Posted by: Fred ||
12/30/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Happy Birthday/Daily Gam Shot
Leonor Varela (Chilean) aka Nyssa in "Blade II (2002)" aka Luz MartÃnez in "Sleep Dealer (2008)" aka Marta in "The Tailor of Panama (2001)" aka Muchacha in "Deseo (2010)" aka Anna in "Wrong Turn at Tahoe (2009)" aka Adela in "Americano (2005)" aka Perdita in "Texas Rangers (2001)" (age 39)
NATO says joint raids with Afghan forces have killed at least three and captured 11 Taliban commanders and facilitators who provided logistical support and weapons to insurgents.
Friday's statement from the coalition says an operation earlier this week in Bakwah district in Farah province resulted in the killing of a senior insurgent leader and two of his commanders, as well as a "number of additional insurgents."
Early on Friday, NATO and Afghan troops captured 11 Taliban fighters or sympathizers in five separate operations across the country.
Nighttime kill-and-capture raids, in which a number of civilians have died, have become a flashpoint for anger over foreign meddling in Afghanistan. President Hamid Karzai has demanded that foreign troops stop breaking into homes.
#1
What's his name is going to beat the Taliban the Chicago way.
He'll call em up for a peaceful gathering, get em all in one room and do the Chicago thing with baseball bats and small caliber handguns...
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
12/30/2011 9:18 Comments ||
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#2
Why are they capturing any of them? What do they hope to do with them? They generally know nothing that can't be squeezed out of them in 10 minutes, and they can't give them to the Afghan government which will just let them go. And we don't want them, either.
Just hire some "international contractors" to manage them, paid out of some slush fund, and then ask the contractors to lose their "files" about the prisoners in a fire, just before they leave the country. No accountability. No problem.
"We have no names for these Taliban, as they refused to identify themselves, and the contractors assured us they were well taken care of. No idea what happened to them. We assumed they were eventually released and went home."
#3
I hope we don't stop the nightime raids!Wasn't anything learned from the Vietnam war about micromanaging war in far away theatres from washington by civilian politics?
Posted by: chris ||
12/30/2011 10:20 Comments ||
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[An Nahar] A criminal court in Cairo on Thursday acquitted five coppers who had been charged in connection with the deaths of protesters during the popular uprising that ousted Hosni Mubarak. ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011... The officers had been accused of killing six demonstrators near a cop shoppe in the Sayeda Zeinab neighborhood of central Cairo, a judicial source said.
The court ruled that two of the officers had acted in legitimate self-defense when facing protesters armed with petrol bombs and other weapons excluding guns, who were also trying to set fire to the cop shoppe.
Three other officers were released after it was determined that they were not at the scene when the protesters were killed.
Around 850 people died in January and February during the unrest that led to Mubarak's ouster, according to official statistics, and Egyptian police have been implicated in most of the cases brought by the relatives of those killed.
The authorities have in several cases tried to show that many members of the security forces had to defend themselves against attacks by protesters.
The ongoing trial against Mubarak is seeking to establish whether the former president gave direct orders to fire on those demonstrating against his regime.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/30/2011 00:00 ||
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CAIRO--Egyptian security forces seized computers, printers and documents from offices of at least 17 human-rights organizations Thursday, including three U.S.-based groups, adding new tensions to fraying ties between Egypt's interim military leadership and its allies in Washington.
Egypt's military leadership has repeatedly blamed the country's continuing violent protests on what they call a foreign-borne conspiracy aimed at creating chaos and undermining the Egyptian state. Thursday's raids appear to have backed the accusations with action.
Special forces units of the Egyptian military, accompanied by state prosecutors and uniformed and plain-clothes coppers, searched non-governmental organization offices in Cairo and other Egyptian cities.
MENA, the Egyptian state news agency, said prosecutors were seeking evidence of foreign funding. In Egypt, such funding must be approved by the government.
The raids, particularly those on American pro-democracy and human-rights organizations, mark a significant deterioration in the relationship between Washington and one of its closest military allies in the Middle East. The U.S. government has supported Egypt's military since the 1970s, with $1.3 billion in annual funding that now amounts to an estimated 20% of its budget.
The U.S. State Department said it is "deeply concerned" over the raids.
#4
There is the little ceremonial tactic called a "sound bite of frustration with the process" uttered by the Secretary of State that initiates the preparation of the dreaded "Strongly worded memo" aka "Sharply worded memo"
The State Department lost Volume 5 of "How to Negotiate" which includes wonderful tactics such as walking out of negotiations, poison in the after dinner cocktails or the really fun "We've got an Army you know" phrase.
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
12/30/2011 9:51 Comments ||
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#5
S'what happens when one fosters or encourages change and then fails to manage it.
