succession struggle, and would prefer to not have an audience for the familial bloodletting. God knows only what kind of kibitzing they're expecting from their sanctimonious and deluded cousins to the south.
Posted by: Mitch H. || 12/02/2008 19:25 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
'How can our .303 rifles fight against AK-47?'
While leaving his Airoli home in suburban Mumbai on Wednesday night, Sudam Aaba Pandarkar, an assistant sub-inspector of the Thane Railway Police, could never have imagined the terrible night that awaited him.

Pandarkar, who is usually on duty in the ladies' compartment in Central Railway trains, reached the Chhattrapati Shivaji Terminus at around 9.50 pm.

Pandarkar initially mistook the sound of gunshots as firecrackers being lit by happy cricket enthusiasts, after India's victory against England [Images] in the fifth one day international that day. The gravity of the situation hit him when he saw the terrorists firing from their automatic rifles.

As he tried to make his way to the place where the terrorists were spraying bullets, he came across a terrorist standing just 15 metres away from him, near platform number 6. Without wasting any time, Pandarkar unlocked his .303 rifle and fired three shots at the terrorist.

Unfortunately, all three bullets missed the target. "When you shoot in such circumstances, it is to kill the target. The terrorist was fortunate that he was not hit by my bullets," he says when asked why he missed the target.

The terrorist fired back and the bullet hit Pandarkar in the chest. When the terrorist ran away, Pandarkar tried to follow him, but couldn't move beyond a few feet. His colleagues rushed to his rescue as he fell down, writhing in pain.

"The bullet narrowly missed his heart and ruptured his left lung. Had the bullet hit him just a few inches lower, it would have completely damaged his heart. He must thank his stars for that," says Dr Ashish Kumar Tiwari, staff physician and spokesperson of Bombay Hospital, who along with Dr D P Vyas, is in charge of all the injured patients.

Pandarkar's wife Parvatibai, who's been with her husband ever since he was hospitalised, stands at his bedside, as her husband talks to television reporters.

Though Pandarkar has no complaints against anybody for his condition, he wonders aloud, "It was.303 versus automatic rifles like AK-47s and AK-46s. Do we stand a chance?"

He also feels that something must be done to upgrade the outdated firearms used by the police, so that the force is better-prepared the next time.
Posted by: john frum || 12/02/2008 16:54 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Here we go again. The cops want to be Storm Troopers.
Posted by: Iblis || 12/02/2008 16:58 Comments || Top||

#2  Response: Lee Enfield L96A1
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/02/2008 17:15 Comments || Top||

#3  Read the previous article. Not only are they carrying a Enfield .303 (80 yr. plus old bolt gun) but many if not most have never fired them due to lack of ammo and NO ranges.

He was lucky to get off 3 shots let alone hit anything. The rifles were good in 1915, adequate in 1940, antiques in 2008.
Posted by: tipover || 12/02/2008 17:17 Comments || Top||

#4  Look, old bolt-action Mausers in the hands of civilians in Peru in the 90's were enough to put a serious dent in the Sendoro Luminoso.

If they'd kept the guns in good condition and PRACTICED with them they'd probably be very adequate for the task.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 12/02/2008 17:22 Comments || Top||

#5  I know that India has made much more modern versions of the Enfield, chambered in 7.62mm NATO, which should be cheap-enough ammunition to practice with.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 12/02/2008 17:23 Comments || Top||

#6  With a spray and pray AK-47 he would have just filled the air with lead, and probably missed his target anyway.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 12/02/2008 17:25 Comments || Top||

#7  I would respectfully submit that success in these sorts of events has more to do with effective leadership, training, and the determination of the operator than the age or type of weapon used. As I recall, one of the first casualties was a senior (if not the senior) counter terrorism chief. That cound not have had a positive impact on leadership at the scene.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/02/2008 17:29 Comments || Top||

#8  do they not teach them how too aim? Old weapon or not if the aim was true then he might have at least winged him
Posted by: rabid whitetail || 12/02/2008 17:48 Comments || Top||

#9  The lack of training, especially live firing, is what doomed the Indian cops armed with the SMLE. The old British .303 round is a deadly one, and if any of the terrorists had actually been hit by one, they would have been badly wounded if not killed. I wonder if the Indian cops are issued hollow points or not? A hollow pointed .303 would be a nightmare wounding bullet.
Posted by: Shieldwolf || 12/02/2008 17:54 Comments || Top||

#10  Three items for which we can be thankful:

1. It happened there, and not here. Thank you "W".
2. The Indians were successful in capturing one of the terrs alive.
3. The Indians were successful in eventually bringing an end to it.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/02/2008 17:59 Comments || Top||

#11  Also, the Afghanis put a lot of Soviets in the ground using SMLEs during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan - but then the Afghanis would practice anywhere they chose, and did enough live firing to be reasonably accurate.
Posted by: Shieldwolf || 12/02/2008 18:02 Comments || Top||

#12  'How can our .303 rifles fight against AK-47?'

