On this day in history: April 25th
1846 Thornton Affair: Open conflict begins over the disputed border of Texas, triggering the Mexican-American War.
1847 The last survivors of the Donner Party are out of the wilderness.
1859 British and French engineers break ground for the Suez Canal.
1901 New York becomes the first U.S. state to require automobile license plates.
1915 World War I: The Battle of Gallipoli begins.
1939 DC Comics publishes its second major superhero in Detective Comics #27; he is Batman.
1945 United States and Russian troops meet in Torgau along the River Elbe.
1945 Fifty nations gather in San Francisco, California to begin the United Nations Conference on International Organizations.
1959 The St. Lawrence Seaway, linking the North American Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean, officially opens to shipping.
A grenade tossed into a cafe, gunfire in the street, dead bodies splayed on the pavement, residents living in fear -- all sounds out of sync with the medieval cobbled streets and copper roofs of the Danish capital.
But a bloody gang war between bikers and youths of immigrant origin has shattered Copenhagen's customary calm...
AUSTRALIAN soldiers have killed more than 100 Taliban fighters and disrupted vast enemy networks in two of the biggest and most successful operations of the six-year Afghanistan campaign.
Details of the offensive were revealed during a secret visit to Afghanistan for Anzac Day by Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon who was accompanied by News Limited.
Operation Aabitoorah or Blue Sword began on March 19 in the northern Helmand province, south of the Australian base in Oruzgan Province and involved Dutch, British, American, Australian and Afghani forces.
The second, called Operation Shak Hawel or Mysterious Area, was fought by troops from the Mentoring and Reconstruction Task Force between April 3 and 15 around Patrol Base Buman in the Chora Valley north of Tarin Kowt.
More than 200 Diggers or almost half of the battle group led by Darwin based Lieutenant Colonel Shane Gabriel took part with an Afghan National Army battalion.
During the biggest battle on April 12 dozens of Taliban fighters perished as they attempted to defeat the diggers from Combat Team Tusk in the fertile green belt. "They tried to stop us doing what we wanted to do and they came off second best,'' Lt Colonel Gabriel told News Limited.
Troops from the task force have been engaged in numerous heavy fire fights during offensive patrols to mentor and instruct their Afghan comrades.
Mr Fitzgibbon received full details of the operations and spoke to the troops during a secret two-day tour of Australian bases in the lead up to Anzac Day at Tarin Kowt where Vietnam war hero and Victoria Cross holder Keith Payne was the guest of honour. Mr Fitzgibbon became the first Australian minister to venture "outside the wire'' flying in a Chinook chopper low along the fertile valleys to forward operating bases framed by snow capped peaks, to judge the progress for himself.
Australian commander Major General Mark Kelly said Special Operations Task Group (SOTG) troops from the Perth based SAS Regiment and Sydney based Commando Regiment operated deep inside a Taliban stronghold for 26 days during "Blue Sword".
He said the number of enemy dead was not a measure of success, but he told News Limited that the tally was in excess of 80. "It is a significant achievement by our soldiers over an extended combat mission.
"It has really disrupted the insurgent network in this part of regional command south,'' General Kelly said.
The specialist Diggers were attacked by roadside bombs, rocket propelled grenades, mortars and small arms fire and despite the intensity of the action just one Australian, Sydney based bomb disposal expert Sergeant Brett Till, was killed and four others wounded including one who lost his legs.
In addition to the number of enemy casualties, including bomb maker and leader Mullah Abdul Bari, the Australians uncovered numerous weapons caches and up to 14 improvised explosive devices in a day.
Mr Fitzgibbon, who toured Australian built hospitals and schools as well as fighting bases, said the latest operations were a major setback for the Taliban. He said it was vital for the Australian people to understand these intense and deadly operations and just how dangerous and challenging the job was for the Diggers.
"We are making real progress in Afghanistan. I wish to thank every man and woman in the Australian Defence Force who is making a contribution to what is a very important campaign,'' Mr Fitzgibbon said.
Commander of Regional Command South Dutch Major-General Mart de Kraif said the operation had disrupted insurgent activities including the drugs trade. He said Australian special-forces troops had applied massive pressure to the insurgent leadership.
The two young sons of a Yemeni detainee at Guantanamo died when a grenade they were playing with accidentally detonated inside their home, a human rights lawyer and the detainee's brother said Thursday. The children, Youssef, 11, and Omar, 10, were playing unsupervised with the grenade in a room in the house when it exploded. It is unclear why the grenade was in the house.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 ||
04/25/2009 11:12 ||
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#1
"It is unclear why the grenade was in the house."
Let me give you two guesses why there was a grenade in the house you morons........HE'S a FREAKING TERRORIST!!!
Good lord these people that write this stuff don't have two brain cells in their heads......wait they're journalists, that explains everything.
Posted by: James Carville ||
04/25/2009 12:16 Comments ||
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PESHAWAR: Taliban blocked the main highway linking Swat with the rest of the country on Saturday to stop a military convoy carrying supplies to Mingora, but a major clash was averted after intervention by the Awami National Party-led provincial government.
Yes, we have stopped the convoy from entering Mingora as it was a violation of the deal with us, Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan told Daily Times.