#7
Most NGO's don't actually encourage real rights(Restrictions on the state) they tend to go for restrictions on the liberty of people to defend themselves, and other marxian redistributionist clap-trap.
[Yemen Post] A policeman was killed and two were maimed today in the headquarter of Police camp by gunnies loyal to Deputy Minister of Interior who leads the Police camp Mohammed Abdullah Alqawsi.
Dozens of coppers gathered in front of their camp in a protest against their leader
Alqawsi demanding to change their leader.
According to local sources, the deputy interior minister, brought with him 50 gunnies of his followers to confront the protest of his soldiers who shoot fire against the protesters with live bullets which led to the fall of one solider dead and two others maimed.
The source added that dozens of officers of Aqawsi left him and joined the protesters to demand their rights. They have also clashed with those gangs of Alqawsi.
The sources pointed out that there is mediation being made to calm the situation between soldiers and gunnies who cut off Taiz Street crowded with cars and pedestrians, which is the main line that connects a number of Sana'a with the Yemeni governorates of Taiz, Dhamar, Ibb and Aden.
The situation there remained in tension until the moment of writing the news, where protesters demanded the handover of the gunnies who fired live bullets on them and killed one of their colleagues and wounding others.
The soldiers pledged to drop out the deputy interior minister and police chief and trail him accusing him of committing corruption at the Ministry of Interior.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/30/2011 00:00 ||
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[Bangla Daily Star] Yemen's army killed six suspected Al-Qaeda Islamic fascistiin a Katyusha rocket attack on their hideout in the restive southern city of Zinjibar yesterday.
Among the dead were a Saudi and an Algerian, said the official, adding the house in which they were hiding was completely demolished in the attack that took place late on Wednesday.
An army official meanwhile said that five soldiers were also maimed Wednesday in festivities in Zinjibar and were taken to a military hospital in the main southern city of Aden.
Nearly 270 Yemeni soldiers have been killed in the battles that began in May with Islamic fascistifrom the Partisans of Sharia, the Al-Qaeda-linked orc group that took over most of Zinjibar, according to an army toll.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/30/2011 00:00 ||
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For a map, click here. For a map of Tamaulipas, click here. For a map of Nuevo leon, click here
By Chris Covert
In a massive troop movement, the Mexican Secretaria de Defensa Nacional (SEDENA) announced that more than 8,000 soldiers are deploying to far northern Tamaulipas state, according to Mexican news accounts.
According to Mexican news reports, the newly arriving troops are expected to occupy Nuevo Laredo, Reynosa, Ciudad Mier, and Matamoros. Those cities are all border crossings and all known points for the transshipment of drugs into the the US border -- much of the outlying zones to the immediate south of those crossings are used by drug cartels as way points, and for camps for training and logistics.
Reynosa and Matamoras are controlled by the Gulf Cartel while the other three crossings are controlled or contested by Los Zetas. Additional troops are expected to be deployed to Ciudad Victoria, the capital of Tamaualipas and Tampico, well south of the US border.
Those areas include Tampico and areas south extending into northern Veracruz state, which have been flashpoints of fighting between rival criminal gangs and with the Mexican Army since the beginning of the month.
The total troop count in Tamaulipas is 13,000, or the functional equivalent of five combat brigades.
The new deployment is the largest since the beginning of 2010. The troop movement is significant because it essentially blocks two of Mexico's largest cartels main shipping point for drug and migrants into the US.
The troop movement also is the most direct government challenge to the Gulf and Sinaloa Cartels and Los Zetas and their drug shipping activities and associated organized crime businesses in Tamaulipas.
Last year, SEDENA began raising 18 rifle battalions specifically earmarked for deployment to the north, and last spring began deploying those units. However, it is unclear if this new deployment in Tamaulipas includes more than the three rifle battalions known to be already deployed and operating in the state, or if SEDENA has shifted troops from elsewhere.
A news story posted by Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas La Manana news daily posted on the newspaper's website Thursday afternoon quoted a SEDENA source saying that much of the reinforcement has come from southern and central areas of Mexico.
Among those reinforcements were part of the Mexican 15th Motorized Cavalry Regiment, sent to Coahuila arriving Tuesday evening after a nearly two day road march. That unit was sent to Coahuila to reinforce security efforts after a series of gunfights between rival gangs and with the Mexican security forces in Saltillo in the south and Piedra Negras in the north on the US border.
The deployments including the Mexican 15th Motorized Cavalry Regiment are part of Operacion Noreste, a counernarcotics campaign begun early last summer. The Coahuila deployment which includes 150 Mexican Naval Infantry (Marines)effectives, are at the periphery of the Operacion Noreste area of operation as an area to intercept escaping criminal elements.
