The US is too bogged down in Afghanistan to engage Iran militarily over its nuclear program, an ex-CIA South Asia expert and current adviser to US President Barack Obama said in Tel Aviv on Tuesday.
Bruce Riedel, a senior Brookings Institute and Saban Center fellow for political transitions in the Middle East and South Asia, addressed scholars and journalists at Tel Aviv University's Institute for National Security Studies.
He warned that the US was fighting a losing battle against Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan, and that Washington would soon have to make difficult choices on beefing up troop levels there.
"Israelis need to understand that there's going to be a huge drain on resources, attention and capital, and that will have implications," Riedel told The Jerusalem Post before his talk.
He acknowledged that those implications would primarily affect the Iran question.
During his address, Riedel referred to the US's commitments in Iraq and Afghanistan, and said, "We've got two wars. You've got to be bold to say, let's start a war against a third party, particularly when the third party can hit you in the first two fronts."
The US has learned that it "can't fight two medium-sized wars simultaneously," he said.
Riedel retired from the CIA in November 2006 after 30 years of service. In 2007, he was asked by then-senator Barack Obama to be an expert volunteer adviser on counterterrorism.
"In June this year, the president called," Riedel said. Obama asked him to assemble a strategic review of US policy in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
"The president has inherited a disastrous war that is being lost," Riedel said. "Pakistan, next-door to Afghanistan, is being destabilized. Pakistan is the fastest growing nuclear arms state in the world, and has more terrorists per square kilometer than any other country," he continued.
Riedel said the scenario that kept him up at night was the potential for a jihadi sweep to power in Pakistan via a violent coup.
"That is the nightmare outcome," he warned. Such a development would certainly destabilize the entire world, Riedel said, and would have severe implications for Israel, too.
"Pakistan would be a patron state sponsor of terrorism. Hamas would find a lucrative Sunni sponsor," he added, noting that a jihadi Pakistan would be a more attractive patron to Hamas than its current sponsor, the Shi'ite Islamic Republic of Iran.
"We're losing... It's getting worse in Afghanistan," Riedel said.
The US could either remain in its current position, which would, in effect, mean that the Taliban would control the Afghan countryside and NATO forces would control the cities, or a decision can be made to withdraw, Riedel added.
"President Obama has ruled that [a withdrawal] out. I think correctly," Riedel said. But the option of a troop surge was not simple either, he noted.
"Every soldier sent to Afghanistan costs the US a million dollars a year. Thirty thousand soldiers cost $30 billion. Extremely large resources are involved," he said. "America is broke."
Riedel's Afghanistan review ended with the conclusion that recent recommendations by US Gen. Stanley McCrystal, to send tens of thousands of more troops to Afghanistan, should be tried.
"Within 18 to 24 months, we will know whether Obama inherited a dead patient on an operating table," Riedel said. "The question of sending more troops will define Obama's first term in office."
#1
Even if what Reidel says is true it doesn't mean we can't send a few bombers and cruise missiles to hit Iran's nuke sites. There's no need for an invasion here.
#5
Behold the intellectual bankruptcy that has given us so much of the crap that the CIA has produced. We're "broke" - yet can expand our national budget obligations in WWII-like fashion, willy-nilly, to the tune of 10 Afghan wars a pop.
Right - the US can't handle 1.5-barely medium-sized wars at once, and certainly can't engage another enemy, one that lies physically between the other two theaters, and in fact is part of them. At this point neither Iraq nor A'stan even qualify as regional wars, by the usual standards.
Leaving aside the fact that ANY conceivable Iranian engagement does not involve sustained conventional operations.
Also, note the idiocy about "inheriting" a dead patient. Typcial Beltway cluelessness about how conflicts work, and are won.
#6
Verlaine - in beltwayese I'd extend and modify your remarks.
Simply talking of "wars" is misleading, and revealed by the reference to "fronts".
On 9/11 we went to war, singular. We've fought various battles on various fronts, and opened a few ourselves. There have been skirmishes, engagements, battles and campaigns (I'm trying to list in order of scale) and whatever labels can be interlaced among hat list.
Nobody can be realistically surprised that Iran is a geographic area involved, and arguably Fort Hood is not too surprising either.
At the other end of the surprise meter, I suppose, you could include Antarctica, Iceland, Kiribati, and similar places. I don't think any large area is off the list (SA - Hugo? the Triangle region? SE Asia - Thailand? etc.)