The gun is more than capable, it's the shooter who was not up to the task. Lack of training, lack of practice, or lack of temperment. Not at all unusual though.
Posted by: Glenmore || 12/02/2008 18:52 Comments || Top||

#13  When I was growing up in the Australian bush in the 1950s the only rifles I ever saw were war surplus Lee Enfield's from the Lithgow Small Arms Factory, and every farmer had one to shoot kangaroos and for the rifle range. With open sights they are very accurate at 400 yards and more, and a roo has a smaller heart shot area than a Jihadi.
Posted by: Grunter || 12/02/2008 18:54 Comments || Top||

#14  Lee Enfield .303's, of course.
Posted by: Grunter || 12/02/2008 18:55 Comments || Top||

#15  do they not teach them how too aim? Old weapon or not if the aim was true then he might have at least winged him

Your comment reminds me of an old Hindu saying.

"How can one expect a monkey to appreciate the taste of ginger?"
Posted by: Gruger Smith5247 || 12/02/2008 18:57 Comments || Top||

#16  Weren't there a lot of casualties in WWI? How did that happen?
Posted by: Jeremiah Thaise1218 || 12/02/2008 19:14 Comments || Top||

#17  I will concede that the Enfield was a fine rifle in it's time but at short range against a full or semi auto in trained hands it is not adequate. This cop had guts if not the skills to get those 3 rounds off.

Of course training matters but most police do not have the best training to face an armed combatant. Swat officers here in the US perhaps but that is specialized (read elite) training with hand-picked people. Beat Cops? Not hardly.

It still doesn't excuse the Political, management and supervisory mindset that allowed this lack of basic firearms training and practice. And the issuance of out of date equipment. Especially by a up and coming world power in such a dangerous part of the world.
Posted by: tipover || 12/02/2008 19:20 Comments || Top||

#18  Thank goodness US troops were well equipped and trained at the beginning of WWII when we were an up and coming power.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 12/02/2008 19:58 Comments || Top||

#19  Assuming that the story is accurate, I too will give the sub-inspector credit fir;

1. Marching to the sound of the guns
2. Opening fire, attempting to engage

Thinking back to "Men Against Fire" by SLA Marshall, the mere act of taking offensive action sets this constable apart from the vast majority of combatants that have ever faced incoming fire.

Quoting Teddy Roosevelt:

It Is Not The Critic Who Counts

"It is not the critic who counts, not the one who points out how the strong man stumbled or how the doer of deeds might have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred with sweat and dust and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who, if he wins, knows the triumph of high achievement; and who, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory or defeat."
Posted by: Lone Ranger || 12/02/2008 20:02 Comments || Top||

#20  The Carcano M91/38 rifle wasn't the best rifle in the world either by 1963, but still could do a lot of damage on a target by a trained rifleman.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 12/02/2008 20:10 Comments || Top||

#21  Thinking back to "Men Against Fire" by SLA Marshall, the mere act of taking offensive action sets this constable apart from the vast majority of combatants that have ever faced incoming fire.

I've read elsewhere that Marshall's assertions were tosh. The problem with US (and most other) forces has generally been that they were too trigger-happy, not that they were reluctant to shoot. The Korean, Vietnam and Iraq wars were characterized by native allies who expended too much ammunition haphazardly without really looking at where their adversary was.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 12/02/2008 22:49 Comments || Top||

#22  FWIW, my Dad, God rest his soul, used to tell me fondly about when he was in the Army in the mid '50s in Germany. He grew up in the country and was a very good shot (though he'd always tell me he was nothing compared to Grandad).

He'd often recount that shooting all kinds of guns all the time was something he loved about the Army. He expressed great admiration for the older NCOs (WW2 or Korea vets in the company he commanded) who could fire the bolt action rifles (1903 Springfields I guess) at such high rates of fire and with such accuracy that he felt they would be at no disadvantage to modern firearms (he used to complain a lot about the M-1 so there was some bias).