#1
Geez, Piedras Negras was such a nice little town back in the day. You could actually take a date to dinner, a nightclub for dancing and drinks and go for a nice late night walk.
Sounds as if you don't want to cross the bridge now.
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
12/30/2011 9:29 Comments ||
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Law enforcement agencies killed terrorist Erik Ayazbayev in Kazakh city of Kyzylorda on Thursday. Ayazbayev was one of the leaders of Agzhan Khasen's terrorist group, Kazakhstan's Prosecutor General's Office said.
"Ayazbaev refused to surrender and opened fire with a Makarov pistol, as a result the terrorist was killed with return fire," Prosecutor General's Office said.
No civilian and law enforcement officer died or injured. There is no threat to the public. Urgent investigative actions are underway at the scene.
Agzhan Khasen group leader and several members of the terrorist group were killed by law enforcement agencies on Dec. 3 in the Boralday settlement in Ili district of Almaty region in response to an active armed resistance.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/30/2011 00:00 ||
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[NY Times] North Korea publicly declared the young heir Kim Sonny Jong-un its supreme leader at a huge rally on Thursday in Pyongyang that culminated with his ascent to the top of the hermetic Communist nation after nearly two weeks of national mourning for his father, Kim Jong-il.
A crowd of tens of thousands, most of them uniformed soldiers, packed the plaza -- named after Mr. Kim's grandfather, the North's founding president, Kim Il-sung -- and those gathered swore their allegiance to the dynastic transfer of power. The event, a memorial service for Kim Jong-il, who died on Dec. 17, capped 13 days of mourning and introduced the era of his son.
"Respected Comrade Kim Sonny Jong-un is now supreme leader of our party, military and people," said Kim Yong-nam, the president of the North Korean Parliament, who is considered the ceremonial head of state. "He inherits the ideology, leadership, courage and audacity of Comrade Kim Jong-il."
Addressing the crowd, Kim Yong-nam also asked North Koreans to "solidify the monolithic leadership" of Kim Sonny Jong-un, who is believed to be in his late 20s.
In the last few days, North Korea has showered Kim Sonny Jong-un with the honorific epithets reserved, until now, for his father: "great leader," "dear leader," "peerless leader," "the sun of the 21st century," and even eobeoi, the Korean word for parent, which North Korea had used only for Kim Jong-il and his father, Kim Il-sung.
The ceremony on Thursday was particularly symbolic of the son's rise to top leadership: for the first time since his father's death, he was facing a massive crowd of North Koreans alone -- without his father standing by him.
Though North Korea declared Kim Sonny Jong-un its top leader throughout the carefully choreographed ceremony, and in relentless pronouncements of the past week, he has yet to take any official titles, like supreme commander of the 1.2 million-strong Korean People's Army and general secretary of the Workers' Party. Those are bestowed at meetings of top party and government representatives, most likely in the coming months, that in the past have been mere formalities.
From a balcony, with top party and military officials standing behind him, the new leader looked over the snow-covered plaza, where people stood in neat rows. He was dressed in a black greatcoat -- like the one favored by his grandfather, a godlike figure among North Koreans whom the young leader appeared to copy in dress, demeanor and physique.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/30/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
In the last few days, North Korea has showered Kim Sonny Jong-un with the honorific epithets reserved, until now, for his father: "great leader," "dear leader," "peerless leader,"loss leader"
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/30/2011 9:45 Comments ||
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#2
Was not "Chubby Leader" another bestowed honor
Posted by: Steven ||
12/30/2011 12:41 Comments ||
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#3
Do they now have to have a picture of Pugsley on their wall too?
I can just imagine a starving North Korean Family looking upward to 'stout' Pugsely as they sit down to their dinner feast of bark soup.
#4
Over at FREEREPUBLIC, Jong-un just issued his first official war threat agz South Korea, + by extension the USS GEORGE WASHINGTON CVN, for crimes the ROK allegedly committed during Big Daddy's funeral, IIUC i.e. failure of the ROK to conduct proper mourning protocols.
[NY Times] The Turkish military said Thursday that it had accidently killed at least 35 Turkish cigarette smugglers in Arclight airstrikes after mistaking them for separatist fighters in the Kurdish border region with Iraq, infuriating many of Turkey's long-oppressed Kurds. Most of the dead were between 17 and 20 years old.
Political opponents denounced the prime minister, and angry crowds gathered in central Istanbul, hurling stones at shop windows and striking passing cars with bars. The police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse them, Turkish news agencies reported. In several predominantly Kurdish cities in the southeast, security forces also used tear gas, according to local news reports.