Witnesses said armed Taliban blocked the road linking Swat with Peshawar at Qambar area close to Mingora city to stop the convoy coming from Barikot. It also caused inconvenience for public transport.
Eight trucks: A convoy of eight army trucks transporting supplies to the soldiers in Swat was not allowed to reach its destination, officials said. A major collision between the Taliban and the security forces was averted after the provincial governments intervention, urging the military to call back the convoy.
Witnesses said helicopter gunships hovered over the area.
The brazen violation of the writ of the state comes less than 24 hours after President Asif Ali Zardari and Chief of Army Staff Gen Ashfaq Kayani vowed they would not allow such activites.
Muslim Khan said the government was to gradually pull back the army under the deal, but it is building up army presence. We cannot allow this.
Taliban also occupied the summer residence of former Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz secretary general Saranjam Khan in the town of Bahrain, local residents told Daily Times.
Meanwhile, Buner residents appeared relieved after the return of Taliban from the district to Swat.
It is good that the issue of Taliban presence was resolved peacefully, Jehanzeb, a shopkeeper in Daggar area, told Daily Times by telephone.
Posted by: john frum ||
04/25/2009 20:05 ||
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ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari on Saturday remitted the sentences of three prisoners, who had been sentenced to amputation of a hand and a leg, under article 45 of the Constitution.
According to a statement issued by presidential spokesman Farhatullah Babar, the president ordered the remission on the advice of the prime minister, on clemency petitions filed by Muhammad Ashraf, Zafar Ali and Khalid Javaid. The three convicts are currently confined in District Jail Sargodha.
The petitioners were sentenced by a special court in Lahore on November 11, 1992. The execution of the sentence was suspended by the then president on June 1, 1994. Article 45 of the Constitution provides that the president shall have power to grant pardon, reprieve and respite, and to remit, suspend or commute any sentence passed by any court, tribunal or other authority
Posted by: john frum ||
04/25/2009 19:16 ||
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ISLAMABAD - The political and military leadership of Pakistan has agreed to launch an operation against foreign elements involved in terrorist activities in the tribal areas.
The Nation has learnt through reliable sources that during the past few weeks a large number of foreign militants have infiltrated into the tribal areas from across the borders of some neighbouring countries to disrupt law and order situation in the area. "Therefore, military operation against these elements has become inevitable," the sources maintained. According to diplomatic sources, the United States and its western allies have expressed their grave concerns over the escalation of terrorist activities in Afghanistan as well as the tribal areas of Pakistan.
The sources assert that the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen during his recent visit had conveyed a message to Pakistan's political and military leadership that it was high time that the Pakistani government acted against these militants. He also made it clear that if Pakistan government showed any reluctance the US itself would launch air strikes against the hideouts of these al-Qaeda militants.
According to these sources, Admiral Mullen warned that US could use daisy-cutters to crush these elements in what he called a 'decisive operation,' which could start any time.
Posted by: john frum ||
04/25/2009 18:03 ||
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#1
Do we have a drink for this if the news uses the terms, not a poster?
#2
LOL - I'll buy, for the good catch, OS. I noticed nobody offered F-150 at the Ford link. Oh! *snap* I guess I'll buy two!
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/25/2009 21:38 Comments ||
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#3
I thought we were out or almost out of Daisy Cutters - it would require restarting a production line for a day or two or maybe we could just make do with a MOAB?
AMERICA made clear last week that it would attack Taliban forces in their Swat valley stronghold unless the Pakistan government stopped the militants' advance towards Islamabad.
Here's a chance for Perv to earn a real medal ...
A senior Pakistani official said the Obama administration intervened after Taliban forces expanded from Swat into the adjacent district of Buner, 60 miles from the capital. The Pakistani Taliban's inroads raised international concern, particularly in Washington, where officials feared that the nuclear-armed country, which is pivotal to the US war against the Taliban in Afghanistan and against Al-Qaeda, was rapidly succumbing to Islamist extremists.
How can it succumb to extremism when it's always been extremist?
"The implicit threat - if you don't do it, we may have to - was always there," said the Pakistani official. He said that under American pressure, Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency told the Taliban to withdraw from Buner on Friday.
As easy as that was it? The ISI says withdraw and the Taliban make a show of doing so? Why one would think the Taliban were taking orders from the ISI
However, reports yesterday indicated that the Taliban withdrawal was less than total.
No, really?
As a result, hundreds of thousands of people in the district were still at the mercy of armed militants and their restrictive interpretation of Islamic law.
Even the anti-terrorist Police won't move in. The Frontier Corps cannon fodder will now bear the brunt of the suicide bombs until they too withdraw, the Mighty Pak Army declares victory and signs a peace treaty handing over Buner to the Talibs
American military and intelligence forces already run limited ground and air operations on Pakistani soil along the border with Afghanistan. But an overt military operation such as that threatened in Swat, away from the border, would mark a major escalation.
Bambi's been wanting a war, and he said during the campaign that we should invade Pak-land ...
The official said last week's outspoken remarks by Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, were "calculated to ramp up the pressure on Pakistan" to take action. Clinton warned that the terrorists' advance had created a "mortal threat" to world security.