All that said, the "inheriting" and "broke" comments of this "analyst" simply blare out his bias.
Perhaps he doesn't recall Yamamoto's opinion in such circumstances? Or he doesn't understand we're still asleep.
Like, what's more important: ObamaCare or a world free from Mad Mullahs with nukes? I'd say a world free from Mad Mullahs with nukes but that's just me.
But I'm under no illusions that we can just send a few bombers. If we do that Iran will certainly retaliate. Just being little old me, I have no way of estimating how significant that retaliation would be but I wouldn't want to underestimate it. Containment rather than nation building would be my own personal philosophy WRT Iran. IOW, bomb the hell out of them and then contain their response. If that means leaving Karzai to the tender mercies of the Taliban so be it. But with 800 some billion or whatever dollars being squandered on a phony stimulus and even more due to be lost to ObamaCare I think somebody in the White House doesn't have his priorities in the proper order.
#8
Afghanistan does not negate a US-Iran war. There was never going to be one to begin with.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
11/18/2009 13:39 Comments ||
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#9
Mike N probably has the correct conclusion here. Most likely this fellow Riedel is just trying to give Obama an excuse for doing nothing while Iran develops nuclear weapons.
#10
Mike N probably has the correct conclusion here. Most likely this fellow Riedel is just trying to give Obama an excuse for doing nothing while Iran develops nuclear weapons.
#11
If I were the president, I'd fire this idiot. No wonder O'Bumble is such a lightweight, with idiots like this "advising" him.
The United States went from having an army of 100,000 to having 1.5 MILLION men in France in less than a year (1917).
The United States went from having a military of around 375,000 to having the second-largest armed forces in the world (behind Russia)in less than five years.
The US still has 125,000 men in Iraq, sitting in camps twiddling their thumbs. These men could bolster the Iraq/Iran border in less than 72 hours. We have 72,000 men in Afghanistan, fighting a war with both feet in the same bucket and one arm tied behind them. Free them up, tell Karzai to go play with goats if he interferes, and show the Pashtuns just what waging war against the United States is REALLY like.
In addition to an army of about 700,000, we have about a quarter million active reserves, and somewhere on the order of 11 million retired reserves. About a third of those could be on active duty, assigned to bases in the States, freeing up younger men to fight.
The US has learned that it "can't fight two medium-sized wars simultaneously," he said.
Translation: The current administration isn't willing to commit the resources to fight two wars OF ANY SIZE, ANYWHERE.
We're either going to have to have an armed rebellion, or find a way to stop the current administration from losing another winnable war for us. Breaking a few thousand heads in Washington, DC, beginning with this idiot, would do wonders for this nation.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
11/18/2009 14:06 Comments ||
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#12
We might not be able to invade, but we can raise holy hell with the infrastructure.
#13
"Nice gasoline refinery you have there, Mahmoud. Say, remind me, it's the only one your country has, right? Sure would be a shame if it went kaboom for some reason."
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/18/2009 15:54 Comments ||
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#14
Steve, or even if the ports where Iran ships all their oil from, and imports all their gasoline to, suddenly erupted in flames. Sure, ports can be rebuilt, but that takes time. And if you can't import any supplies to do it, and you have no cash because your only export is blocked ...
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
11/18/2009 17:12 Comments ||
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#15
Iran = stone age in 30 minutes or less.
No nukes.
50 most militarily significant air defense installations/missiles/radars/command-centers.
5 minutes later:
Hellfires on Predators guided by globalhawks to target leadership.
50 most important power plants.
50 most important power distribution points.
50 top government/military offices
50 top officials residences.
250 cruise missiles.
5 minutes later
Iron Hand
10 minutes later:
50 most militarily important bridges and bases
50 most important water treatment/distribution plants.
50 most important phone exchanges.
50 most important TV/Radio stations.
the single oil refinery
202 2000lb guided munitions (2 for the refinery)
No lights
No power
No water
No fuel
No communications
No transport
Me too. I do that constantly, been doing it all my life, as a matter of fact, exploring the very near immediate future one second at a time, never skipped even one so far. I rock.
As for iran, Zhang once pointed thatt he USAF basically was designed to take on the USSR at its peak, so, if it were unfit to get through iranian aird defenses, it should be canned and rebuilt from scratch. But, Mike probably is right, anyway.
#19
Notice that he's left out the best trained Arab army in the world, which has a grudge against the boys in Tehran and which has real combat experience.