A front man for the governing Justice and Development Party said in a news conference that the strikes had occurred just inside northern Iraq, along a rugged route used by smugglers to transport goods by mule. The route is also traveled by Orcs and similar vermin from the separatist Kurdish Workers' Party, or the P.K.K., who launch cross-border attacks from bases in northern Iraq.
"According to some primary information, it was determined that those people killed in the incident that took place outside Turkish borders were not gunnies but smugglers," said the front man, Huseyin Celik , adding that the government was opening an investigation. "This wasn't intentional," he said. "If there is a mistake, a shortcoming, it won't and shouldn't be covered up."
One political opponent was quoted in news reports comparing Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to the Syrian president, Bashir al-Assad, for tolerating the killing of his own citizens. Selahattin Demirtas , the deputy chairman of the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party, used Mr. Erdogan's own words about Mr. Assad, saying, "An administration that murders its own people has no legitimacy," and added, "Those killed were mostly children and youth, including youngsters that prepared for college. These are villagers that survive on smuggling."
The struggle between the Turkish government and Kurdish separatists has claimed more than 40,000 lives, mostly Kurdish, since the mid-1980s. It has driven off most investment from the mountainous region, Turkey's poorest. Smuggling is a primary source of income for many.
The governing party has recently sought a political resolution to the decades-old conflict, proposing a draft constitution that would grant greater rights to ethnic minorities. Yet hundreds of pro-Kurdish activists who could potentially support the political process remain in jail as part of clampdown on a pro-Kurdish political network that prosecutors claim to be the separatists' urban wing, forcibly collecting funds, organizing attacks and building separatist strategies.
The Turkish Armed Forces had said in an earlier statement that it had recent intelligence that the P.K.K. was preparing for a large-scale attack and asserted that separatists in the area had been known to transport guns for attacks in Turkey. The Turkish army stepped up operations in the predominantly Kurdish southeast as well as inside northern Iraq after several deadly attacks by the P.K.K. last summer.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/30/2011 00:00 ||
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Posted to WOT Operations because this is an act of cyber-terrorism in my book.
Hacker collective Anonymous has just dumped 200 GB of names, email addresses and passwords for around 860,000 Stratfor users. Anonymous also exposed credit card numbers for 75,000 paying customers of Stratfor.
Stratfor, a security think tank, provides reports on international security and related threats to government and military personnel as well as to the private sector.
It is unknown whether Anonymous gained access to other, more sensitive information during the Stratfor hacks, which occurred on December 24.
“The time for talk is over,” wrote Anonymous last night on Pastebin.
“It’s time to dump the full 75,000 names, addresses, CCs and md5 hashed passwords to every customer that has ever paid Stratfor. But that’s not all: we’re also dumping ~860,000 usernames, email addresses, and md5 hashed passwords for everyone who’s ever registered on Stratfor’s site… Did you notice 50,000 of these email addresses are .mil and .gov?”
Anonymous’ motives for the attack are also somewhat hazy. In last night’s statement, representatives of the movement wrote, “All our lives we have been robbed blindly and brutalized by corrupted politicians, establishmentarians and government agencies sex shops, and now it’s time to take it back.” OOoohhh.. Government agencies Sex Shops! Now your talking!
In addition to the Stratfor attack and exposure, Anonymous is threatening a new action on New YearÂ’s Eve, December 31.
In addition to “noise demonstrations” outside of jails and prisons, ostensibly to show solidarity and support for the incarcerated, Anonymous says it will unveil “our contributions to project mayhem by attacking multiple law enforcement targets from coast to coast.” Why do I get the feeling that this is being orchestrated from the White House? The same people who orchestrated the OWS protests - which Anonymous also supported. And why isn't the Justice Department looking into this? (and does this tinfoil hat make my head look fat?)
Lawfare -- another suit from the people who stopped the Gaza flotilla.
Twitter has been 'aiding and abetting' Hizbullah and other terrorists, an Israeli legal rights group says -and it had better stop right now.
The Israel Law Center (Shurat Hadin) has a "social media" message for Twitter: Stop providing communication facilities for terror groups like Hizbullah, or face a lawsuit on behalf of American citizens and others who have been victims of terrorism.
In a letter to Twitter executives, Israel Law Center head Nitsana Darshan-Leitner warned the social media messaging service that allowing terror groups to maintain accounts on the system is illegal."Please be advised that providing social media and other associated services to terrorist groups is illegal and will expose Twitter, Inc. and its officers to both criminal prosecution and civil liability to American citizens and others victimized by terrorism," the letter said, naming specifically three groups - Hizbullah, Al-Shaba'ab, and Al-Manar TV. All three are officially classified as terror groups. Al-Shaba'ab has 6,720 Twitter followers, and Al-Manar has 7,000.