She was one of several American political and military leaders to use unusually strong language about Pakistan's failure to curb the Taliban. Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, who visited Pakistan, said he was "extremely concerned" about the developments and that the situation was "definitely worse" than two weeks ago.
General David Petraeus, of US Central Command, which oversees Afghanistan - to which America is about to commit 17,000 more troops - said Al-Qaeda and Taliban extremists in Pakistan posed an "ever more serious threat to Pakistan's very existence".
These remarks have stung Pakistan. Husain Haqqani, the ambassador to Washington, accused the Obama administration of making it harder for his country to fight the Taliban. "The US needs to relate its comments to the ground realities in Pakistan instead of the mood in Washington," he said. "Most Pakistanis are not supportive of the Taliban way of life, but at the same time widespread anti-Americanism confuses many Pakistanis into having a conflicting view.
"We want to turn that view around but the US and its leaders must help us to do that."
Why if your citizens are all anti-American?
The latest crisis stems from a controversial ceasefire the government signed in February to end months of vicious fighting between the Taliban and the army in Swat that caused significant loss of life and an exodus from what had once been a tourist centre. Some 500,000 now live outside Swat, a third of them in camps that used to shelter refugees from the fighting in Afghanistan.
In return for the imposition of sharia [Islamic law] in Swat, the Taliban agreed to disengage, disarm and stop menacing people. But it was from Swat last week that their fighters overran Buner with about 500 well-armed men under a hardline commander, Maulvi Khalil.
As in Swat, once his forces had established themselves, Khalil began to impose the movement's repressive rules on what had once been a peaceful valley. He ordered girls over seven to wear veils and directed men to keep their women inside and to grow beards. He banned music. In several villages the Taliban were snatching mobile phones on the pretext that they had musical ring tones or photos of women on them.
The Taliban stole livestock, took vehicles belonging to government officials and ransacked the offices of some local nongovernment organisations. In a phone call, Khalil denied the Taliban were terrorists. He said: "We've raised the arms to spread the message of Allah. This is the responsibility of each and every Muslim." But residents fear it is just a matter of time before their daughters are forced to marry Taliban commanders, a process that has begun already in Swat, along with public floggings.
On Friday, in a much publicised agreement with the government, Khalil agreed to withdraw. Local residents said the withdrawal was incomplete. He had left men behind to supplement local armed Taliban groups and newly recruited sympathisers.
"There is a collective holding of breath," said Sam Zarifi, Amnesty International's Asia director, from Islamabad. "The Taliban edicts are still in force and the dismantling of the civilian infrastructure is still very much in effect, so a lot of doctors, midwives, civil servants have left and people are hunkering down because they fear an army operation."
The government sent a few hundred paramilitaries to Buner last week but they kepta low profile. It has not sent any troops. The Americans want the government to shift troops from the India-Pakistan border to meet the Taliban threat, but frightened residents of Buner fear an army operation would cause civilian casualties.
This article starring:
Maulvi Khalil
Posted by: john frum ||
04/25/2009 18:02 ||
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#1
Daisy cutters. Show no mercy. Anyone that does not think that the jihadi movement is not a threat to the human race is a fool.
JAMMU, Apr 25: Presiding Officer TADA Court issued non-bailable warrants against accused allegedly involved in kidnapping of Dr Rubiya Sayeed, daughter of then Union Home Minister and former Chief Minister of the State and killing of five Air Force personnel.
The non-bailable warrants have been issued to secure their presence in the court on next date of hearing. Besides Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) supremo Yaseen Malik, the other accused in the case are Javid Mir, Showkat Bakshi, Ali Mohd Mir, Manzoor Ahmed Sofi, Mehraj-ud-Din, Wajahat Bashir, Zaman Mir, Iqbal Gandroo and Yaqoob Pandit.
The accused in killing of five Air-Force personnel against whom TADA Court also issued non-bailable warrants are Mohd Yaseen Malik, Javid Mir alias Nalka, Showkat Bakshi, Javid Zargar and Manzoor Sofi. In both the cases, Rafiq alias Nanaji was presented in custody from Udhampur jail.
In the meanwhile, Advocate Yogesh Bakshi appearing for the accused persons has filed an application before the Court for recalling the warrants which were issued by the court against his clients. However, TADA Court issued notice to SSP CBI to file objections in this regard.
Dr Rubiya Sayeed was kidnapped for the release of five hardcore militants of JKLF. Then Central Government with the consent of J&K Government released five hardcore militants and thereafter kidnappers released the daughter of Mufti Mohd Sayeed.
The Air-Force personnel were killed in January 1990 when they were waiting for their Air-Force bus at Batmaloo, Srinagar. Both the cases were transferred to Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) which after completion of investigations presented challan in the court of law.
Posted by: john frum ||
04/25/2009 16:38 ||
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Two Hizb-ul Mujahideen militants, part of a group that recently infiltrated into the valley through the Gurez sector, were killed in Baramulla district, 55 km from here, on Friday.
Mohammad Yaqoob Dar alias Zubair and his Pakistani friend Shaheen were intercepted by a joint search party of police and Rashtriya Rifles at Wakanpora-Sopore, Superintendent of Police (Sopore) Bhim Singh Tuti said. They were killed in an encounter that lasted about four hours.