Me too. I do that constantly, been doing it all my life, as a matter of fact, exploring the very near immediate future one second at a time, never skipped even one so far.
#21
See also TOPIX > [Canada]TWO EXPERTS SAY US IS HEADED FOR VIETNAM-STYLE DISASTER IN AFGHANISTAN [USA = POTUS Bammer should adopt Canucks' DEH-E-BAGH "model village" pro-Tribalist consensual approach for AFPAK],
plus
SAME > WESLEY CLARK: NO US MILITARY EXIT FROM AFGHANISTAN, REGION UNTIL AL-QAEDA IS ELIMINATED IN PAKISTAN.
Somali pirates on Tuesday freed a Spanish tuna fishing boat hijacked last month and said a $3.5 million (2.1 million pound) ransom had been paid for the vessel and its crew.
The release of the Alakrana, seized along with its 36 crew in the Indian Ocean on October 2, came soon after news that pirates had captured another ship, a Virgin Islands-owned chemical tanker heading for Mombasa.
"The sailors of the Alakrana are free and will be coming home," Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero told a news conference in Madrid.
One of the pirates said the hijackers had left the ship, which had now set sail.
"Our last colleagues left the ship and it was freed," the pirate, who gave his name as Nor, told Reuters. "I think it has sailed away now. The crew is safe and said goodbye to us and to Somali waters."
The European Union naval force said the Alakrana had made contact with two Spanish warships in the area and confirmed that all pirates had disembarked and it had enough fuel on board.
"The captain also reported that the crew of 36 were in good health," a naval force statement said. "The Spanish warships will escort Alakrana to safety."
"SURPRISED AND RELIEVED"
The sister of one of the crew said the sailors were surprised and relieved to be free.
"I spoke to my brother an hour ago. They're still not very excited because it's taken them by surprise. They still don't really believe it, but they're relieved it's all over and want to get into port," Argi Galbarriatu told a news conference in the Basque Country town of Bermeo, where the Alakrana is based.
Earlier, pirate Nor told Reuters that Spain had agreed a ransom of $3.5 million for the Alakrana, one of at least 13 ships held off the Somali coast along with more than 230 crew as hostages.
"The agreement between us and Spain looks satisfactory and we hope it will finish in safety," he told Reuters by phone from the pirate haven Haradheere.
Asked whether a ransom had been paid, Zapatero did not answer directly but said "the government has done what it had to do"
Previously, the pirates had said the vessel would not be freed unless two suspected Somali gunmen captured by the Spanish navy near the tuna ship were freed. On Monday, a court in Madrid charged the two Somalis with armed robbery and kidnapping.
There was a pause in hijackings during monsoon rains, but the Somali sea gangs have stepped up attacks in the past two months. Attacks off the Seychelles surged when pirates extended their range to evade navies patrolling off the Horn of Africa.
The multinational naval force operating in the area said on Tuesday that pirates had seized a Virgin Islands-owned chemical tanker with 28 North Korean crew members 180 miles northwest of the Seychelles.
The naval force said the 22,294 DWT tanker, the MV Theresa VIII operated from Singapore, had been sailing to the Kenyan port of Mombasa but had turned round after being seized near the Indian Ocean archipelago and was now heading north. Pirates in Haradheere said they had hijacked the ship on Monday.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/18/2009 00:00 ||
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[Asharq al-Aswat] A Saudi Arabian military official confirmed to Asharq Al-Awsat that the Huthi infiltration of Saudi territory is not something that occurred spontaneously but that this was an operation that had been planned in advance. Evidence of this can be seen in the Huthi insurgents shelling specific targets in an organized manner, such as targets located in a small village in the al-Harith region east of Jizan.
The source added that it has become clear that the Huthi insurgents are working to meet specific and predetermined military objectives, and this can be seen in their shelling of specific targets, as well as in the organized manner in which they engage Saudi forces.
According to military information obtained by Asharq Al-Awsat, a number of people suspected of collaborating with the Huthi rebels have been arrested since the beginning of the conflict. Those arrested are said to be Asian and Arab nationals. Sources confirmed to Asharq Al-Awsat that a number of Pakistani nationals who were working at a bakery in al-Harith were arrested on suspicion of collaborating with the Huthi insurgents. Sources also revealed that an Egyptian national was arrested on suspicion of having ties to the Huthi rebels.