All three of these entities -- as well as individuals associated with them - have Twitter accounts, and Darshan-Leitner suggested in the letter than Twitter cancel the accounts, or face the wrath of the law.
Darshan-Leitner stressed in her letter that the issue was not censorship, but compliance with security laws, which Twitter, as a U.S.-based entity, was obligated to undertake. Referring to a recent case brought by the government against an organization that was accused of materially helping two organizations classified as terror groups (the Kurdistan Workers' Party in Turkey and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam), the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that "providing any assistance or support to beturbanned goons is unlawful.
"Your provision of social media and associated services to Hizbullah and other FTOs (foreign terrorist organizations) would constitute the type of seemingly innocuous material support that would render your company and you personally criminally and civilly liable. This includes liability for future terrorist attacks carried out by Hizbullah, Al-Shaba'ab or other FTOs," Darshan-Leitner told Twitter. In fact, she adds, a New York businessman, Javed Iqbal, was in 2009 sentenced to five and a half years in prison for providing satellite broadcast servers to Al-Manar, Hizbullah's media outlet.
Besides violating U.S. anti-terrorism laws, Twitter will also find itself a target of multi-million dollar lawsuits if it does not cancel the accounts, Darshan-Leitner says. "Many U.S. entities and individuals who have provided material support to beturbanned goons have been sued by the terror victims and their families for aiding and abetting international terrorism," she writes. "Many of these defendants now find themselves defending against multi-million dollar civil actions in federal courts around the United States. In addition, American corporations that provided material support to Death Eater organizations in the Middle East are currently defendants in multi-million dollar civil actions in U.S. federal courts brought by the victims of these groups, and officers and principals of such corporations have also become defendants," Darshan-Leitner adds, citing numerous cases.
The Israel Law Center is no stranger to such lawsuits, having brought -- and won -- numerous decisions against organizations in the U.S. and abroad that have either consciously -- or inadvertently -- aided and abetted terrorism. In a recent incident, Darshan-Leitner warned about 150 heads of American universities that they had better do something to stop the anti-Semitic incidents that have been growing at their schools in recent years, or face lawsuits.
"In light of the above," Darshan-Leitner concludes in her letter to Twitter, "we request that you immediately provide us written confirmation that Twitter, Inc. has permanently discontinued the provision of social media and associated services to Hizbullah, Al-Manar TV, Al-Shabaab... Harakat ash-Shabaab al-Mujahidin aka the Mujahideen Youth Movement. It was originally the youth movement of the Islamic Courts, now pretty much all of what's left of it. They are aligned with al-Qaeda but operate more like the Afghan or Pakistani Taliban... and any other FTOs.
"Absent such confirmation," she concludes, "we will seek all available relief and remedies against Twitter, Inc. in all relevant jurisdictions."
#1
I understand wanting to punish terror enablers but this kind of thing is not a good idea at all. It is impossible to maintain Opsec in an environment like Twitter, though the terrs will obviously try to keep anything sensitive out of the tweets. The problem for them is that the more fingers you have tweeting, the more likely it is that something really valuable will leak through. Beyond that, the mass membership makes it easier to identify potential agents, suppliers, safehouses and the like. You can bet your last dinar the Mossad, CIA, and a host of others follow these accounts very closely.
[Dawn] Unidentified gunnies in Quetta rubbed out police surgeon Dr Baqir Shah on Thursday, DawnNews reported.
Dr Baqir Shah, of Bolan Medical Complex, was the key forensic investigator in the Kharotabad incident of May 17 this year in which five foreigners were killed by security personnel.
According to police, Dr Shah was on his way back from the hospital when the armed assailants opened fire on his vehicle on Sabzal Road. He passed away before reaching the hospital.
Dr Shah was earlier also beaten up and injured by unknown assailants. He alleged that he was beaten up by coppers.
"I was punished by police for telling the truth about the killing of five foreigners," Dr Baqir Shah had told Dawn on telephone.
Dr Baqir Shah had rejected the police's earlier claim in the Kharotabad incident that the foreigners had attacked them with hand grenades.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/30/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Dr. Quincy dead? Oh noes!
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/30/2011 9:47 Comments ||
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Israel killed the leader of an al Qaeda-inspired faction in an air strike on the Gaza Strip on Friday, accusing him of launching short-range rockets into the Jewish state.
Militants identified the man as Momen Abu Daf of the Army of Islam, part of a loose network of Palestinian groups that profess allegiance to al Qaeda and which have been reinforced by radical Salafi volunteers from neighbouring Egypt.
Abu Daf was killed when a missile hit Gaza City's Zeitoun neighbourhood, the Hamas administration said. Five other Palestinians were wounded and one of them needed hospital treatment, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.