I reckon most people do not try to fire bolt action rifles too quickly as they focus on hunting. But, when such rifles were issued to soldiers the situation must have been different and they probably would have held up fine vs. an AK-47. But I'm no expert. My son will probably think I'm a good shot by our citified standards and I'll have to tell him about Grandad. But at least he'll learn to shoot.

Dad used to love reading Rantburg, btw.
Posted by: JAB || 12/02/2008 23:12 Comments || Top||

#23  God bless your Dad, JAB, sounds like a great man ;-)
Posted by: Frank G || 12/02/2008 23:31 Comments || Top||


Mumbai Cops just had 577 rifles, hadn't fired them in 10 yrs
MUMBAI: The state constabulary was grossly unprepared to deal with the worst-ever terror attacks on the metropolis because of an acute shortage of weapons and ammunition.

Official records show that for a force of well over 1.8 lakh, the home department procured a meagre 2,221 weapons — 577 for Mumbai, and 1,644 for the rest of Maharashtra.

‘‘Under the centrally sponsored modernisation programme, we purchased almost all types of weapons, but for a state like Maharashtra, the number of weapons was grossly inadequate ,’’ a senior official told TOI on Monday.

In the absence of a firing range and of ammunition for practice, members of the law enforcement agencies have not opened fire in the last ten years. ‘‘I’ve been in the police force for a long time, but I had no occasion to open fire for practice,’’ a senior inspector of police said.

As per the police manual, officials ranking from constable to assistant inspector get rifles with 30 rounds each, and those with the rank of police sub-inspector and above get revolvers, also with 30 rounds each.

Jawans with the State Reserve Police Force are given SLRs or self-loading rifles. In addition, AK-47 rifles have been given to officials posted in areas where there is Naxal activity, while officials on VIP security duty are armed with either revolvers or carbines.

The manual also prescribes mandatory training for all officials, especially shooting practice at the firing range. According to a senior IPS official, the norms prescribed in the manual now exist only on paper because of the acute shortage of ammunition for practice and the non-availability of a firing range.

As per the rules, every district should have a firing range exclusively for the police. But official records indicate that more than half the state’s districts have no independent firing range.

‘‘We have constables who have not opened fire even for practice ever since their recruitment,’’ the official said.
Posted by: john frum || 12/02/2008 16:30 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


WSJ: Mombai Police Home in on Attack Mastermind
A senior police official said that, in all, the names and numbers of five members of the Pakistani group's leadership were contained in a satellite phone left behind by the terrorists on a fishing vessel they hijacked then abandoned before reaching Mumbai. Records from the phone show calls had been made from it to these five men.

Among them: Yusuf Muzammil, head of Lashkar-e-Taiba's terrorism operations against India. The senior Indian police official said he was identified as the mastermind of the attacks by the only terrorist captured alive, Ajmal Kasab, or Qasab. The police official said two of Mr. Muzammil's deputies orchestrated the strikes, according to Mr. Kasab's testimony.

Posted by: Frozen Al || 12/02/2008 15:32 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  So the big question is: What happens when the Indians ask the Paks to hand these guys over?
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 12/02/2008 16:20 Comments || Top||

#2  The Pakis will say they don't have an extradition treaty for political crimes.
Posted by: hammerhead || 12/02/2008 16:27 Comments || Top||

#3  Gonna be a hot time in Islamabad, boys...

About 7000 C, I'd say.
Posted by: mojo || 12/02/2008 16:37 Comments || Top||

#4  For a well planned, highly trained and rehearsed terror op, always remember your cell phones, credit cards, laptops, hotel room keys, family photos letters, and designer clothing. Never deploy without them!
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/02/2008 17:35 Comments || Top||

#5  Not to be a conspiracy nut, but it would be nice to have some independent corroborating evidence: like Besoeker said, a planned op would not have left such behind, so either it was not well-planned (seems reasonable) or it was left behind for purposes of disinformation (perhaps not likely, but not impossible.)
Posted by: Glenmore || 12/02/2008 18:55 Comments || Top||

#6  They came from the Land of the Pure, the Master Religion. It is blasphemy to think that those pagan Hinjoos could possibly trace them back after India's 9/11, so what matters a few phones and such left behind on a boat crewed by the dead in the middle of the sea?
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/02/2008 19:37 Comments || Top||


Bomb Blast In India Kills 2, Wounds 30 On Train
ht to Doubleplusundead
GAUHATI, India (AP) ― A bomb exploded in a train coach in India's insurgency-hit northeast on Tuesday, killing at least two people and injuring another 30, a state government official said.