Official Yemeni sources have indicated that the Huthis may have recruited people of different nationalities to participate in their military activities. According to reports in the Yemeni media, Somali elements are involved with the Huthi insurgents, and that they have actually been involved in fighting against the Yemeni army. These Somali elements are being motivated by financial assistance, with the Huthis exploiting the poverty and homelessness of the Somali refugee community that is present in Yemen. There are also reports that foreign non-Yemeni fighters were involved in the failed Huthi attacks on villages in the Saudi Arabian border region.
Huthi commander, Abdul Malik Badreddin al-Huthi's website claimed that the Huthi rebels had shelled the Saudi Arabian military base at Aen al Hara with Katyusha missiles. However these claims are unconfirmed.
The Saudi military official reassured Asharq Al-Awsat that the Huthi military tactic of infiltrating Saudi Arabia in this organized manner may not necessarily work in the favor of the Huthi rebels but rather this offers the Saudi forces that are stationed in the border a tactical advantage. The military source said "We can now identify the enemies' targets and rendezvous positions." He added that the conflict with the Huthi infiltrators is taking place in open ground and therefore [Saudi] air strikes are able to cause heavy Huthi casualties.
Yemeni sources confirmed to Asharq Al-Awsat that as part of the Huthi insurgents plan to infiltrate Jabal Dokhan and the surrounding border region, two months before the beginning of the conflict the Huthis dug trenches in the nearby Yemeni border territory which they loaded with supplies and ammunition, and which they are currently using to hide from aerial strikes.
As for unconfirmed reports about the arrest of Huthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Huthi, the Saudi Interior Ministry's Security spokesman categorically denied that the Saudi border guards had arrested the Huthi leader in eastern Jizan.
The Royal Saudi Air Force targeted Huthi positions with F-15 fighter jets and Apache helicopters. These air strikes were concentrated upon the border region, but eye witnesses claim that a number of air strikes also took place further in land but still within the 10km perimeter being enforced by the Saudi military. Al non-military personal have been evacuated from within this 10km area inside the Saudi -- Yemeni border. Saudi forces also tore down a number of old buildings along the border, as they are being used by Huthi insurgents to hide in, and they allow the Huthi rebel s to outflank the Saudi forces and attack them from the rear.
Sources confirmed that the Jabal Dokhan region has been completely cleared of any remnants of the Huthi insurgents after a number of Huthi infiltrators launched an offensive against Saudi forces in this region on Friday, killing two Saudi soldiers and injuring five others. Medical sources revealed that the Samtah General Hospital received only 5 injured Saudi soldiers in the past 48 hours, and that they are all in a stable condition.
In recent developments, the General Director of the Border Guards in Jizan province announced that 17 [Huthi] infiltrators have been captured attempted to cross into Saudi Arabia in the past 48 hours. During this same period of time there were also 142 cases of illegal smuggling, with the border guards confiscating a variety of rifles and machine guns, as well as 287 hand grenades and a wide variety of ammunition.
As for the Saudi citizens who have been displaced from their homes, Dr. Mitab al-Shalhoub, the Governor of Al-Masareha told Asharq Al-Awsat that the relief camp has reached 60 percent capacity, and that the camp will provide compete services to the displaced citizens within the coming few days.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/18/2009 00:00 ||
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[Bangla Daily Star] A cadre of Purba Banglar Communist Party (ML-Janajuddah) was killed in a 'shootout' between his cohorts and police at Baniakanda village under sadar upazila here early yesterday.
Will the last Purba Banglar commie please turn out the light at the secret lair?
The deceased was identified as Hasan alias Boma Hasan alias Batam, 35, son of Sayed Ali of Defolbaria village in sadar upazila.
To note, please: Mr. Hasan was killed in a shootout, not a crossfire. The difference is subtle, but matters to the courts.
After all, the B'desh High Court said, "no more cross-fires". And this one isn't a cross-fire. Human rights whiners take note.
Two police constables--Mohsin and Jafar--were also injured during the gunfight.
A hernia and a bruised ego ...
Officer-in-charge (OC) Motiar Rahman of Jhenidah Sadar Police Station said, police raided Baniakanda village where the outlaws were holding a secret meeting around 2:00am.
That's the right time, when all solid burghers are snug in their beds. It would be comforting to know the meeting place was suitably proletarian, but unlike the Rab, the police are not selected for writing ability.
Sensing the presence of the law enforcers, the criminals opened fire prompting them to fire back that triggered a 20-minute-long gunfight.