The militants had moved to Sopore and were in the process of establishing a base, Mr. Tuti said. Police received specific information and launched a search operation with Rashtriya Rifles.
The militants, who had taken shelter in a house in the village, tried to escape the cordon on noticing the movement of security forces. But they were intercepted by the search party at a nursery.
On March 26, the Army had intercepted a large group of militants near the Line of Control in the Gurez sector of Bandipora district and shot one of them dead. The others had escaped and could not be traced
Posted by: john frum ||
04/25/2009 10:36 ||
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The provincial government Friday sent four platoons of Frontier Constabulary to maintain law and order in Buner, after regular police and Elite Police Force (EPF) once again refused deployment in the troubled district, a source confided to The News.
Officers and five to 10 police cops were selected from each police station of the capital city to be sent to Buner district in Malakand Agency after militants spilled over there. The cops, however, refused to be posted in Buner and they even preferred to be dismissed.
It was learnt that the capital city police officer (CCPO) Safwat Ghayyur later delivered a morale-boosting speech to the cops and volunteered to go along with the policemen of the capital city to Buner.
A contingent of around 360 cops was directed to leave for the restive town under the leadership of Safwat, who is supposed to head the police force of Peshawar, Charsadda and Nowshera only. The contingent could not leave for Malakand for several reasons.
Many of the cops were of the opinion that they have nothing to do with policing in Buner as they were recruited for the provincial capital. As policemen refused to go to Buner, the personnel of the Frontier Constabulary (FC) deployed in different police stations of the city to assist the police were asked to pack up for the troubled town, a source disclosed.
He added that so far four platoons of the paramilitary FC have been sent to Buner from Peshawar.The Frontier government has raised a special elite force - Elite Police Force (EPF), whose members have got special training to curb terrorism.
However, the EPF not only refused deployment in Swat in the recent past, but it resorted to repeat the same when its personnel were asked to assist police in Buner.The FC has suffered a number of casualties in different parts of the country during the war on terror. In the latest incidents, its eight officials were killed in a suicide attack on a post in Islamabad while another was killed when ambushed in Buner on Thursday.
Posted by: john frum ||
04/25/2009 10:15 ||
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#1
They have a point, they're NOT Army.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
04/25/2009 19:10 Comments ||
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A group of 100-120 men, including 31 militants, have crossed into the state through the Gurez sector in Northern Kashmir, the Army on Saturday said.
"Thirty-one militants along with 40-45 porters, guides and other helpers had crossed the Line of Control," Brigadier Gurmeet Singh told reporters here.
He said some of the militants, who have undergone 18-90 days of intensive training, were "drugged" and pushed through the difficult terrain by their handlers.
Brigadier Singh said that the wire obstacles that were erected to check any infiltration bid had got submerged in the heavy snow, making the crossing easy.
He said that large number of militants were waiting across the border to sneak in the state. The Army also said that "armed forces across the border do support them (militants)."
The support was evident from the communication and other equipments being used by the militants, he said.
The Army also produced before the media an arrested Pakistani militant of Hizbul Mujahideen outfit. The militant Syed Moinullah Shah, who claimed to be the native of North West Frontier Province, said Taliban had no role in the Kashmir militancy.
Posted by: john frum ||
04/25/2009 10:13 ||
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Taliban fighters on Saturday prevented a convoy of security forces from entering their stronghold in the northwestern Swat valley, a day after the Pakistan Army chief pledged to eliminate militants who challenge the writ of the state.
A convoy of seven army trucks was stopped by armed Taliban militants at Qambar, a small town near Mingora, the main city in Swat valley, witnesses and Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan said.
Witnesses said the convoy withdrew from Qambar after the Taliban forced the troops to go back, averting any clash.
There was no official reaction to the Taliban preventing the convoy from entering Swat. Sources said local authorities were consulting Taliban leaders to convince them to allow the convoy to move into the area.
The Taliban action could lead to a worsening in the situation as army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani announced yesterday that his force is "determined to root out the menace of terrorism" and "would not allow the militants to dictate terms to the government or impose their way of life on the civil society".
Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan told reporters that the deployment of additional troops in Swat is against a peace deal signed in February to introduce Islamic laws in Malakand division, which includes Swat.
Khan said the militants could not allow the troops to be deployed in Swat after the peace agreement. Official sources, however, said the agreement allowed the free movement of security forces.
The Taliban and security forces declared separate ceasefires after the peace deal but militants continue to occupy many parts of Swat, local residents said.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said yesterday that his government could review the peace deal in Swat if the Taliban did not stop interfering in the administrations affairs.
Interior ministry chief Rehman Malik has also warned the Taliban to vacate all villages in Swat.
However, local residents said the Taliban now control over 80 per cent of Swat, which was a popular tourist destination till about two years ago, and patrolling all the key roads in the valley.
They said the Taliban had also set up their own courts despite the agreement that envisages the constitution of Qazi or Islamic courts in Swat.
Hundreds of Taliban from Swat who entered Buner district, some 100 km from Islamabad, have withdrawn from the area in the wake of threats of action by the security forces.