The explosion occurred shortly after the train arrived at Diphu railroad station, about 200 miles (300 kilometers) south of Gauhati, the capital of Assam state, said District Magistrate M.C. Sahu.

The train was heading from Lumding in central Assam to the eastern commercial hub of Tinsukhia, Sahu said.

While no one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, an intelligence official said an ethnic insurgent group, Karbi Longri National Liberation Front, fighting for wide autonomy in the state for the past five years was suspected. He spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not speak publicly about the details.

The front is one of the three groups active in the region; the other two groups have reached cease-fire accords with the government.
uh huh
Posted by: Frank G || 12/02/2008 08:37 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


No military action against Pakistan says Indian Foreign Minister
New Delhi: India on Tuesday sought to allay fears about an armed conflict with Pakistan, saying military action is not being considered and that it will wait for Islamabad to respond to its demand for action against terror groups and individuals operating out of the neighbouring country.

"What will be done, time will show and you will come to know," External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee told reporters when referred to US President-elect Barack Obama's suggestion that India has a "right to protect" itself.

When asked whether it could mean military action, Mukherjee said "Nobody is talking about military action."

He said India "will await" Pakistan's response to a demarche (protest note) issued to it demanding action against terrorist groups and individuals operating out of that country and handing over of 20 fugitive terrorists.

Pakistan's High Commissioner to India Shahid Malik was summoned by the Ministry of External Affairs yesterday and issued a demarche. "Now, we have in our demarche asked (for) the arrest and handover of those persons who are settled in Pakistan and who are fugitives of Indian law," Mukherjee said on the sidelines of a function to inaugurate the India-Arab Forum.

India had already handed over to Pakistan a list of 20 terrorists, including Lashkar-e-Taiba chief Hafiz Mohammad and Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar besides Dawood Ibrahim, who are based in that country and are suspected to be behind terror attacks in India.

"There are lists of about 20 persons. (These) lists are sometimes altered and this exercise is going on and we have renewed it in our demarche," Mukherjee said.

Investigations into the three-day Mumbai terror strikes have shown that the plan to carry out the attacks was hatched in Pakistan, suspectedly by Lashkar-e-Toiba and the perpetrators of the ghastly act came from Karachi by ships and boats.

Islamabad has been in a denial mode but India says it has hard evidence to show Pakistani link.

Angry at the Mumbai attacks, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said that India will not tolerate use of territories by its neighbours for launching attacks in this country and that there will be a "cost" to it.

The US is also building pressure on Pakistan, with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice saying Islamabad must "follow evidence wherever it leads" and lend "absolute" and "transparent" cooperation to New Delhi in probe into the Mumbai terror strikes.

On the solidarity shown by the world leaders, including the US President-elect, with India in the aftermath of the Mumbai strikes, the External Affairs Minister said: "We appreciate the responses which we have received from all over the world, including Obama."
This article starring:
Dawood Ibrahim
Hafiz Mohammad
Masood Azhar
Posted by: john frum || 12/02/2008 06:24 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  BOHICA
Posted by: ed || 12/02/2008 7:13 Comments || Top||

#2  OK ISI Chief, Mr. President or whoever is in charge of your failed country, please forward to RAW or the IB the photographs of the remaining 14 LeT terrorists who trained with captured, Azam Amir Kasav. Mr. Obama, please hold in abeyance the letter to the Indian PM admonishing him to prevent waterboarding Mr. Kasav.
Posted by: Hammerhead || 12/02/2008 8:42 Comments || Top||

#3  Unfortunately this Mumbai disaster shows that the civil govt has no control over the Islamist tendencies of the military/ISI!!!!