There are new Spidey Sense training exercises in the updated Henchmen's Handbook, the one with the blue and white cover. Clearly this cell of Purbo Banglar acquired copies, nothing cheap about them!
Hasan was caught in the line of fire and died on the spot while his cohorts managed to flee, the OC said.
And a hearty "Well done!" to all involved for playing their roles so faithfully.
Police recovered a shutter gun, four bombs and two rounds of bullet from his possession.
Bombs?!? These are badmen of the first water, not your run of the mill, shutter gun and rounds of bullet types.
The injured policemen are undergoing treatment at Jhenidah Sadar Hospital.
A good thing, too. Have you any idea how long it takes to heal a bruised ego?
Al Gore's is still severely strained, 9 years after he lost to Bush
That ego wasn't bruised, it was shattered ...
Hasan, an expert in bomb making, was an accused in twelve systems seven cases including firearms, the OC added.
I should think so! A good thing there was a shootout, to fix the problem without cluttering up the court system.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/18/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Shooting commies one by one seems inefficient but perhaps this speaks to social traditions and life in a slower paced culture. In any case, it is better than electing them President.
The United States is still unable to use Russian airspace to deliver military supplies to Afghanistan despite a July deal with Moscow, the State Department said Friday, expressing hope the flights can start soon. State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said negotiators were still hammering out details of the deal announced in July by presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev during a Moscow summit.
Under the terms of the agreement the United States would be allowed to launch up to 4,500 US flights a year over Russia, opening a major supply route for American operations in Afghanistan.
"We anticipate that regular flights will start as soon as we've worked out these remaining logistical details," Kelly said on Monday.
"One of the points that we're trying to iron out is notification processes that have to be in place," he added. "And we're also working with other countries on the transit routes since anything overflying Russia to go to Afghanistan would have to fly over other countries as well."
#1
What on earth would we be transporting that would have to fly over Russia? We didn't need to do it BEFORE Russia paid the Kazakh's to shut down Manas, so why would we now?
Dips in the State Department do not know how to engage in serious diplomacy to win.
Posted by: Jame Retief ||
11/18/2009 15:49 Comments ||
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#2
OOOOOOO, You can just hear HOMER SIMPSON going "DOH-H-H!" in the background, can't ye???
Major countries and nation-states are engaged in a "Cyber Cold War," amassing cyberweapons, conducting espionage, and testing networks in preparation for using the Internet to conduct war, according to a new report to be released on Tuesday by McAfee.
In particular, countries gearing up for cyberoffensives are the U.S., Israel, Russia, China, and France, the says the report, compiled by former White House Homeland Security adviser Paul Kurtz and based on interviews with more than 20 experts in international relations, national security and Internet security.
The jihadis aren't mentioned because they are not a country, but a state of mind.
"We don't believe we've seen cases of cyberwarfare," said Dmitri Alperovitch, vice president of threat research at McAfee. "Nations have been reluctant to use those capabilities because of the likelihood that [a big cyberattack] could do harm to their own country. The world is so interconnected these days."
Threats of cyberwarfare have been hyped for decades. There have been unauthorized penetrations into government systems since the early ARPANET days and it has long been known that the U.S. critical infrastructure is vulnerable.
However, experts are putting dots together and seeing patterns that indicate that there is increasing intelligence gathering and building of sophisticated cyberattack capabilities, according to the report titled "Virtually Here: The Age of Cyber Warfare."
"While we have not yet seen a 'hot' cyberwar between major powers, the efforts of nation-states to build increasingly sophisticated cyberattack capabilities, and in some cases demonstrate a willingness to use them, suggest that a 'Cyber Cold War' may have already begun," the report says.
Didn't China cause a power plant to shut down a few years ago?
Because pinpointing the source of cyberattacks is usually difficult if not impossible, the motivations can only be speculated upon, making the whole cyberwar debate an intellectual exercise at this point. But the report offers some theories.
For instance, Alperovitch speculates that the July 4 attacks denial-of-service on Web sites in the U.S. and South Korea could have been a test by an foreign entity to see if flooding South Korean networks and the transcontinental communications between the U.S. and South Korea would disrupt the ability of the U.S. military in South Korea to communicate with military leaders in Washington, D.C., and the Pacific Command in Hawaii.
"The ability of the North Koreans to disable cybercommunications between the U.S. and South Korea would give them a huge strategic advantage" if they were to attack South Korea, he said.