Posted by: john frum ||
04/25/2009 08:21 ||
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#1
sounds like they where dictating the terms by not aloowing them in too me.
#2
This is what I don't get. If the government is really about to fall, why wouldn't they send front line troops with tanks and artillery from the Indo-Pakistan border to confront the Taliban? It's not like India's about to invade Pakistan any time soon. This whole thing sounds like a setup to convince Uncle Sam to hand over aid without preconditions, so the Pakistani state can continue feeding the Taliban and al Qaeda without consequence.
[Geo News] A 30-year-old activist of the Awami National Party (ANP) was killed in a drive-by shooting in Arambagh area, leading to closure of shops and markets in different parts of Karachi. According to the police, unknown motorcyclists shot and critically injured Suhaid Zahid Khatak in Garri Khata area of Arambagh. He was rushed to the Civil Hospital in critical state. However, he succumbed to the injuries and died. The accomplices of the deceased created disturbance in the hospital and subjected the staff to torture. Following the incident, Boltan Market, Jamia Cloth Market, Lee Market and all markets of the Saddar area were immediately closed. While heavy aerial firing were reported in parts of Lyari. The dead body of the deceased was taken to Sultan Abad where enraged people pelted stones on vehicles and blocked the traffic by erecting barricades.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/25/2009 00:00 ||
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Taliban fired five rockets at an army camp in the agency headquarters early on Friday. Security forces retaliated and the action continued for half an hour after which the attackers escaped. No casualties were reported. Separately, a security forces convoy, going from Miranshah to Bannu, spotted a suspected vehicle parked on the Bannu-Miranshah road on Friday and opened fire at it. There were no casualties as the vehicle was empty.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/25/2009 00:00 ||
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BAGHDAD - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said on Saturday that this week's deadly suicide bombings in Iraq are a sign that extremists are afraid the Iraqi government is succeeding. Making her first trip to Iraq as America's top diplomat, Clinton said the country has made great strides despite the recent violence that killed at least 159 people on Thursday and Friday.
"I think that these suicide bombings ... are unfortunately, in a tragic way, a signal that the rejectionists fear that Iraq is going in the right direction," Clinton told reporters traveling aboard her plane ahead of her unannounced visit to Baghdad.
"I think in Iraq there will always be political conflicts, there will always be, as in any society, sides drawn between different factions, but I really believe Iraq as a whole is on the right track," she said, citing "overwhelming evidence" of "really impressive" progress.
"Are there going to be bad days? Yes, there are," Clinton said. "But I don't know of any difficult international situation anywhere in the world or history where there haven't been bad days."
I feel faint, I'd best go lie down ...
Clinton arrived a day after back-to-back suicide bombings killed 71 people outside the most important Shiite shrine in Baghdad. She was met at the airport by the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen, also on an unannounced trip to Baghdad, and the just-arrived new U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Christopher Hill, who presented his credentials to the Iraqi government late Friday.
Clinton said her lightning round of meetings with American and Iraqi politicians and military officials wold be all aimed at helping the fledgling democracy transition to a "stable, sovereign, self-reliant" future. She said she would press the Iraqis with U.S. help to create a "nonsectarian security force that will not tolerate either sectarian actions or any kind of armed assault on the people of Iraq."
She is in Baghdad, following President Barack Obama's brief visit earlier this month, to assure Iraqi authorities of the administration's support even as it moves to draw down the U.S. military presence in the country. "We want the Iraqi people to know that the United States remains committed to helping them navigate through this period and have a better future," she said, ahead of meetings with al-Maliki, President Jalal Talibani and Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari.
Clinton, who made three trips to Iraq while she was serving in the Senate, is to begin her program in Baghdad with a closed-door briefing from Mullen and Odierno to discuss the uptick in violence. "I want his evaluation of what these kinds of rejectionist efforts mean and what can be done to prevent them by both the Iraqi government and the U.S. forces," she said.
Clinton will then see the U.N. representative to Iraq before meeting Iraqi war widows and holding an unprecedented "town hall" style meeting with Iraqi aid workers and others at the U.S. Embassy.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/25/2009 12:05 ||
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#1
The Toonerville Trolley of foreign policy. Makes you wonder which officials represent the Toonerville characters of:
The Terrible-Tempered Mr. Bang, The Powerful Katrinka, Little Woo-Woo Wortle, Aunt Eppie Hogg and Mickey McGuire, the town bully.
#2
"I think that these suicide bombings ... are unfortunately, in a tragic way, a signal that the rejectionists fear that Iraq is going in the right direction"
Deathly-boring-cocktail-party talk: the nice things said to others as she and the rest of the administration looks for the exit.
NINEWA / Aswat al-Iraq: A son of a chieftain of the Shamar clan was killed in an improvised explosive device (IED) attack in Sinjar district, west of Mosul city, on Friday, a security source in Ninewa said.
The IED targeted the vehicle of the chieftains son near the main road of al-Biaaj district, west of Sinjar, (110 km) west of Mosul, the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. mHe did not give more information about the incident.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/25/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
That's just dumb.
You piss off a tribal chief and suddenly all of your terrorist network is toes up in the desert somewhere with a pig bladder pulled over their heads.