They wont give up their proxies whether to India or USA how much we plead/demand!!!
Posted by: Paul2 || 12/02/2008 9:14 Comments || Top||

#4  Deniability is all part of the fun of using non-state actors as players in your little war-by-proxy. Advice to those living in the tribal areas: stock up on tea and biscuits - you will be having many visitors soon. And watch out for those little flying Hellfire Roombas!
Posted by: SteveS || 12/02/2008 9:28 Comments || Top||

#5  Need to get the Indian Techies to start making some Predators and launch test phases in the Kashmir area.
Posted by: Hammerhead || 12/02/2008 9:46 Comments || Top||

#6  Translation: "We've got lots of people ridin' the Crazy Train, too."
Posted by: mojo || 12/02/2008 12:09 Comments || Top||

#7  Hell, if all India were to do was let its crazies loose against Pakistan, it would eliminate Pakistan as a functioning country. Remember, the Indians outnumber the Pakis by 8-9 to 1; so even with a 2-1 loss ratio among the Indian crazies, they could wipe out the Paki population before they ran short on their own population.
Posted by: Shieldwolf || 12/02/2008 17:58 Comments || Top||

#8  #7 Shieldwolf - What's the downside?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 12/02/2008 18:29 Comments || Top||

#9  ION MUMBAI, TOPIX > NEW MUMBAI TERROR THREAT: MORE TERRORISTS, ACCOMPLICES STILL LOSE IN INDIA; + NEW DELHI: MUMBAI TERROR GROUPS MAY SHIFT FOCUS TO COUNTRYSIDE, + LASHKAR-E-TAIBA AND MUMBAI MILITANTS DESIRE TO BREAK-UP INDIAN NATION, FOMENT ASIA-WIDE UNREST.

Also, PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUM > THE PAKISTANI RESPONSE TO LIMITED INDIAN MILITARY STRIKES: SWIFT RETRIBUTION, "measured" + wid potentially rapid easy escalation towards nuclear-possible Indo-Pakis regional conflict]
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/02/2008 22:07 Comments || Top||


Pictured: two year old child's parents killed by 'religion of peace'.
I don't know what to say about this story. Brings tears to my eyes are white hot fury to my heart. Go to the story and see the pictures. Religion of Piece my ass. Until every Iman is condeming this from the rooftops of each and every mosque I'll won't believe that Islam is anything but a religion of Death, destruction and hatred.

H/T: Anti-Itiotarian Rottweiler

What horrors has this two-year-old child seen? And how much does he understand?

His face wracked with sobs as he cries for his mother, tiny Moshe Holtzberg has had a miraculous escape: He was inside the Jewish centre stormed by Islamic militants during last week's Mumbai attacks.

His rabbi father and mother were both murdered by the militants. Moshe was rushed to safety - drenched in blood - after his nanny found him crying by their bodies.

He only turned two this week. Today he attended the emotionally-charged memorial service for his parents at a Mumbai synagogue before being flown to Israel.

Now he is safe in the care of his mother's parents - but what effect the trauma of his horrifying ordeal has had on him remains to be seen.

'I don't know that he can comprehend or that he will remember seeing his parents shot in cold blood,' said Robert Katz, a New York-based fund-raiser for an Israeli orphanage founded by the boy's family.
Read the whole thing.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 12/02/2008 00:40 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Nice picture of the good jihadi there, too: Perforated, bloody and already starting to rot. 100,000 down, millions to go.
And while we're at it, let's not forget the soul-dead Nazi beasts at StormFront, who were gloating today over the slaughter of the Holtzbergs.
We're watching you, Nazi/KKK scum and we have eyes everywhere. We'll show up in person when you inbreds least expect it. Now go back to your pork rinds and moonshine.
Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy || 12/02/2008 2:30 Comments || Top||

#2  His rabbi father and mother were both murdered by the militants.

Militants? Even calling them militants is an outrage. These jihadis are disgusting, murderous thugs--scum of the earth. They should be called what they are--ba$tard offspring of swine. No, that is not fair to pigs. Pigs don't engage in such dastardly, bastardly abjectly evil deeds.
Posted by: JohnQC || 12/02/2008 12:04 Comments || Top||

#3  I hope that he is too young to remember what he went through. Hearing about it later will be horrible enough.

My heart goes out to him and his family.
Posted by: Cornsilk Blondie || 12/02/2008 17:07 Comments || Top||


Militants could start regional war: Gomez
Pakistan's president Asif Ali Zardari made an urgent appeal to India on Sunday not to punish his country for the terror unleashed on Mumbai last week, warning that militants had the power to precipitate a war in the region, the Financial Times reported on Monday.

As the government in New Delhi faced mounting domestic recriminations after the three-day terrorist rampage in Mumbai, Zardari urged India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to resist striking out at his government should investigations show that Pakistani militant groups were responsible for the attacks.