There have been earlier attacks that smack of cyberwarfare too. Estonian government and commercial sites suffered debilitating denial-of-service attacks in 2007, and last year sites in Georgia were attacked during the South Ossetia war, orchestrated by civilian attackers, the report says.
"Civilian" Russian attackers, of doubtful civility.
The report concludes that if we aren't seeing it already, cyberwarfare will be a reality soon enough.
"Over the next 20 to 30 years, cyberattacks will increasingly become a component of war," William Crowell, a former NSA deputy director, is quoted as saying. "What I can't foresee is whether networks will be so pervasive and unprotected that cyberwar operations will stand alone."
#1
Yeah, that'll be the death of the internet as we know it. It's already dead, but we just haven't had that crushing collective moment of realization yet.
#2
Why on earth would people put their networks in a position to be vulnerable?? I can think of many, easy steps to buffer vital functions from the outside world, starting with DMZ's and independent intranets. The big Internet is NOT necessary to day-to-day functionality for most critical functions. The next step would be to cut-off non-critical countries who show up as threat originators.
Then start bombing.
Posted by: Jame Retief ||
11/18/2009 15:47 Comments ||
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#3
PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUM > WIRED MAGAZINE MAKES THE CASE FOR [US-led] CYBERWAR AGZ PAKISTAN AND INDIA [in case of any NEW INDO-PAK WAR + THREAT TO LOCAL CONTROL OF REGIONAL NUCWEAPS]???
[Dawn] Quetta police have arrested three alleged suicide bombers in a raid on Samunguli Road and recovered a large cache of ammunition and explosives from their possession.
Speaking at a news conference in Quetta SP Saddar Dr Farrukh, said that the accused were arrested from a house in Arbab Town on a tip off. He said the accused are in between 17 to 27 years old and had been trained for suicide bombing and other terrorist acts.
He said police have also recovered a large quantity of ammunition, chemicals, detonators, batteries, commando uniforms, switches and a walkie talkie set. He said six bags of explosives weighing about 300 kilogram have also been recovered.
He said important information is likely to be obtained from the accused as investigation is underway.
Dr Farrukh also said that police have detained about 50 suspects in connection with bomb blast on Spini road earlier Tuesday morning.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/18/2009 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] Taliban militants blew up a girls' school in Khyber district on Tuesday, the third such attack in the region so far this month, officials said.
An intelligence official in the area said Taliban attacked the government-run school overnight when no one was at the property.
'The girls' middle school was badly damaged because of the explosion, now the school building is almost out of use. The classrooms, desks and chairs were also damaged,' Farooq Khan, a local administrative official told AFP.
The incident took place at Yousaf Kely village near Bara town, around 20 kilometres south of Peshawar.
Militants have destroyed hundreds of schools, mostly for girls, in the northwest of the country in recent years.
Nearly 200 schools were destroyed in Swat alone during a two-year Taliban uprising to enforce sharia law.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/18/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Allan is at the bar, tring to pick up his favorite goat... He killed all the women 'cuz they wanted to know how to read...
#2
See also PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUM > WHAT IS BEING DONE TO ISLAM...? UN-COVERED, UN-VEILED, FASHION SHOE-WEARING, MAKEUP + LEVIS-WEARING FEMALES leading MIXED GENDER andor ALL-FEMALE, PUBLIC MUSLIM PRAYER SESSIONS.
Uh, uh, ARTIC read > MODERN MUSLIM BABES DEMAND TO BE BEHEADED???
[The News (Pak) Top Stories] Twenty-four militants surrendered to security forces while a huge quantity of weapons was seized during a search operation in Charmang area of Bajaur's Nawagai Tehsil on Tuesday.
The militants, belonging to Shaida Shah, Asghar and Manogi areas in Charmang valley, laid down arms and surrendered to security forces during a Jirga. Talking to reporters, the surrendering militants said that their non-local accomplices had lured them into so-called Jihad against their own people and security forces.
They said they repent what they had done as picking up arms against their own people and security forces was wrong and un-Islamic. The militants said soldiers of the Pakistan Army were their brothers and they would support their endeavours for bringing lasting peace to the area. They urged the militants engaged in fighting against the security forces in Charmang and other areas of Bajaur to surrender to the government.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/18/2009 00:00 ||
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[The News (Pak) Top Stories] Security forces have captured main Taliban bases in their offensive in South Waziristan and will soon fan out into the rugged countryside to hunt for militants there, commanders said on Tuesday.
Soldiers have advanced faster than expected in their month-long offensive, seizing main roads and Taliban bases but militant leaders have apparently melted away while their bombers have unleashed carnage in towns.