In a statement, the Israeli military said its aircraft "targeted a terrorist squad that was identified moments before firing rockets at Israel from the northern Gaza Strip".
Those militants, the statement said, were "responsible for the firing of rockets at Israel in the past few days".
Salafis attack Israel in defiance of truce efforts by Hamas, which practices a more politically accommodating Islamism though it also preaches the destruction of Israel. That sentence is one of the best examples of double-speak I've ever seen Roooters assemble.
#3
As much as I am happy they got him, the reality is that these people are easy to replace. Â
Tipping points, BernardZ-- if enough are killed quickly enough, the activity loses its savour. It's fun to talk big to impress the girls, but something else when all one gets is smeared into the dusty rubble without getting anywhere near a target. No streets are named after someone who dies ineffectively.
"the Iranian website Mashreq News, which is close to Iranian military circles, posted an article on December 15, 2011...The article enumerated the forces and weapons that Iran could employ in such a military operation, including fast attack craft carrying anti-ship missiles; submarines; battleships.. hovercraft; and artillery....the article pointed out that these weapons would actually not be necessary because there would be suicide operations, and added that "the faith of the Iranian youth, and their eagerness to sacrifice their lives, will sap the enemies' courage."
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
12/30/2011 1:22 Comments ||
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#3
Unless US-NATO INTEL has seriously clusterfucked as to secret Iranian weapons or stockpiles, + short of great power confrontation, as things stand the best thing Iran can do is wait for the US to invade + wage People's War.
Don't be wasting youth on suicide operations - I can see several ways for Iran to contain an invading enemy ground force.
#4
Were I in charge, which fortunately I'm not, I'd be thinking about just bombing everything that had to do with government, hand out AK-47s and ammo to all the civilians I could find, and walk away.
#8
I can see several ways for Iran to contain an invading enemy ground force.
Sure, but why bother? Stand offshore & pound them with today's artillery equivalents. Shut down their power grid. Also air drop the AK-47s and plenty ammo as suggested earlier.
#10
Just like the cannon fodder they sent into Iraq, the Iranians really have no concept of 21st century military power wielded by a highly trained military force. Our Army can mop the deck with them, same for our stalwart Marines, add in the Navy and Air Force, the ref will stop it as a third round TKO.
Add in the wonderful idea to provide LOTS AND LOTS of weaponry and ammunitions to the disgruntled masses and VOILA, you have a non-sectarian government ruled by people that are not living in the 7th century.
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
12/30/2011 9:23 Comments ||
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#11
Iran is not going to go anywhere with this.
If they do, sink their entire navy in 10 minutes and go back to bed.
#13
I noticed that a software mod has been created for the old sidewinder missiles (something we have oodles of) to hit small boat on the ocean. Kind of ruins that speedboat swarm idea...
Posted by: Water Modem ||
12/30/2011 22:55 Comments ||
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[An Nahar] The Higher Defense Council on Thursday stressed the prevention of arms smuggling in and out of Leb and called for controlling the security situation in border towns.
The HDC convened at Baabda palace to contain the repercussions of allegations that the al-Qaeda terrorist network was operating in Leb. But it did not unveil details over the issue.
A statement issued after the meeting said the Council asked security agencies to take stronger measures to fight terrorism and stressed cooperation with the United Nations ...what started out as a a diplomatic initiative, now trying to edge its way into legislative, judicial, and executive areas... Interim Force in Leb.
It kept its decisions secret in accordance with the law but said in the terse statement that discussions focused on the security measures taken in the country.
It also quoted President Michel Suleiman ...before assuming office as President, he held the position of commander of the Leb Armed Forces. That was after the previous commander, the loathesome Emile Lahoud, took office as president in November of 1998. Likely the next president of Leb will be whoever's commander of the armed forces, too... as condemning the killing of three Lebanese men in the northern border area of Wadi Khaled by Syrian cross border fire. He stressed the importance of investigating the incident.
Suleiman and PM Najib Miqati held closed-door talks ahead of the meeting that was attended by Defense Minister Fayez Ghosn, Interior Minister Marwan Charbel, Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour, Finance Minister Mohammad Safadi, Economy Minister Nicolas Nahhas and Social Affairs Minister Wael Abu Faour.
Top security officers, including Army chief Gen. Jean Qahwaji, Internal Security Forces chief Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi, the head of the General Security Department, Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim, and head of Lebanese Army Intelligence Brig. Gen. Edmond Fadel also attended the meeting.
The cabinet on Wednesday tasked the HDC with convening to discuss the alleged presence of al-Qaeda and other security concerns, including the Wadi Khaled incident and the bombing that targeted Tyros restaurant in the southern city of Tyre.