We turned the corner in Iraq when we starting using the tribes as a resource.
The terrorists treated the tribes like targets of opportunity...you would think an Arab would understand the tribal network...but...NOOOOOO, these psychopaths lack both common sense and rational thought.
Now they have really done it.
Things might change in Mosul pretty quickly when the chief and his minions get their revenge for this.
Posted by: James Carville ||
04/25/2009 12:14 Comments ||
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#2
It's a bit more complicated than that, Carville.
The Shamar clan is indeed large. It was also highly influential under the Ba'athists and were one of the Arab tribes that were moved into Mosul, displacing Kurdish families and landowners.
The Shamars were widely believed to have sheltered members of Saddam's inner circle when they returned from Syria to heat up the insurgency after having fled when we invaded.
Both the Kurds and the Shi'ites therefore have strong reasons to consider an attack on that clan chieftain's family. It's also possible this was Sunni Arab on Sunni Arab since there were fractures among the various elements of the insurgency even before the surge of US troops.
Add in issues regarding oil rights in the Mosul area and things get complicated indeed.
BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq: A U.S. Marine was killed in a non-combat incident in the province of Salah al-Din, bringing to 14 the number of U.S. servicemen killed in Iraq this month, according to the U.S. army in Iraq on Friday.
The Marine was killed in a non-combat incident on Friday (April 24), read a U.S. army statement received by Aswat al-Iraq news agency. The incident is under investigation, it added, not giving further details.
Earlier on Friday, the U.S. Department of Defense announced the death of a Marine who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. Cpl. William C. Comstock, 21, of Van Buren, Ark., died April 22 as a result of a non-hostile incident in Anbar province, Iraq, the department said in a statement received by Aswat al-Iraq.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/25/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Back in the day, we used to call them "training accidents", at least in Korea.
#2
Non-combat incidents include true training accident, motor vehicle accidents (most common), suicide (tragically too common) and even revenge killings by jealous husbands. We would be better off if the media would just let such things be.
[ADN Kronos] At least 25 people were killed in a double suicide attack on a Shia mosque in the Iraqi capital Baghdad on Friday. Two suicide bombers are reported to have blown themselves up at the mosque in the district of Kadhimiya during Friday prayers.
At least 60 people were injured in the latest bomb attack which occurred a day after nearly 80 people were killed and another 100 were injured in two separate suicide bombings in Baghdad and in Baquba.
While violence has fallen sharply in Iraq in the past year, a recent surge in suicide bombings is causing renewed concern.
On Friday a senior MP claimed that Iraqi intelligence had found a link between former members of the Baathist regime of Saddam Hussein and recent bomb attacks.
Fryad Rawendozi, a member of the parliament's security and defence committee said that information gathered by Iraqi intelligence proved that Baathists played the role of Al-Qaeda in launching suicide attacks in Iraq (photo).
"Intelligence information showed that al-Baath organisations occupied Al-Qaeda's place in carrying out bombing attacks in Iraq," Rawendozi told the news agency, Voices of Iraq.
He claimed that several suicide bombers were Baathists.
In a separate development, Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, the purported leader of the Islamic State of Iraq, an Al-Qaeda-linked group, was captured in eastern Baghdad on Thursday.
A series of bomb explosions shook the Iraqi capital and some Iraqi provinces on 6 April to coincide with the anniversary of the establishment of the Baath party on 7 April 1947. The attacks left scores of casualties.
The Baath party was in power in Iraq from 1968 until 2003. At its height in the 1980s, the party had an estimated 1.5 million members as many joined in order to advance their careers under the former dictator's regime.
After the US-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003, there was a bid to introduce a process of de-Baathification, but the United States more recently has tried to reverse the decision.
The Shias who now dominate Iraq's government have resisted the policy reversal, as they see it as just punishment for the mostly Sunni Baathists who ran the country as a police state for many years under Saddam's rule.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/25/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
These attacks are somewhat piecemeal. Lack of public support usually means someone will rat on the culprits. We'll see.
Posted by: Jans Wittlesbach2039 ||
04/25/2009 8:41 Comments ||
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[Jerusalem Post Front Page] Three Yitzhar residents and four Palestinians were wounded in an exchange of fire when the Palestinians infiltrated the settlement. According to Palestinian reports, six Palestinians were wounded.
According to the residents, several dozen Palestinians infiltrated a vineyard belonging to the settlement and several of them were hurling firecrackers and firing at the settlement's volunteer security squad which was scrambled to disperse them. Two of the men on the squad were lightly hurt.
The settlers returned fire at the Palestinians and according to Palestinian reports for men were wounded in the incident. Magen David Adom paramedics treated the wounded settlers on the scene. Their injuries were light and did not require evacuation to a hospital.
Later IDF troops arrived on the scene and used riot gear to chase out the Palestinians from the vineyard. The Palestinians fled to their village as soon as the military arrived, one of the settlers said.
Earlier Friday afternoon, a Palestinian activist protesting the security barrier near the West Bank village of Ni'lin was moderately to seriously wounded by a tear gas canister, according to Palestinian sources. A number of other protesters were reportedly also hit by the canisters, as approximately one thousand protesters, including Palestinians, left-wing protesters and foreign passport holders demonstrated in the Ramallah area.