The United States has welcomed the offensive but is keen to see Pakistan tackle Afghan Taliban factions based in lawless enclaves along the border. Military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas told reporters on a trip to South Waziristan with the Army that some militants might have slipped out the region but many were hiding.
"We still believe many are still here. They have gone to the countryside, the forested areas, to villages and into the caves," Abbas said. "After taking complete control of the roads and the tracks, we are going to chase them in the forested areas, wherever they are hiding in the countryside," he said.
The Army on Tuesday took reporters to the captured Taliban bastion of Srarogha in South Waziristan where former Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud was killed by a missile-firing US drone aircraft on Aug 5. Surrounded by barren, rocky ridges and cut through by dried-up streams, the settlement of mud-walled compounds was deserted of civilians.
A security force fort that the militants captured was almost completely destroyed in the fighting. Soldiers displayed militant pamphlets, including one on making bombs, captured ammunition and weapons, and pouched vests that suicide bombers pack with explosives and strap on.
Brigadier Mohammad Shafiq said his men had battled hard to capture the base: "Their defences were well-constructed and we faced extremely tough resistance." In the captured militant stronghold of Ladha, Brigadier Farrukh Jamal said his men had surrounded 35 militants hiding in forest-covered mountains nearby.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/18/2009 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] The head of the Taliban in Swat valley, Maulana Fazlullah, has said that he has escaped the army and is now in Afghanistan.
Maulana Fazlullah told BBC Urdu that he had reached Afghanistan safely and will soon launch full-fledged punitive raids against the army in Swat.
He said those claiming success of the Swat operation should try and prevent drone attacks and the US security firm Blackwater from operating in Pakistan.
The cleric founded the Taliban in Swat which sought to enforce a hard-line version of Sharia law in the region.
He warned the authorities, especially NWFP Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain, of further attacks.
Maulana Fazlullah has been incommunicado for several months after authorities said he was mortally wounded in the army operation.
On Monday the US embassy denied reports that the US 'has shifted Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) Chief Hakimullah Mehsud and the other Taliban leadership to Afghanistan.'
The report also alleged that the US is backing the militants fighting against the Pakistan Army in South Waziristan Agency.
The embassy said these allegations are false and malicious. The United States supports the decisive military actions being taken by Pakistan military forces against militants in South Waziristan and elsewhere. Pakistan, Afghanistan and the United States are working together against insurgents who seek to destabilize or kill innocent civilians.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/18/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Hello Mullah, Hello Faddah
Here I am at Camp Inshallah...
Some soldiers quit the service to avoid getting involved in evacuating settlements. This is nothing new, it's just more explicit.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu voiced concern on Tuesday over a mutiny by pro-settler soldiers that raised fears of more rebellion in the ranks in any future land-for-peace moves with the Palestinians.
"Our security and existence depend on the Israel Defense Forces," Netanyahu told reporters. "If you promote disobedience, you will bring about the downfall of the state. There is no place for disobedience."
In an incident on Monday played down by the military as an aberration and described by some political commentators as a crossing of a red line, a handful of soldiers protested against the partial dismantling of a settler-outpost in the West Bank. Their action prompted 15 right-wing legislators in the 120-member parliament to propose a bill that would bar the military from forcing troops to remove Jews from settlements in the occupied territory.
Two of the soldiers disobeyed orders and refused to secure the settlement site, which had been built without government permission and where police razed two buildings. They were sentenced respectively to 20 days and 14 days in jail.
Two other soldiers, who held up a sign at an army base in the West Bank saying their battalion would never evacuate settlements, also faced a disciplinary hearing at which each received a month-long prison term.
"The military ...must understand there are some soldiers who cannot implement these orders. It is like asking a man to strike his brother," said Rabbi Elyakim Levanon of the Elon Moreh seminary in the West Bank where some of the troops had studied.
"Stop the anarchy," countered a headline in Israel's biggest newspaper, Yedioth Ahronoth, above commentary urging the army to crack down hard on soldiers who disobey orders.
The military's chief of staff, Lieutenant-General Gabi Ashkenazi, told reporters he would do just that.
But Brigadier-General Avi Bnayahu, the military's chief spokesman, played down the significance of the protests. "This is not a political tidal wave washing through the military and the matter has not spiraled out of control," Bnayahu said.