Ghosn, who made the allegations last week, briefed the cabinet on Wednesday on the information he had obtained about the operations of al-Qaeda gunnies in and out of the eastern border town of Arsal.
The minister slammed his critics, saying "let them give us other information to prove that what we're saying is not true."
Ad-Diyar daily quoted him as saying that his critics snapped back at him through a political campaign "for known reasons."
"I work in accordance with my convictions and conscience and I take full responsibility" for what I said, Ghosn said.
Several ministers played down Ghosn's information with Miqati saying that "there is no solid evidence" about the presence of al-Qaeda in Arsal.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/30/2011 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Syria's envoy to Beirut has urged the Lebanese government to prevent cross-border arms smuggling, saying the alleged trafficking was "complementary to terrorism."
In an interview with the Hizbullah-run website al-Intiqad, Ali Abdul Karim Ali called on Leb to take "serious, strict measures to end arms smuggling from Leb into Syria and... not give in to international pressure."
His comments were made the same day the Higher Defense Council stressed during a meeting at Baabda palace the prevention of arms smuggling and said it asked security agencies to take stronger measures to fight terrorism.
Ali, the first Syrian ambassador to Leb, linked the issue of suspected arms smuggling to claims that al-Qaeda was operating along the Lebanese-Syrian border, made earlier this month by Leb's Defense Minister Fayez Ghosn.
"Ghosn's exposure of al-Qaeda members who are infiltrating Syria via the Lebanese border village of Arsal is an issue that must be dealt responsibly and seriously," Ali was quoted as saying.
"Arms smuggling and terrorism are complementary, and measures to put an end to this matter must be clear and decisive."
Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor... blames the violence in his country on "armed terrorist" groups.
The Lebanese government has said it is investigating Ghosn's claims that a terrorist group was smuggling weapons into Syria through Arsal, which borders the Syrian protest hub of Homs.
The March 14 Those are the good guys, insofar as Leb has good guys... -led opposition has meanwhile slammed Ghosn as a "minister for the defense of the Assad regime" over his statements.
Arsal, considered a stronghold of opposition leader and ex-Premier Saad Hariri Second son of Rafik Hariri, the Leb PM who was assassinated in 2005. He has was prime minister in his own right from 2009 through early 2011. He was born in Riyadh to an Iraqi mother and graduated from Georgetown University. He managed his father's business interests in Riyadh until his father's liquidation. When his father died he inherited a fortune of some $4.1 billion, which won't do him much good if Hizbullah has him bumped off, too. , has in recent months witnessed a string of deadly incursions by the Syrian army in a bid to crack down on arms smuggling.
Wounded Syrian protesters have crossed the border into Arsal to seek medical care in Leb as violence escalates in Homs.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/30/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
So, the Lebanese are sending BACK all of those nifty toys and things that go boom the Syrians smuggled into Lebanon?
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
12/30/2011 9:25 Comments ||
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#2
Or from stockpiles of the various groups that were in Iraq that were supported via Leb.
[An Nahar] Regime forces fired on protesters at a protest hub near Damascus ...Capital of the last remaining Baathist regime in the world... and killed at least 39 people around Syria on Thursday, even as peace monitors spread out across the country, activists said.
Fourteen people were rubbed out in several restive Damascus suburbs, 10 in the central flashpoint province of Homs, 13 in the central province of Hama and two in the northwestern province of Idlib, the Local Coordination Committees, the main activist group spurring protests on the ground, said.
For its part, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least four demonstrators were killed and more than 20 others maimed in Douma, the protest center just north of the capital, when security forces sprayed protesters with bullets outside a mosque.
The Observatory said the shooting broke out as Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... observers arrived at Douma's city hall, on the third day of a mission designed to halt a lethal government crackdown on dissent.
The monitors were due Thursday to visit flashpoints around Damascus, as well as the northern and central cities of Idlib and Hama and southern Daraa province.
Daraa is the cradle of an unprecedented nine-month protest movement against Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad's Trampler of Homs... regime, which has ruled Syria with an iron fist for 11 years.
Activists say that more than 70 civilians have been killed by security forces since a first group of monitors arrived Monday in Syria on a month-long renewable mission to implement an Arab League peace plan.
"A fourth civilian maimed by gunfire from the security forces has died of his injuries and there are many injured people at death's door," in Douma said the Britannia-based group.
Gunfire rattled in Douma where "tens of thousands" of protesters rallied outside the Grand Mosque and regime forces opened fire on the demonstrators "as Arab observers arrived at the city hall," it said.
"Security forces are raiding a private hospital in Hama and are arresting the maimed," it said.
"Huge protests" also took place in Hama's Hamidiyeh and Bab Qubli neighborhoods, said the watchdog.