No further injuries were reported.
The IDF said that tear gas was fired after protesters threw rocks at security forces.
While such protests are a weekly event, activists turned out in force on Friday, after a Bil'in resident died last week when he was hit in the head by a tear gas canister. Palestinian sources also claimed that 10 other protesters were lightly wounded.
Since July 2008, four people have been killed by security forces at anti-barrier demonstrations in Ni'lin: Ahmed Mousa, 10, Yousef Amira, 17, Ghateb Khawaja, 22, and Muhammad Khawaja, 20.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/25/2009 00:00 ||
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[ADN Kronos] As it marked the 100th day in captivity of Italian aid worker Eugenio Vagni in the Philippines, the Red Cross has renewed its appeal to government security forces to ensure his safe release. Head of operations for the International Committee of the Red Cross in Southeast Asia and the Pacific, Alain Aeschlimann, appealed to troops to do nothing that would compromise Vagni's safety.
"We maintain close contact with all those trying to find a solution to this crisis, in particular the local and national authorities," he said in a statement on the Red Cross website.
"The ICRC reiterates that Eugenio's safety is of paramount importance. We are once again asking all those involved in this crisis to avoid taking any action that could compromise Eugenio's safety."
Sixty-two year-old Vagni is reportedly suffering from a hernia making it difficult for him to walk.
Aeschlimann said his appeal was even more important considering Vagni's medical condition and asked Islamist militants from the separatist Abu Sayyaf to release the Italian hostage.
"We are also renewing our appeal to the abductors' sense of humanity, especially in the light of Eugenio's medical situation. We urge them to release our colleague safe and sound, immediately and unconditionally," he said.
In the past few days, there have been conflicting media reports that Vagni, a doctor, may have been transferred to another rebel group, while his brother Francesco expressed frustration from the family's home town of Montevarchi, near the central Tuscan city of Arezzo.
Vagni was abducted with Swiss colleague Andreas Notter and Filipino Mary Jean Lacaba in Sulu on the southern island of Jolo on 15 January. Lacaba was released on 2 April while Notter was freed last Saturday.
Aeschlimann said Vagni's abduction had a severe impact on staff in the Philippines and elsewhere, but that the Red Cross was continuing to work with tens of thousands people who had been displaced in central Mindanao as a result of armed conflict.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/25/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
I'm sure all the publicity Abu Sayyaf is getting is doing wonders for recruitment, and may be the primary reason for keeping ol' Eugenio. The Red Thingy Cross, of course, is wringing their hands, afraid the Philippines military will do their job and smash the terrorists, and Eugenio will get hurt in the process. Pacifism usually ends with someone's foot in your face. The Red ThingyCross needs to learn that.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/25/2009 14:09 Comments ||
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#2
In times of war between more or less civilized countries (e.g., US and Germany in WWII), the International Red Cross is invaluable for providing information about POWs. The American Red Cross does a lot of good work during natural disasters.
However, in today's war between civilization and Islam, the International Red Cross is much less useful.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
04/25/2009 15:44 Comments ||
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#3
ahh but the Red Crescent does provide ambulances to ferry Hamas fighters
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/25/2009 15:53 Comments ||
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[Straits Times] AN ISLAMIC extremist accused of murdering a Christian professor in 2004 has been arrested in Indonesia, police said on Friday. Spokesman Abubakar Nataprawira said the suspect, Amirullah, was a member of a terrorist organisation but he would not confirm reports he was affiliated to the Jemaah Islamiyah regional militant network.
'Amirullah, also known as Kana, 30, was nabbed on Monday in South Sulawesi.
He is a fugitive wanted by Central Sulawesi police,' Nataprawira said.
He allegedly shot dead a professor of Sintuwu Maroso university in Poso, in Central Sulawesi, with a revolver.
Jemaah Islamiyah veterans who fought in Afghanistan and the southern Philippines are suspected of recruiting and training extremists in Central Sulawesi province.
Fighting between Muslims and Christians in Poso and surrounding districts claimed about 1,000 lives in 2000-2001.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/25/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Fighting between Muslims and Christians in Poso and surrounding districts claimed about 1,000 lives in 2000-2001
999 Christians killed by Muslims, and one Muslim died of snakebite. But hey, it "claimed 1000 lives".
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/25/2009 14:12 Comments ||
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[ADN Kronos] The United Nations is sending a humanitarian team to northern Sri Lanka where it fears 50,000 people remain trapped by the worsening conflict between Tamil separatists and government forces. The move comes after the Sri Lankan government rejected international appeals for a pause in the fighting to enable trapped civilians to be evacuated.
The government said 100,000 people have fled the area since the conflict between the army and members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam intensified this week. An estimated 60,000 people had already fled in recent months.
"So many lives have been sacrificed. There is no time to lose," Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, said in Brussels on Thursday. Ban said the new team would monitor the situation and the UN would everything possible to protect the civilian population who are caught in the war zone.
The UN refugee council's representative in Colombo, Amin Awad, called on the Sri Lankan government to stop the fighting to enable people to leave and aid to reach those still trapped in the north of the country.