SETTLER-OUTPOSTS
Ideological divides run deep in Israel, especially over the future of some 500,000 Jews who live among 2.7 million Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, areas captured in a 1967 war.
But the military, to which Jewish men and women are conscripted at the age of 18, has long been seen as off-limits to political debate.
Soldiers who participated in the removal of settlers from the Gaza Strip in 2005 were hand-picked and specially trained for the task. Troops uncomfortable with the mission were quietly excused by their commanders.
Politically-charged demolitions at some of the dozens of outposts erected by Jews in the West Bank without formal permission are usually carried out by police rather than soldiers, who are assigned perimeter security duty.
The latest mutiny followed a protest last month by conscripts, who disrupted their swearing-in ceremony by calling for continued Jewish settlement in the West Bank, part of the territory where Palestinians hope to create a state. After that incident, two soldiers were sentenced to 20 days in jail and removed from their unit.
"No one should be surprised if the signs of protest within the military against the evacuation of structures and settlements only grow," wrote Alex Fishman, military affairs correspondent for Israel's biggest daily, Yedioth Ahronoth. "After all, these soldiers were sentenced to only a few days of detention, as if they committed a traffic offence."
#2
Some people just have trouble interpreting the oath they took as being a promise to bloody their own friends' and relatives' noses.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
11/18/2009 10:50 Comments ||
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#3
While any mutiny is a cause for concern, this story only mentions four soldiers, who were quickly punished.
Of course, in the good old days, mutineers were usually summarily executed. Pour les encouragements des autres.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
11/18/2009 17:16 Comments ||
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SECURITY forces in Thailand's restive south killed six suspected Muslim insurgents on Tuesday in a gunbattle, police said.
The clash came after dozens of police and soldiers surrounded a house in Pattani province's Kok Poh district on a tip-off about the whereabouts of suspected militants, said Maj. Gen. Pichet Pitisetpan.
'They did not turn themselves in and instead opened fire from inside the house on the officers, so the security forces had to fire back,' he said, adding that two soldiers were wounded.
The insurgency in Thailand's three southernmost provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat has killed more than 3,600 people, both Buddhists and Muslims, since early 2004.
The troubled region bordering Malaysia, only a few hours by car from some of Thailand's best-known tourist beaches, has seen an upsurge in violence as ethnic Malay Muslims fight for autonomy from Thailand's Buddhist majority.
A massive counter-insurgency effort occassionally slows the pace of attacks but has shown little sign of ending the violence. The daily attacks, which include drive-by shootings and bombings, are believed intended to frighten Buddhist residents into leaving the only predominantly Muslim areas of Thailand.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/18/2009 00:00 ||
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An Iranian doctor who went public with reports of tortured protesters he treated at Tehran's most feared detention facility dies, amid conflicting reports of a heart attack, a car accident or suicide Or all three! "I've decided to kill myself!"
"Look out!" [CRASH!]
"[GASP!] My heart!"
-- raising opposition accusations that the 26-year-old was killed.
Revelations that protesters detained in Iran's postelection crackdown were tortured, some to death, were a deep embarrassment to the country's clerical rulers. Dr. Ramin Pourandarjani was pressured to change the death certificate of one of the most well known victims and later spoke to a parliament commission investigating the abuse, opposition Web sites reported.
Posted by: ed ||
11/18/2009 14:10 ||
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#1
Shot himself in the back of he head twice, I presume.
[Iran Press TV Latest] Iran's judiciary has issued verdicts for more than eighty people arrested during the post-election events in the country.
The verdicts include death sentences for five individuals convicted of carrying out terrorist activities, including bombings, across Iran, a statement from the legislative body said on Tuesday.
"Around 81 people have received prison sentences ranging from 6 months to 15 years with three of them getting suspended jail terms," it said, adding that three people have been cleared from all charges.
The verdicts can be appealed, the statement concluded.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/18/2009 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
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.
Somali pirates on Tuesday freed a Spanish tuna fishing boat hijacked last month and said a $3.5 million (2.1 million pound) ransom had been paid for the vessel and its crew.
[Bangla Daily Star] A cadre of Purba Banglar Communist Party (ML-Janajuddah) was killed in a 'shootout' between his cohorts and police at Baniakanda village under sadar upazila here early yesterday.
[Dawn] At least one person was killed and nine others injured in a bomb blast outside a security official's office here on Tuesday.
[Dawn] The head of the Taliban in Swat valley, Maulana Fazlullah, has said that he has escaped the army and is now in Afghanistan.