Zardar warned that provocation by rogue "non-state actors" posed the danger of a return to war between the nuclear-armed neighbors. "Even if the militants are linked to Lashkar-e-Taiba, who do you think we are fighting?" asked Zardari in an interview with the Financial Times.
Not Lashkar-e-Taiba, that's for sure ...
"We live in troubled times where non-state actors have taken us to war before, whether it is the case of those who perpetrated the 9/11 attacks on the United States or contributed to the escalation of the situation in Iraq," said Zardari. "Now, events in Mumbai tell us that there are ongoing efforts to carry out copycat attacks by militants. We must all stand together to fight out this menace."

The Mumbai assaults that killed 195 people bore the hallmarks of Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistan-based group blamed for previous attacks in India. Indian officials said most, perhaps all, of the 10 Islamist attackers who held Mumbai hostage with frenzied attacks using assault rifles and grenades came from Pakistan.

The fallout from the three-day rampage in Mumbai, India's commercial center, has threatened to unravel India's improving ties with Pakistan and prompted the resignation of India's security minister.
Posted by: Fred || 12/02/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  militants had the power to precipitate a war in the region
He's right about that part - and those militants are called the ISI. They've "precipitated" numerous wars.
Posted by: Spot || 12/02/2008 8:10 Comments || Top||

#2  See also FREEREPUBLIC > ISLAMIC TERRORISTS TARGET: INDIA-PAKISTAN WAR; + APOLOGETIC MUMBAI KILLERS:"WE DIDN'T GET THE MEMO ABOUT OBAMA [winning 2008 USELEX].

ION DRUDGEREPORT > IRAN WILL HAVE NUCLEAR BOMB IN OBAMA'S FIRST YEAR/EXPERTS WARN BARACK OBAMA OF "HORNET'S NEST" IN MIDDLE EAST [CFR-Brookings Institute Report/Nuke Headache = GEOPOL JIGSAW]; + PRAVDA > US WILL NOT BE ABLE TO STRIKE ANY NUCLEAR BLOW AT RUSSIA WITHOUT RESPONSE [1st- andor any 2nd-Strikes]!?
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/02/2008 17:48 Comments || Top||


More Indian Officials Quit in Aftermath of Attacks
More top Indian officials resigned Monday in the wake of last week's terror attacks in Mumbai, while the U.S. and Indian governments stepped up pressure on Pakistan to cooperate in investigating responsibility for a siege that left 174 dead.

Vilasrao Deshmukh, the chief minister of Maharashtra state, which includes Mumbai, submitted his resignation as an acknowledgement of security failings that allowed the attack to extend over three days, and the ruling Congress Party was expected to accept his offer to step down. Deputy chief minister R.R. Patil resigned earlier on Monday, while Indian Home Minister Shivraj Patil had quit the day before.

As authorities finished clearing bodies from the devastated Taj Mahal Palace & Tower hotel, FBI forensic teams landed in the country and began visiting the hotel and other of the 10 sites attacked by a band of gunmen.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is en route to the country and said in London that the United States expects "total transparency and cooperation" from Pakistan as the investigation proceeds. The band of 10 attackers is thought to have trained in Pakistan, and the one surviving member of the group belongs to the outlawed Kashmiri guerrilla organization Lashkar-i-Taiba, according to Indian security officials.

"What we are emphasizing to the Pakistani government is the need to follow the evidence wherever it leads," Rice said, according to the Associated Press. "I don't want to jump to any conclusions myself on this, but I do think that this is a time for complete, absolute, total transparency and cooperation, and that's what we expect."

India's government, meanwhile, protested what it deemed "the use of Pakistani soil for terrorist activities." The complaint was included in a letter submitted to Pakistan's top diplomat in the country. Indian officials said that they also presented evidence of Lashkar-i-Taiba's involvement in the attacks, and warned that relations between the two countries would suffer if Pakistan did not help fully in the probe.
Posted by: Fred || 12/02/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Lashkar e-Taiba


Iraq
Bombings in Iraq Kill at Least 31
Bombing attacks targeting Iraqi security forces in Baghdad and a U.S. patrol the northern city of Mosul left at least 31 people dead and dozens more injured, Iraqi officials said, making Monday one of the deadliest days in recent weeks in Iraq.

In eastern Baghdad, a suicide bomber detonated his explosives belt at the back gate of a police academy about 1 p.m. Two minutes later another bomber exploded a booby-trapped car at the main entrance of a nearby government building, said Maj. Gen. Qassim Atta, the top spokesman for Iraqi military operations in Baghdad.