Sri Lanka's military on Wednesday said two senior ethnic Tamil rebels had surrendered fuelling speculation that the separatist militants were about to accept defeat. One of the captives was Velayutham Thayanidi, also known as Daya Master, a former spokesman for the LTTE.
"The two LTTE leaders along with their family members arrived at the army defence line...this morning and surrendered themselves to the army officials, " a military website said.
It was a rare move by members of the LTTE and seen as a sign that the militant group was on the brink of defeat. The militants have been fighting for a separate Tamil state in Sri Lanka's north and east for 25 years.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/25/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
The people of Sri Lanka have (almost) solved a major problem without UN "help". I'm sure there are UN officials all over the world shaking in their boots. "It could happen here" must go through their minds a hundred times a day. Between the Geneva fiasco last week and this, the world is getting a very good look at just how meaningless the UN actually is. Let it continue!
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/25/2009 14:15 Comments ||
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#2
I have a dream, the UN building an empty ravaged shell, inhabited only by tramps and bums.
(No not the elected bums, real ones.)
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
04/25/2009 19:16 Comments ||
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The leader of Sri Lankan Tamil Tiger rebels is trapped in a small strip of jungle and intends to make a final stand with his surviving forces, an army commander said on Friday.
The commander said a rebel spokesman who surrendered to government troops earlier in the week had reported that Velupillai Prabhakaran, 54, was still in charge of his cornered and depleted separatist army in the island's northeast. The Tamil Tiger spokesman "says that Prabhakaran was living inside and that he will be there until the last moment", Brigadier Shavendra Silva told reporters.
"But, even at the last minute, he will try to escape," said the commander, who is spearheading the offensive against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), who have fought for decades for a separate Tamil homeland.
Prabhakaran has not been seen for 18 months, and speculation has been rife that he may have been killed or already fled the island.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/25/2009 00:00 ||
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DEBKAfile's Iranian and intelligence sources disclose that Moscow warned Tehran Friday April 17 that Israel was planning to destroy all 140 fighter-bombers concentrated at the Mehr-Abad Air Force base for an air show over Tehran on Iran's Army Day the following day. The entire fleet was accordingly removed to remote bases and the display cancelled.
Heh-heh, even if the Israelis weren't planning, a nice leak to a Soviet Russian agent in Jerusalem sure worked wonders ...
In the first week of April, Tehran announced it would stage its biggest air show ever to dramatize a ceremonial military parade in the capital on April 18. Iran would show the world that it is capable of fighting off an Israeli attack on its nuclear facilities. Instead only four aircraft flew over the saluting stand. Iranian media explained that the big show was cancelled due to "bad weather and poor visibility," when in fact Tehran basked in warm and sunny weather.
Moscow had informed the Iranians that its spy satellites ...
... evil Juice spy satellites! ...
... and intelligence sources ...
... that'd be the afore-named Ivan the Weasel ...
... had picked up preparations at Israeli Air Force bases to destroy the 140 warplanes, the bulk of the Iranian air force, on the ground the night before the display, leaving its nuclear sites without aerial defense.
That's assuming that the nuclear sites had an aerial defense in the first place ...
A similar operation wiped out the entire Egyptian air fleet in the early hours of the 1967 war.
Posted by: john frum ||
04/25/2009 11:41 ||
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#1
Russia has realized that their blundering has cost them a whole bunch a Middle East dictator allies. Iran being allied with the West during the time of the Shah was truly a fluke in history, and Russia wants to be as tight with them now as they possibly can.
Russia really agonizes over how much support it can dare to offer. It really stuck its neck out for Saddam, a fact not forgotten by the new Iraqi regime, and not in Russia's favor.
#4
Yup, if I ran Mossad this would present an opportunity to play all sorts of interesting games.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/25/2009 15:10 Comments ||
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#5
Are Iran's F-14s and F-4s still flying? Or are they on static display somewhere? I would be really nervous about flying a plane that the only spare parts available for the last 30 years are ones somebody picked up on the black market.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
04/25/2009 15:28 Comments ||
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#6
This would have been sooo funny. Those Juice are such pranksters!
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.
AUSTRALIAN soldiers have killed more than 100 Taliban fighters and disrupted vast enemy networks in two of the biggest and most successful operations of the six-year Afghanistan campaign. 
BAGHDAD - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said on Saturday that this week's deadly suicide bombings in Iraq are a sign that extremists are afraid the Iraqi government is succeeding. Making her first trip to Iraq as America's top diplomat, Clinton said the country has made great strides despite the recent violence that killed at least 159 people on Thursday and Friday.
NINEWA / Aswat al-Iraq: A son of a chieftain of the Shamar clan was killed in an improvised explosive device (IED) attack in Sinjar district, west of Mosul city, on Friday, a security source in Ninewa said.
BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq: A U.S. Marine was killed in a non-combat incident in the province of Salah al-Din, bringing to 14 the number of U.S. servicemen killed in Iraq this month, according to the U.S. army in Iraq on Friday.
[ADN Kronos] At least 25 people were killed in a double suicide attack on a Shia mosque in the Iraqi capital Baghdad on Friday. Two suicide bombers are reported to have blown themselves up at the mosque in the district of Kadhimiya during Friday prayers.