Emboldened by the presence of observers, Facebook activists are urging regime opponents to take to the streets across Syria on Friday, the weekly day of rest that has been a pivotal time for democracy protests.
"On Friday we will march to the squares of freedom, bare-chested," they said.
"We will march as we did in Homs and Hama where we carried olive branches only to be confronted by Bashar's gangs who struck us with artillery and machinegun fire," said the Syrian Revolution 2011 activists.
The head of the Observatory, Rami Abdul Rahman, said protesters needed to make their voices heard to the monitors, describing them as a "ray of light" in a dark tunnel.
"The Arab League's initiative is the only ray of light that we now see," Abdul Rahman told Agence La Belle France Presse.
"The presence of the observers in Homs broke the barrier of fear."
On Tuesday, when a group of observers entered Homs, on the first leg of their mission to end bloodshed in Syria, some 70,000 people flooded the streets, according to activists.
Security forces showered them with gunfire and tear gas and the monitors cut short their visit to Homs, described by activists as the "martyr" city where hundreds have died in a government crackdown since March.
La Belle France, the United States and Human Rights Watch ... dedicated to bitching about human rights violations around the world... have warned the Syrian regime against trying to hide the facts from the monitors and Gay Paree charged the team was not being allowed to see what was happening in Homs.
Those concerns were highlighted when Baba Amro residents on Wednesday refused to allow in observers in because they were accompanied by a Syrian army officer. But the standoff ended when the officer withdrew.
General Mohammed Ahmed Mustafa al-Dabi, a veteran Sudanese military intelligence officer who is heading the observer mission, has told AFP the visit Homs was "good" and Syrian authorities were cooperating so far.
His remarks reportedly triggered ripples of discontent among opposition ranks but Abdul Rahman said it was too early to issue any judgment.
For some Dabi is a controversial figure because he served under Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir who is wanted by the International Criminal Court ... where Milosevich died of old age before being convicted ... for crimes allegedly committed in the Darfur region.
The mission is part of an Arab plan endorsed by Syria after weeks of stalling which also calls for the withdrawal of armed forces from towns and residential districts, a halt to violence and the release of detainees.
According to U.N. estimates announced in early December, more than 5,000 people have been killed in the Syrian government crackdown on dissent since mid-March.
Egypt's MENA news agency meanwhile reported the head of the opposition Syrian National Council Burhan Ghalioun met with Arab League Secretary General Nabil al-Arabi in Cairo for talks ahead of conference on the Syrian opposition to be hosted by the League next month.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/30/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Are they observers or are they there for training?
TO help with the body count?
To eat up all of pencilnecks' Brie and drink all of his Dom Perignon?
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
12/30/2011 9:27 Comments ||
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#2
"...For some Dabi is a controversial figure because he served under Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir who is wanted by the International Criminal Court..."
Dabi did more than that. He was chief of military ops during the height of the worst of the massacres of Dafurians and almost certainly directed Sudan's forces in assisting in the massacres.
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
12/30/2011 13:32 Comments ||
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[CBS News] Iran continued to suggest it may block the Strait of Hormuz in response to greater international pressure over its nuclear program, rejecting a U.S. warning that any attempt to choke off the key oil supply route would not be tolerated.
"The U.S. is not in a position" to affect Iran's decisions, Gen. Hossein Salami, the acting commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guard told the semi-official Fars news agency Thursday. "Iran does not ask permission to implement its own defensive strategies."
Iran had previously threatened the close the strait if Washington imposes sanctions targeting Iran's crude exports. On Wednesday, Lt. Rebecca Rebarich, a spokeswoman for the Bahrain-based U.S. 5th Fleet, said the Navy was "always ready to counter malevolent actions to ensure freedom of navigation."
Meanwhile, ...back at the argument, Jane reached into her purse for her .38... official IRNA news agency reported an Iranian surveillance plane has recorded video and photographed a U.S. aircraft carrier during Iran's ongoing navy drill near a strategic waterway in the Persian Gulf.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/30/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
We are trying to take General Salami seriously. Seriously.
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.
Yemen's army killed six suspected Al-Qaeda 
Law enforcement agencies killed terrorist 
North Korea
[NY Times] The Turkish military said Thursday that it had accidently killed at least 35 Turkish cigarette smugglers in 
[Dawn] Unidentified 
Israel killed the leader of an al Qaeda-inspired faction in an air strike on the Gaza Strip on Friday, accusing him of launching short-range rockets into the Jewish state.
Najib Miqati
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
[An Nahar] Regime forces fired on protesters at a protest hub near 
International Criminal Court
Iran continued to suggest it may block the Strait of Hormuz in response to greater international pressure over its nuclear program, rejecting a U.S. warning that any attempt to choke off the key oil supply route would not be tolerated.