In a statement, the U.S. military said 15 police officers died and 35 officers and civilians were injured in the attack. Iraqi authorities said the blasts killed 11 people and injured 34.

When the blast occurred, students were leaving the academy after classes, said Lt. Ahmad Kadhim, a member of the SWAT team assigned to guard the academy. He said his men had left their posts to receive their salaries. "The bomber seized this opportunity, so it seems the suicide attack was organized," Kadhim said. "The bomber received information from inside the academy telling him that the SWAT team is not available."

In Mosul, a suicide bomber struck a U.S. military patrol, detonating his explosives about 9:40 a.m., the U.S. military said in a statement. Initial reports indicated that no U.S. soldiers were injured but that "the battle damage assessment may change." A hospital official in Mosul said the blast killed 15 people and wounded 25 others.

Although its influence has diminished in other parts of Iraq, the Sunni insurgency remains resilient in Mosul, staging bold attacks in recent months targeting not only U.S. and Iraqi forces but Christians and local journalists.
Posted by: Fred || 12/02/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Iraqi Insurgency


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Israeli forces kill Palestinian in Nablus
NABLUS, West Bank - Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian man during a raid in the West Bank city of Nablus on Monday, the Israeli army said.

An Israeli army spokesman said troops entered Nablus to arrest what he described as a ‘wanted man’. When the man attempted to get away, the troops fired warning shots and then fired at his lower body, the spokesman said. ‘He was hit and was transferred to an Israeli hospital, where he died of his wounds,’ he said.
Bled out from a foot wound ...
Posted by: Steve White || 12/02/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Libyan aid ship turned away by Israel from Gaza
(AKI) - Israeli warships on Monday turned away a Libyan ship carrying humanitarian aid for Gaza residents on Monday, forcing it to dock instead at the Egyptian port of Al-Arish. Israeli naval authorities stopped the Libyan vessel Al-Marwa, and ordered it to turn back, said Israel's Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor, quoted by Israeli daily Haaretz.

The Libyan ship was the first aid vessel sent by an Arab government to Gaza and was carrying 3,000 tonnes of food supplies, as well as Palestinian and international peace activists.

Libya immediately condemned Israel for preventing the boat from reaching Gaza.

According to Libya's official news agency Jana, quoted by Israeli TV Infolive, Libya claimed that a submarine, a fighter jet and two vessels were sent to force the boat to turn around.

Israel claims the blockade, imposed after Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip, is to counter indiscriminate rocket attacks on Israeli cities by Palestinian militants.
Posted by: Fred || 12/02/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Hamas

#1  What part of the term NAVAL BLOCKADE don't they understand?
And I didn't realize Libya was an ARAB govt(?)
Isn't Ghaddafi a Berber?
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 12/02/2008 6:54 Comments || Top||

#2  Qadafi is from the bedouin Gadadfa, known in history as a wandering tribe of the Sirte Desert region. His birthplace (zawaya), however, was at Sirte, along the coast.
Posted by: Balthazar || 12/02/2008 9:00 Comments || Top||



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Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
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Two weeks of WOT
Tue 2008-12-02
  Zardari sez not to do anything rash
Mon 2008-12-01
  Pak Army Brass Turban: Baitullah Mehsud, Fazlullah are Patriots!
Sun 2008-11-30
  Last gunny killed in Mumbai, ending siege
Sat 2008-11-29
  Sadrists claim security pact 'illegal'
Fri 2008-11-28
  1 terrorist holed up in Taj
Thu 2008-11-27
  Indo security forces engage ''Deccan Mujaheddin''
Wed 2008-11-26
  80 killed, 900 injured, 100 taken hostage in attacks on Hotels in Mumbai
Tue 2008-11-25
  Somali pirates jack Yemeni ship
Mon 2008-11-24
  Holy Land Foundation members found guilty of supporting terrorism
Sun 2008-11-23
  Iraqi forces bang AQI Mister Big in Diyala
Sat 2008-11-22
  Rashid Rauf dronezapped in Pakistain: officials
Fri 2008-11-21
  US strikes inside Pakistain 'intolerable', says Gilani
Thu 2008-11-20
  U.S. Dronezap Kills 6 Terrs in Pakistain
Wed 2008-11-19
  Indian Navy destroys Somali pirate mothership
Tue 2008-11-18
  B.O. vows to exit Iraq, shut down Gitmo

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